i was on the phone with mike (several times a day, the jokes about me and the phone are true) and please read mike's 'Watch the Breaking Ranks trailer.' i love mike. so does fly boy. (he's taken to mike like no 1. but like i always say, mike's like a puppy.) no 1 wrote me to ask if i was mad at him so i'll assume every 1 reading here knew that wasn't the case. as he said tonight, we've been dialoguing on independent media.
i want to answer a few questions in the e-mails first.
1) 'flyboy's working.' he's actually agreed with me. he's going to reduce his hours. if we were living in the city, it might be different. but i'm not interested in living there. i love my house and the commute is just taking too much time. that's why we missed the irag discussion group last week. i said i'd come in and meet him and we'd go from there. but he was convinced if he just left 90 minutes early, he could come home, grab a quick shower, change and we could go. it's never that easy. there's always something that's going to cause a delay. so he's halfing (halving?) his hours. that will also allow him to have more input on some changes we're making around here. i want to expand 1 of the bedrooms and i'm not in the mood to deal with contractors all by myself.
2) c.i.'s different drum brought up many comments. most favorable from readers and/or community members but there was a visitor who thinks c.i. has had it easy and that i have. i wasn't born into money. i didn't have it easy. i got into college on a 'pretty scholarship' (that's how i always refer to it). but c.i. didn't sit around between classes. i don't just mean activism. if c.i. had gone along with family wishes, college would have been paid for. instead, c.i. gets there with the understanding that it will be. the logic on the parental end was once c.i. was there, they'd lower the boom and say 'journalism major if you want our money' and c.i. would go along. they did say 'journalism major if you want us to pay.' c.i. didn't go along.
until it was time for the masters, c.i. paid and had scholarships. it would have been really easy, especially 1 semester when c.i. worked 3 jobs, to say, 'fine, i'll do journalism.' but that didn't happen. college is expensive anywhere but it was especially expensive where we went. i had a scholarship and my grandmother and my parents helped out with the bills. all i had to do was go to class. elaine didn't have to work either. c.i. didn't have to work. c.i. chose to work because freedom was more important than 'easy.'
when it was time for grad school, a grandparent did say, 'ill pay.' c.i. had 1 or more scholarships by that time so it wasn't really needed. but c.i. had demonstrated that there was no purchasing, there was no sale on beliefs. and 1 grandparent respected that.
but for 4 years, it was a scramble. that meant working, that meant selling things. i remember for a rally once there was some security deposit needed and the group didn't have money. c.i. went to the pawn shop and got rid of something that had been in the family for years. did it without blinking. did it without whining. did it without telling any 1. (i knew what was about to happen and went along to say 'don't do it' the entire way.) but don't talk about easy when you don't know about it.
if you talk to c.i.'s family today, they'll all talk about how c.i. did it without help and that is so true. and that didn't end with college. c.i. has repeatedly walked away from situations where beliefs would be compromised. c.i. has very strong core beliefs and will not compromise them. it's always amazed me. i remember junior year, c.i.'s parents showing up 1 fall day with a brand new car and 'all you have to do is go meet ...' nope. no car.
i always thought, and this is my opinion only, had they given c.i. the car and then said, 'could you stop by and see ...' the answer would have been 'sure.' but you don't bribe c.i. (or threaten.) today, c.i. could have an easy life. i've noted i'd be staying by the pool every day if that was my house. but c.i.'s here, there and everywhere (like the beatles song) speaking out against the war and has sacrificed a lot to do so. and continues to sacrifice.
the visitor talked about the parties every 1 wrote about when we were all with c.i. if you've seen the film shampoo, that's the sort of parties. people just dropping by, people wandering around. but c.i.'s working those parties. c.i.'s raising the issue of the war (most care about it without it being raised) and other issues. and there's not a day that goes by that c.i.'s not using every media contact (including old lovers) to try to push for more coverage, more bravery in the coverage.
so when you don't know what you're talking about, you probably shouldn't judge someone's life as 'easy.' i was talking to jim right before i got online and tuesday they'd gone out of state to speak. on the 2nd to last 'gig,' they were asked if they could do something the next day? so they ended up making it a 2 day thing. 1 thing turned into 6 and they only got back late this afternoon. jim told me he was so tired he didn't want to move. he asked if c.i. ever gets tired? yes. but c.i. knows how to reach for that 2nd wind, that 3rd wind, that 4th wind ...
does c.i. get tired? c.i.'s tired now. but that doesn't matter (to c.i.) i kidded jim, 'you're an old man!' and we laughed about that.
easy? no.
now let's talk about iraq. another visitor writes that he's a republican who woke up to the realities of the war in april and is now against it (congratulations - that's not sarcasm) but he doesn't think we need to hear about because 'we're all against it and know the war is wrong.'
i disagree. the realities that make him uncomfortable hearing about are the 1s iraqis have to live with, troops stationed there have to live with, so i don't think it's asking too much for americans to pay attention to a war their government started.
i spent 4 hours today with my grandmother and we were talking about the (lack of) coverage. i wished i'd read the e-mail from the republican against the war before i visited her. but i will tell you what i think she'd say: 'suck it up.' seriously. she lived through wwii. she knows what war coverage is supposed to be when a nation is at war and she knows we're not getting it.
if you're tired about hearing about the war in iraq, then start working hard to end it. the coverage shouldn't disappear. the war should. as long as the war goes on, the coverage should as well. (it should go on after as well.)
robert knight's knight report on Flashpoints had some good coverage of iraq tonight. there was also a report on haiti that you should make a point to check out.
this is from ryan clark's 'Hebron Marine killed in Iraq' (cincinnati enquirer):
A Hebron Marine died Tuesday while serving in Iraq's western Anbar Province, family members said Wednesday.
U.S. Marine Cpl. Tyler Warndorf, 21, gained local fame in June when Associated Press photographers took a picture of him and other soldiers in combat. The Enquirer then provided the photographs to the Warndorf family, who enjoyed seeing him for the first time in months.
Tuesday night, Marines told the family of his death.
"Obviously, we're devastated," said Lillian Warndorf, Tyler's grandmother. "We never could have imagined this."
But in June, when Lillian and Tyler's grandfather, Gerald, saw the pictures, they expressed concern for their grandson, who had returned to Iraq for a second tour of duty. "He's going to get himself killed over there," Gerald Warndorf said at the time.Warndorf was serving in and around Ramadi, a dangerous area for insurgent attacks.
tyler warndorf is dead. if you're for the war or against it, that should matter. and if that news 'bums' you out, well imagine how it is for his family. we don't need less coverage of iraq (i can't imagine how we could have 'less' at this point - especially from independent media), we need more. he is 1 of 61 u.s. soldiers who have died in iraq this month. i don't think you look away from that and call yourself a grown up. you can be in favor of the war, you can be opposed to it, but since america declared this war, started it, it's your job to know what's going on. if that bums you out and you're too busy waiting for the fall tv season to start or obsessing over jonbenet, too bad. this is reality and if you're a grown up, you follow it. it may cheer you, it may dismay you, but you follow it. and if you think 'oh this is too much,' you need to get real. you're just having to hear about it, you're not living there.
read danny schechter's 'America is losing Iraq: Is anybody watching?'
here's c.i.'s 'Iraq snapshot:'
Wednesday, August 30, 2006. Violence and chaos continue with CBS and the AP calling the fatalities at 52 and the AFP going with 77. The blink-and-you-missed-it truce (with one militia, the Mahdi Army) is off less than 24 hours after it began reports AFP, South Korea's numbers in the so-called coalition drop, in Australia the Jake Kovco inquiry takes shooting lessons, and the Bully Boy has explained to Brian Williams for NBC Nightly News the key to his failure -- Reuters: "Let me, let me . . . look, the key for me is to keep expectations low."
At that, if nothing else, the Bully Boy has succeeded. Equally disappointing is the puppet of the occpuation, Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, who spent much of Sunday swearing there was and would be no civil war. Reality has a a way of slapping the Operation Happy Talkers in the face. Where have you gone Spinmeister William Caldwell IV, an administration turns its frantic eyes to you?
In Baghdad, an explosion at a market has killed at least 24 and left at least 35 wounded. CBS and AP report that the bomb went off at "one of Iraq's largest markets, where wholesalers sell food, clothing and house products to businessmen and shopper." AFP notes that "[b]ody parts and the remains of those killed and wounded were strewn across the area. Windows of nearby shops were shattered, two cars were ripped apart and popular restaurant blown open."
The bombing of the market wasn't the only Baghdad bombing today. The BBC notes that three people are dead and 21 injured as a result of a a car bomb "near a petrol station". CBS and AP identify the three dead from that bombing as Iraqi police officers. Before the market blast in Baghdad, a bomb was hidden on a bicycle in Hilla, AFP reports, "that exploded outside the army recruitment centre" killing at least twelve people and leaving 38 wounded. Reuters notes that five members of a family were killed (three women, a man and a child) and two members wounded from a roadside bomb in Buhriz. Southeast of Baghdad, the AP notes: "An Iraqi army major was killed in Kut . . . by a roadside bomb." Reuters notes "two border guards" are dead in Badara from a roadside bomb. The Financial Times of London notes two dead from a bomb in Karrada. Sabah Jerges (Australia's Herald Sun) reports "a bombing in the oil city of Kirkuk" that took three lives.
Check the math, but that should be 52 killed by bombs today. Shootings?
CBS and AP note that Nadiya Mohammed Hassan and her bodyguard and driver were shot-dead in Baghdad. Reuters notes three brothers were shot dead in Numaniya. The BBC reports that, in Baghdad: "Gunmen shot dead three textile workers travelling to work in a taxi". And CBS and AP note: "a civilian driving in his car in northern Mosul was apparently shot and killed by American troops who opened fire when the man's vehicle came too close to them."
Stonings?
You read that right. Possibly, it's Shirley Jackson time. AFP reports that one person is dead in Samawa and ten wounded after "hundreds of young men" seeking jobs "pelted stones at the building and burnt tyres when clashes broke out between them and the police." Reuters notes the police fired at the crowd. Bullets, stones? Someone is dead. AFP identifies the person as "a volunteer." The Finanical Times (with a Reuters report) notes a witness who says that the person was shot by the police.
Sabah Jerges (Herald Sun) estimates that today's violence resulted in "at least 77 Iraqis" dead. AFP goes with "at least 77" as well.
Corpses?
AFP notes: "five bodies washed up on the banks of the Tigris south of the capital . . . . blindfolded and shot in the head" while Reuters notes two corpses were found ("gunshot wounds . . . torture marks") in Qaim as well as, in Falluja, the corpse "of a civilian . . . found three days after he was kidnapped" and one in Numaniya "bearing signs of torture."
Of course, on Tuesday, a torture czar could be found in Baghdad. The BBC reports that on the question of torture (which is illegal, though he and the administration appear to have forgotten), Gonzales stated "it is difficult to decide what is appropriate" and that it's "a difficult decision as to where to draw the line" but that "decision will be made by the Iraqi government". So exactly why did he waste US tax payer money going to Baghdad? To meet with "officials at the Iraqi High Tribunal . . . trying ex-leader Saddam Hussein and six others on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity." Possibly he wanted to try out the defense he'll mount in US courts should he ever be held accountable?
Danny Schechter (MediaChannel.org) notes, "One recent report placed the costs of the war at $1.75 billion per week. The Cost of Iraq War calculator is set to reach $318.5 billion September 30, 2006. With the skyrocketing costs of the war in Iraq, worldwide military spending soared. Wouldn't you think that that alone would have our news media all over the story? If you think that, think again."
Sadly, he is correct. It's been a summer of chasing after a lot of stories, giving wall to wall coverage, and letting a lot drop through the cracks -- mainly Iraq -- and that's true of all media, big and small.
Along with the dropping Iraq coverage, the numbers in the so-called coalition continue to drop as well. The Korea Times reports that, on Tuesday, people gathered to see off the 1,179 (South) Korean troops headed to Iraq to replace the 1,8000 (South) Korean soldiers who will be returning home. That's 621 more soldiers leaving Iraq then are headed to it.
In peace news, Sandip Roy (New America Media) spoke with Bob Watada. Bob Watada is the father of Ehren, the first officer to publicly refuse to deploy to Iraq. On the issue of Ehren Watada's refusal to serve in the illegal war, his father stated: "It's in the code of military justice, it's in the field manuals that you have a dut to disobey an unlawful order. The Nuremberg Tribunal which we signed on to and probaly drafted parts of, clearly says any military official can be prosecuted if they are complicit in war crimes and clearly we have massive war crimes going on in Iraq today."
Last Thursday night, a military spokesperson noted the recommendation forthcoming re: Ehren Watada's Article 32 hearing: court-martial. That recommendation is now working its way through the chain of command. To weigh in with support for Ehren Watada, Cedric (Cedric's Big Mix) is advising those calling Donald Rumsfeld (703-545-6700) or mailing him (1000 Defense Pentagon, Washington, DC 20301-1000) to say: "Hands off Ehren Watada! Let him go." Billie advises that you can use public@defenselink.mil to e-mail the Pentagon. She suggests "Re: Ehren Watad" or "ATTN: DONALD RUMSFELD." Courage to Resist and ThankYouLt.org. will continue to offer resources, ideas and inspiration. Get the word out.
In other peace news Michelle Mason has made a documentary entitled Breaking Ranks. The film premieres tonight at the Montreal World Film Festival. The festival notes: "Breaking Ranks examines the incidence of U.S. soldiers seeking refuge in Canada as part of their objections to the war effort in Iraq. The film documents the experiences of several American army deserters who face one-to-five years prison time if they are deported and convicted of desertion. If however, Canada refuses to deport the soldiers, it faces considerable friction in its relations with the U.S. Filmed in cinema verite style, the film combines personal stories with political, cultural and historical analysis of the issues these soldiers' actions raise for Candada and for its current policies."
Breaking Ranks plays at 9:30 pm at the Cinema Quartier Latin 13 tonight and at 10:00 am at the same location on September 1st. Nelson Wyatt (Candian Press) spoke to filmmaker Mason as well as war resister Kyle Snyder. Mason noted that she had intended to focus on the Vietnam era but when Jeremy Hinzman sought refugee status that changed -- "I realized that was the story to pursue." Snyder tells Kyle Snyder tells Wyatt, "I would rather take jail than go back to Iraq and fight for something that I don't believe in. If I could avoid jail, that's what I'm going to do and I'm going to whatever it takes to do that."
CODEPINK's Troops Home Fast action continues on its 58th day today with at least 4,833 people participating. The action continues through September 21st (International Peace Day) and those who would like to take part can grab a one-day only fast, a one-day a week fast or a mutli-day fast (seek health advice from your provider before embarking on any long term strike). More information at Troops Home Fast. If anyone's suddenly realizing summer is coming to an end and looking for something to do that you can point to with pride and say, "This summer I . . ." consider taking part in the action.
And Indybay Media notes that the World Can't Wait has a full page ad in today's New York Times for the October 5Th action. The ad, on page A9, reads: "ENDLESS WARS! TORTURE! KATRINA! THEOCRACY! BRING THIS TO A HALT!" For more, visit World Can't Wait.
In Australia, the military inquiry into the April 21st Baghdad death of Jake Kovco is on hold. Belinda Tasker (The Age) reports that those sitting on the inquiry's board as well as the attorneys were busy today receiving gun lessons to attempt to increase their knowledge on some of the issues (such as silent cocking) that have been raised during the hearing. Tasker notes that Thursday, they will be at a shooting range and that the head of the inquiry is upset that images of Soldier 14 were shown on Australia's Nine Networks. For those wishing to see the video, this page has a link. (Soldier 14 is a witness. He's not a victim. We'll put the link up here.) On the issue of Australia's Nine Networks, in May the network conducted a poll and "found 83 percent believe there had been an intentional cover-up over the details of" Jake Kovco's death.
iraq
ehren watada
cedrics big mix
jacob bruce kovco
jake kovco
bob watada
danny schechter
kyle snyder
jeremy hinzman
codepink
troops home fast
8/30/2006
8/29/2006
the mood
a lot of positive e-mails on yesterday's post and one who didn't enjoy it and felt i was griping about the girly-girls unfairly. i've waited over a year to say anything. i stand by what i said. they wanted to trade links, i was happy to support other women, but then they got their links and didn't want to make good on their offer. (their offer, i didn't contact them.) i have 4 readers who are in some state of considering to start their own sites.
my readers are more important to me then some huffy visitor. people need to know what happens. goldie would like to start a site now but marlene (her mother) doesn't want her having to put up with the bullies online. so she's doing her weekly column in polly's brew instead. i know goldie will start a site someday and i know it will be incredible. she needs to know, and others who are considering as well, what's what.
also, elaine talked about it here last summer and at least once at her site. when e-mails ask for tips or advice about blogs, that's 1 right there: don't believe what people say in their e-mails. and if you do link to some 1 who writes and offers to trade links - if they don't link to you, pull it immediately.
c.i. doesn't trade links but c.i.'s whole life has been about marching to a different drum. (that's not an insult.) a lot of readers, like billy, see what c.i. does and think 'i can do that too.' they may be able to. but they need to realize that a site is what you put into it. c.i. puts a lot of time and energy into that site. and it reflects c.i.'s personality. it was going to be a hit off the ground. (and when i found out around thanksgiving 2004, i said so. and it did end up a hit off the bat.)
there have been times when other people have wondered what they have to do? c.i.'s advice is always speak in your own voice.
that's really what you should do. i should have never traded links - and turned down offers from men. but i'd get that 'we gals got to stick together' e-mail and i do belive in supporting other women. but the reality is that the girly-girls don't. so if that helps goldie, great. if billy, a guy, can get a lesson from it, great.
but it's what happened. and it will happen again. you can be like c.i. and not care about it or you might get upset about it, like elaine did for me (so did c.i. when elaine informed - i hadn't passed it on).
i actually think that carries over to iraq where you've got a lot of people presenting themselves as brave voices and then they do nothing all summer long. they aren't brave voices. and you shouldn't be surprised when that happens.
mike wrote about his disenchantment with amy goodman tonight. we talked about that on the phone and i reminded him of when we did the discussion on her book at the third estate sunday review. c.i. was very positive to the book but did point out some issues with the book. mike was upset. not to the point where he said anything but c.i. could tell and then they talked a few days later and c.i. said, 'it's my opinion. we've both read the same book. you may be right and i may be wrong.' mike said tonight that he wished he'd used that moment as a wake up call but instead he really wanted to believe every thing said in that book.
as a general rule, never believe everything in a book that uses 'i' statements. people are rarely the best judge of themselves. but while others are mad, c.i.'s not. take it for what you can.
so we discussed that and mike said 'maybe someday, but i doubt it.' he just feels betrayed. (he wrote about this tonight before we spoke on the phone.) i understand that. and i don't think he's wrong to feel the way he does.
i don't think he's wrong at all because the reality is that the public mood has shifted against the war and if we had the kind of media coverage we need, the war would be closer to ending. but we don't have the kind of media we need. most aren't interested in covering iraq.
so the administration's lies will get out there and stand. and a few more weeks from now, some 1 will do 1 story (only 1) about how the lies have been accepted. no shit they've been accepted. you didn't offer alternative coverage.
so i do understand where mike's coming from.
and the community certainly does. if you're a community member, you've seen the anger at the independent media all summer long reflected in the polls gina & krista have been doing in their round-robin. mike's not alone on this.
a lot of people feel disappointed and/or betrayed. and it's only grown each week in the polling.
that's for this community but i can't image it's not the same outside it among people who are trying to follow the real news.
people are bothered by this. they're bothered that the mainstream went into a jon benet circus and that indepedent media went into an israel circus.
it has nothing to do with the fact that independent media covered israel. it had to do with the fact that they made it the only story and that they let iraq fall off the map.
that's not just democracy now. that's counterspin and every 1 else as well. it's why a program that addresses and covers iraq is needed. there needs to be a show that takes the war seriously and doesn't drop the coverage the minute another hot spot flares up.
so that's it for tonight. here's c.i.'s 'Iraq snapshot:'
August 29, 2006, chaos and violence continue in Iraq -- and Alberto Gonzales only just got there, the AFP is reporting a peace deal with one militia group, Camp Democracy gears up for the September 5th opening, and, in Australia, Soldier 14 is asked if he shot Jake Kovco.
Starting in Iraq, the AFP reports that the Madhi Army forces have agreed to some sort of peace deal (that's one out of countless groups) and that "a few hours after a peace deal was reached" 74 were dead from a pipeline explosion. The explosion was not caused by Alberto Gonzales (at least not as far as anyone knows), however he is in Iraq and, CNN reports, he intends to impart the importance of "rule of law" to Iraqis who, hopefully, will turn around and teach him a few things about "rule of law" since his actions as US Attorney General and, earlier, as Bully Boy's "hard-on with a suitcase," would indicate the concept confuses him greatly.
Gangsta' Gonzales should feel right at home in Iraq amidst the chaos and violence.
Bombings?
Reuters notes that five people were wounded by mortar rounds in Baghdad and that, in Kirkuk, a roadside bomb claimed the life of a police officer and wounded nine people.
Shootings?
Reuters reports that, in Baquba, "[f]ifteen people were gunned down"; a bakery worker was shot to death in Baiji with another one wounded; a civilian was shot in Mosul; and an attack (by "gunmen") an office of Moqtada al-Sadr left two bodyguards dead and five wounded. AP notes that the office was attacked with more than guns ("three mortar shells, two rocket-propelled grenades and a bomb") and that the building was demolished.
Corpses?
Reuters reports 20 corpses ("gunshot wounds") were discovered in Baghdad, a corpse ("gunshot wounds" as well) was discovered in Balad, and four corpses were discovered ("handcuffed and blindfolded") near Baquba. CBS and AP note the 20 corpses in Baghdad rose to 24.
In the United States, Cindy Sheehan remains at Camp Casey III in Crawford, Texas. On Wednesday, August 30th, she plans to join Salt Lake City mayor Rocky Anderson for a demonstration against the Bully Boy in Salt Lake City. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30th, not Thursday 31st, as noted here before. More information at Utah Voices. The prospects so overjoy the Repubes that they've launched an ad, as John Daley (KSL) points out, that includes: "Now Rocky Anderson has invited her to Utah." Don't make the Repubes do all the work getting the word out.
Sheehan's attendance may depend upon her health (she recently had surgery). Responding to the charge of 'irrelevancy' (by the Waco Tribune), Sheehan (Truthout) notes: "Peace will never be irrelevant as long as war is used as a diplomatic tool" and discusses her plans for The Camp Casey Peace Institute as "a force for real peace."
Sheehan will be moving Camp Casey to DC for Camp Democracy. Kevin Zeese (American Chronicle) interviewed David Swanson about the upcoming Camp Democracy which Swanson states "will bring together movements for peace, Katrina recovery, immigrants rights, labor rights, electoral reform, women's rights, environmental sanity, accountability and impeachment. We'll open the camp in Washington D.C., on September 5th and run at least until September 21, the International Day of Peace, when a movement called Declaration of Peace has planned massive civil disobedience."
Turning to the topic of Ehren Watada, Charles Burress (San Francisco Chronicle) reports that Sarah Olson will not assist the military investigation of Watada: "I declined because I don't think that it's right for the Army to be asking me to help them prosecute Lt. Watada" Olson has reported on Watada at Truthout and on Free Speech Radio News (among other outlets). Ehren Watada was the first officer to publicly refuse to deploy to Iraq. More information can be found at Courage to Resist and ThankYouLt.org.
Meanwhile, in Australia, the military inquiry into the April 21st Baghdad death of Jake Kovco continues. Today Soldier 14 took the stand. On Monday, Michelle Franco (forensic expert with the NSW Department of Health's Analytical Laboratories) refuted Soldier 14's previous claims that his DNA ended up on the slide of Jake Kovco's gun as a result of their shared use of a radio, megaphone, etc., from when they were both on duty the day of Kovco's death. Noting the concentration of Soldier 14's DNA on the pistol's slide and the fact that, were DNA transferred by such means, "after 30 minutes it would be virturally all gone." When asked point blank if she was saying that the Soldier 14 would have had to handle Jake Kovco's pistol to have left the DNA that was found on the slide, Franco testified, "It is consistent with that."
Soldier 14 had previous testified August 25th, August 21st and as he did on August 18th that he did not touch Jake Kovco's gun. Soldier 14 has been in Australia and complained that he wanted to return to Baghdad (also testified that 'many people' told him Shelley Kovco, widow of Jake Kovco and mother of their two children, was out to get him). Michael Edwards reported on PM that in testimony on Tuesday, Soldier 14 stated: "We've had discussions on a numerous occassions trying to work out what happened." He's speaking of Soldiers 17 and 19 who were Jake Kovco's roommates.
Attorneys for Judy and Martin Kovco (Jake Kovco's parents) and Shelley Kovco may want the Soldiers 17 and 19 to testify (by video-link or in person). Soldier 17 testified to hearsay on August 2nd, floating the rumor that Jake Kovco was a 'cowboy' with guns." At that time, he based that 'testimony' on what "others" had told him but he wouldn't name the others (and shot off a whiny "I don't have to if I don't want to" type of remark). Frank Holles (Judy and Martin Kovco's attorney) responded then: "I put it to you when it suits you, you will not provide information." No he won't. As Conor Duffy reported that day to Eleanor Hall of Soldier 17's claims, "He said he never saw this . . . He said that he didn't see it . . ." "It" was Soldier's 17's vivid testimony of how Kovco would allegedly play with his gun: "Like quick draw and you spin it around all that sort of s[**t]." His testimony to something he did not see, something he was told of by "others" whom he wouldn't name. Now Soldier 14 has admitted that he and Soldiers 17 and 19 discussed the case prior to their testimony. Soldier 17 should be forced to name the "others" and to testify as to his version of what the three of them discussed.
The "cowboy" claim made all the papers that day (in Australia) based on Soldier 17's vivid testimony . . . based on, admittedly, hearsay. And today Soldier 14 admits that they (he, Soldiers 17 and 19) attempted to 'sort it out'.
On July 24th, Detective Sergeant Phillip Elliott took the stand and noted that the clothes were destroyed, the roomates had showered, Jake Kovco's body had been washed all before he could begin his investigation. Elliott also noted that Soldiers 17 and 19 (Jake Kovco's roommates, in the room when he died) differed on where Soldier 17 was located in the room, on where Jake Kovco "lay after he fell" and that Jake Kovco's body had been turned over after he fell.
Belinda Tasker (The Courier-Mail) reports that Soldier 14 continues to insist that he never touched Jake Kovco's pistol. Dan Box (The Australian) reports that Soldier 14 told the inquiry "he wished his friend [Jake Kovco] was still alive to explain how his [Soldier 14's] DNA came to be on the gun." What a buddy, what a pal, what a mate. He wishes the late Jake Kovco were alive, why? To explain how his [Soldier 14] DNA was found on Jake Kovco's gun. What a selfish (and stupid) remark. Presuming Soldier 14's telling the truth about not touching Jake Kovco's gun, what makes him think Jake Kovco could explain it when (the living) Soldier 14 can't?
As previously noted, Jake Kovco and his two roommates were listening to music before Jake Kovco died (Cranberries) and Soldier 14 has tetified before about being bothered by the volume. AAP reports that Frank Holles asked him if he "had stormed into Pte Kovco's room because he was angry about the loud music he and his two roommates were playing." Michael Edwards reported it to Eleanor Hall (The World Today) like this: "Basically what the lawyer for the Kovco family, Lieutenant Colonel Frank Holles, said was that Private Kovco had been playing loud music in his room, which is adjoining that of Soldier 14 in the barracks in Baghdad, and that Soldier 14 went into Private Kovco's room, took hold of his . . . of Private Kovco's 9mm pistol and then shot him in the head."
Soldier 14 denied that he shot Jake Kovco; however, as Eleanor Hall pointed out, "But Soldier 14 has not denied being in the room, or the possibility that he may have been in the room when Private Kovco was shot?" To which Michael Edwards replied, "What he did today, he didn't deny being in the room. He said . . . it was put to him that hypothetically it wouldn't have taken him long to reach the room. And he agreed that hypothetically, yes, he said his room was adjoining Private Kovco's." It's interesting that it would hypothetically take two seconds for Soldier 14 to get to the room. Soldier Two (the platoon sergeant) testified on July 25th that he heard the shot and went to Kovco's room where he found Soldiers 17 and 19 beside Jake Kovco's body. Where was Soldier 14? Two seconds to get to the room, the platoon sergeant has made it to the room, where was Solider 14?
In other news of the Kovco trial, the AAP reports: "Meanwhile, the chief of staff at joint task force headquarters in Iraq, codenamed Soldier 39, has rejected as 'utter bulls**t" claims by military police that he ignored advice to keep Pte Kovco's body in Baghdad until investigators arrived to examine it." On the subject of the body, Jake Kovco was supposed to arrive in Australia's April 26th. He did not. Juso Sinanovic, a Bosnian carpenter, arrived instead. The company handling the transportation of Jake Kovco and Juso Sinanovic's bodies was Kenyon International. As Brooke Shelby Biggs (CorpWatch) has noted: "Kenyon International Emergency Services is a wholly owned subsidary of Service Corporation International (SCI), a funer services firm based in Texas. SCI is helmed by Robert Waltrip, a close family friend of the Bush clan and a major donor to George W. Bush's gubenatorial and presidential campaigns. SCI has been embroiled in a number of high-profile scandals in recent years, including one in which a subsidiary was discovered to be recycling crypts and dumping bodies in a wooded area behind a Jewish cemetery in Florida."
iraq
ehren watada
jacob bruce kovco
jake kovco
cindy sheehan
gold star families for peace
free speech radio news
sarah olson
my readers are more important to me then some huffy visitor. people need to know what happens. goldie would like to start a site now but marlene (her mother) doesn't want her having to put up with the bullies online. so she's doing her weekly column in polly's brew instead. i know goldie will start a site someday and i know it will be incredible. she needs to know, and others who are considering as well, what's what.
also, elaine talked about it here last summer and at least once at her site. when e-mails ask for tips or advice about blogs, that's 1 right there: don't believe what people say in their e-mails. and if you do link to some 1 who writes and offers to trade links - if they don't link to you, pull it immediately.
c.i. doesn't trade links but c.i.'s whole life has been about marching to a different drum. (that's not an insult.) a lot of readers, like billy, see what c.i. does and think 'i can do that too.' they may be able to. but they need to realize that a site is what you put into it. c.i. puts a lot of time and energy into that site. and it reflects c.i.'s personality. it was going to be a hit off the ground. (and when i found out around thanksgiving 2004, i said so. and it did end up a hit off the bat.)
there have been times when other people have wondered what they have to do? c.i.'s advice is always speak in your own voice.
that's really what you should do. i should have never traded links - and turned down offers from men. but i'd get that 'we gals got to stick together' e-mail and i do belive in supporting other women. but the reality is that the girly-girls don't. so if that helps goldie, great. if billy, a guy, can get a lesson from it, great.
but it's what happened. and it will happen again. you can be like c.i. and not care about it or you might get upset about it, like elaine did for me (so did c.i. when elaine informed - i hadn't passed it on).
i actually think that carries over to iraq where you've got a lot of people presenting themselves as brave voices and then they do nothing all summer long. they aren't brave voices. and you shouldn't be surprised when that happens.
mike wrote about his disenchantment with amy goodman tonight. we talked about that on the phone and i reminded him of when we did the discussion on her book at the third estate sunday review. c.i. was very positive to the book but did point out some issues with the book. mike was upset. not to the point where he said anything but c.i. could tell and then they talked a few days later and c.i. said, 'it's my opinion. we've both read the same book. you may be right and i may be wrong.' mike said tonight that he wished he'd used that moment as a wake up call but instead he really wanted to believe every thing said in that book.
as a general rule, never believe everything in a book that uses 'i' statements. people are rarely the best judge of themselves. but while others are mad, c.i.'s not. take it for what you can.
so we discussed that and mike said 'maybe someday, but i doubt it.' he just feels betrayed. (he wrote about this tonight before we spoke on the phone.) i understand that. and i don't think he's wrong to feel the way he does.
i don't think he's wrong at all because the reality is that the public mood has shifted against the war and if we had the kind of media coverage we need, the war would be closer to ending. but we don't have the kind of media we need. most aren't interested in covering iraq.
so the administration's lies will get out there and stand. and a few more weeks from now, some 1 will do 1 story (only 1) about how the lies have been accepted. no shit they've been accepted. you didn't offer alternative coverage.
so i do understand where mike's coming from.
and the community certainly does. if you're a community member, you've seen the anger at the independent media all summer long reflected in the polls gina & krista have been doing in their round-robin. mike's not alone on this.
a lot of people feel disappointed and/or betrayed. and it's only grown each week in the polling.
that's for this community but i can't image it's not the same outside it among people who are trying to follow the real news.
people are bothered by this. they're bothered that the mainstream went into a jon benet circus and that indepedent media went into an israel circus.
it has nothing to do with the fact that independent media covered israel. it had to do with the fact that they made it the only story and that they let iraq fall off the map.
that's not just democracy now. that's counterspin and every 1 else as well. it's why a program that addresses and covers iraq is needed. there needs to be a show that takes the war seriously and doesn't drop the coverage the minute another hot spot flares up.
so that's it for tonight. here's c.i.'s 'Iraq snapshot:'
August 29, 2006, chaos and violence continue in Iraq -- and Alberto Gonzales only just got there, the AFP is reporting a peace deal with one militia group, Camp Democracy gears up for the September 5th opening, and, in Australia, Soldier 14 is asked if he shot Jake Kovco.
Starting in Iraq, the AFP reports that the Madhi Army forces have agreed to some sort of peace deal (that's one out of countless groups) and that "a few hours after a peace deal was reached" 74 were dead from a pipeline explosion. The explosion was not caused by Alberto Gonzales (at least not as far as anyone knows), however he is in Iraq and, CNN reports, he intends to impart the importance of "rule of law" to Iraqis who, hopefully, will turn around and teach him a few things about "rule of law" since his actions as US Attorney General and, earlier, as Bully Boy's "hard-on with a suitcase," would indicate the concept confuses him greatly.
Gangsta' Gonzales should feel right at home in Iraq amidst the chaos and violence.
Bombings?
Reuters notes that five people were wounded by mortar rounds in Baghdad and that, in Kirkuk, a roadside bomb claimed the life of a police officer and wounded nine people.
Shootings?
Reuters reports that, in Baquba, "[f]ifteen people were gunned down"; a bakery worker was shot to death in Baiji with another one wounded; a civilian was shot in Mosul; and an attack (by "gunmen") an office of Moqtada al-Sadr left two bodyguards dead and five wounded. AP notes that the office was attacked with more than guns ("three mortar shells, two rocket-propelled grenades and a bomb") and that the building was demolished.
Corpses?
Reuters reports 20 corpses ("gunshot wounds") were discovered in Baghdad, a corpse ("gunshot wounds" as well) was discovered in Balad, and four corpses were discovered ("handcuffed and blindfolded") near Baquba. CBS and AP note the 20 corpses in Baghdad rose to 24.
In the United States, Cindy Sheehan remains at Camp Casey III in Crawford, Texas. On Wednesday, August 30th, she plans to join Salt Lake City mayor Rocky Anderson for a demonstration against the Bully Boy in Salt Lake City. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30th, not Thursday 31st, as noted here before. More information at Utah Voices. The prospects so overjoy the Repubes that they've launched an ad, as John Daley (KSL) points out, that includes: "Now Rocky Anderson has invited her to Utah." Don't make the Repubes do all the work getting the word out.
Sheehan's attendance may depend upon her health (she recently had surgery). Responding to the charge of 'irrelevancy' (by the Waco Tribune), Sheehan (Truthout) notes: "Peace will never be irrelevant as long as war is used as a diplomatic tool" and discusses her plans for The Camp Casey Peace Institute as "a force for real peace."
Sheehan will be moving Camp Casey to DC for Camp Democracy. Kevin Zeese (American Chronicle) interviewed David Swanson about the upcoming Camp Democracy which Swanson states "will bring together movements for peace, Katrina recovery, immigrants rights, labor rights, electoral reform, women's rights, environmental sanity, accountability and impeachment. We'll open the camp in Washington D.C., on September 5th and run at least until September 21, the International Day of Peace, when a movement called Declaration of Peace has planned massive civil disobedience."
Turning to the topic of Ehren Watada, Charles Burress (San Francisco Chronicle) reports that Sarah Olson will not assist the military investigation of Watada: "I declined because I don't think that it's right for the Army to be asking me to help them prosecute Lt. Watada" Olson has reported on Watada at Truthout and on Free Speech Radio News (among other outlets). Ehren Watada was the first officer to publicly refuse to deploy to Iraq. More information can be found at Courage to Resist and ThankYouLt.org.
Meanwhile, in Australia, the military inquiry into the April 21st Baghdad death of Jake Kovco continues. Today Soldier 14 took the stand. On Monday, Michelle Franco (forensic expert with the NSW Department of Health's Analytical Laboratories) refuted Soldier 14's previous claims that his DNA ended up on the slide of Jake Kovco's gun as a result of their shared use of a radio, megaphone, etc., from when they were both on duty the day of Kovco's death. Noting the concentration of Soldier 14's DNA on the pistol's slide and the fact that, were DNA transferred by such means, "after 30 minutes it would be virturally all gone." When asked point blank if she was saying that the Soldier 14 would have had to handle Jake Kovco's pistol to have left the DNA that was found on the slide, Franco testified, "It is consistent with that."
Soldier 14 had previous testified August 25th, August 21st and as he did on August 18th that he did not touch Jake Kovco's gun. Soldier 14 has been in Australia and complained that he wanted to return to Baghdad (also testified that 'many people' told him Shelley Kovco, widow of Jake Kovco and mother of their two children, was out to get him). Michael Edwards reported on PM that in testimony on Tuesday, Soldier 14 stated: "We've had discussions on a numerous occassions trying to work out what happened." He's speaking of Soldiers 17 and 19 who were Jake Kovco's roommates.
Attorneys for Judy and Martin Kovco (Jake Kovco's parents) and Shelley Kovco may want the Soldiers 17 and 19 to testify (by video-link or in person). Soldier 17 testified to hearsay on August 2nd, floating the rumor that Jake Kovco was a 'cowboy' with guns." At that time, he based that 'testimony' on what "others" had told him but he wouldn't name the others (and shot off a whiny "I don't have to if I don't want to" type of remark). Frank Holles (Judy and Martin Kovco's attorney) responded then: "I put it to you when it suits you, you will not provide information." No he won't. As Conor Duffy reported that day to Eleanor Hall of Soldier 17's claims, "He said he never saw this . . . He said that he didn't see it . . ." "It" was Soldier's 17's vivid testimony of how Kovco would allegedly play with his gun: "Like quick draw and you spin it around all that sort of s[**t]." His testimony to something he did not see, something he was told of by "others" whom he wouldn't name. Now Soldier 14 has admitted that he and Soldiers 17 and 19 discussed the case prior to their testimony. Soldier 17 should be forced to name the "others" and to testify as to his version of what the three of them discussed.
The "cowboy" claim made all the papers that day (in Australia) based on Soldier 17's vivid testimony . . . based on, admittedly, hearsay. And today Soldier 14 admits that they (he, Soldiers 17 and 19) attempted to 'sort it out'.
On July 24th, Detective Sergeant Phillip Elliott took the stand and noted that the clothes were destroyed, the roomates had showered, Jake Kovco's body had been washed all before he could begin his investigation. Elliott also noted that Soldiers 17 and 19 (Jake Kovco's roommates, in the room when he died) differed on where Soldier 17 was located in the room, on where Jake Kovco "lay after he fell" and that Jake Kovco's body had been turned over after he fell.
Belinda Tasker (The Courier-Mail) reports that Soldier 14 continues to insist that he never touched Jake Kovco's pistol. Dan Box (The Australian) reports that Soldier 14 told the inquiry "he wished his friend [Jake Kovco] was still alive to explain how his [Soldier 14's] DNA came to be on the gun." What a buddy, what a pal, what a mate. He wishes the late Jake Kovco were alive, why? To explain how his [Soldier 14] DNA was found on Jake Kovco's gun. What a selfish (and stupid) remark. Presuming Soldier 14's telling the truth about not touching Jake Kovco's gun, what makes him think Jake Kovco could explain it when (the living) Soldier 14 can't?
As previously noted, Jake Kovco and his two roommates were listening to music before Jake Kovco died (Cranberries) and Soldier 14 has tetified before about being bothered by the volume. AAP reports that Frank Holles asked him if he "had stormed into Pte Kovco's room because he was angry about the loud music he and his two roommates were playing." Michael Edwards reported it to Eleanor Hall (The World Today) like this: "Basically what the lawyer for the Kovco family, Lieutenant Colonel Frank Holles, said was that Private Kovco had been playing loud music in his room, which is adjoining that of Soldier 14 in the barracks in Baghdad, and that Soldier 14 went into Private Kovco's room, took hold of his . . . of Private Kovco's 9mm pistol and then shot him in the head."
Soldier 14 denied that he shot Jake Kovco; however, as Eleanor Hall pointed out, "But Soldier 14 has not denied being in the room, or the possibility that he may have been in the room when Private Kovco was shot?" To which Michael Edwards replied, "What he did today, he didn't deny being in the room. He said . . . it was put to him that hypothetically it wouldn't have taken him long to reach the room. And he agreed that hypothetically, yes, he said his room was adjoining Private Kovco's." It's interesting that it would hypothetically take two seconds for Soldier 14 to get to the room. Soldier Two (the platoon sergeant) testified on July 25th that he heard the shot and went to Kovco's room where he found Soldiers 17 and 19 beside Jake Kovco's body. Where was Soldier 14? Two seconds to get to the room, the platoon sergeant has made it to the room, where was Solider 14?
In other news of the Kovco trial, the AAP reports: "Meanwhile, the chief of staff at joint task force headquarters in Iraq, codenamed Soldier 39, has rejected as 'utter bulls**t" claims by military police that he ignored advice to keep Pte Kovco's body in Baghdad until investigators arrived to examine it." On the subject of the body, Jake Kovco was supposed to arrive in Australia's April 26th. He did not. Juso Sinanovic, a Bosnian carpenter, arrived instead. The company handling the transportation of Jake Kovco and Juso Sinanovic's bodies was Kenyon International. As Brooke Shelby Biggs (CorpWatch) has noted: "Kenyon International Emergency Services is a wholly owned subsidary of Service Corporation International (SCI), a funer services firm based in Texas. SCI is helmed by Robert Waltrip, a close family friend of the Bush clan and a major donor to George W. Bush's gubenatorial and presidential campaigns. SCI has been embroiled in a number of high-profile scandals in recent years, including one in which a subsidiary was discovered to be recycling crypts and dumping bodies in a wooded area behind a Jewish cemetery in Florida."
iraq
ehren watada
jacob bruce kovco
jake kovco
cindy sheehan
gold star families for peace
free speech radio news
sarah olson
8/28/2006
call it like you see it
1st off, there seems to be a little confusion about bully boy's 9-11 face. the new york times wrote about how there were dueling images of his image 'after' 9-11 versus his image in hurricane katrina. as wally's 'THIS JUST IN! THE REAL 9-11 MOMENT!' wonderfully points out, it's the same damn face. the only difference is that the news media didn't want you to see his face on 9/11. most people had to wait for michael moore's film to see the face of bully boy. he did nothing. he sat and he did nothing. nothing too different from his response to katrina. so let's all get clear on that.
in 2001, near the end of his 1st year, he did nothing. in 2005, near the end of his 1st year of his second term, he did nothing. it's 2006 and that means 2007 is war with iran. he just repeats himself. (2003, for any who've forgotten, is when the illegal war with iraq began.)
2nd, required reading, c.i.'s 'It takes a War Pornographer.' oh my god. i read that and thought, 'this is over 24 hours after c.i. got up.' i mean we're talking 24 hours with no sleep. we're talking a very difficult edition during which ava & c.i. repeatedly said they didn't think they could write even 1 tv commentary. they were tired. they were tired 1/2 way into the edition.
but they wrote 3 tv commentaries:
TV: Washington Weak
TV: Make Room For Bully peters out
TV: Vanishing
they did other stuff as well, participated in the writing of other pieces, but writing 3 was something they didn't want to do, they were tired, they were both falling asleep during the edition (ava started drinking coffee, c.i. started eating chocolate - and they were still tired and yawning throughout the edition). and then, c.i. turns around, at the end of 24 hours plus with no sleep and writes 'It takes a War Pornographer'? that still amazes me. it's the best thing you'll see on the topic though elaine and i both think most won't bother to weigh in.
what's it about? sexually exciting u.s. armed forces in iraq with little outlet (other than rosy palm). the 'answer' for the troops today is to give them a t&a show. good thing no troops have been accused of raping civilians, right? is there a more idiotic thing? it was idiotic during vietnam, it's idiotic today. but some 1 had the bright idea that cock teases needed to go into iraq. they'll tease and tease but who's going to be there when the 'gun' goes off?
and exactly how does this help us women serving in iraq? as c.i. pointed out, if they're lesbians (and might be turned on), they can't acknowledge that unless they want to be drummed out of the service under don't ask-don't tell. if they're straight, not only are they going to have to put up with 'jokes' that probably border on or are sexual harrassment (think of what suzanne swift went through) but they're also going to have to wonder where the beefcake is?
if you're going to exploit, do it equally.
by the way, 53 u.s. troops have died in iraq thus far in august. not that many pay attention to it. they're dabblers. looking for the latest cause bandwagon to jump onto. they got bored with iraq. they wanted the war to end, but goodness, golly, it's such work. so better that they move on and independent media has moved on. from amy goodman on down (or on up), they've moved on. 69 iraqi deaths made it into this morning's paper (for sunday) today and you know there were more. but 69 made it in and where the hell is independent media? darfur? israel?
they're a bunch of dabblers. they can't follow through.
they lose interest and move on to something else. to them 'eye on the prize' is just a mini-series they can't get due to copyright issues. they're bored, so they don't cover it.
what is it amy goodman ridiculed the new york times on? their response about to the misreporting on the anti-war protests against the war in iraq: 'it's a matter of emphasis.' well amy goodman and company have demonstrated that their own 'matter of emphasis' is seriously flawed. a dabbler, that's what she's become. you've got an ongoing fast, you've got people dying in iraq, you've got ehren watada, you've got a whole host of things to report on but she's bored with iraq and needs to dabble elsewhere. dabble, dabble, dabble.
what a joke she's become. people used to really look up to her and think, 'here's some 1 who takes the war seriously.' for 2 months now, she's demonstrated how unseriously she takes the iraq war. that ought to help the sales of her new book!
i asked c.i., who still listens to the show, 'are you going to buy the book?' the reply, 'i don't think so.' if any 1 doing a site in this community was going to buy the book, it would be c.i. my next question was, 'are you not buying it because you'll end up getting it for free?' no. not buying, not receiving and not reading.
like the last one, this 1 is credited to 'amy and david goodman' which always made me wonder about the last book. it's written by the sister and the brother so why does it use 'i' all the time? is it 'as told to david goodman'? i've heard of the royal 'we,' but never a royal 'i.'
she had her day in the sun. those days appear to be over and it's her own fault. she could cover iraq and i think even mike would overlook the last 2 months when war was treated as an after thought. (that's my opinion, mike might disagree.) but that hasn't happened.
dabble, dabble, dabble.
and we wonder why the war drags on?
what else? let me note ruth's 'Ruth's Report' and betty's 'On Our Vacation, Thomas Friedman Got Burned' and trina's 'Mixed Greens with Honey and Oranges in the Kitchen.' those went up this weekend, in case you missed them.
steve young's got a post entitled 'Note to Air America: Watch The Daily Show,' and while i agree with his critique of air america radio in some instances, i was also left to wonder if he knew that air america already attempted humor in its early days. for the 1st year, unfiltered attempted to do just what he suggests. janeane also attempted to do humor. then the majority report turned into non-stop screaming and ranting (and squealing) from sam seder. but lizz winstead actually attempted this with many of the shows (she was more than a co-host of unfiltered). it's ratings were higher then so i'm not suggesting it didn't work. but i am saying, it's not that they need to try something new, it's that they need to get back to their original formula.
i don't think he realizes that lizz (who was a creator of the original daily show) did start the shows off that way. as i've noted before, i'll listen to randi and to laura. mike if i've got time. (and can remember. before the majority report became the sam seder show, i could listen all the way through.) oh, the majority report? right now not on the fall schedule.
ha-ha!
who would want to listen to sam seder for five minutes let alone an hour? (no 1 judging by the ratings. and they'll only get worse now that janeane's gone.)
as long as people are discussing what to do with air america, let me bring up something i've brought up before (and i believe we've addressed it at the third estate sunday review as well), does any 1 notice that beside laura's show, women aren't guests? sam seder could go a week with 2 women and how many men? the network is too white and too male. the problem's only gotten worse. i never did understand why fair, which studies race and gender ratios on guests, never felt the need to study air america.
is the point to improve things for women and people of all colors? if that's the point, then they need to study the air america guests. if it's just about sticking it to the big tv networks and cable channels, then just admit that you don't give a damn about representation, you just want to needle cable and networks.
but that appears to be the state of the left today, everywhere, it's not just 1 organization or group, there can be no critiques of it from the left. maybe if there were, maybe if fair turned their eye to the left, we could get iraq covered again? as it is, the left should be ashamed (not just amy goodman) because the coverage of iraq has gotten so rare that you'd think it was the invasion of grenada and not a war going on it's 4th year, started by the u.s. government.
bobby e-mailed me and i did make a point to try to catch up on e-mails from people who aren't regular readers of this site. (i failed, but i read bobby's.) he wanted to know if i felt i was hurting myself by critiquing the left?
how? i like fair. if they're offended by my comments, oh well (as cedric would say). i mean, it's not like they've ever linked to me. they're not as bad as some of the girly-girls posing as feminists (if feminism means you repeat the mainstream critiques and babble on about about shopping - feminism is supposed to critique consumerism). elaine won't link to most woman who writes to her for a link. there's a reason for that.
i did. i gave out 41 links in the time i've done this site, according to elaine who kept track, to the girly-girls. 'rebecca, i love your site. let's exchange links.' i'd write back, 'great, we need more women online and we need to be aware of them.' they'd write back that they hadn't linked to me yet but they were about to. they were always about to. when elaine substituted for me in the summer of 2005, the 1st thing she did was drop 13 girly-girls who had many months to link to me but never did. i guess writing about your vacations takes a lot of time?
elaine said, before she filled in for me, 'rebecca, you're being just like c.i.!' and i was. c.i. doesn't care. that stuff doesn't matter. if it happens to a friend, it matters, if it happens to c.i., it doesn't. i've lectured c.i. for years (decades) that 'you need to fight for yourself as much as you fight for every 1 else.' and i mean that (even now).
but i didn't do that with the links. it took elaine to pull the last of them. they'd write and sometimes say something like 'you know, right now, i can't link to you but i will soon.' apparently i was too controversial. no problem. but if i'm so controversial (elaine's point) then you probably don't want a link from me for fear of being tarred by association.
i have susan (random thoughts) on my links and she may be the only 1. she never wrote. she never said, 'link to me and i'll link to you.' sherry pointed out to me that susan linked to me so i thought 'thank you!' (and i mean that.) i don't know her, i've never e-mailed her and she's never e-mailed me. but i've got a link and she's got a link.
but elaine gets about 7 requests for link exchanges lately. (last month it was 10.) from the girly-girls. she doesn't even reply. she knows the sites that burned me. she knows they'll probably burn her too.
it's my site. if i'm going to do it, i'm going to say something. it's worked well enough that i've got some really great and loyal readers. and it didn't come from 'links.'
i have what i need. so, no, i don't worry about losing anything that i don't have. (the support has always come from the community. they've given me support, they've given me word of mouth.)
so i'll speak my mind.
there's no support from the girly-girls. (among men outside the community, i've had support. i am aware of that and thankful for that.) but, hey, they were nowhere to be found when sandra day o'connor retired. all of them. big girly-girls, little girly-girls. they were off writing about vacations or cats or silly tv shows they were shakespeare. so it's not like we'd have the same audience. (1 wrote about it, later in the day. i enjoyed that post. of course i enjoyed it several hours before when c.i. had posted it. if you're going to steal, probably shouldn't do it word for word. but that gives you an idea of the girly-girls.) i don't even remember the girly-girls noting the death of molly yard. they probably didn't know who she was.
like when they were all, panties in a wad, screaming 'newsweek owes susan faludi an apology.' let me go to ava & c.i.'s 'about the women' because i thought they 'served' the girly-girls up perfectly with that:
Take one site which actually blogged on Iraq this week (for a change). They did it about an Abu Ghraib trial and only because a female carried a book to the trial with a one word title that rhymes with "runt," but hey, they're doing their part, right? No comments on Iraq or even Abu Ghraib but that book title, gotta' love it!
Why they're so on top of things they also noted the 'clarification' Newsweek offered last week for creating a "fact" about a woman being more likely to be killed by a terrorist than married after a certain age. They even noted that Susan Faludi revealed (in 1991) that the claim wasn't true. After that, it got a little confusing for them. They started wondering if now Newsweek would apologize to Susan Faludi?
For what exactly? They ran a story in 1986 and she debunked it in 1991 (in Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women). Why does the magazine owe her an apology? They may owe everyone, male and female, who read the article in 1986 an apology, but why would they owe Faludi an apology? It makes no sense (neither does ignoring the war). But for the sake of argument, let's defy logic and just nod and say, "Newsweek owes Susan Faludi an apology!" Well it's a shame they waited so long, a little while ago and they could have just written "I'm sorry" on her paycheck. (The screamers for an apology to Faludi from Newsweek are aware that Newsweek hired Faludi as a contributing editor in the late nineties and that she worked for the publication until recently, right?)
no, they weren't. it's the difference between knowing what you're writing about and just offering hot air. the girly-girls usually offer a lot of hot air.
as i've said before, i think we've allowed feminism to be far too elastic. there are no 'pro-life feminists' - not if they're advocating taking the rights away from women. that's not feminism. you can be against abortion for yourself but when you advocate that no woman should have an abortion, you've left the feminist world.
i'll stop here but may pick up tomorrow on this topic. trina had a wonderful point, early on, about the girly-girls and how they love to flaunt their ignorance. i'm going to call her and see if she remembers when that post was. i think it was her 3rd or 4th post. but i want to talk to her and see if she has anything to add. (i'm betting she does.)
here's c.i.'s 'Iraq snapshot:'
Monday, August 28, 2006 and chaos and violence continue in Iraq, England's defense minister attempts to bring back Top Of Pops -- live from Baghdad -- as Operation Happy Talk continues to reject reality, eight US soldiers died on Saturday and Sundy, and, in Australia, Soldier 14's DNA argument is rejected by a forensic expert in the military inquiry into the April 21st death of Jake Kovco.
On Sunday, as Ellen Knickmeyer (Washington Post) reported, "Gunmen and bombers claimed at least 69 lives in Iraq". That would be the same Sunday that puppet of the occupation (officially billed as prime minister) Nouri al-Maliki declared on CNN, "In Iraq we'll never be in a civil war." Downplaying "unemployment as high as 40 percent,"
al-Maliki stuck to the Operation Happy Talk latest wave, "But this is a new Iraq."
Speaking Sunday on The KPFA Evening News, Antonia Juhasz responded to the latest wave of Happy Talk by noting, "The statements run counter to the facts that, well have been on display every day on our televisions, but even in mainstream media, of violence increasing between Iraqis, between the Shia and Sunni, but also violence increasing tremendously against the presence of the occupation, against US forces. Security is definitely down in Iraq, as are basic services. What is, what is up is Bush administration pressure on the Maliki government to put up a better public face."
Juhasz, the author of The BU$H Agenda: Invading the World One Economy At A Time, will be at Camp Democracy in DC on September 5th and, Texas community members, she will begin a Texas speaking tour on September 26th.
On Monday, Des Browne, the British defense secretary, wanted to duet with his Iraqi counterpart Abdul Qader Jassim. Reuters reports the two held a publicity conference where they dueted on how things were looking up, things were looking up, things were looking up . . . They spoke in the heavily secure Green Zone, the bunker-like compound in the midst of Baghdad -- Baghdad being the site of the 'crackdown' with the huge influx of US soldiers since the 'crackdown' began on June 14th. Things are looking up? Apparently that means next week they might step a toe outside the Green Zone. Maybe just half a toe. In the meantime, possibly they could consider recording a duet of Ashford & Simpson penned Motown classics? "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing?"
The real thing? CNN reports that, when not dueting with Des Browne, Jassim was busy today "sending reinforcements to the Shiite city of Diwaniya to try to stem ongoing clashes that have resulted in the deaths of 23 Iraqi soldiers and 38 militia fighters". Reuters reports that: "Ahmed al-Haji, in charge of the town's main hospital, said the bodies of 25 soldiers and ine civilians have been brought in."
Bombings?
Sudarsan Raghavan and Ellen Knickmeyer (Washington Post) report that a car bomb went off "at a checkpoint leading into the Ministry of Interior" in Baghdad. Reuters puts the dead at 16 and the wounded at 47. AFP notes that, "The blast and the carnage in Diwaniya were [the] latest blow to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's campaign to convince Iraqis and the world that his government and security forces are up to the tast of restoring order in Iraq." The BBC reports that the Ministry was "frequently targeted in the past and is heavily guarded." In addition to that car bomb, Reuters reports that a roadside bomb in Baghdad claimed the life of one police officer and left two others wounded while, still in Baghdad, a civilian was injured by a roadside bomb. Another civilian was killed in western Baghdad, according to the AP, who notes the dead was in "a car transporting five barbershop workers" and that four were wounded.
Today, Reuters reports, the US military announced six US soldiers died from bombings in Baghdad yesterday: "Four . . . killed by one roadside bomb north of Baghdad and two others killed by separate devices around the capital". AP notes that if you put together Saturday and Sunday's count, eight US soldiers "in and around Baghdad." 8 US troops dead and US military flack wants to brag, "We have reduced the amount of violence. We are actually seeing progress out there."? Try "Iraq: This is what failure looks like" (The Third Estate Sunday Review).
Shootings?
Reuters reports a a police officer was shot dead in front of his house in Mosul, that three other police officers were shot dead "in separate attacks", and that "two women and one man" were shot dead ("members of the same family). AFP reports: "A security official says gunmen have also killed four of former Sunni deputy prime minister Abd Mutlaq al-Juburi's bodyguards in an ambus on their car in Baghdad's Ameriyah neighborhood."
Corpses?
Reuters reports four corpses were discovered in Baghdad ("gunshot wounds").
Maybe Caldwell can join Browne and Jassim as some sort of power-trio? They couldn't cut it as Cream or The Jimi Hendrix Experience, but possibly as some sort of homage to Grand Funk Railroad they could have some chart success? There first single could be "Ride That Wave (Of Happy Talk)".
They might want to review, before warbeling again, what Nancy A. Youssef and Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reported Sunday: that families are swapping houses in Baghdad "as Iraqis find themselves searching for ways to avoid becoming vitctim to Baghdad's increasingly vicious cycle of sectarian violence. Shiite families in Sunni neighborhoods and Sunni families in Shiite neighborhoods change places."
In peace news, Ehren Watada's case was addressed by Charles Burress (San Francisco Chronicle) this weekend and he noted that some Japanese-American war vets were against Watada and, as Joan noted this morning, so is Daneil Inouye.
Speaking on Sunday's The KPFA Evening News, Bob Watada (father of Ehren) explained that people need "to get behind him so that the military knows that what he did, the steps he has taken, and why he's taken these steps is-is-is for democracy, he refused to kill Iraqis, innocent Iraqis, and he's spoken out on it and we're talking about free speech so we need people to support Ehren for standing up [for] the Constitution." Jim McMahan (Workers World) notes, "Many people now consider Watada's statements to be not only his right but his duty."
Again: Cedric (Cedric's Big Mix) is advising those calling Donald Rumsfeld (703-545-6700) or mailing him (1000 Defense Pentagon, Washington, DC 20301-1000) to say: "Hands off Ehren Watada! Let him go." Billie advises that you can use public@defenselink.mil to e-mail the Pentagon. She suggests "Re: Ehren Watad" or "ATTN: DONALD RUMSFELD." Courage to Resist and ThankYouLt.org. will continue to offer resources, ideas and inspiration. Get the word out.
Ehren Watada refused to deploy to Iraq (the first officer to have done so publicly) because it is an illegal war. Other resisters have found other ways of refusing. Peter Laufer (Times of London) reports on four who went to Canada: Darrell Anderson: "Soldiers were describing to me how they had beaten prisoners to death."; Joshua Key: ""We was going along the Euphrates river. It's a road right in the city of Ramadi. We turned a sharp right and all I seen was decapitated bodies. The heads laying over here and the bodies over there and US troops in between them."; Ryan Johnson: "I had two choices: go to Iraq and have my life messed up, or go to jail and have my life messed up. So I came here to try this out."; Ivan Brobeck: "I have seen the beating of innocent prisoners. I remember hearing something get thrown off the back of a seven-ton truck. The bed of a seven-ton is probably something like 7 or 8ft high. They threw a detainee off the back, his hands tied behind his back and a sandbag over his head, so he couldn't brace for the impact." Peter Laufer's most recent book is Mission Rejected: U.S. Soldiers Who Say No to Iraq.
In other news of resistance, Bully Boy's latest vacation didn't go as quietly as he might have hoped. From Sunday's The KPFA Evening News, Vanessa Tait: "Anti-war protestors have followed President Bush to Maine at his summer house in Kennebunkport. An estimated 700 anti-war demonstrators got to within an half-mile of the Bush compound in Kennebunkport yesterday before being stopped at a security checkpoint. They sang, chanted, beat drums and waves signs calling on the president to bring US troops home from Iraq." AFP reported Saturday that Jamilla El-Shafei stated: "Our message to President Bush is: We want the troops brought back home, we want democracy to be restored, we want you to stop trampling on our civil rights."
Things were chilly for US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld as well when he was in Alaska Saturday meeting with military families. Kristin Roberts (Reuters) reports that the questioning got a little intense in a closed-to-the-press encounter. Roberts quotes Jennifer Davis, "wife of one soldier in Iraq," as stating, "I think it was a show."
Cindy Sheehan remains in Crawford, Texas at Camp Casey III and notes "and hoping to be back on my feet . . . to go and protest George with Mayor Rocky [Anderson] in Salt Lake City and be up and about when he comes back to Crawford for the Labor Day Weekend. Apparently George Bush is a 'regular guy' who meets with his constituents, so I am looking forward to finally getting the meeting with him that I have been asking for all year long." Sheehan recently had surgery ("hoping to be back on my feet"). August 31st is the day of action in Salt Lake City, when Bully Boy (who arrives August 30th) make a speech there.
And CODEPINK's Troops Home Fast is on the fifty-fifth day of action with at least 4,833 people participating (that's how many have registered their participation at the site). The action continues up to September 21st. Those wanting to take part can grab a one-day only fast, a one-day a week fast or something longer (on longer, seek advice from your medical adviser).
In Australia, the military inquiry into the April 21st Bagdad death of Jake Kovco continues. To recap in light of today's issue, Soldier 14 testified Friday and denied 'silent cocking' Jake Kovco's gun. Soldier 14 also continued to maintain (as he did on August 21st and as he did on August 18th ) that he did not touch Jake Kovco's gun the day Kovco died. On Kovco's gun, which is thought to have been the gun that killed him, DNA other than Jake Kovco's was found. Soldier 14 has suggested that a share radio, megaphone, etc. may have led to his DNA being transferred to Jake Kovco and Jake Kovco then transferred Soldier 14's DNA to the Kovco gun. On August 18th, the results of DNA analysis were testified to in the hearing by Michelle Fanco, forensic biologist, who stated that a match could be made of Soldier 14's DNA and the DNA found on the slide of Jake Kovco's gun. Other DNA may have matched Soldier 14 as well and some press reports stated it did; however, Franco testified that only the DNA on the gun's slide could be considered a conclusive match.
Today, Michelle Franco testified to the hearing again.Australia's ABC notes "forensic expert Michelle Franco told the inquiry it was more likely that the presence of Soldier 14's DNA on Private Kovco's gun was from direct contact." Malcolm Brown (Sydney Morning Herald) reports that Michelle Franco ("of the NSW Department of Health's Analytical Laboratories) rejected the idea that one person's DNA could transfer via an object to another person and then to an object required a very specific time frame and stated "[a]fter 10 minutes it could probably be found but after 30 minutes it would be virtually all gone." Belinda Tasker (The Age) reports that although Jake Kovco and Soldier 14 were on duty together the day of his death: "Given Private Kovco had changed out of his combat gear after finishing duty with Soldier 14 at the Australiam embassy compound in Baghdad, any traces of Soldier 14's DNA on his hands probably would have been wiped off, she said." In addition to the issue of timing, there is the DNA found on the slide which matched Soldier 14's DNA. The Australian reports that Franco also noted the "concentration" of Soldier's 14 DNA on the gun's slide. Malcolm Brown reports: "Had Soldier 14's DNA been deposited onto the pistol in the way he suggested, she would not have expected it to be the major component of the DNA." Meaning it would be secondary and not "a greater concentration" than Jake Kovco's. Belinda Tasker reports that when Jake Kovco's parents' attorney Lt. Col. Frank Holles asked Franco if her testimony meant that Soldier 14 handled Jake Kovco's gun and Franco responded, "It is consistent with that." Jake Kovco's parents are Judy and Martin Kovco, his widow is Shelley Kovco. Soldier 14 is expected to be called to testify re: the latest DNA testimony. Tasker closes with: "Soldier 14, who has refused to be interviewed by police about the DNA tests, will return to the Syndey inquiry tomorrow for more cross-examination."
Friday, we noted the burial of British soldier Jason Chelsea who took his own life (he was nineteen) "because he feared . . he might have to shoot children" (BBC) as he maintained he'd been told during his military training. Felicity Arbuthnot (Palestine Chronicle) provides more details of Jason Chelsea which include that he "joined the Regiment at sixteen" and that, in his final moments, he told his mother, "I can't go out there and shoot at young children. I just can't go to Iraq. I don't care what side they are on. I can't do it."
in 2001, near the end of his 1st year, he did nothing. in 2005, near the end of his 1st year of his second term, he did nothing. it's 2006 and that means 2007 is war with iran. he just repeats himself. (2003, for any who've forgotten, is when the illegal war with iraq began.)
2nd, required reading, c.i.'s 'It takes a War Pornographer.' oh my god. i read that and thought, 'this is over 24 hours after c.i. got up.' i mean we're talking 24 hours with no sleep. we're talking a very difficult edition during which ava & c.i. repeatedly said they didn't think they could write even 1 tv commentary. they were tired. they were tired 1/2 way into the edition.
but they wrote 3 tv commentaries:
TV: Washington Weak
TV: Make Room For Bully peters out
TV: Vanishing
they did other stuff as well, participated in the writing of other pieces, but writing 3 was something they didn't want to do, they were tired, they were both falling asleep during the edition (ava started drinking coffee, c.i. started eating chocolate - and they were still tired and yawning throughout the edition). and then, c.i. turns around, at the end of 24 hours plus with no sleep and writes 'It takes a War Pornographer'? that still amazes me. it's the best thing you'll see on the topic though elaine and i both think most won't bother to weigh in.
what's it about? sexually exciting u.s. armed forces in iraq with little outlet (other than rosy palm). the 'answer' for the troops today is to give them a t&a show. good thing no troops have been accused of raping civilians, right? is there a more idiotic thing? it was idiotic during vietnam, it's idiotic today. but some 1 had the bright idea that cock teases needed to go into iraq. they'll tease and tease but who's going to be there when the 'gun' goes off?
and exactly how does this help us women serving in iraq? as c.i. pointed out, if they're lesbians (and might be turned on), they can't acknowledge that unless they want to be drummed out of the service under don't ask-don't tell. if they're straight, not only are they going to have to put up with 'jokes' that probably border on or are sexual harrassment (think of what suzanne swift went through) but they're also going to have to wonder where the beefcake is?
if you're going to exploit, do it equally.
by the way, 53 u.s. troops have died in iraq thus far in august. not that many pay attention to it. they're dabblers. looking for the latest cause bandwagon to jump onto. they got bored with iraq. they wanted the war to end, but goodness, golly, it's such work. so better that they move on and independent media has moved on. from amy goodman on down (or on up), they've moved on. 69 iraqi deaths made it into this morning's paper (for sunday) today and you know there were more. but 69 made it in and where the hell is independent media? darfur? israel?
they're a bunch of dabblers. they can't follow through.
they lose interest and move on to something else. to them 'eye on the prize' is just a mini-series they can't get due to copyright issues. they're bored, so they don't cover it.
what is it amy goodman ridiculed the new york times on? their response about to the misreporting on the anti-war protests against the war in iraq: 'it's a matter of emphasis.' well amy goodman and company have demonstrated that their own 'matter of emphasis' is seriously flawed. a dabbler, that's what she's become. you've got an ongoing fast, you've got people dying in iraq, you've got ehren watada, you've got a whole host of things to report on but she's bored with iraq and needs to dabble elsewhere. dabble, dabble, dabble.
what a joke she's become. people used to really look up to her and think, 'here's some 1 who takes the war seriously.' for 2 months now, she's demonstrated how unseriously she takes the iraq war. that ought to help the sales of her new book!
i asked c.i., who still listens to the show, 'are you going to buy the book?' the reply, 'i don't think so.' if any 1 doing a site in this community was going to buy the book, it would be c.i. my next question was, 'are you not buying it because you'll end up getting it for free?' no. not buying, not receiving and not reading.
like the last one, this 1 is credited to 'amy and david goodman' which always made me wonder about the last book. it's written by the sister and the brother so why does it use 'i' all the time? is it 'as told to david goodman'? i've heard of the royal 'we,' but never a royal 'i.'
she had her day in the sun. those days appear to be over and it's her own fault. she could cover iraq and i think even mike would overlook the last 2 months when war was treated as an after thought. (that's my opinion, mike might disagree.) but that hasn't happened.
dabble, dabble, dabble.
and we wonder why the war drags on?
what else? let me note ruth's 'Ruth's Report' and betty's 'On Our Vacation, Thomas Friedman Got Burned' and trina's 'Mixed Greens with Honey and Oranges in the Kitchen.' those went up this weekend, in case you missed them.
steve young's got a post entitled 'Note to Air America: Watch The Daily Show,' and while i agree with his critique of air america radio in some instances, i was also left to wonder if he knew that air america already attempted humor in its early days. for the 1st year, unfiltered attempted to do just what he suggests. janeane also attempted to do humor. then the majority report turned into non-stop screaming and ranting (and squealing) from sam seder. but lizz winstead actually attempted this with many of the shows (she was more than a co-host of unfiltered). it's ratings were higher then so i'm not suggesting it didn't work. but i am saying, it's not that they need to try something new, it's that they need to get back to their original formula.
i don't think he realizes that lizz (who was a creator of the original daily show) did start the shows off that way. as i've noted before, i'll listen to randi and to laura. mike if i've got time. (and can remember. before the majority report became the sam seder show, i could listen all the way through.) oh, the majority report? right now not on the fall schedule.
ha-ha!
who would want to listen to sam seder for five minutes let alone an hour? (no 1 judging by the ratings. and they'll only get worse now that janeane's gone.)
as long as people are discussing what to do with air america, let me bring up something i've brought up before (and i believe we've addressed it at the third estate sunday review as well), does any 1 notice that beside laura's show, women aren't guests? sam seder could go a week with 2 women and how many men? the network is too white and too male. the problem's only gotten worse. i never did understand why fair, which studies race and gender ratios on guests, never felt the need to study air america.
is the point to improve things for women and people of all colors? if that's the point, then they need to study the air america guests. if it's just about sticking it to the big tv networks and cable channels, then just admit that you don't give a damn about representation, you just want to needle cable and networks.
but that appears to be the state of the left today, everywhere, it's not just 1 organization or group, there can be no critiques of it from the left. maybe if there were, maybe if fair turned their eye to the left, we could get iraq covered again? as it is, the left should be ashamed (not just amy goodman) because the coverage of iraq has gotten so rare that you'd think it was the invasion of grenada and not a war going on it's 4th year, started by the u.s. government.
bobby e-mailed me and i did make a point to try to catch up on e-mails from people who aren't regular readers of this site. (i failed, but i read bobby's.) he wanted to know if i felt i was hurting myself by critiquing the left?
how? i like fair. if they're offended by my comments, oh well (as cedric would say). i mean, it's not like they've ever linked to me. they're not as bad as some of the girly-girls posing as feminists (if feminism means you repeat the mainstream critiques and babble on about about shopping - feminism is supposed to critique consumerism). elaine won't link to most woman who writes to her for a link. there's a reason for that.
i did. i gave out 41 links in the time i've done this site, according to elaine who kept track, to the girly-girls. 'rebecca, i love your site. let's exchange links.' i'd write back, 'great, we need more women online and we need to be aware of them.' they'd write back that they hadn't linked to me yet but they were about to. they were always about to. when elaine substituted for me in the summer of 2005, the 1st thing she did was drop 13 girly-girls who had many months to link to me but never did. i guess writing about your vacations takes a lot of time?
elaine said, before she filled in for me, 'rebecca, you're being just like c.i.!' and i was. c.i. doesn't care. that stuff doesn't matter. if it happens to a friend, it matters, if it happens to c.i., it doesn't. i've lectured c.i. for years (decades) that 'you need to fight for yourself as much as you fight for every 1 else.' and i mean that (even now).
but i didn't do that with the links. it took elaine to pull the last of them. they'd write and sometimes say something like 'you know, right now, i can't link to you but i will soon.' apparently i was too controversial. no problem. but if i'm so controversial (elaine's point) then you probably don't want a link from me for fear of being tarred by association.
i have susan (random thoughts) on my links and she may be the only 1. she never wrote. she never said, 'link to me and i'll link to you.' sherry pointed out to me that susan linked to me so i thought 'thank you!' (and i mean that.) i don't know her, i've never e-mailed her and she's never e-mailed me. but i've got a link and she's got a link.
but elaine gets about 7 requests for link exchanges lately. (last month it was 10.) from the girly-girls. she doesn't even reply. she knows the sites that burned me. she knows they'll probably burn her too.
it's my site. if i'm going to do it, i'm going to say something. it's worked well enough that i've got some really great and loyal readers. and it didn't come from 'links.'
i have what i need. so, no, i don't worry about losing anything that i don't have. (the support has always come from the community. they've given me support, they've given me word of mouth.)
so i'll speak my mind.
there's no support from the girly-girls. (among men outside the community, i've had support. i am aware of that and thankful for that.) but, hey, they were nowhere to be found when sandra day o'connor retired. all of them. big girly-girls, little girly-girls. they were off writing about vacations or cats or silly tv shows they were shakespeare. so it's not like we'd have the same audience. (1 wrote about it, later in the day. i enjoyed that post. of course i enjoyed it several hours before when c.i. had posted it. if you're going to steal, probably shouldn't do it word for word. but that gives you an idea of the girly-girls.) i don't even remember the girly-girls noting the death of molly yard. they probably didn't know who she was.
like when they were all, panties in a wad, screaming 'newsweek owes susan faludi an apology.' let me go to ava & c.i.'s 'about the women' because i thought they 'served' the girly-girls up perfectly with that:
Take one site which actually blogged on Iraq this week (for a change). They did it about an Abu Ghraib trial and only because a female carried a book to the trial with a one word title that rhymes with "runt," but hey, they're doing their part, right? No comments on Iraq or even Abu Ghraib but that book title, gotta' love it!
Why they're so on top of things they also noted the 'clarification' Newsweek offered last week for creating a "fact" about a woman being more likely to be killed by a terrorist than married after a certain age. They even noted that Susan Faludi revealed (in 1991) that the claim wasn't true. After that, it got a little confusing for them. They started wondering if now Newsweek would apologize to Susan Faludi?
For what exactly? They ran a story in 1986 and she debunked it in 1991 (in Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women). Why does the magazine owe her an apology? They may owe everyone, male and female, who read the article in 1986 an apology, but why would they owe Faludi an apology? It makes no sense (neither does ignoring the war). But for the sake of argument, let's defy logic and just nod and say, "Newsweek owes Susan Faludi an apology!" Well it's a shame they waited so long, a little while ago and they could have just written "I'm sorry" on her paycheck. (The screamers for an apology to Faludi from Newsweek are aware that Newsweek hired Faludi as a contributing editor in the late nineties and that she worked for the publication until recently, right?)
no, they weren't. it's the difference between knowing what you're writing about and just offering hot air. the girly-girls usually offer a lot of hot air.
as i've said before, i think we've allowed feminism to be far too elastic. there are no 'pro-life feminists' - not if they're advocating taking the rights away from women. that's not feminism. you can be against abortion for yourself but when you advocate that no woman should have an abortion, you've left the feminist world.
i'll stop here but may pick up tomorrow on this topic. trina had a wonderful point, early on, about the girly-girls and how they love to flaunt their ignorance. i'm going to call her and see if she remembers when that post was. i think it was her 3rd or 4th post. but i want to talk to her and see if she has anything to add. (i'm betting she does.)
here's c.i.'s 'Iraq snapshot:'
Monday, August 28, 2006 and chaos and violence continue in Iraq, England's defense minister attempts to bring back Top Of Pops -- live from Baghdad -- as Operation Happy Talk continues to reject reality, eight US soldiers died on Saturday and Sundy, and, in Australia, Soldier 14's DNA argument is rejected by a forensic expert in the military inquiry into the April 21st death of Jake Kovco.
On Sunday, as Ellen Knickmeyer (Washington Post) reported, "Gunmen and bombers claimed at least 69 lives in Iraq". That would be the same Sunday that puppet of the occupation (officially billed as prime minister) Nouri al-Maliki declared on CNN, "In Iraq we'll never be in a civil war." Downplaying "unemployment as high as 40 percent,"
al-Maliki stuck to the Operation Happy Talk latest wave, "But this is a new Iraq."
Speaking Sunday on The KPFA Evening News, Antonia Juhasz responded to the latest wave of Happy Talk by noting, "The statements run counter to the facts that, well have been on display every day on our televisions, but even in mainstream media, of violence increasing between Iraqis, between the Shia and Sunni, but also violence increasing tremendously against the presence of the occupation, against US forces. Security is definitely down in Iraq, as are basic services. What is, what is up is Bush administration pressure on the Maliki government to put up a better public face."
Juhasz, the author of The BU$H Agenda: Invading the World One Economy At A Time, will be at Camp Democracy in DC on September 5th and, Texas community members, she will begin a Texas speaking tour on September 26th.
On Monday, Des Browne, the British defense secretary, wanted to duet with his Iraqi counterpart Abdul Qader Jassim. Reuters reports the two held a publicity conference where they dueted on how things were looking up, things were looking up, things were looking up . . . They spoke in the heavily secure Green Zone, the bunker-like compound in the midst of Baghdad -- Baghdad being the site of the 'crackdown' with the huge influx of US soldiers since the 'crackdown' began on June 14th. Things are looking up? Apparently that means next week they might step a toe outside the Green Zone. Maybe just half a toe. In the meantime, possibly they could consider recording a duet of Ashford & Simpson penned Motown classics? "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing?"
The real thing? CNN reports that, when not dueting with Des Browne, Jassim was busy today "sending reinforcements to the Shiite city of Diwaniya to try to stem ongoing clashes that have resulted in the deaths of 23 Iraqi soldiers and 38 militia fighters". Reuters reports that: "Ahmed al-Haji, in charge of the town's main hospital, said the bodies of 25 soldiers and ine civilians have been brought in."
Bombings?
Sudarsan Raghavan and Ellen Knickmeyer (Washington Post) report that a car bomb went off "at a checkpoint leading into the Ministry of Interior" in Baghdad. Reuters puts the dead at 16 and the wounded at 47. AFP notes that, "The blast and the carnage in Diwaniya were [the] latest blow to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's campaign to convince Iraqis and the world that his government and security forces are up to the tast of restoring order in Iraq." The BBC reports that the Ministry was "frequently targeted in the past and is heavily guarded." In addition to that car bomb, Reuters reports that a roadside bomb in Baghdad claimed the life of one police officer and left two others wounded while, still in Baghdad, a civilian was injured by a roadside bomb. Another civilian was killed in western Baghdad, according to the AP, who notes the dead was in "a car transporting five barbershop workers" and that four were wounded.
Today, Reuters reports, the US military announced six US soldiers died from bombings in Baghdad yesterday: "Four . . . killed by one roadside bomb north of Baghdad and two others killed by separate devices around the capital". AP notes that if you put together Saturday and Sunday's count, eight US soldiers "in and around Baghdad." 8 US troops dead and US military flack wants to brag, "We have reduced the amount of violence. We are actually seeing progress out there."? Try "Iraq: This is what failure looks like" (The Third Estate Sunday Review).
Shootings?
Reuters reports a a police officer was shot dead in front of his house in Mosul, that three other police officers were shot dead "in separate attacks", and that "two women and one man" were shot dead ("members of the same family). AFP reports: "A security official says gunmen have also killed four of former Sunni deputy prime minister Abd Mutlaq al-Juburi's bodyguards in an ambus on their car in Baghdad's Ameriyah neighborhood."
Corpses?
Reuters reports four corpses were discovered in Baghdad ("gunshot wounds").
Maybe Caldwell can join Browne and Jassim as some sort of power-trio? They couldn't cut it as Cream or The Jimi Hendrix Experience, but possibly as some sort of homage to Grand Funk Railroad they could have some chart success? There first single could be "Ride That Wave (Of Happy Talk)".
They might want to review, before warbeling again, what Nancy A. Youssef and Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reported Sunday: that families are swapping houses in Baghdad "as Iraqis find themselves searching for ways to avoid becoming vitctim to Baghdad's increasingly vicious cycle of sectarian violence. Shiite families in Sunni neighborhoods and Sunni families in Shiite neighborhoods change places."
In peace news, Ehren Watada's case was addressed by Charles Burress (San Francisco Chronicle) this weekend and he noted that some Japanese-American war vets were against Watada and, as Joan noted this morning, so is Daneil Inouye.
Speaking on Sunday's The KPFA Evening News, Bob Watada (father of Ehren) explained that people need "to get behind him so that the military knows that what he did, the steps he has taken, and why he's taken these steps is-is-is for democracy, he refused to kill Iraqis, innocent Iraqis, and he's spoken out on it and we're talking about free speech so we need people to support Ehren for standing up [for] the Constitution." Jim McMahan (Workers World) notes, "Many people now consider Watada's statements to be not only his right but his duty."
Again: Cedric (Cedric's Big Mix) is advising those calling Donald Rumsfeld (703-545-6700) or mailing him (1000 Defense Pentagon, Washington, DC 20301-1000) to say: "Hands off Ehren Watada! Let him go." Billie advises that you can use public@defenselink.mil to e-mail the Pentagon. She suggests "Re: Ehren Watad" or "ATTN: DONALD RUMSFELD." Courage to Resist and ThankYouLt.org. will continue to offer resources, ideas and inspiration. Get the word out.
Ehren Watada refused to deploy to Iraq (the first officer to have done so publicly) because it is an illegal war. Other resisters have found other ways of refusing. Peter Laufer (Times of London) reports on four who went to Canada: Darrell Anderson: "Soldiers were describing to me how they had beaten prisoners to death."; Joshua Key: ""We was going along the Euphrates river. It's a road right in the city of Ramadi. We turned a sharp right and all I seen was decapitated bodies. The heads laying over here and the bodies over there and US troops in between them."; Ryan Johnson: "I had two choices: go to Iraq and have my life messed up, or go to jail and have my life messed up. So I came here to try this out."; Ivan Brobeck: "I have seen the beating of innocent prisoners. I remember hearing something get thrown off the back of a seven-ton truck. The bed of a seven-ton is probably something like 7 or 8ft high. They threw a detainee off the back, his hands tied behind his back and a sandbag over his head, so he couldn't brace for the impact." Peter Laufer's most recent book is Mission Rejected: U.S. Soldiers Who Say No to Iraq.
In other news of resistance, Bully Boy's latest vacation didn't go as quietly as he might have hoped. From Sunday's The KPFA Evening News, Vanessa Tait: "Anti-war protestors have followed President Bush to Maine at his summer house in Kennebunkport. An estimated 700 anti-war demonstrators got to within an half-mile of the Bush compound in Kennebunkport yesterday before being stopped at a security checkpoint. They sang, chanted, beat drums and waves signs calling on the president to bring US troops home from Iraq." AFP reported Saturday that Jamilla El-Shafei stated: "Our message to President Bush is: We want the troops brought back home, we want democracy to be restored, we want you to stop trampling on our civil rights."
Things were chilly for US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld as well when he was in Alaska Saturday meeting with military families. Kristin Roberts (Reuters) reports that the questioning got a little intense in a closed-to-the-press encounter. Roberts quotes Jennifer Davis, "wife of one soldier in Iraq," as stating, "I think it was a show."
Cindy Sheehan remains in Crawford, Texas at Camp Casey III and notes "and hoping to be back on my feet . . . to go and protest George with Mayor Rocky [Anderson] in Salt Lake City and be up and about when he comes back to Crawford for the Labor Day Weekend. Apparently George Bush is a 'regular guy' who meets with his constituents, so I am looking forward to finally getting the meeting with him that I have been asking for all year long." Sheehan recently had surgery ("hoping to be back on my feet"). August 31st is the day of action in Salt Lake City, when Bully Boy (who arrives August 30th) make a speech there.
And CODEPINK's Troops Home Fast is on the fifty-fifth day of action with at least 4,833 people participating (that's how many have registered their participation at the site). The action continues up to September 21st. Those wanting to take part can grab a one-day only fast, a one-day a week fast or something longer (on longer, seek advice from your medical adviser).
In Australia, the military inquiry into the April 21st Bagdad death of Jake Kovco continues. To recap in light of today's issue, Soldier 14 testified Friday and denied 'silent cocking' Jake Kovco's gun. Soldier 14 also continued to maintain (as he did on August 21st and as he did on August 18th ) that he did not touch Jake Kovco's gun the day Kovco died. On Kovco's gun, which is thought to have been the gun that killed him, DNA other than Jake Kovco's was found. Soldier 14 has suggested that a share radio, megaphone, etc. may have led to his DNA being transferred to Jake Kovco and Jake Kovco then transferred Soldier 14's DNA to the Kovco gun. On August 18th, the results of DNA analysis were testified to in the hearing by Michelle Fanco, forensic biologist, who stated that a match could be made of Soldier 14's DNA and the DNA found on the slide of Jake Kovco's gun. Other DNA may have matched Soldier 14 as well and some press reports stated it did; however, Franco testified that only the DNA on the gun's slide could be considered a conclusive match.
Today, Michelle Franco testified to the hearing again.Australia's ABC notes "forensic expert Michelle Franco told the inquiry it was more likely that the presence of Soldier 14's DNA on Private Kovco's gun was from direct contact." Malcolm Brown (Sydney Morning Herald) reports that Michelle Franco ("of the NSW Department of Health's Analytical Laboratories) rejected the idea that one person's DNA could transfer via an object to another person and then to an object required a very specific time frame and stated "[a]fter 10 minutes it could probably be found but after 30 minutes it would be virtually all gone." Belinda Tasker (The Age) reports that although Jake Kovco and Soldier 14 were on duty together the day of his death: "Given Private Kovco had changed out of his combat gear after finishing duty with Soldier 14 at the Australiam embassy compound in Baghdad, any traces of Soldier 14's DNA on his hands probably would have been wiped off, she said." In addition to the issue of timing, there is the DNA found on the slide which matched Soldier 14's DNA. The Australian reports that Franco also noted the "concentration" of Soldier's 14 DNA on the gun's slide. Malcolm Brown reports: "Had Soldier 14's DNA been deposited onto the pistol in the way he suggested, she would not have expected it to be the major component of the DNA." Meaning it would be secondary and not "a greater concentration" than Jake Kovco's. Belinda Tasker reports that when Jake Kovco's parents' attorney Lt. Col. Frank Holles asked Franco if her testimony meant that Soldier 14 handled Jake Kovco's gun and Franco responded, "It is consistent with that." Jake Kovco's parents are Judy and Martin Kovco, his widow is Shelley Kovco. Soldier 14 is expected to be called to testify re: the latest DNA testimony. Tasker closes with: "Soldier 14, who has refused to be interviewed by police about the DNA tests, will return to the Syndey inquiry tomorrow for more cross-examination."
Friday, we noted the burial of British soldier Jason Chelsea who took his own life (he was nineteen) "because he feared . . he might have to shoot children" (BBC) as he maintained he'd been told during his military training. Felicity Arbuthnot (Palestine Chronicle) provides more details of Jason Chelsea which include that he "joined the Regiment at sixteen" and that, in his final moments, he told his mother, "I can't go out there and shoot at young children. I just can't go to Iraq. I don't care what side they are on. I can't do it."
8/25/2006
carl webb, joshua frank, ava & c.i. do their own 'podcast' commentary
Aug. 26 7:30 pm
Socialist Action Bookstore
298 Valencia St.
San Francisco
what's that? carl webb will be there on saturday discussing his resistance to the war. he discussed his resistance with dennis bernstein on wednesday's flashpoints. by the way, i've added it to the blogroll finally. in addition, i added the kpfa evening news to the blogroll. i didn't provide a link to it last night in my post - i forgot. for future use, if i forget or don't have time, you can go to the blogroll and pull it from there.
There are other reasons we ought not act on all of our humanitarian impulses, however well intentioned they may seem. Unlike Darfur, we've got wars going on in Iraq and Afghanistan that actually involve us. In fact, we are responsible for them. Want to help bring peace to the Middle East? Why not pressure the U.S. government to halt all funding to Israel? That'd be a heck of a start.
There are atrocities for which the U.S. government is culpable, but Darfur isn't one of them. So don't jump on the Save Darfur bandwagon it may only lead to more devastation.
what's that? it's joshua frank's 'save darfur?' at counterpunch and elaine e-mailed it to me today. the drums are pounding WAR-WAR-WAR and, here's the surprise, independent media is joining in.
i thought the point of independent media was supposed to be bravery? even in their huge excess of recent memory, they were (hopefully) attempting to be brave. but on darfur?
they run with the mainstream media's narrow frame. they simplify the history and appoint the same 'good' and 'bad' guys that the mainstream media has. apparently a number of 'human rights' groups are wanting war as well so we won't get any questioning from independent media, we'll only get the war push.
people lap it up. they don't even bother to use common sense. joshua frank makes his points in many ways but for the excerpt above, i went with the common sense section.
'damn you & your husband.' that's what c.i. just said to me on the phone. fly boy called c.i. about a program on tv. (flyboy may have tivoed it. i'm not sure.) if i'd known, i would have said, 'it's not airing there right now.' but fly boy gave a heads up and c.i. and ava ended up chatting with him and downloading the program (it's available as a podcast). so fly boy was laughing throughout - that's where i come in. i went into the living room thinking mel brooks or some 1 else was on tv. i was expecting to see blazing saddles. fly boy was laughing at ava & c.i.'s running commentary to the non-intentionally funny program.
every now and then, fly boy would repeat something to me and i'd burst out laughing. they should write this, ava & c.i.
but, and this is where, when the phone was handed to me, that c.i. told me 'damn you & your husband' (it was a joke), the problem lies. they're already being asked to try for 2 tv commentaries this week as it is. that's a lot to ask.
i know why jim's asking it and i'm not dogging him for doing so. but i also know c.i.'s got the common ills, a very busy life and truly needs some sleep. ava's no pool side recliner herself. but they may end up writing this up. i don't know if that will fill in for 1 of the 2 requested or if they'll try for 3. (they may be so tired that they end up only turning in 1. if that's the case, no 1, including jim, will blame them for that.)
my favorite line involved the use of nancy walker. if they write up the review they did on the phone to fly boy, you'll see what i'm talking about. if they don't, well he got a blow by blow exclusive tv commentary and should feel honored. (he's on the phone to a friend repeating ava & c.i.'s jokes right now. he's still laughing.)
due to the 1/2 hour or so that took and then talking to them both on the phone, i'm running way behind time. so let me just say that the wheels are turning against ehren watada and we need to do our part to make sure that we get the word out and build support for him.
brave stands are tough. he's made 1. he needs support. you can read more about it in c.i.'s
"Iraq snapshot:"
Friday, August 25, 2006, chaos and violence continue in Iraq despite the wave of Operation Happy Talk launched yesterday by US military boys John Abizaid and George Casey that things are looking up and corners will be turned, equally laughable was Brit military boy Charlie Burbridge claiming that a base in Amara hadn't been abandoned. He offers a new punch line today. The inquiry into the death of Jake Kovco continues and Soldier 14 testifies again. But we'll start with the latest on Ehren Watada -- the first US officer to publicly refuse to deploy to Iraq.
"Late Thursday" J.C.Matthews told the AP that a recommendation had been reached by Lt. Colonel Mark Keith in Ehren Watada's Article 32 hearing. Gregg K. Kakesako (Honolulu Star-Bulletin) reports that the recommendation is "Ehren Watada face a general court-martial for failing to join his unit in Iraq" and Keith "has endorsed two other charges: conduct unbecoming an officer and contempt toward officials." Translation, Keith has endorsed all three charges made on July 5th. As the AP notes, "Keith could have recommended anything from dismissal of the charges to a general court-martial" as he weighed the issues and the testimony given on August 17th. Gregg K. Kakesako notes that Keith did feel that Ehren Watada was "sincere in his beliefs" which "should mitigate any future punishment" and Kakesako outlines the next step: "Keith's decision now goes to Col. Cynthia Murphy, U.S. Army Garrison commander at Fort Lewis, who will review it and then submit her recommendations to Lt. Gen James Dubik".
The AP quotes Ehren Watada's civilian attorney, Eric Seitz, stating: "We always believed that when they went so far as to convene an Article 32 hearing that they had alread made a decision to proceed." Hal Bernton (Seattle Times) notes Seitz was left "somewhat astounded" that the charges endorsed by Keith included anything other than "missing the troop movement" because of "important First Amendment issues" that surround the other two charges.
Sarah Olson (Truthout) reports this today (of the August 17th testimony of Denis Halliday: "Halliday was called to testify regarding the impace of war on the Iraqi people. 'The people of Iraq had become used to living under very difficult conditions after the destruction in the name of the United Nations by the United States of the civilian infrastructure, water supplies, sewer systems, electric power, use of depleted uranium and cluster bombs.' Halliday was prevented from providing complete testimony when the investigating officer presided over the Article 32 hearing ruled that the 'consequences of the war or the situation on the ground' were irrelevant to Lieutenant Watada's argument that the war was illegal and that he had an obligation to refuse to fight it." That is the most that's been written of Halliday's testimony to date (which, for the record, wasn't delivered via mime).
Bob Watada continues his speaking engagements in the San Francisco Bay Area to raise awareness of what his son, Ehren, is facing. The events include:
Fri. 8/25 7-10pm "Sir! No, Sir!" Film Screening & Speakers Santa Cruz Veterans Building Contact: Sharon Kufeldt 650-799-1070
Sat. 8/26 7-9pm Educational & Cultural Event Berkeley Friends Church; 1600 Sacramento St., Berkeley Contact: Betty Kano 510-684-0239
Sun. 8/27 4-6pm Speaking Event AFSC building, 65-Ninth St., SF Contact: Martha Hubert 415-647-1119
A complete list of the events Bob Watada will be taking part in can be found here.
Again: Cedric (Cedric's Big Mix) is advising those calling Donald Rumsfeld (703-545-6700) or mailing him (1000 Defense Pentagon, Washington, DC 20301-1000) to say: "Hands off Ehren Watada! Let him go." Billie advises that you can use public@defenselink.mil to e-mail the Pentagon. She suggests "Re: Ehren Watad" or "ATTN: DONALD RUMSFELD." Courage to Resist and ThankYouLt.org. will continue to offer resources, ideas and inspiration. Get the word out.
Turning to the illegal occupation, violence and chaos continues.
Bombings?
Reuters reports one Iraqi soldier dead and two others wounded from a roadside bomb in Rashad and a "hand-grenade attack on a market in Hawija" left three people wounded. AFP notes the death, late Thursday, of "an Iraqi army officer" with four soldiers left wounded.
Shootings?
AFP notes that five were killed by gunfire in Baquba, two in Tirkit (bakery workers) with three other people wounded,
Reuters notes that, in Nasiriya, gunfire claimed the lives of two and left two others wounded.
Corpses?
Reuters notes the discovery, in Qaim, of an Iraqi soldier ("signs of torture") while AFP notes that three corpses were discovered in Kirkuk ("tortured and bullet-riddled bodies").
In other violence, despite the British military flacks that were so eagerly allowed to spin in this this morning's New York Times, Haidar Hani (AP) reports: "Looters ravaged a former British base Friday . . . taking everything from doors and window frames to corrugated roofing and metal pipes". As Ross Colvin (Reuters) reported yesterday, the base, which had come under nightly, heavy attacks, was abandoned. The AP story today notes: "Iraqi authories had complained that the British withdrawal had caught them by surprise" and allows flack Charlie Burbridge to holler Not-true-we-gave-them-24-hours-notice! Well, Charlie, on a rental, you usually have to give a minimum of 30 days notice. But it is good to know that as they packed up everything they could carry, someone did think to make a quick call saying, "Hey, we're about to split. If there's anything you want, better grab it quick, dude!"
Along with an adequate heads up, Iraqi politicians have other complaints they're sharing. Aparism Ghosh (Time magazine) reports that Abdul-Azziz al-Hakim states that for over three years Iraqi politicians have persistently requested "and reliable evidence" that "Iran is interfering in Baghdad's affairs" only to be rebuffed. al-Hakim is quoted as saying, "[A]nd for three years we've told them, 'Show us proof.' But they never have." al-Hakim and others speaking to Ghosh make clear that they feel there is no proof and that Iran is being blamed to divert attention from the failure of the illegal war.
This as Aaron Glantz reports for OneWorld that Nuremberg prosecutor Benjamin Ferenczz has declared that Bully Boy and Saddam Hussein "should be tried for war crimes."
In Australia, the inquiry into the April 21st death of Baghdad of Jake Kovco continues.
Figuring into the most recent testimony were "NSW Police scientific officer Stephanie Hales" and Soldier 14. Soldier 14 has made mutliple appearances in the hearing. On August 9th, his testimony rejected the so-called buddy system where a pair was responsible for checking one another's weapons at the end of a shift (he also testified that what he said and what the military wrote up in his official statement were quite different). Last Friday, a DNA witness, Michelle Franco, identified some of the DNA on Jake Kovco's gun as belonging to Soldier 14. [Again from last Friday: The Herald-Sun reports that only the DNA "on the pistol's slide" were ruled by expert Franco to be a direct match (DNA on the "trigger, hand grip and magazine" are believed, by Franco, to be Soldier 14's but are "not direct matches."] Soldier 14 has maintained that he did not touch Jake Kovco's pistol (and he's refused to be questioned by the NSW).
At the start of this week, Soldier 14 again testified to the hearing and maintained that the DNA must have gotten on the pistol some other way such as via other equipment he acknowledges that he and Jake Kovco both handled such as a megaphone, a radio or telephone. Also in that testimony, Soldier 14 declared that "people" had warned him that Jake Kovco's widow, Shelley Kovco, was 'out to get him.' That was his excuse for avodiging her. Belinda Tasker (The Daily Telegraph) noted, of that testimony, that Soldier 14's avoidance of Shelley Kovco -- out of fear of being accused of something,apparently -- translates as Soldier 14 aoviding contact with her for "more than three months" and notes that Soldier 14 said "people were telling me" that Shelley Kovco was out to get him. Who these 'people' were warning him of Shelley Kovco will apparently not be explored.
That was some of the previous testimony. Today Soldier 14 testified again (not via video-link and remember he has stated he wants to get back to the apparent calm of Baghdad). Malcolm Brown (Sydney Morning Herald) reports that the issues today revolved around: "Did you silently cock Private Kovco's pistol?" which Soldier 14 asserted he did not. Soldier 14 has maintained that he saw Jake Kovco a few days prior to his death. Brown describes the process as "a silent cocking operation, where the weapon is stripped down, a round put in he chamber, then reassembled, leaving the round in the chamber." Soldier 14 will also be testifying Monday.
Stephanie Hales' testimony is characterized by the AAP as asserting that residue tests can not determine "whether Private Jake Kovco shot himself in Iraq or if someone else pulled the trigger" for a variety of reasons including the fact that Jake Kovco's "clothes . . . were destroyed," "the barracks room where PTE Kovco was shot was cleaned before NSW Police arrived in Baghdad to carry out their forensic tests," Jake Kovco's body was washed in a Kuwait morgue, Jake Kovco's hands were not wrapped "in paper bags" and the two roommates were allowed to shower and wash their clothing with no forensic tests being performed.
Finally, in England, British soldier Jason Chelsea has been buried. The BBC reports that the nineteen-year-old "killed himself because he feared . . . he might have to shoot children" as he asserted he had been told in his training. The BBC notes that:
"Earlier this month the MoD released figures showing 1,541 soldiers who served in Iraq are suffering from psychiatric illness."
Socialist Action Bookstore
298 Valencia St.
San Francisco
what's that? carl webb will be there on saturday discussing his resistance to the war. he discussed his resistance with dennis bernstein on wednesday's flashpoints. by the way, i've added it to the blogroll finally. in addition, i added the kpfa evening news to the blogroll. i didn't provide a link to it last night in my post - i forgot. for future use, if i forget or don't have time, you can go to the blogroll and pull it from there.
There are other reasons we ought not act on all of our humanitarian impulses, however well intentioned they may seem. Unlike Darfur, we've got wars going on in Iraq and Afghanistan that actually involve us. In fact, we are responsible for them. Want to help bring peace to the Middle East? Why not pressure the U.S. government to halt all funding to Israel? That'd be a heck of a start.
There are atrocities for which the U.S. government is culpable, but Darfur isn't one of them. So don't jump on the Save Darfur bandwagon it may only lead to more devastation.
what's that? it's joshua frank's 'save darfur?' at counterpunch and elaine e-mailed it to me today. the drums are pounding WAR-WAR-WAR and, here's the surprise, independent media is joining in.
i thought the point of independent media was supposed to be bravery? even in their huge excess of recent memory, they were (hopefully) attempting to be brave. but on darfur?
they run with the mainstream media's narrow frame. they simplify the history and appoint the same 'good' and 'bad' guys that the mainstream media has. apparently a number of 'human rights' groups are wanting war as well so we won't get any questioning from independent media, we'll only get the war push.
people lap it up. they don't even bother to use common sense. joshua frank makes his points in many ways but for the excerpt above, i went with the common sense section.
'damn you & your husband.' that's what c.i. just said to me on the phone. fly boy called c.i. about a program on tv. (flyboy may have tivoed it. i'm not sure.) if i'd known, i would have said, 'it's not airing there right now.' but fly boy gave a heads up and c.i. and ava ended up chatting with him and downloading the program (it's available as a podcast). so fly boy was laughing throughout - that's where i come in. i went into the living room thinking mel brooks or some 1 else was on tv. i was expecting to see blazing saddles. fly boy was laughing at ava & c.i.'s running commentary to the non-intentionally funny program.
every now and then, fly boy would repeat something to me and i'd burst out laughing. they should write this, ava & c.i.
but, and this is where, when the phone was handed to me, that c.i. told me 'damn you & your husband' (it was a joke), the problem lies. they're already being asked to try for 2 tv commentaries this week as it is. that's a lot to ask.
i know why jim's asking it and i'm not dogging him for doing so. but i also know c.i.'s got the common ills, a very busy life and truly needs some sleep. ava's no pool side recliner herself. but they may end up writing this up. i don't know if that will fill in for 1 of the 2 requested or if they'll try for 3. (they may be so tired that they end up only turning in 1. if that's the case, no 1, including jim, will blame them for that.)
my favorite line involved the use of nancy walker. if they write up the review they did on the phone to fly boy, you'll see what i'm talking about. if they don't, well he got a blow by blow exclusive tv commentary and should feel honored. (he's on the phone to a friend repeating ava & c.i.'s jokes right now. he's still laughing.)
due to the 1/2 hour or so that took and then talking to them both on the phone, i'm running way behind time. so let me just say that the wheels are turning against ehren watada and we need to do our part to make sure that we get the word out and build support for him.
brave stands are tough. he's made 1. he needs support. you can read more about it in c.i.'s
"Iraq snapshot:"
Friday, August 25, 2006, chaos and violence continue in Iraq despite the wave of Operation Happy Talk launched yesterday by US military boys John Abizaid and George Casey that things are looking up and corners will be turned, equally laughable was Brit military boy Charlie Burbridge claiming that a base in Amara hadn't been abandoned. He offers a new punch line today. The inquiry into the death of Jake Kovco continues and Soldier 14 testifies again. But we'll start with the latest on Ehren Watada -- the first US officer to publicly refuse to deploy to Iraq.
"Late Thursday" J.C.Matthews told the AP that a recommendation had been reached by Lt. Colonel Mark Keith in Ehren Watada's Article 32 hearing. Gregg K. Kakesako (Honolulu Star-Bulletin) reports that the recommendation is "Ehren Watada face a general court-martial for failing to join his unit in Iraq" and Keith "has endorsed two other charges: conduct unbecoming an officer and contempt toward officials." Translation, Keith has endorsed all three charges made on July 5th. As the AP notes, "Keith could have recommended anything from dismissal of the charges to a general court-martial" as he weighed the issues and the testimony given on August 17th. Gregg K. Kakesako notes that Keith did feel that Ehren Watada was "sincere in his beliefs" which "should mitigate any future punishment" and Kakesako outlines the next step: "Keith's decision now goes to Col. Cynthia Murphy, U.S. Army Garrison commander at Fort Lewis, who will review it and then submit her recommendations to Lt. Gen James Dubik".
The AP quotes Ehren Watada's civilian attorney, Eric Seitz, stating: "We always believed that when they went so far as to convene an Article 32 hearing that they had alread made a decision to proceed." Hal Bernton (Seattle Times) notes Seitz was left "somewhat astounded" that the charges endorsed by Keith included anything other than "missing the troop movement" because of "important First Amendment issues" that surround the other two charges.
Sarah Olson (Truthout) reports this today (of the August 17th testimony of Denis Halliday: "Halliday was called to testify regarding the impace of war on the Iraqi people. 'The people of Iraq had become used to living under very difficult conditions after the destruction in the name of the United Nations by the United States of the civilian infrastructure, water supplies, sewer systems, electric power, use of depleted uranium and cluster bombs.' Halliday was prevented from providing complete testimony when the investigating officer presided over the Article 32 hearing ruled that the 'consequences of the war or the situation on the ground' were irrelevant to Lieutenant Watada's argument that the war was illegal and that he had an obligation to refuse to fight it." That is the most that's been written of Halliday's testimony to date (which, for the record, wasn't delivered via mime).
Bob Watada continues his speaking engagements in the San Francisco Bay Area to raise awareness of what his son, Ehren, is facing. The events include:
Fri. 8/25 7-10pm "Sir! No, Sir!" Film Screening & Speakers Santa Cruz Veterans Building Contact: Sharon Kufeldt 650-799-1070
Sat. 8/26 7-9pm Educational & Cultural Event Berkeley Friends Church; 1600 Sacramento St., Berkeley Contact: Betty Kano 510-684-0239
Sun. 8/27 4-6pm Speaking Event AFSC building, 65-Ninth St., SF Contact: Martha Hubert 415-647-1119
A complete list of the events Bob Watada will be taking part in can be found here.
Again: Cedric (Cedric's Big Mix) is advising those calling Donald Rumsfeld (703-545-6700) or mailing him (1000 Defense Pentagon, Washington, DC 20301-1000) to say: "Hands off Ehren Watada! Let him go." Billie advises that you can use public@defenselink.mil to e-mail the Pentagon. She suggests "Re: Ehren Watad" or "ATTN: DONALD RUMSFELD." Courage to Resist and ThankYouLt.org. will continue to offer resources, ideas and inspiration. Get the word out.
Turning to the illegal occupation, violence and chaos continues.
Bombings?
Reuters reports one Iraqi soldier dead and two others wounded from a roadside bomb in Rashad and a "hand-grenade attack on a market in Hawija" left three people wounded. AFP notes the death, late Thursday, of "an Iraqi army officer" with four soldiers left wounded.
Shootings?
AFP notes that five were killed by gunfire in Baquba, two in Tirkit (bakery workers) with three other people wounded,
Reuters notes that, in Nasiriya, gunfire claimed the lives of two and left two others wounded.
Corpses?
Reuters notes the discovery, in Qaim, of an Iraqi soldier ("signs of torture") while AFP notes that three corpses were discovered in Kirkuk ("tortured and bullet-riddled bodies").
In other violence, despite the British military flacks that were so eagerly allowed to spin in this this morning's New York Times, Haidar Hani (AP) reports: "Looters ravaged a former British base Friday . . . taking everything from doors and window frames to corrugated roofing and metal pipes". As Ross Colvin (Reuters) reported yesterday, the base, which had come under nightly, heavy attacks, was abandoned. The AP story today notes: "Iraqi authories had complained that the British withdrawal had caught them by surprise" and allows flack Charlie Burbridge to holler Not-true-we-gave-them-24-hours-notice! Well, Charlie, on a rental, you usually have to give a minimum of 30 days notice. But it is good to know that as they packed up everything they could carry, someone did think to make a quick call saying, "Hey, we're about to split. If there's anything you want, better grab it quick, dude!"
Along with an adequate heads up, Iraqi politicians have other complaints they're sharing. Aparism Ghosh (Time magazine) reports that Abdul-Azziz al-Hakim states that for over three years Iraqi politicians have persistently requested "and reliable evidence" that "Iran is interfering in Baghdad's affairs" only to be rebuffed. al-Hakim is quoted as saying, "[A]nd for three years we've told them, 'Show us proof.' But they never have." al-Hakim and others speaking to Ghosh make clear that they feel there is no proof and that Iran is being blamed to divert attention from the failure of the illegal war.
This as Aaron Glantz reports for OneWorld that Nuremberg prosecutor Benjamin Ferenczz has declared that Bully Boy and Saddam Hussein "should be tried for war crimes."
In Australia, the inquiry into the April 21st death of Baghdad of Jake Kovco continues.
Figuring into the most recent testimony were "NSW Police scientific officer Stephanie Hales" and Soldier 14. Soldier 14 has made mutliple appearances in the hearing. On August 9th, his testimony rejected the so-called buddy system where a pair was responsible for checking one another's weapons at the end of a shift (he also testified that what he said and what the military wrote up in his official statement were quite different). Last Friday, a DNA witness, Michelle Franco, identified some of the DNA on Jake Kovco's gun as belonging to Soldier 14. [Again from last Friday: The Herald-Sun reports that only the DNA "on the pistol's slide" were ruled by expert Franco to be a direct match (DNA on the "trigger, hand grip and magazine" are believed, by Franco, to be Soldier 14's but are "not direct matches."] Soldier 14 has maintained that he did not touch Jake Kovco's pistol (and he's refused to be questioned by the NSW).
At the start of this week, Soldier 14 again testified to the hearing and maintained that the DNA must have gotten on the pistol some other way such as via other equipment he acknowledges that he and Jake Kovco both handled such as a megaphone, a radio or telephone. Also in that testimony, Soldier 14 declared that "people" had warned him that Jake Kovco's widow, Shelley Kovco, was 'out to get him.' That was his excuse for avodiging her. Belinda Tasker (The Daily Telegraph) noted, of that testimony, that Soldier 14's avoidance of Shelley Kovco -- out of fear of being accused of something,apparently -- translates as Soldier 14 aoviding contact with her for "more than three months" and notes that Soldier 14 said "people were telling me" that Shelley Kovco was out to get him. Who these 'people' were warning him of Shelley Kovco will apparently not be explored.
That was some of the previous testimony. Today Soldier 14 testified again (not via video-link and remember he has stated he wants to get back to the apparent calm of Baghdad). Malcolm Brown (Sydney Morning Herald) reports that the issues today revolved around: "Did you silently cock Private Kovco's pistol?" which Soldier 14 asserted he did not. Soldier 14 has maintained that he saw Jake Kovco a few days prior to his death. Brown describes the process as "a silent cocking operation, where the weapon is stripped down, a round put in he chamber, then reassembled, leaving the round in the chamber." Soldier 14 will also be testifying Monday.
Stephanie Hales' testimony is characterized by the AAP as asserting that residue tests can not determine "whether Private Jake Kovco shot himself in Iraq or if someone else pulled the trigger" for a variety of reasons including the fact that Jake Kovco's "clothes . . . were destroyed," "the barracks room where PTE Kovco was shot was cleaned before NSW Police arrived in Baghdad to carry out their forensic tests," Jake Kovco's body was washed in a Kuwait morgue, Jake Kovco's hands were not wrapped "in paper bags" and the two roommates were allowed to shower and wash their clothing with no forensic tests being performed.
Finally, in England, British soldier Jason Chelsea has been buried. The BBC reports that the nineteen-year-old "killed himself because he feared . . . he might have to shoot children" as he asserted he had been told in his training. The BBC notes that:
"Earlier this month the MoD released figures showing 1,541 soldiers who served in Iraq are suffering from psychiatric illness."
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