Want for an End to War

The USA has a new President. Obama's victory over McCain signals a mandate for change - for deep and substantial change - a mandate to end war. We are very much experiencing a different America; the new President does not refer to other nations as components in an "axis of evil," but he instead pushes for dialogue between nations.

Do you want an end to war. Can you imagine another world? What might it look and feel like?

I want an end to war. I can imagine another world. Among other aspects, it's a world without the fear that is created by violence between humans.

How can we make the possibility of another world into the reality of another world? How can we best effect change in the direction of a world where human beings do not hurt each other?

Talk about it.

It's Not Too Late to Impeach! Please Call your Congressional Representative

I sent the following note out to some of my contacts today:

I just called the office of my Congressman, Brian Baird, to advocate impeachment. His Washington D.C. office telephone number is (202) 225-3536.

What did I say in specific? Well first I sincerely told the staffer who answered the phone: "good afternoon." Then I asked to speak directly with Congressman Baird: "Is Congressman Baird available?" To which the staffer replied quite rudely: he asked what I was calling about before informing me that Mr. Baird was busy "in a meeting."

I told him that I was calling with a message about impeaching President Bush and Vice-President Cheney.

When he said that Baird was busy, I left the staffer a more detailed message. It went something like this:

I urge Congressman Baird to support holding President Bush and the Office of the Executive, including Vice-President Cheney, accountable for various alleged criminal actions, malfeasances, and improprieties relating to the function of their official duties. We need to hold them accountable if we are truly a nation of laws and ideals, and not a nation dictated by the will of men.

I believe that impeachment will benefit all Americans. I urge the Congressman to sign on as a supporter of Congressman Kucinich's 35 articles of impeachment. Impeachment will be possible with enough support from Congressional Representatives, like Congressman Baird.

Then I said thank you to the staffer for making sure to deliver the message to the Congressman.

Please try it for yourself, call your Representative, Baird or whoever yours is. Finding the telephone number is as easy as looking it up on the Internet. Please do this today or tomorrow. Make sure to speak with a live person - don't leave a voice mail. Remember to first ask to speak directly with your representative. And be friendly. It helps the staffer to listen to your message.

Finally, please talk to your friends about impeachment, and consider sending a message to people in your network asking them to call Congress on behalf of the cause of impeachment.

Sincerely,

RFWW

It's not too late to impeach! Please call your Congressperson! It will only take a few minutes.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Been kind of quiet here at In the Course of Events. I have been posting a lot of blog entries at OlyBlog recently. Lots going on with the proposal to change zoning regulations on the Isthmus. OlyBlog Bert

I also uploaded some photos recently, including photos of a talk by Richard Hayes Phillips, whose recently released book, Witness to a Crime chronicles how Republicans stole the 2004 presidential election in Ohio. His story was an amazing account of election fraud. Fraud that brought America 4 more years of George W. Bush. photos: Richard Hayes Phillips at Media Island in Olympia, Washington

Sign the Kucinich Impeachment Petition

Hello - !!! - Have you signed Dennis Kucinich's petition to impeach President Bush? If not, please sign the petition, http://impeachment.kucinich.us/petition/ - hyperlinked: Kucinich petition to impeach President Bush.

It reads:

WHEREAS, in his conduct while President of the United States, George W. Bush, in violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, has committed abuses of power.

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that President George W. Bush has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as President and Commander in Chief, and subversive of constitutional government, to the prejudice of the cause of law and justice and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States and that he be impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors.

Signed by me and who knows how many others who are pro-troops, pro-impeachment, pro-justice, pro-peace, pro-nonviolence, pro- rule-of-law, etc....

Letter to President George W. Bush

I have been thinking about writing a letter to George W. Bush. I got the idea yesterday while meditating and sign-holding at a weekly peace vigil. I am furious with President Bush for driving the USA into an unnecessary war, costing trillions of dollars, the lives of so many people, and causing immense environmental and social degradation.

So I want to write him and tell him how I feel, and some of my observations about his behavior.

I want to vent. So I think I'll do that here, rather than in a personal letter to the President, because a lot of the things that I want to say aren't necessarily constructive or nonviolent. I feel better already.

I wonder if the President George W. Bush has a conscience. Does he feel any genuine sorrow or remorse about (allegedly) intentionally using deceit to drive the nation into an unnecessary war?

Does he care about the lives of others? Perhaps the Bohemian Grove "Cremation of Care" ceremonies have been too effective for the President. Perhaps he was born without a conscience.

Anyway, this man must be held accountable. So I am somewhat hopeful and optimistic, with all sorts of new information coming out, and new efforts being made toward the goal of investigating official misconduct, and holding those responsible for grievous breaches of the public trust, to account for their actions.

Check out the new Bill Moyers Journal program with Andrew J. Bacevich: http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/08152008/profile.html

Also please see information about Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine

Short Film on Shock Doctrine:


and

Ron Suskind's The Way of the World

The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder

Please see the website: http://www.prosecutionofbush.com/index.php

A SEARING INDICTMENT
Famed prosecutor and #1 New York Times bestselling author Vincent Bugliosi has written the most powerful, explosive, and thought-provoking book of his storied career. As a prosecutor dedicated to seeking justice, he delivers a non-partisan argument, free from party lines, based upon hard facts and pure objectivity. More

“SOMEONE HAS TO PAY”
In The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder, Bugliosi presents a tight, meticulously researched legal case that puts George W. Bush on trial in an American courtroom for the murder of nearly 4,000 American soldiers fighting in Iraq. Watch this video interview to learn why he believes we must bring those responsible for the war in Iraq to justice. More

Also check out Vincent Bugliosi's interview on Democracy Now: http://www.democracynow.org/2008/6/13/citing_iraq_war_renowned_attorney_vincent

Articles of Impeachment Against Bush

More impeachment: From afterdowningstreet.org, we have a great resource to highlight the Kucinich Articles of Impeachment against Bush. http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/busharticles

And here's a set of youtube videos that capture the Kucinich delivery of the Articles of Impeachment on the floor of the House of Representatives:

Kucinich Introduces Articles of Impeachment Against President George W. Bush

Thank you Representative Congressman Dennis Kucinich. I support bringing articles of impeachment against President Bush...



Here are some videos from the Kucinich delivery of 35 serious and well-researched articles of impeachment.

[update June 15, 2008: please see the complete delivery of all 35 articles of impeachment on the floor of the House of Reps. by Congressman Kucinich (via youtube):
http://robwhitlock.blogspot.com/2008/06/articles-of-impeachment-against-bush.html June 15, 2008/]

link to part one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iK16IG6jvJY

Part 1:


Part 2:


Part 3:


Part 4:


Part 5:

Thou Shalt Not Kill

Thou Shalt Not Kill: so whatever happened to that?

"The number one book
George Bush
& Dick Cheney
DO NOT WANT
YOU TO READ:

Dear Violet
letter from a desert grave
by N. Sigafoos

"Question for George W. Bush:
If you're such a devout Christian, what happened to Thou Shalt Not Kill ?
Is it okay if you just order other people to kill for you ?"

"To Whom It May Concern:

"I'm dead. 26 years old and deader than dead. My last memory being a face full of sand as the truck rolled over and threw me alongside the road. The last thing I heard was the snap of my neck, and that was it for me. New flash: there is no 'heaven, There is no hell. There's simply another layer where your energy goes without your body. My name is Charlie Day. The late Charlie Day, which is ironic, since during my life, I could never be anywhere on time."

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rwhitlock/2330100803

More Evidence of Bush Administration Loyalty to Large Corporations

There are so many examples to choose from when pleading the case that President Bush, his Administration, and associated interests favor the interests of large (particularly multi-national) corporations over the common interests of the American People and humanity (in general.) Let's take a look at an example of George W. Bush White House rhetoric on global warming as it relates to the energy industry:

by Christopher Brauchli
...
In a speech on September 29, 2000, relying on statistics furnished by the Greening Earth Society, a think tank financed by seven coal burning utilities, Mr. Bush said the Internet consumed 8 percent of all the electricity produced in the United States and, therefore, the country needed many new power plants including coal-fired generators. In June 2002, the Environmental Protection Agency put out a report that said human activities such as oil refining, power plants and cars are major contributors to global warming. When asked about the report Mr. Bush said dismissively: “I read the report put out by the bureaucracy.” In Trenton, New Jersey on September 23, 2002 Mr. Bush said “we need an energy bill that encourages consumption.”
... [go to original]

The article (linked to above) also deals with how various other government agencies and entities relate to global warming. NASA chief Michael Griffin said that it was arrogant to assume that global warming would have harmful consequences for all humans. He supposes that there might be some benefit in global warming. I wonder what the many species of life that have gone extinct, and the many more that likely will go extinct because of global warming would say to Mr. Griffin if they could. Perhaps the NASA chief could use a primer in the ecological importance of bio-diversity and the interdependence of species upon each other across ecological systems.

from the article:

Mr. Bush still wants everything to be voluntary. He doesn’t want any fixed deadlines for reducing carbon emissions. James Connaughton, the White House environmental adviser said the Bush goal would be to get countries to set “aspirational goals.” “Each country will develop its own national strategies on a midterm basis in the next 10 to 20 years on where they want to take their efforts to . . . reduce air pollution and also reduce greenhouse gases, ” Mr. Connaughton said. Mr. Bush likes things that are aspirational rather than mandatory. It’s too bad he thinks that to have the air we aspirate be clean is nothing more than aspirational.

Another World is Possible

I met my friend, Elisa Davinca, on Flickr, the Yahoo! photo sharing site. She is an awesome advocate for another world - a peaceful world. link to her flickr photos

I want to share a couple of videos that she shared with me:

Naomi Wolf Spoke about her new book, The End of America, at the University of Washington. It is a plea to a young patriot... The time for resistance is now!


CBS Frontline program, "Cheney's Law." torture, David Addington and the Department of Justice as they relate to the Bush Administration and Vice President Cheney

Washington State Impeachment Hearing SJM 8016 2007 - 2008

[for more information about impeachment in WA State, please see Washington for Impeachment]

Senator Eric Oemig has introduced a memorial bill that calls on the US Congress to initiate investigation into alleged impeachable offenses committed by President Bush and Vice President Cheney. Tomorrow there will be a hearing on the Memorial in the Washington State Senate Committee on Government Operations & Elections. This is from the Washington State Legislature:

go to original [link to official information about SJM 8016]
Requesting an impeachment investigation into actions by President Bush and Vice President Cheney.

Here's video of Rep. Wexler discussing impeachment on the floor of the House:


Tomorrow's (Thursday, January 17th, 2008) hearing will be in the Cherberg Building (Capitol Campus, Olympia, Washington) at 3:30 PM.

The Prez

Blood and Oil

Neither Gold or Oil (or any riches for that matter), are reason enough for the shedding of blood in violent conflict.

The Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard, allegedly admitted to the plain truth that continued military action in Iraq is designed to secure access to the Iraqi oil resource (link). President Bush, in one of his more candid moments, also admitted (some time ago) that oil is one of the reasons for the war in Iraq. Sort of like when he referred to his political base as the "haves" and the "have mores."

Oil is not a good reason to go to war. Oil is not a good reason to kill.

The only justification for war is if there is a need for self-defense. The war in Iraq just doesn't measure up.

It's time for the killing to stop! This military action is fundamentally unjust.

What can I do to bring an expedient, safe and rapid end to the military action in Iraq? What can you do?

Still Looking for WMD in Iraq

Why did the US invade Iraq? Wasn't it because Iraq posed a threat to US National Security via WMD? Well no WMD has been found in over four years of occupation. The chances of finding a significant enough cache that might have threatened the US is getting smaller by the day.

We already heard (via the Downing Street Memo) how the facts were being fixed to the policy of invading Iraq. It looks more and more like WMD was simply one of those "facts" that grew out of a fiction. And it was used, in violation of the public trust, to justify invading Iraq. In that light, the invasion was an attack - an aggressive invasion - an belligerent act of war.

Hideous. Read about the continuing mission to discover WMD in Iraq:

go to original

Though Work Is Seen as Irrelevant, Security Council Can't Agree to End It

By Colum Lynch
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, June 2, 2007; A01

UNITED NATIONS -- More than four years after the fall of Baghdad, the United Nations is spending millions of dollars in Iraqi oil money to continue the hunt for Saddam Hussein's alleged weapons of mass destruction.

Every weekday, at a secure commercial office building on Manhattan's East Side, a team of 20 U.N. experts on chemical and biological weapons pores over satellite images of former Iraqi weapons sites. They scour the international news media for stories on Hussein's deadly arsenal. They consult foreign intelligence agencies on the status of Iraqi weapons. And they maintain a cadre of about 300 weapons experts from 50 countries and prepare them for inspections in Iraq -- inspections they will almost certainly never conduct, in search of weapons that few believe exist.

The inspectors acknowledge that their chief task -- disarming Iraq -- was largely fulfilled long ago. But, they say, their masters at the U.N. Security Council have been unable to agree to either shut down their effort or revise their mandate to make their work more relevant. Russia insists that Iraq's disarmament must be formally confirmed by the inspectors, while the United States vehemently opposes a U.N. role in Iraq, saying coalition inspectors have already done the job.

"I recognize this is unhealthy," said Dimitri Perricos, a Greek weapons expert who runs the team, known as the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), and manages its $10 million annual budget. But, he added, "we are not the ones who are holding the purse; the one who is holding the purse is the council."

There was a time when the work of U.N. weapons inspectors on Iraq was the stuff of front-page news and impassioned speeches by world leaders. President Bush even argued that Hussein's refusal to cooperate with U.N. inspectors offered legal backing for the 2003 invasion.

But the inspectors' primary mission -- ridding Hussein's regime of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons -- has become irrelevant since a U.S.-led coalition toppled the Iraqi leader and discovered that his government had destroyed its most lethal weapons shortly after the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

"The reality on the ground is there is no WMD there," said Charles Duelfer, a former U.N. weapons inspector who published the landmark 2004 report of the CIA-led Iraq Survey Group, which concluded that Iraq's weapons had been destroyed. "I think they understand the distance their work is from reality."
...

Responding to President Bush

From the BBC: US President George W Bush has shared intelligence that Osama Bin Laden was seeking in 2005 to set up an al-Qaeda cell in Iraq to strike US targets.

These allegations from President Bush have no credibility. He also said that there was WMD in Iraq. He said that Saddam Hussein posed a threat to US targets maybe even in the form of mushroom clouds from nuclear explosions.

President Bush is known to have been involved in a scheme wherein the "facts were being fixed around the policy" of invading Iraq.

I would advise taking the President's assessment of threat with a grain of salt.

God forbid against more terrorist attacks in the USA. But it seems that Bush's unjustified and unnecessary invasion of Iraq has opened the window to the increased possibility of such attacks. The invasion and occupation have inflamed anti-US sentiments. The occupation leaves the USA open to retaliation.

It's time to begin the healing process by implementing a systematic and complete withdrawal of US forces from Iraq.

Freedom

Although the concept of freedom may in actuality be quite hollow, there are certain freedoms, which are fundamental to the good life. These freedoms include religion, association, and speech.

Contrary to President Bush's rhetoric about freedom and democracy, life has taken a turn for the worse, in regard to freedom, since he has been in office - both in Iraq and in the USA. Now, I don't think it is the most effective strategy to challenge Bush. Because I think that the democrats are equally capable of maintaining the type of tyranny we are currently experiencing. The two party duopoly is a problem. But I am not sure that there is a political solution.

I think the solution is economic and social. The solution is to "make like a tree and just walk away." : )

But, the reason that we need change is because we have a system in which the "most powerful" decision maker on Earth (i.e. 'President' Bush) is able to say that we are in Iraq to fight for freedom. And no one has presented a practical challenge to his rule. It is up to we the people. Congress won't do it. They're in cahoots. They might make some noise, but in terms of fundamental change...well, I'll believe it when I see it (feel free to show me.)

Anyway, what is freedom? A fundamentally important freedom is the freedom from fear. To be able to live without fear. Fear of being persecuted or targeted because of belief or ideology or lifestyle; I want to live in a society that is free of that type of fear.

Fear is the enemy. It seems that in the current political climate George Bush is free to spew hateful and fearsome rhetoric. The main streams of media must challenge this trend, but instead they just sit by idly and play along.

Ultimately it will be people like you and me who make a conscious decision to withdraw our participation in this current economic and political system. Many are already taking steps in this direction. Because a better world is possible. A better society is possible. The potential, for not only stability, true freedom and security, but also a beautification of the environment and our lives is great. But in order to actually fulfill an alternative society, the bonds that tie us to this current system - of exploitative manipulation of nature and each other, and of colossal destruction and waste - must be severed.

Anti-oil-exploition Nationalist MP's Attacked in Green Zone, Baghdad

From Raed in the Middle [go to original]:

The attack on the Iraqi parliament was very strange. I don't think it was a suicide bomber. Take a look at this video and note that the explosion is way bigger than what an explosive belt would do. Besides, why would anyone blow himself up to kill the only anti-occupation group in the greenzone?

The official spokesman of a secular group that lost an MP in the explosion announced that the attack was aimed at silencing "nationalist MPs who are against splitting
iraq and against the oil law".Looking at who was killed and injured in the attack, it seems like they were ALL nationalists. Also, considering that the parliament was just about to begin debating the oil law this week, the timing of the attack was very convenient for the bush/imf/separatists.
...
The only way to stop the growing violence in Iraq is to end all the foriegn intervention and give Iraq back to the Iraqis.

This attack was convenient and it stinks to hell. I wonder if anyone at the CIA knows what happened. I also agree that the best way to stop the violence is to end US maneuvers to dominate and exploit the Iraqi economy.

"Death to America"

"Death to America" - chanted by Iraqis whom America is supposedly liberating from tyranny. Things in Iraq have gone dreadfully awry, as many predicted (including myself) before the invasion.

Here's an article about recently developing instability in the South of Iraq. go to original

Ali al-Fadhily
BASRA, Apr 11 (IPS) - The eruption of demonstrations in the south of Iraq this week could rob the occupation forces of what was considered a critical bastion of support.

The southern areas of Iraq have long been said to be secure, and people there peaceful towards the occupation forces. Iraqis living in the south were also believed to be cooperative with the occupation to the extent that they supported administrative steps taken by successive Iraqi governments.

The majority of the population of the south are Shia Muslims, and Iraq has had Shia- dominated governments under the occupation.

But demonstrations against the occupation and the United States by hundreds of thousands of angry Shias in Najaf, Kut and other cities across the south Apr. 9 mark a sharp break from a policy of cooperation. Protesters demanded an end to the U.S.-led occupation, burnt U.S. flags and chanted "Death to America!"

Brig. Gen. Abdul Karim al-Mayahi, a police commander in Najaf, told reporters that at least half a million people joined the demonstration there.

Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, told reporters, "We say that we're here to support democracy. We say that free speech and freedom of assembly are part of that. While we don't necessarily agree with the message, we agree with their right to say it."

Clashes after the demonstration left at least one U.S. soldier dead and another wounded in Diwaniyah, 180 km south of Baghdad.

...

"We were late to realise that we were wrong about U.S. intentions," Salman Yassen of the Basra city municipality council told IPS. "We waited four years while U.S. and Iraqi authorities kept us busy fighting each other while they were setting the plan of stealing our oil and tearing our country apart so that their allies would feel safe."

Four years of the occupation of Iraq have seen many changes in U.S. strategies, ambassadors and tactics, but the changes may be too little, too late.

"The delay in moving politically has cost Iraq, the U.S. and many other countries a great deal," former Iraqi police colonel Ahmed Jabbar told IPS in Baghdad. "The least to be said is that the world would have been better off without this occupation and the catastrophic security disturbance it has caused."

Great article, important perspectives. After four years of occupation, the Iraqi people hate America.

Way to go George Bush (et al.) That is why I ask you to please resign from office.

The Lies that Led to War

Great film from the CBC's Fifth Estate about the misleadership and deception that precipitated the invasion of Iraq.