October 3, 2009 archive

Be a Good Patriot — Die Quickly!

Crossposted at Booman Tribune

Alan Grayson has recently raised the ire of the corpatocracy and their volunteer army of teabaggers merely by simply stating the obvious, this being our obligation as good citizens, as defined by the Republican Party and the mislabeled “centrists” of the Democratic Party:

1. Don’t get sick.

2. If you do get sick…

3. Die quickly.

The Economic Royalist cabal has cried loudly, and in unison, demanding that Mr. Grayson apologize.  And even some in the so-called liberal blogosphere have joined the call for him to fall on his sword for his Holocaust reference. Although the numbers of dead (officially) are not yet as large, Big Money in this country has positioned themselves to realize a profit from the deaths of those inhabiting the “undesirable” class, those whose lack of wealth must surely be due to laziness and sloth.  Even the Nazis, to our knowledge, did not realize six and seven-figure tax-free payouts from those who were sent to the gas chambers. Fortunately, Rep. Grayson’s recent apology was not what his detractors had in mind, that of apologizing for the congressional inaction that continues while approximately 122 people per day die in this country due to lack of access to healthcare. In case you haven’t seen it yet:

Weekend News Digest

Weekend News Digest is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Why police are keeping quiet on Census worker Sparkman death

By Patrik Jonsson, The Christian Science Monitor

Thu Oct 1, 5:00 am ET

Atlanta – Three weeks after part-time Census worker Bill Sparkman’s body was found hung from a Kentucky tree, the word “fed” scrawled across his chest with a red felt-tip pen, law-enforcement authorities have yet to announce any leads, suspects, or potential motives.

For a public already inundated with broken-up terror plots, antigovernment sentiment, and partisan pundits ready to use the case for their own ideological ends, the lack of any word from police has led to rampant speculation about why he died.

Mr. Sparkman’s son, Josh, can’t understand why police are reluctant to call it a homicide.

HONORING THE FALLEN: US Military KIA, Iraq & Afghanistan/Pakistan – September 2009

Dover ‘Old Guard’



Dover ‘Old Guard’ team shoulders heavy burden

Hi Ho Silver! Open Thread

what the… ? ? !

I don’t get it. (see tags)

I should add… I like it! 🙂

DeMint violates Logan Act, BETRAYS American interests to a Foreign Power. Will he pay for it?

Crossposted at Daily Kos

    With all the uproar over Republican gloating over American failures, this bit of news has been almost totally overlooked, but it trumps any posturing over the Olympics by a long shot.

    Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) has announced that he will be visiting Honduras today to meet with the de facto regime of acting Honduran President Roberto Micheletti in sheer defiance of the position taken by the US government and (the) international community . . .

 Bold added by diarist

thinkprogress.org

      Senator DeMint (R-SC) has been revealed as a member of the C-Street Family, a fundamentalist Christian group that admires Hitler and believes in the Supremacy of a Free Market supporting Jesus, and has just violated the Logan Act, a law that states that ONLY unauthorized citizens are forbidden from negotiating with foreign Governments. As of now, DeMint is acting against American interests.

      And that makes him a traitor.

      More below the fold

Human Rights Heroes contests

Global Exchange (Medea Benjamin’s fair trade cooperative) is having a contest called Human Rights Heroes where progressives can vote on their favorite human rights activist in three categories: Peace, Green Alternatives, and Economic Justice. The winner will receive $1000. You can nominate someone, or you can vote for the folks already listed. The contest ends October 22nd and is also being sponsored by Democracy in Action and Ben & Jerry’s. Nominees will be accepted until October 5th.

The Peace category presented a lot of tough choices but in the end I voted for David Swanson. His tireless work to hold the Bush administration accountable, which would address many of the world’s problems at their root cause, has been invaluable to the peace movement.

Docudharma Times Saturday October 3




Saturday’s Headlines:

Senate finance panel nearly done with its healthcare bill

Dreams still ablaze at stuntman school

Swat Valley civilians turn to arms as uneasy peace takes hold

Rescuers fight to save thousands trapped by Indonesia quake

Women prisoners go free in return for a glimpse of hostage

Nato commander warns of conflict with Russia in Arctic Circle

Warsaw ghetto uprising head dies

Tilting at windmills

The great drought: Disaster looms in East Africa

Mexico makes record drugs seizure

McChrystal Flown to Denmark To Discuss War With Obama



By Michael D. Shear

Washington Post Staff Writer

Saturday, October 3, 2009


A brief meeting between President Obama and his top general in Afghanistan on Friday offered the commander in chief an opportunity to question directly the dire assessment of the war effort there, officials said.

The previously unannounced meeting between Obama and Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal took place aboard Air Force One after it landed in Copenhagen Friday morning. McChrystal, who had been in London for a speech, was whisked to Denmark at Obama’s request, White House aides said.

French general planned 18th-century invasion of Britain using American force

From The Times

October 3, 2009


Valentine Low

From Julius Caesar to Adolf Hitler, the invasion of Britain has been a constant theme in the history of these islands, even if the successful attempts have been heavily outnumbered by the unsuccessful ones.

Until now, however, one plan has remained unknown: an 18th-century plot to invade with an American army during that country’s War of Independence.

Drawn up by a French general, the scheme was to bring over an American force of 10,000 that would find a Britain so distracted by the war on the other side of the Atlantic, that victory would seem certain. Just to make sure, however, the general suggested that the force include a corps of Native Americans, or “sauvages”, as he termed them, who would strike such fear in British troops that any resistance would collapse immediately.

Japan, “Out”, &etc.

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    O.K., there’s a confluence of a few things here.  First of all, it’s been a while, so I hope that y’all will be all “Prodigal Son” about me and such.  My fingers are crossed on that.  Second, many of you know, some of you don’t, Mu = BenGoshi (over at Orange) and BenGoshi = Mu (here).  Nothing scandalous.  Just when I signed up here a year and a half ago I wanted a sort of “clean slate” with my writings and opinions.  I still do.  So that’s “self-outing” No. 1.  Third, yesterday I put up a diary on Orange (which is pretty much re-done below for y’all, but this D’Dharma one’s better.  Really.) wherein I gave out an email address, but told all readers that I didn’t want to provide or link directly to personal information, as I wanted to keep some semblance of anonymity.  Well, some nimrod thought it’d be cute to google me up and post that info in the diary thread.  Eventually I think that Meteor Blades wiped all that, but I can still view the hidden threads so I’m not really sure.  Anyway, that’s all to say that I was “outed” on Orange yesterday, but am really, really sure no one here would do that, for which I thank you in advance.  

::

    Now for the fun stuff (again, many of you who do Orange saw this yesterday.  Consider it a “cross post” . . . with some minor updates).

     I’ve put together two (2) small group trips for Japan, for this coming spring and I’m inviting anyone interested in going to contact me via:   [email protected]

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     Priests at Kurodani Temple, just after morning Sutras.  Kyoto.  2007.

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     Yasaka Pagoda.  Kyoto.  2008

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 Please follow me below the fold and, note:  all photos are mine.

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Docudharma Times Saturday October 3




Saturday’s Headlines:

Senate finance panel nearly done with its healthcare bill

Dreams still ablaze at stuntman school

Swat Valley civilians turn to arms as uneasy peace takes hold

Rescuers fight to save thousands trapped by Indonesia quake

Women prisoners go free in return for a glimpse of hostage

Nato commander warns of conflict with Russia in Arctic Circle

Warsaw ghetto uprising head dies

Tilting at windmills

The great drought: Disaster looms in East Africa

Mexico makes record drugs seizure

McChrystal Flown to Denmark To Discuss War With Obama



By Michael D. Shear

Washington Post Staff Writer

Saturday, October 3, 2009


A brief meeting between President Obama and his top general in Afghanistan on Friday offered the commander in chief an opportunity to question directly the dire assessment of the war effort there, officials said.

The previously unannounced meeting between Obama and Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal took place aboard Air Force One after it landed in Copenhagen Friday morning. McChrystal, who had been in London for a speech, was whisked to Denmark at Obama’s request, White House aides said.

French general planned 18th-century invasion of Britain using American force

From The Times

October 3, 2009


Valentine Low

From Julius Caesar to Adolf Hitler, the invasion of Britain has been a constant theme in the history of these islands, even if the successful attempts have been heavily outnumbered by the unsuccessful ones.

Until now, however, one plan has remained unknown: an 18th-century plot to invade with an American army during that country’s War of Independence.

Drawn up by a French general, the scheme was to bring over an American force of 10,000 that would find a Britain so distracted by the war on the other side of the Atlantic, that victory would seem certain. Just to make sure, however, the general suggested that the force include a corps of Native Americans, or “sauvages”, as he termed them, who would strike such fear in British troops that any resistance would collapse immediately.

Late Night Karaoke

Open Thread

“Lockerbie Bomber” case getting fishier and fishier

A while back I wrote an essay here titled Angry about the “Lockerbie bomber” getting released? because, well, the media was able to ramp up quite a spectacle of anger and indignation regarding the dying man who was convicted of the attack being released.  

The whole case has been fishy from the very beginning, and now?   Well, flying well under the radar of the so-called “media” in this country (after all, a juicy blackmail story involving a celebrity is far more important than anything else in the world) are new revelations that key witnesses in Megrahi’s conviction were paid just a TON of money for their testimony.

Once again, it’s the UK media, and not the American, that actually manages to cover this:


Two key figures in the conviction of the Lockerbie bomber were secretly given rewards of up to $3m (£1.9m) in a deal discussed by Scottish detectives and the US government, according to legal papers released today.

The claims about the payments were revealed in a dossier of evidence that was intended to be used in an appeal by Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the Libyan convicted of murdering 270 people in the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 in 1988.

Megrahi abandoned his appeal last month after the Libyan and Scottish governments struck a deal to free him on compassionate grounds because he is terminally ill with prostate cancer. Now in hospital in Tripoli, Megrahi said he wanted the public to see the evidence which he claims would have cleared him.

“I continue to protest my innocence – how could I fail to do so?,” he said. “I have no desire to add to the upset of many people I know are profoundly affected by what happened in Lockerbie. My intention is only for the truth to be made known.”

The documents published online by Megrahi’s lawyers today show that the US Department of Justice (DoJ) was asked to pay $2m to Tony Gauci, the Maltese shopkeeper who gave crucial evidence at the trial suggesting that Megrahi had bought clothes later used in the suitcase that allegedly held the Lockerbie bomb.

The DoJ was also asked to pay a further $1m to his brother, Paul Gauci, who did not give evidence but played a major role in identifying the clothing and in “maintaining the resolve of his brother”. The DoJ said their rewards could be increased and that the brothers were also eligible for the US witness protection programme, according to the documents.

The previously secret payments were uncovered by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC), which returned Megrahi’s conviction to the court of appeal in 2007 as a suspected miscarriage of justice. Many references were in private diaries kept by the detectives involved, Megrahi’s lawyers said, but not their official notebooks.

So the money came from the United States.  Gee, what a surprise.

So, I was threatened with arrest today

After spending six years in law enforcement myself, the state of our current law enforcement is even more appalling to me.  But, after seeing how law enforcement was trending in its attitudes, I was prepared for this — being threatened with arrest because I deigned to make a complaint.

The story?

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