US House Accuses Iran Of Being Just Like The US

When I was in high school, the US and the USSR were engaged in the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty, or SALT II talks, which was about limiting the number of times each nation could kill the other one. I think they finally settled on 150. My father, an ultraconservative, one might even say reactionary, was opposed to such a treaty with the Russians, because, as he told me, "You can't trust those commies. They never keep their word and have broken every treaty they ever signed."
Fast forward a few decades, and here is the United States, breaking another treaty it signed, namely the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, or the NNPT. Under the NNPT, the US recognizes the right of other nations to develop nuclear power for peaceful purposes, such as electrical power, or medical research, and as such, would not hinder any signatory nation from doing so, and even offering to assist said nation in their quest to using the atom for peace. Except now, the US is doing everything in it's power to stop Iran from doing what it is guaranteed as a signatory to the NNPT. In other words, just like the commies of long ago, they are not keeping their word and essentially breaking the treaty which they have signed.
And now, the US House is send H.R. 1457 to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs in the latest round in the lead up to the invasion of Iran, using entirely fraudulent claims.
1. President Ahmadinejad fraudulently won the last election
Remember in 2000, the hotly contested presidential election in the US? The one where the State of Florida had to pay roughly $5000 each to black voters disenfranchised by the Republican Party? Remember when it finally came out that Al Gore did in fact win Florida in 2000, we were told to "get over it"?
However, while there was no evidence of voter fraud in the 2009 Iranian elections, there is evidence that the US corporate media tried to paint it as such. So you see, vote fraud in another country is bad, very bad, but election fraud in the US is no big deal.
2. Iran has plenty of oil, why do they need to develop nuclear power?
A lot of neocons are suspicious of Iran developing nuclear power, because, they say, why do that, when they have all that oil? Well, in addition to having vast quantities of oil, Iran also has 1400 uranium mines. As the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran deputy head Fuel Hossein Faqihian pointed out, nuclear energy is a good alternative to energy derived from non-renewable fossil fuels as they are cleaner and cause less environmental damage.
Iran has even agreed to an arrangement with Turkey in Brazil in which raw uranium in Iran is exchanged for enriched uranium, thereby ensuring that Iran cannot enrich uranium to a high enough yield to use in nuclear weapons.
3. Iran supports terrorism
This claim is made because Iran funds Hezbollah, which is considered a terrorist organization by the US, Canada and Israel, but not the rest of the world which recognizes the differences between the security and political wings of the organization. Meanwhile the US, which created Al qaeda, is spending $400 billion annually to fund the MEK, a terrorist organization to destabilize the Tehran regime.
4. Iran continues to deny human rights and democracy to the people of Iran Right now, the whole of the Palestinian population in the Gaza strip is suffering under the collective punishment of the Israel led blockade against them. This blockade was put in place when the people, believing in "democracy" voted for the Hamas party to rule the Palestinian Authority over the US/Israel backed Fatah party. The blockade violates the human rights of about a million and a half people, many women and children. Meanwhile, right wing politicians in the US want us to withdraw from the UN Human Rights Commission because it wants to investigate the excessive use of force in the  Mavi Marmara flotilla raid.
5. Iran has a secret nuclear weapons program Nope.No evidence of that. Meanwhile, Israel which has nuclear weapons (and tried to sell some to South Africa), refuses to sign the NNPT or open up it's sites for inspection.
6. President Ahmadinejad has vowed to wipe Israel off the map
Here we go again. His statement was a gross mistranslation, taken out of context.
However, Israel has vowed to drop nuclear weapons on Iran again, and again,and again.

Right now, in the Red Sea , there are eleven US warships and three German built Israeli subs armed with nuclear cruise missiles . While there is a problem with Iran "wiping Israel off the map", there doesn't seem to be a problem with the US wiping Iran off the map. With the US now mired in two wars in the Gulf region, can it really afford to get tangled up in another? Does it really matter? We the people no longer decide what's right for this country. Although the many television-watchers may be cowed by corporate media propaganda about Big bad Iran, the truth is, while Iran isn't the greatest country in the world, neither is the US any more, mainly because we have become the aggressor that behaves in a fashion to it's once feared enemies. Economically, we can no longer afford to repair all the damaged nations of the world, because we have become as damaged.

A Nation of Rubes Deserves No Better

During the Bush administration, there was a general feeling that "terror" levels were being manipulated to benefit the president and his party. As it turns out, we were right. I conclude that these manipulations are in fact evidence there is no "terror" threat at all, just part of the propaganda.
At least the Republicans got it right. In President Obama's attempt to gain support for his escalation in Afghanistan, he has first told us the war against the Taliban secures America . Then, backtracking, he tells us al Qaeda did 9/11. No wonder that the majority of Americans oppose the Afghan war, Obama went off message. By now we all know that if it isn't about the UNOCAL pipeline, it's about the lucrative opium trade. I guess Agi was right: the Democrats have no running game.
In spite of the fact that a majority of American support health care reform, the Democrats having a filibuster-proof majority, a 40-seat advantage in the House, and a president who was once really popular, those town hall protesters shown to be fake, Obama still can't get it together and "reform" health care. That's why his approval rating is slipping, while being good at speechifying, Obama seems unable to stick to a lie or accomplish anything he was elected to do. Which is not a good thing when you preside over a nation of rubes.

Paging Donald Segretti.......

original photo poached from mike votes

Anybody who knows their history, should know that the Republican party has a legacy stretching back at least as far as Richard Nixon and Donald Segretti of disrupting political opponents rallies . And so when I read that some of the same protesters seen at these town hall meetings , were also seen at the now infamous Brooks Brothers Riot of 2000, I was not surprised. This is the party, after all, of of the infamous right wing dirty trick squad. The same people who forged a letter attributed to Edmund Muskie, forged documents purporting to show Saddam Hussein was trying to buy yellow cake uranium from Niger, and forged a Kenyan birth certificate purporting to show Barack Obama was born in that African nation wouldn't have a problem twisting reality to show that the people disrupting these meetings are not paid shills working for the health care industry.
While many will defend the right of free speech at these rallies, it is interesting to note that not one of the same people voicing their support for those disrupting town hall meetings ever spoke up against the Bush administration free speech zones. And now, the same people who said antiwar protesters should be tried as enemies of the state for speaking out against the president during a time of war are defending these new protests against the president. And the last time I checked, we were still at war. Fucking hypocrites.

News Flash:John Bolton Is A Tool

I don't watch much television news. These days it deems reporting every bit of minutia concerning the death of Michael Jackson more important than a US Congress women taken hostage by a foreign nation.
Newspapers are struggling these days, and why not? They are as about as useful as a Republican politician lecturing to us about morals.How trustworthy can a paper that offers access to Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and even the paper’s own reporters and editors for a token fee of $25,000?
Even worse is when the very same paper publishes an opinion piece by neocon tool John Bolton advocating an Israeli strike against Iran. The reasons are both spurious and complete fabrications, starting with Iran's non-existent nuclear weapons program, and continuing on with the disputed election results from last month's elections. Never mind that such an action would be illegal under international law, Bolton (and Israel) have no use for international law, except when it serves their purpose.
As for that whole "democracy" thing, when Hamas won the majority of seats in the 2006 Palestinian Legislative Council, the US, (as part of the Quartet on the Middle East) voted to cut funding to the PLC. There you go, that's what you fucking get for exercising freedom of choice.
So if the newspapers are struggling, maybe they should focus less on Michael Jackson (that's why we have supermarket tabloids) and focus less on propaganda for that next big war. However, online newspapers do provide good links for bloggers, and I will continue to link to them even if some crazy judge thinks the practice should be banned to save newspapers.

They Can't Give That Crap Away

A trip to grocery store today led to one of the saddest sights I've seen in some time, a representative from the local paper, offering to give away copies of today's paper to anyone who wanted to listen to his spiel. This is the Sunday paper, the one paper most people purchase, if not for the wonderful color comics then for he multiple advertising circulars each Sunday paper promises. There was but one problem:
No body wanted any.
I made eye contact with the gentleman as I politely refused his offer, but many other people were probably not as kind, like the people who nod politely at the differently abled greeters at the more upscale supermarket up the road where trophy wives push trophy children in shopping carts equipped with DVD players to prevent the children from ever having a moment where they could actually think, or, use their imaginations. But this store is more decidedly downscale, and most people ignored him like they would the project children who often lurk out front selling seventy-five cent candy bars for three dollars to raise money to fill in the budget deficits their school faces because the only tax people can vote on is the only one that should be raised.
Now, I have many issues with the local paper. Their choice of op-ed columnists (Cal Thomas, anyone?), their lousy writing, but most importantly, their decision many years ago to ban me from the letters to the editor. This is a paper that not only endorsed Bush for two terms, but then went on to endorse McCain/Palin, a ticket whose horrendousness is best exemplified by John McCain's recent inaction during the ongoing economic crisis. And yes, I still hold that whole "propaganda for an illegal war" thing against them.
But I'm not alone. In fact, it would seem that so many newspapers are struggling that the once venerated New York Times is offering survival strategies for dying newspapers.
Face it, print is a dying medium as a way to convey news and information. Television may have helped, but in these lightning quick times, the internet has killed the local paper. And I say good. No more trees chopped down. No more stacks of twine wrapped crap rotting in landfills, or trying to find someone who will actually recycle the damn things. I simply don't have the space to save them until some one some where decides to run a paper drive. So goodbye newspaper, you're as useful as a rotary phone.

Waiting For The Smackdown, Pudstain!

Driving home from work every afternoon, I spin around the dial looking for music to listen to on my journey. On one radio station, mixed in with the corporate "alternative" music, Pudstain spouts off his very limited worldview on issues, blaming "liberals" for every problem with the US. Lately, he has been attacking Barack Obama, never forgetting to remind listeners that his middle name is Hussein, while never even mentioning John McCain, or his faults, foibles, or follies. Well I will listen no more.
My ex turned me on to a great radio station that actually plays real alternative music. I've heard Ludo's Love Me Dead several times, but even better, real alternative dinosaurs like the Ramones, or REM doing songs from Reckoning. So now, as I try to rrelax after a long day at work, I don't have to get annoyed listening to some barely literate record spinner postulate propaganda for the corporate media, I just hear music, which is all I really need. So I posted this little screed at his blog:
Hey Pudstain!
Guess what? I found a new radio station that actually plays alternative music, and doesn't try to pass off old tired and mainstream music like Guns'N'Roses or AC/DC as "alternative". Also, their deejays are unobtrusive and don't spout their right wing echo chamber talking points over the air while simultaneously claiming there is such a thing as a "liberal" media.
I'm glad, because now I don't have to listen to your crap attacking Sen. Obama. Why aren't you praising John "Can't-tell-a-Shi'ite-from-a-Sunni" McCain? If he's so much better, why don't we hear about Grandpappy McFlip-Flop is so much better? Let's see-increased deficits due to his continued support of Bush tax cuts, which haven't strengthened the economy, but rather, weakened the dollar. That's why gas is so expensive. It's not that the "liberals" won't let us drill for oil, or build more refineries, it's because the economic policies of the GOP have destroyed the dollar, thereby driving the price of everything, not just oil. Couple that with speculators betting on oil futures and you have a recipe for high oil prices. Oh yeah, and I forgot, Bush and McCain's insane idea of attacking Iran because they fear (with no real evidence) that Iran is enriching uranium for defense purposes is also driving up oil prices as well. If we want four more years of even higher oil prices, than hey, McCain is the perfect candidate. If you want four more years of pissing money down the sinkhole that is Iraq, increasing our debt even more, then hey! McCain's your guy.
I realize it doesn't matter to you to lose one listener, especially one who's intelligent. I'm sure you'd rather have one who spouts such mindless verbiage as "America F**K YEA and thinks that you speak not for the corporate media but for the "average American".

Why Impeachment Is Off The Table

Dennis Kucinich has introduced 35 articles of impeachment against George W. Bush. Article 1? Creating a secret propaganda campaign to manufacture a false case for war against Iraq.
This path leads to Larry Franklin and the Office of Special Plans, inevitably to the Aipac spy scandal and prostitutes linked to Aipac and hired by Jack Abramoff in a sex-spy ring which leads to the murder of Gus Boulis and a visit to his SunCruz casino boats by devout Muslim Mohammed Atta and other alleged 9/11 hijackers.It's a mighty big can of worms, no wonder Nancy Pelosi doesn't want to open it up, by the time they got to the bottom of it, Dick Cheney would be on his fifth heart and Chelsea Clinton would be running for president.
Meanwhile, Congress can't give Israel more money fast enough...........

Pissing Over The Airwaves

The right wing noise machine is desperate. They thought they cruise into the White House this November on the strength of "national security" and "fighting the war on terror" with "war hero" John "Depends" McCain. But with the publication of Scott McClellan's book and the recent Senate committee report affirming what those in the progressive blogosphere have known for six years, that intelligence was manipulated and the media exploited to sell the war in Iraq, McCain can no longer run on that issue, because support for the war will continue to dwindle until the only ones backing it will be the Bush cronies making billions from it. And Barack Obama, who has opposed the war from the start, will appear more desirable as chief executive, as he seeks a way out of the war.
Forget saving face, America was embarrassed by the invasion in the first place. Nothing this side of New Orleans made this country look weak and worthless than our inability to manage a war against a country run by a dictator hampered by years of economic sanctions. All the finest weaponry in the world can not impose the neocon's will against people who do not wish to bow to it.
Forget about victory, it is impossible because it can never be clearly defined. Every reason given as justification (WMD, 9/11, alQaeda) has turned out to false, and the ones who allegedly attacked us are still holed up in the mountains of Pakistan. With the exception of Osama Bin laden, who has been dead for years, new audiotape notwithstanding.
And forget about running on a strong economy, the GOP's anti-regulatory nightmare has weakened the dollar, driven up oil prices, and sent the housing market into a tailspin.
So all they have now are these nonsensical attacks by "balanced" Fox News that accuse Obama of plagiarism because he and Mario Cuomo both gave speeches that were written in the English language. Which leads to the question, who's stupider, the writers at Fox News who hought they could pull a fast one, or the millions of mouth breathing television watchers who buy into the whole lie?

Subliminal Criminal

Normally, I don't post too many videos, because I have dial-up, and for me to view a video at another blog, well, let's just say that if I'm lucky, it doesn't take all day, and if I'm really lucky, I'll be able to watch the whole thing. But I found this one (courtesy WRH) and thought I'd put it up here.