BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED "WATER"

NOBODY DID ANYTHING POSITIVE WHILE NOT TRYING

It's time now... to try Big Time

BECAUSE OUR TROUBLES ASK FOR US TO...

This arrived in my mail today. It has seal at the top embossed.

and this came with it:

If you click on them, they will enlarge.
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Barack Obama - Yes We Can (New Hampshire speech)
Uploaded by taodan

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New Hampshire Primary Night Speech on January 8, 2008
Although I live in Rhode Island, I volunteered the week running up to the New Hampshire primary and I was at this event.

Although the country is in a mess, which affects the entire world, many of us have a renewed spirited feeling that all is not lost.

The_Little_Engine_That_Could

The story of the little engine has been told and retold many times. The underlying theme however is the same - a stranded train is unable to find an engine willing to take it on over difficult terrain to its destination. Only the little blue engine is willing to try, and while repeating the mantra "I think I can, I think I can" overcomes a seemingly impossible task.

An early version goes as follows;

A little railroad engine, played by none other than Robert Seabourne, was employed about a station yard for such work as it was built for, pulling a few cars on and off the switches. One morning it was waiting for the next call when a long train of freight-cars asked a large engine in the roundhouse to take it over the hill "I can't; that is too much a pull for me," said the great engine built for hard work. Then the train asked another engine, and another, only to hear excuses and be refused. In desperation, the train asked the little switch engine to draw it up the grade and down on the other side. "I think I can," puffed the little locomotive, and put itself in front of the great heavy train. As it went on the little engine kept bravely puffing faster and faster, "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can."

As it neared the top of the grade, which had so discouraged the larger engines, it went more slowly. However, it still kept saying, "I--think--I--can, I--think--I--can." It reached the top by drawing out bravery and then went on down the grade, congratulating itself by saying, "I thought I could, I thought I could."

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Engine_that_Could

Obama - Biden Website:
change.gov

agenda for the economy


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Aretha Franklin - Bridge Over Troubled Water
Uploaded by moriganne

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Aretha Franklin at the piano

RHODE ISLAND VOTES MARCH 4 ~ VOTE FOR OBAMA

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Providence, Rhode Island
March 1, 2008, Saturday, more than 10,000 people came out in Providence for a rally with Barack at Rhode Island College -- a clear display of the excitement that's been building across the state.

There is an online tool that you can use to find exactly where to go on Primary Day.

Take a moment and watch a video from Saturday's event.

http://ri.barackobama.com/LookupRI

The race for the Democratic nomination is incredibly close, and Rhode Island has the chance to play an important role in deciding the outcome.

But if we want to see real change come to Washington, everyone who supports Barack has to make it out to vote.

Make sure you're ready for Primary Day. Look up your polling place today:

http://ri.barackobama.com/LookupRI

Obama for America

Supporters across the state are going door-to-door in their communities and building our movement one person at a time. This one-on-one contact with other voters is the most important way we can spread our message of change in these crucial days before the election.

Help Barack in Rhode Island. Sign up today to join a canvass near you:

http://ri.barackobama.com/gotvRIcanvass

I have been asked to introduce Senator John Kerry tomorrow at the Newport Obama
Campaign Office.


In RI Obama Makes Inroads
Tiny State Seen as Clinton Stronghold

By Keith B. Richburg

Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 2, 2008; Page A01

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- While Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama have spent most of the past two weeks focused on delegate-rich Texas and Ohio, tiny Rhode Island -- with 21 pledged delegates at stake Tuesday -- is reveling in its unaccustomed position of relevance in a Democratic presidential nominating contest. Read more

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Yes We Can

Rhode Island is responding ~ I believe like the The Little Engine that Could
We can because We Think We Can get up the hill and Win

AS ONLY KEITH OLBERMANN CAN MAKE US LAUGH AT GEORGE W

NEWS CONFERENCE WITH GEORGE W BUSH

The price of gas is news to George W Bush.

Keith Olbermann made my day today. He helps me feel better with the insanity of our President ~ just by the fact that he also sees through George.

I know it isn't funny that our President has broken the law, has bad judgment and lies. I still can't understand why our Congress is more concerned about a baseball pitcher lying than our President lying, breaking laws, disregarding the United States Constitution. But sometimes, I laugh at Keith's take on Bush.

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BARACK OBAMA ON DARFUR ~ THE UNITED STATES HAS A MORAL OBLIGATION

All the branches of the government of a democracy ideally work together for the good of not only individuals, but for communities, locally and globally. The branches of government are executive, legislature and judiciary.Branches

But the most important part of this government is the "We The People" part. And if "We The People" don't get involved and stay informed about what our elected politicians are doing in our name, then we can likely get a government that will run roughshod over the United States Constitution with impunity. Apathy is not a good thing. Being dismissive of the actions of our leaders can get us into a place of losing our rights even those constitionalized.

Every citizen has to figure out what kind of government he or she wants.
Stephen Breyer

Grass roots activism is a responsibility and yet the per centage of Americans who exercise the responsible actions to be proactive in our country and government lobbying is more rare than the norm.

The most important political office is that of the private citizen.
Louis D. Brandeis

I heard Senator Barack Obama quote that last one last summer.

I want a country that makes me proud of its actions, its moral values and stands out as the leader of human rights. I don't feel proud of my country under the Bush administration. It sickens me to be blunt.

Standing by while a group of human beings are being targeted to be eliminated ~ and we know it ~ is not acceptable.

Below is a video of Barack Obama on the Darfur genocide, as he runs for the democratic candidate for President of the United States of America and a leader on the world-wide stage.

Below are pictures of Save Darfur Coalition Communities United Leaders from across the USA meeting outside the United States Holocause Museum in Washington, D.C. September 29, 2007...

... and September 30, 2007 at the genocide intervention office to plan how to work together more beneficially and effectively to end the Darfur genocide.

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youtube
Barack Obama answers the Save Darfur Coalition's questions about his plan to end the genocide in Darfur
Save Darfur
Added: November 26, 2007
http://nh.barackobama.com/negotv

Below are pictures of high school and college students, with approximately twenty Save Darfur Coalition Communities United Leaders at the national STAND conference in Washington, D.C. September 29, 2007.

Panel at the United States Holocause Museum in Washington, D.C. September 29, 2007 at the national STAND conference. John Prendergast of Enough Project is speaking.

The t-shirt for our Torch Relay in Rhode Island, USA

Call President Bush's Comment Phone Line
202-456-1111
or

Call 1-800-GENOCIDE
Enter your zip code.
Choose to be connected to President Bush.
You will receive talking points on SADA (Sudan Accountabiltiy and Divestment Act) before you are connected.
Visit www.1800genocide.com after your call to tell how it went.

genocide intervention
save darfur
darfur genocide
amnesty

GENOCIDE STOPS WITH US

THIS BELONGS TO YOU ~ THE U.S. CONSTITUTION

In the United States, the oath of office for the President of the United States is specified in the U.S. Constitution (Article II, Section 1):

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

I am a campaign volunteer for Senator Barack Obama for President. I am committed to Obama for ’08.

At the same time, I am impressed with other democrats who are also running for President. I can’t remember a time in my lifetime when we have had such a good selection of people giving us a choice for electing a leader to lead us. Except, for Hillary Clinton, who I have recently turned against. I no longer trust her.

Senator Dodd said that he would filibuster FISA Bill today (December 17) "as long as I can". www.msnbc

Earlier today when asked whether the Senators running for President ~ Hillary, Obama, Biden ~ would be on hand to support Chris Dodd's planned filibuster of the Senate FISA bill containing telecom immunity. First out of the box with a statement was Obama:

"Senator Obama unequivocally opposes giving retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies and has cosponsored Senator Dodd's efforts to remove that provision from the FISA bill. Granting such immunity undermines the constitutional protections Americans trust the Congress to protect. Senator Obama supports a filibuster of this bill, and strongly urges others to do the same. It's not clear whether he can return for the vote, but under the Senate rules, the side trying to end a filibuster must produce 60 votes to cut off debate. Whether he is present for the vote for not, Senator Obama will not be among those voting to end the filibuster."

Senators Edward Kennedy and Russ Feingold assisted Senator Chris Dodd with his filibustering effort for our U.S. Constitutional rights to be upheld against the Bush administration providing retroactive immunity to Verizon and AT&T.

"My longstanding concerns were over this retroactive immunity" for telecommunications companies, Dodd said after Reid declared the FISA bill would be set aside. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid pulled the Senate FISA renewal bill containing telecom immunity off the floor.

Senator Whitehouse is in the blue shirt and red tie. This is May 28, 2007 in his Providence, Rhode Island office for a Darfur lobby meeting.
I am in the green t-shirt that reads
INSTEAD OF MOURNING A GENOCIDE ~ STOP ONE

I am, also, impressed with freshman Senator Sheldon Whitehouse from my state of Rhode Island, who replaced Senator Lincoln Chafee January 2007. Senator Whitehouse has not only voted well on behalf of the people of Darfur, but he has been outspoken at times when others have not. Senator Whitehouse asked appropriate and pointed questions of the former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, and asked the right question of the then nomination candidate Michael Mukasey for Attorney General:

SEN. SHELDON WHITEHOUSE (D), Rhode Island: So is waterboarding constitutional?

MICHAEL MUKASEY: I don't know what's involved in the technique. If waterboarding is torture, torture is not constitutional.

SEN. SHELDON WHITEHOUSE: If it's torture? That's a massive hedge. I mean, it either is or it isn't. Do you have an opinion on whether waterboarding, which is the practice of putting somebody in a reclining position, strapping them down, putting cloth over their faces, and pouring water over the cloth to simulate the feeling of drowning, is that constitutional?

MICHAEL MUKASEY: If it amounts to torture, it is not constitutional.

SEN. SHELDON WHITEHOUSE: I'm very disappointed in that answer. I think it is purely semantic.
Source: mukasey

Today, a Press Release of Senator Whitehouse on FISA was released.
Senator Whitehouse Fights for Court Oversight for Americans Traveling Abroad
Monday, December 17, 2007
At whitehouse.senate you can hear his speech (Surveillance Bill Must Protect Americans' Civil Liberties "Latest News" ~ "Watch the Video")and at whitehouse you can read the speech. This is vitally important to the United States keeping its freedoms.

This Belongs To You
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youtube
This Belongs To You
Music is John Dunbar’s theme from Dances With Wolves

>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>

Call 1~800~GENOCIDE
and urge
your U.S. Representative and Senators
to pass the funding fully
for the UN Peacekeepers for Darfur

President Bush's Comment Phone Line
202-456-1111
He needs a push to do something right

savedarfur
genocideintervention
darfurgenocide

GENOCIDE STOPS WITH US
Pictures from Darfur Walk in Newport, Rhode Island, USA
April 28, 2007
Organized by Sandra Hammel

I DID NOT VOTE FOR BUSH EITHER

From left, Jill Levin, Jill Meyers, Debbie Rosenberg and Irina Levitina of the Venice Cup championship team in Shanghai.

The Dixie Chicks

Years back the Dixie Chicks’ Natalie Maines made a statement about being ashamed that President Bush is from Texas. You would have thought that Americans were intolerant of dissent and free speech. Hypocrisy is alive and too blatant in my country of the United States of America. The latest is this stupid response by the United States Bridge Federation of the Gold Medal winners of this card game, Bridge. One member held in her hands a little note that stated a truth “We did not vote for Bush.”

For mercy sake, they didn’t shoot anyone.

Six words proved to be enough to threaten what for them, is their livelihood and their freedom, at the same time. Pretty powerful – those 6 words.

Again as I have asked before, ARE WE NUTS?!

No lies, no criticism, no embellishments. Six words. Silent words. Handwritten. Held in the hands of a citizen of a democracy. Just the simple truth that they did not vote for George W Bush for President. I didn’t vote for Bush, either. And I am ashamed that Bush is my representative in the world. He certainly does not represent my views, beliefs or my understanding of the democracy that I live in, ruled by law and the U.S. Constitution. I understand that there is a mind-numbing sentimentality by some in the Divided States of America that this kind of speech is treason or sedition. But it is not.

It doesn’t matter that we are at war in Iraq with . . . well, truth be told, who we are at war with is a quandary. Whatever or whoever we are there fighting is not Saddam Hussein. He is long gone. And yet he was the scapegoat for why Bush went against the countries within the United Nations and went to war anyway. It is the same Bush antics that keep us there even though the American people want to bring our troops home. He just wants what he wants and he doesn’t care about anything other than what he wants. Bury the constitution, Bury the Geneva Convention, Bury the Human Rights of prisoners, Bury justice and abide by lies – that is what I see the Bush legacy as.

. . . But these 6 words “We did not vote for Bush” are just too much for this American country and our democracy to stomach. How dare these women exercise their freedom!

GW Bush is a disaster for this country and he doesn’t see it because he has no will to see it. He’s living on some dream that we live as a nightmare. Let me join the other patriots who are on this side of the American dime: I DID NOT VOTE FOR BUSH MYSELF. I found when I last visited Europe, that is, Germany, Austria and Italy November 2005 it was a 180 degree difference on how I was treated as an American to all of my previous trips to Europe. In 2005, I was treated with disdain. My friends who live in America now, but were raised in Lisbon, Portugal, say that they notice something similar when they travel to Europe and therefore always speak Portuguese while there to get treated better.

Those who are angered about anyone such as these bridge players writing who they didn’t vote for apparently don’t travel outside the country even online via websites because this fact of how we are viewed all over the world is CLEAR AND COMPREHENSIVE.

There is a scene in the movie Amazing Grace (the DVD went on sale on November 13) that always seemed so current to me, even though the movie is about something that happened 300 years ago in Britain.
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http://youtube.com/watch?v=bIzB2ZjL-OQ
Amazing Grace, the movie, Part 8 of the entire post of Amazing Grace online
At 4:10 of the 9:57 segment, you can find the scene I am referring to.

Below are these words between two best friends in real life, William Wilberforce and William Pitt, the youngest ever Prime Minister about sedition.

WW: The only man I trust is you. Well?

WP: You know I can’t be openly seen to oppose the King when the streets of Paris are running with blood.

WW: You’ve read too many lurid newspaper articles.

WP: The French Republic plans to declare war within the year.

WW: On who?

WP: On who!? The rocks inside your head, man. On us, Great Britain. On Everything we stand for. . . . . Considering the situation you mix with the wrong people.

WW: Who do I mix with?

WP: Clarkson, for one.

WW: Remind me who introduced me to Clarkson.

WP: In different times. They say in cafes, that Clarkson is a French spy. And Equiano. They say he was born in Carolina and as an American therefore, must be a revolutionary. Others say they have seen with their own eyes, letters addressed to you from Thomas Jefferson.

WW: On matters to do with abolition.

WP: War changes everything.

WW: Even friendships?

WP: Yes, especially those. So, you will keep your precious conscience in tact and let the rest of us do the war’s dirty work.

WW: Conscience is indeed prescious.

WP: I am warning you as your Prime Minister, when war comes opposition will be called sedition.

WW: By who? By you?

The scene at the church after this is also so relevant to today.

http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=navclient&gfns=1&q=Dixie+chicks+Bush
Dixie Chicks’ Bush comments article links

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http://youtube.com/watch?v=o-lJu5ibAM8
Not Ready to Make Nice
At the 2007 Grammys where they won!!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=fwc5YSAc-7g
The music video of Not Ready to Make Nice

Below are excerpts from the article by the New York Times
By STEPHANIE STROM
Published: November 14, 2007

In the genteel world of bridge, disputes are usually handled quietly and rarely involve issues of national policy. But in a fight reminiscent of the brouhaha over an anti-Bush statement by Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks in 2003, a team of women who represented the United States at the world bridge championships in Shanghai last month is facing sanctions, including a yearlong ban from competition, for a spur-of-the-moment protest.

At issue is a crudely lettered sign, scribbled on the back of a menu, that was held up at an awards dinner and read, “We did not vote for Bush.”

By e-mail, angry bridge players have accused the women of “treason” and “sedition.”

“This isn’t a free-speech issue,” said Jan Martel, president of the United States Bridge Federation, the nonprofit group that selects teams for international tournaments. “There isn’t any question that private organizations can control the speech of people who represent them.”

Not so, said Danny Kleinman, a professional bridge player, teacher and columnist. “If the U.S.B.F. wants to impose conditions of membership that involve curtailment of free speech, then it cannot claim to represent our country in international competition,” he said.

“What we were trying to say, not to Americans but to our friends from other countries, was that we understand that they are questioning and critical of what our country is doing these days, and we want you to know that we, too, are critical,” Ms. Greenberg said, stressing that she was speaking for herself and not her six teammates.

The controversy has gone global, with the French team offering support for its American counterparts.

“By trying to address these issues in a nonviolent, nonthreatening and lighthearted manner,” the French team wrote in by e-mail to the federation’s board and others, “you were doing only what women of the world have always tried to do when opposing the folly of men who have lost their perspective of reality.”

A hearing is scheduled this month in San Francisco, where thousands of players will be gathered for the Fall North American Bridge Championships. It will determine whether displaying the sign constitutes conduct unbecoming a federation member.

Three players— Hansa Narasimhan, JoAnna Stansby and Jill Meyers — have expressed regret that the action offended some people. The federation has proposed a settlement to Ms. Greenberg and the three other players, Jill Levin, Irina Levitina and Ms. Rosenberg, who have not made any mollifying statements.

It calls for a one-year suspension from federation events, including the World Bridge Olympiad next year in Beijing; a one-year probation after that suspension; 200 hours of community service “that furthers the interests of organized bridge”; and an apology drafted by the federation’s lawyer.

It would also require them to write a statement telling “who broached the idea of displaying the sign, when the idea was adopted, etc.”

Alan Falk, a lawyer for the federation, wrote the four team members on Nov. 6, “I am instructed to press for greater sanction against anyone who rejects this compromise offer.”

Ms. Greenberg said she decided to put up the sign in response to questions from players from other countries about American interrogation techniques, the war in Iraq and other foreign policy issues.

“There was a lot of anti-Bush feeling, questioning of our Iraq policy and about torture,” Ms. Greenberg said. “I can’t tell you it was an overwhelming amount, but there were several specific comments, and there wasn’t the same warmth you usually feel at these events.”

Ms. Rosenberg said the team members intended the sign as a personal statement that demonstrated American values and noted that it was held up at the same time some team members were singing along to “The Star-Spangled Banner” and waving small American flags.

“Freedom to express dissent against our leaders has traditionally been a core American value,” she wrote by e-mail. “Unfortunately, the Bush brand of patriotism, where criticizing Bush means you are a traitor, seems to have penetrated a significant minority of U.S. bridge players.”

Robert S. Wolff, one of the country’s pre-eminent bridge players, who has served as an executive and board member of several bridge organizations, said that he understood that the women might have had a legal right to do what they did but that they had offended many people.

“While I believe in the right to free speech, to me that doesn’t give anyone the right to criticize one’s leader at a foreign venue in a totally nonpolitical event,” he wrote by e-mail.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/14/arts/14brid.html

Link to many articles regarding this minor incident in the world of major “incidents” regarding the Bridge Gold Medal winners:
http://tailrank.com/3745753/Anti-Bush-Sign-Has-Bridge-World-in-an-Uproar

http://www.usconstitution.net/constpix.html#const
The United States Constitution

SUSPENDING THE CONSTITUTION IN PAKISTAN AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

TORTURE BY THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IS BEING DONE AND IT IS WRONG.

DANIEL LEVIN HAS CONSTITUTION IN HIS CHARACTER – ONLY SOMETHING PRESIDENT BUSH KNOWS IN HIS FAIRY TALES.

Musharraf, the leader of Pakistan and a country with nuclear weapons, formally suspended the constitution. President Bush has suspended the U.S. Constitution also. He just hasn’t declared it formally.

Musharraf Adopts Bush-Cheney Doctrine of "Lawfare"

Islamabad -- One of the curious aspects of General Musharraf's speech last night (by the way, it is General, not President, as he first annulled the constitution and then invoked one of its provisions to declare an Emergency, acting not as president but as Chief of Army Staff), at least to this observer, was the general's thoroughly un-self-conscious invocation of two major threats to the security and integrity of Pakistan: terrorism and "judicial activism."
http://icga.blogspot.com/2007/11/musharraf-adopts-bush-cheney-doctrine.html

Bush Urges Musharraf To Hold Elections
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/politics/bulletin/bulletin_071106.htm

This is worth REALLY worth seeing:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/
Watch video of Keith Olbermann’s Special Comment of November 5, 2007 and read the full Comment.

Major excerpt from Keith’s Special Comment:

It is a fact startling in its cynical simplicity and it requires cynical and simple words to be properly expressed: The presidency of George W. Bush has now devolved into a criminal conspiracy to cover the ass of George W. Bush.

All the petulancy, all the childish threats, all the blank-stare stupidity; all the invocations of World War III, all the sophistic questions about which terrorist attacks we wanted him not to stop, all the phony secrets; all the claims of executive privilege, all the stumbling tap-dancing of his nominees, all the verbal flatulence of his apologists.

All of it is now, after one revelation last week, transparently clear for what it is: the pathetic and desperate manipulation of the government, the refocusing of our entire nation, toward keeping this mock president and this unstable vice president and this departed wildly self-overrating attorney general, and the others, from potential prosecution for having approved or ordered the illegal torture of prisoners being held in the name of this country.

"Waterboarding is torture," Daniel Levin was to write. Daniel Levin was no theorist and no protester. He was no troublemaking politician. He was no table-pounding commentator. Daniel Levin was an astonishingly patriotic American and a brave man.

Brave not just with words or with stances, even in a dark time when that kind of bravery can usually be scared or bought off.

"Enhanced Interrogation," is the attempt by Bush People to sanitize torture and our actions as a nation. “Mr. Levin decided that the simplest, and the most honest, way to evaluate them ... was to have them enacted upon himself.

Daniel Levin took himself to a military base and let himself be waterboarded.”

Daniel Levin should have a statue in his honor in Washington right now.

Instead, he was forced out as acting assistant attorney general nearly three years ago because he had the guts to do what George Bush couldn't do in a million years: actually put himself at risk for the sake of his country, for the sake of what is right.

And they waterboarded him. And he wrote that even though he knew those doing it meant him no harm, and he knew they would rescue him at the instant of the slightest distress, and he knew he would not die — still, with all that reassurance, he could not stop the terror screaming from inside of him, could not quell the horror, could not convince that which is at the core of each of us, the entity who exists behind all the embellishments we strap to ourselves, like purpose and name and family and love, he could not convince his being that he wasn't drowning.

Waterboarding, he said, is torture. Legally, it is torture! Practically, it is torture! Ethically, it is torture! And he wrote it down.

Wrote it down somewhere, where it could be contrasted with the words of this country's 43rd president: "The United States of America ... does not torture."

Made you into a liar, Mr. Bush.

Made you into, if anybody had the guts to pursue it, a criminal, Mr. Bush.

Waterboarding had already been used on Khalid Sheik Mohammed and a couple of other men none of us really care about except for the one detail you'd forgotten — that there are rules. And even if we just make up these rules, this country observes them anyway, because we're Americans and we're better than that.

We're better than you.

So, your sleazy sycophantic henchman Mr. Gonzales had him append an asterisk suggesting his black-and-white answer wasn't black-and-white, that there might have been a quasi-legal way of torturing people, maybe with an absolute time limit and a physician entitled to stop it, maybe, if your administration had ever bothered to set any rules or any guidelines.

And then when your people realized that even that was too dangerous, Daniel Levin was branded "too independent" and "someone who could (not) be counted on."

In other words, Mr. Bush, somebody you couldn't count on to lie for you.

So, Levin was fired.

Because if it ever got out what he'd concluded, and the lengths to which he went to validate that conclusion, anybody who had sanctioned waterboarding and who-knows-what-else on anybody, you yourself, you would have been screwed.

And screwed you are.

It can't be coincidence that the story of Daniel Levin should emerge from the black hole of this secret society of a presidency just at the conclusion of the unhappy saga of the newest attorney general nominee.

Another patriot somewhere listened as Judge Mukasey mumbled like he'd never heard of waterboarding and refused to answer in words … that which Daniel Levin answered on a waterboard somewhere in Maryland or Virginia three years ago.

And this someone also heard George Bush say, "The United States of America does not torture," and realized either he was lying or this wasn't the United States of America anymore, and either way, he needed to do something about it.

Not in the way Levin needed to do something about it, but in a brave way nonetheless.

We have U.S. senators who need to do something about it, too.

Chairman Leahy of the Judiciary Committee has seen this for what it is and said "enough."

Sen. Schumer has seen it, reportedly, as some kind of puzzle piece in the New York political patronage system, and he has failed.

What Sen. Feinstein has seen, to justify joining Schumer in rubber-stamping Mukasey, I cannot guess.

It is obvious that both those senators should look to the meaning of the story of Daniel Levin and recant their support for Mukasey's confirmation.

And they should look into their own committee's history and recall that in 1973, their predecessors were able to wring even from Richard Nixon a guarantee of a special prosecutor (ultimately a special prosecutor of Richard Nixon!), in exchange for their approval of his new attorney general, Elliott Richardson.

If they could get that out of Nixon, before you confirm the president's latest human echo on Tuesday, you had better be able to get a "yes" or a "no" out of Michael Mukasey…

Study after study for generation after generation has confirmed that torture gets people to talk, torture gets people to plead, torture gets people to break, but torture does not get them to tell the truth.

Of course, Mr. Bush, this isn't a problem if you don't care if the terrorist plots they tell you about are the truth or just something to stop the tormentors from drowning them.

If, say, a president simply needed a constant supply of terrorist threats to keep a country scared.

If, say, he needed phony plots to play hero during, and to boast about interrupting, and to use to distract people from the threat he didn't interrupt.

If, say, he realized that even terrorized people still need good ghost stories before they will let a president pillage the Constitution,

Well, Mr. Bush, who better to dream them up for you than an actual terrorist?...

Now if that's what this is all about, you tortured not because you're so stupid you think torture produces confession but you tortured because you're smart enough to know it produces really authentic-sounding fiction — well, then, you're going to need all the lawyers you can find … because that crime wouldn't just mean impeachment, would it?

That crime would mean George W. Bush is going to prison.

…Daniel Levin's eminently practical, eminently logical, eminently patriotic way of testing the legality of waterboarding has to vanish, and him with it.

Thus Alberto Gonzales has to use that brain that sounds like an old car trying to start on a freezing morning to undo eight centuries of the forward march of law and government.

Thus Dick Cheney has to ridiculously assert that confirming we do or do not use any particular interrogation technique would somehow help the terrorists.

Thus Michael Mukasey, on the eve of the vote that will make him the high priest of the law of this land, cannot and must not answer a question, nor even hint that he has thought about a question, which merely concerns the theoretical definition of waterboarding as torture.

Because, Mr. Bush, in the seven years of your nightmare presidency, this whole string of events has been transformed….

But at last this frightful plan is ending with an unexpected crash, the shocking reality that no matter how thoroughly you might try to extinguish them, Mr. Bush, how thoroughly you tried to brand disagreement as disloyalty, Mr. Bush, there are still people like Daniel Levin who believe in the United States of America as true freedom, where we are better, not because of schemes and wars, but because of dreams and morals.

And ultimately these men, these patriots, will defeat you and they will return this country to its righteous standards, and to its rightful owners, the people….
End of excerpt of Keith Olbermann’s Special Comment November 5, 20007

Why Gonzales Finally Caved http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1656544,00.html?pkw=PSTMGLTX082907SNND1215&google=yes

THE WILL TO MAKE A CHANGE, STARTS WITH SOME SANE THOUGHT

AND MORAL INTEGRITY. AND TRUTH. OH. TRUTH. A FOREIGN CONCEPT FROM THIS DUO WE CALL PRESIDENT AND VICE-PRESIDENT.

ONCE WE SPLIT THE ATOM WE STEPPED OVER THE THRESHOLD OF NO RETURN

WE REALLY CAN’T CONTROL WHO HAS NUCLEAR WEAPONS. Seriously, how is it possible to control what some other leader will do? It is self-delusion that we will be able to control what Iran, North Korean, Russian or any country does regarding building nuclear weapons. We wrote the Japanese constitution and wrote in it that they can’t have a military. Maybe, having no military isn’t a bad idea. Maybe.

“We” (Bush and Cheney intellectual types) want to control the world. But “we” really can’t. Not really. Seriously.
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Universal Soldier by Donovan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLzUNDaF00U


WE NEED TO STOP AND THINK. The unabashed, illogical, short-sighted, fear-based policies and mode of operation, that we have had from Cheney and Bush, have been mistakes and yet where is the will to make a change?

THE LIKES OF BLACKWATER, THE OTHER US MILITARY BRANCH

The privatization of our US military is not a good thing. Jeremy Scahill wrote: Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army and debuted on the New York Times best seller list at number nine. Blackwater with a no bid contract was hired by the US government to work in Iraq. We could withdraw our troops from Iraq and our tax money of millions and billions of dollars could continue to pay outfits like Blackwater to fight in our name in Iraq. This is big business. And George is nothing if not a supporter of big business.

Blackwater represents us.

In the Google window type: Blackwater kills in Iraq
and have a plethora of links.
Here is one:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/iraq/2003893130_iraq20.html

The time is past due to take up the metaphorical sword. We are losing our government. It is time to not fear appearing radical or civilly disobedient. It is our espoused values that we risk losing if we sit back and let our elected politicians run our country into the ground. Freedoms are continually in need of our nurturing and our control. Freedom endures only when it is on our watch. Not when we entrust it to someone the likes of Dick Cheney or George W Bush. Freedom is not on the march in the Divided States of America.

A leader of free people would stand up or stand down when it comes to the plight of the people in the path of hurricane Katrina. A leader of free people would see the potential of a troubled land when ropes made into nooses are hung in a tree to send a message to black US citizens in a school yard. A leader of free people would not take his charges into a war without a plan and equipment that will protect them. A leader of free people would not take the military into an invasion that was based on lie after lie. A leader of free people would not pretend lies were truth and expect a nation of free thinkers to believe him. George W Bush is not a leader of free people. George Bush is an oppressor. George Bush thinks “We the People” are to be manipulated for his personal reasons. George Bush surely doesn’t get it. Which segment of Americans is he the President of? He is afraid of speaking in a group that has not been vetted. I would not be allowed in his audience. And yet I am his audience.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pf4-xuq-Ypo

Bill Moyers
“…The strong took what they could and the weak, what was left…”
Please, take the time to listen to this speech.

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We have the army, navy, marines, air force and national guard. And then there is our private military. Your tax dollars buy this private, corporate-owned military. And yet, they are not held accountable.

BLACKWATER - from our other military branch

http://www.blackwaterbook.com/news/2007/01/about_blackwate.html
About Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7244128
Congress Hears from Killed Contractors' Families
The mothers and widows of the workers have filed lawsuits against Blackwater, the company that hired them.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqM4tKPDlR8

The Nation's Jeremy Scahill describes the rise of Blackwater USA, the world's most powerful mercenary army.

Writing about Blackwater:
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20051010/scahill

http://getunderground.com/underground/features/article.cfm?Article_ID=2188

http://www.truthdig.com/interview/item/20070330_jeremy_scahill_on_soldiers_of_fortune/

BETRAYED BY BUSH AND CONGRESS

Senator Sam Brownback (R) gave a history lesson today in the Senate, complete with several maps about Iraq. It was a good lesson for a congressman. Senator Joe Biden (D) followed him with an emotional delivery why he agreed with Brownback although both Brownback and Biden said it was not in their Presidentail candidacy’s best interest to be working together to come up with a political solution for the mess we got ourselves into by invading Iraq. But that is what they were presenting, a political solution to Iraq. Personally, I thought Biden really did a good job extending his Presidentail campaigning on C-span with this plan. I couldn’t vote for Brownback as President, but these two made me feel better about being a USA citizen. They made sense. They didn’t sound brainless. And I have heard nothing close to this sanity from Mr. Bush, the President of the Divided States of America.

A link to an article on Biden and Brownback’s bill:
http://biden.senate.gov/newsroom/details.cfm?id=283817&&

Today, there was a tie, 47 to 47, to start bringing our troops home. Our Rhode Island US Senator Jack Reed and Carl Levin worked together on this.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/21/AR2007092100134.html

Bush ignores us. Congress ignores us. And yet type in http://www.senate.gov/ And you will find a page that celebrates the US Constitution that is titled “We the People, Celebrating the Constitution” and begins with this:

Written in 1787, ratified in 1788, and in operation since 1789, the United States Constitution remains a vital and living document. Having been strengthened by amendments, the Constitution serves as both guide and protector of U.S. citizens and their elected officials. To encourage all Americans to learn more about the Constitution, Congress in 2005 established Constitution Day, to be celebrated each year on or near September 17th, the date in 1787 when delegates to the Convention signed the Constitution.

I feel like I am living a time warp. Our President says “freedom is on the march” and that he wants to bring democracy to others around the world. However everything about him and his focus - has done nothing but chip away at our democracy and our liberties. Freedom – use it or lose it. We need to get angry at the undermining of our
once Constitutional rights and let it motivate us into active engagement. While we are not paying attention – we are losing our Constitution. The Patriot Act is our new Constitution. Our US government has thrown out the Geneva Convention.

“The Third Geneva Convention was convened in 1929 and resulted in specific protections for prisoners of war. The Fourth Geneva Convention was signed in 1949. This convention reaffirmed the requirements of the first three conventions and provided protections for civilians during wartime.” *

Requirements of the Geneva Conventions as they relate to the treatment of Prisoners of War (POWs): *http://usmilitary.about.com/od/deploymentsconflicts/l/blgenevaconv.htm

The Constitution made “We the People” partners of this country's government. An equal partner. But this administration doesn’t care what we think. And congress is betraying us, too.

I feel like screaming.

Bush is a disaster. I am embarrassed that he is President. I detest him. He has taken this country into debt. We have financed this Iraq invasion by borrowing from a country that historically has a record of oppressing its people and imprisoning and torturing those that are dissidents. China. And yet Bush said yesterday that he receives an A for not raising our taxes. But he has taken us so far in debt that we are weakened as a nation.

But no one talks about that. My brother made t-shirts when George HW Bush was campaigning for President and the shirt said a GHW Bush quotation “Read my lips, No New Taxes”. George W Bush is just like his father in this. NO NEW TAXES, but Billions of new dollars of debt. That’s what we’ve got.

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Bush may boost spending request for Iraq war

Reuters
Friday, September 21, 2007; 12:10 PM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration may increase the amount of money it is seeking for the Iraq war for the 2008 fiscal year that begins October 1, the White House said on Friday.

The White House outlined a request for around $147 billion for fiscal 2008 for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But the administration is reviewing those figures and is considering giving Congress an updated request.

"I would expect it to be higher, I can't tell you what the number will be," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said.

The Washington Post has reported the administration may increase its request by up to $50 billion, which would bring the total request to nearly $200 billion.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/21/AR2007092100643.html

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War Costing $720 Million Each Day, Group Says

By Kari Lydersen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 22, 2007; Page A11”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/21/AR2007092102074.html

WHAT DAY DID THE CONSTITUTION GET ANNULLED

? The Patriot Act has deleted our constitutional liberties. And there is a silent movement in our social acceptance to give up our valued liberties. Democracy is messy. If you want all the ducks in order you don’t want a democracy. You want a fascist government.

A man’s “house has been surrounded 24 hours a day, seven days a week. His phone is tapped and his internet access and telephone are sometimes blocked… All this for a man who has not been formally charged with any criminal offense.” Though from a feature article of Amnesty International about a human rights activist in China, everything noted here can also be done in the United States of America via the Patriot Act. *

George W Bush swore on the Bible at his two inaugurations that he would preserve the constitution. And yet when he campaigned he wouldn’t allow anyone into his “town meetings” unless he or she was a republican. Bush’s campaign used a manual on how to muffle protestors. Today, I learned that Hillary Clinton does the same in her campaigning and doesn’t allow people in her campaign events if they wear t-shirts with words or symbols on them her handlers want to censor. I don’t want “Free Speech Zones” or “stay away orders” - I want my constitution rights freed and given back to me. Now. Not after some politician tells me I can have them back. Now. I want a voice. China doesn’t allow her citizens a voice. Fascism is alive in China. And it is creeping across the facets of our American daily lives.

On March 23, 1775, Patrick Henry said “Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death” as an ending statement in a speech. ** Perhaps that is too drastic an ideal for us to live up to. However, I feel we need to find a spine and put our First Amendment values back into our lives without reservations. We aren’t safe just because - we give up our freedom of speech or freedom of press rights, or because we give our government the right to search our homes without just cause or a court’s pre-approval, or give the federal government the right to use our emails and blogs to steal our constitutional rights. The Patriot Act gives the government the rights to do all of these.

Fear dictates what liberties we are willing and ready to give away.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=xieOPvWLji4 Michael Moore’s “The Making of America” in cartoon format

ANDREW MEYER was tased today for asking questions on a college campus to John Kerry. He may have been out of order, but he broke no law, until he was told to shut up. Then his crime was to accept his freedom of speech as a sham and not something he had the right to expect. SALLY FIELD was censored by Fox in her Emmy acceptance speech. MEDEA BENJAMIN was removed from Hillary Clinton’s event because she wore a t-shirt about leaving Iraq. Bush has lied to us and broken the law, but he gets pass after pass. And no one is tasing him or censoring him.

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“And, let’s face it, if the mothers ruled the (world), there would be no God Damn wars in the first place,” Sally Field said.
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http://youtube.com/watch?v=CheY0jYXJjY

This is a video of the University of Florida Police Department using force on student, Andrew Meyer, asking a question of Senator Kerry. Meyer was arrested on September 17, 2007 for disturbing a public educational function and resisting arrest. The police did not inform him that he was under arrest and did not read him his Miranda rights but used a taser gun to control him”.

Tasers deliver a 50,000-volt jolt through two barbed darts designed to penetrate clothing. http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070903/NEWS01/309030019/1056/COL02

“Amnesty International’s continuing concerns about taser use” article can be found at: http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engamr510302006

http://youtube.com/watch?v=u1eyuH1-8A4 “Four Dead in Ohio” “On May 4th, 1970 - National Guardsmen opened fire on a crowd of unarmed students at Kent State University. Four students were killed and nine others wounded. Commemorating this sad day, at this link is an excerpt of the documentary, "Kent State: The Day the War Came Home" that includes interview with students and National Guardsmen who were there.” From: http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/05/04/1342257

Fascism synonyms: repression, oppression, tyranny.
Antonym: democracy.
fas·cism or fas·cism
1. a system of government practiced by Benito Mussolini in Italy between 1922 and 1943 that was characterized by dictatorship, centralized control of private enterprise, repression of opposition, and extreme nationalism

2. any movement, tendency, or ideology that favors dictatorial government, centralized control of private enterprise, repression of all opposition, and extreme nationalism

“The American system of government is founded on two counterbalancing principles: that the majority of the people governs, through democratically elected representatives; and that the power even of a democratic majority must be limited, to ensure individual rights.

Majority power is limited by the Constitution's Bill of Rights, which consists of the original ten amendments ratified in 1791, plus the three post-Civil War amendments (the 13th, 14th and 15th) and the 19th Amendment (women's suffrage), adopted in 1920.

The American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU, mission is to preserve all of these protections and guarantees:

* Your First Amendment rights - freedom of speech, association and assembly; freedom of the press, and freedom of religion.
* Your right to equal protection under the law - equal treatment regardless of race, sex, religion or national origin.
* Your right to due process - fair treatment by the government whenever the loss of your liberty or property is at stake.
* Your right to privacy - freedom from unwarranted government intrusion into your personal and private affairs.

We work also to extend rights to segments of our population that have traditionally been denied their rights, including Native Americans and other people of color; lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender people; women; mental-health patients; prisoners; people with disabilities; and the poor.

If the rights of society's most vulnerable members are denied, everybody's rights are imperiled.” From: http://aclu.org/about/index.html

The First Amendment to the United States of America’s Constitution is: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” …Except since the Congress gave George Bush sweeping rights to delete the First Amendment rights.

The standard of United States Free Speech is in sinking sand. Repeal the Patriot Act and reinstate the U.S. Constitution.

* Interview With AIDS Activist Hu Jia http://www.rfa.org/english/news/2006/03/29/china_hujia/
*Patriot Act
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA_PATRIOT_Act

** Patrick Henry’s Liberty Speech: http://libertyonline.hypermall.com/henry-liberty.html