Wednesday, March 16, 2005

What IF???

# What if the policies of foreign intervention, entangling alliances, policing the world, nation building, and spreading our values through force are deeply flawed?
# What if it is true that Saddam Hussein never had weapons of mass destruction?# What if it is true that Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden were never allies?
# What if it is true that the overthrow of Saddam Hussein did nothing to enhance our national security?# What if our current policy in the Middle East leads to the overthrow of our client oil states in the region?
# What if the American people really knew that more than 20,000 American troops have suffered serious casualties or died in the Iraq war, and 9% of our forces already have been made incapable of returning to battle?
# What if it turns out there are many more guerrilla fighters in Iraq than our government admits?# What if there really have been 100,000 civilian Iraqi casualties, as some claim, and what is an acceptable price for “doing good?”
# What if Rumsfeld is replaced for the wrong reasons, and things become worse under a Defense Secretary who demands more troops and an expansion of the war?
# What if we discover that, when they do vote, the overwhelming majority of Iraqis support Islamic (Sharia) law over western secular law, and want our troops removed?
# What if those who correctly warned of the disaster awaiting us in Iraq are never asked for their opinion of what should be done now?
# What if the only solution for Iraq is to divide the country into three separate regions, recognizing the principle of self-determination while rejecting the artificial boundaries created in 1918 by non-Iraqis?
# What if it turns out radical Muslims don’t hate us for our freedoms, but rather for our policies in the Middle East that directly affected Arabs and Muslims?
# What if the invasion and occupation of Iraq actually distracted from pursuing and capturing Osama bin Laden?
# What if we discover that democracy can’t be spread with force of arms?
# What if democracy is deeply flawed, and instead we should be talking about liberty, property rights, free markets, the rule of law, localized government, weak centralized government, and self-determination promoted through persuasion, not force?
# What if the “stop-loss” program is actually an egregious violation of trust and a breach of contract between the government and soldiers? What if it actually is a backdoor draft, leading to unbridled cynicism and rebellion against a voluntary army and generating support for a draft of both men and women? Will lying to troops lead to rebellion and anger toward the political leadership running the war?
# What if the Pentagon’s legal task-force opinion that the President is not bound by international or federal law regarding torture stands unchallenged, and sets a precedent which ultimately harms Americans, while totally disregarding the moral, practical, and legal arguments against such a policy?
# What if the intelligence reform legislation – which gives us bigger, more expensive bureaucracy – doesn’t bolster our security, and distracts us from the real problem of revamping our interventionist foreign policy?
# What if we suddenly discover we are the aggressors, and we are losing an unwinnable guerrilla war?
# What if we discover, too late, that we can’t afford this war – and that our policies have led to a dollar collapse, rampant inflation, high interest rates, and a severe economic downturn?
# What if Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda actually welcomed our invasion and occupation of Arab/Muslim Iraq as proof of their accusations against us, and it served as a magnificent recruiting tool for them?
# What if our policy greatly increased and prolonged our vulnerability to terrorists and guerilla attacks both at home and abroad?
# What if the Pentagon, as reported by its Defense Science Board, actually recognized the dangers of our policy before the invasion, and their warnings were ignored or denied?# What if the argument that by fighting over there, we won’t have to fight here, is wrong, and the opposite is true?
# What if we can never be safer by giving up some of our freedoms?# What if the principle of pre-emptive war is adopted by Russia, China, Israel, India, Pakistan, and others, “justified” by current U.S. policy?
# What if pre-emptive war and pre-emptive guilt stem from the same flawed policy of authoritarianism, though we fail to recognize it?
# What if Pakistan is not a trustworthy ally, and turns on us when conditions deteriorate?# What if plans are being laid to provoke Syria and/or Iran into actions that would be used to justify a military response and pre-emptive war against them?
# What if our policy of democratization of the Middle East fails, and ends up fueling a Russian-Chinese alliance that we regret – an alliance not achieved even at the height of the Cold War?
# What if the policy forbidding profiling at our borders and airports is deeply flawed?
# What if presuming the guilt of a suspected terrorist without a trial leads to the total undermining of constitutional protections for American citizens when arrested?
# What if we discover the army is too small to continue policies of pre-emption and nation-building? What if a military draft is the only way to mobilize enough troops?

I'm on my way out the door- This is alot for me to think about.
Power to the peaceful

Wednesday, March 09, 2005

Blogs -Request

I want to do more in blog town- so I'm going to.
I'm an artist and I live with a musician- I'm going to feature some of my art work around these parts and link up with Jim Fleming for some tunes.

Hell I don't know who reads this blog- except for a few very kind folks who have shot me an e-mail or left me a comment here.

Since you're reading this right now-

A. does my lack of typing skills bother you as much as it does me when i read?

kidding, really--- If anyone happnes to know a good spot for me to visit perhaps a singer songwriter's space or an independant painter (art) that you think I might like please leave a linkage!
Power to the peaceful,
Jess

Vote! In the U.S. ? Facts

20 Amazing Facts AboutVoting in the USA

CLICK HERE for printable version
Did you know....
1. 80% of all votes in America are counted by only two companies: Diebold and ES&S.
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diebold

2. There is no federal agency with regulatory authority or oversight of the U.S. voting machine industry.
http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0916-04.htm
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html

3. The vice-president of Diebold and the president of ES&S are brothers.
http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/private_company.html
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html

4. The chairman and CEO of Diebold is a major Bush campaign organizer and donor who wrote in 2003 that he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/28/sunday/main632436.shtml
http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1647886

5. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel used to be chairman of ES&S. He became Senator based on votes counted by ES&S machines.
http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2004/03/03_200.html
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/031004Fitrakis/031004fitrakis.html

6. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, long-connected with the Bush family, was recently caught lying about his ownership of ES&S by the Senate Ethics Committee.
http://www.blackboxvoting.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=26
http://www.hillnews.com/news/012903/hagel.aspx
http://www.onlisareinsradar.com/archives/000896.php

7. Senator Chuck Hagel was on a short list of George W. Bush's vice-presidential candidates.
http://www.businessweek.com/2000/00_28/b3689130.htm
http://theindependent.com/stories/052700/new_hagel27.html

8. ES&S is the largest voting machine manufacturer in the U.S. and counts almost 60% of all U.S. votes.
http://www.essvote.com/HTML/about/about.html
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html

9. Diebold's new touch screen voting machines have no paper trail of any votes. In other words, there is no way to verify that the data coming out of the machine is the same as what was legitimately put in by voters.
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-05.htm
http://www.itworld.com/Tech/2987/041020evotestates/pfindex.html

10. Diebold also makes ATMs, checkout scanners, and ticket machines, all of which log each transaction and can generate a paper trail.
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-05.htm
http://www.diebold.com/solutions/default.htm

11. Diebold is based in Ohio.
http://www.diebold.com/aboutus/ataglance/default.htm

12. Diebold employed 5 convicted felons as consultants and developers to help write the central compiler
computer code that counted 50% of the votes in 30 states.
http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,61640,00.html
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/10/301469.shtml

13. Jeff Dean was Senior Vice-President of General Election Systems when it was bought by Diebold. Even though he had been convicted of 23 counts of felony theft in the first
degree, Jeff Dean was retained as a consultant by Diebold and was largely responsible for programming the optical scanning software now used in most of the United States.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0312/S00191.htmhttp://www.chuckherrin.com/HackthevoteFAQ.htm#how
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/bbv_chapter-8.pdf

14. Diebold consultant Jeff Dean was convicted of planting back doors in his software and using a "high
degree of sophistication" to evade detection over a period of 2 years.
http://www.chuckherrin.com/HackthevoteFAQ.htm#how
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/bbv_chapter-8.pdf

15. None of the international election observers were allowed in the polls in Ohio.
http://www.globalexchange.org/update/press/2638.html
http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/10/26/loc_elexoh.html

16. California banned the use of Diebold machines because the security was so bad. Despite Diebold's claims that the audit logs could not be hacked, a chimpanzee was able to do it! (See the
movie here: http://blackboxvoting.org/baxter/baxterVPR.mov.)
http://wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,63298,00.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4874190

17. 30% of all U.S. votes are carried out on unverifiable touch screen voting machines with no paper trail.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/28/sunday/main632436.shtml

18. All -- not some -- but all the voting machine errors detected and reported in Florida went in favor of Bush or Republican candidates.
http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,65757,00.html
http://www.yuricareport.com/ElectionAftermath04/ThreeResearchStudiesBushIsOut.htm
http://www.rise4news.net/extravotes.html
http://www.ilcaonline.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=950
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0411/S00227.htm

19. The governor of the state of Florida, Jeb Bush, is the President's brother.
http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/local/7628725.htm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10544-2004Oct29.html

20. Serious voting anomalies in Florida -- again always favoring Bush -- have been mathematically demonstrated and experts are recommending further investigation.
http://www.yuricareport.com/ElectionAftermath04/ThreeResearchStudiesBushIsOut.htm
http://www.computerworld.com/governmenttopics/government/policy/story/0,10801,97614,00.html
http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/tens_of_thousands.html
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1106-30.htm
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2004/110904.html
http://uscountvotes.org/

NOTE: Please copy the above list and distribute freely! LET THE FACTS BE KNOWN! Want more details?
Check out Voting Fraud in the USA:A Tale of Two Brothers!

Lebanon You're free ! It's your choice!

AMAZING!!!!


Nearly 500,000 pro-Syrian protesters waved flags and chanted anti-American slogans in a central Beirut square Tuesday, answering a nationwide call by the militant Shiite Muslim Hezbollah group for a demonstration to counter weeks of massive rallies demanding Syrian forces leave Lebanon. HERE

I read on AlJazeera that is was more like a Million protestors. SOOOOOO... 500,000 people have shown up to tell USreal to mind their own business! And what does Mr. Bu$h say?
YOU"RE FREE TO make your own choice! Now, get out of there Syria!

Peace,
Jess
PS- The "assasination attempt" of the Italian Journalist is being investigated- sure it is! Meanwhile Sgrena must be lying (mainstream media) because we all know that the US government has done nothing corrupt!

Monday, March 07, 2005

"Control Room" Movie suggestion

"control room"

I tried watching with an un-biased mind, it was difficult. The film starts before the US invaded Iraq so to begin my thoughts were flooded with what should be deep regret from this country I live in, the U.S.A.
The film is an analysis of the the various techniques adopted by the media mainly US media from Ajazeera's view. It's a video Blog really.

Here you're going to see things not seen in American media, an abundance of civilian casualties, It also shows the way the Media's spin on stories like- Lynch and the statue of Hussain were "FIXED" stories. Everyone should see this movie.

Peace,
Jess

PS Today my brain is trying to understand the assasination attempt of the communist journalist from Italy- I need to read more about it berfore forming more opinions.

Thursday, March 03, 2005


SO Funny I had to add this here! laugh a little. Peace, Jess
~Power to the Peaceful~

Republican Playbook NO Downloads!

The Frank Luntz Republican Playbook is now readable online!!

It's is IMMENSELY ENTERTAINING as well as informative!

Note to Every knowledgeable and responsible progressive ; It's our responsibility to read this-
peace,
jess

Also check out The progressive blog Alliance

Wednesday, March 02, 2005

TV News Lies color of this state...

Greetings from the Red state of Texas
I lived in Florida before coming here- Indiana before that, I grew up in California.The Blue state Red state stuff gets much talk as of late. I don't remember it before.

The past week or so I have been involved in my local community a little here and there. Things aren't looking good- the poor are getting poorer- awe, you know the rest.

Some questions came to mind about the silence I hear- I ran across this while checking out some stuff on the net.
I'll be back soon.

SPEAK UP! let your voices be heard
Power to the peaceful,
Jess


-------------------------------
From TV News Lies dot ORG
Has the opposition been permanently muted? Do we just sit back and watch the endless war go on? Do we pretend it is no longer our concern? Do we become one with the warmongers? Do we watch in silence as Death rides unfettered through the streets of Iraq?
Or do we start asking the questions that no one has answered?
Not long ago, Death had some clout. Not long ago, the mounting deaths of our fighting men and women in Iraq were reported on the evening news. Not long ago we heard the totals and not long ago the numbers saddened an enraged us. As the futile and immoral war against Iraq went on, Death boldly rode roughshod over our troops with impunity. In a horridly short time, ten deaths became twenty, twenty became a hundred, and then, with much fanfare, we passed a much heralded milestone. By the closing days of the 2004 election campaign, more than one thousand American men and women had lost their lives in George Bush’s War!
Not long ago, as Death was riding high, we railed against him. Not long ago, though Death was in charge, we shook our fists in anger, and raised our voices in protest. We were half the nation, and we were loud.
As Death dealt his blows, coalition casualties didn’t seem to matter; their numbers were never of much interest. What the heck….foreigners are foreigners. But, if you listened closely, some Americans did care. Some of us loudly and consistently mourned the deaths of all who were being sacrificed in the growing quagmire. And some of us abjectly refused to look aside as Death continued riding high.
Iraqi deaths didn’t really matter, either – a thousand here, a thousand there, what the heck. You couldn’t tell an insurgent from a terrorist, anyway. But, in truth, some of us really did care. We sought after the numbers, and we asked to see the photos, and we were terribly troubled by what we learned. But they had stopped counting the dead civilians long before…. it wasn’t a very good statistic for the Bush image. So time went on, and Death went on. And just his month, he took full advantage of it all. Death went on a rampage and rode into Fallujah.
And then, and then….and then came the Darkness and the Silence.
The darkness came from the media. The silence came from the people. American bombs plastered a city of 300,000 people, leaving the survivors of Fallujah, without water, electricity, food, medical supplies or doctors. The assault went on, and a densely populated city was soon strewn with the dead and wounded, and no relief agencies were permitted to come to their aid. Imagine, Death had a picnic and no one came.
FOR THE PEOPLE WERE SILENT!
There was no one to cry out against the slaughter. After all, the assault was designed to end the insurgency and miraculously restore Iraq to an acceptable level of safety and security. In fact, the devastation was strategically necessary for George Bush. He hoped to capture his Terrorist-of- the-Day, Abu Musaab Al-Zarkawi, and save the world from evil. Or so we were told.
In fact, in less than a month, another 101 Americans died. Thousands of Iraqis, many of them women and children were killed. Our soldiers were instructed to shoot on sight all males in Fallujah between the ages of 15 and 50 – ARMED OR NOT! Insurgents don’t wear uniforms, so Death rode blindly through the streets of Fallujah seeking his prey. Zarkawi was nowhere to be found. The insurgency continued. Violence erupted in ten other Iraqi cities, and the madness still increases every day.
AND THE SILENCE CONTINUED!
The media largely ignored the battle in Fallujah and the one that followed in Mosul. They offered no stories, no casualties, no photos, not even verbal images of the horror that was. The war in Iraq is no longer really news. The voices of Americans who once spoke out against this senseless war are no longer heard. . So, in the end, Death is losing his clout – he can no longer arouse the people of this county to cry out in rage. Death in Iraq, ironically, is now a tolerable way of life.
Kidnappings in Iraq are accepted as commonplace; even beheadings get little more than a passing comment. Roadside bombs are routine, people are blown to smithereens every single day. As of this week, at least 1,236 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war. The British military has reported 74 deaths; Italy, 19; Poland, 13; Spain, 11; Ukraine, nine; Bulgaria, seven; Slovakia, three; Estonia, Thailand and the Netherlands, two each; and Denmark, El Salvador, Hungary and Latvia have reported one death each.
Civilian deaths in Iraq, at the hands of American led forces, have been estimated to be around 100,000.
Is there anyone out there screaming for an end to the slaughter? Does anyone still care?
IF SO, WHY ARE THE PEOPLE SO SILENT?
Has the opposition been permanently muted? Do we just sit back and watch the endless war go on? Do we pretend it is no longer our concern? Do we become one with the warmongers? Do we watch in silence as Death rides unfettered through the streets of Iraq?
Or do we start asking the questions that no one has answered?
Why are our brave men and women killing and being killed?
What has been accomplished?
How long will this carnage go on?
How much will it cost – in lives, in money, in despair?
Who has an exit strategy?
Who will take responsibility for the war and its failure?
And do we start organizing and protesting and demanding to be heard? Everyone who protested against the war in Iraq BEFORE it began knew this would be the result. We warned of the chaos and the needless deaths. We shouted about the illegality and the immorality of the invasion. We failed then. Can we be silent now?
Can we live with the Darkness and the Silence that have descended upon our nation? Can we close our minds to the continuing carnage and accept the inevitability of an endless war against the people of Iraq – and the probability of more invasions? Can we surrender meekly and quietly to those who took us down this road with their lies and deceptions? Can we even consider that possibility?
TvNewsLies is throwing down the gauntlet here and now. We challenge those who care to connect, to network, to organize and to speak out. We plead with all the wonderful organizations that mobilized the nation before, to rise up again. We ask MoveOn, International A.N.S.W.E.R, Stop the War, Not in Our Name, and United for Peace, Code Pink, Veterans Against an Iraq War, and Voices in the Wilderness to help end the silence.
Death cannot rule the day. George Bush and his PNAC handlers must not be allowed to play their deadly war games any more. We are half the nation, at least. That means we are tens of millions in strength, and tens of millions in determination. If we choose to do so, we can end the silence, now.