Ethiopians still in Somalia

I hate to say I told you so. But, I told you so.

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When Hillary Attacks

posted by Justin Raimondo at AntiWar.com blog

This video (hat tip: Lew Rockwell) is revealing in a number of different ways. First of all, it shows up Hillary Clinton for what she truly is: an opportunist who is only tenuously acquainted with the truth. She now claims that if she had known then what she knows now, she would never have voted for the war: but in this video, in which she meets with members of Code Pink, the antiwar women’s group, she downplays the “weapons of mass destruction” rationale for war, and emphasizes, instead, the brutality of Saddam’s dictatorship.

Secondly, I would note the unctuousness of Code Pink leader Medea Benjamin, who shamelessly kisses up to Hillary in her introduction, and even declares that she “knows you secretly agree with us” about the war. The fun begins when Hillary sternly disabuses Ms. Benjamin of this illusion, lecturing her about the absolute evil represented by Saddam’s Iraq, and reminding her of the Clintonian war against the Serbs, which, as all good liberals know, was a righteous war. Poor Medea — talk about having the rug pulledout from under you!

The best part is when one of the Code Pink women approaches Hillary, at the end, and tries to hand her a “pink slip” — some pink underpants of a decidedly delicate character. This is when Hillary bares her fangs, and lashes out: “I am the Senator from New York,” she intones, wagging her finger at the woman like a schoolmarm, “and if you think I’m going to endanger the security of my constituents you are very much mistaken!”

Wow! How telling that, when cornered, Hillary resorts to the Bushian “we’re fighting them over there so we don’t have to fight them over here” argument — and so readily, almost instinctively.

Now that the war is unpopular, however, Hillary is trying to distance herself from her previous incarnation as a hawk. It won’t work — thanks to Youtube!




Photos by Jim Bovard

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Taxes of Evil 2

Earlier we had a discussion of the Taxes of Evil outreach piece:

Taxes of Evil 1

We now have a new update.

Final draft of Version1:

Susan writes,

Send your contributions to help print this to my Paypal account!!! Please!

Copies will be sent to all local LPs who request it – courtesy of the
LP Radicals.

Anyone wanting to help with printing (and help is needed! sooner better than later!) can just go to www.paypal.com and use Susan’s email address to send money to: hogarth@gmail.com

Regarding printing and distributing these, Susan says:

By the way, I have no problems with anyone using any of these in any form, modifying them, whatever. No credit neccessary. But PLEASE ask me for the source files. I did the layout in an excellent open source program called Scribus, but can provide the idles as EPS and other formats.

I suggest those looking into working on layout and design look into Scribus.

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The US War Crime Family Commission

Here’s something I’ve ben pointing out for quite a while now:


Pro-war Clinton candidacy success would mean same mob bosses have ruled U.S. since 1980

"Hillary Heralds 30 Year Plus Control Of America By Interlocking Crime Family"

Another Clinton in office would mean America being under the thiefdom of either a Bush or a Clinton for a total of at least 32 years, 36 if Hillary is re-elected (many now acknowledge that H.W. Bush pulled the strings as VP during the Reagan era)

Clinton voted for the Patriot Act and she voted for the war in Iraq, but so many Democrats are blinded by the cult of personality that they will overwhelmingly vote to put this crime family back in office.

Then again, we might just get an indefinite extention of Bush through martial law, precipitated by a war with Iran, Unless The Bush Crime family is impeached now, says Paul Craig Roberts.

Robert Higgs has an in-depth analysis of the
Living Reality of Military-Economic Fascism and corruption through the military-industrial
complex.

And even LP national is talking about The State of the Monarchy.

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Open Letter To The LP Leadership

PLEASE FORWARD TO MEMBERS OF THE LIBERTARIAN PARTY

[THOSE WHO AGREE: Please add your name to the list at the bottom and
forward to LNC Chair Bill Redpath at chair AT lp.org... with CC to
hogarth AT gmail.com...]

Bill,

It is now several days since President Bush announced an escalation in Iraq, and several days since word of the escalation has
been widely available. Many members of the Libertarian Party
are concerned at the apparent lack of response from the Libertarian Party to this dangerous and manifestly anti-freedom action on the part of the US government.

We believe that the war in Iraq and the growing American imperialism is one of the most significant issues – if not the most significant – of our time. We believe the Libertarian response to this war, and especially escalation, should be clear and unambiguous. We want to see the Libertarian Party at the forefront of this fateful issue – not lagging behind with weak and ineffective statements, but rather
pressing forward with bold and freedom-oriented proposals. The Libertarian Party should be an antiwar leader, not a follower. The Party should rally its members to protest the war and American
interventionism vigorously.

Therefore we beg you to consider issuing a position paper which takes the following strong antiwar positions:

- The US government should remove all American troops from Iraq immediately.

- The US government should have no role in determining how Iraqi oil revenues are distributed.

- The US government should cease escalation of rhetoric and action against Iran.

- The US government should immediately cease all embargoes everywhere.

The following members of the Libertarian Party are in agreement on the statement above and add their urgings for speedy and decisive action on your part.

Susan Hogarth, Chair, Libertarian Party of Wake County, NC
Paul Elledge, LP member from North Carolina
Sidney Phillip Rhodes, LP member from North Carolina
Seth Anthony, Chair, Libertarian Party at Colorado State University
Paul Frankel, LP member from Alabama

THis post also appears at

http://pauliecannoli.wordpress.com/2007/01/15/open-letter-to-the-lp-leadership/

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Stop the Draft Before It Starts!

MLL poster: Stop the Draft!

Bush wants a larger military. The Selective Service System is busy testing its draft machinery.

Don’t wait for an official re-launch of the draft. Begin fighting it now. And if you find it useful, feel free to use this poster I’ve created for the Movement of the Libertarian Left. You’ll find a fullsize, downloadable PDF of the poster right here.

posted by Wally Conger @ http://wconger.blogspot.com  

This post also appears at

http://pauliecannoli.wordpress.com/2007/01/11/stop-the-draft-before-it-starts/

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Surge & Dictatorship

Tuesday, January 9th in News by James Bovard on Antiwar Blog

The real issue in Bush’s speech Wednesday night is not the additional troops he intends to send to Iraq. The real issue is his nearly open proclamation of dictatorial powers.

Apparently, once a president lies a nation into war, he is entitled to absolute power for as long as he chooses. Regardless of how many Americans die or how many hundreds of thousands of foreigners are killed, the president’s prerogatives are sacred, at least as long as he recites the proper phrases regarding the spread of freedom and democracy. American voters made their will on Iraq clear at the polling booth last November. But they, like the Constitution and the federal statute book, don’t matter.

We have already heard from Bush or his lackeys about how the president is entitled to violate laws regarding wiretaps, renditions, torture, mail privacy, etc. The latest “surge” is just another example of how Bush rules by decree.

Will Bush, like other aspiring dictators, be able to cow opposition long enough to consolidate the powers he has seized?

And if the term dictator is offensive – then what is a better term for a politician who claims to be bound by no law or Constitution?

This post also appears at

http://pauliecannoli.wordpress.com/2007/01/11/surge-dictatorship/

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LP Radicals Antiwar Press Release

The Libertarian Party Radical Caucus
NEW (9 January, 2007):

The LP Radical Caucus offers a press release sketching a Libertarian response to the Bush adminstration’s war escalation.

The press release is for the use of any Libertarian Party affiliate or organization wanting a rapid and forceful response to Bush’s call for escalation in Iraq. Please feel free to place your group’s name and contact information on it and release it to your local media. If you would like to make changes, feel free to do so. No credit need (or should) be given – release this under your own group’s name. The LP should be providing affiliates with platform-compliant, forceful statements on current news events. The LP should be taking a strong antiwar stand. The activists of the LP Radical Caucus offer this release to help LP affiliates make a strong Libertarian statement on current events.

9 January, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
[contact info here]

Libertarians:
The people must lead, and the leaders must follow.

In November, the American people clearly demanded an end to war and occupation in Iraq.

George Bush’s response is now clear: he plans to repeat the mistakes of Vietnam and escalate a war that most Americans and most Iraqis do not support; a military occupation and puppet rule that has killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians and killed or maimed tens of thousands of American soldiers.

The Democratic Party has also turned a deaf ear to those who voted in the vain hope that Democrats would end the occupation. Democratic Party leaders in Congress have opted for ‘partnership’ in the crimes of the Bush administration, rather than leadership in ending the unlawful military action.

The Libertarian Party stands absolutely opposed to the war in Iraq and to foreign military intervention anywhere. The politicians have demonstrated that they will not lead, so they must be made to follow. If those opposed to the war – from left, right, and center – gather together with a passionate focus solely on ending American imperialism, the rulers will follow the people – as they should. If we let ourselves be divided at this critical moment in history by our domestic differences, the wars started in the last century will linger on and end in disaster. We must stand united against the coming draft, against the expansion of imperial rule, and against all aggression both at home and abroad.

Libertarians call on Congress to end taxation and spending in support of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, to end preparations in place for a new draft (including selective service registration), and to end punishing embargoes everywhere which encourage war and discourage the expansion of peace through trade and communication.

As Libertarians, we seek a world of liberty; a world in which all individuals are sovereign over their own lives and no one is forced to sacrifice his or her values for the benefit of others.

We believe that respect for individual rights is the essential precondition for a free and prosperous world, that force and fraud must be banished from human relationships, and that only through freedom can peace and prosperity be realized.

This post also appears at

http://pauliecannoli.wordpress.com/2007/01/10/lp-radicals-antiwar-press-release/

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Unintentional Irony, and Wishful Thinking

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Nifty!

“Dishonest Dubya” Lying Action Figure

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By way of Lisa Morgan

Also posted at:

http://pauliecannoli.wordpress.com/2007/01/08/unintentional-irony-and-wishful-thinking/

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Somalia vs. Ethiopia (Aliens vs. Predators)

Earlier, Stuart and I discussed Ethiopia and Somalia

I came across this today, and thought back to that discussion….

Rad Geek writes….

… Ethiopia decided to launch a bombing campaign and a ground assault against Somalia. The putative purpose of the invasion is to run out the network of sharia courts that recently took over some of the major cities in Somalia, and then to install the transitional government into power. For those keeping track, that’s the gang of pretenders who have been holed up in the town of Baidoia for the past year, and exercising effective power over basically nowhere outside of their headquarters. (The Baidoia government was in fact governing from a secure location in Kenya for about two years before they even got up the gumption to relocate to somewhere actually in Somalia.)

So why do you suppose it is that virtually every American news report on Ethiopia’s war of conquest has insisted on referring to the Baidoia gang by the phrase Somalia’s internationally-backed government (2, 3, 4), or Somalia’s internationally-recognized government (6, 7), whenever they mention the purpose of the assault?

Do you suppose it’s because the only people who have really demonstrated any particular interest in the Baidoia gang’s pretensions to authority are foreign governments, rather than, well, Somalis?

Further reading:

• Benjamin Powell, The Independent Institute (2006-12-22): Somali Anarchy Is More Orderly than Somali Government
• the show with zefrank (2006-12-28): Somalia Briefly
• WolfesBlog (2006-11-17): The allegiance of governments is to government

Also posted at:

http://pauliecannoli.wordpress.com/2007/01/08/somalia-vs-ethiopia/

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Robert Scheer: Ike Was Right

full text of article at

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20061226_robert_scheer_ike_was_right

The public, seeing through the tissue of Bush administration lies told to justify an invasion that never had anything to do with the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 or weapons of mass destruction, now has begun a national questioning: Why are we still in Iraq? The answers posted most widely on the Internet by critics of the war suggest its continuation as a naked imperial grab for the world’s second-largest petroleum source, but that is wrong.

It’s not primarily about the oil; it’s much more about the military-industrial complex, the label employed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower 45 years ago when he warned of the dangers of “a permanent arms industry of vast proportions.”

The Cold War had provided the rationale for the first peacetime creation of a militarized economy. While the former general, Eisenhower, was well aware of the military threat posed by the Soviet Union, he chose in his farewell presidential address to the nation to warn that the war profiteers had an agenda of their own, one that was inimical to the survival of American democracy:

“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.”

Ponder those words as you consider the predominant presence of former Halliburton CEO Dick Cheney in the councils of this White House, and how his old company has profiteered more than any other from the disaster that is Iraq. Despite having been found to have overcharged some $60 million to the U.S. military for fuel deliveries, the formerly bankrupt Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root continues to receive hundreds of millions of dollars in lucrative contracts.

Also posted at:

http://pauliecannoli.wordpress.com/2006/12/29/robert-scheer-ike-was-right/

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