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| A wounded Iraq vet writes 'THE LAST LETTER' I write this letter on the 10th anniversary of the Iraq War on behalf of my fellow Iraq War veterans. I write this letter on behalf of the 4,488 soldiers and Marines who died in Iraq. I write this letter on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of veterans who have been wounded and on behalf of those whose wounds, physical and psychological, have destroyed their lives. I am one of those gravely wounded. I was paralyzed in an insurgent ambush in 2004 in Sadr City. My life is coming to an end. I am living under hospice care. Read More |
Event Reminders: BV Valley Fate at Risk-CB HearingTuesday, 04/02/2013 The Carlsbad City Council watched, listened, asked several insulting questions and then………did nothing. They closed the public hearing so there can be no further public comment, and deferred their discussion and input to staff to their next meeting. The following day they changed course and decided to both give direction and approve the implementing documents at a single meeting at 6 PM on Tues, April 2, 2013. This makes the April 2 meeting the most important one in our 12 year effort to preserve the heart of this valley! We need you to come one more time, and show by your presence that we are committed to preserve this valley! National Anti-Drone days in San Diego Rancho Buena Vista’s Spring Arts Festival/Benefit National Anti-Drone days in San Diego (cont'd) Run with the Sun Fundraiser NCFC Shows: Ruby Sparks EDC Hollywood Trip to see Hot in Cleveland Snakes, Lizards and Frogs Annual Wildflower hike at Lake Calavera California Native Garden Walking Tour 'Dining Out For Life' - AIDS benefit North County Arbor Day Volunteer Trail Event at Lake Calavera Buena Creek Clean Up Oceanside Green Fair NCFC Rolls: Moonrise Kingdom This 'N ThatFear less, hope more,- Whine less, breathe more, When you give food to the poor, they call you a saint. When you ask why the poor have no food, they call you a communist. When someone steals another's clothes, we call them a thief. Should we not give the same name to one who could clothe the naked and does not? The bread in your cupboard belongs to the hungry; the coat unused in your closet belongs to the one who needs it; the shoes rotting in your closet belong to the one who has no shoes; the money which you hoard up belongs to the poor. In the struggle rewards are few. In the fact, I know of only two, loving friends and living dreams. These rewards are not so few it seems. The law of violence is not a law, but a simple fact which can only be a law when it does not meet with protest and opposition. It is like the cold, darkness and weight, which people had to put up with until recently when warmth, illumination and leverage were discovered.... The belief in the possibility of a short decisive war appears to be one of the most ancient and dangerous of human illusions. Justice is truth in action. When death, the great reconciler, has come, it is never our tenderness that we repent of, but our severity. Do all the good you can, Our friends show us what we can do; our enemies teach us what we must do. People have power when other people think they have power. In the path of our happiness shall we find the learning for which we have chosen this lifetime. Dust turned to hope. Joy is the most infallible sign of the presence of God. . . . [T]o live not with hands clenched to grasp, to strike, to hold tight to a life that is always slipping away the more tightly we hold it, but . . . to live with the hands stretched out both to give and receive with gladness. No one has a right to sit down and feel hopeless. There is too much work to do. If I can't dance I don't want to be part of your revolution. If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea. Violence produces only something resembling justice, but it distances people from the possibility of living justly, without violence. It is only by feeling your love that the poor will forgive you for the gifts of bread. In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love; they had five hundred years of democracy and peace and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock. If Columbus had an advisory committee he would probably still be at the dock. Peace is the work of justice indirectly, in so far as justice removes the obstacles to peace; but it is the work of charity (love) directly, since charity, according to its very notion, causes peace. The ultimate measure of a person is not where one stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where one stands in times of challenge and controversy. Through Gandhi and my own life experience, I have learned about nonviolence. I believe that human life is a very special gift from God, and that no one has a right to take that away in any cause, however just. I am convinced that nonviolence is more powerful than violence. Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable. Peace we want because there is another war to fight against poverty, disease and ignorance. Chaos is a name for any order that produces confusion in our minds. The first principle of non-violent action is that of non-cooperation with everything humiliating. Peace is more important than all justice; and peace was not made for the sake of justice, but justice for the sake of peace. It is in the shelter of each other that the people live. It is easier to lead men to combat, stirring up their passion, than to restrain them and direct them toward the patient labors of peace. Sports plays a societal role in engendering jingoist and chauvinist attitudes. They're designed to organize a community to be committed to their gladiators. A heretic is a man who sees with his own eyes. You can't lead anyone else further than you have gone yourself. War is, at first, the hope that one will be better off; next, the expectation that the other fellow will be worse off; then, the satisfaction that he isn't any better off; and, finally, the surprise at everyone's being worse off. When men talk about defense, they always claim to be protecting women and children, but they never ask the women and children what they think. Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men, for the nastiest of reasons, will somehow work for the benefit of us all. We cannot change the past, but we can change our attitude toward it. Uproot guilt and plant forgiveness. Tear out arrogance and seed humility. Exchange love for hate --- thereby, making the present comfortable and the future promising. If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies. When you find peace within yourself, you become the kind of person who can live at peace with others. When we treat man as he is, we make him worse than he is; when we treat him as if he already were what he potentially could be, we make him what he should be. There is no time left for anything but to make peace work a dimension of our every waking activity. No, the Lord has told us what is good. What he requires of us is this: to do what is just, to show constant love, and to live in humble fellowship with our God. If there is to be any peace it will come through being, not having. Respectful dialogue, in the interest of searching for more complete truth, is considerably more productive than arguing for the purity of position. The absence of risk is a sure sign of mediocrity. I really see no other solution than to turn inwards and to root out all the rottenness there. I no longer believe that we can change anything in the world until we first change ourselves. And that seems to me the only lesson to be learned from this war. | Articles & News: Why is Bradley Manning still in prison? Article Belfast Telegraph - Held since May 29, 2010, Manning spent 10 months in solitary confinement in conditions described by the UN Rapporteur on Torture as "cruel, inhuman and degrading." This included being made to stand at attention naked for roll call. -- Manning had made many thousands of classified documents detailing criminal behavior available to the world... [Release of the documents shortened the U.S. war against Iraq by many months.] We are witnessing the end of globalization
By Chris Hedges - Interview. Globalization simply does not work, except for the capitalist oligarchy -- the 1%. Occupy had it right (and still does) -- the target is Wall Street, which is the beast that controls governments around the world. It also destroys governments and societies around the world, turning people into commodities and serfs. Is killing innocent people a war crime?
Williams pointed to comments by Professor Cornel West calling Obama a "war criminal." Williams asked Benjamin if she agrees with West. Benjamin argued that Obama's drone policy "terrorizes entire nations," calling it the "best recruiting tool for extremists organizations" while hurting the safety of the United States. Williams grilled Benjamin on why it threatens Americans when the government sends out drones to take out dangerous terrorists. Benjamin highlighted the innocents killed by the drone strikes, arguing that every time a drone kills an innocent person, more people will start joining al-Qaeda. Williams told Benjamin what she's saying is "not true," Right to photograph the police is Constitutional Santa Monica passes environmental bill of rights Sister of Stephen Colbert Wins Democratic Primary China choking on its pollution, economy suffers Bankocracy's War Against the People
Cyprus vs Bankocracy: 'Mattress better place to keep cash than banks' - Libertarian Lew Rockwell says your money is not safe in the banks. The big message from the Cyprus crisis is the Bankster's World War to dominate and control the world's wealth for themselves. PFC Manning - Aiding the enemy or American public?
If Pfc. Bradley Manning is convicted of 'aiding the enemy,' it could be the end of whistleblowing as we know it in the United States Armed Forces. This video, entitled "Aiding the Enemy," is to raise awareness of the dangers posed to the American public by leveling this charge at Bradley Manning, and recruit people to our campaign urging Major General Michael Linnington to drop the charge immediately. Manning written testimony Feb. 2013: "The dehumanized the individuals they were engaging and seemed to not value human life by referring to them as quote “dead bastards” unquote and congratulating each other on the ability to kill in large numbers. At one point in the video there is an individual on the ground attempting to crawl to safety. The individual is seriously wounded. Instead of calling for medical attention to the location, one of the aerial weapons team crew members verbally asks for the wounded person to pick up a weapon so that he can have a reason to engage. For me, this seems similar to a child torturing ants with a magnifying glass. While saddened by the aerial weapons team crew’s lack of concern about human life, I was disturbed by the response of the discovery of injured children at the scene. In the video, you can see that the bongo truck driving up to assist the wounded individual. In response the aerial weapons team crew — as soon as the individuals are a threat, they repeatedly request for authorization to fire on the bongo truck and once granted they engage the vehicle at least six times. Shortly after the second engagement, a mechanized infantry unit arrives at the scene. Within minutes, the aerial weapons team crew learns that children were in the van and despite the injuries the crew exhibits no remorse. Instead, they downplay the significance of their actions, saying quote "Well, it's their fault for bringing their kids into a battle" unquote. -- The aerial weapons team crew members sound like they lack sympathy for the children or the parents. Later in a particularly disturbing manner, the aerial weapons team verbalizes enjoyment at the sight of one of the ground vehicles driving over a body -- or one of the bodies." Cartoons of the Week Obama, the negotiatorRomney, Vulture CapitalistUnions & the Middle ClassObama plays poker with GOP Manning case could be end of Freedom of Press
If Pfc. Bradley Manning is convicted of 'aiding the enemy,' it could be the end of whistleblowing as we know it in the United States Armed Forces. -- We made this YouTube advertisement titled, "Aiding the Enemy," to raise awareness of the dangers posed to the American public by leveling this charge at Bradley Manning, and recruit people to our campaign urging Major General Michael Linnington to drop the charge immediately. Late-breaking news: This just in ...
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This is the high resolution camera that is carried in drones. The government will not confirm. From 17,000 feet above, ARGUS sees and records everything, even the flight of birds, walking pedestrians, which stall you parked your car in. It can surveil an entire city at one time, 24 hours a day, every day. It is mounted on the Predator Drone, manufactured here in San Diego County.
America's criminal legacy in Bush Iraq War
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A 15-month investigation by the Guardian and BBC Arabic reveals how retired US colonel James Steele, a veteran of American proxy wars in El Salvador and Nicaragua, played a key role in training and overseeing US-funded special police commandos who ran a network of torture centres in Iraq. Another special forces veteran, Colonel James Coffman, worked with Steele and reported directly to General David Petraeus, who had been sent into Iraq to organise the Iraqi security services.
Manning Video:American troops slaughter civilians
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Army intel analyst Bradley Manning faces decades in prison for allegedly leaking this video of a U.S. helicopter attack killing 11 civilians and wounding two children in Baghdad, Iraq. The Army covered up the evidence and declared the war crime "justified". Now they say that exposing the massacre is criminal.
INFO CLICK HERE:
The Coolest Dog in Southern California
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Southern California is the coolest place in the world, and the coolest dog here loves surfing, skateboarding and "hanging ten". This is A really FUN video -- only in Southern California!
An alternative view of Memorial Day
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This Memorial Day (May 28) we must remember those leaders who lied to us and the dead soldiers, enticing them into war to enrich the Military Industrial Congressional comples. It is time for Christians to slay the golden calf of the military. Christians should stop joining the military. They should stop encouraging their young men to enlist. They should stop being military chaplains and medics. American churches must be demilitarized.
A CA hillside flows with the pain, tears of War
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MEMORIAL DAY is every day on a hillside in this northern California town of Lafayette, crowded with a giant field of crosses, one for every American soldier killed in our occupation of Iraq. One of crosses includes the name of Cindy Sheehan's son, Casey, an early fatality. This slide show is set to the passionate song "Memorial Day" written and performed by Laura Zucker of Lafayette (www.laurazucker.com/). The compilation of photos put to music is by Ko Blix of Berkeley, California (http://gallery.me.com/kofotofactory). With photo contributions by Chris Donton, Lynn MacMichaels and others.
Manning Video:American troops slaughter civilians
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Army intel analyst Bradley Manning faces decades in prison for allegedly leaking this video of a U.S. helicopter attack killing 11 civilians and wounding two children in Baghdad, Iraq. The Army covered up the evidence and declared the war crime "justified". Now they say that exposing the massacre is criminal.
INFO CLICK HERE:
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