The Common Sense Commentator

George W Bush fails

2007-03-13T01:07:00.000-04:00

He really does.

While in Guatemala earlier today, he "helped load lettuce headed for the global market into trucks at a workers cooperative," according to the Associated Press.

He told those same workers, "Free trade is important for a lot of people. It's important for our country, it's a gateway. It creates jobs in America just like it creates jobs here."

I wonder if it gets easier to make bold-faced lies as time goes by?

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of industrial workers (especially auto manufacturers) in the U.S. have lost their jobs over the last few months, as a direct result of "free trade" and the union bureaucracies bankrupt policies of "collaborating with the bosses" and tying the workers to "their bosses" in the U.S., which have had no problem exporting "their" jobs to imperialist-oppressed countries, where they can pay the workers pennies.

Maybe Bush will go talk to them about how great "free trade" is next?

Iran: Stick it to the man

2007-02-20T06:16:00.000-05:00

According to a new AP report: "Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on Western nations Tuesday to stop their own enrichment programs if they wanted his country to stop its own and return to negotiations."

As much as I dislike Ahmadinejad, and as much as he is an enemy of the working class, he is spot on here.

The U.S. has some nerve, being the country with the most nuclear weapons, and the only country to have ever used nuclear weapons, demanding another country stop its nuclear enrichment program.

It isn't Iran that is running around the world invading countries and killing hundreds of thousands of people in the name of some unending war (but really in the name of profit). It isn't North Korea either.

It's also funny that the U.S. had no problems with Iran developing nuclear power, when it was the one helping them do it, and when there was a pro-U.S. puppet in power.

The hypocrisy never ends; and the mainstream media never mentions it.

Young comedian on the Shut Down The War Machine campaign

2007-02-08T03:25:00.000-05:00

Check it out, I usually don't go for this sort of thing; but it's actually pretty funny. It's from a young comedian who's lending his support to the Shut Down The War Machine campaign.

Alot of people are getting behind this campaign and doing everything they can to promote it. You should too! Visit www.shutdownthewarmachine.com and add www.myspace.com/shutdownthewar to your friends (if you have myspace and know what that is).

Colombia and FARC

2007-01-29T22:24:00.000-05:00

This is an article from the AP, I'll comment at the end:

SAN ONOFRE, Colombia - Much of the world has seen Colombia's heartbreaking civil conflict as a clash between illegal armies of the left and right, or a battle for control of the global cocaine industry. Tens of thousands have died.
But the real prize is land. Since the early 1990s, right-wing paramilitary militias have seized from peasant farmers an estimated 26,000 square miles — an area larger than West Virginia that comprises about a quarter of the country's arable land, much of it sitting atop oil or valuable minerals.

The government of President Alvaro Uribe is now dismantling the paramilitaries and says it will force former militia bosses to surrender ill-gotten holdings. But promises aside, it is backing policies that mean most farmers will never get their property back.

The winners are Colombia's elite — landowners, politicians and corporations who bankrolled the militias and used them to expand their holdings. The losers are people of humble means killed or forced at gunpoint to give up their land and join the hundreds of thousands displaced by the conflict.

"So what hope can one have?" said Luis Francisco Garcia, evicted from his farm at gunpoint 3 1/2 years ago with his family. "I who had a farm ... have to beg for a plate of food?"

The right-wing paramilitaries first emerged in the 1980s, financed by ranchers to counter extortion and kidnappings by leftist rebel groups, such as the FARC, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

As the left was driven back, the paramilitaries quickly evolved into mafias in military fatigues, enriching themselves through cocaine trafficking, theft and extortion in regions, particularly the Caribbean coast, which they came to dominate. Police and military officers turned a blind eye, and often extended an open palm.

Then, in 2002, Uribe was elected, and became a firm U.S. ally on a continent where several countries have turned left in recent years. Uribe cracked down hard on the left-wing guerrillas, while negotiating a peace pact with the paramilitaries in 2003.

More than 31,000 paramilitary fighters have demobilized under that pact, which provides the former fighters with $200 monthly stipends and job-search help, as well as reduced sentences for the leaders in exchange for full confessions.

But much of the country's political elite remains indebted to the paramilitary bosses, according to Sen. Gustavo Petro, a key critic of the terms of the demobilization. He says the private armies remain tools of the same power brokers who benefited from the land grab.

"At the heart of this crisis is the relation between political power and land ownership," says U.N. agronomist Dario Fajardo.

Based in part on information originally released by Petro, Colombia's Supreme Court launched an inquiry last fall. Senators and congressmen have been questioned about allegations that warlords helped elect the politicians by intimidating people into voting for them, in exchange for illegal public funding of the paramilitaries.

The first senior paramilitary boss to testify under the demobilization pact, Salvatore Mancuso, said this month that the militias even pressured people into voting for Uribe in 2002.

Uribe denied any knowledge of an intimidation campaign on his behalf, and has not been tainted by the scandal.

Others, however, have come forward. One congressman publicly acknowledged that he and 29 other politicians, including two state governors, signed a cooperation pact with paramilitaries in 2001. Thousands of ranchers, meanwhile, signed a defiant open letter in which they admitted paying the paramilitaries.

That happened before Uribe was elected, but even as the scandal plays out, his government's policies appear to be enshrining the land grab into law.

A bill that Uribe's agriculture minister is championing in Congress would allow someone to gain title to land by proving it has been in his possession for five years. The Colombian Commission of Jurists, a human rights group, says the proposal "maintains, expands and legalizes the control the paramilitaries established in blood and fire over millions of hectares of land."

Even if the government were committed to helping peasants get their land back, the challenge is monumental. Paramilitary leaders have hidden plundered parcels of land behind front men. Land registrars have been murdered and records have disappeared in suspicious fires. The demobilization process has failed to bring the land forfeitures by paramilitaries that victims had hoped for.

Take the case of Ismael Rodriguez, who has records of his farm's sale — but is unlikely to win it back easily.

The soft-spoken, 51-year-old peasant sold his 200-acre farm in Coloso, Sucre state, in 1994 after a visit from gun-toting men in fatigues. The price was 8 million Colombian pesos — less than $10,000 — about a sixth of what the farm's avocado trees produced annually.

A copy of the contract lists the purchaser as Miguel Nule, a former Sucre governor, who has been in exile in Brazil since 2000. In November, the Supreme Court urged that he be investigated for alleged paramilitary ties.

Rodriguez, whose illiterate mother signed the document with an inked fingerprint, says Nule approached the family days after the gunmen's visit "and told us to sell it, but for cheap."

Nule's son Manuel, among Colombia's richest men, signed the contract on his father's behalf. He told the AP he didn't recall buying a farm there in 1994, adding that he was then a 22-year-old student in the capital Bogota.

"I can tell you that my father didn't take part in any of this type of activity," he said. The AP asked to be put in touch with Miguel Nule, but he never called.

Rodriguez is afraid even to visit the farm.

"I've heard that people who have recovered their farms in the area have been killed," he said.

Human rights groups say paramilitaries have killed about 3,000 people in Sucre, one of the states where Colombia's political class is most openly tied to the paramilitaries.

Sucre produced the first big arrests in the "para-politico" scandal. Three current and one former federal lawmaker from Sucre were jailed in November on charges of creating and bankrolling the private armies. One also faces murder charges.

A Senate human rights commission hearing in late November drew nearly 1,000 people — but just two members of Congress — to a dusty stadium in San Onofre, the town where most of Sucre's mass graves have been uncovered. Witnesses testified that paramilitaries ran the seaside cattle town like a concentration camp as recently as 2005.

Paramilitary gunmen killed on a whim and took San Onofre's women as sex slaves, according to the witnesses, while a nighttime curfew let the "paras" transfer tons of cocaine to speedboats in the Gulf of Morrosquillo.

But the victims said the main motivation was land.

The crowd applauded the valor of Juvenal Escudero, 55, who was forced by paramilitaries to sell his family's 220-acre ranch for less than a quarter of its worth six years ago.

In November, Escudero filed a formal complaint, then gave a TV interview, his back to the camera to protect his identity. Days before the hearing, a helmeted gunman on a motorcycle took five shots at Escudero, hitting him once in the lower back.

"Everyone around here knows the sound of my voice," groaned Escudero, who now lives in a humble home in San Onofre, confined to a wheelchair.

The government insists reparations from the demobilized paramilitaries will ultimately address refugees' needs, after it ensures that the truth surrounding the violence comes out.

"This is going to begin and it's going to grow," Vice President Francisco Santos told the AP. "He who asks for success from the start is mistaken."

But other Colombian officials and international refugee workers say the problem has barely been addressed, and speed is critical.

"The problem of land is at the heart of the process of demobilization" of the militias, Attorney General Edgardo Maya said in August. "If it isn't addressed promptly, with speed, efficiency and realism, it will become the process' main Achilles' heel."

A government pilot project that aims to prevent land in areas of widespread displacement from being sold by people other than their true owners has proven ineffective.

It "froze" nearly 3,500 square miles, but some of that land continues to be sold off, as local officials can grant exceptions in a process tainted by corruption. In the municipality of Tibu, in Colombia's most violent region, 129 "protected" plots were sold in 2006, according to the regional land protection office.

Not a single property has been surrendered in Sucre, a senior judicial investigator said on condition of anonymity; nor in Antioquia, President Uribe's home state and the worst afflicted by forced displacement, according to a lawyer in the state's Human Rights Ombudsman's Office who also didn't want his name published.

Great, huh? The defenders of "property rights" seizing land. But they redistribute it, or allow it to be used collectively, for the common good. No, they keep it for themselves.

And as for the "peace process," Uribe comes from the whole tradition of the rightist death squads, and is making deal after deal with them.

And these death squads themselves didn't magically turn corrupt! They were a part of the narco-capitalist tradition. Members of the Medellin, and other Cartels.

Some liberals, and even some "leftists," claim there are no "good guys" in Colombia's long civil war; but they're wrong. The people of Colombia, and their army, the FARC-EP, are fighting for a free and just Colombia.

I recommend the following links for more on the situation in Colombia:
Colombian gov’t arrests reporter on sham "terrorism" charges
Colombian military sets deadly car bomb, blames FARC revolutionaries
Colombia Won't Extradite Paramilitary Warlord
Forensic investigation shows Colombian soldiers massacred an entire family
Free Ricardo Palmera! U.S. hands off Colombia!

Can we weather the storm?

2007-01-17T01:48:00.000-05:00

I've been away for quite a while, and I appologize for that. One reason is that I had trouble logging in here, another is that I was extremely busy. I am still very busy, but I'll be sure to post at least once or twice a week from now on.

Today I want to talk about the insane weather we're having across the U.S.

Ice storms in Southern California and Texas?!? 60 degree January days in New England?!? Bears aren't even hibernating. It appears the capitalists have fucked up the state of our world worse than many of us thought. I've read some climate / ocean level estimates that scared the hell out of me. Within a few years we could be living in a world that is changed in serious ways. All of this in the name of creating profit for a handful of filthly rich scum bags.

This is a hell of a system they have going!

MARCH 19, 2007: SHUT DOWN THE WAR MACHINE!

2006-12-07T23:04:00.000-05:00

Author Mickey Z is the latest to add his name to the list to Shut Down The War Machine. Have you?

Shut down the war machine!

2006-11-27T18:09:00.000-05:00

I was just made aware of a campaign calling for a day to shut down the war machine, and I want to let every else know about it (if they didn't already).

There is a website set up at www.shutdownthewarmachine.com explaining it all.

There's an open letter on that website which I'll post below:

To the people of the United States:

A recent study by the Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health found that an astonishing 655,000 Iraqis have been killed since the illegal invasion of their country by the U.S. and its allies in 2003. On top of this, 3,201 soldiers from the invading countries have died.

Around 8,000 civilians have been murdered in Afghanistan since that country was invaded.

The continuance of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and threats of new wars being waged against Iran, Syria and North Korea rely on a U.S.-based “war machine,” made up of the industries that produce weapons, vehicles, and machinery used for war, the transportation networks that move them, and vast funding from the U.S. government, among other things.

The greatest part of the annual U.S. budget – some 49% – goes to this “machine,” paying for current and past military endeavors.

Each year, close to $500 billion dollars is spent on the U.S. military. Each month, $6 billion dollars is spent on the continued occupation of Iraq alone.

But this machine cannot function without its most important part – the people who, often unknowingly, keep it going, such as the workers who design and construct the weapons and machinery, the workers who load and unload them onto trucks, the truck drivers and ship and train engineers who transport them, the workers who fund the process through the taxes they pay, the families who raise the children who become soldiers, the educators who teach those children the basic skills they need in life – all working people, who collectively keep the economy afloat through our labor.

We are calling for the formation of a coalition of workers and organizations that can successfully build for a day to “Shut Down the War Machine!”.

We’ll fight to make this day one in which working people refuse to go to work, students refuse to go to school, and everyone refuses to shop.

Although pickets and demonstrations may be a part of this day, the last few years have shown us that they alone aren’t enough. We need to cooperate to get this call out to people in every single part of the U.S., from cab drivers in New York to farm workers in California. It will take a serious and dedicated effort, but this is something that needs to be done. Collectively, we have the ability to literally shut down the war machine, by simply refusing to contribute to it in any way.

Needless to say, the effects of such an event would be monumental.

We propose that this day be Monday, March 19, 2007.

We urge all interested individuals (including workers, union officials and representatives, artists, musicians, undocumented workers, “housewives” and the unemployed), and organizations to contact us immediately to add their name to the list of signatories of this letter.

Yours for justice,
The Committee for the Creation of a Coalition for a Day to Shut Down the War Machine

The Free People’s Movement
7Wounds - Recording Artist
Sun Rise Above - Recording Artist
Young Soldiers For Change
C. Harris - DC Retail Workers For Justice
Revolutionary Youth
C. Alazar - New York Retail Workers For Justice
The Cuba Truth Project
B. Dean Sr - Township Supervisor (Washington Township, Pennsylvania)
Oaxaca Defense Committee (New York)
K. Bautista - Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union Local 101*
1877 Workers’ Party
Transit Venus - Recording Artists
Workers' Historical Society
Democratic Rights Defense Organization
Michael Parenti, Ph.D. - Author

* organization listed for identification only

So what are you waiting for? Get over to the website right now and fight out what you can do! Shut Down The War Machine!

Loyalist nutter storms N. Ireland Assembly

2006-11-24T22:01:00.000-05:00

Michael Stone, a loyalist nut, stormed the North Ireland Assembly today with a bag full of pipe bombs and a pistol.

Stone, infamous for his 1988 gun and grenade attack on an Irish Republican Army funeral, was trapped in a revolving door by two security agents.

This is the king of thing one can expect. After the republicans put down their guns, the loyalists try to carry out an attack.

And this attack was aimed as destroying a united government in Northern Ireland.

But coverage of the event, where I've been able to find it, has been pretty friendly towards Stone. I haven't found any articles in the mainstream press calling him a terrorist. But, when the republicans were armed, they were always refered to in a negative light; and often called terrorists.

It should be made clear that the only answer for the workers of Ireland is a united, socialist republic. I think the IRSP (Irish Republican Socialist Party) is doing alot of good work towards that end.

Free the 5 counties! Unite Ireland!

Something to chew on this Thanksgiving

2006-11-23T16:16:00.000-05:00

In honor of the day, I recommend that all my readers check out the following article: Celebrate genocide? No thanks!

PETA is hopping mad!

2006-11-22T18:36:00.000-05:00

The "People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals," or PETA, a group of petty bourgeois (middle class) "animal activists," has again shown what a joke it is.

According to a story from the AP line, "U.S. shoppers hopping mad over frog dissection kit," PETA has pressured a store called "Jack Spade" (apparently a "upscale," which means overpriced, retailer of men's wear) to stop selling frog dissection kits.

The kits "... came in a cloth bag complete with a vacuum-sealed formaldehyde-treated frog, scissors, magnifying glass, forceps, probing sticks, ruler, instruction booklet on how to explore the animal's innards, and a moist towelette."

After PETA started a campaign against the product, the store removed the products from its shelves and pledged to "issue an apology."

"The intent was to celebrate science and biology, present something educational for children and adults," said a Jack Spade spokeman who I won't bother naming. "Jack Spade doesn't support the unethical treatment of animals."

What about the unethical treatment of workers? PETA members need to get real. Why protest against a couple of dead frogs that could actually be used by folks to learn a thing or two about science and biology (which is valuable in todays U.S., where fanatical Christians do their best to shut down anything related to material reality). I'm sure Jack Spade's shelves contain a number of products sewn by underpaid, overworked laborers in third world countries. Why not fight against that? Why not fight against a system in which a store like Jack Spade sells "$145 Italian calfskin passport holders," while millions of people starve to death?!?

The system we live under inflicts horrors on masses of people, and we need to fight against it. We don't need to fight against frogs being sold for dissection.

(As a side note, I also want to point out that even by Peta's own rationale, the action they took makes no sense. Why would they single out this one product, protesting the killing of frogs, while Jack Spade sells tons of products made from cows? Idiocy.)

Worst month ever.

2006-11-22T18:25:00.000-05:00

According to the AP, October has officially been named the deadliest month since the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq began in 2003.

But don't worry, because according to the United Nations, the number of people murdered in November will far surpass last month's death toll.

As the U.S. government goes ahead with its "Final Push," expect to see the number of dead shoot up significantly. Over 655,000 have already been killed in the criminal war, according to reliable sources ignored by the mainstream media.

On top of the dead, over 100,000 Iraqis are reported to be fleeing their country each month. A total of 1.6 million have left since the invasion was launched.

Iraq is largely shut down. Many schools haven't even opened this year because of the strife.

Racism in Russia, danger looms for workers

2006-11-16T15:31:00.000-05:00

Konstantin Romodanovsky, director of the Federal Migration Service of Russia, has recently said the country shouldn't allow ethnic minorities to outnumber "native Russians" in any neighborhood.

"I consider that settlements of the 'Chinatown' type would be unacceptable for Russia, and I can assure you that there will be no such settlements," he said.

He added that populations of immigrants should be limited to 17-20% in each neighborhood.

This is a very dangerous step in the direction of mass deportations, or worse.

This comes one day after the government banned immigrants from selling in public markets.

And just last month, President Putin ordered his lackey's to take steps to decrease the employment of foreign born workers.

Most of the immigrant workers come from countries that belonged to the Soviet Union. The USSR was a united bloc of socialist republics, made up of several ethnicities. The rights of ethnic minorities were enshrined in law.

Look what the great counter-revolution that the imperialists applauded has brought! Yay capitalism!

Continuing crises in Africa

2006-11-16T00:57:00.000-05:00

I haven't been posting much lately. I'm not sure if anyone noticed, since I don't think I have many readers; but, work has been keeping me much busier than I'd like. Anyway...

Joseph Kabila Kabange won the run off in the Democratic Republic of Congo presidential elections. It's a long way since Che Guevara fought along side his father Laurent-Desire Kabila in a revolutionary war there. Che had doubts to Laurent's ability and dedication; and when he came to power decades later, Che was proven correct. Laurent's son meanwhile, doesn't even pretend to stand for socialism.

His rival, Jean-Pierre Bemba, has rejected the results, raising fears that violence between supporters of the two would escalate. It's unfortunate that working people and farmers are being drug into this tug of war between representatives of two factions of the local comprador class.

Neither candidate has any interest in the poor masses of Congo, or a solution for their problems.

Further north, rebellion has broken out in Chad. The government there accuses the government of Sudan of sponsoring the rebels, which it claims aim to set up pro-Sudan governments across Central Africa.

Just like the civil war next door, workers and farmers have no friends among the fighting parties.

All three crises can only be resolved by united, mass action of the exploited millions of these countries. Defeat after defeat, lies and broken promises have understandably discouraged many Africans; but they mustn't give up.

When they do rise up to throw off the chains of oppression, they'll have my unfaltering support!

U.S. to train counterevolutionaries in Latin America ... Again

2006-11-13T10:40:00.000-05:00

According to Prensa Latina, the U.S. government will resume training "counter insurgents" from eleven countries in Latin America and the Caribbean in response to the rising tide of popular uprisings and the "shift to the left" of mainstream politics in the region.

The training was originally ended as the U.S. government wanted to protect its soldiers from cgarges of war crimes, as they trained murderous bandits that killed hundreds of thousands in counter revolutionary efforts in the 70s, 80s and 90s.

Gas station employees strike in Spain

2006-11-10T02:12:00.000-05:00

On Tuesday, thousands of gas station workers in Spain went on strike for 24 hours, demanding better pay.

The majority of gas station workers took part in the strike. According to the Spanish government, only 20 percent of gas stations remained open.

In the cities, long lines of cars backed up waiting for gas as a result of the strike.

Workers power was demonstrated perfectly!

I'm proud of these people, and hope their demands, for better pay and shorter hours, are met. With actions like these, I'm sure they will be.

We workers in the US - especially in retail - could learn something from this example.

LA cops beat the shit out of a "disturbed man"

2006-11-09T23:08:00.000-05:00

According to the AP, the FBI is "investigating" two cops who beat up a defenseless and "disturbed" man on video.

The "investigation" of course, is being carried out because the public found out about the beating. This sort of thing goes down all the time, but most of the population doesn't find out about it.

According to the article from which I got my information, "The video, posted on the popular YouTube Web site, shows Officer Alexander Schlegel holding down William Cardenas, 23, as Officer Patrick Farrell places his knee on the man's neck and punches his face with a fist six
times during the Aug. 11 scuffle near the intersection of Gordon Street and Fountain Avenue.

"Cardenas is seen struggling with the officers while lying on his back, trying to yell, 'I can't breathe.'

And what is the response of the police department? "...as to whether the actions of the officers were appropriate in light of what they were experiencing and the totality of the circumstances is what the investigation will determine."

Under what circumstances would it be "appropriate" to punch a man six times in his face while another kneels on his throat?

And they try to pass this shit off on us, as if we were all complete idiots!

There's one way to show we're not; we need to organize against this sort of state terror, and we need to do it now.

The Democrats and the state of the U.S.

2006-11-09T00:01:00.000-05:00

Attacks on undocumented workers, gay/lesbian/trasngendered people and women's reproductive rights continue.

The U.S. continues it's war drive against Iran, and its offensives against Cuba, Venezuela, Syria and North Korea.

Oh, and then there's the bloody occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.

A record number of people in the U.S. are loosing their homes, and real wages continue to decline in relation to inflation.

But hey the Democrats won some seats in the U.S., so all of that will change right?

The elections are over, and we all win

2006-11-07T23:29:00.000-05:00

I'm so glad the elections are over here in the U.S. Of course, the circus will continue a while longer as some votes are counted, and the 24 news networks fill the airwaves with nonsense; but the for the most part, it's done.

Who's the winner? All of us, because we don't have to put up with the signs littering the sides of roads, the fake debates and the commercials in which politicians pretend they're better than one another. The truth is that they're all the same. They all represent the bosses. None of them represent us workers.

Like the illegal occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, the need for us to organize independently continues; but at least we won't have to put up with back to back commercials in which one candidate tries to prove they're more anti-immigrant than the other.

A fiting quote on the night before the elections

2006-11-06T22:15:00.000-05:00

"The two greatest obstacles to democracy in the United States are, first, the widespread delusion among the poor that we have a democracy, and second, the chronic terror among the rich, lest we get it." Edward Dowling

Saddam get's death penalty; but when is Bush's court date?

2006-11-05T23:33:00.000-05:00

I'm sure by now you've heard that Saddam has been sentenced to death. The corporate press has gone into a blood-thirsty frenzy, in an attempt to build up patriotism, viciousness and pro-war attitudes.

And what historical revisionism that same press has fallen into! One story by the Associated Press describes a situation "... after America's decision to invade Iraq in 2003 and depose its dictator."

This is like an Orwell book come to life! First the U.S. claimed it was invading Iraq because the government there had ties to Al-Qaeda and "weapons of mass destruction." Fast forward almost four years and now the U.S. invaded to depose a dictator! It's doublethink! "Eurasia is the enemy. Eurasia has always been the enemy."

And then there's the coincidence that this just happened to occur two days before the U.S. midterm elections.

But all of this aside, I have to ask, when is Bush's court date? He is responsible for more murders than Saddam is by far. When will he go in front of a court for war crimes? How about the rest of the war criminals around him? 655,000 deaths in Iraq alone. That number is much higher than what even Saddams enemies say he's responsible for.

But Bush will never go to court for war crimes under the current system. Neither will his cohorts. Why? Because it's all a big scam. There are international courts, which are used to try figureheads of groups and classes that oppose imperialism. U.S. government and military members, as well as all other citizens, are exempt from being tried in them. What a joke! What kind of "international" courts are these? Can you say "Kangaroo"?

I say, put the CEOs of Haliburton on trial, in a people's court, and set Saddam free. Let the people of Iraq deal with that criminal on their own. Enough of the puppetry and all around bullshit.

Israeli troops kill innocent women in Palestine

2006-11-04T00:51:00.000-05:00

Once again the Israeli army has committed a serious crime.

On Friday, they killed at least 17 Palestinians in Gaza. Another 10 were wounded. Most were women.

"I think overall the operation is very successful, " a senior military source told members of the Associated Press.

According to him, half of the 17 people killed were armed. In his twisted logic that makes up for the rest of the people they murdered.

The Israeli military has also been carrying aerial assaults on Gaza, dropping bombs and no doubt killing more innocent Palestinian civilians.

Where is the outrage, or even the coverage on the part of the corporate press?

When they do cover events in the area, it's with their slant, that makes the Israel military look like it's on the defensive.

Only in an Orwellian world of newspeak could this be true.

It's time to tell the truth. The Palestinian people have been oppressed long enough.

March held to end executions in Texas

2006-11-03T11:07:00.000-05:00

Hundreds marched in Austin on October 28, led by the families of two men who were executed, but have now been proven innocent.

It was the seventh annual march in Texas, where 377 out of the 1,053 executions that have taken place in the U.S. since the death penalty was brought back in 1976 emerged.

Two mothers of other innocent men that are currently on death row spoke at a rally that followed the march.

My support goes out to these folks, and I join them in the fight to abolish the death penalty under this racist system in which we currently live.

And now a word from Mark Twain

2006-11-02T23:56:00.000-05:00

"The loud little handful will shout for war. The pulpit will warily and cautiously protest at first…The great mass of the nation will rub its sleepy eyes, and will try to make out why there should be a war, and they will say earnestly and indignantly: "It is unjust and dishonorable and there is no need for war." Then the few will shout even louder…Before long you will see a curious thing: anti-war speakers will be stoned from the platform, and free speech will be strangled by hordes of furious men who still agree with the speakers but dare not admit it ... Next, statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself that the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception."

Nut job for governor of Idaho

2006-11-01T20:16:00.000-05:00

Apparently, some right-wing, anti-woman nutjob, who is so opposed to choice that he legally changed his name to "Pro-Life," is running for governor of Idaho.

"When sperm meets egg, that's a new person," the idiotic and backwards religious zealout was quoted as saying.

At a debate, instead of answering a question, this guy instead decided to break out into prayer.

This all points to the dangerous direction in which the U.S. is going, one in which the push for Christian theocracy is welcomed, but any sort of dissent is discouraged--or in many cases punished.

When religion ruled it was called the Dark Ages. The period in which all of that nonsense was overturned is refered to as the Age of Enlightenment. There's a reason for that.

Rumsfield OKs troop build up in Iraq

2006-10-31T23:37:00.000-05:00

U.S. Defense Secretary and war criminal Donald "drop the bomb" Rumsfield endorsed a plan to spend $1 billion to englarge the size of the notorious Iraq "security forces".

These thugs serve the interests of U.S. and other foreign corporations, and do whatever necessary, including massive human rights violations, to maintain "law and order".

The resistance of millions of Iraqi people, who correctly see them as the agents of imperialism, have prevented them from doing that.

More resistance in Iraq is answered by the occupiers with more force.

It's a cycle that must end.

What will a win by the Democrats mean?

2006-10-30T23:40:00.000-05:00

Well, elections will happen soon here in the U.S.

Millions of people are disgusted with rightwing, corporatist policies of the current regime, and many of them probably plan to vote for Democrats on November 2nd. They see this as a way of countering the current (horrible) way things are going.

But does it?

What will a win by the Democrats mean?

Aren't these the same Democrats that (along with the Republicans) signed the US-PATRIOT ACT? Aren't they the ones that just teamed up with the Republicans to pass laws giving Bush (and all future presidents) the ability to imprison anyone (including U.S. citizens) they name an "enemy combatant" for ever, with no trial? Aren't these the ones that supported the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan? Aren't the ones that still do? Aren't they the ones calling for military attacks on Iran, Syria, North Korea and Venezuela? Aren't they the party that endorsed slavery?

Wasn't a Democratic president in office during the massive cuts in welfare? Wasn't one in office during the Bay of Pigs mercenary attack on Cuba? Wasn't one in office during the invasion of Viet Nam? Korea?

The Democrats represent the same rich elite that the Republicans do. Their only differences lie in the methods of exploitation of the working class masses.

We need to organize ourselves to make a real change. Voting for the Democrats isn't going to do it.

Mexican government sends cops to smash uprising

2006-10-28T23:54:00.000-04:00

You may not have heard about the Oaxaca uprising. In fact, there's a good chance you didn't if you rely on the mainstream media for your information.

To be brief, a teachers strike in Oaxaca, Mexico was attacked by police sent in by the corrupt Oaxaca state governer a few months back. The police chased the teachers, who were striking for better wages and improvements in the public education system, out of the town square where they had set up camp.

The teachers didn't stay gone for long however. They rallied thousands of other workers and farmers who returned to the town, chased the police out, and took over.

They took over police stations, radio stations and television stations, and set up a truly democratic governing body, based on the principles of participatory democracy.

The government has been attacking them here and there throughout, with assassinations and beatings.

Now, frustrated that the Oaxaca uprising is spreading and becoming more and more popular, the corrupt government is taking serious action.

On Friday, a group of plane clothes police officers attacked a group of strikers and their supporters in Oaxaca with guns. They shot Bradley Will, an independent journalist from New York City, in the stomache, killing him. Two others were killed and several were injured.

Now, the outgoing president has sent heavily armed police into the city. There could be a very bloody crackdown on these heroic workers and farmers.

Everyone should whatever they can, including emailing and calling the Mexican consulate, telling their friends and coworkers, picketing outside of Mexican consulates, passing resolutions in their unions, posting this info on message boards, etc. Even small steps should be taken, if that's all you're able to do. We need to build working class unity to defend the lives of the people of Oaxaca, who are standing up and fighting for a better tommorow, not only for themselves, but for all of us.

For background and analysis on the Oaxaca uprising, see: http://www.freepeoplesmovement.org/fpm/page.php?200

Another worker killed by bosses' greed

2006-10-27T13:03:00.000-04:00

Hector Rivas, a mechanic for Boston Public School buses died from carbon monoxide poisoning on March 9.

He was a member of the UAW (United Auto Workers), which had been fighting management to ventilate vechiles for months. The cost to do so would have been only $25-40 per vehicle. They refused.

They didn't want to lose $25 worth of profits, you see.

OSHA, the government agency in charge of workers' safety, fined the company a measly $70,000 for their negligence, that directly caused Mr. Rivas' death.

My thoughts are with Mr. Rivas' family today as I write this. He did not deserve to die. No worker does.

But as Mother Jones said, we need to organize, not mourn. Working people need to stand up for ourselves to prevent these type of things in the future. We must refuse to work in unsafe conditions, and reject the bosses' "profits first" program.

Bush admits war in Iraq not going so well

2006-10-26T20:54:00.000-04:00

Bush recently admitted that the war in Iraq is not going so well. It's a good thing he told us, because up until now, I think everyone thought it was going great. Don't worry though, he also assured that he's certain the U.S. will win.

Of course, he was also certain when he proclaimed "mission accomplished". Ah, it's okay. I'm sure the army will bomb Iraq into democracy soon enough.

In a related story, Exxon Mobil Corp. said Thursday its third-quarter earnings rose to $10.49 billion, the second-largest quarterly profit ever recorded by a publicly traded U.S. company.

Immigrant youths march through Paris

2006-10-25T19:57:00.000-04:00

Hundreds of African youths marched in Paris today, a presented a list of 20,000 complaints to authorities.

The anniversary of last year's uprising of French immigrants is fast approaching.

"The context is still the same, nothing has changed. So the situation is propitious for other events like last year," Samir Mihi, co-founder of the AC-Le Feu group that collected the grievances from immigrants all over France told reporters.

The head of the National Assembly refused to meet with the group, or accept their complaints.

Many streets in Paris are blocked by vans and riot police, who are scared of another uprising. Typically, they answer the perceived "threat" with violence, instead of responding to the discrimination, poverty and unemployment that lead to the first uprising to begin with!

"I'm worried because not only has the French society's attitude not changed but I think it has even worsened," Claude Dilain, mayor of Clichy-sous-Bois told reporters.

Look for another French uprising ... coming soon!

Here's a good article on last year's uprising: http://www.freepeoplesmovement.org/fpm/page.php?62

George Carlin

2006-10-24T20:23:00.000-04:00

I'm not feeling well today, so I'll leave you with some wisdom from George Carlin:

Have you ever wondered why Republicans are so interested in encouraging people to volunteer in their communities? It's because volunteers work for no pay. Republicans have been trying to get people to work for no pay for a long time.

Well, if crime fighters fight crime and fire fighters fight fire, what do freedom fighters fight? They never mention that part to us, do they?

You can't fight City Hall, but you can goddamn sure blow it up.

Bipartisan usually means that a larger-than-usual deception is being carried out.

Our nation was founded by slave owners who wanted to be free... So, we kept our black African people, in order to fight and kill the white English people, so we could move west and steal the land from the red Indian people, and then move south and steal the land from the brown Mexican people, which would give us a place to take off and bomb the yellow Japanese people. You know what the motto for this country oughtta be? "YOU GIVE US A COLOR, AND WE'LL WIPE IT OUT."

Conservatives say if you don't give the rich more money, they will lose their incentive to invest. As for the poor, they tell us they've lost all incentive because we've given them too much money.

Vote in Panama on extension of Canal

2006-10-22T22:56:00.000-04:00

Panamanians today voted on whether or not to allow an expansion of the Panama Canal. It's sort of ironic, since they never had any say in the canal being built to began with!

The U.S. built the canal, and even created the country of Panama so that it could be done! It was actually a part of Colombia, but the U.S. government conspired with a group of wealthy landowners in what is now Panama to secede.

Up until 1999, the U.S. government had full control over the canal. Now the Panamanian government "officially" does, though it stille effectively in the hands of the U.S.

Inmates go on hunger strike in New Jersey

2006-10-21T14:37:00.000-04:00

On October 12, prisoners at the New Jersey State Prison in Trenton began a hunger strike in protest of the horrid conditions inside.

Of course, you won't hear anything about this on your local news. You might see a story on a local flower shop selling more flowers than usual, or some other irrelevant garbage, but you won't hear about a 1,400 prisoners standing up against inhumane treatment.

The protests were iniated in response to a number of prison lockdowns in 2005 and 2006. The most recent one, in August, lasted the entire month.

During these lockdowns, prisoners have no access to recreation of any form, legal assistance, laundry, phones, etc.

In an Abu-Ghraib style scenario, half-naked inmates were forced to march past lines of armed prison guards and vicious, barking police dogs.

The inmates have presented 16 demands to prison administrators:

1) That a person or persons independent of Department of Corrections (DOC) influence aggressively investigate the circumstances leading to the prisonwide searches in 2006 and 2005 and the manner in which the searches were conducted.

2) That corrective measures be taken based on the results of the investigation called for in [demand no.] 1, including discipline of any DOC staff member responsible for introducing contraband into the prison.

3) That discipline be imposed on anyone for misconduct during the searches.

4) That area, unit, and cell searches be conducted in a professional manner, with respect and due regard for an inmate’s person, property, and living space and for the property of and space allotted to inmate.

5) That there will be accountability for theft, damage to property, or other misconduct during searches.

6) That a person or persons independent of DOC influence be allowed to inspect searched areas to ensure that inmates’ rights are protected.

7) That there be an evening and weekend program and activity schedule, to include school, vocational, legal access and recreation activities.

8) That the previous daytime recreation schedule be reinstated.

9) That all inmate groups be reopened or restored to full functioning capacity, which includes opportunities to meet and to conduct group activities.

10) That any inmate removed from an assignment without good cause be reinstated, with good cause defined as conduct by the inmate being removed from the assignment that violates prison rules or makes the inmate unsuitable for the particular job assignment.

11) That there is an annual or other periodic cost-of-living increase in wages for prison jobs and program assignments.

12) That a reliable phone system be installed.

13) That the ban on retention and possession of hardcover books be repealed.

14) That laundry services, recreation opportunities, legal access and phone privileges be made available during any and all lockdowns.

15) That a diverse body, to include prison administrative officials and members of the legal profession and civil rights groups, with input from inmates and relevant experts, be formed to propose and implement programs and policy at New Jersey State Prison and other prisons under the control of the DOC that encourages rehabilitation and reintegration into the community.

16) That amnesty be granted to all participants in the hunger strike.

I for one fully support these brave men, and I urge you to do the same.

You can contact the prison administrators to voice your support for the inmates at: Acting Commissioner George Hayman, Department of Corrections, Whittlesey Road, P.O. Box 863, Trenton, NJ 08625-0863

You can also call his office at 609-292-4036.

Health workers in Romania threaten general strike

2006-10-20T15:08:00.000-04:00

Over 5,000 healthcare workers rallied in Bucharest on October 13 to protest the poor conditions of the country's crumbling heath system, and the low wages they receive.

Romania once had a vibrant, and completely free healthcare system, but all that changed with the overthrow of the government in the "revolution" of 1989.

The privitization and introduction of free market policies that followed lead to a rapid deterioration of the healthcare and education systems that existed previously.

According to one source, "The public health situation has deteriorated to where the country is being threatened by epidemics."

As a result of all this, the healthcare workers are now threatening to wage a general strike unless the health budget is boosted and they get a 70% raise.

Some nurses are only making 110 Euros a month; not enough to meet even their most basic needs.

Romania is scheduled to join the EU soon, which will see even more skilled medical workers leave for countries like Germany and France, where they'll be paid more.

The healthcare system will continue to fall apart unless real changes are made.

I wish the Romanian healthcare workers the best, and pledge my full support to their cause.

I hope they do launch the general strike, and that it will turn into something more, as the teachers strike in Oaxaca, Mexico has.

Violence continues to increase in Iraq

2006-10-19T13:32:00.000-04:00

According to the Associated Press, attacks have increased by 22 percent over the first three weeks of Ramadan, despite a two-month old mission to curb violence by U.S. and Iraqi-government armed forces called "Operation Together Forward".

Is anyone surprised?

THEY DON'T WANT YOU IN THEIR COUNTRY. GET OUT NOW.

Seems like a pretty simple solution to me, what about you?

If Iraqi soldiers were occupying the streets of New York, and a rebuilt U.S. army was assisting them, what do you think the result would be?

The U.S., Chavez and Turkmenistan: Who's the "tyrant" and why?

2006-10-18T11:13:00.000-04:00

In another AP story, it was reported today that Saparmurat Niyazov, leader of Turkmenistan, has dedicated an 17 million dollar building, that he dubbed "the house of free creativity" to the press, as a part of an official celebration of 15 years of "independence".

The irony here is that Niyazov and his cronies have outlawed the independent press, along with many other things.

It's almost as ironic as claims of "independence". Niyazov, the self-proclaimed "Turkmenbashi" (leader of all Turkmens), has ruled Turkmenistan since it broke from the USSR in 1991.

He is an absolute nut, and a meglomaniac. He has outlawed all books from the USSR-era ... you know, the ones with facts and truths in them; and has filled all libraries and schools with books he's written himself.

On libraries, he closed everyone of the many -- built in Soviet times -- outside of the capital on the grounds that "people in rural areas don't read."

He shut down award winning opera and ballet theatres, claiming they "were not a part of Turkmen culture."

He closed universities and research labs from the days of the USSR.

He fired 15,000 healthcare workers and closed down all clinics and hospitals outside of the capital city. According to Niyazov "people can come to the capital if they are sick."

He has renamed towns, streets and even months and days of the week after himself and his mother. He built a $100 million temple to his mother in his hometown.

The streets are lined with pictures and statues of the twisted ruler.

Those who oppose him are sent to prison camps or mental facilities.

Yet, there's a good chance you've never heard of the guy. The U.S. government has remained pretty quite on the guy.

While they spend much of their time talking about the "tyrant" Hugo Chavez, who was democratically elected as president of Venezuela, they never mention Niyazov!

I wonder what the reason for this could be?

...

Could it be because, according to the Washington Post, "... In the first years after winning independence in 1991 ... Turkmen officials auctioned off choice oil and gas fields for as little as $100,000 to foreign opportunity seekers."?

This is all tied in with U.S. foreign policy in the Mid-East too, including the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.

There's an article you may want to read on the subject here: http://www.moles.org/ProjectUnderground/drillbits/6_08/1.html

Condi Rice promises U.S. defense of Japan

2006-10-18T10:50:00.000-04:00

According to the AP, "Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice said Wednesday the United States is ready to use the 'full range' of its military might to defend Japan in light of North Korea's nuclear weapons test."

"History repeats itself... the second time as a farce."

So, the only country in the world to have ever used nuclear weapons, the U.S., has promised to use nuclear weapons to defend the country they used nuclear weapons on, from nuclear weapon attack.

Insanity!

And people are wondering why North Korea feels it need nuclear weapons to defend itself?

The largest military power in the world has been on their doorstep for decades, with thousands of soldiers and weapons amassed on its borders; yet they are wrong for defending themselves?

It's clear that the regime is Pyongyang isn't great by any measure; but it's up to the Korean people to decide who represents them, not the U.S. or Japanese governments.

The U.S. has the largest nuclear stockpile in the world; and even though it belongs to treaties that require it to scale down this stockpile, it never has.

A country with 10,000+ nukes, that has actually used such weapons in the past, is going to "defend" a country which invaded half of Asia against a small, isolated country which has just aquired small nuclear arms?

I don't think so.