Islamic Fascism....American Fascism

It seems the new word of the week is "Islamic Fascism." Ann Coulter is using it. Bush used it over and over again. Now we see it's re-emergence before the coming elections. The November elections are a crucial turning point in American history. It is the time where we might possibly take control of the "American Fascism" that has gripped the USA. I watch tv and see the deluge of American propaganda overtaking the airwaves. Such shows that have similiar names like this;"Hunt for Bin Ladin", "Why We Invaded Iraq: They Wanted It", "We Fucked Up, but We Had Great Intentions", and finally last , but not least "If Terrorists Would Not Have Committed 9-11, We Would Have Responded Quicker In New Orleans." Their assault on the American psychi is very similiar to the practices Hitler used to win the support of the citizens of Germany. ,America 2005 Is Germany 1930






Brainwashing America

It also seems Bush has not learned nothing from his rants after 9-11. After reading the interview he gave with NBC,Bush interview he is still insisting on linking the terrorist events of 9-11 to Iraq. After he has said that Iraq had "nothing" to do with 9-11. Is the American people so foolish to fall into this trap again? Will they accept war profiteering and sacrificing their children for Bush and his manufactured freedom? Stay tuned folks!

Bush During Katrina

Now that we are at the first anniversary of the tragedy that was Katrina, I have to make a few comments. I am also working on a video of images that were forever imprinted on my mind coming from the Gulf Coast. In John Stewart's way, he shows us quite clearly how Bush responded to Katrina:

bush katrina video

funny videos at darlugo.com

Vote down Senate Bill 2453

In my blog I like to pass along as much action correspondence as I possibly can. Hopefully if it motivates just one person to take action it is a good thing. I recieved this today in my mailbox, among others also, calling for action concerning the illegal wiretapping. I will post Charles V. Sanders letter:

A message from Charles W. Sanders:

ACTION PAGE: http://www.usalone.com/sanders/pnum459.php
Take Action Sign Petition

Please join me in defending our Constitutional rights against illegal
wiretapping which will be expressly permitted if Dick Cheney and Arlen
Specter get their way. What is ironic about Cheney's obsession is that
a U.S. District judge in Detroit has already ruled that wiretapping was
in fact, illegal.

This fear-mongering pair, if they are not stopped, would use current
Senate Bill 2453 to totally absolve their misguided conspirators and
themselves of any legal wrongdoing, should they win approval. I was in a
Third District assembly which included U.S. Representative John Conyers
who expressed his displeasure with wiretapping and other improper
incursions by the Bush and Cheney.

Please display your righteous indignation by submitting this action
page so we can rally opposition to this blatant over reach on behalf of
the Bush administration. If passed, this legislation would usurp any
semblance of recourse through the ordinary remedies available through due
process. As your representative in Congress I would vote it down. In
the meantime we can speak out together against this conniving dosier.
Don't allow your fourth Amendment Constitutional rights against illegal
search and seizure to be swept away.

My name is Charles W. Sanders and I am running in Ohio's Third
Congressional district in a special election on September 15, 2006, to become
the Democratic nominee. Your submissions of my action page on the
Voting Rights act had a definite impact on the renewal of this historic
measure back into law earlier this year.

However, Senator Arlen Specter has worked closely with Vice President
Cheney to develop a bill that would cede even more power to the
executive branch -- and tries to strip us of our Fourth Amendment right not to
be wiretapped without a warrant.

Specter's bill, S. 2453, would give the Administration new authority to
obtain blanket "warrants" for its domestic wiretapping program - as
well as for any other wiretapping programs it desires. Once it obtains
this blanket permission, the Administration would apparently be exempt
from the Fourth Amendment's requirement to show a reason for each wiretap
and obtain a warrant. (The legislation does not directly address the
fact that the wiretapping program was just declared unconstitutional in a
U.S. District Court.

S. 2453 would also:

Send all court cases involving warrantless surveillance - including
cases currently pending in Federal courts -- to the secret Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review, which is completely off-limits to
lawyers without the highest security clearances. Allow these cases to
be dismissed for "any reason" with no chance for appeal. Remove other
protections, enabling the White House to freely conduct data-mining of
your private information.

Thank you for speaking out,
Charles W. Sanders

ACTION PAGE: http://www.usalone.com/sanders/pnum459.php

We NEED candidates like Charles Sanders to stand up and make an issue
of the repeated trangressions of the current administration. Charles
needs your help to get his message out for all of us. Please make a
contribution now to enable Charles to go to Congress and fight for you on
the issues you care about.

DONATIONS LINK: http://www.charleswsanders.org/donations3.html

How many times have you felt helpless and wished you could influence
the votes of representatives in other districts to prevail on a critical
vote in Congress, but thought you could not do so effectively because
you were not one of their own constituents? How much more would you
support Charles if you do live in his district?

Here we have a courageous candidate who will fight for all the issues
you care about, if only he is given the chance to make the run. Please
donate whatever you can to help Charles get on the radio to recruit and
mobilize even more people to speak out so we can have a real impact on
these policy decisions now and for the future. What would you give to
have a whole legislature of people like Charles Sanders? Won't you
give him your support now to make that a reality?

We have been valiantly speaking out with action alerts based on one
fundamental premise --- either our representatives in Congress would
listen to and heed the voices of their people --- or else we would work to
replace them in the next election.

The time for the replacement action is NOW.

Take Action Sign Petition

I Hope That Spineless Rove Gets Everything He Deserves

I read an article today about Cindy Sheehan and 50 other great Americans protesting a Karl Rove republican fundraiser. I was shocked, but not surprised that as these protesters cried out such things as "Check your conscience", "Rove v. Truth: No Contest. Pink slip Rove." , and "Rove: Guilty of crimes against humanity", these fundraiser attendees laughed and joked along with Karl Rove(at the expense of the protesters). These rich republican supporters of Rove and Bush should be ashamed of themselves.
Here is a link to the story:
http://news.aol.com/topnews/articles/_a/sheehan-others-protest-at-rove-event/n20060820045109990001?cid=842

Sheehan, Others Protest at Rove Event
By ANGELA K. BROWN
AP
AUSTIN, Texas (Aug. 20) - Chanting "Try Rove for treason," Cindy Sheehan and more than 50 other war protesters disrupted a reception before President Bush 's top adviser Karl Rove spoke at a fundraiser Saturday. One woman was arrested during a scuffle with police after Sheehan and the anti-war demonstrators rushed toward the closed doors and kept chanting loudly after the guests went into the dinner. Rove was speaking to the Associated Republicans of Texas, and ticket prices started at $200. He was not in the Renaissance Hotel lobby during the reception. "I want him arrested. He planned the war that killed my son," Sheehan told officers guarding the door. Sheehan's oldest son Casey was killed in Iraq in 2004. Police then ordered the group to leave, but some protesters had paid for rooms for the night. Those protesters went upstairs, including Sheehan. One protester slipped inside the ballroom during the dinner but was escorted out after shouting about men and women dying, the Austin American-Statesman reported in its Sunday editions. "Pat, did you get her check before she left?" Rove quipped to the GOP group's executive director, Pat Robbins, as the crowd of 300 laughed, the newspaper reported. "I don't question the patriotism of our critics. Many are hardworking public servants who are doing the best they can. Some of them are people looking for a free meal," Rove said, drawing more laughs. Earlier, wearing shorts and T-shirts while guests of the lobby reception walked past in sequined dresses and expensive suits, anti-war demonstrators carried American flags and signs, including one that read "Check your conscience." A few protesters unfurled a large banner from a sixth-floor hotel balcony that read "Rove v. Truth: No Contest. Pink slip Rove." Those at the reception sipped their drinks and largely ignored the protesters before they started chanting. One man looked at the group and said, "Go Bush!" Earlier Saturday, the group of more than 70 gathered at the hotel entrance, carrying a large banner that read, "Rove: Guilty of crimes against humanity." Ann Wright, a former U.S. diplomat who resigned in 2003 in protest over the war, yelled through a bullhorn, "Karl Rove, you are a criminal!" After about 30 minutes, Austin police made them move onto grass at the edge of the property about a block away. Dozens remained later Saturday, holding signs as cars drove by, honking their horns. Sheehan and the group left their campsite in Crawford near Bush's ranch, where they have held vigil the past two weeks, and drove about 100 miles south to Austin. The war protest will continue until early September, although Bush's ranch 10-day ranch vacation ended last weekend. Sheehan's 26-day protest last August drew more than 10,000 people to her campsite in ditches off the rural road leading to the ranch, but she recently bought land near downtown for the group to camp on.
08/20/06 04:46 EDT

As I observe more of people in the USA, it is clearly evident that the gap between rich and poor is widening. It is so unfortunate that these elite, including celebrities and politicians, can wine and dine, when so many people in the world are dying because of American supremacy. It is also so unfortunate that Americans buy into the celeb-glamour mentality. Do they lack something in their lives that makes them look up or crave what these people have? I wonder do people realise they are making others rich at their expense? I also wonder when they buy their children games, dvds, cds, or any new fad of the week, do they think about the people they are making very wealthy? This story about Rove somehow is just bittersweet to me, because I realise that the "have nots' outweigh the "haves." As this invasion in the Middle East continues, what we see here is going to happen more and more. I hope that I had the ability to join Cindy Sheehan and do my part. So, it is sad and bittersweet, that I can sit here and blog when their are people out their trying to make a difference.

Wannabe In History

I just couldnt help myself, enjoy!!!

Message From Ted Kennedy: Cheney Must Apologize To Connecticut

There are 146,587 terrorist supporters living in the state
of Connecticut according to Vice President Dick Cheney - the
number of Ned Lamont voters.

He claims they're encouraging "the Al Qaida" types who want
to "break the will of the American people in terms of our
ability to stay in the fight and complete the task" in Iraq.

Cheney's gone too far. His disgraceful declaration of war
Ned Lamont supporters is an attack not just on Democrats,
but on democracy itself.

We can't stand by while Republicans like Cheney slander the
people of Connecticut and millions of other Americans
nationwide who are showing up at the polls to reject the
failed record of the Bush Administration.

I just demanded an apology from the VP, and I thought you
might like to join me:

http://www.tedkennedy.com/apologize



Thanks!

Judge Halts Warrantless Wiretapping Program

Hurray for U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor!!! The judge became the first federal judge to speak up and declare the warrantless wiretapping program to be unconstitutional and ordered it to be stoppped!! It is about time someone had the courage to face this highly debated issue. Like I said before, I believe in our system of check and balance. It may be slow and still have problems, but in the most part it works. Now we shall see how Congress or Mr. Bush break laws to go around this court order. You would think they would have learned something from the Terry Shiavo case. This is such a grand day, I love it when justice reigns supreme!


Judge Orders Halt To Warrantless Surveillance

9/11 Detainee tells His Story...Is Conspiracy a Crime?

If Bush and his group of clowns have their way, they will disrespect the decision of the Supreme Court and try other means to convict suspected terrorists and war criminals. Now, that they are slowly releasing people from Gitmo, the true stories of what the USA has been doing to suspected terrorists are hitting the media. I think we need to pass along these human rights stories as much as possible. These people need their stories read and heard. I urge people to post as many human rights stories to their blogs. Especially those stories Iraqi vets , Gitmo prisoners, and civillians caught in this power struggle. Americans need these stories in their faces, they need to be reminded of what their votes or their support of the Bush administration has done to many people and their families.
Invest in printer ink and paper (10 bucks) and spread these stories that might not be read in the rural areas or where proganda plays a part in brainwashing Americans.

A recent article from the Science Christian Monitor:

Is Conspiracy A War Crime?
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0814/p02s01-usju.html


Benemr Benatta was detained from Sept. of 2001 and released in July of 2006. He was not charged with any crime. After five years, he tells his story:

9/11 Detainne Released After Nearly Five Years
http://articles.news.aol.com/news/_a/911-detainee-released-after-nearly-five/20060813130409990006

US steps up anti-Castro Tv-Science Christian Monitor

Here we go again! As if we do not have enough involvement in other countries. Now, we want to help promote 'democracy' in Cuba. Listen up people!!! You cannot force democracy or freedom on people, they must want it. I hope Americans wake up soon, this rogue nation has become totally out of control.

A recent story I read:



US steps up anti-Castro TV
By Warren Richey | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

MIAMI – Every evening from Monday to Saturday, a small twin-engine prop plane taxis down the runway past combat-ready jet-fighters at Naval Air Station, Key West.
The commuter aircraft takes off and banks to the south over the deep-blue Florida Straits as pilot and crew prepare for their nightly invasion of Cuba.

In the Monitor
Thursday, 08/17/06



Hostage: The Jill Carroll Story - Part 4 : A mother as suicide bomber


Suicide bombings by women in Iraq

US steps up anti-Castro TV

Their mission: to spread democracy there by serving as an airborne broadcast platform for a US Spanish-language television network known as TV Martí.

Welcome to the newest front in Washington's propaganda war against Fidel Castro and his brother, Raúl. With Cuba's leader said to be frail but recovering from surgery and his brother provisionally designated as his successor, US officials are stepping up efforts to encourage the Cuban people to end Mr. Castro's 47-year revolution with a revolution of their own.

Officials with the Miami-based Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB), an arm of the US government, are quick to point out that their twin-prop Grumman G-1 at no time leaves international air space. Nonetheless, the Cuban government views the operation as the equivalent of a full-on invasion of Cuban sovereignty.

How effective this information 'invasion' may be is a matter of considerable debate. The Cubans have worked to jam TV Martí for years. The new plane and its high-powered transmitter were pressed into action Aug. 5 and are still in the testing phase. But officials say initial indications are positive.

"It is getting through. We have reports from Havana [and] Matanzas ... that it is being seen," says Alberto Mascaro, OCB's chief of staff. "Every day, it is getting better as they fine-tune the equipment."

Critics scoff at such claims. They see information warfare directed at Cuba as an expensive boondoggle related more to the political power of anti-Castro Cuban-Americans than to any demonstrable impact on bringing free elections to Cuba.

The US government has spent nearly $500 million to fund Radio Martí since 1985 and TV Martí since 1990. The Cuban government responded with an array of frequency jammers in and around Havana, and opponents of the propaganda effort say it has achieved little more than bringing very expensive "snow" to Cuban television screens.

"The bottom line is that TV Martí since the day it went on the air, regardless of the technology used, has virtually no audience. Every new technology that they have announced has not worked; it is very easy to jam," says John Nichols, a communications professor at Penn State University and coauthor of the book "Clandestine Radio Broadcasting."

Last month, a presidential commission recommended measures aimed at hastening the transition to democracy in post-Castro Cuba. One recommendation was to break Castro's information blockade. "The regime fears the day that the Cuban people have full access to independent information," it said.

Radio Martí programming has been somewhat more successful than TV Martí in evading jamming, but analysts say it nonetheless has failed to attract a large and loyal audience after more than 20 years in operation. One government estimate in 2005 said only 1.7 percent of Cubans were regular listeners.

But that hasn't slowed US efforts to find new and better ways to get information into Cuba. When TV Martí first started, it was broadcast from a blimp attached to a cable 10,000 feet above Cudjoe Key in the Florida Keys.

After the signals were easily blocked in Havana, the US responded with transmissions from a C-130 transport plane. Those broadcasts were also blocked. Now, TV Martí officials hope the new plane - with state-of-the-art equipment - will generate a signal strong enough to punch through the jammers.

That's not the only front in this information warfare. In 2003, TV Martí began beaming its signal throughout the island via satellite. The Cuban government tightly controls access to satellite broadcasts. But estimates are that there are perhaps 10,000 black- market satellite dishes island-wide.

"Now is the time to gear up and take action," says Stephen Johnson, a Cuba policy expert at the Heritage Foundation. He says the key to success at Radio and TV Martí is building credibility by offering reliable and useful information.

"What they need is information to help them realize that there are different ways of living out in the rest of the world, and that there are things they are missing out on," he says. "It is not to be anti-Castro, but to help plant seeds of change."

Professor Nichols says it won't work because no one in Cuba is listening. "The audience is the sender, not the receiver. The [attempted broadcasts] are making Cuba mad and the Cuban exile community happy," he says. "That is the real message."

USA Highways Being Sold

So, the mainstream is finally waking up to the truth. What takes the mainstream so long to catch on? Finally, a story about foreign companies buy our roads and bridges.

By LESLIE MILLER, Associated Press Writer
Sat Jul 15, 2:44 PM ET



WASHINGTON - Roads and bridges built by U.S. taxpayers are starting to be sold off, and so far foreign-owned companies are doing the buying.



On a single day in June, an Australian-Spanish partnership paid $3.8 billion to lease the Indiana Toll Road. An Australian company bought a 99-year lease on Virginia's Pocahontas Parkway, and Texas officials decided to let a Spanish-American partnership build and run a toll road from Austin to Seguin for 50 years.

Few people know that the tolls from the U.S. side of the tunnel between Detroit and Windsor, Canada, go to a subsidiary of an Australian company — which also owns a bridge in Alabama.

Some experts welcome the trend. Robert Poole, transportation director for the conservative think tank Reason Foundation, said private investors can raise more money than politicians to build new roads because these kind of owners are willing to raise tolls.

"They depoliticize the tolling decision," Poole said. Besides, he said, foreign companies have purchased infrastructure in Europe for years; only now are U.S. companies beginning to get into the business of buying roads and bridges.

Gas taxes and user fees have fueled the expansion of the nation's highway system. Thousands of miles of roads built since the 1950s changed the landscape, accelerating the growth of suburbia and creating a reliance on motor vehicles to move freight, get to work and take vacations.

In 1956, President Eisenhower pushed to create the interstate highway system for a different: to move troops and tanks and evacuate civilians.

The Bush administration's plan to let a foreign company manage U.S. ports met a storm of protest in February. But plans to sell or lease highways to companies outside the United States have not met such resistance.

John Foote, senior fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, said the government can take over a highway in an emergency. But he objects to selling roads to raise cash.

But that is just what Chicago has done.

Last year, the city sold a 99-year lease on the eight-mile Chicago Skyway for $1.83 billion. The buyer was the same consortium that leased the Indiana Toll Road — Macquarie Infrastructure Group of Sydney, Australia, and Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte of Madrid, Spain.

Chicago used the money to pay off debt and fund road projects. Skyway tolls rose 50 cents, to $2.50; By 2017, they will reach $5.

The Indiana Toll Road lease is a better deal, Foote thinks, because the proceeds will pay for urgent projects such as road and bridge improvements.

That need is precisely why cities and states have begun to look to foreign investors.

Between 1980 and 2004, people drove 94 percent more highway miles, according to Federal Highway Administration statistics. But the number of new highway lane miles rose by only 6 percent.

Washington is not likely to produce more money to build roads. The federal highway fund — which will have a balance of about $16 billion by the end of 2006 — will run out in 2009 or 2010, according to White House and congressional estimates.

About half the states now let companies build and operate roads. Many changed their laws recently to do so.

So Illinois lawmakers are examining privatizing the Illinois Tollway, New Jersey lawmakers are considering selling 49 percent of the state's two big toll roads and a gubernatorial candidate in Ohio wants to sell the turnpike.

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, who championed his state's toll road deal, now wants investors to build and operate a toll road from Indianapolis to Evansville.

Patrick Bauer, the Indiana House's Democratic leader, says such deals are taxpayer rip-offs.

Bauer believes Macquarie-Cintra could make $133 billion over the 75-year life of the Indiana Toll Road lease — for which Indiana got $3.8 billion.

"In five, maybe 10 years, all that money is gone, and the tolls keep rising and the money keeps flowing into the foreign coffers," Bauer said.

Orange County, Calif., got burned by a toll-road lease for a different reason.

The road, part of state Route 91, was built and run for $130 million by California Private Transportation Company, partly owned by France-based Compagnie Financiere et Industrielle des Autoroutes. The toll road opened in 1995.

Seven years later, Orange County was looking at gridlock. But it could not build more roads because of a provision in the lease. So it bought back the lease — for $207.5 million.

To encourage more domestic investment in highways, former Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta made a pitch to Wall Street on May 23.

"The time is now for United States investors — including our financial, construction and engineering institutions — to get involved in transportation investments," said Mineta, who left office July 7.

U.S. companies are getting the message.

San Antonio-based Zachry Construction Co., along with Cintra, received approval on June 29 for a 50-year lease to build and run a toll road from Austin to Seguin for $1.3 billion.

That is part of Texas Gov. Rick Perry's vision to attract more than $80 billion in private funds for roads by 2030. He wants a new tollway from Oklahoma to Mexico and the Gulf Coast, and one from Shreveport, La., and Texarkana to Mexico. Cintra-Zachry reached a $7.2 billion deal last year to develop the project's first phase. The announcement of a $1.3 billion deal in June was part of that $7.2 billion agreement, said Perry's spokesman, Robert Black.

"In Texas, our population is going to double in the next 40 years and our current infrastructure can't handle that growth," Black said.

Not everyone in Texas buys the idea. Harris County officials recently voted against selling three toll roads. Also, independent gubernatorial candidate Carole Keeton Strayhorn opposes Perry's toll road plan.

"Texas freeways belong to Texans, not foreign companies," she said.

Keep tuned into this one folks

Bono Sells Out Again

I didn't want to believe my favorite band was a sell out. But, in the past two years I have watched Bono suck up to leaders such as Bush and Blair. The very men that invaded Iraq and solely responsible for the killing of many innocent men, women and children in the Middle East. These men are liars. Now, I see Bono is just another capitalist whore. What brought me to this breaking point was a story I read today on MSNBC:

NEW YORK - A private equity firm that has U2 rock star Bono among its partners Thursday joined forces with two of North America's hottest video game developers, Pandemic Studios LLC and BioWare Corp., creating one of the world's largest independent game-development houses.
In its first investment, one-year-old Elevation Partners said it had created a holding company that owns Pandemic and BioWare but ensures the developers retain their identities and gives them the funds and time to build top-quality games.
The $300 million deal came after California-based Elevation earlier this year bid for British computer games maker Eidos Plc. , the firm behind "Tomb Raider," but was trumped by UK's SCI Entertainment Group Plc.
"The aim is to create bigger and better games and a company that the best talent will really want to work for," Elevation co-founder John Riccitiello told Reuters in an interview.
Analysts said the deal was interesting as it sidestepped the traditional relationship in which developers were dependent on firms that publish their games for funding.
Riccitiello declined to break down the combined investment of $300 million in the joint venture, BioWare/Pandemic Studios, or the shareholdings of each of the three parties, but said Elevation would be the majority stakeholder.
Edmonton, Canada-based BioWare is a celebrated developer of story- and character-based role-playing games such as "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic" and "Jade Empire."
Pandemic is newer, with offices in Los Angeles and Brisbane, Australia, but has won respect among game players for its big-selling action and adventure titles, such as "Full Spectrum Warrior" and "Destroy All Humans."
Elevation Partners' interest in investing in games has come as no surprise as Riccitiello is former president of video game publisher Electronic Arts Inc.
Riccitiello said the attraction of BioWare and Pandemic was the quality of their games, none of which have come under public fire for their violence despite their titles.
He said Bono, a passionate advocate on Third World debt and anti-poverty issues, was a big fan of Pandemic's games, particularly "Destroy All Humans," a quirky game in which the player is a Martian trying to destroy Earth.
Under the terms of the deal, both video game companies will retain their separate brands and creative teams and continue to operate in their respective cities. But the two co-founders of each company will become shareholders and senior executives in holding company BioWare/Pandemic Studios.
Riccitiello will be the new company's chief executive.
All 450 employees will be given stock in the business.
Ray Muzyka, joint CEO of BioWare, said the alliance would be a launch pad for exchanging ideas, technologies and talent.
"In a business where developers often must sell out to survive, this deal is refreshingly new: a partnership of equals," Muzyka said in a statement.
Analysts said the one reason for the alliance could be to pressure higher royalty rates from the firms publishing Pandemic and BioWare games Microsoft Corp. , George Lucas' privately owned Lucas Arts and THQ Inc.
"Video gaming is a pretty profitable industry, but the talent is unknown and the lion's share goes to the publisher. There is a move now to change this," said analyst Michael Pachter, from Wedbush Morgan.
"If this deal succeeds it could encourage more independent developers to do the same and encourage more venture capital firms to invest in this industry."
Riccitiello denied this was a reason for the deal and said the firms' relationships with current publishers remained.
Since Elevation was formed it has raised over $1.9 billion to invest in media and entertainment businesses.

This evidently is an older story from November, but it has just been brought to my attention. How can Bono try and sell us the "save Africa, make poverty history", then invest in video games that have no moral content. If you have the morals of a thug, prositute, and criminals I guess. How could Bono invest in games that have mercenaries and war? This world needs saved from ignorance and I think one of the main problems with society and children are these video games that promote violence, the abuse of women, and make people desensitized to war and killing. I think we have been hoodwinked. My heart is breaking, really just shattered. To think there were real people out there that were making a difference, but in actuality they speak out of both sides of their mouths. Bono is a capitalist. Now I know how he bought his new yacht. Wtg Bono!!! You have become the very person you told us to be aware of. I wish I could get the money back I paid for 10 concerts and countless cds and records. I should have seen the signs of what was to come when U2 started charging $40.00 a year to subscribe to their website. I made this man a very rich guy, so I guess I am the stupid one in this situation. It's a doggy dog world and now I have woken up from this dream. Everyone is out for themselves. Like I always say....the elite become richer, and the poor poorer. Be aware of false icons folks, they are among us.
Whether the Belfast Telegraph believes the controversy is a mistake or not, if you invest in companies and you are so "aware", you should keep track of your investments.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=697665

Bono drawn into dispute over computer game
By Andrew Buncombe06 July 2006
The Irish rock star Bono has been unwittingly caught up in a row over a computer game that features a fictionalised invasion of Venezuela to counter a “power-hungry tyrant” who has seized control of the country and its oil.
The computer game is played from the perspective of a mercenary who is dispatched to Venezuela with the guidance: “If you see it you can buy it, steal it, or blow the living crap out of it.” Called Mercenaries 2: World in Flames, it is made by Pandemic Studios, based in Los Angeles, in which a private equity firm established by the U2 lead singer has invested $300m (£165m). It is one of the world’s largest independent games producers.
In Venezuela, political supporters of President Hugo Chavez have reacted angrily to news of the game – reportedly due for release next year – and called for it to be banned. Gabriela Ramirez, a member of the National Assembly, told the Associated Press that it incorrectly portrayed Mr Chavez as a tyrant and Venezuela as a country on the verge of chaos.
“It sends a message to Americans, ‘You have a danger next door, here in Latin America, and action must be taken’. It’s a justification for an imperialist aggression.”
In the US, activists are dismayed that a man who has campaigned on Aids and poverty should be linked, however unwittingly, to a product that makes entertainment from the destruction of an independent country.
Shirley Pate, of the Venezuelan Solidarity Network in Washington, said: “[The game shows] an attack on the entire city of Caracas, not just the government buildings but also the residential areas.”
Gunnar Gundersen, a member of the Bolivarian Circle movement in Oregon, said: “We have family and friends in Venezuela and many of us have walked and stayed in the places featured in the war game. To us, these are not just clever abstract pictures.”
Pandemic Studios has a reputation for the realism of its games. It has also produced Full Spectrum Warrior, a game that was initially made for the US Army to train soldiers in urban warfare techniques.
No one from Pandemic Studios or Elevation Investment was available for comment yesterday. A spokesperson for Bono failed to return calls.
However, on an online games forum, Scott Walker, the chief designer for the game, recently wrote: “[This] is a work of fictional entertainment. The story, characters and setting of the game should in no way be construed as negative towards the current Venezuelan government or the people of the country.
“One of the key reasons Venezuela was chosen for the setting of Mercenaries 2 is that is a fascinating and colourful country, full of wonderful architecture, geography and culture.”
Earlier this year, Mr Chavez started recruiting and training a people’s militia to help lead a “war of resistance” against what he claims was the threat of an invasion by the US. The US has repeatedly denied the allegation.
Mr Chavez, who was first elected in 1998, survived a short-lived coup in 2002. The US has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to his political opponents, including those who were involved in the coup.
His presidency has seen improvements in literacy and health care and a reduction in poverty, but he has also been accused of increasingly tightening his control of state institutions and introducing measures that could stifle the largely opposition-owned media..

Story from the Belfast Telegraph .


Bono created a company with his wife Ally to help the people in South America have equal trade, now I can only wonder if that was a smokescreen to cover up the fact of his other investments. He sure is learning alot from his neocon friends.

Pathetic Nationalism

The pathetic nationalism of July 4th is wearing off finally! It is sad to witness people become so patriotic on Independance Day when they do not realise what their definition of freedom has caused in the Middle East and other countries that the USA has decided to "free." The other sad reality is..how many of them actually vote? If they did vote, how many of them are worried about voter reform in the USA? Do they worry if their votes or opinions even matter in this "land of the free?" Do they worry that piece by piece of America is being leased or sold out to foreign investors?
People weep at fireworks displays when they see disabled veterans from Vietnam and Iraq. They think about the sacrifice that they and their families endured for the USA. Do they think about those same vets that are coming home and have no jobs, no homes, and a percentage are coming home to broken marriages. Do they think about the programs this administration has eliminated to pay for this very invasion of Iraq? Do they think about the mental illness these soldiers and Iraqis have to live with for the rest of their lives? So, one day a year Americans become patriotic. Whoopity doo! The attention span of the average American has to be a few days, because they forget so easily and go back to their lovely lives, safe from the unclean reality of war. They wave a flag to ease their conscience and change the channel.
Remember Americans...you can't make people free. They have to want freedom. They need to feel it and live it. Invading a nation and enforcing freedom on it's citizens is not freedom. Killing their families in the name of freedom is not freedom. That is imperialism. Purple fingers are not a sign of freedom if you are forced to vote to get a meal.
Anyways, that is my rant. I feel especially sad to know how truly brainwashed my fellow Americans are. Hopefully, they will take a hint from history and the rise and fall of nations, before it is too late.

GOP Grand Oil Party

I am part of Moveon.org and try to participate in as many activism events as I possibly can and
contribute as much as I can. I bought 100 of these bumper stickers today to give to my friends and family and I hope you all take advantage of this opportunity , every little gesture will help to open up the eyes of Americans.

Democrats "cuttin' & runnin"?

Recently those darn Democrats are being labeled as cowards again! Oh yes, you have heard the shouts across the country about those yellow belly Democrats that want to take our troops out of Iraq! How dare they want to bring the sons and daughters of America back home from a land that the USA invaded!! For shame for shame Democrats!

This is a great article by Molly Ivins and she sums it up exquisitely:

All newspaper editors want to know what their readers like. If you would like to read this feature in your local newspaper, please do not hesitate to share your enthusiasm with your local newspaper editor.


RELEASE: TUESDAY, JUNE 27, 2006, AND THEREAFTER



JUSTICE, FAIRNESS AND FLIPPING



AUSTIN, Texas -- And then along comes Cut'n'Run Casey. We spend all last week listening to cut'n'run Democrats talking about their cut'n'run strategy for Iraq, and the only issue is whether they want to cut'n'run by the end of this year or to cut'n'run by the end of next year, and oh, by the way, did I mention that Republicans had been choreographed to refer to the Democrats' plans as cut'n'run?

As Vice President Dick ("Last Throes") Cheney said Thursday, redeployment of our troops would be "the worst possible thing we could do. ... No matter how you carve it -- you can call it anything you want -- but basically it is packing it in, going home, persuading and convincing and validating the theory that the Americans don't have the stomach for this fight."

Then right in the middle of Cut'n'Run Week, the top American commander in Iraq, Gen. George W. Casey Jr., held a classified briefing at the Pentagon and revealed his plan to reduce the 14 combat brigades now in Iraq to five or six. And here's the best part: Rather than wait 'til the end of this year or, heaven forefend, next year, Casey wants to start moving those troops out in September, just before whatever it is that happens in early November. They don't call him George W. Jr. for nothing.

One has to admit, the party never ends with the Bush administration. The only question about Cut'n'Run Week is whether they meant to punctuate a week-long festival of referring to Democrats as the party of "retreat" and "the white flag" with this rather abrupt announcement of their own cut'n'run program. Was it an error of timing?

I say no. I say Karl Rove doesn't make timing mistakes. This administration thoroughly believes the media and the people have a collective recollection of no more than one day. Five days of cut'n'run, one day off and BAM, you get your own cut'n'run plan out there.

Republicans have, in fact, a well-developed sense of aesthetics. Regard the superb pairing of the decision NOT to raise the minimum wage with the continued push to repeal the estate tax. House Republicans had almost opened their marble hearts and raised the minimum, now at $5.15 an hour, to a whopping $7.25 an hour by 2009. (Since 1997, when they last raised it, members of Congress have hiked their own pay by $31,000 a year.)

This might have gone well with their decision to reduce the estate tax yet again, so that only the top half a percent of estates will pay it, while it will cost the treasury $602 billion over the first 10 years -- but even better, NO increase in the minimum wage to match the vote to decrease taxes on the very, very, very richest. Is that suave or what?

Also, very slick move on the Voting Rights Act extension. No amendments, no exemptions, the South rose again and blocked the whole deal. Which Southern state do you think will be the first to pass laws to hold down the black vote? My money is on 'Bama -- for sentimental reasons.

And now, on to flag burning. What flag burning, you may well ask. Just because something doesn't happen is no reason not to outlaw it. Or, for that matter, not to amend the Constitution of the United States.

I am considering introducing an amendment to require everyone in the audience at "Peter Pan" to clap for Tinkerbell. I believe 99.8 percent of them do, but that's no reason not to amend the Constitution. I don't believe we should allow people to be different. If someone wants to burn a flag as symbolic political protest, I believe they should be beheaded. Also, flipping the bird at George W. should merit the same -- but not flipping off Clinton, Bill or Hillary.

To find out more about Molly Ivins and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2006 CREATORS SYNDICATE INC.

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