Check out this latest Anti-Empire Report from William Blum, who has been a major influence of mine in understanding US foreign policy. Link here for an interview I did with him last year for Z Magazine:

http://www.winkestleak.net/...

http://www.cindyforcongress.org/

i realise that this is a democratic leaning blog but if u want you can nominate Cindy for congress.

signatures needed

Two weeks ago, some Kossacks helped me to raise $200. Last night I helped to facilitate a fund raising event. My friend, Dr. Wendy Johnson and I helped to raise $700 at a house party. Over the past month, we have worked with Peace groups in Seattle, the Department of Communications, Real Change, and other organizations  to try to reach our goal of $10,000. We have raised $4,000 to date for our cause.... the money we raised was not for Obama, nor for any Congressional candidates. I donated $100 already, plus some in kind donations of time and energy, and I am unemployed right now, a mere student going to school this fall. :-)

We are bringing an exhibit of 60 photographs to the University of Washington Odegaard Undergraduate Library in Seattle. These 60 photos are called UNEMBEDDED. WAR IS VIOLENT. These images will stir you.

More after the fold.

By Sara Flounders, Published July 24, 2008 5:29 AM

What is the significance of the widely publicized announcement that the Bush administration has finally agreed to talk to Iran?

Have U.S. aircraft carriers, nuclear-armed and powered submarines, destroyers or missiles been pulled back from Iran’s coast? Has Washington renounced its years of sabotage, assassinations and other covert actions inside Iran? Will any of the many sanctions imposed to constrict Iran’s development be lifted or even eased?

On July 19 Undersecretary of State William Burns sat in on a six-nation gathering in Geneva and "observed" nuclear negotiations between Iranian negotiator Saeed Jalili and Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China. The talks are scheduled to resume in August, but Burns will not return for them. The one-time presence of this third-ranking diplomat is supposedly enough to show that Washington has made an effort at a diplomatic solution.

Sign the online petition at http://stopwaroniran.org/... and help us spread the word. Signing the petition will send messages to President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Congress, the Board of Directors of Halliburton, and the media.

Recent news makes it clear why it is more important than ever that we take to the streets on August 2, http://www.StopWarOnIran.org. According to press reports, President Bush has given the Israeli military the go-ahead to prepare for an imminent attack on Iran. Israel is also using U.S. bases in Iraq to prepare for the attack.

The British Sunday Times of July 13, 2008 reported:

     "Despite the opposition of his own generals and widespread skepticism that America is ready to risk the military, political and economic consequences of an airborne strike on Iran, the president has given an "amber light" to an Israeli plan to attack Iran's main nuclear sites with long-range bombing sorties, the official told The Sunday Times.

    "Amber means get on with your preparations, stand by for immediate attack and tell us when you're ready," the official said.

Pelosi 8-11-08 LA
Our very own first woman Speaker of the House...coming to the hotbed of peace and impeachment activists. It's certainly time that we plan a WELCOMING EVENT so that Nancy will know just how much we appreciate her efforts to stop the war, cut off funding, begin the impeachment investigations, and protect us by voting for the new FISA bill that finishes off the 4th Amendment and prevents the telecoms from getting their day in court. Way to GO Nancy!!! The Republicans certainly couldn't have done it without you!!!
FISA VOTE:http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2008/roll437.xml

By way of the LA Times' Babylon & Beyond blog, I see that one of my all time favorite artists, Patti Smith, brought her revolutionary soul to Beirut to "sing for the "regeneration" of the city of Beirut and to voice her rejection to war."

The celebrated 1970s rock icon turned political activist performed near the old Phoenician port at the opening of the Byblos music festival, one of numerous music events taking place this summer in Lebanon after violence has subsided in the country and tourists have started to flood in again.

Unembedded – Four Independent Photojournalists on the War in Iraq.

I have written about my efforts here for the past two days and have been able to get a few (less than 20) Kossacks to read and comment as well as pledge to help. So I am writing again. And this time I hope more people can view this diary and contribute online to this art show about the war.

What is this?
Unembedded is a national touring exhibit of 60 images that tell the story of the war’s impact on the lives of the Iraqi people "on the ground" where the war is being waged. It is a powerful expression of the effects of war that go largely ignored by the mainstream media.  You can view the exhibit online at: http://www.unembedded.net.  Look at the images, and if you want to share this with other people, help my friend Doctor Wendy Johnson and I show this exhibit to folks in Seattle at UW this fall!

What is our goal?
Our goal is to bring attention to the effects and implications of the war before the election this fall. We would like to ensure the exhibit is accessible to both students and the community-at-large.

More on how to help after the jump!

Today I am writing on behalf Health Alliance International and a group of Seattle activist organizations and individuals to invite your participation and support in bringing Unembedded – Four Independent Photojournalists on the War in Iraq, to Seattle's University of Washington Library for exhibit from September to December 2008.  

YES I AM ASKING YOU FOR MONEY! AND I AM INVITING YOU TO A SPECIAL RECEPTION TO MEET TWO OF THE PHOTOGRAPHERS WHO CREATED UNEMBEDDED! We need to raise $10,000 for this show! Every bit helps! I have donated $100 already!

Unembedded is a national touring exhibit of 60 images that tell the story of the war’s impact on the lives of the Iraqi people “on the ground” where the war is being waged. It is a powerful expression of the effects of war that go largely ignored by the mainstream media.  You can view the exhibit online at: http://www.unembedded.net   Look at the images, and if you want to share this with other people, help my friend Doctor Wendy Johnson and I show this exhibit to folks in Seattle at UW this fall!

More after the jump...

"Guests Of The Nation," by Mike Palecek

Illustrations by Michael Paul Miller, Russell Brutsche, Allison Healy.

Astounding, astonishing, and haunting, "Guests Of The Nation" offers an intriguing alternative to what the late George Carlin called the 9/11 "consensus reality."  Philip K. Dick would love how this deft American novel captures our imagination and never lets go.  Mike Palecek has graced us with a sparkling gem you'll read non-stop and more than once.
— Karen Kwiatkowski, Lt Col [ret.], USAF, Ph.D, working at the Pentagon on 9/11

A Brief Compendium of Dirty Fucking Hippy© Values

This is just a short look at my values and what issues I find important.

This election season finds America bitterly divided, and I don't just mean rightwingers versus the Left.

I mean that even the Democratic party, as much as MOST of it wants "unity" in the quest for electoral dominance in November and beyond, has some rather deep rifts.

What I mean specifically is a sort of dividing line that has cropped up recently, as far as I am aware.

I imagine many of you, like me, are a bit tired of the ridiculousness of day to day politics, and might like a short music break.  Well, one of my favorite groups combines great music with an enlightened and progressive anti-war message that I thought many of you would enjoy (you may know him already)

I present for your enjoyment "Michael Franti and Spearhead," below:

OK, folks -- Now it's time to stop pulling punches.

We've seen what makes them squirm, so let's put a proper face on the war.

A baby's face.  Not just any Gerbified baby-face, mind you.  Very specific baby-faces.

The baby-faces of each and every one of our troops, to be exact, along with their names, ranks and the dates they gave their lives for this illegal, immoral crime.

I need to know -- is this doable? Can we get the Gold Star mothers, the Vets for Freedom, U.S. Labor Against the War and a myriad of others to work together to assemble a website and prepare downloadable posters that have images of all "the casualties" identified by name and rank, and then obtain images of their baby pictures from their families?  

I joined the Army in the early months of 2001; my patriotism led me to the recruiter’s office. I had grown up in awe of my grandfathers and their stories of World War II, and their reminiscing became my dreams. When I got to basic training I did not talk about missing home like the other recruits around me, I felt at home in ways I never had before.

Dahr Jamail's latest report "Enough Is Enough, It's Time to Get Out" recounts the daily horror stories shared by Iraq War veterans in Seattle in what was "a continuation of the "Winter Soldier" hearings held in Silver Spring, Maryland in March."

If this isn't enough incentive to pull out of that occupation, what is?

"We were told we'd be deploying to Iraq and that we needed to get ready to have little kids and women shoot at us," Sergio Kochergin, a former Marine who served two deployments in Iraq, told the audience. "It was an attempt to portray Iraqis as animals. We were supposed to do humanitarian work, but all we did was harass people, drive like crazy on the streets, pretending it was our city and we could do whatever we wanted to do."

Dahr Jamail's latest report "Enough Is Enough, It's Time to Get Out" recounts the daily horror stories shared by Iraq War veterans in Seattle in what was "a continuation of the "Winter Soldier" hearings held in Silver Spring, Maryland in March."

If this isn't enough incentive to pull out of that occupation, what is?

"We were told we'd be deploying to Iraq and that we needed to get ready to have little kids and women shoot at us," Sergio Kochergin, a former Marine who served two deployments in Iraq, told the audience. "It was an attempt to portray Iraqis as animals. We were supposed to do humanitarian work, but all we did was harass people, drive like crazy on the streets, pretending it was our city and we could do whatever we wanted to do."

Dahr Jamail's latest report "Enough Is Enough, It's Time to Get Out" recounts the daily horror stories shared by Iraq War veterans in Seattle in what was "a continuation of the "Winter Soldier" hearings held in Silver Spring, Maryland in March."

If this isn't enough incentive to pull out of that occupation, what is?

"We were told we'd be deploying to Iraq and that we needed to get ready to have little kids and women shoot at us," Sergio Kochergin, a former Marine who served two deployments in Iraq, told the audience. "It was an attempt to portray Iraqis as animals. We were supposed to do humanitarian work, but all we did was harass people, drive like crazy on the streets, pretending it was our city and we could do whatever we wanted to do."

My iphone couldn't get passed the login screen of the NYT this morning. I wanted to read Bob Herbert's Coming Late to the Table on my way out before work. Something about the title rang familiar. Home now, caked in dirt from a day spent in the mud, I get this e-mail from my mom "Herbert on war, lies and Sherwood."  
Sherwood is my brother, killed in Iraq, lost to a shameful war.
Bob Herbert talks about Sherwood in his column chastising Scott McClellan.

Sergeant Baker had only been in Baghdad six weeks when he was blown up in an explosion at a factory. An absurd footnote to his death was the fact that he was helping to provide security for the Iraq Survey Group, which was hunting for the nonexistent weapons of mass destruction.