Israel ready to swap 2 Lebanese prisoners for IDF soldiers

Israel will release two Lebanese prisoners in return for the two soldiers abducted by Hezbollah, as part of a cease-fire agreement, government and defense officials said on Monday.

The sources added that the UN Security Council would call for a cease-fire in Lebanon on Friday, and it could take effect as early as Saturday.

Alternatively, the fighting might continue for a few more days. Full Article...

Tags: War, Israel, Lebanon

We all have September 11th, 2001 embedded not only in our memory, but in our eyes as well. Anyone in any corner of the planet can recognize those images and knows what they mean - that on that day, the world came to a halt, and for days, weeks, months, it could see nothing more than scenes of the Twin Towers being hit by airliners, then collapsing.

Since then, we've seen the transformation of that date into one that, so we're told, marks a key moment that altered world history, which we now divide into before and after that date.

[snip]

A few weeks ago, the attack was in Bombay. Seven explosions, one after another, perfectly synchronized, and also at rush hour in the public transport system, left hundreds dead or wounded. But the attention devoted to it was different. If it occupied the front pages of European and American newspapers or was featured on the newscasts of the major networks, it was along with other stories, and only lasted a few days. In many countries, it was included as an, "in other news ..." story. Full Article... (Article in English and Spanish)

Poet Taalam Acey breaks it down...



Tags: War, Iraq, Bush, Conspiracy, 9/11

Is The U.S. using new experimental "Tactical High Energy Laser and Microwave" weapons in Iraq? After all... War is Big Business! In the middle of this movie there is a great clip of Noron O'Donnell asking Rumsfeld and Gen. Meyers a question about these weapons and their tapdance is pathetic.


Xoites has a great post up on June Revolution regarding Israel using advanced weapons including white phosphorous.

Tags: War, Iraq, Bush, Weapons

And in case you haven't watched Robert Newmans Video - History of Oil... What the hell are you waiting for? Probably the most fun and informative video ever put on the web, especially if you can appreciate good British humor

Tags: War, Travel, Bush

By Lin Noueihed

BEIRUT, July 27 (Reuters) - Along Lebanon's sandy beaches and rocky headlands runs a belt of black sludge, 10,000 to 30,000 tonnes of oil that spilled into the Mediterranean Sea after Israel bombed a power plant.

Lebanon's Environment Ministry says the oil flooded into the sea when Israeli jets hit storage tanks at the Jiyyeh plant south of Beirut on July 13 and 15, creating an ecological crisis that Lebanon's government has neither the money nor the expertise to deal with.

"We have never seen a spill like this in the history of Lebanon. It is a major catastrophe," Environment Minister Yacoub al-Sarraf told Reuters. Full Article...

Tags: War, Oil, Lebanon, Environment, Crisis

July 28, 2006 6:00 p.m. EST

Shaveta Bansal - All Headline News Staff Writer

Geneva, Switzerland (AHN) - A UN human rights body on Friday called on the U.S. to close any "secret detention" facilities it was operating. In a 12-page report, the Committee said that the secret jails authorized by the U.S. were against the international law and that the International Committee of the Red Cross must be given access to prisoners held in the war on terrorism.

The report published Friday condemned the Bush administration for human right abuses saying that the United States appeared to have been detaining people "secretly and in secret places for months and years". Full Article

Tags: Rendetion, Torture, Bush

The following is a letter from former Republican Congressman and Presidential candidate Pete McCloskey.

THE NEED FOR A DEMOCRAT MAJORITY IN THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES IN 2007

I have found it difficult in the past several weeks to reach a conclusion as to what a citizen should do with respect to this fall’s forthcoming congressional elections. I am a Republican, intend to remain a Republican, and am descended from three generations of California Republicans, active in Merced and San Bernardino Counties as well as in the San Francisco Bay Area. I have just engaged in an unsuccessful effort to defeat the Republican Chairman of the House Resources Committee, Richard Pombo, in the 11th Congressional District Republican primary, obtaining just over 32% of the Republican vote against Pombo's 62%.

The observation of Mr. Pombo’s political consultant, Wayne Johnson, that I have been mired in the obsolete values of the 1970s, honesty, good ethics and balanced budgets, all rejected by today’s modern Republicans, is only too accurate.

It has been difficult, nevertheless, to conclude as I have, that the Republican House leadership has been so unalterably corrupted by power and money that reasonable Republicans should support Democrats against DeLay-type Republican incumbents in 2006. Let me try to explain why...

Read More

Tags: GOP, Congress

www.IAVA.org - Visit their site and see how real Americans "Support the Troops". Hint: It doesn't involve a magnet, shaped like a ribbon, painted like our flag and Made in China

Tags: War, Iraq, Afghanistan, IAVA

An awesome Jam to throw your way. So called "protest" songs it seems to me are as often as not just stong voices; passionately reflecting a view of the Human Experience. Here's another GITF classic from five months ago. Which would be about a decade in "blog years". Powerful stuff!

DJ Danger Mouse's video assault on the first family

GNN is proud to publish the first of many videos from independent video group subMedia TV.

In early 2004, DJ Danger Mouse became world famous for his “Grey Album,” the Jay Z/Beatles mash-up that sent hundreds of lawyers into convulsions. Months earlier, Danger Mouse had dropped his acclaimed hip-hop record Ghetto Pop Life. “Bush Boys,” an anti-Bush anthem with lyrics by MC Jemini, was part of that masterpiece. The video for “Bush Boys” is a collaboration between Danger Mouse and his longtime friend, video producer Alex Motlagh, who had access to CNN’s vast library. The video was first seen in “Under the Influence,” a compilation DVD by Atlanta’s film collective YETI. subMedia put the video online on April of 2003 and since it has been downloaded over 100,000 times. “Bush Boys” will be included in subMedia’s upcoming DVD/Zine “Molotov.”

Links:

Grey Album Download

POP Films Latest Project

Danger Mouse

submediaTV

Terrific Stuff! Check out his site.

And in case you haven't watched Robert Newmans Video - History of Oil... What the hell are you waiting for? Probably the most fun and informative video ever put on the web, especially if you can appreciate good British humor

Tags: War, Iraq, Bush, Cheney

I keep reading and viewing and listening; trying desperately to understand what's happening between Israel & Lebanon with more than an ignorant American's perspective. This video helped tremendously because it explained some of my gut instincts to what I have been watching on the corporate media sources.



I encourage you to watch this video all the way through. It is powerful, informative and well-balanced all around. It brings in commentary and insight from learned historians, media professionals, professors, activists, former Israeli military and muslims from Lebanon and Palestine. It covers the peace process, the history, the media coverage, AIPAC, PNAC and relates it all to what is currently going on.

I will be taking at least a one day break from regular blogging as I complete a Flash website I'm working on. I ask you please to watch this powerful documentary and I hope it makes an impact on you as it did on me.

Labels: Islam, Israel, Judaism, Media, Palestine, Propaganda

It's time to punch the clock!



I posted this several months ago but since this was one of the first things to really fire me up and to start taking action, I wanted to post it again. This is a powerful American Anthem and I'm re-visting it in honor of some new online friends who, like me, are also starting to find their voice and figure out ways to take our great country back from the iron grip of evil and deliver it in to the rightful custody of "We The People"!

It's Time To Punch The Clock!

Tags: War, Iraq, Bush

Labels: America

For everyone who liked the James McMurtry video edit from a few days ago, here's another great montage put together by Peter Anderson. I spent my teen years jamming to G&R and this was always one of my favorite of their tunes. Now it takes on a new meaning for me.


Tags: War, Iraq, Bush

This is a side of the Israel/Lebanon conflict that CNN/FOX et al will never show you. I would give anything for the youth in America to be this informed and engaged. It's a short pod but pay particular attention to the advice they give American youth at the end of it. It pretty well shatters the myth that Lebanese youth are all 'trained' to hate Americans from childhood.



Tags: War, Irael, Lebanon, Hezbollah

I posted a video earlier of a speech by John F. Kennedy where he discusses Secret Societies and Freedom of the Press. It got me thinking so I dug deeper and was able to come up with some interesting stuff. This piece aired on CNN back in May and has never been re-broadcasted as they do with so many other of their snack-size segments. And the related info and all references on CNN's website showing proof of the claims and assertions in this segment have been scrubbed from their site.


If you Google Skull and Bones, it's fascinating the information it returns. Some of it is a bit over the top but the premise of the entire concept of such an organization is terrifying. It is the very thing that JFK was warning about in his speech.

Skull & Bones' membership list reads like a Who's Who of History's power elite. It includes President Bush, his father and former President GHW Bush as well as Senator's, Supreme Court Justices, Cabinet Secretaries, Ambassadors and endless Capt's of Industry.

There have been several books about this organization and Secret Societies in general but the one that seems to have cracked the "Code of Silence" more than any other is "Secrets of the Tomb" by Alexandra Robbins. She interviewed over 100 'bonesman' (and was hung up, threatened or generally shunned by hundreds more). I just ordered it and I'm looking forward to reading more. Here's an excerpt from it:

Sometime in the early 1830s, a Yale student named William H. Russell - the future valedictorian of the class of 1833 - traveled to Germany to study for a year. Russell came from an inordinately wealthy family that ran one of the United States' most despicable business organizations of the nineteenth century: Russell and Company, an opium empire. Russell would later become a member of the Connecticut State Legislature, agGeneral in the Connecticut National Guard, and the founder of the Collegiate and Commercial Institute in New Haven. While in Germany, Russell befriended the leader of an insidious German secret society that hailed the death.s head as its logo. Russell soon became caught up in this group, itself a sinister outgrowth of the notorious eighteenth century society of the Illuminati. When Russell returned to the U.S., he found an atmosphere so anti-Masonic that even his beloved Phi Beta Kappa, the honor society, had been unceremoniously stripped of its secrecy. Incensed, Russell rounded up a group of the most promising students in his class - including Alphonso Taft, the future Secretary of War, Attorney General, Minister to Austria, Ambassador to Russia, and father of future President William Howard Taft - and out of vengeance constructed the most powerful secret society the United States has ever known.

Hasn't the world had enough of Secret Governments?

Tags: Secret, Yale, Bush, Geronimo

In his first ever address to the NAACP after shunning them for five years, Bush attempted to address the GOP's record on race relations.

Bush lamented the GOP's rocky relations with blacks. He pledged to improve that relationship and work with the NAACP's new leader to achieve common goals.

"I understand that racism still lingers in America," Bush told more than 2,200 people at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's annual gathering. "It's a lot easier to change a law than to change a human heart. And I understand that many African-Americans distrust my political party."
Read More...

Funny because three years ago, Bush's current Press Secretary said that "racism isn't that big of a deal anymore". Here's the video.


Did racism make a comeback in the past three years? Or did George Bush just not get the memo from Dick Cheney that it's "Not that big of a deal anymore"?

I happened to catch a great exchange on Hardball yesterday and I just found it over on RawStory. This one is a must-watch.

Journal Inquirer - Bill Clinton to campaign for Lieberman in Waterbury This is terribly disappointing if it turns out to be true.

Tags: Lieberman, Clinton, Lamont

Lebanon left for dead - Asia Times Online

Israel tries to kill Hezbollah leader Nasrallah - Bloomberg

Israel drops 23 Tons of bombs in dawn airstrike - All Headline News

Ethiopian troops enter Somalia - Sudan Tribune

MA Storm Warning for Tropical Storm 'Beryl' - Reuters

Kidnapped by Israel - Center for Research on Globalization

Israel won't rule out full scale invasion - Forbes

Tags: War

Noam Chomsky is the Professor Emeritus of linguistics at MIT and the author of Hegemony or Survival as well as many other great works here. You can read about him here but a listen to his call a few days ago with DemocracyNow.org is like being a guest at one of his great lectures.

Learn more about John F. Kennedy at the website of his library. It's a terrific resource and definitely worth surfing when you get a few. Big hat tip to Moxiegrrrl who's great site has become a daily stop for me

And in case you haven't watched Robert Newmans Video - History of Oil... What the hell are you waiting for? Probably the most fun and informative video ever put on the web, especially if you can appreciate good British humor

Tags: War, Iraq, Bush

If the escalating violence in the middle east that is threatening to crack open the door to hell wasn't enough to remind me that we're now in the "Dog Days", then the following picture progression didn't really help.

If you haven't seen the great weather site Wunderground.com, bookmark it for future reference because it's probably the best, most comprehensive weather site on the net. I went to the site and pulled up a National temperature forecast for this coming day to see what it looked like. First forecast was for 5am, then 11am and forward to 5pm and the following is the progression for today.

5:00am - EDT



11:00am - EDT



5:00pm - EDT


Please bear in mind that the large swatches of milky coloring in the middle of the inferno of blazing red are actually HOTTER than the red areas. Temperatures ranging up above 120*F or 50*C.

I'm really sorry if you're among those who are going to have to suffer through this today. Judging by the map this applies to about 90% of the country. My only suggestions would be to bring lots of cold water wherever you go and to stop by ClimateCrisis.org as soon as you can. By the way, did you know that the first half of 2006 has been the hottest year in the history of our history?

Have a look at my post from a few days ago here: The West is Burning...

Tags: War, Summer, Climate

Ralph Reed loses his race for Lt. Governor of Georgia

Oh darn!

This is a brief clip from a movie I have previously posted called: The Secret Government. It is definitely worth watching. I'm posting this video snippet to provide a little modern history about Iran as I will be posting a three-part series about it this week. Also make sure to watch: History of Oil



Tags: War, Iran, Bush, CIA, Israel, Lebanon

Can you believe this?

State Dept.: No Free Evacuations for Dead Americans, Either
By Paul Kiel - July 18, 2006, 2:55 PM

Alive or dead, Uncle Sam doesn't give any free rides.

Earlier I noted that the State Department, in stark contrast to the Canadian government, is requiring U.S. citizens caught in Lebanon to pay for the cost of their evacuation. (Rep. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has since weighed in, saying that this was no time "for quibbling over payment for evacuation.") Read More...

There is absolutely nothing about the criminals and clowns running things that commands respect anymore. Thanks to our current batch of "leaders", The United States has become a punchline.

Remember folks... This is an ivy-league cheerleader-cokehead pretending to be a west Texas cowboy drunken Good ol' boy...

I'll bet if you were to ask any such person and they'd tell YOU that the chicks like's em sum back rubs and shoulder massages. hehehehe

Specially when they're a redhedded, hottie-leader type o' chick. Now that there's how you gets some diplomacy'n done!

Ya just... Ya just gotta rub em and loosen em up a bit. Then you kin mount that filly and ride her til' Armageddon... Yeeeeee-haw! he-he-he-he

If you want to watch the video or you know how to read German, you can see that here: Bush Sexually Harrasses Female German Chancellor - WARNING: Extreme "Creepy" Factor

Tags: Germany, G8, Bush

Freedom of speech is one our most treasured accomplishments in the great American expiriment. The Freeway Blogger is a terrific example of this freedom in action. I've done one myself and it's quite liberating. I'm going to get more active about doing it and I will try and post some photos/video. You have no idea how therapeutic it can be. He's put together a great "how to" video so have a look.



What a great way to reach hundreds of thousands of people for next to nothing. It does my heart good to know that some honest and hard working conservative might be struggling with his faith in his party and driving along in traffic while listening to the mind-numbing drone of Sean Hannity when he looks up to the overpass and sees... Truth!

Hours of Michael Medved Mental Manipulation spewing forth from his AM Radio dial - wiped away in a single glance at a freeway overpass! One simple little message reminding someone of the awesome power of truth.

Make sure and go check out his site to learn more. He's got great information about best practices, legal rights, the works... FreewayBlogger.com

Tags: War, Iraq, Bush, Freedom, Speech, Freeway

And in case you haven't watched Robert Newmans Video - History of Oil... What the hell are you waiting for? Probably the most fun and informative video ever put on the web, especially if you can appreciate good British humor

War veterans denied GI Bill benefits

War veterans denied GI Bill benefits
By RON MARTZ
Cox News Service
Monday, July 10, 2006

SUMMERVILLE, Ga. — Andy Rowe thought he had life after the Army pretty well figured out before he came home from eight months in Afghanistan in November 2003.

An Army reservist since high school, Rowe, 27, planned to serve out the remaining four months of his military obligation in the inactive Reserve, get his honorable discharge and then use his GI Bill education benefits to go to college, just as his father did more than 30 years ago.

But Rowe soon realized that, despite his time in a combat zone, he didn't qualify for those education benefits unless he remained in the Reserves or Guard.

It's the same for tens of thousands of National Guard and Army Reserve troops mobilized since 9/11 — the largest deployment of reservists since World War II. Read All...

There are times I wish I could grab every chickenhawk in power by the throat and open-palm-pimp-slap them like David Schultz did with John Stossel!

Tags: War, Iraq, Bush, Afghanistan, Veteran, Military

I have no idea of the rules and I'm not on the "inside" but a combination of my mad cyber skills and wicked poker experience have given away all the 'tells'. So I say to all those playing who read this, my ...Cyber... fLasH #8 () Kung-fu ------- is ...... stronger *****than**** ALL of yours.............-X .COM-bined!



SMACK!

For those of you who have no idea what this dumbass video is about, don't worry... I barely do either! Tell me this isn't the funniest and most ridiculous music video ever produced though. And just in case you are still wabbling on your feet then take THIS!

Seeing as I have been talking about it and promoting so much, I figured I should at least go see it. Look out though, it's likely to get me fired up and posting more about our Climate Crisis this week. By the way, in case you haven't read yet, the first half of 2006 was the hottest ever on record for the planet.



Nate

Sometimes it amazes me what you can find on publicly available US Government websites. I have just finished reading America's official strategic immigration plan titled: Detention and Removal Strategy for a Secure Homeland.

It is a dark journey into the jingoistic minds of a scared population and it is derived from the ivy league brain trusts of cowardly and reactionary men, who unfortunately call themselves our leaders. It drips of xenophobia and its laced with consulto-speak buzzwords to justify it's paranoid extremes.

One part of it in particular had the hackles on the back of my neck standing up with sad and morbid curiosity.

DRO Goal Two – Custody
Management: Provide for the safe,
secure, and humane confinement of
persons detained in accordance with
immigration law.

• Objective 2.1 – Provide safe, secure
and humane detention facilities and
methods.
• Objective 2.2 – Optimize detention
space/system.
• Objective 2.3 – Provide alternative
ICE detention settings and methods.

DRO will develop and implement several
strategies and programs to ensure the
most cost effective and efficient use of
bed space throughout the country while
meeting the needs of its unique and very
diverse population.

DRO will work with other federal
detention agencies as roles and
responsibilities are redefined to
ensure these objectives remain, are
not lost in the shuffle, and continue to
be supported.

Makes me wonder if they're talking about places like the ones in this video I posted several months ago. FEMA Camps! The document makes multiple references to the difficulties and costs associated with mass transportation of such a varied, dispersed and diverse group of potential detainees. I find this interesting because the above video documents a facility, explicitly emphasizing the fact that it is built right on a rail and train infrastructure.

The document is a sad yet fascinating read. If they decide to take it down for some reason, I'll post the pdf I saved but you can click on the picture above or here to read it in all its non-glory.

Tags: DHS, ICE, Immigration, FEMA, Camps, Prison

Here's one of my all-time favorite tunes for everyone while I'm working on my next posts. Sorry it's taking so long but I'll have some good stuff up soon. This song ROCKS! Turn up the Bass, Crank the Volume and get ready to rock your neighbors!


Greatest use of a banjo in a rock song, ever!

Saw this spoof commercial and thought it was hilarious. The humor is tempered a bit however by how true it actually is.




And in case you haven't watched Robert Newmans Video - History of Oil... What the hell are you waiting for? Probably the most fun and informative video ever put on the web, especially if you can appreciate good British humor

Tags: Halliburton, Cronyism, Bush

Right now there are large wildfires burning across the southwest United States. A few are under control and others are threatening to rage out of control. Thousands of evacuations have already taken place at many of these sites and more are likely to follow as some of these fires continue to grow. Have a look at this US Forestry Service fire risk map and you'll see that a huge chunk of the western states are in a high to extreme risk zone right now.

I guess I shouldn't find it unusual that the major media outlets are barely giving it coverage. After all, the world is on fire right now as well. But I found it strange that I had to do a Google News search in order to find some good coverage of it, and mostly the local level at that. There is next to nothing on the major news carrier headlines though. Just some chaff you find halfway down the page.

It seems to me that there has been an unusually high number of wildfires this year and judging by the threat map above, it's only like to get worse. So I dug a little deeper to find out what the scientific consensus seems to be about why they are getting worse. There are the obvious short term reasons of course, i.e. less rains leading to dry arid summers, more dry lightning storms setting them off and stronger more eratic dry winds spreading them faster and farther. After a little digging I found this interesting piece at NASA Earth Observatory's site. Turns out there's a lot to the story... (emphasis added)

July 6, 2006

WARMING CLIMATE PLAYS LARGE ROLE IN WESTERN U.S. WILDFIRES, SCRIPPS-LED STUDY SHOWS

A new study led by scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, implicates rising seasonal temperatures and the earlier arrival of spring conditions in connection with a dramatic increase of large wildfires in the western United States.

In the most systematic analysis to date of recent changes in forest fire activity, Anthony Westerling, Hugo Hidalgo and Dan Cayan of Scripps Oceanography, along with Tom Swetnam of the University of Arizona, compiled a database of recent large western wildfires since 1970 and compared it with climate and land-surface data from the region. The results show that large wildfire activity increased "suddenly and dramatically" in the 1980s with longer wildfire seasons and an increased number and more potent wildfires.

The new findings, published in the July 6 issue of Science Express (the advance online version of the printed journal Science), point to climate change, not fire suppression policies and forest accumulation, as the primary driver of recent increases in large forest fires... read all

I suppose it shouldn't surprise me that the "Main Stream Media" isn't giving this much coverage. We can't be letting the sheeple see how more scientific data shows that global warming is causing real problems, right now. No... That would just lend more credibility to Al Gore's assertions that we people need to wake up and start taking action. Can't be having any of that now can we? But as with all things concerning the corporate (whore) media, there is more to the story.

It turns out that fighting out-of-control raging infernos accross our great land is highly dangerous and actually very hard work - often done by tough and courageous souls, eager to protect their land. Or as it frequently turns out, their adopted land. Apparently thousands of these intrepid heroes who march up hillsides and straight into the raging infernos of hell, are in fact illegal immigrants from Mexico. So if the bigots and xenaphobes in our ranks have their way, as many as half of our nations wildfire fighting crews would be booted out of the country or thrown in prison for being brown and uninvited. But no worries, I'm sure it won't be too difficult to find willing and able-bodied heroes to fill their shoes eh?


These are real fires that effect thousands of American lives. They destroy homes and wipe out vast swaths of our nations' countryside. But apparently the whole "immigration issue" is just too hot to ignore for this coming November. Much better to let thousands of people's homes burn to the ground and criminally bury our collective heads in the sand in terms of planning ahead to a time in the not-so-distant future when the scale of destruction exponentially increases due to blatantly obvious changes in our planet's climate. After all, the only thing better than making America afraid during an election season is making them afraid of dumb stuff. At least they got to demagogue some kind of burning after all.

UPDATE: I found this article over at ThinkProgress.org. Apparently the first half of 2006 were the highest global temperatures in history.

Tags: Wildfire, Southwest, Immigration

[UPDATE] Switched to YouTube after two emails said the MySpace video wasn't working or was skipping. For future reference people, you can tell me these things in the comments section. I read all of them, if I don't always answer.

I don't know how long it has been since something really fired me up online but damn if this video hasn't done just that. I'm going to spend the rest of the day whoring this video around the blogosphere. I'm going to send it to every Netroots project I can think of. I'm gonna go post it on threads everywhere I can think of. If you are a fan of Get In Their Face and want to help me out, please spread this video far and wide. If you want to re-stream it from your own blog than click here to grab the "embed" code.

This is the kind of video that if it were to go viral around America's "Heartland", especially the "Purple States", can really change the outlook of the core of voters. This is arguably the most important mid-term elections in most of our life times. It's time to start reminding people that it's time for change. Remind them of what they can do to fix it this November. This video can help touch that nerve.

Here's James McMurtry's website. In the Amazon.com search box right below you can enter his name and it will return multiple albums available by James.



Tags: War, Iraq, Bush, Mcmurtry, James, Music, Video, Country, Heartland, Values

Labels: Can't Make it Here, folk music, James McMurtry

It's amazing what you can forget in five short years. I remember reading this story back in 2001. And even though it thoroughly pissed me off at ol' Rape Gurney Joe "McCarthy" Lieberman when I read it, I had completely forgotten about it until now.

Now here it is five short years later when I find myself spending too much time thinking of all the reasons I dislike Lieberman and still I had forgotten all about until I saw saw it again at The General's blog.

As if his support for the incompetent morons and their illegal and immoral war wasn't enough reason to dump him from his regal throne in the Senate, this should provide one more reminder of just how completely he has forsaken every principle of Democracy; let alone the Democratic Party!

Be the first to donate to Ned Lamont from my ActBlue Page! I don't want to be the only blog that doesn't have a fan who couldn't bring themselves to cough up a little coin for his cause.

Tags: Lieberman, Cheney, Lamont

Damn!

Courtesy of JohnRichie.com

Tags: Bush, Whateva

Some links you need to check out:

Washington Post: It's easier to rig an electronic voting machine than a Las Vegas slot machine.

Wired News: Diebold Hack Hints at Wider Flaws: Diebold Has No Comment.

ARS Technica: New e-voting study shows it's really easy to steal an election.

Food for thought!

Tags: Vote, Election, Fraud, Diebold, Bush, Kerry, 2004

I don't think I've ever really mentioned much about my background short of having served in the Navy but I thought I'd give everyone a little more info. There was actually one point in my life when I had spent literally 10% of my life underwater and over 15% on and/or under the water. I was in my late twenties at the time to give you an idea of how long that translates to in years.

Not long after I got out of the Navy, where the vast majority of my time was spent in the undersea community, I bought a dive shop here in Hawaii. I've logged over 3,000 dives including more than 500 deeper than 200'fsw and over 150 deeper than 300'fsw. I've dove in eight different countries in the open ocean, in caves and on some of the most amazing reefs and shipwrecks anywhere on the planet. I'm rated as an instructor trainer in everything from mixed gas decompression diving to cave and wreck diving to rebreathers.

Needless to say I have a very personal relationship with the ocean which is one of the reasons I live on an island in the Pacific. (And y'all probably thought it was because its a tropical paradise with perfect weather and lots of hot chicks in tiny bikinis!)

I have dove on some of the most beautiful reefs in the world from the Federated States of Micronesia and islands such as Palau, Chuuk and Pohnpei to the waters of the Caribbean around the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico and even off the coasts of Cuba. So when I saw the above movie, it really struck a chord and its difficult to describe how sad I became. Please pay attention to the relevant facts and assertions made in this video. This is not about industrial pollution or over fishing or even the introduction of foreign or toxic elements.

There is only one possible explanation for what you see in this video. The warming of our planets' oceans. The same thing that explains the raw naked power of storms such as Katrina and the fact that last year we had so many hurricanes that we ran out of letters in the english alphabet to name them.

In the coal mines the miners used to bring a little canary in a cage with them into the mines. Canaries are ultra-sensitive to noxious and toxic gases so if any of the miners looked over and saw that the canary was dead it meant there was a dangerous build up of methane gas and it was time to get the hell outta Dodge. Coral reefs are the "Canaries" of Mother Earth... And The Canary is Dead!

One degree... Just one single little degree Fahrenheit can cause monster typhoons and hurricanes, massive flooding and tornado activity and continent-wide heat waves. It can kill off entire species and key elements in the symbiotic cycle of life that so delicately balance our planet.

So I ask you this favor on Independence Day. Please start opening up your mind to the possibility that you can make a difference. That even the smallest thing you change... The smallest thing you effect at a personal level can make an enormous impact.

I know this is different than most of my posts but seeing this video made me decide that Get In Their Face! was going to be more than just a "political" blog. It is the place for me to speak my mind and to share with the world the things that I have learned... The feelings that I have... And my hopes and dreams for humanity at large.

You can learn more about the Planetary Coral Reef Foundation on their site and watch more of their fantastic films and videos at their media center, Studio of the Sea. Please consider making a donation while you are there. There work is so worthy of it.

Aloha and Happy Independence Day!
Nate

C.I.A. Closes Unit Focused on Capture of bin Laden - New York Times

WASHINGTON, July 3 The Central Intelligence Agency has closed a unit that for a decade had the mission of hunting Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants, intelligence officials confirmed Monday.

The unit, known as Alec Station, was disbanded late last year and its analysts reassigned within the C.I.A. Counterterrorist Center, the officials said. Full Article...

Here's the kicker though folks... Bush shut this program down LAST YEAR! That's right. Apparently Osama had already served his purpose and Karl Rove didn't think he'd be of any value in THIS election cycle. Either that or they're just packing him on ice in order to roll him back out again sometime around say... October?

Un-fucking-believable!

And with that I wish you all a very happy Independencee Day!

-Nate

Can you believe that this raging imbecile is one of the asshats legislating whether or not Net Neutrality will remain law?

Have a listen and it will blow your damn mind!

It will be tough to make it to the end as you'll have to suffer through his raving stupidity and borderline clinical insanity. No easy task-that!

I made it all the way through but only because I'm willing to personally sacrifice in this battle to maintain the tenets of Net Neutrality. The experience was something akin to shaving my head with a cheese grater while chewing on tinfoil.

(Talk about taking one for the team!)

MP3

I hereby propose a new rule…If you were already a grown man or women when the first computer was built, you DON’T get to vote on any technology-based legislation! Tags: Internet, Net, Neutrality, Stevens

In a previous post: Robert Newman - History of Oil I included a seven minute PBS video by Bill Moyers in 1987 called "The Secret Government".


It is difficult to watch and learn what our own government, via outsourced shadow operations are capable of. For the idiots and self-deluded amongst our own citizenry, (AKA Faux News fans) it is so much easier to assume that we as Americans are always right and just and that others who hate our nation are "evil" and have no justification for hating us. It's hard to hold such a position when you take the time to learn even just a little of the truth of the horrors we have wreaked throughout the world for our own greedy interests.

I don't ask anyone to do anything other than open your minds. Consider possibilities other than the drivel you're fed on your nightly news and the interest-laced punditry of cable news. Dig deeper! It's out there for anyone who wants to know.

And in case you haven't watched Robert Newmans Video - History of Oil... What the hell are you waiting for? It is simply one of the most entertaining and informational videos to ever become available.

Tags: War, Iran, Iraq, PBS, CIA, Bush, Moyers, Secret, Government, JFK, Vietnam, Reagan, FEMA, Cuba, Guatemala, PNAC, Nixon, Democracy, Chile, Venezuala, Chavez, Allende, UK, NSC, Media, Press, NSA

Labels: Allende, Bush, Chile, CIA, Government, Iran, Iraq, JFK, Moyers, NSA, PBS, PNAC, Reagan, Secret, Venezuala, War

Here's the full version of this documentary about one of the sleaziest men on the face of the earth and the most corrupt politician to walk the halls of Congress in decades.


Delay resigning in disgrace and facing criminal charges does not mean this work is done. Make sure to see the great site put together by CREW called BeyondDelay.org. The DVD for this makes the perfect present for the right winger in your family. There are endless discussions and interviews with Republicans and how they feel about Tom Delay. You can order it online and ship it directly to them right here: The Big Buy - DVD Hell buy five copies and donate them to law libraries at colleges or local libraries for that matter. Just get more people watching it. It's a crucial lesson that needs to be seen by many.

Tags: Delay, Congress, Crook

There are parts of this movie that will sadden you and parts that will enrage you. From the movie: A "Free-Fire" zone in the military means you're free to shoot anything at all. Iraq has become a "Free-Fraud" zone. Contractors are free to steal anything they want. [UPDATE BELOW]


The brilliant Sans-Culotte.org has done it again and connected some more dots in the comments section. He recognized the name of one of the journalists (Ali Fadhil) from this movie and went digging. Here's a snippet from an article in the UK's Guardian Media.

US troops seize award-winning Iraqi journalist
Jan 9, Guardian: American troops in Baghdad yesterday blasted their way into the home of an Iraqi journalist working for the Guardian and Channel 4, firing bullets into the bedroom where he was sleeping with his wife and children.

Ali Fadhil, who two months ago won the Foreign Press Association young journalist of the year award, was hooded and taken for questioning. He was released hours later.

Dr Fadhil is working with Guardian Films on an investigation for Channel 4's Dispatches programme into claims that tens of millions of dollars worth of Iraqi funds held by the Americans and British have been misused or misappropriated.

The troops told Dr Fadhil that they were looking for an Iraqi insurgent and seized video tapes he had shot for the programme. These have not yet been returned! Read the Full Article...

If you found the above movie instructional, maybe it's time to start digging a bit deeper. Robert Newmans video on the History of Oil... A fantastic film/lesson/performance and a movie that's sure to change your world outlook.

Tags: Iraq, War, Bush, Reconstruction, Haliburton, KBR