Your Service is Required

Children of the 20th Century wars must bear witness to the tragedies our government has imposed upon the world in the surge for world domination. We cannot call it anything else. Africa, America, Europe, Vietnam, Iraq, what country will next suffer from such "liberation" ? Warmongers and financial manipulators leave bullet holes and bomb craters wherever they go, with our silent complicity. We then have the audacity to ask why they hate us. There is no they, only WE, the people who work for our daily bread. It is up to us, not US, to bring down those who care nothing for our life and liberty. Please, for decency sake, take some form of action on January 11, even if only by wearing a bit of orange as you go about the day. Start a conversation, don't be afraid! You may be surprised by who agrees with you.

Friday, January 11, 2008
The 6 year anniversary of the first prisoners being brought to Guantánamo

"There is little question of how history will respond to Guantánamo…it will be looked back on with condescension and bemusement. How could we be so foolish, misguided, cruel? How we will respond is a legal question and a political question. But it is most of all a moral question. Will we respond with courage or cowardice? This is our choice."
--- Joseph Margulies, a lawyer challenging the indefinite detention of the prisoners at Guantánamo
On January 11th, 2002, twenty hooded and shackled men shuffled off a plane from Afghanistan, arriving at the U.S. prison at Guantánamo. In an attempt to sidestep the Geneva Convention protections for prisoners of war, the Bush administration created a new category of "enemy combatant" for these men captured in the "war on terror."
We call on the United States government to:
* Repeal the Military Commissions Act and restore Habeas Corpus.
* Charge and try or release all detainees.
* Clearly and unequivocally forbid torture and all other forms of cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, by the military, the CIA, prison guards, civilian contractors, or anyone else.
* Pay reparations to current and former detainees and their families for violations of their human rights.
* Shut down Guantánamo, Abu Ghraib, Bagram and all other U.S. prisons overseas, including secret CIA detention facilities.
http://www.witnesstorture.org/

Waist Deep in Our Big Muddy

What kind of a nation have we become? In the past week we've seen more coverage around civil society issues, such as the tasered student and a reverend trying to get back into court get tackled, thrown to the ground and beaten, IN THE COURT HALL! (See, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiradcejA6o) The details of what happened in Jena, LA just makes it obvious we are being dragged deeper into the slag heap of moral decay. (See, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/21/us/21jena.html?_r=1&hp=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1190348677-kG+Shl91rQvz46yhB5eYHQ
Republicans blocked a measure restoring habeas corpus for detainees, making us the land of the disappeared, see http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/20/washington/20detain.html and the Euro is now at $1.40, so we will have a harder time finding bargains with those European bitches grabbing them out of OUR stores. (see http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/21/business/worldbusiness/21dollar.html?hp.)

But Carlos Arredondo deserved to be treated like a man, not attacked by bullies. This story is just tragic.

The People Who Assaulted a Gold Star Father
on September 15th

Here are photos of members of "Gathering of Eagles" who assaulted gold star father Carlos Arredondo in broad daylight in Washington, D.C., on September 15, 2007, throwing him to the ground and kicking him.

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/carlos