Insecure, pieces of junk determine whether we have a democracy or not...
● Voting Machine Company Strong-Arm Tactics Succeed in Blocking New Jersey Investigation (So Far). Legal Threats from Sequoia Voting Systems Force County to Cancel Plans for Independent Analysis of the State's Own Voting System. Livermore Labs Scientist Urges Readers to Contact NJ AG to Ask for Technical Review of Same Flawed Machines Set to be Used Next Month in PA...
● EXCLUSIVE: Sequoia Voting Systems Threatens Princeton Computer Scientists with Legal Action if they Carry Out NJ Commissioned Analysis of the Company's Touch-Screen Voting Machines. VP Edwin Smith Warns Scientists, in Email Obtained by The BRAD BLOG, of Plans to Take 'Appropriate Steps to Protect Against Publication of Software, Its Behavior or Reports Regarding Same'. ALSO: Company Website of One of Nation's Largest Voting Machine Vendors Refers to 'Democrat' [sic] Party in Explanation for Recent Primary Election Failure...
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News:
● How Could So Many People Buy into Bush's "Patriotism Sweepstakes" War? War on Iraq: The Iraq War represents a systemic failure of American political and journalistic institutions.
● Family recalls fallen soldier was against Bush, Iraq war
● New Yorker: Abu Ghraib abuses were 'de facto US policy'
● Lynndie England, the public face of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, told a German news magazine that she was sorry for appearing in photographs of detainees in the notorious Iraqi prison, and believes the scenes of torture and humiliation served as a powerful rallying point for anti-American insurgents.
● Video: D.C. protests mark 5 years of Iraq warfare
● How the GOP Will Benefit From Impending Economic Collapse. Republicans benefit from the fact that recessions are class conscious, affecting worse those who can least afford them. An era of highly leveraged US economic expansion and empire is about to come crashing down and swept away. Count on the GOP to make out like bandits.
● The Autoimmune Epidemic: Bodies Gone Haywire in a World out of Balance. Health and Wellness: Scientists worldwide puzzle over an alarming and unexplained rise in the rates of autoimmune disease. Yet the media remain mute on this crisis.
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Obama's ability to speak clearly and intelligently iritates rightwingnuts; prefer lying, bumbling fools who can't speak well...the "big McCain speech" MIA! Maybe because it would remove all doubt that he is an idiot like Bush! Have you ever seen McCain give a speech? I haven't! I just thought of that!:
● Politics Unusual: Obama Abandons Blame Game in Sophisticated Discussion of Race. David Corn, MotherJones.com. Election 2008: Obama tries to show the nation a pathway to a society free of racial gridlock and denial. (Full speech follows)
Here's why you don't see McCain speaking, he said this just yesterday, he said the Iranians are training Al Qaida...Joe "Zell from Hell" Lieberman had to correct him. Actually? It's hard to figure out just what the hell he's saying! Watch:
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NEPA: Today @ 3:45! Bill Clinton speaks next to where Big Dan works: Coughlin High School!
● W-B rolls red carpet for Clinton
● President’s return sparks memories
● Former president’s visit likely to cause parking problems for Big Dan
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Democracy NOW! DISH channels 9410 & 9415, DirecTV channel 275, continues coverage of the media-blacked-out "Winter Soldier testimonies of REAL Iraq Vets:
Half a Decade of War: Five Years After Iraq Invasion, Soldiers Testify at Winter Soldier Hearings
Five years ago tonight, on March 19, 2003, the US launched the invasion of Iraq. Half a decade later, as the occupation continues with no end in sight, some of the most powerful voices against the war have been the men and women who have fought in it. For four days this past weekend, soldiers convened at the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Maryland for Winter Soldier, an eyewitness account of the war and occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan. We broadcast their voices.
Camilo Mejia, former staff sergeant who served six months in Iraq in 2003 with the Florida National Guard. After a brief leave, he refused to return. He was court-martialed and served nearly a year in prison. He is now the chair of the board of Iraq Veterans Against the War.
Mike Totten, Former US Army specialist who served with the 716th MP Battalion in the 101st Airborne and was deployed to Iraq in April 2003 until April 2004.
Kevin and Joyce Lucey, their son, Marine Lance Corporal Jeffrey Lucey, served five months in Iraq with the 6th Motor Transport Battalion. Almost a year later, he committed suicide, in June 2004. He was twenty-three years old.
Tanya Austin, Arab linguist in Military Intelligence.
Jeffrey Smith, served in Iraq in May 2003 and was honorably discharged in January 2004.
AMY GOODMAN: Five years ago tonight, on March 19th, 2003, the US began bombing Baghdad. The invasion was on. Six weeks later, President Bush stood under a banner reading “Mission Accomplished” and declared an end to major military combat operations in Iraq. Now, half a decade later, the war continues with no end in sight.
In a speech today to mark the fifth anniversary, the President, who leaves office in less than eleven months, will again give an upbeat assessment of the war. According to released excerpts of his address, Bush will insist the so-called troop surge in Iraq has opened the door to a “major strategic victory in the broader war on terror.”
But by most accounts, the war has been an unmitigated disaster. Up to one million Iraqis have been killed, with no estimates on the number of those wounded. Up to 2.5 million people are estimated to be displaced inside Iraq, and more than two million have fled to neighboring countries. Meanwhile, nearly 4,000 US soldiers have been killed and tens of thousands more wounded. Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz estimates the overall cost of this war will be $3 trillion.
To mark this fifth anniversary of the invasion, hundreds of marches, sit-ins and other protests are planned around the country. In Washington, D.C., demonstrators plan to block the entrance to the Internal Revenue Service and to disrupt the offices of K Street lobbyists who represent military contractors and oil companies profiting from the war. In New York, protesters from the Granny Peace Brigade will hold a “knit-in” at the Times Square military recruitment center. In Chicago, a large rally and protest march is planned, while in Louisville, Kentucky, protesters will read aloud the names of some of the US troops killed in the war. And college students from New Jersey to North Dakota are planning walkouts across their campuses.
But perhaps some of the most powerful voices against the Iraq war have been the soldiers who have fought it. For four days this past weekend, soldiers convened at the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Maryland for Winter Soldier, eyewitness accounts of the war and occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The corporate media largely ignored the story. For the past few days, we’ve been broadcasting their voices. Today, we continue with former Staff Sergeant Camilo Mejia.
DN! transcript or DN! video
