Facts, Beliefs , Opinions & Other Animals

Let's begin with a recent American Survey:

Survey: Most Americans Say Founders Intended Christian Nation by Lillian Kwon
13/09/07

In the First Amendment Center’s annual survey measuring attitudes toward freedom of religion, speech and press, 55 percent of Americans said they believe that the Constitution establishes a Christian nation. Furthermore, three out of four people who identify themselves as evangelical or Republican agree while about half of Democrats and independents do.

Compared to previous years, more Americans were found to support Christian activities in public schools. Most respondents (58 percent) say teachers in public schools should be allowed to lead prayers, up from 52 percent in 2005. Moreover, 43 percent say public schools should be allowed to put on Nativity re-enactments with Christian music while only 36 percent said so in 2005, according to the survey released Wednesday and titled "State of the First Amendment 2007."

Only 50 percent, however, said they would allow schools to teach the Bible as a factual text in history class, down from 56 percent in 2000.

"While the survey shows Americans highly value religious freedom, a significant number support privileging the religion of the majority, especially in public schools," said First Amendment Center senior scholar Charles Haynes.

Amid concerns from conservative Christians about the secularism of public schools, bestselling author Stephen Prothero, who wrote Religious Literacy, has expressed support for teaching the Bible in schools, saying that it plays a major part in the nation's culture and politics.

"The strong support for official recognition of the majority faith appears to be grounded in a belief that the United States was founded as a Christian nation, in spite of the fact that the Constitution nowhere mentions God or Christianity," Haynes argued in the survey report. "Of course, people define 'Christian nation' in various ways – ranging from a nation that reflects Christian values to a nation where the government favors the Christian faith."

also see article by Don Byrd at Talk To Action

What such surveys show is that a large proportion of the American populace have not critically examined for themselves the major official documents created at the founding of the American Republic . Is this a failure on the part of the public & private educational institutions in America . Isn't it also a failure on the part of the American mass media to better explain such notions to the American people or would they think that exploring , discussing & separating fact from fiction on this important issue is not their job or none of their business or would it mean that journalists would be seen as taking sides . According to this view educators & journalist are supposed to be objective claiming that there are at least two sides to every story each one as valid as the other - so if some people believes in a " flat earth " then as journalists or educators one shouldn't take sides - this is a rather strange extremist point of view . This notion is relevant in a number of issues such as the environment & Global Warming or other negative impacts on the environment by human activity - in the end it is all up for grabs according to this view - facts are therefore meaningless !

How then does one determine if something is true or not - is Evolution merely the simple minded opinion of bigoted scientists who are anti-religion & anti-God as many Radical Christian fundamentalists believe including a number of Neocons like President Bush & their propagandists Ann Coulter Glenn Beck Bill O'Reilley & our own Prime Minister Stephen Harper who are more interested in promoting their religious & political & economic agenda .

These days even the more respectable journalists working for tv networks or Newspapers are afraid of just stating the facts & then from those facts come to some reasonable conclusions based on those facts . For instance Iraq did not have WMDs & was not in cahoots with Al Qeada & hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been killed during the US Invasion & Occupation of Iraq - but no the facts are rather whatever the Bush Spin-doctors claim to be the facts - Journalists sit around twisting facts about to suit whatever those in power tell them are the conclusions which they must adhere to- We see this again & again . For instance when American Soldiers & officials torture detainees that's okay when Saddam tortured people it was not okay & was proof of how evil he was or when the Soviet Union's police tortured & imprisoned people without due process again this showed how evil the Soviets were - there were no two sides to the issue of whether or not the Soviets were committing crimes against humanity but it is different when the Americans or other western nations do the same thing - I guess because we have God on our side so whatever we do is permissible as long as we don't blaspheme or use condoms or question our countries policies etc.

So we are told that journalists & educators cannot tell the public that something is an irrefutable fact such as 2+ 2 =4 sometimes it equals whatever one wants to believe it to equal or that Helium is an inert gas & Hydrogen on the other hand is not inert & will explode as it did in the Hindenburg but on the Evangelical Christian Neocon planet things are quite different -the Hindenburg exploded because these were bad people on board & had nothing to do with science - or for instance pouring various noxious chemicals into streams rivers & lakes does not have an affect on the environment or people especially if we pray & are Godly & just believe & cross our fingers or like in Peter Pan if we do believe in faeries then there will be faeries & Tinker Bell will live - is this what these people mean by being " objective ". ( of course these days they argue that some objects kids' toys or whatever manufactured in Evil China maybe bad for your health but not anything made in America or by American Corporations and so it goes)

Or to use a more extreme example did the Holocaust take place - Most people given the evidence believe it did take place but to some it is debatable ie Anti-Semites , neoNazis & other Nutters - but given the way Journalists are today & given this notion that they be objective & open-minded & not take sides then how could they if they were around during WWII how could they claim that they knew the Holocaust was taking place after being given all the evidence & further even if they agreed that it was taking place how could they say whether it was a good thing or a bad thing -being objective at that point is madness or depraved indifference which to a great extent is just what happened Western Leaders , The Pope & the Catholic Church & other religious bodies ignored what was going on in part because Anti-Semitism had been part of Western Civilization for about a thousand years or so - though against all the facts & evidence many now claim that's why we went to war against the Nazis that is to stop the Holocaust -I myself wish it had been true but History shows this to be nonsense & is merely a re-writing of history -( no one wanted to take in the Jews except for maybe tiny Denmark - the Swiss wanted their money & gold teeth & now refuse to give it all back)- such re-writing of history means that we are bound to learn nothing from it & notions such as objectivity & the refusal to take sides or make a judgement call allow the journalists & the public to be indifferent & ignorant without sharing in the collective guilt for inaction -

I know some will take exception of any comparisons to the Holocaust but Anti-Abortionist make this comparison all the time - & the Neocons have compared Saddam & various other leaders they don't like to Adolph Hitler or Stalin - it seems only Neocons & the religious Right are permitted to make such comparisons since they are on the side of the Angels & the rest of us are agents of Satan & the Anti-Christ or Communism or Anarchism or Terrorism or whatever convenient label they can grab off the shelf of the Propagandists & Spin-Doctors -

The facts about Iraq or environmental damage caused by Human Activity are similar in the sense of being facts - what in other words do we know - what are the Facts on the Ground as it were - is it okay to destroy streams rivers & lakes & the oceans to kill off numerous species & even to kill or shorten or diminish the lives of other human beings so that some corporation can increase its profits -

There is "open-mindedness " & then there is foolishness ,madness & willful ignorance . Should we encourage adults to believe in the Tooth Fairy & the Easter Bunny & Santa Claus or are we by doing so encouraging them to be ignorant - if we tell them otherwise are we being harsh , cruel & are we by doing so not respecting their cultural or religious beliefs . This may sound funny but it is merely a way to make a point- that there are facts that can be known about the world from which we can draw reasonable conclusions for instance if you flap your arms up and down the chances are you as a human being will not be able to fly but if create some sort of apparatus hot air balloon or jet plane or rocket ship then human beings can fly - if you did this in the middle ages you would be burned at the stake since they believed only witches & wizards could fly ala Harry Potter - see Jesus Camp film for instance where the Preacher seems to think that the Harry Potter books are creating a generation of Witches & Wizards as if the kids reading these books couldn't distinguish between fantasy & imagination & reality.

There maybe two or more sides to every story but not all are of equal value some are merely based on opinion & belief systems . To say for instance that the War in Iraq is " Going Well " as US General Petreaus claims is an opinion & not necessarily a fact but of course if you define " Going Well " as vaguely as possible then it can be seen as a reasonable conclusion but creating a more stringent litmus test of " Going Well " may show that it is not true at all . For instance Bush's eighteen Bench-marks shows things are not just not " Going Well " but that it is a disaster but don't tell Bush or the mass of War Mongering Islamaphobics that they'll lock you up ...

Or to share another example for instance journalists, politicians & Public Relations people are all too eager to claim that the American or Canadian or British " economy is doing well " -But it depends on your definition - ie is the dollar strong , is national debt up or down , is employment up or down , have peoples incomes increased or decreased or are they static , is the country's infrastructure intact has it improved or is it falling apart , or how is the housing market doing or do you base the economy on how certain corporations ie. Fortune Five-hundred are doing , or are the rich doing well or the Middle Class or the Working Class or Heaven forbid we talk about visible minorities & how they are doing or the poor, the homeless , the disabled , the unemployed , the disenfranchised... of course in our Politically Correct Fantasy World there are no classes no disadvantaged minorities no disenfranchised etc. As long as the Rich the Super Rich & most of the Middle Class are doing well then everything is okay & those who complain supposedly have no one to blame but themselves they just need more Seminars in Positive Thinking & Motivational Training or whatever in the end its just another way of blaming the poor & others who don't fit into the Middle Class Fantasy World .

That's enough for now -

take care,
GORD.

GodTUbe & Charlie Daniels -Tribulation

Here's a little ditty to make your hair stand on end or just creep you out from GodTube.com to be more precise GodTube: Broadcast Him :

Charlie Daniels -Tribulation



You'll notice how Charlie Daniels revels in the idea of chaos, confusion , war, famine ,diseases of all sorts & the worse things get the more sure he & other True Christians can count on Jesus' return ... so if someone attempts to solve all of the problems of the human race they then are going against God- the only Peacemaker is Jesus & anyone else who brings about world peace is the anti-Christ - therefore George W. Bush is on the side of God & the Angels - even a disaster like Katrina was in fact a message from God & so why would Bush try to help those people in New Orleans who were being punished & or tested by God-no wonder Bush & the inefficient & corrupt FEMA are not helping tens of thousands of New Orleaners even now after two years to return to their city since they have been judged by God & were found wanting - Others claim it is all part of improving the City of New Orleans by keeping more of the poor of New Orleans in FEMA style detention camps or relocation camps -

- so the madness of the Neocons & Radical Religious Right continues as they prepare to Nuke Iran & maybe start World War Three - just fulfilling prophecy they would argue - as for protecting the Environment they believe this is just all nonsense since God will provide ,at least , that is for the True Believers-

Here's an excerpt from an article in The Guardian dealing with GodTube - where the rightwing Christians surf Tim Dowling The Guardian Monday April 30 2007

Imagine for a moment a parallel universe where everything looks familiar, but where everyone is a rightwing fundamentalist Christian and Darwinism is widely seen as a crackpot fairytale. Well, now you can visit such a world any time you want: GodTube, Christianity's answer to the heathen YouTube, is a clearing house for Christian music videos, user-generated sermons, evangelical short films and anti-evolution cranks. One of the most popular videos is an excruciating four-part parody of those Mac v PC adverts - Christ-follower v Christian; another features a preacher with a microphone berating a street performer dressed as Gene Simmons from Kiss. A clip titled They Day They Kicked God Out of the Schools characterises the recent spate of US campus killings as God's revenge for outlawing school prayer. Elsewhere, an old man delivers a boring lecture about why the Earth really isn't 4.5bn years old after all.

As we see according to the latest report numerous animal & plant species are in danger of extinction - though this news is disturbing to many people to the Born Again Christian this is just more Good News :

Stark warning of extinction list: 'Life on Earth is disappearing'
By Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor
13 September 2007

Gorillas, vultures, corals, Asian crocodiles and even seaweeds are joining thousands of other species on the slide towards extinction, according to the latest edition of the Red List, the international catalogue of threatened wildlife, published yesterday.

In the past 12 months there have been nearly 200 to the list, which is published by the Swiss-based International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), taking the number of threatened species worldwide from 16,118 to 16,306.

This means that one in four of the world's mammals, one in eight birds, one third of all amphibians and 70 per cent of the world's assessed plants on the current list are in now in jeopardy. "Life on Earth is disappearing fast and will continue to do so unless urgent action is taken," the IUCN said yesterday.

The Red List is recognised as the most reliable evaluation of the conservation status of the world's species. It classifies them according to their extinction risk, through the categories extinct, critically endangered, endangered and vulnerable. Once an organism is classified as critically endangered, extinction is very close.

take care,
GORD.

Chris Hedges & American Fascists - The Radical Christian Right

In case you missed it here's Chris Hedges author of American Fascists being interviewed on CBC's The Hour by George stroumboulopoulos-

Chris Hedges describes the Religious Right movement as radical & dangerous as it has been influenced & infiltrated by the Dominionists & Christian Reconstructionism . These Christians are not representative of earlier forms of mainstream American evangelicalism . Their aim is not just to have a say & some influence in American society or have a place at the table as it were since they insist that their view of the Bible & Christianity is the only true view . What they wish to do is to create an authoritarian intolerant Theocracy which would rely on a loyal Christian army & militant police force to ensure the enforcement of its draconian laws . They have already had some success in America by creating a climate in which many Americans see Creationism & Evolution as being both equally valid scientific theories & that both are reasonable yet different views of the processes at work in the natural world . Further many people see no problem in having Creationism or Intelligent Design given at least a fair hearing if not equal time in the public schools & universities. Of course the Dominionists aim would be to have only Creationism be taught in the schools & universities & Evolution banned.




take care,
GORD.

Christians For The Environment - Mountaintop Ministry

Photos of the Devastation left after
MountainTop mining -

Where are the Green Hills of Virgina?


Most of the Right-wing Evangelical Fundamentalist movement believe that Man was given the earth to do as he pleased with it without regard to negative impacts upon the environment since they believe either God will somehow provide us with new resource or we will just magically come up with new resource on Earth or by utilizing the Moon or the planets in our solar system or other bits of wishful thinking or when resources run out the Messiah will return & replenish the earth or God will then take the chosen ones up into Heaven leaving the rest of the human population to suffer on a planet that been laid waste by human activity from mining and other industrial activities to war - therefore they believe that to be overly concerned about the environment & conserving natural resources shows a lack of faith in the Bible & the Christian God .

Anyway on Bill Moyers' Journal he did a follow up piece on the Mountain Top Ministry in which the Ministry is fighting corporations & the Bush Regime & Neocons to try to protect the environment & a way of life in West Virgina & The Appalachians -
see: Bill Moyers Journal Mountaintop Ministry & Essay from Allen Johnson

Here is the promo for the show:




So for a change on my blog for once I can report about a Christian Ministry called Mountaintop Ministry that is focused on the environment & attempting to slow down if not stop altogether the practice of Mountain Top Mining which chops off the top of a mountain to get at the coal seams beneath so far over 450 mountains in West Virginia have been destroyed in this way. The practice is part of an ongoing environmental disaster which destroys forests & lakes & streams leaving areas in West Virginia looking like dead moonscapes . Because the practice uses very few workers it does not help to maintain or sustain populations - the corporations often buy people's homes & then bulldoze them - and little by little these mining operations are destroying Appalachian way of life & culture - It could be seen therefore as a form of cultural genocide -

This is the old hobgoblin of Cost benefits analysis which leaves out the environmental factors or the human factors- But this is the Necons attitude towards everything that whatever a corporation does must be worked out according to a balance sheet of profits & loses - or whatever is good for a corporation is good for the country & whatever is good for the shareholders is good for the country & their stance is to say to hell with a few complaining local troublemakers you just pay them off & continue with business as usual - and these days it is easy for the Bush regime to use surveillance on Environmental groups even if they are Christian & to harass them claiming for instance the disruption of an industry producing energy which is necessary for the country is by definition a harmful & seditious & unpatriotic act in this post 9/11 world or whatever rhetoric they can come up with ...and so it goes...

So is that the measure by which we judge human activities as profitable or not profitable- quality of life for those impacted negatively is not a concern of corporations their share holders or the government -According to the Neocon philosophy governments have no right to interfere with the activities of corporations - this is a return to laissez-fare unfettered capitalism of the nineteenth century - when workers had no rights & corporations did what they wished - this is their idea of Utopia in the New World Order as championed by President Bush & his Neocon True Believers & our own Prime Minister Stephen Harper & his cronies who see all those who wish to regulate industries as enemies of Capitalism & therefore the State & what they believe to be the basic principles of the Bible & Christianity -

Mountaintop Ministry
Bill Moyers Journal
Mountaintop Ministry

Allen Johnson co-founded and heads the advocacy group, Christians for the Mountains, an organization that summons Christians to help protect the environment, paying particular attention to the southern Appalachian Mountains region.

Since this segment originally aired in October 2006, Christians for the Mountains has joined up with other denominations in making mountaintop removal mining an issue of urgency among the creation care leaders nationwide. In May 2007, Allen and Roman Catholic priest Father John Rausch hosted religious leaders for a two-day tour of mountaintop removal sites, and at the end of the tour, the two dozen religious leaders signed a joint statement against mountaintop removal practices.

On August 22, The New York Times published an article that began, “The Bush administration is set to issue a regulation on Friday [August 24] that would enshrine the coal mining practice of mountaintop removal.”

Enshrine. An oddly appropriate word, I thought. A biblical word, even. A place where dwell the gods. Like the gods of money, comfort, and power.

For over 2 years I have been involved with a network organization, Christians For The Mountains, to engage Christians and their churches to take on the moral question of mountaintop removal. The massive scale of beheading coal-bearing mountains, obliterating headwater streams, and building multi-billion gallon toxic slurry impoundments begs biblical and theological activity.

It is now clear the coal industry and their regulatory and political sidekicks care only about the dollar. An honest debate on the ethics and morality of mountaintop removal has not occurred. Like wolves salivating their chops over a field of lambs, the coal industry and their lapdogs in government now look upon coal-to-liquid technology as a new source of meat to feast their jaws. “Coal will bring prosperity to the state,” they trumpet; yet after more than a century of economic and political domination by the coal industry, West Virginia has one of the highest poverty rates in the country, especially in the southern coalfields. So much for prosperity.

From Ilovemountains.org- intro



longer version




TheStar.com Pushing for mountaintop mining

Aug 28, 2007 04:30 AM

Give the Bush administration credit for persistence. It just won't let a bad idea die. On Friday, the Interior Department's Office of Surface Mining proposed new regulations that it hopes will permanently legalize mountaintop mining – a cheap, ruthlessly efficient, environmentally destructive means of mining coal from the mountains of Appalachia.

By our count, this is the third attempt in the last six years to enshrine the practice by insulating it from legal challenge. But since the net result is likely to be more confusion and more courtroom wrestling, the situation cries out for congressional intervention to define once and for all what mining companies can and cannot do.

Mountaintop mining is basically high-altitude strip mining. Enormous machines scrape away the ridges to get at the coal seams below. The residual rock and dirt are then dumped or carted down the mountainside into nearby valleys and streams. By one estimate, this serial decapitation of Appalachia's coal-rich hills has already buried 1,200 miles of streams while damaging hundreds of square miles of forests.

No recent administration, Democratic or Republican, has made a serious effort to end the dumping, largely in deference to the financial influence of the coal industry and the political influence of Robert Byrd, West Virginia's senior senator. But the Bush people have been particularly resourceful in perpetuating the practice.

In 2002, for instance, the Environmental Protection Agency rewrote clean water regulations in a way that magically added mine waste to the list of materials that can be used to fill in streams for development and other purposes. In 2004, confronted with yet another obstacle – the so-called stream buffer zone rule prohibiting any mining activity within 100 feet of a stream – the administration decided that the rule only required companies to respect the buffer zone "to the extent practicable," in effect green-lighting further dumping. The new rule not only reaffirms the 2004 rule but also seems specifically to authorize the disposal of "excess spoil fills," a.k.a. mine waste, in hollows and streams.

Studies have identified more benign, though admittedly more costly, ways to dispose of the waste, while other studies have warned that unless alternatives are found, an area larger than the state of Delaware will be laid waste by dynamite and bulldozer by the end of this decade, poisoning water supplies and leading to continuous flooding.

With that in mind, two members of Congress – Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. of New Jersey, a Democrat, and Rep. Christopher Shays of Connecticut, a Republican – introduced a bill last spring that would reaffirm Clean Water Act protections prohibiting mining companies and other industries from dumping solid industrial wastes into the nation's waters. The bill has already picked up 60 sponsors in its brief life, and the administration's latest sleight of hand should add more converts to the cause.

Inorder to facilitate & expand Mountaintop Mining the Bush regime has a solution so that the companies are not accused or held responsible for damage to the environment caused this practice ...well first you change the rules ..as this article " Mountaintop Mining Rules " 06/09/07 from Courant.com points out...

... the Interior Department has opted to lower the standard. Under proposed regulations issued late last month for public comment, strip miners would have to show only that they intend "to prevent [damage to streams, fish and wildlife], to the extent possible using the best technology currently available." Also under the proposed regulations, a stream's flow could be altered so long as the damage is later repaired.

Existing mountaintop-mining operations could continue provided the areas where the mining and dumping occur are "no larger than needed." Such changes resolve some of the regulatory conflicts faced by companies that engage in mountaintop mining. But they are so vague as to offer little hope for meaningful regulatory standards or to allay concern about the significant environmental costs.

We also take issue with published comments by Interior Department officials, who predicted that a 60-day period for public comment on these proposed regulations is unlikely to result in substantial changes. Such statements leave the overwhelming impression that the public hearing process is a sham and what the public has to say about mountaintop mining has little sway over the Bush administration.

America needs energy. The nation's coal reserves, which are abundant, hold promise for reliably meeting these needs. But coal-fired power plants are also the single largest source of emissions linked to global warming; also, mercury pollution. Coal may remain an important answer to our energy needs, but not at the expense of mountains reduced to rubble, poisoned streams and toxic air.

Also see:
Washington Post series of articles August 2004 on Appalachia is paying price for White House Rule Change




take care,
GORD.

Keith Olbermann - " War Today, War Tomorrow , War Forever "

Keith Olbermann- Bush 's Deception & Prolonging the War in Iraq



care of Information Clearing House

Bush just playing us with 'troop withdrawal'
'Revelation' contradicts every other rationale offered in the last 500 days
SPECIAL COMMENT
By Keith Olbermann
Anchor, 'Countdown'
Updated: 6:20 p.m. PT Sept 4, 2007

And so he is back from his annual surprise gratuitous photo-op in Iraq, and what a sorry spectacle it was. But it was nothing compared to the spectacle of one unfiltered, unguarded, horrifying quotation in the new biography to which Mr. Bush has consented.

As he deceived the troops at Al-Asad Air Base yesterday with the tantalizing prospect that some of them might not have to risk being killed and might get to go home, Mr. Bush probably did not know that, with his own words, he had already proved that he had been lying, is lying and will be lying about Iraq.

He presumably did not know that there had already appeared those damning excerpts from Robert Draper's book “Dead Certain."

“I'm playing for October-November," Mr. Bush said to Draper. That, evidently, is the time during which, he thinks he can sell us the real plan, which is “to get us in a position where the presidential candidates will be comfortable about sustaining a presence."

Comfortable, that is, with saying about Iraq, again quoting the President, “stay... longer."

And there it is. We've caught you. Your goal is not to bring some troops home, maybe, if we let you have your way now. Your goal is not to set the stage for eventual withdrawal. You are, to use your own disrespectful, tone-deaf word, playing at getting the next Republican nominee to agree to jump into this bottomless pit with you, and take us with him, as we stay in Iraq for another year, and another, and another, and anon.

Everything you said about Iraq yesterday, and everything you will say, is a deception, for the purpose of this one cynical, unacceptable, brutal goal: perpetuating this war indefinitely.

War today, war tomorrow, war forever!

And also see commentary by John Kerry:

John Kerry The Escalation Didn't Work September 5, 2007 At Huffington Post
as he sums the situation up as:

Judgment time is here, and the only verdict is the same one we had in January, the same one we've had for a long time in Iraq: the Bush policy is a tragic failure. It's a policy that not only isn't working; it can't work. A political solution in Iraq cannot come about without a clear deadline on where our troops will be pulling out. Only Iraqis can end this civil war, and they aren't - and won't be - making any progress with an open-ended, massive presence by our military in their country.

The White House has tried, with some success, to focus everyone's attention in the media on the report they are writing, the report they used to call the Petraeus Report. But, at least judging from press reports, unfortunately, this report already seems to be controversial and solely focused on military measures. (No surprise - now, thanks in large measure to some good old fashioned muckraking out here in the blogosphere, we know that even the so-called Petraeus Report will be written not by the General, not by our Ambassador in Baghdad, but by the White House-- the White House which has again and again avoided the kind of plain, unadorned facts discussed in the GAO report.)

This White House ran out of credibility on Iraq a long long time ago. This is not the first time we've been told one thing only to learn another (Weapons of mass destruction? Greeted as liberators? Saddam's oil revenue to pay for the war and reconstruction?), so, predictably, instead of an honest appraisal of the escalation, this White House is again moving the goalposts and shifting criteria-- and they are doing it as the moment of accountability arrives. Their response to bad news has been and continues to be: simply change the story. What they can't change is the fact that time is not on our side. It's wrong to sacrifice over 100 American lives each month for a policy we know is not working.

And for further proof that all is not going as planned in Iraq here is another revealing story about Death Squads operating in Iraq:


Iraq: Government Death Squads Ravaging Baghdad
By Dahr Jamail and Ali Al-Fadhily

09/05/07 "IPS News" -- - Death squads from the Ministry of Interior posing as Iraqi police are killing more people than ever in the capital, emerging evidence shows.

The death toll is high - in all 1,536 bodies were brought to the Baghdad morgue in September. The health ministry announced last month that it will build two new morgues in Baghdad to take their capacity to 250 bodies a day.

Many fear a government hand in more killings to come. The U.S. military has revealed that the 8th Iraqi Police Unit was responsible for the Oct. 1 kidnapping of 26 Sunni food factory workers in the Amil quarter in southwest Baghdad. The bodies of ten of them were later found in Abu Chir neighbourhood in the capital.

Minister for the Interior Jawad al-Bolani announced he is suspending the police unit from official duties, and confining it to base until an investigation is completed.

But sections of the ministry appear responsible for the abductions and killing. Ministry of Interior vehicles were used for the kidnapping in this case, and most men conducting the raid wore Iraqi police uniforms, except for a few who wore black death squad 'uniforms', witnesses told IPS.

Take care,
GORD.

American Occupation of Iraq & Permanent Military Bases

Anyway don't hold your breath waiting for the Americans to leave Iraq & give up their occupation of that country ...The US military is or has been planning to stay for at least another ten or twenty years in Iraq as this piece from Alternet points out the Americans are building a number of permanent bases along with their Super Embassy Complex known as the Emerald City & the Iraqi people have no say in whatever the Americans plan to do...beside they will need these strategically located bases if they are going to bomb & possibly invade Iran so they can have better control over the region & its resources ... if a few hundred thousand Iranians need to die so that Americans can continue to enjoy their extravagant life-styles then so be it ...besides they are just a bunch of neanderthal barbarians according to the Pro-Bush pro-Neocon media ...
from Alternet here is a 27 minute video about the creation of pemanent basis in Iraq which also helps explain what billions of dollars have been spent on in Iraq...



Also check out from TruthOut :
Empire of Stupidity: Seven Years in Hell By Tom Engelhardt TomDispatch.com Tuesday 04 September 2007
" On body counts, dead zones, and an Empire of Stupidity."

Also see: David Bromwich article Iraq, Israel, Iran September 4, 2007 in The Huffington Post

and check out A TIMELINE OF THE IRAQI WAR " at Think Progressive

take care,
GORD.

Nuking Iran - The Crusades Continue

Let us begin with Keith Olbermann & Bush's propaganda about attacking Iran ....because Bush has had a vision of Iran Nuking Israel & America who knows where his information & Intel come from from Karl Rove or Jesus whispering in his ear...



Here's one of the propagandist for the Bush Regime - Chris Mathews on MSNBC of The War Party demanding nuclear strikes on Iran & he makes it all sound so easy & clean a sanitized war but little does he care about the deaths of thousands or tens of thousands of Iranians who are all evil & working I guess for the Anti-christ :





And so the Bush Regime is still talking tough about Iran & the media repeat whatever Bush & Co. say about Iran without bothering to investigate the facts but " Facts are stupid things" as Ronald Reagan said - all that matters is perception - everyone agreed that Iraq had WMDs & was planing to attack Israel & the United States & was in collusion with Al Qeada but it was all fabricated now here we go again - allegations & presumptions become " facts on the ground" -Is America now addicted to crisis & war & is the rest of the Western Nations too weak to stand up to the United States or are they calculating what wealth they too can plunder from the Middle East-

The American people have been pissed off at Iran since the fall of the Shah of Iran & the hostage crisis of 1979 & the establishment of a government which was not a puppet regime of the Americans -how dare they - it is time to get some payback -

Pentagon "Three-Day Blitz" Plan for Iran By Sarah Baxter The Sunday Times UK Sunday 02 September 2007

The Pentagon has drawn up plans for massive air strikes against 1,200 targets in Iran, designed to annihilate the Iranians' military capability in three days, according to a national security expert.

Alexis Debat, director of terrorism and national security at the Nixon Center, said last week that US military planners were not preparing for "pinprick strikes" against Iran's nuclear facilities. "They're about taking out the entire Iranian military," he said.

Debat was speaking at a meeting organised by The National Interest, a conservative foreign policy journal. He told The Sunday Times that the US military had concluded: "Whether you go for pinprick strikes or all-out military action, the reaction from the Iranians will be the same." It was, he added, a "very legitimate strategic calculus".

President George Bush intensified the rhetoric against Iran last week, accusing Tehran of putting the Middle East "under the shadow of a nuclear holocaust". He warned that the US and its allies would confront Iran "before it is too late".

One Washington source said the "temperature was rising" inside the administration. Bush was "sending a message to a number of audiences", he said - to the Iranians and to members of the United Nations security council who are trying to weaken a tough third resolution on sanctions against Iran for flouting a UN ban on uranium enrichment.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) last week reported "significant" cooperation with Iran over its nuclear programme and said that uranium enrichment had slowed. Tehran has promised to answer most questions from the agency by November, but Washington fears it is stalling to prevent further sanctions. Iran continues to maintain it is merely developing civilian nuclear power.

Bush is committed for now to the diplomatic route but thinks Iran is moving towards acquiring a nuclear weapon. According to one well placed source, Washington believes it would be prudent to use rapid, overwhelming force, should military action become necessary.

As for the Democratic Party & Hilary Clinton they too are preparing for war with Iran & so are no better than President Bush & the Republican Neocons & the Religious Right - even Hilary Clinton uses fear as a weapon & is not interested in bringing Peace to the Middle East or to put it another way if using militant rhetoric against Iran or other countries will help her to win the presidency in 2008 then that's just what she will do - the murder of thousands of innocent Iranians means little to her & her War Party- so even Hilary now uses the language & logic of the Neocons & the Religious Right - To the Religious Right Israel must be defended from real & imaginary enemies & besides the more chaos ,carnage & instability the better as these are merely signs that the End-Times are near & it is in their view all going according to God's Plan & Jesus will soon arrive to save the True Believers or for the Dominionist /Reconstructionist ( see for example Chris Hedges American Fascists )it means that it is time for the Christian True Believers to rise up & take over the US government to establish a theocracy - As for we Canadians well we will just have to create our own theocracy under Stephen Harper & co. -

And here is a video & a few words from Information Clearing House on Hilary & Bush's plan to obliterate Iran in their fight to save the corrupt & brutal governments of Israel & the United States :

From Information Clearing House :Hillary Clinton Is Willing to Nuke Iran

1959- The US gives Iran a 5-megawatt nuclear reactor which became operational in 1967
Iran signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1968 and ratified it in 1970.
The Islamic Revolution in 1979 saw the overthrow of a CIA back Dictatorship-The Shah


Israel, a nuclear state, has never signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. By NOT declaring nuclear capabilities, Israel doesn't have to let inspectors in!

The Iranians took their own country back, to escape Britain and US control of their oil. And to rid themselves of a brutal dictatorship!

Iran isn't a threat to the US, nor is Iran a threat to Israel!
It's the US and Israel that has been threatening Iran!

take care,
Gord.

Proselytizing - Turning the US MILITARY into God's ARMY

"... following a story published by Max Blumenthal in The Nation, the Pentagon scrapped plans to send so-called "Freedom Packages" to soldiers in Iraq. The packages, put together by the fundamentalist Christian ministry called Operation Straight Up, contained among other things, Bibles and the apocalyptic computer game "Left Behind: Eternal Forces," in which "soldiers for Christ" hunt down enemies of Christianity. " TruthOut

Even though the Bush administration had trouble getting proper equipment to US troops in Iraq they had no problem organizing the shipment of the Religious Right's computer game Left Behind Eternal Forces to every soldier in Iraq ...until somebody made it public & the US army backed down ...but what is important here is this idea that American Troops are engaged in a Holy War ...as the young soldiers move from a fantasy video game to turn it into a bloody & horrifying reality ...one wonders at what point these soldiers might begin to see their enemy i.e. all Iraqis & Muslims as people as human beings ...it is easier on the troops & the American populace to demonize & dehumanize the citizens of Iraq...

To learn more see Left Behind Eternal Forces Homepage

Short teaser for the Video Gamre Leftr Behind Eternal Forces:



And here is a lengthy Promo for Left Behind Eternal Forces Game be warned this could be dangerous to your psychological or spiritual well-being :



When George W. Bush was first elected as President it was feared that as a Born-Again Evangelical Fundamentalist Christian he would be influenced in his policy making decisions by his religious beliefs whether in the matter of abortion -Roe v Wade or Stem cell research & that the notion of the Separation of Church & State was a myth created by anti-Christian liberals & so these fears were realized as he moved on various initiatives such as funding Faith Based organizations which were & are actively proselytizing within the United States or in Foreign countries such as promoting abstinence only rather than sexual education & the use of condoms to slow-down the Aids epidemic etc. And 9/11 gave him the perfect pretext to engage in a Holy War or Crusade though he at times denies this we are told that he continued to seek advice on a regular basis from various Evangelical leaders of the Religious Right & rarely from those religious leaders of liberal or more mainstream Christian organizations .

The article below shows that active proselytizing has been & is going on within the military & the Pentagon by members of the Religious Right / Evangelical Fundamentalist with a Dominionist slant & their organizations which is being not only tolerated but promoted by members of the military which goes against the American Constitutions principle of the Separation of Church & state . This is a disturbing set of circumstances in which not by act of legislation or by rulings by the US Supreme the separation of Church & State is being contravened . If this continues America's military will be in the hands of & under the influence of a radical form of Christian Evangelical fundamentalism whose goal is to create an American form of theocracy . It also shows that many in the Pentagon believe that the War on Terrorism is a HOLY WAR & a Crusade for Christianity spearheaded by America against Islam & other non-Christians whom they depict as evil uncivilized barbarians -

Pentagon Chaplain Accused of Aiding Proselytizing By Jason Leopold t r u t h o u t | Report Thursday 30 August 2007

On the heels of a scathing report issued by the Defense Department's inspector general that took high-level Pentagon officials to task for allowing an evangelical Christian organization unfettered access to the Department of Defense (DOD) to promote its fundamentalist agenda, comes word the Pentagon's top chaplain opened its doors yet again to another evangelical group whose leader recently spent two days at the facility proselytizing, passing out Christian literature, and "saving souls."

According to documents obtained by the watchdog group the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, and made available to Truthout, David Kistler, President of Hickory, North Carolina-based H.O.P.E. Ministries International, embarked on a "DC Crusade" along with dozens of members of the evangelical organization for two weeks that included two days inside the Pentagon proselytizing and preaching the "gospel" to government employees and "saving souls."

Kistler is a somewhat controversial figure whose sermons contain apocalyptic messages and bizarre prophecies. He believes certain Democratic lawmakers will burn in hell while "good Christians," such as President Bush, will be swept up into the heavens.

The Rapture will soon vacuum up good Christians, including George W. Bush, to Heaven, he said in a past sermon to his congregation. Ted Kennedy, Joe Biden, and Hillary Clinton will not be Raptured up to Heaven. Following The Rapture, the Anti-Christ will appear and children will be "micro-chipped."

A former US Air Force chaplain, who requested anonymity because the chaplain continues to work for the government, said its clear federal laws were broken by having Kistler preach to Pentagon employees.

"The preacher clearly indicates that his purpose was proselytizing," the former chaplain said. "But proselytizing is not a legitimate spiritual need which military chaplains are tasked to meet. Had it been announced that the 'courtyard' was to be reserved for a Christian Evangelical Service - and only for that purpose then such a service - including 'calls to accept Jesus' would be permissible. The denominational perspective of the service would be clearly presented in advance and Pentagon employees could choose to be present at or avoid the service."

The former chaplain added that Kistler's service "was designed to impose itself on Pentagon members who had merely gathered for lunch in the courtyard. That is to say the primary purpose of the courtyard space is for informal social gathering - not religious services. If the Chaplains wish to change the purpose and function of the space they need to inform military members in advance. Setting up an amplified Evangelical service in the midst of a military lunch crowd is an opportunistic approach to 'ministry' and an attempt to proselytize which is not permitted in the U.S. Armed Services."

Mikey Weinstein, the president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, said H.O.P.E Ministries' presence inside the Pentagon in 2005 and in June is a blatant violation of the laws separating church and state.

Weinstein said he and his legal staff are still preparing to file a comprehensive federal lawsuit against the DOD for widespread First Amendment and Bill of Rights violations as well as similar violations of Clause 3, Article VI of the Constitution, which prohibits any "religion test" for any position in the federal government.

Weinstein said the lawsuit has been delayed only because of the "overwhelming, non-stop reports of out-of-control Christian fundamentalism his organization has been receiving" from soldiers who indicated to Weinstein's staff that rampant Christian fundamentalism has plagued the halls of the DOD and soldiers on the battlefield in Iraq are being forced by their superiors to accept Jesus Christ as their saviors. Weinstein, a former White House attorney under Ronald Reagan, general counsel H. Ross Perot and an Air Force Judge Advocate (JAG), has called for Congressional hearings into the Pentagon's attempts to "Christianize" the military and the DOD.

Earlier this month, In a story first reported by Truthout, an investigation by the Pentagon's inspector general concluded high-ranking Army and Air Force personnel violated long-standing military regulations when they participated in a promotional video for an evangelical Christian organization while in uniform and on active duty.

The report recommended Air Force Maj. Gen. Jack Catton, Army Brig. Gen. Bob Caslen, Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks, Maj. Gen. Peter Sutton, and a colonel and lieutenant colonel ..."improperly endorsed and participated with a non-Federal entity while in uniform" and the men should be disciplined for misconduct. Caslen was formerly the deputy director for political-military affairs for the war on terrorism, directorate for strategic plans and policy, joint staff. He now oversees the 4,200 cadets at the US Military Academy at West Point. Caslen told DOD investigators he agreed to appear in the video upon learning other senior Pentagon officials had been interviewed for the promotional video.

" The Army generals who appeared in the video appeared to be speaking on behalf of the military...,( but they in fact were not & so were deceiving the audience )
and so the report ... recommended the taking of "appropriate corrective action with respect to the military officers concerned."

was also highly critical of Pentagon Chaplain Col. Ralph G. Benson, (who knowingly misled ) the DOD when he requested permission ... to film a video inside the Pentagon (which he used)...
to "attract new supporters" to the Christian Embassy, an evangelical organization that evangelizes members of the military and politicians in Washington, DC via daily Bible studies and outreach events.

Take care,
GORD.