Monday, April 30, 2007

Just a reminder about the New World Order


Paltalk Haters Beware


There are some really messed up people hanging out in the political rooms on Paltalk. I doubt if this video would work with some of them.They are so crude when they throw their insults at you. Anyway it might be worth a try. Just don't be like "Those People", hehehehehe.

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Karl Rove Fights With The Microsoft Paper Clippy Guy


Its About Time

U.S. memorializes massacre of Native Americans - CNN.com

SAND CREEK MASSACRE NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE, Colorado (AP) -- More than 142 years after a band of state militia volunteers massacred 150 sleeping Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians in a misdirected act of vengeance, a memorial to the tragic event was officially dedicated Saturday.

The Sand Creek Massacre National Historic site, 160 miles southeast of Denver on Big Sandy Creek in Kiowa County, pays tribute to those killed in the November 29, 1864, attack.

Seeking revenge for the killings of several settlers by Indians, 700 militia members slaughtered nearly everyone in the village. Most were women or children.

Descendants of some of the victims were among several hundred people at Saturday's dedication on the rolling hills of the southeastern Colorado plains. A mock village of a dozen tepees was set up in a grove of cottonwood trees along the creek that historians believe marks the site of the killings.

Thanks to Spirit for the Link

Saturday, April 28, 2007

WTF or STFU?


Warning - Violent War Video - may cause nightmares

Saturday Cat Blogging

Happy Kitty!

Political Cartoon of the Week


Saturday Night with Joni



Joni Mitchell - The Magdalene Laundries

Friday, April 27, 2007

Bill and Friend Attack Bill Moyers Special

Bring Them Home

Doing the presidential dance

Tony Norman is one of my Favorite Columnists - wolf

By Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Two days ago, President Bush got jiggy with an African dance and drum troupe at the White House. Because it was Malaria Awareness Day, the KanKouran West African Dance Company was on hand for observances in the Rose Garden.

Now, it's no secret that whenever Africans are invited to the White House, they're expected to do some drumming during their photo-op.

Dictators are exempt because they usually have weapons purchases and limousines on their minds. All other African dignitaries and expatriates -- except Nelson Mandela -- are expected to get with the program.

The U.S.-based West African dance troupe was understandably proud of their role in raising awareness about the scourge of malaria in Africa. The mosquito-borne disease is the leading cause of death for all Africans under 5.

The Bush White House is leading a campaign aimed at the private sector to raise $1.5 billion to reduce malaria deaths by half in the coming years.

This is a laudable effort that redounds to Mr. Bush's everlasting credit. What happened in the White House Rose Garden after the noble speeches about ending malaria did not.

The West African dance troupe got its first hint that they were about to become party to a potentially embarrassing international incident when Mr. Bush began bobbing his head like a chicken.

The mischievous gleam in his eyes revealed his nefarious intentions: Mr. Bush was going to get funky regardless of international ramifications.

In the footage of the Rose Garden ceremony I've been able to dig up, the Senegalese dance troupe does everything possible to discourage Mr. Bush from "getting on the good foot" at their expense.

Unfailingly polite, the dancers smiled and beat the drums faster, hoping it would discourage the Leader of the Free World from actually doing anything more annoying than clapping off the beat. Alas, Mr. Bush would not be denied the pleasure of the dance.

Puckering his lips, Mr. Bush inhaled sharply, sending much needed oxygen to his brain for the task at hand.

Slowly exhaling, the president eased into the foreground with herky-jerky movements as if preparing to do the Limbo.

The Senegalese performers responded with the briefest of eye contact before switching to the most difficult time signatures they could manage without freaking out the Secret Service.

Our polyrhythmically perverse president refused to be intimidated, adapting comfortably to step patterns that typically cause white folks' feet to burst into flames.

Though the increasingly desperate drummers resorted to constantly shifting rhythmic patterns to shake him, Mr. Bush held on, smiling and bobbing his head like an idiot savant.

Glancing at Laura Bush, who was just beginning to sway her hips in that oh, so imperceptible way she made famous salsa dancing with Condi Rice in Brazil, the president made his boldest move yet -- he reached over and began pounding on the nearest set of drums.

At that point, the KanKouran West African Dance Company should have brought everything to a screeching halt -- but they didn't.

Who would have blamed them if, through big smiles and deferential head shakes, they had thanked the president while gently demurring from making him an honorary member of the troupe.

"This must stop, Mr. President," they should have said. "We appreciate all of the hundreds of millions of dollars you're giving to the fight against malaria, but we simply can't allow you to engage in another minute of reckless cultural appropriation. We have our pride.

"Dance and drumming is serious business where we're from, but you're approaching it like a drunken frat boy. We must insist that you have more respect for our cultural heritage. With all due respect, throwing your arms in the air like Frankenstein's monster is not dancing.

"We saw Karl 'MC' Rove urban dancing at the Radio and Television Correspondents Association dinner last month and, frankly, it disturbed us. Mr. Rove looked like he was auditioning for a minstrel show. You and your henchman have gotten too comfortable shaking your butts at what you don't understand. If America wants a funky-fresh president, they can vote for Barack Obama."

But, of course, this didn't happen two days ago. Instead, Mr. Bush's Great White Father act drew polite applause. Meanwhile, the dance troupe smiled gamely through it all. That's what's expected when the president invites you to the Rose Garden.

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Find Habeas Corpus

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

As the Stock Market Booms, More Folks Are Poor

McClatchy Washington Bureau | 02/22/2007 | U.S. economy leaving record numbers in severe poverty

Quotes From the Article - Please click link for the whole Story

The share of poor Americans in deep poverty has climbed slowly but steadily over the last three decades. But since 2000, the number of severely poor has grown "more than any other segment of the population," according to a recent study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

The plight of the severely poor is a distressing sidebar to an unusual economic expansion. Worker productivity has increased dramatically since the brief recession of 2001, but wages and job growth have lagged behind. At the same time, the share of national income going to corporate profits has dwarfed the amount going to wages and salaries. That helps explain why the median household income of working-age families, adjusted for inflation, has fallen for five straight years

The percentage of poor Americans who are living in severe poverty has reached a 32-year high, millions of working Americans are falling closer to the poverty line and the gulf between the nation's "haves" and "have-nots" continues to widen.

Tell me another one Laura

From America Blog and the Today Show

Laura Bush wants you to know that when it comes to Iraq, no one is suffering more than the First Couple. No one.

Listen, you Americans, Laura Bush wants you to know the President is suffering over Iraq. In fact, Laura told Anne Curry on the Today Show, that the American people need to know that "no one suffers more than their President and I do." No one? She's as delusional as her husband. Of course, her husband is the person who caused the suffering -- and is the one person who can end it.

I would wager that there are 3,300 families in America that are suffering more than George Bush. And, there are tens of thousands of injured soldiers who are literally suffering.

Suffering, my ass:

America Blog - You forgot to mention the Millions of Afghanis and Iraqis that are suffering every day.

How the media helped send us to war.

Think Progress » How the media helped send us to war.

Bill Moyers’ new documentary, Buying the War, airs tonight on PBS at 9pm. The Washington Post’s Tom Shales calls it “one of the most gripping and important pieces of broadcast journalism so far this year, but it’s as disheartening as it is compelling.”

Watch a preview:

Sorry we missed you

Why Doesn't Bill Talk about Richard Mellon Scaife?

Bill O'Reilly is at it again. Bill just loves to attack George Soros and Media Matters . You never hear anyone on the Right say a word about Richard Mellon Scaife. When I moved to Pittsburgh in 1968 I became very aware of the Mellons and the Scaifes. The Mellons have a long history of oil in the middle east. Read the three part series featured in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette about the Mellons and their Middle East Oil Connection. So who Richard Mellon Scaife? Very simply put, he is the man with the money behind the Ultra Conservative Movement. Mr. Money Bags funds -

He also owns The Pittsburgh Tribune Review. Remember what happened during the last election when Mrs. Teresa Heinz Kerry took a swipe at a Trib Review reporter? Reason being that his boss has always given the Heinz family a hard time, starting when John Heinz was a Liberal Republican Senator from PA.

He managed to fund Richard Nixons run for a second term to the tune of $990,000.
He was the man that funded the Arkansas Project
He was the man with the money behind the impeachment of Bill Clinton

Please all you right wingnuts that always whine about Soros and his money funding Liberal Causes, many that you claim just aren't true, research your own man, Richard Mellon Scaife.

Road of Good Intentions - John Gorka


Tuesday, April 24, 2007

MindFreedom Update

Stop Media Bias on Coverage of Virginia Tech & Mental Health Issues!

Many national media are running one-sided shows calling for more forced psychiatric drugging, more psychiatric institutions, and easier commitment laws. This is a wrong and too-simplistic reply to the Virginia Tech tragedies.

MindFreedom asks media to cover *both* sides of the story! On the forced drugging issues, let's especially hear from people on the "sharp end of the needle"!

MFI has created an online Info Center with updates about mental health issues arising from the Virginia Tech tragedy, such as:

National Public Radio will air psychiatric survivor perspective!

On Tuesday, 24 April 2007 at 2 pm ET, MindFreedom director David Oaks will discuss his own experiences with forced psychiatric drugging on the National Public Radio live radio national show "Talk of the Nation." After David's and other's personal stories, there will be an open call-in show where you can comment. For info on the show see http://www.npr.org and use the pull-down menu.

For MFI Info Center on Virginia Tech see:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/kb/youth-mental-health/virginia-tech

Special Show: Live Internet Radio Call-In About Virginia Tech Tragedy & Mental Health Issues

As well as the Tuesday NPR national radio show, you may listen LIVE and call in to MindFreedom's own Internet radio show, this Wednesday, 25 April, 4 pm ET.

Host David Oaks will have latest updates about mental health human rights issues emerging from Virginia Tech. You may phone in your questions and comments live from anywhere in the world (toll free in the USA). Or e-mail in your questions at any time to radio@mindfreedom.org and your comments and questions may be read on the air.

Listen free to LIVE MindFreedom radio on Wednesdays at 4 pm ET by clicking on http://www.prncomm.net

And this update on Shock Treatment
(I AM A SHOCK SURVIVOR - WOLF)

Several news developments on the campaign for electroshock and human rights:

* Bapu Trust in Pune, India -- a sponsor group of MindFreedom -- attends an industry promotion of electroshock. Read their insightful news analysis about the push for more electroshock in India and other poor and developing countries.

* Receiving hundreds of forced electroshocks for years against the expressed wishes of the subject is becoming the "norm" for some mental health clients in New York State psychiatric institutions, says attorney Dennis Feld. Read this news release by Mr. Feld announcing he will be arguing for the right of his client -- Simone D. -- to resist more forced electroshock in a New York State High Court.

* Toronto is holding an anti-electroshock protest on Mother's Day, Sunday, May 13, 2007, in front of Queen’s Park, Toronto, Canada at 2 pm. The focus is the way abusive psychiatrists are giving electroshock to older women. Download their poster.

* The campaign continues to fire a psychiatrist in New Zealand who not only gave forced electroshock... but then filed an ethics complaint against the New Zealand TV station who aired the victim's story!

All this electroshock campaign news and more at:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/kb/mental-health-abuse/electroshock/

Monday, April 23, 2007

Wiccan symbol OK for soldiers' graves

Its about time!!!!!!

MADISON, Wisconsin (AP) -- The Wiccan pentacle has been added to the list of emblems allowed in national cemeteries and on government-issued headstones of fallen soldiers, according to a settlement announced Monday.

A settlement between the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Wiccans adds the five-pointed star to the list of "emblems of belief" allowed on VA grave markers.

Eleven families nationwide are waiting for grave markers with the pentacle, said Selena Fox, a Wiccan high priestess with Circle Sanctuary in Barneveld, Wisconsin, a plaintiff in the lawsuit.

The settlement calls for the pentacle, whose five points represent earth, air, fire, water and spirit, to be placed on grave markers within 14 days for those who have pending requests with the VA.

"I am glad this has ended in success in time to get markers for Memorial Day," Fox said.

The VA sought the settlement in the interest of the families involved and to save taxpayers the expense of further litigation, VA spokesman Matt Burns said. The agency also agreed to pay $225,000 in attorneys' fees and costs.

The pentacle has been added to 38 symbols the VA already permits on gravestones. They include commonly recognized symbols for Christianity, Buddhism, Islam and Judaism, as well as those for smaller religions such as Sufism Reoriented, Eckiankar and the Japanese faith Seicho-No-Ie.

"This settlement has forced the Bush Administration into acknowledging that there are no second class religions in America, including among our nation's veterans," said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which represented the Wiccans in the lawsuit.

The American Civil Liberties Union said the agreement also settles a similar lawsuit it filed last year against the VA. In that case, the ACLU represented two other Wiccan churches and three individuals.

VA-issued headstones, markers and plaques can be used in any cemetery, whether it is a national one such as Arlington or a private burial ground like that on Circle Sanctuary's property.

Wicca is a nature-based religion based on respect for the earth, nature and the cycle of the seasons. Variations of the pentacle not accepted by Wiccans have been used in horror movies as a sign of the devil.

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Don't Mess with Our Chocolate

I LOVE CHOCOLATE!
However, sigh!

The U.S. Chocolate Industry, through its Chocolate Manufacturers of America (CMA), and in collaboration with the Grocery Manufacturers Association, have petitioned the Food and Drug Association (FDA) to change the current requirements for chocolate.

If the U.S. Chocolate Industry have their way, it will negatively change the quality of chocolate you love. Their plan is to change the basic formula of chocolate in order to use vegetable fat substitutes in place of cocoa butter, and to use milk substitutes in the place of nutritionally superior milk. These changes will have adverse effects on the eating, physical and nutritional quality of chocolate, and beg the question: What consumer benefit is associated with implementing these changes? The answer is none.

To date, the FDA has only heard from the chocolate industry. But, the FDA absolutely must hear from those consumers who love the current gold standard of chocolate so that the FDA can have a more balanced viewpoint. If the Chocolate Manufacturer's Association succeeds with their agenda, the consumer will inherit what is most lucrative for them to produce rather than the high quality product we all currently enjoy and desire.

Please communicate your dissatisfaction regarding the cheapening the quality of real chocolate to the FDA by going to "How to Help" on the Don't Mess with Our Chocolate site. Your opinion is important and needs to be heard along with the collective outrage from other consumers. We hope this effort will have a favorable impact on the FDAs decision-making process and will cause it to reject the industry's proposal.

A message from the Six Nations to the UN and the world

I received this Message from the AREN e-mail list some time ago.

Doreen Silversmith of Six Nations delivered this to the United Nations
Permanent Forum on Indigenous People on Monday, May 1st 2006.

Message from the Onkwehonweh to the United Nations

Friends

I come to you today with a message. A message of Peace from the
Onkwehonweh, Original People Of The Land. This is not a new
message, it is Ancient, as are the Onkwehonweh. It is the Message
and Law of the Universe, Earth included. We call this Message and
Law, Kaianereh'kowa, State Of Peace. All People must live under
this law or pay the price, and that price is War, although the
Onkwehonweh choose Peace. At times Peace has existed upon the
Earth, today unfortunately, Peace is rare. Peace exists in the Hearts
and Minds of what would seem few, but we know, to be the
overwhelming, People of the Earth.

The message of peace, though, has been drowned out, by
corporations and their leaders of the World. Today, all across the
Earth, Nations are engaging in War, under another message, Greed
For Power. When people representing the Kings and Queens of
European corporations, came to this land, we offered peace, believing
them to be Nations. Had we known, they were not real or their real
intent, things may have been different, but they lied. Better yet,
they consistently lied, to every Aboriginal Nation they encountered.
These Kings and Queens, under instructions and de facto Authority from
their Popes and HOLY ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, said "Holy See",
committed Atrocities and Genocide to every Aboriginal People, at
every corner of the Earth. Our heartaches are felt worldwide.

It is with a heavy heart that this message is being brought to your
attention. For many years we have hoped to have had the opportunity
to address the concerns of our people at your forum, to gain your
support, understanding and respect; for the Oldest and Supreme Law
of the Universe, the Kaianereh'ko:wa, State Of Peace. Our People of
the Original Nations are the keepers and protectors of the Law.
Unfortunately, it is as it always is all over the world; only when
there is a crisis, do we take the time to listen, to care and understand.
The Onkwehonweh, are indeed, in a serious and volatile situation brought
on by the irresponsible and genocidal practices of the corporation
you call CANADA.

On April 20, 2006, ONTARIO PROVINCIAL POLICE (OPP), a paramilitary
weapon of CANADA, attempted to force the Onkwehonweh from our
Land, by Force of Arms. The OPP, underestimated our resolve, to
peacefully maintain hold of our Land.

The attack by the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) in what they say,
was in accordance with a provincial court injunction, which, resulted in 16
people being taken hostage, two of them requiring hospital treatment.
Women were beaten, an elder man thrown to the ground, for just
walking toward them trying to peacefully talk to them. Some of our
people were pepper-sprayed and even shot with taser guns, all the
while peacefully asserting our Authority and upholding our Law.

This parcel of land that has been the focal point where our people
have gathered, are Land to which the Women, as titleholders to the
land, according to our Kaianereh'ko:wa, have been protecting. The
men, in accordance with the Kaianereh'ko:wa, are supporting and
protecting the Women. This same Land has been tied up in Canada's
land claim process for over 20 years, brought on by the elective
band council, an arm of the federal government. This legislated
system, was created by the Indian Act of 1876 and was forced upon
us at gunpoint in 1924 by the RCMP and repeated again in 1959.
It is not a lawful government, nor is it a system which the traditional
people can support or have a voice in. This is the same Land which
Henco Industries has been allowed to clear, build roads and begin
the construction of several homes regardless of the continued and
historical position of the Onkwehonweh.

After the Treaty of Granada, 1492, the HOLY ROMAN CATHOLIC
CHURCH, knowingly brought their Crusade to this Land. Britain soon
took the charge on the Pope's crusade. Under British Monarch's
charter to EAST INDIA COMPANY, the corporations of ENGLAND,
FRANCE, SCOTLAND, NETHERLANDS, DENMARK and PORTUGAL,
invaded the World. They established other corporations like UNITED
STATES and CANADA, imitating Nations. The UNITED STATES and
CANADA have now taken a lead role in the Church's Crusade.

Our People, represent and uphold the oldest Law of the Universe, the
Kaianereh'ko:wa, the Supreme Law of the Land. It is the basis by
which the constitution acts of the corporations of the Crown; being
the UNITED STATES and CANADA, were built from. Our laws were
written in stone, never to be abrogated, and according to the late Pope
John Paul II when referring to Canada's laws…. " it's not the law,
it's only paper ". The basic principals outlined in the Kaianereh'ko:wa are
that of Peace, Power & Righteousness based on Ganohkwashra…Love
all around us. We continue to uphold those principles to this day,
despite Crown actions to undermine and usurp our authority over our
Law.

Today, many Onkwehonweh are corralled on parcels of land the UNITED
STATES and CANADA called Reservations; the rest of the world calls
them Concentration Camps. The Onkwehonweh, Original People Of The
Land, being Aboriginal People of the Earth are the true Original
Nations.

We are all from one Creation, under the one Supreme Law of the
Universe, Kaianereh'ko:wa. Title to the Land rests in our women for the
generations yet to come.

We also maintain that the relationship with Crown is based on the
principles outlined in the Two Row Wampum. We would travel together,
each in our own vessel, on distinct and separate paths; never to
interferer with the Laws of each other. Again, we abide by those principles
outlined in the Two Row Wampum. Canada has clearly portrayed the message that
" might is right ". When a situation of ownership is challenged, their laws
allow them to continue to reap the benefits of our Land, destroy our
environment, and clearly ignore the truth of the Onkwehonweh, the real
people, who hold title to the Land. When challenged to provide the
proof, they resort to guns and army tanks. Canada has violated the Two Row
Wampum Treaty.

In it's continuing policy of Genocide, the corporation of CANADA has
attempted to usurp our title. The Onkwehonweh, in and around so-c
alled Six Nations Reserve, have now, under Kaianereh'ko:wa, State of
Peace, exercised our Title and Right to the Land.

The Onkwehonweh require your assistance, with respect to our Law,
our Treaties, including the Two Row Wampum, and in effect, the
Authority with respect to our Land, Our Law and Our People. We are
the true Sovereign, and we are asking our Friends and Allies to
intervene in this situation. We need support on an international level, to have
someone who has no interest in the outcome, to act as mediator, to
oversee the negotiations and discussions that are taking place
between delegates of the Onkwehonweh and delegates of the Crown.

According to Kaianereh'ko:wa, Authority rests in the Women. When
needed the Rotisken'rake'the, Men Who Carry The Peace, are called
to enforce the Peace. What ever Original Nation we are from our sons
and daughters, attempting to establish the Peace, are dying at the
hands of the crusaders, sanctioned by the HOLY ROMAN CATHOLIC
CHURCH. The church preaches peace, but their warlike actions speak
louder.

By who's Authority do we establish Peace? The Women of the Earth,
hold that Authority of Peace. Peace for this Planet, many call Earth,
can only have its foundation by the Authority, the Women of the Earth.

Nya Weh

Who Said That?

Media, please ask every Republican the following question: Do you think we're winning in Iraq? - AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth

The Republicans are so upset, we're to believe, that Harry Reid said that Bush has lost the Iraq war. Fine. Then they've opened the gates to the question as to whether they think we've won the war, or at least are winning.

Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who helped engineer the U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam, said Sunday the problems in Iraq are more complex than that conflict, and military victory is no longer possible.

Gen. Tony McPeak, who served on the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the first Gulf War: The war in Iraq isn’t over yet, but — surge or no surge — the United States has already lost. That’s the grim consensus of a panel of experts assembled by Rolling Stone to assess the future of Iraq. “Even if we had a million men to go in, it’s too late now,” says retired four-star Gen. Tony McPeak, who served on the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Gulf War. “Humpty Dumpty can’t be put back together again.

Debate Over Who Lost Iraq Already Begun. James Dobbins, a former assistant U.S. secretary of state and special envoy for Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan, directs the International Security and Defense Policy Center at the RAND Corporation: "As Iraqi and American public opinion pushes the United States inexorably toward the exit, a debate over who lost Iraq is already gaining momentum." [The International Herald Tribune, 4/17/07]

Editorial: President Has Lost the War and His Honor. "The president might win this battle, but he already has lost the war in Iraq -- and the one for his honor." [Editorial, Santa Fe New Mexican, 3/24/07]

Military Expert Says View Around the World Is that the U.S. Lost the War. "Military expert Anthony Cordesman concludes that even if the current U.S. troop increase is a success and creates some degree of stability and political unity, the perception of most Iraqis and others in the Middle East and Europe will be that the United States 'lost' the war in Iraq. " [Washington Post, 4/13/07]

Newsweek's Eleanor Clift: "The Iraq war was lost long ago, probably at Abu Ghraib" [The McLaughlin Group, 3/30/07]

Commander of 82nd Airborne Division in Iraq Says U.S. in Danger of Losing in Iraq. "Army Maj. Gen. Charles H. Swannack Jr., the commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, who spent much of the year in western Iraq, said he believes that at the tactical level at which fighting occurs, the U.S. military is still winning. But when asked whether he believes the United States is losing, he said, 'I think strategically, we are.'" [Washington Post, 5/9/04]

Iraq Exhibits Dangerous Parallels to Vietnam, Says Army Strategist. "I lost my brother in Vietnam," added Army Col. Paul Hughes, a veteran Army strategist who is involved in formulating Iraq policy. "I promised myself, when I came on active duty, that I would do everything in my power to prevent that [sort of strategic loss] from happening again. Here I am, 30 years later, thinking we will win every fight and lose the war, because we don't understand the war we're in." [Washington Post, 5/9/04]

Reagan NSA Director See Similarities to Vietnam in Iraq Conflict. General William Odom, who served as President Reagan's head of the National Security Agency, said the Iraqi insurgency parallels Vietnam. "I see a lot of similarities to Vietnam. It seems to me the persons who have the greatest interest in the U.S. being in Iraq are Osama bin Laden, Iranians and other radical movements in the Middle East. We made Iraq now safe for those kinds of movements and they're breeding them rapidly." [NPR "Morning Edition," 4/15/04]



Sarah McLachlan - World On Fire


A Video with a Message
Thanks Crooks and Liars

Next target chosen, Mohawks warn

Mohawk protesters gather around a palette fire in front of a bus that blocks the railway in Deseronto near Belleville, on Friday, April 20, 2007.

Blocking rail line was 'first in a series of economic disruptions,' leader warns

Thanks go to Mitsuk for the Link

Saturday, April 21, 2007

Saturday Cat Blogging

Sniff, It's been a bad week Wolf! 32 dead in Virginia and over 500 dead in Iraq.
When will we ever learn? - Pook

Saturday Night Rock Party


Fleetwood Mac - Sisters Of The Moon

Political Cartoon of the Week

With These Hands I Demand the Future


CIW, McDONALD'S AND McD'S SUPPLIERS REACH AGREEMENT TO IMPROVE FARMWORKER WAGES, WORKING CONDITIONS!.

Rule by Secrecy


Jim Marrs tells about UFOs, ancient history, secret societies and hidden power structures, the secret of Rennes-le-Chateau, the Annunaki and how they are all connected.
I've read the book, watch the video, gets good after the UFO stuff

Not Ready to Make Nice (Kanonhstaton and Caledonia)

Friday, April 20, 2007

Virginia Tech Aftermath: Did Legal Drugs Play a Role in the Massacre? | The Huffington Post

The Blog | Arianna Huffington: Virginia Tech Aftermath: Did Legal Drugs Play a Role in the Massacre? | The Huffington Post

Please go to the link and read the whole story.

Three Questions that need Answers....

1. It's been reported by the New York Times that Cho was on prescription medications. Which ones? Who prescribed them? How long had he been taking them?
2. If the drugs were prescribed when he was admitted to the New River Community Services center near Virginia Tech in December 2005, which doctor kept refilling his prescriptions? And what was the diagnosis?
3. What kind of medical and/or psychological follow-up was there? Or was Cho one of the many people put on antidepressants without a thorough and ongoing monitoring of the results and side effects?

Dr. Peter Breggin

The Real "Mental Health Lessons" from Virginia Tech

Focusing on Virginia Tech mass murderer Cho as a disturbed mental patient has led media analysts to ponder how he could have been more readily identified by the mental health system. But Cho is not someone who slipped beneath the psychiatric radar. Instead, he was frequently detected as a large object on the screen.

On separate occasions, he was involuntarily hospitalized, sent for psychological evaluation, and referred to the university counseling center. Consistent with getting him more psychiatric "help," experts have also opined on how he might have benefited from medication. These are all the wrong lessons.

The mental health system was fully alert to Cho's existence and to serious manifestations of dangerous behavior. A faculty member of the English department was so frightened by Cho's behavior that she insisted on having him pulled him out of class. The police and the counseling center were notified and ultimately Cho was given individual tutoring, instead of quick removal from the campus. Also, a number of students called the campus police, probably at least twice in regard to his stalking behavior. Furthermore, he had previously been involuntarily hospitalized in Virginia as a danger to himself and others.

The answer to vengeful, violent people is not more mental health screening or more potent mental health interventions. Reliance on the whole range of this system from counseling to involuntary treatment failed. There is not a shred of scientific evidence that locking people up against their will or otherwise "treating" them reduces violence. As we'll see, quite the opposite is true.

So what was needed? Police intervention. Almost certainly, the police were hampered in taking appropriate actions by being encouraged to view Cho as a potential psychiatric patient rather than as a perpetrator. It's not politically correct to bring criminal charges against someone who is "mentally ill" and it's not politically correct to prosecute him or to remove him from the campus. Yet that's what was needed to protect the students. Two known episodes of stalking, setting a fire, and his threatening behavior in class should have been more than enough for the university administration to bring charges against him and to send him off campus.

Police need to be encouraged and empowered to treat potentially dangerous people more as criminals than as patients. In particular, men stalking women should be handled as definitively as any perpetrator of hate crimes. Regardless of whether the victims want to press charges, the police should. Cho shouldn't have been allowed to get away with it a second time.

How would a police action have affected Cho? Would it have humiliated him and made him more violent? There's no way to have certainty about this, but anyone with experience dealing with threatening people knows that a good dose of "reality," a confrontation with the law, is much more of a wake up call and a deterrent than therapeutic coddling. Furthermore, involuntary psychiatric treatment is one of the more humiliating experiences in American society, and tends to make people more angry, not less.

Mental health interventions do not protect society because the person is almost always quickly discharged because his insurance coverage has run out or because mental health professionals, who as a group have no particular capacity to make such determinations, will decide that the patient is no longer a danger to himself or others. Indeed, in December 2005, when the university obtained a temporary detention order against Cho, a magistrate referred him for a mental health evaluation that found "his insight and judgment are normal." Need I say more about the hazards of relying on mental health screening and evaluation to identify dangerous perpetrators--even after they have already been threatening people?

Psychiatry's last resort for presumably violent people is involuntary hospitalization. Not only does it almost always lead to rapid release, it does not help the involuntary patient. Coerced treatment is not perceived or experienced as "helpful" by the recipient but as unjust bullying. If coercion accomplishes anything, it teaches the "patient" to stay far away from all providers of mental health services.

And what about drugs for the treatment of violence? The FDA has not approved any medications for the control of violence because there are no such medications. Yes, it is possible to temporarily immobilize mind and body alike with a shot of an "antipsychotic" drug like Haldol; but that only works as long as the person is virtually paralyzed and confined--and forced drugging invariably breeds more resentment.

Instead of offering the promise of reducing violence, all psychiatric drugs carry the potential risk of driving the individual into violent madness. For example, both the newer antidepressants such as Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft and Celexa, and the antipsychotic drugs such as Risperdal and Zyprexa, cause a disorder caused akathisia--a terrible inner sensation of agitation accompanied by a compulsion to move about. Akathisia is known to drive people to suicide and to aggression. Indeed, these tragic outcomes of drug-induced akathisia are so well documented that they are described in the most establishment psychiatric book of all, the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).

For the past fifteen years or more, I've been writing about the capacity of psychiatric drugs to cause mayhem, murder and suicide. In early 2005 the FDA finally issued a warning that antidepressants cause both suicidality and violence. For example, the FDA's new mandated warning label for antidepressants states that these drugs produce "anxiety, agitation, panic attacks, insomnia, irritability, hostility, aggressiveness, impulsivity, akathisia (psychomotor restlessness), hypomania, and mania."

Note the reference to "irritability, hostility, aggressiveness, impulsivity" in the label or package insert for antidepressants. That's a formula for violence. Note the mention of akathisia, another source of both violence and suicide. And finally, note the reference to mania, yet another drug-induced syndrome associated with violence and suicide.

As a psychiatrist and medical expert, I have personally evaluated dozens of cases of individuals driven to violence by psychiatric drugs of every type, but most commonly the newer antidepressants. One of the cases I evaluated, the Columbine shooter Eric Harris, looks the most like Cho. Both were very emotionally disturbed in an extremely violent fashion for a prolonged period of time. For the entire year that Eric Harris was evolving his manic-like violence, he was taking Luvox, a drug known to cause mania at a high rate in young people

In my book Reclaiming Our Children, I analyzed the clinical and scientific reasons for believing that Eric Harris's violence was caused by prescribed Luvox and I've also testified to the same under oath in deposition in a case related to Columbine. In my book the Antidepressant Fact Book, I also warned that stopping antidepressants can be as dangerous as starting them, since they can cause very disturbing and painful withdrawal reactions.

We have not been informed whether or not Cho was taking psychiatric drugs at the time he unleashed his violence; but even if he wasn't, he might have been tipped over into violent madness weeks or months earlier by a drug like Prozac, Paxil, or Zoloft. He could also have been undergoing severe drug withdrawal. Investigators should set a high priority on obtaining and publishing Cho's psychiatric drug history.

To focus on Cho as a "mental patient" or "schizophrenic" distracts from the real need to enforce security on college campuses, or in any setting, by reacting definitively to lesser acts of violence before they escalate. It also maligns people with serious mental problems, the vast majority who are, above else, inoffensive and overly docile.

The violence unleashed on the Virginia Tech campus should not lead to calls for more mental health screening, more mental health interventions, or more drugs. Instead, the violent rampage should confirm that psychiatric interventions don't prevent violence and instead they can cause it. Early on, Cho should have been confronted by the police and by university administrators with the reality that his behavior was unacceptable and he should have been suspended. In other words, he should have been treated as a criminal who was stalking women, and as an obviously threatening individual, not as a potential mental patient. These measures might have confronted him with sufficient reality to nip his violence in the bud and more certainly would have removed him from the circumstances that the he found intolerably stimulating, while also removing him from so many targets of opportunity.

My scientific papers describing medication-induced violence and some of my cases can be found on www.breggin.com/

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Things that make you say what the F%^K?

From America Blog

Why does the Bush administration have a list of everyone who has ever used anti-depressants?

Guess what? They do. From ABC News, regarding the VA Tech shooter:

Some news accounts have suggested that Cho had a history of antidepressant use, but senior federal officials tell ABC News that they can find no record of such medication in the government's files. This does not completely rule out prescription drug use, including samples from a physician, drugs obtained through illegal Internet sources, or a gap in the federal database, but the sources say theirs is a reasonably complete search.
We don't even have a list of gun owners, and we have a list of everyone who has been prescribed anti-depressants? And in fact, the article suggests that this isn't just a database of patients who use anti-depressants, it's a federal database of every prescription drug you've ever bought.

What exactly do the Bushies do with that list? And what other lists do they have of which medications you've ever taken?

What an Idiot

‘Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran.’

I thought only Jim Quinn used this Sound bite on his right wing radio talk show. I never expected to hear it coming from a Presidential candidate.

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) in South Carolina: “Another man — wondering if an attack on Iran is in the works — wanted to know when America is going to ’send an air mail message to Tehran.’ McCain began his answer by changing the words to a popular Beach Boys song. ‘Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran,’ he sang to the tune of Barbara Ann. … He stopped short of answering the actual question.”

And then this stupid statement from one of his spokespeople.

“McCain campaign spokesman Kevin McLaughlin points out that the Senator’s song was not serious and the people in the room were laughing. ‘He was just trying to add a little humor to the event.’”

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

MADMAN?????????????

MADMAN is how Fox News.com is now describing the shooter. I wonder if they even read what it says in their own story...

According to court papers, on Dec. 13, 2005, a magistrate ordered Cho to undergo an evaluation at Carilion St. Albans Hospital. The magistrate signed the order because of evidence Cho was a danger to himself or others as a result of mental illness. The next day, according to court records, a special justice approved outpatient treatment for Cho.

A medical examination conducted Dec. 14 found that Cho's "affect is flat. ... He denies suicidal ideations. He does not acknowledge symptoms of a thought disorder. His insight and judgment are normal."

It is unclear how long Cho stayed at Carilion, though court papers indicate he was free to leave as of Dec. 14. Virginia Tech spokesman Larry Hincker said Cho had been continually enrolled at Tech and never took a leave of absence.

--
My friends at Mindfreedom.org sent this out in a e-mail today

MindFreedom Statement on Virginia Tech Massacre

MindFreedom is calling for an immediate and complete investigation of all aspects of the involvement of the mental health system with Cho Seung-Hui, the apparent shooter in the Virginia Tech Massacre.

What psychiatric drugs were prescribed? What role if any did
prescribed psychiatric drugs play in this tragedy? How effective was
the care offered to Cho Seung-Hui? What else could have been done?
---
I have a problem with the shooter being called a madman. I have dealt with mental illness for greater part of my life from both the patient and professional side. I had to deal with the stigma of mental illness for many years. People seem to believe that people suffering from these illness are violent and that is just not true. In fact 99% of folks that deal with mental illness every day in their lives are not violent. In most cases they are the ones that are being abused in hospitals and MH programs every day. A possibility that if Cho was on Psychotropic drugs or withdrawing from them, they might have cause him to kill. There have been many studies done about some of these newer drugs and the FDA has issued warning to this fact. That is what Mindfreedoms statement is alluding to.
---
More info on MindFreedom...

MindFreedom is a nonprofit human rights group that unites 100 sponsor
and affiliate groups with individual members, and is accredited by
the United Nations as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) with
Consultative Roster Status.

MindFreedom is one of the very few totally independent groups in the
mental health field with no funding from governments, drug companies,
religions, corporations, or the mental health system. While most of
MindFreedom's members are psychiatric survivors, *all* who support
human rights are invited to join and become active leaders.

ITS TIME FOR TEARS NOT HATE

Librescu, an Israeli engineering and math lecturer who survived the Nazi killings and later escaped from Communist Romania, was one of several foreign victims of Monday's shootings, which coincided with Israel's Holocaust remembrance day.

Librescu, who was 76 when he died, found work in Romania at a government aerospace company. But his career was stymied in the 1970s because he refused to swear allegiance to the Communist regime, his son said.

"My father blocked the doorway with his body and asked the students to flee," Librescu's son, Joe Librescu, said Tuesday in a telephone interview from his home outside Tel Aviv. "Students started opening windows and jumping out."

I write these words in anger. I do not want to offend anyone except the person who belittled a hero last night because he was a Jew. Liviu Librescu was a holocaust survivor, is that a crime? I heard the person say "What is the big deal?" "Why are they talking to Rabbis in Israel about him?" I'll be honest with you, my readers; I just can't understand the hate. Last night and this morning as I watch the news I see the stories of other heroes and the victims. No one is holding Professor Librescu above the others in what he did while he lived or what he did as he died. Yes, there were many heroes that day. One happened to be a Jew that survived the Nazis. I ask again, is that a crime?

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Monday, April 16, 2007

NO QUARTER: Now Do You Understand?

NO QUARTER: Now Do You Understand?

by Larry C Johnson

Breaking news! At least 22 Virginia Tech students gunned down. Cable news channels are wild with activity as they pump up the coverage a focus on the latest "crisis". The media is commenting that this shooting is overwhelming the local medical facilities. Crisis is in the air. Well, at least it ain't Iraq.

Okay. Big deep breath. This is horrible and this is tragic and this gives us an idea of what it is like to live just one day in Iraq. Consider the following:
---
He then goes on to list the 65 deaths in Iraq in one day - wolf
---
Let's total the score: at least 65 Iraqis dead in four attacks vs. 22 Americans shot at Virginia Tech. Whoops, forgot the 20 kidnapped policemen. Can you imagine?

The next time you hear Dick Cheney or George Bush blame the public attitude regarding Iraq on the media's failure to report "good news", examine carefully our reaction to the shooting at Viginia Tech. Look at our collective shock. Our horrified reaction. The public sorrow. Yet, in truth, this is an exceptional, unusual day in America. It is not our common experience. But we cannot say the same about Iraq.

The people of Iraq are living in a Marquis de Sade version of Groundhog Day. It is like the Bill Murray movie--the same horrible day repeated with some new, bizarre twists--only not funny. Multiple body counts and explosions and shootings are the daily experience of the people of Iraq. They have been living this hell for four years. Just keep that fact in mind as you mourn the deaths of 22 American students slain in Blacksburg, Viginia.

Drudge falsely claimed Soros funds Media Matters

Media Matters - Drudge falsely claimed Soros funds Media Matters

Internet gossip Matt Drudge has claimed that Media Matters for America is a "Soros operation."

In fact, Media Matters has never received funding from progressive philanthropist George Soros.


Will someone please show BruteLogic this link. When I am debunking some of the Neo-cons on Paltalk I will often use a website like Media Matters. Neo-cons like Brute often use Drudge or Fox News. Brute probably had what Drudge said about Media Matters in his notes. LOL, Yes Brute uses notes. Maybe because he can't think on his feet.

Katie Katie Katie

Media Matters - Couric's "Notebook" rehashed debunked Obama rumors

In the April 12 edition of her "Notebook" video blog, CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric asked, "Is America ready to elect a president who grew up praying in a mosque?" and proceeded to repeat debunked rumors surrounding Sen. Barack Obama's (D-IL) childhood years in Indonesia.

The Flag

There are people who love to wave the flag in my face. Calling me names Like Terrorist, Un -American, Muslim Lover, Communist. They attack me, calling me a drunk, a druggie, a fagot , a SOB and Mother Fucker. Why? Just because I disagree with them about this war and this administration? Because I can see through Bushs Lies? Because I believe in the 1st amendment and freedom of speech? Because I don't worship their God?
Sometimes people don't hear the words of a song so I thought I'd post the lyrics to this one.
Dedicated to Jim Quinn and Rose from The Warroom radio show.

Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore
© John Prine

While digesting Reader's Digest
In the back of a dirty book store,
A plastic flag, with gum on the back,
Fell out on the floor.
Well, I picked it up and I ran outside
Slapped it on my window shield,
And if I could see old Betsy Ross
I'd tell her how good I feel.

Chorus:
But your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more.
They're already overcrowded
From your dirty little war.
Now Jesus don't like killin'
No matter what the reason's for,
And your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more.

Well, I went to the bank this morning
And the cashier he said to me,
"If you join the Christmas club
We'll give you ten of them flags for free."
Well, I didn't mess around a bit
I took him up on what he said.
And I stuck them stickers all over my car
And one on my wife's forehead.

Repeat Chorus:

Well, I got my window shield so filled
With flags I couldn't see.
So, I ran the car upside a curb
And right into a tree.
By the time they got a doctor down
I was already dead.
And I'll never understand why the man
Standing in the Pearly Gates said...

"But your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more.
We're already overcrowded
From your dirty little war.
Now Jesus don't like killin'
No matter what the reason's for,
And your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more."

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Saturday Nite Rock Party


Dire Straits - Romeo and Juliet
IMHO this has to be one of the best rock songs ever.

Saturday Kitten and Cat Blogging


Pook took the weekend off (Cat Napping again)
Thought Yunz might like these that I found on the web.

Political Cartoon of the Week

It was hard to choose this week but this one won out over the many Imus cartoons

42

Jackie Robinson Stealing Home against Yogi, 1955 World Series

I have mentioned that I am a Yankee fan in a few of the earlier of the posts on the blog. Growing up in New York City had it's advantages if you were a baseball fan in the 50's. I'm not just talking about those great Yankee Teams. It was because of my Mom who was a Brooklyn Dodger fan and Dad (when he was around) was a New York Giant Fan that I got to see all three of these great teams play.

This is the 60th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking Major League Baseballs Color barrier. I have always admired Mr. Robinson, not only for what he did but the way he did it. If you watch the movie "Soul of the Game" you'll get an insight on why Branch Rickey chose Jackie rather than Josh Gibson or Satchel Paige to be the one. One of the major reasons is told in another movie "The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson" when Jackie refused to sit in the back of a military bus when he was a second lieutenant during World War Two.

I could go on and on about how hard it was for Jackie because of the racism that he faced during almost every game he played back then as well as what he had to deal with off the field but I'll let you look up that bit of history if your interested. When I came to Pittsburgh I learned a great deal about the Negro League where Jackie came from. Two great teams played here, The Homestead Grays and The Pittsburgh Crawfords. Jackie never played for those teams, Josh Gibson did.

I wonder if it will take another sixty years before racism like Jackie faced will become a distant memory.

Friday, April 13, 2007

I'm Gonna Say It Now

For Brian Williams
Oh I am just a Blogger sir, and only want to Post
But it's hard to write through the risin' smoke from the spin
that you like to burn
So I'd like to make a promise and I'd like to a vow
That when I've got something to say, sir, I'm gonna say it now

Verse rewritten from a Phil Ochs song, I am Going To Say It Now.

There have been many attacks on bloggers by main stream media types like Brian Williams. I haven't really paid much attention to those spin doctors since Uncle Walter retired. I'm talking bout Network News Shows here, Not the cable networks. These spin doctors work for large corporations like GE and Disney that own their asses. One bad screw up like Imus and their gone. Sure, some of them have worked their way up the ladder from one of those local city news shows and they can be admired for that. It's the same old story though, some always forget where they came from and cave into the blindness of corporation spin and rule. I never had a thought in my head about this blog or my writing becoming more than anything than what it is - A place where this one dyslexic SOB can write what he wants, when he wants, about what he wants and tell it like he sees it. So Brian and others like you, When I got something to say, I'm going to say it now.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Crooks and Liars » Brian Williams on Bloggers

Crooks and Liars » Brian Williams on Bloggers:”I’m up against a guy named Vinny in an efficiency apartment.”

"You're going to be up against people who have an opinion, a modem, and a bathrobe. All of my life, developing credentials to cover my field of work, and now I'm up against a guy named Vinny in an efficiency apartment in the Bronx who hasn't left the efficiency apartment in two years" — Brian Williams, anchor of the "NBC Nightly News," speaking before New York University journalism students on the challenges traditional journalism faces from online media.

My name isn't Vinny, I work on my blog in my undies, have wifi, don't live in the Bronx and I leave my efficiency apt all the time, to go to work so I can feed Pook T. Cat

Lets Talk About Rap For A Few


The Last Poets - True Blues
I have been hearing a lot about Imus using the same words that Rappers use. Also been hearing that 1. All rap is bad. 2. All rap is racist and 3. Rap isn't music. I say, bullshit to all three. People who say things like that 1. Never have listened to a Rap song in their life 2. Using the term Racist to define rap is racist in itself 3. Never get the beat behind the rap. You would think someone my age (63) would never listen to rap music. Your wrong. I don't condone the use of words like bitches and ho's in some of todays music. I started listening to Rap when it was just starting. The Last Poets and Gil Scott Heron are some heavy hitting political dudes. No one, and I do mean NO ONE has been more outspoken in his music than Chuck D of Public Enemy. I am adding this Last Poets video to the blog to give you a taste of some great political rap. Gil Scott and PE have been posted earlier. If you have preconceived notions about rap try to listen with an opened mind. If you know what I'm talkin about, Right On Brothers and Sisters.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Chatter on FOX during the Imus Outrage...

O'Reilly Factor
You remember, a few months ago, NBC military analyst William Arkin called American troops in Iraq "mercenaries" and said other disparaging things. Arkin was seen primarily on MSNBC, where Imus lives. And the hate rhetoric from that outlet has increased dramatically over the years.

Bill, Please don't talk about hate unless you mention your own network - wolf

Hannity & Colmes show
LAURA INGRAHAM, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: I think you've known him for a long time. I know him somewhat. And, frankly, if it weren't for Ronald Reagan, Rush Limbaugh, and Don Imus, I wouldn't be in radio today. So I owe Imus a debt of gratitude, even though he and I kind of have a love-hate relationship, which is probably more on the hate side right now, for whatever reason.

Don't know how many of you folks have listened to Laura on the radio but you can see by this quote where she's coming from - wolf

...
And I would point out that I'm not going to tell black people how they should feel about these comments. I don't think that's right for me to do.

However, I also would say that conservatives have been saying for a long time that it's time to try to lift up the culture and try to expose what is good about the culture and also try to, perhaps, push aside what is bad about the culture and discourage it.

Oh thank you very much WHITE LADY - wolf

THIS JUST IN --- Imus has been Fired by NBC - Hopefully CBS Radio will do the same.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

A few of my thoughts on Racism Part 1

It seems that this Imus thing has brought some things about race to the forefront. This can be a good thing or it can divide us more. As Spirit and I observe on paltalk, when a person of color wants to talk about something as meaningful as racism she gets shot down and ridiculed. This is not the first time that this has happened. In fact it happens a lot. You might be shaking your head and saying, Wolf Paltalk is a chat program. True, however many of us who use that chat program view it as a microcosm of the real world. Perhaps it is easier to talk about your true feelings when you are hiding behind a computer monitor. I'll talk about real life in awhile but let me finish this rant about the internet here.

As I've mentioned before, I have been on the net in chat rooms for many years. This racist and bigoted behavior is nothing new. I agree with Spirit wholeheartedly that this blog should be used to fight hate. If you go back and read many of the earlier posts and look at some of the videos you can see I have been trying hard to express my thoughts on this subject.

I spend 99% of my time on Paltalk in the political section. There are times I wish people would talk about other things than the Israel-Palestine Issue. Sometimes there are topics that are just as important. When people try to bring them up they get shot down. A great example of this is my post called Orphans in a Storm. I wish people could remember to say Zionist Jews instead of using the term Jew all the time. I wish people could stop hating all Jews because of what Israel is doing to the Middle East. I wish some people would listen to my Native brothers and sisters with an open mind, instead of just giving us lip service. I wish that some folks would get over the idea that their country is the best damm country in the world that never does anything wrong. I wish the hate would stop. As John Lennon once sang, You many call me a dreamer but I know I'm not the only one.

MSNBC's Imus Double Standard

This is from Media Matters . Please read it while I gather my thoughts for a post on how I feel about Racism.


Network Quickly Fired Michael Savage for Homophobic Rant in 2003, Imus Goes Unpunished Despite Long History of Inflammatory Language


Washington, DC
- Today, Media Matters for America called on members of the media to question MSNBC's apparent double standard - quickly firing host Michael Savage for anti-gay hate speech in 2003 while failing to punish Don Imus for years of inflammatory commentary.

"When Michael Savage made anti-gay remarks on MSNBC, the network took swift action with his firing. They even characterized the decision as an 'easy one,' " said Jamison Foser, Managing Director of Media Matters. "The media should be asking MSNBC to explain their tentative response to Imus' remarks. If Savage's outburst led to an 'easy' decision, we'd love to know why reaching a decision on Imus has been so difficult."

The progressive media watchdog organization also called on MSNBC to stop treating Imus' recent racist comments as an isolated incident and acknowledge his long history of bigoted commentary.

"It would be disingenuous for MSNBC or members of the media as a whole to discuss the controversy surrounding Don Imus' recent remarks without noting his long history of racist, sexist, homophobic commentary," Foser said.

On the April 4 edition of MSNBC's Imus in the Morning, Imus referred to the Rutgers University women's basketball team, which is comprised of eight African-American and two white players, as "nappy-headed hos" immediately after the show's executive producer, Bernard McGuirk, called the team "hard-core hos." Later, former Imus sports announcer Sid Rosenberg, who was filling in for sportscaster Chris Carlin, said: "The more I look at Rutgers, they look exactly like the [National Basketball Association's] Toronto Raptors."

On Monday, July 7, 2003, MSNBC fired Savage for comments he made on a weekend TV show referring to an unidentified caller as a "sodomite" and saying the caller should "get AIDS and die."

Though Imus continued to apologize this morning, the comments are just the latest in a long history of racist, sexist, and homophobic slurs made on the show by Imus, his guests, and regular contributors. Below are several examples of remarks made by Imus and others on his program documented by Media Matters over the past few months:

Imus called women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos"
http://mediamatters.org/items/200704040011
Wednesday, April 4, 2007

On the April 4 edition of MSNBC's Imus in the Morning, host Don Imus referred to the Rutgers University women's basketball team, which is comprised of eight African-American and two white players, as "nappy-headed hos" immediately after the show's executive producer, Bernard McGuirk, called the team "hard-core hos." Later, former Imus sports announcer Sid Rosenberg, who was filling in for sportscaster Chris Carlin, said: "The more I look at Rutgers, they look exactly like the [National Basketball Association's] Toronto Raptors."

He's back? Rosenberg alluded to previous racially insensitive remarks that first got him fired from Imus
http://mediamatters.org/items/200703280001
Wednesday, March 28, 2007

On the March 27 edition of MSNBC's Imus in the Morning, former Imus sports announcer Sid Rosenberg appeared on the program and referenced a story in the New York Daily News headlined "Serena Shocked by Racist Heckler." Rosenberg commented, "I was on an airplane," suggesting that he could not have been the one heckling professional tennis player Serena Williams.

Imus' McGuirk on "young colored fellah" Obama "pretty much deckin' the old bag from New York"
http://mediamatters.org/items/200703160007
Friday, March 16, 2007

On the March 16 edition of MSNBC's Imus in the Morning, executive producer Bernard McGuirk, performing as his character "Cardinal Egan," said that "the whole nation is talking about" reports of a "young colored fellah pretty much deckin' the old bag from New York and takin' away some of her money." McGuirk continued: "I'm speaking, of course, about [Sens.] Barack Obama [D-IL] and Hillary Clinton [D-NY]."

On Imus, McGuirk said that "bitch" Clinton will "have cornrows and gold teeth"
http://mediamatters.org/items/200703070009
Wednesday, March 7, 2007

On the March 6 edition of MSNBC's Imus in the Morning, executive producer Bernard McGuirk said that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) was "trying to sound black in front of a black audience" when she gave a speech on March 4 in Selma, Alabama, to commemorate the 1965 "Bloody Sunday" civil rights march. McGuirk added that Clinton "will have cornrows and gold teeth before this fight with [Sen. Barack] Obama [D-IL] is over." Earlier in the program, in reference to Clinton's speech, McGuirk had said, "Bitch is gonna be wearing cornrows." McGuirk also said that Clinton will be "giving Crips signs during speeches." The Crips are a Los Angeles-based street gang.

Imus: "[I]t was Bernard who said, 'Besa mi culo' ... not me"
http://mediamatters.org/items/200702090002
Thursday, February 8, 2007

On the February 8 edition of MSNBC's Imus in the Morning, during a discussion with Newsweek magazine chief political correspondent Howard Fineman, host Don Imus falsely claimed that "it was [executive producer] Bernard [McGuirk] who said, 'Besa mi culo ... Gordo, [to New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson] not me." The phrase loosely translates to "kiss my ass, fat one," in Spanish. As Media Matters for America noted at the time, however, Imus echoed McGuirk -- labeled by Media Matters as "unidentified" -- saying "besa mi culo" at least twice himself on the February 1 edition of Imus. Richardson's mother is Mexican.

Imus touted Giuliani as willing to "drop [a nuclear weapon] on Mecca"
http://mediamatters.org/items/200702070014
Wednesday, February 7, 2007

On the February 6 edition of MSNBC's Imus in the Morning, host Don Imus claimed that "if we're gonna be fighting these terrorists through the lives of [8-year-old son] Wyatt Imus' children," then "it might be good to start with somebody who is willing to take three big ones and drop one on Mecca, one on Jeddah, and one on Saudi -- one on Riyadh," all cities in Saudi Arabia. Imus made the point in response to co-host Charles McCord, who claimed that Imus had "Leon Klinghoffered John McCain ... in favor of Rudolph Giuliani" during a private conversation they had the previous evening. Imus has previously claimed that he is voting for Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) in 2008.

Imus producer referred to Obama's "Jew-hating name"
http://mediamatters.org/items/200702020009
Friday, February 2, 2007

On the February 2 edition of MSNBC's Imus in the Morning, the show's executive producer, Bernard McGuirk, claimed that Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) has "a Jew-hating name." The remark followed a flurry of other negative comments from host Don Imus, McGuirk, and co-host Charles McCord about the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate, calling Obama a "creep," "a wind-watching wimp," and "a flip-flopping weasel."

Imus sat by as McCain said Nelson resigned RNC over Ford ad
http://mediamatters.org/items/200701040008
Thursday, January 4, 2007

Summary: Don Imus didn't challenge John McCain's claim that his 2008 presidential campaign manager, Terry Nelson, while serving as head of the independent expenditure unit of the Republican National Committee, "realized it was a mistake" to sign off on an ad attacking Tennessee Democratic Senate candidate Harold Ford Jr. and that Nelson subsequently "resigned from the group of people who approved of it." In fact, Nelson has publicly defended the ad, and there is no apparent evidence that Nelson "resigned" from his RNC position in protest over the ad.

MSNBC's Imus referred to "Jewish management" of CBS Radio as "money-grubbing bastards"
http://mediamatters.org/items/200612080006
Friday, December 8, 2006

As the Forward newspaper reported in a December 8 online article, Don Imus referred to the "Jewish management" of CBS Radio as "money-grubbing bastards" on the November 30 broadcast of MSNBC's Imus in the Morning. Imus was discussing a past conflict with his bosses about hosting the musical group the Blind Boys of Alabama. Executive producer Bernard McGuirk asked, "Even if you wear a beanie, how can you not love the Blind Boys?" Imus continued, "I said, 'They're handicapped, they're black, and they're blind. How do we lose here?' And then a light bulb just went off over [the managers'] scummy little heads." CBS Radio owns WFAN, the New York station that is the flagship for Imus' radio show.

NBC's Mitchell hosted segment that falsely asserted Kerry "refus[ed] to apologize" for "botched joke," even while mentioning Kerry's appearance on Imus in which he did
http://mediamatters.org/items/200611010011
Wednesday, November 1, 2006

During the 11 a.m. ET hour of the November 1 edition of MSNBC News Live, NBC News chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell aired a portion of comments made by Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) on that day's edition of Imus in the Morning, but left out the part in which he said he was "sorry."

Buchanan book featured on Today: For nation to "survive[ ]," U.S. must keep "Americans of European descent" from becoming "minority"
http://mediamatters.org/items/200608230002
Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Summary: On NBC's Today, David Gregory provided Pat Buchanan a forum to discuss Buchanan's newly released book, which includes a claim that the United States must keep "Americans of European descent" from becoming the "minority" in order to "survive[]."

Echoing producer, Imus declared: "We thought" man who confessed to killing Ramsey "was Ned Lamont," added: "[W]e're supporting Lieberman, if you did not know that"
http://mediamatters.org/items/200608180005
Friday, August 18, 2006

Summary: On MSNBC's Imus in the Morning, Don Imus echoed his executive producer Bernard McGuirk's claim that John Mark Karr, the man who reportedly confessed to killing JonBenet Ramsey, "looks like Ned Lamont."

Imus producer on man who admitted killing Ramsey: "He looks like Ned Lamont, actually. Is that who you want representing you, Connecticut?"
http://mediamatters.org/items/200608170003
Thursday, August 17, 2006

On the August 17 edition of MSNBC's Imus in the Morning, executive producer Bernard McGuirk said that John Mark Karr, the man who reportedly admitted to killing 6-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey in 1996, "looks like Ned Lamont, actually." McGuirk then asked: "Is that who you want representing you, Connecticut?"

MSNBC's Imus: "Maybe Dennis Kucinich could" replace al-Zarqawi
http://mediamatters.org/items/200606090012
Friday, June 9, 2006

Summary: On MSNBC's Imus in the Morning, host Don Imus suggested "[Rep.] Dennis Kucinich [D-OH] could" replace Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq.

Matthews cited Savage's "Bareback Mounting" characterization of Brokeback Mountain; Imus cited producer's "Fudgepack Mountain" remark
http://mediamatters.org/items/200601200002
Thursday, January 19, 2006

Summary: Appearing on MSNBC's Imus in the Morning, Chris Matthews quoted "the wonderful Michael Savage" referring to award-winning film Brokeback Mountain as "Bareback Mounting."

Imus anchor on Palestinians: "Stinking animals. They ought to drop the bomb right there, kill 'em all right now"
http://mediamatters.org/items/200411190009
Friday, November 19, 2004

MSNBC's Imus in the Morning offered derisive, racist commentary about Palestinians during the November 12 funeral of deceased Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat. Regular Imus guest and sports anchor Sid Rosenberg referred to Palestinians as "stinking animals" and suggested: "They ought to drop the bomb right there, kill 'em all right now." On November 19, the program broadcast a radio segment featuring a guest -- parodying General George S. Patton, Jr. -- who said that the recent report of a U.S. Marine shooting an unarmed, injured Iraqi insurgent provided the enemy "with another cozy 'al Jazeera moment' for the Muslim masses to respond to with their routine pack-of-rabid-sheep mentality." The guest also referred to a deceased Iraqi insurgent as "a booby-trapped raghead cadaver."