Happy Birthday Bill

John Prine and Iris DeMent - In Spite of Ourselves

For Prince Harry

Warren Zevon - Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner

Black History - Master P & Romeo (Official Video)

Mister Rogers: "Won't You Wear a Sweater?" Day

If Americans Knew - trailer

John Trudell - Harm Reduction

Crosby, Stills & Nash - Southern Cross

My Favorite CSN song

Tonight on PBS 9 PM EST

AMERICAN MASTERS | Pete Seeger: The Power of Song | PBS

R.I.P. Myron Cope

The Voice of the Pittsburgh Steelers and creator of the Terrible Towl died this morning. When my Buds Bob and Joe moved to FLA I would call the Steelers game over the phone for them. Bob would always say, "Call the plays like Myron." Yoi and Double Yoi Myron is gone now and he will be missed. Here is a link to some great Copeisms

Crooks & Liars.com Answers America At Risk Ad

House Democrats Save America!


America Is At Risk

August Wilson Boyhood Home FINALLY Gets Historic Designation

from 2pj

The long delayed effort to make the boyhood home of Pittsburgh native son August Wilson into a designated historic structure was just passed in a final vote by Pittsburgh City Council.

Public Enemy - MKLVFKWR

Remember this one? Things haven't changed much since 04

Eminem- Mosh (2004)

Tina Fey Rocks

Wave Speech Fear and Loathing

Thanks to Ms. C for reminding me of HT's Passing 3 years ago
Howl at the Moon

My Pick for Best Actor

Viggo Mortensen
Eastern Promises

Classic Jack

Five Easy Pieces Diner Scene

Yo George - Tori Amos

"Yo George"

I salute to you Commander
And I sneeze
'Cause I have Now
An Allergy
To your policies it seems

Where have we gone wrong America?
Mr. Lincoln we can't seem
To find you anywhere out of the millions
From the deserts
To the mountains
Over prairies
To the shores
Is this just the Madness of King George
Yo George
Is this just the Madness of King George
Yo George
Well you have the whole Nation
On all fours

Asshole of the Week

Political Cartoon of the Week

Saturday Closer To Fine with The Indigo Girls

Im trying to tell you something about my life
Maybe give me insight between black and white
And the best thing youve ever done for me
Is to help me take my life less seriously
Its only life after all
Yeah

George W. Bush announces why he is US president

Blackmore's Night - Under a Violet Moon

I'm in the mood for some great music today

Yes it's Ritchie Blackmore from Deep Purple and Candice Night.

k.d.lang - I Dream of Spring

Song for a cold, snowy, rainy winters day
For Ms. C

Arlo Guthrie and Emmylou Harris - Deportee

Stop the Spying!

McCain's Ghost of Keating Past

Happy 40th Mr. Rogers

From WQED, The 1st PBS Station and The Home of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood.
Pittsburgh, P.A.

White Rabbit with the Star Trek Crew

John Trudell Documentary

A chronicle of legendary Native American poet/activist John Trudell's travels, spoken word performances and politics.

MADDEST FUCKING COW YOU'VE EVER SEEN!!!

George Carlin - Voting

Ohooo Obama

From TalkLeft

These Kinds Of Sexist Remarks Are Not What I Am Looking For

I understand that Senator Clinton, periodically when she's feeling down, launches attacks as a way of trying to boost her appeal.

- Barack Obama, February 15, 2008

In a campaign marked by news coverage unrelenting in its sexism and misogyny, especially from NBC, the last thing we can afford is sexism from the frontrunning candidate. Barack Obama needs to apologize for this remark.

and my favorite comment

Now I Get It . . .
by marirebel on Sat Feb 16, 2008 at 10:52:38 AM EST
All women "periodically" lash out when their hormones go berserk, i.e., "periodically," and they feel "down," and try to boost their "appeal" by launching attacks (with their claws, of course--because really, women are savage, mindless animals). So how the hell can a woman be President of the U.S., and how can we trust a woman with that nuclear (or in Bush parlance, nuclur) button, with all these periodic malfunctions?????? Except that Hillary is probably past the preiodic malfunction stage, and into menopausal malfunctions, bringing up the even scarier story of witches . . . and the nuclear button!

Rockin' With Keith

Keith Richards - Little T&A

Saturday Rockin' with Two Great Ladys

Rehab - Amy Winehouse


Marianne Faithfull - Why d'ya do it (live)

Warning Very X Rated Lyrics

AssHole of the Week

Lura Ingaraham on Al Sharpton's White House Visit 2/13/08

Political Cartoon of the week

Keith Olbermann Special Comment *MR BUSH YOU ARE A FASCIST!*

One Day = $720 Million

Wexler questions AG Mukasey on Impeachment and Contempt

Wexler Confronts Condi on Iraq War Lies

David Bowie & Lou Reed - Dirty Blvd

Pedro lives out of the Wilshire Hotel
he looks out a window without glass
The walls are made of cardboard, newspapers on his feet
his father beats him 'cause he's too tired to beg

He's got 9 brothers and sisters
they're brought up on their knees
it's hard to run when a coat hanger beats you on the thighs
Pedro dreams of being older and killing the old man
but that's a slim chance he's going to the boulevard

He's going to end up, on the dirty boulevard
he's going out, to the dirty boulevard
He's going down, to the dirty boulevard

This room cost 2,000 dollars a month
you can believe it man it's true
somewhere a landlord's laughing till he wets his pants
No one here dreams of being a doctor or a lawyer or anything
they dream of dealing on the dirty boulevard

Give me your hungry, your tired your poor I'll piss on 'em
that's what the Statue of Bigotry says
Your poor huddled masses, let's club 'em to death
and get it over with and just dump 'em on the boulevard

Get to end up, on the dirty boulevard
going out, to the dirty boulevard
He's going down, on the dirty boulevard
going out

Outside it's a bright night
there's an opera at Lincoln Center
movie stars arrive by limousine
The klieg lights shoot up over the skyline of Manhattan
but the lights are out on the Mean Streets

A small kid stands by the Lincoln Tunnel
he's selling plastic roses for a buck
The traffic's backed up to 39th street
the TV whores are calling the cops out for a suck

And back at the Wilshire, Pedro sits there dreaming
he's found a book on magic in a garbage can
He looks at the pictures and stares at the cracked ceiling
"At the count of 3" he says, "I hope I can disappear"

And fly fly away, from this dirty boulevard
I want to fly, from dirty boulevard
I want to fly, from dirty boulevard
I want to fly-fly-fly-fly, from dirty boulevard

I want to fly away
I want to fly
Fly, fly away
I want to fly
Fly-fly away (Fly a-)
fly-fly-fly (-way, ooohhh...)
Fly-fly away (I want to fly-fly away)
fly away (I want to fly, wow-woh, no, fly away)

Buffy Sainte-Marie - Universal Soldier....

Showdown looms in 'treasonous' Berkeley

(CNN) -- Military supporters descended on Berkeley early Tuesday, demanding the famously liberal California college town rescind its vote that says Marine recruiters are "not welcome in this city."
The pro-military demonstrators were met by anti-war protesters who had camped out overnight, setting the stage for a dramatic showdown late in the day when the City Council is to discuss whether to revoke its previous vote.

"Their treasonous action, especially at this time of war right now, is not acceptable," said Mary Pearson, a spokeswoman for the group Move America Forward.

"It's very, very important for everyone to stand united ... to give our Marines and all of our military the greatest respect and honor that they deserve."

Before the sun was even up, about 300 demonstrators -- both pro-military and anti-war -- were already standing toe-to-toe in downtown. Many traded jeers and sneers.

"Code Pink doesn't stand for us," one sign said, held by a man in military fatigues. Signs held by anti-war activists read, "End the War" and "Bring the troops home now."

The City Council is to meet at 7 p.m. PT on whether to take back its previous measure urging the Marine recruiters to leave town.

"If recruiters choose to stay, they do so as uninvited and unwelcome intruders," the measure says.

It went on to say the council applauds residents and organizations that "volunteer to impede, passively or actively, by nonviolent means, the work of any military recruiting office located in the City of Berkeley."

Ever since the council measure, protesters with the anti-war group Code Pink have camped outside the Marine recruiting office on Shattuck Avenue, singing peace songs and chanting slogans for an end to the Iraq war

Republican lawmakers in Washington fired back last week, threatening to recall more than $2 million of federal funding to the city as well as money designated for the University of California-Berkeley, the campus that became a bastion of liberalism during the Vietnam War.

The Marine Corps has said it has no plans to move its office, which is located about a block from the college campus.

Whether the City Council reverses course remains to be seen.

Max Anderson, a Vietnam war veteran who serves on the council, said he fully supports the measure to get Marine recruiters out of town -- despite receiving more than 8,000 e-mails, most of them harsh in tone, on the matter.

"If the aim was to shut us down, get us to back up, get us to eat our words, get us to retreat from our position with the war, they can forget that," he told CNN Monday.

He said he was recruited by Marines after he graduated from high school in 1963 and was promised that he and his friends would serve together. But once they enlisted, he said, they were separated and shipped off to Vietnam.

"We're not against the Marines per se," he said. "We're against this war. We're against the mechanisms that support this war and send our young people over there."

Kriss Worthington, a progressive Berkeley activist and council member for 11 years, believes the council overreached.

"The inflammatory language in the City Council item is really outrageous -- not just to right-wing people, but to mainstream liberal people and even to some peace activists who have said they're insulted that the city would have such language," Worthington said. He said

Berkeley owes an apology to the military and to the peace movement "for having such embarrassing language allegedly trying to promote peace."

"When you make a colossal blunder, you can't just sort of ignore the mistake and go about your way. You have to do something to fix it," Worthington said.

My Home Town

Got an e-mail about this video from Skip who is webmaster of the FarRockaway High School site. It brought back a lot of good memories of the boardwalk, beach and Playland. Enjoy!

Keith Olbermann Special comment regarding FISA

David Oaks - Mad Pride

David Oaks, director of MindFreedom, discusses and demonstrates, with Martin Rafferty, the art of screening for normality. Martin Luther King called for more creative maladjustment, and here is a way to get involved.

I've known David for years and was at the 1st S.C.I. Conference in NYC that was later to become Mindfreedom.org

Media Matters Petition: NBC, Change Your Ways

From Media Matters

During the past year, three MSNBC commentators have been suspended, reprimanded, fired, or forced to apologize for their sexist and/or racist comments. Rather than address these problems by proactively moving to make certain they do not happen in the first place, MSNBC has instead decided to use these controversies as part of an advertising campaign to promote its political coverage.

That's right -- MSNBC has turned the recent mea culpa by Hardball host Chris Matthews for his sexist comments into an advertising campaign, using clips of his statement to push MSNBC programming. Left on the cutting room floor, of course, are the portions in which Matthews acknowledged having been "callous," "nasty," and "dismissive" toward Sen. Hillary Clinton.

The pattern of sexism at MSNBC doesn't stop there. Last year MSNBC canceled its simulcast of host Don Imus' show for his racist and sexist comments targeting the Rutgers women's basketball players. It was only after a widespread outcry by individuals, employees of the network, and many organizations, including Media Matters, that the network took action. At the time, NBC News President Steve Capus promised to "continue the dialogue about what is appropriate conduct and speech."

The latest example of the systemic problem of sexism and misogyny on MSNBC's airwaves came last week from correspondent David Shuster when he stated, while talking about Chelsea Clinton's campaign activities on behalf of her mother, "doesn't it seem like Chelsea's sort of being pimped out in some weird sort of way" by Sen. Clinton's presidential campaign. Following criticism from many who found Shuster's comments indefensible and demeaning, MSNBC suspended Shuster indefinitely and aired an apology from him that evening.

Many know of the high-profile controversies I've noted above, but what about the less publicized incidents of sexist and misogynistic commentary that have gone unacknowledged and uncorrected by NBC News and MSNBC? Media Matters has documented scores of examples. Just last year, MSNBC host Tucker Carlson said of Sen. Clinton: "[T]here's just something about her that feels castrating, overbearing, and scary." Further, Carlson has said of Clinton: "I have often said, when she comes on television, I involuntarily cross my legs."

Just how seriously are these issues being taken?

With Americans going to the polls this year to select the next president of the United States, news organizations like NBC News and MSNBC have a sacred duty to be good stewards of accurate, balanced, and responsible political discourse.

These controversial comments undercut the foundations of what journalism should be. They turn political news coverage into a sideshow circus, diverting attention from and distorting the real issues Americans face daily.

Reasonable people of every political persuasion agree, as I'm sure you do, that sexist smears should not be a part of legitimate journalistic coverage of the issues or candidates in any race.

It's clear the management at NBC News and MSNBC has consistently failed to address what appears to be the core problem. Please take a moment to sign our petition and send a message to NBC News President Capus that the time for apologies has passed. The time for a real commitment to change is long since overdue. With your help, we can urge MSNBC to change the demeaning tone that its coverage all too often takes and truly address this disturbing pattern once and for all.

Thank you for your continued support.

Sincerely,

David Brock,
President & CEO
Media Matters for America

Please sign the Petition @ Media Matters

Masked protesters target Scientology's 'tactics'

I am for freedom of religion however I have many concerns about Scientology. Many years ago when Scientology was very new a close friend freaked out after joining and spent sometime in a state hospital in Ohio. --Wolf

40 to 50 join global action, gather outside South Side office

Monday, February 11, 2008

By Jerome L. Sherman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

One side of East Carson Street had members of a "violent cult." The other side had "cyber-terrorists, communists and religious bigots."

At least, that's how the opposing groups saw each other.

Despite frigid weather, 40 to 50 people -- many concealing their identities with plastic masks, wigs and sunglasses -- gathered in the South Side across from the Church of Scientology's small Pittsburgh office yesterday afternoon, just as similar protests against the controversial religious movement were taking place in cities across the globe.

The protesters had been inspired by "Anonymous," a murky group of computer experts who accuse Scientologists of trying to suppress the spread of negative information about their actions on the Internet, including a recent video of actor Tom Cruise, the church's most prominent member.

"This whole thing started as a free speech issue," said Glenn Willen, 22, a recent graduate of Carnegie Mellon University who now works for Google.

Mr. Willen was one of the few protesters willing to reveal his name, although he said he wasn't "necessarily" a member of Anonymous. Others donned Guy Fawkes masks -- as in the movie "V for Vendetta" -- to hide their faces, claiming the church has a history of intimidating its critics.

There were only a few people inside the Scientology office, including two Pittsburgh police officers watching the protesters. No one would speak on the record.

Bruce Thompson, a spokesman in the Philadelphia office, released a lengthy statement accusing the protesters of orchestrating a series of hacking attacks on Scientology Web sites in recent weeks and mailing anthrax-like white powder to some churches.

"Anonymous is perpetrating religious hate crimes against the Church of Scientology and individual Scientologists for no reason other than religious bigotry," the statement reads.

It says the group is guided by the Communist Manifesto and Hitler's "Mein Kampf."

Science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard founded the Church of Scientology in 1954. Its Pittsburgh office first opened in 2004, and it claims about 200 local members and 10 million worldwide.

Adherents believe that all people are immortal spiritual beings, known as "thetans." They work through their past-life memories as a self-help technique to achieve perfect mental health. They also reject psychiatry and the use of drugs to treat psychiatric conditions.

That belief has led to many controversies, including the heavily publicized 1995 death of Lisa McPherson, who died after spending two weeks in the care of church members in Clearwater, Fla.

According to the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times, members removed Ms. McPherson, a fellow Scientologist, from a hospital where she had been receiving psychiatric evaluations.

Four years ago, her estate reached a confidential settlement with the church after a lengthy legal battle.

Scientology opponents chose yesterday, Ms. McPherson's birthday, to stage events in dozens of cities, from Sydney, Australia, to London to Clearwater, the home of Scientology's spiritual headquarters. Turnouts reached the hundreds at a few locations.

In Pittsburgh, most of the protesters were college students, including a group that drove from Penn State University.

"We're not attacking their beliefs. They can think whatever they want," said Lisa, a 19-year-old who asked that only her first name be used. "We're attacking their tactics."

The "tactic" that sparked these protests, they said, was an effort by the church to remove from Youtube.com a video of Mr. Cruise speaking about Scientology.

The church claims that the video, which is still on the Internet, was stolen, and any unauthorized use is a violation of copyright laws.

One of the most prominent local critics of Scientology is David Touretzky, a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon who says the protesters are justified in worrying about retaliation.

He has been researching the church's censorship efforts since the early days of the Internet. As a result, he said, he's been followed by private investigators and his elderly parents have received phone calls saying their son is a "religious bigot."

Mr. Thompson, of the church's Philadelphia office, denied the intimidation tactics.

"I don't know what his problem is," Mr. Thompson said of the professor, who says he's an atheist.

"I think he's just got something against religion in general."

One of the Videos Scientology wants pulled from YouTube

Willie Nelson Saving Horses

Sunday Rap with 2Pac and Dr.Dre

California Love

AssHole of the Week

David Shuster insults Chelsea Clinton

Political Cartoon of the Week

Why aren't we out in the street like we were during nam?

Steal This Movie

The film follows Abbie Hoffman's (Vincent D'Onofrio) relationship with his second wife Anita (Janeane Garofalo) and their awakening and subsequent conversion to an activist life. The title of the film is a play on Hoffman's 1970 counter-culture guidebook titled Steal This Book.

Support Stephanie Conover

AREN, Alternative Religions Educational Network
An International Pagan Rights Organization
PO Box 1893
Trenton, FL 32693
USA
news@aren.org

http://www.aren.org

February 1, 2008
Montreal, Canada


The recent actions taken by the MISS TORONTO TOURISM 2008 PAGEANT, to deny Ms. Stephanie Conover, last years winner of the Miss Canada Plus Pageant, to take a position of judge for this year's pageant, based on her beliefs and practices of Reiki healing and the reading of tarot cards, are out of step with modern thought, behaviour, and our Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. AREN Canada has taken the position of supporting Ms. Stephanie
Conover in this controversial matter and helping to raise the awareness of the public as well as the individuals involved. Adding itself to the list of protesters as well as contacting political figures, press, and the list of sponsors to the event.


Karen Murray, pageant director said, “We want someone down to Earth, not someone in to the dark side of the occult.” “We need a judge who has an upright reputation and whom we would be proud to introduce to the audience.” "Our board of directors has eliminated her as a judge as tarot card reading and reiki are of the occult and is not acceptable by God, Jews, Muslims or Christians. Tarot card reading is witchcraft and is used by witches, spiritists and mediums to consult the dark world." She then went on to quote passages from the book of Leviticus out of the Bible that warns, "Do not turn to mediums or seek out spirits for you will be defiled by them."

Reiki which translates to Universal Life Energy, is a gentle healing practice which was discovered by Dr. Mikao Usui in Japan over a hundred years ago. It is the belief in ones ability to channel life’s energy to heal someone.

Tarot card reading is the belief in using cards which have mostly Holy symbols on them to search for divine insight. Neither of these practices claim anything to do with the so called “dark world.” This is also clearly an infringement on the Fundamental Freedoms outlined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Being Part I of the Constitution Act, 1982

[Enacted by the Canada Act 1982 [U.K.] c.11; proclaimed in force April 17, 1982. Amended by the Constitution

Amendment Proclamation, 1983, SI/84-102, effective June 21, 1984. Amended by the Constitution Amendment, 1993 [New

Brunswick], SI/93-54, Can. Gaz. Part II, April 7, 1993, effective March 12, 1993.]

Whereas Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law:

Guarantee of Rights and Freedoms
RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS IN CANADA.

1. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.

Fundamental Freedoms
FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOMS.

2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:

(a) freedom of conscience and religion;
(b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;

So, in keeping with the modern society that is Canada, the MISS TORONTO TOURISM 2008 PAGEANT and its board of directors should at the very least reverse its decision and give Ms. Stephanie Conover her due apology.

Roger Lymburner
Vice President AREN International Inc.
Canadian Affairs

Pittsburgh-Area Tuskegee Airmen Leave Behind Legacy

From ThePittsburghChannel.Com

PITTSBURGH - The Tuskegee Airmen served the country with valor at a time when many thought they couldn't or shouldn't. The group helped change conventional wisdom, flying mission after mission over enemy territory, and leaving behind an incredible legacy, which extends to Pittsburgh. It was the Tuskegee Airmen who demonstrated to themselves and the nation that they were the cream of the crop of the negro race.

They fought for their nation, racing through the skies as armed aviators. Historians said they possessed remarkable intelligence, acute aviation skills and a passion to fly and prove at that time that the American negro was courageous and worthy.

Samuel Broadnax is a Tuskegee Airman and author. He wrote the book "Blue Skies, Black Wings," which is about the 332nd fighter group.

Broadnax recalls a time when the Germans unleashed their new and superior rocket plane. "That plane was 10 mph faster than anything we had or the allies had," he said.Three of the first five were shot down by members of the 332nd.

The Tuskegee Airmen routinely protected American bombers from the Germans by swooping down and attacking the Germans like a bunch of killer bees.

That's the way 85-year-old James Shusters describes it. He said they protected the bomber pilot and Freeport native during many of his 51 bombing missions.
"Ordinarily, they would come down from up above, which gave them an advantage in speed," said Shusters. But the airmen would pick out a German fighter to engage and chase.

William Hicks, 87, of Homewood, served as an electrical aircraft specialist. He said his academic records were so astonishingly brilliant that military brass assumed he was not black.

"It said, 'William Hicks. Position: Ex man. Nationality: White,'" said Hicks. "They said I was white until they looked at me."

That is what Hicks and North Side airman Ed Harris fought passionately. They said imperfection was not acceptable.

"Because this is an experiment to prove certain things, like whether blacks are inferior or not," said Hicks.

Their legacy is why Chester Gill wanted to see local Tuskegee Airmen at a recent ceremony.

Gill's brother, Edwin, was attacked by the Germans over the Swiss Alps. Before dying of cancer, Edwin Gill had the chance to tell his brother how the Tuskegee Airmen saved his life. He thanked the airmen on behalf of his late brother.

"And I can look up in heaven and say, 'Brother, mission accomplished,'" said Edwin Gill. "And I thank you."

What would YOU do?

Whoopi switches to Hillary

Guy in polar bear suit arrested during Greenpeace protest

A Greenpeace activist was arrested today for peacefully protesting the Bush Administration’s delay in issuing a final Endangered Species Act listing for the polar bear due to global warming. The activist, dressed in a polar bear suit, initiated a vigil by sitting in a paddleboat in a park pond in front of the Department of Interior.
Read More

Hillary Clinton - Super Tuesday

The AP reports:

At a rally in Chicago, Obama delivered a swipe at Clinton, telling supporters the race was between him and a candidate who accepts money from "special interests in Washington."

During her speech tonight to supporters in New York, Clinton struck a different tone, congratulating Obama on his victories.

"I look forward to our campaigns and our debates about how to leave this country better for the next generation," she told supporters who cheered her.

Powell’s shame

From Think Progress

Today marks the fifth anniversary of Colin Powell’s presentation on Iraqi WMD before the United Nations. “The gravity of this moment is matched by the gravity of the threat that Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction pose to the world,” Powell said in his speech. Saad Tawfiq, one of Iraq’s engineers who tried to warn the U.S. that Saddam had shut down his weapons programs, recalls crying as he listened:

As one of Saddam Hussein’s most gifted engineers, Tawfiq knew that the Iraqi dictator had shut down his nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programmes in 1995 — and he had told his handlers in US intelligence just that. […]

“When I saw Colin Powell I started crying. Immediately. I knew I had tried and lost,” Tawfiq told AFP five years later in the Jordanian capital Amman.

UPDATE: Jonathan Schwarz does a line-by-line debunk of Powell’s speech.

My Favorite SuperBowl Ad

Mean Joe Green and The Kid

The Play that won the SuperBowl

It was a great game. One of the best. It won't replace the Five Steeler Superbowl Victories but all in all I was DAMM Happy the Giants beat the Pats. I picked the Giants to win. The Steelers were voted the best Dynasty Team of all time by the Fans.

Exxon Record Profits Beat Last Year's Record Profits

NYT Reporter That Broke NSA Wiretapping Scandal Subpoenaed

I read James Risen's book when it first came out and suggested that many of my friends read it as well. There is more information in it than just the wiretapping stuff. It also tells how the CIA sent family members of Sadams nuke scientists back to Iraq to question relatives about his nuke program. Every person stated that Sadams Nuke program had been been dead for ten years. Read this book.

By Jon Perr

That cheering sound you may have heard this morning was conservatives' applauding the news that New York Times reporter James Risen has been subpoenaed in an effort to force him to reveal his confidential sources. But while Republican rage may be temporarily muted over the inquiry into Risen's 2006 book, many on the right won't be satisfied until Risen goes to jail for his cardinal offense, revealing President Bush's illegal domestic surveillance program.

The subpoena James Risen received from a federal grand jury last week did not concern his 2005 reporting on the NSA domestic spying program. Instead, the Justice Department wants Risen to divulge his sources for a chapter on Iran's nuclear program in his 2006 book, State of War. In it, Risen describes CIAs unsuccessful efforts during the Clinton and Bush administrations to infiltrate the Iranian nuclear program. Ordered to appear before the federal grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia on February 7, Risen apparently has no intention of revealing his confidential sources:

"We intend to fight this subpoena, so we'll likely be engaging in some sort of litigation," Mr. Kelley said. "Jim has adhered to the highest traditions of journalism. He is the highest caliber of reporter that you can find, and he will keep his commitment to the confidentiality of his sources."

For many in the Bush administration and its fellow travelers, the prospect of Risen going to jail for contempt is delicious payback. It will just be for the wrong crime.

It was Risen and his New York Times colleague Eric Lichtblau who on December 16, 2005 broke the story that President Bush had authorized the National Security Agency (NSA) to illegally intercept electronic communications within the United States without the FISA warrants required by law. And ever since, the two have been targets for right-wing retribution.

On December 19th, 2005, President Bush raged about what he deemed "a shameful act" that is "helping the enemy". Claiming he didn't order an investigation, Bush added "the Justice Department, I presume, will proceed forward with a full investigation" At a subsequent press conference that same day, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales suggested the retribution that was to come:

"As to whether or not there will be a leak investigation, as the President indicated, this is really hurting national security, this has really hurt our country, and we are concerned that a very valuable tool has been compromised. As to whether or not there will be a leak investigation, we'll just have to wait and see."

The Bush White House was far from alone in seeking payback for Risen and Lichtblau's revelations of the President's law-breaking. Conservatives began to clamor for legal action against the reporters and the ultimate target, the new York Times.

After FBI agents raided the home of suspected NSA leaker Thomas Tamm last August, Commentary editor Gabriel Schoenfeld renewed his call for the indictment of the New York Times for its publication of the NSA story. Perhaps sensing a momentum shift with the Tamm raid and the Democrats' capitulation on the draconian new FISA law, Schoenfeld reasserted his 2006 claim that the New York Times violated federal criminal statutes, if not the Espionage Act of 1917.

While Schoenfeld saw the odds of the weakened duo of President Bush and Alberto Gonzales pursuing a Time indictment as ".000001 percent," he advocated that the article's authors James Risen and Eric Lichtblau get the Judith Miller treatment:

"With the investigation making progress, the possibility remains that even if the New York Times is not indicted, its reporters - James Risen and Eric Lichtblau - might be called before the grand jury and asked to confirm under oath that Tamm, or some other suspect, was their source. That is what happened to a whole battalion of journalists in the investigation of Scooter Libby in the Valerie Plame fiasco.

If Risen and Lichtblau promised their source confidentiality, they might choose not to testify. That would potentially place them, like Judith Miller in the Libby investigation, in contempt of court and even land them in prison."

Schoenfeld is nothing if not consistent. He has been leading the President's amen corner in the charge against the New York Times ever since Attorney General announced the DOJ's leak probe on December 30, 2005. On June 6, 2006, Schoenfeld appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee to make his case. One month later on July 3, he laid out his case in the Weekly Standard, approvingly cited Gonzales' veiled threats towards the New York Times:

"There are some statutes on the books, which, if you read the language carefully, would seem to indicate that that is a possibility."

Judging from the reaction of the Judiciary Committee in June 2006 at least, Senators of both parties have little enthusiasm for prosecuting the New York Times. During hearings investigating the NSA leak, the Espionage Act and the potential need for a reporters' shield law, Matthew W. Friedrich, then the principal deputy attorney general of the Justice Department's criminal division, refused to say whether or not Bush administration has ever considered prosecuting journalists for publishing leaked national security information. Then chairman Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) told Friedrich, "I'm not interested in history this morning. I'm interested in current events." And Iowa Republican Chuck Grassley added, "I would think that the department would send somebody here to testify that could answer our questions if they [had] any respect for this committee whatsoever."

But for the conservative movement, the prosecution of James Risen obviously isn’t about respect either for a Senate committee or for the law (which President Bush obviously flouted). It's about payback, pure and simple. And regardless of what happens next week in that Virginia courtroom, the calls for James Risen's head won't end any time soon.

There's A Chance (Peace Will Come) - Melanie

Saturday Blues Shot

Eric Clapton and B.B. King - Riding With The King

Asshole of the Week

Melanie Morgan * We Must SHAME the Traitors!*

Political Cartoon of the Week

O’Reilly Snubs Homeless Vets, After Promising To Take Care Of Them

From Think Progress

Earlier this month, Fox News host Bill O’Reilly claimed that there aren’t “many” homeless veterans, challenging John Edwards for saying that there are 200,000 such vets. Subsequently, O’Reilly pledged to take any homeless vets under his wing:

If you know where’s a veteran, sleeping under a bridge, you call me immediately, and we will make sure that man does not do it.

Yesterday, several homeless veterans rose to this challenge, protesting outside O’Reilly’s office. MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann reports that O’Reilly “cold shouldered” the veterans and “did not even have the courage to meet them”:

Instead, a producer asked the woman, whose group provides transitional housing for 83 vets, whether they have an appointment. … The producer took them into the lobby so our cameras could not get a shot of him accepting their petition with 17,000 signatures. … Instead of meeting with those veterans, O’Reilly had [staff] tell the vets group, please leave a message, somebody will get back to you.

O’Reilly constantly brags about how much he supports the troops. But he has continually lied about the state of homeless veterans, blaming their situation on their “addiction and mental illness” and now refusing to meet with them.

Said one of the veterans snubbed by O’Reilly yesterday: “What did we fight for? Our country. I love my country. Don’t treat us like this.”