The Great American Bubble Machine : Rolling Stone
The Great American Bubble Machine : Rolling Stone: "The first thing you need to know about Goldman Sachs
is that it's everywhere. The world's most
powerful investment bank is a great vampire
squid wrapped around the face of humanity,
relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into
anything that smells like money."

matt tabibi.
- posted by barbara @ 7/02/2009 08:59:00 PM  0 comments

 
YouTube - Activists Demand "Special Prosecutor for Torture"

- posted by barbara @ 6/27/2009 11:27:00 AM  0 comments

 
Corporate Personhood-Demeaning Our Bill of Rights - Reclaim Democracy.org
Corporate Personhood-Demeaning Our Bill of Rights - Reclaim Democracy.org
Our Bill of Rights was the result of tremendous
efforts to institutionalize and protect the rights
of human beings. It strengthened the premise of our
Constitution: that the people are the root of all
power and authority for government. This vision has
made our Constitution and government a model emulated
in many nations.

But corporate lawyers (acting as both attorneys and
judges) subverted our Bill of Rights in the late
1800's by establishing the doctrine of "corporate
personhood" -- the claim that corporations were
intended to fully enjoy the legal status and protections
created for human beings.

We believe that corporations are not persons and possess
only the privileges we willfully grant them. Granting
corporations the status of legal "persons" effectively
rewrites the Constitution to serve corporate interests
as though they were human interests. Ultimately, the
doctrine of granting constitutional rights to corporations
gives a thing illegitimate privilege and power that undermines
our freedom and authority as citizens. While corporations are
setting the agenda on issues in our Congress and courts, We
the People are not; for we can never speak as loudly with
our own voices as corporations can with the unlimited amplification
of money.

did you know that monsanto has gone into court
and argued that properly labeling genetically
modified milk should be curtailed by the courts
because it would interfere with its (the corporation's)
ability to MAKE MONEY?!

they actually have laws pending in four states that
would deprive consumers of the right to know whether their
milk comes from cows given Pilosac.

Faced with a growing resistance to Posilac, Monsanto
is waging war on informed decision-making, lobbying state
officials to ban dairies from placing factual information
about rBGH on their label. Its lobbyists argue that consumers
are making poorly-informed choices based on fear-mongering,
necessitating government intervention to save us from being
misled by alarmists.

their argument sucks. more information is always better: consumers
need to be informed about what they are buying and putting
into their bodies the bodies of their children.

how many individuals have the money to own a judge
or a congressperson? how many corporations have that
kind of money?

a corporation is not a person, and i fully support
an amendment to the constitution so stating. people power, it's the american way.
- posted by barbara @ 6/07/2009 04:33:00 AM  0 comments

 
HARRINGTON PRACTICE - Fighting Monsanto for the Public Good
HARRINGTON PRACTICE - Fighting Monsanto for the Public Good

consider giving to this very good cause.
- posted by barbara @ 5/29/2009 01:36:00 PM  0 comments

 
Facts and myths about Obama's preventive detention proposal - Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com
Facts and myths about Obama's preventive detention proposal - Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com

a truly excellent column, one of his best in my opinion.
this is a must-read
- posted by barbara @ 5/23/2009 04:50:00 PM  0 comments

 
Daily Kos: Mother of U.S. Marine Who Was Waterboarded Rips Cheney, Others
Daily Kos: Mother of U.S. Marine Who Was Waterboarded Rips Cheney, Others
read this mother's letter. cheney and others like
him who are running around now either deflecting
with Nancy Pelosi or claiming that since we
did it to our own soldiers - as survival training -
it cannot constitute "torture" are just
playing CYA: cover your ass.

their asses should be in prison. justice now.
- posted by barbara @ 5/16/2009 09:51:00 AM  0 comments

 
4 laughing babies

- posted by barbara @ 5/14/2009 09:02:00 AM  0 comments

 
Op-Ed Columnist - The Banality of Bush White House Evil - NYTimes.com
Op-Ed Columnist - The Banality of Bush White House Evil - NYTimes.com: Five
years after the Abu Ghraib revelations,
we must acknowledge that our government
methodically authorized torture and lied
about it. But we also must contemplate the
possibility that it did so not just out
of a sincere, if criminally misguided,
desire to “protect” us but also to promote
an unnecessary and catastrophic war.
Instead of saving us from “another 9/11,”
torture was a tool in the campaign to
falsify and exploit 9/11 so that fearful
Americans would be bamboozled into a
mission that had nothing to do with
Al Qaeda. The lying about Iraq remains
the original sin from which flows much
of the Bush White House’s illegality.

Prosecute now.
- posted by barbara @ 4/26/2009 07:12:00 AM  0 comments

 
Democratic complicity and what "politicizing justice" really means - Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com
Democratic complicity and what "politicizing justice" really means - Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com: Punishing politically powerful criminals is about
vindicating the rule of law. Partisan
and political considerations should
play no role in it. It is opponents
of investigations and prosecutions
who are being driven by partisan
allegiances and a desire to advance
their political interests. By contrast,
proponents of investigations are
seeking to vindicate the most apolitical
yet crucial principle of our system
of government: that we are a nation
of laws that cannot allow extremely
serious crimes to be swept under
the rug for political reasons. That's
true no matter what is best for Obama's
political goals and no matter how many
Democrats end up being implicated --
ethically, politically or even legally --
by the crimes that were committed.

Greenwald nails it. Any American rightie or
leftie should be calling for prosecutions now.
how much more evidence do you need? it's not
about politics! it's about JUSTICE.
- posted by barbara @ 4/25/2009 03:43:00 PM  0 comments

 
Employee Free Choice Act Now! | Spread the word!
Employee Free Choice Act Now! | Spread the word!
- posted by barbara @ 4/25/2009 01:48:00 PM  0 comments

 
EXCLUSIVE: Suit Accuses Police of Negligence - NBC Action News KSHB-TV 41
EXCLUSIVE: Suit Accuses Police of Negligence - NBC Action News KSHB-TV 41

Christopher Cooper was 17 years old.
His mother is pleading for help to get the
story of her son's death out and hopefully
to get the negligent, callous officers off
the force. Please go watch the video. It made
my heart stop.
- posted by barbara @ 4/19/2009 04:30:00 AM  0 comments

 
Info, Comments, Opinions and Facts About Goldman Sachs
Info, Comments, Opinions and Facts About Goldman Sachs

A site begun to spread the truth about the
company that looks as if it might be the last one
standing after the financial collapse has run
its full course.

It's being threatened with a lawsuit to cease
and desist by...Goldman Sachs!

One of the biggest reasons i opposed the original
TARP legislation was that it was being pushed by
Henry Paulson, former CEO of Goldman Sachs. Look
at a list of the money men pushing the country
around right now. The name Goldman Sachs comes
up over and over and over. And no one seems
willing to scream, conflict of interest! As obvious
as it appears to me that there is a clear,
destructive conflict of interest.

they do not have the best interests of the
country in mind. they are busy busy busy spending
our money to ensure their own continued and
growing obscene wealth.
- posted by barbara @ 4/12/2009 09:59:00 AM  0 comments

 
International Committee of the Red Cross
icrc-report.pdf (application/pdf Object)

i urge every adult american citizen to read this
report in its entirety. it's 40 pages long, a
quick read. a very important document.

do you wonder if the US tortures? wonder no more.

demand prosecutions. JUSTICE.
- posted by barbara @ 4/10/2009 01:11:00 PM  0 comments

 
The Mudflats � In Exposing the Identity of Mudflats, Rep. Mike Doogan Exposes Himself.
The Mudflats � In Exposing the Identity of Mudflats, Rep. Mike Doogan Exposes Himself.
If I were to appear, as many of you
have, at a political rally and I were
to hold up a sign that expressed my
opinion, I don’t have to sign my name
on the bottom. And if someone wants
to come online and read my diary, they
are free to do so. And if they want
to disagree, that’s OK too.

It said in my “About” page that I choose
to remain anonymous. I didn’t tell anyone
why. I might be a state employee.
I might not want my children to get
grief at school. I might be fleeing
from an ex-partner who was abusive and
would rather he not know where I am.
My family might not want to talk to me
anymore. I might alienate my best friend.
Maybe I don’t feel like having a brick
thrown through my window. My spouse might
work for the Palin administration. Maybe
I’d just rather people not know where I
live or where I work. Or none of those
things may be true. None of my readers,
nor Mike Doogan had any idea what my personal
circumstances might be. But that didn’t seem to matter.
What appears to matter to Rep. Doogan is that
either 1) he feels that if he “outs” me, he’ll
change what I have to say, or keep me from saying
anything. 2) he gets to play mystery detective
(like in his books) and believes people will
think he’s really cool for figuring it out, or
3) he feels like getting revenge. He knows I
want to remain anonymous, so he’s going to take
it away. In any of those three scenarios, he didn’t
think it was important to get the bigger picture.

been reading up on this story for ages -
actually hours. along with many others i am
outraged by what this state representative
did to one of the best writers going. i found
mudflats during the presidential campaign
(sarah palin? who's sarah palin?). i visit
frequently because she is simply a great
writer. and as she stated so well her
reason or reasons for remaining anonymous
are hers.

i am not anonymous. i also don't get thousands
of visitors to my blog, never did, even when
i did have a handful of fans, it was never a
large number. the reason i choose not to be
anonymous is because i have a cause that is
personal. i have a history that has created
that cause. and as a writer i would like to
be known.

i haven't been writing. not for the blog.
not poems. not diary, nothing. working long
hours, lazy, what-have-you. i read constantly
and Mudflats is simply one of the best.
anonymous or not.

personally i hope she continues to blog and
rides the wave of recognition to great fortune.
she deserves it. and i hope she sues the pants
off mike doogan, who based on some comments i
have read today, could even have exposed
himself to criminal action.
- posted by barbara @ 3/28/2009 09:20:00 PM  0 comments

 
1963 Commencement
President John F. Kennedy
June 10, 1963

Some say that it is useless to speak of world peace or
world law or world disarmament - - and that it will be
useless until the leaders of the Soviet Union adopt a
more enlightened attitude. I hope they do. I believe
we can help them do it. But I also believe that we
must re-examine our own attitude - as individuals and
as a Nation - - for our attitude is as essential as
theirs. And every graduate of this school, every
thoughtful citizen who despairs of war and wishes
to bring peace, should begin by looking inward - -
by examining his own attitude toward the possibilities
of peace, toward the Soviet Union, toward the course
of the Cold War and toward freedom and peace here at home.

First: Let us examine our attitude toward peace itself.
Too many of us think it is impossible. Too many of us
think it is unreal. But that is dangerous, defeatist
belief. It leads to the conclusion that war is inevitable - -
that mankind is doomed - - that we are gripped by forces
we cannot control.

We need not accept that view. Our problems are manmade - -
therefore, they can be solved by man. And man can be as
big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond
human beings. Man's reason and spirit have often solved
the seemingly unsolvable - - and we believe they can
do it again.

think about it. Peace. amen
- posted by barbara @ 3/24/2009 06:16:00 AM  0 comments

 
United for Peace & Justice
United for Peace & Justice
- posted by barbara @ 3/23/2009 06:09:00 PM  0 comments

 
March 21st -- March on the Pentagon:
March 21st -- March on the Pentagon:
Looks like i might getting back to DC sooner
than i'd hoped.
PEACE. amen

- posted by barbara @ 3/19/2009 12:39:00 AM  0 comments

 
American Civil Liberties Union
American Civil Liberties Union - Criminal Justice,
Death Penalty, Disability Rights, Drug Policy, Free Speech,
HIV/AIDS, Human Rights, Immigrants' Rights, Lesbian &
Gay Rights, National Security, Police Practices, Prisoners'
Rights, Privacy & Technology, Racial Justice, Religion &
Belief, Reproductive Freedom, Rights of the Poor, Safe and
Free, StandUp/Youth, Voting Rights, Women's Rights

Join the ACLU. Because freedom cannot protect itself.
- posted by barbara @ 3/18/2009 03:38:00 AM  0 comments

 
Chattanooga Times Free Press | News | Clay Bennett Cartoons
Chattanooga Times Free Press | News | Clay Bennett Cartoons make Clay part of your daily
online diet. you'll be glad you did.
- posted by barbara @ 3/15/2009 11:57:00 AM  0 comments

 
The BRAD BLOG : Tough-on-Crime Groups Cut to the Chase
The BRAD BLOG : Tough-on-Crime Groups Cut to the Chase
this is it. justice demands it. too many people have died
for the gwbush administration - justice!
- posted by barbara @ 2/26/2009 06:15:00 PM  0 comments