Clipmarks | papananook's clips

Afghanistan -- The Next Disaster

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 04:02:11 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: The madness continues...the military beast of Imperial USA.
What a clusterfuck!

Clip Source: www.zmag.org

After six plus years, the war in Afghanistan drags on. The media occasionally cites casualties, but if it doesn't involve National Football League veteran Pat Tillman's execution by his own comrades, Afghanistan gets sparse attention. A few stories feature the growing number of Afghan and Iraq War vets on American streets. But the aspiring candidates ignore such "blowback." Instead, they demonstrate verbal aggression, a characteristic thought necessary for victory. "We've got to get the job done there [Afghanistan]," Barack Obama asserted without specifying what the "job" is. (AP, Aug 14, 2007)

Obama called for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq and sending them to "the right battlefield," Afghanistan and Pakistan. To pressure Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to act against terrorist training camps, Obama would use military force -- if he became President -- against those "terrorists holed up in those mountains who murdered 3,000 Americans." (Bloomberg, Aug 1, 2007)

A Culture of Death and Destruction

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 21:21:24 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: Read this. Weep. Then change ...or die. No kidding.

Clip Source: www.smirkingchimp.com

Some people have likened the Earth to a relatively small lifeboat wheeling in an incredibly vast sea of outer space. If they also think that the sinking of the Titanic was a sad disaster, they will be heartbroken over the tragic devastation when this sort of occurrence happens on a planetary scale...

Recently, I read an article about the death of birds, bats, bees and butterflies across the world [1]. It didn't surprise me. Indeed, we can add to the list ever so many other species, also, heading towards extinction, including Asian elephants, frogs, toads, assorted big cats, polar bears, penguins, tunas, coral, vultures, chimpanzees, apes and dolphins. Indeed, the list goes on and on. Shockingly, there is, seemingly, no end to it.

One can add to her statement that, without doubt, the level of consumption, energy included, that we equate with success, comfort, ease and luxury is totally not sustainable. We are literally ripping apart the world in place after place

It's Safe to Laugh Again

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 19:04:37 GMT

clipped by: papananook

Clip Source: mail.google.com

Last November, two guys showed up at AlterNet's doorstep carrying the manuscript for a book. It was called Young Dick Cheney: Great American; and although it had been written to satirize classic children's biographies, this book was clearly intended for grown-ups. Politically minded, frustrated, angry grown-ups tired from eight years of banging their heads against the wall and desperate for a good laugh.

Well, we gave the book a read, and we did laugh. A lot.

Bruce Kluger and David Slavin, the authors of this irreverent boyhood memoir, are no strangers to satire. Regular contributors to National Public Radio's "All Things Considered," their humor has appeared everywhere from the L.A. Times and The New York Times to Salon and Huffington and AlterNet.

Kluger and Slavin asked us to roll the dice and publish their book. Still laughing, we said yes.

visit alternet.org/youngdickcheney, order yourself a copy, and some for your friends. It's a hoot.

Sea Shepherd Announces Seal Defense Campaign 2008!

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 18:56:42 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: “As a kid I remember these baby killers bragging how they would slice open the beating heart of the first baby seal they kill each spring,” said Captain Watson. “They drank the hot blood and smeared it cross upon their foreheads and dabbed blood on their cheeks. They called it the “Rites of Spring.” I called them barbarians then, and I call them barbarians still, and as a Canadian and a Maritimer, I have been ashamed of this bloody evil tradition all my life and I’ve dedicated my life to shutting this monstrous obscenity down forever, and I believe that soon we will see that day when the killing is ended.”

Clip Source: www.seashepherd.org

Within days of returning to Australia in late March, they will be flying halfway around the world to Bermuda where Sea Shepherd’s other ship the Farley Mowat is docked. From there they will head North into the ice packs off Eastern Canada to defend baby harp seals from the ruthless clubs of Canadian sealers.

Captain Watson has been fighting the Canadian seal slaughter all his life. It was shut down in 1984 and resurrected in 1994.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is confident that years of risk and effort will soon pay off. The European nations are banning seal products and seal products have been banned in the United States since 1972. Sea Shepherd has been slowly lobbying to remove the markets at the same time as we have been mounting dramatic confrontations on the ice to physically save the seals from the cruel clubs of the sealers.

. It’s a culture that any Maritimer with half a brain abandoned generations ago.”

Sea Shepherd Receives Message From the Australian Government

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 18:46:58 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: We have been operating under the assumption that these waters do belong to Australia as we have been assuming that an Australian Federal Court order must be worth more than the paper it is printed on. Is this Court Order just a joke to appease Australians who want to see something done about whaling? Is this all just posing and posturing or is Australia serious about ending illegal whaling?

This is my fourth season in these waters. I am well aware of how dangerous and remote this area of the world is. I have never asked nor have I ever expected Australia to come to our rescue in the event of an accident.

The Australian government can expect that the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society will adhere to our long-standing policy of not causing injury to the criminals we oppose. We will however take the required risk to oppose unlawful Japanese whaling operations and we do so within the definition of intervention in the United Nations World Charter for Nature that allows for non-governme

Clip Source: www.seashepherd.org

Captain Paul Watson received an email from the Australian government. The letter and Captain Watson’s response are reprinted below:

The Australian Government is concerned that your recent public statements indicate that you may be contemplating another boarding of a Japanese vessel in the Southern Ocean.

The Australian Government strongly discourages activity which could be illegal or unsafe activity which could lead to injury or loss of life at sea.

Reply from Captain Watson:

We did say to the media at the time that we saw no need to deliver a another message to the Japanese notifying them of the fact that there was an Australian Federal Court ruling that very day prohibiting Japanese whalers from killing whales in Australian territorial waters.

We never said that we would rule out boarding Japanese vessels as a tactic. If the non-violent boarding of an illegal whaler can shut down illegal whaling for days or weeks then we believe this is a valid tactic.

Sea Shepherd News

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 18:34:57 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: read rest of Capt. Watson;s blog--most interesting...I dig it!

Clip Source: www.seashepherd.org

by Captain Paul Watson
On Board the Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin

February 23rd to February 29th

Leap year gave us an extra day this month, but despite that it looks like we have made it to the end of February without any whales killed for last six days.

We are chasing the Japanese in circles and there does not seem to be any rhyme or reason as to what the Japanese whalers are doing. What we do know is that they are wasting fuel and not catching any whales.

We had two Humpback whales breach beside the ship today.

The weather is getting colder and we are getting many hours of darkness now. The Antarctic winter is creeping up on us. The seas are getting rougher and we are getting blizzards. The Japanese whalers are running out of time.

Clip Source: www.seashepherd.org

Back in Japan the whaling industry is getting desperate. Last month the Institute for Cetacean Research (ICR) dumped 10 tons of unsold whale meat in to a primary school lunch program according to a recent article in the Australian Daily Telegraph.

Schoolkids urged to eat whale meat

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 18:33:05 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: Whaling industry getting desperate, neh?

Clip Source: www.news.com.au

Unsold whale meat forced into school program
Cooked for school lunches
"Trying very hard to regain market for whale eating"

JAPAN'S whaling researchers dumped 10 tonnes of unsold whale meat into primary school lunches, labelling the event "traditional school lunch week".

In a desperate attempt to revive the flagging market, the Institute for Cetacean Research (ICR) supplied the research by-product to 254 Yokohama schools over two days last month, hoping to give their young palates a taste for whale meat.

A total of 200,000 lunches of whale meat salad marinated in sesame sauce were served on January 21 and 22. Yokohama children have not eaten whale meat as part of school lunches in 26 years.

The ICR refused to comment on its controversial programs.

Following the delivery of a 131,267 name petition to the Democratic Party of Japan on Thursday, ICR spokesman Gabriel Gomez refused to take calls yesterday, accusing The Daily Telegraph of "activism".

message: We can't save them from themselves.

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 18:03:07 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: The U.S. is currently spending hundreds of millions of dollars to pay the monthly salaries of some 600,000 armed fighters in the three rival ethnic camps in Iraq. These fighters -- Shiite, Kurd and Sunni Arab -- are not only antagonistic but deeply unreliable allies. The Sunni Arab militias have replaced central government officials, including police, and taken over local administration and security in the pockets of Iraq under their control. They have no loyalty outside of their own ethnic community. Once the money runs out, or once they feel strong enough to make a thrust for power, the civil war in Iraq will accelerate with deadly speed. The tactic of money-for-peace failed in Afghanistan. The U.S. doled out funds and weapons to tribal groups in Afghanistan to buy their loyalty, but when the payments and weapons shipments ceased, the tribal groups headed back into the embrace of the Taliban.

Clip Source: firedoglake.com

The Bush/Cheney/McCain spiel that "the surge is working" has been repeated without challenge by US media so much that it's become an article of faith. Too bad it's not true.

The death toll is high, according to the website icasualties.org, which provides reliable numbers of Iraqi civilian and security deaths.

In January this year 485 civilians were killed, according to the website. It says the number is based on news reports, and that "actual totals for Iraqi deaths are higher than the numbers recorded on this site."

The average month in 2005, before the "surge" was launched, saw 568 civilian deaths. In January 2006, the month before the "surge" began, 590 civilians died.

Many of the killings have taken place in the most well guarded areas of Baghdad. And they have continued this month.

Clip Source: firedoglake.com

The decline in attacks began only when we bought off the Sunni Arabs.

The United States cut a deal with its Sunni Arab enemies. It would pay the former insurgents.

The Second City Skewers Obama and Clinton

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 17:43:11 GMT

clipped by: papananook

Clip Source: www.npr.org

Weekend Edition Saturday, March 1, 2008 · The Second City — the famous Chicago improvisation comedy troupe — is taking shots at the presidential candidates. Its most recent revue, Between Barack and a Hard Place, is one of the most popular Second City shows in recent years. It equally skewers Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, both of whom have called Chicago home.

Along the stairs of the old, dark and drafty main stage theater is proof of how significant a role the group has played in the evolution of American comedy. Hanging on the wall are pictures of old casts — very young faces of Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray and John Belushi, as well as Mike Myers, Chris Farley, Steve Carrell and Tina Fey.

There are reminders of Aykroyd portraying President Nixon, and hints that the seeds of Stephen Colbert's "truthiness" were sown here. So, it's no surprise that some of the sharpest takes on the 2008 presidential race are right here, too.

Listen Now [4 min 51 sec] add to playlist

Why Did Gonzalez Join Nader's Ticket?

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 17:37:12 GMT

clipped by: papananook

Clip Source: www.npr.org

Day to Day, February 29, 2008 · Presidential hopeful Ralph Nader announced his running mate Thursday. Madeleine Brand talks with San Francisco politician Matt Gonzalez about why he agreed to share the independent ticket.

"I thought what I would bring to it ... is an emphasis on election reform, and I could cite specific things that I had accomplished in that regard," he says.

Gonzalez is the former president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. In 2003, he ran for mayor of San Francisco but lost to Gavin Newsom.

Iraq is the main issue Gonzalez says he hopes to draw attention to.

"It's incredible to me that Sen. McCain is putting out there this idea of almost perpetual war, but Sen. Obama , when given an opportunity to commit himself to getting American soldiers out of there by January 2013 ... would not commit to that," the Texas native says.

"I invite the other candidates to win over the voters that want to vote for us."

Pact Against al-Qaida May Soon Crumble

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 17:07:35 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: Surge "succes" lie exposed.

Clip Source: www.npr.org

All Things Considered, February 29, 2008 · Iraq's hard-won security gains are under threat, according to Sunni tribal leaders who led the so-called "awakening movement" against insurgents.

Faced with a skeptical Shiite-led Iraqi government and opposition from other Sunni political parties, sheiks from the volatile Anbar province say they see no reason to keep fighting al-Qaida in Iraq if their people are going to be denied political rewards and economic development.

Listen Now [5 min 1 sec] add to playlist