Good Riddance, Dubya!

Hooray for Pete Seeger

Pete and friends performing Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land" at a pre-inauguration concert. I think it should be our National Anthem.

Bring Bush, Cheney, et. al. to Justice

Commentary by Pepe Escobar of The Real News.

John Conyers is Still Fighting for Justice.

Public Record reports today:

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers issued a 500-page report Tuesday documenting what he says are extraordinary claims of executive power during President George W. Bush’s eight years in office saying evidence his committee has gathered demands independent criminal investigations into issues such as torture, domestic surveillance, and the firing of nine U.S. Attorneys.
...
"Even after scores of hearings, investigations, and reports, we still do not have answers to some of the most fundamental questions left in the wake of Bush’s Imperial Presidency," Conyers said, using allegations of torture, extraordinary rendition, warrantless domestic surveillance, the Valerie Plame Wilson-leak, and the U.S. attorney scandal as examples. "Investigations are not a matter of payback or political revenge – it is our responsibility to examine what has occurred and to set an appropriate baseline of conduct for future administrations.

“The Bush Administration’s approach to power is, at its core, little more than a restatement of Mr. Nixon’s famous rationalization of presidential misdeeds: “When the president does it, that means it’s not illegal,” Conyers said in a foreword included in the report. “Under this view, laws that forbid torturing or degrading prisoners cannot constrain the president because, if the president ordered such acts as Commander in Chief, “that means it’s not illegal.” Under this view, it is not the courts that decide the reach of the law – it is the president – and neither the judiciary nor Congress can constrain him."

Nothing on the teeveenuz about it so far. I doubt they'll mention it.

What the media won't tell you about Gaza

Lawrence of Cyberia reveals some history the government and it's media don't tell the sheeple.
http://lawrenceofcyberia.blogs.com/news/2008/12/yes-virginia-there-is-a-context.html

FREE THE SHMINISTIM – ISRAEL'S YOUNG CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS

Show your support for these brave young people by signing the letter at http://december18th.org/

Send Bush Your Shoes

Send Bush Your Shoes!

America: We were unable to give President [sic] Bush the boot, but we *can* give him the shoe!

It is time to carpet the lawn of the White House and carpet both the lawns of Bush's new homes.
What better way to stand in solidarity with Iraqi television journalist Muntadar al-Zaidi?

Send virtual shoes, too! A CLG reader wrote, 'I urge everyone around the world who thinks it appropriate to email George Bush at president@whitehouse.gov a picture of a shoe.'

Contacting the White House

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

10151/10141 Daria Place
Dallas, TX 75229

Damn, He Missed!

Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zaidi shouts "this is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog," and hurls his shoes at Bush during his press conference in Baghdad.

(Reuters)

In the Arab world, merely displaying the soles of ones shoes (e.g. putting your feet up) is considered quite rude. To actually throw them at someone is a major insult. When Saddam Hussein's statue was toppled after the invasion, many in the crowd threw shoes at the fallen statue.

Deny, Deny, Deny!

Today's International Herald-Tribune editorial about Bush's recent interview on ABC begins: "We long ago gave up hope that President Bush would acknowledge his many mistakes, or show he had learned anything from them. Even then we were unprepared for the epic denial that Bush displayed..."

Indeed! I think Bush took his cue from the 1967 movie A Guide for the Married Man.

Did Mumbai Attackers Have Inside Help?

Were Mumbai Police ordered to stand down and not fire on the attackers?



In an interview with Jerome Taylor, Sebastian D'Souza, a picture editor at the Mumbai Mirror and witness to the attacks said the police he saw did not attempt to engage the attackers.

But what angered Mr D'Souza almost as much were the masses of armed police hiding in the area who simply refused to shoot back. "There were armed policemen hiding all around the station but none of them did anything," he said. "At one point, I ran up to them and told them to use their weapons. I said, 'Shoot them, they're sitting ducks!' but they just didn't shoot back."

There are many differences between the US and India, but whether it's Mumbai or Miami, when you shoot at cops, they shoot back. I'm pretty sure they're supposed to. Why would Mumbai Police not return fire against the attackers unless there was a stand down order? And if that was the case, who gave that order?

Just asking...