bernadene's blog

Honest to God

Sun, 15 Feb 2009 05:31:00 -0800

everyone here should go to Denns K's site and watch the videos of him on the News Shows, Even Faux News!
The man Rocks!

He makes more sense than i have heard anywhere!

http://kucinich.us/index.php

My hero Dennis K

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 18:54:01 -0800

Reuters picked up the story of the investigation of the banks use of the TARP $$$
by my hero Dennis K. YAY!!

http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssFinancialServicesAndRealEstateNews/idUSN0953064020090209

Congressional hearings on what the Banks are spending our money on

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 22:42:56 -0800

Dennis K. to hold hearings on what the Banks are doing with our money, such as using 400m to name a stadium
Dennis K: "How many people could they emnploy for 400m dollars?"
indeed.

http://kucinich.us/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2672&Itemid=1

NEWS TOO GOOD TO KEEP TO SELF

Wed, 31 Dec 2008 09:55:32 -0800

http://crooksandliars.com/node/24929

A political scientist named Mark Haas has just published a book titled George W. Bush, War Criminal? The Bush Administration's Liability for 269 War Crimes:

Based on information supplied in autobiographical and press sources, the book matches events in Afghanistan, Guantánamo, Iraq , and various secret places of detention with provisions in the Geneva Conventions and other international agreements on war crimes. His compilation is the first to cite a comprehensive list of specific war crimes in four categories-illegality of the decision to go to war, misconduct during war, mistreatment of prisoners of war, and misgovernment in the American occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq.
via one of my favs C & L

Karma

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 16:56:05 -0800

World Leaders refuse to shake Bush's hand

via CNN of all places

http://crooksandliars.com/node/24186

Let's hope this is only the beginning.

The next thing i hope to see is CRIMINAL PROSECUTIONS!

always a great source of outrage

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 16:06:25 -0800

Project Censored via C&L

http://crooksandliars.com/node/24124

National Healthcare -what can i do?

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 10:40:28 -0700

you can do THIS

Hope springs eternal

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 16:46:08 -0700

i have a deep faith in the convictions and integrity of this man. his latest message: here

This is the best i can do to protest

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 15:37:32 -0700

the fifth anniversary of one of the greatest atrocities executed by any Western democratic government...certainly Nazi Germany was worse by numbers and some other measures, but is that the standard we are now using? we aren't as bad as that? God help us all.

From the re-elect Dennis Kucinich committee:

"After five years of war, send a powerful message

Five years ago this Wednesday, March 19, 2003, Republican President George Bush launched his illegal, immoral and deceitful war against Iraq.

Two weeks ago, 10,000 Republicans in Ohio's 10th Congressional District launched a different kind of strike - changing their party affiliation to vote in a Democratic primary election fueled by an unscrupulous "Dump Dennis" campaign targeting the strongest, most vocal, and most consistent critic of George Bush's policies, foreign and domestic: U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich.

Dennis survived the challenge and won the primary, but he needs your help to retain that Congressional seat and continue speaking out on your behalf.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_sKw5OcuhA

You can send a powerful message to the Bush Administration, to the Republican leadership, to those thousands of "Dump Dennis" Republicans, to the nation and to the world by making a contribution today to "Keep Dennis."
http://kucinich.us/contribute.html

If you can contribute $10, $20, $100, or more by midnight Wednesday, March 19th, you'll be letting everyone know where you stand – and who you want standing up for you in the U.S. Congress. And please, watch this previous video message from Dennis to better understand what's at stake.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WTEhYzEuzs

Your support is absolutely vital. Please contribute whatever you can to support the one voice in Congress you can always count on to be your voice: Congressman Dennis Kucinich.
http://kucinich.us/contribute.html

Thank you,
The Re-Elect Congressman Kucinich Committee

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Paid for by Re-Elect Congressman Kucinich Committee
PO Box 110475
Cleveland, OH 44111

This is outrageous

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 16:26:14 -0700

and every American can do something about it. Please watch this video and send it on.

I am a single mother, a nurse. Not rolling in dough, but I have maxed out to send Dennis Kucinich a $100.00 a month on my debit card because it is the right thing to do. maybe one day it won't be necessary. but not now. not yet.

thanks to all who are working so hard here at the Agonist to tell the truth and save our democracy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WTEhYzEuzs

i finally had it

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 06:00:40 -0700

NPR's Talk of the Nation, August 20, 2007

Sirs or madams,

The rise of netroots as a political force is a direct result of the apologist and/or corporate national/traditional media, including NPR, [soooo afraid of being accused of the dreaded and satanic LIBERAL BIAS, when in fact, YOUR OWN (former) ombudsman found that the ratio of conservative to so-called liberal -[let's just say, NON REPUBLICAN shill OR Non NEOCONSERVATIVE] guests , was 60% to 40% respectively!

read the rest after the jump

The NON-reporting of the blatant criminality of Bush et al., the shreading of our young and fragile constitution, and non-reporting of it AS CRIMES are just the beginning or your complicity. The "high crimes and misdemeanors", not to mention putting forth ideas of executive power that are clearly unconstitutional, of Bush et al., are well and completely documented: torture, ignoring the Geneva conventions, spying on Americans, war profiteering [rightly labeled TREASON in our country], repeal of HABEUS CORPUS, imprisoning AMERICAN CITIZENS without redress of any kind, lying us into a war against a nation that WAS NO THREAT to us, stealing not one but TWO elections, gutting the justice department, enriching friends and family and only those with money and influence to such an in-your-face degree, that it sickens the soul. Moreover, for promoting activities yet to be AS obvious [hah! - forget a pro-active and forward-looking press]: pillaging the national treasury and bankrupting the nation, happening at this very moment. Where, might you ask, are we getting a BILLION DOLLARS A WEEK TO SPEND IN IRAQ? To all this, you give little to no air time, none to reporting of the years-old national and growing movement to impeach. I have heard you disconnect callers who bring it up and refuse to comment. In just the same way you disconnected ME today when i stated, yes, we know as democrats, small "d" , who we are NOT, we are NOT Republican criminals. There you go. Who the hell ARE you anyway? A disgrace to the term fourth estate. A pathetic example of the use of our precious freedoms of speech, press, and association which we NEED, and MUST use wisely to KEEP our fragile democracy. A democracy can only last while a fully informed electorate is functioning, and you have more than fallen down on your obligation and PRIVILEGE to inform, you've willingly complied with the DIS-information and Orwellian desires of the Crime Syndicate in the WH. Your continued allowing of naming fighting terrorism a "war" which it is NOT in ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM, as many have pointed out, including other countries, the continuation of the bizarre, immoral and purely evil Iraq horror, the meltdown of the economy, happening right before our very eyes, are a result of your spineless and pathetic so- called reporting, and conscious decisions to not tell the COMPLETE truth; to not FILL OUT the information stream so that all can truly participate in an informed way.

Your guest today stated we don't know who we are, or what we stand for. Or maybe it was Neal. Yes, the idiotic "leadership" of the DNC is clueless. or craven. or both. Including Nancy Pelosi. and Hillary. After all, Rupert Murdoch had a huge fundraising event for Clinton last year. What the hell was THAT about? Oh, I forgot: "the best democracy money can buy".

However, those of us who STILL remember, whatever their other faults, John Kennedy's dedication to "a rising tide lifting all ships" - meaning from the BOTTUM UP, Bobby Kennedy's attack on the MOB, MLK's dreams, Truman's "the buck stops here" and FDR's creation of an educated and prosperous middle class by the sharing of the wealth, know EXACTLY who we are and what we stand for: It's the huge, and thanks to the likes of you, woefully dis or mis-informed true majority of Americans, many of whom claim to be "independent", but usually vote for what helps every-day people. These you have harmed. It's the ones who are now childless on foreign sand, and are continuing to bury their precious children for others' greed, lies and crimes; it's the ones who are now, bur didn't used to be, homeless, jobless, without a pension, without healthcare or the hope of a calm future that you have helped heap misery upon, thanks to your so-called "objectivity" in the face of clear criminality.

The New Republicans are small, very small. small in heart and mind. if you make over a half a million dollars a year, you'd be stupid not to vote for them. they are not truly for most Americans, they have sold an uniformed public [did i say it's thanks in a large part to you?] a bill of the shoddiest goods around, full of lies and thievery.

As only ONE example, as soon as the invasion if Iraq actually happened, I emailed a friend in Singapore, and said, "Well, we are finally bombing Iraq", and he said, "I've got news for you, you've BEEN bombing Iraq" - a fact that was not reported, and i don't think by you either, until several years later, as an attempt to BAIT Saddam into attacking us, as an excuse to invade. One more: an article in "The Guardian", sent to me on the internet, stated that Stuart Bowen, the USA person responsible for tracking/investigating the money sent to Iraq stated that some of the missing money probably went to insurgents. So, American tax dollars are being used to kill and maim American children. A blacker irony of wasted blood and treasure i cannot imagine. Lessee, where might YOU have reported that? So, for completeness in knowing what is happening, i use the internet, for I KNEW it would NOT come YOU or ANY main stream media in America, and it has been ever thus. Repeat my experience thousands and thousands of times over with others the world over.

Yes, we are middle class. we are baby boomers. we are educated. And we talk to others. we inform others in our family and our friends. we tell those who are not IT savvy to go to the library, or to invest as much time and energy into a computer as they would a car. and thank God for the real free flow of information on the internet, for IF our democracy is saved, it will be from that, not the likes of you.

So, therefore, be confused no longer. Question no more. THESE are the reasons for the rise of the blogs, not to mention that many bloggers are real patriots, true intellectuals, incredibly creative, funny, great, even fabulous writers and damn good investigators and diggers of important information. Unlike, shall i say, YOU KNOW WHO. [you].

And by the way, pass on to your friend and NPR "senior political analyst" or whatever you are calling her these days, Cokie Roberts, that she made a really silly, but common for the truly uninformed, mistake of pronouncing the blog convention Kos as in "cost" instead of the proper "Kos" as in "close" as in MarKOS Moulitsas the creator of "Daily Kos" and author of "Crashing the Gate" a book your guest obviously overlooked. and Ms. Roberts as well. telling. Very telling. Today's program, is just more impetus on your road to irrelevancy. It's only a matter of time, unless you wake up. So why do i continue to listen? To stay informed of your lack of informing. that's why.

Sincerely,
Bernadene [ last name and other identifying info deleted ]

This is the most hilarious

Sat, 30 Jun 2007 18:21:52 -0700

YouTube i have ever seen. but then i like Dennis Kucinich. via C& L

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzCPFp3v2Hs&eurl=

Resistence is Vital

Fri, 11 May 2007 07:56:51 -0700

MORE IMPORTANT INFORMATION YOU WON'T HEAR ABOUT ANYWHERE IN THE CRAVEN MAINSTRAM MEDIA

May 10, 2007
Resistance is Vital

Today I attended a victory/Peace Rally at UC Fullerton in California. It was to initially be a protest rally. The US Army was busing in 2,000 kids from low income neighborhoods to speak with recruiters on campus. The uproar caused by the Campus Peace Movement and area activists forced the Army to cancel it's recruiting day turning the day into a victory dance. As I figure it 2,000 kids will live to see one more day. It was a beautiful sunny So Cal day. About 100 peace folks were in attendance and 10 Pro-war kids were on the side lines.

One of the most amazing and moving things I have seen to date in the Peace Movement happened. A G.I. was in the crowd. Wearing full desert cammies. At the end of the rally he stepped up to the podium and announced that as of today he was officially AWOL. His National Guard unit was being deployed to Iraq TODAY. This would be his second deployment. His first was as a marine. And he did not want to go back. He was visibly shaking as he told us his story. He then spoke specifically to the young Republican counter protestors, asking them why it is okay to send his brothers and sisters (he is Latino) to Iraq to fight and die for the USA yet the US border patrol kill his brothers and sisters as they cross the border. Of course they had no response or answer for him. This brave young man is no longer willing to fight, kill and die for a war based on lies. After he spoke he stepped back, pulled out his deployment orders and burned them. My eyes welled with tears of pride for this young man. This was a spur of the moment decision for him. He has made no plans. All of us "skin in the game" folks in attendance immediately surrounded him, IVAW, MFSO and myself Gold Star Families for Peace. All hugging him and telling him how proud we were of him. I told him that I wished Casey had lived long enough to make the decision to resist. I am confident that Casey would have done the same thing with the advantage of knowledge about the realities of the "war". This young man is now in the hands of the IVAW and the G.I. Rights hotline. I am sure once he gets his bearings and some advice he will go public. Which will encourage more to resists.

I think two of the most important things we can do in the Peace Movement is Counter Recruiting and encouraging G.I. Resistance. They can not fight a war with no one left to fight it. We need to plug their sources of cannon fodder. We need to stop allowing our kids to be sacrificed in the name of greed and power.

Over the summer while we were at Camp Casey we did a G.I. Rights hotline action at the gates of Ft. Hood. We held signs with the G.I. Rights hotline phone number. We held signs that said Resist, ask me how. We had several kids stop. One was threatened and chased off by an officer. We did this on a Friday afternoon. Come Monday we got word from the G.I. Rights national office that they received a panic call from the Dallas/Ft. Worth office that "something is going on at Ft. Hood". They had been inundated with calls over the weekend. We had an impact. This was a very easy but meaningful action. Imagine if we could model this at every base in the U.S.

I have done counter recruitment work with the folks who made the film Arlington west. They take their very powerful film into High Schools and after screening the film have military families, gold star families and members of the military speak. They ask before the presentations for a showing of hands as to how many of the students are thinking of joining the military. Generally 20-30 hands will raise. They again ask the question after the program. Only a few still raise their hands. I firmly believe Peter Dudar and Sally Marr have saved hundreds, perhaps thousands of lives with their counter recruiting efforts. Not only the kids who do not enlist but the lives of the Iraqis these new recruits would have been forced to kill.

It is the duty of both commissioned members of the military and the enlisted to disobey illegal or immoral orders:

Oath enlisted military takes…
"I, (state your name), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.

The Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) 809[890].ART.90 (20), makes it clear that military personnel need to obey the "lawful command of his superior officer," 891.ART.91 (2), the "lawful order of a warrant officer", 892.ART.92 (1) the "lawful general order", 892.ART.92 (2) "lawful order". In each case, military personnel have an obligation and a duty to only obey Lawful orders and indeed have an obligation to disobey Unlawful orders, including orders by the president that do not comply with the UCMJ. The moral and legal obligation is to the U.S. Constitution and not to those who would issue unlawful orders, especially if those orders are in direct violation of the Constitution and the UCMJ.

The Bush Crimes commission clearly lays out for us what makes the orders to wage this war illegal.

Their indictments:
Wars of aggression:
Count 1: The Bush administration authorized a war of aggression against Iraq.
Count 2: The Bush administrations authorized conduct of the war that involved the commission of "war crimes."
Count 3: The Bush administration authorized the occupation of Iraq involving, and continuing to involve, the commission of "war crimes", "crimes against humanity" and other illegal acts.

Torture:
Count 1: The Bush administration authorized the use of torture and abuse in violation of international humanitarian and human rights law and domestic constitutional and statutory law.
Rendition:
Count 2: The Bush administration authorized the transfer ("rendition") of persons held in U.S. custody to foreign countries where torture is known to be practiced.
Illegal Detention:
Count 3: The Bush administration authorized the indefinite detention of persons seized in foreign combat zones and in other countries far from any combat zone and denied them the protections of the Geneva Conventions on the treatment of prisoners of war and the protections of the U.S. Constitution.
Count 4: The Bush administration authorized the round-up and detention in the United States of tens of thousands of immigrants on pretextual grounds and held them without charge or trial in violation of international human rights law and domestic constitutional and civil rights law.
Count 5: The Bush administration used military forces to seize and detain indefinitely without charges U.S. citizens, denying them the right to challenge their detention in U.S. courts.

It is our obligation as a peace movement to support these brave men and women who make the very hard decision to resist. We can't let them stand alone.
Courage to Resist
The AFSC has a good tool kit for GI's and counter recruitment efforts
American Friends Service Committee

In Peace,
Dede
Gold Star Families for Peace
www.gsfp.org

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am calling on Mothers of the world to join us in Washington DC for a "10,000 Mother of a March" on the day after Mother's Day, Monday, May 14th, 2007. Marches on the weekends are not effective, we need to shut the city of DC down! We will surround Congress and demand an end to this evil occupation and refuse to leave until the Congressional Leadership agrees with us, or throws us in jail!~Cindy Sheehan

http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/gsfp/signUp.jsp?key=2210&t=Mother%20of%20a%20march.dwt

Donate to GSFP
https://secure.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizations/gsfp/shop/custom.jsp?donate_page_KEY=864

Cheney IMPEACHMENT Initiative, Our Next Move

Thu, 10 May 2007 07:28:13 -0700

Dear friends and activists,

Are we serious about impeaching Cheney, or like what? You bet we are!

No action page we have ever done has drawn as much immediate and passionate response (34,000 votes already) as the National Cheney Impeachment Poll, a strong indicator that the public will is out there if only we mobilize it. And you are receiving this update alert because you have already submitted your vote in this round. But many of you are asking yourselves, "what ELSE they can I do to help in this initiative?"

In this message we will propose TWO incredibly powerful things, which if enough of us do them, impeachment will quickly become reality.

The key is that all we really need to do is get other people to ASK if Cheney should be impeached. We don't have to push people about why. Everybody by now KNOWS why, as witnessed by Cheney's 9 percent approval rating. Just in getting people to ask the question we win, because THEN it becomes a serious issue that is being considered, and in that process the entire debate shifts.

So here's what we all need to do next:

1) EMAIL AND BLOG SIGNATURES

Did you ever notice how mail email service providers add a promo for their own service at the bottom of all your own messages. Why do you think they do that? Because it's massive advertising, that's why. Think of all the millions and millions of emails we send to each other every day. Suppose we all added the following to our outgoing email signatures (just as you also see at the bottom of this particular email).

Vote in the National Cheney Impeachment Poll
http://www.usalone.com/blogvoices.php?Cheney%20Impeachment%3F
Add this text to your own email and blog signatures!

Just those three lines above, multiplied by all of our participants, multiplied by the number of emails we send every day in our normal lives. Can you imagine how that will spread in giant self-propagating waves to every corner of the internet? If we just set our minds and DO IT.

It is so easy. Just find the signature setting feature of your email client, paste in the three lines above and that's it. You don't even have to suggest how people should vote. Because when enough people ask the question, the wheels in Congress will start to turn, and the result will be inevitable.

For example, in Outlook Express, in the menu go to Tools->Options->Signatures (tab)->New (button) and paste the text in, and then check the box "Add signatures to all outgoing messages". Click OK to save and you're done and it's automatic.

In Gmail, click on Settings (upper right corner of interface) -> General (tab) and paste into the Signatures section 1/2 way down. Any other email client should be as easy. Just look for something called "Signatures" in the settings.

Many blogs will allow you to do something parallel and this can be even MORE powerful. What do you think would happen if blog posts everywhere were riddled with such references? Do ya think that might make a public demonstration of the sentiment for impeachment? Do ya think the rest of the media would start to take notice? Ya think? You bet they will.

2) WEB SITE ACTION BUTTONS

In support of this Cheney Impeachment action we have developed and are unleashing a spectacular new piece of internet technology, and all you have to do is use it. If you have a web site of your own, or even just a blog of some kind, here is a page of special buttons and banners that will recruit more and more people to not only vote in the poll, but add these same features to their own sites.

http://www.usalone.com/cheney_impeachment2.php

The examples in the first section have been tested working on Blogspot.com, and should work on any site that allows you to post javascript, including ALL sites where you have your own domain name of course. These action graphics dynamically display total votes cast so far, and when you click on their main section they pop up a one click direct submission window to Congress without taking you off the originating page.

You can see one of these working at the top of all pages on http://www.OpEdNews.com right now!

The examples in the second section will work for people with accounts on MySpace type blogs where they censor the kind of code you can post. These still open up the special direct submission window, and there is also a link where people can get the same buttons for their own site.

And for people who can only post text links, as in regular blog posts, you can copy the links in the third section of the page above.

LET'S GET SERIOUS

We've got a base right now that's plenty large enough to spark plug this whole thing.

Some are talking about trying to get the heads of other larger progressive groups to embrace the impeachment movement. We don't have to wait on anyone else. YOU are the key activists. We can reach all the members of these other groups DIRECTLY, if we just systematically do the email signatures, and the button placements, that YOU ALREADY CONTROL in your lives. And we won't miss a one.

Spring is in full swing and impeachment is in the air. It's going to be one hot impeachment summer if we will have anything to do about it.

Please take action NOW, so we can win all victories that are supposed to be ours, and forward this message to everyone else you know.

If you would like to get alerts like these, you can do so at http://www.usalone.com/in.htm

Riverbend and her family are leaving Baghdad - finally

Sun, 06 May 2007 20:23:50 -0700

[...]I remember Baghdad before the war- one could live anywhere. We didn't know what our neighbors were- we didn't care. No one asked about religion or sect. No one bothered with what was considered a trivial topic: are you Sunni or Shia? You only asked something like that if you were uncouth and backward. Our lives revolve around it now. Our existence depends on hiding it or highlighting it- depending on the group of masked men who stop you or raid your home in the middle of the night.

On a personal note, we've finally decided to leave. I guess I've known we would be leaving for a while now. We discussed it as a family dozens of times. At first, someone would suggest it tentatively because, it was just a preposterous idea- leaving ones home and extended family- leaving ones country- and to what? To where?

Since last summer, we had been discussing it more and more. It was only a matter of time before what began as a suggestion- a last case scenario- soon took on solidity and developed into a plan. For the last couple of months, it has only been a matter of logistics. Plane or car? Jordan or Syria? Will we all leave together as a family? Or will it be only my brother and I at first?

After Jordan or Syria- where then? Obviously, either of those countries is going to be a transit to something else. They are both overflowing with Iraqi refugees, and every single Iraqi living in either country is complaining of the fact that work is difficult to come by, and getting a residency is even more difficult. There is also the little problem of being turned back at the border. Thousands of Iraqis aren't being let into Syria or Jordan- and there are no definite criteria for entry, the decision is based on the whim of the border patrol guard checking your passport.[...]

http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/