Think Progress

Afghan Civilians Killed In Secret Raids, UN Official Says

A United Nations rights official alleged today that foreign intelligence agents were acting with impunity in Afghanistan and have taken part in secret raids that have killed civilians.

UN envoy Philip Alston said he was aware of at least three such recent raids in the country’s south and east. He said no one was taking responsibility for the killings.

“It is absolutely unacceptable for heavily armed internationals accompanied by heavily armed Afghan forces to be wandering around conducting dangerous raids that too often result in killings without anyone taking responsibility for them,†Alston told reporters.

Alston is a special rapporteur of the UN Human Rights Council on extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions. He has spent 12 days traveling Afghanistan. “I am trying to encourage both the Americans and the Afghan government and others to take some of this seriously,†Alston said.

He said so far this year, more than 500 civilians have been killed by various assailants, including Taliban militants, Afghan and foreign security forces and Afghan militiamen. He accused Taliban and Afghan police of involvement in unlawful killings.

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/05/15/8973/

Militants staged more than 140 suicide bombings in Afghanistan last year, and many of those killed in the attacks were civilians. The Taliban claimed responsibility for a suicide bomber Thursday that killed 12 people and wounded 27 in a crowded market.

March 20, 2008 e-mail by a PTSD coordinator for a Texas VA hospital urged VA employees to “refrain from giving a diagnosis of PTSD straight out,†suggesting they “R/O [rule out] PTSD†and consider a diagnosis of “Adjustment Disorder†instead. The e-mail cited concerns of “more and more compensation seeking veterans.â€

It’s not bad enough that 18 a day are committing suicide, no lets compound the problem and not give them the help they need after waiting six months to get it.

The VA Hospital should be ashamed of themselves for even considering this, let alone actually implementing it.

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) “secured millions in federal funds for a land acquisition program that provided a windfall for an Arizona developer whose executives were major campaign donors, public records show.â€

McCan’t’s underwear is showing. This is just the beginning. He’s been living in a D.C. bubble for 40 years. Now that the spotlight is turned on, America will see just who ‘the maverick’ really is.

This is just the beginning…

Yesterday, House Democrats, along with some Republicans, “approved an expansive new veterans education benefit that would be paid for by a tax on affluent Americans.â€

No surprise, this one gets a veto threat. The White House didn’t care much to recognize the bad state of the economy until the bill came up. “It’s a bad time to be raisin’ taxes.” Really? The economy of the rich is doing quite well.

Conservative Icon Says Republicans Face ‘Looming Disaster,’ Calls on Leadership to ‘Resign Immediately’
“The conservative movement has been set back 10-20 years – possibly even permanently,” pens the man once referred to as the conservative “funding father” and creator of political direct mail fundraising. The “party Establishment…has brought the party down,” he writes, adding “the party must clean house. The party leadership should resign immediately.”

He goes on to say Republican leaders have “nothing” to offer Republican voters and are motivated by “nothing except a craving for power,” before concluding with a direct command to the GOP Leadership: “You turned against the principles you once espoused – conservative principles – and, in turn, conservatives and the American people have turned against you. Things will not get better until you accept responsibility, and resign…You have stayed too long. For the future of the Republican Party, for America and the cause of freedom: Go!”

Ouch. Extended, must-read excerpts from his blistering — and we mean blistering — rebuke of those who have hijacked his party, follow below…

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5990

**The upside of the Bush administration.

Strange Bedfellows Unite to Pressure Oil Giants

Americans — from nonprofit groups to the Rockefeller family — are starting to fight back against the petroleum industry, which is earning record profits as consumers face spiraling gas prices.

Co-Op America, with around 70,000 members, has launched a campaign aimed at forcing ExxonMobil to invest more of its profits into exploring alternative energy sources, while another group seeks to change the priorities of the powerful American Petroleum Institute.

Ahead of this month’s ExxonMobil stockholders meeting, 66 of 78 adult heirs of John D. Rockefeller, who founded the company’s predecessor, Standard Oil, supported four resolutions aimed at making the oil giant hew a more environmentally friendly and forward-looking line.

Exxon saw a record $40.6 billion profit in 2007, and is headed in the same direction for 2008, earning over $10 billion during the first quarter. One of the shareholder resolutions called on Tillerson to step down as chairman and hand this role to an outsider. According to Co-Op America, this would “create more independent oversight of the company and its role in climate change.†Rockefeller Godwin complained that Exxon treats shareholders as “pesky†annoyances who “act as if they own the company.â€

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/05/15/8976/

All of the blame can not be on Big Oil Corporations. Our US Military is the largest consumer of Oil. The USA is the largest consumers in the world. Last but not least, who is the biggest and worst polluter the US Military.

We have urban sprawl, SUV’s, and more gas powered toys than any country I know. (Yachts, Jet Skies, snowmobiles, and 4-wheelers to name a few) When gasoline prices get to be $8.00 a gallon and our utilities double, that is when the average American is finally going to do something about it.

The United Service Organizations (USO) has announced that it has joined with Blackwater to help provide amenities to U.S. troops.

Note how Blackwater is trying hard to generate some positive press. This is a calculated move by Eric ‘Prince of Darkness’ to divert attention from gang rapes, killing civilians, playing Lone Ranger in Iraq & general public distrust of mercenaries.

When you’re above the law, you’re above being American.

McCain thinks his proposal to install republicans and democrats into his cabinet is going to earn my vote. Why would I care for a few democratic sprinkles when Obama could give us the whole sundae?

Yee Ha! Here’s an e-mail I received last night from Robert Wexler:

It looks like the Democrats have finally grown a spine! How sweet it will be to see Turd Blossom frogmarched to the cell in the basement of Congress.

U.S. House defeats $162.5 billion in new war funds

The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday defeated legislation that would have funded the war in Iraq for another year, in a surprise move that the Senate could overturn.

By a vote of 149-141, the Democrat-controlled House rejected a measure that would have given the Pentagon $162.5 billion to keep the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan running through next summer, slightly below President George W. Bush’s request.

A large group of anti-war House Democrats voted against the funds. That, coupled with 132 Republicans voting “present,” meaning neither “yes” nor “no,” killed the measure for now.

http://www.rawstory.com/ news/ mochila/ U_S_House_defeats_162_5_bln_in_new__05152008.html

Bravo! It is about time the Democrats did the right thing, stop funding the war….

Vitamin D may benefit breast cancer patients
Those with lower levels more likely to die of the disease, study found

Breast cancer patients with low levels of vitamin D were much more likely to die of the disease or have it spread than patients getting enough of the nutrient, a study found — adding to evidence the “sunshine vitamin” has anti-cancer benefits.

Only 24 percent of women in the study had sufficient blood levels of D at the time they were first diagnosed with breast cancer. Those who were deficient were nearly twice as likely to have their cancer recur or spread over the next 10 years, and 73 percent more likely to die of the disease.

“These are pretty big differences,” said study leader Dr. Pamela Goodwin of Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. “It’s the first time that vitamin D has been linked to breast cancer progression.”

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24654464/

In lab and animal tests, vitamin D stifles abnormal cell growth, curbs formation of blood vessels that feed tumors and has many other anti-cancer effects.

Yesterday, House Democrats, along with some Republicans, “approved an expansive new veterans education benefit that would be paid for by a tax on affluent Americans.â€

I heard yesterday on the news that this bill (it is Webb’s bill) now has 59 sponsors in the Senate. That’s 1 less than they need to override a veto!

Yesterday, House Democrats, along with some Republicans, “approved an expansive new veterans education benefit that would be paid for by a tax on affluent Americans.†According to the tax plan, “individuals earning $500,000 or more would pay a surtax of 0.47 percent on income above $500,000 and the tax would apply to couples on incomes above $1 million.â€

Do it with a smile, people! Remember, you guys claim to be such patriots–and the troops need supporting.

Democrats have criticized the Bush administration’s use of spy satellites for “emergency response and other domestic-security needs.†They “are seeking to cut off funding, citing what they say are numerous unanswered questions about its impact on Americans’ privacy and civil liberties.â€

For a look at how these spy satellites could be used, see the movie “Enemy of the State.” It’s really not far-fetched.

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) “secured millions in federal funds for a land acquisition program that provided a windfall for an Arizona developer whose executives were major campaign donors, public records show.â€

So, every time the Republicans try to bring up Obama’s deal with Rezko, the Democrats need to point to this deal of McCains. Actually, it seems to me that this deal of McCain’s should be investigated since it sounds a lot like a bribe to me.

Bubble Boy crossed a line yesterday with his claim of appeasement. Party politics should never be taken offshore.
He broke a cardinal rule and made himself look like an idiot.

I guess he mirrors Blackwater & KBR, who had to go offshore to avoid paying taxes while raking in millions in no bid contracts.

Why does Bush hate Americans?

Rep. Don Young (R-AK) “is having trouble getting contributions to his legal defense fund.

He’s also way behind in the polling on his Senate seat. It looks like the Democrats could pick up both senate seats in Alaska.

Not a whole lot has changed in my area, Freedom Rebel. People are still doing 35 in a 15mph zone and teens are still having gas guzzling vehicles handed to them.

Those who are aiming to conserve and save money are finding it tougher, thanks to morons in this country who refuse to moderate their energy consumption. They figure they have plenty of money to throw at gas stations and power companies.

Freedom Rebel is on the story! Great work!!

Zimzone Says:

Note how Blackwater is trying hard to generate some positive press. This is a calculated move by Eric ‘Prince of Darkness’ to divert attention from gang rapes, killing civilians, playing Lone Ranger in Iraq & general public distrust of mercenaries.

May 16th, 2008 at 9:10 am
——

It also puts the safety of any entertainers doing a USO Tour in the hands of an unaccountable private contractor. Something to keep in mind if something “accidentally” happens
to an artist who criticized the war but supports the troops with an entertainment tour.

Bilbo Hussein Baggins Says:
I heard yesterday on the news that this bill (it is Webb’s bill) now has 59 sponsors in the Senate. That’s 1 less than they need to override a veto!

60 to overide the filibuster threat, 67 (over 2/3) to overide a veto. =)

Bilbo Hussein Baggins Says:

Rep. Don Young (R-AK) “is having trouble getting contributions to his legal defense fund.

He’s also way behind in the polling on his Senate seat. It looks like the Democrats could pick up both senate seats in Alaska.

He’s not running for the Senate, is he? I thought he was just running for his existing seat in the House. I could be wrong, but I didn’t think both Senate seats were ever up in the same year, except under unusual circumstances (e.g. death).

Boner was in full sartorial splendor yesterday, herding his masses with pretzel logic & commitments to nothing.

This is the next jerkoff who has to go. Anyone know anything about his district? Hopefully, we’ll have a Dem taking his seat.

Even InSannity is perplexed on how the R’s could lose Trent Lott’s seat. Hey, slanthead, it’s called ‘enough is enough’. The Republican brand has eroded to a point that it stands for corruption, lies & warmongering. Great work, Republicans!

Didn’t Bush say the same thing? As I recall, the first Democrat he approached to join his cabinet was Sen. John Breux of Louisiana. The things is, at the time the Senate was spilt 50-50, and sin ce the governor of the state at that time was a Republican, Bush’s ploy was simply a naked attempt to shit control of the Senate to his own party.

Congrats to Roy Blunt (R), who, among a poll taken of hookers, was judged least ‘doable’. Atta boy, Roy, even hookers find you despicable.

#17 McWars Says:

Not a whole lot has changed in my area, Freedom Rebel. People are still doing 35 in a 15mph zone and teens are still having gas guzzling vehicles handed to them.

Those who are aiming to conserve and save money are finding it tougher, thanks to morons in this country who refuse to moderate their energy consumption. They figure they have plenty of money to throw at gas stations and power companies.

Good Morning McWars. You are right, I went to the store to buy groceries and saw 5 new 30 day tags. Only 2 of the 5 new vehicles was a sub-compact.

#18 Zooey Says:

Freedom Rebel is on the story! Great work!!

Good Morning Zooey! Thank you..

I didn’t know that one, ralph. I’m not sure if the illiterate drunk campaigned on appointing dems to his admnistration, but he did holdover Mineta. Would that count for anything, in terms of Mineta’s legacy?

Thanks FR. Good morning to you, too.

Former Assistant Secretary of Defense under Ronald Reagan, Lawrence Korb, writes, “By now, Mr. Reagan would most likely have redeployed our forces from Iraq as he did from Lebanon. But if he stayed, he would have implemented a draft.â€

So much for What would Ronald Reagan do?. BURN! PWNED, Heritage.org.

Greetings all, from South Dakota — a long way from home. Getting ready to check out the Badlands. :)

Keep up the good work TPers. You’re the greatest.

#14 Bilbo Hussein Baggins Says:

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) “secured millions in federal funds for a land acquisition program that provided a windfall for an Arizona developer whose executives were major campaign donors, public records show.â€

So, every time the Republicans try to bring up Obama’s deal with Rezko, the Democrats need to point to this deal of McCains. Actually, it seems to me that this deal of McCain’s should be investigated since it sounds a lot like a bribe to me.

Plus that doesn’t include his land swap deals:

The “land swap†involved a deal where individuals would be able to exchange rugged, undeveloped land primarily owned by Fred Ruskin and the Yavapai Ranch Limited Partnership. This property included some rare, desert woodland ecosystems including habitat for the pronghorn antelope. The land would be folded into the existing Prescott National Forest. In exchange, the owners would receive land which was more accessible and ready for development.

The controversy comes from the fact that Ruskin’s group wound up getting land valued at $120,000 per acre in exchange for land previously worth $2,000 per acre. They then turned around and handed a deal to develop 12,000 homes in this area to SunCor Development, run by Steven A. Betts who has raised a great deal of money for Senator McCain. In his defense, the McCain campaign has released answers to a series of questions on these land deals stating that there were no prior agreements between the Senator and the other parties involved.

McCain has made alot of campaign contributors very, very rich.

Livin’ life in the west, Zoo.

Have a good day, friend.

Study: Mexican immigrants slower to assimilate in U.S.

Jacob Vigdor of Duke University points out that there is no question that today’s immigrants are dissimilar from the native-born population when they first arrive.

U.S. lists polar bear as threatened species
Protection linked to warming; activists say measure has loopholes

Kempthorne said the Endangered Species Act was “never meant to regulate global climate change.”

Credible Information Linking Venezuela to Columbia FARC Terrorists

The findings may fuel a push by U.S. lawmakers for diplomatic and economic sanctions on Venezuela, the fourth- biggest supplier of foreign crude oil to the U.S. The FARC is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S., European Union and Canada. Under U.S. law, support for a terrorist group by anyone is illegal.

Blackwater PR in the form of $250,000 per year is a pittence to whitewash their name. Not impressed.

Rawstory.com carries a blistering open letter to Bush, written by journalist, Larisa Alexander, on the Bush family ties to Nazi Germany and fascism.

http://www.atlargely.com/2008/05/all-the-preside.html

“including homecoming celebrations and logistical support for USO entertainment tours.â€

How is it that they make a Shania Twain concert sound like black hawk down?

#35 Marie Says:

Rawstory.com carries a blistering open letter to Bush, written by journalist, Larisa Alexander, on the Bush family ties to Nazi Germany and fascism.

Thank you, Marie. Very interesting, I never heard about that part of Bush’s family history. That is incredible.

Why would anyone want to build power plants near national parks anyway? Why not build them where there are large concentrations of people who need the power? This is bush in a nutshell, evil, and incompetent.

downwamorica Says:

Study: Mexican immigrants slower to assimilate in U.S.

Jacob Vigdor of Duke University points out that there is no question that today’s immigrants are dissimilar from the native-born population when they first arrive.

All immigrants, in some way, are dissimilar from the natives.

On the count of language, I personally don’t care if immigrants don’t have a command of English — adult immigrants, especially. A new language, I know, is very difficult to learn at that stage. Even tougher when you have a right-wing nutjob over your shoulder trying to speed up your lessons. I’m not particularly threatened by others speaking a different language. It broadens my thinking in a sea in English. Not bashing English, of course, but it’s not like it’s going away anytime soon in this century.

Bilbo Hussein Baggins Says:
Yee Ha! Here’s an e-mail I received last night from Robert Wexler:

I got this email too. This guy seems to be the type of Congressman the Dems need in a leadership position.

Bobwurst Says:

Why would anyone want to build power plants near national parks anyway? Why not build them where there are large concentrations of people who need the power? This is bush in a nutshell, evil, and incompetent.

If they make a National Park an undesirable to visitors then they have an excuse to dispose of the land or the resources available from the land.

I read a book years ago on the Bush dynasty, wherein the connections to fascism, the war profiteering, the nazi sympathy, AND the connections to the Walker family (from which Barbara hails).

RE: PTSD, “but said it’s not official policy.”

I’m confused that the good VA Secretary doesn’t seem to understand how beauracracies work.

The Bush WH has a strong history of silencing, firing and persecuting those who don’t fall in line.

Even without that, in a beauracracy, you have midlevel managers who are constantly monitoring ways to please the top. This makes it very easy for the top to drop a hint, and the midlevel managers then “unofficially” institute policies which can’t be instituted from the top because of their controversial nature.

Does the top know about it? Of course.

But the top retains plausible deniability.

The VA is dragging its feet on all vets, my brother, diagnosed with PTSD and MS, inter alia, and unable to perform his old duties as a nurse, is still being given the run around a couple of years after filing for increased disability, including having papers lost repeatedly!

I meant to mention that my brother is a Vietnam Vet whose still being given short shrift.

If they make a National Park an undesirable to visitors then they have an excuse to dispose of the land or the resources available from the land.
May 16th, 2008 at 10:19 am

the agenda of the busheviks was set in stone already in 1980, when the raygunauts came to power. they began the show, and every regime since (including the Sainted Clenis’s) was designed to attack, diminish, suppress, and/or undermine any and every institution or instrument to which the PEOPLE might turn to resist the encroachment of CorpoRat hegemony into the democratic self-governing life of the Nation.

That’s their mutherfookin Mission: Accomplished…

#44 Doc Rock Says:

The VA is dragging its feet on all vets, my brother, diagnosed with PTSD and MS, inter alia, and unable to perform his old duties as a nurse, is still being given the run around a couple of years after filing for increased disability, including having papers lost repeatedly!

The VA is no better than the average insurance company. I have heard horror stories from family members about how many times their paperwork was lost. The Insurance companies deny claims 5 to 7 times, before you actually get an approval. They figure you will give up after 6 to 8 months just like the VA Hospitals.

It is tragic, I’m very sorry that your brother has to go through that. They did that to my uncles and great uncles, WWII vets and Vietnam Vets.

The United Service Organizations (USO) has announced that it has joined with Blackwater to help provide amenities to U.S. troops.

Watch how much USO funding BlackDeathWater siphons off…Bastards.

But “a document filed with the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct shows ‘no activity‘ since†the fund was approved.

Suppose you set a ‘Help out the Scoundrel’ fund and nobody donated?

BWAHAHAHAH! Maybe there is a shred of justice left in America.

That whole business with the VA ‘downgrading’ PTSD to “adjustment disorder” made me so very coldly furious.

And my mood wasn’t helped in the slightest when I read this op/ed from Robert Scheer this morning:

… In one of those all too rare examples of true heroism that makes one proud to be an American, [General Counsel Alberto J.] Mora challenged the Bush administration to practice the human rights standards that America proclaims to the world. But Bush would stay true to his own values. “Any activity we conduct is within the law,” Bush stated in November 2005, adding, “We do not torture.”

What was it then? As the New Yorker’s Jane Mayer reported in 2006, citing the Army’s own interrogation logs, al-Qahtani, in addition to documented beatings and other physical abuse, was put through an S&M routine calculated to drive him mad, which it accomplished:

“Qahtani had been subjected to 160 days of isolation in a pen perpetually flooded with artificial light. He was interrogated on 48 of 54 days, for 18 to 20 hours at a stretch. He had been stripped naked; straddled by taunting female guards, in an exercise called ‘invasion of space by a female’; forced to wear women’s underwear on his head, and to put on a bra; threatened by dogs; placed on a leash; and told that his mother was a whore.’”

Quite an advertisement for the American way of life. Should we expect the rest of the world to boycott the Olympics when we next get to host the games? Others might question why the Third 1949 Geneva Convention’s prohibition against “outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment,” doesn’t apply to the United States.

http://news.yahoo.com/ s/ uc/ 20080514/ cm_uc_crrscx/ op_176122;_ylt=AoAXmy_o_g70_gjitst5Tvf9wxIF

God forgive us.

The United Service Organizations (USO) has announced that it has joined with Blackwater to help provide amenities to U.S. troops. The controversial contracting company has pledged $2 million over the next four years “to support USO programs and services for the troops, including homecoming celebrations and logistical support for USO entertainment tours.â€

*************************************************************

Am I the only one who sees something distinctly disturbing and disquieting about this, no matter how innocuous it might seem to be on the surface?

Increasingly, military contractors such as KBR and Blackwater remind me of the way in which some people compare the Mafia to an octopus with long arms which have historically wormed their way into and woven their influence over many different corners of society. Granted, I recognize that the current nature of our military as a volunteer force makes military contractors something of a necessary evil even at the best of times since it seems extremely unlikely that there is even close to enough personnel to complete all the tasks that the military needs to have done — and even more so in recent years considering that the military has been having trouble meeting its yearly quotas for new recruits. Without the contractors, it seems likely that the military would eventually collapse under the weight of all of the jobs which would have been going undone. (At the same time, considering some of the stories which have surfaced of late revealing the slipshod fulfillment of contracts both overseas and at home by KBR, I’m nevertheless inclined to wonder whether nonfeasance would be that much worse than the misfeasance — possibly even malfeasance — of which they have been accused.)

It’s not a secret that private military contractors have taken over a substantial number — if not the majority — of tasks not directly related to combat which were formerly filled by members of the military. One of the reasons why I see this as being problematic to say the least is because of the fact that the more dependent a person or group of people becomes on another person or group of people, the more control and influence the latter can potentially bring to bear on the former — potentially up to and including manipulation and blackmail.

If it were KBR and not Blackwater with which the USO was aligning itself, I would still find it disturbing and disquieting — but I would have considered them marginally preferable to Blackwater. The USO may not be part of the military but they are closely aligned with the military even if not any sense which pertains to combat. Servicing the military is all that the USO does — and through this new alliance with the USO, Blackwater now has just one more bit of influence over the military in an area which they didn’t have it before. Blackwater is one company which I would prefer to see having as little influence within the military as humanly possible. KBR disgusts me — Blackwater, on the other hand, quite frankly frightens me. While I see KBR as being corrupt, I don’t see them as potentially presenting a direct threat to my freedom someday for the most part (that is, apart from the mysterious relocation compounds which they’ve been building here in the US) — however, I do view Blackwater as potentially presenting such a threat.

I’m inclined to agree with Naomi Wolf that Blackwater has the distinct potential of being developed into a paramilitary police force within this country. In her recent book “The End of America: Letters to a Young Patriot”, Wolf cites numerous examples from history demonstrating that the establishment of a paramilitary police force which owes nothing to the people is one of the primary mechanisms through which tyrannical elements within a country seize power and bring down a democratic society from the inside.