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Kristoffer “Kris” Kristofferson is a legendary American country music singer, songwriter and actor. He is best known for hits such as “Me and Bobby McGee”, “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down”, and “Help Me Make It Through the Night”. He is also a political activist. Kris released a music video about how he feels about George Bush, and the way Bush is handling the world today. The video “In The News” has reached #18 on Neil Young’s Living With War Today. In my opinion, Kris’s video is a form of art as a political statement. See the video and judge for yourself. Is art political? How does it affect you, and the way you feel about the world today?

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Technorati Tags: George Bush, Bush, war, activists, activist, activism, political activist, politics, music, music videos, video, videos, Kris Kristofferson, Kristofferson

Rachel Corrie, an American college student, was murdered March 16, 2003, by the Israeli Army while trying to block demolition of a Palestinian doctor’s home in Gaza by an Israeli army bulldozer, made in America by Caterpillar Inc. and paid for with American taxpayer’s dollars. The doctor was a peaceful man. “Rachel Corrie believed in non-violent resistance, put herself in harm’s way as a shield of the people, and paid with her life in a manner most brutal.” –Billy Bragg–

Eyewitness Account

The following account is from Joe Carr, a International Solidarity Movement (ISM) peace activist from Kansas City, Missouri.

“Between 16:45 and 17:00, One Israeli Defense Force bulldozer, serial number 949623, began to work near the house of a physician who is a friend of ours. It continued driving forward headed straight for Rachel. When it got so close that it was moving the earth beneath her, she climbed onto the pile of rubble being pushed by the bulldozer. She got so high onto it that she was at eye-level with the cab of the bulldozer. Despite this, he continued forward, which pulled her legs into the pile of rubble, and pulled her down out of view of the driver. We ran towards him, and waved our arms and shouted, one activist with the megaphone. But he continued forward, until Rachel was underneath the central section of the bulldozer. Despite the obviousness of her position, the bulldozer began to reverse, without lifting its blade, and drug the blade over her body again. He continued to reverse until he was on the boarder strip, about 100 meters away, and left her crushed body in the sand. Three activists ran to her and began administering first-responder medical treatment. She said, “My back is broken!” but nothing else …”

According to Amnesty International, “For years, the Israeli authorities have pursued a policy of discriminatory house demolition, on the one hand allowing scores of Israeli settlements to be built on occupied Palestinian land, in breach of international law, while simultaneously confiscating Palestinian lands, refusing building permits for Palestinians and destroying their homes. The land vacated has often been used to build illegal Israeli settlements. International law forbids occupying powers from settling their own citizens in the territories they occupy.”

“Any humanitarian looking at the sheer number of innocent civilians who have lost their homes can only condemn Israel’s house demolition policy as a hugely disproportionate military response by an occupation army… It is a policy that creates only hardship and bitterness, and in the end can only undermine hope for future reconciliation and peace.” -–Peter Hansen– Commissioner General of United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA)

In Israel, since 1947, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have been guilty of genocide, an ethnic cleansing of the native palestinian people. Amnesty International rips IDF for ‘reckless disregard of life’ in Gaza. The London-based human rights organization Amnesty International has condemned Israel’s attacks on Gaza, claiming they are “being carried out with reckless disregard for civilian life,” killing disproportionately huge numbers of unarmed civilian bystanders. The statement said that IDF actions this week displayed a “disproportion and recklessness” that has “characterized” its operations in Palestinian territories. In its statement, Amnesty highlighted disproportionate casualty statistics in the conflict, saying that in the last two months, close to 200 Gazans, of whom around “one-third were unarmed civilian bystanders, including 15 children” have been killed.” In the same period, the statement continued, “one Israeli civilian was killed and several injured by rocket fire,” the statement said. “This latest cycle of killings and destruction comes at a time when the 1.5 million inhabitants of Gaza are confronting a humanitarian crisis as a result of the increasingly stringent blockade imposed by Israel on Gaza. Hospitals and medical facilities, already struggling to cope with shortages of electricity, fuel, equipment and spare parts due to the Israeli blockade, are struggling to cope with the new influx of casualties caused by Israeli attacks in the last few days. With Gaza’s borders sealed, many patients in dire need of medical care which is not available in Gaza cannot be transferred to hospitals abroad and risk losing their lives.”

Rachel Corrie’s death is a scandalous example of American taxpayer’s dollars at work. Caterpillar Inc. and Volvo, two American companies, are involved and taking money from Israel to pay for the bulldozers. This money was obtained by Israel from American taxes to pay for the demolition of homes, and the death of Rachel Corrie. Doesn’t this make you proud be an American?

Video by staticbrain.com, music by Billy Bragg, pictures from rachelcorrie.org, scoop.nz

Technorati Tags: rachel, corrie, rachel corrie, peace, peace activists, activists, caterpillar, volvo, Israel, IDF, Israeli Defense Forces, Gaza, Palestine, taxpayer, American, America, bulldozer, bulldozers, murder

9/11 widows call for new investigation after revelations of White House, commission ties
by Nick Juliano

The widows whose political activism was largely responsible for the establishment of a commission to investigate the September 11 attacks say a new book revealing the backstory of the 9/11 Commission proves that their initial concerns about its executive director were correct and demonstrate the need for another investigation.

Philip Shenon, who covered the proceedings for the New York Times, has written a new book, The Commission: The Uncensored History of the 9/11 Investigation, which was released Tuesday. The book reveals the close ties between commission executive director Philip Zelikow and White House advisers Karl Rove and Condoleezza Rice.

The Commission also reveals that aside from one staff member, no one on the 9/11 investigative panel reviewed what was perhaps the most robust treasure trove of pre-9/11 intelligence on al Qaeda — records from the National Security Agency, which conducts electronic surveillance and codebreaking for the US Intelligence Community.

“General Michael Hayden, who headed the NSA at the time, was eager to cooperate and share what his organization had with the 9/11 Commission, but Executive Director Zelikow was not interested,” 9/11 widows Patty Casazza, Monica Gabriellle, Mindy Kleinberg and Lorie Van Auken said in a statement reacting to the book.

“Why didnt Phil Zelikow make reviewing these vital NSA documents a Commission priority?” they ask. “It seems clear that not every fact and lead was followed in this investigation compromising the validity of the Commission’s final report and its findings.”

The 9/11 widows called for Zelikow to resign or be fired from the Commission back in 2004, when his ties with Rice and Rove were first revealed. Shenon’s book, they say, proves their concerns were right all along.

“It is abundantly clear that Philip Zelikow should have immediately been replaced when the first rumblings of his impropriety and conflicts of interest surfaced,” they said. “When all of this information became clear, the Commissioners and the press should have called for Zelikows resignation. We did. Shamefully, most were silent.”

As washingtonpost.com columnist Dan Froomkin notes, “This isn’t the first time it’s turned out that the 9/11 Commission wasn’t getting the full picture. It’s not even the second.”

Bob Woodward revealed in his book State of Denial, that 9/11 Commission members were not told of a July 10, 2001, meeting in which then-CIA Director George Tenet tried to warn Rice and Bush about the need to focus on al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden, while the president and his confidant were distracted by their pursuit of a missile defense system.

In another Bush administration exposé, investigative reporter Ron Suskind revealed the president’s brush-off of the ominous memo warning “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.”:

“All right,” Bush told the panicked CIA briefer who interrupted the president’s vacation to deliver the warning in person. “You’ve covered your ass, now.”

The 9/11 widows also fault the Commission for relying too much on information gained from “second and third hand knowledge of interrogations of tortured individuals, detainees that were being held in secret locations.”

They say Shenon’s book reveals information that “only scratches the surface” of what happened within the government before the 9/11 attacks.

“The bottom line is that the most deadly attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor remains dangerously unexamined,” they write. “This can only be remedied with an investigation guided by the facts and conducted outside the reach of those with a vested interest in suppressing the truth.”

Technorati Tags: 9-11, 911, 9/11, 911 commission, conspiracy, conspiracies, bush, rove, CIA, coverup, nig brother

And they expect us to trust them… They can’t even manage themselves… What a bunch of idiots…

Now this my friends is hilarious…

FBI Wiretaps Dropped Due To Unpaid Bills
By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writer Thu Jan 10, 9:49 PM ET

WASHINGTON - Telephone companies have cut off FBI wiretaps used to eavesdrop on suspected criminals because of the bureau’s repeated failures to pay phone bills on time. A Justice Department audit released Thursday blamed the lost connections on the FBI’s lax oversight of money used in undercover investigations. In one office alone, unpaid costs for wiretaps from one phone company totaled $66,000. In at least one case, a wiretap used in a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act investigation “was halted due to untimely payment,” the audit found. FISA wiretaps are used in the government’s most sensitive and secretive criminal and intelligence investigations, and allow eavesdropping on suspected terrorists or spies.

Technorati Tags: FBI, FISA, Federal Bureau of Intelligence, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, wiretaps, terrorists, spies, eavesdropping

The U.S. news is censoring it, but U.S. Representative Dennis Kucinich has moved on the House floor to initiate impeachment proceedings against VicePresident Richard Cheney, for high crimes and misdemeanors for falsifying information to justify the Iraq War.

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A small section of the resolution

Read the full text of the impeachent resolution along with the evidence to justify impeachment at congressman Kucinich’s website. The first link goes to his document section, and the following link goes to a summary of the resolution here in PDF format. You must have the FREE adobe reader program to read the file, which can be downloaded here.

My Opinion: NOTHING is more important for the future of the United States than the removal from office and criminal prosecution of Cheney and others in the Bush administration. It is about damn time someone stood up to this administration for all the lies and falsifying evidence that has gone on in regards to the Iraq war. I salute Congressman Dennis Kucinich for fighting for justice.

Technorati Tags: Iraq, Dennis Kucinich, Dick Cheney, Big Brother, War, Impeach, Impeachment

Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda is a 60-year-old former heroin addict and ex-convict who believes that he is the living incarnation of Jesus Christ. He refers to himself as both Jesus Christ and the Antichrist and exhibits a “666″ tattoo on his forearm. He has millions duped - and they’re running to tattoo parlors to have the number “666″ permanently engraved on their bodies in order to show allegiance to this convict!

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However, Miranda’s theology doesn’t match up with the REAL Jesus.

According to news about Miranda, “Jesus” makes a six-figure income, drinks, smokes, surrounds himself with gorgeous women, and lives in absolute luxury in his latest incarnation. He sports Rolexes, rides around in expensive cars, and he even has body guards!

What makes this self-proclaimed messiah’s message so enticing?

Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda’s message is basic: “freedom to indulge.” He teaches that:

* The devil, hell, and sin are non-existent,
* Prayer is a waste of time, and
* The Ten Commandments (moral or ethical guidelines) are irrelevant.

His followers believe they are God’s chosen people, predestined for salvation, no matter what they do on earth. As such, all other religions’ teachings are rejected, believing that all other faiths are false and must be destroyed — even when Creciendio en Gracia’s marches result in violent consequences. Miranda esteems himself above Jesus of Nazareth. His responses during interviews are startling: “I am greater than him . . . I teach better than him . . . I won’t die. Even if you tried to kill me! I will be president of the biggest government that this earth has experienced. I’m going to change the whole world.”

Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda is definitely not Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Christ means “anointed one” — consecrated, set apart as holy.

* Jesus Christ fervently believed in praying — especially for others (John 17) and in obedience to God the Father (Hebrews 5:7-8).
* Jesus Christ was not selfish thinking only of himself. He chose to lay down his divine nature and be a human sacrifice, concentrating on God’s broken relationship with man, and died on the cross to repair that relationship, shedding his blood to pay for our sin.
(Hebrews 1:3; 2:14-15)
* Jesus taught with the goal of honoring God (John 7:16-18).

The Bible warns extensively of false teachers, those who practice deception (Matthew 24:4-5, Colossians 2:8, 1 Timothy 4:1-2, 2 Timothy 4:3-4, 2 Peter 2:1-3). The Scriptures also tell of Jesus Christ’s Second Coming to reunite all believers eternally with God (Matthew 16:27, 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18, Revelation 1:7-8). Do not be deceived. Jesus Christ’s divine nature is unchanging. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. So do not be attracted by strange, new ideas” (Hebrews 13:8-9).

Mat 24:24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

2Co 11:13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.

1Jn 2:18 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.

Rev 13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six. (six hundred threescore and six equals 666) (emphasis mine)

Technorati Tags: 666, end times, prophecy, prophecies

US Senator Ted Stevens R-Alaska and his son former state Senate president Ben Stevens R-Alaska, along with another legislature member are concurrently under investigation by the justice department, and the FBI. The FBI is conducting a wide ranging investigation into public corruption in Alaska, in an ongoing bribery for influence in oilfield legislation scandal with Republican state legislators. There are now bribery and conspiracy charges against four current and former state legislators. The Senator in the photograph is Ted Stevens R-Alaska. (Photo: By Lauren Victoria Burke — Associated Press)
The other two charged were Pete Kott R-Alaska and Bruce Weyhrauch R-Alaska.

An Alaska oil contractor, former Veco Corp. chief executive Bill Allen, cooperated with the FBI by tape-recording phone calls with Sen. Ted Stevens, and the other legislators. Senator Ted Stevens profited from these conversations by receiving a large-scale renovation of his house in the resort town of Girdwood. The FBI recorded thousands of conversations between Allen and another Veco executive, Rick Smith, and videotaped meetings between legislators and contractors at a hotel suite. The conversations were taped by the FBI between Stevens, a Republican up for re-election in 2008, and Bill Allen, then chief executive officer of VECO Corp., an oilfield services firm.

Allen also admitted in testimony last week that he bribed three other Alaska state lawmakers, including Stevens’s son, former state Senate president Ben Stevens. The younger Stevens is also under scrutiny by the Justice Department.

Allen and another VECO executive pleaded guilty to paying more than $400,000 in bribes to public officials in Alaska. Also VECO employess admitted that they helped run the Senator’s fundraisers by raising money for him while they were on company time. This could violate campaign finace rules which would be another scandal all by itself.

All Stevens’ office could say beyond no comment was “not to form conclusions based upon incomplete and sometimes incorrect reports in the media,” CNN said.

Stevens is the GOP’s longest-serving senator.

sources
www.washingtonpost.com, www.ap.org, www.upi.com