Sanctions always a dangerous deadend for U.S.

The U.N. sanctions against North Korea for its nuclear test are a declaration of war, and the country will "deal merciless blows" if the nation's sovereignty is violated, the North's central government said Tuesday in its first response to the U.N. measures. Thanks U.S./UN! This recent news brings me to the point that Sanctions against other countries have always turned out bad for the U.S and our reputation throughout history. Period.

The North wants "peace but is not afraid of war," says N. Korea's Foreign Ministry. And so have said many previous nations that have been dealt harsh sanctions by the U.S. and it's minions throughout history.

When the U.S. placed sanctions on countries like Cuba and Iraq, they did more damage than good. In Cuba, the people are forced to confide in Castro and to flee the country. The same was the result of harsh sanctions against Iraq, people forced to trust and obey Saddam, and deterioration of their economy.

All resulting in very angry and pissed of people around the world (some a.k.a. terrorists). “The number of Iraqi people who have died in the last eight years as a result of the sanctions exceeds the death toll due to all the weapons of mass destruction used in human history,” said Noam Chomsky to MIT's 'The Tech' in April 1999. And Pat Buchanan states, "sanctions may have caused the deaths of 500,000 [Iraqi] children. When Madeleine Albright, Secretary of State under President Clinton was asked if this horrific toll of Iraqi children was justified, she replied, 'We believe the price is worth it.' "

In the case of Iran, we are again warned by Mohamed ElBaradei (IAEA cheif) back in March, that Iran is not an imminent and sanctions against them is a "bad idea" and "we need to lower the pitch."

The sanctions imposed by the U.S. also deals hard blows to our domestic economy, as "...firms and workers in the United States also pay an immediate price when [sanctions are brought against other nations]. Even though the aggregate cost in relation to our GDP is usually very small, the costs may be significant for individual firms or industries." This is one of the facts that Jeffrey Schott, of the Institute for International Economics, stated to the Committee on International Relations at the House of Representatives on June 3, 1998. We are also told this by Richard Haass of The Brookings Institute, "...often sanctions turn out to be little more than expressions of U.S. preferences that hurt American economic interests without changing the target's behavior for the better."

'DUMBASS' quotes Bush, makes you laugh

DUMBASS by Jules Carlysle is a complete collection of outrageous quotes from President George W Bush . "DUMBASS skewers Bush with his own words while delivering an opportunity for thoughtful analysis of how the issues shaping our future are mirroring the issues that shaped our past. More than just a funny quote book, Carlysle hopes DUMBASS drives home a much bigger message, that America and the very principles she holds dear are in imminent danger. Carlysle says, 'We are watching a poorly staged rendition of Wag the Dog, interpreted for the morbidly stupid and performed by the criminally insane.'""

Yummy Links of the Day

The Abu Ghraib files (Salon)
279 photographs and 19 videos from the Army's internal investigation record show three months of detainee abuse inside the prison -- and make clear that many responsible have yet to be held accountable.

More...
Bush's Petro-Cartel Almost Has Iraq's Oil (AlterNet)
73% of Americans Say Iraqis Should Take Over (Angus Reid)
Marine Corps Issues Gag Order in Detainee Abuse Case (LA Times)
The End of Habeas Corpus (The Daily Dish)
How Bush Sr.'s aides really feel about Jr. (Impolitical)
Is U.S. Winning Iraq? Tony Snow Says, "I Don't Know" (E&P)

New bill lets teachers search students

On September 19th, Congress voted on whether to destroy the civil rights of students, enabling teachers to conduct invasive strip searches under the slightest suspicion. With less than 10% of the 435 member body present, they passed HR. 5295 - "Student and Teacher Safety Act of 2006." They claimed the act will remove weapons and drugs out of the school. Searching every student in violation of the Constitution only removes students' civil rights! The bill now goes on to be voted on in the Senate.

This bill was created by Rep. Geoff Davis (R-KY) who is running for re-election. He convinced House leadership to vote on the House floor September 19. The bill had less then 20 co-sponsors in the 435 member House (all of which are Republica of course).

The bill was never subjected to hearings or considered by the Committee to which it was referred, the Committee on Education and the Workforce. Even though it purports to interpret the U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment regarding searches, it was not referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

This bill is nothing more than another attack on the constitutional rights of young people by the federal government. Students should never have to check their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse door. Another step closer for Big Brother

2 GOP Senators want new Iraq strategy

Thank you Senators Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and John Warner of Virginia, who are two new Republicans speaking out against Bush's current plan,or lack thereof, for Iraq. NOw we need more Republicans to speak ou against the U.S. foreign policy in general. How about speaking out against the extremely flawed and phoney 'War on Terror' and 'War on Drugs' too!

Anyway, here's what Senator Hagel had to say: "The American people are not going to continue to support, sustain a policy that puts American troops in the middle of a civil war."

Yes, Hagel is very correct. WE won't support you Bush. Never. People are beginning to see through the bullshit like never before and it's beautiful. Full article.

We can see the tables ARE turning, slowly but surely, as long as people continue to have revelations and realize the hegemonistic nature of the Bush Administration. We are sure to win against the Republic. Even people in other nations are taking notice of the masses of people turning their backs on Bush finally: See the article "America is Finally Revolting Against the Republicans."

Yummy Links of the Day

One man still locked up from 9/11 sweeps (AP)
3/4 Americans want Troops Home From Iraq (Think Progress)
1 million U.S. retirees invade Mexico (SF Gate)
Rape charges recommended for Israeli President (CNN)

Very nice clothes for your body

A while ago we found Progresswear, a hip site with lots of anti-Republic and political gear. Today I found Ban T-Shirts, which also provides high quality anti-Bush garments and political message gear.

So grab a shirt or two and show your feelings about this great Administration we are under! Yay!

O'Reilly gets by murder talk, but not 14 yr old teen?

It's a big story but I am sure not all of you have heard about the 14 year old girl in Sacremento who was questioned by the Secret Service for writing the phrase"Kill Bush" on her MySpace profile. But she later replaced her page on the social-networking site after learning in her eighth-grade history class that such threats are a federal offense.

Bill O'Reilly has talked of murdering George Soros. However, this is apparently not taken seriously by the Federal or Local Governments because George Soros is not that significant to them.

O'Reilly has declared, among other things, that "[t]hey ought to hang this Soros guy." Most recently, O'Reilly compared Soros to Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini and alleged that Soros believes that "we're Nazis" because of U.S. policies on Iraq and torture.

The Secret Service (the SS, haha) or law enforcement does not interfere. Then O'Reilly straight up denies "go[ing] after" Soros.

I think this is completely ridiculous that the Bush Administration is trying to scare and intimidate people by going after a 14-year-old on MySpace, it's obviously an SS PR stunt. They got a great chance to show that they are "serious" and they took it. Well that's great SS, but shouldn't we take murderous threats against anyone seriously then?

Yummy Links of the Day

Hi everyone! I'm starting the 'Yummy Links of the Day' to share valuable informative articles and sites that I've found. There are so many great links and sites, it's hard to keep up with, so thats sort of why I am starting this.

A Timeline of Bush's Lies (Mother Jones)
American Fascism Is on the Rise (AlterNet)
Military Maintains Big Database on Antiwar Protests (NY Times)
Bush Keeps Revising War Justification (AP News)
Who's Running Afghan Policy? (The Nation)

Kerry speaking out

Way to go Kerry. OR NOT. Should have stood up to Bush during the election! Well, I do give Kerry credit for at least speaking out, UNLIKE some other still push-over democrats who voted for the Military Commissions Act.

"They tell us we're making progress in Iraq and that there is no civil war. That is a lie," he said. "It's immoral to lie about progress in that war in order to get through a news cycle or an election cycle.

"Kerry criticized the Bush administration for blaming the North Korean nuclear test on former Pres. Clinton. (Tell me what kind of leader doesn't take responsibilities for HIS actions and blames them on others, OH THE BUSH KIND!) "That is a lie. North Korea's nuclear program was frozen under BIl Clinton. Read the full article

Free America will end on Tuesday 10/17

On Tuesday, October 17, at 9:35 a.m., George W. Bush will sign the Military Commissions Act (more via Wikipedia) and abolish some important rights that our founding fathers had placed at the heart of our so-called democracy.

Thereafter, Bush and his minions will have the power to arbitrarily decide that you may be a threat to this nation. They can then lock you up and throw away the key. They don't need to tell you why you're being detained. They may torture you, as long as they don't call it that. They don't have to reveal whatever evidence they might have against you, so there is no way that you'll ever be able to dispute that secret evidence or prove your innocence. You're at their mercy.

This sounds like the kind of thing that goes on in brutal third-world dictatorships. But soon it will be the new American way. Every day we are dragged closer to the supressive, totalitarian society that George Orwell warned us about in his book '1984.' See the votes and how representatives from your state voted. via OpEdNews.com

For an even more in depth analysis of the problem read Nick Zsabo's "Liberty and habeas corpus" - Part I and Part II. (Thanks Nick!)

U.S. military Internet clean up campaign

This is almost as disturbing as cameras with loudspeakers. But not quite. "Big Brother is not watching you, but 10 members of a Virginia National Guard unit might be," according to the Army. The Manassas-based Guardsmen are on a one-year assignment to clamp down on both "official and unofficial Army Web sites for operational security violations."

The team, working "under the direction of the Army Web Risk Assessment Cell" hunts for "documents, pictures and other items that may compromise security" -- and then orders the parties to take the offensive content offline.

Since the relatively wide-open days following the Iraq invasion in 2003, the Pentagon has been slowly tightening the screws on military bloggers. Officers started busting frontline diarists for their websites. In Iraq, new rules required bloggers to check with their commanders before posting.

Then, in August, a message came from highest levels of the military that "EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY, NO INFORMATION MAY BE PLACED ON WEBSITES THAT ARE READILY ACCESSIBLE TO THE PUBLIC UNLESS IT HAS BEEN REVIEWED FOR SECURITY CONCERNS AND APPROVED IN ACCORDANCE WITH DEPUTY SECRETARY OF DEFENSE MEMORANDUM WEB SITE POLICIES AND PROCEDURES, DECEMBER 7, 1998."

More at DefenseTech via The Raw Story