Anti-War

Why oh why do I keep getting hits for aaron hodgins davis, sometimes mis-spelled as aaron hodgkins davis? Getclicky says in the last four weeks 8.9% of my search hits were for these two, 7.4% for the correctly spelled one, 1.5% for the other. Even today I’ve already gotten three search hits for these two (two for the first, one for the second).

I’ve mentioned him only in one of my posts, Dangerous McCain on August 11, 2008. I include in this post the remarkable YouTube film by Aaron Hodgins Davis with the title, Republicans and military men on John McCain, and I spell out that the film is by Davis with the soundtrack, Lux Aeterna by Clint Mansell.

Just now I listened to the video again and it is indeed breathtakingly powerful with that soundtrack adding enormously to the film’s message. Perhaps this is indeed why I do get so many hits for it.

Another great film by Davis with the Mansell soundtrack is Operation Anthropoid on the plot to assassinate the Nazi, Reinhard Heydrich, known as Hitler’s butcher. Chilling!

Here’s part of what Lee Iacocca said in his recent book:

‘ “Am I the only guy in this country who’s fed up with what’s happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We’ve got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we’ve got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can’t even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, “Stay the course.”
…….
“And don’t tell me it’s all the fault of right-wing Republicans or liberal Democrats. That’s an intellectually lazy argument, and it’s part of the reason we’re in this stew. We’re not just a nation of factions. We’re a people. We share common principles and ideals. And we rise and fall together.
……..

Jesse Ventura, remember him?, tells it like it is!

How come more Dems aren’t talking like this? Forget the Repugs, but geez, can’t we get a single Dem to get this pissed off once in a while?

Ted’s successful brain surgery today is great news. How many remember his great speech of nearly six years ago? Perhaps if he had been listened to then we might have avoided the debacle that is Iraq. Thanks to Brian Donohue for reminding us of this on his dailyrevolution.net blog. Here’s the link to Ted’s speech. That the MSM not only ignored the speech at the time, but essentially ridiculed it as some far out leftist tripe has been brought out by Eric Boehlert. Thanks again to Brian Donohue for this link.

Here are some of the key passages in Kennedy’s September 27, 2002, speech, as listed by Eric Boehlert:

* “[T]he Administration has not made a convincing case that we face such an imminent threat to our national security that a unilateral, pre-emptive American strike and an immediate war are necessary.”

* “[T]he Administration has not explicitly acknowledged, let alone explained to the American people, the immense post-war commitment that will be required to create a stable Iraq.”

* “A largely unilateral American war that is widely perceived in the Muslim world as untimely or unjust could worsen not lessen the threat of terrorism.”

* “War with Iraq before a genuine attempt at inspection and disarmament, or without genuine international support — could swell the ranks of Al Qaeda sympathizers and trigger an escalation in terrorist acts.”

* “[I]nformation from the intelligence community over the past six months does not point to Iraq as an imminent threat to the United States or a major proliferator of weapons of mass destruction.”

* “[T]here is no clear and convincing pattern of Iraqi relations with either Al Qaeda or the Taliban.”

And this great foresight was essentially ignored by the MSM and/or referred to as unpatriotic ranting.

OK, I’ve had about enough of this nonsense. The Horror! It has to stop. War has to stop. We have to get the hell out of Iraq, lock stock and barrel, period.

I’m dropping my support of Obama and will support neither Clinton nor Obama. Instead pressure has to be applied on both of them to promise to really get us out of Iraq.

Cennad has a post A Peace Movement… ‘So’ which contains a link to this great article by Naomi Klein and Jeremy Scahill, Anti-war campaigners have to change electoral tactics.

Klein and Scahill state that “Neither Clinton nor Obama has a real plan to end the occupation of Iraq, but they could be forced to change position”. Let’s hope this is possible.

Here’s the key paragraph from Klein and Scahill:

In sharp contrast to this downsized occupation is the unequivocal message coming from hundreds of soldiers who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Iraq Veterans Against the War which, earlier this month, held the Winter Soldier hearings in Silver Spring, Maryland - modelled on the 1971 Winter Soldier investigation, in which veterans testified about US atrocities in Vietnam - are not supporting any candidate or party. Instead they are calling for immediate, unconditional withdrawal of all US soldiers and contractors. Coming from peace activists, the “out now” position has been dismissed as naive. It is harder to ignore coming from the hundreds who have served - and continue to serve - on the frontlines.

Juan Cole gives an impassioned discussion of this speech and what it means in America, with the city of Detroit as an example. Well worth a read. Here’s the first paragraph:

Barack Obama was talking about something very personal to him, about being rooted in family and community. He recognizes that race had shaped both and had wounded both. He refuses to give up on the communities in which he is rooted even if they sometimes act out on issues of race. He cannot, he says, afford to give up, and neither can we. No matter what happens in electoral politics, on March 18, 2008, Barack Obama entered the American history books with his brilliant, searingly honest speech on race.

Brian Donohue will be marching today in Brooklyn, New York, with the Brooklyn for Peace organization. Here’s a copy of their poster and schedule.

It’s a long way from Maine to Brooklyn, NY, but hopefully we’re all in this together, in spirit when we can’t participate in body. Good luck to the marchers in Brooklyn today!! And how about that human chain set for Saturday?

OK, back to politics. Charles Pierce has a wild way with words. Here’s his latest (last paragraph) from Eric Alterman’s Altercation:

That story this week about how the war in Iraq has fallen off the general radar is almost incomprehensibly sad, and not merely because it advantages The Saintly Straight-Talkin’ Maverick Dude, which it does. It’s sad because it’s of a piece with the whole effort by the Avignon Presidency to run everything about the response to the 9-11 attacks off the books. Go shopping. You don’t need to know why we’re going to war, and we’re going to lie to you about it anyway. Don’t photograph the coffins. Don’t count the dead. Keep the cost out of the federal budget and off television. If they didn’t need the children of ordinary people to die to get what they want, they might have been able to turn the whole thing into a gated community of the soul. And now, nobody’s paying attention, and nobody’s angry when the people who get paid to pay attention run around yelling about Eliot Spitzer’s banging hookers and the latest blurp from a crotchety old fool like Geraldine Ferraro. Also this week, the Pentagon went out of its way to bury the news that it’s own study has concluded that one of the primary casus belli — the Iraq-al Qaeda connection — was the moonshine that several previous studies said it was. The news dropped with a thud and life went on. The country was told, in a hundred different ways, not to care about this war — or, really, the one in Afghanistan, either — and it has learned the lesson all too well. I don’t know how I’d feel if I were a soldier, or the father of one. But this country is nowhere near as balls-out angry as it ought to be, and none of the contending candidates seem willing or able to become the vehicle of righteous democratic-small-d rage. I don’t want to come together with these people. I want them in irons until they tell me where my country went.

For an excellent discussion of the issues raised by Geraldine Ferraro, see this post by Brian Donohue.

Jon Stuart has fun at the Oscars:

I couldn’t pass up this opening paragraph from Juan Cole this morning:

I review the news below and don’t somehow conclude that the US occupation of Iraq is a success story. I know we are paying a lot for our presence in Iraq. I can’t figure out what the average American is receiving for the money. It isn’t increased security, since Iraq is a training ground for terrorists who will likely hit the US or US interests in future. It isn’t extra petroleum, at least not for us ordinary folks. Maybe the US oil majors will do well out of it. But even they say they can’t do business in Iraq without oil legislations. And petroleum prices held above $98 a barrel on Friday. The Turkish invasion of Iraq was cited as one reason for the price increase. Instead of asking “are things hopeful in Iraq?” or “is there progress in Iraq?”, the American media and public should be asking, “What are we getting out of all this?” That is the question the US Right fears most of all, which is why they ask the ‘progress’ question all the time. They only have two settings, “slow progress” and “progress.” A burned out hulk of a city like Falluja? A sign of “slow progress.”

I enjoy having access to alternative media where I often find nuggets of truth.