6
POPSThe Sacrificer: Bush Quit Golf Over Iraq War When I saw this on the news (OLbermann's special comment was brilliant) I was flabbergasted...to think! Our Preznit had to give up golf 'cuz it wouldn't be proprewr! Such *solidarity* with the families of all the dead! **gag**
5
POPSSchool Military Recruiting Could Violate International Protocol
THIS HORRIBLE PRACTICE BY THE MILITARY HAS GOT TO STOP--OUR CHILDREN ARE NOT CANNON FODDER FOR STUPID OLD MEN'S WARS!! the U.S. armed services “regularly target children under 17 for military recruitment, heavily recruiting on high school campuses, in school lunchrooms, and in classes.” “The United States military’s procedures for recruiting students plainly violate internationally accepted standards and fail to protect youth from abusive and aggressive recruitment tactics,” said Jennifer Turner of the ACLU Human Rights Project. The increased aggressiveness of military recruiters is due in major part, according to the report, to the increased pressure to meet enlistment quotas caused by ongoing U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan to which nearly 200,000 soldiers and marines are currently deployed. The pressure created by current military commitments has not only translated into enhanced recruitment efforts among children under 18. The armed forces have also lower
5
POPSIf We Really supported the Troops... Go to http://anysoldier.com/WhereToSend/ and then click on a soldier-contact's name, read the blurb he or she has posted about what his or her unit wants, and then click again to request a form (asking for your own addy and name) to get the appropriate address for that unit. You must not send porn, and you must not send packages that contain both food and soap/sunscreen/etc in the same box. No pork products. No anti-islamic tracts in bulk. No political content. No flea collars. No depictions of naked or partly naked people. No explosives, firearms, other shit that is illegal to mail anyway. Don't send chocolate, it melts. You must request the address to send your package to on the same day you mail it, so it's hard to really meet the requests. I am thinking of assembling a bunch of common cheap items, and boxing them up at the last minute. even someone as poor as me can spring for toothbrushes and lip balm, for crying out loud. Things particularly in need: * Personal letters from
1
POPSThe Loathsome Smearing of Israel’s Critics The response? There was little attempt to dispute the facts I offered. Instead, some of the most high profile “pro-Israel” writers and media monitoring groups — including Honest Reporting and Camera — said I an anti-Jewish bigot akin to Joseph Goebbels and Mahmoud Ahmadinejadh, while Melanie Phillips even linked the stabbing of two Jewish people in North London to articles like mine. Vast numbers of e-mails came flooding in calling for me to be sacked. Any attempt to describe accurately the situation for Palestinians is met like this. If you recount the pumping of sewage onto Palestinian land, “Honest Reporting” claims you are reviving the anti-Semitic myth of Jews “poisoning the wells.” If you interview a woman whose baby died in 2002 because she was detained — in labour — by Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint within the West Bank, “Honest Reporting” will say you didn’t explain “the real cause”: the election of Hamas in, um, 2006. And on, and on.
1
POPSContractor Atrocity--It's Lying ... and It's Murder: How KBR Electrocuted US Troops "... and marines in Iraq and Afghanistan. These deaths did not come while the soldiers were on patrol or by unexpected encounters with downed "hot" wires. These "accidents" happened in facilities used as base camps for U.S. units, camps that were to have been completely refurbished - including the wiring - under terms of a $30 billion no-bid contract awarded to the one-time Halliburton subsidiary KBR (formerly Kellogg-Brown-Root). The deaths reportedly all were the result of shoddy workmanship in the grounding of electrical sources, both in permanent structures and in machinery when in use. The problem is not new: in 2004, Army units in theatre were alerted concerning the potential for accidental electrocution. American electricians working for KBR in the war zone observed and notified KBR and even the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA), the office that monitors contractor performance, of numerous instances of poor workmanship by undertrained and underpaid Iraqi and Afghan "e
6
POPSMilitary Makes Mincemeat of Church-State Separation--Oh, JEEBUS! Military Makes Mincemeat of Church-State Separation This is nothing new to Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation and a former Air Force judge advocate general who also served in the Rea-gan administration. Weinstein says that he has collected nearly 8,000 complaints, mostly from Christian members of the military tired of being force-fed a narrow brand of evangelical fundamentalism. Weinstein, who co-wrote the book With God on Our Side: One Man’s War Against an Evangelical Coup in America’s Military, has documented how the ranks of our military have been infiltrated by members of the Officers’ Christian Fellowship and other similar organizations. On its Web site, the OCF makes no secret of its mission, which is to ”raise up a godly military” by enlisting ”ambassadors for Christ in uniform.” Weinstein says OCF recruitment is easy in a strict command-subordinate military where the implied message is: If you don’t pray the right way, your career might
0
POPSWinter Soldier to be re-Broadcast If you missed this compelling program, listen in sometime. Very moving testimony from the soldiers who were sent to Iraq and Afghanistan by the Bush/Cheney criminals.
0
POPS White House Announces Contest to Find More Specific Text For "Mission Accomplished" Banner Some of the early entries includes... "Huge Defense Contracts and Profits For Halliburton, Blackwater, other friends of Bush/Cheney Built On The Graves of Innocents Accomplished" "Generating a Smokescreen to Cover up the Disembowelment of Federal Departments and Their Conversion to Partisan Operations - i.e. EPA, Justice, Housing - Accomplished" "Protection of Osama Bin Laden by Diverting Resources from Finding Him and Those Who Were Actually Behind 9-11 Accomplished" "Increasing Foreign Tourism by Weakening the Dollar to the Point That it Is Cheaper for the French, English and Germans to Fly Here to Do Their Christmas Shopping Than to Go to Their Local Mall Accomplished." "Going to War With The President You Have, Not The President You'd Like Accomplished" "Bringing Together Families in Unanticipated Ways With Widows (And Widowers) and Their Children Get to Move in with Their Own Parents in Order to Survive Life as Single-parents as Well as Families Getting to Spend
1
POPSCan Americans Stop Bush/Cheney From Attacking Iran? The Answer is Yes! An interestingg idea--a national strike...read the whole article to understand my comment: I think Mad Jayhawk, who is aptly self-named, not so subtly tells us why a strike in "Murrika might not be possible. "murrikans are addicted to war as well as oil. We are too diverse, apathetic and delusional as a populace to pull together in "solidarity". I doubt that haf the people know what solidaroity means or could fathom the idea of a national strike. We're too selfish and still haven't reached the crisis level needed. Unfortunate and a bit sad, neh? Sorry to sound so negative about a strike I would join in a heartbeat but that's the way I see this benighted nation. Sick, ain't it?
2
POPSDIVORCE THE B****/BASTARD For at least half of America, the other half is considered refuse. I justify that statement because the article about non citizen soldiers finished on page 8, and on page nine was a bold ad for DIVORCE $299! In America, we like things to be easy. Not willing to compromise to and for your spouse? No problemo…$299 shall set your selfish ass free. You see, Americans are creatures of convenience. If it ain’t easy, especially for the spoiled rotten baby boomer generation…we simply find a way to make it go away.
4
POPS Celebrating the Anniversary, Mr. Bush? But, a cash cow is a cash cow. Let’s drink to that. And let’s hear it for the never-ending, euphoric ‘progress,’ in your lovely war, George. Let’s not quibble about the lack of water and electricity for the Iraqis, or the devastating shortages of doctors and medical supplies. And, luckily, a blown up bus or marketplace here or there is hardly newsworthy. Not a word in the establishment media about the daily killings or kidnappings you’ve set in motion all these years. Hey, the networks deserve a hand here. Almost three quarters of Americans believe that you’ve caused the deaths of only three thousand American troops. Hard to believe, but they’ve inadvertently written off the lives of a thousand young soldiers and marines. Hell, ignorance is bliss. Party on. And best of all, your coalition of intimidated allies has all but disappeared. Your illegal, immoral and ugly war is largely a private affair now, George. Enjoy. We’d love to see the guest list, George. Surely an annive
3
POPSIraqi Women Quietly Endure Horrors of War Zangana also puts into perspective what the number of civilian deaths means in Iraq, which some estimates suggest eclipsed 1 million people. She cites a 2006 report that stated more than 90 women become widows each day. "Since men are the main target of US led troops, militias and death squads…It is women who have come to bury the dead. Baghdad has become a city of bereaved women," writes Zangana. Women are also bearing the brunt of the ongoing refugee crisis. According to an Iraqi Red Crescent report titled "The Internally Displaced People in Iraq" released Jan. 27, there are more than 2 million internally displaced peoples (refugees), while women and children under the age of 12 compose roughly 82 percent of this staggering number. But I would be doing Iraqi women and Zangana's "City of Windows" a disservice by solely focusing on suffering and their role as victims. Because despite the web of destruction, violence and repression Iraqi women face on a daily basis, we must not
1
POPSThe US Military’s Human-Testing Program Returns Between 1952-1975, the CIA tested LSD and other psychochemical agents on "an undetermined number of people without their knowledge or consent." Over 235 atmospheric nuclear tests and experiments were conducted on roughly 210,000 personnel affiliated to the US Defense Department from 1945-1962. A further 199,000 "were exposed to radiation through work." No coherent attempt was made to warn those affected or to offer follow-up medical care. The battle to receive care Wray Forrest knows firsthand about fighting official neglect and denial over human-testing. When his health started to deteriorate, Forrest was forbidden to get medical support: "We could not tell what we were exposed to due to the classification of the project, nor could we seek medical help due to the alleged non-disclosure papers we signed." Forrest was discharged from the military in 1982 for health reasons (deemed "unsuitable for service"). He was still unable to talk to anyone about Edgewood Arsenal, so ke
7
POPSSoldiers gone Berserker comment from thekidde on Alternet: The US must get out of Iraq NOW. Our soldiers are being turned into gestapo/SS assholes. As a platoon leader in Vietnam, I threatened (with my M-16) a member of my platoon (a new platoon as I had just been transferred from the unit I shipped to Vietnam with) because he had his hand down the shirt of Vietnamese woman. We were fairly far out in the boonies and the small group of women, kids and old men we encountered were probably supporting the VC to survive (under duress, or not - who cares). This particular soldier and those standing around laughing at his disgusting behavior got reamed by me (5'6" of me). Since everyone had a weapon, this may have been foolish on my part in hindsight, but I believe that my charge as an infantry officer required that I uphold the honor and integrity of the US Army. So I say fuck the "leaders" and fuck the soldiers who conduct themselves in such a manner. They do not deserve to wear the uniform and the so-called lead
3
POPSSad Truth--War is here to Stay Barbara Ehrenreich, in "Blood Rites," her extraordinary 1997 examination of the history of the passions of war, writes of the evolution of the phenomenon: "Meanwhile, war has dug itself into economic systems, where it offers a livelihood to millions, rather than to just a handful of craftsmen and professional soldiers. It has lodged in our souls as a kind of religion, a quick tonic for political malaise and a bracing antidote to the moral torpor of consumerist, market-driven cultures." Saying this, I return to the figure of a million war dead in Iraq, pause in horrified awe that, one, it could be possible, and two, it hasn't made mainstream headlines, where big, round numbers normally scream with significance. The estimate, by the U.K. organization Just Foreign Policy and corroborated by the market research firm Opinion Research Business, extrapolates from data published just over a year ago in the respected British medical journal Lancet, which indicated a violent-death toll, as
Newest Clips
see Newest Clips
2
Latest Pops
Latest Comments
Most Pops
Tags
Print
Save
Turn on live update