May 9, 2008
Yesterday, we held a protest at the National Highway Traffic Safety Agency (NHTSA).
NHTSA is the federal agency Ralph Nader brought into being more than forty years ago.
It was set up to make cars safer. Continue reading
Day: May 9, 2008
Countdown: Mary Tillman + Double Talk Express + Harry Reid + Mort Sahl
Organizations to Donate for Aid Relief for Myanmar
Note: I don’t particularly endorse or not endorse the following organizations. Do your research to find the best charity for you. ~ Lo
Burma-cant-wait says these are orgs that can get aid to the Burmese:
World Vision (US: 1-800-777-5777)
h/t: Malcolm
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To donate to the Cyclone Nargis disaster, please go to:
http://www.unicefusa.org/myanmar or call 1-800 4UNICEF.
h/t: Please help the people of Burma (Myanmar)
& Blog post
see
Early Warning – A Secret Afghanistan Mission Prepares for War with Iran
By William M. Arkin
ICH
05/08/08 “Washington Post”
Those predicting war with Iran or some Bush-Cheney October surprise attack on Tehran are constantly looking for signs of military preparations: a B-52 bomber that mistakenly takes off from North Dakota with nuclear-armed cruise missiles; a second or third aircraft carrier entering the Persian Gulf; a B-1 crashing in Qatar.
Since the most likely path to war with Iran is not Marines storming the beach but a strike on nuclear facilities and “regime” targets, signs such as these can often just be mirages. The true strike is not necessarily going to come with any warning, and the U.S. military has developed an entire system called “global strike” to implement such a preemptive strike.
A secret mission conducted last August over Afghanistan caught my eye because it tells us everything we need to know about the ability of the U.S. military to conduct a bolt-out-of-the-blue attack in Iran. It also tells us how useless such a strike might be.
On Aug. 12, 2007, four F-16CJ fighters took off on an 11-hour mission from Iraq to Eastern Afghanistan, crossing the airspace of six different nations, before dropping more than a dozen precision-guided bombs on Taliban targets. The crews of the record-breaking flight received the coveted Clarence MacKay Trophy for 2007, an award given annually for “the most meritorious flight” of the year.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
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Mosaic News – 5/7/08: World News from the Middle East
Warning
.
This video may contain images depicting the reality and horror of war/violence and should only be viewed by a mature audience.
For more: http://linktv.org/originalseries
“Clashes Erupt in Lebanon as Hezbollah Stages Labor Strike,” Dubai TV, UAE
“Syria Accused of Allowing Fighters into Iraq,” Al Arabiya TV, UAE
“Olmert May Step Down Due to Corruption Charges,” Al Jazeera TV, Qatar
“Memorial Day in Israel,” IBA TV, Israel
“Gazans Remember Al Nakba,” Press TV, Iran
“Abbas Undergoes Surgery,” Palestine TV, Ramallah
“Somali Refugees Flood Yemen,” Al Jazeera English, Qatar
“Border Crossing Between Syria & Iraq Opens,” Baghdad TV, Iraq
“France & Algeria Sign Security Agreement,” Abu Dhabi TV, UAE
“Global Rise in Food Prices,” Syria TV, Syria
Produced for Link TV by Jamal Dajani.
Max and the Marginalized: Consider The Source (music vid; McCain)
New song and video from LA song-a-week political band Max and the Marginalized. This one is about John McCain’s credibility.
http://www.myspace.com/maxandthemarginalized
maxmarginal.blogspot.comAnimation + Recording by Maxwell Waker
http://www.myspace.com/bigloudstudios
bigloudstudios [at] earthlink.net
Oil Politics in the Niger Delta (videos)
Democracy Now!
May 9, 2008
Free from Nigerian Military Custody, “Sweet Crude” Director Sandy Cioffi on Oil Politics in the Niger Delta
McCain’s Pastor Problem: The Video By David Corn
By David Corn
http://www.motherjones.com
May 8, 2008
In a taped sermon, the preacher McCain calls a “spiritual guide” calls on America to see the “false religion” of Islam “destroyed.” Still, the candidate won’t reject Rod Parsley’s endorsement.
During a 2005 sermon, a fundamentalist pastor whom Senator John McCain has praised and campaigned with called Islam “the greatest religious enemy of our civilization and the world,” claiming that the historic mission of America is to see “this false religion destroyed.” In this taped sermon, currently sold by his megachurch, the Reverend Rod Parsley reiterates and amplifies harsh and derogatory comments about Islam he made in his book, Silent No More, published the same year he delivered these remarks. Meanwhile, McCain has stuck to his stance of not criticizing Parsley, an important political ally in a crucial swing state.
In March 2008—two weeks after McCain appeared with Parsley at a Cincinnati campaign rally, hailing him as “one of the truly great leaders in America, a moral compass, a spiritual guide”—Mother Jones reported that Parsley had urged Christians to wage a “war” to eradicate Islam in his 2005 book. McCain’s campaign refused to respond to questions about Parsley, and the presumptive Republican presidential nominee declined to denounce Parsley’s anti-Islam remarks or renounce his endorsement. At a time when Barack Obama was mired in a searing controversy involving Reverend Jeremiah Wright, McCain escaped any trouble for his political alliance with Parsley, who leads the World Harvest Church, a supersized Pentecostal institution in Columbus, Ohio. Parsley, whose sermons are broadcast around the world, has been credited with helping George W. Bush win Ohio in 2004 by registering social conservatives and encouraging them to vote. McCain certainly would like to see Parsley do the same for him—which could explain his reluctance to do any harm to his relationship with this anti-Islam extremist.
Here’s a video—produced by Mother Jones and Brave New films—highlighting Parsley’s remarks and McCain’s praise of the pastor:
McCain’s Spiritual Guide
FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
see
Guilt-By-Association Cartoon by Mark Fiore
Pastor Hagee Blames Homosexuals For Katrina! AGAIN!
The All-White Elephant in the Room + Hagee compares Roman Church to Hitler
After Hillary, Voting With Conscience and Pride by Joel S. Hirschhorn
by Joel S. Hirschhorn
featured writer
Dandelion Salad
www.foavc.org
May 9, 2008
This general election more than most will test the courage of voters to avoid lesser-evil strategic voting that has propped up our two-party plutocracy. People with intelligence and conscience must resist peer pressure and the temptation to vote against John McCain by voting for Barack Obama.
Guilt-By-Association Cartoon by Mark Fiore
Mosaic News – 5/8/08: World News from the Middle East
Warning
.
This video may contain images depicting the reality and horror of war/violence and should only be viewed by a mature audience.
For more: http://linktv.org/originalseries
“Clashes Erupt for Second Day in Lebanon,” Dubai TV, UAE
“Lebanese Government Accuses Iran of Establishing Spy Network,” Al Arabiya TV, UAE
“Nasrallah Says Lebanon ‘Declares War’ After Gunbattles,” New TV, Lebanon
“60th Anniverssary of Al Nakba,” Press TV, Iran
“60th Anniversary of Israel,” IBA TV, Israel
“Israel Devastates Gaza,” Al Aqsa, Gaza
“Mass Grave Site Uncovered,” Al Sharqiya TV, Iraq
“Iranian Made Weapons Found in Karbala,” Baghdad TV, Iraq
Produced for Link TV by Jamal Dajani.
Inside Story: Cyclone Nargis (videos)
Following the killer cyclone will Myanmar bow to international pressure?
see
FBI Loses National Security Letter Case Against Internet Archive
by Tom Burghardt
Global Research, May 8, 2008
Antifascist Calling…
When the Internet Archive, a project founded in 1996 to create a digital library of the web, was served an illegal National Security Letter (NSL) by the FBI, Archive founder and Digital Librarian, Brewster Kahle, did what any self-respecting defender of free expression would do: he got pissed.
But Kahle did more. He sued the FBI–and won. After a legal challenge from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) in federal district court in San Francisco, the Bureau was forced to withdraw the NSL and unseal the case, allowing the Archive’s founder to speak out about his battle with autocratic Bushist agents.
The NSL was served on the Archive–a library recognized as such by the state of California–and Kahle’s attorneys in November 2007. The Bureau demanded personal information about one of the library’s patrons, including the individual’s name, address, and any electronic communication records pertaining to the user.
A National Security Letter, an onerous tool deployed by the Bureau to root out suspected “terrorists” and other malefactors, is a covert means by which the state obtains access to personal customer records from Internet Service Providers, banks, other financial institutions and credit reporting agencies without the approval of a judge. In other words, under the guise of a “national security investigation,” NSLs are very sharp hooks for government fishing expeditions.
Recipients are gagged from ever disclosing they have come under the Bureau’s baneful gaze. And since the passage of the viral Patriot Act in 2001 by a servile Congress, the use of these illegal procedures have fed the FBI’s seemingly insatiable demand for private records. Wired magazine reports that between 2003-2006 the Bureau has issued some 200,000 NSLs, often without a shred of legal justification for doing so, nor oversight to rein in their misuse. Ryan Singel writes:
Though FBI guidelines on using NSLs warned of overusing them, two Congressionally ordered audits revealed that the FBI had issued hundreds of illegal requests for student health records, telephone records and credit reports. The reports also found that the FBI had issued hundreds of thousands of NSLs since 2001, but failed to track their use. In a letter to Congress last week, the FBI admitted it can only estimate how many NSLs it has issued. (Ryan Singel, “FBI Targets Internet Archive with Secretive National Security Letter, Loses,” Wired, May 7, 2008)
Unfortunately for the Bureau, Kahle, who is also serves on the EFF’s Board of Directors, decided to challenge the NSL because it exceeded the FBI’s limited authority to target libraries during “espionage” or “terrorism” investigations.
According to a joint press release by the ACLU and EFF, Kahle said,
The free flow of information is at the heart of every library’s work. That’s why Congress passed a law limiting the FBI’s power to issue NSLs to America’s libraries. While it’s never easy standing up to the government–particularly when I was barred from discussing it with anyone–I knew I had to challenge something that was clearly wrong. I’m grateful that I am able now to talk about what happened to me, so that other libraries can learn how they can fight back from these overreaching demands. (“FBI Withdraws Unconstitutional National Security Letter after ACLU and EFF Challenge,” Press Release, Electronic Frontier Foundation, May 7, 2008)
During a conference call with journalists on Wednesday, Kahle told reporters, “Not being able to talk about it with our board, with my wife, made it very difficult. I can imagine a hurried staffer sticking a gag into a hurried bill. But gags don’t seem to be necessary, and now, what we’ve discovered in practice, gagging librarians is horrendous,” The Washington Post reports.
Kahle said after the court ruling, “This is an unqualified success that will help other recipients understand that you can push back on these.”
As I reported last month, the Bureau actually returned documents they had already obtained in a 2005 terrorism-related case, after North Carolina State University refused to hand over educational records to FBI snoops who issued an illegal NSL against the University.
Why? Because it provided FBI Director Robert Mueller an opportunity to demand Congress grant the Bureau additional powers it wasn’t entitled to, and despite having obtained the documents in question after a federal grand jury issued a subpoena–and University officials had already complied!
While the Internet Archive’s victory against the FBI puts an end to the government’s challenge in this case, the settlement prevents Kahle or his attorneys from discussing what the Bureau was so intent on perusing, even though the FBI was seeking public information–not “state secrets,” nor “evidence” of a “terrorist plot.”
But these days, as the post-Constitutional “New Order” continues to cast a tyrannical pall across the American landscape, even a small victory against those who “work…the dark side,” has merit.
The partially redacted documents on the Internet Archive case are available here.
For more information on NSLs click here.
Tom Burghardt is a researcher and activist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition to publishing in Covert Action Quarterly, Love & Rage and Antifa Forum, he is the editor of Police State America: U.S. Military “Civil Disturbance” Planning, distributed by AK Press.
The CRG grants permission to cross-post original Global Research articles on community internet sites as long as the text & title are not modified. The source and the author’s copyright must be displayed. For publication of Global Research articles in print or other forms including commercial internet sites, contact: crgeditor@yahoo.com
www.globalresearch.ca contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available to our readers under the provisions of “fair use” in an effort to advance a better understanding of political, economic and social issues. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes other than “fair use” you must request permission from the copyright owner.
For media inquiries: crgeditor@yahoo.com
© Copyright Tom Burghardt, Antifascist Calling…, 2008
The url address of this article is: www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8930
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Neocons and the Truth: Bitter Enemies to the End By Glenn Greenwald
By Glenn Greenwald
ICH
05/08/08 “Salon.com“
In a July, 2006 article in Rolling Stone — entitled “Iran: The Next War” — the superb journalist James Bamford detailed the shady activities of numerous neoconservatives inside and out of the U.S. Government to plan an attack on Iran. Bamford focused on the role played by Michael Ledeen of the American Enterprise Institute and National Review, who created and began implementing an attack scheme in coordination with the Pentagon’s then number-three official, Doug Feith, and Feith’s deputy, Larry Franklin (subsequently convicted of felonies for passing classified information to AIPAC).
A couple weeks after Bamford’s exposè was published, National Review enlisted former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy and talk show host Mark Levin jointly to author a defense of Ledeen and, more importantly, to savage Bamford for writing what they claimed was a pack of lies. The McCarthy/Levin article was entitled “Rolling Smear,” sub-headlined “James Bamford writes a fiction about our Michael Ledeen,” and accused Bamford of being “the latest in a growing crowd of hacks to smear our friend Michael Ledeen.”
McCarthy and Levin specifically attacked Bamford’s disclosure that Ledeen “had arranged a covert meeting in Rome with a group of Iranians [and Feith’s team] to discuss their clandestine help” in attacking Iran. Said McCarthy and Levin:
Bamford, to the contrary, wants to turn the meeting into a nefarious plot by Ledeen and the neocons to push the nation into war with Iran. Yet, anyone even vaguely familiar with Michael’s work knows that he has opposed military action against Iran — notwithstanding that he was years ahead of most experts in accurately portraying Iran’s role as the terror master at the center of the jihadist network.
So Bamford’s claim was “embarrassing” because “anyone even vaguely familiar with Michael’s work knows that he has opposed military action against Iran.” Got that?
Here’s Ledeen yesterday, writing in National Review’s Corner (h/t sysporg):
Time to Attack Iranian Terror Camps? [Michael Ledeen]
So says John Bolton, and he’s right. As you know, I have been proposing this for years. I always thought it was only a matter of time before we were compelled to take this action, which is a legitimate form of self-defense. And while we’re at it, we should do the same thing to the Syrian camps as well. It isn’t “sending a message,” it’s acting to protect our guys by fighting back in the proxy war the mullahs have been waging since 1979. Faster, please?
More amazingly, a mere two weeks before McCarthy and Levin wrote that “anyone even vaguely familiar with Michael’s work knows that he has opposed military action against Iran,” Ledeen himself wrote at The Corner that “I would insist that my soldiers have the right of ‘hot pursuit’ into Iran and Syria, and I would order my armed forces to attack the terrorist training camps in those countries.”
In late 2006, I wrote about virtually identical deceit from this same group, that time with regard to Iraq. On National Review in December of 2006, Ledeen — just as the Beltway establishment was finally turning against the war in Iraq and in the wake of a lengthy Vanity Fair article identifying the neocons who were to blame — claimed: “I opposed the military invasion of Iraq before it took place.”
In fact, Ledeen, throughout 2002 and 2003, had repeatedly and explicitly urged the invasion of Iraq in countless venues, including: The Wall St. Journal’s Op-Ed Page (”If we come to Baghdad, Damascus and Tehran as liberators, we can expect overwhelming popular support”); in an interview with David Horowitz’s Front Page (”Question #2: Okay, well if we are all so certain about the dire need to invade Iraq, then when do we do so? Ledeen: Yesterday.”); on MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews (”if President Bush is to be faulted for anything in this so far, it’s that he’s taken much too long to get on with it, much too long”); and in National Review (calling for “the desperately-needed and long overdue war against Saddam Hussein and the rest of the terror masters”).
That war-cheerleading neoconservatives of this strain are completely unbound by the truth is not news. Obviously, the war they unleashed in Iraq is the most compelling proof of that. But sometimes when the lying is so blatant, one can’t help but note it.
The same is true for the complete lack of accountability. Ledeen is a so-called “Freedom Scholar” at the revered and widely-cited American Enterprise Institute and a Contributing Editor at National Review. An intense email campaign over his Iraq comments to AEI and National Review’s Editor Rich Lowry demanding a retraction or some comment from them on Ledeen’s blatant falsehoods over his Iraq stance was simply ignored, as will be this episode concerning the article by McCarthy and Levin smearing Bamford due to Ledeen’s alleged opposition to attacking Iran.
This isn’t just a matter of documenting guilt with regard to what happened with Iraq. The Washington Post’s David Ignatius today became just the latest establishment spokesman to warn (or celebrate) that “judging from recent statements by administration officials, there is also a small, but growing, chance of conflict with Iran.”
The neoconservative war-lovers behind this effort have not changed, nor have their tactics. They realize, as many of them acknowledge, that they will have four more years in power if John McCain is elected. But they also realize that he may not be, and that their last hope for their long-desired attack on Iran lies in convincing the current administration to provoke one before its tenure ends. As much as one wishes it weren’t true, as much as the fixation on petty election issues might obscure it, the truly depraved extremist group that brought us the invasion of Iraq still exerts substantial influence and is quite busy trying to exert it.
UPDATE: It isn’t just the American neocons, but also the Israelis, who are escalating the “Attack Iran” campaign. The Jerusalem Post yesterday “reported” that “with Iran racing forward with its nuclear program, Israel now believes the Islamic Republic will master centrifuge technology and be able to begin enriching uranium on a military scale this year” (h/t quick strategy) and:
The new assessment moves up Israel’s forecasts on Teheran’s nuclear program by almost a full year — from 2009 to the end of 2008. According to the new timeline, Iran could have a nuclear weapon by the middle of next year.
According to several commenters, the Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. was on Fox News this morning making the same fear-mongering claim.
The principal tactic Israel-centric neocons have repeatedly used with Bush to induce him to attack Iran has been to tell him that history will judge him based on whether he permits Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon. From The Weekly Standard’s Irwin Stelzer, writing about a 2007 White House luncheon with Bush, historian Andrew Roberts, and a group of necons:
The closing note was a more serious one. Roberts said that history would judge the president on whether he had prevented the nuclearization of the Middle East. If Iran gets the bomb, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and other countries will follow. “That is why I am so pleased to be sitting here rather than in your chair, Mr. President.” There was no response, other than a serious frown and a nod.
Norman Podhoretz, when telling the President to bomb Iran, used the same tactic:
“I urged Bush to take action against the Iranian nuclear facilities and explained why I thought there was no alternative,” said Podhoretz, 77, in an interview with The Sunday Times. . . .
He also told Bush: “You have the awesome responsibility to prevent another holocaust. You’re the only one with the guts to do it.” . . . .
“The president has said several times that he will be in the historical dock if he allows Iran to get the bomb. He believes that if we wait for threats to fully materialise, we’ll have waited too long — something I agree with 100%,’ Podhoretz said.
And now, magically up pops these new reports from Israel warning that the deadline to stop Iran’s nuclear bomb is the end of the year — right before George Bush leaves office. Bush has less than eight months left to fulfill his history-mandated mission “to prevent another holocaust” by attacking Iran, or else “be in the historical dock if he allows Iran to get the bomb.” They’re as transparent as they are dishonest and bloodthirsty.
Glenn Greenwald was previously a constitutional law and civil rights litigator in New York. He is the author of the New York Times Bestselling book “How Would a Patriot Act?,” a critique of the Bush administration’s use of executive power, released in May 2006. His second book, “A Tragic Legacy“, examines the Bush legacy.
© Salon.com
FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
Civil war in Lebanon? + Lebanon Descends Into Chaos By Robert Fisk + Nasrallah address Lebanon
Gunfire on the streets of Beirut. Is Lebanon decending towards civil war?
***
Clashes intensify on Beirut streets
Al Jazeera’s james bays reports on the continued battles in Beirut, the Lebanese capital, amid reports that Hezbollah has taken control of many parts of the capital.
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Nasrallah address Lebanon
Added: May 08, 2008
Hezbollah’s leader has warned the government’s moves to close the Shia group’s private telephone network are tantamount to “a declaration of war”.
Al Jazeera broadcast extracts of his speech.
***
Lebanon Descends Into Chaos – Rival Leaders Order General Strike
By Robert Fisk
ICH
05/08/08 “The Independent“
Burning tyres on the airport road, flights suspended, demands from the Druze leader Walid Jumblatt that Hizbollah moves secret cameras from runway 1-7 and end the militia’s equally secret underground communications equipment. Across Corniche Mazraa, crowds of shrieking Sunni and Shia Muslims hurl abuse and stones at each other. A soldier comes up to my car at the crossroads. “Turn round,” he shouts. “They’re shooting.”
Lebanon seems to feed on crisis, need crisis, breathe crisis, like a wounded man needs blood. The man who should be the president is head of the army and the man who believes he leads the resistance – Sayed Hassan Nasrallah of the Hizbollah – accuses Mr Jumblatt of doing Israel’s work while Mr Jumblatt claims the head of Beirut airport security, Colonel Wafic Chucair, works for the Hizbollah and should be fired.
Yesterday, in case you hadn’t guessed, was a “general strike” by opponents of the Lebanese government with all the usual chaos. Mr Nasrallah is to hold a press conference today and then we’ll all find out if this latest crisis is the greatest crisis since the last great crisis. Yes, a good cup of cynicism is necessary to wash down the rhetoric and threats of the past few days. At its most serious is the incendiary language in which Lebanon’s politicians now address each other, the kind of menacing words that could easily touch an assassin’s heart.
Indeed, the start of this latest drama might be traced to the murder of two Phalangist officials in the Bekaa town of Zahle a few weeks ago. The murderer has been named, is linked to the pro-Syrian opposition and is still at large.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
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Dandelion Salad 