We Lived to Tell the Story: Lebanon Rescued Us by Cynthia McKinney

Dandelion Salad

Crossposted with permission from
Cynthia McKinney (OFFICIAL)

by Cynthia McKinney
Cynthia McKinney’s blog post
Jan. 1, 2009

Yesterday, we met with the President of Lebanon, the Chief of the Military, and the Interior Minister who all thanked us for responding and risking our lives on a mission of mercy; we profusely thanked them for rescuing us.

What would we have done, stranded out at sea, prohibited from reaching our destination, low on fuel, with a badly damaged boat if Lebanon had not accepted us?  Lebanon sent their ships to find us.  Lebanon rescued us.  Lebanon welcomed us.  And we are truly thankful.

It’s official now.  We’ve been told that the sturdy, wood construction of our boat, Dignity, is the reason we are still alive.  Fiberglass would probably not have withstood the impact of the Israeli attack and under different circumstances, we might not be here to tell the story.  Even at that, the report that came to us yesterday after the Captain and First Mate went back to Sour (Tyre) to inspect the boat was that it was sinking, the damage is extensive, and the boat will take, in their estimation, at least one month to repair.  Tomorrow, we will bring the Dignity from Sour to Beirut.  And now, we must decide what to do and from where we will do it and how we are to get back to wherever that might be.

Conflict in Gaza: Hisham Melhem Bureau Chief, An-Nahar Daily (Lebanon)

Dandelion Salad

C-SPAN
29:55 – Dec 30, 2008

December 30, 2008 C-SPAN Hisham Melhem talked about the Arab world’s perspectives on the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, including the political situation of the Palestinians at this point in the conflict. He responded to telephone calls and electronic mail.

Oh What a Day! by Cynthia McKinney

Dandelion Salad

Crossposted with permission from
Cynthia McKinney (OFFICIAL)

by Cynthia McKinney
Cynthia McKinney’s blog post
Dec. 30, 2008

From Cynthia McKinney’s Notebook…

I’m so glad that my father told me to buy a special notebook and to write everything down because that’s exactly what I did.

When we left from Cyprus, one reporter asked me “are you afraid?”  And I had to respond that Malcolm X wasn’t afraid; Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wasn’t afraid.  But little did I know that just a few hours later, I would be recollecting my life and mentally preparing myself for death.

When we left Cyprus, the Mediterranean was beautiful.  I remember the time when it might have been beautiful to look at, but it was also filthy.  The Europeans have taken great strides to clean it up and yesterday, it was beautiful. And the way the sunlight hit the sea, I remember thinking to myself that’s why they call it azure.  It was the most beautiful blue.

The Shadow Money Lenders: The Real Significance of The Fed’s Zero-Interest-Rate Policy (ZIRP)

Dandelion Salad

by Matthias Chang
Global Research, December 26, 2008
FutureFastForward.com

The Battle To Save The Fiat Money System Has Begun

Global Central Banks Acting In Concert-
Disinformation In Financial Dailies To Confuse The People
When The Truth Dawns On Hapless People, There Will Be Blood On The Streets.

This Is The Warning By IMF!

INTRODUCTION

The disinformation by the global financial dailies in the last twelve months as to the cause of the global financial tsunami, serve the same purpose as the global mass media when they perpetuated the lies that lulled the people to support the war criminals Bush, Blair and Howard to launch the barbaric war against Iraq and Afghanistan which resulted in the genocide of millions, the mutilation of hundreds of thousands, physically and psychologically, and the devastation of an entire nation.

The wars unleashed thus far, specifically the “War on Terror” were launched to preserve the shadow money-lenders’ political and military power.

This War on Terror is the greatest military sideshow that distracted the American people from the financial rape and plunder of their economy and the destruction of their Constitution.

Since the Summer of 2007, we have witnessed a concerted effort by the world’s central banks and global commercial and investment banks to preserve the shadow money-lenders’ financial power, one that is founded on fraud and structured in every detail as in the infamous Ponzi scheme.

Happy (?) New Year from Cindy Sheehan and Team

Cindy Sheehan for Congress

by Cindy Sheehan
Dandelion Salad
featured writer
Cindy Sheehan for Congress
December 31, 2008

As I begin this note, there are 52 minutes left of 2008 in Gaza. One of the saddest stories I have heard from the newest Israeli massacre of Palestinians in Gaza is about a mother who found three of her school-aged children piled on top of each other in a morgue. The news item said that the mother: “screamed, cried, then screamed again and fell silent.” Burying one child was almost more than I could bear, I cannot even imagine having to bury three at once. I am afraid her tragic story is not uncommon.

For 2009, if we are to achieve anything even approaching peace on earth, the US-Israeli occupations and oppressions of Arab countries must end. It makes me ill to hear that George Bush is urging Israeli Prime Minister Olmert to “limit civilian casualties.” If this is not the height of criminal hypocrisy, I do not know what is. George Bush and his criminal regime are responsible for the deaths of over one million innocent Iraqis and Afghans. Innocent civilians are suffering in this country from George’s failures which will soon be legendary and infamous.

Barack Obama is heading into the Oval Office at perhaps the most precarious time in our relatively short-lived “Republic,” but a cessation of violence in the Middle East (violence directed at EVERYONE) must be one of his administration’s top priorities. Not only will that help the people in that region, but we here in the US will benefit from bringing our troops home and saving 16 billion dollars a month that can be used for economic recovery here at home. Or at least, we can stop borrowing that money from China. A more even-handed approach to the Israeli-Palestian issue and the withdrawal of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan are what a majority of Americans desire and we must strive to make these worthy goals happen.

2009 will have many challenges and we cannot sit back and expect Barack Obama to save us. No matter how wonderful you think he is, he is not Superman or even Batman and he by himself cannot pull 300,000,000 people out of the black hole that Bush has dug this country deeper into. If you ask me, I don’t even think he is that interested in helping the American citizenry; his votes on FISA, the bankster bailout and his cabinet appointments speak louder to me than empty words of “hope and change” and show me that he is more interested in propping up and saving the Robber class, than he is in the people who have invested so much in the rhetoric and façade. You have voted…now whomever you voted for: be vociferous and be valient so We the People can be victorious!

I hope we all make New Year’s Resolutions to be the best humans we can be by trying to alleviate human suffering wherever we can! Don’t wait for your government; don’t even wait for your neighbor…just do what you can whenever you can and wherever you are!

It is so difficult to say “Happy New Year” when I know so many people who have lost their jobs, homes, or, worse yet: a loved one/ones. However, I am sharing this Xmas picture of me and my seven-month old grandson, Jonah, to show that life does go on and where there is a glimmer of such wonderful innocence, there is always hope and a “Gigi” who will never give up! I do wish us all a peaceful, happy and prosperous New Year, though…wishing is not nearly enough!

To all of our friends and supporters: our gratitude and love for you are boundless and we hope the hard times aren’t falling too hard on you and yours and that together we will not only survive, but ultimately thrive when we build a truly “great society” out of the ashes of The Empire.

We do have victories to toast today and Cindy Sheehan for Congress, 2010 and Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox Radio Show promise you we will continue to lead the charge for peace and economic justice in 2009!

Contribute

see

Occupier/Occupied by Cindy Sheehan (+ action alert)

Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox Debut Show

Letter to Bush on Gaza Crisis by Ralph Nader

Agent of a foreign power? by William Bowles

Israel-Palestine-Gaza-Occupation

Sheehan-Cindy L. M.

Holiday Greetings: The Harris Pole 2008

The Other Katherine Harris

by The Other Katherine Harris
Featured writer
Dandelion Salad

previously published Dec. 2008

Jan 1, 2009

NORTH POLE – On each year’s visit to formerly ice-bound Kringleshire, I find there’s less of it.  Lately there’s so much less that rescuing animals from the encroaching waters has become part of daily life.  When I arrived by ferry (quite a change from the sled treks of yore), the famously philanthropic Kringle clan chief S. Claus was guiding a group of polar bears to safety.  Some had been swimming for days, he said.

Claus looked as exhausted as the bears, so I helped beach his little rowboat, the HOHO, puzzled that no elves ran to assist.  Equally surprising were the many drilling platforms that had sprung up in the vicinity.  These developments turned out to be connected.

larger view

“Must be crazy-busy in the factory now,” I remarked while we were walking to the house next door to it.

Epic Environmental Fail: Landowners sue Tennessee Valley Authority for $165M over Coal Ash Spill

Dandelion Salad

by Michael Graham Richard, Gatineau, Canada
TreeHugger
12.31.08

Clean Coal Fans, Take Note

As reported here on TreeHugger and on Discovery News last week: “Monday night 2.6 million cubic yards (the equivalent of 525.2 million gallons, 48 times more than the Exxon Valdez spill by volume) of coal ash sludge broke through a dike of a 40-acre holding pond at TVA’s Kingston coal-fired power plant covering 400 acres up to six feet deep, damaging 12 homes and wrecking a train.” Read on for more.

Cleaning this up is such a monumental task that it could take years, and we still don’t know just how many toxic things are in that sludge and what the impacts on the local environment will be.

[…]

via TreeHugger

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see

TVA Coal Ash Spill + 2.6 Million Cubic Yards of Toxic Coal Ash Slurry Released in TN Dike Burst

Letter to Bush on Gaza Crisis by Ralph Nader

Dandelion Salad

by Ralph Nader
The Nader Page
Dec. 31, 2008

Dear George W. Bush—

Cong. Barney Frank said recently that Barack Obama’s declaration that “there is only one president at a time” over-estimated the number. He was referring to the economic crisis. But where are you on the Gaza crisis where the civilian population of Gaza, its civil servants and public facilities are being massacred and destroyed respectively by U.S built F-16s and U.S. built helicopter gunships.

The deliberate suspension of your power to stop this terrorizing of 1.5 million people, mostly refugees, blockaded for months by air, sea and land in their tiny slice of land, is in cowardly contrast to the position taken by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1956. That year he single handedly stopped the British, French and Israeli aircraft attack against Egypt during the Suez Canal dispute.