electdennis
December 08, 2009
Dennis Kucinich on “MSNBC – The Ed Show” Dec 8, 2009
Day: December 8, 2009
Minot/Barksdale Nuclear Bent Spear Incident-Part I by Richard Scott
by Richard Scott
http://www.boilingfrogspost.com
7. December 2009
An Analysis & Critique
Over 36 hours on August 29-30 2007, six AGM-129_ACM Air Launched Cruise Missiles each containing one W80_(nuclear_warhead) were removed from safeguarded weapons storage facilities at the Minot AFB in North Dakota, loaded aboard a B-52 bomber and flown 1500 miles to Barksdale AFB in Louisiana. While removed from secure storage, these weapons passed through six separate links in the chain of custody without being discovered, without being visually inspected and were left unguarded and unsecured on the runways of both Minot and Barksdale for 15 hours and 12 hours respectively before the Ordnance Unloading Team at Barksdale discovered the error, established a security zone and activated a Nuclear Security Alert to further safeguard the warheads.
Attempting to conceal the incident as part of the DOD’s policy on neither confirming nor denying the presence of nuclear weapons, Defense Secretary Robert Gates notified President Bush and ordered in internal Air Force Investigation of the incident, the first of it’s kind in the 40+ years of nuclear weapons handling. This lasted 6 days until the story of the incident was broken by the Military Times, quoting unnamed sources and picked up by the MSM. Soon after, the Air Force announced that the Minot Munitions Squadron commander was relieved of command and 25 airmen were disciplined. They also assured the public that the weapons never left the custody of Air force personnel and the public was never in danger. The results of that investigation saw the commanders of the 5th Bomb wing and the 5th Maintenance Group at Minot and the 2nd Operations Group at Barksdale relieved of command, four senior NCOs of the 5th Bomb Wing received “administrative action”, all personnel of the 5th Bomb Wing were stripped of their nuclear certifications, 65 airmen lost their Personnel_Reliability_Program certifications and all tactical weapons ferry operations were suspended, citing:
“There has been an erosion of adherence to weapons-handling standards at Minot Air Force Base and at Barksdale Air Force Base.”
[…]
via Sibel Edmonds’ Boiling Frogs Post | Home of the Irate Minority.
see
Sprint fed customer GPS data to cops over 8 million times
By Jon Stokes
http://arstechnica.com
Dec. 1, 2009
A blogger has released audio of Sprint’s Electronic Surveillance Manager describing the carrier’s cooperation with law enforcement. Among the revelations are that Sprint has so far filled over 8 million requests from LEOs for customer GPS data.
Christopher Soghoian, a graduate student at Indiana University’s School of Informatics and Computing, has made public an audio recording of Sprint/Nextel's Electronic Surveillance Manager describing how his company has provided GPS location data about its wireless customers to law enforcement over 8 million times. That’s potentially millions of Sprint/Nextel customers who not only were probably unaware that their wireless provider even had an Electronic Surveillance Department, but who certainly did not know that law enforcement offers could log into a special Sprint Web portal and, without ever having to demonstrate probable cause to a judge, gain access to geolocation logs detailing where they’ve been and where they are.
[…]
via Sprint fed customer GPS data to cops over 8 million times
***
And another semi-related story:
Yahoo Sells All Its Users Private Email Contents to U.S. Agencies for Small Price
see
Leaked climate draft sparks anger
AlJazeeraEnglish
December 08, 2009
The climate change conference in Copenhagen is barely under way and already a leaked draft agreement is pitting developing nations against their wealthier counterparts.
If the documents are accurate, the proposal would see more power in the hands of rich nations, the UN’s negotiating role sidelined and the Kyoto Protocol abandoned.
Developing nations are furious and say they will not sign on to an inequitable deal that they argue would limit their economic growth.
Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher explains.
Baghdad attacks put Iraq security back in spotlight + 118 killed, 197 injured
AlJazeeraEnglish
December 08, 2009
With the US ramping up its war in Afghanistan, the Obama administration has pledged to get its combat troops out of Iraq by the deadline in under nine months.
But Tuesday’s string of attacks has underlined concerns over shortcomings in Iraqi security ahead of the planned withdrawal.
The US condemned the attacks in Baghdad but maintained that – despite the violence – Iraqi leaders who passed an election law earlier this week are moving the country in the right direction.
Al Jazeera’s Sebastian Walker reports.
Kucinich: Are we in Afghanistan to fight or to fund the Taliban?
by Congressman Dennis Kucinich
Washington, Dec 8, 2009
Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr
Following a speech on the Floor of the House of Representative, Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) today made the following statement:
“U.S. contractors are paying U.S. tax dollars to the Taliban in order to protect the delivery of U.S. shipments of U.S. goods to U.S. soldiers so that our soldiers can fight the Taliban.
In an investigative expose, The Nation magazine reveals “how the U.S. funds the Taliban” and “with pentagon cash, contractors bribe the insurgents not to attack supply for U.S. troops.”
First Mission Accomplished: War President Seizes Key ‘Hearts and Minds’- Inhabiting Beltway Elites By Robert S. Becker
By Robert S. Becker
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
www.beyondchron.org
rbecker@cal.net
Dec. 8, 2009
There he goes again, making non-commitments sound, well, like commitments. With a resounding maybe, President Obama’s Afghan speech named a date certain when troops not yet shipped out may start home. Unsurprisingly, Obama fudged the bigger issues, bypassing any timetable, benchmarks, end dates, exit strategy, even if there will be another surge – indeed, whether we’re talking 5-10 years and $500 billion. Did I miss clear assurances we’re closer to the finish than the kick-off?
However open-ended, the Obama-McChrystal surge fits a larger narrative: “The struggle against violent extremism will not be finished quickly,” said Obama, extending “well beyond Afghanistan and Pakistan,” and he cited Somalia and Yemen. Our “effort will involve disorderly regions and diffuse enemies.”
Former Guantánamo Prosecutor Loses Job For Criticizing Military Commissions by Andy Worthington
by Andy Worthington
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
www.andyworthington.co.uk
8 December 2009
So much for the First Amendment. Morris Davis, the retired Air Force Colonel who served as the Chief Prosecutor of the Military Commissions at Guantánamo from September 2005 until his resignation in October 2007, has just lost his job at the Congressional Research Service (a branch of the Library of Congress) for writing, in his personal capacity, an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, in which he drew on his wealth of experience of the Commissions to criticize the Obama administration for its decision to prosecute some Guantánamo prisoners in federal courts, and others in Military Commissions, and a letter to the Washington Post, in which he criticized former Attorney General Michael Mukasey for scaremongering about the administration’s decision to try Guantánamo prisoners in federal courts.
In a letter dated November 20, Daniel P. Mulhollan, the director of CRS, told Col. Davis that he had not shown “awareness that your poor judgment could do serious harm to the trust and confidence Congress reposes in CRS,” and notified him that he would not be kept on after his one-year probationary period at CRS ends on December 21.
Nobel Committee Celebrates War As Peace by Rick Rozoff
by Rick Rozoff
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Stop NATO
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com
8 December, 2009
On Thursday December 10 U.S. President Barack Obama will receive the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced its selection for the prize on October 9 of this year, less than nine months after Obama assumed the mantle of the American presidency and less than a month after that announced the doubling of his nation’s troops for the world’s longest-running war in Afghanistan. The first contingent of new forces, consisting of 1,500 Marines, is to arrive next week, right before Christmas.
Viva Palestina Gaza convoy leaves London
presstvlondon
December 06, 2009
Around 200 peace activists have left the UK on a humanitarian mission to Gaza. The Viva Palestina convoy, organised by prominent politician George Galloway, is carrying medical aid to a people under Israeli economic siege. The convoy aims to arrive in Gaza on December 27, the anniversary of Israel’s war on Gaza. Roshan Muhammed Salih reports from London.
Vodpod videos no longer available.
more about “Viva Palestina Gaza convoy leaves London“, posted with vodpod
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The Jeff Farias Show: Sasha Abramsky + Andy Worthington
Interview with Andy Worthington
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Posted with permission from Jeff Farias
Listen at The Jeff Farias Show – December 7, 2009
{Sasha starts at 1:00:00 and Andy at 01:57:00}
At 5 PM MST Author and journalist Sasha Abramsky returns! “I teach writing one day a week at the U.C. Davis writing program, am a fellow at the New York City-based Demos think tank, and spend most of the rest of my work-time reporting and writing magazine articles and books. Much of work over the past decade has centered on America’s criminal justice system. I also write on political goings-on and cultural trends. Over the years I’ve also written many travel essays, book reviews, and opinion pieces. More recently, I have focused more on national political trends. Many of my articles are posted on this website.” We last spoke with Sasha about his book Breadline USA: The Hidden Scandal of American Hunger and How to Fix It His most recent book, Inside Obama’s Brain, has just been published by Penguin’s Portfolio Imprint
Democracy Now! is the only daily global TV, radio news hour broadcasting from Copenhagen
Democracy Now!
Dec. 7, 2009
Climate Countdown: Largest Climate Summit in World History Opens in Copenhagen
Democracy Now! broadcasts live from Copenhagen from inside the Bella Center, where thousands of delegates from over 190 countries are gathering for the largest climate summit in history. Over the next two weeks, 100 world leaders are expected to attend the UN conference that has been described by some scientists as the most important the world has ever seen. We play highlights from the opening ceremony with the mayor of Copenhagen, Ritt Bjerregaard; Rajendra Pachauri, the chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; and Yvo de Boer, the executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, speaking on Sunday. [includes rush transcript]
Ritt Bjerregaard, mayor of Copenhagen.
Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
via Climate Countdown: Largest Climate Summit in World History Opens in Copenhagen
Peace must arise from the ordinary
ourjourneytosmile
December 07, 2009
Peace must arise from the ordinary ; love can change the strategies of war & peace
From the hills I play my flute…
I wish for peace & reconciliation
When will the world ever understand?
Peace for the ordinary billions must be loved into passionate existence
by a billion ordinary hearts
From Afghanistan, we thank every individual who is now journeying with us in this heart-storm of love, befriending us at
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Youth-Peace-Volunteers/206186386153?v=wall or youthpeacevolunteers@gmail.com or journeytosmile@gmail.com
Thank you, our friends, brothers and sisters!
the Afghan peace vigilers
Text of video
Is your wish for peace a special or ordinary wish?
Our wish for peace is ordinary because everyone wishes for peace
Who is responsible for bringing peace?
We ourselves are responsible for bringing peace.
If war breaks out, whose fault is it?
It is our fault because we ourselves should make peace.
If governments wage war, we should also temper that.
We the people should temper governments? How?
Yes, that we make peace, as war is futile.
Should we wait for elders & leaders to bring peace?
No, we shouldn’t wait…we ordinary people should arise from our own places to bring peace.
An Afghan leader had said that he wanted to turn Afg into a river of blood
We the people of Afghanistan want a river of peace
We ordinary people should take the course of peace
We should arise from our homes, from the mountains & from the cities
Can’t we ordinary people arise & move?
We can and we will arise for peace.
Peace, peace…from the bottom of our hearts, peace!
From the hills I play my flute…
I wish for peace & reconciliation
When will the world ever understand?
We thank those who pray that we’ll have peace
But prayers won’t suffice if one by one, war takes us away from life.
Peace for the ordinary billions must be loved into passionate existence by a billion ordinary hearts
Even when the cold sets in and ice forms over the rivers,
we ordinary people should arise from our own places to bring peace
arise from our homes, from the mountains & from the cities
For if war breaks out, whose fault is it?
Peace, peace…from the bottom of our hearts, peace!
Love is how we’ll ask for peace, love that must arise from the ordinary
I wish for peace & reconciliation
When will the world ever understand?
see
Peace to Obama’s daughters from Afghan children
Countdown: Mysterious “Suicides” At Guantanamo Bay Prison!
Replaced video May 22, 2014 with a similar video (not the exact one from Dec. 2009)
mmflint on Jan 19, 2010
MSNBC Keith Olbermann
http://harpers.org/archive/2010/03/the-guantanamo-suicides/
When President Barack Obama took office last year, he promised to restore the standards of due process and the core constitutional values that have made this country great. Toward that end, the president issued an executive order declaring that the extra-constitutional prison camp at Guantánamo shall be closed as soon as practicable, and no later than one year from the date of this order. Obama has failed to fulfill his promise. Some prisoners are being charged with crimes, others released, but the date for closing the camp seems to recede steadily into the future. Furthermore, new evidence now emerging may entangle Obama’s young administration with crimes that occurred during the Bush presidency, evidence that suggests the current administration failed to investigate seriously—and may even have continued—a cover-up of the possible homicides of three prisoners at Guantánamo in 2006.
Dandelion Salad 