“Netanyahu has decided to attack Iran before the U.S. Elections in November.” by Michael Carmichael

by Michael Carmichael
Guest Writer
Dandelion Salad
PlanetaryMovement.org
June 25, 2012

Senior Israeli officials now confirm that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has, “decided to attack Iran before the U.S. elections in November.”

Netanyahu’s agenda is much broader than knocking out Iranian nuclear installations for his aim is to reshape the political landscape in the USA and Israel shifting everything to the far, far right in order to create a new comfort zone for religious fundamentalists.

Nagi Musa and the Sudan Ten by Michael Carmichael

by Michael Carmichael
Guest Writer
Dandelion Salad
PlanetaryMovement.org
Jan. 29, 2012

Image via Wikipedia

The Sudanese National Security Forces have arrested Nagi Musa and nine other leaders of Girifna, the nonviolent people’s resistance movement in Eastern Sudan.

On Wednesday the 25th of January, Nagi Musa was leading a conference titled:  “The Massacre in Port Sudan and the Crisis in East Sudan.”   Nagi Musa’s conference commemorated the seventh anniversary of the massacre.

Obama makes Abbas & Bibi an offer they can’t refuse by Michael Carmichael

by Michael Carmichael
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
PlanetaryMovement.org
September 5, 2010

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President Obama is making the Israelis and the Palestinians an offer they can’t refuse.

Reports in Israel suggest that Prime Minister Netanyahu will appeal for national unity tomorrow in a Rosh Hashanah statement on the Jewish New Year to prepare the way for a historic agreement that will be announced later this month or early in October.

The direct peace negotiations between the leading  diplomats will take place in syncopation with the onrush of the Jewish holidays:  Aseret Yemei Teshuva; Yom Kippur; Sukkot; Hoshanah Rabbah; Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah ending on the first of October.

Republicans Attack the Peaceful Imam by Michael Carmichael

by Michael Carmichael
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
PlanetaryMovement.org
August 17, 2010

Standing in front of the derelict hulk of the Burlington Coat Factory in Lower Manhattan, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf made what historians will regard as the most explicitly peaceful statement of any Imam in the post-9/11 era.

I have been Imam of a mosque ten blocks from here for the last 27 years. Our congregation, our faith community, has been… victims of 9/11. From my congregation there have been people who died. From my congregation, my faith community, we were part of those who gave water to the firefighters. We are part of this community, and we intend to be part of this community. We want to rebuild this community. We are working with the other faith communities, because this is what this is all about. This is about the vast majority of moderate Muslims — who have been and want to continue to be part of the solution.

Ground Zero Religious Freedom by Michael Carmichael

by Michael Carmichael
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
PlanetaryMovement.org
July 21, 2010

The United States of America rightly prides herself on her constitutional tradition for the Constitution clearly and starkly defines individual freedom in the Bill of Rights.

The core of the Bill of Rights is, of course, the First Amendment that states:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Recently, Sarah Palin joined with Mark Williams another prominent leader of the Tea Party Movement when she spoke out in opposition to the creation of a Muslim cultural center in Lower Manhattan that aims to establish mutual respect between people of all faiths.  In doing so, Palin and the Tea Party leadership boldly and explicitly proclaimed their opposition to religious freedom.

Dismiss McChrystal II by Michael Carmichael

by Michael Carmichael
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
PlanetaryMovement.org
June 23, 2010

Mr. President:

Eight and a half months ago, I published an open letter to you that critiqued General Stanley McChrystal’s plan for Afghanistan as well as his personal qualifications for his high position.

Noting that the General had produced an unsound plan and been insubordinate in making foolish statements to the international press and media, I advised you to dismiss him – in order for you to retain command authority over the armed services of the United States of America.

Galileo 2010 by Michael Carmichael

by Michael Carmichael
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
PlanetaryMovement.org
April 8, 2010

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Today, a struggle is taking place in Great Britain between prejudice and science. The Conservatives have attacked a major scientist and are attempting to humiliate him through a trial-by-tabloid of dogma versus science.

Here is a brief backstory. Exactly four hundred years ago in 1610, Galileo Galilei published The Starry Messenger, a book that defined his monumental theory that the sun – not the earth – is the center of the solar system. Galileo’s theory flew in the face of long-established Catholic dogma that the earth does not move. Eventually, Galileo would collide with the awesome power of the Pope.

Kucinich backs Obama, II by Michael Carmichael

by Michael Carmichael
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
PlanetaryMovement.org
March 19, 2010

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The American people have invested a huge amount of political capital in health care reform.

Now ranked 37th by the World Health Organization, America’s highly vaunted health care system is plummeting downward in a deepening spiral. Costs escalate catastrophically, while longevity slides down the scale – and America is now below Cuba in the key statistic: life expectancy where the USA now ranks 42nd.

While the costs of American health accelerate out of control – and the performance of American medicine falls off a cliff – profits for health care corporations from hospitals, nursing homes and big pharma skyrocket to supersonic velocities into a limitless expanse of open skies now escaping the earth’s orbit and soaring beyond the forces of economic gravity.

The Uranium Coup by Michael Carmichael

by Michael Carmichael
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
PlanetaryMovement.org
February 21, 2010

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In yet another odd coincidence, Alan Grayson led a Congressional delegation that just happened to be in Niger at the time of the recent military coup last Thursday that deposed the legitimate elected government of the Uranium-rich nation.

The official story is that the members of Congress were focused on science, technology and humanitarian relief – at the very same time that the military coup was unfolding on the streets of the capital, Niamey.

This intriguing “coincidence” raises the question:  Was this Congressional presence during a military coup another instance of a massive intelligence failure or something entirely different?

Xe, the Templar Crusade by Michael Carmichael

by Michael Carmichael
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
PlanetaryMovement.org
January 10, 2010

Blackwater is a corporation that provides mercenary soldiers and supporting security personnel to the US government.

Erik Prince, the founder and owner of the now infamous US corporation, Blackwater, hails from Holland, Michigan where his family was both powerful and prominent in two institutions – (1) the Republican Party and (2) the evangelical Christian Church.  After scandals hit his large and lucrative firm, Prince ordered a curious rebranding that changed its name to Xe.

Kill the Bill by Michael Carmichael

by Michael Carmichael
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
PlanetaryMovement.org
December 16, 2009

America’s most assiduous and articulate advocate for health care reform is Dr. Howard Dean.  In the aftermath of the Lieberman crisis that has deleted the medicare buy-in at 55, Dr. Dean has a new political prescription:  Kill the Bill.

Dr. Dean’s reasoning is simple :  “This is not reform.”

Lieberman’s sabotage appears to be driven by his fealty to the insurance lobby based in his home state, but that is really only the tip of a much larger and more adamantine political iceberg.

Memo to Obama: Dismiss McChrystal by Michael Carmichael

by Michael Carmichael
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
PlanetaryMovement.org
October 06, 2009

Mr. President:

As you are more than well aware General Stanley McChrystal is a highly decorated soldier who has served America fearlessly and capably for many years. Earlier this year, you appointed General McChrystal to the post of Commander of both the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and US Forces Afghanistan.

The Lawmaker by Michael Carmichael

by Michael Carmichael
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
PlanetaryMovement.org
August 28, 2009

He never lingered over the pain in his past.  Memories echoed in the domes, surrounding him with an aura of destiny. The pain of tragic loss; a sister in perpetual absentia; the echoes of bullets lacerating his brothers; a spiraling plane crash that shattered his spine; a panic underwater and the loss of an innocent life; his son’s loss of a limb; the perpetual onslaught of rumors whispering scandals; the wind in his face; the tides of the sea; sailing against the winds of time – these could not disturb his dream.  He focused his vision as he understood the pulse of time and the concentration of fury in pursuit of justice.  Keen, intent and open, in possession of certainty in equality, liberty and justice; he strode the corridors of power and knew the ways and means of Senates and Congresses and Presidents and Pentagons.  In a succession of houses or on the crest of waves rippling with monsters of the deep, he was schooled in the lessons of life by parents who nourished him.

Lockerbie & Kafka’s Labyrinth by Michael Carmichael

by Michael Carmichael
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
PlanetaryMovement.org
August 21, 2009

In December 1988, I was living in the United Kingdom when the searing news of the Lockerbie bombing exploded into the global consciousness.

With 270 victims, Lockerbie was at once the worst act of terrorism on British soil and the most heinous act of terrorism yet perpetrated against Americans. Twelve years later, Lockerbie would produce one of the most expensive trials in world history (75 million pounds sterling, circa $120 million) and what has become a highly contentious verdict.

At the time of the tragedy, an extremist group of Palestinians backed by Iran was selected as the primary suspect, but two years later when Saddam Hussein seized Kuwait the spotlight of suspicion shifted to Libya. Bush, Sr. needed Iranian support for the invasion of Kuwait – a nation courted assiduously by the Reagan-Bush administration through the notorious Iran-Contra Scandal and beyond.

Kucinich keeps Single-Payer healthcare alive by Michael Carmichael

[Note: This post was picked up by http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h676/.  Info on the bill H. R. 676 or to follow its progress: http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h676/show.  Vote it up, too, as it’s lagging far behind the “no” votes.]

by Michael Carmichael
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
PlanetaryMovement.org
July 23, 2009

The congressional healthcare reform bill, H.R. 3200, now contains the Kucinich amendment thus keeping hope alive for a single-payer system.

Two weeks ago, Dennis Kucinich proposed an amendment to the healthcare reform bill that keeps the single-payer option alive.  Kucinich’s amendment will permit states the power to introduce single-payer healthcare systems.  Importantly, Kucinich’s amendment drew bipartisan support by uniting proponents of single-payer healthcare with states rights advocates, and it is now the crucial part of the landmark bill that is due to be voted on by the end of this month.