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The United States is torturing an american soldier-citizen who has not been convicted of any crime. Pfc Bradley Manning is accused of leaking a video to WikiLeaks that shows the wanton killing of civilians by Amercian soldiers. He is being investigated for leaking the Iraq and Afghanistan War Logs as well as a trove of dilomatic cables to WikiLeaks. VotersForPeace.US is working with the Bradley Manning Support Network (www.BradleyManning.org) to organize a show of suport for Manning and make sure the commander-in-chief takes responsibility for the actions of the military. Please join us in calling the White House this Thursday.

PLEASE JOIN US - PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY - SPREAD THE WORD - STAND WITH BRAD

http://votersforpeace.us/press/index.php?itemid=4663

National White House Call-in Day to Support Bradley Manning

Thursday, February 3rd, 2011

Whitehouse switchboard: 202-456-1414
(or Whitehouse comments: 202-456-1111)

By Dave Lindorff

Looks can be deceiving.

When you see photos of Army Specialist Bradley Manning, the fresh, slightly pudgy-faced 23-year old private who has spent the last seven months in solitary confinement, first in Kuwait and later at the Marine base at Quantico, VA, enduring the tender mercies of military guards, you don’t get the sense that this is someone who could withstand a lot of pressure and physical and mental abuse.

Pvt. Bradley Manning, the face of a hero

My blog entry for 26 November 2006 was entitled Hate Mail, Vandalism and Other Matches and advised readers to complain loudly and officially if they became the victims of hate mail, vandalism and threats. I’m not sure how convincing I was. The recent shootings in Tucson, the Pentagon, the Holocaust Museum, in Wichita, Knoxville, Pittsburgh, Brockton, and Okaloosa County, Florida show an escalation in the seriousness and magnitude of the problems.

One remedy might be recourse to the Law. In Minnesota making a Terroristic Threat is a misdemeanor and is punishable by ”imprisonment for not more than five years or to payment of a fine of not more than $10,000, or both.” Similar laws may exist in other states. Offenses to civil discourse may have to be taken up in the criminal courts as well as in civil courts. The Southern Poverty Law Center seems to have success using lawsuits against hate groups of all sorts.

Just a suggestion. Here are some links that cover the statute and how it is used.

By Kevin Zeese

The case of Private Bradley Manning raises legal issues about his pre-trial detention, freedom of speech and the press, as well as proving his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Putting aside Manning’s guilt or innocence, if Bradley Manning saw the Afghan and Iraq war diaries as well as the diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks what should he have done? And, what should be the proper response of government to their publication?

by Linda Milazzo

Registered Nurse Estella Chavez (photo by Linda Milazzo)

Here's a flyer: PDF

COME TO WASHINGTON, D.C. SATURDAY, JANUARY 15, 2011, TO COMMEMORATE THE U.S. SLAUGHTER OF IRAQ, AND REDEDICATE OUR LIVES TO LIVING OUT DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.’S DREAM OF ABOLISHING WAR AND INJUSTICE!

January 15, 2011 marks the 20th year since the United States began to bomb Iraq. Since then millions of Iraqi people have been militarily occupied, injured, starved, killed, tortured, and imprisoned. Millions more have become internally displaced or refugees in other countries. The purpose of this witness in Washington, D.C. on January 15th is to draw attention to the fact that the United States has been using military force for 20 years that has led to the slaughter of Iraqis and the destruction of their country. It is our hope the United States will instead follow the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to abolish war and injustice.

Net Neutrality Threatened (Part II) - by Stephen Lendman

Three earlier articles addressed the issue, the most recent accessed through the following link:

http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/08/net-neutrality-threatened.html

Net Neutrality is a defining issue of our time. It's essential to keep the Internet free and open, letting users access all content without restrictions, limitations, or discrimination, maintaining an online level playing field for everyone.

It's the essence of democratic free speech. Without it, the Internet will resemble cable TV, letting corporate predators game the system, deciding what web sites, content and applications are available at what price and speed.

TO THE MILLIONAIRES AND BILLIONAIRES, THE GREEDY RICH WHO DARE NOT SAY, " I DON'T NEED THESE BUSH/OBAMA TAX CUTS!!!!!"AND TO THE WORKING CLASS WHO GROVEL AT THEIR FEET, TOO COWERED TO TAKE TO THE STREETS!!!!SHAME ON YOU!...SHAME ON YOU!!! SHAME ON YOU!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_408ieYAy0

4 December 2010 - Wikileaks is currently under heavy attack.

In order to make it impossible to ever fully remove Wikileaks from the Internet, we need your help.

if you have a unix-based server which is hosting a website on the Internet and you want to give wikileaks some of your hosting resources, you can help!

Please follow the following instructions:

* Setup an account where we can upload files using RSYNC+SSH (preferred) or FTP

* Put our SSH key in this server or create an FTP account

* Create a virtual host in your web server, which, for example, can be wikileaks.yourdomain.com

* send the IP address of your server to us, and the path where we should upload the content. (just fill the form below) {read rest and sign on if able}

By Charles M. Young

Howard Zinn, probably the most influential American historian ever, had an amazing sense of humor when he lectured or met people in person. He could make fun of himself and the audience in a way that exploded the guilt and ambivalence that so often paralyzes liberals, progressives, greens, socialists, anarchists, communists and everyone else on the more-or-less left. Only occasionally, however, did Zinn use his sense of humor in print. His masterpiece, A People’s History of the United States, had no humor at all, as he himself pointed out, because he didn’t find anything funny about the Trail of Tears and all the other ghastly episodes he wove into a narrative that convinced millions of citizens the United States was something less than what they had believed.

By David DeGraw, AmpedStatus -- The Global Insurrection Against Banker Occupation (GIABO) rages on… Over the past few days the people of Ireland, Italy, Britain, Austria and Portugal have all held massive demonstrations against the Global Banking Cartel.

Ireland Vs. Global Banking Cartel…

More than 100,000 protest against Irish bailout

“More than 100,000 Irish citizens took to the streets of Dublin today to protest against the international bailout and four years of austerity.

By David DeGraw, AmpedStatus -- The Federal Reserve represents global banking interests who have overstepped their legal authority. Their Quantitative Easing program is an explicit violation of the Constitution. By deliberately devaluing the dollar and causing the price of basic necessities to rise, the Federal Reserve is, as a matter of strategic policy, sacrificing a significant percentage of the US population for the benefit of a few global bankers. In the process, they are also igniting a global currency war that threatens the security of the American people. In clear terms, the Federal Reserve’s actions represent a declaration of war against the people of the United States.

By Linda Milazzo

At a time when Israel faces near universal condemnation for the May 30th killings of eight Turkish citizens and one Turkish American aboard the Gaza bound Mavi Marmara, and worldwide rebuke for its continued blockade of Gaza and ongoing expansion into Jerusalem and the West Bank, American midterm candidates still pandered for pro-Israel money and votes during this 2010 midterm election.

Cognizant of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's (AIPAC) financial support for American politicians who legislate on Israel's behalf, allegiance to Israel played a role in several of this year's races.

By Debra Sweet

World Can't Wait joined a protest against drone warfare. Activists made a predator drone with an 8 foot wingspan, symbolizing those the US uses, at a cost of $13 million each, on people in Pakistan and Afghanistan. We were in Greenwich, CT, because Steven Loranger, CEO of ITT Corporation, lives there in a gated community.

The Bridgeport Post called us "peaceniks." Many of the locals were curious, some friendly, and at least one citizen driving an SUV threatened to run us over if we weren't out of Greenwich by 5:00 pm. I guess we hit a nerve, with 40 of us marching in determined fashion past mansions and Ferrari dealers.

All through the George W. Bush administration, Americans were fed a steady diet of fear, strategically orchestrated by Bush and Cheney to promote their political agenda. Americans were scared into supporting war. They were frightened into buying masking tape. They were jolted by elevated color codes. They were unnerved about flying on planes. And much much more...

For eight long years Bush and Cheney were masters of mania, preying on a nervous nation through well-timed machinations. What coincidence that terrorist threats would arise before elections and critical legislation. Even Osama bin Laden and Ayman Al Zawahiri would broadcast messages that helped push G.W.'s platform.

Using unjustified fear is an abuse of governance. Sadly for Los Angeles, Lee Baca, its Sheriff of twelve years who is running unopposed in this election, is employing the same fear tactics as George Bush and Dick Cheney.

"The one thing I couldn't live without in Iraq was my own humanity,"says Iraq veteran Ethan McCord, who came home from dropping his children off at school to find a video of himself rescuing an child from a bombed-out van. That was the now-infamous Wikileaks video, and McCord has been collecting his own video and stories from his fellow veterans, speaking out about what he saw at war and what his friends lived through.

Check out the interview with Ethan McCord:

http://www.grittv.org/2010/10/22/ethan-mccord-iraq-wikileaks-war/

Yesterday I received an e-mail from the Communications Director of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, Kristal DeKleer. Thank you Kristal for sending this out to the e-mail list, will be passing the information on as I'm sure others will as well.

Also yesterday I used the following in a few posts as related to recent Veterans Administration press releases:

Let me tell ya folks, if the so called repubs, still haven't met one true one in a couple of decades, pick up Any Seats let alone take the House what Shinseki and his Great Admin have been doin will come to a Screeching Halt on many and curtailed on others! This is the Most Pro Active VA in my lifetime!

VA Taking Life-Saving Campaign to Streets

October 19, 2010 - WASHINGTON – This week, nearly 1,200 life-saving advertisements will go up on city buses, bus shelters, rail and subway stations across the Nation displaying a message of hope for those who have served their country and may be facing an emotional crisis. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is advertising its Suicide Prevention Hotline through Jan. 9, 2011.

By Dave Lindorff

There are calls in this election season for establishing a moratorium of some sort on home foreclosures, and a number of large banks have even voluntarily stopped, at least until after Election Day, on foreclosing on houses. That’s fine as far as it goes, but what about the millions of homes that have already been lost or stolen over the past several years?