Diebold Voting Machines and snafus questioned in Kern County's '06 primary.

The state of California's Select Committe on Integrity of Elections began holding hearings today in my city of Bakersfield. Kern county experienced significant problems during the '06 primary, forcing some voters to become disenfranchised..Meaning they couldn't vote. The following three areas were targeted as unacceptable. And the cause of the voter disenfranchisement and reporting problems here in Kern County:

The Voter Access Cards
Lack of paper ballots for backup if the machines failed to work
Tabulation of the votes after the polls closed.

The Voter Access Cards, or VAC's, which activate the Diebold TSX voting machine for each voter, did not work in many precincts when the polls opened. I personally did not experience any problems, but several precincts, such as those in Delano, CA did not have any working VAC's and people were waiting to vote when the precincts opened. The poll workers had not been trained in how to deal with this type of malfunction. They were told it wouldn't be a problem.

But it was. And people were turned away or got tired of waiting and left without voting. A privilege and one protected by the 19th Amendment to the Constitution.

The root cause of the malfunction was determined to be old VAC's from the previous election year that had not been updated with the new security codes. Who's fault was this one might ask..Diebold piped up and accepted blame. But during the hearing, Diebolds California representative could not say with any certainty why Diebold dropped the ball in putting this crucial step into their training manuals sent out to Kern county, or why their representatives, who were in town on a weekly basis to the runup of the election, didn't tell the Kern County Registrar that the VAC's had to be re-programmed. The Diebold representative couldn't answer most of the questions asked of him with any certainty. Neither could the Deputy Registar when it was her turn on the hotseat. The Deputy Registrar couldn't even tell the senators how many paper ballots were cast because of the VAC malfunction. Neither individual seemed prepared for the hearing. Neither person could tell the Senators how much Kern County paid for the Diebold system that left voters out in the cold.

According to this article in the Bakersfield Californian, Kern County paid "about 5 million" for the system.

Two of the three senators conducting the hearing were Democrats. The lone Republican, Roy Ashburn however, asked many of the hard questions and didn't accept the empty explanations and the "I don't knows" offered by Diebold and the Registrar's Office for the problems that occurred over the course of the election day and evening.

Some folks were given paper ballots. The county Registrar only issued 20 of these to each precinct. It should also be mentioned that Delano's poll workers were lax in showing up to work. They had to grab folks that were not trained during the preceding months to fill in. When they ran out of paper ballots, they started giving people Spanish ballots, even if they didn't speak Spanish. They also copied ballots and handed those out. They tried vainly to fill the need and rights of Californians to vote in an election. At one point it was mentioned during the hearing that the Registar had said she would accept "Faxed" ballots from voters. It had to be explained to the Registrar during the course of the election night that faxed ballots were not legal, and they were not accepted.

The third issue was the failure of Ridgecrest to transmit their voting results after the polls closed. Ridgecrest is over two hours away from Bakersfield. Each Diebold machine has the ability to act as a transmitter but the problem seemed to be blamed on the baud speed of the modems. The voting results had to be driven to Bakersfield, resulting in a major delay that should of never happened. The inability to transmit voting results from Ridgecrest, coupled with the processing of paper ballots led to a three hour delay in voting results after the polls closed here in California. When they did start showing results..they were being reported as "100% of precincts reporting" when in fact they had just started tabulating the votes.

Another problem in the process to tabulate the votes was the Security within the computer center for the Registrar. There was the expected panic when the numerous problems arose, however, people who had been hired for menial positions and were NOT cleared by security checks were given access to the computer room. Some were asked if they had any computer experience, and if not, would they be willing to learn. The secure computer room was no longer secure. Add to this mix, the paper ballots that were not expected to be processed because, according to several people that testified, this was never going to happen, and you had procedures that were ignored or altered after the fact.

These issues affect all voters, party affiliation has no bearing on this important issue of disenfranchisement. The three senators were Roy Ashburn, Joseph Dunn and the chair Debra Bowen. All three asked questions and participated equally. Sen. Ashburn was incensed that Ann Barnett, the Registrar, who is also our Auditor/Controller/County Clerk did not appear. He demanded to know why. He was told by Sandra Brockman, Deputy Registrar that she was "on vacation". Sen. Dunn stated that accepting blame was easy for Diebold but providing restitution to the disenfranchised voters was no where to be found. Diebold's representative stated they were going to pay for the helicopter needed to deliver working VAC's to the precincts that did not have any when their polls opened that morning. This was not an acceptable response judging by the reaction of Sen. Dunn. Many of the important questions posed by the committee went unanswered. Since this is their first stop, I hope they will get answers to them somewhere down the road. Our right to vote depends on it.

Cross-posted at Bring it On! and Progressive Blogwire

Tags; Diebold, Voting Problems,Select Committee on Integrity of Elections,Voter Disenfranchisement

CSN&Y and why they are topical today.

It was a week ago today I saw them in Fresno, the concert started right about now. I cried when they played "Find the cost of Freedom" and showed the face of every single soldier killed in Iraq. This is about their tour and its done by Patrick Murphy who is running for office in PA. His website is here. All their songs sadly ring true today, and Neils Living With War bitch slaps the Shrub's administration good, we even had the words up on a screen so we could all sing along..which most did btw. Its nine minutes but its worth the time.Thanks to Down with Tyranny for having this up on his site for me to steal.

A Rabbi(and 1600 other folks) that want to end the slaughter.

This group wants an end to the madness in the Middle East. They want to print the following ad in newspapers here, Palestine, Israel and Lebanon. They are out of Berkeley, CA. You remember Berkeley dont you? The home of the anti-war movement during the Vietnam War. If you can't contribute, at least post this ad on your website my dear reader. I am jaded enough to think no one will do this. I hope some of you prove me wrong.

STOP THE SLAUGHTER IN

LEBANON, ISRAEL AND THE

OCCUPIED TERRITORIES!

Convene an International Middle East Peace Conference to

Impose a Just, Equitable and Lasting Settlement on All Parties.

In the name of our sisters and brothers suffering and dying in Lebanon, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, we, the undersigned, demand that the Israeli government, the leaderships of Hezbollah and Hamas, the U.S. Government, the international community and the United Nations

immediately take the following steps to stop the war in these countries:

1. We demand that the Israeli government immediately halt its attacks on Lebanon. We join with the Israeli peace movement and the thousands of Israelis who demonstrated against this war in Tel Aviv on July 22, 2006 in their insistence that these attacks are utterly disproportionate to the initial provocation by Hezbollah, have killed innumerable innocent civilians, displaced half a million people, destroyed billions of dollars of Lebanon’s infrastructure, and will not, in the long run, secure peace or security for Israel. We also call on the Israeli government to supply food, electricity, water and funds to repair the humanitarian crisis caused by its invasion of Gaza.

2. We demand that Hezbollah and Hamas immediately stop shelling or otherwise engaging in violence against Israel. These actions, which have killed numerous Israeli civilians, terrorized the people of Israel and damaged many towns and cities, played a central role in provoking the current crisis, and do nothing but harm the cause of Palestinian and Lebanese independence and democracy. It is this kind of violence which has over the years pushed many decent Israelis into the hands of its most
militaristic and paranoid political leaders.

3. We demand that the U.S. government and governments around the world call on Israel, Hezbollah and Hamas to observe an immediate ceasefire, place an immediate embargo on all shipments of weapons to all parties in the war (including Syria and Iran), and join an international conference to provide security on the border between Israel and Lebanon. By endorsing Israel’s attacks and explicitly giving it time to do more damage to the people of Lebanon, the U.S. government has become a party to this violence, which, together with American military actions in Iraq, is sure to create enmity towards the U.S. and Israel in the Muslim world for generations to come.

These are the minimum steps necessary to stop the violence and the humanitarian disaster in southern Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. But these steps alone will not ensure that the region doesn’t return to an untenable status quo which will again eventually break into violence and new rounds of warfare.We therefore also issue:

A Call for Lasting Peace

We call upon the international community to hold an International Peace Conference to impose a fair and lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to the conflict between Israel and other states in the region. Why do we say “impose”? There are too many forces in each country in the region who are committed to continuing this struggle forever. Their provocations will continue until the international community stops the violence once and for all and imposes conditions of peace that will allow the peace and reconciliation forces in each country to flourish. Such a solution would be based on the following conditions:

a. The creation of an economically and politically viable Palestinian state (roughly on the pre-1967 borders with minor border modifications mutually agreed upon between Israel and Palestine); and simultaneously the full and unequivocal recognition by Palestinians and the State of Palestine and all surrounding Arab states of the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish state offering full and equal rights to all of its non-Jewish citizens;

b. An international consortium to provide reparations for Palestinians who have lost homes or property from 1947 to the present, and reparations for Jewish refugees from Arab states from 1947–1967;

c. A long-term international peacekeeping force to separate Hezbollah and Israel in southern Lebanon and to protect Israel and Palestine from each other and from other forces in the region who might seek to control or destroy either state; and

d. The quick imposition of robust sanctions against any party that refuses to sign or violates these agreements.

A New Spirit of Open-Heartedness and Reconciliation

We know that no political solution can work without a change of consciousness that minimally includes an open-heartedness and willingness to recognize the humanity of the Other, and repentance and atonement for the long history of insensitivity and cruelty to the other side.Both sides must take immediate steps to stop the discourse of violence and demeaning of the other in their media, their religious institutions, and their school text books and educational systems. They should implement this by creating a joint authority with each other and with moral leaders in the international community who can supervise, and if necessary, replace those in positions of power in both societies who continue to use the public institutions of the society to spread hatred or nurture anger at the other.

Once the other parts of a lasting peace have been set in place, we call upon the parties to this struggle

to launch a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, following the model used in South Africa.

Use This Moment to Challenge
The Paranoid and Cynical“Political Realism”That Generates Endless Wars

The paranoid and allegedly “realistic” version of global politics asserts that we live in a world in which our safety can only be achieved through domination, or others will seek to dominate us first. Of course, when we act on this assumption, it becomes self-fulfilling.We propose, instead, a strategy of generosity—to act on the assumption that people have an enormous capacity for goodness and generosity (without negating the truth that certain conditions promote fear, anger and hatred which sometimes are expressed in horribly destructive ways). For the U.S. and other G8 countries, we call for a Global Marshall Plan: for each of the next twenty years,the U.S. and other G8 countries should dedicate 5% of their Gross Domestic Product to eliminating global (and domestic) hunger, homelessness, poverty, inadequate health care and inadequate education for the peoples of the world. This would have to be carefully monitored and apportioned in ways that ensure the care reaches the people for whom it was intended. But what is critical is the spirit in which it is done. Similarly, we urge Israel not only to return to its 1967 borders (with minor border modifications mutually agreed upon including a sharing of Jerusalem and of its holy sites) but to do so in a spirit of generosity and caring for the other before it is forced to return to those borders by the international community and before thousands more young Israelis and Palestinians die in these senseless wars that will otherwise continue in the coming years. The only protection that we in the advanced industrial countries of the world can ever really have for our lives is to spread a spirit of love so powerful and genuine that it becomes capable of reducing the anger that has justifiably developed against the powerful and the wealthy of the world. The “cynical realists” claim that others are entrenched in their hatefulness, and that war and domination is the only way to battle them. This kind of thinking has led to five thousand years of people fighting wars in order to “end all wars”—and it has not worked. It’s time now to try a new strategy of generosity, both economic generosity and generosity of spirit. As stated above, there will first have to be a transitional period in which real military protections are available to people on all sides of the struggle. But by beginning now to simultaneously commit our economic resources and change the way that we talk about those whom we previously designated as “enemies,” we can begin the long process of thawing out angers that have existed for many generations. Nothing can redeem the deaths and suffering that all sides have faced in this struggle for the past 120 years. But this very moment could also be the time in which the human race realizes the futility of violence and comes together not only to impose a lasting solution for the Middle East, but to begin a new era and to recognize that our own well-being depends on the well-being of everyone else on the planet. The International Middle East Peace Conference should be structured to achieve this end—which means it should have an explicit psychological and spiritual dimension and a visionary agenda.

We Affirm the Sacredness of All Human Beings.

This is the moment to begin to make that real. The U.N. raised these possibilities 61 years ago, but relied on political arrangements while ignoring the need to simultaneously build ethical and spiritual solidarity among the people of the world, resolutions that most people never even heard about, a system that represented the elites of countries around the world but not necessarily the will of their own people, and fell into politicizing every issue. We need to strengthen international institutions that move in a new direction, but we also need a commitment of the heart from everyone on the planet. Our own countries must take the lead in a whole new approach to security and well-being. This may well be the last chance we in the advanced industrial societies have to avoid international catastrophe (either environmental or nuclear) by modeling something else besides brute power, military might, and indifference to the well-being of others. If not now, when? Unrealistic? Nope. What has proved unrealistic time and again—whether we are talking about U.S. policy in Vietnam and Iraq or Israeli and Arab policies in the Middle East—is the fantasy that one more war will put an end to wars. The path to peace must be a path of peace. Religious and spiritual leaders are also making a global call for ten days of prayer and fasting toward the aim of peace, reconciliation, and ending violence, beginning July 27th and continuing through August 6th.

Signed by:

Rabbi Michael Lerner, Sr. Joan Chittister and Prof. Cornell West, Co-chairs,

The Network of Spiritual Progressives

nd donate money online at www.tikkun.org/opinionwww.tikkun.org/opinion

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And 1500 other religious leaders, scholars, academics, cultural leaders, poets, writers, philanthropists, social change activists, and citizens of the world.
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Stop, hey whats that sound. Everybody look what's going down.

This morning I see that Israel hit another civilian compound that housed refugees according to the Red Cross, killing large numbers of children, a total of over 50 people. The Lebanese people retaliated by attacking the UN Headquarters in Beirut. This is getting worse as each day passes. I am sick of bombs and killings from BOTH sides. I am sick and tired of men in powerful positions affecting the lives of innocents on BOTH sides. There will be NO winner in this bullshit folks. But there are millions of losers on BOTH sides.

I give you 'For What it's Worth' by Buffalo Springfield.

There's something happening here
What it is ain't exactly clear
There's a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware
I think it's time we stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
There's battle lines being drawn
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong
Young people speaking their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind
I think it's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
What a field-day for the heat
A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and carrying signs
Mostly say, hooray for our side
It's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you're always afraid
You step out of line, the man come and take you away
We better stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, now, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

This song was played last Sunday by the men that originally wrote it and sang it. Its as timely today as it was back in the Vietnam era. I heard CSN&Y sing it last sunday and I heard Buffalo Springfield sing it back in the day. It's got to stop, the killing..nothing will be solved until the killing stops. Oh yes people, I am an old hippie but I am a hippie with a point and the point is nothing will be solved until we drag both parties, kicking and screaming to the negotiating table. America needs to stop sending bombs to Israel, they need to rip them a new one and tell them to knock it the fuck off. No one wants to be the first to blink..FUCK YOU GUYS IN CHARGE YOU BAGS OF BATSHIT..someone see Alex and buy a fucking clue.

OK..I am done for now. I will go listen to this song who's lyrics I just posted. I hope it calms me down cuz I am fucking pissed.

Condoleezza Rice: Midwife from Hell

This is an article up at Progressive.org. I enjoy their online articles and wish I could afford to subscribe to their magazine. My comments will be at the end of the article.

By Matthew Rothschild

July 28, 2006


After being one of the most inept national security advisers in the nation’s history, Condoleezza Rice is now earning the same grade as secretary of state.

Her description of the conflagration in Lebanon as the “birthpangs of a new Middle East” was about as callous as it gets, matched only by Bush’s remark that the conflict represents “a moment of opportunity.”

The 400 Lebanese who have died, an overwhelming number of them civilian and many of them children, were not feeling any birthpangs. They were feeling deathpangs.

Nor were families of the Israeli victims (about 50 so far, and most of them soldiers) cheering the new day, either.

Rice’s cruel opposition to an immediate cease-fire has left the whole world outside of Israel (and Tony Blair’s kennel) aghast.

And U.N. Ambassador John Bolton’s sneering about a cease-fire not being “the alpha and omega” only reinforced the arrogance.

More than half a million people in Lebanon have been turned into refugees in just a matter of weeks.

Israelis are bunkered in bomb shelters.

And all Rice can do is issue hollow words of concern and then sabotage any immediate cease-fire?

The expediting of U.S. bombs to Israel at the same time sent an all too obvious message. Did they fly in carriage on the same plane that took Rice to the region? Is she bringing another load with her this time?

As Rice did in the lead up to the Iraq War, so she is doing now: She’s drinking her own propaganda.

The Iraq War was going to redraw the map of the Middle East.

Now the Lebanon War is going to do the trick?

The Iraqi people were going to welcome the Americans with open arms.

Now the Lebanese people are going to rise up and somehow defeat Hezbollah when Israel can’t even do the job?

Politically naïve, Rice also appears woefully jejune about human nature.

When people are being attacked by a foreign power, they rarely rally to that foreign power’s side.

And when a group in their midst fights back against the invaders, that group doesn’t lose support, it gains support.

The United States and Israel have succeeded only in making heroes of Hezbollah thugs.

Rice’s green light for Olmert’s spilling of red blood has managed only to further enrage the Arab and Muslim world and isolate the United States among its allies (except, of course, for Tony Blair, who is still wagging his tail and licking Bush’s face).

It is not in the interests of the United States, and it is not in Israel’s interests either, to show the international community utter disdain. And the war crimes of Israel, and Rice’s blessing of them, will long be remembered.

Where was Condoleezza Rice when Israel bombed the only power plant in Gaza, bringing about a humanitarian crisis?

Where was Condoleezza Rice, when Israel inflicted collective punishment on the sovereign people of Lebanon?

Where was Condoleezza Rice, when Israel was killing more than 100 Lebanese children?

Condoleezza Rice was in Israel’s corner.

For five and a half years, Rice did nothing about the most serious problem in the Middle East, and now she’s done worse than nothing.

Rice believes in is the diplomacy of the F-16.

And that style of diplomacy is crashing and burning.

My view of Condo is that she is in over her head and refuses to present opposing options to the Shrub and his minions by espousing the "company' line of thought. Any administration that does not allow differing opinions in matters of such importance is limiting themselves and their options. This administration refuses to allow any difference of opinion, its the "your either with us or against us" mentality. By limiting themselves to only their views, they prevent any type of dialogue that might open a door, or mind, to other rationale that might shed light on a complicated issue. War, by its very nature, is an extremely complicated issue...so is Terrorism.

Cross-posted at Progressive Blogwire

tags: Terrorism,Condoleezza Rice,War on Terror,FOIA,Diplomacy

Arlen Specter's Column for WaPo

His piece is in support of the bill he authored with regard to checks and balances on domestic spying. The title, Surveillance We Can Live With, sums up his views on what and how the federal government should conduct its domestic spying activities. The OpEd by Specter, in support of his bill:

Surveillance We Can Live With

By Arlen Specter
Monday, July 24, 2006; A19

President Bush's electronic surveillance program has been a festering sore on our body politic since it was publicly disclosed last December. Civil libertarians, myself included, have insisted that the program must be subject to judicial review to ensure compliance with the Fourth Amendment.

The president has insisted that he was acting lawfully within his constitutional responsibilities. On its face, the program seems contrary to the plain text of the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which regulates domestic national security wiretapping. The president argues, however, that his inherent constitutional powers supersede the statute. Without knowing the exact contours of the program, it's impossible to say whether he is right or wrong. But three federal appeals court decisions suggest the president may be right.

The integrity of our nation's adherence to the rule of law requires an answer to the question of whether this program is legal. The protection of our nation's security and individual rights requires a modification of the program if it is not lawful as currently fashioned. The challenge, which I have been trying to meet legislatively, is to structure a procedure under which the courts can adjudicate the lawfulness of this highly sensitive program while maintaining the secrecy the president contends is so important.

My bill, the result of months of negotiation with the administration, accomplishes this goal by authorizing consideration of the program by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), the court created under FISA to consider warrant applications. The FISC has the expertise to handle this question. Its closed proceedings and unblemished record for not leaking would make full consideration both possible and secure. Not only would the bill permit a determination of the program's legality but if it were found unlawful in whole or in part, a framework would exist for modifying the program.

Critics complain that the bill acknowledges the president's inherent Article II power and does not insist on FISA's being the exclusive procedure for the authorization of wiretapping. They are wrong. The president's constitutional power either exists or does not exist, no matter what any statute may say. If the appellate court precedents cited above are correct, FISA is not the exclusive procedure. If the president's assertion of inherent executive authority meets the Fourth Amendment's "reasonableness" test, it provides an alternative legal basis for surveillance, however FISA may purport to limit presidential power. The bill does not accede to the president's claims of inherent presidential power; that is for the courts either to affirm or reject. It merely acknowledges them, to whatever extent they may exist.

The negotiations with administration officials and the president himself were fierce. The president understandably rejected a statutory mandate to submit his program to FISC, on the grounds that such a mandate could weaken the presidency institutionally by binding his successors. Indeed, such a mandate might not withstand a future president's contention that it unconstitutionally limited his Article II powers to conduct surveillance without court approval. The president, however, did personally commit to submitting this program for court review should the bill pass. Even without a legal mandate, his sending this program to the FISC would be a powerful precedent to be considered by future presidents.

President Bush's record of seeking to expand Article II power has been a hallmark of his administration. The president and vice president have vociferously argued that the administration had the authority for the program without any judicial review. Bush's personal commitment to submit his program to FISC is therefore a major breakthrough.

It is a preeminently fair compromise to condition that commitment on congressional approval of the negotiated legislation, which also modernizes FISA in important ways, giving the president added flexibility in protecting the country. The bill extends from three days to seven the time, in emergency situations, that the government can conduct surveillance without the court's permission. It permits the attorney general to delegate his authority to seek emergency warrants to subordinate officials. And it exempts from FISA's jurisdiction communications between two persons overseas that gets routed through domestic servers. The bill would also transfer the various lawsuits challenging the program to the FISC for consideration under its secure procedures.

In my opinion, it is intolerable to let this matter drift indefinitely. If someone has a better idea for legislation that would resolve the program's legality or can negotiate a better compromise with the president, I will be glad to listen.

The writer is a Republican senator from Pennsylvania and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

I think we have enough secrets within this administration. I do not feel the FISA court is utilized by this administration and for good reason...they are doing much too much illegal spying on citizens for reasons other than the GWOT. Just because your paranoid, doesn't meant they aren't out to get you...from the POV of the feds or the public.

Tags: Bush,Domestic Spying,Fourth Amendment,FISA
,FOIA

Hezbollah wants an immediate cease-fire!

From the Guardian:

Jonathan Steele in Beirut and Ian Black in Jerusalem
Friday July 28, 2006
Hizbullah wants an immediate ceasefire and is ready to swap the two abducted Israeli soldiers "in six hours" after it comes into force, according to officials from Amal, a Shia party allied to Hizbullah.

Hizbullah has entrusted Amal with negotiations for a prisoner deal, realising that it cannot be a direct partner to talks. Nabih Berri, Amal's leader, who is also speaker of the Lebanese parliament, met Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, on Tuesday in a clear sign that Washington sees him as a conduit to Hizbullah.

"Mr Berri says he can get the Israeli soldiers sent back in return for Lebanese prisoners in six hours after a ceasefire," Ali Hamdan, the head of Amal's foreign affairs bureau, told the Guardian yesterday.

"He wouldn't say that if he didn't have assurances from Hizbullah."

Some Israeli analysts have said that Hizbullah's call for an unconditional ceasefire is a reaction to Israel's ground offensive in south Lebanon which is making slow headway in spite of relatively heavy losses among Israeli forces.

But a ceasefire call has been part of Hizbullah's position virtually from the start of Israel's air attacks and before Israeli ground troops crossed the border in strength. Criticising the US rejection of a ceasefire, Mohammed Fneish, one of the two Hizbullah ministers in the Lebanese government, told the Guardian last Saturday: "Rice is not allowing a ceasefire in order to put Israel back into a position where it is the state that controls the whole Middle East."

The ferocity of Israel's reaction to the soldiers' abduction surprised Hizbullah, Mahmoud Komati, deputy chief of the Hizbullah politburo, has admitted.

Hizbullah's leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah has denied Israeli claims that more than 100 of his fighters have died. Israel claims the toll includes several senior commanders as well as the organisation's deputy secretary general, allegedly killed in an air strike on Tyre. Mr Komati said 25 guerrillas had been killed. Confirmation of either side's claims is impossible.

In spite of Israel's relentless air strikes Hizbullah continues to fire Katyusha rockets into Israel. Some 84 struck cities all over the north yesterday bringing the total since the conflict began to 1,400. Twenty Israeli civilians have been killed.

In his latest television appearance this week, Sheikh Nasrallah warned his viewers not to be taken in by Israeli claims. "I am stressing to you - we don't hide the number of our dead. If a large number of our men are killed - we wouldn't hide it but on the contrary we'd be proud of it ... You must listen to us and not to the enemy's psychological warfare," he said.

Hizbullah's call for a ceasefire make political sense for the Shia militia since it would mean the failure of Israel's effort to recapture its abducted soldiers without negotiations. It would also end the flight of thousands of refugees and make it easier for them to go home.

On this Hizbullah is fully in tune with the Lebanese cabinet. The government's line is that Israel must accept an immediate ceasefire, abandon the Sheba'a farms area it has occupied for almost 40 years, give Lebanon maps of the mines laid during Israel's previous occupation of south Lebanon, and pay compensation for the damage done by its relentless attacks.

Once a ceasefire is in place Hizbullah is "more than ready to sit down and talk" about disarming its forces Mr Fneish, told the Guardian. But he rejected any role for foreign powers in the issue.

"This is a matter for the Lebanese. Nobody can deny the national right to resist," he said.

Amal is emerging as a key player in the search for a new Lebanese consensus. It disarmed most of its militia after Israel withdrew in 2000 and says it has been helping Hizbullah to switch to being an entirely political party.

Professor Eyal Zisser of Tel Aviv University said Sheikh Nasrallah was facing a grave crisis. "It's not only a question of what weapons and capabilities Hizbullah has. Mr Nasrallah's ambition to turn a militia into a mass movement has been destroyed. Now he's fighting for his survival."

Meanwhile, Iran has denied an Israeli report that Sheikh Nasrallah is hiding in the Iranian embassy in Beirut.

Lets hope Peace is on its way to Lebanon and Israel.

tags: Terrorism,Israel/Hezbollah War,Ceasefire offered by Hezbollah

Blair and Bush.Separated at Birth?

Of course not, Blair doesn't come from the uterus of Barbara Bush thank god.. But their method of dealing with the middle east does seem intertwined does it not?

Blair was the only asshat to really go balls-out and support the Shrubs occupation of Iraq. Both men agree that democracy needs to be spread to the Middle East, as long as its OUR type of democracy. And they both want to keep Iran a nuke-free zone no matter what it takes to do it.

Both men can wish for the traditional democracy all they want. Its never going to happen in the middle east. Hezbollah has representatives democratically elected to the Lebanese parlement. Palestine democratically put Hamas in as the government of choice. Iran will tell us to kiss their collective ass on nukes and unless the rest of the region chimes in and works hard on an agreement, Iran will enrich their uranium...the rest of the world be damned.

But what should separate Blair and Bush is the Israeli/Hezbollah brutality currently taking place. Blair says he is working "behind the scenes" for a strategy to end the war which is causing so much pain and suffering for the Lebanese people and to some extent, the Israeli people. I say this only because Israel has brought a cannon to a knife fight. A quote from todays Independant article on Blairs visit to the US starting today: "Downing Street has insisted that Mr Blair has privately used influence on the Bush administration over the war in Lebanon, rather than calling publicly for a ceasefire that could not be enforced. The Prime Minister's official spokesman said Mr Blair decided to "roll his sleeves up" and work behind the scenes, rather than act as a commentator on the sidelines."

I call bullshit on this crap right now. The only way to affect the Shrub is to publicly call his dumb ass out. This is exactly what 42 leading figures in politics, diplomacy, academia and the media in Britain called for today by taking out a front page ad in the Independant. A quote from the ad goes like this: "tell the President that Britain "can no longer support the American position on the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in the Middle-East" *snip* "make urgent representations to Israel to end its disproportionate and counter-productive response to Hizbollah's aggression".

Will Blair remain the Shrub's lapdog or take on the role of a bulldog? I am not holding my breath on a morphing by Blair. Both these guys are lameducks and could give a rat's ass what anyone else thinks. But I love the nads those 42 folks in the UK showed by placing the front page ad. God bless ya for standing up for your beliefs. I wish our people in those fields would do the same and rent a set of nads here...but they won't.

Tags: Bush,Tony Blair,War in Lebanon,Blair and Bush Meeting

2 Johns and the Shrub=The 3 stooges?

The three stooges.. are in the news. By stooges I mean, Bolton, Negroponte and of course the Decider-in-Chief.

Negroponte got a real crummy report card from the House Select Intelligence Committee Thursday. This shouldn't be news considering he hasn't done shit and terrorists are still running amok..unless you count the asshats arrested recently in FL. Now, I am not really sure which Stooge represents Johnny Negroponte, you can make that choice, my dear reader, but its not all his fault of course. He has only had two years to figure this shit out and get on the ball...right? Plus, as this WaPo article points out: There are 16 different Intelligence Agencies for Johnny to coordinate.

Only 16? Perhaps we need more to get the job done. This said, with my tongue firmly planted in my cheek.

But I did re-read this part of the report,quoted from the WaPo article: "Today, analysis largely is still clustered around reporting on the same 10 percent of the data,"--WTF?

Yahoo has it's own article up about the same report. They cull this quote about poor Johnny from the report: He "is trying to do a little of everything, which slows down improvements in key areas."--Must be a bitch to not be able to delegate, ya know?

The other John..Bolton was on the hot seat Thursday as members of the Senate foreign relations committee sliced and diced him on his qualifications and character. Now, remember when he was there last, a lone Repube, Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio,sided with the Dem's and forced Bolton's nomination to the floor without a recommendation. But not so much THIS time. Voinovich recently wrote an OpEd piece in WaPo wherein he states Johnny ain't so bad and he is satisfied with his job performance. The Repubes just about shat themselves and called for hearings asap to get Johnny the job legally, unlike the sneaky-assed move the Shrub pulled to get him into the UN Ambassadorship last year during a recess..lol..recess. Does that remind you of anything? Perhaps grade school? Slate has an article up that points out that the major mission of the UN is to uphold international law. One of the Repubes asked Johnny today if he had changed his mind about anything since he has time in over at the UN now. Johnny said nope. The repubes looked a tad uncomfortable at this point, according to the Slate writeup.

What I appreciated is that the Slate article points out a lovely quote by Johnny Bolton about international law: "It's a big mistake for us to grant any validation to international law, even when it may seem in our short-term interests to do so—because, over the long term, the goal of those who think that international law really means anything are those who want to constrain the United States."--God forbid ANYONE should constrain the US of A..right sportsfans?

Well, since Voinovich has caved, the hopes of the world rest on Lincoln Chafee to abandon the Repube family line of rubber-stamping anyone the Asshat-in-Chief wants. Chafee asked the most intelligent questions of the day. He asked Johnny what he thought was the problem in the Middle East. Johnny used that time honored word "terrorism". Chafee asked him to elaborate.After some major prodding, Johnny finally said(and I quote from the Slate article): "What the administration has in mind, he said, is a region where nations stop supporting terrorism, stop importing weapons from China and North Korea, and where Lebanon has security institutions that can function independently of outside influence."--of course Johnny, and I would like a million bucks deposited in my bank account tomorrow. Is that going to happen..hell no..and neither is the bullshit that Bolton spewed. Its a pipe dream of mythic stature.

Now, to rap this up I will give you this final part of the Slate article. Its about the Shrub and the very good possibility of John Bolton getting to keep his cushy, although highly unqualified for, job:

"If Democrats give up the fight against Bolton, it may be because they see he doesn't matter that much. The problems lie with those who make decisions; the problems lie with Bush."

I just want to know who, my dear reader, you think the Shrub is with regard to the 3 Stooges? Feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts on that issue. Or not...lurkers never comment, they just read and digest the info.

Tags: War on Terror,Bush,John Negroponte,John Bolton,House Select Intelligence Committee Report

ADM-polluters to the world.

Archer Daniels Midland has branded itself as the "supermarket to the world", but in the course of acheiving that goal they are also one of the biggest polluters as well. Seems its just part of the cost of doing business...and business is very good for ADM. A few tidbits of an article over on CorpWatch about ADM's history of polluting the world:

"A single ADM corn processing plant in Clinton, Iowa generated nearly 20,000 tons of pollutants including sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and volatile organic compounds in 2004, according to federal records. The EPA considers an ethanol plant as a "major source" of pollution if it produces more than 100 tons of any one pollutant per year, although it has recently proposed increasing that cap to 250 tons."-If your unfamiliar with what each of the toxins listed does I would like to suggest you read the article. The word carcinogen however pops up ALOT.

"The Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency has charged the company with violations of the Clean Air Act in hundreds of processing units, covering 52 plants in 16 states. In 2003 the two agencies reached a $351 million settlement with the company. Three years earlier, ADM was fined $1.5 million by the Department of Justice and $1.1 million by the State of Illinois for pollution related to ethanol production and distribution. Currently, the corporation is involved in approximately 25 administrative and judicial proceedings connected to federal and state Superfund laws regarding the environmental clean-up of sites contaminated by ADM operations."--All this pollution gets ADM a place on the Top 100 polluters according to University of Massachusetts' Political Economy Research Institute. Guess where they are..come on..ok, I will tell you:

They are 10th. Holy shit, there are 9 other companies that polllute more than ADM. But lets stay on topic here.

So, ADM has been fined millions. But they make Billions, so its a drop in the bucket. Its part of the cost of doing business. Last year alone, ADM had net sales of $35.9 billion, with $1 billion in profits. 1 BILLION in pure profit. See where I am going with this? The sumbitches don't care how much they pollute or subsequently get fined, they are raking it in sportsfans.

Wait till you see the subsidies they have gotten over the years..your gonna love this part, I know I did.

"The Government Accounting Office estimates the subsidies to the ethanol industry from 1980-2000 at $11 billion. As the biggest ethanol producer in the US, ADM has received the largest portion of the government's generosity."--The EPA slaps their wrist with a ruler, but the federal government makes it "all better" by rewarding them with subsidies. Go figure.

I have just touched on the basic pollution aspect of the "supermarket to the world" folks. The CorpWatch article is primarily about ADM and their quest to become the worlds enthanol producer, and the pollution that entails. See, ADM wants to use coal to run its ethanol production plants. Coal is the dirtiest, most polluting form of energy there is..

See the irony there? Ethanol good...Coal bad.

Oh, I almost forgot..ADM has a new slogan out. Ready for it? Here it comes:

"Resourceful by Nature"--This eco-friendly slogan, according to the folks over at ADM, "reinforces our role as an essential link between farmers and consumers."

Give me a fucking break.

Go read the article over at CorpWatch, or download it for later. It has a plethora of info on the midwest pollution,Corn-based ethanol, ADM and how they buy their influence in DC. I believe it will jack your jaw or you missed my point.

Tags: Ethanol,Pollution,ADM,Corporate Polluters,FOIA

If you want the DOJ to stop by for a visit..just use a couple of buzzwords.

The boys at the Dept of Justice stopped by this morning. Here is the info from my sitemeter:

Domain Name		usdoj.gov ? (United States Government)
IP Address		149.101.1.# (US Dept of Justice)
ISP		US Dept of Justice
Location		Continent : North America Country : United States (Facts) State : Maryland City : Potomac Lat/Long : 39.023, -77.1993 (Map)
Language		English (United States) en-us
Operating System		Microsoft WinXP
Browser		Netscape 7.1 Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.4) Gecko/20030624 Netscape/7.1 (CK-DNJ71R1)
Javascript		version 1.5
Monitor		Resolution : 1024 x 768 Color Depth : 32 bits
Time of Visit		Jul 26 2006 7:52:22 am
Last Page View		Jul 26 2006 7:52:22 am
Visit Length		0 seconds
Page Views		1
Referring URL		http://technorati.com/tag/FOIA
Visit Entry Page		http://leftwingnutjo...uesswhy-dont-ya.html
Visit Exit Page		http://leftwingnutjo...uesswhy-dont-ya.html
Out Click
Time Zone		UTC-5:00
Visitor's Time		Jul 26 2006 10:52:22 am

It seems they use Technorati to see who's blogging about key words..mine today was the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA for short. THANKS FOR THE HIT BOYS! You guys are doing a shitty job and I hope your all unemployed soon :) These guys either don't care if we know they are peeking or cant figure out how to go into stealth mode on the internet..jeez.

So, I would like to suggest we all use the technorati tag of "FOIA" regardless of the topic of our posts and keep those fucktards busy as hell reading ALL OUR BLOGS. Fuck em, they are a waste of our taxpaying dollars anyway.

Tags: War on Terror,Government Spying,FOIA,Bush,Wasting our Tax Dollars
Edit: A different branch of the government stopped by this evening,the Office of the US Courts..they googled the NSA and Judge Kennelly. You folks need to start looking for the terrorists, or perhaps we aren't paying you enough to do your fucking job? If its the latter, find other employment in the private sector.

Judge buys into the state secrets privilege in ACLU wiretapping suit

Well, another one bites the dust. The ACLU suit to stop AT&T from releasing information to the Feds has been quashed by a Federal Judge. U.S. District Judge Matthew F. Kennelly bought into the bullshit regarding the states secret privilege. Funny, but another judge last week saw through the crappola w/regard to the EFF lawsuit and denied the governments request to dismiss the suit on the same grounds. The link to the ACLU suits dismissal is here. The GWOT is alive and well and still fooling some of the people all of the time. Happy, happy, joy joy.

Tags:

War on Terror,Wiretapping,States Secrets Privilege

Monday...monday..going from bad to worse on the Wiretapping front.

I attended the CSN&Y "Freedom of Speech" concert last night. For a review of said concert, check out my fluff blog here. It will also tell you why I will be posting sporadically for the next three days...

What is on my mind today is Arlen Specter's new proposed bill regarding the Decider-in-Chief's power to wiretap. Seems the Shrub's boy Arlen wants to remove any oversight by Congress, the FISA courts or the Judicial branch. There is an excellent article over at TomPaine.com about this bill and what it entails. A little exerpt for you, my dear reader:

"Confronted by an executive branch fighting tooth and nail to prevent both judicial and legislative oversight, the Specter bill guts both judicial and legislative scrutiny. It also gives the executive open-ended license to conduct whatever spying—and possibly other, coercive counter-terrorism measures—it sees fit. The bill thus combines two easy-to-understand principles: No accountability, and no restraint."

This is total bullshit..he is attempting to circumvent the Bill of Rights and I can not believe anyone will back this bill. But...the repubes will back anything at this point..so call,write and email your representatives to make sure this friggin piece of crap never sees the light of day.

The writeup goes into detail about what the bill will do to our rights and those of Congress and the Judicial branch to reign in the Shrub..please go over and read it..and then tell me what you think of such a brazen attempt to circumvent the system. When will this crap end?

Tags; Wiretapping,Congressional Oversight,FISA

From the children of Israel to the children of Lebanon..

IF you think is this ok, then move on to the next blog. If this sickens you then you need to see the results of these bombs here. Its the pictures that you won't see on MSNBC,CNN, FAUX NEWS or your LOCAL EVENING NEWSCAST. They are graphic and they are of the children of Lebanon after these Israeli children's signed bombs landed. Then, you need to sign the global petition to end this shit. now. Over 162,000 people from all over the world have signed the petition. Armchair activists need to pass on and/or link to the petition. And to think OUR GOVERNMENT is sending them even more weapons of mass destruction...

Thanks to Guerrillas in the Midst for the links. Wake up America, Sadaam isn't in jail..he's in the WhiteHouse and goes by the name of George Bush.

tags:

Bush,WMDS,Petition to end the killing in Lebanon,Teach your children to kill

Who's got a secret...take a guess,why don't ya?

After the post I did over at Bring it On! about AT&T lawsuit and the fed's use of "state secrets' privilege..I got to thinking about it long and hard..ok..not hard but I couldn't sleep and I had a shit-load of research on the subject. I was flabbergasted at our governments ability to do just about everything in secret..or call it a secret..hell, to them its all secret at some point when they are trying to cover their collective ass's in the name of the GLOBAL WAR ON TERROR...their favorite reason for treating us like 'shrooms.

There was this cute little report put out last year called: Secrecy Report Card. Those lovely folks over at OpenTheGovernment.org put it out..god love em. This report breaks down quite a few of our Federal AND State Governments attempts to treat us like mushrooms..aka..keep us in the dark and feed us a load of bullshit. Here are some of the lowlights(in red) from 2004:

The FISA court approved 1754 requests to surveil someone or some group. It rejected....None! In fact, throughout its entire history, it has only rejected 4 requests. I am not saying this is bad, I am just saying it seems to just be a rubber stamp for the boyz in DC...at least the sumbitches went through the motions, so I really won't bitch about this factoid. It beats doing it all by themselves without ANY oversight what-so-fucking-ever, right?

The government decided to stamp documents secret a record 15.6 million times in 2004. The U.S. government last year(2004) alone spent $7.2 billion securing its classified information. That’s more than any annual cost in at least a decade.

Nearly two-thirds of the 7,045 meetings of federal advisory committees that fall under the Federal Advisory Committee Act were completely closed to the public, undermining one purpose of the law. (Others were partially closed.)

In 2004, the public made over 4 million requests for information from government agencies, which is a 25 percent jump in overall requests from the previous year, despite only a 5 percent rise ( to $336.8 million) in spending on FOIA(Freedom of Information Act).--Now, if your jaw bounced off the table after reading that number..wait till you see the next set...

Of the roughly 90 agencies surveyed by the Department of Justice, only 14 were able to keep up with FOIA requests they received. But that’s good news: Only 7 agencies had been able to keep up in 2003.

And last, but certainly not least, the item that had me running all over the friggin internet trying to find out how many times the Federales have used that lovely tool of secrecy, the states secret privilege: The “state secrets” privilege allows the sitting U.S. president to nearly unilaterally withhold documents from the courts, Congress and the public. At the height of the Cold War, the administration used the privilege only 4 times between 1953 and 1976. Since 2001, it has been used at least 7 times.

Its a good report if you want to get a little shock to your system or perhaps get really pissed off at what it costs to keep all those friggin secrets..secret, so I would like to suggest you check it out..its only 13 pages long. I can't wait for their 2006 report, can you, my dear reader?

Tags: State Secrets Privilege,FISA,FOIA,Secrecy Report Card

Google the Feds money handouts? What a novel idea!

The LA Times had a nice OpEd piece yesterday that I just got around to reading in the middle of the night. Its about a bill that would mandate " full disclosure of all entities and organizations receiving federal funds" on the Web."

OH HELL YEAH! I am all over that one!

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) is the guy that wants a transparent government in regards to who is getting how much of our hard-earned tax dollars. He is..gasp..a conservative. You can actually get that info now, but its a major pain in the ass. Tom wants to make it easy, by going to a website and typing in say..Halliburton, or Sierra Club..and getting the last 10 years worth of federal money given to them and what it went for.

Interestingly, both sides of the aisle support this bill, as witnessed by the co-sponsors: Sens. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.). The article lists the following eclectic groups that support it as well: Greenpeace, the Heritage Foundation, the Family Research Council and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

As usual, there is a House version and a Senate version. Coburn, who hates pork btw, thinks this project would end much of the pork barrel bullshit the majority of our elected officials are so fond of.

Its a win-win for we, the people..don't you agree dear reader?

If you would like to peruse the Senate's version of the bill..here ya go..I googled it. :)

Tags:

Pork Barrel Spending,Government Accountability,Full disclosure on federal funding

A most excellent post on understanding Islamic fundi's

Its over at betmo's. Its a good one and I would like to highly suggest that you, my dear reader, check it out. The post is entitled:

friedman on the islamic world

You can bitch and rail about them and against them..but until you try to understand them..your blowing smoke folks.

Federal Judge tells the Shrub to F*ck off on domestic spying suit

Finally a Judge that perhaps the Shrub didn't stick on the bench!!! Can I get an amen brothas and sistas!

The administrations arguement: Allowing the suit to go forward will spill state secrets.

The judge's response: U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker said the warrantless eavesdropping has been so widely reported that there appears to be no danger of spilling secrets.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA..eat shit and die Georgie.

The linkage to the article is here.
Tags; Bush,Domestic Spying,EFF vs ATT,Electronic Frontier Foundation
Edit: Slate has a very good article up about this whole saga, and how many times the Shrub has used the "state secrets" scenario to quash various whistleblowers since 9/11. The linkage is here.

Correction: Both WaPo and Slate quote a report on state secrets privilege from here. After researching a more indepth post I did over at Bring It On! regarding this subject, I would like to point out that both Slate and WaPo have grossly inaccurate figures on how many times the government has utilized this privilege based on the original report I just linked to in this paragraph. On page 9 of said report, the numbers are higher after 9/11 than prior to all of history up to 1977, but they are no where near the 23-55 ratio quoted in either WaPo or Slate. oops! We here at Leftwingnutjob regret the error...as should WaPo and Slate.

Quit grandstanding and sign it already...plus other news of the day.

The VRA was finally passed, WITHOUT the cursed amendment..praise jesus and pass me a ballot.

Can Condo get her ass to the middle east any slower? I ask you..wtf are they waiting for? She won't be there until next week sometime..that..is bullshit sportsfans. Oh, and she has a plan..Meanwhile Israel is going nucking futs and everyone stands around a watches as they plan to march into Lebanon.

Best news of the day: Hot-tub Tom Delays little PAC is fined and will be shutting down..Under an agreement with the Federal Election Commission, Americans for a Republican Majority's political action committee agreed to pay a $115,000 fine and close. The agreement, reached July 7, was made public late Wednesday. Too bad it wasn't investigated prior to all that redistricting bullshit in Texas. But now is better than never. I highly suggest seeing the new Tom DeLay movie that I reviewed for you here. Linkage to the story about ARMPAC is here. North Carolinians can now co-habitat without fear of arrest. A judge has struck down the 100 year old law as unconstitutional..can I get an amen?

Bolton is a bully and the Shrub wants him to stay on as UN Ambassador. Nothing like alienating everyone in the world with that asshat running the show. The Shrub is kissing political ass and trying to diffuse the hatred towards Bolton..read all about it here. I hate that sumbitch Bolton..with every fiber of my being and the Shrub can kiss my progressive ass. You folks need to write your reps and tell them to dump his sorry ass, he adds NOTHING to the world except hate and discontent.

Tags; Politics,Lebanon.Bolton,Israel,Tom DeLay,ARMPAC

An open letter from UFPJ to Bolton

Got this in my email today, they requested that we distribute it widely..so here it is:

** Please forward widely**

Dear all,

As talk of a full scale Israeli ground invasion of begins, it’s even more important that we take action to save lives now. At a meeting of the Security Council today, United Nations General Secretary Kofi Annan called for an "immediate cessation of hostilities and a far greater and more credible effort by Israel to protect civilians and infrastructure." He reported that over 300 Lebanese have been killed and more than 600 wounded -- mainly civilians, about one third of them children.

Yesterday, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki condemned the Israeli aggression and called on the world to take action. Today, a peace action was called in Beirut by women's groups and other non-governmental organizations, while the Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora said his country has been "torn to shreds."

Our voices must be raised to end the Bush administration’s stonewalling at the U.N.!

We want to thank those who have responded by signing onto the letter and others who have sent in suggestions for how to strengthen it. Please review the updated version below. If you or your organization have not signed on, please do. If you signed on to the draft letter yesterday, please contact us to confirm your signature.

The deadline for having your organization’s name on the letter is Friday, July 21, at 12 Noon EDT. Please email organizing@unitedforpeace.org to have your organization listed. For more information, call the UFPJ national office at 212-868-5545.

Please join United for Peace and Justice and other peace and justice activists to deliver the letter on Friday, July 21, at 4 PM. We will meet at the U.S. Mission to the U.N. at 140 East 45th Street (between Third and Lexington Avenues).

We call for the Bush administration to:

• Support a Security Council resolution calling for an immediate and unconditional cease-fire.

• Urge negotiations now to resolve all disputes, including the release of prisoners on all sides, with the goal being a comprehensive just and lasting peace in the region based on the implementation of international law.

• Put an end to US blocking of UN action to resolve the crisis.

Take care,

Leslie Kielson
UFPJ-NYC

Judith Le Blanc
UFPJ National Co-chairperson

---

Dear Ambassador Bolton,

On behalf of United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ), the largest antiwar coalition in the United States, we want to express our concern over the escalating crisis between Israel, Lebanon, and Palestine and urge you to support a Security Council resolution calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire.

We are gravely concerned about the loss of life on all sides. We condemn all attacks on civilians, and call for the release of political prisoners and POWs held on all sides in this conflict.

Hezbollah's crossing of the Israeli border to capture two soldiers may have violated the 1949 Armistice between Israel and Lebanon. But it is important to note that Hezbollah attacked soldiers, not civilians. In addition, as the New York Times recognized on July 19, Hezbollah did not fire rockets into Israeli cities until after the Israeli army began bombing civilian areas of Lebanon.

The Israeli government could have chosen to engage in serious negotiations for a prisoner exchange, as they have so many times before. As recently as 2004, in a German-orchestrated swap, Hezbollah exchanged a kidnapped Israeli civilian and the remains of several Israeli soldiers killed in combat in Lebanon, for over 400 Palestinian, Lebanese, and other Arab prisoners.

Instead, the Israeli government chose to escalate what would have remained one of many common border skirmishes into a war. They have been deliberately shelling civilian areas and civilian infrastructure in both Lebanon and Gaza. Israel's attacks were and are clearly disproportionate in their use of force. They constitute acts of collective punishment against the Lebanese and Palestinian populations -- extremely serious violations of international law.

While the world is crying out for global intervention to stop the bloodshed, we are outraged by the response of the Bush administration. Instead of using its influence on Israel to stop the devastating attacks on the Lebanese and Palestinian populations, Washington has supported and enabled such attacks through supplying war planes, missiles, jet fuel, financing, and political support. This, in violation of both international and domestic law -- specifically, the U.S. Arms Export Control Act. And instead of rallying the international community to stop further bloodshed, it has blocked UN efforts to call for an immediate ceasefire.

We urgently call on the Bush administration to work with international partners to broker an immediate and unconditional ceasefire and commence negotiations to peacefully resolve all aspects of the crisis, with the goal being a comprehensive just and lasting peace in the region based on the implementation of international law.

We look forward to hearing your response.

---

ACTION ALERT * UNITED FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE
www.unitedforpeace.org | 212-868-5545