A billion of anything is hard to comprehend

It's hard to impress Cosmo, but someone made a comparison that put things in perspective. You may have noticed the tally board at what things are costing the US over in the left sidebar...

<<<<<

Look at that number grow and consider this:

-A billion seconds ago, it was 1959.
-A billion minutes ago, Jesus was walking the face of the Earth.
-A billion hours ago we were just coming into our own in the stone age.

BUT

-A billion dollars was just eight hours and 20 minutes ago for our government.

AND ANOTHER THING IMPRESSED COSMO

Today those gallant people in Watertown, Wisconsin -- more than 60 -- braved incredibly blustery weather to stage a Peace Walk.

Like many groups across the nation the Watertown Peace and Democracy Coalition thought that today, the second anniversary of the unjustified invasion of Iraq would be a good day to stage a demonstration.

Some say it's brave, some say it's noble, but at the very least it is admirable to see such a significant number make a visible statement in a town that is a bit right of Lake Wobegone. Bravo WPDC!

A show of support came in the form of a contingent of three members of the Madison chapter of the Veterans for Peace. They drove out to Watertown to take part on this chilly day. And for some activities like this Watertown can exude a chill even in mid-July. They of course weren't the only veterans to take part in the Peace Walk.

Reports indicate that there were really no hecklers with the exception of one person in a vehicle who honked and gave them a one finger salute. That pretty much sums up the opposite side of the dialogue. But one must give them credit for being able to actually use the large motor skills it takes to honk a horn, then the fine motor skills to display the one finger salute. They should pat themselves on the back...but that may take some practice, so maybe another day.

Alright, so I did a little surfing and that ubiquitous PJ (photojournalist - ha!) whose initials are LS was evidently in Watertown, because it didn't take much searching to find images from today's Peace Walk plastered all over one of his web sites. (Hey WPDC aren't we working on media reform here - granted LS doesn't have any web sites like Jeff Ganon's. At least I haven't found them yet.) Anyway, if you want to see images from today's Peace Walk click here.

Oh, and by the way WPDC, pat yourselves on the back. Good job!

Bye-bye for now,

Cosmo

Watertown, Wisconsin going to Peace(s)

It appears that Watertown,Wisconsin is indeed having a Peace Walk Saturday March 19. Another blogger points this out in an advance piece at Fieldtrips.
Nothing like plaigerizing your own material, because the same advance piece showed up in the Watertown Daily Times today.


Also, got word that a representative from Veterans for Peace
will be there. According to a note from one of the peace walk organizers, Don Kliese of the Madison chapter #25 of Vets for Peace will be a part of the event.

That's cool.

Might be some others from Madison, I hear. We'll see.

Bye-bye for now,

Cosmo

The same rules don't apply to everybody

It goes like this - the rules used to apply almost equally to everybody, and certainly were intended for everybody. Now they apply equally to most, except for those who don't have to follow any rules.

Let us refresh some memories first:

Cheney
(for those who really need to have their memories refreshed, Cheney is the current vice president and possibly the chief puppet master)

As the New Yorker explains:

Vice-President Dick Cheney is well known for his discretion, but his official White House biography, as posted on his Web site, may exceed even his own stringent standards. It traces the sixty-three years from his birth, in Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1941, through college and graduate school, and describes his increasingly powerful jobs in Washington. Yet one chapter of Cheney’s life is missing. The record notes that he has been a “businessman” but fails to mention the five extraordinarily lucrative years that he spent, immediately before becoming Vice-President, as chief executive of Halliburton, the world’s largest oil-and-gas-services company. The conglomerate, which is based in Houston, is now the biggest private contractor for American forces in Iraq; it has received contracts worth some eleven billion dollars for its work there.

Cheney earned forty-four million dollars during his tenure at Halliburton. Although he has said that he “severed all my ties with the company,” he continues to collect deferred compensation worth approximately a hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year, and he retains stock options worth more than eighteen million dollars. He has announced that he will donate proceeds from the stock options to charity.

Such actions have not quelled criticism. Halliburton has become a favorite target for Democrats, who use it as shorthand for a host of doubts about conflicts of interest, undue corporate influence, and hidden motives behind Bush Administration policy—in particular, its reasons for going to war in Iraq. Like Dow Chemical during the Vietnam War, or Enron three years ago, Halliburton has evolved into a symbol useful in rallying the opposition. On the night that John Kerry won the Iowa caucuses, he took a ritual swipe at the Administration’s “open hand” for Halliburton.

For months, Cheney and Halliburton have insisted that he had no part in the government’s decision about the Iraq contracts. Cheney has stuck by a statement he made last September on “Meet the Press”: “I have absolutely no influence of, involvement of, knowledge of in any way, shape, or form of contracts led by the Corps of Engineers or anybody else in the federal government.” He has declined to discuss Halliburton in depth, and, despite a number of recent media appearances meant to soften his public image, he turned down several requests for an interview on the subject.

But as of yesterday reports indicate that of the $1.7 billion (THAT'S BILLION) that Halliburton has made in the oil for food program administered by the UN during the war in Iraq, somehow Pentagon auditors coundn't reconcile the books when the UN asked questions. BUT when the UN asked for the books, the Pentagon first handed the audit report over to Halliburton to correct a series of issues that added up to an unaccounted for $108 million that Halliburton had been paid. Ah, but what's $108 million compared to the billions - pocket change. A few erasures here, a few zeros there...

According to a Rueter's report:

U.N. auditors have been critical of delays in getting documents and asked for a full accounting on DFI funds, made up of proceeds from Iraq oil sales, frozen assets from foreign governments and surplus from the U.N.'s Oil for Food Program.

More than $1.7 billion in these Iraqi funds were paid to Halliburton to bring fuel to Iraq, which despite being oil rich suffered from a shortage of refined products.

CONCEALING QUERIED COSTS?

Waxman, who released copies of both the redacted and non-edited audits, said documents that were cut attempted to conceal the more than $100 million in queried costs. He asked for a special congressional hearing to discuss the issue.

Halliburton, which was run by Vice President Dick Cheney until he joined the race for the White House in 2000, has said it delivered fuel for the best possible price.

Halliburton spokeswoman Wendy Hall said the Freedom of Information Act allows the company to redact "confidential commercial information." She said the government made the final decision over what should be edited.

"Any attempt to criticize KBR for its role in this perfectly normal and legal part of the contracting process is unfounded and clearly not based in fact," she said.

Hall said KBR would continue to work with its client to prove "once and for all that KBR has delivered vital services for U.S. troops and the Iraqi people at a fair and reasonable cost, given the circumstances."

Army Corps spokeswoman Carol Sanders said the Corps was looking at a series of audits before starting final negotiations with KBR over prices.

KBR is the U.S. military's biggest contractor in Iraq and is under investigation by several U.S. government departments over whether it overcharged for some services.

Proprietary information is a right that is granted to companies who operate under goodfaith that they will play by the rules. But that was in the days when there was one set of rules for everybody.

When all of this is done, I suggested that Halliburton be liquidated to regain in restitution the surplus the US had before the Bush crime family...administration... took power.

Let's move back to the same set of rules for everybody.

War profiteering is illegal. In WWII the Truman commission, with Dems in the White House and a majority in congress, set up a bipartisan commission to investigate this manner of deceit, and it uncovered plenty. It saved many US war time dollars and many, many lives.

Now a majority is made up of the other party. Are they concerned about bipartisan independent inquiry? Nope - don't want to get their buddies in big business in trouble. Might put their post congressional retirement funds at risk I figure. Now for the rest of us: How is Social Security holding up today?

Bye-bye for now,

Cosmo

Cosmo doesn't like fascists

Well gang, we're gearing up for Iran. Wonder what the excuse will be... I don't mean the WMD type excuse. I don't think that they even worry about such things anymore. I'm wondering what the excuse of the people will be for not protesting and letting our government know that they work for us! I mean, come on people! We must get the attention of our elected officials. Oh, that's right, even that doesn't count anymore, because no matter which side of the aisle you're on your vote is worthless. They just make the numbers match up with whatever they want. With 250 million in the country, what the heck, let's have 422 million votes for our guy and say that God filled out the extra 77 million ballots 'cause he's on our side.

You may have wanted this guy to win the election, but guess what? Your vote had no more value than the opposition votes - it was just fiction. But what the heck, let's go with the super bowl mentality, at least your team won right? And your prez cares about as much about you as the super bowl winning (or losing) team members. Yep, you'll get it some day.

Here's a reference point by Dr Lawrence Britt titled 14 Common Characteristics of a Fascist Regime. That should send a little chill up the spines of even the people rooting for the other side.

Here is a site carrying a composite of the article.

And here is the original Britt article with some references.

Bye-bye,

Cosmo

Creative protests - Robin Hood where are you? Alright Watertown Wisconsin, let's see what you've got.

We really should have taken to the streets in November. If people are messing around with the voting process there will be no need for an election ever. 'Oh, ye of too much faith' in the government. You are using that complacent faith to rationalize so you don't have to get your lazy asses out and make some noise. And re-shaping or redefining the Dems - I can think of better ways to waste time while Dieboldt reconfigures voting machines to write better election result fiction

I hear that a group in Watertown Wisconsin is planning a demonstration on March 19. Good for them, because things of that nature are especially difficult when, even though Wisconsin was a blue state, small cities like Watertown are the well established red spots where a majority of citizens more and more could care less and less about anyone's freedom of speech if it goes against what they think. If you are around Watertown, get in touch with the Watertown Peace and Democracy Coalition (click) to see what they have planned.

There are a bunch of creative ways to demonstrate and protest.

One of my favorites is reported with instructions and examples on Freeway Blogger (click) and of course their motto: "Free speech: Use it or lose it" is one we should all adopt.

Before we work too hard, here is a little site called the Dubya Brain Game.

Here are some potential bumper stickers/T-shirt slogans and designs:

Yee-ha is not a foreign policy
Bush and Truth direction signs pointing in opposite directions
Fear More Years
Why change horsemen mid-apocalypse?
No Surplus Left Behind
Winning hearts and minds. Losing Heads
Can you feel the Draft?
W04 - 4 More Wars
North Korea has nukes but no oil :(
Good thing he's compassionate
Iraqi oil. What's your dead child worth per gallon?
Wears a Wire in Debate
Halliburton Making a Killing
A vote for Bush dishonors our war dead
Threat Level: BUSH
Incompetence & Arrogance = Bush/Cheney
Bush '04, Draft '05
Bush thinks you're a chump
Good thing for Bush all those dead soldiers can't vote!
Operation Enduring Occupation
Fire the Liar
Real Men Admit Mistakes
A picture of Osama next to "I'm not in Iraq morons"
And finally: "Won't Get Fooled Again!"

Above "borrowed" from several web sites.

And here is another "Bush" video game...interesting.

And in case you hadn't seen the sites... A web site almost accidently sufaced when two college fellows felt the need to apologize to the world after the November election. They posted a couple pics of themselves with signs and put them on a page. In short order people began to send in their apologies and the site "Sorry Everybody" took off. Thousands have submitted pics with messages.

But in an effort to express understanding that the current administration does not represent all of the nation's people, another site surfaced "Apologies Accepted" and almost brought tears to my eyes with a variety of individual supportive messages.

On to demonstrations and protests: Well I'm brainstorming. Columnist Harley Sorenson had this set of ideas , but that was in 2003. Let's get to it.

Watertown Wisconsin and others will demonstrate on the anniversary of the 'Shock and Awe' campaign March 19. I hope they and others continue to make matters visible. After the March 19 someone should have a 'Quagmire Accomplished' rally celebrating that April day when more manure than historically documented before was shovelled off the carrier USS Lincoln.

Bye-bye for now,

Cosmo

Please feel free to comment. Comments marked anonymous have the source protected even from Cosmo.

Can it be done?

Well Ramsay Clark sent this out. Read it and check out the site. They've also got cool T-shirts, etc....

A message from Ramsey Clark:
IMPEACHMENT MORE URGENT THAN EVER

Dear VoteToImpeach / ImpeachBush.org Members,

We are urging all of those who are part of the impeachment movement to participate and bring the message of impeachment with signs and banners to the hundreds of local demonstrations that will be taking place on March 19/20, the second anniversary of the beginning of the criminal war against Iraq.

Between March 19 and April 3, Congressional representatives are scheduled to be back in their home district. It has never been more important for all people of conscience to hold demonstrations and rallies, and to lobby those representatives in their home districts during the March 19 - April 3 period. We are certain that impeachment activists from around the country will join us in organizing activities in the March 19 - April 3 period. Please notify the VoteToImpeach / ImpeachBush.org campaign about your local activity, and send in a report and photos, to ImpeachBush@VotetoImpeach.org.

The duty of the American People to compel the Impeachment of George W. Bush and his principal aides becomes ever more urgent as his mounting crimes take more lives daily, and threaten irreparable injury to Constitutional government, irreconcilable division within the nation and isolation of the U.S. in the community of nations.

Two years after the commencement of his War of Aggression, judged to be the "Supreme International Crime" at Nuremberg, the flow of blood in Iraq continues to rise and the threat of death is omnipresent.

The criminal policies of the Bush Administration which violate fundamental human rights are etched in memory worldwide in names like:

Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo as symbols of torture;

Falluja and Najaf as symbols of the indiscriminate destruction of civilian life;

Nicola Calipari, the Italian officer killed shielding the Italian reporter, Giuliana Sgrena, with his body, and scores of Iraqi families gunned down on highways as symbols of summary execution;

Unknown numbers of persons seized in the U.S., Canada, anywhere in the world and victimized by "Rendition" to abuse by foreign police as symbols of kidnapping.
A year after democratically elected President Jean Bertrand Aristide of Haiti was told by President Bush he "has to go" and was forced on to a U.S. plane and flown to Central African Republic, violence continues to grow in Haiti and deaths rise into the thousands as Aristide supporters are systematically targeted and no relief is in sight for the people of Haiti.

Today President Bush threatens Iran ("all options" are available), North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela, among others. He tells Syria it must completely withdraw its troops from Lebanon even as 500,000 Lebanese, 12 percent of the entire population, take to the streets to protest U.S. intervention and a pro-Syrian Lebanese leader is reelected Prime Minister by the Parliament of Lebanon, which fears a U.S.-Israel occupation and wants Syria to stay and maintain stability finally established after years of Civil War and bedlam.

For those who doubt President Bush's determination to continue his criminal enterprise consider only his three most important recent appointments: John Negroponte as director for all foreign intelligence where he can control information about foreign weapons of mass destruction and terrorist threats to the U.S.; John Bolton as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations to assure U.S. commitment to unilateral aggression and weaken UN opposition to U.S. aggression; and Alberto Gonzalez as Attorney General to validate violations of international human rights, the rule of law and the Constitution of the United States.

In his determination to be above all law, President Bush insists on U.S. power to continue violations of fundamental human rights in his war on terrorism; to violate the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty by developing a new generation of extremely dangerous and usable tactical nuclear weapons while threatening to attack Iran, North Korea and others based on unverified claims that they are developing nuclear weapons; by direct obstruction of justice through bilateral agreements to refuse cooperation with the International Criminal Court; and by the U.S. withdrawal in March 2005 from International Court of Justice jurisdiction following a decision by that Court that State Courts in the U.S. must individually review the death sentences of 51 Mexican citizens following trials in which the U.S. violated rights of the accused under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.

The continuing boastful commitment of the Bush Administration to criminal aggression is a clear and present danger to the Constitution of the United States and the security of its peoples. The highest duty of the American people is to demand faithful performance of Constitutional duty by their elected representatives to assure that they uphold Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution which states "The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."

We must organize and act for the impeachment of George W. Bush and his principal aides by the House of Representatives and their trial by the Senate.

Vote to Impeach Now. Contribute to this national campaign. Organize meetings with your representative and present petitions from voters in your Congressional District demanding impeachment.

Action Now is Essential.

Ramsey Clark
March 10, 2005

Thanks to whomever sent that out -

Bye-bye,

Cosmo