Terrorism trial in New York causes chaos?

Not sure why it's not displaying properly. Here's the link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6I-W3JXAHBU&feature=player_embedded

Way to go, Al

On Tuesday, new Senator Al Franken introduced an amendment to the Defense Appropriations bill (a typically underhanded move to pass unpalatable legislation that wouldn’t fly on its own, but in this case, related and appropriate) that would punish contractors if they "restrict their employees from taking workplace sexual assault, battery and discrimination cases to court."

This long-overdue amendment was in response to the gang rape of Jamie Leigh Jones by her KBR co-workers in 2005 while she was working in Baghdad. After her horrific ordeal, Jones was, under the orders of KBR, confined by armed guards to a shipping container containing only a bed, and denied food, water, and medical treatment for at least 24 hours. In addition, she was warned that if she left Iraq for (desperately needed) medical attention, she would lose her job.

Ironically, (sadly, almost unbearably, sickeningly) Jones was prevented from bringing charges in court against KBR because her employment contract stipulated that sexual assault allegations would only be heard in private arbitration.

Of course, some Republicans weren't pleased with Franken's attempt at justice, because, you know, anti-gang rape = anti-business. Jeff Sessions (R-Dickweed) called Franken’s effort a "political attack directed at Halliburton." The amendment, to anyone who's head resides outside of their rectal cavity, applies to all organizations.

Jones expressed her appreciation to Franken after the vote. “It means the world to me,” she said. “It means that every tear shed to go public and repeat my story over and over again to make a difference for other women was worth it.”

It’s sad enough to see so many elected representatives vote against the public good on issues like health care reform to ensure their corporate gravy train keeps rolling, but opposing this legislation goes a step further by signaling an acceptance of workplace assault and denial of corporate responsibility. Luckily, 68 senators did the right thing and the bill passed. The following is a list of senators who voted against it, and therefore, are proponents of brutal sexual assault.

Alexander (R-TN)
Barrasso (R-WY)
Bond (R-MO)
Brownback (R-KS)
Bunning (R-KY)
Burr (R-NC)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)
Ensign (R-NV)
Enzi (R-WY)
Graham (R-SC)
Gregg (R-NH)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Isakson (R-GA)
Johanns (R-NE)
Kyl (R-AZ)
McCain (R-AZ)
McConnell (R-KY)
Risch (R-ID)
Roberts (R-KS)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Thune (R-SD)
Vitter (R-LA)
Wicker (R-MS)

Ulterior Motives

Juan Cole, in his blog Informed Comment, has had a thread of commentaries in the last few weeks which have really helped ground the Israeli vilification of Iran for me. For the sake of explanation, I've changed the timeline of his original posts. First, here are some statistics he posted from Globalfirepower.com:

Population Israel: 7.2 mn. Iran: 70 mn.
Wars launched on neighbors: Israel: 1956, 1967, 1982, 2006, 2008-9 Iran: 0
Nuclear Warheads Israel: ~200 Iran: 0
Military Budgets: Israel: $13.4 bn. Iran: $7.4 bn.
Per capita military expenditure: Israel: $1,805 Iran: $105
Total Aircraft Israel: 1,220 Iran: 84
Active Military and Reserve Personnel Israel: ~600,000 Iran: 875,000
Total land-based weapons: Israel: 14,200 Iran: 5,499

Now, why would a country with an estimated 200 operational nuclear warheads (and the capacity to create many, many more, be worried about a neighbor that is racked with its own internal crises (double-digit inflation (28% in 2008), civil unrest over failed subsidies programs, and due to a lack of refining capacity, has to import gasoline, despite having the 4th largest oil reserves in the world). And, although Iran's active military and reserve personnel outnumber Israel's, Israel has the second most advanced and well-armed military in the world (thanks, in part, to your tax dollars - $3 billion a year, no strings attached), for which Iran's "mangy" army is no great challenge, according to Cole.

Here's where things get interesting. Haggai Ram, professor of Middle East studies at Ben Gurion University in Negev, Israel, and guest blogger on Informed Comment, theorizes that Israel's hyping of the threat posed by Iran is a smokescreen, allowing Israel to break previous agreements and flaunt international laws by continuing to build settlements in the occupied territories. In the words of Israel’s incumbent Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, "What [do] you think is the first most strategic threat to Israel," Lieberman responded: "Iran, Iran, Iran… As long as there’s no solution to the Iranian problem we will deal with neither the settlements nor the settlers... Only after we will have taken care of... Iran it will become possible to talk about... the problem in Judea, Samaria, and the Golan Heights."

There are only two things the Obama administration can do to stop Israel from thumbing their nose at the U.S. and the rest of the international community. First, tie aid directly to stopping settlement construction and dismantling current illegal settlements. Second, declare that on January 1, 2011, the United States will recognize Palestine as an independent, sovereign nation. These things, alone or in combination, are the only things that will stop Israel from committing more war crimes against the Palestinian people and stop disrupting their lives with so called, "natural expansion".

The fact is, the U.S. has acquiesced to the Israeli leadership and lobbying groups to the point that Israel doesn't have to do anything it doesn't want to. They have the U.S. under their thumbs, and I'm doubtful that we'll grow the stones and really deal with the issue before Israel has completed its goal of wiping the Palestinian people off the map.

Great speech, but...

I don’t understand why the President had to address the nation to explain the healthcare plan floating through congress because “people are frustrated because they don’t understand what’s being proposed.” What? Anyone who has read a newspaper, blog, watched TV, or listened to NPR in the last three months knows the basics of the Democrat’s proposal. Look, here it is in a tweet. [1. Have health ins? Like it? Keep it/stop getting scrwd by ins co. 2. No ins + no $? Govt ins. 4 cheap/$0 3. No ins + $? Req. like car ins.] There you go. The problem is, the country still seems to be run by obstructionist, lying (Obama’s word) politicians (read: Republican’ts) who were voted in by this segment of the population:



Seriously, the ability to tell fact from fiction should be a prerequisite to vote. This guy’s waiting for the big, black U.N. helicopters to swoop in and take his guns and kidneys to give them to Obama’s secret Muslim brothers and sisters in Kenya.

For a split second there, I thought as a country, we had moved past this policy of fear. Death panels? Really? Obama compared to Hitler? Really? Socialism, Fascism, Communism? Really? Do you even know what these terms mean? And for Rep. Joe Wilson (R) Douchebag, you yell at the President in the middle of an televised address to Congress, “You lie!” Really? Where do you think you are, a Sarah Palin rally? (I’ll bet you wish you were). Obama said he was going to call out people who spread misinformation about his healthcare plan. He should have called out this Turrets-stricken frat boy, stopped the speech, made him stand up, and said "OK everyone, whose side are you on, his? or those who can rationally discuss one of the most important pieces of legislation in the last forty years?

Regrettably, until the Democrats grow a collective pair and shout down these false accusations, we’re stuck with the birthers, deathers, and their ilk.

Meet Robert Reich,

Secretary of Labor under President Clinton. I’ve listened to Mr. Reich on NPR and frequently read his blog at (http://robertreich.blogspot.com/), and he’s long been an advocate of reigning in corporate influence and income inequality through sensible government policy. Not surprisingly, he is also an advocate of the dreaded health insurance ‘private option’. Check it out and pass it on to your less informed friends...

The Health Care Debate

as described on the back of a napkin...

Healthcare Napkins All

View more documents from Dan Roam.

Net Neutrality and Fake Grassroots Organizations

I follow media policy and one of the issues that comes up over and over is Net Neutrality. Big telecom companies are doing everything they can to control the internet so they can charge you more money and limit access to small internet developers who then turn into thriving companies they have to compete with. These companies try over and over to push through legislation and regulation that would limit free and open access to the internet and as you can imagine, each time they try to do it their is an enormous public outcry.
Now they're putting together their own fake grassroots organizations to combat the will of the people (something like political astroturf). Check out the widget below to see what some of the biggest media companies have done and are doing to mess with your internet. Click on the puppeteer hands for information.