As we prepare to celebrate the anniversary of our Declaration of Independence from the jackboot of British imperialism, consider a phrase in the Declaration that should surely vex some purported American patriots today: "a decent respect for the opinions of mankind."

The text seems to indicate that the signers of the Declaration believed some level of respect for the opinions of mankind should be considered decent. This would seem to suggest that they actually gave a rat's behind what people in other countries thought of American actions. How different is Washington today from Philadelphia in 1776!

Americans are often criticized for their ignorance of world affairs. But maybe if our government were not constantly screwing up world affairs, the rest of the world would cut us a bit more slack on the whole "knowledge of world affairs" thing. On the other hand, maybe if we knew a bit more about world affairs, our government would not be screwing them up so much.

cross posted on Docudharma and Iran Thru Open Eyes

Last weekend, June 28 and 29, 2008, over 300 people representing anti-war groups including A.N.S.W.E.R, Troops Out Now Coalition, United for Peace and Justice, U.S. Labor Against the War, StopWarOnIran, American Friends Service Committee, and CASMII, the Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran, met in Cleveland, Ohio, under the auspices of the National Assembly to End the Iraq War and Occupation.

The main goal of the National Assembly Conference was to unify the various coalition members around common Resolutions and coordinated plans for Actions throughout the nation to demand the immediate withdrawal of all US forces from Iraq.

Why We Should Not Drill in ANWR and Offshore.

There is an awful lot of lobbying going on by Republican pundits and politicians trying to change the publics mind about drilling for oil in ANWR and offshore on the outer continental shelf.

They seem to think that the public is oblivious as to how oil is sold on the Open Market, and they have fooled a lot of people into thinking that drilling is going to lower gas prices.

Yet some people cannot wrap their minds around the concept of an Open Market.  They do not understand that any oil that is pumped from American oil wells will be sold on the Open Market and the oil most likely will never see an American gas pump, but will probably go to China.

As it is American consumers never see any of the oil that is pumped from Alaska, it is all sold to Pacific Countries like Japan, North and South Korea, China and others.

There have been a number of famous attacks on airplanes in the last 50 years: the 1976 mid-air bombing of Cubana Flight 455 (the first in the Western Hemisphere) by mercenaries hired by CIA agents Luis Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch, which took the lives of 73 people and whose perpetrators are to this day being protected by the United States, the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, attributed (emphasis on that word) to Libyan agents, which took the lives of 270 people, and the 1983 mid-air shootdown of Korean Air Flight 007 by Russian jets as the plane strayed over Russian territory, which took the lives of 269 people.

The other day a Kos diarist voiced suspicions that AIPAC might have had something to do with a fire that destroyed the home Blue Dem congressional candidate Darcy Burner.  The fire appears to have in fact been electrical in origin.

http://www.nwcn.com/...

What struck me was the bitterness of many of the comments on the diary, which I believe reflect deep tensions within the Kos community, and in the larger progressive world, about how we ought to feel about Israel, and Israeli influence in the US.  

Says Adm Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

... he warned that opening up a third front, after Iraq and Afghanistan, would be "extremely stressful, very challenging, with consequences that would be difficult to predict".

It seems there is some push back going on at the top. Past patterns would suggest that we can expect Adm Mullen's reignation in the not too distant future.

McCain arrives in Columbia, a country for whom Charlie Black, his campaign manager, lobbied on behalf of the Columbia Free Trade Agreement, and simultaneously a military operation "liberates" long-held hostages?  If this isn't Reagan/Iran, I just must be missing something.  This is truly amazing , it is so crass, it is beyond embarrassing -- doesn't someone on his staff have the nerve to tell him "you really can't do this -- it will make you look like a moron"?  

A quick check of the cosponsor lists for Senate Resolution 580 and House Resolution 362 reveals quite a few Democrats critical of Bush's Iraq folly. Supporters say these measures are not an authorization of force, but their disclaimers ring hollow: a naval blockade is an act of war and will be seen as such. I'm assuming most of these Democratic cosponsors wouldn't give a gun to a man with a history of shooting sprees, yet they are about to give one of the most corrupt and mendacious presidents in American history the green light to commit another unprovoked act of war. I have just one question: are these people insane, or just stupid (or maybe both)?

An Emergency Call to Action:
An Attack could be Imminent
We Can't Afford to Wait
Take It to the Streets This Summer
U.S. out Of Iraq, Money for human needs, not war!

Endorse the call
List your local action
Donate to help with organizing expenses
Sign the online petition

MASS MARCH IN NYC - SATURDAY, AUGUST 2
Assemble 12 p.m. at Times Square
43rd St. & Broadway

AN APPEAL TO ORGANIZERS AND ACTIVISTS ACROSS THE COUNTRY AND AROUND THE WORLD:
Consider as soon as possible if you can organize a STOP WAR ON IRAN protest in your locality during the weekend of August 2 – 3. Let us know so that your protest can be listed.

Joseph Cirincione, the former head of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (I should probably put a "sic" after that) and now the head of the equally peaceful sounding "Plowshares Fund," has been consistent on Iran. Twice in 2006 (here and here), I wrote about his taking the "not if, but when" attitude toward Iran developing nuclear weapons. You might think the National Intelligence Estimate in late 2007 might have given him pause, but no, there he was on Democracy Now this morning, pushing the same line still, with statements like

As another diarist pointed out, GeeOPee Presidential Candidate John "My Friends" McCain proposes that the US solve its energy problems by Step 1. drilling in the US and Step 2. blaming Iran if step 1. doesn't work out so well.
BREAKING: McCain Threatens War With Iran in New Energy Plan

Here's another idea:  What if, what in the name of all that is holy and rational and sane and christian and in accord with American values and consistent with the American Constitution, WTF IF the US STOPPED the propaganda campaign against Iran, recognized Iran as a trading party and even became an ally with the nation of 70 million with whom it shares common interests, and TRADES with Iran for the oil that Iran has, and the US and the rest of the world needs?

(Source: Huffington Post)

In her freshly posted entry, Arianna Huffington breezily mentions that everyone's favorte Irrelevant Pundit with a Pink Tie had a little convo with the Prez.

United States Admiral Mike Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke publicly against military intervention against Iran. He acknowledges that tensions exist, particularly between Israel and Iran, but warns against a military offensive designed to Iran's incipient nuclear program.

This is at the culmination of almost a month of posturing on the parts of the United States, Israel, and Iran. Is this the prelude to a third American offensive in the Middle East?

In which I provide a brief round-up of Global GLBT Human Rights...

Hey Y’all Watch This!
By David Glenn Cox

When did you stop beating your wife? When will you prove yourself innocent? When will you stop lying? When will you produce the murder weapon? All of these statements presuppose guilt and had this prolonged campaign against Iran not mimicked the prolonged campaign against Iraq it would be easy enough excuse the surreal nature of it all. The Alice through the looking glass, world turned upside down flavor to it of the leader who hasn’t invaded anyone cast as the next Hitler by the nation occupying two foreign countries by force of arms.

This morning, in a news briefing from the Pentagon [just ended] Admiral Mike  Mullen was asked:

Video link at CSPAN
rtsp://video1.c-span.org/project/intl/intl070208_mullen.rm

about the nature of US Naval operations in the Gulf Of Hormuz, the placement of forces in the Straight. He declined to provide 'operational details' of this deployment, of course. The ratcheting up of war drums continue.

The Israelis are making somewhat contradictory noises, as the struggle at the top of the Israeli leadership due to Olmert's corruption makes a big prize for people like Shaul Mofaz. However, the voices of reason are being drowned out by bellicosity.

Mofaz, Israel's Iranian Minister of Transportation was a former Defense Minister: he's also, strangely enough, Iranian himself, born in Isfahan, Iran. Mofaz is just window dressing for Bibi Netanyahu, who impatiently waits for the Labour/Kadima coalition to break apart [which it will], and the Likud to become ascendant again.

The latest Seymour Hersh article in the New Yorker is frightening, even as I try to convince myself that dday is right at Hullabaloo, that it's less a fait accompli than a media shot across the bow, a warning designed to make an attack on Iran less likely.

I'm agnostic on the subject of Iranian weapons - I'd rather no one had weapons of mass destruction but I'm no more afraid of the Iranians than I am, say, the Pakistanis or, for that matter, the Bush regime. What I don't understand is how Americans can let themselves be known, the world over, as cowards.

How many children should we kill to reduce the already minuscule chance of of our own death by terror? Seriously - help me out here.

This story is as much a matter of the need to correct the media narrative as it is about the facts and policy themselves.

As you will recall, during the Clinton years, Halliburton under Cheney, and with McCain's assistance, were doing business with Iraq under Saddam Hussein in violation of the embargo at the time.

Now it turns out that McCain and some other Republicans have placed their lobbyist-business interests ahead of the Iran embargo and American security, and support for Columbian terrorist paramilitaries on both sides.

Once again, it is the Republicans who are treasonous enablers of terrorism, terrorists, and terrorist states.

When McCain and the other Republicans claim to be stronger against Iran and other terrorist states they are lying, having already sold out national interests to their multinational corporate paymasters. Forget their words, see how they actually vote and follow the money.

Get it?