Rachel Maddow digs into Bushco war crimes



"It is just as bad to prevent the investigation and prosecution of a war crime as its commission." -- Jonathan Turley, professor of law at George Washington University Law School, on the Rachel Maddow show.

"If a truth commission investigates, it would be the shortest investigation in history. There's no question there's a war crime," says Turley.

"The easiest thing to do is to get out of the way...To say maybe your guilty, maybe not, but it's not for me to decide it's for a special prosecutor."

How can Obama defend his lack of action?

HOMEGROWN REVOLUTION - Radical Change Taking Root



"Rethink the possible. Start where you are, and do something different."

Or as John Prine said,
"Blow up your TV, throw away your paper
Go to the country, build you a home
Plant a little garden, eat a lot of peaches
Try an find Jesus on your own"

We're heading down this road. It's a freedom road. Got our earthworms for vermicomposting just the other day. Planning a vegetable garden in the front yard and chickens in the back.

Leigh is at the Georgia Organics Conference today, soaking up ideas and inspiration. The revolution starts now.

Congratulations, you've found the Bill Hicks page!

I think it's interesting the two drugs that are legal - alcohol and cigarettes, two drugs that do absolutely nothing for you at all - are legal, and the drugs that might open your mind up to realise how you're being fucked every day of your life? Those drugs are against the law. Coincidence? See, I'm glad mushrooms are against the law, cos I took 'em one time, you know what happened to me? I laid in a field of green grass for four hours, going, 'My God, I love everything.' Yeah, now if that isn't a hazard to our countries...How are we gonna justify arms dealing if we know we're all one?

--

...it's just a ride. And we can change it anytime we want. It's only a choice. No effort, no work, no job, no savings, and money. A choice, right now, between fear and love. The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your doors, buy guns, close yourselves off. The eyes of love, instead, see all of us as one. Here's what you can do to change the world, right now, to a better ride. Take all that money that we spend on weapons and defence each year, and instead spend it feeding, clothing and educating the poor of the world, which it would many times over, not one human being excluded, and we could explore space, together, both inner and outer, for ever, in peace.

Israel out of the U.S.

Freeman Withdrawal Marks Victory for Israel Lobby

By Daniel Luban and Jim Lobe*

WASHINGTON, Mar 10 (IPS) - Amb. Chas Freeman withdrew from consideration for a top intelligence post in the Obama administration on Tuesday, following a vitriolic battle that pitted Republican lawmakers and pro-Israel hardliners opposed to his appointment against liberals and members of the intelligence and diplomatic communities who had come to his defence.

Freeman’s withdrawal came as a surprise to many in Washington, particularly since it came only hours after Adm. Dennis Blair, the administration’s director of national intelligence (DNI) who made the appointment, issued a strong defence of Freeman during his testimony before the U.S. Senate.

His withdrawal is likely to be viewed as a significant victory for hardliners within the so-called "Israel lobby," who led the movement to scuttle his appointment, and a blow to hopes for a new approach to Israel-Palestine issues under the Obama administration.

A brief notice posted late Tuesday on the DNI website stated that "Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair announced today that Ambassador Charles W. Freeman Jr. has requested that his selection to be Chairman of the National Intelligence Council not proceed. Director Blair accepted Ambassador Freeman’s decision with regret."

The DNI did not provide any further reason for Freeman's withdrawal.

Senator Chuck Schumer, a critic of Freeman who privately conveyed his concerns to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel last week, released a statement taking credit for the withdrawal, according to Greg Sargent of the Plum Line blog.

"Charles Freeman was the wrong guy for this position," Schumer's statement read. "His statements against Israel were way over the top and severely out of step with the administration. I repeatedly urged the White House to reject him, and I am glad they did the right thing."

more

Watchmen, a new movie based on a Alan Moore's ground-breaking mid-80s comic series, opens today.

Rorschach Test

Steven Padnick, Tor.com

Watchmen is not a particularly political story.

While its central question of unchecked authority does concern the role of politicians and governments, it is really about all authority figures, from abusive or absent parents to a cold and distant God. To focus on the political angle misses most of the story.

Which is why I’m going to be disappointed (but not surprised) when I read the following headline some time next week:

REPUBLICANS CLAIM WATCHMEN A CALL FOR CONSERVATIVE HEROES IN AGE OF OBAMA.

Read the rest...

A comment to the post explains why Alan Moore's work, whether in film or drawings with word balloons, functions as a Rorschach test.

"One of the more brilliant aspects of the comic is that it presents a spectrum of political, ethical, and philosophical beliefs and sides with none of them."

The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.