We are expanding! Please forgive the transition and growing pains. This page no longer takes comments, BUT click this link which transports you to my new improved blog: PROGRESSIVE FREEDOM BLOG
For spiritual solutions to world crises (or any other fears) please check out my new PEACEMAKERS blog.
You can reach my Home page at: LYDIA CORNELL
EXCLUSIVE! ANN COULTER'S PROPAGANDA MACHINE AT WORK! In their desperation to salvage the reputation of Ann Coulter, their five-time best-selling author, HUMAN EVENTS defamed a fellow conservative. They jettisoned truth and integrity for profit. And they have done a disservice to Conservatism and to themselves. In Part III, we will plumb the depths of their duplicity and discover the identity of the real culprits.
Human Events’ Coulter Cover-up Continues: Editor Outs Their “Porn Queen”
By Daniel Borchers
On July 10, 2006, Human Events published an online defamatory essay in order to discredit critics of Ann Coulter. Following a lengthy series of emails proving that it was false in sum and substance, that slanderous essay was removed – but not retracted. Indeed, no hint of apology has ever been given. My correspondence with Human Events Online Editor Robert Bluey is especially enlightening.
In Part I of this series, I refuted several bogus claims, including:
• They claimed that my amply-documented essay exposing Ann Coulter’s plagiarism in her first book, High Crimes and Misdemeanors, was “ridiculous,” when, in fact, it was accurate in every detail.
In Part II of this series, I refute additional phony claims made by Lisa De Pasquale and “verified” by Robert Bluey:
• Their claimed that I distributed “pornographic photos.” – FALSE
• Their claimed that I doctored photos of Coulter. – FALSE
READ THE REST OF THE STORY AND ALL THE DETAILS AT PROGRESSIVE FREEDOM BLOG
[Daniel Borchers is the Editor of BrotherWatch and the President of Citizens for Principled Conservatism. He can be reached at PrincipledConservative@yahoo.com.]
LYDIA CORNELL: AFI Best Actress Nominee, People's Choice Award winner; Actor, Writer, Director, Producer; woman and children advocate; teen mentor, comedienne, talk show host, inspirational pubic speaker best known for her starring role on ABC's "Too Close for Comfort" as TV legend Ted Knight's daughter 'Sara'; HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm, and over 250 shows, episodes and movies worldwide. Turns tragedy into comedy, life-saving issues for women and equal pay for equal work...
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Monday, July 31, 2006
WHEN I WAS IN BEIRUT * IN MEMORY OF OUR 240 MARINES OF THE 24TH MAU who PERISHED
We are expanding! Please forgive the transition and growing pains. This page will still be here, but you can access my new blog at PROGRESSIVE FREEDOM BLOG
You can reach my Home page at: LYDIA CORNELL
And to discuss SPIRITUAL SOLUTIONS to the world crises, along with some amazing prayer miracles in the next few weeks, please check out RADICAL PRAYER at my other blog THE PEACEMAKERS * LIGHT OF TRUTH Just posted a wonderful article "Disowning Conservative Politics Is Costly for Pastor" over there. Blessings to a brave Christian who woke up and realized the truth. Of course he will be persecuted for it.
Found this photo of Johnny Grant, Kelly Patterson and myself with the troops in Beirut, Lebanon for USO tour. God Bless the brave Marines of the 24th MAU, who died from a suicide truck bomb launched by Hezbollah shortly after we left Beirut. Years later I received fan mail from the 13-year-old son of one of these Marines. He asked me if I had ever met his father, and would I describe him to him. The boy was dying of cancer.
I will post parts of my Beirut Diary, which was published by US magazine, in the coming weeks. Audrey Meadows, who played my grandmother on Too Close For Comfort, was the one who encouraged me to go to a war zone on Christmas Eve, 1982. I will always be grateful to her for pushing me to go on this "trip of a lifetime." I was scared to death flying into Lebanon; have some hilarious stories about paranoia and mine fields in a blacked-out city.
There were so many wonderful Marines I met before the attack. I wonder if Col. Black Jack is still alive? Does anyone know Black Jack? He gave me a plaque with a gold Black Jack card engraved on it.
Contemplate this photo of Sedona: it does wonders to bring down stress levels.
"Dissent is the highest form of patriotism." Thomas Jefferson.
Why the Middle East Crisis Isn't Really About Terrorism
By insisting it is, President Bush clouds the real issues, which are how much the U.S. should do for Israel and what it should do to Iran
By LISA BEYER
Posted Sunday, Jul. 30, 2006
A year after 9/11, Richard Armitage, then the Deputy Secretary of State, was asked at a Washington forum whether the Bush Administration had plans, in its war on terrorism, for the Lebanese Islamist group Hizballah, factions of which the U.S. believes were responsible for the 1983 bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut that killed 241 U.S. service members. Armitage, a bear of a man, gave a chest-thumping reply. "Their time will come," he vowed. "There is no question about it. They have a blood debt to us, and we're not going to forget it."
The time appears to be now. By supporting Israel's ferocious offensive against Hizballah in Lebanon, especially by pushing back international efforts to broker a cease-fire in order to give the Israeli military more time to lay waste to the group's fighters and armaments, Washington has taken a forceful swing at the militia, even if it's by proxy. It's not exactly about avenging the Marines, of course. It's about fighting the global war on terrorism.
Or is it? Should it be?
Enunciating a new security doctrine nine days after the 9/11 attacks, President Bush declared that the war on terrorism would be fought not just against al-Qaeda but also against "every terrorist group of global reach." Hizballah can certainly be said to fit in that category. However grand it may be to fight all global terrorists, though, the simple fact is that we can't: we don't have the troops, the money or the political will. That means it may make sense to limit our hit list to the groups that actually threaten us. Hizballah does not now do that. Nor does the other group currently in the spotlight, the Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas. The U.S. has sound reasons for wanting to constrain these groups, principally that they threaten our ally Israel. But those reasons have largely gone unarticulated as Bush falls back on maxims about the need to confront terrorism, as if Hizballah and Hamas are likely to be behind the next spectacular that will top 9/11. They are not, and pretending that they are costs the U.S. credibility, risks driving terrorist groups that aren't allied into alliance and obscures the real issues at hand in the Middle East: How do you soften up militants who vehemently oppose Israel's existence? What should the U.S. put on the line for Israel? And does it make sense for Washington to engage in boxing by surrogate with Tehran?
THE NATURE OF HIZBALLAH
Formed in 1982 to resist Israel's occupation of Lebanon, Hizballah established its terrorist bona fides in the 1980s by kidnapping some 50 foreigners in Lebanon, including 18 U.S. citizens, and killing two of them, notably CIA station chief William Buckley. The group's global reach was achieved perhaps in 1985 with a suspected connection to the saga of TWA Flight 847, in which hijackers shot dead a U.S. Navy diver and dumped him onto a Beirut tarmac. In 1992 Hizballah bombed the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, killing 29, and, in 1994, a Jewish cultural center there, killing 95. Read the rest of the article at: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1220505,00.html
You can reach my Home page at: LYDIA CORNELL
And to discuss SPIRITUAL SOLUTIONS to the world crises, along with some amazing prayer miracles in the next few weeks, please check out RADICAL PRAYER at my other blog THE PEACEMAKERS * LIGHT OF TRUTH Just posted a wonderful article "Disowning Conservative Politics Is Costly for Pastor" over there. Blessings to a brave Christian who woke up and realized the truth. Of course he will be persecuted for it.
Found this photo of Johnny Grant, Kelly Patterson and myself with the troops in Beirut, Lebanon for USO tour. God Bless the brave Marines of the 24th MAU, who died from a suicide truck bomb launched by Hezbollah shortly after we left Beirut. Years later I received fan mail from the 13-year-old son of one of these Marines. He asked me if I had ever met his father, and would I describe him to him. The boy was dying of cancer. I will post parts of my Beirut Diary, which was published by US magazine, in the coming weeks. Audrey Meadows, who played my grandmother on Too Close For Comfort, was the one who encouraged me to go to a war zone on Christmas Eve, 1982. I will always be grateful to her for pushing me to go on this "trip of a lifetime." I was scared to death flying into Lebanon; have some hilarious stories about paranoia and mine fields in a blacked-out city.
There were so many wonderful Marines I met before the attack. I wonder if Col. Black Jack is still alive? Does anyone know Black Jack? He gave me a plaque with a gold Black Jack card engraved on it.
Contemplate this photo of Sedona: it does wonders to bring down stress levels.
"Dissent is the highest form of patriotism." Thomas Jefferson.
Why the Middle East Crisis Isn't Really About Terrorism
By insisting it is, President Bush clouds the real issues, which are how much the U.S. should do for Israel and what it should do to Iran
By LISA BEYER
Posted Sunday, Jul. 30, 2006
A year after 9/11, Richard Armitage, then the Deputy Secretary of State, was asked at a Washington forum whether the Bush Administration had plans, in its war on terrorism, for the Lebanese Islamist group Hizballah, factions of which the U.S. believes were responsible for the 1983 bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut that killed 241 U.S. service members. Armitage, a bear of a man, gave a chest-thumping reply. "Their time will come," he vowed. "There is no question about it. They have a blood debt to us, and we're not going to forget it."
The time appears to be now. By supporting Israel's ferocious offensive against Hizballah in Lebanon, especially by pushing back international efforts to broker a cease-fire in order to give the Israeli military more time to lay waste to the group's fighters and armaments, Washington has taken a forceful swing at the militia, even if it's by proxy. It's not exactly about avenging the Marines, of course. It's about fighting the global war on terrorism.
Or is it? Should it be?
Enunciating a new security doctrine nine days after the 9/11 attacks, President Bush declared that the war on terrorism would be fought not just against al-Qaeda but also against "every terrorist group of global reach." Hizballah can certainly be said to fit in that category. However grand it may be to fight all global terrorists, though, the simple fact is that we can't: we don't have the troops, the money or the political will. That means it may make sense to limit our hit list to the groups that actually threaten us. Hizballah does not now do that. Nor does the other group currently in the spotlight, the Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas. The U.S. has sound reasons for wanting to constrain these groups, principally that they threaten our ally Israel. But those reasons have largely gone unarticulated as Bush falls back on maxims about the need to confront terrorism, as if Hizballah and Hamas are likely to be behind the next spectacular that will top 9/11. They are not, and pretending that they are costs the U.S. credibility, risks driving terrorist groups that aren't allied into alliance and obscures the real issues at hand in the Middle East: How do you soften up militants who vehemently oppose Israel's existence? What should the U.S. put on the line for Israel? And does it make sense for Washington to engage in boxing by surrogate with Tehran?
THE NATURE OF HIZBALLAH
Formed in 1982 to resist Israel's occupation of Lebanon, Hizballah established its terrorist bona fides in the 1980s by kidnapping some 50 foreigners in Lebanon, including 18 U.S. citizens, and killing two of them, notably CIA station chief William Buckley. The group's global reach was achieved perhaps in 1985 with a suspected connection to the saga of TWA Flight 847, in which hijackers shot dead a U.S. Navy diver and dumped him onto a Beirut tarmac. In 1992 Hizballah bombed the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, killing 29, and, in 1994, a Jewish cultural center there, killing 95. Read the rest of the article at: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1220505,00.html
Sunday, July 30, 2006
ISRAEL * QUESTIONS ABOUT ZIONISM
"Dissent is the highest form of patriotism." Thomas Jefferson.
For TROLL-FREE blogging (without the malicious opposition trolls that personally insult people who comment here) please check out my other Progressive Blog at: FREEDOM BLOG
For spiritual solutions to the world crises, and some amazing prayer miracles in the next few weeks, please check out RADICAL PRAYER at THE PEACEMAKERS
Sunday Israel's air raids killed 34 civilian children and 26 civilian adults. Satellite imagery of the Haret Hreik quarter of Beirut, before and after Israeli bombing, just shows that Israel is bombing without regard or a care in the world for civilian life. They flattened entire city blocks to take out a few terrorists.
THE FIRST CRIME on OUR PART WAS our INVASION OF IRAQ. We tried to push democracy on others at the point of a gun. OTHER NATIONS THINK THEY HAVE THE RIGHT TO INVADE AND BOMB EACH OTHER TOO. Of course Hezbollah is wrong; they are terrorists. But that doesn't excuse more terrorism. ISRAEL SHOULD HANG ITS HEAD IN SHAME and if they truly love God, they will CEASE FIRE for good and really trust God this time.
And by the way Zionism may be the cause of modern anti-Semitism. Zionism is not true Judaism, as I heard a Rabbi say the other day. It is a political land-grab that may not have been the best choice for the nation of Israel. The Israelis should not be defined by land; they are a great nation with or without that piece of land. Life is more than material or geographical position.
** Obsession with land is idolatry: and the Ten Commandments say: "Thou shalt have no other Gods before me." Is Israel's obsession with their land getting in the way of God's true purpose for them? It seems that they can't see the forest for the trees.
Who would want to be in a arid land surrounded by enemies, when one's birthright is a spiritually powerful nation?
If they would spiritually "let go" and let God, meaning cease fighting everyone and everything, they would start a chain reaction, they would begin to find peace and a great sigh of relief. People would react differently to them. The meek shall inherit the earth. No one seems to get the spiritual significance of biblical parables and language.
This does not mean Israel must leave the land. It means "let go" metaphysically and surrender the fight. Whenever I surrender my fighting, my pent-up resentment, my whole life changes for the better.
The serenity prayer: "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."
The world stops fighting you when you stop fighting it.
The best uniter of all is divine Love, for when Love is present, hatred has no choice but to be absent from the field. Let’s pray with love in our hearts for all people, no matter what side of the conflict they are on, no matter who began the fighting or who continues to provoke whom. Each one, in truth, is precious to the Creator; each one has a love-inspired role to fill, and death is no part of that inspiration. Let’s also take time to love the peoples of these nations and territories, each one striving for the peace and stability everyone longs for.
It is possible to leave conflicts of the past behind and move forward into a permanent and peaceful future. The Lord can lift the thinking and affections of everyone up to a higher place, one where Truth, Life, and Love fill their hearts—and ours—and where hatred and war will be found no more.
Every spiritual leader and every great world leader throughout history knows better than to do what Israel is doing and what George Bush is doing. Are we really going to continue to be led by people who do not remember history?
Lay down arms, both spiritually and physically, and actually use the Great Peacemaker's teachings. There's a reason Christ was born right there, in the center of all the conflict. No one will listen to him. There is no "wiggle room" in these miraculously powerful words: "Bless those who persecute you; love your enemies." Return love for hate. It's easy to love those who love you. Miracles happen when we actually stop fighting everyone and everything, regardless of who started it or how badly we've been wounded.
The most spiritual growth happens with your enemies.
There's a reason the Arabs and Israelis are next door to each other; they just don't get it yet.
Personally, no matter how safe I feel at home or in a bomb shelter (!), the mere fact that others are suffering makes me feel incomplete and sad. WE should all feel overwhelming compassion for others or we are not fully alive and human.
We must ask ourselves: is the point of our self-centered, air-conditioned, homogenized, shopping-club lives just for accumulating and hoarding all the goodies for ourselves? Are we here on earth just to cushion our fat bellies and feel artificially "safe" while the result of the world to bleeds to death?
Can you really enjoy life when you know others are suffering in the world? I can't. And no evolved, enlightened soul can. This is not freedom, to know your country has the power to lead the downtrodden sufferers to peace, but instead chooses selfishness, greed, violence and bloodshed. Do we really think this is the way to convince others of the "greatness" of our democracy. We have very screwed up values.
http://www.veteransforpeace.org/war_is_a_racket_033103.htm
For TROLL-FREE blogging (without the malicious opposition trolls that personally insult people who comment here) please check out my other Progressive Blog at: FREEDOM BLOG
For spiritual solutions to the world crises, and some amazing prayer miracles in the next few weeks, please check out RADICAL PRAYER at THE PEACEMAKERS
Sunday Israel's air raids killed 34 civilian children and 26 civilian adults. Satellite imagery of the Haret Hreik quarter of Beirut, before and after Israeli bombing, just shows that Israel is bombing without regard or a care in the world for civilian life. They flattened entire city blocks to take out a few terrorists.
THE FIRST CRIME on OUR PART WAS our INVASION OF IRAQ. We tried to push democracy on others at the point of a gun. OTHER NATIONS THINK THEY HAVE THE RIGHT TO INVADE AND BOMB EACH OTHER TOO. Of course Hezbollah is wrong; they are terrorists. But that doesn't excuse more terrorism. ISRAEL SHOULD HANG ITS HEAD IN SHAME and if they truly love God, they will CEASE FIRE for good and really trust God this time.
And by the way Zionism may be the cause of modern anti-Semitism. Zionism is not true Judaism, as I heard a Rabbi say the other day. It is a political land-grab that may not have been the best choice for the nation of Israel. The Israelis should not be defined by land; they are a great nation with or without that piece of land. Life is more than material or geographical position.
** Obsession with land is idolatry: and the Ten Commandments say: "Thou shalt have no other Gods before me." Is Israel's obsession with their land getting in the way of God's true purpose for them? It seems that they can't see the forest for the trees.
Who would want to be in a arid land surrounded by enemies, when one's birthright is a spiritually powerful nation?
If they would spiritually "let go" and let God, meaning cease fighting everyone and everything, they would start a chain reaction, they would begin to find peace and a great sigh of relief. People would react differently to them. The meek shall inherit the earth. No one seems to get the spiritual significance of biblical parables and language.
This does not mean Israel must leave the land. It means "let go" metaphysically and surrender the fight. Whenever I surrender my fighting, my pent-up resentment, my whole life changes for the better.
The serenity prayer: "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."
The world stops fighting you when you stop fighting it.
The best uniter of all is divine Love, for when Love is present, hatred has no choice but to be absent from the field. Let’s pray with love in our hearts for all people, no matter what side of the conflict they are on, no matter who began the fighting or who continues to provoke whom. Each one, in truth, is precious to the Creator; each one has a love-inspired role to fill, and death is no part of that inspiration. Let’s also take time to love the peoples of these nations and territories, each one striving for the peace and stability everyone longs for.
It is possible to leave conflicts of the past behind and move forward into a permanent and peaceful future. The Lord can lift the thinking and affections of everyone up to a higher place, one where Truth, Life, and Love fill their hearts—and ours—and where hatred and war will be found no more.
Every spiritual leader and every great world leader throughout history knows better than to do what Israel is doing and what George Bush is doing. Are we really going to continue to be led by people who do not remember history?
Lay down arms, both spiritually and physically, and actually use the Great Peacemaker's teachings. There's a reason Christ was born right there, in the center of all the conflict. No one will listen to him. There is no "wiggle room" in these miraculously powerful words: "Bless those who persecute you; love your enemies." Return love for hate. It's easy to love those who love you. Miracles happen when we actually stop fighting everyone and everything, regardless of who started it or how badly we've been wounded.
The most spiritual growth happens with your enemies.
There's a reason the Arabs and Israelis are next door to each other; they just don't get it yet.
Personally, no matter how safe I feel at home or in a bomb shelter (!), the mere fact that others are suffering makes me feel incomplete and sad. WE should all feel overwhelming compassion for others or we are not fully alive and human.
We must ask ourselves: is the point of our self-centered, air-conditioned, homogenized, shopping-club lives just for accumulating and hoarding all the goodies for ourselves? Are we here on earth just to cushion our fat bellies and feel artificially "safe" while the result of the world to bleeds to death?
Can you really enjoy life when you know others are suffering in the world? I can't. And no evolved, enlightened soul can. This is not freedom, to know your country has the power to lead the downtrodden sufferers to peace, but instead chooses selfishness, greed, violence and bloodshed. Do we really think this is the way to convince others of the "greatness" of our democracy. We have very screwed up values.
http://www.veteransforpeace.org/war_is_a_racket_033103.htm
Saturday, July 29, 2006
ANN COULTER: POLITICS OF PERSONAL DESTRUCTION (Part 1) by DAN BORCHERS
This title should be: HOW ANN COULTER'S PROPAGANDIST TRIED TO DESTROY DAN BORCHERS"
This picture of Sedona lowers my stress level.
"Dissent is the highest form of patriotism." Thomas Jefferson.
Just posted a wonderful article "Disowning Conservative Politics Is Costly for Pastor." You can read it at my Peacemakers Blog. Blessings to a brave Christian who woke up and realized the truth. Of course he will be persecuted for it. For spiritual solutions to the world crises, and some amazing prayer miracles in the next few weeks, please check out RADICAL PRAYER at my other blog: THE PEACEMAKERS
For TROLL-FREE blogging (without the malicious opposition trolls that personally insult people who comment here) please check out my Progressive Freedom Blog at: FREEDOM BLOG
EXCLUSIVE! NEW EVIDENCE OF THE TACTICS OF PROPAGANDA FROM RIGHT-WING COULTER SMEAR MACHINE.
The online "news" journal HUMAN EVENTS recently published a hit-piece written by Lisa De Pasquale (Coulter's publicist) assassinating the character of lifelong conservative Daniel Borchers in order to quell rising interest in Ann Coulter’s current plagiarism problems. Here "Part One" of Coulter Mystery is solved. Stay tuned for Part Two, which is most titillating.
I realize Coulter is distracting us from real news, but she is to blame for the hate-speak and annihilation prevalent today and must be called on it. Obviously her defenders on this blog are here to spread even more "politics of personal destruction."
My friend went through hell with Coulter's propaganda team, and with Coulter herself. Her slander, lies and criminally malicious behavior has to be stopped. Here on this website I have suffered from very similar tactics.
But first this: WHAT IS UP WITH CHRIS MATTHEWS? HE NO LONGER PLAYS HARDBALL. I used to trust him. He must be a paid shill, fawning all over Coulter. Or he was bribed by her publisher and was repaying a favor. This was one of the most bizarrely ingratiating interviews we've ever seen. I've always wondered how she manages to get air time for her hateful, horrendous agenda. She repeatedly called for killing, killing and more killing, and then resorted to repeating her insane accusation that Bill Clinton is gay, with a Gore comment thrown in. Is she jealous of Bill Clinton?
Human Events Trashes Ann Coulter Critic; Scrubs Story
Retraction By a Thousand Deletions
By Daniel Borchers
[NOTE: That defamatory essay has been removed – but without a formal retraction.
Their problem: I had published a well-researched exposé revealing that portions of Coulter’s first book, "High Crimes and Misdemeanors", had been plagiarized, thus making it difficult to refute her pattern of plagiarism.
Their solution: use the politics of personal destruction to discredit those who know the truth.
Coulter protégé and publicist Lisa De Pasquale led the attack with gusto. Her deplorable diatribe emulated the tactics of her mentor, Ann Coulter, fabricating falsehoods, asserting opinion as fact and distorting what little truth actually existed.
It took two weeks to clear things up, and even then, suppression of the truth remains in full force.
From the beginning, Human Events Online Editor Robert Bluey manipulated reality to defend Human Events premiere polemicist. At first, everything seemed straightforward with his first email:
Terry Jeffrey passed along your note. At Human Events, we have a reputation of always correcting errors. What part of the article are you asking us to retract?
“Ridiculous Article” (which can be read in the comment section here courtesy of "Voltaire."
The first correction was relatively easy. I replied as follows:
Thank you for getting back to me so promptly. What should be corrected you ask? Virtually every accusation against me. Ms. De Pasquale should insist upon evidence and refrain from concocting fantasies.
Let’s deal with just one charge as representative of the whole: her claim that I went “to great lengths to sneak into CPAC under false pretenses, including making a phony press pass on his home computer and registering under fake names.” Her accusation is totally false in every respect.
Is Ms. De Pasquale’s attempt to discredit me designed to vindicate Ms. Coulter of plagiarism, past and present? She dismisses my “ridiculous article” about Ms. Coulter’s plagiarism of High Crimes and Misdemeanors, even though the facts substantiate my essay, which is far more accurate than her own. My fact-checking included personal interviews with Michael Chapman (in person, via email and telephone), the Boston Globe reporter who broke the story and Ms. Coulter’s attorney at that time. My own evidence included correspondence from Mr. Chapman, the Boston Globe, and Ms. Coulter’s attorney. Further, I meticulously compared High Crimes with material written by Mr. Chapman and published in Human Events. (If you need a copy of the Special Report from which Ms. Coulter drew some of her material, I would be happy to provide it to you.)
While there is nothing “ridiculous” about my article on Ms. Coulter’s previous plagiarism, “ridiculous” barely begins to describe Ms. De Pasquale’s polemical cover-up of her favorite author’s misdeeds.
Please retract in its entirety all negative personal references to me.
Bluey corrected the portion dealing with the allegedly “ridiculous” nature of my plagiarism essay, but he refused to make any other corrections, claiming to have verified sources.
I have made some changes to the article. However, other things you cite have either been verified by Lisa's sources (as noted in the article) or witnessed firsthand by her or my colleagues at Human Events.
“False Pretenses, Phony Press Pass, Fake Names”
The second correction required more diligence. I had to disprove what Bluey claimed to have verified:
The following statement is false in its entirety: “[Borchers went] to great lengths to sneak into CPAC under false pretenses, including making a phony press pass on his home computer and registering under fake names.”
That never happened! No sneaking. No false pretenses. No phony press pass. No fake names. None of that is true! There is no evidence because it never happened!
Perhaps these facts can help dispel the fantasies of Ms. De Pasquale’s fevered imagination.
CPAC 99 I requested and received press credentials as Daniel Borchers, Editor of BrotherWatch.
CPAC 00 I requested and received press credentials as Daniel Borchers, Editor of BrotherWatch.
CPAC 01 I requested and received press credentials as Daniel Borchers, Editor of BrotherWatch.
CPAC 02 I requested and received press credentials as Daniel Borchers, Editor of BrotherWatch. Ian Walters gave me permission to distribute both my newsletter and press kit, then revoked that permission upon discovering it was critical of Ms. Coulter.
CPAC 03 I requested but was denied press credentials as Daniel Borchers, Editor of BrotherWatch.
CPAC 04 I requested press credentials as Daniel Borchers, Editor of BrotherWatch. Stacie Rumenap emailed me that my request would be forwarded. At CPAC, I registered at the press booth as Daniel Borchers, Editor of BrotherWatch. A short while later, Ian Walters confronted me. At that time – recorded on audiotape and in the presence of a City Paper reporter – I gave Mr. Walters the email from Ms. Rumenap. (Not even a ten-year-old could mistake a genuine email for a phony press pass.) After a lengthy discussion, Mr. Walters confiscated the press pass given to me at the press booth.
CPAC 05 I registered as a paying member of the public.
CPAC 06 My request for press credentials as Daniel Borchers, Editor of BrotherWatch was denied. The stated reason: that I was not a real journalist. Subsequently, Brad Blog commissioned me to cover the event for them. They received permission and provided my name as their representative. I was sent a confirmation email, press kit and other emails at my Daniel Borchers at yahoo dot come email address. I registered at press booth as Daniel Borchers.
Where were the false pretenses? The phony press pass? The fake name? For that matter, where is the “sneaking in?” Everything was done aboveboard.
Truth and facts can be so inconvenient, can’t they? Please correct, as necessary. Thank you.
Bluey’s email was brief, to the point, and unapologetic: “I’ve deleted the sentence from the article.”
Removal, No Retraction, No Apology
In the end, after a lengthy series of emails, Human Events removed De Pasquale’s vicious essay in its entirety – only because I could document my case. Bluey’s final email was extremely brief:
The article was deleted in its entirety last week. Please do not contact me again. If you continue to harass me, I will contact the FBI.
To which I replied, in part:
You astonish me. First, you publish a defamatory article about me. Then, you accuse me of harassment for merely seeking to clear my good name. You even have the audacity to threaten me!
Still, you have not even dealt with my initial request – retraction. Removal is not the same as retraction. Many people read the slanderous diatribe against me but they have not been apprised of the lies contained therein. Many websites have cited, reprinted or linked to that article. They are not aware of its many egregious errors.
Still, as of this writing, Human Events refuses to retract their defamatory diatribe. Indeed, not even an apology was given. Rather, Robert Bluey had the gall to threaten me for seeking to clear my name.
Such are the depths to which Coulter’s defenders will sink to ensure that Coulter’s peculiar brand of polemicism will remain profitable.
Plagiarism Redux
Despite their best efforts, new evidence of plagiarism in Godless continues to emerge. In High Crimes, Coulter used the work and the words of one of her colleagues and took them as her own. Coulter did the same in Godless. Consider this from Cliff Kincaid:
[Robert] Knight, who now directs the Culture & Family Institute at Concerned Women for America, tells me that all of the NEA examples cited in the Coulter column “were right out of my paper, although the phrasing was changed. Several were in the exact order I had them in my paper. It appears that Miss Coulter cribbed them directly from my Heritage report. Since it involves a considerable number of examples (nine), it would have been nice if she had credited me or Heritage, but I’m not upset. I’m glad she used this stuff to good effect.”
Let’s be clear here: Ann Coulter plagiarized from a colleague at her very own newspaper – and got away with it – so why shouldn’t she plagiarize from a stranger?
Setting aside (for now) her defamation of me, Lisa De Pasquale (designated Coulter apologist at Human Events) made one striking point: “Most telling is the fact that none of the authors or publications that liberals claim Ann Coulter plagiarized have come forward.”
Human Events seeks to discredit me because I have interviewed the one person who has come forward – Michael Chapman, a former editor for Human Events and former colleague of Coulter. (Yet, Coulter denies ever have even heard of Chapman.) Human Events was both privy to and party to Coulter’s use of Chapman’s material in her first book, High Crimes and Misdemeanors (see “The Plagiarism Trap”).
Both Human Events and Regnery (the book imprint for Eagle Publishing) assured Chapman that he would be credited for his work. After High Crimes publication, Chapman sought some form of credit, but was denied. Human Events still turns a blind eye to the plagiarism of its premiere polemicist. Regnery even released High Crimes and Misdemeanors in paperback form, long after the Boston Globe had revealed Chapman’s role in its publication, again without acknowledging Chapman’s contribution (or correcting some of its more egregious errors).
The truth about Ann Coulter is unwelcome at Human Events, which clearly prefers profit to principle.
[Daniel Borchers is the Editor of BrotherWatch and the President of Citizens for Principled Conservatism. He can be reached at PrincipledConservative@yahoo.com.]
THIS IS WHAT I'VE BEEN WRITING ALL ALONG: WHAT ANN COULTER WOULD KNOW IF SHE ACTUALLY READ THE BIBLE
This picture of Sedona lowers my stress level.
"Dissent is the highest form of patriotism." Thomas Jefferson.
Just posted a wonderful article "Disowning Conservative Politics Is Costly for Pastor." You can read it at my Peacemakers Blog. Blessings to a brave Christian who woke up and realized the truth. Of course he will be persecuted for it. For spiritual solutions to the world crises, and some amazing prayer miracles in the next few weeks, please check out RADICAL PRAYER at my other blog: THE PEACEMAKERS
For TROLL-FREE blogging (without the malicious opposition trolls that personally insult people who comment here) please check out my Progressive Freedom Blog at: FREEDOM BLOG
EXCLUSIVE! NEW EVIDENCE OF THE TACTICS OF PROPAGANDA FROM RIGHT-WING COULTER SMEAR MACHINE.
The online "news" journal HUMAN EVENTS recently published a hit-piece written by Lisa De Pasquale (Coulter's publicist) assassinating the character of lifelong conservative Daniel Borchers in order to quell rising interest in Ann Coulter’s current plagiarism problems. Here "Part One" of Coulter Mystery is solved. Stay tuned for Part Two, which is most titillating.
I realize Coulter is distracting us from real news, but she is to blame for the hate-speak and annihilation prevalent today and must be called on it. Obviously her defenders on this blog are here to spread even more "politics of personal destruction."
My friend went through hell with Coulter's propaganda team, and with Coulter herself. Her slander, lies and criminally malicious behavior has to be stopped. Here on this website I have suffered from very similar tactics.
But first this: WHAT IS UP WITH CHRIS MATTHEWS? HE NO LONGER PLAYS HARDBALL. I used to trust him. He must be a paid shill, fawning all over Coulter. Or he was bribed by her publisher and was repaying a favor. This was one of the most bizarrely ingratiating interviews we've ever seen. I've always wondered how she manages to get air time for her hateful, horrendous agenda. She repeatedly called for killing, killing and more killing, and then resorted to repeating her insane accusation that Bill Clinton is gay, with a Gore comment thrown in. Is she jealous of Bill Clinton?
Human Events Trashes Ann Coulter Critic; Scrubs Story
Retraction By a Thousand Deletions
By Daniel Borchers
[NOTE: That defamatory essay has been removed – but without a formal retraction.
Their problem: I had published a well-researched exposé revealing that portions of Coulter’s first book, "High Crimes and Misdemeanors", had been plagiarized, thus making it difficult to refute her pattern of plagiarism.
Their solution: use the politics of personal destruction to discredit those who know the truth.
Coulter protégé and publicist Lisa De Pasquale led the attack with gusto. Her deplorable diatribe emulated the tactics of her mentor, Ann Coulter, fabricating falsehoods, asserting opinion as fact and distorting what little truth actually existed.
It took two weeks to clear things up, and even then, suppression of the truth remains in full force.
From the beginning, Human Events Online Editor Robert Bluey manipulated reality to defend Human Events premiere polemicist. At first, everything seemed straightforward with his first email:
Terry Jeffrey passed along your note. At Human Events, we have a reputation of always correcting errors. What part of the article are you asking us to retract?
“Ridiculous Article” (which can be read in the comment section here courtesy of "Voltaire."
The first correction was relatively easy. I replied as follows:
Thank you for getting back to me so promptly. What should be corrected you ask? Virtually every accusation against me. Ms. De Pasquale should insist upon evidence and refrain from concocting fantasies.
Let’s deal with just one charge as representative of the whole: her claim that I went “to great lengths to sneak into CPAC under false pretenses, including making a phony press pass on his home computer and registering under fake names.” Her accusation is totally false in every respect.
Is Ms. De Pasquale’s attempt to discredit me designed to vindicate Ms. Coulter of plagiarism, past and present? She dismisses my “ridiculous article” about Ms. Coulter’s plagiarism of High Crimes and Misdemeanors, even though the facts substantiate my essay, which is far more accurate than her own. My fact-checking included personal interviews with Michael Chapman (in person, via email and telephone), the Boston Globe reporter who broke the story and Ms. Coulter’s attorney at that time. My own evidence included correspondence from Mr. Chapman, the Boston Globe, and Ms. Coulter’s attorney. Further, I meticulously compared High Crimes with material written by Mr. Chapman and published in Human Events. (If you need a copy of the Special Report from which Ms. Coulter drew some of her material, I would be happy to provide it to you.)
While there is nothing “ridiculous” about my article on Ms. Coulter’s previous plagiarism, “ridiculous” barely begins to describe Ms. De Pasquale’s polemical cover-up of her favorite author’s misdeeds.
Please retract in its entirety all negative personal references to me.
Bluey corrected the portion dealing with the allegedly “ridiculous” nature of my plagiarism essay, but he refused to make any other corrections, claiming to have verified sources.
I have made some changes to the article. However, other things you cite have either been verified by Lisa's sources (as noted in the article) or witnessed firsthand by her or my colleagues at Human Events.
“False Pretenses, Phony Press Pass, Fake Names”
The second correction required more diligence. I had to disprove what Bluey claimed to have verified:
The following statement is false in its entirety: “[Borchers went] to great lengths to sneak into CPAC under false pretenses, including making a phony press pass on his home computer and registering under fake names.”
That never happened! No sneaking. No false pretenses. No phony press pass. No fake names. None of that is true! There is no evidence because it never happened!
Perhaps these facts can help dispel the fantasies of Ms. De Pasquale’s fevered imagination.
CPAC 99 I requested and received press credentials as Daniel Borchers, Editor of BrotherWatch.
CPAC 00 I requested and received press credentials as Daniel Borchers, Editor of BrotherWatch.
CPAC 01 I requested and received press credentials as Daniel Borchers, Editor of BrotherWatch.
CPAC 02 I requested and received press credentials as Daniel Borchers, Editor of BrotherWatch. Ian Walters gave me permission to distribute both my newsletter and press kit, then revoked that permission upon discovering it was critical of Ms. Coulter.
CPAC 03 I requested but was denied press credentials as Daniel Borchers, Editor of BrotherWatch.
CPAC 04 I requested press credentials as Daniel Borchers, Editor of BrotherWatch. Stacie Rumenap emailed me that my request would be forwarded. At CPAC, I registered at the press booth as Daniel Borchers, Editor of BrotherWatch. A short while later, Ian Walters confronted me. At that time – recorded on audiotape and in the presence of a City Paper reporter – I gave Mr. Walters the email from Ms. Rumenap. (Not even a ten-year-old could mistake a genuine email for a phony press pass.) After a lengthy discussion, Mr. Walters confiscated the press pass given to me at the press booth.
CPAC 05 I registered as a paying member of the public.
CPAC 06 My request for press credentials as Daniel Borchers, Editor of BrotherWatch was denied. The stated reason: that I was not a real journalist. Subsequently, Brad Blog commissioned me to cover the event for them. They received permission and provided my name as their representative. I was sent a confirmation email, press kit and other emails at my Daniel Borchers at yahoo dot come email address. I registered at press booth as Daniel Borchers.
Where were the false pretenses? The phony press pass? The fake name? For that matter, where is the “sneaking in?” Everything was done aboveboard.
Truth and facts can be so inconvenient, can’t they? Please correct, as necessary. Thank you.
Bluey’s email was brief, to the point, and unapologetic: “I’ve deleted the sentence from the article.”
Removal, No Retraction, No Apology
In the end, after a lengthy series of emails, Human Events removed De Pasquale’s vicious essay in its entirety – only because I could document my case. Bluey’s final email was extremely brief:
The article was deleted in its entirety last week. Please do not contact me again. If you continue to harass me, I will contact the FBI.
To which I replied, in part:
You astonish me. First, you publish a defamatory article about me. Then, you accuse me of harassment for merely seeking to clear my good name. You even have the audacity to threaten me!
Still, you have not even dealt with my initial request – retraction. Removal is not the same as retraction. Many people read the slanderous diatribe against me but they have not been apprised of the lies contained therein. Many websites have cited, reprinted or linked to that article. They are not aware of its many egregious errors.
Still, as of this writing, Human Events refuses to retract their defamatory diatribe. Indeed, not even an apology was given. Rather, Robert Bluey had the gall to threaten me for seeking to clear my name.
Such are the depths to which Coulter’s defenders will sink to ensure that Coulter’s peculiar brand of polemicism will remain profitable.
Plagiarism Redux
Despite their best efforts, new evidence of plagiarism in Godless continues to emerge. In High Crimes, Coulter used the work and the words of one of her colleagues and took them as her own. Coulter did the same in Godless. Consider this from Cliff Kincaid:
[Robert] Knight, who now directs the Culture & Family Institute at Concerned Women for America, tells me that all of the NEA examples cited in the Coulter column “were right out of my paper, although the phrasing was changed. Several were in the exact order I had them in my paper. It appears that Miss Coulter cribbed them directly from my Heritage report. Since it involves a considerable number of examples (nine), it would have been nice if she had credited me or Heritage, but I’m not upset. I’m glad she used this stuff to good effect.”
Let’s be clear here: Ann Coulter plagiarized from a colleague at her very own newspaper – and got away with it – so why shouldn’t she plagiarize from a stranger?
Setting aside (for now) her defamation of me, Lisa De Pasquale (designated Coulter apologist at Human Events) made one striking point: “Most telling is the fact that none of the authors or publications that liberals claim Ann Coulter plagiarized have come forward.”
Human Events seeks to discredit me because I have interviewed the one person who has come forward – Michael Chapman, a former editor for Human Events and former colleague of Coulter. (Yet, Coulter denies ever have even heard of Chapman.) Human Events was both privy to and party to Coulter’s use of Chapman’s material in her first book, High Crimes and Misdemeanors (see “The Plagiarism Trap”).
Both Human Events and Regnery (the book imprint for Eagle Publishing) assured Chapman that he would be credited for his work. After High Crimes publication, Chapman sought some form of credit, but was denied. Human Events still turns a blind eye to the plagiarism of its premiere polemicist. Regnery even released High Crimes and Misdemeanors in paperback form, long after the Boston Globe had revealed Chapman’s role in its publication, again without acknowledging Chapman’s contribution (or correcting some of its more egregious errors).
The truth about Ann Coulter is unwelcome at Human Events, which clearly prefers profit to principle.
[Daniel Borchers is the Editor of BrotherWatch and the President of Citizens for Principled Conservatism. He can be reached at PrincipledConservative@yahoo.com.]
THIS IS WHAT I'VE BEEN WRITING ALL ALONG: WHAT ANN COULTER WOULD KNOW IF SHE ACTUALLY READ THE BIBLE
Thursday, July 27, 2006
THE FORCE OF PEACE
ISRAEL KILLED 4 IRISH U.N. PEACEKEEPERS AFTER BEING TOLD REPEATEDLY NOT TO BOMB THEM! WRONG IS WRONG NO MATTER WHAT SIDE YOU'RE ON.
BUSH: When he's out of office, he will sit on the board of a big oil company and reap the profits from the blood of our young soldiers. PRO-BIG OIL, PRO-WAR, PRO-PROFITEERING.
Exxon Oil just posted a $10.36 Billion profit. Now that is what the Iraq war is all about. Trading lives for oil. Posted by: Larry
Soldiers in Iraq were asked by Washington Post reporter Josh Partlow about their feelings on the war. Such answers like "It Sucks, it feels like we are just driving around, waiting to get blown up." Another said " noone wants to be here, and no one is truly enthused about what we do." True words from the mouths of those who are there. This is from a soldiers own mouth.
President Clinton, the Rhodes scholar with brilliant diplomatic skills is right: ISRAEL HAS GONE TOO FAR. He also said Israel went too far in bombing the airport in Beirut. "I understand why (Israel) wanted to degrade their military capacity, but I question whether it was worth it to wreck the airport because the airport was the symbol of the new Lebanon."
Clinton said the United States and other western countries should be pushing hard for a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, along with the insertion of an international peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, former U.S. president Bill Clinton said Wednesday.
NATO is probably the only international group with the military muscle capable of fielding a peacekeeping force, said Clinton.
"If we're ever going to have a peaceful Middle East, then the peacemakers will have to be protected in a way that won't get them blamed every time they fight back," he said.
"The Force of Peace" is a multi-part series I'm writing. The first part here will be revelatory findings from the military. The second installment, will offer viable solutions for peace from a moral and spiritual point of view. I am working on that section this weekend.
From CLIF, U.S. Combat Vet, Desert Storm Commander: "This is how the fiasco in Iraq became as bad as it is right now. Sorry but we tried to tell you and now the military records say the same basic story we have...but since it is from military sources they must have more legitimacy than Coultergeist's anal brain extrusions. This story is written from the militaries own records...just like the Pentagon Papers was during the Vietnam War, but you repugs will attack the messenger instead of reading the message and trying to actually LEARN from it..."
I Hate To Say I Told You So by Ethan Heitner July 24, 2006
Those of us who were labeled America-haters for saying that Iraq was a mess and that our military presence was making things worse are actually being proven right – by the military’s own documentation.
Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq, written by Washington Post senior Pentagon correspondent Thomas Ricks and set to be published this summer, is not to be dismissed as the opinions of shifty Iraqis or pointy-headed academics. Instead, for his material Ricks went straight to the good old, blood-and-guts sources, the Armed Services archives themselves – or, as The Washington Post puts it in its excerpts from the book, which started running in the paper Sunday, "a review of more than 30,000 pages of military documents and several hundred interviews with U.S. military personnel."
And what do they tell us ? ...There is ... strong evidence, based on a review of thousands of military documents and hundreds of interviews with military personnel, that the U.S. approach to pacifying Iraq in the months after the collapse of Hussein helped spur the insurgency and made it bigger and stronger than it might have been. ...
What did the army do wrong? Massive troop presence that only served to remind the Iraqis of the constant presence of foreign occupiers. Indiscriminate sweeps that caught up thousands of ordinary Iraqi citizens in the maws of a gulag system without accountability or order, where they were exposed to abuse at every level by U.S. soldiers and enticed by actual members of the insurgency to find vent for their understandable rage. Or, as Ricks has it (again, based on the military's own evaluations):
Senior U.S. intelligence officers in Iraq later estimated that about 85 percent of the tens of thousands rounded up were of no intelligence value. But as they were delivered to Abu Ghraib prison, they overwhelmed the system and often waited for weeks to be interrogated, during which time they could be recruited by hard-core insurgents, who weren't isolated from the general prison population.
Or, in Ricks' portrait of one particularly bad unit, the 4th Infantry Division :
The unit, a heavy armored division despite its name, was known for "grabbing whole villages, because combat soldiers [were] unable to figure out who was of value and who was not," according to a subsequent investigation of the 4th Infantry Division's detainee operations by the Army inspector general's office. Its indiscriminate detention of Iraqis filled Abu Ghraib prison, swamped the U.S. interrogation system and overwhelmed the U.S. soldiers guarding the prison.
Lt. Col. David Poirier, who commanded a military police battalion attached to the 4th Infantry Division and was based in Tikrit from June 2003 to March 2004, said the division's approach was indiscriminate. ... "Every male from 16 to 60" that the 4th Infantry could catch was detained, he said. "And when they got out, they were supporters of the insurgency."
This is the draft of history written by the military, for the military:
In language unusual for an officially produced document, the history of the operation produced by the Marines 1st Division is disapproving, even contemptuous, of what it calls the 4th Infantry Division's "very aggressive" posture as the unit came into Iraq.
The history dryly noted that the Marines, "despite some misgivings," turned over the area to the 4th Infantry Division and departed April 21. "Stores that had re-opened quickly closed back up as the people once again evacuated the streets, adjusting to the new security tactics," the final draft of the history reported. "A budding cooperative environment between the citizens and American forces was quickly snuffed out. The new adversarial relationship would become a major source of trouble in the coming months."
Is it any surprise that the result is exactly what we said it would be?
Cumulatively, the American ignorance of long-held precepts of counterinsurgency warfare impeded the U.S. military during 2003 and part of 2004. Combined with a personnel policy that pulled out all the seasoned forces early in 2004 and replaced them with green troops, it isn't surprising that the U.S. effort often resembled that of Sisyphus, the king in Greek legend who was condemned to perpetually roll a boulder up a hill, only to have it roll back down as he neared the top.
Again and again, in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006, U.S. forces launched major new operations to assert and reassert control in Fallujah, in Ramadi, in Samarra, in Mosul.
Read the whole thing to get details of how the U.S. military hierarchy ignored common sense, their own experience in Vietnam and all standards of decency to make everything worse.
While I'm on the "things we knew already but it's nice to hear them say," for a long time it's been obvious that military abuses of civillians in Iraq were neither confined to "a few bad apples" at Abu Ghraib prison, nor did they end with the imprisonment of those few. Systematic lack of leadership regarding detainee abuse is another area documented extensively by Ricks:
On the morning of Aug. 14, 2003 Capt. William Ponce, an officer in the "Human Intelligence Effects Coordination Cell" at the top U.S. military headquarters in Iraq, sent a memo to subordinate commands asking what interrogation techniques they would like to use ...
The 4th Infantry Division's intelligence operation responded three days later with suggestions that captives be hit with closed fists and also subjected to "low-voltage electrocution." (This was in addition to facial slaps and mid-section punches.)
Ricks chillingly details more specific incidents of abuse from the military records. Surprise surprise, they closely parallel the allegations made in a new report by Human Rights Watch. From their summary :
“Soldiers were told that the Geneva Conventions did not apply, and that interrogators could use abusive techniques to get detainees to talk,” said John Sifton, the author of the report and the senior researcher on terrorism and counterterrorism at Human Rights Watch. “These accounts rebut U.S. government claims that torture and abuse in Iraq was unauthorized and exceptional – on the contrary, it was condoned and commonly used.”
The accounts reveal that detainee abuse was an established and apparently authorized part of the detention and interrogation processes in Iraq for much of 2003-2005. They also suggest that soldiers who sought to report abuse were rebuffed or ignored. ...
Herrington concluded, “It seems clear that TF 121 needs to be reined in with respect to its treatment of detainees.” Despite this warning, abuses by the task force continued.
Human Rights Watch said that the new report shows how soldiers who felt abusive practices were wrong or illegal faced significant obstacles at every turn when they attempted to report or expose the abuses. For example, an MP guard at the facility near al-Qaim, who complained to an officer about beatings and other abuse he witnessed, was told, “You need to go ahead and drop this, sergeant.”
Look, all I'm saying is, the facts are actually not hard to obtain.The information is out there. The documentation exists. These are not baseless allegations—they are the eyewitness testimonies of those involved.
Someday there will have to be justice.
Just don't say you didn't know, and don't let anyone currently sitting in a position of power in Washington D.C. claim it either.
http://www.tompaine.com/print/i_hate_to_say_i_told_you_so.php
BUSH: When he's out of office, he will sit on the board of a big oil company and reap the profits from the blood of our young soldiers. PRO-BIG OIL, PRO-WAR, PRO-PROFITEERING. Exxon Oil just posted a $10.36 Billion profit. Now that is what the Iraq war is all about. Trading lives for oil. Posted by: Larry
Soldiers in Iraq were asked by Washington Post reporter Josh Partlow about their feelings on the war. Such answers like "It Sucks, it feels like we are just driving around, waiting to get blown up." Another said " noone wants to be here, and no one is truly enthused about what we do." True words from the mouths of those who are there. This is from a soldiers own mouth.
President Clinton, the Rhodes scholar with brilliant diplomatic skills is right: ISRAEL HAS GONE TOO FAR. He also said Israel went too far in bombing the airport in Beirut. "I understand why (Israel) wanted to degrade their military capacity, but I question whether it was worth it to wreck the airport because the airport was the symbol of the new Lebanon."
Clinton said the United States and other western countries should be pushing hard for a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, along with the insertion of an international peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, former U.S. president Bill Clinton said Wednesday.
NATO is probably the only international group with the military muscle capable of fielding a peacekeeping force, said Clinton.
"If we're ever going to have a peaceful Middle East, then the peacemakers will have to be protected in a way that won't get them blamed every time they fight back," he said.
"The Force of Peace" is a multi-part series I'm writing. The first part here will be revelatory findings from the military. The second installment, will offer viable solutions for peace from a moral and spiritual point of view. I am working on that section this weekend.
From CLIF, U.S. Combat Vet, Desert Storm Commander: "This is how the fiasco in Iraq became as bad as it is right now. Sorry but we tried to tell you and now the military records say the same basic story we have...but since it is from military sources they must have more legitimacy than Coultergeist's anal brain extrusions. This story is written from the militaries own records...just like the Pentagon Papers was during the Vietnam War, but you repugs will attack the messenger instead of reading the message and trying to actually LEARN from it..."
I Hate To Say I Told You So by Ethan Heitner July 24, 2006
Those of us who were labeled America-haters for saying that Iraq was a mess and that our military presence was making things worse are actually being proven right – by the military’s own documentation.
Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq, written by Washington Post senior Pentagon correspondent Thomas Ricks and set to be published this summer, is not to be dismissed as the opinions of shifty Iraqis or pointy-headed academics. Instead, for his material Ricks went straight to the good old, blood-and-guts sources, the Armed Services archives themselves – or, as The Washington Post puts it in its excerpts from the book, which started running in the paper Sunday, "a review of more than 30,000 pages of military documents and several hundred interviews with U.S. military personnel."
And what do they tell us ? ...There is ... strong evidence, based on a review of thousands of military documents and hundreds of interviews with military personnel, that the U.S. approach to pacifying Iraq in the months after the collapse of Hussein helped spur the insurgency and made it bigger and stronger than it might have been. ...
What did the army do wrong? Massive troop presence that only served to remind the Iraqis of the constant presence of foreign occupiers. Indiscriminate sweeps that caught up thousands of ordinary Iraqi citizens in the maws of a gulag system without accountability or order, where they were exposed to abuse at every level by U.S. soldiers and enticed by actual members of the insurgency to find vent for their understandable rage. Or, as Ricks has it (again, based on the military's own evaluations):
Senior U.S. intelligence officers in Iraq later estimated that about 85 percent of the tens of thousands rounded up were of no intelligence value. But as they were delivered to Abu Ghraib prison, they overwhelmed the system and often waited for weeks to be interrogated, during which time they could be recruited by hard-core insurgents, who weren't isolated from the general prison population.
Or, in Ricks' portrait of one particularly bad unit, the 4th Infantry Division :
The unit, a heavy armored division despite its name, was known for "grabbing whole villages, because combat soldiers [were] unable to figure out who was of value and who was not," according to a subsequent investigation of the 4th Infantry Division's detainee operations by the Army inspector general's office. Its indiscriminate detention of Iraqis filled Abu Ghraib prison, swamped the U.S. interrogation system and overwhelmed the U.S. soldiers guarding the prison.
Lt. Col. David Poirier, who commanded a military police battalion attached to the 4th Infantry Division and was based in Tikrit from June 2003 to March 2004, said the division's approach was indiscriminate. ... "Every male from 16 to 60" that the 4th Infantry could catch was detained, he said. "And when they got out, they were supporters of the insurgency."
This is the draft of history written by the military, for the military:
In language unusual for an officially produced document, the history of the operation produced by the Marines 1st Division is disapproving, even contemptuous, of what it calls the 4th Infantry Division's "very aggressive" posture as the unit came into Iraq.
The history dryly noted that the Marines, "despite some misgivings," turned over the area to the 4th Infantry Division and departed April 21. "Stores that had re-opened quickly closed back up as the people once again evacuated the streets, adjusting to the new security tactics," the final draft of the history reported. "A budding cooperative environment between the citizens and American forces was quickly snuffed out. The new adversarial relationship would become a major source of trouble in the coming months."
Is it any surprise that the result is exactly what we said it would be?
Cumulatively, the American ignorance of long-held precepts of counterinsurgency warfare impeded the U.S. military during 2003 and part of 2004. Combined with a personnel policy that pulled out all the seasoned forces early in 2004 and replaced them with green troops, it isn't surprising that the U.S. effort often resembled that of Sisyphus, the king in Greek legend who was condemned to perpetually roll a boulder up a hill, only to have it roll back down as he neared the top.
Again and again, in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006, U.S. forces launched major new operations to assert and reassert control in Fallujah, in Ramadi, in Samarra, in Mosul.
Read the whole thing to get details of how the U.S. military hierarchy ignored common sense, their own experience in Vietnam and all standards of decency to make everything worse.
While I'm on the "things we knew already but it's nice to hear them say," for a long time it's been obvious that military abuses of civillians in Iraq were neither confined to "a few bad apples" at Abu Ghraib prison, nor did they end with the imprisonment of those few. Systematic lack of leadership regarding detainee abuse is another area documented extensively by Ricks:
On the morning of Aug. 14, 2003 Capt. William Ponce, an officer in the "Human Intelligence Effects Coordination Cell" at the top U.S. military headquarters in Iraq, sent a memo to subordinate commands asking what interrogation techniques they would like to use ...
The 4th Infantry Division's intelligence operation responded three days later with suggestions that captives be hit with closed fists and also subjected to "low-voltage electrocution." (This was in addition to facial slaps and mid-section punches.)
Ricks chillingly details more specific incidents of abuse from the military records. Surprise surprise, they closely parallel the allegations made in a new report by Human Rights Watch. From their summary :
“Soldiers were told that the Geneva Conventions did not apply, and that interrogators could use abusive techniques to get detainees to talk,” said John Sifton, the author of the report and the senior researcher on terrorism and counterterrorism at Human Rights Watch. “These accounts rebut U.S. government claims that torture and abuse in Iraq was unauthorized and exceptional – on the contrary, it was condoned and commonly used.”
The accounts reveal that detainee abuse was an established and apparently authorized part of the detention and interrogation processes in Iraq for much of 2003-2005. They also suggest that soldiers who sought to report abuse were rebuffed or ignored. ...
Herrington concluded, “It seems clear that TF 121 needs to be reined in with respect to its treatment of detainees.” Despite this warning, abuses by the task force continued.
Human Rights Watch said that the new report shows how soldiers who felt abusive practices were wrong or illegal faced significant obstacles at every turn when they attempted to report or expose the abuses. For example, an MP guard at the facility near al-Qaim, who complained to an officer about beatings and other abuse he witnessed, was told, “You need to go ahead and drop this, sergeant.”
Look, all I'm saying is, the facts are actually not hard to obtain.The information is out there. The documentation exists. These are not baseless allegations—they are the eyewitness testimonies of those involved.
Someday there will have to be justice.
Just don't say you didn't know, and don't let anyone currently sitting in a position of power in Washington D.C. claim it either.
http://www.tompaine.com/print/i_hate_to_say_i_told_you_so.php
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
DEMOCRACY AT RISK
"Condoleeza Rice has never worked so hard at faking facial expressions of concern and compassion. Remember, wars don't just happen, WE HAVE TO MAKE THEM HAPPEN!" Heard this in between station ids on Randi Rhodes show today. Thank God for PROGRESSIVE TALK and Randi Rhodes and Al Franken! I cannot stop laughing (in between crying.)
"Democracy in Crisis - An Exclusive BRADBLOG Interview with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr."
"CNN's Lou Dobbs: This Congress, This Administration, I Cannot Fathom What They Are Thinking"
A MUST READ: "Was the 2004 Election Stolen?" Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in Rolling Stone The issue has started to heat up.
Brad Friedman's The BRAD BLOG has been covering this surge of interest in our voting system. Robert Kennedy Jr. has been joined by Lou Dobbs of CNN who has started a series on his nightly newscast called "Democracy at Risk."
"Democracy in Crisis - An Exclusive BRADBLOG Interview with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr."
"CNN's Lou Dobbs: This Congress, This Administration, I Cannot Fathom What They Are Thinking"
A MUST READ: "Was the 2004 Election Stolen?" Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in Rolling Stone The issue has started to heat up.
Brad Friedman's The BRAD BLOG has been covering this surge of interest in our voting system. Robert Kennedy Jr. has been joined by Lou Dobbs of CNN who has started a series on his nightly newscast called "Democracy at Risk."
Monday, July 24, 2006
OUT OF IRAQ NOW! and REPORT FROM INSIDE ISRAEL
Quick Report from the Israeli Peace Front
The peace movement in Israel has pulled out all stops to end this mad war. Lots of groups are active, and we had a big joint demonstration last night - at least 5,000 people (though the media reported 2,500). Marching through the streets of Tel Aviv with signs, "End the War", "End the Occupation" felt like a relief after the roar of pro-war-talk on all the media.
HERE IS a short note from Hannah Safran of the Haifa vigil of Women in Black. The women were shelled during the vigil, but they returned to complete it. Later that day, under the newly formed "Women Against War", they again left their homes to protest.
" Hi gila, how are you? we are having a terrible day today. while we were demonstrating at our regular Women in Black square (30-40 people in all), we were bombed on both sides. it felt like being targeted from close. we had to abandon the vigil and look for shelter. we came back 20 min. later and completed the vigil on time. As we were traveling home, there was a second attack and we had to stop the car and look for shelter. When we came home we opened the newspaper to read letters of women from Lebanon. The devastation is horrific. Has Israel gone crazy or have we not noticed what a mad country we live in? It is 5:45 p.m. now and we had two attacks since then. I am off to our daily demonstration of Women Against War in front of the Foreign Office and all the foreign press. We will not be silenced. War must be stopped now. Every min. counts as people's lives are in danger. do all you can to stop this madness. only someone from outside can put pressure on Israel to stop. i have to hurry. be well and let's pray for better days.
love, hannah
Please continue to voice your protest throughout the world.
Gila Svirsky
www.coalitionofwomen.org
Demonstrations and Vigils held this weekend (or just before) THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.
'Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely' - Lord Acton
A REPUBLICAN senator has now confirmed that things in Iraq are worse than we were "led to believe." This implies that we were MISLED DELIBERATELY. We must bring our troops home and save their lives.
Bush is operating like an unconscious madman. Our very presence on Muslim soil is the reason there is non-stop violence and terrorism there. What on earth are we doing there? We must remove ourselves from the equation. Pride is not a virtue. Whatever Bush's reasons for being there (which obviously weren't the reasons he told us initially) it's time to come home. His lies have been uncovered, and like the alcoholic who has been beaten by the bottle — it's time to surrender to a higher power, God. Providence will move for us when we do the RIGHT THING. No matter how many lies Bush tells himself about how "patriotic" it is to be at war in Iraq, THE TRUTH IS NOT WITH HIM. HE IS LYING TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AND TO HIMSELF. It's time to humble ourselves and come home. Great men have humility. Arrogant ones do not. Bush must not believe in God because he thinks he himself has to control everything; he doesn't trust God enough to let the Iraqi people fix themselves. We must "let go and let God."
James Madison wrote in Federalist Paper No. 47:
The accumulation of all powers legislative, executive and judiciary in the same hands, whether of one, a few or many...may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.
That extraordinary powers have, under Bush, been accumulated in the "same hands" is now undeniable. For the first time in more than thirty years, and to a greater extent than even then, our constitutional form of government is in jeopardy.
Power Grabhttp://www.metafilter.com/mefi/52363
Coulter Dropped by 'Augusta Chronicle' Over 'Stridency'
"But biting commentary is one thing. A personal attack is another -- such as when she slammed several 9-11 widows for backing Democrats and allegedly milking the tragedy for political purposes. That charge alone isn't necessarily unfair, but to suggest they were 'enjoying' their husbands' deaths and calling them 'witches' -- well, that's where stridency crosses a line.
The peace movement in Israel has pulled out all stops to end this mad war. Lots of groups are active, and we had a big joint demonstration last night - at least 5,000 people (though the media reported 2,500). Marching through the streets of Tel Aviv with signs, "End the War", "End the Occupation" felt like a relief after the roar of pro-war-talk on all the media.
HERE IS a short note from Hannah Safran of the Haifa vigil of Women in Black. The women were shelled during the vigil, but they returned to complete it. Later that day, under the newly formed "Women Against War", they again left their homes to protest.
" Hi gila, how are you? we are having a terrible day today. while we were demonstrating at our regular Women in Black square (30-40 people in all), we were bombed on both sides. it felt like being targeted from close. we had to abandon the vigil and look for shelter. we came back 20 min. later and completed the vigil on time. As we were traveling home, there was a second attack and we had to stop the car and look for shelter. When we came home we opened the newspaper to read letters of women from Lebanon. The devastation is horrific. Has Israel gone crazy or have we not noticed what a mad country we live in? It is 5:45 p.m. now and we had two attacks since then. I am off to our daily demonstration of Women Against War in front of the Foreign Office and all the foreign press. We will not be silenced. War must be stopped now. Every min. counts as people's lives are in danger. do all you can to stop this madness. only someone from outside can put pressure on Israel to stop. i have to hurry. be well and let's pray for better days.
love, hannah
Please continue to voice your protest throughout the world.
Gila Svirsky
www.coalitionofwomen.org
Demonstrations and Vigils held this weekend (or just before) THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.
'Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely' - Lord Acton
A REPUBLICAN senator has now confirmed that things in Iraq are worse than we were "led to believe." This implies that we were MISLED DELIBERATELY. We must bring our troops home and save their lives.
Bush is operating like an unconscious madman. Our very presence on Muslim soil is the reason there is non-stop violence and terrorism there. What on earth are we doing there? We must remove ourselves from the equation. Pride is not a virtue. Whatever Bush's reasons for being there (which obviously weren't the reasons he told us initially) it's time to come home. His lies have been uncovered, and like the alcoholic who has been beaten by the bottle — it's time to surrender to a higher power, God. Providence will move for us when we do the RIGHT THING. No matter how many lies Bush tells himself about how "patriotic" it is to be at war in Iraq, THE TRUTH IS NOT WITH HIM. HE IS LYING TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AND TO HIMSELF. It's time to humble ourselves and come home. Great men have humility. Arrogant ones do not. Bush must not believe in God because he thinks he himself has to control everything; he doesn't trust God enough to let the Iraqi people fix themselves. We must "let go and let God."
James Madison wrote in Federalist Paper No. 47:
The accumulation of all powers legislative, executive and judiciary in the same hands, whether of one, a few or many...may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.
That extraordinary powers have, under Bush, been accumulated in the "same hands" is now undeniable. For the first time in more than thirty years, and to a greater extent than even then, our constitutional form of government is in jeopardy.
Power Grabhttp://www.metafilter.com/mefi/52363
Coulter Dropped by 'Augusta Chronicle' Over 'Stridency'
"But biting commentary is one thing. A personal attack is another -- such as when she slammed several 9-11 widows for backing Democrats and allegedly milking the tragedy for political purposes. That charge alone isn't necessarily unfair, but to suggest they were 'enjoying' their husbands' deaths and calling them 'witches' -- well, that's where stridency crosses a line.
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