Hear Cynthia McKinneys acceptance speech excerpt in this episode. Civilianism is supporting Cynthia McKinney's run for president because she is a REAL PROGRESSIVE and Civilianism supports the Green Party and has since 2006. Republicans lie to us about security and want to make us live trapped in a state of constant fear and war. I resent this, how about you? Action item: United for Peace and Justice, NO WAR ON IRAN (click here)
Ominous signs: the Terrorist  Watch List is at one million names. Bush wants to hold "enemy combatants", even if they are Americans, for ever, and ever.
No one gets the real energy crisis. McCain wants to drill in the Gulf of Mexico, and in ANWR, as does my crazy Congresswoman, Michele Bachmann
McCain falsely claimed Katrina and Rita did not cause significant oil spills.
Elwyn Tinklenberg for Congress
Cynthia McKinney for President Chris Hedges article for the Los Angeles Times -- how FISA will cost him sources and impede his journalism.
Read Stop the New FISA Alas, it's too late! The FISA Grand Capitulation passed the House and the Senate, and Democrats voted for it in alarmingly large numbers. This is the domestic surveilliance that even ex-Attorney General John Ashcroft, while in the hospital, would not sign off on! Read the account of James Comey's heroic efforts for the Justice Department here. The current bunch of Democrats just threw it all away and voted for something even John Ashcroft could not endorse in 2004. Gates and Bush seem to be moving away from war with Iran, but the Pentagon seems to be moving forward. Which will prevail? The Democrats aren't doing much about anything, so don't ask them. Meanwhile, Obama outlines Policy of endless war. Tzipi Livni, Israel foreign minister, said it really would not be that big of a deal if Iran had a nuclear weapon. Yeah, no existential threat here. Spying programs: Total Information Awareness, The MATRIX, the National Applications Office, TIPS, and Infragard. We live in a surveillance society that is in a state of high paranoia, even as we grow ever more distant from 9/11. What's going on? Why are we so paranoid and full of fear? Oh yeah, there's an election coming up, and *someone*'s going to lose power. Infragard article by Matt Rothschild from Common Dreams/The Progressive magazine Green Party website and Cynthia McKinney's acceptance speech.

The Army wants your kids and they are portraying war as a video game. Militarism describes the insertion of the military, extreme patriotism, and constant war into American life. It permeates our culture and shapes our view of the rest of the world, and we probably barely notice it. It shapes our domestic policies too, from our feelings on the death penalty to gun control. The huge amounts of money involved in waging war and emphasizing militarism causes regular people to suffer every day. The first step in fixing this is to recognize it, and for some people, it's to stop militarism in its tracks at the source: recruiting people to fight in these wars. Young people are being manipulated by marketing teams and propaganda experts to join wars they would never want to be a part of if they were more informed. Helping to fight this: a growing group of people connected online and in their communities. One community is trying to stop the militarism of summer festivals such as air shows in Duluth Minnesota. This episode features an interview with Michele Naar-Obed of Catholic Workers and the Christian Peace Teams. This episode can be directly downloaded (click here) or you can subscribe on the right. The groups in Duluth need your help in counteracting the military recruitment at their air show. The air show occurs on July 19th through July 20th and will involved an exhibit titled THE VIRTUAL ARMY EXPERIENCE". This exhibit teaches young people to think of killing people as part of a video game. This exhibit is travling around the United States and trying to make an appearance at family events where children are allowed, in order to get them interested in military as young as possible. Naar Obed wrote: "The Duluth air show started out as a celebration of aviation. Over the years it has become more and more militarized and has been used as a military recruitment event. We are not denouncing aviation. We are denouncing the militarization of it. Militarization has become ubiquitous in our culture. It's influence is everywhere. The military purposefully targets our youth. They have done studies on the best age group to target for recruitment and have found that it's best to start with 12 year olds. The "virtual army experience" exhibit is open to 13 year olds and above. A child as young as 13 will be invited to sit on a humvee and shoot at life sized human images on a computer screen with machine guns. They are preparing our youth to kill. This is insane." World and U.S. military spending is out of control, read about it here. All Links and contact information are at Civilianism.com. Please contact people on that list to try to stop this Virtual Army Experience and the recruiting booth from appearing at this air show, and other air shows around the country. Catholic Workers run homes that are about acts of mercy and are pro-peace, and their ideas cause them to look at the injustices that are occurring and the bigger contexts of war. Why are people poor? Why is affordable housing so hard to get, why is the economy breaking down? The answers have to do with the military industrial complex, and the rich getting richer, while the poor do the fighting in the wars.

Do you consider yourself patriotic? Yes or no, you will want to listen to this. Protesting is one of the most patriotic things you can do, especially considering the way Congress is giving away our rights on a weekly basis, all to buy a little so-called safety. That's the excuse for the wars we are in too, but it's a false sense of safety. These military exercises just drag on and on. It's time to end these optional for-profit wars, and bring the soldiers home. Check out U.S. House Res. 362 -- Sanctions on Iran, is being fast-tracked and these are severe sanctions, including a possible blockade. A blockade is especially serious since it is considered an Act of War. This won't win us any help at the negotiating table when we finally sit down with Iran after Bush is done damaging the process as much as possible. House Resolution 362 is really a scary thing to consider. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will hold a hearing on "Meeting the Iranian Challenge" on Tuesday, July 8, 2008. The Honorable William J. Burns is the only witness announced so far. It has been endorsed by 146 cosponsors and has momentum with reportedly 43 cosponsors jumping on the last two days. Gareth Porter says that US House Res. 362 suggests the use of force with new bill. See his video explaining this at the link above. The following groups will be involved in the March on the RNC in September: United for Peace and Justice ANSWER Troops out Now Coalition September 2nd: Poor People's economic Human Rights campaign Big Concert on the 2nd being planned, so far for the state capitol: Anti-Flag and Michael Franti Protest RNC 2008.org -- A clearinghouse for every protest group going to the March on the RNC, the site is good for info. on what will be happening all four days. If you want to get the real inside info on the March for the RNC, listen to my Interview about the big anti-war march scheduled in St. Paul September 1st, 2008, at the Republican National Convention with Katrina P. from MarchonRNC.org

Gutting the 4th Amendment? The Congress is seemingly paid off to sell our 4th Amendment rights. Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer lead the charge with the most money received to them directly from the telecoms and they are the most enthusiastic in fighting for them. The Senate then voted for cloture and the FISA vote may now be delayed to July. The true heroes of this saga: Chris Dodd and Russ Feingold. Where is Obama on our 4th amendment rights? Nowhere to be seen. Instead, he released a statement that said he supports the compromise. Supreme Court Exxon decision here. The Physician's for Human Rights report called Broken Laws, Broken Lives can be found here. Major General Antonio Taguba, USA, Preface to Broken Laws, Broken Lives JUSTICE is on the table -- via Lawrence Velvel: Law School to Plan Bush War Crimes Prosecution

"A conference to plan the prosecution of President Bush and other high administration officials for war crimes will be held September 13-14 at the Massachusetts School of Law at Andover . "This is not intended to be a mere discussion of violations of law that have occurred," said convener Lawrence Velvel, dean and cofounder of the school. "It is, rather, intended to be a planning conference at which plans will be laid and necessary organizational structures set up, to pursue the guilty as long as necessary and, if need be, to the ends of the Earth."

John McCain gave an energy speech that belies his own habits! The cars he drives are not energy efficient at all. How about 13 mpg? FISA compromise bill is here. (Download pdf)

The Politico (linked above) has provided the full text of the compromise bill (114 page PDF file) and points to section 201, listed as, "Procedures for implementing statutory defenses under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978." That is where it explains the portion that has caused the most conflict, which is immunity for the telecommunications industry.

Cloture vote against furthering debate on FISA compromise: List of votes in the Senate Obama's support for the FISA "compromise" How are telecoms are attempting to buy amnesty from Congress? Read about it here. George Carlin has died and he was much more than just a comedian. He was a liberal warrior. At the end of this episode I play Glenn Greenwald and a bit of George Carlin. Call your Senators!

Blackwater is back in the news, winning a lawsuit to set up a war zone near San Diego. The Courage Center sponsored a conference call with author Jeremy Scahill and I got to ask him a question about Blackwater. Habeas Corpus has been restored to the country and John McCain called it with the worst decision the Supreme court has made in his aged memory, which apparently isn't too good, because the worst decision the Supreme Court ever made by far was when they installed King George as our president. Here's a funny Gordon Brown and Bush story The recent Supreme Court decision on Habeas Corpus restored prisoners rights and even though John McCain was once a prisoner (we think) he doesn't want them to have their day in court or even know what the charges against them are. What a hypocrite! Worse, the way we have treated prisoners at GITMO has created more terrorists out of regular people that happened to end up in our "enemy combatant" system. For more reading, here is the McClatchy story: Guantanamo prisoners More on how torture came "from the top" here. Oh yes, there are hearings going on about this. Bush won't be able to squirm his way out of responsibility for prisoner abuse forever. But the big question is: Why is the right-wing mindset so violent and arrogant? The newest breed of Republican is unapologetic, like ultra-violent children on steroids, throwing tantrums that kill. To them, the means always justifies the end, even when the end is elusive, repulsive, deadly, or even impossible, like victory in iraq. This arrogance and callousness is pervasive in the new right-wingers, from their talk show hosts (like Michael Reagan) all the way on up to their top politicians, as they plot more wars that will kill even more people. They also trash the environment and it's justified by calling it energy independence. Their unapologetic mind-set even extends to the state department, which can't even celebrate the recent peace agreement in Gaza. Yes, the Bush administration is already trying to ruin the Egypt Hamas-Israel ceasefire. To add to the fun, Bush's last lame duck trip to Europe culminated in an astonishing interview with Sky News. I play a good portion of it in this episode, but you must see it to fully appreciate its arrogant and dream-like quality. From Sky News, link to video is here.

The state of American corporate media is in bad shape. The state of independent media is good and getting better! I attended the National Conference on Media Reform last weekend and tell you about it in this podcast. It was fantastic, and I'm so grateful I got to go. You can read more about it here, and you can find my photos here and a link to more in a blog entry below this, and find all the audio and video you want at Freepress.net/tune-in I play two of the speeches and panel talks I heard, in this podcast, and will be playing more in the next one. Media reform is essential to our democracy as more and more of our media is being bought out by corporations that are interested in only one thing: profits. Fortunately, we can all be a part of the media. Podcasting, blogging, making videos, writing stories, communicating information in all ways that is shared IS media. Be your own media, share what you know and get active in the media reform movement. People from all around the country, regular people and media professionals, shared their stories and methods for creating media and supporting independent media at this conference. Independent media is the future because corporate media has lost its integrity. I also cover some news: Iraq, Afghanistan, the treaty Bush is trying to force on the Iraqis that they don't want that would take away their autonomy, and what is happening to an LA news magazine. Also, a man handing out RNC protest information in the form of a piece of paper was arrested on June 5th outside the very convention hall where Republicans will meet to plot in September!

It looks like the Democrats finally have their nominee. Obama unofficially gets the nomination for the Democrats; Hillary and Obama give gracious, inspiring speeches after the last primaries finally end, and both of them would be better than McCain so let's get them to run together. Seriously. Then the plan is: Get progressives to fill Congress. The day of Republican rule is over. Now that he has the clout, Obama should fix what the Rules and Bylaws Committee did on 5/31 -- they took votes from one person and gave them, arbitrarily, to another person. It was a backroom deal, away from the public and the cameras. No matter what you think of either candidate, this was wrong, and probably illegal. You can read the details I have gotten from another writer who know the rules better than I do here. On Monday, McCain gave a frightening, misinformed and misleading AIPAC speech. Obama and Hillary are sure to give similar pro-Israel speeches on Wednesday but they will probably lack the highly paranoid tone of McCain's speech. Paranoia combined with a war-glorifying tendency is much worse than just plain old tough talk. The Lieberman-Warner climate change bill is being debated this week in the Senate with a vote next week. Call your Congressman! Dumb Army scientist story here. Iran gets a new speaker for its parliament. Supposedly, he's a moderating force. The Ayatollah calls Bush a few choice words. There is little love lost between us and Iran at the moment, thanks to the Bush administration. Next up, a possible report from the Media Reform Conference. Don't expect much! When I get back there will be more to it, but I may attempt something low-quality while I am there this weekend. Blackwater gets a new fighter jet from Brazil and gives it to its new subsidiary, EP Aviation. Along with its new armed helicopters, Blackwater seems to be building its own private Air Force, -- I wonder why?

Politics, waste and fraud are related topics in the U.S. but one of them isn't getting enough media attention. Meanwhile, our media has a problem fairly covering Hillary Clinton, and I play opinions from AAR of how someone else believes that also. What are Hillary's plans, and will it all be over after this weekend, and will all the votes be counted? (It looks like they will not be, which was announced after this was recorded.) Here is information on the movie In the Valley of Elah (trailor) and Democracy Now's Winter Soldier episode. What does the future Bush administration have in store for us this summer? It could be an attack on Iraq, or it could be random incarceration of anyone it chooses under Directive 51. NSPD-51 and the Potential for a Coup d'état during a National Emergency. Also discussed: Top Iraq Contractor Skirts US Taxes Offshore Iraq Spending has ignored the rules, according to the Pentagon itself. Byron Dorgan and the Senate appropriations committee on waste, fraud and abuse has found that billions of American taxpayer dollars have supposedly gone to fund war and reconstruction, but are now missing. There is little accountability in Iraq and contractors are war profiteers of the most irresponsible kind. Pictured above is President Bush at the Air Force Academy, his last speech as commander and chief to Air Force graduates, May 28, 2008. His speech declared that they could fight terrorism by sitting in a cubicle in the U.S. and pushing a button so that a drone thousands of miles away could bomb a "terrorist hideout". I'm sure that's exactly what the Air Force graduates were hoping did not happen to their careers. You can find the original photo and others here. The video is interesting too. This episode also discusses what happens if Karl Rove ignores his latest subpoena, and how Congressman Wexler is still pursuing the impeachment of George Bush. Byron Dorgan, U.S. Senator from North Dakota, from the U.S. Senate talking about waste fraud and abuse by the U.S. contractors in Iraq is played also.

The main portion of this episode is a radio interview with Australian climate specialist Philip Sutton on climate change and the future. Sutton is the co-author of Climate Code Red and he tells us what we should expect in the next few years and beyond, and why it's a cause for action, not despair. The Senate did it again. Who voted for more war? Hillary Clinton voted NO on the $165 billion for more war and occupation. McCain didn't even show up. Obama was there but didn't vote. Nice showing for the two "presumptives". I hope that's not an indication of how hard they would "work" as president. See a list of the other senators who voted to continue the war here: Who voted to continue the war. If you are interested in the Synthesis/Regeneration magazine I mentioned, I found the website for it here. Oil Change International: Who does Big Oil donate to the most? Find out here. The Obama direct mail piece about Kentucky Coal that campaigned in the state of Kentucky for him can be found here on Grist.org.

" . . . . Meanwhile, Obama may believe in clean Kentucky coal, (that doesn't exist) but many residents of the state are more familiar with the dirty kind. According to activists on the ground, strip-mining "is turning Eastern Kentucky into a despicable latrine." Hundreds of mountains have been leveled, leaving poverty and unemployment in their wake. The number of jobs created in Kentucky by coal has dropped by 60 percent in the last 15 years."

Not good. Download "The Future Part 2" here or subscribe on the right. Thanks again to everyone who has donated and is sending me to the Media Reform Conference! Climate Code Red: The Campaign for a sustainability emergency

"Climate policy is characterised by the habituation of low expectations and a culture of failure. There is an urgent need to understand global warming and the tipping points for dangerous impacts that we have already crossed as a sustainability emergency, that takes us beyond the politics of failure-inducing compromise. We are now in a race between climate tipping points and political tipping points."

Download the report CLIMATE CODE RED here.

We know a few things about our future. A new president in 2009, ending the Iraq war, and restoring our rights. And the biggest challenge of all, a new way of dealing with energy so that we can stop climate change in its tracks. Sacrifices and concessions to nature are in our future so that we won't succumb to climate change and so that we save numerous animals from extinction. The goal is survival of everyone, not just the rich, as the Cheney-Bush administration have set as their goal. Scott Ritter and the Jerusalem Post think that Bush will drop bombs on Iran before he leaves office. That would unleash a disaster as we have never seen before, so we need to try to stop this from happening. Then while this podcast was uploading, the Senate passed more war funding; this time $165 billion. Don't they have any willpower at all? Also discussed: Big Oil testifies before Congress and offer excuses for their ginormous profits. The Democrats try again on the farm bill and funding the war, should the candidates run together on one ticket, and then Hillary and I, separately, discuss sexism in this campaign. NPR talks to James Hansen and he lays out how we need to get up to speed on this climate change problem as soon as possible. Do you know how much fuel war is using and how much pollution these wars are causing? The information is right here in A Climate of War http://priceofoil.org/climateofwar/ James Hansen's document on C02 goals, click here. (PDF) For the extensive report on climate change, Climate Code Red is here. From the site:

"We are facing rapid warming impacts: the danger is immediate, not just in the future *Serious climate-change impacts are already happening, both more rapidly and at lower global temperature increases than projected (22-23). As the USA's most eminent climate scientist, James Hansen, told 15,000 of his colleagues at a conference in December 2007, significant "climate tipping" points have already been passed (8) (note 1 below). These include large ice sheet disintegration, significant sea level rises of up to 5 metres this century (9-10) and devastating species loss (17). The Arctic will soon be free of summer sea-ice (2-4) and the Greenland ice sheet is in imminent danger"

Think it is possible to keep your anti-war idealism and back a non-anti-war candidate? Maybe, maybe not (see below). Making concessions for politics is what most people end up doing but it doesn't necessarily mean you lose your principles. We need to be goal-oriented and defeat McCain, and in this podcast I make a case for it. I think even Republicans might agree, McCain isn't really what they want either. The most important thing is to keep Republicans far away from the White House and if that happens, real change will happen. After admitting he approved torture, Bush has made us less safe. The torture may continue, the uncharged prisoners in Guantanamo Bay may continue to be held, but in the meantime, the ACLU has obtained important documents through the FOIA. This is from the ACLU:

"NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union has obtained previously withheld documents from the Defense Department, including internal investigations into the abuse of detainees in U.S. custody overseas. Uncensored documents released as a result of the ACLU's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit shed light on the deaths of detainees in Iraq and internal disagreement within the military over harsh interrogation practices used at Guantanamo Bay."

False Pretenses: Following 9/11, President Bush and seven top officials of his administration waged a carefully orchestrated campaign of misinformation about the threat posed by Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Doug Feith, Architect of the Iraq War, and head of the Office of Special Plans, appeared on the Daily Show, and hear some of his cut interview. Environmental news: The Guardian reports that we have reached levels of 367 ppm C02 in the atmosphere. This is not good news. The levels are rising to dangerous levels while our "leadership" doesn't do nearly enough. *MEDIA REFORM CONFERENCE info here*. Phillipe Sands -- the Green Light TORTURE: Prisoner 063 and the Keith Olbermann Special Comment of May 13. This podcast also contains a large part of the last Keith Olbermann Special Comment on Bush. It's a scorcher! You can Download Podcast #53 here. U.S. is continuing to bomb homes Sadr City: Hospital was accidently bombed as neighborhood house was bombed, no 'terrorists' inside.

So many Republican policies are just illogical. The U.S. economy is in trouble, and jobs are in trouble. We need to take away the health care burden from companies that are trying to employ people and put it on the government where it belongs. And speaking of the economy; people might not understand NAFTA, but they understand job losses, and there were a lot of them in February -- 63,000. Hundreds of thousands of "marginal" workers have also given up the search for jobs and are now paying their bills with their credit cards. What happens when they can't make the payments? Republican economic politics hurt the American worker and they just don't make any sense. This is why we need to get Republicans out of office and convince our Republican friends to stop voting against their own best interests. Soon gas will be so expensive we will all have to ride bikes everywhere we go, or not go anywhere. Another bad byproduct of the Iraq occupation, our meddling in the Middle East and the weak dollar. The peace process between Gaza and Israel needs to be brokered by the U.S. more fairly and evenly. So far, the situation is not being helped with our bias towards Israel all the time. And this will come as no big surprise; from DemocracyNow.org

Obama and Clinton Express Support for Israels Actions in Gaza -- On the campaign trail, both Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have voiced support for Israel following its attack on Gaza. Obama said, The violence in Gaza is the result of Hamas's decision to launch rocket attacks on Israeli civilians, and Israel has a right to defend itself.” Clinton issued a similar statement, saying, I deplore and condemn the Hamas rocket attacks on southern Israel, including the city of Ashkelon. Israel has the right to defend its citizens.

Former Sen. Bob Kerrey will appear on an upcoming airing of CLOUT (Air America Radio) to go public with his announcement calling for a Permanent 9/11 committee. Here is the video of AAR host Richard Greene's announcement Big Coal's Futuregen was killed off by our very own government, and last week was the end of the loans program for coal plants, which has been suspended now probably forever. Good for the environment -- bad for jobs! Loans Program for Coal Suspended Here is Bush's environmental speech where he does not talk about coal, but rather wind and solar power. Here is Bush's veto of the veto to end separate, secret CIA "enhanced interrogation" techniques. Message to the House of Representatives I am returning herewith without my approval H.R. 2082, the "Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008." Samantha Power, humanitarian, author and former Obama aide, called Senator Clinton a "monster" and was forced to resign by the Obama campaign last week. I have some excerpts from her remarkable BBC interview, and her Telegraph interview is here. Our U.S. embassy in Iraq is now going to cost us $700 million? What are they thinking? Thanks to Theo for his voicemail on what happened in Florida before their primary. Will Michigan and Florida redo their primaries and who will pay for it? Big thanks to Bill B. and Samantha N. for their reports on the Texas caucuses from last week. If you live in Pennsylvania, give me a call and tell me who you like for a candidate this year! VOICEMAIL NUMBER/comment line: 320-300-4273

A discussion with Texans on their upcoming primary and caucus, the two remaining Democratic candidates, and politics. Also, a brief explanation on my viewpoint of Clinton's war resolution vote of 2002. You can find her speech explaining the vote here, or better yet, you can listen to me reading it with my analysis. In part, it states: "A vote for it is not a vote to rush to war; it is a vote that puts awesome responsibility in the hands of our President and we say to him - use these powers wisely and as a last resort." At nearly the same time, Barack Obama was giving a speech that started out: "Let me begin by saying that although this has been billed as an anti-war rally, I stand before you as someone who is not opposed to war in all circumstances. The Civil War was one of the bloodiest in history, and yet it was only through the crucible of the sword, the sacrifice of multitudes, that we could begin to perfect this union, and drive the scourge of slavery from our soil. I don't oppose all wars."

Cynthia McKinney, candidate for president, has her preliminary Presidential website here. She is running for president as a member of the Green party. Thanks to: Kel for the comedy clip on Fox News, Chris the Carpenter from the Lifted Lorax podcast, Bill the blogger (and former podcaster) of The Filth and the Fury, and Rami "Bloc" from Quebec. Also a shout out to GOP Exposed and an empathetic hug to the millions of Americans who manage to enjoy a penis-free life. Could it be . . . you don't need one to be President? Mainly this was to be a Skype conference call test podcast and I got distracted by dreaming of my fantasy president, inspired by an email I received, and things going on with the candidates, Israel and Gaza. Here's that website -- IMEMC -- that's a good source of Gaza/Israel news. Gaza continues to suffer, and though occasional rockets hit inside Israel, most harming no one, Palestinians in Gaza continue to suffer and are killed on a daily basis.

Not to disagree with mainstream America just for fun, but I really don't like Kool Aid all that much. It's so full of empty calories. In this episode I discuss the Iraq surge, the bombing campaign in Iraq, how people seem to keep forgetting we're at war and how Americans seem to be in waiting mode. We really can't afford to wait for a new president to start impeachment and other important work. Meanwhile, we're bombing Iraq into oblivion. Why don't we stop doing that? See this website for more on our bombing campaign in Iraq. And whaddaya know: Iran is complying with the IAEA, says the new Feb. 22 report. See more on that here. Rolling Stone article: The Myth of the Surge Tina Fey from SNL comes out for Hillary. Bitch is the new Black! Obama's religious propaganda on Glenn Greenwald's blog can be seen here. March for Peace on Labor Day in St. Paul! More information here. Thanks to AJ for his Eco Moment on the Mars Ice Caps. You can subscribe to the podcast, or download this episode directly here. The next episode will contain portions of my first recorded Skype conference call talking about politics and more!