Baghdad’s water still undrinkable 6 years after invasion

McClatchy Newspapers, March 18, 2009
BAGHDAD — The stench of human waste is enough to tell Falah abu Hasan that his drinking water is bad. His infant daughter Fatma’s continuous illnesses and his own constant nausea confirm it.

“We are the poor. No one cares if we get sick and die,” he said. “But someone should do something about the water. It is dirty. It brings disease.”

Everybody complains about the water in Baghdad , and few are willing to risk drinking it from the tap. Six years after the U.S. invaded Iraq , 36 percent of Baghdad’s drinking water is unsafe, according to the Iraqi Environment Ministry — in a good month. In a bad month, it’s 90 percent. Cholera broke out last summer, and officials fear another outbreak this year.

“Even if the water is good today, no one would trust it,” grocer Hussein Jawad said. He said that about 40 percent of his business was selling bottled drinking water, crates of which he’s stacked 7 feet high on the sidewalk. “We’ve learned to be afraid.”

Full Story…

Ron Paul on the D.L. Hughley Show

Dr. Paul was on the D.L. Hughley show last night. I have to agree with D.L. Hughley, Ron Paul makes “too much sense to be a Republican” (or a Democrat).

Ron Paul on Iraq: We Killed A Million Of Their People!

This is now the second longest war in U.S. history after Vietnam, with a price tag around $3 Trillion and over a million lives lost in a nation turned upside down. And yet there are still those who are claiming victory and calling it a “success”. Help me out with this, where was the victory again?

With Obama’s plan to “end” the war in over a year but still leave a large portion of troops in Iraq, as usual, its Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich making the most sense in Washington.

“You cannot leave combat troops in a foreign country to conduct combat operations and call it the end of the war. You can’t be in and out at the same time,” said Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio. “We must bring a conclusion to this sorry chapter in American history.”

Ron Paul Interviewed on Russia Today

Keith Olbermann Blasts Republican Fear Mongering and 9/11 Hypocrisy

Keith Olbermann rightly blasts John McCain and his band of neocon sycophants for their hypocrisy and fear mongering at the Republican National Convention in regards to 9/11, Bin Laden, and the so-called “war on terror”:

Jesse Ventura On The Economy, A Possible Senate Run, the Media, & More 7.14.08

Jesse Ventura’s July 14th interview on Larry King:

Sounds like he’s not going to run. This is very disappointing, but I understand why he would be concerned for his family, and how that would influence his decision. Add that to the lack of support from the country for truth and good government and its a wonder anyone with integrity and a conscience gets involved in politics. However, the nation will be worse off without him in the Senate.

Here’s the first part of yesterday’s interview on the Alex Jones radio show:

Hear the rest of the interview…

Salt Lake Mayor Debates Fox News

With the exception of clips like this, more than a few minutes of the Faux News makes me ill so I never watch it. (I am opposed to torture… ) On top of the nauseating propaganda spewed by arrogant/ignorant hosts what’s up with their color scheme?

Anyway, you gotta love the honesty and courage of Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson as he is questioned by the Fox thugs about his opposition to the war and to Bush in general:

Ron Paul Speaks With Iraqi Lawmakers, Majority Want U.S. Forces Out

Iraq lawmakers want U.S. forces out as part of deal 6.4.2008, Reuters.com

“The majority of Iraqi representatives strongly reject any military-security, economic, commercial, agricultural, investment or political agreement with the United States that is not linked to clear mechanisms that obligate the occupying American military forces to fully withdraw from Iraq,” the letter to the leaders of Congress said.

Time to give them their democracy.

Unnecessary Wars: Will the U.S. Become Yesterday’s Superpower?

Here is a clip of Pat Buchanan discussing his new book Churchill, Hitler, and “The Unnecessary War”: How Britain Lost Its Empire and the West Lost the World on NBC with Lester Holt of the Today Show.

Of all the wars in the last 100+ years WWII is possibly the most justifiable from the perspective of U.S. involvement, but it should have been avoided in the first place and Buchanan has some excellent points along these lines, his book should be interesting. One thing there is no doubt about are the tragic and wasteful wars that the U.S. is involved in today. To quote Ron Paul: “All empires end” (and to paraphrase him further) …usually with massive debt and a broken down military. Sound familiar?

Wolf Blitzer, Ron Paul, John McCain and “Book Bombs”

Ron Paul appeared on CNN today with Wolf Blitzer and was asked predictably (how many times have people asked this question now?) if and when he will support McCain, why he will NOT support McCain (hmm, perhaps because RON PAUL IS STILL RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT!!! — not to mention McCain is virtually the polar opposite of what Paul is and what he stands for) and why he is still running for president. I think Wolf might have missed the “why don’t you run third party?” question this time though.

But you’ve gotta love this interview. The media still doesn’t understand why Ron Paul refuses to play the game all of the other major candidates do/did. It’s fun to watch the perplexed, confused media try to make sense of someone with a solid moral and ideological foundation who actually follows his principles.

Bloomberg Interviews Ron Paul 4.29.08

This is a good, fairly in-depth interview:

Part One

(Click “Read More” to see parts Two and Three)

John Cusack Tells It Like It Is

John Cusack has integrity and guts. He went on the Bill Maher show recently and demonstrated surprising depth in his understanding of the issues as he laid out some of the problems our country is facing today. Cusack has always been cool though, nevermind the cowardly, pretentious sycophant that Maher is, he is incidental in this clip:

Week of Truth: The Shell Game

The “Week of Truth” goal: Propel The Shell Game into the Top 10 of the New York Times Best Seller List. To achieve this URGE all your contacts to buy multiple copies of this truth telling novel – The Shell Game – between April 16 to 22nd, the focused week when the NY Times list will count those sales.

Learn more at weekoftruth.org. Also, buy the book through weekoftruth.org to help 9/11 First Responders!

This video is about The Shell Game, a new novel by NY Times best-selling author Steve Alten. Released January 22nd, the book is both entertaining and educational; blurring the line between fiction and the unfortunate political realities we face in our country and around the world today. Also check it out at theshellgame.net

Here is Steve Alten being interviewed on 6 ABC in Philadelphia:

History Repeats Itself

There are striking similarities between the economic crisis of the 70s and the current crisis. The 1970s crisis was caused by needless Vietnam war spending, an excessive trade deficit, and rising oil prices/falling dollar. Sound familiar? I wasn’t even old enough to understand what was going on back then however I do read and do know a little about history—enough to realize that history is in many ways repeating itself. Today this article came out detailing exactly what I have been noticing:

From LewRockwell.com:

“Déjà vu, All Over Again”

The credit markets were reeling and people across the globe had lost confidence in the dollar. American tourists overseas found that many places in Europe were reluctant to exchange their dollars for European currency, and the world banking community was even more in an uproar.

Furthermore, U.S. armed forces were bogged down in an unpopular war overseas, and the U.S. economy seemed to be moving into a recession. Foreigners holding dollars were nervous and wondering if they had been fooled into holding worthless paper.

I am not describing the current economic scene in the United States; instead, this is a description of the crisis of August, 1971, when the U.S. dollar collapsed as the government’s currency Ponzi game ran its course, and Americans found it was time to pay the piper. The 1970s were wracked with stagflation, slow growth, economic uncertainty, and political turmoil.

Apparently, the lessons to be learned of the dollar’s collapse in 1971 have not been learned by the current crop of “leaders” in Washington and on Wall Street, but the thing about laws of economics is that they are impervious to the wishes and commands of politicians. Contra Franklin D. Roosevelt, who insisted that economic laws had been made up by people and could be changed by fiat, one cannot command an economy into prosperity. . . (Read Full Article)

10 Years of War with Iraq

Ron Paul, member of the House Foreign Relations Committee, issued the following statement on the anniversary of the invasion of Iraq two days ago:

The occupation of Iraq began five years ago today, but few realize that the march to war began ten years ago under Bill Clinton, when regime change became official U.S. policy. In 1998, I took to the House floor in protest of the Iraqi Liberation Act to warn that, ‘I see this legislation as essentially being a declaration of virtual war. It is giving the President tremendous powers to pursue war efforts against a sovereign Nation.’ My warnings were largely dismissed at the time, but five years later, we were bombing Iraq.

After five years of occupation, today is a good time for reflection. The cost to America has been great: 4,000 soldiers are dead, 30,000 have been severely wounded, and over 100,000 have applied for disability. In addition, the war has put a tremendous strain on our economy. As we spiral toward recession and experience an assault on our dollar, we spend $12 billion per month financing our Iraqi operations. The war has cost us nearly $1 trillion dollars, or over $3,300 per American man, woman, and child.

In a recent presidential debate, I was asked whether the war was ‘worth it.’ I said, and still say, ‘absolutely not.’”