Screaming for Freedom

America is Screaming.

No, you can't hear it out loud - not yet. It's a low rumble, just below the audible range - but you can see the signs of it.

I can hear it when Pete Hoekstra - the Republican House member who recently joined Rick Sanitorium to proclaim that there really were WMD's in Iraq, honest [Except that there aren't any, no matter what Sean Hannity says] - has just written a sharply worded letter to the President proclaiming that he may have broken the law by failing to inform Congress of various intelligence activities that go beyond the NSA Warrantless Wire-Tapping, Phone/Email Data Mining and Bank Data programs.

I can hear it in Joe Leiberman's voice, and see it in his eyes as he begins to stare at the end of his Senatorial career in the face.

We can see and hear it in among the 24 dead civilians in Haditha, and in the burned bodies of the Raped 15-year old Iraqi Girl and her family, all murdered by our troops.

We can see it in the now dead-stares of Soldiers Menchaka and Tucker, as well as the other 2,500 of our fallen in Iraq.

Meanwhile, the Bush Administation has shut-down the CIA Unit that had been dedicated to tracking down Osama Bin Laden for the past eleven years.

I hear it in Nora O'Donnell's snide tone as she interrogates Cindy Sheehan, while accusing her of risking her life by going on a hunger strike - "for the publicity".

I hear it as an undertone cutting through the din of Noron and her cohorts Joe Scumborough, Fuckerhead Carlson and Rita Missing-Blonde-Chaser Cosby as they cluck and chuckle over Ned Lamont and North Korea, desperate to keep everyones attention diverted.

Wingnut Radio Host Janet Parshall goes "La la la" with her fingers in her ears while Randi Rhodes speaks on Washington Journal!

But it continues to screech.

We can hear it loudly when the Supreme Court bitch-slaps the President over Geneva with the Hamdan decision.

It gets a bit louder as the NH Phone Jammer says the White House made him do it.

It grows greater as the Pentagon brass narrowly pull Bush and Cheney back from the brink of having Iran Nuked.

It makes us look up briefly as Vice President Dick Cheney has a "beer at lunch" before hunting, shoots some dude in the FACE, then goes out for dinner and drinks, and doesn't have to speak to police until the next day.

It's begins to turn into a low whine as Robert F Kennedy Jr. after releasing his explosive report on Ohio, announces that he plans to file suits against two Electronic Voting Companies.

Ken Lay dies, and Bush tries to cover his ears while claiming Lay was a "good guy". (But obviously, not all that good to his thousands of pension-less ex-employees or the taxpayers in the State of California)

Senator Clinton and Kerry can hear it as they pledge to toss Leiberman under the bus if he loses the Primary to Lamont.

Ten months after Katrina's land fall the Gulf Coast is still a fucking mess, just like Baghdad - and the whine is turning into a squeal.

We try to shout over it as we argue about Illegal Immigration as if it were the most important National Security Issue - even though all the 9-11 Hijackers entered the country legally - and in the background long dormant and well hidden Hate Groups grow emboldened and begin to infiltrate our Military in preparation for the "Coming Race War".

Democrats begin to hear it and respond, arguing for a review of the President's ever expanding War Powers.

It practically roars whenever Bill O'Lielly opens his piehole about Honor and the Troops

People start to wince from the sound, as allegations of vote fraud spread in relation the Bilbray/Busbay Election in San Diego to replace disgraced and convicted Congressman "Duke" Cunningham as calls begin for a full hand recount.

The rhetoric ratchets up a notch as Ann Coulter accuses the Jersey Girls on being media exploiting harpies. (Sorry - no link for the incredibly Adam Appled One)

And we all start to cover our ears and turn away. The sound is too loud, too painful. It tears through us like a hot white sword of fire. Searing. Merciless.

It's more than many of us can bear, we turn up the volume on the rest of our lives. The TV with it's breathless bimbos (of both sexes) on Elimidate get louder. We obsess over Tom Kat, the freakiness of Scientology, it's mystical hold on Katie Holmes and the oddly missing baby Suri.

What's Starr Jones going to do for grocery money and tummy-tuck touch-up surgery costs now?

Is Britany starting to date her Manny while K-Fed plays X-Box 360 in the basement?

Just when the hell is Jack on 24 going to finally die, or go to jail for all the underhanded shit he's been pulling for the last four years?

Are they gonna bring that really hot latina chick back to life on Lost (Once she gets out of Jail in real life)?

What Hollywood Starlet is going to join the Bump-Party and get pregnant next?

We get into petty territorial pissing contests over irrelevant Bullshit!

We do everything we can to try to avoid it --- but it's no use.

America is Screaming for us to pay attention. It's screaming for us To Stand Up and Do Something. To Speak out. Write LTE's. Organize. Raise money and knock on doors for worthy candidates. RUN FOR OFFICE. Seek the truth and share it. Read. Write. Blog. Talk. Shout it from the Windows like Howard Beale in Network if neccesary. Get your friends involved, your coworkers, your family - don't let them sit there in ignorance and complacency. We need them. Document the moment and share a vision of how things can and should be far better. For Democrats. For Republicans.

For all of us.

Can you hear it yet? If you do - ACT. Respond. Before you and the rest of us completely lose our ability to hear anything at all. Before we finally reach the tipping point of no return - where our First Amendment, Fourth Amendment, Fifth Amendment and Eight Amendment Rights - all of which have been under direct attack by the Bush Administration and their lackey's in Congress - are nothing but a long forgotten memory.

America is screaming for freedom, and time is running out.

Vyan

Crossposed on Democratic Underground and Dailykos.

Military Recruiting Neo-Nazis

From The New York Times.

A decade after the Pentagon declared a zero-tolerance policy for racist hate groups, recruiting shortfalls caused by the war in Iraq have allowed "large numbers of neo-Nazis and skinhead extremists" to infiltrate the military, according to a watchdog organization.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks racist and right-wing militia groups, estimated that the numbers could run into the thousands, citing interviews with Defense Department investigators and reports and postings on racist Web sites and magazines.

"We've got Aryan Nations graffiti in Baghdad," the group quoted a Defense Department investigator as saying in a report to be posted today on its Web site, www.splcenter.org. "That's a problem."

No Shit, that's a problem. This is a catastrophy, just waiting to explode on us all. We haven't had a report this ominous since the 1995 murders near Ft. Bragg by reported Skinheads in the Army.

Two Fort Bragg soldiers described as skinheads by Army acquaintances were arrested today and charged with murdering two people in what police called a racially motivated attack.

The suspects, Malcolm Wright Jr., 20, and James N. Burmeister, 21, both with the 82d Airborne Division, were each charged with two counts of first-degree murder, said Lieut. Tom Bergamine of the Fayetteville police. Both suspects are white; the victims, a man and a woman, were black.

The police described the killings as random and said the victims had been shot in the head with a semiautomatic handgun. The victims were found in downtown Fayetteville just after midnight Wednesday. They were identified as Michael James, 36, and Jackie Burden, 27.

What do you think is going to happen when this brand new breed of Skinheads, with military training return home to the U.S. after several years in Iraq and the kind of free reign to do as they will we've seen in killing of 24 civilians in Haditha and the Rape and Murder of a 15-year old Iraq Girl and her family? Stir some bad shit up - that's what.

Back to NYT.

The report said that neo-Nazi groups like the National Alliance, whose founder, William Pierce, wrote "The Turner Diaries," the novel that was the inspiration and blueprint for Timothy J. McVeigh's bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building, sought to enroll followers in the Army to get training for a race war.

Holy. Fucking. Shit. Not the Turner Diaries Boys again. You wanna talk about real home grown terrorist, you can forget about those pathetic kids from Liberty City, this is the real deal. You're talking Eric Rudolph (The Atlanta-Olympic Bomber) with training in munitions and counter insurgency.

"They're communicating with each other about weapons, about recruiting, about keeping their identities secret, about organizing within the military," he said. "Several of these individuals have since been deployed to combat missions in Iraq."

The report cited accounts by neo-Nazis of their infiltration of the military, including a discussion on the white supremacist Web site Stormfront. "There are others among you in the forces," one participant wrote. "You are never alone."

"Light infantry is your branch of choice because the coming race war and the ethnic cleansing to follow will be very much an infantryman's war," he wrote. "It will be house-to-house, neighborhood-by-neighborhood until your town or city is cleared and the alien races are driven into the countryside where they can be hunted down and 'cleansed.' "

He concluded: "As a professional soldier, my goal is to fill the ranks of the United States Army with skinheads. As street brawlers, you will be useless in the coming race war. As trained infantrymen, you will join the ranks of the Aryan warrior brotherhood."

It was cute when David McSwane pulled a Sting on Army recruiters by pretending to be a high-school dropout with a marijuana problem and filming the recruiters as they helped him fake a Diploma and pass the drug tests -- but this shit isn't funny anymore.

This puts all of us at risk for the long haul if these nutty fuckers actually try to implement the race war that McVeigh was trying to start. And considering the level of Racist Rhetoric coming from the Reich-wing of the Repulican Party these days -- it's not hard to figure out how this stories going to play out.

Vyan

Graham wants to override SCOTUS

From Thinkprogress:

In an interview with the National Review, Sen. Lindsey Graham strongly objected to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld that the Geneva Conventions applied to enemy combatants. Graham suggested that Congress should reverse the Supreme Court’s interpretation:

We’ve got to put a fence around this decision by the Court to grant Common Article Three of the Geneva Convention rights to terrorists. In 2002, Bush said that enemy combatant terrorists will be treated humanely within the spirit of the Convention but not given Convention status. I think he was right. You don’t want to erode the Convention.

What Graham is suggesting is unconstitutional. The Supreme Court has the final say on how treaties should be interpreted. The Court explained in another case, Sanchez-Llamas v. Oregon, issued the same day has Hamdan:

Under our Constitution, “[t]he judicial Power of theUnited States” is “vested in one supreme Court, and insuch inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.” Art. III, §1. That “judicialPower . . . extend[s] to . . . Treaties.” Id., §2. And, as Chief Justice Marshall famously explained, that judicial power includes the duty “to say what the law is.” Marbury v. Madison, 1 Cranch 137, 177 (1803). If treaties are to be given effect as federal law under our legal system, determining their meaning as a matter of federal law “is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department,” headed by the “one supreme Court” established by the Constitution.

It’s difficult for Graham and other loyal supporters of the Bush administration to accept that their legal approach to combating terrorism is dysfunctional. The Hamdan decision spelled this out. And it’s not a problem they can rubber stamp their way out of.

Graham, the reserve JAG Officer, has made it his own mission to undermine Geneva and the SCOTUS. His amendment to the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005, which obstensibly banned torture, inhumane and degrading treatment of detainees and prisoners of war - also banned the courts from accept petitions from those who may have received that treatment, making the law literaly unenforceable.

The argument about whether detainees are covered by Geneva has been settled by the court. In fact, Geneva in plain english makes it clear that default position is that Geneva applies to anyone captured on the field of battle under Article 5.

Should any doubt arise as to whether persons, having committed a belligerent act and having fallen into the hands of the enemy, belong to any of the categories enumerated in Article 4, such persons shall enjoy the protection of the present Convention until such time as their status has been determined by a competent tribunal.

By definition, detainees are covered by Geneva. The only way to change this is either to change Geneva, or for the U.S. to officially break the treaty. Under both the UCMJ and 18 USC § 2441 the U.S. is bound legally to abide by Geneva, but even if both these laws where changed there would still be Article VI of the Constitution which states:

This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.

Geneva is a treaty signed under the Authority of the United States and as such - is the Supreme Law of the Land. This push to scuttle Geneva through various means has even been fought by those within the Military:

WASHINGTON — For four years, they waged what may have been the loneliest fight in the war on terrorism. Facing Bush administration hard-liners intent on finding novel ways to deal with enemy combatants, the armed services' own lawyers fought attempts to rewrite the rules of war.

"We argued that this would come back to haunt us and it would taint the military justice system," said retired Rear Adm. Donald Guter, the Navy's top uniformed lawyer when "military commission" trials for Guantanamo Bay detainees were first proposed in 2001. "We were warning that you would have to be careful to provide basic protections."

In meeting rooms and internal debates, the military lawyers again and again challenged the Defense Department's civilian leaders, insisting that the fight against terrorism was best waged under the recognized rules: the Geneva Convention and the U.S. Uniform Code of Military Justice.

Until now, administration hawks, led by Vice President Dick Cheney and his chief of staff, David S. Addington, had won almost every argument. This fight, they said, required more flexible guidelines, with fewer rights for those captured and fewer limits on their captors.

But after Thursday's Supreme Court decision, the Pentagon faces the prospect not only of ditching the military commissions, but of rewriting large parts of the rule book it created for fighting the war on terrorism. The court's majority decision held that the war on Al Qaeda and others must be fought under international rules.

Now we have those in Congress like Graham who want to keep the status quo in place, regardless of what the Supreme Court says. Gee, that's a special kind of treason isn't it? But the truth is this has nothing to do with Al Qaeda, this has to do with restoring the sweeping powers of the Presidency - powers we haven't seen in action since, Nixon.

Senior administration officials told Guter and the other JAGs that the urgency to extract intelligence meant the traditional military justice system could not be used. But there was, Guter detected, more to the administration's maneuvering.

"There was another motive," he said. "This was seen as an opportunity, a vehicle to restore presidential power and authority. It was a very convenient vehicle. It was perfect. Fear tends to drive power to authority and to the executive branch."

All the Supreme Court did was reaffirm what is already the law. Even though President Bush has attempted to subvert that law.

On Feb. 2, 2002, President Bush signed an order that said the Geneva Convention did not apply to the war on terrorism. Though prisoners held in that war, the order said, would be treated humanely, they were not subject to the Geneva Convention measure known as Common Article 3, a baseline provision that had been applied to all conflicts and all detainees in recent military history.

This means that all acts that violated Geneva which were taken by lower levels officers, even Abu Ghraib, were essentially authorized by the President when he rejected the application of Geneva in the War on Terror. This happened on his watch.

Although the SCOTUS has put forth a clear decision, where not even the dissenters argued that Geneva doesn't apply, Graham and other are hell bent on protecting the President from the consequences of his own actions and intent to continue to twist and contort reality and the law until they reach their ends.

This can not be allowed to happen, Graham's attempt to shift power from the Supreme Court to the Presidency must. be. stopped.

Vyan

Playing the Independance Day Song

From Blogbox on DU:

Joseph Cannon at Cannonfire urges us to "hear the tune, not the notes":

The opening four notes of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony gain power only when played together. Similarly, these six headlines gain power when viewed as a group:

Al-Zarqawi's wife: Al-Qaida sold him out: "The woman...said al-Qaida's top leadership reached a deal with U.S. intelligence because al-Zarqawi had become too powerful."

C.I.A. Closes Unit Focused on Capture of bin Laden: "The unit, known as Alec Station, was disbanded late last year and its analysts reassigned within the C.I.A. Counterterrorist Center..."

CIA: Osama Helped Bush in '04 Acting CIA Director John McLaughlin concluded that Bin Laden released a video just before the 2004 election with the intention of scuttling John Kerry's chances of winning.

NYT: Bank program not news to terrorists

Olbermann named Melanie Morgan "Worst Person" for suggesting NY Times' Keller might deserve "gas chamber" Conservatives scream for the blood of an editor who "revealed" something Al Qaida already knew.

Feinstein says she was not briefed on the Bank Program

Play the notes in sequence. Can you hear the tune? Bush does not consider Osama Bin Laden the enemy. We are the enemy.

How's that for fireworks?

Vyan

Rockstar: Supernova - First Elimination

Ok, it's only the second night and the bullcrap has already gotten thick.

First of all the fact the neither Zarya nor Jenny wound up in the bottom three based on their performances on the first show is ridiculous. I guess their cute tight toned little asses are safe for a while at least. (Having now watched the Reality Portion of the first week on MSN.com, I can see that Zarya's vocal limitations are going to be a major factor very soon anyway. Her in the studio is some truly embarrasing footage, even worse than "Stop Go" - trust me).

Ugh, Dilana doing the Chicken Dance Again - Stop. The. Murder!!!

Lukas has definately got the JD-Asshole-IT-Factor happening, but in this particular case - I happen to agree with him completely. Jenny stunk, the Chicken Dance had best not return and Dana the little delicate flower is going to need to go to T.O.U.G.H. School real quick.

On tonights bottom three:

I had problems with Chris's rendition of Roxanne as well as Phil doing Cult on the first show, but again from the Reality Show it's clear that Butch the producer really likes Phil's voice for it's unique tone and his melody choice. Ok, fine. Phil's safe for now, even if his performance tonight was totally mush-mouthed.

Chris doing L A. woman was unimpressive, particular for one of the "best vocalists on the planet". Feh. Even though I wasn't wild about his Coldplay performance, Matt on the other hand really did a nice job on Planet Earth. Of this first set of final three vocalists he actually sounded the best and was able to really make the song his own without emulating Simon La Bon or sounding disjointed with his delivery. For his voice, this was a great song choice -- but apparently the SN guys have a big stick up their ass over Duran Duran - for them it was really, really bad choice.

Honestly that's not surprising - all those Metallica guys have had their hide chapped in general about other forms of music - particularly anything glam! It's a mad mad HATE-On they've been carrying for 25 plus years. I'm actually surprised Tommy escapes it because of how Hollywood Sunset Strip GLAM the Crue was at times, but then again as the top for Rock Star Website reminds us - this is The Tommy Lee Project. He's the one with the TV-Q and hot silicone encased ex-wife that makes this little engine go - so I suppose Jason has to just swallow it for the duration.

Unfortunately that means Matt had to take it in chops due to Jason's (and probably Gilby's) limited taste and was the first person eliminated. The performance was good, and so was the arrangement, I would have changed the high-hat part in the pre-chorus from sixteenth notes to eliminate that "disco feel" of that section, but otherwise it was fine. It definately rawked.

The truth is none of the people in the final fifteen are Metal singers anyway. I know - cuz I am one. I mean c'mon, Gilby said you guys said you weren't a "Metal" band so what do you expect really? If you open things up - then you've opened them up, ok? It's obvious the group is looking for someone with mainstream appeal - a rocker, but not too much of a Rocker, and apparently - not too little. But you really can't have it both ways at the same time. Are they gonna slam somebody if they do an INXS cover because their songs got played on the same stations and in the same clubs as Duran Duran? (And trust me, they were - I was there) Lame.

All three of these guys were dull on stage physically, but Matt's vocals were better than the two. Too bad that didn't save him at least a little while longer.

And now we're actually going to have to listen even more of Zarya? And more chicken-dancing? Oh heaven help me and pass the advil, it's gonna be looong summer.

Vyan

Nora O'Donnell - Attack Poodle

lThe always on point Crooks and Liars has the video from Nora O'Donnell's interview with Cindy Sheehan on Hardball. Just look at the subtitle from the screenshot - "Starving for Attention" just about says it all.

Video - WMV - QT

We often rant at the likes of O'Reilly and Gibson on Faux News, but there are also those on supposedly neutral "mainstream" networks such as like O'Donnell on CNN and MSNBC or Katie Couric who frequently sound like full-on Wing-bats during their interviews of prominent anti-War critics.

O`DONNELL: Welcome back to HARDBALL. Cindy Sheehan is America`s most outspoken anti-war activist. But does she speak for America, or just the fringes? She`s called President Bush "the biggest terrorist in the world" and she stood side-by-side with socialist dictator Hugo Chavez in Venezuela.

As it turns out according to Polling Report.com, 62% of the public disapproves of how George Bush is handing the War 58% of the public feels that War in Iraq "Wasn't worth fighting for" - so just where are these "fringes" that O'Donnell speaks of?

Transcript.

CINDY SHEEHAN, ANTI-WAR ACTIVIST: Actually, I don`t hate the president, either. And I don`t trash the president; I trash the president`s foreign policy, which is fundamentally and inherently wrong and immoral. And I don`t tell people around the world anything that they don`t know.

O`DONNELL: But you called him "the biggest terrorist in the world."

So you are trashing the president.

SHEEHAN: Well, you know, he says a terrorist is somebody who kills innocent men, women and children, and there have been over 100,000 innocent men, women and children killed in Iraq on his orders.

Poor Cindy, doesn't she know that daring to criticize the President is like insulting America itself? How Dare She, uh... um... actually Use one of the right thingees from the 1st Amendment. The nerve.

O`DONNELL: Cindy, you have just begun a two-month hunger strike.

Isn`t this really just more of a publicity stunt?

SHEEHAN: No, actually it`s not. It`s a moral reaction to an immoral war. Thousands of people all over the world are joining us. And hunger strikes have proven to be effective tools in civil disobedience and changing policy.

O`DONNELL: But do you honestly expect Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld or the president of the United States to say, Cindy Sheehan is going on a hunger strike and so I`m going to end this war?

SHEEHAN: Well, that would be nice, but what we`re trying to do is also awaken consciousness in the United States and around the world to get more people out and active, because we know two-thirds of America disapprove of George Bush and his policies in Iraq, but I don`t see two-thirds of America out protesting, writing their congresspeople and changing policy.

In fact, Hunger strikes were used by Gandi to drasticly change the policies of the English Government in India, but let's not confuse ole' Nora with facts or history. She's having so much fun making shit up to stop now.

O`DONNELL: You speak very passionately about your cause. You lost a son in Iraq. We honor his service and sacrifice. But you`ve been traveling the world--Scotland, Spain, Venezuela, Ireland, Australia, Austria--how does that help the cause when, again, you`re around the world trashing the president, calling him a terrorist, calling him worse than Osama bin Laden. How do you honestly expect to affect change with those types of remarks?

SHEEHAN: Well, it`s really important too that the people in the world know that there are Americans on their side, because as anti-Bush sentiment goes up in the world, anti-American sentiment goes up also.

When exactly did Sheehan call Bush "worse than Osama bin Laden"? And even if she did - what the fuck does it matter whether she did in her own backyard or in Timbuktu? Why do we constantly see this arguement not only that American citizens don't have the civic duty as well as right to criticize their government when they disagree with it's policies - but that somehow that barely existent right is somehow neo-treason if it's said overseas?

How do we win the hearts of minds of Mainstream America back to common sense when even the so-called Mainstream Media has out-an-out attack poodles like O'Donnell nipping at our heals while using the so-called neutrality of MSNBC to hide their bias?

Those who take the time and effort to speak out about what they believe, particularly those who've shed and lost flesh and blood in the battle, be they Cindy Sheehan or the Jersey Girls - deserve better than this.

America deserves better than this.

Vyan

American Facism Reborn

There used to be time where some Americans had to be afraid of who they were. If you were Black, or Gay or heaven for fend - a Communist - you lived in permenent fear. Your rights, your livelyhood, your very life could be ripped away from you at a moments notice - and not only would the authorities not help, they would sometimes be the ones doing it.

Many of us thought those days were long gone, erased by the Civil Rights Movement and a generation and a half of history. A distant dark memory. Buried forever and best forgotten.

Well, those days are back with a vengence. From Hunter on Dkos.

A Jewish family in Delaware that objected to extensive Christian proselytizing by their public school district...was attacked, subjected to threats, and has now been explicitly singled out by an organization called Stop The ACLU. [Who have] published the families home phone number and home address on their website.

This jewish family - and a second one of undetermined religion as they are listed annonymously in the suit - had previously been forced to relocate due to harrisment and threats against them by the areas "Christians" and even members of the School Board.

A large Delaware school district promoted Christianity so aggressively that a Jewish family felt it necessary to move to Wilmington, two hours away, because they feared retaliation for filing a lawsuit. The religion (if any) of a second family in the lawsuit is not known, because they're suing as Jane and John Doe; they also fear retaliation. Both families are asking relief from "state-sponsored religion." [...]

Further...

On the evening in August 2004 when the board was to announce its new policy, hundreds of people turned out for the meeitng. The Dobrich family and Jane Doe felt intimidated and asked a state trooper to escort them.

The complaint recounts a raucous crowd that applauded the board's opening prayer and then, when sixth-grader Alexander Dobrich stood up to read a statement, yelled at him "take your yarmulke off!" His statement, read by Samantha, confided "I feel bad when kids in my class call me Jew boy." [...]

A former board member suggested that Mona Dobrich might "disappear" like Madalyn Murray O'Hair, the atheist whose Supreme Court case resulted in ending organized school prayer. She disappeared in 1995 and her dismembered body was found six years later.

The crowd booed an ACLU speaker and told her to "go back up north."

In the days after the meeting the community poured venom on the Dobriches. Callers to the local radio station said the family they should convert or leave the area. Someone called them and said the Ku Klux Klan was nearby.

Hunter continues and calls it like it is as we realize we've entered Newt Gingrich World.

It is noteworthy that the Stop The ACLU project is supported, by their claims, by a "team" of over two hundred right-wing bloggers. They've gotten positive attention from World Net Daily and Free Republic, been invited to low-class radio outfits, and been the benefactors of links from a passel of blogs that ranges from Debbie Schlussel and Michelle Malkin to even more batshit insane elements of the far-far-right.

This is the face of the hard core of the Republican base: the base represented by Front Page Magazine, NewsMax, and a host of vicious and frequently racist sites. This is the base David Horowitz and his band of venomous "reporters" attempt to reach, when "exposing" supposed traitors in academia or the press. This is what Malkin and others attempt to mainstream through VDare and similar groups. This is the face of the assault on so-called "liberalism" -- an assault against Jewish Americans, against those of all other faiths and heritages, presuming they don't keep their mouths shut, and, when necessary, against sixth graders.

Just two days after Independance Day, a moment that eventually sparked the Revolutionary War which was fought at least in part, to guarantee the freedom of individuals to the worship of their choice without the interference of a State Sponsored religion, we seem to have completely forgetten who we are as a Nation. The children in this case have been subjected to the following:

Among numerous specific examples in the complaint was what happened at plaintiff Samantha Dobrich's graduation in 2004 from the district's high school. She was the only Jewish student in her graduating class. The complaint relates that local pastor, Jerry Fike, in his invocation, followed requests for "our heavenly Father's" guidance for the graduates with:

I also pray for one specific student, that You be with her and guide her in the path that You have for her. And we ask all these things in Jesus' name.

In addition to the ruined graduation experience, the Dobrich-Doe lawsuit alleges that:

• The district's "custom and practice of school-sponsored prayer" frequently imposed ... on impressionable non-Christian students," violating their constitutional rights.
• The district ignored the Supreme Court's 1992 Lee decision limiting prayer at graduation ceremonies -- even after a district employee complained about the prayer at her child's 2003 graduation..
• District teachers and staff led Bible clubs at several schools. Club members got to go to the head of the lunch line.
• While Bible clubs were widely available, student book clubs were rare and often canceled by the district.
• When Jane Doe complained that her non-Christian son "Jordan Doe" was left alone when his classmates when to Bible club meetings, district staff insisted that Jordan should attend the club regardless of his religion.
• The district schools attended by Jordan and his sister "Jamie Doe" distributed Bibles to students in 2003, giving them time off from class to pick up the books.
• Prayer --often sectarian -- is a routine part of district sports programs and social events
• One of the district's middle schools gave students the choice of attending a special Bible Club if they did not want to attend the lesson on evolution.
• A middle school teacher told students there was only "one true religion" and gave them pamphlets for his surfing ministry.
• Samantha Dobrich's honors English teacher frequently discussed Christianity, but no other religion.
• Students frequently made mandatory appearances at district board meetings -- where they were a captive audience for board members' prayers to Jesus.

The Dobriches said the prayers to Jesus' ruined the graduation experience for Samantha. Mona Dobrich, Samantha's mother, repeatedly called district officials to complain. A board member told her she would have to get the matter put on a meeting agenda -- then refused to put it on the agenda. The school superintendent slipped the topic onto the agenda and then told Mona Dobrich she would need to raise it during the public comment period.

And now that they've filed a complaint they've had their lives threatened? Is this America - or is this the f-ing Taliban? We're fighting - over there - to bring freedom to the middle east, when it seems we have more than a few battles to wage over here when it comes to tolerance, and resisting religious zealotry.

People - regardless of whether they are Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Agnostic or frankly worship Beelzebub - shouldn't have to go this crap like this. It's part of our very first Constitutional Amendment in the Bill of Rights. How is this possible in the 21st Century?

I fully understand that the people doing this absolutely do not think they are the bad guys. I'm sure they see themselves as saviors, doing God's Will in his name. But they are not. Jesus did not demand prostelyzation by his disciples as they went forward to spread his word.

Matthew 10:14 (Whole Chapter)
If a village doesn't welcome you or listen to you, shake off the dust of that place from your feet as you leave.

Mark 6:11 (Whole Chapter)
"And if a village won't welcome you or listen to you, shake off its dust from your feet as you leave. It is a sign that you have abandoned that village to its fate."

Luke 9:5 (Whole Chapter)
If the people of the village won't receive your message when you enter it, shake off its dust from your feet as you leave. It is a sign that you have abandoned that village to its fate."

There is no disagrement on this point, from the book these people insist on having everyone study in a public school. It's not like being able to study the Bible in their own home is enough. It's not like having Sunday School at your own church is enough - they have to force their beliefs on everyone in the community. The fact that someone, anyone disagrees is a threat - and that threat has to be eliminated. In truth this isn't about Christianity or Judism, it's about power, control and conformity.

It's Facism, plain and simple. American Facism Reborn.

And may the Lord (of your choice) have mercy on us all, for clearly - we know not what we do.

Vyan

Rock Star: Supernova - Episode 1

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Well, Rock Star is back. I have to admit to having an addiction to this show. I also have to admit to not being completely unbiased about it, since after hearing about the involvement of Tommy Lee, Gilby Clarke and Jason Newsted, I happen to have auditioned for it this year and had a chance to get a good look at all the competition.

With that perspective my very first impression of the Final Fifteen was that they're pretty damn Lilly White. Slim bow-flexed bodies, with the requisit Don Johnson face-stubble and/or goatees on the guys, with two-toned hair coloring and huge (mostly fake) boobs on the girls. They look like that were stamped out by a cookie-doe machine. Ka-chunk. That's number one. Ka-Chunk! That's number two....

(In full disclosure mode: I also have to admit that I myself went to the audition with florencent blue-hair gel, a big goatee - like Dave Navarro's - and wearing black vinyl pants, so to some extent I was knowingly trying to be one of those cookies, except that I'm not... and never will be for various reasons. Still, I had a good idea what they were looking for and it seems I was right.)

The second thing is that I recognized one of them. Storm Large is a great singer, performer and band leader who I first saw on late-night Cable Access in northern California performing with her then band Storm Inc. I've been a fan of hers for years and have three songs from her band in rotation on Truth 2 Power Radio.

For Episode 1, Storm was up first and kicked the shit out of her song, the Who's "Pinball Wizard". Great stage presence, total command of the audience and absolutely perfect vocals. Storm is going to do well in this competition, and judging by what I already know of her songwriting - she's heads and shoulders above the average in that area too.

From watching the overall show, the women vocalist were almost all much better than the men. Storm has a heavy challenge coming from both Dana (From Georgia who did Melissa Etheridge) and Jill (who slammed hard on Janis Joplin) both of whom are powerhouse singers. Tiny Jill is probably the strongest all-around both vocally and again - absolute command of the stage. Dilana is scary. And Jenny just plain fucking sucked on that Nickleback song, the guitar did not cover-up the fact that she couldn't sing the hook.

But the one girl who really screwed the pooch on night one was Zarya - also the one lone non-anglo on the show - who just butchered "Bring me to Life" by Evanescence. If you can't really hit the notes on that song - you shoudn't fucking try. And if you're timing and phrasing is also weak -- again, stop before you begin. I saw a girl at the Hollywood auditions do a much better job on that very same song (But it's now clear she wouldn't have had a chance getting on this show since she was in her late 30's and about 50 lbs heavier than Zarya!! Eye candy obviously counts!)

When it comes to the guys, as far as I was concerned they were all weak, but some were less weak than others. Matt, Magni, and Ryan (Star? How in the hell did we wind up with another "Ryan Star" on a reality show? What the fuck is that about? Hopefully, this one isn't a bitch like the other one) were all boring.

Phil (aka Mr. I could be making $100,000 but I chose to Rawk instead) just completely embarrised himself on "Cult of Personality". Sure, it was an interesting song to do since his voice is nothing like Corey Glovers, but maybe he should reconsider that career choice? I realize he may have been attempting to put his own stamp on it, but he didn't - it was a total crash and burn. The last person to do that song on this show - Ty Taylor - kicked the crap out of it, and wound up being pigeon-holed as the "Black Rocker Guy". Then he became the "Broadway Guy" -- both of which are bullshit stereotypes. Hands down he was the best all around singer and performer of that season, but obviously that doesn't really mean jack in the end. Last years winner J.D. Fucktune made the late-night joke reel with his initial performance - so who knows, Phil might be going nowhere.

The other completely FUBAR'd performance was Chris doing "Roxanne". Uh , I mean trying to do Roxanne, and her telling him she doesn't sink that low. They might as well have just gotten the joke vocal from Eddie Murphy in "48 Hours" on that one. Sheesh.

Rooxxanee... you'd have tuh put on the da red light....

When Gilby told him it "sucked" - I jumped up and cheered, cuz it did - badly.

Josh's white-eyed soul act on the Black Crowes song was very good and unique without being obnoxious. I don't know if it's going to work with this group for that same reasons the Ty had troubles last year. It's dangerous to let yourself be pigeon-holed in a specific style right away, but he sounded real good. We'll see.

The ringer in my opinion is Lukas the Orgy-wannabe. He's definately got a look. He's energenic on stage if somewhat limited. I couldn't really hear his vocals, as with a lot of the singers he was swallowed by the band, and in his case the guitar was crushing him. But he's got something. I don't know if it contagious or whether their's a vaccine for it, but he's got it. He's this years J.D. hands down.

I have to say that they claim that these are the "15 Best Unsigned Rockers" is a load of crap. Some of them are truly oustanding and are definately in the same category as Ty was last year. (Where as none of the other performers except maybe Jordis from the first year really ranked with him after that first show, and only caught up later when issues besides actually singing and performing become more important. Y'know, important stuff like his hair-style!) But some of these people either shouldn't be on stage period, or shouldn't have done the songs they did. In some cases, both. I saw and heard at lot more than 15 people at the Hollywood audition who were better than the bottom seven who managed to slip onto this show by clearly having the "right look" instead of actual talent. The fact the Neal Patrick (of Sunburn) and Brian O'Connor (of Vicious Rumours) who were both at the Hollywood auditions and didn't get to the final fifteen based on vocal talent alone tells me a ton.

Bias for the pin-up people aside, this should be an interesting ride. I plan to stay tuned.

Vyan