Pew findings

Cheers to the Defective Yeti... for pointing out the latest findings of the Pew Research group:

Yeti's comments are a chuckle, "We need to pull Casey Kasem out of retirement so he can count these down 'America's Top 40' style. 'And now a newcomer to the countdown, but a rising star. It's number 10: ass.'"

The full Pew report, "Bush Approval Falls to 33%, Congress Earns Rare Praise,
Dubai Ports Fallout," released March 15, 2006 is full of detailed analysis and deserves a look.

Go Russ! Go!

FEINGOLD ANNOUNCES WITNESSES FOR HEARING ON CENSURE

Reagan Official Bruce Fein, Nixon Counsel John Dean to Testify Before Senate Judiciary Committee Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Russ Feingold announced today that Bruce Fein, former official in the Reagan Administration, and John Dean, former Counsel to President Nixon, will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee at Friday’s hearing on Feingold’s resolution to censure the president. The hearing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Friday morning.

Bruce Fein, a constitutional lawyer, served in President Ronald Reagan’s Department of Justice as Deputy Attorney General. Fein testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on February 28th, 2006, regarding the President’s warrantless wiretapping program.

John Dean served as Counsel to President Nixon. Prior to his White House service, he served as Chief Minority Counsel to the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives. In 1973, Dean testified before the Senate Watergate Committee. According to the Senate Library, Dean last testified before Congress in 1974. Dean currently is a columnist and lecturer on law and government and has authored several books on those issues.

Iraq Vets speaking out...

Back when this war started over three years ago, I began looking across the ocean for news from the rest of the world. I was losing faith in the American media and started to wonder how news was being reported from outside the box... Not much has changed, except that now I usually get up each day at 3 or 4 AM to listen to the news from the BBC and get other stories from the Web. Here's a few of those recent discoveries that I'm sure will go missing from the US mainstream media:

This appeared in the Guardian in print and on-line.

'If you start looking at them as humans, then how are you gonna kill them?'
They are a publicity nightmare for the US military: an ever-growing number of veterans of the Iraq conflict who are campaigning against the war. To mark the third anniversary of the invasion this month, a group of them marched on Katrina-ravaged New Orleans. Inigo Gilmore and Teresa Smith joined them.

This story is a sizeable video report from the BBC's Newsnight presented by Jeremy Paxman on Wednesday, 29 March, 2006.

When the dust settles: Anger from US soldiers back from Iraq
Latest polls show a clear majority of Americans are now against the campaign in Iraq. Some soldiers who have returned from Iraq are disillusioned by their experience.

Inigo Gilmore reports from the US, "We have a powerful film this evening. We follow a group of former US soldiers who have returned from Iraq deeply affected by the experience. As they march across America to protest against the war they reveal their own experiences of the conflict, make some disturbing allegations about military practices in Iraq and reflect on how it feels to come home."

This is an audio report on a US soldier who went AWOL after serving for 8 months in Iraq.

US deserters flee to Canada
Hundreds of US soldiers have deserted and gone across the border to Canada in order to avoid serving in Iraq.

You have two choices, either get back on that plane for Iraq or go to jail," Josh Key says he was informed by the military. "I won't spend one day in jail unless George W. Bush is with me."

Josh spent the next 14 months on the run with his wife and children here in the US, then they fled to Canada. Josh has now applied for asylum as he does not want to be imprisoned for refusing to fight.

Fair Wisconsin...

On November 7, 2006 Wisconsin citizens will vote on a proposed constitutional ammendment to ban civil unions and marriage for same-sex couples. Check out the blog talk that says this is truly a non-partisan issue at: noontheamendment.blogspot.com


Fair Wisconsin has a collection of "A Fair Wisconsin Votes No" downloadable pdfs to use in printing your own window signs and pins.