Blogging for Freedom

Journalism is not a crime! Josh Wolf, freelance journalist and independent videographer, is currently in “coercive custody” at the Federal Detention Facility in Dublin, California. He is not charged with any crime and is being held under civil contempt. Wolf was incarcerated earlier this year after resisting a subpoena to testify before a Federal Grand jury and for refusing to turn over his source material for video he shot of a San Francisco protest against the G8 Summit in 2005. His incarceration is virtually unprecedented, and it is widely believed he will likely become the longest imprisoned journalist in U.S. history.

Having covered protests for several years as part of the San Francisco press corps, Wolf has gained exclusive access to much of the Bay Area’s activist community. Access denied to other journalists. Throughout Wolf’s ordeal, he has expressed concerns that this case is an attempt by federal prosecutors to identify political dissidents and his attorneys have argued that the grand jury investigation is a fishing expedition. Wolf has repeatedly stated under oath that his unpublished material does not contain footage of any of the alleged crimes committed.  In a show of good faith, Wolf has offered to let the judge review his tape.

The Honorable Judge William Alsop refused.

Wolf, 24, is the recipient of the 2006 Society of Professional Journalists Freedom of Information Award as Journalist of the Year. Advocates from Reporters Without Borders, Committee to Protect Journalistm, and numerous others have all spoken out in his defense.

"Otto Zehm was the best friend I've ever had the grace of knowing.  Now his murder is getting swept under the rug like all the wrong doings of the Spokane police.  Otto and I went to north Central high stool together and were close. He taught me everything I know about guitar, he was very very very good at it!  He also took piano lab with me (him for four years me three) and by the time school was done he had surpassed Mike Caldwell the music and piano teacher.  He was a prodigy. 

His only mental "illness" was that he was socially different.  Otto never lied, never stole, never did drugs and alcohol didn't agree with him (made him to wild) always in a passive way.  He wanted a wife, to be a rock star, a piano composer, and/or just play music all his life. 

They killed an angel.  I have never been even close to as beautiful a person inside and out as Otto, he could have been a role model for Blot of people.  Rich or poor, any race, drug addict, prostitute, or lawyer Otto got along with anybody without judgment.  It saddens my heart that his greatness will never be fully fulfilled, but those that knew him will never forget.  How do we ever trust the law when the law doesn't trust anyone? 

The person who was responsible just kept about his business still working, no guilt.  Maybe god will forgive them Otto would.                 Myself, I will never forget...."  written by Jerrod Wisher  01-10-07

The Iraq war is finally coming to the homeland. The wounded, the maimed, the disabled war veteran and their families needs us now more than ever. Over 25,000 Americans have been killed or wounded in the three years and nine months since Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld invaded Iraq and bombed Baghdad.  How many innocent Iraqis killed and wounded?  Visit Iraq Coalition Count for horrifying numbers about the cost of this war.

GW Bush was in Indonesia yesterday. Protesters filled the streets and anti-Bush demonstrations became so virulent that our American President had to be whisked out of the country before nightfall.  Indonesia has the world's largest Muslim population.

It seems here in the US we just don't seem to understand why they hate us so much.  History apparently is something we don't worry our pretty little heads with.  If we did, we'd remember other foreign wars, past conflicts, old events and maybe we'd actually learn something about what we're doing now and why the world has so much animosity towards us.

Just the fact that we pre-emptively invaded Iraq and bombed Baghdad in an attempt to "shock and awe" is enough to piss off any civilized society. The world was shocked alright. Back then there was at least the possibility that Bush may have been right about Saddam and WMDs.  Now, of course, we know the truth. The war was sold on a pack of lies and deceptions. The plan to invade Iraq and take down Saddam was made a decade ago and September 11, the War on Terror and our Noble Spread of Democracy have nothing to do with it. 

GW's mentor and Dick's confidante and co-conspirator, Henry Kissinger, was in London at the same time GW was touring Asia. He said in a press conference the Iraq war is unwinnable. This from the architect of the Viet Nam war during the Nixon years who has a documented reputation for lying through his teeth.  Oh well, after 600,000 Iraqi deaths and over 2850 US troops killed in another war he designed and forced onto the world ... oops.

I guess most Americans don't realize how outrageous and utterly disgusting it is that Kissinger has honor and credibility in our current government. He's a war criminal!  He ordered bombing raids that killed millions of innocent men, women and children during his Nixon years.  He arranged assassinations in the Middle East and violent overthrows of democratically elected governments in South America.  These are not secrets. His actions live in history, public documents and factual records, and no amount of spin and propaganda now from the Bushies will make the rest of the world forget the truth.

"You see: homosexuality, dope, immorality in general—these are the enemies of strong societies. That's why the communists and the left-wingers are pushing the stuff; they're trying to destroy us."
—Nixon in May 1971

Bob Woodward has documented that Henry Kissinger is a regular visitor to the White House and serves as an elder mentor to GW and confidential adviser to Dick Cheney.

This says it all. The Butcher of Cambodia, the mass murderer of Timor, the assassin of Pakistan, the overthrower of Democracy in Chile is the true architect of the Bush Doctrine.  The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are Viet Nam redux. The bombing of civilian populations, the blatant disregard for the Geneva Conventions, the Imperial Presidency, the arrogant, confrontational unilateralism of foreign policy, the total disrepect for the Constitution and the Bill of Rights .... This is Kissinger.

Dr. K has the universal reputation for carrying a grudge, for exacting penalties, for conducting vendettas against anyone he deems an enemy in his personal quest for power.  Warrantless wiretapping, secret surveillance, torture, US secret prisons on foreign soil, the bellicose, jingoistic rhetoric out of Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld's mouths - this is Kissinger.

I used to ask "Who are these people?" Now I know.  

655,000 Iraqi civilians are estimated to have been killed since our invasion March 2003, according to a Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health review. 

The State of Florida arraigned election reform activist Charles Grapski on felony wiretapping charges for audiotaping his efforts to obtain public records related to his investigation of alleged election fraud. "This is such a severe case of silencing and a violation of the First Amendment," said Carol Thomas, co-coordinator of Grapski's defense committee, along with Scott Doran. "He has been as effectively banned as any black person in South Africa during Apartheid. He is not able to contact any officials by snail mail, fax, telephone, e-mail, or even a third party person."

Click to read more ...

Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) is the ranking member on the House Appropriations defense subcommittee.
He served 37 years in the Marine Corps. He is a Marine's Marine. The Republican propaganda machine is trying to besmirch his reputation and insinuate that he is a "cut & runner". His article in the Washington Post (Sunday 10.15.06) is an excellent analysis of the situation in Iraq.

"The Republicans are running scared. In the White House, on Capitol Hill and on the campaign trail, they're worried about losing control of Congress. And so the administration and the GOP have launched a desperate assault on Democrats and our position on the war in Iraq. Defeatists, they call us, and appeasers and -- oh so cleverly -- "Defeatocrats."

Vice President Cheney has accused Democrats of "self-defeating pessimism." Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has faulted us for believing that "vicious extremists can be appeased." The White House calls Democrats the party of "cut and run."

It's all baseless name-calling, and it's all wrong. Unless, of course, being a Defeatocrat means taking a good hard look at the administration's Iraq policy and determining that it's a failure.

In that case, count me in. Because Democrats recognize that we're headed for a far greater disaster in Iraq if we don't change course -- and soon. This is not defeatism. This is realism.

Our troops who are putting their lives on the line deserve a plan that matches our military prowess with diplomatic and political skill. They deserve a clear and achievable mission and they deserve to know precisely what it will take to accomplish it. They deserve answers, not spin...."

Read the rest of the article here 

"While the leadership in Congress has self-destructed over the revelations of an unmatched, and unrelieved, march through a cesspool ... While the leadership inside the White House has self-destructed over the revelations of a book with a glowing red cover ... The president of the United States — unbowed, undeterred and unconnected to reality — has continued his extraordinary trek through our country rooting out the enemies of freedom: the Democrats. Yesterday at a fundraiser for an Arizona congressman, Mr. Bush claimed, quote, “177 of the opposition party said, ‘You know, we don’t think we ought to be listening to the conversations of terrorists."

Click to read more ...

Army Spc. Suzanne Swift served in Iraq for a year as a member of the 54th Military Police Company of the 42nd Military Police Brigade (Fort Lewis, WA).  After being subjected to sexual harrassment by her noncommissioned superiors, she refused to appear in January 2006 for another five-month deployment.  In June, she was hauled out of her mother's home, arrested on AWOL charges and thrown into jail.

She is now being court-martialed. Read her story here (prepare to be enraged):