The Rag Blog

FILM-IRAQ: A Glimpse of Life Under Occupation
Aaron Glantz*

“I could film whatever I wanted as long as I could stay alive,” he writes, with no government minders or stringent visa requirements. “My guess was that I would have about a year before either a new authoritarian government would be put in power or Iraq would descend into civil war and become too dangerous to work in. I needed to make my film while it was still possible.”

Read about it here.

It continues to be a nightmare owing in large part to the American presence.

Locals Accuse U.S. of Massacre in Ramadi
Inter Press Service
Dahr Jamail and Ali al-Fadhily

Jassim, speaking with IPS while several other witnesses listened while nodding their heads, said that ambulances did not appear on the scene for hours because “we realised that the Americans did not allow them to move,” and that as a result, “there were people buried under the rubble who were bleeding to death while there was still a chance to rescue them.”

Read it here.

This article comes from someone who has ‘been on the ground’ in Iraq. It is a well researched and written analysis of the political situation in country and worth the time to read.

Anatomy of a Civil War: Iraq’s descent into chaos
Nir Rosen

It was Friday, and like my companions, I was going to the Friday prayers. I had been following this practice since I arrived in Iraq in April 2003, when it became clear that clerics were filling the power vacuum created by the war. After the fall of Saddam and his Baath Party, looting and anarchy gave way to forces of more organized violence: men with guns, some wearing the turbans of clerics, some the scarves of the resistance, and many belonging to criminal gangs. Despite American intentions to create a secular, democratic Iraq, clerics were quickly replacing Baathists, and in the absence of anything else the mosque would become Iraq’s most influential institution.

Read the rest of this remarkable piece here.

Bill is a perfect example of someone who is almost what he appears to be. To a naive person this very well spoken, extremely organized person appears to run just what he proclaims to, a “No spin zone.” Well, with a little bit of knowledge you will quickly realize that he spins, he rolls, he tosses, he dodges, he diverts and he ends up right where he started, with his personal point of view being declared
victorious. Bill is sometimes fair, but only when there is no chance of challenging his view. Out of the Fox bunch, Bill does have the most integrity, which is a very scary reality! Talk about setting low standards.

Journalism Credentials Masters degree in journalism

There is no doubt that Mr. O’Reilly has a real education in journalism. He did however seem to forget the definition of journalism.

Journalism: ”j&r-n&l-“i-z&m – : writing characterized by a direct presentation of facts or description of events without an attempt at interpretation and without opinion.

Indicators

Certain Outcome: the entire goal of Bill’s show is to prove his guest wrong, or right, depending on who the guest is. The bottom line is that whatever Bill’s position was prior to his show, that will be his position after the show. Even if he acknowledges a point or two he concludes every show with a pseudo intellectual “I told you so.” There is no point in watching this nonsense. It is a news infomercial for Bill’s opinion.

Attack the messenger: Much like almost all of the Fox News on screen clowns, Bill does his share of launching personal attacks on people who do not share his views. He does his share of name calling and pointing out controversial aspects of people he disagrees with regardless of whether it has anything to do with the current topic. To paint a picture of how wrong this is to do when dealing with journalism you might think of it this way, regardless of Michael Jackson’s odd personal life you can not in any way question his musical talent. Mr. O’Reilly would use Michael’s personal life to discredit his talent. It is wrong both technically and morally.

God’s Word: Bill takes it upon himself to declare what is right, wrong, brave, cowardly, patriotic, treason, etc. He gets up on his pulpit and speaks God’s word. OK Bill, settle down. We know how you feel, don’t claim to be the clearing house for ethics and Human conscience

Why he is dangerous

The big danger with Bill is that he conducts himself in a very authoritative manner. He is impressive. He also tells people over and over how fair he is, so unless you have a clue you will believe him. Remember we are a society of mostly followers. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but the truth is that people are easily
fooled. Bill puts on a great show and his impressive delivery is very convincing.

A Message

Hey Bill, a person with your level of education in journalism should realize that opinion has no place in journalism. While you may be qualified to be a journalist, you are not currently practicing the craft. You should be honest and just admit what you are, a right wing conservative who argues his opinions very impressively. You are another example of Fox News’ fraudulent claim of being a “News” network. Someone with your education should realize that once opinion enters, journalism exits.

Charlie Loving

1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 bottle 7-Up
1 cup halved seedless grapes
use to baste the duck as it finishes cooking

1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped red onion
1 cup of rasins or cranberries the smushed kind not canned
1 cup of pecan meat. Best to have young pecans that you have gathered prior to the squirrels getting them.
1/2 cup of bacon all chopped up, so fry it first to get it all brittle. The stuff in the front of the smoke house is best
Pepper
4 cups of bread crumbs, the loaf that got hard will do, the one you baked last week.
1/2 cup of scalded milk. You can use yesterdays milk for this and don’t drain off the cream. sort of mix it.
2 eggs beaten. They were gathered in the afternoon. Make sure they are good by floating them.

The Duck.

Go to the duck blind. Check your fowling piece and load it, 12 gauge with a long barrel is best, use bird shot or duck shot. Ask the gun freak you know which is best? Make sure you have a duck stamp. You will have to pick a big duck, the biggest is best and will be older and tougher, All that flying south and north makes them tough. There aren’t too many ducks these days so this part is hard and the ducks that there are are leary. The old Daffy saying, “A leary duck is a live duck.” Keep the dog quiet and wait for the ducks to come. Oh, yes put the wooden ducks in the pond to fool the other ducks into thinking there are ducks on the pond. Also pick a cold day so you can suffer properly. Frozen feet are a big part of duck hunting and be sure to put your feet in cold water so that the water can seep into the water proof American Hunter boots and get your feet wet.

It may take a few days to get a duck or you may not get one and will have to go to the meat store. There are not many wild ducks at the store so buy a non-wild duck and take your duck stamp and put it on the frozen duck. Tell everyone about sitting on the silly stool in the frozen tundra by the pond and waiting for the ducks to come and how cool a shot you are. “The ducks flew in from the southwest and right at dawn… bla bla bla.”

Or go to the Chinese market and buy a duck. Those ducks are usually really bad. Taste like crap and are all red and already cooked.

In a pinch you could substitute a goose but not a chicken or other fowl.

So, if you do happen to get a duck you will have to clean it. Remember ducks are water repellant so pull out all the feathers and don’t use water, the hot water trick doesn’t work that well on ducks. You have to take out the gizzard and yuck on the inside. Stick a very sharp knife in the duck’s (dead Duck) butt hole and cut it open so you can get to the gick and then pull all the gick out. You then pick out the pin feathers or sear them off with a blow torch. Put the clean duck in the marinade for three weeks or until tender. Use a good marinade for this. Once the duck is ready put it in a pan and cook it.

Oaxaca atrocities: Day of Action and Tent City, Boston, Monday Nov 20th
By Call to Action
Nov 15, 2006, 21:37

Boston will join them to say ¡ya basta!

Read more here.

RSF Identifies Killers of Brad Will in Oaxaca; Uncovering the truth behind the death of Brad Will
By RSF Report; Joshua Breitbart
Nov 16, 2006, 10:53

The authorities in Santa Luc¨ªa del Camino, in the Southern State of Oaxaca, have identified three people as suspects in the fatal shooting of US cameraman Brad Will on 27 October. They are municipal policeman Juan Carlos Soriano (on the left in the photo, in a red T-shirt and holding an automatic firearm), municipal personnel chief Manuel Aguilar (centre), public security director Abel Santiago Zarate (right) and a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which controls the state government, and Pedro Caramona, a former paramilitary.

Read it all (with the photograph) here.

A Skeptic’s View of the Midterm Elections
Published on Thursday, November 16, 2006.
By Joel S. Hirschhorn – BLN Contributing Writer

Fake, neo-progressives, little more than embarrassed Democrats, finally showed their true blue commitment. They drank the Democratic Kool-Aid; in fact they slurped it up in massive amounts. Most still remain intoxicated, even as Democratic leaders shunned impeachment of Bush.

Read it here.

Blackmail & Bobby Gates
By Robert Parry
November 15, 2006

Gates has denied allegations linking him to these operations, but evidence that has emerged since 1991 has buttressed claims about Gates’s involvement. Other new documents, such as papers recovered from Iraqi government files after the U.S. invasion in 2003, also could shed light on the mysteries.

Read it here.

The Carlyle White House
By William Rivers Pitt
t r u t h o u t | Columnist
Tuesday 14 November 2006

Some notable present and former employees of Carlyle include former president George H.W. Bush, who resigned in 2003; James Baker III, Bush Sr.’s secretary of state and king fixer; and George W. Bush, who served on Carlyle’s board of directors until his run for the Texas governorship. One notable former client of Carlyle was the Saudi BinLaden Group, which sold its investment back to the firm a month after the September 11 attacks. Until the October 2001 sellout, Osama bin Laden himself had a financial interest in the same firm that employed the two presidents Bush.

Read the rest here.

Iraq gov’t in crisis after staff abducted, tortured
by Jay Deshmukh Thu Nov 16, 9:29 AM ET

[snip]

When asked if he felt there was currently no effective government in Iraq, the minister replied: “That’s right, I feel, yeah, there is no effective government.”

Read all of it here.

A friend here wanted me to watch Fox and HNN for a few hours and comment. He is a Deer Corn conservative but has some what they call book learning. Though I think he has stopped reading.

Well, I tried to watch the “O’Really Facts” just so I could expand my mind in the proper direction and was again amazed at the way the man distorts everything. Well, not really amazed. To know what is going on one has to be open minded and it is a struggle to find all the information and to put it together in a concise and correct form. O’Reilly makes a mockery of the truth as do Hannity and that other fool and the great Mr. Beck who is just a thin Rush Limbaugh. And Al Franken, the so called voice of the liberals, is also a shrill shouter of nonsense.

The reporting of what Murtha said was so fallacious on CNN and Fox it made me cringe again. He said that the bill on Congressional reform was crap and that Nancy wants it. He did indeed say the word crap. He said it in this context however. It is crap that we have to make a law on reform when we ought to be doing this naturally as
citizens. And the Nancy part was also true, she does want the Congress to reform its ways and if making a law is the way to make them reform then so be it, but it is still crap, that we are forced by greedy men and women to have to do this.

The television news makes me tired. I don’t give a damn who married who in Hollywood or who is making what picture. You can’t go around the World in 80 seconds. Well, Fox can but in the real world it takes a couple of hours of careful viewing and analysis.

When the boss at Fox sends a memo stating that they are seeking viewers and that the truth is a matter of conjecture and that they will make the decision as to what is news and what is not, I shudder at the ramifications. Sounds so much like what I learned in Journalism under Dr. Barker. He taught us how Heinrich Himmler used the media to change the attitudes of all Germany. And how the rights of man were eroded and the Gestapo and Brown shirts became the arm of the party that made sure you listened and obeyed the party line. He was old school and said you need to talk to both sides and look at every angle and tell it all to the people and let them make the judgements. “THE TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU FREE” as it says on the tower at the University of Texas. The people have to decide and today with the Internet it is easy to learn more than you ever wanted about things.

I can watch BBC news and watch Australian news as well as the daily messages from New Delhi. This does not make me a liberal as you say. It makes me an intellectual who is searching for the truth.

The Liberians one of our African allies in 1997 held a BBQ party at the beach. President of that country Johnson, I forget his first name off the bat, invited all the doctors and teachers to the beach and as the party really got going had them all machine gunned.

What did we do? Nothing? Finally the U.S. embassy was surrounded and the airport destroyed. The USS Guadalcanal made an appearance and my son went ashore along with a company of Marines and they secured the port and the embassy but not until after heavy fighting that was never, ever, mentioned on FOX or CNN, It was only barely covered in Newsweek, which is another story. I have some pretty raunchy photos my son took at the airport of the bodies left to decay.

Liberia is a great place to visit.

As great as Angola where I spent two years with our NATO buddies from Portugal keeping the rail line to Katanga Province open so all that strategic metal could get to Lobitos and onto ships headed for the USA where it was smelted and reconstituted for use by Northrop and Boeing for jet engines. The Brits and Spanish got their share, too. The Cubans and the SWAPO and SIMBA were the ones trying to stop the trains.

Gulf oil cut a deal with SWAPO at that time and it is part of history. They paid a million dollars a month to the insurgents to leave Gulf alone it took us a day to travel from Boma in ZAIRE now the Democratic Republic of Congo to Cabinda City on the road due to our sappers having to clear the 15 miles of road of mines. It was a great place to visit as well. They had never heard of American Express.

So I read a book and watch a football game or two and see that the referees seem to be on the take as well. NBC, ABC and ESPN want certain teams to win and make their ratings rise. There is no justice anymore.

Global warming will win in the end. “Doomed we are,” said Sam Wise. (Lord of the Rings)

Charlie Loving