HL you have showen that you know nothing about
politics. You keep complaining about the democrats not
doing this or that and YOU voted for them even after
they told you they weren’t going to do anything.

HL Responds
That’s the difference between Democrats and Republicans. Democrats tolerate dissent and opposing ideas, unlike Republicans who insist you are an oath swearing lockstep marching buffoon. That is why a lot of thinking Republicans are leaving the party.

Not to mention that the democrats don’t have enough votes
to over ride a veto so even if they wanted to do
something about this they couldn’t.

Yes you are correct, The obstructionist Republican Senators are filibustering more legislation then any Congress ever, as I pointed out in one of the stories yesterday. Funny how much they bitched and whined when Democrats tried to stop people like Harriet Miers from being nominated to the Supreme Court. So it’s OK when they do it but not OK when someone else does it. Isn’t that just like those whiny little idiots.

As to Bush and Cheney making money on this war you
better look in your own back yard because you are
making money on it to with all of your anti war
articles. So you are no better than the “Big Corps”
and Bush and Cheney.

I am not making any money on the war, I would be here even if there was no war. Making (very little) money fighting against the war is hardly the same thing. See that’s the problem with you Republican trolls, no matter how many times I point out the obvious you never seem to get it, and keep posting the same BS that I already proved wrong time and time again, then you wonder why I delete you absolutely retarded comments.

Oh and on a second note why don’t you let me post any
more? Is it because you can’t counter the truth or
that you don’t want others to hear the truth from the
other side.

Actually I am happy to post any comments from anyone who has an intelligent opinion and not just a lot of profanity and buzz slogans you heard in church or from Bill O’reilly.

Since you only let people that don’t know
the truth post their uninformed responces to your
post.

Oh so the people who post comments on both sides of the aisle on here are uninformed but you are the only genius who has the mental capacity to actually know what you are talking about?

That is just like a Lib to lie to the people and not
want them to know the truth.
I have come to expect nothing less from you and now
know that you only block me because you can’t counter
the truth with anything but lies. If you had nothing
to fear than you would let me post on your site. But
since you can’t defend your side without lieing than
it explains why you wont let me post any more. That is
fine as you have seen I still get on there from time
to time.

Yep, every now and then you may see a really stupid comment on this site, those all come from the troll who spends all day trying to figure out ways around my spam filters. His name is Bill, or is it Proud Conservative, or is it Kill the Islamofacists, its all the same guy.

Have a great dream day.
Bill

You Too
HL

This Friday, August 31, marks the three year anniversary of the day I along with over 1500 other people were arrested at the 2004 Republican National Convention. Here is an email from the RNC Defense site commerating the event.

Happy third anniversary everyone!
It has sure been a crazy three years since being arrested, and although it sure sucked bad, it taught me a lot, hardened my resolve, and introduced me to some great friends. I have continued to do the Manhattan CM every single month, as well as joining the Brooklyn CM’s. This has proven to be very surreal – one month the police are willing to chase you into oncoming traffic over a horn or light, the next month they are friendly helpful human beings.
I would like to thank all of the reporters, legal observers, lawyers, film people, bloggers, activists, organizers, and just kind folks who have kept this in the public eye, and made the experience as good as it could be. Thanks to the guy on the prison bus who gave me the chili patch. Months after the arrests, I remember standing in St. Marks church after a CM ride while Rev Billy “exorcised” the evil spirits from a group of arrestees. The place was packed, and everyone there cheered and showed us love. It was such a warm positive vibe, while outside the police sat huddled in their cold vans. I knew that we had already won, and that greater victories lay ahead.

In my case all charges were dropped the day after it made the paper that police had illegally edited video in a case almost identical to mine. I got my bike back, as well as my friends. Of the people I was arrested with, no one had worse then an ACD, and some were dismissed completely. I’ve gone through my 50-H, and look forward to finishing the next step in this process.

If anyone still reads these, please post something about the experience, what you’ve done since, where your case stands, whatever.

Thanks,
Fergie

PS I still remember the feeling of getting out of The Tombs, and finally out of those damn zip-cuffs, hand-cuffs and daisy chains. The feeling of freedom was something that I had never appreciated so much in all of my life. My next meal was the best I had ever eaten. When other aspects of my life get bad, I’m always concious of how good it feels to at least have the freedom to move and be free.

HL,
I read your story from this morning“Time For Us to All Take Action” and emailed Dianne Feinstein, here is her response.

Dear [LMZ]
Thank you for your letter concerning impeachment proceedings against Vice President Richard Cheney. I appreciate the time you took to write and welcome the opportunity to respond.

In our most recent elections, the American people expressed clear disapproval with the path this country was on. They are tired of partisan politics and of an Administration that pays little heed to the wishes of the American people. They want-and deserve-a Congress that holds the Administration accountable and fulfills its Constitutional responsibility to check and balance the Executive branch. I share this sentiment and am determined to work hard and across party lines in the United States Senate to promote issues that are of real concern to most Americans, including the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan, homeland security, global warming, and lobbying and election reform.

At this time, however, I believe that impeachment proceedings against President Bush or Vice President Cheney will only divide the country even further, frustrating our hopes for a meaningful change in direction, while having little chance of success.

I have been deeply disappointed by many of this Administration’s actions and have been outspoken in those instances. Nevertheless, given the challenges our country faces I believe that we need to focus on constructive and cooperative steps that would lead us in the right direction.

Again, thank you for your letter. If you have any further questions or comments, please contact my office in Washington, D.C. at (202) 224-3841. Best regards.

Sincerely yours,
Dianne Feinstein
United States Senator

HL Responds
LMZ, thanks for the email, thats about what I expected from Feinstein. Here is my response to her.

Dear Ms. Feinstein,
I am afraid I am going to have to seriously disagree with you on your assessment of the Cheney Impeachment situation. You state that impeachment proceeding would only divide the country even further. I don’t think so, over 70% of the American people favor The US leaving Iraq, yet Bush refuses to do so. You have the people behind you. Let’s not forget that this war was based on lies that members of Congress fell for when the blogoshere knew quite well about the lies well in advance, as did the 6 Million people worldwide who marched against the war on February 15, 2003. If you read my article from today then you now know what is currently going on. Impeachment may be your only chance, and our only chance.

You also said “I have been deeply disappointed by many of this Administration’s actions and have been outspoken in those instances.”

Then DO SOMETHING about it. That is your job. You have the power, use it. The American People demand nothing less.

Respectfully Yours
HL
United States Blogger

AP
Excerpt:
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Iranian naval vessels on Friday seized 15 British sailors and marines who had boarded a merchant ship in Iraqi waters of the Persian Gulf, British and U.S. officials said. Britain immediately protested the detentions, which come at a time of high tension between the West and
Iran.

In London, the British government summoned the Iranian ambassador to the Foreign Office: “He was left in no doubt that we want them back,” Britain’s Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said after the meeting.

The U.S. Navy, which operates off the Iraqi coast along with British forces, said the British sailors appeared unharmed and that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard naval forces were responsible.

Britain’s Defense Ministry said the British Navy personnel were “engaged in routine boarding operations of merchant shipping in Iraqi territorial waters,” and had completed a ship inspection when they were accosted by the Iranian vessels.

HLs Take
So now the US/British forces are not as strong as the Iranian Navy. This sounds like a BS story to me. Is this the 9/11-Golf of Tonkin incident that Bush and Blair will use to start “Debacle 2 Iran: The Sequel” Where they will get their asses kicked by an Army that is 4 times the size of Iraqs. At least Bush will continue to rake in the cash until he gets out of office.

Vin Scelsa continues to play Kakistocracy cuts on WFUV, the largest college radio station in NYC area. He seems to respond to requests to play it, but I have not got a response to a request for on air interview. I would guess he is also continuing to play it on his Sirius show.
Kevin O’Keefe

HL Responds.
Kevin glad to see the band is getting some play in NYC. Vin Scelsa is the best. I was listening to him back in the 80’s on WNEW-FM in NYC. Check out the best new protest band on the scene Spicewood 7, and their album Kakistrocracy.

The Nation
Excerpt:
Something remarkable is going on in a Miami courtroom. The cruel methods US interrogators have used since September 11 to “break” prisoners are finally being put on trial.

This was not supposed to happen. The Bush Administration’s plan was to put José Padilla on trial for allegedly being part of a network linked to international terrorists. But Padilla’s lawyers are arguing that he is not fit to stand trial because he has been driven insane by the government.

According to his lawyers and two mental health specialists who examined him, Padilla has been so shattered that he lacks the ability to assist in his own defense. He is convinced that his lawyers are “part of a continuing interrogation program” and sees his captors as protectors. In order to prove that “the extended torture visited upon Mr. Padilla has left him damaged,” his lawyers want to tell the court what happened during those years in the Navy brig. The prosecution strenuously objects, maintaining that “Padilla is competent,” that his treatment is irrelevant.

US District Judge Marcia Cooke disagrees. “It’s not like Mr. Padilla was living in a box. He was at a place. Things happened to him at that place.” The judge has ordered several prison employees to testify at the hearings on Padilla’s mental state, which begin February 22. They will be asked how a man alleged to have engaged in elaborate antigovernment plots now acts, in the words of brig staff, “like a piece of furniture.”

It’s difficult to overstate the significance of these hearings. The techniques used to break Padilla have been standard operating procedure at Guantánamo Bay since the first prisoners arrived five years ago. They wore blackout goggles and sound-blocking headphones and were placed in extended isolation, interrupted by strobe lights and heavy metal music. These same practices have been documented in dozens of cases of CIA “extraordinary rendition” as well as in prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan

H.L.s Take
Of course we chronicled all of this in The HL long ago. It would be nice if the mainstream media would get involved in this story so more people will be educated as to what our great country is doing to people some of which were rounded up so Bush could claim he was doing something about the “terrorist,” many of them of course have been released without charges after many years, but there are still many in Guantanamo who have not been tried and may be there forever. Torture by the US must stop for many reasons not the least of which is that if the “enemy” knows we are torturing suspects that will make it that much easier for them to do it to our soldiers if they were captured. Our reptuation around the world under Bush is bad enough as it is.

Uruknet
Excerpt

We are about to find out if the invasion of Iraq really was a war for oil. The country is on the verge of passing a petroleum law, which will set down rules for investing in its oil industry. That will set off a race among the foreign oil giants, scrambling for their slice of Iraq’s vast oil riches. Britain’s two world-leading oil companies, BP and Shell, both say they want to enter Iraq. Exxon, ConocoPhillips, Total, Russia’s Lukoil and the Chinese will also form part of the rush.

Even while the security situation in Iraq remains dire, it seems the prize will be just too great for the oil majors to resist. The country has proven reserves of 115 billion barrels of oil, around the same as Iran, but it is thought that its actual reserves could be anywhere up to 300 billion barrels - which would make it bigger than Saudi Arabia. Much of the west of Iraq remains unexplored.

John Teeling, chairman of Petrel Resources, the explorer listed on London’s AIM market which has had interests in Iraq since 1997, says: “Iraq has 70 discovered, undeveloped fields. You’d die for any one of them. Even the small ones have a billion barrels. If this isn’t the holy grail, it’s right next door to it.”

H.L.’s Take
This is part of the reason that Bush and Cheney are so hellbent on staying in Iraq, and even escalating the war, when everyone else including thier own advisors want to get out. There are still vast resources of oil that Bush has yet to steal over there, he wants to stay in Iraq forever, they are pumping oil out of unmetered wells, and no one knows where it is going. Bush wants to keep grabbing that oil until he leaves office and retires to his 98,000 acre ranch in Paraguay.

PC Advisor
Excerpt
A US Army unit that monitors thousands of websites and soldiers’ blogs has been served with a lawsuit by a San Francisco-based privacy group.
In the suit filed in the US District Court in Washington last week, the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) said that despite several requests for information from the Army unit, known as the Awrac (Army Web Risk Assessment Cell), no answers have been provided.

In an announcement about the lawsuit last week, the EFF said that some bloggers have cut back on their posts or shut down their sites after being contacted by the Awrac. “Soldiers should be free to blog their thoughts at this critical point in the national debate on the war in Iraq,” Hofmann said. “If the Army is colouring or curtailing soldiers’ published opinions, Americans need to know about that interference.”

It’s scary, isn’t it? Little local political humor to ease the nerves:
Keep it up
Theresa

H.L. Responds:
Theresa, Having Bush and the Republicans around does make for some easy material. I ‘m perfectally willing to take my chances with the democrats. They do some pretty funny stuff too sometimes, plus we still have 2 more years of Bush. You know the Dems won’t impeach him IF They win.

Before North Korea announced it had detonated a nuclear device, some senior officials even said they were quietly rooting for a test, believing that would finally clarify the debate within the administration.
Until now, no U.S. official in any administration has ever advocated the testing of nuclear weapons by another country, even by allies such as the United Kingdom and France.
One of these officials may have been Rice herself, Kessler hints. Rice, he reports, “has come close to saying the test was a net plus for the United States.” Rice has been trying to counter the prevailing view that the test was a failure of the Bush administration’s policy.
A factual timeline of the North Korean program traces how policies of containment and engagement slowed and stopped the program, while threats of regime change increased the dangers. The two key failures were the choice to focus on overthrowing the government in Pyongyang rather than stopping the nuclear program, and the invasion of Iraq which distracted U.S. attention from the real nuclear dangers and propelled both North Korea and Iran to accelerate their programs.
The revelation that some officials secretly wanted North Korea to test their nuclear weapons is evidence of how the administration’s national security policy has become completely divorced from reality.
– Joe Cirincione

Aloha;
War of the worlds was broadcast originally on Halloween, so this Halloween
season I felt that it was time to re-visit that theme with our modern
technological terrors. Let there be paper ballots, before it’s too late.
www.whatnowtoons.com

Speaking of Halloween, check out the Gallery of Freaks, Wierdo’s and Monsters that we put up for the past 2 Halloweens. Some scary creatures in there.

Hi, my name is Caleb Hayes and I am starting a new website for the youth
to help them become more politically active. You may remember me as the
young founder of Anti-Bush.com Well now I’m back with
www.YouthDemocracy.net Youth Democracy.net It is time for our youth to step up to the plate and take back this country.

Would you be interested in trading links to help promote my site? Or
maybe doing a story on www.YouthDemocracy.net Youth Democracy.net

H.L. Responds
Caleb, Great idea and site, Good Luck
H.L.

In August, members of Military Families Speak Out–Bergen County NJ
(_www.MFSObergencounty.org_ (http://www.mfsobergencounty.org/) ) sat down with
both candidates in the NJ Senate race and asked each about their views on the
war in Iraq. The answers are enlightening. I am attaching a leaflet MFSO put
together reproducing the questions and answers from both interviews.

Here are their answers

H.L. Responds
Amy, there you go, thanks for the info
H.L.

The Foley scandal distracts from Bush’s network of secret torture camps.
The Foley scandal distracts from the fact that the war in Iraq is making terrorism worse.
The Foley scandal distracts from the fact that Osama bin Laden is still free.
The Foley scandal distracts from the fact that Iraq is in a civil war.
The Foley scandal distracts from the fact that 2700+ soldiers died in Iraq for nothing.
The Foley scandal distracts from the fact that we are now losing the war in Afghanistan, too.
The Foley scandal distracts from the Jack Abramoff and Tom Delay scandals.
The Foley scandal distracts from the fact that Bush let New Orleans die.
The Foley scandal distracts from the fact that the national debt is about to exceed 10 trillion dollars.
The Foley scandal distracts from the Abu Ghraib scandal. And Haliburton’s no bid contracts, global
warming, the failed war in Lebanon, failed diplomacy with Iran and North Korea, ignoring the Geneva
Conventions, the United Nations, and the Anti-ballistic missle treaty, warrantless wire tapping of our
phone conversations, no weapons of mass destruction, and Bob Woodward’s latest book “State of Denial”.

So although this sex scandal is bad for Republicans, it isn’t nearly as bad as all the other scandals.
Besides Clinton won with a sex scandal. I think Republicans are better off dealing with a sex scandal
than dealing with a record of failure.

Marc Perkel
San Bruno, CA.

Hi There,

Here are a couple of cartoons I did which you can run if you like.

Mike

H.L. Responds
Mike, Good stuff, here they are. Thanks

The Pixwit’s “Put Up or Shut Up” Challenge

(For Real! You can bet your Bible on it! Please.)

Yes, such is the Pixwit’s faith that he is inspired to bet $1,000,000 (U.S.) that neither the Rapture nor the Second Coming of Jesus Christ will happen within the next three years . . .
Place your bets Here

H.L. Respongs
RG, Great work, don’t forget to send me 10% of whatever bets that come in through my site.
H.L.

The reading will be held September 18th at McNally Robinson Booksellers,
50 Prince Street, New York.

Fifteen authors will read in all, and the current list includes
Robb Forman Dew, Masha Hamilton, Binnie Kirshenbaum and Leora Skolkin-Smith.

Grace Paley is helping organize the event, and Skolkin-Smith, whose novel, Edges: O Israel, O Palestine, was Published by Paley’s Glad Day Books, will serve as committee chair and MC. Sue O’Doherty, writer, and clinical psychologist in NYC, is head of The organizing committee.

Contact: Leora Skolkin-Smith , skolkin@nyc.rr.com
or Masha Hamilton, MashaHamil@aol.com
Sue O’Doherty, dr.sue@mindspring.com

http://www.leoraskolkinsmith.com
http://readysteadybook.com

H.L.s Responds
Hope the reading goes well. Wish I could be there as I haven’t been back to my hometown in a while now, but I have the Bartcop Vegas Pokerfest on the 16th and 17th. Catch you some other time.
H.L.

Dear H.L.,

We’re trying to get word out about Ms.’ new “I Had An Abortion” campaign and thought that The Hollywood Liberal might be interested.

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release Contact: Erin Carmany, 703-522-4201
August 7, 2006 ecarmany@msmagazine.com

Ms. Magazine Launches Women’s Petition on Abortion, Birth Control Groundbreaking New Petition Will Put a Face on the Abortion Issue

Arlington, VA - Ms. magazine has launched a groundbreaking new petition to make visible the millions of women in the United States who have had abortions.

“We must put a human face on the abortion issue,” said Katherine Spillar, executive editor of Ms. magazine. “Ms. calls on women who have had abortions to step forward publicly by signing our petition, which we will send to Congress, the White House, and state legislators. Politicians need to know that their decisions affect their neighbors, their colleagues, influential movers and shakers, and even their own daughters. For the sake of women in the United States and around the world, we cannot lose the right to safe and accessible abortion and access to birth control.”

The “Women’s Petition for Safe, Legal, and Accessible Abortion and Birth Control” is based on the petition that ran in the 1972 debut issue of Ms., in which 53 prominent American women, such as Ms. co-founder Gloria Steinem, publicly declared that they had undergone abortions before the procedure was legal. These women called for the repeal of anti-abortion laws in the United States to end the “untold suffering” and deaths of women who were forced to have unsafe, illegal, back-alley abortions.

Today, the new Ms. petition comes at a time when the South Dakota legislature has voted to ban abortion, and nearly a dozen states have moved similar abortion bans forward. If Roe v. Wade were overturned by the Supreme Court, 17 states would immediately outlaw abortion based on trigger laws or pre-Roe bans still on the books, and another dozen would soon follow. Already, each year, some 70,000 women in developing countries are dying because of botched, illegal abortions, caused in part by U.S. policies such as the Global Gag Rule.

The petition will be printed in the Fall issue of Ms., which hits newsstands October 10, and online at Ms. Magazine

For more information or to read the full petition, visit www.MsMagazine.com.

H.Ls. Responds.
Jessica,
There you go. Hope it helps.
H.L.