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... issues like "dizziness, heart palpitations, chronic depression". The US RDA for vitamin D for adults is several times too low, and people in solitary confinement indoors are unlikely to be getting enough sunlight to make up the difference. The isolation itself is no doubt harmful to many people too, but the vitamin D aspect could at least be addressed easily even within the current system. The nutrition issue is even larger; see for example:
http://www.psychologytoday.com...
http://www.theguardian.com/pol...
http://www.naturalnews.com/039...

And environmental toxins contribute too:
http://www.motherjones.com/env...

Ironically, corporations get to repent by "restorative justice" (paying reparations or fixing what was broken) while real people are hit with "punitive justice".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R...

US prison population stats:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I...
"In 2008 approximately one in every 31 adults (7.3 million) in the United States was behind bars, or being monitored (probation and parole). In 2008 the breakdown for adults under correctional control was as follows: one out of 18 men, one in 89 women, one in 11 African-Americans (9.2 percent), one in 27 Latinos (3.7 percent), and one in 45 Caucasians (2.2 percent). Crime rates have increased by about 25 percent from 1988 to 2008.[18] In recent decades the U.S. has experienced a surge in its prison population, quadrupling since 1980, partially as a result of mandatory sentencing that came about during the "war on drugs." Violent crime and property crime have declined since the early 1990s.[19]"

Recent incarcerations for drone protesters, but presumably not in solitary:
http://www.syracuse.com/news/i...
http://www.syracuse.com/news/i...
http://www.syracuse.com/news/i...
http://www.veteransforpeace.or...

What a difference a nun can make even in prison:
"84-year-old nun sentenced for her anti-nuclear activism"
http://www.catholic.org/nation...
"Rice said she learned in prison to see her fellow inmates, not as perpetrators but as "victims" of a system that gave them few options. Walli says that like Rice, he spends long hours talking to inmates to "instill the idea that human life is sacred. "They know that they are the human fallout and the victims of the profiteering by the elite and top leaders of the corporations that are contracted to make the nuclear weapons. It's (the money) denied to human services that should be the priority of any government," Rice said. "

1.) We have to cut a lot of our emissions since american business and activity is responsible for a lot of the emissions at issue. China is racked with Poverty. That makes it a developing nation. Try not to get confused by syntax or technicalities. It might help if you actually knew what the phrase "developing nation" meant.

Besides, if we really live in a capitalist society, where people innovate and create, Kyoto is no different than any other business condition like new competition or a new technology. Afterall, no one is seriously debating if global warming is just made up or arguing against it (unless they are working for big oil) and the our life as humans as we know it on this planet is hanging in the balance. But no, there's money to be made, so screw it all -- the planet, the environment, future generations.

Inventors and innovators, partly driven by the profit motive, would figure out a way to make business work without the emissions (like algae-biodiesel!)

2.) Are you seriously still drumming up support for Iraq? Because it's worked out so well so far? We've run into a cost over-run by about a factor of potentially 20 (1 - 2 trillion total cost for the war, versus Bush's people's estimate of less than 80 - 120 billion). We invaded for a few reasons, oil being one of the largest, hegemony being another. Saddam was our pal up to the first gulf war and we actually helped put him in place in the 1960's since we wanted strong partners in the region. Why? For oil. That's the whole reason we are there. The entire world was NOT convinced about the WMD, that's why they all said not to invade. At the United Nations Security Council French and Russian Foreign Ministers Dominique de Villepin and Igor Ivanov garnered an unusual applause inside the chamber with their speeches against the war and for a continuation of the weapons inspections. WMD were not transfered to Syria. There's no better opportunity in the world for business than there is in Iraq. The government will always pay for it, you can subcontract it out, etc.

As for the cease-fire demands? We sure don't care when our dictator allies are anti-democratic or are breaking the law. Take the Saudis. They piss people off in Saudi Arabia regular basis; they don't even have a constitution. We overthrew a democratically elected government in Iran in 1953 to install a dictator; they're still a litte bitter about the whole operation. Or how about in Chile? Guatamala? Or the Iran-Contra affair (wanton breaking of the law by Regan)?

Funding for Terrorism? We fund a lot of that under the auspicies of the CIA, mostly in the aforementioned countries. When they do it is terrorism, but when we support and train people who bayonet preagnent women in the stomache, torture children, dissapear people who disagree, it's called "fighting for democracy".

3.) The connection is via government. Car/Oil needs oil reserves. Government is influenced by them by $$$ for campaigns. Military contractors also see this and help by making war profitable and easier. Try reading War is Racket, book by former USMC Major General Smedley Butler where he discuses how business benefits from war. He became disenchanted with a lot of his work when he came to his convictions after, in his words, realizing that he was a "gangster for capitalism".

4.) Trains! Mass-transit! The fact that we as Americans like to own McMansions on large acre plots in bedroom communities doesn't help. No, the trains won't make money but it is a choice society can make that makes life easier. Privitization is a fundamentalism here in the US and people just assume that a privitized industry is a better industry. People

War Is A Racket

It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.

A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small "inside" group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.

In the World War [I] a mere handful garnered the profits of the conflict. At least 21,000 new millionaires and billionaires were made in the United States during the World War. That many admitted their huge blood gains in their income tax returns. How many other war millionaires falsified their tax returns no one knows.
----

-- Excerpt from a speech delivered in 1933, by Major General Smedley Butler, USMC.

War is just a racket. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses.

I believe in adequate defense at the coastline and nothing else. If a nation comes over here to fight, then we'll fight. The trouble with America is that when the dollar only earns 6 percent over here, then it gets restless and goes overseas to get 100 percent. Then the flag follows the dollar and the soldiers follow the flag.

I wouldn't go to war again as I have done to protect some lousy investment of the bankers. There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket.

There isn't a trick in the racketeering bag that the military gang is blind to. It has its "finger men" to point out enemies, its "muscle men" to destroy enemies, its "brain men" to plan war preparations, and a "Big Boss" Super-Nationalistic-Capitalism.

It may seem odd for me, a military man to adopt such a comparison. Truthfulness compels me to. I spent thirty- three years and four months in active military service as a member of this country's most agile military force, the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle- man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.

I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of it. Like all the members of the military profession, I never had a thought of my own until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of higher-ups. This is typical with ever

War Is A Racket

It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.

A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small "inside" group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.

In the World War [I] a mere handful garnered the profits of the conflict. At least 21,000 new millionaires and billionaires were made in the United States during the World War. That many admitted their huge blood gains in their income tax returns. How many other war millionaires falsified their tax returns no one knows.
----

-- Excerpt from a speech delivered in 1933, by Major General Smedley Butler, USMC.

War is just a racket. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses.

I believe in adequate defense at the coastline and nothing else. If a nation comes over here to fight, then we'll fight. The trouble with America is that when the dollar only earns 6 percent over here, then it gets restless and goes overseas to get 100 percent. Then the flag follows the dollar and the soldiers follow the flag.

I wouldn't go to war again as I have done to protect some lousy investment of the bankers. There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket.

There isn't a trick in the racketeering bag that the military gang is blind to. It has its "finger men" to point out enemies, its "muscle men" to destroy enemies, its "brain men" to plan war preparations, and a "Big Boss" Super-Nationalistic-Capitalism.

It may seem odd for me, a military man to adopt such a comparison. Truthfulness compels me to. I spent thirty- three years and four months in active military service as a member of this country's most agile military force, the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle- man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.

I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of it. Like all the members of the military profession, I never had a thought of my own until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of higher-ups. This is typical with ever

And what falsehoods would those be? Oh, I know 99% of /. believe that "Bush lied about WMDs." But that's just not the case. Even assuming that Saddam had decommissioned his WMD collection (of which there is little evidence), and not shipped them off to Syria (of which there is some evidence), then we are still stuck with the matter of whether that's a "lie" or not. I submit that at worse, it's a mistake, a misconception.

Keep in mind, I hope the WMD are gone, and gone for good, not just to Syria. But the question remains, Saddam did have and use them - where are they now? Maybe he used up his stockpile.

I'm sure you have other examples of "lies" though, so feel free to vent.

It's worth rolling this out again.

The 14 Characteristics of Fascism

they want to control all the information that's coming out of the area.

they don't want the rest of the nation to know that hundreds of THOUSANDS of people have died due to the direct negligence of this administration. they knew full well as far back as 2002 that new orleans would be in big trouble due to flooding and hurricanes. that's why they were in the middle of building levees. then all of a sudden the funding was cut off to pay for the iraq war.

there are many stories coming out of new orleans that the government and fema are doing all they can to prevent photos and news from leaking out rather than helping the afflicted. even stories of children being searched for cameras.

and just about every aid agency and foreign assistance is being turned away or being delayed as long as possible.

the fact that the rest of the world's news media are doing a far better job of covering this event than the US... is something to contemplate.

when they burned down fallujah and other cities and bombarded it with depleted uranium, which has a half life of millions of years..., and killed lots of civilians... it was ok with the US public. but when the administration redirected the funding of the new orleans levees to pay for the war and ended up causing the worst disaster in the history of the country... i just have to wonder why FEMA and this administration isn't doing everything it can to prevent the real death toll and damage assessment from coming out.

remember kids, war is good for the economy and ignorance is strength.

http://www.veteransforpeace.org/war_is_a_racket_03 3103.htm

http://www.thinkprogress.org/katrina-timeline

Here's three links that support the parent:

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0828-08.ht m
http://www.veteransforpeace.org/Diebolds_political _030504.htm
http://www.boalt.org/biplog/archive/000546.html

If you disagree with the parent, be a man and argue the point with him. Don't mod him as 'flamebait' merely because what he says makes you feel uncomfortable.

This might interest you:

The 14 Characteristics of Fascism

by Lawrence Britt

The world has seen many fascist regimes, Nazi Germany was only one instance. But even that extreme case had western defenders up to the war - King George, Henry Ford (iirc), the Kennedy father or grandfather (when ambassador to the UK), and more.

A few years ago Free Inquiry published a summary of 14 characteristics of fascist regimes. One copy here. I think you can make a defensible case for 13 of the 14 points, with the final item a false negative.

I suggest reading the full article for details, but for the impatient here's the keynotes:

• Powerful and Continuing Nationalism
• Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights
• Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause
• Supremacy of the Military
• Rampant Sexism
• Controlled Mass Media
• Obsession with National Security
• Religion and Government are Intertwined
• Corporate Power is Protected
• Labor Power is Suppressed
• Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts
• Obsession with Crime and Punishment
• Rampant Cronyism and Corruption
• Fraudulent Elections

The main exception I see is the supremacy of the military. This administration talks them up, but its actual treatment of our troops is contemptable. We've all heard of soldiers injured, discharged, then told to repay their enlistment bonus since they didn't complete their term of service. Or told to pay hospital fees while recooperating from loss of limbs. (The argument was that they shouldn't have gotten a food and housing stipend while living on hospital grounds but not in a hospital room, or something equally lame.)

Most disgusting has to be the recent bankruptcy bill. Somebody noticed that it did not include an exception for servicemen forced into bankruptcy as a consequence of being called to duty. N.B., under current law creditors are supposed to forego collections of any national guard troop called up. But the Republicans in control of Congress had some petty rule that they wouldn't accept any amendments to this bill and they gave the shaft to our servicemen.

(P.S., I know that the sexism point is debatable. We have Condi Rice.... but she's from the oil industry. A supertanker is named after her!!! Some people see covert sexism in the policy on birth control, abortions, even the refusal to accept court rulings on Terri Schiavo's desire to avoid a persistent vegetative state.)

Where on earth did we get the notion that nuclear warfare has not been used since WWII?

Iraq & Our Energy Future - Depleted Uranium Use in Iraq

"During the first Gulf War in 1991, weapons containing depleted Uranium were used for the first time in combat."
http://www.uwec.edu/grossmzc/anderkel.html

Weapon of Mass Deception What the Pentagon doesn't want us to know about depleted uranium "Over the past 15 years, the Pentagon has become increasingly dependent on DU weapons and armor. The 1991 Gulf War was the first major conflict in which DU weaponry and armor was used. Almost 320 tons-an amount equal to the weight of five Abrams battle tanks-were fired in the Iraqi desert. About 10 tons of DU munitions were used in Kosovo and the former Yugoslavia in the '90s. DU weaponry was reportedly used in Afghanistan in 2001 as well, but reliable estimates are not yet available."
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Health/WeaponMas sDecepton_DU.html

WAR CRIME! - U.S Use of Depleted Uranium -"More Deadly than Gas" "When this war ends, George Bush will have caused the poisoning of hundreds of thousands more humans than he said Saddam Hussein poisoned."
http://www.stopthenato.org/m/zit/id_ses/a5cf1047/i d_p/10/opt/read_e/id_s/148.html

Death By Slow Burn - How America Nukes Its Own Troops "DU munitions are classified by a United Nations resolution as illegal weapons of mass destruction. Their use breaches all international laws, treaties and conventions forbidding poisoned weapons calculated to cause unnecessary suffering."
http://www.veteransforpeace.org/Death_by_slow_burn _050302.htm

Note that Senitor Lindsey Graham _did_ get to read the whole report, and to quote him

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said the scandal is ``going to get worse'' and warned that the most ``disturbing'' revelations haven't yet been made public.<p>
``The American public needs to understand, we're talking about rape and murder here,'' he said. ``We're not just talking about giving people a humiliating experience; we're talking about rape and murder and some very serious charges.''

" Your point? The bottom line is that This can;t be pegged on a single president."

Mmmm. Ok then it was partially bush's fault and yet nobody held him responsible. The odd thing is that it's kind of understandable in the case of Clinton. You may remember that he was being impeached for where he put his cock, maybe that proved to be some sort of a distraction, maybe that distraction put the country in danger.

What's Bush's excuse? That he was vacation?

And what about afterwards? What about a botched invation of iraq? what about lying to congress about WMDs, what about lying to the world in the UN? Remember powell saying to the world at the UN that iraq had four tons of VX? How come nobody was held responsible for those lies?

"And what the hell does this have to do with gay marriage? "

Because the red staters it's more important not to let the fags marry then it is to hold somebody responsible for what happened on 9/11. Litening all those toby keith records while fucking your cousin tends to do that I guess.

Why not just nuke the DMZ and turn it into a radioactive wasteland?

During the '50s General Douglas MacArthur wanted to use radioactive material (dirty bombs) along the Yalu river, the border between Korea and China, to prevent the flow of Chinese reinforcements into Korea. So this kind of idea certainly has come up before... (Mac got fired for it, however.)

See here for more.

Would wireless help?

So far, the current administration has held American citizens incommunicado without charges, violated the Geneva convention many hundreds of times, demanded vast police powers without oversight, has arrested a man for providing volunteer webmonkey work to a site that links to groups that the administration has declared are "linked to terrorism" (by that metric, Rob Malda could be jailed at federal whim), demanded the right to demand information on books read and made it a federal crime to tell anyone that such information has been siezed, tortured prisoners...I'm not going to list them all. It would take hours just to list and cite atrocities and abuses associated with Iraq, much less other disagreeable things the administration has done.

The point is, it's easy to say "oh, it's just Bush". The thing is, he is our *elected representative* (well, more or less -- but he did get a lot of votes, and even if he lost the popular vote and it was dubious whether he won the electoral college vote, there are a lot of people that supported him to blame). One cannot pass off all the horrors of Soviet Russia on, say, Stalin. The people of the country chose to allow him to remain in place, granted him economic and military power, and the things he did to other countries were weighed against the Soviet people by foreigners. We, also, are judged by what Bush does.

If Bush retains office this autumn, it will be due to a complete failure of people to vote and guide their country, and a decision that will have far-reaching effects in people around the world.

Don't spread the myth. The only ones who were harassed or arrested were the ones who engaged in violence, criminal trespass, or other actions which went beyond speaking their minds.

You're the one spreading a myth, bud. A few minutes with Google puts the lie to your claim:

• mass arrests in San Francisco
• Brett Bursey was arrested for "trespassing" while on public property with an antiwar sign - and is now facing federal charges
• Thomas C. Frazier arrested for trying to carry an anti-war sign
• Anti-war veterns not allowed to march
• Protestors arrested after violating unconstitutional restraint of demonstrations in Lafayette Park
• Protestor beaten in Santa Cruz

Oh, you mean he had about 2,500 nuclear warheads like the US does? That's a real threat. The point is, depending on what side of the line you stand on you can always choose to see the other side as a threat. There is no hard proof of WMD, there is no proof of anything Iraq could shoot up in the air and bomb America with. You are choosing to ignore the facts and live your life in fear. Don't take my word for it:

"In Jordan and Indonesia, well over half of those asked felt the United States posed a greater danger to world peace and stability than al Qaeda.

In five of the 11 countries polled, a majority of respondents believed the United States was more dangerous than Iran, named by Bush as part of an "axis of evil" with Iraq and North Korea. - From a survey of 11,000 people in 11 countries Link