One Tough Mother

Mothers' Day Proclamation:
Julia Ward Howe, Boston, 1870

Mother's Day was started after the Civil War, as an anti-war protest, by women who had lost their sons in that bloodbath.
This is the original proclamation.
And it's still the news.

sj

Arise, then, women of this day! Arise all women who have hearts,
whether our baptism be that of water or of fears!

Say firmly: "We will not have great questions decided by
irrelevant agencies. Our husbands shall not come to us, reeking
with carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be
taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach
them of charity, mercy and patience.

We women of one country will be too tender of those of another
country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs. From
the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with our own.
It says "Disarm, Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance
of justice."

Blood does not wipe our dishonor nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons
of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a
great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women,
to bewail and commemorate the dead.

Let them then solemnly take counsel with each other as to the
means whereby the great human family can live in peace, each
bearing after their own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
but of God.

In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask that a
general congress of women without limit of nationality may be
appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and at
the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the
alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement
of international questions, the great and general interests of
peace.

Julia Ward Howe
Boston
1870

Fight Back and Keep On Fighting

Connect the Dots

What if.....?

This event was the pretext for war abroad and oppression at home.
What if it was a lie?
What if high-ranking members of the United States government were complicit in the murders of nearly 3000 Americans?
What if they used that hoax to goad the American people into supporting the "war on terror" that has killed millions of innocent people in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere?
What if it was all about the money?
What if you found out?
What would you do?

sj

Imagine my surprise

Dramatic Osama Death Details May Be Bogus

Officials now say Bin Laden wasn’t armed, did not use wife as shield.

By Josh Voorhees | Posted Tuesday, May. 3, 2011, at 11:44 AM EDT

White House counterterrorism chief John Brennan painted a stunning picture Monday of Osama Bin Laden’s final moments alive: the al-Qaida leader was armed and possibly firing at oncoming U.S. forces while using his own wife as a human shield.

The problem with that specific telling of the story, however, is that the White House is now saying, quietly, that that is not what happened.

Those key details are among those that have been quietly refuted by administration officials who are speaking to the press off-camera.

Politico reports that during an untelevised background briefing for television reporters Monday afternoon, a senior White House official said that Bin Laden was not armed when he was shot dead by the Navy SEAL assault team. A second unidentified official later confirmed the change to the White House’s account.

Another unidentified official, likewise, walked back public comments from Brennan that suggested Bin Laden used his wife as a shield. In fact, it now appears that Bin Laden’s wife wasn’t the woman killed during the raid at all, and instead was only injured during the firefight.

“Two women were shot here. It sounds like their fates were mixed up,” the (also unidentified) official told Politico. “This is hours old and the full facts are still being ascertained as those involved are debriefed.”

Part of the problem appears to be how the White House is disseminating the highly-sought after details of the operation that killed its top terrorist target.

President Obama provided only a rough sketch of exactly what happened during his televised speech to the nation Sunday night, leaving it to a host of White House and military officials to color in the gaps, most of whom are speaking to reporters only “on background,” meaning they cannot be identified by name or specific position within the administration.

Further complicating matters is that Brennan, one of the few men who has been given permission by the White House to speak publicly about the details, is the one who has advanced many of statements that have been refuted behind the scenes.

From Monday’s press briefing: (emphasis added)

Q: You said that Osama bin Laden was actually involved in the firefight, and we had -- it has been reported that he reached for a weapon. Did he get his hand on a gun and did he fire himself?

BRENNAN: He was engaged in a firefight with those that entered the area of the house he was in. And whether or not he got off any rounds, I quite frankly don’t know.

Somewhere (and by that we mean just across the newsroom) Slate's Jack Shafer is saying "I told you so."

A Lesson in Peace from "The War"

Don't be a Sap

YEARS OF DECEIT:

US OPENLY ACCEPTS BIN LADEN LONG DEAD

Gordon Duff December 5, 2009

Conservative commentator, former Marine Colonel Bob Pappas has been saying for years that bin Laden died at Tora Bora and that Senator Kerry’s claim that bin Laden escaped with Bush help was a lie. Now we know that Pappas was correct. The embarrassment of having Secretary of State Clinton talk about bin Laden in Pakistan was horrific. He has been dead since December 13, 2001 and now, finally, everyone, Obama, McChrystal, Cheney, everyone who isn’t nuts is finally saying what they have known for years….

…America knew Osama bin Laden died December 13, 2001. After that, his use was hardly one to unite America but rather one to divide, scam and play games. With bin Laden gone, we could have started legitimate nation building in Afghanistan instead of the eternal insurgency that we invented ourselves…..

For years, we attacked the government of Pakistan for not hunting down someone everyone knew was dead. Bin Laden’s death hit the newspapers in Pakistan on December 15, 2001. How do you think our ally felt when they were continually berated for failing to hunt down and turn over someone who didn’t exist?

What kind of man was Osama bin Laden? This one time American ally against Russia, son of a wealthy Saudi family, went to Afghanistan to help them fight for their freedom. America saw him as a great hero then. Transcripts of the real bin Laden show him to be much more moderate than we claim, angry at Israel and the US government but showing no anger toward Americans and never making the kind of threats claimed. All of this is public record for any with the will to learn….

We know this: Bin Laden always denied any ties to 9/11 and, in fact, has never been charged in relation to 9/11. He not only denied involvement, but had done so, while alive, 4 times and had vigorously condemned those who were involved in the attack…

This is on the public record, public in every free country except ours. We, instead, showed films made by paid actors, made up to look somewhat similar to bin Laden, actors who contradicted bin Laden's very public statements, actors pretending to be bin Laden long after bin Laden’s death…

READ IT ALL

http://www.veteranstoday.com/2009/12/05/years-of-deceit-us-openly-accepts-bin-laden-long-dead/