Minnesota Independent: The crackdown on demonstrators continues

When he visits Kiev, the Foreign Secretary should remember the threats posed by Nato’s drive eastwards

Anatol Lieven, Times Online, 26 August 2008

Before making his speech on policy towards Russia in Kiev, Ukraine, later this week David Miliband would do well to ponder some wise advice from a great predecessor. Lord Salisbury, Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister in the days of the British Empire, dispensed immense global power; but that did not mean that he liked playing about with that power.

Faced with proposals for British policy that he understood to be deeply damaging to the interests of other great powers, Salisbury would look his colleagues in the eye and ask simply: “Are you really prepared to fight? If not, do not embark on this policy.”

[Read the article]

Peggy Noonan was not impressed with Barack Obama’s acceptance speech saying at least it wasn’t the usual democratic fare about two-headed children going without healthcare. Scarborough and Mika found it so hilarious they could barely stop laughing. Must be nice to be so comfortable with one’s own health plan that the misfortune of others is a source of amusement.

The bobbleheads are now attempting to create drama around McCain’s VP pick. He’s ruled out Pawlenty and Romney and they just don’t know who it could be.

I figure it must be someone the jokers have not discussed (in order to make the announcement more dramatic) – Huckabee or Giuliani – and Noonan must have written McCain’s acceptance speech.

Update:
Alaska Governor Sarah Palin gets the nod and McCain’s bluster regarding Obama’s inexperience goes out the window.

Update 2:
There go the anti-celebrity arguments, too:

via Alaska Governor Sarah Palin Explains Why She Axed Walt Monegan As Allegations Of Hush Money To Chuck Kopp And Witness Tampering Surface

Open and transparent government?
Posted by Alaska_Politics
Posted: August 28, 2008 – 6:07 pm

Reporter Lisa Demer talked today to the Palin administration about the use of private e-mail accounts in the governor’s office. Palin’s new communciations director, Bill McAllister, gave a surprising answer when pressed about how the public could get access to those e-mails, when they concern state business and aren’t otherwise exempt from public disclosure.

Listen to what McAllister had to say about open and transparent government.

Update 3:
Kodiak Konfidential: If I had a dime every time …

I eat gravel: McCain/Palin Campaign Ad

The Free Press
23 August 2008

Leonard Peltier really needs help right now. One way to do something right now is to join Peltier’s’ branches of support. You can sign up at Leonard Peltier And then network with your friends, campus organization, peace/social justice groups and so on.

Leonard’s 64th birthday will be on Sept. 12th, and September 6 will mark 32 and half years he will have been held captive for something the government can no longer prove. His case has generated support from the entertainment industry, religious/world leaders, 55 members of congress, numerous human rights groups, such as Amnesty International, and other respected national organizations. There has been over 25 million letters written on his behalf. U.S. Presidents have patronized his supporters and then ignored his appeal for justice.

[Read the article]

Joel Gulledge /
Special to The Clarion-Ledger

This article was originally published by The Clarion-Ledger and is republished with the author’s permission.

I left my home in the United States to spend the summer in the West Bank, where I was attacked by Israeli settlers late last month. As a member of the Christian Peacemaker Team, I went to the South Hebron Hills to help keep young Palestinian children safe from Israeli settlers intent on hurting Palestinians. Armed only with a video camera, it was my job to escort the children back and forth from school and summer camp.

On July 27, the children and I were walking home when a group of Israeli settlers assaulted us from a hilltop with fist-sized stones. Some narrowly missed my head. Focusing my video camera, I recorded an Israeli settler flinging stones at the children from his long-range slingshot. When he saw that I was filming him, he struck me in the leg with a rock. He chased me, kicked me and screamed that he was going to kill me. Wrestling the video camera from my hand, he then repeatedly struck me in the face and upper body with a stone.

After the assault, I was helped by Palestinians to reach a hospital where I was treated for my injuries.

The occupied West Bank today is like walking through a page from a different era – part Wild West, part Jim Crow – with one set of laws for Palestinians and another set for Israeli settlers.

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