http://www.conedsolutions.com/Residential/GreenPowerMain.htm
PRESS RELEASE FROM CONGRESSMAN DENNIS KUCINICH On December 21st
Kucinich Says Brazen Attacks in Iraq Defy Administration's Rhetoric Iraq Out of Control; January Elections Will Be a Sham
WASHINGTON -- December 21 -- Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH) issued the following statement today on the escalating violence in Iraq ... "The brazen executions, captured on film for the world to see, shows Iraq out of control, despite Administration rhetoric. The US occupation has failed to provide security. It's time for the Administration to be honest with the American public: Free and fair elections cannot, and will not, happen under such conditions. The January election can only be a sham. "American troops and American taxpayers are footing the bill for a war that was never needed, and a war that is counterproductive to the security interests of our nation. No weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq and the 9/11 Commission has determined that Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with the September 11th attacks.
"This Administration is conducting a war with no end. Iraqi elections, while an important step, will not bring an end to the US occupation of Iraq, and will not bring our soldiers home. "The continued occupation of Iraq is draining our financial resources here at home, and is harming our military readiness worldwide. We cannot continue down this path. "Now is the time for a new direction in Iraq. We must end the occupation of Iraq. It is time for a new plan. It is time, to begin the process of getting the UN in and the US out."
[A peaceful walk through a snowy landscape, during the holidays, brings me joy and temporary peace of mind. May your holidays be joyful and we all pray that 2005 be a more peaceful place to live. Amen!]
(DUCHESS NOTE ... The good folk at TomPaine.com seldom run open letters. This past week, however, they are making an exception. In the days leading up to Christmas, many Christians around the country and the world celebrated the birth of Jesus—also known as the Prince of Peace. The backdrop to Christmas this year is the war in Iraq, which a majority of Americans now believe was and is a mistake. Cindy Sheehan's heartfelt rebuke to TIME magazine offers a perspective one hopes the nation will hear more of in 2005 as we contemplate the consequences of a corrupt administrations [regime] recklessness. Cindy Sheehan lives in California.)
Dear Time Editors:
My son, Spc. Casey Sheehan was killed in Iraq on 04/04/04. This has been an extraordinary couple of weeks of "slaps in the faces" to us families of fallen heroes.
First, the Secretary of Defense—Donald Rumsfeld—admits to the world something that we as military families already know: The United States was not prepared for nor had any plan for the assault on Iraq. Our children were sent to fight an ill-conceived and badly prosecuted war. Our troops were sent with the wrong type of training, bad equipment, inferior protection and thin supply lines. Our children have been killed and we have made the ultimate sacrifice for this fiasco of a war, then we find out this week that Rumsfeld doesn't even have the courtesy or compassion to sign the "death letters"—as they are so callously called. Besides the upcoming holidays and the fact we miss our children desperately, what else can go wrong this holiday season?
Well let's see. Oh yes. George W. Bush awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom to three more architects of the quagmire that is Iraq. Thousands of people are dead and Bremer, Tenet and Franks are given our country's highest civilian award. What's next? To top everything off—after it has been proven that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction, there were no ties between Saddam and 9/11 and over 1,300 brave young people in this country are dead and Iraq lies in ruins— what does Time Magazine do? Names George W. Bush as its "Man of the Year." The person who betrayed this country into a needless war and whom I hold ultimately responsible for my son's death and who was questionably elected, again, to a second term, is honored this way by your magazine.
I hope we finally find peace in our world and that our troops who remain in Iraq are brought home speedily—after all, there was no reason for our troops to be there in the first place. No reason for my son and over 1,300 others to have been taken from their families. No reason for the infrastructure of Iraq to be demolished and thousands of Iraqis being killed. No reason for the notion of a "happy" holiday to be robbed from my family forever. I hope that our "leaders" don't invade any other countries which pose no serious threat to the United States. I hope there is no draft. I hope that the five people mentioned here (and many others) will finally be held responsible for the horrible mistake they got our country into. I hope that competence is finally rewarded and incompetence is appropriately punished. These are my wishes for 2005. This isn't the first time your magazine has selected a questionable man for this honor—but it's the first time it affected my family so personally and so sorrowfully. Cindy Sheehan
QUOTE OF THE WEEK ... If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything. Mark Twain
U.S. GOVERNMENT DOESN'T HAVE THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT -- Message From TrueMajority
Everybody is giving gifts. Big gifts. Little gifts. We give these gifts as tokens of our love. We're sending and receiving cards, cards that express our common yearning for peace on Earth, goodwill to all, tidings of kindness and joy. And so it is doubly disheartening at this time when the spirit of Christmas is in the air that we open the newspaper to find:
"U.S. Cutting Food Aid Aimed at Self-Sufficiency"
http://truemajority.kintera.org/food
It turns out that while the number of the world's people who go hungry is rising for the first time in years, the Bush administration can find no better way to reduce spending than to cut $600 million from global food aid programs aimed at helping millions of people climb out of poverty. That belt-tightening of $600 million doesn't make much of a dent in a federal discretionary budget of $965 BILLION (it's 0.0001 percent), but in the developing world it's emergency food to prevent the starvation of millions, and long-term agricultural development to help people feed even more people themselves. Or put another way, it's 1/60th of the $35 BILLION that remains in the budget to maintain America's Cold War nuclear weapons-equivalent to 150,000 of the bombs that destroyed Hiroshima.
This is so outrageous that there's now a BIPARTISAN effort in Congress led by Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-Missouri) to convince the administration that global food aid should not be cut. Let's make our voices really count this Christmas and give the most important gift we can, the gift of life for millions of our hungry brothers and sisters around the world. And we can make it happen. Forward this e-mail far and wide so that we flood Congress with faxes and so the world and our government will know that it's really Christmastime and that many of us are heeding Jesus' haunting words: "Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me."
[Abit of snowfall in a Brooklyn neighborhood]
A MESSAGE FROM IMPEACHBUSH.ORG THIS HOLIDAY SEASON -- "Impeach Bush" Will Ring Out At CounterInaugural Protests
George Bush was preparing to leave on his next extended vacation at Camp David and then to the big ranch in Crawford, when a massive explosion ripped through a mess tent during lunchtime yesterday at a large U.S. military base in northern Iraq. Twenty-four were killed, 57 wounded. More than 1,300 U.S. soldiers have been killed and the number evacuated from Iraq for serious injuries, both physical and mental, is now over 30,000. For the Iraqi people, the death toll and agony inflicted on society is almost beyond belief. Twenty-one months ago the Iraqi people were at work, at school, at home and from a legal point of view they were "at peace" when George Bush ordered the "shock and awe invasion" of their homeland. Not only have 100,000 Iraqi people died because of this invasion and occupation (The Lancet Medical Journal, October 29, 2004) but their society is being ripped to shreds.
Bush and those who ordered this criminal war will rest during the holiday season in comfort and privilege. It is the so-called "ordinary" people in the United States and Iraq who will suffer from the misery and loss imposed on them by an imperious President whose criminal conduct, if unchallenged, mocks the very concept of law and government accountability. On January 20, Bush's lawless administration will seek to achieve "legitimacy" through the Inaugural spectacle organized by the Bush/Cheney Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC). The PIC is generating $40 million from oil and energy corporations, big banks and military contractors. The national and world media will all be in Washington DC on January 20. So will the ImpeachBush
movement.
The ImpeachBush.org movement is gearing up to line Pennsylvania Avenue on January 20 with banners and signs calling for the Impeachment of Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld. Thousands of ImpeachBush/VoteToImpeach.org members have made it clear that they are coming to Washington DC to participate in these permitted demonstrations on Pennsylvania Avenue. We are printing signs, posters, banners, and leaflets for January 20. Members are organizing bus and car caravans to come to Washington DC from all over the country. Buses are coming to DC on January 20 from Chicago, Boston, New York, from cities throughout the southern states, and elsewhere. This is a tremendous sacrifice. The inauguration is on a Thursday. In order to line Pennsylvania Avenue, people will need to arrive by 9:00am. Many are taking time off from their jobs and coming early to help out as volunteers. Funds are needed to carry out the January 20 ImpeachBush mobilization. If you have contributed before we appeal to you to consider making another generous donation. If you have never contributed but support the work of the impeachment movement, this is a critical time to consider making that first step.
We want to be sure that Bush's parade route is lined with ImpeachBush signs so that everywhere Bush looks outside his limousine window he sees that message from people from the U.S. We will be printing signs by the thousands and Impeach Bush volunteers will be handing them out to those who are able to come to DC as they enter the parade route area. We need your help for this major printing and sign-making effort. Please make a contribution now using our secure server, where you can also get information to write a check:
http://www.pephost.org/site/R?i=Y0Fx3W93hHm72suC2Mm5YQ
For those of you who want to send this message everyday, don't forget to visit the ImpeachBush Resource Center and pick up the newest lawn sign rider - created at your request - "War Criminal":
http://www.pephost.org/site/R?i=tydz30TzDv-72suC2Mm5YQ
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