Nuclear Deployment for an Attack on Iran and the Nuclear Hitmen Behind It
Jorge Hirsch
http://www.antiwar.com/orig/hirsch.php?articleid=8263

How Congress Can Stop the Iran Attack - Or be Complicit in Nuclear War Crimes
Jorge Hirsch
http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0120-22.htm

Check Out the Latest at Peter Calandra Website
Swing on over to check out the new music from the award winning film Jellysmoke. Also, music from a short promotional film for Tufts University. Plus music from a documentary on Cooper Hemmingway, the True. The Final Score and Mansion Poker Dome on FSN.
http://www.pecamusic.com/

Author Norman Mailer on George Bush, The New York, Jan. 20, 2007
"As for President Bush, Mr. Mailer does not have kind words, referring to him as "nasty and stupid." Mailer also says that Mr. Bush, whom he believes is "not deep enough to be evil," is a "social phenomenon," the product of a shopping, marketing-oriented society. "The populace has become more and more stupid. People believe that buying things is one of the most significant acts they can take, and that is the handmaiden to stupidity. The country has become more stupid over the past 15 to 20 years, and George Bush is the fruit, the flower of that tendency.”

[DUCHESS NOTE: Take a moment or two to check out "Friends of Friday Forum". Occasional new, exciting commentary from friends, associates and acquaintances. Link is located in lefthand column under "favorite links". Many thanks! Peace is the Way!]

Carter Defends Controversial Book
By CHARLES ODUM, Associated Press Writer Jan. 20, 2007
Former President Jimmy Carter said Saturday that the storm of criticism he has faced for his recent book has not weakened his resolve for fair treatment of Israelis and Palestinians.
"I have been called a liar," Carter said at a town hall meeting on the second day of a three-day symposium on his presidency at the University of Georgia.

"I have been called an anti-Semite," he said. "I have been called a bigot. I have been called a plagiarist. I have been called a coward. Those kind of accusations, they concern me, but they don't detract from the fact the book is accurate and is needed." Following the publication of the book: "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid," 14 members of an advisory board to his Carter Center resigned in protest. Those former board members and other critics contend the book is unfairly critical of Israel.

"Not one of the critics of my book has contradicted any of the basic premises ... that is the horrible persecution and oppression of the Palestinian people and secondly that the formula for finding peace in the Middle East already exists," the 82-year-old Carter said. Carter said he was pleased the book has stimulated discussion of an issue that has been "omitted from the public consciousness" for at least the last six years. "Israel needs peace and the Palestinian people need peace and justice and I hope my limited influence will help to precipitate some steps," he said. The three-day conference was arranged to mark the 30th anniversary of Carter's 1977 inauguration.

Eyes On The Prize: Kennedy States That Congress May Have To Cut Off Funding For The War
Mark Weisbrot & Robert Naiman
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-weisbrot-and-robert-naiman/eyes-on-the-prize-kenned_b_39239.html

"[I]f we have a president that is going to effectively defy the American people, going to defy the generals, defy the majority of the Congress of the United States, Republicans and Democrats, then we, I think, have a responsibility to, to end the funding for that - for the war."

That was Senator Ted Kennedy on Meet the Press, Sunday January 21. As we have noted previously, the media makes it difficult for Congress to play its constitutional role by reporting as though a cut off in funding would be leaving our troops to die in the desert. Kennedy alluded to this media abuse without naming the media:

"[L]et me just mention this, because it's been so abused, the statements about what - what would happen. We would have an orderly departure. We would set a time and have an orderly departure. We would make sure that our troops had the armor and had the bullets, not like the administration has when we went in, when we didn't have the armor, we didn't have the bullets, and we didn't have the up-armored humvees. I hope it doesn't come to that, but we have to be prepared to do it."

Kennedy did not call for a cut off of funding for the war but merely reminded the public of Congress' "constitutional duty" and "power" - both of which Kennedy emphasized - to do this if necessary. This is important because although progressive Members of Congress such as Dennis Kucinich have called for Congress to end funding now, but having a prominent Senator like Kennedy - the second longest-serving in the Senate - make this point is important, and worth publicizing and defending.

Any number of measures that bring the Congress closer to this goal - Biden and Hagel's Senate resolution, for example - can also play an important role, but President Bush will likely continue to wage this war until a funding cut off is either voted upon or imminent, or at least becomes a credible threat because Members of Congress indicate that they are willing to take this step if necessary to compel the President's compliance with the will of the American people. Meanwhile, Moveon.org ran a TV ad criticizing McCain as the father of Bush's escalation plan. A smart move on their part: McCain, the Republican front-runner for the 2008 presidential race, has long carried more than his share of support from independent and even liberal voters. He is, however, a dangerous neoconservative, and his stubborn defense of the Iraq war and its escalation are worthy of special mention.

Ask Reid and Pelosi to schedule a vote on Kennedy's legislation:
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/involved/nomoretroops.html