BP's Azeri police arresting Palast for filming BP oil rig - Baku, Azerbaijan, December 2010 "Here in Azerbaijan we believe in human rights. PLEASE GIVE US YOUR FILM."

Oh, no, no, not good.

The enforcers here come in three colors: the military police still wearing their old Russian puke-green uniforms, the MSN (the dictator's secret police) in windbreakers without ID, and BP's own corporate police force in black tunics, sashes and full hats who look like toy soldiers from the Nutcracker ballet. They weren't dancing.

I showed all three flavors of police our press credentials in both English and Azeri, neither of which could be read by the officers. (The dictator had suddenly changed the Azeri alphabet, making most of the nation illiterate overnight.)

The dictator made everyone call him, "Baba," Grandpa.

I told the dumbest-looking one, "Look here: This paper says your so-called President is a weasel's rectum," which our 'fixer' translated as, "This letter from Foreign Ministry is authorization to make a documentary for the British Television."

The Davis-Besse nuclear plant on Lake Erie is up for relicensing by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. This plant is one of the worst nuclear plants in the United States in terms of safety violations and near nuclear disasters. Tell the NRC that you support clean and green energy and not Davis-Besse! To take action click here

When a copy of William A. Cook's latest book, The Plight of the Palestinians arrived in my mailbox, I initially felt a little worried. The volume, featuring the work of over 30 accomplished writers, is the most articulate treatise on the collective victimization of Palestinians to date. From Cook's own introduction, 'The Untold Story of the Zionist Intent to Turn Palestine into a Jewish State' to Francis Boyle's summation of 'Israel's Crimes against the Palestinians', it takes the reader through an exhaustive journey, charting the course of Palestinian history prior to and since al-Nakba, the Catastrophe of 1947-48.

Still, I feared that something might be missing in this noble and monumental undertaking: Palestinian people's own responses to the cruelties they've suffered. Would Palestinians be presented yet again as merely poster-child victims, eager for handouts?

As is to be expected, mainstream media forgot to cover the antiwar protest at the White House today. Readers of the Free Press understand that the frustration of protesting under a media blackout. According to Rob Kall, editor of OpedNews, “Today, 131 rebels were arrested for civil disobedience at the snow covered gates of the White House, including Daniel Ellsberg, Ray McGovern, Chris Hedges, Margaret Flowers, Coleen Rowley, Medea Benjamin, Jodie Evans and scores of veterans and supporters from WWII, Viet Nam, Iraq, Afghanistan... The message chanted in the freezing, 22 degree F snowy day was "Obama, Troops Out. End the War."

You tube video here
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Aung San Suu Kyi's "irrelevant" political party has "little concern for the social and economic plight of most Burmese," so America should offer "security guarantees" to Burma's military dictators and their families to remove them from power, according to a U.S. Embassy cable released by WikiLeaks.

"We should not expect an imminent coup to save us from the hard-line senior generals," the cable said.

Classified by the U.S. Embassy in Burma's Political Officer, Leslie Hayden, the cable gave "her candid observations on the current political situation, and her recommendations."

The "CONFIDENTIAL" cable, dated July 14, 2008 and titled, "SUBJECT: CONTINUING THE PURSUIT OF DEMOCRACY IN BURMA," was signed by U.S. Ambassador Shari Villarosa.

"We may also want to consider putting security guarantees on the table for the most senior generals and their families if we are serious about removing them from the scene.

As "conservatives" scream and yell about gays in the military, they might remember that in all likelihood we have already had a gay Commander-in-Chief.

His name was James Buchanan.  He was the 15th President of the United States.

A Democrat from Pennsylvania, Buchanan is discreetly referred to in official texts as "our only bachelor president."

In fact, many historians believe that he may well have been "married" to William Rufus King, a pro-slavery Democrat from Alabama who was our only bachelor Vice President. 

The two men lived together for years.  Andrew Jackson, never one to shy from bullhorn bigotry, was among those who variously referred to them as "Aunt Nancy" and "Mr. Fancy." Other Washington wags called them "Mr. & Mrs. Buchanan," and the like.   

“Barack Obama was NEVER a progressive or anything other than a closet Republican. This was true in ’08 and continues to be true. He successfully hoodwinked millions of people who chose not to listen to what he actually said in his interviews (not in his rally speeches; one-on-one interviews). I tried to warn people about this monster but it fell on deaf ears.”

“I think President Obama is doing a fine job with the cards he has been dealt — the worst oppositional party in history, a lame constituency in his own party, a fragmented base, and a raging ‘left’ who have no concept of the reality of our government or our American mindset, much less any constructive ideas on how to change them.”

For all the talk of strategic counterinsurgency that oozes out of Washington, and all the manuals explaining that 80% of our investment in a nation-building operation should be civilian, we've been investing about 3% of our efforts in Afghanistan into a civilian project the leader of which has described it as a way to support the military. That leader was, until he died yesterday, Richard Holbrooke.

Asked at a U.S. Senate hearing earlier this year what in the world he was doing and toward what end in Afghanistan, Holbrooke repeatedly failed to produce an answer. That could explain his deathbed conversion and his final words to his surgeon: "You've got to stop this war in Afghanistan." As if his doctor could do what he refused to play any role in.

Before any more makers of war break their own hearts and beg for forgiveness, they should follow the examples of people like Ann Wright and Matthew Hoh and get out of this dirty business themselves while they have some like left in them.

This short excerpt from War Is A Lie is relevant here:

This sad event, held in a small conference room in the Capitol Visitors Center (Senate side), was sparsely attended by press, and sponsored by an outfit called the "New Deterrent Working Group," evidently an offshoot of the Center for Security Policy, and skipped by Sen Kyl (who evidently "had to go vote...").

But B*sh era relics John Bolton and Rick Santorum said their bits, and a few other notables offered statements. After an hour of paranoia, innuendo and misrepresentation, they did take a few questions and I was able to ask the first. Incredibly, they let me get all three questions in one. For those who are interested, they're below:

"Jay Marx, Proposition One. One correction if I may, as the Senate has held 18 committee hearings on the NEW Start treaty, not 12 as Mr. Gaffney just stated.

Of course war creates jobs:
People who lie for a living,
and people who die for a living.

Both are in high demand/
Like a marine band/
Or an honor guard/

Next to the 'Nam diggers/
Working hard/
In the graveyard/

Blowing bugles, firing rounds/
Simulating real war sounds/
Somber notes on hallow bounds/
Justified on shallow grounds/

And so the monied market waits/
For these fine jobs that war creates...

_______

christopher bifani is a poet, artist, musician and activist in Wilmington, North Carolina. His website is: Website

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