Scarborough: ‘That’s the silliest thing I’ve ever heard’ that torture doesn’t work.
(Think Progress)

White House press corps sends off Bush with awkward goodbye.

At the conclusion of President Bush’s final White House press conference earlier this morning, he addressed reporters, telling them: “It has been an honor to work with you. … I wish you all the very best.” And with that, Bush concluded the briefing and walked off the podium, leaving the press corps unsure of how to react. Some hesitated to stand, while most stayed seated. One said “thank you Mr. President,” and a small number offered half-hearted applause.

(Think Progress)
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Click the link to see the video. It’s like bush didn’t expect anything and the press corps didn’t really think that he deserved anything. They just kinda mill about after he escapes.

Krauthammer: Bush ‘took a shoe for the country.’
(Think Progress)

Ο πρόεδρος του ΣΥΝ, Αλέξης Τσίπρας, θα επισκεφθεί αυτή την Πέμπτη στις 13.00 τον Αστακό, προκειμένου να συμμετάσχει σε εκδήλωση που διοργανώνει το κόμμα του σε συνεργασία και με άλλους φορείς, με κύριο αίτημα τους, την εναντίωσή τους στην πολιτική επιλογή της κυβέρνησης του Κ. Καραμανλή να επιτρέψει στους Αμερικάνους και στους Ισραηλινούς τη χρήση του Πλατυγιαλίου για τα σχέδια τους στη Μέση Ανατολή. Χαρακτηριστικά στελέχη του ΣΥΡΙΖΑ, μας ανέφεραν ότι ”η χρήση του λιμανιού στο Πλατυγιάλι από Αμερικανούς και Ισραηλινούς σαν λιμάνι ανεφοδιασμού των τελευταίων για τον πόλεμό τους στη Γάζα ενάντια των Παλαιστινίων έφερε τον νομό μας στο κέντρο του παγκόσμιου πολιτικού ενδιαφέροντος, ενώ το θέμα έγινε γνωστό από δημοσιεύσεις του ξένου τύπου”. Απ’ την άλλη πλευρά, η κυβέρνηση δια της αρμοδίου υπουργού κυρίας Μπακογιάννη αλλά και του εκπροσώπου του ΥΠΕΞ κυρίου Κουμουτσάκου, διαψεύδει κατηγορηματικά τα ανωτέρω δηλώνοντας ότι δεν υφίσταται τέτοιο θέμα.

Όπως γίνεται αντιληπτό το Πλατυγιάλι έρχεται ξανά στην επικαιρότητα-αυτή τη φορά στη διεθνή- όχι για τους συνήθεις λόγους. Ο Αλέξης δεν αφήνει την ευκαιρία να πάει χαμένη και επισκέπτεται ξανά το νομό μας, προκειμένου αυτή τη φορά να δηλώσει τη συμπαράστασή του στον Παλαιστινιακό λαό που αυτές τις ημέρες δοκιμάζεται σκληρά. Παράλληλα, αποδεικνύει τη βαρύτητα που ο ίδιος δείχνει προσωπικά στην αύξηση των ποσοστών του ΣΥΡΙΖΑ στην Αιτωλοακαρνανία. Το ερώτημα και συνάμα το διακύβευμα τόσο για τον ίδιο όσο και για το κόμμα του είναι εάν και κατά πόσο θα κατορθώσουν να πείσουν τους Αιτωλοακαρνάνες για τις προθέσεις τους, αλλά και τη δυναμική των πολιτικών τους θέσεων, αφού οι δημοσκοπήσεις που έρχονται τουλάχιστον εώς τώρα στην επιφάνεια τιρβάζουν περί του αντιθέτου… Βέβαια αρκετά στελέχη του ΣΥΝ πιστεύουν ότι σύντομα αυτή η εικόνα θα αλλάξει. Οψόμεθα λοιπόν! Να αναφέρουμε ότι στη συνέχεια ο κύριος Τσίπρας θα επισκεφθεί το Μεσολόγγι, όπου θα μιλήσει στο Τρικούπειο Πολιτιστικό Κέντρο στις 19.00.

‘HOOF LADIES’ CHASING INDIGENOUS YOUTH: THE COLONIAL STATE’S OLD SEXUAL PERVERSION STRATEGY

Mohawk Nation News
http://www.mohawknationnews.com
Published with permission

Jan. 10, 2008. There is an old Haudenosaunee story about the “Hoof Lady.” She appears to our youth in various guises to stop them from doing wrong. She also appears in order to test them. For example, when our young people are hiding in the bush drinking alcohol, an ugly apparition appears. When they notice her hoofs and her scary gestures, they are terrified and run away. She could also entice them to do bad things by appearing in other human forms, both male and female. They could be blond, redhead or brunette to lure our youth! This “shape shifter” is usually an outside unfamiliar person who could show up at times when our minds are weak and vulnerable and we don’t notice her hoofs. The “come-on” might be visual beauty or “other attractions.” The decoy could lead them to do something unnatural because they think no one is watching. In the end the Hoof Lady can grab control of them. Eventually some of them have been induced to go against their people.
There is no mystery about where some of these Hoof Ladies come from.
Sex is one of the most potent ways of infiltrating a person. It is a seriously damaging colonial strategy to weaken community and resistance through demoralization of the youth through sex. Sexual enticements and perversion are meant to compromise and take our young people to an unnatural form of sex they have a hard time getting out of. It is confusing. They know it’s not love. It’s self degradation meant to mess with people’s emotions. They feel ashamed of being used.
This has nothing to do with valid loving relationships that exist between our peoples. We appreciate and continue to need the support of our friends and allies. A few members of some of these support organizations have been caught doing some dicey things in our communities. Our youth have reported some un-enticing persons have attempted to use kinky sex and drugs to infiltrate us.
Our people and our culture were never intended to go to these ugly places. Sex is supposed to create ‘sacred’ bonds that ensure the care of children and help the whole community to survive. Sexual exploitation hurts us all. The strategy is to pervert a beautiful human experience. In fact their form of exploitive sexual relationship is abusive, degrading and confusing. These non-Ongwehonwe persons manage to compromise some of our young people by encouraging them to violate cultural norms and take part in unnatural shameful sexual acts. The goal is to break down protective social barriers. They have shared a guilt ridden experience with someone. It’s another way of breaking down our defences by trying to drag us down to another level. We are made to feel uncomfortable with each other. Our powers are siphoned away. This strategy was used in the government run residential schools where our kids were sexually abused and emotionally violated, leading to their deaths and lifelong self-hatred of many of them.
These shape shifters plant stories to breed distrust among our people. They try to interfere with our most private and intimate relationships and trying to break up families. They want our minds by going after the bodies of our young people. Our elders who protect them are avoided.
This behavior straps the strength of our youth, leads them into doing things beyond what they would normally consider. In the end they have a hard time getting out of it without help from our community.
These shape shifters divide our people. Key members are targeted. One respected person was tempted to go into the city to have “three way sex” with them. When confronted, one said, “Who wouldn’t refuse this kind of invitation?” No one has a right to disrespect our women. Respect for our women is all-important, especially among our youth, who are most sexually active. Some even younger than twenty are being targeted for seduction. At another one of our communities during a protest volunteers arrived to work in the kitchen. The next thing we knew they were having sex with various people causing chaotic situations.
Some have said, “I am no longer worthy because I fell for it”. They are made to feel unworthy, rejected by the community and vulnerable to being used as pseudo representatives by the colonizing culture. These shape shifters advertise their exploits to discredit our people. The state now thinks they don’t have to worry about these targets anymore. They induce this kind of behavior using mind altering drugs and alcohol.
Our stories remind us that we are still Ongwehone. These shape shifters work on our emotions and psyche. We are alerting our young people to be observant, to stay conscious and vigilant. Don’t take anything for granted. Watch for those shape shifters who offer quick pleasure.
Concentrating on our youth is meant to break down the traditional values and relationships between our people. They create guilt, humiliation and depoliticization. Our youth feel lost to the traditional movement because they went against their own righteous standards. They are being ripened to be used by the state. The late Kevin White wrote about this in his book, “Where Eagles Dare to Soar – Indians, politics and AIDS”. [http://www.mohawknationnews.com/] This kind of behavior is rewarded by the state. Prime Minister Stephen Harper recently appointed Patrick Brazeau of the Congress of Aboriginal People to the Senate of Canada. It follows this established strategy of tarring the reputation of all indigenous people by creating the impression that they can’t find any “aboriginal” representatives who are not degenerates.
These tactics are used internationally to break down native values. To protect ourselves from the enemy’s schemes, our young people have to be traditional in their outlook and in their relationships. These colonial parasites will bring their smut and vulgarity into our homes to try to tarnish us. They steal our money, our land and our resources. Then they lure our youth into this ugly emotional void. It is meant to alienate and destroy us.
Our young people are precious to us. They have been misled. We can’t let them go. They are victims of sexual depravity promoted by the colonial parasite class. How do we bring those who have fallen victims back home? How do we maintain a healthy outlook in our relations with each other? We need open and thorough discussions about it. We have to respect ourselves. We have to promote resistance, wisdom and high standards of behavior of our people. We need strong families raised in a spirit of love, affection, strength and integrity. We need them to defend us and build our future.
Let us face up to these terrible attacks against the core of our culture. Our lives should be an open book. Not a dark corner where we can do anything we please. We all have choices. We have to refuse to let these shape shifters disgrace us through our youth. We know our youth don’t want to betray us or fall into the swamp of corruption made by the colonial forces. We have to help our youth climb out of that swamp and come back to us without the outlook of the exploiters. We have preserved ourselves for a reason. We need clean consciences and good health to fight colonial decadence and imperial ugliness.
Karakwine & MNN Staff Mohawk Nation News
http://www.mohawknationnews.com/ Katenies20@yahoo.com
kahentinetha2@yahoo.com
Note: Your financial help is needed and appreciated. Please send your donations to PayPal at http://www.mohawknationnews.com/, or by check or money order to “MNN Mohawk Nation News”, Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec, Canada] J0L 1B0. Nia:wen thank you very much. Go to MNN “General” category for more stories; New MNN Books Available now! Purchase t-shirts, mugs and more at our CafePressStore http://www.cafepress.com/mohawknews; Sign up and Subscribe to MNN for breaking news updates http://.mohawknationnews.com/news/subscription.php; Sign Women Title Holders petition! http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Iroquois. Send $20 Can/US for a copy of “Where Eagles Dare to Soar” by Kevin White. Postage included.

Gay bishop will open inaugural weekend

The Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, who was elected the Episcopal Church’s first openly gay bishop in 2003, will deliver the invocation for Sunday’s kickoff inaugural event on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, the Presidential Inaugural Committee said.

President-elect Obama is scheduled to attend the afternoon event, which is free and open to the public.

“The president-elect has respect for the Rt. Rev. Robinson, who offered his advice and counsel over the past couple of years,” an inaugural official said. “It also has the benefit of further reinforcing our commitment to an open and inclusive inaugural.”

Robinson remains the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire.

Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay civil rights organization, said in a statement that the choice was “encouraging.”

“Bishop Robinson models what prayer should be — spiritual reflection put into action for justice,” Solmonese said. “It is encouraging that the president-elect has chosen this spiritual hero, and that should remain our focus today.”

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This doesn’t exactly balance out the Rick Warren fiasco, but it’s a good move.

Just more evidence that Bush was the worst president ever.

Now they tell us. Today’s Washington Post has a brutal assessment of Bush’s economic legacy. Brutally honest and based on the facts, it’s further proof that this guy really was the worst president ever. He really did a number on this country:

President Bush has presided over the weakest eight-year span for the U.S. economy in decades, according to an analysis of key data, and economists across the ideological spectrum increasingly view his two terms as a time of little progress on the nation’s thorniest fiscal challenges.

The number of jobs in the nation increased by about 2 percent during Bush’s tenure, the most tepid growth over any eight-year span since data collection began seven decades ago. Gross domestic product, a broad measure of economic output, grew at the slowest pace for a period of that length since the Truman administration. And Americans’ incomes grew more slowly than in any presidency since the 1960s, other than that of Bush’s father.

Bush and his aides are quick to point out that they oversaw 52 straight months of job growth in the middle of this decade, and that the economy expanded at a steady clip from 2003 to 2007. But economists, including some former advisers to Bush, say it increasingly looks as if the nation’s economic expansion was driven to a large degree by the interrelated booms in the housing market, consumer spending and financial markets. Those booms, which the Bush administration encouraged with the idea of an “ownership society,” have proved unsustainable.

So, Bush oversaw the “unsustainable” economy. That’s quite an accomplishment. He was abetted by the GOP clowns on the Hill — the very ones who are trying to thwart Obama’s stimulus package.

(Americablog)

Joe the Plumber: ‘I think media should be abolished’ from reporting on war.

Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, aka “Joe the Plumber,” is currently in Israel covering the war for the conservative site PJTV.com. When asked what he has learned from his new experiences as a journalist, Wurzelbacher said that he believes the media shouldn’t be allowed to do “reporting” on wars:

I’ll be honest with you. I don’t think journalists should be anywhere allowed war. I mean, you guys report where our troops are at. You report what’s happening day to day. You make a big deal out of it. I think it’s asinine. You know, I liked back in World War I and World War II when you’d go to the theater and you’d see your troops on, you know, the screen and everyone would be real excited and happy for’em. Now everyone’s got an opinion and wants to downer–and down soldiers. You know, American soldiers or Israeli soldiers.

I think media should be abolished from, uh, you know, reporting. You know, war is hell. And if you’re gonna sit there and say, “Well look at this atrocity,” well you don’t know the whole story behind it half the time, so I think the media should have no business in it.

(Think Progress)
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Wow! Is this really someone the repugs want to represent their party? He is barely coherent!

Between “Joe the Plumber” and “Palin the crazy”, the party is being represented by brainless dolts! Do the repugs really think this will help them win? I guess this is a change from Obama’s team of intelligent, competent people, but do they think that Americans want morons to lead them?

More from Americablog:
Joe the Plumber, and the GOP obsession with mediocrity
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Bush On Katrina: ‘Don’t Tell Me The Federal Response Was Slow’
(Think Progress)