Open Protest

if only (4.50 / 2)

there was a chick with a sign in one of those photos i would say she was me.  

The defectors have started an underground railroad to smuggle other rebels out of hostile territory

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by: doberman pinche @ Sun Jan 03, 2010 at 18:00:39 PM CST

Afghanistan could be turning into another Vietnam War (0.00 / 0)

http://www.armytimes.com/news/...

Gina Cavallaro Army Times: Americans should prepare to accept hundreds of U.S. casualties each month in Afghanistan during spring offensives with enemy forces.

The dire forecast was made by retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey, an adjunct professor of international affairs at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, in a periodic assessment of political and security issues he has conducted in the war zone since 2003.

"What I want to do is signal that this thing is going to be $5 billion to $10 billion a month and 300 to 500 killed and wounded a month by next summer. That's what we probably should expect. And that's light casualties," said McCaffrey, who is also president of his own consulting firm in Arlington, Va., and has conducted numerous trips to the war zones to assess the political and military challenges at hand.

As of Dec. 20, there had been 305 U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan in 2009, the large majority of those due to hostile action. The number of wounded as of the same date for 2009 was 2,102, with more than half of those unable to return to duty.

A month-by-month breakdown using data compiled by Army Times shows that in 2009, the highest number of wounded and dead in Afghanistan occurred from June, with 210 wounded and killed through October, when 318 were listed as wounded or killed....

Obama is an idiot. He's going to make it easy for the Republicans to win back the White House. How can the economy rebound with that much money being wasted? 300-500 killed or wounded each month? Say 200 are killed a month. Times 10 years that's 24,000 American lives lost. About half the 58,000 or whatever from Vietnam. And that's not even taking into account how many Afghanis will also be murdered. Lord (not Byron) knows how many Iraqis have been killed. I'm not trying to belittle the losses to the other country's civilians. I just can't believe Obama thinks this type of thing will get him a second term. Good people always know that war is evil. But even shallow people who think in terms of money and their own petty existences accept that there's no point in fighting these kinds of wars.

This is utterly bad news. I'm not sure how Donkeytale can let the Democrats off the hook for this. The irony is that the Republicans would be doing the same things but even worse. This allows for the astroturfing done that there's no difference between left and right. Triangulation is truly fucking us over.

     

http://davefromqueens2.blogspo...
http://allaircraftarenotinvolv...

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by: socrates @ Wed Jan 06, 2010 at 02:26:03 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Sorry, here's the fixed link- the fucking military asshole idiots require a slash at the end of the url (4.00 / 1)

http://www.armytimes.com/news/...

http://davefromqueens2.blogspo...
http://allaircraftarenotinvolv...

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by: socrates @ Wed Jan 06, 2010 at 02:29:32 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Good pernt. (4.00 / 1)

But even if you were allowed to be there, which you wouldnt be, you still couldnt prove it was you inside yur burkha.

Here's some more fun activities for teenagers just over yonder. I guess there's no outrage about this, since these weren't "liberal" teens being slaughtered.

The death toll climbed to 99 on Sunday after a suicide car bomb exploded Friday in the middle of a group of men playing volleyball in northwest Pakistan, police said.

Thirty-six others who were injured in the attack remained hospitalized Sunday, said Mohammed Ayub Khan, police chief of the Lakki Marwat district. Those killed included at least six children, and most of the other victims were teenagers who were watching the volleyball game, he added. People who lived near the volleyball court also were among the casualties.

The area used to be a hub for militants before the military flushed them out about two months ago, the chief said. Since then, militants have been threatening the community, Mushtaq Marwatt, a member of a local peace committee, said on a local TV channel.

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by: donkeytale @ Sun Jan 03, 2010 at 18:11:45 PM CST

The 'car bomb' game (4.00 / 2)

Xe's favorite courtesy flush technique, in case any of the lingering brown turds get uppity ideas about self-governance.

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by: Laura @ Sun Jan 03, 2010 at 18:23:56 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Of course... I forgot all about them (0.00 / 0)

Under contract to the CIA naturally.

Hw silly of me to overlook the obvious fakeleft redoubt.

Brown turds in a sausage skin.

RIOTOUS!

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by: donkeytale @ Sun Jan 03, 2010 at 19:56:52 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Xe do this one too? (0.00 / 0)

Or how about the latest in FakeLeft scapegoats: India?

Brown turd vs Brown turd, this time LauraJohn?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/...

KARACHI, Pakistan -- When a bomb exploded during a Shiite religious procession here last Monday, killing 44 people and touching off hours of violence that left hundreds of shops burned to ashes, it shattered the sense that Pakistan's largest city and financial hub was immune to the plague of Islamist violence that has swept this nuclear-armed nation.

With one strategic blast, the attackers added a volatile new ingredient to the cauldron of ethnic and sectarian tensions, political brawls, business mafia rivalries and street crime that simmers in this metropolis of 18 million. While these conflicts periodically erupt into violence, they have rarely disrupted the purposeful hum or resilience of city life.

This time, the destruction triggered by the explosion was so shocking, and affected so many interest groups, that the entire city went on strike Friday, uniting in an act of peaceful protest. The normally clogged boulevards and teeming bazaars were silent; the swank seaside eateries were empty. Even the Karachi stock exchange shut down instead of grandly opening for New Year's Day.

"They came in and destroyed everything," said Akbar Al Habib, 38, standing amid heaps of charred cloth from his garment shop in Lighthouse Market, where dozens of stalls had burned all night while armed men blocked anyone from entering. "Who would do this to us?"

Taliban militants claimed responsibility for the bomb that exploded on Jinnah Avenue as several hundred thousand Shiites marched in mourning for a martyred 7th-century imam. For many here, the more important questions are who orchestrated the spree of destructive economic violence that followed, and why thousands of police deployed to protect the Shiite procession were unable to stop it.  

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by: donkeytale @ Sun Jan 03, 2010 at 20:07:45 PM CST

[ Parent ]

nice selective blockquote (2.33 / 3)

your own article ruins your argument. And you're retarded if you think most 'sectarian' violence isn't contrived, either by US forces or 'interim gov'ts', including the US supported Paki military...who also Talibinalalizised Swat Valley for the propaganda writers.

Explain the chants of 'Sunni-Shia equality!' Explain how a terror group can even 'claim responsibility' without giving up their location and/or compatriots. The story is written for YOU, it's a soap-opera for grown men to follow and gossip about over a ___. You know it too. If you want to preserve pointless rhetoric why not jump in on a Team Edward/Team Jacob Myspace tween fight? It'd be only slightly less creepy than what you do here.  

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by: Laura @ Sun Jan 03, 2010 at 20:37:56 PM CST

[ Parent ]

You never explain anything, why should I? (0.00 / 0)

But here goes, this too easy:

1. The chants of Sunni-Shia equality are common throughout Muslim countries, the majority of which are Sunni dominated. The Sunnis are the majority of Pakastan. The Shia feel persecuted. The Taliban is Sunni. The Taliban bombed the procession killing and wounding many Shia. The Shia understandably get pissed off in return. Thus, they go off and make chants along the way demanding equality.

2. A terror group would have to be pretty fucking stupid (and shortterm) to claim responsibility for a bombing while giving up their location and/or compatriots in the process of making their claim. RIOTOUS! What a dumb qwestian. Par for the course.

3. Typikkkal FakeLeft posture: "most sectarian violence is contrived, either by the US forces or "interim govts", including the Pakastani Military.

Of course! The CIA did it, er I mean Xe did it! The CIA controls everything everywhere and are the sole source of political violence in the Muslim world. Why didnt I think of that?

Wright, this story is written for ME because you are too deluded to bother understanding a world that doesnt fit into yur groupthunk fakeleft illusions.

4. And its nice to see that you are following the "tweener" fights on Myspace. Which Team are you on, l'il Johnny?

5. Here's a full story from the BBC CIA in 2004, which explains the beginning of the Sunni/Shia neverending struggle, which as you well know, was originaly fomented when the CIA assassinated the Prophet's SIL in AD 661 and pinned the caper on the Sunnis.

Y'know, back when I was a donkey pup.
RIOTOUS!!!!

Pakistan's Shia-Sunni divide

A policeman tends to an injured worshipper in Quetta

Differences between Pakistan's Sunni majority and Shia minority go back to the Islamic schism following the prophet's death.

But in the past two decades those differences have been manifest in repeated violence wrought by Sunni and Shia extremists.

The violence, which worsened after 11 September and the expulsion of the Taleban from Afghanistan, led President Pervez Musharraf to ban a number of militant groups.

However, the BBC's Zaffar Abbas in Islamabad says recent attacks show the extremists who were forced into hiding by the clampdown are now resurfacing.

Great schism

In early Islamic history the Shia were a political faction ("party of Ali") that supported the power of Ali, son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammed and the fourth caliph (temporal and spiritual ruler) of the Muslim community.

Pakistan's sectarian divide
Shias revere Ali, son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammed
Pakistan is 20 percent Shia, 70 percent Sunni
Violence between Sunni and Shia factions began from early 1980s
More than 150 people have been killed in the past year alone
Around 4,000 people have killed in total
Most violence takes place in Sindh, Baluchistan and Punjab

Ali was murdered in 661AD and his chief opponent, Muawiya, became caliph. It was Ali's death that led to the great schism between Sunnis and Shias.

Caliph Muawiya was later succeeded by his son Yazid, but Ali's son Hussein refused to accept his legitimacy and fighting between the two resulted.

Hussein and his followers were massacred in battle near Karbala in AD680.

Both Ali and Hussein's death gave rise to the Shia cult of martyrdom and sense of betrayal.

Shia has always been the rigid faith of the poor and oppressed waiting for deliverance. It is seen as a messianic faith which awaits the coming of the "hidden Imam", Allah's messenger who will reverse their fortunes and herald the reign of divine justice.

Today, they make up about 15% of the total worldwide Muslim population

Zia's legacy

Most sectarian violence in Pakistan takes place in the province of Punjab and the country's commercial capital, Karachi, in Sindh province.

There have also been outbreaks in Quetta, capital of Balochistan province.

It is estimated that around 4,000 people have been killed in Shia-Sunni violence since the 1980s across Pakistan.

President Musharraf is not the only Pakistani leader to have been beset with such problems, which most analysts agree began in 1979 when General Zia ul-Haq began Islamicising Pakistani politics to legitimise his military rule.

As a result, hardline religious groups were strengthened.

This coincided with a period when parts of Pakistan came to be awash with weaponry as a result of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in late 1979.

US arms and Saudi funds allowed General Zia to mount a proxy war in Afghanistan with mujahideen, or holy warriors.

Drawn from Pakistani as well as Afghan and Arab youths mostly educated at religious schools, the mujahideen and their patrons were to become influential actors in Pakistan.

Because Sunnis form a large majority in Pakistan, most of the mujahideen were Sunni too.

Radical Sunni Islamists were able to establish armed groups like the Sipah-e-Sahaba.

Revolutionary zeal

Shia fighters too joined the jihad, or holy war, against the Soviets in Afghanistan, although their bands were smaller.

In Karachi, doctors have been targeted

They received help from Iran where the Islamic revolution earlier in 1979 had boosted Shia confidence.

The growth of Shia militancy led to the establishment of groups such as Tehrik-e-Jafria.

Once the Soviets left Afghanistan, Pakistani militants returned home and began looking for a new jihad.

Many were encouraged to take their combat skills to Indian-administered Kashmir.

Others stayed at home to begin a campaign against fellow-Muslims they considered heretics or against Westerners and Christians.

After dozens were killed in sectarian attacks, General Musharraf launched a campaign against extremism in January 2002, banning the worst-offending groups.

However, continuing attacks have shown the limitations of the government's policy.

And violence in Balochistan puts a further strain on Pakistan's security forces which are faced with challenges from the Taleban and remnants of al-Qaeda, and have to deal with confrontations with India over Kashmir.

RIOTOUS!

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by: donkeytale @ Mon Jan 04, 2010 at 08:36:36 AM CST

[ Parent ]

LOL (0.00 / 0)

Thanks for your 'explanation'. Now lets play another round of Magic the Gathering, pretend we all have certain attributes and STICK WITH THE SCRIPT.

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by: Laura @ Mon Jan 04, 2010 at 13:41:59 PM CST

[ Parent ]

'Stop Killing Us' message not allowed into US mainstream minds, (4.00 / 1)

but we've got this internet thing and all these pwoggie blogs outside the mainstream, and we could -- even with our feeble compared to the mainstream media power -- deliver such an obvious, simple, powerful and moral message. But instead there's incredibly fierce resistance from US pwog blogs to taking the side of the victims of (could it ever be more obvious) US imperialism.

But hey, there's Bruce Dixon here in the comments:

http://www.correntewire.com/ex...

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness, For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people, For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry. -- A-Hep

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by: fairleft @ Sun Jan 03, 2010 at 22:53:43 PM CST

AsiaTimes, today: (0.00 / 0)

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/M...

The IRGC's Khatam-ol-Anbia Construction Base, considered the most important financial unit of the Guards and currently the largest contractor of government projects in Iran, was established in 1990 with the agreement of Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamene. Over the past four years, the entity has been the contractor for 1,500 of the country's most important government projects.

A branch of the Iranian military, the IRGC has built up a sprawling business empire since the 1979 revolution, with annual revenues estimated at some $12 billion and investments in sectors ranging from oil, gas and petrochemicals to cars, bridges and roads. It also controls the paramilitary Basij militia.

"The ruling political class, the IRGC, needs to control and monitor Iran's financial resources in order to continue its political hold," Mashallah Shamsolvaezin, a prominent Iranian journalist, told Inter Press Service (IPS) in a telephone interview from Tehran.

"Ahmadinejad sees absolutely no need to obtain permission from anyone, but such interference in the economy will work against him."

This is what the US FakeLeft supports in Iran. A corrupt fascist system controlled at the top by the military apparatus and the fundamentalist theocracy.

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by: donkeytale @ Mon Jan 04, 2010 at 08:59:20 AM CST

Fascism = govt. owned businesses???!! (0.00 / 0)

Better look up your Mussolini and Franco and get back to me on that. Looks like from yer evidence that Iran is one of them soshalist/commie outposts, the ultimate evil to the corporate globalizer/privatizer in chief.

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness, For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people, For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry. -- A-Hep

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by: fairleft @ Mon Jan 04, 2010 at 09:44:24 AM CST

[ Parent ]

current event (0.00 / 0)

The defectors have started an underground railroad to smuggle other rebels out of hostile territory

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by: doberman pinche @ Mon Jan 04, 2010 at 12:29:19 PM CST

this is weird (5.00 / 1)

Harold Ford Jr. Weighs a Challenge to Gillibrand

By MICHAEL BARBARO
Published: January 5, 2010

Encouraged by a group of influential New York Democrats, Harold Ford Jr., the former congressman from Tennessee, is weighing a bid to unseat Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand in this fall's Democratic primary, according to three people who have spoken with him. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01...

The defectors have started an underground railroad to smuggle other rebels out of hostile territory

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by: doberman pinche @ Tue Jan 05, 2010 at 21:54:29 PM CST

How so? (5.00 / 1)

First of all, let me get something out of the way. Kiss me you fool. (p*>

I don't trust Harold Ford based on DFQ going after him. He appears to be a fake lefty. I've never heard of Kirsten Gillibrand. Her name sounds close to Gilligan of Gilligan's Island, so I admit my utter confusion. Please tell us what you know.

Harold Ford Pwned by Dave Weintraub

Dave Taking on Harold Ford and the DLC

http://davefromqueens2.blogspo...
http://allaircraftarenotinvolv...

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by: socrates @ Tue Jan 05, 2010 at 22:49:03 PM CST

[ Parent ]

pretty much for the reasons (5.00 / 1)

dave went after him. if they need a place to put a dino there are other states available. and he's further to the right than the person who already has that seat.

perhaps noom or super could weigh in with a ny perspective.

The defectors have started an underground railroad to smuggle other rebels out of hostile territory

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by: doberman pinche @ Tue Jan 05, 2010 at 23:28:34 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Precisely (0.00 / 0)

This shows there is hope. If the DLC is that hot and bothered to make sure Hillary's Senate seat is controlled by themselves rather than a real Democrat, that means the fight is on. I'm never gonna stop having hope. I'd like to know more about that lady. She must be fairly liberal if the DLC are pushing for Ford. You've a great eye for finding hidden stories like this.

I've said it before, but Dave was the perfect middle of the road Democrat. He had definite potential in politics. I'm pretty sure he once mentioned having that type of ambition. Maybe to run for Mayor. Obama, Ford, and Lieberman are what Republicans should be. I actually liked Nader in 2000. I wish he'd just admit he focked us over. Just admit he shouldn't have run. Gerry Brown would have made a nice President.

You asked me about Coakley, who will probably get Teddy's seat. She is kind of full of it. Cuapano was the right choice. Coakley kept one of those satanic panic daycare owner victims in jail for more years than he should have been, for political gain. For Governor, there was a guy who ran years ago named Harshbarger, not bad, but the fallout from Dukakis' run for President ushered in douchebags like William Weld and Mitt Romney. Plus, we had a lot of right wing radio then, still do. Even our rock and sports radio stations have right wingers in prominent positions. I know America is very conservative in places, but this is a joke. Too much propaganda.

Ted was against the Iraq War from the start. Kerry, damn, he had a lot of potential, but he just steadily sold out over the years. He definitely should have caused a stink with the 2004 election. Gore shouldn't have given up in 2000. Those elections were stolen. No way did GW win Ohio in 2004. That was a blue state hit very hard by unemployment. The economy is what usually dictates how people vote. This is why Obama better get his ass in gear. Too many like Fakeleft and the Lordship are pushing for the Republicans to regain the White House. Then we end up with this lesser of two evils triangulation crap if we're lucky.

I can tell you are down to earth and for real. Good job, doberman pinche. I've a feeling you don't spread the makeup on too thick and are comfortable in your own skin. This tune is for you and Lord Byron, for different reasons of course.

 

http://davefromqueens2.blogspo...
http://allaircraftarenotinvolv...

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by: socrates @ Wed Jan 06, 2010 at 00:51:56 AM CST

[ Parent ]