OpEdNews - Diary: Cindy Sheehan | AND SO THIS IS CHRISTMAS

Cindy Sheehan writes that: "The best holiday presents for my family, nation and the world, would be for the troops to speedily and safely exit from Iraq and for BushCo to be held accountable for their crimes against our Constitution and humanity.

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DIANE'S NEWS CLIPS begins here :)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> I wish you all a good holiday &: D http://www.jacquielawson.com/viewcard.asp?code=ER13610552 IF LINK DOESN'T WORK, THEN PASTE ARTICLE LINK(S) INTO YOUR BROWSER -- OR GO DIRECTLY TO >> http://www.truthout.org Cindy Sheehan | And So This Is Christmas http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/122506Z.shtml Cindy Sheehan writes that: "The best holiday presents for my family, our nation and the world, would be for the troops to speedily and safely exit from Iraq and for BushCo to be held accountable for their crimes against our Constitution and humanity. These gifts, however, will not be realized unless the grassroots community who put the Democrats back in power redouble our efforts for peace and accountability." --- Probes of Bush Policies in the Works http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/122406E.shtml Massachusetts lawmakers are set to launch a blizzard of investigations in the new Congress, probing issues such as wartime contracting, post-Katrina housing assistance, and the Bush administration's relationship with Cuba and other countries in Latin America. In what could be closely watched proceedings, two members of the Massachusetts delegation are planning joint committee hearings to examine the administration's Iraq war policies, particularly the reasons for the military's lagging efforts to train Iraqi troops. --- Bill Moyers | A Parable for Our Times http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/122406C.shtml Bill Moyers writes: "The scale of the disorder in our national priorities right now is truly staggering; it approaches moral anarchy. Alexander Hamilton, the conservative genius of the financial class, warned this could happen." --- Eleanor Clift | Bush's Worst Lies of 2006 http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/122406A.shtml "In the spirit of holding our political leaders accountable, this year-end review will tabulate the worst lies told by Bush and company, along with several stories that were underreported in the media," says Eleanor Clift. "Much of what was generated got lost in the fog of war, but the long arm of history will retrieve these moments." --- FOCUS | Lawmakers Say Bush Using "Shadow Budget" to Fund War http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/122406Y.shtml --- FOCUS | Bush May Boost Iraq Troops by 20,000 http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/122406Z.shtml President Bush began a series of urgent consultations with his key defense and foreign policy advisers at Camp David yesterday, amid expectations that he was preparing to agree to a request from US commanders to send an additional 20,000 troops to Iraq to secure Baghdad. --- Congressman: Would You Send Your Relative to Iraq? http://snipurl.com/15qot --- The Rise of "Revolving-Door" Consultants http://snipurl.com/15qor _________________________________ Carole JEAN, Editor: http://bigpictureworld@yahoo.com 'Gambling to Save Face on Iraq'. >> http://www.TheNewAmericanEmpire.com/tremblay=1050 _________________________________ Snowman 1:56 A snowman trapped in a snow globe goes to great lengths to get warm. Soon he realizes that it's harder than it looks as obstacle after obstacle stands in the way of a little heat. Can he find the perfect warm spot? http://snipurl.com/15n9o _________________________________ .ron corvuswire@verizon.net Spence: $2M SETTLEMENT UNDERSCORES LOSSS OF FREEDOM Jackson attorney battles FBI, big government, Patriot Act. By Angus M. Thuermer Jr. Fresh from winning a $2 million settlement in a suit against the FBI for wrongly tying an Oregon lawyer to the Madrid bombing case, Jackson Hole attorney Gerry Spence warned Tuesday of growing fascism in America. .................snip................ "It's a very frightening time in our country," said Spence, who has made a career championing the cases of the common man and underdogs. "What happens is that the corporate king, or the government-corporate king, the two combined, [are] leading us into fascism." http://www.thepowerhour.com/news2/spence_settlement.htm http://www.jhnewsandguide.com/article.php?art_id=1205 ----- Gates visited Baghdad to quell U.S. soldiers mutiny in Anbar, U.S. imminent attack on Ramadi soon http://www.uruknet.de/?p=m29267 _________________________________ http://jablankfort@earthlink.net Chomsky: It doesn't matter even if there was a conspiracy about 9-11 I don't usually send videos to my list, but this short clip of Noam Chomsky being interviewed re: 9-11 is very revealing in which he says, referring to what critics of the official narrative allege, "what does it matter even if it was true, it wouldn't be significant?" He then refers back to the assassination of JFK in which he still insists that the assassin was Oswald, with the nonsensical comment that "people get killed all the time." Add to this his routine dismissal of the role of the Jewish lobby in shaping US Middle East policy and it is easy to understand why he is known as the "Chief Gatekeeper." Will he debate anyone on these issues? Of course not. He prefers opponents like Alan Dershowitz who is guaranteed not to raise any important issues that Chomsky cannot counter. In this 4 minute clip, he speaks about coincidences that can't be explained, but it would be nice if he would explain how it was that the 8000 page Patriot Act was already written, printed, and ready to be sent to Congress immediately after 9-11 when, before the event, there would have been no chance of its passage. Another coincidence? http://youtube.com/watch?v=LoDqDvbgeXM --- Occupied Canada: Rachel Corrie play: censored in Toronto http://ww4report.com/node/2953/ --- Olmert and Abbas Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas agreed on several points during their surprise meeting in Jerusalem on Saturday evening, according to Nabil Abu Rudeina, advisor to Abbas. The Israelis said that there was no breakthrough on the issue of the prisoners. Olmert and Abbas met to renew their commitment to agreements signed previously. The two leaders also agreed to work to reach a political arrangement of two states based on the Road Map. (Guysen.Israël.News) 12.23.6 And some words: Shimon Peres may have met with Lebanese leaders, in particular with Druze leader Walid Jumblatt. According to Iranian radio, the Israeli vice prime minister tried to "foment a plot against Hizbollah". The office of Shimon Peres has categorically denied this claim. (Guysen.Israël.News) 12.23.6 _________________________________ 200 years for Christmas tradition 1min 59sec A village in Pembrokeshire has celebrated the 200th anniversary of a unique - and tasty - Christmas custom. Any resident of the parish of Nevern who puts a bag in the town hall receives beef and barley. Phil Williams reports. http://snipurl.com/15n8q _________________________________ Geopolitical lumps of coal for the world By Larry Chin | Online Journal Associate Editor As 2006 draws to a close, the world faces new dangers from a collapsing and desperate Bush-Cheney administration gathering itself for its final two years of world destruction. http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_1547.shtml --- The price of conscience ... By Iftekhar Sayeed | Online Journal Contributing Writer "The real problem in Bangladesh politics," observes Rehman Sobhan, one of our leading intellectuals and chairman of the Centre for Policy Dialogue, ' a civil society think tank', and of the Board of Grameen Bank, a world-renowned NGO and this years' co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize with its founder, Mohammed Yunus, "lies in the fact that every party harbours mastaans [Bengali for thugs, goons] because they play an integral part in the election system and in securing a support base in particular areas." Does Mr. Sobhan express outrage with this state of affairs? Far from it. http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_1546.shtml --- Litvinenko & Scaramella reportedly linked to former EPA criminal enforcement official ...By Wayne Madsen | Online Journal Contributing Writer (WMR) -- The reported links between Alexander Litvinenko's Italian interlocutor Mario Scaramella and at least one former official of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Office of Criminal Enforcement's Center for Strategic Environmental Enforcement raise some troubling issues, according to an EPA insider. http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_1545.shtml _________________________________ GRIST/Mind Your Business: This Ring a Nobel? Social and environmental entrepreneurs have a lot to teach big business By John Elkington and Mark Lee ... 20 Dec 2006 What could Muhammad Yunus, founder the of the Grameen Bank and winner of this year's Nobel Peace Prize, teach corporations about sustainability? A lot. The Grameen Bank has rescued huge numbers of people from poverty by giving them loans as tiny as $30 with which to start their own small businesses. It's an elegant approach to a pervasive societal problem, a solution that's easy to replicate on a large scale. And it represents just the sort of creative thinking that responsible corporations should start employing as they address the world's most pressing environmental challenges, argue our business columnists John Elkington and Mark Lee. http://snipurl.com/15lo9 _________________________________ Girls of Dundalk Calendar Out This Weekend 1min 52sec The long-awaited Girls of Dundalk calendar will be released this weekend, just in time for Christmas; it was a huge success last year. http://snipurl.com/15n7s _________________________________ Bon Appetit Management Company joined the Genetic Engineering Policy Alliance, a network of organizations and individuals promoting precautionary policies on genetically engineered food and agriculture. Bon Appetit sees the unmediated growth of GE crops as potentially devastating to the environment and to non-GE farms. Full Story http://www.csrwire.com/PressRelease.php?id=7122 _________________________________ Attractive or Repulsive - What Kind of Energy Do You Put Out? http://www.astrostar.com/Attractive-or-Repulsive.htm _________________________________ http://www.amazingplanet.com | http://joecarr.ca/xmas/graphics/icqxmas.swf _________________________________ Help at the airport Airports always tend to be a little hectic. And traveling by air continues to become more complicated. That's especially true around the holidays. Wouldn't it be great if you could get a little help before you left for the airport? Sure, you can check in and print boarding passes. But I'm talking about parking and waiting for security. Well, now you can. At AboutAirportParking, you'll find information on the country's top airports. Find out if there are delays and which flights will be affected. You can also find what the average security wait is. And, even if your airport is one of the largest in the country, you can still find out about airport parking. Compare rates at lots close to the airport. And find numbers and directions for parking. That way, you can call ahead to see if your chosen lot is full. TO VISIT TODAY'S COOL SITE, GO HERE: http://www.aboutairportparking.com Be sure to listen to me Monday through Friday. Use my map to find me near you http://www.komando.com/listen/index.aspx _________________________________ eHEALTHY NEWS Most Americans are Delusional When it Comes to Exercise - Please brace yourself when you read this as you might laugh so hard you will fall out of your chair at how many Americans are living in fantasyland when it comes to objectively viewing their health habits. http://snipurl.com/15k0n ----- Why Are American Kids Addicted to TV? - More than 80 percent of American kids watch more than two hours of TV per day. Learn how this is controlling their minds to purchase even more drugs. http://snipurl.com/15n61 _________________________________ Meet the Christmas Family 1min 39sec Need some holiday cheer? AP correspondent Jason Bronis visits with the Christmas family - a Georgia clan who truly lives up to their unusual name. http://snipurl.com/15n8y _________________________________ NationalGeographic.com http://lava.nationalgeographic.com/pod/ _________________________________ NASA Astronomy picture of the day http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html _________________________________ dakersting@earthlink.net Video / Amazing-11-Year-Old-Girl http://www.mojoflix.com/Video/Amazing-11-Year-Old-Girl.html