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Like baseball, basketball is one of America’s favorite pastimes. The evening the Houston Rockets won the NBA Championship in 1995, the streets of Houston were packed with throngs of people and seemed to be a common thread amongst everyone no matter their race, color or creed…. that commonality was sports. It didn’t matter if they weren’t really basketball fans; they were fans of being winners and that night, we were all winners.

There is something going on in Iraq right now that reminds me of that nostalgic moment: Operation Soccer Ball. Apparently the Iraqi people, particularly the Iraqi children, are passionate about soccer. Actually, it’s football to them, but we call it soccer. You could equate their passion for the game of soccer to our love of football or baseball. Any street, field, farm, or dusty ground off the side of the road is a veritable soccer field in Iraq. From reports of soldiers overseas, Iraqis are all passionately chasing some form or fashion of a soccer ball. If they don’t have a soccer ball, they’ll use anything as a substitute – even a rock – and play with it like they were playing for the World Championship.

Iraqis need soccer balls, and whoever started Operation Soccer Ball, in my opinion, is brilliant. It was started as a way to convey the goodwill of America and American soldiers by giving Iraqi children soccer balls that they so desperately desire.

The love of sports, in this case being soccer, is starting to become an instrument of peace and is forming a common bond between the US and the Middle East. It’s transcending cultural differences and language barriers and it’s also mitigating the aggravated feelings of some Iraqis that would rather not see US presence in their land.

I found out about Operation Soccer Ball from a local radio station in Tampa Bay — WQYK. They contacted my company, PostcardMania, to print posters promoting Operation Soccer Ball in an effort to raise money for the cause and enable soccer balls be sent to soldiers in three different locations in Iraq. The purpose of the mission was to solidify relationships with the future leaders of Iraq by giving soccer balls out to the Iraqi children.

The program actually started in Tampa by a woman named Gina McDowell whose son, PFC McDowell, is serving in the Army Reserves presently stationed in Al Hillah, Iraq. He is part of the Provincial Reconstruction Team attached to the United States State Department. Gina came up with the idea of collecting soccer balls when her son told her the impact they had on Iraqi children. She then contacted WQYK to help spread the word and aid in the collection.

Operation Soccer Ball was run through the local VFW. (There may be other programs like this around the country.) And PostcardMania printed the posters — pro-bono. We do lots of pro-bono work for charities and recently started doing more for the military. We were contacted this past summer to help USO Georgia by printing 18,000 postcards for a large deployment of American troops so they’d have postcards to write home to their families on one last time before boarding their plane on their journey to the Iraq and Afghanistan.

Well, I got a letter the other day that Operation Soccer Ball was a big success — over $8000 was raised for the project and all the monies went directly to the cause which enabled WQYK to collect over 3500 soccer balls and enough money to ship them (it costs close to $2 to ship each ball!). One interesting note that really stood out was that after being befriended with a soccer ball, some Iraqi children have risked their own safety by disclosing the whereabouts of numerous IEDs (explosive devices) and insurgents to our soldiers. Wow. It’s amazing to me that a small gesture of a soccer ball can impact so many lives.

It’s the pleasure in life, or even the contemplation of pleasure, that enriches our lives. For some it could be a trip to the Bahamas. For others, it could be a stroll down memory lane with an old friend…or the love of a good game of basketball. But for the Iraqis, it’s the game of soccer. And a lot of good people are creating a safer haven in the worn-torn Middle East with just a few balls – who’d have thought?

Michael, a soldier in Iraq who has a blog on the net, cited some Kiowa pilots from the 1st Cavalry Division that had been dropping soccer balls from their helicopters after completing their missions. One story in particular really struck a chord.

“I remember this one time when we came down, ready to drop a few balls and we see this kid standing off in the distance. He had his arm cocked back to his ear, just ready to hurl a rock at us. I pulled one of the balls out and tossed it to him. The kid just stood there for a second, like he really wasn’t sure what to do, but then he dropped that rock, grabbed the ball and gave us the thumbs up. That was cool.” –Chief Warrant Officer Sonny Hinchman, Kiowa pilot.

The Tampa Bay program has ended but hopefully this story will inspire others across the nation to develop similar initiatives in their cities. More corporations can get involved by donating soccer balls — monetary donations or donations of the soccer balls themselves with possibly a company logo on each ball. What a great way to get exposure and positive publicity after donating a few thousand balls. Even big conglomerates like Nike, Microsoft or even city governments like NY, Atlanta, Houston or Tampa Bay can get on the bandwagon. Heck – let’s rain soccer balls instead of bullets. Who knows, we might just have the next World Champion Soccer Team on our Hands: Team Iraq.

Other resources:

www.anysoldier.com

www.Spiritofamerica.net

www.postcardmania.com

www.wqyk.com

http://adayiniraq.blogspot.com

www.mnf-iraq.com



By: Joy Gendusa

About the Author:

SunNight Solar, a renewable energy company based in Houston, is hoping to spread a bit of light to our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan this holiday season.

 

The company has put forth a call for support from its loyal customers and the American people. The group challenge is to help provide a solar flashlight for every serviceman and woman serving in the region. Donors will have the opportunity to purchase a light for the troops at www.warlights.com and to select a non-profit military support group from a list of approved recipient partners at the company’s website. Recipient partners include, Adopt-A-Platoon, Military Mom In Action, Operation Care & Comfort, Operation Troop Aid, Soldier’s Angels and The Hugs Project. The non-profit organizations will include the donated lights in holiday care packages they are preparing this season.

 

Highlighting the need of the troops were letters from military personnel, explaining that batteries… and light…are often hard to come by in places like Afghanistan and Iraq. Several letters came from medical personnel, working to save the wounded in volatile situations. While the US government certainly provides an abundance of conventional flashlights to the troops, as one serviceman wrote in, “Batteries are often hard to come by (okay nearly impossible) in the battlefield setting, so an alternative would be an absolute God send…” SunNight’s rechargeable batteries have an estimated life of 3-5 years even with daily use, so the soldiers would benefit both from the flashlight’s dependability and alleviation from problems associated with carrying around extra batteries, if any can be found.

 

One soldier writes, “My team and I are currently stationed in Iraq on a forward operating base that does not have street lamps or significant illumination.  It is pointedly called the “Dark Side” of FOB Warrior.  We have to use flashlights for everything (especially bathroom… port-a-johns have spiders and scorpions).  It’s a real pain burning through all the batteries too.  Such a waste when we get 12 hours of blazing sunshine everyday!  I haven’t seen clouds in months!”

 

A Marine writes, “I have spent 11 months in Iraq and am currently on my 4th year of a 5 year contract. One of the most difficult things to do in Iraq is not what you think it would be. It’s not the 125 degree heat, it’s not being away from your family, and it’s not constant layer of sand that is on everything. One of the most difficult things is trying to find decent indoor plumbing. Now you might be wondering what all of this has to do with a flashlight. Well when was the last time you saw a light bulb hanging up in the top of a port-a-john? Never, right? Well that is truly the main downfall of the port-a-john. …Because at night, you are out luck if you don’t have a good flashlight on you.”

 

While the initial cost for a solar flashlight is slightly more expensive than the typical conventional flashlight, when factoring in the cost of battery replacement, the overall cost savings (and benefit to the environment) are huge. A soldier concerned about the environment writes, “I try to set an example in my personal life through conservation–reduction, reuse, and recycling–whenever possible, however the nature of my career makes it fairly environmentally unfriendly.  I regularly search for ways to offset the large carbon footprint and energy expenditure necessary to fuel the defensive gears of our nation.”

 

A  US Air Force pilot points out in a humorous tone, “If I had the time to sit and crank a flashlight or shake it enough for legitimate illumination, our tax dollars certainly wouldn’t be getting a very good value”.  But in closing, he leaves the folks at SunNight with the chilling reality that, “the room lighting feature would be great for illuminating a dark corner of a poorly lit tent on a cold Afghanistan night. “ 

The founder of SunNight Solar, Mark Bent, is a former US Marine and State Department official who has served in both Iraq and Afghanistan so these responses hit hard.

 

SunNight Solar opened its doors for business in 2006 with a unique combination of goals. Close to the company’s core are deeply rooted humanitarian values which are expressed through its various social programs. The safety and welfare of women and children rank high on the company’s list of priorities. “Ideally”, says Bent, “We’ll gain enough support for this program to be able to provide a light to every service man and woman….with some surplus for the troops to distribute as gifts to the women and children living in these war torn areas.” Having served our country himself, Bent says that a “positive conclusion in Iraq and Afghanistan depends as much upon our national kindness as it does our force.”

 

For more information about SunNight Solar and its programs, please visit: www.sunnightsolar.com.



By: stacey bent

About the Author:

BY MICHAEL WEBSTER: INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER Nov 9, 2008 at 5:00 PM PDT

 

According to records kept by El Universal Mexico’s largest newspaper they report since 2005, the 24 hours of last Monday alone was the most violent for the year in the country, with 58 murders linked to organized crime.  This figure surpasses the record set on Sept 12, 2008 when 41 murders occurred within a 24-hour period. Both records occurred in the same year.  Among those murdered just in one day were seven police commanders and officers.  One police officer was wounded and the severed head of a private security guard was left in a gasoline station restroom.

The overwhelming majority of main news items in Mexico on any given day is the killings and violence that happen in Mexico on a daily bases. At the current rate of violent deaths in Mexico it is projected that the number will reach 5,000. That is more deaths than in the Iraq war, where we as Americans are spending 10 billion per month of tax payer’s money to support that war and have over 150, 000 troops and other Americans in country today. Mexico is our immediate neighbor to the south with a population of well over 100 million people with a war that is killing it’s citizens at an alarming rate. Many of those murders kidnappings and violence in Mexico is spilling into the United States where Americans have been killed and/or kidnapped. This is all related to the drug war going on in Mexico between the powerful Mexican drug cartels and the Mexican Government.  

What follows is a compilation of the comparison of deaths both in Iraq and Mexico. To date there have been more then 4,000 plus violent deaths in Mexico both Mexican and U.S. citizens. In comparison to date in Iraq there has been killed appax. 1,312.

During the last 24 hours 38 persons have died in different events caused by members of organized crime; the number has reached 4,052 in 2008 in this country (Mexico), surpassing by more than three times the number of dead in Iraq this year.

 

Additionally an alarming number of Americans are vanishing in Mexico where there has been a dramatic increase in the numbers of U.S. citizens who have recently been reported missing or kidnapped along the border with Mexico, reports the Washington Post. Many who have vanished from U.S. cities are still missing and it is feared they will turn up in the mass graves that have been discovered lately in Mexico.

U.S. State Dept recently issued Mexico alert said “Recent Mexican army and police force conflicts with heavily-armed narcotics cartels have escalated to levels equivalent to military small-unit combat and have included use of machine guns and fragmentation grenades.   Confrontations have taken place in numerous towns and cities in northern Mexico, including Tijuana in the Mexican state of Baja California, and Chihuahua City and Ciudad Juarez in the state of Chihuahua.  The situation in northern Mexico remains very fluid; the location and timing of future armed engagements there cannot be predicted”. Public shootouts have occurred during daylight hours near shopping areas in many Mexican border towns. Click on or  

What follows is the deadly and apparently relentless daily routine of blood and mayhem spread throughout the country of Mexico. Remember this is just one typical day of violence in Mexico. This is from only a few Mexican newspapers. There is no attempt to report every similar instance published in other Mexican newspapers for that day.

 

The following are item headlines appearing on 10/28/08 in the papers indicated.

 

From El Debate (Culiacan, Sinaloa)

-    Unknown subject is murdered in Culiacan

-    Traffic policeman found murdered in Culiacan

-    Unknown subject is found incinerated

-    Shootout between police and hit-men results in one death

-    Guasave resident murdered in Tijuana (Guasave is a city in Sinaloa)

-    Man found incinerated at the Linita de Hitaje Cemetery. The body was in a car reported stolen.

From Diario (Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, edition

-    Four executed and one abducted

-    Bullet riddled body found in Chihuahua

-    Policeman killed Saturday had been threatened in a banner

-    Armed commando kills four outside a bar

-    Shot with gun in the mouth

-    Juarez resident murdered near Sateno

-    Two executed in Chihuahua; they were police

-    Chase and shootout reported in the state’s capital

-    One more killed in Chihuahua City

There were at least 15 persons reported executed from dawn yesterday until press time for this edition; nine of them were in Tijuana, Baja Calif., four in Chihuahua and two in Sinaloa. The violence of criminal groups continues to be unstoppable in the country.”

The following is deadly attacks in Iraq so far this year 2008 totaling approx. 1,312

 From BBC News: Deaths in Iraq

23 Nov 06 – 200 dead

- Five car bombs and mortar attacks in Sadr City, Baghdad

13 Aug 06 – 57 dead

Four-storey building destroyed in blast in Zafaraniya district.

18 July 06 – 53 dead

Car bomb in southern city of Kufa near Shia shrine

1 July 06 – 66 killed

Car bomb in Sadr City, Baghdad

7 April 2006 – 85 dead

Triple ******* bombing at Shia Buratha mosque

5 Jan 06 – 110 dead

Suicide bombers hit Karbala shrine and police recruiting station in Ramadi

18 Nov 05 – 80 dead

Multiple bombings in Baghdad and two Khanaqin mosques

14 Sept 05 – 182 dead

Suicide car bomber targets Baghdad laborers in worst of a series of bombs

16 Aug 05 – 90 dead

Suicide bomber detonates fuel tanker in Musayyib

28 Feb 05 – 114 dead

Suicide car bomb hits government jobseekers in Hilla

24 June 04 – 100 dead

Co-ordinated blasts in Mosul and other cities

2 March 04 – 140 dead

Suicide bombers attack Shia festival at Karbala and Baghdad

1 Feb 04 – 105 dead

Twin attacks on Kurdish parties’ offices in Irbil

28 Aug 03 – 85 dead

Car bomb at Najaf shrine targets senior Shia cleric

In Ciudad Juarez the body of a man who had been beheaded and whose hands were handcuffed behind him was found hung from the Rotario Bridge in Juarez across the border from El Paso Texas. He had been forcibly kidnapped and carried off two days before according to police. A message from a local criminal organization was left nearby. The gruesome display even for this northern border city long accustomed to drug-related violence was shocked.

Shortly after the grisly sighting about 5 a.m., police found the victim’s head in a black bag in a nearby plaza, said state police spokesman Alejandro Pariente.

Pariente said the body was wearing black jeans, a red T-shirt and white sneakers, and was handcuffed. A banner apparently directed at rival drug-gang members was hung next to the corpse.

The victim’s father was barely able to identify his 23-year-old sons body.

 

Caution what follows is a photo showing the hanging body just before its removal.  Yet one more body was found near the Rio Grande in Juarez, this one shot in the head.

Elsewhere, masked men gunned down two police officers in a convenience store in Chihuahua City, the capital of Chihuahua state, where Juarez is located, said Eduardo Esparza, spokesman for the state attorney general’s office. After the killings assailants left a toy pig next to the bodies. A man wearing a pig mask was found hung in a residence in  Juarez. Near the body was a message threatening to do the same to others. Police believe the message was from drug gangs.

Drug violence has been escalating across Mexico and cartels have turned to increasingly gruesome methods to send a message to their rivals and police.

Also in Juarez, the same day four men were found shot to death. And four other men fell victim to gunfire attacks in various places in the city.

Elsewhere in town, the cadaver of a man was found hanging from a metal fence in front of an empty house. A mask with the face of a pig had been placed over his head and his hands had been cuffed. There was also a threatening “narco-message” left with the hanged body.

Later the same day Mexican army personnel detained four heavily armed men in Cuauhtemoc, Chihuahua; the four had with them “an anti-tank rocket launcher, a high explosive rocket, two caliber 308 rifles capable of piercing armor, two cal. 223 AR-15 rifles, a caliber 556 rifle, a .22 caliber rifle, a .22 revolver, a caliber 11.25 pistol, 12 fragmentation hand grenades, a gas grenade and clips of various calibers.” They also had five “T3  level bullet proof vests, bandoleers, gas masks and ID cards of the PGR (Mex. Dep’t. of Justice) plus small amounts of drugs. Most of the front page and the headline on the printed version of a Juarez paper were devoted to the horror which Juarez residents feel because of the level and brutality of all the violence.

Tijuana violence does not cease there either it is becoming an everyday affair according to Jose Gonzalez a resident of Tijuana were there is more violence reported and where the finding of cadavers and narco messages keep police agencies on alert on both sides of the border and the civilian population in a state of panic.

In Tijuana alone there have been to date more than 700 execution type killings carried out by organized crime that have been counted this year, which makes it one of the most violent in the city’s history. Recently in TJ two more decapitated bodies were found, two police officers were murdered and so were eleven other men, all within a 14 hour period.

In a banner headlines on the printed front page of a TJ newspaper read: City policeman executed Physician kidnapped. 

 

A second “ministerial police” agent lost his life Wednesday afternoon in TJ. He was driving his car when the occupants of two other vehicles opened fire killing him dead in his car. Two severed human heads were left on top of the lids of each of two blue plastic barrels found near the Otay Mesa border crossing point on the east side of TJ near the California border. The location is just four blocks away from where six persons were killed by gunfire on Monday. The headless bodies were inside the barrels, and a narco message.

 

A “Ministerial Police” commander was killed and his police officer escort was critically wounded Monday afternoon when killers shot them repeatedly while the two were eating at a restaurant. The hit-men left and disappeared as quickly as they had arrived. 

 

Recently four men fell victim to a gunfire assault at a junkyard in the Lomas Verdes section of TJ but between 4 p.m. and late evening six other men were shot to death and two others were wounded in two other incidents elsewhere in town.

Just yesterday, ten gunmen lost their lives after a shootout with state agents in Nogales, Sonora. The police were attacked with fragmentation grenades; three police and three civilians were wounded.

The body of a gagged man was found in Cabo San Lucas; his fingers had been chopped off. Eight persons have died in Baja California Norte in the last 24 hours, the product of a spiral of violence.

Just recently two Rosarito police officers were assassinated while on patrol. Twenty kilometers away three other persons were murdered. Seven other crimes took place in Chihuahua; two men were found dead in Hermosillo, Sonora, two in Culiacan and “some others more” in Guanajuato, Guerrero, the Distrito Federal and Taxco.

A related account in “El Universal” (Mexico City) states that violence in Rosarito has cost the lives of seven police and at least a dozen other persons in less than thirty days; it adds that there have been mass resignations of police there because of fear of being murdered. Just some years back Rosarito was a laid back, peaceful ocean beach town.

Just recently Baja racer Arron Cooper another American was shot in Mexico while pre-running the Baja 1000 race. See: Baja Racing News.com for more details.

Sources:

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FORMER BORDER PATROL OFFICERS (NAFBPO)  

El Universal, El Debate and Diario newspapers. El Paso Police Dept. El Paso Sheriff’s Dept. Mexico City Police Dept., Juarez Police Dept.

Click on or Google:War on terror and drugs by Michael Webster



By: michael Webster

About the Author:

By James F. Cotter

Blackwater Worldwide, a private military company,  was founded in 1997 (as Blackwater USA) by Erik Prince and Al Clark.  Today the company is contracted by the U.S. government to provide security in Iraq.  Two-thirds of its government contracts are no-bid contracts,  and 90 percent of its revenue comes from these government contracts.  (1)

A staff report by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform said that Blackwater was “staffed with reckless, shoot-first guards who were not always sober and did not always stop to see who or what was hit by their bullets.”   (2)

According to an IRS ruling, Blackwater “violated federal tax laws by treating an armed guard as an ‘independent contractor.’”  Congressman Henry Waxman observed, “The implication of this ruling is that Blackwater may have avoided paying millions of dollars in Social Security, Medicare, unemployment and related taxes for which it is legally responsible.”  (3)

Blackwater illegally required an employee “to sign a non-disclosure agreement before (Blackwater) agreed to pay the back pay and other compensation that he was owed.  The terms of this agreement  explicitly prohibited the guard from disclosing any information about Blackwater to ‘any politician’  or ‘public  official.’”  As Waxman said, “It appears that Blackwater used this illegal scheme to avoid millions of dollars in taxes and then prevented the security guard who discovered the tax  evasion from contacting members of Congress or law enforcement officials.”  (3)

On September 16, 2007, Blackwater gunmen opened fire on a Baghdad street, killing 17 civilians.  The shootings were unprovoked, according to witnesses,  who also reported that the gunmen continued firing while the Iraqi civilians were trying to run away.  Two Blackwater helicopters were also involved in the attack.  Although Blackwater claimed that its people were under attack, an FBI investigation concluded that at least 14 of the shootings were unjustified.  No evidence was found of an attack on the Blackwater employees.  (4)

Jeremy Scahill and Daniela Crespo, in The Nation, say  “Blackwater mercenaries are some of the most feared professional killers in the world and they are accustomed to operating without worry of legal consequences.”  In discussing the presence of hordes of Blackwater mercenaries on the streets of New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the authors wonder “why the government would allow men trained to kill with impunity in places like Iraq and Afghanistan to operate here.”  At least some of these Blackwater “troops” were said to have been deputized by the governor;  others were hired by wealthy individuals who had fled the city and wanted their property protected.  “With President Bush using the Katrina disaster to try to repeal  Posse Comitatus (the ban on using U.S. troops in domestic law enforcement) and Blackwater and other security firms clearly initiating a push to install their paramilitaries on U.S. soil, the war is coming home in yet another ominous way.  As one Blackwater mercenary said, ‘This is a trend.   You’re going to see a lot more guys like us in these situations.’”  (5)  (6)

In 2006 an SUV with Blackwater “security” men crashed into a U.S. Army Humvee in Baghdad’s Green Zone.   The Blackwater “security” people disarmed the soldiers,  forcing them  to lie on the ground at gunpoint  until the SUV  could be extricated.  (7)

Sourcewatch reports, “Blackwater  has receieved no-bid government contracts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and post-Katrina New Orleans, all from (George W. Bush’s)  administration.”  (8)

In March 2004, four Blackwater employees were killed in Iraq because the company had decided to save money ($1.5 million, as it turns out) by not buying armored vehicles.  (9)   Insurgents simply walked up to their vehicle and killed the men with small-arms fire.  An armored vehicle would have repelled the attackers.  When the families sought details about the incident, they ran into a stone wall.  The mother of one of the victims said, “We were actually told that if we wanted to see the paperwork on how my son and his co-workers were killed that we’d have to sue them.”    (10)

The grieving wife of one of the men says, “Blackwater seems to understand money. That’s the only thing they understand.  They have no values, they have no morals.  They’re ******.  They’re the ****** of war.”  (11)

 Our roving reporter,  Frank “Scribbles”  Melooney,   managed to track down Blackwater owner Erik Prince, who does not like giving interviews,  by disguising himself as a tuna casserole.  Or that’s what he says.  I’m not sure I believe him.

The interview was rather short, as you will see.

 Q.  Why can’t the military handle these security  matters in Iraq and Afghanistan?  And domestically, isn’t Blackwater  somewhat usurping the role of the National Guard?

A.  We’re more efficient.  We’re better than they are.  The army and the National Guard—buncha pansies.

Q.  Blackwater does not seem to be accountable to anybody. 

A.  We’re stronger than the government.  We do whatever we please. That’s the way God wants it.

Q.  Why do you say that?

A.  It’s  in the Bible.  Which you  obviously haven’t been reading, or you’d know.

Q.  Let’s see—your organization has tons of weapons.  You do whatever you want. You’re answerable to no one.  What’s to stop you from invading Poland?

A.  We are a peace-loving people, Frank.  We **** the idea of having to invade anybody.

Q.  Do you really?

A.  But that’s a good question. And the answer is:  Nobody.  Nobody can stop us.  Hmm,  Poland–I hadn’t thought of that one.

Q.  Are your employees given psychological tests?

A.  Urine tests.  They’re quicker. 

Q.  Not really.  The urine has to be analyzed.

A.  We do analyze it.  If it’s any color but yellow, we won’t hire them. You wouldn’t believe some of the colors we’ve seen. 

Q.  Some have  suggested that a large proportion of your employees are mentally unstable. 

A.  Those people are  jealous.  Jealous  pinko  swishes.

Q.  Jealous of what?

A.  The size of our guns.  Don’t let anyone fool you—size counts. This “angle of the dangle” crap is left-wing poopy. 

Q.  You’ve never felt that a great percentage of your people have deep-seated insecurities that lead them to crave power and control?

A.  It’s about time Christians had some power. 

Q.  But Christianity has been the dominant religion in Western civilization for 2,000 years.

A.  Yes, but they never let us do anything–until  Blackwater came along.  Except the Crusades.

Q.  Who are “they”?

A.  You know.

Q.   No, I really have no idea who you’re talking about.

A.  The international banker set.  The Christ-killers.

Q.  Well,  I honestly don’t think we need to go on.  

A.  I’ll tell you what to think, you little punk.

Q.  Goodbye, mister Prince.  There’s really no point in continuing. 

A.  Hold it right there, sissypants.

Q.  Now, now, Mr. Prince—put down that gun.

A.  You’ll have to pry it out of–

Q.  Your cold, dead hands?

A.  How did you know what I was going to say?

Q.  I’m psychic.  Look, it’s Jennifer Aniston.

A.  Really?  Where?  I don’t see her.  Frank?  Where did you go?  Frank?

References



 www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackwater_Worldwide

www.nytimes.com/2007/10/01/washington/01cnd-blackwater.html

www.mediamouse.org/news/2007/10/congressional-committee-invest.php – 25k

www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackwater_Baghdad_shootings

www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0910-07.htm

www.indymedia.us/en/2005/01/10721.shtml

www.infowars.com/articles/iraq/blackwater_drew_weapons_on_us_troops.htm



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By: Breadstreet.com

About the Author:

On June 19, 2008, Rob Krall, Editor of OpedNews.com sent his 400+ unpaid writing staff a plea to wake up and report on the recent devastating flooding in the Mid West.

I replied with a reminder of the following misery when the levees broke after Hurricane Kat blew threw three years prior.

Among the thoughtful comments posted on the thread is now an harmonious ending from Vic Sadot, Broadside Balladeer with his rendition of The Nightmare of New Orleans.

But I begin and end with Bob:

“If it keeps on raining the levees are gonna break”-Bob Dylan

It has been three years since Hurricane Katrina blew in and exposed that the empire has no clothes.

What happened in the Big Easy was foretold five years prior in a five-part series in the New Orleans Times-Picayune and in the 2004 October edition of the National Geographic.

What had been published as a fictional story became fact; for it laid out the scene of the aftermath of Hurricane Kat that the world viewed in reality on TV.

Local officials and FEMA were well informed about the probability that even a slow-moving category three hurricane would cause catastrophic loss and a lot of human miseries, for 19th-century levees were not designed for that eventuality.

For years, climatologists have predicted and warned us that powerful storms will occur more frequently in the 21st century, because of rising sea levels from global warming.

The hardest-working marsh in America is the Louisiana bayou, and its health has been neglected. For three hundred years, men have built walls and levees to control that mighty force of nature, and it has wrecked havoc on New Orleans’s natural defenses. From the Mississippi border to the Texas state line, Louisiana is losing its protective fringe of marshes and barrier islands faster than any other place in the U.S.A.

Homeland Security should protect the homeland, but the War in Iraq costs American taxpayers millions a day on top of the $135 Billion the ‘war on terror’ began with.

The very innards of our nation are collapsing, and a government that has been commissioned to protect its citizens continues to blow it big time in support of Big Oil and the Industrial Military Complex.

“Any nation that year after year continues to raise the Defense budget while cutting social programs to the neediest is a nation approaching spiritual death.” – Rev. MLK

In 2007, Project Billboard and the Center for American Progress released an analysis of the cost of the Iraq war, detailing exactly multiple projects to make America safer at home and stronger abroad.

“The “Opportunity Cost of the Iraq War” report reveals that for the cost of the Iraq war to date [2007], the United States could have undertaken 18 major projects to strengthen its security in the world and at home. Some of these include:

§ Adding two new divisions to the Army

§ Putting 100,000 new police officers on the nation’s streets

§ Doubling the size of the Firefighters Grant Program

§ Doubling America’s Special Operations forces

§ Undertaking significant improvements to safeguard ports

§ Funding important initiatives to safeguard loose nuclear weapons

“More could be done to better secure or eliminate nuclear weapons, material and technology to prevent terrorists from developing and exploding nuclear or dirty bombs….These are just a few proposals that would have represented a better investment in America’s security than the…Iraq “war of choice.” http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2004/08/b171440.html

No thinking person disputes the oppressive nature of Saddam Hussein’s regime and also understands that Iraq was not involved in the planning or execution of the September 11 attacks and Iraq did not have a collaborative operational relationship with Al Qaida. But, American army bases in Afghanistan and Iraq are based all along the oil pipe line and we the people have a homeland that is under-funded.

On June 20, 2007, Sen. Chris Dodd [D-CT.] sponsored S. 1668: Gulf Coast Housing Recovery Act of 2007, a senate bill that required the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to allow specified uses by Louisiana of certain funds under the Road Home Program and set a deadline for the Housing Authority of New Orleans to make a certain number of dwelling units available for occupancy among many other things to benefit those still suffering the aftermath of Hurricane Kat.

From July from July 27-Aug. 2, 2008, I hope to find out how progress is going and will also be reporting from Central City, New Orleans on the good works of committed social justice compassionate Christians who have connected through NEXT International, because their hearts were broken and remain open to the horror we all witnessed when our sister and brother citizens were stranded on roof tops and in squalor after the levees broke.

Our sister and brother citizens on the Gulf Coast have been forgotten by most; for out of sight is out of mind. Hearts turn cold and harden when we forget to remember what had once pierced them apart. But, redemption is always possible and we the people can do something, when we know the truth.

If it keeps on raining, the levee’s gonna break

If it keeps on raining, the levee’s gonna break,

Some people are still sleeping

Some people ARE WIDE AWAKE.

-Modern Times, Bob Dylan

COMMENT from Vic Sadot, Broadside Balladeer

The Nightmare of New Orleans

Thank you for citing the little known fact that what happened to New Orleans was entirely avoidable and was in fact predicted by the two sources that you cite, The Times Picayune and National Geographic. Most of us did not find this out until after the disaster. I checked these claims out and found them to be true. In fact, the cries before Hurricane Katrina were shrill and completely ignored by the Bush-Cheney regime. It’s just one more impeacheable offense in the 35 listed by the truly honorable Congressman Dennis Kucinich.

I write some blogs, but mainly I write topical songs or “Broadsides”. I also play good time Cajun/Zydeco songs from the Louisiana bayou. Here are the lyrics to the The Nightmare of New Orleans, a song that combines the Cajun French and the Broadside traditions. It tells the story of the criminal negligence before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina. There are two sites where I have posted the song in full. The first one, Last FM, even offers a free mp3 download. Send it to anyone that you think might get something out of it. You won’t be hearing this song on the corporate radio waves.

Free mp3 download of the song The Nightmare of New Orleans

http://www.last.fm/music/Vic+Sadot/_/The+Nightmare+of+New+Orleans

Forty-one Songs by Vic Sadot at ezFolk.com:

http://www.ezfolk.com/audio/vicsadot

The Nightmare of New Orleans / Le Cauchemar de La Nouvelle Orleans

Do you know what the French word “cauchemar” means!

It’s a “nightmare” like right there in New Orleans!

When they let the levees sink in disrepair

The warnings were shrill, but they still didn’t care

Yes, Bush cut the budget… Sent the money to war

Now the great “Crescent City”… has death at her door

Well, Bush is a Nero fiddlin’ kind of guy

He flew over the city in a plane in the sky

The next day he’s back on vacation again’

Playing golf with his corporate empire friends

It’s “criminal negligence”, leaving people to die!

Now the mighty “Big Easy”’s left wondering why…

Est-ce que vous connaissez “nightmare” en anglais?

(Do you know what “nightmare” means in English?)

C’est la Nouvelle Orleans completement sinistree!

(It’s New Orleans completely destroyed!)

C’est criminelle de laisser les gens la mourir!

(It’s criminal to leave people to die!)

De ne pas les fournir les miens a partir!

(To not provide the means to leave!)

Une tempete sauvage d’eau et de vent!

(A raging storm of water and wind!)

C’est le cauchemar de…la Nouvelle Orleans!

(That’s the nightmare of New Orleans!)

The “Free Market” way to evacuate New Orleans

Was to issue and order without providing the means

For the poor to get out…There was simply no way!

Hard winds and high waters came crashing that day!

Now I see what that singer was trying to say

When he said that “they’re trying to was us away”

Do you know what the French word “cauchemar” means!

It’s a “nightmare” like right there in New Orleans!

When they let the levees sink in disrepair

The warnings were shrill, but they still didn’t care

Yes, Bush cut the budget… Sent the money to war

Now the great “Crescent City”…will never be like before

Est-ce que vous connaissez “nightmare” en anglais?

(Do you know what “nightmare” means in English?)

C’est la Nouvelle Orleans completement sinistree!

(It’s New Orleans completely destroyed!)

C’est criminelle de laisser les gens la mourir!

(It’s criminal to leave people to die!)

De ne pas les fournir les miens a partir!

(To not provide the means to leave!)

Un enfer predit pour les plus indigents!

(A Hell predicted for the most poor!)

C’est le cauchemar de… la Nouvelle Orleans!

(That’s the nightmare of New Orleans!)

Copyright Seeptember 3, 2005 Victor Rene Sadot/BMI/Orbian Love Music



By: Eileen Fleming

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