White Christmas - Happy Holidays

wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy kwanzaa, Happy Hanukkah, and Seasons Greetings. take a moment to enjoy this video . . . just a traveler

Lakota No Longer U.S. Citizens

well judging from the statistics, it doesn't seem being a U.S. citizens has done much for the Lakota. How many Americans even know about the Lakota? So very sad - just a traveler . . .

Lakota Indians Withdraw Treaties Signed With U.S. 150 Years Ago
Thursday , December 20, 2007

The Lakota Indians, who gave the world legendary warriors Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, have withdrawn from treaties with the United States.

"We are no longer citizens of the United States of America and all those who live in the five-state area that encompasses our country are free to join us,'' long-time Indian rights activist Russell Means said.

A delegation of Lakota leaders has delivered a message to the State Department, and said they were unilaterally withdrawing from treaties they signed with the federal government of the U.S., some of them more than 150 years old.

The group also visited the Bolivian, Chilean, South African and Venezuelan embassies, and would continue on their diplomatic mission and take it overseas in the coming weeks and months.

Lakota country includes parts of the states of Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming.

The new country would issue its own passports and driving licences, and living there would be tax-free - provided residents renounce their U.S. citizenship, Mr Means said.

The treaties signed with the U.S. were merely "worthless words on worthless paper," the Lakota freedom activists said.

Withdrawing from the treaties was entirely legal, Means said.

"This is according to the laws of the United States, specifically article six of the constitution,'' which states that treaties are the supreme law of the land, he said.

"It is also within the laws on treaties passed at the Vienna Convention and put into effect by the US and the rest of the international community in 1980. We are legally within our rights to be free and independent,'' said Means.

The Lakota relaunched their journey to freedom in 1974, when they drafted a declaration of continuing independence — an overt play on the title of the United States' Declaration of Independence from England.

Thirty-three years have elapsed since then because "it takes critical mass to combat colonialism and we wanted to make sure that all our ducks were in a row,'' Means said.

One duck moved into place in September, when the United Nations adopted a non-binding declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples — despite opposition from the United States, which said it clashed with its own laws.

"We have 33 treaties with the United States that they have not lived by. They continue to take our land, our water, our children,'' Phyllis Young, who helped organize the first international conference on indigenous rights in Geneva in 1977, told the news conference.

The U.S. "annexation" of Native American land has resulted in once proud tribes such as the Lakota becoming mere "facsimiles of white people," said Means.

Oppression at the hands of the U.S. government has taken its toll on the Lakota, whose men have one of the shortest life expectancies - less than 44 years - in the world.

Lakota teen suicides are 150% above the norm for the U.S.; infant mortality is five times higher than the U.S. average; and unemployment is rife, according to the Lakota freedom movement's website.

Over 100,000 Want Chaney Impeached

Okay, on the 15th I posted about the online form for impeaching Dick Chaney. Over 30,000 people signed the form in 24 hours - here's an update - just a traveler

Last Friday, Representative Robert Wexler (pictured), along with Representatives Tammy Baldwin and Luis Gutierrez, called for impeachment trials against Vice President Dick Cheney.

In an email he announced that he had put up a website to gather signatures, and said "If we can get 50,000 or even more people to sign up in support of this effort I will report back to each and every Democratic colleague of mine the true power that exists behind this movement."

Well, next the site has collected over 112,808 signatures as of today. The major media is not reporting this story, but obviously over 100,000 Americans have spoken their views.

If you believe the Vice President has abused the power of his office, and not only brought us into an unneccesary war, but has violated the civil liberties and privacy of American citizens, then add your voice for impeachment
http://wexlerwantshearings.com/

Million? Billion? Trillion

How much is a Million?
How much is a Billion?
How much is a Trillion?

What's the difference between a million, a billion, a trillion?
A million seconds is 13 days.
A billion seconds is 31 years.
A trillion seconds is 31,688 years.



A million minutes ago was – 1 year, 329 days, 10 hours and 40 minutes ago.
A billion minutes ago was just after the time of Christ.



A million hours ago was in 1885.
A billion hours ago man had not yet walked on earth.



A million dollars ago was five (5) seconds ago at the U.S. Treasury.
A billion dollars ago was late yesterday afternoon at the U.S. Treasury.



A trillion dollars is so large a number that only politicians
can use the term in conversation... probably because they
seldom think about what they are really saying. I've read that
mathematicians do not even use the term trillion!
Here is some perspective on TRILLION:

Trillion = 1,000,000,000,000.
The country has not existed for a trillion seconds.
Western civilization has not been around a trillion seconds.
One trillion seconds ago – 31,688 years – Neanderthals stalked the plains of Europe.



Million: 1,000,000
Billion: 1,000,000,000
Trillion: 1,000,000,000,000
Quintillion: 1,000,000,000,000,000,000
Sextillion: 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
Nonillion: 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
Centillion: 1 followed by 303 zeros



The Outstanding National Debt as of 18 Dec 2007 at 06:01:44 AM GMT is:

$ 9,176,691,186,008.32

The estimated population of the United States is 303,832,961
so each citizen's share of this debt is $30,203.08.

The National Debt has continued to increase an average of
$1.51 billion per day since September 29, 2006!

Impeachment Form Online

If you once forfeit the confidence of your fellow citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem. You may fool all of the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all the time; but you can't fool all of the people all of the time - Abraham Lincoln

30,000 People Join Congressman Wexler's Call for Hearings in Just 24 Hours

In only the first 24 hours, more than 30,000 people have signed up online to join Congressman Robert Wexler's (D-FL) call for impeachment hearings for Vice President Richard Cheney.

On Friday, December 14, Wexler launched www.WexlerWantsHearings.com and asked Americans to join his efforts to convince Congress to hold impeachment hearings. As of 2:30 PM on Saturday 36,000 people have signed up, and the momentum generated by Wexler's campaign is only accelerating.

"The amazing response generated by my call for impeachment hearings simply confirms the passion and energy that exists throughout the nation to hold this Administration accountable" said Wexler. "Originally my long term goal was 50,000 people to join the movement. Now it is clear we will accomplish that in only the first couple days. Major momentum now exists on behalf of our movement and it is now clear that average Americans desperately want Congress and the House Judiciary Committee to take action."

Wexler, a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee, launched www.WexlerWantsHearings.com to mobilize grass roots and netroots support from across the nation in order to increase pressure on Congress to hold impeachment hearings.

In a new video, featured on the site , Wexler issues a strongly worded statement in favor of hearings. The video has already been viewed more than 11,000 times during its first day of release.

"Our Constitution mandates that the House of Representatives hold Presidents and Vice-Presidents accountable when they commit High Crimes... Accountability and the rule of law are not partisan; they are American. They supersede politics and strategy. We must hold all of our leaders accountable. No exceptions," Wexler states on the video.

Wexler has also released an op-ed advocating for Cheney impeachment hearings that was written with his two House Judiciary Committee colleagues Rep.Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) and Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI).

Following the refusal of major national newspapers to publish editorial, including the New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, and Miami Herald, Wexler released the editorial online. Based on the major media blackout, the netroots alone are responsible for the tremendous online outpouring of support on behalf of Cheney impeachment hearings.

A copy of the online op-ed by Wexler, Gutierrez, and Baldwin, entitled "A Case for Hearings", is available at www.WexlerWantsHearings.com and is also attached below.

In the editorial, the three Members of the Judiciary Committee declare that serious charges have been made against Cheney "relating to his deceptive actions leading up to the Iraq war, the revelation of the identity of a covert agent for political retaliation, and the illegal wiretapping of American citizens."

The Members of Congress further state that "the worst legacy of the Clinton impeachment – where the GOP pursued trumped up and insignificant allegations - would be that it discourages future Congresses from examining credible and significant allegations of a constitutional nature when they arise."

Visit: www.wexlerwantshearings.com

Diamonds Are Not A Girls Best Friend

Thanks to myspace friend patch for posting this in his blog. The issue of diamonds is one of consciousness, and I just had to repost this here - just a traveler . . .

Econ-Atrocity:
Ten Reasons Why You Should Never Accept a Diamond Ring from Anyone,
Under Any Circumstances,
Even If They Really Want to Give You One
Thursday, February 14, 2002
Center for Popular Economics
By Liz Stanton, CPE Staff Economist,


1. You've Been Psychologically Conditioned To Want a Diamond.
The diamond engagement ring is a 63-year-old invention of N.W.Ayer advertising agency. The De Beers diamond cartel contracted N.W.Ayer to create a demand for what are, essentially, useless hunks of rock.


2. Diamonds are Priced Well Above Their Value.
The De Beers cartel has systematically held diamond prices at levels far greater than their abundance would generate under anything even remotely resembling perfect competition. All diamonds not already under its control are bought by the cartel, and then the De Beers cartel carefully managed world diamond supply in order to keep prices steadily high.


3. Diamonds Have No Resale or Investment Value.
Any diamond that you buy or receive will indeed be yours forever: De Beers' advertising deliberately brain-washed women not to sell; the steady price is a tool to prevent speculation in diamonds; and no dealer will buy a diamond from you. You can only sell it at a diamond purchasing center or a pawn shop where you will receive a tiny fraction of its original "value."



4. Diamond Miners are Disproportionately Exposed to HIV/AIDS.
Many diamond mining camps enforce all-male, no-family rules. Men contract HIV/AIDS from camp sex-workers, while women married to miners have no access to employment, no income outside of their husbands and no bargaining power for negotiating safe sex, and thus are at extremely high risk of contracting HIV.


5. Open-Pit Diamond Mines Pose Environmental Threats.
Diamond mines are open pits where salts, heavy minerals, organisms, oil, and chemicals from mining equipment freely leach into ground-water, endangering people in nearby mining camps and villages, as well as downstream plants and animals.


6. Diamond Mine-Owners Violate Indigenous People's Rights.
Diamond mines in Australia, Canada, India and many countries in Africa are situated on lands traditionally associated with indigenous peoples. Many of these communities have been displaced, while others remain, often at great cost to their health, livelihoods and traditional cultures.



7. Slave Laborers Cut and Polish Diamonds.
More than one-half of the world's diamonds are processed in India where many of the cutters and polishers are bonded child laborers. Bonded children work to pay off the debts of their relatives, often unsuccessfully. When they reach adulthood their debt is passed on to their younger siblings or to their own children.


8. Conflict Diamonds Fund Civil Wars in Africa.
There is no reliable way to insure that your diamond was not mined or stolen by government or rebel military forces in order to finance civil conflict. Conflict diamonds are traded either for guns or for cash to pay and feed soldiers.


9. Diamond Wars are Fought Using Child Warriors.
Many diamond producing governments and rebel forces use children as soldiers, laborers in military camps, and sex slaves. Child soldiers are given drugs to overcome their fear and reluctance to participate in atrocities.




10. Small Arms Trade is Intimately Related to Diamond Smuggling.
Illicit diamonds inflame the clandestine trade of small arms. There are 500 million small arms in the world today which are used to kill 500,000 people annually, the vast majority of whom are non-combatants.

Bushisms

Call it "Bushims", Bush mis-Speak, or duh . . . . just a traveler

"I glance at the headlines just to kind of get a flavor for what's moving. I rarely read the stories, and get briefed by people who are probably read the news themselves."

"I hear there's rumors on the Internets that we're going to have a draft."

"You know, when you give a man more money in his pocket -- in this case, a woman more money in her pocket to expand a business, it -- they build new buildings. And when somebody builds a new building somebody has got to come and build the building. And when the building expanded it prevented additional opportunities for people to work."


"We need an energy bill that encourages consumption."

"There's a lot of blowhards in the political process, you know, a lot of hot-air artists, people who have got something fancy to say."

"It is white." —after being asked by a child in Britain what the White House was like.

"I couldn't imagine somebody like Osama bin Laden understanding the joy of Hanukkah."

"Unfair but truthfully, our party has been tagged as being against things"

"And there is distrust in Washington. I am surprised, frankly, at the amount of distrust that exists in this town. And I'm sorry it's the case, and I'll work hard to try to elevate it."

"Either we'll succeed, or we won't succeed. And the definition of success as I described is sectarian violence down. Success is not no violence."

"This foreign policy stuff is a little frustrating."

—George W. Bush

Sudan: Arrest War Crimes Suspects

In April 2007 the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants against Ahmad Harun and Ali Kushayb for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Darfur, Sudan.

The two suspects remain free. Next month, the ICC Prosecutor is scheduled to report to the United Nations Security Council on the situation in Darfur.

Take action today to call on the Security Council to condemn Sudan’s refusal to arrest and surrender Ahmad Harun and Ali Kushayb to the ICC for trial.

Visit Amnesty International to see how you can help . . .

Earthquake Hits Caribbean

The end of the 2007 Hurricane Season brings a 7.4 earthquake to the Caribbean!

Tremors felts throughout the Eastern Caribbean, South America and even Puerto Rico

A 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck off the French island of Martinique, causing damage to buildings and there are reports of a least one death on the island. The center of the quake was 14 miles north-west of the islands coast.

Martinique officials said that the island's airport and hotels were "unscathed" by the quake; however, there was structural damage reported on the island - including the collapse of at least one building and a bank - and phone and electrical services were knocked out in some areas.

At least six aftershocks have been reported in and around Martinique since the quake hit the island on Thursday. Approximately 100 people were treated for minor injuries, and one death resulted from the earth quake.

Even though the quake's center was over 200 miles from Barbados, the island did feel the tremors, and several buildings, along with one house collapsed. There are reports of serious structural damage on the islands of St Lucia, St Vincent, Dominica and Guadeloupe.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii said the depth of the quake, at 90 miles, was too deep to generate a destructive tsunami.

And scientists at the University of the West Indies, in Trinidad, said the quake was the second strongest since the unit began monitoring the Caribbean tectonic plate in 1952.