Tuesday, December 25, 2007

A Merry Christmas Stocking Stuffer Special

Merry Christmas, Dearest Readers and a Happy New Year to you from all of us here at The Prissy Patriot. The following video was sent to Prissy from IJA. Santa teams up with the Center for Constitutional Rights. Cute, be sure and watch the very end.

A Few Hot Links

Human greed is a threat to the planet, warns Williams

A stark warning that human greed is threatening to destroy the environment was issued by the Archbishop of Canterbury in his Christmas message, while the leader of Roman Catholics in England and Wales appealed to people to be more welcoming to immigrants.

Dr Rowan Williams appealed to Christians to do more to safeguard the planet, saying it should not be used "as a warehouse of resources to serve humanity's selfishness".

He told worshippers at Canterbury Cathedral yesterday that people should treat other people and nature with reverence. "More and more [is] clearly required of us as we grow in awareness of how fragile is the balance of species and environments in the world and just how our greed distorts it," he said.

The leader of the Anglican Church added: "When we threaten the balance of things, we don't just put our material survival at risk, more profoundly we put our spiritual sensitivity at risk – the possibility of being opened up to endless wonder by the world around us."

Lakota Freedom. Being a small part Native American, Prissy will be keeping tabs on this development. Legally speaking, it sounds like they are on some solid ground... Lakota Freedom Delegation

"The whole Lakota declaration of withdrawal from the treaty is vested on the power of the Lakota people and our children.

When we undertook the process of announcing the withdrawal, the capacity was far greater than most people anticipated about an individual. But throughout our history, the people have never excluded anyone within their own lifeway and when it becomes a listener's view that its about one individual, one individual does not represent the nation itself, the nation represents the individual, and that is Lakota.

The withdrawal is for the people, the Elders, mothers, fathers, and the children.

Throughout our history and through the enforcement of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, Congress said they would oversee the provisions of 1868 (Fort Laramie Treaty), but they failed to do so. Some minor provisions were kept, but overall the treaty was not honored. Because if the treaty was honored, we would not have this colonial catastrophe of alcoholism, drug abuse and poverty and we wouldn't have the overall high incarceration rate of the male and female in the prison populations. This leads to our children being taking away by Social Services which puts our children out of balance from learning the traditional lifeway.

AP Ft Lewis Soldier Granted Leave Time Extension with Sick Baby

Army Sgt. Chris Williams, 24, of Crown Point, now has until Friday to report for duty in the United States, after which he will be returned to his unit in Iraq. Williams has five months to go in his second tour there.

Williams' son, Gabriel Douglas, was born Dec. 18 and seemed healthy until he developed a lung infection that put him in the intensive care unit at Munster Community Hospital.

The soldier originally was due to return Dec. 22, just after his newborn's illness appeared. Military officials at Fort Lewis initially told Williams his leave had been extended until Jan. 3.

But the extension appeared to be rescinded, and it was unclear whether the Army considered him absent without leave, Williams' family said. The only official word they had was a message on Williams' home answering machine from a platoon leader in Iraq, urging him to return quickly.

Yahoo Israelis and Palestinians responding to a survey believe a recent U.S.-sponsored peace conference was a failure

Israelis and Palestinians responding to a survey believe a recent U.S.-sponsored peace conference was a failure and think their leaders won't manage to sign a peace deal in the next year, according to results released Tuesday.

Israelis were more pessimistic, with 74 percent saying the peace summit last month in Annapolis, Md., was a failure compared with 59 percent of Palestinians, according to the poll.

Only the parties doing the talks are failures or the people would have confidence in them...

Bush "hellbent" on War with Iran

‘Because you can see how dangerous this administration is, Bush continues to threaten Iran, which is prohibited under international law, which is covered in the UN Charter and the Geneva Conventions. The facts don’t matter to the president, but it makes it more difficult for him to continue with his designs against Iran.’ —Former U.S. Attorney General, Ramsey Clark

Quotes of the Day

Santa Claus wears a Red Suit, He must be a communist. And a beard and long hair, Must be a pacifist. What's in that pipe that he's smoking? --Arlo Guthrie

Peace on earth will come to stay, when we live Christmas every day. --Helen Steiner Rice

I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was six. Mother took me to see him in a department store and he asked for my autograph.--Shirley Temple

You don't have to be a blind conservative not to see it, just an ignorant one to deny it.--Unknown

Never forget the troops

Friday, December 21, 2007

Happy Holidays , May the Merry Bells Keep Ringing, May Your Every Wish Come True...

December 21, 2007-Dearest Readers, Prissy has been away Oh so long! Missing you all, with so many things to post-but no time to post them. Prissy is planning a holiday special on Christmas Day, so be sure and check back.

The blog is now open for comments, please keep it clean. Unless of course your talking smack about Dubya, his parents, his buddies OR telling Prissy how beauuuteefull she, Queen V, Iron J Angel and Betty Buckaneer are;)

Post below is from 2005...kind of interesting to look back. And look, Peter Pace was talking the same lines Gates is now attempting to sell us.

DEC 2005-Remember that old song, Happy Holidays? Today Prissy would like to wish her dear readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy Hanukkah. It is rare that holiday of the various religions and secular festivities happen on the exact same days, thus the lovely expression Happy Holidays to you.

So let us have a Happy Holiday today...May the New Year bring more peace, justice and democracy to our world. Prissy hopes the United States will come together and realize what we should treasure-the ideals we Americans were born with. The pursuit of happiness, with justice and liberty for all.

Prissy hopes God will Bless you and yours... (Photo below Malmoe, Sweden)

Hot Links

Two new ones from 2007:

Columbus Dispatch-and the only daily paper in Columbus,Ohio since the 1980's. The paper hasn't endorsed democrat for president in over a hundred years...family owned, don't ya know...War in Iraq no longer the primary concern (unless you are a military family?) Friday, December 21, 2007

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- An invisible line was crossed this week in New Hampshire. The war in Iraq is no longer the No. 1 issue among likely voters in the Jan. 8 presidential primary.

They are saying the war is not the No. 1 issue, but didn't say its tied for 1st Place, along with health care amongst Democrats. How could anyone still call themselves a republican without shame? Besides most voters these days will be voting democrat. The republican party is damaged beyond repair-look no further than the clowns the RNC is attempting to pass off as "presidential material."

Economics Briefing Tax Refunds Will Be Delayed Up To Seven Weeks December 20, 2007

Tax refunds will be delayed at the start of 2008 because of late passage of the Temporary Tax Relief Act of 2007, which Congress was apparently too busy to pass until now. President Bush is expected to sign the Act that extends the current AMT thresholds with a temporary one year “patch.”

Because this legislation comes so late in the year, e-filing and paper processing of tax returns for everyone may not start until February.

Some IRS instruction manuals will have to be redone because they are now outdated. IRS computers will have to be reprogrammed.

Twelve IRS forms are affected by the AMT including those for child and dependent care credits.

The resulting delay in refunds could be up to seven weeks. It is estimated that a postponement of tax refunds for 15 million taxpayers, including lower and middle class taxpayers who normally file for early refunds, is very possible.

That's the Bushite governments long answer of "the checks in the mail". The prez who believes the economy is "still strong" obviously isn't going to admit he spent our tax dollars like a drunken sailor on leave...

Barrons Editorial Calls for FISA Investigation RAW Story-12/24/05-Barron's editorial page editor Thomas G. Donlan penned a column for Monday's edition entitled "Unwarranted Executive Power" which calls on members of the House Judiciary Committee to investigate if the Bush Administration violated the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and to either change the law or consider impeachment, RAW STORY has learned.

Kazimierz, Poland - The Jewish Quarter

Federal agents' visit was a hoax-Student admits he lied about Mao book

The story's release came at a perfect storm in the news cycle. Only a day before, The New York Times had reported that President Bush had allowed the National Security Agency to conduct wiretaps on international phone calls from the United States without a warrant. The Patriot Act, created in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to allow the government greater authority to monitor for possible terrorism activities, was up for re-authorization in Congress.

There was an increased sense among some Americans that the U.S. government was overstepping its bounds and trampling on civil liberties in order to thwart future attacks of terrorism. The story of a college student being questioned for requesting a 40-year old book on Communism fed right into that atmosphere.

Nice job kid-for the neocons. The real Fourth Amendment violations cannot get into the main stream news and one student makes headline news by making one up...

The Selling of Brand Kurdistan Inter Press Service News

In a parallel strategic track, however, the Kurdish Regional Government appears to be keeping its options open, recently hiring Russo Marsh & Rogers -- a Sacramento, California-based public relations firm with close ties to the Republican Party -- to promote its interests.

Many political observers believe that the future of Iraq may see a full-blown civil war or possible partition. Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh recently wrote in The New Yorker magazine that a United Nations official involved in the elections told him: ”The election was not an election but a referendum on ethnic and religious identity. For the Kurds, voting was about self-determination.”

”Our job” with the Kurds, RM&R's Joe Wierzbicki told IPS, ”is to carry out a public relations campaign that will thank the American people for supporting the war in Iraq, and encourage Americans to visit and invest in the Kurdish region.”

Top US general: Iraqis want us out-Monday 26 December 2005 Al-Jazeera-

The United States' top military commander has admitted that Iraqis want US and other foreign troops to leave the country "as soon as possible".

General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also said on Sunday that US troop levels in Iraq were being re-assessed on a monthly basis.

The admission by the top general follows a decision by the Pentagon to reduce its presence in Iraq by two army brigades, which amounts to about 7000 soldiers.

So bring them home!