oh liz, we hardly knew ye!

::gnashing teeth:: apparently progressive candidates don’t actually exist in our current political structure.

Elizabeth Warren: Bomb, Bomb Iran!

Another one bites the dust, and so fast, too! Progressives bitter about Obama have already lost their latest celebrity, Elizabeth Warren, to the fever swamp of war hysteria, and she ain’t even elected yet.

The Boston Herald reports the US Senate candidate, running against centerfold Scott Brown for Ted Kennedy’s old seat in Massachusetts, is a hawk on Iran — including the “no options off the table” bit. In fact, she doesn’t just have a particular hate-on for Iran, she’s a big terror war supporter in general: “Our number one responsibility is to protect Americans from terrorism, that’s our job, so being tough on terrorism is enormously important.” And it gets worse — she loves our bloated military so much she made her own child join it. That’s a woman who cares.

- Antiwar.com

we have the right to peaceably assemble

correction, we HAD the right to peaceably assemble. #ripbillofrights

(photos from http://jpdobrin.com/blog/2011/10/photography-of-police-dismantling-occupy-oakland/)

Police arrest 85 in Oakland, break-up protest camp

Police arrested at least 85 people and cleared a camp used by anti-Wall Street protesters near the Oakland, California, city hall early on Tuesday, a city spokeswoman said.

Those arrested faced charges for camping or assembling without a permit in Frank Ogawa Plaza, the site of two weeks of “Occupy Wall Street” protests, Oakland spokeswoman Karen Boyd said.

The plaza remained cordoned off at midday on Tuesday for cleanup of debris, Boyd said. Once cleaned, it is expected to be reopened and protesters will be free to use it for daytime demonstrations, she said.

The city said it began to clear the plaza before dawn and had “contained” the area in about an hour.

About 350 people were in the plaza when police began to clear the area, Boyd said. Police deployed beanbags and sprayed gas at protesters, she said. There were no reports of injuries.

The protest was the Oakland version of the movement launched more than a month ago as Occupy Wall Street in New York.

The protesters are angry at government bailouts of big banks, high unemployment, and economic inequality in the United States. Demonstrations have spread across the nation and overseas, although crowds remain relatively small in most cities.

Oakland said in a statement it told protesters last Thursday to cease overnight camping and cooking at the plaza.

“Over the last week it was apparent that neither the demonstrators nor the city could maintain safe or sanitary conditions, or control the ongoing vandalism,” Oakland Mayor Jean Quan said in a statement.

The city said conditions at the plaza had begun to deteriorate by the second week of the protests with police, fire and medical care reporting they were denied access to the plaza to respond to service calls.

The city also said it had received reports of a sexual assault and a severe beating, and that the lack of sanitation had worsened a rodent problem in the plaza. Officials also said the plaza was damaged by graffiti, litter and vandalism.

Hundreds of demonstrators have been arrested in New York since the protests began. There have also been numerous arrests in other cities.

-Reuters

yemen is the new libya

U.N. calls for power transfer in Yemen

UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. Security Council called Friday for Yemen’s president to immediately accept a deal to transfer power to his deputy and end escalating violence in the strategically located Middle East nation.

The council unanimously adopted a resolution expressing serious concern at the worsening security and deteriorating economic and humanitarian situation in Yemen “due to the lack of progress on a political settlement and the potential for the further escalation of violence.”

President Ali Abdullah Saleh has so far balked at a U.S.-backed plan proposed by Saudi Arabia and its five smaller allies in the Gulf Cooperation Council to hand over power to his deputy and step down in exchange for immunity. He is accused by many Yemenis of pushing the country toward civil war by clinging to power despite massive protests, the defection to the opposition of key tribal and military allies, and mounting international pressure to step down.

The resolution was the first adopted by the U.N.’s most powerful body since the Arab Spring uprising in Yemen began eight months ago. It was clearly aimed at stepping up international pressure on Saleh, who was president of North Yemen from 1978 until 1990 when he became the first president of a unified Yemen.

Yemeni activist Tawakul Karman, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with two Liberian women earlier this month, welcomed the resolution but said it didn’t go far enough.

“We are asking for a trial” for Saleh, Karman told reporters at U.N. headquarters. “We are asking to send him to the international tribunal as a war criminal.”

Philippe Bolopion, U.N. director for Human Rights Watch, said the organization welcomed “the long overdue condemnation of Yemeni government abuses,” but believed the council should have distanced itself from the council’s impunity deal.

“By signaling that there would be no consequence for the killing of Yemenis, the immunity deal has contributed to prolonging the bloodshed,” he said.

The White House said in a statement that the deal sends “a united and unambiguous signal to President Saleh that he must respond to the aspirations of the Yemeni people by transferring power immediately.”

The resolution calls for Saleh, or those authorized to act on his behalf, to immediately sign the Gulf Cooperation Council deal “to achieve a peaceful political transition of power … without further delay.”

Although the deal would give Saleh immunity, the resolution also underlines the need for an independent investigation into alleged human rights abuses “with a view to avoiding impunity.”

Saleh was gravely wounded in an explosion at his presidential palace in June and went to Saudi Arabia for treatment. During his absence, mediators and opposition groups sought to persuade him to stay away and transfer power, but he declined and returned abruptly to Yemen late last month.

Unlike the resolution on Syria that was vetoed by Russia and China on Oct. 4, the Yemen resolution makes no mention of sanctions or any other measures.

With fighting intensifying, there are concerns that a civil war would significantly hurt efforts by the United States and Saudi Arabia to fight Yemen’s dangerous al Qaeda branch, and could turn the mountainous nation into a global haven for militants a short distance away from the vast oil fields of the Gulf and the key shipping lanes in the Arabian and Red seas.

The resolution raises fresh concerns “at the increased threat from al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and the risk of new terror attacks in parts of Yemen.”

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, as the Yemeni branch is known, is considered by the U.S. to be the most dangerous of the terror network’s affiliates after it plotted two recent failed attacks on American soil.

- AP

all wrong, no rights

this is disgusting. how is this not assassination? also, gotta love the phrase “Western powers”. well, great. we attacked a country, took it over and killed its leader. again. make way for the private contractors making their way towards libya’s considerable oil and water reserves. sick, sick, sick.

Gaddafi killed in hometown, Libya eyes future

NATO is to formally decide on Wednesday whether to end its mission over Libya now that Muammar Gaddafi is dead and buried and the country’s new leaders have declared the nation “liberated”.

The likely decision to end the alliance’s patrols over the skies of Libya at the end of the month marks another milestone in what the National Transitional Council (NTC) has pledged will be a road toward democracy and free and fair elections in 2013.

But the deaths of Gaddafi and his son Mo’tassim after both were captured wounded but alive on Thursday and the grisly public display of their decomposing bodies in a Misrata meat locker have made the NTC’s Western backers uneasy about Libya’s prospects for stable government and respect for the rule of law.

Gaddafi and Mo’tassim were buried in a secret desert location on Tuesday to prevent their graves becoming a shrine for any remaining followers in the oil-rich North African state.

Under pressure from Western allies, the NTC promised on Monday to investigate how Gaddafi and his son were killed. Mobile phone footage shows both alive after their capture. The former leader was seen being mocked, beaten and abused before he died, in what NTC officials say was crossfire.

The treatment of others who supported Gaddafi and fought alongside him was now an issue, said U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman.

“This is a test. The NTC has repeatedly said that they will distinguish themselves from the Gaddafi regime in terms of the respect of human rights and the rule of law,” he told a news conference in Morocco.

“Now is the time for them to begin actions that will help them reinforce these words.”

RIVALRIES

Emerging from 42 years of often brutal one-man rule, many Libyans are savoring the end of eight months of bitter civil war won with NATO’s backing and are unconcerned about how Gaddafi met his end and how his body was treated afterwards.

“Throw him in a hole, in the sea, in garbage. No matter. He is lower than a donkey or a dog and only foreigners say they care about how we killed him. And they are lying,” said engineer Ali Azzarog, 47.

Hatred of Gaddafi unified his disparate opponents, who will likely now tussle for power during a planned transition to democracy in a nation riven with regional and tribal rivalries.

With economic problems at home, NATO countries are expected to endorse an end to their U.N.-mandated mission in Libya when their ambassadors meet in Brussels on Wednesday after a preliminary decision last week to end it on October 31.

“We said that we would consult closely with the United Nations and the NTC and that process of consultations is ongoing,” NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said.

Libyan interim Oil and Finance Minister Ali Tarhouni said he wanted NATO to maintain its mission for another month, but hoped for a swift end to United Nations sanctions to free up funds for the interim government to pay salaries and help reconstruction.

SAIF ON THE RUN

NATO spokeswoman Lungescu declined to say whether NATO might extend the mission.

“I don’t know whether there is a formal request. All these things remain to be sorted out. But in the end this is a political decision,” she said.

NATO’s Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs and Security Policy, James Appathurai, said he expected the alliance to confirm its decision to end the mission.

“I don’t expect that there will be a change to that decision, because it is quite clear that the pro-Gaddafi elements no longer have the command and control or other capabilities to pose an organized threat to civilians. That is now finished, and as a result our operation will end,” he said.

Western military powers have already begun winding down the Libyan mission, and diplomats have said the majority of NATO equipment, including fighter jets, has already been withdrawn.

A NATO statement on Tuesday said operations in the interim would involve intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions, although NATO would retain the capability to conduct air strikes if they were needed.

The one remaining element from the old order is Gaddafi’s sons, the enigmatic Saif al-Islam, who remains on the run. Once viewed as a moderate reformer, he vowed to help his father crush his enemies once the revolt began.

An NTC official said Saif al-Islam was in the southern desert near Niger and Algeria and was set to flee Libya using a false passport.

- Reuters

book stool

(from brianna)