Republican-Led US House Passes Bill To Restrict Abortions… Dead in Water… Nothing but Rightwing Talking Point

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The Republican-controlled US House of Representatives on Tuesday passed legislation that would ban abortions after 22 weeks of pregnancy. The bill, which would exempt women who are victims of rape or incest as long as they first report the crime to authorities {that vitiates this exemption, doesn’t it? What posturing hypocrites: editor}, has no chance of becoming law with Democrats controlling the Senate and the White House threatening to veto it. The legislation passed 228-196, with a few Republicans dissenting and little Democratic support.

18 June 2013

Voice of Russia World Service

http://english.ruvr.ru/news/2013_06_19/Republican-led-US-House-passes-bill-to-restrict-abortions-3352/

Editor’s Note:

Watch the usual cast of suspects drool on command over this. This isn’t serious legislation… it’s known that the Prez would veto it and the Senate wouldn’t approve it. It’s a bone tossed by the Republicants to their knuckle-dragging Evangelical base. Watch Potapov, Paffhausen, Dahulich, Reardon, Whiteford, Jacobses, Mattingly, Webster, Dreher, and Freddie M-G all coo that Orthodox should vote Republican because of this. Don’t be fooled… the Republicants are still in favour of a ravening society where the rich would rape us all… they’re still in favour of indiscriminate use of the death penalty, the bootless “war on drugs” and “war on terror”, warmongering in foreign parts, the dismantlement of all labour and environmental regulation, and corporate global hegemony. Satan can quote Scripture and turn himself into a beautiful angel of light. In short, anti-abortion doesn’t equate to Pro-Life. HH has made it clear that the state has an obligation to provide a wide palette of social and family supports… which the swinish and greedy Republicans deny and oppose.

Bite the coin… it could be base metal.

BMD

White House to Appoint Guantánamo Detention Camp Closure Envoy

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On Monday, the White House shall announce the appointment of an envoy to close the Guantánamo Bay Detention Facility. Clifford Sloan, a Washington lawyer and a close confidant of US Secretary of State John Kerry, will have the assignment of overseeing the closure of the notorious detention facility. Media reports stated that Mr Sloan’s appointment would reopen the Office of Guantánamo Closure, closed in January 2013. In a statement disclosing the forthcoming appointment, Secretary of State Kerry said he was grateful for Mr Sloan’s “willingness to take on this challenge”. Amongst the issues Mr Sloan will address is the fate of low-level detainees from countries with security problems.

 Now, there are 166 detainees at Guantánamo. 86 of them, including 56 from Yemen, are cleared for transfer providing certain conditions are met. In February, Guantánamo prisoners started a hunger strike protesting long-term illegal detention and abuse from prison guards. Last month, President Obama vowed again to close the prison. President Obama spoke about the closure of the notorious prison for the first time in 2009. Then, his efforts to transfer detainees to American prisons and to try some of the inmates in the civilian justice system stumbled over fierce resistance from both parties in Congress.

17 June 2013

Voice of Russia World Service

http://english.ruvr.ru/news/2013_06_17/White-House-to-appoint-Guantanamo-Bay-closure-envoy-8508/

Editor’s Note:

This is good news, indeed. It means that the Prez is ready to rumble with Know Nothing Republican chowderheads. What changed his mind? I dunno… nobody does. However, he’s doing the right thing, and that’s good enough for me. It’s time to end the lunatic “Global War on Terror“, in any case. It has no point, save to enrich the McMansion set. Does this mean that he’s given up on “bipartisanship?” God willing, it does. The Republicans are anti-patriotic greedsters who want to wreck the economy deliberately so that they can dismantle the New Deal. That’s the meat of the core, kids. They hate compassion… they hate cooperation… they love greed… they love money. Remember what the Church teaches, “The love of money is the root of all evil”… ‘nuff said.

BMD

Gosduma Deputy Sez American Chemical Weapons Report in Syria “Fabricated”

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On Friday, RF Gosduma Deputy Aleksei Pushkov, head of the RF Gosduma International Affairs Committee, stated that a US government report concluding that Syria used chemical weapons against rebels, crossing what US President Barack Obama has previously described as a “red line”, is a fabrication. He posted on Twitter, “Information about the usage of chemical weapons by [Syrian President Bashar al-] Assad is fabricated in the same way as the lie about [Saddam] Hussein‘s weapons of mass destruction [in Iraq]”. US intelligence reports presented to the UN and the international community prior to the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 claimed Saddam Hussein’s régime possessed weapons of mass destruction including nerve agents, ballistic missiles, and a nuclear weapons programme. The USA claimed the threat posed by those weapons justified the invasion of Iraq, but after the country was occupied, the alleged weapons of mass destruction were never found. Pushkov said that President Obama “is going the same way” as former President George W. Bush did then.

On Thursday, the White House said that it now believes with “high confidence” that Syrian government forces used chemical weapons many times during the two-year conflict there, and vowed to boost American aid to the armed opposition fighting to remove Assad from power. White House Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said Obama had decided to provide further support, including military support, for Syrian opposition forces as a result of its conclusion that government forces has used such chemical weapons. Rhodes declined to clarify whether this support would entail providing arms to the Syrian opposition, but he said that American aid to armed opposition on the ground would differ greatly “in scope and scale” from assistance Washington had previously provided to the rebels. Rhodes said that the American goal is to “strengthen their effectiveness”. Syrian government officials have accused opposition forces of using chemical weapons against President Bashar al-Assad’s military in a March attack in outside of the northern city of Aleppo. Some 93,000 people are believed to have died since fighting broke out between Syrian government forces and rebels in March 2011, according to the latest UN figures.

14 June 2013

RIA-Novosti

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20130614/181661349/US-Chemical-Weapons-Report-in-Syria-’Fabricated’–Russian-MP.html

Editor’s Note:

Let’s keep it simple. Both political factions in the USA support the anti-Orthodox side in the Syrian Civil War. Russia and China support the pro-Orthodox side. The konvertsy support the anti-Orthodox side; HH supports the pro-Orthodox side. Any questions?

BMD

 

Russia and the USA Want Talks Between Syrian Régime and Opposition

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On Tuesday, US Secretary of State John Kerry said that Russia and the USA would set up an international conference on Syria by the end of this month. He’s optimistic that it’d involve both the Syrian government and opposition forces. At a meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov, Kerry said that the conference would aim at facilitating a solution to the Syrian crisis through political dialogue. Lavrov added that the Syrian government assured Russia that it’s ready to participate in the conference, saying, “But, of course, so far, these are just words that have yet to be transformed into actions”. He went to say that the Syrian opposition hasn’t commented on the proposal. So far, opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have refused to sit down for talks with the régime in the past, saying that Assad’s removal is a non-negotiable issue. Lavrov pointed up that the conference would be a follow-up to last year’s international meeting in Genève that drafted a peace roadmap for Syria.

The communiqué passed in Genève by the UN Action Group on Syria, which includes Syria’s neighbours and the permanent members of the UN Security Council, proposed to start with the creation of a transitional government drawn both from the opposition and Assad’s administration. Both Kerry and Lavrov stressed that Russia and the USA support the Genève roadmap, seeing political dialogue as the only solution for Syria. Kerry said that the alternative is increasing violence, a humanitarian crisis, and the country’s disintegration.

Moscow and Washington have clashed over Syria in the past; the USA put the responsibility for the civil war on Assad’s régime, whilst Russia insisted that the opposition should share the blame for the conflict. Russia blocked several UN Security Council resolutions on Syria, saying that they were biased in favour of the opposition. The USA supported the Syrian opposition, providing the motley coalition of forces (which includes many radical Islamists) with non-lethal military equipment. Recently, a bill filed with the US Senate proposed the supply of weapons to the Syrian insurgents. Kerry said the bill’s fate depended on the American inquiry in progress into reports that the rebels used chemical weapons, but added the matter may become a moot point if the government and the opposition begin dialogue. More than 70,000 have died in the two-year-long present conflict in Syria, according to the latest UN estimates.

8 May 2013

RIA-Novosti

http://en.rian.ru/world/20130508/181018883/Russia-US-Want-Talks-Between-Syrian-Govt-Opposition.html

Editor’s Note:

Let’s not put too fine a face on this. The USA has woken up to the fact that Islamist radicals would benefit from the toppling of Assad. Besides that, Russia and China are adamant… NO MORE BOMBS! To put the kybosh on the idea of “intervention”, it’s unaffordable (there ain’t nuttin’ in Motha Hubbard’s cupboard, kids… Bush wasted it all on the adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan) and it’d destabilise the entire region (the Gulf States are most jittery on that score, and they’re American allies). Look carefully at:

Recently, a bill filed with the US Senate proposed the supply of weapons to the Syrian insurgents. Kerry said the bill’s fate depended on the American inquiry in progress into reports that the rebels used chemical weapons, but added the matter may become a moot point if the government and the opposition begin dialogue.

That is, Kerry’s given the US government a face-saving fig-leaf. The opposition will refuse to sit down with Assad… then, the USA will piously (and hypocritically) withdraw its former offer of arms. “They won’t sit down for peace talks… they’re terrorists intent on mayhem”. Let’s not be coy, the Boston bombing incident makes it politically impossible for any American régime to cooperate with any group that even looks like it might have Islamic militants within it. Any road, most of Obama’s rhetoric on Syria was election-year hogwash, not meant to be taken seriously by mature adults. Reflect on this… Wet Willy would’ve gotten the USA involved in a very sticky wicket just to placate the Religious Right troglodytes in the GOP. God IS in His Heaven… the Old Master does it again (just like when he defused the claptrap over Iran)… hey, anybody who still chain-smokes, backs Spartak, plays the guitar, goes white-water rafting, and cusses when he wants to can’t be all bad.

BMD

White House Petition Urging the Release of Two Orthodox Christian Archbishops Held Hostage in Syria

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Editor’s Foreword:

Please, sign the petition by using the link below.

BMD

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An appeal to President Obama and his government for the release of two Orthodox Christian Archbishops, namely Archbishop Boulos Yazigi and Archbishop Youhanna Ibrahim, who were abducted by armed rebels on 23 April 2013 in the suburbs of Aleppo, Syria. The driver of the Archbishops was murdered and the Archbishops were forced by the rebels to go to an unknown location either in Syria or in Turkey. We appeal to you beloved in Christ and peace loving people to sign this petition urgently asking the American administration to use all its influence for the release of these two Archbishops and to bring a peaceful settlement to this bloody Syrian conflict through a negotiated settlement.

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/appeal-president-obama-and-his-government-release-two-abducted-orthodox-christian-archbishops-syria/xNskxL1q

(No URL… sent to me as a cut n’ paste)

 

Statement by President Obama on the Occasion of Orthodox Easter

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This weekend, Michelle and I extend our best wishes to members of the Orthodox Christian community here in America and around the world as they observe Holy Friday and the Feast of the Resurrection. For millions of Orthodox Christians, this is a joyful time, but it’s also a reminder of the sacrifice Christ made so that we might have eternal life. His decision to choose love in the face of hate, to hope in the face of despair, is an example we should always strive to follow. However, it’s especially important to remember this year, as members of the Orthodox community have been confronted with persecution and violence, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa. For centuries, the region and the world has been enriched by the contributions of Orthodox communities in countries like Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq. As a nation, we reaffirm our commitment to protecting universal human rights including the freedom of religion. Moreover, in this season of hope and restoration, we celebrate the transformational power of sacrificial love.

4 May 2013

Barack Obama

President of the USA

http://www.Whitehouse.gov

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/05/04/statement-president-occasion-orthodox-easter