Today I emailed Dr. Hansen, requesting his permission to post the full text here on Daily Kos and on my own blog Climaticide Chronicles of the written statement that he made yesterday to the National Press Club and the House Select Committee on Energy Independence & Global Warming.

He responded immediately, saying graciously:

[C]ertainly. My aim is to communicate.

So, here it is.

Just building on a comment I added elsewhere that won't get a viewing.

The fact is we won't actually hold the Bush administration accountable.  We'll make the same mistakes again as a nation and not punish our right wing anti-democratic extremists who are trying to destroy our nation and take us away from the constitution on which it is founded.

This is what allowed some of these idiots back in power after they should have been punished for Iran Contra.  

As I'll briefly outline below, personally, I think we'll point back to this as the inaction that led to the disintegration of our nation.  Yes quite seriously I see the violent demise of America in these actions, extreme though that may seem... if you're interested follow me below...

In a White House press briefing earlier today, Dana "What is the Cuban missile crisis?" Perino was asked about Scott McClellan and the possibility of him testifying to congress.

John Conyers recently announced that he would begin discussions with Scott McClellan about testifying before Congress. Congressman Wexler has called on him to testify as well. Dana's response is that they have not received a formal request yet so she cannot comment.

But when asked the follow up question of whether the White House could potentially block McClellan from testifying she answered that they could. Hmmm... I wonder if they will stonewall him? We'll see.

It was be billed on Thursday as the first full-scale testimony in Congress by anti-Iraq war veterans, and it's a shame it has taken this long.  A statement on Friday by Matthis Chiroux, 24, who is now refusing to be deployed to Iraq -- after serving in Afghanistan and elsewhere as an Army journalist -- will surely get the most attention, but don't miss the rest.  

"I stand before you today with the strength and clarity and resolve to declare to the military, my government and the world that this soldier will not be deploying to Iraq," Chiroux said in a House rotunda today.

"My decision is based on my desire to no longer continue violating my core values to support an illegal and unconstitutional occupation... I refuse to participate in the Iraq occupation," he said, as a dozen veterans of the Iraq war looked on.

Thursday May 15th at 6am Pacific - 9am Eastern - 01:00 GMT Repeated this Saturday May 17th at 9am Pacific - 12 Noon Eastern - 16:00 GMT Click Here to Listen and or save for thursdays hearings, also on graphic below.

I was still in 'Nam, counting down the days, real short, in returning back to 'The World' and my discharge after 4years of service, when 'Winter Soldier Investigation '71' took place.

The Congressional Testimony than would follow the Detriot testimony of my brother 'Nam Vets who had already returned from that Debacle and Occupation!

Sadly the Country that said, almost as one {many of us 'Nam Vets said we would never allow again} we would remember the lessons of, We Didn't, and history repeats!

Mark your calendars, History on our Military Occupations will, sadly, be made once again, as the Conflict Rages, the Truth be told!

Below you will find cuts from an IVAW Newsletter along with some well deserved recognition on the airing of the 'Winter Soldier Testimony' on March 14th to the 16th 2008.

While the rest of the blogosphere seems alight with the gang beating of Senator Obama in last night's debate, the rest of the political world did not stop turning.

CNNis reporting that Karl Rove has been asked by congress to testify on his invlovlement in the Governor Siegelman affair. Many of us (myself included) instinctively react to this as if it's a good thing, and it is. However, it occurs to me that perhaps now is not the time.

After the jump I'll explain why.

By Candace Talmadge/North Star Writers Group

We’ve heard it all before.

Despite all the hot air it generated, testimony on Iraq this week before the Senate Armed Services Committee offered little in the way of real news or useful insight. Hiding behind Army Gen. David Petraeus’s medals and uniform, President Bush sent his proxy to Capitol Hill to repeat the administration’s threadbare mantras yet another time.

Just six days earlier, however, a different high-ranking U.S. military officer spoke to the senators – Lt. Gen. William E. Odom, now retired. "The surge is prolonging instability, not creating the conditions for unity as the president claims," his testimony began.

"The decline in violence reflects a dispersion of power to dozens of local strong men who distrust the government and occasionally fight among themselves," Odom explained. "Thus the basic military situation is far worse because of the proliferation of armed groups under local military chiefs who follow a proliferating number of political bosses.

What seems to matter to Sen. John McCain is not what something is, but rather what it is called.  

In truth, why wouldn't he think that?  Why wouldn't he believe that that he can systematically conflate Shiite militants with Al-Qaeda in Iraq?  He did, after all, learn at the foot of his mentor with regard to these type of tactics.

It's not that John McCain doesn't know the difference; it's that he is willfully conflating the two to fit his desired political narrative.

On this day, 3-19-08, the 5th anniversary of the Occupation of Iraq, some may attend the thousands of candlelight vigils around the country.

Some may have other vigils of remembrance planned.

Some may write of their feelings.

Some may have other ways to observe and remember the Fallen and Maimed of our Military and the Tens of Thousands of the Innocent Killed and Maimed and Millions thrust into refugee status due to our countries Failed Policies.

Some may do nothing.

And so from the spectre of the summer soldier who shrinks from the hard truths and his country's crises, comes the Winter Soldier who will not look away.

Thomas Paine
These are the times that try men's souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value.
—Published on 23 December 1776

Hello friends,
In today's Headzup original, President Bush is asked about the  Fake Fema Press Conference.

Been too busy to post daily so, I'm also giving you Dick Cheney on the White House's censoring of testimony on global warming.

I just happened to pop over to C-Span 3 and noticed Mr. Arar testimony to the Judiciary Constitution & Civil Liberties Subcommitte - via satellite link-up from Canada.  

Rep. Nadler-D (sorry, I didn't jot down his state) just royally ripped the Admin's handling of this case.  

Jump with me.

Supreme Court Justice nominee Thomas claimed under oath at his 1991 confirmation hearings that he had not discussed abortion with others.  That shocked even his supporters.  We now know that that testimony was a lie.  After joining the Court, Thomas penned shrill dissenting opinions in abortion cases, screaming his opposition.  It defies common sense to think that anyone who exhibits such emotion on the subject of abortion would not have had discussions with others on the same subject earlier in his career.  Thomas talks about his grandfather in his book.  Got news for you, Mr. Justice Thomas - even your grandfather would know that your testimony to the Senate was a lie.

"How the troops are configured, what the deployment looks like will depend upon the recommendations of David Petraeus."

-- George W. Bush, 9 August 2007

Despite what Duncan Hunter and most of the other Republicans on the House Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees would like you believe, General David Petraeus's uniform does not earn him immunity from criticism.

I thought MoveOn.org's full page "Petraeus or Betray Us" ad in Monday's New York Times was a bit more incendiary than it needed to be, but it was pabulum compared to the propaganda shenanigans the Bush administration and its echo chamberlains have pulled over the years to promote their woebegone war in Iraq.  And the concern congressional Democrats have regarding Petraeus was aptly summarized by Senator Dianne Feinstein when she said, "I don't think he's an independent evaluator."  That statement was more than fair, more than balanced, because Petraeus is not an independent evaluator.  He's not even close.

Hey everyone,
Hope you enjoy today's cartoon!