For Women's History Month

MSA President Named as an Unsung Heroine by PBS for Women's History Month

PBS’ Favorite Unsung Heroines

March 10th, 2009

"March is Women’s History Month–but we’d like to shine a light on women of immense accomplishment, fortitude and inspiration, though not an equal amount of recognition. From Bill Moyers, Maria Hinojosa, Judy Woodruff, Lidia Bastianich, Martin Savidge, Tom Stewart and Paula Zahn, their personal unsung heroines..."

Maria Hinojosa, Senior Correspondent from NOW on PBS, on Carissa Picard

“Carissa Picard is an inspiration. The wife of an army pilot and mother of two toddlers, she lives on a military base in Texas. She sees many military spouses on the base who feel powerless and lonely. But Carissa is a lawyer, so has taken her legal skills and created an organization–Military Spouses for Change (now Military Spouses of America)–to help the wives (and husbands) speak out and feel empowered enough to challenge one of the biggest and most powerful institutions in our country…the military. She helps women own their voices and their power to challenge authority.”

 

Carissa was featured in the NOW Program “Fighting the Military“, you can watch it online.

 

Read about the other amazing woman at PBS Unsung Heroines

CONGRADULATIONS Carissa, you've done wonders, in service and advocacy, not only for the spouses of but the Soldiers you've helped, these recent troubled years!!

Never forget who we are dealing with:

"You've probably never heard of Jim Goodnow, but Jim is a veteran who owns a bus, The Yellow Rose, that he uses to haul Iraq Veterans Against the War around the country. Friday night he pulled into a New Jersey truck stop to get some sleep and someone torched The Yellow Rose. Jim is OK.

Let this be a lesson for all of us. We are not dealing with rational, sane people, when we're dealing with the Right. Let's face it, these people consider the draft dodging, drug addicted, liar Rush Limbaugh a great American patriot."

I am sorry to hear about this. Just glad to hear that nobody was hurt. And I hope his insurance covers "GOP extremists' acts of terrorism," if that is the case?

Just a reminder of

the kind of terrorism the GOP is capable of and active in and that they are the terorists we are fighting over here now:

Part I

Is This Another Republican Terrorist?

The NY Times had a little blurb up from the AP news service on someone planning to attack Hillary Clinton:

A Louisiana State University student told another student that he was planning a violent attack against Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, the police said. The student, Richard R. Wargo, 19, of Shreveport, was held on $1 million bail.

snip

Mr. Wargo had asked another student whether he wanted to commit arson, a “terrorist act” that he described as a “national event.” “He reportedly went on to say it was political and it involved Hillary Clinton,” Chief Adams said.

I went to do a little poking around to see if maybe, JUST MAYBE, this crackpot terrorist wannabe was an LSU College Republican... But for some reason the site is temporarily down?

It might be a coincidence, BUT it might also mean they will "be right back" after scrubbing their site of references to Wargo... Might be worth some digging to find out. LSU Republicans claim the Sergeant Schultz defense on this:

I am the newly elected and former President of the LSU College Republicans.

The "be right back" page on the LSUCR.com website was purely coincidence. Warga has nothing to do with me or my decision to have our website redesigned with a Web 2.0 look and feel. Our website was last updated in May of 2005, so it was time for a face lift.

I have personally never met the guy and I have been in the leadership of the College Republicans for the past 3 years. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Thanks,

Paul Dietzel 2
President
College Republicans at LSU

"I know nothing, I hear nothing, I see nothing..." I'll give Dietzel the benefit of the doubt barring proof otherwise.

Anyways...If you go to the LSU student directory he lists his name as "Ryan Wargo".

ABC news is reporting about the student that brought this plot to the attention of the school's authorities:

The classmate later learned Clinton had scheduled a Baton Rouge appearance. Police said the student reported Wargo to the university after a second conversation in which Wargo made another remark indicating he planned violence against Clinton.

That remark "was something along the lines of, 'Have you ever heard of a dead president?'" Adams said.

Police arrested Wargo in a traffic stop Thursday night. Officers searched his dormitory room and found documents that made the classmate's accusations appear credible, Adams said. He declined to give details, but said officers also seized Wargo's computer and marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

Yesterday the idiot was released from jail on $50,000 cash bond and a $50,000 property bond:

Making threats toward presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton was a “stupid thing to do,” but in time it will be clear the LSU student behind the threats had no intention of carrying them out, his attorney said Monday.

Richard Ryan Wargo, 19, 10301 Evangeline, Shreveport, was released Monday from Parish Prison to the custody of his parents, attorney Frank Holthaus said.

The release is subject to conditions, including one that requires Wargo to undergo a mental health evaluation and get treatment if recommended by the therapist.

What kind of penalties could he face for his threats?

Under Louisiana law, a terrorizing conviction carries a sentence of up to 15 years in prison and a fine up to $15,000, while communicating false information of a planned arson carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.

Wow! More of them are already over here!

Part II

A terrorist story from last December:

Usually we are talking about the right-wingnut-crack that freepers are smoking. Crooks & Liars reports on the white powder that one freeper was desperate to share with anyone that held opposing viewpoints to the failed Republican agenda.

C&L reported earlier on the guy who sent the fake anthrax around. Who would have thought that a right wing conservative would be involved in terrorist activities?

HMMM?? Who would have thought that the wingnutty Free Republic was guilty of supporting terrorists other than Mr. Bush?

Can you believe how many of those terrorists are over here? Can't be more, can there?

Part III

And what about the card carrying Republican party Al Qaeda insider:

OK... So the terrorism part first:

Terrorism charges brought Friday against the administrator of a loan investment program claimed that he secretly tried to send $152,000 to the Middle East to buy equipment such as night vision goggles for a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan.

Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari, 53, of Ardsley, N.Y., pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court in Manhattan to an indictment accusing him of terrorism financing, material support of terrorism and other charges. The charges carried a potential penalty of 95 years in prison.

But would you really believe me if I told you he was a Republican?

CBS News has confirmed that Alishtari is a donor to the Republican Party, as he claims on his curriculum vitae. Alishtari gave $15,500 to the National Republican Campaign Committee between 2002 and 2004, according to Federal Election Commission records. That amount includes $13,000 in 2003, a year when he claims to have been named NRCC New York State Businessman of the Year.

Alishtari also claims to be a lifetime member of the National Republican Senate Committee's Inner Circle, which the NRCC describes as "an impressive cross-section of American society – community leaders, business executives, entrepreneurs, retirees, and sports and entertainment celebrities – all of whom hold a deep interest in our nation's prosperity and security."

The Republican party needs to be placed on "The List" of terrorist related organizations and watched very carefully.

It is pretty apparent that the FBI and Homeland Security are wasting their time watching us liberal/peacenik/Quaker/progressive/etc. types. Just ask Ken Krayeske...

[updates] Thank you to those that got this story moving. Raw Story, Crooks and Liars, and Josh Marshall, whose his readers have been dig, dig, digging:

Choice artifacts they have dug up?

This:

Never too Late for this Story Update: Oh that's interesting. Cunning Realist found this CV purportedly posted by Mr. Alishtari. In addition to other GOP donor awards, Alishtari says that he was appointed to something called the "White House Business Advisory Committee" in 2003. And CR ends with this point, referencing Alishtari's CV: "Note the entrepreneurial business background with a focus on technology/security. Have any of those businesses ever received government contracts or funds? Any direct or indirect contact in the past with anyone from the Bush administration or Congress?"

That:

It tuns out Mr. Alishtari, the GOP campaign contributor indicted for sending funds for terrorist training camps in Afghanistan, had a fairly lively life online. TPM Reader TDP points to what purports to be Alishtari blog. And in a rather rambling post there's a reference to an alleged meeting with VP Dick Cheney. "When I went to DC in the Fall of 2003 and met with VP Cheney, I was first in a room full of advisers where I asked how to resolve this and they advised me to talk to counsels which led to this solution."

Now, we can't be certain that this is actually Alishtari's blog, though I think the weight of evidence suggests that it is.

And the other thing:

He contributed a decent amount of money to GOP congressional campaign committees in the 2002 and 2004 cycles and managed get named to a number of 'committees' and 'councils' set up as perks for GOP campaign contributors, including something called the "White House Business Advisory Committee."

Now a reader of the Cunning Realist blog has dug up the archived version of the website of Mr. Alishtari's company, GlobalProtector, which shows that at the same time Alishtari was giving money to the GOP he was bidding on multiple government contracts -- including ones with the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security.

 

This story should have had legs of its own... What the heck was the NY Post doing trying to pass this guy off as a "Peace Activist"?

Westchester businessman and purported peace activist was nabbed by the feds for allegedly plotting to funnel more than $150,000 to terrorists at training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan."

Peace activist my ass! This guy is so up to his eyeballs in the GOP and full of it.As it turned out Alishtari actually donated more than the originally reported $15,500 to the Republican party coffers... About $35,000 in total.

 

Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari, indicted two weeks ago for financing terrorists in Afghanistan among other charges, gave more than $35,000 to Republican campaign committees, not $15,000 as was reported earlier.

A $20,000 contribution from Alishtari to the National Republican Senatorial Committee on August 29th, 2003, was not previously reported because his name was misspelled ("Allshtari") on the NRSC's disclosure form to the Federal Election Commission (unfortunately, such misspellings are fairly frequent). Alishtari's online CV stated that he was named an "Inner Circle Member for Life" of the NRSC.

Part IV

And in a strikingly similar case to the Alishtari one:

Can't get enough of Republican terrorists? Neither can the NRCC.

Paul Kiel at The Daily Muck has managed to find more Republican Terrorists Fundraisers of the Year:

"Oops! Building on my last post on the NRCC's bogus Business Advisory Council and 'Businessman of the Year' program, it turns out that Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari isn't the first member of the council to be indicted on charges of supporting terrorism.

Yasith Chhun, the head of the Cambodian Freedom Fighters, a group designated by the State Department as a terrorist organization, was indicted in May of 2005 for charges of plotting to overthrow the Cambodian government. He was also, The Los Angeles Times reported, a member of the NRCC's Business Advisory Council:"

Chhun is set to go to trial next month and has been indicted for "attempting to kill the prime minister, attack government buildings and launch small-scale attacks on karaoke bars and fuel depots in an effort to galvanize opposition to the Phnom Penh government," according to the La Times.

Attacking Karaoke bars? Some might argue that he was doing a public service there. (JK)

The Daily Muck has more on how much money Chun was pouring in to the Republican party and his other terrorist group.

When will the United States government outlaw the GOP for their ties to global terrorism? heh

No matter how you look at it... We will always be fighting them OVER HERE, regardless of the political party in charge. The one other thing that is becoming increasingly clear is that while we are fighting them over here already, many of them clearly are REPUBLICAN TERRORISTS.

Figure the odds, eh?

So the Republican party can shut their gaping pieholes when they try and label liberals, progressives and Dems as "emboldening", "giving comfort to," "etc. ad nauseum," the enemy in any way related to terrorism.

You lying and incompetent fuckwads in the Republican party have done more to further terrorists' causes "OVER HERE" than most of the other terrorist leaders in your "Global War on Terror" combined.

The one and only thing that has kept us safe "OVER HERE," so far, is the fact that the FBI and the CIA don't buy the GOP's ridiculous talking points. And nobody else is buying your propaganda either.

GOP Terrorists, Republican Terrorists, Conservative terrorists...

They are everywhere.

And I haven't even touched on the women's health clinic bombers and abortion clinic Christianist/Christofascist terrorists that are part of the GOP terrorist base.