Ashley Judd Stars in a New Web Campaign Against Sarah Palin's Promotion of Killing Wolves from the Air Over Alaska

Ashley Judd has joined the web launching of an ad by the Defenders Action Fund that takes aim against Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's promotion of the aerial killing of wolves in Alaska.

The web ad accuses Sara Palin as someone who is against conservationist values; in particular that Governor Palin, as Ms. Judd states in the video; "promotes the brutal airborne killing of wolves."

In the web video, Ms. Judd says that Governor Palin promotes a tactic "using a low flying plane (and) they kill in winter when there is no chance for the wolves to escape"

Ms. Judd adds that Palin has even proposed a $750 bounty for the severed foreleg of each killed wolf."

A new web site, EyeonPalin.org, has been launched by the Defenders Action Fund.

In the text of the video, Judd sadly recounts: "Now back in Alaska, Palin is again casting aside science and championing the slaughter of wildlife."

Ms. Judd gloomily adds, in the video, of Governor Palin: "And now she is encouraging even more aerial killing."

Ms. Judd pleades to listeners of the video that: "it is time to stop Sarah Palin and stop this senseless savagery.... and conclude by urging her audience "to end this senseless savagery by going to EyeonPalin.org and take action now."

Europeans Increase Calls to Try former-president Bush and his former-administration Officials for Crimes against Humanity

Having lost the protections of the office of the president, European legal and human rights activists are insisting that Bush and other former members of his administration must face legal charges for their complicity in the commission of crimes against humanity during Bush’s self-proclaimed ‘war on terror.’

Wolfgang Kaleck, general secretary of the European Centre for Human and Constitutional Rights has declared: "Judicial clarification of the crimes against international law the former U.S. government committed is one of the most delicate issues that the new U.S. president Barack Obama will have to deal with."

Kaleck is demanding the the United States move against Bush's illegal breaches of law. In his most demanding statement to date; Kaleck went on to charge that the government of the United States must meet its responsibility as a civilized nation and "pay compensation to the innocent people who were victims of these crimes."

General agreement exists among European authorities that the United States engaged in torture, including waterboarding against its illegally detained prisoners. Europeans cited the Guantanamo Bay detention camp as the center of illegal United States torture violations.

Austrian human rights lawyer Manfred Nowak, UN special rapporteur on torture is on public record for his admonitions against numerous instances of illegal U.S. approved torture: "We possess all the evidence which proves that the torture methods used in interrogation by the U.S. government were explicitly ordered by former U.S. defence minister Donald Rumsfeld," Nowak has publicly declared and went on to state: "Obviously, these orders were given with the highest U.S. authorities' knowledge."

Another well respected voice on the issue of the illegal use of torture by the United States; Dietmar Herz, professor of political science at the university of Erfurt, 235 km southwest of Berlin has stated: "George W. Bush is without doubt responsible for crimes such as torture." Herz continued: "According to the U.S. constitution, the U.S. president is responsible for all actions carried out by the executive (branch),... Therefore, George W. Bush is responsible for the torture methods used by U.S. authorities, such as waterboarding."

Kaleck has cited the words of U.S. lead prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials, Robert Jackson, and used them against the former-president Bush and his former-administration figures, by quoting Jackson's statement at the opening of the trials that were held against Nazi war criminals in October 1945; that: "we are able to do away with...tyranny and violence and aggression by those in power against the rights of (the) people...only when we make all men answerable to the law."

Unfortunately, Nuremberg has proved an insufficient means for prosecuting "crimes against humanity committed in Algeria by France, in Vietnam and Latin America by the U.S., in Afghanistan by the Soviet Union and in Chechnya by Russia," added the Inter Press Service News Agency.

It was not until the atrocities committed in the 1990s "after the Yugoslav wars of secession, the Rwanda genocide, and civil wars in countries such as Liberia and Sierra Leone were state criminals captured, judged and convicted, " the IPS explained.

Kaleck discussed the new focus on crimes against humanity by pointing out that: "The creation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 2002 in The Hague in the Netherlands marks a turning point in the prosecution of state officials accused of crimes such as genocide, crimes against humanity or of war."

IPS adds a note of further explanation to Kaleck's claims by explaining that: ".... prosecution for crimes of war or for crimes against humanity continues to be highly selective. So far, only perpetrators from weak or failed states from south-eastern Europe, or from the south, especially Africa, have been brought to court. In a case such as that of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, Britain acted as an accomplice to protect him." IPS remarks in conclusion that: "Over the last couple of years, human rights activists and some national courts in Europe have been fighting these arbitrary ways. They are appealing for, and in some cases even applying, a universal jurisdiction of national courts. The Spanish judiciary has opened cases against Latin American dictators such as Guatemalan general Efraín Ríos Montt, who ruled the Central American country between 1982 and 1983, and Argentinean military officers involved in kidnapping and killing civilians."

New RNC Leader Michael Steele Gives His Acceptance Speech

Michael Steele has become the first African-American chairman of the Republican National Committee.

In remarks delivered during his acceptance speech he reflected: “As a little boy growing up in this town, this is awesome.”

Steele pledged to bring the GOP back to a competitive stance against the Democrats even though most political observers view the Republican Party as in the midst of shrinking in the numbers of its party membership.

"It’s time for something completely different and we’re going to bring it to them," Mr. Steele pledged. "We’re going to bring this party to every corner, to every boardroom, to every neighborhood, to every community. And we’re going to say to friend and foe alike, ‘we want you to be a part of us, we want you to be with us and for those of you who are going to obstruct, get ready to be knocked over.’ "

The outgoing GOP chairman, Michael Duncan remarked upon Steele's victory that: “Obviously, the winds of change are blowing at the R.N.C..”

Although Mr. Steele failed to mention his racial background during his acceptance speech; many see the acsention of an African-American to head the R.N.C. as a clear counterweight to the presidential election of Barack Obama.

During the campaign that led up to the election of Mr. Steele, the Republican's managed to mangle the publics' perception of how African-Americans are viewed by the power brokers of te GOP when one of the candidates for the R,N.C. chair, Chip Saltsman the chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party distributed the widely ridiculed song on a Christmas CD entitled, “Barack the Magic Negro.”

Steele Advocates GOP Support for Candidates in Favor of Abortion and Gay Rights.

On Fox News Sunday, Chris Wallace interviewed the newly elected chairman of the Republican National Committee, Michael Steele, who talked about the importance of Republicans making inroads and attracting larger numbers of gay and pro=life voters into the Republican Party

Mr. Steele played a delicate balancing act with Chris Wallace as the interview turned into a discussion of chairman Steel's intention to win over more candidates who will run as Republicans while holding pro-choice and gay marriage rights views.

One of the ways Steele hopes to accomplish this task is to use the Republican Leadership Council which will act as an important go-between organization to reach out to individuals with views that have until now been largely ignored by the Republican establishment. Steele mentioned his partnership with Christy Todd Whittman which sought to bring moderates together with conservatives as an example of enlarging the party base.

Steele, during his R.N.C. acceptance speech had challenged Republicans to work with him or face the possibility of being pushed aside.

Challenged by Wallace to provide names, Steele shifted the question and mentioned finding new solutions to problems that cannot be solved by following the ways of the past. Mr. Steele further softened his tone and would not name specific individuals as obstructionists but turned his remarks to focus on those 'inside and outside of the party including Democrats who are attempting to hold back the Republicans from focusing on the truly important issues of the day

Steele mentioned the importance of the party rising beyond criticisms that there is only one way to move the party ahead and win elections. Steele pledged to do whatever is necessary to bring the GOP back to power.

Sounding like a right wing Democrat, Steele said Republicans must be prepared to set aside petty differences of opinion that hampers the Republicans from fixing the economy, attending to the war, and issues regarding poverty.

When asked how he intends to reach out to Hispanics; Steele held firm on the current GOP position on immigration by reiterating the need to secure U.S. borders first and foremost. Steele said the only way to deal with the immigrants who are already in the U.S. is to insure that no more are allowed into the country and for the GOP's tactics to achieve these ends, Steele said it simply becomes a matter a developing a more effective message and marketing campaign to promote current Republican policies on immigration.

Steele described himself as a pro-life Roman Catholic conservative who believes it is imperative for his party to be better informed with the different types of diversity found in America today.

Mr. Steele admitted that the GOP will never attract all of these fringe-type voters, but cited Ronald Reagan's observation that if the party can succeed 80% of the time that's good enough for Mr. Steele and sufficient enough to be able to move the party forward.

When pressed on the power that abortion and anti-gay sentiments hold within the party; Steele changed the subject and tried to argue that the GOP holds other appealing positions such as those on the economy that would attract that 80% figure he kept reverting to as essential to ensuring Republican electoral sucesses in the future.

Steele declared that he intends to fight those who try to claim that the GOP is a party of only two issues; abortion and gay marriage. He wants to include a wide range of issues that he believes are more widely accepted by the American people when given a choice between the Republican and Democratic positions.

In closing, Steele commended the entire block of Republicans who voted against the House Stimulus Bill because of it's highly flawed construction. And by voting against the stimulus, steele claimed that the GOP actually protected the American people from a spending bill disguised as a stimulus package.

Obama Warned That the Taliban are Ready for U.S. Troops in Afganistan

Taliban leaders are defiantly asserting that if the United States sends more troops to Afghanistan they will defeat U.S. forces and cause many Americans to die

Taliban leader, Mullah Mohamad Rasul, a survivor of the 2001 conflicts with the United States in Afghanistan, made his remarks to media representatives of Al Jazeera in an area located between Afghanistan and Pakistan that is ruled over by tribal chieftans.