Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul FINALLY act together!

Why are people still voting for Democrats when Nader is out there?

I don't get it. Why do progressives still vote for Democrats when people like Ralph Nader are out there?!

Kucinich crumbles under pressure

So after many days of hyper-pious rhetoric Dennis Kucinich is reversing his decision and announces that he will vote for the Big Pharma health(not)care bill.

I think that I hate Democratic politicians even more than the more openly evil Republican colleagues.

This shameful surrender by the last Democrat who tried to act like he had a spine reminds me of the song "Whoever wins in November" by David Rovics (listen to it here):

Whoever wins in November
In Boston bay
To the Mexican Gulf
All the papers will say
The people have spoken
And shown us their will
From the great plains of Wyoming
To the Capitol Hill

Whoever wins in November
The moon it will rise
And the mothers will wake up
To the sound of the cries
Of the kids in their mansions
And the kids in their shacks
The farmworkers will toil
With the sun on their backs

Whoever wins in November
The rivers will flow
Into the Charles
And the Rio Bravo
The drills they will burrow
And the pipes will be laid
And the bankers will laugh
At all the profits they've made

Whoever wins in November
The frat boys at Yale
Will all toast to democracy
And tell many a tale
Some lost souls may wonder
How this all began
While in the dark halls of New Haven
They say there goes our man

Whoever wins in November
On either side of the aisle
Rich white men in suits
Will clap and they'll smile
The bombs will keep falling
The flags they will wave
And they'll cheer on their new leader
The latest corporate slave

Whoever wins in November
The children will die
In the ghettoes of Oakland and
Beneath the Iraqi sky
The nuke dumps will widen
And the forests will burn
Until the time comes
When we finally learn

That whoever wins in November
Neolib, neocon
Stands only for death
Whichever face he has on
We will build a new world
And set us all free
Once we drive the whole lot of them
Right out of DC

Dennis Kucinich: Almost As Serious As Committing War Crimes Is Covering Up War Crimes!

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Dennis Kucinich is, along with Ralph Nader, Ron Paul, Cynthia McKinney and a few others, one of the very rare US politicians which is not owned by the Israel Lobby. The rest of them are indeed criminals guilty of apology of war crimes.

The Saker

The only two choices for the 2008 Presidential election: Nader vs Solzhenitsyn

I just came across this table on Ralph Nader's website and decided I would share it with you: (please click on image for a better view)



I want to stress here that I am *not* trying to convince anyone to vote for Nader. Not that I have anything against Nader, not at all - I like the man, its just that I think that voting legitimizes a system which cannot be reformed and which is illegitimate beyond imagination. No, all I am trying to illustrate with this table is a) that McCain=Obama=Clinton and that b) Nader is the only alternative, whether good or bad, to the Neocon War Party's two branches.

As I wrote many times in this blog, the choice between the two factions of the "Republicrat Party" is about as meaningful as the choice between (Kosher) Pepsi and (Kosher) Coke: no choice at all. Now that Kucinich, Paul and Gravel are officially out, the only person still running for the Presidency who does not fully endorse a messianic imperial view of the USA is Ralph Nader. By refusing to recognize the Democrats as a meaningful alternative to the Republicans Nader has already done his country a great service.

We now will see if Ron Paul, Dennis Kucinich or Mike Gravel have the integrity and guts to do the only decent and logical thing (at least for somebody who belives that the system can be reformed from within): endorse Nader.

None of this will make any difference, however slight. The Neocons and the Israel Lobby have a firm grip on both factions of the War Party, they have already infiltrated the campaigns of Mc Cain, Clinton and, to a marginally lesser degree, Obama. Little will change with Dubya's long awaited departure from the White House besides Hillary and Obama providing some charm and intelligence, if not culture, to a post occupied by a Neanderthal-like President for the past eight years. A welcome change for sure, but not something substantial.

Clinton was elected as a "liberal" and he threw million of poor Americans (mostly kids) into the streets, Dubya was elected on a "modest" foreign policy only to start an orgy of Imperial wars. So what is the point of all this? Why spend millions every four years for a presidential campaign which has no relevance whatsoever for the future of the USA?

The real point is to conceal the nature of the *system* by instead focusing on personalities. The proverbial tree concealing the forest if you wish.

Americans are educated or, rather, brainwashed into believing that puppet #1 is dramatically different from puppet #2 and that the electoral circus actually has a meaning. By focusing all the public attention on the candidates the system's propaganda machine successfully distracts the American public from the real cause and nature of the political system ruling over it.

In this context one has to admit that Nader is part of the system no less than Hillary, Obama or Mc Cain: he provides the system with a safety valve and a thin veneer of democratic legitimacy. Still, his platform does serve to shed some light on the forces which really control it all. Hence my ambivalence about the idea of voting for him (a purely theoretical one, for sure, since I do not hold the Imperial citizenship, nor will I ever in the future).

If you have any faith left at all in the American democracy, then, by all means, vote Nader as any other vote is a vote against the American Republic (and for a Fascist Empire). If you, like myself, believe that the system cannot be reformed no matter what, then stay away from it. Limit yourself to an "internal exile" and follow Solzhenitsyn's advice to live not by the lies. This method brought down the Soviet Union and it will also eventually bring down the American Empire.

Kucinich Iran stance outrages Ohio Jewish leaders

Stephen Koff Plain Dealer Washington Bureau Chief

Dennis Kucinich, the colorful Cleveland congressman and longshot presidential candidate, has outraged Jewish leaders in Northeast Ohio by insisting that Iran's anti-Zionist leader is not seeking to exterminate Israel.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is regarded by many in the western world as a menace with nuclear ambitions, who recently called for supporters of Israel to, among other things, "burn in the fire of the Islamic nations' fury." Kucinich, however, says another translation of that and other statements is that Ahmadinejad merely wants regime change in Israel, not death to its people and supporters.

Jewish leaders say such a translation might be acceptable only if Kucinich ignored Ahmadinejad's behavior, which includes torture of his own people, and Middle East history since Israel's founding in 1948.

He and Texas Republican Ron Paul - also a presidential aspirant - were the only House members to vote against a June 20 resolution condemning the Iranian leader and asking the U.N. Security Council to take up charges alleging violations of genocide conventions. Cleveland Democratic Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones and Lake County Republican Steve LaTourette were among the measure's 103 co-sponsors.

A June 28 letter to Kucinich from Harley Gross, chairman of the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland, and Stephen Hoffman, the federation president, called Kucinich's interpretation of Ahmadinejad's statements "both tortured and a clear indication of either a lack of understanding of Israel's enemies on your part or, and we hope that this is not the case, an antipathy toward Israel."

"Unfortunately, it goes beyond naive," Alan Melamed, president of the Cleveland chapter of the American Jewish Committee, said in a phone interview Wednesday.

Kucinich sent a letter on Wednesday seeking to defend his actions, saying that, whatever the translation, he finds Ahmadinejad's statements "objectionable and outrageous." The letter to Hoffman and Gross asserted Kucinich's "full support for the people of Israel."

Yet he said that he could not back the House resolution because it carried only worst-case translations and he regarded it as an attempt to beat "the war drum to build support for a U.S. attack on Iran."

This is not the first time Kucinich has upset Jewish community leaders.

After he and his wife, Elizabeth, visited the Middle East in 2006, they described in detail the destruction they had seen caused by Israeli bombs in Lebanon, but they did not visit scenes of Hezbollah attacks in Israel. He said he ran out of time in part because of travel difficulties.

In 2003, Kucinich reversed himself and returned a $500 campaign contribution to a man linked to Middle East terrorists. Kucinich resisted returning the 1997 donation from Abdurahman Alamoudi until Alamoudi was arrested on charges of accepting payments from Libya and supporting terrorists. Other politicians had already returned donations from Alamoudi, who was later convicted. The American Jewish Committee at the time said Kucinich's refusal showed a lack of moral leadership.

Kucinich's stances, however, have not hurt his congressional re-election efforts to date. He has support from many Arab-Americans in his district, which does not have a big Jewish community.

Joe Charif, president of the Cleveland American Middle Eastern Organization, called Kucinich a "highly regarded" representative who strives for peace. Charif said that he personally does not know whether Ahmadinejad called for Israel's destruction, but that he has seen people on Middle Eastern television - critics of Israel - explain it in ways similar to Kucinich.

Said Sam Khawan, chairman of the Arab-American Community Center for Economic and Social Services, which sponsored Kucinich's trip last year: "All I know is that Dennis is a man of peace and always wants a peaceful resolution."

Members of Congress prevent Kucinich from entering translation of Ahmadinejad words into the congressional record

Congress Votes to Send Iran President Before U.N. Court

Office of Congressman Dennis Kucinich

For Immediate Release:
Contact: Natalie Laber (202) 225-5871

No Questions Asked?

Congress Votes to Send the President of Iran Before a United Nation's Court

While Refusing a New York Times Translation of the President's Remarks

WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 20, 2007) - Today the House of Representatives passed H. Con.Res.21, a resolution that pressures the United Nations Security Council to charge Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with violating the 1948 Convention on Genocide and the United Nations Charter because of his alleged calls for the destruction of Israel.

"There is reasonable doubt with regard to the accuracy of the translations of President Ahmadinejad's words in this resolution. President Ahmadinejad's speeches can also be translated as a call for regime change, much in the same manner the Bush Administration has called for regime change in Iraq and Iran, making this resolution very ironic," Kucinich said.

Kucinich attempted to insert into the Congressional Record two independent translations of the speech from The New York Times and Middle East Media Research Institute, which contain significant differences in the translations of the speech compared to the resolution before the House. However, Members objected formally and the attempt was blocked.

"When I learned of these translations, I felt obligated to bring it to the attention of the House. It seems that much has been lost in translation. Members have a right to know of the translations and the refusal to permit them to become a part of the Congressional Record does a disservice to Members."

A similar House resolution, H. Res. 523, passed the House two days after the October 26, 2005, speech and before these translations were available. Kucinich supported that resolution in the 109^th Congress.

"I am unequivocal in my support for the security and survival of Israel, and I do have serious concerns with the remarks made by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran. But, I object to resolutions that lay the groundwork for an offensive, unprovoked war.

"The resolution passed by the House today sets a dangerous precedent in foreign affairs. A mistranslation could become a cause of war. The United States House may unwittingly be setting the stage for a war with Iran.

"We must make every effort to ascertain the truth because peace in the world may hang in the balance. The only way to definitively know what President Ahmadinejad meant is for the United States to engage in meaningful, diplomatic relations with the country of Iran."

US Congress calls on the UN to charge the President of Iran for inciting genocide: only Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich vote 'no'

Nevermind that this is all based on a falsified translation of Ahmadinejad's words, nevermind that the UN itself had condemned Zionism as a form of racism for many years, nevermind that Iran poses absolutely no threat to anyone in the region - the US Congress has covered itself in shame and disgrace yet again.

After cheering on Israel for its "continued efforts to prevent civilian casualties" during the war in Lebanon last summer, after congratulating Israel on its illegal conquests, Congress now call on the world to condemn the President of Iran and "reaffirms the unwavering strategic partnership between the United States and Israel and reasserts the steadfast commitment of the United States to defend the right of Israel to exist as a free and democratic state" (nevermind that it is the last self-declared ethno-religious state on the planet whose internal policies similar to the South African Apartheid according to Desmond Tutu).

Only Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich had the courage to actually vote "no" to this kind of propaganda.

Oh boy - talk about a psychological preparation for war!!

(I am sure that Olmert and Netanyahu are satisfied with the results of their efforts)

Ok - so the case is clear now. Here is how all this will be packaged:

• Iran is a rogue state, part of the axis of evil, whose President is guilty of calling for genocide.
• The UNSC has expressed its concern at Iran (fully legal and NPT compliant) civil nuclear program and imposed (illegal) sanctions (in violation of the NPT in fact).
• Iran also is repsonsible for the mess in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Gaza.
• The US Congress has expressed its repeated utmost outrage and concern at Iran's alledged actions
• If no action is taken, another "Holocaust" - this time a nuclear one - will happen in Israel to whom Iran poses an existential threat
  

Thus the Empire has "no choice" but to "shoulder its responsability" and "historical mission" to engage into a "defensive war" since the nobody else has the will or the means to do so.

That cowardly and sold-out Congress would have done better to openly declare war on Iran. The result would have been the same, but at least that would have been somewhat more honorable.

As for Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich - they will go down in history as examples of integrity and courage in the face of a general decline in courage of an entire political class.

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Calling on the United Nations Security Council to charge Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with violating the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide... (Introduced in House)

HCON 21 IH

110th CONGRESS 1st Session

H. CON. RES. 21

Calling on the United Nations Security Council to charge Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with violating the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and the United Nations Charter because of his calls for the destruction of the State of Israel.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

January 9, 2007

Mr. ROTHMAN (for himself, Mr. KIRK, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. ENGEL, Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. JOHNSON of Illinois, Mr. INGLIS of South Carolina, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Ms. BERKLEY, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. PATRICK MURPHY of Pennsylvania, Mr. FATTAH, Mr. CARNEY, Mr. MCNULTY, Mr. KLEIN of Florida, Mr. MCCAUL of Texas, Mr. MANZULLO, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. SAXTON, and Mr. LEWIS of Georgia) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

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CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Calling on the United Nations Security Council to charge Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with violating the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and the United Nations Charter because of his calls for the destruction of the State of Israel.

Whereas the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (commonly referred to as the `Genocide Convention') defines genocide as, among other things, the act of killing members of a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, the targeted group, and it also prohibits conspiracy to commit genocide, as well as `direct and public incitement to commit genocide';

Whereas Article 4 of the Genocide Convention provides that individuals committing any of the listed genocidal crimes shall be punished `whether they are constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials or private individuals';

Whereas 133 Member States of the United Nations have ratified the Genocide Convention and thereby pledged to prosecute those individuals who violate its criteria for incitement to commit genocide, as well as those individuals who commit genocide directly;

Whereas 61 years ago the United Nations was founded to prevent another Holocaust, the Nazi genocide carried out during World War II that resulted in the slaughter of 6 million Jews in Europe, from happening ever again;

Whereas Article 2, Section 4, of the United Nations Charter, to which Iran has agreed as a Member State of the United Nations, requires all Member States of the United Nations to `refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state';

Whereas, on October 27, 2005, at the World Without Zionism Conference in Tehran, Iran, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for Israel to be `wiped off the map', described Israel as `a disgraceful blot [on] the face of the Islamic world', and declared that `[a]nybody who recognizes Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation's fury';

Whereas, on December 12, 2006, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addressed a conference in Tehran questioning the history of the Holocaust and said that Israel would `soon be wiped out';

Whereas, on December 14, 2006, incoming United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that Iran's calls for Israel's destruction and its dismissal of the Holocaust are `unacceptable', and expressed concern about the regional and global security implications of Tehran's nuclear program;

Whereas, on August 3, 2006, in a speech during an emergency meeting of Muslim leaders, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stated that the Middle East would be better off `without the existence of the Zionist regime', called Israel an `illegitimate regime' with `no legal basis for its existence', and accused the United States of using Israel as a proxy to control the region and its oil resources;

Whereas Iran funds, trains, and openly supports terrorist groups, including Hamas, Hezbollah, and Islamic Jihad among many others, that are determined to destroy Israel;

Whereas, on December 14, 2001, the President of Iran's Expediency Council, Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, threatened Israel with nuclear attack, saying, `[i]f one day, the Islamic world is also equipped with weapons like those that Israel possesses now, then the imperialists' strategy will reach a standstill because the use of even one nuclear bomb inside Israel will destroy everything [in Israel], while it will merely harm the Islamic world';

Whereas Iran has aggressively pursued a clandestine effort to arm itself with nuclear weapons; and

Whereas the longstanding policy of the Iranian regime is aimed at destroying the democratic State of Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East and the most important strategic ally of the United States, which is confirmed by statements such as those made by Iranian President Ahmadinejad and Council President Rafsanjani, demonstrating the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That Congress--

(1) condemns, in the strongest terms, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's offensive remarks, contemptible statements, and reprehensible policies aimed at the destruction of the State of Israel;

(2) calls on the United Nations Security Council to charge Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with violating the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and Article 2, Section 4, of the United Nations Charter;

(3) further calls on the United Nations Security Council and all Member States of the United Nations to consider measures to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, which would be both a dangerous violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a potential means to the end of carrying out President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's threats against Israel; and

(4) reaffirms the unwavering strategic partnership between the United States and Israel and reasserts the steadfast commitment of the United States to defend the right of Israel to exist as a free and democratic state.

FINAL VOTE RESULTS FOR ROLL CALL 513(Democrats in roman; Republicans in italic; Independents underlined)
H CON RES 21 2/3 YEA-AND-NAY 20-Jun-2007 12:29 PM
QUESTION: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Agree, As Amended
BILL TITLE: Calling on the United Nations Security Council to charge Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with violating the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and the United Nations Charter because of his calls for the destruction of the State of Israel

	Yeas	Nays	PRES	NV
Democratic	217	1	9	4
Republican	194	1	2	4
Independent
TOTALS	411	2	11	8

---- YEAS 411 ---

Ackerman Aderholt Akin Alexander Allen Altmire Andrews Arcuri Baca Bachmann Bachus Baird Baker Barrett (SC) Barrow Bartlett (MD) Barton (TX) Bean Berkley Berman Berry Biggert Bilbray Bilirakis Bishop (GA) Bishop (NY) Bishop (UT) Blackburn Blunt Boehner Bonner Bono Boozman Boren Boswell Boucher Boustany Boyd (FL) Boyda (KS) Brady (PA) Brady (TX) Braley (IA) Brown (SC) Brown, Corrine Brown-Waite, Ginny Buchanan Burgess Burton (IN) Butterfield Buyer Calvert Camp (MI) Campbell (CA) Cannon Cantor Capito Capps Capuano Cardoza Carnahan Carney Carson Carter Castle Castor Chabot Chandler Clarke Clay Cleaver Clyburn Coble Cohen Cole (OK) Conaway Cooper Costa Costello Courtney Cramer Crenshaw Crowley Cuellar Culberson Cummings Davis (AL) Davis (CA) Davis (IL) Davis (KY) Davis, David Davis, Lincoln Davis, Tom Deal (GA) DeGette Delahunt DeLauro Dent Diaz-Balart, L. Diaz-Balart, M. Dicks Dingell Doggett Donnelly Doolittle Doyle Drake Dreier Duncan Edwards Ehlers Ellison Ellsworth Emanuel Emerson Engel English (PA) Eshoo Etheridge Everett Fallin Farr Fattah Feeney Ferguson Filner Flake Forbes Fortenberry Fossella Foxx Frank (MA) Franks (AZ) Frelinghuysen Gallegly Garrett (NJ) Gerlach Giffords

Gillibrand Gillmor Gingrey Gohmert Gonzalez Goode Goodlatte Gordon Granger Graves Green, Al Green, Gene Grijalva Gutierrez Hall (NY) Hall (TX) Hare Harman Hastert Hastings (FL) Hastings (WA) Hayes Heller Hensarling Herger Herseth Sandlin Higgins Hill Hinojosa Hirono Hobson Hodes Hoekstra Holden Holt Honda Hooley Hoyer Hulshof Hunter Inglis (SC) Inslee Israel Issa Jackson (IL) Jackson-Lee (TX) Jefferson Jindal Johnson (GA) Johnson (IL) Johnson, E. B. Johnson, Sam Jones (OH) Jordan Kagen Kanjorski Kaptur Keller Kennedy Kildee Kilpatrick Kind King (IA) King (NY) Kingston Kirk Klein (FL) Kline (MN) Knollenberg Kuhl (NY) LaHood Lamborn Lampson Langevin Lantos Larsen (WA) Larson (CT) Latham LaTourette Lee Levin Lewis (CA) Lewis (GA) Lewis (KY) Linder Lipinski LoBiondo Loebsack Lofgren, Zoe Lowey Lucas Lungren, Daniel E. Lynch Mack Mahoney (FL) Maloney (NY) Manzullo Marchant Markey Matheson Matsui McCarthy (CA) McCarthy (NY) McCaul (TX) McCollum (MN) McCotter McCrery McGovern McHenry McHugh McIntyre McKeon McMorris Rodgers McNerney McNulty Meehan Meek (FL) Meeks (NY) Melancon Mica Michaud Miller (FL) Miller (MI) Miller (NC) Miller, Gary Mitchell Mollohan Moore (KS) Moore (WI) Moran (KS) Moran (VA) Murphy (CT) Murphy, Patrick Murphy, Tim Murtha Musgrave Myrick

Nadler Napolitano Neal (MA) Neugebauer Nunes Oberstar Obey Olver Pallone Pascrell Pastor Payne Pearce Pence Perlmutter Peterson (MN) Peterson (PA) Petri Pickering Pitts Platts Poe Pomeroy Porter Price (GA) Price (NC) Pryce (OH) Putnam Radanovich Rahall Ramstad Rangel Regula Rehberg Reichert Renzi Reyes Reynolds Rodriguez Rogers (AL) Rogers (KY) Rogers (MI) Rohrabacher Ros-Lehtinen Roskam Ross Rothman Roybal-Allard Royce Ruppersberger Rush Ryan (OH) Ryan (WI) Salazar Sali Sánchez, Linda T. Sanchez, Loretta Sarbanes Saxton Schakowsky Schiff Schmidt Schwartz Scott (GA) Scott (VA) Sensenbrenner Serrano Sessions Sestak Shadegg Shays Shea-Porter Sherman Shimkus Shuler Shuster Simpson Sires Skelton Slaughter Smith (NE) Smith (NJ) Smith (TX) Smith (WA) Snyder Solis Souder Space Spratt Stearns Stupak Sutton Tancredo Tanner Tauscher Taylor Terry Thompson (CA) Thompson (MS) Thornberry Tiahrt Tiberi Tierney Towns Turner Udall (CO) Udall (NM) Upton Van Hollen Velázquez Visclosky Walberg Walsh (NY) Walz (MN) Wamp Wasserman Schultz Waters Watson Watt Waxman Weiner Welch (VT) Weldon (FL) Weller Westmoreland Wexler Whitfield Wicker Wilson (NM) Wilson (OH) Wilson (SC) Wolf Woolsey Wynn Yarmuth Young (AK) Young (FL)

---- NAYS 2 ---

Kucinich

Paul

---- ANSWERED “PRESENT” 11 ---

Abercrombie Baldwin Blumenauer DeFazio

Gilchrest Hinchey Jones (NC) McDermott

Miller, George Stark Wu

---- NOT VOTING 8 ---

Becerra Conyers Cubin

Davis, Jo Ann Marshall Ortiz

Sullivan Walden (OR)