Saturday, April 22, 2006
Protesters force Bush to change plans
Way to go, guys!
"Forcing the President to change his schedule. That doesn't happen very ofter:
President Bush's visit to Stanford University's Hoover Institution was quickly moved to another location after more than 1,000 protesters converged around the Hoover tower.
The White House said the protesters blocked the only road into the central areaof the campus where Hoover is located, which forced a meeting with several Hoover fellows to be moved to the campus home of former Secretary of State George Shultz, a Hoover fellow who organized the gathering.
The motorcade instead traveled to the house, which is on the outer edge of campus.
The change in plans delayed the president's arrival by about 15 minutes"
Mideast 'axis' forms against West
Heckuva job, Junior
Mideast 'axis' forms against West csmonitor.com:
"Iran is forging closer ties with countries and groups in the Middle East that share its hostility toward the US and Israel."
Feingold's Pac rakes in the cash, because of move to Cenure
Democrats! Are you paying attention.? We are trying to tell you something.
Democrats who stand with Bush are dead meat. Democrats who remain pro-war are dead meat. Democrats who do not have the guts to do what needs to be done about this criminal administration are dead meat, in November.
New York Daily News - Breaking News:
"WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sen. Russ Feingold's call for censuring President Bush appears to have paid dividends for the senator's political action committee.
Feingold's leadership PAC, the Progressive Patriots Fund, pulled in $282,000 last month, according to a report filed Thursday with the Federal Election Commission. In February, the PAC raised $105,000.
Feingold, D-Wis., announced in March that he introduce a resolution to censure Bush over the administration's eavesdropping program.
'I bet that really did stimulate contributions a lot,' said Charles Franklin, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. 'The censure resolution, and lack of any other Democrat backing it, really put a lot of Bush-haters onto Feingold.'"
A Warning to Pentagon: Does This Look Familiar?
This is not politics as usual!
In my 57 years, I have never witnessed anyting lile this!
Anyone who does not take these people seriously is as fool.
They are warning of us of the biggest disaster since the civil war and, perhaps trying to prevent one (not in Iraq, since there is already one happening there) but here.
If we use Nukes, once the shock wears off, there will be hell to pay for the Bushites.
Maybe we should rendition them to the Hague
A Warning to Pentagon: Does This Look Familiar?:
"The now-retired three-star Marine Corps general who was the chief operations officer for the military in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq has a message for his colleagues who still report for duty at the Pentagon. Speak out. Do not hide your doubts about misguided policies promoted by the ideologically driven civilian leadership at the Defense Department.
In a Time Magazine essay, Lt. Gen. Gregory Newbold expresses his own regrets that he 'did not more openly challenge those who were determined to invade a country whose actions were peripheral to the real threat -- al Qaeda.' Newbold says he retired prior to the invasion of Iraq rather than speak out against 'those who had used the 9/11 tragedy to hijack our security policy.'
Newbold's challenge is especially timely. This week, two reports indicated that the Bush administration is examining military options to deal with the emerging nuclear threat in Iran. In a deeply sourced article in The New Yorker, investigative reporter Seymour Hersh described war plans already ordered up and sent to the White House that include bombing of Iranian nuclear sites and the possible use of tactical nuclear weapons, 'bunker-busters,' to reach the most sophisticated, deeply entrenched underground facilities".
In my 57 years, I have never witnessed anyting lile this!
Anyone who does not take these people seriously is as fool.
They are warning of us of the biggest disaster since the civil war and, perhaps trying to prevent one (not in Iraq, since there is already one happening there) but here.
If we use Nukes, once the shock wears off, there will be hell to pay for the Bushites.
Maybe we should rendition them to the Hague
A Warning to Pentagon: Does This Look Familiar?:
"The now-retired three-star Marine Corps general who was the chief operations officer for the military in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq has a message for his colleagues who still report for duty at the Pentagon. Speak out. Do not hide your doubts about misguided policies promoted by the ideologically driven civilian leadership at the Defense Department.
In a Time Magazine essay, Lt. Gen. Gregory Newbold expresses his own regrets that he 'did not more openly challenge those who were determined to invade a country whose actions were peripheral to the real threat -- al Qaeda.' Newbold says he retired prior to the invasion of Iraq rather than speak out against 'those who had used the 9/11 tragedy to hijack our security policy.'
Newbold's challenge is especially timely. This week, two reports indicated that the Bush administration is examining military options to deal with the emerging nuclear threat in Iran. In a deeply sourced article in The New Yorker, investigative reporter Seymour Hersh described war plans already ordered up and sent to the White House that include bombing of Iranian nuclear sites and the possible use of tactical nuclear weapons, 'bunker-busters,' to reach the most sophisticated, deeply entrenched underground facilities".
"Memo to Bush - There is No Option in Iraq, It's All Ready a Failure"
You screwed up, Junior. Not the first time, by far.
But by far, the most catastrophic.
The Progressive Daily Beacon: "Memo to Bush - There is No Option in Iraq, It's All Ready a Failure":
"Someone forgot to get the memo to the President. Well, can't hardly fault the administration this time, however, what with all the so-called changes going on -- nothing more really than insiders switching nameplates from one door to the next or, perhaps, Tony Snow moving from the GOP's propaganda wing to the West Wing ... not a long trip -- something was bound to be missed or overlooked. Still, missed memo or not, if the President hasn't figured it out by himself, the man is in a complete state of delusion and denial. Sorry, the topic here is the Iraq War.
Well, more specifically the state of the Iraq War, which is in a general state of complete and utter failure. Yet, Bush seems oblivious. Okay, oblivious probably doesn't fully describe Bush's state of mind -- absolutely and blindly clueless to reality might be a more apt description of the President's present Iraq condition.
Wednesday Bush said, failure in Iraq 'is not an option.' Sorry, not an option? Option assumes there to be some kind of choice in the matter. There are no 'choices' as to whether Iraq is going to be a failure or not be a failure -- it already is a failure!"
But by far, the most catastrophic.
The Progressive Daily Beacon: "Memo to Bush - There is No Option in Iraq, It's All Ready a Failure":
"Someone forgot to get the memo to the President. Well, can't hardly fault the administration this time, however, what with all the so-called changes going on -- nothing more really than insiders switching nameplates from one door to the next or, perhaps, Tony Snow moving from the GOP's propaganda wing to the West Wing ... not a long trip -- something was bound to be missed or overlooked. Still, missed memo or not, if the President hasn't figured it out by himself, the man is in a complete state of delusion and denial. Sorry, the topic here is the Iraq War.
Well, more specifically the state of the Iraq War, which is in a general state of complete and utter failure. Yet, Bush seems oblivious. Okay, oblivious probably doesn't fully describe Bush's state of mind -- absolutely and blindly clueless to reality might be a more apt description of the President's present Iraq condition.
Wednesday Bush said, failure in Iraq 'is not an option.' Sorry, not an option? Option assumes there to be some kind of choice in the matter. There are no 'choices' as to whether Iraq is going to be a failure or not be a failure -- it already is a failure!"
Howard Dean: Katrina Will Put GOP Out of Business
You got that right Howard. We aren't forgetting about the Big Easy!
ABC News: Howard Dean: Katrina Will Put GOP Out of Business:
"April 21, 1006: In one of those odd political moments that combine a poignant message with somewhat opportunistic maneuvering, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean took part in a cleanup effort in flood-ravaged New Orleans and used the moment to take a shot at the Republicans.
In his first post-Katrina visit to the Crescent City, Dean helped Acorn, a nonprofit community group that works with low-income families, to clean out Vincent Cooper's flood-damaged home on Derbigny Street in the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans.
'I don't want to be partisan at a time like this, but this is why the Republicans are going to be out of business,' Dean said, pointing to the destruction around him. 'Nine months after the hurricane, to have this? This is ridiculous. This is not the America we grew up in.' "
Clinton wants anti-Rumsfeld generals to testify
Yeah, we'll believe it when we see it.
If there are hearing at all, they will be perfunctory.
But, the Democrats should keep pushing anyway, as the Rethug. do-nothing, cover-up congress is beng exposed, everyday, in every way.
Clinton wants anti-Rumsfeld generals to testify
If there are hearing at all, they will be perfunctory.
But, the Democrats should keep pushing anyway, as the Rethug. do-nothing, cover-up congress is beng exposed, everyday, in every way.
Clinton wants anti-Rumsfeld generals to testify
"The Decider" Not Really Making the Decisions After All?
When the White House says that the president is focused on something, you can bet he is off cycling, somwhere.
When he says he is the decider, you can bet he has trouble deciding what socks to wear in the morning.
The Ostroy Report:
"Republicans close to senior Bush advisors are saying that the president is neither responsible for the recent spate of staff changes or is happy about them, according to the NY Times. Newly appointed Chief of Staff Josh Bolten apparently is calling the shots, and the result has been a reassignment of top advisor Karl Rove's responsibilities, and the 'resignation' of press secretary Scott McClellan. Bolten is also floating the idea of replacing White House counsel Harriet Miers, another capo in Bush's Texas mafia.
In defense of his defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld this week, Bush barked at reporters like a petulant 10-year-old: 'I'm the decider, and I decide what is best.' But 'The Decider' may be just another Bushevik catchphrase written by some witty advisor to make the decidedly un-presidential president seem as presidential as possible.
But what do all these staff changes mean to the average American anyway? Ever watch Jay Leno when he hits LA's Melrose Avenue for his man on the street interviews? You'd be surprised how many people think Hillary Clinton is the vice president. The level of ignorance is astounding. Think they even have a clue who Scott McClellan or Andy Card is? The recent, and apparently ongoing, West Wing shake-up is nothing more than window-dressing. A rearranging of deck chairs on the Titanic. And besides, the cronies are being replaced with more cronies. For example, rumor has it that ex-Bush 41 speech-writer and current Fox News hack Tony Snow has officially been offered McClellan's job. To paraphrase Jon Stewart this week, Great Idea...we'll pay a guy from Fox News to come up with all the stuff we want Fox News to cover. Watch out, the Fox (pun intend"
When he says he is the decider, you can bet he has trouble deciding what socks to wear in the morning.
The Ostroy Report:
"Republicans close to senior Bush advisors are saying that the president is neither responsible for the recent spate of staff changes or is happy about them, according to the NY Times. Newly appointed Chief of Staff Josh Bolten apparently is calling the shots, and the result has been a reassignment of top advisor Karl Rove's responsibilities, and the 'resignation' of press secretary Scott McClellan. Bolten is also floating the idea of replacing White House counsel Harriet Miers, another capo in Bush's Texas mafia.
In defense of his defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld this week, Bush barked at reporters like a petulant 10-year-old: 'I'm the decider, and I decide what is best.' But 'The Decider' may be just another Bushevik catchphrase written by some witty advisor to make the decidedly un-presidential president seem as presidential as possible.
But what do all these staff changes mean to the average American anyway? Ever watch Jay Leno when he hits LA's Melrose Avenue for his man on the street interviews? You'd be surprised how many people think Hillary Clinton is the vice president. The level of ignorance is astounding. Think they even have a clue who Scott McClellan or Andy Card is? The recent, and apparently ongoing, West Wing shake-up is nothing more than window-dressing. A rearranging of deck chairs on the Titanic. And besides, the cronies are being replaced with more cronies. For example, rumor has it that ex-Bush 41 speech-writer and current Fox News hack Tony Snow has officially been offered McClellan's job. To paraphrase Jon Stewart this week, Great Idea...we'll pay a guy from Fox News to come up with all the stuff we want Fox News to cover. Watch out, the Fox (pun intend"
Bush hears voices
Rummy knows to much to be fired, about a whole lot more than the lies about Iraq.
WorkingForChange-Bush hears voices:
"I hear the voices, and I read the front page, and I know the speculation, said the President of the United States, sounding as peevish as a toddler banging his silver spoon on the high chair. 'But I'm the decider, and I decide what's best. And what's best is for Don Rumsfeld to remain as the Secretary of Defense.'
By reminding everybody that he is 'the decider,' George W. Bush no doubt hoped to stifle embarrassing protests from a growing corps of retired officers such as General Anthony Zinni, who believe that the war in Iraq has been ruinously botched and that the Secretary of Defense should retire. But his defensive outburst only drew attention to the most deserving target of criticism: himself.
While the frustrated generals named Mr. Rumsfeld in their complaint, they clearly aimed at Mr. Bush. They know that the commander in chief was implicated, from the beginning, in every bad decision perpetrated by the Pentagon civilian leadership. They understand why the president cannot take their advice to dump Rummy, as Brookings Institution military analyst Michael O'Hanlon pointed out: 'For Bush to fire Rumsfeld is for Bush to declare himself a failure as president.' "
WorkingForChange-Bush hears voices:
"I hear the voices, and I read the front page, and I know the speculation, said the President of the United States, sounding as peevish as a toddler banging his silver spoon on the high chair. 'But I'm the decider, and I decide what's best. And what's best is for Don Rumsfeld to remain as the Secretary of Defense.'
By reminding everybody that he is 'the decider,' George W. Bush no doubt hoped to stifle embarrassing protests from a growing corps of retired officers such as General Anthony Zinni, who believe that the war in Iraq has been ruinously botched and that the Secretary of Defense should retire. But his defensive outburst only drew attention to the most deserving target of criticism: himself.
While the frustrated generals named Mr. Rumsfeld in their complaint, they clearly aimed at Mr. Bush. They know that the commander in chief was implicated, from the beginning, in every bad decision perpetrated by the Pentagon civilian leadership. They understand why the president cannot take their advice to dump Rummy, as Brookings Institution military analyst Michael O'Hanlon pointed out: 'For Bush to fire Rumsfeld is for Bush to declare himself a failure as president.' "
Same old gang of snake-oil salesmen
Liberal Dose: "The Bush Administration would have us believe Iran is an immediate, dire threat to world peace, but, as with the majority of its assertions, Americans would do well to listen with the deepest of skepticism.
Last January, Vice President Cheney suggested Iranian uranium enrichment was so dangerous that Israel may be forced to attack, just as it did 23 years earlier in Iraq; then just last month he warned of 'dire consequences' if Iran didn't stop its enrichment program.
It's interesting that Dick would take such a stance, in light of his role in orchestrating Iran's nuclear energy buildup -- much like Rumsfeld's role in directing the arming of Saddam Hussein a decade later:" (Read On^)
Last January, Vice President Cheney suggested Iranian uranium enrichment was so dangerous that Israel may be forced to attack, just as it did 23 years earlier in Iraq; then just last month he warned of 'dire consequences' if Iran didn't stop its enrichment program.
It's interesting that Dick would take such a stance, in light of his role in orchestrating Iran's nuclear energy buildup -- much like Rumsfeld's role in directing the arming of Saddam Hussein a decade later:" (Read On^)
Reminder: 60 minutes, Smoking Artilery
Another reminder: Over half of the American people, when last polled, want Bush impeached if he lied about the reasons for war.
White House knew there were no WMD: CIA - Breaking News - World - Breaking News:
"The CIA had evidence Iraq possessed no weapons of mass destruction six months before the 2003 US-led invasion but was ignored by a White House intent on ousting Saddam Hussein, a former senior CIA official said, according to CBS.
Tyler Drumheller, who headed CIA covert operations in Europe during the run-up to the Iraq war, said intelligence opposing administration claims of a WMD threat came from a top Iraqi official who provided the US spy agency with other credible information.
The source 'told us that there were no active weapons of mass destruction programs,' Drumheller said in a CBS interview to be aired on Sunday on the US network's 60 Minutes."
White House knew there were no WMD: CIA - Breaking News - World - Breaking News:
"The CIA had evidence Iraq possessed no weapons of mass destruction six months before the 2003 US-led invasion but was ignored by a White House intent on ousting Saddam Hussein, a former senior CIA official said, according to CBS.
Tyler Drumheller, who headed CIA covert operations in Europe during the run-up to the Iraq war, said intelligence opposing administration claims of a WMD threat came from a top Iraqi official who provided the US spy agency with other credible information.
The source 'told us that there were no active weapons of mass destruction programs,' Drumheller said in a CBS interview to be aired on Sunday on the US network's 60 Minutes."
Lawyer: Rice Allegedly Leaked Defense Info
This may seem old fashion, but if the White House has something to say, it should say it from the podium. If they feel they have to sneak around, leaking this and that, maybe they shouldn't say it
Someone should ask Condi, et.al. what they told members of the "Apostolic Congress," and other apocalyptic consultants.
Lawyer: Rice Allegedly Leaked Defense Info:
"ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice leaked national defense information to a pro-Israel lobbyist in the same manner that landed a lower-level Pentagon official a 12-year prison sentence, the lobbyist's lawyer said Friday.
Prosecutors disputed the claim.
The allegations against Rice came as a federal judge granted a defense request to issue subpoenas sought by the defense for Rice and three other government officials in the trial of Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman. The two are former lobbyists with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee who are charged with receiving and disclosing national defense information."
Someone should ask Condi, et.al. what they told members of the "Apostolic Congress," and other apocalyptic consultants.
Lawyer: Rice Allegedly Leaked Defense Info:
"ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice leaked national defense information to a pro-Israel lobbyist in the same manner that landed a lower-level Pentagon official a 12-year prison sentence, the lobbyist's lawyer said Friday.
Prosecutors disputed the claim.
The allegations against Rice came as a federal judge granted a defense request to issue subpoenas sought by the defense for Rice and three other government officials in the trial of Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman. The two are former lobbyists with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee who are charged with receiving and disclosing national defense information."
Friday, April 21, 2006
GEORGE WACKO BUSH
OMG!
It is not as if I haven't been writing about this all week, it seems.
Is this syncronicity among the studiers of brains, minds and such?
Funny, eh?
Mirror.co.uk - News - GEORGE WACKO BUSH:
"GEORGE W Bush shows all the signs of being a paranoid schizophrenic, a leading psychiatrist claims today.
Prof Justin Frank said the president is a danger to the world because he actually believes he is all-powerful and beyond the law.
His book Bush on the Couch, written after studying his medical records and behaviour, argues that the US leader has a condition common in schizophrenics - megalomania. He thinks the condition could drive him to invent then destroy enemies to demonstrate his power.
Prof Frank said: 'The defining characteristic of megalomania is the need, driven by internal fear of persecution, to pinpoint then annihilate all persecutors perceived as outside threats.'
The psychiatrist at George Washington University in Washington DC said: 'Behind Bush's affable exterior operates a powerful but obscure delusional system that drives his behaviour.' "
War Pimp Alert!!!
Iran's War On The West - CBS News:
"In a New York Times op-ed this past Sunday, former National Security Council staffers Richard Clarke and Steven Simon lamented the possibility of a military strike on Iran. They warned that 'a conflict with Iran could be even more damaging to our interests than the current struggle in Iraq has been.'
At the heart of their concern lies a simple cost-benefit analysis. Iran has not supported anti-American terrorism since the mid-1990s. But if provoked, the mullahs may unleash their terrorist network, which is 'superior to anything Al Qaeda was ever able to field.' In the war on terrorism, therefore, the potential benefits of a military strike on Iran are rather low, while the costs are prohibitively high. "
"In a New York Times op-ed this past Sunday, former National Security Council staffers Richard Clarke and Steven Simon lamented the possibility of a military strike on Iran. They warned that 'a conflict with Iran could be even more damaging to our interests than the current struggle in Iraq has been.'
At the heart of their concern lies a simple cost-benefit analysis. Iran has not supported anti-American terrorism since the mid-1990s. But if provoked, the mullahs may unleash their terrorist network, which is 'superior to anything Al Qaeda was ever able to field.' In the war on terrorism, therefore, the potential benefits of a military strike on Iran are rather low, while the costs are prohibitively high. "
IDs from Guantanamo raise nations' outcry
More Bush, Cheney, Rummy screw-ups or out-right crimes, I imagine, are about to hit the fan.
Philadelphia Inquirer 04/21/2006 IDs from Guantanamo raise nations' outcry:
"KABUL, Afghanistan - A chorus of complaints against the United States erupted yesterday after the Pentagon released a previously secret list of the names and citizenship of 558 people held at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay.
Afghanistan's peace and reconciliation commission vowed to send a delegation to the prison to make sure Afghans were not being mistreated. China demanded custody of a group of Uighur separatists, to be prosecuted on terrorism charges.
The list, released Wednesday under orders of a federal judge in a Freedom of Information lawsuit filed by the Associated Press, may provide the first proof of life to families whose relatives have disappeared, the International Committee of the Red Cross said yesterday. There are now about 490 detainees from about 40 countries at the base.
The Red Cross, which is the only outside agency the United States has allowed to visit the Guantanamo detainees and check on their conditions, previously had access to the list but was not allowed to make it public. Chief spokeswoman Antonella Notari could not cite specific cases but said it was possible that families would now discover that their relatives had been among the detainees."
Philadelphia Inquirer 04/21/2006 IDs from Guantanamo raise nations' outcry:
"KABUL, Afghanistan - A chorus of complaints against the United States erupted yesterday after the Pentagon released a previously secret list of the names and citizenship of 558 people held at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay.
Afghanistan's peace and reconciliation commission vowed to send a delegation to the prison to make sure Afghans were not being mistreated. China demanded custody of a group of Uighur separatists, to be prosecuted on terrorism charges.
The list, released Wednesday under orders of a federal judge in a Freedom of Information lawsuit filed by the Associated Press, may provide the first proof of life to families whose relatives have disappeared, the International Committee of the Red Cross said yesterday. There are now about 490 detainees from about 40 countries at the base.
The Red Cross, which is the only outside agency the United States has allowed to visit the Guantanamo detainees and check on their conditions, previously had access to the list but was not allowed to make it public. Chief spokeswoman Antonella Notari could not cite specific cases but said it was possible that families would now discover that their relatives had been among the detainees."
Prominent U.S. Physicists Send Letter to President Bush, Call Nuclear Weapons Against Iran �Gravely Irresponsible�
Junior, you had damn well start believing in science!
If you do this thing, use a nuclear device, on anyone, for any reason, there will be so much blowback, not many of us will survive it. That includes you.
We will deserve it!
Prominent U.S. Physicists Send Letter to President Bush, Call Nuclear Weapons Against Iran �Gravely Irresponsible�:
Thirteen of the nation's most prominent physicists have written a letter to President Bush, calling U.S. plans to reportedly use nuclear weapons against Iran 'gravely irresponsible' and warning that such action would have 'disastrous consequences for the security of the United States and the world.'
The physicists include five Nobel laureates, a recipient of the National Medal of Science and three past presidents of the American Physical Society, the nation's preeminent professional society for physicists."
If you do this thing, use a nuclear device, on anyone, for any reason, there will be so much blowback, not many of us will survive it. That includes you.
We will deserve it!
Prominent U.S. Physicists Send Letter to President Bush, Call Nuclear Weapons Against Iran �Gravely Irresponsible�:
Thirteen of the nation's most prominent physicists have written a letter to President Bush, calling U.S. plans to reportedly use nuclear weapons against Iran 'gravely irresponsible' and warning that such action would have 'disastrous consequences for the security of the United States and the world.'
The physicists include five Nobel laureates, a recipient of the National Medal of Science and three past presidents of the American Physical Society, the nation's preeminent professional society for physicists."
Staring into the Nuclear Abyss
Welcome to the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation:
"The Bush administration has approached nuclear non-proliferation with Iran and India by two very different measures. Iran, a party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), has been threatened with sanctions, if not actual violence, for its pursuit of uranium enrichment, although there is no clear evidence that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons program. India, on the other hand, has now been offered US nuclear technology, although India is not a party to the NPT, is known to have tested nuclear weapons and is thought to possess a nuclear weapons arsenal of 60 to 100 weapons. Read More "
"The Bush administration has approached nuclear non-proliferation with Iran and India by two very different measures. Iran, a party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), has been threatened with sanctions, if not actual violence, for its pursuit of uranium enrichment, although there is no clear evidence that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons program. India, on the other hand, has now been offered US nuclear technology, although India is not a party to the NPT, is known to have tested nuclear weapons and is thought to possess a nuclear weapons arsenal of 60 to 100 weapons. Read More "
George Bush Is Becoming An Increasingly Dangerous President
We've been saying this for the last two years.
When will somebody do something?
Bush and Cheney are both crackers.
If Past Is Prologue, George Bush Is Becoming An Increasingly Dangerous President:
"President George W. Bush's presidency is a disaster - one that's still unfolding. In a mid-2004 column, I argued that, at that point, Bush had already demonstrated that he possessed the least attractive and most troubling traits among those that political scientist James Dave Barber has cataloged in his study of Presidents' personality types.
Now, in early 2006, Bush has continued to sink lower in his public approval ratings, as the result of a series of events that have sapped the public of confidence in its President, and for which he is directly responsible. This Administration goes through scandals like a compulsive eater does candy bars; the wrapper is barely off one before we've moved on to another.
Currently, President Bush is busy reshuffling his staff to reinvigorate his presidency. But if Dr. Barber's work holds true for this president -- as it has for others - the hiring and firing of subordinates will not touch the core problems that have plagued Bush's tenure.
That is because the problems belong to the President - not his staff. And they are problems that go to character, not to strategy."
When will somebody do something?
Bush and Cheney are both crackers.
If Past Is Prologue, George Bush Is Becoming An Increasingly Dangerous President:
"President George W. Bush's presidency is a disaster - one that's still unfolding. In a mid-2004 column, I argued that, at that point, Bush had already demonstrated that he possessed the least attractive and most troubling traits among those that political scientist James Dave Barber has cataloged in his study of Presidents' personality types.
Now, in early 2006, Bush has continued to sink lower in his public approval ratings, as the result of a series of events that have sapped the public of confidence in its President, and for which he is directly responsible. This Administration goes through scandals like a compulsive eater does candy bars; the wrapper is barely off one before we've moved on to another.
Currently, President Bush is busy reshuffling his staff to reinvigorate his presidency. But if Dr. Barber's work holds true for this president -- as it has for others - the hiring and firing of subordinates will not touch the core problems that have plagued Bush's tenure.
That is because the problems belong to the President - not his staff. And they are problems that go to character, not to strategy."
A Sense of Urgency
No Shit!
I cannot imagine more of an emergency than we are currently enduring.
Robert C. Koehler Common Wonders:
"We call our disillusion with democracy 'politics' and let it go at that. It's raw, it's dirty. The fix is always in. You've got to be a cynic to go into it, able to tolerate the stench of moral compromise. You've got to serve the shadowy interests of the powerful; you've got to play their game.
Yeah, sure, the Bush Administration is a disaster and the Democrats are no better, but they're on the other side of that foul moat we call politics and they're going to do what they want, right? Most Americans oppose the war; Bush's approval rating is in the 30s, down to the true-believing core. But he has only scattered, Quixotic opposition in Congress, even as the virulence of his policies gets public exposure and the electorate looks on, appalled and helpless. And now the fanatics who wrecked Iraq are seriously eying regime change in Iran. Is there no way to stop them?
There's no pressure from Congress, not to take military action, writes Seymour Hersh in the April 17 New Yorker, quoting an anonymous congressman about Iran. The only political pressure is from the guys who want to do it.
Speaking of President Bush, the House member said, 'The most worrisome thing is that this guy has a messianic vision.'"
I cannot imagine more of an emergency than we are currently enduring.
Robert C. Koehler Common Wonders:
"We call our disillusion with democracy 'politics' and let it go at that. It's raw, it's dirty. The fix is always in. You've got to be a cynic to go into it, able to tolerate the stench of moral compromise. You've got to serve the shadowy interests of the powerful; you've got to play their game.
Yeah, sure, the Bush Administration is a disaster and the Democrats are no better, but they're on the other side of that foul moat we call politics and they're going to do what they want, right? Most Americans oppose the war; Bush's approval rating is in the 30s, down to the true-believing core. But he has only scattered, Quixotic opposition in Congress, even as the virulence of his policies gets public exposure and the electorate looks on, appalled and helpless. And now the fanatics who wrecked Iraq are seriously eying regime change in Iran. Is there no way to stop them?
There's no pressure from Congress, not to take military action, writes Seymour Hersh in the April 17 New Yorker, quoting an anonymous congressman about Iran. The only political pressure is from the guys who want to do it.
Speaking of President Bush, the House member said, 'The most worrisome thing is that this guy has a messianic vision.'"
Poll: Doubts Over U.S. Bird Flu Plans - Yahoo! News
Why on God's green earth would anyone trust the Bush administration to deal with the Bird Flu, given thir record on everything else?
Poll: Doubts Over U.S. Bird Flu Plans - Yahoo! News:
"WASHINGTON - Only half of Americans are confident their government will deal effectively with the bird flu if it reaches the U.S., and they want strong steps including human quarantine and closed schools if there's an outbreak in the population, according to a poll. "
Poll: Doubts Over U.S. Bird Flu Plans - Yahoo! News:
"WASHINGTON - Only half of Americans are confident their government will deal effectively with the bird flu if it reaches the U.S., and they want strong steps including human quarantine and closed schools if there's an outbreak in the population, according to a poll. "
Future News
A must read: Profound!
please read the entire article, the hop on back over.
Molokai Island Times:
"Our 43rd and last president was an End Time zealot who openly claimed that he got his orders straight from God. He used his power to start the Final War. Most of us few humans now remaining refer to it as Armageddon. After all, it was orchestrated by God's mouthpiece George W. Bush, and played out just like the Bible prophesied.
The vice president at the time was named Cheney. He spent his six years in office filling his pockets with untold millions of war profits, expediting the Final War, raping the environment, snarling, shooting small defenseless animals and old Republicans, and trying his best to scare the hell out of everybody. I can almost imagine that last look on his face when the atomic bomb detonated near his Washington D.C. office. I wonder if he spent his last few seconds balancing his checkbook?
There are few signs of life on our blackened, spent planet now. The landscape and the sky are gray, and it's always cold. The bustling cities are all gone. The final inferno burned away the imaginary lines that once divided and defined countries. I guess that living in the remote New Mexican desert was a good idea. The atomic light glowed all around, but a few of us were spared. And I noticed as I wandered dazed through the remnants of civilization that the Christians looked just like everything else.
Dead, charred, and Left Behind."
Dear God, I don't want to think about this, yet I know that this author is telling the truth.
We are in a nightmare, caused by a self-fulfilling prophecy, caused by a twisted take on Holy scripture.
Of course, the problem is not just fundamentalist, literalist Christians. It is far more than that. It is fanatics of every religion.
The religious scholars seem to agree that we are going through an axial age. To put it simply, an axial age is one in which the people decide what they want to take with them into the new age and what we should let go of and it is a tumultous time.
Then, of course there are the usual reasons for such insanity, Greed and Lust for power; perhaps we should say, the idol worshippers.
The One Certainty About Iraq: Spiraling Costs for Americans
It is time to raise unmitigated hell!
No more freakin' protection money to the cash sucking Pentgon and White House portfolios.
This is absolute insanity!
With the money we have spent in Iraq, we could all be driving Priuses and be installing energy devices on all our houses.
ABC News: The One Certainty About Iraq: Spiraling Costs for Americans:
"April 20, 2006: There are many uncertainties about the progress made by coalition forces and the future prospects for stability and democracy in Iraq, but there is at least one indisputable fact: The Bush administration vastly underestimated the costs of the Iraq war.
Not only in human lives, but in monetary terms as well, the costs of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq far exceed the administration's initial projection of a $50 billion tab. While the number of American casualties in Iraq has declined this year, the amount of money spent to fight the war and rebuild the country has spiralled upward.
The price is expected to almost double after lawmakers return to Capitol Hill next week when the Senate takes up a record $106.5 billion emergency spending bill that includes $72.4 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The House passed a $92 billion version of the bill last month that included $68 billion in war funding. That comes on top of $50 billion already allocated for the war this fiscal year. "
No more freakin' protection money to the cash sucking Pentgon and White House portfolios.
This is absolute insanity!
With the money we have spent in Iraq, we could all be driving Priuses and be installing energy devices on all our houses.
ABC News: The One Certainty About Iraq: Spiraling Costs for Americans:
"April 20, 2006: There are many uncertainties about the progress made by coalition forces and the future prospects for stability and democracy in Iraq, but there is at least one indisputable fact: The Bush administration vastly underestimated the costs of the Iraq war.
Not only in human lives, but in monetary terms as well, the costs of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq far exceed the administration's initial projection of a $50 billion tab. While the number of American casualties in Iraq has declined this year, the amount of money spent to fight the war and rebuild the country has spiralled upward.
The price is expected to almost double after lawmakers return to Capitol Hill next week when the Senate takes up a record $106.5 billion emergency spending bill that includes $72.4 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The House passed a $92 billion version of the bill last month that included $68 billion in war funding. That comes on top of $50 billion already allocated for the war this fiscal year. "
John Edwards weighs in on CIA Leak Case; sign his letter
We Need Fitzgerald to Get to the Bottom of It:
Over the past few weeks, the investigation into the leak of CIA secrets on Iraq has produced disturbing new information. Court filings in the Scooter Libby case have connected both President Bush and Vice President Cheney with an effort to selectively disclose classified and highly flawed intelligence to the media in order to discredit people who were asking legitimate questions about the Iraq invasion. The White House even admitted that President Bush himself authorized the disclosure.
Now that he is firmly linked to this deepening scandal, it's time for President Bush to level with the American people about his role in this egregious manipulation of sensitive intelligence. But you and I know he's not going to do it. And we know that the Republican-controlled Congress will not hold him accountable either.
Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald may very well be the only person who can shed light on what really happened and ensure accountability. What he needs now is our support to expand the scope of his investigation to specifically include whether the President broke the law. Let's put our online community to work and together demand that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales allow Mr. Fitzgerald to get to the bottom of this. No one should be above the law. It's time we demand real accountability. Please sign the letter now. "
Over the past few weeks, the investigation into the leak of CIA secrets on Iraq has produced disturbing new information. Court filings in the Scooter Libby case have connected both President Bush and Vice President Cheney with an effort to selectively disclose classified and highly flawed intelligence to the media in order to discredit people who were asking legitimate questions about the Iraq invasion. The White House even admitted that President Bush himself authorized the disclosure.
Now that he is firmly linked to this deepening scandal, it's time for President Bush to level with the American people about his role in this egregious manipulation of sensitive intelligence. But you and I know he's not going to do it. And we know that the Republican-controlled Congress will not hold him accountable either.
Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald may very well be the only person who can shed light on what really happened and ensure accountability. What he needs now is our support to expand the scope of his investigation to specifically include whether the President broke the law. Let's put our online community to work and together demand that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales allow Mr. Fitzgerald to get to the bottom of this. No one should be above the law. It's time we demand real accountability. Please sign the letter now. "
Iraq corruption probe to expand
This is absolutely shameful, not to mention criminal.
Wasn't it Truman who said that war profiteering is tantamount to treason? I agree with him.
Robbing the treasury of the United States, through fraud and other means cannot possibly be anything but treason!
When will the treason trials begin. Do they still hang traitors or is it the firing squad for them?
Iraq corruption probe to expand csmonitor.com:
"American businessman pleads guilty; several Army Reserve officers implicated.
Philip Bloom, the American businessman at the center of a widening inquiry into corruption in Iraq, pleaded guilty Tuesday to federal charges of conspiracy, bribery, and money laundering for illegally obtaining millions of dollars in 2003 and 2004 that were meant for the reconstruction of Iraq.
The New York Times reports that the court papers explaining the plea, and interviews with contractors and government officials in Iraq, show that the case is almost certain to expand to include several senior US Army Reserve officers." (Read On ^)
Wasn't it Truman who said that war profiteering is tantamount to treason? I agree with him.
Robbing the treasury of the United States, through fraud and other means cannot possibly be anything but treason!
When will the treason trials begin. Do they still hang traitors or is it the firing squad for them?
Iraq corruption probe to expand csmonitor.com:
"American businessman pleads guilty; several Army Reserve officers implicated.
Philip Bloom, the American businessman at the center of a widening inquiry into corruption in Iraq, pleaded guilty Tuesday to federal charges of conspiracy, bribery, and money laundering for illegally obtaining millions of dollars in 2003 and 2004 that were meant for the reconstruction of Iraq.
The New York Times reports that the court papers explaining the plea, and interviews with contractors and government officials in Iraq, show that the case is almost certain to expand to include several senior US Army Reserve officers." (Read On ^)
Sense about the Bird Flu
Anything that may possibly cause terror is fine with the Bushites. It could always lead to martial law, which is what they seem to want.
Daily Kos: State of the Nation:
"These, however, are from this week's issue of the well-respected Science magazine. Their editorial points out:"
Sigmund would have a ball with Junior
JuliusBlog:
"This is not just the latest Bushism, but the most revealing of them all. I remember reading a study on Bush-speak written by Mark Crispin Miller a few years back that explained this phenomenon. Apparently, those verbal gaffes and misstatements that Bush makes on a daily basis are actually very revealing, telling you about his state of mind and what he really, really means.
Today, Bush said this on TV about the UAE port deal:" (Read On ^)
"This is not just the latest Bushism, but the most revealing of them all. I remember reading a study on Bush-speak written by Mark Crispin Miller a few years back that explained this phenomenon. Apparently, those verbal gaffes and misstatements that Bush makes on a daily basis are actually very revealing, telling you about his state of mind and what he really, really means.
Today, Bush said this on TV about the UAE port deal:" (Read On ^)
Spook on 60 minutes: tells all
There will be 33.333 % of idiotic American who won't believe it.
Count on it.
Even though most of the entire world has known this for three years, there will be Americans who either won't believe it or don't care.
These are the people that are really terrifying.
Crooks and Liars:
Check out '60 Minutes' this Sunday: A Spy Speaks Out
'A CIA official who had a top role during the run-up to the Iraqi war charges the White House with ignoring intelligence that said there were no weapons of mass destruction or an active nuclear program in Iraq. The former highest ranking CIA officer in Europe, Tyler Drumheller, also says that while the intelligence community did give the White House some bad intelligence, it also gave the White House good intelligence, intelligence the administration chose to ignore...
From what Tyler is telling us, (not that we didn't know) the administration cherry picked intel without verification because they wanted regime change in Iraq. "
MSNBC's Shuster: Signs Point To Rove Indictment
Think Progress � MSNBC�s Shuster: Signs Point To Rove Indictment:
"Three key points made by Shuster:
1. The latest court documents, for the first time, name Rove as a subject of the investigation.
2. The court documents go out of their way to say that Rove will not be called as a witness in Scooter Libby's trial, even though Rove is a key part of the narrative. Shuster notes that this is done when prosecutors want to 'leave open the possibility of later charging that particular subject in a separate case.'
3. Rove is referred in court documents as 'Official A.' Shuster says, 'in every single case we have found, Keith, that prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald when he designates somebody as Official A in an indictment, that person eventually does get indicted themselves.'"
"Three key points made by Shuster:
1. The latest court documents, for the first time, name Rove as a subject of the investigation.
2. The court documents go out of their way to say that Rove will not be called as a witness in Scooter Libby's trial, even though Rove is a key part of the narrative. Shuster notes that this is done when prosecutors want to 'leave open the possibility of later charging that particular subject in a separate case.'
3. Rove is referred in court documents as 'Official A.' Shuster says, 'in every single case we have found, Keith, that prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald when he designates somebody as Official A in an indictment, that person eventually does get indicted themselves.'"
US fuel crunch worsens
What do you want to bet that everytime there is a new anti-smog regulation, this kind of thing will happen.
Whatever happened to "can-do" America?
Nothing stops us when Bush declares war on someone, unconsitutionally, I might add.
US fuel crunch worsens - Yahoo! News:
"NEW YORK (Reuters) - Dozens of gasoline stations from Virginia to Massachusetts ran short of fuel on Friday as suppliers struggled with a transition to a new anti-smog gasoline blend using corn-based ethanol as an additive, marketers said. "
-Michael Ledeen's dream, Mohamad ElBaradei's nightmare
WorkingForChange-Michael Ledeen's dream,�Mohamad ElBaradei's nightmare:
"Is the run up to intervention in Iran deja vu all over again?
It had damn well better not be!
The drumbeat in some Washington foreign policy circles for 'regime change' in Iran has striking similarities to the run-up to the Iraq invasion, and is being led by some of the usual suspects -- like the American Enterprise Institute's Michael Ledeen.
Though not well-known outside of Washington, Ledeen's 'views virtually define the stark departure from American foreign policy philosophy that existed before the tragedy of Sep. 11, 2001,' Pacific News Service's William Beeman commented in May 2003.
'He basically believes that violence in the service of the spread of democracy is America's manifest destiny. Consequently, he has become the philosophical legitimator of the American occupation of Iraq.' "
"Is the run up to intervention in Iran deja vu all over again?
It had damn well better not be!
The drumbeat in some Washington foreign policy circles for 'regime change' in Iran has striking similarities to the run-up to the Iraq invasion, and is being led by some of the usual suspects -- like the American Enterprise Institute's Michael Ledeen.
Though not well-known outside of Washington, Ledeen's 'views virtually define the stark departure from American foreign policy philosophy that existed before the tragedy of Sep. 11, 2001,' Pacific News Service's William Beeman commented in May 2003.
'He basically believes that violence in the service of the spread of democracy is America's manifest destiny. Consequently, he has become the philosophical legitimator of the American occupation of Iraq.' "
Report documents major increase in terrorist incidents
Heckuva job, Georgie
KR Washington Bureau 04/20/2006 Report documents major increase in terrorist incidents:
"WASHINGTON - The number of terrorist attacks documented by U.S. intelligence agencies jumped sharply in 2005, crossing the 10,000 mark for the first time, according to U.S. counterterrorism officials and documents obtained by Knight Ridder Newspapers.
Officials caution that much of the increase, due to be reported publicly next week, stems from a change last year in how terror attacks are counted, coupled with a more aggressive effort to tally such violence worldwide. "
We're not as terror-fied
Too furious to even feel fear.
New York Daily News - World & National Report - We're not as terror-fied:
"WASHINGTON - Four and a half years after 9/11, terror is no longer the issue on the top of Americans' minds, surpassed by the war in Iraq, immigration, fuel prices and even anger at politicians, a new poll says.
The Gallup Poll released yesterday said only 6% of Americans volunteer the issue of terrorism when asked an open-ended question on the most important problems facing the country.
That's behind 25% who say the Iraq war, 19% who pick immigration, 11% who name fuel prices and 8% who say bad government is the biggest problem.
Frank Newport, Gallup Poll editor-in-chief, cautioned that terror's low showing does not necessarily mean Americans think it's not important - only that it's not being discussed as much right now."
Schieffer Lets Fly with his frustration!
Daily Record - Madison - Schieffer to Couric: Welcome to the team:
"Schieffer said he wasn't sure that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, under fire for his handling of the war in Iraq, would endure much longer in his post. He didn't put much stock in President Bush's recent declaration of support for Rumsfeld.
'It was also this president who said, 'Brownie, you're doing a heckuva job,'and that was just before Brownie got canned,' Schieffer said, referring to former FEMA Director Michael Brown.
Much like retired CBS anchor Walter Cronkite -- who famously criticized the Vietnam War on-air after initially giving it robust support -- Schieffer was not optimistic about U.S. prospects in Iraq.
'I'm very pessimistic about this thing right now,' said Schieffer, an Austin, Tex. native who had supported Bush's decision to order the invasion in 2003.
Schieffer expressed frustration with the Electoral College, which he said should be modified -- perhaps with one vote per Congressional district. He chastised a Congress that 'never really attacks head-on the major issues that are facing the country,' such as the immigration debate."
"Schieffer said he wasn't sure that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, under fire for his handling of the war in Iraq, would endure much longer in his post. He didn't put much stock in President Bush's recent declaration of support for Rumsfeld.
'It was also this president who said, 'Brownie, you're doing a heckuva job,'and that was just before Brownie got canned,' Schieffer said, referring to former FEMA Director Michael Brown.
Much like retired CBS anchor Walter Cronkite -- who famously criticized the Vietnam War on-air after initially giving it robust support -- Schieffer was not optimistic about U.S. prospects in Iraq.
'I'm very pessimistic about this thing right now,' said Schieffer, an Austin, Tex. native who had supported Bush's decision to order the invasion in 2003.
Schieffer expressed frustration with the Electoral College, which he said should be modified -- perhaps with one vote per Congressional district. He chastised a Congress that 'never really attacks head-on the major issues that are facing the country,' such as the immigration debate."
Fuel Price Gouging for sure:
Time to take the oil bastards down! All of them!
The Foundation For Taxpayer & Consumer Rights (FTCR):
"Santa Monica, CA -- The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights released a new study today of rising gasoline prices in California that found corporate markups and profiteering are responsible for spring price spikes, not rising crude costs or the national switchover to higher-cost ethanol, as the oil industry claims.
Independent petroleum consultant Tim Hamilton analyzed gasoline price increases from January to April to find that: "
Democracy: the (Re)Claiming of Democracy by Doug Pibel
Democracy: the (Re)Claiming of Democracy by Doug Pibel:
"Americans are trained, and deeply believe, that they live in a country where government operates by their consent. They are protective of their form of government, and willing to put up with considerable suffering before demanding change. Given enough abuse, however, given sufficient evidence that the power of government is being hijacked for ends contrary to the common interest, Americans have in the past demanded fundamental change.
These ideas, consent of the governed and the right to demand change, are not some new radicalism: they are the foundational radicalism of the Declaration of Independence. And the willingness of Americans to protect their rights is not a matter of history: it's happening right now.
The last 10 years have produced a resurgence of political involvement as people realize that American democracy is in danger. It's taken a beating, especially in the last five years:"
"Americans are trained, and deeply believe, that they live in a country where government operates by their consent. They are protective of their form of government, and willing to put up with considerable suffering before demanding change. Given enough abuse, however, given sufficient evidence that the power of government is being hijacked for ends contrary to the common interest, Americans have in the past demanded fundamental change.
These ideas, consent of the governed and the right to demand change, are not some new radicalism: they are the foundational radicalism of the Declaration of Independence. And the willingness of Americans to protect their rights is not a matter of history: it's happening right now.
The last 10 years have produced a resurgence of political involvement as people realize that American democracy is in danger. It's taken a beating, especially in the last five years:"
In the Name of the Volk: Political Justice in Hitler's Germany (Hardcover)
Corporatism = fascism = corporatism = fascism = etc, etc
In the Name of the Volk: Political Justice in Hitler's Germany (Hardcover):
"Comparisons of Bushevism to the Third Reich are met with scorn and derision by the 'conventional wisdom' wing of the media -- and even many liberals. It's clearly too explosive an analogy for most Americans to handle without believing it is extremist to put Bush and Hitler in the same sentence.
However, in reading the now classic 'In the Name of the Volk: Political Justice in Hitler's Germany,' it is difficult to escape parallels between where Bush, Cheney, Ashcroft, Gonzales and Scalia have been pushing the American legal system and what happened to the official German legal system under the Third Reich. That comparison may rattle a lot of people, but in reading this studiously researched book, it's hard to avoid thinking about the two in relationship to each other.
'In the Name of the Volk' (which means 'the people') is a very focused, straightforward analysis of how the German legal system became an extension of the executive branch and the one-party government.
Its scholarly tone doesn't in anyway undermine the fact that is quite a frightening book to read, as the Bush Administration assault on our legal system continues at full speed ahead.
READ THE COMPLETE REVIEW >>>"
In the Name of the Volk: Political Justice in Hitler's Germany (Hardcover):
"Comparisons of Bushevism to the Third Reich are met with scorn and derision by the 'conventional wisdom' wing of the media -- and even many liberals. It's clearly too explosive an analogy for most Americans to handle without believing it is extremist to put Bush and Hitler in the same sentence.
However, in reading the now classic 'In the Name of the Volk: Political Justice in Hitler's Germany,' it is difficult to escape parallels between where Bush, Cheney, Ashcroft, Gonzales and Scalia have been pushing the American legal system and what happened to the official German legal system under the Third Reich. That comparison may rattle a lot of people, but in reading this studiously researched book, it's hard to avoid thinking about the two in relationship to each other.
'In the Name of the Volk' (which means 'the people') is a very focused, straightforward analysis of how the German legal system became an extension of the executive branch and the one-party government.
Its scholarly tone doesn't in anyway undermine the fact that is quite a frightening book to read, as the Bush Administration assault on our legal system continues at full speed ahead.
READ THE COMPLETE REVIEW >>>"
A Campaign Gore Can't Lose
A Campaign Gore Can't Lose:
"Boring Al Gore has made a movie. It is on the most boring of all subjects -- global warming. It is more than 80 minutes long, and the first two or three go by slowly enough that you can notice that Gore has gained weight and that his speech still seems oddly out of sync. But a moment later, I promise, you will be captivated, and then riveted and then scared out of your wits. Our Earth is going to hell in a handbasket.
You will see the Arctic and Antarctic ice caps melting. You will see Greenland oozing into the sea. You will see the atmosphere polluted with greenhouse gases that block heat from escaping. You will see photos from space of what the ice caps looked like once and what they look like now and, in animation, you will see how high the oceans might rise. Shanghai and Calcutta swamped. Much of Florida, too. The water takes a hunk of New York. The fuss about what to do with Ground Zero will turn to naught. It will be underwater."
"Boring Al Gore has made a movie. It is on the most boring of all subjects -- global warming. It is more than 80 minutes long, and the first two or three go by slowly enough that you can notice that Gore has gained weight and that his speech still seems oddly out of sync. But a moment later, I promise, you will be captivated, and then riveted and then scared out of your wits. Our Earth is going to hell in a handbasket.
You will see the Arctic and Antarctic ice caps melting. You will see Greenland oozing into the sea. You will see the atmosphere polluted with greenhouse gases that block heat from escaping. You will see photos from space of what the ice caps looked like once and what they look like now and, in animation, you will see how high the oceans might rise. Shanghai and Calcutta swamped. Much of Florida, too. The water takes a hunk of New York. The fuss about what to do with Ground Zero will turn to naught. It will be underwater."
New WH Policy Chief Was "GOP Rioter" During Bush-Gore Recount
Well, well... surely this should not surprise anyone, by this time.
But it is nevertheless, sickening, and just shows the unbelievable corruption we face.
New WH Policy Chief Was "GOP Rioter" During Bush-Gore Recount:
"The man Bush tapped to fill Karl Rove's spot as his policy wizard is none other than Joel Kaplan, who took part in the infamous 'Brooks Brothers riot' of 2000. That's when a bunch of Washington GOP operatives, posing as outraged Floridians, waved fists, chanted 'Stop the fraud!' and pounded windows in an effort to intimidate officials engaged in the Florida recount effort.
In George Bush's Washington, there's no shame in staging a fake protest to undermine a democratic election, apparently: last year, the Washington Post's Al Kamen noted that 'the 'rioters' proudly note their participation on resumes and in interviews.' Kaplan was even the one to cheekily dub the fracas the 'Brooks Brothers Riot.'"
But it is nevertheless, sickening, and just shows the unbelievable corruption we face.
New WH Policy Chief Was "GOP Rioter" During Bush-Gore Recount:
"The man Bush tapped to fill Karl Rove's spot as his policy wizard is none other than Joel Kaplan, who took part in the infamous 'Brooks Brothers riot' of 2000. That's when a bunch of Washington GOP operatives, posing as outraged Floridians, waved fists, chanted 'Stop the fraud!' and pounded windows in an effort to intimidate officials engaged in the Florida recount effort.
In George Bush's Washington, there's no shame in staging a fake protest to undermine a democratic election, apparently: last year, the Washington Post's Al Kamen noted that 'the 'rioters' proudly note their participation on resumes and in interviews.' Kaplan was even the one to cheekily dub the fracas the 'Brooks Brothers Riot.'"
Getting Closer to the Top?
Let's not forget that Miller is a crusading crackpot, sort of Like Boykin, except quieter about it.
Getting Closer to the Top?:
"In less than a month, we may finally get to hear from the army general who ordered commanders at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison to 'get dogs.'
Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, who ran the US detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and then was sent to Iraq to 'Gitmo-ize' Abu Ghraib, has been silent on his role in introducing cruel and degrading interrogation techniques to that prison.
Originally, Gen. Miller invoked his military rights not to incriminate himself. But last week, a military judge ordered prosecutors to produce him on May 17 as a witness for the defense in the trial of a military dog handler accused of abusing detainees at Abu Ghraib.
Defense lawyers have said it was Miller who first told intelligence officers at Abu Ghraib to 'get dogs' to exploit Arab fears of the animals.
As reported by The Washington Post, Miller's appearance 'will give defense attorneys a chance to question Miller about the use of dogs in security and interrogation operations at Guantanamo and in Iraq. It also means lawyers could use Miller's testimony to attempt to draw connections between the alleged abuse and the policies developed by top Pentagon officials who had regular contact with Miller when he was the commander at Guantanamo.'
Witnesses in other cases have testified that Miller went to Iraq at the request of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who wanted to 'Gitmo-ize' Abu Ghraib. Tactics used on detainees in Iraq - including dogs, a dog leash and placing women's underwear on their heads - were the same as those used on one Guantanamo Bay detainee in 2002."
Getting Closer to the Top?:
"In less than a month, we may finally get to hear from the army general who ordered commanders at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison to 'get dogs.'
Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, who ran the US detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and then was sent to Iraq to 'Gitmo-ize' Abu Ghraib, has been silent on his role in introducing cruel and degrading interrogation techniques to that prison.
Originally, Gen. Miller invoked his military rights not to incriminate himself. But last week, a military judge ordered prosecutors to produce him on May 17 as a witness for the defense in the trial of a military dog handler accused of abusing detainees at Abu Ghraib.
Defense lawyers have said it was Miller who first told intelligence officers at Abu Ghraib to 'get dogs' to exploit Arab fears of the animals.
As reported by The Washington Post, Miller's appearance 'will give defense attorneys a chance to question Miller about the use of dogs in security and interrogation operations at Guantanamo and in Iraq. It also means lawyers could use Miller's testimony to attempt to draw connections between the alleged abuse and the policies developed by top Pentagon officials who had regular contact with Miller when he was the commander at Guantanamo.'
Witnesses in other cases have testified that Miller went to Iraq at the request of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who wanted to 'Gitmo-ize' Abu Ghraib. Tactics used on detainees in Iraq - including dogs, a dog leash and placing women's underwear on their heads - were the same as those used on one Guantanamo Bay detainee in 2002."
A Plan To End The War - Dump The Democrats
The guy has a point!
A Plan To End The War - Dump The Democrats:
"04/20/06 'ICH' -- Across the country opposition to the war in Iraq is fast setting in. The latest Bush job approval ratings are dismal, hovering around 35%, in large part due to peoples' wariness about the disorder and uncertainty engulfing Iraq.
Two weeks ago 24 towns in Wisconsin passed antiwar resolutions. According to Institute for Policy Studies in Washington that pushes the total number of cities to pass similar referendums nationwide to 100. But as the sentiment against the war continues to mature, the most significant question still remains unanswered: What are all of us who want to bring our troops home now going to do to stop the war?
Getting off our lazy haunches and protesting in the streets is one thing, but until we are willing to voice our objections at the ballot box, nothing in Iraq will ever change. Marching through our Main Streets with anti-Bush placards in hand, no matter how refreshing and energizing it may seem, still doesn't hold all the hawks accountable for the war they have instigated. And I am not just talking about the Republican warmongers. On the other side of the isle the antiwar movement is faced with its principal challenge -- the Democratic Party.
It's more than a challenge. In fact antiwar allegiance to the pro-war Democrats may well be our biggest problem. Despite the mounting opposition across the US to the war in Iraq, not one major Democrat has endorsed an immediate unconditional withdrawal of troops from Iraq. A few have supported Rep. Murtha's 'strategic redeployment' plea, which would sanction air strikes of Iraq as well as continued US military outposts throughout the region. But not one leading Democrat wants US troops home now. And what has the antiwar movement done to punish them? Nothing."
A Plan To End The War - Dump The Democrats:
"04/20/06 'ICH' -- Across the country opposition to the war in Iraq is fast setting in. The latest Bush job approval ratings are dismal, hovering around 35%, in large part due to peoples' wariness about the disorder and uncertainty engulfing Iraq.
Two weeks ago 24 towns in Wisconsin passed antiwar resolutions. According to Institute for Policy Studies in Washington that pushes the total number of cities to pass similar referendums nationwide to 100. But as the sentiment against the war continues to mature, the most significant question still remains unanswered: What are all of us who want to bring our troops home now going to do to stop the war?
Getting off our lazy haunches and protesting in the streets is one thing, but until we are willing to voice our objections at the ballot box, nothing in Iraq will ever change. Marching through our Main Streets with anti-Bush placards in hand, no matter how refreshing and energizing it may seem, still doesn't hold all the hawks accountable for the war they have instigated. And I am not just talking about the Republican warmongers. On the other side of the isle the antiwar movement is faced with its principal challenge -- the Democratic Party.
It's more than a challenge. In fact antiwar allegiance to the pro-war Democrats may well be our biggest problem. Despite the mounting opposition across the US to the war in Iraq, not one major Democrat has endorsed an immediate unconditional withdrawal of troops from Iraq. A few have supported Rep. Murtha's 'strategic redeployment' plea, which would sanction air strikes of Iraq as well as continued US military outposts throughout the region. But not one leading Democrat wants US troops home now. And what has the antiwar movement done to punish them? Nothing."
Carlyle Group to be biggest-ever foreign investor in China SOE
Yet, another reason Junior has to be nice to that Butcher, Hu!
Let him make nice on his own time, for money. He should not be prostituting the whole damn counrty along with his soul.
Impeach him, Now!
Carlyle Group to be biggest-ever foreign investor in China SOE: "
Apr. 18, 2006 (China Knowledge) : American private equity firm Carlyle Group has just received permission to acquire 85% of Xugong Construction Machinery Group Inc., China's largest construction machinery company by revenue.
Carlyle Group will pay US$375 million for the purchase, following the authorization from China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), to make it the biggest-ever acquisition by a foreign investor of a controlling stake in a leading State-owned enterprise (SOE).
The deal was announced some six months ago but the MOFCOM and the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) have been stalling the decision-making since January.
The sale of the company was kicked off by Xugong's controlling shareholder, the Xuzhou municipal government, in early 2003. "
Let him make nice on his own time, for money. He should not be prostituting the whole damn counrty along with his soul.
Impeach him, Now!
Carlyle Group to be biggest-ever foreign investor in China SOE: "
Apr. 18, 2006 (China Knowledge) : American private equity firm Carlyle Group has just received permission to acquire 85% of Xugong Construction Machinery Group Inc., China's largest construction machinery company by revenue.
Carlyle Group will pay US$375 million for the purchase, following the authorization from China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), to make it the biggest-ever acquisition by a foreign investor of a controlling stake in a leading State-owned enterprise (SOE).
The deal was announced some six months ago but the MOFCOM and the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) have been stalling the decision-making since January.
The sale of the company was kicked off by Xugong's controlling shareholder, the Xuzhou municipal government, in early 2003. "
The Real First Casualty of War
Read between the lines,because the real truth is always subversive.
The Real First Casualty of War:
"04/20/06 -- -- During the 1970s, I filmed secretly in Czechoslovakia, then a Stalinist dictatorship. The dissident novelist Zdenek Urb�nek told me, 'In one respect, we are more fortunate than you in the west. We believe nothing of what we read in the newspapers and watch on television, nothing of the official truth. Unlike you, we have learned to read between the lines, because real truth is always subversive.'
This acute skepticism, this skill of reading between the lines, is urgently needed in supposedly free societies today. Take the reporting of state-sponsored war. The oldest clich� is that truth is the first casualty of war. I disagree. Journalism is the first casualty. Not only that: it has become a weapon of war, a virulent censorship that goes unrecognized in the United States, Britain, and other democracies; censorship by omission, whose power is such that, in war, it can mean the difference between life and death for people in faraway countries, such as Iraq.
As a journalist for more than 40 years, I have tried to understand how this works. In the aftermath of the U.S. war in Vietnam, which I reported, the policy in Washington was revenge, a word frequently used in private but never publicly. A medieval embargo was imposed on Vietnam and Cambodia; the Thatcher government cut off supplies of milk to the children of Vietnam. This assault on the very fabric of life in two of the world's most stricken societies was rarely reported; the consequence was mass suffering. "
The Real First Casualty of War:
"04/20/06 -- -- During the 1970s, I filmed secretly in Czechoslovakia, then a Stalinist dictatorship. The dissident novelist Zdenek Urb�nek told me, 'In one respect, we are more fortunate than you in the west. We believe nothing of what we read in the newspapers and watch on television, nothing of the official truth. Unlike you, we have learned to read between the lines, because real truth is always subversive.'
This acute skepticism, this skill of reading between the lines, is urgently needed in supposedly free societies today. Take the reporting of state-sponsored war. The oldest clich� is that truth is the first casualty of war. I disagree. Journalism is the first casualty. Not only that: it has become a weapon of war, a virulent censorship that goes unrecognized in the United States, Britain, and other democracies; censorship by omission, whose power is such that, in war, it can mean the difference between life and death for people in faraway countries, such as Iraq.
As a journalist for more than 40 years, I have tried to understand how this works. In the aftermath of the U.S. war in Vietnam, which I reported, the policy in Washington was revenge, a word frequently used in private but never publicly. A medieval embargo was imposed on Vietnam and Cambodia; the Thatcher government cut off supplies of milk to the children of Vietnam. This assault on the very fabric of life in two of the world's most stricken societies was rarely reported; the consequence was mass suffering. "
Movements: From Antiwar, to Peace, to Democracy
Make copies of this and pass it around!
Movements: From Antiwar, to Peace, to Democracy:
"04/20/06 'ICH' -- - Not a day too soon the antiwar movement has begun a desperately-needed discussion.
As a movement we are great at activism, deficient when it comes to real organizing, and damn near devoid of long-range, strategic thinking and discussion. So congratulations to former Marine Corps Major Scott Ritter for writing The Art of War for the Antiwar Movement, provoking us to stop and think for a minute, and to Cindy Sheehan, Max Obuszewski and others for responding. Here are a few more thoughts I hope will add to our collective wisdom.
First, we needn't fear appeals for more discipline, nor references to strategic geniuses of any stripe�military or pacifist. Dismissing useful methods because of their source is like spurning modern P.R. techniques to promote peace because Procter and Gamble Corp. uses them to sell toothpaste and deodorant.
One of the intellects Ritter mentions is Sun Tzu, whose Art of War should not be dismissed because of its title. It contains such gems as:
'For to win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.'"
Movements: From Antiwar, to Peace, to Democracy:
"04/20/06 'ICH' -- - Not a day too soon the antiwar movement has begun a desperately-needed discussion.
As a movement we are great at activism, deficient when it comes to real organizing, and damn near devoid of long-range, strategic thinking and discussion. So congratulations to former Marine Corps Major Scott Ritter for writing The Art of War for the Antiwar Movement, provoking us to stop and think for a minute, and to Cindy Sheehan, Max Obuszewski and others for responding. Here are a few more thoughts I hope will add to our collective wisdom.
First, we needn't fear appeals for more discipline, nor references to strategic geniuses of any stripe�military or pacifist. Dismissing useful methods because of their source is like spurning modern P.R. techniques to promote peace because Procter and Gamble Corp. uses them to sell toothpaste and deodorant.
One of the intellects Ritter mentions is Sun Tzu, whose Art of War should not be dismissed because of its title. It contains such gems as:
'For to win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.'"
.As always, Junior is up the money creek...
AHSO!!!
The problem for Bush is, as always, one of money. So far, China has been supporting his horrible little adventure. As a amtter of fact, they are majority bondholders, at the moment, since they took over from Japan.
China is the real holder of the purse string; not congress.
If China asks Bush to pay up now, not only will the war stop, dead in tracks, but we will all be toast as well, econimically.
Oh, hell!
Why doesn't Bush just print a few more billion at the Mint and pay Hu off. Why the hell not? He has broken so many damned laws already, that who would really care?
Besides our currency hasn't been backed up by gold in years. Mostly it is backed up by Uranium and Plutonium, if you get my drift.
So, Junior, what's just a little more lawlessness, when you already have war crimes, including torture under your belt. Jeeze, Bumpkin, It won't even be counterfitting if you do it, right? if not, you can always just do a little "signing papers."
Hell, you could even mint some money for the poor of America, so they can all drive Priuses
Oh, and while your at it, by all means, have a lunch in honor of a butcher.
What the hell is wrong with you, man?
"China recently surpassed Japan to become the largest holder of $833 billion of dollar reserves, most of which is thought to be invested in US Treasuries."
The problem for Bush is, as always, one of money. So far, China has been supporting his horrible little adventure. As a amtter of fact, they are majority bondholders, at the moment, since they took over from Japan.
China is the real holder of the purse string; not congress.
If China asks Bush to pay up now, not only will the war stop, dead in tracks, but we will all be toast as well, econimically.
Oh, hell!
Why doesn't Bush just print a few more billion at the Mint and pay Hu off. Why the hell not? He has broken so many damned laws already, that who would really care?
Besides our currency hasn't been backed up by gold in years. Mostly it is backed up by Uranium and Plutonium, if you get my drift.
So, Junior, what's just a little more lawlessness, when you already have war crimes, including torture under your belt. Jeeze, Bumpkin, It won't even be counterfitting if you do it, right? if not, you can always just do a little "signing papers."
Hell, you could even mint some money for the poor of America, so they can all drive Priuses
Oh, and while your at it, by all means, have a lunch in honor of a butcher.
What the hell is wrong with you, man?
"China recently surpassed Japan to become the largest holder of $833 billion of dollar reserves, most of which is thought to be invested in US Treasuries."
The More I Read About This The More Angry I get!
The focus of this post is the last two paragraphs of the Yahoo News article.
Take a deep breath and read the whole article. My opinion follows:
Protester Yells at Hu; Bush Apologizes - Yahoo! News:
"'It's hugely embarrassing,' said Derek Mitchell, a former Asia adviser at the Pentagon and now an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
China 'must know that this Bush administration is good at controlling crowds for themselves, and the fact that they couldn't control this is going to play to their worst fears and suspicions about the United States, into mistrust about American intentions toward China.' "
Wait just a damn mimute!
Why is free speech an embarassment? Wasn't it administration star, Rumsfeld, who said that Democracy is messy. It damn sure is, and we like it like that.
When you come to a Democracy, and you have been behaving like some kind of psychopath, to your own people or others, the people of America mght well confront the hell out of you, providing we have the information and/or the time, because that is or right. It is also our duty.
Real Democracy is not about controlling people. Only totalitarian, fascist states need worry about controlling the people.
So, even more importantly, why is it necessary for the Chinese dictator and torturer to see that Bush can control us?
Pardon me, but WTF?
The United Sates of America is supposed to be a nation of free people with certain rights. The right to speak truth to power is one of the main reasons our founders saw fit to codify Free Speech in the Constitutiton to begin with, for Christ's sake.
Since when are Americans not allowed to confront tyrants who have the audacity to come to our shores and judge our nation by our government's ability to control us?
Hu is allowing the harvesting of body parts from living people, until they are dead from the harvesting, that is.
Bush is apologizing to this butcher?
This makes me sick to my stomach, but I guess this is what happens when you squander you moral authority, for money.
He apologizes to Hu, but won't lower himself to meet with Kim Yung Ill or the prez. of Iran.
George W. Bush has the integrity of pond scum.
May he rot in Hell.
Take a deep breath and read the whole article. My opinion follows:
Protester Yells at Hu; Bush Apologizes - Yahoo! News:
"'It's hugely embarrassing,' said Derek Mitchell, a former Asia adviser at the Pentagon and now an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
China 'must know that this Bush administration is good at controlling crowds for themselves, and the fact that they couldn't control this is going to play to their worst fears and suspicions about the United States, into mistrust about American intentions toward China.' "
Wait just a damn mimute!
Why is free speech an embarassment? Wasn't it administration star, Rumsfeld, who said that Democracy is messy. It damn sure is, and we like it like that.
When you come to a Democracy, and you have been behaving like some kind of psychopath, to your own people or others, the people of America mght well confront the hell out of you, providing we have the information and/or the time, because that is or right. It is also our duty.
Real Democracy is not about controlling people. Only totalitarian, fascist states need worry about controlling the people.
So, even more importantly, why is it necessary for the Chinese dictator and torturer to see that Bush can control us?
Pardon me, but WTF?
The United Sates of America is supposed to be a nation of free people with certain rights. The right to speak truth to power is one of the main reasons our founders saw fit to codify Free Speech in the Constitutiton to begin with, for Christ's sake.
Since when are Americans not allowed to confront tyrants who have the audacity to come to our shores and judge our nation by our government's ability to control us?
Hu is allowing the harvesting of body parts from living people, until they are dead from the harvesting, that is.
Bush is apologizing to this butcher?
This makes me sick to my stomach, but I guess this is what happens when you squander you moral authority, for money.
He apologizes to Hu, but won't lower himself to meet with Kim Yung Ill or the prez. of Iran.
George W. Bush has the integrity of pond scum.
May he rot in Hell.
Blood Is Thicker Than Blackwater
A very revealing article:
Do you know who owns Blackwater?
Read on....
Blood Is Thicker Than Blackwater:
"For most people, the gruesome killings were the first they had ever heard of Blackwater USA, a small, North Carolina-based private security company. Since the Falluja incident, and also because of it, Blackwater has emerged as one of the most successful and profitable security contractors operating in Iraq. The company and its secretive, mega-millionaire, right-wing Christian founder, Erik Prince, position Blackwater as a patriotic extension of the US military, and its employees are required to take an oath of loyalty to the Constitution.
After the killings, Blackwater released a statement saying the 'heinous mistreatment of our friends exhibits the extraordinary conditions under which we voluntarily work to bring freedom and democracy to the Iraqi people.... Our tasks are dangerous and while we feel sadness for our fallen colleagues, we also feel pride and satisfaction that we are making a difference for the people of Iraq.' "
Do you know who owns Blackwater?
Read on....
Blood Is Thicker Than Blackwater:
"For most people, the gruesome killings were the first they had ever heard of Blackwater USA, a small, North Carolina-based private security company. Since the Falluja incident, and also because of it, Blackwater has emerged as one of the most successful and profitable security contractors operating in Iraq. The company and its secretive, mega-millionaire, right-wing Christian founder, Erik Prince, position Blackwater as a patriotic extension of the US military, and its employees are required to take an oath of loyalty to the Constitution.
After the killings, Blackwater released a statement saying the 'heinous mistreatment of our friends exhibits the extraordinary conditions under which we voluntarily work to bring freedom and democracy to the Iraqi people.... Our tasks are dangerous and while we feel sadness for our fallen colleagues, we also feel pride and satisfaction that we are making a difference for the people of Iraq.' "
GOP Worried Attacks On Bush's Integrity Will Take Their Toll... | The Huffington Post
That old "integrity dog" just won't hunt, anymore.
It never should have, but then the Bushites are good at one thing: creating all kinds of illusions and slights of hand.
They all belong in prison and that is the truth of the matter.
GOP Worried Attacks On Bush's Integrity Will Take Their Toll... The Huffington Post:
"George W. Bush likes to be seen as a man who dwells above the pettiness of political warfare. He has said he doesn't read the newspapers and shrugs off media criticism as carping of the chattering classes. Especially since 9/11, he has said that he looks to a higher power for guidance. He once threatened to stop sharing information with Capitol Hill if lawmakers didn't put a stop to leaking. 'There are too many leaks of classified information,' he told reporters in September 2003, 'and if there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is.'
Last week a video clip of Bush making that statement became cable-TV wallpaper. Bush, it appeared, was not above the old leaking game after all. The president who, as a younger man, once played the role of loyalty enforcer in his father's White House had not forgotten how to play hardball. According to a filing from the prosecutor in the Valerie Plame leak investigation, Lewis (Scooter) Libby, who has been indicted for lying in the case, told a grand jury that President Bush specifically authorized him to leak from an intelligence document on WMD in Iraq. The leak, according to Libby's testimony, was intended to rebut the allegations of an administration critic, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, who was disputing administration claims that Saddam Hussein's Iraq had been trying to buy uranium from the African country of Niger"
Will Libby's "Fishing Expedition" Hook Judy Miller and the Times? | The Huffington Post
Frankly, I could not care less what happens to Judy or the Times.
I am far more interested in who Libby will throw under a bus from the administration.
Who all will Junior have to pardon to save his own sorry arse?
The Blog Arianna Huffington: Will Libby's "Fishing Expedition" Hook Judy Miller and the Times? The Huffington Post:
"So it appears Scooter Libby and his lawyers have some of the same questions for Judy Miller and the New York Times that we do.
As part of her motion to quash (via TalkLeft), Miller's lawyers submitted a copy of Libby's subpoena to Miller (read it here [pdf]) in which he seeks... well, just about every scrap of paper Judy has that might be, could be, ah what the hell just throw it in anyway, connected to Plamegate."
I am far more interested in who Libby will throw under a bus from the administration.
Who all will Junior have to pardon to save his own sorry arse?
The Blog Arianna Huffington: Will Libby's "Fishing Expedition" Hook Judy Miller and the Times? The Huffington Post:
"So it appears Scooter Libby and his lawyers have some of the same questions for Judy Miller and the New York Times that we do.
As part of her motion to quash (via TalkLeft), Miller's lawyers submitted a copy of Libby's subpoena to Miller (read it here [pdf]) in which he seeks... well, just about every scrap of paper Judy has that might be, could be, ah what the hell just throw it in anyway, connected to Plamegate."
Revolt Spreading to the CIA
Thank God for decent people in our government. Without them, none of us would stand a chance of making the changes we need desperately to make in this nation, FAST!
The CIA �Wehrmacht� (Harpers.org):
"With the war in Iraq an utter debacle and public opinion turned against the White House, anger within the armed forces towards Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and the Administration is growing, and the Pentagon is fighting back (see 'Pentagon Memo Aims to Counter Rumsfeld Critics' in the April 16 New York Times). But what's been little noted thus far is what looks to be a similar revolt brewing at the CIA. An ex-senior agency officer who keeps in contact with his former peers told me that there is a 'a big swing' in anti-Bush sentiment at Langley. 'I've been stunned by what I'm hearing,' he said. 'There are people who fear that indictments and subpoenas could be coming down, and they don't want to get caught up in it.'
This former senior officer said there 'seems to be a quiet conspiracy by rational people' at the agency to avoid involvement in some of the particularly nasty tactics being employed by the administration, especially 'renditions,' the practice whereby the CIA sends terrorist suspects abroad to be questioned in Egypt, Syria, Uzbekistan, and other nations where the regimes are not squeamish about torturing detainees. My source, hardly a softie on the topic of terrorism, said of the split at the CIA: 'There's an SS group within the agency that's willing to do anything and there's a Wehrmacht group that is saying, 'I'm not gonna touch this stuff'.' "
The CIA �Wehrmacht� (Harpers.org):
"With the war in Iraq an utter debacle and public opinion turned against the White House, anger within the armed forces towards Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and the Administration is growing, and the Pentagon is fighting back (see 'Pentagon Memo Aims to Counter Rumsfeld Critics' in the April 16 New York Times). But what's been little noted thus far is what looks to be a similar revolt brewing at the CIA. An ex-senior agency officer who keeps in contact with his former peers told me that there is a 'a big swing' in anti-Bush sentiment at Langley. 'I've been stunned by what I'm hearing,' he said. 'There are people who fear that indictments and subpoenas could be coming down, and they don't want to get caught up in it.'
This former senior officer said there 'seems to be a quiet conspiracy by rational people' at the agency to avoid involvement in some of the particularly nasty tactics being employed by the administration, especially 'renditions,' the practice whereby the CIA sends terrorist suspects abroad to be questioned in Egypt, Syria, Uzbekistan, and other nations where the regimes are not squeamish about torturing detainees. My source, hardly a softie on the topic of terrorism, said of the split at the CIA: 'There's an SS group within the agency that's willing to do anything and there's a Wehrmacht group that is saying, 'I'm not gonna touch this stuff'.' "
The Holocaust in China
Now, can someone please explain to me why this is less of a problem than the Holocaust?
Does Bush believe that he should be hanging out with Mr. Hu, who is responsible for these horrendous atrocities and more?
Oh, that's right! His grandfather was Hitler's banker in America, so what the hell, right?
Who knows, maybe he agrees with Hu, who runs concentration camps in his own country.
Is Hu making a killing off the same cheap labor that our Corporate High-hoohas and Grand Poobahs are making?
This makes me sick!
Friends of Falun Gong USA- Act Now:
"Following revelations that a network of concentration camps across China are harvesting Falun Gong practitioners' organs for profit, while the practitioners are still alive, and then cremating their bodies, undercover investigators have diclosed tht officials in China have begun a massive, deadly campaign to destroy evidence and maximize profits.
Transcripts of calls by a reporter from radio station Sound of Hope paint a chilling picture of Chinese hospitals' frenzy to perform as many operations as possible within a window of time. A doctor also confirms that the organs are those of Falun Gong practitioners, harvested while they are still alive. The following are excerpts from the transcripts:
Doctor 'S,' Changzheng Hospital, Shanghai: 'We should have a lot of organs before the end of April. We are getting more and more organs supplied to us, but you have to seize the opportunity. Do you know what I mean? After this period of time, the supply is going to become very slim. After April there will be a period where we have nothing.'"
Does Bush believe that he should be hanging out with Mr. Hu, who is responsible for these horrendous atrocities and more?
Oh, that's right! His grandfather was Hitler's banker in America, so what the hell, right?
Who knows, maybe he agrees with Hu, who runs concentration camps in his own country.
Is Hu making a killing off the same cheap labor that our Corporate High-hoohas and Grand Poobahs are making?
This makes me sick!
Friends of Falun Gong USA- Act Now:
"Following revelations that a network of concentration camps across China are harvesting Falun Gong practitioners' organs for profit, while the practitioners are still alive, and then cremating their bodies, undercover investigators have diclosed tht officials in China have begun a massive, deadly campaign to destroy evidence and maximize profits.
Transcripts of calls by a reporter from radio station Sound of Hope paint a chilling picture of Chinese hospitals' frenzy to perform as many operations as possible within a window of time. A doctor also confirms that the organs are those of Falun Gong practitioners, harvested while they are still alive. The following are excerpts from the transcripts:
Doctor 'S,' Changzheng Hospital, Shanghai: 'We should have a lot of organs before the end of April. We are getting more and more organs supplied to us, but you have to seize the opportunity. Do you know what I mean? After this period of time, the supply is going to become very slim. After April there will be a period where we have nothing.'"
US gets tough on illegal hiring
Untill employers of illegal immigrants face huge fines and jail time, nothing will change; and that means Bush and Cheney's buddies, too.
US gets tough on illegal hiring csmonitor.com:
"ATLANTA: To critics of the administration's immigration policies, the Department of Homeland Security sent out a strong message this week: Current laws can discourage illegal immigrants and those who hire them.
On Wednesday, federal immigration officials stormed light manufacturing facilities in Atlanta and 41 other US locales, arresting more than 1,100 suspected illegal immigrants as well as people believed to have hired them.
Why a strong economy is no GOP asset | csmonitor.com
No economy looks very good when we know that fuel prices could soar out of control any day, and people could not afford the gas to drive to the jobs they have.
Besides that, we know that the numbers coming out of Washington aren't any more likely to be true than anything else they have said.
Why a strong economy is no GOP asset csmonitor.com:
"First, there's general concern about globalization and its effect on American manufacturing jobs,' says GOP pollster Whit Ayres. 'We see low unemployment, but the headlines are dominated by the thousands being laid off by General Motors and Ford.'
Underlying that, he adds, is concern about healthcare and being able to afford and keep health insurance if something happens to one's job. The latest run-up in gasoline prices also doesn't help the Republican-led government in Washington, even if there's little it can do in the short term about that.
Independent pollster John Zogby sees the public's skepticism over the economy as part of a larger picture of overall concern over the direction of the nation and a president struggling to recapture Americans' confidence. 'It's not just the economy,' he says. 'If we were at peace or the war was going well or there was confidence in other areas, then the economic news could be bolstered and people could begin to feel better.'"
Generals underline Rumsfeld's folly
Ideology, of any kind, causes brain damage.
Generals underline Rumsfeld's folly csmonitor.com:
"WASHINGTON: Success, it is said, has a thousand fathers while failure is oft an orphan. It is perhaps overly simple to attribute to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld alone paternity for policies that have left Iraq in the throes of communal violence and without a functioning government. But the current flap over Mr. Rumsfeld generated by several retired generals underlines what can happen when ideologues manage a war.
Generals underline Rumsfeld's folly csmonitor.com:
"WASHINGTON: Success, it is said, has a thousand fathers while failure is oft an orphan. It is perhaps overly simple to attribute to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld alone paternity for policies that have left Iraq in the throes of communal violence and without a functioning government. But the current flap over Mr. Rumsfeld generated by several retired generals underlines what can happen when ideologues manage a war.
Free-speech outrage: Wenyi Wang may be charged with federal crime for daring to criticize the president...of China
A small Chinese woman with a huge, courageous heart, dares speak truth to power, has been arrested and may be charged with an obscure law; intimidating or disrupting a foreign official.
This is outrageous!
If we really had our act together in this country, no foreign or domestic tyrant would ever be able to rest easy within our borders. They would be confronted at every turn.
Damn it all! Is this still America or not? It is up to the people to answer that question, as no one in Washington seems to be real clear on it.
Attytood: Free-speech outrage: Wenyi Wang may be charged with federal crime for daring to criticize the president...of China:
"But it looks like the federal government is about to call her something else: A criminal.
Last night, officials with the Secret Service, which eventually dragged Wang away and arrested her -- literally seconds after Bush called on China to permit more free speech -- said they are seriously considering charging Wang with an obscure federal offense, intimidating a foreign official.
According to our research, Wang -- a permanent U.S. resident who reportedly practices pathology at Mt. Sinai Hospital -- could face a fine and federal prison time of up to six months. Here's what the Secret Service was saying last night about the case:
Secret Service spokesman Jim Mackin said she had been charged with disorderly conduct and that a charge of intimidating or disrupting foreign officials also was being considered."
This is outrageous!
If we really had our act together in this country, no foreign or domestic tyrant would ever be able to rest easy within our borders. They would be confronted at every turn.
Damn it all! Is this still America or not? It is up to the people to answer that question, as no one in Washington seems to be real clear on it.
Attytood: Free-speech outrage: Wenyi Wang may be charged with federal crime for daring to criticize the president...of China:
"But it looks like the federal government is about to call her something else: A criminal.
Last night, officials with the Secret Service, which eventually dragged Wang away and arrested her -- literally seconds after Bush called on China to permit more free speech -- said they are seriously considering charging Wang with an obscure federal offense, intimidating a foreign official.
According to our research, Wang -- a permanent U.S. resident who reportedly practices pathology at Mt. Sinai Hospital -- could face a fine and federal prison time of up to six months. Here's what the Secret Service was saying last night about the case:
Secret Service spokesman Jim Mackin said she had been charged with disorderly conduct and that a charge of intimidating or disrupting foreign officials also was being considered."
Can our Republic survive Bush?
The Real Question:
"Taken together, these three speakers, one from the left, one from the right, and one who's served more time in service to this country than my students have been alive, lead us to a more troubling question than either Keene or Wilkins addressed: Can the US survive George W. Bush?
In short, yes. The American Republic is in little danger of collapse. That term is rightly reserved for nightmarish cases like Afghanistan and Somalia, places where the government essentially ceased to function and, frankly, all hell broke loose. No, the president's adventures in nation building may have caused civil war in Iraq, which may well lead to its collapse, but it does not yet fundamentally threaten the integrity of our own state.
In other ways, however, it is already certain that the America I grew up in will not survive the Bush presidency. Indeed, parts of it have already 'collapsed.' Re-elected on a divisive plan to tap into people's prejudices, states across the country passed laws and amended their constitutions to limit the freedoms of select citizens, solely because of the nature of their romantic attachments. This strategy left in its wake an America less decent, less compassionate, less free. "
"Taken together, these three speakers, one from the left, one from the right, and one who's served more time in service to this country than my students have been alive, lead us to a more troubling question than either Keene or Wilkins addressed: Can the US survive George W. Bush?
In short, yes. The American Republic is in little danger of collapse. That term is rightly reserved for nightmarish cases like Afghanistan and Somalia, places where the government essentially ceased to function and, frankly, all hell broke loose. No, the president's adventures in nation building may have caused civil war in Iraq, which may well lead to its collapse, but it does not yet fundamentally threaten the integrity of our own state.
In other ways, however, it is already certain that the America I grew up in will not survive the Bush presidency. Indeed, parts of it have already 'collapsed.' Re-elected on a divisive plan to tap into people's prejudices, states across the country passed laws and amended their constitutions to limit the freedoms of select citizens, solely because of the nature of their romantic attachments. This strategy left in its wake an America less decent, less compassionate, less free. "
Thursday, April 20, 2006
Permission to Speak Freely, Sir
Stephen could be reading my mind!
There are far too many people out there who believe that the "Revolt of the Generals" is just politics as usual.
The do not seem to have a clue how bone-chillingly profound this happening is.
It is a first! It is a sorry first, that it had to come to this. Maybe if Congress had been doing their damn jobs of oversight, it would not have gove this far.
No president has ever earned this kind of contempt from the military. They may be saying "Rumsfeld" and meaan every word of it, but this contempt is also aimed directly at Bush and Cheney
Stephen Pizzos Permission to Speak Freely, Sir:
"I am sorry that high school and college kids no longer have to face a couple of years of mandatory military service. That may be a strange thing to say for a guy who protested the draft back in the '60s. Maybe it's the inevitable aging process. Or maybe it's the perspective you get from the higher altitude of experience.
What got me thinking about this were the extraordinary statements being made by recently retired U.S. generals. Those who have never served in the military don't understand how extraordinary it is for career military officers to say the things these guys are saying about their former civilian superiors.
I hit Marine Corps bootcamp on July 7, 1965, a wimpy kid from suburbia. The first thing we were told was that we were the lowest forms of life on earth - and that meant lower than civilians. I was to learn as time went on that this was not just drill instructor blather. It was a genuine, deeply ingrained belief that permeated the highest ranks of the military for civilian control. We were repeatedly told that the lowest civilian we met on the street outranked the highest grade military officer. And that was not show. They believed it, not just as a principle, but a sacred trust.
Those who never served will likely see that as corny, empty rhetoric, window dressing, quaint - at best. But those who did serve know of what I speak. We get it. That's one reason I bemoan that two generations of kids have since been spared a stint in uniform. It changed my life in ways I now understand and appreciate in ways I could not back then.
This is not a column about reinstituting the draft. I just want to make the case that you pay close and respectful attention to the recent statements by retired top Pentagon brass. Because never in my life did I ever expect to hear these kinds of things coming out" (Read On ^)
There are far too many people out there who believe that the "Revolt of the Generals" is just politics as usual.
The do not seem to have a clue how bone-chillingly profound this happening is.
It is a first! It is a sorry first, that it had to come to this. Maybe if Congress had been doing their damn jobs of oversight, it would not have gove this far.
No president has ever earned this kind of contempt from the military. They may be saying "Rumsfeld" and meaan every word of it, but this contempt is also aimed directly at Bush and Cheney
Stephen Pizzos Permission to Speak Freely, Sir:
"I am sorry that high school and college kids no longer have to face a couple of years of mandatory military service. That may be a strange thing to say for a guy who protested the draft back in the '60s. Maybe it's the inevitable aging process. Or maybe it's the perspective you get from the higher altitude of experience.
What got me thinking about this were the extraordinary statements being made by recently retired U.S. generals. Those who have never served in the military don't understand how extraordinary it is for career military officers to say the things these guys are saying about their former civilian superiors.
I hit Marine Corps bootcamp on July 7, 1965, a wimpy kid from suburbia. The first thing we were told was that we were the lowest forms of life on earth - and that meant lower than civilians. I was to learn as time went on that this was not just drill instructor blather. It was a genuine, deeply ingrained belief that permeated the highest ranks of the military for civilian control. We were repeatedly told that the lowest civilian we met on the street outranked the highest grade military officer. And that was not show. They believed it, not just as a principle, but a sacred trust.
Those who never served will likely see that as corny, empty rhetoric, window dressing, quaint - at best. But those who did serve know of what I speak. We get it. That's one reason I bemoan that two generations of kids have since been spared a stint in uniform. It changed my life in ways I now understand and appreciate in ways I could not back then.
This is not a column about reinstituting the draft. I just want to make the case that you pay close and respectful attention to the recent statements by retired top Pentagon brass. Because never in my life did I ever expect to hear these kinds of things coming out" (Read On ^)
Grand Jury Hears Evidence Against Rove
Could this be why Rove has given up his policy position?
Don't need a security clearance to work on the 2006 election, which is pretty much what policy is built around anyway, in this White House.
INDICT THE FROGMAN!!!!!
Grand Jury Hears Evidence Against Rove:
"Just as the news broke Wednesday about Scott McClellan resigning as White House press secretary and Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove shedding some of his policy duties, Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald met with the grand jury hearing evidence in the CIA leak case and introduced additional evidence against Rove, attorneys and other US officials close to the investigation said.
The grand jury session in federal court in Washington, DC, sources close to the case said, was the first time this year that Fitzgerald told the jurors that he would soon present them with a list of criminal charges he intends to file against Rove in hopes of having the grand jury return a multi-count indictment against Rove.
In an interview Wednesday, Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, confirmed that Rove remains a 'subject' of Fitzgerald's two-year-old probe.
'Mr. Rove is still a subject of the investigation,' Luskin said. In a previous interview, Luskin asserted that Rove would not be indicted by Fitzgerald, but he was unwilling to make that prediction again Wednesday.
'Mr. Fitzgerald hasn't made any decision on the charges and I can't speculate what the outcome will be,' Luskin said. 'Mr. Rove has cooperated completely with the investigation.'"
Don't need a security clearance to work on the 2006 election, which is pretty much what policy is built around anyway, in this White House.
INDICT THE FROGMAN!!!!!
Grand Jury Hears Evidence Against Rove:
"Just as the news broke Wednesday about Scott McClellan resigning as White House press secretary and Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove shedding some of his policy duties, Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald met with the grand jury hearing evidence in the CIA leak case and introduced additional evidence against Rove, attorneys and other US officials close to the investigation said.
The grand jury session in federal court in Washington, DC, sources close to the case said, was the first time this year that Fitzgerald told the jurors that he would soon present them with a list of criminal charges he intends to file against Rove in hopes of having the grand jury return a multi-count indictment against Rove.
In an interview Wednesday, Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, confirmed that Rove remains a 'subject' of Fitzgerald's two-year-old probe.
'Mr. Rove is still a subject of the investigation,' Luskin said. In a previous interview, Luskin asserted that Rove would not be indicted by Fitzgerald, but he was unwilling to make that prediction again Wednesday.
'Mr. Fitzgerald hasn't made any decision on the charges and I can't speculate what the outcome will be,' Luskin said. 'Mr. Rove has cooperated completely with the investigation.'"
Repost: The lessons of Nuremberg
Just in case you haven't see this, it is a must read for us now.
For the younger among us who are further away, in history, from the Nazi arrocities, this is a good start. Remeber that content does not matter as much as process. Just subsititute Arab for Jew, liberal for communist...well, you get my drift.
Consortiumnews.com:
"Just over six decades ago, the first Nuremberg Trial began. On Nov. 21, 1945, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson opened the prosecution of 21 Germans for initiating a war of aggression and for the crimes which flowed from this act. Now is a good time to reconsider some of the history and issues involved in this momentous trial in the light of the invasion and occupation of Iraq."
For the younger among us who are further away, in history, from the Nazi arrocities, this is a good start. Remeber that content does not matter as much as process. Just subsititute Arab for Jew, liberal for communist...well, you get my drift.
Consortiumnews.com:
"Just over six decades ago, the first Nuremberg Trial began. On Nov. 21, 1945, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson opened the prosecution of 21 Germans for initiating a war of aggression and for the crimes which flowed from this act. Now is a good time to reconsider some of the history and issues involved in this momentous trial in the light of the invasion and occupation of Iraq."
The "Real McCain" and the Cult Of Authenticity
A truly great article and one we should all keep in mind, for 2008, providing we all live that long.
In the meantime, I must say again how very much America needs authencity right now. It is a virtue that has been lacking, seriously, for a very long time.
But, I am not talking about "contrived authenticity," an oxymoron, if there ever was one.
I refuse to vote for one more lesser-of-the-evil, stage-crafted liar and con-artist.
We need to get real in this country. Let's begin with ourselves and then demand it of our elected officials and anyone they may appoint.
ACCOUNTABILITY!
The "Real McCain" and the Cult Of Authenticity TPMCafe: "
"Can't pass up the debate on the 'real' John McCain. Jon Chait, who zigs when others zag, makes a pretty good case that John McCain can be considered a liberal or moderate, based on some of his actions in the 2002-2003 period, including having dinner with Tom Daschle and hinting that he might switch parties. Ezra Klein and Matt Yglesias disagree in various subtle ways over at TAPPED, and I made the argument against McCain in that magazine last month. (I made The Prospect put the column on line before it came out, because I could feel the 'Oh my gosh, we thought he was one of us, but he's really a right-wing Republican' tide building.)
Now just to be clear, my position has been specifically that McCain's overall record makes him, as I put it, 'a worthy heir to Barry Goldwater's Senate seat.'"
In the meantime, I must say again how very much America needs authencity right now. It is a virtue that has been lacking, seriously, for a very long time.
But, I am not talking about "contrived authenticity," an oxymoron, if there ever was one.
I refuse to vote for one more lesser-of-the-evil, stage-crafted liar and con-artist.
We need to get real in this country. Let's begin with ourselves and then demand it of our elected officials and anyone they may appoint.
ACCOUNTABILITY!
The "Real McCain" and the Cult Of Authenticity TPMCafe: "
"Can't pass up the debate on the 'real' John McCain. Jon Chait, who zigs when others zag, makes a pretty good case that John McCain can be considered a liberal or moderate, based on some of his actions in the 2002-2003 period, including having dinner with Tom Daschle and hinting that he might switch parties. Ezra Klein and Matt Yglesias disagree in various subtle ways over at TAPPED, and I made the argument against McCain in that magazine last month. (I made The Prospect put the column on line before it came out, because I could feel the 'Oh my gosh, we thought he was one of us, but he's really a right-wing Republican' tide building.)
Now just to be clear, my position has been specifically that McCain's overall record makes him, as I put it, 'a worthy heir to Barry Goldwater's Senate seat.'"
FOX Poll: Gloomy Economic Views; Bush Approval at New Low - Polls | AP Polls | Gallup Poll | Opinion Polls
Holy sewer water, Batman...look at those numbers, ON FOX.
FOXNews.com - 04/20/06 FOX Poll: Gloomy Economic Views; Bush Approval at New Low - Polls AP Polls Gallup Poll Opinion Polls:
"NEW YORK: More Americans disapprove than approve of how George W. Bush, Donald Rumsfeld and Congress are doing their jobs, while a majority approves of Condoleezza Rice. President Bush's approval hits a record low of 33 percent this week, clearly damaged by sinking support among Republicans. "
FOXNews.com - 04/20/06 FOX Poll: Gloomy Economic Views; Bush Approval at New Low - Polls AP Polls Gallup Poll Opinion Polls:
"NEW YORK: More Americans disapprove than approve of how George W. Bush, Donald Rumsfeld and Congress are doing their jobs, while a majority approves of Condoleezza Rice. President Bush's approval hits a record low of 33 percent this week, clearly damaged by sinking support among Republicans. "
Let the peace camp be a wide open field - Media Monitors Network (MMN)
This is a must read:
The author is an America-Arab whose writings I have enjoyed before in different venues.
He brings up several people and topics about whom and which, I have had gut feelings that I did not like having.
I have to say, I think he is right on a few of them, and it makes me sick to my stomach.
But, this nauseating momentm, too, shall pass, and I will be even more ready for a fight, better informed; in heart, mind and gut.
Home / Headlines / Let the peace camp be a wide open field - Media Monitors Network (MMN):
"We are now caught in another sideshow revolving around the president's veracity and his 'right' to declassify intelligence. That might be an important question, if he had any credibility left to squander.'
One by one, they�re coming to terms with the absurdity of this ruinous war of choice. As they make their way to the peace camp, roll out the red carpets. Let them stroll in with heads held high.
Even if they only repent for what the war has done to �us�, embrace them as your brothers in the struggle. If they insist on wearing blinders, let them be. Avoiding the glare of Iraqi casualties is a sin we can deal with at a later time.
If Francis Fukuyama and Bill Buckley have a change of mind that leads to a change of heart � respect them for the courage to modify their convictions.
It serves no purpose to tattoo time stamps on the arms of those who come tardy to the peace party. Let the peace camp be a wide open field that welcomes every American with ideological indifference. "
The author is an America-Arab whose writings I have enjoyed before in different venues.
He brings up several people and topics about whom and which, I have had gut feelings that I did not like having.
I have to say, I think he is right on a few of them, and it makes me sick to my stomach.
But, this nauseating momentm, too, shall pass, and I will be even more ready for a fight, better informed; in heart, mind and gut.
Home / Headlines / Let the peace camp be a wide open field - Media Monitors Network (MMN):
"We are now caught in another sideshow revolving around the president's veracity and his 'right' to declassify intelligence. That might be an important question, if he had any credibility left to squander.'
One by one, they�re coming to terms with the absurdity of this ruinous war of choice. As they make their way to the peace camp, roll out the red carpets. Let them stroll in with heads held high.
Even if they only repent for what the war has done to �us�, embrace them as your brothers in the struggle. If they insist on wearing blinders, let them be. Avoiding the glare of Iraqi casualties is a sin we can deal with at a later time.
If Francis Fukuyama and Bill Buckley have a change of mind that leads to a change of heart � respect them for the courage to modify their convictions.
It serves no purpose to tattoo time stamps on the arms of those who come tardy to the peace party. Let the peace camp be a wide open field that welcomes every American with ideological indifference. "
The Motivational Force Behind the War - Media Monitors Network (MMN)
Lest we all forget; this war on terrorism, thoroughly stupid concept, to begin with, is, at its core, religious in nature.
We may not want to believe that, but there is too much evidence of it. We discount the importance of over-the-top- religious fervor that is all in this "war," on both sides, at our own peril.
Home / Headlines / The Motivational Force Behind the War - Media Monitors Network (MMN):
"We need to come out of thinking in the box of oil & gas pipelines and a war on terror. We need to try and understand the real motivation behind the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, otherwise we are doomed for a war of unimaginable magnitude in the near future. It is time now to go beyond the HOW aspect of 9/11 to the WHY 9/11 question.'
'The danger of religious war is real. And religious war follows less from conscious intentions of warriors than from the beliefs that inspire them. Boykin makes the question urgent: What kind of God does this General. and the nation he serves, believe in?'
-- James Carroll, Crusade: Chronicles of an Unjust War (the American Empire Project) [72]
On September 16, 2001, BBC and other global media outlets reported Bush's declaration of a crusade, Osama's first direct denial[73] of any involvement in the 9/11 attack and Dick Cheney's threat that any state harboring terrorists would face the 'full wrath' of American military might.[74] "
CRIMES AND CORRUPTIONS OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER NEWS - April 20th, 2006
CRIMES AND CORRUPTIONS OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER NEWS - April 20th, 2006:
"In 1919, two years after his infamous Declaration offering European Jews a 'national home' in Palestine, British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour asserted that 'Zionism, be it right or wrong, good or bad, is rooted in age-long tradition, in present needs, in future hopes, of far profounder import than the desires and prejudices of the 700,000 Arabs who now inhabit that ancient land...'
Almost ninety years later, the West unconditionally backs the lawless Israeli state that has emerged from Balfour's machinations while disregarding 'the desires and prejudices' of the entire Islamic world. This inherently racist stance negates at every turn the self-image of the West as a haven of democracy, human rights, and pluralism. In turn this negation is a major reason why Palestine remains the world's most burning issue, why its resolution is a sine qua non for the resolution of other conflicts worldwide, and why the West's moral protestations will ring hollow until such time as it facilitates this resolution.
The decision of the EU to withdraw funding from the Palestinian government decisively lays to rest the illusion that Europe, as opposed to the USA, is a humane advocate of 'soft power'. The aim is to punish the Palestinians for electing Hamas in what was the first exemplary democratic legislative election in the Arab world, and to starve them into revisiting their choice.
One precedent here is the cancellation of the 1991 elections in Algeria after it became clear that the Islamic Salvation Front was about to score a decisive victory. This coup d'�tat was welcomed in the West, while the military dictatorship and the 100 000-plus fatalities that ensued were deemed a low price to pay for excluding Islamists from power. Already, with the intensification of Israeli " (Read On^)
"In 1919, two years after his infamous Declaration offering European Jews a 'national home' in Palestine, British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour asserted that 'Zionism, be it right or wrong, good or bad, is rooted in age-long tradition, in present needs, in future hopes, of far profounder import than the desires and prejudices of the 700,000 Arabs who now inhabit that ancient land...'
Almost ninety years later, the West unconditionally backs the lawless Israeli state that has emerged from Balfour's machinations while disregarding 'the desires and prejudices' of the entire Islamic world. This inherently racist stance negates at every turn the self-image of the West as a haven of democracy, human rights, and pluralism. In turn this negation is a major reason why Palestine remains the world's most burning issue, why its resolution is a sine qua non for the resolution of other conflicts worldwide, and why the West's moral protestations will ring hollow until such time as it facilitates this resolution.
The decision of the EU to withdraw funding from the Palestinian government decisively lays to rest the illusion that Europe, as opposed to the USA, is a humane advocate of 'soft power'. The aim is to punish the Palestinians for electing Hamas in what was the first exemplary democratic legislative election in the Arab world, and to starve them into revisiting their choice.
One precedent here is the cancellation of the 1991 elections in Algeria after it became clear that the Islamic Salvation Front was about to score a decisive victory. This coup d'�tat was welcomed in the West, while the military dictatorship and the 100 000-plus fatalities that ensued were deemed a low price to pay for excluding Islamists from power. Already, with the intensification of Israeli " (Read On^)
Reed may go down with Abramoff
If there is a God! Let the hyporites will be brought low.
Latest News The Huffington Post:
"Ralph Reed, White House confidant and an architect of the Religious Right movement, was favored to win the nomination in the Georgia lieutenant governor's race when the 2006 campaign season began.
But his work with Jack Abramoff, the former lobbyist who has admitted to trying to bribe lawmakers, is becoming a drag on Mr. Reed's first bid for public office."
Novak: Understatement of the decade!
Latest News The Huffington Post:
"On the midterm elections this November, Novak said it was 'possible, not probable' that Democrats would retake control of the House of Representatives. But he said the Republicans and their leader are in trouble.
'The edge seems to be right now to the Democrats,' Novak said. '...President Bush is not what I would call a skilled politician. He seems aloof, almost arrogant.'"
"On the midterm elections this November, Novak said it was 'possible, not probable' that Democrats would retake control of the House of Representatives. But he said the Republicans and their leader are in trouble.
'The edge seems to be right now to the Democrats,' Novak said. '...President Bush is not what I would call a skilled politician. He seems aloof, almost arrogant.'"
Americans for more rehab and less punishment.
Well, it seems damned clear to me, on many levels, that vengeance and harsh punishment; treating people like animals, isn't working for the betterment of our society.
It is amazing to me that anyone ever thought that it would.
We pay, on average, $47,000/ year to keep a pot head in prison, where he or she learns to be a real criminal and all about methamphetamine and crack cocaine.
Sometime, our stupidity just simply amazes me.
Zogby International:
"National survey by Zogby International reveals 'striking support' for rehabilitation both in and after prison
From every age, gender, economic, political, cultural and ethnic group and every geographic area, Americans overwhelmingly support the rehabilitation of non-violent criminals both before and after they leave prison, a new poll by Zogby International shows.
Three out of four Americans expressed either fear or concern about the 700,000 prisoners who are leaving U.S. prisons each year, and the fact that 60% of them are likely to commit crimes that send them back to prison, Zogby International�s national survey showed. The poll explored what people think ought to be done about the situation.
The survey, sponsored by the National Council on Crime and Delinquency, a leading criminal justice research organization, reveals that by almost an 8 to 1 margin (87% to 11%), the U.S. voting public is in favor of rehabilitative services for prisoners as opposed to a punishment only system. Of those polled, 70% favored these services both during incarceration and after release from prison.
Likely voters appear to recognize that our current correctional system does not help the problem of crime, the survey indicates. By strong majorities, Americans said they feel that a lack of life skills, the experience of being in prison, and the many obstacles faced upon reentry are major factors in the crimes that prisoners commit following their release."
It is amazing to me that anyone ever thought that it would.
We pay, on average, $47,000/ year to keep a pot head in prison, where he or she learns to be a real criminal and all about methamphetamine and crack cocaine.
Sometime, our stupidity just simply amazes me.
Zogby International:
"National survey by Zogby International reveals 'striking support' for rehabilitation both in and after prison
From every age, gender, economic, political, cultural and ethnic group and every geographic area, Americans overwhelmingly support the rehabilitation of non-violent criminals both before and after they leave prison, a new poll by Zogby International shows.
Three out of four Americans expressed either fear or concern about the 700,000 prisoners who are leaving U.S. prisons each year, and the fact that 60% of them are likely to commit crimes that send them back to prison, Zogby International�s national survey showed. The poll explored what people think ought to be done about the situation.
The survey, sponsored by the National Council on Crime and Delinquency, a leading criminal justice research organization, reveals that by almost an 8 to 1 margin (87% to 11%), the U.S. voting public is in favor of rehabilitative services for prisoners as opposed to a punishment only system. Of those polled, 70% favored these services both during incarceration and after release from prison.
Likely voters appear to recognize that our current correctional system does not help the problem of crime, the survey indicates. By strong majorities, Americans said they feel that a lack of life skills, the experience of being in prison, and the many obstacles faced upon reentry are major factors in the crimes that prisoners commit following their release."
Trouble in the woods for Dubya
The Gun guys have finaly figured out that Bush is not one of them. He just plays one on TV.
See, guys, it is all an illusion. Junior is a coward; a cheerleader, first and foremost. He knows how to pay dress-up really well, but that's about it.
Arkansas Blog: Trouble in the woods for Dubya:
"Steak Night at the Deer Camp - A South Arkansas Message to George W.
by John R. Bomar
Hey George, I hate to have tell you this, son, but they're talking bad about you out at the deer camp. That's real bad. When you've lost the deer-camp-boys you're in big trouble around here. " (Read On ^ )
See, guys, it is all an illusion. Junior is a coward; a cheerleader, first and foremost. He knows how to pay dress-up really well, but that's about it.
Arkansas Blog: Trouble in the woods for Dubya:
"Steak Night at the Deer Camp - A South Arkansas Message to George W.
by John R. Bomar
Hey George, I hate to have tell you this, son, but they're talking bad about you out at the deer camp. That's real bad. When you've lost the deer-camp-boys you're in big trouble around here. " (Read On ^ )
Give 'Em Hell Harry | Outrageous Lies
The Rethugs have proven themselves capable of lying about everything. Do they count on the people who elect them to be this stupid?
If so, that is a sad commentary on the state of education and/or the media in this country
Give 'Em Hell Harry Outrageous Lies:
"Immigration is one of our most pressing national security issues and the fact is George Bush and his rubberstamping Republican allies in Congress have failed to deal with it responsibly. Instead, they turn reality upside down and today will start running ads against me on Spanish language radio stations in Nevada claiming 'Reid's Democrat allies voted to treat millions of hardworking immigrants as felons.'
That is a lie. Democrats fought Bill Frist and House Republican efforts to bow to the extreme rightwing element of their party and treat twelve million hardworking immigrants like felons. In one week Democrats voted twice to support a bill that reinforces border security and brings millions of undocumented workers out of the shadows.
I will fight back against this vicious smear in Nevada, but it will only stop if we show Republicans there is a price to pay for their lies. I'm not going to ask you to contribute to me, but to Democrats running for Senate around the country. We have a real shot at taking back the majority in November and that would be the best revenge."
NSA DIRECTOR ODOM CASTIGATES IRAQ BLUNDER
Here's another screaming man, trying to warn us...are we listening?
NSA DIRECTOR ODOM CASTIGATES IRAQ BLUNDER:
"Former National Security Agency Director Lt. General William Odom dissected the strategic folly of the Iraq Invasion and Bush administration policies in a major policy speech at Brown University for the Watson Institute- America's Strategic Paralysis . 'The Iraq War may turn out to be the greatest strategic disaster in American history. In a mere 18 months we went from unprecedented levels of support after 9-11..to being one of the most hated countries.
Turkey used to be one of strongest pro-US regimes, now we're so unpopular, there's a movie playing there- Metal Storm, about a war between US and Turkey. In addition to producing faulty intel and ties to Al Qaida, Bush made preposterous claim that toppling Saddam would open the way for liberal democracy in a very short time... Misunderstanding the character of American power, he dismissed the allies as a nuisance and failed to get the UN Security Council's sanction. We must reinforce international law, not reject and ridicule it."
Lawmakers never have to worry about losing benefits
Maybe they should have to start worrying about it!
Maybe we should refuse to pay for it.
Why the hell should we pay for Top-of-the-Line
Healthcare for our employees when we cannot afford our own.
We, the people, ned to grow a damned spine.
New York Daily News - Breaking News:
"WASHINGTON (AP) -- Members of Congress occasionally lose elections, but they never lose retirement and health benefits that most Americans can only envy.
A lawmaker who retires at 60 after just 12 years in office can count on receiving an immediate pension of $25,000 a year and lifetime benefits that could total more than $800,000.
That doesn't include 401(k) benefits. And any member who lasts five years in office also can get taxpayer-subsidized health care until he or she reaches Medicare age."
Maybe we should refuse to pay for it.
Why the hell should we pay for Top-of-the-Line
Healthcare for our employees when we cannot afford our own.
We, the people, ned to grow a damned spine.
New York Daily News - Breaking News:
"WASHINGTON (AP) -- Members of Congress occasionally lose elections, but they never lose retirement and health benefits that most Americans can only envy.
A lawmaker who retires at 60 after just 12 years in office can count on receiving an immediate pension of $25,000 a year and lifetime benefits that could total more than $800,000.
That doesn't include 401(k) benefits. And any member who lasts five years in office also can get taxpayer-subsidized health care until he or she reaches Medicare age."
White House Shifts Into Survival Mode
A shake-up will not do the trick this time.
The problem isn't Andy Card.
The problem is Bush and Cheney countless lies, international crimes and violations of the constitution.
Bush cannot afford to change the inner circle. There is still too much hidden.
Nevertheless, more will be revealed.
As a matter of fact this summer may well be called the 'summer of revelations.'
White House Shifts Into Survival Mode:
"In a White House known for both defiance and optimism, yesterday's senior staff changes represent a frank acknowledgment of the trouble in which President Bush now finds himself. They are also a signal of how starkly Bush's second-term ambitions have shifted after a year of persistent problems at home and abroad.
Longtime Bush confidant Karl Rove -- who had hoped to use his position of deputy chief of staff to usher in an expansive conservative agenda -- was relieved of his policy portfolio to concentrate on long-term strategy and planning for a November midterm election that looks increasingly bleak for Republicans." (Read On ^)
The problem isn't Andy Card.
The problem is Bush and Cheney countless lies, international crimes and violations of the constitution.
Bush cannot afford to change the inner circle. There is still too much hidden.
Nevertheless, more will be revealed.
As a matter of fact this summer may well be called the 'summer of revelations.'
White House Shifts Into Survival Mode:
"In a White House known for both defiance and optimism, yesterday's senior staff changes represent a frank acknowledgment of the trouble in which President Bush now finds himself. They are also a signal of how starkly Bush's second-term ambitions have shifted after a year of persistent problems at home and abroad.
Longtime Bush confidant Karl Rove -- who had hoped to use his position of deputy chief of staff to usher in an expansive conservative agenda -- was relieved of his policy portfolio to concentrate on long-term strategy and planning for a November midterm election that looks increasingly bleak for Republicans." (Read On ^)
MoDo: The Decider Sticks With the Derider
Rozius: Maureen Dowd: The Decider Sticks With the Derider:
"The New York Times, April 19, 2006
At first Rummy was reluctant to talk about the agonizing generals' belated objections to the irrational and bullying decisions that led to carnage in Iraq. The rebellious retired brass complain that the defense chief was contemptuous of advice from his military officers and sabotaged the Iraq mission with willful misjudgments before and after the invasion.
'I kind of would prefer to let a little time walk over it,' Rummy told reporters at a Pentagon briefing yesterday. But seconds later, he let loose a river of ruminations, a Shakespearean, or maybe Nixonian, soliloquy that showed such a breathtaking lack of comprehension that it was touching, in a perverse way.
He flailed and floundered through anecdotes from his first and second stints at the Pentagon, arguing that he drew criticism because he was a change agent, trying to transform the lumbering military bureaucracy."
"The New York Times, April 19, 2006
At first Rummy was reluctant to talk about the agonizing generals' belated objections to the irrational and bullying decisions that led to carnage in Iraq. The rebellious retired brass complain that the defense chief was contemptuous of advice from his military officers and sabotaged the Iraq mission with willful misjudgments before and after the invasion.
'I kind of would prefer to let a little time walk over it,' Rummy told reporters at a Pentagon briefing yesterday. But seconds later, he let loose a river of ruminations, a Shakespearean, or maybe Nixonian, soliloquy that showed such a breathtaking lack of comprehension that it was touching, in a perverse way.
He flailed and floundered through anecdotes from his first and second stints at the Pentagon, arguing that he drew criticism because he was a change agent, trying to transform the lumbering military bureaucracy."
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