Saturday, July 01, 2006
Progressive Democrats Are the New Conservatives
This is an intersting take on current political labels, which we all find as cofusing as hell.
Hell is damn confusing, just in case yo u don't know..
That is what it is supposed to be.
Rob Kall: Progressive Democrats Are the New Conservatives:
"No Plan, No Positive Vision--That's a chiseled in granite right wing talking point used to attack the Democrats.
There's some truth to that. The democrats don't talk a lot about big, visionary plans like the Republicans. That's because the Democrats have become the new conservatives. They have a plan and a vision. It was drafted by the founders of the US and finalized as the constitution.
Progressive Democrats should proudly claim their rightful place as the new conservative party in the USA.
Right wing extremists, fascists and flat out traitors to the USA are aggressively assaulting the constitution in fealty to transnational corporations, extreme religious orders and cults, where sexual predation is rampant (Catholics and Southern Baptists in particular.)
They can brag about new plans and visions; "
(Read On ^)
Getting the Left Into Fighting Shape
This could be an interesting read, in spite of the bad review.
No, I don't think war is such a good idea, for many reasons, not the least of which is that it is a losing strategy, according to every expert.
How can one fight a war on terror? By creating more terror? By becoming everything we hate and despise? By throwing away the law of civilized society? By allowing others to define who we are?
No, I don't think so.
Getting the Left Into Fighting Shape:
"This book has the wrong subtitle. Readers of the The Good Fight: Why Liberals, and Only Liberals, Can Win the War on Terror and Make America Great Again would get more value for their dollar if the book had been How (Not Why) Liberals Can Win the War, etc.
No matter. This book has to be read as part of the thrust, parry, and jostle going on within the milky political spiral that is the Democratic Party. The author, Peter Beinart, is a war Democrat. His allegiance is to the Lieberman faction in the party. 'Just as Vietnam turned liberals against the cold war, Iraq has now turned them [Howard Dean-type liberals] against the war on terror. America badly needs an alternative vision,' he writes, 'for fighting global jihad. And yet the liberalism emerging today denies that fighting global jihad should even be a priority.'
Beinart himself is one of a string of New Republic guppies who have popped out of this pool watered by the rich men who own the magazine and are loosely affiliated with other rich war Democrats whose money has bought them no small control over the party's congressional wing. This faction's control used to extend to the party's day-in-day-out precinct workers, who tend to be hair-up-the-behind lefties of one sort or another, because the lefties had scant ability to raise campaign money. "
No, I don't think war is such a good idea, for many reasons, not the least of which is that it is a losing strategy, according to every expert.
How can one fight a war on terror? By creating more terror? By becoming everything we hate and despise? By throwing away the law of civilized society? By allowing others to define who we are?
No, I don't think so.
Getting the Left Into Fighting Shape:
"This book has the wrong subtitle. Readers of the The Good Fight: Why Liberals, and Only Liberals, Can Win the War on Terror and Make America Great Again would get more value for their dollar if the book had been How (Not Why) Liberals Can Win the War, etc.
No matter. This book has to be read as part of the thrust, parry, and jostle going on within the milky political spiral that is the Democratic Party. The author, Peter Beinart, is a war Democrat. His allegiance is to the Lieberman faction in the party. 'Just as Vietnam turned liberals against the cold war, Iraq has now turned them [Howard Dean-type liberals] against the war on terror. America badly needs an alternative vision,' he writes, 'for fighting global jihad. And yet the liberalism emerging today denies that fighting global jihad should even be a priority.'
Beinart himself is one of a string of New Republic guppies who have popped out of this pool watered by the rich men who own the magazine and are loosely affiliated with other rich war Democrats whose money has bought them no small control over the party's congressional wing. This faction's control used to extend to the party's day-in-day-out precinct workers, who tend to be hair-up-the-behind lefties of one sort or another, because the lefties had scant ability to raise campaign money. "
Shifting Winds on Iraq
Clearly antiwar forces have had a limiting effect n the Bushites, as November elections approach.
Shifting Winds on Iraq:
"Events in Iraq and Washington, DC, are changing by the day, offering the peace movement and Democrats new dilemmas--and new opportunities to take the antiwar initiative as the midterm elections approach.
It wasn't so long ago that Washington insiders were advising peace groups to expect no moves toward withdrawal during 2006. Both political parties, the activists were told, were locked into a Beltway consensus against any gestures toward peace. The Senate was particularly frozen, with only Senator Russ Feingold offering a flexible plan for gradual withdrawal. Feingold was unable to stir any sympathy in the Democratic caucus. A seasoned expert in one senior senator's office predicted the silence would continue. One reason was that unannounced presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Joseph Biden, the ranking Democrat on the foreign relations committee, were posturing as hawks.
In the House of Representatives it appeared that the Out of Iraq Caucus was frozen at seventy members. Even after feisty ex-Marine John Murtha stepped forward with an immediate withdrawal plan in mid-November 2005, he was largely abandoned by his colleagues.
But as the quagmire deepens, peace sentiments are steadily rising. According to a June 16 CNN poll , 53 percent of Americans now favor a timeline for withdrawal of troops. A phenomenal 70 percent of Iraqis are demanding a deadline. A Zogby survey of American troops in Iraq shows the same pattern, with a majority supporting a one-year deadline and 29 percent favoring immediate withdrawal.
How did the political tide begin to change? What impact will this have on the war and the coming elections? "
(Read On ^)
Bush offered cheap oil; says, no way.
The last thing the Bush administration wants is cheap oil? That would mean a severe cut in campaign cotributions, and we simply can't have that.
Hugo Ch�vez Interview The Progressive:
"You'd think George Bush would get down on his knees and kiss Hugo Chavez's behind. Not only has Chavez delivered cheap oil to the Bronx and other poor communities in the United States. And not only did he offer to bring aid to the victims of Katrina. In my interview with the president of Venezuela on March 28, he made Bush the following astonishing offer: Chavez would drop the price of oil to $50 a barrel, 'not too high, a fair price,' he said 'a third less than the $75 a barrel for oil recently posted on the spot market. That would bring down the price at the pump by about a buck, from $3 to $2 a gallon.
But our President has basically told Chavez to take his cheaper oil and stick it up his pipeline. Before I explain why Bush has done so, let me explain why Chavez has the power to pull it off, and the method in the seeming madness of his 'take-my-oil-please!' deal.
Venezuela, Chavez told me, has more oil than Saudi Arabia. A nutty boast? Not by a long shot. In fact, his surprising claim comes from a most surprising source: the U.S. Department of Energy. In an internal report, the DOE estimates that Venezuela has five times the Saudis' reserves."
(Read On ^)
| Guardian finds Afghan witnesses US couldn't
In three days...
Guardian Unlimited Special reports Guardian finds Afghan witnesses US couldn't:
"The US government said it could not find the men that Guantanamo detainee Abdullah Mujahid believes could help set him free. The Guardian found them in three days.
Two years ago the US military invited Mr Mujahid, a former Afghan police commander accused of plotting against the United States, to prove his innocence before a special military tribunal. As was his right, Mr Mujahid called four witnesses from Afghanistan.
But months later the tribunal president returned with bad news: the witnesses could not be found. Mr Mujahid's hopes sank and he was returned to the wire-mesh cell where he remains today." (Read On ^)
Guardian Unlimited Special reports Guardian finds Afghan witnesses US couldn't:
"The US government said it could not find the men that Guantanamo detainee Abdullah Mujahid believes could help set him free. The Guardian found them in three days.
Two years ago the US military invited Mr Mujahid, a former Afghan police commander accused of plotting against the United States, to prove his innocence before a special military tribunal. As was his right, Mr Mujahid called four witnesses from Afghanistan.
But months later the tribunal president returned with bad news: the witnesses could not be found. Mr Mujahid's hopes sank and he was returned to the wire-mesh cell where he remains today." (Read On ^)
Right-wing pundits in Internet ratings freefall
Even the Right gets tired of being lied to 24/7.
I know how they feel, quite frankly.
When someone keeps telling the same old tired lies, that anyone with more than three neurons firing knows are lies, well, it kinda pisses you off after awhile, even when it is your guy who is doing the lying.
The Raw Story Right-wing pundits in Internet ratings freefall:
"Many well-known right-wing media figures -- including Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and Bill O'Reilly -- are losing their Internet audiences, according to an analysis of Web site ratings by IPD Group and U.S. Politics Today.
On the other hand, traffic for Moveon.org has risen.
On Thursday, Shakespeare's Sister checked other sites from the right and left at the same tracking service, Alexa.com, used in the analysis.
According to the blogger, Free Republic, Hugh Hewitt, World Net Daily, and Pajamas Media have all suffered at least a 19 percent decline, while the traffic at Raw Story, Crooks and Liars, and Think Progress has risen.
A release issued by IPD Group reads: " (Read On ^)
Time To Reel Off Another bin Laden Tape?
Get a gander at these timelines, with respect to what was going on domestically or in Iraq, when Osama shows up. Is this guy working for Bush or is Bush working for him?
Osama is coming dangerously close to becoming an election year character; someone we just expect to show up in the news during an important election year.
News Analysis: Time To Reel Off Another bin Laden Tape?:
"Yesterday, a Supreme Court decision slowed the administration's march toward a unitary executive by declaring their system for dealing with prisoners in Guantanamo Bay illegal. So how did the administration respond?
Well, today yet another Osama bin Laden tape was released on the Internet. That prompts us to wonder, just how long did they have this one, before deciding it was news fit to release to the American people? " (Read On ^)
Interesting comment from Junior
Talk about strange; this comment is , one would think, upon having just been told that bin Laden was determined to strike in the U.S.
Did he not believe it, or was he just waiting for it.?
Alterman: Dirty wars, dirty bombs - Altercation - MSNBC.com:
"George W. Bush, following the briefing at his Crawford, Texas, homestead on Aug. 6, 2001, about a CIA memo titled 'Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.' Upon listening to the CIA briefer, Bush says, 'All right, you've covered your ass, now.' Bush proceeds to go fishing' (The quote is from Ron Suskind's new book)
WSJ report proves executive payouts fueling America's pension crisis
These CEO types knew the minute that Bush was installed in the White House that it was party time, and they have taken full advantage of it.
Before this mess is over they may all be taken out and strung up by the pensioners they are screwing, and their kids, who will now be responsible for Mom and Dad.
Sirotablog: WSJ report proves executive payouts fueling America's pension crisis:
"In Hostile Takeover, I note that the Wall Street Journal's Ellen Schultz is, arguably, the best journalist working today. And in the last few days, she has singlehandedly blown away all the rhetoric about what's destroying America's pension system that's coming from Corporate America and their bought off cronies in government.
The public is led to believe that companies are slashing workers' pensions and backing out of their retirement promises to workers because these companies face a cash squeeze caused by the market. But in a major investigative report, Schultz points out that an 'analysis of corporate filings reveals that executive benefits are playing a large and hidden role in the declining health of America's pensions.' The key findings are stunning:" (Read On ^)
The Audacity of The Pentagon Goes On, Untempered by The Supremes.
Pentagon Says Ruling Won't Affect Guantanamo: "The Pentagon reaffirmed the need for the Guantanamo prison even though the US Supreme Court rejected the system of military tribunals put in place to try the prisoners.
Camp commander Rear Admiral Harry Harris earlier said such a ruling would not affect the running of the camp and prisoners' lawyers said it may do little to secure their freedom in the short term.
About 450 suspected al Qaeda and Taliban captives are held at the US Navy base in Cuba. Some have been held at Guantanamo since the prison camp opened in January 2002.
Senior administration officials said the ruling 'will have no impact' on the detention of any of the prisoners now at Guantanamo or the status of the prison."
Camp commander Rear Admiral Harry Harris earlier said such a ruling would not affect the running of the camp and prisoners' lawyers said it may do little to secure their freedom in the short term.
About 450 suspected al Qaeda and Taliban captives are held at the US Navy base in Cuba. Some have been held at Guantanamo since the prison camp opened in January 2002.
Senior administration officials said the ruling 'will have no impact' on the detention of any of the prisoners now at Guantanamo or the status of the prison."
Warner Is Uncertain on Legislation for Tribunals - New York Times
So, what's this? It takes the Supremes to get through to Warner and others that damned near everything this president has done wouldn't pass constitutional muster?
Warner Is Uncertain on Legislation for Tribunals - New York Times:
"WASHINGTON, June 30 : A leading Senate Republican said Friday that he was not sure that Congress should pass legislation to create new military tribunals for terror suspects, a stance that raised doubts about prospects for a White House plan to establish an alternative to the commissions struck down this week by the Supreme Court.
The senator, John W. Warner of Virginia, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said he had not yet decided what course Congress should take. But Mr. Warner, who will preside over hearings on the issue in July, said he was concerned that new tribunals, even if authorized by Congress, might not withstand judicial scrutiny."
Strangeness in Memphis;
Maybe it is just the timing, like when people are dying in an illegal war, but can things get any more Twilight Zone?
In Memphis, Two Heads of Government Visit the Home of Rock 'n' Roll Royalty - New York Times:
"'It's like a dream,' Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan said to President Bush in the Jungle Room of the Presley home here. Amid the faux leopard print chairs and green shag carpet covering both floor and ceiling, the prime minister then serenaded the president.
'Loooovve mee tenderrrrr,' Mr. Koizumi crooned, as Priscilla Presley, Elvis's former wife, and Lisa Marie, his daughter, looked on.
When Priscilla Presley pointed out the oversize gold-rimmed sunglasses once worn by the King of Rock 'n' Roll, the prime minister eagerly donned them, thrusting his hips and arms forward in imitation of a classic Elvis move.
'I knew he loved Elvis,' Mr. Bush said afterward. 'I didn't realize how much he loved Elvis.'"
Market Meltdown
Taken to its worst conclusion, the Home loan folks could all be land poor in another year.
American Prospect Online - Market Meltdown:
"America's housing bubble has not exactly burst. It's just sprung a leak the size of your average mortgage banker. What's clear is the boom is over. All across America, backlogs of unsold homes are long. Price increases are slowing. In some markets, home prices are actually dropping. I just bought a house in Berkeley, California, that I couldn�t have afforded a year ago. I still can't afford it, but at least I'm breathing.
It's better that bubbles leak than burst. Gradual declines are always easier to manage than explosions. But the housing boom has been so large and important to the American economy over the past five years that even this slow leak will cause severe headaches.
One will be experienced by millions of households that had turned their growing home values into piggy banks to finance their continued consumption. That easy route to cash is just about gone. The inevitable result will be less consumption, which will mean fewer jobs. "
How media leaks affect war on terror - Yahoo! News
How media leaks affect war on terror - Yahoo! News:
"WASHINGTON AND BOSTON - The news media's recent disclosures of classified intelligence do 'great harm' to US security, the Bush administration maintains.
The assertion is difficult to dispute, since nobody outside America's spy agencies knows for sure whether the leaks have caused terrorists to cover their tracks. But analysts and former intelligence officials suggest that the real harm of untimely disclosures lies elsewhere.
'The damage from this, if there is damage, is in the question of whether foreign governments and sources can trust the US to protect sensitive information,' says Larry Johnson, a security consultant who worked for the CIA and the State Department's Office of Counter Terrorism.
While any information terrorists get about how the US is seeking them is to their advantage, any such gains from the leaks of the past six months may only be slight, Mr. Johnson and other experts say."
"WASHINGTON AND BOSTON - The news media's recent disclosures of classified intelligence do 'great harm' to US security, the Bush administration maintains.
The assertion is difficult to dispute, since nobody outside America's spy agencies knows for sure whether the leaks have caused terrorists to cover their tracks. But analysts and former intelligence officials suggest that the real harm of untimely disclosures lies elsewhere.
'The damage from this, if there is damage, is in the question of whether foreign governments and sources can trust the US to protect sensitive information,' says Larry Johnson, a security consultant who worked for the CIA and the State Department's Office of Counter Terrorism.
While any information terrorists get about how the US is seeking them is to their advantage, any such gains from the leaks of the past six months may only be slight, Mr. Johnson and other experts say."
Experts: Ruling weakens Bush spying plan - Yahoo! News
Somone shoud tell him that his power has been weakened, because his lawyers won't be the bearers of those kinds of tidings.
Experts: Ruling weakens Bush spying plan - Yahoo! News:
"WASHINGTON - A Supreme Court ruling striking down military commissions seriously weakens the foundation of the Bush administration's domestic surveillance program, critics said Friday. "
Bush the reckless
Maybe he has gotten bored with this job and wishes to move on.
Bush the reckless Salon:
"Is George W. Bush trying to save the Democrats from confusion and help them take back Congress? That question arises because he suddenly raised a topic this past week that has been politically taboo for him and his fellow Republicans since last year: the privatization of Social Security.
Strangely enough, the president returned to that sore subject this week for the first time in many months when he addressed the Manhattan Institute in New York."
Friday, June 30, 2006
Katherine Harris is Off Her Meds Again
Even Rush Limbaugh doesn't have the drugs that Cruella needs. Thorazine and Haldol are no fun, so Rush wouldn't be likely to have any.
Damn, this woman is totally delusional, but what scares me more is that there are people out there who are believing this garbage.
Pensito Review: Politics & Media � Katherine Harris is Off Her Meds Again:
"Support for Katherine Harris is so universal, according to Katherine Harris, that even Democratic lawmakers from Florida have told her they hope she beats Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson.
'According to the Palatka Daily News, Harris said, 'I've had Democrats in the House of Representatives come to me and say, 'You know, we'd really like to take the majority in the U.S. Senate,' these are Florida Democrats in the U.S. Congress, 'but you'll do so much more for us if you're there.'"
(read on for a hoot and holler ^)
The Black Commentator - June 29, 2006 - Issue 189
The Black Commentator - June 29, 2006 - Issue 189:
"An agent provocateur engaged in conversation with Black local activists in Miami, and the result was the arrest of seven people in connection with an alleged plot against targets that may have included the Sears Tower. After the red-hot item faded from the pages and screens of the corporate press, it was revealed that the group had no contacts with any terrorist groups, no explosives and few resources. We also learned the supposed leader of this group was attempting to acquire only basic equipment, such as boots and uniforms, from an al-Qaeda operative who was, in reality, a federal informant. The entire case is based on conversations between the group's alleged leader, Narseal Batiste, and this FBI informant. Federal officials have described the group's alleged plot to reporters as 'more aspirational than operational.' In other words, the seven did some talking to the wrong people - end of story!
We have been though this route before. The agent sought to involve a group of Black men in a conspiracy, of his own making."
Read On ^
"An agent provocateur engaged in conversation with Black local activists in Miami, and the result was the arrest of seven people in connection with an alleged plot against targets that may have included the Sears Tower. After the red-hot item faded from the pages and screens of the corporate press, it was revealed that the group had no contacts with any terrorist groups, no explosives and few resources. We also learned the supposed leader of this group was attempting to acquire only basic equipment, such as boots and uniforms, from an al-Qaeda operative who was, in reality, a federal informant. The entire case is based on conversations between the group's alleged leader, Narseal Batiste, and this FBI informant. Federal officials have described the group's alleged plot to reporters as 'more aspirational than operational.' In other words, the seven did some talking to the wrong people - end of story!
We have been though this route before. The agent sought to involve a group of Black men in a conspiracy, of his own making."
Read On ^
A Secret the Terrorists Already Knew - New York Times
I don't think anyone has a problem with the administration monitoring international money transfers, or Interpol doing the same thing, if they are. I doubt anyone would be surprised, especially various terrorist groups.
We are far more alarmed about the domestic spying and data mining that has been going on since shortly after 9/11 and the possible nefarious uses all of that data, by this administration and their corporate puppetmeisters, or any other administration, for that matter.
But, here is the thing with the banking and money monitoring thing; how do we know that the program in place protects people who are not terrorists, not to mention business interests that might be competitors for the Bushite financiers?
I would probably not have thought about that, except for the absolute furor over this particular spying program. The Rethugs condemning tte NYT, accusing various reporters of treason; a damn serious charge for an official to make during a "time of war." Treason, during a time of war can result in one way a trip before the firing squad.
Hell, this is the only spy progran we already knew about.
I still don't see what all the fuss is about? Unless all the name-calling and threats are purely political, or the program is not what we think it is.
A Secret the Terrorists Already Knew - New York Times:
"COUNTERTERRORISM has become a source of continuing domestic and international political controversy. Much of it, like the role of the Iraq war in inspiring new terrorists, deserves analysis and debate. Increasingly, however, many of the political issues surrounding counterterrorism are formulaic, knee-jerk, disingenuous and purely partisan. The current debate about United States monitoring of transfers over the Swift international financial system strikes us as a case of over-reaction by both the Bush administration and its critics.
Going after terrorists' money is a necessary element of any counterterrorism program, as President Bill Clinton pointed out in presidential directives in 1995 and 1998. Individual terrorist attacks do not typically cost very much, but running terrorist cells, networks and organizations can be extremely expensive.
Al Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah and other terrorist groups have had significant fund-raising operations involving solicitation of wealthy Muslims, distribution of narcotics and even sales of black market cigarettes in New York. As part of a 'follow the money' strategy, monitoring international bank transfers is worthwhile (even if, given the immense number of transactions and the relatively few made by terrorists, it is not highly productive) because it makes operations more difficult for our enemies. It forces them to use more cumbersome means of moving money. "
Palestinian PM: Israel aims to oust gov't - Yahoo! News
I think it is official, Israel has gone insane. (or atleast, that is the case if they believe for a moment that Iran is really such a threat to them.)
Palestinian PM: Israel aims to oust gov't - Yahoo! News:
"GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - The Palestinian prime minister said Friday that Israel's offensive is aimed at toppling the Hamas-led government, but maintained he is working with mediators to resolve the crisis over a captive Israeli soldier.
Israel kept up the pressure in Gaza, destroying the interior minister's office and targeting a car carrying militants in an airstrike. Israel also said it attacked a militant cell, killing a local Islamic Jihad leader, the first reported death in the offensive.
With the crisis threatening to boil over into major fighting, the U.N. Security Council scheduled an emergency debate Friday. The Palestinians sought for a resolution condemning Israel's actions and demanding a halt to all military operations."
(Read On ^)
U.S. losing 'War on Turr,' say experts
Couldn't be that the whole damn thing was bogus to begin with, could it?
The Columbus Dispatch - National/International:
"WASHINGTON : The United States is losing its fight against terrorism and the Iraq war is the biggest reason why, more than eight of ten American terrorism and national security experts concluded in a poll released yesterday.
One participant in the survey, a former CIA official who described himself as a conservative Republican, said the war in Iraq has provided global terrorist groups with a recruiting bonanza, a valuable training ground and a strategic beachhead at the crossroads of the oil-rich Persian Gulf and Turkey, the traditional land bridge linking the Middle East to Europe.
'The war in Iraq broke our back in the war on terror,' said the former official, Michael Scheuer, the author of Imperial Hubris, a popular book highly critical of the Bush administration's anti-terrorism efforts. 'It has made everything more difficult and the threat more existential.' "
(read On ^)
Debunking the Myth of Al Qaeda
Can't say how glad I am that a major publication is now saying what many of us have either suspected or, pretty much, known for a long time now. (Of course, the Wingers won't believe it. Newsweek will be accused of treason, and the American Reich will move on.)
But, knowing all this, is it such a huge step to rethink the possibility that Al Qaeda could not have pulled off 9/11, all by themselves, if their very lives had depended on it?
Oh, by the way, whatever happened to the anthrax investigation? Did the FBI lose interest in that, when they found out it was an inside job?
Hirsh: Debunking the Myth of Al Qaeda - Newsweek: International Editions - MSNBC.com:
"June 28, 2006 - The capture of Ibn Al-Shaykhal-Libi was said to be one of the first big breakthroughs in the war against Al Qaeda. It was also the start of the post-9/11 mythologizing of the terror group. According to the official history of the Bush administration, al-Libi (a nom de guerre meaning 'the Libyan') was the most senior Al Qaeda leader captured during the war in Afghanistan after running a training camp there for Osama bin Laden. Al-Libi was sent on to Egypt, where under interrogation he was said to have given up crucial information linking Saddam Hussein to the training of Al Qaeda operatives in chemical and biological warfare. His story was later used publicly by Secretary of State Colin Powell to justify the war in Iraq to the world."
(Read On ^. It just gets more and more incredible with every day)
On Pentagon Fireworks
Oh God, here we go again!!!
TomDispatch - Tomgram: Chip Ward on Pentagon Fireworks:
"The power of nuclear weapons was so beyond normal comprehension that the scientific director of the Manhattan Project, 'the father of the atomic bomb,' Robert Oppenheimer, on observing the first atomic test, immediately invoked the powers of the gods. As he described it (taken from Richard Rhodes book, The Making of the Atomic Bomb):
TomDispatch - Tomgram: Chip Ward on Pentagon Fireworks:
"The power of nuclear weapons was so beyond normal comprehension that the scientific director of the Manhattan Project, 'the father of the atomic bomb,' Robert Oppenheimer, on observing the first atomic test, immediately invoked the powers of the gods. As he described it (taken from Richard Rhodes book, The Making of the Atomic Bomb):
'We waited until the blast had passed, walked out of the shelter and then it was extremely solemn. We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried. Most people were silent. I remembered the line from the
Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita: Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and to impress him he takes on his multi-armed form and says, 'Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.' I suppose we all thought
that, one way or another.'"
Thursday, June 29, 2006
BP unit charged with price manipulation - Yahoo! News
Anyone surprise by this?
No? Didn't think so.
Wake me when they fine Exxon-moblie and its CEO several gazillion bucks.
BP unit charged with price manipulation - Yahoo! News:
"WASHINGTON - Detailed allegations by federal investigators that BP traders illegally manipulated propane prices in 2004 could hurt the oil and gas industry's image at a time when consumers and Congress are upset about soaring energy costs and record profits. "
In Senate, it�s d�j� vu all over again on Voting Rights Act extension
This is freakin' pathetic that we find ourselves back here again, under this Republican controlled government.
In a half-way conscious public, this should be causing riots.
This whole bloody mess could errupt big time in November.
In Senate, it�s d�j� vu all over again on Voting Rights Act extension:
"An extension of the Voting Rights Act is running into some of the same objections in the Senate that it faces in the House, where the bill was pulled from the floor schedule last week after rank-and-file Republicans rebelled against their leadership.
Southern Senate conservatives are raising concerns about reauthorizing Section 5 of the law, which requires jurisdictions with a history of racial discrimination to pre-clear voting-law changes with the Justice Department. Some Southerners argue that the requirement is unnecessarily onerous and that their states should not be singled out in perpetuity.
'Our part of the country, no matter how good we do, we're going to be treated differently than the rest of the country,' said Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.).
Lott, one of two current senators who cast a vote against the 1982 extension of the original 1965 law, said he would most likely support the bill but did not commit to doing so."
Well, gee whiz, this is rich, ccoming from Strom Thurmond suck-up, Lott.
Defense Tech: White House NYT Bashers: Hypocrites
So, if the terrorists have ears to hear, they have heard about these efforts to track their financing several times since 9/11. I know I have heard them several times before. I would presume that the terrorists in question would know whether or not their financing had been disrupted or not.
I mean, if these people are capapable of pulling off 9.11, unassisted by anyone here, they are capable of understanding far more than any of us would about ways of beating the system, and figuring out when their methods had been compromized.
My question is, whom does Bush believe is stupid, us or the terrorists?
Defense Tech: White House NYT Bashers: Hypocrites:
"Bush administration officials have been lining up to condemn The New York Times for revealing a program to track financial transactions as part of the war on terrorism. But if the Times' revelation about a program to monitor international exchanges is so damaging, why has the administration been chattering about efforts to monitor domestic transactions for nearly five years?
Shortly after the 9/11 attacks, many journalists, including this one, were briefed by U.S. Customs officials on Operation Green Quest, an effort to roll up terrorist financiers by monitoring, among other things, 'suspicious' bank transfers and ancient money lending programs favored by people of Middle Eastern descent."
Read On ^, for more reasons why the Bush adminstration is full of shit on this one.
I mean, if these people are capapable of pulling off 9.11, unassisted by anyone here, they are capable of understanding far more than any of us would about ways of beating the system, and figuring out when their methods had been compromized.
My question is, whom does Bush believe is stupid, us or the terrorists?
Defense Tech: White House NYT Bashers: Hypocrites:
"Bush administration officials have been lining up to condemn The New York Times for revealing a program to track financial transactions as part of the war on terrorism. But if the Times' revelation about a program to monitor international exchanges is so damaging, why has the administration been chattering about efforts to monitor domestic transactions for nearly five years?
Shortly after the 9/11 attacks, many journalists, including this one, were briefed by U.S. Customs officials on Operation Green Quest, an effort to roll up terrorist financiers by monitoring, among other things, 'suspicious' bank transfers and ancient money lending programs favored by people of Middle Eastern descent."
Read On ^, for more reasons why the Bush adminstration is full of shit on this one.
Junior walked right into Al Qaed'a hands
Not surprising. Junior just isn't the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree, and he had old, paranoid Dead-eye Dick whispering psychotic rants in his ear, about a one percent doctrines and other dangerous foolishness.
God, what an incredible mess!
The Blotter:
"Al Qaeda's strategic vision involves challenging the United States and its allies overseas using small- to medium-scale attacks, according to an online book available on extremist websites that has become the seminal jihadi textbook. The first English translation of the text is being circulated this week among DOD and government policy circles.
The translation is being released by the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. As ABC News reported last month, the Center has been translating thousands of declassified insurgent and extremist documents that were seized in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Abu Bakr Naji, an al Qaeda insider and author of the book, 'The Management of Savagery,' believes that the 9/11 attacks accomplished what they needed to by forcing the U.S. to commit their military overseas. He says 9/11 forced the U.S. to fall into the 'trap' of overextending their military and that 'it began to become clear to the American administration that it was being drained.'" (Actually, that is not what happened. 9/11 didn't force anyone to do anything. The invasion of Afghanistan was predictable, but what has stretched the military thin was all Junior's doing; Iraq. He was warned against it and did it anyway. He should be impeached and imprisoned for life, right along with his paranoid side-kick)
B.S. ALERT: Bush Confused About Leaks
Interesting that they are screaming much louder about this than the NSA spying, which might affect many more of their 'base.' than monitoring overseas financial tranactions, which, by the way, Bush already told them he was doing.
So what the hell is the big deal with this?
Larry C. Johnson Bush Confused About Leaks:
"Bullshit alert!
After watching George Bush and Dick Cheney weep and wail over the 'damage' done by the New York Times for reporting that financial data is being dumped into the CIA as part of an effort to find terrorist networks, I kept waiting for Darryl Hannah to pop up and say, 'Live, from New York, it's Saturday Night.' Does George have Alzheimer's Disease? Has he forgotten that he used to love the New York Times? The only thing funnier is that most of the mainstream media is reporting the antics of these clowns as straight up news.
I guess Bush and Cheney decided that leaks to the New York Times were no longer kosher when their go to girl, Judith Miller, got canned. Of course, Judy wasn't the only member of the now 'traitorous' New York Times to benefit from White House largesse. Doug Jehl published a piece on August 2, 2004, that exposed an Al Qaeda informant:" (Read On ^)
Staying on Message -- Nixon's Message
Nixon was one sick, paranoid, little bstard, but he couldn't hold a candle to this bunch of criminals.
Staying on Message -- Nixon's Message:
"Let's give credit where credit is due: Nobody knows how to take the worst political hand imaginable -- responsibility for a failing war -- and turn it to their own advantage like the Republicans. That was the defining political accomplishment of Richard Nixon in Vietnam. It may yet be the defining political achievement of George W. Bush in Iraq.
Nixon, of course, had an easier time of it. When he took office in 1969, he inherited a war that his Democratic predecessors had made and that had long since descended into a blood-drenched, stalemated disaster. He could have opted to end the war early in his term, particularly since neither he nor his national security adviser, Henry Kissinger, believed it was winnable. But by continuing the conflict, and even expanding it into Cambodia, he enraged the 40 percent of the nation that wanted us out of Vietnam. Millions of demonstrators took to the streets; some of the student movement embraced a wacky, self-marginalizing anti-Americanism; and mainstream Democrats grew steadily more antiwar."
Blow To Fair Elections
Until we get money out of politics and make lobbying, as it is known today, obsolete, we do not have a Democracy and won't If the last 25 years have done anything, they should have made that crystal clear.
Now we're to the point where we don't even have to vote; the GOP owned voting machines do that as well. The most convenient Democracy on earth is no Democracy at all.
TomPaine.com - Blow To Fair Elections:
"At a time when elected officials are being marched off to jail for corrupt activities, Monday's Supreme Court decision on Vermont's campaign finance law gives money an even larger role in elections.
While the immediate effect of the decision is modest,, except in Vermont, the signs are not good. The decision tells us that we must put to bed any pretensions we might have that the currently constituted Supreme Court is a friend to fairness in political opportunity. It also tells us the work to limit big money is back in our hands.
A quick summary of the decision shows that Vermont's comprehensive reform law is largely gutted. Nationwide, spending limits are out, while contribution limits are still OK, though some laws may now be challenged. And this decision should strengthen our resolve to pass public campaign financing at the local, state and federal level.
When Vermont residents looked at their political culture in 1997, they were concerned that the kind of 'big-money politics' that dominates so many places in America might be corrupting Vermont, too. So they held many days of hearings and took testimony from scores of legislators and citizens about bills that weren't passed because of contributors' interests, positions that weren't taken and self-censorship by elected officials. After all that was done, they passed a law to keep big money from corrupting their state's politics."
When The FBI Raids The Times
TomPaine.com - When The FBI Raids The Times:
To paraphrase Alice's walrus, the time has come to talk of scary things.
The New York Times has spurred the anger of the Bush administration by reporting on a program to monitor international banking transactions as part of the government's counterterrorism program. Critics argue this is the equivalent of reporting on troop movements or disclosing the existence of secret weaponry. You don't have to look too hard online to find posters of the World War II 'loose lips sink ships' variety that pretty much blame the Times for the deaths of American soldiers.
The National Review urged the administration to revoke the Times, White House credentials. U.S. Rep Peter King, R-N.Y., said the Times should be brought up on charges of treason.
The current climate leads me to ponder a what-if scenario. One that I hope is as far-fetched as I believe it to be. But imagine the possibility suggested by the recent rhetorical attacks and threats of prosecution.
What if the U.S. Attorney's office in New York, bolstered by a cadre of federal marshals or FBI agents, entered the offices of The New York Times, looking to rummage through the paper's files and computers either to find the source of the leaks for the banking story or to make sure the Times isn't about to publish another story allegedly damaging to national security?"
(Read On ^; don't think it can't happen here, it's already happening.)
To paraphrase Alice's walrus, the time has come to talk of scary things.
The New York Times has spurred the anger of the Bush administration by reporting on a program to monitor international banking transactions as part of the government's counterterrorism program. Critics argue this is the equivalent of reporting on troop movements or disclosing the existence of secret weaponry. You don't have to look too hard online to find posters of the World War II 'loose lips sink ships' variety that pretty much blame the Times for the deaths of American soldiers.
The National Review urged the administration to revoke the Times, White House credentials. U.S. Rep Peter King, R-N.Y., said the Times should be brought up on charges of treason.
The current climate leads me to ponder a what-if scenario. One that I hope is as far-fetched as I believe it to be. But imagine the possibility suggested by the recent rhetorical attacks and threats of prosecution.
What if the U.S. Attorney's office in New York, bolstered by a cadre of federal marshals or FBI agents, entered the offices of The New York Times, looking to rummage through the paper's files and computers either to find the source of the leaks for the banking story or to make sure the Times isn't about to publish another story allegedly damaging to national security?"
(Read On ^; don't think it can't happen here, it's already happening.)
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Rick Jacobs: Restoring the American Revolution Day | The Huffington Post
Nigga Please....
The Blog Rick Jacobs: Restoring the American Revolution Day The Huffington Post:
"Today, thousands of people across the country will be celebrating the first ever Clean Money Day by attending screenings of The Big Buy: Tom DeLay?s Stolen Congress, participating in discussions about Clean Money and joining conference calls with Jim Hightower, David Sirota, Robert Greenwald and others. It?s now time to focus on how to fix the system-it?s time to talk about Clean Money, rather than corruption."
Holy mother of god, what will it take...
.....before the American people, as a whole, throw a god-damned fit.
A LIBERAL DOSE:
Whoops. Could it be our ever-fightin'-ready draft-dodgin' chickenhawkin' 'Administration' (LOL) just got caught fabricating yet another in a series of outrageous warmongering whoppers?
Perish the thought.
But the Muckracker Report fills us in on the juicy details. Turns out the 'Miami Seven' had no bombs, materials or even plans to attack the Sears Tower, at least not until those plans were proposed to them by an undercover FBI agent. Oh, and their 'Al Qaeda contact' was also non-existent -- the same agent who allegedly persuaded them to 'swear allegiance' to Al Qaeda. (Read On ^)
The more this 'major breakthrough' is exposed to the light, the more it starts to stink of.... expedient inaccuracies.
As Muckraker Justin Rood puts it, "
Study shows US electronic voting machines vulnerable - Yahoo! News
Our advice:
Number one, get Lou Dobbs involed in this.
Number two, let you Sec of Sate know that you intend to know that your vote is counted or you intend to not pay taxes.
There is that little thing about taxation and representation.
Study shows US electronic voting machines vulnerable - Yahoo! News:
"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The nation's three most commonly purchased electronic voting machines are all vulnerable to fraud, a study released on Tuesday found. "
Number one, get Lou Dobbs involed in this.
Number two, let you Sec of Sate know that you intend to know that your vote is counted or you intend to not pay taxes.
There is that little thing about taxation and representation.
Study shows US electronic voting machines vulnerable - Yahoo! News:
"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The nation's three most commonly purchased electronic voting machines are all vulnerable to fraud, a study released on Tuesday found. "
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
All Headline News - Hamas And Fatah Agree To Recognize Israel - June 27, 2006
It seems to me that Mahmoud Abbas is an adult, able to see certain realities for what they are and, apparently, able to persuade Hamas of the importance of dealing with these realities in a real way, and not going off on some self-destructive tangent.
As David Kelly, the Brittish Scientist who alledgedly sucicided, after testifying before the Hutton Inquiry, said in his last email, ironically to Judy Miller, formerly of the New York Times, NeoCon princess or dupe...you decide, " there are dark actors playing games..."
Truer words were never spoken and I doubt that even Kelly knew just how dark and who all those dark actors were.
All Headline News - Hamas And Fatah Agree To Recognize Israel - June 27, 2006:
"Gaza City, Gaza Strip (AHN) - Hamas and Fatah, the two rival Palestinian factions on Tuesday agreed on a resolution that implicitly recognizes Israel. According to a Palestinian official, the plan allows for a two-state solution to the conflict with Israel.
The Fatah movement has been working to persuade the extremist Hamas group to endorse the document which calls for the settlement of the conflicts between 'Israel and Palestine,' thereby recognizing the sovereignty of the Jewish state.
Officials say the deal would be announced later on Tuesday by Prime Minister Ismail Haniya of Hamas and President Mahmoud Abbas, of the rival Fatah faction. Rawhi Fattouh, a Fatah spokesman told journalists, 'We can announce that we have agreed on the document.' He added that, 'We can say that all the barriers have been removed.'
The Hamas movement's current policy calls for the destruction of the Jewish nation using force. It categorically rules out the use of peace to settle their long running land disputes. The Tuesday agreement comes amid tension with Israel after militants captured an Israeli soldier on Sunday.
Palestinian authorities have suffered from inadequacy of funds to run the territory. The ruling Hamas government found itself unable to meet national expenses after foreign donors suspended aid to the regime. The resolution seeks ways to get the Hamas regime out of its current financial woes."
As David Kelly, the Brittish Scientist who alledgedly sucicided, after testifying before the Hutton Inquiry, said in his last email, ironically to Judy Miller, formerly of the New York Times, NeoCon princess or dupe...you decide, " there are dark actors playing games..."
Truer words were never spoken and I doubt that even Kelly knew just how dark and who all those dark actors were.
All Headline News - Hamas And Fatah Agree To Recognize Israel - June 27, 2006:
"Gaza City, Gaza Strip (AHN) - Hamas and Fatah, the two rival Palestinian factions on Tuesday agreed on a resolution that implicitly recognizes Israel. According to a Palestinian official, the plan allows for a two-state solution to the conflict with Israel.
The Fatah movement has been working to persuade the extremist Hamas group to endorse the document which calls for the settlement of the conflicts between 'Israel and Palestine,' thereby recognizing the sovereignty of the Jewish state.
Officials say the deal would be announced later on Tuesday by Prime Minister Ismail Haniya of Hamas and President Mahmoud Abbas, of the rival Fatah faction. Rawhi Fattouh, a Fatah spokesman told journalists, 'We can announce that we have agreed on the document.' He added that, 'We can say that all the barriers have been removed.'
The Hamas movement's current policy calls for the destruction of the Jewish nation using force. It categorically rules out the use of peace to settle their long running land disputes. The Tuesday agreement comes amid tension with Israel after militants captured an Israeli soldier on Sunday.
Palestinian authorities have suffered from inadequacy of funds to run the territory. The ruling Hamas government found itself unable to meet national expenses after foreign donors suspended aid to the regime. The resolution seeks ways to get the Hamas regime out of its current financial woes."
Watergate Echoes in NSA Courtroom
This is a thousand times worse than Watergate.
I am amazed when I hear the pundocracy opine that all this law-breaking by the Bushites are doing cannot be compared with what Nixon did.
Oh, Puleeze!
There is no comparison, that's for sure. BuCheney makes Nixon and his inept cadre of bat-brained 007s look like choir boys.
Wired News: Watergate Echoes in NSA Courtroom:
"SAN FRANCISCO -- It was perhaps inevitable that someone would compare President Bush's extrajudicial wiretapping operations to Richard Nixon's 1970s-era surveillance of journalists and political enemies. Both were carried out by Republican presidents; both bypassed the courts; both relied on the cooperation of U.S. telecommunications companies.
But there's some irony in the fact that it was AT&T to first make the comparison in a federal courtroom here, while defending itself from charges of complicity in Bush's warrantless spying.
Company attorney Bradford Berenson cited the case of The New York Times reporter Hedrick Smith, who'd been illegally wiretapped by Nixon's Plumbers as part of an investigation into White House leaks. In 1979, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that Smith couldn't sue Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Company -- then part of AT&T's Bell System -- for installing the wiretaps at the Plumbers' behest." (Read On ^)
I am amazed when I hear the pundocracy opine that all this law-breaking by the Bushites are doing cannot be compared with what Nixon did.
Oh, Puleeze!
There is no comparison, that's for sure. BuCheney makes Nixon and his inept cadre of bat-brained 007s look like choir boys.
Wired News: Watergate Echoes in NSA Courtroom:
"SAN FRANCISCO -- It was perhaps inevitable that someone would compare President Bush's extrajudicial wiretapping operations to Richard Nixon's 1970s-era surveillance of journalists and political enemies. Both were carried out by Republican presidents; both bypassed the courts; both relied on the cooperation of U.S. telecommunications companies.
But there's some irony in the fact that it was AT&T to first make the comparison in a federal courtroom here, while defending itself from charges of complicity in Bush's warrantless spying.
Company attorney Bradford Berenson cited the case of The New York Times reporter Hedrick Smith, who'd been illegally wiretapped by Nixon's Plumbers as part of an investigation into White House leaks. In 1979, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that Smith couldn't sue Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Company -- then part of AT&T's Bell System -- for installing the wiretaps at the Plumbers' behest." (Read On ^)
License to lie
This book is a must read!
The linked article tells you why.
License to lie:
"In his devastating new book, Ron Suskind shows how 9/11 allowed George W. Bush and his shadowy courtier, Dick Cheney, to 'create whatever reality was convenient.'
By Gary Kamiya
Jun. 23, 2006 If there are any observers who still deny that the Bush administration is the most secretive, vengeful, reality-averse, manipulative and arrogant government in U.S. history, they will have a lot of fast talking to do after reading Ron Suskind's new book, 'The One Percent Doctrine.' A meticulous work of reporting, based on interviews with nearly 100 well-placed sources, many of them members of the U.S. intelligence community, Suskind's book paints perhaps the most intimate and damning portrait yet of the Bush team.
At this point, one could forgive readers for asking, 'How many more damning portraits of the Bush administration do we need?' From yellowcake to Joe Wilson to Abu Ghraib, the list of Bush scandals and outrages is endless, but nothing ever seems to happen. As the journalist Mark Danner has pointed out, the problem is not lack of information: The problem is that Americans can't, or won't, acknowledge what that information means. "....
My guess is that it is both can't and won't. To acknowedge this big of a problem will necessitate action, and action could prove damned expensive.
Of course, inaction will be the most costly choice of all.
Three Days in Rome?
This article should be on the front page of every newspaper.
The Iran/Contra crowd is back, big time.
Now, we have known this for sometime, but this is the best investigative piece we have seen on it.
News media types should be asked why they are not covering this little piece of nostalgia.
Three Days in Rome?:
"On December 21, 2001, military officials and intelligence operatives from three nations, the United States, Italy, and Iran�made their separate ways to a commercial building set anonymously amid the shops, cafes, and fountains of Rome's bustling Piazza di Spagna, and disappeared inside. Among the tourists enjoying the famous Spanish Steps, and the Romans going about their Christmas shopping in the boutiques nearby, few would have had reason to wonder what was going on in the building, which held an unmarked office provided by the Italian military intelligence organization Servizio per le Informazioni e la Sicurezza Militare (SISMI). Nor would passers-by have likely recognized among the men two Pentagon officials and key figures in the post-9/11 push to redraw the political map of the Middle East. Rome's centro storico, locus of a few millennia of international intrigue, was the perfect setting for the business at hand. " (Please do read on ^)
The Iran/Contra crowd is back, big time.
Now, we have known this for sometime, but this is the best investigative piece we have seen on it.
News media types should be asked why they are not covering this little piece of nostalgia.
Three Days in Rome?:
"On December 21, 2001, military officials and intelligence operatives from three nations, the United States, Italy, and Iran�made their separate ways to a commercial building set anonymously amid the shops, cafes, and fountains of Rome's bustling Piazza di Spagna, and disappeared inside. Among the tourists enjoying the famous Spanish Steps, and the Romans going about their Christmas shopping in the boutiques nearby, few would have had reason to wonder what was going on in the building, which held an unmarked office provided by the Italian military intelligence organization Servizio per le Informazioni e la Sicurezza Militare (SISMI). Nor would passers-by have likely recognized among the men two Pentagon officials and key figures in the post-9/11 push to redraw the political map of the Middle East. Rome's centro storico, locus of a few millennia of international intrigue, was the perfect setting for the business at hand. " (Please do read on ^)
Legal Experts to Senate Committee: Bush "Signing Statements" Unconstitutional, Impeachable
Hell, yes, its is an impeachable offense to try to be king.
Duh...
News Alert: Legal Experts to Senate Committee: Bush "Signing Statements" Unconstitutional, Impeachable:
"Bruce Fein, attorney and renowned legal scholar, told the committee that Bush has essentially given himself a line item veto power by declaring portions of new laws unconstitutional and offering his own revisions.
'These statements, which have multiplied logarithmically under President George W. Bush, flout the Constitution's checks and balances and separation of powers. They usurp legislative prerogatives and evade accountability,' Fein said.
'The President does not enjoy a constitutional option of unilaterally pronouncing a provision he has signed into law as unconstitutional and refuse to enforce it on that count.'
Citing Bush's behavior as 'alarming,' Fein suggested that the President could be impeached for 'political crime(s) against the Constitution.'
Also at the hearing, Harvard Law Professor Charles J. Ogletree added, 'this excessive exercise of executive power, coupled with the failure to use the authorized veto power, creates serious issues of constitutional magnitude.' Bush's abuse of signing statements is 'not only bad public policy, but also creates a unilateral and unchecked exercise of authority in one branch of government without the interaction and consideration of the others.'"
American Prospect Online - Survival of the Richest
Being from the southland, like Mr. Edwards, I applaud him.
Hell No. He isn't gonna listen to polls? He isn't gonna stick a well licked finger into the air. HELL NO!
Let us not, please; not listen to the MSM's rapid breathin' over whatever the Rethugs have found objectional this time.
The point is that Mr. Edwards is, and always has been, for the poor and the disabled and others who are vulnerable in our society, like the elderly amd humble labor in this country of ours.. That does not mean that the man is against commerce.
He is against, I believe, corrupt commerce which is married to corrupt government, a marriage made in hell and sanctified by the religiously insane; though he is too much of a gentleman to say so, because he and his family are religious, also, but in a diffrent way from the religous whckos of every nation who want to act out right now, an are doing so with deadly results, because they are frightened out of their wits.
Fearful people are not very nice people. Victims are even worse."
How true....as we have come to know.
Nevertheless, why in hell do we continue to declare war on everything we don't like? We should ban that word, unless we really mean it, and it should not be resolved to fight another war on any noun; certainly not war on plants or a war on an extreme emotion.
American Prospect Online - Survival of the Richest:
"Former senator John Edwards gave a terrific speech to the National Press Club Thursday, one that felt like eloquence from another age. His theme: America should end poverty in three decades, mainly by rewarding work and promoting opportunity.
'Poverty is the great moral issue of our time,' Edwards declared. This speech was his de facto kickoff for a run at the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.
Unlike most of the undeclared Democratic field, Edwards is not putting his finger to the prevailing wind. He's trying to change it. After his 2004 vice-presidential run, Edwards admirably went home to the University of North Carolina to head its Center on Poverty, Work, and Opportunity.
Though the speech was long-scheduled, Edwards' timing was unerring. On Wednesday, Senator Edward Kennedy's bill to raise the federal minimum wage from its paltry $5.15 an hour to $7.25 won the votes of 52 senators, a majority, including eight Republicans. But the Republican leadership blocked it with a filibuster.
Meanwhile, as if to underscore just whose interests they serve, the Republican majority in the House pushed through a bill to repeal the estate tax, except for the mega-rich. Only estates of over $5 million ($10 million for couples) would pay any tax; most of them would pay just 15 percent. "
Hell No. He isn't gonna listen to polls? He isn't gonna stick a well licked finger into the air. HELL NO!
Let us not, please; not listen to the MSM's rapid breathin' over whatever the Rethugs have found objectional this time.
The point is that Mr. Edwards is, and always has been, for the poor and the disabled and others who are vulnerable in our society, like the elderly amd humble labor in this country of ours.. That does not mean that the man is against commerce.
He is against, I believe, corrupt commerce which is married to corrupt government, a marriage made in hell and sanctified by the religiously insane; though he is too much of a gentleman to say so, because he and his family are religious, also, but in a diffrent way from the religous whckos of every nation who want to act out right now, an are doing so with deadly results, because they are frightened out of their wits.
Fearful people are not very nice people. Victims are even worse."
How true....as we have come to know.
Nevertheless, why in hell do we continue to declare war on everything we don't like? We should ban that word, unless we really mean it, and it should not be resolved to fight another war on any noun; certainly not war on plants or a war on an extreme emotion.
American Prospect Online - Survival of the Richest:
"Former senator John Edwards gave a terrific speech to the National Press Club Thursday, one that felt like eloquence from another age. His theme: America should end poverty in three decades, mainly by rewarding work and promoting opportunity.
'Poverty is the great moral issue of our time,' Edwards declared. This speech was his de facto kickoff for a run at the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.
Unlike most of the undeclared Democratic field, Edwards is not putting his finger to the prevailing wind. He's trying to change it. After his 2004 vice-presidential run, Edwards admirably went home to the University of North Carolina to head its Center on Poverty, Work, and Opportunity.
Though the speech was long-scheduled, Edwards' timing was unerring. On Wednesday, Senator Edward Kennedy's bill to raise the federal minimum wage from its paltry $5.15 an hour to $7.25 won the votes of 52 senators, a majority, including eight Republicans. But the Republican leadership blocked it with a filibuster.
Meanwhile, as if to underscore just whose interests they serve, the Republican majority in the House pushed through a bill to repeal the estate tax, except for the mega-rich. Only estates of over $5 million ($10 million for couples) would pay any tax; most of them would pay just 15 percent. "
Judge to Tom DeLay:: Run like a rabbit� - Politics - MSNBC.com
In other words, you had better get the hell out of my jurisdiction and stay out.
Something tells me that Delay had better stay out of his house in Texas, where he says he doesn't live, but was served with a subpoena at that address in Texas. Espescially if his house is in this judge's jurisdiction.
Judge to Tom DeLay: �Run like a rabbit� - Politics - MSNBC.com:
DeLay takes the stand
DeLay testified that he understood before he made his decision the consequences of withdrawing from the race as opposed to being declared ineligible. DeLay resigned from Congress on June 9th.
Once DeLay finished testifying, Sparks explained he could either leave or stay for the rest of the proceedings.
'My recommendation is to run like a rabbit,' Sparks quipped according to an Austin Statesman newspaper account."
AlterNet: Bush: Breaking the Law, Again and Again
Treasury and CIA peeking at millions of American banking records, seems to me, is a much bigger threat to our constitution than the bozos who were arrested for thought crimes in Florida.
Good lord, this is pathetic!
AlterNet: Bush: Breaking the Law, Again and Again:
"Yes, I know, seven people were arrested -- five Americans -- in a strange thought-crime plot to bomb the Sears Tower.
In other news, the Bush administration has apparently been doing more illegal domestic surveillance, this time of banking records.
Is it a coincidence that news of the first supposed terra-folks located within the United States since the attacks of 2001 would come on the same day as this damning story?
Perhaps, but this is after all an administration that writes its own news and disseminates it. While it is easy to dismiss such questioning as simply cynicism, the reality is far too ugly to ignore -- namely, that people who have already violated Federal and international law and repeatedly lied despite evidence contrary to their assertions would abuse their powers yet again for such an obvious and naked ploy. "
The Bushites are creating a new reality again.....
...and this time, the government of Iraq is helping.
BBC NEWS Middle East Iraq plan part of grand strategy:
"The 'reconciliation' plan announced on Sunday by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki is part of a grand strategy by the Bush administration to stabilise Iraq - or to stabilise the perception of Iraq - in advance of the mid-term elections for Congress in November. "
BBC NEWS Middle East Iraq plan part of grand strategy:
"The 'reconciliation' plan announced on Sunday by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki is part of a grand strategy by the Bush administration to stabilise Iraq - or to stabilise the perception of Iraq - in advance of the mid-term elections for Congress in November. "
Kerry and Feingold form alliance on Iraq - Yahoo! News
The cottage industry of questioning motives, left and right, when it comes to any action at all by any Democrat, while no one but Helen Thomas has had the temerity to ask Chimpy why the hell he wanted to go into Iraq in the first place, as all of his stated reasons have turned out to be lies, is beginning to get on my last damn nerve.
The press should be questioning everything Bush and Cheney do. They have lied to us all repeatedly, they have outed a CIA officer, neutralazing Intelligence assets around the globe who were monitoring Iran's nuclear program. they have violated the constitution again and again and again with signing statements and secret spying programs, they have virtually robbed the U.S. treasury and put us in debt up to our grandchildren's eye-balls, they refuse to answer questions legally asked by congress (one the rare occassions when any are asked by this Rethug cover-up congress, and thats's only the beginning.
But here we get treated to every possible motive Kerry and Feingold could have, when they try to get our military the hell out of that nighmarish quagmire Bush got us into.
Ask the hard questions or get out of the news industry!
Kerry and Feingold form alliance on Iraq - Yahoo! News:
"WASHINGTON - One epitomizes the Washington political establishment as the Democratic Party's most recent presidential nominee. The other is the quintessential Democratic outsider, proud to be the only senator to vote against the USA Patriot Act.
Notwithstanding their different histories, Sens. John Kerry and Russ Feingold joined forces last week to push a proposal that would have required troops to leave Iraq by July of next year. And they may soon have something else in common: Both are considering presidential races in 2008.
'It seems to be a marriage of convenience,' said Democratic consultant Dan Payne, a former Kerry Senate campaign strategist. 'Feingold wants to be considered of presidential stature, and Kerry wants to look like he can work with others to reach a compromise.'
Both Kerry, D-Mass., and Feingold, D-Wis., insist that politics has nothing to do with it.
'Not on subjects of war and peace,' Kerry said in a telephone interview. 'Not on subjects that involve young Americans in uniform in harm's way. As far as I'm concerned, the only consideration is what's the best policy, how do you advance the security of our country, and what do we do to do it?'"
News Analysis: GOP Threats to NY Times for Reporting on Transaction Monitoring Is Critical Threat to Free Press
While I really hate to be put in a poasition of defending the NYT, after they allowed Judy Miller to run wild for months, helping this loony administration to take us to war, based on despicable lies and fear-mongering, I must.
This is a very real and present danger to our constitution, and it ain't coming from Al qaeda, as if it ever did.
News Analysis: GOP Threats to NY Times for Reporting on Transaction Monitoring Is Critical Threat to Free Press:
"It is hard to imagine that a group who has been so wrong about so many things could get so upset about someone looking over their shoulders. But that is just what is happening now that the Bush Administration and leading Republicans have criticized, and even called for a criminal investigation of, The New York Times for reporting on the secret monitoring of financial transactions across the globe.
If a terrorist group was so inept as to be previously unaware that the U.S. government was trying to monitor their monetary transactions, they probably were of little risk (like the Miami 'terrorist wannabes' who allegedly wanted to blow up the Sears Tower with their invisible bombs).
Are Americans so gullible that they believe that terrorists don't already assume that the U.S. is spying on phone calls and bank transactions? If so, let's just say that the terrorists aren't as dumb as everyone who believes that the NY Times' story gave information to the terrorists that they didn't already have. "
Night Light: the phony Iraq resolution: a line-by-line debunking
An Oldie but a goodie; Check it out...
Night Light: the phony iraq resolution: a line-by-line debunking:
"Most Americans haven't read the resolution that was just voted into law. For your convenience, here's a line-by-line debunking:
Mr. HYDE submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations, and in addition to the Committee on Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned " (Read On ^)
Night Light: Why Did Joe Lieberman Delete This Page From His Site?
We really don't care why Jomentum does anything. We only hope he has his ass handed to him by Lamont.
See deleted page at Night Light and draw your own conclusions.....
Night Light: Why Did Joe Lieberman Delete This Page From His Site?:
"Thanks to an eagle-eyed FDL commenter, we found a page that had been deleted from Joe Lieberman's campaign site but was still cached in Google as of this writing (search terms: site:joe2006.com and iraq.) I thought it was important to preserve it for posterity, before Google refreshes its caches.
Question: Did he delete it because 1) he boasts of getting war-related jobs for Connecticut, or 2) because he brags about helping to create centralized near-dictatorial intelligence authority in one person - of whom the first was GOP hack Porter Goss and the second was admitted law-breaker Gen. Hayden?
Personally, I think he nixed the page because it says he 'never wavered in his conviction that Saddam Hussein was a threat to America's national security.' Kinda hurts those intelligence credentials, doesn't it?
At least, that's my theory. Feel free to browse and draw your own conclusions."
'Don't 'accept the crap we give you' - Bush former Assistant Sec. of State
Thanks for the heads up, Carl.
Just a few years too late for some dunder-heads who believed all the crap, in the first freakin' place.
...and our, by now, irritating question; will anything be done about this, ever?
The Raw Story Former Bush Assistant Secretary of State says don't 'accept the crap we give you':
"Appearing before the The Senate Democratic Policy Committee, former Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research Carl Ford called upon policy makers to accept part of the blame for intelligence failures, telling them to 'not accept the crap we give you.'
The proceedings, chaired by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND), heard testimony regarding pre-war intelligence in Iraq. The Democrats held their own hearings out of frustration with a lack of scrutiny of Iraq intelligence by the Republican-led Senate."
News Alert: Powell's Chief of Staff and Others Confirm Bush�s Lies on Iraq Intel
Yes, it is still important that we went to war based on faulty inteligence that the policy-makers had to have known was false.
As a matter of fact, it is so important, that it is an imeachable offense.
Our military went to war believing that Saddam had something to do with 9/11 and that he was planning on using nukes against us, becaue that is what they were, in essence, told by the administration. Nothing was said about liberating Iraqis. That came later.
They went into Iraq for vengeance. That could well be the reason so many horrors continued happening, not that horrors don't happen in ever war. They do.
But not like Abu Ghraib.
News Alert: Powell�s Chief of Staff and Others Confirm Bush�s Lies on Iraq Intel:
"The Senate Democratic Policy Committee had a hearing today on pre-war Iraq intelligence to examine how Bush took us to war over faulty information. Witnesses included several prominent officials, such as Colin Powell's Chief of Staff.
The hearing confirmed previous suspicions that the Administration misrepresented and exaggerated intelligence to promote its agenda. BuzzFlash has extracted and highlighted especially relevant portions of testimony. "
Bush ignores laws he inks, vexing Congress - Yahoo! News
Our first George (Washington) could not lie to his father about chopping down a cherry tree.
This one loves picking cherries, doesn't listen to his father and lies about everything.
I think we have hit the bottom of the barrel with Georges.
Anyone want to make a fools bet that anything will be done about any of this? No? Didn't think so.
Bush ignores laws he inks, vexing Congress - Yahoo! News:
"WASHINGTON - A bill becomes the rule of the land when Congress passes it and the president signs it into law, right?
Not necessarily, according to the White House. A law is not binding when a president issues a separate statement saying he reserves the right to revise, interpret or disregard it on national security and constitutional grounds.
That's the argument a Bush administration official is expected to make Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who has demanded a hearing on a practice he considers an example of the administration's abuse of power.
'It's a challenge to the plain language of the Constitution,' Specter said in an interview with The Associated Press. 'I'm interested to hear from the administration just what research they've done to lead them to the conclusion that they can cherry-pick.'"
Monday, June 26, 2006
A Very Hard Truth!
It is past time that people began speaking their truth. I am not talking about politicians, government officials, the elite who pull the strings or the various state and corporate owned media, in any and all countries.
Screw them!
This post is about the people, of every nation on earth, from New Zealand to Canada, from San Francisco to Amsterdam, from Nairobi to India, from Cairo to Jacksonville, from Ozland to Greenland. From Paris to Lincoln, Nebraska.
This is about the people of this planet.
We are as rats in a Skinner Box.
Admittedly, in America, it is more like gerbels on an exercise wheel....Going round and round, about absolutely nothing, usually, except producing. That's right producing. It matters not what is being produced as long as it makes a buck. We have become anything-for-a-buck-America.
Actually, we have been like this for quite awhile now, but it has never been more transparent than now.
We have been lied to and decived into a war of aggression. As a nation, we are guilty of war crimes, because, even after we knew this, soe of us still voted for the perpetrators.
Some of us were not deceived, simply because we knew more than others about our history, as a nation, and we knew more about the Bush family and what we now refer to as the Bushites, the NeoCons and the TheoCons and the ever present corporatists.
While the more well-known blogs laid out the politcs of it all and did so in good agressive reporting, some of us just followed along, and wrote about what we saw unfolding, before our astonished and aging eyes.
We are the elders of the 60s movement. now. We are all that is left of a movement that changed a country and the world, in many ways.
Look what our nation has been doing to the elderly and the youth...the wisdom and the future. This would not have been our recomendation. Our recmendation would have been to find ways of getting the elders and the youth together.
We are too busy to raise our children or to honor our elderly, That is a prescription for a failed nation.
There is no history quite as valuable as lived history. Yes, memories are not always bias free or aboslutely accurate, but that is beside the point. The point is that the people need a history (herstory, whatever). Histories are always about Kings and governments. The most important stuff gets left out.
What were the people thinking? Were they really for or against their governments?
I have witnessed some amazing things lately. I have seen government officials stand up for what is right. I have seen ordinary citizens in America stand up to an evermore fascist regime.
But, the Americans who oppose the insanity can not fight it on their own. It will take te help of the global comunity.
Join us, please. We ask not only for ourselves, but for the whole world.
Screw them!
This post is about the people, of every nation on earth, from New Zealand to Canada, from San Francisco to Amsterdam, from Nairobi to India, from Cairo to Jacksonville, from Ozland to Greenland. From Paris to Lincoln, Nebraska.
This is about the people of this planet.
We are as rats in a Skinner Box.
Admittedly, in America, it is more like gerbels on an exercise wheel....Going round and round, about absolutely nothing, usually, except producing. That's right producing. It matters not what is being produced as long as it makes a buck. We have become anything-for-a-buck-America.
Actually, we have been like this for quite awhile now, but it has never been more transparent than now.
We have been lied to and decived into a war of aggression. As a nation, we are guilty of war crimes, because, even after we knew this, soe of us still voted for the perpetrators.
Some of us were not deceived, simply because we knew more than others about our history, as a nation, and we knew more about the Bush family and what we now refer to as the Bushites, the NeoCons and the TheoCons and the ever present corporatists.
While the more well-known blogs laid out the politcs of it all and did so in good agressive reporting, some of us just followed along, and wrote about what we saw unfolding, before our astonished and aging eyes.
We are the elders of the 60s movement. now. We are all that is left of a movement that changed a country and the world, in many ways.
Look what our nation has been doing to the elderly and the youth...the wisdom and the future. This would not have been our recomendation. Our recmendation would have been to find ways of getting the elders and the youth together.
We are too busy to raise our children or to honor our elderly, That is a prescription for a failed nation.
There is no history quite as valuable as lived history. Yes, memories are not always bias free or aboslutely accurate, but that is beside the point. The point is that the people need a history (herstory, whatever). Histories are always about Kings and governments. The most important stuff gets left out.
What were the people thinking? Were they really for or against their governments?
I have witnessed some amazing things lately. I have seen government officials stand up for what is right. I have seen ordinary citizens in America stand up to an evermore fascist regime.
But, the Americans who oppose the insanity can not fight it on their own. It will take te help of the global comunity.
Join us, please. We ask not only for ourselves, but for the whole world.
Details later here.
..And the truth shall set you free.
In Colombia: Military Crimes Point to a Growing Problem
We gotta get out of this place.....if it's the last thing we ever do
In Colombia: Military Crimes Point to a Growing Problem:
"Last Monday, the U.S. military announced that three members of the 101st Airborne Division had been charged with murder and obstruction of justice in the May 9 shooting deaths of three Iraqi prisoners. According to CNN, they allegedly threatened a fellow soldier who witnessed the shootings, telling him they would kill him if he talked.
As investigations progress into this case, Haditha, and other alleged killings -- such as that of a pregnant Iraqi woman and a disabled man -- it is instructive to look to Colombia, where U.S.-trained and -supported troops are also facing allegations of rampages outside the law.
Little attention has been paid internationally to a May 22 massacre in which a Colombian Army group killed 10 members of an elite counter-drug police unit. This police unit, trained by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, had captured about 200 traffickers over the years. The killings were initially described as a case of friendly fire, but the Colombian Prosecutor General's Office recently charged that it was a massacre committed by members of the armed forces doing a 'favor' for drug traffickers.
And the other week the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights asked the Colombian Attorney General's Office to investigate 37 cases of apparent extrajudicial killings. The armed forces presented the majority of the cases as guerrillas killed in combat during 2005-06, when really, according to the United Nations, the armed forces seem to be killing civilians and sometimes dressing the dead in rebel military uniforms to justify their deaths. "
"Big Brother" Bush and Connecting the Data Dots
Is anyone, other than the law experts, thinking about what this means to ordinary citizens?
Damn!
What is wrong with these people, who say that they do not care because it will keep us safe? From whom? Our own corporate-controlled government?
Get a grip people! The biggest enemy of Democracy and "our way of life," is not living in a cave in the badlands of Central Asia!
Oh No, the haters of Democracy are much closer.
Osama amd Georgie are Doppelgangers. We will leave it to you to determine which one of them is doing the most damage to the Constitution.
"Big Brother" Bush and Connecting the Data Dots:
"The Total Information Awareness program was killed in 2003, but its spawn present bigger threats to privacy.
by Jonathan Turley
The Disclosure this week of a secret databank operation tracking international financial transactions has caused renewed concerns about civil liberties in the United States. But this program is just the latest in a series of secret surveillance programs, databanks and domestic operations justified as part of the war on terror.
Disclosed individually over the course of the last year, they have become almost routine. Yet, when considered collectively, they present a far more troubling picture, and one that should be vaguely familiar.
Civil liberty-minded citizens may recall the president's plan to create the Total Information Awareness program, a massive databank with the ability to follow citizens in real time by their check-card purchases, bank transactions, medical bills and other electronic means. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, was assigned this task, but after its work was made public, Congress put a stop to it in September 2003 as a danger to privacy and civil liberties.
However, when Congress disbanded the Total Information Awareness program, it did not prohibit further research on such databanks, or even the use of individual databanks.
And, according to a recent study by the National Journal, the Bush administration used that loophole to break the program into smaller parts, transferring some parts to the National Security Agency, classifying the work and renaming parts of it as the Research Development and Experimental Collaboration program.
It was long suspected that Total Information Awareness survived, and the disclosure this week of another massive databank operation has only reinforced that fear. " (Read On, above link)
Damn!
What is wrong with these people, who say that they do not care because it will keep us safe? From whom? Our own corporate-controlled government?
Get a grip people! The biggest enemy of Democracy and "our way of life," is not living in a cave in the badlands of Central Asia!
Oh No, the haters of Democracy are much closer.
Osama amd Georgie are Doppelgangers. We will leave it to you to determine which one of them is doing the most damage to the Constitution.
"Big Brother" Bush and Connecting the Data Dots:
"The Total Information Awareness program was killed in 2003, but its spawn present bigger threats to privacy.
by Jonathan Turley
The Disclosure this week of a secret databank operation tracking international financial transactions has caused renewed concerns about civil liberties in the United States. But this program is just the latest in a series of secret surveillance programs, databanks and domestic operations justified as part of the war on terror.
Disclosed individually over the course of the last year, they have become almost routine. Yet, when considered collectively, they present a far more troubling picture, and one that should be vaguely familiar.
Civil liberty-minded citizens may recall the president's plan to create the Total Information Awareness program, a massive databank with the ability to follow citizens in real time by their check-card purchases, bank transactions, medical bills and other electronic means. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, was assigned this task, but after its work was made public, Congress put a stop to it in September 2003 as a danger to privacy and civil liberties.
However, when Congress disbanded the Total Information Awareness program, it did not prohibit further research on such databanks, or even the use of individual databanks.
And, according to a recent study by the National Journal, the Bush administration used that loophole to break the program into smaller parts, transferring some parts to the National Security Agency, classifying the work and renaming parts of it as the Research Development and Experimental Collaboration program.
It was long suspected that Total Information Awareness survived, and the disclosure this week of another massive databank operation has only reinforced that fear. " (Read On, above link)
War on Terror a Losing Game
There are some good folks up Canada way who do not wish to participate ta all anymore.
Can't imagine why not, eh? (Just kidding. I know why not, and don't blame you in the least.)
War on Terror a Losing Game:
"What will it take to persuade this government that our military deployment in Afghanistan is a disaster for Canada?
Stephen Harper bristles at the very notion of seriously debating this doomed mission.
But the president of the country we are supposed to be 'securing' sees it differently. Afghanistan's president, Hamid Karzai, says that the recent deaths of 600 Afghans in the so-called war on terror is 'unacceptable.'
He wants the international community to rethink its strategy of hunting down terrorists and collecting scalps and to start dealing with the roots of terrorism. No wonder. Far from discouraging terrorists, the mission in Afghanistan has inspired the Taliban and created a dangerous militancy in tribal Pakistan. That's why Karzai wants us to put down our guns and put on our thinking caps.
You would have thought that we might have come to that conclusion on our own. In fact, the 100 top foreign policy analysts in the United States have done so in spades.
According to Foreign Affairs magazine, a blue ribbon group of bipartisan foreign affairs experts in the U. S. view the war on terror as a disaster measured against its own aims.
The group, which includes a former secretary of state, ex-heads of both the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency, and former military commanders believes that the war on terror has actually made terrorism much worse because President Bush and his advisers have adopted a totally unrealistic view of what they can accomplish with threats and force. They also conclude that with the utter failure of Homeland Security, the next 9/11 is virtually assured in America. "
CIA Officer Claims US Ignored Warnings About WMD Errors
There was a Cabal, the members of which, had been planning to go to war in Iraq since long before 9/11.
They would have taken evidence from a schizophrenic in St. Elizaabeth's Hospital for the criminally insane, if it served their purposes.
What is freakin' amazing to me, is that these guys, like Drumheller, have to keep yelling about this, because no one does a damn thing about it.
CIA Officer Claims US Ignored Warnings About WMD Errors:
"US administration officials chose to ignore a CIA officer's warnings that an Iraqi defector's claims of purported biological labs made by Iraq for germ warfare were unproven."
They would have taken evidence from a schizophrenic in St. Elizaabeth's Hospital for the criminally insane, if it served their purposes.
What is freakin' amazing to me, is that these guys, like Drumheller, have to keep yelling about this, because no one does a damn thing about it.
CIA Officer Claims US Ignored Warnings About WMD Errors:
"US administration officials chose to ignore a CIA officer's warnings that an Iraqi defector's claims of purported biological labs made by Iraq for germ warfare were unproven."
The Doctor is Out....of his mind
No Doctor who participateed in this horror should ever be allowed to practice medicine in the U.S., or anywhere else for that matter.
Does the Bush administration corrupt everything it touches?
TIME.com: How Doctors Got Into the Torture Business -- Page 1:
"Soldiers are trained to kill and doctors to heal. At least that's how we usually understand those two professions. But wars can often distort reality, and the war on terrorism has turned into a test case. An inspiring example is that of Colonel Kelly Faucette, M.D. He recently wrote about caring for a new patient at the intensive-care unit of the 47th Combat Support Hospital in Mosul, Iraq. The patient was a terrorist insurgent, a man who planted hidden roadside bombs to murder civilians and Faucette's fellow soldiers. Faucette wrote in his local paper: 'Something inside me wants to walk up to this guy ... and just clobber him.' But Faucette didn't. Instead he healed him before sending him to a jail, and by that act of healing he helped heal Iraq.
That's the America I know and love. But it is not, alas, the only face of America in this war. One of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's first instructions for military interrogations outside the Geneva Conventions was that military doctors should be involved in monitoring torture. It was a fateful decision, and we learn much more about its consequences in a new book based on 35,000 pages of government documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. The book is called Oath Betrayed (to be published June 27) by medical ethicist Dr. Stephen Miles, and it is a harrowing documentation of how the military medical profession has been corrupted by the Bush-Rumsfeld interrogation rules. "
Dirty Money
The Notion:
"The New York Times devoted a lot of ink to the Bush Administration's practice of secretly rummaging through international banking transactions in pursuit of terrorists. But, frankly, I had a hard time grasping the scandal.
After all, the Treasury announced it was going to do something like this after 9/ll -- a legitimate, legal method of discovering the networks financing terrorist cells.
So I called an old friend and source for elucidation. Jack Blum is a legendary investigator and lawyer in Washington, who for decades has tenaciously uncovered the global flows of dirty money. Jack confirmed my hunch. He was outraged, but not by the Times revelations.
The scandal here is not government over-reach, he tells me.
The scandal is the pitiful reluctance of this administration (and others before it) to get serious about the problem.
Bankers, Blum explained, 'have fended off every conceivable rule that would really be effective. Why are we pandering to them if we say we are in such a desperate situation?' "
"The New York Times devoted a lot of ink to the Bush Administration's practice of secretly rummaging through international banking transactions in pursuit of terrorists. But, frankly, I had a hard time grasping the scandal.
After all, the Treasury announced it was going to do something like this after 9/ll -- a legitimate, legal method of discovering the networks financing terrorist cells.
So I called an old friend and source for elucidation. Jack Blum is a legendary investigator and lawyer in Washington, who for decades has tenaciously uncovered the global flows of dirty money. Jack confirmed my hunch. He was outraged, but not by the Times revelations.
The scandal here is not government over-reach, he tells me.
The scandal is the pitiful reluctance of this administration (and others before it) to get serious about the problem.
Bankers, Blum explained, 'have fended off every conceivable rule that would really be effective. Why are we pandering to them if we say we are in such a desperate situation?' "
Columns: Court signals loosening of the last reins on police
This is even creepier.
This could get innocent people killed, including cops.
Columns: Court signals loosening of the last reins on police:
"The U.S. Supreme Court just eviscerated the 'knock and announce' rules that require police to announce their presence and give residents a bit of time before smashing in their door. Justice Antonin Scalia's majority opinion in Hudson vs. Michigan, discounted the privacy interest involved, sneering that 'knock and announce' amounts to little more than the right 'not to be intruded upon in one's nightclothes.'
(I don't know about him, but I would put a pretty hefty premium on avoiding that particular scenario.)
But Scalia has a point in implying that the case has little practical importance, since the protocol that police knock, identify themselves and then wait 15 or 20 seconds before entering, has gone the way of the 50-cent cup of coffee. It can still be found, but not nearly as often as it used to be."
Under Surveillance: Government spy cameras proliferate
While this is unnerving to say the least, people do not have an expectation of privacy in public spaces.
So, if you had some expectation of privacy, forget about it.
Under Surveillance: Government spy cameras proliferate:
"In an unprecedented proliferation of public spying, government is casting its watchful eye on millions of ordinary Americans through largely unregulated surveillance cameras trained on public spaces throughout the nation.
A Scripps Howard News Service tally found that at least 200 towns and cities in 37 states now employ video cameras _ or are in the process of doing so _ to watch sidewalks, parks, schools, buses, buildings and similar community locales. That number excludes the approximately 110 other municipalities that use traffic cameras to catch speeders and red-light runners.
But despite their proliferation and potential for altering the very tenor of public life in America, virtually no one is keeping track of the use of these security devices long associated with authoritarian regimes.
In many cases, the increasingly sophisticated general surveillance systems _ a growing number of which are capable of networking to compile and share information about those under view _ are deployed unaccompanied by written policies or other strictures to limit abuse.
More troubling to civil liberties and camera-use proponents alike is the even greater absence of local, state or federal laws that specifically govern police-video surveillance of Americans, suspected of no crime, as they go about their daily business.
Equally rare are enforceable regulations on such matters as who or what can be watched, how long images can be kept, who can see and share them, where a person's 'zone of privacy' begins, and what recourse and punishments exist if that privacy is abused. "
Judge: W can target, jail Muslims in U.S. indefinitely
Major Fascism Alert!
Click on over to Kos and Major Danby for the rest...
Let me just say, HOLY SHIT!!!!~~!
Daily Kos: Judge: W can target, jail Muslims in U.S. indefinitely:
"A federal judge in Brooklyn ruled yesterday that the government has wide latitude under immigration law to detain noncitizens on the basis of religion, race or national origin, and to hold them indefinitely without explanation.
Indefinite detention based on religion, race or national origin even without explanation."
Click on over to Kos and Major Danby for the rest...
Let me just say, HOLY SHIT!!!!~~!
Daily Kos: Judge: W can target, jail Muslims in U.S. indefinitely:
"A federal judge in Brooklyn ruled yesterday that the government has wide latitude under immigration law to detain noncitizens on the basis of religion, race or national origin, and to hold them indefinitely without explanation.
Indefinite detention based on religion, race or national origin even without explanation."
Herbert Takes No Prisoners on the Cut & Run Meme
....and he's right.
But, I wonder, is it possible that General Casey's plan was totally unknown to the White House?
Could this be the ultimate mutiny.
Daily Kos: Herbert Takes No Prisoners on the Cut & Run Meme:
"The administration and its allies have been mercilessly bashing Democrats who argued that the U.S. should begin developing a timetable for the withdrawal of American forces. Republicans stood up on the Senate floor last week, one after another, to chant like cultists from the Karl Rove playbook: We're tough. You're not. Cut-and-run. Nyah-nyah-nyah!
But then on Sunday we learned that the president's own point man in Iraq, Gen. George Casey, had fashioned the very thing that ol' blood-and-guts Frist and his C-Span brigade had ranted against: a withdrawal plan.
Are Karl Rove and his liege lord, the bait-and-switch king, trying to have it both ways? You bet. And that ought to be a crime, because there are real lives at stake."
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