Election Surprise: Is Osama bin Laden in Custody?

We have been expecting this as well. It is probably about the only thhing that can save their lying, criminal asses, except Diebold, of course

But, wouldn't it be obvious to anyone with more than 3 neurons firing?

Pensito Review: Politics & Media � Election Surprise: Is Osama bin Laden in Custody?:

He's baaack: My tinfoil hat has been snap-crackle-and-popping all week over the sudden return of Osama bin Laden. Starting Tuesday, the day after Labor Day, the president launched his campaign of political terror with a series of speeches intended, apparently, to terrify swing voters and security moms into voting for the GOP in the fall elections. The speeches were unremarkable, except for a surprising number of references to the world's most wanted terrorist. Coincidentally, a new video of bin Laden that was taped in September 2001 also appeared this week.

Where has Osama been? After the attacks in 2001, President Bush said he wanted the terrorist mastermind 'dead or alive.' But as months passed and bin Laden eluded capture, and with the distraction of the president's misadventure in Iraq, poor Osama became a non-person of interest to the White House political team. I think we can assume that bin Laden went from being wanted dead or alive to Osama been-forgotten because the CIA and the Pentagon simply could not find him.

David Horowitz Associated with ABC Agitprop | BuzzFlash

Horowitz sould be water-boarded!

Jim P.: David Horowitz Associated with ABC Agitprop BuzzFlash:

....Early on, Cunningham had recruited a young Iranian-American screenwriter named Cyrus Nowrasteh to write the script of his secretive 'Untitled' film. Not only is Nowrasteh an outspoken conservative, he is also a fervent member of the emerging network of right-wing people burrowing into the film industry with ulterior sectarian political and religious agendas, like Cunningham.

Nowrasteh's conservatism was on display when he appeared as a featured speaker at the Liberty Film Festival (LFF), an annual event founded in 2004 to premier and promote conservative-themed films supposedly too 'politically incorrect' to gain acceptance at mainstream film festivals. This June, while The Path to 9/11 was being filmed, LFF founders Govindini Murty and Jason Apuzzo -- both friends of Nowrasteh -- announced they were 'partnering' with right-wing activist David Horowitz. Indeed, the 2006 LFF is listed as 'A Program of the David Horowitz Freedom Center.'....

So Horowitz acts as mouthpiece for people he's in business with, perhaps on this film. You can take the boy out of the Trotsky cult, but you can't take the Trotsky out of the boy, it seems.

Gore On Path to 9/11: It Would Be Fundamentally Irresponsible To Air Such Distortions!

Think Progress � Gore On Path to 9/11: �It Would Be Fundamentally Irresponsible To Air Such Distortions�:

Former Vice President Al Gore today released a statement criticizing The Path to 9/11 for presenting numerous historical inaccuracies.

The statement is below:

By all accounts, 'The Path to 9/11' is riddled with inaccuracies and contains material that directly contradicts the factual findings of the 9/11 Commission. I am deeply concerned that ABC is considering going forward with their plans to broadcast this so-called docudrama. The lessons from the events leading up to that tragedy are too important to trivialize, and it would be fundamentally irresponsible to air such distortions.

9/11: The Price we paid.

Independent Online Edition > Americas:

The blow inflicted on America by September 11 was unprecedented in its scale and horror. But is it really the date to remember? Five years on, it's clear that the true turning point for the world came seven days later. "

Rockefeller: Bush Duped Public On Iraq, CBS News Exclusive: Ark. Senator Says Iraq Would Be Better Off With Saddam In Power - CBS News

They did not pull the wool over some of our eyes!

There were millions around the world who warned you all against this stupid war in Iraq. When will someone acknowledge that we were right?

Rockefeller: Bush Duped Public On Iraq, CBS News Exclusive: Ark. Senator Says Iraq Would Be Better Off With Saddam In Power - CBS News:

CBS) When the Senate Intelligence Committee released a declassified version of its findings this past week, the Republican chairman of the committee, Pat Roberts, left town without doing interviews, calling the report a rehash of unfounded partisan allegations.

Its statements like this one, made Feb. 5, 2003, by then-Secretary of State Colin Powell that have become so controversial, implying Iraq was linked to terror attacks.

'Iraq today harbors a deadly terrorist network headed by abu Musab al-Zarqawi, an associated collaborator of Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda lieutenants,' Powell said.

But after 2 1/2 years of reviewing pre-war intelligence behind closed doors, the lead Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, Sen. John Rockefeller of West Virginia, who voted for the Iraq War, says the Bush administration pulled the wool over everyone's eyes.

Just a few of the ways Bush botched 911

They "blew" it on purpose.

Can anyone possibly doubt it now?

Daily Kos: Just a few of the ways Bush botched 911:

In Feruary of 2001 the Bush administration was handed the final section, Phase III, of the Hart Rudman report. This bipartisan two and half year study of terrorism gave Bush a detailed map, a detailed set of directions as to how to make our nation safe. Hart-Rudman's final report, with its recommendation that the nation create a Homeland Security Department, was given to our new president because HR knew it would take a lot of political capital to implement its proposals. Yes, pre 911 it would take a leader with political capital, something new presidents have and HR knew it. Sadly, Bush threw the HR report in the trash and used his 'capital' to pass tax cuts for his fat cat friends.

Our conservative brothers and sisters don't know much about Hart Rudman or many of the things Bush did and failed to do which left us vulnerable on 911. That is because they are fed lies by their controllers.

As a public service to our conservative friends I have created a short list of items, not a complete list by any means, but a short list of reality points they can check off as they watch the ABC/Disney propaganda fakeudrama.

John Dean: Why Are We Suddenly At War With "Islamic Fascists"? A Neologism that Signals a Change in Strategy As Elections Near

Because they are desperate, that's why.

If we have anything to say about it they will be more desperate as the days go on, and for good reason!

FindLaw's Writ - Dean: Why Are We Suddenly At War With "Islamic Fascists"? A Neologism that Signals a Change in Strategy As Elections Near:

The latest orchestrated war-speak from Bush Administration officials, as they ramp up their oratory for the mid-term election, has recast Islamic militants and terrorists as 'Islamic fascists.' Thus, as we approach the five-year mark since terrorists attacked Americans on our own soil, the Administration is redefining the enemy - once again.

We have gone from the non sequitur of the 'war on terrorism' (A war on 'the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce for political purposes'?) to the neologism of the 'war on Islamic fascists.' Or, depending on the speaker, on 'Islamofascism.' Why the new rhetoric?

Social Security to be Phased Out in 2007

VOTE DEMOCRAT OR DIE OF STARVATION!

Social Security to be Phased Out in 2007 TPMCafe:

Still don't believe Social Security is on the ballot this November?

In an interview published today in The Wall Street Journal (sub.req.), President Bush told editorial page editor Paul Gigot that next year he plans on partially phasing out Social Security and replacing it with private accounts, and that he thinks he can do it as long as the Republicans retain control of Congress, which he thinks they will.

Did Americans aid terrorists?

Might be a good idea to start with the FBI agent who roomed with two of the hijackers.

Did Americans aid terrorists? - Hardball with Chris Matthews - MSNBC.com:

Prior to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, all 19 of the terrorists had been living in the U.S. for several months, some for more than a year. They obtained visas, signed apartment leases, shopped, prayed at mosques, rented cars and bought airline tickets.
Could they have done so, especially those who did not speak English, without help from American citizens? It is one of the top unanswered questions lingering about the 9/11 attacks.

9/11 conspiracy theories; Those who believe in U.S. govt. complicity mulitply

Better believe it!!!!

This may be the real reason for the ABC Docutrash.

The Bushitess may be scared witless that the truth is going to come out on this 5th anniversary.

WP: 9/11 conspiracy theories - washingtonpost.com Highlights - MSNBC.com:

NEW YORK - He felt no shiver of doubt in those first terrible hours.

He watched the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and assumed al-Qaeda had wreaked terrible vengeance. He listened to anchors and military experts and assumed the facts of Sept. 11, 2001, were as stated on the screen.

It was a year before David Ray Griffin, an eminent liberal theologian and philosopher, began his stroll down the path of disbelief. He wondered why Bush listened to a child's story while the nation was attacked and how Osama bin Laden, America's Public Enemy No. 1, escaped in the mountains of Tora Bora.

Accuracy aside, ABC's '9/11' deserves to bomb

Given a rating of zero stars!

Damn, has that ever happened before?

Accuracy aside, ABC's '9/11' deserves to bomb: (Get the full skiny)

I once sat in a car forever waiting for my mom to come out of a grocery store. I thought that was the definition of 'interminable.' I had no idea 'The Path to 9/11' was in my future.

This is what happens during 4 1/2 lonnnng hours of 'Path.' Terrorists talk about killing Americans for Allah. FBI and other security officials try to track them but fail. 9/11 happens.

You don't say.

This is the most anticlimactic, tension-free movie in the history of terrorist TV."

Cheney, the evil Albatros

Why don't they just tell him to stay the hell home, in his hidey-hole.

Healey tries to minimize the glare from Cheney's visit - The Boston Globe:

In Connecticut, a television advertisement features a photo of him arm in arm with Nancy Johnson , a Republican member of Congress battling for reelection. ``Caught red-handed again,' says an ominous voice-over. In New Jersey, Tom Kean , a Republican candidate for US Senate, waited until he left the building to arrive at a fund-raiser.

And late this afternoon, Vice President Dick Cheney, one of the most unpopular figures in American politics, comes to Massachusetts, one of the most heavily Democratic states, where Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey is running as a moderate Republican for governor.

To the delight of Democrats, the situation has forced Healey to walk a fine line.

Following the money on the "Path to 9/11"

We need to bring back stockades for liars.

MAX BLUMENTHAL:

In fact, 'The Path to 9/11' is produced and promoted by a well-honed propaganda operation consisting of a network of little-known right-wingers working from within Hollywood to counter its supposedly liberal bias. This is the network within the ABC network. Its godfather is far right activist David Horowitz, who has worked for more than a decade to establish a right-wing presence in Hollywood and to discredit mainstream film and TV production. On this project, he is working with a secretive evangelical religious right group founded by The Path to 9/11's director David Cunningham that proclaims its goal to 'transform Hollywood' in line with its messianic vision.

Before The Path to 9/11 entered the production stage, Disney/ABC contracted David Cunningham as the film's director. Cunningham is no ordinary Hollywood journeyman. He is in fact the son of Loren Cunningham, founder of the right-wing evangelical group Youth With A Mission (YWAM). The young Cunningham helped found an auxiliary of his father's group called The Film Institute (TFI), which, according to its mission statement, is 'dedicated to a Godly transformation and revolution TO and THROUGH the Film and Televisionindustry.' As part of TFI's long-term strategy, Cunningham helped place interns from Youth With A Mission's 'global training network' in film industry jobs 'so that they can begin to impact and transform Hollywood from the inside out,' according to a YWAM report.

Mocking Bush is my patriotic duty | Salon.com

It is everone's patriotic duty to ridicule Der Monkey, at the very least.

Mocking Bush is my patriotic duty Salon.com

Two FBI agents bailed on ABC Docutrash because of so many inaccuricies

AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth:

Two retired F.B.I. agents said today that they had rejected advisory roles on the disputed ABC mini-series, 'The Path to 9/11,' because of concerns about the program's accuracy.

One of the agents, Thomas E. Nicoletti, was hired by the producers of the mini-series in July 2005 to oversee its technical accuracy, but left after less than a month because of scenes he believed were misleading or just false....

Chief among Mr. Nicoletti's concerns were scenes that placed people at places they had not been present at and scenes that depicted events that were out of chronological order.

'There were so many inaccuracies,' he said.

Mr. Nicoletti said he asked the producers to make changes, but was rebuffed. 'I'm well aware of what's dramatic license and what's historical inaccuracy,' Mr. Nicoletti said. 'And this had a lot of historical inaccuracy.'

Clinton, Albright t and Berger Send Second Letters to ABC

The Big Three are about to be the Big Two, if ABC doesn't pull this damn piece of trash!

AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth: (Read full article and get the Kean angle)

According to CNN, former Clinton National Security Adviser Sandy Berger and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright have written to former Republican co-chair of the 9/11 Commission, and Disney/ABC paid/unpaid consultant to the film, asking Kean to use his influence to cancel the show. President Clinton has sent another letter through his attorney asking Disney/ABC to cancel the show, and has suggested that Kean is endangering the bipartisan work of the September 11 Commission through his partisan actions in this film.

American Airlines gets the blame for 9/11, along with Clinton

American Airlines ought to sue the living hell out of the bastards

AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth: "I'm just wondering when American Airlines is going to realize that it's about to be defamed in the entire English-speaking world.

As I first noted yesterday, I have the entire 'Path to 9/11' video. And one of the very first scenes makes it explicitly clear that American Airlines had Mohammad Atta in its grasp, warning lights flashing on the computer screen, yet the airline simply blew off the threat and helped Atta kill 3,000 Americans.

Unfortunately, it's a total lie.

We have reached the breaking point!

The fat effs in the White House and their enablers in Congress should pray that they all get defeated and get to go home, safely.

David Sirota:

I saw this new ad by the shadowy 527 group that helped President Bush in 2004, and all I could think is, I�ve really just about had it, and I think most Americans have also just about had it. The idea that the Republican Party can run around telling people with a straight face that it is serious about national security is just too hard to swallow anymore.
This is the party that, according to the GOP-controlled Senate Intelligence Committee, lied us into the Iraq War - a war that counterterrorism officials have repeatedly said took our focus off the War on Terror, a war that removed special forces from the hunt for bin Laden in Afghanistan, a war that has served as one giant recruiting advertisement for radical Islamic jihadists.

This is the party that has refused to implement the 9/11 commission recommendations; a party that was trying to slash counterterrorism funding before 9/11 at the very same time it was receiving critical warnings about an imminent terrorist attack; a party that has cut taxes while refusing to fully fund basic homeland security priorities at our airports, ports and vulnerable infrastructure.

Army General: Rumsfeld threatened to fire anyone who tried to plan ahead

Sounds like we have been right all along. The Bushites wanted chaos in Iraq from the get-go.

Why?

Because all manner of crime can be committed under the cover of chaos.

Daily Kos: Army General: Rumsfeld threatened to fire anyone who tried to plan ahead:

Long before the United States invaded Iraq in 2003, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld forbade military strategists to develop plans for securing a post-war Iraq, the retiring commander of the Army Transportation Corps said Thursday.

In fact, said Brig. Gen. Mark Scheid, Rumsfeld said 'he would fire the next person' who talked about the need for a post-war plan.

Howard Dean wants to knoo funded ABC Docutrash

We believe the funding came, at least in part, from the crusading-crackpots.

AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth:

Today, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean called on ABC/Disney to reveal who poured $40 million into the slanderous 9/11 propoganda film they plan to start airing starting Sunday, and issued the following statement:

'It's deeply disappointing that ABC would put something on the air that has been proven to have factual inaccuracies about one of the most important events in our nation's history. ABC should not air this distortion of history.

'The fact that the writer/producer of the piece is a well known conservative raises additional concerns and questions. The American people deserve to know who funded this $40 million dollar slanderous propaganda. Use of the public airwaves is a privilege conferred upon broadcasters in the public interest. It comes with a responsibility to the American people and a responsibility to the truth.'

9/11 Miniseries Is Bunk

Not unlike everything else that comes out of Wingnuttia.........

9/11 Miniseries Is Bunk - Los Angeles Times:

Former ambassador to Yemen says ABC traded fact for drama in portraying events after the 2000 bombing of the destroyer Cole.

At election time, Republicans may be in trouble

Dear God, let these evil bastards go down in flames!

At election time, Republicans may be in trouble - Yahoo! News:

WASHINGTON - In dire danger of losing the House of Representatives, the Republicans appear to be planning to play the national security card in the last legislative days before Congress recesses for the election.

Security may not be the trump card for the Republicans that it has been in the past. Yet the legislative calendar goes heavy on national defense and light on domestic concerns.

Priority is being given to a defense spending bill, an endorsement of warrantless wiretapping, a port security overhaul, legitimizing of military tribunals, and a resolution commemorating the 9/11 anniversary.

One resolution that has a high priority would toughen the rules against the slaughter of horses.

What may be left by the wayside until after the election are: a budget blueprint, departmental appropriations to run the government, immigration reform and border security, control of lobbyists, a minimum-wage increase, and help for senior citizens who missed the deadline for choosing a Medicare prescription plan.

Armitage Confesses--and Prompts a Question for Rove

Why is Armitage taking the fall for this when Rove and Libby were blabbing to anyone who would listen?

Let down the president? Oh fer chrissake.

Armitage Confesses--and Prompts a Question for Rove - Yahoo! News:

On Thursday, Richard Armitage went on CBS News and confessed: he was the original source for the Robert Novak column that outed Valerie Wilson as a CIA officer. He apologized to Valerie and Joseph Wilson. In an interview with The New York Times, Armitage said, 'It was a terrible error on my part. There wasn't a day when I didn't feel like I had let down the president, the secretary of state, my colleagues, my family and the Wilsons. I value my ability to keep state secrets. This was bad, and I really felt badly about this.'

Armitage is coming forward now because the book I co-wrote with Michael Isikoff of Newsweek, HUBRIS: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War, disclosed Armitage's role and quoted named sources at the State Department confirming Armitage's role as the leaker. Armitage says that he kept his silence all these years because special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald had asked him not to say anything. But after our book triggered a splash of news reports, Armitage asked Fitzgerald if he could go public, and he obtained Fitzgerald's consent.

Which brings me to a rather simple question: When will Karl Rove do the same? (When hell freezes over and the devil goes ice-skating, that's when.)

Lawyers and G.O.P. Chiefs Resist Proposal on Tribunal

In other words, how can we escape a war crimes tribunal for ourselves?

Seems it has finally dawned on the Bushites that they could go to prison, for a very long time.

Lawyers and G.O.P. Chiefs Resist Proposal on Tribunal - New York Times:

WASHINGTON, Sept. 7 — The Bush administration’s proposal to bring leading terrorism suspects before military tribunals met stiff resistance Thursday from key Republicans and top military lawyers who said some provisions would not withstand legal scrutiny or do enough to repair the nation’s tarnished reputation internationally.

Democrats, meanwhile, said they were inclined to go along with Senate Republicans drafting an alternative to the White House plan, one that would allow defendants more rights. That left Republicans to argue among themselves about what the tribunals would look like and threatened to rob the issue of the political momentum the White House hoped it would provide going into the closely fought midterm elections.

A day after President Bush unveiled the plan at the White House, senior administration officials said Mr. Bush was willing to negotiate with Congress about the shape of legislation to establish tribunals, which would replace those struck down in June by the Supreme Court.

The administration officials, who agreed to discuss internal administration deliberations in exchange for anonymity, said the decision to transfer high-level terror suspects from Central Intelligence Agency prisons to military custody had been the result of months of secret debate at the highest levels of government

Democrats fight back, big time.

AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth: (Read letter from Dems to ABC)

This letter was sent today by the entire Democratic leadership of the US Senate. This letter is such a major shot across the bow of Disney, it's not even funny. It is FILLED with veiled threats, both legal and legislative, against Disney. US Senators don't make threats like this, especially the entire Democratic leadership en masse, unless they mean it. Disney is in serious trouble.

Bush election focus is risky

El Chimpo touts his own damn failures. Has confidence that the majority of Americans are numbskulls.

Analysis: Bush election focus is risky - Yahoo! News:

"WASHINGTON - President Bush is casting the war on global terrorism as the central issue of the midterm elections. But it's a risky political strategy.

The approach carries reminders of failures in Iraq, prisoner treatment at Guantanamo Bay, warrantless wiretapping at home andOsama bin Laden's endurance abroad.

'We learned the lessons of Sept. 11,' Bush said Thursday in the latest in a new round of speeches on the subject. 'We're working to connect the dots to stop the terrorists from hurting America again.'

GOP strategists hope the new focus, including efforts by Republicans in Congress to press for votes on a string of anti-terror initiatives, will burnish Bush's image as commander in chief in responding to the 9/11 attacks and help to divert attention from Iraq.

Playing the Terror Card Again

If Americans fall for this again, America will no longer bethe home of the brave. Only a true chickenshit would want any more protection by Bush the imperial idiot.

True Blue Liberal » Playing the Terror Card Again:

President Bush acknowledged on Wednesday, for the first time, that the CIA has been holding top al-Qaida prisoners, including Khalid Sheik Mohammed, in secret prisons. Bush announced that 14 such prisoners would be transferred to the Pentagon’s custody at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The president also said that those prisoners would be tried before a military commission and, consistent with a Supreme Court ruling in July, would be afforded the protections of the Geneva Conventions.

This announcement may appear superficially to constitute a reversal, or even a capitulation, by the Bush administration, but there are significant political benefits to be gained from the White House’s maneuver, including election-season pressure on lawmakers to support policies the administration has pursued all along for the “war on terror.

Rethugs are push polling again

Radio Iowa: What the Bush team wants to know:

I recently was home in the middle of the day (short explanation: migraine) and at 10:35 in the morning I was roused from a doctor-delivered drug that induced sleep by the ringing phone at my bedside. Being a journalist always on call, I answered the thing, and realized it was a poll. I struggled out of bed and to the desk for a pen and paper, and took a few notes.

The call started by asking if I plan to vote in November. It's a recorded voice asking the questions, and it only accepts 'yes' or 'no' as responses. It did not appear to navigate to a different question based on the previous answer. After the 'plan to vote?' question, it asked if I wanted my taxes cut, then asked about abortion, gay marriage, and about the prospect of 'liberal Nancy Pelosi' becoming House Speaker. Then it asked if I supported President Bush and I was trying to write and didn't respond quickly enough, so the recorded voice came back on and said 'You must respond yes or no.' After that Bush question, it asked if I was a Republican, then asked if I was a man. The final question was about community involvement, for lack of a better explanation. I can't remember how it was worded, but it did ask -- among other things -- if I contribute to a church. The recorded voice concluded

Reveal secret prisons, EU tells U.S.

Can anyone remember another U.S. president who has been so roundly despised by the rest of the world?

CNN.com - Reveal secret prisons, EU tells U.S. - Sep 7, 2006:

STRASBOURG, France (AP) -- Lawmakers at the European Parliament on Thursday demanded the United States name the locations of secret CIA prisons after U.S. President George W. Bush disclosed that terror suspects have been held at overseas facilities.

'The location of these prison camps must be made public,' said German Socialist Wolfgang Kreissl-Doerfler, who sits on a special EU assembly committee investigating the CIA's alleged operation of secret prisons in Europe.

'We need to know if there has been any complicity in illegal acts by governments of EU countries or states seeking EU membership.'

Bush did not say where the facilities were located, but the European Parliament's investigation has focused on allegations that several secret prisons were run in Eastern Europe.

The EU parliament's investigation's deputy leader, British Liberal Democrat Sarah Ludford, said Bush's admission 'exposes not only his own previous lies. He also exposes to ridicule those arrogant government leaders in Europe who dismissed as unfounded our fears about extraordinary rendition.'

A new revolution

More power to them, and I hope that the revolution moves north.

Comment is free: A new revolution:

Mexico moved one step closer to a social explosion with the Federal Election Tribunal's decision to crown conservative Felipe Calderon as the victor in the hotly contested presidential elections of July 2. The tribunal acknowledged Calderon's campaign had 'violated the norms of public order,' particularly with the role played by the business associations in airing rabid TV ads attacking leftist candidate Andres Miguel Lopez Obrador. But it refused to question the fundamental legitimacy of the elections or to recount all the votes as demanded by the leftist opposition.

Lopez Obrador immediately rejected the tribunal's ruling, declaring that a 'privileged minority' has seized control of Mexico's institutions, 'keeping the country in ruins and the majority in poverty'. He called for the convening on September 16 of a National Democratic Convention 'to form a government that has the legitimacy to reestablish the Republic and constitutional order'.

Rep. Jim Cooper: Bush is Hiding the True National Debt. It's Worse than You've Heard. Much Worse. | BuzzFlash

We are so screwed.

But not as screwed as the bastards who did this.

Rep. Jim Cooper: Bush is Hiding the True National Debt. It's Worse than You've Heard. Much Worse. | BuzzFlash:

Though the Bush Administration's official budget lists the national debt and deficit as being incredibly high, they are actually far worse than reported, according to Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN). But don’t just take his word for it, even if Cooper is a Rhodes Scholar and Harvard Law graduate. The following figures appear in the official U.S. Financial Report, released by the Treasury Department:

* The true 2005 deficit was $760 billion, not the $318.5 billion Bush reported
o This is 6.2% of the GDP, not 2.6%
o That's $156,000 for every citizen, or $375,000 for every working American
* The true national debt is $49 trillion, not the $8.3 trillion Bush reported
o This figure has more than doubled in the past five years
o We paid $327 billion last year on interest alone
* It's all getting worse"

AlterNet: The Slow Death of the Middle Class

The middle-class is what protects the elites from a revolution. They are aching for a breaking.

AlterNet: The Slow Death of the Middle Class:

Conservatives are working hard to dismantle almost every policy that protects average American workers. Air America host Thom Hartmann speaks up about how we can fight back.

AlterNet: War on Iraq: Dem Underdogs Surge in Primaries

There is an anti-incumbent storm brewing, but it won't touch Hillary.

AlterNet: War on Iraq: Dem Underdogs Surge in Primaries:

The issue of Iraq is helping Democratic challengers fight incumbents like Hillary Clinton in upcoming primary elections.

AlterNet: War on Iraq: Bush's Tactics Aid the Terrorists

Here is another question:

Are Americans really all that afraid, or do they just think they are, because they keep being told that they are?

AlterNet: War on Iraq: Bush's Tactics Aid the Terrorists:

Since 9/11, the White House has relentlessly manipulated public opinion by hyping the war on terror. But the main result is a terrified public -- which may have been the point all along.

Pentagon Spends Billions to Outsource Torture

This is an outrage!

IMPEACH THESE G_DAMN FOOLS, NOW!

AlterNet: War on Iraq: Pentagon Spends Billions to Outsource Torture:

Bush administration hawks are getting profit-hungry companies like CACI to do their dirty work in the war zones of the New American Empire. And we're footing the bill. Plus: links to related articles, including AlterNet's recent war profiteering coverage.

Bush Fearmongering on Iraq Loses Its Punch

Fear only works for so long, the the people turn on the fear-mongers, hopefully, in this case, with a vengeance.

Bush Fearmongering on Iraq Loses Its Punch:

The war is going miserably in Iraq. And it's not going that well on the home front, either. Public support for the war is collapsing, and even some Republican hawks are beginning to distance themselves from the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld quagmire in Iraq. But it turns out that critics of the war are just confused. They still think it's about weapons of mass destruction, regime change and democracy. They don't understand that the administration's disastrous enterprise in Iraq is a continuation of the last century's battles against Nazism, fascism and communism.

It took President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to open our eyes last week. This time the enemy is a 'new type of fascism,' Islamic extremism, and Iraq is ground zero in the struggle against this new -ism.

They chose friendly audiences - the nation's two largest veterans organizations - to explain this to Republican nervous nellies and cut-and-run Democrats who, according to Rumsfeld, 'still have not learned history lessons.' Thank goodness Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld are students of history and didn't listen to those foolish generals and diplomats who tried to warn them about what they were getting into by invading Iraq.

Inconvenient Truth That Can't be Ignored

It's not just Environmentalists anymore, who recognize that this planet is dying, because we are killing it.

Inconvenient Truth That Can't be Ignored:

When a film about climate change featuring Al Gore, An Inconvenient Truth, was shown in Parliament House in Canberra on Monday night, even the enviro-sceptics and climate change flat-earthers were shocked. Climate change requires determined government action and a change in the way we live that goes well beyond the next electoral cycle.

The film examines some of the effects of climate change: extreme weather - droughts, floods, cyclones; the potential displacement of millions of environmental refugees as water levels rise; extinction of plant and animal species. It shows that last year was the hottest year on record, and the 10 hottest years have been in the past 14. Category 4 and 5 cyclones and hurricanes have doubled in the past 30 years.

Gore's film focuses mostly on US science, but the Australian context is just as scary. By 2030, the CSIRO says, Sydney's water supply will drop by 25 per cent, as will rainfall in the Murray-Darling Basin. Domestic food supply and agricultural exports will be affected. NSW is experiencing its worst drought ever. Wetlands such as Kakadu face permanent change and warmer oceans threaten the coral that builds our Great Barrier Reef.

Who's Really Morally and Intellectually Challenged?

The policies of this president allowed 9/11, therefore, Cheney is dead wrong when he says they have prevented attacks.

Who's Really Morally and Intellectually Challenged?:

Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld took to the road this week trying to sell the message that Iraq is part of the war on terrorism and that anyone who thinks differently is morally or intellectually challenged.

With the president himself batting clean-up on Thursday, the dynamic duo and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made the rounds of the conventions of the biggest national veterans' organizations -- the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Reno, Nev., and the American Legion in Salt Lake City -- peddling the Bush administration's beleaguered line of bull to guaranteed friendly audiences.

Rumsfeld's message to the American Legion was that critics of the Bush administration's policies on Iraq and terrorism were guilty of ``moral or intellectual confusion about what is right or wrong.''

Cheney's sound bites out of the Reno gathering of the VFW included assertions that the federal-court ruling that warrantless wiretapping was unconstitutional was ''dead wrong.'' That ''sound policies by the president'' have prevented any more terrorist attacks on the United States since 9/11 and that the terrorists, whom he declared ''in the last throes'' last year, are now ``weakened and fractured, yet still lethal.'

Clinton Administration Officials Assail ABC's 'The Path to 9/11'

Do we smell lawsuit coming?

Clinton Administration Officials Assail ABC's 'The Path to 9/11':

Top officials of the Clinton administration have launched a preemptive strike against an ABC-TV 'docudrama,' slated to air Sunday and Monday, that they say includes made-up scenes depicting them as undermining attempts to kill Osama bin Laden.

Former secretary of state Madeleine K. Albright called one scene involving her 'false and defamatory.' Former national security adviser Samuel R. 'Sandy' Berger said the film 'flagrantly misrepresents my personal actions.' And former White House aide Bruce R. Lindsey, who now heads the William J. Clinton Foundation, said: 'It is unconscionable to mislead the American public about one of the most horrendous tragedies our country has ever known.'

ABC Insider Assures Right-Wing Bloggers: ‘The Message of the Clinton Admin Failures Remains Fully Intact’

....and in the process loses all credibility.

Think Progress » ABC Insider Assures Right-Wing Bloggers: ‘The Message of the Clinton Admin Failures Remains Fully Intact’:

ABC won’t give President Clinton, Madeleine Albright or Sandy Berger a copy of its 9/11 docudrama, “The Path to 9/11.” But there is virtually nothing about the film ABC won’t share with the right-wing blogosphere.

For example, an ABC insider sent this missive to right-wing blogger Hugh Hewitt about potential edits to the film:

The Disney execs met all through the weekend - unheard of in this business - debating what changes would be made and what concessions should be given. Here is what looks to be the conclusion:

- There will be a handful of tweaks made to a few scenes.

- They are minor, and nuanced in most cases - a line lift here, a tweak to the edit there.

- There are 900 screeners out there. When this airs this weekend, there will be a number of people who will spend their free evenings looking for these changes and will be hard pressed to identify them. They are that minor.

- The average viewer would not be able to tell the difference between the two versions.

- The message of the Clinton Admin failures remains fully intact.

Bush could reopen old rifts

Old riffs?

More like gaping shrapnel wounds, in need of debriding.

Analysis: Bush could reopen old rifts - Yahoo! News:

WASHINGTON - President Bush's disclosure of previously secret CIA prisons overseas and his unapologetic defense of hardball tactics in the war on terrorism may rub salt in a diplomatic wound his administration had hoped to heal.

Allies the Bush administration badly needs to accomplish foreign policy goals in the Middle East and beyond are among those troubled by both CIA prisons and the detention facility at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Bush said he has emptied CIA prisons on foreign soil for now, but he didn't promise to close them. His plan for new trials of terrorism suspects at Guantanamo ensures that a facility detested by some close allies (Saudi Arabia,) and barely tolerated by others (Britain,) will remain open indefinitely.

Much of Bush's message was intended for domestic political consumption ahead of the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks and midterm congressional elections that threaten Republican control of Congress.

Bush's top female enabler

Those southern women aren't going to think to highly of this either.

Hehehhehe.....

Bush's top female enabler | Salon:

About two weeks after the 2004 presidential election, on Nov. 13, the British Embassy in Washington held a surprise 50th birthday party for Condoleezza Rice. Upon her arrival ambassador David Manning presented her with a red Oscar de la Renta-designed gown for which the embassy staff had managed to secure the 'state secret' of her size. When Rice changed into the dress and emerged like Cinderella she was met by her Prince Charming, dressed in a tuxedo, the man she once called 'my husband,' President Bush.

At the State Department's senior policy meeting the following Monday, an official remarked about the red dress, 'It gives new meaning to 'they have your number.'' The next day Bush announced his appointment of his national security advisor as his new secretary of state.

Boo! Bush's "Fear Factor" goes local

So the FBI is issuing a call to arms for every American , eh?

I wonder, are they sure this is what they want?

Attytood: Boo! Bush's "Fear Factor" goes local:

Instilling a sense of fear in the American people isn't just for Donald Rumsfeld and George W. Bush anymore. The government's 2006 'fear itself' campaign is now coming to a local newspaper or TV newscast for you, courtesy of the supposed apolitical 'pros' of the FBI.

Yesterday, there was an unusual terrorism-related event right here in Philadelphia. That unusual event was a federal agency -- the FBI, which usually is about as transparent as a moonless night -- voluntarily giving out information to the local media. In fact, they actually invited anyone with a camera or notebook to drop by.

Their message: The big 9/11 anniversary is coming. And don't ever forget to be afraid, not for one moment:

[J.P.] Weis [the special agent in charge of the Philadelphia division] said he knows of no credible terrorist threat in the Philadelphia area. However, he said, the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks provides an opportunity for the government and media to remind people about the danger terrorists pose.

'The greatest danger to America today is complacency,' Weis said. 'This is a call to arms for every concerned citizen.'

War turns southern women away from GOP

Hadn't heard this one; a comparison of Bush to U.S. Grant. Now that does spell doom in the southland. We can only hope it carries over to all of Bush's enablers in red-state hell.

War turns southern women away from GOP - Yahoo! News:

"MACON, Ga. -President Bush's once-solid relationship with Southern women is on the rocks. 'I think history will show him to be the worst president since Ulysses S. Grant,' said Barbara Knight, a self-described Republican since birth and the mother of three. 'He's been an embarrassment.'

In the heart of Dixie, comparisons to Grant, a symbol of the Union, is the worst sort of insult, especially from a Macon woman who voted for Bush in 2000 but turned away in 2004.

In recent years, Southern women have been some of Bush's biggest fans, defying the traditional gender gap in which women have preferred Democrats to Republicans. Bush secured a second term due in large part to support from 54 percent of Southern female voters while women nationally favored Democrat John Kerry, 51-48 percent.

Clinton, 9/11 and the Facts

Repost, for anyone who missed it

Clinton, 9/11 and the Facts:

The fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks is less than two weeks away, but the avalanche has already begun. Oliver Stone's film 'World Trade Center' has been advertised in all corners and is being screened across the nation. CNN has announced that it intends, on the 11th, to rebroadcast all of the coverage of the attacks from 8:30 a.m. until midnight. If you don't have cable, they say, you can watch it for free on the CNN web site.

ABC intends to mark the occasion in far more grand a fashion. Starting September 10th and ending September 11th, the network will show a miniseries titled 'The Path to 9/11.' According to reports from early screenings, the writer/producer of the miniseries, Cyrus Nowrasteh, has crafted a television polemic intended to blame the entire event on President Clinton.

Nowrasteh, an outspoken conservative of Persian descent whose family fled Iran after the fall of the Shah, spoke last year at the Liberty Film Festival, described by its founders as Hollywood's first conservative film festival. Govindini Murty, actress, writer, and co-director of the Liberty Film Festival, wrote a review of 'The Path to 9/11' for the right-wing online news page FrontPageMag.com.

Baghdad Morgue Revises August Death Toll Upward 300 Percent

Holy Crimeny

Think Progress » Baghdad Morgue Revises August Death Toll Upward 300 Percent: (full aritcle)

Last week, Pentagon spokesmen touted the success of Operation Forward Together, a push to improve security in Baghdad. They cited a significant decrease in the number of bodies the city morgue received as evidence the operation was working. The media picked up on it:

Last month, the Baghdad morgue received more than 1,800 bodies, a record high. This month, the morgue is on track to receive less than a quarter of that. … U.S. Army Maj. Gen. James D. Thurman, commander of military forces in Baghdad, attributed the capital’s declining violence to a sweep involving 8,000 U.S. soldiers and 3,000 Iraqi troops aimed at stopping sectarian violence.

Exceutive Director of DNC. Lowers the Boom on ABC

A well deserved bitch-slap

AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth:

This just in from the Democratic National Committee. I have not seen this kind of bitch-slapping coming out of the Democratic Party since the onset of the Bush administration six years ago. This is vicious. Well deserved, to be sure. But absolutely vicious.

Particularly stunning is a paragraph buried in the middle of the open letter that can only be read as a direct threat against Disney/ABC's access to the airwaves:

'ABC is trying to use of the airwaves -- airwaves owned by you and me, and loaned to broadcasters as a public trust -- to slander Democrats and sell a slanderous, irresponsible fraud to the American people, and they're shamefully doing it just weeks away from Election Day.'

Election 2006 - The WWIII Decison

The choice is between conrtinuing insanity or Detox/Recovery; "stay the course" through the gates of hell, or change course and fight smarter, changing our headings.

Consortiumnews.com:

As Americans go to the polls in two months, they should have one thought fixed in their minds: they will be voting on whether to commit the nation to fighting World War III against large segments of the world’s one billion Muslims. Beyond the cost in blood and treasure, this war will mean the end of the United States as a democratic Republic.

Bush whacking at Straw Men

....and he is still getting his ass kicked.

AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth:

I imagine it's increasingly difficult for Republican strategists to exploit the war on terror for political gain. On the one hand, past elections demonstrate the potential for Republican success from a fearful electorate and a focus on national security (and/or foreign policy). On the other, how long can you continue to say that your party is making gains in a war if you can never say you've won it? Apparently somebody decided to solve the problem: just say we're safer . . . but not safe. The interesting thing about a word like 'safe' is that you can always keep moving towards it without ever getting there. Hooray for Republican electoral prospects! The only problem would be if Americans got wise to the act.

[O]pinion polls suggest an increasingly skeptical public. In a CNN poll conducted Aug. 18-20, 52% of Americans said the war in Iraq distracts from fighting terrorists.

Uh oh . . . that's not going to be good for the meme that Democrats are soft on terror. So, what's scarier than terror by itself? Something that might distract people from the massive strategic mistake of Iraq? Ooh, ooh, I know: Hitler!

Bush said that ignoring the words of the terrorists themselves Â? as the world once ignored the words of Lenin and Hitler Â? risks underestimating their intent.

The North will rise again

We can only hope.....

WorkingForChange-The North will rise again:

PHILADELPHIA -- The North will rise again.

If Democrats win control of the House of Representatives in this fall's elections, that inversion of an old slogan is likely to be a central factor in their victory.

Although no one anticipates a Democratic sweep in November on the order of the Republicans' 1994 triumph, the forces that were at work 12 years ago are in play this year -- but in reverse.

One key to the Republican takeover of the House under Newt Gingrich was the completion of a long-term realignment to the GOP in the South. White Southerners started supporting Republican presidential candidates in large numbers as long ago as 1952, but many of them did not bring their congressional voting habits in line with their presidential votes until 1992 and, with a vengeance, in 1994.

Zogby Finds Brainwashed GOP.

This is un-freakin'-believable!

Zogby International:

9/11 + 5 finds a nation badly divided as GOPers back U.S. war on terror, wiretapping, and Saddam's role in 9/11; Dems, Indies suspicious of all three

Lung problems rife among WTC responders - Yahoo! News

Bush's EPA lied and NYC first-responders die.

Lung problems rife among WTC responders - Yahoo! News:

NEW YORK - Nearly 70 percent of recovery workers who responded to the attacks on the World Trade Center suffered lung problems during or after their work at ground zero, a new health study released Tuesday shows.

Less than a week before the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Mount Sinai Medical Center issued the results of the largest study on related health effects.
It found, among other things, that the ailments tended to be worst among those who arrived first at the site, and that high rates of lung 'abnormalities' continued years later.
The study focused mostly on what has been dubbed 'World Trade Center cough,' which was little understood immediately after the attacks but became a chief concern of health experts and advocates.

Findings highlighted by the study include:

The Book on Rove

Rover gets nailed. My God, what a total creep.

Exclusives : Radar Online:

Presidential pitbull Karl Rove has built his political career retailing his opponents' dirty laundry, but that hasn't stopped him from mounting a fierce campaign against an upcoming bio that delves a little too deeply into details of his own personal life. Sources say Rove has been furiously lobbying the authors to protest the impending publication of The Architect: Karl Rove and the Master Plan for Absolute Power.

The book was co-authored by Wayne Slater and James Moore, the veteran Texas journalists who previously wrote the Dubya-bashing bestseller, Bush's Brain. Their new book paints the beleaguered presidential aide as a ruthless political opportunist who let few things obstruct his march to power.

While the authors' description of Rove's relationship with indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff is certain to have D.C. buzzing, their revelations about his family life are even more intriguing: According to the book, the architect of the Bush administration's anti-gay policies was raised by a homosexual father who abandoned his family to lead an openly gay life in Palm Springs. A decade later, Rove's mother, Reba, committed suicide, a tragedy the authors attribute to her husband's departure.

Osama gets free pass from Pakistan

Osama will remain free, if he lives a peaceful life.

The Blotter:

Osama bin Laden, America's most wanted man, will not face capture in Pakistan if he agrees to lead a 'peaceful life,' Pakistani officials tell ABC News.

The surprising announcement comes as Pakistani army officials announced they were pulling their troops out of the North Waziristan region as part of a 'peace deal' with the Taliban.

If he is in Pakistan, bin Laden 'would not be taken into custody,' Major General Shaukat Sultan Khan told ABC News in a telephone interview, 'as long as one is being like a peaceful citizen.'

Bin Laden is believed to be hiding somewhere in the tribal areas of Pakistan, near the Afghanistan border, but U.S. officials say his precise location is unknown.

In addition to the pullout of Pakistani troops, the 'peace agreement' between Pakistan and the Taliban also provides for the Pakistani army to return captured Taliban weapons and prisoners.

Here they are: The Top Ten Corporate Pigs of War

Repost: Wouldn't went anyone to miss this.

Take note.

AlterNet: War on Iraq: The 10 Most Brazen War Profiteers:

"Halliburton has become synonymous with war profiteering, but there are lots of other greedy fingers in the pie. We name names on 10 of the worst.

What Valerie Plame Really Did at the CIA

This just gets worse and worse, for the criminals in the White House.

What Valerie Plame Really Did at the CIA:

In the spring of 2002 Dick Cheney made one of his periodic trips to CIA headquarters. Officers and analysts were summoned to brief him on Iraq. Paramilitary specialists updated the Vice President on an extensive covert action program in motion that was designed to pave the way to a US invasion. Cheney questioned analysts about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction. How could they be used against US troops? Which Iraqi units had chemical and biological weapons? He was not seeking information on whether Saddam posed a threat because he possessed such weapons. His queries, according to a CIA officer at the briefing, were pegged to the assumptions that Iraq had these weapons and would be invaded--as if a decision had been made.

Though Cheney was already looking toward war, the officers of the agency's Joint Task Force on Iraq--part of the Counterproliferation Division of the agency's clandestine Directorate of Operations--were frantically toiling away in the basement, mounting espionage operations to gather information on the WMD programs Iraq might have. The JTFI was trying to find evidence that would back up the White House's assertion that Iraq was a WMD danger. Its chief of operations was a career undercover officer named Valerie Wilson.

The American Legion Speeches -- Preaching, Pondering and Predicting

Dseperados: "Be afraid, be very afraid!!!!"

Us: Eff you all and the fear-mongering horses and stolen elections you rode in on.

MilitaryWeek.com: Karen Kwiatkowski: The American Legion Speeches -- Preaching, Pondering and Predicting:

Last weeks' speeches indicate that Bush and Rumsfeld both know that if Americans become clear headed and logical, the Bush cabal loses and the party ends. Boldly unhampered by truth and increasingly menacing in tone, their words reveal panic and political desperation.

My prediction is neither earth-shattering nor genius. But between now and the November elections, every opportunity to cause American emotion to trump American intellect will be seized, squeezed and sustained by this administration and its handmaidens

Why We Need an Epidemic of Fearlessness to Counter the Fearmonger-in-Chief | The Huffington Post

Fear works until it doesn't. Then, not only does it not work; it turns on the fear-mongers, like a hellish herd of fed-up people.

The Blog Arianna Huffington: Why We Need an Epidemic of Fearlessness to Counter the Fearmonger-in-Chief The Huffington Post:

With the fifth anniversary of 9/11 less than a week away, and Election Day 2006 entering the post-Labor Day home stretch, we can expect the White House to play the fear card every chance it gets. As Rahm Emanuel said: 'After six years, they've only got fear to sell.'

After all, banging the fear-gong and trying to scare the hell out of us every time they need a bump in the polls has worked like a charm for Bush and Rove.

Here comes da wave, again

Listen up, Rethugs!

We won't buy that the polls were wrong, again.

The Last Chance Democracy Cafe � Blog Archive � Here comes da wave, again:

A majority, 55 percent, said they are more likely to back a challenger in races on this year's ballot. Such anti-incumbent sentiment is higher than the 48 percent recorded as 'pro-challenger' in a similar survey in 1994, when the GOP took control of both houses of Congress.

Nonetheless, 48 percent said that, if most of the present members of Congress were replaced with new members, there would be no difference. By contrast, 42 percent said such a scenario would change Congress for the better, and 7 percent said it would change Congress for the worse.

The results, based on a half-sample of 1,004 adult Americans polled by Opinion Research Corporation for CNN Wednesday through Saturday have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

W's guys divided on race for House

I think we can assume that if Dems don't take back at least one body of Congress, we have been robbed, again, and it will be time for serious action against the state, not to mention its corporate string pullers.

New York Daily News - Politics - W's guys divided on race for House:

WASHINGTON - President Bush and the Republicans expect a stinging defeat in November, but they're betting the terror card saves them from an electoral debacle.

'The security issue trumps everything,' a senior Bush official said last week. 'That's why even though they're really mad at us, in the end they're going to give us another two years.'
Nevertheless, many other senior Bush loyalists privately believe anti-Iraq and anti-Bush sentiment will cost the Republicans the House nine weeks from today, a doomsday scenario that would cripple Bush for his final two years in office.

'We'll lose the House,' one of the party's most prominent officials flatly predicted, 'and the President will be dead in the water for two years.'

Even a perennially optimistic senior Bush strategist conceded, 'I'm pretty worried about it. The House is not looking good.'

The Democrats need a net gain of six seats in the Senate or 15 in the House to gain control of one chamber. Barring a huge national wave of Bush-backlash, the GOP is widely expected to lose seats but hang on to its slim majority in the Senate.
The House - which was thought to be impregnable until Iraq, immigration and Hurricane Katrina sent Bush's approval ratings into a tailspin - is 'very much in play and very much in flux,' according to a White House number-cruncher.

'This cake is baked,' predicted Charlie Cook, editor of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report newsletter. 'You just don't have a wave of this magnitude and not see 15 seats turn over.'

Pentagon Moves Toward Monitoring Media

Say what?

They've been monitoring the media, and probably reporters, through the NSA for years.

Pentagon Moves Toward Monitoring Media:

The U.S. command in Baghdad is seeking bidders for a two-year, $20 million public relations contract that calls for monitoring the tone of Iraq news stories filed by U.S. and foreign media.

Proposals, due Sept. 6, ask companies to show how they'll 'provide continuous monitoring and near-real time reporting of Iraqi, pan-Arabic, international, and U.S. media,' according to the solicitation issued last week.

Contractors also will be evaluated on how they will provide analytical reports and customized briefings to the military, 'including, but not limited to tone (positive, neutral, negative) and scope of media coverage.'

The winner of the contract will likely also be required to develop an Arabic version of the multinational force's web site.

Attempts by The Associated Press to contact officials connected to the project via telephone and e-mail were not successful Thursday night.

The program comes during what has appeared to be a White House effort, before the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, to take the offensive against critics at a time of doubt about the future of Iraq.

President Bush addressed the American Legion's national convention in Salt Lake City on the issue Thursday, stressing that a U.S. pullout from iraq would lead to its conquest by America's worst enemies.

He continued a theme set by both Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice when they spoke to the administration-friendly group earlier in the week.

The military last year was criticized for a public relations program in Iraq that included hiring a consulting firm that paid Iraqi news media to carry news stories written by American troops.

Stating the obvious: Private Sector 'Not the Answer to Poverty'

Who in their right mind would have thought otherwise?

Private Sector 'Not the Answer to Poverty':

Rich countries must deliver more money directly to poor nations to avert a growing health and sanitation crisis spreading across the southern hemisphere, Oxfam will say today.

The global charity said investment in health care, water, sanitation and education must be delivered by governments rather than the private sector.

Belinda Calaguas, the head of policy at WaterAid, which produced the report jointly with Oxfam, added: 'There are more than a billion people living without access to clean, safe water and 2.6 billion people have nowhere to go to the toilet. That leads to the inevitable spread of water-related diseases which claim the lives of 6,000 children every day.'

The report condemned the World Bank for forcing privatisation or inappropriate private sector projects on developing countries, and criticised Western governments for signing up to the so-called Washington agenda.

It said the scale of the problems in areas such as sub-Saharan Africa was so vast it could be solved by direct government action - in the same way the industrialised world tackled its own health and water issues in the 19th century.

"Fascism" Frame Set Up by Right-Wing Press

It takes one to know one, as the old saying goes.

"Fascism" Frame Set Up by Right-Wing Press:

WASHINGTON - The aggressive new campaign by the administration of President George W. Bush to depict U.S. foes in the Middle East as 'fascists' and its domestic critics as 'appeasers' owes a great deal to steadily intensifying efforts by the right-wing press over the past several months to draw the same comparison.

The Rupert Murdoch-owned Fox News Network and The Weekly Standard, as well as the Washington Times, which is controlled by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church, and the neo-conservative New York Sun, have consistently and with increasing frequency framed the challenges faced by Washington in the region in the context of the rise of fascism and Nazism in the 1930s, according to a search of the Nexis database by IPS.

All of those outlets, as well as two other right-wing U.S. magazines -- The National Review and The American Spectator -- far outpaced their commercial rivals in the frequency of their use of key words and names, such as 'appeasement,' 'fascism', and 'Hitler', particularly with respect to Iran and its controversial president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Nexis, for example, cited 56 uses of 'Islamofascist' or 'Islamofascism' in separate programmes or segments aired by Fox News compared with 24 by CNN over the past year. Even more striking, the same terms were used in 115 different articles or columns in the Washington Times, compared with only eight in the Washington Post over the same period, according to a breakdown by Nexis.

: Workers feel the squeeze

Consumers hold the answer.

While workers have lost clout in the U.S., consumers have gained clout, but rarely use it effectively.

Columns: Workers feel the squeeze:

With Labor Day approaching, it is time to assess the nature of work in this burgeoning Information Age. Are American workers better off than they were a couple of generations ago? Will they be better off in the future?

I can't imagine that many middle-class workers feel much optimism. America's middle class is being squeezed by soaring energy prices, rising health care costs and, here in Florida, insurance rates that are doubling and doubling again. The housing bubble is rapidly losing air, making the one asset that most Americans own less secure, while wage stagnation is making us poorer.

President Bush has been touting the health of the nation's economy, pointing to its vigorous productivity gains of 16.6 percent from 2000 to 2005. But what he doesn't say is that those gains have accrued exclusively to Bush's people - the owner class and other top dogs. While corporate profits are through the roof, the real median income of households headed by someone under 65 - the country's working families - has actually fallen 5.4 percent through the Bush years.

The question is whether this reversal for Joe Lunchbox will continue or whether something will come along to rescue America's middle class.

: Thank God No One In America Can Remember Anything About Anything Ever

Oh, this is rich!

Rummy talks about Fascist appeasers to...well......ah...fascist 'agreers.'

A Tiny Revolution: Thank God No One In America Can Remember Anything About Anything Ever:

Where were both of these speeches given? At the national convention of the American Legion.

And what was the American Legion up to in the 1920s and 30s? Let's ask one of the greatest reporters of the 20th century, George Seldes:

In a interview in January 1923, Commander-in-Chief Alvin Owsley of the American Legion not only endorsed Mussolini and Fascism, but announced his readiness to do what the Duce did, that is, upset the democratic form of government, establish a reign of terror, maintain a dictatorship where the masses of people are deprived of all civil rights.

'If ever needed,' he said, 'the American Legion stands ready to protect our country's institutions and ideals as the Fascisti dealt with the destructionists who menaced Italy.'
Asked whether that meant taking over the government, he replied:

'Exactly that...Do not forget that the Fascisti are to Italy what the American Legion is to the United States.'

Santorum slides down polls

....babbling all the way.

What a sick ticket!

Senator Backs the War in Iraq and Rumsfeld in a TV Debate - New York Times:

WASHINGTON, Sept. 3 - Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, one of the most endangered Republican incumbents in the Senate, defended the war in Iraq on Sunday as a war of 'necessity,' not choice, arguing that it was a central part of 'this broad war' against 'Islamic fascism.'

There's just no appeasing the secretary of defense

Who wants to appease the old fool?

The more I read Rummy's speech, the more I have to wonder if he has been dipping into the Pentagon's experimental drug supply.

The Seattle Times: Opinion: There's just no appeasing the secretary of defense:

On Dec. 7, 1941, Japan launched a sneak attack that devastated a U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. And the United States rose in right-eous fury, immediately declaring war on Thailand. Because, you know, it was in the same part of the world as Japan and the people kind of looked alike and besides, those Thais had been getting a little uppity and were due for a smackdown.

Which is not the way it happened, of course, but if Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld wants to use World War II allusions to describe the War on Terror, I submit that my fantasy comes a lot closer to the truth than his. Rumsfeld's fantasy, if you missed it, was shared in a recent speech before the American Legion in Salt Lake City. There, the Sec Def said that critics of the war in Iraq, a designation that now includes most Americans, are like those who thought they could avoid fighting by negotiating with, or 'appeasing,' the Nazis in the days before World War II.

The war's critics, again, that's the majority of us, need to crack a history book, he thinks. 'Once again, we face similar challenges in efforts to confront the rising threat of a new type of fascism. But some seem not to have learned history's lessons.'

Annan Says Iran's President Holds to Nuclear Program - New York Times

When will world leaders understand that nothing built on decpetion will long endure.

Annan Says Iran�s President Holds to Nuclear Program - New York Times:

TEHRAN, Sept. 3 - The United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan, said Sunday after meeting here with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran that the president was willing to enter into negotiations on his country's nuclear program but would not agree to suspending uranium enrichment beforehand, as demanded by the Security Council.

Zarqawi surely had a lot of number 2s

Click on over for the list:

blogenlust.net : A List of Captured or Killed al Qaeda in Iraq #2�s:

I've tried to make it easier to list all of the al Qaeda in Iraq #2's I've been keeping track of for the last year. Here's the complete list to the best of my knowledge. As of today, there are 39.

Reason Finally Strikes Back.

Provided humankind survives what it has already wrought upon the earth, the time has come for inventory-taking, house cleaning. We must decide what we will take with us on our journey through the new millennium.

Religions which demand blood sacrifices are off our list of things to carry.

Being an Atheist in America Isn't Easy - Newsweek Society - MSNBC.com:

Sept. 11, 2006 issue - Americans answered the atrocities of September 11, overwhelmingly, with faith. Attacked in the name of God, they turned to God for comfort; in the week after the attacks, nearly 70 percent said they were praying more than usual. Confronted by a hatred that seemed inexplicable, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson proclaimed that God was mad at America because it harbored feminists, gays and civil libertarians. Sam Harris, then a 34-year-old graduate student in neuroscience, had a different reaction. On Sept. 12, he began a book. If, he reasoned, young men were slaughtering people in the name of religion, something that had been going on since long before 2001, of course, then perhaps the problem was religion itself. The book would be called 'The End of Faith,' which to most Americans probably sounds like a lament. To Harris it is something to be encouraged.

American Man Appears on Tape With Zawahiri

Tells Americans to convert to Islam.

Yeah, like that's gonna happen. We have our own brand of religious insanity to endure for now, and that is one too many.

American Man Appears on Tape With Zawahiri:

CAIRO, Sept. 2 -- An American thought to be an al-Qaeda activist appeared in a videotape with the network's deputy leader Saturday and called on his countrymen to convert to Islam.

The 48-minute video, posted on an Islamic insurgent Web site, contained footage of al-Qaeda's No. 2 leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and of Adam Yahiye Gadahn, an American who the FBI believes attended al-Qaeda training camps in Pakistan and served as an al-Qaeda translator.

Democrats see support for anti-Rumsfeld vote

Don't stop with Rumsfeld.

Don't stop 'til you get to the top.

Democrats see support for anti-Rumsfeld vote:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A resolution demanding the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld after he compared Iraq war critics to Nazi appeasers has strong support among U.S. Senate Democrats, a senior Democrat said on Sunday.

A resolution against Rumsfeld, long a lightning rod for criticism of the Iraq war, would struggle to be passed by the Republican-controlled Senate and would anyway not be binding on the administration of President George W. Bush.

Oh, Look! A Court Decision FOR Dissent!

Bush IS a great anti-drug message. Just look at him.

Simply Left Behind: Oh, Look! A Court Decision FOR Dissent!:

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. student who sued school officials after he was made to censor his T-shirt that labelled President George W. Bush 'Chicken-Hawk-In-Chief' and a former alcohol and cocaine abuser won an appeal on Wednesday to wear the T-shirt to school.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favour of Zachery Guiles, who through his parents claimed his free speech rights had been violated when school officials made him put duct tape over parts of his T-shirt that showed a Bush image surrounded by cocaine, a razor blade, a straw and a martini.

Guiles, who as a seventh grader in 2004 wore the T-shirt to Williamstown Middle High School in Vermont once a week for two months after purchasing it at an anti-war rally, appealed the case after a lower court ruled in favour of the school.

The school argued the images were offensive because they undermined the school's anti-drug message.

I no longer have power to save Iraq from civil war, warns Shia leader

Men of peace are never listened to when the crazies take over.

Telegraph News I no longer have power to save Iraq from civil war, warns Shia leader:

The most influential moderate Shia leader in Iraq has abandoned attempts to restrain his followers, admitting that there is nothing he can do to prevent the country sliding towards civil war.

Aides say Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani is angry and disappointed that Shias are ignoring his calls for calm and are switching their allegiance in their thousands to more militant groups which promise protection from Sunni violence and revenge for attacks.

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani :
'I will not be a political leader any more,' he told aides. 'I am only happy to receive questions about religious matters.'
It is a devastating blow to the remaining hopes for a peaceful solution in Iraq and spells trouble for British forces, who are based in and around the Shia stronghold of Basra.

Iraq, US at Odds Over Military Handover - New York Times

Embarrassing isn't the word for it, after over three years of nothing but screwups.

Iraq, US at Odds Over Military Handover - New York Times:

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The United States and Iraq were at odds on Saturday over the transfer of operational control of Iraq's military to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government, forcing a delay of a handover ceremony.

Saturday's ceremony to transfer control of Iraq's army from U.S. commander General George Casey to the Iraqi Defense Ministry had been hailed by U.S. officials as a big step toward Iraq taking responsibility for security.

`There is a disagreement on the wording of the document that outlines the new relationship between Coalition Forces and Iraqis,'' U.S. military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Barry Johnson told Reuters late on Saturday evening.

`It is embarrassing, but it was decided it was better not to sign the document,'' he said, adding that objections to the wording had been raised by Maliki's government.

The U.S. military, suffering almost daily casualties, has been training Iraq's fledgling military so that it can gradually extract itself from Iraq's increasingly sectarian violence more than three years after the 2003 invasion.

`They are not going to go ahead with the document until the language is agreed upon. It's not a matter of major substance, but they're not happy with the wording of the document,'' Johnson said, adding that it would be signed ``in a matter of days.''

Clinton, 9/11 and the Facts

The misinformation about to be put out by ABC in the film, the Path to 9/11, could have the effect of smacking a hornets nest.

Millions of Americans no longer buy the official conspiracy theory.

The airing of this piece of trash could just be the final straw.

Clinton, 9/11 and the Facts:

Roger Cressy, National Security Council senior director for counterterrorism in the period 1999-2001, responded to these allegations in an article for the Washington Times in 2003. 'Mr. Clinton approved every request made of him by the CIA and the U.S. military involving using force against bin Laden and al-Qaeda,' wrote Cressy. 'As President Bush well knows, bin Laden was and remains very good at staying hidden. The current administration faces many of the same challenges. Confusing the American people with misinformation and distortions will not generate the support we need to come together as a nation and defeat our terrorist enemies.'

Measures taken by the Clinton administration to thwart international terrorism and bin Laden's network were historic, unprecedented and, sadly, not followed up on.

Consider the steps offered by Clinton's 1996 omnibus anti-terror legislation, the pricetag for which stood at $1.097 billion. The following is a partial list of the initiatives offered by the Clinton anti-terrorism bill:

U.S. says Iran behind trouble / Officials say Bush is lying.

What a shock!

Bush wouldn't know the truth if it bit him the butt.

Analysis: U.S. says Iran behind trouble:

CAIRO, Egypt -- Top U.S. officials have made strong charges in recent weeks that Iran is directly stirring up trouble in Iraq. But inside Iraq, it's hard to see any change and some American officials in Baghdad say privately the evidence is not that clear.

Most experts on Iran say there is no question that Iran is funneling support to certain Shiite political parties in Iraq, groups it long supported when they were fighting Saddam Hussein.

Ironically, most of that aid appears to go to the same Shiite parties in Iraq that the American government supports and that are part of the government. The more militant Shiite groups are equally critical of U.S. and Iranian influence in the country.

Nevertheless, the anti-Iran rhetoric from Washington has escalated sharply.

Polls show opposition to Iraq war at all time high | csmonitor.com

It will be interesting to see if the Bushites' latest hyperventilating and name-calling works to build back any support for their nutty damn policy that is destroying this country, or if Americans are now through with the Greedy Old Pukes.

Polls show opposition to Iraq war at all time high csmonitor.com:

A series of polls taken over the last few weeks of August show that support for the war in Iraq among Americans is at an all-time low. Almost two-thirds of Americans in each of three major polls say that they oppose the war, the highest totals since pollsters starting asking Americans the question three years ago. Many of the polls were conducted in advance of the fifth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on Washington and New York.

A new Associated Press/Ipsos poll that surveyed the country, and more specifically residents of Washington and New York, shows that many feel the cost in blood and money in Iraq may already be too high and that Osama bin Laden will never be found. The poll also showed that 60 percent of Americans believe that the war in Iraq has increased the chances of a terrorist attack in the US.

Donald Rumsfeld's Dance With the Nazis By FRANK RICH

Rumsfeld is in serious need of medication, and a long vacation; like until death, in comfy orange jumpsuit.

donkey o.d.: Donald Rumsfeld�s Dance With the Nazis By FRANK RICH:

PRESIDENT BUSH came to Washington vowing to be a uniter, not a divider. Well, you win some and you lose some. But there is one member of his administration who has not broken that promise: Donald Rumsfeld. With indefatigable brio, he has long since united Democrats, Republicans, generals and civilians alike in calling for his scalp.

Last week the man who gave us 'stuff happens' and 'you go to war with the Army you have' out-did himself. In an instantly infamous address to the American Legion, he likened critics of the Iraq debacle to those who 'ridiculed or ignored' the rise of the Nazis in the 1930s and tried to appease Hitler. Such Americans, he said, suffer from a 'moral or intellectual confusion' and fail to recognize the 'new type of fascism' represented by terrorists. Presumably he was not only describing the usual array of 'Defeatocrats' but also the first President Bush, who had already been implicitly tarred as an appeaser by Tony Snow last month for failing to knock out Saddam in 1991.