Saturday, December 23, 2006
Keith is UP; Faux News is OUT
'Tis a very merry Christmas, after all;
to all, and to O'Liely, good night and SHUT UP!.
Keith Olbermann's Ratings on the Rise; Fox News Drops Out of the Top Ten Most Watched Cable Channels - Associated Content:
Just in case you haven't been paying attention-and poll numbers suggest that a frighteningly large number of Americans still aren't-Keith Olbermann's show on MSNBC at 8:00 PM Eastern underwent a tremendous shift right around the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. That night Keith Olbermann delivered not only the speech of the year but the speech of the millennium. So far. It was a Special Comment that excoriated Pres. Bush for every lie, hypocrisy and dumbheaded policy move he's initiated since the attacks. Overnight, the spirit of Edward R. Murrow was reborn. And finally real patriotic Americans had a mainstream media show they could watch without having to be restrained by family or loved ones when the urge to throw something hard and solid at the television screen overcame them.
US tests call-up system but denies return to conscription
Canada is nice in Winter. It's such a huge place. Lots of room to disappear.....
US tests call-up system but denies return to conscription Iraq Guardian Unlimited:
The Bush administration is planning a test run of America's emergency military call-up, stoking speculation about a return to a draft at a time when the White House is considering sending more troops to Iraq.
The secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, provided further evidence that the administration was leaning towards sending more troops to Iraq, acknowledging the high financial and human toll of the war so far, and indicating there would be further costs to bear.
'A lot has been sacrificed for Iraq, a lot has been invested in Iraq,' she told the Associated Press on Thursday. 'But the president wouldn't ask for the continued sacrifice, the continued investment if he did not believe, and in fact I believe as well, that we can in fact succeed and in fact that it's imperative we succeed.'
As Ms Rice spoke, the Selective Service System, the government agency charged with providing troops to the military in an emergency, said it was preparing its first readiness exercise since 1998.
The Race For Iraq's Resources: Will Iraq's Oil Blessing Become a Curse? - International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News
We are just shocked, shocked, I tell you.
The Race For Iraq's Resources: Will Iraq's Oil Blessing Become a Curse? - International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News:
The Iraqi government is considering a new oil law that could give private oil companies greater control over its vast reserves. In light of rampant violence and shaky democratic institutions, many fear the law is being pushed through hastily by special interests behind closed doors.
Bushites' Censorship; We have a problem!
By FLYNT LEVERETT and HILLARY MANN
Washington
HERE is the redacted version of a draft Op-Ed article
We wrote for The Times, as blacked out by the Central Intelligence Agency’s Publication Review Board after the White House intervened in the normal prepublication review process and demanded substantial deletions. Agency officials told us that they had concluded on their own that the original draft included no classified material, but that they had to bow to the White House.
Indeed, the deleted portions of the original draft reveal no classified material. These passages go into aspects of American-Iranian relations during the Bush administration’s first term that have been publicly discussed by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; former Secretary of State Colin Powell; former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage; a former State Department policy planning director, Richard Haass; and a former special envoy to Afghanistan, James Dobbins.
These aspects have been extensively reported in the news media, and one of us, Mr. Leverett, has written about them in The Times and other publications with the explicit permission of the review board. We provided the following citations to the board to demonstrate that all of the material the White House objected to is already in the public domain. Unfortunately, to make sense of much of our Op-Ed article, readers will have to read the citations for themselves. (See links at left.)
The decisions of the C.I.A. and the White House took us by surprise. Since leaving government service three and a half years ago, Mr. Leverett has put more than 20 articles through the C.I.A.’s prepublication review process and the Publication Review Board has never changed a word or asked the White House for permission to clear these articles.
What’s more, we have spent a collective 20 years serving our country as career civil servants in national security, for both Republican and Democratic administrations. We know firsthand the importance of protecting sensitive information. But we also know the importance of shared knowledge. In the entrance to the C.I.A.’s headquarters the words of the Gospel of John are inscribed, “And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.”
National security must be above politics. In a democracy, transparency in government has to be honored and protected. To classify information for reasons other than the safety and security of the United States and its interests is a violation of these principles. It is for this reason that we will continue to press for the release of the article without the material deleted.
Flynt Leverett is a former senior director for Middle East affairs at the National Security Council and a senior fellow at the New America Foundation. Hillary Mann, a former Foreign Service officer, participated in the United States discussions with Iran from 2001 to 2003.
....and the truth shall set you free.
Washington
HERE is the redacted version of a draft Op-Ed article
We wrote for The Times, as blacked out by the Central Intelligence Agency’s Publication Review Board after the White House intervened in the normal prepublication review process and demanded substantial deletions. Agency officials told us that they had concluded on their own that the original draft included no classified material, but that they had to bow to the White House.
Indeed, the deleted portions of the original draft reveal no classified material. These passages go into aspects of American-Iranian relations during the Bush administration’s first term that have been publicly discussed by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; former Secretary of State Colin Powell; former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage; a former State Department policy planning director, Richard Haass; and a former special envoy to Afghanistan, James Dobbins.
These aspects have been extensively reported in the news media, and one of us, Mr. Leverett, has written about them in The Times and other publications with the explicit permission of the review board. We provided the following citations to the board to demonstrate that all of the material the White House objected to is already in the public domain. Unfortunately, to make sense of much of our Op-Ed article, readers will have to read the citations for themselves. (See links at left.)
The decisions of the C.I.A. and the White House took us by surprise. Since leaving government service three and a half years ago, Mr. Leverett has put more than 20 articles through the C.I.A.’s prepublication review process and the Publication Review Board has never changed a word or asked the White House for permission to clear these articles.
What’s more, we have spent a collective 20 years serving our country as career civil servants in national security, for both Republican and Democratic administrations. We know firsthand the importance of protecting sensitive information. But we also know the importance of shared knowledge. In the entrance to the C.I.A.’s headquarters the words of the Gospel of John are inscribed, “And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.”
National security must be above politics. In a democracy, transparency in government has to be honored and protected. To classify information for reasons other than the safety and security of the United States and its interests is a violation of these principles. It is for this reason that we will continue to press for the release of the article without the material deleted.
Flynt Leverett is a former senior director for Middle East affairs at the National Security Council and a senior fellow at the New America Foundation. Hillary Mann, a former Foreign Service officer, participated in the United States discussions with Iran from 2001 to 2003.
....and the truth shall set you free.
George W. Bush: a sadistic, torture-loving sociopath
This is quite an astute observation, and one no one will find in the MS press, MSM, or cabal news.
Why the hell do I not move to Oregon?
BlueOregon: George W. Bush: a sadistic, torture-loving sociopath:
Bill McDonald usually writes jokes for a living -- funny one-liners for Jay Leno and various morning 'zoo' radio shows.
But this week, he's wondering out loud why George W. Bush seems so happy lately. At his blog, the
Portland Freelancer: Apparently, nothing focuses this man like failure. He seemed energized by the gigantic mess he's made, and eager to make the mess worse.
There's clearly something psychological at work here. He's spent his life trying to talk himself out of bad situations of his own making, so maybe this has put him in a comfort zone. He finally has the conflict in Iraq on his own terms, which means it is all screwed up. He seemed defiant and almost happy as he sparred with the reporters about this fiasco. The war isn't wearing him down - he seemed invigorated and joyfully alive. ... (quite alaming, don't you think?)
So what's my theory? Okay, the reason the President seems so animated right now - the reason he is focused and alert - is that the Iraq War has given him something that his sadistic, sociopathic personality craved from the first time he was called mediocre, and teased for being who he is.
The Iraq War is his adult version of torturing little animals. He has finally made it to the Super Bowl of Cruelty, and it's really working for him. The reason he's sleeping so well, and talking so energetically, is precisely because - in his twisted way - he is happy right now. Why? Because he's using the Iraq War to torture us all.
George W. Bush: a sadistic, torture-loving sociopath
This is quite an astute observation, and one no one will find in the MS press, MSM, or cabal news.
Why the hell do I not move to Oregon?
BlueOregon: George W. Bush: a sadistic, torture-loving sociopath:
Bill McDonald usually writes jokes for a living -- funny one-liners for Jay Leno and various morning 'zoo' radio shows.
But this week, he's wondering out loud why George W. Bush seems so happy lately. At his blog, the
Portland Freelancer: Apparently, nothing focuses this man like failure. He seemed energized by the gigantic mess he's made, and eager to make the mess worse.
There's clearly something psychological at work here. He's spent his life trying to talk himself out of bad situations of his own making, so maybe this has put him in a comfort zone. He finally has the conflict in Iraq on his own terms, which means it is all screwed up. He seemed defiant and almost happy as he sparred with the reporters about this fiasco. The war isn't wearing him down - he seemed invigorated and joyfully alive. ... (quite alaming, don't you think?)
So what's my theory? Okay, the reason the President seems so animated right now - the reason he is focused and alert - is that the Iraq War has given him something that his sadistic, sociopathic personality craved from the first time he was called mediocre, and teased for being who he is.
The Iraq War is his adult version of torturing little animals. He has finally made it to the Super Bowl of Cruelty, and it's really working for him. The reason he's sleeping so well, and talking so energetically, is precisely because - in his twisted way - he is happy right now. Why? Because he's using the Iraq War to torture us all.
Rowling says she dreams she is Harry
We find this much easier to believe than that Saddam and Osama were good buds.
To each his own fantsay, except when one of those fantasies theatens us all.
Not everyone is at a place where death is liberation.
BellSouth - MOVIES:
LONDON (AP) - Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling says she has dreamed that she was the boy wizard as she writes the seven-book series' final installment - work she says has left her feeling both 'elated and overwrought.'
Rowling said in a message posted Tuesday on her official Web site this week that she has been hard at work writing scenes, some of which she planned more than 12 years ago.
'I am alternately elated and overwrought. I both want and don't want to finish this book (don't worry, I will),' she wrote.
She gave no new clues about what will happen in the book, which is expected to be published next year. Previously she said two characters will die, and hinted Harry might not survive.
Rowling said she has been asked for years if she ever dreams she is in the boy wizard's world.
Friday, December 22, 2006
Ten Things the Democrats Can Do to Hold Corporations Accountable
After the last six years, this is one American who believes that corporate America is a freakin' cesspool of sociopaths and bottom-line feeders who may well be irredeemable, at this point, as human beings.
Nevertheless, the next congress, must...I repeat, must, exhaust all efforts to clean it up, or the people will. If that happens, it will not be pretty.
AlterNet: WorkPlace: Ten Things the Democrats Can Do to Hold Corporations Accountable:
After years of lax congressional oversight, most Americans think corporations wield too much power. Only by restoring the balance between government and the private sector can corporate America regain the public's trust.
'Christian' Game Leaves Behind A Pile of Corpses
Points to ponder: What really is the difference betweeen the religiously insane over here and the ones over there?
AlterNet: 'Christian' Game Leaves Behind A Pile of Corpses:
The Left Behind video game encourages you to celebrate the birth of Jesus by wasting dozens of people at a time, using a variety of Christ-sanctioned weapons.
"I have no future" -- Jeb Bush tells reporters
One cannot believe a word any of the BFEE says, so I wouldn't count on Jeb not running, maybe not in 2008, provided the planet stll exists by then, but 2012 is just around the corner, electorally speaking, of course. Campaigns and elections never end in the Land of Loons
Junior will do his part by leaving the biggest mess is history to a Democratic adminitstration.
The Democrats may well pull a Nixon, and get caught in the broadening quagmire, while being advised by a Democratic Kissinger (OK, I know, an Oxymoron, if there ever was one)
Well, be of good cheer, all of these horrors only can happen if we actually survive 2007.
have no future" -- Jeb Bush tells reporters - Yahoo! News:
The shadow of President Bush seemed to loom large over his younger brother on Wednesday, as the outgoing Florida governor ruled out any plans to return to elected office.
'No tengo futuro (I have no future),' Jeb Bush told Spanish-language reporters in Miami, when asked about any possible political ambitions after he steps down next month.
The popular, two-term governor has often been touted as a savvy politician with a good chance of following both his brother and father, George H.W. Bush, into the White House.
But the unpopularity and dismal job-approval ratings of his brother may have scuttled any plans Jeb Bush may have had for a future in politics after running one of America's most crucial swing states for the past eight years.
Bush did not elaborate on his terse 'no future' comment. But he has said repeatedly over the past year that he would not run for president in 2008 and has never seemed comfortable with talk about Bush III or the Bush presidential dynasty.
A Very Dangerous New Year!
Can we please do something to stop Preznet Psycho from screwing up another decade for another generation?
Consortiumnews.com:
The first two or three months of 2007 represent a dangerous opening for an escalation of war in the Middle East, as George W. Bush will be tempted to “double-down” his gamble in Iraq by joining with Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair to strike at Syria and Iran, intelligence sources say.The first two or three months of 2007 represent a dangerous opening for an escalation of war in the Middle East, as George W. Bush will be tempted to “double-down” his gamble in Iraq by joining with Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair to strike at Syria and Iran, intelligence sources say.
Bears have stopped hibernating in Spain
Isn't this going cause bears to be very grumpy?
Independent Online Edition > Environment:
Bears have stopped hibernating in the mountains of northern Spain, scientists revealed yesterday, in what may be one of the strongest signals yet of how much climate change is affecting the natural world.
In a December in which bumblebees, butterflies and even swallows have been on the wing in Britain, European brown bears have been lumbering through the forests of Spain's Cantabrian mountains, when normally they would already be in their long, annual sleep.
Bears are supposed to slumber throughout the winter, slowing their body rhythms to a minimum and drawing on stored resources, because frozen weather makes food too scarce to find. The barely breathing creatures can lose up to 40 per cent of their body weight before warmer springtime weather rouses them back to life.
But many of the 130 bears in Spain's northern cordillera - which have a slightly different genetic identity from bear populations elsewhere in the world - have remained active throughout recent winters, naturalists from Spain's Brown Bear Foundation (La Fundación Oso Pardo - FOP) said yesterday.
Independent Online Edition > Environment:
Bears have stopped hibernating in the mountains of northern Spain, scientists revealed yesterday, in what may be one of the strongest signals yet of how much climate change is affecting the natural world.
In a December in which bumblebees, butterflies and even swallows have been on the wing in Britain, European brown bears have been lumbering through the forests of Spain's Cantabrian mountains, when normally they would already be in their long, annual sleep.
Bears are supposed to slumber throughout the winter, slowing their body rhythms to a minimum and drawing on stored resources, because frozen weather makes food too scarce to find. The barely breathing creatures can lose up to 40 per cent of their body weight before warmer springtime weather rouses them back to life.
But many of the 130 bears in Spain's northern cordillera - which have a slightly different genetic identity from bear populations elsewhere in the world - have remained active throughout recent winters, naturalists from Spain's Brown Bear Foundation (La Fundación Oso Pardo - FOP) said yesterday.
Uh OH!
Let it be known. If oil prices soar again, I am going to hurt somebody!
Independent Online Edition > World Politics:
The UN Security Council is poised to order sanctions against Iran today, placing an embargo on sensitive nuclear exports in the international drive to prevent Tehran from building a nuclear bomb. With the diplomatic pressure set to increase after months of negotiations, the US and Britain are moving extra warships and strike aircraft to the Persian Gulf.
Much of the military focus is on countering any attempts by the Iranians to block oil shipments by mining sea lanes in retaliation against a UN resolution which British diplomats hope will be adopted unanimously by the 15-nation security council.
The draft resolution provides for bans on the import and export of material and technology relating to uranium enrichment, reprocessing and heavy-water reactors, as well as ballistic missile systems. It also calls for a travel ban and freezes funds and financial assets owned or controlled by entities or people associated with sensitive areas of Iran's nuclear or missile programme. Eleven organisations and 12 individuals are named as targets of the measures.
The draft text, sponsored by Britain, France and Germany, was expected to be adopted after a final negotiating session last night. It has been negotiated for months with the US, Russia and China, and watered down by the sponsors in hopes of obtaining Russian and Chinese assent.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Peter Michaelson: Singing the Right-Wing Blues | BuzzFlash
Andrew has grown on us,, over here at the Lantern. We kinda like him.
Maybe it is is slight Libertarian leainings.
Maybe it is the fact that he hates idielogy and dogma as much as we do.
Peter Michaelson: Singing the Right-Wing Blues BuzzFlash:
In this season of conviviality and in the spirit of harmony, I picked up a library copy of Andrew Sullivan's book, titled The Conservative Soul: How We Lost it, How to Get it Back (HarperCollins, 2006, 294 pages). Sullivan is an editor at The New Republic as well as a contributor to Time magazine and The Sunday Times of London. His book should provide clues, I thought, to unravel the conservative psyche.
Is Sullivan indeed a soul man who can belt out the Right-Wing Blues? He confesses to having been an insecure, young nerd and a neurotic, fundamentalist Catholic growing up in England. He voted for Bush in 2000, but because of the president's 'nonconservative recklessness' he 'felt forced to back John Kerry' in 2004.
With Recession Looming, Bush Tells America To ‘Go Shopping More’
Bush is having a 9/11 flaskback.
Think Progress » With Recession Looming, Bush Tells America To ‘Go Shopping More’:
Today, President Bush held a news conference where he discussed the “way forward” for the economy in 2007. Renowned Morgan Stanley economist Steven Roach says the the “odds of the U.S. economy tipping into recession are about 40 to 45 per cent.” New York Times columnist Paul Krugman notes that “the odds are very good — maybe 2 to 1,” that the U.S. will teeter toward a recession in 2007. Bush’s solution? “Go shopping more.” Watch it: Today, President Bush held a news conference where he discussed the “way forward” for the economy in 2007. Renowned Morgan Stanley economist Steven Roach says the the “odds of the U.S. economy tipping into recession are about 40 to 45 per cent.” New York Times columnist Paul Krugman notes that “the odds are very good — maybe 2 to 1,” that the U.S. will teeter toward a recession in 2007. Bush’s solution? “Go shopping more.” Watch it: (Link above)
Think Progress » With Recession Looming, Bush Tells America To ‘Go Shopping More’:
Today, President Bush held a news conference where he discussed the “way forward” for the economy in 2007. Renowned Morgan Stanley economist Steven Roach says the the “odds of the U.S. economy tipping into recession are about 40 to 45 per cent.” New York Times columnist Paul Krugman notes that “the odds are very good — maybe 2 to 1,” that the U.S. will teeter toward a recession in 2007. Bush’s solution? “Go shopping more.” Watch it: Today, President Bush held a news conference where he discussed the “way forward” for the economy in 2007. Renowned Morgan Stanley economist Steven Roach says the the “odds of the U.S. economy tipping into recession are about 40 to 45 per cent.” New York Times columnist Paul Krugman notes that “the odds are very good — maybe 2 to 1,” that the U.S. will teeter toward a recession in 2007. Bush’s solution? “Go shopping more.” Watch it: (Link above)
Bush No Longer Listening To Commanders On Troop Levels In Iraq | BuzzFlash
He has only been listening to the voices in hs head for quite some time now.
WTF is wrong with you Dems, that you cannot come to grips with this?
DNC: Bush No Longer Listening To Commanders On Troop Levels In Iraq BuzzFlash:
Washington, DC - After insisting that troop levels in Iraq would be determined by the commanders in the field, President Bush said today during his news conference that the recommendations of his military leaders are just one of many factors that will determine whether he orders an upsurge of thousands more American troops in Iraq. President Bush is reportedly leaning toward a surge, despite reports that the Joint Chiefs of Staff unanimously oppose Bush's proposal to send more troops to Iraq without a clear mission, because the White House has been confounded by its limited options in Iraq.
WTF is wrong with you Dems, that you cannot come to grips with this?
DNC: Bush No Longer Listening To Commanders On Troop Levels In Iraq BuzzFlash:
Washington, DC - After insisting that troop levels in Iraq would be determined by the commanders in the field, President Bush said today during his news conference that the recommendations of his military leaders are just one of many factors that will determine whether he orders an upsurge of thousands more American troops in Iraq. President Bush is reportedly leaning toward a surge, despite reports that the Joint Chiefs of Staff unanimously oppose Bush's proposal to send more troops to Iraq without a clear mission, because the White House has been confounded by its limited options in Iraq.
More on Preznit Psycho
Time for an email campaign.
Do something about the mental cases in Washington. All of them!
Columnist Barnicle Joins Scarborough In Expressing Alarm About Bush and Iraq:
NEW YORK MSNBC host, and former GOP congressman, Joe Scarborough, was once a strong supporter of the Iraq and the President, but he has turned harshly critical of both in recent weeks. This may have reached a climax of sorts on Wednesday night, when he welcomed, among others, Boston newspaper columnist Mike Barnicle to talk about the president's latest statements on Iraq, which seemed to suggest that he was no longer listening to his generals (as he once said he always did).
This caused all of the guests, as well as the host, to suggest that Bush may be turning 'delusional,' with Barnicle going so far as stating that perhaps the generals need a new commander-in-chief soon. Scarborough agreed, saying it was 'uncharted territory' and 'very frightening.' Bush, he added, is 'standing alone! He just doesn‘t seem to have any credibility. And this is extraordinarily disturbing to me, as a guy who supported this war and supported this president twice.'
Here are excerpts from the chat, with Barnicle at center stage. (Link Above)
Bush Found About Cheney Subpoena Today
Who the hell knows when he found out? He lies every other breath, so how do we know?
His use of the word "interesting" is getting on my last damn nerve, I do know that!
Earlier this week it was reported that Vice President Cheney will be called as a witness for the defense in the trial of Scooter Libby. According to Cheney spokesperson Lea Anne McBridge, 'We've cooperated fully in this matter and we'll continue to do so.'
However, during this morning's press conference, CNN's Elaine Quiano asked the President about this development.
'What is your reaction to that, is that something you'll resist?'
Bush responded that he was unaware of this development until reading the newspapers this morning.
'No, I read about it in the newspaper today, and uh, it's an interesting piece of news and that's all I'm going to comment about an ongoing case.'
Why is it I knew the Vice President was being subpoenaed a day before the President did? Why was it that the President of the United States, the leader of the free world, had to read about his Vice President testifying in the newspapers?
Guess the Patriot Act doesn't cover sharing information within the Executive Branch.
His use of the word "interesting" is getting on my last damn nerve, I do know that!
Earlier this week it was reported that Vice President Cheney will be called as a witness for the defense in the trial of Scooter Libby. According to Cheney spokesperson Lea Anne McBridge, 'We've cooperated fully in this matter and we'll continue to do so.'
However, during this morning's press conference, CNN's Elaine Quiano asked the President about this development.
'What is your reaction to that, is that something you'll resist?'
Bush responded that he was unaware of this development until reading the newspapers this morning.
'No, I read about it in the newspaper today, and uh, it's an interesting piece of news and that's all I'm going to comment about an ongoing case.'
Why is it I knew the Vice President was being subpoenaed a day before the President did? Why was it that the President of the United States, the leader of the free world, had to read about his Vice President testifying in the newspapers?
Guess the Patriot Act doesn't cover sharing information within the Executive Branch.
Bush wouldn't know the truth if it bit him in the ass.
Whenever I hear President Bush tell another lie (or read that he has told another lie) I'm reminded of the Liar-in-Chief's former professor at the Harvard Business School, Yoshi Tsurumi, and his spot-on recollection of this president's punk past. According to Professor Tsurumi, Bush "showed pathological lying habits and was in denial when challenged on his prejudices and biases. He would even deny saying something he just said 30 seconds ago. He was famous for that. Students jumped on him; I challenged him." [Mary Jacoby, "The Dunce," Salon.com, 16 September 2004]
Tsurumi concluded: "Behind his smile and his smirk…he was a very insecure, cunning and vengeful guy." "He was just badly brought up, with no discipline, and no compassion." [Ibid] In conservative Lebanon, Pennsylvania, where I grew up during the 1950s and 1960s, such people were called "punks."
Perhaps, it's fair to say that the world would be a much better and safer place if America's mainstream news media had challenged Bush as much as Professor Tsurumi and his classmates did. Alas, it let the punk candidate slide during his first run for president, notwithstanding such smug and asinine assertions as: "I may not know where Kosovo is, but I know what I believe." Thus, alas, many Americans voted for an admitted alcoholic (and, allegedly, a former drug using) twit, who would come to believe that God spoke directly to him and wanted him to be president.
The mainstream news media also failed to challenge seriously the Bush administration's campaign of lies, which it employed to frighten witless Americans into supporting an unprovoked - and, thus, illegal, immoral -- invasion of Iraq. Specifically, the news media paid insufficient attention to an outrageous assertion by Bush that proved he was either a bald-faced liar or an extremely reckless ignoramus.
On September 7, 2002, President Bush asserted: "I would remind you that when the inspectors first went into Iraq and were denied -- finally denied access, a report came out of the Atomic -- the IAEA that they were six months away from developing a [nuclear] weapon. I don't know what more evidence we need."
Yet, not only was there no such report, but the report actually written by the IAEA in 1998 reached precisely the opposite conclusion: "Based on all credible information available to date…the IAEA has found no indication of Iraq having achieved its programme goal of producing nuclear weapons or of Iraq having retained a physical capability for the production of weapon-useable nuclear material or having clandestinely obtained such material." [MSNBC.com, 7 Sept. 2002]
And although a White House official subsequently admitted that the IAEA report did not say what Bush claimed, the spokesman's own dissembling shed further light on the dishonesty driving Bush's push for war: "What happened was, we formed our own conclusions based on the report."[Ibid] Why this entire episode failed to send red flags of suspicion flying across our entire news media remains an open question.
Yet, worse was to come. On October 2, 2002, Bush lied when he told Congressional leaders: "None of us here today desire to see a military conflict." How do we know he lied? Because in March 2003, in the moments "before he gave his national address announcing that the war had just begun, a camera caught Bush pumping his fist as though instead of initiating a war he had kicked a winning field goal or hit a home run. 'Feels good,' he said." [Paul Waldman, Fraud, 2004, p.8] Once a punk, always a punk?
In December 2003, months after the Bush administration's reckless assertions about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction proved to be false, ABC's Diane Sawyer pressed Bush about justifying a war to the American public by stating "as a hard fact, that there were weapons of mass destruction as opposed to the possibility that he [Saddam] could move to acquire those weapons." Put on the spot, Bush resorted to his punk college ways by responding: "So what's the difference?"
Two months later, Bush weaseled again. When put on the spot by Tim Russert, of Meet the Press, Bush justified his illegal, immoral invasion of Iraq by asserting: "Saddam Hussein was dangerous, and so I'm not going [sic] leave him in power and trust a madman…He had the ability to make weapons, at the very minimum." Such a snotty and infantile excuse for sending thousands to their deaths should have persuaded even the most brain-dead of Bush supporters that he had wasted his vote on a reckless punk.
In late 2005, Bush told another lie, when attempting to justify his unconstitutional order permitting the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on U.S. citizens without obtaining the required court-approved warrants. Bush defended his directive as a "vital tool" in the war against terrorism, evidently forgetting that, in April 2004, he assured an audience in Buffalo, New York: "When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so."
Bush lied again on December 14, 2005, when discussing what intelligence was available to Congress, when it voted to support his decision to invade Iraq. Bush lied when he asserted: "Some of the most irresponsible comments - about manipulated intelligence - have come from politicians who saw the same intelligence I saw and then voted to authorize the use of force against Saddam Hussein."
In fact, the Congressional Research Service (CSR) released a report the very next day that exposed his lie: "The President and a small number of presidentially designated cabinet-level officials, including the vice president …have access to a far greater overall volume of intelligence and to more sensitive information, including intelligence sources and methods." In all, the report identified "nine key U.S. intelligence 'products' not generally shared with Congress."
And Bush lied again, on the eve of the November 2006 mid-term elections, when he said that he wanted Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld to stay on until the end of his presidency. In fact, Bush already had commenced work on replacing Rumsfeld and knew he was lying when he said Rumsfeld would stay on. Bush even admitted to this deliberate deception.
Two days ago, Bush lied again. In a December 19, 2006, interview with the Washington Post , America's Liar-in-Chief was once again put on the spot. According to the Post, when he was asked to reconcile his "absolutely, we're winning" in Iraq assertion of October 25, 2006, with his new assertion, "We're not winning, we're not losing," Bush "recast" his former assertion "as a prediction rather than an assessment."
Bush's Harvard classmates and Professor Tsurumi would have understood all too well: Once a punk, always a punk.
Indeed, if "once a punk, always a punk," then columnist Joseph L. Galloway is on to something when he asks: "Can nothing save this man from himself?"
[See Galloway's splendid article, "Desperation in the White House," Miami Herald at http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/16250266.htm ] And, indeed, if nothing can save Bush from himself, the citizens of the United States have an obligation to remove him from office - impeach, convict, remove - before he does more damage to American and the world.
But only after first removing the thug, who has so perniciously enabled the punk.
Walter C. Uhler is an independent scholar and freelance writer whose work has been published in numerous publications, including The Nation, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, the Journal of Military History, the Moscow Times and the San Francisco Chronicle. He also is President of the Russian-American International Studies Association (RAISA).
....and the truth shall set you free. (Hopefuly, it iwill set this nation free)
Tsurumi concluded: "Behind his smile and his smirk…he was a very insecure, cunning and vengeful guy." "He was just badly brought up, with no discipline, and no compassion." [Ibid] In conservative Lebanon, Pennsylvania, where I grew up during the 1950s and 1960s, such people were called "punks."
Perhaps, it's fair to say that the world would be a much better and safer place if America's mainstream news media had challenged Bush as much as Professor Tsurumi and his classmates did. Alas, it let the punk candidate slide during his first run for president, notwithstanding such smug and asinine assertions as: "I may not know where Kosovo is, but I know what I believe." Thus, alas, many Americans voted for an admitted alcoholic (and, allegedly, a former drug using) twit, who would come to believe that God spoke directly to him and wanted him to be president.
The mainstream news media also failed to challenge seriously the Bush administration's campaign of lies, which it employed to frighten witless Americans into supporting an unprovoked - and, thus, illegal, immoral -- invasion of Iraq. Specifically, the news media paid insufficient attention to an outrageous assertion by Bush that proved he was either a bald-faced liar or an extremely reckless ignoramus.
On September 7, 2002, President Bush asserted: "I would remind you that when the inspectors first went into Iraq and were denied -- finally denied access, a report came out of the Atomic -- the IAEA that they were six months away from developing a [nuclear] weapon. I don't know what more evidence we need."
Yet, not only was there no such report, but the report actually written by the IAEA in 1998 reached precisely the opposite conclusion: "Based on all credible information available to date…the IAEA has found no indication of Iraq having achieved its programme goal of producing nuclear weapons or of Iraq having retained a physical capability for the production of weapon-useable nuclear material or having clandestinely obtained such material." [MSNBC.com, 7 Sept. 2002]
And although a White House official subsequently admitted that the IAEA report did not say what Bush claimed, the spokesman's own dissembling shed further light on the dishonesty driving Bush's push for war: "What happened was, we formed our own conclusions based on the report."[Ibid] Why this entire episode failed to send red flags of suspicion flying across our entire news media remains an open question.
Yet, worse was to come. On October 2, 2002, Bush lied when he told Congressional leaders: "None of us here today desire to see a military conflict." How do we know he lied? Because in March 2003, in the moments "before he gave his national address announcing that the war had just begun, a camera caught Bush pumping his fist as though instead of initiating a war he had kicked a winning field goal or hit a home run. 'Feels good,' he said." [Paul Waldman, Fraud, 2004, p.8] Once a punk, always a punk?
In December 2003, months after the Bush administration's reckless assertions about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction proved to be false, ABC's Diane Sawyer pressed Bush about justifying a war to the American public by stating "as a hard fact, that there were weapons of mass destruction as opposed to the possibility that he [Saddam] could move to acquire those weapons." Put on the spot, Bush resorted to his punk college ways by responding: "So what's the difference?"
Two months later, Bush weaseled again. When put on the spot by Tim Russert, of Meet the Press, Bush justified his illegal, immoral invasion of Iraq by asserting: "Saddam Hussein was dangerous, and so I'm not going [sic] leave him in power and trust a madman…He had the ability to make weapons, at the very minimum." Such a snotty and infantile excuse for sending thousands to their deaths should have persuaded even the most brain-dead of Bush supporters that he had wasted his vote on a reckless punk.
In late 2005, Bush told another lie, when attempting to justify his unconstitutional order permitting the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on U.S. citizens without obtaining the required court-approved warrants. Bush defended his directive as a "vital tool" in the war against terrorism, evidently forgetting that, in April 2004, he assured an audience in Buffalo, New York: "When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so."
Bush lied again on December 14, 2005, when discussing what intelligence was available to Congress, when it voted to support his decision to invade Iraq. Bush lied when he asserted: "Some of the most irresponsible comments - about manipulated intelligence - have come from politicians who saw the same intelligence I saw and then voted to authorize the use of force against Saddam Hussein."
In fact, the Congressional Research Service (CSR) released a report the very next day that exposed his lie: "The President and a small number of presidentially designated cabinet-level officials, including the vice president …have access to a far greater overall volume of intelligence and to more sensitive information, including intelligence sources and methods." In all, the report identified "nine key U.S. intelligence 'products' not generally shared with Congress."
And Bush lied again, on the eve of the November 2006 mid-term elections, when he said that he wanted Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld to stay on until the end of his presidency. In fact, Bush already had commenced work on replacing Rumsfeld and knew he was lying when he said Rumsfeld would stay on. Bush even admitted to this deliberate deception.
Two days ago, Bush lied again. In a December 19, 2006, interview with the Washington Post , America's Liar-in-Chief was once again put on the spot. According to the Post, when he was asked to reconcile his "absolutely, we're winning" in Iraq assertion of October 25, 2006, with his new assertion, "We're not winning, we're not losing," Bush "recast" his former assertion "as a prediction rather than an assessment."
Bush's Harvard classmates and Professor Tsurumi would have understood all too well: Once a punk, always a punk.
Indeed, if "once a punk, always a punk," then columnist Joseph L. Galloway is on to something when he asks: "Can nothing save this man from himself?"
[See Galloway's splendid article, "Desperation in the White House," Miami Herald at http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/16250266.htm ] And, indeed, if nothing can save Bush from himself, the citizens of the United States have an obligation to remove him from office - impeach, convict, remove - before he does more damage to American and the world.
But only after first removing the thug, who has so perniciously enabled the punk.
Walter C. Uhler is an independent scholar and freelance writer whose work has been published in numerous publications, including The Nation, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, the Journal of Military History, the Moscow Times and the San Francisco Chronicle. He also is President of the Russian-American International Studies Association (RAISA).
....and the truth shall set you free. (Hopefuly, it iwill set this nation free)
Somebody get the damn net, the psycotics are at it again!
Warning my ass. This is another Tony-Georgie game of provocation.
I hope to hell that Ahadninejad is not the crackpot our media would have us believe?
I also hope that even Cheney wouldn't sink one of our own ships to give us a far grosser version of the Gulf of Tonkin.
U.S. and Britain to Add Ships to Persian Gulf in Signal to Iran - New York Times:
WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 — The United States and Britain will begin moving additional warships and strike aircraft into the Persian Gulf region in a display of military resolve toward Iran that will come as the United Nations continues to debate possible sanctions against the country, Pentagon and military officials said Wednesday.
The officials said that Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates was expected this week to approve a request by commanders for a second aircraft carrier and its supporting ships to be stationed within quick sailing distance of Iran by early next year.
Risk of Attack Rising, Officials In Europe Say - washingtonpost.com
These crackpot are going to keep on until every Muslim in the world is shoved back into the countires from which they came.
I agree that the creation of the state of Israel was a mistake. But the people who made that decsion are long dead. Why bomb their grandkids?
Apprently, Osama's number 2 is not the brightest bulb. Empires falling is agood thing. Not a bad thing. Furtermore, when an Empire falls it is usually about what's going on inside the belly of the beast as well as the activities of enemies.
You can't say that one empire is benevolent and another is evil. Imperial minds think much alike. It has always been about the same two things: Wealth and power-over.
The worst of Imperial crimes is not understanding that upon defeat, if not before. You know, learning the lessons of jackassdom after your little world falls apart, mainly because you are or have been a jakass to all of your neighbors and they are sick and tired of it.
Often, there are also people in the belly ofthe beast who are, quite frankly, tired of being part of jackassdom, and want their own empire to collapse. Of course, there are also an alarming number of citizens of such an empire, who go off the deep end, if you know what I mean.
Empire makes people sick and poverty stricken.
No Emperor would ever admit that his motives were impure, because most don't believe that they are. Some even start out with good intentions. That never lasts long.
Power corrupts....
Risk of Attack Rising, Officials In Europe Say - washingtonpost.com:
BERLIN, Dec. 20 -- The threat of a terrorist attack on European soil by Islamic radicals has increased substantially in recent months, reaching its highest levels since the London transit attacks of July 2005, according to European counterterrorism officials. Adding to the anxiety: fresh threats against Britain and France delivered Wednesday by al-Qaeda's deputy leader.
In a new videotape, Ayman al-Zawahiri, the second-in-command to al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, singled out Britain as a historical enemy of Muslims, blaming it for the creation of the state of Israel and the downfall of the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century.
President is dangerously psychotic.
Who will relieve us of this man?
He is seriously deranged.
Why can't the people around him and in his party, as well as the Democrats, just admit that one glaringly obvious fact!
President Confronts Dissent on Troop Levels - washingtonpost.com:
The debate over sending more U.S. troops to Iraq intensified yesterday as President Bush signaled that he will listen but not necessarily defer to balky military officers, while Gen. John P. Abizaid, his top Middle East commander and a leading skeptic of a so-called surge, announced his retirement.
At an end-of-the-year news conference, Bush said he agrees with generals 'that there's got to be a specific mission that can be accomplished' before he decides to dispatch an additional 15,000 to 30,000 troops to the war zone. But he declined to repeat his usual formulation that he will heed his commanders on the ground when it comes to troop levels.
Violence is Up, and We Have a Problem
Hate to say we told you so, but we did.
Violence, especially violence related to theft, will continue to rise.
This report doesn't even touch on non-violent acts of theft and other money crimes.
Gun Guys » Violence is Up, and We Have a Problem:
The shouts from police, mayors, and scholars are getting louder, but is anyone listening? The latest evidence that America is facing a coming tide of violent crime can be found in data released this week by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. According to the FBI, violent crime continued to rise with a 3.7 percent jump in the first half of 2006 compared to same period in 2005 (which showed similar increases compared to 2004).
The report documented a 9.7 percent jump in robbery, a 1.4 percent increase in murder, and a rise in aggravated assault of 1.2 percent. While murder in cities over one million increased 6.7 percent, the biggest jump–8.4 percent–was seen in cities between 500,000 to 999,999. The data, contained in the FBI’s Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report, January-June, 2006, compiles the voluntary submissions of 11,535 law enforcement agencies and is the precursor to the agency’s annual Uniform Crime Reports.The shouts from police, mayors, and scholars are getting louder, but is anyone listening? The latest evidence that America is facing a coming tide of violent crime can be found in data released this week by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. According to the FBI, violent crime continued to rise with a 3.7 percent jump in the first half of 2006 compared to same period in 2005 (which showed similar increases compared to 2004).
The NeoCons are at it again!
Blumenthal has some interesting insights into what's really happening at the W.H.
Seems the NeoCons have no plans to slink off in shame, as they should, never to be heard from again, after engineering the horrendous debacle in Iraq.
Oh, no. They have the ear of an idiot and intend to keep yapping until everything is a complete train wreck.
I would suggest deportng their asses but, apparently, their bretheren are already in damned near every country in the world.
They are not going to shut the hell up and go away until they pay for their crimes. So we have another reason to start the investigations of the little fish.
Behind Bush's "new way forward" Salon.com:
Dec. 20, 2006 'We're going to win,' President Bush told a guest at a White House Christmas party. Another guest, ingratiating himself with his host, urged him to ignore the report of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, co-chaired by James Baker, the former secretary of state and his father's close associate, which described the crisis in Iraq as 'grave and deteriorating,' and offered 79 recommendations for diplomacy, transferring responsibility to the Iraqi government and withdrawing nearly all U.S. troops by 2008. 'The president chuckled,' according to an account in the neoconservative Weekly Standard, 'and said he'd made his position clear when he appeared with British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The report had never mentioned the possibility of American victory. Bush's goal in Iraq, he said at the photo op with Blair, is 'victory.'' Bush reasserted his belief that 'victory in Iraq is achievable' at his Wednesday press conference.
Two members of the ISG were responsible for George W. Bush's becoming president. Baker had maneuvered through the thicket of the 2000 Florida contest, finally bringing Bush v. Gore before the Supreme Court, where Sandra Day O'Connor was the deciding vote. (Jeffrey Toobin of the New Yorker reported that she had complained before hearing the case that she wanted to retire but did not want a Democrat to appoint her replacement.) Through the Iraq Study Group Baker and O'Connor were attempting to salvage what they had made possible in Bush v. Gore. Upon Bush's receipt of the report, a White House spokesman told the press, 'Jim Baker can go back to his day job.'
The ball drops here: new laws for '07
What do we get for the New Year? Well, new laws, of course, even as the constitution is being shredded.
The ball drops here: new laws for '07:
After the ball drops in Times Square, California public colleges no longer will be able to censor their student journalists, Missouri will end all limits on campaign contributions and Ohio pet owners will be able to set up trust funds for their furry and feathered friends.
On Jan. 1, a host of new state laws will take effect in at least 32 states, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Minimum wage laws likely will have the greatest reach. On New Year’s Day, 18 states will raise their rates, with seven raising it above the $5.15 federal minimum for the first time. That brings the total number of states with wages above the federal minimum to 29. After the ball drops in Times Square, California public colleges no longer will be able to censor their student journalists, Missouri will end all limits on campaign contributions and Ohio pet owners will be able to set up trust funds for their furry and feathered friends.
On Jan. 1, a host of new state laws will take effect in at least 32 states, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Huge Southern Baptist Church rocked by sexual abuse charges
It was only a matter of time.....
PageOneQ Huge Southern Baptist Church rocked by sexual abuse charges:
A church whose former pastor was president of the Southern Baptist Convention has been rocked by allegations of child abuse, PageOneQ has learned.
Pastor Paul Williams, who directs prayer programs and special projects at the Bellevue Baptist Church outside of Memphis, has been forced to take a leave while a church committee investigates charges that Williams sexually molested a family member 17 years ago. Williams has been at Bellevue for 34 years, reports Agape Press, a news service run by the American Family Association.
In a statement issued by the church and obtained by PageOneQ, the church's personnel committee says that Williams has taken a paid leave of absence in the wake of 'a past, but highly concerning moral failure.'
A highly concerning moral failure? In my book that would be a failure to care for and support the elderly, the poor and disabled. What this guy is accused of is a felony!
There is probably far more of this in the Baptist church than anyone knows about. Add to that, chronic religious abuse and the whole damn convention should be locked up.
I guess It's pretty damn clear that I'm fed up with these people.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Osama's Number Two is about as batshit crazy as they come!
Good lord, just how delusional can a person get?
Al-Qaida No. 2 releases new tape - International Terrorism - MSNBC.com:
CAIRO, Egypt - The deputy leader of al-Qaida, Ayman al-Zawahri, told the United States on Wednesday that it was negotiating with the wrong people in Iraq, strongly implying in a video broadcast on Al-Jazeera that Washington should be talking to his terror group.
'I want to tell the Republicans and the Democrats together ... you are trying to negotiate with some parties to secure your withdrawal, but these parities won't find you an exit (from Iraq) and your attempts will yield nothing but failure,' al-Zawahri said on the tape, sections of which were aired in successive news bulletins.
'
It seems that you will go through a painful journey of failed negotiations until you will be forced to return to negotiate with the real powers,' he said, without identifying these powers.
Anthrax Vaccine Contract Voided, Thwarting Administration
Oh, for Pete's sake! There is not going to be another anthrax attack unless it is launched by the same people who launched the first one. (No, not Al Qaeda)
Think a little closer to home.
If this is thwarting the administration, it is thwarting their war and security profiteering.
Anthrax Vaccine Contract Voided, Thwarting Administration - washingtonpost.com:
Federal health officials yesterday scuttled the largest piece of the Bush administration's two-year program to counter bioterrorism, canceling an $877.5 million contract with VaxGen to develop an anthrax vaccine after the company missed a deadline to begin human testing.
The decision, delivered in a one-page letter, ends a troubled effort by the small California firm that has come to symbolize the failures of the government's ambitious $5.6 billion Project BioShield. The termination occurred on the same day President Bush signed legislation attempting to salvage the program by reorganizing its management and pumping more money into firms doing the work.
BREAKING: BUSH TELLS TRUTH
Well, sorta.....
U.S. Not Winning War in Iraq, Bush Says for 1st Time - washingtonpost.com:
President Bush acknowledged for the first time yesterday that the United States is not winning the war in Iraq and said he plans to expand the overall size of the 'stressed' U.S. armed forces to meet the challenges of a long-term global struggle against terrorists.
As he searches for a new strategy for Iraq, Bush has now adopted the formula advanced by his top military adviser to describe the situation. 'We're not winning, we're not losing,' Bush said in an interview with The Washington Post. The assessment was a striking reversal for a president who, days before the November elections, declared, 'Absolutely, we're winning.'
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
A Must Read
The New Yorker: PRINTABLES:
In 1993, a young captain in the Australian Army named David Kilcullen was living among villagers in West Java, as part of an immersion program in the Indonesian language. One day, he visited a local military museum that contained a display about Indonesia’s war, during the nineteen-fifties and sixties, against a separatist Muslim insurgency movement called Darul Islam. “I had never heard of this conflict,” Kilcullen told me recently. “It’s hardly known in the West. The Indonesian government won, hands down. And I was fascinated by how it managed to pull off such a successful counterinsurgency campaign.”
Kilcullen, the son of two left-leaning academics, had studied counterinsurgency as a cadet at Duntroon, the Australian West Point, and he decided to pursue a doctorate in political anthropology at the University of New South Wales. He chose as his dissertation subject the Darul Islam conflict, conducting research over tea with former guerrillas while continuing to serve in the Australian Army.
The rebel movement, he said, was bigger than the Malayan Emergency—the twelve-year Communist revolt against British rule, which was finally put down in 1960, and which has become a major point of reference in the military doctrine of counterinsurgency. During the years that Kilcullen worked on his dissertation, two events in Indonesia deeply affected his thinking. The first was the rise—in the same region that had given birth to Darul Islam, and among some of the same families—of a more extreme Islamist movement called Jemaah Islamiya, which became a Southeast Asian affiliate of Al Qaeda. The second was East Timor’s successful struggle for independence from Indonesia. Kilcullen witnessed the former as he was carrying out his field work;
In 1993, a young captain in the Australian Army named David Kilcullen was living among villagers in West Java, as part of an immersion program in the Indonesian language. One day, he visited a local military museum that contained a display about Indonesia’s war, during the nineteen-fifties and sixties, against a separatist Muslim insurgency movement called Darul Islam. “I had never heard of this conflict,” Kilcullen told me recently. “It’s hardly known in the West. The Indonesian government won, hands down. And I was fascinated by how it managed to pull off such a successful counterinsurgency campaign.”
Kilcullen, the son of two left-leaning academics, had studied counterinsurgency as a cadet at Duntroon, the Australian West Point, and he decided to pursue a doctorate in political anthropology at the University of New South Wales. He chose as his dissertation subject the Darul Islam conflict, conducting research over tea with former guerrillas while continuing to serve in the Australian Army.
The rebel movement, he said, was bigger than the Malayan Emergency—the twelve-year Communist revolt against British rule, which was finally put down in 1960, and which has become a major point of reference in the military doctrine of counterinsurgency. During the years that Kilcullen worked on his dissertation, two events in Indonesia deeply affected his thinking. The first was the rise—in the same region that had given birth to Darul Islam, and among some of the same families—of a more extreme Islamist movement called Jemaah Islamiya, which became a Southeast Asian affiliate of Al Qaeda. The second was East Timor’s successful struggle for independence from Indonesia. Kilcullen witnessed the former as he was carrying out his field work;
Are the Dems being fools about Gates?
We hope to god, you are wrong, but you seldom are, Bob.
Consortiumnews.com:
In early December, when Senate Democrats politely questioned Robert M. Gates and then voted unanimously to confirm him as Defense Secretary, they bought into the conventional wisdom that Gates was a closet dove who would help guide the United States out of George W. Bush's mess in Iraq.In early December, when Senate Democrats politely questioned Robert M. Gates and then voted unanimously to confirm him as Defense Secretary, they bought into the conventional wisdom that Gates was a closet dove who would help guide the United States out of George W. Bush's mess in Iraq.
Must Watch Video!
You are done, Colin!
A Tiny Revolution: Powell Again Blames CIA For Fabrications And Lies-By-Omission In U.N. Speech:
As much criticism as Colin Powell has received for his Iraq presentation at the UN, it hasn't been anywhere near what he deserves. While they've been little noticed, declassified memos from Powell's own intelligence staff at the State Department conclusively prove Powell was aware much of what he said was false or shaky. (I've previously gone through this in detail here.)
So far Powell has blamed everything on the CIA. He did it again yesterday when questioned outside Face the Nation by Sam Husseini of the Institute for Public Accuracy. Here are the details, along with background and the actual video.As much criticism as Colin Powell has received for his Iraq presentation at the UN, it hasn't been anywhere near what he deserves. While they've been little noticed, declassified memos from Powell's own intelligence staff at the State Department conclusively prove Powell was aware much of what he said was false or shaky. (I've previously gone through this in detail here.)
So far Powell has blamed everything on the CIA. He did it again yesterday when questioned outside Face the Nation by Sam Husseini of the Institute for Public Accuracy. Here are the details, along with background and the actual video.As much criticism as Colin Powell has received for his Iraq presentation at the UN, it hasn't been anywhere near what he deserves. While they've been little noticed, declassified memos from Powell's own intelligence staff at the State Department conclusively prove Powell was aware much of what he said was false or shaky. (I've previously gone through this in detail here.)
A Tiny Revolution: Powell Again Blames CIA For Fabrications And Lies-By-Omission In U.N. Speech:
As much criticism as Colin Powell has received for his Iraq presentation at the UN, it hasn't been anywhere near what he deserves. While they've been little noticed, declassified memos from Powell's own intelligence staff at the State Department conclusively prove Powell was aware much of what he said was false or shaky. (I've previously gone through this in detail here.)
So far Powell has blamed everything on the CIA. He did it again yesterday when questioned outside Face the Nation by Sam Husseini of the Institute for Public Accuracy. Here are the details, along with background and the actual video.As much criticism as Colin Powell has received for his Iraq presentation at the UN, it hasn't been anywhere near what he deserves. While they've been little noticed, declassified memos from Powell's own intelligence staff at the State Department conclusively prove Powell was aware much of what he said was false or shaky. (I've previously gone through this in detail here.)
So far Powell has blamed everything on the CIA. He did it again yesterday when questioned outside Face the Nation by Sam Husseini of the Institute for Public Accuracy. Here are the details, along with background and the actual video.As much criticism as Colin Powell has received for his Iraq presentation at the UN, it hasn't been anywhere near what he deserves. While they've been little noticed, declassified memos from Powell's own intelligence staff at the State Department conclusively prove Powell was aware much of what he said was false or shaky. (I've previously gone through this in detail here.)
The other Israel lobby
What I cannot understand is the idea that Israel is a safe place for all the Jews of the world to go to, in case of wide spread Jewish persecution, like the Holacaust.
WTF is that hallucination about?
The other Israel lobby Salon.com:
Dec. 19, 2006 This past June, on my last day working as a speechwriter for the Israeli government -- first at the United Nations and then in the prime minister's office -- I met with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in his private office at the Israeli parliament to discuss a speech he had just given to the U.S. Congress. The speech, which I helped write, was largely about the future of U.S.-Israeli relations, and we discussed how it had gone over. Also at the meeting was a high-ranking official in the Israeli Foreign Ministry, and when we left the building together, he told me that the next day officials from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the powerful lobbying group, would be visiting. He asked if I had any suggestions about what to tell them about how they could more effectively help Israel in Washington.
'
Some people would say that maybe the best thing would be for them not to be so reflexively pro-Israel on every issue,' I said.
He laughed. 'Well, I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon,' he said. I suggested that such a rebalancing might be beneficial for all who were interested in supporting Israel, and he conceded that, yes, 'just maybe' it would.
FOOD POISONING in America
This is part of the social security and medicare solution.
Kill them off before they cost us very much. (Just kidding, I think)
TomPaine.com - Fed Up With Bad Food:
Americans should be eating more fresh fruits and vegetables, not less. That’s why the recent food poisoning outbreaks linked to fresh produce contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 are so troubling. This month’s outbreak at Taco Bell—shredded lettuce is the suspected culprit—and September’s outbreak linked to fresh bagged spinach provide a fresh reminder: Despite similar outbreaks in years past (linked to scallions, lettuce, raspberries and melons), the federal government is doing far too little to close the gaping holes in America’s food safety net.
Contaminated foods kill about 5,000 Americans each year, and sicken another 76 million, according to the Centers for Disease Control. While the numbers seem enormous, what often isn’t counted is the cost to survivors, who sometimes suffer loss of kidney function, miscarriage, colitis or reactive arthritis after a bout of food poisoning. The liability costs of the recent spinach outbreak may well exceed $100 million, money that should have been invested in preventing the outbreak with more effective oversight of growers.
Although many people probably assume meat and poultry are responsible for most food poisoning outbreaks, the Center for Science in the Public Interest’s Outbreak Alert database contains more outbreaks linked to fresh produce than to any other single food source. In fact, outbreaks show that lettuce, green onions, melons, tomatoes and other healthful foods have sickened consumers from a variety of hazards, including Hepatitis A, Salmonella or harmful E. coli strains.Americans should be eating more fresh fruits and vegetables, not less. That’s why the recent food poisoning outbreaks linked to fresh produce contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 are so troubling.
Clinton and Royal - Sharing ambitions not handshakes? | International News | Reuters.com
What the Hell is wrong with Hillary Clinton?
Clinton and Royal - Sharing ambitions not h
PARIS (Reuters) - One is French. One is American. Both may become the first female presidents of their country. But will Segolene Royal and Hillary Rodham Clinton support or snub each other in their battle?
Speculation about the power women's relationship rose in France after a newspaper said Royal had postponed a U.S. trip planned for this month because Clinton did not want to see her.
Socialist regional leader Royal, 53, a relative political newcomer with little foreign policy experience, has made little secret of the fact she would like to meet Clinton to bolster her international credentials.
Gates: Iraq Failure Would Be "Calamity"
We shall wait and see, while we do everything in our power to hold accountable, those responsible for the horror in Iraq and Afghanistan
Gates: Iraq Failure Would Be "Calamity":
Washington - Robert Gates assumed the helm at the Pentagon on Monday, warning in his first public remarks as defense secretary that failure in Iraq would be a 'calamity' that would haunt the United States for years.
The former CIA chief pledged to give President Bush his honest advice on the costly and unpopular war, and said he would go to Iraq soon to see what U.S. commanders believe should be done to quell the growing violence.
'All of us want to find a way to bring America's sons and daughters home again,' Gates, 63, said after taking the oath of office as defense secretary from Vice President Dick Cheney at a Pentagon ceremony. 'But as the president has made clear, we simply cannot afford to fail in the Middle East. Failure in Iraq at this juncture would be a calamity that would haunt our nation, impair our credibility, and endanger Americans for decades to come.'
He takes office as Bush conducts a wide-ranging review of his approach to the 3 1/2 year-old Iraq conflict. The fighting, teetering on the edge of a civil war between sects, has seen more than 2,940 Americans die at a cost to U.S. taxpayers exceeding $300 billion.
Officials say the options Bush is studying run from a short-term buildup of thousands of more troops to a pullback of U.S. combat units so they can focus on training Iraqis and hunting terrorists. Bush said last week that he would wait until January to announce his new strategy, to give Gates a chance to offer advice. Washington - Robert Gates assumed the helm at the Pentagon on Monday, warning in his first public remarks as defense secretary that failure in Iraq would be a 'calamity' that would haunt the United States for years.
Blair 'failed to influence Bush'
What a load of crap!
BBC NEWS UK UK Politics Blair 'failed to influence Bush':
The 'disaster' of Iraq and Tony Blair's failure to influence US policy will overshadow his time as prime minister, a leading UK think tank has said.
The invasion and the post-war 'debacle' have damaged the UK's global influence, said the Chatham House report.
Outgoing director Victor Bulmer-Thomas said Mr Blair's successor would have to build better relations with Europe.
But Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett told the BBC the 'whole thesis of this note is just plain wrong'.
She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'Nobody said that Tony Blair has so much influence that single-handedly he can solve all the problems of the world.'
But, Mrs Beckett added: 'The notion that we do not have any influence out there [in the Middle East], or in the European Union, or in the United States is just not true.'
The $2 Trillion Dollar War
Oh man, you gotta read this, just to add it to the human suffering and damage done to Iraq and America.
Rolling Stone : National Affairs: The $2 Trillion Dollar War:
A leading economist says the true cost of Iraq is far higher than President Bush claims -- and America will pay the price for decades to come.
Rolling Stone : National Affairs: The $2 Trillion Dollar War:
A leading economist says the true cost of Iraq is far higher than President Bush claims -- and America will pay the price for decades to come.
Iran goes petro-euro
Just as we predicted a year ago. It was easily predictable by anyone with more than three neurons firing.
Is this the beginning of the end of the U.S.?
Possibly.
Al Jazeera English - Business: "The Iranian central bank is to convert the state's foreign dollar assets into euros and use the euro for foreign transactions.
'The government has ordered the central bank to replace the dollar with the euro to limit the problems of the executive organs in commercial transactions,' Gholam Hossein Elham, a government spokesman, said on Monday.
'We will also employ this change for Iranian assets [in dollars] held abroad.'
Elham said that Iran's budget would in future be calculated in euros.
'Until now the budget has been calculated according to revenues in dollars but this calculation will now change,' he said.
Is this the beginning of the end of the U.S.?
Possibly.
Al Jazeera English - Business: "The Iranian central bank is to convert the state's foreign dollar assets into euros and use the euro for foreign transactions.
'The government has ordered the central bank to replace the dollar with the euro to limit the problems of the executive organs in commercial transactions,' Gholam Hossein Elham, a government spokesman, said on Monday.
'We will also employ this change for Iranian assets [in dollars] held abroad.'
Elham said that Iran's budget would in future be calculated in euros.
'Until now the budget has been calculated according to revenues in dollars but this calculation will now change,' he said.
White House, Joint Chiefs At Odds on Adding Troops
OMG!
The Pentagon Brass v. the Deferred and AWOL Monkies!
Talk about a rising constituional crsis.
I, for one, hope that General Clark is paying attention.
White House, Joint Chiefs At Odds on Adding Troops - washingtonpost.com:
The Bush administration is split over the idea of a surge in troops to Iraq, with White House officials aggressively promoting the concept over the unanimous disagreement of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, according to U.S. officials familiar with the intense debate.
Sending 15,000 to 30,000 more troops for a mission of possibly six to eight months is one of the central proposals on the table of the White House policy review to reverse the steady deterioration in Iraq. The option is being discussed as an element in a range of bigger packages, the officials said.
The terrorist you've never heard of
Un-effing-believable!
This is our government, Folks!
They should all be hung!
The terrorist you've never heard of:
Unlike alleged al-Qaida terrorist Jose Padilla, right-wing 'dirty bomber' Demetrius Crocker was investigated and prosecuted the old-fashioned constitutional way.
By Alex Koppelman
Dec. 18, 2006 'Salon' --- - In a Miami courtroom on Monday morning, defense lawyers for Jose Padilla, the American citizen accused of conspiring with al-Qaida, will argue what could be a landmark motion. Padilla's defense attorneys are asking the presiding judge to dismiss the case on the grounds of 'outrageous government conduct.' The abuse Padilla has endured while in custody, they contend, has so scarred him that he can no longer even discuss the case against him. They believe he has been rendered incompetent to stand trial.
The logic of the federal government's response to the defense motion was stunningly cold. The U.S. Attorney's office agrees that Padilla needs his competency evaluated. We didn't torture him, argue the representatives of the U.S. government, but if we did, and it made him crazy -- well, then, no claims he makes about said torture can be trusted. He is, after all, mentally incompetent.
Jonathan Turley, a professor of law at George Washington University who specializes in constitutional criminal procedure, calls this argument 'bizarre.'
'It would create a rather perverse incentive,' marvels Turley. 'As long as the government can force someone into mental incompetency they cannot face a motion for incompetency in court.'
'It would seem,' concludes Turley, with great understatement, 'to invite abuse.'
US and Latin America: Overview for 2006
Meanwhile, South of the Border....
US and Latin America: Overview for 2006: "12/18/06 'Information Clearing House' -- --
Introduction: Escalation of Warfare
To understand US-Latin American relations this year and its likely trajectory in 2007 it is obligatory to consider three dimensions: 1) the global context of US-LA relations; 2) internal dynamics of the US and 3) the real practical political-economic consequences of the 2006 elections in Latin America.
US imperial policy continues to pursue military victories in Iraq and Afghanistan, to give unconditional support to Israel’s war against the elected Palestinian Government and to threaten a direct or Israeli attack on Iran. In other words, the prolonged, costly and inconclusive wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Palestine during 2006 will continue in 2007. Further military escalation, includes increased US troops and spending for wars in the Middle East; an extra $800 million USD in addition to the annual $3 billion USD for Israeli war plans against Lebanon, Palestine and especially Iran. Those commentators who interpreted US policy via public opinion polls, electoral processes (the victory of the Democrats), advisory reports (Baker’s Iraq Study Group) and casualty rates in Iraq, and predicted a ‘gradual’ withdrawal, failed to understand the logic of the White House’s political strategy. For the Bush regime, the military failures are a result of the application of insufficient power: what is necessary, they argue, is greater numbers of soldiers and bigger military budgets (BBC 12/16/06).
Designer monsters
Beware misinterpretations, intentional or otherwise!
Still, Mr. Ahmadinejad should be a little more careful in his speech. This is no time for bluster and controversial speeches.
I will, however, say this: The establishment of a Jewish state, or any other state for that matter, on land which did not belong to them, was a tremendous mistake of the Allied Powers and one for which the world has been paying a price, ever since.
It was a stupid mistake, to believe that we could, essentially, re-locate Europeans, no longer people of the middle-east, into Palestine.
There were Jews living in Palestine, along side Christians and Muslims, peacefully, for the most part, from what I understand, before the western powers joined forces with the Zionists.
The establishment of an Israeli state was a mistake. The only question is how do we deal with it now?
Designer monsters: "12/18/06 'Information Clearing House' --- --
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a man seemingly custom-made for the White House in its endless quest for enemies with whom to scare Congress, the American people, and the world, in order to justify the unseemly behavior of the empire. The Iranian president has declared that he wants to 'wipe Israel off the map'. He's said that 'the Holocaust is a myth'. He recently held a conference in Iran for 'Holocaust deniers'. And his government passed a new law requiring Jews to wear a yellow insignia, à la the Nazis. On top of all that, he's aiming to build nuclear bombs, one of which would surely be aimed at Israel. What right-thinking person would not be scared by such a man?
However, like with all such designer monsters made bigger than life during the Cold War and since by Washington, the truth about Ahmadinejad is a bit more complicated. According to people who know Farsi, the Iranian leader has never said anything about 'wiping Israel off the map'. In his October 29, 2005 speech, when he reportedly first made the remark, the word 'map' does not even appear.
According to the translation of Juan Cole, American professor of Modern Middle East and South Asian History, Ahmadinejad said that 'the regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time.' His remark, said Cole, 'does not imply military action or killing anyone at all,' which presumably is what would make the remark threatening.[1] Readers are advised that the next time they come across such an Ahmadinejad citation to note whether a complete sentence is being quoted, and not just 'wipe Israel off the map'.
Poll: Approval for Iraq handling drops to new low
I cannot, for the life of me, understand why anyone still approves of Bush's performance in office. He is, by far, the worst president in my lifetime, and probably in American history.
Maybe they are still buying the "war preznit" crappola, and feel that they must offer support to a president, so burdened by war.
Problem is, it is a war of his on choosing. No one really wanted this war, outside of the NeoCon Cabal who designed it, until they were terrorized into backing it, and not by Osama, but by Bush, Cheney, Rice, and Rummy....oh yes, and Powell.
Poll: Approval for Iraq handling drops to new low - CNN.com:
Support for President Bush's management of the Iraq war has dropped to an all-time low even as his overall approval remains tepid but steady, according to a CNN poll released Monday.
The survey, conducted Friday through Sunday by Opinion Research Corp., found support for Bush's handling of the Iraq conflict has decreased to 28 percent from 34 percent in a poll taken October 13-15.
And a record 70 percent of respondents said they disapproved of Bush's war management, up from 64 percent in the October poll.
Meanwhile, Bush's overall job approval was 36 percent -- down only 1 percentage point from the previous CNN poll to pose that question December 5-7.
Sixty-two percent said they disapproved of his performance in office, up from 57 percent in the early December poll.
The poll released Monday, which surveyed 1,019 adults, had a sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
John McCain’s War On Blogs
John McCain is an authoritarian who hates anything he cannot control. That certainly applies to the blogosphere.
However, if McCain wants a war, a war he shall have!
Think what happened to John Kerry was bad? Just wait.
Think Progress » John McCain’s War On Blogs:
John McCain has made clear that he doesn’t like the blogosphere.
Now he has introduced legislation that would treat blogs like Internet service providers and hold them responsible for all activity in the comments sections and user profiles. Some highlights of the legislation:John McCain has made clear that he doesn’t like the blogosphere.
Now he has introduced legislation that would treat blogs like Internet service providers and hold them responsible for all activity in the comments sections and user profiles. Some highlights of the legislation: (Read On: link above)
America wakes to dying dreams, dead soldiers
This is a tragic, tragic mess, and the man, who, at least in large part, is responsible for it, still sits in the White House.
He is as determined as ever that he was and is right and that the rest of us have been and are wrong. He will not admit any mistakes. He will not really reach out for help from people who know far more than he does about, well, everything.
He is so obstinate and absurd that, if given options, all bad, he is bound to choose the worst one; namely sending more troops, (30,000 is the largest number I've heard) into that hellish quagmire called Iraq.
He would rather see thousands more of our kids blown to pieces in a civil war that is none of our business, but was, nevertheless, predicted by many, many people to whom Bush and Cheney would not listen, before they launched the biggest war crime since Hitler tried taking over Europe and did so against the will of the U.N. and millions of people around the world, including millions of Americans.
His and his administration's lies did not make for a liberating force going into Iraq but, rather, for a force seeking vengeance for crimes the Iraqis knew nothing about, while the man our government says is responsible for these crimes, the crimes of 9/11, is still free.
It was just as predictable what this man, this failed CEO, would do as CEO of America Inc. ....and he has done it.
Power, like money, unearned and undeserved is often squandered and misused.
My sincere hope is that the younger generations of Americans, whose lives will not be the same as our were, will someday forgive us for allowing an unelected man to sit in the White House, but more importantly that they never forget the lessons of election 2000.
Roberts: America wakes to dying dreams, dead soldiers:
Yes, he fired Donald Rumsfeld. And yes, he will announce next year 'a new way forward.' But listen carefully. It's clear the president is not really interested in a 'new way' at all. He still firmly believes that his old way is right, that the war was justified, that 'victory' is the only way to keep Stokesdale safe.
His own words reflect no doubt or regret: 'Iraq is a central component of defeating the extremists who want to establish a safe haven in the Middle East, extremists who would use their safe haven from which to attack the United States. This is really the calling of our time, that is, to defeat the extremists and radicals.'
But the president has not only lost the 'battle for hearts and minds' across the Arab world, he's lost it across the United States. The people of Bapchule and Oxford no longer believe his words or trust his judgment. Virtually everything he ever said to them about the war — from 'Mission Accomplished' to 'absolutely, we're winning' — has been wrong.
Once, Americans might have shared his vision of a free, self-governing Iraq, but not any more. He has squandered their trust and betrayed their patriotism. The parents of Thibodaux and Cheektowaga no longer want to sacrifice their children to a lost cause.
Monday, December 18, 2006
Results in Iranian Vote Seen as Setback for Ahmadinejad
Seems the people of the world are getting sick and tired of cowboys, no matter their nationality.
Results in Iranian Vote Seen as Setback for Ahmadinejad - washingtonpost.com:
TEHRAN, Dec 17 -- Allies of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad failed to dominate elections for a powerful Iranian clerical body and local councils, according to early results Sunday, in what analysts said was a setback to the hard-line leader's standing.
Friday's elections for the clerical Assembly of Experts and for local councils, the first nationwide vote since Ahmadinejad took office in 2005, will not directly impact policy.
The President In the Room
How much of an issue will Bill be when Hill runs? Oh, Puleeze.
He is all the media will focus on, 24/7, for the entire election campaign. Silly season will be far sillier than usual.
What's worse, he can raise money by the truckloads, make her the Dem candidate and the electorate will be, once again, polarized in the general election.
Or, on the other hand, he might just remind the people, who are fed up with hypocritical, faux values of the current manifestation of the GOP, that what was done to him was not a national nightmare. It was not a constitutional crisis, until some in the GOP made it one.
By 2008, people will remember what a real national nightmare is, because we have been going through one for years and the constitutional crisis is soon coming.
The President In the Room - washingtonpost.com:
The spotlight was not Bill Clinton's. It belonged, instead, to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton as she celebrated her reelection victory.
So Bill stood poker-faced. He clasped his hands. He held his head high. He clapped when appropriate. He smiled ever so faintly. And he did not move. When Hillary offered thanks to him and turned around to acknowledge him, he did not step forward, did not step to her side. He stayed put, several feet away, as if taking pains to soak up not one ray of the spotlight he so dearly loves but that, now more than ever, must be hers and hers alone.
It was political Kabuki -- Bill Clinton, held in check -- on a night that some observers saw as the start of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. Bill is poised to mightily help or deeply hurt his wife's White House prospects. Either way, his impact will be profound as he undertakes the unprecedented role of ex-president turned male campaign spouse to the first woman ever to have a serious shot at the presidency.
Billage Idiot Still Refusing to Obey Supremes
He intends to do as he damn well pleases no matter what.
Well, he won't like the what we have in mind and neither will Vice.
Where are the Germans when we need them? Will you guys please come and get Rummy now?
village voice > news > Nat Hentoff by Nat Hentoff:
The Supreme Court ordered him to treat detainees as 'civilized peoples' do. He refuses.
by Nat Hentoff"
Well, he won't like the what we have in mind and neither will Vice.
Where are the Germans when we need them? Will you guys please come and get Rummy now?
village voice > news > Nat Hentoff by Nat Hentoff:
The Supreme Court ordered him to treat detainees as 'civilized peoples' do. He refuses.
by Nat Hentoff"
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Colin Powell takes on St. McCain’s “troop surge”–”The army is broken.”
Yeah, where, exactly are thr troops coming fom. I guess they could take all the inmates out of mental hospitals and send them, except Reagan closed most state institutions.
Ah, yes, the prisons. We will just send all our prisoners over there. It's win/win. We won't have to pay the prisoner $47,000/year, as we now have to pay, on average, to keep people locked up.
This started out to be a funny thought. But, with Bush and Cheney in the White House....well, this really could happen. What's worse, is that at least 30 of our slack-jawed, dipwad copuntrymen and women would wave the flag and belt out a few Hoowahs or other animal mating sounds.
Crooks and Liars » Colin Powell takes on St. McCain’s “troop surge”–”The army is broken.”: (see the video)
Colin Powell has a lot of problems with the McCain/Lieberman plan. Powell explains that the 'last surge' we had was a complete failure, so he's not persuaded a 'surge' is going to work without some kind of mission. I beg to differ. No matter what their mission is—it won't make a bit of difference.
Where are we going to get the troops that McCain/Lieberman want anyway
Christianists get sicker by the day
This is just about the sickest thing I have ever heard.
The last sickest thing I heard was about the Fundy Hell Houses, where they terrify little kids on Halloween, with various visions of hell.
My tax dollars will never go to support anything these sick-hateful people do, because, not matter what it; how noble a charity, they are finding away to indoctrinate young minds and sick ones into believing their twisted version of Christianity.
I have a feeling that the over-whelming ass-kicking the Goopers got in November is, at least, in part a vote against the Religiously insane being anywehere near the Halls of power.
Les Enragés.org:
The most insidious of war toys that will be given this year, however, is produced by Christians, for Christians. 'Left Behind: Eternal Forces' is a video game produced by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. The game is described on http://amazon.com as 'the ultimate fight of Good against Evil, commanding Tribulation Forces or the Global Community Peacekeepers, and uncover the truth about the worldwide disappearances! Wage a war of apocalyptic proportions and decide the fate of the world!'
Why is it that the only way Christians like LaHaye and his followers can envision saving the world is with bombs?
The last sickest thing I heard was about the Fundy Hell Houses, where they terrify little kids on Halloween, with various visions of hell.
My tax dollars will never go to support anything these sick-hateful people do, because, not matter what it; how noble a charity, they are finding away to indoctrinate young minds and sick ones into believing their twisted version of Christianity.
I have a feeling that the over-whelming ass-kicking the Goopers got in November is, at least, in part a vote against the Religiously insane being anywehere near the Halls of power.
Les Enragés.org:
The most insidious of war toys that will be given this year, however, is produced by Christians, for Christians. 'Left Behind: Eternal Forces' is a video game produced by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. The game is described on http://amazon.com as 'the ultimate fight of Good against Evil, commanding Tribulation Forces or the Global Community Peacekeepers, and uncover the truth about the worldwide disappearances! Wage a war of apocalyptic proportions and decide the fate of the world!'
Why is it that the only way Christians like LaHaye and his followers can envision saving the world is with bombs?
Farewell, Dense Prince
Don't know how MoDo stands to watch this crap.
I couldn't grab the remote fast enough!
Welcome to Pottersville: Farewell, Dense Prince:
James Baker ran after W. with a butterfly net for a while, but it is now clear that the inmates are still running the asylum.
The Defiant Ones came striding from the Pentagon yesterday, the troika of wayward warriors marching abreast in their dark suits and power ties. W., Rummy and Dick Cheney were so full of quick-draw confidence that they might have been sauntering down the main drag of Deadwood.
Far from being run out of town, the defense czar who rivals Robert McNamara for deadly incompetence has been on a victory lap in Baghdad, Mosul and Washington. Yesterday’s tribute had full military honors, a color guard, a 19-gun salute, an Old Guard performance with marching musicians — including piccolo players — in Revolutionary War costumes, John Philip Sousa music and the chuckleheaded neocons and ex-Rummy deputies who helped screw up the occupation, Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith, cheering in the audience.
Secrecy, the enemy of democracy
What's really shocking, is that the administration had begun it's secrecy campaign long before 9/11.
There were hidden agendas every where.
Secrecy, the enemy of democracy Chicago Tribune:
Excessive government secrecy is the enemy of democracy. Secrecy cripples public debate. Citizens cannot understand, monitor, and evaluate public policies if they are kept in the dark about the actions of their elected representatives. Secrecy is the ultimate form of censorship because the people do not even know they are being censored.
Excessive secrecy is also the enemy of competence. We make better decisions when we consider more rather than fewer perspectives. We make better decisions when we openly debate the alternatives. We make better decisions when we know we have to justify our judgments and know we will be held accountable for our mistakes. Secrecy undermines all these values.
Excessive secrecy has been a consistent theme of the Bush administration. It refused to disclose the names of those it detained after Sept. 11. It has adopted a crabbed interpretation of the Freedom of Information Act, rendering millions of pages of government documents unavailable to the American people. It closed deportation proceedings from public scrutiny. It has redacted vast quantities of 'sensitive' information from thousands of government Web sites. It secretly authorized the National Security Agency to engage in electronic surveillance of American citizens. It secretly established prisons in Eastern Europe and secretly authorized rendition and torture. It secretly authorized the indefinite detention of American citizens. It has concealed the cost of its policies in 'special appropriations' bills, threatened public employees and newspapers with criminal prosecution for revealing its secrets, and deliberately masked its motives, its policies and its failures from We the People.
Jonah Goldberg comes out as fascist
Another example of becoming what one despises.
Goldberg has got to be just about the dumbest man on earth.
He should have to live under someone like Pinochet.
He makes me sick!
It's journalistic quackery like this that is sending newspapers into bankruptcy, much faster than the NET ever could.
Iraq needs a Pinochet - Los Angeles Times:
I THINK ALL intelligent, patriotic and informed people can agree: It would be great if the U.S. could find an Iraqi Augusto Pinochet. In fact, an Iraqi Pinochet would be even better than an Iraqi Castro.
Both propositions strike me as so self-evident as to require no explanation. But as I have discovered in recent days, many otherwise rational people can't think straight when the names Fidel Castro and Augusto Pinochet come up.
Goldberg has got to be just about the dumbest man on earth.
He should have to live under someone like Pinochet.
He makes me sick!
It's journalistic quackery like this that is sending newspapers into bankruptcy, much faster than the NET ever could.
Iraq needs a Pinochet - Los Angeles Times:
I THINK ALL intelligent, patriotic and informed people can agree: It would be great if the U.S. could find an Iraqi Augusto Pinochet. In fact, an Iraqi Pinochet would be even better than an Iraqi Castro.
Both propositions strike me as so self-evident as to require no explanation. But as I have discovered in recent days, many otherwise rational people can't think straight when the names Fidel Castro and Augusto Pinochet come up.
Jimmy Carter's Mideast book polarizes opinion
We're with Jimmy on this one. Israel is rapidy losing it, from our perspective.
Someone needs to tell Israel that it is not America's 51st state.
Jimmy Carter's Mideast book polarizes opinion - Yahoo! News:
ATLANTA (Reuters) - A new book by Jimmy Carter in which he compares Israel's treatment of Palestinians to South Africa's Apartheid system has sparked a bitter debate over the former U.S. president's reputation as a peacemaker.
Jewish groups have expressed outrage at the book 'Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid,' arguing its comparison of Israel to the racist South African regime could undermine the perception of Israel's legitimacy.
Carter, 82, has been dogged by protests during a promotional tour and Ken Stein, a long-time advisor on Middle East issues who was also the first executive director at the Carter Center in Atlanta, resigned over the book's content.
In an interview with Reuters, Stein cited a passage from the book that said it was imperative for Arabs and Palestinians to 'make it clear that they will end the suicide bombings and other acts of terrorism when international laws and the ultimate goals of the Roadmap for peace are accepted by Israel.'
Edwards set to launch '08 bid; Bayh out
Smart move Evan. You are even more boring than poor John Kerry, but at least he does have a brain.
Good luck, John!
Edwards set to launch '08 bid; Bayh out - Yahoo! News:
WASHINGTON - Sen. Evan Bayh (news, bio, voting record) on Saturday ended his White House bid while 2004 vice presidential nominee John Edwards finalized plans to get in, fast-paced jockeying in a Democratic race under the shadow of two unannounced candidates.
Bayh decided he could not compete with Sens. Hillary Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois, whose possible candidacies have dominated the positioning almost two years before the actual election.
Edwards, the former North Carolina senator, has decided he can and is planning to announce his campaign in New Orleans between Christmas and New Year's, two Democrats said.
Edwards' novel choice of sites shows how he wants to distinguish his candidacy: emphasizing policies he believes can unite a country divided by economic inequality, a situation no more evident than in the city's Lower Ninth Ward, still recovering from Hurricane Katrina.
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