Tell me he did not say opining!
That damn skippy hippy.
Now can you dig that, sucka?!

Australia Threatened
By US State Terrorism
Dr Gideon Polya
Melbourne, Victoria

After a 4 decade career as a scientist, I have almost finished researching and writing a huge book on global avoidable mortality. "State terrorism" has had massive complicity in global avoidable mortality (excess mortality) that now totals 1.3 billion since 1950. While "jihadist" and insurgent "non-state terrorists" have killed 5,000 Western civilians over the last 20 years, US state terrorism is complicit in a post-invasion avoidable mortality and under-5 infant mortality in Occupied Iraq and Afghanistan now totalling 2.1 million and 1.7 million, respectively.

There is an appalling record of US state terrorism over the last half century and of US support for non-state terrorism in Africa (e.g. in civil wars), Asia (e.g. mujaheddin and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, US Al Qaeda support in the Balkans into the mid-1990s; US covert terrorism in Iraq) and Latin America (e.g. the US School of Americas trained 60,000 Latin American military and police personnel including torturers, dictators, death squads, state terrorists and non-state terrorists; US terrorist squads bombed churches in Ecuador; horrendous death squads, Contra rebels and other terrorism in Latin America).
--------------
What kind of terrorism are you afraid of David. Osama in a cave with a cell phone? Or the real kind?

Perhaps bush can't distinguish background noise from cacophony.

Bill Frist is being investigated for insider trading; Harriet Miers is under attack from various quarters; Tom Delay is under indictment; bush's War of Choice is a disaster; and Fitzgerald's investigation extends to WH senior officials, perhaps even to Cheney -- and bush isn't distracted?

If he isn't distracted, it just shows he's crazy and/or in denial; or crazy and/or uninformed. Or all three.

You need to wake up from your delirium, and stop drinking the Liberal cool-aid. Are you really stupid enough to believe the MSM's made up ideas about Rove being indicted for a crime he did not commit. DeLay is being chased by an idiot in Texas. Come on... You Liberals surely can do better than this.

This war in Iraq is one of the most documented wars on record. The White House in its fervent effort to hide the truth about the actions of Halliburton and privatization has instead made the world hungry for the real story.

This White House entered into this war with lies. It uses private soldiers who are arrogant bullies. The military has been given the green light to use torture and then was left without leadership. There is so much fraud it can't be measured. We all know this because reporters, real journalists, have gone in and dug out the truth. You can't crush the truth President Bush. You can't ignore reality. You can't rewrite history.

Was Plame Outed
by a Foreign Spy?
The Larry Franklin-Plame connection
by Justin Raimondo

...Amid all the speculation about who outed Plame, and who was in a position to know what she was up to, it is odd that no one has mentioned the possibility of a foreign intelligence agency being involved. Yet this would explain the nature of the conspiracy that Fitzgerald is said to be pursuing, going far beyond a possible violation of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act –†and crossing the line into espionage.

Was Plame outed by agents of a foreign power? Given what we know, it's entirely possible. As to which country would be ruthless –†and motivated –†enough to do it, I hereby nominate "Foreign Nation A" as the most likely candidate.
------------
Guess who "Foreign Nation A" is. David, I am very curious as to why you haven't been following this more doggedly. I am no insider journalist, but I saw this coming months ago. Many blogs got it right immediately, just like they got the "no WMD's in Iraq" correct while the MSM was screaming for war. Who is protecting these people? Why is this info. so slow to come out?

Scott,
Shouldn't you be preparing for the White House briefing?

Jeanne, he's probably the one who buried the anti-UFO gadget under his house!

With friends like this who needs enemies?
Tom DeLay's lawyer is so lame.

DeLay's Lawyer Lies about Move On

"Tom DeLay’≥ attorney, Dick DeGuerin, claims that the judge presiding over DeLay’≥ criminal case in Texas, Bob Perkins, should be disqualified. A central part of his claim is that an organization that Perkins has donated to in the past, MoveOn, is selling t-shirts with Tom DeLay’≥ mug shot..."

Mr. David Corn,

The issue is not limited to LNG trucks. We have every port, every train and every truck that carries volatile, flammable, or even just potential contaminates that need our close attention.

I thought the Homeland Security Department was suppose to address this vulnerability but I guess I had set my sights too high for the capabilities of this administration. We need a real plan for security but are given instructions to buy duct tape and plastic sheeting.

Thanks again for all of your work.

Kirk

Capt, Homeland Security, like all other bushco applied labels, means the exact opposite of what the label implies. In this case, "Homeland FEAR and INSECURITY!"

Check out this article from Harpers, they hit the nail smack on the head.

Harper's Magazine: We Now Live in a Fascist State

To help prepare you for what follows, here are the final sentence from this piece.... [I think we can look forward with confidence to character-building bankruptcies, picturesque bread riots, thrilling cavalcades of splendidly costumed motorcycle police.]

Death Watch at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

By DOUG THOMPSON
Oct 21, 2005, 08:12

For all practical purposes, governing the nation has stopped at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue as aides deal with an increasingly despondent President, mounting scandals and defecting dissidents from the Ship of State.

White House insiders say George W. Bush’≥ mood swings have increased to the point where meetings with the President must be cancelled, schedules shifted and plans changed to keep a bitter, distracted leader from the public eye.

"He’≥ like a zombie some days, walking around in a trance," says one aide who, for obvious reasons, asks not to be identified. "Other times he launches into angry outbursts, cussing out anybody who gets near him."

Aides say gallows humor has descended on the White House, where the West Wing is now referred to as "death row" and Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, along with Vice Presidential Chief of Staff Scooter Libby, are known as "dead men walking," a reference to the last walk death row inmates take to the execution chamber.

With indictments expected against Libby or Rove or both any day now from the Valerie Plame scandal, the White House mood has a "Final Days" aura ("Final Days" was the title of Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward’≥ book about the last days of the Nixon administration). Although no one expects President Bush to be impeached or resign, Internet blogs buzzed this week with talk of a possible resignation by Vice President Dick Cheney.

"The fa?ade is gone and we are now seeing the Bush White House in all its incompetent glory," says retired political science professor George Harleigh. "They’∂e ignored reality for too long."

*****end of clip*****

So some people are finally seeing the emperor has no clothes and never did. It is about time.

capt

Saladin,

#11 - Great article!

Thanks

capt

the Labor Department said that average weekly earnings, after adjusting for inflation, fell 1.2%. Market Watch notes that "Real average hourly earnings are down 2.4% in the past year, while real average weekly earnings are down 2.7%, the biggest drop in 14 years."
------------
And this at the same time that inflation is running at roughly 10%.
Another sign of a "booming" economy?

Another interesting factoid, according to Harper's Index, the portion of all U.S. foreign aid that goes to helping the recipients buy U.S.-produced weapons, equipment or services is 1/4.
------------
The better to spread democracy my dear!

http://tinyurl.com/7b9lh

Greetings old-timers and new . . .

With all the fun with Plame, I've hardly had a chance to enjoy Delay's mug shot . . .

Here in Scottsdale/Phoenix, there were a ridiculous amount of Bush/Cheney bumper stickers. There's no way for me to know, other than the hour and a half commuting time I spend on the roads, but it seems that there is a noticeable about of these bumper stickers disappearing. Very Christian of them . . . stabbing their leader in the back like that . . . kicking him when he's down . . . I need a tissue . . .

16 Yes, I've noticed the same phenomenon here around Charleston, South Carolina - used to be you couldn't turn your head without seeing one - now, not so much. Scott at #4 still has his on, though. Never give up the ship...

Greetings to all, friend and foe alike, from the fetid, stinking, steamy, malaria ridden swamps of South Carolina - ;)

From: Save the USA
Bush & Co are criminals looting America.
Congress is Complicit.

The #1 Most Buried Story: Halliburton pumping the oil that's not even metered.

Filed under: misc, Iraq, US Govt, media silenced, headline news.

No, it's not the Downing Street Memo, or the $9 Billion lost in Iraq, or the 52 warnings before 9/11 (info that was suppressed before the election, which should nullify the election.)
The #1 buried story is the fact that Halliburton has been pumping the oil in Iraq since 2003, and it hasn't been metered. This was revealed by the Inspector General's report on the missing $9 billion, and highlighted by Galloway's awesome testimony before the Senate this May.

Have a look at the oil that you didn't even meter, that you were shipping out of the country and selling, the proceeds of which went who knows where?

Gee, and oil prices have been at all time highs, coincidence?
--------
I have a couple theories about where all the oil is going.

From: Antiwar.com

Don't Play Innocent, Democrats
by Gary Ashbeck

Let us not forget the road's beginning, which is sometimes easy to do. The House passed Joint Resolution 114 authorizing the use of the United States armed forces against Iraq on Oct. 10, 2002, by a vote of 296-133 (note: 81 Democrats voted for authorization, six Republicans voted against). On Oct. 11, it passed the Senate by a vote of 77-23 (again: 28 Democrats voted to give authorization, one Republican against). It was signed by the president and became law on Oct. 16, 2002. To those who think Congress moves slowly, all of this transpired in two weeks. Three hundred seventy-three representatives, including 109 from the so-called opposition party, such as presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, sent our family members off to war.
------------
Excellent article. We should not give them any wiggle room. They are either for or against this illegal and immoral war. The time for excuses is over.

David asks, Is Bush in denial?

Once I thought Bush knew a lot of things that he wasn't telling us.

Then I thought Bush maybe didn't know much about what goes on in the White House other than what gets reported in the papers.

Now I believe Bush doesn't know as much about the White House as a reasonably well-informed person.

He doesn't read newspapers or watch the news. He only talks to a handful of people, and he doesn't mind when those people lie to him as long as they don't tell him anything he doesn't want to hear. He consistently rewards and punishes people based on how much they stroke his ego, without regard to their qualifications or honesty.

Denial? More like determined ignorance.

Is Bush in denial?
David-- Is that a question ???

...........

"Neck deep in the big muddy and the damn fool says
'Push On' "
...Pete Seeger

"The situation is urgent, therefore we must slow down"
...Buddhist Asanna

"The sky is falling, the sky is falling
Oh but it always was"
...unknown

Later,
th

Scott says to wake up from our delirium
What the MSM is reporting sure does bother'm
Maybe it's hitting a little too close to home
For the one he claims to be the "Idiot in Texas"
Is not the one that got them all into this Mess

Hi again, Mr. Corn , Kirk, plus the rest of you all. I am petition-guy, that is to say www.warisaracket.org and you will notice I quoted Billy Bragg next to my signature.
I am aware that THIRTY ONE months have been spent already, by the US military, on the ground in Iraq. One question for everyone here ( and everyone yet to be born ) D O YOU think that the conventional, traditional US military will EVER recover from the disaster that is
Commander-In-Chief B U S H ? I think not.

Timothy, I think we are doomed, mainly because our so-called opposition party is up to their ears in guilt and deceit, they are as wretched as bushco in their complicity.

There once was a group known as WHIG
Whose goal was to start a war big,
They told lies and half-truths to Miller
A stenographer who scribed as their shiller.
So now what will Rove try to rig?

Saladin, you speak the truth. How many elderly wealthy candidates for the Presidency in ' 0 8 will we get to see ?
Please keep in mind that I have relatives, some younger than me, that were planning on living here in the USA for the immediate future. I would hope someone in Washington DC would take that to heart. Apparently not.

Take care, Timothy

The latest on Delay's lawyers is... he's filed, or is going to file, a change of venue out of Austin. Now, considering his group spent a bunch of money to flood certain areas with their bullshyt ads attacking Ronnie Earle... what's the chances of Delay's lawyers asking the case be moved to one of those areas? ya think?
It's been already mentioned the ads were to 'influence the jury pool', now all they gotta do is browbeat the judge until he steps aside. I'd sure like to see more fact-based reporting on this.

i'm moving

On cutting and running: friends from Baghdad are telling me that there is increasing sentiment not so much for the US to withdraw whatever security it provides, but instead, for the US to withdraw and to "just let it happen." It's like why delay the inevitable.

eggman:

Some suggest that bush is wilfully ignorant. He may be. Or, he may be just plain stupid. Or his brain is fried. He cannot remember what his handlers tell him from one day to the next. He can only speak in complete sentences when he has notes or a TelePrompter to aid him. He tells us frequently that he "fully understands" this or that -- then he makes no sense.

The only thing that bush "fully understands" is his regime's intention to realign the values of the rest of the world so they are more in line with "American values" (read: neo-con values). If bush has to do this through the barrel of a gun, well tough s**t. He's going to "unleash the force of freedom" to the rest of the world. His speechalist told him to say that and he fully understands that. Other than that, he doesn't know jacks**t.

Well, I don't suppose David C. has the ability to read all the nonsense we post here, but I did provide a link to Gen. Odom's piece a while back.

I am concerned with the attempt to raise the threat alarm about LNG by HSToday. If this is their sort of "science" in terms of describing potential events, then we all need to be more worried about those that are administering our programs than about the terrorists who might use such things as weapons. Combustible clouds that float over cities is certainly a nightmarish scenario, but a wee bit difficult for heavier than air gases don't you think. Likewise the suggestion that such an explosion would release "electromagnetic radiation" challenges the most commonly understood notions of physics. Are we talking about EMP forms, or nuclear type gamma particles?? What???

The dangers from LNG are much more significant, but not in terms of terrorist activities. The fuel itself requires enormous processing especially if it is the "wetter" or "heavier" version found in the US. Sites would need to be built in vast locations each requiring millions of gallons of water, preferably sea water, all of which may or may not be polluted, but will certainly be heated and thus damaging to the local ecosystems. The types of problems go on and on. We do a disservice to the public intellect when we report misleading and exaggerated threats, while overlooking the very real and very immediate ones. LNG is a very real threat; but long before it would be one because of terrorists.

I wanted to post this once more for those who may have missed it. There seems to be no bottom to the pit of evil these psychos are capable of.

Congress Set to Pass Law Eliminating Liability For Vaccine Injuries

WASHINGTON, Oct. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Vaccine Information
Center (NVIC) is calling the "Biodefense and Pandemic Vaccine and Drug
Development Act of 2005"(S. 1873), which passed out of the U.S. Senate HELP
Committee one day after it was introduced "a drug company stockholder's dream
and a consumer's worst nightmare." The proposed legislation will strip
Americans of the right to a trial by jury if harmed by an experimental or
licensed drug or vaccine that they are forced by government to take whenever
federal health officials declare a public health emergency.
The legislation's architect, Senator Richard Burr (R-NC), Chairman of the
HELP Subcommittee on Bioterrorism and Public Health Preparedness, told the
full HELP Committee yesterday that the legislation "creates a true
partnership" between the federal government, the pharmaceutical industry and
academia to walk the drug companies "through the Valley of Death" in bringing
a new vaccine or drug to market. Burr said it will give the Department of
Health and Human Services "additional authority and resources to partner with
the private sector to rapidly develop drugs and vaccines." The Burr bill gives
the Secretary of DHHS the sole authority to decide whether a manufacturer
violated laws mandating drug safety and bans citizens from challenging his
decision in the civil court system.
-------------
More back stabbing from our dear leaders. Thanks congress, we know you have our best interests at heart. Now I suppose they just scream "pandemic" and everyone will be forced to get a shot, they could purposely infect us with the flu and there would be no recourse.

I just wanted to point out that there's a misnomer in your article today. Natural gas does not alter its mass due to a temperature change. Nothing can alter its own mass. If you have 20g of a gas, then at low temperatures, you'll still have 20g but it will be in liquid form.

#27 Alan --

I read that the Administrative judge (Republican) will decide if the current judge (Perkins?) has to step aside.

So does Dick DeGuerin practice "judge shopping" in his legal practice? Sure looks like it to me. I know the law permits "venue-shopping" and "forum-shopping" to some measure, but judge shopping should be verboten since eligible judges are picked randomly -- the luck of the draw, if you will.

Things in this country are getting mighty bad when legislators who craft laws try to manipulate the assignment of judges when THEY are on trial in hopes of getting a more favorable outcome.

Actually, the Republican Party in Washington State went "venue-shopping" when the Repug loser in the governor's race tried to overturn the election. They got a "favorite" conservative Republican judge in a rural county to hear their case -- and guess what? He did not rule in the Repugs' favor! The judge applied the rules of law.

Final Exam

Students, since you are my graduate students, I have upgraded the final exam. An earlier exam was for my undergraduate students. You have worked really hard these past four and one half years. You have seen our country go from a democracy to a Nazi/fascist government. OUR ELECTIONS ARE ELECTRONICALLY RIGGED WITH NO PAPER TRAIL. SHALOM AND THE COMMON GOOD HAVE RECEIVED THEIR DEATH NOTICES. In the process of change you have encountered more stress, nightmares, sickness, loss in wages, diseases, more contaminated waters, no health care, higher cost in drugs, more autism due to the increase in mercury exposure, outsourcing of jobs, more corporate corruption, higher costs in education, more lies, more wrong and immoral wars, a new god known as the bushgod, more porn from companies that contribute great amounts of money into the coffers of repugnants, more hatred, killing, torture, more crimes against humanity, and murders.

Your final exam will be only one question. How do you characterize and evaluate Bush and his Nazi/fascist regime?
a. corrupt
b. rotten
c. vile
d. scumbags
e. slime balls
f. demented
g. depraved
h. deranged
i. low life sludges
j. grubs
k. putrid stenches
l. definitely weasel like
m. decaying, smelling turds
n. broccoli farts
o. greedy
p. liars
q. warmongers
r. miserable
s. pathetic
t. worthless
u. clueless
v. useless
w. all of the above

Good luck with your exam and have a happy and safe vacation! With Bush’≥ temper tantrums increasing and his mind frying from over use of drugs this unstable low life may be signaling new wars to solidify his legacy as a murderer and a war criminal president. Being a war president Americans will be even less safe. After Iran will be North Korea and several thousand off range nuclear missiles aimed at China. These attacks will put the American people in such disarray that there will no longer be any elections and the Nazi regime is in full control.

Bush is
1. distracted
2. crazy
3. uninformed
4. a zombie
5. in a trance
6. all of the above

Can you imagine what Bush would be like now if the journalists did their job starting in 2001?

Do Americans really want to spread their values of murders and war crimes around the world?

America's Asian Empire

Some informative reading!

American Democracy Is Married to American Terrorism

The USA is the poster country for murders and war crimes.

There's a line in the movie Little Big Man, in which Dustin Hoffman remenisces, "I was a terrible liar". Meaning an habitual one.

I was too far into my young adulthood before it dawned on me just how much I hated admitting to error. I was never a practitioneer of the Big Lie, but when I felt my pride was on the line, I could bob and weave with the best of them. The joke was on me, of course. Admitting mistakes the easiest thing in the world to do, and also the most relaxing.

Some people never learn that simple life lesson. Bush has based an entire life on living, breathing, and, above all, thinking in terms of his own Big Lies. At this point, he is as incapable of uttering the simplest of truth about himself as a small child in an empty room where a lamp has just been broken.

Recent American Ads

The new ads have America recruiting for new immigrants as never before. GIVE US YOUR MURDERERS, YOUR TORTURERS, YOUR LIARS, YOUR CROOKS, YOUR PORN PRODUCERS AND YOU YOUR PORN STARS, YOUR LOW LIFES, YOUR SLIME BUCKETS, AND YOUR SCUM BAGS AND WE WILL MAKE WAR CRIMINALS OF THEM.

Americans are only cannon fodder for the American government.

Brothers and Sisters - Awake!

American Soldiers

2,234 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan for Bush’≥ evil lies.

America is ruled by fascist pigs!!!!!

America is ruled by the antichrist (bush, money, and nuclear weapons).

Beware of false a prophet (Bush)!!!!!

Correction: Beware of a false prophet (Bush)!!!!!

Grief

Americans have gone through the grieving process since 9-11. Since 9-11, the American government has placed fear in the minds and hearts of Americans. Our human and civil rights have been taken away from us.

Americans have gone through five stages of grief. At first Americans were in the denial stage and from there they have gone into the anger stage because our government has taken away our rights. From there they entered the bargaining stage. Maybe being enslaved is not so bad. Most patriotic Americans fell into depression or the fourth stage. Now, all Americans have accepted our Nazi government and they have willingly given up their freedoms and rights.

Yes, acceptance is the fifth and final stage of grief. All Americans are accepting hatred, killing, torture, wars, corruption, greed, lying, our inhumanity, depravity, decadence, and loss of our freedoms and rights.

Our death as a nation is having Bush as an emperor and having the neocons, the fundamentalists, and the evangelicals in complete power and control over our lives.

Are killing and torture natural sports for Americans?

What is Tucker Carlson?

From Wikipedia:

BLEVE, pronounced blevy, is an acronym for Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapour Explosion. This is a type of explosion that can occur when a vessel containing a pressurized liquid is ruptured. Such explosions can be extremely hazardous. When the liquid is water, the explosion is usually called a steam explosion.

A BLEVE can occur in a vessel that stores a substance that is usually a gas at atmospheric pressure but is a liquid when pressurized (for example, liquefied petroleum gas). The substance will be stored partly in liquid form, with a gaseous vapour above the liquid filling the remainder of the container.

If the vessel is ruptured - for example, due to corrosion, or failure under pressure - the vapour portion may rapidly leak, dropping the pressure inside the container and releasing a wave of overpressure from the point of rupture. This sudden drop in pressure inside the container causes violent boiling of the liquid, which rapidly liberates large amounts of vapour in the process. The pressure of this vapour can be extremely high, causing a second, much more significant wave of overpressure (i.e., an explosion) which may completely destroy the storage vessel and project it as shrapnel over the surrounding area.

A BLEVE does not require a flammable substance to occur, and therefore is not usually considered a type of chemical explosion. However, if the substance involved is flammable, it is likely that the resulting cloud of the substance will ignite after the BLEVE proper has occurred, forming a fireball and possibly a fuel-air explosion. BLEVEs can also be caused by an external fire nearby the storage vessel causing heating of the contents and pressure build-up.

Significant industrial BLEVEs include the accidents at Feyzin in France in 1966, Texas City, Texas in 1978, and San Juan Ixhuatepec in Mexico in 1984.

BLEVE is also a humorous backronym for Blast Leveling Everything Very Effectively.

Mr. Corn,
Kaz makes a valid point to a degree. I believe you must hve meant 1/600th of the volume and 600x the density of the gaseous form. This is still very dangerous, but mass cannot be changed without addition of reactants. But what is a little LNG with all of the spent uranium we are flinging around?

It was fun to read that Rove acknowledged talking about Plame and then threw Scooter Libby under the bus. Reminds me of the old teenage gambit of admitting doing something, but claiming it was someone else's idea. "Scooter did it first!" What a defense. Go after each other boys. Assasinate some character and spread some dirt. It is what you do best. After all , if you do not continue to bring people down to save your own asses, you dishonor all of those you brought down before.

Solly

anonimouse,
Thanks, that was just what I was getting at. Good old PV=nRT will get you every time when dealing with highly pressurized explosive substances. That is why you never let aerosol cans around a flame. My guess is that W is about as comfortable with Chem. 101 as he is with the English language.

Solly

Good to hear from you Solly!

from # 35... ...and guess what? He did not rule in the Repugs' favor! The judge applied the rules of law.

YAY! Yeah, I think "change of venue" is diff than changing judges. If I'm not mistaken, you can change venues (jury pool), but the judge travels just like everybody else. Delay wants both, a more koolaid-drinking jury pool and a lock-step repug judge. Let's hope he gets neither.

This whole war in Iraq is going to end badly. There is no way to prevent it. The Shia want their oil in the south, and the Kurds want their oil in the north returned to them. Add to that old religious, ethnic, and tribal hatred, and add to that the thousands of scores that need to be settled because of the insurrgency of the past couple years...and I can see nothing but a bad result for Iraq. We may as well pull out now, and let it collapse. Actually, that might scare islamic states from attacking us....attack America, and we'll ruin your country for a couple generations.

Unless Bush is living in a psycotic state, he has to be confused, bitter and angry. Like an obedient child, he did everything the 'grownups' around him told him to do, but nothing has turned out...nothing.

Bob in North Dakota

HAS ANYONE HEARD THIS? I just got a phone call from a flighty friend with good intentions...

She said she just heard on Hardball that Matthews said, as followup to a David Schuster report, that Fitzgerald's investigation has expanded into the realm of hyped WMD info, Niger documents, etc.

Alan, in the disputed governor's race here in Washington State, it wasn't a jury trial. So, I guess it's a different kettle of fish -- but the Repugs were SHOCKED that their "judge shopping" back-fired on them.

Maybe he's a David Souter in disguise. ;-))

Bob, I don't know how this war can end at all with Israel constantly provoking war on the entire middle east. I don't understand why they don't take care of their own problems, why are our children being sacrificed to the interest of Israel, the only country over there with nukes? Why is Israel's security so critical to our security? And why do we keep going along with it, when they have violated nearly every UN resolution against them that came down the pike. Didn't we attack Iraq ostensibly because they violated a UN resolution? This is such bullshit!

( Anyone who already has ---- Thank You )

Hey everybody, war is a racket .

Rich get richer, poor die off ( repeat )

Please visit www.warisaracket.org

and please put your name to it.

Thank You, Timothy ( I am Name
Number 102 )

Timothy, I wish I had faith that anything we do will help, but I truly believe, even though I have signed many petitions, that they have as much chance of success as poor Rachel Corry had trying to stop that bulldozer.

Has anyone posted the news that Fitzgerald opened a website? What do you think that means? Ha HA. You don't open a website for nothing.

Office of Special Council

Saladin,
I saw your posting on the attempts of congress to take away the ability of patients to sue after harmed from vaccines. I noticed in the paper today another issue similar to that. They congress is trying to keep anyone harmed by lead paint from suing.

When big business gets through they will be able to put any bad product on the market and the consumer will have to live with the danger and the harm done.

Alan and Texas friends,
Good luck to your baseball team. I say this even though you stole our hockey team. (I'm not a hockey fan anyway)
The media is already saying Chicago is going to win. Don't be so sure about that. Minnesota Twins were underdogs in both series they won. They were even supposed to lose because they they were on the cover of the Sports Illustrated. Have a great time!!!!

if one ponders the events of 911 and dwells on the likely identities of the perpetrators, one might come to the conclusion that we are living under a constant threat of another terror attack

http://stopthelie.com/davidgriffin.html

Theologian Says Controlled Demolition is Now a Fact, Not a Theory

In two speeches to overflow crowds in New York last weekend, notable theologian David Ray Griffin argued that recently revealed evidence seals the case that the Twin Towers and WTC-7 were destroyed by controlled demolition with explosives. Despite the many enduring mysteries of the 9/11 attacks, Dr. Griffin concluded, "It is already possible to know, beyond a reasonable doubt, one very important thing: the destruction of the World Trade Center was an inside job, orchestrated by terrorists within our own government."

On Oct. 15th and 16th, New Yorkers filled two venues to hear the prominent theologian and author of two books on 9/11 give a presentation entitled "The Destruction of the Trade Towers: A Christian Theologian Speaks Out." Dr. Griffin has continued to blaze a trail of courage, leading where most media and elected officials have feared to tread. His presentation went straight to the core of one of the most powerful indictments of the official story, the collapse of the towers and WTC 7.

micki @ 57
Yes I was watching hardball tonight and I thought that comment was a bombshell. John Harwood of the WSJ said if they start going there (lies on WMD / Niger document forgeries) it's going to be an earthquake in Washington.

By the way, Chris used the word impeach at least twice on the show but not in the Presidential context - Freudian slips.

Mr. Corn, perhaps you should read this:
Theologian Says Controlled Demolition
is Now a Fact, Not a Theory
after all, it was YOU who said "show me the evidence"

brent @ #67

thnx.

Re: Post #68

"The implications are indeed disturbing. Many people who know or at least suspect the truth about 9/11 probably believe that revealing it would be so disturbing to the American psyche, the American form of government, and global stability that it is better to pretend to believe the official version".

In desparate times the simple truth is often that which is feared most.

Rise of the 'Patriotic Journalist'

By Robert Parry
October 20, 2005

The apex for the "skeptical journalists" came in the mid-1970s when the press followed up exposure of Richard Nixon’s Watergate scandal and disclosure of the Vietnam War’s Pentagon Papers with revelations of CIA abuses, such as illegal spying on Americans and helping Chile’s army oust an elected government

There were reasons for this new press aggressiveness. After some 57,000 U.S. soldiers had died in Vietnam during a long war fought for murky reasons, many reporters no longer gave the government the benefit of the doubt.

The press corps’ new rallying cry was the public’s right to know, even when the wrongdoing occurred in the secretive world of national security.

But this journalistic skepticism represented an affront to government officials who had long enjoyed a relatively free hand in the conduct of foreign policy. The Wise Men and the Old Boys – the stewards of the post-World War II era – now faced a harder time lining up public consensus behind any action.

This national security elite, including then-CIA Director George H.W. Bush, viewed the post-Vietnam journalism as a threat to America’s ability to strike at its perceived enemies around the world.

*****end of clip*****

Not his best work but an interesting take.

capt

I'm...I'm...
I'm seeing a vision...
Yes...It's getting clearer now...
Rove...Scooter..Indicited...
Cheney...
He's there too!

But wait, there's more...
A take over from within the Republican party!
It's...
No, it can't be...
It's...
McCain!

He got that VP spot...
Then comes sweet revenge...
He gets the remaining Republicans...
The ones that want to keep their jobs...
...To impeach Bush!

Armored Humvees Never Made It To Iraq

By TARA COPP
Oct 21, 2005, 07:14

Hundreds of new, top-of-the-line armored Humvees are parked in Texas and Kuwait and won't be shipped to troops in Iraq even though those soldiers face daily roadside bombs, the Army acknowledged Thursday.

The Army said it's keeping the vehicles out of Iraq until the 3rd Infantry Division's replacements, the 4th Infantry Division, arrive at the end of the year.

When the war began, most of the Humvees didn't have the supplemental armor. That vulnerability was quickly exploited by insurgents and led to quick fixes, including makeshift, welded-on armor and mass production of "kits" to upgrade the vehicles. The 824 new vehicles are the newest and most modern, with not only more protection but sophisticated communications equipment to help the soldiers in battle.

But the new communications equipment does not work with systems the 3rd Infantry Division is trained to use, and commanders in Iraq can't spare the soldiers to train them on the new systems, Cody said. So the new, modern Humvees will continue to sit until the 4th Infantry Division moves in, he said.

Rep. Rob Simmons, R-Conn., pointed out that the 3rd Infantry Division faces more than 30 roadside bomb attacks a day. "With the families I know, the idea that we have the equipment, that it's been produced but is sitting in a parking lot, is a matter of concern," Simmons said.

*****end of clip*****

I had a feeling the troops were not going to see the armored up Hummvees.

capt

I would like to request a subject. The recent decision to re-open the GM/UAW contract and have workers pay more for their healthcare. Workers do make good middle class wages and receive some of the best health benefits in the country. The problem is that instead of increasing other people's benefits to exceed those of autoworkers (such as college grads, and other more educated, though most skilled trades require a four year degree at automakers). the richies are working to reduce those guys benefits and then bring everyone's healthcare down, not make it better. Just some comments would be appreciated. I am looking for help in this fight.
thank you

I would like to request a subject. The recent decision to re-open the GM/UAW contract and have workers pay more for their healthcare. Workers do make good middle class wages and receive some of the best health benefits in the country. The problem is that instead of increasing other people's benefits to exceed those of autoworkers (such as college grads, and other more educated, though most skilled trades require a four year degree at automakers). the richies are working to reduce those guys benefits and then bring everyone's healthcare down, not make it better. Just some comments would be appreciated. I am looking for help in this fight.
thank you

capt,

Very good clip, and it echoes my own thinking on our present situation with our government and it's gargantuan malfeasance.

"Plamegate" may actually become exactly that.

Hey Gerald, you' like this site...

What God says vs. what George hears.

Bryan K, Delphi just filed for bankruptcy. Before they did that they asked the UAW to agree to lowering their wages to $10 an hour and paying from up from 7% to 27% of their healthcare. Bwahahaha! Let them file, I said. Who could live on the halved wages and an increase in heathcare? It's time to watch our backs because business indeed wants to get everyone in this country to accept earning Chinese/Mexican wages. Funny though, they still want us to buy all their shit. And isn't it funny that the guys at the top never cut their wages? Well, it's not funny at all. Just proves the people at the top watch out for themselves and no one else and the rest of us are doomed.

Imperial Candor

Billmon

I just got finished reading the full transcript of the talk given by Larry Wilkerson (Colin Powell's chief of staff) at the New America Foundation on Wednesday. There is some truly scary stuff in there -- going way beyond the "cabal" comment that's been the soundbite of choice for the corporate media. Like this rather ominous look at the real U.S. energy plan:

"We had a discussion in policy planning about actually mounting an operation to take the oilfields in the Middle East, internationalize them, put them under some sort of U.N. trusteeship and administer the revenues and the oil accordingly. That’≥ how serious we thought about it. We had a discussion in policy planning about actually mounting an operation to take the oilfields in the Middle East, internationalize them, put them under some sort of U.N. trusteeship and administer the revenues and the oil accordingly."

*****end of clip*****

Billmon is good as always~!

This whole thing is as bad as we all feared or worse.

It is the nature of things to come apart completely not in half measure. I can hope anyway.

capt

No increase in the minimum wage (for many years), while congress have raised their pay five or eight times because of the "cost of living" going up.

The major corporations are cutting medical and other benefits for all employees while the salaries of CEO's have doubled and tripled?

Now with oil at cost times three everything is going up (see spike in inflation in Sept.) and it costs me $45 a tank for our Ford.

I am sure Bunnypants will see a need for another tax cut for the rich.

capt

I read a weird story in the Detroit Free Press this morning. Huh, I said to myself? It's next to unbelievable and the cynic in me is suspicious. A company actually moved from Mexico to Michigan? Gosh, if this were the beginning of a trend!

http://snipurl.com/isho (I haven't learned hypetext, or whatever you call it)

CUMMINS RELOCATES GENERATOR LINE: Firm opts for Michigan

Work is moved from Mexico to Oakland County
October 21, 2005

BY KIM NORRIS
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER

That giant sucking sound is just a little fainter since a Michigan company struck a blow for Midwest manufacturing by acquiring and relocating an assembly line from Mexico to Oakland County.

TvNewsLIES Challenges
Believers of the Official Version of 9/11:
Where the Hell Is YOUR Proof?
Jesse, Editor - TvNewsLIES.org - October 2005

James, did you see this? Great article, and I want to echo the challenge. Show me the proof! And repeating the official govt. version is not proof. Wake up people, our republic is slipping away. Please read this and consider where we are.

a lot of good articles at whatreallyhappened.com

Bush didn't pay any attention
to chatter before September 11.
Why should he now?

Capt said: No increase in the minimum wage (for many years), while congress has raised their pay five or eight times because of the "cost of living" going up.

That's particulary funny because those guys don't use their money for anything. Everything is free for them. Why the heck would THEY need a cost living raise? Oh, I fogot...they make their own rules.

whatreallyhappened.com
dammit! I don't recommend the COMMODORE 64 - ha

Sal, I did indeed read that - you know what's odd? I haven't seen hide nor hair of any govt. fairytale advocates in a long time - they've all been punked

I have hairy nipples. Anyone wanna see?

Right now, I am staning across the room, and typing this message with my 64" dong.

Amazon rainforest vanishing at twice rate of previous estimates

6,000 sq miles lost a year as valuable trees removed
Selective logging causing 25% greenhouse gas boost

Alok Jha, science correspondent
Friday October 21, 2005
The Guardian

The Amazonian rainforest is being destroyed at double the rate of all previous estimates, according to research published today in the journal Science. The destruction is leaving the forest more prone to fires and allowing more carbon dioxide to be released into the atmosphere, according to scientists.

A new analysis of satellite images of the Brazilian part of the Amazon basin, which forms part of the largest contiguous rainforest on Earth, shows that on average 15,500 sq km (6,000 square miles) of forest is being cut down by selective logging each year. This is besides a similar amount clear-cut annually for cattle grazing or farming.

*****end of clip*****

Just as one cannot un-ring a bell, one cannot un-cut a forest.

capt

Jeanne -- I see that Dan Froomkin of WaPo is reporting on the website you calaled to our attention -- in fact he said:

"...if you call the number the new Web site lists for Fitzgerald's D.C. office, the phone is somewhat mysteriously answered "counterespionage section."

But as Samborn explained to me, that's because the special prosecutor is borrowing space in the Justice Department's Bond Building from the counterespionage section. "The office of special counsel doesn't really have its own dedicated space," he said."

____________________________

Whatever.

#77 Stan, thank you for the information! Bush has selective hearing. He hears what he wants to hear. Now, he is hearing that he must nuke Iran.

There is a saying "Drawing a line in the sand!" What Bush does not know that at some point, a country like China will draw a line in the sand. It could mean a nuclear holocaust. Or, China could join covert operations with the muslim terrorists and bring over in some way biological and chemical weapons. Countries can work together to make life miserable for America. Muslims have long memories.

There are so many ways to make life miserable for Americans but I refuse to say because I still care for the American people and I do not want to put additional thoughts in the minds of terrorists.

James, the 9/11 conspiracy theorists are running out of excuses. Again I say, show me the proof. David?

God put the marshes, the wetlands, and and the rainforest here for a reason. God's reasons are to help His children. We have decided to destroy God's creations.

Carol, Cummins report #81. I do not think that Cummins is doing this out of the goodness of their cold corporate heart. They know that Michiganers are a skilled labor pool and more generators will be needed because of hurricanes, power shortages, "planned" electrical grid outages, etc. They are bringing the manufacturing back home, enticing laid-off workers to work for an average $12.00/hr and will very soon eliminate healthcare coverage, once they have them sucked back in. Take that to the bank. $12/hour w/o healthcare coverage still puts lots of dough into their corporate coffers.

You are astute to be suspicious.

Suspicious? They aren't even trying to hide it anymore! America as a serious contributor is nearing the status of a thing of the past. We cannot survive as a service only sector, yet that is what they are forcing us into. Has anyone wondered why that is?

Joint clue to munchies

Brendan O'Keefe
October 22, 2005

THE mystery of why marijuana users feel the need to consume two packets of Tim Tams, three packets of Twisties and a litre of iced coffee every time they light up has been solved.

In a study sponsored by the Australian Research Council, behavioural neuroscientist Paul Mallet and his former PhD student Aaron Verty found the part of the brain that is responsible for cannabis smokers getting "the munchies".

"An increase in appetite is a well-known side-effect of smoking marijuana," Dr Mallet said.

"However, the way in which the brain controls the hunger-inducing effect of cannabis was not well understood until now."

Dr Mallet, of the University of New England in northern NSW, says cannabis users get hungry because the drug activates receptors called cannabinoids, which trigger appetite.

"Hunger is associated with an increase in the release of cannabis-like substances produced in the brain," he said.

The research focused on the paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus in the brain.

*****end of clip*****

"receptors called cannabinoids"

Well duh.

capt

I know the reason Cummins came back here has to be suspect. Still, $12 an hour is a lot compared to what they probably paid in Mexico.

Business wants to get out of paying for their employees health care. We know why; because it's so damned expensive. Funny how all the big corporations don't lobby the government to get a national health care rolling. Ford and GM could have got on it ages ago. The health care industry is going to help bankrupt this country. More and more citizens every day are losing their insurance. Pretty soon no one will be covered. No one has enough money to pay the huge charges for something as simple as a stubbed toe much less a heart bypass.

from #64... "Alan and Texas friends,
Good luck to your baseball team."

Thanks Jeanne. I'm not a huge b/b fan so I don't keep up with it enough to know the 'other' league, but I hear the White Sox have some good pitching. That's our strongpoint too, so it might be a boring, but tense low-scoring series. We've never been to the W/S and it's been since '59 I think, for them, so both teams have alot invested. Game 1 is Saturday. If I'd just go re-fill my propane tank, I'd be "swillin' n grillin'" like Pande. Before that game, there's a good U of Texas f/ball game on too.
*burp*

ps. Much as I like "The Rant" at Capitolhillblues (think that's what it's called... hell, I just hit Capt's link w/o really reading it), them suckers put 3 data miners on your 'puter each time you go there... or the same three if you've cleaned 'em off since going back. I thought it was them from earlier today (I surf alot so I usally run AdAware SE after each session), so I went back while ago. I hadn't been to anyplace on the web yet, and sho' nuff, I got them same 3 again. It's no biggie if you stay on top of it, so next time there's a 'rant', I'll go back anyway.
I keep "SpyBot..." updated and run it too, btw, and this free one from AOL also, which catches alotta shyt too, that the others dont.
Thought I'd pass the word.
Peashhh

ugh, I forgot to end the italics tag after the quote, damn *you can dress 'im up...
haha

DeLay judge unlikely to be pulled

George W. Bush is not only your better, HE IS YOUR GOD, and it seems to piss off you Alqueda Cornbots. You hate the American soldiers that make your parasitic existence possible.

We have lost an insignificant number of troops in the protection of you fools, so do not worry. You will still be able to suck the life out of real Americans, thanks to GREAT men like President Bush.

Now, get back to your treason you, Cornbot boils on the ass of America.

Miers falls flat with scholars

Experts cite an error that might be a misunderstanding of constitutional law or perhaps a "brain freeze."

But law professors who have reviewed Miers' Senate questionnaire say it shows little work on important constitutional issues. And, perhaps more troublesome for Miers, they say she made a significant error explaining her experience, referring to a 14th Amendment protection that does not exist.

"We have lost an insignificant number of troops..."

1-800-GO-USARMY There you go Mr. Barret. No excuses. You support Bush's War, help your leader fight it. You probably won't be one of the "insignificant" ones, I'm sure. Give one of your fellow Americans on his second or third tour over there a break by taking his or her's spot. *salutes*

Dammmmit man, you could put a Bush twin under each arm and take'em with you. You'd be a hero!

Alan 103

I just got back from my second tour, and will do a third if called on again to protect your pathetic ass.

What have you done, other than attack those us who protect your traitor butt.

Fitzgerald Expands Probe to Prewar Intel Source: Chalabi responsible for forged WMD documents

October 22, 2005

As Antiwar.com readers found out on Wednesday, prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald’≥ investigation into the Plame leak case has broadened to include a probe into the catalyzing event that set off the "outing" of CIA agent Valerie Plame to begin with: the Niger uranium forgeries. These documents, which purported to show that the Iraqis were trying to procure uranium from the African nation of Niger, were utilized by the Bush administration in making the case for war –†but, alas, they turned out to be crudely done fakes. The question of who forged them has always been at the heart of this case, and now it looks like Fitzgerald is getting close to the answer.

Since the forged documents first turned up in Italy, an Italian parliamentary committee was charged with investigating, and they issued a heavily redacted report: now, Fitzgerald has received an unredacted and full version of the report, and he is moving fast on this front, as this video clip from MSNBC reports.

Just remember –†you found out about it first on Antiwar.com.

Watch the video (Windows Media Player)

Watch the video (Quicktime)

*****end of clip*****

So it was Chalabi? That would mean Judas Miller was more involved.

capt

"I just got back from my second tour, and will do a third if called on again to protect your pathetic ass."

I'm glad you're back safe. I wish you didn't have to go there once, my friend. It was based on lies Barret, and you should have figured it out by now If you were in Afghanistan, or even Pakistan, searching for bin Laden, then I could agree with you about >"to protect your pathetic ass". Watch close the "Plame-gate" case as it develops, and see how they put you and your buddies in danger, indeed, sacrificed you guys...ruined our credibility in the world, ran the country farther in debt,
and all for nothing. Me, I couldn't go if I wanted to. I'm too old, and I'm a convicted felon/ex-convict (you know those crazy days growing up...haha... "peace maaaan"),so I was here in 'the world' fighting against you guys having to go in the first place.
We don't hate you guys at all. We hate the idiots that sent you there.
*and I really am glad you're home safe

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE WAR ON TERROR FROM THOSE WHO SERVED

Operation Truth is America's first and largest nonprofit, non-partisan advocacy organization for veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.Click here for more

*****end of clip*****

Anybody interested in hearing from those who served.

capt

Capt has ESP ! He's not only the fastest to find a link when a topic comes up, he now can anticipate when one's coming! haha He posted #106 before I sent my reply to Barret.
Then of course, topped it off with another link at #108! This guy is goooood!

Editor Says He Missed Miller 'Alarm Bells'

By JOHN SOLOMON, Associated Press Writer
Fri Oct 21, 7:54 PM ET

WASHINGTON - The New York Times' Judith Miller belatedly gave prosecutors her notes of a key meeting in the CIA leak probe only after being shown White House records of it, and her boss declared Friday she appeared to have misled the newspaper about her role.

In a dramatic e-mail, Executive Editor Bill Keller wrote Times' employees he wished he'd more carefully interviewed Miller and had "missed what should have been significant alarm bells" that she had been the recipient of leaked information about the CIA officer at the heart of the case.

"Judy seems to have misled (Times Washington bureau chief) Phil Taubman about the extent of her involvement," Keller wrote in what he described as a lessons-learned e-mail. "This alone should have been enough to make me probe deeper."

Keller said he might have been more willing to compromise with Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald "if I had known the details of Judy's entanglement" with Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

Keller said in his e-mail he believed the paper was too slow to correct the original reporting and to get to the bottom of the facts about Miller's involvement with Libby.

"If we had lanced the WMD boil earlier, we might have damped any suspicion that THIS time the paper was putting the defense of a reporter above the duty of its readers," he said.

*****end of clip*****

So I guess Miller will be handed her walking papers and she can play wartime cheerleader elsewhere.

capt

ESP?

Extra
Spoiled
Pinhead

?

HA! Too accurate.

capt

Cowboy president is courting disaster, says Powell's man

By Francis Harris
(Filed: 21/10/2005)

Colin Powell's right-hand man has launched a blistering attack on the White House, describing President George W Bush as "cowboyish", his secretary of state Condoleezza Rice as "extremely weak" and American foreign policy as "courting disaster".

The attack came from Col Larry Wilkerson, who for four years was Mr Powell's chief of staff at the state department during the first Bush administration.

In a sometimes savagely phrased speech at a Washington think-tank, the former US marine said that the Bush team had so damaged the country's foreign policy machine that he was "not sure that the state department even exists any more".

The result was that America's relations with the world had taken a pounding. Asked about the efforts by Mr Bush's key aide Karen Hughes to sell America to the Muslim world he said: "It's hard to sell shit." In remarks quoted by the Washington Post, Col Wilkerson said: "If you're unilaterally declaring Kyoto dead, if you're declaring the Geneva Conventions not operative, if you're doing a host of things that the world doesn't agree with you on and you're doing it blatantly and in their face, without grace, then you've got to pay the consequences."

*****end of clip*****

"Pay the consequences"

I have a feeling Col Wilkerson has been a force for the truth for the full 16 years he worked with Powell. Clearly more honest than Powell.

capt

For a Senate Foe of Pork Barrel Spending, Two Bridges Too Far

By Shailagh Murray
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 21, 2005; A08

Republicans in Congress say they are serious about cutting spending, but they learned yesterday to keep their hands off the "Bridge to Nowhere."

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), a staunch opponent of pork barrel spending, tried to block $453 million for two Alaska bridges that had been tucked into the recent highway bill. Coburn wanted to redirect the money to the Interstate 10 bridge across Lake Pontchartrain, a major thoroughfare that was severely damaged during Hurricane Katrina.

Sen. Ted Stevens, the veteran Alaska Republican, was dramatic in his response. "I don't kid people," Stevens roared. "If the Senate decides to discriminate against our state . . . I will resign from this body."

*****end of clip*****

Well if the senator is going to quit if he does not get his half a BILLION in pure pork I say let us test his word.

The senate used to be the respectable body of reasonable decorum.

These cry-baby neocons make me sick. They are an insult to their party and the country. I guess it is only "pork" if it for another state.

capt

Fitzgerald for the Supreme Court!

Can I get an Amen?

WOW! Brent Scowcroft Lets it Rip (Like Larry Wilkerson) in Monday's New Yorker

The revered-in-tons-of-corners former National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft definitively breaks ranks with the Bush administration in an article by nearly the same name, "Breaking Ranks," appearing in the upcoming Monday issue of The New Yorker.

The article will outline what decisions and events have built up to turn Brent Scowcroft against this Bush administration. Yes, that's right. . ."turned Brent Scowcroft against this Bush administration."

Jeffrey Goldberg, the author of the piece, has pulled off a stunning coup by not only getting Brent Scowcroft to talk -- but also getting some incredibly juicy commentary from President George H.W. Bush on the performance of his son's national security team.

I don't have the full piece yet -- but I know it will be a blockbuster.

I also know that for all of those who had difficulty (read Rush Limbaugh; alternative site here) adjusting to former State Department Chief of Staff Lawrence Wilkerson's candid commentary on the White House's broken national security decision-making process, you are going to have an even more difficult time with revelations from Scowcroft.

They will be saying largely similar things about a "cabal" that undid our nation's security.

*****end of clip*****

I was wondering when the more sane GOPhers would speak up. A little to little and a little too late but . . .

capt

Amen, but after he has a few scalps! HA!

capt

That is the definitive problem with those people. They can't see 5 minutes ahead. They are totaly blind to the future, it's all about what they are able to capatilze on now. Maybe some of them are returning to normal people, like us freaks up at 4:51 AM blogging away.

First off, heeeeeeeey Chris!! Good to see that you're still kickin' up a sandstorm in 'Zona. And ALL of us Redstaters are seeing the W stickers falling like ashes from a busted volcano. Chimpy is cooked, done, punked, defunct. Even reactionary sites like Realclearpolitics have Chimpy's approval rating average below 40%. How Looooow can they go?

It's no fun anymore reading the lefty blogs when even the Rightwing sites are busting Chimpy's chops.

TownHall is so freekin irrational that it's hard to keep a straight face when you read headers like:

* Capitol Report: House GOP members talk spending cuts

Talk, talk, talk, talk, talk spending cuts. Those morons are all talk, and most of what they say is straight up bullshit.

* Federal Spending and Congressional Leadership

They hit that one right on the head. The congressional leadership (read the Grand Ol' Spendin' Party) is busting out the jams in deficit spending. Remember when "deficit spending" was considered a perjorative term in politics? As E.J. Dionne would say, that's sooo 90's.

* House GOP Sets $50b Target for Budget Cuts

50 Billion? That's chump change for table dances. Tom DeLay carries that much around when he visits strip clubs in Sugarland (say hey, Alan).

* It's gut-check time for the Republicans on the budget

Eeeew. Talk about an ugly freekin' metaphor extension. Who would want to check Sensenbrenner's ugly gut? ¬°Que gacho! Riff, anybody (Paggliachi?), can ya' help a brother out? How do you translate "que gacho" into yankee?

More lies? WTF is up with all the Lying Liars in the Republican side of the ditch? Delay's lawyer admits that he was lying (talking out his rear end) about DeLay prosecutor Earle's misconduct.

Another link from Townhall . . . Clifford May gets splinters in his Nerfs from straddling the fence on the future of Iraq. He says we may lose; but we might still be able to stop getting our asses kicked. Why does Cliffie hate America?

Alan, how 'bout them 'Stros? Who'da thunk it? Not me. But then again, I ain't much of a Baseball fan either. I know. I know. Dammed libruls alla the time hatin' the great American pastime.

WooHooo! I hear somebody saying "dada" upstairs (yep, he's talking!). Gotta Go.

Baseball

Most Americans know that Bush was owner of a major league baseball team. The most famous baseball uniforms are Yankee pinstripes and Dodger blue.

Many Americans are anxiously waiting to see if Bush will wear one of two additional uniforms, such as inmate pinstripe or prison orange.

Many Americans may wonder why Bush should wear correctional uniforms. There are three reasons for use of these uniforms. On the international scene Bush is guilty of murders and war crimes. On the domestic scene Bush is guilty of treason for outing a CIA operative. Yes, Bush is a traitor.

They are not numbers

A very good article! Lew Rockwell has several great articles to read this weekend.

They are not numbers

A very good article! Lew Rockwell has several great articles to read this weekend.

Capt, so they think chalabi is behind the forgery but ledeen denies knowing anything about it? What a LIAR!

From Antiwar.com
By Justin Ramondo

...According to a source in the Italian embassy, Patrick J. "Bulldog" Fitzgerald asked for and "has finally been given a full copy of the Italian parliamentary oversight report on the forged Niger uranium document," the former CIA officer tells me:

"Previous versions of the report were redacted and had all the names removed, though it was possible to guess who was involved. This version names Michael Ledeen as the conduit for the report and indicates that former CIA officers Duane Clarridge and Alan Wolf were the principal forgers. All three had business interests with Chalabi."

When Cannistraro was asked by an interviewer if Ledeen was involved with the forgers, and said "you'd be very close," he wasn't kidding.

There are many good articles to read on antiwar.com for your weekend reading.

Fiztgerald's Historic Opportunity

I would love to see an indictment handed to George W. That indictment would really make my day!

From: Columbia Journalism Review

The Judy Code
By Douglas McCollam

In July of 2001, Steve Engelberg, then an editor at The New York Times, looked up to see Judy Miller standing at his desk. As Engelberg recalls, Miller had just learned from a source about an intercepted communication between two Al Qaeda members who were discussing how disappointed they were that the United States had never attempted to retaliate for the bombing of the USS Cole. Not to worry, one of them said, soon they were going to do something so big that the U.S. would have to retaliate.

Miller was naturally excited about the scoop and wanted the Times to go with the story. Engelberg, himself a veteran intelligence reporter, wasn't so sure. There had been a lot of chatter about potential attacks; how did they know this was anything other than big talk? Who were these guys? What country were they in? How had we gotten the intercept? Miller didn't have any answers and Engelberg didn't think they could publish without more context. Miller agreed to try and find out more, but in the end the story never ran.

But even when she was at her best, some people expressed concerns about her temperament and her methods. Perhaps the most revealing document to come out in the last few days wasn't Miller's 3,600 word summary of her grand jury testimony in the Valerie Plame leak case, but the memo of Craig Pyes, her reporting partner on the prize-winning bin Laden stories: "I do not trust her work, her judgment, or her conduct," Pyes wrote in an internal Times memo first reported Monday in The Washington Post. "She is an advocate, and her actions threaten the integrity of the enterprise, and of everyone who works with her." Later in the memo, Pyes goes on to say that Miller took "dictation from government sources" then tried to "stampede it into the paper."
But Miller's sources weren't just wrong, they spun her dizzy and in the process badly damaged the credibility of America's best and most important newspaper. Sunday's story in the Times gave Miller the perfect opportunity to express some kind of contrition over her part in this journalistic fiasco. She chose not to and that's a shame. Maybe there is something else Miller should know about those aspen trees out west, something Scooter Libby neglected to mention. Because their roots are connected they don't just turn together, they often burn together from fire that can travel out of sight and underground until it erupts into the light of day.

--------------
She was an advocate of what? How the hell did she come by the info. from so-called Al Qaida communications 2 months before 9/11? What govt. does she take dictation from? They weren't wrong, they were setting up the case for war before 9/11 happened. Just waiting for the New Pearl Harbor to light the fuse. If she's sorry at all it's because it didn't work out quite as they had hoped.

Wakes

There are basically two kinds of wakes, such as a funeral wake. Most Americans are not familiar with a wedding wake. I now call weddings a wake. The reason for calling them wakes is because newly married couples are not aware of the problems they will be facing, such as no jobs, elimination of jobs, outsourcing of jobs, no middle class opportunities, and taxes for the poor and supposedly middle class.

And, heaven forbid that they should have children. Their children will fight endless wars for the rich and famous. Their children are considered nothing more than cannon fodder. Their children will have no expiration date for military service other than their 68th birthday. Hatred, killing, and torture will be embedded in the brains of your children. They will become heartless and soulless robots.

Yes, my fellow Americans, weddings are nothing more than wakes just waiting for your final wake, your funeral wake.

The reason for writing about wakes is that in a couple hours I will be off to a wedding wake.

From Antiwar.blog

here once again is the case against that Machiavellian proto-fascist warmonger Michael Ledeen:

Ladies and Gentlemen of the internet grand jury, his motive is clear. Michael Ledeen has been intent on turning the Middle East into a "cauldron" of revolution for years. From the pages of the National Review, he consistently advocates the neocon's Israel-First democratist ideology, advocating "creative destruction" and crying "Faster, please" for more war.

He was a contract employee of the Office of Special Plans in Douglas Feith's "separate government" at the Pentagon, the "Lie Factory" where the talking points were put together to frighten the American people into supporting the invasion of Iraq.

His ties to SISMI, the Italian intelligence agency which gave the forged documents back to the US in 2002 go way back.

He attended a series of meetings in Italy with Israeli spy Larry Franklin, Harold Rhode, who "practically lived out of Ahmad Chalabi's office," Ledeen's old Iran-Contra buddy, Manucher Ghorbanifar, and SISMI's director around the time that the information surfaced.

Joshua Micah Marshall has written that all information about Iraq trying to buy uranium from Niger came from the forged documents, though the documents themselves weren't given to the US until October 2002, and that it's clear a SISMI asset at the Niger embassy in Rome was given the forgeries by SISMI people in the first place before she funneled them back to them and then us:

"[T]he intelligence reports that came in to Washington in late 2001 were from Italian military intelligence, SISMI. The other detail, according to intelligence sources I’∂e spoken to, is that those reports turned out to be text transcriptions of Niger forgeries that didn’¥ surface in Rome until almost a year later...

Former CIA agent Larry Johnson has strongly implied that Ledeen is the one.

Another former CIA agent, former head of counter-terrorism under Reagan, Vincent Cannistraro, has answered the question of whether Ledeen was involved with, "You'd be very close."

Former CIA and DIA covert operative Philip Giraldi, when I interviewed him on my radio show last July 26th said the documents were forged by "a couple of former CIA officers who are familiar with that part of the world who are associated with a certain well-known neoconservative who has close connections with Italy."

When I said that must be Ledeen, he confirmed it, and added that the ex-CIA officers, "also had some equity interests, shall we say, with the operation. A lot of these people are in consulting positions, and they get various, shall we say, emoluments in overseas accounts, and that kind of thing."

When I said there must be a money trail for Patrick Fitzgerald to follow. Giraldi told me he thinks Fitzgerald has already found it.

When I interviewed him a second time, on September 3rd, Giraldi elaborated to say that Ledeen and his former CIA friends worked with Ahmad Chalabi and the Iraqi National Congress. "These people did it probably for a couple of reasons, but one of the reasons was that these people were involved, through the neoconservatives, with the Iraqi National Congress and Chalabi and had a financial interest in cranking up the pressure against Saddam Hussein and potentially going to war with him."
-----------
I would like them to round up every one of these traitorous murderers and throw them to the sharks!

I just got back from a FEMA Detainment Camp

I'm extremely depressed to report that things seem to only be getting sadder concerning the people so devastatingly affected by Katrina last week. Two car loads of us headed over to Falls Creek, a youth camp for Southern Baptist churches in Oklahoma that agreed to have its facilities used to house Louisiana refugees. I'm afraid the camp is not going to be used as the kind people of the churches who own the cabins believe it was going to be used.

FEMA will not allow any of the kitchen facilities in any of the cabins to be used by the occupants due to fire hazards. FEMA will deliver meals to the cabins. The refugees will be given two meals per day by FEMA. They will not be able to cook.

It gets worse.

He then precedes to tell us that some churches had already enquired into whether they could send a van or bus on Sundays to pick up any occupants of their cabins who might be interested in attending church. FEMA will not allow this. The occupants of the camp cannot leave the camp for any reason. If they leave the camp they may never return. They will be issued FEMA identification cards and "a sum of money" and they will remain within the camp for the next 5 months.
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This is absolutely unbelievable. The people took pictures. There is something badly wrong.

Thursday, October 20, 2005
Bush's Ace in the Hole-- The Pardon Power

Rumors are buzzing about who will be indicted in the Plamegate scandal, and what further revelations will develop. Some people have even speculated that the Vice-President may be indicted or named as an unindicted co-conspirator.

But just remember that the President always has the means to stop judicial proceedings of his closest political associates from going any further. He can simply pardon persons indicted for a crime, or even those who have not yet been indicted.

If sufficiently high level officials are indicted, his son, President George W. Bush, may also be vulnerable to be called as a witness and placed under oath. The most obvious way to avoid that unhappy scenario is to make sure that no criminal trial ever occurs. The pardon power takes care of that.

The President's power to pardon is effectively unreviewable. The only real constraint is political: the President must take the political heat for his actions, as Gerald Ford did in pardoning President Richard Nixon. Bush's father was able to pardon Weinberger et al. a month before his term expired, so he had very little to lose politically, and he wagered (correctly as it turned out) that most people would soon forget the potential self-dealing in his decision. Bill Clinton also took considerable heat for his last minute pardons of political supporters near the end of his presidency, but he too figured (also correctly) that this too, would pass.

If important persons in the Bush Administration are indicted, and there is a significant danger that revelations damaging to the President will surface, don't be surprised if the President uses his ace in the hole-- the pardon power. Some might argue that the President simply wouldn't dare; others will insist that he would be impeached if he tries it. But what the President is likely to do depends on the alternatives if he doesn't act, and remember, the Congress is controlled by members of his own party, not by the opposition as was the case during the Clinton Presidency. This president has a knack for self-preservation; and if the pardon power is the best alternative he has, you can be sure that he will use it.
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Could this all be much ado about nothing?

Be Afraid - Be Very Afraid

Stolen elections gets the puppet leader in
What really happened on 9/11?
Lies on WMD's gets the illegal war goin'
Were those Niger docs really forged?
And what ever happened to Osama Bin Ladin?

There's the war in Afganistan
Any "Mission Accomplished" there?
A rush to Iraq
The real intent, I fear
For their actions four years back?

They think it will be over
By the mid-term elections
Gaining more and more power
To reach their ultimate objectives
Total control of the world's resources!

Indictments and cronyism
Threatens to derail their plans
For when they land themselves in prison
The government will be in different hands
Drastic actions are called to be taken!

Martial Law? More stolen elections?
You're guess is as good as mine is
All I know is when it comes to actions
Theirs won't be about peace and justice
To stay in power is their entire focus!

Dan Simpson: Invade Syria? Insane

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

As I suspected six months ago, U.S. military and Bush administration civilian officials confirmed last week that U.S. forces have invaded Syria and engaged in combat with Syrian forces.

Stacy Innerst, Post-Gazette

An unknown number of Syrians are acknowledged to have been killed; the number of Americans -- if any -- who have died in Syria so far has not yet been revealed by the U.S. sources, who by the way insist on remaining faceless and nameless.

On the U.S. side, no declaration of war preceded the invasion of Syria, in spite of the requirements of the War Powers Act of 1973. There is no indication that the Congress was involved in the decision to go in. If members were briefed, none of them have chosen to share that important information with the American people. Presumably, the Bush administration's intention is simply to add any casualties of the Syrian conflict to those of the war in Iraq, which now stand at more than 1,970. The financial cost of expanding the war to Syria would also presumably be added to the cost of the Iraq war, now estimated at $201 billion.

The Bush administration would claim that it is expanding the war in Iraq into Syria to try to bring it to an end, the kind of screwy non-logic that kept us in Vietnam for a decade and cost 58,193 American lives in the end.

Dan Simpson, a retired U.S. ambassador, is a Post-Gazette associate editor (dsimpson@post-gazette.com).
--------------
They will do whatever they want. Read the PNAC agenda for details.

U.S. forces have started fighting Syrians at Iraq's border. Can anybody say 'Cambodia'?

#124 - Judy Miller has co-authored a book with Laurie Mylroie, "Saddam Hussein and the Crisis in the Gulf."

It was the first bombing of the World Trade Centre in 1993 that launched Mylroie's quixotic quest to prove that Saddam's regime was the chief source of anti-US terrorism. She laid out her case in a 2000 book called Study of Revenge: Saddam Hussein's Unfinished War Against America. Perle glowingly blurbed the book as "splendid and wholly convincing". Wolfowitz and his then wife, according to Mylroie, "provided crucial support".

Mylroie believes that Saddam was behind every anti-American terrorist incident of note in the past decade, from the levelling of the federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995 to September 11 itself. She is, in short, a cranky conspiracist - but her neoconservative friends believed her theories, bringing her on as a terrorism consultant at the Pentagon.

The extent of Mylroie's influence is shown in the new book Against All Enemies, by the veteran counterterrorism official Richard Clarke, in which he recounts a senior-level meeting on terrorism months before September 11. During that meeting Clarke quotes Wolfowitz as saying: "You give Bin Laden too much credit. He could not do all these things like the 1993 attack on New York, not without a state sponsor. Just because FBI and CIA have failed to find the linkages does not mean they don't exist." Clarke writes: "I could hardly believe it, but Wolfowitz was spouting the Laurie Mylroie theory that Iraq was behind the 1993 truck bomb at the World Trade Centre, a theory that had been investigated for years and found to be totally untrue."

From: Did one woman's obsession take America to war? by Peter Bergen

#125 - Just two kinds of wakes? If you're not sleeping, you must wake. Further, there is the disturbance of water after the passing of a vessel. Try to be a little joyful, at least for the happy couple, if you are going to their wedding.

#128 - Perhaps this, President Bush Pardons 14 People - WASHINGTON, Sept. 28, 2005 was simply a trial balloon to see if W. could pardon a bunch of folks, without drawing too much fire. He seems to have pulled it off with much notice. Not that political pardons would go unnoticed, but, what could be done - other than bang pots and pans in the streets?

#130 - Condi was grilled about that the other day at the Senate Foreign Relations committee hearing and commented on here, #27 last thread.

Sorry about that Robert, I must have missed it! It seems they are breaking every law in the book.

Attack Syria? Invade Iran? By What Constitution?
By Jeremy Brecher and Brendan Smith
[...]The Bush administration seems to believe that the President has the power to make war on anybody it chooses without even having to consult with Congress. Senator Chafee observed to Secretary Rice, "Under the Iraq war resolution, we restricted any military action to Iraq." Then he asked, "So would you agree that if anything were to occur on Syrian or Iranian soil, you would have to return to Congress to get that authorization?" Rice's reply? "Senator, I don't want to try and circumscribe presidential war powers. And I think you'll understand fully that the President retains those powers in the war on terrorism and in the war on Iraq." [...]

********

More evidence of misuse of Presidential authority is no longer needed. Demand impeachment now! Also, on the day when US fatalities in Iraq officially reach 2000, there will be demonstrations in every corner of the country, find out where to participate in your neighborhood, or organize your own.

No worries Sal, it deserves repeating! and repeating, and repeating, etc.

Better than I could write, and more hopeful...

The Empire Strikes Out

micki, I loved your limerick #25.

With all the discussion of where Fitzgerald is going with this, and how Bush might react, under Rove's advise he will probably shitcan the inquiry at the end of the month and send Fitz back to Chicago. End of story. If he does it on Saturday afternoon, for the sake of the empire, after a few comments and denials on the Sunday am shows, and the ghoulish Monday holiday, it will effectively be over. Cheney and Rice will be on to talk about the Iraqi constitution and the terrible behavior of Syria implicated in the assassination in Lebanon. They will spin the necessity of staying the course and when asked about Plamegate they will lie through their teeth.

On Monday and Tuesday, after trick or treat in Georgetown, Scotty will offer no comment or tell the press there still is an investigation or that this one was canceled for national security reasons.

2,000 U.S. Deaths in Iraq is 2,000 Too Many!
Organize an Anti-War Action the Day After the U.S. Announces the 2,000th U.S. Soldier Death in Iraq

How many more U.S. soldiers and Iraqis must give their lives before our government finally admits that the war against Iraq was wrong and it’≥ time tobring our troops home now? So far, more than 1950 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq, and more than 15,000 have been wounded. U.S. soldiers are at grave risk in Iraq, and continue to suffer even after they come home. Troops returning to the U.S. are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, and are even turning up in homeless shelters in cities through the country. The risk for Iraqis is even more severe: Tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed in the war, and hundreds of thousands of lives have been devastated, even according to the most conservative estimates.

Meanwhile, the war has meant that precious resources are being channeled toward death and destruction in Iraq instead of into programs that could save people’≥ lives and meet their basic human needs. If the National Guard troops and equipment from Mississippi and Louisiana hadn’¥ been in Iraq, the Guard could have responded more quickly and more thoroughly to the devastation wreaked by Hurricane Katrina and lives could have been saved. The U.S. is pouring more than a billion dollars a week into the Iraq war that could otherwise be spent on health care, schools and infrastructure here at home.

***************

"The Copper Bosses killed you Joe,
they shot you Joe" says I.
"Takes more than guns to kill a man"
Says Joe "I didn't die"
Says Joe "I didn't die"
And standing there as big as life
and smiling with his eyes.
Says Joe "What they can never kill
went on to organize,
went on to organize"
Joan Baez (I think)

Robert, it was my understanding that congress pretty much gave bush a blank check to wage war on terror around the world, which in itself is illegal. They are all covered in blood.

"it deserves repeating! and repeating, and repeating, etc."

No Doubt!

I so totally agree! Good info is good info.

Thanks to all for the many great posts and such!

capt

From: Free Market News

...A cynical rumor was spreading that President Bush may really be a radical liberal with a mission to ensure that no Republican will ever be elected again. Republican Representatives are not amused and indeed concerned that they may not be re-elected if spending is not brought under control.
---------------
Now, wouldn't THAT be ironic? The theory that neocons are actually neo-liberals holds some water. Could the anti-christ be a democrat??
(Keep in mind, that was a joke!)

Skipping through all the Whereases:

SEC. 1. SHORT TITLE.

This joint resolution may be cited as the "Authorization for the Use of Military Force Against Iraq".

SEC. 2. SUPPORT FOR UNITED STATES DIPLOMATIC EFFORTS

The Congress of the United States supports the efforts by the President to--

(a) strictly enforce through the United Nations Security Council all relevant Security Council resolutions applicable to Iraq and encourages him in those efforts; and

(b) obtain prompt and decisive action by the Security Council to ensure that Iraq abandons its strategy of delay, evasion and noncompliance and promptly and strictly complies with all relevant Security Council resolutions.

SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES.

(a) AUTHORIZATION. The President is authorized to use the Armed Forces of the United States as he determines to be necessary and appropriate in order to

(1) defend the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq; and
(2) enforce all relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions regarding Iraq.

(b) PRESIDENTIAL DETERMINATION.

In connection with the exercise of the authority granted in subsection (a) to use force the President shall, prior to such exercise or as soon there after as may be feasible, but no later than 48 hours after exercising such authority, make available to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate his determination that

(1) reliance by the United States on further diplomatic or other peaceful means alone either (A) will not adequately protect the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq or (B) is not likely to lead to enforcement of all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq, and

(2) acting pursuant to this resolution is consistent with the United States and other countries continuing to take the necessary actions against international terrorists and terrorist organizations, including those nations, organizations or persons who planned, authorized, committed or aided the terrorists attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001.

(c) WAR POWERS RESOLUTION REQUIREMENTS. --

(1) SPECIFIC STATUTORY AUTHORIZATION. -- Consistent with section 8(a)(1) of the War Powers Resolution, the Congress declares that this section is intended to constitute specific statutory authorization within the meaning of section 5(b) of the War Powers Resolution.
(2) APPLICABILITY OF OTHER REQUIREMENTS. -- Nothing in this resolution supersedes any requirement of the War Powers Resolution.

SEC. 4. REPORTS TO CONGRESS

(a) The President shall, at least once every 60 days, submit to the Congress a report on matters relevant to this joint resolution, including actions taken pursuant to the exercise of authority granted in section 2 and the status of planning for efforts that are expected to be required after such actions are completed, including those actions described in section 7 of Public Law 105-338 (the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998).

(b) To the extent that the submission of any report described in subsection (a) coincides with the submission of any other report on matters relevant to this joint resolution otherwise required to be submitted to Congress pursuant to the reporting requirements of Public Law 93-148 (the War Powers Resolution), all such reports may be submitted as a single consolidated report to the Congress.

(c) To the extent that the information required by section 3 of Public Law 102-1 is included in the report required by this section, such report shall be considered as meeting the requirements of section 3 of Public Law 102-1.

UN Gives Green Light for Israel, Syria, Iran War

Ephraim Halevy, former chief of Israel's Mossad espionage agency under Sharon, said it was not necessary to prove a direct involvement by Assad. "The head of the Syrian pyramid is Bashar Assad," Halevy told Israel Army Radio. "I don't think ... there is any doubt that this was an extensive and coordinated operation that was planned for many months. Lots of people from the Syrian elite were involved."
The US and the UK could easily take out the present regime in Syria.
--------------
Another cakewalk anyone? I really love how Israel doesn't need any direct proof to order US troops in to get slaughtered.

Anyone can claim to be anything on the Web. How do we know Barrett is really a soldier, rather than, say, some Young Elephascist chickenhawk? If I remember correctly, dbltap proved to be at least half-phony.

#126: Sal, what have you got against sharks, to feed them such hideous bags of decay as food? ;)

I don't worry too much about another terrorist attack, unless the Elephascists or their corporate masters think such an attack would restore their firm grip on power--and I suspect that this time people would wonder why the Elephascists had failed to protect them. I HOPE the Elephascists also think it would backfire on them, else they're immoral enough to do it.

From the swamps of Arkansas, Ivory Bill Woodpecker

Is it possible that one American, Patrick Fitzgerald, can return America to the Americans? Please say that it is possible!!!

But, Gerald, in that case all of us sons and daughters of settlers would have to leave and give the country back to the indigenous natives...

The Nobel Prize and Russert’≥ Lies by David Fiderer

Russert's lie: (repeated three times) Inspectors never found any nuclear weapons program in Iraq until 1995, when Saddam’≥ son-in-law defected and revealed secret nuclear program unknown to the inspectors. It was sheer luck, not the inspections, that kept Saddam from building 21 nuclear bombs by 2003.

Russert's message: Today inspectors say they find no evidence of nuclear weapons. But experience shows that Saddam can develop nuclear weapons right under the inspectors’†noses. Bombs could still be in Iraq, so the danger - and the justification for war - remains.

The truth: After the Persian Gulf War in 1991, the first intrusive inspections in Iraq led to discovery and destruction Saddam’≥ remaining nuclear weapons program. In 1995, Saddam’≥ son-in-law revealed a second crash nuclear program (using a fatally flawed design) that U.S. bombs smashed during the Persian Gulf War, prior to the inspectors’†arrival. Before 1991, Iraq relied on European technicians, equipment and manufacturing expertise for its nuclear weapons program, (which, after seven years, remained unsuccessful.) Lacking foreign assistance thereafter, Iraq remained incapable of building any nuclear device.

***************

Meet the Press has been one of the more influential Sunday talk shows of the last few years, and not such a good provider of accurate information, as demonstrated in this piece.

Inside Walter Reed Army Hospital is the horrible reality of the Iraq War, a reality that few Americans see, and fewer want to see.
By Stewart Nusbaumer

***********

Not for the faint of heart.

"Ninety-eight percent of the adults in this country are decent, hard-working, honest Americans. It's the other lousy two percent that get all the publicity. But then--we elected them." ~ Lily Tomlin (1939 - )

Study: George Orwell's Illnesses Influenced '1984'

By LiveScience Staff

20 October 2005

The gloomy stories of George Orwell were likely influenced by the writer's own ailments, including tuberculosis and infertility, according to a new study.

Orwell is best known for his novels "1984" and "Animal Farm."

The new study, by John Ross of Caritas St. Elizabeth’≥ Medical Center in Boston, recounts Orwell's sickly life. The research is slated to be published in the Dec. 1 issue of the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

Orwell was born in India in 1903 as Eric Blair. He suffered multiple bouts of bronchitis and other respiratory ailments, Ross writes. As a young man, Orwell had several episodes of bacterial pneumonia, and also contracted dengue fever while in Burma. He was a heavy smoker, and he suffered fits of coughing from a condition called bronchiectasis.

In 1938, Orwell went to a sanatorium because he was coughing up blood. He was eventually diagnosed with tuberculosis. Treatment consisted of simple bed rest and good nutrition, and he was discharged several months later.

Eight years later, depressed by his wife’≥ death, Orwell moved to a windy and damp Scottish island. His health worsened significantly just as he was working on the first draft of "1984," Ross reports. Fever, weight loss, and night sweats sent him to the hospital, where he underwent "collapse therapy," a treatment designed to close the dangerous cavities that form in the chests of tuberculosis patients.

Relying on Orwell's own descriptions of the treatment, Ross says it "may have influenced the depiction of the tortures of Winston Smith in the Ministry of Love" in "1984."

Ross also figures Orwell drew from firsthand knowledge of the wasting effects of tuberculosis. A passage from the novel:

"But the truly frightening thing was the emaciation of his body. The barrel of the ribs was as narrow as that of a skeleton: the legs had shrunk so that the knees were thicker than the thighs…¥he curvature of the spine was astonishing."

Some respiratory ailments are known to lead to infertility, and Orwell mused on the topic in his letters, Ross says.

"Orwell himself told his friends that 1984 would have been less gloomy had he not been so ill—©t was a very dark, disturbing, and pessimistic work," Ross said. Orwell's illnesses "made him a better and more empathetic writer, in that his sense of human suffering made his writing more universal."

Orwell died in 1950.

*****end of article*****

"War is a way of shattering to pieces, or pouring into the stratosphere, or sinking in the depths of the sea, materials which might otherwise be used to make the masses too comfortable, and hence, in the long run, too intelligent. ~ George Orwell, 1984

Since we live in such Orwellian times.

capt

Ivory Bill, good to hear from you! I have nothing against sharks at all, I just figured, being meat eaters, any meat would do! I also thought those on the menu would have a few minutes to think about their fate and how much they deserve it.
Robert, I saw that awful Walter Reed article. The crimes of those in power have pierced the stratosphere. You have a stronger stomach than I if you are able to watch the MSM!

Odom's words will one day haunt the journalists who sat by and didn't question and didn't play up this story. Staying in Iraq does not make sense. We are contributing to an instability that keeps on growing. It is time to withdraw or at least make a plan for withdrawal.

Everyone should stop getting off on the idea that these douchebag republican corproate puppets are going to pay any price for their treasonous ways. Justice does not apply to them. You know even if they are found guilty of emailing Bin Laden to attack America so we can attack Iraq, not one of them will pay. Pardons across the board. It will come to that too. Just think for one minute, would our great and moral leader President Bush stoop so low as to circumvent the American way of life and its "rule of law". This is the same guy who trusts the machines to count the votes, not the people. This is the guy who prefers Chalibi intelligence and vague sports references like "it's a slam dunk" to weapons inspectors. This is the same guy who tells you he is a great steward of the environment. He is the same one who asserts Ann Richards is a lesbo, McCain is brainwashed by Charlie, and Kerry doesn't stand for anything. He is the same man who was AWOL during his generation's debacle of a war. He is a joke. You think an indictment or a guilty verdict of his buttbuddy Rove would for a moment give him pause to consider what would be the right course of action. If he has not yet proven to you how self-serving and pathetic and anti-American and anti-Christ he is, then maybe you'll be convinced by the blanket pardons he graces upon those colostomy bags that are in "serious legal jeopardy". I hate to point out the obvious, but short of revoultion, this is America. Corporate controlled, morally bankrupt, and paid for by the blood of innocents.

I'm a resident of Fall River, MA, and live within one mile of that proposed LNG site, in addition to 9000 other people. The arrogance of FERC is that it would site such a facility in such a densely populated urban (read, poor defenseless) area despite the opposition of over 90% of local residents and almost every Massachusetts politician at the state, local, and federal level. We've been told by Hess (yes, the gas-station Hess) that their plant will be safe despite the fact that the river that the LNG boats need to travel down is 22 miles long and barely wide enough at some points to accomodate the massive ships that transport LNG, meaning much of it has to be dredged just for this one company's sake. They would have to pass under 4 bridges, which will have to be shut down for upwards of 1/2 hour each (two of which are several communities only link to the regional hospital, so God forbid someone decides to have a heart attack when a LNG shipment is coming in). They also tell us it is safe and that there have been no LNG accidents in the last 50 years that have killed any "public citizens." Just outside of their time range, in the early 40s, a LNG tank blew up in Cleveland and killed well over 100 people, leaving destruction behind commonly seen with a low-yield nuke. Also, a plant blew up last year in Algeria, and killed dozens of workers - luckily this one was in a remote area, but the LNG industry lied and said it was not a plant that blew, but rather a pipe-line. They later recanted and admitted it was the plant itself. It decimated everything within a mile's radius, again with the force of an atomic weapon. Before you say, but wait, Algeria is kind of third-world, and the facility was probably not built to proper safety standards - believe it or not, it was an ultra-modern facility which had just previously been modernized by none other that Halliburton before turning itself inside out. Yeah, we've also been accused by none other than US Rep Joe Barton of being obstructionist NIMBY-ites, althoug I doubt if he or anyone in his well educated state (Texas) could find Fall River or Massachusetts on a map to begin with. He said that we need LNG to heat our home in the Northeast to survive and we were acting against our own needs (don't they run Air Conditioners 24/7 down in Texas? I'm sure that doesn't waste much energy). He also mentioned that he lived within 1000 miles of oil tanks (how dangerous! And to think, I drive around with one in my car every day!). What a valid comparison, nothing but the best and brightest down there.