 |
||||
|
|
November 28, 2005Pondering Fitzgerald and the Second Novak/So Many GOP Scandals, So Little TimeStill pondering what special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald is doing by whistling in Time magazine reporter Viveca Novak to talk about her conversations with Karl Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin? (See item below.) I spoke to a former federal prosecutor today and put the question to him. He said: It's very curious. I think he might be trying to establish what Rove or his attorney said because it would be an overt act in a conspiracy. He could be trying to show Rove's state of mind at a particular time, using what his attorney was saying as evidence of this state of mind. If his attorney was telling a reporter that Karl's recollection is such-and-such, it might be relevant to what Rove has told the grand jury. It's true that you don't usually take testimony from a lawyer. This is an odd maneuver. Might Fitzgerald be trying a prosecutorial Hail Mary? My source said, It's more likely this is just blocking and tackling to make sure that every lead has been exhausted. Does it mean that Rove had contact with that reporter at a certain time? Maybe. It would be nice to know that one day all Fitzgerald's mysteries will be revealed to the public. But at this time he is still generating more questions than answers about his not-yet-done investigation. In any event, toward the end of the show, I pointed out that we had not gotten around to discussing Senate Majority Bill Frist, who is being investigated for possible insider trading involving a not-so-blind trust, or the scandal that has hit the Republican Party in Ohio (where a major GOP and Bush fundraiser, who seems to have made off with state funds he was supposed to invest in rare coins, lavished gifts and favors upon local officials, including the GOP governor), or Representative Duke Cunningham, who sold his house for over half-a million dollars more than its market value to a defense lobbyist for whom he did legislative favors. In terms of his official acts, Cunningham might be remembered mostly for leading the effort to amend the Constitution to ban flag-burning. He could often be found on the House floor decrying flag desecration as an affront to the nation and those who have served it. If burning a flag conveys all that, what might he say about a legislator selling his or her office? We never got into the Cunningham tale, but hours later, AP reported he has copped a plea. Here's part of that AP account: Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham admitted taking $2.4 million in bribes as part of guilty pleas Monday in a case that grew from an investigation into the sale of his home to a wide-ranging conspiracy involving payments in cash, vacations and antiques. Cunningham, 63, entered pleas in U.S. District Court to charges of conspiracy to commit bribery, mail fraud and wire fraud, and tax evasion for underreporting his income in 2004. Cunningham answered "yes, your honor" when asked by U.S. District Judge Larry Burns if he had accepted bribes from someone in exchange for his performance of official duties. After the hearing, Cunningham was taken away for fingerprinting. He will be released on his own recognizance until a Feb. 27 sentencing hearing. He could receive a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. He also agreed to forfeit to the government his Rancho Santa Fe home, more than $1.8 million in cash and antiques and rugs. In a prepared statement, prosecutors said Cunningham admitted to receiving at least $2.4 million in bribes paid to him by several unnamed conspirators through a variety of methods, including checks totaling over $1 million, cash, rugs, antiques, furniture, yacht club fees and vacations....The case began when authorities started investigating whether Cunningham and his wife, Nancy, used the proceeds from the $1,675,000 sale to defense contractor Mitchell Wade to buy a $2.55 million mansion in ritzy Rancho Santa Fe. Wade put the Del Mar house back on the market and sold it after nearly a year for $975,000--a loss of $700,000. How's that for caring about your country? Posted by David Corn at November 28, 2005 04:02 PM | ||
Comments
Mr. David Corn,
Thanks, as always. I sure hope that Fitzgerald is all about taking down the Rovarian smear/slime machine. It is past the time when an open and frank discussion of the lies, fabrication and mistakes of this WH can be addressed with the person speaking against the WH being smeared.
Just because Bush is a crook does not make every person that is against his crimes a liar and traitor.
Cunnicrook? Just a pawn, wait for the truth to come out about the real crooks (hint WH).
Kirk
Posted by: capt at November 28, 2005 04:17 PM
David, that is all par for the course for those crooks in DC. As for delay, I think you're right, there are far worse skeletons in his closet, and his ties to abramoff are going to cause him considerable grief.
Posted by: Saladin at November 28, 2005 04:20 PM
considerable grief? One can only hope. Delay holds the purse strings on $18 billion in NASA booty, there is plenty still to be bribed, stolen and converted into personal wealth.
*sigh*
capt
Posted by: capt at November 28, 2005 04:38 PM
(from previous thread) Capt.: "Check out
http://www.aljazeera.com"
Hey Capt., is that what it looks like? Because at first glance it sure looks like a bogus site concocted to make Al-Jazeera look like an organ of the death-to-America set.
It's poorly edited, and there's nothing there that even looks like a hard news story. It's all strident opinion fluff written by functional illiterates (but native speakers of American English,nonetheless).
I've asked the real Al-Jazeera about it. I'll let you know what I hear. I'd be interested in hearing what you know about it.
Posted by: Drewp at November 28, 2005 04:47 PM
Drewp,
The red white and blue dot com seems like a misinformation/confusion thing. The dot com one has been around for a while but not until after the real (dot net) was bombed by Bush. (as far as I can recollect)
capt
Posted by: capt at November 28, 2005 04:56 PM
Capt, Fascinating. A lot of work has gone into that .com site, and it seems to be updated quickly. I wonder if our tax dollars are being funneled into this sleaze?
Posted by: Drewp at November 28, 2005 05:02 PM
That was and still is my first guess.
Posted by: capt at November 28, 2005 05:10 PM
Here are 2 EXAMPLES of the Saddam Hussein/al Qaeda link MADE by the Clinton administration in 1998:
Richard Clarke, the former counterterrorism official promoting a book critical of the Bush administration, insists Saddam Hussein had no connection to al-Qaida, but in 1999 he defended President Clinton's attack on a Sudanese pharmaceutical plant by revealing the U.S. was "sure" it manufactured chemical warfare materials produced by Iraqi experts in cooperation with Osama bin Laden.
Richard Clarke
Clarke told the Washington Post in a Jan. 23, 1999, story U.S. intelligence officials had obtained a soil sample from the El Shifa pharmaceutical plant in Khartoum, which was hit with Tomahawk cruise missiles in retaliation for bin Laden's role in the Aug. 7, 1998, embassy bombings in Africa.
The sample contained a precursor of VX nerve gas, which Clarke said when mixed with bleach and water, would have become fully active VX nerve gas.
Clarke told the Post the U.S. did not know how much of the substance was produced at El Shifa or what happened to it.
"But he said that intelligence exists linking bin Laden to El Shifa's current and past operators, the Iraqi nerve gas experts and the National Islamic Front in Sudan," the paper reported.
Al Qaeda reached an understanding with the government of Iraq that al Qaeda would not work against that government and that on particular projects, specifically including weapons development, al Qaeda would work cooperatively with the Government of Iraq.
http://www.fas.org/irp/news/1998/11/98110602_nlt.html
You Leftist absolutely LOVE to rewrite history!!! You truly do! But as you Leftist elitists STILL have not learned yet, the American people are not as dumb as you think!
You Leftist would have us believe that the Saddam Hussein/al Qaeda link and Iraq having WMDs was SOMEHOW conjured up by the Bush administration, when the Clinton administration BELIEVED the SAME THING.
Keep trying to fool the American people, I wish you luck!
Posted by: Tim L at November 28, 2005 05:10 PM
Actually Capt, Joe Wilson is the REAL LIAR! The Bipartisan Senate Committee on Intelligence concluded that what Wilson said made the case even MORE compelling that Iraq sought unranium from Niger.
Also, when will you thick skulled Leftist Kooks get it through your head that Plame was NOT a covert agent!
Posted by: Tim L at November 28, 2005 05:14 PM
That's it David. Keep trying to cover your butt. Everyone already knows it was you and Wilson who outed Wilson's CIA secretary wife. Just keep up the butt cover and maybe your kool-aid followers won't catch on.
Posted by: vio at November 28, 2005 05:14 PM
David: "How's that for caring about your country?"
And the cons call us traitors for exercising our Constitutional rights?
I suggest a better definition of traitorousness: Betraying the ideals and institutions of one's nation for personal gain.
Posted by: Drewp at November 28, 2005 05:15 PM
Isn't it strange that many of the lefties who post on this site all have similar styles, similar
grammatical errors, and all seem to show up at the same time?
Saladin-JamesHa-Jeanne-Capt or whatever name a lonely looser like you has chosen to go by today.
You asking questions or making statements from yourself to yourself is kind of sick.
Posted by: cwp at November 28, 2005 05:28 PM
When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained.
Mark Twain
Posted by: capt at November 28, 2005 05:31 PM
Tim L.
If you are getting your "facts" from Limbaugh and Hannity et al, you do not have enough reliable information to hold an intelligent discussion. You need to sling an M-16 over your shoulder and head for Iraq. Put your money where your mouth is.
Posted by: MMe Flutterbye at November 28, 2005 05:37 PM
Good thing you trolls have David Cornhole to come up with some new material otherwise you jugheads would be stuck on the same old crap post after post. It must be difficult not being able to think for yourself and relying so much on your imperial David. That's why were here!! It's not to change your minds. Hell, there already to corrupted form all that LSD in the 60's man!! Were here just to liven it up a little so you trolls don't bore yourselves to death.
Posted by: baf at November 28, 2005 05:38 PM
MMe, if you're going to criticize me, then please offer SPECIFICS, on what I said that was inaccuarate.
Posted by: Tim L at November 28, 2005 05:46 PM
cwp: "Isn't it strange that many of the lefties who post on this site all have . . . similar grammatical errors. . . lonely looser (sic) . . ."
Heehee. Hopelessly, irredeemably clueless.
Posted by: Drewp at November 28, 2005 05:48 PM
How come no leftits on this site will address post about the Iraq/al Qaeda link MADE by the Clinton administration???
There so quick to call Bush a liar about it, but when the Clinton administration said it......silence!
Posted by: Tim L at November 28, 2005 05:51 PM
vio: "Everyone already knows it was you and Wilson who outed Wilson's CIA secretary wife."
Shhhhh. Fitzgerald might hear.
Posted by: Drewp at November 28, 2005 05:55 PM
Shhh Fitzgearld might hear!
Fitz's position is that no one outed his wife. Nice try!!!
Posted by: baf at November 28, 2005 06:01 PM
19 drewp
vio: "Everyone already knows it was you and Wilson who outed Wilson's CIA secretary wife."
IT IS TRUE.
When those two old fags, Joe Wilson and David Corn were in their motel room corn-holing, obviously David is a bottom, during their pillow talk is when Joe told his cute little corny about his haggy old wife.
Posted by: Vio at November 28, 2005 06:12 PM
How come no leftits on this site will address post about the Iraq/al Qaeda link MADE by the Clinton administration???
Ok, fk it, I will. How the hell you lump a factory in Sudan with Iraq is beyond me. You guys are so silly. lol
Posted by: Alan at November 28, 2005 06:12 PM
Tim L,
You keep dwelling on how Clinton believed the same things that Bush did if that makes you feel better. Just remember there is one big difference. You figure out what it is.
Posted by: flan at November 28, 2005 06:18 PM
Tim L,
You keep dwelling on how Clinton believed the same things that Bush did if that makes you feel better. Just remember there is one big difference. You figure out what it is.
Posted by: flan at November 28, 2005 06:18 PM
Alan, I don't know, ask Richard Clarke, who in 1999, claimed there was a link between al Qaeda, the Sudanese pharmacutical plant and Iraqi nerve gas experts.
Also, you did not address this claim by the Clinton administration's 1998 indictment of Osama bin Laden:
"Al Qaeda reached an understanding with the government of Iraq that al Qaeda would not work against that government and that on particular projects, specifically including weapons development, al Qaeda would work cooperatively with the Government of Iraq."
So Drew, are these claims by the Clinton administration not links between Iraq and al Qaeda??
Posted by: Tim L at November 28, 2005 06:18 PM
Alan 22
factory in Sudan with Iraq
Bad try, not even close Alan
TRY AGAIN, THIS TIME WITH REAL FACTS.
Posted by: Joe at November 28, 2005 06:19 PM
Dammit, I thought I avoided the double post.
David, it is definitely something wrong with your site. When you get the "Page Cannot Be Displayed" error, click on the back button and click on Post again, it will cause a double post. This is very annoying and can cause problems when folks like Hajji and Saladin and I think Kathleen do not have broadband.
Posted by: flan at November 28, 2005 06:20 PM
I'm betting Mr. Reid didn't even read Richard Clarke's book. I guess you could say the main theme was that he told Doofus repeatedly that there was NO CONNECTION between Iraq and 9/11. How silly can you guys get? Wasn't even good for a laugh, it was so pitiful.
When Capt feels like it, he slaps y'all around with one hand tied behind his back, with linked sources. Then he sometimes throws in a snark that has me rolling! He mentioned to me once about rbi's. That's a good analogy.
*puts another run on the scoreboard*
hahahaha
Posted by: Alan at November 28, 2005 06:22 PM
flan wrote:
"You keep dwelling on how Clinton believed the same things that Bush did if that makes you feel better. Just remember there is one big difference. You figure out what it is."
Oh I know, "well Bush took us to war!" Typical leftists irrelevant response that doesn't dispute what I said.
Posted by: Tim L at November 28, 2005 06:24 PM
factory in Sudan with Iraq
hahahaha Is that like, a car dealership in Detroit with Italy?? *2 fkn funny
Posted by: Alan at November 28, 2005 06:24 PM
baf - #15 said "Were here just to liven it up a little so you trolls don't bore yourselves to death."
Isn't it funny how suddenly the folks who have been posting for quite sometime like myself, Hajji, Capt, Saladin, IBW, Pande, etc., who came to this site because it is all about the LIES of GWB, are suddenly called "trolls"? That is just hilarious. (Remember, the original site was called bushlies.com)
And what is even more hilarious is that baf & Co. can't even spell correctly - i.e were vs. we're.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Posted by: flan at November 28, 2005 06:26 PM
Tim L, you get an A.
Seems to me that the families of the dead and wounded in the US and Iraq would think this difference is VERY relevant.
Posted by: flan at November 28, 2005 06:28 PM
Alan wrote:
"I'm betting Mr. Reid didn't even read Richard Clarke's book. I guess you could say the main theme was that he told Doofus repeatedly that there was NO CONNECTION between Iraq and 9/11. How silly can you guys get? Wasn't even good for a laugh, it was so pitiful."
You're absolutely correct!! The only thing is, NO ONE in the Bush administration EVER claimed Iraq was linked to 9/11. They claimed Iraq had links to al Qaeda, which was PROVEN by the 9/11 commission and substantiated by those two instances by the Clinton administration. The only people talking about Iraq and 9/11 are liberals, because I guess they are too dumb to make the distinction between an Iraq/al Qaeda link, and an Iraq/9/11 link.
Posted by: Tim L at November 28, 2005 06:30 PM
I'm wondering where our friend Gerald is. He said the neo-con visitors had gone home.
awww heck, I just seen a repug crying on national tv. ABC World News tonight is starting...
Posted by: Alan at November 28, 2005 06:30 PM
The only thing is, NO ONE in the Bush administration EVER claimed Iraq was linked to 9/11.
Better read his book again Timmeeee! Whatever the hell the gibberish in the rest of your post means, I have no idea. It wasn't even your guyz brand of circle logic.
Posted by: Alan at November 28, 2005 06:33 PM
circle logic... the best example I seen was the Pew Poll that said Doofus supporters were saying... "Bush didn't lie because he's a good guy and I support him. Since I still support him, that means he didn't lie."
Posted by: Alan at November 28, 2005 06:36 PM
*ooops
They just said that part of the crook repugs plea agreement, he has to name who bribed him and come clean with all other members of Congress he knows to be taking bribes also.
ack! Whenever there's bad news, the trolls hit this site like crazy. Look for even more of 'em later tonight.
Posted by: Alan at November 28, 2005 06:39 PM
Alan, why would I believe Richard Clarke who was proven to be a liar by the 9/11 commission. He said that Bush didn't take national security seriously, when Bush increased the defense budget by 500%!!!
In 1998, Clarke claimed there was a link between Iraq and al Qaeda, and now he says there was never one!? So Clarke was either lying in 1999, or he was lying in 2004, so you tell me??
Posted by: Tim L at November 28, 2005 06:42 PM
Does anyone else receive this message when trying to access the "official" aljajeera.net website:Information Alert
"Status : 504 Gateway Time-Out
Description : Unable to connect to origin web server. The web site you are attempting to access is currently unreachable. This may be due to a network outage, or the web site might be experiencing technical difficulties."
Its been doing this for a week or so on all my PCs so I dont think its on my end.
Where is the al Jazeera website?????
Posted by: Shane at November 28, 2005 06:44 PM
Capt, to repeat your question from the previous thread, why is anyone bothering to post to these neocon traitors? Also, thank you flan for pointing out the problems with the double posts, it is just like wasting bandwidth on the neanderthals who keep coming back because they are continually fed, it's like leaving food out for cockroaches! Those of us stuck with a primitive dial-up connection lose out when the bushbots are enabled to eat up bandwidth for no good reason. Tim L is especially a waste. He has a sick fixation on clinton, as if those sins wash away the current sins. But again, I want to applaud David for not censoring, because the rude bushbots never will. Thank you again!
Posted by: Saladin at November 28, 2005 06:47 PM
I also have dial-up. Something is amiss with this site and it's not at my end. I can go to another blog and pull up 738 comments. Here, I have to refresh 6 times to get to 300 and sometimes no amount of refreshing will bring a long thread up. I can't get past #270 on this past weekend's 493 comments. As for double-posting, that hasn't been a problem but then again I don't post much.
Posted by: Carol at November 28, 2005 06:49 PM
"Alan, why would I believe Richard Clarke who was proven to be a liar..."
Timmeeee, why would you cite him if you think he's a liar??? Read his book dude. Don't spout shyt you make up. Clarke was dumbfounded when Doofus cornered him after 9/11 to say "get me the evidence that Saddam did this"! Clarke replied that Saddam had nothing to do with it it, that it was al Qaeda. Doofus tasked him to look again (because he seen an excuse to invade already). He looked again. Told Doofus again, no connection. Think maybe that had something to do with Clarke's position downgraded from principals/cabinet level?
nawww, surely not
Posted by: Alan at November 28, 2005 06:52 PM
Sal, think Hillary it usually drives the trolls off their nut. Pretty easy when you think about it and as usual they offer nothing. Waste of space better off using them to fertilize a tree, if you get my drift.
Posted by: What the F**k at November 28, 2005 06:53 PM
Ok, you're right Sal. Sometimes I can't help it though, I feel an uncontrolable urge to show how rediculuous some of their posts are. I'm broadband and even I have probs on here, just not as bad as the dial-ups. I'll chill with the picking on the trolls.
Posted by: Alan at November 28, 2005 06:56 PM
alan
Only really creepy dudes like you come out to play at night.
Flan, good to hear from you again. I was beginning to think you were hiding from all the confrontation. To bad it's not like the good ol days when you lefties could talk about how miserable and pathetic your lives were before the big bad righties found you out. I am just here to help you feel better about yourself.
Posted by: baf at November 28, 2005 06:59 PM
Bozell chickens out when he learns he'll be debating Larry Johnson
Posted by: Alan at November 28, 2005 07:01 PM
No one gets into Harvard Business School with a 2.0 GPA. No one manages to graduate that school coming in with a 2.0 GPA. Bush is not stupid but he is merely a charming con-man who has led a life of privilege protected by his father's cronies. I would not trust him to run a bath let alone a country. Those who find him to be a worthy individual are less than sane.
Posted by: Kal Palnicki at November 28, 2005 07:04 PM
Haven't you dumbasses figured it out yet? Bush has a top secret team of IT experts working right now as we speak causing double posting on David Corns site to limit the free expression of dumbass lunacy from the left. NO WORRIES!! Harry Reid is calling for a Senate investagation right now to get to the bottom of this national security risk. He has guarenteed his followers that they will get Bush this time no matter what.
Posted by: baf at November 28, 2005 07:06 PM
kal
Didn't you watch the Bush-Kerry elections? It was accidentlly slipped by the left leaning media that Bush has a higher IQ than Kerry and you preferred that guy?
Posted by: baf at November 28, 2005 07:09 PM
Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame inductions
After years of eligibility, Black Sabbath, the Sex Pistols and Lynyrd Skynyrd will finally be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Also slated for induction at the institution's 21st annual ceremony on March 13th at New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
Posted by: Alan at November 28, 2005 07:09 PM
http://english.aljazeera.com/ English-language website for al-Jazeera TV
http://islamonline.com/ owned by Al Jazeera Publishing
aljazeera.com Al Jazeera Publishing entity
Posted by: micki at November 28, 2005 07:13 PM
If you don't read comments posted by trolls you won't be tempted to respond to them.
Posted by: Carol at November 28, 2005 07:15 PM
*made in Mexico
haha ICE wears uniforms while protecting our borders, that are made in Mexico. quote: "It saves our government alot of money."
Posted by: Alan at November 28, 2005 07:15 PM
Micki, I didn't have any probs getting to al jazeera.net
net, not com
Posted by: Alan at November 28, 2005 07:22 PM
They even have an AOL-type poll...
Should the Egyptian government legalise the Muslim Brotherhood?
Yes :
58%
No :
32%
Unsure :
10%
Number of pollers : 6279
Posted by: Alan at November 28, 2005 07:23 PM
A link to C-Span's Washington Journal with a segment with Hafez Al-Mirazi, Host, Al-Jazeera's "From Washington" in which he says the Al-Jazeera network is not responsible for Al-Jazeera.com. One could easily imagine that Al-Jazeera Publishing may have nothing to do with the network, as well.
Provide links to sources...the source may or may not be accurate, but at least one has a starting place to try to evaluate it.
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at November 28, 2005 07:27 PM
Just how corrupt is today's GOP?
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at November 28, 2005 07:33 PM
Alan, 44
We trolls like you.
You don't pick on us.
You make your silly little statements,
YOU GET SLAPPED AROUND WITH FACTS,
and then you run away.
Posted by: Sal at November 28, 2005 07:39 PM
Alan, 44
We trolls like you.
You don't pick on us.
You make your silly little statements,
YOU GET SLAPPED AROUND WITH FACTS,
and then you run away.
Posted by: Sal at November 28, 2005 07:40 PM
57
Just how corrupt is today's GOP?
NO WHERE NEAR AS CORRUPT AS 98.7% OF THE LIBERAL DEMS
Posted by: cindi at November 28, 2005 07:43 PM
Micki: ". . . Al Jazeera Publishing entity"
Saint Google says that the real Al-Jazeera (owner of the .net site) filed a complaint with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) earlier this year over the use of the name "Aljazeera." WIPO apparently rejected the complaint.
The .com site is owned by AJ Publishing of Dubai.
I wonder who fronts AJ Publishing?
Posted by: Drewp at November 28, 2005 07:43 PM
Mystery of Woodward's Three Sources
By Robert Parry
November 29, 2005
"...So, Woodward, the journalistic hero in exposing Richard Nixon's Watergate cover-up three decades ago, engaged in at least two instances of protecting dubious information emanating from George W. Bush's White House.
Not only did Woodward withhold evidence that pre-war WMD intelligence was suspect, he added his clout to a post-invasion public relations campaign aimed at heading off criminal indictments of White House officials who had retaliated against an Iraq War critic by leaking classified information that endangered a covert CIA officer and her contacts.
To make matters worse, both these abuses of information came not on some garden-variety political dirty trick but on life-and-death questions about the administration's integrity in leading the nation to war.
While it may be true that few of Washington?s elite know the mostly working-class men and women in the all-volunteer U.S. military, the moral weight of their sacrifices -- and their deaths -- should have some bearing on the consciences in the nation's capital. Career advancement and seven-figure book contracts might for once take a back seat."
*********************
Woodward is a major player in TRAITORGATE IMO.
Posted by: micki at November 28, 2005 07:43 PM
About Aljazeera.com
Aljazeera Publishing owns and operates Aljazeera.com, bringing you the world today. Aljazeera Publishing is an independent media organisation established for more than 12 years delivering news and analysis to readers all over the world. Aljazeera.com has a particular focus on events and issues in the Middle East covering major developments presenting facts as they happen.
Maybe you've already seen this, but this is what AJ Publishing says:
Important note: Aljazeera Publishing and Aljazeera.com are not associated with the controversial Arabic Satellite Channel known as Jazeera Space Channel TV station whose website is Aljazeera.net.
Aljazeera Publishing disassociates itself from the views, opinions and broadcasts of Jazeera Space Channel TV station.
*************************
If you want to find out who *funds* them, send an email here:
messages@aljazeera.com
***********************
I'm sure you'll get a speedy response.;-))
Posted by: micki at November 28, 2005 07:51 PM
CANADA LIBERAL GOVERNMENT TOPPLED
by unanimous vote of no confidence
It would happen here if lefty ever gets any power.
NOT TO WORRY, Libs & Dems are way to freaken stupid to ever get ANY power.
Posted by: vbd at November 28, 2005 07:52 PM
oops...how did I do that? I meant to post my "maybe you've already seen this, but...at the top of my post. sorry
Posted by: micki at November 28, 2005 07:53 PM
Alan: "Bozell chickens out when he learns he'll be debating Larry Johnson"
The cons just hate having a simultaneous fact-checker around to translate their lies for the gullible. It cramps their style and hurts them in the con punditry rankings.
Posted by: Drewp at November 28, 2005 07:54 PM
If you look up FAS page that Tim L refers us to the source is the USIS, but not their official website and you can find a link to Iraq and Al Qaida. They claim it's from a grand jury indictment of Al Qaida. Other websites have copied their info and posted it.
Google should find the original indictment if it existed, but it doesn't find it. The one linked in the USIS post appears in pdf as a typed (typewriter) document scanned. The original press release by Mary Jo White is found in
usinfo.state.gov/is/Archive_Index/Press_ Release_on_the_Indictment_of_Bin_Laden_and_Atef.html - 28k
Her press release (note that the web page was edited in Apr 2004) does not mention the referred to Iraq/AlQaida link. Interesting that one of her asst attorneys is patrick Fitzgerald. The USinfo site does not link to the indictment.
The copy indictment I read does not make the link that is being given to us as proof of the Iraq/Al Qaida link. The connection is made in text preceding the indictment, but not in the indictment.
The USIS is a private security contractor in Iraq. Colonel Ted Westhusing recently accused them of human rights violations, including their illegal involvement in the battle of Falujah. Westhusing taught ethics at West Point. He was overseeing the USIS contract in Iraq to train Iraqi Security. He was found dead recently with a single bullet hole in his head.
So a blackops contractor makes the Iraq/Al Qaida connection. And a commissioned officer with a PhD. Kills himself from the stress. Hear the clip on NPR/All things Considered.
Al Qaida and Iraq do share the letter I, the Letter A and the letter Q. That is a 75% connection, but that's as close as it gets.
Did anyone see Bob Woodward on Larry King last night trying to explain himself? He didn't realize their was anything significant for two years?
Critical thinking is surely more important than sound bites and links to other sites and blogs, or am I missing something. Maybe I'm not on the right page today as 2/3 of the postings are coming from alien creatures.
Posted by: geof01 at November 28, 2005 07:55 PM
Good News
My wife heard on BBC radio that in certain countries families are digging up graves and from the cremation of bodies the ashes are sent to Sweden to process the ashes into diamonds.
My wife for years has wanted a diamond ring. Now, I said to her that she can cremate my body for the ashes and have my ashes processed into a diamond and she can wear me. Happy days are here again.
Bad News
On BBC radio my wife also heard that foreign countries negotiate with pharmaceutical companies to determine the price of drugs.
In America that is not the case. Lobbyists are embedded with politicians and the Americans pay the high cost of drugs and our payments offset any losses to pharmaceutical companies in their negotiations with foreign governments.
Why are our men and women fighting to spread democracy? With their deaths and maiming foreign governments benefit from our American soldiersÕ lives. In the end Americans are screwed. Why do our politicians always let our citizens get screwed? Their practices are anti-American.
Yes, American sweet asses are being killed and maimed so that foreign governments can benefit from the sacrifices of our American soldiers and the heartaches of love ones through these sacrifices.
Christmas Shopping
That time of year is here again to go Christmas shopping. The best exchange of gifts occurred about two or three Thanksgivings ago. Our son was not going to be home for Christmas and we exchanged gifts on Thanksgiving. That year Christmas was a true celebration of ChristÕ³ birth.
Most Christmas celebrations do not stress the birth of Christ. There are the parties, the commercialism, the booze, the gifts, the hoopla, the forgotten underserved whom we remember one day a year and forget their plight the rest of the year. This experience is similar to the plight of the Katrina victims. They are now the forgotten Americans.
The hypocrisy will never leave the American way of life.
What pisses me off?
There are two areas that really piss me off. When I was growing up, I felt that I was part of the human race. Now, that is not the case. We are broken up into races and the races piss me off. We are no longer Americans but the meisms have taken hold. Everyone is into me, me, me. We are now the white race, the black race, the Hispanic race, the Asian race, and all the other races in America.
Another area that pisses me off is our various religions, such as the major three religions Ð Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. These religions believe in one God but all three religions do not practice that there is one God. I have a feeling that they do not even know who is God. If the major religions do not know who is God, how can we know who is God?
Even with all that pisses me off, we must remember that all of us are diamonds. Americans lack souls but they are diamonds once they die and they are processed into a diamond. Actually, what better way to remember Americans, they have no souls but they gravitate toward their possessions and to be controlled by their possessions.
Posted by: Gerald at November 28, 2005 07:57 PM
Carol 52 EXACTLY!! I just scroll right past. Trying to show how ridiculous they are is an exercise in futility, they accomplish that with every word they type. Besides, who the hell cares what a torture supporter thinks anyway??
Posted by: Saladin at November 28, 2005 07:58 PM
David,
Hope you and your family had a delightful Thanksgiving weekend. Same wishes for all your posters.
I heard you on The Diane Rehm Show. As always I am impressed by your presence on air, and your ability to think on your feet...as it were.
It woud be humerous if it weren't so frightening that the governing power (in this case, the gop) remain paralyzed while we as a nation face some herculean difficulties.
It would be humerous when ornstein implied that nothing could get done in the Senate because Delay is tied up with scandal.
Yes so many scandals, so little time. What my concern at this point is the relevant capacity for the party in power to govern within the context of a free democracy. Can the remaining unimplicated take the reins? Scandal piled upon scandal, piled upon scandal leaves a train wreck. No informed citizen would ever delight in this spectacle. More importantly what group of citizens have the momentum to steer this nation out of its downword spiral?
In spite of the dire situation this nation faces, I see that the smear tactics of the rightiacs that frequent this page have not changed. Perhaps these reactions are an engramed pattern of reaction so that creative reflection is not easily obtained. This is not a happy scenario.
Similarly, it is also important to avoid the spectacle of bad sportsmanship. Avoid kicking a guy when he is down. It isn't good conduct.
Thanks for your efforts David.
Posted by: th at November 28, 2005 08:01 PM
Duke is the only one I know of to 1 make money on selling a used boat, and 2 lose money in the hot Southern California housing market. Now we know that wasn't the case.
Posted by: Ricardo at November 28, 2005 08:03 PM
Gerald, the truth is, Christmas, in reality, has nothing whatsoever to do with Jesus. It is a mix of the Saturnalia, with the inaccurate date for the birth of Jesus thrown in to make everyone happy. This was done under the rule of Constantine in order to unify the masses. If you read the Greek scriptures carefully you will see that there is no mention of any birthday celebrations at all. Instead Christians are asked to remember the death of Jesus, because that is what brings salvation. I am not trying to promote anything. I am only interested in accuracy.
Posted by: Saladin at November 28, 2005 08:06 PM
Fears, Glorious Fears
Posted by: Gerald at November 28, 2005 08:06 PM
Fears, Glorious Fears
Posted by: Gerald at November 28, 2005 08:06 PM
Saladin
69
Trying to show how ridiculous they are is an exercise in futility
.....................
This is so TRUE, because actual FACTS will not allow you AlQueda supporters dispute the trolls.
Posted by: vio at November 28, 2005 08:08 PM
Saladin 69
Trying to show how ridiculous they are is an exercise in futility
.....................
This is so TRUE, because actual FACTS will not allow you AlQueda supporters dispute the trolls.
Posted by: vio at November 28, 2005 08:09 PM
vdb -- Hey, smartass, don't start celebrating with beer and back bacon yet! First, the vote was not unanimous -- it was 171-133. Opinion polls show the most likely result from the proposed January 23rd election will be another Liberal government, albeit minority (as it was up until today).
The lack of confidence vote has more to do with Martin than it does with Liberal Government -- too bad we can't THROW OUT THE BASTARDS IN THE WHITE HOUSE as easily as the Canadians can toss their politicians.
BTW, the Liberals have been in power since 1993 -- they inherited a CN$42 billion budget deficit from the outgoing CONSERVATIVE government. The budget deficit is gone, the economy is booming and unemployment is at a 30-year low.
So, *puck* you.
Posted by: micki at November 28, 2005 08:10 PM
wow, a couple of threads ago, I brought up the PNAC and the fact that they called for a "new pearl harbor", and no fewer than 3 individuals got really bent up about it and said that there is no PNAC and that george soros invented it to make fools of us - capital letters even! - ha.
does it get tiring changing the url each time? - how do you keep them all straight? -
by the way, 911 was an inside job and if you click on my name below you can order the FREE DVD:
'CONFRONTING THE EVIDENCE:Reopen 911'
Posted by: James Ha at November 28, 2005 08:12 PM
Cup of sin is filled to the brim
Posted by: Gerald at November 28, 2005 08:23 PM
micki, maybe our 'founding fathers' had the power lust and thus avoided parliament. It would be a welcome change, after all we are all about regime change and democracy aren't we?
Posted by: geof01 at November 28, 2005 08:25 PM
If you click James ha's name, you will get the George Soros's cut and paste DVD doing his version of a Mike Moore type cut and paste movie.
PLUS, you get to give your address, to be sold to all sorts of whackos. This way you can GETS TONS OF JUNK MAIL.
Posted by: bobo at November 28, 2005 08:26 PM
Tim #33 said, speaking of the Bush Adminstration "They claimed Iraq had links to al Qaeda"
Yes, and when they were saying this, when 9/11 was still a fresh wound in our collective soul, saying "Iraq had links to al Qaeda" was saying that Iraq was linked to 9/11. So don't start playing with semantics.
Cheney himself said, and this is a paraphrase - that there was no difference between Iraq and Al Queda. I will have to find the quote. The call to war against Iraq was carefully crafted by the WHIG and the PNAC. They used Bush as their puppet leader to sell it, using the fear of terrorism to get us drunk with worry.
And it worked. But I guess that decision is back firing on them now because people are finally starting to see through to the real George W. Bush and see the incompetent, idiot and spoiled brat that he is.
Brown, Libby, DeLay, and that new kid on the block, Cunningham, are helping to show the true light of this generation of GOP leaders. I have faith that the true character and deeds of Cheney and Bush will be revealed in the end.
My only fear, and it is a large one, is how bad it will get in the end.
Posted by: flan at November 28, 2005 08:36 PM
The Diane Rehm Show
http://www.wamu.org/audio/dr/05/11/r1051128-9395.ram
http://www.wamu.org/audio/dr/05/11/r1051128-9395.asx
10:00 Washington Scandals
From super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff to Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward, scandal is everywhere in Washington these days. Diane talks with three veteran Capitol Hill watchers about the latest indictments, testimony and other developments from the White House to the halls of Congress.
Guests
David Corn, "The Nation"
Tod Lindberg, editor of "Policy Review" and a research fellow at the Hoover Institution
Norman Ornstein, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute
Posted by: Neil Sagan at November 28, 2005 08:36 PM
flan 82
My only fear, and it is a large one, is how bad it will get in the end.
We only know that it WILL get as BAD AS IT CAN GET, if we cut and run from Iraq and the war against terror.
Posted by: Val at November 28, 2005 08:53 PM
#80 geof01 wrote -- "maybe our 'founding fathers' had the power lust and thus avoided parliament"
Gee, geof, do ya suppose there was a typo and Thomas Jefferson actually said:
"The government is best which governs lust." (not least)
Ohmigod, I hope I don't give the fundies any ideas!
Posted by: micki at November 28, 2005 08:58 PM
Gerald
79
Cup of sin is filled to the brim
with liberal lies
Posted by: vio at November 28, 2005 08:59 PM
Alan wrote:
"Timmeeee, why would you cite him if you think he's a liar??? Read his book dude. Don't spout shyt you make up. Clarke was dumbfounded when Doofus cornered him after 9/11 to say "get me the evidence that Saddam did this"! Clarke replied that Saddam had nothing to do with it it, that it was al Qaeda. Doofus tasked him to look again (because he seen an excuse to invade already). He looked again. Told Doofus again, no connection."
He wasn't a liar in 1998, he was a liar in 2004. He's made two contradictory claims against the Bush administration. First, in 2002, he said Bush increased defense spending by fivefold from the Clinton administration, but then says in 2004 that the Clinton administration was more concerned about national security!? LOL!! In 1998, he makes an Iraq/al Qaeda connection, only to dispute HIS very claim in 2004.
Even if the claim he made about the Iraq/al Qaeda connection was false, there is still the statement from the Clinton administration's 1998 indictment of Osama bin Laden.
"Think maybe that had something to do with Clarke's position downgraded from principals/cabinet level?
nawww, surely not"
No, I think Clarke a disgruntled employee that didn't get the promotion he was hoping for, so in biterness, he tried to bring down a sitting president and failed miserably.
Posted by: Tim L at November 28, 2005 09:03 PM
wrong bobo - george soros has nothing to do with the FREE DVD:'CONFRONTING THE EVIDENCE:Reopen 911'
and I haven't received one iota of junk mail from them or anyone else - what you DO get is a free 4 hr. DVD by Dr. David Ray Griffin calling to account many of the govt.'s obvious lies regarding 911, and a chance to sign a petition demanding that 911 be investigated properly instead of being covered up. 911u.org
Posted by: James Ha at November 28, 2005 09:06 PM
Tired of Being Lied to? Modern History You Can't Afford to Ignore
As Joe Friday said, "Just the facts, ma'am." Maureen Farrell delivers just that.
Posted by: flan at November 28, 2005 09:18 PM
"Propaganda is persuading people to make up their minds while withholding some of the facts from them.": Harold Evans
=
"The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.": James Madison - (1751-1836), Father of the Constitution for the USA, 4th US President
=
"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron." -- H.L.Mencken
=
"I have always strenuously supported the right of every man to his own opinion, however different that opinion might be to mine. He who denies another this right makes a slave of himself to his present opinion, because he precludes himself the right of changing it." : Thomas Paine (1737-1809) Source: The Age of Reason, 1783
=
Mourn not the dead that in the cool earth lie, but rather mourn the apathetic, throng the coward and the meek who see the world's great anguish and its wrong, and dare not speak: Ralph Chaplin
===
Thanks ICH newsletter!
Posted by: capt at November 28, 2005 09:28 PM
Geof01 wrote:
"If you look up FAS page that Tim L refers us to the source is the USIS, but not their official website and you can find a link to Iraq and Al Qaida. They claim it's from a grand jury indictment of Al Qaida. Other websites have copied their info and posted it.
Google should find the original indictment if it existed, but it doesn't find it. The one linked in the USIS post appears in pdf as a typed (typewriter) document scanned. The original press release by Mary Jo White is found in
usinfo.state.gov/is/Archive_Index/Press_ Release_on_the_Indictment_of_Bin_Laden_and_Atef.html - 28k
Her press release (note that the web page was edited in Apr 2004) does not mention the referred to Iraq/AlQaida link. Interesting that one of her asst attorneys is patrick Fitzgerald. The USinfo site does not link to the indictment.
The USIS is a private security contractor in Iraq. Colonel Ted Westhusing recently accused them of human rights violations, including their illegal involvement in the battle of Falujah. Westhusing taught ethics at West Point. He was overseeing the USIS contract in Iraq to train Iraqi Security. He was found dead recently with a single bullet hole in his head.
So a blackops contractor makes the Iraq/Al Qaida connection. And a commissioned officer with a PhD. Kills himself from the stress. Hear the clip on NPR/All things Considered.
Al Qaida and Iraq do share the letter I, the Letter A and the letter Q. That is a 75% connection, but that's as close as it gets."
Nope, sorry Geof01, there were links between Iraq and al Qaeda, and they were made by both Clinton and Bush. So if Bush was lying, then so was Clinton, since they both made the claim of the link. The fact that I just shot you down and all your other leftists idols (Corn, Ivins etc.) with FACTS doesn't mean you have to accept it!
Here is a website made in 2000, before Bush was elected by the State Department.
http://usinfo.state.gov/is/Archive_Index/Bin_Laden_Atef_Indicted_in_U.S._Federal_Court_for_African_Bombings.html
Posted by: Tim L at November 28, 2005 09:34 PM
Cheney: Saddam had strong al-Qaida ties
VP repeats long-standing position, but offers no new evidence
Updated: 7:56 a.m. ET June 15, 2004
ORLANDO, Fla. - Vice President Dick Cheney said Monday that Saddam Hussein had "long-established ties"with al-Qaida, an assertion that has been repeatedly challenged by some policy experts and lawmakers.
The vice president offered no details backing up his claim of a link between Saddam and al-Qaida.
"He was a patron of terrorism," Cheney said of Hussein during a speech before The James Madison Institute, a conservative think-tank based in Florida. "He had long established ties with al-Qaida."
=======================
And then they'll be people who try to worm out of the lie that Hussein/Iraq had something to do with Iraq - that the administration never claimed that I'll say two things.
1. As I said before, by claiming close ties to al Qaida when 9/11 was fresh in our minds helped get over 60 percent of the public to believe it was true and that helped to get the public support behind invading Iraq.
2. Why push the claim about the close ties to al Qaida by going on Sunday morning talk shows other than to help create the mental link between Iraq/al Qaida/9-11 to help promote the war? That was the sole benefit for making these claims.
Posted by: flan at November 28, 2005 09:34 PM
Bush's Expanding 'Fallen Legion'
by Nick Turse and Tom Engelhardt
Tom Dispatch
Back in mid-October, I noted that informal "walls" and exhibits to honor those Americans (and sometimes Iraqis) who fell Ð and continue to fall Ð in the Bush administration's war and occupation of choice in Iraq have been arising on- and off-line for some time. I suggested then that "the particular dishonor this administration has brought down on our country calls out for other 'walls' as well. Perhaps, for instance, we need some negative walls built, stone by miserable stone, to cronyism, corruption, and incompetence." At that moment, TomDispatch author (and associate editor) Nick Turse began to build a verbal "wall" of honor to those who have "fallen" in government service while fighting in some fashion to hold the line against this administration. A previously hardly noted "Legion of the Fallen," these other "casualties" Ð men and women who were honorable or steadfast enough in their government duties that they found themselves with little alternative but to resign in protest, quit, retire, or simply be pushed off the cliff by cronies of this administration Ð turned out to be far larger than we initially imagined. Here, then, is the second installment in Nick Turse's "Fallen Legion" series. The names for a third installment, meant for January, are already largely in place and we're hoping that, by then, we might have an actual online wall to go with it. Tom
*****end of clip*****
A very good little ditty!
capt
Posted by: capt at November 28, 2005 09:36 PM
Dr. David Ray Griffin , a standing member of the American Communist party, and long time employee of well know billionaire George Soros, has written another, hate America first, book.
The New Pearl Harbor is obviously a fiction, based on an old German screen play. The book is filled with tired old quotes and slanderous rhetoric. Suggested not to buy is the general consensus. 1/8 star rating.
Janet Maslin
New York Times
Book Review: Back Issues
Posted by: Cindi at November 28, 2005 09:39 PM
Post #82 Alan said:
"Yes, and when they were saying this, when 9/11 was still a fresh wound in our collective soul, saying "Iraq had links to al Qaeda" was saying that Iraq was linked to 9/11. So don't start playing with semantics."
NO, they are NOT the same thing. Bush and Cheney were both asked several times if Iraq was involved in 9/11, both of them have denied it.
Cheney himself said, and this is a paraphrase - that there was no difference between Iraq and Al Queda. I will have to find the quote. The call to war against Iraq was carefully crafted by the WHIG and the PNAC. They used Bush as their puppet leader to sell it, using the fear of terrorism to get us drunk with worry.
Yes, meaning the war on terror is not just against al Qaeda, it's against EVERY terrorists organization, and Saddam Hussein certainly was a sponsor of terrorism.
Posted by: Tim L at November 28, 2005 09:40 PM
#68
Gerald,
The best things in life are free.
Posted by: Jeanne at November 28, 2005 09:40 PM
Tim, get it straight - I said that, not Alan, not that he would disagree with me, I think. Hussein was a thug and was a ruthless dictator who brutally mistreated the citizens of Iraq. But one thing he was not - was a sponsor of terrorism. He was no immenent threat to us. He was contained.
And that is all. Saladin, you are right.
Posted by: flan at November 28, 2005 09:48 PM
Did anybody here the program on illegal aliens that Bush is offering the nations? Did I hear it right? His solution is to put the illegal immigrants in a prison facility? How is that going to fix anything and who's going to pay for it?
I understand there is a serious problem but I think part of the problem is that it was never addressed with real solutions in mind. It's always either a bandaide solution or a solution that will help big business profit a little more.
Posted by: Jeanne at November 28, 2005 09:59 PM
by Norman Solomon
Bob Woodward probably hoped that the long holiday weekend would break the momentum of an uproar that suddenly confronted him midway through November. But three days after Thanksgiving, on NBC's "Meet the Press," a question about the famed Washington Post reporter provoked anything but the customary adulation.
"I think none of us can really understand Bob's silence for two years about his own role in the case," longtime Post journalist David Broder told viewers. "He's explained it by saying he did not want to become involved and did not want to face a subpoena, but he left his editor, our editor, blind-sided for two years and he went out and talked disparagingly about the significance of the investigation without disclosing his role in it. Those are hard things to reconcile."
An icon of the media establishment, Broder is accustomed to making excuses for deceptive machinations by the White House and other centers of power in Washington. His televised rebuke of Woodward on Nov. 27 does not augur well for current efforts to salvage Woodward's reputation as a trustworthy journalist.
*****end of clip*****
I think the whole situation with Woodward and how it all came down stinks to high heaven.
capt
Posted by: capt at November 28, 2005 10:01 PM
The Woodward Scandal Should Not Blow Over
by Norman Solomon
Bob Woodward probably hoped that the long holiday weekend would break the momentum of an uproar that suddenly confronted him midway through November. But three days after Thanksgiving, on NBC's "Meet the Press," a question about the famed Washington Post reporter provoked anything but the customary adulation.
"I think none of us can really understand Bob's silence for two years about his own role in the case," longtime Post journalist David Broder told viewers. "He's explained it by saying he did not want to become involved and did not want to face a subpoena, but he left his editor, our editor, blind-sided for two years and he went out and talked disparagingly about the significance of the investigation without disclosing his role in it. Those are hard things to reconcile."
An icon of the media establishment, Broder is accustomed to making excuses for deceptive machinations by the White House and other centers of power in Washington. His televised rebuke of Woodward on Nov. 27 does not augur well for current efforts to salvage Woodward's reputation as a trustworthy journalist.
*****end of clip*****
I think the whole situation with Woodward and how it all came down stinks to high heaven.
Linkus - Interruptus
capt
Posted by: capt at November 28, 2005 10:02 PM
Flan, well here is what DEMOCRATIC Vice Chair of the 9/11 commission said:
"I must say I have trouble understanding the flak over this. The vice president is saying, I think, that there were connections between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein's government. We don't disagree with that. What we have said is ... we don't have any evidence of a cooperative, or a corroborative relationship between Saddam Hussein's government and these al Qaeda operatives with regard to the attacks on the United States. So it seems to me the sharp differences that the press has drawn, the media have drawn, are not that apparent to me."
In other words, there were ties between Iraq and al Qaeda, but no ties between Iraq and 9/11. I question the validity of that poll, because me, or nobody I know EVER believed Iraq was involved in 9/11.
Posted by: Tim L at November 28, 2005 10:03 PM
Whoa! Wilkerson is about as honest as they come.
Ex-Powell Aide Criticizes Detainee Effort
----------
Wilkerson blamed Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and like-minded aides. He said Cheney must have sincerely believed that Iraq could be a spawning ground for new terror assaults, because "otherwise I have to declare him a moron, an idiot or a nefarious bastard."
---------------
Can I have this put on a bumper sticker?
And here's another jem.
---------------
Cheney's office, Rumsfeld aides and others argued "that the president of the United States is all-powerful, that as commander in chief the president of the United States can do anything he damn well pleases," Wilkerson said.
Posted by: Jeanne at November 28, 2005 10:07 PM
EU Threatens Sanctions For States Operating Secret CIA Camps
Berlin (AFP) Nov 28, 2005
EU Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini threatened sanctions on Monday for any EU nation found to have allowed secret CIA prison camps to operate on their soil.
"Should the accusations be accurate, I would be forced to draw serious consequences," Frattini said at a security conference in Berlin.
He said that any EU country found to have harboured one of the reported prison camps could have their voting rights in the Council of Ministers, the body which groups the 25 EU heads of government, suspended.
*****end of clip*****
Funny thing, Commander Codpiece thinks he can do anything with complete impunity, well he can here in America but the other countries on the planet have these things called international treaties and agreements.
The most ironic thing is - the UK has the top slot at the EU so it is Greta Britain that will be the messenger.
Irony is like that - check IronicTimes.com if you have not already. The headlines are new every week.
capt
Posted by: capt at November 28, 2005 10:09 PM
Let's Make It a Million!
614,523: the number of people who have already voted in the referendum to Impeach Bush!
CAST YOUR VOTE -> HERE
*****end of clip*****
Some more activism from your keyboard, if you go in for that sort of thing.
capt
Posted by: capt at November 28, 2005 10:14 PM
flan 97
He was contained.
in a large area where he could continue killing thousands of people at the drop of a hat, including Americans with the help of his Alqueda partners, which the some of the most ignorant of people think were not his close friends.
Posted by: vio at November 28, 2005 10:16 PM
Testimony from Rove's former assistant may solidify case that he misled leak inquiry, lawyers say
...Ralston also provided Fitzgerald with more information and 'clarification' about several telephone calls Rove allegedly made to a few reporters, including syndicated columnist Robert Novak, the lawyers said.
If true, this is perhaps the most significant evidence Fitzgerald has obtained suggesting Rove deliberately sought to mislead investigators. Her testimony may help Fitzgerald prove that there were inconsistencies in Rove's account of his role in the leak and assess why he withheld a crucial fact from the prosecutor: that he had spoken with Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper as well as Novak about Plame and confirmed that she was an undercover CIA agent...
..Two things are clear, the sources said: either Rove will agree to enter into a plea deal with Fitzgerald or he will be charged with a crime, but he will not be exonerated for the role he played in the leak.
If Rove does agree to a plea, Fitzgerald is not expected to discuss any aspect of his probe into the President's senior adviser because Rove may be called to testify as a prosecution witness against I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney. Libby was indicted last month on five counts of lying to investigators, perjury and obstruction of justice related to his role in the leak.
---------------------
Piece by piece, bit by bit, the corruption comes to the surface.
Posted by: Jeanne at November 28, 2005 10:20 PM
flan said:
"But one thing he was not - was a sponsor of terrorism. He was no immenent threat to us. He was contained."
The CIA assessed that:
Iraq has a long history of supporting terrorism. . . . It continues to harbor and sustain a number of smaller anti-Israel terrorist groups and to actively encourage violence against Israel.
Baghdad maintains close and overt ties to several secular Palestinian terrorist groups and with the Iraq-based Iranian Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK).
During the Gulf War, Saddam Hussein enlisted the aid of the Palestinian Liberation Front (PLF) to attempt terrorist attacks. The PLF, most famous for the 1985 hijacking of the Achille Lauro, and after 1990 when the PLF headquarters was established in Baghdad, relied wholly on Iraq for financial support and training. The PLF failed to carry out successful operations during the Gulf War in 1991 and drew criticism from Iraqi officials at the time. Regardless, the leader of the PLF, Abu 'Abbas remained in close contact with the regime. According to Iraqi Support for Terrorism:
Reports from multiple sources also indicated the regime was attempting to build relationships with other Palestinian and anti-Israel groups, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command (PFLP-GC), Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and Hizballah, but was having only marginal success. The CIA provided four reports from multiple sources on the PFLP-GC and links to the Iraqi regime.
The CIA also provided eight reports from multiple sources on the Iraqi regime's relationship with the Iraq-based Mujahidin e-Khalq. To support its assessments that:
Iraq provides bases, equipment, training, force protection, and probably funding to the MEK . . . The group is by far the most active of Iraq's terrorist partners . . . The MEK maintains bases in east-central Iraq near the Iranian border and periodically trains with the Iraqi armed forces, according to a variety of reporting. . . MEK forces perform some internal security functions for the Iraqi regime . . . .
The CIA provided DELETED reports on the MEK's bases in eastern Iraq, DELETED DELETED. The DELETED on MEK cross-border attacks in Iran, and DELETED indicated that the MEK had been trained in conventional and terrorist tactics by the Iraqi regime, and DEL
Drew, you and other Leftists need to get this stupid idea out of your head that Hussein was a secular, and al Qaeda and other terrorists organizations are fundamentalists, and they would never work together BS. It is simply NOT TRUE. Syria is secular, but they support terrorism.
Posted by: Tim L at November 28, 2005 10:20 PM
Mystery of Woodward's Three Sources
By Robert Parry
November 29, 2005
Buried deep in an article by the Washington PostÕ³ media writer Howard Kurtz is new evidence that senior Bush administration officials knew their case for war with Iraq was shaky Ð and that the PostÕ³ star reporter Bob Woodward ducked his duty to the American people to present this information before the invasion began.
Toward the end of a lengthy Style section piece on Nov. 28, Kurtz makes reference to an interview he did with Woodward in 2004, in which the famed Watergate reporter laments his failure to turn a more critical eye on the Bush administrationÕ³ claims about IraqÕ³ supposed weapons of mass destruction.
In the new article, Kurtz wrote, "Woodward has faulted himself for not being more aggressive before the war when three sources told him the weapons intelligence on Iraq was not as strong as the administration was claiming. Ô‰ blame myself mightily for not pushing harder,Õ he said last year."
*****end of clip*****
More perspective on Bob.
capt
Posted by: capt at November 28, 2005 10:20 PM
Dear David,
Today was a busier than usual Monday at work. But, that is to be expected after a four day weekend. Picked up my 6 month month old boy and had dinner close to ready when my wife and 7 year old boy arrived home. Had dinner at the table together. The baby didn't care too much for the mashed potatos. The boys had their baths and the 6 month old fell asleep in my lap at 8:00. My wife played games and read with the 7 year old until 8:30 and then I sat in his room with him as he got to watch his 1/2 hour of television before it was time to go to sleep. was his bedtime. My wife is working on some files and I am currently watching MNF. Almost halftime, Indy 13, Steelers 7. Now approaching 2 months free from political argument. I thought it would be difficult, but I really don't miss it. Hope you and your family had a nice Thanksgiving. Heres to a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Posted by: TRH at November 28, 2005 10:22 PM
Calif. Rep. resigns over bribes
By Jill Serjeant
Mon Nov 28, 6:19 PM ET
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, a California Republican, fought back tears as he resigned on Monday after pleading guilty to taking $2.4 million in bribes in exchange for help in securing Defense Department contracts.
Cunningham, 63, an eight-term congressman and decorated Vietnam War pilot, admitted taking cash, antiques, a yacht, vacation expenses and money for his daughter's graduation party from several defense contractors between 2000 and 2005.
"I am resigning from the House of Representatives because I've compromised the trust of my constituents," Cunningham told reporters after a hearing in San Diego federal court.
He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud, bribery and tax evasion, as well as one count of failing to report more than $1 million in income in 2004.
Cunningham's fall was the latest scandal to hit the Republicans who have controlled Congress for over a decade.
*****end of clip*****
$2.4 million? That is peanuts. Barely a crime by GOPher standards[sic]. Small potatoes.
capt
Posted by: capt at November 28, 2005 10:24 PM
#103
Capt,
I love it. I will really love it when the entire White House staff is afraid to leave the country for fear of being arrested. And what would be even more enjoyable would be if they feel like they have to leave the country because they fear being arrested.
Posted by: Jeanne at November 28, 2005 10:26 PM
Jeanne, 98
Did I hear it right?
As usual, NO, again you did not understand anything you heard, but were very quick to spew your ignorance.
Posted by: Joe at November 28, 2005 10:26 PM
Oops, sorry flan, I called you Drew, my bad.
I wanted to address these comments:
"He was no immenent threat to us. He was contained."
You're right, he was not an immenent threat, but Bush, nor anyone in his administration claimed Hussein was an imminent threat. Infact, they claimed the EXACT OPPOSITE. They said that we must get him BEFORE he becomes an imminent threat. Maybe you thought he was an imminent threat because both democratic senators on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Jay Rockefeller and John Edwards told you he was, since that is what they did.
Saddam Hussein was NOT contained. The sanctions against him were severly weakened by the Oil fof Food scandal, in which Hussein was bribing the UN inspectors to lift the sanctions against him.
Posted by: Tim L at November 28, 2005 10:27 PM
Happy Hanukkah to the CornÕs might be more apropos.
Happy Holidays is somehow stealing the baby JesusÕ birthday (Not clear how or why) so I usually try to wish everybody a Happy Chisthanukkwansa !
Just sayin Ô
capt
Posted by: capt at November 28, 2005 10:29 PM
#108
Yeah, well Bob, it was only war after all.
Posted by: Jeanne at November 28, 2005 10:30 PM
I don't know why you guys are so fixated on george soros - personally I don't see what you find so attractive about the man - - but your attempts to link Dr. David Ray Griffin to soros are as pathetic as your denials that the PNAC called for a 'New Pearl Harbor' and coincidentally got one with 911 -
click my name beeotch
Posted by: James Ha at November 28, 2005 10:32 PM
#109
TRH,
Tim L is polluting the bandwidth right now so I won't call you Tim.
One of my fondest memories growing up was watching TV with my dad. My older brothers had to go to bed because they were in school but I could lay on the couch next to my dad and watch Maverick. I was about 3 at the time.
Posted by: Jeanne at November 28, 2005 10:36 PM
Bush asked to explain Iraq
GOP senators want more forthcoming explanation of goals, timetable to leave
Monday, November 28, 2005
By Alan C. Miller, Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON -- Amid declining public support for the war in Iraq, two prominent Republican senators urged President Bush yesterday to be more forthcoming about the increasingly costly and uncertain effort to defeat the insurgency and establish a self-sufficient democracy.
"We want to hear from the administration," said Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. "We want more co-option of the Congress by the administration so that we're on the same wavelength."
Sen. John Warner, R-Va., chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said Mr. Bush should provide a detailed status report to the American public.
*****end of clip*****
Yet the trolls continue on with the "Bush never lied" and the "Clinton did it too" defense. As the world passes them by. What just floors me is the trolls ability to compel people on the board to accept insults and such while pretending to discuss politics? HA!
You all crack me up!
Thanks
capt
Posted by: capt at November 28, 2005 10:40 PM
Capt 108 & Jeanne,
the weapons intelligence on Iraq was not as strong as the administration,
AND BILL CLINTON, AND AL GORE, AND JOHN KERRY, AND THE FRENCH, AND THE GERMANS, AND THE RUSSIANS, AND EVERY OTHER INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
was claiming.
Posted by: vio at November 28, 2005 10:41 PM
James,
They don't have any real reason why they don't like George Soros. He's just another name like Michael Moore. Kind of like talking points. It's easy. They never link anything. They never provide facts to back up arguments. They are banal, trite, commonplace..in other words boring.
And tomorrow you can expect to see them use the same words in a post. No imagination.
Posted by: Jeanne at November 28, 2005 10:41 PM
Dere VioValBafJoe (and just tack on the newest name), I like the way you use 20 or 30 differint names to fule the lefties. Its even betterer when you try to blaim them for using maydup names. Haw haw. Theyl never gess that its just one reel smart teenajer using his nollege and his moms aol dielup to spred the wurd.
Thancks again for remminding poeple that only cowards cut and run. I think if we only sqweeze a little more munny out for Uncle Dicks Hallyburton he will cut me a slise of his big bucks. Shh. Dont tell anyone that Uncle Dick has skinned like a Brazillian dollers frum the Militerry. I rember when I was in the militerry their was so much munny I got sent to Alabama cause thats where the big contracks were.
Dont forget to call Tommy francks a coward too. He says we have the stupidest fuckin guys in the Earth in the Pentagun. I like it when those militerry guys start tellin storys about war. I tell them all the storys about all the Japs I killt in Veetnom. Their so dumm I thinck they beleeve my storys.
Just dont call the browen poeple wetbacks no more. Jebbie gots himself some browen kids. The sumtimes were a towell on theyr head too. Get it? towell head? Haw haw. Ye a little suffistickated humor for us smart gize. TimL probly wont get it tho cause hes retorted.
Posted by: George W. Bush at November 28, 2005 10:42 PM
Jeanne,
As long as we are confessing, my dad always made me go to bed at the same time as my sister who was 2 years younger. Except, on Monday night during football season. I still had to go to bed at the same time, but I was allowed to get up after she fell asleep to watch the first half with my dad. Funny, the things we remember. I'm just glad we still do.
Posted by: TRH at November 28, 2005 10:44 PM
Colin Powell: White House's Murtha Attack 'Disgraceful'
An angry former Secretary of State Colin Powell is blasting the Bush White House for attacking Rep. Jack Murtha, who undermined troop morale and encouraged al Qaida last week with his call for an immediate U.S. pullout from Iraq.
"To attack him the way he was attacked, accusing him of being a Michael Moore, was disgraceful and was not worthy," a Powell told the New York Post's Deborah Orin, who described him as "livid."
"Jack Murtha is great friend of mine," Powell declared. "He's a great patriot.
*****end of clip*****
HA!
Here is a tongue lashing from Powell for every un-patriotic little slug and thug armchair general that had the misguided temerity to attack an honorable man (Murtha) for political purpose.
That would of course make those that run their mouths the traitorous un-American creeps. I rest my case!
capt
Posted by: capt at November 28, 2005 10:47 PM
If I hide something, and you can't find it, does that mean that it never existed.
Even if I already used it to kill someone?
All I have to do is hide it real real goooooood, and then it never existed.
Coooool
Posted by: Cindi at November 28, 2005 10:50 PM
Rice to seek to defuse prison scandal in Europe
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will seek to deflect growing European pressure over allegations that the CIA has been running secret prisons in the region on a trip to the continent next week.
Faced with European demands that the United States explain a newspaper report that secret detention centers to interrogate terrorism suspects were located in two unnamed east European countries, Rice intends to remind the Europeans that they are in a joint fight against an enemy that she says obeys no laws.
Her trip will include stops in Germany, Romania and at the EU headquarters Brussels.
"I think that the conversation will take place in the broader context of our common struggle against terrorism," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.
"This is a struggle that all free countries, including the countries of Europe, share with us: how to deal with groups of people, individuals, that respect no law, that wear no uniform, that follow no regulations."
-------------------
That argument always cracks me up. How to deal with groups of people, individuals, that respect no law and follow no regulations?
Sounds kind of like you and your group Condi. If you hear any snorts of laughter coming out of the audience when you give that speech, just ignored it. They probably think you're doing a comedy routine.
Posted by: Jeanne at November 28, 2005 10:53 PM
Jeanne, I'm pinching their heads -
Posted by: James Ha at November 28, 2005 10:57 PM
I am so tired of putting up with that ignorant little dingbat. I found the empty bottle of Wild Turkey that he drained. He thinks he has Laura fooled. She just lets him get a good Moonshine to keep him out of trouble cause the SS guys won't let him out in public when he's dead drunk.
It's a good thing too because a God-fearing Republican can't break the law these days without having the Justice Departmant running up on his white behind. Too bad about the Dukester. What a whiney crybaby. He needs to buck up and take it like Libby, nice and quiet. Shhh.
I swear these congressmen are giving us thieving crackers a bad name. They are such amateurs. Take me and Junior when we went before the 911 commission. We said we'll only testify together (like I'd let Uncurious George say a word without me to Pimp slap the moron as soon as he spilled his guts). We said we'd only testify without any recordings or any transcripts. We said we'd only testify as long as we weren't under oath to keep the perjury trap out of the way. And guess what? Those idiots FELL FOR IT!! No one will ever know what we said, whether we lied our asses off or who was to blame!! TimL keeps saying that we never lied (as if he knows what we testified to -- what a pile of horseshit, no not TimL, he's a pile of flypoop, small, insignificant, and brainless enough to be a useful tool for the GOP).
Well, I must be getting along. Hear that ringing sound? Another angel earned his wings (probably some dumbass from a blue state getting blown up in Iraq) and I just earned another Billion dollars from Halliburton. Cool, huh?
Posted by: Dick B. Cheney at November 28, 2005 11:00 PM
jeanne 120
They never link anything
they never link to left wing sites, full of lies, like we do. Those silly goofs seem to think that FACTS alone are enough.
Posted by: Sal at November 28, 2005 11:03 PM
The US has become bizarro world.
Miami Police Take New Tack Against Terror
MIAMI - Miami police announced Monday they will stage random shows of force at hotels, banks and other public places to keep terrorists guessing and remind people to be vigilant.
Deputy Police Chief Frank Fernandez said officers might, for example, surround a bank building, check the IDs of everyone going in and out and hand out leaflets about terror threats.
"This is an in-your-face type of strategy. It's letting the terrorists know we are out there," Fernandez said.
The operations will keep terrorists off guard, Fernandez said.
-----------------
Well, along with everyone else. Imagine what kids growing up in this era will say about the insanity that they are being forced to live with.
"Remember when we went to that bank and the police came in and scared the hell out of us? Ma was just depositing her waitress money and all of a sudden she was scaping through her purse for her ID. When she found out the cop couldn't speak Spanish remember what she said to him? She called him a ...you know."
Posted by: Jeanne at November 28, 2005 11:03 PM
Attacking Whistleblowers, Skeptics & Those Who Know Too Much
By Wayne Madsen
11-26-5
"Swift boating" Iraq Whistleblowers. The same gaggle of GOP right-wing fake, phony, and fraudulent "veterans" who savaged John Kerry, John McCain, Special Forces Lt. Col. Dan Marvin http://www.expendableelite.com/lawsuit1/ 60 Minutes and others are now taking on Iraqi War veterans who have blown the whistle on U.S. torture of prisoners in Iraq. The latest victim of these self-appointed vigilantes is Sgt. Frank G. Ford, the 32-year veteran of military counter-intelligence and presidential security detail operations who was unceremoniously removed from Iraq strapped to a gurney after he cited several cases of prisoner abuse in Iraq. His contention is supported by fellow 223rd Military Intelligence Battalion veteran Dave DeBatto.
Enter a group called VeriSeal, a murky McLean, Virginia-based organization tied to an equally murky contractor advertising counter-terrorism/protection, intelligence, investigations, and security services.
*****end of clip*****
Seems like a little "swift-boating" on this board at times. The troll-like have no credibility at least some of the "swift-boaters" are vets.
capt
Posted by: capt at November 28, 2005 11:07 PM
David,
I don't know how you do it, getting the President and Vice-President to comment on your site. That is way cool!
Posted by: TRH at November 28, 2005 11:09 PM
Sal, you fools can't even SPELL facts
Posted by: James Ha at November 28, 2005 11:11 PM
Cindibafviolettevaleryanitjoereidwhateveryournameis,
You're creaping me out with all that cryptic talk about killing someone with a weapon that might be hidden. What ------ ever.
Uncle Ronnie said we'd always have that Saddam guy on our side as long as we kept selling him nerve agents and biological weapons. Ever see Rumsfeld in that picture shaking hands with Saddam? All the while Uncle Ronnie was selling weapons to the Axis of Evil (the Iran part of the Axis of Evil). They were just plain evil back then. Daddy doesn't really know what "axis" means. He thinks it sounds cool though. "Axis of Evil" Whatever.
Uncle Wolfie said we'd all be safer especially if we looked the other way as Pakistan sold the entire Terrorist world the plans to the bomb. That's why daddy's kinda scared to go into Pakistan to get Osama. Those A-holes are CRAZY! If we piss them off they'll kill our puppet, what's his name? Mushyruff? Musharif? Whatever.
They might even drop the bomb on our puppets in Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Then all of Uncle Dick's money will dry up with those radioactive wells. Daddy keeps saying that it's all about the oil and the money. Whatever.
Posted by: Jenna Bush at November 28, 2005 11:15 PM
Capt 130
Are the American soldiers taking pictures of prisoners in their underwear again?
Are they making the prisoners turn of their TV's early again?
Are t