click on my name below to order the
FREE DVD: "CONFRONTING THE EVIDENCE: Reopen 911"

a 'new' grand jury? I think a 'new' grand jury was already seated, and that he now is going to use it for this case. But HELL YEAH, start the party!

Let's get this shit out in the open... Can't whitewash a fence in a rainstorm, can you. KEEP UP THE PRESSURE!!!

(and I'll let YOU whitewash the fence, if you'll only give me that apple!)

-T

CALLING ALL ANTI-WAR LIBERALS

E-mail your representative to advise him/her you want to show support for John Murtha, D-PA. Some repugs in Congress are thinking about proposing a resolution to show unanimity for war, opposition to Murtha. This is supposed to happen today at approx 7PM ET. Help. Send a word. It's cheap.

I would sign this post 'Don Smith' but I don't want to be confused with the Don who loves his gun. I'll be using my e-mail handle.

10000things

Don...

crank up the phones! FAX!

Don

There is no doubt about it. At 7pm eastern there will be a "should we stay or should we go vote”, in the House and we shall see who is made of what.

All I can say is burn baby burn!

Should be interesting to see how many of the dems actually have the sack to vote get out now. Should be more interesting to see how many repubss jump ship. No matter what it was a brilliant piece of politics by the repubs.

John Dean's open letter to Fitzgerald is really quite interesting; strongly advocating for expanding the investigations in several directions.

http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20051118.html

Don Smith,

That post is not from our other Don. I think you have been cloned by a troll.

Just ignore them. Keep your handle.

capt

Are these reckless policies of the repugs coming to a boil at the same time? Woodward had to be a hard blow to the hallowed halls of right-wing conservatism. Their darling, deposed from the high seat of wisdom. The clamor over the war in Iraq, "...a flawed policy wrapped in illusion."

Placing fault and laying blame is not usually a right and proper procedure, but no matter how secretive the Bush/Cheney bunch tries to be, the little secrets keep popping out, like a breast out of Kira Knightley's bra.

You are right, Mr. Corn, and hopefully the new grand jury will probe so deep they'll find the prostate of evil.

The new Fitzgerald grand jury has everybody buzzing. Clearly the prosecutor wants and needs to check out the meaning of the revelation that Bob Woodward was the first reporter to have been told about Valerie Plame's CIA employment. People in DC are focused on the identity of Woodward's government source -- but maybe they should be looking somewhere else.

One person who might conceivably be in some jeopardy is Woodward's own colleague, Walter Pincus. Pincus testified before Fitzgerald's grand jury last year about his government source for his stories. Woodward now says he told Pincus about Plame some time in mid-June. Pincus says he doesn't remember that.

Which is what Pincus has to say. Because if Pincus acknowledged remembering Woodward's words, he would (one presumes) be admitting to having perjured himself before the grand jury. Fitzgerald will presumably not indict Pincus based on Woodward's words alone (that would be a he-said-she-said situation, and there's no way of proving Pincus knew).

But if Fitzgerald now subpoenas a whole bunch of new executive-branch officials who never testified before -- including some people at State and CIA -- he will surely be doing so to find out whether Pincus spoke to them, and whether Plame's name came up. He might also want to see Pincus's contemporaneous notes, which he did not insist on in the first place.

Fitzgerald indicted Scooter Libby for supposedly lying to his grand jury. Why should Walter Pincus be held to a lesser standard?

Hajji,

Just keep saying to yourself...Must ignore baf....must ignore baf...must ignore baf...

Otherwise, he is getting what he wants - and that is a reaction out of you.

Funny, how my last response to him (Baf, my ass could have come up with a better response - or something like that) went unanswered...

Bob Woodward, Lost in Cronyism?

By Larry Johnson
From: Media

How is it that one of the most revered investigative reporters of our generation is such a dunce when it comes to outing a CIA officer? If you had a chance to watch Woodward's "dazzling" performance on Larry King Live this past Thursday, you would have been treated to the spectacle of incurious Bob dismissing the leaking of a CIA officer's identity as gossip run amuck. Nothing more, nothing less. Yep, nothing to report here, move along.

Yet, for those more in touch with the inner workings of Washington, Woodward's vain attempt to downplay this matter sure smacks of someone trying to protect his sources. In a recent Washington Post puff piece on Lewis "Scooter" Libby we are told that Scooter:

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

Woodward has reduced himself to a Bush crony.

This was before the latest - from 10/30

capt

David,

Yes...you're pretty much not a lawyer. And neither are the other reporters that you cited to bolster your argument a few weeks ago that you could interpret "Fitzgerald's body language" to mean that he was done.

I like your site and your reporting. But, try not to venture beyond the facts and engage in silly speculation based on "body language."

Either way, I'm sure we're both glad that you were wrong.

Pincus wins the credibility question hands down.

Pincus is ex-CIA, seems likely he would be very careful about both what he heard and when he heard it. Also Pincus (I assume) would not like an agent at any level being outed.

Bob, obviuously, cares not so much.

IMHO

capt

David,

Thanks for your insight and please do continue to share your assumptions and speculations.

You are our eyes in the room.

#16

You give a lot of credit to the CIA and Pincus for brains that I am not sure is deserved.

IMO

flan,

Whatever your ass emits is a poof of fresh air compared to the virtrol spewed by baf...

I'm just happy to keep it occupied on the previous thread.

I can't help it...every now and then I look for a fight. I'm frustrated that I'll not be spending this weekend with my family due to (mostly) ecconomic and logistic reasons...

I'm tired...I want a face, a name, a gps point on the map for all these folks who pretend that they're somehow right in the face of all this wrong.

I'd be happy to visit each and every...

Gas prices in SC are 198.9!

Hajji,

Yeah, I know...I've been there too and have had other people say the same thing to me that I said to you.

BTW - coming soon to a thread near you...Flan's Ode to Trolls...you thought my recap was good...wait to you see what I've compiled on the Trolls (not you TRH)

flan,

I (and I should KNOW) am still out with the Jury on TRH. Got too much of the same water (and thicker) in common...

But I'm forever hopeful.

-T

Hajii (from the last thread),
As much as I'd hate to be on your bad side, something tells me I would have even more reasons to fear Jill, if she were so inclined also.
I think you said alot that needed saying, and I noticed noone 'stood up' to you either. They're all keyboard and no action.
Can we say "chickenhawk"?

I thought I'd repost this because I believe it's important, time could be of the essence. I have a real uneasy feeling about all this and Gerald(#31) got me to thinking, what if Chimpy IS the embodiment of evil see:http://www.geocities.com/trebor_92627/Bush.htm If he is as great an evil as I suspect he is and most of you think also, he will likely use the "nuclear option" if boxed into a corner. If he is Hitler born again, he will not want to lose again. Right now Chimpy is THE most dangerous man on this planet and with Chainy could themselves create the prophetised Armageddon. Right now he is supposedly only communcating with his COVEN of witches leaving Chainy to draw up the plans for such an event. We need to find out what EXACTLY is going on in the WH. Speculating is OK but the worlds' future depends on us, we are the sceptics we have the strengh in numbers to issue CALL to Chimpy and his gang and get this poker game over with. as with all things offering a reward to anyone that can prove any of the suspected activity without a shadow of a doubt, If I had $20 million bucks I'd do it but I'm so poor I can't even afford to pay attention(intentional levity) We DO NOT have much time I think so something has to be done and done now to put this issue to rest so we can regrow the economy, put people to work, and get back to the America we all care about so much. STOP THE WAR!!!

David Brooks just said...

"there's no evidence that the Bush administration lied about the intelligence leadin up to the Iraq war." "They might've not told "the whole story", but ...."

How do YOU say "SOLD THE CITIZENS AND REPRESENTATIVES A FAULTY BILL OF GOODS on PURPOSE!?""

Alan,

The difference between the "real" folk and the rest is that the real folk put their names, their pictures, their lives on the line.

Those F-ers won't EVER do that.

Y'all come and see us!

-T

p.s. Alan...

I'm just as much as a fuzzy-wuzzy bear as you are.

Ever tried fuck with a bear's cubs when he or she wasn't lookin'?

-T

What do you mean, I am heading out to get my ass kicked right now!

(too easy for all you all, and not much of a target to kick)

HA!

capt

No brains, my friend, credibility.

One need not be smart to be credible.

Smart is a bit over-rated in my book.

Lots of very dysfunctional very smart people.

capt

No brains, my friend, credibility.

One need not be smart to be credible.

Smart is a bit over-rated in my book.

Lots of very dysfunctional very smart people.

capt

A TREAT FROM THE PREVIOUS THREAD

70
...and, of course, the kids' views and mine have become strangely intertwined, Aspen-like, if you will. Now do us all a favor and get back to freerepublic like a good brown(shirt) sphincter-pucker-up-and-smoocher, will you?

This family, Jill's...mine...have a long track record of serving the people of this nation both militarily and in non-combative capacity. I might just scrape your sorry ass off stretcher and save your miserable self-centered life someday...but judging by your disregard for the welfare of my own family and of the planet in general, I also might just be the guy to put you in the ambulance, myself.

Now, if you wish to insult me, or my family, please do so at:

199 Pond Drive
Easley, SC 29640

Call ahead for "invitations"...

...asshole!

Posted by: Hajji at November 18, 2005 04:44 PM

71
Need me to send you a map? Airfare? Whattaya waitin' for?

Posted by: Hajji at November 18, 2005 04:46 PM

72
Apparently President Bush and Karl Rove's strategy of wringing every possible political advantage out of the War On Iraq is starting to blow up in their faces. Republicans have long argued that anyone who dares to question or criticize Prez Bush on Iraq is an "unamerican unpatriotic traitor who aids and abetts the enemy".

That arguement was used to mute the critics and worked to a large degree until recently the wheels started to fall of to what is becoming more and more of a brilliant hoax pulled off by Bush and the republicans. With a majority of americans now against the war with iraq and calling for withdrawal, the president and his allies are once again resorting to shrill attacks on his critics. It's not working this time because the american public has had enough.

Posted by: Left Angle at November 18, 2005 04:46 PM

73
john benson #61

your the one stuck on porn. freak!!

Posted by: baf at November 18, 2005 04:48 PM

74
Where did all these vicious Bush voters come from? I am a Vietnam Veteran how about you, you like killing people for an OIL WELL, maybe instead of turning left you should have turned RIGHT where you belong.

Posted by: DEN at November 18, 2005 04:52 PM

75
hajji

Are you telling me that you support torture? With the dogs that is. I thought you were against that? You libs are so damn confusing.

Posted by: baf at November 18, 2005 04:58 PM

76
Who the is Jill Heatherington?
Why should anyone insult her?

Posted by: Randall at November 18, 2005 05:03 PM

77
den #74

I'm just questioning your stance on the war-you guys said it is patriotic to question us on the war. The only problem is that you don't like it.

Posted by: baf at November 18, 2005 05:05 PM

78
Thanks for proving my point.

Posted by: John Benson at November 18, 2005 05:10 PM

79
Show your faces, cowards...

You know where we are!

We're waiting...

C'mon and meet the family!

-T

Posted by: Hajji at November 18, 2005 05:10 PM

80
hajji

There you go again, threatening physical violence and torture. What are all your peacenick buddies going to think now?

Posted by: baf at November 18, 2005 05:14 PM

81
...and to those regulars who think I've snapped...

I'm just tired of these annonymous assholes...

Anybody who wants to do this in person, just ask those who know I mean what I say when I say I'm coming to visit.

It is a HUMAN conflict. It is HUMANS who bother to type such words of hate onto this forum. It is HUMANS who run away from sidewalk debates, HUMANS who give their support to genocide, HUMANS who give money and voice to corporation hell-bent on profit-uber-alles.

Let us consider them not some disembodied contra-logic, let us consider them humans and adversaries... and let them show their face!

And let us smash the faces controlling the boots, smashing the faces of humanity, forever...

-T

anybody HUMAN enough to accept the challenge?

Posted by: Hajji at November 18, 2005 05:18 PM

82
Hajji

Are you having a breakdown? You may want to seek professional mental help. Stress, paranoia and panic

Posted by: Mansell at November 18, 2005 05:19 PM

83
...and you, baf, randall, whoever you are...c'mon and meet us, get to know us...get to know the TRUTH behind the lives you've shattered...

you've got the address, I assure you it is real. I assure you that everything I've posted here is the truth....

Just do it... C'mon!

-T

Posted by: Hajji at November 18, 2005 05:21 PM

84
...and you, baf, randall, whoever you are...c'mon and meet us, get to know us...get to know the TRUTH behind the lives you've shattered...

you've got the address, I assure you it is real. I assure you that everything I've posted here is the truth....

Just do it... C'mon!

-T

Posted by: Hajji at November 18, 2005 05:21 PM

85
So far I see no verifiable humans, responding...

Are you so afraid of being known?

Posted by: Hajji at November 18, 2005 05:23 PM

86
In other words, it is HUMAN...it is REAL. Get off your computers and hit the highway and come and talk to me in PERSON!

c'mon...!

I'm so tired of you annonymous assholes...

Y'all c'mon down!

(I promise that the dogs will only TASTE you...at first!)

-T

Posted by: Hajji at November 18, 2005 05:27 PM

Trolls are not trolls because they are neocons or because they disagree.

Trolls are trolls because they are rude ill mannered, unable to make a cogent post, or represent their position without insult or broad assumptions. The troll (trollius Cornblogus) is exposed when they post to all of us "libruls."

(or answer a post to: troll)

Sometimes trolls act all nice and polite. That is normal troll behavior. They seem to revert to the school yard taunts in time. It is their nature.

TRH? Been being very non-troll, lets see if that side of the personality has staying power.

"One needs to be slow to form convictions, but once formed they must be defended against the heaviest odds." ~ Mahatma Gandhi

capt

Titts,

I see you're standing up proudly and pointing!

BWAHAHAHAHAH!!!

No, really, stop on by! The family would like to meet you.

I notice I've STILL not got any verifiable human response, so I'll consider you all cowards!

Really, C'mon down!

-T

....AND it took you, like 2 hours to find the new thread!!!

BWAHAHAHAAH!!!

...You're welcome for the 2 hours of troll-free bliss, Cornholios! BTW... I had FUN!

-T

capt

I have to agree with your "One need not be smart to be credible." However I do question your applying that to the CIA or agents thereof. They seem to have both and smart and a credibility problem and I think we can both agree THAT is a really bad thing. On a good day the CIA could screw up a wet dream.

So the CIA is different from every other governmental department how?

CIA agents are different from every other person how?

You think I am saying they walk on water?

Guess again, Bob loses the credibility issue to Walter based on points, errors and lifetime stats not because of anything else.

It is just my opinion after all, I accept your opinion differs? Woo Hooo let's throw a party.

capt

BTW: I do not think all that highly of Pincus in general, just find him more credible than Bob.

Bob loses the "Walter is remembering wrong" argument.

capt

Hajji,

I understand your reservations. I still have a way to go to undo the previous impression many of your fellow Cornposters, and yourself, still rightfully have of my history here. I am doing my level best to remain true to my promise to return to the pre-'98 me. I have always had an interest in politics but never argued them before. It is my intent to offer comments & opinion, rather than argue for the sake of argument. My reformation is aided by posters such as baf. All I have to do is think to myself, did I sound like that at one time? Yes, I did. I never want to go there again.

Will be meeting at your brothers in about an hour. Really wish you and Jill could have made it home. Take care and let me know when you are coming home again. I can't "whitewash" all the previous fences that I have erected, but I can offer to mend those that I have broken.

That offer is not only open to you but to all the folks here on David's site that I have stepped over the line with in the past.

Take care and give Jill a big hug from all of us. Just don't bite the top of her head when you do.

"If someone offers you a gift, and you decline to accept it, the other person still owns that gift. The same is true of insults and verbal attacks." ~ Steve Pavlina, How to Win an Argument, 08-31-05

It would be nice if you admitted on the board that you were posting as me "capt" with the disgusting crap about NAMBLA to Mr. Corn.

He has not emailed since.

He may be under the wrong impression?

Frankly I could care less either way. There is more work to mending fences than just saying you want to do so.

To associate me with those type of things is beyond the pale. I have already forgiven you. I do pray for you and yours.

Just a thought.

capt

more credible than Bob

I have had things ooze out of wounds that were more credible than Bob. I guess I just find the CIA a particularly offensive branch of the government. I resent the need for such an agency and I really resent the fact they can't do very much right.

Or, as Mike Rivero speculates, this is a great way to put it off until bush is almost out of office. That would not surprise me a bit!
Hajji, don't let those fools get to you, I swear, if no one wrote a single word in response they would find someone else's doorstep to darken. Please, please, please stop feeding them!
James, it has become painfully clear that this idiot barf has no clue what conservative means, just like that lying f**khead he calls president has no clue. He is bent over, handed sand and smiles. Maybe he actually likes it. Since we are all a bunch of liberal welfare cases, let's just leave it at that. When all they have is name calling and stereotyping, what's the point? I am very happy that the truth of 9/11 has gone from a leak to a steady flow. I can't wait to see those rats drown!
TRH, I am willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, but remember, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, uh, well, uh, you can't get fooled again!! Or something like that! Tell me, have you read Professor Jones paper? Since you wasted money on the 9/11 ommission report you should at least read this, it's free and well worth the time. I am waiting for a response from David.

Hajji,

I am almost afraid to intimate that you are not a mellow pacifist, or you and your puppies will eat my ass. Shades of Sean Penn, huh?

They are spooks after all. I have had family in the DEA/FBI. It did not improve my opinion of government in any way whatsoever, to the contrary, they dashed any high hopes I had for the "good" people that might work there.

But I am too easily surprised. I was shocked and appauled when I heard the Nixon tapes because he cursed.

I cuss like a sailor it was not the cussing, it was my silly thoughts about Quakers. HA!

Most recently I had high hopes that we did not melt people. ARGH! I hate it when my hopes are dashed on the shores of a little reality island.

I have to keep a sense of humor about my limitations it keeps me smiling all the time.

capt

From: Lew Rockwell

Americans Are Running Out of Patience With Their 'War President'
by Eric Margolis

Who ever advised President George Bush to escape the storm of criticism he faces over Hurricane Katrina, Iraq, and the Libby CIA case by flying to Argentina for a free trade summit should be sent in chains to Guantanamo.

Bush’≥ venture was an embarrassing diplomatic failure and the most humiliating fiasco faced by a US leader America since Vice President Richard Nixon got mobbed in 1958. Bush was left looking isolated and confused, while his nemesis, Venezuela’≥ boisterous merengue-marxist leader, Hugo Chavez, rallied Latinos to his side and gleefully mocked the US president.

Now, Bush has returned to Washington rent by factional warfare, growing outrage over Bush-Cheney’≥ defense of torture, and new polls showing a majority of Americans believe the president deceived the US into war.

Gen. William Odom, former chief of the ultra secret National Security Agency, and a leading military thinker, called Bush’≥ Iraq adventure "the biggest disaster in the history of the US."

Even more shockingly, Republican elder statesman, Gen Brent Scowcroft, national security advisor to Bush’≥ father, accused Bush Jr. of being "wrapped around the little finger" of Israel’≥ PM Ariel Sharon.

Scowcroft has finally said aloud what no one in official Washington or the media dared to utter. His accusation helps explain much about the Bush Administration’≥ foreign policies and why they seem so often to damage rather than promote US interests.

While I was recently in London, leaked cabinet documents shockingly revealed that shortly before Bush invaded Iraq, he actually told PM Tony Blair he "wanted to go beyond Iraq" by occupying Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. This is the first time we have concrete evidence that two key US allies were in the White House's crosshairs.

Meanwhile, the FBI, intensifying its war against the neocons, is investigating two senior officials of the Israel lobby, one of Washington's most sacred cows, and a neocon Pentagon analyst for passing national security secrets to Israel. Washington neocons are making frantic efforts to suppress these investigations and depict them as minor mischance rather than the beginning of a major spy scandal.
--------------
Shocking is right! Karl Schwarz better watch his back, sacrificing this sacred cow will not be tolerated.

people are actually responding to the moniker "titts," I can't help but wonder why.

Saladin,

It took 30 years to have the evidence in hand that Nixon lied and was worse than anybody imagined. I hope it does not take as long for the truth about Bush/Cheney.

The bits we see and read about are not even the tip of the iceberg - I am speculating but I base my POV on history.

They will not talk about some of the things until Bush is not in office. There are some subjects that are "off-limits" because of the insidious creep of common culpability.

No way around it. It will be a long time, maybe not 30 years but I predict the worst will not come out for a decade or more. That is why we need to get that creep impeached.

Indictments will not even scratch the surface.

Convictions will be pardoned. No way the whole truth will come out.

Not yet.

IMHO

capt

To David Corn,

I have been one of those, in the past, that Hajji is referring to. I posted under hidden names and linked to disgusting sites. I abused your site for no reason other than being mean. I did use Capt's handle and e-mail in a hateful rant about you and NAMBLA. There was no justification for that and I sincerely apologize to you and Kirk for that. Capt, thanks for the prayers, undeserving of them that I may be.

Saladin,

I haven't even read the 911 Commission report and don't intend to. I don't trust anyone in Gov't these days.

Goldberg's First Column Appears in 'L.A.Times' After Shake-Up

By E&P Staff

Published: November 17, 2005 10:55 AM ET

NEW YORK In this month's op-ed shakeup at the Los Angeles Times, liberal columnist Robert Scheer lost his regular spot, and conservative pundit Jonah Goldberg gained a position. Goldberg's first column for the Times appeared today.

It opens, stop me if you've heard this already. But there are people out there - honest, decent, sincere people and deranged moonbats, too - who think that George W. Bush lied about the threat posed by Saddam Hussein. No, seriously, it's true."

Then Goldberg posed the question: Even if they are right, so what?

He recalled that the evidence that FDR lied is far greater than the evidence that Bush did, pointing to President Roosevelt's moves and statements to get us into World War II: Does this make FDR a bad president? No. While I have my problems with FDR, most historians are right to be forgiving of deceit in a just cause. World War II needed to be fought, and FDR saw this sooner than others.

Even the most cursory reading of any presidential biography will tell you that statesmanship requires occasional duplicity. This isn't to say that the public's trust should be breached lightly, but there are other competing goods involved in any complex situation.

Now, you might say that Iraq was no WWII, Saddam was no Hitler, and 9/11 was no Pearl Harbor. Those are all fair arguments with varying degrees of merit.

The Bush Doctrine is not chiefly about WMD and never was. Like FDR's vision, it balances democracy, security and morality.
If Bush succeeds - still a big if - the painful irony for Bush's critics is that he will go down in history as a great president, even if he lied, while they will take their paranoia to their graves.
------------
So, he thinks it's fine and dandy to start wars based on lies? No wonder we are in the pit we're in. What a f**king psycho!

Goldberg's First Column Appears in 'L.A.Times' After Shake-Up

By E&P Staff

Published: November 17, 2005 10:55 AM ET

NEW YORK In this month's op-ed shakeup at the Los Angeles Times, liberal columnist Robert Scheer lost his regular spot, and conservative pundit Jonah Goldberg gained a position. Goldberg's first column for the Times appeared today.

It opens, stop me if you've heard this already. But there are people out there - honest, decent, sincere people and deranged moonbats, too - who think that George W. Bush lied about the threat posed by Saddam Hussein. No, seriously, it's true."

Then Goldberg posed the question: Even if they are right, so what?

He recalled that the evidence that FDR lied is far greater than the evidence that Bush did, pointing to President Roosevelt's moves and statements to get us into World War II: Does this make FDR a bad president? No. While I have my problems with FDR, most historians are right to be forgiving of deceit in a just cause. World War II needed to be fought, and FDR saw this sooner than others.

Even the most cursory reading of any presidential biography will tell you that statesmanship requires occasional duplicity. This isn't to say that the public's trust should be breached lightly, but there are other competing goods involved in any complex situation.

Now, you might say that Iraq was no WWII, Saddam was no Hitler, and 9/11 was no Pearl Harbor. Those are all fair arguments with varying degrees of merit.

The Bush Doctrine is not chiefly about WMD and never was. Like FDR's vision, it balances democracy, security and morality.
If Bush succeeds - still a big if - the painful irony for Bush's critics is that he will go down in history as a great president, even if he lied, while they will take their paranoia to their graves.
------------
So, he thinks it's fine and dandy to start wars based on lies? No wonder we are in the pit we're in. What a f**king psycho!

Saladin,

Rather hypocritical of you. It worked to get you to respond, DIDN'T IT?

TRH, Jones is not in the Govt. He is a physics professor at BYU. Please read the paper, it is excellent.

Nobody is undeserving of prayer.

From: The Washington Times

By John Daly
UPI International Correspondent

Washington, DC, Jun. 13 (UPI) -- Insider notes from United Press International for June 8

A former Bush team member during his first administration is now voicing serious doubts about the collapse of the World Trade Center on 9-11. Former chief economist for the Department of Labor during President George W. Bush's first term Morgan Reynolds comments that the official story about the collapse of the WTC is "bogus" and that it is more likely that a controlled demolition destroyed the Twin Towers and adjacent Building No. 7. Reynolds, who also served as director of the Criminal Justice Center at the National Center for Policy Analysis in Dallas and is now professor emeritus at Texas A&M University said, "If demolition destroyed three steel skyscrapers at the World Trade Center on 9/11, then the case for an 'inside job' and a government attack on America would be compelling." Reynolds commented from his Texas A&M office, "It is hard to exaggerate the importance of a scientific debate over the cause of the collapse of the twin towers and building 7. If the official wisdom on the collapses is wrong, as I believe it is, then policy based on such erroneous engineering analysis is not likely to be correct either. The government's collapse theory is highly vulnerable on its own terms. Only professional demolition appears to account for the full range of facts associated with the collapse of the three buildings."
------------
WOW!! I told you James, this is fast headed towards a flood! The Wash. Times, of all papers! YEEEEE HAAAWWW!!

Rise of the 'patriotic journalist'

By Robert Parry

Editor's note

September 11, 2001 and subsequent events threw into sharp focus the shortcomings of the media in the United States. In fact, contrary to popular belief, the media had been been in a steep decline for decades prior to the terrorist attacks, as veteran US journalist Robert Parry documents in the article below.

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 Central Intelligence Agency (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 US 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.

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

Odd that Nixon keeps coming up with regard to Bush. A long(ish) piece. Good stuff.

38 more months of Bush in the oval office. *sigh*

capt

Also from the Washington Times

Two years after President George W. Bush proclaimed "mission accomplished" in Iraq, some thoughtful officers are beginning to question who the insurgents actually are. In a recent interview the head of the US 42nd Infantry Division which covers key trouble spots, including Baquba and Samarra Major General Joseph Taluto said he could understand why some ordinary Iraqis would take up arms against U.S. forces because "they're offended by our presence..."

...Taluto insisted however that the other foreign forces would not be driven out of Iraq by violence, observing, "If the goal is to have the coalition leave, attacking them isn't the way," he said. "The way to make it happen is to enter the political process cooperate and the coalition will be less aggressive and less visible and eventually it'll go away." Taluto's comments are sure to raise hackles at the Pentagon, which insist that all insurgents are either Baathists or al-Qaida. Taluto observed that "99.9 per cent" of those captured fighting the U.S. were Iraqis.
-----------------
This is what I have been saying for months. These are not foreigners, they are Iraqi citizens that want us to get the hell out, and can you blame them?

flan #13

I would rather not talk about your ass!! But thanks for the invite.

Clinton Aide Touts 'Pro-Growth' Progressivism

BY MEGHAN CLYNE - Staff Reporter of the Sun
November 18, 2005

WASHINGTON - As Democrats prepare for 2006 and 2008 by attacking Republicans over Iraq, the Supreme Court, Tom DeLay, I. Lewis Libby, and Hurricane Katrina, a former Clinton administration official is urging Democrats to focus on fixing another party: their own.

In his new book, "The Pro-Growth Progressive: An Economic Strategy for Shared Prosperity," one of President Clinton's national economic advisers, Gene Sperling, is encouraging Democrats "to not just be critical of the president's ownership proposals," he said in an interview with The New York Sun, "but to come forward with our own wealth-creation and ownership proposals that are better targeted to the working families who are right now not saving and falling through the cracks."

The message, according to some political observers, could become an important plank for Democrats in the 2008 presidential race, as they seek an affirmative economic vision with broad appeal to improve on their showings in the 2000 and 2004 races, during which Democratic candidates largely defined themselves in opposition to President Bush. Senator Clinton, in particular, would be a likely presidential candidate to trumpet the fiscal centrism of her husband's former economic adviser, analysts said.

Mr. Sperling's recommendations call for "progressives" to couple their advocacy for the indigent with a pro-business philosophy, so that they are seen as a party with ideas for all Americans.

"Democrats," the former Clinton official writes, "cannot just be the party for you when something bad happens."

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

That is what I was trying to say about the dems. I do not agree 100% with Gene but MAN it is so good to be able to start thinking about solutions again. I miss Clinton. I will never agree with all he did, he is as flawed a human being as I am (maybe less) but . . .

It has been a long time coming and when everything needs to be fixed a pair of pliers are better than a war hammer.

capt

I've never claimed to be a "pacifist", just like to keep my "wars" on a personal, face-to-face-like level...

My dogs (and I) just LOVE a good belly-scratch...but rub EITHER of us the wrong way and you'll be changing your counting and nose-picking methods in short time!

should I say it again?

BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

hey hajji

What's your Visa number so I can get that plane ticket you offered?

Hajji

You and your dogs aren't from MA are you? That would explain alot!!

Saladin,

You KNOW I've just GOT to have my fun, every now and then...

And if I can call these cowards out to show what they're (reanimated) cloned from, even to the point of having TRH call them what they are, then I feel that it is a half-bottle of merlot and a couple of hours between ass scratchings well (mis)spent!

Let me put it this way...

I know you're for real as do you know I am. I know TRH is real and if he's lying I'll see to it his wife makes him sleep on the couch...that they took to the dump last week...forever...

Let just one of these sorry pieces 'o shite show me THEY are...and then I might listen.

Until then it is like shooting feces in a 5-gallon bucket. I can move on now, troll-target practice is over.

kisses,
-T

hey!

If you can fit a plane ticket to or from ANYWHERE on my Visa, you're welcome to it!

-T

so what's the number?

I'll mail it to you, baf... Just send your home address....coward.

-T

Congress is voting on an amendment by Congressman Murtha tonight to withdrawl the troops from Iraq. I wish they would take a vote on rescinding the War Powers Act!

Saladin,

Located Professor Jones paper and added it to favorites. Here is what is weird about what I have already read. I was under the impression, early after 911, that the WTC7 building was brought down by explosives due to safety concerns. I had to have heard that from somewhere because I don't recall reading it.

Hajji,

You run rings around baf. I actually enjoy watching the back & forths.

baf,

Hajji is not from MA. Yet, even MA has a Conservative Governor. Whatever are you trying to infer?

GOP Lawmakers Float Ethics Probe of Murtha

By John Bresnahan
Roll Call Staff
Friday, Nov. 18

Republican lawmakers say that ties between Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) and his brother’≥ lobbying firm, KSA Consulting, may warrant investigation by the House ethics committee.
-----------------------

The GOP are worthless. I am watching the disintegration of a party. They are destroying their reputations with every action and reaction. They are profoundly stupid.

They do not deserve the role they aspired to. They do not deserve to remain in office one more day. They are scoundrels. They are pond scum. They are worthless.

House on Fire

November 18th, 2005
By Mike Hersh

Stung by the collapse of public support for their party’≥ failed Iraq policies, the Republican House leadership committed an astounding blunder today resulting in massive self-inflicted political wounds. Republicans cannot address reasoned bipartisan concerns articulated by war hawk Rep. John Murtha (PA.) and others. Taking their cue from Bush’≥ reckless, irresponsible attacks on anyone who dares question his fatal incompetence and rank dishonesty, the House leadership rushed a doctored, phony version of Murtha’≥ Resolution into debate.

Unfortunately for them - unlike Bush who hid behind a wall of uniformed troops as he politicized and debased Veteran’≥ Day, or Cheney who donned a tuxedo to spout lies to an assembly of extreme right wing supporters - House Republicans ran into a buzz saw of dissent from their colleagues. House Democrats, frustrated by years of suppression, stone-walling and obstruction, ridiculed, lectured, and admonished this Republican effort to politicize the war, smear Rep. Murtha, and distract the American People from Bush Administration failures, lies, and corruption.

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

The distraction is not working, or so it seems.

capt

As I said, before, Capt...Let's just get ALL this shit out in the open and see who's stinkin'!

Louis Freeh Charges 9/11 Commission Cover-Up

Former FBI Director Louis J. Freeh slammed the 9/11 Commission Thursday saying it ignored – or "summarily rejected" – the most critical piece of intelligence that could have prevented the horrific attacks of September 11, 2001.

Writing in the Wall Street Journal's opinion page, Freeh gave a blistering review of the Commission and says new revelations indicate it is "a good time for the country to make some assessments of the 9/11 Commission itself."

The former Bureau Director, who resigned his position just months before Sept. 11, 2001, points out that the U.S. government had learned of the identity of Mohammed Atta the year prior to the attacks. Atta was one of the ringleaders of the group, and piloted an American Airlines plane that slammed into one of the Twin Towers.

Freeh recounts that military intelligence operation code-named "Able Danger" concluded in February 2000 that military experts had identified Atta as an al-Qaida agent operating in the U.S.

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

Newsmax sucks and so does Freeh but . . .

capt

Monkey butt always smells the same no matter what handle is used.

I stick with the basics, take it one post at a time and watch for the "your" where "you ' re" should be used.

Way obvious to me.

capt

Join Bill O'Reilly's Blacklist

Bill O'Reilly recently put the city of San Francisco on notice.

"If Al Qaeda comes in here and blows you up, we're not going to do anything about it."

O'Reilly insisted that this statement was "not controversial" and blamed the uproar on "far left Internet smear sites."

Then O'Reilly promised to publish a blacklist to publicly intimidate his "enemies":

"I'm glad the smear sites made a big deal out of it. Now we can all know who was with the anti-military Internet crowd. We'll post the names of all who support the smear merchants on billoreilly.com."

In this case, being on O'Reilly's enemy list is an honor. Join Bill O'Reilly's blacklist by entering your name below. I'll collect the names and hand deliver them to Mr. O'Reilly the next time I'm on the Factor (and if he won't have me back, I'll bring them to his studio anyway).

Join the O'Reilly Blacklist here:
--------------
And from there they have the sign up boxes. Since I hate the weasel, I'll be joining.

Capt #53,

Thanks. May our agreements be humble and our disagreements be civil. I was wrong to do what I did and should have apologized long ago. You were not deserving of what I did.

Tim Hodges (Identifying myself just in case Hajji decides to go "troll-shooting" again this evening.) I wish he and Jill were home.

That was fun.

Shame on Them: Tell Col. Murtha Not to Back Down

John Murtha spent 37 years in Marine Corps, earned the Bronze Star, two purple hearts, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, and the Navy Distinguished Service Medal. And for the last thirty years he’≥ been one of the most respected voices in Congress on military issues -- universally respected by Democrats, Republicans and military brass alike.

Now he's speaking out on Iraq -- and the Republican smear machine has questioned his wisdom, his courage, and even his patriotism. Shame on them. Every one of us -- right now -- needs to let Jack Murtha know that we respect his service, respect his leadership, and respect his right to speak the truth. This man has spent his life serving us. The very least each one of us can do is let him know that no matter what dishonorable smear campaign Republicans wage we will be there with him.

Send Congressman Murtha a note telling him that you will not be silent while he is attacked -- Governor Dean will deliver it personally with his own thanks

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

I hope everybody sends him a note.

capt

Capt,
I sent my letter. It was my pleasure. I tried to send one from his congressional website but you have to live in his district. I'm glad I was able to show my support.
Thanks.

Hajji,

Not that I would deny your right to a little "troll-shootin" now and then, I just don't want you to point that "trigger finger"
my way after a few merlot's. Especially if you used it to scratch. Never mind.

Daniel & Maria just got back. Headed to your brothers. Will give them a big hello from you & Jill. Come home Cuz!

Former CIA director accuses Cheney of overseeing torture

Thu Nov 17, 8:08 PM ET

LONDON (AFP) - Admiral Stansfield Turner, a former CIA director, accused US Vice President Dick Cheney of overseeing policies of torturing terrorist suspects and damaging the nation's reputation, in a television interview.

"We have crossed the line into dangerous territory," Turner, who headed the Central Intelligence Agency in the 1970s, said on ITV news.

"I am embarrassed that the USA has a vice president for torture. I think it is just reprehensible. He (Mr Cheney) advocates torture, what else is it? I just don't understand how a man in that position can take such a stance."

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

It sure seems like Bunnypants has pissed off the wrong poppy er . . um people.

HA!

capt

PS - I am on the blacklist now so "Right back at cha"

Vatican Official Refutes Intelligent Design

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican's chief astronomer said Friday that "intelligent design" isn't science and doesn't belong in science classrooms, the latest high-ranking Roman Catholic official to enter the evolution debate in the United States.

The Rev. George Coyne, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, said placing intelligent design theory alongside that of evolution in school programs was "wrong" and was akin to mixing apples with oranges.

"Intelligent design isn't science even though it pretends to be," the ANSA news agency quoted Coyne as saying on the sidelines of a conference in Florence. "If you want to teach it in schools, intelligent design should be taught when religion or cultural history is taught, not science."

-----------------------
I knew the Vatican wasn't going to go along with that ID junk science.

"In all history, there is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare. Only one who knows the disastrous effects of a long war can realize the supreme importance of rapidity in bringing it to a close.": Sun Tzu - (c.500-320 B.C.) name used by the unknown Chinese authors of the sophisticated treatise on philosophy, logistics, espionage, strategy and tactics known as 'The Art of War' - Source: The Art of War

=
"Every great historic change has been based on nonconformity, has been bought either with the blood or with the reputation of nonconformists." Ben Shahn - (1898-1969) - Source: Atlantic Monthly, September 1957

=

"In the beginning of a change the patriot is a scarce man and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him for then it costs nothing to be a patriot.": Mark Twain - [Samuel Langhornne Clemens] (1835-1910)

=

Thanks ICH newsletter!

Nothing wrong with teaching the merits of ID or creationism, just not as a substitute for science. ID has more in common with mythology. We all learned about that, just not in place of biology class.

Religion can be studied, all types, kinds, and even specific doctrine but not as a substitute for science.

Theology is is not science.

I will never enter a discussion to question anothers beliefs. It is not a rational argument, nor are my beliefs, that why we call them beliefs.

capt

Body Politics

By Chris Floyd
Published: November 18, 2005

Four years ago, President George W. Bush quietly assumed dictatorial powers with a secret executive order granting himself the right to imprison anyone on earth indefinitely, without charges or trial or indictment or evidence, simply by declaring them an "enemy combatant," on his say-so alone. This week, the assemblage of bootlickers and bagmen that befoul the U.S. Senate voted to codify the core of this global autocracy under the pretense of curtailing it.

With great self-fluffing fanfare, the Senate passed two measures ostensibly designed to stem the flood of torture and tyranny issuing from the White House. But the twinned amendments to a military spending bill have the curious effect of canceling each other out: The anti-torture measure leaves Bush's tyranny intact, while the anti-tyranny measure will allow torture to continue unabated. This switcheroo, we are told by one of the scam's sponsors, "will re-establish moral high ground for the United States," The Washington Post reports.

These draconian measures reach far beyond a handful of hard-core terrorists. According to the Pentagon's own figures, more than 21,000 innocent people have been caged without due process in Iraq alone, The Guardian reports. Hundreds more have been unjustly imprisoned around the world. A regime that thrives on fear requires a steady stream of "enemy combatants" to justify its unlimited "war powers." The belly of this beast will never be full.

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

"Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power." ~ George Orwell (1903 - 1950), 1984 Book 3, Chapter 3

capt

Believe it or not! This was a win for us in District 1 ABQ.

Maybe the 100's of emails from me helped a little?

Even Heather broke ranks? There is some major mojo going on. She (literally) votes with Bush 90%.

No reason to throw a party but I did call her office. I had to say THANKS!

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

Dear MoveOn member,

For kids and the elderly dependent on Medicaid, students who need loans to get a college degree, and families who struggle to keep food on their table, it's a sad day. In the early hours of the morning, Republicans in the House of Representatives pushed through a budget bill with over $50 billion in cuts to services ordinary folks depend on. The final tally was a heartbreaking 217 to 215.1

Thanks to your calls, letters to congress, letters to the editor, "Speak Out" events, and pictures, the bill is significantly better than it could've been. Drilling in the Arctic Natural Wildlife Refuge was pulled out of the bill—thanks to you. Cuts in food stamps and Medicaid have been reduced. Thanks to your hard work, at the very least tens of thousands more people will be fed, and receive medical care.

Your pressure helped peel off 14 Republicans to join the unanimous Democrats in voting against the bill—an extremely rare split that puts us within a few votes of victory when this budget proposal comes back for a final vote.

Your Representative, Rep. Wilson, was one of the 14 courageous Republicans who put conscience over party and voted against this outrageous bill. Please call her today and thank her for her vote:

Congresswoman Heather Wilson
Phone: 202-225-6316
Albuquerque District Office: 505-346-6781

capt

"unanimous Democrats "

Two words one can seldom string together these days, refreshing.

Here I go again, enough bad bush-biz and my representative actually sided with my POV?

Hard not to be a little hopeful. Dash my dingy on the rocks later. Today hope does spring eternal.

capt

told ya capt,

you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows...

Repathetics are in full retreat, press on!

Torture and Human Rights

cartoon - slate - funny - sad - true

capt

Now here is something to cheer about.

The 11-Year Quest to Create Disappearing Colored Bubbles

Chemical burns, ruined clothes, 11 years, half a million dollars—©t's not easy to improve the world's most popular toy. Yet the success of one inventor's quest to dye a simple soap bubble may change the way the world uses color

Tim Kehoe has stained the whites of his eyes deep blue. He's also stained his face, his car, several bathtubs and a few dozen children. He's had to evacuate his family because he filled the house with noxious fumes. He's ruined every kitchen he's ever had. Kehoe, a 35-year-old toy inventor from St. Paul, Minnesota, has done all this in an effort to make real an idea he had more than 10 years ago, one he's been told repeatedly cannot be realized: a colored bubble.

No, not the shimmering rainbow effect you see when the light catches a clear soap bubble. Kehoe's bubble would radiate a single, vibrant hue throughout the entire sphere—° green bubble, an orange bubble, a hot-pink bubble. It's a bubble that can make CEOs giggle and stunned mothers tear up in awe. It's a bubble you don't expect to see, conditioned as you are to the notion that soap bubbles are clear. An unnaturally beautiful bubble.

Kehoe made a bubble like that when he was 26, after only two years of trashed countertops and chemical fires. He showed it to toy-company executives, who called it a "holy grail." And then it broke, as bubbles always do. And when it did, the dye inside escaped onto clothes and carpets and walls and skin, staining everything it touched. The execs told him to come back with a bubble they could wash off their boardroom table.

That was nine years ago. In the intervening years, Kehoe continued to mix, boil, and brew with endless enthusiasm and little success. Until one day, his stubborn persistence led him to $500,000 in financial backing, enough to hire a dye chemist. Together, they took Kehoe's obsession to an outcome even more amazing than he had ever hoped, an outcome no one could have anticipated for the simple reason that no one imagined it possible. The secret to nonstaining colored bubbles, it turns out, is a dye that could unlock a revolution in color chemistry. All you need to do is make color disappear.
-------------------
I won't print the whole article. It's eleven pages.

#46 Jeanne thanks,I do go to John Dean Findlaw quite often just to see what he has to say.
Hoping that this investigation would go deep and wide is actually looking like it's happenning.

After watching Fitzgerald in the press conference a few weeks ago, I felt he was trying to throw the hounds off track.

Remember when Fitzgerald said "truth is the engine of our judicial system". He has a long way to go...... to get to the truth.

I believe this guy is the real deal....

jeanne,

The only reason you don't like O'Reilly is because you don't like truth. You like lies. You listen to lies, repeat those lies and you do it to mislead. You are a liar.

John McCain is on Letterman right now. Just came out.

Carol mentioned that Arianna closed down her regular blog when she launched thehuffingtonpost and she wondered if David might be likely to shut down this blog...well I submit, if this crap keeps up I wouldn't blame David if he did shut it down!

If the Hatfields and the McCoys want to continue their family feud, take it some place else. PLEASE! Take it to the Kentucky backcountry. Take it outside. Get on the horn. Use email. But take it OFF THIS BLOG! You guys are enablers for shit from the likes of baf. He/she/it must figure if you can waste time/space here, so can he/she/it.

You're not Bugs Bunny guys!

Schmidt on the Floor
-----------------------
Look at the Representative sitting behind Schmidt while she's speaking.

Caroline,
I think Hajji was conducting an experiment. He was taking Baf on a ride.

TRH 66, but that's not what they said. And anyway, how could they have set it up for a demo implosion in only a few hours? They claimed it was diesel fed fires that caused that collapse, then backtracked and claimed they had no idea why it collapsed. Lies, all of it.
Capt.70 I posted that earlier and caught flack. No one seemed to notice that it is the freepers that are posting this stuff now, like the clips I found on the Wa. Times.
PS TRH, if you promise to play nice, I would like to open the e-mail door to you. No tricks! You sound sincere, and I like good conversation. I think we agree that most politicians are untrustworthy.

Jeanne, I was more specifically thinking of the "family feud." Frankly, it gets tiresome. They can discuss their family issues in a different venue.

But, if it doesn't bother the rest of you, so be it. I just think it's a total waste of space.

caroline, unless you have been lurking for the past year+, you don't know the half of what has been posted on this blog, and David allows it, to his credit. The present diatribe is nothing!

And speaking of such things. TRH is just going to "abuse" again. Get real. Saladin, he isn't going to change. He's only making nice for his advantage. That's what abusers do. He's exactly what you don't like in a politician, but because you now believe that he has the same opinions as yours, you are willing to align yourself with him. Boy.

hahaha McCain said... "Well you know in politics, you're up, then down. I was talking about this on the way over here with my driver Scooter Libby."

The Whitehouse's news release board is run by message board trolls check it out: Whitehouse Press Release

---

Baffled? The Whitehouse is baffled by reading Murtha's statement to the point that they can't figure out how to articulate a response using facts and reason. Maybe if they would have invited Murtha over for some hot cocoa and let him explain it with pictures or something. Instead they resorted to hysteria and ad hominem, to think they are so desperate that they had to label a person like Murtha as a Michael Moore type.

If a "one congressmen report" makes them go numb with bafflement then it is not so unbelievable that this same administration was so easily baffled and overwhelmed with conflicting pre-war intelligence and trying to figure out whether Iraq was an effective way to respond to 9-11.

So this is what the Whitehouse has become? It would be more reassuring that they remained silent then to let us know that they are so partisan and desperate.

Sadly the media hasn't not help sort out the facts, not that I think they are "baffled" but after a generation of afternoon talk shows they seem to rather get Murtha's reaction to being called a coward and a Michael Moore type. Murtha did a great job countering Nora Roberts check out the video on this page: Murtha on MSNBC

Also the whitehouse press release reference to surrendering to terrorists must have been some kind of joke, because they know better.

We aren't fighting too many terrorists there. In fact to do what Murtha said would be giving back the country to the Iraqi's.

Fresh Aire interviewed James Fallows on Wednesday who brought out an often overlooked point that has been lost on America in general. Most of the insurgency that the US is fighting are those loyal to Saddam and other internal Iraqi factions than outside or international terrorists organizations.

Fallows mentioned that what surprised the US once the war started was that Hussein decided to take the insurgency option and did not show up for the direct assault... they intended for the US to become occupiers. It was part of their plan in the face of an overwhelming enemy, and it was not fear that they ran off into the woodwork.

The real irony is that Cheney's love for 'shock and awe' was his adopting a term from an original thinker of the '80s (Colonel Boyd). Unfortunately, Cheney and Rumsfield were half-baked in using his theories and did not get the whole point. Done right one realizes that you must think fast and even to the point where fundamental premises might need to be discarded or at least questioned so that you do not become overcome by a faster thinking enemy... its a game where the rules are always changing or being broken.

The US administration thought they were outplanning Hussein and were going to shock and awe him by quickly disabling his infrastructure in one or two nights. Hussein was already assuming that he would lose an outright direct fight, and so he had decided to take the long terrible insurgency approach and make Iraq another Vietnam for the US. The biggest irony is we are left repairing infrastructure that we blew up and wasn't necessary to blow it up in the first place. This is why Hussein says he is still the president of Iraq at his trial, he knows the war isn't over... he didn't desert his command, he empowered his followers to operate without his direct control... a definitive sign that he had the 'shock and awe' advantage over the enemy according to Colonel Boyd theory... in other words, he outsmarted Cheney and Rumsfield.

Cheney and Rumsfield were too static in their planning and their idealogy whether it was lust for oil or the neo-con vision of a new middle east, they couldn't abandon these well loved views and were surprised by the enemy.

We wouldn't be surrendering to terrorists we would be mostly surrendering to the Iraqi people.

Iraqi children losing their innocence in the violence of the war

Khaldoon Waleed, a Baghdad child psychologist, said that a generation of children is growing up with post-traumatic stress disorder. PTSD, a result of witnessing life-threatening events, is commonly associated with soldiers, and Waleed said it could cause everything from nightmares to an inability to connect with people.

"The children of Iraq have lost all sense of humanity," he said. "Killing and being killed has become daily routine to them."

He said their young lives are overloaded with the violent issues of Iraq. Parents find it impossible to hide the harsh realities from them, so children are forced into adult life. And it's a harsh adult life.

Haifa Mahmoud, the headmistress of Ibn al Khateep Primary School, has to explain to children every day what's going on in Karrada, their dangerous neighborhood.

The children who come to her sidestep gun battles, watch for low-riding cars - a sign of a car bomb - and endure sleepless nights because of the roar of explosion after explosion and the vibrations of American Black Hawk helicopters above their roofs.

Their friends frequently disappear in kidnappings, and they grow used to dead bodies and body parts in the streets.
--------------------------
Is this liberation?

Boy, you KNOW there's trouble in Wingnuttia when troll activity reaches critical mass here on the Cornblog! Reading the hysterical ravings of the wingers (and Hajji's response to the same) gives me a pleasant, warm feeling in my...no, wait, that's the Jennifer Aniston cover on GQ, sorry. Anyway, it makes me feel good. Carry on!

Torture is not US

McCain pulled a "McCain" while ago on Letterman. Dave was grilling him pretty hard and McCain was telling the truth about this administration. Dave kept digging deeper and then... McCain caughth himself, sighed looking the other way as he said "I knew I shouldn't have come on this show". Took another breath then spewed off 4 or 5 lines about how Doofus is an honest man, patriotic, blah blah blah. A complete 180 and back to the party line. fkn politician!!
K, so I'm still sending the link above supporting his 'torture' amendment, but I'd never trust that fkr with my vote.

There is growing speculation that Chebey is the next target to be indicted.

I will share with two articles of a brave young women.

Saladin,

Just got back from a visit with Hajji's brothers and sister, Ann. Would have been great to have had him there.

Maybe I wasn't clear in what I was trying to say about WTC7. If the official government version is that WTC7 collapsed as a result of the WTC towers collapsing or "collateral damage" as it could be referred to, then Jones is correct about WTC7. I heard early on that WTC7 was "taken down" because of safety reasons. Again, I didn't read this, I heard it but I can't remember if it was from radio or TV. I think Jones is on to something significant, specifically re WTC7. I still have a lot of the report to read but I think he's dead on re WTC7.

Caroline,

I understand your hesitation in my sincerity with regards to my past posts. All I ask is to
allow me to make amends in the only way I know how. I was a "political person" prior to '98, but I mainly kept my opinions to myself. Truth be known, I didn't vote in the election of '92 but I would have voted for Clinton. I didn't think Bush 41 was a good President and still don't. I didn't vote in '96 but still would have voted for Clinton. He wasn't doing a great job, but he wasn't doing a bad job, and nobody could convince me that Dole could do any better. My rantings on this site got me nowhere. Specifically, to the point to make me realize that I wasn't doing one think positive in advancing my beliefs, only alienating anyone who would care to even listen to what I may have to say. Saladin, Hajji, & Capt can attest to the side of me that can stick up for my beliefs without making personal attacks or just being downright mean. They can also attest to the mean spirited side of me, for I unleashed it against them, among others, when it was unjustly called for.

I hope you were not referring to Me & Hajji with your Hatfield & McCoys comment. Either you don't know me or Hajji or you don't know what the Hatfields & McCoys feud was all about. And, Saladin is right. In spite of my past posts, David Corn has never censored me from this site. Even though I said some things that were deserving so.

Katherine Jashinski

She is a woman of courage and another one of Jesus' disciples.

Katherine Jashinski

Maybe we will see more and more Jesus' disciples in the USA.

#75 Here's my short note Capt...

*salutes* You were a true American hero before your speech, just more people know about you now. Thanks alot for speaking the truth about 'Bush's War'. My salute is just one of millions, Sir. Can you move to Texas and run for Tom Delay's seat? I know, I know... but I can still dream.

Tim,
Just out of curiosity what do you think somebody like Baf gains from his postings? You have better insight than I do.

Alan,
Texas is an interesting place.

Night all.

Make no mistake the Iraq war is wrong and immoral!

Make no mistake the Iraq war is wrong and immoral!

Jeanne,

Not to speak for baf, but for myself. I have a certain knowledge about a lot of things, but do not regard myself an expert on any one thing in particular. If you recall from my previous posts, I flew off the handle after making some valid points. My knowledge only went so far. When I could no longer validate my points, I attacked those who questioned them. In retrospect, I should have educated myself on the argument those who disagreed with were posing to determine if my points were valid or not.

Like Saladin has said many times on this site, she is not Liberal, Conservative, Libertarian or any label one wishes to place on someone else. She is absolutely right and I never saw through that in trying to make my points. I am Tim Hodges, she is Saladin, Hajji is a Hajji, Capt is Capt and Jeanne is Jeanne. No label, just me! Accept me for me, not for what one may think of me.

Always to hear from you Jeanne.

Take care!

Congress rejects withdrawl of troops from Iraq 403-3. If they are truly honorable, they would vote to rescind the War Powers Act by the same margin, or even greater.

Cowards they all are!

Congress Helps Self to $3,100 Pay Raise

By DAVID ESPO
The Associated Press
Friday, November 18, 2005; 11:44 PM

WASHINGTON -- The Republican-controlled Congress helped itself to a $3,100 pay raise on Friday, then postponed work on bills to curb spending on social programs and cut taxes in favor of a two-week vacation.

In the final hours of a tumultuous week in the Capitol, Democrats erupted in fury when House GOP leaders maneuvered toward a politically-charged vote _ and swift rejection _ of one war critic's call for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq. "You guys are pathetic, pathetic," Massachusetts Rep. Martin Meehan yelled across a noisy hall at Republicans.

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

Left, right or center, does anybody believe these jerks deserve a raise?

Their cost of living has gone up? Minimum wage earners are hit harder by the silent inflation and fleecing of the little people.

If giving themselves a raise is the only thing these idiots can agree upon I say get rid of all of them.

Damn them to hell and back.

AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!

capt

The Senate Approves $50 Billion For Iraq, Afghanistan

November 18, 2005 3:01 p.m. EST

Yvonne Lee - All Headline News Staff Reporter

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - As public support for Iraq fighting is slipping, the Senate votes Friday to give President Bush $50 billion more for conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and U.S. military efforts against terrorism.

The money would increase total spending for the operations to more than $350 billion.

In a 97-0 vote, the republican-controlled Senate approved the money as part of a $445 billion military spending bill for the budget year that began Oct. 1.

The measure would also put restrictions on the treatment of detainees who are suspected terrorists — a provision that has drawn a White House veto threat.

Passage comes at a time when public support for Bush has declined while U.S. casualties have climbed.

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

The same day, $50 billion is carved out the budget by cutting benefits and service to our poor.

This is literally taking food from children to wage war.

capt

I just read a good line in an article in "The American Prospect".

But bluster that looks like self-confidence when you're winning starts to look self-delusional when you're taking a thorough butt-kicking.

#115

I don't understand why one would want to rescind the War Powers Act, were you referring to the War Powers Resolution?

If you meant the War Powers Resolution then are you saying that Congress should be even less involved in the approval of the use of force? (Note: not since WWII has the US formally declared a war, rather the US has been approving the use of force, aka police actions)

BTW, a few threads back I had stated an observation that the arguments presented by Bush and Rumsfield on and around Veterans day were using a logic that would lead congress to pursue more controls in line with the War Powers Resolution (albeit there are undetermined constitutionality questions with the current War Powers Resolution).

Bush's argument was that Congress was joined at his hip when it came to pre-war intelligence and therefore they too were also responsible for any 'misled' decisions, and should not be critical and 'rewriting history'. However, if Bush was to be successful in convincing most people that congress shared such responsibility, you can then expect congress whether republican or democrat to pursue a level of authority commensurate with the responsibility they have to accept. After all they do have to get re-elected, and one can't last long if given lots of responsibility without the authority to control the outcomes. In other words, Bush is abdicating authority in decisions of using force by not taking full resposibility for the decision making process. This is something that past presidents since Truman have argued as mostly belonging to the executive branch where the president is commander-in-chief.

DITSUM No. 044-02

Big Lie Technique Revisited

It was enormously telling, in fact, that the only part of the Senate which did see the un-sanitized National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq – the Republican-led Senate Select Intelligence Committee – shockingly voted in the fall of 2002 against the simple authorization of force demanded by a Republican president. Panicked, the warmongers in the White House and Pentagon pressured CIA Director George Tenet to rush release to the entire Hill a very short "summary" of the careful NIE, which made Hussein seem incalculably more dangerous than the whole report indicated.

The Defense Intelligence Agency finally declassified its investigative report, DITSUM No. 044-02, within recent days. This smoking-gun document proves the Bush administration's key evidence for the apocryphal Osama bin Laden-Saddam Hussein alliance -– said by Bush to involve training in the use of weapons of mass destruction – was built upon the testimony of a prisoner who, according to the DIA, was probably "intentionally misleading the debriefers."
=============
That's a couple grafs out of the middle.

SSCI report

Rockefeller's slight-of-hand pulled a fast one on everybody. This guy is slick! Check it out...

You'll note that the footnote at the bottom of page 57 says that in March 2003 Sen. Rockefeller asked the FBI to investigate the source of the forged uranium documents and the motivation of those responsible for them. Because of that investigation, the Committee chose not to examine any questions about the documents themselves, who forged them, where they came from, etc. In fact, the Committee walled its investigation off so that it looked only at what happened with the documents after they appeared in the US Embassy in Rome in October 2002.

Yelnats,

I was referring to the Congressional act that was passed in the 1970's that unconstitutionally gave the President the power to declare war. They effectively changed the Constitution by vote, rather than by the amendment process. 535
cowards then, 535 cowards now.

Don Smith,

I hope you get your wish, in that a vote is taken by the house to withdraw now or not. That will shut you up, as well as Pelozi and her gang of nay-sayers as they run for cover and distance themselves from your new found darling, or show I say, political panderer.

caroline, what is your problem? Because I am willing to give someone a second chance you think it's because I believe they now agrees with me? That's quite a stretch considering you don't even know me or who I may converse with by e-mail. Besides, it's no skin off your back, why should you care? If he abuses a friendly offer it is easy to rescind.
TRH 115, That is the truth of our Govt. Israel has them all by the short hairs, and that is what will destroy our country in the end. The reason I have been posting bits and pieces of Karl Schwarz's news letters is because he is not afraid to speak the truth where Israel is concerned and is not accepting bribery money from AIPAC. I also think it very possible that he could be in danger. sharon is a cruel and evil person, so are all the neocons, and will not permit someone like Schwarz to interfere with their plans. Have you read the Schwarz platform? He appears to be as close to a happy middle as anyone could be, that is why I think his campaign will go nowhere, and that is very depressing.
Capt 116, damn them to hell, then lock the gate!

Saladin,

We have an agreement on one thing and all of a sudden we are of like mind to those who do not know us. I value your opinion and insight on many subjects. I haven't been keeping my ear to the ground lately so I don't know anything about Karl Schwartz. I would be glad to read anything about him & share my thoughts.

From TBR News

Israel's latest black op - the most transparent yet?

Mathaba Net | November 15 2005

The reader of the mainstream media is confronted today by an awkward dilemma. Was the bombing of the Radisson SAS Hotel in Amman, Jordan, on the evening of November 9, 2005, the work of a suicide bomber, as most reports maintain - or were the explosives actually placed in the ceiling above, as was reported by two sources, Reuters and Mary Fitzgerald, a former reporter for the Belfast Telegraph?

It is perhaps because the evidence so obviously favours the ceiling theory - a theory which is incompatible with the theory that the explosives had been concealed on the person of a suicide bomber - that for the very first time 'al-Qaeda' (to be more precise, a website claiming to represent al-Qaeda) has chimed in almost immediately with confirmation that suicide bombers had been responsible. Yes, al-Qaeda explains obligingly, the attacks on the three Amman hotels (including the Radisson) were carried out by Iraqi suicide bombers, including a husband-and-wife team. (SOURCE)

What seems to be happening here is that, in the face of mounting scepticism about the official explanations for recent bombings like those in London and Bali, more effort is being made to reinforce unconvincing official conclusions by means of revelations from the hitherto secretive al-Qaeda. Indeed, this increasingly garrulous organization has already released three communiques on the bombing in as many days - which makes three times as many as it released in relation to 9-11. Of course, there is nothing to information emanating from 'al-Qaeda' other than websites that could be being run by conceivably anyone. (That such websites are allowed to operate with impunity is clear evidence that they are not what they purport to be. In any case, who has actually seen the webpages in question? I haven't seen anywhere a single link to the website on which al-Qaeda supposedly issued its communiques.) But the alleged al-Qaeda websites are now in the convenient position of being able to confirm everything that the authorities have been saying. This would seem to be a godsend not for 'al-Qaeda' but for the authorities 'investigating' the atrocities, authorities who are no doubt under great pressure at the moment to reach politically acceptable conclusions.

Al-Qaeda's sudden co-operativeness in helping the investigation speed towards a predetermined conclusion is as deeply suspicious as its solicitude for the Israeli Jews staying at the Radisson, who were escorted to safety several hours before the attacks.* (Interestingly, the only Israeli citizen who remained behind was an Israeli Arab.) Who can seriously believe that attacks on three hotels - of which two (including the Radisson) are owned by Palestinians - in an Arab country that killed 'two high-ranking Palestinian security officials, a senior Palestinian banker and the commercial attache at the Palestinian embassy in Cairo' while Israeli Jews were allowed to escape could be anything other than an Israeli terror operation? Especially when the Israeli authorities who evacuated the Israeli hotel guests did not share their concerns with Jordanian or hotel security?

The fact that few (if any) Israeli Jews have been killed in any of the major terror incidents which have occurred in recent years - despite the fact that the alleged perpetrators are anti-Zionist - is indirect evidence that the bombings are actually being carried out by an Israeli agency, be it the Mossad or some other top secret entity charged with black ops of this nature. Similarly, it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that the 'al-Qaeda' websites currently being cited in news reports are anything other than undertakings of Israeli intelligence intended to help allay suspicions that the bombings were actually sophisticated operations involving explosives planted inside the hotels. What Israel wants us all to believe, of course, is that the bombings were carried out by suicidal Muslims because Israel wants us to believe that suicidal Muslims constitute the fundamental threat to western civilization at this time. Every major bombing which has taken place since September 11, 2001, has, with the exception of the Madrid train bombings of March 11, 2004, been attributed to Muslim suicide bombers.
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Can you see the pattern here? They were caught red-handed bombing the USS Liberty and trying to pin it on Egypt, an inc