A repository of truth like that is one of the only ways we'll have, soon for getting the truth out of our own history.

Thanks for telling us about them!

-T

Maybe they should name it the "Winston Smith" ministry, just to remind them of the importance of their continued efforts!?

-T

Mr. David Corn,

Good post!

Nothing wrong with pointing out something right.

Three cheers for the National Security Archive!

Kirk

"... The log book of a US Navy destroyer that revealed that on October 27, 1962--in the middle of the Cuban Missile Crisis--this ship dropped depth charges off the Cuban coast and almost hit the hull of a Soviet submarine carrying a nuclear warhead. The crew of the sub, believing war was at hand, considered firing the nuclear weapon but did not..."
_________________

I get the same feeling reading THAT as I do when some astronomer declares that meteor the size of the Superdome just crossed Earth's orbit four days ago, missing us by about a week...

-T

Why did one of the heads of the National Security Archive quit some years ago (in the 90's?). I remember hearing a report on NPR about manipulation of documents within the archives?

One of Fitzgerald's recommendations to the public during his press conference some time ago was "to take a step back, take a deep breath, and allow the process to take place." He also said that "truth is the engine of our judicial system." I sure hope so.

Am I reading that Rove and Cheney could be gone by mid Jan.? I can really IMAGINE...

DAVID.....PHASE II IS OFF THE RADAR AGAIN...WILL THE DEMOCRATS HAVE TO PULL ANOTHER MEDIA STUNT FOR JOURNALIST TO STICK THEIR COLLECTIVE NOSES INTO THIS ISSUE AGAIN........PHASE II..PHASE II.. FOR MORE JUSTICE....

As I read this post I could imagine the research you and others have done. It is very boring at times but very thrilling at the same time. Thank you National Security Archives, you keepers of the truth.

#303 James Ha..that is what I keep saying to Corn, Huffington, Diane Rehm etc.etc. "what is going on with Phase II of the SSCI"?

Is it any wonder why the Democrats finally had to pull "a stunt" over a month ago to get the Republican controlled Senaot into that unusual session demanding answers about why Phase II was not moving forward. Remember this is the investigation that hopefully will hold someone or group ACCOUNTABLE for the pre-war intelligence.

The only words that I have read about this slow moving (maybe dead) investigation recently is that Senator Pat Roberts move to have the Inspector General of the Pentagon to investigate Doug Feiths Office of Special plans may be a way to 'DELAY" Phase II for another year.

Maybe just enought time for these right wing radicals to implement the rest of the "A clean Break A new strategy for SEcuring the REalm" agenda.

We should all be asking this question WHY HAS PHASE II FALLEN OFF OF THE MSM'S RADAR ONCE AGAIN?

I guess I may have to accept that it is more important to the american public
AND TO OUR REPRESENTATIVES TO INVESTIGATE LIES ABOUT A BLOW JOB .... THAN INVESTIGATING THE LIES ABOUT THE WMD INTELLIGENCE SNOWJOB.

O'Reilly's at it again.
O'Reilly: Far Left Zealots are Nazis

Let the Nazi wars begin. O'Reilly is outraged that a woman like Ann Coulter, who calls Bill Clinton a rapist and a murderer, is vilified at her speaking engagements.

O'Reilly talked Ellis Henican of Newsday, and likened the left winger protesters of Coulter as:

O'Reilly: The far left in this country, the zealots, these are zealots-are Nazis...and this is exactly what the Nazis did.

Bill should watch the movie, "This Divided State," and witness the right wing zealots try to stop Michael Moore from speaking at a college. Kay Anderson actually sued the college and tried to get the student president fired.
----------------------
Of course there's a video.

Put me on your list Bill.

Ex-neocon hawk Paul Wolfowitz now touts peace
World Bank chief tries to distance himself from Bush
- Dana Milbank, Washington Post
Thursday, December 8, 2005

Washington -- On another day when the Iraq war was tearing Washington apart, a leading architect of that war, Paul Wolfowitz, was donning sheep's clothing over at the National Press Club.

The former deputy defense secretary, now president of the World Bank, gave a 30-minute speech Wednesday about the virtues of peace, the ills of poverty and the benefits of multilateralism -- without a mention of Iraq.

"One of the things that's fun about this job is (that) development is a unifying mission and you can get a lot of people together across a table to put their political differences aside," said the man President Bush calls "Wolfie."

Only when questioners pressed him about Iraq would Wolfowitz address the subject. "How do you account for the intelligence failures regarding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq?" he was asked.

"Well," he said after a long pause, "I don't have to."

Being Wolfie means not having to say you're sorry. Nearly three years ago, he offered some of the most memorable forecasts about Iraq: that it was "wildly off the mark" to think hundreds of thousands of troops would be needed to pacify a postwar Iraq; that the Iraqis "are going to welcome us as liberators"; and that "it is just wrong" to assume that the United States would have to fund the Iraq war.

Wolfowitz was 0-for-3 on those, but since taking the World Bank job six months ago he has found a second act. He has toured sub-Saharan Africa, danced with the natives in a poor Indian village, badgered the United States to make firmer foreign aid commitments and cuddled up to the likes of Bono and George Clooney.

But Iraq haunts him still. Outside the National Press Building Wednesday, a half-dozen demonstrators greeted Wolfowitz with a sign saying, "Wolfowitz Is a Weapon of Mass Destruction." Upstairs, Wolfowitz entered the ballroom to scattered applause from a respectable, but not capacity, crowd. Wolfowitz lunched on filet mignon -- and Press Club president Richard Dunham of Business Week tried to goad him into a red-meat speech.

"His admirers have called him the intellectual high priest of the neoconservatives," Dunham said in his introduction. "I can't repeat some of the things his critics have called him."

Wolfowitz pursed his lips and sipped his coffee as Dunham recalled how Wolfowitz "drew fire from Democrats for predicting that U.S. forces would be welcomed as liberators." By the time Dunham got to Wolfowitz's student deferment during Vietnam, Wolfowitz was shaking his head.

Wolfowitz, hoarse with a case of laryngitis, said he had received some lavish introductions before, and "this isn't that kind of introduction." He then read a prepared text that sounded more Mother Teresa than Vice President Dick Cheney.

He noted that there are "as many orphans from AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa as there are children east of the Mississippi." He recalled his visit to "a poor village just outside of Ouagadougou." He lamented the "1.2 billion people worldwide living on less than a dollar a day." And he urged people to remember the World Bank's lofty mission, "helping free the world of poverty."

The crowd was silent through this talk, except for the occasional clink of teaspoon in coffee cup. Dunham, reading questions submitted by the audience, softened up Wolfowitz with some queries allowing him to establish his independence.

"I work for 184 countries; I don't work for the Bush administration," Wolfowitz said. He even asserted that Bush's foreign aid spending is not "adequate."

With 10 minutes to go, Dunham started the Iraq questions. Wolfowitz insisted that, "believe it or not," his Iraq role has not interfered with his work at the World Bank.

Asked about the weapons in Iraq, Wolfowitz explained that this wasn't his problem. "And it's not just because I don't work for the U.S. government any more," he said. "In my old job I didn't have to. I was like everyone else outside the intelligence community. ... We relied on the intelligence community for those judgments, so the question is, in a way, how do they account for it."

It was an unexpected response from a man who, as the Pentagon's No. 2, sat atop 80 percent of the nation's intelligence budget and an intelligence agency that made particularly aggressive claims about Iraq's weapons. But Wolfowitz said the military shared his fear that weapons of mass destruction could be used against U.S. troops.

Wolfowitz was asked about the common criticism that more troops should have been used to pacify Iraq. "Um," he said after a long pause, then paused again before concluding, "I personally don't think more troops would have answered the problem."

Dunham took the precaution of presenting Wolfowitz with the customary Press Club mug and certificate "before we ask the final question," and for good reason: It tied the Nuremburg war trials to Wolfowitz and the Iraq war.

Wolfowitz was unbowed. "I still think that what has been done for the United States and the world is something important," he said. Praising the sacrifices of U.S. and allied troops, he added that Iraq will become a place of "tolerance and freedom" in the Muslim world. "I think the whole world, frankly, should be enormously grateful."

Page A - 9
URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/12/08/MNG75G4IM51.DTL

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
©2005 San Francisco Chronicle

Wolfowitz is a rat trying to jump ship

David

This seems like an interesting story relating to the archives, and a lot fresher than the Cuba/CIA stories. Must have slipped your mind in the process of being "all fair and shit."

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States told Saudi Arabia more than three years before the September 11 attacks that Osama bin Laden might be targeting civilian airplanes, according to a newly declassified State Department cable.

The June 1998 cable, obtained by George Washington University's National Security Archive under the Freedom of Information Act, said the United States had no specific information that al Qaeda was planning such an attack, and did not say it might fly planes into buildings.

A copy of the cable, first reported by The New York Times on Friday, was obtained by Reuters. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers on September 11, 2001, were Saudi nationals.

The cable, from the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh to U.S. government officials, said concerns were based on threats bin Laden had recently made against military aircraft in an interview with U.S. network ABC.

"We could not rule out that a terrorist might take the course of least resistance and turn to a civilian target," the cable said, noting bin Laden had said his group did not differentiate between civilians and the military.

The cable said three U.S. officials had met with Saudi officials at Riyadh's King Khaled International Airport on June 16, 1998, "to discuss the Osama bin Laden threat, and press for enhanced vigilance by Saudi security screeners and police patrols around the airport."

"We noted that while we have no specific information that indicates bin Laden is targeting civilian aircraft, he made a threat during the June 11 ABC News interview against 'military passenger aircraft' in the next 'few weeks,'" the cable said.

The cable is the latest of several signs made public that U.S. officials had concerns, long before the 2001 hijacked airplane attacks on New York and Washington, that al Qaeda might be targeting aircraft.

Others include a highly classified President's Daily Brief report to former President Bill Clinton dated December 4, 1998, which was titled "Bin Ladin Preparing to Hijack US Aircraft and Other Attacks."

The CIA has also said it had told the Federal Aviation Administration in 1999 that "Osama bin Laden remains interested in targeting U.S. interests including on U.S. territory. He is well prepared to consider kidnappings and hijackings as well as bombings."

On August 6, 2001, President George W. Bush's daily intelligence brief said the FBI had detected "patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks, including recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York."

It did not warn of an airplane attack on buildings, but said the FBI was conducting about 70 investigations throughout the United States that it considered were related to bin Laden.

Bill was mad because everybody shouted down Ann Coulter. She ignites the student populations with her absolutely racist, cruel remarks and then she and Bill feel bad when they shout her down.
Please Bill, devote an entire show to the right wing nazis who shout down Michael Moore. I want to hear how terrible they are.

I had no idea about the National Security Archive till David mentioned it today. I'll spend some time on thier site.

Some of those released documents really are wierd......I mean, the Cat spies. But then again, maybe it's not so far fetched after all...aren't they trying flies now?

Bush on the Constitution: 'It's just a goddamned piece of paper'
By DOUG THOMPSON
Dec 9, 2005, 07:53

Last month, Republican Congressional leaders filed into the Oval Office to meet with President George W. Bush and talk about renewing the controversial USA Patriot Act.

Several provisions of the act, passed in the shell shocked period immediately following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, caused enough anger that liberal groups like the American Civil Liberties Union had joined forces with prominent conservatives like Phyllis Schlafly and Bob Barr to oppose renewal.

GOP leaders told Bush that his hardcore push to renew the more onerous provisions of the act could further alienate conservatives still mad at the President from his botched attempt to nominate White House Counsel Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court.

"I don't give a goddamn," Bush retorted. "I'm the President and the Commander-in-Chief. Do it my way."
Mr. President, one aide in the meeting said. There is a valid case that the provisions in this law undermine the Constitution.
"Stop throwing the Constitution in my face," Bush screamed back. "It's just a goddamned piece of paper!"
I've talked to three people present for the meeting that day and they all confirm that the President of the United States called the Constitution a goddamned piece of paper.
And, to the Bush Administration, the Constitution of the United States is little more than toilet paper stained from all the shit that this group of power-mad despots have dumped on the freedoms that goddamned piece of paper used to guarantee.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, while still White House counsel, wrote that the Constitution is an outdated document.
------------
I remember the arguments that these neo-cons were considered "strict constructionists," whatever that means. It always made me laugh too. They aren't constructionists, strict or otherwise.

I've never taken Bill O'Reilly seriously. It's like watching someone parody himself.

He and Coulter are so extreme and outrageous I would be hard-pressed to believe less than half their audience knows the show is theatre. The other half however, may take it seriously. What can you do?

Check out Media Matters. They average a post per day calling O'Reilly on false statements, and name calling.

Time Reporter Testifies in Leak Case

Rove Lawyer Was Deposed Last Week by Special Prosecutor

By Carol D. Leonnig and Jim VandeHei
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, December 9, 2005; Page A08

A special prosecutor questioned Time magazine reporter Viveca Novak under oath yesterday about a conversation she had with the attorney for presidential adviser Karl Rove that has become part of the CIA leak investigation, according to a top editor at the magazine.

In another twist, the lawyer, Robert D. Luskin, was deposed on the same issue last Friday, a source close to the case said.

Novak was deposed a day after Fitzgerald spent three hours meeting with a new grand jury in the leak inquiry. A previous grand jury investigating the case indicted Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, on Oct. 28 and then disbanded. At the time, Fitzgerald warned Luskin that Rove remained under investigation, and he said in public filings that he would probably present information to a new grand jury.

Sources familiar with their conversations say Novak's and Luskin's accounts to Fitzgerald appear to conflict on when they spoke.

But one person close to the case said the conversation took place before Rove's first grand jury appearance in February. This person said the conversation was not the event that led Rove to change his testimony.

Time's managing editor, Jim Kelly, said yesterday that the magazine will publish Novak's account of her testimony in its Monday edition, and it will be available in an online edition Sunday. Kelly said he did not yet know and could not comment on the full details of Novak's testimony or Fitzgerald's questions because he had not spoken with the reporter.

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

Interesting.

capt

RE: O'Reilly

Has anybody else been watching "The Colbert Report" it is an ongoing parody and is pretty funny.

capt

David, thank you for this "upbeat" story. It gives me hope!

I wish National Security Archive much success in one of their endeavors, which is mentioned on their website: "The Archive is currently working with non governmental institutions in more than a dozen countries to expand open government laws and practices both here and abroad."

I had to laugh at the "wired cat" -- it gave a whole new dimension to Molly Ivins' mollyism about the media and the Congress during the Clinton years: "the pussy patrol."

Thanks again!

Back in '03, the Building Industries Association, in connection with "The Affordable Housing Council" brought Ann Coulter to our college town for a FAT CAT speaking engagement -- you had to be a high roller to spring for the pricey ticket.

Turnout was dismal, BIA took a bath, and the affordable housing council (which is really a front for developers) got outed big time.

It was hilarious to see that my community essentially told Ann to get lost!

#17 Capt

I don't have cable but I used to. From the clips I've seen Colbert is as funny as Jon Stewart.

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2005/10/18.html#a5439
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2005/11/15.html#a5873

In Memoriam

Our dear friend and adversary Baf died last night when the bullet in his head was dislodged as he took off his hat. The stroke was immediate and his death was painless. His last words were a testament to friends here on www.davidcorn.com, Those f^(%!^& corn-nut, ass-licken, wack-jobs, and then he slumped over, never to take another breath. May he rest in peace.

He was a self-made man. He didn't let his compulsory education get in the way of a successful business career. He cared for the world around him and participated in political discourse. He was a man of few words and few thoughts. Some of the words were ass-licker, wack job, corn nut, dumbass, and idiot. His thoughts were not as memorable. He had a strange and adversary relationship with his peers. It was as if all political opinions in opposition to his own deserved derision rather than a thoughtful response. If Baf taught us one thing, it is seek first to understand, then to be understood.

Send contributions in lieu of flowers to the Committee to Re-Elect Rick Santorum.

May he rot in hell, good riddance.

a touching eulogy for a touchy individual. he has touched all of our lives.

May he rest in pieces.

haha micki!

#20,

He does the anti-O'Reilly thing so well it is almost creepy! But very funny.

capt

NO THANK YOU Members Of Congress

Here is what I'd say if I could speak face to face with my Colorado Senator Allard or Salazar and Representative Mark Udall. You can fill in the names of your senators and representative:

No thank you, for so many unanswered questions and so little practical action after 9/11. I would have closed the borders with Mexico the next day with troops and airplane surveillance. I would have tightened up the borders with Canada. We've got 37,000 troops guarding South Korea's border. That begs an answer as to why our troops aren't guarding our borders. It begs a further answer as to why you allow this president to pretend that we're safer today than before 9/11. The fact is-we are in greater danger. A December 5, 2005 NBC Brian Williams report from the 9/11 Commission said "The U.S. is in imminent danger of another attack."

^^^^^^^^^^6

hmm, assuming for a minute that bushco/PNAC actually wasn't behind 911, (and believe you me I find that difficult to do), there would still remain the questions:: "WHY are our borders even more porous today than they were before 911, and WHY are our shipping ports still not being properly protected?" ::

there can only be one answer, and it's a simple one:: "because bushco DOESN'T WANT THEM TO BE"
all phony bushco explanations for this (if we ever even hear one) would just be dissembling and political nonsense. it boils down to THEY DON'T WANT US TO BE PROTECTED - and that's assuming that they DIDN'T perpetrate the crime of the century 911.

click my name and order the FREE DVD:
'CONFRONTING THE EVIDENCE:Reopen 911'
free shipping/handling

Here also is important info. finally released. It is old, from 1967, but justice has yet to be done.

War Crimes Committed Against U.S. Military Personnel, June 8, 1967

Submitted to the Secretary of the Army in his capacity as Executive Agent for the Secretary of Defense, June 8, 2005.

On June 8, 1967 while patrolling in international waters in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, USS Liberty (AGTR-5) was savagely attacked without warning or justification by air and naval forces of the state of Israel.

Of a crew of 294 officers and men, (including three civilians), the ship suffered thirty four (34) killed in action and one hundred seventy three (173) wounded in action. The ship itself, a Forty Million ($40,000,000) Dollar state of the art signals intelligence (SIGINT) platform, was so badly damaged that it never sailed on an operational mission again and was sold in 1970 for $101,666.66 as scrap.

The "Moorer Commission" (Chaired by Adm. Moorer) investigated the attack and made the following findings:

1. That on June 8, 1967, after eight hours of aerial surveillance, Israel launched a two-hour air and naval attack against USS Liberty, the world's most sophisticated intelligence ship, inflicting 34 dead and 173 wounded American servicemen (a casualty rate of seventy percent, in a crew of 294);

2. That the Israeli air attack lasted approximately 25 minutes, during which time unmarked Israeli aircraft dropped napalm canisters on USS Liberty's bridge, and fired 30mm cannons and rockets into our ship, causing 821 holes, more than 100 of which were rocket-size; survivors estimate 30 or more sorties were flown over the ship by a minimum of 12 attacking Israeli planes which were jamming all five American emergency radio channels;

3. That the torpedo boat attack involved not only the firing of torpedoes, but the machine-gunning of Liberty's firefighters and stretcher-bearers as they struggled to save their ship and crew; the Israeli torpedo boats later returned to machine-gun at close range three of the Liberty's life rafts that had been lowered into the water by survivors to rescue the most seriously wounded;

4. That there is compelling evidence that Israel's attack was a deliberate attempt to destroy an American ship and kill her entire crew; evidence of such intent is supported by statements from Secretary of State Dean Rusk, Undersecretary of State George Ball, former CIA director Richard Helms, former NSA directors Lieutenant General William Odom, USA (Ret.), Admiral Bobby Ray Inman, USN (Ret.), and Marshal Carter; former NSA deputy directors Oliver Kirby and Major General John Morrison, USAF (Ret.); and former Ambassador Dwight Porter, U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon in 1967;

5. That in attacking USS Liberty, Israel committed acts of murder against American servicemen and an act of war against the United States;

6. That fearing conflict with Israel, the White House deliberately prevented the U.S. Navy from coming to the defense of USS Liberty by recalling Sixth Fleet military rescue support while the ship was under attack; evidence of the recall of rescue aircraft is supported by statements of Captain Joe Tully, Commanding Officer of the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga, and Rear Admiral Lawrence Geis, the Sixth Fleet carrier division commander, at the time of the attack; never before in American naval history has a rescue mission been cancelled when an American ship was under attack;

7. That although Liberty was saved from almost certain destruction through the heroic efforts of the ship's Captain, William L. McGonagle (MOH), and his brave crew, surviving crewmembers were later threatened with "court-martial, imprisonment or worse" if they exposed the truth; and were abandoned by their own government;

8. That due to the influence of Israel's powerful supporters in the United States, the White House deliberately covered up the facts of this attack from the American people;

9. That due to continuing pressure by the pro-Israel lobby in the United States, this attack remains the only serious naval incident that has never been thoroughly investigated by Congress; to this day, no surviving crewmember has been permitted to officially and publicly testify about the attack;

10. That there has been an official cover-up without precedent in American naval history; the existence of such a cover-up is now supported by statements of Rear Admiral Merlin Staring, USN (Ret.), former Judge Advocate General of the Navy; and Captain Ward Boston, USN, (Ret.), the chief counsel to the Navy's 1967 Court of Inquiry of Liberty attack;

11. That the truth about Israel's attack and subsequent White House cover-up continues to be officially concealed from the American people to the present day and is a national disgrace;

12. That a danger to our national security exists whenever our elected officials are willing to subordinate American interests to those of any foreign nation, and specifically are unwilling to challenge Israel's interests when they conflict with American interests; this policy, evidenced by the failure to defend USS Liberty and the subsequent official cover-up of the Israeli attack, endangers the safety of Americans and the security of the United States.
-------------
Don't hold your breath waiting for justice. The survivors of the USS Liberty attack have lived with this injustice for almost 40 years, and they will continue to wait.

absolut corruption

hahaha

darn...try this:

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/
856/1675/1600/absolut_corruption
%5B1%5D.0.jpg

#26
Capt,
Is he on bill's list?

INTERNET CENSORSHIP

News reports on CIA prisoner flights and secret prisons are disappearing from Google and other search engines like Alltheweb as fast as they appear. Here now, gone tomorrow is the name of the game.

Google is systematically failing to list and link to articles that contain explosive information about the Bush administration, the war in Iraq, Al Qaeda, and U.S. political scandals. But Google is not alone in working closely to stifle Internet discourse. America On Line, Microsoft, Yahoo and others are slowly turning the Internet into an information superhighway dominated by barricades, toll booths, off-ramps that lead to dead ends, choke points, and security checks.

There are also many cases of Google's search engine failing to list and link to certain information. According to a number of web site administrators who carry anti-Bush political content, this situation has become more pronounced in the last month. In addition, many web site administrators are reporting a dramatic drop-off in hits to their sites, according to their web statistic analyzers. Adding to their woes is the frequency at which spam viruses are being spoofed as coming from their web site addresses.

Internet Censorship in the US: No Longer a Prediction

Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Cisco Systems have honed their skills at Internet censorship for years in places like China, Jordan, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, and other countries. They have learned well. They will be the last to admit they have imported their censorship skills into the United States at the behest of the Bush regime. Last year, the Bush-Cheney campaign blocked international access to its web site -- www.georgewbush.com -- for unspecified "security reasons."
^^^^^^^^^^6
it just keeps putting the lotion on it's skin

read all of these:: whatreallyhappened.com

http://www.archive.org/

If you know the actual URL, you can find some stuff that is missing from the 'net.

Bookmark it!

capt

Meanwhile, back to Fitzgerald DEPOSING LUSKIN?...in this CNN piece, it says Fitzgerald deposed Luskin last Friday

What's up with that? David, do you know if that's accurate? Isn't it sort of "out of pattern" for a lawyer to be deposed by an opposing lawyer? (Well, maybe more accurately *future* opposing lawyer.)

This looks curiouser and curiouser all the time, with more questions but fewer answers.

Maybe we'll find out the answers in 2075 in the National Security Archive.

Infamous Comparisons: December 7, 1945 Vs. September 11, 2005

On May 1, 2003, Bush declared: "major combat operations in Iraq have ended …†[T]he United States and our allies have prevailed." Since then, 1,900-plus U.S. forces perished in Iraq; most of them after Bush’≥ July 2, 2003, "Bring them on" taunt. Since Vice President Cheney’≥ May 30, 2005, pronouncement that the insurgency was in its "last throes," 462 Americans died in Iraq (as of December 5, 2005). Hawkish Democratic Congressman John Murtha stunned Capitol Hill on November 17, 2005, by calling for a pullout of U.S. troops. On November 30, 2005, Bush made yet another one of his endless speeches on Iraq, trying to enunciate a victory strategy.

In less than four years after entering WWII, America and its allies defeated the greatest military threat ever assembled in world history –†the fascist Axis powers of Hitler, Mussolini and Tojo. But four years after 9/11, Bush remains unable to defeat a ragtag group of insurgents and terrorists, with no end in sight to the Iraqi insurgency and "War on Terrorism."

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

Commander Codpiece - War planner!

capt

Neil

There you go again, thinking you can open your mouth and take me on.

Just like a cowardly troll, stab a man in the back when he's not looking. Shame on you Neil, such hate from a educated progressive troll like yourself.

I guess you must be paying back those student loans if you can't afford cable. Or maybe your just a low level IT tech.

I was trying to save you some dignity and give you morons a break. I waited for you to say something more intelligent than your counter part "What the Fuck". Just could do it, could you!

Also, ass-licker was your word not mine. I used ass-kissin which you changed to ass-licker. I guess thinking about David's ass just got you a little to excited.

I use simple words and thoughts because that is all it takes to get trolls like you and your lefties buddies all worked up into a blather. If I were to try any harder you trolls start friggin crying like little girly men.

You trolls are on this site 24hrs a day. Don't you have any family or friends? No wonder there is so much ass-lickin (your word not mine)How else would you get any attention?

You trolls are such a waste of time, but amusing! It's almost as good as the Simpsons until you realize that you freaks are serious!!

Neil

I'm affraid you really don't have anything to debate.

No idictment of Rove, Libby's charges will be dropped.

We are winning the war, elections will be held and we will draw down troops starting next year.

The ecomony is growing faster under Bush than under Clinton.

The Dems are rebuking the surrender stance by Howard Dean and Nancy Pelosi.

New tax cuts just approved.

No leadership in Dem party, Hillary sinking like quicksand.

Bush's poll nubers going up-up-up.

Gay marrige defeated (this one must have really hit you hard)

I mean really, what's left for you sorry ass trolls? Anything?

Neil

Don't worry, I will give you the rest of the day to sqeeze a response out that over educated brain of yours!!

BAF you are a funny man. However your wit is lost on the cornholers. You are not welcome here. This is not a place for debate it is an echo chamber. You belittle yourself by attempting to engage in a debate or even attempting to see if their heads explode with some of your comments. It is fun but, alas, as we grow older we realize that fun is not all there is to life. Move on; your point has been made. Go to a right wing blog , hone your skills, and find a more productive use of your time. Who knows one day you may start your own blog and then you can see just how welcome witty left wingers are at your party.

Helen Thomas: Journalists are Now Soul Searching After Playing Dead Since 9/11

Helen Thomas, arguably the nation's best known print journalist and dean of the White House press corps, told a Falls Church audience last week that "there is a lot of soul searching going on now" among news professionals about uncritical coverage since 9/11 of the Bush administration and its policies.

"The press has rolled over and played dead," Thomas said of its behavior in recent years. "Our main weapon is skepticism. It is our indispensable role to protect the people's right to know," she said. But it failed to live up to that role in recent years.

Thomas, speaking to the monthly breakfast of the Democratic Business Council of Northern Virginia, said that in the wake of 9/11 "reporters pulled in their horns. It was felt that tough questions of the president were un-American, and this continued as the administration segued from 9/11 into Iraq."

She noted that when the faux journalist on a pro-Republican payroll, Jeff Guckert (aka Jeff Gannon) was attending press briefings, McClellan would offer him the opportunity to ask a question whenever he felt the need to duck pressure from another journalist.

This behavior marked a significant departure from earlier administrations that Thomas has covered, every one dating back to John F. Kennedy, Jr.

It gets even worse with rare formal presidential press conferences, she added. President Bush carefully selects the journalists he will allow to ask questions and then does not allow for follow-ups.

She characterized Bush as "a momma's boy without rapport with his dad who feels comfortable around strong women. He's fond of using the words freedom and liberty, but he doesn't know what they are, because he's sure clamped down on ours."

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

Helen RAWKS!

capt

All Responsible Corn Bloggers are occupied for the remainder of the day. CLOSED.

baf will have to play with itself.

Coup brewing in Iraq?

By Hassan Hanizadeh

Former Iraqi prime minister Iyad Allawi is a dangerous, mysterious figure who is currently trying to play a significant role in the Iraqi political scene, which seriously threatens the future of the country.

The fact that Allawi was the only Iraqi official to attend a recent military parade inspection ceremony indicates that he intends to play an ambiguous military role in Iraq.

After the collapse of Saddam Hussein’≥ dictatorship, Allawi, who was once an Iraqi officer close to Saddam and a prominent member of the now disbanded Baath Party, tried to isolate all of the popular Iraqi political figures, with the help of the United States and certain regional Arab countries.

And now, regional Arab countries’†satellite networks are trying to portray Allawi as a national hero and savior.

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

This does not sound much like democracy.

capt

baf HAS been playing with itself as far as I am concerned!

You freaks have no response, because you know the truth can't be debated!!!

Wombat, I didn't know that David had given you the rights to this site. When I came here I didn't see any disclaimer that this was for Corndicks only. How boring would that be?

Britain 'trying to stall $1.3bn theft inquiry that could hurt Allawi's election chances'

By Patrick Cockburn in Baghdad
Published: 09 December 2005

The British government is trying to stall an investigation into the theft of more than $1.3bn (?740m) from the Iraqi Ministry of Defence, senior Iraqi officials say.

The government wants to postpone the investigation to help its favoured candidate Iyad Allawi, the former prime minister, in the election on 15 December. The money disappeared during his administration.

The UK's enthusiasm for Mr Allawi may have led it into promoting a cover-up of how the money was siphoned off and sent abroad. One Iraqi minister believes the investigation will be dropped when the next government is formed.

The scandal is expected to explode with renewed force in the next few weeks. The Independent has learnt of secret tape recordings of a wide-ranging conversation between a Ministry of Defence official and a businessman, naming politicians and officials involved.

"It is possibly one of the largest thefts in history," Ali Allawi, Iraq's Finance Minister, said. "Huge amounts of money have disappeared. In return we got nothing but scraps of metal." Most of the military purchases were made in Poland and Pakistan. They included obsolete helicopters, armoured vehicles unable to stop a bullet and grossly over-priced machine guns and bullets. Payments were made in advance. Often the Ministry of Defence did not even have a copy of contracts under which it was paying hundreds of millions of dollars.

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

I get the feeling that Allawi is our guy and by hook or by crook he will be our dictator in Iraq.

Chalabi and Allawi, what a pair. I cannot believe they are the best Iraq has to offer.

capt

BAF

It's just advice man just advice.....

'Never Before!' Our Amnesiac Torture Debate

Naomi Klein

[from the December 26, 2005 issue]

It was the "Mission Accomplished" of George W. Bush's second term, and an announcement of that magnitude called for a suitably dramatic location. But what was the right backdrop for the infamous "We do not torture" declaration? With characteristic audacity, the Bush team settled on downtown Panama City.

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

As always Naomi has insightful perspective.

capt

Alan and capt say:

Murtha rocks, the neocons have already started the slime machine. I do not think it will sell. I hope not.

YOU boys MEAN LIKE THIS SLIME MACHINE?

Alan,
Lieberman is an idiot.
He was for criticizing the prez before he was

President Bush has a plan for victory in Iraq that begins with training Iraqi forces so they can defend their country and fight the terrorists. The plan has changed many times over the last 3 and one-half years but this time he thinks he has it right. We have trained 1, or is it 200, or maybe 20 Iraqi battalions... no matter what, this the way to go.

We will be greeted as liberators... probably in January.

Earlier this year, Iraqi forces led the fight in clearing out terrorists during the crucial battle of Tal Afar, with U.S. troops in a supporting role. Every day, Iraqis are taking more control of the situation on the ground. But let's face it. It'll be ten years before they'll be ready. In January, Bush will ask Congress for another $100,000,000,000 for Iraq operations in 2006, which brings the total to $371 Billion, that 1/3 of a trillion taxpayer dollars, all financed by debt and justified by illusory WMD's and smoking guns in the form of mushroom clouds. The American people don't have an open pocketbook for the president and his war strategy in Iraq.

If this money was being spent on fighting Al Quada, it would be justified but it has been used to over through Saddam, nation build, and for oil access. Our President conflated our national economic interests with our national defense interests and led the country to war irresponsibly.

"Danger, danger Will Robinson." We hear pro-war republicans claim "Withdrawing from Iraq, as some Democrats in Washington propose, would send a dangerous signal to our enemies that we cut and run." How so? American revolutionary soldiers fought the British using guerrilla warfare and it worked. There is ample evidence that lowering the US forces profile in Iraqi cities and towns would reduce the bloodshed and focus the conflict between Iraqi nationalists supporting the government and Iraqi nationals fighting to defeat it. The remaining 7% foreign fighters would be rejected as interlopers in a largely Iraqi issue.

Let's get back to fighting terrorists who threaten security throughout the world, not Iraqis who want the occupying super power out of their lives.

*letter from Murtha

Dear Alan,

America wants and deserves real answers on Iraq: What is the clear definition of success? Is there a plan? How much longer and how many more lives? In short, what is the end game?

Because we in Congress are charged with overseeing the safety of our sons and daughters when the president sends them into battle, it is our responsibility, our obligation to speak out for them. This obligation has not been met. That's why I am speaking out now.

I offered a concrete plan to get our troops out of harm's way, where they have become the target. I don't expect every member of Congress to agree with my specific proposal in this debate - but I do expect them to take part in that debate, not to squash it.

I am asking you to join me in demanding a real discussion of the war in Iraq from the U.S. House of Representatives.

Tell Congress to Have an Honest Debate For the Safety of Our Troops.

For too long Congress has counted itself out of any real debate on Iraq policy. We didn't talk about troop levels, even after the White House fired General Shinseki because he complained the levels were too low. One problem we encountered was the lack of proper training for our troops; service members were placed to guard the prisons but weren't trained; consequently we had Abu Ghraib, and no action from Congress. And if you look at the casualties, they have doubled since then. It's time to change our course - we can't just sit back any longer.

I've taken a lot of trips to Iraq. When I came back from my last one, I had become convinced we were making no progress at all. This can't be Republican and Democrat. It can't be recrimination one way or the other. We have to work this thing out, and we can't let a real solution get caught in the crossfire of an understandably heated political fight.

It's time for a serious conversation, not more rhetoric.

Tell Congress to Have an Honest Debate For the Safety of Our Troops.

The past few weeks have had a lot of firsts for me. I have never sought out the spotlight, or even taken the lead in a House floor debate the way I did a few weeks ago. And I've never signed an email like this before. But I see the beginning of a debate that is long overdue, and we can't afford to let it get overtaken by talking points or the news cycle.

I'm offering this petition, which will be delivered to Speaker of the House in order to keep our Congress focused where it should have been all along. I hope you'll sign if you agree.

Tell Congress to Have an Honest Debate For the Safety of Our Troops.

Sincerely,

John Murtha
Pennsylvania's 12th District

I say we start with the terrorists that attacked our ship the USS Liberty with the intent to sink it and murder everyone onboard, then blame it on Egypt. That would be a very good start indeed. That whole thing just makes my blood boil, and they got away with it. If that wasn't terrorism I don't know what is.

Hajji #1

You said "repository." Heh, Heh, cool! Isn't that what you medical Ffolks give to people to sorta clean them out? I didn't think David allowed stuff like that on his site. Still cool, though.

msnbc clip-warning memo

he mentions other documents dating back to '95

#45 Capt says Iraq "does not sound much like democracy."

Maybe it shouldn't be a democracy. Maybe it should be a hippocracy. Bring in a bunch of hippos and put them in charge.

Hear me out here. The Sunnis and the Kurds and the Shiites all hate each other, and they hate Westerners even more, and they hate Jews most of all. But nobody has any particular grudge against hippos. Hippos, while they're dangerous when approached, are not known to seek WMDs or gas their own people. I mean, would you rather see Zarqawi in charge? I don't think so.

Right now I'd say Iraq and America are becoming hippocracies at about the same pace. Maybe if we elect the hippos over there, we won't have to elect them here.

#45 Capt says Iraq "does not sound much like democracy."

Maybe it shouldn't be a democracy. Maybe it should be a hippocracy. Bring in a bunch of hippos and put them in charge.

Hear me out here. The Sunnis and the Kurds and the Shiites all hate each other, and they hate Westerners even more, and they hate Jews most of all. But nobody has any particular grudge against hippos. Hippos, while they're dangerous when approached, are not known to seek WMDs or gas their own people. I mean, would you rather see Zarqawi in charge? I don't think so.

Right now I'd say Iraq and America are becoming hippocracies at about the same pace. Maybe if we elect the hippos over there, we won't have to elect them here.

damn! double post!

Just a little trivia

Name for me the singer and who is the singer singing about?

We are amazed but not amused
By all the things you say that you'll do
Though much concerned but not involved
With decisions that are made by you

But we are sick and tired of hearing your song
Telling how you are gonna change right from wrong
Cause if you really want to hear our views
You haven't done nothing!

It's not cool to be ridiculed
But you brought this upon yourself
The world is tired of pacifiers
We want the truth and nothing else

And we are sick and tired of hearing your song
Telling how you are gonna change right from wrong
Cause if you really want to hear our views
You haven't done nothing!

We would not care to wake up to the nightmare
That's becoming real life
But when mislead who knows a person's mind
Can turn as cold as ice

Why do you keep on making us hear your song
Telling us how you are changing right from wrong
Cause if you really want to hear our views
You haven't done nothing!

Hint: The Jackson 5 sing background on the chorus.

Grapevine Whine - The Murtha Plan

On Wednesday night (12/7), Brit Hume used the second "picking" on his Grapevine segment in an absolutely brilliant display of some of the most devious tactics Fox typically uses to convince viewers that "up" is "down." In this instance, the target was the so-called "plan" suggested last month by Rep John Murtha (D-PA) for redeployment of US troops currently in Iraq.

Here's how Hume read item #2:

Even before today, Democrats were complaining that Rep. John Murtha's plan to remove troops from Iraq has been mischaracterized for political reasons, saying the Pennsylvania Democrat never proposed an immediate withdrawal. In fact, in announcing his plan last month, Murtha said his plan would immediately redeploy US troops, adding, "It is time to bring them home." He said some troops should be rebased in the region with a Marine force over the horizon. A few days later, he made clear that by that, he meant outside Iraq.

Comments: This is so good it deserves a detailed analysis, so let's put on our fancy thinkin' caps & tease out all the not-so-subtle implications.

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

Complete with a point by point analysis exposing the despicable liars on FOX news. Smear a decorated veteran, that is how dishonorable these slugs are.

capt

ACLU says next deadline in Abu Ghraib photo case is Dec. 15

A judge could rule on whether to order the release of new photographs from the U.S.-run Abu Ghraib prison anytime after Dec. 15, an ACLU spokesperson told RAW STORY.

The 144 photographs and four videos, which have been seen by New Yorker journalist Seymour Hersh, are alleged to contain photographs of U.S. servicemembers involved in raping detainees, possibly underage. The photos and videos are in addition to an earlier set of photographs already released. ...

... Judge Alvin Hellerstein in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled that the Defense Department must release the images and videos, saying that suppressing them would only create more intrigue about their contents. The Department then appealed, and was granted an extension through Dec. 15. If their appeal is rejected, the Bush Administration could take the case to the Supreme Court.

"Suppression of information is the surest way to cause its significance to grow and persist," Judge Alvin wrote. "Our struggle to prevail must be without sacrificing the transparency and accountability of government and military officials. These are the values [the Freedom of Information Act] was intended to advance, and they are at the very heart of the values for which we fight in Afghanistan and Iraq. There is a risk that the enemy will seize upon the publicity of the photographs and seek to use such publicity as a pretext for enlistments and violent acts. But the education and debate that such publicity will foster will strengthen our purpose and, by enabling such deficiencies as may be perceived to be debated and corrected, show our strength as a vibrant and functioning democracy to be emulated."

..."The government has taken the position in this case that the more outrageously the behavior exhibited by American troops, the less the public has a right to know about it," said Reporters Committee Executive Director Lucy Dalglish. "Such a stance turns the Freedom of Information Act inside out."
-----------------------
We are sending detainees (prisoners) to other countries to be tortured in the policy of rendition. We have secret prisons. We, as Americans, can turn a blind eye because it doesn't affect us personally.
Publish the photos.

damn! double post!

but it was a good one, so nobody minded.

Eggman, I thought about you 'n Hajji posting lyrics of Beatles songs when I replied to a post last night... but I fk'd up the words. In response to somebody named "WHY", I used the words to "Tell Me Why", but since it wasn't the correct words, nobody 'caught' it.
It shoulda been...
*singing*
Tell me WHYYYYYY she cried, and why she lieeeeeed to me.

It fit because "WHY" was backin' up Danielle's post with more b/s. I smacked 'im around a little. haha

Alan,

Danielle really thought she had you with that "fingers in your ears" repeating "na na na"
bit. All I could picture was Eddie Murphy doing it in one of his movies. I told her it didn't fit you.

Hundreds of photos of flag-draped coffins containing the remains of US troops killed in Afghanistan and Iraq, which the Pentagon fought to keep secret.

thought it was thememoryhole.org who first busted this door open.

Posted by: Jeanne at December 9, 2005 08:10

thanks for the update.

"...thememoryhole.org..."

Looks like some interesting stuff there. Have you watched the film on "CORONA"? I'm thinking about watching it now... but I'm watching something on TV about a Texas bankrobber. haha

ok, "Cowboy Bob" the Texas bankrobber turned out to really be "Cowboy Bobbette"! (he was a she) LOL A good disguise for sure.

eggman @ 57

goo goo ga joob

Love your post.

Meant to post this yesterday:

Empty Garden Lyrics
by Elton John
[ Download Elton John Ringtones ] [ Send to a friend ]

What happened here,
As the New York sunset disappeared?
I found an empty garden among the flagstones there.
Who lived here?
He must have been a gardener that cared a lot,
Who weeded out the tears and grew a good crop.
And now it all looks strange.
It's funny how one insect can damage so much grain.

And what's it for,
This little empty garden by the brownstone door?
And in the cracks along the sidewalk nothing grows no more.
Who lived here?
He must have been a gardener that cared a lot,
Who weeded out the tears and grew a good crop.
And we are so amazed! We're crippled and we're dazed....
A gardener like that one, no one can replace.

And I've been knocking, but no one answers.
And I've been knocking, most all the day.
Oh and I've been calling,oh hey, hey, Johnny!
Can't you come out to play?

And through their tears,
Some say he farmed his best in younger years.
But he'd have said that roots grow stronger, if only he could hear.
Who lived there?
He must have been a gardener that cared a lot,
Who weeded out the tears and grew a good crop.
Now we pray for rain, and with every drop that falls.....
We hear, we hear your name.....

And I've been knocking, but no one answers.
And I've been knocking, most all the day.
Oh and I've been calling,oh hey, hey, Johnny!
Can't you come out to play,
In your empty garden?
Johnny?
Can't you come out to play, in your empty garden?

good one Brent!

======================

Cowboy Bob's last ride

Man, I gotta life-long friend that looks just like her disguise!

Good old Mike Wallace. He interviews people even when they won't talk to him.

At 87, Wallace still tells it like it is

Q. President George W. Bush has declined to be interviewed by you. What would you ask him if you had the chance?

A. What in the world prepared you to be the commander in chief of the largest superpower in the world? In your background, Mr. President, you apparently were incurious. You didn't want to travel. You knew very little about the military. . . . The governor of Texas doesn't have the kind of power that some governors have. . . . Why do you think they nominated you? . . . Do you think that has anything to do with the fact that the country is so [expletive] up?

Tales of the Freewayblogger-This Just In From Boston

Jeanne, the Mike Wallace interview was a good find! We need more people of stature to spit out the truth like that. I sent the interview to quite a few people.

Jeanne,

I liked the "Will work for armor" sign.

Halliburton (KBR) workers in Iraq paid 50 cents an hour

WASHINGTON, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- While the United States spends billions on troop support in Iraq, the people serving the meals, scooping the ice cream, and washing the dishes make as little as 50 cents an hour.

The U.S. military has paid Halliburton subsidiary KBR about $12 billion so far for so-called logistics support to U.S. military personnel in Iraq, the largest contract of its kind ever. Around 80,000 troops are served meals at dining facilities every day under the contract -- the other 60,000 or so fend for themselves in field kitchens or by eating military issue "Meals Ready to Eat."

KBR in turn hires that work out entirely to subcontractors whose job it is to recruit, transport, house, feed and pay "third-country" nationals to stock, prepare, serve and clean up at the dining facilities at 43 bases across Iraq.

Those workers are recruited from countries with already low wages, where jobs are scarce. And as pressure to keep the logistics contract cost down has increased, subcontractors have moved from country to country in search of cheaper labor markets...

...There is no provision for sick leave. Any employee who threatens a strike or attempts to organize is subject to immediate dismissal and the employee required to pay for his return plane ticket.

For this they are paid $150 a month, roughly 45 cents an hour.
--------------------
Yep, this ought to do wonders for our reputation around the world.

#74
So did I.

Working Class Hero

As soon as you’≤e born they make you feel small
By giving you no time instead of it all
Till the pain is so big you feel nothing at all
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

They hurt you at home and they hit you at school
They hate you if you’≤e clever and they despise a fool
Till you’≤e so fucking crazy you can’¥ follow their rules
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

When they're tortured and scared you for twenty odd years
Then they expect you to pick a career
When you can’¥ really function you’≤e so full of fear
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV
And you think you’≤e so clever and class less and free
But you’≤e still fucking peasants as far as I can see
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

There's room at the top they are telling you still
But first you must learn how to smile as you kill
If you want to be like the folks on the hill
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be
If you want to be a hero well just follow me
If you want to be a hero well just follow me

By John Lennon.

Jeanne,

I've got the original "Imagine" album by John Lennon. Everytime I think about getting rid of it or putting it on E-Bay, I think better. There is a song called "oh my love" on it that I like just as much as "imagine."

Oh my love for the first time in my life
My eyes are wide open
Oh my lover for the first time in my life
My eyes can see

I see the wind, oh I see the trees
Everything is clear in my heart
I see the clouds, oh I see the sky
Everything is clear in our world

Oh my love for the first time in my life
My mind is wide open
Oh my lover for the first time in my life
My mind can feel

I feel the sorrow, oh I feel the dreams
Everything is clear in my heart
I feel life, oh I feel love
Everything is clear in our world

A lot of people blamed Yoko for breaking up the Beatles. I think John just grew beyond the Beatles before the others were wiling to let go. Love had a lot to do with it, and I think this song proves it.

Jeanne,

Actually, John put exactly as I said in #78 in the lyrics to "God"

God is a concept
By which we measure
Our pain
I'll say it again
God is a concept
By which we measure
Our pain

I don't believe in magic
I don't believe in I-ching
I don't believe in Bible
I don't believe in tarot
I don't believe in Hitler
I don't believe in Jesus
I don't believe in Kennedy
I don't believe in Buddha
I don't believe in Mantra
I don't believe in Gita
I don't believe in Yoga
I don't believe in kings
I don't believe in Elvis
I don't believe in Zimmerman
I don't believe in Beatles
I just believe in me
Yoko and me
And that's reality

The dream is over
What can I say?
The dream is over
Yesterday
I was the Dreamweaver
But now I'm reborn
I was the Walrus
But now I'm John
And so dear friends
You'll just have to carry on
The dream is over

After I posted that, I just realized John wrote his own epitaph.

Before 9/11, Warnings on bin Laden

By SCOTT SHANE

12/09/05 "New York Times" -- -- WASHINGTON, Dec. 8 - More than three years before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, American diplomats warned Saudi officials that Osama bin Laden might target civilian aircraft, according to a newly declassified State Department cable.

The cable was one of two documents released Thursday by the National Security Archive, a research organization at George Washington University that obtained them under the Freedom of Information Act. The other was a memorandum written five days after the 2001 attacks by George J. Tenet, then director of central intelligence, to his top deputies, titled "We're at War."

The June 1998 cable reported to Washington that three American officials, the State Department's regional security officer, an economics officer and an aviation specialist had met Saudi officials at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh to pass along a warning based on an interview Mr. bin Laden, the Saudi-born leader of Al Qaeda, had just given to ABC News.

They said he had threatened in the interview to strike in the next "few weeks" against "military passenger aircraft," mentioning surface-to-air missiles. The cable said there was "no specific information that indicates bin Laden is targeting civilian aircraft," but added, "We could not rule out that a terrorist might take the course of least resistance and turn to a civilian target."

#75 Jeanne, if we were concerned about spreading our democracy, we would not treat the Iraqis like slaves. They will never forget our treatment of them. Their hatred for us will last for many generations.

The Party of Defeat
By Staff Sergeant David Bellavia
December 9, 2005
As an infantryman whose boots are still caked with blood and dust from Iraq, I am at a loss to understand what Representative John Murtha (D-PA) was thinking when he recently delivered his defeatist comments about our military efforts.
Murtha’s outrage, like that of many Democrats, is completely directed at the war in Iraq and the large number of American youth far from home and serving in harm’s way. Curiously, no comparable anger is triggered by the 1,700 American troops patrolling Kosovo’s tranquil streets. No complaints issue from the anti-war crowd regarding the 3,000-troop strong presence in Bosnia. And what of the 1,754 troops stationed in Iceland? One seeks in vain for anti-war crowds chanting, “Mr. President, bring home our boys from Iceland!”
Iraq, of course, is a different story. John Murtha, offering his Bronze Star with Valor (BSV) as a badge of his authority, demands a precipitous withdrawal from Iraq. On behalf of every veteran of Iraqi Freedom who has exchanged hot lead with the enemy, allow me to observe that Congressman Murtha does not understand the situation in Iraq. Murtha quotes an unscientific poll that asserts that “80 percent of Iraqi’s want us out.” I am no John Zogby but I conclude that 100 percent of Iraqis want us out—eventually. At the moment, however, they very much want us there while Islamofascists continue to blow them up. And they want us to continue training them to defend themselves in the cause of freedom.
Rather than acknowledging the vital mission being carried out by the troops, the Democratic leadership prefers to disparage our efforts. My fellow soldiers are not appreciative of Senators Kennedy and Kerry’s daily attempts to uncover mistakes made by this administration as we come under fire thousands of miles from our homes. In the era of the digital satellite, these senators never consider the bigger picture, and have put us on trial for executing a war as it unfolds.
Former administrations ignored the present danger in this region for years before 9/11, and today we in the trenches pay the price for our past inability to confront our enemies. Each day, the enemy hopes that one more ten-plus death toll inflicted against coalition forces will be the last straw of the American collective will. The actions of Kerry, Kennedy, Dean, et al.—voting against the immediate pullout of the troops and then supporting Murtha’s ignorant remarks on every television program that offers an invitation—constitute a political attack on the troops, an attack that is aiding our enemy.
Though soldiers bleed for the right to dissent, we must remember that at times dissent will embolden our desperate Islamofascist enemy, especially when they read accounts of the growing fecklessness of the American people and her policy makers. Each day, legislators like Murtha move us closer to losing a winnable war and abandoning a worthy ally. Instead of supporting our cause, they stoke the fires of the Islamist faithful, those who would see a pullout in Iraq as a greater victory than the Soviet retreat from Afghanistan.
Despite the steady drumbeat of negativity, the troops remain undaunted. This is a middle to lower class war fought by volunteers of the greatest generation of American warriors ever born. I have written over 47 Bronze Stars with Valor (BSV) awards for the members of my 34-man infantry platoon. The BSV is growing more and more common during this fight, yet my peers cannot use their awards as a platform to defend their noble struggle because they are still deep in the fight.
Our critics in Congress are burdened by no such constraints. Neither Rep. Murtha nor any other Congressional representative has held a position in a skirmish line under fire in Iraq. Nonetheless, they pontificate to the masses about “their” war experience. Not one has borne witness to the extreme close-quarter nature of this fight or commented on the tearful thanks from a deserving and proud Iraqi people who need us to stay the course.
Instead, Rep. Murtha has the audacity to call my fellow soldiers “broken.” But despite such pessimism, amplified by a cynical media, we are not “broken,” On the contrary, we are winning. Hundreds of thousands of Iranian-trained Hezbollah terrorists, as well as Chechnyan, Wahabbi, and local mujahadeen militants have been pacified by our young patriots. It is regrettable that a man like Murtha, who made his career detailing his undisputed heroism under fire, is the first to chip away at my generation’s valor. Nor have we, as Senator Kerry recently claimed, “terrorized Iraqis in their homes.” And while many anti-war Democrats would have you believe otherwise, we are most certainly not “living hand to mouth.”
 
These and similar attacks have succeeded only in tarnishing the reputation of the American soldier. Each day, the Iraq War veteran grows closer to the embarrassing disrespect once heaped on the Vietnam warrior. Not only does the Democratic leadership deny the transparent fact that Iraq is indeed the front line in the War on Terror, but it feels the need to apologize for our nation’s ability to deliver unrelenting, but prudent lethality onto our deserving enemies. Thus, their warped template for fighting a war: pull out when the blood starts to flow.
Against this strategy of defeat, the president has called for staying the course. Staying the course isn’t a campaign slogan; it is a life support message for those of us in the midst of battle. Congressman Murtha above all others should know the perils inherent in dictating military policy from across the Potomac. I imagine he can still taste the spittle of anti-war protestors from 30 years ago. As was the case in Vietnam, the American soldier cannot be defeated on the field of battle. It is only the failure of the political class to stomach the hardships of combat that stands in the way of our victory.

David Bellavia is a former Army Staff Sergeant who served in the First Infantry Division for six years. He has been recommended for the Medal of Honor by his leadership, and has been nominated for the Distinguished Service Cross. He has received the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, the Conspicuous Service Cross (New York states highest combat valor award) and was recently inducted into the New York State Veteran’s Hall of Fame. His Task Force 2-2 Infantry has fought on such battlefields as Al Muqdadiyah, An Najaf, Al Fallujah, Mosul, and Baqubah. His actions in Fallujah, Iraq were documented in the November 22, 2004 cover story “Into the Hot Zone” by award winning journalist Michael Ware. He is 30 years old.

American Soldiers

American soldiers are being killed like flies for Bush's lies. To date 2,382 American soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan and Iraq.

OF COURSE, NONE OF THEM WAS GOING TO GET SHOT AT. NONE OF THEM WOULD HAVE TO ANSWER TO THE MOTHERS AND FATHERS OF DEAD SOLDIERS AND MARINES. GENERAL SCHWARZKOPF

DON'T PATRONIZE ME WITH TALK ABOUT HUMAN LIVES. COLIN LAPDOG POWELL

It sounds like human lives are not important to Lapdog.

Wolfowitz + World Bank = War + Poverty

As Diebold goes, so goes the election!

So Tenet knew in 1998 Bin Ladin was going to attack civilian targets and the Clinton Administration refuses to disintegrate Bin Ladin when he was caught in the cross hairs of a drone in 1999? God, that Clinton just salivated over getting Bin Ladin but didn't do it on the numerous occasions he had the chance.

Gerald,

Will you read post 82?
Would you like to know facts.
article written By Staff Sergeant David Bellavia

Just read what one of the guys who actually KNOWS what is going on over there, instead of just blabbing your traitorous mouth all the time.

#82
Actually, the workers are from countries outside of Iraq. The companies just keep finding the workers from poorer and poorer countries. Smaller and smaller wages. And at the same time the Iraqi unemployment is at 80?%. No logic just power and greed.

Tim,
Thanks for the posts on John Lennen.

Jesus Bans "Christian" Group

Shocking announcement sends militant Focus on the Family organization into crazed tailspin

- By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist
Friday, December 9, 2005

In an astonishing but not completely unexpected announcement, Jesus H. Christ, vice president and CFO of All That Is Inc., appeared today on a large tortilla at a roadside taco stand in Zacatecas, Mexico, to announce that, effective immediately, the pseudo-Christian group Focus on the Family, led by Dr. James Dobson and best known for its blazing hatred of gays and its fear of glimpsing the human female nipple during nationally televised sporting events, is effectively banned from His Divine Beneficence.

"What happened was, the heavens and all spirits of goodness, along with Buddha and Shiva and Allah and Kali and a few others, well, we were having some margaritas and playing poker and tossing around recent headlines, when Allah chimed in that this Focus on the Family group -- a real scab on my big toe for years, I gotta tell you -- well, they just decided to yank all their accounts from a bank over the bank's support of gay rights," said Jesus, dressed in black Diesel jeans, Hugo Boss motorcycle boots and a snug tank top featuring a large OM symbol across the chest.

"J-Dog," as he is known to his friends, was referring, of course, to the recent story about how the militant, Colorado-based "Christian" group has just pulled all its accounts from Wells Fargo Bank after learning that the bank had donated a small sum of money to gay rights causes, including GLAAD, a sum totaling about $50,000, or about one-tenth of what Wells Fargo gave to the GOP last year.

The Christ, apparently, had had enough.

"This is what I realized: Rampant homophobia, ignorance of sex, derision of women's rights, a decided love of tepid dogmatic sameness at the expense of the luminosity and uniqueness of the individual human soul -- it was all just too much," Jesus said, this time appearing as a curiously shaped oil stain on a freeway underpass in Saragossa, Spain. "Then the bank thing happened and it was the straw that broke the Mary's back."

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

It gets better.

capt

Song sites face legal crackdown

The music industry is to extend its copyright war by taking legal action against websites offering unlicensed song scores and lyrics.

The Music Publishers' Association (MPA), which represents US sheet music companies, will launch its first campaign against such sites in 2006.

MPA president Lauren Keiser said he wanted site owners to be jailed.

He said unlicensed guitar tabs and song scores were widely available on the internet but were "completely illegal".

Mr Keiser said he did not just want to shut websites and impose fines, saying if authorities can "throw in some jail time I think we'll be a little more effective".

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

If they take away the lyrics we will all lose. I do not know why I am of the opinion that the words are so different from the music but nearly every song I have ever liked I liked more when I read the lyrics.

capt

#86
ramsey needs to link that because I'm not finding the story. If you are going to insult Gerald at least give him the link. Give me a website address. Give me a place where I can find it.
If Gerald has something to say he backs it up with "footnotes". He also does not hide behind a madeup name.

Gerald,
It is you who is helping kill American soldiers.

The way you attack our solders, you might just as well have a bomb belt and a gun. You seem determined to aid al Qaeda in their propagnda war.

You are not saving anyone, you are a terrorist killer here in America.

Sleep well tonight, with the blood of American soldiers all over your hands.

Jeanne #88

You are welcome.

Capt #90

I second that emotion. I value the writer of the song more so than the singer of the song. And when they do both, it is even more valuable.

for Jeanne and Gerals

http://tinyurl.com/dejs3

The Eleven Foxes

What is great about the computer, I can log onto different websites and focus on some people and their articles. The eleven foxes for me are Arianna Huffington, Maureen Dowd, Teresa Whitehurst, Karen Kwiatkowski, Eleanor Clift, Molly Ivins, Cindy Sheehan, Katrina Vanden Heuvel, Sister Joan Chittister, OSB, Naomi Klein, and Devvy Kidd. Not only are these eleven women pleasant to look at, but they also write exceptional articles.

Here is a brief overview of why these writers are foxes for me.

1. Cindy Sheehan is a mother of a soldier that was killed in Iraq. She wants to know what noble cause killed her son. The chickenhawk, Bush, refuses to answer the question.
2. Eleanor Clift may not write articles like the rest of the women but I enjoy her intelligence in standing up to the bushcos when she appears as a guest on the various talk shows.
3. Molly Ivins is from Texas and she, too, will not take any crap from Bush or his family. Plus, any woman who drinks beer from the bottle is my kind of woman.
4. Arianna Huffington is a Republican but she is an objective person in assessing America’≥ problems. She chooses her country over her party.
5. Karen Kwiatkowski is a retired military general with a Ph.D. Her articles are well written and her love for the military is noted but she will not go along with stinking military thinking from the other generals and from that chickenhawk, Bush.
6. Teresa Whitehurst is a Ph.D. clinical psychologist who writes great Christian articles that reveal her discipleship in following Jesus.
7. Maureen Dowd is a columnist with the NYTimes. She, too, writes very good articles that reveal her innate nurturing and sensitivity as a true female. Why this gorgeous woman is not married I do not know.
8. Katrina Vanden Heuvel is new the list of foxes but she is a valuable member. Katrina writes articles for The Nation magazine.
9. Sister Joan Chittister, OSB, can be read on NCRonline.org. Sister Joan is a bit of a maverick for a Catholic nun but she does convey some interesting thoughts.
10. Naomi Klein writes for The Nation and her writings are also published on the Guardian.
11. Devvy Kidd writes for News with Views website. She has several interesting articles to read. You can also type in her name and you can check the articles.

There will probably be other names of foxes that will be added to my list but these eleven names are a good start.

Gerald,
Cindy Sheehan is a mother of a soldier that was killed in Iraq. She wants to know what noble cause killed her son. The chickenhawk, Bush, refuses to answer the question.
JUST MORE LIES FROM GERALD

FACT:
Cindy Sheehan met with the President, and was satisfied, BEFORE the communist organization Code Pink, got a hold of her.

Let us not forget that Bush started a wrong and an immoral war. Iraq was not an imminent threat to the USA. Bush is a murderer and a war criminal.

The Formula

I am giving you a formula that I believe will bring about justice and peace. Actually, God has given me these ideas directly for a better world. You can accept what I say through Divine Providence or reject what I say. We are all given a free choice. The decision is yours alone.

1. Shalom translated means peace but it is more than peace. Shalom is God's vision of the world. It is God's dream that Shalom comes only to the inclusive embracing community that excludes no one.
2. In each of us there is a Jesus and a Hitler. We should always strive to bring out the Jesus in us.
3. Love is wanting the best for another person or persons.
4. Try to emulate Mother Teresa who saw in each human being the face of Jesus.
5. War is outmoded; no normal person chooses war over peace.
6. From James in the New Testament –†Faith without deeds is worth nothing.
7. Practice your faith that believes in the true God. God wants us to love one another.
8. Read the Bible because it is God's love letter to us.
9. Read Mattie Stepanek's books on Heartsongs.
10. John Kerry says that it is not important for God to be on our side, what is important are we on God's side?
11. Read Matthew 25:31-46! When you do it to the least of my brethren, you do it for me.
12. Read Matthew 5:1-12! The beatitudes!
13. Read Luke 10:25-37! Who is my neighbor?
14. Read Luke 12:13-21! These verses warn us against greed.
15. Be aware of the Just War Theory! Are we in imminent danger?
16. Practice being a Conscientious Objector!
17. St. Ambrose says, I shall pass this way but once, any good that I can do let me do it now, because I shall not pass this way again.
18. Totus Tuus means all yours. We are all God's children.
19. Paul Wellstone says that politics is not about power. Politics is not only about money. Politics is not about winning for the sake of winning. Politics is about the improvement of people's lives. It is about advancing the cause of peace and justice in our country and in the world. Politics is about doing well for people.
20. Mr. Bourn who built the Filoli Home and Gardens that is south of San Francisco says that we must fight for a just cause; we must love our fellow man; and we must live a good life.
21. When we recite the Lord's Prayer, we are acknowledging that God is the Father and we are all brothers and sisters.
22. The Cross is a sign of contradiction. It is not about death and hatred; it is about life and love.
23. St. Irenaeus says, The glory of God is man fully alive. Man can only be fully alive when he loves God with his whole mind, body, and soul. And, when he loves his neighbor, as he loves himself.

Many persons will have and will offer various formulas for justice and peace. The end result will center on whether or not we have love and mercy in our hearts. Justice and peace can never move forward unless we have a conversion of the heart.

Leo Buscaglia reminds us that the heart sees what the eyes fail to see. In life we may be called upon to see with our hearts. Our hearts must be filled with love and mercy.

The moral demise of a nation precedes the ultimate demise of a nation. America is in a state of moral demise because Americans do not believe in God. They have chosen the antichrist of money, nuclear weapons, and the words of Bush.

"Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled, or hanged."

President Abraham Lincoln

This could easily, and quite truthfully be said of Ted Kennedy and John Kerry

Joseph and ramsey,
Rep Murtha is the soldiers best friend. He LISTENS to the men. He understands their needs. He understands their limitations. He understands that what they are asked to do is heroic beyond what is reasonable and sustainable. Rep Murtha has the military brass coming to him because they trust him. The military is breaking down.
I respect Staff Sgt David Bellavia's feelings. But I also respect the sincerity and the experience that Rep Murtha brings to the table. This war was a disaster from the first day and it came to that because of lack of leadership in the White House. This war was pushed upon us by a group in White House that avoided war as young men and now refuses the advice of the military men who are the real leadership.

Gerald is not killing American soldiers. He is not a terrorist killer. He is a patriot for standing up for what he believes is right for America. If you disagree with his anti war stance then ignore his posts because he is not going to change his heartfelt opinion because you insult him.

Pro-war is not pro-troops, pro-war kills troops.

Pro-war is not pro-life is it pro-death.

Simple math.

Bring the troops home

Every armchair general and every chicken-hawk has blood on their hands from our fallen heroes and every Iraqi killed by an unwise and illegal invasion. Every Bush supporter is culpable for every person killed and wounded. Plenty of blood to go around.

They must have voice recognition software because I cannot see how they can use a keyboard. . . maybe they do not even notice.

The military put their lives on the line to protect our right to free speech but I guess having respect for that effort is beyond the small minded and their spew.

Shameful hate speech from a group that has no clue what honor or respect means let alone what it means to be a true patriotic American.

Visit Operationtruth.com you will find the opinions of the service men and women are as diverse as any other group. They are dying to preserve our right to protest and keep safe our right to free speech, why is it the pro-war jerks do not respect that effort? I guess following their non-logic the left leaning troops are traitors while they are dying for our country. The same mentality was apparent during the Vietnam war. The same mentality thinks we lost in Vietnam because of the media and the hippies protesting. Never allowing for the fact that we could have saved 25,000 of our troops if just got out a few years earlier with the exact same results for Vietnam.

Tragic and stupid - that's a double!

"What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?" ~ Mahatma Gandhi (1869 - 1948), "Non-Violence in Peace and War"

capt

#96
Cindy Sheehan is very capable of intelligent thought. When she met with President Bush she was still living with the shock of losing her son. The meeting with the president was very unsettling. He showed a lack of compassion. I think Code Pink has less influence on her than a president who obviously lacked any understanding of the pain the loss has on families. Cindy Sheehan is not the only parent addressing these concerns after meeting the president.
If you care to hear the experinces of other families go to Democracy Now. Amy Goodman interviewed others.

And by the by,
If you blog on the conservative sites you might want to tell them that the t shirt ad that is on a great many of the sites is really lacking in taste. For a group who demands moral values only Jesus himself can adhere to, I find it disgusting that women are used as objects.

Re: Gov't secrecy

"CIA Realizes It's Been Using Black Highlighters All These Years"

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/43014

capt.
"Non-Violence in Peace and War"

Tell it to those who wear the suicide belts, not those who try to stop them.

#21 (playing catch-up)
Great news. I only hope his ghost dissipates quickly.

Black highlighters. What a laugh.

Jeanne, 102
For a group who demands moral values only Jesus himself can adhere to, I find it disgusting that women are used
as objects.

Are you under the complete misconception that all conservatives believe in that religious bullshit?
I don't believe in fairy tales anymore than you. Not only that, but, just because I don't believe in all that Jesus garbage, I am not going to turn into a traitorous communist like you.

Not communist and I won't become one to help you prove a point.
Sweet dreams.

65 jello
Hundreds of photos of flag-draped coffins containing the remains of US troops killed in Afghanistan and Iraq, THAT US LEFTY'S HELP alQaeda Kill.

Dead and wounded American soldiers,
Let's hear it for our left wing propaganda handy work !!!

They're jumping David again at Crooks and Liars. One said David and Isikoff are writing a book together. And that's a bad thing? They dumped on Isikoff for old shyt... Monica and what's her name, the bar singer.

Joseph, did you happen to see "Nightline" tonight? An extended hour-long show with Gold Star Mothers. When the topic of the flag-draped coffins came up, only one responded to that question before they moved on, but she said she WANTED everyone to see her son's coffin. She wants all Americans to know the cost of this war. I know you wouldn't call her a traitor, would you?

Jeanne,

According to your posts, you hang out with communists, Medea Benjamin, Starhawk, Jodie Evans and Diane Wilson. You have said you have even dragged your daughter down to the same disgusting level.

You are pathetic.

Ex-neocon hawk Paul Wolfowitz now touts peace

World Bank chief tries to distance himself from Bush

- Dana Milbank, Washington Post
Thursday, December 8, 2005

Washington -- On another day when the Iraq war was tearing Washington apart, a leading architect of that war, Paul Wolfowitz, was donning sheep's clothing over at the National Press Club.

The former deputy defense secretary, now president of the World Bank, gave a 30-minute speech Wednesday about the virtues of peace, the ills of poverty and the benefits of multilateralism -- without a mention of Iraq.

"One of the things that's fun about this job is (that) development is a unifying mission and you can get a lot of people together across a table to put their political differences aside," said the man President Bush calls "Wolfie."

Only when questioners pressed him about Iraq would Wolfowitz address the subject. "How do you account for the intelligence failures regarding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq?" he was asked.

"Well," he said after a long pause, "I don't have to."

Being Wolfie means not having to say you're sorry. Nearly three years ago, he offered some of the most memorable forecasts about Iraq: that it was "wildly off the mark" to think hundreds of thousands of troops would be needed to pacify a postwar Iraq; that the Iraqis "are going to welcome us as liberators"; and that "it is just wrong" to assume that the United States would have to fund the Iraq war.

Wolfowitz was 0-for-3 on those, but since taking the World Bank job six months ago he has found a second act. He has toured sub-Saharan Africa, danced with the natives in a poor Indian village, badgered the United States to make firmer foreign aid commitments and cuddled up to the likes of Bono and George Clooney.

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

OMG, I almost messed my bunnypants. One- Dana calls Wolfowitless an ex-neocon hawk? Tens if not hundreds of thousands of people have been killed, hundreds of billions of our tax dollars have been spent and he thinks he does not have to answer for his part in the misadventure that Iraq has become? Because he has a new job - kings X?

And yet this is what passes for news reporting?

Bush is a leper in his own circle of jerks and the five point bump that you will hear about is within the margin of error. No amount of lies can un-connect the dots.

capt

Alan,

Because her pain made her vulernable, She was easily, mentally hi-jacked, by anti-American and communist groups like Code Pink, the International Socialist Organization, MoveOn, and Progressive Workers Organizing Committee, JUST LIKE JEANNE, and Cindy Sheehan.

What those despicable groups do to mourning women, just to promote their vile agendas is revolting to all patriotic Americans.

Tom Delay chose a Democrat lawyer. Now guess what? Rove's lawyer is a Dem too. When you're in the fight of your life, no crummy republican crony lawyer would do! You want one that had to actually earn is reputation in the courtroom instead of the network of lock-step thinkers on their own side. hahahaha

Rove puts his trust in a liberal
His attorney in the CIA leak case is viewed as his polar opposite

Because her pain made her vulernable...

I disagree Joseph. There were about 15 mothers on the show. Their politics covered the whole range. Four were against the war flat out, a few were iffy, and a majority were totally pro-war/pro-bush with all the right 'talking points' down pat. They all still talked warmly with each other, and the camera caught several patting the back of another when she was upset, no matter what her politics. Wouldn't it be nice to discuss opinions like that here? Without the name-calling, etc...

Alan,

Try looking behind the curtain of those poor women.

You really think in their grieving they plan out all the things they are being herded into?

They are having a hard enough time convincing themselves that getting out of bed is worth it anymore, because of what their valiant sons volunteered to do.

Code Pinko's realize most of them are on valium, prozac, or something else prescribed by their doctors.

It takes self serving pigs like Jodie Evans,
Medea Benjamin, Diane Wilson, or the worst of them all, Starhawk, to pray on their grief like vultures.

Most lawyers are Dems, WHEN IN PUBLIC. They know where their bread is buttered. TORT reform ring a bell.

You really think in their grieving they plan out all the things they are being herded into?

All I can say is, you shoulda watched the show before speculating on how they think and feel.
These ladies were all from small-town Ohio. Remember the multiple deaths from one outfit in Ohio? Ten one day/one incident, and I think seven more a day or two later. That were their sons. So the show wasn't about politics, per se... wouldn't be much of a cross-section of the country to be a poll... it was about the bond they've formed from the shared experience.
It was sad.

Most lawyers are Dems, WHEN IN PUBLIC. They know where their bread is buttered.

say wha?? That makes no sense. Most of the 'buttering' that's going on is on the republican side.

Both those lawyers just happen to be dems, but they were picked and hired because they're good lawyers, period.

They are both criminal lawyers, so tort has nothing to do with it.

This one's for Capt... I figure he'll enjoy it.
It's a scrolling 360° vitual tour of the Keck Interferometer telecopes.

virtual tour launch page

">Live tracking of cell phones

try that again
phone tracking

Alan
Yeah, I am sure those lawyers never have, or never will do anything but criminal law. I mean, why donate all that money to the Dems, they never help a lawyer over a doctor. No reason for a lawyer to look ahead and make sure the road into his future is paved.

I dunno how to respond to that either. I'm sorry if I'm missing your point, but I really don't see one. Their roads are paved just fine with lawyer fees. Contributions?? you lost me on that one

I'm admitting I don't know much about Luskin, but Dick Deguerin, I do know a little about because I'm from the Houston area. He's pretty famous around here. Guys like him don't run to politicians for shyt, they sit back and take their money when they get in trouble. What's kinda weird about Deguerin is... he's got a well-known (here anyway) brother that's a lawyer too. The weird part is... they spell their last names different! Forgot the details, but both brothers legally changed their names years ago (maybe to start their law career), but they somehow messed up the spelling. They just left it that way.

line from a google search result...

The attorneys haven't stopped trying though, said Mike DeGeurin, Lea Fastow's
lawyer. Enron Task Force prosecutors and defense attorneys will keep talking ...

note the EU instead of UE

Hey, David, when you go to bed don't forget to wear your Pajamas. Best regards to Adam, Michael, and Podwhoretz Jr.

US walks out of climate change talks as 150 nations move forward to adopt Kyoto

By Andrew Buncombe in Montreal
Published: 10 December 2005

The Bush administration's unwillingness to seriously confront global warming was increasingly at odds with the rest of the world last night as more than 150 other nations were poised to move forward with the Kyoto protocol.

The US faced widespread condemnation after persistently rejecting even the mildest commitment to deal with climate change at the UN talks in Montreal.

Washington's behaviour represents a serious embarrassment to Tony Blair who has argued that he could obtain an undertaking from the US to tackle the issue.

As the US position was highlighted by the walking out of talks by its chief negotiator Harlan Watson, the former president Bill Clinton launched an attack on his successor's environmental policy.

To thunderous applause from delegates from nations around the world who are readying themselves to move ahead with the next stage of the Kyoto Protocol, Mr Clinton said the environmental policy of George Bush's administration was "flat wrong".

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

Flat wrong? I think dead wrong.

capt

Lawmakers' image hits low amid scandals

December 9, 2005

BY DONNA CASSATA

WASHINGTON -- Indictments, investigations and a congressman's guilty plea for taking millions in bribes have left most Americans convinced political corruption is a deeply rooted problem, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll.

Missteps and misconduct that have reached into all levels of government -- from the White House and Congress to governors' offices in Connecticut and Ohio -- led 88 percent of those surveyed to say the problem is a serious one.

President Bush's approval rating was 42 percent, slightly better than his standing in the previous AP-Ipsos poll. Still, 57 percent of those surveyed disapproved of Bush's handling of the presidency.

Sixty-five percent of respondents disapproved of lawmakers' work in Washington and only 31 percent approved, the worst numbers since AP-Ipsos began asking the question in January. People questioned in the survey had no trouble reciting the names linked to offenses and inquiries:

*Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) faces money laundering charges.

*Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) is under a federal investigation for a stock sale.

*I. Lewis ''Scooter'' Libby, former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, has been indicted on five counts of perjury, obstruction of justice and lying to the FBI in the outing of a CIA officer.

DeLay, Frist and Libby have said they have done nothing wrong.

*Last month, Rep. Randy ''Duke'' Cunningham (R-Calif.) resigned after pleading guilty to taking $2.4 million in bribes in exchange for steering government work to defense contractors.

Lawmakers' image hits low amid scandals

December 9, 2005

BY DONNA CASSATA

WASHINGTON -- Indictments, investigations and a congressman's guilty plea for taking millions in bribes have left most Americans convinced political corruption is a deeply rooted problem, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll.

Missteps and misconduct that have reached into all levels of government -- from the White House and Congress to governors' offices in Connecticut and Ohio -- led 88 percent of those surveyed to say the problem is a serious one.

President Bush's approval rating was 42 percent, slightly better than his standing in the previous AP-Ipsos poll. Still, 57 percent of those surveyed disapproved of Bush's handling of the presidency.

Sixty-five percent of respondents disapproved of lawmakers' work in Washington and only 31 percent approved, the worst numbers since AP-Ipsos began asking the question in January. People questioned in the survey had no trouble reciting the names linked to offenses and inquiries:

*Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) faces money laundering charges.

*Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) is under a federal investigation for a stock sale.

*I. Lewis ''Scooter'' Libby, former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, has been indicted on five counts of perjury, obstruction of justice and lying to the FBI in the outing of a CIA officer.

DeLay, Frist and Libby have said they have done nothing wrong.

*Last month, Rep. Randy ''Duke'' Cunningham (R-Calif.) resigned after pleading guilty to taking $2.4 million in bribes in exchange for steering government work to defense contractors.

Taking a hardline position is irrelevant and Bunnypants does follows orders even if they run in circles. As the supporters tout the good news and the vote you cannot hide from the numbers by calling Iraq liberated and all 710 reasons cannot fix that sinking feeling that to stay or go helps OBL.

If we had started with a reason and identified who we want to support and looked for the forest through the trees, if we defined what freedom means, if Bunnypants did not invent georgeography, the puzzle would not elicit calls of quitter but that would disappoint the warnographers as their plan abroad and safety at home is all to allow Iraq to vote?

There is progress and Rummy says despite the 710 reasons it was never about the oil just about freedom to let the Iraqis soar call it Mission Accomplished and bring the troops home.

capt

I don't really consider NPR when I think of MSM, but the fact that All Things Considered ran this interview on Friday is kinda hopeful...

_______________
December 9, 2005 ᠎ew York Times reporter Douglas Jehl discusses the case of Libyan captive Ibn al-Shaykh al Libi, an al Qaeda member who told investigators about ties between al Qaeda and Iraq while he was held in Egyptian custody under the process known as rendition.

Jehl says that Libi later recanted his story -- that al Qaeda members had been sent to Iraq for weapons training -- and told U.S. authorities that he had fabricated his accounts to avoid harsh treatment.

The Bush Administration cited much of Libi's original story in the run-up to the war in Iraq, according to Jehl.
____________

-T

I don't really consider NPR when I think of MSM, but the fact that All Things Considered ran this interview on Friday is kinda hopeful...

_______________
December 9, 2005 ᠎ew York Times reporter Douglas Jehl discusses the case of Libyan captive Ibn al-Shaykh al Libi, an al Qaeda member who told investigators about ties between al Qaeda and Iraq while he was held in Egyptian custody under the process known as rendition.

Jehl says that Libi later recanted his story -- that al Qaeda members had been sent to Iraq for weapons training -- and told U.S. authorities that he had fabricated his accounts to avoid harsh treatment.

The Bush Administration cited much of Libi's original story in the run-up to the war in Iraq, according to Jehl.
____________

-T

3. That the torpedo boat attack involved not only the firing of torpedoes, but the machine-gunning of Liberty's firefighters and stretcher-bearers as they struggled to save their ship and crew; the Israeli torpedo boats later returned to machine-gun at close range three of the Liberty's life rafts that had been lowered into the water by survivors to rescue the most seriously wounded;

4. That there is compelling evidence that Israel's attack was a deliberate attempt to destroy an American ship and kill her entire crew;
------------
I guess this article escaped everyone's attention. What is it about the fact that a US Navy vessel that was deliberately attack by so-called allies fails to elicit any response whatsoever? Is our country living in such fear of Israel that no one dares say a word? This was a blatent, overt attempt to murder the entire crew and sink this ship. They tried for two hours. These poor, brave men were being gunned down as they were lifting lifeboats into the water. The lifeboats were being sunk. Napalm was dropped on the deck. The US Govt. recalled rescue ships, refusing to give aid. WTF is going on here? Doesn't this piece of history bother anyone, even a little bit?? As of June 2005 the survivors are still trying to obtain justice and are still being brushed off. Israel has yet to even receive a reprimand. But when they start yelling "Arab terrorist blah blah blah" everyone jumps on the band wagon, flags waving, even though the only evidence we ever get that the terrorists ARE Arab is the Govt.'s word. I guess the word of these eyewitnesses, our own people, means nothing. It is becoming very clear just who is in charge and who the US reps are loyal to. They sure don't give a shit about our soldiers.

From WRH

Brothers: Hostages were gathering evidence of abuse in Iraq

With a Saturday execution deadline looming, the brothers of a Canadian man held hostage in Iraq made another plea to his abductors, saying Friday that their brother was in Iraq to gather information on alleged human rights abuses.
Posted Dec 10, 2005 06:33 AM PST

So of course, "Al Qaeda" (nudge nudge wink wink) would want to stop THAT kind of thing!
I mean, Giuliana Sgrena was grabbed by "Al Qaeda" (nudge nudge wink wink) when investigating the use of chemical weapons by the US in Fallujah. Now this "Swords of Justice" group is kidnapping people looking into the human rights abuses committed by Americans in Iraq.

Just whose side is "Al Qaeda" (nudge nudge wink wink) really on?
---------------------
Arab terrorists? Yeh, right.

What 'War on Christmas'?

The latest alleged perfidy is the failure of the White House Christmas card to mention Christmas, instead expressing "best wishes for a holiday season of hope and happiness" and featuring a verse from Psalms. William A. Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, calls this evidence that the administration has "capitulated to the worst elements in our culture." I call it a recognition, especially welcome at a time of sectarian violence, that not all the 1.4 million folks on the Christmas list are Christian.

This has reached its most imposition-of-Sharia-law-like level of intolerance in the campaign to cow stores into saying Christmas. O'Reilly, escalating his "Christmas Under Siege" campaign, has posted a list of naughty and nice retailers. The American Family Association goes further, calling for a boycott of stores -- it's targeted Target -- that fail to use the word Christmas in their advertising or in-store promotions. "Target doesn't want to offend a small minority who oppose Christmas," says AFA's chairman, Donald Wildmon. "But they don't mind offending Christians who celebrate the birth of Christ."

Really? I've just gone on the Target Web site and plugged Christmas into my product search. "We found 39,197 match(es) for 'Christmas' at Target," it reported. How offensive is that?

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

There has never been a war on Christmas it is just another phantom of fear drummed up and made from whole cloth. They have to stay in practice.

If they neocons are making a new reality why would they care? Just make a fictitious myth-minded world where Santa comes because the baby Jesus was born and the planet is only 6,000 years old, where war is peace and failure success . . . wait they have done that already.

Happy Holidays, happy Chanukah, happy Kwansa, happy Festiva!

I will never wish anybody a merry Christmas for fear these Kkkristo-fascists think I support their brand of idiocy.

capt

Capt, here's to the Winter Solstice, the one thing that is rooted in fact! Spring is coming back.

Happy ChanuSatuRammaKwanzaSolstimas to you, too, Capt!

-T

The 2006 World Cup draw: how it went down

Defending champions Brazil will play their first match of next year's World Cup finals against 1998 semi-finalists Croatia, while Argentina have to face the Netherlands in a tough first-round group.

Five-time champions Brazil also face Australia and Japan in Group F, while Argentina have games against Serbia and Montenegro and the Ivory Coast.

Argentina failed to get past the first round in 2002 and this draw means they could struggle again.

The opening match will be hosts Germany against Costa Rica in Munich. Three-time winners Germany also play Poland and Ecuador.

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

Forget the Christmas naming convention, they call soccer football and that is something O’Reilly should be very concerned about.

capt

Ho Ho Ho - to you all too!

Shiite, Sunni groups sign pact for US withdrawal timetable

Baghdad, Dec. 9 (AP): A group of Shiite and Sunni parties has signed a declaration condemning terrorism, urging a timetable for the end of the US military presence, and vowing never to normalise relations with Israel.

The parties to the "code of honour" included followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi, Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq and the Sunni Iraqi Consensus Front.

The code also declared that resistance is a legitimate right and condemned "terrorism, violence, murder and kidnappings." The code is non-binding but it indicates what parties might choose to work together after the new parliament is elected next week.

Officials said al-Sadr was the driving figure behind the yesterday's pact.

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

Seems like everybody wants a timetable except Bunnypants.

capt

They'll have to step up those "terrorist" attacks. Another one here wouldn't hurt, they're running out of excuses to stay in Iraq and terror is all bushco knows.

LIBERTY EXCUSES

* The Israelis claimed that the ship's U.S. flag hung limp because there was no wind. Later, when presented with the fact that the flag had been perfectly visible, they claimed that they thought that the ship was an enemy vessel flying false colors. The extended radio monitoring, exposing considerable advance investigation of Liberty's communication facilities, refutes this claim.

* The Israelis claimed that the torpedo boats, after first sighting the ship, had called in the aircraft to attack after the ship refused to identify itself. This is an obvious lie, because the attack was clearly a preplanned and well coordinated onetwo punch employing different branches of the Israeli Defense Forces. The jets were already intent on attacking the ship before the Liberty came into the torpedo boats' radar range. Directly contradicting themselves, the Israelis later claimed that their aircraft had called in the torpedo boats.

* The Israelis eventually admitted that before the attack, their commanders had compared reconnaissance photos of the Liberty with Jane's Fighting Ships. But they claimed that before the attack they twice telephoned the U.S. naval attache in Tel Aviv inquiring whether the Liberty was a U.S. ship and were told that there were no U.S. Navy ships in the area. They claimed that having received a negative reply, they decided that the ship had to be the El Quseir. However, the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv, and later the naval attache, emphatically stated that no such inquiries were made. The Israelis not only knew the ship's nationality and that she was an "ELINT" ship; they also knew she was the Liberty herself.

* Immediately preceding the attack, an Israeli pilot recognized Liberty as a U.S. ship and radioed this information to IDF headquarters. He was instructed to attack anyway. This dialogue was intercepted at the U.S. embassy in Beirut. Former U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dwight Porter revealed the existence of this intercept in 1991.

Housing Slowdown May Claim 800,000 Jobs
Source: AP Business
URL Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051207/ap_on_bi_ge/economic_forecast
Published: Dec 7, 2005
Author: ALEX VEIGA

A sustained decline will hit the U.S. housing market next year, costing the nation as many as 800,000 jobs, according to a new economic report released Wednesday.

The slowdown is likely to last several years, with as many as 500,000 construction jobs and 300,000 financial sector positions lost, the quarterly Anderson Forecast predicted.

"We expect housing to start slowing the economy this quarter or the next," said Edward Leamer, director of the study done at the University of California, Los Angeles.

"Some jobs in manufacturing might well disappear as a result of weakness in housing, but this may be offset by jobs brought home or not lost to foreign competition," he wrote.

The forecast said eight of the last 10 economic recessions were started by housing market slowdowns. Though the coming cooldown will cause a drag on the nation's economy, it will fall short of triggering a recession, the forecast said.

The report cited several signs that the decline could be under way:

* New construction of housing in October was down 5.6 percent from the previous month, with new construction of single-family housing accounting for a 3.7 percent dip.

* New home sales have declined.

* Applications for home mortgages have trended downward since late September as rates increased.

* In some regions, homes are remaining unsold longer and the pace of housing construction is outpacing population growth, which could spell a decline in demand.

"On all these grounds, we believe housing is due for a sustained decline," economist Michael Bazdarich wrote in the forecast. "The remaining questions are how hard the fall will be and when it will begin."
------------
Another crystal clear sign of bushco's wonderful, booming economy!

NEWSFLASH!!!

Emperor Bush's approval rating has increased by the poll's margin of error!!! The corporate media parrots are all repeating this over and over again. Wow, I geuss his troubles are all over now...

I just read that David Corn is writing a book with Isikoff from Newsweek?!??! There is a bit about David on Crooks and Liars.

Our entire country, from the media to both political parties, is so tainted with greed, I wonder if there is anything anyone can do to fix it now. All parties involved just want to keep this three ring circus going around and around, leaving the American people dizzy and confused. The whole time these good for nothing scumbags get richer and richer while it becomes more and more impossible for you to send your kids to college. Democrats, Republicans and journalist's. Scumbags.

So every time Howard Dean tries to say anything he is swift boated by the Neocons, let down by the center left flippy floppy Hillary Clinton Democrats, and taken out of context by the useless news. Every time anyone tries to go in a progressive direction and attempts to enact some sort of social change outside the entrenched three ring circus, they are slapped down and dismissed by the fat wealthy clowns who run this bizarre show. I think back to events like the marathon showings of Howard Deans infamous remastered "screech" and David Corns awful piece about the Anti Bush demonstrations in D.C. this fall.

What am I saying? I geuss the Neocons would not be were they are today without the help of people like John Kerry, Joe Lieberman, Hillary Clinton, Bob Woodward, Michael Isikoff, Judy Miller, Dana Milbanks, Brian Williams, Chris Matthews, Lou Dobbs and of course, David Corn.

If you doubt me, go drive by one of these guys giant houses and see how they are reaping the benefits of the aforementioned circus. Oh no, they are not exactly slumming. They probably spend more money on hair care products each week then most of us make in six months. The circus is the PROBLEM and not the SOLUTION.

Like P.T. Barnum said: "There is a sucker born every minute." I don't know about you guys, but I feel like more of a sucker every day.

Would someone please pass me the peanuts...

Thank you Hajji! How this has stayed off the radar I will never know. I know this happened almost 40 years ago but I am as infuriated as if it had happened yesterday. They were caught red handed in an act of terrorism, yet not one Govt. official will even talk about it. What would have happened if they had succeeded, pinning the blame on Egypt? That 6 day war could have turned into a 600 or more day war, sucking our country into it and killing God only knows how many of our people. How many other false flag attacks like this have they gotten away with in order to get us to fight their enemies for them? It just makes me sick that people are so gullible whenever Arabs are the chosen bad guys, and Israel gets off the hook without so much as a slap on the wrist.

I dunno, Saladin,

I remember when CNN Reported actually reported the release of the tapes, back in '03, thinking "Why doesn't this piss people off?"

-T

Tucson Region
Superbug that eats flesh is on the loose
Potentially lethal bacteria infects hundreds in Tucson
By Carla McClain
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 12.04.2005

As if threats of pandemic superflu weren't enough, yet another new and potentially fatal "superbug" is spreading worldwide, including in Tucson.

No mere threat, this bug has infected hundreds of Tucsonans already and hospitalized dozens, some with life-threatening illness.
Appearing at first as just a pimple, maybe a small cut, the infection often is mistaken by many victims and their doctors, for a spider bite, delaying vital treatment.

Known as MRSA, methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus or "mersa" it is in fact a highly contagious bacteria that has developed strong resistance to most antibiotics, making it hard to treat and setting the stage for dangerous invasive disease.

Mersa itself is actually nothing new. This resistant form of staph bacteria has been around for decades, but was limited mostly to outbreaks in hospital and nursing-home patients.

What's alarming doctors and public-health officials now is that mersa has moved into the general public, often infecting young people who have been nowhere near a hospital.

Infection begins on the skin, triggering inflammation, boils or nasty abscesses that can take weeks of treatment to stop, including surgery and hospitalization. But if it moves to the bloodstream, mersa can cause bone infection, lung-damaging pneumonia, organ damage, even fatal toxic shock syndrome.

Several Tucson emergency rooms report treating some 500 cases of mersa this year, triple the number seen just two years ago.

"It is absolutely the new superbug, and everyone is worried about it now," said Dr. Sean Elliott, a University of Arizona pediatrician who handles mersa in young patients.
-----------
Great, this is just what we needed.

I hadn't seen that article before Hajji. It's amazing how they simply refuse to complete any kind of real investigation into events they want to keep deeply buried. The first investigation was only given one week to find out what happened, what a f**kin joke. The truth about 9/11 has proven to be equally elusive, and again Israelis were involved, but protected by our govt. What does that tiny nation have on the US? How have they managed to gain so much power here?
Below is a very detailed report about that day. I cannot imagine what those men must have experienced.

A Report:
War Crimes Committed Against U.S. Military Personnel, June 8, 1967
Submitted to the Secretary of the Army in his capacity as Executive Agent for the Secretary of Defense, June 8, 2005.

Immediately preceding the attack, an Israeli pilot recognized Liberty as a U.S. ship and radioed this information to IDF headquarters. He was instructed to attack anyway. This dialogue was intercepted at the U.S. embassy in Beirut. Former U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dwight Porter revealed the existence of this intercept in 1991.

when was the liberty attacked? a long time ago now - and not until '91 was the existence of the intercept revealed - and not until '05 have we peasants started discussing it - and still the Israelis are our best pals and must be protected and aided and even cow-towwed to at all costs - pathetic. I guess time DOES heal all wounds. I can hardly wait forty years when the truth of 911 'officially' becomes common knowledge, and the populace peasants if there are any left just shake their heads and say:: "those knuckle-head PNAC's, what were they thinking?"

Has Joe Lieberman ever served in the military or is he another chickenhawk?

James, In thinking about David's current thread, national secrets being revealed, so what? Someone show me one lousy example in which any of these secrets have made one iota of difference in the way things are run. What good is it to know secrets of "govt. gone bad" when the govt. just keeps getting worse and our brave men and women continually get the shaft, even 40 years later. This is a shameful episode in our history, one of the very worst in my opinion. The traitors deserve to be keelhulled!

Support the troops, bring them home!!!

Antiwar is pro-troops!!!

Joe Lieberman: War Hawk

Lieberman did not serve in the military; he received an educational deferment while in school, then a family deferment (as a father) upon his law school graduation in 1967.

saladin, I agree - in fact, I usually always agree with everything that you say - what makes me mad (among a lot of other things) is that the ones getting the shaft refuse to see (for whatever reasons) that they are indeed getting the shaft!

"This is a shameful episode in our history"

I am still wondering where are our proud episodes?

I think killing the natives cursed our beginnings. Just the loss of the cultural treasures and the harmony with which they lived in nature. . .

All the patriotic slogans are just hollow words when our deeds have spoken through death and war.

We can do far better.

capt

micki, too bad that jerk wasn't on the USS Liberty in 1967, he might see things a wee bit differently. What would be going through his head as he was lowering the wounded into the water in a lifeboat while being machine-gunned by people he thought were friends?

Best Secret, well it was, until Dean blabed, "we lost the war". Hey, any know a marine tuff enough to duck-tape Dean's mouth, he is giving away a national secret.

look at con rice as she sez "mind your own business" ~ she looks just like Gary Oldman, the bad guy in The Fifth Element

Capt, you talking about the 9,000,000 killed from decease, or the 200,000 by US Army? Just asking.

Condi is great, will wipe the floor with that cum-stained dress, for sure, in 08.

derrick, "decease" is usually what kills people.

Capt, we should have left the blacks in africa, so that their offspring would die from aids in africa, rather than owning a home in the USA.

Seriously, we have made many mistakes, slave importation, extermination of indians, but we have learned from these mistakes, and should be proud of that. Right Capt?

Dean: "We lost the War", I wonder if the Corn-ball will write a book entitled: "The lies of H. Dean"? No, he is probably working one entitled "The lible of an American president".

Do you support "that goddamned piece of paper?" Then you are a terrorist suspect.

From those same lovable folks who brought you the crimes and abuses of COINTELPRO comes the following brochure, printed at taxpayer expense by the FBI and intended to be issued to law enforcement, requesting that the Joint Terrorism Task Force be called in the event suspicious behavior is witnessed.
And what is "suspicious behavior"? Defending the Constitution!

Read it yourself on the back page of the brochure. Defending the Constitution is cause to label you a terrorist suspect. Even referring to it is grounds for suspicion that you are a terrorist, with all the harassment that the suspicion implies!

From: WTF, Over!

Commentary from a guy who fought in a war started by guys who refused to fight in a war!

Deep Thoughts

The price of gasoline rose to 90 soldiers per month in October


"We're spending it over there, so we don't have to spend it over here!"


America's biggest enemy is a man whose followers view him as a very religious person.


"There is no in-between. You're either with us, or you are... [the rest of the World]"


Bush and Cheney had exit plans for Vietnam.

(Soldier's Letter to the Editor, Stars&Stripes)---------------

War based on a lie
Weapons of mass destruction? I’m still looking for them, and if you find any give me a call so we can justify our presence in Iraq. We started the war based on a lie, and we’ll finish it based on a lie. I say this because I am currently serving with a logistics headquarters in the Anbar province, between the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi. I am not fooled by the constant fabrication of “democracy” and “freedom” touted by our leadership at home and overseas.

This deception is furthered by our armed forces’ belief that we can just enter ancient Mesopotamia and tell the locals about the benefits of a legislative assembly. While our European ancestors were hanging from trees, these ancient people were writing algebra and solving quadratic equations. Now we feel compelled to strong-arm them into accepting the spoils of capitalism and “laissez-faire” society. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy watching Britney Spears on MTV and driving to McDonald’s, but do you honestly believe that Sunnis, Shias and Kurds want our Western ideas of entertainment and freedom imposed on them? Think again.

I’m not being negative, I’m being realistic. The reality in Iraq is that the United States created a nightmare situation where one didn’t exist. Yes, Saddam Hussein was an evil man who lied, cheated and pillaged his own nation. But how was he different from dictators in Africa who commit massive crimes again humanity with little repercussion and sometimes support from the West? The bottom line up front (BLUF to use a military acronym) is that Saddam was different because we used him as an excuse to go to war to make Americans “feel good” about the “War on Terrorism.” The BLUF is that our ultimate goal in 2003 was the security of Israel and the lucrative oil fields in northern and southern Iraq.

Weapons of mass destruction? Call me when you find them. In the meantime, “bring ’em on” so we can get our “mission accomplished” and get out of this mess.

Capt. Jeff Pirozzi
Camp Taqaddum, Iraq

Dear Jeanne and other Cornposters:

This is an open letter for all to read. I started to become familiar with the computer in February, 2002. At first I used the computer to store information and to write letters to be sent mainly to talk show hosts and politicians.

Maybe a year latter or longer I ventured out into posting. I started posting under the old Arrianna website. At first I thought that a civil dialogue was possible with the Nazis and the fascists but I soon realized that the Nazis and the fascists had a different agenda than I had. They were purveyors of hatred, murders, torture, and wars. They were also corrupt and greedy liars. I also started to ignore their posts because I did not want to feed into their demented, depraved, and diabolical ways.

When Arianna changed her website to a new format, I found David Corn's website. Surprisingly, he has given posters leeway and latitude with their comments. I continue to avoid the trolls' comments but on rare occasions I will give a response.

I also learned that when a person posts, he or she needs tough skin. You cannot let the trolls get to you because many are paid operatives by the Nazi/fascist party or the War party that we once knew as the Republican Party. Another name is the Grand Old Party. It is too bad that they are no longer grand. Old, yes, with dry rot surfacing from all their corruption and evil ways!

I have tried to focus on some ways to promote justice and peace. Personally, I believe that unless we have love and mercy in our hearts, America is a doomed nation. What surprises me is that how much hatred Americans have for the poor and the underserved. I truly believe that God will not let America's evil ways continue to damage what He has created for all of us. We must remember that we are part of the human race as brothers and sisters in God.

St. Ambrose said, I shall pass this way but once. Any good that I can do, let me do it now for I shall not pass this way again. We are given only one chance to do it right, let us do it right and leave our world a better place.

Sincerely,

Gerald

American Soldiers

American soldiers are being killed like flies for Bush's lies. To date 2,388 American soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan and Iraq.

OF COURSE, NONE OF THEM WAS GOING TO GET SHOT AT. NONE OF THEM WOULD HAVE TO ANSWER TO THE MOTHERS AND FATHERS OF DEAD SOLDIERS AND MARINES. GENERAL SCHWARZKOPF

DON'T PATRONIZE ME WITH TALK ABOUT HUMAN LIVES. COLIN LAPDOG POWELL

It sounds like human lives are not important to Lapdog.

Wolfowitz + World Bank = War + Poverty

As Diebold goes, so goes the election!

Witnesses to Peace

We all must be active witnesses to peace. Embrace justice for all our brothers and sisters in God!

#126
That is a very scary story. How do you spell your own name wrong and then leave it?

Conservative Self-Deification

Yes, Saddam Hussein was an evil man who lied, cheated and pillaged his own nation. But how was he different from dictators in Africa who commit massive crimes again humanity with little repercussion and sometimes support from the West?

hmm, maybe Iraq is situated on the third largest deposit of salt on the planet?....no, that's not right....flour?....nope..hmm, what could it be?....I know! - licorice! ....no...no, hmmm -*scratching head*

#169
Amen Gerald.

There are many great articles to read on antiwar.com for the weekend of December 11-12, 2005.

Let's torture Cheney

Off to the 8th Floor auditorium at Dayton's= Marshall Fields=Macy's. They turn the 8th floor into a storybook village every year. I think it's Sleeping Beauty this year. And then when I'm done I'm going to buy a gingerbread cookie. I have all the fun.

We'll Miss Saddam

More information has been surfacing that Iraq will be more corrupt without Saddam Hussein. The more things change, the more they remain the same!

#67 - Without looking at any of the other answers and ony reading the first two lines, that definitely is Stevie Wonder. "You Haven't Done Nothin" Funny (or not so funny) how it is appropriate to describe today's administration!

Comply and Submit -- Or Die

Fri, 9 Dec 2005, 10:15

"From what we know," lisped Bush administration spokesliar Scott McClellan after federal air marhsals gunned down 44-year-old Rigoberto Alpizar in Miami, "the team of air marshals acted in a way that is consistent with the training they received.... It appears they followed the protocols and did what they were trained to do.... [W]e are very appreciative for all that the air marshals are doing to protect the American people."

Who's this "we," paleface?

Assuming that McClellan's assessment is correct, and the summary execution of Mr. Alpizar by the tax-fattened drones grandly styled "air marshals" was carried out according to federal "protocols," we no longer need to wonder whether terrorist sleeper cells continue to infest American commercial flights.

"Somebody came down the aisle and put a shotgun to the back of my head and said put your hands on the seat in front of you," recalled passenger John McAlhany in an interview with Time. Amid the confusion and tension that ensued when Alpizar bolted from the plane, McAlhany and the other passengers had been ordered by the flight crew to hit the deck. He was talking on his cell phone with his brother and "looking through the seats to see what was coming" and to take action if he saw an attack coming. His assailant approached him from behind and "karate-chopped" his cell phone away. "Then I reazlied it was an official," he explained. That is to say that those terrorizing the passengers worked for George W. Bush, not Osama bin Laden.

Make no mistake about it, this was a deadly terrorist incident. One man was killed, others were assaulted, and dozens were terrorized. "They [the air marshals] were pointing the guns directly at us instead of pointing them to the ground," McAlhany testifies. "One little girl was crying. There was a lady crying all the way to the hotel."

As if being terrorized at gunpoint weren't enough, the passengers were marched off the plane with their hands on their head and then repeatedly prompted by federal authorities to say that Alpizar claimed to have a bomb in his backpack. According to Daniel Adams of the Federal Air Marshal Service, prior to the shooting Alpizar had been running up and down the aisles of the plane shouting that he had a bomb in his possession a claim not verified by any of the witnesses, and disputed by several of them.

In fact, the hapless Costa Rican immigrant, who became a naturalized U.S. Citizen a few years ago, apparently suffered from a panic attack –†which would understandably trigger alarm on the part of the flight crew and security officials, but is hardly a capital offense. Just before the federales pumped several rounds into the panic-stricken American citizen, his wife who had been trying to calm him down frantically explained that her husband was "sick" and needed his medication. But before she could help Rigoberto, his life had been violently taken from him by the officials supposedly there to protect him.

Eyewitnesses described how Alpizar had been ordered by the marshals to fall flat on the ground, which he couldn't do because he was wearing a fanny pack. Some observers believed that Alpizar was attempting to adjust his fanny pack in order to comply with the demand when he was gunned down.

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

A very sad commentary indeed.

capt

I have just about every single Stevie Wonder albumn ever made, except the one that just came out - that reminds to go and get it.

The first concert I attended was a Stevie Wonder concert on Sept. 13, 1974, a Friday. He played the Nassau Coliseum in NJ. I was 14. The first s0ng was, of course, Superstiion. I'll never forget it.

The next time I saw him wss when he did his 'In Sqaure Circle' tour. I was five months pregnant with my twins at the time. They were quite active during the concert and I joked that I had the rythym section of a band inside of me. One of them did play the drums for a while, as well as the piano and the other at least listens to all sorts of music.

Stevie Wonder has consistently written about social injustice as well inspirational songs about love and peace. And many of his songes are great to dance to as well! It's a win, win, win situation.

"In their minds they had to believe this person was an imminent threat to themselves or the people on the plane." \

And that, folks, is the cost of fear...

-T

Why I Left

Many of you know that I am a recovering republican. What you may also know from reading the trolls' comments how lame and stupid these comments are. Many trolls are paid operatives prowling the websites in order to ruin souls.

What you do not know that before I could become a full fledged repugnant, I would have to undergo a lobotomy. I refused and so I was rift from the party. It was the best decision that I ever made. I did not want someone in control of my thoughts processes. I did not want to be programmed to hate, murder, and torture any of God's children.

Fear is a very dangerous thing. Just look how it has warped the little trolls that post here. Fear has turned them into hate filled pustule ready to burst with the slightest suggestion. Made them into hate personified.

They have no terrorists to fear, set deep in the red state of insanity, yet the OBL boogeymen ruins their day, everyday, so they come here to shit on David's blog.

Pathetic scared little lemmings,goose-stepping to the music of fear and the soothing voice of their master, their uber fuhrer.

We cannot kill them because they are already dead inside, just shells of what was once a thinking human reduced to their lowest common denominator - FEAR.

Boo

capt

Gerald,

So you decided to give control of you mind to the rabid left wing, and help them and al Qaeda kill our soldiers.

Way to go, Traitor.

Sleep well tonight, with the blood of American soldiers on your hands.

Fear and hatred can only rule those who need something to fear and hate.

James 174, I think it's coffee. He who owns the coffee rules the world!

WTF, Over!

This is a GREAT blog! I LOVE this guy!!

Being an American Citizen permits me to express my opinions, but since some people don't think my being an OIF vet gives me the right to the views I express on this site, I though it would be a good idea to hear from others who have shared my experiences with this damned war. Naturally, it only took me about ten minutes of digging over at Congress.org to collect a few similiar opinions. Here's a few letters to the President, all written on the same day, November 19th...

Vic Blazier, OIF Vet
axisofasses@yahoo.com

To:
President George Bush

November 19, 2005

Dear Sir:
I am a veteran who took pride in serving our country; you have taken this away from me. Going to war for no good reason and using our troops for opression and torture have taken away the pride that I had in my service. There will never be a good time to leave Iraq so it would be better to leave now and let the people of Iraq settle their problems (even if it is temporarily bloody). We have killed thousands of our men and tens of thousands of the people of Iraq. I am pleading with you to end this cruel and unjust war.

Columbus , OH
-----------
Apparently there are many letters like this from our "traitorous" troops!

Saladin

Of course, there are several sharp young people who are home from Iraq, and have figured out how to make some money by telling the little lies they know the left likes to hear. I give you Massey, who finally admitted he was making up stories to sell a book.

Because, those soldiers did their duty, they have the right to take advantage of nut bags like you.

Lines drawn in battle over Christmas

An increasingly vocal number of Christians are attacking what they say is a "war on Christmas" by those determined to enforce a rigorously neutral holiday season reflecting America's constitutional separation of church and state.

Earlier this month, the official greetings card sent out by the president and first lady stirred up controversy for omitting any reference to Christmas.

It has been 13 years since the last presidential card explicitly mentioned Christmas - in deference to other holidays at this time of year, like Hanukkah - but this didn't deter the critics.

"The Bush administration has suffered a loss of will and... they have capitulated to the worst elements in our culture," fumed William Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.

Some 80% of Americans describe themselves as Christian, and about 96% celebrate Christmas.

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

"We just wanted to encourage Christians to have the courage to say 'merry Christmas' instead of 'happy holidays', we had no idea that it would tap into a national frustration - Jennifer Giroux Campaigner"

As usual they are bass ackwards, it takes courage to respect other religions and offer civility, tolerance and respect. Only the intellectually shallow have to profess and impose themselves on others because they are not convinced of their own opinion.

96% celebrate Christmas, of course, but I know of some families that celebrate both Christmas and Hanukkah. Other countries celebrate different versions of holiday cheer. It takes respect to respect others, I guess that explains why John Gibson and O'Reilly are unable to offer respect for anything or anyone except their myths.

capt

From: The Smoking Mirrors blog

...But let's face it, anyone who wants to become a politician has got something wrong with him/her anyway-usually. There's no difference between the religious snake oil salesman and the politicians. It's the same grease and the same hair.

So when you see it's quiet, too quiet, think about it. Think about the arms twisting behind the backs of the ones who bent over for the opportunity to bend you over. No honest or decent soul holds their peace when organized crime is running the country. And make no mistake, the Bush Family is a crime family. From Jeb Bush's connections to the offshore Florida boat casinos, to Neil Bush's S&L scams to George W.'s front-boy work for the corporations and crime lords to Mac-daddy's drug business and the BCCI, you are dealing with organized crime. Try to imagine what happens when you fuck with these people.

What if you really don't care about the MONEY? Do you care about your family? Everybody can be hurt somewhere and that's why it's so quiet, too quiet.
------------
This is my answer to the question "how could so many people keep the secrets about 9/11." They do it, or else.

Arabs Unimpressed by Bush Democracy Drive

by Jim Lobe

WASHINGTON - Despite a modest decline in hostility toward the United States, opinion in the Arab world appears to have hardened over the past year, according to the latest in an annual series of surveys of six Arab countries released here Wednesday by the Arab American Institute (AAI).

That hardening appears due primarily to continued Arab opposition to the war in Iraq and to perceptions of U.S. treatment of Arabs and Muslims –†the two most important factors in shaping Arab views of the U.S., according to the survey, which was carried out by the Zogby International polling firm in the latter half of October.

By contrast, President George W. Bush's efforts to persuade the Arab world that Washington promotes democratic reform in their countries has made hardly a dent in the views of the vast majority of Arabs, with the exception of Christians in Lebanon, according to the poll's designer, AAI president, James Zogby.

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

The fact that we have the best of intentions we will never be able to push the Bush policy or doctrine except at the end of a gun. We cannot kill every person that does not agree with Dummypants, we would have to kill about 50% of all Americans. More in the Arab countries. The failed and flawed policy and illegal and unwise invasion have only served as recruiting tools for the most radical anti-American forces in history.

A miserable failure wants to stay this course. He does not care how many die to try to prove him right. He has never made a mistake so . . .

capt

Capt, what I don't understand is this brain dead insistance on calling Christmas a "Christian" holiday. The only thing Christian about it is the word "Christ" at the front. There is no record anywhere in the bible of Jesus, or any other Christian, celebrating any birthdays. The only birthdays that are even mentioned ended in something horrible, like John the Baptist getting his head chopped off! In fact, the only day Jesus said to commemorate was the day of his death. They are making a mountain out of a mole hill. Educated people know that the traditions of Christmas are purely pagan in nature, so why can't they just leave it at that? If you want to think of it as Christian, fine, if not, even better. Don't these idiots have anything better to bitch about??

capt,

Your idea of inclusion, is to exclude what you do not agree with.

Celebrating, "Christmas", has only been an American tradition since the founding of the country.

Everyone that comes here legally or illegally knows and knew that before they came. I doubt seriously they said,
"I was going to sneak into America, but not if they keep saying Merry Christmas to everyone". "That Merry Christmas crud offends me". "Of course, I want to keep my heritage and traditions, But if I decide to sneak into their country, they better give up their customs, so I won't feel offended".

Great headlines from WRH

FLASHBACK: U.S. Confident Saddam Had Mobile WMD Lab
Posted Dec 10, 2005 11:09 AM PST
Category: COVER-UP/DECEPTIONS

... until they were exposed as ballon inflators Iraq had purchased from Great Britain.

FLAQSHBACK: Weapons-Grade Plutonium Possibly Found at Iraqi Nuke Complex
Posted Dec 10, 2005 11:08 AM PST
Category: COVER-UP/DECEPTIONS

"Possibly", but "wasn't."

FLASHBACK: 'Huge' Suspected Chemical Weapons Plant Found in Iraq
Posted Dec 10, 2005 11:07 AM PST
Category: COVER-UP/DECEPTIONS

This turned out to be agricultural pesticides.

FLASHBACK: "Sarin, Mustard Gas Discovered Separately in Iraq
Posted Dec 10, 2005 11:06 AM PST
Category: COVER-UP/DECEPTIONS

This story was never confirmed.

FLASHBACK: Tests Confirm Sarin in Iraqi Artillery Shell Tests Confirm Sarin in Iraqi Artillery Shell
Posted Dec 10, 2005 11:05 AM PST
Category: IRAQ

What they didn't mention is that it was left over from the Iran-Iraq war and too old to use any more.

Sarin, Mustard Gas Discovered Separately in Iraq
Posted Dec 10, 2005 11:04 AM PST
Category: IRAQ

Another claim that turned out to be untrue.

Iran 'Determined' to Produce Nuclear Weapons
Posted Dec 10, 2005 11:02 AM PST
Category: IRAN

Considering your past record, FOX, I seriously doubt it.
-----------
They really need to hire some new script writers! These lies are all worn out.

Way to go, Traitor.

once again, here is the los angeles fbi where you can report traitorous action

Christmas Dissolved - American Puritanism

Early in the 17th century some Puritan groups separated from the Church of England. Among these were the Pilgrims, [1] who in 1620 founded Plymouth Colony. Christopher Jones, the master of the Mayflower, wrote in the ship’≥ log:

"At anchor in Plymouth harbor; Christmas Day, but not observed by these colonists, they being opposed to all saints’†days…ÆA large party went ashore this morning to fell timber and begin building. They began to erect the first house about twenty feet square for their common use, to receive them and their goods…ÆNo man rested all that day."

In Puritan New England, Christmas remains a working day, the violation of which was punishable by fine or dismissal. In 1659, the Massachusetts Puritans declared the observation of Christmas to be a criminal offense by passed the Five-Shilling Anti-Christmas Law:

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

Main Entry: myth
Pronunciation: 'mith
Function: noun
Etymology: Greek mythos
1 a : a usually traditional story of ostensibly historical events that serves to unfold part of the world view of a people or explain a practice, belief, or natural phenomenon b : PARABLE, ALLEGORY
2 a : a popular belief or tradition that has grown up around something or someone; especially : one embodying the ideals and institutions of a society or segment of society b : an unfounded or false notion
3 : a person or thing having only an imaginary or unverifiable existence
4 : the whole body of myths

*****

You mindless drones need to get an education. A mind is a terrible thing to waste.

capt

James, don't talk about the Constitution in a supportive way, because then they WILL come knocking on your door!

Capt, HA!

Next you will be saying that Jesus' birthday involved a decorated tree?

Please - do yourself a favor just test your most steadfast beliefs, get grounded in reality, you will be better for it.

"It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt." ~ Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)

capt

The best Christmas we celebrated was a few years back when we exchanged our presents on Thanksgiving Day brcause our one son would not be home for Christmas.

Christmas that year was truly a holyday in celebration of Christ's birth.

Astrologers believe that Jesus was born in late March or early April. I am not going to become discombobulated when we celebrate Christmas. I believe that Jesus was born and died to save our souls. Now, I must prepare myself to meet the Final Judge.

We need another investigation

Christians have been conditioned to accept that Christmas and Easter are essentially part of the Christian tradition. The facts are that neither are at all Christian and both have their roots in the mystery cults, The Saturnalia, the worship of the Mother goddess system and the worship of the Sun god. They are directly contradictory to the laws of God and His system.

In the Western world, the birthday of Jesus Christ has been celebrated on December 25th since AD 354, replacing an earlier date of January 6th. The Christians had by then appropriated many pagan festivals and traditions of the season, that were practiced in many parts of the Middle East and Europe, as a means of stamping them out.

In Rome, the Winter Solstice was celebrated many years before the birth of Christ. The Romans called their winter holiday Saturnalia, honoring Saturn, the God of Agriculture. In January, they observed the Kalends of January, which represented the triumph of life over death. This whole season was called Dies Natalis Invicti Solis, the Birthday of the Unconquered Sun. The festival season was marked by much merrymaking. It is in ancient Rome that the tradition of the Mummers was born. The Mummers were groups of costumed singers and dancers who traveled from house to house entertaining their neighbors. From this, the Christmas tradition of caroling was born.

By 1860 many of the elements of our modern "traditional" Christmas were easily discernible. Although some customs found during the antebellum era have long since vanished, many more may be recognized instantly. Some, such as the use of a christmas tree, were in their nascent stages, while others, like the concepts of gift-bringers, were in mid-passage. No matter what stage of development, the modern reveler transported to antebellum America would be able to look upon familiar scenes. For, as one source contends, Santa Claus and ornamented trees were becoming more common "to the whole country."1

Search for the roots of today's Christmas traditions and you will find your way back to the ancient Celtic festival of Alban Arthuan, held during the Winter Solstice on December 21.

Bush's thinking will live forever in his party

The repugnants will forever be indebted to Bush.

Bush's thinking will live forever in his party

The repugnants will forever be indebted to Bush.

The winter solstice was being celebrated long before the birth of Jesus or Luke.

The poppycock about December 25 having anything to do with Jesus or Luke is only anecdotal and the date set a contrivance.

So stop with the "stealing baby Jesus' birthday" and the BS holy rememberance of the birth of Christ.

So Happy Holidays to the Kkkristo-fascist slugs, lemmings and trolls.

capt

If you truly believe in honoring the birth of the man Jesus, by far the best way to do so is by taking his words to heart and emulating him in the best way you are able. "Prayer, without works, is dead."

#207,

Amen to that!

"Pray as if everything depended upon God and work as if everything depended upon man." ~ Francis Cardinal Spellman (1889 - 1967)

capt

I am with capt on this one.
As a progressive liberal, I can not se why the "Right" always has to make judgments on people's behavior.

This is good, that is bad, don't smoke pot, don't drink alcohol, don't have sex with young people, don't be a leach on working people, get a job and all the other hoop-la those boring people come up with.

Why can't they just leave us alone to eat our free food stamp chow, spend our welfare cash on booze and drugs, and go screw some young pussy.

They should have to change for us, not us change for them. As a matter of fact, the "Right", shouldn't get to have anything they want.

Just like capt, I feel the Constitution gives those of us on the "Left", the right to dump all over the, "Right", and if they disagree, they are racists.

I think capt would agree, the only real difference between him and me is, I like pussy and capt likes little boys. Other than that, we are identical.

Former Sen. Eugene McCarthy, who challenged LBJ, dies at 89

FREDERIC J. FROMMER

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Former Minnesota Sen. Eugene J. McCarthy, whose insurgent campaign toppled a sitting president in 1968 and forced the Democratic Party to take seriously his message against the Vietnam War, died Saturday. He was 89.

McCarthy died in his sleep at assisted living home in the Georgetown neighborhood where he had lived for the past few years, said his son, Michael.

Eugene McCarthy challenged President Lyndon B. Johnson for the 1968 Democratic nomination during growing debate over the Vietnam War. The challenge led to Johnson's withdrawal from the race.

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

RIP Gene.

capt

Someones homophobia is showing!

Hate looks bad no matter who wears it.

capt

Here are two largely overlooked facts about the star on the tree and the giving of gifts. The star that the "wise men", who were actually astrologers, was following, appeared to lead them to the location of Jesus. They had met with Herod who asked them to send back word when they located him. Herod's intention was to murder Jesus in order to prevent him from ascending the throne. Herod believed that the kingdom of Jesus was to be a literal kingdom to rule over his empire on earth. Because he was not well versed in the old prophecies, he did not know that the kingdom was not to be of this earth. The astrologers agreed to send back the information as Herod tricked them into believing that he too wished to give honor to this new king. They decided against this when they received a vision warning them to move on without sending word of his location, so the story goes. So in truth, that star represented the tool used to first find and then murder the child Jesus. Funny, huh?
When they finally found Jesus, it took several years, they did bring gifts, but it was well past his birth. The census that was conducted forced Joseph and Mary to travel a long distance to the town of their birth, which was required to register for this census. This played a part in the long time it took for the astrologers to catch up with them.

Republicans sinking in sleaze

By Tim Reid

A decade ago the Democrats were thought to be shady. Now it is the turn of Mr Bush's party

A DECADE ago Newt Gingrich’≥ Republican revolutionaries seized control of Congress after 40 years of Democrat rule by promising to end the culture of graft and corruption on Capitol Hill.

Today, after a string of indictments, scandals and a criminal investigation that threatens to implicate dozens of politicians next year, the tables have turned full circle. It is now President Bush’≥ Republicans who are seen as the party of sleaze.

Polls suggest that two thirds of Americans believe that corruption is a serious political problem. That, allied with the growing unpopularity of the war in Iraq, is raising fears in the White House of a voter backlash in next year’≥ mid-term congressional elections.

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

Always interesting to hear what they think on the other side of the pond.

capt

GOP Faction Wants to Change 'Birthright Citizenship' Policy

By Warren Vieth
Times Staff Writer

December 10, 2005

WASHINGTON — For nearly 140 years, any child born on U.S. soil, even to an illegal immigrant, has been given American citizenship. Now, some conservatives in Congress are determined to change that.

A group of 92 lawmakers in the House will attempt next week to force a vote on legislation that would revoke the principle of "birthright citizenship," part of a broader effort to discourage illegal immigration.

The push to change the citizenship policy is backed by some conservative activists and academics. But it could cause problems for the White House and the Republican Party, which have been courting Latino voters. GOP officials fear the effort to eliminate birthright citizenship will alienate a key constituency, even if the legislation ultimately is rejected by Congress or the courts.

The principle at issue rests on the first sentence of the 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868 to guarantee the rights of emancipated slaves: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside."

Some lawmakers advocating tougher immigration laws contend that the amendment has been misinterpreted for decades. Conservatives maintain that although illegal immigrants are subject to criminal prosecution and are expected to abide by U.S. laws and regulations, they are not "subject to the jurisdiction" of the United States in the full sense intended by the amendment's authors — and their children therefore fall outside the scope of its protection.

Those who want to change the interpretation acknowledge that illegal immigration is largely driven by the hunger for jobs at U.S. wages. But they also say that for some immigrants, automatic citizenship provides another compelling incentive to cross the border. They note that the United States is one of few major industrialized nations that grant birthright citizenship with no qualifications.

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

A personal side to this issue, if the jerk-a-lopes had their way, my better half would not be a citizen.

capt

If we emphasize the life and works of our greatest contributors . . . people will come to realize that moral courage is bravery of the highest type, and America will be called the "Champion of Peace." : Senator Spark Matsunaga

=
Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And when you look into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you: Friedrich Nietzche

===

Thanks ICH newsletter!

Just read what one of the guys who actually KNOWS what is going on over there, instead of just blabbing your traitorous mouth all the time.

Posted by: Joseph at December 10, 2005 12:27 AM

Joseph:

You refer to a letter from a GI. Ok, fair enough. Want to, or care to read about life in Iraq from the mouth of an Iraqi. The GI got to come home. Riverbend gets to stay.

You might learn something.

http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/

Comedian Richard Pryor dies at 65

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Richard Pryor, the caustic yet perceptive actor-comedian who lived dangerously close to the edge both on stage and off, has died, his ex-wife said Saturday. He was 65.

Pryor died of a heart attack at his home in the San Fernando Valley sometime late Friday or early Saturday, Flyn Pryor said. He had been ill for years with multiple sclerosis, a degenerative disease of the nervous system.

The comedian was regarded early in his career as one of the most foul-mouthed comics in the business, but he gained a wide following for his expletive-filled but universal and frequently personal insights into modern life and race relations.

His audacious style influenced an array of stand-up artists, including Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall and Damon Wayans, as well as Robin Williams, David Letterman and others.

A series of hit comedies in the '70s and '80s, as well as filmed versions of his concert performances, helped make him Pryor one of the highest paid stars in Hollywood. He was one of the first black performers to have enough leverage to cut his own Hollywood deals. In 1983, he signed a $40 million, five-year contract with Columbia Pictures.

His films included "Stir Crazy," "Silver Streak," "Which Way Is Up?" and "Richard Pryor Live on the Sunset Strip."

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

RIP Richard, there will always be laughs for his humor. His health was failing his suffering over. Now making them laugh on the other side.

capt

Comedian Richard Pryor dies at 65

Family Upset Over Marine's Body Arriving As Freight
Marine Bodies Sent To Families On Commercial Airliners

POSTED: 4:46 pm PST December 9, 2005
UPDATED: 6:20 pm PST December 9, 2005

SAN DIEGO -- There's controversy over how the military is transporting the bodies of service members killed overseas, 10News reported.

A local family said fallen soldiers and Marines deserve better and that one would think our war heroes are being transported with dignity, care and respect. It said one would think upon arrival in their hometowns they are greeted with honor. But unfortunately, the family said that is just not the case.

Dead heroes are supposed to come home with their coffins draped with the American flag -- greeted by a color guard.

But in reality, many are arriving as freight on commercial airliners -- stuffed in the belly of a plane with suitcases and other cargo.

John Holley and his wife, Stacey, were stunned when they found out the body of their only child, Matthew, who died in Iraq last month, would be arriving at Lindbergh Field as freight.

"When someone dies in combat, they need to give them due respect they deserve for (the) sacrifice they made," said John Holley.

John and Stacey Holley, who were both in the Army, made some calls, and with the help of U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, Matthew was greeted with honor and respect.

"Our familiarity with military protocol and things of that sort allowed us to kind of put our foot down -- we're not sure other parents have that same knowledge," said Stacey Holley.

The Holleys now want to make sure every fallen hero gets the proper welcome.

The bodies of dead service members arrive at Dover Air Force Base.

From that point, they are sent to their families on commercial airliners.

Reporters from 10News called the Defense Department for an explanation. A representative said she did not know why this is happening.

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

This is how we treat our fallen heroes? They are not cargo.

capt

Family Upset Over Marine's Body Arriving As Freight

Marine Bodies Sent To Families On Commercial Airliners

SAN DIEGO -- There's controversy over how the military is transporting the bodies of service members killed overseas, 10News reported.

A local family said fallen soldiers and Marines deserve better and that one would think our war heroes are being transported with dignity, care and respect. It said one would think upon arrival in their hometowns they are greeted with honor. But unfortunately, the family said that is just not the case.

Dead heroes are supposed to come home with their coffins draped with the American flag -- greeted by a color guard.

But in reality, many are arriving as freight on commercial airliners -- stuffed in the belly of a plane with suitcases and other cargo.

John Holley and his wife, Stacey, were stunned when they found out the body of their only child, Matthew, who died in Iraq last month, would be arriving at Lindbergh Field as freight.

"When someone dies in combat, they need to give them due respect they deserve for (the) sacrifice they made," said John Holley.

John and Stacey Holley, who were both in the Army, made some calls, and with the help of U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, Matthew was greeted with honor and respect.

"Our familiarity with military protocol and things of that sort allowed us to kind of put our foot down -- we're not sure other parents have that same knowledge," said Stacey Holley.

The Holleys now want to make sure every fallen hero gets the proper welcome.

The bodies of dead service members arrive at Dover Air Force Base.

From that point, they are sent to their families on commercial airliners.

Reporters from 10News called the Defense Department for an explanation. A representative said she did not know why this is happening.

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

This is how we treat our fallen heroes? They are not cargo.

(Corrected title)

capt

Daniel

That Riverbend does , get to stay, in a country with the rights and freedom to speak and not get hung. Maybe you and Riverbend forgot that little thing didn't exist before American soldiers went there. I think women will be voting too, or am I wrong on that?

Actor/Comedian Richard Pryor

Richard Pryor has died today at age 65. Here is an interview with Richard Pryor on Fresh Air.

From Creating Realities to Refusing Questions

White House Liars on the Defensive

By GARY LEUPP

In those heady months building up to the War-Based-on-Lies, New York Times columnist Ron Suskind made some remarks about then-White House Communications Director Karen Hughes. These bothered the administration. So a senior official (Karl Rove?) took Suskind to task, and as Suskind recounted later in an October 17, 2004 NYT piece, mocked him for being "in what we call the reality-based community."

These are people, the official elaborated, who "believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality." The bullying Bush insider warned against such belief, dismissing it as naïve: "That's not the way the world really works anymore," he declared. "We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality, we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors ... and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do."

capt
This is how we treat our fallen heroes? They are not cargo.

Like your, al Qaeda supporting, anti-American military, ass gives a shit.

flan,

Great job! It was Stevie Wonder and he was singing about Nixon. If we ever play music trivia pursuit I wanna be on your team!

the constitution? it's just a goddamn piece of paper

Ex-Iraq envoy questions war's worth

From correspondents in London
11dec05

BRITAIN'S former envoy to Iraq has conceded that the war may not have been worthwhile, in a BBC radio interview to be broadcast tonight.

Sir Jeremy Greenstock said it was too early to judge whether the war in Iraq was worth the lawlessness and violence that has followed the toppling of president Saddam Hussein.
He also attacked the string of failures in preparing for the March 2003 US-led invasion.

Greenstock served as Britain's ambassador to the United Nations before and during the war and its special representative for Iraq from 2003-04. He played a key role in the negotiations over the UN resolutions before the war.

He said the coalition's greatest error was to let a security vacuum develop. Violence would continue for many years and too few resources were made available to control the security situation when the war started, he added.

"There were also warnings that that wouldn't happen and those warnings were, to some extent, ignored."

He said Britain wanted the weapons inspectors in Iraq before the war to have been given another six months, but got caught up in the US momentum.

Greenstock blames the United States for the errors, saying Washington was in control of policy.

Saddam could face the death penalty if he is convicted of mass murder, which would provoke a "very strong reaction" from insurgents, Greenstock said.

Change of pace,

If you've never visited FARK give it a spin. Folks contribute with news articles from all over the world and a comment board is set up for each article. Some of the items are serious, some are just plain hilarious. Just a refreshing break from "all politics, all the time."

FARK

I think the guy who run the site is from Lexington, KY

Fixing the rules of the game

The New York Times

MONDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2005


The rules of American democracy say every president may install his own team of like-minded people in the government - even at a place like the Justice Department, which is at its root a law-enforcement agency and not a campaign branch office. But the Bush administration seems to be losing sight of the fact that the rules also say the majority party of the moment may not use its powers to strip citizens of their rights, politicize the judicial system or rig the election process to keep itself in office.

There are sections of the Justice Department that are supposed to be dedicated to enforcing the laws that protect the rights of all Americans, not just Republican officeholders and the people who give them money. The Civil Rights Division, for example, has enforced anti-discrimination laws, including the sacred Voting Rights Act, since the 1960s, under more Republican presidents than Democratic presidents.

But The Washington Post's Dan Eggen reported last week that the Justice Department has been suppressing for nearly two years a 73-page memo in which six lawyers and two analysts in the voting rights section, including the group's chief lawyer, unanimously concluded that the Texas redistricting plan of 2003 illegally diluted the votes of blacks and Hispanics in order to ensure a Republican majority in the state's congressional delegation. That plan was shoved through the Texas state Legislature by Representative Tom DeLay, who abused his federal position in doing so and is now facing criminal charges over how money was raised to support the redistricting.

The Washington Post said the lawyers charged with analyzing voting rights violations were overruled by political appointees, and ordered not to discuss the case. The Justice Department then approved the Texas plan, which had been under review because the voting law requires states with a history of discriminatory election practices to get electoral map changes approved in advance.

This outrageous case is only one way in which the Justice Department under John Ashcroft and now Alberto Gonzales has abused its law-enforcement mandate in the service of the Republican majority. Last month, the Post reported that political appointees also overruled voting rights lawyers who rejected a Georgia law requiring that voters without a picture ID buy one for $20 - at offices that were set up in only 59 of the state's 159 counties. The Justice Department falsely claimed that the decision to approve the law - which was little more than a modern-day version of a poll tax aimed at reducing turnout among poor minorities - was made with the concurrence of the career lawyers. A federal court later struck down the law, properly.

This was well after the appointment of Gonzales, who promised to make civil rights enforcement one of his priorities when he moved to Justice from the White House.


President George W. Bush's attorneys general have systematically gutted the civil rights division, driving out the career lawyers and shifting the division's focus from civil rights enforcement to deportations, other immigration matters and human smuggling. The Post said that the administration has filed only three lawsuits regarding discrimination in voting. All came this year, and the first accused a majority-black district in Mississippi of discriminating against white voters.

The administration's abuse of its narrow electoral majority extends to other areas. DeLay's requirement that lobbying firms contribute only to Republicans and hire his loyalists comes to mind.

Bush and his team don't understand that they merely hold the current majority in a system designed to bring periodic changes in the governing party and to protect the rights and values of the minority party. The idea that the winners should trash the system to make sure the democratic process ended with them was discredited back around the time of the Bolsheviks.

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

No laws and no rules apply, not to the neocons.

capt

PS - as it is this misadministration that is shipping our fallen heroes around like cargo it is them and their pathetic blind supporters that do not give a rats ass about the dead service men and women. If they cared, it would show.

US government retreats on Padilla case

By Deborah Charles

12/10/05 -- -- WASHINGTON, Dec 9 (Reuters) - The U.S. government, in an unusual retreat, urged a federal appeals court on Friday to set aside its ruling that allowed the United States to hold an American citizen as an enemy combatant without being charged.

In a filing to the U.S. Appeals Court in Richmond, Virginia, Justice Department lawyers said that since Jose Padilla -- who was held by the U.S. military for more than three years as an enemy combatant -- has been indicted by a civilian court in Florida, the case regarding his military custody was moot.

As a result, the government said the court should go ahead and set aside its Sept. 9 ruling that allowed Padilla to be held by the military without charge.

That ruling had been seen as a significant victory and a legal precedent for the administration in its war on terrorism and its controversial policy of holding enemy combatants in prison for long periods without charges.

In the filing on Friday, the Justice Department lawyers also urged the court to approve the request to transfer Padilla to civilian custody so he can face trial in Florida. They said Padilla once lived in Florida and became involved with the other people named in his indictment there.

The appeals court had delayed Padilla's transfer to civilian custody until the government explained why it used different facts to justify Padilla's military detention from those included in last month's indictment that charged Padilla with conspiracy to murder and aiding terrorists abroad.

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

No laws and no rules apply, not to the neocons. But alas I repeat myself.

capt

Articles & eye-witness accounts from inside Iraq

From The Brussels Tribunal

...All Yosfiya men do not sleep in their houses, no matter if they were young, old, armed, or have nothing to do with the resistance; because the police arrest any men around. Women are left alone to face the situation. In Hilal's house, deeper inside the farms we met Karima, a brave farmer, Hilal's wife and a mother of many children. Nothing was left in her small house, everything was burnt out, even the flour, the sugar and the rice were destroyed.

-I tried to save something, but I could not, they would not let me. They came in four helicopters and surrounded the whole area. They put the gun on my head and asked where the mojahideen are. They destroyed everything, even my medicines. They said you help the mojahideen with those medicines, and destroyed them. Troops from the police Scorpion brigade were hit in the area the day before, and they believed that we knew about the mojahideen.

-I want the government to hear my question and answer me: why were we treated like this? The police brigades broke even the electricity converters, we do not have power for 40 days, of course water pumps do not operate and the plants are all dead. Our animals were killed, our women humiliated. They ask the women where did you hide the men, they grabbed the children from their hair and throw them to the ground. Riyadh's mother was crying and begging them to leave her son; they hit her with the gun's end, they smashed his head with a brick in front of her eyes, now she is dying. When his body was found it was skinned. Abbass was so old that he could not even walk, how he would be a terrorist!! He was beaten to death on the spot and his body was thrown in the drainage. When they searched the houses they did not find any indication that any of them had any thing to do with terrorism or weapons, so why? The government is working on turning every body against it. It is encouraging ordinary people to resist by treating them so savagely. They have no mercy. We have nothing left now, nothing.

The UN, the international HR organizations, WHO, Doctors sans frontiers…and all who it may concern are called upon to do something to help these, and other Iraqi doctors, and to prevent similar treatment in the future. Dr.Walid and Dr. Jamil believe that they may face the arrest and beating in the future. They demand that the American troops stop occupying the hospital and destroying it every time they attack Haditha. They also believe that the Iraqi authorities are incapable of protecting them.
----------------
Is this what our troops are teaching them to do? The idiot bushbots need to get their asses over there, boots on the ground, and stop listening to those liars on the Fox hogwash channel, and live the life. This is a fucking disgrace. Those people are WAY worse off than they were 5 years ago, their stories testify to that. This Tribunal is filled with horror and destruction. So put your money where your smart-ass mouths are, and if it's so great, go help out! But read the stories of the people there right now, you disgusting cowards, or, are you too busy waving your flag and whining about the evil liberals taking Jesus out of Christmas?

"read the stories of the people there right now, you disgusting cowards, or, are you too busy waving your flag and whining about the evil liberals taking Jesus out of Christmas?"

That is why I am proud to just know you!

Tell it like it is sister!

XOXOXO

capt

Here is another heart-warming story of democracy on the march in Iraq.

Iraqi Doctors Beaten and Arrested in Haditha Hospital

Sabah Ali (30/10/2005)

Dr. Walid Al-Obeidi, the director of Haditha General Hospital and Dr. Jamil Abdul Jabbar, the only surgeon in the Haditha area were arrested for a week, very badly beaten and threatened to face the same treatment in the future by the American troops.

Dr.Walid said they arrested me in my house in front of my family, covered my eyes, and tied my hands to the back on Oct 5 2005 morning, during the last attack on Haditha (360 kilometers west of Baghdad). They occupied the hospital for 8 days and made it their office. The first day they beat me on my eyes, nose, back, hands, legs... My face was covered with blood .When they removed the tie I could not see. They investigated me until the afternoon. I realized later that I was arrested in the hospital store. Then they tied my hands to the front, and left me for two days. I was moved then to the pharmacy department. They accused me of treating terrorists, and asked for their names.

I told them that I treat patients regardless of their identity, according to my oath as a doctor; even if they were national guards (which we actually I did) or American soldiers. And any way, if I do not want to treat the insurgents, I have no choice, because they were armed and masked. I would do anything they tell to do. Few days later, one of the soldiers came in the room, did not say anything, kicked me again on my face and left.

Dr. Jamil, a surgeon for 20 years, was arrested and very badly beaten. When we met him, 22 days later, his face was still blue. His nose was broken, and a big opening in his head: they beat me on my eyes and nose, kicked me with boots under my chin. One of them threatened me if I do not talk after he counts to three, he would shoot me. He began counting, after three he turned the gun upside down and hit me on the back of my head. For days I could not move or see. They threatened us of abusing our families. For some reason they took my picture while I was bleeding, I could hear the camera click.

Both doctors were threatened if they do not talk, they would receive the same treatment in the future. They were warned of passing any information of the arrest to the media. They were asked who wrote the hostile slogans against the American on the opposite wall of the hospital? What are the names of the insurgents they treated? and what are the bodies pictures in the hospital computer?

Dr.Walid said he does not know who wrote on the wall outside the hospital, what the names of the insurgents are, because they were masked. He explained that the dead bodies pictures were of unknown people whose bodies were found after the fighting. “óe can not keep these bodies forever; we do not have enough cold boxes. So, after two months, we take their pictures and bury them, so that whenever some one from their families comes to ask we show the pictures of the dead bodies.
--------------
How can we ever, ever atone for this?

Hey bushbots, how about this wonderful story of American heros to share with your children on Christmas day? I'm sure they will feel as proud of our country as you do.

Arriving in Alqaim general hospital on Oct 25 afternoon, after being lost on a desert detour for more than 2 hours, and coming from the nearest refugee camp where we listened to different stories of the last attack on Oct 1,2005, we were well prepared to listen to the crowed at the emergency room. A big black banner says that the ambulance driver, Mahmood Chiad, was shot on Oct 1,2005 by the American troops while he was trying to help some injured families.

A young man, H.Khalaf, was lying on a trolley, soaked in blood. He was shot in his genitals by an American sniper while he was going home from the market just across the street. The shot injured his right thigh, his testes, and went out through his left thigh.

There was nothing, no shooting, no bombing, nothing, a neighbor who brought Khalaf to the hospital said. We heard the shot, and he was lying there bleeding. We could not reach him. He crawled to the side street for few minutes. The doctor does not know yet how bad the injury is. The bleeding was still running.

In the ward another young man, Salah Hamid, was shot under the belt too. He was driving his taxi at 10 am on Monday Oct17, 2005 in the market place when he was shot by the American snipers. Salah was so angry that he cried and used obscene words (unacceptable in those areas). His car was completely ruined. The doctor explained that a large part of his intestine had to be cut.

In the doctors hall, the windows, the curtains, the walls were covered with bullet shots.

The hospital's assistant director described how bad and difficult the situation is, the continuous bombing of houses and cars, the snipers who shoot indiscriminately any moving thing (two days ago they killed 6 donkeys), the besieged city, the closed highway, do not understand why they cut the high way and let families go through the desert, they are searching everything and everybody! Now, on top of everything else, the oxegen tubes are not allowed in the hospital.
----------
This is just a couple of the many stories available on the Tribunal website. Too awful to read? It needs to be read. If we don't feel rage and shame over this there is something truly wrong with us. So come on trolls, what are you waiting for? Make your country proud. Everything's just peachy keen in Iraq! What have you got to lose? Except maybe a testicle or two!

Then at least that would prevent you from reproducing!

TERRORISM: TORTURE IS AN INSTRUMENT OF TERROR, SAYS ANNAN

New York, 9 Dec. (AKI) - Torture can never be an instrument to fight terror because it is an instrument of terror, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said, in his annual Human Rights Day message. He decried the recent trend of countries claiming exceptions to the international prohibition against the practice and called for all states to honour the legally established ban on torture and to vigorously combat the impunity of those who perpetrate it.

He also urged all countries that have not yet done so to ratify the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

The message also urges all states to give "independent access to detainees within their control," to the UN expert on torture.

Last month, five independent United Nations human rights experts, including the Special Rapporteur on torture, rejected a United States invitation to visit its detention base in Guantanamo, Cuba, because Washington did not accept standard terms for a "credible, objective and fair assessment," including their ability to conduct private interviews with detainees.

The Secretary-General, in his message on Human Rights Day, observed annually on 10 December, says unlimited access is an essential protection for individuals in detention because their isolation makes them especially vulnerable to abuse. "Together, we must give voice, and redress, to abused detainees as well as to all victims and survivors of torture," he says.

Acknowledging that the threat of terror is "real and immediate," he nevertheless points out that fear of terrorists can never justify adopting their methods. "Let us be clear: torture can never be an instrument to fight terror, for torture is an instrument of terror," he declares.

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

We cannot become what we are fighting against, that is not a winning plan. That would mean our enemies have bested us and we have failed in our endeavor to serve as an example of what is right and good.

capt

One more statement, just to show how freedom, American style, is so much better than it was under Saddam.

The administrative assistant explained the situation in the bombed areas across the river (Euphrates) after the bridges were bombed in the attack, there are many villages: Rumana, Al-Beidha, Al-Ish, Dgheima, Baghooz, Al-rabot…Æetc where families sought shelter from the bombing. These villages are cut of any kind of help now, and are exposed to regular bombing. There is no doctor or clinic in an area of 110 kilometers along the river. The injured families have to be brought by boats, bleed to death, or die under the rubbles. It is impossible to count the dead, their families bury them on the spot, without any document, and of course no media coverage. Civilians, relatives and neighbors help evacuating those buried under the rubbles. Snipers are still hurting us most. On the Referendum day Oct 15, no one would dare to go out; I would not, even if I was given the post of a president.
-----------
Please read these stories. These poor people deserve nothing less. I have to stop for now, I'm feeling sick.

Can you believe it our fallen soldiers, our heroes are coming home like freight. All we are for Bush and his cabal is cannon fodder. Bush and his cabal are a disgrace for all of the human race. Are they even human or low life slugs?

Joseph:

Clearly, you have never traveled to, or lived in another country. I have lived in countries where the ruling elite consisted of brutal military juntas. There's a trick to living day to day in such places. Your life carries on pretty much normally if you stay out of politics. People know this and they carry on to live long.

What, the right to vote now becomes suddenly the all encompassing be all and end all of life. Hold up the purple finger and all sufferings cease. People like Al Jaafari, Allawi and that hot dog Chalabi are the choices they have? Or how about some old time Khomeini wannabes?

Use your head and think Joseph. This young, well educucated women had independence, a positive outlook, love of family and hope for a future. And, yes in an Iraq where women truly represented 50% of the edeucated class and held 50% of decent jobs. In other words, short of keeping her political views in check, she had a future.

read her posts. she she started writing in late 2003. She has lost everything she ever had. She had 16-20 close family members who are now, no doubt now at the brink of becoming what? Insurgents? People like you and PeeWee in the white House made her and countless others like her into what?

What a waste of a good and decent life Joseph!

You obviously place your trust in the jarhead robo-rambo you so elequently referred to. Is his post represenattive of life on the ground for the people who continue to live there?

Imagine for a second, Yeah...I can now vote...but I now have, by fatwa,to wear a shador. I have to have two male relatives escort me anywhere. My career as a programmer is no longer available to women....

You get the drift. Call that speading freedom?

Peace

Archbishop Oscar Romero

At one a.m. on November 16, 1989, 26 soldiers, 19 of them trained at the U.S. Army School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Georgia, stormed a Jesuit community in San Salvador, El Salvador. They killed six Jesuits and destroyed the house, word processors, Bibles, and filing cabinets. They also killed the cook and her daughter.

The deaths stunned the world. These good people were advocating the end of the brutal war within El Salvador and the daily $1.3 million in U.S. military aid that has funded the war. These people were killed because they were speaking out on behalf of the poor and oppressed. They had encouraged negotiations between the government and the rebel forces as well as the U.S. embassy. They had preached the gospel and comforted the poor and they paid the price.

Archbishop Romero was a champion for the poor, oppressed, and justice. Archbishop Romero was assassinated in 1980 and the people who loved him picked up his works of solidarity, peacemaking, and truth-telling. Since 1980 countless thousands of people in El Salvador have joined Oscar Romero in martyrdom. Romero's life gave strength to the Jesuits. Since 1980, despite their most brutal efforts, the government and soldiers had one great problem: Romero, like Christ, refused to stay dead.

What the Salvadoran and U.S. government death squads did not know was that bullets cannot kill the spirit. They killed the bodies of 75,000 Salvadoran martyrs but they could not kill their spirits.

Perhaps the purveyors of death are beginning to learn a basic Christian lesson. CHRISTIANITY MAINTANS THAT THOSE WHO LOVE LIFE AND LIVE A LIFE OF LOVE, LIVE ON IN THE LOVE OF OTHERS. We Christians call this great truth, resurrection, the eternal spirit of nonviolent, revolutionary love that insists on justice and peace. It grows in the human community of love and truth that side with the poor in the nonviolent struggle for justice. Whoever dies in that nonviolent struggle lives on in the spirit of those who take up the struggle anew. Someone always picks up where the martyr leaves off. The spirit of love and truth lives on, the coming of God's reign of justice and nonviolence gets closer and closer. Peace and justice become reality. Such is the lesson of martyrdom, the practice of resurrection, the essence of Christian love.

ALTHOUGH THE MUSLIMS ARE NOT CHRISTIANS, THEY, TOO, MAY HAVE TAKEN UP THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTIANITY IN A WRONG AND AN IMMORAL WAR IN IRAQ.

Oscar Romero lived and died in that nonviolent struggle for justice. His life message was a call to conversion, solidarity with the poor, a speaking of truth to power. He proclaimed life when the system around him demanded death. He announced peace when the government and rebels waged war. He exuded hope when despair ruled the day. The message of the Christian community today is as dangerous as the message of Romero: Jesus lives! The Salvadoran death squads, the Pentagon, and the U.S war makers know it too: Romero lives! The nonviolent struggle for justice continues.

Sending our fallen troops back like cargo is allowed because the administration has never cared about the military. The military is merely a tool to use and discard. When they have lost their usefulness (like when they die) they are supposed to disappear, not create problems. When you think like Madison Avenue it's all show. The flag draped coffins send a message to the consumer (the citizen) that administration does not wish to convey.

More Non-Thought about Iraq

Bring the Guard Home

#243
Liked that one Gerald.
I was watching Charlie Rose last night. He had Stephan Gaghan on the show. Gaghan was the writer and director of the new movie Syriana. Very, very interesting. He did a ton of research on the CIA and the political intrigue of the middle east for the movie. Something that he said made me just stop in my tracks. He told Charlie Rose that he would never ride in a small plane again, ever. When Charlie Rose asked him why he told Rose that he learned from his contacts that it's too easy to take down a small plane and make it look like an accident. My husband and I immediately thought of Paul Wellstone.

We Have Been Warned

Military disapproves of the war

#244 Jeanne, very interesting! Mothers against the draft have some great articles as does CodePink. We Have Been Warned did not link up the article but the website, Mothers against the draft, has the article. Jeanne, there is so much info out there that it is difficult to read everything.

In case the article does not link Mothers against the draft has the article.

Army wants vets back

Who in their right mind can trust Bush, the Butcher of Baghdad?

Paradox

Louis Tice of the Pacific Institute in Seattle, Washington offers a paradox, "You give up control in order to be in control". Confident leaders do not have to rule by controlling and punitive threats. He also discusses Erickson's book, "Eight Stages of Human Development", regarding leadership. Leadership starts at the top with basic trust. A dishonest leader cannot be an effective leader. Controlling and punitive threats will have consequences and there will be a backlash against such a leader. People will subtly undermine the leader and in the end the leader is not in control and he or she remains in a constant state of fear. A fearful leader is an unstable leader. Good examples of fearful and unstable leaders are Napoleon and Hitler. We must be vigilant of such leaders, be it in the United States or in the world.

Please pay careful attention to Bush's behavior. You do not have to be a licensed psychiatrist or a Ph.D. psychologist to know that Bush is a very sick person. His increased temper tantrums, his abusive language, his flying all over the country, and his apparent alcoholism and drug intake are signs that Bush is losing it. We have in the WH a very unstable beast that could snap at any minute. We must never forget this psycho's depraved indifference in the murdering of human beings. Pray hard for this demented and deranged amoeba!

Basic Trust

I have shared with you some information regarding a paradox. I will now stress the importance of basic trust in the eight stages of human development. The Bush misadministration has been a very secretive cabal because Bush does not possess basic trust which should have been instilled in his formative years. He and his brothers have nicknamed their mother, "Nutcracker." This nickname should be quite revealing to you. Everything the misadministration does is done in secret. Some secrecy in government is necessary but with Bush it is an obsession of a sick person.

The eighth stage and the last stage is integrity. Integrity is reached about the age of forty-five. For a person to reach integrity everything starts with basic trust. You pass through the various stages. In Bush's life age forty-five is about the time he found God and said that he would not be a drunk. A dozen years later he becomes president through fraud and rigged elections. Bush is a nutcase but more seriously he displays a depraved indifference toward living human beings. It is my perceptual opinion that Bush is close to becoming an insane person. He is too sick to lead a democracy. He will do all in his power to bring down American democracy. Everything that he touches becomes demented and deranged. You see as Americans the unraveling of insane policies from an insane or close to insane person.

Assessing the President

There are generals and church people who say that George W. Bush was chosen to be president by God. I cannot prove or disprove what people are saying. So, I offer you my assessment with some trepidation.

George W. Bush and his regime have been an experiment in mendacity with the American people. His disciples claim that he is the messianic messenger but his message has obfuscated the American people. His character lacks the probity to be a leader and his actions are more reflective of a nefarious person. George W. Bush expects Americans and the media to obsequious to what he says because he says it.

Before I accept the hyperbole that George W. Bush was chosen by God to be president and that God speaks to him, he must possess the virtues of my God which are humility, love, mercy, and patience. Personally, Mr. Bush does not possess any of these virtues. I see him more as a controlling, punitive, and vengeful person, totally lacking in compassion.

George W. Bush displays a depraved indifference toward the killing of living human beings.

Happy ChanuSatuRammaKwanzaSolstimas to you, too, Capt!

Hey, you guys forgot "Festivuss" from "Seinfeld". The "festival for the rest-of-us" LOL

Frank Rich: 'It takes a Potemkin village'

...When a government substitutes propaganda for governing, the Potemkin village is all. Since we don't get honest information from this White House, we must instead, as the Soviets once did, decode our rulers' fictions to discern what's really happening. What we're seeing now is the wheels coming off: As the administration's stagecraft becomes more baroque, its credibility tanks further both at home and abroad. The propaganda techniques may be echt Goebbels, but they increasingly come off as pure Ali G.

The latest desperate shifts in White House showmanship say at least as much about our progress (or lack of same) in Iraq over the past 32 months as reports from the ground. When President Bush announced the end of "major combat operations" in May 2003, his Imagineers felt the need for only a single elegant banner declaring "Mission Accomplished." Cut to Nov. 30, 2005: the latest White House bumper sticker, "Plan for Victory," multiplied by Orwellian mitosis over nearly every square inch of the rather "Queer Eye" stage set from which Bush delivered his oration at the Naval Academy....
-----------------------
Yep, he's our president. It will be great when the right wingers learn to decipher.

Sit down while you read this. And have the smelling salts ready.

The. Biggest. Scandal. Ever! Phony Front Companies Cycle Millions Back to GOP!

I hope you are sitting down when you read this. The Duke Cunningham scandal goes much deeper than just the $2.4 million in bribes being reported by the media. There is a lot the media is not telling you.

Ever wonder why the Republicans have SO much money in every national election?

And what did the Dukester do to get his Rolls-Royce, anyway? Whose Lear Jet was he flying around in? The answers to those 3 questions turn out to be The. Biggest. Scandal. Ever!

The. Biggest. Scandal. Ever! on the flip!

If you were a totally crooked neo-con former CIA financier Republican who hangs with the corrupt Delay-Abramoff crowd, what would be the most unethical, diabolical way to funnel SO much money to the Republican Party and neo-con schemes that you could take back the government from the Democrats?

Easy!

With your corrupt Republican buddies, form a slew of your own brand-new Defense Companies, submit bids on things the Pentagon never even asked for to the Delay/Cunningham network and Bingo!--those contributions to the GOP and K Street will flow in like never before. You can then even give to Presidential candidates like George W. Neo-Con.

Then you and your criminal gang take over the United States of America with your ill-gotten gains. Once in power, you can use your connections to weasel your way iuto intelligence agency contracts so you can help said Neo-Cons cook up a case for the Iraq War by a phony analysis of some aluminum tubes. The War on Terra is on!

Even more money for you and the GOP then.

It's a simple plan--one even the average American can understand.
-----------------------
It's a long article. Read on for particulars.

#126
That is a very scary story. How do you spell your own name wrong and then leave it?

That was their new name they decided on. Each filed it with the court separately, I guess, and didn't realize the diff spelling till it was done. 'Course they might've done it on purpose, who knows?

#254
Well...ok.

speaking of the right to vote::
Ohio About To Make Challenging a Federal Election ILLEGAL!
hooray!! hooray for the republic where the one with the most scratch is the catch!!

Kathleen!!!!!!
What do you think about James' post? I copy pasted it because I think it's so important. You know, when you couple this article with the one I posted on the corruption you have to wonder if there is any hope. Greed has taken over. There is no leadership and there is no love of country.
------------------------

A law that will make democracy all but moot in Ohio is about to pass the state legislature and to be signed by its Republican governor.[with the lowest governor approval on record (5%-8%)]Despite massive corruption scandals besieging the Ohio GOP, any hope that the Democratic party could win this most crucial swing state in future presidential elections, or carry its pivotal US Senate seat in 2006, are about to end.House Bill 3's most publicized provision will require positive identification before casting a vote. But it also opens voter registration activists to partisan prosecution, exempts electronic voting machines from public scrutiny, quintuples the cost of citizen-requested statewide recounts and makes it illegal to challenge a presidential vote count or, indeed, any federal election result in Ohio.When added to the recently passed HB1, which allows campaign financing to be dominated by the wealthy and by corporations, and along with a Rovian wish list of GOP attacks on the ballot box, democracy in Ohio could be all but over.We should rename the Buckeye State the Diebold State and have done with it

Historians: Past Eras Were Worse Than Now

ALBANY, N.Y. - Terrorist attacks, a war in Iraq and natural disasters aren't so bad compared to other tough times in America's past, from the Revolutionary War to the Cold War, history professors say.

Asked to compare eight difficult periods of the nation's history, 46 percent of the 354 professors who responded to a nationwide survey agreed the current era was the least trying. The Civil War, 55 percent said, was the toughest.

Researchers at the Siena Research Institute of Siena College came up with the survey after hearing students comment they felt today's era was one of the most trying in America's history.

"It's an issue of perspective," said Thomas Kelly, a professor emeritus of history and American studies at Siena who helped conduct the survey, which was released Thursday.

"With very few exceptions most generations have confronted enormous kinds of problems and have to greater or lesser degrees coped," he said.

Next to the Civil War -which threatened the nation's very existence and cost the lives of more than 600,000 people -the poll found the Revolutionary War and the Great Depression to be the most trying, followed by Vietnam and the Cultural Revolution, World War II, the Cold War, World War I and today.
-------------------------
I disagree. Yes those were trying times and maybe they tested the salt of the people, but we have never had to fear the loss of our democracy as we are losing it today. The founders of this country may have feared the judgement as they moved forward but there was great leadership to guide them and a strong belief in the direction they were going. They believed in what they were doing.
The civil war threatened to tear our country apart. I would agree that was probably the worst time in our country but we were progressing forward. There was a forward march as the war ended.
My mother and mother in law have lived through the depression, WWII, the cold war, and the Viet Nam War. They will both tell anybody who would listen that they worry more about the country now because the leadership is so corrupt. The country is going down the tubes.

Israel readies forces for strike on nuclear Iran

Uzi Mahnaimi, Tel Aviv, and Sarah Baxter, Washington

ISRAEL’S armed forces have been ordered by Ariel Sharon, the prime minister, to be ready by the end of March for possible strikes on secret uranium enrichment sites in Iran, military sources have revealed.

The order came after Israeli intelligence warned the government that Iran was operating enrichment facilities, believed to be small and concealed in civilian locations.

Iran’s stand-off with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) over nuclear inspections and aggressive rhetoric from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, who said last week that Israel should be moved to Europe, are causing mounting concern.

The crisis is set to come to a head in early March, when Mohamed El-Baradei, the head of the IAEA, will present his next report on Iran. El-Baradei, who received the Nobel peace prize yesterday, warned that the world was "losing patience" with Iran.

A senior White House source said the threat of a nuclear Iran was moving to the top of the international agenda and the issue now was: "What next?" That question would have to be answered in the next few months, he said.

Defence sources in Israel believe the end of March to be the "point of no return" after which Iran will have the technical expertise to enrich uranium in sufficient quantities to build a nuclear warhead in two to four years.

"Israel — and not only Israel — cannot accept a nuclear Iran," Sharon warned recently. "We have the ability to deal with this and we’re making all the necessary preparations to be ready for such a situation."

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

Well then, an attack on Iran by Israel will help our efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq. For sure.

I did not think that Sharon left the Likud party because he is such a peace and freedom politician. Worse they will cite their attack against Iraq years ago as the "right thing to do" and of course the USA will back his action.

capt

Bush Says Congress Needs to Act Quickly to Extend Patriot Act

``By renewing the Patriot Act, we will ensure that our law enforcement and intelligence officers have the tools they need to protect our citizens,'' Bush said. ``The Patriot Act tore down the legal and bureaucratic wall that kept law enforcement and intelligence authorities from sharing vital information about terrorist threats.''

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

We have had this act for four years and not one, not a single conviction of a single terrorist.

The government has issued 30,000 letters requesting information on American citizens, still not one conviction.

The government arrests and holds an American citizen without charges for years, because they say they can, so why do we need a "Patriot act" at all?

The government says the patriot act is needed?

I hope Russ keeps his promise to filibuster. Let the fascists pull the "nuclear" option to pass a bill that takes our rights away.

capt

EU concealed deal with US to allow 'rendition' flights

By Justin Stares in Brussels and Philip Sherwell in Washington
(Filed: 11/12/2005)

The European Union secretly allowed the United States to use transit facilities on European soil to transport "criminals" in 2003, according to a previously unpublished document. The revelation contradicts repeated EU denials that it knew of "rendition" flights by the CIA.

The EU agreed to give America access to facilities - presumably airports - in confidential talks in Athens during which the war on terror was discussed, the original minutes show. But all references to the agreement were deleted from the record before it was published.

The issue of "rendition" flights - in which terror suspects are flown to secret bases and third countries for interrogation - overshadowed last week's fence-mending visit to Europe by Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State.

Asked in Parliament last week about reports of 400 suspect flights passing through British airports, Tony Blair said: "In respect of airports, I don't know what you are referring to."

The minutes of the Athens meeting on January 22, 2003, were written by the then Greek presidency of the EU after the talks with a US delegation headed by a justice department official. EU officials confirmed that a full account was circulated to all member governments, and would have been sent to the Home Office.

The document, entitled New Transatlantic Agenda, EU-US meeting on Justice and Home Affairs, details the subjects discussed by the 31 people present. The agenda included the fight against terrorism, drug trafficking and extradition agreements.

According to the full version, "Both sides agreed on areas where co-operation could be improved [inter alia] the exchange of data between border management services, increased use of European transit facilities to support the return of criminal/ inadmissible aliens, co-ordination with regard to false documents training and improving the co-operation in removals."

But this section, and others referring to US policy, were deleted - as a "courtesy" to Washington, according to a spokesman for the EU Council of Ministers.

Tony Bunyan, of the Statewatch civil liberties group which obtained the original document, said: "What kind of facilities are these and how many people work there? That phrase suggests the US is being allowed to use airports in Europe to transport criminals from third countries."

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

I thought it was more than a little odd that the EU countries would not know what was going on with the extraordinary renditions, they knew and once exposed they are just trying to play dumb.

I am sure Washington is pissed because the EU knew what was going on. It is the tit-for-tat lie about torture. As in: if you guys (EU) are going to pretend you did not know about the trips we (USA) will pretend we never tortured.

capt

EU concealed deal with US to allow 'rendition' flights

Sunni cites more secret prisons

By Sharon Behn
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
December 10, 2005

BAGHDAD -- Sunni leader Saleh al-Mutlaq said yesterday that a second and possibly a third secret prison had been discovered in an upscale Baghdad neighborhood, charges that threaten to ratchet up Sunni-Shi'ite tensions just days before Thursday's election of a new parliament.

"More than 1,000 people were kept in one place like sheep, worse then sheep, they could not sleep except by lying on top of one another," Mr. al-Mutlaq told The Washington Times.

"One was blinded, another had his hand broken, some were even sexually abused," said Mr. al-Mutlaq, leader the Iraqi Front for National Dialogue, one of three major Sunni Arab alliances with candidates running Thursday.

Mr. al-Mutlaq said he plans to release photos documenting his charges to Iraqi television as early as today.

U.S. and Iraqi troops last month uncovered a secret detention center in the Jadriya district of Baghdad filled with undernourished prisoners, some showing signs of having been tortured.

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

This? From the "Washington Times?"

IF there are more secret prisons and they are located in the upscale neighborhoods it will be very bad for us.

capt

Climate campaigners claim greatest ever success at Montreal

Humiliation for Bush as last-minute twist means an isolated US is forced to sign up for future talks on global warming

By Andrew Buncombe in Montreal and Geoffrey Lean
Published: 11 December 2005

The fight against catastrophic global warming scored its greatest success to date yesterday, when negotiators from more than 180 nations unexpectedly agreed to develop far-reaching measures to combat climate change.

In the process, the delegates to the climate summit in Montreal dealt a humiliating blow to President George Bush's five-year attempt to destroy the Kyoto Protocol. The United States, which tried to sabotage the meeting at the last minute by walking out of the negotiations, was forced to join the agreement after failing to persuade a single nation to join it.

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

The USA cannot convince a single country to side with us. This is because neocon diplomats[sic] are just thugs and slugs.

The rest of the planet has more common sense than Bunnypants. Maybe the rest of the planet can get together on a few other issues. This could be the start of externally imposed isolation for the failed policies of the WH.

Hey, a guy can hope.

capt

MI6 and CIA 'sent student to Morocco to be tortured'

An Ethiopian claims that his confession to al-Qaeda bomb plot was signed after beatings, reports David Rose in New York

Sunday December 11, 2005
The Observer

An Ethiopian student who lived in London claims that he was brutally tortured with the involvement of British and US intelligence agencies.

Binyam Mohammed, 27, says he spent nearly three years in the CIA's network of 'black sites'. In Morocco he claims he underwent the strappado torture of being hung for hours from his wrists, and scalpel cuts to his chest and penis and that a CIA officer was a regular interrogator.

After his capture in Pakistan, Mohammed says British officials warned him that he would be sent to a country where torture was used. Moroccans also asked him detailed questions about his seven years in London, which his lawyers believe came from British sources.

Western agencies believed that he was part of a plot to buy uranium in Asia, bring it to the US and build a 'dirty bomb' in league with Jose Padilla, a US citizen. Mohammed signed a confession but told his lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, he had never met Padilla, or anyone in al-Qaeda. Padilla spent almost four years in American custody, accused of the plot. Last month, after allegations of the torture used against Mohammed emerged, the claims against Padilla were dropped. He now faces a civil charge of supporting al-Qaeda financially.

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

This is the information the government has been holding an American citizen for four years without charges?

That is why we have laws, not just to catch criminals but to force our government to follow the rule of law.

The Bush crime family has gotten a pass for WAY too long.

capt

Bush Threatens U.N. Over Clinton Climate Speech

Bush-administration officials privately threatened organizers of the U.N. Climate Change Conference, telling them that any chance there might’∂e been for the United States to sign on to the Kyoto global-warming protocol would be scuttled if they allowed Bill Clinton to speak at the gathering today in Montreal, according to a source involved with the negotiations who spoke to New York Magazine on condition of anonymity.

Bush officials informed organizers of their intention to pull out of the new Kyoto deal late Thursday afternoon, soon after news leaked that Clinton was scheduled to speak, the source said.

"It’≥ just astounding," the source told New York Magazine. "It came through loud and clear from the Bush people-they wouldn’¥ sign the deal if Clinton were allowed to speak." Clinton spokesman Jay Carson confirmed the behind the dustup took place and that the former president had decided not to go out of fear of harming the negotiations, but Carson declined to comment further.

On Friday afternoon, Clinton did end up speaking at the conference, a global audience of diplomats, environmentalists, and others who were in the final hours of a two-week gathering devoted to discussing the future of the protocol, the existing emissions-controls agreement. In 1997, Al Gore, then vice-president, helped negotiate the protocol, but it never passed the Senate. In 2001, it was formally renounced by the Bush administration, which argues that cutting greenhouse-gas emissions would hurt the American economy.

In his Friday speech, Clinton blasted the Bush administration’≥ opposition as "flat wrong."

But the speech almost didn’¥ happen.

"The organizers said the Bush people were threatening to pull out of the deal," the source said. After some deliberation between Clinton and his aides, Clinton decided he wouldn’¥ speak, added the source: "President Clinton immediately said, ‘îhere’≥ no way that I’≠ gonna let petty politics get in the way of the deal. So I’≠ not gonna come.’†That’≥ the message [the Clinton people] sent back to the organizers."

"They were trying to clean up the mess," the source said. Late Friday the U.S. walked out for other reasons.

A White House spokesman couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

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

This is how the WH forms policy? American participation with regard to global warming is based on petty spite about whether Clinton is allow to speak?

The rest of the planet is calling Bunnypants' bluff. The Andover Cheerleader come Texan cowboy is all hat and no cattle. His bluster, arrogance and petty ways are all exposed for the world to see. I am embarrassed to have his sorry butt shining the seat in the oval office.

capt

Bush Threatens U.N. Over Clinton Climate Speech

The elections in Iraq: Juan Cole
Interviewed by Eric Black, Star Tribune
December 11, 2005

Juan Cole is a professor of modern Mideast history at the University of Michigan, an expert on Shiism and jihadism, and a prolific writer and commentator on Iraq. His blog, "Informed Comment" (www.juancole.com) specializes among other things in giving English language readers access to how events in Iraq are being reported in the Arabic language media.

How he expects the election to come out:

My own best guess is that the UIA (the Shiite religious coalition) will do very well. And the hopes I'm hearing from others that the secular tickets will do better than before will not work out. If you just look at the number of seats allocated to the eight southern provinces, where the UIA will get almost all of the seats, they'll be well on their way. And the UIA will also get a reasonable share of the seats from the Baghdad province.

The Ayad Allawi ticket [Iraqi National List] is the one people are hoping will demonstrate a big surge in secular support. I'm skeptical. Allawi gets all his votes from the educated middle classes of Baghdad and Basra. Those are the kind of people that talk to Western journalists, which probably makes them look more numerous than they are.

The real problem with Allawi in a lot of voters' eyes is that he represents the ex-Baathists. He was a Baath Party member himself and he's running partly against the de-Baathification laws.

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

Hard to make a good clip, the whole article is very good and Juan Cole is a good source for insight.

capt

#266 - Title should read:

The elections in Iraq: Juan Cole

I do not know if the person that holds all the coffee rules my world but they rule my mornings! HA! (and a pot of decaff on Fridays in the evening)

capt

Juan Cole

The US personnel in Iraq have occasionally sent me these rosy predictions all along the way. In February of 2004 I got a long message that maintained that Muqtada al-Sadr's movement was dissipating and that the US was about to put $18 billion of reconstruction money into Iraq, which would jump-start the economy, draw off dissidents, and make the place peaceful and flourishing. Two months later the entire South and Baghdad were in flames as Muqtada's Mahdi Army fought the Coalition military for two solid months. The security situation has never allowed the reconstruction aid to be invested in a way that would lead to development and away from guerrilla war. And virtually everything this seasoned US observer on the ground in provincial Iraq had predicted to me turned out to be a pipe dream. The pipe dreams spring eternal, but they are mirages. In the near to medium term, those Americans who rush through the desert sands in the torrid miasma of the Iraqi midday sun, seeking to throw themselves into the shimmering lakes of peace and prosperity just over the horizon, will be found later at the foot of a dune, lips cracked and skin blackened, their eyeballs the food of scorpions and lizards.

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

I do not always agree 100% with Juan but . . .

capt

Torture and white phosphorus

I've previously charged Condoleezza Rice with having an appalling ignorance of history. I don't mean the kind of knowledge - dates of battles, names and terms of treaties, etc. - that earns a good grade on an exam. We know Condoleezza got good grades in school. No, I mean a deeper understanding of the economic, social, and moral forces of history and of the irrepressible role of truth despite the countless attempts to silence it.

Guerilla warfare, terrorism, and fanatical causes are not new to the 21st century, they are as old as human society, and governments have had many ways of dealing with them. This goes so far as governments changing around those regarded as terrorists and heroes, according to the needs of the time, much the way victors in a war define who were the good guys and bad guys.

One thing history surely does tell us is that nothing is more dangerous than Condoleezza’≥ tendency to speak in sweeping, virtually meaningless generalizations about the people she regards as foes. Every war of aggression, every wave of state terror, every deadly fanatical cause has used just such terms. People are described with de-humanized slogans, making them easy to hate and abuse. We should all go on a personal terror alert when powerful figures talk this way.

The assertion of a special case or status in the current situation is utterly dishonest. It is more than dishonest: it is a deliberately constructed logical fallacy calculated to elicit the idea of special measures from listeners. It is America's special measures that Condoleezza went to Europe to defend.

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

I am sure many have come to expect utter dishonesty from this WH on every issue.

capt

#253 Jeanne

It's hard to describe this new level of unrestrained power. Just because one can imagine it, even implement it and possibly get away with it, doesn't mean it should for even a moment be considered as an option. Fot it comes at a cost of not only becoming un-american, inhumane, and just plain evil ... but also at the loss of one's soul. They despise all elements of trust, integrity and community and allow their greed to kill what truly brings one alive... their soul.

What can really get to me is that this faction of republicans must mock most americans for being too trustworthy or not paying attention and now even laughing more at how this whitehouse admin is also trying to get away with the same thing by demanding the war critics to trust them and not second guess their leadership.

Oh, the boogey man of terrorists, keep america militarily strong, even the iron curtain... they'll ram it all down our throats and even try to strip government from funding anything besides military causes, so as to not leave a crumb large enough for a mouse.

Chrysostom (borrowing heavily from Plato) gave the treatise No One Can Harm the Man Who Does Not Harm Himself. It's all about the soul of a person and that no matter what outside forces may do to the person, the person is not truly harmed (or damaged) unless he or she chooses to give into corruption.

For those of us who choose to not imbide in a corruption because we know it will injure ourselves, bring unjust harm to others, and worse corrupt others... we can take as an assurance that many memorable greats have gone before us and are still remembered today. For those who care less about their soul, they will bring injustice and harm to others and the greater harm to themselves, though they strived to make it big, they are either forgotten or eventually mocked for their folly.

When one feels like the victim for staying true to what is right, we then have to rely on the unseen soul and the truth spoken to it by some of these past greats likes of Eleanor Roosevelt's quote "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent", or the story of Job, Plato's Republic or John Chrysostom's treatise.

Chrysostom's treatise begins omniously for Delay, Abramoff, Scanlon....
I Know well that to coarse-minded persons, who are greedy in the pursuit of present things, and are nailed to earth, and enslaved to physical pleasure, and have no strong hold upon spiritual ideas, this treatise will be of a strange and paradoxical kind: and they will laugh immoderately, and condemn me for uttering incredible things from the very outset of my theme.

"When we are angry or depressed in our creativity, we have misplaced our power. We have allowed someone else to determine our worth, and then we are angry at being undervalued. " ~ Julia Cameron, The Vein of Gold

"Cherish your own emotions and never undervalue them. " ~ Robert Henri (1865 - 1929)

"Surely there comes a time when counting the cost and paying the price aren't things to think about any more. All that matters is value - the ultimate value of what one does. " ~ James Hilton (1900 - 1954)

"If you really do put a small value upon yourself, rest assured that the world will not raise your price. " ~ Anonymous

"We live in a time of transition, an uneasy era which is likely to endure for the rest of this century. During the period we may be tempted to abandon some of the time-honored principles and commitments which have been proven during the difficult times of past generations. We must never yield to this temptation. Our American values are not luxuries, but necessities - not the salt in our bread, but the bread itself. " ~ Jimmy Carter (1924 - ), in his farewell address

From Quotationspage.com

qoutes rule!

me spel goode!

To paraphrase something I read elsewhere: Either electronic voting will die, or the Republic will.

Capt 260, only brain dead bushbots believe the "Communist Fascism Act" has anything to do with finding terrorists! Just like they believe, in spite of all reports to the contrary, that everything is better than EVER for the people of Iraq. I'm sure they can't wait until the "freight" starts arriving at Dover in the name of bringing that groovy kind of help to the people of Syria and Iran!

Ivory Bill, I've reached the conclusion that the republic has a fatal disease, it is called apathy. If a cure isn't found, and soon, it will die.

Jeanne 253, Like Mike Rivero says, and I completely agree, the last official act of any Govt. is to loot the nation. Whoever hasn't figured out that we are being purposely sucked dry by these vampires is about to wake up from that cozy dream to the nightmare reality.

``By renewing the Patriot Act, we will ensure that our law enforcement and intelligence officers have the tools they need to protect our citizens,'' Bush said. ``The Patriot Act tore down the legal and bureaucratic wall that kept law enforcement and intelligence authorities from sharing vital information about terrorist threats.''

oh, is THAT what the patriot act is for? silly me! I was laboring under the illusion that it draws quite a few parallels with the Ermachtigungsgesetz! and what is that, you might ask? - check it out here::

How the Patriot Act Compares to Hitler's Ermächtigungsgesetz (Enabling Act)

On March 23, 1933, the newly elected members of the Reichstag met in the Kroll Opera House in Berlin to consider passing Hitler's "Ermächtigungsgesetz". The "Enabling Act" was officially called the 'Law for Removing the Distress of the People and the Reich.'

Opponents to the bill argued that if it was passed, it would end democracy in Germany and establish a legal dictatorship of Adolf Hitler. To soften resistance to the passing of the Enabling Act, the Nazis secretly caused confusion in order to create an atmosphere in which the law seem necessary to restore order.

On February 27, 1933, Nazis burned the Reichstag building, and a seat of the German government, causing frenzy and outrage. They successfully blamed the fire on the Communists, and claimed it marked the beginning of a widespread terrorism and unrest threatening the safety of the German "Homeland." On the day of the vote, Nazi storm troopers gathered around the opera house chanting, "Full powers - or else! We want the bill - or fire and murder!"

December 11, 2005
Newly Bankrupt Raking In Piles of Credit Offers
By TIMOTHY EGAN
TACOMA, Wash., Dec. 9 - As one of more than two million Americans who rushed to a courthouse this year to file for bankruptcy before a tough new law took effect, Laura Fogle is glad for her chance at a fresh start. A nurse and single mother of two, she blames her use of credit cards after cancer surgery for falling into deep debt.

Ms. Fogle is broke, and may not seem to be the kind of person to whom banks would want to offer credit cards. But she said she had no sooner filed for bankruptcy, and sworn off plastic, than she was hit with a flurry of solicitations from major banks.

"Every day, I get at least two or three new credit card offers - Citibank, MasterCard, you name it - they want to give me a credit card, at pretty high interest rates," said Ms. Fogle, who is 41 and lives here. "I've got a stack of these things on my table. It's tempting, but I've sworn them off."

If it seems odd to Ms. Fogle that banks would want to lend money to the newly bankrupt, it is no mystery to the financial community, which charges some of the highest interest rates to these newly available customers.

Under the new law, which the banking industry spent more than $100 million lobbying for, they may be even more attractive because it makes it harder for them to escape new credit card debt and extends to eight years from six the time before which they could liquidate their debts through bankruptcy again.
------------
Leeches and parasites bleed you dry, then the vultures descend. Outsourcing, importing workers that undercut American workers, no more bankruptcy, interest rates climbing, pensions dissolving, SS under the gun, the dollar collapsing, inflation running at close to 10%, fuel and energy costs skyrocketing, industry on it's death bed, home reposessions up 35%, healthcare insurance unaffordable, I could make a list as long as my arm, but still some people just don't get it.

WOW james! That is giving me a sense of Deja Vu!

Blots on the Record
The Bloomberg administration's fight for 9-11 secrecy
by Jarrett Murphy
October 18th, 2005 11:10 AM

From: The Village Voice

In the public version of FDNY lieutenant Neil Brosnan's retelling of his 9-11 experience, there are blank spots. First, Brosnan talks about racing to the scene: "We were blocked out. We tried to move traffic." Then there are three lines blacked out. "This was reported to the police detectives on my interview with them," he continues. "We thought it was unusual." Later on, his questioner restarts the tape after having closed the session. "Tell me that again," the questioner bids. Brosnan speaks. The next 40 lines are blacked out. Only the questioner's words are visible, when he says, "Yes. That is unusual."
Rudy Giuliani is the mayor associated with the day of 9-11, but Michael Bloomberg has been the chief executive of its aftermath. The attacks transformed the 2001 mayoral race, left ruins still smoldering at his inauguration, and fueled the fiscal crisis that the new mayor faced.

But Brosnan's oral history and the 510 others recently released are also part of the Bloomberg record on 9-11. His administration fought hard to keep the public from seeing those oral histories or hearing the tapes of FDNY dispatch radio. Only a lawsuit by The New York Times and several victims' families (who also unsuccessfully sought to have emergency 911 call tapes released) forced their disclosure. City Hall even hedged at providing the oral histories and dispatchers' tapes to researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the 9-11 Commission, resisting requests for the data for months, being threatened with a subpoena, and then allowing researchers only limited access to the information under a signed agreement
---------------
There's more. Yes indeed, our faithful Govt. has told us the truth, and nothing but the truth, so help them God. That is why there is no need for all you citizens to know what has been blacked out in the eyewitness testimony. Besides, EVERYONE knows how unreliabe a firefighter's reports can be!!

ya, that does seem just a LITTLE bit familiar doesn't it? put that together with the FACT that PNAC are disciples of the NAZI Leo Strauss, and officially called for a "New Pearl Harbor", (and coincidentally and conveniently got one with 911, [every aspect of which the govt. has been PROVEN TO HAVE LIED ABOUT]), and we have a ready made police state! but don't take my opinion alone for it - do some research people!::
ARE PARALLELS TO NAZI GERMANY CRAZY?
you be the judge!

"With Adolf Hitler's ascendancy to the chancellorship, the Nazi Party quickly consolidated its power. Hitler managed to maintain a posture of legality throughout the Nazification process."

Whether by chance or design, George W. Bush is the most powerful American president in modern history. Not only does he have both houses of Congress beholden to him, but the majority of the Supreme Court is acting like a quintet of Bush lapdogs. And it all appears legal.

"Domestically, during the next six years, Hitler completely transformed Germany into a police state."

Civil libertarians insist that this is happening here now, with the USA Patriot Act in force and Patriot II on the table.

"Hitler engaged in a 'diplomatic revolution' by negotiating with other European countries and publicly expressing his strong desire for peace."

Nobody can accuse Bush of being overly diplomatic, but, like all political leaders, he is an apostle for peace, even while starting two wars during his brief tenure.

The attacks transformed the 2001 mayoral race, left ruins still smoldering at his inauguration, and fueled the fiscal crisis that the new mayor faced.

left ruins still smoldering....that's the understatement of the year!

remember BYU physics prof. Jones and his report on the collapse of the WTC?...well, he has updated it several times now. you should read it and discover that the "smoldering ruins" consisted of molten steel that remained molten for weeks after 911 despite being continuously doused with water - that was one very hot fire; who knew that jetfuel(kerosene) was capable of generating such heat?

Prof. Jones' REPORT ON WTC COLLAPSE v. 3.0

The Sunday Times December 11, 2005

Israel readies forces for strike on nuclear Iran
Uzi Mahnaimi, Tel Aviv, and Sarah Baxter, Washington



ISRAEL'S armed forces have been ordered by Ariel Sharon, the prime minister, to be ready by the end of March for possible strikes on secret uranium enrichment sites in Iran, military sources have revealed.
The order came after Israeli intelligence warned the government that Iran was operating enrichment facilities, believed to be small and concealed in civilian locations.
-----------
It's probably just a coincidence that the Iranian Bourse is to open in March. BTW, where is the proof that they have a nuclear weapons program? Is it the same proof they had for saddam?

James, I think I read that his theory is it was molten IRON, a by-product of thermite, which makes sense. I had my husband read that report and he agreed. Iron is very possible, but not likely steel. Unfortunately he's having a hard time obtaining samples to test. Guess it's part of that wide open policy of truth that bushco maintains!

If elected Netanyahu says he will Pre-emptively Strike Iran

“I will continue the tradition established by Menachem Begin, who did not allow Iraq to develop such a nuclear threat against Israel, and by a daring and courageous act gave us two decades of tranquility,” Netanyahu told Israel's Maariv daily.

“I believe that this is what Israel has to do” in the face of the growing Iranian threat, he continued.

Saladin, (#276)

My brother coined the phrase, "Compassionate Apathy" in describing some of the conditions at his new workplace.

defined:

Compassionate Apathy-

Having concern for what annoys only so long as it is within sight, hearing or smell. Compassionate Apathy is self-resolved when above conditions are rendered moot by distance, noise or clothespins...

-T

Hajji, that's funny! What is it when it is rendered moot? Unconscious apathy?

American Soldiers

American soldiers are being killed like flies for Bush's lies. To date 2,390 American soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan and Iraq.

OF COURSE, NONE OF THEM WAS GOING TO GET SHOT AT. NONE OF THEM WOULD HAVE TO ANSWER TO THE MOTHERS AND FATHERS OF DEAD SOLDIERS AND MARINES. GENERAL SCHWARZKOPF

DON'T PATRONIZE ME WITH TALK ABOUT HUMAN LIVES. COLIN LAPDOG POWELL

It sounds like human lives are not important to Lapdog.

Wolfowitz + World Bank = War + Poverty

As Diebold goes, so goes the election!

American democracy is dead as we know it. We are now OUTSOURCING our dead American democracy around the world with our dead and maimed soldiers who are fighting in foreign lands so these lands can revel in our dead democracy.

sal you're right, it was molten iron - thermite is made from aluminum and iron, and used for burning thru steel at a very fast rate - the by-product of the thermite reaction with steel is molten iron, which is what remained at the bottom of ground zero even after more than a week had passed

Sunday, December 11, 2005
Man says 9/11 testimony blocked

This is raw intel -- a Mr Brian Stewart-Magee has gotten in contact with this website to tell his story:
"My name is Brian Stewart-Magee. I am a former Intelligence Advisor for Special Forces and Intelligence Analyst for the Air Intelligence Agency. I have my own situation similar to Able Danger. However, I may have a stronger case. I am claiming two things for now. One, I was threatened and fired for my intelligence analysis on Usama Bin Laden a/k/a "The Contractor". Second, I was threatened not to testify to the 9/11 Commission by a high ranking JAG officer. My goal is to bring this to the public's attention. Please contact me if you would like to break this story first.

Brian Stewart-Magee, MBA
Former Intelligence Advisor
U.S. Special Forces/The Green Berets
---------------
You'll see your problems multiply
if you continually decide
to faithfully pursue
the policy of truth.

Depeche Mode

With an imminent preemptive nuclear attack on Iran very clear and open it is better for the Israelis to attack than for an American attack on Iran. America has too much baggage with her murderous and torturous ways being spread over the planet with our glee and zealousness. Israel is now in a position to help ease America's image as an evil empire.

Comply and Submit -- Or Die
Source: The New American
URL Source: http://www.thenewamerican.com/artman/publish/article_2791.shtml
Published: Dec 10, 2005
Author: William Norman Grigg, Senior Editor, The
Post Date: 2005-12-10 13:31:41 by robin

Freedom Forum

Comply and Submit -- Or Die
Fri, 9 Dec 2005, 10:15

From what we know, lisped Bush administration spokesliar Scott McClellan after federal air marhsals gunned down 44-year-old Rigoberto Alpizar in Miami, the team of air marshals acted in a way that is consistent with the training they received.... It appears they followed the protocols and did what they were trained to do.... [W]e are very appreciative for all that the air marshals are doing to protect the American people.

Who's this we, paleface?

Assuming that McClellan's assessment is correct, and the summary execution of Mr. Alpizar by the tax-fattened drones grandly styled air marshals, was carried out according to federal protocols, we no longer need to wonder whether terrorist sleeper cells continue to infest American commercial flights.

Somebody came down the aisle and put a shotgun to the back of my head and said put your hands on the seat in front of you, recalled passenger John McAlhany in an interview with Time. Amid the confusion and tension that ensued when Alpizar bolted from the plane, McAlhany and the other passengers had been ordered by the flight crew to hit the deck. He was talking on his cell phone with his brother and, looking through the seats to see what was coming, and to take action if he saw an attack coming. His assailant approached him from behind and karate-chopped his cell phone away. When I reazlied it was an official, he explained. That is to say that those terrorizing the passengers worked for George W. Bush, not Osama bin Laden.

Make no mistake about it, this was a deadly terrorist incident. One man was killed, others were assaulted, and dozens were terrorized. They [the air marshals] were pointing the guns directly at us instead of pointing them to the ground, McAlhany testifies. One little girl was crying. There was a lady crying all the way to the hotel.

As if being terrorized at gunpoint weren't enough, the passengers were marched off the plane with their hands on their head and then repeatedly prompted by federal authorities to say that Alpizar claimed to have a bomb in his backpack. According to Daniel Adams of the Federal Air Marshal Service, prior to the shooting Alpizar had been running up and down the aisles of the plane shouting that he had a bomb in his possession –†a claim not verified by any of the witnesses, and disputed by several of them.
--------------
Now, what is that called again? Oh yeh, the PATRIOT act, haha!

Gerald, please remember whose troops are standing between Israel and Iran. Hint, they aren't Israeli.

Hajji, have you heard anything about that awful flesh eating bug on the loose in Arizona?

Israel is now in a position to help ease America's image as an evil empire.

sorry, but studying Israel's actions of the last few decades only leaves me feeling that america's image is due in part to Israel

America IS the LEADING TERRORIST NATION in the world and MAKE NO MISTAKE ABOUT THAT FACT OF LIFE.

There's a bunch of resistant staph, Saladin...

I haven't been able to research the Azizona situation, but something's come up with both c-diff and H-pylori lately that I shouldn't speak of from my current location...

-T

Israel is one side of the "Triangle" of evil, the other 2 being Britain and the US. How do I know this? Follow the money.

Hajji, gotcha!

#295 Saladin, dead American soldiers are dead American soldiers whether the Israelis kill them or our American government kills them since March 20, 2003. Remember, Kissinger said that our soldiers are nothing more than cannon fodder. Bush has treated our military men and women as cannon fodder since he was appointed to the WH.

President Bush,

I urge you support Russia's membership into the WTO. I realize that Russia needs to make additional efforts to crackdown on intellectual property piracy, and that Russia maintains certain economic data as state secrets, but in the long term view, Russia will move towards financial transparency and respect of international property rights. Rome was not built in a day. As Russian political leaders become more confident in their own democracy, Russia's reactionary control attempts over free speech will be reduced. It is only a matter of time before Russia fully understand the benefits of free, fair, open, and transparent politics and economics. Sure, Russia's political and economic systems need improvement, but lets not "throw the baby out with the bath water", as President Putin has recently said about the non-government organizations (NGOs). Russia is simply to important to keep out of the WTO, and its inclusion will further join east and west in common trade, global political cooperation, and world peace. On other concerns, I also understand Russia is proposing laws regarding registration of NGOs, but really, do you think that the Russia government could possible keep secret international analysis of Russia's progress and the teachings of the long term benefits of a free and open society? The Russians are concerned about undue foreign influence, similar to Nixon's outside agitators, that was largely deemed a ghost of a concern. History repeats itself. The Russians will learn over time that censure of international and domestic political thought is unnecessary and largely counter-productive. Just give Russia some more time to fully understand the benefits of political decent, a necessary part of any democracy. As Russia becomes more confident with their own democracy, and confidence in the Russian people to be capable of deciding issues by the vote, Russia will see little need to restrict political thought, from either international sources or domestic political opposition leaders. Sure, Russia has a political and cultural history of secrecy and centralized control, but in this day of the internet, democracy's world wide march, and instantaneous global news, these reactionary control attempts will eventually be deemed by the Russians themselves to be counter-productive in the long run. As Russia is taking its baby steps into democracy and free economics, in a relatively short amount of time, it is natural they would have fits and starts, mostly from a lack of confidence in themselves, and their new world of democracy. But full integration of Russia into the world economy with transparent and fair participation is inevitable, and Russia will move towards that inevitable full, free, fair and transparent participation over time. Russia's membership in the WTO will help move Russia towards free, fair, and transparent economic and political orientations, and this is a good thing for the world community, even though the Russians to not yet meet our standards. Please FULLY SUPPORT President Putin at the up coming G8 meeting in St.Petersburg Russia, and fully support and urge Russia's immediate membership into the WTO.

Gerald, my point was that American soldiers dying for the benefit of a foreign nation should be unacceptable. There is no enemy in the middle east that can threaten us. The only nuclear power there is the state of Israel. Since they are quite capable of defending themselves, why the hell are our sons and daughters forced to die in the Israeli meat grinder? And more importantly, why is America standing for it?

Mothers and young Americans are becoming more aware that Bush and his cabal cannot be trusted. Why does Cheney have a nuclear bunker on his Wyoming ranch? He relishes the idea of nuclear warfare. Bush's entire regime relishes the idea of nuclear wars. Inside Capitol Hill there are nuclear bunkers so our warmongering politicians can be safe and secure as a bug in a rug.

Heard Mr. Geraday (spelling) got the noble peace prise and atomic energy UN commission. This bode wells for a continued tuff stand against Iran, but may lead to sanctions and confrontation. Does the gunslinger Bush force a military show-down with Iran before 2008?

Any opinions???

Saladin, did you totally miss the 20th century? Ah, you were born 2000. OK, let me help you.
We tried isolation, and it got us WWI and WWII, get it? We are safe, only if the rest of world can function civilly.

Anyone who can harness the power of a star would consider us to be very primitive.

Imagine your friends coming across an ant hill. Would they bend down to the ants and give them trinkets, books, medicine, and power? Or would some of your friends have the strange urge to step on a few of them?

Oh yeh, that "goddamn piece of paper" trying to ruin everything again. Do me a favor derrick, don't address me, you are a traitor and I have nothing to say to a supporter of the devil inspired NWO.

#304 Saladin, good points! Bush wants to look strong because he innately is a chickenshit coward. He knows it and the world knows it. Plus, Saladin, most repugnants agree with Kissinger and Bush that our soldiers are only cannon fodder. Americans must always remember that our politicians view American soldiers as cannon fodder.

Salamader, you slidering around looking for a whole to hide in? It wont do you any good. Like it or not, the world is a very small place and becoming more interconnected each day, and we have to live together, and that means, civilizing the uncivilized, when necessary. Get it?

(Are you part of the far-left shout-down gang?)

Gerald, it has become apparent to me that most POLITICIONS think of our troops as cannon fodder! I see very little difference between the left and right where this war is concerned.

Each American should look in the mirror and realize that Bush and his cabal see us as cannon fodder. As you view yourself in the mirror picture the dismemberment of your bodies in preemptive wars. There goes an arm; there goes a leg; there goes your head splattered across the land. Those are glorious sights for Bush and his cabal.

so, reid - would you have us ignore the fact that PNAC called for a new pearl harbor and got one with 911? or should we just accept that it was an important job well done for a good cause, and leave it at that? I too believe you to be a traitor, and I would report you to the FBI again, but they are growing tired of me.

#280
Saladin,
The laws on the books, the credit card industry, the outsourcing - we have become a nation of sharecroppers.

You should have heard David Brooks on Meet the Press today. He's expecting the Demecrats to win and he wants them to win. He says there needs to be a two party system. Do ya think?
By the way only paraphrasing. The transcript is on the site.

My fellow Americans, Bush does not view our Constitution as a piece of paper. He views our Constitution as a piece of toilet paper so he can wipe his ass with it.

We can all picture Bush sitting on a toilet and after he unloads taking piece of our Constitution and wiping away the Bill of Rights, the Preamble, and the Amendments with one gigantic wipe of his ass. Our Constitution is now flushed down the toilet as turds with turds.

Jeanne, the fun has only just begun!

Imperial Germany was not Nazi Germany. Morally, it was no better or worse than other imperial powers of that period, including the USA. It would not have made one bit of difference to the freedom or safety of ordinary Americans if the Central Powers had won World War I. World War I was simply the last great family quarrel between the interbred--and inbred--misruling classes of Europe.

Our involvement in World War II was ONLY necessary because it was necessary to tie down as much of Germany's material resources and brainpower as possible in order to minimize the chances that they could develop the atom bomb first. If not for that, it would not have been necessary to provoke the arrogant Japanese into attacking Pearl Harbor. Yamamoto, their supreme admiral, opposed going to war. He had served as Japan's naval attache in Washington in the 1920s and knew the industrial potential of the USA. He told the others that if he were ordered to go to war with America, he would run wild for 6 months, but after that, he could promise nothing. Once he had no choice, he knew he had to do as much damage as possible with the first blow. It was thought that air-dropped torpedoes could not work in Pearl Harbor because it was too shallow--the torpedoes would drop into the mud and get stuck before they could straighten up and run to their targets. The Japanese got around the problem by attaching structures of balsa wood to their torpedoes; the wood would give the torpedoes just enough buoyancy in their drops through the air so that they'd strike the water at a shallower angle and would not get stuck in the mud. The fragile wooden structures shattered on impact, so they would not impede the torpedoes. If FDR and company indeed allowed Pearl Harbor to happen--I neither endorse nor dismiss the idea--perhaps they thought Japan could not do major damage to the fleet because of the torpedo problem.

Japan had ignored the Axis pact by refusing to join Germany's attack on the USSR, so Germany could have refused to declare war on the USA after Pearl Harbor, but Hitler lacked Yamamoto's wisdom and thought the USA was easy prey.

I agree with the interventionists that our involvement in World War II was necessary, because of the unique necessity of tying down German resources to minimize the probability that they would get the atom bomb first, [much the same reason Edith Keeler had to be allowed to die ;)] but I see WWII as the great EXCEPTION, whereas to the interventionists it is the great EXAMPLE.

I disagree with the slogan that the 9/11 attacks were another Pearl Harbor--did the Japanese have to hijack our carrier planes to attack Pearl Harbor? If Al-Qaida truly was responsible, then what we have there is another Little Big Horn--the freakish victory of a technologically weaker culture over a technologically stronger one due to incompetent leadership on the technologically stronger side; maybe we should start calling the Chimperor "President George W. Custer". If PNAC and/or allies of PNAC were actually responsible, then what we have there is another Reichstag Fire.

From the swamps of Arkansas, Ivory Bill Woodpecker

Kelo: The Growing Specter of Government "Rights"
By Christopher G. Adamo, 12/8/2005 9:09:51 AM

Linked by Free Market News

Most profound among the many failures of the American "educational" system has been its abominable distortion of this nation’≥ history. In particular, the principles of constitutional law, once widely understood by the citizenry, are now treated as hazy and erudite philosophies, only fit for debate within intellectual circles.

Consider the original nature of the Bill of Rights in contrast to the misconceptions of it now held by a dangerously large number of Americans. Even a cursory reading of the document quickly reveals that it does not enable the people but instead uncategorically prohibits actions by the government, and more specifically the Congress (the founders presumed laws could only originate there), that might infringe on universally understood rights of the people.

Thus, despite the seemingly misleading nature of its title, the document was never intended as a litany of "rights," granted by the nation's beneficent leaders in Washington. Rather, it established ironclad limits on the ability of government to encroach on those inalienable rights of the citizenry.

The founders well understood the dark and universal tendency of those holding power to seek to expand it, and thus placed unassailable roadblocks in their path. For well over a century, this firewall worked. But eventually the power mongers became sufficiently creative to fabricate a loophole. And widespread public ignorance of the ensuing threat has allowed it to metastasize ever since.
-----------
SHHHH! Don't tell anyone!

Ivory Bill, the provocation of Japan is only half the story. The decision to stand by and allow the attack to occur is the other half. The comparison to the PNAC call for another Pearl Harbor is an apt comparison in that it too was allowed to occur. Though much evidence shows it was also provoked and helped along from within. The endless secrecy and suppressing of witnesses and evidence lends credence to this theory.

#316 Jeanne, I would hope that David Brooks is correct but with rigged voting machines giving the repugnants a 15 to 20 point advantage from the start of voting I doubt a Democratic victory in 2006. It will be two years since the election of 2004. Diebold has had time to fine tune its machines. Even if the Democrats gain some seats, the hatred in this country is so deep and widespread that our hatred will destroy any possibility for a healing America. Evil is in total control of this country.

If you have any doubt in my words, please remember the Indiana county that 19,000 registered voters and after the election about 100,000 people voted in that county.

I'm going to need to leave for a while after I post this: If the complicity scenario for Pearl Harbor is correct, I don't understand why it would be thought necessary that the attack succeed. Wouldn't it have been better to lure the Imperial fleet in, and then have our fleet out of harbor and our planes in the air waiting for them? We'd still have had the excuse to go to war, and we could have started it in a stronger position.--IBW

IBW,

A quicker and surer victory would not have given the military/industrial complex nearly as much leverage, going forward...but that's just an afterthought.

-T

Speaking of bad microscopic buggies,

Anybody heard from Solly?

When it comes to creepy-crawlies...HE 'DA MAN!

-T

Hajji, I've been thinking about Solly too. He must be very busy.
Ivory Bill, why did they think it necessary to allow the sinking of the Lusitania? They also were warned but refused to pass that warning on to the passengers, and many innocent people died. I think they believe that it is the shock value which is needed to incite people to war, as the PNAC document admitted, the American people would NEVER go along with their plans for world military domination without an event like Pearl Harbor. They showed their hand with that one sentence.

WHEN CHRISTMAS CHANGED TO XMAS THAT SAID IT ALL..SHOULD BE $$$MAS

#206 Capt..I am with you. If Jesus did exist...what a guy..a compassionate socialist..a radical. He would be turning over some tables these days.

#230 Saladin did you get on the Christian Peace Makers alert list. This article looks like some of the reports CPT has been sending back for the last two and a half years...critical on the ground reports.

#257 Jeanne..am aware of HB1..these criminals have no shame or integrity. Folks in Ohio are fighting back, but the fascist are serious. One of the best web sites for actions is the FREE PRESS in Ohio....Fitkaris and Wasserman are really focused on this issue.

#259 Capt
#285 Saladin The timing of a first strike by Israel on Iran on their "supposed" nuclear buildup should be closely looked at. The trial of LARRY FRANKLIN/ ROSEN/ AIPAC IS COMING UP IN APRIL. This would sure help the Israeli agenda by taking the spotlight off of the spying that Israel has continued to do in the U.S. over the years. This trial's importance in exposing how Israel's actions threatens U.S. National Security is about to be exposed. That is if the MSM actually reports about this upcoming trial.( we need to pre-empt this trial by being focuse on the media in March...demanding that they cover this trial...

The right wing radicals have been able to continue to move forward the agenda of the PNAC and the document "The CLEAN BREAK A NEW STRATEGY FOR SECURING THE REALM".

The aggressive posturing by these radicals towards Iran and Syria has been relentless

I AM STILL HAMMERING THE MEDIA AND OUR REPRESENTATIVES TO GET BACK TO PHASE II OF THE SSCI. The media continues to be complicit to Phase II dropping off of the radar screen once again. Now the topic is what we call this holiday.. David would you please get back to this investigation?

THE MEDIA IS SUCH A TOOL FOR DIVERSION THEY GO ALONG IN DISTRACTING DISTRACTING DISTRACTING.

CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVES CALL SENATOR PAT ROBERTS THIS WEEK. DEMAND PHASE II MOVE FORWARD..REMEMBER CONGRESS SPENT MILLIONS OF DOLLARS AND LOTS OF TIME INVESTIGATING LIES ABOUT A BLOW JOB..DEMAND THEY FULLY INVESTIGATE THE MASSIVE WMD INTELLIGENCE SNOWJOB..THEY HAVE NOT COME ANYWHERE CLOSE TO DOING A COMPLETE INVESTIGATION. ..THESE SAME FOLKS CONTINUE TO CLEAR THE WAY FOR ACTIONS IN IRAN.....HOLD THESE INDIVIDUALS ACCOUNTABLE FOR THEIR LIES......
PHASE II OF THE SSCI..NOW

yes, PNAC showed their hand - and lo and behold exactly what they wished for came to pass with exactly the results anticipated by them - but it's no doubt just a big coincidence -

Kathleen, I am not on their list, but I keep close track of their doings. I am absolutely convinced that these kidnappings are not the work of Iraqi insurgents or Arab "terrorists." I always look at will benefit from pulling that kind of stunt, and it sure isn't Iraq! You make a good point about the Franklin trial. I have read that the US is considering releasing Pollard in exchange for another political prisoner in Israel, can't recall who at the moment. But it is also quite a coincidence that Iran is planning to begin the Iranian Bourse in March, and to start trading in euros instead of dollars. saddam had the same plan when we invaded. No matter what, it always boils down to money.

-From MTP Transcript...

____________
SEN. GRAHAM: You just have to be blind not to understand what's going on in the country. The truth is that people in South Carolina are doing what they're doing all over the nation, they're wondering why it's taking so long. We've undersold how hard this would be. Without violence it took years to get Germany and Japan from dictatorships to democracy. Yet, at every turn we've underestimated how hard it would be. We've underestimated the actual economic cost, how hard it would be to build an economy up after the fall of Baghdad. We've never had enough troops. We've paid a price in the past for our missteps. We've assumed the best and never planned for the worst and it's hurt us. It's hurt us with our own people, it's hurt us internationally.
_________________

Golly gee there Senator Dipstick...didn't you read the letters I sent you BEFORE the invasion of IRAQ?

-T

193, Saladin,

You are right on there. The "birth" of Christ wasn't celebrate for many many centuries.
The only reason Christmas was invented was to convert the pagans. So they co-opted their Winter Solstice festival and said it was Jesus' birthday. Just as Easter is a pagan word/festival and the symbols of rabbits and eggs are symbols of fertility. The pagans celebrated the rebirth of spring. It was all tied to the seasons.

Even when my Christian friends understand this, they still claim them as their own.

The Voice of God

The mystery is solved Cheney is God. Yes, Bush believes that Cheney's voice is really God's voice. I guess that would mean that Cheney is really running the country and Bush is the bobblehead emperor.

I will now have to post the cheneygod instad of the bushgod. I always thought Bush was just too stupid to know up from down and the inside from the outside.

The cheneygod directs Bush's emperorship. No wonder the cheneygod has a nuclear bunker in Wyoming he has first hand knowledge of a nuclear holocaust.

NO, here is the real secret ... Do I dare tell.

OK, you asked for it.

Rove is So Sneaky! Set up the Dems for the 06 fall!!!!

GOP,

OK, I think I finally got it. President Bush laid low during the summer and fall this year, while the Iraq situation stabilized with continued road-side bombs, picking off US troops one-by-one while leading to parliamentary elections, during which time the Democrats, unable to stomach any losses, got into their cut-and-run mentality, feeding on perceived weakness of Bush in the polls.

I think the Republicans, and particularly Carl Rove, set them up for the big 06 fall. While laying low, the republicans baited the screeching Democrats into their Cut-and-Run policy, and now are set up for the 06 sheering, as American hate a coward and a lost war but love a victor and winner in war, especially where 50,000,000 are liberated from tyranny and oppression.

I think this lay-low baiting of the democrats is working well, intended or not, and the Pelozi, Dean, and Muldah gang-of-thugs fell right into the republican trap, and none of their mid-06 change-of-heart, war-hawk rants will save them, in 06.

The net result: The conservatives will hold the Whitehouse, the Congress, and in 06 the supreme court, and there is nothing the democrats can do to save their sorry political-pandering butts in 06.

Rove is so goooooooooooodd

In the final analysis, Bush is a political animal, and the dems have no clue, on how to win against him.

wow. that was very informative. that was info worthy of timL. more left v. right nonsense to cover for the fact that PNAC had called for a 'New Pearl Harbor' and subsequently got one with 911.

it put's the lotion on it's skin.

wow. that was very informative. that was info worthy of timL. more left v. right nonsense to cover for the fact that PNAC had called for a 'New Pearl Harbor' and subsequently got one with 911.

it put's the lotion on it's skin.

the pre-christian god Mithras, called the 'son of god' and the 'light of the world' was born on dec. 25th, died, was buried in a rock tomb, then resurrected in 3 days -
dec. 25th is also the birthday of Osiris, Adonis, and Dionysus -
the newborn Krishna was presented with gold, frankincense, and myrrh -

Dang, I can go back to sears now, and buy, they now have a "merry christmas" sign. Thank God, he gave us Bill OReilly, when we really needed someone to step up and call it like it is.

MERRY CHRISTMAS all!!!

Evil

I experienced the worst time in my centering prayer activities last night. For some reason I focused on the word evil instead of words, like God, Mary, or love. Words that would be more uplifting were changed to the word, evil. Maybe it was because I see America is such disarray today that brought out this change in a word for me.

As I prayed, my guardian angel brought me a vision or an experience that I could not shake. Normally, in centering prayer I can change to a new word and I would be awake or out from the intense state that comes during centering prayer. Last night that was not the case.

My guardian angel took back to the time of Sodom and Gomorra and the destruction that God brought to those cities. My guardian angel said that God has let some angels visit homes and dwellings to determine whether or not America should be spared His wrath. God has given America so much but America has failed God like no other time in the history of His creations.

His angels are to determine how evil and vile is America. According to my angel God will spare no one this time. How long it will take for God's angels to assess the souls of Americans is unknown. If God's angels' report reveals that the American way of life is too evil to save, God will determine the punishment.

I was able to awake in a pool of perspiration that seemed like an unending flow from my body. Fortunately, I had two dry towels at my side. But my head has throbbing and I needed wash towels for my face and neck to subside the pain. Cold compresses were applied.

I said to my guardian angel that never again would I go into centering prayer with a negative word. My guardian angel said in a whisper that I can no longer decide the word for centering prayer and that it was now in God's hands.

You all going back into history is a joke, as all you need to do is to Honor Genl./President Grant and his noble deed to setting aside, ONE DAY, for christains and anyothers to celebrat. Any reference to this holiday as other than Christmas, is a dilution of that federal holiday, and a smack at christain values. While we may have created or adopted, santa claus, christmas tree, chrismas lights on houses, red-green christmas colors, christmas caroles signing, they have become apart of AMERICAN culture based upon tradition christain value, and calling these things anything other that CHRISTMAS is a secular dilution. If you all want to dump Christmas, contact your congressman to submit a bill deleting the holiday, and stop beating around the holiday tree. Can any of you act according to your politics, or are the cornnut a bunch of fairytails.

1) Tookie Williams will get justly fried
2) Iraq will elect a parlimentary government
3) Bush back up in the polls with Dems' cut and run policy.
4) Christmas is becoming politically correct again.

SOUND LIKE A GRAND-SLAM this week in the good old USA.

Call on, lets all sing

ooooohhhh say can you see .....

Now repeat after me,

One nature under God ...
In God we Trust .....

COME ALL YE FAITHFUL,
YOU CAN DO IT!!!!!!!

And in January, the conservatives take back the supreme court. GOD IS BLESSING AMERICA!!!

Dems, and their wicked secularism is the best friend the GOP every had. Keep it up lefties, with your bush-lied routine, AND MAKE MY DAY!!!

derrick

nobody cares man, it's christmas ok. you giys allow yourself to get worked up over the stupidest shit... christmas, gay marriage, trial lawyers, etc. Man there are real problems in the world, forget about the stupid commercial pagan holiday crap. the ice caps are melting and people are murdering each other. merry christmas ok

go smoke some marijaunica and drink some gin and tonica. please

Ripple,

Sage advice for all!

-Opryman!

merry christmas all!

Any reference to this holiday as other than Christmas, is a dilution of that federal holiday, and a smack at christain values.

ha. and any reference to 911, (which on my calendar is for some reason labelled as 'Patriot Day'), without also referring to PNAC and their openly declared statement of intentions not to mention their plan, is a dilution of that federal tragedy, and a smack at logic and eyewitness testimony, not to mention an attempt at rewriting of history itself.

Pentagon devising scenarios for martial law in US

According to a report published Monday by the Washington Post, the Pentagon has developed its first ever war plans for operations within the continental United States, in which terrorist attacks would be used as the justification for imposing martial law on cities, regions or the entire country.

The front-page article cites sources working at the headquarters of the military’s Northern Command (Northcom), located in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The plans themselves are classified, but “officers who drafted the plans” gave details to Post reporter Bradley Graham, who was recently given a tour of Northcom headquarters at Peterson Air Force Base. The article thus appears to be a deliberate leak conducted for the purpose of accustoming the American population to the prospect of military rule.

A total of 15 potential crisis scenarios are outlined, ranging from “low-end,” which Graham describes as “relatively modest crowd-control missions,” to “high-end,” after as many as three simultaneous catastrophic mass-casualty events, such as a nuclear, biological or chemical weapons attack.

In each case, the military would deploy a quick-reaction force of as many as 3,000 troops per attack—i.e., 9,000 total in the worst-case scenario. More troops could be made available as needed.

put that together with last month's leaking of a GOP memo calling for a new terror attack to bolster the sagging approval ratings of bushco, and we have a ready-made recipe for disaster -

you heard it here first folks!

If I recall, the porn industry is a heavy contributor to conservative politicians. The conservatives are very interested in blow jobs, fornication, and copulation. Their whole existence centers around money and the phallus. The conservatives are the father of secularism and hedonistic lifestyles.

Ripple, maybe I should have a ripple, but prefer a fatty.

Its called encroachment, little tiny steps by the secularist, until you get to a point where, there is no christmas, there is no right-wrong, there is no morality, there is only, if it feel goods do it, there are no rules, anything goes. If you can never draw line, there is no line, and there are no rules, and society degrades into the pits of human decadence. Do you really want to turn on KABC and watch two gay butt-f**k each other on national TV with the children right there watching? I that what you want? Where would draw the line, IF ANY???

#350 James Ha, the Nazis are planning prior to the 2006 and 2008 elections on how to introduce martial law and suspend the elections. The big suspension is for 2008. My prediction of no 2008 elections is looking better and better. There are Pentagon and CIA operatives who are working on how they can be the terrorists without getting caught. We have a total Nazi/fascist nation right now in America. The noose is tight right now around our necks. That is why we are called the red neck nation.

THE GLORY OF BUSH AND THE CHENEYGOD IS MAN FULLY DEAD.

We must hold the scoundrels accountable

Dictionary of Republicisms

actually derrick Six Feet Under is without a doubt one of the best shows I've ever seen on TV despite the uncomfortable gay sex. I'd rather explain to my kids why people have sex than why there are 200 simulated murders on tv every hour. However, I've never had much faith in man anyway, so I don't let my kids watch too much. Jeff Corwin, Bear in the Big Blue House, and an occasional Bengals game, but that's about it. As for the incrementalism, that's how it goes. Democracies inherently destroy themselves, usually it begins with immorality. America is smack dab in the middle of the dumb down period where the lowest common denomenator is the only possible issue to exploit, in hopes that the big ones go unchecked. Hence the bogus War on Christmas, blah it's such pathetic idiocy to fall into the trap. No one has objected to Christmas, it's a smokescreen, isn't that obvious to you? Honestly man, the line was drawn in Eden, and it has been crossed too many times to expect "society" to mind it. Keep toking - it will be clear. Jesus is everywhere, why do you care if some made up attack on a pagan holiday is politcally correct or socially relevant?

Unforgiveable

Martial Law

Excuses for War

Mad Wars

The Pause of Mr. Claus
words and music by Arlo Guthrie

This next song we're going to dedicate to a great American
organization. Tonight I'd like to dedicate this to our boys
in the FBI.

Well, wait a minute. It's hard to be an FBI man. I mean, first
of all, being an FBI man, you have to be over 40 years old.
And the reason is that it takes at least 25 years with the
organization to be that much of a bastard. It's true. You just
can't join, you know. It needs an atmosphere where your
natural bastardness can grow and develop and take a
meaningful shape in today's complex society.

But that's not why I want to dedicate the song to the FBI. I
mean, the job that they have to do is a drag. I mean, they have
to follow people around, you know. That's part of their job.
Follow me around.

I'm out on the highway and I'm drivin' down the road and I
run out of gasoline. I pull over to the side of the road. They
gotta pull over too - make believe that they ran out, you
know.

I go to get some gasoline. They have to figure out whether
they should stick with the car or follow me. Suppose I don't
come back and they're stayin' with the car.

Or if I fly on the airplanes, I could fly half fare because I'm 12
to 22. And they gotta pay the full fare. But the thing is that
when you pay the full fare, you have to get on the airplane
first, so that they know how many seats are left over for the
half fare kids. Right? And sometimes there aren't any seats
left over, and sometimes there are, but that doesn't mean that
you have to go.

Suppose that he gets on and fills up the last seat, so you can't
get on. Then he gets off then you can get on. What's he gonna
do?

Well, it's a drag for him. But that's not why I want to dedicate
the song to the FBI.

During these hard days and hard weeks, everybody always
has it bad once in a while. You know, you have a bad time of
it, and you always have a friend who says "Hey man, you
ain't got it that bad. Look at that guy." And you at that
guy, and he's got it worse than you. And it makes you feel
better that there's somebody that's got it worse than you.

But think of the last guy. For one minute, think of the last
guy. Nobody's got it worse than that guy. Nobody in the
whole world. That guy...he's so alone in the world that he
doesn't even have a street to lay in for a truck to run him over.
He's out there with nothin'. Nothin's happenin' for that cat.

And all that he has to do to create a little excitement in his
own life is to bum a dime from somewhere, call up the FBI.
Say "FBl?", they say "Yes", say "I think Uncle Ho and Chair-
man Mao and their friends are comin' over for dinner" (click)
Hang up the phone.

And within two minutes, and not two minutes from when he
hangs up the phone, but two minutes from when he first put
the dime in, they got 30,000 feet of tape rollin'; files on tape;
pictures, movies, dramas, actions on tape. But then they send
out a half a million people all over the entire world, the globe,
they find out all they can about this guy.

'Cause there's a number of questions involved in the guy. I
mean, if he was the last guy in the world, how'd he get a dime
to call the FBI? There are plenty of people that aren't the last
guys that can't get dimes. He comes along and he gets a dime.

I mean, if he had to bum a dime to call the FBI, how was he
gonna serve dinner for all of those people? How could the
last guy make dinner for all those people. And if he could
make dinner, and was gonna make dinner, then why did he
call the FBI?

They find out all of those questions within two minutes. And
that's a great thing about America. I mean, this is the only
country in the world...l mean, well, it's not the only country
in the world that could find stuff out in two minutes, but it's
the only country in the world that would take two minutes
for that guy.

Other countries would say "Hey, he's the last guy...screw
him", you know? But in America, there is no discrimination,
and there is no hypocrisy,'cause they'll get anybody. And that's
a wonderful thing about America.

And that's why tonight I'd like to dedicate it to every FBI
man in the audience. I know you can't say nothin', you know,
you can't get up and say "Hi!" cause then everybody knows
that you're an FBI man and that's a drag for you and your
friends.

They're not really your friends, are they? I mean, so you can't
get up and say nothin' 'cause other wise, you gotta get sent
back to the factory and that's a drag for you and it's an
expense for the government, and that's a drag for you.

We're gonna sing you this Christmas carol. It's for all you
bastards out there in the audience tonight. It's called "The
Pause of Mr. Claus".

Why do you sit there so strange?
Is it because you are beautiful?
You must think you are deranged
Why do police guys beat on peace guys?

You must think Santa Clause weird
He has long hair and a beard
Giving his presents for free
Why do police guys mess with peace guys?

Let's get Santa Clause 'cause;
Santa Clause has a red suit
He's a communist
And a beard, and long hair
Must be a pacifist
What's in the pipe that he's smoking?

Mister Clause sneaks in your home at night.
He must be a dope fiend, to put you up tight
Why do police guys beat on peace guys?

Republican anti-war quotes

Bush's Cabal

THOSE LUCKY DUCKS WHO GET A "HOLY" DAY AS A FEDERAL HOLIDAY SHOULD COUNT THEIR BLESSINGS...

Bill O'Reilly, John Gibson, et. al. can take their Merry Christmas trees and shove 'em anywhere they want to, as far as I'm concerned. All this noise about the War on Christmas is such a stoooopid distraction from real issues!

Has it not occurred to the War on Christmas Battalion that Christmas is THE ONLY NATIONAL LEGAL PUBLIC FEDERAL HOLIDAY with a religious component -- a "Christian" holiday? They should feel fortunate that they have been singled out for this special distinction -- the federal government declaring a Christian "holy" day as a federal holiday is quite a generous gift, in my book.

I don't care when Christmas is celebrated. Celebrate it on the Fourth of July, dual birthday parties, Jesus and our Independence. Fine with me. The Congress has no constitutional permission to endorse or aid any religion, nor is it constitutionally permitted to enact laws or declarations that entangle religious and government beliefs. I'm not against Christmas at all, but I do have a problem with all these good Christians trying to exploit it for their political gain.

In the immortal words of big mouth O'Reilly, I suggest those good Christians SHUT UP! and be satisfied that they have a "holy" day as a federal holiday -- something no other religious group has in this country of diverse beliefs.

I believe Mr. Wolcott has just called you out. Big time.

Played basketball with Mr. Viveca Novak recently?

#331 Saladin...I have read the trade would be Pollard for Mordechai Vanunu...the Israeli engineer who verified the massive amounts of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons that were/are stockpiled in Israel.

Arnold,

Don't go woozy over Tookie. The State of California prosecuted him, they found him guilty and they sentenced him to die. Please carry out the wishes of the State of California, even if it is 24 years later.

Pigs at the Trough of War

The Bush Administration's reign of error and terror has left a pile of corruption, waste, and destruction that rivals the muck of the Augean stable. Jeffrey St. Clair’≥ new book, Grand Theft Pentagon, accomplishes the Herculean task of exposing these abuses with brilliant investigative journalism carried off with unmatched sarcasm.

After the Cold War, the military industrial complex was desperate for a new conflict to legitimize profligate spending on war, weapons systems, and their associated services. St. Clair chronicles how Bush’≥ so-called War on Terror has enabled our rulers to rekindle the incestuous relationship between politicians, the Pentagon, and military contractors.

The marriage counselor of this foul union is none other than George Bush himself. In perhaps the funniest expose of the Bushes yet written, St. Clair tells the story of this company masquerading as a family.

The portrait is not very flattering, politically or personally. Demonstrating their congenital penchant for putting profit before all else, the dynasty’≥ founder Prescott Bush barely escaped charges of treason for wheeling and dealing with the Nazis during WWII.

But the Bush clan does not find a haven from such heartlessness at home; matriarch Barbara Bush lost so little sleep over her daughter's death from leukemia that she was out golfing the next day.
---------------------
Looks like a very good book.

ha, ha! punk'd by viveca.

go whine to your buddies at pajamas media...

What Viveca Novak Told Fitzgerald By VIVECA NOVAK

Bush adviser to reporter: Katrina "has fallen so far of the radar screen, you can't find it."

On September 15, President Bush stood in Jackson Square in New Orleans and made a promise:

And tonight I also offer this pledge of the American people: Throughout the area hit by the hurricane, we will do what it takes, we will stay as long as it takes, to help citizens rebuild their communities and their lives. And all who question the future of the Crescent City need to know there is no way to imagine America without New Orleans, and this great city will rise again.

It hasn't worked out that way. Here's Washington Post reporter Mike Allen today on Meet the Press:

It's going to tell you something to amaze you; it amazed me yesterday. The last time the president was in the hurricane region was October 11, two months ago. The president stood in New Orleans and said it was going to be one of the largest reconstruction efforts in the history of the world. You go to the White house home page, there's Barney camp, there's Social Security, there's Renewing Iraq. Where's renewing New Orleans? A presidential advisor told me that issue has fallen so far off the radar screen, you can't find it.

The New York Times says the neglect is threatening the future of the city:

We are about to lose New Orleans. Whether it is a conscious plan to let the city rot until no one is willing to move back or honest paralysis over difficult questions, the moment is upon us when a major American city will die, leaving nothing but a few shells for tourists to visit like a museum.

Why does this president seem more interested in rebuilding Iraq than rebuilding America?
----------------------
This is a disgusting statement about America. In 2003 when my husband was laid off with few hopes of finding another job and I had cancer I told people I felt like we were disappearing from the landscape of America. This city is disappearing from the landscape of America.
This is a statement. The reconstruction that is not happening in the richest country in the world sends a huge message to the citizens of American and the world. The president does not care. The congress does not care. It's not so much that the rebuilding is slow. It's that it ain't happening.

#373 I have no bone to pick with Viveca Novak, but everytime I read one more reporter's recollection of events, I wonder if they remember anything with accuracy!

There should be a new game show, "Who Do You Trust?"

ha ha I see you!

#374 Jeanne, your post reveals what is wrong with a once great nation.

#367 micki, I marvel at the Nazis, like O'Reilly and others who use certain issues so our minds are off the really issues, such as justice and peace.

#367 and #374 are two reasons why I foresee hell in America's future. It could not happen to a more deserving nation.

How does it feel for all of you to have the mental disorder called liberalism?

How does it feel to be responsible for our soldiers dying in Iraq because of your politics?

You people have no shame, and if it were up to me, I would have you all investigated for treason and aiding the enemy you filthy, filthy people.

As for Mr. Corn, if you sir were in the media during World War II, we would never have defeated Hitler and the Nazis. Your problem is you hate President Bush more then the throat cutting sub-humans. You sir, are mentally disturbed. And by the way, you can tell you are mentally disturbed just by your facial expressions when you are on TV. Go pray to Allah. You have no shame.

God Bless America, the troops, and President Bush!

I also learned that when a person posts, he or she needs tough skin. You cannot let the trolls get to you because many are paid operatives by the Nazi/fascist party or the War party that we once knew as the Republican Party. Another name is the Grand Old Party. It is too bad that they are no longer grand. Old, yes, with dry rot surfacing from all their corruption and evil ways!

I have tried to focus on some ways to promote justice and peace. Personally, I believe that unless we have love and mercy in our hearts, America is a doomed nation. What surprises me is that how much hatred Americans have for the poor and the underserved. I truly believe that God will not let America's evil ways continue to damage what He has created for all of us. We must remember that we are part of the human race as brothers and sisters in God.