But what about telling Rove's attorney about Cooper's source was Rove? What business did she have doing that? What does pushing back have to do with betraying collegues? I thinked she f**ked up on all fronts.

odd, the things that are front page subjects and the things that are not....

I have a problem following this investigation. I am not a lawyer and I can only hope that Fitzgerald can indict the cheneygod and follow up with an indictment of mass murderer and war criminal George W. Bush. Those would be two glorious indictments for our demented, depraved, and diabolical leaders.

David, she was journalistically unethical in the way she handled Luskin AND in the way she dealt, or didn't deal, with this with her Time bosses.

And, if I were in your shoes, I'd also argue that she's been personally unethical in her dealings with you.

Psst, David. The coffee? It's right over there on the counter. Smell it?

Aw, David. You try to carry a little bit of water for Luskin's "not-a-close-friend" Novak, and whaddya get? Pulled under by the desperate clutches of her drowning reputation. David, don't ditch your reporting skills by sucking up to sources - we need you.

I'm undecided about whether 'Vivacuous' Novak deserves a' bitch slap' or a 'pimp slap'.

Seeing how you,David Corn functions as Vivacuous' defacto pimp/apologist, maybe you should be compelled to do the 'honors' and open up a can of wupass on the 'ho.

Andrea Mitchell can administer the 'bitch' slap.

It takes one to know one.

The MSM presstitute circus is just simply beyond contempt at this point.

I wish enough decent people in this shell of a 'democracy' known as America would just stop consuming the vile out-put / put-out of these so called 'journalists' and collapse the revenue base of the NYT and WaPo and Time. Just stop buying their godamn tainted garbage at the newsstand and cause the whole lot of MSM publications to financially fail.

It's the only solution at this point. No more mea culpas, no more half-ass confessions or crock -a -dial tears of remorse.

It's like that old TV show "Branded" where they cut the buttons off Chuck o'Connor's uniform and snap his sword in two.

Line up Woodwart and Vivacuous and Chick Coop and Miss Pea Greenspank and you Cornhole, cut their press credentials off and break their godamn pens in half.

Is the pen still mightier than the sword???

I think not.

Maybe the blog is mightier than the MSM.

I don't get it. A convo with a reporter made him go back and do this great big search... found the email... bullshyt! A convo with anyone, I don't care who da fk, makes you find something you should have already turned over?? I personally don't think Novak tweaked anything, he just got a bright idea to use her that way, so as to try 'n weasel out on not complying with the subpoena for all the records.

Rendition unto Caesar

Are we getting the real truth from people who will lie to protect themselves by torture or no torture?

the Novak discussion had caused Luskin and/or Rove to worry that word of the Rove-Cooper conversation could seep out.

AND

"It seems there are three possibilities: January, March or May of 2004. Each are well before Rove's October 2004 appearance before the grand jury, during which he reportedly conceded he had spoken to Cooper about Valerie Wilson."

Seems to me, her mistake actually smoked out a tidbit of truth from the liars.

She (Novak) has made a mistake (or two) and admitted it and is truthful. We are all human and we all make mistakes . . except Bunnypants.

I believe in the truth and that the truth of a thing matters. From where I stand, as long as she is truthful it does not matter what or how it effects the outcome.

The truth is more important than a Rove indictment. What would be the other option, lying with an intention to effect the outcome? That would be the biggest mistake.

Rove should hang or be hung out to dry for crimes he committed. His indictment and conviction must be made on a foundation of truth.

A small bump in the road for V. Novak (IMHO) and if her faux pas smoked out evidence for or against Rove - good, so be it, the truth stands.

In my world the truth must be more important than even a Rove indictment for his lies (if it come to that).

The truth must be told and I do not see anything dishonest coming from V. Novak, a few missteps a a whoop's or two with her colleagues but no lying.

Truth has to be enough. Truth and justice are the American paradigm even when our politicos are liars and slugs and the justice part of the formula has yet to be written.

As much as I want Rove convicted, I know such must be based on the truth. To base it on anything else is un-American.

Seems like grasping at straws when Rove and his defense team try to deflect attention from the investigation about his crimes to the statements of others not charged or of questionable materiel to his culpability for the crime.

Great post and thanks for the update!

Kirk

Cheney and Fried Rice in Hot Water

December 12, 2005

by Ray McGovern

European reaction to visiting Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's statements on torture can be summed up in lead commentary Wednesday in the Sueddeutsche Zeitung, among the most widely respected German newspapers. Under the title "Justice à la Rice," the editor "translated" her message into these words: "The end justifies the means, and terrorism can be fought with borderline methods on the outer edges of legality." He added: "Rice came to Germany to begin a new era. She has resoundingly failed to do so. Injustice remains injustice, and a wrong policy remains a wrong policy. On this basis you cannot re-launch the trans-Atlantic relationship."

There was no mushroom cloud, but Rice is radioactive nonetheless. No matter how much she and the embedded reporters traveling with her tried to spin her words, they are falling on deaf ears in Europe. Even here at home, the administration is encountering unusual skepticism in the heretofore-domesticated media. The normally sleepy editorial side of the Washington Post, for example, found it possible to lead its first editorial yesterday by reminding readers that Rice broke no new ground in claiming Wednesday that U.S. personnel – "wherever they are" – are prohibited from using cruel or inhuman interrogation techniques. This is hardly a profile in courage for the Post: The president's spokesman, Scott McClellan, had already told reporters that Rice was merely expressing existing policy.

Trouble on the Home Front

With attention riveted on the cause célèbre occasioned by revelations concerning CIA-run prisons abroad, kidnapping, and "extraordinary renditions" of captives to torture-prone foreign countries – and the predictably neuralgic reaction among our allies – it is easy to miss the likely political fallout here at home.

Vice President Dick Cheney, whose unbridled chutzpah has led him to take public and well as private credit for being the intellectual author of U.S. policy on torture, has become such a glaring liability that his tenure may be short-lived. There is a growing possibility that the vice president will resign at the turn of the year "for reasons of health," and that his partner-in-crime – in what Colin Powell's former chief of staff at the State Department, Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, has labeled the "Cheney-Rumsfeld cabal" – will choose to retire to his home in Taos early next year.

Never in the 60 years since World War II has an American secretary of state been received with such hostility by our erstwhile friends in Europe. In one sense, it can be seen as poetic justice that Rice, who as national security adviser to the president never heard a Cheney suggestion she didn't like, is taking the heat, while the vice president hides behind her skirts. Poetic justice for Cheney himself, though, may be just around the corner.

It is no secret that Cheney bears primary responsibility for making our country a pariah among nations by punching a gaping hole in the (until now) absolute ban on torture under international and U.S. law. Under international treaties, including treaties ratified by the U.S. Senate and thus the supreme law of the land, civilized societies have long since prohibited practices widely recognized as torture. No matter. At the instigation of the Cheney-Rumsfeld cabal, the inherent human right to physical integrity and personal dignity has become an early casualty of the U.S. "war on terror."

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

"war on the truth" and "tortured the truth" is more like it.

Fried Rice? I like neo-Condi but fried Rice is just as accurate.

capt

Care to comment on your earlier vouchering: I've known Viveca Novak for close to 20 years, and this all squares with my nothing-but-positive impression of her. (Interest disclosed: I used to regularly play basketball with her husband, a career labor lawyer, whom I always had trouble guarding.) Will Novak's slip (if that's what it was) of the lip end up bolstering Rove's defense? If so, it's not because she aimed to do that, and, it seems, it's not because she did anything wrong. --David corn appx. dec. 3 05

'VICTORY IN IRAQ': A STRATEGY TO MASK DEFEAT

NEW YORK -- "Victory has a thousand fathers ..." John F. Kennedy once said, famously. Last week one of his successors, President Bush, used the word about that many times as he tried to explain how we would win one day in Iraq.

Alas, that is not going to happen. But Mr. Victory is talking as fast as he can to avoid thinking about JFK's next line: "Defeat is an orphan."

Hopefully, Bush, whom I characterized a week ago as running a strong race to be our worst president ever, will look a little better next week after the Iraqi elections we made possible. That would be a good thing for Iraq as it seems to collapse before our eyes. Certainly our ever-changing strategies there are collapsing. In fact, the "Plan for Victory," as the president called his speech at the U.S. Naval Academy, is a strategy to mask defeat.

Bravado aside, the new strategy, borrowed from failure in Vietnam and 19th-century British colonialism, could be called "Bases and Borders." The president put it this way: "We will increasingly move out of Iraqi cities, reduce the number of bases from which we operate and conduct fewer patrols and convoys."

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

Failed policy fails each and every time.

I bank on the ineptitude of the neocons. They have managed to crew up everything they have touched so far. No reason to think they are able to deviate from their history and reputation no matter how much they try to equivocate or relent.

capt

ADD "s" to crew - HA!

Murtha Returns to the Attack

Flays Commander-in-Chief's Claims

By ALEXANDER COCKBURN

On the heels of the second in Bush's series of four speeches on the war in Iraq, Rep John Murtha returned to the attack in a press conference, responding to Bush's claims. Armed with graphs, bar charts and intimate knowledge of what is actually happening on the ground in Iraq, the former US Marine shredded Bush's claims, blazing a path for his fellow Democrats, which most of them continue to shun.

Once again Murtha relayed what the four star generals are telling him. Among his disclosures.

Logistical planning and supplies for US forces has all but disintegrated. Murtha:

"We had National Guard security people without radios -- couldn't talk to the front, the back of the convoy, endangering their lives... Forty thousand troops didn't have body armor."

Substandard recruitment and poor training have produced an army incapable of fighting or even defending itself effectively. Murtha: "we have 112,000 shortages in critical MOSs. Now, what are those shortages? Number one, they're in demolition experts; number two, special forces people; number three, intelligence experts, which are absolutely essential; and fourth is translators. Now could there be any more important specialties than that? And we're short in every one of those fields.

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

I think my previous comment has been confirmed: A small group of sorry chicken-hawk warmongers can set their smear machine on Murtha but Marines eat chicken-hawks for breakfast.

The fact is, Murtha is the voice of the generals. Fitting the small minded pathetic trolls speak out against the real guys fighting the war.

capt

And reason...teaches all mankind who will but consult it, that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or possessions: -John Locke

=
Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them: Ralph Waldo Emerson

=
Some things you must always be unable to bear. Some things you must never stop refusing to bear. Injustice and outrage and dishonor and shame. No matter how young you are or how old you have got. Not for kudos and not for cash, your picture in the paper nor money in the bank, neither. Just refuse to bear them: William Faulkner

===

Thanks ICH newsletter~!

When I said we can't win a military victory, it's because the Iraqis have turned against us."

I just seen Frist while ago (crooks and liars) calling Dean a traitor for saying the same thing as Murtha's quote above. hmmm Why don't they call Murtha a traitor? Is Dean telling the truth same as Murtha, or are they both traitors? Dems should turn that false attack right around and ask them which one is it!

There is no sense trying to make sense from those who have no sense!

Incalculable pain

The Pentagon is underreporting the number of American soldier casualties in Iraq, say House Democrats.

By Mark Benjamin

12/10/05 "Salon.com" -- -- A group of seven House Democrats wrote President Bush this week, accusing the Pentagon of underreporting casualties in Iraq.

It's a shocking charge. The letter writers argue that Pentagon casualty reports show only a sliver of the injuries, mostly physical ones from bombs or bullets. But war doesn't work like that, the Democrats declare, adding that the reports skip a horrible panoply of accidents, illness, disease and mental trauma.

"We are concerned that that the figures that were released to the public by your administration do not accurately represent the true toll that this war has taken on the American people," the group wrote Bush on Dec. 7. The Dems are right.

Pentagon casualty reports show 2,390 service members dead from Iraq and Afghanistan and over 16,000 wounded. By far the vast majority of the wounded and dead are from Iraq.

But by Dec. 8, 2005, the military had evacuated another 25,289 service members from Iraq and Afghanistan for injuries or illnesses not caused directly by enemy bullets or bombs, according to the U.S. Transportation Command. That statistic includes everything from serious injuries in Humvee wrecks or other accidents to more routine illnesses that could be unrelated to field battles.

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

Every casualty deserves the dignity and respect to be counted and recorded truthfully.

The Pentagon and the WH are lying again. The sin of omission is a lie just the same. If they can qualify the numbers they could list all and categorize according to their process.

They pervert the numbers intentionally by such things as not counting a service member that dies while on a plane from Iraq to a hospital in another country (Germany) as a death in the Iraq conflict? The injury was in battle, in country but if they can hustle the worst out of country the dying hero does not count? Come on, they know they are lying.

As usual the WH shows contempt for those who have been injured or killed. Just numbers to them, no reason to report all the numbers, that would make them look bad.

The whole group of chicken-hawks disrespect the troops because the troops do what the chicken-hawks can never do, serve and honor their duty.

The neocons hate the fact that they cannot back-up to where they have never been nor teach what they do not know. They are clearly clueless with regard to honor and duty. They actually believe their own lies. They are always smearing vets to try to mitigate their inability to serve when they were young enough to do so.

Guilt is a very dark emotion, no wonder the whole group are very dark indeed.

They have no clue the pain and insult they inflict on the surviving families and injured heroes. To not count their loss is to dismiss their contribution to the cause. It is completely backwards, no surprise.

The truth will be known - sooner or later - later exposes their lies, sooner would be called for in any case.

capt

Are you fooling yourself, Mr. Corn? Because you're not convincing anybody else. That sucking sound you hear is your credibility going down the drain.

You've been had.

LATEST HEADLINES

Cheney lobbies lexicographers to redefine 'torture'

China: benzene safe to drink again

Report: scissors industry gave $10 million to Bush campaign

Exit poll: Iraqis want U.S. to exit

DeLay to work in prison laundry

Remote controlled aircraft destroys unmanned drone

Antarctica wins bid for next twelve Winter Olympics

IMAX, iTunes break off talks

Rice: torture happens

Hillary sponsors anti-bra burning bill

X Games to add waterboarding

Iraqi newspapers laud Katrina relief effort

Sexy, revealing clothing blamed on global warming

Lincoln Group awarded no-bid contract to rewrite history

Scoundrels endorse extension of Patriot Act

Washington fears secure undisclosed location bubble

Congress authorizes $36 billion for war on Christmas

Ouch: tourists mistakenly board rendition flight

*****

Thanks to the news crawl at Ironic Times

"No Earthly Idea": Frist Continues To Mislead on Stock Sale

Majority Leader Bill Frist is facing two federal inquiries into his abrupt sale of millions of dollars of stock in HCA Inc., his family's hospital corporation, shortly before a company announcement sent the price plummeting.

Frist claimed this morning on Fox News Sunday that, for the last decade, he has had "no earthly idea" how much HCA stock he owned:

"For the last 10 or 11 years, I have no idea no earthly idea at any point in time how much stock of anything, not just that particular stock [HCA], but all of the stocks that I've owned in the past. And that's good, because I'm able to put it aside and not worry about it."

That's not true. During the last five years, he was aware of both the general value of his holdings in HCA and substantial purchases of additional HCA shares:

DECEMBER 2000 FRIST INFORMS SENATE HIS HOLDINGS IN HCA ARE VALUED BETWEEN $5 MILLION AND $25 MILLION: "The value of HCA stock in Frist's trusts at the end of 2000 was between $5 million and $25 million, according to a disclosure he filed with the Senate ethics committee when he established the accounts." [Bloomberg, 9/23/05]

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

The media outlet should be called "Fox Lies" not Fox News.

Infotainment for the slack-jawed idiots and ditto headed dunces.

capt

The 14 Worst Corporate Evildoers

By A Global Exchange Report

December 12, 2005

Corporations carry out some of the most horrific human rights abuses of modern times, but it is increasingly difficult to hold them to account. Economic globalization and the rise of transnational corporate power have created a favorable climate for corporate human rights abusers, which are governed principally by the codes of supply and demand and show genuine loyalty only to their stockholders.

Several of the companies below are being sued under the Alien Tort Claims Act, a law that allows citizens of any nationality to sue in US federal courts for violations of international rights or treaties. When corporations act like criminals, we have the right and the power to stop them, holding leaders and multinational corporations alike to the accords they have signed. Around the world--in Venezuela, Argentina, India, and right here in the United States--citizens are stepping up to create democracy and hold corporations accountable to international law.

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

Hard to hold the multinationals to account when they write their own regulations.

capt

Mr. Corn,
Surely you can read between the lines of this story! Any individual who FIRST obtains the services of an attorney before speaking with his/her employers about work related issues is GUILTY of something.

It is obvious that many "journalists", in an effort to curry favor and gain access to an administration more secretive than the fromer Soviet Union, have crossed the line back and forth between journalist and administration mouthpiece . Viveca Novak's actions show that she has been one of the fence jumpers, and it has not been an unwitting action on her part.

Torture victim: 'They would cut me 30 times in two hours'

By Genevi?ve Roberts
12 December 2005

Benyam Mohammed al-Habashi is accused by the US government of planning a dirty bomb attack in America. He says he was tortured until he admitted the crime.

He was arrested at Karachi airport in April 2002, with a passport under the name of Fouad Zouawi, a friend, and with a ticket to Zurich and then on to London.

In documents compiled by the human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith, he describes an encounter with someone he believes to be an MI6 officer and details the horror of his torture. Mr Habashi says the officer told him 'I'll see what we can do with the Americans'. "They gave me a cup of tea with a lot of sugar in it. He said 'Where you're going you need a lot of sugar'."

He was taken to Morocco and questioned, then tortured after refusing to admit links al-Qa'ida links.

"They took the scalpel to my right chest. One of them took my penis in his hand and began to make cuts. I was in agony. They must have done this 20 to 30 times in maybe two hours. They would do it to me about once a month."

The treatment continued in the so-called "Prison of Darkness" in Kabul, where he was kept from January to May in 2004.

"The US military told us 'Bin Laden had his laugh on 9/11 so it is now our time to have our laugh'," he said. "They would hang me up. I was allowed a few hours' sleep on the second day, then I was hung up, this time for two days. My legs had swollen. My wrists and hands had gone numb.

"Then I was taken off the wall and left in the dark. There was loud music, Slim Shady and Dr Dre, for 20 days. I heard this non-stop over and over, and they changed the sounds to horrible ghost laughter and Hallowe'en sounds. The only light I saw came from guards using flashlights to bring inedible food.

"I lost 20kg in the weeks of my stay. They used to come and weigh us every other day; it seemed like they were making sure we were losing weight."

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

Sure, it takes a little torture and genital mutilation to get these terrorists to say what we want to hear. Who cares what the truth is, this WH hates the truth. They will torture the truth itself if they even stumble over it.

"The truth is always a compound of two half- truths, and you never reach it, because there is always something more to say." ~ Tom Stoppard (1937 - )

capt

A pictorial romp through "The 14 Worst Corporate Evildoers" as a service for the mindfully impaired.

Caterrorpillar

Chevron Oil Executives

Coke

Dow

Dyncorp

Ford

KBR

Lockeed

Monsanto

Nestle USA

Philip Morris USA and Philip Morris International (a.k.a. The Altria Group Inc.)

Pfizer

Suez-Lyonnaise Des Eaux

Wal-Mart

Sunday lunch with... Neil Cavuto

December 11, 2005

BY DEBRA PICKETT SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST

Neil Cavuto, the host of the Fox News business show "Your World with Neil Cavuto," is waiting in the lobby of Catch 35, the Wacker Drive seafood restaurant just down the street from Fox's Chicago broadcast studio, when I arrive. The first thing I notice -- because it's really hard not to -- is the American flag pin in his lapel.

It's not possible, I remind myself, for an inanimate object to be sanctimonious. So I must just be imagining it.

"I do believe there is a liberal bias in the media," he says, but adds, in a conciliatory tone, "I don't believe it's deliberate."

In the world of business reporting, he says, this bias takes the form of focusing on negative stories: "With Enron, one bad company quickly became 'all companies are bad.' There's a default thinking that says capitalism is evil."

Cavuto says he sees this same dynamic play out in other areas of reporting as well.

On Iraq, he says: "I'm not saying it's a bed of roses. But would it kill you to report the positive?"

He points out that 3,500 new businesses have opened in Iraq and that a stock exchange opened there, which, I guess, is supposed to put the whole relentless insurgency, car-bombing terror campaign thing into perspective.

"Journalists have a very special obligation to be uplifting," he says, and I dutifully take this down so I can share it with my colleagues who seem to have a big hang-up about their very special obligation being to, um, the truth.

But, even as we talk about his suburban New Jersey life, his wife, his three kids, and his 1997 diagnosis with multiple sclerosis, there's something in his with-us-or-against-us world view that puts me off from feeling like I can really understand him. And he's clearly annoyed that I've dared to venture off the "so, tell me why you decided to assemble this book" script.

Our lunch does not end on a particularly cordial note.

After the interview, a Fox News Channel publicist calls to tell me that "the whole Fox News media bias angle" won't make a very interesting story. She helpfully advises me to stay away from it.

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

I think she deserves a medal for having lunch with such a slug. I have no idea how these journalists and reporters keep from getting physically ill listening to such a load of crud.

I have always been impressed with the polite reserve that David (and others) keep in the face of the most despicable and dastardly liars and prevaricators on Fox and elsewhere.

If I was able to keep my mouth shut in such circumstances the steam would scream out of my ears like a cartoon train whistle.

capt

David, You are letting your friendship fog your vision. Ms. Novak clearly did many things wrong in addition to be a horrible journalist. Are all journalists as memory challenged as Ms. Novak? You do not see the lameness of her excuse..." I didn't realize I met with him because it was listed as 5am that day not 5 pm in my Dayminder." David, no offense, your bias in regards to Ms. Novak is obvioous.

"It is only about things that do not interest one that one can give really unbiased opinions, which is no doubt the reason why an unbiased opinion is always valueless." ~ Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900)

Abuse Cited In 2nd Jail Operated by Iraqi Ministry

Official Says 12 Prisoners Subjected to 'Severe Torture'

By Ellen Knickmeyer
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, December 12, 2005; A01

BAGHDAD, Dec. 11 -- An Iraqi government search of a detention center in Baghdad operated by Interior Ministry special commandos found 13 prisoners who had suffered abuse serious enough to require medical treatment, U.S. and Iraqi officials said Sunday night.

An Iraqi official with firsthand knowledge of the search said that at least 12 of the 13 prisoners had been subjected to "severe torture," including sessions of electric shock and episodes that left them with broken bones.

"Two of them showed me their nails, and they were gone," the official said on condition of anonymity because of security concerns.

A government spokesman, Laith Kubba, said Sunday night that any findings at the prison would be "subject to an investigation," but he declined to comment on the allegations.

The site, which was searched Thursday, is the second Interior Ministry detention center where cases of prisoner abuse have been confirmed by U.S. and Iraqi officials.

U.S. troops found the first site last month when they entered an Interior Ministry building in central Baghdad to look for a Sunni Arab teenager they believed had been detained, officers said at the time. Several prisoners at that site appeared to have suffered beatings, and many were emaciated, U.S. and Iraqi officials and witnesses said.

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

Hard to believe this could transpire while we (USA) are in control as occupiers. It is bad for our image no matter how you look at it.

Hard to address the issue of torture without thinking about Abu Graib and GITMO transgressions. A picture speaks a thousand words.

capt

You sure are busy defending Novak. You don't sound completely objective

It's not possible, I remind myself, for an inanimate object to be sanctimonious. So I must just be imagining it.

ha! madeline albright has replaced her gigantic flag lapel pin with a gigantic pin that looks like air-force wings -

she was being 'interviewed' by tim russert on press the meat; he forgot to ask her this::

madam, is it true that your albright group works as lobbyists for the carlyle group?

David...Novak's mistakes are serious. Sure does not sound as innocent as you make it out to be. Not telling her editor, not telling the readers, hiring a lawyer before she talked to her editors, sounds as if she is hiding something.

It does sound like your friendship may be clouding your vision. Hopefully you do not have to eat your words or your reputation.

David, maybe "rendering" rove AND novak to some nice resort, maybe in Poland, would go a long way towards refreshing both their memories. Rest and relaxation, that's the ticket!

Jeeze Kathleen, a little harsh on the buzzkill there, the mistakes however profound are V. Novaks, a friend of David's not mistakes he made.

It is not trashing David or V. Novak that is at issue it is the crimes of KKkarl Rove.

You are getting a bit distracted.

Seems like Davids friends and supporters are a bit fickle? A little two faced, everything they claim to resent.

You need a better group of friends David.

Date : 2005-08-10
Pentagon devising scenarios for martial law in US
The Asian Tribune
By Patrick Martin

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.

According to Graham, the new plans provide for what several senior officers acknowledged is the likelihood that the military will have to take charge in some situations, especially when dealing with mass-casualty attacks that could quickly overwhelm civilian resources.

The Post account declares, the war plans represent a historic shift for the Pentagon, which has been reluctant to become involved in domestic operations and is legally constrained from engaging in law enforcement.

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.

As for the claims that these military plans are driven by genuine concern over the threat of terrorist attacks, these are belied by the actual conduct of the American ruling elite since 9/11. The Bush administration has done everything possible to suppress any investigation into the circumstances of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon—most likely because its own negligence, possibly deliberate, would be exposed.

While the Pentagon claims that its plans are a response to the danger of nuclear, biological or chemical attacks, no serious practical measures have been taken to forestall such attacks or minimize their impact. The Bush administration and Congress have refused even to restrict the movement of rail tank cars loaded with toxic chemicals through the US capital, though even an accidental leak, let alone a terrorist attack, would cause mass casualties.

In relation to bioterrorism, the Defense Science Board determined in a 2000 study that the federal government had only 1 of the 57 drugs, vaccines and diagnostic tools required to deal with such an attack. According to a report in the Washington Post August 7, in the five years since the Pentagon report, only one additional resource has been developed, bringing the total to 2 out of 57.

As for the danger of nuclear or “dirty-bomb” attacks, the Bush administration and the congressional Republican leadership recently rammed through a measure loosening restrictions on exports of radioactive substances, at the behest of a Canadian-based manufacturer of medical supplies which conducted a well-financed lobbying campaign.

The anti-terrorism scare has a propaganda purpose: to manipulate the American people and induce the public to accept drastic inroads against democratic rights. As the Pentagon planning suggests, the American working class faces the danger of some form of military-police dictatorship in the United States.

------------
I think it very possible that this whole Plame/rove/novak/fitzgerald/franklin/AIPAC/etc. problem may soon look like the good ole days. Why is it that everyone in the world can see this coming, except us?

I think it is all about Friends and aquaintances, Luskin squeezed V. Novak for the marker she owed him. She must have nown better than to talk to someone that radioactive. Uber-egos here we come.
Instead of the trench coats in Nam it's the battle scars of the incestuous insider CIA/WHIG drama that everyone in the loop is an action figure like survivor. Your tax dollars and the US Military the new props.All fighting for the truth we just can't have when we want it.

"A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people." ~ John F. Kennedy

"Vietnam should remind conservatives that whenever you put your faith in big government for any reason, sooner or later you wind up an apologist for mass murder." ~ Karl Hess

"These people are trying to shake the will of the Iraqi citizens, and they want us to leave...I think the world would be better off if we did leave..." ~ George W. Bush (on Iraqi Insurgency)

From a business perspective it's very bad that ms. Novak did not inform her superiors at TIME but did hire her own attorney. If I were in charge at TIME, I would terminate her for that, but I'm not sure that the rest of us should care.

The question of whether she erred by telling Luskin about the Cooper-Rove exchange is more interesting. By her account, her "that's not what I hear" comment must have been pretty certain for Luskin to take it so seriously. Consider if Novak, seeing his surprise, had covered by saying, "Gotcha! Just wanted to see if you were spinning me. I haven't really heard anything."

The fact is that 1) she obviously had heard about a connection from someone at TIME; 2) she believed it; 3) Luskin believed her without hesitation; and yet 3) she didn't report it to her readers.

She should not have known this information in the first place. That she did suggests that Cooper and/or others at TIME broke the confidentiality pledge that journalists like to pretend is some sort of constitutional duty.

Novak says she didn't tell others at TIME about her contact with Fitzgerald because it would get reported, even saying "that's what I'd do." However, she did not report the Cooper-Rove rumor that she believed to be true. Something dosn't square.

Luskin must hear a dozen rumors a day, but this comment--by a reporter fishing for information--caused him to rethink what he thought he knew. Obviously he believed Novak's comment, which suggests the comment came across as quite serious and not at all offhand as she suggests.

Novak isn't Judith Miller. I hope this doesn't kill her career. But this episode shows, for the umpteenth time, that reporters who curry favor with powerful political figures--rather than maintaining arms-length relations--end up serving their sources' interests instead of the public interest.

#34 Capt..Actually I think I was quite polite. While I know journalist have friendships within their profession, it is critical that they keep the boundary between their chosen profession and their friendships crisp and clear. Remember their prime responsibility is to accurately inform the public.

David's comments on Dec. 3/05 about Novak's part, "It's not because she did anything wrong" when it was publicly known that Novak had not reported what was taking place to her editors or to the public. This statement by Corn sure looks suspicious in regard to boundaries between friendship and his profession.

SURE WISH DAVID WOULD DO SOME INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING ON THE STATUS OF PHASE II OF THE SSCI. WILL THE DEMOCRATS HAVE TO PULL ANOTHER STUNT TO GET THIS CRITCAL INVESTIGATION BACK IN THE SPOTLIGHT? SURE LOOKS LIKE IT......

Kurt Vonnegut: 'Your guess is as good as mine'

[...]This is the information revolution. We have taken it very badly so far. Information seems to be getting in the way all the time. Human beings have had to guess about almost everything for the past million years or so. Our most enthralling and sometimes terrifying guessers are the leading characters in our history books. I will name two of them: Aristotle and Hitler. One good guesser and one bad one.

The masses of humanity, having no solid information to tell them otherwise, have had little choice but to believe this guesser or that one. Russians who didn't think much of the guesses of Ivan the Terrible, for example, were likely to have their hats nailed to their heads.

We must acknowledge, though, that persuasive guessers--even Ivan the Terrible, now a hero in Russia--have given us courage to endure extraordinary ordeals that we had no way of understanding. Crop failures, wars, plagues, eruptions of volcanoes, babies being born dead--the guessers gave us the illusion that bad luck and good luck were understandable and could somehow be dealt with intelligently and effectively.

Without that illusion, we would all have surrendered long ago. But in fact, the guessers knew no more than the common people and sometimes less. The important thing was that they gave us the illusion that we're in control of our destinies.

Persuasive guessing has been at the core of leadership for so long--for all of human experience so far--that it is wholly unsurprising that most of the leaders of this planet, in spite of all the information that is suddenly ours, want the guessing to go on, because now it is their turn to guess and be listened to.

Some of the loudest, most proudly ignorant guessing in the world is going on in Washington today. Our leaders are sick of all the solid information that has been dumped on humanity by research and scholarship and investigative reporting.

They think that the whole country is sick of it, and they want standards, and it isn't the gold standard. They want to put us back on the snake-oil standard. More.

And the winner ...

By Evan Derkacz

December 12, 2005

Several others made valiant efforts (with one write-in receiving 1 vote) but your runaway favorite slogan for Michael Brown's Disaster Consulting agency is When you need help really bad, we have really bad help.

MarkAlread's Wal-Mart DVD-winning slogan received 21 votes. (Email me at: peek@alternet.org with your address, credit card number, social security, checking account routing number, mother's maiden name, and blood type.)

2nd place is BrotherBear's #10: Anyone can plan for a disaster; we make it happen! = 8 votes

3rd place is Dadster3's #9 We fuck up so you don't have to. = 6 votes.

Honorable Mention goes to Artkansas' #6 Don't let amateurs mess things up for you. Get a pro. = 5 votes.

Other vote-getters were:

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

A little light hearted fun!

capt

#18 capt, yes, Bush and cheneygod do show contempt for our military forces. According to the repugnants our military force is only cannon fodder.

#20 capt, I cannot describe torture but I know it when I see it.

Kathleen, I sure wish David would do some reporting on the many glaring and obvious lies regarding 9/11. If bushco is allowed to get away with that, neither phase II or anything else will matter in the long run. Whi is the alternative media ignoring this most important issue??? I just read that the FBI has once again refused to turn over some 84 videos of Flt. 77 hitting the Pentagon. FOIA request denied in the name of National Security. WTF?

#40 capt, There is no sense trying to make sense from those who have no sense!

#35 Citizen Sheeple said

[You need a better group of friends David.]

I also thought the blowback on David was pretty harsh. He may not be wholly objective here but his disclosures acknowledge that. And David knows how hard it is to walk the tightrope of Washington journalism these days. He can be forgiven for defending a fellow acrobat who stumbled.

The Torture Administration
By Anthony Lewis
The Nation

[...] The pictures from Abu Ghraib, first shown to the public on April 28, 2004, evoked a powerful reaction. Americans were outraged when they saw grinning US soldiers tormenting Iraqi prisoners. But it was seeing the mistreatment that produced the outrage, or so we must now conclude. Since then the Bush Administration and its lawyers have prevented the release of any more photographs or videotapes. And the public has not reacted similarly to the disclosure, without pictures, of worse actions, including murder.

The American Civil Liberties Union released documents on forty-four deaths of prisoners in US custody, twenty-one of them officially classified as homicides. For example, an Iraqi prisoner died while being interrogated in 2004. He had been deprived of sleep, exposed to extreme temperatures, doused with cold water and kept hooded. The official report said hypothermia may have contributed to his death.

Writing recently in The New Yorker, Jane Mayer described the killing of an Iraqi prisoner, Manadel al-Jamadi, in Abu Ghraib in 2003. His head was covered with a plastic bag, and he was shackled in a position that led to his asphyxiation. The death was classified as a homicide. But so far no charges have been brought by the Justice Department against the man who had custody of the prisoner, a CIA officer named Mark Swanner.

In addition to murder and torture, humiliation and indignity have been widely used as aids to interrogation. Time quoted at length earlier this year from the official log of how one prisoner in Guant?namo Bay, Cuba, was interrogated. Over a period of weeks he was questioned for as long as twenty hours at a stretch, forbidden to urinate until finally he "went" on himself, made to bark like a dog. His treatment was an exercise in humiliation. Other reports have described prisoners chained hand and foot to the floor for twenty-four hours, until they urinated and defecated on themselves.

Several provisions of law forbid not only torture but humiliation of prisoners. The Geneva Conventions prohibit "outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating or degrading treatment" of war captives. The UN Convention Against Torture condemns "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment"-and Congress enforced the provisions of the convention in a criminal statute. The Uniform Code of Military Justice makes cruelty, oppression or "maltreatment" of prisoners by US forces a crime.

Then how can it be that hundreds of Americans, at a modest estimate, have been involved in the tormenting of prisoners, using the "waterboard" technique to bring them to the brink of drowning, beating them or worse? The answer is that the cue for these outrages came from the top of the American government.

Soon after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the Justice Department-then under Attorney General John Ashcroft-began producing memorandums that opened the way to torture and mistreatment of prisoners. The memos gave an extremely narrow definition of torture: producing pain equivalent to that from "serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death." They argued that the President, in his constitutional role as Commander in Chief, had the power to order the use of torture no matter what treaties or US statutes said. And they said the Geneva Conventions did not apply to the prisoners at Guant?namo.

It is important to note that these legal opinions came almost entirely from political appointees, not longtime Justice Department lawyers. Similarly, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and his aides overrode objections from most military lawyers and other officers. Secretary of State Colin Powell, former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was a notable opponent of the memos.

The very purpose of these radical legal opinions was to override objections to torture from those in the services and the law who wanted to carry on the American tradition of humane treatment of prisoners. And there was a further, crucial purpose: to immunize those who actually carried out torture or inhumane treatment from criminal prosecution. If charged, they could maintain that their actions were authorized from above.

One more legal interpretation by the Bush lawyers, especially clever, should be mentioned: It concluded that the Convention Against Torture (and its enforcement by criminal statute) did not apply to actions taken against non-Americans outside the United States-for example, the torture of Jamadi in Abu Ghraib under CIA auspices. A soldier who tortured would still be subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice. But under this legal theory no criminal law would apply to a CIA torturer. It was to preserve this impunity that Vice President Cheney fought to exempt the CIA from the ban on cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment proposed by Senator John McCain and passed, 90 to 9, by the Senate.

More.

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

We Do Not Torture - (Pay no attention to those asphyxiated, mutilated, dead bodies.)

Kathleen,

It is cool, but I disagree completely.

People have friends and David was not in error his friend was. I hope my friends are a little more understanding when I make mistakes (which is often) and David has only shared what he knows, hardly reason to threaten him with verbiage vegetables.

Not to mention who the heck are you to threaten him with eating his words? I say that is a bit harsh but in matters of opinion there is no absolute right or wrong but I whole heartedly disagree.

"Remember their prime responsibility is to accurately inform the public"

No, that is their professional responsibility not their "prime" by a long shot. Maybe friends do not come first but I think family and a few others things that sould be "prime" but again just a matter of opinion. (Family for one)

To portray what David has shared as "suspicious in regard to boundaries between friendship and his profession." is just over the top unless you are looking for a reason to trash him for sharing.

I am not in a position to defend David and he can take any heat you want to give him but he is a person too, he has friends, if that effects his blog posts it is only because he is not a machine but a human. Like it or not there are no people that are truly objective, not even you. Consideration should be given for the fact that he is sharing, honestly.

The only reason you have for you comments are based on his honesty not subterfuge or omission.

In my most humble opinion

As always.

capt

When Bush babbles, you must listen carefully and than scratch your head.

What in the world was Bush saying? I don't know because it's all Greek to me.

HA!

Nobody has ever accused me of being able to construct a sentence!

capt

News in brief

'Deadly' kites banned

Pakistan's Supreme Court has extended a ban on making or flying kites after ruling the sport is increasingly deadly, an official said yesterday. While the court was in session, police swung batons and lobbed tear gas shells outside the building to disperse about 500 kite enthusiasts.

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

Okay, it makes sense to ban the deadly kites but I wonder which ones are deadly?

capt

Upscale project taking poorer folks homes
Florida waterfront development could displace 6,000 mostly blue-collar residents

By JOHN-THOR DAHLBURG

Los Angeles Times

RIVIERA BEACH, Fla. It's across the inlet from Palm Beach, but this town, mostly black, blue-collar and with a large industrial and warehouse district, could be a continent away from the Fortune 500 and Rolls-Royce set.

But Riviera Beach's fortunes may soon change.

In what has been called the largest eminent-domain case in the nation, the mayor and other elected leaders want to move about 6,000 residents, tear down their homes and use the emptied 400-acre site to build a waterfront yachting and residential complex for the well-to-do.

The goal, Mayor Michael D. Brown said during a public meeting in September, is to morever change the landscape in this municipality of about 32,500. Local leaders have said the $1 billion plan should generate jobs and haul Riviera Beach's economy out of the doldrums.

Opponents call the plan a government-sanctioned land grab that benefits private developers and the wealthy.

What they mean is that the view I have is too good for me, and should go to some millionaire, said Martha Babson, 60, a house painter who lives near the Intracoastal Waterway.

This is a reverse Robin Hood, said state Rep. Ronald L. Greenstein, meaning the poor in Riviera Beach would be robbed to benefit the rich.
-----------
The libs on the supreme court enabled this to happen. Where are they going to put these people?

Our Last Chance to Influence Patriot Is Approaching

Thanks to the extraordinary efforts of both ACLU Activists and the wider community of civil libertarians and freedom-loving Americans, we have reached the point where a filibuster is possible.

It cannot be overstated how far we have come -- thanks to your calls and emails from all over America and the efforts of six dedicated Senators.

Your support today is vital. Whether or not you normally get involved in politics by calling your elected officials, now is the time to get involved and to ask your friends to call as well.

To ensure that this filibuster can move forward, we will need to once again have a record number of calls from across the country, and we are counting not only on you, but on your family, co-workers and friends to keep Congress' phone lines ringing nonstop.

To get others involved, point them to:

http://action.aclu.org/call

Paste the above web address into your email signature, add it to your instant messenger profiles, and get the word out through email lists and message boards. With your help, freedom has a chance.

Tell your friends to call their Senators NOW!

Supreme Court to Review Texas Districting Dispute
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court said Monday it would consider the constitutionality of a Texas congressional map engineered by Rep. Tom DeLay that helped Republicans gain seats in Congress.

The 2003 boundaries helped Republicans win 21 of the state's 32 seats in Congress in the last election-- up from 15. They were approved amid a nasty battle between Republican leaders and Democrats and minority groups in Texas.

The contentiousness also reached Washington, where the Justice Department approved the plan although staff lawyers concluded that it diluted minority voting rights. Because of historic discrimination against minority voters, Texas is required to get Justice Department approval for any voting changes to ensure they don't undercut minority voting.

Justices will consider a constitutional challenge to the boundaries filed by various opponents. The court will hear two hours of arguments, likely in April, in four separate appeals.

The legal battle at the Supreme Court was over the unusual timing of the Texas redistricting, among other things. Under the Constitution, states must adjust their congressional district lines every 10 years to account for population shifts.

But in Texas the boundaries were redrawn twice after the 2000 census, first by a court, then by state lawmakers in a second round promoted by DeLay.

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

Not one I'd hold my breath on, but, I wouldn't have expected them to even grant certiorari...

I keep hearing about this liberal MSM all the damn time. If it's so liberal, why do reporters fall all over themselves to the benefit of people like Karl Rove? Add VN to the list of people that didn't come forward with exculpatory information because they're worried about combatting the myth of the liberal media. What a beautiful mess.

SS
www.progunprogressive.com

Sacred Terror: The Global Death Squad of George W. Bush
by Chris Floyd
December 10, 2005

[...]On September 17, 2001, George W. Bush signed an executive order authorizing the use of "lethal measures" against anyone in the world whom he or his minions designated an "enemy combatant." This order remains in force today. No judicial evidence, no hearing, no charges are required for these killings; no law, no border, no oversight restrains them. Bush has also given agents in the field carte blanche to designate "enemies" on their own initiative and kill them as they see fit.

The existence of this universal death squad –†and the total obliteration of human liberty it represents –†has not provoked so much as a crumb, an atom, a quantum particle of controversy in the American Establishment, although it's no secret. The executive order was first bruited in the Washington Post in October 2001. I first wrote of it in my Moscow Times column in November 2001. The New York Times added further details in December 2002. That same month, Bush officials made clear that the dread edict also applied to American citizens, as the Associated Press reported.

The first officially confirmed use of this power was the killing of an American citizen in Yemen by a CIA drone missile on November 3, 2002. A similar strike occurred in Pakistan this month, when a CIA missile destroyed a house and purportedly killed Abu Hamza Rabia, a suspected al Qaeda figure. But the only bodies found at the site were those of two children, the houseowner's son and nephew, Reuters reports. The grieving father denied any connection to terrorism. An earlier CIA strike on another house missed Rabia but killed his wife and children, Pakistani officials reported.

[...]

Bush's State of the Union address in January 2003, delivered to Congress and televised nationwide during the final frenzy of war-drum beating before the assault on Iraq. Trumpeting his successes in the Terror War, Bush claimed that "more than 3,000 suspected terrorists" had been arrested worldwide –†"and many others have met a different fate." His face then took on the characteristic leer, the strange, sickly half-smile it acquires whenever he speaks of killing people: "Let's put it this way. They are no longer a problem."

In other words, the suspects –†and even Bush acknowledged they were only suspects –†had been murdered. Lynched. Killed by agents operating unsupervised in that shadow world where intelligence, terrorism, politics, finance and organized crime meld together in one amorphous, impenetrable mass. Killed on the word of a dubious informer, perhaps: a tortured captive willing to say anything to end his torment, a business rival, a personal foe, a bureaucrat looking to impress his superiors, a paid snitch in need of cash, a zealous crank pursuing ethnic, tribal or religious hatreds –†or any other purveyor of the garbage data that is coin of the realm in the shadow world.

Bush proudly held up this hideous system as an example of what he called "the meaning of American justice." And the assembled legislators…°pplauded. Oh, how they applauded! They roared with glee at the leering little man's bloodthirsty, B-movie machismo. They shared his sneering contempt for law –†our only shield, however imperfect, against the blind, brute, ignorant, ape-like force of raw power. Not a single voice among them was raised in protest against this tyrannical machtpolitik: not that night, not the next day, not ever.

[...]

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

Tell me again why an alien from another planet would want to fight for "Truth, Justice, and ther American Way!"

saladin ~ while the FBI has so far refused to release the 84 videos of the pentagon strike, they HAVE admitted that there is NO EVIDENCE of FLIGHT77 striking the pentagon::

FBI claims 84 videos show NO flight77 impact

The renovated Pentagon section that was targeted had special steel, kevlar reinforced masonry walls and 'blastproof' windows. Jack Singleton explains how the aircraft got partially into the Pentagon:

"Where the plane came in was really at the CONSTRUCTION ENTRANCE," says Jack Singleton, president of Singleton Electric Co. Inc., Gaithersburg MD, the Wedge One electrical subcontractor. "The plane's left wing actually came in near the ground and the right wing was tilted up in the air. That right wing went directly over our trailer, so if that wing had not tilted up, it would have hit the trailer. My foreman, Mickey Bell, had just walked out of the trailer and was walking toward the construction entrance."

ya right ~ the ASCE even issued an official report on this which they broadcast on TV - I'd like ANYONE to show how that could be true::

ASCE's PENTAGON BUILDING PERFORMANCE REPORT

the flight77/pentagonstrike is the biggest hole in the official 911 fairytale - once one realizes that that was a lie, it is not such a stretch to the imagination to realize that most or even all of the official fairytale was a lie ~

#14
Capt,
My brother in law is a Marine. Once a Marine always a Marine. Rep Murtha is defending the military more than anybody in this country. He is watching out for the men and women on the front line.
What a sorry state of affairs. At a time when the military needs the best leadership only one man will stand up and demand the best for those soldiers and Marines. And that is Rep Murtha.

For me, the jury's still out on what happened at the Pentagon. But keeping everything secret isn't helping their case.

For me, the jury's still out on what happened at the Pentagon. But keeping everything secret isn't helping their case.

Trumpeting his successes in the Terror War, Bush claimed that "more than 3,000 suspected terrorists" had been arrested worldwide –†"and many others have met a different fate."

there sure was quite a spate of arrests of the #3 al qaeda big wig for a while there - it's a wonder that al qaeda guys would be willing to fill the #3 spot::
"no thank you! I am quite happy to remain at #4!"

the jury's still out for me as well as to what happened at the pentagon...but it's fairly obvious what DIDN'T happen!

Viveca Novak, by "mutual agreement," is on a leave of absence. Judith Miller gets a huge severance package and a probable book contract. Bob Woodward retains his job at WaPo, while keeping secrets for his own financial benefit, rather than working for the public good.

What do these people have in common, other than the same profession? IMO, Woodward and Miller lack moral courage. They no longer, assuming they did at one time, practice ethical thinking. V. Novak may fall into the same category as this story seeps out -- at this point in time, we don't know enough to make a firm assessment about her "moral courage" or lack thereof. But, she has made a huge mistake in judgement by not telling her editors about her involvement.

Their actions -- Woodward, Miller, V. Novak -- created collateral damage for others (such as damage to their profession and to the public trust). I wonder if they made their decisions based on principle or put more weight on some potential personal gain.

Personal gain is my guess. They certainly didn't choose the "right thing" to do.

It strikes me that "IF" the government's 9/11 story is correct, there must be a tremendous effort underway to make it "APPEAR" to be phony.

How else is one to explain incidents like Cong. Peter King's response to a specific question regarding the size of the original hole in the Pentagon in relation to the size of a 757, and the lack of any airplane debris? His response was to call the questioner delusional for denying the Pentagon had been attacted.

This administration is corrupt. It taints everything it touches. It doesn't care who it takes down. If I was a reporter in Washington DC I would work to remain away from it. The problem is how do you keep your distance and get the story?

The only people who are going to survive this machine are people like Murtha and Dean. They tell it like it is and when the backlash comes towards them they hit back hard. Soon the White House will be attempting to ignore Murtha. I just don't think he going to go away. He's a Marine and his men need him.

It strikes me that "IF" the government's 9/11 story is correct, there must be a tremendous effort underway to make it "APPEAR" to be phony.

ha! now that has to be the statement of the year!

So far, Katrina aid does little for local levees

Flurry of proposals addresses building codes, voting, more

Saturday, November 26, 2005
By Bruce Alpert
Washington bureau

WASHINGTON -- Hurricane Katrina's devastation has spurred members of Congress to introduce 139 bills. But of the 15 that have made it into law, none provides money for the stronger levees that New Orleans and Louisiana officials say are critical to luring back residents and businesses.

The Katrina bills cover a wide spectrum of views on how the federal government should respond to the tragedy, ranging from proposals to punish Gretna for turning back some people trying to escape the post-hurricane flood in New Orleans to selling federal land to raise money for relief efforts.

"It may take a major demonstration of unhappiness from Louisiana first, something eye-catching that forces the process to move forward," Sabato said. "The public will side with New Orleans on this, and the beleaguered Bush administration and a scandal-drenched Congress really can't afford to fight on this one. They don't have enough capital left."

Still awaiting congressional action are proposals by Louisiana lawmakers to provide money to design and study a new levee system that could protect against Category 5 hurricanes.

Sen. David Vitter, R-La., predicts levee financing will be part of a supplemental spending plan to be adopted before the Christmas break. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., said she'll use parliamentary procedures to keep Congress in session over Christmas unless it approves spending for levees, Louisiana school districts and hospitals.

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

Go Mary Landrieu! A few of the democrats seem to have rediscovered a back bone or two. I hope they keep it up and more of them see how much we (the people) like them doing so.

capt

PS - 911 - I am with you all. Especially the fact that "a tremendous effort underway to make it "APPEAR" to be phony." HA! Good one!

Osama no more Qaeda's operational commander: US envoy to Pakistan

United States Ambassador to Pakistan Ryan C.Crocker has reportedly claimed that the terror mastermind Osama Bin Laden is no more the operational commander of the Al-Qaeda.

While talking to mediapersons here, Crocker countered the claims made by Al Qaeda's deputy leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, which was posted online to a Web site in the form of a video tape last week that Laden was still leading the group's war on the West.

Crocker said that he did not believe that "Osama was still in operational control of Al Qaeda" and that he was hiding in some far-flung area with no communication with his group members, so he was not leading the group's war on the West.

He also said that he was unaware who else was leading the group but after capture of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and Abu Fraj Al-Libbi and killing of Hamaza Rabeea Al-Qaeda was in dire straits.

He has also expressed concern over activities of some outlawed outfits in the quake-hit areas.

The government should meet the challenge in the quake-hit areas incollaboration with the NGOs instead of allowing these groups to operate in the quake zone, he said. (ANI)

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

Now, if they can find a way to relocate the blame for their failed policies to Iran or Syria. If they willingly defang the current boogeyman they will have to invent a new one.

"I never cease being dumbfounded by the unbelievable things people believe." ~ Leo Rosten (1908 - )

capt

#59 RS, Hitler Bush is totally evil. After the 2006 election Cornposters will be considered enemy combatants for seeking the truth about our government's evil ways.

Home for Christmas?

Peace Takes Courage - Video

Our troops are dying and the numbers no longer matter as the WH prepares a celebration of the birth of Jesus? Kind of sickening.

capt

Prayer for Peace by John Paul II

O God, Creator of the universe, who extends your paternal concern over every creature and guides the events of history to the goal of salvation, we acknowledge your fatherly love when you break the resistance of mankind and, in a world torn by strife and discord, you make us ready for reconciliation. Renew for us the wonders of your mercy; send forth your Spirit that he may work in the intimacy of hearts, that enemies may begin to dialogue, that adversaries may shake hands and peoples may encounter one another in harmony. May all commit themselves to the sincere search for true peace that will extinguish all arguments, for charity that overcomes hatred, for pardon that disarms revenge.

December 12, 2005

Eat The Press Russert Watch Jane Hamsher

Bio

12.12.2005
Viveca Novak: Trouble Comes in Threes (6 comments )
READ MORE: Bob Woodward, Judith Miller, Scooter Libby, Patrick Fitzgerald, Indictments, CIA, Karl Rove
I will give Viveca Novak one thing. Unlike the brazen and unapologetic explanations written by Bob Woodward and Judy Miller following their quality time with Patrick Fitzgerald, she does have the good sense to be contrite in tone for her account in Time Magazine. But then again, she doesn't have the superstar status to carry her, and as amazing as it may seem to people who thought the bottom of the integrity barrel had already been hit, her journalistic sins appear to be worse.

Much worse.

But her contrition is deeply suspect and seems to fall into the category of "sorry I got caught." Her actions over the past two years clearly indicate that her loyalty was to herself first, her good friend Robert Luskin second, and any sense of obligation she felt toward Time Magazine, her colleague Matt Cooper or journalistic principles was only incidental, if at all.

Her tale as related in Time is embarassing. She thinks she may have had the fated conversation with Luskin in January, but then again it might be May or March. Did April find her vacationing in the Urals? That this conversation was conducted in the pursuit of journalism and not pure cocktail prattle is certainly not backed up by the existence of any notes. Ms. Novak volunteers that Luskin was "more likely to speak freely if he didn't see me committing his words to paper." We presume he did not follow her home and rip the pen from her hand to prevent her from documenting the conversation forthwith.

And she clearly knew the import of what had transpired between them. She says that after her revelation, "I immediately felt uncomfortable. I hadn't intended to tip Luskin off to anything. I was supposed to be the information gatherer."

Exactly. She describes her comments as a "push back." What part of a journalist's job is "pushing back" using confidential information? "Pushing back" seems to be synonymous here with gossiping. It's certainly not reporting if you can't remember when it took place and you have no notes about something quite relevant to the story you are currently working on.

Further, it's not entirely clear that this is the whole story. As emptywheel notes, if the conversation did happen in March -- and it appears Fitzgerald thinks it did, although Viveca seems to habitually knock back several glasses of wine before keeping her calendar -- this was two months before Matt Cooper was specifically subpoenaed. As she recounts it:

Toward the end of one of our meetings, I remember Luskin looking at me and saying something to the effect of "Karl doesn't have a Cooper problem. He was not a source for Matt." I responded instinctively, thinking he was trying to spin me, and said something like, "Are you sure about that? That's not what I hear around TIME."
Matt Cooper was merely one of many Time journalists about whom the White House had been subpoenaed in January, 2004. He would not himself be subpoenaed until May of 2004. Why would they specifically be discussing him amongst all others in March unless Viveca had blabbed a great deal more about her coworker's interactions with Karl Rove than her story lets on?

It just goes downhill from there. Even knowing that this interaction with Luskin was critical, she does not tell her editors that it occurred. When her coworker Matt Cooper is facing jail time, she doesn't come forward. Even after she is contacted by Luskin and told she has now become part of the story, she hires an attorney but seeks to hide her involvement from her employers. Oh if I were Norman Pearlstein and I had not only spent millions of dollars in a legal battle to protect the integrity of my publication but had also struggled mightily with my own conscience to do the right thing, I would be having kittens to watch it all scuttled by some wine-soaked chatterbox who only tells me the trouble she's caused when her legal bill starts looking like the tab for one of Donald Rumsfeld's cheaper wars.

Because the worst sin against journalism on the part of Vivica is yet to come. Knowing that she is now part of the story, she continues to report on it. Following the indictment of Scooter Libby, she was still covering the story for Time when a November 7, 2005 Michael Duffy article entitled Fall of a Vulcan noted that Rove had curiously escaped Fitzgerald's noose for reasons unknown. Except Viveca knew full well why Rove's fate was still undecided, and failed to tell both her readers and her employers.

Further, when she interviews Bob Woodward for the November 28 issue of Time, she concludes her article by saying that "Fitzgerald, a tireless prosecutor with a reputation for thoroughness, had to wonder, after two years and millions of dollars and countless hours of hunting, what else is out there that he missed."

And that's supposed to be what, irony?

Ms. Novak's journalistic integrity has been trumpeted loudly by her defenders in the days following Time's announcement that she would now be playing a critical part in Karl Rove's defense. To say that we breathlessly await any attempt to excuse this exercise in C-list clubhouse journalism would be an understatement.

Bush on the Constitution: It's just a goddamned piece of paper

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’∂e 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."

Put aside, for a moment, political affiliation or personal beliefs. It doesn’¥ matter if you are a Democrat, Republican or Independent. It doesn’¥ matter if you support the invasion or Iraq or not. Despite our differences, the Constitution has stood for two centuries as the defining document of our government, the final source to determine - in the end - if something is legal or right.

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

Just like all of the backwards speak - "strict construction(ist)" mean absolute demolition(ist).

capt

#73 capt, PEACE TAKES COURAGE!

All Cornposters, please listen and watch HOME FOR CHRISTMAS!

David, if you are reading this, I wonder if you think it's accurate that -- to us ordinary mortals -- it appears that publishers have a different set of rules in the newsroom. One set of rules for the STARS; and another set of rules for the worker bees.

It's almost as though long-time journalists get "tenure" even when they make grave mistakes.

ACLU pushes for release of prison, torture documents
RAW STORY

The American Civil Liberties Union has appealed a federal court's decision to allow the CIA to withhold documents allegedly signed by President Bush, authorizing the establishment of secret CIA prisons overseas and detailing what the administration would consider appropriate treatment of prisoners. To date, the CIA itself has refused to confirm or deny the existence of any such documents.

A release issued by the ACLU follows.

NEW YORK -- In the wake of controversy over CIA "extraordinary rendition" policies and secret prisons, the American Civil Liberties Union has asked a federal court to reconsider its previous decision to uphold the CIA's refusal to admit even the existence of two key documents on interrogation techniques and detention facilities abroad.

"As the Bush administration seeks to exempt the CIA from a proposed ban on torture, the American public has a right to know what interrogation techniques the CIA considers lawful and appropriate," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero. "President Bush himself has said, 'we do not torture.' If that's the case, why does the government continue to fight tooth and nail to withhold documents that would shed light on CIA interrogation techniques?"

The two documents in question are a directive signed by President Bush granting the CIA the authority to set up detention facilities outside the United States and outlining interrogation methods that may be used against detainees, and a Justice Department memorandum specifying interrogation methods that the CIA may use against top Al-Qaeda members.

More.

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These people are nominating/confirming Supreme Court Justices who serve for life?

American Soldiers

American soldiers are being killed like flies for Bush's lies. To date 2,392 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.

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.

There is no sense trying to make sense from those who have no sense!

PEACE TAKES COURAGE!

How Abramoff Spread the Wealth

Time: Rove's lawyer told of conversation

Novak said the conversation with Luskin occurred anywhere from January 2004 to May 2004; she thinks it was perhaps in March.

It was not until October 2004 - sometime between five months and nine months after Novak's conversation with Luskin - that Rove disclosed his conversation with Cooper to the prosecutor.

Rove's disclosure followed Luskin's discovery of a White House e-mail from July 11, 2003. The message, from Rove to then-deputy national security adviser Stephen Hadley, referred to Rove's conversation earlier that day with Cooper.

It is not known publicly whether Fitzgerald's investigators had the e-mail all along and simply overlooked it or whether the White House had not produced the e-mail for the prosecutor.

By the time Rove stepped forward to disclose the Cooper conversation to investigators, Cooper was under intense pressure from the prosecutor to reveal the original source of his information that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA.

Five months ago, his court appeals exhausted and after receiving a personal waiver from Rove, Cooper disclosed that his source had been the president's top political adviser.

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

It sounds like she might have actually helped Fitzgerald prove Rove a liar. Re-visiting a Grand Jury to correct previous lies is a risky business. If Fitzgerald already had the memo in question she might have let the cat out of the bag.

Until we know what cards Fitzgerald is holding close to the vest it is premature to make any conclusions about the effect her words or actions have on the outcome.

capt

http://3oldmen.com/2005/12/12/on-being-wrong/

There's an old saying, "That dog won't hunt!"

NUKE over U.S. could unleash electromagnetic tsunami

ok that could happen, but check this part out::

And, what if the attacker could be reasonably sure that the United States would not know who was responsible for such a devastating blow? The commission found that a single nuclear weapon, delivered by a ballistic missile to an altitude of a few hundred miles over the United States, would be "capable of causing catastrophe for the nation."

ha ~ and who could 'deliver a ballistic missile to an altitude of a few hundred miles over the U.S.?

Al-Qaeda is known to have a fleet of freighters.

One of those freighters could easily be outfitted with a short- range ballistic missile capable of getting a nuclear weapon to almost any point in the airspace above our country.

so al qaeda is known to have a fleet of freighters? the U.S. Navy can defeat all the rest of the world's navies put together, and al qaeda is allowed to have a fleet of freighters? well, to be fair to the U.S. Navy, I suppose it's possible that al qaeda's freighters are invisible, and were made by the same company that made al qaeda's invisible planes, two of which were used on 911; one at the pentagon, and one to strike WTC7 ~ ya. al qaeda's fleet of freighters. and if you believe that, I have a Freedom Tower that I'd like to sell you.