I posted this on the previous thread.
Unclassified Documents - NYTimes

David,

Hajji posted a story that I think needs to be addressed by the press big time. Why are these unclassified documents suddenly becoming classified again and why the secrecy? I think this is another action that the American public would be disturbed about if they knew it was happening.

Secrets, secrets, secrets. Who are we protecting? Cheney, Wolfie, Negroponte, Rumsfeld??? How many deeds were done in the shadows that they are afraid will be brought out into the light. So many unclassified documents. You know, you can't read them all. So....
You re-classify them.

I hope this thread does not get overrun with childish troll posting that occurred yesterday. Petty exchanges with trolls, trolls using the regulars names for rude posts is beyond childish. This junk wastes bandwidth and shows a clear lack of respect for David and the others......If you do not like what is said here, please move on, if you can provide material input without the BS, welcome.......nuf said.

Is this Arab security for ports another set-up? If it is it has got to be one of the most idiotic plans I have ever seen this stupid administration come up with. Can they possibly be more transparent?? Then there's this:

From WRH

All 9/11 Airports Serviced by
One Israeli Owned Company

It's one of those times when an innocuous comment in an unrelated news report triggers a revelation.
In the article at http://afrocubaweb.com/news/israelispying.htm there is the following paragraph:

To make the situation worse, a private security company called ICTS, owned by an Israeli, Ezra Harel, and registered in the Netherlands, was employed at Charles de Gaulle airport to screen passengers boarding US planes. Most of its personnel are ex-Shin Bet officers. The company covers security at Boston’≥ Logan airport, where the American Airlines plane came down after flight attendants and passengers overpowered Reid.

The point of the article was that ICTS knew shoe bomber Richard Reid was dangerous, but allowed him on board a flight from Tel Aviv to Paris. Maybe they did and maybe they didn't. But the idea that an Israeli owned company had inside access to the airport used to launch an abortive terror attack brought to mind the strange message Odigo Systems, another Israeli owned company with offices near the World Trade Towers, received that warned of the impending attacks before the hijacked planes had even left the ground.

So, I went back to another story that had surfaced briefly, reported at www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=26626 about how at least one hijacker had smuggled a GUN aboard one of the hijacked planes. Even prior to 9-11, getting a gun on board a passenger plane represented a serious lapse of security. I wondered why this story of a gun was being concealed behind talk of box cutters and screwdrivers.

Sure enough, a visit to ICTS' own web site at http://www.icts-int.com/ confirms that ICTS is in fact an Israeli owned company, and that it sells services to every airport from which the hijacked planes operated, including security, sometimes through wholly owned subsidiaries like Huntleigh USA Corporation.

It has been suggested that the incredible feat of hijacking four aircraft without a single arrest at the gate would require the resources of a nation-state. This is even more true with the revelation that at least one gun had managed to be aboard a hijacked plane. One company had automatic inside access to all of the airports from which hijacked planes departed on 9-11, and to the airports used by Richard Reid, the shoe bomber. An Israeli company. One that Mossad agents could easily find employment with without the management knowing who they were or what their purpose really was.

But one thing is clear. By virtue of the Odigo warning, someone knew enough about the planned attacks to warn Odigo before the planes had even departed the airport gates, yet they did not call the Israeli security company at the airports which could have stopped the flights from leaving.

Think about that one for a while.

"Evidence linking these Israelis to 9/11 is classified. I cannot tell you about evidence that has been gathered. It's classified information."
US official quoted in Carl Cameron's Fox News report on the Israeli spy ring.

"Investigators within the DEA, INS and FBI have all told Fox News that to pursue or even suggest Israeli spying ... is considered career suicide."
Carl Cameron, as quoted in The Spies Who Came In From The Art Sale

"While I agree with you, if I say anything about US geopolitical interests with Israel, I might as well clean off my desk."
Unnamed reporter as quoted in American Media Censorship and Israel
----------
Not only did they sneak guns on board but gas and gas masks as well as boxcutters. Those had to be the most inept, or complicit, security guards EVER!
Arabs are the enemy and Israel is the friend? I'm SO confused!

#2 Me too Den.

I think we can help accomplish this by NOT taking the bait; by not replying, by not achnowledging the posts.

If there was any REAL interest in dialogue I'd say otherwise but the objective is to taunt, insult and provoke. I think the best approach is to ignore the posts.

If someone posts in your name, simply correct by saying #4 Not by me.

DEN, they will only play those games if someone here responds to them. That is why I have been BEGGING people not to do it. The whole thread descends into boring nonsense, which is exactly the reason they keep showing up. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, ignore the trolls!

As for why Bush approved this arrangement, I am waiting for the deep-politics researchers to uncover financial links between the Bush dynasty and this UAE firm. - David Corn

From Wayne Madsen:

February 21, 2006 -- The Houses of Bush, Sabah, and Maktoum. The Bush Crime Family's close business dealings with the royal houses of Kuwait (the Sabah family) and Dubai (the Maktoum family) either borders on or is treason according to information received from U.S. military and Persian Gulf sources by WMR.

The Sabah family and their business cohorts are reportedly skimming hundreds of millions of dollars from the shipping of military materiel through Kuwait to U.S. forces in Iraq. Moreover, much of this money is being used to fund the Sunni insurgency in Iraq that is directed against U.S. troops. In 1993, former President George H. W. Bush was awarded an honorary doctorate by Kuwait University and Kuwait's highest honor. Bush was accompanied on a Kuwait Airlines flight by his sons Neil and Marvin and former Secretary of State James Baker III, former chief of staff John Sununu, and Joint Chiefs Operations Director General Thomas Kelly. After the trip Neil landed lucrative contracts with the Kuwaiti Ministry of Electricity and Water. Marvin secured defense contracts for his clients. Baker nailed down deals for Enron.

Marvin served on the board of Securacom (renamed Stratesec), which had contracts to provide security for Dulles Airport and the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Securacom’s backers included a number of Kuwaitis, through a company called KuwAm Corp (Kuwaiti-American Corp.). KuwAm also financially backed Aviation General, formerly Commander Aircraft, which brokered the sale of airplanes to the National Civil Aviation Training Organization (NCATO), located in Giza, Egypt, the hometown of lead hijacker Mohammed Atta and the only civilian pilot training school in Egypt. NCATO has a training agreement with Embry-Riddle University in Daytona Beach, Florida, the flight school that was investigated by the FBI for possibly training at least one of the 911 hijackers.

Neil also developed close connections to the Maktoum family of Dubai, the same family that has interests in the state-owned firm, Dubai Ports World, that is poised to take over the operations of six U.S. ports (New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia-Camden, Miami, New Orleans, and Baltimore) after its purchase of the British P&O Company.

Shaikh Hamdan bin Rashid al Maktoum, the Finance Minister of Dubai and someone who certainly had his pulse on the millions of dollars sent through the emirate to the Taliban, Al Qaeda, and Pakistani madrassas and assorted Islamic “charities.”

UAE banking insiders have revealed that accounts used to fund the Taliban and Al Qaeda involved members of the Dubai royal family. Banking insiders in Dubai report that in March 2002, U.S. Secretary of Treasury Paul O’Neill visited Dubai and asked for documents on a $109,500 money transfer from Dubai to a joint account held by hijackers Mohammed Atta and Marwan al Shehhi at Sun Trust Bank in Florida. O’Neill also asked UAE authorities to close down accounts used by Al Qaeda and affiliated partners like Victor Bout. The UAE complained about O’Neill’s demands to the Bush administration. O’Neill’s pressure on the UAE and Saudis contributed to Bush firing him as Treasury Secretary in December 2002.

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

And how about that great Kuwaiti democracy we helped establish after kicking Saddam out...

#6
This is why they are re-classifying all the documents.

another instance in which the Bush administration treats the public as simpletons.

if John Q. Public behaves as a simpleton then he deserves to be treated as such.

Bush's Mysterious 'New Programs'

Wasn't someone asking about labor camps?

Not that George W. Bush needs much encouragement, but Sen. Lindsey Graham suggested to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales a new target for the administration's domestic operations -- Fifth Columnists, supposedly disloyal Americans who sympathize and collaborate with the enemy.

The administration has not only the right, but the duty, in my opinion, to pursue Fifth Column movements, Graham, R-S.C., told Gonzales during Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on Feb. 6.

I stand by this President's ability, inherent to being Commander in Chief, to find out about Fifth Column movements, and I don't think you need a warrant to do that, Graham added, volunteering to work with the administration to draft guidelines for how best to neutralize this alleged threat.

Senator, a smiling Gonzales responded, the President already said we'd be happy to listen to your ideas.

Detention Centers

Plus, there was that curious development in January when the Army Corps of Engineers awarded Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root a $385 million contract to construct detention centers somewhere in the United States, to deal with an emergency influx of immigrants into the U.S., or to support the rapid development of new programs, KBR said. [Market Watch, Jan. 26, 2006]

Later, the New York Times reported that KBR would build the centers for the Homeland Security Department for an unexpected influx of immigrants, to house people in the event of a natural disaster or for new programs that require additional detention space.[Feb. 4, 2006]

Like most news stories on the KBR contract, the Times focused on concerns about Halliburton's reputation for bilking U.S. taxpayers by overcharging for sub-par services.

Less attention centered on the phrase "rapid development of new programs" and what kind of programs would require a major expansion of detention centers, each capable of holding 5,000 people. Jamie Zuieback, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, declined to elaborate on what these new programs might be.

Only a few independent journalists, such as Peter Dale Scott and Maureen Farrell, have pursued what the Bush administration might actually be thinking.

Labor Camps....
----------
UH, what is the fifth column?

Mr. Corn, please observe #6 -

no matter how any detours the mcmedia tries to take, you can see that all roads do seem to lead to conspiracyville -

Is New York's Daily News a Deep Politics source?

W aides' biz ties to Arab firm
BY MICHAEL McAULIFF
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON - The Dubai firm that won Bush administration backing to run six U.S. ports has at least two ties to the White House.
One is Treasury Secretary John Snow, whose agency heads the federal panel that signed off on the $6.8 billion sale of an English company to government-owned Dubai Ports World - giving it control of Manhattan's cruise ship terminal and Newark's container port.

Snow was chairman of the CSX rail firm that sold its own international port operations to DP World for $1.15 billion in 2004, the year after Snow left for President Bush's cabinet.

The other connection is David Sanborn, who runs DP World's European and Latin American operations and was tapped by Bush last month to head the U.S. Maritime Administration.

The ties raised more concerns...

More.

David ventures:

"...continuing protests over the Danish cartoons that led to 11 deaths in Libya and 15 in Nigeria, where Muslims attacked Christians and burned churches.....the cartoons have lit a fuse on the clash of civilization.... I'm struck by the staying power of the outrage over the cartoons.... inflamed purposefully by demagogues."

Thank you for finally acknowledging the REAL STORY of these past few weeks which DOES affect the US and THE GLOBAL WAR ON TERROR. Why is it that my sense of what's important to the country (and world) is so much more accurate than yours? You were "struck byt the staying power..of cartoons" but I wasn't at all from day 1!!!

Does representing irrelevant Exteme Views really pay Extremely Well? It must, for you and similar types!! Let me know and I will be happy to learn from you. I want to be Extreme Happy!!!

Did you know you spent 4 posts that referenced the "Quail" incident, FOR BIRD SAKE!!!!!

I think the cartoon story has staying power with the Muslims because it is the tangible story, not so much to them but to the rest of the world. It is an insult they think we can understand. It has to do with religion. We certainly are not understanding why Muslims would be offended because we tortured them and treated them like objects. We certainly don't understand that they are angry because we invaded Iraq.

But we do seem to understand religion. And we don't like our symbols desecrated. It is also a huge signal of the hypocrisy of this culture. We think their anger over "a cartoon" and "kicking a Koran" is silly but we fight tooth and nail to keep the Ten Commandments on the front lawn of the courthouse. We have our silly commentators start a phony "War on Christmas".

I wonder what Harry Whittington knows about the House of Saud and the House of Bush.

the global war on terror? ha.

Al Qaeda is the CIA Arab Legion. And this is historical fact. Al Qaeda was created by the CIA in Afghanistan, and it has been maintained by the CIA as a kind of military capability in the Arab and Islamic world. Look at the history of Al Qaeda, they have attacked countries like Bosnia, when the US was attacking Bosnia, Al Qaeda attacked Bosnia. When the US was attacking Libya, Al Qaeda attacked Libya and tried to kill Qaddafi, the dictator of Libya.

The US in attempting to bust up the Russian Federation, Al Qaeda provides terrorists for Chechnya, so, the target list for US imperialism and the target list for Al Qaeda are exactly the same.

....Webster Tarpley

Court upholds church use of hallucinogenic tea
_______________
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Tuesday that a small congregation in New Mexico may use hallucinogenic tea as part of a four-hour ritual intended to connect with God.

Justices, in their first religious freedom decision under Chief Justice John Roberts, moved decisively to keep the government out of a church’s religious practice. Federal drug agents should have been barred from confiscating the hoasca tea of the Brazil-based church, Roberts wrote in the decision.

The tea, which contains an illegal drug known as DMT, is considered sacred to members of O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao do Vegetal, which has a blend of Christian beliefs and South American traditions. Members believe they can understand God only by drinking the tea, which is consumed twice a month at four-hour ceremonies.
__________________

Members of the Holy Church of the Fungi Faithful...

Syncrhonize your Dali Digital Melting Watches...It's GO TO MEETIN' TIME!!!!

-T

From #13

"..we do seem to understand religion. And we don't like our symbols desecrated. It is also a huge signal of the hypocrisy of this culture. We think their anger over "a cartoon" and "kicking a Koran" is silly but we fight tooth and nail to keep the Ten Commandments on the front lawn of the courthouse. We have our silly commentators start a phony "War on Christmas"

Ms. Jeanne:

Your comment on religion shows that you have lost your way or most likely, never was on the path. I am a believer but never preach to anyone on religion. You are among the stupidest here!

Show us how many people have died to keep religious monuments off of Gov't property in the US? Do you know the difference between us and the Extreme Islamists? Last thing, the separation of State and Religion WAS, IS and WILL ALWAYS BE taken to mean that the same Leaders shall not occupy the `State' or the `Religion'. Look at our money! Look at Gov't structures of historical nature! End of story! You Liberal Nuts! WASTING TIME!!

Cheney authorization to declassify material (link)

In discussing the Vice President's declassification authority yesterday, we should have noted that some categories of information are protected by statute, not just by executive order. Such information, including intelligence sources and methods that are protected by the National Security Act, cannot simply be declassified by presidential (or vice presidential) fiat.

#15
You know James,
It's all in the unclassified/classified documents.

Court Allows Church's Hallucinogenic Tea By GINA HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 7 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Tuesday that a small congregation in New Mexico may use hallucinogenic tea as part of a four-hour ritual intended to connect with God.

Justices, in their first religious freedom decision under Chief Justice John Roberts, moved decisively to keep the government out of a church's religious practice. Federal drug agents should have been barred from confiscating the hoasca tea of the Brazil-based church, Roberts wrote in the decision.

The tea, which contains an illegal drug known as DMT, is considered sacred to members of O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao do Vegetal, which has a blend of Christian beliefs and South American traditions. Members believe they can understand God only by drinking the tea, which is consumed twice a month at four-hour ceremonies.

More.

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

Oh, My God - Humphrey Osmond (after being injected with DMT)

#17
David,
My point has been made.

Kathleen from the previous thread. The point isn't whether it is insane to question the total dead from the Holocaust, nor is it in doubt that it did in fact occur. More importantly, why are people actually being sentenced to 3 years in prison for doing it? Call it denial, reductionism, revisionism, whatever, sending people to prison for thought crimes is what's insane! BTW, have you read the Red Cross report yet? If not you should. It's a miracle THEY weren't sent to prison considering the blasphemy against the Holocaust dogma they are guilty of! How long until they start rounding up those of us guilty of the thought crime "denial of Arab hijackers on 9/11" and sending us to prison? I wonder, how many freedom loving Amerikans would support such a move by our benevolent government?

#21 Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.

To be ignorant of one's ignorance is the malady of the ignorant.

ACLU Georgia Uncovers FBI Spy Files for Vegans, Protest Medics, & the G8 Protest

__________________
Our government, at minimum, spied on vegans with signs, a protest medic, and the G8 Summit.
(APN) ATLANTA – The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Georgia released new documents on Pentagon spying on peaceful protesters, in a downtown press conference today at the Martin Luther King Federal Building. The documents are respondent to their Freedom of Information Act requests to several federal, state, and local agencies, regarding the Pentagon spying which occurred against local peace activists here in Georgia.

“We’ve taken it on behalf of ourselves to get to the bottom of this,” Gerry Weber, 41, Legal Director for the ACLU Foundation of Georgia, said. “We have compiled a report on the spying we’ve seen so far. Protesters have been spied upon, videotaped, and infiltrated. The government had no legal justification for this spying. We’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg.”

Meanwhile, members of Georgia’s Congressional delegation are adding their voices to those of many members of US Congress, especially in California, including US Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and US Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), who have already been vocal on this issue.

Kyra Jennings of US Representative Lofgren’s office has advised Atlanta Progressive News that the Pentagon has scheduled an initial briefing on January 31, 2006, with her office to respond to her recent letter regarding the spying on protesters.

US Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), who was himself a victim of unwarranted FBI surveillance as a civil rights leader, issued this statement: “It is unreal. The Georgia Peace and Justice Coalition (GPJC) and other peace activists in Atlanta are working to build pockets of the Beloved Community in America. These domestic spying programs seem to clearly violate the right to privacy protected by the U.S. Constitution… These actions must be completely and extensively investigated… Those who are responsible should be made fully accountable.”
__________________

"They" hate us because of our FREEDOM!

-T

BIS Calls For Global Currency
Nazi bankrollers want elimination of national sovereignty for world cashless control grid

Paul Joseph Watson/Prison Planet.com | February 21 2006

The scandal-ridden and highly secretive Bank For International Settlements, considered to be the world's top central banking policy, has released a policy paper that calls for the end of national currencies in favor of a global model of currency formats.

The BIS is a branch of the of the Bretton-Woods International Financial architecture and closely allied with the Bilderberg Group. It is controlled by an inner elite that represents all the world's major central banking institutions. John Maynard Keynes, perhaps the most influential economist of all time, wanted it closed down as it was used to launder money for the Nazis in World War II.

Buried in a London Telegraph report on UK inflation rates is the admission that the BIS, "has also suggested ditching many national currencies in favour of a small number of formal currency blocks based on the dollar, euro and renminbi or yen."

Centralized control of currency is a keystone pillar in the construction of global government.

The eventual goal is a cashless society credit system based on a worldwide citizen ID. Those designated as subversives or security threats will have their credit entitlement reduced and restrictions will be placed on when and what they can buy or sell. A world tax will be levied on all purchases.

In the meantime new denominations of paper money will be tracked and traced. Euro notes come with RFID tags as standard and the same feature is being incorporated into newly designed US dollar notes.

Last month the United Nations made a promise to save the world from all its ills in return for complete elimination of national sovereignty and financial markets and their replacement by a proxy world government.

The so-called 'conservative Bush administration have done everything in their power to destroy the last vestiges of American sovereignty, including increasing deficit spending beyond the level of all previous 42 administrations put together, signing legislation anathema to the Constitution, promoting global government and anti-American trade deals like CAFTA and the FTAA, and attempting to 'solve' the illegal immigration problem by enacting blanket amnesty.
----------
Rid the world of all it's ills? I really hate it when the power elite say stuff like that! You know it means the very opposite.

Wow, now this is an interesting juxtaposition, and one which I will risk an enquiry of Mr. Happy.

There is a wealth of evidence, both in the texts and archeologically, of cannabis use in the bible.

Various scholars, such as Huston Smith amongst others, have talked about the spiritual aspects of consciousness altering substances.

Yet, we continue to imprison those who would use these substances, except in these very rare instances, ie, this South American Church, and the Native American Church.

Comments?

A Test for the New Justices (link)

The Supreme Court hears arguments today in a pair of cases that could drastically weaken the protections of the Clean Water Act. These cases are an important test of the legal philosophy of John Roberts Jr., the new chief justice, and Samuel Alito Jr., the new associate justice. If they take a hard-line states' rights stance, it will be a sign that they agree with ultraconservatives who want to restrict Congress's power to regulate critical national matters like environmental protection, public health and workplace safety.

....And now a reading from Holy gospel according to Hunter...

Mr. David Corn,

ROCKIN' post!

I think the photo of Bunnypants is far more honest than the photo's with a halo around his head.

Busheney must be getting very desperate to be making speeches about alternative energy and cutting that 10% (or so) of oil we get from the middle east.

Thanks

Kirk

#27 Robert, Have you ever heard of some guests described as "skunks at a garden party?" Please don't feed the skunks.

Hajji & Robert,

I'd say that I'm ready for conversion, bring me my tea, but I think I'm already hallucinating, to wit: Did I actually see an old man apologize for getting shot in the face the other day?

Nah, that's crazy.

#32 Good manners are not what they used to be.

Senate inquiry into Abramoff-linked nonprofits advances; Reed, Norquist likely eyed

The Senate Indian Affairs Committee has sent nearly 100 pages of documents regarding ex-lobbyist Jack Abramoff's use of nonprofit groups to the Senate Finance Committee, opening a second avenue into Congressional probes surrounding the admitted felon, ROLL CALL's Paul Kane reports Tuesday. Excerpts:

#
Indian Affairs agreed Feb. 10 to send a limited batch of files to the Finance Committee, covering how Abramoff and his network of nonprofits helped conceal a multimillion-dollar bribery conspiracy. These documents will allow Finance to engage in the probe it announced almost a year ago into Abramoff and his nonprofits. The Finance Committee said the Abramoff documents would be part of an ongoing probe into whether some nonprofits are violating laws by taking on roles beyond what their tax-exempt status allows.

Grassley and Baucus declined to spell out what was in the Indian Affairs documents, but another source who was familiar with them said there were between 80 and 100 pages of e-mails and other files related to nonprofits.

A source told ROLL CALL that roughly 75 percent of the material sent hasn't been publicly aired.

"The committee's probe could also shine new light on the activities of two of Abramoff's closest political allies, Grover Norquist, who runs the nonprofit Americans for Tax Reform, and Ralph Reed, the GOP activist who took more than $4 million in Abramoff cash," Kane writes. "Reed, a self-proclaimed opponent of gambling, sometimes received payments from Abramoff - money that originated from tribes who operated wealthy casinos - after it had first been routed through Norquist's anti-tax group or other Abramoff-linked entities."

The Indian Affairs probe released many e-mail exchanges between Abramoff and his two friends regarding financing of Reed's efforts to shut down casinos in the South that would have been rivals to Abramoff's clients.
-------------------
What a freaking mess we have on our hands. The voting public could never, ever have known the depth of the corruption of the White House, and the congress. This is just gross. When you couple this story with the story about the ports being sold to the UAE it's enough to make you faint from shock at how we've been taken.

We've been had, folks.

Time for an Extreme Makeover at the White House
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
President Bush now has a public approval rating that is 33 percentage points lower than President Clinton's was at the time he was impeached.

But wait! Mr. Bush's presidency may be caught in a profound malaise, but he can still rehabilitate himself to some degree ó if he acts quickly and decisively to reshuffle his administration and approach to governing.

The obvious model for Mr. Bush is Ronald Reagan's presidency when it was in a similar tailspin in 1987. The Iran-contra scandal, the failure of the Bork nomination and the stock market plunge left the Reagan administration "paralyzed" and "dead in the water," pundits wrote. A National Journal headline said, "Reagan Now Viewed as an Irrelevant President."

So Mr. Reagan systematically overhauled his presidency. He reached out to Congressional Democrats and appointed a bipartisan commission of three respected statesmen ó John Tower, Ed Muskie and Brent Scowcroft ó to investigate Iran-contra. He fired or accepted resignations from two national security aides, John Poindexter and Oliver North. He also fired his chief of staff, Donald Regan, and replaced him with Howard Baker, who was respected by both parties.

#34 We've been had...

"Disillusion comes only to the illusioned. One cannot be disillusioned of what one never put faith in."

Do you know the difference between us and the Extreme Islamists? Last thing, the separation of State and Religion WAS, IS and WILL ALWAYS BE taken to mean that the same Leaders shall not occupy the `State' or the `Religion'.

ha. who is "us"? pat robertson? jerry falwell? whose dear leader is it that is told what to do by god? - freedom is measured by the distance between church and state.

Fee paid to meet Bush

PENANG: Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad admits that "somebody" paid a lobby fee –†purportedly US$1.2mil (RM4.56mil) –†to arrange his meeting with United States president George W. Bush in 2002.

"I don’¥ think the (Malaysian) Government paid. But I must admit the Heritage Foundation (a US think tank) arranged it.

"They talked me into meeting Bush because they said I would be able to influence him in some way regarding US policies.

"Secondly, it would be good for Malaysia if the relationship between Malaysia and the United States improved.

"I agreed with that. I thought I could do something. This was for the good of the country," Dr Mahathir said after delivering a public lecture, Developing The Nation, at Universiti Sains Malaysia here yesterday.

"It is true that somebody paid. But I don’¥ think it was the Government," he added.

A recent report in the Los Angeles Times said the Malaysian Government called on a lobbyist when it arranged for a meeting between Bush and Dr Mahathir in 2002.

The report claimed that the lobbyist was paid US$1.2mil by the Malaysian Government for his services in 2001 and 2002.

E-mails of the report and a photograph of Dr Mahathir shaking hands with Bush were circulated online recently.

The Washington Post recently reported that the number of lobbyists in the US capital has doubled since 2000 to more than 34,750 while the amount the lobbyists charge their new clients has increased by as much as 100%.

Experts say the lobbying boom has been caused by rapid growth in government, Republican control of both the White House and Congress, and widespread acceptance among corporations that they need to hire professional lobbyists to secure federal benefits.

Dr Mahathir said in the United States, the practice to see a leader was to go through a lobbyist, who had to be paid.

"I did not touch the money. But, I think somebody paid. That is their practice," he said. "That is their system. It is not corruption at all. It is very open."

Earlier this year, high-flying Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty to conspiracy, fraud and tax evasion in a deal to cooperate in a federal corruption probe in Washington.

He once described Native Americans as tribes and his clients –†from whom he got an estimated US$66mil (RM245mil) –†as monkeys, troglodytes and idiots.

He could be jailed up to 11 years and made to pay US$26.7mil (RM99.3mil) in retribution.

Abramoff admitted to corrupting government officials and defrauding his own clients of US$25mil (RM93mil).

Dr Mahathir also talked about the Bangsa Malaysia policy, which he said was achievable but might take a long time.

"When the Malays feel less fearful of being overwhelmed economically by non-Malays and compete openly and succeed when they reduce their fears, the policy can be achieved," he said.

"The Malays must show the Chinese and Indians that there is no intention to be unfair to them."

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

No reason to think influence and face-time is not for sale. I wonder who got the money. I doubt it went into the "people's coffers" - Could Bush be lining his own pockets? Inquiring minds would like to know.

capt

Sal, it is interesting that you bring up Fifth Column, apparently WE could be considered Fifth Column. It is an ambiguos name for dissenter. Wiki sez:A fifth column is a group of people who clandestinely undermines from within a larger group to which it is expected to be loyal, such as a nation. The term originated with a 1936 radio address by Emilio Mola, a Nationalist general during the 1936-39 Spanish Civil War. As four of his army columns moved on Madrid, the general referred to his militant supporters within the capital as his "fifth column," intent on undermining the Republican government from within. The term is also used in reference to a population who are assumed to have loyalties to countries other than the one in which they reside or who supported some other nation in war efforts against the country they lived in. During World War II, German minority organisations in Poland and Czechoslovakia formed Selbstschutz which actively helped the Third Reich in aggression against those countries and engaged in widescale atrocities. The Japanese American internment in the United States was justified on the basis that those of Japanese ancestry living on the west coast would act as a fifth column. Irish Catholics resident in the UK have been sometimes viewed in this way due to "The Troubles" of the late 20th century (see also Guildford Four, Birmingham Six). Today some people in a number of Western countries see radical Islamists - or even Muslims in general - as being a fifth column of a global Islamist movement, with its notion of a transnational Ummah...... Interesting huh?

#380 Robert Schwartz. (response to Robert from previous post) the argument about the numbers of Jews killed during WWII is insane. Although what I do object to is the endless reminders of how many Jews died during that war without mentioning the millions of others who died. In the american media (movies, news etc) this happens over and over again and over again.

OFTEN all we hear about in the american media are the 6 million Jews who were brutally murdered. This is both insensitive and wrong not to mention the millions of other people who were also murdered in that war.

This reminder ( which is important) but not to the exclusion of all of the other genocides that have taken place since then.

Just yesterday a young Jewish man on NPr was saying that he wanted this Holocaust mentioned over and over again so that it would not happen again.( Npr does more stories on the Jews that were murdered in that war to the exclusion of all other genocides)

I HAD TO WONDER WHAT PLANET THIS YOUNG MAN LIVED ON.

GENOCIDES..

Mao Ze-Dong (China, 1958-61 and 1966-69) 49,000,000 ("great leap forward" and "cultural revolution")

Jozef Stalin (USSR, 1934-39) 13,000,000 (the purges)

Adolf Hitler (Germany, 1939-1945) 12,000,000 (concentration camps and civilians WWII)

Hideki Tojo (Japan, 1941-44) 5,000,000 (civilians WWII)

Pol Pot (Cambodia, 1975-79) 1,700,000

Kim Il Sung (North Korea, 1948-94) 1.6 million (purges and concentration camps)

Menghitsu (Ethiopia, 1975-78) 1,500,000

Ismail Enver (Turkey, 1915) 1,200,000 Armenians

Yakubu Gowon (Biafra, 1967-1970) 1,000,000

Leonid Brezhnev (Afghanistan, 1979-1982) 900,000

Jean Kambanda (Rwanda, 1994) 800,000

Suharto (East Timor, 1976-98) 600,000

Saddam Hussein (Iran 1980-1990 and Kurdistan 1987-88) 600,000

Yahya Khan (Pakistan, 1971) vs Bangladesh 500,000

Savimbi (Angola, 1975-2002) 400,000

Mullah Omar - Taliban (Afghanistan, 1986-2001) 400,000

Idi Amin (Uganda, 1969-1979) 300,000

Benito Mussolini (Ethiopia, 1936; Yugoslavia, WWII) 300,000

Mobutu Sese Seko (Zaire, 1965-97) ?

Charles Taylor (Liberia, 1989-1996) 220,000

Foday Sankoh (Sierra Leone, 1991-2000) 200,000

Slobodan Milosevic (Yugoslavia, 1992-96) 180,000

Michel Micombero (Burundi, 1972) 150,000

Hassan Turabi (Sudan, 1989-1999) 100,000

Jean-Bedel Bokassa (Centrafrica, 1966-79) ?

Richard Nixon (Vietnam, 1969-1974) 70,000 (vietnamese civilians)

Papa Doc Duvalier (Haiti, 1957-71) 60,000

Hissene Habre (Chad, 1982-1990) 40,000

Chiang Kai-shek (Taiwan, 1947) 30,000 (popular uprising)

Vladimir Ilich Lenin (USSR, 1917-20) 30,000 (dissidents executed)

Francisco Franco (Spain) 30,000 (dissidents executed after the civil war)

Lyndon Johnson (Vietnam, 1963-1968) 30,000

Hafez Al-Assad (Syria, 1980-2000) 25,000

Khomeini (Iran, 1979-89) 20,000

Guy Mollet (France, 1956-1957) 10,000 (war in Algeria)

Paul Koroma (Sierra Leone, 1997) 6,000

Osama bin Laden (worldwide, 1991-2001) 4,000

Augusto Pinochet (Chile, 1973) 3,000

Efrain Rios Montt (Guatemala) 2,000
Marcos (Philippines) ?

(Note: the crimes committed by right-wing dictators have always been easier to track down than the crimes against humanity committed by communist leaders, so the figures for communist leaders like Stalin and Mao increase almost yearly as new secret documents become available. To this day, the Chinese government has not yet disclosed how many people were executed

Posted by: kathleen at February 21, 2006 11:42 AM

Post a comment

freedom is measured by the distance between church and state. - James Ha

Nice turn of a phrase, but rather I would posit that freedom is measured by competing yardsticks...

Robert S #11

you're right to question the ties on this port issue, however you need to add Jimmy Carters connection also since he seems to be adding his approval today. I hope you would include Jimmy in the future.

"Joel: Ed, are you hallucinating?
Ed: Oh, yeah, but not right now." ~ Sy Rosen and Christian Williams, Northern Exposure, On Your Own, 1992

ARAB PORT DEAL - SETTING UP THE PATSY

IT IS A FACT.. WE ARE A NATION OF OIL ADDICTS ...

THE PRESIDENT CAN TALK TALK TALK ABOUT THIS ADDICTION BUT THE "MAJORITY" OF AMERICANS DO NOT CARE THAT EVERY TIME THEY STEP ON THEIR GAS PEDALS OR FILL THEIR TANKS..PEOPLE ARE DYING DUE TO THE U.S.'S NEED TO ACCESS AND PROTECT OUR ACCESS TO OIL.

YOU CAN OBJECT ALL YOU WANT TO THIS OPINION BUT THE FACTS SUPPORT THE ARGUMENT. THAT MOST AMERICANS DO NOT CARE AND THE REST OF THE WORLD KNOWS IT. JUST WALK OUT THE DOOR GET IN YOUR CAR..PUSH THE PEDAL AND JOIN OUR NATION OF OIL ADDICTS......

FROM NELSONVILLE OHIO

Message 124 of 3242


Move to: INBOX aaa ACT art@peggy ATHENS VOTES CHILREN LEFT BEHIND CODE PINK COLLEGE INFORMATION council for the national interest foundation DIANE REHMS SHOW Earth action election fraud GIGI gwinn internationalobservers IRAQ Israel kerry kucinich medsker MOM move on NATION npr NUCLEAR ARMS CONCERNS ppj sheak SOCCER THE NATION thorndike Trash

Bush is not a humane human nor a saint he thinks he is a messenger with the "word" but a sneer and atomic halo is more accurate even in 3d.

Thang 1 & 2 are not a pepper too because even when the wuss acts all billy-badass he comes across as a demon even babies know that warm feeling all over is not compassion and the mouthpiece - halo or not - is a flying evil failure!

Saladin this in response to the topic of education on the previous post

#368 Saladin the Ohio Supreme court has judged three times that the Ohio Education funding system is unconstitutional. Has anything changed..NO. So many folks(teachers, parents here in Appalachia) I know have been working their asses off on this issue.

There are districts in Ohio where students have $4500.oo spent on them and rich districts where $12,ooo.oo is spent on a child.

More of that "justice for all" bullshit.

More of that PRO -LIFE CRAP THAT SO MANY OF THOSE FAKE CHRISTIANS OUT THERE HIDE BEHIND. They want to force women to have children and call themselves pro-life what a bunch of complete and outrageous hogwash. These same people vote against raising the minimum wage, national health care, a fair and equitable education system and make accessing a higher education close to impossible.

THEY MAY BE PRO-BIRTH BUT THEY ARE NOT PRO-LIFE..

Is Ohio's school funding system fair and adequate? Not according to the Ohio Supreme Court which on March 24, 1997 declared the current system unconstitutional and directed Ohio lawmakers to enact a new system by March 24, 1998.
Two years later, Perry County Court Judge Linton Lewis has ruled Ohio's actions to meet the March 1998 deadline have failed miserably and directed the State to enact a new system by the end of 1999.

Since the Ohio Supreme Court ruling, there has been much debate and many plans for a new system have been proposed. The Ohio General Assembly enacted 7 new laws, which included a proposed sales tax increase defeated overwhelmingly by voters on the May 1998 ballot. State leaders claimed and still claim these enactments satisfy the Supreme Court's directive. Other lawmakers and many others including nearly all schools throughout Ohio disagree.

With Judge Lewis's decision, the State Board of Education and State Department of Education have been directed to recommend a new system to the General Assembly and the General Assembly is directed to enact a new constitutional system by the end of 1999.

Governor Taft, House Speaker Davidson, and Senate President Finan have announced they will appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court.

This site consolidates information regarding Ohio's school funding system, the Supreme Court decision, and proposed solutions to help you decide for yourself.

LATER..

I love this.
Kristof's Pledge Drive Yields $727,568 to Send Bill O'Reilly to Darfur

NEW YORK In a postscript to his regular New York Times column on Tuesday, Nicholas Kristof reveals that he has raised almost three-quarters of a million dollars from readers to send Fox News host Bill O'Reilly to troubled Darfur.

Kristof, embroiled in a public feud with O'Reilly, launched a pledge drive recently with this end in mind, and reports today that he has been "deluged by 6,675 pledges, averaging a bit more than $100." The grand total comes to $727,568, "so Mr. O'Reilly will be able to fly first class with the very best satellite phones and fill his water bottles with San Pelegrino."

O'Reilly has called Kristof's pledge drive "simply a gimmick, a ploy, to bring my name to his passion."

Kristof, he added, "couldn't care less if I travel to Darfur. He should direct his ire at the U.N."

Earlier, Kristof had announced he would ante up the first $1000 to bring O'Reilly to Africa. Presumably, the ticket would be roundtrip.

The "feud" began last December when O'Reilly denounced Kristof as a "left-wing ideologue." Kristof replied by calling him a "bully" and challenging O'Reilly to show truly "traditional values" by joining him on a visit to Darfur to assess the death and devastation there, thereby "using your talents for an important cause."

O'Reilly then hit back at Kristof, calling him "absolutely clueless" and adding that the New York Times columnist has "no idea what is happening in the country."

Kristof recently revealed that he got this answer to his earlier offer to take O'Reilly to Darfur: "I do three hours of daily news analysis on TV and radio. There's no way I can go to Africa."

But Kristof observed that with a satellite phone, "you can do your show from anywhere."

Today he noted that President Bush now seemed more interested in Darfur, and Olympian Joey Cheek had donated cash from his medals to help Darfur survivors. "So come on, Bill--and Oprah, and the rest of you on the little screen--and visit the world's most awful place," he suggested.
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Presumably the ticket is round trip. He He He He.

Lab Jobs Restored Ahead of Bush Speech
Bush Visits Energy Lab Hit by Spending Cuts to Promote His Renewable Energy Proposals
By BEN FELLER

GOLDEN, Colo. Feb 21, 2006 (AP)— President Bush says he wants to diversify the nation's energy mix to end America's dependence on foreign oil, yet some critics are wary of his commitment and point to cutbacks at a government energy laboratory here.

Two weeks ago, 32 workers, including eight researchers, were laid off at the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden. The lab helps develop the very renewable energy technologies the president is promoting.

Then, over the weekend, just before Bush's planned visit to the lab on Tuesday, the government restored the jobs. His trip to the renewable energy laboratory is part of a two-day, three-state trip to promote the energy proposals he outlined in his State of the Union address.

At the direction of Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, $5 million was transferred to the Midwest Research Institute, the operating contractor for the lab, to get the workers back on the job, the Energy Department announced Monday.

Philip Clapp, president of the National Environmental Trust, said the decision restores only $5 million of the $28 million budget shortfall at the lab that forced the layoffs.

"The $5 million stopped the bodies from going out the door, but it doesn't provide the money for the (renewable energy) programs," Clapp said.

More.

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

My favorite part:

The picture caption which reads, in part, "President Bush, center, knocks over some lab samples as receives a tour of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory..."

In all this talk about cartoons, I haven't seen any commentary on the history of iconoclasm. n the time of Moses, this was a big enough issue to warrant its own Commandment--the one about not making graven images, which the Israelites immediately broke, leading to 40 years of wandering in the desert.

During the Roman Empire, iconoclasm was a big political issue for hundreds of years before it came to a head in the 725 AD, when Roman Emperor Leo ordered the destruction of thousands of Roman works depicting the deity (Christ) because they turned in him into something less than a god. Leo's iconoclastic practices upset Pope Gregory II in Rome, and the Christian Church split on the issue into Eastern and Western factions that hated each other from then on. Several more bouts of this war occurred in the following centuries, setting the stage for the Great Schism between Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic. The internecine war between Christian factions was perhaps a signficant reason why Islam was able to spread so far.

One might argue that the past is irrelevant to the riots of today. But I wonder if the people who can't comprehend why Moslems get upset about icons of their deity are also unaware of iconoclasm's pivotal role in Jewish and Christian history.

#49
If SNL doesn't use that they have truly become a waste of airtime.

Police Tied to Death Squads
U.S. military officials say they suspect Iraq's highway patrol, staffed largely by Shiites, is deeply involved in torture and killings.
By Solomon Moore, Times Staff Writer

BAGHDAD — A 1,500-member Iraqi police force with close ties to Shiite militia groups has emerged as a focus of investigations into suspected death squads working within the country's Interior Ministry.

Iraq's national highway patrol was established largely to stave off insurgent attacks on roadways. But U.S. military officials, interviewed over the last several days, say they suspect the patrol of being deeply involved in illegal detentions, torture and extrajudicial killings.

More.

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

No doubt, Messers. Khalizahd & Negroponte are shocked, shocked to discover death squads in Hond,.. er, Iraq.

Mr. Corn,

You knew greed had to be the bottom of this Dubai takeover of our important ports. I saw the New York Daily News report too and the ultimate question was finally answered. Why would it be any different? 9/11 was allowed to happen (not instigated by the administration as some people have said). For greed and power just like the Iraq war.

#2 Den. I completely agree with you. All these silly postings are a waste of good reading time and yes, it does insult David Corn, one
of the best journalists I know.

And in yesterday's thread #30 Kathleen. What an entertaining post! Your hypothetical retorts to George Will and Cokie Roberts were perfect. I worry my family when I start talking back to the TV, but I would have said the exact same thing.

Has it occured to anybody else here that the missions of the Department of Homeland Security and of the Department of Defense would appear to be identical by any rational definitions of the words?

Or am I just hallucinating.

Perhaps we could be more honest and go back to calling it the Departments of War and of Navy.

Libby Using Cheney To Raise Money For Legal Defense Fund

Today, Scooter Libby launched a new website –†ScooterLibby.org —†to raise money for his legal defense. Here is the banner that runs across the top: Libby Legal Defense Fund

Of course Cheney wouldn’¥ have any problem with Libby disclosing classified information to reporters. He was the one who ordered Libby to do it.

The site also contains endorsements by President Bush, Paul Wolfowitz and Brit Hume.
------------------
Once a friend, always a friend.

Kathleen,

I went to a HS graduation at Bay Village, Just west of Cleveland a few years ago.

One brown face in a crowd of 200+ graduates. He was there on a "foreign exchange" program.

Rich communities will continue to raise the walls against the encroachment of the "lower classes". Doing so, they jealously guard against elevation of those "others" to compete against their own for good education and opportunities for wealth.

-T

Here we go.

The Supreme Court takes a controversial abortion case.

Roberts, Alito and the rest of the court consider the constitutionality of a federal law that bans a certain type of abortion without "an exception to protect the health of the mother." The law has already been struck down by judges in California, Nebraska and New York.
------------------
To me this court could lead to the break up of the United States. If they keep giving states the ultimate rights to govern then there will be no reason for a federal government. And really, who wants to be saddled with the debt we have in this country?

I talked to someone who heard that his sister's friend's son-in-law had read that Jimmy Carter, Michael Moore, and Harry Reid accompanied a disguised Osama bin Laden on a day trip to Disney World. Moore ate over three dozen hot dogs. Indictments are pending.

Just sayin'.

Forget DC-The Battle Is In the States

This is the title from an In These Times cover article based on a report by yours truly for the Progressive Legislative Action Network (PLAN), where I recently took over as Policy Director.

The point of the report, "Governing the Nation from the Statehouses: The Rightwing Agenda in the States and How Progressives Can Fight Back", is that progressives are too fixated on the White House and Capitol Hill and are ignoring the rightwing's campaigns in the states, where the Right can not only have as much influence on changing policy in the country as at the national level but can also undermine progressives political power in profound ways.

But there's another reason progressives should be paying more attention to state politics and policies. If you hadn't noticed, those in power in DC don't care what progressives think. We can win an occasional defensive fight, as with protecting social security, but we can't win any progressive victories.

But if the rightwing is taking state politics seriously, it's because they also know that progressives have the opportunity there to make real advances in policy, as they have done in areas like the minimum wage, smart growth and energy policy, or protecting gay rights- all areas where advances have been blocked at the federal level.

Which is why the Progressive Legislative Action Network (PLAN) was formed, to both take on the rightwing network and help progressive legislators more effectively move forward policy. Backed by MoveOn, unions like AFSCME, SEIU, and the AFL-CIO, and George Soros's Open Society Institute, PLAN is going to be building the infrastructure for political victory in the states. And here's the thing about building a policy agenda in the states: Because we can win actual policy victories, voters will understand progressive policy by seeing laws enacted in reality, not see progressives as an ineffectual opposition talking about policy in the abstract.

HEY FOLKS!!!
Miss ya'll! It's been a trying time for our labor union where I work, so we've been trying to get it together. Contract talks are near.

KATHLEEN #40: THANKS FOR THE LIST OF EVIL BASTARDS! Of course, we know it's too many others to name, but I'll put some others on it too, like Kissinger, Sharon, the Shah, and any SOB who was part of Operation Condor. The genocide of slavery, with untold numbers of dead, and the genocide of Aztec and Mayan Indians, should also be included in your list, if it's o.k. with you . Once again, THANKS KATHLEEN!!! I owe you one!

College Costs-Benefits and Risks. Can the Middle Class Afford It?

Last night, in my seminar on the Economics and Policies of the Middle Class, the subect was college. We had a terrific guest, Dr. Susan Dynarski of the Kennedy School of Government, an economist who is a self-described contrarian on the subject of public support for student loans. We read data-choked reports on the cost of college and financing college.

Dr. Dynarski's takeaway was clear: Sure, the cost of college is skyrocketing, but college pays off in long-term income. And the policy implication? The people who go to college should pay for it - without government help. I read the same data and asked a different question: Can all families afford to take the risk that college will pay off for their children?

The policy argument is well supported by the data. Over time college is a great investment. By Dr. Dynarski's careful, detailed present-value calculation, including college costs and income lost while a student, college is a great lifetime deal. And, college grads are leaving non-grads further behind economically, so it is getting better. The policy implications are classic economics: The benefits are reaped by those who go to college (higher earnings), so let them pay for it - and don't push the costs onto non-college grads who pay taxes to support state schools.

But what about risk? That increased earning over time is median earnings, not guaranteed earnings. Half are above, but half are below. Families and individuals must make their financing decisions one at a time, making outlays for themselves and their own children, not for statistical averages. What if this kid doesn't get a good job? Doesn't graduate on time? Gets sick? Looks the wrong way when she crosses the street? The family or the student has invested in an education that won't pay off.
-------------------
Ok, this is a bs argument. My son and daughter both got grants to go to college. Those grants help colleges stay afloat. They pay the teachers wages.
Also, my kids, according to Dr. Dynarski, will end up making more money than somebody who doesn't go to college. That means more taxes paid-going into the fund that helps pay for another kid down the line.
Why help a middle class kid get through college? After all isn't it the rich who pay all the taxes? Who's the backbone of this nation, anyway?

IF WE WANT OUR KIDS TO GO TO COLLEGE AND WE WANT OUR TAX DOLLARS TO HELP PAY FOR THOSE KIDS....then damn it we have the right to it. We are paying the taxes. We are making the sacrifices.

#58 -not me

I had a dream the other night that I had to choose between going hunting with Dick Cheney and having Teddy Kennedy drive me home. So I made a comparison:

Dick shot some BB's in his buddies face who survived the ordeal.

Teddy drowned his girlfriend who didn't survive.

Dick made sure his buddy got medical attention.

Teddy made sure he got medical attention for his shock.

Dick notified the authorities right away.

Teddy notified his attorney right away.

Dick accepted resposibilty for the accident.

Teddy blamed being in shock for going home, going to bed, and waking up the next day to call his attorney, not the authorities.

Well, after looking at the facts I would rather take my chances with a one beer Cheney than a one 5th Teddy.

Chucky Schumer endorses Halliburton

Everyones favorite liberal Sen Chucky Schumer said yesterday on Fox news that he wants Halliburton to take over the ports. What the hell is he thinkin? Liberals hate Halliburton! Has he completely lost it? Did Michael Moore put him up to this to increase his Halliburton stock profits? Very interesting!!!!!

Mein Fuhrer, these are glorious times for you. Your killing spree goes unabated. The genocide of Iraqis started with your father in 1991 and it continues to this day with the subtle murders of 25 million Iraqis through depleted uranium. 25 million Iraqis are affected with depleted uranium malignancies.

Right is right, even if everyone is against it, and wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it. William Penn

The coward threatens when he is safe. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

True patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anywhere else. Clarence Darrow

After each war there is a little less democracy to save. Brooks Atkinson

The life of the nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous. Frederick Douglass

Although tyranny may successfully rule over foreign peoples, it can stay in power only if it destroys first of all the national institutions of its own people. Hannah Areddt

Criticism in a time of war is essential to the maintenance of any kind of democratic government. Sen. Robert Taft, (R) Ohio

I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, and its stupidity. Dwight D. Eisenhower

A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government. Edward Abbey

War doesn't make boys, men, it makes men, dead. Ken Gillespie

When a tyrant has disposed of foreign enemies by conquest or treaty, then he is always stirring up some war or other, in order that the people may require a leader. Plato

FORCE ALWAYS ATTRACTS MEN OF LOW MORALITY. Albert Einstein

LOYALTY TO A COUNTRY ALWAYS! LOYALTY TO THE GOVERNMENT WHEN IT DESERVES IT! Mark Twain

This is from the headlines on Democracy Now.

Alito Taps Ex-Ashcroft Aide to Serve as Law Clerk
New Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has hired a former top aide of Attorney General John Ashcroft to serve as his law clerk. The New York Times reports the selection of the 37-year-old Adam Ciongoli has startled many in Washington both because of his seniority and his political background –†he has been credited with being an architect of the Bush administration's legal strategy after the 9/11 attacks.
----------------
That's right Congress, roll over and play dead. Make it as easy as you can for the Bush administration.

unauthroized eavesdropping

Many themes emerge from this topic. Litigation begins its inexorable march to the Supreme Court. Justice Alito hires a clerk whose resume suggests he will try to rally a conservative bloc to support the President's "unitary executive" theory. The showdown will come before '08 election. Justices Roberts and Scalia will show whether loyalty trumps their principles and intelligence; for Justices Alito and Thomas the imperial executive is already part of their authoritarian world-view. Meanwhile, as the President's approval ratings lock at levels higher only than pre-resignation Nixon, Republican Senators are more willing to resist assertions of Presidential Power that are anathema to the libertarian right, as well as disrespectful of Congress. Slowly, most Democrats in Congress realize that selling port security to Dubai, lacking a post-Katrina emergency response plan superior to the pre-Katrina plan, and tapping millions of calls (and email?) even through a computer instead of people listening to people are not politically popular moves by the Administration. Warrantless spying, like torture and permanent bases, becomes a litmus test for '08 candidates in both parties. The R's candidate will have to support a remarkable list of Big Brother activities, since repudiating the White House is impossible.
---------------
Just roll over and play dead.

#48 Good post Jeanne. A little soap opera - a feud between media personalities - can spice up a story. I'd donate ten buck to send O'Rielly to Darfur.

Taking on the Chickenhawks

Poverty in the U.S.

To help ease the energy crunch in Nazi America we need a massive mass transportation to go forward in construction.

What was billed as a legal debate on the Bush administration's domestic surveillance program didn't gain much traction Friday at Stanford University's Law School, mainly because of the one big question that no one could answer: What exactly is the surveillance program, anyway?

more at: http://tinyurl.com/pde39

Reform Claptrap

Iraq Three Years and Counting

What exactly is the surveillance program, anyway? - B.Toest

I would never claim to know the extent of the the effort, but some smatterings of its reach are being exposed:

Pentagon surveillance of antiwar groups extends to Madison

Kristian Knutsen on Wed, 12/14/2005 - 2:44pm.
Last night, NBC reported that the U.S. Defense Department is conducting ongoing surveillance of American peace activists. A 400 page department document acquired by the network lists more than 1,500 "suspicious incidents" by a variety of anti-war and counter-recruitment organizations over the last ten months, while an eight page document (available on MSNBC as a PDF file) lists 43 anti-war meetings across the nation. This database lists the date of occurrence, date of report, threat status, and other information on each of the surveillance instances. While most of the listed events are in larger states such as California, New York, and Texas, one details a planned protest in Madison last spring.

More.

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

Click here to see the ACLU discussion on eavesdropping with Laurence Tribe, Anthony Romero, Marvin Kalb, others.

"...But the piece on Mick and the boys got as much space and play as an article on the continuing protests over the Danish cartoons that led to 11 deaths in Libya and 15 in Nigeria, where Muslims attacked Christians and burned churches." --DC

I think the main reason the Islamic terrorists haven't killed the Rolling Stones is that they appear to already be dead. Jagger prances around in front of zombies named Watt, Wood, and most of all, Richard.

"It does seem that the cartoons have lit a fuse on the clash of civilization we've been hearing about for so long." -- DC

The fuse was lit many years ago. The cartoon riots are just one of the latest symptoms of the clash, but more importantly, an example of how many loosely associated Islamic groups can instigate and sustain trouble.

"I'm struck by the staying power of the outrage over the cartoons. Certainly, it has been inflamed purposefully by demagogues..." -- DC

You've hit the nail on the head, David. The leaders of radical groups are well-trained in fanning the flames once the situation has been ignited (Often by them).

They know that the self-conscious elites of the West will ultimately blame their own culture for the cultivating the roots of the trouble, and so they will keep up the momentum for as long as possible for political advantage.

"But that doesn't mean we ought to diminish the passions unleashed--and the consequences of those passions." --- DC

You're right about that, David, especially since we'll see more of these tactics in the future.

Murder Most Glorious

Truth stands, even if there is no public support. It is self-sustained. Mahatma Gandhi

No war is inevitable until it breaks out. A.J.P. Taylor

Force is the weapon of the weak. Ammon Hennacy

IF YOU LIVE LONG ENOUGH, YOU'LL SEE THAT EVERY VICTORY TURNS INTO DEFEAT. Simone de Beauvoir

IF I'M FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM HERE, AND I GO HOME AND I'M OPPRESSED, WHAT DOES THAT MEAN. Pv2 Frederick Phoenix, MP, US Army

Will the threat of common extermination continue? Must children receive the arms race from us as a necessary inheritance. Pope John Paul II

WE HAVE GUIDED MISSILES AND MISGUIDED MEN. Martin Luther King, Jr.

What the people want is very simple, they want an America as good as its promise. Barbara Jordan

Carter stood up to terrorists. Reagan negotiated with terrorist (Arms for hostages/Iran Contra) and capitulated to them in Lebanon.

new thread

If there is no sufficient reason for war, the war party will make one pretext, then invent another pretext after war is on. Sen. Robert M. La Follette

War is not a word, it's an acronym for "Wasting Another's Resources." Ramman Kenoun

Setting a good example is a far better way to spread ideals than through force of arms. Congressman Ron Paul

Peace and friendship with all mankind is our wisest policy, and I wish we may be permitted to pursue it. Thomas Jefferson

We cloak ourselves in cold indifference to the unnecessary suffering of others –†even when we cause it. James Carroll

THE DETERIORATION OF EVERY GOVERNMENT BEGINS WITH THE DECAY OF THE PRINCIPLES ON WHICH IT WAS FOUNDED. Charles-Louis De Secondat

THE STATE HAS, IN ORDER TO CONTROL US, INTRODUCED DIVISION INTO OUR THINKING, SO THAT WE COME TO DISTRUST OTHERS AND LOOK TO THE STATE FOR PROTECTION. Butler Shaffer

VIOLENCE IS THE FIRST REFUGE OF THE INCOMPETENT. Issac Asimov

WE MAY EXTEND OUR DOMINION OVER THE WHOLE CONTINENT BUT BE ASSURED IT WILL BE AT THE PRICE OF OUR FREE INSTITUTIONS. Rep. William Waters Boyce

OUR NEOCONSERVATIVES ARE NEITHER NEW NOR CONSERVATIVE, BUT OLD AS BABYLON AND EVIL AS HELL. Edward Abbey

THE PRICE OF EMPIRE IS AMERICA’ì SOUL, AND THAT PRICE IS TOO HIGH. Sen.J William Fulbright (Ark)

In war, there are no unwounded soldiers. Jose Narosky

WAR MEANS BLIND OBEDIENCE, UNTHINKING STUPIDITY, BRUTISH CALLOUSNESS, WANTON DESTRUCTION, AND IRRESPONSIBLE MURDER. Alexander Berkman

Bill ORielly

Carter hid from terrorists and gave us the Islamic extremists that are threatening the world today.

Bill O Reilly

Carter gave us the hostages, Reagan freed the hostages.

Hold on a minute.

This has Karl Rove written all over it.

What if this is just a political ploy to make the sitting Republicans look good for taking a stand against Bush? How much would that demonstration of love for American security due to ensure their re-election in November?

And, if the UAE deal falls through, which beloved American corporation or its subsidiary might just wind up with the contract?

Can you say Halliburton?

iamuvl, you are right on target.

# 84 Iamuvl

Brilliant. Of course! Just as the NSA wiretapping leak to the NY Times was a Rove ploy to start the 2006 campaign off by calling Democrats weak on security when they protested (same ole, same ole), this does smell of Rove. You are so right!