David,

No! Tell me you are kidding!

That it quotes Bush as using the word internecine renders a high degree of dubiousness to this document. Just sayin'.

mr corn was it 2002 or 2003

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,,1700881,00.html

By the way,

By the way, tossing the "impeachment bomb" around like it was a hot potato is no winning strategy. What are you thinking, we impeach presidents for sex in the oval office? Didn't happen to Kennedy, didn't happen to Clin.., never mind.

completely agree with trh. dems shudnt waste time in trying to kill a man who is anyway trying his best to commit suicide
in fact the longer he stays in office the more blunders he is going to make and what else could be better for dems.
just like alito it was completely right not to filly him.he will be the poster boy of why not to put congress in repughs hands once roe v wade is overturned by him in the near future

Tell me you are not kidding.

prasanth,

My point exactly. Bush is not running again and the Rebubs suffered more for impeaching Clinton than the Dems did. Al Gore was his own worst enemy, yet he received more votes for President than Clinton ever did. He even received more votes than Bush!

Any mea culpas yet on you getting the biggest two stories of our lifetimes completely wrong?

A former chief economist for the Bush dept. of labor has joined forces with the former head of the US star wars missile defense program and scores of other notable former government officals and academics to show that, beyond a reasonable doubt, the government is lying about what happened on 9-11.

http://www.scholarsfor911truth.org/

With due respect, an impassionate observer would have to conclude that the arguments put forth by these brave people against the government's official conspiracy theory are substantially more convincing than the arguments that support it, including your own.

Mea culpa? Or hit the ignore button? I suppose that depends on what the definition of "independent journalist" is.

Now here's a guy who has balls:

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/columnists/13760721.htm

there's a political calculus that says let it go to the mid-term elections. And there's a justice issue that says impeach the bastards now!

It's amazing how politicians are willing to allow their secret and highly incriminating conversations to be recorded in memos. It's like "alright, we're discussing stuff that could end both of our careers, but that guy over there who's taking notes, he's cool with me."

The other story being election fraud, of course:

http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts01192006.html

Everything aside from these two stories is derivative. Iraq war, wiretapping, Alito.

In the USSR, people who told the truth were often deemed to be mentally unstable. Since we now share their experience of living under an authoratarian regime, it's no wonder people smirk and giggle about the tin foil hat people.

No. We just smirk and giggle when the tin foil hat people have no evidence to support their claims.

Is holding off in trying to impeach Mr. Bush because greater political gains by the Dems might be achieved down the road akin to the Dems voting to give Bush carte blanche in Iraq because it would then be his mess? A lot of innocent lives are lost in the balance.

IMPEACH NOW!!

One last comment. The Popular Mechanics article that you used to as a source was edited by Benjamin Chertoff, Michael's cousin. I don't believe David Ray Griffin, Steven Jones or Morgan Reynolds have any relatives in the White House.

truthseeker, David

By kidding, I meant your comment about the media taking it serious. When refer to the media I am presuming that you are talking about the "alphabetical disorders" and "National Enquirer" wanna bes. Do they even take themselves serious anymore?

I'm all for the Dems trying impeachment. Immediately. The result will be that they'll be picking a fight that they'll lose, and lose badly. We don't have much information about the NSA program, but the administration can say that it "has stopped" terror attacks. So those against it are now in the untenable position of saying that the lives that would have been lost in a terror attack would have been worth it to not have the program. For a party already perceived as weak on defense, this is suicide in '06. Those of you who hate Karl Rove should learn to recognize when you're being suckered into self-defeating chess moves by the "architect" and his buds.

Assuming (A BIG IF) the Jan. 2002 memo is legit...

President Bush to Tony Blair: "The US was thinking of flying U2 reconnaissance aircraft with fighter cover over Iraq, painted in UN colours. If Saddam fired on them, he would be in breach"

It seems Bush is rather intelligent to think creatively of entraping or at least baiting, Saddam with UN-colored plane! Isn't this standard oper. procedure in cat-and-mouse law enforcement `games'? Why, I am scratching my head, is this out-of-the-box thinking subject to again, that same old, same old word `impeachment'?

Have you ever heard of brain-storming where no idea is considered too wild? No wonder you Dems can't lead!

Who knows, this could even be another orchestrated `leak' for you Lefties to chew on to keep you busy. You guys are so anxious to find wrongdoings it is truly hilarious for us on the Right side of history!

Hello everybody! My name is Bob and I am a human-animal hybrid. Bah! I have been singled out in the SOTU speech as a threat to your freedom. Bah!A new kind of enemy. Bah! I undermine your freedom. Bah!

My Mama was the finest in the flock. Short curly hair with a twinkle in her eye. Bah!
My Papa was a lonely naive cowboy that could not resist her charm. Bah!

They fell in love with each other. And now there is me, Bob. Bah!
America, Please don't hate me! Baah!

So those against it are now in the untenable position of saying that the lives that would have been lost in a terror attack would have been worth it to not have the program.

C'mon man, what plots have they uncovered that would have cost lives?? If there was even one they'd be harping from the highest row about it. They found out about one idiot's plan to bring down the Brooklyn Bridge with a cutting torch. *laughs*
Your statement is based on talking points, not facts.

This musing is for those interested in the Senatorial campaign in Florida, Happy's state of happy childhood. Katherine Harris has received the blessings (belatedly) of the Bush brothers and will likely go heads up aginst Sen. Ben Nelson (D). Ms. Harris is one tough cookie and I admire her perseverance against the many that did NOT want her to run.

Presently a 20 point underdog against a better-financed (for now) incumbent, she has her work cut out for her. Happy made a donation today and I urge fellow GOPers to do like wise (at electharris.org). Florida is a GOP state and what a coup it would be to unseat Sen. Nelson while helping to crush those Dems dreaming of `winning' this year.

David: Your regulars use your site to promote all sort of things so I figure I'd give it a fling as well. I promise I won't try to raise funds for the Boy Scouts!

It's also funny that the UN found Saddam to be in "material breach" of his obligations in Resolution 1441 totally independently of any alleged scheme (see http://www.un.org/Docs/scres/2002/sc2002.htm), which sort of renders part of this questionable memo irrelevant even if it were real.

The FBI agent's joke about ALL the dry runs investigating the NSA's bullshit cases was something about 'another pizza call'. As in... normal Americans calling for a pizza delivery.

Do you feel safer?

Saladin, (from previous post)

I saw that also. They can't even pull that old "butteryfly ballot tricked me" routine. I am assuming since it was republicans electing a republican to a leadership position they all had (R) after their name. Or maybe one of them had a "Kerry moment." Voted for one, then voted for the other and then the other.(3 people on the first ballot) so at least he could claim to be on 1 winning side.

...Saddam to be in "material breach" of his obligations in Resolution 1441...

more talking points bullshyt He was in breach for not turning over something he didn't have and was another of their sleight-of-hand moves.
You better hope Pande is bored with your schtick, or you got a nose-bleed coming when he's not so busy.

Alan, [not sure how to italicize on this thing] "C'mon man, what plots have they uncovered that would have cost lives?? If there was even one they'd be harping from the highest row about it." Appeals to ignorance only work if this is the sort of information that would be readily available, and in this situation it clearly is not. The administration and other experts interviewed on stations such as NPR will acknowledge that attacks have been thwarted, although they will not elaborate. It is understandable that for security reasons the details of such plots may not be fit for the public. The Clinton administration did not make the details of all counter-terror intelligence public, and the Bush administration should not either. You're operating on the assumption that, generally, if Bush does it, it must be unjustified. You have no evidence to actually counter the claim made, and the claim is of a sort such that the government's word on the matter is all that can be offered. This is the problem with the left. It's become all conspiracy theory and no evidence. If you can show me a shred of evidence that he lied about the NSA program being used to thwart an attack, please, by all means, offer it up, and I'll listen eagerly.

David, not such a small detail...it was January 31, 2003. Not 2002.

The vice was tightening...

Material breach for failing to provide complete documentation of that stuff is still material breach. If you read 1441, it's clear. Also, who is Pande?

Micki- That means he was trying to get something he already had, which was "breach" by Iraq, and the memo makes no sense in light of Resolution 1441. It must be fake.

cj,

You press the itilicize button on your keyboard. It works every time.

cj

(Pressing itilicize key on keyboard)

Pande is Pandemoniac

(Depressing itilicize key)

Can we have a show of hands of anyone...anyone?... who is even remotely interested (in a positive way) in Ms. Harris's campaign?

You know...THAT Harris who was bought and paid for by the bush brothers and their boyfriends...well, she has stayed bought but she has recently threatened to blow their cover and that is why they have suddenly decided they have to cozy up to her again.

Damn, those whores!

cj, you don't know shit from shinola.

Next.....

If this turns out to be legitimate, I think Harry Reid needs to keep the lights turned off in the Senate until a special prosecutor is appointed to investigate. This is the crime of the century.

Seems to me that as long as the busheviks are running Congress as if it were the Supreme Soviet, any Congressional investigation would be a farce. An independent prosecutor would be the best bet.

Wonder how the U.N. and IAEA feel knowing that their inspection personnel laid their lives on the line for a charade. Maybe the U.N. needs to take a hint from Toby Keith and boot Bolton's ass out of one of its wasted upper floors.

As for the question of who could have been present when Bush and Blair plotted their high crimes, I'd bet it was interpreter who was there to translate what Bush said into English.

If you can show me a shred of evidence that he lied about the NSA program being used to thwart an attack, please, by all means, offer it up, and I'll listen

Last post to you. I mean, you're disagreeing civilly, and that's the only reason I've tried to 'reason' with you. Now, as for your post above, I'll turn that around on you...why don't you show me evidence that he didn't lie? He has/did/and continues to lie every day, so the preponderence of the evidence is already in my favor.
That, by the way, is a civil rebuttal to your utter nonsense.
Nice yappin' wif ya...

*I see why Pande calls 'em 'bed-wetters' now. They're scared of the boogeyman. He's everywhere!

Clever, micki. That's the argumentative style I've come to expect from the left, and you don't disappoint. You've really sent me back to the drawing board. (Although you're right, after I posted it I realized that the memo must be talking about a breach of 1441, not the breach that was declared to exist at the time 1441 was drafted, although somehow I doubt you are even aware of this issue, so I'm not really sure why I'm wasting my time). Alan, I'm still waiting for that shred of evidence that the NSA program DIDN'T thwart an attack like it's been alleged to. Anything will do. Really. I know you're dignified enough not to just throw out accusations of lying without evidence, so I'm waiting, for the sake of my own education here. Anybody else can join in and help Alan. Anybody?

micki,

What was she trying to blow besides all that cover girl make up on her face? Enquiring minds want to know!

Yes, it was 2003. Thank you for the correction.

Back in January/February 2003, there was disagreement over surveillance flights that would involve a United Nations' plan to use American U-2 spy planes to fly over Iraq in support of inspections.

The Iraqis said then they would allow such flights -- but only as long as the U.S. and Britain halted air patrols over northern and southern Iraq while the spy planes were in the air.

That way, Iraqi anti-aircraft batteries would not mistake the reconnaissance aircraft for U.S. and British warplanes and fire on them.

It is so obvious why bush and blair wanted to use American spy planes dressed up in United Nations' colors! They are treasonous bastards.

Anyone who sides with these war criminals lacks ethics, morality, and integrity. (Oh, but we are so fucking safe, they say, with bush and his boyfriends at the helm.)

cj

Let me know when you find that itilicize
key. Then you will truly be educated. Maybe then I will enlighten you and point your way to the bold key.

1. There are trolls on this website who are paid Nazi operatives.

2. The Bush worshippers say that he is pro-life. Bush is the most evil low life creature in the history of the universe.

3. The Nazis will never lose control of Congress. Diebold Voting Machines will never permit a loss for the Nazis. You can bank on it.

4. And we call ourselves a Christian nation! I can only puke upon anyone who says to me that we are Christian nation. How many more human lives will continue to die for Bush's incessant lies. The people who have claimed that Bush was chosen by God are committing blasphemy, the unforgivable sin.

Holy cow, David is in the building. Hello.

Gerald- Puked on the Gallup Poll recently?

It was funny watching the Republicans announce their new majority leader today. Confident, forthright, all business, no nonsense. Chop, chop.

By looking at them you'd never even suspect that they're so breathtakingly incompetent at running a country.

I seen formber Congressman and Republican Bob Barr saying this on national TV (The Situation Room).

BARR: Well, first of all, or last of all, this so-called plot to blow up the Brooklyn Bridge was bogus because it had to do with a group of idiots who were planning to dismantle it with blow torches.

He said this after Republican Congressman pissing in his pants the whole interview, he was so scared, said this...

ROHRABACHER: Well, I'll tell you something, if a nuclear weapon goes off in Washington, DC, or New York or Los Angeles, it'll burn the Constitution as it does. So I'm very happy we have a president that's going to wiretap people's communication with people overseas to make sure that they're not plotting to blow up one of our cities.

CNN transcripts

Burning Charcoal

I had a dream and in my dream I saw that America has lost her soul through lies, corruption, and decadence. In each of the souls I saw hearts like burning charcoal. For years America has maintained a hate and a kill mentality and now she must face the wrath of God for her evil ways.

Along with a hate and a kill mentality the American Nazis and the American Taliban will never lose control in Washington, D.C. The rigged elections will forever have these groups in control. More Nazis will be elected in 2006 and for every election thereafter.

The burning charcoal in the hearts of these souls is like a living hell with anguish, pain, and suffering, endless suffering.

I also saw myself with tears in my eyes because the time will come to be judged by God. All of us will someday face that judgment day. I also know that I am a sinner, a big time sinner. I say the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and I believe that Jesus will stand with me before God, the Father, on my judgment day.

I know that Jesus has brilliant language skills but will Jesus' brilliant language skills be enough to feel God's mercy on judgment day?

Everybody--Don't forget to run virus scans tonight so you don't get hit with that Kama Sutra thing tomorrow.

TRH: "You press the itilicize button on your keyboard. "

You need to spell-check your keyboard.

I'm gettin' the hell outta here. Gerald's off the deep end.

DrewP: As for the question of who could have been present when bush* and blair* plotted their high crimes, I'd bet it was interpreter who was there to translate what bush* said into English.

LOL!

* please excuse my editing -- but they are lower-case status.

Contamination

Linda Schrock Taylor says, "When God means to punish a nation, He deprives its rulers of wisdom."

Hitler Bush and the Nazi cabal will prowl the world seeking endless wars. With endless wars and depleted uranium the Nazi States of America will contaminate people, land, air, and water. In time our entire world will become contaminated through the use of depleted uranium in fighting our endless wars.

The Nazi States of America is an evil nation.

Alan,

Well blow torch is the same thing as
blow up isn't it? Let us not forget the words to that monster ballad by Extreme, "More Than Words.

Actually, that plot sounds more like a Monty Python skit! Let's send those idiots to England to blow up the London Bridge. Do you think they would ever figure out that it is now in Arizona?

The Formula

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

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

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

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

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

Drewp,

Which key is that one?

Wait, I found it! italicize

Thangs four the tipp. Eye wil ad it too mi favewrits$

Black, Decker Receive Elections Board Subpoenas To Testify

RALEIGH, N.C. -- House Speaker Jim Black and a former close ally in the Legislature have been called to testify next week before a State Board of Elections hearing into their campaign finances, according to subpoenas released Thursday. The board had already subpoenaed the financial records of Black, former Rep. Michael Decker, R-Forsyth, and two lawmakers from Hertford County. Board investigators also asked for bank statements and canceled checks from political action committees run by the video poker industry and North Carolina optometrists.
Along with Black and Decker, the board's latest subpoenas call for Black's secretary, Meredith Swindell, and his campaign treasurer, Virginia Kelly, to appear at Wednesday's hearing. Makita, Poulan, Ryobi & Sears declined to comment.

Black's secretary, Meredith Swindell, and his campaign treasurer, Virginia Kelly, to appear at Wednesday's hearing. Makita, Poulan, Ryobi & Sears declined to comment.

You know that prolly went clear over most people's heads, right?
Those are other names of power tools, folks.

That was funneee!

Alan,

I should have separated the news item from my comment, but I couldn't find that key on my keyboard anywhere. But here is the link to the actual article:

WRAL

I always liked Milwaukee drill motors. The Dewalts are a new brand and they're really good.

*good story

Before a Pink Floyd concert, after the sound check, I seen a roadie trying to put new hinges on this big equipment case. The guy was wired-as-hell, smacking gum 'n shyt. Told 'im you need to drill pilot holes first. Said he's got this Makita chargeable drill, but no bits. I went to the shop and brought him a couple #21 bits, and stood there watching, waiting, so I could get the bits back. One of Pink Floyd stopped by and thanked the guy (actually said "Smashing!"), saying that trunk had "been on tour longer than I have" and he was partial to it. He said, "I see you found my drill bit index." No, borrowed the bit from this guy. He shook my hand and thanked me, then went on and on about that new Makita drill. Like any standard 'Dad' at home, proud of his tools. I was tickled because he had millions of dollars of concert equipment all around him, and he was most proud of $200 drill motor. haha

Alan,

That was a great story. I expect you to remember that like it was yeaterday, but I can also bet you another thing..the member of Pink Floyd and the guy you got the bits for remember it as well. After all the shows they have done, how often has an "Alan the tool man" actually helped them in a pinch like you did. Classic!

Three Cheers for David Corn! Rah! Rah! Rah! Once again you have dug up an example of a impeachable offense that will go unnoted in the main street media.

Damn, I can only hope that something will stick to that slimey slug of a preznit. But I'm not betting the bank on it. Thanks to David and all the folks in here that keep the hope alive though.

I have to admit that this spiraling plane wreck of liberty has slowed down a bit this past year. If only we can find a way to grab the wheel away from this jive-ass-monkey-boy then maybe we can pull out of this tailspin.

I just love headlines, especially the ones that conflict.

"Bond Filming Starts Without Bond Girl"--headline, RTE.ie, Feb. 1

"Bond Set for Andrea Yates"--headline, Houston Chronicle, Feb. 1

(Releases Spell Check Key)

alpieda,

There should be a grab the wheel key on your keyboard. Try that if all else fails!

Spell Check Off!

The Nation has a good article about Abramoff.

Abramoff's Evangelical Soldiers

I'm presuming the memo is legit.

hmm. a memo that may or may not be of dubious authenticity could possibly portend the end of things as we know them, yet an actual LAWSUIT involving the CONGRESSIONALLY COMMISSIONED 1976 TERROR PLAN TO LEVEL THE WTC USING HIGHJACKED AIRLINERS(complete with boxcutters) is given no credence whatsoever, and any deviance from an official fairytale is deemed "conspiracy theory".

in a fair and balanced universe there would be a special place in hell reserved for the media.

Kinda old news, but it's interesting, and it's proof once again of Doofus' lying about Iraq. Plus the fact, this was a UK paper, and I never saw shyt like this in our MSM.

Saddam's desperate offers to stave off war

Friday November 7, 2003
The Guardian

In the few weeks before its fall, Iraq's Ba'athist regime made a series of increasingly desperate peace offers to Washington, promising to hold elections and even to allow US troops to search for banned weapons. But the advances were all rejected by the Bush administration, according to intermediaries involved in the talks.
As US and British troops massed in the Gulf, Iraqi intelligence sent out a range of compromise feelers through a number of channels in the apparent hope of forestalling the invasion or at least buying time.

The messages were sent through Syrian intelligence, and French, German and Russian diplomatic channels, and as the countdown to invasion ticked away, through retired CIA officials and a Lebanese-American businessman who met the Washington hawk, Richard Perle, in a London hotel.

The first approach appears to have been made last December through the CIA's former head of counter-terrorism, Vincent Cannistraro.

"I was approached by someone representing Tahir al-Tikriti - the Iraqi intelligence chief also known as [General] Tahir Habbush - who said Saddam knew there was a campaign to link him to September 11 and prove he had weapons of mass destruction," said Mr Cannistraro. "The Iraqis were prepared to satisfy those concerns. I reported the conversation to senior levels of the state department and I was told to stand aside and they would handle it," he said. He later heard the Iraqi offer had been "killed" by the Bush administration.
(snip)
Iraqi intelligence was also offering privately to allow several thousand US troops into the country to take part in the search for banned weapons.

Baghdad even proposed staging internationally-monitored elections within two years.

"All these offers had at bottom the same thing - that Saddam would stay in power, and that was unacceptable to the administration," Mr Cannistraro said. "There were serious attempts to cut a deal but they were all turned down by the president and vice president."
(snip)
But even after the war got under way, the Iraqi intelligence chief appears to have sought new compromises.

This time the conduit was Robert Baer, another former CIA official. There was talk of a meeting between Mr Baer and GenHabbush in Ramadi, outside Baghdad, in early April. "It was a promise to hold free elections supervised by France and the US," Mr Baer said. But the proposed meeting never happened. Two daysearlier, on April 9, the house it was supposed to take place in was bombed by US planes with six precision-guided bombs.
===================
6 bombs to tell 'em to shuddup and quit making waves, we're telling everybody we're invading because you have WMD's

saddam should have promised to not switch his oil market from dollars to euros - that would've been his best bourse of action - oops, I mean course of action

You learn something every day.
This guy blogs about Doofus' weird quote in the SOTU about 'human-animal hybrids'.

Human-Animal Hybrids

Catching up with the talk about the State of the Union address, I noticed the President’s complaints about “human-animal hybrids” have attracted some commentary. P.Z. Myers pointed out that scientists are working toward producing a model system for Down Syndrome (i.e. a genetically-engineered mouse with human genes), and that this might further understanding of the condition in people—a worthwhile goal. But we should bear in mind that there’s already a real, live human-animal hybrid creature in widespread use today. Its job is to slave away producing a substance that millions of people use routinely. That substance is insulin. Virtually the entire commercial supply these days is produced by genetically modified e-coli bacteria that contain human DNA, live in a fungal substrate and secrete human insulin. I take it that the President isn’t planning to put every Type I Diabetic in America into hypoglycemic shock. I don’t think it would be a popular policy plank.
===========
That's the whole text, but some of those words are links on the original.

You can't make this shyt up !!

Surveillance Prompts a Suit: Police v. Police

By JIM DWYER
Published: February 3, 2006
The demonstrators arrived angry, departed furious. The police had herded them into pens. Stopped them from handing out fliers. Threatened them with arrest for standing on public sidewalks. Made notes on which politicians they cheered and which ones they razzed.

Meanwhile, officers from a special unit videotaped their faces, evoking for one demonstrator the unblinking eye of George Orwell's "1984."

"That's Big Brother watching you," the demonstrator, Walter Liddy, said in a deposition.
==================
even has a picture

Repugs are stonewalling and covering up... and there's a scary part at the end. I'll paste it.

Senate Session on Security Erupts in Spying Debate

Published: February 3, 2006
WASHINGTON, Feb. 2 — Senate Democrats on Thursday angrily accused the Bush administration of mounting a public relations campaign to defend the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program while withholding details of the secret eavesdropping from Congressional oversight committees.

An annual hearing on national security threats, led for the first time by John D. Negroponte, director of national intelligence, was overtaken by acrimonious partisan debate about the program. In response to the Democrats' complaints, Republicans and top administration intelligence officials said the real problem was leaks about N.S.A. eavesdropping and other classified matters.
Senator John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia, the Senate Intelligence Committee's ranking Democrat, compared the administration's public disclosures of limited information about the N.S.A. program in the six weeks since it was first disclosed to what he described as a similarly misleading use of intelligence before the war in Iraq.

"I am deeply troubled by what I see as the administration's continued effort to selectively release intelligence information that supports its policy or political agenda while withholding equally pertinent information that does not do that," Mr. Rockefeller said.
(snip)
In a pointed exchange, Senator Russell D. Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin, asked Mr. Negroponte whether there were any other "intelligence collection" programs that had not been revealed to the full Intelligence Committees.

Mr. Negroponte replied, "Senator, I don't know if I can comment on that in open session."

WaPo flips it around and leads with this! Same story, mind you. *asswipes

Goss Says Leaks Have Hurt CIA's Work, Urges Probe
NSA Eavesdropping Defended at Briefing

Friday, February 3, 2006; Page A03

CIA Director Porter J. Goss told a Senate committee yesterday that unauthorized leaks of classified information about agency activities have caused "severe damage" to the CIA's operations and that journalists who report leaks should be questioned by a grand jury.

Appearing alongside Director of National Intelligence John D. Negroponte for an annual briefing on global threats for the Senate intelligence committee, Goss and other intelligence officials also defended the Bush administration's domestic eavesdropping program.

Regarding disclosures about CIA detention and interrogation of terrorist suspects at secret sites abroad, Goss, the former chairman of the House intelligence committee, said that "the damage has been very severe to our capabilities to carry out our mission." He added: "It is my aim and it is my hope that we will witness a grand jury investigation with reporters present being asked to reveal who is leaking this information. I believe the safety of this nation and the people of this country deserves nothing less."

dammmit, I didn't see this yet, when I posted the WaPo article...

Negroponte said Iran does not have a nuclear weapon or the key ingredients to build one. He made public the intelligence community's revised assessment that the country is further from achieving that capability than previously believed.

I bet we don't hear a peep about this on TV. American people already think Iran's 'bout to nuke us from their spewing of "shiite".

The Republibots voted twice today, seemed that the first vote had more ballots than voters.

Need I say more? Think Dibold was involved?

As to the endless partisan crap, I was an independant until it dawned on me that that left me with no primary vote.

I am a Democrat of expediency.

I would vote for John McCain before Hillary.

What absolutely turns me off about the Republican Party is their tactics. Bully and Lie.

Dem's are only inept and unorganized. The lesser of two evils.

If we want leaders with skills, we should pay them as well, honestly, above board......as well as the CEO'S This administration has made rich. With Pork and tax cuts.

If you were able to weild the power to elevate your crony to a position that paid a million or 20 a year, would YOU not feel you were intitled to collect on this? Who owns you now? Where does it end?

When you pay people what they are comptetitvely worth in the market place you get what you expect.

Every single Congressman and Senator could make WAY more as a lobbiest. Its all power peddling, no matter your perspective.

We pay em, lets try paying them what they are worth and stop all the special interest temptations. Then if they choose a career in politics we know they are there to do the jobs for which they were elected. Not to pick up tips on the side.

Limiting the $ amount of a meal is NOT MEANINGFUL.

It is like throwing a small box of baking powder on an oil well fire.

Mr. David Corn,

"Will members of the press corps at 1600 Pennsylvania press the point?"

Only if they can remember how to do so. The "press corps" have not press for anything in the last six years, no reason to believe they even know how.

Great post!

Thanks

Kirk

Bush 'tried to lure Saddam into war using UN aircraft'

PRESIDENT BUSH had plans to lure Saddam Hussein into war by flying an aircraft over Iraq painted in UN colours in the hope he would shoot it down, a book reveals.

Mr Bush told Tony Blair of the extraordinary plan during a meeting in the White House on January 31, 2003, six weeks before the war started, according to an updated version of Lawless World by Philippe Sands, a human rights lawyer. He says the President made it clear that he had already decided to go to war, despite still pressing for a UN resolution.

"The US was thinking of flying U2 reconnaissance aircraft with fighter cover over Iraq, painted in UN colours. If Saddam fired on them, he would be in breach," the book reports Mr Bush telling Mr Blair at the meeting.

If the U2 idea was a serious proposal, it would have made sense only if the spy plane was ordered to fly at an altitude within range of Iraqi missiles. Mr Bush’s reference in the recorded conversation to the U2 being escorted by fighter aircraft indicates that that is what he had in mind.

The U2, America’s most sophisticated aerial reconnaissance aircraft, can operate at 90,000ft, taking high-resolution photographs of targets. At this altitude, the U2 would have been beyond the range of Iraqi surface-to-air missiles.

U2s were made available to the UN weapons inspectors to help them in their search for Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD). But there has never been any suggestion until now that Mr Bush had thought about painting one of them in UN colours to deceive Saddam.

Later in the same meeting the President said it was also possible that a defector could be brought out who would give a public presentation about Saddam’s WMD, and there was a small possibility that Saddam would be assassinated.

The book also claims that the President "thought it unlikely that there would be internecine warfare between the different religious and ethnic groups".

President Bush also made clear, according to the book which was featured on Channel 4 News, that he would go to war irrespective of whether there was a second UN resolution.

"The US would put its full weight behind efforts to get another resolution and would ‘twist arms’ and ‘even threaten’. But he had to say that if, ultimately, we failed, military action would follow anyway," the book said.

The section of the book is based on a memo of the meeting. Mr Blair responded that he was "solidly with the President and ready to do whatever it took to disarm Saddam". But the Prime Minister said that a second Security Council resolution would provide an insurance policy against the unexpected, and international cover, including with the Arabs.

Mr Sands’ book says that the meeting focused on the need to identify evidence that Saddam had committed a material breach of his obligations under the existing UN Resolution 1441. There was concern that insufficient evidence had been unearthed by the UN inspection team, led by Dr Hans Blix.

That was why other options, such as the aircraft in UN colours, were considered.

Last night Sir Menzies Campbell, acting Liberal Democrat leader, said: "If these allegations are accurate, the Prime Minister and President Bush were determined to go to war with or without a second UN resolution, and Britain was signed up to do so by the end of January 2003."

He added: "By then it was clear that there was no credible evidence of weapons of mass destruction, the stated justification for the moves against Saddam Hussein. The fact that consideration was apparently given to using American military aircraft in UN colours to provoke Saddam graphically illustrates the rush to war."

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I remember a quote from this misadministration that they wanted Iraq to shoot down one of our (USA) jets to serve as a reason for our planned war of aggression.

capt

David, BTW:

"Sands is a friend of friends of mine. He is a trustworthy fellow, and I know that last year he did succeed in prying sensitive documents out of the British government concerning the legality--or illegality--of the invasion of Iraq."

Thanks, I had often wondered about Sands. Your comment gives him credibility and resloves any pause I might have had.

capt

patriot act! set to expire at the end of last year, was extended until today, and has now been extended again for 5 more weeks

勝たせてみせます！

打ち子募集で騙された方、パチンコ、パチスロで負け
ている方必見です。

Damnation

Dear Cornposters:

The dictionary says that damnation is the state of being damned. That has been the definition of damnation for many centuries. With the twenty-first century a new definition has been added for damnation.

The Nazi States of America and her overt aggression in the world, plus torture and murder, makes our country synonymous with the word, damnation. The Nazi States of America is a damn nation. We are a damn nation of murderers and war criminals. The Nazi States of America is the most evil nation on the planet. Our use of biological and chemical weapons only solidifies our monopoly as the damn nation.

Damn nation is not part of the International Criminal Court and it makes up its own laws in dealing with countries and the world population. Make no mistake Nazi America is a totally damn nation that prowls the world seeking the ruin of souls.

Sincerely,

Gerald

Bush's Brezhnev period

Rejecting criticism and mouthing meaningless bromides, Bush gave a speech so stagnant it would have made the Politburo proud.

The most significant and memorable statements in President Bush's lackluster State of the Union address, the phrases that most clearly and succinctly captured the state of his presidency after five years, were his heartfelt and hostile admonishments: "Hindsight alone is not wisdom. And second-guessing is not a strategy."

Bush did not claim to have learned any lessons from the past. Nor did he propose any new strategies. By assailing "hindsight" and "second-guessing," he attempted to deny legitimacy to critics and criticism. He banished analysis of his previous actions from consideration in formulating current or future policy. He denounced "isolationism" but asserted his own isolation. Anyone who does not adhere to the party line must be a dangerous and subversive revisionist. George Santayana ("Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it") is uninvited.

By denigrating "hindsight," Bush made his mark alongside the line in the sand drawn the week before by his chief political advisor, Karl Rove. "At the core," said Rove, "we are dealing with two parties that have fundamentally different views on national security. Republicans have a post-9/11 worldview, and many Democrats have a pre-9/11 worldview." With these comments, Rove and Bush signaled the Republican midterm elections strategy, also a repetition of past plans. Democratic candidates should expect television commercials morphing their faces into Osama bin Laden's, like the spot used in 2002 to defeat then Sen. Max Cleland of Georgia, the decorated triple-amputee Vietnam War veteran.

More Here

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A very good piece.

capt

" It is extremely dangerous to exercise the constitutional right of free speech in a country fighting to make democracy safe in the world.....

These are the gentry who are today wrapped up in the American flag, who shout their claim from the housetops that they are the only patriots, and who have their magnifying glasses in hand, scanning the country for evidence of disloyalty, eager to apply the brand of treason to the men who dare to even whisper their opposition to Junker rule in the United Sates. No wonder Sam Johnson declared that "patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel." He must have had this Wall Street gentry in mind, or at least their prototypes, for in every age it has been the tyrant, the oppressor and the exploiter who has wrapped himself in the cloak of patriotism, or religion, or both to deceive and overawe the people.....

Every solitary one of these aristocratic conspirators and would-be murderers claims to be an arch-patriot; every one of them insists that the war is being waged to make the world safe for democracy. What humbug! What rot! What false pretense! These autocrats, these tyrants, these red-handed robbers and murderers, the "patriots," while the men who have the courage to stand face to face with them, speak the truth, and fight for their exploited victims-they are the disloyalists and traitors. If this be true, I want to take my place side by side with the traitors in this fight.

Eugene V. Debs - The Canton, Ohio, Anti-War Speech. June 16, 1918

=
Many people today don't want honest answers insofar as honest means unpleasant or disturbing, They want a soft answer that turneth away anxiety." Louis Kronenberger - (1904-1980)

=
"For the great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearances, as though they were realities, and are often more influenced by the things that seem than by those that are.": Niccolo Machiavelli - (1469-1527) Italian Statesman and Political Philosopher - Source: Discourses, 1513-1517

===

Thanks ICH Newsletter!

The Gap

Bush's foreign policies are failing

Nazi America's Blindness

Nazi America loves to piss away money

Huffington Post Contagious Festival

I entered Peace Takes Courage in the Huffington Post Contagious Festival. Right now I have 4 animations hosted over there: Someone's, Bravery, 2000, and the new animation Why. Right now I'm in 3rd place, so please give this link a click and check it out:ptc.cf.huffingtonpost.com

The "People's Choice Award" goes to the site with the most unique vistors, so any links the Peace Takes Courage entry would be GREATLY appreciated!

Thanks,
Ava

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The above is as I received it from "Peace Takes Courage" - some of the best music and animations I have seen. I have to see who is second and first. I am always amazed by art, the process and the product.

"We must never forget that art is not a form of propaganda; it is a form of truth." ~ John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963), October 26, 1963

capt

Bush, the Idiot

#85 capt, a sad and moving post! Nazi States of America is truly a damn nation!

I'm taking back my country

John Murtha

Rigged elections will keep the Nazis in power forever.

Wayne Madsen Report

February 2, 2006 -- Abramoff espionage links with apartheid South Africa sanctioned by Reagan-Bush White House. Documents obtained by WMR reveal that the Reagan-Bush White House sanctioned, financed, and provided high-level intelligence support to an international propaganda effort that, among other tasks, established "Casino Jack" Abramoff's South African intelligence-funded International Freedom Foundation (IFF), code-named Pacman by the South Africans, which was part of an international propaganda program code-named Project Babushka, designed to undermine the African National Congress (ANC) and provide support for Angola's UNITA. According to South African documents, the South African strategy sessions for the covert programs were code-named Sanhedrin. WMR previously reported on how South African intelligence ran "approved" South African opposition party leaders.

However, the South African program was all part of the Reagan-Bush attempt to circumvent international sanctions against the apartheid regime. The South African-U.S. intelligence program involved a number of covert programs, including South Africa's Projects Longreach and Babushka and the United States' Doomsday Project. Doomsday involved more than 20 classified "black programs" in the CIA, DIA, and private companies run by retired military and intelligence officers

More here

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WOW, the piece goes deep, all the way through Al Haig, William Casey, and Michael Ledeen.

If you have ever had a single doubt about the depths of evil that are working behind the scenes - Do not miss this one.

capt

Too Stupid

Bushlandia

Can it be more obvious that Casino Jack and the well connected, ex-military and retired CIA, NSA, FBI, etc. are a gang of criminals. Their actions here and abroad a criminal enterprise.

They are shake-down artists, murderers and thieves on a global scale not seen before in history.

Don't kid yourself, it is a fact not hyperbole.

I wonder what is going on completely under the radar. The stuff that will not come out for years. They are not above starting wars, killing tens if not hundreds of thousands, steal and mismanage public funds, bribe, extort, skim our tax dollars, lie repeatedly about everything but this group would be above instigating, allowing, encouraging or participating in the 911 attacks?

Quick reference - the re-painting one of our planes to look like a UN plane (from the new Bush/Blair memo) or just disguising our USA markings, changing tail numbers, spoofing radar killing hundreds or even thousands of American citizens on American soil is straight out of the "Northwoods documents" circa 1962. Just another happy coincidence.

capt

The wiretap war

Senators traded bitter barbs over President Bush's wiretapping initiative Thursday, with Republicans accusing its critics of aiding terrorists and Democrats charging its supporters of violating the Constitution.

The heated exchanges at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, four days before Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' scheduled congressional testimony on the wiretapping, disrupted a session that was supposed to examine worldwide threats to the United States.

With the government's four top intelligence officials on hand, the hearing quickly became a fierce debate over the scope and legality of the electronic surveillance Bush authorized soon after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

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Just more kabuki theater.

Twenty five, that is all the opposition could muster to filibuster Alito. I know a few have blasted some from the opposing side about not recognizing the efforts and solidarity on other issues but really, that is a difference without a distinction.

There is no opposition to Busheney in this government, none. There are token votes and grand gestures worthy of a silent film melodrama but no opposition.

These wiretap hearings are a distraction. Nothing will come of it. Consider the fact that the opposition is arguing about wiretaps AFTER 911.

First, we know they were illegally tapping before 911 and what does 911 have to do with the underlying crime? Wiretapping without a warrant or without a warrant from FISA within the allotted 72 hours is not legal, not even if Bush says so, not even if his AG says so, it is a crime. Period.

911 does not make any crime legal so what does it have to do with the illegal wiretap issue, unless both sides want to cloud the issue by invoking the presidents pathetic and illogical defense.

They have turned our houses of government into a very real looking "Crossfire" shouting match and saying nothing by arguing about everything.

capt

Paradox

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

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

Basic Trust

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

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

#70 - NPR is leading with that too - under the guise of covering Goss's appearance at the hearings.

We'll hear this over and over - we are hurting the efforts on the war on terra if we voice our opposition to the war, and their methods.

We need to get these guys out of power! Now!

To Gerald, my favorite closet Nazi. You could be the dumbest fuck on the face of the planet. Why don't you visit a holocaust museum to see what a Nazi really is you retarded,ignorant piece of Nazi shit. POTUS knows where you live!

"Bush - Nazi Dealings Continued Until 1951" - Federal Documents

from The New Hampshire Gazette Vol. 248, No. 3, November 7, 2003

After the seizures in late 1942 of five U.S. enterprises he managed on behalf of Nazi industrialist Fritz Thyssen, Prescott Bush, the grandfather of President George W. Bush, failed to divest himself of more than a dozen "enemy national" relationships that continued until as late as 1951, newly-discovered U.S. government documents reveal.

Furthermore, the records show that Bush and his colleagues routinely attempted to conceal their activities from government investigators.

Bush's partners in the secret web of Thyssen-controlled ventures included former New York Governor W. Averell Harriman and his younger brother, E. Roland Harriman. Their quarter-century of Nazi financial transactions, from 1924-1951, were conducted by the New York private banking firm, Brown Brothers Harriman.

The White House did not return phone calls seeking comment.

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No need to look for the Bush nest egg in the holocaust museum it is in the congressional record and reported by more than a few reputable journalists.

capt

PAGING KATHERINE HARRIS... KATHERINE HARRIS...PLEASE RETURN TO THE COUNTING HOUSE!

Ya gotta love it. The Repugs can't count votes or find their ass with both hands.

I will not your homework for you however try this in yourt favorite search engine.

Operation paperclip (5,000 Nazis brought over and hired by the CIA - given new identities)

Although I believe the real Nazi's are mostly in our government not as much in our people.

America has been a great nation but never because of anything our government has done. We are great because of the people, the good people.

The Nazi's are a very small minority and it is this minority that has stolen our government and hijacked our nations military.

If Bunnypants is successful is dictating what is and what is not legal we will need a civil war to retake our government.

IMHO

capt

I hope they do let Ms. Harris make a run. She will never be able to live down the "sacred water" to fight citus canker.

These neocons are beyond creepy.

capt

The Palestinian elections

The Islamic group Hamas, considered "terrorist" by Israel, the U.S., and Europe, won 75 of the 132 seats in voting for the Palestinian Authority legislature last Thursday, setting up a direct conflict with the European Union, with Israel, and, of course, with the Bush administration, which all refuse to deal with Hamas.

Hamas' victory marks the end of ten years of Palestinian Authority rule for Fatah, the famously corrupt party of former PLO leader Yasser Arafat and of current leader Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas still controls the presidency, but not the legislature.

It's no secret why Hamas won. Factors were both domestic and foreign. Domestic include Palestinian demographics (Hamas' support heavily skews young, and a large majority of Palestinians are under age 25); the failure of the second intifada uprising; and Hamas' reputation, shared by most Islamist groups, for honesty and public service in a region where politicians (including Arafat) are notoriously corrupt and indifferent to the fate of their constituents.

Factors outside Palestine included Abbas' support by the U.S.; the continuing humiliation of Palestinians by Israel, escalated in recent years by the apartheid wall, the continued expansion of illegal "settlements," highways, and checkpoints that carve Palestinian land into ever-smaller Bantustans; and the years of what was essentially the house arrest of Arafat, an ordeal that probably killed him.

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If there was even one success in the failed Busheney foreign policy it would stand in stark contrast to the many critical failures - like Hamas being elected to government.

capt

unmitigated gall is divided into three parts: greed, stupidity and cruelty. See: www.coolstretchofhighway.com

Those psychotic despots talk of starting a war like it's just a boardgame where no one really gets hurt and they are the heroes no matter what. Will the US MSM confront this madness? Have they confronted anything yet? Oh yeh, I forgot, we know all about the missing white girl in Aruba.

Alan 68, no need to worry, I'm sure the constitution will prove to support all such actions! It's only a matter of time until a bushbot shows up to reassure us.
"I am deeply troubled by what I see as the administration's continued effort to selectively release intelligence information that supports its policy or political agenda while withholding equally pertinent information that does not do that," Mr. Rockefeller said.
Isn't he one of two who kept that very info. under his hat? He's got a lot of room to talk.
Goss whining about leaks?? But leaking the name of an operative which shut down an entire operation doesn't hamper their ability to do their job? This really IS the Twilight Zone!
Capt 94, I believe it was uncledad who said the piece I linked regarding disbanding the military and disarming all private citizen was just a fantasy written by naive people in 1961. I guess the Northwoods document would be considered the same.

EVERYBODY SING ALONG

It was clear as a bell, at the time, even from the backwards steppes of North Dakota, that Bush wanted war so bad, that nothing was going to stop him. He was saying nothing about Saddam that his father didn't say 12 years before before Gulf War One.

Why is it any shock that W would lie and mislead to get his way? I think this is a given any more. We all know he lied and mislead the country into war.

What I (and millions of others) simply want to know is WHY...why did he feel the overwhelming compulsion to drag the country to war. As with Vietnam, the question that most Americans cannot answer is...everybody sing along....AND IT'S 1, 2, 3...WHAT ARE WE FIGHTING FOR?

Back during Vietnam, we all knew that the Domino Theory was stupid, and we all wondered what the agenda REALLY was in Vietnam. We all know today that the reasons for war were all lies and fabrications. We still wonder what the agenda REALLY is for Iraq. Why are our troops dying? Of course our government knew that the mobile antrax labs, the drone aircraft, the mountains of WMDs...were all fiction. So why..why...why...are we at war. What was the real agenda behind the lies?

Bob in North Dakota

Bush on move is Guzzler in Chief

BY KENNETH R. BAZINET
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON - President Bush is one of the biggest gas guzzlers in the country and his first stop to sell the idea of breaking the nation's oil addiction burned up thousands of gallons of jet fuel and hundreds of gallons of gasoline.
The White House, Air Force and Secret Service keep a tight hold on the President's travel and mileage, but government and industry figures show that the Air Force One 747 jet gets less than the equivalent of a mile per gallon.

The President usually travels with a backup 747 as well as a huge C-17 aircraft packed with the presidential limo and the Marine One helicopter, which flies Bush from the White House to Andrews Air Force Base and around destination cities.

The C-17 gets even worse mileage than the 747s, and the chopper's mileage is pegged at .014 mpg.

Once on the ground, the President travels in a gas-gulping convoy. At the heart of that convoy are two Cadillac limos and several Chevy Suburbans.

Even without the bulletproof shields and other special measures, the limos get 18 mpg in the city.

The Suburbans get 15 mpg in the city, but that too is without the bullet- and blast-proofing and the communications gear the Secret Service and military travel with. Three to five Suburbans travel in a motorcade, which often stretches to more than a dozen vehicles.

Bush's 700-mile trip to give his State of the Union encore speech in Nashville yesterday cost $19,594.25 in fuel alone just for Air Force One, according to government figures.

He will carry his message over the next few days to Maplewood, Minn., Albuquerque and Dallas before heading back to Washington. That's another 4,341 miles.
-------------
Gas guzzler in Chief, I love it! I'm willing to bet he is one oil junkie that will never kick the habit. And the worst thing about it is, this all goes on our great, great grandchildrens credit card.

Bush approved multi-agency program to spy on Americans

Although President Bush publicly claims he has limited spying on Americans by the National Security Agency to overseas phone calls involving members of al-Qaeda, privately he has authorized a massive multi-agency domestic surveillance operation that routinely pries into the lives of millions of Americans who have no involvement in terrorism or represent no threat to the security of the United States.

Through executive orders or –†more often –†clandestine powers that he believes he possesses as a "wartime President," Bush has ordered the Pentagon, FBI, NSA and CIA to expand domestic spying operations to levels never before seen by professional operations.

"It is unbelievable," says a former CIA operative who resigned in disgust rather than spy on his own country. "We spend more time gathering intel on Americans than we do on real enemies of our country."

Under orders from Bush, the military has sent agents out to infiltrate anti-war groups, liberal organizations and even workforces of municipal governments considered to be opponents of the administration. In Vermont, a group of Quakers discovered a Pentagon spy in their midst.

On Wednesday, the American Civil Liberties Union in Philadelphia filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking files on Pentagon monitoring of peace activists and other groups in that city. The move is part of a nationwide effort by the ACLU to learn just how much domestic spying is carried out by American military agents.

"Pentagon spies do not belong in Pittsburgh, in Philadelphia or in State College," says Mary Catherine Roper, staff attorney for the ACLU of Pennsylvania. "We don’¥ need the military to protect us from lawful protests by concerned citizens."

More HERE

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We do not need the military to protect us from ourselves. We do not need the government to protect us from ourselves. Government oversight of our privacy should only be to protect our privacy not to invade then approve or disapprove.

capt

From: The Boston Globe

Specialists doubt legality of wiretaps
Many rebut assertion of presidential powers
By Charlie Savage, Globe Staff | February 2, 2006

WASHINGTON -- Legal specialists yesterday questioned the accuracy of President Bush's sweeping contentions about the legality of his domestic spying program, particularly his assertion in his State of the Union speech on Tuesday that ''previous presidents have used the same constitutional authority I have."

But legal specialists said yesterday that wiretaps ordered by previous presidents were put in place before warrants were required for investigations involving national security. Since Congress passed the law requiring warrants in 1978, no president but Bush has defied it, specialists said.

Bush's contention that past presidents did the same thing as he has done ''is either intentionally misleading or downright false," said David Cole, a Georgetown University law professor. Only Bush has made the assertion that his wartime powers should supersede an act of Congress, Cole said.

But Bush's comments in the State of the Union, which highlighted a week of election-style campaigning to defend the program, were almost entirely disputed yesterday by legal specialists across the ideological spectrum.

Bush's assertion that his program was legal prompted a group of 14 prominent law professors, including both liberals and conservatives, to pen a joint letter objecting to his arguments. An expanded version of their letter rebutting Bush's assertions will be released today, the professors said.

Richard Epstein, a University of Chicago law professor and a member of the group, said ''The president's position is essentially that [Congress] is not doing the right thing, so I'm going to act on my own."

The White House referred all questions about the spying section of Bush's speech to the Justice Department, where spokeswoman Tasia Scolinos acknowledged yesterday that all of the surveillance programs approved by past presidents pre-dated the warrant requirement.

Philip Heymann, a Harvard law professor said, "I know of no electronic surveillance for intelligence purposes since [the 1978 warrant law] was passed that was not done under the . . . statute,"
-------------
By golly, whaddaya know, law professors disagree with the bushbots! The lip syncers insist that only international calls are spied on, completely ignoring the facts, how the hell do they do that? bush admitted a dictatorship would be a lot easier, as long as he was the dictator. I think that was a prophecy. No matter how you twist and turn, this is ILLEGAL!

Congrats, David!

I was unable to report Channel 4's exposure of this story without using the word "Motherf'ers!"

You obviously harbor more restraint, than I have. How anybody can read such a tale and not immediately rise up with pitchforks and torches in hand is beyond me...

Will the LSM report this in Amerrikka? Doubtful...highly doubtful unless one biggies threatens to scoop the other biggies. That, of course, was probably talked about in the Oval Office meetings with Bush, Rove and the owners and editors of the nations "major" newspapers!

Information-Fixing among the most influential newsmen in the country has now been verified by the M-F'ers themselves. Sitting on the NSA-Spying without judicial overview story for a year is one of the most obscene acts of cowardice I've seen in my life.

The men (and women, too!) responsible for this should be tarred, feathered, pilloried and then ridden out of town on a rail greased with their own oily extract!

Why can Americans cower in their homes while facism takes such a hold? Fear that comes dripping from the headlines and screaming from the TV screen. Fear that is reinforced every time they let the liars from this misAdministration spew their dreck on national tv, radio and repeat it all verbatum and unchallenged in the daily news.

Thank you, David, for the bandwidth where those of us who need to talk about such. Whatever will we do when the bastards take our "Internets" away?

-T

Hajji, that might be what it takes to form the Pitchfork Brigade! Becoming a fascist state, (is this how it happened in Germany?), doesn't seem to raise any hackles, but loosing the internet might.

Whoopsie! Losing.

Rangel on Bush

But there was nothing inadvertent about a quip from Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.), second-most senior member of the Congressional Black Caucus. Rangel was interviewed on New York Public Television WLIW21 last Monday night and asked for his quick reaction to various people. The first was Bush.

"Well," Rangel said. "I really think that he shatters the myth of white supremacy once and for all; it shows that, in this great country, anybody can become president."

We have a winner.

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

From Alternet via Shakespeare's Sister who confirms that the quote is for real.

This one cracked me up! Not to mention the Shakespeare's Sister link is to a page named ha.html!

HA!

capt

CIA Told Cheney, Libby Niger Allegations Were Phony - Weeks Before Campaign To Smear Joe Wilson

National Review | February 3 2006

Vice President Cheney and his then-Chief of Staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby were personally informed in June 2003 that the CIA no longer considered credible the allegations that Saddam Hussein had attempted to procure uranium from the African nation of Niger, according to government records and interviews with current and former officials. The new CIA assessment came just as Libby and other senior administration officials were embarking on an effort to discredit an administration critic who had also been saying that the allegations were untrue.

CIA analysts wrote then-CIA Director George Tenet in a highly classified memo on June 17, 2003, "We no longer believe there is sufficient" credible information to "conclude that Iraq pursued uranium from abroad." The memo was titled: "In Response to Your Questions for Our Current Assessment and Additional Details on Iraq's Alleged Pursuits of Uranium From Abroad."
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bush NEVER lied!! He's just deaf, dumb and blind.

The problem with this tale is that the UN has no U-2 spy planes, so if Bush complained about one being shot down, the story would go nowhere.

The Nazi American Legacy

World Tracker turns anyone into a cellphone spy

Sky News | February 3 2006

Forget those piddly wiretaps. The next frontier in warrant-free surveillance is upon us, and it's open to everyone. A UK service called World Tracker apparently uses cell tower data (or GPS, when available) to track the location of just about any GSM cellphone. Just enter the number you want to track into the service's handy Google Maps-based interface, and you'll be able to zoom in on the device's location, with accuracy somewhere between 50 and 500 meters. The first time you try to track a phone, a text message is sent to the owner, who must reply in order to enable tracking (we'll leave it to you to figure out how to work around this if you need to track a spouse, kid or employee). The service is currently compatible with O2, Vodafone, Orange and T-Mobile in the UK, and has plans to expand to other markets including Germany, Spain, Norway and the US. If, that is, privacy advocates don't shut it down first.
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I read an article in yesterdays UK Guardian entitled "How I Stalked My Girlfriend." This is NOT reassuring news. I was recently informed by Verizon Wireless that any phone incapable of GPS 911 tracking will be illegal to reactivate. If you have an old cellphone now that works, keep it, once you turn it off you lose it forever, I learned this the hard way. The Verizon rep. promised me I could reactivate my old one if I was unhappy with the new one. I don't think he knew that wasn't true, but I feel lied to.

The UN has whatever its member nations lend it.

Nazi America and a Worldwide Calamity

Nazi America is a holocaust in waiting.

I'm no big fan, but I wouldn't want to see Bono's plane shot down by anyone!

unifiedveteranscoalition MILLION VETERAN MARCH
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You KNOW you're a f**k-up when you manage to piss off a million veterans!

Nazi America is dirty through and through

Nazi America is a damn nation of cold blooded murderers.

Linked by Huffington Post

Federal Judge Calls Fmr. EPA Chief Conscience-Shocking For Assuring The Air Was Safe Around Ground Zero
Associated Press | LARRY NEUMEISTER | Posted February 3, 2006 12:09 AM

A federal judge blasted former Environmental Protection Agency chief Christine Todd Whitman on Thursday for reassuring New Yorkers soon after the Sept. 11 attacks that it was safe to return to their homes and offices while toxic dust was polluting the neighborhood.

U.S. District Judge Deborah A. Batts refused to grant Whitman immunity against a class-action lawsuit brought in 2004 by residents, students and workers in lower Manhattan and Brooklyn who said they were exposed to hazardous materials from the destruction of the World Trade Center

Comment from reader: This is probably the first really big lie of 9/11 to hit the mainstream media. The bush administration did not just start lying when they were eying Iraq. 9/11 was a critical enabler to let him get away with what has transpired to date. Visit Amazon and read the reviews for David Ray Griffin's The New Pearl Harbor, he asks some very disturbing questions about the events of 9/11 that nobody has yet answered. There is no need to dwell on conspiracy theorys. Lets just answer the questions and see where they lead.
Posted by: infinityone on February 03, 2006 at 01:16am
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I second that motion. At last, a tiny bit of justice for the 9/11 victims.

The Forkball Isn’t Moving

Noam Chomsky recently noted that if the U.S. government is truly interested in reducing the threat of terror, there is a straightforward and obvious step to be taken: to "stop acting in ways that – predictably – enhance the threat." In other words, to stop acting in ways that leave so many people stumped as to who the bad guys are. A few weeks ago at least 18 Pakistani civilians were collaterally damaged by a CIA drone in an attempt to remove a terrorist who wasn’t there. Put another way, 18 human beings minding their own business were murdered in a terror strike devised and delivered by a group claiming to be passionately opposed to terror. What can be said to the families, friends, and neighbors of the dead? Sorry? It was a mistake? Here’s a check worth 18 souls? But the Bush league doesn’t do sorrow, and has yet to acknowledge a mistake – perhaps this compassionately conservative administration will yet find it in itself to send the Pakistanis some back issues of "Hi."

The United States government doesn’t need a facelift, re-branding, or cosmetic makeover to solve its image problem. It needs to start acting like it really believes in the freedom and democracy it can’t stop talking about. It could stop talking, meanwhile, about the hearts and minds out there to be won as if they were scalps or votes, and start behaving responsibly and intelligently enough to suggest that it has a functioning heart and mind of its own. Instead, it "kind of catapults the propaganda" in ongoing devotion to what it considers its own interests, and takes the liberty of calling ours.

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

America used to think leading by example was the moral high-ground. Now, the moral high-ground lost, we will impose and force others to follow? That is taking a mistake and compounding it exponentially. A sure fire formula for more and continued failure.

capt

Powell, Tenet, others told Bush he was breaking the law by ordering NSA