"Fool me once, shame on ó shame on you. Fool me ó you can't get fooled again."

- G W BUSH

PA. ATTORNEY GENERAL SEIZES NEWSPAPER'S COMPUTER HARD DISKS

In an unusual and little-known case, the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office has seized four computer hard drives from a Lancaster newspaper as part of a statewide grand-jury investigation into leaks to reporters.

The dispute pits the government's desire to solve an alleged felony - computer hacking - against the news media's fear that taking the computers circumvents the First Amendment and the state Shield Law.

The state Supreme Court declined last week to take the case, allowing agents to begin analyzing the data.

"This is horrifying, an editor's worst nightmare," said Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press in Washington. "For the government to actually physically have those hard drives from a newsroom is amazing. I'm just flabbergasted to hear of this."

more (link)

In Connecticut, rape counseling activists say a recent study concludes that about 20% of state hospitals routinely refuse to offer emergency contraceptives to rape victims who are determined to be ovulating at the time they're attacked. A proposed bill would require them to do so.

And what sayith Holy Joe about this? According to The New Haven Register:
This fight isn't exclusively being drawn along party lines.

U.S. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, who often takes a conservative line on social issues, is facing a liberal Democratic primary challenge from wealthy Greenwich businessman Ned Lamont. But that hasn't stopped Lieberman from supporting the approach of the Catholic hospitals when it comes to contraceptives for rape victims.

Lieberman said he believes hospitals that refuse to give contraceptives to rape victims for "principled reasons" shouldn't be forced to do so. "In Connecticut, it shouldn't take more than a short ride to get to another hospital," he said.

more (link)

Gore: Country straying from principles

Former vice president urges Democrats 'not to take anything for granted' during fund-raiser.

WEST PALM BEACH —†The people of "these United States are going to stand up and take our country back," former Vice President Al Gore said Sunday at a Florida Democratic Party fund-raiser at the Kravis Center's Cohen Pavilion.

"Let's start right here in Palm Beach County," said Gore, speaking to a crowd of about 450 in what became the epicenter of the hotly contested 2000 presidential election.

Before he was introduced, Mayor Lois Frankel said, "I'm not one to hold a grudge . . . but this was the scene of a crime (in 2000). I haven't forgotten it, and you haven't forgotten it."

Picking up on her sentiment, Gore urged Democrats to "not take anything for granted," because sometimes, "feeling the prospects of victory and success, you know that's a deadly error."

Citing a Bible verse, "Where there is no vision, the people perish," Gore cited issues in which he believes the Bush administration has left the country far removed from the Founding Fathers' ideals.

"How many times have we listened to the current administration and in (state and national Republican offices), and after a few years, we wake up and say that what they have been telling us is completely wrong," Gore said. "I'm not calling it a lie," but a "false impression."

More HERE

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An epidemic of success? They have not yet perfected the virus.

First David and now Gore? Why oh why is everybody getting gunshy about calling Bush a liar?

He is a dastardly liar of the first order. A low-life lying fool. He cannot tell the truth he is such a liar. Bush would not know the truth if is was a dead fish slapped up side his head.

capt

False impression teller, false impression teller, pants on fire!

I see what you mean Capt. I'd go with liar too.

Magazine: Bradlee Knows Woodward's Source on Plame

Vanity Fair is reporting that former Washington Post executive editor Ben Bradlee says it is reasonable to assume former State Department official Richard L. Armitage is likely the source who revealed CIA operative Valerie Plame's name to Post Assistant Managing Editor Bob Woodward.

In an article to be published in the magazine today, Bradlee is quoted as saying: "That Armitage is the likely source is a fair assumption." Armitage was deputy secretary of State in President Bush's first term.

In an interview yesterday, Bradlee said he does know the identity of Woodward's source but does not recall making that precise statement to a Vanity Fair reporter. He said he has no interest in unmasking the official who first told Woodward about Plame in June 2003.

"I don't think I said it," Bradlee said. "I know who his source is, and I don't want to get into it. . . . I have not told a soul who it is."

The identity of Woodward's source emerged as one of the big mysteries of the CIA case after he disclosed last year that a government official with no ax to grind had told him about Plame, an undercover operative, a month before her name was revealed by columnist Robert D. Novak. Since then, guessing Woodward's source has been a Washington parlor game.

More HERE

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I had a feeling it would be another Dick, but that goes without saying.

capt

Pa. seizes paper's computer hard disks

The Attorney General's Office says they may show evidence of a felony: unauthorized use of a restricted Web site.

In an unusual and little-known case, the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office has seized four computer hard drives from a Lancaster newspaper as part of a statewide grand-jury investigation into leaks to reporters.

The dispute pits the government's desire to solve an alleged felony - computer hacking - against the news media's fear that taking the computers circumvents the First Amendment and the state Shield Law.

The state Supreme Court declined last week to take the case, allowing agents to begin analyzing the data.

"This is horrifying, an editor's worst nightmare," said Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press in Washington. "For the government to actually physically have those hard drives from a newsroom is amazing. I'm just flabbergasted to hear of this."

More HERE

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The Attorney General's Office says they may show evidence of a felony: unauthorized use of a restricted Web site.

"crimethink - To even consider any thought not in line with the principles of Ingsoc. Doubting any of the principles of Ingsoc. All crimes begin with a thought. So, if you control thought, you can control crime. "Thoughtcrime is death. Thoughtcrime does not entail death, Thoughtcrime is death.... The essential crime that contains all others in itself."

"crimethinker - One who engages in crimethink."

~ Newspeak Dictionary

capt

Informed Comment

Angry Shiites in Sadr City appear to have strung up 4 Sunni Arabs and hung them from lamp posts, after the attacks on Sunday.

The governor of largely Sunni Arab Salahuddin Province barely escaped assassination on Monday.

Young Shiite nationalist leader Muqtada al-Sadr said Monday that Iraq is in a state of civil war. He responded to guerrilla provocations against Sadr City, with bombings and mortars having killed over 50 persons there Sunday, by ordering his Mahdi Militia not to engage in reprisals.

Like many Iraqi and Arab observers, Muqtada was shocked when US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said last week that the US military would not intervene in an Iraqi civil war, leaving that to Iraqi forces.

"May God damn you," Sadr said of Rumsfeld. "You said in the past that civil war would break out if you were to withdraw, and now you say that in case of civil war you won't interfere."

Cole: I have to admit, it is hard to see what use it is to have US soldiers in Iraq if they won't be deployed in a genuine national emergency.

*****end of Clip*****

Seems obvious but it is a good question. How can we possibly stay neutral?

capt

Mars Odyssey Imagery

A "Grand Canyon of Mars" slices across the Red Planet near its equator. This canyon -- Valles Marineris, or the Mariner Valley -- is 10 times longer and deeper than Arizona's Grand Canyon, and 20 times wider. As the picture shows, you could drop the whole Los Angeles basin into a small part of Valles Marineris and leave plenty of room to spare. In length, the canyon extends far enough that it could reach across the United States from East Coast to West Coast, while its rim stands more than 25,000 feet high, nearly as tall as Earth's Mount Everest.

This scene comes from "Flight Through Mariner Valley," an exciting video produced for NASA by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The video takes viewers on a simulated flight into Valles Marineris, where they explore its scenic wonders as their imaginary scout ship dives low over landslides and races through winding canyons.
===========================
shows a few 'stills' from the video and the link to watch it streaming is at the top

Making Progress? Bush Backtracks In Assessments of Iraq and Afghanistan

Today, as he often does, President Bush said we are making progress in Iraq and Afghanistan: "We are making progress in the march of freedom and some of the most important progress has taken place in a region that has not known the blessings of liberty: the broader Middle East."

But a quick review of Bush's statements today versus his earlier statements about Iraq and Afghanistan reveal that the condition in those countries has deteriorated steadily over time.

AFGHANISTAN THEN:

And as a result of the United States military, Taliban no longer is in existence. And the people of Afghanistan are now free. [9/27/04]

AFGHANISTAN NOW:

Taliban and al Qaeda remnants continue to fight Afghanistan's democratic progress. In recent weeks, they have launched new attacks that have killed Afghan civilians and coalition forces. [3/13/06]

IRAQ THEN:

We thank all of the citizens of Iraq who welcomed our troops and joined in the liberation of their own country. [5/1/03]

IRAQ NOW:

The past few weeks, the world has seen very different images from Iraq images of violence, and anger, and despair. We have seen a great house of worship the Golden Mosque of Samarra in ruins after a brutal terrorist attack. We've seen mass protests in response to provocation. We've seen reprisal attacks by armed militias on Sunni mosques and random violence that has taken the lives of hundreds of Iraqi citizens. [3/13/06]

*****end of Clip*****

Talk about a lying SOB - flip-flopper.

capt

"She's finished,"

MIAMI, March 13 — In the nine months since Representative Katherine Harris announced that she would run for the Senate, her campaign has struggled to stay afloat. Her fund-raising lagged even before she was tied to a corruption scandal last month, and her own Republican Party has treated her with the warmth of an icicle.

Ms. Harris, a political lightning rod ever since she supervised the 2000 presidential recount here as Florida's secretary of state, said Saturday that she would make a "major announcement" about her campaign this week, fueling speculation that she was about to abandon the race against Senator Bill Nelson, probably improving his chances for an easy victory.

"She's finished," said Jim Kane, the chief pollster for Florida Voter, a nonpartisan polling organization. "It's a matter of when, not if, she's going to do it."
=====================
There's a picture of her riding a horse at the rodeo. lol

smartass comment here

WASHINGTON, March 13 — A subpoena list identifying Bush administration officials including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as prospective defense witnesses in a federal criminal trial in Virginia was briefly posted on a computer court docket on Friday before being modified and sealed, court records show.

The trial is of two former lobbyists, Steven J. Rosen and Keith Weissman, who are accused of disclosing classified information. Entries in a computer docket at the court in Alexandria, Va., named Ms. Rice and nine others who had been sought as potential witnesses by lawyers for Mr. Rosen and Mr. Weissman, former officials of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobbying group.

I'm working on fitting tiny cameras on insects and sending them into the mall to look up girls skirts ...... yeah baby it's March Madness !!!!

Maybe we could send an insect to mentor bush, after all it probably has more acute intelligence. at least it would be smarter.

Anti-virus bungle devours files

McAfee is "working around the clock" to help customers hit by a faulty batch of its anti-virus updates that disabled popular programs such as Windows Excel.

Hundreds of legitimate programs were incorrectly identified as a low-risk Windows 95 virus called W95/CTX and deleted or quarantined within a seemingly routine anti-virus definintion update.

The company is currently working with "affected customers" in Australia, but said the impact of the error had not been too widespread because the faulty definitions were only available here between 5:35am and 10am on Saturday morning.

According to McAfee, the flaw was triggered during manual and scheduled on-demand virus scans taking place over a five-hour period from 6:35pm GMT. It affected customers using VirusScan Enterprise 7.0 and greater, Managed VirusScan 3.5 and 4.0 Beta, VirusScan Online 10 and greater, LinuxShield and VirusScan 7.03 (Consumer).

Since the incident occurred, McAfee said it had been "working around the clock directly with customers" to help them assess the degree of impact and restore the files where possible.

A list of affected programs is available on the company's website and it has also written up an FAQ on the situation which includes links to instructions on how to fixing the problem.

More HERE

Arab central banks move assets out of dollar

Middle Eastern anger over the decision by the US to block a Dubai company from buying five of its ports hit the dollar yesterday as a number of central banks said they were considering switching reserves into euros.

The United Arab Emirates, which includes Dubai, said it was looking to move one-tenth of its dollar reserves into euros, while the governor of the Saudi Arabian central bank condemned the US move as "discrimination".

Separately, Syria responded to US sanctions against two of its banks by confirming plans to use euros instead of dollars for its external transactions.

The remarks combined to knock the dollar, which fell against the euro, pound and yen yesterday as analysts warned other central banks might follow suit.

More HERE

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Whoa! I am sure they would have made the same or similar move with or without the port deal.

capt

Japan seeks US troop deal despite local No vote

TOKYO: Japan said on Monday it would seek to seal a comprehensive deal with the United States on reorganising American forces in the country even after voters in a local referendum overwhelmingly rejected a plan to increase the US presence at a nearby base.

Voters in the southwest city of Iwakuni, home to a US Marine base, gave a thumbs-down on Sunday by a margin of 8-1 to bringing more planes and troops to the facility. The expansion is part of an agreement already reached in talks between Tokyo and Washington.

While the vote is non-binding, the result will complicate plans by the two sides to wrap up negotiations and finalise a comprehensive plan to reorganise the nearly 50,000 US troops in Japan by the end of March.

More HERE

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Not a huge story - just an observation: Why do so-called "western democracies" act against the will, intention, and voiced opposition to their respective governments actions?

Seems odd to have people vote just to defy the results?

capt

More borrowed money well spent on war, war and more endless war. I guess the banning of abortions and refusing to hand out emergency contraceptives will be sure to produce limitless bodies to fight in this new war that will last forever.

Capt, do you think the dumping of dollars has anything to do with the Bourse? Nah, just a coincidence I'm sure. Another coincidence is the clamp down on the M3, we don't need to know how many trillions of dollars will come flooding back to the states when Iran starts up it's own private Wall Street, no need to tell the people that bread will soon cost $10,000! Why cause a panic?

#13 Bob Who it's not easy to tell if you're joking.

Why do so-called "western democracies" act against the will, intention, and voiced opposition to their respective governments actions? - Capt.

Good question Capt. It might have to do with the equation by some of the meme of democracy with the meme of the "free-market" which, however free or subsidized one might consider it, does not equate with the rising of all boats when the tide comes in, if you will allow the metaphor. The simple fact that US nationally has a rising GDP, while 95% of US nationals are sinking, or treading water at best, illustrates this point.

Then, internationally, we must observe that the US, with approx. 5% of the world's population, is consuming approx. 20% of the world's resources, is borrowing heavily from international sources to continue that practice, not to mention military interventions.

Aristocracies have always created game rules which perpetuate their wealth and privledge. Informed democracies tend to favor game rules which distribute wealth and opportunity.

Nothin' new in any of this, just a little rant, inspired by your query...

RS,

GOOD RANT! And 100%!

Saladin,

Coincidence, I am sure. (not)

capt

Bug stuff: catch a big bottle fly in a jar. Put him in the fridge to cool off. While he is cooling fold up a paper airplane about 1 to 2 inches long. Get the fly out of the fridge. Put a dab of glue on the flys back and stick the point of the airplane into the glue dab. Now wait till the fly warms up. A fly powered airplane, VOILA! Instant airforce with several flys. No tax dollars spent either.

Years ago i remember reading in one of my sci-fi magazines that IF alien life were to make contact with this planet it would more than likely use insect cyborgs at first. So we've gone from Star Wars to bionic bugs...don't you just LOVE progress???

Aliens are already here, and they are not nice. Believe it? Or not?

Follow The Money

An old rule that prosecutors follow when it comes to tracking criminal activity is "follow the money."

In most cases, money is both the cause and effect of illegal activity.

Same for politics.

Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay may be under indictment for campaign finance abuse and a central figure in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal but that hasn't stopped political action committees from handing over $1,096,457 for his 2006 re-election effort along with another $1,839,803 from fatcat individual GOP contributors.

More HERE

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"Follow the money?" That would make money the route of all evil?

capt

Excerpts from:

The War Dividend: The British Companies Making a Fortune out of
Conflict-Riven Iraq
By Robert Verkaik
The Independent UK

A total of 61 British companies are identified as benefiting from at least £1.1bn of contracts and investment in the new Iraq. But that figure is just the tip of the iceberg; Corporate Watch believes it could be as much as five times higher, because many companies prefer to keep their relationship secret.

The waters are further muddied by the Government's refusal to release the names of companies it has helped to win contracts in Iraq.

Many of the companies enjoy long-standing relationships with Labour and now have a financial stake in the reconstruction of Iraq in Britain's image. Of the total profits published in the report, the British taxpayer has had to meet a bill for £78m while the US taxpayer's contribution to UK corporate earnings in Iraq is nearly nine times that. Iraqis themselves have paid British company directors £150m.

The report acknowledges that British business still lags behind the huge profits paid to American companies. But, in two fields, Britain is playing a critical and leading role.

The biggest British player, Aegis - run by Tim Spicer, the former British army lieutenant colonel who founded the security company Sandline - has a workforce the size of a military division and may rank as the largest corporate military group ever assembled, according to the report. Other private security companies have sprung up overnight to protect British and American civilians.

[...]More.

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

So, just for a silly moment, imagine how a truly world democracy would vote to allocate its collective resources.

Now go back to your lives and shut up.

DEN, not! If aliens have any sense at all they will stay the hell away from the psychos on this planet!

Hey who you callin Psycho?

DEN, you saw the picture, I include myself in that statement!

The friendly, peaceful, smart donkeys of Pantelleria

DARPA should figure out a way to use these donkeys for diplomacy, instead of insects for spying and war activities. It would be a much better use of our tax dollars and would cut back dramatically at the neo-cons' tilting at windmills.

PS Thanks Alan, from the previous thread.

"Follow the money?" That would make money the route of all evil?

Good one.

Iraq: Permanent US Colony
By Dahr Jamail
t r u t h o u t | Perspective
Tuesday 14 March 2006

Why does the Bush Administration refuse to discuss withdrawing occupation forces from Iraq? Why is Halliburton, who landed the no-bid contracts to construct and maintain US military bases in Iraq, posting higher profits than ever before in its 86-year history?

Why do these bases in Iraq resemble self-contained cities as much as military outposts?

Why are we hearing such ludicrous and outrageous statements from the highest ranking military general in the United States, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Peter Pace, who when asked how things were going in Iraq on March 9th in an interview on "Meet the Press" said, "I'd say they're going well. I wouldn't put a great big smiley face on it, but I would say they're going very, very well from everything you look at."

More.
************************************

Why indeed? The article is a must read, but, I'm tempted to say that their are those among us that do indeed have great big smiley faces on their bank accounts over all this - alien or otherwise...

Well thats just swell, any other psychos here? *crickets chirping* How bout aliens? Do'nt worry Sal I wont tell.

micki, our "tax dollars" aren't being used for anything beyond interest payments on a stratospheric debt. Every penny spent is borrowed money, and when the dollar finally gets dumped, then the REAL hurtin' begins. Stock up on flour and yeast, while it's cheap.

DEN, how do I know if I am in fact an alien? My skin does tend to get real dry and scaly when the humidity is down around 10%, is that a sign?

Former college cheerleader George W. Bush is making more worthless PR speeches on Iraq. Judging by the 10 letters-to-the-editor printed in the Maine Sunday Telegram a couple days ago, he's spittin' in the wind. A sample of our collective frustration from the 64 percent-disapproval state:

George W. Bush reminds me of Forrest Gump, except that Forrest Gump was honest and cared about other people!

It's time to put a stop to the insanity. Take this man out of office now--before it is too late. I would welcome any change at this point. Impeachment is the logical choice, as I, like others, have no confidence in his ability to lead.

His credibility is nada, zero, zilch. This is the same Bush who "assured" us that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction practically on every street corner and missiles pointed directly at us. All lies--and he knew they were lies, even as he stood there smirking. This man should have been impeached long ago.

more (link)

I am a psycho and an alien!

The two are not mutually exclusive.

Nope. Alien lizards have forked tounges, shed entire skin at once, molting I think its called.......Speaking of Illuminati and Lizard people look who will be picking up the broken PORT pieces, The Carlyle Group. HMMMM.

OH great! Psycho aliens, the WORST kind ;-)

Well, the Wush did once remark that he wanted to make the pie higher...not what he meant to say, but:

The life of pi
The United States accords pi the ultimate accolade tomorrow, its own national day. Most recall it from their school days (hazily), but here Steve Connor charts its history and celebrates a number that is irrational, transcendental ... and unique
Published: 13 March 2006

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

A toast to irrationality...

That whole port deal was totally blown out of proportion. The people, falling for propaganda again. How come no one ever questions the bullshit the talking heads say on TV? That is exactly why I never watch it!

Hmmm.... unusual...David Vamping in the dead of night on the "most gripping news story".....

OK, I'll take your words for it beyind what you posted. My 2 cents worth is that yeah, I'm fascinated with how all insects can `grip' any kind of surfaces with all them leg hair folicles...

Here's is an equally `gripping' megatrend story, Redacted:

The Liberal Baby Bust
By Phillip Longman
USA Today

What's the difference between Seattle and Salt Lake City? ...In Seattle, there are nearly 45% more dogs than children. In Salt Lake City, there are nearly 19% more kids than dogs......demographic trend that has deep implications for the future of global culture and politics.

It's not that people in a progressive city such as Seattle are so much fonder of dogs than are people in a conservative city such as Salt Lake City. It's that progressives are so much less likely to have children.

It's a pattern found throughout the world, and it augers a far more conservative future, one in which patriarchy and other traditional values make a comeback, if only by default. Childlessness and small families are increasingly the norm today among progressive secularists....

Today, fertility correlates strongly with a wide range of political, cultural and religious attitudes. In the USA, for example, 47% of people who attend church weekly say their ideal family size is three or more children. By contrast, 27% of those who seldom attend church want that many kids.

In Utah, where more than two-thirds of residents are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 92 children are born each year for every 1,000 women, the highest fertility rate in the nation. By contrast Vermont, the first to embrace gay unions, has the nation's lowest rate, producing 51 children per 1,000 women.

Similarly, in Europe today, the people least likely to have children are those most likely to hold progressive views of the world....

This correlation between secularism, individualism and low fertility portends a vast change in modern societies. In the USA, for example, nearly 20% of women born in the late 1950s are reaching the end of their reproductive lives without having children. The greatly expanded childless segment of contemporary society, whose members are drawn disproportionately from the feminist and countercultural movements of the 1960s and '70s, will leave no genetic legacy....

Single-child factor

Meanwhile, single-child families are prone to extinction. A single child replaces one of his or her parents, but not both. Consequently, ... single-child families...will decline in population by at least 50% per generation and quite quickly disappear.....

This dynamic helps explain...Among states that voted for President Bush in 2004, the average fertility rate is more than 11% higher than the rate of states for Sen. John Kerry.

Phillip Longman is a fellow at the New America Foundation and the author of The Empty Cradle: How Falling Birthrates Threaten World Prosperity and What to Do About It. This essay is adapted from his cover story in the current issue of Foreign Policy magazine.
================================================
One-fifth of Boomer women are childless!!! A rather shocking stat!

Misc.: The "Do No Evil" Google is flip-flopping to DO EVIL! I sure hope all of us believe child pornography is a serious and illegal activity which our Gov't deserves help on; rather than Google's helping China's Gov't to censor the net.

I prefer the "get your tickets here posts" to the Happy post above. I don't have to read the tickets here post to know its a waste of time.

Syria switches from dollars to euros in its budgets
Source: The Daily Star
URL Source: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article ... 10&categ_id=3&article_id=22888
Published: Mar 13, 2006

DAMASCUS: The Syrian government is to use euros instead of U.S. dollars in its budgets upon the decision of the U.S. Treasury that stipulates barring any transactions between American banks and the Commercial Bank of Syria. The U.S. Treasury Department said Thursday that U.S. banks must close any accounts they have with the two Syrian banks, as part of an effort to crack down on terrorist financing. The order covers the Commercial Bank of Syria and its subsidiary, the Syrian Lebanese Commercial Bank.

The Syrian government's decision is to cover its overdue exportation, importation and services payments and to protect the national economy.

Syria has switched all of the state's foreign currency transactions to euros from dollars upon political confrontations with the United States, the head of state-owned Commercial Bank of Syria Duraid Durgham said.

Durgham said, adding that this decision is important and necessary at a moment when the Americans are threatening Syria in a way that could complicate banking operations between Syria and European countries.

This decision represents the strong Syrian relation with the European Union, that is considered the first commercial partner to Syria, he said.

The United States has been heading international pressure on Syria for its alleged role in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and aiding the crisis in Iraq which Syria denies.

Syria has been under U.S. sanctions since May 2004, meaning it can not import American products other than food and medication. http://www.dailystar.com.lb

Syria surprised world financial markets when it announced that it would stop dealing in dollars in all official institutions and in import-export contracts replacing them with euros in case the U.S. intensifies sanctions on Damascus.

Euros are also to be used in paying back sums owed by state institutions to foreign parties.

Finance Minister Mohammad al-Hussein said that this action comes in the framework of continuing pressures on Syria for political considerations, adding that Syria was not surprised by the American treasury decision.
------------
I think they are TRYING to make the dollar crash. We are SO DOOMED!

That does it, Those repug breeders gotta quit pumpin em out.

The financial war is ON, and all we brought is this snow-balling deficit.

Nobody gets a T-shirt on this one.

*sigh*

A Profile of intrepid reported: Walter Pincus
"One of the good guys"

. . . He joined the Post in 1966, and he has been at the paper for thirty-five of the last forty years, primarily covering intelligence and national security. Most recently, Pincus has sweated on the story of the Pentagon?s expanded domestic-surveillance operations (not to be confused with the National Security Agency?s more heavily covered spying operation), which he first exposed in a late November article.

more (link)

The Port Deal - Another take:

I will posit that, on the face of it, the port deal probably did not effect United States security all that much.

At least, not in the terms of another terrorist attack.

Now, having said that, it does provide us with a window into the shady world of multi-national corporate global trade, the residual effect of monarchy/aristocracy in this 'modern' world, the effect of petro-dollars building up in the gulf states (a corrolary of which might be the building up of trade-dollars in China,) the willingness of a western democracy which professes to favor democracy as a system to prop up archaic systems for economic advantage...etc.

The Organization of Labor-intensive Exporting Countries

From part 4

The idea of a global labor cartel is based on the needs of a modern economy for managing consumer demand to overcome structural overcapacity, which globalization has made a worldwide problem. The rules of economic democracy mandate that capital in a modern economy is formed from the savings of labor, which in turn depends on rising wages.

More HERE

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I have not posted any of the four parts yet. Liu can be a little wordy but this four part series is interesting.

capt

Saladin, no, the UAE/Dubai Ports World story is worthy of reporting. For sure. One reason is, it reminds people what a shithead Joe Lieberman is.

Joe Lieberman: [The U.A.E.] have been not just allies but extraordinary allies, courageous allies, in the war against Islamist terrorism since 9/11. The port at Dubai, which is run by the same company, has more visits by U.S. Navy ships than any other port in the world, and they do it with a real sense of security.

Joe the Jerk forgot to mention that before 9/11, the USS Cole was attacked on UAE's watch. Also, Joe forgot to mention that U.S. Navy ships are armed AND inspected! No wonder they have a sense of security! Sheesh!

#49 Hear, hear!

#46 Mormons vote Republican; 88% voted for GWB in 2000; they generally vote as a bloc.

micki, I never said it wasn't worth reporting, but they could have left out the fear mongering propaganda, but then, fear sells news, facts don't.

Donkeys for diplomacy. That's a good one.

Hmm...Donkeys in the house and sub-zero population growth!

Sounds so familiar...right up MY NEIGH-borhood!

-T

Oboy, the port thick plottens, Dubai re-nigs.

DEN, I'd sure like to know what is going on behind the scenes that IS important while this Dubai hysteria is the distraction of the moment.

"We do no end of feeling and we mistake it for thinking."

Mark Twain

Sal, The Illuminati are busy establishing the New World Order of course. Big money begets more big money. we are the proverbial "frogs in the fryin pan", by the time people notice its hot it will be too late. They have a huge investment in the Federal Reserve in this country, either they cut and run or stick it out. Dubai is in it up to their eyeballs thanks to the Bush Family. Ya want cement overshoes with that?

Oil anarchy threatens Iraq's future

LONDON (Reuters) - Rampant corruption and political anarchy have pushed Iraq's oil industry to the brink of collapse and may drive away the experts needed to save it.

Three years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the country's oil exports have sunk to nearly half the level they were under former president Saddam Hussein.

Western-educated technocrats, who built up and ran Iraq's most vital sector, are in despair as rapid turnover at the oil ministry and state marketer have failed to establish authority.

"Things are worse than ever now. There's a limit to how much we can take," said an Iraqi executive, adding that many other veteran oilmen shared his view.

Trade in refined oil products has been riddled with corruption and smugglers are capitalizing on the huge gap between Iraqi and international prices.

More HERE

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

The same formula over and over, the wealthy drive business or the economy into the ground to buy it all up for pennies on the dollar.

capt

From: Lew Rockwell
Last Throes of the Vice Presidency?
by John Liechty

How Dick Cheney Can Still Attain a 0% Public Approval Rating Before It's Too Late

[Deduct a percentage point per item unless otherwise indicated.]

Replace the little flag pin on lapel with a Halliburton logo.

Publish Rumbuck Mountain, a manly sequel to Mrs. Cheney's novel of the American frontier.

Say something that sounded honest.

Go on Oprah and reveal a 666 branded on scalp. (While this might seem dramatically damaging to ratings, Administration apologists would insist the mark be read 999 and call for an invasion of France. Deduct one percentage point only.)

Act humble, e.g., say, "I may have been wrong on certain occasions." (A seemingly mild statement, but so shockingly out of character that three percentage points must be deducted.)

Tell the American public to go asterisk itself. (Approval rating hits 15 percent.)

Agree to pepper eligible volunteers with birdshot at taxpayer expense. (One percentage point only. Some of the peppered would object; most would apologize for the trouble they'd caused.)

Appear in half-time act and "accidentally" expose nipple. (Deduct four points, and allow four months for the press to cover nothing else. Ten percent approval.)

Order a preemptive strike on Pittsburgh.

Submit to Congress that coinage henceforth read "In Dog We Trust."

Declare candidacy for 2008 presidential nomination. (Deduct six.)

Appear in grainy film called Rumbuck Rumpus Room, featuring raucous dress-up session with Tom DeLay, Bill Clinton, and a goat.

Look straight at the camera and say: "I did not have relations with that nanny."
And with that, history will have been made. Zero % approval, a figure few public figures have approached, let alone attained. It would be interesting to know what the Vice President would say, and how many asterisks he would need. But at this point, literally no one would be listening, apart perhaps from a goat in a leather hoop-skirt.

Pennies on the Euro?

#54 Sorry, Sal, I couldn't tell because you scared me! ;-))

We have horses in the NEIGH-borhood. Donkees in diplomacy and an ass in the White House.

I say we fence off Iraqs oil production facilities with armed militia and defy anybody to kick us out. Thats all the neo-nuts want anyhow.

GLENN GREEWALD on RUSS FEINSTEIN'S Censure Resolution

Yesterday Gallup reported that the President's approval rating hit 36%, an all time low. Those are close to Nixon levels. And a recent Zogby poll found that 52% of Americans support impeachment if the President is found to have wiretapped American citizens without court approval (which, by the way, he has admitted to doing).

If that many Americans are willing to support impeachment, doesn't it stand to reason that even more would be willing to support the far less drastic step of merely declaring, for the record, that it's not okay for the President of the United States to openly defy a criminal statute?

more (link)

From: Antiwar.com

Rest Easy, Bill Clinton: Milosevic Can't Talk Anymore
by Jeremy Scahill

...What the corporate media overwhelmingly ignores in Milosevic's death is what they ignored in his life as well –†his intimate knowledge of U.S. war crimes in Yugoslavia. While Milosevic was undoubtedly a war criminal who deserved to be tried for his crimes, he was also the only man in the unique position of being able to expose and detail the full extent of the U.S. role in the bloody disintegration of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. In fact, that is precisely what he was fighting to do at his war crimes trial when he died.

It is ironic that Milosevic's last legal battle was an attempt to compel his old friend-turned-nemesis Bill Clinton to testify at his trial. If successful, Milosevic would have grilled the man who was U.S. president through the entire Yugoslav war in what would have been a fiery direct examination. Clinton and Milosevic were once pals who talked collective strategy in the 1990s. Milosevic had many damning stories to tell and, without a doubt, uncomfortable questions to ask Clinton. The judges in Milosevic's case clearly worked to keep those moments from ever happening, and the U.S. government made clear its forceful opposition to such subpoenas of U.S. officials, even considering invading a country that would put a U.S. official on trial. With or without Clinton, Milosevic's defense would have brought to light some serious documentation of U.S. war crimes, but he died, muzzled, before he really got started.
-----------
Raise your hand if you believe this death was an unfortunate accident. Our political criminals in action. They always get off the hook. Maybe they really ARE space lizards!

ACLU releases 'first concrete evidence' of domestic spying for anti-war views
RAW STORY
Published: Tuesday March 14, 2006

Documents released today by the American Civil Liberties Union reveal that the Federal Bureau of Investigations has indeed monitored political groups solely on the basis that they opposed a U.S.-led war.

According to a memo written in 2002, the FBI launched a classified investigation into the activities of Pittsburgh's Thomas Merton Center after becoming concerned that the group held "daily leaflet distribution activities in downtown Pittsburgh and [was] currently focused on its opposition to the potential war on Iraq." The memo aimed to summarize the investigation's results.

It identifies the group as "a left-wing organization advocating, among many political causes, pacifism."

The ACLU has filed Freedom of Information Act requests on behalf of over 150 organizations and individuals. The documents released as a result have revealed monitoring and infiltration of political, environmental, anti-war and faith-based groups by the FBI and local law enforcement agencies.

"Something is seriously wrong in how our government determines who and what constitutes terrorism when peace activists find themselves targeted," remarked Jim Kleissler, Executive Director of the Thomas Merton Center for Peace & Justice.

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

Remember, it is all in the DEFINITION. We Do Not Torture, we simply horribly abuse, sometimes unto death.

Rod Paige, formerly Secratary of Education called the NEA a terrorist organization. It is a labor union.

John Negroponte,, captain of the good ship, USS Honduras, ally of Battalion 316, is called Director of National Intelligence.

The power to define is the beginning of logos. In the Big Inning, it was...

Send a letter to your senators requesting their support for Russ Feinstein's censure resolution. You can get submit it online here: US Senate Contact Information (link) It'll take 10 minutes. You spend that much time everyday reading Happy's posts.

Some talking points:

Please support Russ Feinstein's censure resolution.

A recent Zogby poll found that 52% of Americans support impeachment if the President is found to have wiretapped American citizens without court approval (which, by the way, he has admitted to doing). If that many Americans are willing to support impeachment, doesn't it stand to reason that even more would be willing to support the far less drastic step of merely declaring, for the record, that it's not okay for the President of the United States to openly defy a criminal statute?

If we continue to stand by as this President usurps more and more power, especially when he does so illegally, then we are to blame for what comes of our great nation. Now is the time to take a stand.

Feingold. Regrets.

Dear David,
How the hell...?
Is this another starwars project that costs a boat load of money and never works? I get all the 'metamorphoses from a larva' stuff but how do you get these insects to stay still. I suppose if you unleash a swarm you can get one to sit still.
How do you train insects? I understand you have to work with the natural instinctual behavior but...I don't know. Look at the bee experiment. All it would take is a smoky atmosphere.
Of course they trained Bush.

O'Reilly, I'm curious, what is the point of censure? Is it supposed to make bush straighten up and fly right? Will saying "bad, bad president" make a speck of difference? It just makes me laugh.

DEMOCRATS RETREAT FROM BUSH CENSURE
Tuesday, March 14, 2006 - FreeMarketNews.com

Senate Democrats on Monday blocked an immediate vote on a call by one of their own to censure President Bush for his eavesdropping program. They acted after Republicans said they were eager to pass judgment on a proposal that they portrayed as baseless and disruptive to the antiterror effort. Minutes before Senator Russell D. Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin, formally introduced his resolution reprimanding Mr. Bush, Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee, the majority leader, said Republicans were ready to vote by day's end or Tuesday.
----------
This sounds like more political grandstanding to me. Even if they succeed, which I find highly unlikely, nothing will change, bushco will continue down this ruinous path to hell.

S, I guess I am not as cynical as you. If the Senate was to censure Bush, it would send the clear and public signal that the other co-equal branch of government has put the president on notice (in a very public way) that he must follow the law or incur the consequences. Secondly, if it comes to a vote, the vote separates the lock-step Senators from those who want a nation of laws. That would be a benefit, no? An alternative is to sit back and watch it all go to hell. I'm not that cynical...

more from GREENWALD:

The White House has successfully strong-armed its Republican colleagues in Congress into abdicating their oversight responsibilities and thwarting any investigation into the administration's surveillance activities. If the Democrats in Congress believe the President has violated the law (and I'm confident every single one of them does) and there is no possibility of further investigation (which there isn't), seeking censure is the responsible, principled thing to do.

If the Democrats would just speak with one voice, confidently, clearly, the American public will respond. This isn't a difficult concept to explain to people. Most people no longer trust this President or his apologists in Congress. Most people believe strongly in the rule of law. This scandal has percolated long enough for the national media to understand it, and they will only treat this resolution as "extreme" if large numbers of Democrats shy away from it.

I wrote Kennedy and Kerry. It took 3 minutes each. Who else beside Saladin wrote their Senator? Happy? LBH? Baf? Setting You straight?

O'Reilly, my cynicism is the result of 5 long years of spineless democrat BS. Only now, after an illegal invasion of a sovereign country, the passing of the unconstitutional patriot act, not once, but twice, and a myriad other offenses, have they decided to, maybe, stand up for what is right? Whatever. All I can say is anyone who still holds onto faith where the dems are concerned has way more patience and tolerance than I do.

Saladin, Den. O'Reillly and oh geez everyone,

It is about KBR (Halllburton--they're on it as we write and have been for the last week.) In fact, I think there's your Rovian ploy. KBR has bought our ports. I'm not a conspiricist, but I bet you.

Bush is going to make sure he's wrung us out dry. I'm not mincimg my words, my glasses are broken.

And I apologize for my lack of patience. Ewerywhere one turns, someone's already rooking the scene.

I have written to my reps, even though I am convinced it is a waste of time. I always receive a nice form letter in return, and am comforted to know that my letters never make it past the screener.

I've just received an e-mail update from the NRDC informing me that the senate is about to vote on ANWR drilling again, think we should write to voice our opposition? Think the recent 225,000 gallon oil spill in Alaska will make a difference?

#81 Sal,I don't know if writing will make a difference but it might be worth it to you.

PS. I understand you loss of tolerance and patience.

Rove has had 6 years to dig some shyt up on all the Senators and Reps. Not hard to do knowing what we know now about the goings on in DC, the partying, womanizing, manizing, and generally being bad. Right where he wants them, under his thumb. The evil monster Rove needs to GO! If we actually get elections this year and they are not rigged there might be hope. Might.

Russ Feingold: Censure in the Wilderness

Kurt Nimmo | March 14 2006

Senator Russ Feingold is one of a handful of Congress critters brave enough to oppose the Police State Act, otherwise known as the Patriot Act, and the NSA trampling of the Fourth Amendment as well. Now Feingold has introduced a proposal to censure President George W. Bush for ordering domestic eavesdropping on U.S. citizens without a warrant, according to Reuters. Bush deserves nothing short of impeachment, and then an orange jumpsuit, and his Straussian neocon crew should be rounded up and prosecuted for treason, but none of this will happen, not now, next week, next year, or after the next president is elected, or appointed.

Feingold's censure (in essence, Congress critters issuing a rebuke, or a mild slap on the wrist instead of indicting Bush for high crimes and misdemeanors) is a pathetic effort that will fail miserably because the whores of Congress are either onboard with the neocons or were long ago cowed into silence, as whores with closets filled with skeletons usually are.
---------
If Feingold is sincere he is leaving himself wide open for a rove attack.

I keep writing, but it feels like having urinary incontinence while wearing dark pants...It give me a warm feeling, but nobody notices!

-T

Hajji, I know the feeling.

Saladin -

Should Feingold became a threat, he will probabaly as not wind up as did Paul Wellstone.

And MLK, and RFK, and JFK, and myriad others, in many lands...

But, I'm not paranoid.

86 Oh, someone notices alright. I will try to sneak some food in when I visit you in your new "accomodations" at the "National Emergency Response Reeducation and Assimilation Center".

I'm not paranoid either, just realistic. I'm afraid the truly sincere are only proven out because they end up taking a dirt nap.

Hey Robb, long time no blog!

David got my mind going on this one. If this technology is placed in a dragonfly can you imagine the images transmitted back to headquarters. The spherical vision (30,ooo facets) seeing in all directions at the same time. Just take your eye and wrap it around your head. How about the monocular vision of a reptile, keen vision of an eagle. Makes you wonder how many creatures the military is all ready using to collect information or dominate the planet.

Last night I went to hear a friend Art Gish talk about his last 4 months in Palestinian towns and refugee camps, and in Israel. He also was able to spend a week in Iraq with his wife Peggy. (he was supposed to be there for 6 weeks but he said it is extremely difficult now to get in.

Peggy and Art are the real deal when it comes to their christian beliefs they walk the Christian talk. They have been living on their organic farm for 30 years(they are both in their 60's and have raised their three children) here in southeastern Ohio and support themselves this way. Art and Peggy have been with the Christian Peace Makers for about 10 years (at least) and have gone to Israel many times. Peggy has been in Iraq over 2 years (not consecutively) since before the invasion.

Art opened his talk with an insiders view of the death of Tom Fox (a christian peace maker team member who was found dead last friday in Baghdad. Art was understandably emotional about his friends death and reaffirmed that all of the CPT members understand the risk. He said Tom Fox would want the world to focus on how tens of thousands of Muslims have been killed during the last ten 14 years due to sanctions and the invasion. Big tears welled up in Arts eyes when he shared this story. This is an extremely sad situation, to have someone who went to Iraq to witness and who was really on the side of the Iraqi people, be killed.

Art's experiences with the Palestinians was as disturbing as ever, he witnessed young Palestinian girls being spit on and verbally intimidated by Israeli soldiers, CPT members who were walking Palestinian children to school be beat with clubs and chains, and many humiliating checkpoint crossings. How can people wonder why the Palestinians are so pissed off. ( one can only wonder what people do when there are not witnesses). For example today the Israeli army going into bulldoze the Palestinian prison, taking the law into their own hands ...you know more of the "do what we say not what we do", Israeli motto being practiced.

He did describe an amazing scene with about 100 Jews for Peace, CPT members and Palestinians planting hundreds of olive trees under the eyes of settlers and Israeli soldiers. Only to have all of the trees pulled up just hours later.
Very sad and discouraging.

He said the situation in Iraq was dismal. The last time he had been there was 2 years ago, and that the situation had really gone down hill. On a positive note he witnessed Sunnis and Shiites getting along every place he dared go. The word in Iraq is that the bombing of the mosques and other holy sites is either being done by american or Al Queda forces. His wife Peggy will be back in three weeks.

From: I-Newswire

Experts conclude Vice President possessed foreknowledge and suggest Moussaoui trial a "distraction"

Duluth, MN: March 13, 2006 -- A society of experts and scholars contends that the prosecution of Zacarias Moussaoui--for willfully concealing advance knowledge of the events of 9/11 -- has the status of a Soviet-style "show trial" and functions as a diversion from the real culprits. The nonpartisan group, Scholars for 9/11 Truth, asserts that the evidence implicating Vice President Dick Cheney of that very offense is more obvious and compelling. If they are even remotely correct, then the alleged terrorists appear to have been cast in the role of "patsies."

The experts base their conclusion on testimony presented to the 9/11 Commission by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta on May 23, 2003, which was omitted from its final report, and on related events at the Pentagon. Members of the society will present their findings during a press conference to be held at 1 PM on Tuesday at the United States Courthouse in Alexandria, VA, the location of a hearing to determine whether Moussaoui, who is called "the 20th hijacker", should serve a life term or receive the death sentence.

"Mineta's testimony is devastating," observed James H. Fetzer, Ph.D., McKnight Professor at the University of Minnesota. Fetzer is the founder and co-chair of the scholars' society, which recently joined with Judicial Watch in calling for release of documents, films and videos, and physical evidence withheld from the public by the administration. "It pulls the plug on the Commission's contention there was no advance warning that the Pentagon was going to be hit."

According to Secretary Mineta's testimony, which is in the public domain, when he ( Mineta ) arrived at an underground bunker at the White House ( known as the Presidential Emergency Operations Center ), the Vice President was in charge. "During the time that the airplane was coming in to the Pentagon", he stated, "there was a young man who would come in and say to the Vice President, 'The plane is 50 miles out.' 'The plane is 30 miles out.'

"And when it got down to, 'The plane is 10 miles out,'" Mineta continued, "the young man also said to the Vice President, 'Do the orders still stand?' And the Vice President turned and whipped his neck around and said, 'Of course the orders still stand. Have you heard anything to the contrary?'"

"The only reasonable interpretation of the orders," Fetzer observed, "is that the incoming aircraft should not be shot down".

Philip J. Berg, Esq., Former Deputy Attorney General of Pennsylvania, added, "Those who made it happen were obviously in the position to know that it was going to happen and therefore could have sounded a warning alarm. The case against Cheney is more powerful than the case against Moussaoui. No one is more culpable than the perpetrators. If Moussaoui deserves the death penalty, what does our Vice President deserve?"

Other members of the society include Robert Bowman, head of the "Star Wars" program in both Democratic and Republican administrations; Morgan Reynolds, former Chief Economist for the Department of Labor in the Bush administration; Andreas von Buelow, former assistant defense minister of Germany; Steven E. Jones, a professor of physics from Brigham Young University and the society's co-chair; and Griffin, a noted theologian and author of The 9/11 Commission Report: Omissions and Distortions.

Documentary support for the conclusions reported here may be found at the Scholars for 9/11 Truth web site at www.st911.org.
-----------
I sure hope this makes them squirm.

Actually, I have been here all along, but you could not see me, as I have finally mastered the skills necessary to make myself invisible to human eyes. Only insects, lizards and extraterrestrial entities can see me. Just try to imagine the fun I am having.

O'Reilly -- I'm with you, it can't hurt to write a letter to one's Senators. I sent this yesterday to mine (I already posted it -- but if anyone wants to copy, paste, edit, improve, they are welcome to use it as a template to expedite sending his/her own letter).

Also, after you've written your letter, send it to your email list and ask all your (likely suspect) friends to send one too!

Dear Senators Murray and Cantwell:

I urge you to support Senator Feingold's proposal to formally censure George Bush, especially on the warrantless wiretapping he has sanctioned and approved.

It is a ridiculous notion that Republicans think the way to handle this problem is to rewrite laws that have been broken in order to accommodate the president's law-breaking activities. Changing the rules after the fact does not absolve Bush from breaking the law!

Sure, the government should be able to wiretap terrorists, but it must do so legally -- which it already has the authority to do. We are supposed to be a nation of laws, not of men (kings?).

Please support Senator Feingold.

Thank you.

Sal, How loud do we have to holler to get people to listen to the 9/11 evidence? A few years back just the mention of a govt. coverup would have brought the house down. The entire admin. is complicit they should be held accountable, but in Bizarro World bad is good and good is bad. Go figure!

Saladin,

I'm sorry, but I'm way behind. On the censure vote, wasn't that interesting? Useless, but a good first step. I think I like Feingold, not sure where to place him. I have to think, like so many others, he's on the road to power. And that just means, here we go with the money again.

And apologies, I'm definitely not myself today.

The New(Bizzaro)World Order, prepare to be assimilated, resistance is futile, you MUST comply!

BREAKING: Feingold Accuses Senate Democrats of "Cowering" To Bush

Sen. Feingold said the following to Fox News-Trish Turner:

I'm amazed at Democrats, cowering with this president's numbers so low. The administration just has to raise the specter of the war and the Democrats run and hide. - Too many Democrats are going to do the same thing they did in 2000 and 2004. In the face of this, they’¨l say we’§ better just focus on domestic issues.-
[Democrats shouldn't] cower to the argument, that whatever you do, if you question administration, you're helping the terrorists.
-------------------
Tell it like it is, Senator Feingold.

Watchdog Groups Warn About Sale of Knight Ridder

Media watchdog groups are expressing concern over the recent sale of Knight Ridder - the country's second largest newspaper chain. The smaller newspaper publisher McClatchy Company bought out the 32-paper Knight Ridder for $4.5 billion. The new owner has already announced plans to sell off 12 Knight Ridder newspapers including the Philadelphia Inquirer and San Jose Mercury News. "The loss of a media outlet is bad for journalism and for democracy because it decreases the number of voices in the debate," said Steve Rendall of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. "This is especially clear in the case of Knight Ridder, whose Washington bureau was one of the only mainstream journalism outfits to consistently challenge the government in the run-up to war in Iraq."

Meanwhile a new report by the Project for Excellence in Journalism is warning there has been a "seismic transformation" in the media landscape as media companies slash the amount of resources put into original reporting. The study said "The new paradox of journalism is more outlets covering fewer stories." The report notes that in Philadelphia the number of newspaper reporters has fallen from 500 to 220 in the last quarter-century. Five AM radio stations used to cover news in Philadelphia; now there are two. Nationwide it is estimated there are 3,500 fewer professional newsroom jobs since 2000, a drop of 7 percent. Just last week the Washington Post said it would cut 80 newsroom jobs.

Lunch break. Gotta break the rulez.

Rove go after Feingold? Still the fear of Rove?

Puhlease. The guy is a moron. Notice how he deftly engineered this fight between the Ultra-reactionaries and congress over the Dubai Ports? He had the reactionaries at RedState debating whether or not Bush should resign. They were THAT freaked out by the whole episode.

Could we see another example of his "genius" in the Miers SCOTUS nomination? Just like in the Schiavo debacle? Just like in the Social Security nadsmacker? Just like he managed the Cheney hunting circus? Just like he managed the tax reform movement? Rove is as dangerous as Feingold. Until the majority party in this country decides to do something to right the ship of state, nothing will happen for good or ill.

Republicans are in charge. As long as this is a democratic republic and they are in the majority, you will continue to experience that helpless feeling. Even if every Democrat in congress stood up tomorrow to protest the criminality of this administration (fat chance / zero chance) the Reds would still have their hands on the levers of power and we would be forced to sit by and watch helplessly.

What did Mencken say about democracy? It's the theory that the common man knows what he wants and deserves it good and hard? Where's Capt with the real quote?

Back to work. Don't mind me.

I want a Russ Feingold/George Clooney ticket.

(And I'm only a little bit kidding...)

#102
Me too.

Sorry Pan, but I must disagree, rove is an evil a**hole, but far from a moron. He is very useful to the powers that be, and until he is no longer of use he will remain a threat. And if the dems would all stand together on something, anything at all, they would at least be taken seriously. As it is they are so inept they are nothing but a joke. Doesn't matter who's in charge, the opposition should oppose wrong and illegal policy, even if they failed they would be able to say they did everything in their power. But I'm still waiting.

Jeanne, did you get any of this info about climate change? HERE Describes how climate change is affecting Minn. My daughter sent me an e-mail about it. looks like a lot of info. worth reading.

US postwar Iraq strategy a mess, Blair was told

Well, duh! bush and his boyfriends have too much riding on bush's War of Choice in Iraq. They can't be trusted to provide truth and accuracy of what is really happening in Iraq -- or anywhere.

They are LIARS.

Most Popular TV Searches on Yahoo! Oprah, Survivor, Gilmore Girls, Desperate Housewives, Howard Stern, Family Guy, Days of Our Lives....... And we wonder why people do not care about what is happening to the USA. Feeding their minds with fantasy, while reality goes unnoticed.

Sal, I agree that General Rove is not a moron. Even when the cheney/bush/rove administration f**ks up (which is pretty much everything they touch), they win because Rove is a master at framing a message -- he has fine-tuned the "art" of the verbal smack-down and he's an accomplished fearmonger.

Case in point on one of today's topics, Russ Feingold and censure:

"Some Democrats in Congress have decided the president is the enemy,'' Vice President Dick Cheney told a Republican audience in Feingold's home state.

Then cheney went on to say on the same subject:

"The outrageous proposition that we ought to protect our enemies' ability to communicate as it plots against America poses a key test of our Democratic leaders.''

"The American people already made their decision,'' cheney added. "They agree with the president.''

Rove doesn't care if nothing works right as long as they maintain their grip on power. In fact, they don't want anything to work right because they know that, over time, that turns people against government, politicians, the media, and all public institutions. It works to their advantage.

Gore: Country straying from principles

...Gore urged Democrats to "not take anything for granted," because sometimes, "feeling the prospects of victory and success, you know that's a deadly error."

Citing a Bible verse, "Where there is no vision, the people perish," Gore cited issues in which he believes the Bush administration has left the country far removed from the Founding Fathers' ideals.

"How many times have we listened to the current administration and in (state and national Republican offices), and after a few years, we wake up and say that what they have been telling us is completely wrong," Gore said. "I'm not calling it a lie," but a "false impression."

..."How many of you have been feeling there's something badly wrong, something a little strange about the way decisions are being made, a way that is contrary to what the United States of America is all about?" he said.

Gore mentioned the nation's official policy against torturing prisoners, dating to the American Revolution, when Gen. George Washington refused to allow captured British soldiers to be abused. "Every president since, all the way through until now, has honored that principle," he said.

"I truly believe that American democracy faces a time of challenge and trials that are more serious than we have ever faced," Gore said. He pointed to the current White House, backed by a Republican Congress, which allows the government to eavesdrop on anyone's home, "sneak and peek," without a warrant. "It sounds so strange, doesn't it, so contrary to the Constitution?"

And as DEN pointed out, much of America has far more important things to tend to! I believe one of the truest statements ever spoken by any politician was when FDR said that NOTHING in politics happens by accident, if it happens, it was planned. We may think there is no rhyme or reason to this carnival, but, even though they may not be able to predict the exact outcome, they know they can count on the ignorance and distractions in the general public to send any screw-up straight into the memory hole, after all, haven't they proven time and time again that it is a strategy that works? "We the people" are as much to blame as the lying politicians, since we keep letting them get away with it.

#105
Den,
Those were interesting articles. I have noticed in the past 10 years that the humidity in the summer is much higher. We have to run the air conditioning now. Also there are possum in the state. I only read about possums when I was young. I never knew what they looked like. Now we see them. It's became warm enough to draw them up about 5 years ago.
I hope we don't lose the moose. They are ornery buggers but they are beautiful.

#105
One more thing. The Democrats in MN have been trying forever to get light rail going in the Twin Cities. The Republicans (who love their SUVs) don't want it. We finally got one route. Complain, complain, complain. Boy were they surprised when it got higher ridership than even the transportation people imagined it would. We need to get all those cars off the road. It's not rocket science. Jeez.

This is interesting.
A blank check for snoops

LIKE THE CAVALRY RUSHING to the aid of the wrong troops, four Republican senators who had earlier declared battle against the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping have now proposed to give the surveillance program five years of near-bulletproof protection.

The new measure by Mike DeWine of Ohio, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Olympia Snowe of Maine would significantly expand the administration's power to intercept U.S. citizens' international phone calls and e-mails without obtaining a warrant —†even when they have not been implicated in any crime. It also would let the surveillance continue with much less oversight than Congress demanded in previous laws.

The four had voiced alarm about the program after it became public in December. Hagel and Snowe even threatened to vote with Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee to launch a full investigation into what the National Security Agency has been doing. On Tuesday, however, Hagel and Snowe voted with their fellow Republicans to reject an investigation. Instead, in a deal with the White House, the committee created a seven-member terrorism surveillance subcommittee to receive regular briefings about domestic spying.

After the closed-door meeting, Republicans outlined a bill ostensibly to limit such surveillance and make it more accountable to lawmakers. But its provisions suggest that they are less concerned about the administration violating Americans' legal rights than about Congress being kept out of the loop.

Rather than restraining runaway executive power, the bill would effectively legalize the current spying program - or at least the program that administration officials have publicly acknowledged. The bill would allow the feds to spy on a U.S. resident's international calls or e-mails without a warrant for up to 45 days - or 42 days more than the law currently allows. Investigators would only have to demonstrate probable cause - to themselves, not a judge - that at least one of the people involved was a member or supporter of a designated terrorist group. After that month and a half, the warrantless surveillance could continue if the attorney general insisted that it was necessary to protect the United States.

These are the rules the administration claims to be abiding by already, but they're worlds different from existing law. Under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, investigators can tap lines for no more than three days without a warrant, and only in emergencies. They also must demonstrate probable cause to a federal court that the person is engaged in terrorism or knowingly helping terrorists.

The DeWine bill trusts a small group of lawmakers, not federal judges, to ensure that the administration stays within the new limits. Otherwise, it's up to the administration to certify that its activities comply with the law. Given its track record, that's tantamount to no control at all.

The 4th Amendment bars unreasonable searches, which the courts have interpreted to mean those based merely on the whiff of suspicion. That's the central problem with the administration's domestic surveillance program, and DeWine's bill does not begin to solve it.
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Who gets to these people? What are they afraid of? This isn't about being afraid of being called unpatriotic or soft on the war on terror. Something is going on behind the scenes.

Jeanne, why should'nt those repugs approve, they can ensure they will get the inside info. on their opponents without regard to any privacy whatsoever. The 06 election is "in the bag"

noo thred

Dear Harry,
I am beginning to think the true horror of the fateful February day was not that you were shot by Vice President dick Cheney but that you had to listen to him for hours on end.

I am more glad everyday that they won't allow me to attend their 'rallies'. I don't have the right social security number.

Here's an example of Vice President dick Cheney's bull.
Cheney on Feingold

Cheney said Monday, ``The outrageous proposition that we ought to protect our enemies' ability to communicate as it plots against America poses a key test of our Democratic leaders.''

``The American people already made their decision,'' Cheney added. ``They agree with the president.''

It's enough to make you sneer. Maybe that's why he's always sneering. He has to read that crap.

Catching up to Happy's nonsense at #43: So, political and social outlook are now hereditary traits? Conservatives have more children, therefore there will be more conservatives in the future? Or maybe you are saying that the children of conservatives will naturally be raised with conservative values and pass those on (nurture as opposed to nature)? I think the cycle of history would prove otherwise. Normally a upcoming generation reacts AGAINST the previous one...note the rise of conservatism in the current generation, as opposed to the more liberal bent of their parents' generation. So...if there are lots and lots of children of conservatives, I would say it is more likely that the future generation will be less, and not more, conservative.

We are the insects refusing to abandon our physical imperitive.

Make no mistake.