The question, David, is just how far the cloud of Pandora's fallout will spread...

-T

Another thought, what about the "incident" that blew the lid off in the first place, namely 9/11? That is the day the gates of Hell were flung open, yet no one in the MSM will touch it, why?

At least Hope was at the bottom of Pandora'a Box. I fear that is not the case here...

Negroponte's 'Serious Setback'
By Dahr Jamail

************************************
A few days old, but worth reading, if you haven't.

Spent over an hour waiting to pass through Furhrerland Security at LAX Airport last week. It was miserable, and in my view, totally counterproductive, considering the fact that our DNI is one of the world's premier terrorists.

Will We Fight Iran? (more link)

War is a terrible thing, we say. But we have our own mesmeric vision of mythic war: we are the redeemer nation. We invaded Iraq after all, in part to liberate an oppressed people. Bringing democracy to the Muslim World is the central goal in the administration's Global War on Terrorism. In the American sacred narrative, war is a terrible thing but it may also be a necessary thing, and beyond even that, a divinely ordained task. As the president has said, "we are called to defend the safety of our people and the hopes of all mankind."

Moreover the "enemies of freedom" have been officially designated as "evil" that cannot be allowed to survive -- and Iran is now at the top of the list. Thus war with Iran is not only about self-defense, but also about bringing freedom and destroying evil. Surely this is a narrative as sacred to Americans as, say, Germany's story of destiny in 1914 -- and just as in need of fulfillment

by Michael Vlahos (link)

From last night's "Tonight Show":

Jay Leno On Bush's Presidential Library: "$300 Million - That's Almost $150 Million Per Book"...

ya, WHY? - (#2 what she said)

Envoy to Iraq Sees Threat of Wider War (link)

He supports the White House view that an early pullout would backfire, but he is bleak about the Sunni-Shiite conflict and says it could spread.
By Borzou Daragahi
LA Times Staff Writer

March 7, 2006

Sorry, I can't believe anything written in the Hell A times. In fact it's impossable for me to believe anything from the media in todays world. Doesn't matter if it comes from the mouths or pens. From the right or left. You all have agendas. You all see only what you want.Your in the business of changing minds. The true evil in the world today is the media.

President Bush won't talk about the prospect of civil war in Iraq and what it would mean to the U.S. troop presence. But it's becoming increasingly clear that he needs to.
By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Tuesday, March 7, 2006; 12:15 PM

more (link)

#9 Exactly. Just stop reading.

Pulling out won't work? Why? Staying sure as hell doesn't seem to be working either. So let's try something totally new and untried. Coming home. Where they would be welcomed with less VA money, no jobs, and oh yeah, a looming recession fathered by our dear leaders clueless fiscal policies. Yep, this crowd sure has it all figured out. Too bad none of them have the background to make a good anything in life, just sucking at the government tit for their jobs and robbing the taxpayers one billion at a time. Pretty soon we might be talking about real money.

TROOPS TO bush : "GET US OUT OF HERE!"

Conversations with Machiavelli's ghost: Denials mark neoconservative's account of past and present scandal
Larisa Alexandrovna - Raw Story

Ledeen: I wanted to entitle my book on Iran-Contra "Worse than a Crime," from Talleyrand's great description of something as "Worse than a crime, it was a blunder." The only crimes committed during Iran-Contra consisted of making false statements to Congress, and in the case of General Secord, evading income tax, and in North's case accepting a gift (a security fence) worth more than the regulations permitted. Despite all the hullabaloo nobody was ever prosecuted for presumed crimes like violating the Boland Amendment, etc.

RS: You’re right, no one was prosecuted for violating the Boland Amendment, which barred the use of federal funds to topple the Nicaraguan government. It is amazing how a Presidential pardon provided prior to a trial will result in no convictions.

What about the money for the Contras, where did it all go?

Ledeen: I don’t know; I only dealt with the Iran half of the equation, I had no contact with the Contra side.

But if you’ll permit me, I think you should be more careful about accusing people of criminal activity. No one was ever even indicted for “violating the Boland Amendment,” so your rage at the pardons is misplaced in that case. The indictment of [Defense Secretary Caspar] Weinberger [for lying to the special counsel] was an outrage. And I have a lot of sympathy for the people who were ruined by the cost of trying to defend themselves. Don’t you think that government employees should have their legal expenses borne by the government, at least until somebody proves that they did something wrong? I’m talking about the little people here, people who can’t afford the cost – tens of thousands of dollars – of xeroxing documents, etc.

RS: With all due respect, the special prosecutor, Lawrence E. Walsh, indicated that former President Bush was the subject of his investigation and that he believed there to be a conspiracy at the highest levels of government to obstruct justice in order to protect Bush and former President Regan from charges perhaps even more serious than violating the Boland Amendment. The pardons waved a magic wand and justice disappeared. Justice to be vindicated for those you say are innocent and justice for the public who suspect them to be guilty.

Casper Weinberger, for example, was indicted for lying about Saudi involvement in illegal arms sale to Iran, among other false statements, and for destroying evidence that special prosecutor Walsh said may have "forestalled impeachment proceedings against President Reagan.”

So I would have to respectfully disagree that the indictment of Weinberger was an outrage. The outrage was that he was pardoned before he could go to trial.

The final part of Conversations with Machiavelli's Ghost will run next week and will focus on Ledeen's work on fascism, September 11, and Iran.

Rumsfeld pushes Gingrich Long War strategy

David:

Not to worry. Newt Gingrich is on the case. While his "strategy" doesn't speak directly to the current situation in Iraq, it is indicative of the "thinking" of those bozos that gets us into these intractable fixes.

"...Gingrich posits the creating an "Intelligent Effective Limited Government" which will use "entrepreneurial public management and modern information systems to modernize the government into a system compatible with the speed, agility, flexibility and efficiency of modern global companies."

(this article is also available at truthout.com)

Oh, that Newtie-Patootie! The "Contract on America" has morphed into the "Contract on the World"...more from the above article...

"...The third step is establishing a "theory and system" for winning the Long War with the Irreconcilable Wing of Islam." Gingrich suggests the war could last as long as 70 years, and complains that there is no central guidance for this new struggle on par with George Kennan's 1949 "Long Telegram" and Paul Nitze's 1950 NSC-68, both documents that described the problem of, and proposed a policy for, defeating the Soviet Union in the Cold War. Gingrich says that theory must be developed, as well as a strategy for keeping weapons of mass destruction out of the hands of dictators or rogue regimes that might give them to terrorists."

...looks like commondreams.com puts value on David's Springsteen/Seeger article...

I just noticed David's Springsteen Does Seeger is in the #3 position of the center-screen lineup.

Good choice on articles to pass along...IMO

"peace activist" Nonie Darwish and her petition

She replied that Arabs were never meant to be equal in any respect to Israelis and that it is their refusal to accept their lot as a lesser life form that has contributed to all of the problems in the world today. In a direct quote she said, “It would probably be better for everyone if the Palestinian people were exterminated from the face of the Earth, the Israelis need the land and God gave them the land including all of Syria and most of Iraq and pretty much anything that they want because God also told the Israelis that they should rule the Earth and that everyone else should serve them.” We asked Nonie where she got this information and she said the Israelis told her, so it must be so.

smokingmirrors.blogspot.com

"Toppling Saddam was like opening Pandora's Box" is actually a pretty poor analogy:

1. The myth of Pandora is a story about human weakness -- the gods gave her a box and told her not to open it, but she gave in to her curiosity. Are we supposed to believe that Bush & Co. have some insatiable need to invade countries? Doubtful.

2. Pandora didn't know what was in the box. In a way, this turns out to be closest to reality, since lots of folks thought that Iraq had weapons programs. What is incorrect is to suggest that we couldn't have known about the anarchy and sectarianism that would evolve -- just look at the fall of the Yugoslav government and the eruption of violence there. The risk of civil strife was knowable, just ignored by the decision makers.

3. Pandora acted alone. She didn't have anyone to turn to for help in keeping the box shut. Bush not only had access to any number of sources that could have told him that the war was a bad idea, but these voices (e.g., France, Germany, much of the CIA) tried to educate him and he actively stifled them.

In the end, we have to find a solution to the issue of how to both create a stable Iraq (for the Iraqis' sake, not ours) and get out.

My thought has always been that we should open up a channel to discuss the issue with the Arab League. The US and our coalition should remain committed to footing most of the cost of operations in Iraq. But the actual oeprations should be handed over to Arab League troops, but no troops from countries that boarder Iraq.

Arab League troops would be far better able to understand and address local concerns and by getting Arab nations like Morroco, Tunisia, Egypt possibly, Indonesia, and now Libya, we could have a policing force that has a chance at maintaining order and also would not represent such an inviting target to insurgents.

I stumbled across this page today and was wondering if anyone here knew or read about this, kinda goes against what we have been saying, 9/11 was an inside job. read here. from none other than our fearless leader.

DEN, there is only one reason why the mcmedia (including this blog) refuses to address the 911 issue :: their "conventional wisdom" and wishful hopes that a fairytale has any merit don't stand up under even the slightest scrutiny -
easier for them to ignore all of it and hope that it all goes away -

CIA says Libby defense could disrupt intelligence

The CIA would have a hard time advising President George W. Bush on security threats if a judge forced it to provide all documents sought by a former vice presidential aide accused of perjury, the agency said in a court filing made public on Tuesday.

Lewis "Scooter" Libby is charged with lying to the FBI and a grand jury during an investigation into who disclosed the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame to news reporters in 2003 after her husband accused the Bush administration of twisting intelligence in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq.

Libby is seeking access to nearly a year's worth of intelligence briefs to prove that he was preoccupied with national-security matters during that time period and thus could not accurately remember his conversations with reporters and government officials.

CIA information review officer Marilyn Dorn said agency officials would have a harder time keeping Bush up to date on security threats if a judge ordered them to dig up classified material sought by Libby.

"The job would divert their precious time and effort away from their primary task: preparing breaking intelligence for the president's immediate attention," Dorn wrote.

More.

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I've come to the point that I no longer think of the CIA in monolithic terms. That said, it should be pointed out that the Wush ignored the caveats being provided on the WMD intel by the career analysts, and relied heavily on such groups as WHIG, and the DIA.

micki @ #16,

Like it or not, Gingrich's "Contract With America" was, I believe, mainly responsible for devolving power to the Republicans in 1994. Do you realize that, while also turning the House over to the Republicans for the first time in about 40 years, not a single incumbent Republican governor, senator or congressman was defeated?

Americans want a plan. I believe that's why they are so frustrated with President Bush right now, because they think he doesn't have a doable plan to win the war, secure the ports, etc.

But Kerry lost the election because he seemed totally hapless - support the war, don't support the war. Vote for it before voting against it.

If the Democrats came up with a viable plan, I believe they would win in a landslide.

James, do you figure it is easier for David to pretend 9/11 was not an inside job? Or does he know it was and does not want to stick his neck out and perhaps be chastized for knowing that? That crap aint cuttin it! The massive amount of evidence says it was an inside job, I dont expect the MSM to be the dog to bite their masters foot, especially with big money corp. running it. But I thought David was above those idiot money grubbers. Not grabbing the bull by the horns on this issue will be looked at later as a failure to do his job and report. I would equate that to someone doing an oil change on your car and noticing a broken part somewhere else and not saying anything because the boss just wants you to do oil changes and nothing else. Man I tell ya the American peoples safety IS at stake with the gang of thugs that caused 9/11 and are now running our great country into the ground. Dammit we need to crack this thing wide open and give it some sunlight!!!!!!

Gonzales defends conditions at Guantanamo
Tue Mar 7, 2006 12:43 PM ET
By Gideon Long

LONDON (Reuters) - The U.S. government's leading lawyer defended the Guantanamo Bay prison camp on Tuesday, saying detainees there were granted state-of-the-art health care, good food and "unprecedented legal protection."

Responding to complaints by the United Nations, human rights groups, religious leaders and some national governments, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said the camp was entirely lawful and essential to the protection of the United States.

"We operate Guantanamo because there's a necessity, a need, for the United States to detain enemy combatants somewhere," he said in a speech in London. "That was the genesis of Guantanamo. This need continues today."

Gonzales said all detainees at the camp in eastern Cuba were granted an assessment by U.S. authorities, a right of reply and a separate, formal hearing of their case before a three-member tribunal with a right to appeal.

"We are aware of no other nation in history that has afforded such protection for enemy combatants," he told the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).

Included among the 500 detainees at the camp are terrorist trainers, bomb makers, former bodyguards of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and potential suicide bombers, he said.

"Detainees are permitted access to state-of-the-art medical care, healthy meals consistent with their cultural and religious requirements and an opportunity to observe religious beliefs."

More.

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

Waterboarding and stress positions are now being defined by Atty General Gonzales as "state of the art medical care" and a force-feeding tube up the nose as "healthy meals consistent with their cultural and religious requirements"?

".......Are we supposed to believe that Bush & Co. have some insatiable need to invade countries? Doubtful....."

Then why did they do it?

DEN,

It should be pointed out that the Nation has consistantly upheld the findings of the Warren Commission...

Wonkette lists OK and banned websites here. Apparently the right wing NUTJOB sites are acceptable. What a crock!

Robert,The magazine? or the righties among us?

The Magazine - of which Mr. Corn is Washingtoon D.C. Editor.

The word conspiracy isn't well appreciated by many, though many breathe together regularly...

Anyway, as Jim Fetzer PhD. points out, even if the cover story of 19 hijackers being responsible is the truth of 9/11, it would still be a conspiracy, so the question becomes one of competing conspiracy theories, not a conspiracy theory versus another type or class of story.

Then, which of the competing theories better answers the questions...

the info gathered on the JFK assassination was miniscule compared to the info that is available on 911 - they can be excused for believing the warren commission - there is no excuse for believing the 911 fairytale -

do you figure it is easier for David to pretend 9/11 was not an inside job? Or does he know it was and does not want to stick his neck out and perhaps be chastized for knowing that?

I think that even if he doesn't know anything about 911, he knows that if he looked into it he would discover one falsehood after another in the official fairytale - so the only real question remaining is WHY the continued failure to address it - probably he knows which side of the bread his masters have buttered.

Robert, The one that has HARD IRREFUTEABLE evidence, proven with scientific analysis. Symantics dont cut it. Lives were lost and anyone not willing to look at the evidence are AS complicit as the perpetrators themselves. Aiding and abetting a crime is a criminal matter that requires justice be served.

#23
Some would dispute that the Contract on America was the driving force in the Repug successes at the polls in November 1994. In fact, following the election the majority of American voters were not familiar with the Contract. (Whatever...that probably says more about the American people than it does about the Contract.) The Repugs did take control of the House that year and began using their newly acquired power to their advantage, rather than to their constituents' advantage, especially with their gerrymandering efforts.

As promised, the House did vote on all "promises" in the Contract on America in the first 100 days of the 104th Congress -- most of the intent of the proposals were either virtually ignored by the Repugs, substantially weakened, substantially changed, or if a proposal passed, Clinton vetoed it. So, the Repugs were "all hat and no cattle" on their follow through and commitment -- not to mention their lack of honesty about the Contract. And the SIZE of government has grown under the Repugs!

I agree that the Democrats should have a plan -- or at least a cohesive message. They don't.

PS Americans may want on "plan" on Iraq -- finally. But generally, they do not want to be bothered with those pesky things.

The one that has HARD IRREFUTEABLE evidence, proven with scientific analysis. Symantics dont cut it. Lives were lost and anyone not willing to look at the evidence are AS complicit as the perpetrators themselves. - DEN

Well, what does that say about those who DESTROYED the hard evidence prior to forensic examination?

Semantics: It's only words, but words are all I have...

Robert Schwartz #3

[At least Hope was at the bottom of Pandora'a Box.]

Exactly what I was thinking. Unfortunately, in Iraq Hope was arrested for associating with the evil in the box, thrown into Abu Ghraib, tortured for 22 months, released and then mistakenly shot at a checkpoint.

Robert, Thats tampering with evidence, also highly illegal. The FBI is supposedly in possesion of a volume of it, video tapes, certain moving company records, not to mention the VP himself ensuring the intercept fighters stood down. I guess my point is this aint no kindergarden playgroud skirmish and the people NO MATTER WHO THEY ARE need to be prosecuted. That is why I hold David to a higher standard, he should be better than the thugs that did it, unless he has something to hide of course.

BILL OF NO RIGHTS

cindy sheehan was arrested yet again

Den: "Dammit we need to crack this thing wide open and give it some sunlight!!!!!!"

You almost had me convinced, but then I noticed that there were only six exclamation points.

JFWY

Shining example of a person with not being a criminal getting arrested but the 9/11 death squad goes free. This is truly BIZARRO NATION.

Democrats Vow Not To Give Up Hopelessness

WASHINGTON, DC In a press conference on the steps of the Capitol Monday, Congressional Democrats announced that, despite the scandals plaguing the Republican Party and widespread calls for change in Washington, their party will remain true to its hopeless direction.

"We are entirely capable of bungling this opportunity to regain control of the House and Senate and the trust of the American people," Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said to scattered applause. "It will take some doing, but we're in this for the long and pointless haul."

"We can lose this," Reid added. "All it takes is a little lack of backbone."

Despite plummeting poll numbers for the G.O.P nationwide and an upcoming election in which all House seats and 33 Senate seats are up for contention, Democrats pledged to maintain their party's sheepish resignation.

"In times like these, when the American public is palpably dismayed with the political status quo, it is crucial that Democrats remain unfocused and defer to the larger, smarter, and better-equipped Republican machine," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said. "If we play our cards right, we will be intimidated to the point of total paralysis."

Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT) cited the Bush Administration's bungled response to Hurricane Katrina as a model for Democrats.

"Grandmothers drowning in nursing homes, families losing everything, communities torn apart—°nd the ruling party just sat and watched," Lieberman said. "I'm here to promise that we Democrats will find a way to let you down just like that."

According to Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA), Democrats are not willing to sacrifice their core values—©ndecision, incoherence, and disorganization—¶or the sake of short-term electoral gain.

"Don't lose faithlessness, Democrats," Kennedy said. "The next election is ours to lose. To those who say we can't, I say: Remember Michael Dukakis. Remember Al Gore. Remember John Kerry."

Kennedy said that, even if the Democrats were to regain the upper hand in the midterm elections, they would still need to agree on a platform and chart a legislative agenda—°n obstacle he called "insurmountable."

"Universal health care, the war in Iraq, civil liberties, a living wage, gun control—∑e're not even close to a consensus within our own ranks," Kennedy said. "And even if we were, we wouldn't know how to implement that consensus."

"Some rising stars with leadership potential like [Sen. Barack] Obama (D-IL) and [New York State Attorney General Eliot] Spitzer have emerged, but don't worry: We've still got some infight left in us," Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said. "Over the last decade, we've found a reliably losing formula, and we're sticking with it."

Dean reminded Democratic candidates to "stay on our unclear message, maintain a defensive, reactive posture, and keep an elitist distance from voters."

Political consultant and Democratic operative James Carville said that, if properly disseminated, the message of hopelessness could be the Democrats' most effective in more than a decade.

"For the first time in a long time, we're really connecting with the American people, who are also feeling hopeless," Carville said. "If we can harness that and run on it in '06, I believe we can finish a strong second."

I'd guess part of my point is that I don't expect the Nation, or any of its staff, to breathe a word about CONSPIRACIES, or anything to do with them...

But, it is a fact that the steel support beams were carted off for recycling in a foreign land, without so much as a forensic examination as to why they broke into conveniently truck-sized segments.

Whoa there big guy!!! beams or the remainder thereof have also been shipped around the country to cities for memorials to those that died that day. There is still hope!

Bill Gallagher, Niagara Falls Reporter DETROIT -- The president of the United States is inept, a frightening reality for the American people and our neighbors around the world. It is chilling for someone with the responsibilities and powers of the president to lack the fitness, aptitude and sense to carry out the duties of that office. Bubble-Boy's bubble has burst. His failed policies and rampant incompetence now only enjoy unflinching support from the lockstep confines of GOP partisans, the Busheviks' corporate sponsors and their Amen chorus found on right-wing shout radio, the Fox News Channel and the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal. the rest is here, scroll down a bit. Click on Niagra Falls Reporter for the long version.

NEW POST!

The Iraq policy has been a nightmare and utterly a failure from before any US soldier set foot in Iraq.

When we told you what would happened you called us all kinds of names.