David Corn, please! GOP rogue's galley, or, if you must, GOP Dishonor List.

Since somewhere there must be one honorable Repulician?

Mr. Corn,

Your news on the jury in the Moussaoui is most disconcerting. I completely agree with your original assessment before the knowledge of the facts on the actual vote. But the lesson learned from this is indeed, one vote counts.

On the House-passed Pentagon budget bill: Jesus!

Moussaoui case, I meant.

Here's the skinny. George W. bush and dead-eye dick are going to be indicted. They're next. bush wasn't under oath, (except he was under his oath of office to uphold the Constitution), but he lied about Karl Rove's involvement in the outing of Valerie Plame. John Hannah and David Wurmser have given Fitzgerald information that indicates that georgie and dickie were involved in the Plame Affair up to their clavicles. Karl Rove will be indicted, too.

bush knows more about this deal than he has let on. Fitzgerald knows it. On Sept. 30, 2003 bush said, "I don't know of anybody in my administration who leaked classified information." He lied.

...and then I woke up and realized I was DREAMING!

Gee make ya wonder what the G-men would do with the GITMO POW's if they ever came to trial. The Mousie trial shows that evidence not hype sells a jury. If he (Mousie) had not made such a fuss he might not even faced life in prison.

I dislike having religion Jesus based or otherwise crammed in my face, not a problem for the repug zealots though. Being in the military means you are government property so you have no choices, you do what you are told, right or wrong.

Micki, I hate you. We're all waiting on pins and needles for Rove's indictment and just for a second, in that little girl excitment one gets, I thought you had an inside scoop.

Carol informs me that for the past few times my links are not working. That's because I lost the formula and was trying to do it from heart. She has come to my rescue once again. Here's the link on an important petition I tried to post yesterday.

Conress wants to let Internet providers block your access to information on the web

David,

That's why you couldn't link the article on antibacterial chemicals yesterday. I'll try to retrieve it again.

Brutus. "And Brutus is a honorable man." Was Brutus a Republican?

Alan, for someone who has said more then a few times that you don't want to debate this subject anymore,

Actually Sal, it's you that have said you "won't debate me on that subject" whenever I've posted something to prove your statement was incorrect. The last one was the "destroyed tapes of the flight controllers". It was one tape that they made amongst themselves a couple hours later. Remember? As for "one aspect" of the issue. I'd just point out that you can't say what you thought happened without an explanation of how it could be done. The NIST report is right there saying what happened. Scientists with no ulterior motive, just the science they've worked in all their career. You'll never convince anybody that they make shyt up to cover for bush. When you bring up your scientists, sometimes you guys haven't thought it through and found out more about him (ala an economist or a nuclear fusion guy) contradicting the scientists in the correct field. That 285-page .pdf by the way, was a point by point debunking of "Loose Change" by a one of those scientists. As for debating, it's all good. When one of your side makes a link, I like to counter it with one based on facts. I'll chill if you guys will tho.
I think you are right-on on many other topics. I luv'd that one last thread where you said "fk them, spy away!" or words to that effect.

Threat Seen From Antibacterial Soap Chemicals

LINK

I, for one, was very surprised at the verdict, in the first place. I'd have to read the court transcripts, but it seems that the only evidence against the schizophrenic little bastard was his own tall tales from his delusions of grandeur.

I was quite sure that the stalwart jury of god-fearin' Murkuns would hand the emasculated public the sacrificial lamb for vengence of getting kicked in nuts on 9/11.

I am hardly dissapointed, though. Now there's time, even though there seems little desire, to dig deeper into the questionable association of Moussaoui with those 19 magic boxcutters who miraculously foiled TSA, NORAD and the Pentagoons security systems as if they were all completely shut down that day.

-T

Oh my, Carey. The LATimes says "Sorry, that page is not available." Thanks for trying again.

Hajji, 'miraculously foiled': Maybe Allah was on their side that day. My reaction, however, is SNAFU. I have a hard time believing that the FBI, CIA, DoD, etc. are actually competent, do you?

Gerald --- I won't complain if you want to compare the current POTUS to parasites: fleas, mites, tick, bed-bugs, tapeworms, even athlete's foot. So how does 'flea brain' sound to you?

David, using Jesus in prayer in the military sounds like the ultimate irony to me. Do they think it makes their murderous ways acceptable?
DB #1, there is, his name is Ron Paul.
Alan, I have said I don't want to debate YOU! Just because I post a link or comment about 9/11 doesn't mean I am doing it with you in mind. As far as I can see you have yet to convincingly debunk anything I have said. Those tapes were destroyed against orders, they were made to help the people recall what happened, by the supervisor on duty, not for them to talk about their "feelings!" That sounds like a very logical thing to do, so that details from the moment can be preserved until such time as they are not needed anymore. Your last argument about a scientist used the anti-semite card, a particularly loathsome manuever, and DB sent me to a website called "McKinney Sucks." As I said, we will not solve anything this way, and I don't intend to try, so truce, OKAY?!
Hajji, they weren't shut down, just thwarted by fake simulations.

#11 Hajji

I was surprised by the verdict too. You'd have thought, with all of the prosecution's little harangues, complete with videos of 9/11 aftermath and testimonies of mourning family members, the jury would have been out for blood.

HERE'S A MOTHER'S DAY GIFT FROM THE HARRIS INTERACTIVE POLL OUT OF THE WALL STREET JOURNAL;

29% think Bush is doing an "excellent or pretty good" job, 71% think "only fair or poor" job.

LINK

#12 David B.

That's really strange, because I just went to that site. Perhaps you didn't do the free register signup that most newspapers require.

David: Zacarias Moussaoui needs your friend the Snowman to explain why he `lied' on the stand...n teh meantime....

Snow stumbles during first meeting with White House press

Friday, May 12, 2006; Posted: 4:20 p.m. EDT (20:20 GMT)

WASHINGTON (AP) -- "It obviously at this point is just a mess," new White House press secretary Tony Snow said good naturedly, summing up his rocky first question-and-answer session with reporters.

During 23 sometimes-chaotic minutes Friday with the White House press corps in his West Wing office, Snow offered a half-dozen apologies for a less-than-smooth debut, pleaded ignorance on seven questions and ruled out all talk of international or currency issues.

"I do not wish to set off global tempests," he said, "because I frankly just don't know enough on those."

One of his don't-know answers (on President Bush's signing plans for the tax bill) even turned out to be wrong when Snow later recited next week's schedule. The signing ceremony was on the calendar for Wednesday.

"I should have read my own paper,"

more....

4 snafus in one day, roughly two hours apart. Another first. Bad day for NORAD and our multi-billion dollar Airforce. Maybe they were all at a big party and were inconveniently hung over, that's why they couldn't tell the difference between real and simulated!

Free "Republicans for Voldemort" buttons at tramlaw.info

Another Mother's Day gift to all and this is just wonderful. It's brief and has a mentions David Corn.

From Barak Obama

Carey #15, when I went to that link it was not available to me either and I'm signed up with them.

Oh gee that went well with the typos.

David and Carol,

Then I don't know what gives. Maybe the LA Times doesn't allow links? No, because I've linked them before.

WWJD

Carey, a SNAFU at LATimes? All sorts of little things might be going wrong there? (Are you listening in, Saladin?)

Carey’s Link

Here you go!

Carey,

Had to take off a "/" at the end of your URL in your link. FYI

capt

Carey #19, click on your Barak link and see if it comes up.

Warmongers and Whoremongers Make Me Puke

Carol,

The last "/" is likely the problem?

capt

Bushitler is a liar

THANKS Capt.

Let's try this.

Judge Suspends (California) 2006 High School Exit Exam

This is a Constitutional issue.

Bring our troops home

How do I make a hyperlink?

A link is done with something called the Anchor tag.

The anchor tag looks like this:

 < A HREF = "pagename.html" > Link Here < /A >

Anything that appears between the begin and end anchor tags will take you to the specified destination when clicked.

Now let's try this:

I'm not testing you guys, I truly think it was the extra "/" that Capt so astutely pointed out. God you're good at this stuff Capt.

HERE'S THE MOTHER'S DAY GIFT I PROMISED:

From Barak Obama

Re #31: Carey, that one I read without any problems.

#35 Oh fantastic David.

Okay, now here's this one. I'm so silly, it must be that it's Mother's Day.

Wall Street Journal article on poll

Re #34, #36: Read them both, Carey. (But don't get carried away, it's not Mother's Day until Sunday, isn't it?)

And the last one:

Antibacterial Soap Chemicals

Now I have to go be a Mom.

Re #38: Carey, now I get a 500 error. Definitely seems to be a SNAFU at LATimes...

Tackle Jesus

In Bonhoeffer's book, "The Cost of Discipleship," he said that we should be with Jesus or near Jesus, like only an arm's length away. When we distance ourselves from God, the distance may be so far away that we are unable to be saved upon death. Bonhoeffer does not want the distance from God to be far away. He has also said that at birth we are all saints but as we grow older, we start to distance ourselves from God.

I say to you do not be with God or near God in your life! I want you to tackle Jesus. Yes, I did say that I want you to tackle Jesus.

In a football game, the tackler wraps his arms around the runner's knees and with his shoulder he forces the runner to fall. That is what we should do with Jesus. We should tackle Him around His knees and force Him to fall. Once He falls, never let Him rise from the ground. If Jesus tries to get up, you just let your shoulder rest on His thighs or mid-section with your arms still around His knees. You have the leverage and God will never be able to leave your grip on Him.

You should not just touch Jesus; you should tackle Him!

DB,

A 500 series error is server related.

I do not get that error from here. Try again in a few the server will come back up.

capt

The Spies Who Shag Us

The Times and USA Today have Missed the Bigger Story –†Again

I know your shocked -- SHOCKED! -- that George Bush is listening in on all your phone calls. Without a warrant. That's nothing. And it's not news.

This is: the snooping into your phone bill is just the snout of the pig of a strange, lucrative link-up between the Administration's Homeland Security spy network and private companies operating beyond the reach of the laws meant to protect us from our government. You can call it the privatization of the FBI -- though it is better described as the creation of a private KGB.

More HERE

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

From Greg Palast. A good piece.

capt

Reach Out and Tap Someone

Just five months after the New York Times revealed that the Bush administration was conducting a domestic wiretapping program without court approval, USA Today reported an equally explosive story yesterday stating that the administration's reach into the private lives of Americans is more expansive than previously believed. Not only has President Bush's National Security Agency (NSA) been eavesdropping on domestic telephone conversations and e-mail messages, but it has "also induced telephone companies to turn over the records of billions that's with a 'b' of domestic calls." The new revelations engendered immediate bipartisan criticism. House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) questioned "why it would be necessary to keep and have that kind of information." Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told the Fox News Channel: "The idea of collecting millions or thousands of phone numbers -- how does that fit into following the enemy?" More than 50 House Democrats signed a letter demanding an investigation by a special counsel. Bush's response was to politically demagogue the issue, claiming that the effort was part of an effort to track al Qaeda. "That turns out to be far from the whole truth. ...[The] surveillance program [is] of enormous magnitude, involving not just al-Qaeda suspects but also the presumptively private data of almost all Americans." Faced with legitimate concerns, Bush's response indicated he has a greater allegiance to Karl Rove's political playbook (which calls for politicizing the administration's domestic spying efforts) than to crafting and refining effective counterterrorism policies.

WHAT IS THE NEW PROGRAM?: USA Today reported yesterday, "The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth." The three telecommunications companies, who together provide local and wireless phone service to over 200 million Americans, are working under contract with the NSA, which launched the program in 2001 shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. One major telecommunications company, Qwest, declined to participate in the program indicating that it was deeply troubled both by the expansiveness of the request and by the NSA's assertion that a court order was not needed. Although the telcos reportedly are not directly handing over customers’†names and addresses, the phone number records provided to the NSA "can easily be cross-checked with other databases to obtain that information." Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) remarked, "We've got a new slogan for the AT&T and NSA: Reach out and tap someone."

More HERE

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

I think the reason Bush both admitted to wiretapping and said he will continue to do so is because when you can listen in on anybody in the opposition you can take unfair advantage.

These slugs were all up in Kerry's phone calls I bet money on it.

Billions of calls? BILLIONS?

capt

Capt #29, yes the last / was indeed the problem. The formula I sent to Carey didn't have the / on the end. Just so ya know I'm innocent.

Re #38: Finally I can read the (revised) article. I suppose LATimes took the page off-line while fixing the errors in the piece. That would explain the earlier 'not available'. The 500 error always claims to be 'server related', but in this case might be due, in part, to the posting of the revision. Anyway, one little snafu and another...

Re #43: Yes, capt, billions. As in thousands of millions. Looking for suspicious calling patterns indicative of 'terriorist activity'. Yup.

Rove Informs White House He Will Be Indicted
By Jason Leopold
t r u t h o u t | Report

Friday 12 May 2006

Within the last week, Karl Rove told President Bush and Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten, as well as a few other high level administration officials, that he will be indicted in the CIA leak case and will immediately resign his White House job when the special counsel publicly announces the charges against him, according to sources.

ROVE TO BE INDICTED ACCORDING TO TRUTHOUT

My wife asked me what they would get from our phone records. OUR PRIVACY if nothing else.

Rachel Maddow on Air America Radio proposed the theory that

1. Three weeks ago Rove leaves his post in the WH to work on politics. (same job, same desk, same ass in the chair)

2. Mikey Hayden gets nominated to the CIA post.

3. Justice stops investigating NSA spying. Too sweet since Gonzales came up with the idea. "Any fox in this henhouse? I don't see any. Nothing here folks, just me and the hens."

4. USA Today come out with the story on AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth playing us for patsies for the past five years, giving away our expectation of privacy.

5. Three hours later Bush responds. "9/11, gotta keep Amerika safe. Nobody else can do it like us."

6. Dems set-up to go against the "Terror Card" to question this.

Was this a Rove leak to make the Dems look weak and a polislam for the election in six months?

These bastards want it all, so stay away from any major city on the 4th of July. A terrorist attack then will guarantee a Republican sweep in November....Unless, America wakes up and realizes that they are the man behind the curtain.

Missed you guys, my season is getting started and I'll be scarcely around.

By the way, high crimes and misdemeanors requires impeachment, not just a suggestion that it be considered. And treason requires hanging.

I am against capital punishment, but in this case it is mandatory.

Carey #7 -- I was sharing my dream and my "inside" info, which isn't always spot on. But, sometimes...

Feingold The Forthright

Is this man too smart to be president? When Russ Feingold talks about how national security and foreign policy intersect, you think this man might just know what he's talking about. His ideas don't sound canned or full of buzz phrases, nor do they appeal to fear. Plus, they make sense.

Speaking Monday at the National Press Club, Feingold described his vision for national security. The senator from Wisconsin said he believes that "battling al-Qaida and associated networks" should be the nation's national security priority. Thinking about the war on terror in exclusively military terms is short-sighted and insufficient. Instead, Feingold argued, the U.S. should be focusing on safe havens of Islamist activity (like Indonesia), rescuing failed states and supporting human rights. Put another way, Feingold seemed to be saying, where we consort with repressive leaders and ignore the human rights of their citizens, we sow the seeds of anti-American hatred. Sure, it would've been nice if he'd noted how large America's fossil fuel-dependency looms as a factor in U.S. foreign policy decisions and how the lack of a real energy plan undermines our national security (hat tip, my former colleague Patrick Doherty and Michael Klare). That aside, it was refreshing to hear a Democrat talk about national security strategies that transcend defensive, reactive postures, and are informed by principle, not polling.

More HERE

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

A nice piece.

capt

#48

I am getting happy feet - dancing!

An indictment of Rove will not fix everything but it beats the crap out of no indictment!

Thanks

capt

DB 24, yes indeedy I am listening in! LA Times snafus, just like the ones with NORAD and the Airforce, a great comparison!
Carey 31, what ISN'T a constitutional issue these days?!

I saw the movie Chicken Little last night, very cute, but somehow reminded me of all these lame terrorist alerts. "Watch out, the big, bad freedom hating, osama possessed muslims are gonna gitcha!" Put down the Constitution and step away from the Bill of Rights, slowly, it's for your own good dontcha know?

If you think that wiretapping is bad, wait until our population swells to 600 million people in the next 15 years because we will have open borders for anyone who wants to enter. Plus, they will be granted immediate citizenship. The good times are not that far away for the Nazis to torture and murder American citizens for anything that they can dream up. That will be American democracy Nazi-style.

Re #53: The LATimes was a snafu. 2001 Sep 11 was a SNAFU! Even worse was the FBI over the previous summer, but I don't have any larger type, so I'll have to write S-N-A-F-U!!

Re #53: The LATimes was a snafu. 2001 Sep 11 was a SNAFU! Even worse was the FBI over the previous summer, but I don't have any larger type, so I'll have to write S-N-A-F-U!!

Nazi America

Here are the fourteen characteristics that are necessary for a Nazi nation. America currently possesses all fourteen characteristics.
1. Powerful and continuing expressions of nationalism
2. Disdain for the importance of human rights
3. Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause
4. The supremacy of the military/avid militarism
5. Rampant sexism
6. A controlled mass media
7. Obsession with national security
8. Religion and ruling elite tied together
9. Power of corporations protected
10. Power of labor suppressed or eliminated
11. Disdain and suppression of intellectuals and the arts
12. Obsession with crime and punishment
13. Rampant cronyism and corruption
14. Fraudulent elections

There should be no doubt in anyway in the people's minds that America is a fascist nation. Rapidly the self-implosion and destruction of America are starting to take hold. America is no longer America but she is now called Nazi America.

bush already has plans to try to change the subject for the news cycle on Monday -- he's gonna have a prime-time TV snakeoil show on immigration.

The message managers must be scared shitless that Fitz is gonna indict on Monday -- and they are scrambling to change the subject.

#48 micki, if rover is indicted, let us hope that Chainey comes next under investigation. After he is indicted, let us hope that the big turd, Bushitler, comes under investigation and he is indicted for being a lying scurvy rat.

But it was impossible to save the Great Republic. She was rotten to the heart. Lust of conquest had long ago done its work; trampling upon the helpless abroad had taught her, by a natural process, to endure with apathy the like at home; multitudes who had applauded the crushing of other people's liberties, lived to suffer for their mistake in their own persons. The government was irrevocably in the hands of the prodigiously rich and their hangers-on; the suffrage was become a mere machine, which they used as they chose. There was no principle but commercialism, no patriotism but of the pocket : Mark Twain

=
Today the tyrant rules not by club or fist, but disguised as a market researcher, he shepherds his flocks in the ways of utility and comfort: Marshall McLuhan - Source: The Mechanical Bride (1951)

===

Thanks ICH Newsletter!

Just sign and date the following Posner Waiver:

I, ___________________,

hereby waive any rights of privacy in my person, property, association, thought and/or expression that I have, had or claim to have under the federal and state constitutions, statutory law or regulation of the United States or any political subdivision thereof, decisional law, common law and/or any other source of authority, real or imagined, to the extent the waiver of such rights is, in the sole judgment of any military, law enforcement or national security employee of the United States, deemed necessary to prosecute the war on terror.

This waiver applies both retroactively and prospectively.

_____________________________
(Signed)

_____________________________
(Dated)

Dr. B -- "fouled up" may be more appropriate in certain situations, but SNAFU certainly does seem to fit those situations you referred to.

* SNAFU - Situation Normal: All Fucked Up.
* SUSFU - Situation Unchanged, Still Fucked Up.
* FUMTU - Fucked Up More Than Usual.
* FUBB - Fucked Up Beyond Belief.
* TARFU - Things Are Really Fucked Up.
* TOFU - Things Ordinary: Fucked Up.
* GFU - General Fuck Up.
* SAMFU - Self Adjusting Military Fuck Up.
* BOHICA - Bend over, here it comes again.
* TUIFU - The Ultimate In Fuck Ups.
* FUBAR - Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition/Repair/Reason/Redemption.
* FUGAZI - Fucked Up, Got Ambushed, Zipped In; Refers to out-of-control situation such as a chaotic jungle warfare combat environment
* JANFU - Joint Army/Navy Fuck-Up; apparently used by British troops in WWII.
* JAAFU - Joint Army-Air Force Fuck-Up; the use of JANFU combined with a radical increase in joint-forces operations since 1989, has led to the rare but increasing use of JAAFU.

#60 Gerald, I hope dead-eye dick is already under investigation.

Is there a prayer for that? Would it be okay if I just made one up?

Re #63: micki, I actually chuckled. Tell me about the scence inside the beltway this Mother's Day weekend. Is it TARFU or TUIFU or even FUBAR?

Re #66: Err, 'scene', not 'scence'. I think I should leave now before I really FU.

Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism

Across the United States, religious activists are organizing to establish an American theocracy. A frightening look inside the growing right-wing movement.

Editor's note: This is an excerpt from senior writer Michelle Goldberg's new book,

A teenage modern dance troupe dressed all in black took their places on the stage of the First Baptist Church of Pleasant Grove, a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama. Two dancers, donning black overcoats, crossed their arms menacingly. As a Christian pop ballad swelled on the speakers, a boy wearing judicial robes walked out. Holding a Ten Commandments tablet that seemed to be made of cardboard, he was playing former Alabama Supreme Court justice Roy Moore. The trench-coated thugs approached him, miming a violent rebuke and forcing him to the other end of the stage, sans Commandments.

There, a cluster of dancers impersonating liberal activists waved signs with slogans like "No Moore!" and "Keep God Out!! No God in Court." The boy Moore danced a harangue, first lurching toward his tormentors and then cringing back in outrage before breaking through their line to lunge for his monument. But the dancers in trench coats -- agents of atheism -- got hold of it first and took it away, leaving him abject on the floor. As the song's uplifting chorus played -- "After you've done all you can, you just stand" -- a dancer in a white robe, playing either an angel or God himself, came forward and helped the Moore character to his feet.

The performance ended to enthusiastic applause from a crowd that included many Alabama judges and politicians, as well as Roy Moore himself, a gaunt man with a courtly manner and the wrath of Leviticus in his eyes. Moore has become a hero to those determined to remake the United States into an explicitly Christian nation. That reconstructionist dream lies at the red-hot center of our current culture wars, investing the symbolic fight over the Ten Commandments -- a fight whose outcome seems irrelevant to most peoples' lives -- with an apocalyptic urgency.

More HERE

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

This is enough to send a chill right through me. These people are nuts!

" The believing mind is externally impervious to evidence. The most that can be accomplished with it is to induce it to substitute one delusion for another. It rejects all overt evidence as wicked." ~ Henry Louis Mencken (1880-1956) U. S. Editor and Critic.

capt

#49 geof01

Veeery interesting speculation on the Rove connection to all of this. I loved your comment on capital punishment--made me laugh hard.

#57 Saladin

This is true, what isn't Constitutional these days.

#31
Wow, how many rosaries were said to have that happen?

so many snafus, so little evidence. Maybe we should just get rid of NORAD and our military, they are obviously worthless. That just goes to show, having a drill the same day a real freedom hating terrorist is planning on hijacking 4 airplanes is a really bad idea.

well the bushco excuse for not releasing the fbi confiscated surveillance camera tapes that would reveal what actually hit the pentagon was that they would taint the mooseowie trial. so now that that convenient excuse has ended the fbi has still not seen fit to release them.

kick down pentagon! you have nothing to hide, right?

US TROOPS PREPARED TO ATTACK IRAN
William Thomas 11 May 2006 05:08 GMT

In April 2006, the US National Command Authority issued orders for more than 20,000 US soldiers to prepare to deploy to the Persian Gulf within 48 hours of receiving an execute order from either GW Bush or Donald Rumsfeld. Generals fear "Persian Gulf Incident" trigger.
US TROOPS PREPARED TO ATTACK IRAN

Bush Said To Be Seeking Persian Gulf Incident.

by William Thomas

In January 2006, a major military base located in the western United States received voice instructions from National Command Authority (NCA) to get their logistics train underway and train up their troops for desert warfare.

The current National Command Authority is comprised of a Commander-In-Chief who deserted his post during the Vietnam War, and a Secretary of Defense who, despite never having donned a uniform in defense of his country, did succeed in cashiering and countermanding enough combat-experienced generals to engineer the current debacle in Iraq.

Which desert? the commander wanted to know.

You don't need to know, he was told by the NCA.

With their mission unstated, infantry staff officers presumed that this redeployment of more than 10,000 combat-tested troops, as well as supporting armor, artillery and air reconnaissance would soon be heading back into Iraq, with enough force, as my source put it, to finally go in and do it right.

In preparation for this combat operation, all upcoming leaves between January and September 2006 were either cancelled or expedited. To insure that essential personnel would remain integrated throughout their units, military operational specialists nearing their end of duty commitments were either replaced or retained under stop loss provisions beyond the end of their contracts. Hot action would be coming soon, no later than September 2006.

As the troops began intensive training for desert combat during this 1st phase spin up to war, a complete inventory was taken of the bullets, beans and bodies required to initiate, sustain and complete a combat mission of unspecified duration in an as yet unspecified Theater of Operations, still assumed to be Iraq.

In February 2006, the 2nd phase of war preparations began as US personnel in Defense Data Management began tapping keypads and arranging rides for a still unspecified destination. Orders went out to various air, land and sealift commands to coordinate logistical support for an upcoming combat deployment to the most likely desert environment, the Persian Gulf.

All units involved had to prepare to deploy overseas on just 48-hours notice...
-----------
All we need now is just one more Pearl Harbor type incident, a SNAFU if you will, to get this ball rolling. And then DB and his cohorts can reassure us that it was simply the famous bushco bumbling that is to blame, allowing us to bomb the shit out of Iran, which, as we all know, is chock full of freedom hating terrorists! GOGOGOGOGOGO!!

#67
OMG. Those people need to get a life.

More

The JCS is headed by General Richard B. Myers, the man rewarded with command over all US forces after failing to launch routine (more-than-once-weekly) intercept scrambles, or re-route fighters already airborne within easy flying distance of Manhattan and Washington DC on the morning of September 11, 2001. [AFD The Politics of Mass Persuasion; Stand Down; Day Of Deception (June 2006) –†by William Thomas]

Then as now, answers were not immediately forthcoming.

By the end of February 2006, retired generals with careers no longer at risk began going more ballistic than ICBMs cooking off in their silos. According to sources inside the Pentagon and close to the JCS, their logic and comments went roughly like this:

You're not even telling your own troops where you're going to deploy them. How stupid is that? If they don't know the terrain, how can they arrange appropriate transport?

How can medical facilities know whether to prepare for wounds by bullets, chemicals, or nuclear flash burns? Besides, all necessary material for combat operations in Iraq is already in country.

Once again, the White House told the commanding officers involved in this unpublicized mobilization: shut up and do what you're told.

But staff officers are capable of reading newspapers, as well as orders. They started putting two and two together, my source reported, when headline news began reporting threats from National Command Authority to invade and/or nuke Iran over its legitimate intentions to build nuclear power plants for its rapidly growing and modernizing citizenry.

This action had to be taken, the American press parroted, in order to pre-empt the possibility that a country already titling toward the democratic wishes of its overwhelmingly young population might seek to counter repeatedly threatened US aggression, and Israel's 400-plus nuclear bomb arsenal with its own eventual bomb.

By April 2006 it was clear to combat veterans preparing once again for war that they would not be helping out their buddies in Iraq. When an additional division of 10,000 to 15,000 seasoned troops specializing in rugged terrain was also ordered to prepare for redeployment in the Persian Gulf Theater, enough red flags went up to stop the game.

Iraq is mostly flat.

Iran is mostly mountainous.

WE DON'T THINK SO
As Pulitzer-winning journalist Seymour Hersh has confirmed, the generals performed their sworn duty by rendering their professional opinion to the National Command Authority, to wit: You're out of your frickin minds! [Democracy Now! Apr 12/06; New Yorker Apr 17/06]

US commanders pointed out that their tanks were not going to be taking any scenic drives through Persian peaks exceeding 7,000 feet, and occasionally topping out over 10,000. The missing oxygen required to sustain life would also not be enough to sustain heavy-lift helos attempting to chopper in all those bullets and beans well above their rated service ceilings.

Bad idea, they said. The Soviet Red Army had conclusively and catastrophically demonstrated what happens when troops attempting to assault unfamiliar mountain defiles without armor and adequate air support confront homeland defenders armed with anti-air and anti-vehicle rockets fighting from good cover. Especially when said shooters are not afraid to die...
-------------
A veritable bottonless PIT of SNAFUS! Shut up and do what you're told grunt!

And in conclusion

With the Strait of Hormuz, and most of the world's oil supplies temporarily shut down, and the US fleet in the Persian Gulf presumably sinking fast under swarms of 2,000 mph Iranian “ìunburn anti-ship missiles and 200 mph torpedoes, naval logistics and air support would have to be provided from the Caspian Sea.

Don't the Russians own that? the generals asked the NCA.

The White House had already offered to cut Putin in on the spoils, if the Russian president would facilitate US attacks on an allied country where he'd been forced to transplant Russia's considerable oil and industrial investments in advance of Bush's aggression on Iraq.

The NCA neglected to mention that their own Nuclear Emergency Search Team assessment had warned that if nukes were used, or a single nuclear power plant bombed, the entire region would be uninhabitable for at least a decade. Once made radioactive, NEST added, the world's third biggest oil fields would be permanently unusable. [ http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/doctrine/doe/o5530_2.htm]

Bush and Rumsfeld ignored NEST. Putin gave Bush the diplomatic finger.

It was Putin's pugnacious Nyet to Washington that provoked dead eye Dick Cheney to unlimber his trusty rhetorical blunderbuss and start blasting Russia's lack of democracy.
-------------
Guess we'll have to bomb Russia too, the uncooperative traitors!

More fun with the bush clan
From Buzz.Yahoo.com

the buzz log What the world is searching for...
Skullduggery
Fri, May 12, 2006, 10:58 am PDT

Geronimo Skull and Bones, the oldest and most notorious of Yale University's secret societies, stole the skull of the great Apache warrior Geronimo and hid it inside its clubhouse, or so the rumor went. But it was just that, rumor, until Monday, when Yale Alumni Magazine's web site published excerpts of a 1918 letter that presents the tale as truth.

Is it really true? Who knows? It's an old letter from one Bonesman to another. And the secrets buzz around this club like flies at a pigsty. We've also heard that Bonesmen smooch skulls, mud wrestle, and converse with the devil. Well, that last part was a lie, but we did read the kissing stuff, and, frankly, that's weird.

Regardless, the spooky allure of Skull and Bones thrills the Buzz every time. Searches on "skull and bones society" vaulted into our top 10 movers, while "geronimo" leapt 307%. "Skull pictures," "skulls," and "yale university" also rose.

Here's where the story gets even juicier. You know President Bush was a Bonesman. So was his father, his granddaddy Prescott Bush, and his 2004 presidential challenger John Kerry. Don't tell Karl Rove, but grandfather Bush is believed to be among the group of pillagers who stole away with Geronimo's cranium. Just when things are getting tough at work for the commander-in-chief, his relative is outed as a grave robber. Now that hurts.
----------
Maybe kerry will shed some light on this scandalous matter!

letter from roger silverstein (larry's son) re: wtc.

excerpt: For your information, the correct story is that 7 WTC came down as a result of a massive fire that was ignited from fuel tanks located within the Building's base floors, in turn causing the steel to melt and buckle upon a number of hours of burning. Following the collapse of the Towers, 7 WTC became fully ablaze shortly thereafter.

oh, i see! it's all so clear now! it really is a shame that none of this massive fuel fire burning for a number of hours was caught on film by the cameras that were trained on it all day, though. oh well, we must content ourselves with photos of a spanish high rise and a venezuelan high rise fires that actually were on fire for a good number of hours and still remained standing. oh that's right, they weren't built on a scaffold. LOL my bad!

(just between us, i believe that wtc7 was simply overcome with grief at the loss of it's 2 companions.)

Majority of Israelis Want Govt to Encourage Arabs to Leave
17:52 May 09, '06 / 11 Iyar 5766
by Ezra HaLevi

Almost two-thirds of Israelis want the government to encourage Arabs to leave the country, according to a study by the Israel Democracy Institute.

According to the preliminary summary of the 2006 Democracy Index, 62% of Israelis would like to see the government actively encourage Arabs to leave Israel. Last year, only 50% supported such a policy. During the Netanyahu administration of 1996-99, when terror casualties dropped drastically, the lowest percentage of Israelis supporting Arab population transfer was recorded: 48%. At the outbreak of the Arab Intifada in December 1987, support for population transfer of Arabs was at its height: 69%.

The full report by the left-leaning Israel Democracy Institute will be released Wednesday.

National Union Chairman MK Rabbi Benny Elon, whose Moledet Party advocates offering incentives for Arabs to emigrate, said the results were not surprising. "It is illustrative of a desire on both the right and the left - and sometimes more of the left than the right," he told Arutz-7's Hebrew radio. "The Disengagement was even based on this desire to separate from the Arabs."

"What is more," added Elon, "offering the Arabs assistance in leaving willingly is much more humanitarian than the incessant killing of the Arabs of the Land of Israel."
---------
Left leaning eh? We're not anti-semite or anything, but here's the deal, ya'll leave and we'll stop slaughtering you!
Think of it as the Arab "Trail Of Tears." We like it here and are planning on staying, so you guys can just move on, after all, God gave US this particular piece of desert so you really have no business here anyway. And as the Europeans of old proved, might makes right. So, GET THE FUCK OUT!

Now wait James, I thought it was all those electrical explosions that FEMA and the NIST never talked about, that made that building turn to dust? I guess they forgot to install the circuit breakers. I'm SO confused!

SCO: RUSSIA'S NEW NATO

On April 18 the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation announced that India, Pakistan, Iran and Mongolia would be accepted as full members. The SCO, said to be interested only in promoting mutual security and economic well being, is, nevertheless, the political horse pulling the cart of military cooperation between China and Russia. With full membership being accorded to the above countries, Russia will have completed something that the czars and Leonid Brezhnev only dreamt of, the creation of an unbroken link from the Arctic in the north to the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean in the south. An Iranian spokesman spoke of creating an Iranian-Russian gas and oil arc.
-----------
More reasons to be thankful to bushco, aligning the entire world against us.

If you want to see something REALY gross watch this. Over the top.

Puny Little Traitors

I knew it. I just knew it. This administration literally does not undertand what boundaries are. Thank goodness we have a congress that stops them...not.

NSA Whistleblower To Expose More Unlawful Activity: 'People...Are Going To Be Shocked'

CongressDaily reports that former NSA staffer Russell Tice will testify to the Senate Armed Services Committee next week that not only do employees at the agency believe the activities they are being asked to perform are unlawful, but that what has been disclosed so far is only the tip of the iceberg. Tice will tell Congress that former NSA head Gen. Michael Hayden, Bush's nominee to be the next CIA director, oversaw more illegal activity that has yet to be disclosed:

A former intelligence officer for the National Security Agency said Thursday he plans to tell Senate staffers next week that unlawful activity occurred at the agency under the supervision of Gen. Michael Hayden beyond what has been publicly reported, while hinting that it might have involved the illegal use of space-based satellites and systems to spy on U.S. citizens...

[Tice] said he plans to tell the committee staffers the NSA conducted illegal and unconstitutional surveillance of U.S. citizens while he was there with the knowledge of Hayden. ..." think the people I talk to next week are going to be shocked when I tell them what I have to tell them. It's pretty hard to believe," Tice said. "I hope that they'll clean up the abuses and have some oversight into these programs, which doesn't exist right now..."

Dr. B -- May I call you doctor? ;-)

Regarding the situation inside the Beltway: I would suggest that it is all of those -- TARFU, TUIFU, FUBAR, but it is also BOHICA because the situation affects all of us, hundreds and even thousands of miles from the Beltway

Perhaps, Gerald should edit his essay on "Little Difference" that he posted the other day. He could incorporate BOHICA in his thesis.

#81 Jeanne -- that is incredible, even for Fox! But, I guess that's where we are with SRT, , aka Faux News.

Ventriloquist Act

--------------------
Napping again.

oh sal you shouldn't be confused! my theory that wtc7 was simply overcome with grief at the loss of it's 2 companions is simply more logical than suspecting that despite ny's no doubt very stringent building codes they would build a giant building on a sub-par foundation of scaffolding and that after silverstein suggested that they
"made the decision to pull it and then we pulled it and then we watched it fall" they would then build a bigger building on that same scaffolding foundation in record time. but my "simply overcome with grief theory" (more logical by far) will never see the light of day until one Prof. Steven E. Jones (traitor to freedom!) is publicly called to account for his foolish prattle!

Jeanne, do you remember when that guy died on the Dick Cavett show or whatever it was? Is Dead-Eye DEAD???

It's like those horrible golf jokes, hit the ball and drag dick; hit the ball and drag dick.

Oops...referring to jeanne @ 85. Take a look!

James, that just meant that they decided to pull "it" meaning firefighters that were SO overwhelmed with those out of control fires that "it", I mean, they, that is, them, well obviously it is they, had to be pulled! Really, what would you do? Leave "it" in there to collapse with the building? What kind of barbarian ARE YOU???!!!

The Finale of my posted article above

Remember the Maine? Remember the Maddox? US military leaders now fear that a copycat Cuban or Tonkin Gulf incident will be either faked or provoked sometime soon in the ship-clogged Persian Gulf.

Once an Iranian attack on a US-flagged tanker or warship is announced, US commanders could be ordered to counter-attack with all available force, including nuclear weapons. Even if they suspected a ruse, no serving soldier can fail to protect his or her comrades. Any grunt or general who refused such a go command would risk immediate courts-martial, and charges of treason in a time of war.

Once again, the real treason would have come from a White House under siege from Congress, its own generals and an awakening populace, and increasingly desperate to fast-track the apocalypse God has personally commanded them to sponsor. As Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice recently reassured the homeless and hungry in Louisiana, The Lord Jesus Christ is going to come on time.[www.reopen911.org]

After Armageddon.

It will be another Gulf of Tonkin, my source reported. They want it. They'll have it. Even if they have to make it.

Unless Congress and the American public back their courageous generals, and stop religious fundamentalists who may or may not command more weaponry than all other nations combined.

Troops keyed up for combat cannot be held on 48-hour alert indefinitely. And with the Iran bourse set to begin trading oil in euros next week, ending the dollar's dominance in that universal commodity, denial is no longer an option.
-------------
My stand all along. Stand up people, don't wait for the traitorous reps to do the right thing, it is going to be a lot more work than a black box vote. The question again arises, prophecy, or man made fulfillment? Goodnight, and God help us.

Those tapes were destroyed against orders, they were made to help the people recall what happened, by the supervisor on duty, not for them to talk about their "feelings!"

Nope, it was just the opposite. It was your posted link for gawd's sake! I read it and corrected your 'interpretation', and now I'm correcting it again. The 'guys' got together and made that tape a couple hours later while discussing it amongst themselves (feelings/thoughts) and the supervisor took and destroyed it. Something about 'not official tapes' and all that, I suppose. The supervisor didn't have them make it. , just the opposite. They were ordered to keep the official tapes of the communications with the plane and they did. I heard a little of it myself.

But yeah, by all means a truce.

Your last argument about a scientist used the anti-semite card, a particularly loathsome manuever,

Wait wait, say wha?? Don't drag me into all that. Some people on here accuse you of being that way and that is just absurd and I know better. It's absurd if someone accuses me of it too. The only thing I said about your scientists is, that the last two cited weren't in the proper field. An economist and a nuclear fusion guy... how do you bring anti-semite into that?!!

"it" meaning "a fast one" of course!
---------
Remember the Maine? Remember the Maddox? US military leaders now fear that a copycat Cuban or Tonkin Gulf incident will be either faked or provoked sometime soon in the ship-clogged Persian Gulf.

Once an Iranian attack on a US-flagged tanker or warship is announced, US commanders could be ordered to counter-attack with all available force, including nuclear weapons.

i wont be surprised if a scenario such as that plays out. nor will i be surprised when the sheople herd including certain investigative journalists once again knowingly fall directly in the bend over line. "damned iranians! look what THEY did because they hate our freedumbs! payback time! GRRR! the whole world knows that THEY'RE evil!"

Light's Most Exotic Trick Yet: So Fast it Goes ... Backwards?

In the past few years, scientists have found ways to make light go both faster and slower than its usual speed limit, but now researchers at the University of Rochester have published a paper today in Science on how they've gone one step further: pushing light into reverse. As if to defy common sense, the backward-moving pulse of light travels faster than light. Confused? You're not alone.

15. What does "prior knowledge" mean when high ranking government officials were warned not to fly domestic flights on or before 9-11?
a. They were simply being cautious
b. They knew terrorists could strike anywhere, anytime
c. Some government officials just needed to be reminded, since they couldn't remember the exact hijacking timeline.
d. Prior knowledge indicates nothing
e. Prior knowledge, like Put Options, indicates government conspiracy

16. Was the Kean Commission Report truthful and honest?
a. Yes, 110% honest
b. Mostly yes.
c. Yes, except for most minor and major details
d. No--Total Lies wrapped around statistics and footnotes
e. Yes, As truthful and honest as the Warren Report

TEST YOUR TERROR IQ
i scored only 149 - jha

oh, i see! it's all so clear now! it really is a shame that none of this massive fuel fire burning for a number of hours was caught on film by the cameras that were trained on it all day

Now James, you've misinterpreted your own post too! Look again at this part...
a massive fire that was ignited from fuel tanks located within the Building's base floors,

Notice where it says "the base floors"? Were the cameras you mentioned in the basement underground? Their main diesel tank was underground, and once again, WTC 7 was very much built on a moment frame across the top of some of the Con-Ed power station.
You gotta do better'n that my man.

I guess they forgot to install the circuit breakers.

heehee @ circuit breakers... like at your house, huh? The building's own transformers were most likely 4160 volts, so what'dya guess the big azz transformers supplying them in Con-Ed were?? Hey Joe, go flip that breaker, man.
That's cute.

#82 Dammit man, I wish some of the agents in the 9/11 conspiracy would leak. The ones that know about illegal spying feel bad, but the one's that killed Americans are zipped up tight.
That's a shame, ya know?

"made the decision to pull it and then we pulled it and then we watched it fall"

Yeah, they watched it fall hours later.

yeah, Jones. I knew of him, but couldn't remember if it was him or Griffin that was in the right field. What I know of Jones is... none of his colleagues agree with him, not one.
His own dept doesn't. No other scientist in that field, at any organization... but not even his own department!.
I dunno, but on the other blog they said he thinks Jesus was reborn again in America.
hahaha

fools engaged in a battle of wits
everyone else feels that both fools are twits
a real investigation and then we would see
until then i admit that one fool is me

the proof is in the pudding if it ever gets mixed
problem is all the ingredients were fixed
proof's in the pudding if it ever gets made
one plane is shadowed while it's not in the shade

- ha. out.

Ezekiel 25:17.
"The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness. For he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you."

I like your Christ. I don't like your Christians, your Christians are nothing like your Christ.

...Ghandi

ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER DRURY: I'm Assistant
Commissioner James Drury. I'm present in Chief of the Department Daniel Nigroís office on
October 24, 2001. It is 3:54 p.m.

(a few snips from the interview)

At some point after our arrival and after we
had moved to the west side of West Street, I heard a loud roar of a jet, looked up and saw the second plane impact the south tower. At that point it was clear to me it was a terrorist attack.
----
We stepped over small airplane aviation parts, on Vesey, continued west, continued looking at the building. I looked up at the south tower and could see that it was more heavily damaged than we could tell from our west vantage point. That the second plane had - although it hit from the south, it also did a great deal of damage to the north part of the building.
----
The most important operational decision to be made that afternoon was the collapse had damaged 7 World Trade Center, which is about a 50 story building, at Vesey between West Broadway and Washington Street. It had very heavy fire on many floors and I ordered the evacuation of an area sufficient around to protect our members,so we had to give up some rescue operations that were going on at the time and back the people away far enough so that if 7 World Trade did collapse, we wouldnít lose any more people.
---
We continued to operate on what we could from
that distance and approximately an hour and a half after that order was given., at 5:30 in the afternoon, World Trade Center collapsed
completely I continued to operate at the scene until...

Hurrah! I haff waited years and years for this, comrades! At long last, I hear interfering accursed imperialist moose and squirrel are goink to prison--what's that? Ees not moose and squirrel? Ees some nobody named Moussaoui? AWWW, %&^*$#@$%$%! and *%^&$#@$#@@^ and even }{+)*&%$@#%$!&*^!!!!!

Chief Cruthers

"Early on, there was concern that 7 World Trade Center might have been both impacted by the collapsing tower and had several fires in it and there was a concern that it might collapse. So we instructed that a collapse area -- (Q. A collapse zone?) -- Yeah -- be set up and maintained so that when the expected collapse of 7 happened, we wouldn't have people working in it. There was considerable discussion with Con Ed regarding the substation in that building and the feeders and the oil coolants and so on. And their concern was of the type of fire we might have when it collapsed." - Chief Cruthers

Someone must have watched Pulp Fiction on Showtime last evening....

Captain Chris Boyle

We were told to go to Greenwich and Vesey and see what’s going on. So we go there and on the north and east side of 7 it didn’t look like there was any damage at all, but then you looked on the south side of 7 there had to be a hole 20 stories tall in the building, with fire on several floors. Debris was falling down on the building and it didn’t look good.
---
So we gathered up rollups and most of us had masks at that time. We headed toward 7. And just around we were about a hundred yards away and Butch Brandies came running up. He said forget it, nobody’s going into 7, there’s creaking, there are noises coming out of there, so we just stopped. And probably about 10 minutes after that, Visconti, he was on West Street, and I guess he had another report of further damage either in some basements and things like that, so Visconti said nobody goes into 7, so that was the final thing and that was abandoned.

KARL ROVE is next: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/051206Y.shtml

IF YOU CAPITALIZE WHILE USING "BOLD" IT WOULD BE EVEN LOUDER!

Condoleezza Rice at Boston College? I quit

An open letter to William P. Leahy, SJ, president of Boston College.

DEAR Father Leahy,

I am writing to resign my post as an adjunct professor of English at Boston College.

I am doing so -- after five years at BC, and with tremendous regret -- as a direct result of your decision to invite Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to be the commencement speaker at this year's graduation.

Many members of the faculty and student body already have voiced their objection to the invitation, arguing that Rice's actions as secretary of state are inconsistent with the broader humanistic values of the university and the Catholic and Jesuit traditions from which those values derive.

But I am not writing this letter simply because of an objection to the war against Iraq. My concern is more fundamental. Simply put, Rice is a liar.

She has lied to the American people knowingly, repeatedly, often extravagantly over the past five years, in an effort to justify a pathologically misguided foreign policy.

The public record of her deceits is extensive. During the ramp-up to the Iraq war, she made 29 false or misleading public statements concerning Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and links to Al Qaeda, according to a congressional investigation by the House Committee on Government Reform.

To cite one example:

More HERE

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

Thank goodness for people that still have principles.

capt

Telcos Could Be Liable For Tens of Billions of Dollars For Illegally Turning Over Phone Records

This morning, USA Today reported that three telecommunications companies AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth provided "phone call records of tens of millions of Americans" to the National Security Agency. Such conduct appears to be illegal and could make the telco firms liable for tens of billions of dollars. Here's why:

1. It violates the Stored Communications Act. The Stored Communications Act, Section 2703(c), provides exactly five exceptions that would permit a phone company to disclose to the government the list of calls to or from a subscriber: (i) a warrant; (ii) a court order; (iii) the customer's consent; (iv) for telemarketing enforcement; or (v) by "administrative subpoena." The first four clearly don't apply. As for administrative subpoenas, where a government agency asks for records without court approval, there is a simple answer the NSA has no administrative subpoena authority, and it is the NSA that reportedly got the phone records.

2. The penalty for violating the Stored Communications Act is $1000 per individual violation. Section 2707 of the Stored Communications Act gives a private right of action to any telephone customer "aggrieved by any violation." If the phone company acted with a "knowing or intentional state of mind," then the customer wins actual harm, attorney's fees, and "in no case shall a person entitled to recover receive less than the sum of $1,000."

(The phone companies might say they didn't "know" they were violating the law. But USA Today reports that Qwest's lawyers knew about the legal risks, which are bright and clear in the statute book.)

3. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act doesn’¥ get the telcos off the hook. According to USA Today, the NSA did not go to the FISA court to get a court order. And Qwest is quoted as saying that the Attorney General would not certify that the request was lawful under FISA. So FISA provides no defense for the phone companies, either.

In other words, for every 1 million Americans whose records were turned over to NSA, the telcos could be liable for $1 billion in penalties, plus attorneys fees. You do the math.

Peter Swire and Judd Legum

UPDATE: Many of you had questions about this legal analysis. Peter provides the answers here. We'll continue to address your questions as this story develops.

UPDATE II: Orrin Kerr agrees with our analysis in the New York Times:

Coming Soon...

Legislation to shield Telcos from "frivolous" lawsuits brought about by "cusotmers" who's expectation of privacy has been usurped?

Not a doubt in my mind.

-T

at least $1,000 per person whose records they disclosed without a court order.
___________________
Orin Kerr, a former federal prosecutor and assistant professor at George Washington University, said his reading of the relevant statutes put the phone companies at risk for at least $1,000 per person whose records they disclosed without a court order.

"This is not a happy day for the general counsels" of the phone companies, he said. "If you have a class action involving 10 million Americans, that's 10 million times $1,000 —†that's 10 billion."
__________________

Shredders workin' overtime this weekend!

Who's to blame? Why the people who are TALKIN' bout it, of course! Puny Traitors!

-T

RE: Connedya-lies-t'ya at BC.

Bravo, indeed, for this guy standing up for his principles. Boston College, however, will be a difficult place to keep the protesters out of camera's view. I'd also expect not a few of the students to "creatively" show distain at her filthy presence.

-T

David...so important to remind us that "one vote can count", although it is hard to believe these days.
It is so critical to respect other belief systems, at all times, but especially now. Instead of taking this opportunity to show respect for other religious beliefs and not force Christianity down peoples throats....what do the Republicans do...force it.

#4 Micki...Keep dreaming..DREAMS DO COME TRUE. One of my favorite songs when I was a kid was when Jiminiy Cricket would sing

When you wish upon a star
Makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires
Will come to you
If your heart is in your dream
No request is too extreme
When you wish upon a star
As dreamers do
Fate is kind
She brings to those to love
The sweet fulfillment of
Their secret longing
Like a bolt out of the blue
Fate steps in and sees you through
When you wish upon a star
Your dreams come true

Iraqi Army Units Square Off
__________________
Eight Iraqis died in violence Friday, including a soldier and a civilian killed in an armed confrontation between two Iraqi army units.

The clash near Duluiyah, about 45 miles north of Baghdad, raised questions about the U.S.-trained force's ability to maintain control at a time when sectarian and ethnic tensions are running high. The Americans hope the Iraqi army can take over security in most of the country by the end of the year.
______________

WHAT civil war?

The Blog of Doom
9/11 Opinion Lands Teacher in Hot Water.
Fri, 12 May 2006 10:26:04

A substitute teacher by the name of Tom Mustric was put on administrative leave for voicing his opinion about 9/11.

He was talking to another teacher in the lunchroom and said that he believes that there may have been U.S. Government involvement.

Apparently, the other teacher told this to the Principal of the school he was subbing at, and he was put on leave, pending a hearing on Monday, (May 15th, 2006), which may see him fired. (He is already on a blacklist of sorts, where other schools in his district are advised not to call on him for work.)

This news item was reported on the NBC affiliate in Columbus, Ohio, WCMH, and broadcast on the 11 o’£lock news, Wednesday, May 10th. The story has not been posted on the station website, so I called the reporter, David Wayne, to confirm details.

My phone call to Columbus Public Schools resulted in a dead-end. I was told that this information is not shared with the public.
-------------
By golly, if he won't shut up, we'll SHUT him up!

...and it isn't like he was teaching his beliefs to the class...this was a freekin' LUNCH ROOM DISCUSSION AMONG COLLEGUES!!!

They'll throw it out, but the damage has been done.

Now off to a birfday party for Allie Beaster Boo...who's only TWO!

-T

Hajji, things are going exactly as planned. On The Daily show I saw, I think he was a Marine, who wrote a book about Iraq, he thought it would end up being divided into 3 different mini-states, which has been the plan all along. I can't help but wonder, where are they going to get the troops to go after Iran?

Cleveland Women Put In
Gulag And Held For Psych Eval
For Trying To Put Up
Anti-Bush Poster
By Greg Szymanski
5-13-6

A Cleveland woman, manhandled by police and charged with two felonies for trying to display anti-Bush posters, was jailed in a Cuyahoga County psych unit last week in what her attorney called a "highly unusual and outrageous" decision.

Carol Fisher, 53, was ordered by state court Judge Timothy McGinty to undergo a psychological examination as a part of her pre-sentencing investigation in the anti-Bush poster incident.

From the onset of the case, Judge McGinty openly claimed Fisher suffered from "mental problems" for resisting a brutal encounter on Jan. 28 when Cleveland Heights police manhandled and arrested her even after complying with orders to not display the anti-Bush posters on a downtown Cleveland Heights street.

And during a last minute May 9 hearing, Judge McGinty said Fischer's opposition to the Bush administration makes her "delusional."

In response, Terry Gilbert, one of Fisher's attorney, said in more than 30 years of practicing law, he has never seen "anything remotely like this," adding legal challenges are ongoing, including a writ of habeas corpus.

"This is gulag stuff," said Gilbert. "Is this the kind of country you want to live in when dissidents are determined to be crazy?"

In a phone call after being put in the psych ward, Fisher said her eyeglasses were taken, she was put on suicide watch and if she doesn't comply with the psych examination, she will be sent to the North Coast Mental Institute for a 20 day evaluation.
-------------
UH, Delusional?

The WAR On US Is Here

The US is facing a cloak and dagger attack on all fronts by major corporations that have held their hidden agendas for over a hundred years. Corporate interests have been at stake in every war we've had since the First World War and the Corporatocracy has been funding both sides of all the major conflicts since about 1914. With this latest revelation it is clear that the USA was the original target all along. This is a war without principles or human values. It's being waged to establish unilateral control over everyone and everything and that needs to change!

This new revelation of massive spying on everyone in the country just confirms the truth beneath the lies, read the financial particulars in the Patriot Acts, as they pertain to what government can do with your bank accounts. If they find "anything suspicious" in your life -- they can seize your bank accounts -- and there is nothing you can do about it, because of National Security. This is why they want to tap the phones of every American, so the government can build a profile and then arrange for that to match whatever they want to charge you with. The Corporatocracy has long-since become a law unto itself. Now they've added their own private armies, inside the war zones; without military or civilian oversight of their mercenary activities.
------------
Carey, I thought of your comment about identity theft when I read this article. This sheds a whole new light on the reasons behind the wiretaps. They won't need to steal our identities, but the end result will be the same. This article is important.

Damn, it takes a long time for Bush to read his mail!!!

============================================
My Dad Has A Gun!!! November 8th 2005

President Bush, my beloved president, my hero.

I look back these days, at 50 years of age, and think that I did have a happy childhood. I remember so well playing with building blocks and toy soldiers with Billy and Bobby across the street, and I played slot-cars at my home, while the TV aired the Beatles on the Ed Sulivan Show, with pooky, our dog, running about barking. It was a good time for me, warm and secure. But one day, my dad came home with a weapon, a long big shinny rifle, with boxes of ammo. I recall how he would point it out the window, in mock shooting of anyone coming uninvited. Then at night, the TV showed burning buildings, the city of Watts had exploded in flames, in race riots, and the riots were spreading across the nation. I distinctly recall viewing three national guardsmen on TV, in blood-spattered battle fatigues on the streets of Watts, pointing rifles in the air, standing next to a large sign, reading, "turn left or get shot". I ran across the street the next day, and exclaimed to Billy and Bobby, "MY DAD HAS A GUN!!!". My happy little home was now Fortress 238th Street, in Torrance California.

My grandparents and parents came to California in the 1950s, from on the demilitarized zone in Cleveland Ohio, separating the white and black communities. My grandpa would not watch NBA basketball because it had too many blacks playing. My parents did watch the NBA, but were not much better. I recall one time, while at a newspaper boys' rally, where I called a white boy the N-word, and a black boy looked at me in surprise. I immediately apologized, but in thinking about, I became ashamed of myself. I grew to hate my grandparent's bigotry, for contaminating my childhood parlance. My parents, now much guarded in their speech, still retain to this day residual bias, but at least conduct themselves civilly these days. I will certainly teach my children to judge people by the content of character and not the color of skin. It takes generations of social unrest, violence, and divisiveness to over come deep seated prejudices resulting from a mass immigration of peoples who are not readily assimilate into American culture.

The last slave ship, the Nightingale, destined for the slave market in the USA, was captured by Yankee cruisers off the west coast of Africa in 1861, yet it really took hundreds of blockading gunboats plying off the southern ports to finally shut down the slave trade. In 1863, when New York threaten to secede from the union, the large Irish population, from the migration from the Ireland potato famine, went on a draft riot, mostly sparked by fears of dying for freed blacks that would take their jobs, as poor blacks were then publicly lynched in the streets of New York. Our heroes from the battle of Gettysburg were called into New York to baby-sit the Irish as the blacks coward in fear for their lives.

North America effectively imported slaves until there were millions of blacks vastly outnumbering their white southern task masters. As a result, it has taken a civil war, and race riots, and 150 years hence of social unrest to substantially rid our society of that problem of importing, in mass, a race of peoples who were not immediately assimilated into the American culture. That mass importation of slaves directly lead to a devastating civil war and almost a divided nation. We can only absorb so many immigrants within a given span of time, without devastating consequences. We have been there and done that. And now, there are growing race tensions between blacks and Hispanics in Los Angeles when eyeing limited employment opportunities. The minute men on the southern border are getting close to armed vigilantism, and John Brown's treason of 1859. Have we not learned anything? Are we blind?

These days, we have a porous southern border where millions of uneducated, unskilled, illegal immigrates are invading the US homeland, with no end in sight. While the compassion for the low income people is admirable, the present expansion of the welfare state, creating huge deficits, is merely laying out more bait for continued illegal immigration. The US constitution, that directly authorizes a standing army to prevent invasion, is being ignored, in contradiction of sworn oaths by law makers to uphold the constitution, another national disgrace, tantamount to treason.

I was channel flipping TV the other day and came across channel 7, KABC in Los Angeles, and heard a commercial in Spanish, first one I have ever heard on mainstream network prime time broadcast. I cannot channel flip the AM radio at all any more, as at least 50% of the stations are Latino, so the Latinos have effectively captured one entire media outlet in the Los Angeles market, that I do not visit any longer. Maybe KABC, a major network is going Mexican as well. I can just see the KABC nightly news anchors all wearing sombreros, backed-up by the TJ brass. I hope Mr. Bill OReilly does not speak Spanish, I would not want to turn him off as well, though I bet he would look good in a sombrero. I can not eat the cafeteria work food any longer, as all of it is now saturated with salsa, despite recurring objections, and so I have to bring my sandwiches and fruit to work each day. The cashier does speak English very well, and communicating over charge errors creates complications, so in stead, I have to use my broken Spanish to make up for the lack of communication. In my liberal state, California is now publishing, under state imposed directives, multilingual literature, to the deprivations of poor Americans needing assistance or tax relief. We should spend our US tax dollars to only support Americans furthering American culture, while encouraging the display of various other ethics cultures only within moderation, to have a wide diverse mix furthering tolerance.

Yet, in spite of it all, I don't have a prejudicial bone in my body, but you know, every time I see a head scarf on the streets, I think of 3000 dead in NY, and get outraged. And now, there are riots in Paris, and I am shocked. An open border with a generous welfare state spells doom in the long run. There is little from the Muslim leaders condemning this outrage as 400 towns burn in France, and spreading to England, Denmark, Belgium, and Germany, all with the same immigration problem. What a mess that I don't want here in the US, yet Muslim immigration is also on the rise as well, and they to do not readily assimilate with their jihadist mentality, and their cultural disdain for the infidels. I see and hear it all clearly, now, the deafening blaring of Jihad singing coming from the local mosque in downtown Laguna Beach California, signaling all to join in state imposed mandatory mid-day four-hour siestas.

Mexicans are not coming here for all the right reasons. Sure, I respect the dignity of work, but vast uncontrolled illegal immigration goes way beyond that sympathetic view. The illegal immigrants come here in the first instance to violate immigration laws. Crime is not one of the right reasons to come here. The illegal immigrants come here, not to readily assimilate but to promote their mexicanism in this country with their special studies, their bilingual education, their salsa food, their bilingual literature, their capture of AM radio, their capture of weak minded politicians, their Mexican flags in downtown LA or in Georgia, and their Cinco De Mayo, inter alia. Sure I like a little foreign culture in the mix, but not one that dominate over US culture. The illegal immigrants come here to peddle their drugs, to join gangs, degrade property values, and effectively to generate resentment, that will ultimately result to racial riots in the out years, when the US cuts back the hand outs. The illegal worker immigrants come here to simply earn money, not generally with their families to relocate and assimilate and waive the US flag, but to send their money back to Mexico, damaging increased trade. President Fox should build industry in Mexico with cheap labor for the US to exploit, so as to lift their economy, as the way it has been done for centuries. The border must be closed, with a US offer of generous recurring temporary work visas, without any amnesty.

I do not want East Los Angeles, Santa Ana, San Diego, or other southern US cities, from El Paso TX, to Denver CO, to Albuquerque NM, to Phoenix AZ, to go up in flames in the out years. I am tired of the poor-me victimization political card, or race based affirmative action, or the ruination of Americanism, or the political race card, or the weak-minded political pandering, or the eventual bigotry leading to violence and destruction and deaths that necessarily flows from an unrestrained importation of a vast number foreigners that are not readily assimilated into American culture, to only then leave that problem to my children to solve.

The GOP is destined to be marginalized by the inaction on the southern border. For the next decade, the issues that drive US politics will be WEDMI (Wed-Me), that is War, Economy, Deficit, Marriage, and Invasion. A recent FoxNews OReilly survey indicates that Americans, including the conservative base, do not believe that the current administration will get tuff on the US southern border. There is a lack of confidence that is building in the conservative circles. However, most Americans still believed that the Republicans have better leadership and vision over the Democrats who have no vision whatsoever, and simply spew their hate, while pandering any fringe group having a receptive ear.

We Americans deserve better than the lesser of two incompetent political parties. As in Raider Football, the cry seems to be, JUST WIN BABY, while the team is repetitively penalized for unsportman like conduct. I will not vote for the Republicans merely because they are the lesser of two incompetent evils, as does a vast numbers of Americans who simply choose not to vote at all. I recently received a request to contribute to the GOP again, but wrote back, only if President Bush closes the southern border. I will not support dereliction of duty, perceived as nearly treason.

As to WEDMI, the -E-conomy is miraculously holding strong but interest rates and inflation are rising spelling immanent stagnation, the -D-eficits remain unacceptably high, the -W-ar is not perceived as going well, the US government has failed to utterly stop the southern -I-nvasion, and has failed to pass a constitution amendment defining -M-arriage as between a man an a woman, though there is some good to come in the out years in packing the supreme court with conservatives. So as I see it, that is two marginal positives, and three bad negatives. That is simply an unacceptable report card for the current administration. I had not voted since President Reagan, and did not vote in the Gore v Bush election, as well, but when I saw the BOLD leadership of president Bush in Iraq, I crawled out of my hole, cut the check to the GOP, and pounded the payment on the streets three days a week for three months prior to the election Bush v Kerry, all by myself, in a sea of liberals, relearning childhood dodgeball skills from bottles being regularly thrown at me. The southern border needs to be shut down, and if it is not, and done soon, I will merely buy a gun, barricade the front door, defend my fortress, and crawl back into my happy little world, and leave you all to your pathetic selves.

Sincerely

Derrick Michael Reid

Laguna Beach CA

"I'm not intending to imply insult or judgment here but I am curious to know in order to be able to respond to your posts in an appropriate manner, so please forgive what appears to be, but in fact is not intended as, an insulting question: Are you stupid?" ~ Melinda Shore

7/7 Reports: You will lose your privacy but next attacks can't be prevented
Official report reveals multiple "failures", raises many questions, calls for heavier police presence in public but Government still will not allow a public inquiry and tells us they can't prevent next attack.

Steve Watson / Infowars | May 12 2006

The ISC report has concluded that more police are needed on the streets of major UK cities and also warned that there would be an "inevitable" rise in intrusive activity by security services in the face of the terror threat.

The report recommended a more transparent threat level and alert system, and called for improvements to the way the Security Service MI5 and Special Branches tackle "home-grown" terrorism. The members said they were "concerned that more was not done sooner" about the terror threat from UK citizens.

No longer is "Al Qaeda" the main threat, now apparently all UK citizens could be terrorists.

It is painfully clear that the authorities have changed the official line again and again according to information that is leaked out in the public domain. Still they will not allow a public inquiry. This is because someone knows that if a truly independent inquiry were held the whole sorry scam would be blown wide open.

All these whitewash reports do is clear the government and the intelligence services of any blame. They have no basis in reality as is confirmed by the fact that they directly contradict previous reports without bringing any new evidence to light.

Speaking to the London Guardian, one 7/7 survivor, Rachel North, made clear her dissatisfaction, saying: "These meetings that led to these reports took place behind closed doors ... They were internal investigations and I am not surprised that the politicians and security services have examined their work in secret and subsequently found themselves not to blame."

The latest ISC report also concluded that although some attacks have been prevented since 7/7, the next attack cannot be stopped.

So we have government reports stating that our privacy will be heavily impacted and a greater police presence is needed, but that they cannot prevent the next terror attacks.

No longer are we being told that we must give up liberty for security, we are just simply being told to give up liberty regardless of security.

It is not good enough to say that our liberties need to be restricted because of 7/7 but that we cannot have a public inquiry, and in any case that this will not prevent further attacks. It is also not good enough for the government to investigate itself and conclude that it needs more power and control over the population.

They admit that they completely failed to protect the population yet the spin is that it was because of a lack of resources. So it was due to "a lack of resources" that 4 bombers got on to tube trains, and this requires thousands more armed police everywhere and new laws that simply do away with civil liberties altogether.

The fallout of 7/7 is all around us in the UK now. This is the face of New Labour's "New Britain". Increased numbers of armed police everywhere with the right to now stop and search anyone they choose to under vamped up anti-terror laws. We now live in a Pro-active, police state, where you are a pre-criminal, that is a criminal until proven otherwise.

And this is what our police now look like in "New Britain". They wear black ski masks, combat trousers and army boots, just like SAS agents.

The Huge black machine guns armed police carry are totally impractical and should an incident occur where they would have to use them, the high output of rounds and spray of bullets they would fire would inevitably cause unnecessary casualties in a bustling city like London.

They are purely designed to look effective and put the fear of life into the population, as are the ski-masks and the combat garb. The more immune people become to them, the more frightening and controlling they will become.

This pattern will continue long as we keep letting the government take away our rights whilst fully admitting that they are failing us and thus must have more control over everything we do. In a free society the government is supposed to serve the population, not the other way round. This is precisely why there needs to be a public inquiry into 7/7 now, before more attacks are carried out and this course of action in the aftermath becomes the norm.
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Now, who benefits from all this? Muslims that hate freedom, or Fascist Govt. that wants to rule the world?

Gore could rival Nixon¹s comeback and win

WASHINGTON -- He served two terms as vice president under a popular president. He then lost the presidency in a razor-thin election. After eight years, he repackaged himself and won the race for the White House and was re-elected in a major landslide.

That person was Richard Nixon. What Nixon did in 1968, Al Gore could repeat in 2008. Like Nixon, Gore faces a nation divided by an unpopular war. And like Nixon, Gore could transform anti-war anger and general public malaise into votes.

Moreover, Democrats, moderate Republicans and independents are eager for a change, and Gore could emerge as a central agent for change in 2008.

A number of Americans strongly believe that Gore was unfairly robbed of the presidency in 2000. Two terms of George W. Bush have demonstrated that almost every point Gore raised in the 2000 election - the dangers posed by global warming, the criticality of alternative fuel sources, the foolishness of tax breaks for the ultra-rich, the need for international diplomacy and consensus building, prudence in Supreme Court nominations, and a commitment to civil liberties - were right on target.

More HERE

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

Wayne Madsen writing opinion The Salt Lake Tribune.

An interesting take. It would be nice to have anybody but an "oil man" catering to the wealthy and ultra-wealthy.

capt

"One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important." - Bertrand Russell

Melinda Shore

Am I stupid, well, it all depends on your political perspective, now dont it? That is the polite answer to your question.

Now, with the following, I think you could answer that question for yourself, unless, of course, you are stupid.
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Derrick Michael Reid: American, Husband, Father, Christian, Electronic Engineer, Patent Attorney, Precious Metals Investment Manager, and Geopolitical and Geoeconomical Analyst, DOB 6-30-54 Ohio, and 50 years living in Southern California, a hard-right Ronald Reagan type. Electronic Engineer BSEE University of California Berkeley, 1975, with 10 years experience for various high-tech electronic firms, Graduate Studies in Semiconductors at USC, and Patent Lawyer, JD, Western State University 1981, with 25 years of sole practice including litigation and patent prosecution, mostly high-tech satellite communication systems at federal research labs. Presently also engaged in setting up Web based gaming in Russia with a Russian wife and two wonderful little boys having dual residences in both Laguna Beach CA and Vladivostok Russia, and routinely privately writing to President Bush, USA, and President Putin, Russia, on courses of action as interested in global affairs.
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http://tcode.tinro.ru/dmr/
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=%2Fnetahtml%2Fsearch-adv.htm&r=0&p=1&f=S&l=50&Query=derrick+and+michael+and+reid%0D%0A&d=ptxt
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Derrick+M+Reid%22&num=100&hl=en&lr=&filter=0
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Derrick+Michael+Reid%22&num=100&hl=en&lr=&filter=0
http://imcs.dvgu.ru/main/putin.html#russian
http://imcs.dvgu.ru/news/dmr/globalconfluence.html
http://www.iran-daily.com/1384/2412/html/national.htm
http://www.resourceinvestor.com/pebble.asp?relid=15912&t=11
http://www.iran-daily.com/1384/2454/html/national.htm
http://imcs.dvgu.ru/news/dmr/palladium_eng.pdf
http://www.financialsense.com/editorials/murphy/2006/0105.html
http://www.investmentrarities.com/commofthemonth01-04-06.html
http://www.resourceinvestor.com/pebble.asp?relid=16950&t=11
http://www.resourceinvestor.com/pebble.asp?relid=17150&t=11
http://minutemanhq.com/b2/index.php/national/2006/01/31/p377
http://www.silberbrief.de/wbb2//thread.php?threadid=704
http://www.silberbrief.de/wbb2/thread.php?threadid=704&sid=2976b068beaa9dabf1c2f4b8f51509e0
http://p088.ezboard.com/fdownstreamventurespetroleummarkets.showMessage?topicID=16001.topic
http://www.eldoradogold.net/pdf/January%2006/when_smart_bombs_pop.pdf
http://pview.findlaw.com/view/1329570_1
http://www.gold-eagle.com/editorials_05/waltzek011406.html
http://www.lagunabeach.com/services/attorneys/
http://financialsense.com/fsu/editorials/waltzek/2006/0114.html
http://silverinvestor.blogspot.com/2006_01_01_silverinvestor_archive.html
http://pview.findlaw.com/view/2800418_1
http://www.attorneyweb.net/us/ca_lagunabeach.html
http://www.at-bourse.com/Gold-vtpst-45305.php
http://lawyers.findlaw.com/lawyer/firm/Patents/Fountain-Valley/California
http://www.freshpatents.com/agent-patent-law-firm-directory-d.php
http://tribulationperiod.com/blog/?p=224
http://www.resourceinvestor.com/pebble.asp?relid=17373&t=11
http://www.resourceinvestor.com/pebble.asp?relid=15079&t=11
http://www.resourceinvestor.com/pebble.asp?relid=17335&t=11
http://www.resourceinvestor.com/pebble.asp?relid=17373&t=11
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Capt is only great mind of our era, check that, error.

So let see,

I predict GOP marginalization in Nov due to lack of action on the Southern Border, and 6 months later, Bush is at 29% and the House is a toss-up in Nov-06 election. Well, I would suggest there was a prediction and consistent result.

Stupid Me!!!!

#120
Who's delusional?

The Probe of a Senior CIA Official Hits Home - and Abroad

While agents search Foggo's home for evidence of improper links to a defense contractor, they are also casting a wider net across the Atlantic

Foggo stepped down from his position amid the raids, and his deputy, who still operates under cover, became the acting executive director. Foggo's attorney Bill Hundley could not immediately be reached, but previously told TIME that Foggo denies any wrongdoing and is "really more of a victim here."

It is unclear exactly what Foggo's employment status is now at the agency. Foggo's departure had been in the works even before Goss's surprise retirement announcement last week, an intelligence official tells TIME, as Goss had viewed developments in the Cunningham case "as a distraction."

More HERE

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What is with these whiners? They get caught and they are a always whining about being a victim? How is a person suppose to respect that?

capt

"When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained." ~ Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)

"Lay not your trust upon inked stained fibers of pulp that limp when wet or evaporate in flame from capricous vicissitudes of life, but upon the rock solid integrity and honesty of an obediant servant following your instructions in earnest." Derrick Michael Reid 5/11/06

Since we are doing philosophical quotes this day, this one was to a client, not related to anything here, but thought I would share it. The idea, being, that contracts are only as good as those who honor them.

But Capt, I love your quotes, nice touch!!!

A Perfect Mother's Day Gift

Julia Ward Howe, the author of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, became so horrified with the carnage of the Civil War that she began advocating for a Mother's Day of Peace She published the Mother's Day Peace Proclamation in 1870. By 1873, 18 cities celebrated Mother's Day of Peace celebrations –†some of these celebrations continued for 30 years. Still today, we have the enduring legacy of Mother's Day.

Now we are faced with the modern carnage of the occupation of Iraq, and threats of another war of aggression in Iran. The Iraq policy is fatally flawed, especially for the nearly 2500 US dead; and for every one of these there are another 100 dead Iraqi civilians. We have to do something to build a peace movement that can stop this blood-bathed foreign policy. We've demonstrated, written letters, sung songs, engaged in civil disobedience, and traveled far and wide engaging our fellow Americans to demand that the troops come home. Hundreds of thousands of us marched in the streets of New York City for Peace, Justice and Democracy on April 29th.

What's next? What can we do now? What tools do we have left in this democracy of ours?

Now is the time for the peace movement to get electoral. Americans opposed to preemptive war need to vote for what they believe in, and not vote for candidates that support war. Let's turn the majority of Americans into an electoral majority that can redirect the United States

More HERE

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

I up on that idea, no more warmongers!

capt

David Benson, #1

HERE I AM!!!

LOL

A human being is part of a whole, called by us the Universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest--a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.

The point is to develop the childlike inclination for play and the childlike desire for recognition and to guide the child over to important fields for society. Such a school demands from the teacher that he be a kind of artist in his province.

One should guard against preaching to young people success in the customary form as the main aim in life. The most important motive for work in school and in life is pleasure in work, pleasure in its result, and the knowledge of the value of the result to the community.

~ Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

Andy Borowitz -- Bush: Iran Must Halt Production of Long Letters

Posted on May 12, 2006
By Andy Borowitz

Days after receiving an 18-page letter from Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President George W. Bush called the lengthy missive an act of war and demanded that Iran halt its production of long letters at once.

At the White House, aides said that writing a letter of such length to President Bush, who is known for his extreme distaste for reading, was the most provocative act Mr. Ahmadinejad could have possibly committed.

Everyone knows that the last book the president read was My Pet Goat, one aide said. Expecting him to read an 18-page letter is really asking for it, and that Iranian dude must have known that.

According to those close to Mr. Bush, the president was infuriated upon receipt of the 18-page letter and asked aides if it was some kind of joke.

The president then demanded that the letter be boiled down to a one- or two-page format, or possibly adapted to a DVD version, just as he had ordered for news reports on Hurricane Katrina.

In Tehran, President Ahmadinejad said he was taken aback by Mr. Bush's refusal to read an 18-page letter, but said that all his future communications to the U.S. president would be in short, easy-to-read instant-messaging format.

In his first IM to President Bush, released to the press today, President Ahmadinejad writes, am building nukes. R U angry? LOL.

Elsewhere, Air Force Gen. Michael V. Hayden vowed today that as director of the CIA he would push the agency to find new and better sources of false intelligence.
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This means war for sure!

Cornposters, where do I begin? I keep falling behind in readings because I take about two naps a day. I tire easily. Plus the stress of living under a Nazi regime does not help.

#64 micki, I do not have a prayer to wish ill for a person or persons. My hope is that deadeye dick does it to himself and the same for that giant turd, Bushitler.

#67 capt, American theocracy? What a joke from a nation of murderers and war criminals!!! What God are we worshipping? The bushgod?

#72 Saladin, the war with Iran has already started.

#83 micki, bohica? I went to Google and typed in the word. The website is now on my favorite column list. THE NAZIS LOVE TO HAVE US BEND OVER!!! micki, I was a maverick in Catholic grade school. For my youthful disruptions the nuns would have me bend over from time to time. I had to prepare myself for the paddle. I made sure that I picked up my cajones so they would not slide between my legs and be tapped by the paddle. So remember, Cornposters, when you come across a Nazi, protect your cajones. They love to have us bend over.

#102 james, perfectly said!!! How can we have American theocracy when we have no God and only worship Bushitler. Cornposters, are you starting to understand why I puke so often?

I am an Al Gore fan but his pick of Joseph Lieberman, a Nazi, for a running mate, is questionable.

capt, a Mother's Day for Peace is appropriate!!! I went to a wedding and a mother was with her husband and two children at our table. She said that Desert Storm was a father's war and the Iraq war is a mother's war. I believe that all wars will now be a mother's war. Cindy Sheehan brought to us how important our children are.

Let us from this Mother's Day on call it Mother's Day for Peace!!!!!

On Wisconsin Pubic Radio (2/7/05) 27-year-CIA veteran Ray McGovern said he "used to be an agnostic" on the issue of official complicity in 9/11, but that Dr. David Ray Griffin's new book The 9/11 Commission Report: Omissions and Distortions has made a believer of him. McGovern is now fully convinced that the 9/11 Commission Report was an egregious cover-up and the case needs to be re-opened. McGovern is working with a group called Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, who represent the tip of a very large iceberg of insiders who are appalled at what has been going on and are hoping to do something about it.
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Isn't that the same Ray McGovern who recently had a showdown with rummy? A 27 year veteran with the CIA thinks we are being lied to about 9/11? HMMMM Somebody somewhere must be hard at work swiftboating him!

Here is a prayer for those who have caused you harm.

2 Timothy 4:14

14(A)Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm; (B)the Lord will repay him according to his deeds.

capt

A Democrat-controlled House wouldn't impeach, Pelosi says
Posted May 13, 2006 09:02 AM PST

Washington -- House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco has told her caucus that the idea of impeaching President Bush isn't in the cards if the party takes over the House in November's elections.

Pelosi, who Republicans have charged intends to lead an impeachment effort, dismissed the idea when she spoke Wednesday morning at a closed-door caucus of the House's 201 Democrats. Pelosi also restated her opposition to the idea of censuring Bush over his decision to invade Iraq in March 2003.

"We want oversight and checks and balances,'' Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly said she told the caucus. "That certainly isn't being done in this Congress (under Republican control). Impeachment was never her interest.''

Even though she said impeachment wouldn't be on the table, Pelosi supports investigations into such issues as prewar intelligence about Iraq and contracts awarded in Iraq to Halliburton Corp. and other companies.

Pelosi, who is likely to become the first female House speaker if the Democrats win in November, has been forced to strike a delicate balance between her party's left, where the idea of impeaching Bush has found a positive reception, and moderates who say raising the issue would repel voters in the swing districts that Democrats must win to regain the House majority they lost in 1994.

Pelosi already had been cool to a House resolution that calls for creating a special House committee to investigate the administration, proceedings that could lead to Bush's impeachment over such issues as prewar intelligence and warrantless eavesdropping on Americans' phone calls.
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WRH
A lot of Democrats' chances in November just got shot down by this bitch.
Who the hell is she working for?

Is $63,000 from pro-Israel PACS really enough to get her to sell out her own party along with the country?
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Still hoping the dems win in Nov? A lot of good that will do. The best we can hope for is an endless round of worthless investigations, what a joke.

WRH
'Israel Lobby' bad for Israel, the U.S.
Let's zero in on AIPAC. It is controlled by right-wing, rich Jewish neo-conservatives. As one manifestation of the truth of this assertion one merely has to look at its annual meeting this past month. At a time when Vice President Cheney's popularity has dropped below 20 percent, the 4,500 delegates to the AIPAC convention gave him a standing ovation for almost a minute before he even opened his mouth and then proceeded to give him 48 rounds of applause in a 35-minute speech. (As my colleague Leonard Fein pointed out, that's once every 43.7 seconds). Considering that 75 percent of American Jews voted for Kerry, it is obvious that these people are out of the mainstream of Jewish thought.
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Think they're being a bit obvious?

I forgot to mention that I would not tell my parents of the nuns using a paddle on me. I did tell my parents one time and they continued the work from where the nuns left off. So I tried to be good but I hated school and I would act up from time to time.

Middle East News FOREX
BBC News Link

Iran: Euro to replace dollar as oil currency
In July Iran will ditch the dollar in favour of the euro as the currency in which it will accept payments for its oil and natural gas exports, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced Friday.

The switch, first mooted months ago, was expected but Ahmadinejad's decision comes just as Washington is stepping up pressure on other United Nations Security Council members to act against Tehran for flouting agreements taken with the UN's nuclear watchdog.

Ahmadinejad's announcement, made in Baku, Azerbaijan where the Iranian leader is attending a regional economics conference, appears aimed at weakening the United States' resolve to seek sanctions against Iran if it does not comply with the UN International Agency for Atomic Energy's demands.

Some observers believe the Iranian move could deal a severe blow the the American currency as many central banks from oil importing nations could choose to stock up their currency reserves with euros rather than dollars- AKI.
----------
Can there be any doubt as to why the sword rattling against Iran has gotten progressively louder in the past few months? If they start trading oil for euros, other commodities will soon follow suit.

Financial holocaust on the horizon and growing closer and gaining momentum.

As our government gives the wealthy another tax cut?

The $2.7 trillion dollar budget[sic] will require moving the debt ceiling to $10 trillion.

Had enough?

capt

By calling the money needed for Iraq and Afghan wars "emergency funding" this misadministration is pulling an Enron accounting trick. Off-book expenditures.

capt

The dollar is getting smacked on a whole host of issues:
- China surplus
- Concern about US deficit
- US slowdown, evidenced by US retail sales, in the works
- Bank of England rising rate expectations
- European Central Bank rising rate expectations
- Bank of Japan rising rate expectations
- Kuwait's revaluation of the dinar - Saudi Arabia may be next
- President George W Bush's approval ratings in the tank
- Gold soaring

There may be many more, but that's enough to do the trick.

******

Losing value of the dollar is very much like unreported inflation.

capt

Letter to WRH

READER: Excerpt from LiberalOasis....the other letter nobody is paying attention to...
Two, while it's technically true that Monday's letter from Ahmadinejad did not directly address Iran's nuclear program, Dubya conveniently ignored the other Monday letter from Iran.

That is the open letter given to Time magazine by Hassan Rohani, representative of Ayatollah Khameini, Iran's Supreme Leader (the guy who actually calls the shots).

It begins:

A nuclear weaponized Iran destabilizes the region, prompts a regional arms race, and wastes the scarce resources in the region.

And taking account of U.S. nuclear arsenal and its policy of ensuring a strategic edge for Israel, an Iranian bomb will accord Iran no security dividends.

There are also some Islamic and developmental reasons why Iran as an Islamic and developing state must not develop and use weapons of mass destruction.

You can't directly address the main question any more directly than that.

Rohani follows by sketching out an 8-point framework for a negotiated solution, one of which is, Iran would consider ratifying the Additional Protocol, which provides for intrusive and snap inspections.

WRH: Where it will fall apart is when Iran asks for snap inspections on Israel's nuclear weapons plant at Dimona.
-------------
They will never try diplomacy, not with this oil bourse on the way. Just like Iraq when saddam did the same thing. The same aggressive, lying murderous tactic will be used. This time the congress cannot say they had bad info, they know and signed on anyway. This whole terrorists who hate our freedoms crap is a lie, a faulty foundation upon which 9/11 and everything that has happened since is built on. God how I hope it all falls apart before the nukes start flying.

Little Difference

As we enter the twenty-first century, I have come to the realization that there is little difference between the Democrats and the War Party of the bushits. Even with little difference between the two parties I may still vote because I do not want to give up my right to vote.

The reason for me voting for Democrats is the Democrats will give you a bone but at least they keep some meat on the bone so the soup can have some flavor. The bushits will give you a bone but they scrape all the meat off the bone. How you enhance the flavor of your soup that is for you to figure out. With either party in power it will be important for the 90% of Americans to master the art of making soup. Each home will be a soup kitchen for the poor and disenfranchised 90% of Americans.

In trying to find out the difference between the Democrats and the bushits there is another difference that keeps me voting for Democrats for now. The Democrats will ram a poker up your ass but the poker is straight so when they pull the poker out there will be some inflammation. With ointment the inflammation will heal in time.

The bushits will ram a poker up your ass but the poker is straight and attached to the poker is a curved section as we see with some fireplaces to spread the burning wood. This poker goes in but when the bushits pull the poker out of your ass, your rectum is shot to hell. Healing of the rectum takes a long, long time.

Either party is going to screw the 90% of Americans but the Democrats operate with a little more class. But either way you look at it you are going to have a poker rammed up your ass.

P.S. I have one more point to make that either party will give Nazi Americans shit. The Nazis will give us more shit and the Democrats will give us less shit. Yet, we cannot forget the fact that we will have to chew on shit. The only difference will be more shit or less shit for our shit eating smiles.

P.P.S. B.O.H.I.C.A.! What an appropriate word for our times! Bohica means BEND OVER HERE IT COMES AGAIN! Do you have that feeling of constantly bending over to be rammed by some Nazi? If you do, please remember to protect your cajones so they are not rammed by the Nazis. A shot to hell rectum is enough of a bad experience. Try to avoid the ball busting experience as much as possible!!!

Little Difference

As we enter the twenty-first century, I have come to the realization that there is little difference between the Democrats and the War Party of the bushits. Even with little difference between the two parties I may still vote because I do not want to give up my right to vote.

The reason for me voting for Democrats is the Democrats will give you a bone but at least they keep some meat on the bone so the soup can have some flavor. The bushits will give you a bone but they scrape all the meat off the bone. How you enhance the flavor of your soup that is for you to figure out. With either party in power it will be important for the 90% of Americans to master the art of making soup. Each home will be a soup kitchen for the poor and disenfranchised 90% of Americans.

In trying to find out the difference between the Democrats and the bushits there is another difference that keeps me voting for Democrats for now. The Democrats will ram a poker up your ass but the poker is straight so when they pull the poker out there will be some inflammation. With ointment the inflammation will heal in time.

The bushits will ram a poker up your ass but the poker is straight and attached to the poker is a curved section as we see with some fireplaces to spread the burning wood. This poker goes in but when the bushits pull the poker out of your ass, your rectum is shot to hell. Healing of the rectum takes a long, long time.

Either party is going to screw the 90% of Americans but the Democrats operate with a little more class. But either way you look at it you are going to have a poker rammed up your ass.

P.S. I have one more point to make that either party will give Nazi Americans shit. The Nazis will give us more shit and the Democrats will give us less shit. Yet, we cannot forget the fact that we will have to chew on shit. The only difference will be more shit or less shit for our shit eating smiles.

P.P.S. B.O.H.I.C.A.! What an appropriate word for our times! Bohica means BEND OVER HERE IT COMES AGAIN! Do you have that feeling of constantly bending over to be rammed by some Nazi? If you do, please remember to protect your cajones so they are not rammed by the Nazis. A shot to hell rectum is enough of a bad experience. Try to avoid the ball busting experience as much as possible!!!

capt, our dollar is being undermined on purpose. Wanna bet that all these fat cat tax cuts for the super rich are being invested in gold, while our monopoly money still holds the illusion of value? The very thing I have been raving about for months!

Gerald, there are 31 reps that refused to sign on to regime change in Iran. The idea that the dems will give us less shit is equal to the idea that eating less cyanide will make you less sick!

Sorry about the double post of Little Difference!

Saladin, I guess it depends who wants less of a death or more of a death. Either dosage is lethal!

My point exactly.

Happy Mother's Day for Peace

Let us hear a Great Amen

The Glory of Bushitler Is Man Fully Dead

In the name of womanhood and humanity

Western-Style Democracy Means Up Yours

Up Yours Again

Hell Yes, Saladin, I jumped into Bullion in 01 at 270/oz. My sell price is 2750$/oz in 2010, just in time to beat the expiration of the 15% capital gains tax, recently extended till then. Just love them tax cuts, even though I am middle class, with apparently no-class?

The trick of monetary policy to keep a low inflation rate, say 2-4%, that prevent hoarding of cash that would result if the rate was negative "deflation", and the destruction of savings and to prevent the caous from high inflation hyper-infaltion.

Its a tricky call, monetary policy, but they seem to be on it, with the rate hikes.

What I fine astounding, and maybe some of you all can put in your 2 cents, is the play off of the illegal immigants, that pressure low income wages down, (hurting the poor a democrat bastion) and the so-called civil-right of these immigrants, to pander the mexican vote.

It seems to be, that both parties have got it ass backward. Reps want to give small business a boost with low wages yet the health care systems become burdened shifting the cost of the worker to general tax base, and the Dems wanting to help the poor but refuse to shut down the border to stop illegal worker who suppressed low-end wages.

I think both parties have their heads up their butts.

WSY???

"hook em horns" bush
surrounded by devils?
is ari fleischer a texas longhorns fan too?

GREAT IS THE GUILT OF AN UNNECESSARY WAR. John Adams

I TREMBLE FOR MY COUNTRY WHEN I RECALL GOD IS JUST. Thomas Jefferson

As Christians let us follow Jesus Christ who is the embodiment of justice and perfect love. Let us follow Jesus Christ by saying no to war, no more wars for humanity.

I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians, your Christians are nothing like your Christ. Mahatma Ghandi

American Soldiers

2,732 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan for Bush and his lies.

Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The statesman who yields to war fever must realize that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events. Sir Winston Churchill

Henry Kissinger says that military men are just dumb stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy.

In the eyes of empire builders men are not men but instruments. Napoleon Bonaparte

Nazi America is a mirror image of Hitler Bush.

Arundhati Roy says that Hitler Bush is the world nightmare incarnate. Gerald asks the question is Hitler Bush the father of the devil incarnate party?

Confucius spoke that before you seek revenge dig two graves.

When an illegal war is launched, every person killed and injured, every piece of property destroyed, and all environmental damage is a war crime. A war without borders and limits is a perpetual war. This war of aggression proliferates terrorism in proportion to its reckless widening, making the world ever more dangerous. TCR News

One cannot help but wonder: Where there alternative ways of spending a fraction of the war's $1 to 2 trillion in costs that would have better strengthened security, boosted prosperity, and promoted democracy? Joseph E Stiglitz The dollar amount for the war now rages around $8 trillion.

We do not have to visit a madhouse to find disordered minds; our planet is the mental institution of the universe. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

G.K. Chesterton said that Jesus speaks sanity to a world of lunatics.

The thought of Jesus being stripped, beaten, and derided until His final agony on the Cross should always prompt a Christian to protest against similar treatment of their fellow beings. John Paul II

The soldier's main enemy is not the opposing soldier, but his own commander. Ramman Kenoun! Yes, Bushitler, as Commander in Chief, is the American soldier's main enemy. His endless lies and his love for nuclear wars will destroy planet, Earth.

Since 911, 2,732 American soldiers have given their lives in wrong and immoral wars.

What I fine astounding, and maybe some of you all can put in your 2 cents, is the play off of the illegal immigants, that pressure low income wages down, (hurting the poor a democrat bastion) and the so-called civil-right of these immigrants, to pander the mexican vote

what i find astounding is that you expect us to believe that you find that astounding.

james, We must have millions of Nazi American devils in our devil incarnate nation.

DMR, the trick to beating inflation is for the Federal Reserve mafia to stop printing worthless paper and calling it money, and put us back on the Constitutionally mandated gold standard. I have never advocated investing in gold to make money, I have always encouraged people to divest other savings into gold to PRESERVE their retirement and whatever wealth they have managed to accumulate, since inflation is going to wipe out all savings in the long run, two different things.
I don't like to get involved in the immigrant issue because some people here have the habit of accusing me of being a hateful racist. A rational debate on that subject is nearly impossible without the stupid race card being thrown in. I will only say that between the hundreds of KBR built detention camps currently under construction and the huge illegal immigrant demonstrations, I have a bad feeling many of those poor people will be sorry they ever stepped foot across the border.
As for what I think about the monopolizing two parties in this country, I think I have been more then clear on that topic!

I would like to wish eveyone on May 14 a Happy Mother's Day for Peace!!!

DMR, a word of advice, posts that read like novels have a chance of being deleted and the habitual offender banned from the blog. Please, keep it within reason.

good god, even the D.O.T. never threw so many words around all at one time!

bush changes his 911 story yet again

Sorry about the long post, but it was a comprehensive view.

You are so right on Salidin, STOP THE PRESS, (said the joker)

It seems that when the dem deficit spend, the rep bulk, and then its the rep turn to deficit spend, while dems bulk, the party opposite always claiming PAYGO, but neither one doing their jobs.

He posts a monster ending with:

"and leave you all to your pathetic selves."

Then dumps ANOTHER personal publication - (this is not a book publishing house)

One question - why would you reply and encourage such a creature?

Maybe he can come up with a more encyclopedic coverage on his childhood or how much he worships Bunnypants?

Jeeze, we should ignore him completely or the dial-ups have no chance. His first post is something from Nov 2005? Over 7,000 words in the second?

Just sayin'

capt

I went to the Rozius website and read some of Maureen Dowd's articles. When I read her articles, there can be little doubt why she is one of my fifteen foxes.

Saladin, you attract kooks with all your bullshit. You and DMR should start your own blog and yammer to each other to your delusional heart's content!

Derrick Michael Reid --- You are in danger of being permanently blacklisted here. Use short posts with links. The owner, David Corn, says so.

I dont know about you all, but I dont buy this excuse that immigrants do jobs Americans wont do. BS

I am more than willing to pay much more for my food bill, in lieu of higher taxes, to incrase the pay rate of farm workers which would then attract American workers and employment and reduce maintenance social taxes. I am sure there are americans who would pick apples for $15/hours in rural areas where the cost of living is not so high.

I would much rather pay the agri-business more, and hence support higher farm wages, than pay more to the gov on social services, and increase the pay rate of low-end American workers, who really need increased pay, not by gov mandate, but by market forces resulting, when the freaking border is shut down.

There is nothing immoral or criminal about picking apples for $15/hour.

Derrick Michael Reid --- You are in danger of being permanently blacklisted here. Use short posts with links. The owner, David Corn, says so.

Yes Sir, will do!

DMR, I assume you mean BALK? You agreeing with me on anything will now bring verbal retribution from those who's main mission here seems to be picking apart my posts. Please, spare me the assault by NOT agreeing with me!
capt, I reply once in awhile for the same reason you reply once in awhile, sometimes things just need to be said. David will prpbably delete that monstrous missive and save all us dial-ups from certain temporary exile!

caroline, it's really quite amazing how you tend to show up right on time to hurl some shitty insult at me. Either specify what bullshit you're talking about or please refrain from this constant harassment. I do not treat you with such disrespect, and if you are trying to provoke me into using the same sort of abusive commentary you have used against me, I assure you, it won't work.

the party opposite always claiming PAYGO, but neither one doing their jobs.

exactly what many of us have been yammering about all along. unless you believe (as i do) that their jobs are to line their own pockets and enable their corporate pals to line their pockets as well, then one would have to say that they are doing a magnificent job.

Gibson inspired by 'fear-mongering' Bush

Film star and director Mel Gibson has launched a scathing attack on US President George W Bush, comparing his leadership to the barbaric rulers of the Mayan civilisation in his new film Apocalypto.

The epic, due for release later this year, captures the decline of the Maya kingdom and the slaughter of thousands of inhabitants as human sacrifices in a bid to save the nation from collapsing.

Gibson reveals he used present day American politics as an inspiration, claiming the government callously plays on the nation's insecurities to maintain power.

He tells British film magazine Hotdog, "The fear-mongering we depict in the film reminds me of President Bush and his guys".

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

No wonder my better half swoons at the TV when Mel is on. Must be his politics. HA!

capt

Salidin,

I know we disagree on many issues, but the monetary policy affects us all. Caroline short comments, of course, offered no rebuttal, so who knows where's she coming from.

In 1980 when Gold is 850, that translates to $1700 gold today, something has clearly run amuck.

I agree with you, that real-money currency is the long term answer, and the world will get there, eventually.

Perhaps caroline could offer her view, and contribut, rather go off without contribution.

90% of carolines commentary is dedicated to insulting me. She has engaged in this practice since the day she showed up here. Never once has she commented on any of the many varying subjects I have posted other than to condemn my own opinion. Awhile back she offerd what she called a strike comment, or something to that effect, claiming it was something she knew I would hit like a snake, than she ended that post with "truce?" Obviously she intended no such thing.

#182 Thanks for your restrained commentary.

Harassment can be defined in various ways. Saying the same thing over and over and over and over - AND OVER - again in slightly different words is a form of harassment. Annoying persistence is harassment.

Washington Post and Newsweek Polls Get Different Results on Phone Call Data Mining

The Newsweek poll released today found that 53% of Americans believe that reports that the NSA has been secretly collecting the phone records of U.S. citizens goes too far in invading people's privacy. Some 41% feel it is a necessary tool to combat terrorism.

90%????? Who did your polling? I don't dedicate that much of my effort to you!

I dont agree with Salidin most of the time, but do not find your characterization of harassment to be accurate, more like talking to a brick wall?

So, caroline how much deficit spending would be acceptable to you? twenty trillion, thirty trillion, 10 quadrillion .....

Last night I went stop at bar for 10 minute after making a post at the PO, and had only one drink, a kozikaszi, simple bar, nothing special, "a dive", I drink very little these days, but it was $7 without a tip, I thought to myself, these dollars aint what they use to be. WSY grey mare?

#184 capt, this comes as a complete surprise to me because I have viewed Mel Gibson, a conservative, who is deeply entrenched in the Nazi camp. It is a pleasant surprise for me to know that Mel Gibson will speak out against the Nazis.

Saladin, why not take caroline up on her suggestion to start your own blog?

People have suggested that I start a blog. My wife is upset at me posting any of my thoughts on the David Corn website and for me to start a blog I would be out the door.

fROM: People for the American Way (PFAW)

In the May 5 American Way we announced a new site –†www.WikiThePresidency.org –†set up to allow the general public to keep an ongoing record of White House wrongdoing for all to see. After many of you jumped in to start adding content, our server provider's hard drive irreparably failed and we were told no backups were made.

Well we’∂e put it back up –†on a new server maintained by a great new vendor. We’∂e also returned as much content from the previous incarnation as possible, but we urge you to return and help compile a complete Bush record.

For those of you who didn’¥ have a chance to read that American Way, read on to find out what a fascinating experiment www.WikiThePresidency.org is.

People For the American Way decided it was about time the public had a single place to read up on the multitude of legally and ethically dubious policies and activities of the Bush Administration. With your help, our new wiki site could be the answer. Using the same technology as the popular encyclopedia site Wikipedia.org (which is authored entirely by the general public), www.WikiThePresidency.org allows you to post any material you have about Bush administration wrongdoing, edit any material already posted, and create new topic areas at will. We have launched this site with a small amount of content –†just enough so you can see the type of material we seek. It's up to you and your friends to make this a truly useful new site for the nation.

Please keep in mind, this is not a blog for rants against the Bush administration (the world already has plenty of those). It has been created to grow into a resource for those seeking information on White House wrongdoing. Please, post only factual material backed up with links to reputable sources.

Visit www.WikiThePresidency.org today and see what could be possible with a little bit of help from you and your friends. If you can, carve out some time over the next week to input at least one really solid entry based on a recent news article that sticks in your craw. If you’≤e more the editing type, go into a section and improve other entries with more precise language or better transitions.

This is a site the public could really use –†we want you to help build it.--Your Allies at People For the American Way

More shoddy construction work by U.S. in Iraq; $$$ unaccounted; hospitals stinking like sewage

British inventor claims to have made world's most fuel efficient car

A British inventor unveiled a car he claims is the world's most fuel efficient -- capable of doing 8,000 miles (12,875 km) to the gallon (4.5 litres).

Andy Green, 45, spent just 2,000 pounds (2,925 euros or 3,732 US dollars) over two years creating the three-wheeled contraption in his spare time.

The car, named "TeamGreen," is 3.1 metres (10 feet 2 inches) long and a mere 0.6 metres (2 feet) wide, weighing just 30 kilograms (four stone).

"It's a labour of love," said Green, a technician in the mechanical engineering department of Bath University, south-west England.

"I think the car is important because it is a reminder to us all that the way to achieve fuel-savings is to drive lighter cars -- it's the weight of this car that is the main reason for its fuel-efficiency," he said.

Green's car is powered by a single cylinder four-stroke engine with a capacity of just 35 cc.

It will be the only British entry in a global competition in France later this month to decide the world's most fuel-economic car.

The winner of the Shell Eco-Marathon championships will be the car that runs the longest on an average speed of 30 kilometres per hour (18 miles per hour).

Two women, chosen for their slight frames, have been selected to drive the Briton's invention for the three-day event.

Green is already a seasoned inventor of environmentally friendly motors, of which "TeamGreen" is his fourth.

He holds the British record for fuel-efficiency, having achieved 6,603 miles to the gallon in one of his previous cars.

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

With that kind of mileage I could afford the gas!

capt

Bush's drop in the polls is real, and the dem have a chance at the House in Nov. The increased in revenues from the tax cuts aint sufficiently cutting it, and hoards continue to violation immigration laws, with no end in sight.

I, a far-righty, am absolutely pisst off at the deficit and the border, and I think I am not alone. Bush is losing his base (me). I wonder if he can pull a rabbit out of his sombrero?

#184 Good catch Capt.
Maybe this time his movie will have the opposite effect that "Passion..." did. I think the circulars passed out by the fundies to the movie-goers had alot to do with the total of GOP votes.

The rumor is that Bush will announce on Monday some kind of military presence on the border to shut it down. I am on the edge of my chair hopin and prayin!

Can you believe it, Gov Arnie of CA, coming out against the military presence. Arnie hangs in there by a very slim margin, and I think he just tanked his chances for re-election. I see a dem in sacramento very soon. WSY?

Is someone tying caroline to a chair, putting a gun to her head, and forcing her to read my posts? She bitches and moans endlessly about my repetition yet evidently reads the posts anyway. Are you looking for reasons to complain? You accuse me of posting bullshit, but never elaborate. And as for how much time you spend making rude insults directed at me, anyone can go back over the past months and read what you've written. She doesn't post that often, and until today hasn't offered much in the way of news or helpful commentary. Is Gerald guilty of harassment as well with his constant reposts of his religious beliefs? Or is it just me for daring to pick on the sacred partisan cow? I find it neither annoying nor harassing even though I firmly disagree with his religious dogma. I certainly don't feel the need to constantly criticize, condemn, belittle and insult him because of it. I simply scroll past when I know it is the hundredth time he has posted the same, exact comment. Why on earth caroline can't do the same with me is beyond comprehension, unless she just gets a kick of behaving in a mean and petulant manner. She may be unable to scroll past, but I certainly can, and will from now on regard her as just another pesky troll.

Gerald, maybe caroline should start a blog, one that can be dedicated to insulting rhetoric. Why should I be the one to go when she is the one who can't get along with people that disagree with her?

#51 Capt.

Thanks for the article on Feingold. An interesting fellow, isn't he? He's definitely one to watch.

#138 My dear Saladin

Loved the Andy Borowitz piece. He's always deliciously funny. Sadly, it really isn't funny, is it? We will certainly be bombing before the election.

Here's an article appropriate for Mother's Day:

The Motherhood Manifesto from "The Nation"

Maybe, in stead, caroline should support her unkind digs, with a credible position, as the dig is not a dig, unless backed up. She, not knowing me at all, nor my background, made an unjustified dig, and that was enough for me. A naked dig reflects poorly on the shoveler.

Salidin, dont let it trouble you.

Okay, so it's kind of corny, but who cares.
Real answers from real kids about Moms:

What kind of little girl was your Mom?
1. I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.
2. They say she used to be nice.

What did Mom need to know about dad before she married him?
1. His last name.
2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?
3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?

Why did your Mom marry your dad?
1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my mom eats a lot.
2. My grandma says that Mom didn't have her thinking cap on.

Who's the boss at your house?
1. Mom doesn't want to be boss, but she has to because dad's such a goof ball.
2. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.
3. I guess Mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad.

What does your Mom do in her spare time?
1. Mothers don't do spare time.
2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.

What would it take to make your Mom perfect?
1. On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.

If you could change one thing about your Mom, what would it be?
1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that.
2. I'd make my Mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it and not me.
3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on her back.
4. I wouldn't change her even a tiny bit. I like her just the way she is.

The only thing that troubles me is that only one person here, besides me, has ever called her on these "digs." I guess they either find that sort of commentary acceptable, though the trolls that come through here don't generally get away with it, or they agree with her. bush supporters are notorious for the insults they heap on the people here, but she does it all the time and no one says anything. Maybe civilized conversation will also go the way of the Dodo.

Not true. I have posted many articles, on various topics, with links, over the time I have come to this blog.

I am a bushie, but understand, that unless you all are here, giving the adm hell, for any preceived mis-step, aboslute power becomes uncontrolled. Sure, I dont like much of the left-wing positions, but I know, we all could not live long without each other. Perhaps this is what caroline needs to understand. By-the-By, caroline, I just loved your motherday's questions :)

Ying needs Yang, and Yang needs Ying.

A perfect democracy is one that exists in a constant and heigthened state of tension and conflict, a perfect strom.

I think Gerald's posts are illuminating. Unique. Humorous. Strident. Intelligent. Compassionate. Goofy. Ever-changing. Thought-provoking. Provocative. Silly. Heartfelt. Open. Honest.

Poll: Clinton outperforms bush in every catagory
====
*even "National Security" and... wait for it...

HONESTY

David Corn, I am most pleased that one person could make a difference. I am opposed to judicial murder (and so pleased to have the Pope agree with me on at least this one.) I am satisfied with the outcome for the criminally insane, imho, Moussaoui.

professor of english at boston college calls con rice a liar and resigns in disgust at her invitation to speak there

Re #209: Wow. Boston College appears to be a Jesuit school, too.

DMR #122,
Click here and scroll down to #172. Deja vu all over again. If you're going to cut and paste 1985 words, could they at least be original?

The press conference story that Hapless C&Ped.

The Grand Ol' Spending Party is pinning their hopes on a tax cut that only 3% of the Population of the US will enjoy. And they wonder why their approval ratings are in the crapper.

No wonder the epithets are flying (at each other): Stupid, big mistake, insulting. Circular. Firing. Squad.

Gingrich on Bush's illegal spying program: I'm not going to defend the indefensible.

Michelle Malkin hearts the racists.

This Pseudo-Democrat is an ass.

Benson,

BC's got a traditon of open-mindedness... Had a really good forum, last year on religion in politics with catholic pundits speaking and Q & A. NeoConnvicts, REAL Conservatives, Liberals.

Jesuits started my education in 1st grade. They taught me early to question everything...

They probably regret that.

-T

Hajji, so has the nearby Jesuit school (100 km away). I have always thought of such professors as encouraging "question everything".

Rove has been indighted: See this

The direct link didn't work. Here it is: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/051306W.shtml

Re #215: Karen, it is not confirmed. "It's not over until the fat lady sings."

Test Your Terror I.Q.: I scored 158. I believe the reason for the score I blamed the Nazis for everything.

#197 Derrick Michael Reid, Arnie is a politician who wants to be re-elected. He is what is wrong with this country. Like all politicians he is gutless. Bushitler pushes the terrorist theme endlessly and when Americans call him on it, he wants to say what is terrorism. Our borders need to be secure. Bushitler is an idiot. California is about 55% non-white and 45% white. Hispanics are basically taking over the state.

#206 caroline, thank you for the post! I try to call it like I see it! caroline, I am retired. Prior to retirement I had to take orders from idiots. Upon retirement I joined the KMA Club! Being a member of this club is great. I do not worry about many of my words. KMA stands for KISS MY ASS! I can now express myself and not worry about my idiot supervisors and what they are thinking.

Saladin, if my wife would support me on a blog, I would have one. At my age I only want to hear what I want to hear from my wife. I do not need any verbal extras, such are you listening; do you ever listen; I sent you out for milk and you bought juice; etc. You get my point.

Hand-written notes by the Vice President surface in the Fitzgerald probe
_______________
May 13, 2006 - The role of Vice President Dick Cheney in the criminal case stemming from the outing of White House critic Joseph Wilson's CIA wife is likely to get fresh attention as a result of newly disclosed notes showing that Cheney personally asked whether Wilson had been sent by his wife on a "junket" to Africa.

Cheney's notes, written on the margins of a July 6, 2003 New York Times op-ed column by former ambassador Joseph Wilson, were included as part of a filing Friday night by prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald in the perjury and obstruction case against ex-Cheney chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

The notes, Fitzgerald said in his filing, show that Cheney and Libby were "acutely focused" on the Wilson column and on rebutting his criticisms of the White House's handling of pre-Iraq war intelligence. In the column, which created a firestorm after its publication, Wilson wrote that he had been dispatched by the CIA without pay to Niger in February, 2002 to investigate an intelligence report that Iraq was seeking uranium from the African country for a nuclear bomb. Wilson said he was told Cheney had asked about the intelligence,but the White House subsequently ignored his findings debunking the Niger claims.
________________

ROLL OVER ROVER!!!

-T

Gerald, I would like to clear up any misunderstanding that may have occurred from my post above. I enjoy your posts and links immensely, but since I am accused of harrasment because I post on topics that I am very concerned about, not the same posts, but often the same 4-5 subjects that I believe are destroying this country. I pointed out that you tend to post a select few of the same comments many times over, which I have no problem with, I was just pointing out a double standard. Whether your comments are enlightening or funny or inspiring, which they often are, has nothing to do with repetition, which was the subject. Quantity, not quality, is what the whining was about. I have said many times that people should be free to make any and all comments that David decides are acceptable, it is his dime after all. But if people cannot express thoughts and feelings without being subjected to the constant criticism and insults that some here indulge in, then the blog descends into nothing more than a slugfest. I will not take part in that, and it reflects badly on those who do. I admire your refusal to engage in such juvenile behavior. Disagreement is a good thing, but if it can't be done without the schoolyard bully tactics and name calling I will simply ignore it.

Saladin,

I should've known a $%^$ ^)&*^ like you would say such a @#$!$%$ thing like what you just #$#!'n said!

;-)

-T

sorry!

...AND your appologies are annoying, too!

Which will happen first...Rove indicted, Cheney gets a target letter...or Bush announces that all the US forces in Iraq are heading east?

Need to get a pool going... Everybody ante up a $20 gold piece!

-t

Striking Iran as Soon as June

Normally, I don't pay any attention to this sort of Reich-Wing Hatespeak, but OMFG!
_______________
Let's indeed hope this is us preparing to stop Iran in its tracks. Every day we wait we allow Iran's tyrants to work on their plan to cause mass murder in the region. Every day we play games with the UN so-called Security Council we inch closer to being responsible for whatever mayhem and genocide Ahmadinejad and the Mad Mullahs unleash against the civilized world. When it comes to facing down the enemy internationally, I think we have the best in George W. Bush and Condi Rice. We will soon find out if Our Best have what it takes to do what is right.
_______________

Uhm...?!

I am in,

NONE by time Bush is out.

In the 1860, the 20$ gold coin was king in the rebel south. Do you have one? I only have 50s

I use to think that Bush would go after an intransient Iran, but these days, I think Russia and China will want to continue economic growth, China wants oil flows, and Russia the nuke biz, both of which will tank, if Bush strikes from persian gulf carriers battle groups, but now I sense, there is slowly building pressure, Bush is marshalling global consensus, and now I believe, Iran and NKorea (under china's thumb), will become non-issues in the out years, as will the war on terror. Bush did the heavy lifting in Iraq, and it too will chill. Long term, looking better, I think. I know it looks bad now, but I see movement on the border, deficit, Iran, and N Korea. Forgive my optimism,

keeping legs crossed in laguna beach

to all the mamas on the cornblog:
happy mother's day

As to "OMG", Bush was, IMO, courageous and bold, taking on militant islam, Saddam and his gang of thugs, and it is courageousness, that leads me to believe that dimplomacy will work. Iran is in such terrible economic condition, with a democratic and substantial pro-west segment, and sense, that in the end, diplomacy will work.

It is because Bush went into Iraq, and is prepared to strike Iran, that dimplomacy will work with Iran.

Reich-Wing

Way funny, I thought this had to do with an ex-labor sec. LOL!!

Gerald,

I agree, most politicians are gutless, pandering, dishonest pweks.

I frankly, However, dont see it applying to my-way-or-the-highway Bush.

WSY?

The more interesting pool would be is Pelozi the next speaker????

I gringe at the thought. What!!! Impeachment off the table. Maybe she is sensing Nov victory and is toning it down for broad support?

Self Righteous or not, if you really had the courage of your convictions, you would not pay your taxes. That is what I feel it will take to stop this juggenaut. It is obvious that "our" representatives do not listen to us and only listen to money. So, take their money away. Force them to take every one of us to court to collect from us. Once again, if enough of us will take a stand for peace, not against war, we will move mountains...or just continue to complain about how you are being screwed by your government and no one listens. Believe me, you will be heard if you do not pay your taxes. And, at some point, the media will also take notice. By the way, stop all newspspers and MSM media subscriptions. If you want the news, there is plenty on CommonDreams, Salon and other online publications that are free.

It makes my blood boil to read all the chatter back and forth on this Blog, with no action to back it up. I published my letter to the IRS here in April, and got virtually no comment...maybe 2 or 3. So, that tells me a lot. What are you willing to risk to make real change happen? Some risk their lives, and lose their lives, while the rest of us just complain and cower in fear at the Power of the Establishment. You gave it its power; now it is time you took it back.

Peace,
St. John

#225 I have a friend who observes chat rooms and he is astounded at the "chatter" about "events in June." This is only an observation, not an opinion or a validation, but evangel/fundie "reichwingers" are certain that June 6, 2006 -- 6-06-06 -- is the BIG DATE.

Uhm...?! Indeed.

Saladin, you have a wide range of interests and you post on these interests. I am into posting on the eight pillars of bushianity that will bring down Nazi America. Frankly, after I pass on, Nazi America can rot in hell if she chooses to do so. I focus on Nazi Americans embracing hatred, murders, torture, war crimes, corruption, decadence, greed, and lies.

#231 Derrick Michael Reid, please ask the Nazis to release Bushitler's reserve record. He did not want to serve outside the USA. He spent his time working on the election of a Congressman. He was a drunk. I see Bushitler as a low life, a gutless coward, and a chickenshit scurvy rat. Anyone can look brave when someone else' son or daughter is in harm's way. Why haven't Bush elder's 14 grandchildren served in our armed services? There is too much evidence that point to Bushitler and his brothers as low life cowards.

This is Bushitler's lifestyle

This is Bushitler's lifestyle

Hajji 224, sorry, again, 700 bucks is a bit steep for me!
St. John, posting such anti-tax comments here leaves you wide open to a serious pounding by some of the resident dems. It is blasphemy of a sacred religion. You must pay up because sooner or later the left will save us from ourselves, and they need all the bucks they can get to wage the war on the Middle East, uh, I mean terrorists that hate our freedoms.
Hajji 225, it's strange that when you post that info you are supported, but when I post it I am slammed, go figure.

Bushitler Hates America

Saladin:
I really don't care what the resident Dems have to say to me. The lack of any meaningful action by most on this site leaves me aghast. How can they claim to be responding to the current administration with empty words and self-congratulating diatribes against the trolls. This is just stirring the pot, but none of the ingredients is being changed because all are afraid that the stew might get worse than it already is. It is as bad as it is going to get, so do something that has an effect.

Peace,
St. John

Ex-WMD Inspector: Politics Quashed Facts

The debunking of the "mobile biolabs" claim began in classified reports long before the U.S. invasion, when German intelligence in 2001 and 2002 told U.S. officials that the story's source, an Iraqi defector code-named "Curveball," was unreliable, official investigations later found. U.N. inspectors determined in early 2003, before the war, that parts of Curveball's story were false.

In April 2003, however, two unusually equipped trailers were found in Iraq and the CIA declared they were the mobile biolabs described by the defector.

This story quickly fell apart behind the scenes, it has since emerged. Testing the equipment in early May 2003, U.S. experts found no traces of biological agents, and later that month the U.S. fact-finders filed their negative report from Baghdad.

But on May 29, Bush assured Polish television: "We found the weapons of mass destruction. We found biological laboratories." Then national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of State Colin Powell later made similar statements. As late as January 2004, Vice President Dick Cheney called the trailers "conclusive evidence" of Iraqi WMD, one of the reasons given for invading Iraq.

The experts' findings were classified, never to be released, The Washington Post reported last month.

More HERE

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

Bush was lying and he knew he was lying. He knew Saddam was a paper tiger. We had Saddam contained from the north and the south, Saddam had no WMD's and Bush wanted a better enemy than the Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Hundreds of thousand have died because he lied. He should be on trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

"Opinions founded on prejudice are always sustained with the greatest of violence." ~ Francis Jeffrey (1773 - 1850)

capt

"resident Dems"

Who are these resident dems?

LOL!

capt

A Fresh Focus on Cheney

Hand-written notes by the Vice President surface in the Fitzgerald probe.

The role of Vice President Dick Cheney in the criminal case stemming from the outing of White House critic Joseph Wilson's CIA wife is likely to get fresh attention as a result of newly disclosed notes showing that Cheney personally asked whether Wilson had been sent by his wife on a "junket" to Africa.

Cheney's notes, written on the margins of a July 6, 2003 New York Times op-ed column by former ambassador Joseph Wilson, were included as part of a filing Friday night by prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald in the perjury and obstruction case against ex-Cheney chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

The notes, Fitzgerald said in his filing, show that Cheney and Libby were "acutely focused" on the Wilson column and on rebutting his criticisms of the White House's handling of pre-Iraq war intelligence.

More HERE

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

Asked in June 2004 if he’d stand by his pledge to fire anyone found to have leaked, Bush replied "yes." [Bush Press Conference: Savannah, GA, 6/10/04]

As if!

capt

Bush Jr.'s Skeleton Closet

George Bush likes to present himself as a straight-talking, regular guy. But it's an act -- regular guys don't go to Andover Prep, Yale and Harvard Business School, and straight-talking guys don't pretend to be regular guys after growing up in one of the most privileged homes in world history. Not only was Bush's dad president, his grandpa was a U.S. Senator and wealthy Wall Street banker, and his mom's blueblood family owned (among other things) the estate in Maine that Bush still hangs out at.

Now, as Bush's regular guy act is wearing thin, some of his other deceptions are becoming more obvious.

Click on the allegation of your choice:

His top aides exposed an undercover CIA agent to silence critics

Lies, deception and coverups to push the war in Iraq

Convicted of drunk driving. Lied repeatedly to cover up his arrest.

Lying under oath. Bush & staff stop investigation of contributor's huge funeral home company.

Avoided Vietnam and Skipped Out on his National Guard Service

Texas government corruption: State $$ for campaign funders & business cronies

Cocaine: felony drug use, vile hypocrisy, and a hushed up arrest?

His "young and irresponsible" behavior: sex, drugs and (gasp!) rock and roll?

Thin skinned: censors his critics with police, lawyers, $$$

Character: Spoiled rich kid living off his family's name and reputation

Made millions on insider business deals, for little work

Deal #1. Personal Profits from Failing Oil Companies

Easy Money From Odd Sources

A Surprise Deal From Bahrain

Access to the President and National Security Adviser for his foreign business partner

Deal #2. Selling Oil Stocks Just Before Iraq Invaded: lucky guess or illegal insider trading?

Deal #3. A Big Slice of a Baseball Team

- Hypocrisy: using government coercion to make his private fortune

More HERE

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

What a guy? A real hero!

capt

Saladin, 238

I've put out several "hits" on people who've slammed me for my postings. Had their heads served up on platters, on pikes, on their own petards, etc...

When the word gets out, people clam up!

Amazing what the mafia hit squad will do for a couple gold dubloons!

Happy Mom's day, btw...the critters had me up @ 4:30 gatherin daisys, goldenrod, thistle and mountain laurel for their annual "Momma's Day" boquet for Jill. It is usually eaten by noon.

I guess they never saw "Please Don't Eat the Daisies".Please Don't Eat the Daisies.

-T

Capt,

Don't you know all that is just "election sludge"?

Nobody could ever be THAT bad...could they?

Bush can settle CIA leak riddle, Novak says

Newspaper columnist Robert Novak is still not naming his source in the Valerie Plame affair, but he says he is pretty sure the name is no mystery to President Bush.

"I'm confident the president knows who the source is," Novak told a luncheon audience at the John Locke Foundation in Raleigh on Tuesday. "I'd be amazed if he doesn't."

"So I say, 'Don't bug me. Don't bug Bob Woodward. Bug the president as to whether he should reveal who the source is.' "

More HERE

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

I wonder if Fitzgerald was listening to Novak?

capt

BACK FROM IRAQ
______________
After three years, there are at least 550,000 veterans of the Iraq war. The Washington Post interviewed 100 of them -- many of whom were still in the service, others who weren't -- to hear about what their war was like and how the transition home has been.

Their answers were as varied as their experiences. But a constant theme through the interviews was that the American public is largely unaffected by the war, and, despite round-the-clock television and Internet exposure, doesn't understand what it's like.

You can't understand unless you were there .

More
________________

More than a half a million sons and daughters of Mothers everywhere need to be heard.

-T

"could they"

I always say I hope I am wrong but I think they could, indeed they could and they could be worse than we imagine? I get stuck on the skull and bones, the tens if not hundreds of thousands of dead and those so deluded as to support the same.

But what do I know!

capt

A Happy Mothers Day to all

My mother buried three husbands, and two of them were just napping.
Rita Rudner

My mother used to say that there are no strangers, only friends you haven't met yet. She's now in a maximum security twilight home in Australia.
Dame Edna Everage (1934 - )

My mother loved children -- she would have given anything if I had been one.
Groucho Marx (1890 - 1977)

Neurotics build castles in the air, psychotics live in them. My mother cleans them.
Rita Rudner

My grandmother started walking five miles a day when she was sixty. She's ninety-seven now, and we don't know where the hell she is.
Ellen DeGeneres

Most turkeys taste better the day after; my mother's tasted better the day before.
Rita Rudner

His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork.
Mae West (1892 - 1980)

My Grandmother is over eighty and still doesn't need glasses. Drinks right out of the bottle.
Henny Youngman (1906 - 1998)

I'm a godmother, that's a great thing to be, a godmother. She calls me god for short, that's cute, I taught her that.
Ellen DeGeneres, My Point and I Do Have One

I don't have a bank account, because I don't know my mother's maiden name.
Paula Poundstone

Sooner or later we all quote our mothers.
Bern Williams

Some are kissing mothers and some are scolding mothers, but it is love just the same.
Pearl Buck (1892 - 1973), quoted in O Magazine, May 2003

A mother understands what a child does not say.
Jewish Proverb

The most important thing she'd learned over the years was that there was no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one.
Jill Churchill, O Magazine, May 2003

NPR reports this morning that over 70 bodies were delivered to the Bagdhad morgue in a 6 hour period, today.
_______________

I wonder if they've posted the sign that says, "Negeponte wuz Here"?
_______________

Getting Better

It's getting better all the time

I used to get mad at my school (No I can't complain)
The teachers who taught me weren't cool (No I can't complain)
You're holding me down (Oh), turning me round (Oh)
Filling me up with your rules (Foolish rules)

I've got to admit it's getting better (Better)
A little better all the time (It can't get more worse)
I have to admit it's getting better (Better)
It's getting better since you've been mine

Me used to be angry young man
Me hiding me head in the sand
You gave me the word, I finally heard
I'm doing the best that I can

I've got to admit it's getting better (Better)
A little better all the time (It can't get more worse)
I have to admit it's getting better (Better)
It's getting better since you've been mine
Getting so much better all the time
It's getting better all the time
Better, better, better
It's getting better all the time
Better, better, better

I used to be cruel to my woman
I beat her and kept her apart from the things that she loved
Man I was mean but I'm changing my scene
And I'm doing the best that I can (Ooh)

I admit it's getting better (Better)
A little better all the time (It can't get more worse)
Yes I admit it's getting better (Better)
It's getting better since you've been mine
Getting so much better all the time
It's getting better all the time
Better, better, better
It's getting better all the time
Better, better, better
Getting so much better all the time

-Lenin, McCarthy
_________________

-T

(a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/14/washington/14nsa.html?hp&ex=1147665600&en=8d6b912ef955133b&ei=5094&partner=homepage">Cheney Pushed U.S. to Widen Eavesdropping
_______________
WASHINGTON, May 13 — In the weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, Vice President Dick Cheney and his top legal adviser argued that the National Security Agency should intercept purely domestic telephone calls and e-mail messages without warrants in the hunt for terrorists, according to two senior intelligence officials.

But N.S.A. lawyers, trained in the agency's strict rules against domestic spying and reluctant to approve any eavesdropping without warrants, insisted that it should be limited to communications into and out of the country, said the officials, who were granted anonymity to discuss the debate inside the Bush administration late in 2001.

The N.S.A.'s position ultimately prevailed. But just how Gen. Michael V. Hayden, the director of the agency at the time, designed the program, persuaded wary N.S.A. officers to accept it and sold the White House on its limits is not yet clear.

As the program's overseer and chief salesman, General Hayden is certain to face questions about his role when he appears at a Senate hearing next week on his nomination as director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Criticism of the surveillance program, which some lawmakers say is illegal, flared again this week with the disclosure that the N.S.A. had collected the phone records of millions of Americans in an effort to track terrorism suspects.
_______________

Who's the REAL "Decider"?

-T

Cheney Pushed

oops, sorry....

Celestial Find at Ancient Andes Site

The discovery in Peru of a 4,200-year-old temple and observatory pushes back estimates of the rise of an advanced culture in the Americas.

Archeologists working high in the Peruvian Andes have discovered the oldest known celestial observatory in the Americas —†a 4,200-year-old structure marking the summer and winter solstices that is as old as the stone pillars of Stonehenge.

The observatory was built on the top of a 33-foot-tall pyramid with precise alignments and sightlines that provide an astronomical calendar for agriculture, archeologist Robert Benfer of the University of Missouri said.

The people who built the observatory —†three millenniums before the emergence of the Incas —†are a mystery, but they achieved a level of art and science that archeologists say they did not know existed in the region until at least 800 years later.

Among the most impressive finds was a massive clay sculpture —†an ancient version of the modern frowning "sad face" icon flanked by two animals. The disk, protected from looters beneath thousands of years of dirt and debris, marked the position of the winter solstice.

More HERE

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

Too cool for school!

capt

St. John 240, This is where I disagree with you, yes, paying taxes is supporting a very evil system, but this isn't as bad as it's going to get, it's going to get a LOT worse, you can count on that. But you shouldn't assume the people who post here do nothing but gripe. There are plenty who are actively engaged in trying to educate and motivate others to take a stand in an effort to bring this juggernaut to a halt. I understand your frustration, but the biggest hindrance we face is in trying to get the bits and pieces of truth out from the avalanche of lies burying it. The country has become one huge consuming machine, and efforts to get many to listen are overwhelmed by apathy and selfishness. How can solutions be found if the real problems are hidden?
capt 242, I'm not exactly sure, but I think there are some who still have faith in that label. And I think it is that faith that makes me a target for constantly rocking the boat!
Thanks Hajji, a hit squad sounds very effective!
Unfortunately my mother passed away 22 years ago, she was only 54 years old. I still can't believe I have a daughter that will be 25 next month and 2 grandsons, I guess time really does fly, especially when you have children!

I...
Jesus Christ...
State...
The Truth Exists...
HERE

I recently received this urgent letter from the most loving scientist on Mother Earth. So I suggest that ALL of you pay VERY careful attention to what it says, RIGHT NOW.

Dear Everyone In The Multiuniverses Everywhere...

I am a scientist on Mother Earth who runs an underground scientific and social news information resource...and right now, it is very extremely urgent that you pay careful attention to these words as of this moment in time.

It seems we have a much bigger problem with the Iraq Wars than we originally thought.

You see, the U.S. Military has been using "depleted uranium" weapons in all of its wars since 1991. And now, because of this single issue...by all known verifiable accounts, we now know that at least 400,000 atomic bombs worth of radiation has been spread into the entire Earth's atmosphere in the form of microscopic-to-dust-sized uranium and uranium oxide particles.

These are the known issues we all face because of this, right now:

Iraq is now fully contaminated with radiation, because of all of this atrocity. The people over there are dying, and their children are being born mutated. This is a fact that can be verified independently, if you so choose to do so.

Most of the soliders coming back from these wars have been contaminated with uranium radiation contamination, and they've been spreading it to others through sexual transmission.

This is now causing a "spiderweb" contamination effect throughout the whole world. Thus, countless millions of innocent men, women and children are becoming contaminated by radiation entirely without their understanding each and every single day, which is now spreading across the entire Earth like a wildfire out of control.

Again, these are facts that can be verified independently through the various medical accounts that have been already published on this subject.

The continuing spread of this radiation has been verifiably tracked within our entire atmosphere. It has been noted by concerned scientists in the U.K. and in many other locations throughout the entire world. This means that our entire globe has thus been contaminated in this manner, and it is getting worse with every single day...because now it rains down on all of us via the global winds.

You, me, our children, our families, all the animals, all the plants. On everything that we hold most dear in our hearts, because it is all that which gives us life itself.

And it is all destined to die if nothing is done immediately...
--------------
Of all the possible versions of hell facing us right now this is the worst. Air and water polution, global warming, deforestation, etc. don't hold a candle to the desolation this is going to bring. All these other problems can be remedied, but how do you remove 4.5 billion years worth of radiation?

A future with no bananas?
11:00 13 May 2006
From New Scientist Print Edition.

Go bananas while you still can. The world's most popular fruit and the fourth most important food crop of any sort is in deep trouble. Its genetic base, the wild bananas and traditional varieties cultivated in India, has collapsed.

Virtually all bananas traded internationally are of a single variety, the Cavendish, the genetic roots of which lie in India. Three years ago, New Scientist revealed that the world Cavendish crop was threatened by pandemics of diseases such as that caused by the black sigatoka fungus. The main hope for survival of the Cavendish lies in developing new hybrids resistant to the fungus, but this is a difficult and time-consuming task because the seedless modern fruit does not reproduce sexually and has to be bred from cuttings.

Now the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has warned that wild banana species are rapidly going extinct as Indian forests are destroyed, while many traditional farmers' varieties are also disappearing. It could take a global effort to save the bananas' gene pool.

In fact many of the genes that could save the Cavendish may already have been lost, says NeBambi Lutaladio, a plant scientist at the FAO's headquarters in Rome, Italy. One variety that contains genes that resist black sigatoka survives as a single plant in the botanical gardens of Calcutta, he says.
-------------

Bush, GOP fail again to fix alternative minimum tax

When the going gets miserable, the miserable cut taxes.

Shortly after hitting the lowest approval rating of his administration, President Bush this week will put his signature to yet another round of Republican-crafted tax cuts that (you'll be shocked to learn) overwhelmingly favor the rich.

The $70 billion tax cut package contains a number of moving parts. One of its chief components, though, is a two-year extension of the reduced 15 percent tax rate for capital gains and dividends; it had been set to go up in 2008.

"This legislation prevents an enormous tax hike that the American people do not want and would not welcome," Bush said after the bill was approved by the Senate along party lines last week. He's scheduled to sign it into law in an elaborate ceremony on Wednesday.

Another provision of the package is intended to shield middle-class families from the alternative minimum tax. That's good as far as it goes, but once again displays the cowardice of our elected officials when it comes to finding a lasting remedy for the problem. More on that below.

According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center in Washington, the average savings from these latest cuts for people earning between $47,000 and $67,000 is just $20. People with incomes over $1 million, on the other hand, will enjoy average savings of $42,766.

More HERE

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

Going by what they DO and not what they SAY - there is not much opposition. How could they ever entertain bringing this or other "tax cut" legislation when the deficit is snowballing out of control?

To pass the $2.7 trillion dollar budget they must raise the debt ceiling to $10 trillion.

When is enough enough?

capt

I guess Bunnypants keeps spending like there is no tomorrow until those holding of our debt say STOP!

Then it will really get messy.

capt

capt, the one simple solution to this is not even considered, except by one brave soul who is no longer with us. At the risk of sounding repetitive, I think St. Johns idea is a good one, stop handing over your money to those lying thieves. They cannot force everyone if everyone goes on a "tax strike" so to speak. It would definitely get their attention. Otherwise the poor and middle classes will continue to pick up the slack caused by these stupid tax cuts.

BANANA REPUBLIC:
THE UNITED FRUIT COMPANY

The history of Guatemala since the Spanish conquest is one of continuous domination and repression. For a brief ten years from 1944 to 1954, Guatemala experienced the fresh air of democracy. However, with a right-wing dictatorship back in power, Guatemala was thrown back into the dark ages and the stage was set for the next 30 years of repression and killing. As part of their efforts in the coup, the CIA made a list of 70,000 "questionable individuals". During Guatemala's 36 year civil war that just came to an end this year (1996), the government often referred to this list originally put together by the CIA.

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

The CIA has always been bananas!

capt

British Inventor Unveils 8000 MPG Car
Source: www.allheadlinenews.com
URL Source: http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7003538016
Published: May 12, 2006

Julie Farby - All Headline News Staff Writer

London, England (AHN)—Å British inventor unveils the world's most fuel-efficient vehicle, a three-wheel TeamGreen car capable of doing 8,000 miles to the gallon.

The 45-year-old inventor, Andy Green, from the University of Bath, built his budget eco-motor for just ?2,000, and will be the sole British contender for the title of the world's most fuel-economic car in a global competition being held later this month.

It has taken Mr. Green more than two years to design and build the car, which will be the fourth eco-vehicle he has built. He holds the British record for fuel-efficiency, with 6,603 miles to the gallon in a previous car.

According to the report, the new vehicle is powered by a single cylinder four-stroke engine with a capacity of just 35cc and runs with a special management system incorporating fuel injection.

A spokesman for Bath University says, "Andy Green is keeping the spirit of the lone British inventor who takes on the world very much alive."
---------------
We know this technology has been available for quite some time, do you think money has anything to do with ignoring it?

Saladin,

I cannot see how that could be done by work-a-day folks or salaried employees. The employer will take money out every week - maybe more if you refuse to file. It is not possible for too many (I think).

It makes me sick to think that so much money goes to war. We also pay far too much to the military industrial complex and the mountain of money involved with revolving door warmongers and war profiteers could pay one heck of a peace dividend.

UGH!

capt

capt, all they have to do is claim exempt status, or claim the maximun amount of dependents, which I think is 10 or so. That way zero is withheld and the IRS goons would have to actively pursue you to get the money. Just think what would happen if 80% of the people did this! It would bring this corrupt govt. to a screeching halt, then it would be we the people holding the cards! But I know that will never happen, as th pointed out, no one wants to be hassled by the goon squad, so they just pay up.

#262,

"With that kind of mileage I could afford the gas!"

Over $40 to fill the tank from 1/4 above empty.(about $50 for a full tank)

Everybody thought an oil-man in the WH would be a good thing? HA!

The joke is on us!

capt

Doctors Puzzled Over Bizarre Infection Surfacing In South Texas : If Diseases Like AIDS And Bird Flu Scare You, Wait Until You Hear What's Next
Source: www.mysanantonio.com
URL Source: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/me ... .morgellans.KENS.32030524.html
Published: May 11, 2006

Deborah Knapp KENS 5 Eyewitness News

If diseases like AIDS and bird flu scare you, wait until you hear what's next. Doctors are trying to find out what is causing a bizarre and mysterious infection that's surfaced in South Texas.

Morgellons disease is not yet known to kill, but if you were to get it, you might wish you were dead, as the symptoms are horrible.

"These people will have like beads of sweat but it's black, black and tarry," said Ginger Savely, a nurse practioner in Austin who treats a majority of these patients.

Patients get lesions that never heal.

"Sometimes little black specks that come out of the lesions and sometimes little fibers," said Stephanie Bailey, Morgellons patient.

Patients say that's the worst symptom, strange fibers that pop out of your skin in different colors.

"He'd have attacks and fibers would come out of his hands and fingers, white, black and sometimes red. Very, very painful," said Lisa Wilson, whose son Travis had Morgellon's disease.

While all of this is going on, it feels like bugs are crawling under your skin. So far more than 100 cases of Morgellons disease have been reported in South Texas.

"It really has the makings of a horror movie in every way," Savely said.

While Savely sees this as a legitimate disease, there are many doctors who simply refuse to acknowledge it exists, because of the bizarre symptoms patients are diagnosed as delusional.

"Believe me, if I just randomly saw one of these patients in my office, I would think they were crazy too," Savely said. "But after you've heard the story of over 100 (patients) and they're all, down to the most minute detail, saying the exact same thing, that becomes quite impressive."
-----------
I just read an article that said some suspect this weird and horrible disease could be connected to chemtrail spraying, as the fibers are almost identicle to the fibers in those chemicals. I know that is just another ridiculous conspiracy theory, but this disease is definitely weird.

"all they have to do is claim exempt status, or claim the maximun amount of dependents, which I think is 10 or so. "

It is my understanding that such action as above requires a letter to the IRS. It was the law many years ago.

It would be nice if people could get together and take any action. Seems like more are waking to the nightmare but it is already too late for tens if not hundreds of thousands.

capt

capt, I used to file 10 exemptions on the W2, or is it W4? Anyway, it's been a long time. That allowed me to keep all my meager pay. The IRS didn't bother me because I didn't make enough, or owe enough, after my 2 legitimate deductions, to waste time on! It's not illegal as long as you make up the difference at tax time. I know that I will probably get another pounding for that admission, but when you are as poor as I was every penny counted.

Outsourcing Poverty: Bush Announces Plan
The Spoof.com

Washington DC -- President Bush stunned the nation's capital today by personally announcing at a specially-called news conference the first step in what he characterized as a broad-based effort to both reduce the burgeoning federal deficit and jump-start the nation's constipated economy.

Calling his program "No Poor Person Left Behind," Bush announced that, beginning in June, poverty in America will be outsourced.

Specifically, poor people, the chronically unemployed, those with disabilities, the elderly poor, hurricane victims, and Medicare beneficiaries who actually succeeded in getting enrolled in the Medicare prescription plan will be outsourced to poverty-stricken areas of the world.

The first allotment of "relocatees" will be sent to Darfur by troopship early next month, the President said, becoming visibly irritated when a questioner referred to them as "deportees." Mr. Bush said that he expects all eligible relocatees will be outsourced by November, 2008. Logistics are being handled by Halliburton Corp.

"Poor people just don't fit in here in America, " the President said. "My mother taught me that from a very young age. Under the No Poor Person Left Behind program they'll have the opportunity to be far more comfortable in an environment like the one they are used to. I really think that looking out for the disadvantaged this way is how 'compassionate conservatism' is supposed to work.

"And on top of that," the President went on, "this nation will experience real savings -- deficit reduction -- through this program: We can look forward to fewer social security benefits, a lot less welfare, fewer people on Medicare and Medicaid -- we'll save right across the board. This will allow greater tax cuts for our already overburdened taxpayers. Less taxes mean more jobs. And with poor people out of the way we'll be creating more room here for the influx of illegal immigrants our economy so desperately needs to take those jobs!"

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn) expressed enthusiasm. "I think this is just the kind of initiative and leadership from the man in the White House this party has needed going into the Fall elections. It cuts the ground right out from under the Democrat opposition by removing their voter base."

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), frontrunner in the race for the '08 Democratic nomination, called the proposal "absolutely breathtaking."

Vice President Dick Cheney, taking time out from firearms practice in his Capitol office, said, "It sure beats lettin' 'em eat cake!"
----------
When I first saw this headline I thought it was real! Sounds like something that jerk would do.

Making Their Skin Crawl - Popular Mechanics

An article about the "mysterious disease" written by ------drum roll -------- Benjamin Chertoff! Interesting piece.

Stop acting like a victim. It's getting tiresome. You pound yourself more than anyone else does.

The Freefalling Dollar and Bush's war on the Middle Class

By Mike Whitney

05/13/06 "Information Clearing House" -- -- The dollar is getting hammered almost daily now. It's like watching the blood ooze from a hemophiliac. In just one month the dollar has tumbled from $1.20 to $1.29 vs. the euro; an astonishing 7% retreat.

Can't the American people see what is happening to their future? In just 6 years Bush has taken the world's strongest currency and chopped it into finally ground hash. By the time people rouse from their stupor, the greenback will be eye to eye with the peso.

Bush has piled up more debt than all the other presidents combined. His tax cuts have fattened the bankrolls of his constituents but they’∂e put the dollar on a downward slide. Since he took office the once-mighty greenback has plummeted a whopping 35%.

Meanwhile, at the Federal Reserve, new Fed-master Bernacke has the printing presses running at warp-speed. The soaring price of oil has soaked up more than a trillion dollars of freshly-minted fiat currency, but it's the only thing that's kept the greenback from slipping beneath the waves. Unfortunately, that trick won't last forever.

On Thursday the congress added another $70 billion to Washington's mountain of debt, completely ignoring the fact that the dollar lost a full 2% against the euro in the same 24 hour period. Is it possible to be that obtuse?

Is anyone minding the store? The blinkered congress keeps writing bad checks on an overdrawn account and then patting themselves on the back for a hard day's work. It's incredible. What foreign country wants to be yoked to a currency that is underwritten by $8.4 trillion in debt and freefalling by the day?

The American public is too blind to see that the trap has now been set for them and that soon they'll be tottering off to the grocery store with wheelbarrows of cash for a loaf of bread and a head of lettuce.

The dollar-slaughter is the biggest part of this whacko scheme. It is the quickest way to crush the middle class by robbing them of their life-savings through hyper-inflation.

By collapsing the dollar, Bush can shift the wealth of the American middle class to corporate mandarins in the blink of an eye. Industry profits will soar while working class people drown in an ocean of red ink.

The wheezing housing bubble and the steadily rising interest rates are a warning sign that time is running out on the dollar. America is being readied for economic shock therapy, and structural readjustment, the vile remedies for ailing economies. When the bottom drops out, the snoozing American middle class will finally stir from their slumber and get their first look at the new world.
-------------
Dear Mr. Whitney, there are many who would refer to this news as factless bullshit, you are delusional. Our economy is doing GREAT!

The Capitol Times
Madison WI

Kevin Barrett: Media hide truth: 9/11 was inside job
By Kevin Barrett
Last Saturday, former Bush administration official Morgan Reynolds drew an enthusiastic capacity crowd to the Wisconsin Historical Society auditorium. It is probably the first time in Historical Society history that a political talk has drawn a full house on a Saturday afternoon at the beginning of final exams.

Reynolds, the former director of the Criminal Justice Center at the National Center for Policy Analysis, and the ex-top economist for George W. Bush's Labor Department, charged the Bush administration with gross malfeasance, and proposed the prosecution of top administration officials.

Normally, if a prestigious UW alumnus and ex-Bush administration official were to come to the Wisconsin Historical Society to spill the beans about a Bush administration scandal, it would make the news. The local TV stations would cover it, and it would merit front page headlines in The Capital Times and Wisconsin State Journal.

Reynolds' indictment of the administration he worked for was a stunning, life-changing event for many of those who witnessed it. As the event's organizer, I have received dozens of e-mails about it from people who were deeply affected.

Despite the prestigious speaker and venue, and the gravity of the charges aired, for most Americans indeed most Madisonians the event never happened. Why? Because it was censored, subjected to a total media blackout. Not a word in the State Journal. Not a word in The Capital Times. Not a word on the local TV news. Not a word on local radio news. And, of course, not a word in the national media.

Why the blackout? Because Reynolds violated the ultimate U.S. media taboo. He charges the Bush administration with orchestrating the 9/11 attacks as a pretext for launching a preplanned "long war" in the Middle East, rolling back our civil liberties, and massively increasing military spending.

When a former Bush administration insider makes such charges, how can the media ignore them? Is Reynolds a lone crank? Hardly. A long list of prominent Americans have spoken out for 9/11 truth: Rev. William Sloane Coffin, Sen. Barbara Boxer, former head of the Star Wars program Col. Robert Bowman, ex-Reagan administration economics guru Paul Craig Roberts, progressive Jewish author-activist Rabbi Michael Lerner, former CIA official Ray McGovern, author-essayist Gore Vidal, and many other respected names from across the political spectrum have gone on the record for 9/11 truth.
--------------
You would think someone would at least write a column attempting to debunk these guys.

Saladin,

There's an old media chestnut..."There's no such thing as BAD publicity."

MSM covering such events would have to give space or airtime to such...and the word would spread. Then MSM would have to explain why they've gone so long leaving such revelations uncovered.

Ignoring it all is both easier AND probably handed down edicts from above.

-T

Hajji, that's true. bush, Iraq and the whole 9/11 fiasco is their stinking corpse, no wonder they don't want to face the music now. They'd have a whole lot of explaining to do.

Will U.S., Iran Negotiate?
During his several-week-long visit, Nahavandian briefed Iran's ambassador to the United Nations in New York, Javad Zarif. He also held a meeting with officials of the International Crisis Group, a Washington-based activist organization that recently proposed a way out of the U.S.-Iranian nuclear impasse. Its compromise plan: to acknowledge Iran's right to enrich small amounts of uranium, but to freeze the program for three years and place Iranian facilities under a tough international inspections regime.
-----------
bushco counter offer, "dump the euro based Bourse or you will end up like Iraq, got it? The death of the dollar will commence on OUR schedule, not yours.

#228
AHHHHHH,
Thank you James.

My daughter gave me a little bumper sticker that says "Bush Cheney O4 Operation Doom'

And a tee shirt that says 'Revolution Between the Lines' and it has a typewriter on it.

Gerald,

Arent there more pressing issues than Bush's National Guard Service?

Is this what they call "Mining"?
Is this what call sour grapes?
Bush is a hero!!!! (Not one vietcon made it past Brownville!!!
When Bush won in 00, and served for four years, did not his 4 years in service provide the best indicator of his next four years.
Going back that far indicates a lack of credible critizism as to his first four years.

Nonetheless, I generally approve of Bush's performance, save the border and the deficit, and the resulting loss of his political support base (me), but frankly, I think, as CIC, in the war on terror, is doing a good job. A minority view in here I'm sure.

Maybe I misjudged you all, I see you slamming Bushie for merely breathing air, but I also sense you cornnuts dont hesitate to slam the dems as well. As long as you give both hell, I think that fair.

#255
Sal,
My mother has always said that to me. Once you have children you can't believe where the time went and then you are 50.

#266
Sal,
As I was reading the article I was thinking chemical contamination of some sort. It is too weird to not have an outside component to it. The body doesn't just create weird fibers. I bet you that is what it is.

Ron Paul, (TX) Independent I think, is the leading pro real money and deficit hawk in the congress. He is on it. When he read my Triptipch, that was deleted here above, as too long, but can be found in the URL cites above, he wrote me back, thanking me for my support of real-money.

Caroline,
Why are you posting to Sal anyway? If you have a problem with her skip her posts. I'm getting tired of your nitpicking.

Jeanne, I can understand the frustration these patients must feel when doctors write them off as loony. The article went on to say one patient committed suicide. Also that this is ocurring in Cali and Florida. Very freaky.

#244 capt, great post!

#270 caroline, what other diseases are out there to rollback the world population from 6.5 billion to 500 million people?

DMR, why do you feel it necessary to throw in some kind of barb? Why can't you post a comment and leave the immature name calling out? No one here, except your fellow bush supporters, will give you any credibility if you behave like a 10 year old brat. Calling bush a hero is bad enough.

a biological component is found in the samples taken from chemtrails

#278, yes, there are more important issues but when Hitler Bush has murdered over 150,000 human beings to make people feel he has cajones than his chickenshit character has a place for people's memories.

How is this for Hitler Bush's leadership?

Gerald, not to mention poisoning every living thing on earth with DU contamination. I hope you read the article at my post # 256, it is probably the most worrisome thing, to me anyway, about this horrid war, and it is only going to get worse. These psychotic neocons will be responsible for the misery and death of God only knows how many millions of plants, animals and people before this is over with. Hero indeed. I guess if you consider the total genocide of earth itself heroic.

Middle East Experts Against Military Option in Iran
By Sari Gelzer
Friday 12 May 2006
On May 9th, 200 American Middle East experts sent a letter to the White House warning President Bush against threatening US military action against Iran.

"We started the letter out of a sense of frustration that the experts in the field were not being consulted as the US develops policy toward Iran," explained Professor Ahmad Sadri, the coordinator of the project. "This is the same mistake the US government made before going to Iraq. We're saying don't do that again."

This group of scholars, academics, commentators, and former US government officials called on the Bush administration to enter into face-to-face negotiations with the government in Tehran.

"As the International Atomic Energy Agency has found no evidence of research or diversion of materials toward atomic weapons in Iran, concerns about future dual use of nuclear technology ought to be addressed in face to face negotiations," said the letter.

Their letter arrived one day after Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had written to George W. Bush proposing "new solutions" to their differences. This letter was the first written communication between the leadership of Iran and the leadership of the United States since the Iranian Revolution of 1979.

Bush's response was to direct all diplomacy efforts toward the United Nations Security Council, which is currently drafting a resolution to present to Iran.

The UN Security Council meeting in New York this week did not come to a conclusion on a resolution. The US, along with the British and French, is encouraging a resolution that would make it mandatory for Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment activities. Russia and China oppose this approach that could provoke Iran to abandon cooperation with international nuclear inspections, the New York Times reported .

Ahmadinejad says that Iran's nuclear program is only for the generation of electricity, and he believes that it is Iran's right to have access to this for purposes of technological advancement. He further stated that he will reject any security council decision that would restrict the country's nuclear activities.

In a press conference on Wednesday following the delivery of the letter from Middle East experts to the president, Professor Sadri, one of the coordinators of the letter, stated:

"We don't intend to apologize for lapses of democratic structures or of the abuses of human rights in Iran. But we do contend that none of those problems will improve by coercive diplomacy or military attacks. We warn that threats of invasion and draconian ultimatums will serve the interests of the Iranian right wing that has wrapped itself in the national flag." The press conference was held by the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL), a non-partisan Quaker lobby in the public interest that has worked for more than 60 years to support peaceful alternatives to war and for nuclear disarmament.

On May 18th, Cindy Sheehan will deliver a separate petition to the White House opposing an attack on Iran. The petition, which can be found at www.dontattackiran.org, has already been signed by over 40,000 people and is supported by a broad coalition of organizations including Gold Star Families for Peace, CODE PINK, Progressive Democrats of America, the Campus Anti-War Network, and United For Peace and Justice.

--------

Links:

Frank Rich in 'NYT' Defends Newspapers, Rips 'Treason' in Washington

"When reporters at both papers were awarded Pulitzer Prizes last month, administration surrogates, led by bloviator in chief William Bennett, called for them to be charged under the 1917 Espionage Act.

"We can see this charade for what it is: a Hail Mary pass by the leaders who bungled a war and want to change the subject to the journalists who caught them in the act. What really angers the White House and its defenders about both the Post and Times scoops are not the legal questions the stories raise about unregulated gulags and unconstitutional domestic snooping, but the unmasking of yet more administration failures in a war effort riddled with ineptitude. It's the recklessness at the top of our government, not the press's exposure of it, that has truly aided the enemy, put American lives at risk and potentially sabotaged national security. That's where the buck stops, and if there's to be a witch hunt for traitors, that's where it should begin."

Rich also suggests that perhaps the recently exposed NSA database on phone records "may have more to do with monitoring 'traitors' like reporters and leakers than with tracking terrorists. Journalists and whistle-blowers who relay such government blunders are easily defended against the charge of treason. It's often those who make the accusations we should be most worried about. Mr. Goss, a particularly vivid example, should not escape into retirement unexamined. He was so inept that an overzealous witch hunter might mistake him for a Qaeda double agent."

He closes with a denunciation of Gen. Michael Hayden for new CIA chief, based on his leadership at NSA. "If Democrats — and, for that matter, Republicans — let a president with a Nixonesque approval rating install yet another second-rate sycophant at yet another security agency, even one as diminished as the C.I.A.," Rich declares, "someone should charge those senators with treason, too. "

More HERE

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

Rich is rocking and ripping!

capt

Hitler Bush is a cold blooded murderer!!!!!

Assessing the President

There are generals and church people who say that George W. Bush was chosen to be president by God. I cannot prove or disprove what people are saying. So, I offer you my assessment with some trepidation.

George W. Bush and his regime have been an experiment in mendacity with the American people. His disciples claim that he is the messianic messenger but his message has obfuscated the American people. His character lacks the probity to be a leader and his actions are more reflective of a nefarious person. George W. Bush expects Americans and the media to obsequious to what he says because he says it.

Before I accept the hyperbole that George W. Bush was chosen by God to be president and that God speaks to him, he must possess the virtues of my God which are humility, love, mercy, and patience. Personally, Mr. Bush does not possess any of these virtues. I see him more as a controlling, punitive, and vengeful person, totally lacking in compassion.

George W. Bush displays a depraved indifference toward the killing of living human beings.

Pandemoniac,
You had links concerning the tax cuts. The wealthy don't have to pay taxes on the dividends. At least that's what I have learned. Now if you take the money the wealthy are saving on the dividends that they don't have to pay taxes on, how much are they really paying in taxes? How much do they really end up paying in taxes vs the amount saved on dividends not being taxed?
Compare that to my measly savings on dividends. I wonder what the percentage is between earnings (including dividend and capital gains earnings)saved by tax relief and taxes paid if the tax cuts weren't there. And then compare the percentage to what the wealthy are truly paying in taxes vs other classes of citizens who aren't so lucky to have the tax cuts on dividends to off set the taxes they pay.

Can anyone give me an answer to this question?

#203 Saladin

I support you. Discourse should not include personal invective.

#244 Capt.

WOW!

LINK--Suicide rate High

If this doesn't depress one on Mother's Day....(LINK above)

Military experts and advocates point to recruiting shortfalls and intense wartime pressure to maintain troop levels as reasons more service members with psychiatric problems are being deployed to the war zone and kept there.

Your Christian President

Jeanne,

It depends.

Say you have enough in assets to live on dividends as opposed to a person that earns a salary and owns stock or other financial assets versus a salaried person without even a 401K.

The formula is different for each but the person (read:wealthy) that can live off of dividends or by way of sale(s) ie:capital gains - well you can do the math on that one.

I will snoop around for some more meaningful comparisons.

capt

#289 Saladin, I have read the article on #256!

DU Part 1

The glory of Bushitler is man fully dead!!!!!

DU Part 2

I've always wondered why there are not varying capital gains tax brackets, similar to income tax brackets. Since most of our retirement investments are wrapped up in real estate, which USED to be fairly sound, when we are ready to retire, what little we may gain, that isn't eaten by the inflation monster, will be subject to huge capital gains tax just as if we were making millions in profit. Trying to put your future financial security on a firm foundation is very difficult, especially for the average middle class working Joe, which we are. If we get hit with a 30% tax, after inflation, we will be going straight back to work, it won't leave enough for retirement. I wonder how many other people are facing this same scenario.

DU Part 3

What is more glorious than hatred, murders, torture, and war crimes in Bushitler's mind?

294 - Ask Warren Buffet. He said his tax cut would be $300,000. The media says the average millionaire (793 more billionaires this decade) will save $42,000. Jeanne, you hit on a key point. If the money is not earned income, but merely the cashing out of capital gains not taxed, the rate on zero requires no cut at all.

Been thinking since yesterday. Several people were touting hording gold as a means to protect their wealth. While it has gone up impressively, mostly due to the demand for hording, it can't be spent until its cashed in for dollars. You can't eat it or buy food with it, or fill up your tank with it. You could do well on an investment and pay off your debt and mortgage which will be a benefit.

Happy Mothers Day.

The average price for oil since 1869 (see http://www.wtrg.com/prices.htm) has been $20 per barrel. Two Exceptions to that were when Iran and Iraq were at war, both sides funded by the US, and when Iraq and the US went to war. Reagan?Bush and Bush2. But this isn't about Oil and the relationship between the Bush and Saud Families, is it?

I Filled up the sedan and ate brunch today. That killed $100. We are going to need the illegals because our working poor are going to have to walk to work and carry their lunch.

18 families fighting estate tax, study says

Eighteen families, including the owners of Nordstrom Inc., The Seattle Times Co., Mars Inc., Koch Industries Inc. and Wal-Mart Inc., that stand to save $71.6 billion in taxes are financing lobbying efforts to repeal the estate tax, according to a study by two groups.

Public Citizen and United for a Fair Economy, which want to see estate tax rates increased to as high as 60 percent, said the families perpetrated a fraud on ordinary Americans by saying the levy constitutes an unfair "death tax." Only about 0.25 percent of Americans who die this year will leave an estate large enough to be taxed, the groups said.

"We are here today to expose one of the biggest con jobs in recent history," said Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen, a government watchdog group founded by consumer activist Ralph Nader.

The groups estimated the 18 families have spent as much as $500 million on lobbying efforts since 1994.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has vowed a vote on the issue next month after postponing consideration of a bill to permanently abolish the tax after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast. Republicans said they were worried about creating the perception they were cutting taxes for wealthy families while storm survivors struggled.

The estate tax is being phased out until 2010, when it will be repealed for one year. Unless Congress acts, the tax is scheduled to return in 2011, with rates as high as 55 percent on estates valued at more than $1 million. The schedule was designed that way in 2001 to spread the effect of lost revenue on the budget over time.

Wiping the estate tax off the books would mean about $1 trillion in lost revenue for the government between 2010 and 2019, according to private and government estimates.

According to Public Citizen and United for a Fair Economy, the 18 families include the Walton family, which controls 40 percent of Wal-Mart and the Mars family, which owns Mars Inc., the maker of M&Ms.

Others on the list include the Nordstrom family, owners of retailer Nordstrom Inc., and The Seattle Times owner Frank Blethen and his family.

The families didn't immediately return calls for comment.

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

I know estate tax is not the question but the lobbying above to benefit the very few is what we are up against.

Wait - it gets better - you are four times more likely to be hit by lightning than ever paying one dollar in estate or the dreaded "death tax". A very successful campaign, eh?

capt

how to become a dictator(decider!) in 6 easy steps

6) Cover and let sit for 5 minutes, and serve with caviar and cabernet.

Oops, wrong recipe... here's number 6:

Rape and plunder your nation's wealth and that of the countries you decide to invade. Spread the wealth around liberally to reward your lackies who helped you get there -- who will include some large defense contractors, media companies, and other corporations, and throw some loot at others you need to bribe to maintain your power.

This method works in any country, in any culture, in any period of time.

RE #242: To the cultists, a "Dem" is anyone who refuses to bow the knee to Mammon, the idol-god of the cultists, and his anointed prophet-king, Doofus Maximus Caesar, aka Bushitler. They all worship the idol of Mammon, including the ones who sincerely believe themselves to be Christians. The plutocrats support the cult of Mammon, while laughing at the poor yokels who actually believe it.

"...take your time, it won't be long now
Before you drag your feet
To slow the circles down

And the seasons, they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captives on the carousel of time
We can't return, we can only look
Behind from where we came
And go round and round in the circle game"

--Joni Mitchell, "The Circle Game"

I turned 43 yesterday.

Searching for some shoes suitable for foot-draggging, Kid Charlemagne

I was going to apologize for the extra "g" in "foot-dragging", but it's actually a bit appropriate for that word. :)

Who gains from tax-cut bill

Middle America could see some relief, but those at high-income levels stand to benefit more.

NEW YORK –†There is a nice tax cut waiting for you - that is, if people refer to you as Dr. or "my lawyer," not Mr. or Ms. And possibly, you might notice the relief if you and your spouse make between $100,000 and $200,000 a year. But if you're laying bricks or working as a teller at the local bank, you might wonder what all the fuss is about.

President Bush is expected to sign into law a one-year, $31 billion cut for 2006, along with extending current tax cuts worth $39 billion over the next five years.

Some economists think the timing could be good: By the time much of the tax relief is distributed next April 15, the economy is likely to be slowing. But the cost of the cuts worries those concerned with the budget deficit. And yes, most of the immediate benefits will go to those with high incomes, even though the legislation is supposed to bring relief to middle-income taxpayers faced with the alternative minimum tax (AMT) - something originally designed to ensure that upper-income Americans paid Uncle Sam their share.

"It will only apply to a small share of all consumers, but it will have a positive impact on consumption," says Richard Curtin, director of consumer surveys at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. "It will be well timed since we expect the economy to slow down in the second half of this year and the first half of 2007."

More HERE

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

The insanity started with the surplus[sic] the government had too much of our money so we had to have a tax cut. Then as the economy sank and the government went into deficit spending we needed a tax cut to stimulate the ailing economy. Now we have a very expense war costing more than we can count and the government claims the economy is doing great so we need another tax cut.

Cutting taxes is great but catering to the wealthy has always been a failed policy for anybody but the wealthy.

Why is it we NEVER hear about cutting payroll taxes? That would give all the working class more money every week. Money that would stimulate the economy more than all the investments made by the tax breaks for the wealthy but they do not even know what "payroll" taxes are, they have never worked a day in their lives.

capt

@78 Saladin that poll does not surprise me. A few years ago when I attended a Palestinian Solidarity conference at Ohio State, there were the most right wing racist Zionist rabbis and students that I had ever run into. The students and Rabbis approached every person that went into the conference in a very aggressive way saying that the conference was anti-semetic.
One of the Rabbis would scream at every person that was going in through a magaphone and call them a "murderer". I went over to talk with the Rabbi with the megaphone and asked him politely to come into the conference. He picked up the megaphone looked right into my eyes and began to call me a murderer. I did not know it but T.V. cameras were on us, as I turned around an interviewer asked me what I thought about what the Rabbi was screaming. I said "that this was yet another example of how the Israeli government and the Israeli lobby in the this country operates, intimidation, extremism, and falsehoods".

I was able to talk with Jewish students after the conference and many of them were some of the most racist people I had ever met in my life. The majority of them were for busing and shipping the Palestinians out of their homeland. There was not one ounce of empathy or understanding for the Palesinians history in the area and how they have been treated for the last almost 60 years. It was absolutely disgusting.

# 82 Jeanne. I am with you we have only heard about the tip of the iceberg on the NSA wiretapping program.

When Senator Kerry and Biden demanded the NSA transcripts during the John Bolton hearings and were denied once again they were furious. Many say that these NSA transcripts would prove that Bolton was wiretapping Colin Powell and other UN members especially in regard to Iranian negotitations.

Also the Fox News four part report by Carl Cameron on Israeli communications companies Amdocs and Comverse Insofy having access to almost all of U.s. phone company records and the "alleged" data mining of these records and relationship to NSA wiretaping may come out.

What nations have access to the NSA WIRETAPING PROGRAM?

Israel Is Spying In And On The U.S.? Part 1

BRIT HUME, HOST: It has been more than 16 years since a civilian working for the Navy was charged with passing secrets to Israel. Jonathan Pollard pled guilty to conspiracy to commit espionage and is serving a life sentence. At first, Israeli leaders claimed Pollard was part of a rogue operation, but later took responsibility for his work.

Now Fox News has learned some U.S. investigators believe that there are Israelis again very much engaged in spying in and on the U.S., who may have known things they didn't tell us before September 11. Fox News correspondent Carl Cameron has details in the first of a four-part series.

Published: 12/12/01 FOX News. Part 1 of a 4 part series: Part 2- Part 3 - Part 4
These items have since been removed from the FOX News web site:

# Hajji...I don't believe this movement towards military action would have been able to succeed if the Aipac/Espionage/Steve Rosen/ Weismann would have proceeded as planned. It has been changed four times since January of 2006. The Israeli Lobby has pushed hard for delays and is attempting to have this trial dismissed. the major push for military action againt Iran is coming from Micheal Ledeen, Reuel Marc Gerecht, Feith, Stephen Cambone, Cheney, James Woolsey the same neo-con "cakewalk" folk that lied us into Iraq.. The Aipac trial (unless they are successful at shutting the trial down) is going to shed some light on the disproportionate amount of influence and power that the Aipac lobby has on our foreign policy, and how the Israeli lobby has been willing to go to any length to promote Israel's agenda.

If the MSM would cover the delays in this trial and that Israel Has "allegedly" been spying on the U.s. (I dont' believe they have ever stopped) and that it has played out as a threat to U.s. national security\, these right wing radicals would not have been able to be so successful at moving the regime change agenda forward.

I turned 43 yesterday

happy birthday!

$3 Gas: Bush Cabal Allows Profit Margin Increase

When you look at it in those terms, then we find out that the median price is actually $3.57.

So what does refiners’†margin mean? This is the profit that a refiner receives in turning a barrel of crude oil into other product at the retail level -- namely, gasoline, liquid natural gas, heating oil, etc. The most prominent refiners are Exxon Mobil, Texaco, Shell, Conoco, Amoco, Occidental, BP, and Chevron.

People should be reminded that prior to the installation of the Bush Cheney Regime, FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) had capped this profit.

There was a statutory cap, mandated by government, which capped refiner profit margins at $2 a barrel. Prior to this time, oil companies still made plenty of money.

One of the first acts of the then-incoming Bush Cheney Regime, in 2001, was to remove the so-called FERC caps, and to encourage oil companies by actually giving them tax incentives to increase profit margins even more.

What we haven’¥ pointed out before (frankly because the statistics are hard to come by, and because nobody has a political interest in this country in putting together such statistics), is how the Bush Cheney Regime has allowed higher profit margins and higher gasoline prices at the retail level, including refined hydrocarbon product.

Also the Bush Cheney Regime has made an effort to do everything possible to increase the price of a barrel of oil -- from diminishing U.S. production to removing tax incentives for exploration and increased production and removing tax incentives for construction of new refineries to ease strain on refinery capacity.

In other words, this regime has craftily done everything it possibly can to A) increase the price of a barrel of crude oil and, B) increase the profit margins of oil companies.

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

I wonder why this specific topic is not reported by the MSM?

Big oil oligarchy (four company monopoly) was capped at $2 net profit per barrel, Busheney un-capped and never re capped - so now they are making $20 per barrel profit while reducing out nation refining output?

I was listening to Thom Hartman on AAR - he was talking with Al Martin about the above - an interesting interview.

capt

Here's the story behind Hayden's appointment to the CIA. It is ominous in it's portent of the upcoming war in Iran.

The militarization of intelligence under Bush is likely to gurantee military solutions above all other options. Uninformed officers trained to identify military threats and trends will take over economic and political intelligence for which they are untrained, and often incapapble, and their priorities will skew analysis. But the bias toward the military option will be one that the military in the end will dislike. It will find itself increasingly bearing the brunt of foreign policy and stretched beyond endurance. The vicious cycle leads towards a downward spiral. And Hayden's story will be like a dull shadow of Powell's--a tale of a "good soldier" who salutes, gets promoted,, is used and abused, and is finally discarded.

No president has ever before ruined an agency at the heart of national security out of pique and vengeance.

Killing the CIA

Hitler Bush is a total screw up

#266 Saladin

Somehow, this disease does not surprise me. No telling what all the shit man has introduced into the environment can do. But it obviously is responsible for the rise in lung cancer and various other cancers, let alone bizarre ailments.

Wouldn't it be that doctors suspect the patients when they are at a loss for a textbook diagnosis? It gives one pause on depending totally on western science.

"Wouldn't it be that doctors suspect the patients when they are at a loss for a textbook diagnosis? "

And the same for mental health - faggetaboutit!

capt

Carey, my husband has been through medical hell with doctors who, failing to find anything wrong that they could see, and refusing to listen to him when he told them what he thought the possibilities were, said his pain was all in his head. This went on for years until, after the insurance co. refused to OK an MRI of the lumbar and thoracic spine several times, we just paid for it, and sure enough there were two severely herniated discs pressing on the nerves that were causing all kinds of awful problems and extreme pain. Our experience is not the exception, we have heard many horror stories like that.

#309: Thanks, James, but a cartoon Rush ate the cake before I could color it. Of course, I could always color him chickenhawk yellow. ;)

#312: Gerald: In other news, the Pope is Catholic and bears excrete in the woods. ;)

Now I must go off shopping and visiting. Ciao.

Yours in antique flatulence, Kid Charlemagne

Apocalypse Now?

Practical commentary, hard to cut down its length:

To connect the dots, you have to see the dots
May 14, 2006
BY MARK STEYN, SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST

....As "The Today Show's" Matt Lauer put it:
"...a shocking new report that the National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone records of tens of millions of Americans."

The second story comes from the United Kingdom and what with Lauer's hyperventilating you may have missed it. It was the official report into the July 7 bus and Tube bombings.

..."A lack of communication between police Special Branch units, MI5 and other agencies had hampered the intelligence-gathering operation;

"There was a lack of co-operation with foreign intelligence services and inadequate intelligence coverage in . . ."

Etc., etc., ad nauseam.

So there are now two basic templates in terrorism media coverage:

Template A (note to editors: to be used after every terrorist atrocity): "Angry family members, experts and opposition politicians demand to know why complacent government didn't connect the dots."

Template B (note to editors: to be used in the run-up to the next terrorist atrocity): "Shocking new report leaked to New York Times for Pulitzer Prize Leak Of The Year Award nomination reveals that paranoid government officials are trying to connect the dots! See pages 3,4,6,7,8, 13-37."

How do you connect the dots? To take one example of what we're up against, two days before 9/11, a very brave man, the anti-Taliban resistance leader Ahmed Shah Massoud, was assassinated in Afghanistan by killers posing as journalists. His murderers were Algerians traveling on Belgian passports who'd arrived in that part of the world on visas issued by the Pakistani High Commission in the United Kingdom. That's three more countries than many Americans have visited. The jihadists are not "primitives". They're part of a sophisticated network: They travel the world, see interesting places, meet interesting people -- and kill them. They're as globalized as McDonald's -- but, on the whole, they fill in less paperwork. They're very good at compartmentalizing operations: They don't leave footprints, just a toeprint in Country A in Time Zone B and another toe in Country E in Time Zone K. You have to sift through millions of dots to discern two that might be worth connecting.

......it's hard to see why lists of phone numbers with no identifying information attached to them is of such a vastly different order of magnitude. By definition, "connecting the dots" involves getting to see the dots in the first place.

Sen. Pat Leahy (D-Vt.) feels differently..."The secret collection of phone call records of tens of millions of Americans. Now, are you telling me that tens of millions of Americans are involved with al-Qaida?"

No. But next time he's flying....he might look at the security line: Tens of millions of Americans are having to take their coats and shoes off! Are you telling me that tens of millions of ordinary shoe-wearing Americans are involved with al-Qaida?

Of course not. Fifteen out of 19 of the 9/11 killers were citizens of Saudi Arabia. So let's scrap the tens of millions of law-abiding phone records, and say we only want to examine the long-distance phone bills of, say, young men of Saudi origin living in the United States. Can you imagine what Leahy and Lauer would say to that? Oh, no! Racial profiling! The government's snooping on people whose only crime is "dialing while Arab." In a country whose Transportation Security Administration personnel recently pulled Daniel Brown off the plane as a security threat because he had traces of gunpowder on his boots -- he was a uniformed U.S. Marine on his way home from Iraq -- in such a culture any security measure will involve "tens of millions of Americans": again by definition, if one can't profile on the basis of religion or national origin or any other identifying mark with identity-group grievance potential, every program will have to be at least nominally universal.

Last week, apropos the Moussaoui case, I remarked on the absurdity of victims of the London Blitz demanding the German perpetrators be brought before a British court. Melanie Phillips, a columnist with the Daily Mail in London and author of the alarming new book Londonistan, responded dryly, "Ah, but if we were fighting World War Two now, we'd lose."

She may be right. It's certainly hard to imagine Pat Leahy as FDR or Harry Truman or any other warmongering Democrat of yore. To be sure, most of Pat's Vermont voters would say there is no war; it's just a lot of fearmongering got up by Bush and Cheney to distract from the chads they stole in Florida or whatever. And they're right -- if, by "war," you mean tank battles in the North African desert and air forces bombing English cities night after night. But today no country in the world can fight that kind of war with America. If that's all "war" is, then (once more by definition) there can be no war. If you seek to weaken, demoralize and bleed to death the United States and its allies, you can only do it asymmetrically -- by killing thousands of people and then demanding a criminal trial, by liaising with terrorist groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan and then demanding the government cease inspecting your phone records.

I yield to no one in my antipathy to government, but not everyone who's on the federal payroll is a boob, a time-server, a politically motivated malcontent or principal leak supplier to the New York Times. Suppose you're a savvy mid-level guy in Washington, you've just noticed a pattern, you think there might be something in it. But it requires enormous will to talk your bosses into agreeing to investigate further, and everyone up the chain is thinking, gee, if this gets out, will Pat Leahy haul me before the Senate and kill my promotion prospects? There was a lot of that before 9/11, and thousands died.

And five years on?
============================================
I just love, and agree whole heartedly, with this gem of Steyn's: "I yield to no one in my antipathy to government"!

Will the Iraqi army ever be able to defend their own country?

Please add this website to your favorite's column

Highlights of President Jeb Bush's First Term, 2009-2012

Tomorrow is drug day, the day when seniors are supposed to file their preference for a hideously complex drug plan. Contrast that with Social Security, the most conservative of Federal programs. And why is it conservative? Because it is simple and it gives money, which allows the recipient to spent any way he wants. What is more conservative than a person spending his own money the way he wants ? Nothing. These drug plans dont do that. And contrary to Arthur Laffer's claim in WSJ that there is no correlation to input and benefits--quite the contrary =- there is a 1.0 (perfect) rank-order correlation between what one puts in and what one gets per month in SS. That's a conservative idea. My conservative friends clam up when I mention these things, for how can a true conservative be against Social Security while supporting all these other goofy programs which are very far from conservative philosophy ?

Read into this hidden nugget of truth about steel and heat:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12762983/page/2/

A weber grill has been undergoing a torture test for over 6 months at 850 degrees F.

"At a plant west of Palatine in Huntley, flat slabs of steel are pressed into the trademark kettle shape, coated in porcelain enamel and fired in a massive furnace at 1,600 degrees.

Engineers at Weber's 50-person research-and-development shop routinely "torture test" the products — one stainless steel gas grill has been burning full bore for six months at 850 degrees. Others are soaked in salt water to see how they'll withstand coastal environments, Weber Executive Vice President Mike Kempster said."
---------------
hello! I'm running out of weenies in here!

Why there will be war

the stealth sidewalk sale. everything must go!

322

...Contrast that with Social Security, the most conservative of Federal programs....

OK, most regular Cornuts on the Left are beyond my educational `outreach' and will, IMHO, remain lifelong takers (of others' taxes) but jerry, you are trying to be funny w/the above comment on SS, right?

More from jerry #322: "What is more conservative than a person spending his own money the way he wants?"

IF in fact, he is spending "his own money" instead of the transfer payments that is at the very heart of Social Security.

jerry #322 Follows with: "...there is a 1.0 (perfect) rank-order correlation between what one puts in and what one gets per month in SS."

Man, what are you smoking to be soooooo off, Oops, I mean, funny? To begin with, the employer `puts' in half of what goes into a person's SS account (self-employed pays all 12~13%)...a concept that most corp. 401K plans calls `matching' contributions.....

Also, jerry, what happens to that "perfect" correlation if somebody passes away the day after qualifying for full benefits? Can that person's estate receive it `perfectly'? What if this person lives longer than what the acturial ptable estimates by say, 20 years?

jerry #322 Ends with: "My conservative friends clam up when I mention these things,....."

jerry, they are honoring their friendship w/you but thinking like me, "what is he smoking? Must be good to be so Happily off his rockers..."

and why there will always be war

James, I'll take 2!

Rapture Is Crapture

In response to letter #326, the SS benefit was per month, not per lifetime. the insurance aspect of the program dictates that benefits cease at death (although survivor benefits may exist). I dont smoke ,either, so you're wrong there, too.

at #273
You would think someone would at least write a column attempting to debunk these guys.

It's already has, which is why none of the media gave it any credence. That's the economist, the 'inside guy' who had been in the administration for a whopping week when 911 happened. Listening to him on scientific issues is like listening to a fry cook, no make that a bonafide chef in Culinary Arts, overrule your doctor in matters of health.
See why it wasn't covered?

Looks like many people in New England are not having a pleasant Mother's day.

As a globalize community, we are asmototically, zero wars, thought you would not know it reading the papers and all the political hype.

27,000,000 dead in WWII, now that's a real war.
650,000 dead in the Civil War, well then a high percentage invovled, now that's a war!

Iraq had ONLY 3 weeks of WAR, Naja and Fallaja got hot for a couple of weeks as well, but now its police action patrolling the streets, which is now largely done by the Iraqi, anyway. I see the demonstrators in front of the White House demonstrating AGAINST THE WAR, but I dont know what war is being referred to. The War on Terror, which is more of a spy-stand-off strike global police action.

What War?

Gerald, when you use the word "displays", it seems to me that that is your interpretation, based upon your vision of the world.

Would you say the same of Lincoln, Wilson, Rosevelt, Truman, Johnson, etc., merely because there are dead. I suppose yes. It is striking to me how relatively few deaths there actually are, and how low the death rate is, in this SO-called WAR.

I suppose 3000 dead in NY is meaningless in your eyes, and 1 soldier death on the counter-stroke, is intolerable in your eyes.

It seems to me, the low causaulty rate, belies your interpretation, hands down.

Re #333, #334: Derrick, your numbers are all FU. First go read a history book. Then include all deaths attributed to any given war, including the current two.

Let's get Jesus back

Bill Moyers' speech was one of the best speeches I have ever read. It was a powerful speech. As I read his speech, I wrote notes to help me highlight his words. There are many powerful ideas and so I can only share what gave me important ideas and thoughts.

Let's get Jesus back!

There are different kinds of religious denominations but even each denomination has their difference. Religion is both healing and killing. Each denomination acts like sibling rivals for God's favors. Are we killing for the glory of God? We seem to be applying military principles to evangelism. We invade countries and we say we are carrying out spiritual battles for the souls of this nation and the world. Can killing human beings save your soul? Killing human beings in the name of God will not save our souls. We are fighting current wars in the name of Jesus (that is blasphemy). General Boykin has said, "Bush was appointed by God" (blasphemy).

William Penn, a Quaker, said, "To be furious in religion is to be furiously irreligious."

The healing side of religion must overcome the killing side of religion. There are two Americas today. Laws are passed that says leave no rich child behind! Yet, we have poverty among married couples and single parent families. We have to run harder to just stay even. We cannot keep running.

Rich Americans have hardened their attitude toward poor people and middle class persons. The American system is rigged against the poor and the middle class. The Commonwealth Foundation Center for the Renewal of American Democracy has documented research that working families and the poor are losing ground under economic pressures that deeply affect household stability, family dynamics, social mobility, political participation, and civic life. Private control is taking over land, water, natural resources, media, scientific discovery, medical breakthroughs, and politics. Money is changing America. People are pre-occupied with money and the quest for money. Money has democracy in a stranglehold and is suffocating it. Money influences Washington, D.C.

Learned Hand said, "If we are to keep our democracy, there must be one commandment. Thou shall not ration justice." The rich do not have the right to buy more democracy than anyone else. Class war is going on from the rich upon the poor and the middle class (who has said that there is no class war). The rich are shredding the social safety nets. They want more and more control and wealth. Here is a fact. Most people will have to do with less so that big business can have more. Big business has built alliances with religious right and contrived a cultural war as a smokescreen to hide the economic plunder of the very people who enlisted as foot soldiers in the war.

William Buffet said, "There was a class war, my class won." Business wins for Bush. 50% of the tax cuts go to the 1% wealthiest Americans. Domestic social programs have been cut. The rich want to starve Americans into submission. America is home to the greatest inequality of wealth in the history of mankind. Government is being stripped of any power so the rich can be rewarded and the government’≥ only function is to wage wars so the rich can get richer. Tax cuts will force cutbacks in Social Security. This may be the first class war in history where the victims will die laughing.

Our democracy is degenerating into a shell of itself in which the privileged and powerful sustain their own way of life at the expense of other and the United States becomes another Latin America with small crest of the rich at the top governing a nation of serfs.

Poor are getting poorer, the health care crisis worsens, wealth and media become more and more concentrated, and Christianity lost its voice. The religious right has drowned everyone else out. Jesus was hijacked. This Jesus was hijacked by the religious right and became the guardian of privilege instead a champion of the dispossessed. Hijacked and made into a militarist, hedonist, and lobbyist (blasphemy) seeking tax breaks and loopholes for the powerful, costly new weapon programs that do not work, and punitive public policies.

Let's get Jesus back!

We need a Jesus who inspired
1. Edward Rogers to crusade across New England for an eight hour work day
2. Frances William to rise up against the sweatshops
3. John Ryan to champion child labor laws, unemployment insurance, a minimum wage and decent housing for the poor, ten years before the New Deal
4. Dorothy Day to challenge the Church to march alongside auto workers, fishermen, textile workers, brewery workers, and marble cutters
5. E.B. McKinney and Owen Whitfield to challenge a Mississippi system that kept sharecroppers in servitude and debt
6. A Presbyterian minister Eugene Carson Blake to protest racial injustice in Baltimore
7. Martin Luther King to join the sanitation workers for decent wages in Memphis

Now comes the resurrection all over again. Our times cry out for a new politics of justice. We need faith that takes on corruption of both parties. We need a faith that challenges complacency at all power. Jesus drove the moneychangers from the temple. We must drive them from the temples of democracy.

Let's get Jesus back!

But, let's do it in love!

Love gets thrown out casually these days. But the love I mean is the love described by Reinhold Neibuhr in his book of essays, Justice and Mercy, where he writes: "Basically love means being responsible, responsibility to our family, toward our civilization, and now by the pressures of history, toward the universe of mankind." Let us love our enemy, even as we resist his aggression. We cannot defeat terrorists if we become like them. We cannot stand up to the religious right if we imitate them.

Love is action, not sentiment. Who gave us the authority to change the meaning of the Church? How did we let creed override compassion? When the Church was young and fair, and the people passed by her doors, they did not comment on the difference or the doctrines. Those stern and taciturn pagans said of the Christians: "How they love another!" Peter said of the first Churches, "Above all things have unfailing love toward one another." Love covers a multitude of imperfections.

Glenn Tinder reminds us that "none are good but all are sacred." Life is not fair and it is never equal. The founders were speaking of powerful spiritual truth that is the heart of our hope for this country. They saw America as a great promise but America is a broken promise and we are here to do what we can to fix it. St. Augustine shows us how: "One loving soul sets another on fire." (Let us have loving souls so we can set America on fire with our love for each other.) To move beyond sentimentality, what begins in love must lead to justice. Your Call to Renewal is the fight of our lives. (More Christian blood will flow in the twenty-first century than the previous twenty centuries.)

Parentheses are my personal comments.

Let's get Jesus back comments

After reading Bill Moyers' speech, Let's get Jesus back, I tried to summarize his speech and hopefully, I was able to highlight some of his thoughts. Here are my personal thoughts of Bill Moyers' speech.

The religious right is not Christian because they are glorified with murders and wars. They are the killing side of religion. I sensed something was wrong but I could not put a handle on what was wrong. Bill Moyers clarified what was wrong in America. Rich Americans have hardened their attitude about the poor and the middle class. They hate the poor and the middle class. They have disrupted the families by making them more dysfunctional. Families cannot even live on two incomes. Greed has changed America.

There is only justice for the Bushes, big business, and the rich with the help of the religious right. There has been a class war that has been orchestrated by the rich to gain more wealth. There are no social safety nets for Americans. The Bushes, big business, and the rich do not want Americans safe; they want Americans fearful of their own shadow.

Bush will never leave the White House because business wins with Bush. There will be no presidential elections in 2008.

We are becoming more like Latin America. No wonder why we have kept the School of the Americas for all these years. We were practicing so that Americans will be more like Latin Americans.

The Bushes, big business, and the rich with the aid of the religious right have hijacked Jesus and they have defamed Him.

America has a serious problem because both the democrats and the republicans are corrupt political parties. There is no one in either party that is inspired by Jesus to help make America, a better nation.

The Bushes, big business, and rich do not love. They hate the poor and the middle class. Christianity is dead in America because the religious right preaches bushianity, the faith of hatred, murders, torture, and wars. Americans are a lost people under the control of the Bushes, big business, and the rich.

A day in the life

Son of Top Iraqi Judge Killed in Baghdad

Roadside Bomb Kills American Soldier in Iraq

Bombs Rock Shrine in Volatile Iraqi City

10 Killed in Iraq Violence

Developments in Iraq on May 14

Developments in Iraq on May 13

*****

"With most men, unbelief in one thing springs from blind belief in another."

~ Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742 - 1799)

What I admire about our GREAT CIC, is the strategic brillence, in tackling the islamo-facist world, first buddying up with the pakies, taking down afgahn, and then saddam, for the cue-de-gras geographical ISOLATION of Iran, now the focal point of globalized geopolitical dimplomatic pressure and ISOLATION to chill out neuk development. In my eyes, looking at it ALL, from the long term, multi-decade comprehensive global perspective, its going very very well in deed.

Lets hear for our Great President and CIC,
GW Bush!!!! hip hip .....

Re #338: I'll finish it: 'Puke'

Capt, Again, I just love those little quotes.

But, I backed up my position, that is rational, and not blinded, would you at least give me that?

at #323 Haha, the Weber Grill. How much weight was it holding up at the time?
I still dunno if that lady was 'photo-shopped' in or not, but if she wanted to roast weenies, she would've had to go up a couple of floors where the fire had advanced.
*nudge nudge*

Dont get me wrong, I regret the 3000 mitiltary and the 3000 NY civies deaths, as well as the 50K+?? Iraqi dead as well. The question is cost effectiveness is it not? I am more in favor of a strong forward defense, and the cost of that, than the hunker-down coward mentality awaiting more hits and extinction.

Come on gang, fess up, GW has no chance with you all. Kinda like the wire-tap thing, had we not wired-tapped and got hit again, BUSH would have been impeach at the drop of a pelozi pwek.

Be honest, am I right?

Savage's trifecta: smears of Hispanics, gays, and Jews

Summary: Nationally syndicated radio host Michael Savage unleashed a series of attacks on Hispanics, homosexuals, and Jews.

On the May 10 and 11 broadcasts of his nationally syndicated radio program, host Michael Savage unleashed a series of attacks on Hispanics, gays, and Jews. Savage said that "our brown brethren" entering the United States may "erase" the "European-American, or the white person," who Savage claimed is more "benevolent" and "enlightened"; declared that Americans "must never elect an overt pushy lesbian or homosexual to any office"; and described former Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright as a "brisket maker" who "has the audacity to say that we should have a dialogue with the Hitler of our time" -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad -- despite having a Jewish heritage.

Discussing the immigration debate on May 10, Savage stated that "our brown brethren, who are so nationalistic and so anti-gringo and anti-Anglo," are not "as enlightened as the European-American." Warning that "the European-American, or the white person, is being erased from America's future," Savage doubted that "minorities, when they take over the country, will be quite as benevolent and as enlightened as the European-Americans today."

More HERE

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

What a class act, eh?

capt

Capt, why did you not jump all over Gerald for his long post.

Are you subject matter sensitive?

Be honest.

I think Savage has a thing for Coulter.

I know both a little extreme, but both make me roll laughing, there is always a little truth in kidding and extreme views.

Did anybody see Gore on "Saturday Night Live" last night? He had a "parallel world" state of the union speech from his oval office and talked about the things we've accomplished and current events since he was dutifully elected in 2000.
Hella funny (or was it sad?). One point was... gas at 19 cents a gallon and the oil companies hurting... so he was proposing a bail out for them. "After all, if the situation was reversed, I know the oil companies would help us in the same way."

Beck on "blowing up" Iran: "I say we nuke the bastards"

Summary: On the May 11 edition of his nationally syndicated radio program, when asked for his views on "[b]lowing up Iran," CNN Headline News host Glenn Beck answered, "I say we nuke the bastards." Beck continued: "In fact, it doesn't have to be Iran, it can be everywhere, anyplace that disagrees with me."

On the May 11 edition of his nationally syndicated radio program, when asked by executive producer Steve "Stu" Burguiere for his views on "[b]lowing up Iran," CNN Headline News host Glenn Beck answered, "I say we nuke the bastards." Beck continued: "In fact, it doesn't have to be Iran, it can be everywhere, anyplace that disagrees with me."

As Media Matters for America has noted, Beck has previously suggested "politically correct name[s]" for bunker-buster nuclear weapons that the Bush administration has reportedly considered using against Iran, in order to make their use more accepted. Furthermore, Media Matters has also noted that Beck has used his new CNN Headline News program to make the baseless suggestion that Iran might "already" possess nuclear weapons.

From the May 11 broadcast of Premiere Radio Networks' The Glenn Beck Program:

BECK: All right, stop the music. I've got to talk. Stu, give me a topic, some butch topic I can talk about for a second, will you?

BURGUIERE: Blowing up Iran.

BECK: Blowing up Iran. I say we nuke the bastards. In fact, it doesn't have to be Iran, it can be everywhere, anyplace that disagrees with me. Hang on just a second, is there any more [former "American Idol" contestant] Clay Aiken? Maybe we should just listen to them. We should listen to -- we should listen to the president of Iran. We should listen to President Tom [Beck's nickname for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad]. And say what, what, what do you want? How can we be friends? Why can't we just all get along? Who was your favorite on American Idol, President Tom?

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

I noticed HNN has a one hour Glen Beck show here in the 'Burque.

"Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man's sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true."

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

capt

Re #340: Derrick, being ignorant --- and not correcting that when it is pointed out to you --- is not rational. It is difficult to be very rational with an IQ of only 91. Do you know to whom I am referring?

DBB, sorry, my mistake, let me make a correction.

27,000,001 dead in WWII
650,001 dead in the Civil War

Rather than object with the naked dig, and effectively say NOTHING, why dont you tell how many. I dont think we are that far apart. What am I missing???

being ignorant

DBB, ok, now I am ignorant. I guess you help yourself, can you, degrade anything you dont agree with. Rather than name calling, how about impressing us with your knowledge of the facts, and assert you position in POSITIVE terms, rather than merely slam. Its called style.

Re #349: Derrick, you clearly do not know your history. But then, maybe like the current POTUS, you don't read. For WWII you are off by at least 30 million. And you need to find a reference for the War Between the States, since I don't trust your figures.

Who was Fremont's cheif of staff in Missouri in 1861??? What you dont know???
Are you ignorant???
Now tell me, what good was that?

(Asboth, div cmdr at pea ridge)

DBB, I have been studying the civil war for 25 years, and am developing internation game play.

This day I was working of topography around Ft Heiman, opposite Ft Henry, on the TN river, by the way.

Bush militarises Mexican border to appease Right

GEORGE BUSH will today announce the deployment of thousands of US troops to the border with Mexico to stem illegal immigration.

In a televised address, his first since December, President Bush will hope to repair deep Republican rifts over immigration and restore some momentum to his Administration.

He will put fresh emphasis on the need to fix holes in America’s porous border with Mexico, which has helped more than 11 million illegal immigrants to slip into the US in recent years.

A package of security measures is expected to include the promise that border areas will be militarised in effect by the deployment of thousands of National Guardsmen.

This is a concession aimed at conservative Republicans in the House of Representatives who have been threatening to wreck a compromise deal on immigration reform.

More HERE

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

I cannot imagine someone with successful policies would have to make concessions to his own base and party.

A miserable failure and the worst president in history.

capt

DBB,

Let me help you. This is how a gentleman would do it.

Mr. Reid, you may be close as to direct causation of death of 27Mils, but indirect deaths cause by WWII put the real loss at nearly 75Mils. Hence, the distinction is proximal causation.

DBB I agree with you.

K, the whole Gore bit is at Crooks.

By the by,

I think 225,000 US deaths militery in WWII,

Am I close?

Here are my bess quesses of US deaths

Revolutionary War 17,000
Civil War 650,000
WWI 115,000
WWI 250,000
Korean 35,000
Vietnam 55,000
War of Terror 3,000 exclusive of civies.

am I close??

Re #357: The number looks about right to me, but what is the 'militery'? That part is not close enough. Enough already.

I am totally usure about Gulf I, but think it is in the 100s???

any clue?

It seems to WAR is becoming less and less, and time marches on. To deny democracy century, (and the global confluence) is to dismiss out of hand 5000 years of human cultural evolution.

David,

I would be interested in your comment on my projection of global confluence. I will be painful for you to read, I suppose.

http://imcs.dvgu.ru/news/dmr/globalconfluence.html

Relax, Benson...

A day or two after the magical re-animation of DMR, he'll start spewing his "New World Order! Resistance is FUTILE!" AmeriBORG crap.

It IS a refreshing change from Boyd/LBH...at least THIS one tries to spell...

Spanky got to call his mom, today...All is well...so far.

-T

A miserable failure and the worst president in history.

Capt, a little in sight. You would have been perfect as a yankee editor in 1864.

Gerald,

Seriously, dude...c'mon.

-T

Re #361: Derrick, around here 'David' refers to Mr. David Corn. I am DBB.

Also you need to learn to properly link.

Come you guys, I am not crazy, and neither are you all. The distinction is that, I WANT YOU ALL here giving the adm hell, because I want all views pounding the table. I hope this is not really a difference between us, but a commonality that binds us all together in this great nation, call the USA.

On PBS today:

Women of Tibet: Gyalyum Chemo

The life of Dekyi Tsering, mother of the Dalai Lama, with comments from her children, grandchildren and friends.

*****

Lots of neat stuff from the Dalai Lama (and his siblings)

If you can catch it - it is very good!

capt

well, if they photo shopped that poor gal in there then they photoshopped an entire video of her waving at us from the same hole where the first plane went in and was destroyed. by the way, here's what did the damage to wtc1: a flying pig.
and you can advance good old wilbur thru 41 frames, one at a time. it looks like a flying LOL to me.

Hey, anyone pick up on the drop of Bird flu in birds and in people, in its local of origin, vietnam, with not one case this year in 06. Apparently, as the new flash went, the culling of birds, isolation bird housing, bird innoculation, and training of pultry businesses, is working. This is a good thing!!! Its look like GLOBALIZATION, poopooed by most in here, shows once again, that cooperative functionality increases for the betterment of man-kind, as time marches on.

GLORY GLORY HAELULLA!!!

Alan and james: The waving woman was not photoshopped into anything. She is alive and well today. Panning out from the usual closeup one can see fires in the vicinity, but maybe not the same floor.

reid, your new tactic is destined for failure. it's easier to just change your handle on the sly and show up all surprised like at the candid level of discourse.

"60 Minutes" looks good.
"Ronald Reagan was wrong. George Bush was wrong. Wealth does not trickle down!"

and there's going to be a bit on the Dixie Chicks too.

A good name, like good will, is got by many actions and lost by one.
Lord Jeffery

Some people have so much respect for their superiors they have none left for themselves.
Peter McArthur

To have respect for ourselves guides our morals; and to have a deference for others governs our manners.
Lawrence Sterne (1713 - 1768)

It cost about 75 cents to kill a man in Ceasar's time. The price rose to about $3,000 per man during the Napoleonic wars; to $5,000 in the American Civil War; and then to $21,000 per man in World War I. Estimates for the future wars indicate that it may cost the warring countries not less than $50,000 for each man killed.
Senator Homer T. Bone

There is no nonsense so errant that it cannot be made the creed of the vast majority by adequate governmental action.
Bertrand Russell (1872 - 1970)

Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting a particular way... you become just by performing just actions, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave actions.
Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC)

The best thing to give to your enemy is forgiveness; to an opponent, tolerance; to a friend, your heart; to your child, a good example; to a father, deference; to your mother, conduct that will make her proud of you; to yourself, respect; to all men, charity.
Francis Maitland Balfour

For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.
Nelson Mandela (1918 - )

Strike against war, for without you no battles can be fought! Strike against manufacturing shrapnel and gas bombs and all other tools of murder! Strike against preparedness that means death and misery to millions of human beings! Be not dumb, obedient slaves in an army of destruction! Be heroes in an army of construction! : Helen Keller

=
Don't be deceived when they tell you things are better now. Even if there's no poverty to be seen because the poverty's been hidden. Even if you ever got more wages and could afford to buy more of these new and useless goods which industries foist on you and even if it seems to you that you never had so much, that is only the slogan of those who still have much more than you. Don't be taken in when they paternally pat you on the shoulder and say that there's no inequality worth speaking of and no more reason to fight because if you believe them they will be completely in charge in their marble homes and granite banks from which they rob the people of the world under the pretence of bringing them culture. Watch out, for as soon as it pleases them they'll send you out to protect their gold in wars whose weapons, rapidly developed by servile scientists, will become more and more deadly until they can with a flick of the finger tear a million of you to pieces: Jean Paul Marat

===

Thanks ICH Newsletter!

On social issues and the war, I give W good marks, on the deficits and border, I give W bad marks, and he gots 2 more years to get it right, otherwise, dare I say it,

.......... LIBERMAN!!!!!!!

(Condi for Prez, and Cox for VP, is my 08 dream ticket, by the by)

whether alive or not, the woman is standing where the plane went into the tower. where the incredible heat caused some steel to buckle thus causing the entire tower to explode from the top down. by the way, what is the length of a 767? and what was the distance from the perimeter columns of the tower to the core columns? somehow the nose of the flying pig11 was able to destroy the perimeter columns and then be destroyed itself by the core columns in a distance shorter than the length of a 767. without the tail of the 767 slowing down in the slightest. and that's just the flying pig11 at wtc1. there are 4 videos of yomesitesam175 exibiting even stranger behavior over at wtc2. but, no doubt there are rational explanations for it all.

282 Jeanne sez:

Caroline,
Why are you posting to Sal anyway? If you have a problem with her skip her posts. I'm getting tired of your nitpicking.
-------

Jeanne, I post to Sal because I get tired of her seeing a conspiracy under every rock. And I get tired of her ending an incredible number of her posts with a swipe at anyone who DOESN'T AGREE WITH HER. I can respond to any post I want to, until David Corn says otherwise. Why should I skip her posts? That would be putting my head in the sand.

I could say to you, "If you're tired of my "nitpicking," skip my posts." There, I said it.

I have a problem with George W. Bush. Am I supposed to ignore him?

The waving woman was not photoshopped into anything. She is alive and well today.

awesome! Do you know how she got out? I know some stairwells were ok, some weren't.

James, I am afraid I did not get it. Sly, not me, I am what I am, and dont pretend or disquise anything. New Tatic? Nope.

I sometimes listen to these pudits screaming at each other on the news show, each one, trying to cut off the other with every words, as if, what is to be said had never been. When the level of discourse become so ranker, I like to show respect to opposing views even when I vehenmently disagree, hoping, in turn, like respect, so that we as a society keep the tension and conflict up, but civil, as necessary in any democracy.

No, I dont agree with much of what is supposed and offered here in cornville, but realize, that this negative feedback to the powers that be, is absolutely necessary, to keep things controlled, over the long term. The day to day debates, can be dirtly and nasty at times, and I to have jumped into the gutter, in curt reply, only feeling later, ashamed for failing to be a better man, time and time again.

I am no better than any of you, nor any less, as I possess only one man's opinion.

Re #378: Alan, she walked down many, many flights of stairs, being below the fires.

Re #376: james, yes, there are rational explanations for it all. That's what we explore over on PhysOrgForum.

Caroline,

A conspriacy under every rock? Saladin reminds of the GATA gang (Gold anti trust action) committee. GATA claims world wide conspriacy during the 90s to suspress the price of gold. I got interested it. I found out that there was a "Washington Agreement", where world central banks agreed to limit gold sales.

Well, the agreement did in fact represent a HORIZONTAL agreement, that would violate US anti-trust laws, but immune to prosecution under international law, and hence, a de facto CARTEL operating in trust to control the price of Gold.

A conspracy? well yes, most EU banks signed on.
A Cartel? Yes, it was a hornizontal agreement.
Did it suppress the price of gold?? Hell yes, it caused gradual declined for 15 years.

But, it is not an ACTIONABLE horizontal agreement. So, I take from this, that conpriacy theories will fly off the wall upon superficial evidence of such, and that is fine. After digging a little, its was the real truth, but not actionable, and every one really knew it, anyway. I dont mind the conpricacy therorist, and in fact, enjoy the creating thinking.

To me, I just assume be amused by the conpriacy theories, sometimes laughable, sometimes serious, but, for the intellectual excerise per se, usually ENJOYABLE. Its attitude. Your problem, may one of prespective, tolerance, taking it all to seriously, and not considering the source. You could go from being annoyed to being amused, by a simple attitude adjustment.

Hey, where the hell is the dali lama anyway?
I bet you money he's in Deli conpriring with the Indian government planning an invasion of China with tatical nukes, to liberate Tibet and greater India from the ruthless clutches of Peking.

How did I do?

I got another, but this aint so laughable.

Bush lied, soldier die. Bush lied, is incorrect as fails the definition of a lie. Soldier die, is incorrect as it assumes direct causation, as WMD, was one of many reasons why saddam had to go.
Bush is after the oil. Chenny wanted war to increase Haliburton's profits. One sick conspriacy theory after another, but here, I dismissed out of hand as lacking any credibilty. Does it offend me? Hell Yes! Do I want it said, ..... yes!!! not because it is the truth, but because the concerns should be raised and considered. Bad Idea only become bad, once echoed throughout the land, and determined false or incredible. The more BS that is thrown up by the cornnuts, the better we as a society becomes. How can a theory or idea be proven incorrect or bad, unless aired for public scrunity?

Salidin and you cornnuts, bring it ON!!!!

Curious how one would encourage BS from the cornnuts, that in effect, serves this country. David Corn should be congratulated for offering each day interesting topic for the cornnuts to chew on and from which to throw up their "ideas" for discussion.

Talk about spin from hard-right!!!

By the by, trust me, the adm is watching all of you cornnuts, probably already tapped phones of Capt, Salidin, DBB, James, inter alia!!

ROFLMAO!!!!

Sleep well, Big Bro Bush is watching!!

ROtFLMAO!!!!
all they'll catch from tapping any of my lines is THIS

yomesitesam175 = YOSEMITEsam175

Well, THAT DMR didn't last long before breaking down...

HAHAHAHAH!

Capt, again, I love your little quotes, I think it is a part of the cornville that makes it really special, thanks for them.

I was particularly intringed by the one from Senator Homer T. Bone, that the cost per death in war has increased. May I take that analysis a step further? Conclusion: He does not tell the whole story.

In the good old days, say, pre 1500s, when tribal/kingdom engaged in war, they took no prisoners, except women as cancubines and slaves, and hence, the casuality rate for the loser was 100%, the victor, not much more, and one-on-one battle usually ment equal rate of casualities. Then came the middle ages, and the chivary, I suppose, and if a besiged defender surrendered early, the garrison was spared with honor, otherwise the black flag. Then came the guns, but still, the ratios of death were even, with casualty rates of say 20% (DBB I am guessing here, so give me a break) Then, long range rifles and smoothbores, with many battles have 10-15% casualty rates, and garrisons were not slaughtered, but imprisoned or even exchanged or paroled. In the WWI and II the causaulty rates continued to drop as a percentage to those engaged. In Korea and Vietnam, the technology differences became apparent, with kill ratio of 5:1 to 10:1 or more in many battles, but US death rates per battles were down to less than 5% for a stand up fight. The cold war provided a dry spell, but then emerge Gulf I and Gulf II, with advance technology.

The military technology is exponentiating, and it seems that the bend in curve seems to have occurred in mid 1900s. Each day, our military technology advances that increases our differential effectiveness over our opponents, has a like curve, but delay in time, until we have reach a point these days, that in a stand up fight, we have less than 1% casualty rates.

This is astouding!! of the 200K troups that have been cycled through mid-middle east, the casualty rate is about 1%.

So, it seems that, over the last two milineia, the costs per death has increased, as the casualty rate has decreased, making a relative, net sum zero, in the cost of war, generally.

War, in term of the US prespective, has become more expensive but more safe for the US fighting man/woman, which supports my contention that the Adm is providing fighting joe, with the best chances he ever had of surviving a battle or a war. Our armies and navies are all volunteer, and this should not change in the forseeable future, they all know they got the best chances in history to survive.

Along side this trend, is the trend toward fewer and less deadly war (in terms of US battle casualties) but more expensive, the quid pro quo.

So, let now do something positive, and project these concepts into the future century. There will be fewer wars, fewer battle casualties, but it will cost allot more to wage or be prepared for war, until such time, that globalization become substantially complete (NK or Iran resolutions for example) cements the functional geo-economical-political rules sets that render military expenditures largely unnecessary for dispute resolutions. The inevitable globalization and confluence will in time render military expentitures largely unnecessary as world power seek domination by trade and not by guns, as one does not wage war on one's customers, and all will seek to avoid pertabation shocks, such as 9/11. Contrary to popular belief, it is the Russian and China who have the most to lose in an Iranian war, and will seek to get Theran to compromise with the "Grate Satin".

The later half of this century will wage war, not by guns, but by the trade, and the major issues then will fair-free-trade war which in fact as begun in earnest, (just ask Lou Dobbs LOL!!!), over population, and environmental issues and resolution. I wont be around to enjoy the fruits of 5000 years of cultural evolution of man-kind, in this regard of the inevitable global confluence, but it seems, that we as a specie are moving to a better plane of intercourse.

The ultimate projection:

The Dollar and War is completely replaced by Gold and Trade, say 2025!!!

As to the demise of the dollar see:
http://www.resourceinvestor.com/pebble.asp?relid=15912&t=11
As to Global confluence See:
http://imcs.dvgu.ru/news/dmr/globalconfluence.html
As to Gold Suppression:
http://tcode.tinro.ru/dmr/

Alan, you just don't get it do you? Liars lie, Murderers murder, scammers scam. The MSM doesn't pay attention to anything that doesn't allow the agenda to progress. They don't debunk anything, they just smear and engage in name calling, not very convincing as far as I am concerned. But you keep on supporting that 9/11 lie from that liar in the WH, that liar who is slaughtering hundreds of thousands with his bombs and DU poisoning, that liar who doesn't give a shit about our troops much less a bunch of peons in a few office buildings, that liar who is intent on world domination at any cost, as long as he isn't responsible for the bill, his day is coming anyway, and all you supporters will be sorry you ever believed even one word that spewed from his evil, disgusting, lying mouth.

DMR, your stupid name calling makes me decide to ignore you.
A solution for caroline, either ignore my posts, I am NOT bush, or get some therapy! Your obsession with my comments is becoming very disturbing.

#390 Dear Saladin, there you go again! Assuming. Making "connections" where they don't exist. I never suggested you were bush! Where did you get that?

I am not "obsessed" with your posts. Au contraire! I do not agree with most of your posts, but that is much different than being "obsessed" with your posts. Nor am I "disturbed" by your posts. I just find them lacking intellectually because you seem to be guided more by emotion and your personal experience than by rationality. (That is not to impugn personal experience. Used wisely, personal experience contributes to learning and knowledge.)

Fellow sane subjects of the Corporate Occupation State that has usurped the once-good name of the United States of America and created a second Gilded Age, do NOT give the cultists what they want. We do not need to respond when they come here to spew the talking-point lies of the Corporate McMedia Matrix, complete with alleged facts from the Matrix to give the illusion of support. As Ayn Rand--a right-winger, ironically enough--once said, "It is not your function in life to be a flyswatter." Let us transcend them in serene apathy, while welcoming any who actually do "take the red pill". I, for one, am getting too damned old to waste any of my remaining time arguing with cultists.

In the long run, it will not matter. American "conservatism" is irremediably and inextricably linked with white supremacism. It cannot win, or get close enough to cheat without the cheating being too obvious, without appealing to the racist sewer that runs beneath the illusion of white American virtue. (BTW, I'm a paleface, if anyone's wondering) Thus, when this country becomes majority-nonwhite, "conservatism" is burnt toast. I only hope I retain enough strength by then to crawl to the ruins of the American conservative movement and excrete on its grave.

I'll keep Kid Charlemagne on the "Name" line, but I think this really comes from--the Monster from the Id

Nitpicking?

indeed.

Spanky got to call his mom, today...All is well...so far.

Hajji, that's good news that he got to call his mom. I bet it made her day! And I truly hope it made his a little brighter, too. Godspeed to your and your family.

yosemite - could that possibly be a spanish phrase?

like "i, robot."

oh, that would be soysemite - nevermind the bollox

Alan, you just don't get it do you?

Yeah, I get it. I think you don't. So, just go on believing in their idiot theories. Pile on to the list of Americans that would lie to cover for bush. He's a liar, sure, about the Iraq War and many other things, but it was incompetance that got him the excuse to start the Afghanistan War. Then the lies started to get on the PNAC agenda. The thousands and thousands of people it would take to pull off a conspiracy like you think, make you look, well... less than logical.

US TROOPS PREPARED TO ATTACK IRAN

In January 2006, a major military base located in the western United States received voice instructions from National Command Authority (NCA) to get their logistics train underway and train up their troops for desert warfare.

The current National Command Authority is comprised of a Commander-In-Chief who deserted his post during the Vietnam War, and a Secretary of Defense who, despite never having donned a uniform in defense of his country, did succeed in cashiering and countermanding enough combat-experienced generals to engineer the current debacle in Iraq.

“Which desert?” the commander wanted to know.

“You don’t need to know,” he was told by the NCA.
-----------------
so the bushco machine is poised and ready - basically they're just waiting for iran to get tired of waiting to be destroyed and strike the first blow. like saddam did with 911.

The Republican Party is starting to eat its own.

Some angry conservatives begin to think GOP should lose fall congressional elections

Some conservatives angry at President Bush for not pressing hard enough on cultural issues are suggesting that the Republican Party would be better off losing congressional elections this fall, according to a front page story set for Monday's New York Times, RAW STORY has found.

"There is a growing feeling among conservatives that the only way to cure the problem is for Republicans to lose the congressional elections this fall," conservative direct mail pioneer Richard Viguerie tells the Times.

Excerpts from the article written by David D. Kirkpatrick:

Some of President Bush's most influential conservative Christian allies during the last election are becoming openly critical of the White House and Republicans in Congress, warning that they will not help turn out the vote this fall unless Congress does more to oppose same-sex marriage, obscenity and abortion.

Viguerie cited dissatisfaction with government spending, the immigration policy debate and the situation in Iraq. "I can't tell you how much anger there is at the Republican leadership," he said. "I have never seen anything like it."

-------------------
I knew the abortion issue was going to do the Republican Party in.

Thank you to all who tried to answer my tax cut question, especially you Capt.

I watched Narnia today. If you haven't seen it I recommend it. Very good.

We both can agree the goal was to invade Iraq, correct? Then if they were hatching some kind of 9/11 scheme, then why didn't they plant a briefcase full of Iraqi documents? You think the hijackers were stolen identities, then why didn't they steal Iraqi identities? If you can't see how illogical, and certainly unscientific your conspiracy theories are, then you must be left-brained dominant(artistic/spatial) instead of right-brained (logical/statistical).
Or is it the other way around?

And if Iran manages to block the Persian Gulf, cutting off the oil, our economy is toast. It will be Katrina on a national scale---no, international, since all economies are connected these days.

"Did you ever get the feeling everything in America is completely f**ked up?"---from the movie "Pump Up The Volume". Of course, today, Hard Harry would have a blog on the Net.

"Welcome back, my friends/To the show that never ends/We're so glad you could attend/Come inside, come inside"---Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, "Karn Evil 9"

Ducking and covering, Kid Charlemagne

Oh my my my.

Jeb is brilliant

Gov. Jeb Bush's failure to salvage a seemingly hopeless Republican quest for the U.S. Senate race this year points to a future of questions for the party.

Bush's force of personality and intellectual rigor have dominated the Republican Party of Florida for most of the past decade, creating a cohesive machine that controlled the state.

But signs of fraying have become evident in Bush's last months. Senate Republicans bucked his heavy lobbying and killed his plans to protect vouchers and soften limits on class sizes.
The party has split into two camps on the sides of the men running to replace Bush - Attorney General Charlie Crist and Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher. And most prominently, the hapless crusade of Katherine Harris' U.S. Senate campaign - and the failure of Bush and the Republican Party of Florida to find a more viable option - dealt a severe setback to a party used to getting its way.

Some Republicans, privately and publicly, say Bush was too focused on his immediate agenda and ignored warning signs about the future.

Sen. Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton, praises Bush as an ''unbelievably brilliant man'' who has had an historic impact on the state.

''If there is a weakness in his leadership, it's been the fact that he didn't train his successors,'' Bennett said. ''He controls so much himself.''
---------------
Two brilliant men in one family.

The National 9/11 Debate is pleased to announce that Philip Berg, James Fetzer, David Ray Griffin, Steven Jones, Morgan Reynolds, George Nelson, and Judy Wood have agreed to participate in the National 9/11 Debate on September 23, 2006 in Charleston, South Carolina. Members of the 9/11 Commission, government scientists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and other supporting experts are anticipated to participate and represent the government’s debate team.

Civilian Debate Team selected to debate government account of 9/11
---------------

these guys must truly be high! everybody knows that muslim extremists had the most to gain from the destruction of the wtc. i mean just follow the money! it surely leads directly to the red hands of zarkowie or mooseowie or otroowie (alterowie?) and it's common knowledge that osama is an evil super-genius who circumvented and confounded the poor confused NSAciaFBIpentagonAF. and who can ever forget how islamic jihadists are profiting from the no end-in-sight global war on terror! GRRR! die towelheads die!

i think hair-brained is the term you were reaching for, ya?

#405: Any more such "brilliance" and the country will collapse, and the Mexicans will have to keep us out of their country for a change!---KC

Kid Charlemagne,
Happy Birthday. You must'nt worry about that international stuff. Your hair turns gray when you worry and you get cranky. Go eat cake. Everything will be fine. Think nice thoughts like...well, I'll leave that up to you.

You think that'll be on C-SPAN or anything? All Americans should be able to watch that.

Jeanne--Thank you, but you're too late. I had some gray hair and a cranky attitude BEFORE 9/11/01! ;)---KC

Laura Bush doesn't believe bad polls on husband

First lady Laura Bush said on Sunday she does not believe opinion polls showing her husband's approval ratings at record low levels.

Interviewed on Fox News Sunday, Laura Bush said she did not think people were losing confidence in President George W. Bush, despite a series of polls showing support for him at its lowest point in his five-year presidency and among the lowest for any president in the past 50 years.

"I don't really believe those polls. I travel around the country. I see people, I see their responses to my husband. I see their response to me," she said.

"As I travel around the United States, I see a lot of appreciation for him. A lot of people come up to me and say, 'Stay the course'."
------------------
Oh boy. Who's going to tell her?

Rummy's handwritten note on 9/11 : See if we can hit S.H. Sweep it all in.

That was from the meeting when Richard Clarke and others told him is was OBL and al Qaeda that attacked us, not Saddam.

Dammit man, we can't even get our conspiracies right! We set up the wrong damn camel jockies. Now we gotta jump thru hoops lying our ass off to get to Iraq some other way.

BACK FROM IRAQ

....After three years, there are at least 550,000 veterans of the Iraq war. The Washington Post interviewed 100 of them -- many of whom were still in the service, others who weren't -- to hear about what their war was like and how the transition home has been.

Their answers were as varied as their experiences. But a constant theme through the interviews was that the American public is largely unaffected by the war, and, despite round-the-clock television and Internet exposure, doesn't understand what it's like.

It's a timeless refrain sounded by generation after generation of soldiers returning from combat. But what sets Iraq war veterans apart is not just the kind of war they are fighting but the mood of the country they are coming home to. It is not a United States unified behind the war effort, such as in World War II. There's no rationing, no sacrifice, no Rosie the Riveter urging, "We Can Do it!" Nor is it the country that protested Vietnam and derided many vets as baby killers.

The United States that Iraq veterans are returning to is relatively indifferent, many said. One that without fear of a draft seems more interested in the progression of "American Idol" than the bombings in Baghdad. Sure, there are the homecoming parades, the yellow-ribbon bumper stickers, the pats on the back -- they continue as troops arrive back home.

But for many vets, those moments of gratitude were short-lived or limited to close friends and family. Soon they were joined by bitter impressions of a society that seems to forget that it is living through the country's largest combat operation in more than 30 years.

When Army Reserve Warrant Officer Mark Rollings got home to Wylie, Tex., he didn't expect anyone to treat him any differently because he was a vet. But he couldn't help but notice that the only one to say anything about the newly installed Purple Heart license plate on his Chevy Blazer was the kid who changed his oil at the Wal-Mart.

"For having a global war on terrorism," he said, "everything looks like business as usual to me."
-----------

what, saddam wasn't responsible for 911? that's odd, because Almost 90% (of soldiers in iraq) think war is retaliation for Saddam’s role in 9/11,

Salidin,

I'm taken back a little, I dont recall calling you any names, but rather, I thought I was being very polite at all times. I'm crushed. :(

The Nazi Empire Is Waning

Salidin,

I'm taken back a little, I dont recall calling you any names, but rather, I thought I was being very polite at all times. I'm crushed. :(

James, I think it was you that posted this site
the other day. That guy is a regular poster over here on the other blog. "Cristophera" is his 'handle'. His name is Christopher A. Brown.
In case you haven't heard the latest (not sure if it's on his site or not... but the guys that regularly dismantle his theories say it's new), it's C4 explosives pre-installed when the towers were built. They knew it would come in handy, so they thought ahead what, 30 yrs ago? Ehh, the rebar in the 'concrete core' was coated with explosives too. Says it made the core like a big cannon.

George W. Bush is a cold blooded murderer and a demented, depraved, and deranged war criminal!!!!!

The glory of Bush is man fully and totally dead!!!!!

I forgot... he says the elevator men doing maintenance and upgrades (door restrictors) set it all up.
I'm shocked that my own IU of EC brothers would be in the conspiracy. (International Union of Elevator Constructors, Local 1)

Ah, cornnuts, the use of which is really an affectionate characterization of all those who regularly visit this cite, and no more, and no insult was intended.

GREAT IS THE GUILT OF AN UNNECESSARY WAR. John Adams

I TREMBLE FOR MY COUNTRY WHEN I RECALL GOD IS JUST. Thomas Jefferson

As Christians let us follow Jesus Christ who is the embodiment of justice and perfect love. Let us follow Jesus Christ by saying no to war, no more wars for humanity.

I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians, your Christians are nothing like your Christ. Mahatma Ghandi

American Soldiers

2,734 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan for Bush and his lies.

Gerald,

in 25 years, when the islamo-facist world realizes that Bush set into motion a democracy-century force that will inevitably liberate them from their intolerance and centuries of social stagnations, one may claim, blesses is the long-term peace maker. WSY?

Curious, how many more Millions of dead from Saddam's Butchery would you have tolerated before you felt it necessary to take him down with US troops? Or, are you the kind that could easily sit idly by, and and watch the slaughter over tea, caring less? There is another prespective of course, to the actions of HERO BUSH.

The CIA has finalized a covert operation of an incident to blame Iran and nuke the shit out of her.

A general is head of the CIA who has been selected to run the covert operation. War, glorious war, will soon commence!!!!!

Let me kindly lay this on the cornnuts for a response.

Let say 300 US soldiers would probably die, if Bush sent in a division to take down the Sudanese back muslim Jawazie Militia, now butchering and raping Christain Blacks in Dufar. We are the only superpower capable of projecting such forces. We as a nation have a history of morality, (right and wrong) and the guts to act.

Would you approve??? Or let the slaughter reign?

WSY?

Gerald, when and where????

Im getting wet!

saddam's butchery - right, i forgot all about that. oh well, maybe 3 years from now you can remind us of ahmadinejad's butchery too.

A Preschool Lesson on Iran

antiwar.com has survived its fund drive!

Please read these other great articles for May 15, 2006!

A Government Out of Control

The Lessons of War That Few Have Learned

The Weakness of Empire

Fascism: Are We There Yet?

Bush's Unanswered Letter
(Personally, I believe he is set to nuke Iran.)

Was the invasion of Normandy June 6, 1944?

My high operative contacts are talking about an Iran attack set for June 6, 2006. That will be N-Day for Iran or Nuke Day!!!!!

Here's some of the interesting post at Glen Greenwald's blog.

Unclaimed Territory

(5) When I read this article reporting on polling data that shows that Americans overwhelmingly believe that The Devil Bill Clinton did a better job than the Epic Savior Hero George Bush in every category of governance, I genuinely thought to myself that that article could really send many Bush followers into a state of serious mental depression, or worse.

It's one thing to have read almost every day that the vast majority of Americans dislike and disapprove of the Leader and that more and more Americans abandon him by the day. But to have to read that Americans overwhelmingly prefer Bill Clinton to George Bush in every area -- including foreign affairs (by an embarrassing margin of 56-32%), national security (46-42%), and on the question of "which man was more honest as president" (46-41%) -- must be truly difficult for those remaining Bush followers.

Yeah Gerald, I read about that too. 06-06-06

Hmm, where I have I seen 666 before?

thought that article could really send many Bush followers into a state of serious mental depression, or worse.

not if they ignore it; it's inconvenient!
"if we ignore it then it didn't happen."

They're planning to attack on 06-06-06? Yeesh, it's like Stephanie Miller said; it's getting to where you can't tell real headlines from ONION headlines. Off to put clothes in dryer now.--KC

#429,

Is that before or after Iran does what it claims it wants to do, to wit, wipe Israel off the map, or, summary execution of political prisoners speak out against the controlling mullas?

"if we ignore it then it didn't happen."

James, there's more farther down. A few days ago, 'we' flew 5 Chinese Muslims from Gitmo to Albania. They all were found not to be 'enemy combatants' a long time ago. They couldn't release 'em till they found a country that would take them in, dontcha know. "Our friend China"... would torture and kill 'em. So guess what, they up and found Albania all a sudden... shhhh, that they had a court date Monday morning had nuttin' to do with it. Government says... hey, no hearing to determine if it was illegal holding them without evidence or any rights, see, they are free. No harm, no foul.
ugh!

Chill out gang, there will be no war with Iran, now that HERO bush has them geographically and politically isolated, with us having a real blockade capability for enforce sanctions against an already tanking economy.

And his lies .....
anyone up for a debate as to ONE supposed lie.
OK, tell me one, and give me best one.

A lie: An false utterance known to be false stated with the intent to decieve.

False utterance: WMD (i suppose)
Known to be false, sorry,
With the intent to deceive, sorry.

any other so-called lies?????

On the difference between a lie and a mistake:

When George H. W. told Beelzebabs that she couldn't get pregnant if they fornicated standing up, that was a lie.

Dubya was the mistake that resulted.

Always happy to help, Kid Charlemagne

Actually, Saddam did possess WMD at one time, and his stock pile was shipped to syria and is in underground syrian tunnels.

How is that for a conspriacy charge!!!

The problem now, as I see is how the Iranian can safe face in view of the rethoric. I still hope for the Russian deal. Putin wants the buz. I suppose some accomodations will be made, such as, US agrees not to attempt destabilization and offers trade concessions, in exchange for Iran accepting the russian deal.

Inspector: Politics stunted 'biotrailer' findings

A year after Bush administration claims about Iraqi ''bioweapons trailers'' were discredited by American experts, U.S. officials were still suppressing the findings, according to a senior member of the CIA-led inspection team.

At one point, former U.N. arms inspector Rod Barton says, a CIA officer told him it was ''politically not possible'' to report that the White House claims were untrue. In the end, Barton says, he felt ''complicit in deceit.''

advertisement Barton, an Australian biological weapons specialist, discusses the 2004 events in ''The Weapons Detective,'' a memoir of his years as an arms inspector, being published Monday in Australia.

Much sought after for his expertise, Barton served on the U.N. Iraq arms inspection teams of 1991-98 and 2002-03. After the U.S. invasion, he was an aide to chief U.S. inspector Charles Duelfer.

The Washington Post reported last month that a U.S. fact-finding mission confidentially advised Washington on May 27, 2003, that two trailers found in Iraq were not mobile units for making bioweapons, as had been suspected.

Two days later, President Bush still asserted the trailers were bioweapons labs, and other officials repeated that line for months afterward.

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

Bush not only continued to lie about mobile biological weapons labs in Iraq even after weapons inspectors discovered that the story was false. Now it comes out that he also ordered the information itself to be suppressed.

capt

Bush Planned Iraq 'Regime Change' Before Becoming President

15 September 2002: A SECRET blueprint for US global domination reveals that President Bush and his cabinet were planning a premeditated attack on Iraq to secure 'regime change' even before he took power in January 2001.

The blueprint, uncovered by the Sunday Herald, for the creation of a 'global Pax Americana' was drawn up for Dick Cheney (now vice- president), Donald Rumsfeld (defence secretary), Paul Wolfowitz (Rumsfeld's deputy), George W Bush's younger brother Jeb and Lewis Libby (Cheney's chief of staff). The document, entitled Rebuilding America's Defences: Strategies, Forces And Resources For A New Century, was written in September 2000 by the neo-conservative think-tank Project for the New American Century (PNAC).

The plan shows Bush's cabinet intended to take military control of the Gulf region whether or not Saddam Hussein was in power. It says: 'The United States has for decades sought to play a more permanent role in Gulf regional security. While the unresolved conflict with Iraq provides the immediate justification, the need for a substantial American force presence in the Gulf transcends the issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein.'

The PNAC document supports a 'blueprint for maintaining global US pre-eminence, precluding the rise of a great power rival, and shaping the international security order in line with American principles and interests'.

More HERE

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"He's a liar, sure, about the Iraq War and many other things, but it was incompetance[sp] that got him the excuse to start the Afghanistan War. Then the lies started to get on the PNAC agenda."

Look at the dates? NO reason to check a single fact, just spew more BS and made-up stuff. That will make your case best!

Factually you are wrong. First came the PNAC plan - a very long time before the incompetence.

capt

PS - incompetence is the one word you should have known to check the spelling. HA!

The Freefalling Dollar and Bush’s war on the Middle Class

The dollar is getting hammered almost daily now. It’s like watching the blood ooze from a hemophiliac. In just one month the dollar has tumbled from $1.20 to $1.29 vs. the euro; an astonishing 7% retreat.

Can’t the American people see what is happening to their future? In just 6 years Bush has taken the world’s strongest currency and chopped it into finally ground hash. By the time people rouse from their stupor, the greenback will be eye to eye with the peso.

Bush has piled up more debt than all the other presidents combined. His tax cuts have fattened the bankrolls of his constituents but they’ve put the dollar on a downward slide. Since he took office the once-mighty greenback has plummeted a whopping 35%.

Meanwhile, at the Federal Reserve, new Fed-master Bernacke has the printing presses running at warp-speed. The soaring price of oil has soaked up more than a trillion dollars of freshly-minted fiat currency, but it’s the only thing that's kept the greenback from slipping beneath the waves. Unfortunately, that trick won’t last forever.

More HERE

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"than a trillion dollars of freshly-minted fiat currency"

The dollar is not devalued enough? If we need more we just print it. That is management by default, no?

capt

Fascism: Are We There Yet? The surveillance state and the dangers of 'data-mining'

The lies keep coming. During the run-up to war with Iraq, we were told this administration knew for sure that Saddam had "weapons of mass destruction," and not only that, but knew exactly where they were. When no WMD turned up after the invasion, the Bushies came up with a bushel of excuses and denied ever saying that in the first place.

Oh, but don't worry –†their real motive for going to war was to export "democracy" to Iraq –†which, as anyone can see, is happening –†so none of that matters anyway.

When it came out that the U.S. government was intercepting and listening to all overseas calls, the president himself stepped up to the plate and declared that they weren't spying on domestic calls –†and now we learn that the biggest database in the world is being compiled by the National Security Agency (NSA) in which a record of every phone call made in the U.S. since 2001 is kept.

Oh, but don't fret –†no one in government would ever allow this vital and potentially sensitive information to be put to unsavory purposes, such as blackmailing political opponents or similar dirty tricks. That anyone in Washington would do such a thing –†why, it's unthinkable!

More HERE

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Freedom is on the march, it just looks like fascism.

The fact is, everybody already knows what the Bush-bonus is with all of this wiretapping - listening in on his political detractors and opponents - Hey I am sure he is checking his supporters too! (just to make sure they are supportive).

capt

January 26, 1998

The Honorable William J. Clinton
President of the United States
Washington, DC

Dear Mr. President:

We are writing you because we are convinced that current American policy toward Iraq is not succeeding, and that we may soon face a threat in the Middle East more serious than any we have known since the end of the Cold War. In your upcoming State of the Union Address, you have an opportunity to chart a clear and determined course for meeting this threat. We urge you to seize that opportunity, and to enunciate a new strategy that would secure the interests of the U.S. and our friends and allies around the world. That strategy should aim, above all, at the removal of Saddam Hussein's regime from power. We stand ready to offer our full support in this difficult but necessary endeavor.

More HERE

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Two years before Clinton left office the PNAC plan was completely formed. Not incompetence, not accidental, not at all. It was called then and now "regime change" - the song remains the same.

capt

The PNAC Paper Trail

The longer the fiasco in Iraq drags on, the more we hear the folks who cooked up the idea of invading that sand dune republic denying that they had anything to do with it. Crooks and Liars provided this John Bolton quote from a press conference televised last week on CNN.

"We did not violate the UN charter in the war to overthrow Saddam Hussein and that plan was not drawn...at the Project for the New American Century."

John's memory must be slipping, what with all those responsibilities he has as Ambassador to the United Nations now. Maybe it's time to help him refresh it.

Under the fold: a stroll down Selective Memory Lane
...
June 3, 1997: PNAC issues its Statement of Principles. "American foreign and defense policy is adrift," it states at the beginning, and goes on to criticize the Clinton administration. This document contains no specific mention of Iraq, but does admonish that, "America has a vital role in maintaining peace and security in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East," and that "we need to increase defense spending significantly if we are to carry out our global responsibilities today and modernize our armed forces for the future[.]"

Among the signatories are Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz, as well as PNAC co-founders Bill Kristol and Robert Kagan.

More HERE

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A pretty clear timeline with links to all of the supporting documentation.

capt

Rep. Calvert's Land of Plenty

He has earmarked funds for Riverside County projects near properties he sold for a profit.

WASHINGTON —†Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Corona) is an experienced investor in Riverside County's booming real estate market, so he's used to seeing prices change quickly. Last year, he and a partner paid $550,000 for a dusty four-acre parcel just south of March Air Reserve Base. Less than a year later, without even cutting the weeds or carting off old septic tank parts that littered the ground, they sold the land for almost $1 million.

Even for a speculator like Calvert, it was an unusually good deal.

During the time he owned the land, Calvert used the legislative process known as earmarking to secure $8 million for a planned freeway interchange 16 miles from the property, and an additional $1.5 million to support commercial development of the area around the airfield.

A map of Calvert's recent real estate holdings and those of his partner shows many of them near the transportation projects he has supported with federal appropriations. And improvements to the transportation infrastructure have contributed to the area's explosive growth, according to development experts.

Calvert said he had used earmarking solely to benefit his district. Those appropriations, he said, have had nothing to do with his investments or financial gains.

More HERE

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Not another GOP scandal. Oh my!

Nothing to do with his investments or personal gain, those are just another happy coincidence.

capt

The Most Realistic Virtual Reality Room In The World

More than $4 million in equipment upgrades will shine 100 million pixels on Iowa State University's six-sided virtual reality room.

That's twice the number of pixels lighting up any virtual reality room in the world and 16 times the pixels now projected on Iowa State's C6, a 10-foot by 10-foot virtual reality room that surrounds users with computer-generated 3-D images. That means the C6 will produce virtual reality at the world's highest resolution.

Iowa State's C6 opened in June 2000 as the country's first six-sided virtual reality room designed to immerse users in images and sound. The graphics and projection technology that made such immersion possible hasn't been updated since the C6 opened.

The difference between the equipment currently in the C6 and the updated technology to be installed this summer, "is like putting on your glasses in the morning," said James Oliver, the director of Iowa State's Virtual Reality Applications Center and a professor of mechanical engineering.

More HERE

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Just about like the holo-deck on "Star Trek the next generation".

capt

This Time, It Really Is Orwellian

The stated goal of tracking phone numbers that had been called by al-Qaeda operatives could be easily done with warrants from the FISA court. There would be no need to compile every personal and business call made by 200 million Americans.

"It's the largest database ever assembled in the world," one person told USA Today. The program's goal is "to create a database of every call ever made" within the nation's borders, the person said. [USA Today, May 11, 2006]

In describing Bush's policies over the past several years, the word "Orwellian" has sometimes been overused. But a government decision to electronically warehouse the trillions of phone numbers called by its citizens over their lifetimes is the essence of George Orwell's Big Brother nightmare.

More HERE

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It could be my cynicism but I think Orwellian is an understatement.

capt

Jeanne, #394, no, there isn't a quick and easy graph to compare tax burdens across the board. There are so many factors to take into account (local taxes, state taxes, state income taxes, payroll taxes, federal taxes, etc) that you wind up with an apples to oranges comparison. This article (careful it's a pdf file) is interesting but inaccurate in many ways. It gives you the general trendlines but it's missing raw data that would make it persuasive.

http://zfacts.com/

A bunch of stuff. Worth the surf!

(nothing much about the question of taxes but jobs, graphs and good sources)

capt

Second thoughts

William Buckley Jnr (influential conservative columnist and tv pundit)

'One can't doubt the objective in Iraq has failed ... Iraqi animosities have proved uncontainable by an army of 130,000 Americans. Different plans have to be made. And the kernel here is the acknowledgement of defeat.'

Francis Fukuyama (author and long-term advocate of toppling saddam)

'By invading Iraq, the Bush administration created a self-fulfilling prophecy: Iraq has now replaced Afghanistan as a magnet, a training ground and an operational base for jihadists, with plenty of American targets to shoot at.'

Richard Perle (arch-warmonger and pivotal republican hawk)

'The military campaign and its political aftermath were both passionately debated within the Bush administration. It got the war right and the aftermath wrong We should have understood that we needed Iraqi partners.'

Andrew Sullivan (prominent commentator and influential blogger)

'The world has learnt a tough lesson, and it has been a lot tougher for those tens of thousands of dead, innocent Iraqis ... than for a few humiliated pundits. The correct response is not more spin but a sense of shame and sorrow.'

# Jeanne... Laura Bush is the perfect CO-DEPENDENT, her husband is very sick.. and she is just as sick and completely in denial. Reality does not enter her bubble. She has blood on her hands and her head in the sand.

911 Debate in Chucktown in September?

King Robb, might be a fine time to facillitate the controlled demolition of a few pints...eh?

-T

The zionfascist/racist at work.

Arab spouses face Israeli legal purge
BEN LYNFIELD
IN JERUSALEM
ISRAEL'S Supreme Court yesterday upheld a controversial law preventing West Bank Palestinians from living inside Israel with their Israeli Arab spouses.

The decision is expected to affect more than 20,000 families in which spouses from the West Bank had temporary permission to live in Israel or lived in the West Bank while awaiting hoped-for family unification inside Israel, according to the Mosawa Centre, an advocacy group for the Israeli Arab minority, who make up one fifth of Israel's population.

Murad al-Sanaa, an Arab lawyer from Israel who is married to a Palestinian from Bethlehem in the West Bank, said: "The court is preventing me from living with my wife. My children were born in Israel and are Israeli citizens, but now they have to live without their mother if they want to live in Israel."

Mr al-Sanaa said the court decision nullified the temporary permission to live in Israel that had been granted to his wife after they married three years ago.

State lawyers said the law, passed last July, aimed to prevent spouses of Israeli citizens from entering the country to carry out terrorist attacks.

Leaders of Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert's Kadima party, however, said the intention was demographic, to restrict the number of Arab citizens inside Israel and preserve the state's Jewish character.

"We have to maintain the state's democratic nature, but also its Jewish nature," said the immigration minister, Zeev Boim. "The extent of entry of in-laws to Israeli territory is intolerable."

Mishael Cheshin, one of the six judges who upheld the law against five dissenting judges, wrote that at a time of war the state could "prevent the entry of enemy subjects" to its territory even if they were married to citizens of the state.

According to the Shin Bet intelligence agency, about 25 of the almost 100,000 Palestinians married to Israeli Arabs have been involved in terrorist attacks in recent years.

Abir Kopti, a spokeswoman for the Mosawa Centre, said: "This law is racist. If several people are involved in suicide bombings, it doesn't mean you punish 20,000 families.

"We feel that the purpose is to reduce the number of Arabs in the state."

Meanwhile, an American teenager, Daniel Wultz, 16, died yesterday of injuries sustained in a Tel Aviv suicide bombing last month, doctors said, bringing the death toll from the attack to 11.

Kathleen!

Right and right to the point. Excellent.

capt

White House Blocks Investigations Into Spying

The Justice Department claims that its attempt to investigate Bush's eavesdropping programs has gone nowhere because its staff was denied security clearance.

With news reports exposing the National Security Agency's previously secret spying on the phone conversations of tens of millions of Americans, what is the status of the U.S. Department of Justice probe of the Bush administration's authorization of a warrantless domestic wiretapping program?

The investigation has been closed.

That's right. Even as it is being revealed that the president's controversial eavesdropping program is dramatically more extensive -- and Constitutionally dubious -- than had been previously known, the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) has informed Representative Maurice Hinchey that its attempt to determine which administration officials authorized, approved and audited NSA surveillance activities is over.

Why?

In a letter to Hinchey, the New York Democrat who has been the most dogged Congressional advocate for investigation of the spying program, OPR Counsel H. Marshall Jarrett explained that he had closed the Justice Department probe on Tuesday, May 9, because his office's requests for security clearances to conduct the investigation had been denied.

More HERE

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Wow, is the arrogance of power dripping with irony - or What?

capt

Can a blowjob save America?

"You're in more dire need of a blow job than any white man in history!"
--Robin Williams to the late J.T. Walsh in Good Morning Vietnam

At lunch the other day, a relatively-refined female friend blurted out: "I wish somebody would catch George W. Bush getting a blowjob from an intern so we could impeach him."

Kind of says a lot about where this country is headed. We can impeach a President for cheating on his wife and then lying about it but we can't seem to do a damn thing about one who lies, spies on Americans without legal authority, consistently abuses the power of his office and sends thousands of Americans to die in a baseless invasion founded on deceit.

Polls show Bush sliding into that nether region of political hell occupied by other Presidential failures like Richard Nixon and Herbert Hoover but while we know he lies, cheats, ignores the law and runs roughshod over the Constitution, those charged with removing despots from office sit frozen like deer in headlights, unable to move while a freight train of corruption barrels down on them.

You don't need the latest polls to know George W. Bush is in trouble. Just look at the prime-time TV schedule. When Bush schedules another 8 p.m. EDT speech to the nation it's a sure sign he's trying to squirm his way out of another mess.

Tonight's speech topic, we are told, is immigration. In other words, the Prez wants to try, once again, to sell his failed immigration reform to a nation that no longer listens to him, certainly doesn't believe him and just wishes he would go away.

So the networks, in the midst of May sweeps, will shuffle their schedules so Bush can trot out the snakeoil once again to see if there is anyone left out there to buy his failures and missteps.

More HERE

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I wish that was all it would take to save the country.

capt

Factor Spurs Regeneration In The Optic Nerve

Researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston have discovered a naturally occurring growth factor that stimulates regeneration of injured nerve fibers (axons) in the central nervous system. Under normal conditions, most axons in the mature central nervous system (which consists of the brain, spinal cord and eye) cannot regrow after injury. The previously unrecognized growth factor, called oncomodulin, is described in the May 14 online edition of Nature Neuroscience.

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

This is major news. The future might be much brighter for many of the effected. What a great gift sight would be to the blind. If this helps to repair other injuries it might change the world.

capt

Reid,
You're a fool if you think the Dalai Lama is planning a war. Everyone knows Christians, Jews, and Muslims are the world's murdering, religious factions. Most others really do try to be peaceful.

CROAK....
Karl Rove Indicted on Charges of Perjury, Lying to Investigators By Jason Leopold
t r u t h o u t | Report
Saturday 13 May 2006

Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald spent more than half a day Friday at the offices of Patton Boggs, the law firm representing Karl Rove.

During the course of that meeting, Fitzgerald served attorneys for former Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove with an indictment charging the embattled White House official with perjury and lying to investigators related to his role in the CIA leak case, and instructed one of the attorneys to tell Rove that he has 24 business hours to get his affairs in order, high level sources with direct knowledge of the meeting said Saturday morning.

Robert Luskin, Rove's attorney, did not return a call for comment. Sources said Fitzgerald was in Washington, DC, Friday and met with Luskin for about 15 hours to go over the charges against Rove, which include perjury and lying to investigators about how and when Rove discovered that Valerie Plame Wilson was a covert CIA operative and whether he shared that information with reporters, sources with direct knowledge of the meeting said.

It was still unknown Saturday whether Fitzgerald charged Rove with a more serious obstruction of justice charge. Sources close to the case said Friday that it appeared very likely that an obstruction charge against Rove would be included with charges of perjury and lying to investigators.

An announcement by Fitzgerald is expected to come this week, sources close to the case said. However, the day and time is unknown. Randall Samborn, a spokesman for the special prosecutor was unavailable for comment. In the past, Samborn said he could not comment on the case.

MORE AT TRUTHOUT

I think C-span will be airing Karl lying and spinning before his indictment this week.

Monday May 15 2006 11 a.m.: Karl Rove, deputy chief of staff and senior adviser to President Bush, gives speech on policy, at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research.

Capt, (461)

I know about a gazillion Multiple Sclerosis Patients just waiting for something exactly like that, too!

-T

The Return Of Voodoo Economics
________________
In January, George W. Bush declared that, "by cutting the taxes on the American people, this economy is strong, and the overall tax revenues have hit at record levels." Regrettably, this endorsement of what his dad called voodoo economics was not a one-time oversight. The next month, Bush told a New Hampshire audience, "You cut taxes and the tax revenues increase."

Bush is not alone in this. Dick Cheney, allegedly a serious person, asserted in February that the "tax cuts have translated into higher federal revenues."

Okay, so let's review this issue with the help of some experts. I'd like to cite Richard Kogan of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, because his work inspired this column. But to win over reasonable conservatives, I'm going to choose N. Gregory Mankiw of Harvard, a proponent of tax cuts who chaired the Council of Economic Advisers in the Bush White House. Mankiw is a top-notch economist hired by Bush and Cheney to advise them. And last year he published a paper on how far tax cuts pay for themselves, reporting enthusiastically that this self-financing effect is "surprisingly large."

How large, exactly? Mankiw reckons that over the long run (the long run being generous to his argument), cuts on capital taxes generate enough extra growth to pay for half of the lost revenue. Hello, Mr. President, that means that the other half of the lost revenue translates into bigger deficits. Mankiw also calculates that the comparable figure for cuts in taxes on wages is 17 percent. Yes, Mr. President, that means every $1 trillion in tax cuts is going to add $830 billion to the national debt.
_______________

Ahem...I think the "Crapped Crusaders" are speaking of their PERSONAL revenues!

-T

How Many Get-of-Jail-Free Cards Are Left in the Deck?
Rove and Fitzgerald Play Monopoly

By EVELYN PRINGLE

How many more get-out-of-jail free cards does Karl Rove get? Eat your heart out Martha Stewart. You should have tried playing Monopoly with the G-Men.

On October 28 2005, the office of the Special Prosecutor released a press statement which stated in part:

"A major focus of the grand jury investigation was to determine which government officials had disclosed to the media prior to July 14, 2003, information concerning Valerie Wilson's CIA affiliation, and the nature, timing, extent, and purpose of such disclosures, as well as whether any official made such a disclosure knowing that Valerie Wilson's employment by the CIA was classified information."

Somebody needs to inform Fitzgerald that "we got em." Kind of like Bush in Poland when he announced finding two trailers in Iraq and said that they had found the WMDs that Colin Powell had referred to in his speech at the UN.

Hey Mr Fitzgerald, as for those government officials you've been looking for, we found em. Surprise, surprise, its Scooter Libby and Karl Rove.

When reading the criminal indictment against Libby, its clear that Karl Rove and Libby each told reporters about Valerie Plame's status as a CIA agent before Novak's column was published, albeit Libby did it first on June 23, 2003, when he told Judy Miller from the New York Times.

That is, first as far as we know anyways, because after close to a 3-year tax dollar funded investigation, it has since been revealed that Bob Woodward, of the Washington Post, was told of Valerie's CIA status reportedly before Libby and Rove made the revelations to Miller, Cooper or Novak.

at Counterpunch

Hajji,

Some of the "doctors" are very bright and smart, I think we are at the beginning of a new scientific renaissance. The are making nanotubes that delivery medicine to specific places like tumors or blockages.

Things are changing fast.

With all of the bad things that are happening I enjoy such hopeful news.

capt

DMR 424, how many must be slaughtered in Africa before the US feels it necessary to start bombing the crap out of them in an attempt to improve there standard of living? How long before we must force China to engage in demockracy, on OUR terms, before we start launching nukes at them, for their own good of course. Why is it that only the downtrodden of oil rich nations need the gift of DU contaminated freedom from tyrants? BTW, I find the term cornnut insulting and unnecessary. Posting here does not mean all agree with Davids opinions and politics, nor does it mean that everyone is a nut, otherwise you and your fellow bush worshippers could be included in that discription. This just happens to be one of the last bastions of free speech on the web, which is why you are allowed to post what you want, as long as it isn't too long and you don't engage in spoofing.
Alan 432, that's not really saying much, is it?
436, Iran never threatened any such thing. If you read an accurate translation of the statement you would see that. You really are funny. I am done debating you now, as KC has said, deprogramming cultists is really a waste of time.
capt 444, those psycho PNAC people were plotting this back when reagan was president. Many long years of planning and manipulating players into position took place. That is not incompetance, that is brilliant evil.

oh, now everybody knows that iraq had WMD and they shipped them to syria in the nick of time? that is nonsense reid and you know it. first of all iraq was under a microscope since the first gulf war - nothing got in or out without the us knowing about it. and secondly, if iraq HAD shipped their WMD to syria then bushco has allowed them to remain in syrian hands for 3 years now. no, it's far more likely that warmongering bushco/PNAC and their lapdog media and the lame PNAC wannabees such as yourself are just full of sh*t.
i predict that israel (which has over 200 nuclear weapons and a penchant for striking the first blow) will orchestrate a false-flag attack on themselves, designed to appear as if the iranians are responsible, thus giving them the justification they need for destroying iran.

you know who else was a top-notch economist hired by Bush and Cheney to advise them?
morgan reynolds. and we can easily see what HIS opinion of bushco is.

"...Some of the "doctors" are very bright and smart..."

Capt...please send them to 1 St.Francis Drive...

could use some x-tra hands today!

-T

Markets braced for the worst
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard (Filed: 15/05/2006)
Telegraph.co.uk

Global markets are bracing for turmoil today after an ominous slide in the US dollar and a slump in equity and bond prices late last week sent tremors through the global financial system, evoking memories of the 1987 crash.

Emerging economies have led the sell-off as investors recoil from risky assets, pummelling stocks and bonds in Turkey, Hungary, Iceland and much of Latin America.

The currencies of Brazil, Mexico and South Africa all suffered their sharpest falls in two years as foreign funds rushed for the exits.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial index fell 262 points over Thursday and Friday to 11381, setting off contagion in Japan and Europe. The FTSE 100 had its worst drop in three years on Friday, falling 129.9 points, or 2.2pc, to 5912.1.

Analysts said there were now clear signs that monetary tightening by the world's central banks was starting to crimp growth. Lombard Street Research warned the US was now heading into outright recession, with China also facing a hard landing.

"Stock markets in the middle of 2006 are confronting a tight Federal Reserve and European Central Bank, sharply higher bond yields, and a downswing in potential profits," it said.

It raised the risk of "an impending financial crisis" caused by excess credit and leverage across the global economy. The group advised investors to liquidate stocks and move into cash yen until the storm has blown over.

The dollar has slumped 6pc against the euro and 8pc against the yen this year as the markets anticipate an end to interest-rate rises by the US Federal Reserve, switching attention back to America's debt mountain and current account deficit of 7pc of GDP.

Volkmar Hable, chairman of Samarium Technology, said the world was now on the brink of a dollar crisis.
-----------
Once again the traitorous federal reserve has manipulated us into an economic Titanic. Combine this with the Iranian oil Bourse and we have a recipe for disaster.

Yesterday's Ian Master's show on KPFK in Los Angeles featured an interview with Jason Leopold in which he claimed that Rove's speech at the American Enterprise Intstitute was cancelled, as well as the story of Rove's indictment.

As of this morning c-span was still advertising the speech.

Ian Master's website does not yet have a link to yesterdays's show, but it will.

And now for something completely different--I heard on CNN radio news that Hasbro is bringing out a new perfume that smells like Play-Doh; it will sell for $19 a bottle. What next, one that smells like My Little Pony poop? I must go off and sleep now, before I go back to mine NaCl tonight.---KC

James, he is also the former director of the Criminal Justice Center at the National Center for Policy Analysis headquartered in Dallas, TX. Unfortunately his opinion is useless because he isn't a "scientist."

yosemitesam175

No one ever mentions that if Syria now has the WMDs from Iraq that our country isn't there retrieving them as evidence. Syria isn't that backward of a country as let's say Afghanistan. Syria wouldn't accept Saddam's WMDs without an incentive.

Still lying about real Iraq deaths
5/14/2006 7:11:00 PM GMT

As of 13th May 2006, the U.S. military states its casualties as 2,436 deaths of US soldiers and 17,648 injured. These very precise figures are updated daily. The problem with these statistics is that they are misleading and wrong and deliberately so. To arrive at these figures, the following deaths and casualties are excluded:

* Soldiers killed or injured in any other way other than a direct bullet or bomb. In other words, if a pilot or driver crashes because he had to evade a missile or bomb, it would not be counted as a death.

* The dying and critically wounded are listed as en route to military hospitals outside of the country and not reported on the daily postings. This means a soldier who was shot and/or wounded but died on a flight to a U.S. military hospital would not be counted.

* Anyone who dies in hospital or a U.S. military base.

* Anyone who suffers from severe mental illnesses as a direct result of the war. This category includes those who are medically diagnosed as depressed and/or suicidal.

* Anyone who is seemingly not seriously hurt at the time of a bombing or battle but who has long term physical or mental problems as a result. The most common example of this are soldiers who survive a road side bomb but who suffer long term brain damage.

* Soldiers in the U.S. Army who are not U.S. citizens. These are commonly citizens of poor South and Central American countries who are persuaded to fight in the hope of U.S. citizenship after years of risking their lives.

The Pentagon has followed this deliberately deceitful policy from the time of the invasion. It is now admitted that in the six month period from the pre-planned date of the invasion of Iraq on 20th March 2003 till September 2003, the true scale of American casualties in Iraq was far higher than officially stated.

During those six months, more than 6,000 American servicemen were evacuated for medical reasons, including more than 1,500 American soldiers who have been wounded, many seriously. The figures shocked many Americans, who believed that casualties in the early period of the invasion of Iraq were relatively light. Even when these figures came to light, it did not persuade the Pentagon or the Bush administration to be any more honest about what followed.

On June 29 2005, the Veterans Administration (an official U.S. body) admitted to the U.S. Congress that there were over 103,000 U.S. military casualties from Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The estimated costs of looking after the injured and disabled was estimated at $2.6 billion more than originally budgeted. The official figures at the time were showing 13,000 casualties, meaning that the true figure was many multiples higher.

Yesterday, a senior Pentagon official confirmed on the condition of anonymity that the actual death toll of U.S. service personnel as of 1st May 2006 in Iraq is in excess of 12,000. The real number of casualties, i.e. those unable to return to active service - is in excess of 150,000. He also confirmed that all reports from the U.S. military in Iraq confirmed that Iraqi resistance to the occupation growing better organized and more deadly by the day.
------------
This monstrous administration not only lies about everything, but is responsible for the murder of God only knows how many of our troops. Are the dems in congress aware of these numbers? Why would they agree to another war against Iran? How many can be spared in this tyrannical invasion of the Middle East?

400+ posts! By my next drop in, likely to be over 500 posts! What's the record? Ever hit 4-figures?

#474 Robert ..Karl Rove lying c-span now.

Hajji,

One point I failed to make is most of these "doctors" - I wouldn't sell them tobacco without a valid ID - They are kids!

That really makes the future more hopeful. I read about Jeanne's kids (congrat's again!) and I think of the potential! Then the idea that kids are being born this year that might change the world (this time for the better!)

I am always in awe of the generation that will follow us, and the one after that - WOW!

capt

800 or so.

Jobs, National Debt, Taxes & Social Security

Over 7 million payroll jobs will not return

Jobs: This recession has surprised President's Counsel of Economic Advisors three times. Soon after 9/11 they predicted we would now have 140.9 million jobs. The next year, November 2002, they predicted 137.9 million, in 2003, 136.3 million. But we actually now have only 133.8 million (July 2005). Why didn’¥ those 7.1 million jobs show up?

The $8 trillion national debt has returned

The "gross" national debt, is owed by the "General Fund," the part of the federal government funded by our income taxes. Other parts of the budget run surpluses (See debt clocks). The debt hit a 50-year low in 1981, and the White House predicts a 50 year high in 2007. (See graph.)

Dwight Eisenhower
President Eisenhower (Ike) was right.

Social Security: There are a few "Texas oil millionares" who want to abolish Social Security, and "they are stupid." There is no social security crisis. It's been adjusted every few years and it needs another simple adjustment. Read the document that started the privatization kick.

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

Talk about major liars! Rove and Busheney cannot gloss over the simple fact that they have wrecked the economy to serve their corporate masters (and themselves).

The same old Texas millionaires still spreading the same manure. SSDD

capt

Hope we get a new thread soon, my dial-up is painfully slow with this many comments.

ABC News: Federal official says US tracking calls made by ABC News, New York Times, Washington Post
RAW STORY

ABC's Brian Ross and Richard Esposito Report:

A senior federal law enforcement official tells ABC News the government is tracking the phone numbers we call in an effort to root out confidential sources.

"It's time for you to get some new cell phones, quick," the source told us in an in-person conversation.

We do not know how the government determined who we are calling, or whether our phone records were provided to the government as part of the recently-disclosed NSA collection of domestic phone calls.

Other sources have told us that phone calls and contacts by reporters for ABC News, along with the New York Times and the Washington Post, are being examined as part of a widespread CIA leak investigation.

One former official was asked to sign a document stating he was not a confidential source for New York Times reporter James Risen.

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

Kathleen, and so he is... Rove just denied that real median wages for American's are falling, despite the statistics.

One point that Jason Leopold made during the Ian Master's interview was that if his informants are lying to him, they are no longer protected by his promise of anonymity.

A copy of Joseph Wilson's July 6, 2003 New York Times Op-Ed with Handwritten Notes by Vice President Cheney
05-12-2006

Oh my, Mr. VEEP has some splainin' to do. I see where Fitzgerald has a clear take on who was saying what and when, the "to whom" is already a given.

capt

"One point that Jason Leopold made during the Ian Master's interview was that if his informants are lying to him, they are no longer protected by his promise of anonymity."

THAT is what they all should do!

It is no small wonder that Mr. Jason Leopold would be leading on this issue. He rocks!

capt

And that's why when it comes to actual policy as opposed to politics, the Bush administration has turned out to have the reverse Midas touch. Everything it gets its hands on, from the reconstruction of Iraq to the rescue of New Orleans, from the drug benefit to the reform of the C.I.A., turns to crud. Paul Krugman

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

I will refer you to the statement of my attorney. [...] Nice try, though.

Karl Rove to David Corn's inquiry about the CIA leak investigation.

NATIONAL SECURITY -- CHENEY'S HANDWRITTEN NOTES REVEALED:

Vice President Dick Cheney's role in the outing of Valerie Plame, a former undercover CIA agent, has come under greater scrutiny following the release of questions he wrote on a newspaper article penned by her husband. Cheney's handwritten notes, disclosed in a May 5 court filing by special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, show that he was acutely focused on smearing Joseph Wilson, the CIA emissary who reported that a uranium transaction between Iraq and Niger was unlikely to have taken place. Among the questions Cheney jotted in the margins of Wilson's op-ed: Did his wife send him on a junket? The evidence of Cheney's involvement in the leak is substantial: he has previously been interviewed by Fitzgerald, his former chief of staff Scooter Libby has been indicted for creating a false story about how he first learned of Plame's identity, and as the Libby indictment explains, Cheney advised Libby on or about June 12, 2003 that Wilson's wife worked in the CIA's Counterproliferation Division.

FROM: The Progress Report

mine too, and yet i keep coming back as if i was under a spell or something. you are getting sleepy....

There's a corporate dagger that has been leveled at the very heart of all that matters in the USA and the world today. The fact is that the role of government's around the world have been nullified by those corporate powers that have taken control over the most pivotal points of life and promise within the global community. There is a key to this entire quagmire that can no longer be ignored, which is, the mega-crime committed on 911. So long as this government along with others in Europe and the wider world continue to spew lies about what happened on that day ­ then nothing can ever be changed!
the crime that covered up the coup

Today during Karl Roves question and answer period at the American Enterprise Institute David Corn asked the question that everyone in the room wanted to ask. Corn asked Rove about the CIA leak and about Roves statements and involvement? Karl referred David to the last statements that Karl's attorney Robert Luskin made on April 26th. Karl also said to David "nice try".

David, Karl did not have to say anything, his body language said it all. You absolutely got the biggest gulp/CROAK out of Karl during the Q&A. Watch the tape.

You go David.

We can be sure David's next post will be about the Karl Rove event.

CORN: David Corn from “The Nation Magazine” on a different subject. Scott McClellan told the White House press corps, many who are here today, that he had spoken to you and you were not involved in the CIA leak. Can you explain why the American public, almost two and a half years later, hasn’t been given an explanation and don’t you think it deserves one for that misinformation because it does seem you were to some degree, though maybe disputed, involved in that leak?

ROVE: My attorney Mr. Luskin made a statement on April 26th. I refer to you that statement. I have nothing more to add to it. Nice try, though.

Watch the video.

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

Posted at Rawstory as well...

Constant Surveillance: Who's a Target?

The NSA's citizen-spying program -- and the release of records with friends' names on them -- made me wonder how the feds are tracking pro-immigration marchers.

I open the PDF file and shudder. The digital copy of a recently declassified internal memo from the FBI's Counterterrorism files has the name of someone I know. It says that Roy Bourgeois "was the founder and leader of this protest since its inception in 1988."

As I read on, my mind races to events where I spoke with Roy, and that may be the subject of memos like the one I'm reading. I show the FBI memo to a friend, who asks, "If they are surveilling Roy, why wouldn't they surveil the rest of us?"

The question is timely, especially with the revelation that the National Security Agency has secretly collected the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, "the largest database ever assembled in the world," according to one source.

I don't answer. I only let him know that Roy Bourgeois is a Catholic priest.

More HERE

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

This is why there must be plenty of oversight and clear lines that we do not cross. It is un-American.

capt

#495,

Of course David ROCKS!

Good work Mr. Corn, and a great question!

I guess the non-answer is really an answer in and of itself!

capt

#433 Alan, I, too, thought of 666 or the sign of the devil. Some 10 billion years ago when St. Michael and his archangels drove out Lucifer and his followers from heaven, Lucifer has finally taken the soul of our devil incarnate nation. We are now chained to the devil. Lucifer cannot wait for us to nuke Iran. We are a nation of devil followers. We lust for murders and war crimes.

The Daily Show affects young voters

According to a recent study published in the May issue of SAGE Publications' journal, American Politics Research, researchers conclude that young Americans' political views are negatively impacted by watching the popular The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, which airs late night on Comedy Central as a 'fake-news program.'

Researchers Jody Baumgartner and Jonathan S. Morris, both assistant professors of political science at East Carolina University, selected The Daily Show due to its popularity among college-aged viewers. Previous research showed that over 47 percent of this age group watched the 'soft news' television program, while only 23 percent followed 'hard news' programs closely.

The study was conducted utilizing video clips from The Daily Show and CBS Evening News, a more mainstream television program that aired coverage of the 2004 presidential candidates, followed by a questionnaire. The results showed that the participants tended to rate both candidates more negatively when exposed to The Daily Show. In addition, their views of the political system as a whole were more cynical.

"If young Americans learn about candidates via Jon Stewart," the researchers conclude in the article, "it is possible that unfavorable perceptions of both parties' nominees could form, ultimately keeping more youth from the polls." These implications for political participation should be explored further.

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

What's the news, across the nation
We have got the information
In a way we hope to amuse
Youse
We'ed just love to give you our views
Ladies and gents
Laugh-in looks at the news...

It isn't as if the Daily Show is the first to do fake news reports.

And I'd wager that there is more informational content in the Daily Show than in the news..

Not to mention the way Steve Colbert showed up the whole White House Press Dinner...

Corn challenges Rove with scathing question!!!!! Right On David!! Please, quickly tell us all about it!!!!

Nice try?

Was Rove implying David Corn attempted to "get him?" General Rove will be arrogant to THE END.

Nice question, David! No direct answer, but you got the weasel to squirm.

gerald, if the number 666 does indeed have an evil significance, then it's unlikely to take the modern calendar into account.

And David Corn sends a zinger to the leading cock roach. Good work.

Do you feel a need to take a detox, haz-mat shower now?

Later,
th

I am not sure about 666 or combinations of 666. I doubt the bible is as literal as that but I would not live on a highway 666, nor would I live at an address 666, if my phone number was 666 - I would change it.

I know it is superstitious but I have learned over and over again not to tempt fate.

capt

President Bush, My Beloved President, My Hero,

I am just seating on the edge of my chair waiting for your speech tonight.
We need action on the Southern to protect the homeland!!!!

National Guard in Iraq is 20% of the deployment. It seems that the army has many support personnel about the country in soft jobs. We are at war, and need all service personnel to stand tall in this hour of need. My boy, in the army, is in the state of Washington, and seems available for duty elsewhere. The National Guard is engaged in disaster functions protecting life and property, and now you are proposing placing them as well on the southern border. This is great news!!!!!!!! But, we need to consolidate the national guard at home to perform their duties.

Perhaps we need to a take a lesson from US Grant. In the spring 1864, Grant took the artillery men out of the WDC defenses where there was little action, soft duty, and deployed them on the front lines in northern Virginia, for the ending campaign, in that desperate hour of need. I would pull the National Guard out of Iraq completely, for redeployment on the southern border and for disaster relief, and pull non-essential logistics personnel from bases around the country to bolster the trops in Iraq, as needed, but think that the anticipated draw down there is timely. The Army in Iraq, the National guard at home, the way it should be.

Your Call of Course. God Bless You.
Im looking forward to your speech, and hope that the border will be secured.
FINALLY!!!!!

Sincerely,

Derrick Michael Reid
Laguna Beach CA.

The Dollar and War will be Respectively Replaced by Gold and Trade.

Derrick Michael Reid 5/13/06

"It cost about 75 cents to kill a man in Ceasar's time. The price rose to about $3,000 per man during the Napoleonic wars; to $5,000 in the American Civil War; and then to $21,000 per man in World War I. Estimates for the future wars indicate that it may cost the warring countries not less than $50,000 for each man killed." Senator Homer T. Bone. I was particularly intrigued by this quote from Senator Homer T. Bone, that the cost per death in war has increased. May I take that analysis a step further? Conclusion: He does not tell the whole story.

In the good old days, say, pre 1500s, when tribal kingdoms engaged in war, they took no prisoners, except women as concubines and slaves, and hence, the causality rate for the loser was 100%, the victor's rate was not much less, and one-on-one battles usually meant equal rates of causalities. Then came the middle ages, and chivalry, and if a besieged defender surrendered early, the garrison was spared with honor, otherwise the black flag. Then came the guns, but still, the ratios of deaths were even, with casualty rates of say 20%. Then came long range rifles and smoothbores, with many battles having 10-15% casualty rates, and garrisons were not slaughtered, but imprisoned or even exchanged or paroled. In the WWI and WWII the casualty rates continued to drop as a percentage to those engaged. In Korea and Vietnam, the technology differences became apparent, with kill ratios of 5:1 to 10:1 or more in many battles, but US death rates per battles were down to less than 5% for the stand up fight. The cold war provided a dry spell, but then emerge Gulf I and Gulf II, with advanced technology.

The military technology is exponentiating, and it seems that the bend in the curve seems to have occurred in the mid 1900s. Each day, our military technology advances and increases our differential effectiveness over our opponents who have like curves, but delayed in time, until we have reached a point these days, that in a stand up fight, we have less than 1% casualty rates. This is astounding! Of the 200K troops that have been cycled through mid-middle east, the casualty rate is about 1%. Along side these trends is the endless printing of fiat paper money to fund these military expenditures.

So, it seems that, over the last two millennia, the costs per death has increased, as the casualty rate has decreased, making a relative, net sum zero, in the cost of war, generally. War, in terms of the US perspective, has become more expensive but more safe for the US fighting man/woman, which supports the contention that the administration is providing fighting Joe with the best chances he ever had of surviving a battle or a war. Our armies and navies are all volunteer, and this should not change in the foreseeable future. The fighting Joe knows he has the best chances in history to survive. Along side this trend, is the trend toward fewer and less deadly wars, in terms of US battle casualties, but more expensive, the quid pro quo.

The cost of war will change in kind. The proclaimed demise of the almighty dollar, projected to start in mid summer 2006, is already upon us, and the dollar is expected to collapse around 2010-11. As trade wars become more popular over military wars, governments will be more keen to keep cheating banks from printing fiat money and from hiding state sponsored subsidies, and will seek to spend their military dollars on trade war productivity rather than unnecessary military hardware and personnel. The fights will be in trade wars, that will necessarily required a monetary standard of money that all can unequivocally agree upon as to value. Gold and Silver are the only real alternatives. Hence, as military war become disfavored over monetary trade war, additional pressures will come upon and to the end of fiat paper money, with the resulting use of paper money certificates that are backed up by Gold and Silver in bank and corporate vaults. Gold and Silver mines will be the real banks of mid 21st century. By 2025, there will be a boom in Gold and Silver prices and mining stock values the world has never seen in 5000 years of mining precious metals, which boom will make $20,000/oz Gold and $1,000/oz Silver seem a great bargain.

So, lets now do something positive, and project these concepts into this century. There will be fewer wars, fewer battle casualties, but it will cost allot more to wage or be prepared for war, until such time, that globalization become substantially complete (with the N. Korean or Iranian resolutions for examples) and cements the functional geo-economical-political rules sets that render military expenditures largely unnecessary for dispute resolutions. The inevitable globalization and confluence will in time render military expenditures largely unnecessary as world powers seek domination by trade and not by guns, as one does not wage war on one's customers, and all will seek to avoid perturbation shocks, such as 9/11. Contrary to popular belief, the Russians and Chinese have the most to loose in an Iranian war, and will seek to get Tehran to compromise with the "Great Satin" on the nuke issue.

The later half of this century will wage war, not by guns, but by trade, and the major issues then will be fair free trade war which in fact has begun in earnest, as well as over population, and environmental issues and resolutions. I wont be around to enjoy the fruits of 5000 years of cultural evolution of man-kind, in this regard of the inevitable global confluence, but it seems, that we as a specie are moving to a better plane of intercourse. With endless fiat money printing, paper currency will become history as well to prevent cheating banks from destroying the value of hard earned savings and wealth in order to sustain the trade wars. The world banks' and governments' only solution to fair trade, is the necessary use of a standard medium, Gold and Silver. As governments learn that expenditures of real money on military hardware and personnel diminishes their returns and limits their abilities to invest in trade productivity in trade wars, expenditures will shift away from war materials and fiat money to trade capital assets and real money for improved global trade competition. The ultimate projection is that the Dollar and War are completely replaced by Gold and Trade, say by 2025!
-------------------------------------------------------------
As to the demise of the dollar see:
http://www.resourceinvestor.com/pebble.asp?relid=15912&t=11
As to Global confluence See:
http://imcs.dvgu.ru/news/dmr/globalconfluence.html
As to Gold Suppression:
http://tcode.tinro.ru/dmr/
-------------------------------------------------------------

Perhaps we need to a take a lesson from US Grant. - DMR

"The Southern rebellion was largely the outgrowth of the Mexican War. Nations, like individuals, are punished for their transgressions. We got our punishment in the most sanguinary and expensive war of modern times." - U S Grant

Comparing Bush to Hitler

Compare George W. Bush to Adolph Hitler and you piss off some people, inflame others who either agree or disagree, and start a debate over when criticism of a public official goes too far.

"You go too far with the Hitler comparison," reads a typical email from one of the Republican lemmings who still think Bush has some redeeming qualities. "It's unfair."

Perhaps, but unfair to whom? I'm not sure it's possible to be unfair to Bush, the man who promised "the most ethical administration in history" but delivered, instead, the most corrupt, scandal-ridden, dishonest government I've seen in 40 years of writing about, or working in, politics.

Perhaps it is unfair to Hitler. Adolph was, after all, a powerful public speaker with an incredible command of his native language. Dubya is a pathetic speaker who has trouble stringing enough words together to form a simple declarative sentence.

Yet such comparisons become more and more evident. Hitler rode roughshod over the laws of his country, ignored civil liberties, called those who opposed him "unpatriotic," and created a powerful secret police that spied on citizens of Germany.

Sound familiar? It should. Bush routinely ignores the laws of the land, tramples on civil liberties, calls those who oppose him "unpatriotic," and has created the powerful, secretive Department of Homeland Security to spy on citizens of his country.

The few, remaining, brain-dead die hards who still defend Bush decry comparisons with Hitler because, they say, Hitler killed millions upon millions of Jews to become the greatest mass murderer in history.

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

Comparing Bush to Hitler is totally unfair. . . to Hitler.

capt

Good work with Rove, Dave. Now, just drop PJ Media and all will be forgivien!

666 discussion in cornville????

It figures

LOL

George W. Bush: An American Hitler

In George W. Bush's petty, pathetic, partisan world, laws he doesn't agree with don't have to be obeyed, Congressional actions that differ from his political agenda can be ignored and the Constitution of the United States is just a "goddamned piece of paper."

Charlie Savage of The Boston Globe brought this point home Sunday when he revealed Bush has chosen to ignore more laws passed by Congress than any President in history, appending more than 750 laws with "signing statements" that say, in effect, that he doesn't give a damn what the law says because he will do whatever he pleases as a "wartime president" and "commander-in-chief."

Of course it doesn't matter to him that he became a "wartime president" because he lied out his ass to justify an illegal invasion on Iraq based on fake intelligence and a determined policy of ignoring facts that disproved his lies.

With every revelation, we learn more and more just what a dangerous despot Bush is, a madman with the power to wage war at will, destroy the Constitution on a whim and invoke is own perception of unchecked Presidential power by ignoring the system of checks and balances that used to be part of our system of government.

Sadly, nobody in Congress or the courts has the balls to stop this American Hitler. He rides roughshod over the laws of the land, safe in the assumption that his arrogance will leave opponents cowering in fear and an apathetic populace willing to wait until 2008 to rid itself of this festering boil on the body politic.

I'm not sure we can wait. With every passing day we see an elected official who acts more like a dictator than a President. Even worse, he is backed by a Congress driven by a lust for power and corrupted by a system where money and politics rules.

As Savage reports in The Boston Globe:

"President Bush has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution. Among the laws Bush said he can ignore are military rules and regulations, affirmative-action provisions, requirements that Congress be told about immigration services problems, ''whistle-blower" protections for nuclear regulatory officials, and safeguards against political interference in federally funded research."

More HERE

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An American Hitler is more on the nose.

capt

comparing any us president to hitler,

is disrespectful of the office of the president,
is disrespectful of this country,
is unamerican,
is uncivil,
is shameful,
is a poor reflection on the author,
is demeaning of those to loss life to defeat the nazi,
is inflammatory,
is unture, incorrect, and sets a poor example to the young on civil discourse.
is reflective of an immature personality that can not otherwise articulate with civility points of contention,
is disrepectful of the loss in gas chambers and summary executions, and
is only really true if the CIC decides to gas all the cornnuts,

But, it seems, this is the norm in cornville?

Federal Source to ABC News: We Know Who You're Calling

A senior federal law enforcement official tells ABC News the government is tracking the phone numbers we (Brian Ross and Richard Esposito) call in an effort to root out confidential sources.

"It's time for you to get some new cell phones, quick," the source told us in an in-person conversation.

ABC News does not know how the government determined who we are calling, or whether our phone records were provided to the government as part of the recently-disclosed NSA collection of domestic phone calls.

Other sources have told us that phone calls and contacts by reporters for ABC News, along with the New York Times and the Washington Post, are being examined as part of a widespread CIA leak investigation.

More HERE

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Big Brother is watching you. Feel safe yet?

capt

Nice One Robert!!

A government out of control

"THEY HATE our freedoms,'' is one of President Bush's favored rallying cries in the war on terrorism.

More and more, the question is becoming: Which cherished freedoms, precisely, is Bush referring to? His administration's apparent disrespect for what most of us would regard as one of the most fundamental freedoms of all -- a right to privacy -- raises deep concerns about the self-inflicted erosion of our way of life by wide-scale government tracking of phone calls in the name of fighting terrorism.

Once again, Bush has suggested that law-abiding Americans have nothing to worry about. But he's wrong. Voices in both parties in Washington are rightly furious over this latest overstepping of governmental limits.

His administration's National Security Agency has paid three of the largest phone co