Iraq Facts:..... three new water treatment plants were completed in the Ninewa Province, and one in Fallujah. - indeed?

After a few days of bombing Iraq in 1991, Schwarzkopf took to the podium and proudly stated that the Iraqi drinking water would be poisoned for years to come. He laughed about it. Many resistance fighters now in Iraq did not laugh and they are getting back for the deaths of family members.

"liberators"
"winning the hearts and minds"
"greeted with flowers"
"spreading democracy"
freedom on the march. ha.

Iraq Facts:
Pictures of Destruction and Civilian Victims of the Anglo-American Aggression in Iraq (March / April 2003)

Iraq Facts:

operation sweatshop iraq

In December Halliburton estimated that it had served 21 million meals so far to the 110,000 troops at 45 sites in Iraq, according to numbers provided to an NBC reporter. But in recent weeks military auditors have started to suspect that the company may be cooking the numbers and over-charging the government by millions of dollars.

Mr. David Corn,

"The GOP fact-finders also missed some of the recent carnage--such as the 13 mutilated corpses that on Wednesday turned up in and around Baghdad, some beheaded. Perhaps that story broke after their deadline. I wonder if it will make the next edition of GOP "news" from Iraq."

No, not very likely.

Thanks for all of your work.

Kirk

I deleted a comment of several thousand dense words. Please, everyone, moderation in verbiage.

Juba the "iraqi" sniper uses high-tech israeli equipment

Gosh David, just like the rest of the "Librul Meat-ya" you completely neglected to mention all those many thousands of Iraqi who were NOT murdered in April!

What about all those kids who DIDN't die due to lack of sanitation and medical care?

Word from the ground is a lot of the "reconstruction" projects are dying out due to lack of funds. Schools started and left unbuilt, Contractors just taking the up-front funds and disappearing...etc. Kinda like in New Jersey..

-T

Iraq Facts:

depleted uranium iraq - google search 1,660,000 results

Thanks, David, not only for the bandwidth, but helping us with dialups to be able to load and read the comments.

Someone once suggested an "auto" new thread possibility after say, 100 comments? Sounds like it could work. What say the webwizards?

-T

David says: ".....the GOP research hounds left out this news bite from yesterday: Iraqi president Jalal Talabani reported that there had been over 1,000 Iraqis murdered due to sectarian violence in the month of April."

Why rehash something that was very, very, very well covered by ALL your usual Antique Media sources?

As for the USA Today's reporting of Gov't collecting phone records looking for patterns, it seems the `leaks' of our anti-terror tactics continue unabated....

Guess there are Leakers that are flat out `tired' of us NOT getting attacked since 9/11/01 and want to make sure the terrorists know ALL of the little methods we use to deter or uncover them!

giant new embassy rising in iraq

There is an up side to the revelation that the US Government is plugged into all of our communications.(spy) Because now that we KNOW this, the government cannot stage another fake terror attack to kick off more wars without the American people calling attention to the NSA phone monitoring being a total and complete failure.

ya right, that'll stop them.
"uh, i believe the title of THIS memo was uh, 'bin laden determined to blow up the northeastern electrical grid.'"

Just catching up: capt, polar bears are essentially brown bears, aka grizzles, only white with big paws. Not even as different as cocker spaniels and border collies.

Saladin, I have lived in Eastern Washington for almost 36 years now. The three dams that some want to breach are on the Snake River, not the Columbia. AFIAK, the few dams used for irrigation are not considered threats to salmon. It is the many dams used to provide the region with inexpensive electricity (and in the summers, help you too) that affect the salmon. Don't particularly blaim my neighbors. (I think you need a fact checker...)

HA!

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David Corn,

The gummint has to spy on the terrorists to protect the American people. Some would say that this is a direct violation of the Constitution. Nonsense, it is okay to trade liberty for security, because we're Americans, and can paradoxically have both. Just like Jefferson said. Besides, the Republicans are in power. They aren't corrupt or power-hungry. We know they're only spying on the millions of terrorists residing in America right now. Don't you feel safer?

Of course people die in Iraq, Mr. Corn, they are, after all, just Iraqis. And remember: "you can't make an omelette without breaking some eggs", which means that it is okay to kill people to accomplish a financial goal. Duh. Why am I even bothering to explain this to you?

May 11, 2006

Dear Gerald,

This Sunday will be the third Mother's Day that I have spent without my oldest child in my life. Casey was killed in Iraq exactly five weeks before Mother's Day in 2004.

Everyday is an incredible experience of pain and longing: for Casey and for his future and for his here and now. Special days like holidays and birthdays always seem to be harder. Casey will never call me again to wish me Happy Mother's Day. I will never get another funny card from him. I will never have a daughter-in-law or grandchild from Casey.

George and Laura Bush will probably celebrate Mother's Day with their daughters, secure and happy in the fact that they are together. Jenna and Barbara will never be put in harm's way for the avaricious and destructive policies of their father, policies that have sent too many of us world's mothers into a tailspin of grief and emptiness.

This Mother's Day, I will be joining CODEPINK and mothers from all over the country in holding a 24-hour vigil in front of the White House beginning Saturday, May 13th at 3 pm. We will be demanding an end to the occupation of Iraq before too many more Cindy and Casey Sheehan’≥ are produced. We mothers and children of the world will also demand that our government not invade Iran and kill any chance for a peaceful world that we may still have. We will be joined there by Susan Sarandon and many other mothers of peace and courage who are working for the same thing.

George Bush has never met with me to answer what noble cause Casey and over 2400 brave young Americans and hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians have died for.

Fighting a War on Terror with a War of Terror to enrich the war machine is not a noble cause. Peace is.

Please join us to make our noble cause dream a reality. Come to Washington DC if you can (click here for more info) or participate in a local Mother's Day activity. Support our efforts by sending a rose or making a donation. And work with us in the months ahead as we build a movement of mothers and others powerful enough to stop this war -- and the next one.

Cindy Sheehan

David C, the disseminators of the GOP "news" from Iraq are the same bunch that promised that bush was a paragon of virtue, a true hero (just like the cowboy Ronnie), a rat-a-tat-tat star-spangled, apple-pie eatin' great guy!

They are the same bunch that threw their "moral outrage" out the window as soon as they gained power after installing their puppet King in the WH. The harrumphers of righteousness are liars, cheats, thieves, frauds, murderers, traitors who don't give a damn about anything or anyone.

And they don't give a rat's ass if they upset 99% of the Iraqi population "with their lives disturbed by murder." They would feel, then, that they had "won the war." That is how sick they are.

"I do NOT, with extreme exceptions, check into links ... I do not use this blog as a news `portal'!" Posted by: Hapless at May 11, 2006 11:31 AM ". . .I have no need to read. . ." Posted by: Clueless at May 11, 2006 12:26 PM Nope, they don't bother with inconvenient facts. Just like the Conservatives in congress, catapulting the propaganda, trafficking in lies living in denial. Bad news from the BLS, GAO, Census Bureau, The Fed ... who wants to get bogged down in all that ranting from those liberal web sites. And who needs a quaint little document like the Constitution? All that blather about unreasonable search and seizure ... Just keep on hiding the lawbreaking like the Bush-oisie likes it.

This is another election year and the Nazis will always place a happy spin on their failures. Since most Americans are Nazis, they will lap up their nonsense.

micki and Jeanne, the letter that I sent to the Catholic News Service on April 14, 2006 has not been printed. Four weeks have past and no printing. If the letter is not printed in three to four weeks, it will not be printed.

hi! there are as many witnesses who saw a small plane or even no plane as there are that saw a 757 screaming across the freeway at treetop level at high speed

What was all that nonsense above? The Nazis must have reached a crazy state over the David Corn website.

We can see what is happening in the devil incarnate nation. The hatred is so deep and widespread that the devil incarnate nation will never return to God. Without God our nation is doomed and damned.

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.

American Soldiers

2,728 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, 2,728 American soldiers have given their lives in wrong and immoral wars.

Thinking about the murder rate in Baghdad is overwhelming. People in America wouldn't stand for these statistics. I'm still waiting to be greeted as liberators.

Wow! Is all that *&^^%^& called spam?

The Decline and Fall of Bushitler

As stupid as Bushitler has been the next president will probably have to follow his policies and practices that will seal Nazi America's doom and be blamed on Bushitler's predecessor.

That should be BLAMED ON BUSHITLER'S SUCCESSOR.

America at War

there are as many witnesses who saw a small plane or even no plane

Oh ok, that explains it.
Must've been two small planes then. One's wingspan wouldn't be wide enough to take out 3 light poles. *nudge nudge* Well get somebody to halogram that third one falling.

I forgot, who was it we got to imbed plane parts in the side of Lucky's pickup?

James, I luv ya man, but these theories get more stupid everyday.

Eat more fresh asparagus!

I just read a article about how especially good it is for you. Also, you will support asparagus farmers in California, Montana, Peru and Washington (State).

And just think of how much asparagus you'll be able to buy on your $20 tax refund!

Oops! Michigan, not Montana.

Here is another reason why China is the world's leader

I still believe that Iran most move forward in technology.

With the $20 tax refund the Nazis will feed us more shit to eat!!!

I don't know how the spammer posted so many all at the same time. A bank of computers and he hit send on all of them at once? There is a bright side to the spam for me; I just got thru with 171 posts on the last thread and was faced with another 171. Phew. It was all gibberish. I'm saved and all caught up!

The Evil and Vile Decider

NSA Defines "Above the Law"
Cohen | WaPo | 5/11/06

One day after the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsiblity gave up trying to investigate the National Security Agency's domestic spying program, USA Today fronted a story about how the government is amassing billions of phone call records made by tens of millions of Americans.

If there are appopriate checks and balances in place to ensure that the program and its cousins are being run legally, they are not nearly as apparent as they need to be.

[link]

= = = = = = = =
NSA has massive database of Americans' phone calls
Leslie Cauley | USA TODAY | today

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, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA TODAY.

The NSA program reaches into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans —†most of whom aren't suspected of any crime. This program does not involve the NSA listening to or recording conversations. But the spy agency is using the data to analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist activity, sources said in separate interviews.

{LINK}

I believe that I am on the list!

Yes, I do!

Thoughtful, tasteful site:

Find My Part

A site just for james, Saladin and maybe capt and kathleen:

Deconstructionism

I believe that I am on the list, yes, I do!

Sorry about the previously wrong link!!!

Yes, Cornposters, our demise is now complete! May we rest in peace!

On the NewsHour: Collecting Calls

U.S.A. Today reported Thursday that the National Security Agency has amassed data tracking of millions of domestic phone calls since the terrorist attacks of September 11th. NewsHour Correspondent Kwame Holman reports on the growing political storm over government surveillance. Then, Holman speaks with Senators Kit Bond (R -Mo.), a member of the Intelligence Committee, and Patrick Leahy (D -Vt.), a senior member of the Judiciary Committee.

Nazi America no longer has freedom of speech

Target Iran

Molly Ivins Is a Fox!

Poll: Bush Lied About Iraq, Has No Right to Attack Iran

By far the most dramatic determinant of belief that Bush lied was the respondent's most watched television network for news. Viewers of ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and MSNBC, ranged between 89.1% and 63.2% believing Bush lied. Among Fox viewers, a *whopping* 2.3% believe Bush lied. Those who listen to a lot of talk radio were also less likely to believe Bush lied than those who listen to little or none.

Intel shift helps free Pentagon from oversight

From UNITED FOR PEACE OF PIERCE COUNTY (Washington): This is an interesting perspective on what is going on with the intel shifts -- By expanding special operations and centering intelligence functions in the Dept. of Defense, the Pentagon is perfecting its development as an independent branch of government -- a government within the government, even, since the president will be not be fully informed, either.

this is from your debunking911 posted @190

If the upper floor sags, it pulls both the outer beams and inner beams toward the center of the floor. The beams that are left from the impact are pulled in more than the beams above or below it. Being made of STRIPS of beams and not one solid steel wall, the beams need only to move far enough out of the way to let the beams above slide around the beams below it. The beams above and intact have the full weight of all the "Stories" above which are connected to it. Everything above rips apart everything below. In other words the beams above are no longer square with the beams below.

Conspiracy theorist say it's a an optical illusion created by heat. But it would be impossible for this illusion to happen only to one side of the building even when that side of the building cooled. It also happens to be where the collapse started.
-----------------
nonsense. that is an aluminum cladding facade that is "bowed", and not a single conspiracy theorist has ever said anything was an optical illusion created by heat.

another site that uses straw-man tactics to try and prolong the "wacky conspiracy theory phase" of 911 thus ensuring that the entire subject remains on the back burner.

here are more accurate photos of the damage to wtc 1 & 2 : debitel.net

and THIS is just how hot it really was in the incredible inferno.
"weee! it's so hot in here that it's melting the steel!"

When I read posts like David Corn's, I think back to where we were before Bush was elected. I think back a little more to a time before the religious right took over in state and federal government. This country is eroding.

And why do we tolerate it? I think it's because there is no recourse. We email, call, and write our Senators and Representatives and they vote in favor of big business and the president anyway. We jump up and down, protest, boycott, scream, yell and the media ignores us.

My country has done damage to the lives of countless people. Bush, the great religious leader, has blood on his hands. Cheney has blood on his hands. Rumsfeld has blood on his hands. Condi has blood on her hands. They all do. Rivers of blood have flowed in Iraq.

They are like termites. They invade everything. They call it democracy.

Now it is our privacy they invade.

Democracy?

197
..Viewers of ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and MSNBC, ranged between 89.1% and 63.2% believing Bush lied. Among Fox viewers, a *whopping* 2.3% believe Bush lied.
Posted by: micki at May 11, 2006 05:42 PM
=======================================
The `lied' stats are more extreme than I'd guessed but certainly confirms that:

1) Old media is friends of the Left,
2) Old media viewers are more prone to manipulation, and
3) Old media viewers are more idle than most to take the time to answer those incessant polls.

Great start for Snow.

Snow Already Sparring With News Orgs

In his first week in the job, new White House Press Secretary Tony Snow is already having issues with CBS News, and slamming The New York Times and USA Today.

Snow has fired off several emails to reporters. One rapped the Times for continuing to "ignore America's economic progress," while another hit USA Today for a "misleading Medicare story." He also knocked CBS News on Wednesday for Jim Axelrod's piece on seniors having problems with the Bush drug plan. Axelrod responded today.

White House sources say that Snow aims to counter criticism of the administration in an aggressive manner. He has yet to hold his first press briefing, however.

Among many charges leveled at Axelrod, Snow declared that "CBS News misleadingly reports that only 8 million seniors have signed up for Medicare prescription drug coverage. But 37 million seniors have coverage."

But Axelord replied today: "Very simply, the White House is cutting and pasting to make a point, something they accuse their critics of doing constantly."

He notes that one "point made by the White House is that we report "enrolling can be a confusing process." Is that really such a controversial statement when 75% of seniors polled say the new Medicare drug plan is difficult to understand?

"I am always open to criticism and believe we should be as transparent as possible in how we put together our reports, especially on such important issues as Medicare, but if the White House has a point to make, perhaps they should furnish the full and proper context for everything that is broadcast"

"Again, the White House is clearly manipulating what I broadcast to fit their agenda. And they are wrong to do that."
-----------------------
What's Snow going to do, be a press secretary from afar? The Bush administration retreats into the bunker.

and another thing:
even when that side of the building cooled

cooled. drywall and carpet fueled by kerosene burned hot enough to warp steel and then cooled off enough for that poor gal to wave at us. all in 56 minutes before tower2 exploded. to be fair, the woman was in tower1 which valiantly held out for 85 minutes before it was exploded.

james --- Come over to
Basic Physics
where there are plenty of knowledgeable people ascribing to several different views. Posting there you might learn something as well as contribute.

tvnewslies.org

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’≥ consent; (iv) for telemarketing enforcement; or (v) by "administrative subpoena." The first four clearly don's 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't 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.

jeanne --- Exactly who is going to prosecute under the Stored Communications Act?

This is from the USA Today story linked in David Corns post.

Qwest's refusal to participate has left the NSA with a hole in its database. Based in Denver, Qwest provides local phone service to 14 million customers in 14 states in the West and Northwest. But AT&T and Verizon also provide some services - primarily long-distance and wireless - to people who live in Qwest's region. Therefore, they can provide the NSA with at least some access in that area.

------------------
Thank you Quest.

#207
David,
And so we begin another episode of "Alice in Wonderland".

while i have no doubt that i could indeed learn a lot, i fear i have nothing to contribute to a forum devoted to physics as relating to the collapse of the wtc 1 & 2. they did not collapse, they disintegrated from the top down with enough explosive force to launch a 300 ton section of columns almost a full city block into another building much less robust than #7. and it remained standing i might add. oh, it wasn't insured against a terrorist attack a mere 6 weeks before being subjected to a terrorist attack as the wtc was though.
but you give them hell over there sir! and please tell them to take a gander at this while you're at it: morgan reynolds: we have holes

I can tell you one thing. If I had long distance with one of those companies I'd be calling them up and telling them I was done as a customer. Hopefully a lot of people do that.

Re #211: jeanne --- Local service telephone companies are state-regulated monopolies. So I suppose, as Verizon is the local monopoly, I'll have to quit having regular phone service. Can I get by with a cell phone? Would that help make the point?

Re #210: james --- You might be surprised. Come on over and ask a question or state an opinion. (I just found two useful pieces of information from Jim Hoffman's site...)

jim hoffman seems like a very bright individual but there are so many very bright individuals everywhere that i need to get darker glasses! i will visit physorgforum later, i bookmarked it -

by the way, sorry about the go build a bicycle powered search engine out of coconuts comment - it WAS damned funny tho, you have to admit! - ha, out.

james --- Even gentlemen blow off steam once in a while. De nada.

They are going to duplicate the Iraq tragedy in Iran and, it seems, soon:

(http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/US_military_seen_ready_for_Iran_0511.html )

Can they be stopped? I suggest an idea storm here for ways to stop them. Are there law suits, letter campaigns, anything at all that will stop them?

DB, McKinney sucks, is that the whole argument? You guys need to move on from the physics aspect of this debate, it is only a small portion of the many questions, but it is good to continue a useless argument.
BTW, sorry I screwed up the comment on the Columbia River, mistaking the dams for the ones on the Snake, but you know how astoundingly ignorant I am. I'm sure the Bonneville Dam is perfectly harmless to the young salmon trying to make it down river.

Karen, can we stop the tide?

Who'll stop the rain?

THERE IS NO STOPPING THE WAR PRESIDENT AND HE WILL DECLARE WAR ANYTIME HIS PEA BRAIN DESIRES. HE WILL DECLARE MARTIAL LAW AND MOST DEFINITELY CANCEL THE 2008 ELECTIONS.

DIEBOLD ELECTRONIC VOTING MACHINES ARE MORE RIGGED THAN EVER!!!

How do we spell doom???

Saladin, I only do the physics part: which hypothesis has the weight of the evidence, A or D? In the case of WTC 7, the A hypothesis is the damage + fires. Nothing is stated about how the fires started. You can make up whatever story you wish about how the fires started. But the weight of the evidence falls heavily in favor of the A hypothesis for WTC 7.

Bonneville Dam was the first on the Columbia River. When it was the only dam it didn't seem to have noticeable effects on the salmon fingerlings. But then another dam and another and ... and now there are simply too many. For various reasons the three on the Snake are considered to be the worse, but it seems highly probable that Bonneville Dam itself isn't helping... Ok?

I have been talking to a friend and he is well versed on many world issues. He believes that unless we turn things around in the next 8 to 10 years America is doomed.

Will Karl croak tomorrow?

Murdoch may want a Democrat elected president in 2008 so the powers that be can bring about a depression and the Democrats will be blamed. Ending any life in the Democratic Party!!! I say to Cornposters beware of devils bringing gifts for you!!!!!

Gerald, please do not insult peas. It is an important crop around here. Have you ever tryed peas with asperagas?

#223 kathleen, what is happening tomorrow? Does Fitzgerald hold a press conference? Personally, he may still need more information on Rove.

THINK ANY FOREIGN NATIONS ARE ACCESSING THE NSA WIRETAPPING AND DOING SOME DATA MINING THEMSELVES?

What Really Happenned

"Israel does not spy on the United States of America."
-- Mark Regev, a spokesman at the Israeli embassy in Washington

Prior to 9/11, the FBI had discovered the presence of a massive spy ring inside the United States run by the government of Israel. This seems a harsh gratitude from a nation which obtains 10% of its annual budget from the American taxpayer, $3+ billion a year. Over the years, American taxpayers have been required to send Israel more than four times what the US spent to go to the moon.

What Israel has done in return was to set up government subsidized telecommunications companies which operate here in the United States. One of these companies is Amdocs, which provides billing and directory assistance for 90% of the phone companies in the USA. Amdocs' main computer center for billing is actually in Israel and allows those with access to do what intelligence agencies call "traffic analysis"; a picture of someone's activities based on a pattern of who they are calling and when. Another Israeli telecom company is Comverse Infosys, which subcontracts the installation of the automatic tapping equipment now built into every phone system in America. Comverse maintains its own connections to all this phone tapping equipment, insisting that it is for maintenance purposes only. However, Converse has been named as the most likely source for leaked information regarding telephone calls by law enforcement that derailed several investigations into not only espionage, but drug running as well. Yet another Israeli telecom company is Odigo, which provides the core message passing system for all the "Instant Message" services. Two hours before the attacks on the World Trade Towers, Odigo employees received a warning. Odigo has an office 2 blocks from the former location of the World Trade Towers. "I think there is very compelling evidence that at least some of the terrorists were assisted not just in financing -- although that was part of it -- by a sovereign foreign government... It will become public at some point when it's turned over to the archives, but that's 20 or 30 years from now."

more at what really happenned

The big news today has been the USA Today story revealing that the National Security Agency has been tracking the domestic phone calls of "tens of millions of Americans." The secret program, it says, "reaches into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans--most of whom aren't suspected of any crime.
------------------------
I fear my own government more than I fear the terrorists.

DB I am not making up anything, I am asking questions. The subject of 9/11 encompasses far more than physics, the fact that you refuse to examine all the evidence available only means that the truth isn't really important to you. As for #7, that building was professionally demolished, all you have to do is watch the many available videos to see that. If you and your "scientific" buddies think those little office fires caused that building to collapse like that then you aren't scientists at all. I am completely confident, as confident as I was a year ago when I predicted that gold and silver was going to shoot through the roof, that the truth of 9/11 will be brought forward and used to complete the NWO agenda.

connect the dots

Spying on America
Charles R. Smith
Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2002
FBI Investigates Foreign Spy Ring –äU.S. Companies Deny Involvement
In the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the FBI reportedly stumbled on an espionage ring that had penetrated the wiretapping system of U.S. law enforcement. Fox News Channel reported that the FBI was holding nearly 100 Israeli citizens with direct ties to foreign military, criminal and intelligence services.

In a follow-up to these reports, the FBI did not deny that such actions had been taken. However, FBI spokesman Paul Bresson would not answer specific questions on the reported espionage.

"We have seen the Fox News segments that aired several weeks ago on this topic and found some inaccuracies with it. Because they are sensitive issues, I do not have the luxury of discussing what precisely was accurate and what was inaccurate about their reporting," stated Paul Bresson, spokesman for the FBI
at newsmax.com

They are not natural disasters. They are man-made disasters. Are there any lawyers that read this?

Gerald, we don't have 8 or 10 years. We are lucky if we have 3. The dems and the repubs are both doomed because a democratic republic cannot survive what is coming.

Networks plan stakeout of Fitzgerald court Friday; No formal sign of indictment

RAW STORY
Published: Thursday May 11, 2006

Reporters at the major cable television networks plan to be on the ground Friday outside a federal district court where the jury considering the fate of President Bush's senior adviser Karl Rove.

No formal indication has been given of Rove's status, though lawyers close to the case have said his fate is likely to be determined soon. Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald, who is investigating the outing of CIA officer Valerie Plame, is scheduled to meet with the grand jury in the case Friday.

The major networks plan to have reporters live on the ground, a senior reporter said.

Two White House reporters covering the case said they had not heard anything about new Rove developments, though they confirmed that the grand jury is scheduled to meet.

Rove testified for the fifth time Apr. 26. Legal experts have said that those who appear before the grand jury on multiple occasions are more likely to be indicted.

The Washington Post recently reported: "Fitzgerald, according to sources close to the case, is reviewing testimony from Rove's five appearances before the grand jury. President Bush's top political strategist has argued that he never intentionally misled the grand jury about his role in leaking information about undercover CIA officer Valerie Plame to Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper in July 2003. Rove testified that he simply forgot about the conversation when he failed to disclose it to Fitzgerald in earlier testimony."

DEVELOPING...

#225 David B. Benson, I love peas and asparagus. My wife does a great job with stir frying shrimp and asparagus.

She did a great job with a recipe of hot and sour Chinese soup. It was her first venture in hot and sour soup. We usually take out or we eat at a restaurant. I had 3 and one half bowls. I love hot and sour soup!

kathleen, thank you for the info on Rove!

Saladin, you may be right about three years. But, I believe we will fart around for three years to delay our demise.

SPREADING OUR AMERICAN DEMOCRACY IS A JOKE TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES! THEY SEE THAT OUR NATION IS RUN BY GOONS AND THUGS WITHOUT A CONSCIENCE.

Petiton to protect internet neutrality.

LINK

It is not just the Bush administration listening into the American publics conversations...

The neocon power grab at NSA and an attempt to stifle the press

By Wayne Madsen
Online Journal Contributing Writer

Download a .pdf file for printing.
Adobe Acrobat Reader required.
Click here to download a free copy.

May 24, 2005—äThe Neocon Power Grab at the NSA

Now more on what is happening at NSA and how it is adversely affecting U.S. national security. On August 1, 2001, just five and a half weeks before the 9–±1 attacks, NSA awarded Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) a more than $2 billion, 10-year contract known as GROUNDBREAKER. The contract was never popular with NSA's career professionals.

Although GROUNDBREAKER was limited to outsourcing NSA's administrative support functions such as telephones, data networks, distributed computing, and enterprise architecture design, the contract soon expanded into the operational areas—° sphere that had always been carefully restricted to contractors. NSA was once worried about buying commercial-off-the-shelf computer components such as semiconductors because they might contain foreign bugs. NSA manufactured its own computer chips at its own semiconductor factory at Fort Meade. Currently, NSA personnel are concerned that outsourcing mania at Fort Meade will soon involve foreign help desk technical maintenance provided from offshore locations like India.

CSC had originally gained access to NSA through a "buy in" project called BREAKTHROUGH, a mere $20 million contract awarded in 1998 that permitted CSC to operate and maintain NSA computer systems. When General Michael V. Hayden took over as NSA director in 1999, the floodgates for outside contractors were opened and a resulting deluge saw most of NSA's support personnel being converted to contractors working for GROUNDBREAKER's Eagle Alliance (nicknamed the "Evil Alliance" by NSA government personnel), a consortium led by CSC.

NSA personnel rosters of support personnel, considered protected information, were turned over to Eagle, which then made offers of employment to the affected NSA workers. The Eagle Alliance consists of CSC, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, CACI, Omen, Inc., Keane Federal Systems, ACS Defense, BTG, Compaq, Fiber Plus, Superior Communications, TRW (Raytheon), Verizon, and Windemere.

In October 2002, Hayden, who has now been promoted by Bush to be deputy director of National Intelligence under John Negroponte, opened NSA up further to contractors. A Digital Network Enterprise (DNE) team led by SAIC won a $280 million, 26-month contract called TRAILBLAZER to develop a demonstration test bed for a new signals intelligence processing and analysis system. SAIC's team members included Booz Allen Hamilton, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and Eagle Alliance team leader CSC. TRAILBLAZER, according to Hayden's own testimony before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, is now behind schedule and over budget to the tune of over $600 million.

But that is not the only consequence of these two mega-contracts for NSA's ability to monitor global communications for the next 9–±1, which could be a terrorist nuclear strike on the United States.

NSA insiders report that both contract teams have melded into one and that NSA's operations are being adversely impacted. From simple tasks like phones being fixed to computers being updated with new software, the Eagle Alliance has been a disaster. The Eagle Alliance and DNE team members are rife with former NSA top officials who are reaping handsome bonuses from the contracts—°nd that has many NSA career employees crying conflict of interest and contract fraud.

more at Wayne Madsen

Dr. Teresa Whitehurst is a fox

I do not know if if Dr. Teresa wants someone to call her fox. I use the word fox for female writers whom I believe possess the characteristics of nurturing and sensitivity.

Saladin, do you ever read what you write?

Gerald and Dr. B., try grilling asparagus that has been lightly coated with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

I do this on my electric grill, next to my grilled sweet onions, nestled next to my wild salmon, which I worry about. Save the salmon!

Num.

Nothing is easier than self-deceit. For what each man wishes, that he also believes to be true: Demosthenes

=
A time will come when a politician who has willfully made war and promoted international dissension will be as sure of the dock and much surer of the noose than a private homicide. It is not reasonable that those who gamble with men's lives should not stake their own: H.G. Wells

=
Don't ever let them pull you down so low as to hate them. (also cited as: I will permit no man to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him.) Booker T. Washington

=
The soul of our country needs to be awakened . . .When leaders act contrary to conscience, we must act contrary to leaders: Veterans Fast for Life

=
If we work in marble, it will perish; if we work upon brass, time will efface it; if we rear temples, they will crumble into dust; but if we work upon immortal minds and instill into them just principles, we are then engraving upon tablets which no time will efface, but will brighten and brighten to all eternity: Daniel Webster

===

Thanks ICH Newsletter!

where is pointdexter in all of this wasn,t he the one who proposed a similar program in 2000?

QWEST;

My phone company.

I seldom use the phone but I guess I am pleased with them. $35 a month to have a landline I never use still chaps my hide. I also connect to the internet using QWEST DSL. The DSL is reliable and fast (1.5Mbps).

capt

capt

#240 caroline, those grilled asparagus sound like a great idea. I also like sweet onions. I may be quite different from the rest of you but I prefer frozen salmon over fresh salmon.

I LOVE FOOD AND I HAVE SERIOUS PROBLEMS TRYING TO LIKE NAZIS.

David here is an article by one of the war pushers with Iraqi blood and guts on his hands. Although he will never admit it. He is a member of the "PSYCOPATHS GONE WILD" club.

Micheal Rubin continues to push hard for a U.s. military strike on Iran..he does not care about Iraqi, Iranian or American lives.

I Was an Icelandic җar CriminalӊBelieve me, Secretary Rice, you donմ want to go soft on the International Criminal Court.

By Michael Rubin

I looked forward to returning to Iceland. It had been seven years since I last lectured there, and I remembered it as a beautiful, rugged country, great for hiking and swimming. I was scheduled to deliver four lectures on Iran, Iraq, and transformative diplomacy at the Universities of Iceland and Reykjavik, and at the U.S. Naval Air Station in Keflavik.

This trip would not be so smooth. Word of trouble began to percolate in the morning of the first lecture. A local antiwar activist was demanding my arrest as a war criminal. My crimes were multifold: Writing an article blaming Saddam HusseinѮot United Nations sanctionsѦor Iraqi deaths, and then advocating for Iraqi liberation. This made me responsible for ҷar-crimes and violating international law by indirectly causing the invasion of Iraq.ӠLike thousands of others, I had also worked at the Pentagon and volunteered for duty in Iraq. At each university lecture, protesters worked to disrupt my speech. Some were young students, and others were older retirees, members of a group calling itself, Ҕhe Movement for Active Democracy.ӠI was even accused of complicity in a cover-up of the 9/11 attacks. Among my crimes, the protesters pointed out, қRubin] is a Jew and a big supporter of Israel.ӠGuilty as charged. I do not apologize for my religion, and I am also a big supporter of India, Turkey, Taiwan, Mali, and other democracies. Iceland is a small country. Rather than ignore the incidents, both newspapers and television reported it. I was already in Finland when I got an e-mail informing me that the police commissioner dismissed the lawsuit.

The incident would be laughable if it did not foreshadow a growing phenomenon seeking to criminalize debate that is sweeping progressive, libertarian, and antiwar groups at home and abroad. Blogger Juan Cole, for example, a popular anti-Bush pundit, demanded the FBI investigate how Walid Phares Ңecame the Դerrorism analystՠat MSNBC.ӠOn June 1, 2004, blogger Laura Rozen lamented that someone she disagreed with was not the subject of an FBI investigation. On September 20, 2004, libertarian Justin Raimondo urged the FBI to ҩndict the Neocon War Party for treason.ӠPerhaps hyperbole, but it is dangerous to smear political opponents with death-penalty offenses

more at National Review

#242 Onechip...this is Poindexters plan in action.

it's all here..... just read .... Mr. Bush, We Know What You Did That Summer! (2001) CLICK HERE

David Corn on Eye on Washington

Watch David Corn participate in a roundtable discussion of the political issues of the day on Eye On Washington. Check local listings for weekend air times and channels.

(a PSA for David's Fan Club)

capt

Gen. Hayden earns his `bones' and a nomination

From his very first appointments, Bush appeared inclined toward officials who appear willing to treat the law as a mere technicality.

Some people were taken aback when, in his first term, Bush filled his administration with top officials accused of criminal and unethical conduct during his father's term and the Reagan administration. They included people like Elliott Abrams to oversee Middle Eastern affairs, despite his pleading guilty to a federal crime during the Reagan years. There also was Otto Reich, accused of running an unlawful domestic propaganda operation for Reagan; he was tapped as a special envoy. Bush also recruited Adm. John Poindexter, convicted of various federal crimes stemming from his service as national security adviser to Reagan. (The convictions were later overturned.) Poindexter was chosen by Bush to head the controversial Total Information Awareness data-mining project, an operation viewed as so dangerous to privacy and civil liberties that it was formally stopped by Congress.

There was also John Negroponte, accused of shielding human-rights violations and unlawfully supporting the Nicaraguan contras. After Negroponte's stint as ambassador to the United Nations, Bush made him the director of national intelligence.

Likewise, then-White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales was accused of signing the infamous "torture memo" that not only approved of forms of torture but also suggested that the president could violate federal law. Gonzales was later made attorney general.

More HERE

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

A little reference to Poindexter.

capt

Saladin, here is what the Nazis will be doing for the next three years

Israel practicing their motto "do as we say not as we do"

Israeli Supplier Cuts Gas to Palestinians
By Ali Daraghmeh and Josef Federman
The Associated Press

Wednesday 10 May 2006

Nablus, West Bank - Palestinian gas stations started shutting down and motorists lined up at pumps after an Israeli fuel company cut off deliveries Wednesday, deepening the humanitarian crisis following Hamas' rise to power.

An end to fuel supplies for the West Bank and Gaza could cripple hospitals, halt food deliveries and keep people home from work - a devastating scenario for an economy already ravaged by Israeli and international sanctions.

The Israeli company Dor Energy, the sole fuel provider to the Palestinians since interim peace agreements in the mid-1990s, cited growing debts for its decision, Palestinian officials said. Dor declined comment, but the company had threatened to cut off supplies twice before this year, only to be paid at the last minute by the Palestinians.

Asaf Shariv, a spokesman for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said Israel would "absolutely not" bail out the Palestinians. Shariv said that since the Palestinian government resells gasoline to consumers, there is no reason for it not to have money to pay its debts.

The Nazis will make us chew on this for three years

if you use a prepaid phone card the # you are dialing from does not come up on caller id - no clue if this insulates you from a tap

Here is what the young Nazis are doing in college to waste away their minds

The Neo-cons lie u.s. into a war tens of thousands of Iraqi's die, and U.s. corporations rape an pillage...

This is the best article I have read about U.S.corporate takeover of Iraq....It is at Counterpunch

May 10, 2006

Looting By Another Name
The Corporate Takeover of Iraq's Economy

By KEVIN ZEESE

The roots of the economic takeover of Iraq are long and deep. They became more aggressive after the strongest U.S. ally in the region, the Shah of Iran, was deposed in the 1979. The roots of the quest of dominance of the oil-rich region are found in both the Democratic and Republican Party, but the most aggressive pursuit has been by George W. Bush.

Former President Jimmy Carter wrote in his memoirs that many Americans "deeply resented that the greatest nation on the earth was being jerked around by a few desert states." And, when he was president he put forward "the Carter Doctrine" in a State of the Union Address in 1980 that acknowledged "the overwhelming dependence of the Western democracies on oil supplies from the Middle East" and promised military force would be used to ensure access to Middle East oil: "Any attempt by an outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf will be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the United States of America and . . . will be repelled by any means necessary including the use of force."

But, according to a book by Antonia Juhasz, "The Bush Agenda," it was the Reagan, Bush I and Bush II administrations that most aggressively pursued the Iraq oil economy. Her excellent book tells a story that explains the reasons for the invasion and occupation of Iraq. It shows how the Reagan and Bush I administrations began by building a friendly trade relationship that provided money, arms, intelligence, and political protection to Saddam Hussein--despite his brutal record as a despotic dictator. And, how the Clinton years led to 'regime change' in Iraq becoming the policy of the United States and naturally following that was the Bush II's military invasion of the country.

She highlights the web of corporate interests from the oil, oil engineering and military sectors of the U.S. economy that have combined with government to the build-up to the invasion of Iraq. Many of the corporate players--Chevron, Bechtel, Lockheed Martin and Halliburton--have corporate leaders who went into and out of government over the years, influencing the direction of U.S. policy and then ensuring that their corporations profited mightily from the policies they put in place. Juhasz points to Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, L. Paul Bremer, Scooter Libby, Robert Zoellick, Paul Wolfowitz, Zalmay Khalilzad and George Shultz, as key players in the long term quest to takeover of Iraq's economy.

the truth of 9/11 will be brought forward and used to complete the NWO agenda.

i agree with that. i think some heroic politico honest abe type of character will eventually step out of left field and save us. the bad guys bushco will slink away in disgrace and then we can begin the healing process and truly become part of the wonderful global society. or something along those lines.

May I wish all mothers out there a Happy and Wonderful Mother's Day! May our troops be home sooner rather than later!

Please excuse the repost of my fifteen foxes. I believe they are great women. I have not heard from Nora Ephron, Devvy Kidd, and Naomi Klein for sometime. If you have read any of their recent articles, please share their titles with us. Thank you!

The Fifteen Foxes

What is great about the computer, I can log onto different websites and focus on some people and their articles. The fifteen foxes for me are Arianna Huffington, Maureen Dowd, Teresa Whitehurst, Karen Kwiatkowski, Eleanor Clift, Molly Ivins, Cindy Sheehan, Katrina Vanden Heuvel, Sister Joan Chittister, OSB, Naomi Klein, Devvy Kidd, Nora Ephron, Helen Thomas, Linda Schrock Taylor, and Karen Horst Cobb. Not only are these fifteen women pleasant to look at, but they also write exceptional articles.

Here is a brief overview of why these writers are foxes for me.

1. Cindy Sheehan is a mother of a soldier that was killed in Iraq. She wants to know what noble cause killed her son. The chickenhawk, Bush, refuses to answer the question.
2. Eleanor Clift may not write articles like the rest of the women but I enjoy her intelligence in standing up to the bushcos when she appears as a guest on the various talk shows.
3. Molly Ivins is from Texas and she, too, will not take any crap from Bush or his family. Plus, any woman who drinks beer from the bottle is my kind of woman.
4. Arianna Huffington is a Republican but she is an objective person in assessing America’≥ problems. She chooses her country over her party.
5. Karen Kwiatkowski is a retired military colonel with a Ph.D. Her articles are well written and her love for the military is noted but she will not go along with stinking military thinking from the other generals and from that chickenhawk, Bush.
6. Teresa Whitehurst is a Ph.D. clinical psychologist who writes great Christian articles that reveal her discipleship in following Jesus.
7. Maureen Dowd is a columnist with the NYTimes. She, too, writes very good articles that reveal her innate nurturing and sensitivity as a true female. Why this gorgeous woman is not married I do not know.
8. Katrina Vanden Heuvel is also on the list of foxes and she is a valuable member. Katrina writes articles for The Nation magazine.
9. Sister Joan Chittister, OSB, can be read on NCRonline.org. Sister Joan is a bit of a maverick for a Catholic nun but she does convey some interesting thoughts.
10. Naomi Klein writes for The Nation and her writings are also published in the Guardian.
11. Devvy Kidd writes for News with Views website. She has several interesting articles to read. You can also type in her name and you can check the articles.
12. Nora Ephron is a writer whom I have come to read her articles on The Huffington Post website. She is an author and has worked on the Hollywood scene.
13. Linda Schrock Taylor has been added to my list of foxes. I have read her articles on LewRockwell.com.
14. Helen Thomas is another woman added to my list of foxes. How could I have missed her? For years she was the first news reporter to ask a question at presidential press conferences. Since Helen had the opportunity to ask the first question, she tried to be fair and impartial. Today, she is a more critical and open reporter.
15. Karen Horst Cobb is a freelance writer from New Mexico. She has written two great articles about Christians.

There will probably be other names of foxes that will be added to my list but these fifteen names are a good start.

The Neo-cons lie u.s. into a war tens of thousands of Iraqi's die, and U.s. corporations rape an pillage...

This is the best article I have read about U.S.corporate takeover of Iraq....It is at Counterpunch

May 10, 2006

Looting By Another Name
The Corporate Takeover of Iraq's Economy

By KEVIN ZEESE

The roots of the economic takeover of Iraq are long and deep. They became more aggressive after the strongest U.S. ally in the region, the Shah of Iran, was deposed in the 1979. The roots of the quest of dominance of the oil-rich region are found in both the Democratic and Republican Party, but the most aggressive pursuit has been by George W. Bush.

Former President Jimmy Carter wrote in his memoirs that many Americans "deeply resented that the greatest nation on the earth was being jerked around by a few desert states." And, when he was president he put forward "the Carter Doctrine" in a State of the Union Address in 1980 that acknowledged "the overwhelming dependence of the Western democracies on oil supplies from the Middle East" and promised military force would be used to ensure access to Middle East oil: "Any attempt by an outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf will be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the United States of America and . . . will be repelled by any means necessary including the use of force."

But, according to a book by Antonia Juhasz, "The Bush Agenda," it was the Reagan, Bush I and Bush II administrations that most aggressively pursued the Iraq oil economy. Her excellent book tells a story that explains the reasons for the invasion and occupation of Iraq. It shows how the Reagan and Bush I administrations began by building a friendly trade relationship that provided money, arms, intelligence, and political protection to Saddam Hussein--despite his brutal record as a despotic dictator. And, how the Clinton years led to 'regime change' in Iraq becoming the policy of the United States and naturally following that was the Bush II's military invasion of the country.

She highlights the web of corporate interests from the oil, oil engineering and military sectors of the U.S. economy that have combined with government to the build-up to the invasion of Iraq. Many of the corporate players--Chevron, Bechtel, Lockheed Martin and Halliburton--have corporate leaders who went into and out of government over the years, influencing the direction of U.S. policy and then ensuring that their corporations profited mightily from the policies they put in place. Juhasz points to Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, L. Paul Bremer, Scooter Libby, Robert Zoellick, Paul Wolfowitz, Zalmay Khalilzad and George Shultz, as key players in the long term quest to takeover of Iraq's economy.

The divest from Israel movement was beginning to take off about 4 years ago until Campus Watch (a scare group) began to repeat the "anti-semite" card every time someone on a campus wanted to address Israeli foreign policy and the occupatio of Palestine... H

Here is a bit of divestment news...
Danny Bolin/Presbyterian Church USA

The Presbyterian Church USA磗 2004 biennial assembly in Richmond, Va.

On eve of meeting, divestment issue
still roiling Jewish-Presbyterian ties
By Rachel Pomerance
May 11, 2006

ATLANTA, May 11 (JTA) ? As Presbyterians across America gear up for their biennial assembly next month, the legacy of the last such meeting is still roiling the Jewish community and the church抯 own members.
Two years ago, the Presbyterian Church USA passed a resolution calling for 損hased, selective divestment in multinational corporations operating in Israel.?

RELATED ARTICLES
Presbyterian divestment rooted in history
Divestment prominent on Presbyterian agenda
Those who long have followed Jewish-Protestant relations weren抰 surprised.

揑t was the culmination of decades ? not years, but decades ? of hostility toward Israel and Zionism, not by the rank-and-file members of these churches, but by some of the leadership,? said Rabbi A. James Rudin, senior interreligious adviser for the American Jewish Committee, where he staffed the interfaith department for 38 years.

The passion ignited by the divestment resolution at the last General Assembly is likely to erupt again at the June 15-22 meeting in Birmingham, Ala.

Afghan Poppy Farmers Expect Record Opium Crop

Record Afghan Heroin Overdoses America

(2 headlines that speak for themselves.)

Chris Matthews just said on Hardball that the "CIA leak grand jury meets tomorrow, Friday." According to Christy, grand jury members are given a phone number to call in that will let them know if they’≤e going to be meeting the next day, so it’≥ entirely possible that someone would know.

Matthews says that they’¨l be covering it tomorrow at 5 and 7 pm. We will, of course, be all ears first thing in the morning.

Could it be Fitzo-de-Mayo?

Enterprise Carrier Strike Group heads out to support the War on Terrorism

bogus link

UPDATE: This link has gone down, but it carried an article about Negroponte lying about spying on Americans and featured a photo of Bush at the NSA standing in front of a diagram identified as a map of the chokepoints that could be used to control the internet.

To the `hyperventilating' Lefties, Happy brings Dr. John to calm you down for bedtime:

Connecting-the-Dots, Data Mining and the Loss of Real Civil Liberties
May 11, 2006
Posted by John McIntyre at 04:16 PM

In the run up to the 2004 election I debated a very left-wing professor who went on and on about how the Patriot Act was essentially a reincarnation of Gestapo or KGB tactics. I responded that I was of course concerned about individual liberties and the unfettered power of the state, but that in the post-9/11 world there is a balancing act between liberty and security, and that I would be more sympathetic to critics of the Patriot Act if they could point to specific cases of abuse. Show me the real alive Jane and Joe Americans who have had their liberties violated in some grotesque manner by the Patriot Act. Needless to say, the professor moved on.

I ask the same question today to the bloggers and pundits out there who are hyperventilating over the latest revelation that our security agencies are actually trying to do their job. Many of the people decrying these violations of civil liberties are the same ones who ripped the government for its inability to "connect-the-dots" prior to 9/11.

But the paranoia on the left, and in particular, the hatred for the Bush administration has become so intense there is an automatic assumption that the NSA has to be engaging in nefarious activity, spying on you and your neighbor. The idea that the agency is thinking creatively and proactively about how they can legally monitor the bad guys instead of just going about business as usual is, apparently, out of the question for some. The sad truth is it is probably going to take another devastating attack to convince many in this country that we are actually at war against Islamic jihadists.

That is something true civil libertarians should think long and hard about. The more vigilant we are today in preventing attacks, the more it will pay off in spades in terms of protecting our civil liberties in the future. Because if this country gets hit with a small nuke and 30,000 or 100, 000 Americans die, all of the debating will be over. The ensuing crackdown will be massive, and the loss of REAL civil liberties will become very, very possible.
=========================================
Take a deep breath, relax, and just remember: most large Financial and Consumer Goods Co. probably collects more `personal traits' on you and I than any Government databases (other than income tax & SSI records).

What the country needs is a couple more of these `Hyperventilatable' Revelations, say in Sept. & October, to remind the voters as to why there has not been any attacks since 9/11/01!

caroline 88, do YOU read what I write? Have you paid one speck of attention to anything I have said about inflation, oil, the gold and silver markets and how that ties in with our fiat currency? Do you even know what a fiat currency is? Do you know where the money comes from? Do you know why the one true measure of a nations wealth is counted in gold? Do you know why the price of that seemingly boring metal has more than doubled in the past year? Do you even care as long as the dems take over? If I was a greedy jerk like happy I would laugh at the ignorance, but it just makes me feel sad and hopeless.
James 105, yippee, I just can't wait.

114

"...If I was a greedy jerk like happy I would laugh at the ignorance, but it just makes me feel sad and hopeless."

Geeze, how did you know that I laugh at yuor ignorance the most; but I am glad you are true to your posted BS and actually "feel sad and hopeless". You are, bar none, the most obnoxious bitch on this blog! And, you are definitively, anti-Jewish to the extreme!

That felt great!

Boyd,

You just called a friend of mine an obnoxious bitch...

How very civilized. Enjoy your empty echo.

kisses,
-T

would be more sympathetic to critics of the Patriot Act if they could point to specific cases of abuse.

that's a good point happy, but i feel that the danger of losing our liberties is not really ours but our children's. our liberties might erode slowly over time so we don't notice it even happening until maybe it's too late - the frog in a pot of water analogy -
and i feel that your faith in our govt is misplaced. you know what i mean. i could spout all that patriotic gobbledy gook from benedict arnold or one of those founder guys as well but there's not any point at this point and you know that too.

Happy, pick up the constitution and read it. You are completely clueless.

The dots were connected before 911. We just have an idiot president who doesn't read or care.

The argument that we must put aside our civil liberties to be safe is hogwash.

alright hap, maybe she IS an obnoxious bitch and that's only one of the things i admire about her, but she is not anti-jewish even in the least. you said that for one reason only: to provoke. that lowers you from the status of ass to that of slime. in my opinion. AND i say israel should be wiped off the map. not because they are jews, but because they behave in a despicable manner.

"...saw the news and cause of this blog/you, I immediately thought of Spanky and naturally, wished that he was NOT a casualty. That being said, I have never felt more pity and disgust for you as I have after reading the part above!

God help you if either Karl or Spanky is severely maimed or killed. I have two sons and I couldn't imagine being against what they have chosen to do out of free will and their senses of service and patriotism! I guess you are Mr. Cindy Sheehan! Pitiful!"

-Boyd...a few posts ago
_______________________

I see that you have claimed to be the father of two...and that you're involved in "scouting". I hope you'll continue to support what they've chosen to do when they're warming up the scoutmasterbator's sleeping bag.

"Fathers" like you (reaching, because I don't believe a word about what you say you are) advocate "supporting" your children by sending them out to play in traffic.

Fortunately, that tactic, according to Darwin, will eliminate such a piss-poor gene from the pool. You've already admitted that you derive some sort of perverted pleasure from sniping at people, REAL people, for their attempts to make sense of the insanity running rampant in the world. That is very telling of your psychosis.

Jill and I not only remain proud and concerned for ALL the children. We know that Karl and Grant's desire to serve has been shat upon by you and the "Hero" you claim to support. Each death of an American soldier, each innocent Iraqi life taken now by gunfire, bomb, malnutrition, radiation poisoning or improper medical care lies squarely upon your shoulders.

It is when I hear the words of people like you I wish beyond wishes for a vengeful God who will have no mercy for murderous pricks like yourself.

I, personally, am getting a little bit tired of waiting for karma to exact its toll...

You know where I am, if you want to attack my friends or family. C'mon...be a man and do it in person. Karma waits!

-T

"Happy, pick up the constitution and read it. You are completely clueless."
Posted by JUDY at May 11, 2006 11:41 PM

Let's keep this goobers straight. That one is Hapless. LBH is Clueless. And Factchecker is Factless. Hapless, Clueless and Factless, the 3 amigos.

Among Fox viewers, a *whopping* 2.3% believe Bush lied.
Posted by: micki at May 11, 2006 05:42 PM
=======================================
The `lied' stats are more extreme than I'd guessed but certainly confirms that:

1) Old media is friends of the Left,

Wrong.

2) Old media viewers are more prone to manipulation, and

Wronger.

3) Old media viewers are more idle than most to take the time to answer those incessant polls.
Posted by: Hapless truly is Hapless at May 11, 2006 06:21 PM

Wrongest.

In honor of Olbermann's worst person in the world, we can officially call Hapless the Wrongest person on the Cornblog.

"Geeze, how did you know that I laugh at yuor ignorance ...."
Posted by Hapless smacks his ass and gives himself a concussion at May 11, 2006 11:23 PM

Hapless, you are the idiotic gift that jest keeps on agivin'. Thanks for playing along, dumbass.

And on that note ... it's time for an abbreviated Thursday Night Funnies. S.H.I.T.

===+===

"A lot of people are very upset that Congressman Patrick Kennedy was not given a blood alcohol test after his car accident last week. I understand why they didn't do it. It's kind of like giving President Bush the SAT test. What's the point?"
--Jay Leno

"The president of Iran has written a letter to President Bush. This Iranian president is very smart. To make sure Bush read the letter, he wrote it on Exxon stationary."
--Jay Leno

"They're celebrating (Cinco de Mayo) down in Washington, D.C. At the White House, a confused George Bush lit a menorah."
--David Letterman

"The bird flu movie, here's what it is, the bird flu is coming, and government officials are slow to react to the coming disaster. Where do they get this stuff?"
--David Letterman

"Whatever (Patrick Kennedy) was on, it's just nice to see a lawmaker under the influence of something besides a lobbyist."
--Bill Maher

"President Bush said catching a 7.5 pound fish was his best moment since becoming president. You know the sad thing, a lot of historians would agree with that."
--Jay Leno

"You don't want to mess with a CIA hooker, because she will take you around the world, and then leave you in one of those secret prisons."
--Bill Maher

"Mexican President Vicente Fox changed his mind and announced he will not sign a bill legalizing cocaine, heroin and marijuana. He's worried about too many Americans illegally crossing his borders."
--Jay Leno

"The White House said that President Bush actually can speak Spanish, but not very well. In other words, about the same as English."
--David Letterman

"4 out of 10 American students could not find Iraq on a map. However, 10 out of 10 Mexicans could find the U.S. without a map"
--Jay Leno

"The price of gas is getting so high, this morning I saw Patrick Kennedy and Rush Limbaugh carpooling to rehab together."
--Jay Leno

"The White House also issued their recommendation for dealing with the bird flu. The first step, tax cuts for all birds."
--Jay Leno

And Finally,

"President Bush celebrated Cinco de Mayo a day early today. He would normally do it tomorrow, but Friday is his day off." --Jimmy Kimmel

Cue the drumroll .... The votes are in, after rotating the tires on his administration, I give you ... Mr. 29%.

Hapless, get Clueless on the ball. He's supposed to keep me pinned down, remember?

#114 Okay, you asked. Full disclosure. Saladin, I sometimes read what you write. I seldom pay any attention to what you write. However, when I do read what you write, I marvel at your tenacity and determination and your complete disregard for facts.

I give you an A+ for your attention span.

Keep these goobers straight. Yeah, like they're gonna catch my typos.

Ooooooh, where to begin ... there's so much going on that I can't shake the giggles.

Let's start with the cowards (no, not Hapless, he done been p{}nked already). Mr. DeLay has announced his official Cut and Run date, June 9th. Na na, Hey hey hey, Goodbye. Check out the pixies that goes with the story, he reaches out to the lobbyists and casts demons into them.

72 Democrats gather at the inquest to witness the autopsy of the Grand Ol' Spending Party.

While they're happily ignoring the pedophiles in their department, DHS is doing its darndest to mimic the old Soviet KGB. They think they can shut down the internets. Pinheads.

And just watch the Conservatives squirm in their seats. Big Oil has them grabbing their ankles and wondering what's in store for them. If they only knew. Info from the WSJ, another one of my Liberal web sites.

I've been writing about this here for a while, and finally, the other shoe drops. Republican KY Gov. Fletcher is ready for his mugshot.

And if the image evoked by Republican Jerry Lewis wasn't goofy enough, add Federal Investigation into the mix. The old dictum, Culture of Corruption no longer applies. What do you call it when it's easier to keep track of the Conservatives that aren't under investigation than the ones who are?

This is why Clueless and Hapless don't care if the majority Party in Congress ever does its job. If they did, this is what they'd find. No. Best not go there. Let's just keep calling for tax cuts for Billionaires. That'll improve the GOP poll numbers. Pen-DAY-Hoes.

underline

Find My Part at #39
Yeah Dr. B, I read it last night. It's at this part of the link...

Molten Steel

I'll post the last graf...
Further, perhaps the estimated temperature of the hot spots, obtained via infrared scanning, was 1500 F = (810+273)K = 1083K. Assuming approximately black body radiation. 1000K is red hot, maybe 1500K is orange hot. Yellow hot, then is very close to the melting temperature of iron, (1535+273)K = 1808K. It seems to me a higher temperature than can be reached by burning ordinary office materials. That gasoline was in close proximity seems unlikely. I don't know the temperature of burning transformer oil, but I suppose it is less than gasoline(?) The point behind this addendum is that the pressure pulse hypothesis is highly robust under alternative scenarios and is not dependent on an external source of chemical energy. - David B. Benson, edited by Debunking 911

I am a level headed liberal (?) watching the movie American History X. Having a hard time understanding how much one race can hate another. Got me thinking conspiracies. Now I am wondering... Is the recent anti-immigrant uproar (read: anti-Mexican) a push by the right to court the African-American vote in the '06 election. Expound as you will.

nonsense. that is an aluminum cladding facade that is "bowed",

I'm still reading James, so he may have addressed that already, but... you may not of read it all, or scrolled down a couple more pictures. It wasn't a facade it was talking about. You could see the floor sagging.
Then you linked to the picture again, the one where a woman is seen. That definitely shows the fire burning above. You guys have to give up the "fires went out" line. Note that hi-rise fires rise higher to the floors above. And since jet fuel doesn't jump up floors, that proves that there were plenty of combustible material to keep burning after the jet fuel was consumed on those 'crash' floors... and we know alot of it dropped down into the building through elevator hatches and stairways to create more havoc.
But really, the biggest thing you can't account for if any of the different theories were what happened, is explaining how the hell it could be pulled off with all the people that it would take, and to coordinate with each other to do all this b/s. Fake transcripts? Fake eyewitnesses? Fake damage?
How did they make 4 planeloads of real people disappear?? If you can't come up with some kind of explanation, then how do you logically believe in the equation? You can't just look at the left side of the "same as" or "equal" mark.
On a side note, someone sent me today a good article on the bomber that hit the Empire State Building. A B-25, I think it was. Said it made a hole only 18-ft in the side of the building. Yikes! Another conspiracy!

Empire State Building

Damage to the building and the surrounding area was extensive. An 18-by-20 foot hole was gouged by the B-25, and one of the plane's engines plowed through the building, emerging on the 33rd Street side and crashing through the roof of a neighboring building.
====================================
The article has alot of detail. Interesting, for sure.

Public Opinion

A Letter from Iran

Is Bushitler out of his mind?

Gasoline at ten cents a gallon

Won't link ya because it's a 285 page .pdf, but I seen this part comparing the Empire State Building's accident with the 9/11 planes.

B-25:loaded weght 33,500; fuel capacity 670 gallons, hit ESB approximately 150 mph; plane was low on fuel

The 767's that hit WTC weighed about 280,000 lbs and held 10,000 gallons. They hit at approximately 500 mph.

War with Iran is inevitable

Bushitler does not care!

A Nuclear War with Iran Is Set in Stone!

Obituary of antiwar.com!

The week of May 8, 2006 marked the end of a great website! Donations have plummeted and the doors will be shut permanently. I will miss this great website.

Sincerely,

Gerald

P.S. Thank you for many great articles! RIP!

PLEASE READ MY POST "A NUCLEAR WAR WITH IRAN IS SET IN STONE!"

An Obituary of the USA Is Ready for Print

In a short time from now the soul of the USA will die and be relegated to the lowest depths of hell. The USA maliciously attacked Iran with nuclear weapons. The USA for a second time is the only nation to use nuclear weapons against another country.

In August of 1945 the USA was the first nation to use nuclear weapons against Japan.

Shortly, the USA's string of nuclear warfare will be realized against Iran.

Silence on the part of her people and churches means they have given their approval of such wrongful and immoral deeds.

Sincerely,

Gerald

Drexel Professor: For a Bigger Computer Hard-drive, Just Add Water

Imagine having computer memory so dense that a cubic centimeter contains 12.8 million gigabytes (GB) of information.

Imagine an iPod playing music for 100 millennia without repeating a single song or a USB thumb-drive with room for 32.6 million full-length DVD movies.

Now imagine if this could be achieved by combining a computing principle that was popular in the 1960s, a glass of water and wire three-billionths of a meter wide. Science fiction? Not exactly.

Ferroelectric materials possess spontaneous and reversible electric dipole moments. Until recently, it was a technological challenge to stabilize ferroelectricity on the nano-scale. This was because the traditional process of screening the charges was not completely effective. However Dr. Jonathan Spanier from Drexel University and his research colleagues and the University of Pennsylvania have proposed a new and slightly unusual mechanism stabilizing the ferroelectricity in nano-scaled materials:surrounding the charged material with fragments of water.

Until recently, it was difficult to miniaturize ferroelectric materials because of problems with screening.

More HERE

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

The future will be far beyond what we are able to imagine.

"I bought some powdered water yesterday. I don't know what to add." ~ Steven Wright (1955 - )

capt

This one is critical. Call your Representatives demand oversight over the psychopaths.

US military, intelligence officials raise concern about possible preparations for Iran strike

Larisa Alexandrovna
Published: Thursday May 11, 2006

Use of Iraq terror group bypassed Congress, sources say

Concern is building among the military and the intelligence community that the US may be preparing for a military strike on Iran, as military assets in key positions are approaching readiness, RAW STORY has learned.

According to military and intelligence sources, an air strike on Iran could be doable in June of this year, with military assets in key positions ready to go and a possible plan already on the table.

Speculation has been growing on a possible air strike against Iran. But with the failure of the Bush administration to present a convincing case to the UN Security Council and to secure political backing domestically, some experts say the march toward war with Iran is on pause barring an "immediate need."

"In March/April of this year [the US] was pushing for quick closure, a thirty day window," says a source close to the UN Security Council, describing efforts by the Administration to "shore up enough support" to get a UN Chapter 7 resolution.

A UN Chapter 7 resolution makes it possible for sanctions to be imposed against an uncooperative nation and leaves the door open to military action.

The UN source also says that a military analysis suggests that no military action should be undertaken in Iran until spring of 2007, but that things remain volatile given this administration’≥ penchant for having "their own way."

Strike could come earlier than thought

Other military and intelligence sources are expressing concern both privately and publicly that air strikes on Iran could come earlier than believed.

Retired Air Force Colonel and former faculty member at the National War College Sam Gardiner has heard some military suggestions of a possible air campaign in the near future, and although he has no intimate knowledge of such plans, he says recent aircraft carrier activity and current operations on the ground in Iran have raised red flags.

Gardiner says his concerns have kept him busy attempting to create the most likely scenario should such an attack occur.

"I would expect two or three aircraft carriers would be moved into the area," Gardner said, describing what he thinks is the best way air strikes could be carried out without disengaging assets from US fronts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Two air-craft carriers are already en route to the region, RAW STORY has found. The USS Abraham Lincoln, which recently made a port call in Singapore, and the USS Enterprise which left Norfolk, Virginia earlier this month, are headed for the Western Pacific and Middle East. The USS Ronald Reagan is already operating in the Gulf.

In addition to aircraft carrier activity, Gardiner says, B-2 bombers would be critical.

"I would expect the B-2's, the main firepower asset, to be flown on missions directly from the United States," Gardiner explained. "I would expect B-52's to be flown in strikes from the UK and Diego Garcia."

"Finally," he added, "a large number of cruise missiles would be fired from the carrier support ships."

Steven Aftergood, senior research analyst at the Federation of American Scientists, says that the B-2 bomber is capable of such long range activity.

"The B2 bomber was designed, with the Soviet Union in mind, for intercontinental operations," Aftergood said. "With aerial refueling, it has a range of up to 10,000 miles."

Like Gardiner, Aftergood has heard similar claims with regard to a June strike, but has not been able to confirm them independently.

Intelligence sources confirm hearing the allegations of a June attack, but have been unable to fully confirm that such an attack is in the works. Both the New Yorker and the Washington Post have previously reported that the Pentagon is studying military options on Iran.

All sources, however, agree that given the administration’≥ interest in regime change, an attack on Iran is likely, regardless of international support or UN backing. Furthermore, all sources agree that Gardiner’≥ scenario is the most probable, including an estimated duration and "pause" assessment.

Gardiner believes that the entire initial operation could run quickly, roughly 24-72 hours. "Most of the strikes would be at night," he said. "The Iranian nuclear facilities will be targeted; more important however, a major effort would focus on Iran's capability to retaliate. The US will target missile facilities, air bases and naval assets."

"After the initial effort, there will be a pause during which time the Iranians will be told that if they retaliate, the air strikes would continue," he added.

The Pentagon did not return calls for comment.

Advance teams under way; Congress ‘¢ypassed’ä
As previously reported by Raw Story, a terrorist organization known as Mujahedeen-e Khalq (MEK) is being used on the ground in Iran by the Pentegon, bypassing US intelligence channels. The report was subsequently covered by the Asia Times (Article).

Military and intelligence sources now say no Presidential finding exists on MEK ops. Without a presidential finding, the operation circumvents the oversight of the House and Senate Intelligence committees.

Congressional aides for the relevant oversight committees would not confirm or deny allegations that no Presidential finding had been done. One Democratic aide, however, wishing to remain anonymous for this article, did say that any use of the MEK would be illegal.

In addition, sources say that a March attack that killed 22 Iranian officials in the province of Sistan va Baluchistan was carried out by the MEK.

According to a report by Iran Focus filed Mar. 23, the twenty-two people killed in the ambush included high ranking officials, including the governor of Zahedan.

"Hours after the attack took place, Ahmadi-Moqaddam announced there was evidence the assailants had held meetings with British intelligence officers," the Iranian news service reported.

"Radical Shiite cleric Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi also claimed the people behind the attack were the same as those behind a spate of bombings in Iran’≥ south-western province of Khuzestan earlier this year and in 2005," it added.

Military and intelligence sources say that MEK assets were responsible for this attack, but did not know if the US military was involved or if US military assets were part of the ambush.

One former high ranking US intelligence official described the use of MEK as more of a "Cambone" operation than a "Department of Defense operation."

Undersecretary of Defense Intelligence Stephen Cambone, a stalwart neo-conservative, is considered by many to be Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’≥ right-hand man.

During a White House briefing in early May, outgoing press secretary Scott McClellan denied that the administration was using MEK, among several other terrorist organizations named, for ground activity in Iran.

"There are numerous reports about low-intensity operations ongoing in Iran from three different places -- PKK going over the border into Iraq, the MEK southern border of Iraq into Iran, and also certain operations from Balochistan involving also the Pakistanis," a reporter asked. "Does the U.S. have a policy, given also reports which I know you won't comment on, on possible special forces operations in Iran?"

"Our policies haven't changed on those organizations," McClellan said. "They remain the same. And you're bringing up organizations that we view as terrorist organizations."

"We would never cooperate with them, in terms of—¶quot; the questioner continued.

"Our policy hasn't changed," McClellan replied.

Military, intelligence community alarmed

According to a New Yorker article by veteran investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, other activities aimed at intimidating and agitating Iranian leadership are also underway.

"One military planner told me that White House criticisms of Iran and the high tempo of planning and clandestine activities amount to a campaign of ‘£oercion’†aimed at Iran," Hersh wrote.

The increase in violence on the southern border of Iran, the movement of aircraft carriers into the region, the insistence of Iran’≥ leadership that they intend to be a player on the nuclear stage and the Bush Administration’≥ focus on regime change make military and intelligence sources nervous.

"[President] Bush thinks that history will judge him as a great leader, not unlike Winston Churchill," one former high-ranking military intelligence official remarked.

For now, Gardiner and others remain on the sidelines as the Administration plots their next move.

caroline, I have said this before, if you don't like my comments scroll past. If I am ignoring facts, feel free to point out the facts as you see them. I almost never even know what it is you are bitching about, it's usually just a general feeling of annoyance, maybe because I don't go along with the ever popular partisan party line here, but that's my right.
Hajji and James, don't worry about what happy thinks about me. I don't waste a second feeling anything but sorry for him. All the bragging about his big money stocks, to me, is the most obxoxious thing on this blog, no doubt he will continue doing it though, and I will continue to ignore it.

New fears surface over touch-screen voting

NEW YORK, May 12 (UPI) -- New fears were reported Friday about a potential security risk in Diebold Election System touch-screen voting machines.

Officials in Pennsylvania and California have issued urgent directives in recent days about a possible problem and other states with similar equipment were assessing the seriousness of the problem, The New York Times said Friday.

Computer scientists said the problem might allow someone to tamper with a machine's software in the newest chapter in an emerging political and legal fight around the country over voting machines, the newspaper reported.

Michael I. Shamos, an examiner of electronic voting systems for Pennsylvania, where primary voting is scheduled Tuesday, calls it "the most severe security flaw ever discovered in a voting system."

Officials at Diebold and a number of states played down any risk, emphasizing to the Times there were no signs of tampering with the touch-screen machines.

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

Sure, no problem. It is only our voting system. Why should anybody want it to be accurate or hack proof?

capt

Kathleen, I think it's already begun, just like Iraq was being bombed a month before official war was declared. Unless the people converge upon DC by the millions, there is no stopping this. I don't see that happening, do you? Remember, all but 31 reps have already signed on to this new cake walk, they don't give a shit what we think, what more do they have to do to prove it? You REALLY need to learn how to link, that was very long and I would hate to see David start deleting your posts.

Bushitler thinks history will judge him as a great leader not unlike Winston Churchill.

Here is my answer.

Bushitler is a legend in his own mind

DeLay to leave office on June 9

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Tom DeLay, the once-powerful majority leader whose career was undermined by scandal, said Thursday he would resign from the House on June 9.

"As you are aware," the Texas Republican wrote House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., "I have recently made the decision to pursue new opportunities to engage in the important cultural and political battles of our day from an arena outside of the U.S. House of Representatives."

He told Hastert he would resign at the close of business on June 9.

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

Do I remember a troll saying DeLay was saved when the conspiracy charge was dropped? No big deal, the troll has yet to be correct in any post.

capt

Below is the USMC message regarding the "search" done on a US Marine casket escort detail at an airport.

RMKS/1. AT APPROXIMATELY 1200 20060503, WHILE ESCORTING THE BODY OF SGT MILLS, LEA R. (OIF 05-07 USMC DECEASED) FROM DOVER AFB TO THE FINAL RESTING PLACE IN GULFPORT, MS, SGT STOCK, CPL BIGALK, CPL SCHADEBURG WERE STOPPED BY TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION (TSA) IN THE PHILADELPHIA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT AND TAKEN INTO SMALL ROOMS SET ASIDE FOR SEARCHES.

THEY WERE FORCED TO REMOVE THEIR BLUE DRESS UNIFORM BLOUSES, BELTS, AND SHOES. THE SECURITY PERSONEL SCANNED ALL THE ITEMS AND ALSO PATTED DOW THE MARINES. TSA ALSO TOOK SGT STOCK'S SHOES OUT TO THE X-RAY MACHINE AND THEN DIDN'T RETURN THEM; HE WAS INSTEAD REQUIRED TO FIND THEM HIMSELF.

ALL THE MARINES SAID THEY FELT HUMILIATED BY THIS TREATMENT. THE MARINES HAD ORDERS

IN HAND THAT TASKED THEM TO SERVE AS OFFICIAL CASUALTY ESCORTS. SGT STOCK WAS CARRYING SGT MILLS PERSONNEL EFFECTS, AND CPL SCHADEBURG WAS CARRYING THE FLAG FROM SGT MILLS' CASKET. THESE ITEMS WERE IN HAND AND IN PLAIN VIEW.

2. MAJ SHAFFER, KEITH E., STAFF SECRETARY, 1STMARDIV
---------------
Well, they could have easily snuck box cutters onboard wrapped in that flag!

Unlike Bushitler I cannot speak for God but I truly believe that our warmongering people will soon feel the wrath of God upon them. Silence in this Iran war is not golden.

Where are our religious leaders in all this nonsense? They are silent while they lap up the faith based money that they have received from Bushitler as a bribe for their silence.

Gerald, are you familiar with the Whore of Babylon riding upon the beast with 7 heads and ten horns, spoken of in Revelation? Does she sound familiar now?

#150 Saladin, I read the Bible but I have avoided reading the Book of Revelation. My problem is that I am an idealist in a realist world. I prefer Shalom over hell, fire, and brimstone.

Gerald, as you know I don't believe in hellfire and brimstone, I was only referring to your question about what was up with the religious leaders. It's my understanding that the Whore of Babylon represents the religions of the world that have aligned themselves with war mongering govts. It seems they have been doing that for centuries.

#137 Gerald, I read the article you cited. Doesn't look good, does it?

"...On April 13, Donald Rumsfeld was directly asked by an al-Arabiya reporter: "Is there a nuclear option on the table or off the table?" Rumsfeld's answer: "The more anyone discusses this, the more misinformation gets communicated. The president has spoken on this repeatedly. There is no need for people who work for the president to rephrase anything he has said. He has said it all, and I'll leave it with him."

Off the Nuclear Cliff

But the president had not said it all yet. Rumsfeld was predicting what Bush would say just five days later. When asked on April 18, "Sir, when you talk about Iran and you talk about how you have diplomatic efforts, you also say all options are on the table. Does that include the possibility of a nuclear strike? Is that something that your administration will plan for?," Bush responded: "All options are on the table." That was the watershed moment when America walked off the nuclear cliff.

Observation: Saladin, then why use that biblical reference to make a case or validate your opinion?

micki, first of all that reference doesn't say anything about hellfire and brimstone, it can be found at Rev. 17:3-8. Second, I wasn't trying to validate anything, I was just reminded of that passage by Geralds question. I found it interesting is all. You are determined to pick a fight, aren't you? I thought you intended to ignore me? Well, please do.

Gerald, you may be familiar with this site, but I wanted to mention it to you just in case you haven't seen it.

Vatican.va

The Vatican website

Sister Judith Zoebelein, a Franciscan nun, launched this site circa 1995. She said "It's very Franciscan," referring to the Internet, "you can touch it, you can change it, and you can touch people with it."

Nope. No fight intended. I slugged my post as an "observation."

A total disregard for the facts example of why our fiat currency system sucks and will fail.

Gasoline at 10 Cents a Gallon and Falling
by George Reisman

Lew Rockwell

Does gasoline at 10 cents a gallon and falling sound impossible in today's world?

Well, if you think it's impossible, you're wrong. Because that's where gasoline actually is, and it looks like it's going even lower.

Of course, it's not 10 cents a gallon in today's paper money. But it is 10 cents a gallon in the Constitutional money of the United States, which is gold coin and bullion.

Gold is now at $700 per ounce, and rising. To the right is a picture of a $20 United States gold coin known as a Double Eagle. If you look carefully, at the bottom of the coin, you can actually see where it says Twenty Dollars.
This coin contains approximately one ounce of actual gold, which means that at today's market price of gold, it's worth $700. And this means that one gold dollar is worth $35 of today's paper dollars. And that means that one gold dime is worth $3.50 in today's paper money. This last, of course, is roughly what a gallon of gasoline costs in today's paper money. Which means that a gallon of gasoline costs just 10 gold cents.

So why does a gallon of gasoline cost $3.50 in the paper money? Well, one explanation is that we’≤e expressing the price of gasoline in terms of a money that is itself very cheap and getting cheaper. Just think: if $20 gold dollars are worth $700 paper dollars, one paper dollar is worth only one thirty-fifth of a gold dollar. That's less than three cents. It shouldn't be surprising that buying things with three-cent dollars is going to require a lot of such dollars.

The key point here is that our money is getting cheaper and that's why prices are rising. Don't be surprised if in the future, gasoline is a lot more expensive in paper money than it is today and, at the same time, cheaper than it is today in our Constitutional gold money. Look for $5 per gallon gasoline in paper and seven cents per gallon gasoline in gold. That's a real possibility.
------------
We have the wonderful President Wilson and his mob buddies at the Fed. to thank for this.

what kind of observation is that? Maybe asking me what I meant would have been a good idea, instead of, once again, making snide remarks.

Stock Market Damage Control Day #2...still can find some laughs on David's blog! Thanks, Mr. Corn!!

My poke at Sal led to some `hyperventilating', Great! Article (page 2 only) below is funny, too, helps on a bad $$ day...

The Red and the Blue
A Harvard professor worries about America's coming civil war.
by Dean Barnett
The Daily Standard
05/12/2006 12:00:00 AM

Page 2 of 2

How we respond to gas prices will define the 21st century.

Not looking good.

Global warming and our predicament in Iraq and Iran are huge challenges that have energy and oil as a common element.

We are not confronting those challenges.

Mr. 29%

NEW YORK President Bush’s job approval rating has fallen to 29%, its lowest mark of his presidency, and down 6% in one month, according to a new Harris poll. And this was before Thursday's revelations about NSA phone surveillance.
______
The question is: what will they do about this?

why don't we all get a marker and start marking our dollars with IMPEACH or capn's 8643?

I lifted the 8643 from a bumper-sticker site. They deserve the credit.

capt

Boyd,

You just called a friend of mine an obnoxious bitch...

How very civilized. Enjoy your empty echo.

kisses,
Hajji

I believe the correct term is ignorant slut!

Hmm. Boyd, you are wading into dangerous waters with that! Some here may not know you are mimicking Jane Curtain and Dan Aykroyd doing Shana Alexander and James Kilpatrick.

Or was it Bill Murray?

#92
Me too Capt.

I just finished watching Democracy Now. Excellent coverage of the new USA Today story. Very scary. It is also in transcript form. I urge everyone to read it, listen or view it.

Three Major Telecom Companies Help US Government Spy on Millions of Americans

AMY GOODMAN: It’≥ good to have you with us. Now, you have written a letter about the Justice Department shutting down the investigation into the NSA. What do you understand has happened? Why has it been shut down?

REP. MAURICE HINCHEY: Well, the investigation by the Office of Professional Responsibility began earlier this year after I initiated a letter, which was signed by a number of my other colleagues in the House, asking this office within the Justice Department to look into the question of who it was in the Justice Department that approved this spying program by the NSA. Shortly after we wrote the letter, we received a reply back, saying that the investigation was underway. The Office of Professional Responsibility had engaged in an investigation, and they were moving forward on it. We had some other communication with the office, which indicated that the investigation was moving ahead. We sent a letter to them, asking them if they would look into specific aspects.

Then, the day before yesterday, we received a letter back from the counsel of the Office of Professional Responsibility, saying that they were unable to make any meaningful progress in their investigation, because they had been denied security clearances for access to information about the NSA program. So, the administration just put a road block in front of them, saying that they were not going to be able to investigate any aspect of this, because they were not going to be given the security clearances they need to look into the NSA. That is a shocking revelation, frankly.

It is the responsibility of OPR, the Office of Professional Responsibility, to make sure that people within the Justice Department are behaving in ways that are ethical, that are within the law and are not deviating from the protections within the Constitution. But, as we've seen, this administration is not interested in that kind of activity internally, and so they have stopped that investigation. We have now written a letter back to the counsel's office asking them to inform us who it was that prevented them from continuing the investigation and what were the circumstances surrounding that prevention.
------------------
This is only a tiny portion of the interview. This particular issue was written about in an article I posted a day or two back. It makes me VERY suspicious about what is really going on.

Jeanne, I can't help but wonder what they plan on doing with all the info. they gather from spying on everyone? I mean, that has got to be an incredibly boring job listening to strangers conversations and reading millions of emails. I wonder if this isn't just another part of the fear mongering state attempting to quell dissent by making people fearful of being spied upon, because what the hell is the point? They can't go around locking up everyone for saying something suspicious!

Americans by nearly a 2-1 ratio call the surveillance of telephone records an acceptable way for the federal government to investigate possible terrorist threats, expressing broad unconcern even if their own calling patterns are scrutinized.

Lending support to the administration's defense of its anti-terrorism intelligence efforts, 63 percent in this ABC News/Washington Post poll say the secret program, disclosed Thursday by USA Today, is justified, while far fewer, 35 percent, call it unjustified

We are a Prozac nation, no wonder the cabal can trample what is left of The Constitution in the name of "national security" with impunity.

Read the rest here.

#152 Saladin, I really have not explored the meanings of of some verses in Revelation. The whore may signify the religions. The whore may be nuclear weapons or the whore may be someone who claims to start nuclear wars in God's name.

#153 micki, it really does not look good for Iran, our country, and the world. I now believe that Bushitler will use the nuclear war against Iran so that there will be unrest in the world and he can declare martial law for the 2006 elections. In 2008 he will pass the torch to his brother, Jeb, and there will be no 2008 elections.

#156 micki, I have not seen the Vatican website. Thank you! I have added it to my favorites column. I wrote you and Jeanne a note in the previous blog saying that my April 14 letter was not printed in the Catholic News Service, May12, 2006 edition. If a letter has not been printed in 3 or 4 weeks, it will not be printed. May 12 is 4 weeks since I sent the letter.

Why Cornposters do we spend so much time complicating our lives? Life should be simplified. When we reveal love and mercy to all human beings, our lives will be made more simple and enjoyable. Maybe we are just too stupid as creatures to love and to show mercy for all our brothers and sisters in God.

To continue.

And now I hear (among other very disturbing things) that ATT in San Francisco allowed the government to set up a room in order to route internet information to the NSA. The fiberoptics were bundled to reroute and gather information. The point is, they weren't just gathering ATT customers info but also Quests customers.

Tim Shorrock, independent journalist who has covered the issue for The Nation magazine, who was a guest asked - What are they going to do with this info? They can use the info they gather to go to the FISA courts and get the court clearence they want to go after somebody who had done nothing wrong.

What they are doing is illegal. I was listening to MPR this morning and they had a guest on who was discussing the USA Today article. He commented that in a poll in Washington Post a small majority doesn't mind that they are collecting the info. That statement really bothered me because they are polling citizens asking if they object to illegal activity and NOT DOING THE INVESTIGATIONS THAT SHOULD BE DONE. Having a poll take the place of legal procedures is ludicrous.

#169 and #173 are connected.

Gerald, I think the reason many interpret the Whore of Babylon as representing false religion is because all through the Hebrew and Greek text Babylon is always condemned first and foremost for it's brutal, pagan religious practices and notorious habit of consorting with murderous political regimes. Remember, this is just a theory, I am not trying to validate my opinion! But it does strike me as a plausible, though not certain, explanation.

Excellent diary at DailyKos. It should make you angry, or angrier if you are already angry, or not at all if you are one of the two or three souless neo-fascist trolls that waste bandwidth in here:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/5/11/22508/2415

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.

American Soldiers

2,731 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, 2,731 American soldiers have given their lives in wrong and immoral wars.

Whore of Babylon according to Wiki

NSA telephone number records: As I read it, keeping track of who calls whom is probably legal, via a Blackmun decision. The purported goal is to look for unusual patterns of calls which might indicate a terror cabal.

The above is to provide information, not a statement of approval.

#175 Saladin, the Bible opens up a wave of thought to the meanings in the various verses. I look upon the Bible as God's love letter to the world. With love in our hearts for our fellow man we do not have to worry about the meanings of whores. The Bible is also for me the Way, the Truth, and the Light for our salvation.

We are now facing the greatest crisis in our short history as a nation. God is giving us this test to determine whether or not we love Him or Bushitler and the devil.

DEN, that was very interesting. As I said, the religion aspect is just a theory. Seems like just about every group out there is pointing to the one they hate as the culprit. I think it could represent evil human rulership in general.

#179
on Democracy Now REP. MAURICE HINCHEY goes on to say...
And then, of course, we have the story yesterday in USA Today, which talks about tens of millions of phone calls being placed into a data bank, and the extent of the monitoring of those phone calls is unknown. The fact is that the spying operation which this administration is engaged in is illegal. It goes outside of existing law, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which, in fact, itself was a compromise of constitutional protections. But they have now gone outside of that FISA law, and they are engaging in various forms of surveillance activities within the United States of American citizens without any jurisdiction to do so and without any action by any court, which is required by the law and, of course, by the Constitution.

#178 den, thank you for Wiki's find on the Whore of Babylon.

"...which is required by the law and, of course, by the Constitution..."

Jeanne, you're not gonna advocate sacrificing the security of this country just because of "some Goddamned piece of paper" are you?

-T

Watching What You Say
by Tim Shorrock of the Nation Mag.

Two months after the New York Times revealed that the Bush Administration ordered the National Security Agency to conduct warrantless surveillance of American citizens, only three corporations--AT&T, Sprint and MCI--have been identified by the media as cooperating. If the reports in the Times and other newspapers are true, these companies have allowed the NSA to intercept thousands of telephone calls, fax messages and e-mails without warrants from a special oversight court established by Congress under the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Some companies, according to the same reports, have given the NSA a direct hookup to their huge databases of communications records. The NSA, using the same supercomputers that analyze foreign communications, sifts through this data for key words and phrases that could indicate communication to or from suspected terrorists or terrorist sympathizers and then tracks those individuals and their ever-widening circle of associates. "This is the US version of Echelon," says Albert Gidari, a prominent telecommunications attorney in Seattle, referring to a massive eavesdropping program run by the NSA and its English-speaking counterparts that created a huge controversy in Europe in the late 1990s.

...."It's a huge betrayal of the public trust, and they know it," says Bruce Schneier, the founder and chief technology officer of Counterpane Internet Security, a California consulting firm.

......Asked if AT&T, which was recently acquired by SBC Communications, is cooperating with the NSA, AT&T spokesman Walt Sharp said, "We don't comment on national security matters." He referred me to a recent AT&T letter to Representative Conyers, which stated that AT&T "abides by all applicable laws, regulations and statutes in its operations and, in particular, with respect to requests for assistance from governmental authorities." MCI, which was acquired in January by Verizon, and Sprint, which recently merged with Nextel Communications, declined to comment. Attorney Gidari, who has represented Google, T-Mobile, Nextel and Cingular Wireless (now part of AT&T), believes that "some companies, both telecom and Internet," were asked to participate in the NSA program. But he suggests that only a limited number agreed. "The list of those who said no is much longer than most people think," he says.
--------------
If it's legal and ethical why did so many firms say no way? And what do they know about what the government is asking them to do that the public doesn't know?

#184
Why yes...I think I am. YES DAMN IT! I think I am.

In final analysis of all the interpretations of the Bible and the Great Books the answer for resolving life's problems is in Jesus' words, "Love one another as I have loved you!"

Report: U.S. Spies on Everyone

Congressional Democrats demanded answers from the Bush administration Thursday about a report that the government secretly collected records of ordinary Americans' phone calls to build a database of every call made within the country.

"It is our government, it's not one party's government. It's America's government. Those entrusted with great power have a duty to answer to Americans what they are doing," said Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

...The White House defended its overall eavesdropping program and said no domestic surveillance is conducted without court approval.

"The intelligence activities undertaken by the United States government are lawful, necessary and required to protect Americans from terrorist attacks," said Dana Perino, the deputy White House press secretary, who added that appropriate members of Congress have been briefed on intelligence activities.

Leahy sounded incredulous about the latest report and railed against what he called a lack of congressional oversight. He argued that the media was doing the job of Congress.

"Are you telling me that tens of millions of Americans are involved with al-Qaida?" Leahy asked. "These are tens of millions of Americans who are not suspected of anything.... Where does it stop?"

The Democrat, who at one point held up a copy of the newspaper, added: "Somebody ought to tell the truth and answer questions. They haven't. The press has done our work for us and we should be ashamed. Shame on us for being so far behind and being so willing to rubber stamp anything this administration does. We ought to fold our tents."

#Saladin..The drum beat for military action against Iran started immediately after the "illegal" invasion or Iraq. You could hear the neo-cons building the case in the media slowly but surely. I think most reporters were negligenct once again in regard to this march
towards Iran. If the media would have been hammering the Bush administration with hard questions three years ago about their repeated claims, they would not have gotten this far.

Deja Vu...General Zinni, Madeline Albright, General Wesley Clark, Zbiniew Brzenski (sp?) etc, so many have raised their voices against any pre-emptive military action against Iran. Iaea's Mr. El Baradei has repeatedly asked for the inflammatory rhetoric coming from Israel, the U.s. and Iran to be turned down. Mr. el baradei has repeatedly said that Iran poses no imminent threat. Yet, Daniel Pipes, William Kristol, Reiel Marc Gerecht, Micheal Ledeen, Cheney all of the expected psychopaths have been endlessly beating the war drums for three yeers.

The Aipac TRial was conveniently delayed four times so that Israel did not have to deal with the negative press that they deserve for spying on the country that allows them to hide in the shadows of the International community doing as they please while Israel demands that others abide by the Non-Proliferation Treaty. As Israel pushes for pre-emptive military in Iran, which will result in thousands of Iranian deaths. How can Americans wonder why so many people around the world hate us. The Bush administration and the complacent , apathetic, American people deserve hating.
Saladin you are right,it is highly unlikely (in fact the Bush administration knows this) that millions of Americans will actually get off their asses and show some concern about what our military has done in Iraq let alone Iran. And even when hundreds of thousands of concerned Americans do show that they care by marching ( most recently in New York) the
MSM does not air any honest footage any way.

#163 Micki...How low can Bush go?

Feds Go All Out to Kill Spy Lawsuit

....But what exactly is the privilege, and how powerful is it?

The state secrets privilege cannot be found in the U.S. Code, the code of federal regulations or the Constitution. Instead, it is a part of common law, the body of laws and precedents created over centuries of legal decisions. When the government believes that a civil suit might reveal secrets injurious to the country, the head of the appropriate government agency must review the matter and submit a signed affidavit attesting to the danger of the lawsuit or documents that might be disclosed.

Here's one more article. This one about the whistle blower at ATT.

Whistle-Blower Outs NSA Spy Room

AT&T provided National Security Agency eavesdroppers with full access to its customers' phone calls, and shunted its customers' internet traffic to data-mining equipment installed in a secret room in its San Francisco switching center, according to a former AT&T worker cooperating in the Electronic Frontier Foundation's lawsuit against the company.

Mark Klein, a retired AT&T communications technician, submitted an affidavit in support of the EFF's lawsuit this week. That class action lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Francisco last January, alleges that AT&T violated federal and state laws by surreptitiously allowing the government to monitor phone and internet communications of AT&T customers without warrants.

...According to a statement released by Klein's attorney, an NSA agent showed up at the San Francisco switching center in 2002 to interview a management-level technician for a special job. In January 2003, Klein observed a new room being built adjacent to the room housing AT&T's #4ESS switching equipment, which is responsible for routing long distance and international calls.

"I learned that the person whom the NSA interviewed for the secret job was the person working to install equipment in this room," Klein wrote. "The regular technician work force was not allowed in the room."

Klein's job eventually included connecting internet circuits to a splitting cabinet that led to the secret room. During the course of that work, he learned from a co-worker that similar cabinets were being installed in other cities, including Seattle, San Jose, Los Angeles and San Diego.

"While doing my job, I learned that fiber optic cables from the secret room were tapping into the Worldnet (AT&T's internet service) circuits by splitting off a portion of the light signal," Klein wrote.

The split circuits included traffic from peering links connecting to other internet backbone providers, meaning that AT&T was also diverting traffic routed from its network to or from other domestic and international providers, according to Klein's statement.

...Klein said he came forward because he does not believe that the Bush administration is being truthful about the extent of its extrajudicial monitoring of Americans' communications.

"Despite what we are hearing, and considering the public track record of this administration, I simply do not believe their claims that the NSA's spying program is really limited to foreign communications or is otherwise consistent with the NSA's charter or with FISA," Klein's wrote. "And unlike the controversy over targeted wiretaps of individuals' phone calls, this potential spying appears to be applied wholesale to all sorts of internet communications of countless citizens."

-----------

Weapons-grade uranium found in Iran
_______________

Still, they said, further analysis could show that the traces match others established to have come from abroad. The International Atomic Energy Agency determined earlier traces of weapons-grade uranium were imported on equipment from Pakistan that Iran bought on the black market during nearly two decades of clandestine activity discovered just over three years ago.
_________________

This, above, will be the paragraph that gets edited out in the re-telling of this story.

There's something happening here
What it is ain't exactly clear
There's a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware

I think it's time we stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

There's battle lines being drawn
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong
Young people speaking their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind

I think it's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

What a field-day for the heat
A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and carrying signs
Mostly say, hooray for our side

It's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you're always afraid
You step out of line, the man come and take you away

We better stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, now, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

-Buffalo Springfield

To continue...

The secret room also included data-mining equipment called a Narus STA 6400, "known to be used particularly by government intelligence agencies because of its ability to sift through large amounts of data looking for preprogrammed targets," according to Klein's statement.
-----------------
Here's the link to Narus
Narus

Narus software provides the real-time traffic insight essential to manage, secure and deliver Services over IP.

"...Why yes...I think I am. YES DAMN IT! I think I am..."
_____________

Me too!

-T

Quote of the Day from Our Friend Newt

"I'm not going to defend the indefensible. ... I'm prepared to defend a very aggressive anti-terrorist campaign, and I'm prepared to defend the idea that the government ought to know who's making the calls, as long as that information is only used against terrorists, and as long as the Congress knows that it's underway. But I don't think the way they've handled this can be defended by reasonable people. It is sloppy."

-- Newt Gingrich, on Hannity and Colmes, discussing the Bush administration's massive database of phone calls made by Americans.

FOR THE RECORD--LBH

Everyone, hold on to your horses, I must apologize to LBH. I falsely accused him of acquiring my husband's email address. After much checking, I've located the actual source of the email. It was just an uncanny coincidence. It never did make much sense and so, LBH, I apologize.

#196
Carey,
You're nicer than me.

#167 Micki

It was Dan Aykroyd.

#170 Saladin

All the private info is going to eventually end up in criminal hands for the use of identity theft.

jeanne --- On today's TomPaine.com, the last entry is "NSA Phone Tapping may be Illegal", or something similar. This is a USAToday article pointing out that, by the Backmun decision, collecting phone numbers does not violate the Fourth Amendment. But as you point out, maybe it violates FISA related law.

Hope the judge in the EFF lawsuit rules against "state's secrets"...

I admit I have an almost knee-jerk reaction to any kind of "surveillance" with that bunch in the WH, and the call record data mining is no exception. The busheviks are probably going to redefine the word "search" and the American Sheeple will fall into line (as the poll on this issue indicates).

The busheviks will probably say the surveillance of the call records is not a "search" and therefore the Fourth Amendment does not apply -- and therefore there was no reason to fully inform Congress of their activity.

#198 Thanks, Carey.

Katrina, the editor of 'The Nation', suggests

Defend our Constitution

Carey 199, that is probably inevitable. What the Nazi NSA and bushco plan to do with it is anybody's guess. I for one will never allow them to force me into silence with their scare tactics. Spy away, I say what I want, where I want, when I want, and if they don't like it, TOUGH SHIT! They can't put everyone in jail.

Sal, the trouble with religious doctrine is that it was created to provide "faith" for the oppressed masses at the time. They would have been a bit more secure in their minds knowing that retribution was coming against their oppressors as long as they followed a specific doctrine.

Seems true with all religions on Earth minus Buddism, which seems to rely more upon one becoming like the dieties provided, rather than subject to them.

Moving back in time would show the simplistic thoughts and ideas posessed by the people of that time mostly through metaphoric means. Thus the Whore of Babylon represented the anti religious aspect of those early people and can be applied as a metaphor during any period of time including now. IMHO

203,HUH?

DEN, what I have never understood about the book of Revelation in particular is it's very cryptic style. The apostle John was apparently inprisoned on the island of Patmos when he wrote that book. If his intent was to provide faith to the oppressed masses that was a strange way to go about it! It has been interpreted a thousand different ways, and in my own mind doesn't do a whole lot to make me feel more secure, though visions of Armegeddon are certainly looking more realistic nowadays. I wonder, is it prophecy, or, man interpreting it in the way he wants and making it come true? Either way we are in major trouble.

For an idea of what the Con-Ed substation under WTC 7 looked like that day (but figure more than one), watch this xformer grounding out (a dead short), then exploding.

transformer explosion

Defending Our Constitution

I see the problem with David Benson's post. Katrina linked that site.

Sal, to me religion does more to establish strong divisions among people. Every person thinks her/his beliefs are true and correct. This is NOT the way it should be as many of the so-called believers of this or that religion have started many wars over opposing beliefs.

I believe religion itself could be considered the Whore of Babylon promoting discord and division among people rather than peace and unity.

Religion hinders common sense and is largly responsible for what is happening in the world today, Jews hate Muslims and vice versa, Christians hate non-christians etc, etc.

I believe religion to be evil in itself for all the above reasons and should be left inside ones head rather than worn on ones sleeve, we would be better off without it.

All one has to do is look around the Earth and the wonderfull plants and animals to know there is a higher force at work, planet management is the only religious task at hand. Guard what we were given on this ball of dirt and rock we call earth.

Alan, for someone who has said more then a few times that you don't want to debate this subject anymore, you sure have been pounding on it an awful lot in the past several days. Awhile back you said the whole thing had become boring and advised us to take it elsewhere, yet you continue. How about if we just agree to disagree, and wait and see what the future brings? It seems obvious that the two sides will not be persuaded by the others arguments. We can all present "Dr.'s" and professors and witnesses that will back everything we each believe, so what's the point? Even if buildings fell down like that all the time it does nothing to prove bushco was not complicit, as I have pointed out time and time again, the physics of the collapsing buildings is only a small part of the overall picture. But your good "Dr. B" has declared he isn't interested in the rest, and you don't seem to be either. If your comments and links are for DB, fine, but if they are meant for those of us who are convinced the official story is bogus, I think it is safe to say you are wasting your valuable time, we have already spent many months of our own time researching what is available, and not clinging to one or two things that can be argued endlessly. I will wait and see where the independent research goes, so far the evidence against bushco is stacked miles high.

It is interesting how we interpret things. I didn't see a "problem" with David Benson's post -- I took it as though he was saying, "Here's something that Katrina at The Nation suggests" one should take a look at, and he linked to her suggestion.

I mention this only because it's illustrative of how even the written word is interpreted in different ways...could explain a lot of "disagreements" on blogs. ;-))

Maybe I misinterpreted?

:-()ya!

New thread.

He, he, finishing #160....

The Red and the Blue
A Harvard professor worries about America's coming civil war.
by Dean Barnett
05/12/2006 12:00:00 AM

.....only the most extreme left-wingers consider the 2004 election disputed.

...If you're reading this story, you're strange; strange in a good way, but strange nonetheless. You're by definition a high-end consumer of news. Few Americans have ever heard of, let alone often read, political magazines or websites.

Most Americans maintain an attitude towards politics that is best described as benign indifference. Even when the Bush-Gore battle hung...When the Supreme Court put an end to that struggle,....most of America shrugged its shoulders and began looking forward to the second season of Survivor.

There's a good explanation for this. On the global political menu of ice cream flavors, if we called George W. Bush vanilla and Mahmoud Ahmadenijad New York Super Fudge Chunk (with extra nuts), our elections give Americans a choice between vanilla and French vanilla. Elections matter and ideas have consequences. But the American political system has already worked out the biggest questions--democracy, free market capitalism, individual rights, suffrage, etc. Even in the most polarized of times, the differences between the parties aren't so stark as to warrant a manning of the barricades. That's a very good thing.

Walking around Harvard Yard, however, one may get a different sense...But if Harvard professors want to start a civil war--they'll have to do it themselves. And that's not very likely.

After all, they don't even want Army recruiters on campus.

Karl Rove is answering questions at the American Enterprise Institute and you can see it at C-Span. David Corn just asked the question of Karl Rove that everyone in the room wanted to ask. He asked about Rove's involvement in the CIA leak. Karl directed Corn to the last statement that Rove's lawyer Ruskin made on April 26th. Rove then said "nice try".

David...Karl Rove did not have to answer. If you look at the tape you will see that when you asked the question Karl responded with a sizeable gulp/CROAK. His reaction told it all. Watch the tape you will see it yourself.

You go David.....

AT JTA...Israeli Lobby still operating at full tilt...until the Aipac trial (if it is not dismissed)

Number of proposals on divestment
show issue remains at top of agenda
By Rachel Pomerance
May 11, 2006

ATLANTA, May 11 (JTA) —†Out of 137 overtures submitted for consideration at the 217th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA, to be held June 15-22 in Birmingham, Ala., 25 address divestment from Israel.
They come in the wake of two years of intensified Jewish-Presbyterian dialogue and heated discussion on the matter among Presbyterian groups, and reveal the extent to which the issue has roiled American Presbyterians.

Here is where things stand heading into the conference:

? Fourteen proposals call for rescinding the divestment resolution initiated at the last assembly.

? Three explicitly reaffirm divestment: One from San Francisco, which also presses for peaceful investment; one from Boston, which urges the church to develop educational materials about divestment so people ҭight discover a cogent, faithful Christian argumentӻ and one from Newark, which calls for Israel to stop ҳettlement population growthӠand for Hamas to end violence and Ҥisavow the goal of expelling Israel from Palestine.Ӡ

? Several other presbyteries are more subtle, calling for peaceful investment as the church reconsiders its stock portfolio. These overtures come from Washington; Chicago; Giddings-Lovejoy in St. Louis; New Brunswick, N.J.; and Missouri Union.

? Florida and New York City skirt the issue: the former calls for fairness, noting that the last assembly took actions biased against Israel; the latter mandates funds for peaceful coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians while healing damaged relations with Jews. A presbytery from western New York calls for education about the Middle East.

If BBC is forced to become beholden to the Israeli lobby...Watch out Palestinians if you think it is bad now..it can only get worse if the BBc stops reporting what is really taking place in the conflict, since the U.s. MSM will not touch the issue honestly or adequately.

After report, British Jewish leader
hoping BBC changes Mideast coverage
By Eve Bachrach
May 9, 2006

LONDON, May 9 (JTA) —†A British Jewish leader is pleased with a report critical of the BBC’≥ coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but is withholding final judgment until he sees whether the changes recommended are implemented.
Jon Benjamin, chief executive of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, made the comments after the report concluded that the BBC does not give a Ҧull and fair accountӠof the conflict, leading to ҩncompleteӠand ҭisleadingӠcoverage, the report found. The report, commissioned by the BBC Governors and carried out by an independent panel, was released last week.

RELATED ARTICLES
NPR Mideast coverage may be monitored
Though it absolves the BBC of Ҥeliberate or systematic bias,Ӡthe report highlights several areas where coverage could be improved. Recommendations include providing more historical context and tightening editorial control. The BBC also should focus on issues and events beside dramatic flare-ups, the report found.

A content analysis found that more on-air time is given to Israelis than Palestinians —†though that includes Israelis highly critical of Israeli policy. It also found that Israeli fatalities are reported more frequently than are Palestinian deaths, perhaps owing to the dramatic footage that accompanies terrorist attacks against Israelis.

more at JTA

I don't know if it is disconcerting or an electoral asset that all these snide, omnipotent commentaries are completely agnostic about the horrible atrocities being committed against innocent Iraqi citizens, and salivating at every casualty inflicted on our troops by those fanatical murderers.

And isn't David Corn brave in asking one of the President's advisors about the indictment that hasn't been handed down, maybe it would have made David happy if Rove had volunteered culpability in some unknown crime, to be determined later, or not, so Rove could know how it was to be deprived of due process, just like all the Al Qaeda detainees that David and so many of the other "loyal opposition" are so deeply concerned about.

How was America ever able to produce such insignificant and vicious enemies from within?