I fail to understand why scores of GOPers can sleep with the devil daily but let one DEM cross the line and the GOPers are running around beating drums and blowing horns about how corrupt the DEMS are.

Funny? not really. Congress, the Executive branch, and the entire bloated system has run amok. The voting public will exact their revenge this fall. Politics is about taking care of our nation, not taking care of your elected self!

IRAQ UPDATE ON THE DIANE REHM SHOW NOW. CALL 800-433-8850 ...EMAIL YOUR QUESTIONS DRSHOW@WAMU.ORG.

WHY NO REPORTS ON HOW MANY IRAQI PEOPLE HAVE BEEN KILLED SINCE THE INVASION? WHY DO MAJOR MEDIA OUTLETS INCLUDING DIANE REHM AVOID REPORTING ABOUT THIS ISSUE...IRAQI BODY COUNT/ THE LANCET REPORT ETC.

WHAT IS THE STATUS OF U.S.MILITARY BASES?

WHO IS IN CONTROL OF THE OIL?

WHY NOT PURPLE FINGERS FOR THIS NEWLY SELECTED GOVENMENT IN IRAQ? GUESS THEY USED THE U.S. AS A MODEL FOR THEIR SELECTED GOVERNMENT INSTEAD OF THE ELECTION.

IS THIS JUST A CONVENIENT WAY TO PUT AHMED CHALABI WHERE WE WANTS TO BE?

MORE REASON to let the GOP take the elections this November...

The Bush regime is quickly sinking, and got two more years to really screw things up...so the Dems should give them a bye if they want to SWEEP in '08!!!

The party that can make a coward out of a war hero and a traitor out of a POW can certainly lay the impending troubles on the New Dealing immigration loving commie Democratic party.

It is not over until it is over. For now, Bush is the president and we have to live with that. I think the worst part of our political situation is the Congress. They are out of control. The Republicans have to be embarrassed. When all is said and done, they did not accomplish what they said they would.

David, it took guts to stand up to Rove the other day. Keep rattling the cage!

Thanks!

David
if the American people are gullible enough to be distracted once again by Rovian spin of a few Democrats being busted for corruption (they should go down), and a massive amount of corruption within the Republican controlled congress and White House then it is all over, the American public is beyond hope. When "perception becomes reality" we are in the hole that Albright, Brezenski (sp?), Zinni, Arthur Schlesinger, Carter, Kevin Phillips, Paul Oneil, many Cia Analyst, Scott Ritter, etc. have all warned about. As Zbigniew Brezenski warned an audience here at Ohio University "the U.s. may have turned a corner and we may not be able to turn back."

I wonder if the congressman will be able to use his "frozen assets" to pay for his legal defense. ;-)

Ya gotta wonder about the timing of this case.

Corruption? Yes. But small potatoes in the big picture.

Redirecting the spotlight. How convenient.

Monday, May 22, 2006 ᠎umber of U.S. inmates rises 2 percent
By ELIZABETH WHITE
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

Inmate Amanda Espinoza stands in the Dakota Women's Correctional Rehabilitation Center in New England, N.D., on Wednesday, May 10, 2006. The 21-year-old Grand Forks native said she wants to raise her son and attend college once she completes her 3-year prison term for failing to comply with her probation on an auto theft conviction. Oklahoma, Mississippi and the Mountain states have set the pace in increasing the imprisonment of women, while several Northeastern states are curtailing the practice, according to a new report detailing sharp regional differences in the handling of female offenders. (AP Photo/James MacPherson)
WASHINGTON -- Prisons and jails added more than 1,000 inmates each week for a year, putting almost 2.2 million people, or one in every 136 U.S. residents, behind bars by last summer.

The total on June 30, 2005, was 56,428 more than at the same time in 2004, the government reported Sunday. That 2.6 percent increase from mid-2004 to mid-2005 translates into a weekly rise of 1,085 inmates.

Of particular note was the gain of 33,539 inmates in jails, the largest increase since 1997, researcher Allen J. Beck said. That was a 4.7 percent growth rate, compared with a 1.6 percent increase in people held in state and federal prisons.

Prisons accounted for about two-thirds of all inmates, or 1.4 million, while the other third, nearly 750,000, were in local jails, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Beck, the bureau's chief of corrections statistics, said the increase in the number of people in the 3,365 local jails is due partly to their changing role. Jails often hold inmates for state or federal systems, as well as people who have yet to begin serving a sentence.

"The jail population is increasingly unconvicted," Beck said. "Judges are perhaps more reluctant to release people pretrial."

The report by the Justice Department agency found that 62 percent of people in jails have not been convicted, meaning many of them are awaiting trial.

Overall, 738 people were locked up for every 100,000 residents, compared with a rate of 725 at mid-2004. The states with the highest rates were Louisiana and Georgia, with more than 1 percent of their populations in prison or jail. Rounding out the top five were Texas, Mississippi and Oklahoma.

The states with the lowest rates were Maine, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Vermont and New Hampshire.

Men were 10 times to 11 times more likely than women to be in prison or jail, but the number of women behind bars was growing at a faster rate, said Paige M. Harrison, the report's other author.

The racial makeup of inmates changed little in recent years, Beck said. In the 25-29 age group, an estimated 11.9 percent of black men were in prison or jails, compared with 3.9 percent of Hispanic males and 1.7 percent of white males.

Marc Mauer, executive director of The Sentencing Project, which supports alternatives to prison, said the incarceration rates for blacks were troubling.

"It's not a sign of a healthy community when we've come to use incarceration at such rates," he said.

Mauer also criticized sentencing guidelines, which he said remove judges' discretion, and said arrests for drug and parole violations swell prisons.

"If we want to see the prison population reduced, we need a much more comprehensive approach to sentencing and drug policy," he said.

NATIONAL SECURITY DEPT.
LISTENING IN
Issue of 2006-05-29
Posted 2006-05-22

A few days before the start of the confirmation hearings for General Michael Hayden, who has been nominated by President Bush to be the head of the C.I.A., I spoke to an official of the National Security Agency who recently retired. The official joined the N.S.A. in the mid-nineteen-seventies, soon after contentious congressional hearings that redefined the relationship between national security and the publicճ right to privacy. The hearings, which revealed that, among other abuses, the N.S.A. had illegally intercepted telegrams to and from the United States, led to the passage of the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, to protect citizens from unlawful surveillance. җhen I first came in, I heard from all my elders that Էeլl never be able to collect intelligence again,Փ the former official said. Ҕheyդ whine, ԗhy do we have to report to oversight committees?ՠӠBut, over the next few years, he told me, the agency did find a way to operate within the law. җe built a system that protected national security and left people able to go home at night without worrying whether what they did that day was appropriate or legal.ӊ
AT THE NEW YORKER

Wake up and smell the elephant dung.....

Kathleen, with Marijuana Muffins of Mass Destruction floating around out there unchecked, what do you expect?

Kathleen, from previous thread: There is nothing hypocritical about my post. The FACT is that "relatively speaking" there are few Americans doing anything to preserve our liberties. You seem to have taken my comment as applying only to contributors to this blog.

That is NOT what I meant.

What is the population of the United States? How many of them are doing anything to preserve our liberties? Damn few.

How many even realize our liberties need preserving?

NY Times' Frank Rich deciphers 'The Rove Da Vinci Code'
RAW STORY Saturday May 20, 2006
The marketing strategy behind the movie The Da Vinci Code is "a perfect Hollywood metaphor for the American political culture of our day," writes Frank Rich in his column slated for Sunday's New York Times, RAW STORY has found.

"Politicians, particularly but not exclusively in the Karl Rove camp, seem to believe that voters of 'faith' are suckers who can be lured into the big tent and then abandoned once their votes and campaign cash have been pocketed by the party for secular profit," Rich writes.

Excerpts from Rich's column The Rove Da Vinci Code:
The Machiavellian mission for the hit-deprived Sony studio was to co-opt conservative religious critics who might depress turnout for a $125-million-plus thriller portraying the Roman Catholic Church as a fraud. To this end, as The New Yorker reported, Sony hired a bevy of PR consultants, including a faith-based flack whose Christian Rolodex previously helped sell inspirational testaments to Hollywood spirituality like "Bruce Almighty" and "Christmas With the Kranks."

But for all these betrayals, Dobson and Co. won't desert the Republicans come Election Day. If Rove steps up his usual gay-baiting late in the campaign, as is his wont, maybe the turnout of those on the hard-core right will eke out a victory for the party that double-crossed them not just on cultural issues but also on secular conservative principles (like fiscal responsibility and immigration-law enforcement). If so, they'll promptly be Da Vinci'd yet again.

....

Like the Bush era, the cynical Rove strategy of exploiting faith-based voters may be nearing its end. For proof, just take a look at the most craven figure in American politics: the Senate majority leader, Bill Frist. To flatter the far right, this Harvard-trained surgeon misdiagnosed Terri Schiavo's vegetative state from the Senate floor, and justified abstinence-only sex education in AIDS prevention by telling ABC's George Stephanopoulos that he didn't know for certain that tears and sweat couldn't transmit HIV. But increasingly it's not only liberals who see through him. One of his latest stunts, a proposed $100 gas-tax rebate, provoked Rush Limbaugh to condemn him for "treating us like we're a bunch of whores."

...and the Bush misAdministration's only response to "reality" is to hold up the naming of a "consensus government" in Iraq.

I vaguely overheard a question asked during a round-table discussion on Sunday's McMedia obfusaction-fest...Farheed Zakharia, I think..."Does what happens in Baghdad's Green Zone really have anything to do with what is happening in the rest of Iraq?"

The answer seems to be little, if anything at all.

-T

Byron York of the National Review
The Internet Search for the Rove ҉ndictmentӊIt was sealedɹeah, yeah, thatճ the ticket.

It has now been more than a week since the website Truthout.org reported that top White House aide Karl Rove has been indicted in the CIA leak investigation. According to the scenario described by Truthout writer Jason Leopold, prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald spent the better part of a day and night on Friday, May 12 with Rove and Roveճ lawyer, Robert Luskin, at the Washington offices of Patton Boggs, where Luskin is a partner. In a radio interview last week, Leopold said, Ҵhere were plea negotiations going on that were ultimately rejected outright, [and] at the end of this marathon session Karl Rove was given an envelope which had the indictment in it and was told he had 24 hours to get his affairs in order.ӊ
at National Review

#14 BINGO!

David says:

"Modern history offers no precedent of a president climbing from a hole as deep as the one Bush finds himself in,....Bush cannot easily change the minds of voters whose impressions are fully formed."

You know what, IF the price of gasoline goes down by $0.50 to $1.00 a gallon, you would be amazed how all these "voters whose impressions are fully formed" would in fact, change their minds.

How comforting for the Dems to know that all it will take is some good news, there are some but NONE are admitted to by the Left, for the `sour' mood to turn upward.

BTW, Jefferson is a Riot and deserves mucho talk show and late night TV coverage!

On preserving liberty:

It is just so hard to find wide mouth quart mason jars with a good seal to them...

On using moth balls to keep deer from ravashing your garden:

How do you get their tiny, little legs apart?

-T

TERRORISTS WITHIN
Monday, May 22, 2006 - FreeMarketNews.com

A former top Homeland Security official warns that the terrorists aren't confined to the battle fronts abroad, but are already here in America living among us. And he says the government needs to redouble its efforts to root them out. "While we certainly should continue to take the fight to the enemy wherever he is, we need to face the awful reality that the enemy may already be in our very own backyard," says former Homeland Security Department Inspector General Clark Kent Ervin. -FrontPageMag
-----------
Hey, those hired mercenaries would come in real handy for this job! Liberty? We don't need no stinkin liberty! We got us some terrorists to catch.

"...wrapped in aluminum foil and placed inside frozen-food containers."

I'm surprised I'm the first one to say this--I've heard of cold cash, but this is ridiculous!

Despite a few Democratic glitches such as this (and is he a real Democrat, or a DLC-type GOP-lite Vichy Democrat?), I would give the Elephascists no chance this November, if not for their mastery of electoral fraud (digital and analog both) and their control of the Corporate McMedia Matrix.

I have to go back to mine NaCl tonight, so I may not return today. Live long and prosper (yes, even the Bushbots), Kid Charlemagne

Well, why doesn't Clark Kent Ervin just run into the phone booth and change into Super-Ervin and clean up those stinkin' turrists in our backyard? I'm sure glad I live in an apartment complex and don't have a backyard!---KC

Mr. David Corn,

"So reality does eventually intrude--even in this White House. If only the Bush crowd had taken reality into account when it was considering that invasion of Iraq. (By the way, a former CIA official on his way to Iraq told me last night that daily attacks in Iraq have doubled since the start of the year. Damn that reality.)"

I doubt any "reality" has any meaningful effect on the WH. I do not think they care about the polls or popular opinion within the GOP (except the negative effect on other GOPhers).

Is seems the GOPhers are not very worried about the midterms, sure I have heard some talk but their actions speak louder than words and the GOPhers are faking the hand wringing. They have the '06 and '08 in the bag.

Thanks for all of your work!

Kirk

1 Jefferson does not a culture make!

Quite a shame that the Democrats don't appear to have any sort of opposition plan other than letting the laws of gravity work against the Republicans. They really ARE doing NOTHING at all.

Democrat, shmemocrat. Throw Jefferson in jail with Duke Cunningham if he's guilty. But if someone is clean, why can't he or she run on the overwhelmingly Republican corruption that is prevalent not only in Congress, but within the Bush administration itself? By this I mean shining a light on the billions meant for reconstruction down the rathole in Iraq along with the obvious cronyism taking place in New Orleans. This craven fear of running against corruption, WHEREVER it exists, disgusts me.

Of course, there are so many things to run against in this clusterfuck of an administration, one wonders where to begin.

The culture of corruption can be contagious, perhaps; if guilty, Jefferson should be hung out to dry by his compadres, rather than sheilded, ala Delay & Co.

Here's a question for the inquisitorial amongst us...we keep hearing about how NSA doesn't listen to Americans, or U.S. persons...but that it perfectly alright to listen to foreigners. Do we facilitate M.I. 6 (or other foreign agency, Mossad, SASMI, SIS, name your fave) to handle listening to us merikuns...?

p.s. on RAWSTORY:

Bush, Blair to announce 'phased withdrawal' from Iraq
Michael Smith
Published: Monday May 22, 2006

Michael Smith, a reporter for the London Sunday Times, broke the Downing Street Minutes in 2004.

LONDON -- Tony Blair and George Bush will announce that they are to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq at a summit in Washington as early as this week, RAW STORY has learned.

The process has already been carefully choreographed in an attempt to bolster the popularity of both Bush and Blair who have suffered domestically for their handling of the war.

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

Strange times in strange lands...

BURN: Gore & entourage took 5 cars to travel the 500 yards from hotel to screening of global warming pic in Cannes...

Liberals, you gotta love the idiots!!!

rain! the conspiracy report is waterlogged and my ninja turtle battleground is washing away! -

Modern history offers no precedent of a president climbing from a hole as deep as the one Bush finds himself in,

in the ninja turtle battleground world president bush is represented by a batman action figure (very heroic!). a substantial hole has been dug (with tiny shovels) and the r2d2 figure representing max cleland is presiding over the placing of batman into the hole. out of sight out of mind?

Liberal? Get over it

Matthew Melone |
Posted May 20, 2006

There's good news for the young and hopelessly naive and liberal: You'll get over it.

It's common knowledge that young people become more conservative as they age. Generation X followed this trend, and indicators suggest Generation Y will be no different.

I understand what life is like on a typical college campus and have gripped with the misplaced mental energies of youth. I can empathize with the temptations of liberal cynicism, the appeal of academic elitism and an almost embarrassingly idealistic view of world affairs.

But I fought the urges, and so can you.

For all the graduates of 2007, soon you will begin being mugged by reality. As you grow more distant from the ivory towers and struggle to root yourself in the middle class, your liberal tendencies will become but a memory.

Perhaps you'll look back on these days and laugh.

Maybe you'll even wise up and realize that if you weren't so scared of the military, you could have signed up for the armed forces and done something worthwhile.

But in the meantime, to avoid embarrassment down the road, it may be prudent to stay quiet until your liberal urges pass.

For example, I've noticed a handful of columns in student newspapers and in "New Voices" that advocate the U.S. pursue unilateral disarmament in order to defuse tensions with Iran.

I enjoy a good laugh as much as the next guy, but this is a joke I've heard one too many times. If you're liberal and feel like shooting your mouth off about unilateral disarmament, I beg you to reconsider. A potential employer could Google your name, read that column, find out what a bonehead you are and not hire you.

If you don't realize how stupid unilateral disarmament is, don't worry. Just wait a few years, you'll mature, and you'll figure it out.

The same goes for the environmentalists, the feminists, the socialists and the libertarians. For 90 percent of you, these "isms" are just a phase.

Dealing with liberal urges and ideas is just another part of growing up, like when males' voices change. The best way to handle it is to keep it private.

So if you have some wits about you and are approached by some teenagers or college students in the throes of misplaced liberal angst, just smile as they say the crazy things as they are accustomed to do.

Take solace in the fact that they will, most likely, grow out of it.

#30

How large an entourage? Imagine the time it would have taken to walk through the adoring crowd...

Imagine the Wush showing his face...

Take solace in the fact that they will, most likely, grow out of it.

Unless you're a Corn-Nut!!! Ha Ha

This from Raw Story dated May 04.

**********
Democrats will stand by U.S. Rep. implicated in bribery scandal

RAW STORY
Published: Thursday May 4, 2006

Democrats in the House of Representatives will not put public pressure on Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) to resign his position, even though he has been tied to the receipt of bribes in excess of $450,000, RAW STOY has learned.

A report in today's Roll Call claims that, behind the scenes, Democratic leaders including Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), hope for Jefferson's departure from Congress. Internal party politics, claims the article, are preventing leaders from speaking out in public on the matter.

Excepts from the registration restricted article follow:

# #
House Democrats will not publicly call on Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) to leave office, despite a guilty plea in federal court on Tuesday by Vernon Jackson, a Kentucky businessman who allegedly paid Jefferson and his family more than $450,000 in bribes.

Behind the scenes, Democratic insiders said that everyone from Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on down would love to see Jefferson resign from Congress, although they won’t make an open declaration about Jefferson because of internal party politics.

Among other things, the Democratic leadership does not want to alienate the Congressional Black Caucus by calling for Jefferson’s ouster. Several CBC members — including Reps. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), Kendrick Meek (D-Fla.) and Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) — have donated to a legal defense fund set up by Jefferson in 2005, and African-American politicians have been concerned for years that law enforcement unfairly targets minority lawmakers for official scrutiny.

“There is a lot of sensitivity on the issue of African-American lawmakers being the subject of criminal investigations” by the FBI or other agencies, said an aide to one CBC member. “The leadership knows this and wants to step gingerly.”

end **********

Wonder what they will do now.

Reminds of the movie with Eddy Murphy "Distinguished Gentleman". Hee hee.

Later,
th

mathew melone? come on! generation y are a bunch of liberals who will wise up and out grow their liberalness?

Maybe you'll even wise up and realize that if you weren't so scared of the military, you could have signed up for the armed forces and done something worthwhile.

done something worthwhile indeed.
---------------
i defy you to point out a good example of conservative policy that is being adhered to by the bushco admin.

Republican, Democrat or Independent - if they are criminal they need to go to jail.

If I hear on the "news" that some guy robbed the local store I never wonder what party he claims. That is the same for the corrupt politicians. Yes the deluge of GOP connected scandal has been crazy and only a few Democrats have been snagged, I say give it time. There are others and every single criminal should face prosecution.

I fear the law enforcement officials may be the only people left standing if they ever got serious about political corruption.

I think we will finally see more charges against Democrats. I have been wondering why so few have been caught. Politically it makes sense the Republicans would hold their powder until right before the midterms. The Republicans have a mountain of corruption to off set. I wonder if the game will work for them.

capt

From Steven Aftergood:

STATE SECRETS PRIVILEGE SHUTS COURTHOUSE DOORS

The state secrets privilege has been invoked by the Bush
Administration with greater frequency than ever before in American history in a wide range of lawsuits that the government says would threaten national security if allowed to proceed.

In virtually every case, the use of the privilege leads to dismissal
of the lawsuit and forecloses the opportunity for an injured party
to seek judicial relief.

Most recently, a lawsuit brought by Khaled El-Masri, a German
citizen who alleged that he was kidnapped by the CIA and tortured over a five month period, was dismissed after the CIA invoked the "state secrets" privilege.

The dismissal was not based on a finding that the allegations
against the CIA were false.

"It is in no way an adjudication of, or comment on, the merit or
lack of merit of El-Masri's complaint," wrote Judge T.S. Ellis, III
in a May 12 order.

In fact, "It is worth noting that ... if El-Masri's allegations are
true or essentially true, then all fair-minded people... must also
agree that El-Masri has suffered injuries as a result of our
country's mistake and deserves a remedy," he wrote in the order
dismissing the case.

ÔøΩ ÔøΩÔøΩ http://www.fas.org/sgp/jud/statesec/elmasri051206.pdf

"Yet, it is also clear from the result reached here that the only
sources of that remedy must be the Executive Branch or the
Legislative Branch, not the Judicial Branch," he suggested.

But in this case the executive branch is the alleged perpetrator of the offense, and the legislative branch has no procedures for adjudicating allegations such as El-Masri's, even if it had an interest in doing so.ÔøΩ That's what courts are for.

Terrorists can kill people and destroy property.ÔøΩ But they cannot
undermine the rule of law, or deny injured parties access to the
courts.ÔøΩ Only the U.S. government can do that.

Among other things, the Democratic leadership does not want to alienate the Congressional Black Caucus by calling for Jefferson’s ouster.

jefferson is the idiot who was captured on film ya? rather than kick his sorry-ass to the curb democrats are setting up a fund for his defense?
maybe he can use this swiss army knife of excuses.

Capt.

There are crimes and then there are crimes. Whilst I may decry hypocracy if I found a Congresscritter smokin' a joint, I guess I'd have to favor prosecution, but, I'd probably vote for the poor sucker again...even in jail.

What if the terrorists and the US govt. are the same thing? We've been assured that no matter how many liberties we give up they can't prevent the next terrorist attack. Maybe judy miller has an inside scoop she'll tell us about 5 years from now.

I fear the law enforcement officials may be the only people left standing if they ever got serious about political corruption.

Yeah, but what about the corrupt law enforcement officials?

SNL: Funhouse with Bush: Real Audio

SNL: Funhouse with Bush: Real Audio
Presidential Outtakes:

On Saturday Night Live, Fun with Real Audio "kicked out the jams" last night.

Video-WMP

Video-QT

Every time Bush, Cheney or Rummy say something that has ultimately turned out wrong, someone, animal or thing spits water or soup on them. Karl Rove scurries into the frame each time and makes them do another take. All the audio is of course the real thing. Another excellent job by Robert Smigel and Matt O'Brien.

(h/t David Edwards)

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

Just in case someone missed this.

capt

"Yeah, but what about the corrupt law enforcement officials?"

We need to put them in jail too!

They are slippery and just as bad as politicians.

Sadly the good guys are the exception. Or so it seems these days.

IMO

capt

What about corrupt law enforcement?

I maintain that caging humams for smoking flowers (or forcing them into unwanted psycological treatment) is a form of terrorism.

Collapse of the Petrodollar Looming

by Dave Kimble

May 21, 2006

The announcement by President Putin of a Russian bourse trading oil and gas in Roubles threatens the stability of the US Dollar far more than Iran's bourse alone would do, and continues the slide in relations between the old Cold War foes.

In his annual State of the Nation address to both houses of parliament on 10 May 2006, Novosti reports President Putin said that work on making the Rouble an internationally convertible currency would be completed by 1 July 2006, six months ahead of schedule. To promote the currency, he announced that an oil and gas stock exchange will be created in Russia, that would trade in Roubles.

"The rouble must become a more widespread means of international transactions. To this end, we need to open a stock exchange in Russia to trade in oil, gas, and other goods to be paid for in roubles." - Putin

Russia's oil exports represent 15.2% of the world's export trade in oil, making it a much more significant player than Iran, with 5.8% of export volumes. Russia also produces 25.8% of the world's gas exports, while Iran is still only entering this market as an exporter.

In order to counter the reduced demand for US Dollars, the standard control lever available to the Federal Reserve is to increase interest rates, over and above what it was going to be doing. This has the usual unwelcome consequences of dampening the US economy, and squeezing people with mortgages, which in turn leads to rising wages, falling house prices and a slump in the construction industry.
------------
Pissing everyone off is what bushco does best. There's no need for WMD'S, when the whole world finally gets fed up with us all they have to do is organize an economic boycott, and that will be the end.

Tearful Australian's plea to judge

An Australian woman allegedly caught with a small amount of cannabis has tearfully appeared before an Indonesian court on charges that carry lengthy jail terms and even death by firing squad.

Prosecutors said Barbara Kathleen Higgs, 43, was arrested in February with 49.7 grams of cannabis and two small bags of seeds at Sengiggi beach on Lombok island, where she part owns a hotel named the Bulan Baru, or New Moon.

They alleged Higgs, a Western Australian who had lived with her New Zealand husband in Lombok for five years, had admitted buying the drug on February 17 from a friend at the Blue Coral disco in Sengiggi for 500,000 rupiah ($A73) and that she had tried to sell some of the stash.

Police claim they uncovered the drugs in a luggage bag when they raided her home two days later following a tip-off by local residents.

More HERE

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

The death penalty. How insane can they get?

capt

Letter to WRH

READER: The Iran -Contra analogy is very apt . Mr Fitzgerald has declined to prosecute Libby, Rove , Armitage or any official in the Office of Vice President Richard Cheney despite the conclusions contained in his latest legal filing that Mr. Libby knew that Plame's status WAS CLASSIFIED ........ This is very important not only because he has punted on pursuing the suspected underlying crime but , additionally , has made a a prosecutorial judgement that flies in the face of the concurrent (and fateful )opinion issued by Judge David Tatel ...... Judge Tatel , a vigourous proponent of the freedom of the press , claimed that the breach of national security owing to the release of this classified information was quite serious ...Having reviewed the `voluminous classified filings' presented him by Special Counsel Fitzgerald a clearly shocked Tatel upheld the contempt citation that resulted in the imprisonment of journalist Judith Miller ...... So what happened? ..... Mr. Fitzgerald took that classified data that outlined the security breach and petitoned the Libby trial judge to seal these records from public purview ..Forever..... He has now clearly adopted the route of his predecessor , Iran-Contra Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh ..... Instead of pursuing issues of great weight, the desperate scramble is on to pin something , anything , on the targets of his probe .... Judge Walsh indulged in a feckless prosecution of Oliver North on spurious issues such as who purchased his security fence and so forth .... The Libby and prospective Rove bill of indictment are built of the same weak fabric ...... http://rigorousintuition.blogspot.com/2006/05/fitzgeralds-witnesses_22.html North and Poindexter were convicted and both convictions were overturned .... Bush Sr. completed the coverup by pardoning 5 others around XMAS of 1992 ..... A repeat scenario is in the offing .....
---------
WTF??? I was never holding my breath for this to get anywhere, but I hope this isn't true. I read a rumor that gonzales has blocked the indictment, now I wonder.

Maybe you'll even wise up and realize that if you weren't so scared of the military, you could have signed up for the armed forces and done something worthwhile.

1 800-ARM-y

snappy comeback james!

Mr. Fitzgerald took that classified data that outlined the security breach and petitoned the Libby trial judge to seal these records from public purview ..Forever

true colors

Complete conjecture:

I wonder if the "new" detention camps have large area’≥ for detainee "work programs" as an inmate population is free labor, no labor laws, no OSHA, no paychecks to write.

I bet $20 the new Halliburton $325 million dollar detention centers have larger "production" building than "housing" and there is not much we can do about it.

capt

Instead, the N.S.A. began, in some cases, to eavesdrop on callers (often using computers to listen for key words) or to investigate them using traditional police methods. A government consultant told me that tens of thousands of Americans had had their calls monitored in one way or the other. “In the old days, you needed probable cause to listen in,” the consultant explained. “But you could not listen in to generate probable cause. What they’re doing is a violation of the spirit of the law.” One C.I.A. officer told me that the Administration, by not approaching the FISA court early on, had made it much harder to go to the court later.

The Administration intelligence official acknowledged that the implications of the program had not been fully thought out. “There’s a lot that needs to be looked at,” he said. “We are in a technology age. We need to tweak fisa, and we need to reconsider how we handle privacy issues.”

Excerpted from: NATIONAL SECURITY DEPT.
LISTENING IN
Issue of 2006-05-29
Posted 2006-05-22
The New Yorker, (yes the New Yorker)

also: US says personal data on millions of veterans stolen

Holy here comes the judge!

Lloyd Grove at New York Daily News sez:

Justice prays for a Prez in 'real trouble'

Just how bad are things for President Bush?

Pretty bad, I'd say, if even Clarence Thomas is worried about him.

The other night at a Washington book party for the President's sister, Doro Bush Koch, the Supreme Court justice arrived with his wife, Ginny, on the tented roof of the Hay Adams Hotel, overlooking the White House, and made a beeline for the author.

"We have to pray for your brother. He's in real trouble," Thomas told a wide-eyed Koch, whose older brother is, indeed, suffering from near-catastrophic public-opinion ratings.

Hey Doro, Why'd your brother seal pops records from view?

RS,

Because they have NOTHING to hide!

If there was anything bad they would have allow the press to see it.

See, I can think like a lemming!

capt

i defy you to point out a good example of conservative policy that is being adhered to by the bushco admin.
By James

1. Tax Cuts
2. Conservative Judges
3. Gay marriage ban

That's all we need!!

The world has two big enemies

The Bush Regime

oh good choices LBH!

1. Tax Cuts
2. Conservative Judges
3. Gay marriage ban

wow those certainly are shining examples of conservative policies alright. those 3 alone make tolerating the bushco regime worthwhile! it will be interesting indeed to see if the newly freed people of afghanistan and iraq can snap out of their DU induced haze in time to adopt those 3 excellent conservative ideals wont it?

A Different Perspective

What People Believe

Real Conservative Values

Real conservatives value fiscal insolvency, including irresponsible tax cuts, corporate giveaways, massive spending increases, huge undisclosed pork-barrel spending projects hammered out during congressional conference, rather than actual budget legislation on the Congressional floor that is open to the public and recorded in the public record. You know that conservatives value these things, because these are the things the vast majority of self-proclaimed conservatives do.

Real conservatives do not value your personal liberties. They like disenfranchising voters, challenging voters, and making it more difficult to vote. They like it when the government is in your bedroom. They want to be able to spy on your personal files. They do not respect your right to privacy. They like to tell you who you can and cannot love, and what you can and cannot do to your own body. You know these are conservative values, because conservatives regularly pass laws of this nature.

Real conservatives like to recklessly use the military They love war, and regularly resort to it as one of their first choices. They have no respect for the lives their policies destroy, as long as they have more bases overseas. They derive their values from violence, and detest peace. They will come up with any excuse possible, and cynically invent several more, to use force whenever possible, wherever possible. You know these are conservative values, because these are the actions conservatives take.

Real conservatives are bloodthirsty, reckless with our tax money, and want to tell you how to live your life. They are intolerant, warmongering and irresponsible. You know these are real conservatives values, because you can find anyone's beliefs in what they do, not what they say.

More HERE

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

An old one but a good one!

capt

Good Old American Gangsterism

Some Good Old Bullshit

Couldn't the Democrats fight on an anti-corruption ticket while admitting that corruption can be an issue for them as well? It's a bit complex for TV News, I appreciate, but let's have some respect for the US public.

Thye could do that with a slate of tough reforms. If Republicans really think they can get away with the slogan, "Democrats are as corrupt as we are" or "Democrats - they stoop as low as us", surely it would be easy to put them on the defensive by challenging them to endorse a Democratic reform package. And that may well shut them up, pretty quick.

Also I'm surprised David Corn is so pessimistic about the potential for a Republican attack ad to take the edge off exposure of their own misdeeds.

The Dukakis campaign tried to respond to the infamous and dishonest Willie Horton ads with a Willie Horton ad of their own, featuring an Hispanic criminal benefitting from furlough under a Republican. Where did that get Dukakis? Nowhere - it just came off as lame.

If the Democrats are a) willing to actually do something about corruption and b) prepared to concede to faults of their own (pretty big ifs), then they should be able to lay into the Republican culture of corruption and keep their flank covered against the obvious rejoinders.

After that, a Republican "they did it too" response might make Dukakis look effective.

The Democrats have their own tradition of sleaze, but they can also call on the history of a popular anti-corruption administration - Franklin Roosevelt's.

FDR cleaned out a lot of dirt from under the carpet after the sleaze fiesta of the 1920s. People like Senator Kerry, with his record of exposing Iran-Contra and breaking the BCCI, have the relevant resume to show they can be serious.

The Republicans gave Clinton a hell of a time over such scandals as Whitewater despite their failure to uncover an actual crime. The Democrats today, by contrast, have got some pretty good material to work on. Be a shame to waste it.

Couldn't they have fun by accusing Republicans of being soft on their own crimes? I wonder if Tom Delay is going to get a weekend furlough and reoffend by misappropriating soft money while he's out?

Hell, the Democrats should re-use the revolving door ad of '88, showing Jack Abramoff, Delay and co walking into Congress and ending up in court/jail. C'mon - this is a chance for some payback...

Hell No!

wow those certainly are shining examples of conservative policies alright. those 3 alone make tolerating the bushco regime worthwhile! it will be interesting indeed to see if the newly freed people of afghanistan and iraq can snap out of their DU induced haze in time to adopt those 3 excellent conservative ideals wont it?

By James

James, they already are!!!

I guess you would prefer that they go back to public executions for being raped or public hangings for speaking out against their government or not allowing women to vote, work or go to school, ehh!!!

Good comparison!!!

what the devil is a conservative judge? one that outlaws gay marriage? does anyone other than the karl rove attack poodles really care about gay effin marriage? i sincerely doubt it. a man put his hand on my knee once and tried to make a pass at me; i invited him to kindly remove his hand from my person. should i have built a placard that reads DIE FAGS! and marched around the steps of my representative's office?

?conservative judges? gay marriage ban? what the fuck is that? is that what being a conservative is all about? tax cuts! ha. your tax cuts are not funding the war on terror that conservatives and liberals alike are so proud of are they? tax cuts are not funding the education system properly either. are those 3 conservative ideals the best that divisive MF's like yourself can come up with?

capt 52, that is the main reason I am worried about the illegal immigrants. Technically they are violating US law, what if they are just setting them up for inprisonment? I wouldn't put anything, no matter how evil, beyond this bunch.
Tax cuts? Tell that to college students who just had their taxes RAISED! Gay marriage? Definitely the number 1 scourge of the free world. Conservative judges? You mean fascist corporate sponsors? How can anyone be so idiotic?

We are neck deep in shit

It's the Nazis who want out because the Taliban is as strong as ever.

1. Tax Cuts
2. Conservative Judges
3. Gay marriage ban

That's all we need!!

People living in the newly-created shanty-towns surrounding New Orleans may not see these measures as "all they need". Just a thought.

women in iraq voted and were safe from being raped while existing under the thumb of evil saddam. no longer. the taliban of afghan were repressing idealogues true, but they had almost eradicated the opium production there. no longer. and women in afgan are not safe under the thumb of general franks or general disarray or whichever american dweeb is in charge over there now either.

the conservative right is neither conservative nor right. lame!

Afghanistan had a liberal constitution in the 60's.

The Taliban came to power in the aftermath of the Soviet debacle brought to you by U.S. support of the Muhujaddin.

Bill Moyers Inspires

Saladin,

They cannot let the new detention center population look too much like all brown-skins, they will have to round out the detainees with a compliment of blacks, whites, and others. That way they can prove they are not just being racist.

So the others will have to be anarchists (Democrats) and all who do not support the state (Busheney) and anybody crazy enough to support the criminals (families).

I see it coming, I still have a hard time swallowing it but it is growing on the horizon. Dark and foreboding.

capt

RS,

It is odd that the Taliban (as our ally) fought the Soviets while the Northern Alliance supported the Soviets. Look at who we teamed up with this time?

The neocons are more neo-commie than neo-confederate, both are not very American, not by a long shot.

capt

Also I'm surprised David Corn is so pessimistic about the potential for a Republican attack ad to take the edge off exposure of their own misdeeds.

By Alex

What ever happened to running on issues?

It's no wonder our government is so disfunctional if all we expect of them is to attack each other. Maybe David wants to be above this.

Afghanistan had a liberal constitution in the 60's.

The Taliban came to power in the aftermath of the Soviet debacle brought to you by U.S. support of the Muhujaddin.

By Robert

Dude, you're still stuck in the 60's man-get help!!

Name one Arab country that has a liberal constitution in present time.

Thank you, John

Crisis Shortage Poses Crisis for White House

women in iraq voted and were safe from being raped while existing under the thumb of evil saddam. no longer. the taliban of afghan were repressing idealogues true, but they had almost eradicated the opium production there. no longer. and women in afgan are not safe under the thumb of general franks or general disarray or whichever american dweeb is in charge over there now either.

the conservative right is neither conservative nor right. lame!

By James

Are you advocating that Saddam was a good guy just misunderstood?

The Taliban getting rid of opium-where did you pull that one out of (Roberts ass)? How do you think they funded their terror of oppression!

General Franks is retired-how about using some facts that are correct?

If liberals ever regain any branch of government again, then maybe you can lecture us about who is right and who is wrong!! Ha Ha

Capt.,

And who could forget such hits as "The Taliban Come to Texas"?

Saddam was the U.S.'s bastard for a long time. And for a homophobe you pay a lot of attention to my ass...

With Bush in office the numbers will soon be 1 in 50

People living in the newly-created shanty-towns surrounding New Orleans may not see these measures as "all they need". Just a thought.
By Alex

Your correct, the 200+ school buses that sat by while being flooded by the Dem Mayor and Gov. are much more on their minds. By the way what are progressives doing for these people? What Democrat running for re-election is running on this issue with a solution?

I see LBH read Drudge's unsourced claim this morning (of course, LBH didn't bother to source his post, as usual) that Gore's entourage took vehicles to watch the Cannes debut of An Inconvenient Truth.

Too bad Drudge didn't do some, you know, reporting, and call up Gore's publicist for comment.

Robert, I posted about that awhile back. Unocal courting the Taliban for the pipeline, but Bridas got it, then we took it. We never went there to catch OLB or liberate those people, what a bunch of hogwash that all is, but they DID get what they went after.

Don,

It was also reported that Gore was pissed because he couldn't leave the Cannes in his "PRIVATE JET" because of complications.

I wonder if he was using electric cars to drive him to the festival?

It was also reported that Gore was pissed because he couldn't leave the Cannes in his "PRIVATE JET" because of complications.

And who, pray tell, "reported" this?

Decline and Fall of the US

Please scroll up and read my post, Hell No! Diebold has guaranteed the Nazis a landslide victory in 2006!!!!!

Saddam was the U.S.'s bastard for a long time. And for a homophobe you pay a lot of attention to my ass...

By Robert

Which gave us all the more reason to go in and take him out!

Hey, I didn't mean to get you all excited when I said pull something out of your ass- You obviously had something else in mind. Naughty- naughty!!!

And who, pray tell, "reported" this?

ABC News

It was also reported that Gore was pissed because he couldn't leave the Cannes in his "PRIVATE JET" because of complications.

And who, pray tell, "reported" this?

By Robert

Do you deny that Gore owns a private jet?

This Jefferson thing is important -- and the DNC should act:

The Democratic Party should strip him of his membership and introduce a bill to force his ouster/resignation.

Blanco will name another Dem.

Who says the high road has to hurt?

what the devil is a conservative judge? one that outlaws gay marriage? does anyone other than the karl rove attack poodles really care about gay effin marriage?

By James

How about Liberal MASS. that voted against it- Strike two, one more and your out of here!!!

#94 - I think his confusion is showing....

Nazis are pro-life, what a joke

Ach, LBH, you evade and obfuscate. And you address the wrong person.

"Your story has become tiresome."

i almost said that you are a fool boyd, but i am the fool for falling for your trap of engagement. good day.

?conservative judges? gay marriage ban? what the fuck is that? is that what being a conservative is all about? tax cuts! ha. your tax cuts are not funding the war on terror that conservatives and liberals alike are so proud of are they? tax cuts are not funding the education system properly either. are those 3 conservative ideals the best that divisive MF's like yourself can come up with
By James

Funding the educational system is not the problem with the educational system. Compare it to the EU model and they have higher test scores and spend less money.

Tax cuts are working-If you knew anything about hiring and investing you would'nt make such an ignorant statement.

Are these the best ideals-hell no just ones we are happy with so far. Spending is a different story.

May 22, 2006 -- One of the most prominent neo-con flagship publications appears to be just a wee bit irritated at the reportage on Karl Rove's legal problems. Of course, the National Review, a publication that was started with oil money amassed by William F. Buckley's dad, William Buckley, Sr., from his Humble Oil and Pantipec oil companies and courtesy of a series of coups and attempted coups that eventually resulted in lucrative and one-sided Mexican oil rights for the Buckley family, would not know the truth from a Texas cow pie. When the progressive community hits a nerve, watch for the National Review, New York Post, New York Sun, Washington Times, and a series of right-wing web sites to go spastic, fall into rabid attack mode, and start foam mouthing the same Bush White House talking points. The National Review, which takes its editorial direction from the White House, Israeli Prime Minister's office, and the network of neo-con think tanks in Washington, likes to quote and rely on statements by Alberto Gonzales, someone who has all the veracity of Joe Isuzu.
- Wayne Madsen

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

Check out the next item that Mr. Madsen has on his site as well for some good old fashioned family values ala the GOPhers...

68 James don't waste your time responding to a person who thinks multiple exclamation points are a substitute for a reasonable exchange of ideas and that identifying apparent hipocrasy (sic) in the opposition is vindication for a political point of view and a valid substitutute for substantiating rationale.

How would you like for your child to fight under this creature

The Administration That Won't Stop Lying
by Paul Craig Roberts

Antiwar

The war in Iraq has multiplied terrorism, not reduced it. The war has destroyed America's reputation. The war has served as an excuse for concentrating unconstitutional powers in the executive for removing the institutional protections against a police state. The war has already cost 20,000 American casualties (dead and wounded) and hundreds of billions of dollars, which have had to be borrowed from foreigners, and is projected to have a total cost in excess of one trillion dollars.

This is a horrendous commitment. What is its purpose?

We have never been told. Everything the Bush regime has said has been a lie...

The Republican Party has been reduced to one principle, its own power. It protects the Bush regime from accountability and covers up its lies and misdeeds. Under the myths and lies that enshroud 9/11, the Democrats have collapsed as an opposition party.

The Bush regime has destroyed Iraq without being able to defeat the resistance. Its greater casualties, however, are the American people, voiceless with no political representation, defenseless in the face of police-state depredations such as illegal warrantless surveillance, the possibility of property seizures, and indefinite detention without charges.

The Bush regime's war on terror has defeated truth and the constitutional protections of liberty in the United States. No conceivable number of Muslim terrorists could inflict comparable damage on America.
--------------
Paul Craig Roberts is one of the few actual conservative Republicans left. And, he's not fooled by the official 9/11 rubbish either, nor is he afraid to say so. These bushbots wouldn't know a real conservative if they paraded around wearing a flashing neon sign. Blind leading the blind, and here we are, in a ditch.

Tax cuts are working for the haves and the have-mores.

The folks that the Wush calls his base.

The majority of Americans have seen their spending power diminish greatly.

o'reilly, indeed.
---------
iraqmire: $9 billion a month.

68 James don't waste your time responding to a person who thinks multiple exclamation points are a substitute for a reasonable exchange of ideas and that identifying apparent hipocrasy

O Reilly

It's hipocrisy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tax cuts are working for the haves and the have-mores.

The folks that the Wush calls his base.

The majority of Americans have seen their spending power diminish greatly.

Robert

I'm sorry if you can't balance your own budget, but even someone who makes $30,000 a year can save money through investments to retire comfortably. Spending is the problem-try saving instead!!!

In May 2001, as reported in the Los Angeles Times, the Bush administration gave the Taliban government $43 million dollars, ostensibly to offset farmers’ losses for destroying their opium crops in the War on Drugs. This was at a time when only three governments in the world recognized the Taliban.

Pre-planning? According to several British newspapers, the U.S. was planning military action against Afghanistan well before September 11. In an interview with the BBC, Niaz Naik, a former Pakistani diplomat and foreign secretary, said that he was told by senior American officials in mid-July that the U.S. was already planning an attack against Afghanistan. He received this information at a UN sponsored conference on Afghanistan in Berlin. This would seem to corroborate the “carpet of gold, carpet of bombs” speech claimed by the French authors. According to the BBC, Mr. Naik claimed that the U.S. objective was to capture bin Laden and install a moderate, Western-friendly government in Afghanistan. He added that the attack would take place from bases in Tajikistan, where military advisors were already in place, and that it would occur by mid-October at the latest. The presence of the military in Central Asia is confirmed by the British newspaper The Guardian. According to it, a U.S. department of defense official, Dr. Jeffrey Starr, visited Tajikistan in January, and U.S. Rangers were training special troops in Kyrgyzstan. The head of the current Afghan war, General Tommy Franks, visited Dushanbe on May 16, 2001, calling Tajikistan “a strategically significant country.”

This does not, by itself, indicate any guilt. It is entirely possible that the United States had tired of bin Laden’s games, and decided to eliminate the danger once and for all. It is possible bin Laden got wind of this and decided to launch a preemptive strike. It would be an amazing coincidence, however, if the U.S. had planned to attack Afghanistan last October no matter what, and then terrorists loyal to bin Laden committed the worst terrorist atrocity in world history upon New York City only one month prior to the scheduled assault.

A pre-emptive strike? Perhaps. But the pilots had been training at U.S. flight schools for more than a year by that time. One thing is clear, O’Neill isn’t talking. He was killed at the World Trade Center on September 11, where had become the new chief of security in July 2001.

Excerpted from: September 11: The circumstantial case by Bill Molson

Funny how someone could respond to a sentence which has as its subject matter "the majority of Americans" with a comment such as "I'm sorry if you can't balance your own budget."

It just goes to show there is nothing going on in that little bitty head.

Sorry, but boredom will surely take the mind, where minds don't usually go.

Apologies to Who?

Sorry, but boredom will surely take the mind, where minds don't usually go.

Apologies to Who?

By Robert

Is this why you got so excited about pulling something outta your ass?

"New technologies will change how we live and how we drive our cars which all will have the beneficial effect of improving the environment," Bush said. "And in my judgment we need to set aside whether or not greenhouse gases have been caused by mankind or because of natural effects and focus on the technologies that will enable us to live better lives and at the same time protect the enviroment."

LBH, I hope David gives you the boot for the completely unnecessary reposting of every comment on this thread. You are an asshole, and I don't say that lightly.

The Republican Party runs campaigns on important issues of the day? Not.

A look back in history to the NBC Evening News on September 6, 1968; David Brinkley reports on Spiro Agnew's campaign rhetoric:

Agnew mentions George Wallace's favorite issues -- law and order, hippies and Communists; Agnew says Wallace uses "law and order" as a hatchet. Agnew says that without "law and order" our country will have "social suicide" and says that when he and Nixon are elected, "Nixon will preach and practice law and order."

Agnew says that, "hippies and yippies (Youth International Party) can't run a business, serve in government or "run a lathe in a factory. All they can do is lay down in a park and sleep and nick police with razor blades."

Agnew states that student uprisings are sponsored by Students for a Democratic Society and "people identified as red sympathizers." Republicans believe that Nixon hopes that Agnew's "hard outlook" on law and order will minimize the Wallace threat. Agnew says that he and Nixon are more responsible and respectable than Wallace.
______

The Republican Party has been all about wedge issues, born-again politics, anti-tax bullshit, fear tactics, Moral Majority, law and order, and "women's issues" -- read anti-ERA -- for years.

Sickness will surely take the mind
Where minds can't usually go.
Come on the amazing journey
And learn all you should know.

His eyes are the eyes that
Transmit all they know.
Sparkle warm crystalline glances to show
That he is your leader
And he is your guide
On the amazing journey together you'll ride.

LBH & the Wush along for the ride

Sal, democracy calls for a vote. All in favor of giving LBH (little baby huey) the boot say: Yea, all opposed Nay. You do'nt have a problem with a little democracy do ya lbh?

Zogby Poll: Over 70 Million American Adults Support New 9/11 Investigation

Yahoo News

(PRWEB) - Utica, NY (PRWEB) May 22, 2006 -- Although the Bush administration continues to exploit September 11 to justify domestic spying, unprecedented spending and a permanent state of war, a new Zogby poll reveals that less than half of the American public trusts the official 9/11 story or believes the attacks were adequately investigated.

911Truth.org Urges 2006 Reform Candidates to Recognize a Powerful New Constituency

The poll is the first scientific survey of Americans' belief in a 9/11 cover up or the need to investigate possible US government complicity, and was commissioned to inform deliberations at the June 2~4 "9/11: Revealing the Truth, Reclaiming Our Future" conference in Chicago. Poll results indicate 42% believe there has indeed been a cover up (with 10% unsure) and 45% think "Congress or an International Tribunal should re-investigate the attacks, including whether any US government officials consciously allowed or helped facilitate their success" (with 8% unsure). The poll of American residents was conducted from Friday, May 12 through Tuesday, May 16, 2004. Overall results have a margin of sampling error of +/- 2.9. All inquiries about questions, responses and demographics should be directed to Zogby International.

Poll co-author, W. David Kubiak concurs, saying: "Despite years of relentless media promotion, whitewash and 9/11 Commission propaganda, the official 9/11 story still can't even muster 50% popular support. Since this myth has been the administration's primary source of political and war-making power, this level of distrust has revolutionary implications for everyone working for peace, justice and civil liberties. If we ever hope to reclaim this country, end aggression and restore international respect, we all must finally scrutinize that day when things started to go so terribly wrong. The media and movement leaders ignore this call at their peril, because tens of millions are clearly telling us here they are ready for 9/11 truth."
-----------
Now, I feel a little better! If we are going to get our country back from those psychos it is absolutely CRITICAL that this issue see the light of day, and I am not the only one who believes that. This is NOT a dead horse!

DEN, as you know I don't approve of censoring, but that stunt was specifically designed to use up bandwidth, so I say YEA!

" Yea, all opposed Nay"

I do not feel that it is our choice. This Is Mr. David Corn's blog and no democracy. He owns it and his is the only and final word. I for one, will respect that.

That is why I did not chime in on another recent vote. We can all agree or disagree but it is not in our power to speak for Mr. Corn.

That is my take on it.

capt

Why I Cannot Judge Another Person?

The Best Poem in the World

I was shocked, confused, bewildered as I entered Heaven's door, not by the beauty of it all, nor the lights or its decor.

Bit was the folks in Heaven who made me sputter and gasp, the thieves, the liars, the sinners, the alcoholics, the trash.

There stood the kid from the seventh grade who swiped my lunch money twice. Next to him was my old neighbor who never said anything nice.

Herb, who I always thought, was rotting in hell, was sitting pretty on cloud nine, looking incredibly well!

I nudged Jesus, "What's the deal? I would love to hear your take. How did all these sinners get up here? God must have made a mistake!

And why is everyone so quiet, so somber? Give me a clue!"

"Hush, child," said He, "they're all in shock! No one thought they'd be seeing you!"

David has put up with stuff I would never have been able to. I respect his thick-skinned approach.

I would be a happy camper if such an abuse above #111 was sent to the cornfields (banished)! I just have an issue of enforcement if David did not agree. It will always be his call.

capt

Boyd,

You're obviously a dumbass...why in the name of all that you hold holy (like Robert's ass) would you cut and paste the entire thread?

You should appologize to the dial-ups and David Corn, too, for your stupidity.

kisses,

-T

good one gerald! makes one think about self perceptions -

BUT IT was the folks in heaven.....

Anybody that has been watching closely knows the spam posts and a few other abuses have just disappeared. I think David has the web wizards and such working on it.

Fingers crossed.

capt

LBH,

You must understand the mentality of the Robert Schwartz' and those who think like him. They object to tax cuts because they would rather have George Bush and Ted Kennedy out there trying to create wealth rather than the capitalists.

They would rather have the government ration the wealth of America. The problem is, the government, while it may be able to redistribute wealth, can't create it.

What they don't understand is that the wealthy in the world don't need the money from tax cuts, so they invest it. And by investing it, or saving it for others to invest, wealth is created.

And when wealth is created, more people are hired, like you and me - and Robert. But Robert seems to miss that point, as did Marx and his philosophical progeny.

Let's look at - for Robert - some inconvenient facts:
- In 2001, after the first Bush tax cut had taken effect, those in the bottom fifth of taxpayers paid average federal income taxes of 5.4%, about half what they did 20 years ago. during that same 20 years, the top 1% saw their share skyrocket from 14.7% to 22.7%.

Overall, the poorer among us paid about half as much of the federal tax burden in 2001 as they did in 1984, while the rich paid about 50% more. Even those in the middle class, often said to be hit hardest by increasing taxes, saw their share decline by about a third.

Those who oppose tax cuts are usually governed by one - or both - of two factors - guilt or resentment. But the guilty among us don't feel it adequate to give away just their money; they plan to make the rest of us the victims of their largesse.

And the resentful, well, envy is a horrible thing.

So, let's take all the money out of the government's hands, so the crooked politicians - of both parties - and oily lobbyists won't have anything over which to fight. No more money for no-bid contracts or faulty housing or anything like it. Let's let the Ben's & Jerry's of the world create the wealth.

#125 james, I will give my perceptual opinions of persons, events, etc. but I cannot judge a person's destination once he or she passes through the vale.

We are separated by a vale between the natural world and the supernatural world.

Capt, how else is David supposed to know what regulars here think if we do not give him some input from time to time. If you wish to condone this type of behavior that is entirely up to you but the tripe posted brings this blog down to the gutter level.

I believe I was correct in calling for a vote, tolerance can only go so far until it wears out its welcome then David needs to know our thoughts on the subject.

111 LBH:

What the hell are you doing? Stop that.

Let's let the Ben's & Jerry's of the world create the wealth.

is that so much worse than letting the darth vaders of the world control the wealth?

#122,

A very good one.

"Whether one is Hindu or a Muslim or a Christian, how you live your life is proof that you are or not fully His. We cannot condemn or judge or pass words that will hurt people. We don't know in what way God is appearing to that soul and what God is drawing that soul to; therefor, who are we to condemn anybody?"

~ Mother Teresa (1910 - 1997)

capt

My middle son bought me the Al Franken tapes on his book, "Lies and Lying Liars Who Tell Them - A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right." I read the book but hearing Franken on tape was great. I have listened to two of six tapes to date. He has highlighted three big time liars. They are ANN COULTER, BILL O'REILLY, AND SEAN HANNITY. O'Reilly and Hannity really disgust me because they are my Catholic brothers. I guess that they have never heard of or are familiar with the Eighth Commandment!!!!!

calling for a vote was not un-called for - i say off with his head - but i suspect that david just ignores us for the most part, and maybe rightly so; his meddling in our affairs would only lower his status to the level of ours or raise ours to his.

"If you wish to condone this type of behavior that is entirely up to you but the tripe posted brings this blog down to the gutter level."

First off - I do not nor have I ever condoned any abuse on the blog.

Need I remind you that I have always called for ignoring the creeps while other post to them encouraging this type of abuse.

Further, David reads the blog but I do not remember him ever asking for our input, to the contrary he has pointed out that HIS is the last and only word.

You may or may not agree with him, but it is his blog.

Do you think a majority rule makes sense on an open blog? So LBH or his ilk could come here in numbers large enough to override?

Please.

Corn blog is David's - quit asking for pathetic meaningless "votes". If you think someone should be banished from ther blog by all means tell David, post it - he will read it. Never kid yourself about who owns the space. We are a community but we play on his dime. Try to respect that and you will be respecting the community.

To say I condone abuses is an insult.

So Thanks - I guess.

capt

and then we would most likely be subjected to a huffingtonpost recap of one of our comments recapping a cornpost recap of yet some other recap.

Injuriae Addis Contumeliam

#133 capt, I have two of Mother Teresa's books. I am glad that my spiritual advisor said that I was not judging some of these Nazis. All of us have opinions to offer. My comments are more opinions rather than judgments.

Whatever!

From: Poynter Institute E-media tid-bits

Furl: Create your own private, full-text, tagged, searchable, shareable, Web-based archive of anything interesting, relevant, or useful you find online. (10 cool things to do with Furl, About Furl, file sharing, and copyright)

Look interesting.

capt

Shell reaps $1.2b, blames oil speculators

Mr Caplan said that while demand/supply fundamentals had caused the improvement in profit margins, it was "global speculation" that had caused margins to be artificially elevated.

He said that many times more "paper barrels" of oil were traded globally than was the case with "wet barrels" or physical oil. "There are people who are making a living out of speculating on what is going to happen in the Middle East, what is going to happen in shipping, etc. The price is affected by that. There is no doubt about it. And the more uncertainty that exists in the world, the more opportunity there is for speculation," Mr Caplan said.

"So my view is that fundamentals are driving prices up and speculation is exacerbating that significantly. If I knew how long each was going to continue, I wouldn't be working for Shell, I'd own Shell," Mr Caplan said.

More HERE

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

So it is the speculators fault? Jeeze, do all "oilmen" lack the stones to just say "hey we are making a killing!" or do all of the point elsewhere while they bleed us all dry?

When do we say enough is enough?

capt

Gerald,

I did not think you were being judgemental, just the opposite - I posted the MT quote in support of your story and what I thought it meant.

capt

Pravis Assuescere Sermonibus Est Via Ad Rem Ipsam

Boyd,

You're obviously a dumbass...why in the name of all that you hold holy (like Robert's ass) would you cut and paste the entire thread?

Posted by Hajji

Wow, Robert, for an old 60's guy, your ass sure gets around!!

Hajji # 20

With tweezers and a magnifying glass. If that doesn't work, a microscope. A lot of work but the results so far are worth the effort. By the way, this must be done in a dark room. Somehow they keep flittering toward light. ALso must be done out of distance of bug zappers. Fried moth balls do not cut it.

George Bush and Ted Kennedy out there trying to create wealth rather than the capitalists. - Factless

Both are capitalists, and both family fortunes have questionable moral beginnings, whether bootlegging or war-profiteering.

What they don't understand is that the wealthy in the world don't need the money from tax cuts, so they invest it. And by investing it, or saving it for others to invest, wealth is created. - Factless

And with so much of that investment going off-shore to the Mal-Wartification of America.

Your ass does get around - little bitty head

To Dashti Q'aleh and back.

If you stand by your comment that I condone abuse on the blog you are just being silly. No reason to offer any real consideration to me.

"We cannot control the evil tongues of others; but a good life enables us to disregard them." ~ Cato the Elder (234 BC - 149 BC)

capt

capt, I didn't chime in on the last vote either, but that was a matter of censoring opinions we don't agree with. What LBH did, and I notice he hasn't been back since, was so incredibly rude and uncalled for I think bringing it to David's attention, if he is paying attention, is the right thing to do. You're right, it is his call, but spam posting is just obnoxious advertising, this stunt was done with purely malicious intent. Whether people post to him or not makes no difference. There is no excuse for that kind of behavior. This thread has slowed to a crawl for me, and no doubt all the other dial-ups as well, and for what? Because LBH has the power to do it? That is bullshit.