Mr. David Corn,

Cool that you are on commentisfree - one of my regular stops. You are in some good company there.

"It would be a pity if it becomes no more than a platform for the Bush administration to bash its critics for helping bin Laden make phone calls to America."

I think we are in for the pity party. Sad but true. You called it, I hope the politicians involved take the time to consider your insights. I doubt many will but hope springs eternal.

Keep up the good work. You have been rockin' lately.

Thanks

Kirk

I have come to realize that the shit in this country just keeps piling up. Endless piles of shit keep bombarding our people. Let us look at some piles of shit around us - Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Gonzales, Congress, the Supreme Court, Hayden, Goss, Snow-job, Rove, Libby, Delay, Abramoff, Cunningham, Frist, Specter, Santorum, O'Reilly, Hannity, Limbaugh to name a few persons. There just seems to be an endless supply of shit that keeps piling up in our country.

The frontal assault tactic that I spoke about #141 last thread.

U.S. News has identified nearly a dozen cases in which city and county police, in the name of homeland security, have surveilled or harassed animal-rights and antiwar protesters, union activists, and even library patrons surfing the Web. Unlike with Washington's warrantless domestic surveillance program, little attention has been focused on the role of state and local authorities in the war on terrorism. A U.S.News inquiry found that federal officials have funneled hundreds of millions of dollars into once discredited state and local police intelligence operations. Millions more have gone into building up regional law enforcement databases to unprecedented levels. In dozens of interviews, officials across the nation have stressed that the enhanced intelligence work is vital to the nation's security, but even its biggest boosters worry about a lack of training and standards. "This is going to be the challenge," says Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton, "to ensure that while getting bin Laden we don't transgress over the law. We've been burned so badly in the past--we can't do that again."

Rap sheets. Chief Bratton is referring to the infamous city "Red Squads" that targeted civil rights and antiwar groups in the 1960s and 1970s. Veteran police officers say no one in law enforcement wants a return to the bad old days of domestic spying. But civil liberties watchdogs warn that with so many cops looking for terrorists, real and imagined, abuses may be inevitable. "The restrictions on police spying are being removed," says attorney Richard Gutman, who led a 1974 class action lawsuit against the Chicago police that obtained hundreds of thousands of pages of intelligence files. "And I don't think you can rely on the police to regulate themselves."

Spies Among Us
Despite a troubled history, police across the nation are keeping tabs on ordinary Americans
By David E. Kaplan 5/8/06

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

Gee, I wonder if they will even hold open confirmation hearings, or will the whole thing be held behind closed doors.

the list of who in the Senate is allowed to question Hayden will be classified and no one will be told the responses. Then the Senate's votes will be classified, and Hayden will appear and say he has been confirmed, which can be neither confirmed nor denied by the Senators under threat of treason. Of course the fact that Hayden has already lied under oath to Congress will also be classified.

It's ironic that the White House and NSA call their surveillance program - "terrorist surveillance programme" - with French overtones. It seems like yesterday when the WH and the Republican Congress mocked the French for criticizing & opposing the WH's drumbeat to war with Iraq and the Congress passing a law for the french fries in their menu to be called "freedom fries".

I find it very ironic that the WH & NSA would call their surveillance program - "terrorist surveillance programme."

from the post on the last thread...

Reynolds, who served as George W. Bush’s Labor Department Chief Economist in 2001-2002, believes that a 9/11 truth victory is looming on the near-term horizon.

Right right, and economist overrides all them pesky scientists. He didn't offer proof, or a link to info to back up what he said either.
And Sal said FEMA admits the fuel burned up quickly but didn't link to the source. I guess all them people in the 'elevator' article were paid to make all that up. They're now in the conspiracy too. yikes!

GOEBBELS-ation and the "new" world order---

Yesterday i watched the FISA rerun of "Law & Order" on TNT(?) and cannot help but think how much propaganda is being spewed on network television in the wake of 9/11!!!

*NCIS* and *The Unit* would have been television shows directed by Leni Reisenthal had she been a director today, and whilst Fox "news" is comparable to Hitler's favourite propagandist, it's understandable WHY GW is feeling a triumph of HIS will...even the "opposition" is in his camp, and CBS should be the opposition in lieu of what the Bushies have done to their news division!

What Will You Do?

"Hurt"

I hurt myself today
To see if I still feel
I focus on the pain
The only thing that's real
The needle tears a hole
The old familiar sting
Try to kill it all away
But I remember everything

[Chorus:]
What have I become
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know goes away
In the end
And you could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt

I wear this crown of thorns
Upon my liar's chair
Full of broken thoughts
I cannot repair
Beneath the stains of time
The feelings disappear
You are someone else
I am still right here

[Chorus:]
What have I become
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know goes away
In the end
And you could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt

If I could start again
A million miles away
I would keep myself
I would find a way

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

A new animation at Peace Takes Courage.

Ava is an old soul. How can a fifteen year old be so deep and expressive?

She has brought me to tears a few times. Her choice of music is amazing and mature. There is hope for the future. The generation behind us has some very fresh superstars, artists, and there will be politicians - maybe even one or two real leaders.

capt

I am amused by Mr. Bush's choice of Hayden because it is a slap in the face of the thumbsucking Republicans in Congress who have become so cowed by the White House that they don't know if they're coming or going. They just stand by with their cute little rubber stamp in their sweaty little paws.

Meanwhile, we can stop calling Bush "Mr. 32%."

The noose is tightening around the neck of Congressman Ney.

Poor folks are teetering on the edge of collapse.

Charges of tokenism are revived against the Bush Administration.

Bush lied about his greatest accomplishment in office. Bush lied? Somebody needs to start a web site cataloging all of his lies.

And all that talk about Presidential signings makes me realize that President Clinton did the same thing. I don't remember anyone making a peep about his 140 signings.

LYING TO CONGRESS: In January, Karl Rove promised to make the midterm elections focus on wiretapping. Hayden -- as one of the administration's "most forceful" defenders of President Bush's warrantless domestic eavesdropping and director of the National Security Agency (NSA) when the program was implemented in 2002 -- will likely bring that issue to the forefront. "We have no concerns about a public debate over the terrorist surveillance program," said a senior White House official. Hayden misled Congress and the public about the administration's domestic spying. In his Oct. 17, 2002 testimony, Hayden told a congressional committee that any surveillance of persons in the United States was done consistent with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which required a court-approved warrant for wiretapping. As American Progress Senior Fellow Morton Halperin pointed out, "At the time of his statements, Hayden was fully aware of the presidential order to conduct warrantless domestic spying issued the previous year," making Hayden's misleading statements to Congress illegal.

From : American Progress Action Fund

The big fish story: Maybe the flat earthers can incorporate it into a Jonah type thing?

Too funny!

capt

I've a whale of a tale to tell you, boys...

Civil Liberties as an Antidote to Violent Extremism

It is often asserted or assumed that American traditions of open government and civil liberties place the United States at a disadvantage in confronting terrorism. But the opposite may be closer to the truth.

"In an open society like ours... it is impossible to protect against every threat," said President Bush in an August 24, 2005 speech. "That's a fact we have to deal with. In a free society it is impossible to protect against every possible threat," implying that it might be possible in a closed or unfree society.

Similarly, according to February 15 testimony (pdf) by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, "terrorists and criminals... would exploit our open society to do us harm."

And "precious little can be done to prevent [terrorist attacks on soft targets] in a society like ours that rightly values personal liberty so highly," wrote Clark Kent Ervin, former Homeland Security Inspector General, in a Washington Post opinion piece on May 7.

But a distinctly different perspective was offered by John C. Gannon, former CIA Deputy Director for Intelligence, in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week.

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

I think this speaks to the insights offered by Mr. Robert Schwartz. A slightly different take but some of the same issues.

capt

capt, did you read the article that Pande linked above? That article (below) and the one you linked #13 tell the story of the near future.

bush Challenges Hundreds of Laws

"...Said Golove, the New York University law professor: ''Bush has essentially said that 'We're the executive branch and we're going to carry this law out as we please, and if Congress wants to impeach us, go ahead and try it.' "

Bruce Fein, a deputy attorney general in the Reagan administration, said the American system of government relies upon the leaders of each branch ''to exercise some self-restraint." But Bush has declared himself the sole judge of his own powers, he said, and then ruled for himself every time.

''This is an attempt by the president to have the final word on his own constitutional powers, which eliminates the checks and balances that keep the country a democracy," Fein said. ''There is no way for an independent judiciary to check his assertions of power, and Congress isn't doing it, either. So this is moving us toward an unlimited executive power."

Hayden, a top military intelligence guy, could be an excellent fit to lead the CIA. Besides getting his hands around the CIA and how it does what it does, he has the military versus civilian work environment thing to overcome. Career military personnel tend to have excellent leadership skills, nonetheless there is an adjustment required to lead successfully in civilian institutions.

While the CIA, like the military is a top down organization, the CIA unlike the military is a bottom up organization when it comes to expertise on a topic. Like any company, the value it holds is in its experienced employees. The next CIA director had better stop the bleeding and if it's Hayden he must let them know how they are valued and cut the partisan persecution pronto.

Corn's argues that the hearings are likely to focus too much on warrantless wiretapping. I agree completely. I hope the intelligence committee develops a comprehensive agenda of questions, oral and written, and puts them to the nominee. The list should include questions about Hayden's view of the 4th amendment and laws governing search and seizure. Hayden steadfastly argued the standard is "reasonable suspicion" rather than "probable cause."

As a country, we can't afford to have any more senior government officials who do not respect the rule of law.

Lawyer: Five witnesses say Joe Wilson Outed Valerie Plame

In a development that got no media play over the weekend, Lewis 'Scooter' Libby's defense lawyer announced on Friday that he has located five witnesses who will testify that Joe Wilson outed his wife Valerie Plame as a CIA employee before Robert Novak did so in his July 2003 column.

According to the NationalReviewOnline's Byron York, Libby's lawyer Ted Wells told the court that his witnesses "will say under oath that Mr. Wilson told them his wife worked for the CIA."
Wells said that he expects Leakgate Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald to call Wilson to testify in a bid to salvage his case.

Reacting to the news on Friday, Wilson declined to deny the allegation, suggesting instead that it no longer mattered who first outed his wife.

"The last I heard, this is case is about allegations Mr. Libby lied, perjured himself before the FBI, special prosecutor and grand jury and obstructed justice," he told CNN in a statement. "None of those charges of which he's been indicted has anything to do with me."

Could the 2.5 million dollar book deal his wife just signed have anything to do with Joe Wilson strategically outing his wife? Looks like Fitzy has the wrong leaker.

David, I want to believe your take:

With the Hayden nomination, Bush is saying, "Bring 'em on."

Bush needs to be go on the Offense instead of being defensive, all the way down to `35% Deffensive'; NOT that I give a `dropping' right now on the polls!

However, I also believe Hayden is tasked to conduct a full housecleaning of the CIA! Sort of like Lou Gerstner, an outsider, brought in to rescue IBM over a decade ago!

CIA was up to the task against the KGB but can't seem to adapt to the War on Terror, failures that are now two decades long; dating back to at least the Beirut Marine Barrack bombing! It's time to clean out the (liberal) Boomers who can't handle this asymmetrical War.

It should be a `must' that ALL intelligence agencies & personnel support the civilian adminstrations until it's `histroical perspective' time! Sports Analogy: With a season underway, you can't whine or scream about some aspects of the rules/game that you don't like; you wait until the season is over to initiate changes!

Partisanship is what is causing the downfall of the (civilian) CIA!

Micki,

That is where I got :

"asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution."

And have posted the Globe piece at least three times.

It makes me just sick at heart to even hear such crud come from Bunnypants.

Sick at heart!

Damn these neocon SOB's and ever rocket scientist that supports them.

capt

Add a Y to ever for EVERY!

capt

Ohhhh, so that's where I had read it previously! Sorry, capt...I should have remembered.

No, no, that is not at all what I meant.

This news need to be hammered into everyones head.

It cannot be posted too often or over emphasized enough.

It is insane.

I was just saying it makes me sick at heart that an American politician would ever be : "asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution."

Forget the quote about how much easier it would be if HE is the DICK-TATER.

For goodness sake he is coming right out and saying he is the king, the decider, and his nimble and capable mind will be the final word?

AAAARRRRGGGGHHH!

capt

Holy....

Frist and Hastert Let Vaccine Industry Write Its Own Multi-Billion Dollar Giveaway

Last December, Senate Majority Leader Bill First (R-TN) and House Speaker Dennis Hastert inserted a provision in the Defense Appropriations bill that granted vaccine manufactures near-total immunity for injuries or deaths (even in cases of "gross negligence" caused by their drugs during a viral pandemic, such as an outbreak of the avian flu. The legislation was "worth billions of dollars" to a small group of drug makers.

The provision was inserted in the dead of the night, after House and Senate conferees had agreed the provision would not be included in the bill. According to Roll Call, the brazen move was completely unprecedented.

A new report from Public Citizen reveals that vaccine-industry lobbyists essentially wrote the provision themselves. This morning's Tennessean reports:

Vaccine industry officials helped shape legislation behind the scenes that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist secretly amended into a bill to shield them from lawsuits, according to e-mails obtained by a public advocacy group.

E-mails and documents written by a trade group for the vaccine-makers show the organization met privately with Frist's staff and the White House about measures that would give the industry protection from lawsuits filed by people hurt by the vaccines.

The final language of the provision was exactly what the vaccine manufactures requested in thier emails and meetings.

------------------------
It's a free for all.

Everybody with a brain should pitch in and hire every blimp to circle every city center flashing those words for all to see. Their should be a TV commercial that just shows those words, 24/7 non-stop.

We really need to show the world he does not care one iota what "the people" think or what that GD piece of paper the constitution says.

We have been hijacked.

As evidenced by some posts there are a few that will NEVER get it. *sigh*

capt

Their/there U all know! HA!

I am firing my proofreader (tomorrow)

capt

I feel like I'm living in Amsterdam, during the Weimar Republic.

Having Harper playing footsies with a US under a CorporateCoup d'etat... I'm sorry, but I'm getting quite frightened by circumstances & the drift of events.

Namaste.
BlueBerry Pick'n
can be found @
ThisCanadian.com
"Silent Freedom is Freedom Silenced"

We "the people" have NO advocate in government. The corporations have bought the process and we only matter as a market share.

When the corporations write the regulations people die because profit is at all cost.

What will it take to make it stop!

Can a peaceful revolution change anything?

capt

Not to get too dark but:

What the heck will we do with a neocon super-majority? When the (stolen) midterms landslide contrary to all polls.

You can bet on them doing what has worked so far.

Pete and repeat were sitting on a fence Pete fell off so who was left? Repeat.

Too hot in the WH oval office? Start a war, fake some kind of attack and call anybody that questions the new war a coward and weak on defense.

They have no intention of giving up power in a free or fair fight. The fix is firmly in.

capt

Pande wants everyone to think that the Democrats aren't capable of corruption, only Republicans.

The noose is tightening around the neck of Congressman Ney.

Posted by Pande

But here is what Pandes local paper has to say about that: link

David wrote:
The CIA seems to be falling apart, with both senior and junior officers fleeing in what appears to be record numbers.
------------
The person they put in place had better be a leader that doesn't take the employees down the road of illegality. One of the reason these officers are fleeing is because they don't want to have to hire lawyers just to ask advice on the job they are expected to do. They don't want to commit crimes against their country. If Hayden was involved in illegal wiretapping why would any of the career people in the CIA want to work for him. It's trading rotten for worse.

link

Pande

Why are you blind to corrupt Democrats?

#26
Capt,
All we can do is HOPE the lobbyists are being honest because we KNOW the politicians aren't. That's scary. Come to think of it the lobbyist aren't either. Yes we are in real trouble.

Getting screwed in, and by, Washington

"There's no doubt the level of corruption is at an all-time high while morality in government has fallen to an all-time low," says political scientist George Harleigh, who worked in both the Nixon and Reagan administrations. "The prevailing attitude of 'the law doesn't apply to me' is also at an all-time high."

GOP play master Rollins agrees.

"The use of prostitutes and what`s occurred in Washington that I think everyone`s disgusted at, is we promised we were going to be different than the Democrats; we weren`t going to basically be beholden to K Street, we were going to be term limits and we weren`t going to be the big PACs and all the rest of it," he says. "That`s all gone by the boards, and if anything we may even be worse."

But such falls from grace delight those who like to see the high and mighty struck down from lofty perches - especially when those taking the fall claimed such high moral ground. The Republicans claimed to the party of reform and high moral values and they turn out to be just as corrupt, if not more so, than those they replaced.

From a President who claims to talk to God to a Hill leadership dominated by the hypocritical religious right, the Republicans held their moral noses high in the air while they copped a feel under the skirts of Lady Justice.

More HERE

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

This makes all the lies that much more dastardly. The SOB’s should be dragged out and face a firing squad. If hypocrisy killed there would not be many left in politics.

I wonder if it will ever change.

capt

Makes one pine for the old days when lying about a bj was a "character" issue. Remember way back when the Reich-wingnuts were screaming "what will we tell the children?" I wonder what they tell their children now that the Reich controls all parts of the government and they have failed miserably. No morals, no family values, a culture of corruption and war and death and blatant outright lies.

The shameless jerks.

one more time:

AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!

Effin twoface spineless bastards that voted this disgrace into power now back-pedaling can jump ship and claim they never supported the creep but the blood stained hands are a tell.

capt

Upset vet gives back his medals
________________
He had protested. He had become president of the San Diego chapter of Veterans For Peace.

He had helped put up thousands of white crosses around San Diego County to mark the dead in a solemn display called “Arlington West.”

And still . . . .

The war goes on. Three years, two months. With more than 2,300 U.S. soldiers and Marines dead.
What more could David Patterson, an electronics technician from Ramona, do about it?
There was this: He could give up his military medals. Send them directly to President Bush, care of the White House.
_________________

Men and women of honor will always find a way to make a difference. Part of the real tragedy of Bush's "Mass Murder" is the destruction of faith and confidence that military folks now have in their government.

Many turn it to good works. Sgt.Karl has passed his paramedic exam with flying colors even though he was never much of a student. Spec.Spanky (who we haven't heard from for almost 2 weeks, since he hinted he might be moving) has made noises to become a firefighter and medic, like his older brother, when he gets home.

Neither had such plans before they were subjected to such death and utter destruction. I can only hope that this country and its government soon realize the reprehensible shame in the way it is treating the veterans of its war-time follies and starts LISTENING to them and the families of the dead before it is too late.

-T

On The NewsHour: Choice for Chief

President Bush nominated Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden to serve as the next leader of the Central Intelligence Agency Monday. NewsHour Correspondent Kwame Holman reports on the move, which may re-ignite the debate over the administration's controversial domestic surveillance program Hayden oversaw as head of the National Security Agency. Then, Jim Lehrer speaks with two members of the House Intelligence Committee: Reps. Jane Harman (D – Calif.) and Heather Wilson (R – N.M.).

My Meeting With Rumsfeld

All in all, my encounter with Rumsfeld was for me a highly instructive experience. The Center’s president, Peter White, singled out Rumsfeld’s "honesty" in introducing him, and 99 percent of those attending seemed primed to agree. Indeed, their reaction brought to mind film footage of rallies in Germany during the thirties. When Rumsfeld replied to my first question about his false statements on Iraq 's WMD, the applause was automatic. "I did not lie then...," he insisted.

This was immediately greeted with what Pravda used to describe as "stormy applause," followed immediately by rather unseemly shouts by this otherwise well-disciplined and well-heeled group to have me summarily thrown out. At the end, as we all filed out slowly, I could make eye contact with only one person—who proceeded to berate me for being insubordinate.

Scary. No open minds there. A graphic reminder for those wishing to spread some truth around that we have our work cut out for us. We have to find imaginative ways to use truth as a lever to pry open closed minds.

More HERE

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

From Mr. Ray McGovern’s POV.

capt

Ted,

#31

Just because it is the Republicans whose corruption is coming to light it doesn't mean there aren't corrupt Democrats. At this moment in time, however, it is the Republicans.

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." ~ Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

"Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped." ~ Elbert Hubbard (1856 - 1915)

thinker

It's both party's that have been corrupted by lobbyist. Being Democrat doesn't make you a saint. At this moment in time (Sunday) Tim Russert of Meet The Press has laid out a clear pattern of corruption by some top Democrats, does this not meet your standard of corruption?

#38
The Republican party is so corrupt it has become a party that functions to maintain its lifestyle, power, money flow and secrets. The Democratic Party may have corrupt individuals but the party doesn't protect those individuals. That's the difference. The Democratic Party hasn't become a machine like the Republican Party. Perhaps more suitable would be a cancer. The are eating the country from the insides.

Bush lied about his greatest accomplishment in office. Bush lied? Somebody needs to start a web site cataloging all of his lies.

Posted by Pande

Clinton lied about his greatest accomplishment in office. Clinton Condoms

"The other guys do it too" Is a most perfidious defense.

No matter how many Democrats are corrupt (and there are many) this is the most corrupt misadministration in the history of history. It is all GOP all the time. Silly to think otherwise or post to someone trying to muddy the waters.

The number of corrupt Democrats only adds to that, it does not mitigate, such a defense is a tacit admission of guilt.

capt

Pande
Why are you blind to corrupt Democrats?
Posted by Ted at May 8, 2006 04:22 PM

===+===

Don't forget to get yer daily dose of the dirt form the other side. This Morrison guy in Montana is a scumbag Democrat. Take him down and let him roast in his own juices.
Posted by: Pandemoniac at April 28, 2006 09:37 AM

link
Posted by: Pandemoniac at May 4, 2006 07:32 AM

The latest video tape of Osama bin Laden said that the Bush administration is evil, it made excuses to attack Iraq, and it is obsessed with Mideast oil. So basically Osama has the same platform as Hillary." --Jay Leno

[On reaction to GOP proposals to give a $100 rebate to gas consumers] (Democrats) stood up, led by Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow, and dismissed the $100 rebate offer as quote a token gesture. Bravo! The American people are not children to be bought off with candy money so you can go back to your tea party. No! Stabenow has a far more principled proposal. Wait for it, wait for it: A $500 tax rebate! It appears the Democrats' new platform is to treat us like high-class hookers." --Jon Stewart

Posted by: Pandemoniac at May 4, 2006 11:25 PM

"Rep. Patrick Kennedy received three "notices of infractions" in connection with his early morning car crash ...."
"The leaders of the liberal movement!! Ha Ha"
Posted by: M.B. Sill at May 5, 2006 01:44 PM

Great. Let's lock him up with this drunk driver.
Posted by: Pandemoniac at May 5, 2006 04:54 PM

===+===

Better question: why are you so blind to what I've written and linked?

The US's geopolitical nightmare

By drawing attention to Iraq and the obvious role oil plays in US policy today, the George W Bush-Dick Cheney administration has done just that: it has drawn the world's energy-deficit powers' attention firmly to the strategic battle over energy, and especially oil.

This is already having consequences for the global economy in terms of US$75-a-barrel crude-oil price levels. Now it is taking on the dimension of what one former US defense secretary rightly calls a "geopolitical nightmare" for the United States.

The creation by Bush and Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and company of a geopolitical nightmare is also the backdrop to comprehend the dramatic political shift within the US establishment in the past six months, away from the Bush presidency. Simply put: Bush and Cheney and their band of neo-conservative war hawks, with their special relationship to the capacities of Israel in Iraq and across the Mideast, were given a chance.

More HERE

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

They have had their war and they blew it. There is no more good will or any reason to offer pretense of "good intentions." It really does not matter at this point.

The worst president ever - our dry-drunk dick-tater goes about : "asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution."

I think we really need to address his highness king Bunnypants and Darth Cheney. They have gone off the democracy farm - so to speak.

capt

Patrick Kennedy has a car accident and this proves its over for the Dems on the corruption debate?

What does Rush Limbaugh have to do?

Two dems are caught by other dems for taking bribes and graft and its over for the Dems on the corruption debate?

What does the K-Street gang have to do?

It reminds me of when I was 9 years old and I stood at the top of the stairs to make sure my parents knew that my brother was out of bed.

Cheney says he doesn't care about the polls. Why should he, they have already copied the keys to power and all of vaults with the money in America.

Hayden was on TV defending the NSA domestic spying program earlier this year. "That Elmer Fudd looking double talker is the most dangerous man in Washington."

Now he has been picked to run the CIA and I can again be quoted.

"That Elmer Fudd looking double talker is the most dangerous man in Washington."

A link from the Bush-oisie. Let's give the guy a round of applause.

For those Bushbots about to post, here's the trick:

1) copy and paste the following formula from beginning to end.

<A href="http://www.google.com/">link</A>

2) paste it into the Cornblog comments box

3)carefully delete the http://www.google.com without erasing the quotation marks or anything else

4) replace the google link with your link by copying and pasting your link from the address bar in your browser, making sure you paste it right between the quotation marks.

5) and you should get something like this:

link

Steps 2, 3 and 4 are the trickiest; but with a little practice, you too will be linking like a pro in as little as 10 minutes.

DAMN Pande, I thought you were giving them the formula to disappear into cyberspace and never come back.

link

oops.

Don't go here

A telling part of Capt's link at #37 from Ray McGovern...

That evening a friend emailed me about a call she got from a close associate in “upper management at CNN” to ask about me. She quoted the CNN manager: “We checked and double-checked everything this guy had to say and he was 100 percent accurate.” He then asked if those protesting the war “were getting organized or something.” She responded, “Indeed we are and have been for some time, and it’s about time the mainstream media caught up.”

Crashing Watergate Gate

The nuts are in the White House

Evolution of a Shrub

No matter how many Democrats are corrupt (and there are many) this is the most corrupt misadministration in the history of history. It is all GOP all the time. Silly to think otherwise or post to someone trying to muddy the waters.

Posted by Capt

Capt, who in the Bush administration is being prosecuted for corruption? Not even Libby is being prosecuted for corruption.

Pande,

A Jay Leno joke about Hillary and you call that being tough on corrupt Dems? How about that link to some shmuck from MT, boy you've convinced me!

You compare Kennedy to Bush's DUI, but Bush quit substance abuse before becoming President. Kennedy has been in rehab how many times now? How about we lock him up with his drunk Dad who was such a coward he wouldn't even try and save the life of his girlfriend, he had no problem floating his fat ass to the surface though.

Thanks for making my point!

The Bush Disconnect

"DAMN Pande, I thought you were giving them the formula to disappear ...."
Posted by: geof01 at May 8, 2006 07:12 PM

Nope. That formula is kept in a not-so-secret location in the White House. George W. Bush is the only magician who can make Republicans disappear.

The Final Say

Bush Power

The nuts in the WH have found their theme for 2006. WARS, GLORIOUS WARS!!!

Pelosi's "Lilly White, Republican Only membership breached.

By a recovering Liberal, "clean and sober" since 92 when he last voted for a Democrat.

Bug Eyes

Her name is B.J.

My dreams are more like nightmares that I cannot shake. Here is one of my nightmares.

Her actual name is Barbara Jenna Doe. B.J. was an all American young lady –†attractive, intelligent, a vibrant personality who made people feel good. She was planning to go to Yale in the Fall. B.J. did very well on her SAT and Act tests. Her summer was planned in preparation to attend Yale in September.

The military draft was reinstated and B.J. received her letter to report to boot Camp in mid-August. In December B.J. came home for Christmas. Her parents were excited to see her. Daddy had a gleam in his eye every time B.J. was home. Barbara Jenna looked sharp and impressive in her formal military uniform. Her parents were proud of her.

After Christmas B.J. returned to camp and in mid-January B.J. and her company received orders that they were going to attack Iran as part of bush's Christmas wish list through more lies. In mid-February her parents received the dreaded letter saying that Barbara Jenna Doe was killed in action. The letter did not reveal how she was killed but friends were able to find out that B.J.'s truck hit a land mine. The truck exploded and her one leg went through the window of a nearby building; her torso remained with the truck; and her head went through the windshield of the truck and rolled down the street and stopped at a curb. What a waste of human potential to be killed for the bush lies.

B.J. was not like one of bush sr.'s fourteen grandchildren who have never served in the military services. She was drafted and she had to serve in the military armed services.

Not to carry on a debate Alan, but here is what you asked for.

FEMA report [Chapter 2]

"The large quantity of jet fuel carried by each aircraft ignited upon impact into each building. A significant portion of this fuel was consumed immediately in the ensuing fireballs. The remaining fuel is believed either to have flowed down through the buildings or to have burned off within a few minutes of the aircraft impact. The heat produced by this burning jet fuel does not by itself appear to have been sufficient to initiate the structural collapses. However, as the burning jet fuel spread across several floors of the buildings, it ignited much of the buildings' contents, causing simultaneous fires across several floors of both buildings."
----------
I didn't provide a link because it will not accomplish anything. You can find it if you want to. No doubt burning paper and office material caused a complete collapse of 3 buildings in one day, no problemo!

jUST A REMINDER ANTIWAR.COM IS HAVING THEIR QUARTERLY DONATION DRIVE!!!

"Capt, who in the Bush administration is being prosecuted for corruption? Not even Libby is being prosecuted for corruption."

Ok, I'll play the semantics game. Define "corruption" or the game loses its fun.

Pande,

"A Jay Leno joke about Hillary and you call that being tough on corrupt Dems? How about that link to some shmuck from MT, boy you've convinced me!"
Posted by: Ted at May 8, 2006 07:48 PM

More straw men. You Conservatives must walk around with itchy privates with all the straw men that you endlessly and breathlessly hump. When did I say I was being tough on corrupt Dems? You asked me if I was blind to it. I see it and link it before anyone else does.

There hasn't been a single instance of a conservative bringing news of Republican corruption to this blog. Ever. All we get is lies and lame excuses.

David, bush is waving a red flag, but will the dems charge? Not freakin likely!

Here's what they're saying about Reynolds on the science site...
================
Reynolds is touted as an expert for two reasons.
1 ) He is a Ph.D.
2 ) He is a former Whitehouse appointee.

Well Ph.D or not his expertise as an economist means that he should be good at ,,, arithematic. Hardly more than Foxx or metamars or Arthur or I has in the way of expertise. So scratch that value.

He may also have been in the Bush team, as it were, but there is no evidence to suggest that he learned anything about plans such as he proposes the Bush administration carried out on 9/11 so he certainly was not an insider in any plot. So scratch that value.

What you are left with is ,,,,, nothing!
====================
and here's one more...
============================
Reynolds it should be pointed out was a low level part of the administration he was chief economist for the Labor dept.

He started on Sept 4, 2001 and thus had only been on the job 4 days.

He claims no inside knowledge, he learned about 9/11 on CNN and other media outlets just like the rest of us. He didn't start questioning 9/11 till after he left the administration.

He left the administration ebittereed towards the Bush administration for good (he opposed the invasion of Iraqi) and personal reasons (he felt he was being ignored) so as CS his being part of the administration is irrelevant.

So is his having a PhD, there is a PhD of Islamic studies who believes that Tom and Jerry was a plot by "the Jewish Disney company" to improve peoples perceptions of mice because Jews were associated with mice, there are PhDs in philosophy and physics who believe the Moon landings were faked (ST911 founder Fetzer is one), and Phds in electrical engineering, literature and political science who believe the Holocaust was a hoax. There are PhD in engineering and philosophy who belive in "inteligent design". PhDs it seems can believe all manners of nonsense outside their areas of specialty.

Reynolds too believes all manners of lunacy, he doesn't believe the Twin Towers were hit by planes.

So go ahead trot this whacko out as a poster boy for your cause.
==================
One post was a link to a site announcing it had a new contract from NIST to analyze WTC 7's collapse. I glanced at the site last night, but could find it again if anybody wants.

WRH

Marines Asking Iraqis For Food
If it were Iraqis who were ambushing Marines in Iraq, do you think that Marines would ask them for food?
Posted May 8, 2006 02:36 PM PST
Category: IRAQ

Let us set aside for the moment the US Government's obligation to provide for the troops in the field. Let us set aside for the moment that private companies are being paid vast sums of money to get food and water to the troops in a timely manner.
By leaving the troops so hungry they have to ask the Iraqis for food, the US Government has opened the door to mass poisonings of our troops by the resistance, now that it is known the US troops are going hungry.
------------
Very good point. Destroying our military, one soldier at a time. Mission on schedule.

Sal, thanks for proving my point.

The remaining fuel is believed either to have flowed down through the buildings or to have burned off within a few minutes of the aircraft impact.

Explosions your janitor guy heard were the ones seen by others in the lobby (above your guy in the basement) that were occurring in the elevator shafts... from jet fuel, not TNT.

So, if you aren't a scientist you have no business questioning the bushco 9/11 religion? I love it when these so-called scientists resort to smearing and name calling as part of the argument! Alan, I am really surpised that you would resort to the "denying the holocaust " bullshit, are you that desperate? Those guys should definitely attend one or both of the upcoming conferences where they will have the chance to come face to face with all the anti-semite "wackos!" BTW, what's taking so long to come up with an explanation for #7? Can't they find any lies that are convincing enough?

Alan, jet fuel does not cause explosions capable of destroying elevator doors and heavy machine shop equipment. Have you done any experimenting with it yourself? Try this, get a steel girder comparable to one from #7, dump some jet fuel on it, catch it on fire, then keep dumping fuel on the flames until you can get the steel to weaken to the point of snapping, not bending. Let me know if you accomplish this feat in less than 1 hour. I told my husband that theory and he laughed his ass off!

BTW Alan, that was a non-conclusive statement by FEMA!

More interesting stuff from the science guys...

Seismograms recorded by LCSN Station PAL (Palisades, NY)

Alan, this is a waste of time. Your science guys resort to strawmen and name calling, I'm not interested in that. Steel framed skyscrapers DO NOT FALL DOWN LIKE THAT BECAUSE OF MINOR OFFICE FIRES!! They can say what they want, there is no changing that one fact. I am done now.

Try this, get a steel girder comparable to one from #7, dump some jet fuel on it,

haha And that would prove what?

We're talking about lots of jet fuel coming down those hatches. Think vapor clouds. Or think of Crankshaft in the cartoons, throwing a match on his bbq pit. I have done that before. Maybe not an explosion on that scale, but it sure made a hella loud boom.
I've seen a video of a 2-story house imploding from a vapor cloud from a tumbling 'bomb' spraying gasoline into a cloud about 50-feet away from the house.

Now, I'm not saying that's what brought the towers down... the fires and havoc the jet fuel did at the bottom, just that it's proof that planes did hit. The damage to the super structure occurred where the planes hit. I've just now seen the formula (posted by Dr. Benson) how to figure out the energy the plane hit with.
Pretty impressive stuff.

"minor office fires"

Well, you tend to throw out statements like that without any proof of it. Like the "beams fell already cut into links ready to ship out".
*there's pictures of probably 7 full floors of one wall still standing

There's others too, but who's counting.

I'm outtie for a few hours. Catch up wif y'all later.

Hi, Alan. Not sure if this is pertinent to your idscussion, but I wanted to share it with you in case.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/nation/11318785.htm

Study: Dislodged fireproofing key to Trade Center towers' collapse

BY STEVENSON SWANSON

Chicago Tribune (EXCERPTS)

NEW YORK - (KRT) - The impact of two passenger jets and the raging fires they ignited were not enough to bring down the World Trade Center towers, according to a comprehensive study of the towers' collapse released Tuesday.

But when the planes hit the twin towers on Sept. 11, 2001, they dislodged the fireproofing protecting the steel columns and trusses that held the buildings together. That proved to be the key factor, according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Stripped of protection, the steel sagged following prolonged exposure to temperatures of at least 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit, triggering the towers' pancaking collapse. The attacks killed 2,749 people in the towers and on the two planes.

Based on mathematical modeling that pushed the boundaries of computer science, the federal agency's conclusion is the most authoritative statement likely to emerge about the sequence of events on Sept. 11.

The institute's wide-ranging investigation is examining not only the engineering issues behind the collapse, but also the evacuation of the towers, the response of police, firefighters and other emergency personnel, and many technical issues. The study is intended to find out if current building codes, construction practices and emergency procedures need to be revised to take account of the threat of terrorism.

To recreate the impact of the two fuel-laden Boeing 767 passenger jets, investigators created extremely detailed mathematical models of the planes and the towers, including the placement of cubicles on the impact floors.

In both cases, the planes broke apart into thousands of fragments within one second of striking the towers, Sunder said. The impact was so powerful that the south tower swayed for four minutes.

The jet fuel burned up in a few minutes, but it ignited the contents of the floors, such as papers and furniture. Even so, the towers likely would have remained standing if the impact had not also dislodged the sprayed-on fireproofing material that covered the towers' steel columns and floor trusses, the study found.

Sunder said the institute's investigation concluded that, apart from the impact areas, the trusses mainly stayed in place. But subject to high heat and stripped of fireproofing, they sagged and pulled the fire-weakened outer columns inward.

With at least 700 emergency personnel on the scene, radio frequencies were overloaded with people trying to talk, and inside the stairwells the radios often did not work. Many firefighters in the north tower who survived said they did not hear the order to evacuate that tower after the south tower collapsed.

"A preponderance of evidence suggests that lack of timely information-sharing and inadequate communications capabilities likely contributed to the loss of emergency responders' lives," the report concludes.

The institute will release its recommendations and the remaining portions of its study in June. After a comment period, the final report will be published in September.

#53
Gerald,
The one thing we have going for us is that the White House has royally pissed of the top brass in the military, retired top brass in the military, many of the lower ranking people in the military, veterans, CIA people, retired CIA people, FBI people, retired FBI people, who else...oh decent Republicans, most of the democrats, African Americans, Latinos, working class everybody, the working poor, the unemployed, hmmmm...oh the scientists, teachers, environmentalists, Muslims....you get the idea. When you piss off the wrong people you don't get very far.

For those of you wh0 are having trouble linking, go here. All you have to do is copy & paste the link then name it.

Cheat sheet

Regarding the Hayden nomination: this is not the first time a military officer has been named to the CIA post. Franklin Rosevelt did it, Carter did it, and don't forget that Bush 41, a veteran of WWII was director of the CIA. I dont care if the current head of the CIA was the former head of Toys R Us if they can do the job and do it right. Bottom line is, you are going to find reasons for not nominating someone, from each and both political parties, no matter who the nominee is. The confirmation procees will weed out those who are not worthy to serve in the position. I don't trust any politician to do what is right per se, but messing with national intelligence should't be a political football.

Peggy Gish with Christian Peace Maker Team just returned from Iraq saying that most Iraqi's believe that the insurgency there is a result of Amercian trained death squads......this article by Fisk supports what she recently reported.( CPT was actually writing about this last summer).

Robert Fisk: Seen through a Syrian lens,

'unknown Americans' are provoking civil war in Iraq

By Robert Fisk

04/29/06 "The Independent" -- - In Syria, the world appears through a glass, darkly. As dark as the smoked windows of the car which takes me to a building on the western side of Damascus where a man I have known for 15 years - we shall call him a "security source", which is the name given by American correspondents to their own powerful intelligence officers - waits with his own ferocious narrative of disaster in Iraq and dangers in the Middle East.

His is a fearful portrait of an America trapped in the bloody sands of Iraq, desperately trying to provoke a civil war around Baghdad in order to reduce its own military casualties. It is a scenario in which Saddam Hussein remains Washington's best friend, in which Syria has struck at the Iraqi insurgents with a ruthlessness that the United States wilfully ignores. And in which Syria's Interior Minister, found shot dead in his office last year, committed suicide because of his own mental instability.

The Americans, my interlocutor suspected, are trying to provoke an Iraqi civil war so that Sunni Muslim insurgents spend their energies killing their Shia co-religionists rather than soldiers of the Western occupation forces. "I swear to you that we have very good information," my source says, finger stabbing the air in front of him. "One young Iraqi man told us that he was trained by the Americans as a policeman in Baghdad and he spent 70 per cent of his time learning to drive and 30 per cent in weapons training. They said to him: 'Come back in a week.' When he went back, they gave him a mobile phone and told him to drive into a crowded area near a mosque and phone them. He waited in the car but couldn't get the right mobile signal. So he got out of the car to where he received a better signal. Then his car blew up."

Impossible, I think to myself. But then I remember how many times Iraqis in Baghdad have told me similar stories. These reports are believed even if they seem unbelievable. And I know where much of the Syrian information is gleaned: from the tens of thousands of Shia Muslim pilgrims who come to pray at the Sayda Zeinab mosque outside Damascus. These men and women come from the slums of Baghdad, Hillah and Iskandariyah as well as the cities of Najaf and Basra. Sunnis from Fallujah and Ramadi also visit Damascus to see friends and relatives and talk freely of American tactics in Iraq.

"There was another man, trained by the Americans for the police. He too was given a mobile and told to drive to an area where there was a crowd - maybe a protest - and to call them and tell them what was happening. Again, his new mobile was not working. So he went to a landline phone and called the Americans and told them: 'Here I am, in the place you sent me and I can tell you what's happening here.' And at that moment there was a big explosion in his car."

Just who these "Americans" might be, my source did not say. In the anarchic and panic-stricken world of Iraq, there are many US groups - including countless outfits supposedly working for the American military and the new Western-backed Iraqi Interior Ministry - who operate outside any laws or rules. No one can account for the murder of 191 university teachers and professors since the 2003 invasion - nor the fact that more than 50 former Iraqi fighter-bomber pilots who attacked Iran in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war have been assassinated in their home towns in Iraq in the past three years.

Amid this chaos, a colleague of my source asked me, how could Syria be expected to lessen the number of attacks on Americans inside Iraq? "It was never safe, our border," he said. "During Saddam's time, criminals and Saddam's terrorists crossed our borders to attack our government. I built a wall of earth and sand along the border at that time. But three car bombs from Saddam's agents exploded in Damascus and Tartous- I was the one who captured the criminals responsible. But we couldn't stop them."

Now, he told me, the rampart running for hundreds of miles along Syria's border with Iraq had been heightened. "I have had barbed wire put on top and up to now we have caught 1,500 non-Syrian and non-Iraqi Arabs trying to cross and we have stopped 2,700 Syrians from crossing ... Our army is there - but the Iraqi army and the Americans are not there on the other side."

At Information Clearing House

Feds pursue writer’≥ files as they
try to build case against lobbyists
By Ron Kampeas
May 2, 2006

WASHINGTON, May 2 (JTA) —†The FBI is casting its net at least as far back as the 1980s in its attempt to prove a pattern in the government’≥ classified information case against two former Jewish lobbyists.
The recent revelation that the FBI wants to plough through decades-old files belonging to the late investigative reporter Jack Anderson is the latest sign that the government has not yet prepared its case against Steve Rosen, former foreign policy director for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and Keith Weissman, AIPAC’≥ former Iran analyst.

RELATED ARTICLES
Defendants claim Rice was AIPAC informant
Government delays in assessing what evidence should be classified and what should be used have pushed the trial back from April to August, and prosecutors still are scrambling to find precedents for a case that the defense and judge say is unprecedented.

at JTA

Death squads deepen division in Baghdad
Bombs Sunday killed at least 30; some 45 men were found slain in the capital.
By Dan Murphy | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

BAGHDAD –†Three apparently coordinated car-bomb attacks in Baghdad and Karbala killed around 30 people Sunday, as Iraqi politicians said they were near agreement on cabinet posts for a new government that they promise will come to grips with the country's deteriorating security situation.
The morning blasts were accompanied by reports that the bodies of about 45 men were found in various parts of Baghdad within 24 hours from Saturday morning. Most were bound, some bearing signs of torture, and all shot in the head.

at Christian Science Monitor

Thought messages WORK!

Jill got a message from Spc.Spank! He's exhausted, but apparently back in Tal Afar...from ?!!!

Hopefully he'll get to call again soon!

Thank you all for the positive messages..

-t

Hajji,

Always good to hear positive news about Grant.
I wish him and his fellow soldiers a successful mission and a safe return home. Now whats this I hear about a visit to Chuckie Cheese? I find it the older I get the harder it is to get out of the plastic ball pit. For some reason, I keep sinking.

More straw men. You Conservatives must walk around with itchy privates with all the straw men that you endlessly and breathlessly hump. When did I say I was being tough on corrupt Dems? You asked me if I was blind to it. I see it and link it before anyone else does.

Posted by Pande

I never said I was a conservative. I'm a registered Independent and I see both Dems and Republicans as a corrupt system. The link you posted about the Republican base declining showed no gains for Dems as well. At least the Repbulicans that are switching to Independent are taking a stand against the Staus Quo.It seems that most Dems like yourself are happy with status quo of corruption.

"It seems that most Dems like yourself are happy with status quo of corruption."

I'm sure it seems that way to conservatives who can no longer defend what their own party has done do this country.

The Dems I know are non partisan when it comes to holding lawbreakers accountable.

You conservatives, like me, must be eager to end a Republican majority in the house and senate so congress can get back to its Constitutional responsibilities of investigation and oversight of a corrupt executive.

Caroline at #78,
Yeah, I had read about the fireproofing. That stuff works too, when it's still on. I've held a cutting torch to it, and you can't do a thing to the beam or in my case, rail brackets (mostly made of angle iron), until you scrape that shyt off. With a cutting torch flame on it, it kind of absorbs the flame and just glows. The metal underneath never even heats up. Thanks for posting that article.

Earlier I was reading a discussion about the differences in the two towers, how the planes hit. One it more dead-on and would dissipate it's energy faster, the other building was hit at more of an angle and theoritically would've penetrated farther into the core before all the energy of the impact was gone. Cited the seismograms for further evidence... one was bigger. Interesting stuff.

What is hateful...is not rebellion but the despotism which induces the rebellion; what is hateful are not rebels but the men, who, having the enjoyment of power, do not discharge the duties of power; they are the men who, having the power to redress wrongs, refuse to listen to the petitioners that are sent to them; they are the men who, when they are asked for a loaf, give a stone : Sir Wilfrid Laurier

=
The great only appear great because we are on our knees. Let us rise. : James Larkin - Source: Statue on O'Connell Street, Dublin, Ireland.

=
"This focus on money and power may do wonders in the marketplace, but it creates a tremendous crisis in our society. People who have spent all day learning how to sell themselves and to manipulate others are in no position to form lasting friendships or intimate relationships... Many Americans hunger for a different kind of society -- one based on principles of caring, ethical and spiritual sensitivity, and communal solidarity. Their need for meaning is just as intense as their need for economic security." : Michael Lerner

===
Thanks ICH Newsletter!

The guys that spray on that fireproofing, we called 'em "gookers". I can't tell you how many times that 'gook' came down the elevator hatch on us. When the building is still going up, all open 'n stuff, no walls yet around the hatches... they sprayed all beams, including the ones around the hatch... and we'd get pretty pissed when they didn't holler down at us first and let us crawl out, and maybe cover our tools. It's wet and much the texture of papier' mache, kinda... but more grainier. A fkn mess is what it was, on everything. Also, scraping it off later when it's dried (we had to measure/layout bracket locations, scrape that shyt off, c-clamp a big hunk of iron to it, then weld it), it makes a real dusty-lookin' cloud that I really didn't care to breathe. ack!

I like that Michael Lerner quote!

One other thing about 'gook'. We were working on a temp. platform during that part of the construction. Called a workjack, it's much like the guys you see washing windows. Our's were an aluminum frame with a plywood platform we stood on, being hoisted up and down a bare shaft by one tiny cable (5/16"). The last thing we wanted was a slippery-azz floor working a few hundred feet up (and alot of times even higher... my highest was 75 floors).

Ex-aide to Ney pleads guilty to corruption

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A former top aide to Ohio Republican Rep. Bob Ney pleaded guilty on Monday and agreed to cooperate in an expanding political corruption investigation centered on disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Ney's former chief of staff, Neil Volz, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit fraud and to violating a one-year ban on lobbying after leaving Ney's office in 2002 and joining Abramoff's lobbying firm.

"Guilty, your honor," Volz, 35, told U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle during a brief court hearing.

Abramoff, Tony Rudy and Michael Scanlon, two former aides to Texas Republican Rep. Tom DeLay, have also pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate in the investigation of a conspiracy to bribe members of the U.S. Congress in return for legislative favors.

The probe that has implicated Ney may reach others in Congress.

DeLay stepped down as House majority leader last September after he was indicted in Texas on unrelated charges. He and Ney have denied any wrongdoing.

More HERE

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

Corruption is:

Main Entry: corruption

Pronunciation: k&-'r&p-sh&n

Function: noun

1 a : impairment of integrity, virtue, or moral principle : DEPRAVITY b : DECAY, DECOMPOSITION c : inducement to wrong by improper or unlawful means (as bribery) d : a departure from the original or from what is pure or correct

2 archaic : an agency or influence that corrupts

3 chiefly dialect : PUS

***********

The word covers all of the crimes that have been charged against the misadministration and . Do not let yourself be deceived by the weakness of your brain truss.

Corruption is a catch all of sorts it. You should do your homework so you can help that dumb sounding simplicity and poorly built strawmen and false and perfidious arguments.

"The most perfidious way of harming a cause consists of defending it deliberately with faulty arguments." ~ Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science, section 191

Thanks for the chuckle!

capt

Wow. Did y'all read any of the comments on David's post on that other site? Yikes, read this kool-aid gulper...
==========
...but I think you're dead wrong on W's legacy. History will judge him quite favorably. I believe this more than I believe in W's IQ scores. When -- and not "if" -- things turn around in Iraq, the future for that entire region is very bright -- especially if W takes care of the mullahs in Iran. If he does that, he's golden. Just look at the US economy. These are boom times. The only negative is Iraq. And history will right that wrong. Iran is the biggest challenge to the world since Germany 1938, no doubt in my mind. If W resolves that situation, meaning defangs the draculas in Tehran, paving the way for their destruction (by the Iranian people, not US tanks), then our man W will go down in history -- no doubt in my mind -- as Lincoln, not Grant. You can take that to the bank.
===================
IQ scores and draculas in the same graf!

during the cold war they built missile silos with rebar specially coated with explosive compound so the entire silo could be destroyed at will if need be -
______________

algoxy.com/psych/9-11scenario.html

that there was a special anti corrosion, anti vibration resistant coating on the rebar of the concrete core structure. The coating was flammable and special precautions were to be taken, meaning the government would handle the butt welding of the 3 inch vertical bar prior to regular crews running the horizontal minor steel that is tied with wire.

A special crew with armed escorts outside visual screens removed the coating from the bars, beveled the bar ends, welded the bars (welders working on the main steel couldn't be used because they didn't have security clearances) and x-rayed them. After each tier of concrete was poured the welding had to be completed before the concrete forms could be built again.

Keep this concrete core deception in mind because every single web analysis out supporting the official story uses the FEMA information. Floor truss analysis use a different beam system, less, than what was actually in the towers.
-------------
if this scenario is correct, the wtc towers could have been built with demolition in mind. that would explain the total disintegration of all of the concrete in the towers.

as far as fireproofing being blown off the structural steel and allowing the fires to heat the steel enough so that it distorts, the presence of this woman standing in the hole that the airplane supposedly made would seem to belie the "hot enough to melt steel" claim.
and the massive amount of steel in the towers would act as a giant heat sink and wick any heat away from the fire and distribute it throughout the rest of the tower anyway. that's why it takes a cutting torch to even make a dent in structural steel. lighting a fire beneath one would barely even burn the paint off.

INSIDE JOB!

black velvet and that little boy smile

Iran impasse: Make gas, not bombs

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has ruled - and expressly told Revolutionary Guard commanders - that nuclear weapons are against Islam, and cannot be used in war even for self-defense. For all practical purposes - and with International Atomic Energy Agency confirmation - Tehran is pursuing a civilian nuclear program. Virtually the whole country is behind the theocratic nationalist regime in this effort.

Moreover, the regime knows that both China and Russia will oppose any excessive action by the administration of US President George W Bush. Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said recently that both countries had "officially" informed Iran about "their opposition to sanctions and a military attack".

On Sunday, Iran's parliament threatened to force the government to withdraw its agreement to allow unannounced inspections of its nuclear facilities under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The move follows pressure from Washington and its allies for a binding United Nation Security Council resolution demanding that Tehran suspend its uranium-enrichment program.

More HERE

You know James, that picture does prove one thing. That the fire traveled up on it's own like all hi-rise fires do (fires below were fro the fuel, but that shows the building contents burning higher up). You can see it still burning, and I remember seeing people jump out of windows to escape the heat and smoke. There's no other reason to jump to your death, is there?
Also, you can see the outline of the wing and follow it to a bigger round hole where the engine would've hit. Those beams weren't just sliced through, there were sections missing in the shape of the plane.

I clicked on #95. Poor Jeff Rense looks like Frank Zappa wearing an English judge's wig!
I must go off to mine more NaCl now.--KC

"The truth is a virus"--from the movie "Pump Up The Volume". Poor Alan is trying to serve as an antibody.

"Did you ever get the feeling everything in America is completely f%#ked up?"--from the same movie. Every day, more or less.

Get well soon, Keith.

Pleased to meet you, hope you guessed my name--Kid Charlemagne

MSNBC reporter: 'I am convinced that Karl Rove will, in fact, be indicted'

Shuster: Well, Karl Rove's legal team has told me that they expect that a decision will come sometime in the next two weeks. And I am convinced that Karl Rove will, in fact, be indicted. And there are a couple of reasons why. First of all, you don't put somebody in front of a grand jury at the end of an investigation or for the fifth time, as Karl Rove testified a couple, a week and a half ago, unless you feel that's your only chance of avoiding indictment. So in other words, the burden starts with Karl Rove to stop the charges. Secondly, it's now been 13 days since Rove testified. After testifying for three and a half hours, prosecutors refused to give him any indication that he was clear. He has not gotten any indication since then. And the lawyers that I've spoken with outside of this case say that if Rove had gotten himself out of the jam, he would have heard something by now. And then the third issue is something we've talked about before. And that is, in the Scooter Libby indictment, Karl Rove was identified as 'Official A.' It's the term that prosecutors use when they try to get around restrictions on naming somebody in an indictment. We've looked through the records of Patrick Fitzgerald from when he was prosecuting cases in New York and from when he's been US attorney in Chicago. And in every single investigation, whenever Fitzgerald has identified somebody as Official A, that person eventually gets indicted themselves, in every single investigation. Will Karl Rove defy history in this particular case? I suppose anything is possible when you are dealing with a White House official. But the lawyers that I've been speaking with who know this stuff say, don't bet on Karl Rove getting out of this.

***********

I will not be counting my chickens before they hatch but this sounds encouraging. Is Shuster reliable?

capt

James, are you (or that guy) saying it wasn't a 47-beam central core afterall? It was concrete?
I'd have to disagree on that one too. For one, you showed me a good picture of the ironworkers standing by the core. Two, steel buildings go up many times faster. It's quicker to stack steel (tho they are limited on how high they can go without poured floors under them) than to pour concrete, let it set and make the next form.
Didn't these towers go up in a year or something?
That would be fast.
By the way, the guys that tie the rebar for pouring the floors are ironworkers too... called rod-busters. Poor mo/fos are bending down all day. Tie a rod, move a step, tie another...

"The truth is always a compound of two half- truths, and you never reach it, because there is always something more to say." ~ Tom Stoppard (1937 - )

"The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth." ~ Niels Bohr (1885 - 1962)

"The truth is rarely pure and never simple." ~ Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900), The Importance of Being Earnest, 1895, Act I

"Truth persuades by teaching, but does not teach by persuading." ~ Quintus Septimius Tertullianus (160 AD - 230 AD), Adversus Valentinianos

Is Shuster reliable?

Forgot who it was now, but someone was reporting a detail or two, that was diff than Shuster. Seems like it was at Glen Greenwald's site where I read it. Anyway, it said the other guy's story 'won'. But it was a detail, and not the main gist of the report.

no, whoever compiled that info said that the towers had cores made of 47 massive box columns AND concrete. you can see the photo of some of the ends of the rebar that remained standing - they looked like a comb. and you know that the only reason they would have vertical 3" diameter rebars that had staggered ends like that photo shows would be to reinforce a concrete construction, right?

I hated doing rebar - the biggest I ever had to deal with was 5/8" - exhausting work with one of those stupid muscle powered bender/cutters -
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hey, remember 1976?

McNiven RICO SUIT! BUSH SENIOR, CIA head, & his 1976 state terror plan to hit WTCs!

Our own U.S. Army devised a plan commissioned by Congress to bring down the WTC...McNiven, who first went public in an affidavit included in a 9/11-related federal conspiracy (RICO) lawsuit filed against Bush and others in 2004, claims his unit was ordered to create the "perfect terrorist plan" using commercial airliners as weapons and the Twin Towers as their target.....publicized version of the study, commissioned by Congress, was to identify security lapses and submit corrective measures to lawmakers. However, McNiven claims the real purpose of the study was to brainstorm how to pull off the perfect terrorist attack using the exact same 9/11 scenario.
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a helluva coincidence.

hey, remember 1993?

FBI Linked To WTC Bombing And Domestic Terrorism

the startling revelation that the FBI denied Salem's (the bad guy) request to use phony explosives in the bomb he was helping to build under FBI supervision -- the bomb ultimately used in the World Trade Center explosion.

"I've learned from this White House, that when things change these days, they almost always change for the worse. Let's face it. When one out of three of your own party wants you to lose control over Congress, it's time to take a long look-at the enemy within." Joe Scarborough link

= = = =

He isn't talking about corrupt Democrats.

"I never said I was a conservative."
Posted by: Ted at May 8, 2006 10:58 PM

And you never finished your semantic game. Define "corruption" or admit that you're willing to accept the lawlessness of the Conservatives and the repeated cycle of bribe-taking and pandering that the Republican congress engages in (not to mention the Do-nothing stance). Do-nothing = status quo.

100 Capt.

Shuster is adding up undisputed facts and concluding Rove will be indicted. Shuster makes a good argument.

It's not a case of whether he's got the facts right. It's a case of whether his prediction turns out to be true.

It is highly unlikely anyone - no less Shuster - has access to inside information in the special counsel's office. Fitz doesn't play that way (and everyday he conducts his office ethically and leaklessly, he piles on more shame to Ken Starr - that right wing hack that politicized criminal investigations of senior White House officials.

The "Official A" statistic is a compelling part of Shuster's argument. Every single time Fitz had identified an "Official A" in an indictment - in this case I.Lewis Libby's indictment - Fitz has subsequently indicted that "Official A." EVERYTIME. It's not a streak such much as a practice: It is by design. In other words, he Fitz knew Rove broker the law when he drafted the Libby indictment. He needed more time to make his case (and try the case of Gov Ryan.)

Is Rove the last WH official to be nailed for this treason or is there more . . . namely AVPOTUS?

Will we ever get to read the transcript of Fitz's 70-minute interview of W?

Whether Shuster's prediction turns out correct or not (I think it will) I'm glad to see SOMEONE in the MSM cover this story. For years, years the only coverage was here at David Corn, Firedog lake, Glenn Greenwald, etc

103 Alan. What's your take on 108?

Dolphins 'have their own names'

"Dolphins communicate like humans by calling each other by "name", scientists in Fife have found.

The mammals are able to recognise themselves and other members of the same species as individuals with separate identities, using whistles.

St Andrews University researchers studying in Florida discovered bottlenose dolphins used names rather than sound to identify each other.

The three-year-study was funded by the Royal Society of London.

More HERE

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

I am no marine biologist but if I would assume "Flipper" is as common among dolphins as John is among humans.

capt

Arianna to Russert: Show me the proof! [link]

Timmeh criticized Arianna in this USA Today article profiling the Huffington Post's one year anniversary. "I've been attacked by Arianna the right-wing radical and Arianna the left-wing revolutionary," Russert says. "I guess the only constant in her life is she keeps watching Meet the Press."

Arianna isn't buying any of it and issued this challenge: "Where are these attacks? I'd like Tim to tell me, because I never touched him before Russertwatch, which was launched when the Huffington Post was launched."