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 -
-----------------
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.
-------------
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."

"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."

What I meant was : "Is he reliable or has he been reliably correct in his predictions."

I obviously read the piece and his reasons.

Does not really matter, I hope Fitzgerald cook the whole bunch and I am sure the "facts" support such without regard to the predictions.

I just have no feel for it. I have not watched anything from the MSM in nearly two years, I am just out of touch for who has been saying what especially about predictions.

No big dealio.

capt

Russert is one of the reasons I can not watch MSM stuff. He is just gross. (And I don't mean 144!) HA!

capt

CULTURE OF CORRUPTION.

"[REPUBLICAN Congresman] 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."

Trolls: "Yeah but. Yeah but. Yeah but."

112. Capt

I don't know whether Shuster has been reliable in his predictions. Let's hope so.

It is strange for a reporter to make a prediction since they are reporters which means they don't guess but report only on facts they've substantiated.

Why would a reporter risk his/her credibility with a prediction?
1. They have inside info
2. They are totally convinced by their reading of the tea leaves and they want to be the one who break's the story e.g. Wooward,Bernstein
3. They flunked out of journalism school and got a job with a connection.

Lesbians' Brains React Differently

WASHINGTON (AP)Lesbians' brains react differently to sex hormones than those of heterosexual women, new research indicates. That's in line with an earlier study that had indicated gay men's brain responses were different from straight men though the difference for men was more pronounced than has now been found in women.

Lesbians' brains reacted somewhat, though not completely, like those of heterosexual men, a team of Swedish researchers said in Tuesday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

A year ago, the same group reported findings for gay men that showed their brain response to hormones was similar to that of heterosexual women.

In both cases the findings add weight to the idea that homosexuality has a physical basis and is not learned behavior.

"It shows sexual orientation may very well have a different basis between men and women ... this is not just a mirror image situation,'' said Sandra Witelson, an expert on brain anatomy and sexual orientation at the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.

"The important thing is to be open to the likely situation that there are biological factors that contribute to sexual orientation,'' added Witelson, who was not part of the research team.

More HERE

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

No big surprise to me. I came to the conclusion many years ago that the brain is the only sex organ. Nothing goes on "down there" unless the brain sends the signal (the oh-yeah brain wave).

I also have concluded that it is not a matter of choice. I had a gay friend that wanted to go into politics (back when being gay would be a deal breaker) he even tried a kind of shock therapy. He would view suggestive material and if he was aroused by it he would shock himself (a 9 volt battery unit made specifically for aversion therapy). It did not work. Today he happy healthy gay man in a committed relationship.

capt

Capt. Russert's gotcha style leaves me wanting for more productive interviewing.

"When you were 5 you told your mother, 'I hate you.' Last year on the campaign trail you said,'I love my mother, I always have.'

"Let's go to the tape." [TAPE PLAYS]"Well Sir, which is it?"

It's theatre of the absurd.

Hoping 1 & 2 and not so much 3!

capt

116 I agree. It's not a choice.

Jeb Bush: Katherine Harris is a loser [link]

"Gov. Jeb Bush said Monday that U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris has dropped so low in public opinion polls that she cannot unseat Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, unleashing his strongest statement yet about her struggling campaign. "I just don't think she can win," Bush said about Harris after participating in an annual memorial for fallen Florida police officers in the Capitol courtyard"

Somebody explain to Tim Russert the difference between:

1.Congressional Oversight
2.Censure or Impeachment
3.payback

Pelosi wants a democratic majority to do #1, the RNC wants conservative voters to think its all about #2, #3.

Russert lead with #3 on Press the Meat last Sunday with Nancy Pelosi:

MR. RUSSERT: But the impression, Congresswoman, is that the Democrats take control of Congress it’≥ payback. They’≤e going to have the subpoena power...

REP. PELOSI: No. That's not the case.

MR. RUSSERT: ...and there's going to be investigation...

REP. PELOSI: Well, that's wrong. Well, we will have subpoena power.

MR. RUSSERT:..after investigation. You will have subpoena power.

REP. PELOSI: We will have subpoena power, and that's why the Republicans are so afraid that we will be able to show the public how they arrived at a prescription drug bill that is born of corruption. The cost of corruption is, is huge to the consumer, whether it's a sen-middle-income seniors paying more at the pharmacy, whether it's the-all American consumers paying more at the pump, or home heating oil. How did we get to this place? Those—¥hat is worthy of scrutiny. It's not-investigation does not equate to impeachment. Investigation is the requirement of Congress. It's about checks and balances.

The "impression" Russert brings up is Mehlman's key strategy to get out the vote come November. As Kos points out, Ken is very worried at this point. With Bush's latest poll at a 31 %, it seems that only the base which seems to have Russert's ear are worried that there will actually be some oversight of this administration if the Democrats get subpoena power, but Russert frames it as "payback." Very good GOP shilling I must say.

TRANSCRIPT

With the Bush Administration in its last throes, the only mystery left to ponder is how many Republicans will get indicted and resign under the shadow of their own lawlessness. If DeLay is any indication, they will fight the wisdom of their resignations until their legal woes taint the entire Republican party (such as it is). As Atrios says of Ney, I think it's fair to say that "Representative #1" just crapped his pants (when Neil Volz copped a plea). Most Republicans are dealing with that same squishy feeling in their drawers.

I find my attention riveted to the polls with the same morbid fascination that rubberneckers stare at the messy artifacts surrounding a car wreck on the highway. As I have said repeatedly, please, dear God, don't let ANYTHING happen to the President. May he forever be 10 tons of dead weight around the necks of the Grand Ol' Spending Party. I suspect impeachment will never happen. Republicans will go out with a whimper, not a bang. Most hated president, ever, but not by me. I may not like the job he's done as President; but I like the wreckingball he has become in his personal destruction of the Republican Party.

"At least the Repbulicans that are switching to Independent are taking a stand against the Staus Quo."

Telling a pollster that they're leaving the party is "taking a stand?" How many incumbent Republicans have been voted out of office in the last 16 years or so? Maybe 2 or 3. Republicans, Conservatives, Independents (as Hajji says, they are mice of many monikers) aren't taking a stand against the bribe-taking or the law-breaking or the skyrocketing deficit or the ethical violations of the Republican Party. Look at DeLay, he had 3 reprimands from the ethics panel on his head; and it didn't hurt his standing one tiny bit. It took his indictment and the plea bargain by Rudy to get him to resign.

"It seems that most Dems like yourself are happy with status quo of corruption."
Posted by: Ted at May 8, 2006 10:58 PM

There's that word corruption again. Define it. Substantiate the claim. Or admit that you're an apologist for the Grand Ol' Spending Party.

Or I guess you could be ignorant of the facts. There's always that when dealing with the Bush-oisie.

===+===

O'Reilly, Spurs & Mavs, tonight at 8:30. I don't think the Spurs can win in Dallas as they did in Sacramento. Their only hope is to win out at home, with their homecourt advantage. Even that is questionable. Their home record was pretty crappy.

Capt. Fitz has given only one interview since he indicted Libby and that was to his high school newspaper!

Read it here and here

Pande. My Celtics couldn't win the close games and they didn't even make the playoffs this year. I need to adopt a team for the playoffs.

Saturday I'm going to watch Cornell Umass. I'll be in town so I'll get to see the first round game. It sure beats a day of the "honey do's"

O'Reilly,

I had read that.

I kind of like his (Fitz) not saying much, it must make the criminals minds spin of the possibilities.

Pande,

"Most Republicans are dealing with that same squishy feeling in their drawers."

Okay, best tactal - mind picture in a while!

and EW!

capt

31% thirty-one percent 31% thirty-one percent 31% thirty-one percent 31% thirty-one percent 31% thirty-one percent 31% thirty-one percent 31% thirty-one percent 31% thirty-one percent 31% thirty-one percent 31% thirty-one percent 31% thirty-one percent 31% thirty-one percent 31% thirty-one percent 31% thirty-one percent 31% thirty-one percent

[White House p]resident George Bush's approval rating has slumped to 31% in a new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll, the lowest of his presidency and a warning sign for Republicans in the November elections.

Finally, citizens are waking up but for the living dead, ANY DAY ABOVE 29 is a good day.

Makes me wonder what is up with that bottom third?

Even the trolls are denying the GOP and changing stripes. The conversion of GOP Bush supporter to Indy Bush supporter is too precious for words.

capt

Lesbians' Brains React Differently

WASHINGTON (AP)Lesbians' brains react differently to sex hormones than those of heterosexual women, new research indicates. That's in line with an earlier study that had indicated gay men's brain responses were different from straight men though the difference for men was more pronounced than has now been found in women.

Lesbians' brains reacted somewhat, though not completely, like those of heterosexual men, a team of Swedish researchers said in Tuesday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

A year ago, the same group reported findings for gay men that showed their brain response to hormones was similar to that of heterosexual women.

In both cases the findings add weight to the idea that homosexuality has a physical basis and is not learned behavior.

"It shows sexual orientation may very well have a different basis between men and women ... this is not just a mirror image situation,'' said Sandra Witelson, an expert on brain anatomy and sexual orientation at the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.

"The important thing is to be open to the likely situation that there are biological factors that contribute to sexual orientation,'' added Witelson, who was not part of the research team.

More HERE

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

No big surprise to me. I came to the conclusion many years ago that the brain is the only sex organ. Nothing goes on "down there" unless the brain sends the signal (the oh-yeah brain wave).

I also have concluded that it is not a matter of choice. I had a gay friend that wanted to go into politics (back when being gay would be a deal breaker) he even tried a kind of shock therapy. He would view suggestive material and if he was aroused by it he would shock himself (a 9 volt battery unit made specifically for aversion therapy). It did not work. Today he happy healthy gay man in a committed relationship.

capt

Sorry about the re-post - my cat was walking on the keyboard and managed to post ~!

Good one for the feline world and I hope David does not banish "Bright Eye's" for spoofing me!

capt

I thought the second post had a feline flavor to it. I love chicken, I love tuna. . .

The conversion of GOP Bush supporter to Indy Bush supporter is too precious for words.

A denial non-denial.

Judith Miller: Headed Back to Jail?

Libby's defense essentially centers around the matter of whose memory is correct -- Libby's or that of Miller and other reporters he talked with in June and July 2003. His lawyers say they need the records to use in cross-examining not only the reporters, but also unnamed government officials, who may be "shading" the truth to protect themselves or their bosses.

The matter will come to a head on May 16th, when the concerned parties are to appear for oral argument before Judge Walton. What will happen thereafter is a matter of conjecture, but one lawyer close to the case - who requested anonymity because, like Miller, he didn't want to antagonize Judge Walton by commenting for attribution - explained the context of the complicated legal wrangling: "Libby is entitled to discovery of evidence that is material to the preparation of his defense. The judge must decide whether the material requested under the subpoenas is relevant in that context. Thus far he has resisted attempts by the defense to pry out these sorts of documents. But the final disposition is highly discretionary with the court."

What does that mean, in plain English? "Should the judge rule in favor of Libby and say that these documents must be turned over," the attorney responded, "There will likely be no avenue of appeal."

Before ruling, however, Judge Walton may decide he wants to look at the documents himself, in camera, to determine their relevance. If he then decides that Miller must turn over the material detailed in the subpoena, she will face a decision similar to the one that previously landed her in jail: whether or not to comply with a court order. Should Miller again choose not to, the lawyer conceded, "There is a distinct possibility of her being held in civil contempt, along the same lines as before.

More HERE

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

I bet she will comply. Unless she thinks it might help her career-wise.

capt

capt, the total destruction of the republican party is nearly complete, long live the monarchy!

CIA's No. 3 Quits
Amid Investigation Into Bribes and Prostitutes
georgia10 | Daily KOS | Hookergate

As was reported last week, Kyle Foggo, executive director of the CIA, is resigning. Newsweek has more:

[A] source has told NEWSWEEK that Foggo had acknowledged to associates that he may have tipped off Wilkes that CIA contracts were coming up for bid--an activity which, according to the source, Foggo said was neither improper nor illegal. The source is close to a group of poker players who took part in a 1999 game arranged by Wilkes and attended by Foggo, Cunningham and a nine-fingered former CIA officer named Brant Bassett, who worked for Goss when the outgoing CIA chief was House Intelligence Committee chair. Foggo denies giving Wilkes any such tip-offs, according to another source close to the outgoing CIA official; Bassett and lawyers for Wilkes and Cunningham had no comment.

(link)

Bush Nominates Hayden,
Scared Republicans Rejoice
georgia10 | Daily KOS

When the Director of the CIA spontaneously decided to up and quit, the Decider needed to decide who would take over that position. The No. 2 man at the CIA, Vice Admiral Albert Calland III? No, the President is going to remove him from his post. The No. 3 man at the CIA, Kyle "Dusty" Foggo? No, as Hookergate heats up, Foggo is resigning.

The sudden hemorrhaging of top leadership at the CIA has forced the Decider to look elsewhere in choosing a nominee that will stabilize and repair the agency. His pick? General Michael V. Hayden. And thus, the President picks a fight.

The nomination of Michael Hayden is, at its core, a political decision by Mr. 31%. From a pool of distinguished and competent individuals, the President chose the most divisive and scandal-ridden nominee. And in doing so, Republicans breathe a sigh of relief, thankful that their President threw them an easy pitch.

It is an election year, after all, and Republicans are eager to find an issue--any issue--to exploit and inch up n the polls. Republicans are grateful for Hayden's nomination, since it provides W-brand incumbents a chance to puff up their chests and appear tough on terrorism as they protect Hayden from a barrage of questions about the domestic spying program. (link)

======

Georgia10, and our David Corn, see the Hayden nomination from the same perspective.

Croak... let's HOPE. My question is will Karl Rove be able to continue his work on twisting, "swiftboating", and lies in elections. We are once again witnessing his influcence in Ohio elections.

MSNBC reporter: 'I am convinced that Karl Rove will, in fact, be indicted'
RAW STORY
Published: Monday May 8, 2006
Rush transcript from Countdown with Keith Olbermann / MSNBC.

MSNBC's Keith Olbermann: There are stories -- possibly apocryphal -- from the medieval courts of chancery in England, of lawsuits that took so long to resolve that they were passed down from generation to generation like property or some really good axes. Our fourth story on the Countdown: if Karl Rove hasn't thought of that analogy yet, somebody else probably has mentioned it to him. Or they still have time to get around to it. Though maybe not a lot of time. An end, of one kind or another, may be in sight.

The Washington Post reports Plame-gate special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is reviewing just one aspect of Mr. Rove's five appearance before the grand jury. Namely, whether Mr. Rove testified falsely in February 2004 when he failed to disclose that he told Time magazine's Matt Cooper about Valerie Plame's position at the CIA. That particular testimony came only seven months after Mr. Rove talked with Mr. Cooper. But Rove has said he forgot. And that the discovery of an e-mail about that conversation jogged his memory. Rove reportedly expects to know as early as this month whether Mr. Fitzgerald will indict him. We've heard something like that before. To check this one out, let's call in MSNBC's David Shuster. Thanks for your time, David.

MSNBC's David Shuster: Good to be with you, Keith.

Olbermann: What are you gathering on these two main points. Is the decision by Mr. Fitzgerald coming soon, would it be an indictment?

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.

DEVELOPING.......

I think the "October Surprise" is going to be a National Health Care Plan being presented by the Republicans....I would put money on this...

Bush Lies!? No way. Read this BIG fish story. [link]

Jesus. H. Christ. Is Bush even capable of telling the truth?

Bush says the highlight of his presidential career was catching a 7.5 pound perch in his lake. Except that...

The only problem is that the world's record for the largest freshwater perch caught is 4 pounds 3 ounces.

So Bush either doubled the world record, and didn't report it, or he's a liar.

Incidentally, see how three presidents answered the question, "What was the best moment of your presidency?"

Apparently, since Bush didn't have any "best moments", he had to invent one.

When Judy Miller was falsely reporting about Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq many believe she was operating as an " agent of influence from a foreign nation". She belongs in jail for the part she played in passing lies about WMD's onto the american public. At the very least she belongs in downtown Baghdad working in a hospital with Iraqi people (or at Walter Reed in D.C.) who have been injured as a direct result of our illegal invasion.

BOYCOTT ANY BOOK JUDY MILLER WRITES. WHY WOULD YOU READ ANYTHING SHE WRITES UNLESS IT IS CATEGORIZED AS FICTION. REMEMBER HER WORDS ABOUT THE WMD'S REPORTING "I WAS FUCKING RIGHT".

Jane Hamsher: Why Does Tim Russert Fear Democrats? Just Ask Patrick Fitzgerald
Jane Hamsher | HuffPo

We'll leave aside for now the high hilarity of George Stephanopoulos inviting Tom DeLay on to talk about ethics, and letting him blather on about corrupt Democrats virtually without challenge (I can think of 20 things a good journalist would've started hammering DeLay about on the spot, but obviously DeLay took the gig because he had no fear of anything like that happening). Howard Dean appropriately scoffed at the absurdity of the situation, but then came Tim Russert recounting practically the same narrative DeLay had recited. So did Maura Liasson. The thing that seems to have them all wilting on the fainting couch and grabbing for the laudanum is the prospect of Democrats gaining a majority and starting impeachment proceedings, or even launching a few badly needed investigations. The very thought leaves Chris Matthews lurching in primitive fear.

Read on (link)

Tonight on Countdown with Keith Olbermann, MSNBC reporter David Shuster said he was ?convinced that Karl Rove will, in fact, be indicted.? He made three points to support his position:

1. Rove wouldn?t have testified for the 5th time unless he believed it was the only way he could avoid indictment. At this point, according to Shuster, the burden is on Rove to stop it.

2. It?s been 13 days since Rove testified and he has not heard that he is clear. Lawyers Shuster talked to say that if Rove would have gotten himself out of the jam, he would have heard by now.

3. Rove is referred to in the Libby indictment as ?Official A.? According to Schuster, every time Fitzgerald has named somebody as ?Official A? that person has been indicted.

(link)
= = =
Probably nothing except if these lawyers have first-hand knowledge.

Pan Am 103 & 9/11 Connection

Tuesday, May 09, 2006 - FreeMarketNews.com

The 1989 bombing of a Pan Am airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland may not have happened as the official story has it.

According to a story in the Scotsman, a former Scottish police chief has come forward with a signed statement indicating that a key piece of evidence in the trial of the alleged perpetrator was fabricated by the CIA.

The small shred of circuit board used in convicting Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, who is currently serving a life sentence in Greenock Prison, was planted, according to the retired officer's statement delivered to Megrahi's lawyers, who are seeking a new trial for their client.

From Russell Pickering;

The key lies in the fact that the exact same person "handled" both investigations. In fact, the person who led the Pan Am 103 investigation for Bush Sr.'s "Justice" department just happened to be appointed the director of the FBI by Bush Jr. just seven days prior to 9/11.

"Robert Mueller was nominated by President George W. Bush and became the sixth Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation on September 4, 2001".

"After spending 1988 and 1989 in private practice, he joined the staff of Attorney-General Richard Thornburgh, and his star rose at the Justice Department as the head of the criminal division under President George Bush's father from 1990 to 1993.

And he led the investigations of the 1991 collapse of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International banking and the 1988 bombing of Pan Am 103."

Here is a link about Pan Am 103 ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Am_Flight_103 ) -note the part about the Intelligence Officers on board.

I tried to find out more at the George Bush Sr. Presidential Library since Pan Am sued the US government and, "In its suit, Pan Am alleged that the United States Government had prior knowledge of an impending terrorist attack on a Pan Am airliner". But as luck would have it the, ".....court transcripts, affidavits, depositions, motions, objections, reports, and news clippings.....in addition [to] the remaining NSC files deal[ing] specifically with the Lockerbie bombing and the subsequent investigation which led to the indictment of two Libyan nationals..... are closed because of various security classifications".

As we know, literally all evidence regarding 9/11 has been under FBI lock and key for nearly 5 years. That includes the fact that no National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB) crash reports were done on any of the four aircraft because the FBI took the investigation away from them, that the Pentagon videos confiscated by the FBI are not being released and that the "hijackers" remains have never been positively identified...
-------------
What a strange coincidence. Could it be true? NAAAHHH, our govt. would NEVER do anything like that!

Rove's Time in Limbo Near End in CIA Leak Case
Jim VandeHei |WaPo | 5/8/6

Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald is wrapping up his investigation into White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove's role in the CIA leak case by weighing this central question:

Did Rove, who was deeply involved in defending President Bush's use of prewar intelligence about Iraq, lie about a key conversation with a reporter that was aimed at rebutting a tough White House critic? Read on (link)

Wait a minute, O'Reilly, is a perch in the same family as a bass? bush mentioned a 7 1/2 lb bass...

Maybe bush just lies for the halibut!

bush can't keep things straight. He's tone deaf, too. You know how hard it is to tuna fish.

The CIA, a Bush Family Fiefdom

"What's wrong with the U.S. intelligence community is that over the past three decades its ethos of telling truth to power has been corrupted by politics to such a degree that George W. Bush now sees the Central Intelligence Agency as virtually his family's fiefdom, with the Langley, Virginia, headquarters even named for his father, George H.W. Bush, a former CIA director."

Harper's editor says six members of Congress caught in Watergate party scandal
RAW STORY
Published: Tuesday May 9, 2006

The Washington Editor of Harper's magazine, Ken Silverstein, continues to allege that six members current and former members of Congress attended parties sponsored by Brent Wilkes, the man named as an unindicted conspirator in the case of Rep. Duke Cunningham, who was sentenced to eight years in jail for accepting bribes.

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

What's that smell like fish pretty baby, I really would like to know
Tell me What's that smell like fish oh mama, I really would like to know
That ain't puddin' baby ain't no pie, it's the stuff that I got you by
So keep on truckin' mama, truckin' my blues away

Keep on Truckin' - Hot Tuna

Darfur refugees riot, U.N. workers flee
By UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
Published May 8, 2006

KHARTOUM, Sudan -- Displaced refugees from Sudan's Darfur region rioted during a demonstration in a camp Monday and began attacking U.N. aid workers, who were forced to flee.

The riot occurred as Jan Egeland, the United Nations' chief humanitarian official, was visiting. It began when a woman began screaming at one of the aid workers, accusing him of being a member of the murderous Janjaweed Arabic militias, the BBC reported. The aid worker's shirt was slashed with a knife, but he escaped as women and children tried to pull at his legs, the New York Times reported.


The mob then approached an African Union compound where eight unarmed soldiers had barricaded themselves inside.

Protesters and camp residents said they were frustrated with the African Union because it was not doing enough to protect them and they demanded that a United Nations force be sent in.

More than two million people are living in makeshift camps, displaced by two years of fighting between local Arab militias who have aligned with the Sudanese government and carried out brutal attacks on non-Arab villages.

Deputy Fire Chief, NYFD, retired, gives his opinion on WTC collapse

Dr. B, Alan, have you seen this?

Skeleton in the Bush family cupboard
By Alec Russell in Washington
(Filed: 09/05/2006)

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

322

The neocons strike again

The treatment of Jack Straw throws new and alarming light on the dismissal of Robin Cook

David Clark
Monday May 8, 2006
The Guardian

It wouldn't be the first time that the Bush administration has played an important role in persuading Tony Blair to sack his foreign secretary. It was little discussed at the time, but Robin Cook's demotion in 2001 also followed hostile representations from Washington and private expressions of doubt in Downing Street about his ability to work with a Republican administration. Again, there may have been other factors, but of those suggested at the time, none seems convincing. Last week's reshuffle helps to put the episode in a new, revealing context.

The first signs of what lay ahead came in the run-up to the 2000 presidential elections, when telegrams from the British embassy in Washington started to report an attitude of suspicion towards the Blair government on the part of those likely to fill senior positions in an incoming Bush administration. People such as Dick Cheney and Richard Perle were expressing scepticism about Labour's reliability, citing the presence at senior level of ministers who had supported nuclear disarmament and criticised US foreign policy in the cold war.

There was little reason to suppose these telegrams had made any impact until a relatively small incident at Labour's annual conference. Like all cabinet ministers, Cook was commissioned to write a "pre-manifesto" paper, setting out Labour's provisional second-term agenda and illustrating how the government intended to build on its achievements. One proposal was to appoint a special envoy to campaign for global abolition of the death penalty. Switching Britain's position to support abolitionism was one of Cook's early foreign-policy decisions, and he thought that a special envoy would be an uncontroversial, but useful, way of promoting the government's policy.

Blair had other ideas. On the day the proposal become public, Jonathan Powell and other Downing Street officials warned Cook that it was unacceptable and must never be mentioned again. The reason? The only one given was that a special envoy would inevitably indulge in "finger wagging" at America, one of the biggest users of capital punishment, and therefore strain diplomatic relations with Washington. Under no circumstances would the prime minister countenance this, especially under a Republican administration. The Foreign Office could continue to support abolition of the death penalty, but not in any particularly active sense.

Cook was aware of his vulnerability, especially after the Florida chads ended up hanging in the wrong direction. He sought to replicate the strong relationship he had enjoyed with Madeleine Albright by cultivating her successor, Colin Powell. Indeed, the two men established a relationship of mutual respect even before Bush was sworn in. But in a foretaste of Powell's own marginalisation, this cut little ice. As Cook revealed in his diaries, the neoconservatives never dropped their hostility to him and eventually got their wish.

The treatment of Straw seems uncannily reminiscent, but the issue of Iran is of a different order of seriousness to anything Cook was grappling with five years ago. There is a pressing need for Blair to tell Bush what Attlee had the guts to tell Truman in the Korean war: that a decision to breach the nuclear threshold would encourage proliferation and make America an outcast from the community of civilised nations. He may think it clever strategy to put pressure on Tehran by keeping all options open, but the Iranians are not the only ones who need deterring.

Once again, Blair seems willing to put the wishes of the US government before those of the British people. That should be reason enough for wanting him out of office as soon as possible.

᠄avid Clark was special adviser to Robin Cook from 1997 to 2001.

A lengthier and more professional `Rehashing' of my post @ #17, by proprietor at RCP, Excerpted:

Cleaning Out at CIA Will Intensify Under Hayden
By Jack Kelly
May 09, 2006

By selecting Air Force General Michael Hayden to replace Porter Goss as CIA director, the president has made many in Congress unhappy.

....Mr. Hoekstra and Ms. Feinstein were being disingenuous. They both know that eight of the 16 agencies that comprise the "Intelligence Community" are in the Department of Defense, which consumes 80 percent of the overall intelligence budget. And they both know, or ought to, that of the 19 CIA directors, seven have been generals or admirals.

.....Porter Goss took over a dysfunctional institution. The CIA had been caught flat-footed by 9/11, and Saddam's WMD was not the "slam dunk" Mr. Goss' predecessor, George Tenet, had assured President Bush it would be.

Purges in the Carter and Clinton administrations stripped the CIA of its most experienced clandestine officers. The CIA today gathers little intelligence....

What the CIA has excelled at is interfering in domestic politics. Bush administration policy has been undermined by selective leaks to liberal journalists,......

Porter Goss tried, with some success, to....plug the leaks...So far, only one leaker -- Mary McCarthy, protege of Clinton National Security Adviser Sandy Berger -- has been publicly identified and fired....

...Porter Goss was trying to shovel out an Augean stable. But when the horse manure gets piled too high, it's easier to shut down the stable, and open another. This is what I think the Hayden nomination portends.

Congress created the DNI position on the recommendation of the 9/11 Commission, which was miffed that the CIA and FBI did not share terrorism information with each other, or with other federal agencies.

....Gen. Hayden was for five years head of the National Security Agency, where he established the NSA intercept program. The leak hunt will continue.

And Gen. Hayden likely will transfer to the Defense department responsibility for paramilitary operations, where it has always belonged. In short, the CIA under Gen. Hayden will shrink to the size warranted by its current performance, not its past pretensions.

Democrats say they plan to make an issue of the NSA wiretap program during his confirmation hearings. The president and Gen. Hayden seem to welcome that fight.......The key thing to remember is that this is a fight President Bush picked. He chose the time. He chose the ground.

Since the spring of 2003, President Bush has been playing defense against the political fallout generated by intelligence leaks. The Hayden nomination may be the start of a long planned counter-offensive.

The Aipac/Rosen/Weismann espionage trial has been delayed four times and successfully been kept in the shadows (O mentioned in the MSM .) Aipac continues to push their marching orders.

AT THE AIPAC WEBSITE
U.N. Asked to Act Against Nuclear-Minded Iran
The U.N. Security Council is now considering a resolution that would require Iran to end its pursuit of nuclear weapons. The measure follows an International Atomic Energy Agency report that detailed Iran’≥ continuing non-compliance with its nuclear non-proliferation obligations. Iran has sought the capability to produce atomic arms for almost two decades, hiding its nuclear programs from the international community for much of that time. The Security Council could impose a broad range of sanctions on Iran to force it to end its atomic drive. Learn more about the threat that a nuclear Iran would pose to the United States.

Bush Extends Syria Sanctions
President Bush has extended sanctions on Syria for its support of international terrorism, efforts to develop chemical and biological weapons and continuing interference in Lebanon. The penalties were authorized under the Syria Accountability Act, legislation passed by Congress in 2003 with the strong support of AIPAC. Damascus continues Ҵo pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy and economy of the United States,Ӡread a statement by Bush.

Resolutions Condemn Iran’≥ Placement on U.N. Panel
Members of Congress are sponsoring measures to criticize the United Nations for giving Iran a seat on the U.N. Disarmament Commission even as Tehran defies the international community to pursue nuclear weapons. A Senate resolution ҥxpressing deep disappointmentӠwith the move was introduced recently by Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN). The resolution details Iranճ repeated violations of its international nuclear non-proliferation obligations. A similar resolution was introduced in the House by Representative Jim Ryun (R-KS).

Hizballah-Developed Bombs Used Against U.S. Soldiers
Terrorists in Iraq are using explosive devices developed by Hizballah, a Lebanon-based terrorist group, to target American and British servicemen, The Daily Telegraph of London reported. The devices can fire five projectiles at U.S. and British vehicles from different angles and are capable of piercing the armor of 60-ton Abrams tanks. Hizballah has killed hundreds of Americans, Europeans and Israelis since the 1980s.

Morgan Stanley Calls Israeli Economy ҁlmost PerfectӊThe American investment firm Morgan Stanley has deemed Israelճ economy ҡlmost perfectӠin a recently released report. Morgan Stanleyճ assessment comes on the heels of other glowing reviews of the dynamic Israeli economy, which has produced revolutionary technological innovations used throughout the world. Israel has more companies listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange than any other country but the United States.

Today's WSJ, Opinion, Page A19, carries an article w/advice from two ex-Mossad heavyweights (one was chief from `98 to `02) on the CIA upheavel. For bckground, Mossad went through a tough period in the late 1990s'.

Excerpts:

There are lessons here for Gen. Hayden, starting with the fact that it helps to run an organization where leaks, when they happen, are authorized and purposeful. In recent years, the CIA has lost that ability, in part because of a deep-seated ideological animus to the Bush administration (witness the careers of anti-Bush partisans Valerie Plame, Paul Pillar, Michael Scheuer and Mary McCarthy), but also, it seems, as payback from careerists who felt rudely handled by Mr. Goss.

Another take:

"The field of intelligence has been going through a revolution analogous to the revolution in military affairs, yet, while the Pentagon is devising new techonologies and strategies to cope with a new geopolitical landscape, the CIA is adapting retroactively, as one mishap follows another."

Senator Dianne Feinstein, a Democratic member of the committee, said that she was also leaning toward supporting General Hayden. "We need a respected, competent intelligence professional who can command respect and manage this growing agency," she said in a statement. "Based on what I know so far, General Michael Hayden appears to fit that bill."

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

Once again, Feinstein is a flop. We have already heard Gen. Hayden mischaracterize the 4th Amendment to the Constitution:

QUESTION: Jonathan Landay with Knight Ridder. I'd like to stay on the same issue, and that had to do with the standard by which you use to target your wiretaps. I'm no lawyer, but my understanding is that the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution specifies that you must have probable cause to be able to do a search that does not violate an American's right against unlawful searches and seizures. Do you use --

GEN. HAYDEN: No, actually -- the Fourth Amendment actually protects all of us against unreasonable search and seizure.

QUESTION: But the --

GEN. HAYDEN: That's what it says.

QUESTION: But the measure is probable cause, I believe.

GEN. HAYDEN: The amendment says unreasonable search and seizure.

QUESTION: But does it not say probable --

GEN. HAYDEN: No. The amendment says --

QUESTION: The court standard, the legal standard --

GEN. HAYDEN: -- unreasonable search and seizure.

QUESTION: The legal standard is probable cause, General. You used the terms just a few minutes ago, "We reasonably believe." And a FISA court, my understanding is, would not give you a warrant if you went before them and say "we reasonably believe"; you have to go to the FISA court, or the attorney general has to go to the FISA court and say, "we have probable cause."

And so what many people believe -- and I'd like you to respond to this -- is that what you've actually done is crafted a detour around the FISA court by creating a new standard of "reasonably believe" in place of probable cause because the FISA court will not give you a warrant based on reasonable belief, you have to show probable cause. Could you respond to that, please?

GEN. HAYDEN: Sure. I didn't craft the authorization. I am responding to a lawful order. All right? The attorney general has averred to the lawfulness of the order.

Just to be very clear -- and believe me, if there's any amendment to the Constitution that employees of the National Security Agency are familiar with, it's the Fourth. And it is a reasonableness standard in the Fourth Amendment. And so what you've raised to me -- and I'm not a lawyer, and don't want to become one -- what you've raised to me is, in terms of quoting the Fourth Amendment, is an issue of the Constitution. The constitutional standard is "reasonable." And we believe -- I am convinced that we are lawful because what it is we're doing is reasonable.

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

...Porter Goss was trying to shovel out an Augean stable. But when the horse manure gets piled too high, it's easier to shut down the stable, and open another. This is what I think the Hayden nomination portends. - from an article posted by Mr. Happy

What an analogy. And from what is described as a "more professional" rehashing of Mr. Happy's earlier posting.

So, now we have a stable full of very unhappy ex-spooks called "manure" looking to exact some form of retribution against those who've misapplied their analysis and then heaped the blame upon them. Sounds like a plan to me...

"It seems that most Dems like yourself are happy with status quo of corruption."
Posted by: Ted at May 8, 2006 10:58 PM

There's that word corruption again. Define it. Substantiate the claim. Or admit that you're an apologist for the Grand Ol' Spending Party.

Posted by Pande

You're right Pande, who could possibly know what you do stand for, all you do is attack the GOP with some copy and pasted late night jokes as if that makes you funny.

What do you stand for?

What are your solutions to the Republican agenda?

Do you support raising taxes?

Do you support an increase in min wages and if so how much? How would you stop business's from passing this increase on to the employee by reducing benefits or firing some to pay for others?

Do you support wasting the next three years with conressional investigations?

Do you support cut and running from Iraq?

How do you propose to balance the budget? Cut money to Iraq? Cut money to AIDS? Dafur? Schools? What cuts are exceptable to you?

How about the prescription drug benefit, would you scrap it?

No child left behind, scrap it?

Would you do about gasoline prices?

What would you do about Iran?

What about illegal immigration, what postion do you take? Are you in agreement with Bush on illegals?

Do you support or oppose English only and paying back taxes by illegals if accepted into the US?

How do you define corruption? It seems you have a pretty liberal definition for Dems and a conservative definition for Republicans.

Now I know you will be tempted to turn these questions into an attack on the GOP or myself, but how about giving us conservatives a serious discussion on what Pande believes instead of being a side kick for the Dems?

LBH @ #155

Good job w/Comprehensive List of real issues or problems!

Count on it, Panty has no solutions but plenty of verbage heading your way!

144 sumpin' fishy goin on.

You can tune a guitar but you can't tune a fish.
Impeachment would be a Bush 'oyster'.
Rove and Libby decided to 'clam up'
Cunningham swims with the fishes.
Ney's Chief of Staff is fish head soup
DeLay DeLovely
Is Bush a lame duck or is this just his normal incompetent flounder?

Now I know you will be tempted to turn these questions into an attack on the GOP or myself, but how about giving us conservatives a serious discussion on what Pande believes instead of being a side kick for the Dems? - LBH

The questions, themselves, are, of course, asked in linguistically biased manner; no matter.

Speaking only for myself;

What do you stand for?

The U.N. Declaration of Human Rights.

What are your solutions to the Republican agenda?

Bury it.

Do you support raising taxes?

I support rolling back the tax givebacks to the wealthy. I support the idea of a progressive income tax; if you benefit in this society you should be responsible for giving back.

Do you support an increase in min wages and if so how much? How would you stop business's from passing this increase on to the employee by reducing benefits or firing some to pay for others?

I support a living wage; anyone working 40 hours a week should have food, housing, health care, education.

Do you support wasting [sic] the next three years with conressional [sic] investigations?

Yes. Unless we can impeach the bum sooner.

Do you support cut and running from Iraq?

We shouldn't be in Iraq, which is why we need the fuckin' investigations, moron. Besides, since 85% of Iraqis say they wish us to leave, we should.

How do you propose to balance the budget? Cut money to Iraq? Cut money to AIDS? Dafur? Schools? What cuts are exceptable to you?

Cut the military; we outspend the rest of the goddamned world in this matter, practically.

How about the prescription drug benefit, would you scrap it?

Yes, National Single Payer health system, like the rest of the civilized world.

No child left behind, scrap it?

Teaching to a test is not good educational practice. Scrap it.

Would you do about gasoline prices?

Revive Carter's Alternative fuels proposals which Reagan scrapped; we are now reaping what Reagan sowed.

What would you do about Iran?

Work toward a nuclear free middle east and world.

What about illegal immigration, what postion do you take? Are you in agreement with Bush on illegals?

Support Latin American leaders like Chavez and Morales who wish to see their people proper in their own countries.

Do you support or oppose English only and paying back taxes by illegals if accepted into the US?

We are all immigrants here, unless you speak Navaho, or Cherokee or some such; Language skills should be encouraged, of course. The idea of illegal Mexicans in what used to be Mexico does strike me as absurd, though.

How do you define corruption? It seems you have a pretty liberal definition for Dems and a conservative definition for Republicans.

Corruption defined: The banking industry, the insurance industry, media, etc....

O'Reilly, bush tells fishy stories, but he and his boyfriends also rely on the Dopeler Effect which they constantly utilize with success on the American sheeple:

Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

The CIA has lost that ability, in part because of a deep-seated ideological animus to the Bush administration
Posted by: Happy to live under IRAQ

You are so full of shyt.

The Bush admin tried to blame the Iraq WMD intelligence fiasco on the CIA (pressured Tenet to write a letter taking the blame). Before the war, the CIA was telling Bush there was NO attempt to purchase yellowcake, the tubes were not for centrifuges, those were not mobile weapons labs, there was no operational relationship between Saddam and Bin Laden.

The Pentagon set up its own intelligence, led by Feith, to give the President what he wanted. Because the CIA wouldn't, Bush calls them partisan. Insane. Their job is not to make the evidence what the President wants it to be. Their job is to present a non-partisan assessment. If there was pushback, its becuase they were being asked to provide propagada not ethical and honest professional assessments.

You're as bad as the holocaust deniers. Facts mean nothing to you.

What If? What if the planes that crashed on 9/11 were empty? What if the people really boarded different aircraft that day? What if those people were still alive in a secret location? What if the people were in Nevada? What if they were "testing" a bunker buster....

155 I love that song, LBH sings it so well. It's pigeon English so I'll translate:

Librals suck.
Conservatives are right.
Why do you attack conservatives?
They are not incompetent.
I do not live under Iraq.
It's up to librals to take a position on policies.
I think everything is just fine.
Feta complee

c 2006 LBH

The "Allmighty" cannot handle the truth hence
1. His ascension to power
2. Disregards to any laws applicable to him
3. Call it Democracy - post 9/11 , or Emergency rule or Military rule; the pudding still tastes the same!!!

Interesting readings :
CIA, a Bush Family Fiefdom
By Robert Parry
May 9, 2006
-an excerpt : "What’≥ wrong with the U.S. intelligence community is that over the past three decades its ethos of telling truth to power has been corrupted by politics to such a degree that George W. Bush now sees the Central Intelligence Agency as virtually his family’≥ fiefdom, with the Langley, Virginia, headquarters even named for his father, George H.W. Bush, a former CIA director."

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2006/050906.html

feta complee - cheesy and finished

#79 Jeanne, Bushitler's life has been one big screw up. Money has brought him to power. Yet, he is dumber than a doorknob. He is truly a dysfunctional low life.

The nutcases are not just in the WH. They are in Congress and the Supreme Court. I have felt for years that the U.S Supreme Court is a useless body of nine justices.

The Nazis have come into power through fraud and deceit and they have no plans of giving up power, even in 2006 and 2008. The 2006 election will take place to see how much the rigged electronic voting machines have improved to strengthen the Nazis hold on total power.

THERE WILL BE NO 2008 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. BUSHITLER WILL DECLARE MARTIAL LAW AND THE ELECTIONS WILL BE CANCELLED.

THE DEVIL INCARNATE NATION IS NOW A TOTALLY TYRANNICAL STATE!!!!!

O'Reilly 162, there have to be actual conservatives to attack BEFORE you can attack them! The only one I know of is Ron Paul, and he's just about the only rational member left in congress.

Power

Dear Cornposters:

You must come to understand the word, power. Bushitler, Chainey, and their whole cabal have lusted for power for years and they are not going to give it up for a silly election. They hold the U.S. Constitution in contempt and it is only a piece of toilet paper for them and that is why I keep saying that there will be no 2008 election. If these Nazis could fill one more Supreme Court seat with another fellow Nazi before 2006, they would cancel the 2006 election. THESE NAZIS WILL NEVER GIVE UP POWER!!!!!

Sincerely,

Gerald

bin laden is an evil super genius!
didn't you know that? just look at his handiwork!
pentagon strike
poor old pentagon, just can't catch a break!
it's all GOD's doing anyway!
surely, the hand of ALLAH

caroline, 148 -
The Twin towers are radically different in structural design as the exterior wall is used as the load-bearing wall. (A load bearing wall supports the weight of the floors.) The only interior columns are located in the core area, which contains the elevators. The outer wall carries the building vertical loads and provides the entire resistance to wind. The wall consists of closely spaced vertical columns (21 columns 10 feet apart)

that's absolute nonsense my dear - in fact the twin towers had 47 huge steel load bearing columns in the core, and over 200 perimeter columns spaced 3 feet apart - PHOTO LINK

*Reporter for USA Today stated that the FBI believed that bombs in the buildings brought the buildings down
*NY Fire Department Chief of Safety stated there were "bombs" and "secondary devices", which caused the explosions in the buildings (video); or high-quality audio here
*NYC firefighters who witnessed attacks stated that it looked like there were bombs in the buildings
*NYC firefighter stated "On the last trip up a bomb went off. We think there was bombs set in the building"
**911proof.com
***firefighters witnessed explosions wtc - google search

James, it's odd that some people insist on making claims based on pure conjecture. There is no way to know without blueprints. The photos taken during construction are a good reference though.
---------------
Design architecture was provided by Minoru Yamasaki & Associates, and Emery Roth & Sons served as the architect of record. Since these companies have nothing to hide, they should provide the architectural plans of the WTC to the world, so that any misunderstandings regarding the facts of the collapse, may be established. In fact, Minoru Yamasaki & Associates, and Roth & Sons, or their descendent companies, should put the entire set of architectural plans on the internet. Skilling, Helle, Christiansen, Robertson were the project structural engineers; Jaros, Baum & Bolles were the mechanical engineers; and Joseph R. Loring & Associates were the electrical engineers. The Port Authority provided design services for site utilities, foundations, basement retaining walls, and paving.
--------------
So, why don't they hand them over?
--------------------
In the early 1970's the World Trade Center's chief structural engineer, Leslie Robertson, calculated the effect of the impact of a Boeing 707 with the World Trade Center towers. His results were reported in the New York Times where it was claimed that Robertson's study proved the towers would withstand the impact of a Boeing 707 moving at 600 miles an hour. Little did he know that decades later two aircraft, almost identical to the Boeing 707, would impact the towers.
------------
Now, I know the chief structural engineer is not the scientific type, but I thought I'd throw his comment in there anyway.

Good photos

Alan. What's your take on 108?

I agree with your assessment.

James, I disagree with the 'concrete core wall ringed by box beams' in that picture (the one I seen had green and red writing and arrows pointing to his explanation). I've never seen a concrete wall go right up to a beam and not include that beam in the pour. A poured concrete box, not even tied to the beams? What would be the point?

Also, I went to the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility web site and for the years '93 and '94, the WTC issn't mentioned at all in any of their reports.

M.B., good questions. I'm on my way out to Austin to the Pickle center at UT. Be back later to answer them (as soon as I get there).

Robert S., WOW! I don't agree with all of it; but it's a good starting point.

"Count on it, Panty has no solutions but plenty of verbage heading your way!"
Posted by: Hapless cheers at May 9, 2006 12:23 PM

Count on Hapless having his head up his ... um, in the dark. Simple solutions are in the offing.

I still find it amusing that conservatives are waving the white flag and have given up all hope that the Republicans in Congress are capable of anything more than menacing Mr. Bush with a rubber stamp.

Building a Better Mirage, a critique of the Final Report of the National Construction Safety Team on the Collapses of the World Trade Center Towers by the Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation of the World Trade Center Disaster
---------------
NIST scientists? Why would they lie? This is the arguement used by global warming proponents. If the study is conducted by scientists paid for by oil interests or bushco they are dismissed as bought and paid for liars. Who paid FEMA and NIST?

did you guys know that big airliners such as 767's only pressurize their cabins to the equivalent air pressure of 8k' altitude because sea-level pressure puts too much strain on the delicate seams of their very thin aluminum skin?
and did you guys know that the nose-cone of a 767 is made of fiberglass and/or carbon? and when videos of flight175 piercing the side of wtc2 are slowed down enough to actually see what's going on, it can be observed that when 175 is already 1/2 way into the side, there is still no hole in the tower? what could cause this phenomenon? perhaps it entered another dimension at the last moment of it's life.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. benchmark gold futures scaled a new 25-year high at $700 an ounce on Tuesday, boosted by relentless investor buying powered by geopolitical concerns and expectations of further price gains ahead, dealers said.

By 11:30 a.m. EDT, June delivery gold on the New York Mercantile Exchange's COMEX division was up $20.10 or 2.9 percent at a session peak of $700, which marked the loftiest level for futures since September 1980.
-----------
The reason I post this news is because it is very bad for the dollar. And it will only get worse.

alan, good point about concrete pours and beams, i would have to agree with your observation about that - you did see the 'comb' shaped remains of that rebar though, right? a lot of good photos in that link -

the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility web site and for the years '93 and '94, the WTC isn't mentioned at all in any of their reports.

things that make you go hmmm....

Blasts hit northwestern Iranian city
More than seven people were wounded when two explosions hit the northwestern Iranian city of Kermanshah, close to the Iraqi border, Iranian officials said, according to BBC.
-------------
Here we go.

WRH

I lied, 9/11 plotter says; but guilty plea stands
Facing life in a so-called supermax prison, convicted Al Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui says he lied in admitting involvement in the Sept. 11 plot, but a judge Monday rejected his attempt to withdraw his guilty plea.
Posted May 9, 2006 08:11 AM PST

Why would Moussaoui lie?
If you're looking for a reason why Zacarias Moussaoui suddenly testified to a version of the 9/11 plotline that sounds more like the Official story than even the official Whitewash Commission report, this video may have the answer.

In it, NBC news reporter Pete Williams lets slip that Moussaoui is wearing a "Stun belt" underneath his clothing controlled by US Marshals. MSNBC host Dan Abrams gets some more details on the stun belt.

Bingo!

blasts hit iranian city of kermanshah -
that's pretty close to the area where 90% of iran's oil is produced -
The Khuzestan Gambit (90% of Iran's Oil) (nice map)

#148 Caroline,
Good article. The only thing I saw slightly amiss, was his use of "corrugated steel sheets" under the floors. It's actually corrugated sheet metal. The only weight it supports is the weight of the wet concrete poured on it, till it dries. Then of course, the concrete supports itself. Granted, it's fairly thick sheet metal, you can walk on it between beams, but it's a little 'shaky' and gives some underneath you... which is kind of an errie feeling. *if it's braced underneath till the pour dries, it's only temp. screw jacks with horizontal timbers, and are removed to use again and again. Also, I think most floors are 4" thick.

Ya gotta wonder! Hayden's nomination to CIA looks like another classic example of bush and his boyfriends rewarding incompetence to me! This from a LAT piece by Greg Miller, in part:

"...But Hayden, who for six years was director of the National Security Agency, is also associated with almost every intelligence issue that has become a problem for the administration - including the failure to prevent the Sept. 11 attacks, misjudgments about weapons programs in Iraq, and eavesdropping on U.S. residents without court warrants...

His six years at the helm of the NSA make him the longest-serving director of that agency. But critics point to a series of blunders on Hayden's watch.

During his tenure, the NSA invested billions of dollars in computer systems that failed to deliver expected results. The agency also intercepted Al Qaeda warnings - including a Sept. 10, 2001, boast that "Tomorrow is zero hour" - but failed to translate them until it was too late...."

TAKE ACTION

Reinforce the War Powers Clause

Hands Off Our Tax Information!

Keep Perkins Loans Alive

Should Bush Be Impeached?

Protect Internet Neutrality

******

From "The Nation"

capt

wait a minute alan,
"the only thing i saw slightly amiss was..."
you didn't find this to be slightly amiss?
the exterior wall is used as the load-bearing wall.......The outer wall carries the building vertical loads and provides the entire resistance to wind. The wall consists of closely spaced vertical columns (21 columns 10 feet apart)

Cancer Resistance Found to Be Transferable in Mice

In 1999 scientists discovered a mutant mouse with the ability to ward off aggressive cancers. Bred with a female, this mighty mouse passed on his cancer resistance to roughly 40 percent of his offspring. No matter how many times the researchers challenged the immune systems of these mice with levels of cancer cells millions of times stronger than those lethal to regular mice, they proved incapable of developing cancer. Now investigators have found that normal mice injected with white blood cells from cancer-resistant mice become resistant themselves.

"The white blood cells alone were the cause of the cancer resistance," says Mark Willingham of Wake Forest University. "Not only could they kill cancer when injected together [with malignant cells], but these white blood cells could successfully be used to treat advanced tumors."

More HERE

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

This is very important news. It might be the first step to some great advances.

capt

The wall consists of closely spaced vertical columns (21 columns 10 feet apart

yeah yeah, I forgot that part at the beginning. There are 244 columns, 61 per side. I think we've already agreed that the core supported alot of the vertical loads, and the perimeter columns supported the rest (one end of each floor tied to the core, the other end the perimeter columns) and all the horizontal loads (wind). Thanks for reminding me of that 'ten foot centers'(center line to centerline is the way they're measured correctly) part.

Video :Gen. Michael Hayden refused to answer question about spying on political enemies at National Press Club.

At a public appearance, Bush's pointman in the Office of National Intelligence was asked if the NSA was wiretapping Bush's political enemies. When Hayden dodged the question, the questioner repeated, "No, I asked, are you targeting us and people who politically oppose the Bush government, the Bush administration? Not a fishing net, but are you targeting specifically political opponents of the Bush administration?" Hayden looked at the questioner, and after a silence called on a different questioner. (Hayden National Press Club remarks, 1/23/06) (video ) (audio )

Listen to Segment Download Show mp3

Watch 128k stream

Watch 256k stream

You may need to update / download Free Real Player to view this video. Click on this link to download. http://snipurl.com/a75b

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

Talk about bad news for us all.

capt

It now appears that the WTC was an inside job!!! Planes did go into the WTC but the implosion was a total inside job to bring down the WTC. Bushitler must have know for weeks that the WTC was the target.

War with Iran has started. Brilliant move by the Nazis!!! You only start with a small area bombed to see how Iran responds. Iran does not have the weaponry to respond in kind.

Again my predictions are correct. The theme for the 2006 election is WARS, GLORIOUS WARS!!! The 2006 election could be cancelled as well!!!

THE DEMISE OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY IS UPON US. WE WILL ONLY HAVE MEMORIES OF OUR DEMOCRACY.

RELIGIONS AND RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS WILL REMAIN SILENT BECAUSE CHRISTIANITY IS DEAD IN OUR DEVIL INCARNATE NATION AND IT IS REPLACED BY BUSHIANITY, A RELIGION THAT EMBRACES HATRED, MURDERS, TORTURE, WAR CRIMES, CORRUPTION, DECADENCE, GREED, AND LIES.

Republicans Set Aside Middle-Income Tax Cuts to Focus on Rich

Republican lawmakers, facing the prospect that their power to cut taxes may soon be curbed, plan to extend breaks that mostly benefit the wealthy and Wall Street at the expense of reductions for middle-income households.

Six months before elections that may return a Democratic majority in at least one house of Congress, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee and House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois are focusing on extending the 15 percent rate on investments and repealing the estate tax. They won't push extensions of lower rates for all taxpayers and expanded breaks for married couples and families with children, which expire after 2010.

``In politics, timing is everything; you do what you can when you can, and this is what's queued up right now,'' says Arizona Senator Jon Kyl, the No. 4 Republican in the Senate. Given the federal budget deficit, it would ``be hard to generate public support overnight'' for making permanent the other tax cuts, he says.

Democrats say the Republicans are favoring tax breaks that do little for middle-income Americans; 50 percent of all U.S. households earn between $26,859 and $120,100, according to the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan research institution in Washington.

``Even in an election year where they are losing popularity nationwide, they've chosen to pander to their base of rich donors and leave the middle class behind,'' says Representative Charles Rangel of New York, the senior Democrat on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee.

More HERE

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

Every year is the time to pander to the rich. They have such a hard time and all.

capt

That's pretty funny, your average stick built house requires studs at 16 inch centers if using 2x4's or 24 inch if using 2x6's, at least here in Cali. I know this because my husband and I built a house from the ground up using 2x6's at 16 inch centers. Who claims 10 foot centers?

Gerald, Iran may not have the weaponry but they DO have China and Russia. You're right, brilliant move.

cool - it's just that every time we turn around the towers are represented as being less robust than they probably actually were

GREAT IS THE GUILT OF AN UNNECESSARY WAR. John Adams

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

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

American Soldiers

2,723 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan for Bush and his lies.

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

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

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

Nazi America is a mirror image of Hitler Bush.

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

Confucius spoke that before you seek revenge dig two graves.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Since 911, 2,723 American soldiers have given their lives in wrong and immoral wars.

Saladin, China and Russia won't retaliate overtly; they will be more covertly in their response to our lust for wars and world domination.

James, I believe what the chief structural engineer says over those paid govt. hacks. If you haven't read the link at # 174 you should check it out. It isn't claiming to have all the answers but it sure sheds a lot of light on the many glaring discrepancies in all the so-called "official" reports. From all the construction photos I've seen those towers were hella stout! They had to be to withstand hurricane force winds year after year.

Hayden Aide Helped 2nd MZM Donor Scam

I wrote yesterday about how former NSA Director Michael Hayden's aide, a top MZM executive, participated in an illegal campaign donation scam run by the head of his company, Mitchell Wade. (Wade, of course, has confessed to bribing Duke Cunningham, and is cooperating with prosecutors.)

I was wrong, as my colleague Paul gently noted to me. The executive -- James C. King, on contract to the NSA from MZM -- appears to have participated in two illegal campaign donation scams.

In addition to faking $8,000 in personal contributions to Rep. Katherine Harris (R-FL) on his company's behalf, government records indicate King faked several thousand dollars in donations to Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA), also.

How did Paul discern King's donations were part of the scam? King and his wife, Jeneane, each made two $2,000 contributions to Goode on March 24, 2003, according to FEC records compiled by opensecrets.org.

In Wade's plea agreement with federal prosecutors, he admits that on that same date, two "straw donors" gave to Goode $4,000 apiece, and one straw donor gave $2,000, at Wade's request.

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

Oh my, the guy is up to his neck in crud. That works in his favor. A criminal enterprise needs its criminals.

capt

More interesting stuff...

Silverstein's Quote:

"I remember getting a call from the Fire Department commander, telling me they were not sure they were gonna be able to contain the fire, and I said, you know, 'We've had such terrible loss of life, maybe the smartest thing to do is just pull it.' And they made that decision to pull and we watched the building collapse."

-Fact which is undisputed by either side, he was talking to the fire commander

-Fact which is undisputed by either side, both are not in the demolition business

Silverstein's spokesperson, Mr. McQuillan, later clarified:

"In the afternoon of September 11, Mr. Silverstein spoke to the Fire Department Commander on site at Seven World Trade Center. The Commander told Mr. Silverstein that there were several firefighters in the building working to contain the fires. Mr. Silverstein expressed his view that the most important thing was to protect the safety of those firefighters, including, if necessary, to have them withdraw from the building."

He could be lying right? But here is the corroborating evidence...

"They told us to get out of there because they were worried about 7 World Trade Center, which is right behind it, coming down. We were up on the upper floors of the Verizon building looking at it. You could just see the whole bottom corner of the building was gone. We could look right out over to where the Trade Centers were because we were that high up. Looking over the smaller buildings. I just remember it was tremendous, tremendous fires going on. Finally they pulled us out. They said all right, get out of that building because that 7, they were really worried about. They pulled us out of there and then they regrouped everybody on Vesey Street, between the water and West Street. They put everybody back in there. Finally it did come down. From there - this is much later on in the day, because every day we were so worried about that building we didn't really want to get people close. They were trying to limit the amount of people that were in there. Finally it did come down." - Richard Banaciski

pull?

You're comparing columns to wall studs. Not the same. Most buildings have wayyyyy more than 10' centers between columns.

Gerald, all China has to do is dump all their dollar holdings on the market. Then the US is through. Why do you think they are buying as much gold as they can lay their hands on? And why do you think gold prices have gone through the roof in the past 6 months? Why do you think I have been ranting about those very things over and over again? Just one more step towards the demise of America.

Why Are We Baiting Putin?

I know the difference Alan, I was being facetious.

#199 Saladin, good point! Let China act sooner rather than later!!!!!

Mad Wars

terri gross has michael savage on fresh air today

I Confess

Dear Cornposters:

I must confess that the Nazi cabal’≥ moves to shake up our world are brilliant moves. I must give them credit for shaking up the world.

The status quo was not working!!!

There is only one problem. If we lived in a soulless world, the Nazi cabal has been brilliant. However, we do not live in a soulless word and the moves are mortal sins that damn our souls. Nazi Americans who accept these mortal sin actions are also saying to God you are accepting the fact that your soul is damned for all eternity.

Rather than shock and awe bombings and nuclear explosions upon a country, I would have negotiated on the belief that Shalom is the answer for our world problems.

Saying no to war is not in the Nazi American psyche. Nazi Americans rejoice in wars and they are glorified by wars. That is why we are a damned nation!

Sincerely,

Gerald

Abuses Mount

Voice of the White House

Since 2002, the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency has run a rapidly-growing and very powerful intelligence-gathering and support unit that has authority to operate clandestinely anywhere in the world, including inside the United States, where it is ordered to go in support of anti-terrorism and counter-terrorism missions. Domestically, this group, the Strategic Support Branch (SSB) of the DIA, is authorized and mandated to spy on dissident and defeatist groups and individuals inside the United States. A sub-group is detailed to search the internet for signs of anti-government and anti-military activity and to report and all information obtained on this at once to the Pentagon. Fort Huachuca in Arizona and Rock Island in Illinois are only two of their domestic spy centers, with many more scattered all over the country.

The Strategic Support Branch (SSB) got its name in 2004 after previously operating under a different, highly classified title prior to that. The reason for this secrecy is their domestic spying activities.

The SSB was formed "to have as much flexibility as possible" and in response to Rumsfeld's ongoing concerns expressed at the highest levels of the department that the Pentagon did not have the capability to gather intelligence in the field on its own. It is in direct opposition to the CIA (whom Rumsfeld loathes and has been doing his best to undermine and disband) and is headed for a serious clash with the FBI who hitherto has had undisputed control of domestic counter-intelligence.

The SSB has been an effort by Rumsfeld to expand Pentagon intelligence operations at the expense of the CIA, which traditionally has conducted both clandestine and covert intelligence operations One of the more interesting sub-groups of the SSB is the one that keeps a close watch on members of Congress, now concentrating on weak Republicans, (read sensible Congressmen who are no longer supporting Bush and his loony followers.)

The deployment of SSB teams of DIA personnel into the field in conjunction with special forces has caused some bureaucratic stress. SSB personnel are on these missions to gather intelligence. The SSB has an alliance with another Pentagon money-waster, the notorious Lincoln Group which mishandles the reams of stupid propaganda churned out by the Pentagon PR bone heads (who couldn't get a legitimate job to save their lives). On a more sinister note, the Lincoln Group also is involved with handling Rumsfeld's domestic political intelligence and is very well known to have subverted a number of U.S. media reporters for the sole purpose of planting pro-Bush propaganda in the American print and TV media.

This crap can usually be spotted by its utter inaccuracy and ludicrous stupidity but a number of papers and TV outlets have run it, either because their editors are as stupid as the Lincoln Group people or because someone has told them to do so. So much for unbiased reporting in the American media, not that anyone currently believes anything they say, or usually don’¥ say. And the nice thing is that the taxpayers pay their huge bill each and every month. In other words, we pay for these chinless wonders to plant bald-faced lies in the national American media reflecting the glory and brilliance of the collapsing Bush regeime while drawing salaries that would be the envy of a drug company's CEO! We have stacks of material on this Lincoln Group, including names, and we will cover this in a later column.
------------
Are they using the Nazi playbook? It feels like we are living the same nightmare all over again.

The Best Little Whorehouse in Washington

I will never forgive my sister. She's got me hooked on Sudoku. GRRRRRRRRRR.

WRH

The President's New Helicopter
After decades of upgrades to a fleet of notoriously cramped Sikorsky VH-3 Sea Kings, the White House has tasked Lockheed Martin with a dramatic, $6.1-billion makeover of Marine One, the presidential helicopter, starting this summer.
Posted May 9, 2006 09:51 AM PST

I wonder how many schools could be built for that $6.1 BILLION.
-----------
A reader answered that question:

READER: Marine one

I am an architect who does schools. I just read the marine one article. In response to your comment, you could build about 125 state of the art high schools for well over 100,000 students.
------------
Those kids don't need no stinkin education. We'll teach 'em all they need to know in boot camp!

Saladin, the more times chage, the more they remain the same!

Nothing really changes

What might change is the amount of shit we live under

Deadlines Are Important

President Bush has heard pleas for an extension of the deadline to sign up for new Medicare drug coverage from lawmakers, seniors advocacy groups and finally two women in his audience Tuesday. He's rejected them all.

"Deadlines are important," the president said at a retirement community, less than a week before the last day for most seniors and the disabled to enroll in the program without facing higher prices. "Deadlines help people understand there's finality and people need to get after it."
....For now, though polls show most who enroll are happy with the insurance, many seniors and those trying to help them still are complaining about the program's complexity. Most people have more than 40 plans to select from, and savings vary depending on the medicines needed, income levels and the plan chosen.

On a three-day, three-city tour through the state with the highest percentage of senior citizens, Bush urged seniors to press through those concerns.

"I did know that there would be some worries about having to choose from 40 different plans," he said. "But I thought it was worth it because I know that 40 different plans here in Florida will mean that individual can tailor a plan to meet his or her needs."

U.S. tipping Mexico to Minuteman patrols

While Minuteman civilian patrols are keeping an eye out for illegal border crossers, the U.S. Border Patrol is keeping an eye out for Minutemen -- and telling the Mexican government where they are.
According to three documents on the Mexican Secretary of Foreign Relations Web site, the U.S. Border Patrol is to notify the Mexican government as to the location of Minutemen and other civilian border patrol groups when they participate in apprehending illegal immigrants -- and if and when violence is used against border crossers.

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman confirmed the notification process, describing it as a standard procedure meant to reassure the Mexican government that migrants' rights are being observed.

"It's not a secret where the Minuteman volunteers are going to be," Mario Martinez said Monday.

"This ... simply makes two basic statements -- that we will not allow any lawlessness of any type, and that if an alien is encountered by a Minuteman or arrested by the Minuteman, then we will allow that government to interview the person."

Minuteman members were not so sanguine about the arrangement, however, saying that reporting their location to Mexican officials nullifies their effectiveness along the border and could endanger their lives.

"Now we know why it seemed like Mexican officials knew where we were all the time," said Chris Simcox, founder of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps. "It's unbelievable that our own government agency is sending intelligence to another country. They are sending intelligence to a nation where corruption runs rampant, and that could be getting into the hands of criminal cartels.

"They just basically endangered the lives of American people."

-------------
This could get ugly.

Investigators Close to Charging Ney

Federal investigators appear closer to bringing charges against Ohio Congressman Bob Ney, but Ney says he does not expect to be indicted.

The federal investigation appeared to move closer to Ney after a former aide pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiring to bribe the congressman.

Neal Volz was Ney's chief of staff who left to go to work for lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Abramoff has also entered a guilty plea in the case.

He is the most recent of a series of Abramoff associates who appear to be cooperating with investigators in testifying against Ney about trips and other gifts offered in exchange for help with legislation.

Ney said in an interview with the Fox News Channel he doesn't believe he'll be indicted.

"Nothing has directly come at me. I have not been indicted, but I don't view what happened with Neal Volz and the extreme pressure that he's under as knocking on my door," Nay said.

Volz could be a critical witness against Ney since he could testify about actions the congressman took while Volz was his staffer.

When asked if he would resign if indicted, Ney says he's not commenting on hypotheticals.

Bob Ney easily won his Republican primary last week in the 18th district, but Democrats have targeted him for defeat in the fall.

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

Where are the knights who say "Ney"!

capt

Feingold Slams "Pundits and Consultants" Afraid to Stand Up on Terrorism Issues

Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI), in a speech yesterday to the National Press Club:

The consultants and the pundits and others will tell you "that it is dangerous to let there be any real light between our position and the White House's position, or else you'll get called soft on terrorism. You already hear people saying that the Michael Hayden nomination will be a great opportunity for the White House to show the Democrats are soft on terrorism. And you bet the pundits in this town will somehow suggest that this, too, just like my censure resolution, will cause the President's numbers to shoot up. You remember that happening, right? It didn't happen at all, but that's what they're gonna say, but it't not right.

Feingold is right. He announced his plans to introduce a censure resolution on March 12. President Bush't Gallup rating at the time was 37 percent. Today it's 31 percent.
------------------
Feingold is great.

PanTy, this one is a warning for you:

New York City Fires Man for Surfing Web at Work
Tuesday, May 09, 2006

NEW YORK -

....The office computer of Toquir Choudhri, a 14-year veteran of the Department of Education, had been used to visit news and travel Web sites.

Last month, Administrative Law Judge John Spooner ruled that surfing the Web at work is equivalent to reading a newspaper or talking on the phone.

He recommended the lightest possible punishment for Choudhri. Schools Chancellor Joel Klein disagreed.

"The penalty of termination is appropriate and not shocking to one's sense of fairness," Klein said Friday.

Choudhri's "abuse of the Internet at the time he is supposed to be performing his job demonstrates his disinterest in the job," Klein said.

Choudhri's lawyer, Martin Druyan, called the firing a "political decision."
=============================================
PanTy, we all know you post while on the job! When you are fired, you too, can claim your firing as a "political decision."

A week ago, talking to a friend, he mentioned that he posted something back in 1991 and just recently, he Googled that topic and was `SHOCKED' to see it pop up when some server, somewhere, had stored his original posting! What technology we have at our fingertips!

Robert,

What do you stand for?

The U.N. Declaration of Human Rights.
By Robert

That’s great, so what do you propose the UN do with China for it’s abuses? How do they enforce human rights violations?

What are your solutions to the Republican agenda?
Bury it.
By Robert

So what do you propose the agenda should be?

Do you support raising taxes?

I support rolling back the tax givebacks to the wealthy. I support the idea of a progressive income tax; if you benefit in this society you should be responsible for giving back.
By Robert

So would you increase the lower bracket from 10% back to 15% as Clinton had it? 35% isn’t enough so how much is for the higher bracket?
Do you support an increase in min wages and if so how much? How would you stop business's from passing this increase on to the employee by reducing benefits or firing some to pay for others?

I support a living wage; anyone working 40 hours a week should have food, housing, health care, education.
By Robert

How do you plan to pay for a living wage and how would you do with the slackers that only give 40% at work because they know they won’t be fired and have free health care.

Do you support cut and running from Iraq?

We shouldn't be in Iraq, which is why we need the fuckin' investigations, moron. Besides, since 85% of Iraqis say they wish us to leave, we should.
By Robert

Sounds great but you need to convince your own party before calling me a moron.

How do you propose to balance the budget? Cut money to Iraq? Cut money to AIDS? Dafur? Schools? What cuts are acceptable to you?
Cut the military; we outspend the rest of the goddamned world in this matter, practically.
By Robert

Cut the military how much? Remove troops from Bosnia as well as Iraq? Are you suggesting no military?

No child left behind, scrap it?

Teaching to a test is not good educational practice. Scrap it.
By Robert

Ted Kennedy might have something to say about that! What exactly would you change to improve our educational system? More money?

What would you do about Iran?

Work toward a nuclear free Middle East and world.
By Robert

How?

What about illegal immigration, what position do you take? Are you in agreement with Bush on illegal’s?

Support Latin American leaders like Chavez and Morales who wish to see their people proper in their own countries.
By Robert

The same Chavez who is on the UN Human Rights abuses you were talking about? How do you get around that? Don’t they have oil? Can’t they share their wealth already instead of building up a military?

Do you support or oppose English only and paying back taxes by illegal’s if accepted into the US?
We are all immigrants here, unless you speak Navaho, or Cherokee or some such; Language skills should be encouraged, of course. The idea of illegal Mexicans in what used to be Mexico does strike me as absurd, though.
By Robert

Illegal immigrants aren’t all from Mexico. So would you add in your free education for all living wage earners a requirement to learn Spanish? Why?

How do you define corruption? It seems you have a pretty liberal definition for Dems and a conservative definition for Republicans.
Corruption defined: The banking industry, the insurance industry, media, etc....
By Robert

So is Mr. Corn corrupt in your definition?

This is funny.
TDS: Hayden/Goss-Bush speak

For somebody with a degree from Harvard and Yale, Bush has a pretty limited vocabulary.

one of my sisters-in-law is a sudoku nut as well -
websudoku.com

Ok,
I'm sorry but I have to ask this. Why is it that when Happy posts LBH always posts too? Are they connected at the intellect?

ah, the men of the straw persuasion! set 'em up! knock 'em down!

#220
AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!
You are feeding an addict.

Well....it just so happens I've already been to that source.

THE PUSHER From the 1968 release "Steppenwolf"

Congress Is a Joke
The gas-price posturing in Washington shows why it's dangerous when Congress "helps."

By Bill Mann (The Motley Fool Otter)
May 9, 2006

I just love the sight of people getting exactly what they deserve. Over the past two months, the weathervanes up on Capitol Hill and in the White House have been in a dead panic over what to "do" about gasoline prices.

In a fine article in last week's Washington Post, Shailagh Murray and Jim VandeHei (am I dreaming, or does that name mean "from the shark?") detail the search that the Republican leadership in Washington has undertaken for the "problem" of high gasoline prices. To quote: "Republicans on Capitol Hill and at the White House are well aware that $3-per-gallon gas spells trouble."

The article is accompanied with a picture of four senators -- James Talent, Rick Santorum, Pete Domenici, and Bill Frist -- from their press conference last week announcing plans to give a $100 rebate to America's motorists to compensate us for gas prices.

My editors hate it when I call people idiots. But I mean it. Our elected officials are either stupid, or they think enough of us are stupid that they can say stupid things and we'll just thank 'em for it. I fear it's the latter. But for these purposes, I'm going with the former. So, idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot. Pay $100 from the federal Treasury to compensate Americans for high gas prices? Are you people completely, utterly devoid of brain matter?

There. I feel better.
===========================================
Ditto!

Suicide bomber kills 17 in Iraq's Tal Afar
_____________
TAL AFAR, Iraq (Reuters) -A suicide bomber killed 17 people and wounded 35 when he blew his car up in a market in the Iraqi northern city of Tal Afar on Tuesday, police said.

Earlier police had said the attack targeted police and army headquarters in the city.

A hospital source in Tal Afar said the casualties included civilians, police and army members.

President Bush in March held up Tal Afar as an example of progress being made in Iraq, calling it a "a free city that gives reason for hope for a free Iraq" after U.S.-led forces freed it from al Qaeda militants in a 2005 offensive.
_________________

Even the "model" for "Iraqification" is completely f'cked up!

On that note, we were blessed by a call from Spec.Spanky for almost an hour this morning!

After close to three weeks since we'd heard from him we were feeling pretty grim. He'd been running patrols both night and day for a while and they're trying to promote him to SGTSpanky.

He has recieved a couple boxes (Thank you again...you know who you are) and his company was delighted to enter "Operation ToySmith" into the "Orders of the Day" in honor of the giver of one large shipment, plus more stuff they gathered locally.

They visited 3 separate places and were touched by the excitement and glee from the kids they gave to. From where I sit, a small collection of "CornPosters" seems to have done more to improve troop morale and "win hearts and minds" of Iraqis than those who have been paid GAZILLIONS to do such.

He doesn't expect to have to move, but might get to come back stateside or at least back to Germany for NCO school...we're hoping that it might could coincide with his brother, SgtKarl's wedding, first week of August.

So, once again we find ourselves in that peculiar quandary where we know some people have been killed, at least NEAR where Spank is, not knowing if some of the "Army" people they mention involves him or his unit.

The relief at finding out he's still ok is a quite guilty feeling...HE might have escaped it, yet SOMEBODY's kids (by the hundreds of thousands, by even the most conservative counts) are dead or armless or legless or mentally traumatized for a lifetime.

So THINK ABOUT THAT, you sorry pricks who shill here for the murderous traitors to this "Republic" who have brought this shame upon MY nation and this fear and death and hellish nightmare to MY family and countless others.

Look at yourself in a mirror...YOUR support for this allowed it to happen. Now look at a pile of dog shit. Now back to the mirror...now back to the dog-shit...

After a while (not much of a while) you'll see little difference.

-T

PS to #224

I must stress that my hero, GWBush, did NOT go along with the 4-GOPusketeers' hare-brained $100 Rebate `boy cow dropping'!!

I thought I smelled something!

From #225

"So THINK ABOUT THAT, you sorry pricks who shill here for the murderous traitors to this "Republic" who have brought this shame upon MY nation and this fear and death and hellish nightmare to MY family and countless others."

Posted by: Hajji at May 9, 2006 05:48 PM
==============================================

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

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

Boyd,

You don't need a mirror...just...inhale...Ahhh!

-T

Skepticism about the "official" version of the 911 events

May 9, 2001 -- World leaders suspect the Bush administration of involvement in the 911 attacks. The first skeptics to question what role the Bush administration played in the 9-11 terrorist attacks were a few Cabinet ministers in the governments of America's NATO allies. They included German Science and Technology Minister Andreas Von Bulow and British Environment Minister Michael Meacher. They were joined by Belgian European Parliament Member Paul Lannoye.

However, in recent months the former Cabinet ministers have been joined in their skepticism about the "official" version of the 911 events by Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez and Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad. In March, Chavez said Venezuela will open an official investigation into the 9-11 attacks. Now, Chavez has been joined by Ahmedinejad, who in a recent letter to President George W. Bush, asked, "Why have the various aspects of the [9-11] attacks been kept secret?" Ahmedinejad indicated that the attacks could not have been carried out without the knowledge of the U.S. "security services."

The fact that the Venezuelan and Iranian leaders suspect Bush administration complicity in 9-11 is interesting. These leaders have at their disposal two highly-capable intelligence agencies. A major priority of the intelligence services of Venezuela and Iran (DISIP and VEVAK, respectively) is counter-intelligence against the United States. However, that is not likely where Venezuela and Iran may have gleaned information about who was behind the 9-11 attacks. Venezuela and Iran are members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and a major priority of their intelligence services is collecting information on oil deals, including the Bush administration negotiations with the Taliban in Tashkent and Berlin prior to 9-11 that quickly went sour and likely provided the impetus for the Muslim insurgents to attack New York and Washington on 9-11. VEVAK, a sworn enemy of the Taliban and Al Qaeda, had successfully penetrated the Taliban's and Pakistan's security services and would have been well aware of the attack plans and any U.S. foreknowledge of them, including knowing about money movements from Pakistan to the hijackers in Florida. DISIP was well aware of the smuggling of cocaine from Colombia, trans-shipped on a Saudi diplomatic Boeing 737 through Venezuela, by Saudi Royal family members who then used the proceeds to support Al Qaeda's attack on America.

As more and more governments are wrested from the control of the global neo-cons -- Italy, Britain, Mexico, and others -- additional intelligence may be obtained from various espionage agencies that will prove that the Bush administration was not an idle bystander in the events that led up to 9-11.

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

Wayne Madsen - Always interesting and informative.

capt

New thread --- its worth $20 to you.

Woo Hoo! That's almost a half-tank of Gas...I can get to work for almost 3 days! Woo Hoo!

-T

Electronic Harassment - Endangers Our Freedom, Our Families & Our Future

There is compelling evidence classified electronic and sonic weapons technology developed by the U.S. Government is now in the hands of hate groups and organized crime.

These covert weapons are being used secretly and silently to harass loyal Americans, strangle their businesses and gain control of their assets.

So long as this technology remains classified, responsible government agencies cannot protect American citizens, families and businesses from these threats.

See www.ElectronicElephants.com [1] for further details and lists of reputable resources and links describing the electronic weaponry threat and asking Congress to investigate and stop it.

How Did This Happen? - The U.S. Government does not build bombers or battleships. It contracts with outside private companies to procure products and programs. Most military research and development remains classified unless there are compelling reasons to make it public.

Some of this electronic harassment technology has leaked from the hands of these private contractors. The U.S. Government does not want to admit the threat exists or that they have lost control of the technology.

Why Is It So Hard To Detect? - Most bio-affective sonic and electro magnetic frequencies lie in the extremely low frequency range of 5 to 300 cycles per second which mimic and parallel the electronic functioning of the human nervous system.

Since there are relatively few legitimate commercial uses for these extremely low frequency transmissions, test equipment to detect and prove their use is not currently available in the market today for a reasonable price.

What Are The Effects Of These Weapons? - It is well known and well documented that extremely low frequency sonic and electromagnetic frequencies can disorient and disrupt human functioning, cause memory loss and confusion. Some frequencies can induce heart attack or stroke. Recent publicity about active denial technologies indicate they can cause pain, serious injury and death.

This classified, covert technology is now in the hands of organized crime and hate groups. The implications and impact on our freedom and future are horrifying.

www.ElectronicElephants.com

Retrieved from "http://www.wikithepresidency.org/index.php/Electronic_harassment"