Excellent news. I hope you agree.

"HUBRIS is a bold and provocative book that will quickly become an explosive part of the national debate on how we got involved in Iraq."

--Tom Brokaw

NOT TOO SHABBY DAVID, IT'S A STRONG ENDORSEMENT FROM A WIDELY KNOWN AND HIGHLY RESPECTED JOURNALIST. CONGRATULATIONS.

Buy the Book HERE.

May the cash register ring up many sales. Lest you not be able to keep this site free.

Target Iran - Here We Go Again
We are seeing the same pattern of phony diplomacy and prepping for war as we saw just prior to the Iraq invasion. This time the target is Iran. Like Iraq, the Bush administration denies it is planning an attack (though the military option remains on the table), and plays up to international diplomacy while setting conditions that guarantee failure.

It also continues to foment questionable intelligence vilifying Iran's involvement in terrorism in Iraq and Lebanon. To me there is absolutely no doubt the US intends to attack Iran next year or possibly sooner. Worse yet, it is utterly premeditated and unnecessary - unless you consider the globalist motive of engendering world-wide conflict.

The question is: will this Adminstration do this before or after November's elections in the US?
----
The sooner the better! If we don't defend ourself right now there will be a mushroom cloud here in the Heartland!

David,

Congrats on the sale date. I only hope the overwhelming posts on this site (trolls included) contributes to your literary success. Any liberal that has as many trolls as you, must be doing something right. I look forward to the release of your book.

And look for some news from the book this weekend.

Hmmmm..."from" the book, not "about" the book.

Is something happening (happened?) that warrants a rush to publish and distribute?

8 Micki, always a close reader.

MR. BROKAW: There was not--you know, the French intelligence were sharing the same conclusions with the administration. I thought--I agree with you that I don't think that we pushed hard enough for vigorous debate. I think that on Capitol Hill that the debate was anemic, at best. You had--Ted Kennedy and Senator Byrd, really, were the only ones speaking out with any kind of passion in the Senate, the people who...

MR. RUSSERT: And they were not questioning whether Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

MR. BROKAW: No. No. No.

MR. RUSSERT: That seemed to be a uniformly held belief.

MR. BROKAW: Right. Yeah.

MR. KOPPEL: Nor did the Clinton administration beforehand.

Meet The Press, December 25, 2005

Oreilly, do you still hold Brokaw in high regard!?!? He said what I have been saying on this blog, that it was a univerally held belief that Iraq had WMDs.

David,
Just read the previous post. Will buy the book.

DNC Chair Howard Dean:

Vermont Gov. Howard Dean [D], September 2002: "There's no question that Saddam Hussein is a threat to the United States and to our allies."

Dean, February 2003: "I agree with President Bush — he has said that Saddam Hussein is evil. And he is. [Hussein] is a vicious dictator and a documented deceiver. He has invaded his neighbors, used chemical arms, and failed to account for all the chemical and biological weapons he had before the Gulf War. He has murdered dissidents and refused to comply with his obligations under UN Security Council Resolutions. And he has tried to build a nuclear bomb. Anyone who believes in the importance of limiting the spread of weapons of mass killing, the value of democracy and the centrality of human rights must agree that Saddam Hussein is a menace. The world would be a better place if he were in a different place other than the seat of power in Baghdad or any other country." Dean,

March 2003: "[Iraq] is automatically an imminent threat to the countries that surround it because of the possession of these weapons."

Howard Dean's lies about Iraqi WMDs in his own words!!

#7 O'Reilly, o'thanks! But, I'm #6, not #8.

Who's on first? Oh! That would be YOU!

WHITEY IS STILL IN POSSESSION OF THE STICK! (of dynamite)

HOUSTON (Aug. 25) - A stick of dynamite was found in a college student's checked luggage on a Continental Airlines flight from Argentina, one of seven security incidents Friday that caused U.S. flights to be diverted, evacuated or searched.

Howard McFarland Fish, 21, (a white boy!) was charged with carrying an explosive aboard an aircraft and was in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Federal authorities have determined that his actions were not acts of terrorism, ICE spokeswoman Luisa Deason said in a statement.
----
of course he is not the terrorist! he isn't a brown girl from the mountains of Lower Slobovia with a baby-bottle of milk and some hair-care products.

Uncledad

The Dixie Chicks have chosen their own fate. I personally believe artists need to leave their politics out of the music unless thats what your trying to sell up front. I, for one, would not want to pay for a concert that would spew Bush propaganda or Bush bashing. I can get all I want for free right here.

Micki, I don't know. 3rd Base.

Integrity in journalism is about doing everything you can to get the story right, and when you make a mistake, you admit it.

My impression is that Tom Brokaw has a good intellect and jounalistic integrity. Integrity Tim L, unlike Feith and the others neocons in the ad hoc pentagon intelligence group which gave Cheney the intel the CIA wouldn't, despite the political pressure (because the CIA didn't believe was so.)

I bet Corn and Isakoff have a chapter in Hubris about Feith's ad hoc intelligence group. Tim L, your condemnation of Brokaw for believing the intell being cited by all the president's men doesn't dimish him in my estimation. I believed it too. Did you? (PS I don't really care either way.)

Random thoughts...

I've been very fortunate to have traveled to some pretty exotic destinations. Back in the 70s, I was amazed that airline security measures at foreign airports were much more stringent than those in the U.S. But back then, if a person was acting "weird" in-flight, it was generally assumed that he/she was a reluctant, nervous flyer, not that the behavior was that of a terrorist or bomber, even though there had been hijackings.

Before September 11, 2001, the deadliest attacks of Western airliners were Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie and UTA over the Sahara Desert. The destruction of both airplanes were orchestrations of Mohamar Khaddafy's regime in Libya. The crashes were caused by explosives stashed in lower deck baggage compartments. No martyrs required. No bombs in the passenger cabin.

And isn't Mohamar Khaddfy now a (quasi) good guy in bushland? Who do you trust?

Well, not bush for sure.

Went to the MN State Fair today. The booth with the frozen treat shapes for Democrats, Republicans and Independents showed a STRONG Democratic lead in sales.

The crop art was good. One person did a portrait of Lucille Ball. Amazingly good. When you do crop art you have to use seeds, beans parts of grain plant. Anyway it was good.

Crop Art

And only for you. I want you to experience MY STATE FAIR...its a great state fair. Don't miss it don't even be late.
Panaramic Views of the State Fair

This is a great site. You click on the picture and it shows you the whole view of the scene. The crop art picture has the whole room. There's one of a cheeze curd stand and as it shifts around you see everyone on that corner at that moment. Pretty neat.
And on the right side of the site they have other catagories. Mississippi River. Minnehaha Falls. This is a cool site. It'a a moment in time. The Holidazzle is on there. You see people watching the parade.

LBH, again another good point.

But explain to me how the Dixie chicks chose their fate. They expressed a seemingly benign opinion, and corporate media/entertainment decided to destroy them. How did they choose this? You must think that freedom of speech has corporate consequences. The Chicks are still free to sing, and record, but they have lost access to their audience. In due time they will get a new audience. But for now the corporate bush votes have really stifled there success. But I guess you think that’s O.K. the “free market”.

Dixie Chicks flick flop

When it is released to theaters this fall, a documentary about the Dixie Chicks is going to become an ìelection issue,î predicts hopeful news organizations who are desperately trying to wedge the film into cultural and political relevance.

Perhaps they have overlooked public disinterest: The girl group has now cancelled appearances in 15 cities, the latest being Indianapolis, due to low ticket sales. Still, Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, who agreed to fund the musical publicity vehicle this week, has painted a heroic picture.

ìDixie Chicks: Shut Up and Singî travels with the Dixie Chicks, from the peak of their popularity as the national-anthem-singing darlings of country music and top-selling female recording artists of all time, through the now infamous anti-Bush comment made by the groupís lead singer Natalie Maines in 2003,î he noted.

The film claims the girl group was under political attack, shrugging off death threats and bravely continuing to ìlive their lives, have children and of course make music.î

Let us pause to remember that their biggest hit was called ìSin Wagon.î

Producer Barbara Kopple still pines for the Dixie Chicks to be perceived as domestic goddesses. She gushed, ìThey are contemporary but rooted in tradition, strong yet vulnerable ó career women who are deeply connected to family.î

Oh, and rude to the leader of the Free World, too.

ìThe Dixie Chicks paid a huge price for questioning the invasion of Iraq and daring to say what millions of people were thinking,î said director Cecilia Peck. ìOur film looks at the cost of standing up for what you believe in.î

Yes, but does it also examine who paid the cost for such a freedom? And some equal time here, please. Ms. Peck, et al: Do you have the courage to make a film about President Bush ó who is also standing up for what he believes in?

óJennifer Harper, national reporter, The Washington Times

New analysis shows Democratic takeover of House likely

The latest state-by-state analysis by the Rothenberg Political Report projects a Democratic takeover of the House of Representatives, RAW STORY has learned.

In the lower house of the legislature, Rothenberg's analysis sees Democrats gaining 15-20 seats--well over the 12 needed for a House majority. Previous analysis had the gap much tighter, with Democrats' prospects for takeover hanging on just a handful of hotly contested seats.

Democrats still appear unlikely to re-take the Senate, however, with projected gains of just 3-5 seats. Of the 9 seats ranked as at least somewhat competitive, both of those leaning toward an incumbent ouster and three of the four toss-ups are currently held by Republicans. However, three Democrats are also given just a narrow advantage in their races.
-------------
With the mood in the US I wouldn't try to win by voter fraud.

What the Dixie Chicks can teach my daughter
Heidi Stevens

August 18 2006

For my daughter's sake, I hope Natalie Maines is the Mick Jagger of her time.

As I watched the Dixie Chicks rule the stage Tuesday night, playing banjo, violin and guitar, pumping their fists and singing about being "mad as hell," all I could think was: "I wish my daughter were here."

Of course, she's 10 months old and was sleeping soundly in her crib at home while I and the rest of a packed United Center got down to the Chicks. But the concert was such a moment of clarity in such a muddy time that I can only hope the gals emerge from this tour louder, madder and stronger than ever.

I stay up nights wondering what effect liquid explosives, global warming, Al Qaeda, dwindling oil supplies, MySpace and Lindsay Lohan will have in my daughter's life. Will they still make up the newspaper headlines, or will they be chapters in her history book? Will a chapter in her history book be titled "Newspapers: What the heck are those?"

The Chicks brouhaha is old news: They criticized the president, ticked off legions of their fans and had to cancel 14 stops on this tour because of dismal ticket sales. It's how they've handled the fallout that's taught me a thing or two about raising my daughter.

If the Dixie Chicks are still around when she's old enough to seek answers to life's big questions, I know they can teach her a few things: Tell the truth, even if it gets you in hot water. Don't apologize unless you mean it. If people want to change who you are, move on without them.

It's a scary world, and it's not likely to get any less so. But watching three fantastically talented women (all of them moms, I might add) play their hearts out as they sing, "You don't like the sound of the truth, coming from my mouth," gave me hope that brave chicks can always do their part to make it a better one.

Hey, yet another troll,

Almost sounds as bad as bu$hco, thank goodness they are just a pop band, and not actually in charge of the free world!

Nothing wakes up the ....... trolls like the Dixie Chicks.

I am suprised they could tear themselves away from Jon Benat.

Hey,

Here's something to laugh at.

smart ass country

re: 9/11

What needs to be kept in mind was all info, that reached our ears, and eyes was pre-approved. There was to be no mistakes, no surprises--i.e. for at least the first two weeks, the press was kept a half mile away from the Pentagon, and were brought "eye witnesses" for them to interview for the nightly news, and glossy stills taken by military photographers, and edited as as need, and only then were handed out--everything was controlled at all the impact sites--attempts to take photos anywhere would cause that person to get tackled, their cameras confiscated.
-----
but who cares, right? all this crap is boring.
besides, american idles is on!

funny. my parents thought rock was the end of civilization. trolls think the dixie chicks are some threat to demicracy.

in trollville, dissent and free speech are cool until someone critizes the fearless leader.

if the dixie chicks said Clinton was wrong for bombing Osama in Afganistan they'd all be agreeing.

Lowry Mays owns the bulk of the music airways -- Clear Channel -- he and his sons don't care about music, they care about advertising revenue. They make the rules. They own the ampitheatres. They are Bush pals. Business as usual.

If a music group speaks out against Bush, they are blackballed.

A TROLL NAMED ALLEN DAVID

Family members said they did not want to discuss the felonious assault charges against Allen S. Davis, 40, who lives in the house with his mother.

Three of the girls had gotten out of the car and taken a few steps onto the man's property _ across the street from a cemetery _ but then jumped back in and circled the block. Barezinsky was struck [in the head with a gun shot] while sitting in the car as it passed the house again.

Davis has told reporters he fired from his bedroom window to scare away trespassers and didn't mean to hurt the girls. He told officers he was aiming for the car's tires. He called the girls juvenile delinquents and said they shouldn't have been on his property.

Presidential histories

President Bush still has more than two years left in office, but authors aren't waiting to write his history. Two best sellers from the summer, Thomas Ricks' "Fiasco" and Ron Suskind's "The One Percent Doctrine," offered inside stories of the administration's handling of the war on terror. That continues in the fall with Bob Woodward's "Inside the Bush White House, the Second Term" and Michael Isikoff's and David Corn's "Hubris."

Pulitzer Prize winning historian James MacGregor Burns assesses the leadership of Bush and other recent presidents in "Running Alone." Frank Rich's "The Greatest Story Ever Sold" reviews how the administration has shaped its own narrative. Lewis Lapham's "Pretensions to Empire" examines the president's actions and offers a two-word conclusion: Impeach him.

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell will have his say in Karen DeYoung's "Soldier," an authorized biography. Former Attorney General John Ashcroft looks back in "Never Again" and John Yoo, the ex-Justice Department lawyer who helped shape the Bush administration's controversial legal guidelines for its war on terror, presents his case in "War by Other Means."

(link)

yet another worthless troll.

American Soldiers

2,948 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan for Bush and his lies.

18,500+ American soldiers have been maimed in Iraq and Afghanistan for Bush and his evil lies.

55,000+ of the 140,000 American soldiers are suffering from PTSD. Stress disorder has increased and the percentage is now around 40%.

Over 350,000+ Iraqis have been killed in Iraq since Bush declared shock and awe bombings on March 19, 2003.

Contamination from depleted uranium may have affected 125,000+ American soldiers and several million Iraqis.

I will try to share with you a money figure for our war and occupation in Iraq. Our government taps into different bottomless money wells for wars and it is difficult to always know the correct amount of money that is being spent. Money figures will probably change from time to time. By 2010 we will have spent in Iraq $1.2 trillion. We will be in Iraq for at least 50 years and the money figure that is mentioned is $8 to 10 trillion. We will probably never leave Iraq, especially with 14 permanent bases in Iraq and of the 14 permanent bases 4 are mega military bases. Iraq will have access to a bottomless money well.

BUSH IS A UNITER! HE HAS UNITED THE TERRORISTS AROUND THE WORLD TO MAKE NAZI AMERICA, ENEMY NUMBER ONE! Are you feeling more safe and secure with Bush in the WH and Cheney as his chief hatchet man overseeing Nazi America and her citizens?

Our military men and women are used as cannon fodder for a terrorist Nazi American government.

Hey happy@happy.com.

Do you have a real address, what are you afraid of, yourself. You come here and think you spew in anonymity, but “bushlies.com” knows who you are. You see this site exists on a real server, a server that records your dribble, your IP address, every word, whether you sign it or not. So you might as well come out and join us like LBH does. Freedom of speech, it’s all in your mind. Get free happy. Happy@get free

I used to post my email address but some ahole used it to subscribe me to a bunch spam crap. Now I share it only with people explicitly. I wouldn't mind it if you had it but I'm not posting it for the world. Corn has my IP address, big deal. I've got nothing to hide from Corn.

Catholic Peace Fellowship

Who are the real terrorists?

Darrell Anderson's life changed the day he was told to shoot an Iraqi family and he refused. In the Spring of 2005, Darrell had been defending an Iraqi police station that was under fire, and his fellow soldiers yelled at him to shoot at an oncoming car. Even when it became obvious that the family inside the car posed no threat, Darrell's comrades told him, "The next time, you open fire. We don't care."

CPF's GI Rights counselor has been working with Darrell, a recipient of the purple heart who now lives in Canada, where he fled while on Christmas leave. Darrell could not stomach the thought of continuing to fight in a war he has come to see as atrociously unjust. But he now wants to return home to Kentucky, to be with family. For Darrell, however, crossing the border into the United States means risking court-martial, a dishonorable discharge, and upwards of ten years in prison.

How many lives has Hitler Bush destroyed???

#34 O.K valid points, but I can't tell you from ... Funny know ones ever fucked with my e-mail, and if they do so what, If you use a valid address that you pay for you can set the security level. Don't make me give you an online civility lesson.

Amnesty International

Who are the real terrorists and how many lives has Hitler Bush destroyed???

There is no end to Nazi America's inhumanity to man!!!

Good News: Murat Kurnaz has been released from Guant?namo!

"Thank God, I am well, but just God that created us knows when I will come back"

Murat Kurnaz wrote these words to his family from Guant?namo in March 2002. His dreams of returning home to Germany have only now, finally, been realised.
Released from Guant?namo on 24 August 2006, Murat Kurnaz had been held for four years and eight months without charge or trial. The only contact he had been allowed with his family was through heavily censored letters.

In a statement, his German lawyer said: "He is now again in the circle of his family. Their joy at embracing their lost son again is indescribable".

Murat's mother, Rabiye Kurnaz dedicated these past years to campaigning for her eldest son's release. In November 2005 she attended an international conference organized by Amnesty International and Reprieve where she spoke of her hopes of being reunited with her son. Now these hopes have become a reality.

Murat Kuraz is a Turkish national who was born in Germany in 1982. His prolonged detention in Guant?namo had been complicated by his status –†lacking German citizenship, the German authorities had refused his return to Germany. The Turkish authorities had shown little interest in his case.

It was only after intense lobbying from his family, lawyers and AI members around the world, including in his home town of Bremen, that the German authorities began to act on his behalf, finally paving the way for his return.

Murat Kuraz had been arrested in Pakistan in November 2001. Soon afterwards he was transferred to US custody in Kandahar, Afghanistan. His family learnt that he was held in Guant?namo in January 2002 and received the first letter from him in March that year. He has alleged that he was subjected to torture and ill-treatment while in US custody.

Like many others held at Guant?namo, Murat Kurnaz was held for years despite little evidence to link him to "terrorist" activities. Both US and German intelligence services had secretly acknowledged this, yet it took years to secure his release. In January 2005, a US federal judge cited his case as illustrative of the inherent unfairness and fundamental flaws of the administrative review process the military authorities conduct in Guant?namo.

Murat Kurnaz is finally reunited with his family, but the effects of his long-term detention in Guant?namo will remain. His release is a victory for human rights, but also serves as a reminder that more than 400 men remain detained. Under the administrative review procedure, about 300 of these detainees are currently neither slated for release nor transfer to the custody of another government.

AI members worldwide continue to call on US authorities to close Guant?namo and for the release or fair trial of all those held. AI also continues to lobby governments to act on behalf of people from their countries –†residents or nationals –†detained at Guant?namo.

Take action to close Guant?namo!

Soon Cornposters will be declared enemy combatants and they will be off to Guantanamo for a life sentence!!!

I have a full day of "chores" tomorrow so I must leave with this. stay out the bu$hes

There was to be no mistakes, no surprises--i.e. for at least the first two weeks,... everything was controlled at all the impact sites--attempts to take photos anywhere would cause that person to get tackled, their cameras confiscated.

I'm glad you're admitting that the photo you posted of Shanksville was after they had removed evidence. Two weeks later, huh?

So, what do you think about the 'scholars' spat? Whose side did you fall out on... the no-planers(Reynolds 'n Wood), or the thermitians(Jones)? hehe

"Soon Cornposters will be declared enemy combatants and they will be off to Guantanamo for a life sentence!!!"

Sign me up.

Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Somehow I feel safe in my effects.

Anybody got a problem with Amendment IV?
I hope not.

Speaking of Gitmo...

Ugly, ugly story in this week's Rolling Stone...

Here’s a thought:

In Russia they call them Oligarchs, in Cambodia they call them pimps, in Iraq we call them insurgents, At home we call them sir, congressman, senator, and Mr. President. These are our leaders. Put yourself in someone else’s shoes, just for one second. Imagine you didn’t live in this country. Imagine you lived in Iraq, Russia, or Cambodia. Who would you chose?

choose?

Yet Another REAL Plane Crash Leaves Recognizable Debris and Bodies.

as opposed to the flight93 official crater with no crash debris anywhere.

did flight93 crash in shanksville?

Yet Another REAL Plane Crash Leaves Recognizable Debris and Bodies.

Yeah, I seen those pictures the other day. Not a very big charred area, is it? Wait another week or so after the wreckage is recovered and collected, and it'll look like your cropped picture of flight 93's site.

the flight93 plane crash is as bogus as the pentagon plane crash.
HUNT THE BOEING!: shanksville
HUNT THE BOEING!:pentagon
hmmm. with the absence of evidence to support the govt/media's claims regarding 9/11 i choose to believe that the govt/media lied to us.
but it doesn't matter what i believe - all of you are in charge of your own beliefs.

whatever alan. not everything is a conspiracy, is it.

Spy on this:

One of your links has been removed. What is your post supposed to convey? Are you trying to convince us that Bu$hco is illegitimate? Who gives a rat’s ass what happened in "shanksville"? In fact if you really believe that it is all a conspiracy, why consider it at all? If you truly believe than you have been had, beaten, taken for a ride. Now nobody believes what you are putting down, truth or not, nobody believes it. How many have perished in Louisiana, Fallujah, Bagdad? We all know that GW and company are illegitimate, and we all know what they are up to. Why do you cast a doubt? Don’t subtract from their inability, by adding your fear.

the flight93 plane crash is as bogus as the pentagon plane crash.

So, you're with Reynolds and Wood (no planes) and against Jones (planes and thermite)?

Dontcha hate it when your conspiracy theories split up like that? Now all you CT's will have to pick which one's the idiot. haha
It's easy for me, cause I know BOTH are.

*from the physics forum...

A quick check shows that neither Judy Wood or Morgan Reynolds are listed as members of ST911 anymore.

aw heck

Trolls: haven’t you had enough of "Jon Benat" go back to sleep. There’s nothing for you here. Go back to sleep, you fucking imbeciles.
go back to sleep sheep

Tim L: He said what I have been saying on this blog, that it was a univerally held belief that Iraq had WMDs.

Bullshit. Let's put this con myth out of its misery once and for all.

All you had to do was turn on C-SPAN to hear credible people -- from Ray McGovern to the career State Dept. official who resigned in protest -- saying we were being sold a bill o' goods. If the pols weren't listening to these people, they were a negligent, because these people were not only credible, they were right.

Talons?

Not a Clue

Bush seems intent on pursuing regime change in Syria and Iran. If he persists, he will likely unleash a regional war, the consequences of which will be catastrophic.

What have you gotten for your $300 billion, your 2,600 dead, your 8,000 seriously maimed in Bush's ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? Stability? Don't make me laugh. Security? America is hated in more parts of the world today than at any time in its history. What has Bush done right?

Before you resurrect the slogan "Stay the course," remember that one of the definitions of insanity is to keep doing the wrong thing. Let's face it, folks. We elected ourselves a disaster. Bush didn't understand the world when he was elected; he doesn't now; and when he goes home to Crawford, Texas, he will still be puzzled by it all.

Israel has appointed a coordinator to plan an attack on Iran. FYI!

Republican Report

"More and more it appears that the pattern of manipulation and misuse of intelligence that served the Bush administration in the drive to start a war with Iraq is being repeated today for its neighbor Iran," wrote Prados in Tompaine.com Friday.

MAKE NO MISTAKE NAZI AMERICA AND NAZI ISRAEL WILL NUKE IRAN! THAT SHOULD MAKE NAZI AMERICANS SAFE AND SECURE AS THEY ENTER HELL!

Hoekstra's Hoax

The Current Hype on Iran

Hoekstra's release of this paper is another sign pointing in the direction of a US attack on Iran. Tehran is now being blamed not only for inciting Hezbollah but also for sending improvised explosive devices (IEDs) into Iraq to kill or maim US forces. There is yet another, if more subtle, disquieting note about the paper. It bears the earmarks of a rushed job, with very little editorial scrubbing. There are misplaced modifiers, and verbs often do not take enough care to agree in number with their nouns.

One wag suggested that the president may have taken a direct hand in the drafting. My guess is even more troubling. It seems to me possible that the Cheney-Rumsfeld cabal told Hoekstra to get the paper out sooner rather than later, as an aid to Americans in "recognizing Iran as a strategic threat."

Nazi America is the most evil nation ever!!!

My guess is that the bloodsucking vampires in Nazi America are salivating at the thought of nuking Iran. Nazi America is a nation without shame or conscience.

Katherine Harris: "a failure to elect Christians to political office will allow lawmaking bodies to "legislate sin."

One of my favorite Democrats, Debbie Wasserman Schultz responds:

Rep. Katherine Harris said this week that God did not intend for the United States to be a "nation of secular laws" and that a failure to elect Christians to political office will allow lawmaking bodies to "legislate sin." The remarks, published in the weekly journal of the Florida Baptist State Convention, unleashed a torrent of criticism from political and religious officials.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., said she was "disgusted" by the comments "and deeply disappointed in Rep. Harris personally." Harris, Wasserman Schultz said, "clearly shows that she does not deserve to be a Representative."

More HERE

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

Wait there is more . . .

capt

Katherine Harris: "Separation of Church and State is a Fallacy"

Katherine Harris has made yet another absurd statement and Keith Olbermann caught it last night.

Video - WMV

Video - QT

So separation of church and state is a "fallacy" because "God chooses our rulers"? Funny, I thought it was the Supreme Court who made that decision. Ironic that this is coming from the key person in the 2000 ballot recount.

Olbermann: "Congresswoman - apparently the Almighty is voting for Nelson this time"

(h/t Mike)

More HERE

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

I wonder if Harris is scaring any Floridians?

capt

State of Florida Studied 'Supernatural' Water to Protect Citrus Trees

Florida's citrus crop contributes billions of dollars to the state's economy, so when that industry is threatened, anything that might help is considered. Back in 2001, when citrus canker was blighting the crop and threatening to reduce that vital source of revenue, an interesting if not quite scientific alternative was considered.

Katherine Harris, then Florida's Secretary of State and now a member of the U.S. House of Representatives ordered a study in which, according to an article by Jim Stratton in the Orlando Sentinel, "Researchers worked with a rabbi and a cardiologist to test celestial Drops,' promoted as a canker inhibitor because of its improved fractal design,' infinite levels of order,' and high energy and low entropy.'"

The study determined that the product tested was, basically, water that had apparently been blessed according to the principles of Kabbalic mysticism, "chang[ing] its molecular structure and imbu[ing] it with supernatural healing powers."

Citrus canker is a bacterial disease that affects all citrus trees. Caused by a bacterium, Xanthomonas axonopodis, citrus canker can be spread from tree to tree by windborne rain, the movements of birds and other animals, and human activity, such as improper disposal of infected trees and fruit. The bacterium causes brown, crusted lesions with yellow haloes to appear on the surfaces of leaves and the skin of fruit, reducing the leaves' photosynthetic capacity and stunting the growth and preventing the maturation of the fruit.

The only accepted means of fighting the blight is the downing of affected trees and proper disposal of their remains.

But the Florida state government is frequently bombarded with new supposed cures and preventatives; most of them are not tested by the state with government funds. But in this one case, at least, it appears that an exception was made: six months were spent establishing testing protocols and, finally, testing Celestial Drops. In a letter to the state government, Wayne Dixon, the head of Florida's Bureau of Entomology, Nematology, and Plant Pathology, reported that the "product is a hoax and not based on any credible known science." He added, "I wish to maintain our standing in the scientific community and not allow [the developers of Celestial Drops] to use our hard-earned credibility" to promote their product.

More HERE

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

Too funny,eh?

capt

uncledad from the previous thread. I do not agree that Hezbollah is as guilty of the carnage in Lebanon as Israel, that's like saying the Iraqis are as guilty as America. In the fucked up neocon world the aggressor is the defender and the defender is a terrorist. bushco calls them terrorists so I know it is a lie, as simple as that.

El Salvador to move embassy from Jerusalem

In move bound to upset Israel, please Arab nations, country's Foreign Ministry announces it will move its embassy in Israel to Tel Aviv. Last week, Costa Rica announced it would pull its diplomatic mission out of capital Reuters Published: 08.25.06, 22:43 El Salvador will move its embassy in Israel from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv, the Foreign Ministry said on Friday, in a move bound to upset Israel and please Arab nations. El Salvador would have been the only country in the world left with an embassy in Jerusalem after neighboring Costa Rica announced on August 16 it would pull its diplomatic mission out of the city. A US ally which has a small contingent of troops in Iraq, El Salvador is governed by conservative President Tony Saca, who is of Palestinian Christian descent. "Considering the current situation in the Middle East, El Salvador has decided to move its diplomatic representation in the state of Israel," The ministry said in a statement. Israel regards East Jerusalem as part of its "undivided and eternal capital." It captured the eastern part of Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in a move not recognized internationally. The 200,000 Arab residents of East Jerusalem are caught between Israel and an emerging Palestinian state which wants the eastern part of Jerusalem as its future capital. Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, a former Nobel Peace Prize winner, said earlier this month he made the decision to change the embassy's location to win more friends in the Middle East and comply with UN resolutions.
==================
Comply with UN resolutions? Maybe Israel should give that a try since invading, destroying and unlawful occupation tends to piss off the natives.

Uncledad @ 42:

"Anybody got a problem with Amendment IV?"

Do you mean besides the current administration?

capt @ 60:

"I wonder if Harris is scaring any Floridians?"

Not if the current polling is correct.

YO!! How are my friends?
In a House study by Dems on Thursday,the gov't awarded 70% of it's Hurricane Katrina contracts without competitive bidding. A comprehensive audit found that out of $10.6bil in awards,$7.4bil were awarded with limited or no competitive bidding. More pork o'plenty.

HI, SALADIN! How YOU doin'?(New York accent)

62 uncledad from the previous thread. I do not agree that Hezbollah is as guilty of the carnage in Lebanon as Israel, that's like saying the Iraqis are as guilty as America. In the fucked up neocon world the aggressor is the defender and the defender is a terrorist. bushco calls them terrorists so I know it is a lie, as simple as that.
Posted by: Saladin at August 26, 2006 10:40 AM

Neither side can claim to wear the White hat. What's th epoints of discussing which side is more justified? Both are invested in proving their just cause. Time to get them to agree on a solution. Too much carnage and destruction. Too much innocent death.

A quick check shows that neither Judy Wood or Morgan Reynolds are listed as members of ST911 anymore.

that's because they resigned in disgust, along with several others.

U.S. built major Iranian nuclear facility

As the U.S. and other countries wrestle with Iran's refusal this week to curb its nuclear capabilities, an examination of the Tehran facility sheds light on the degree to which the United States has been complicit in Iran developing those capabilities.
-------------
so. uncle sam assists iran in building a nuclear facility and then uses the existence of said nuclear facility as justification that iran needs to be destroyed? hmmm. does this seem at all familiar? recall the status of saddam up until the 1st gulf war. a bushco protege (not that iran is an actual bushco protege) was built up and assisted until it was time to use him as a bad guy.
-----------
here, hold these box-cutters and hair-care products......
get on the ground! get on the ground! drop the box-cutter and hair-care products you terrorist!

#62 O'Reilly, thank you for making a sane, sensible, solid comment. You are spot on regarding the situation.

Peace.

How Can You Blame Bush? There's Just a One Letter Difference Between Iran and Iraq.
Submitted by BuzzFlash on Sat, 08/26/2006 - 5:48am. Analysis
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS

Ah yes, need we remind you that it was Donald Rumsfeld who was Reagan's emissary to Saddam Hussein -- and that the Reagan Administration sided with Iraq in the ruinous Iraq-Iran War in the 80s that killed millions of people?

Iraq was the Sunni counterweight to the Shiite Mullahs in Iran. Saddam was a cruel but secular Sunni leader. In realpolitiks, he kept Iran's territorial and Shiite Crescent ambitions in check. We don't justify Saddam and we think he was a barbaric leader, but the facts of realpolitik speak for themselves. In attacking Iraq and getting bogged down in a civil war, Bush has enabled Iran as a regional power.

Ain't it ironic? It's almost as if Bush were doing Iran's work for it. After all, they fought the war over some waterway to a stalemate with Iraq. Millions of people died for nothing. Children were cannon fodder.

Then Bush goes in and achieves Iran's goals for it.

Uh, what's that about Bush being a Manchurian Candidate again?

Now, the Neo-cons are going around the right wing echo chamber mouthing the mantra that it wasn't Iraq that was the problem; it is Iran.

Oops! Getting that one letter right at the end of "Ira" can be tricky for Bush. "N" and "Q" are very close in the alphabet, after all. And for a guy who sat through the first few minutes of 9/11 trying to read "My Pet Goat," spelling can be a challenge.

Unbalanced, Over the Top, and Farting for Laughs -- Leader of the Free World?
Submitted by BuzzFlash on Fri, 08/25/2006 - 8:24am. Editorials
A BUZZFLASH EDITORAL

It's hard not to look back on this week and realize how divorced the mainstream media is from the reality of what's important in the news.

First of all, Bush had his most bizarre of bizarre news conferences yet. Only a Jon Stewart "instant analysis" of the event did it justice.

Suffice it to say, the screaming headline from the news conference was Bush admitted that Iraq had absolutely no connection to 9/11. Well, it should have been a screaming headline, but did you see it as front-page news anywhere? Or as the lead story on any television news?

We didn't.

And Bush's "performance" in the news conference was so unbalanced and over-the-top that not only his intelligence should be questioned -- as even the GOP cheerleader Joe Scarborough managed to do -- but his mental stability should be topic number one on the talk shows.

Adding fuel to that last point -- and further indication of a nation run by a man who is suffering from arrested development -- was an item in U.S. News and World Report, largely ignored by the mainstream press, that Bush loves to amuse himself by openly passing gas in front of White House aides. Apparently, his biggest thrill is -- and we are quoting from U.S. News and World Report -- "He's also known to cut a few for laughs, especially when greeting new young aides."

We guess this is what Republicans mean when they claim Bush brought back "honor and dignity" to the White House.

"Farting" for fun to humiliate new young White House staffers isn't just passing gas, it's a downright disgrace to the American people and to the White House.

We apologize for bringing it up, but Bush is the guy who is playing whoopee cushion jokes while our kids are dying in Iraq -- and no one in the mainstream press thinks that this is some underlying indication that he is unfit for office?

Frankly, it stinks to high heavens. Literally.

As for the ludicrous assertion that Bush has taken to reading the French existentialist writer, Albert Camus, we defer to our BuzzFlash Blogger in the Last Chance Democracy Cafe, who dubbed George "The Farting Voltaire."

If this weren't all so tragic for America, it would be, well, a gas.

But people are dying by the thousands and our president is literally farting around for kicks.

This is sick, very sick.

A BUZZFLASH EDITORIAL

Bellingham High grad's power project is inspiring

In recognition of his effort, Gowan received thousands of dollars in college scholarships, including $1,000 from Washington State University. He will be attending WSU to study electrical engineering this fall.

++++++

Dr. B, another ray of hope?

When they were passing out brains, Hitler Bush thought they meant trains and he was looking for the caboose.

From a smirkingchimp.com article have you no shame Mr. President?

Complete the mission? The mission is complete. Chaos in Iraq would be unsettling? There is chaos in Iraq.

"I will never question the patriotism of somebody who disagrees with me," he said, which was nice. "This has nothing to do with patriotism; it has everything to do with understanding the world in which we live ..."

Well, he finally got that right. This is not about patriotism; it is about arrogance and ignorance at the highest levels of a great democracy. Have you no shame, Mr. President? Or is it you and Vice President Cheney and Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld who have never understood the world in which we live and think that you can bully us and bully history into believing it was our doing, not yours?

Robbing Christ of His Deity and Sacrifice

The wars today have more to do with avarice then they do with religion. Do not be deceived. God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. The fate of your life depends not on what I say. It depends not on what the writer of the article debasing Christ has to say. The fate of your life has to do with what is in your heart and if you have Christ in you. Do not confuse the wiles of men, with the will of God.

Blessings.

August 26, 2006 at 08:12:49

The War Crimes of George W. Bush

by Larry Sakin

http://www.opednews.com

Benjamin Ferrencz is a man on a mission. The eighty-seven year old former Nuremberg prosecutor wants to see President George W. Bush in the same International Criminal Courts docket with Saddam Hussein on war crimes charges. "Nuremberg declared that aggressive war is the supreme international crime" Ferrencz said. "The atrocities of the Iraq War-from Abu Ghraib to the massacre at Haditha were predictable at the start of the war."

Of course, Ferrencz won't ever see Bush standing before The Hague. The United States revoked its signature from the treaties creating the ICC in 2002 and has vowed military action against the Netherlands to free US personnel detained or imprisoned by the ICC. Ferrencz speaks for millions who believe justice cannot be gained for Iraq without the recognition of Bush's illegal actions there. Admittedly, there is a cynical satisfaction that comes with the thought of Saddam and Bush being tried equally for their heinous reigns of terror. However, that's cold comfort for the thousands of families of Iraqi civilians and American military killed in Bush's supposed drive for democracy in the Middle East.

And in these times of American agitprop Christian nationalism, Bush would become a living martyr, a new Jesus persecuted for spreading their twisted gospels at the point of a gun. All we'd see on TV news is Vice President Dick Cheney, Pat Robertson, and Donald Rumsfeld plotting the overthrow of Northwestern Europe.

Ferrencz believes that had the United States shown more interest in the ICC, Saddam would have been tried for his 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Bush wouldn't have needed to oust Saddam from power militarily or gut Iraq had he been wise enough to choose a legal solution that would have saved American and Iraqi lives. "Nothing justifies the mass killing of innocents" says Ferrencz, "and the process of justice through law, on which humankind depends, would be reinforced." So the only inference we can draw from Bush's choice is that he prefers to have blood on his hands.

The only difference between Bush and Saddam is Bush has more money, weapons, and a bigger armed force behind him. Those things may not insure victory for Bush, but they do give him a huge advantage in making the world capitulate to his wishes. When you're the only leader who can offer carrots or sticks, other leaders tend not to stand in your way.

Ferrencz understands that the actions of both leaders need to be curbed. "What I've learned after working for sixty years on this problem is that you've got to stop using warfare as a means of settling your disputes."

Some look at President Bush through rose-colored glasses, believing everything he's done in Iraq is justified and that Saddam is criminally insane. However, in a world that is clouded in a hazy gray, crusading tyrants look very much the same. One may carry a Koran in his inside suit pocket and another may mouth sermons from the Bible at Morning Prayer breakfasts. When either of them moves against innocents they align themselves with those Ferrencz prosecuted sixty years ago at Nuremberg. And they each deserve the same judgments that were meted out on that dark day.

We are being set up again

First of all, former CIA professionals Larry Johnson and Jim Marcinkowski point out that the Republicans have a lot of damn gall. It was high members of this Republican administration who leaked to the Iranians and the whole world the name of Valerie Plame, an undercover CIA operative who spent her professional career combatting the proliferation of WMD and was, at the time she was betrayed by Traitor Rove and his merry band, working on Iran. Had it not been for these Republican figures, none of whom has yet been punished in any way for endangering US national security, we might know more about Iran.

Why Bush will attack Iran

08/25/06 "Information Clearing House" -- -- Like many people, I find it extremely difficult to believe that President Bush could actually do anything so crazy as to launch a military attack against Iran, and that even if he wanted to, the Congress, the Pentagon, and the American public would ever countenance such action. But I remember in the spring of 2002 writing a "Dear Friends" memo just like this one predicting that the apparent intentions of the Bush Administration to invade Iraq would certainly turn out to be nothing but a bluff, and supporting that assertion by listing all the reasons why actually doing so would lead to utter disaster. Many of my friends told me at the time that I was missing the point --- regime change was DEFINITELY going to happen, and I was exaggerating the downside consequences. The problem is that today the downside risks of attacking Iran seem even more horrendous ---- and yet? (As George Will said last Sunday to George Stephanopoulos -- "When was the last time this president ever worried about getting approval in advance from the Congress or the public?") It makes me nervous when my president truly believes he is carrying out the will of God.

IT IS A CERTAINTY THAT BUSH WILL ATTACK IRAN!!!

7. Adding up all those factors, it seems clear to me that Bush has laid out the following course for American policy, adding up to a Catch-22 from which I see no escape:

a. Continuing futile efforts to achieve Iranian capitulation through weak and ineffective economic sanctions, to the accompaniment of counterproductive vituperation and bombast;

b. Quickly followed by a period of rapidly escalating threats of military action, during which international and domestic opposition to American policy will increase dramatically, making Bush's choices increasingly more painful and difficult in every respect;

c. A judgment by Bush that the immediate risks and costs of preemptive military action against Iran are, in the final analysis, less formidable than the risks and costs of tolerating Iranian nuclear possession --- and the personal and national humiliation that would result from passive acceptance of that outcome.

d. Sometime before the end of his term, a massive air military attack on a wide range of carefully selected targets in Iran, in partnership with Israel, and against the advice of many of his advisers --- justified by the conviction that a nuclear Iran would pose an intolerable threat to American national security, firm in his faith that God agrees with him on that point, and certain that history will eventually recognize and properly appreciate his courageous and visionary leadership.

CORNPOSTERS, WE MUST PRAY FOR THE DAMNED SOULS OF NAZI AMERICANS!!!

NAZI AMERICA WILL BE GUILTY OF MASS MURDERS AND WAR CRIMES!!!

JESUS SPEAKS SANITY TO A WORLD OF LUNATICS!!!

WE HAVE LUNATICS RUNNING OUR ASYLUMS!!!

MY GOD DOES NOT BELIEVE IN NUCLEAR WARS!!!

70 thank you caroline. you made my day.

If the dixie chicks said Clinton was wrong for bombing Osama in Afganistan they'd [the trolls] all be agreeing.

Posted by: YET ANOTHER happy scroll by at August 26, 2006

TRUE.

Here's a good article for the womenz. Actually, it's good period.

And now ... we present 2006 Equal Rites awards

By ELLEN GOODMAN

So, once more, we celebrate Aug. 26, the anniversary of the passage of women's suffrage, in our own special way. Our one-woman jury gathers in the shadow of our foremothers to dispense the much-coveted Equal Rites Awards to those who have done their best over the past year to set back the cause of women.
===========================
bush got the Manhandling Prize and Ann the Man got The Backlash Award.

Still awaiting for breaking news about Dave's new book...

BBL. That's 'be back later' for you baby boomers.

;-)

Alot of people would answer with "BRH".

*be right here

O'Reilly 67, your suggestion is a good one, unfortunately Israel has proven time and time again that they are not interested in peace, if they were it would have been accomplished long ago. They have made their goal loud and clear, compromise is not an option. Compare the policies of both bushco and the Israeli govt. They are alike in nearly every way. War is the means to the end, that is why they lie about their enemies and prefer to slaughter everyone rather then negotiate.

Feds Bust 25 Illegal Alien Sexual Predators in Los Angeles

Four of the foreign nationals taken into custody during this week's operation have been deported from the United States previously.

These pedophiles pose a serious threat to the well-being of our children, our families, and our communities...In the case of foreign nationals who commit predatory offenses, we cannot only take them off of the streets, but we can seek to have them sent out of the country.
-----
have them sent out of the country? right. like the ones that had already been sent out of the country! oh excellent job minute maids!
heck of a job deciderer!

Saladin, we already have global warming, with more in the works, unstoppable even if everybody stopped using coal and oil today. Global thirst is in the works, unstoppable, due to global warming and population growth. I conclude more war over resources. See Diamond's "Collapse".

Thanks, Micki. A 400 watt ray.

Deja Vu who is drinking the neocons Kool Aid?

The numerous articles written about the Bush administrations push for a pre-emptive strike in Iran by Ray McGovern (former Cia analyst) at truthout "Just when you thought you'd seen everything Hoakstra's Hoax", Juan Cole's "Folks we are being set up again" at Information Clearing House and Ray Close (Cia 27 years)"Why Bush will choose War Against Iran" also at Information Clearinghouse demonstrates how important it will be for present military and intelligence insiders to take a pre-emptive stand against the radicals pushing for military action in Iran...... NOW NOT LATER, let us chant NOW NOT LATER.

So many insiders stood up after ( I know it is better late than never) the illegal invasion of Iraq. Colonel Wilkerson (former chief of staff to Colin Powell), Paul Pillar (National Intelligence officer for N.E. and South Asia), Carl Ford (former chief of the State Dept's Intelligence and Research directorate (INR) (this group got the most right about the pre-war intelligence community, Russel Tice(NSA insider) all came out after the damage was done by the radicals in the Bush administration.

Hopefully the military and intelligence analyst insiders will come out and dispute, carefully disect, review and validate one way or another the claims being made about Iran by these radicals before another illegal, immoral and idiotic strike on Iran takes place.

I know history repeats itself but this would be fast, insane and absolutely outrageous if the group of socio-paths that "cakewalked' our nation into Iraq are successful at dragging our nation into a military confrontation with Iran.

NOW NOT LATER!

Kathleen, you should know better then to trust a wacked 9/11 conspiracy theorist like McGovern. 27 years with the CIA don't mean squat!

What geological age are we in?

The age of PAIN (Pliestocene-Anthromorphocene Intergenerational Nightmare)

From the latest thread on

Real Climate

David B. I'm curious, you claim there is nothing we can do to stop this so-called catastrophic climate change, yet you post articles with information about climate change. What is the point if we can't reverse it? I believe the climate will change, as it always has throughout the ages, no matter what we do. We may speed up or slow down certain aspects, with actions like decimating tropical and temperate rain forests which play a huge part in climate control, but I think we CAN change those aspects by exercising our consumer power. It really is the only power we have that the govt. can't interfere with. I'm not totally pessimistic about our chances, just cynical.

Saladin --- We can attempt to make the necessary adjustments intelligently. We can attempt to keep the climate change due to excess carbon dioxide to a minimum.

Consumer power is only the smallest aspect of what is needed for both these attempts.

Yes, the climate is always changing. But this change, due to excess carbon dioxide, is a change occuring faster than at any time in the last 55 million years. There is simply no more recent example, and if we are in for a repeat of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum not very many of us are going to survive it.

Congress please do not drink the kool-aid that Congressman Hoaxtra is serving about Iran's "alleged" plan.

In the Report of the Select Committee on Intelligence on the U.s. intelligence Community's Pre-war Intelligence Assessment on Iraq, Senator Diane Feinstein shares some additional views and suggesstions. One of those suggestions would certainly apply immediately in regard to the push for a pre-emptive military strike in Iran and the intelligence that is coming out from the Professional intelligence community and the "Faux" intelligence community led by Frederick Fleitz and Congressman Hoaxtra.

Senator Feinstein recommends that "Restoring the analytic process to ensure effective peer review and analytic integrity to prevent the use of false intelligence in policy making" is critical.

To Senator Feinstein and the rest of congress there is no time like the present.

The "Latest on Hubris gone extreme" is Frederick Flighty's and Congressman Hoaxtra's "Faux" intelligence report attempting to trump the NIE's report.

Damn David I hope you left some empty pages in your book, we have two more years of this insanity.

THE ANTI-WAR PRO-PEACE CANDIDATES

A Beginning

ANTIWAR CANDIDATE: Richard Duffee / Connecticut Posted Aug 26, 2006 ANTIWAR CANDIDATE: Richard Duffee / Connecticut... ANTIWAR CANDIDATE: Daniel Sumrall / Connecticut Posted Aug 26, 2006 ANTIWAR CANDIDATE: Daniel Sumrall / Connecticut... ANTIWAR CANDIDATE: Ralph Ferrucci / Connecticut Posted Aug 26, 2006 ANTIWAR CANDIDATE: Ralph Ferrucci / Connecticut... ANTIWAR CANDIDATE: Jeff Latas / Arizona Posted Aug 26, 2006 ANTIWAR CANDIDATE: Jeff Latas / Arizona... ANTIWAR CANDIDATES: James Wright / Texas Posted Aug 26, 2006 ANTIWAR CANDIDATES: James Wright / Texas... ANTIWAR CANDIDATE: Diane Benson / Alaska Posted Aug 25, 2006 ANTIWAR CANDIDATE: Diane Benson / Alaska... ANTIWAR CANDIDATE: Jean Hay Bright / Maine Posted Aug 25, 2006 ANTIWAR CANDIDATE: Jean Hay Bright / Maine... ANTIWAR CANDIDATE: Rae Vogeler / Wisconsin Posted Aug 25, 2006 ANTIWAR CANDIDATE: Rae Vogeler / Wisconsin... ANTIWAR CANDIDATE: Stacey Tallitsch / Louisiana Posted Aug 25, 2006 ANTIWAR CANDIDATE: Stacey Tallitsch / Louisiana... ANTIWAR CANDIDATE: Bill Glass / North Carolina Posted Aug 25, 2006 ANTIWAR CANDIDATE: Bill Glass / North Carolina... ANTIWAR CANDIDATE: Chris Lugo / Tennessee Posted Aug 25, 2006 ANTIWAR CANDIDATE: Chris Lugo / Tennessee... ANTIWAR CANDIDATE: Jonathan Tasini / New York Posted Aug 25, 2006 ANTIWAR CANDIDATE: Jonathan Tasini / New York... ANTIWAR CANDIDATE: Kevin Zeese / Maryland Posted Aug 25, 2006 ANTIWAR CANDIDATE: Kevin Zeese / Maryland... ANTIWAR CANDIDATE: Mary Maxwell / New Hampshire Posted Aug 25, 2006 ANTIWAR CANDIDATE: Mary Maxwell / New Hampshire... ANTIWAR CANDIDATE: Bob Smithers / Texas Posted Aug 25, 2006 ANTIWAR CANDIDATE: Bob Smithers / Texas... ANTIWAR CANDIDATE: Frank Gilmour / Missouri Posted Aug 25, 2006 ANTIWAR CANDIDATE: Frank Gilmour / Missouri... ANTIWAR CANDIDATE: Bob Bowman / Florida Posted Aug 25, 2006 ANTIWAR CANDIDATE: Bob Bowman / Florida... ANTIWAR CANDIDATE: Carl Sheeler / Rhode Island Posted Aug 25, 2006 ANTIWAR CANDIDATE: Carl Sheeler / Rhode Island... ANTIWAR CANDIDATE: Rod Driver / Rhode Island Posted Aug 25, 2006 ANTIWAR CANDIDATE: Rod Driver / Rhode Island...

David B I disagree, the people doing the buying are the ones making the decisions. If they don't learn to adjust, adapt and break bad habits we're screwed. BTW, who was keeping track of the climate 55 million years ago? Or even 1 million years ago?

HarrisWatch: "Pink Sugar" Pushes God, as the Money Runs out

It's increasingly clear to observers that the Harris for Senate campaign has become, in essence, a Civil War re-enactment of Sherman's march through Atlanta, with Harris playing Sherman and her campaign playing Atlanta. Even the tone of media coverage of her antics seems to have shifted, to be no more or less than a somber and respectfully brief, unflourished recounting of the mayhem that she has caused.

That's probably because she's down roughly 30 points in recent polls, so her self-immolating displays hardly matter. Hence reporters are more likely to give only a spare report of the facts, insert an obligatory Democratic "outrage" quote, make a sympathetic call to Harris' spokeswoman for whatever clean-up statement she's allowed to give, and call it a day.

What's more, it turns out Harris may not even have the money to fund her own self-destruction. The $10 million of her own money she promised to pour into her campaign -- which was necessary, because she couldn't raise outside funds to keep going -- doesn't exist, according to a new report.

Apparently, she doesn't stand to inherit money from her father's fortune, as she had said; it's all going to her mother.

More HERE

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

Maybe her karma ran over her dogma?

capt

Fascinating sent this story off to tips@rawstory.com several days ago (they will often post articles that you send that they have not gotten wind of). They have not touched it just like the rest of the U.S. media.

New ruling in AIPAC case raises
questions about Ԧoreign agentsՠ
By Ron Kampeas
August 23, 2006

WASHINGTON, Aug. 23 (JTA) A new pretrial ruling in the classified-information case against two former pro-Israel lobbyists raises new questions about what defines a foreign agent and whether the government has the right to spy on lobbyists.
Ruling on whether a wiretap order was legal, Judge T.S. Ellis III said there was ample probable cause to believe that two former employees of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee were agents of a foreign power. The ruling was handed down last week and declassified Tuesday.

Ellis also said that collection or transmission of material that is not generally available to the public qualifies as an activity that could merit wiretapping under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA.

Ellis, a federal judge in Alexandria, Va., ruled on a motion to suppress the FISA-obtained evidence, filed by lawyers for Steve Rosen, AIPAC’≥ former foreign policy director, and Keith Weissman, its former Iran analyst.

The defense contended that, as lobbyists, Rosen and Weissman do not qualify as the type of major threats to U.S. security that the system was designed to rout out.

The ruling could have far-reaching implications for how AIPAC functions as a lobby and how lobbyists, journalists, academics and other non-governmental researchers gather information.

more at JTA

S Africa to legalise gay partnerships

South Africa is due to become Africa's first country to legalise gay partnerships following the government's approval yesterday of a bill on civil unions.

President Thabo Mbeki's cabinet discussed and approved the Civil Unions bill, which provides for the recognition of domestic partnerships between adults of the same or a different sex.

The move followed a judgment in December by South Africa's Constitutional Court, which found that the country's common law definition of marriage violated the constitution, which bars discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation.

South Africa's tolerance of gay relationships makes it an exception in Africa, most of whose countries have laws prohibiting intercourse between people of the same sex. Robert Mugabe, president of neighbouring Zimbabwe, has described gays as "worse than dogs and pigs", and in Botswana gay sex is punishable with prison terms of up to seven years.

South African gay activists welcomed the government's decision yesterday. "We're very happy about it," said Thuli Madi of Behind the Mask, an online magazine about gay issues in Africa. "It calls for a celebration."

However, it was unclear yesterday whether the law would give people of the same sex all the same rights enjoyed by married heterosexual couples. "The legal consequences of such a partnership will be spelled out and recognised in law once the bill is passed by parliament," South Africa's government communications department said.

More HERE

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

South Africa is more progressive than the USA? That goes with East Germany decriminalized drugs. This has become a crazy world.

"The more things change, the more they remain... insane."
~ Michael Fry and T. Lewis, Over the Hedge, 05-09-04

capt

Saladin --- Climatology is partly a historical science, akin the geology. So there are fossilized palm trees, 55 million years old, in rocks which were at the north pole then. There are many other climate proxies available and some of them have been studied in the last 30 years.

Many of the most important matters are subject to govenment regulation, taxation and subsidy. Or even persuation. How will consumers convince China or even India to build coal-fired electrical power generating stations which use carbon dioxide sequestration rather than their current plans?

Oops, "akin TO geology".

Can someone please explain to me how Americans can trust Republicans on National Security?

How can they forget that 9/11 happenned under the Bush administration's watch, and they continue to get failing grades from the 9/11 commission.

The Bush Republican Record on Homeland Security: Failing Grades Spotlight Lack of Progress, Dangerous Vulnerabilities
April 3, 2006
we are not as safe as we need to be there are far too many C's, D's, and F's in the report card we will issue today. Many obvious steps that the American people assume have been completed, have not been some of these failures are shocking we are frustrated by the lack of urgency about fixing these problems.

- 9/11 Commission Chair Thomas Kean and Vice-Chair Lee Hamilton, 12/5/05

Some Republicans keep saying that the National Security is their ticket in November. How can this be?

Snatching Victory . . .
Republicans can still salvage the midterm elections.
by Fred Barnes
09/04/2006,

You could almost hear cheers of joy coming from the White House. President Bush, it seems, is back, no longer hopelessly unpopular and embattled. You could see a renewed vigor in Bush's bracing defense last week of his Iraq policy and his warning of the geopolitical disaster that would follow a pullout (or "redeployment" as Democrats call it). And you could even see it in polls. In a polling slump since Hurricane Katrina struck a year ago, Bush's job approval was back in the 40s again--42 percent in the Gallup, Hotline, Rasmussen, and CNN surveys--and rising.

That wasn't all. The closely watched "generic ballot" suggested congressional Republicans may yet avert disaster on November 7. This measures whether voters want a Democrat or a Republican to represent them in Congress. It is a flawed yardstick and has never been reliably predictive. Still, after trailing by as many as 20 percentage points, Republicans were buoyed by reaching parity (at 40 percent) with Democrats in the Hotline poll and trailing by only 47 percent to 45 percent in Gallup. Even the most threatened Republican senator, Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, down by double digits last month, seems to have cut his opponent's lead in half.

And, surprise of surprises, there's some good news from Iraq. The new offensive to cleanse Baghdad of insurgents and terrorists seems to be proving a success--one qualified by the fact that Moktada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army of Shia jihadists remains hunkered down in the city. "Everybody has seen an improvement," declared Gen.
George Casey, the American commander in Iraq. Even David Ignatius of the Washington Post was impressed, drawing an important lesson from the offensive. "With enough troops and aggressive tactics, American forces can bring order to even the meanest streets," he wrote.

Moreover, Bush and Republicans have an overriding issue to help them again: national security and the war on terror. This issue was the key to Republican victories in 2002 and 2004. With the foiling by the British of the plot to blow up airliners flying to America, the issue has moved front and center again--to the dismay of Democrats. They have tried to inoculate themselves by proposing a few defensive steps against terrorists. But Democrats remain highly vulnerable because of their efforts to weaken the more significant offensive tools against terrorists: NSA eavesdropping, the Patriot Act, the SWIFT bank surveillance program.

At Weekly Standard

Great article at John Dean Findlaw

Michelle Goldberg's Study of the Rise of Christian Nationalism, and Its Adherents' Strategy to Use the Courts to Further Their Agenda
By JOHN W. DEAN
----
Friday, Aug. 25, 2006

If more Americans would read works like Michelle Goldberg's Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism, the longevity of our democracy, as we know it, would be more assured. I say this because the more people who understand the thinking and agenda of the growing forces of "Christian nationalism," the less likely it will be that these forces will succeed. Not many people want to go where Christian nationalists want to take the country.

Michelle Goldberg, a journalist who writes for Salon, defines Christian nationalism as the "Christian worldview" that envisions Christianity governing "every aspect of public and private life, and [holds] that all -- government, science, history, culture, and relationships -- must be understood according to the dictates of scripture." Christian nationalists have "biblically correct positions on every issue, from gay marriage to income tax rates."

These believers are also known as dominionists. Dominionism is a theology drawn from God's instruction to Adam in Genesis (1:26-27) to take dominion over the animate and inanimate world. As Goldberg explains, "dominionism is derived from a theocratic sect called Christian Reconstructionism, which advocates replacing American civil law with Old Testament biblical law."

In this column, I'll first share, by way of background, a few of many facts from Goldberg's work, which I have either quoted or paraphrased, including information she provided to me during a conversation about her book. Then I'll address what she reports is the underlying strategy of the Christian nationalists: to use the courts, state and federal, to implement their agenda.

more at findlaw

I was talking to a friend who has a background in accounting and finance for over 25 years and he said that we are in the beginning stages of a recession. People who watch Faux News are not given that impression. Bush must attack Iran in order to distract us from our serious economic problems.

Andrew was on Diane Rehm several years ago. This is a great article at American Conservative.The Islamic Way of War

Muslims have stopped fighting on Western terms and have started winning.

by Andrew J. Bacevich
In Iraq, the world’≥ only superpower finds itself mired in a conflict that it cannot win. History’≥ mightiest military has been unable to defeat an enemy force of perhaps 20,000 to 30,000 insurgents equipped with post-World War II vintage assault rifles and anti-tank weapons.

In Gaza and southern Lebanon, the Middle East’≥ mightiest military also finds itself locked in combat with adversaries that it cannot defeat. Despite weeks of bitter fighting, the IDF’≥ Merkava tanks, F-16 fighter-bombers, and missile-launching unmanned aerial vehicles failed to suppress, much less eliminate, the armed resistance of Hamas and Hezbollah.

What are we to make of this? How is it that the seemingly weak and primitive are able to frustrate modern armies only recently viewed as all but invincible? What do the parallel tribulations and embarrassments of the United States and Israel have to tell us about war and politics in the 21st century? In short, what’≥ going on here?

The answer to that question is dismayingly simple: the sun has set on the age of unquestioned Western military dominance. Bluntly, the East has solved the riddle of the Western Way of War. In Baghdad and in Anbar Province as at various points on Israel’≥ troubled perimeter, the message is clear: methods that once could be counted on to deliver swift decision no longer work.

For centuries, Western military might underpinned Western political dominion everywhere from Asia to Africa to the New World. It was not virtue that created the overseas empires of Great Britain, France, Spain, and the other European colonizers; it was firepower, technology, and discipline.

Through much of the last century, nowhere was this Western military pre-eminence more in evidence than in the Middle East. During World War I, superior power enabled the British and French to topple the Ottomans, carve up the region to suit their own interests, and then rule it like a fiefdom. Until 1945, European machine guns kept restive Arabs under control in Egypt, Iraq, Syria, and Palestine.

The end of World War II found the Europeans without the will to operate the machine guns and short on the money to pay for them. In the Middle East, Arabs no longer willing to follow instructions issued by London or Paris demanded independence. Eager to claim prestige and respect, these nationalists, Egypt’≥ Gamal Abdel Nasser foremost among them, saw in the creation of large machine-age armies a shortcut to achieving their goals.

at American Conservative

hubris goeth before the fall

Down, down, down!

Newsweek

Bush's approval rating has taken a slight dip since the last NEWSWEEK Poll in mid-August. While 38 percent of respondents approved and 55 percent disapproved of his job performance back then, now 36 percent approve and 56 percent disapprove. That approval figure nearly matches the president's all-time low of 35 percent in May.

63% of Americans disapprove of the way Bush is handling the situation in Iraq. Although the poll calls his 49% approval rating on the handling of terrorism a 'bright spot' it, too, is down from his prior rating of 55% in August of this year.

-Desi

More HERE

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

I wonder if Bush will set a record. I imagine if he "stays the course" he could drive down those numbers even more.

capt

Bush Eyes Iran at Press Conference
By Matthew Rothschild
August 22, 2006

At Bush's press conference Monday, he made two things clear. First, there's no way he's getting us out of Iraq.

"We're not leaving, so long as I'm the President," he said.

As part of his ever-changing justification for being in Iraq, he did mention the dirty little three-letter word oil, interestingly enough.

This was Bush the Deluded speaking, the messianic militarist who believes he's writing the final history of the region, or at least transcribing God's wishes for it. Here's what he said: "A failed Iraq . . . would give the terrorists and extremists an additional tool besides safe haven, and that is revenues from oil sales."

I guess he thinks it's OK to refer to Iraq's vast oil supplies now, three and a half years after launching the war, whereas it would have been too crass to mention them before.

But it makes little sense to suggest that Iraqi nationalists would hand over their oil to Al Qaeda, which is blowing up innocent people. If the U.S. leaves, the Iraqis—ìunnis and Shiites alike--are more likely to go after Al Qaeda, not less.

That likelihood doesn't fit into Bush's script, though.

But attacking Iran does, and that was the second ominous noise that Bush made on Monday.

Bush warned a couple times of the "danger of a nuclear-armed Iran."

Asked about Tehran's influence, he said, "Iran is obviously part of the problem. They sponsor Hezbollah. They encourage a radical brand of Islam. Imagine how difficult this issue would be if Iran had a nuclear weapon."

He called Iran "a central part of creating instability, trying to stop reformers from realizing dreams."

Then he fused Iran and Iraq together, joining the Islamic state and the failed state into one single enemy.

In broken syntax, he laid it out: "The question facing this country is will—§o—∑e, one, understand the threat to America? In other words, do we understand that a failed, failed states in the Middle East are a direct threat to our country's security? And secondly, will we continue stay engaged in helping reformers, in working to advance liberty, to defeat an ideology that doesn't believe in freedom? And my answer is, so long as I'm the President we will."

In response to a question about Tehran's growing influence, despite his efforts to curb it, he said, most threatening of all: "The final history in the region has yet to be written."

This was Bush the Deluded speaking, the messianic militarist who believes he's writing the final history of the region, or at least transcribing God's wishes for it.

Re #111: kathleen, thanks. "... reliance on the sword alone cannot bring a solution ..."

At the Aipac website/August 25, 2006

More of that "exiles say" Iran has obtained nuclear technology trick. Will Judy Miller be writing the story?

U.S.: Syria Must Adhere to Hizballah Arms Embargo
The United States has warned Syria to abide by a U.N. Security Council resolutionճ prohibition on arms shipments to Lebanon-based Hizballah, which receives most of its weapons and funding from Damascus and Iran, the Associated Press reported. A State Department spokesman said ҩt is a singular duty for Syria, as the one country apart from Israel that borders LebanonӠto adhere to the arms embargo established by Resolution 1701, passed earlier this month to end hostilities sparked by Hizballahճ July 12 attack on Israel. Learn more about the necessity of enforcing the U.N. resolution, which also calls for Hizballah to disarm and for a multi-national force.

Iran Has Obtained Advanced Nuclear Technology, Exiles Say
The exile group that first exposed Iran’≥ pursuit of nuclear arms claimed Thursday that Tehran has secretly built at least 15 P-2 centrifuges, advanced versions of the machine that can enrich uranium as fuel for atomic bombs, The New York Times reported. A U.N. Security Council resolution passed last month requires Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment efforts by Aug. 31 or face international sanctions. Visit www.aipac.org/iran to learn more about