Mr. David Corn,

Funny theme as we are living on the other side of the looking glass.

Great Post!

Thanks

Kirk

There is no need to concentrate on the lies that started Armegeddon, everything is right on schedule.

Buildup to World War III

by Bill Sardi

From: Lew Rockwell

Objective: Seize oil fields and destroy military in Arabic countries

Step #1: Raise oil prices to unprecedented levels so the economic impact of any withdrawal of oil from the world market by Middle-Eastern countries will be blunted by existing high oil prices.

Step #2: Warn the public, in this instance in a State of the Union Address, that the nation must become less oil dependent.

Step #3: Raise funds for the war in Congress before war is announced. The President requested the military budget be raised by $70 billion (Feb. 5, 2006).

Step #4: Provoke the people in target countries to respond with anger by humiliating them. Cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in Danish newspapers have provoked outrage and demonstrations throughout Middle-Eastern countries. An Associated Press report says "images of abuse by American soldiers at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison and reports of deplorable conditions at the Guantanamo Bay prison also have reinforced suspicions that Arabs in general have become targets of the anti-terror war."

A Knight-Ridder news report said: "Muslims also took to the streets in Afghanistan, the West Bank, Iraq and New Zealand on Sunday. The most violent protests occurred in Asian and Middle Eastern capitals. In London, some protesters carried placards warning that those who defame Islam would pay with their blood."

Fawzi al-Jasem, Kuwait's ambassador to Austria, said: "At first it was just Denmark, but it keeps spreading," al-Jasem said. "We don't know what we can do to stop this."

Somehow a vast cache of Danish flags have appeared in Muslim countries, to be publicly burned, while green and black Islamic flags were waved by demonstrators worldwide. The outrage is being well orchestrated.

Step #5: Find a fall guy. Jamal Ahmed Badawi, the so-called mastermind of the USS Cole attack in 2000, is reported on Feb. 5, 2006, to have escaped from prison in Yemen with other al Qaeda terrorists. He is now free to attack the West.

The problem with this story is that Associated Press released a similar story that Badawi escaped from prison on April 11, 2003. Certainly the news media is aware of this, which means they are complicit in the propaganda buildup to the next war.

Step #6: Contrive or provoke a threat. In this instance, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, seeing US military bases being built in countries neighboring Iran and elsewhere, may feel the only negotiation card Iran has left is nuclear weapons.

Step #7: Ignite the world against the Middle-Eastern countries in order to recruit the vast number of military troops required for WW III. US forces are short on man power. Whatever country doesn't go along with the agenda won't have oil supplies restored.

Step #8: Now all that is needed in this powder keg environment is an alarming event, which is scheduled for....
------------
The whore media I hold completely responsible.

The thugs and slugs in power stole it fair and square. They will dictate the game from now on. "We can do _______, because we say so" started long before the illegal and unwise invasion of Iraq, just as the illegal wiretaps started long before 911.

Seems clear we would be facing a takeover from within to destroy American doctrine because it is inconvenient and cumbersome not matter what, who or how.

There is nothing the Democrats can do (well not much) so we can only hope some in the GOP to stand up for the country and the constitution instead of holding up their legs for the likes of Bush, Cheney, Rove, etc..

*sigh*

capt

David, not only did the press corps not ask about the MOADSM'S. They have yet to ask anyone where is the verifiable evidence to back the repeated claims of the Bush administration that Iran is developing their nuclear capabilities...DEJA VU....INCLUDING YOU AND HUFFINGTON.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph the same folks who lied us into the "cakewalk in Iraq" have been allowed to lay the groundwork for sanctions or military action against Iran. Based on what verifiable evidence?

These folks including John Bolton should be in jail or at the very least in a courtroom. Instead Bolton has been laying out yet another parallel organization to trump the IAEA'S PROCESS. Mr. El Baradei has said that Iran poses not "imminent threat" yet Bolton marches on. Ready to move forward with sanctions whether the UN security council votes yes or not. Deja Vu. All the while the media sleeps and the american people (numb and dizzy from spin) do not even ask the question...WHERE IS THE FUCKING VERIFIABLE EVIDENCE THAT WOULD SUPPORT THE CLAIM THAT IRAN IS DEVELOPING THEIR NUCLEAR CAPABILITY?

The same folks who warned us against the lies that led us into Iraq have been screaming at the tops of their lungs about Iran. Scott Ritter, Cia Ray McGovern, know one seems to be taking their insights and asking the logical questions of the Bush administration.

David will you be stepping up to the plate on this important issue?

Jesus history is repeating itself fast.

Great reference to Alice in Wonderland. The circular argument of the Attorney General -- we didn't break the law because we don't believe we broke the law -- is incredibly frustrating,

Also, a couple of times during the hearings, Senators were essentially begging Gonzales to tell them how to change the law so the administration would be in compliance. He kept saying he thinks everything is fine with FISA. This reluctance of the administration needs further questioning.

The MOADSM reaction (or lack of) is much like so many `issues' the extreme Left thinks are important but in the broader picture, "Don't amount to a hill of beans!". I mentioned the Danish cartoon incident a potential BIG deal and it has certainly proven to be so. Any serious journalist better toss their name into the `hat of ideas' and say something. You Lefty journalist say some of the most outrageous things but yet, for the most part, are SILENT on this `incident'...Echos of hypocracy?

One of the best in the business is copied below on the BIG PICTURE:

Thomas Sowell today:

Terrorists and terrorist governments are giving us almost daily evidence of their fanatical hatred and violent sadism, as the clock ticks away toward their gaining possession of nuclear weapons. They not only hold a harmless young woman hostage in Iraq, they parade her in tears on television, just as they have paraded not only the terrorizing, but even the beheading, of others on television.

Moreover, there is a large and gleeful audience in the Arab world for these gross brutalities, just as there was glee and cheering among the Palestinians when the televised destruction of the World Trade center was broadcast in the Middle East.

Yet what are we preoccupied with or outraged about? Whether the American government should intercept the phone calls of these cutthroats to people in the United States.

That question has been sanitized in the mainstream media by asking whether the government should be engaged in "domestic wiretapping," just as the terrorists themselves have been sanitized into "militants" or "insurgents."

The way the question is posed by many in the media and in politics, you would think our intelligence agencies were listening in on you talking on the phone to your aunt Mabel.

Be serious! There are more than a quarter of a billion people in the United States. Intelligence agencies have neither the manpower, the time, the money, nor the interest to listen in on you and your aunt Mabel.

Lawyers may differ on fine legal points about the Constitutional powers of the commander in chief during wartime versus the oversight powers of the courts. But, a Supreme Court Justice once pointed out that the Constitution of the United States is not a suicide pact.

BTW: A quick glance show postings are getting boring! Adios!!

Kathleen, you should know by now that no one of significance is going to jail, this play will be ssen through to the bitter end, and it appears to me the Iranian president is provoking it. Is he just another patsy for the NWO? What does he gain from this?

STFU moneybags, read the Constitution!

CHECK OUT THIS TIMELINE OF THE CARTOONS BEING PRINTED
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
30 Sept 2005: Danish paper publishes cartoons
20 Oct: Muslim ambassadors complain to Danish PM
10 Jan 2006: Norwegian publication reprints cartoons
26 Jan: Saudi Arabia recalls its ambassador
30 Jan: Gunmen raid EU's Gaza office demanding apology
31 Jan: Danish paper apologises
1 Feb: Papers in France, Germany, Italy and Spain reprint cartoons
4 Feb: Syrians attack Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus
5 Feb: Protesters sack Danish embassy in Beirut
------------------------------------------------

TAKE THE DATE OF THE FIRST PRINTING OF THE CARTOONS SEPT AND INSERT THE DATE OF THE DISTRICT IN NORWAY THAT DECIDED TO JOIN THE BOYCOTT OF ISRAELI PRODUCTS ...DEC. 16TH 2005..

Also insert the response from the ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE and other Israeli firster groups and Condaleeza's response in December, she said Norway would suffer consequences from it's decision.

Then move to the decision of the Norwegian paper's decision to reprint the inflammatory cartoons.

I really do not think this is a coincidence. Since the original individual who commissioned the cartoons Flemming Rose is involved with Daniel Pipes (who has led the movement to block the DIVEST FROM ISRAEL CAMPAIGN ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES HERE IN THE STATES.

What an effective way to inflame and ignite the Muslim population and turn them against the Scandanavian countries. What a way to SHUT DOWN THE DIVEST FROM ISRAEL CAMPAIGN.

30 Sept 2005: Danish paper publishes cartoons
20 Oct: Muslim ambassadors complain to Danish PM

--HERE IS WHERE YOU INSERT
--------------------------------------------
..16 DEC...2005 THE DATE THAT A DISTRICT IN NORWAY DECIDED TO JOIN THE BOYCOTT ISRAELI PRODUCTS CAMPAIGN

..IN DECEMEBER MANY ISRAEL FIRSTER ORGANIZATIONS AND ISRAEL RESPONDED AGGRESSIVELY. (WHICH I BELIEVE WOULD BE NORMAL FOR ANY COUNTRY TO RESPOND)

..THEN CONDALEEZA RICE RESPONDS AND TELLS NORWAY "THAT THEY WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES"

..WHY WOULD NORWAY DECIDE TO REPRINT THESE INFLAMMATORY DRAWINGS
who owns this paper..who is the person who made the decision to reprint?

--BACK TO THE ORIGINAL TIMELINE
-------------------------------------------
10 Jan 2006: Norwegian publication reprints cartoons
26 Jan: Saudi Arabia recalls its ambassador
30 Jan: Gunmen raid EU's Gaza office demanding apology
31 Jan: Danish paper apologises
1 Feb: Papers in France, Germany, Italy and Spain reprint cartoons
4 Feb: Syrians attack Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus
5 Feb: Protesters sack Danish embassy in Beirut

Cartoon row: Your views

I DO NOT THINK THIS WAS SOME INNOCENT MISTAKE.

#5
Lynn,
I find that interesting too. It tells me that the white house 1. doesn't care what the congress thinks and 2. is baiting the congress into doing nothing so that it can proceed on in the same manner. When people like Lindsey Graham can say

"All I'm saying is the inherent authority argument in its application to me seems to have no boundaries when it comes to executive decisions in a time of war, it deals the Congress and courts out, Mr. Attorney General."

it is pretty serious. If this congress lets it go they are nothing more than a lax parent who allows his son or daughter to terrorize the neighborhood.
It is the congresses job to be a check and balance.

#8 from Corn blog's best Constitutional Scholar:

STFU moneybags, read the Constitution!

Posted by: DEN at February 7, 2006 11:43 AM

David:

Last words before I head out! Your site is blessed with so many Scholars (see example #8), world-class economists and political analysts, I am just awe-struck. I presume most of your Lefty regulars have numerous publications, books, and of course, the requsite degrees but have to post under pseudo handles to avoid upstaging you. Needless to say, they must be among the wealthy elites since they should be able to capitalize on their remarkable forsights.

As for you and your site, it is no longer called `BushLied', right? Expand your horizon beyond the typical political lies and doublespeak!

#6 Saladin. I am confused by this. It seems the Iranian President is playing into, a plant provoking, setting a trap. Hell I don't know.

But the PNAC folks are just 7 months behind the schedule that Scott Ritter predicted. (we remember Ritter was right they were wrong about Iraq)

This is all being pushed hard before the AIPAC CONFERENCE in early March which of course will be completly focused on sanctions or an invasion of Iran. This will help the push for actions . I mean at the Aipac conference last year both Perle and Sharon said the U.s. should invade Iran. When will Sharon be made to sign in as "an agent of a foreign country."

Bolton is pushing hard to have something happen before the AIPAC/ROSEN trial in April. It would appear that it is proven that Rosen/Weismann/ Kenneth Pollack/Naor Gilon/Judith Miller were spying on the U.s. If Franklin decides to not take the fall and exposes what went on.

Would actions against Iran be out of the picture at this point. Far less likely.

Saladin what have you read about the intelligence that allegedly was transferred between these folks? Was it all about Iran? I have read that it was?

Kathleen,
This is the kind of thing that you read about 50 years later in a history book and you wonder why countries can be so stupid. I think we are heading toward World War and I think the fanatics are gleeful about it.

What happens when a world war breaks out and no one will go to the front lines to fight?

As far as the prisoner escape? I thought from the first moment it was staged.

"AS THE WORLD SPINS" I have to go back to work. Will check back later.

thanks for all of the reading folks do.

Do folks my age (53) remember that soap opera back in the day..my mother watched it..
"AS THE WORLD TURNS."

We now know it no longer turns''it spins and spins according to Rove and the Bush administration's Perception is reality crowd.

Here's the extended quote from Humpty Dumpty's news conference.

The reporter, Alice, does better than most of the White House Press Corps by asking a probing follow-up question. HD's reply eeirly anticipates the Republicans' success at turning Washington into a one party town.

***********

"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in a rather scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean-- neither more not less."
"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things."
"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master-- that's all." (274)

Heh, heh, constitutional scholar? It does not take anything above a 8th grade education to understand: 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. Duh!

Here's an interesting post.

Letting More Al Qaeda Terrorists Slip Away

Twenty-three more al Qaeda members are on the loose after a prison escape last Friday in Sanaa, Yemen. The group includes Jamal Mohammed al-Badawi, the mastermind behind the USS Cole attack that killed 17 US sailors in Yemen in October 2000.

Why would the Bush administration allow terrorists with American blood on their hands to be held in an insecure location? This was not the first time that suspected Al Qaeda members escaped from prison in Yemen -–†at least 10 members escaped from a prison in Aden in 2003.

And this latest escape comes just a few months after an escape by four top Al Qaeda suspects who were held by US forces in an American military detention center in Bagram, Afghanistan last year.

President Bush continues to talk tough on terrorism, but more than four years after the 9/11 attacks, what does he have to show for all of his talk?

-Global terrorist attacks have tripled on President Bush’≥ watch;

-The Bush administration has received failing and mediocre grades on fighting terrorists by the 9/11 Commission;

-By invading Iraq without a plan to stabilize the country, President Bush created a new haven and terrorist training ground for Al Qaeda; and

-The Bush administration let top Al Qaeda leaders slip away in the early days of the war in Afghanistan.

The Bush failures in the fight against terrorism keep piling up, and Americans are less safe because of them.

-------------------------
This guy needs an education, Saladin. Even I, the most hopeful-naive- person on this blog, knows this was a set up.

DEN, Happy is happily oblivious. It also does not take a degree in economics to know that we can't keep borrowing nearly 2 billion a day to finance a rogue govt. that is pissing the entire planet off! We've been set up for a fall, anyone with eyes can see that.

Saladin Says:
"Step #5: Find a fall guy. Jamal Ahmed Badawi, the so-called mastermind of the USS Cole attack in 2000, is reported on Feb. 5, 2006, to have escaped from prison in Yemen with other al Qaeda terrorists. He is now free to attack the West.

The problem with this story is that Associated Press released a similar story that Badawi escaped from prison on April 11, 2003. Certainly the news media is aware of this, which means they are complicit in the propaganda buildup to the next war."

Check it:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3550311.stm

USS COLE SUSPECTS RECAPTURED 19, March, 2004

BADAWI WAS RECAPTURED - Who is full of "propaganda buildup" now?

Ve Vill tell you vat to tink, ve are zee SS, you vil now proceed to zee reichstalag vere you vill be until ve say you may go. SSincerely; Komendandt BOOsh

Top 10 'Conspiracy Theories' about George W. Bush, Part 1

In the aftermath of Sept. 11, a friend sent me an obscure book featuring predictions by a blind Native American shaman. It was a thoughtful, but annoying, gesture. For all I knew, this "seer" could merely be a James Frey-sized figment of the author's imagination and these so-called prophecies could be nothing more than a patchwork of hunches. A prediction that the Red Sox would win the World Series would have been impressive. But wars? Economic downturns? Environmental disasters? Yawn.

This was the age of forged Nostradamus quotes and apocalyptic visions, however, and, with debunking in mind, I plodded ahead. Some predictions, which were reportedly made in 1982, were decidedly silly. Others, however, don't exactly ring foolish. Among the more noteworthy:

* Propaganda and terrorism will increase.
* Religious zealots will use the courts to try to force their views upon the general public.
* The Supreme Court will make unfortunate decisions that don't benefit the people.
* Several undeclared wars will be waged simultaneously.
* There will be high-level secrecy and clandestine agreements between nations.
* America will eventually become a police state.
* The draft will be reinstated.
* Americans will learn of government duplicity and cover-ups.

Whether or not this list is the result of guesswork, fabrications or something else, nearly a quarter of a century later, such musings have gone from the fringe to the forefront. Police state predictions? Check. Rumors of wars? Check. Clandestine agreements between nations? Check. Discoveries of government duplicity and cover-ups? Triple check.

Predictions are not the same thing as conspiracy theories, of course, but both can occur simultaneously. Sept. 11 commission co-chair Lee Hamilton's prediction that another terrorist attack is all but certain, for example, when combined with concerns about George W. Bush's imperial ambitions, creates the kind of speculation the founding fathers engaged in, long before FOX News was there to pooh-pooh concerns about tyrannical designs.

And though predictions and conspiracy theories are often speculative and contrived, it must be remembered that the term "tin foil hat" has its roots in historical fact and the tendency to tag a "gate" onto scandals proves that some conspiracy theories do, in fact, turn out to be true.

With the most secretive, power-hungry administration in recent history, George W. Bush has generated a cornucopia of theories. Many of them are ridiculous while others, like the assorted conspiracies relating to Skull and Bones, simply confirm suspicions about frat boys and prove that privilege and networking do, in fact, catapult people into high places.

Some theories, however, have Tina Turner-strength legs. For your consideration:
-----------------
Long article, full of links. Very good.

#64 of the previous thread -

Graymaling, eh. Didn't know there was a term for it. I had always suggested that the trial of the century would be for the families of the 911 hijackers to sue for their share of the 911 fund, arguing that the hijackers were just ordinary citizens who happened to be on the planes. In order for the insurance companies and the US to win the case, it would have to release a load of classified information into the public view. That's not going to happen. The hijackers' families would win simply because no proof would emerge to prove they actually did it. A judge would have to rule in their favor.

hmm, a funny thing about that 911 fund:: almost NONE of the highjacked PASSENGER'S families have even filed for it - in fact, there is an official death registration/list that everyone in the U.S. who dies is automatically put on, and almost none of the highjacked passengers have even been put on that list as registered deceased -

just more things that should make you go hmmm...

NATO Troops Fire On Afghans Protesting Against Cartoon
______________
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- NATO peacekeepers exchanged gunfire with protesters who attacked their base Tuesday in another day of deadly demonstrations in Afghanistan over the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, officials said. Three demonstrators were killed.

In neighboring Pakistan, 5,000 people chanting ''Hang the man who insulted the prophet!'' burned effigies of Denmark's prime minister and a cartoonist.

Denmark Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen called the protests ''a growing global crisis'' and appealed for calm. The Danish paper Jyllands-Posten was the first to publish the drawings, in September.
_________________

NATO Troops are a pretty good target, if you're looking for a big backlash!

Is this the begining of the end of the "War on Terror" or the end of the beginning on the "War on Anyone Standing Slightly In The Way of the Flow of Oil?"

Addicts gotta get their fix, anyway they can!

-T

Army Charges GI for Being Wounded

The last time 1st Lt. William "Eddie" Rebrook IV saw his body armor, he was lying on a stretcher in Iraq, his arm shattered and covered in blood.

Now he is forced to pay for the "missing" body armor. The army charges soldiers for missing equipment. When medics rushed to save Rebrook's life, they neglected to keep track of the bloody and destroyed body armor. "I last saw the [body armor] when it was pulled off my bleeding body while I was being evacuated in a helicopter," Rebrook said. "They took it off me and burned it."

Rebrook decided to leave the army because of his injuries. But he was informed that he could not be discharged until he paid $700 for his "missing" armor. Rebrook scrounged up the cash from his Army buddies and returned home last Friday.

I wonder if we will hear anything on this from the "Support Our Troops" crowd.

It turns out the editor who originally publshed the "offensive" Muslim cartoons is a disciple of Daniel Pipes and the "clash of civilizations" theory put out by Project for a New American Century. PNAC is the outfit that called for a "Pearl Harbor event" in order to initiate a global war against the Muslim world.

and got one with 911

Rove counting heads on the Senate Judiciary Committee

The White House has been twisting arms to ensure that no Republican member votes against President Bush in the Senate Judiciary Committee's investigation of the administration's unauthorized wiretapping.

Congressional sources said Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove has threatened to blacklist any Republican who votes against the president. The sources said the blacklist would mean a halt in any White House political or financial support of senators running for re-election in November.

"It's hardball all the way," a senior GOP congressional aide said.

The sources said the administration has been alarmed over the damage that could result from the Senate hearings, which began on Monday, Feb. 6. They said the defection of even a handful of Republican committee members could result in a determination that the president violated the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Such a determination could lead to impeachment proceedings.

Over the last few weeks, Mr. Rove has been calling in virtually every Republican on the Senate committee as well as the leadership in Congress. The sources said Mr. Rove's message has been that a vote against Mr. Bush would destroy GOP prospects in congressional elections.

"He's [Rove] lining them up one by one," another congressional source said.

Mr. Rove is leading the White House campaign to help the GOP in November’≥ congressional elections. The sources said the White House has offered to help loyalists with money and free publicity, such as appearances and photo-ops with the president.

Those deemed disloyal to Mr. Rove would appear on his blacklist. The sources said dozens of GOP members in the House and Senate are on that list.

So far, only a handful of GOP senators have questioned Mr. Rove's tactics.

Some have raised doubts about Mr. Rove's strategy of painting the Democrats, who have opposed unwarranted surveillance, as being dismissive of the threat posed by al Qaeda terrorists.

"Well, I didn't like what Mr. Rove said, because it frames terrorism and the issue of terrorism and everything that goes with it, whether it's the renewal of the Patriot Act or the NSA wiretapping, in a political context," said Sen. Chuck Hagel, Nebraska Republican.
-----------------
In a political way?
No, sir, in a mobster sort of way.
Get a clue.

Bush 2007 budget quietly omits impact of policies on deficit

President George W. Bush's fiscal year 2007 budget quietly omits a table included in previous years which lays out the impact of the Administration's proposed policies on the deficit, RAW STORY has learned.

The missing table was first discovered by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Its omission -- a single table among thousands and thousands of pages that follow a standard format each year -- likely signals that the Administration is trying to keep the focus off the massive deficits which the United States will incur after 2010.

The missing table was first discovered by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Its omission -- a single table among thousands and thousands of pages that follow a standard format each year -- likely signals that the Administration is trying to keep the focus off the massive deficits which the United States will incur after 2010.

Bloomberg News notes that under the 2007 budget, the federal deficit would decline until 2010 and then start rising at a remarkable rate.

"If Congress makes Bush's 2001 and 2003 tax cuts permanent, most of the impact won't be felt until after 2011, long after the president has left office," the financial news service writes. "Some of the tax reductions are due to expire at the end of 2008 and the rest in 2010."

The loss of revenue between 2012 and 2016 is projected at $1.2 trillion.
----------------

Please interview actual Saudi Arabian
average, ordinary citizens. I , for one, want
to know how they are doing, what's
on their minds , etc.

Anderson Petition
WAR IS A RACKET

www.warisaracket.org

Why is the administration so desperate to take over the Middle East? Pick your poison...War vs. economic disaster.

Check this out...(sorry,don't know how to link) it's a little long, but well worth the read.

February 05, 2006
Battle Plans for Iran?
By Mike Whitney in OpEdNews.com
In less than 24 hours the Bush administration won impressive victories on both domestic and foreign policy fronts. At home, the far-right Federalist Society alum, Sam Alito, has overcome the feeble resistance from Democratic senators; ensuring his confirmation to the Supreme Court sometime late on Tuesday. Equally astonishing, the administration has coerced both Russia and China into bringing Iran before the United Nations Security Council although (as Mohamed ElBaradei says) "There's no evidence of a nuclear weapons program." The surprising capitulation of Russia and China has forced Iran to abandon its efforts for further negotiations; cutting off dialogue that might diffuse the volatile situation.
"We consider any referral or report of Iran to the Security Council as the end of diplomacy," Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, told state television.

The administration's success with Iran ends the diplomatic charade and paves the way for war.
Now, UN Ambassador John Bolton can make his appearance before the Security Council with allegations of "noncompliance" that will rattle through the corporate media and prepare the world for unilateral military action.

The administration has no expectation of securing the votes needed for sanctions or punitive action. Its all for show. The trip to the Security Council is simply a ploy to provide the cover of international legitimacy to another act of unprovoked aggression. The case has gone as far as it will go excluding the requisite "touched up" satellite photos and spurious allegations of unreliable dissidents.

We should now be focused on how Washington intends to carry out its war plans, since war is inevitable.
Those who doubt that the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld team will attack Iran, while so conspicuously overextended in Iraq, are ignoring the subtleties of the administration's Middle East strategy.

Bush has no intention of occupying Iran. Rather, the goal is to destroy major weapons-sites, destabilize the regime, and occupy a sliver of land on the Iraqi border that contains 90% of Iran's oil wealth. Ultimately, Washington will aim to replace the Mullahs with American-friendly clients who can police their own people and fabricate the appearance of representative government. But, that will have to wait. For now, the administration must prevent the incipient Iran bourse (oil-exchange) from opening in March and precipitating a global sell-off of the debt-ridden dollar. There have many fine articles written about the proposed "euro-based" bourse and the devastating effects it will have on the greenback. The best of these are "Petrodollar Warfare: Oil, Iraq and the Future of the Dollar" by William R. Clark, and "The Proposed Oil Bourse" by Krassimir Petrov, Ph.D.

The bottom line on the bourse is this; the dollar is underwritten by a national debt that now exceeds $8 trillion dollars and trade deficits that surpass $600 billion per year. That means that the greenback is the greatest swindle in the history of mankind. It's utterly worthless. The only thing that keeps the dollar afloat is that oil is traded exclusively in greenbacks rather than some other currency. If Iran is able to smash that monopoly by trading in petro-euros then the world's central banks will dump the greenback overnight, sending markets crashing and the US economy into a downward spiral.

The Bush administration has no intention of allowing that to take place. In fact, as the tax-cuts and the budget deficits indicate, the Bush cabal fully intends to perpetuate the system that trades worthless dollars for valuable commodities, labor, and resources. As long as the oil market is married to the dollar, this system of global indentured servitude will continue.

Battle Plans
The Bush administration's attention has shifted to a small province in southwestern Iran that is unknown to most Americans. Never the less, Khuzestan will become the next front in the war on terror and the lynchpin for prevailing in the global resource war. If the Bush administration can sweep into the region (under the pretext disarming Iran's nuclear programs) and put Iran's prodigious oil wealth under US control, the dream of monopolizing Middle East oil will have been achieved.

Not surprisingly, this was Saddam Hussein's strategy in 1980 when he initiated hostilities against Iran in a war that would last for eight years. Saddam was an American client at the time, so it is likely that he got the green light for the invasion from the Reagan White House. Many of Reagan's high-ranking officials currently serve in the Bush administration; notably Rumsfeld and Cheney.

Khuzestan represents 90% of Iran's oil production. The control over these massive fields will force the oil-dependent nations of China, Japan and India to continue to stockpile greenbacks despite the currency's dubious value. The annexing of Khuzestan will prevent Iran's bourse from opening, thereby guaranteeing that the dollar will maintain its dominant position as the world's reserve currency. As long as the dollar reigns supreme and western elites have their hands on the Middle East oil-spigot, the current system of exploitation through debt will continue into perpetuity. The administration can confidently prolong its colossal deficits without fear of a plummeting dollar. In fact, the American war-machine and all its various appendages, from Guantanamo to Abrams Tanks, are paid for by the myriad nations who willingly hold reserves of American currency.

This extortion-scheme is typically referred to as the global economic system. In reality, it has nothing to do with either free markets or capitalism. That is just philosophical mumbo-jumbo. It is the dollar-system; predicated entirely on the ongoing monopoly of the oil trade in dollars.

Invading Khuzestan
In a recent article by Zolton Grossman, "Khuzestan; the First Front in the War on Iran?", Grossman cites the Beirut Daily Star which predicts that the ""first step taken by an invading force would be to occupy Iran's oil-rich Khuzestan Province, securing the sensitive Straits of Hormuz and cutting off the Iranian military's oil supply, forcing it to depend on its limited stocks."

This strategy has been called the "Khuzestan Gambit", and we can expect that some variant of this plan will be executed following the aerial bombardment of Iranian military installations and weapons sites. If Iran retaliates, then there is every reason to believe that either the United States or Israel will respond with low-yield, bunker-busting nuclear weapons. In fact, the Pentagon may want to demonstrate its eagerness to use nuclear weapons do deter future adversaries and to maintain current levels of troop deployments without a draft.

Tonkin Bay Redux
On January 28, 2006, Iranian officials announced that they would "hand over evidence that proved British involvement in bombings in the southern city of Ahvaz earlier in the week" that killed eight civilians and wounded 46 others. This was just one of the many bombings, incitements, and demonstrations that have taken place in Khuzestan in the last year that suggest foreign intervention. The action is strikingly similar to the 2 British commandoes who were apprehended in Basra a few months ago dressed as Arabs with a truckload of explosives during the week of religious festival.

Coincidence?

Probably not.

Step by step, Iran is being set up for war. What difference does the provocation make? The determination to consolidate the oil reserves in the Caspian Basin was made more than a decade ago and is clearly articulated in the policy papers produced by the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) The Bush administration is one small province away from realizing the its dream of controlling the world's most valued resource. They won't let that opportunity pass them by.

We're in for another war.

Jeanne, Pusface strongarming the congress, any doubt the wiretaps are not for the political purposes has been wiped out. The utter arrogance of pusface shows the true disregard this cabal has for the rule of law. In any other case this is evidence of BLACKMAIL, what else is needed to put these cabalists behind bars? Congress needs to suspend chimpys presidency IMMEDIATELY and call the entire bunch on the carpet for treason against the US, no more arm twisting, no more wiretaps, no more cabal. WAKE UP CONGRESS, smell the stench of dirty politics at its worst, it must stop!

Wouldn't you like to see Judge Alito and Chief Justice Roberts questioning the Democrat Senators to determine their qualifications for public office?

Just imagine matching the IQs of the Senators and the Judges!

The questions might go like this............

Judge Alito(JA): "Senator Kennedy, I see from your official resume that you attended Harvard Univ..."

Senator Kennedy (SK): "Yes, your honor, I certainly did."

JA: "Did you graduate?"

SK: "Your honor, I respectfully ask that you not pry into my personal life..."

JA: "Is it true that you were expelled from Harvard for violating the honor code, to wit, you hired someone to take an exam for you?"

SK: "Mr. Chairman, I want to go on record that I disagree with this line of questioning. I ask the chair to order the Judge from asking questions about my private matters."

Senator Spector, Chairman of the Judiciary committee: "Answer the Judge's questions. He answered all of yours..."

JA: "Senator Kennedy, we have on hand a transcript of the session of the University's honor council attesting to your fraudulent examination and subsequent expulsion from the Unversity..."

SK: "I have had all I can take of this line of unreasonable questioning. I am going to ask Al Gore how he managed to keep his early departure from Vanderbilt University Divinity School away from the eyes of you religious nuts..."

JA: "Wait, Senator Kennedy, I want to ask you about the 26 phone calls you made from a hotel room the night Mary Jo Kopecne drowned in your car at Chappaquiddick, when you said you were asleep all night...."
[Kennedy flees the hearing room]

Senator Spector: "Chief Justice Roberts(CJR) will now interrogate Senator Biden(SB), Democrat of Delaware.."

CJR: "Senator Biden, is it true that you were expelled from law school for plagiarizing another students work?"

SB: "Wait, Ted, I am going with you.." [Biden flees the hearing room]

Senator Spector: "Judge Alito will now interrogate Senator Feinstein, Democrat of California..."

JS: "Senator Feinstein(SF), why did you vote for the former Grand Kleage of the Ku Klux Klan of West Virginia[Robert Bird] to become the Democrat Senate Majority Leader in 1986, 1988, 1990, and 1992?"

SF: "Wait, boys,I am going with you...." [Feinstein flees the hearing room]
[end of hearing]

This is the best and brightest the left has to offer!!!!LOL

#24
Remember the bean counters aren't on the front lines. All they see are missing pieces of equipment from an inventory and a signature from the person that had it last. The fact that he paid it shows his own incompetence, he could have requested a report of survey. I lost a duffle bag full of equipment when I returned from a deployment one time. I didn't pay a single dime, US Customs lost my bag. If you roll over and pay up, noone is going to push the issue. I would suspect that he was too anxious to leave to want to go through the financial liability process, and I would wonder why his NCOs didn't stand up for him or tell him to fight it.

Citizen X

good point - I agree with that.
maybe the moral of that story should be that
if one finds oneself to be getting screwed, one shouldn't bend over to make it easier for the screwer -

Top Ten Myths About the Illegal NSA Spying on Americans

MYTH: This is merely a "terrorist surveillance program."
REALITY: When there is evidence a person may be a terrorist, both the criminal code and intelligence laws already authorize eavesdropping. This illegal program, however, allows electronic monitoring without any showing to a court that the person being spied upon in this country is a suspected terrorist.

MYTH: The program is legal.
REALITY: The program violates the Fourth Amendment and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and will chill free speech.

MYTH: The Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) allows this.
REALITY: The resolution about using force in Afghanistan doesn't mention wiretaps and doesn't apply domestically, but FISA does--it requires a court order.

MYTH: The president has authority as commander in chief of the military to spy on Americans without any court oversight.
REALITY: The Supreme Court recently found the administration's claim of unlimited commander in chief powers during war to be an unacceptable effort to "condense power into a single branch of government," contrary to the Constitution's checks and balances.

MYTH: The president has the power to say what the law is.
REALITY: The courts have this power under our system of government, and no person is above the law, not even the president, or the rule of law means nothing.

MYTH: These warrantless wiretaps could never happen to you.
REALITY: Without court oversight, there is no way to ensure innocent people's everyday communications are not monitored or catalogued by the NSA or other agencies.

MYTH: This illegal program could have prevented the 9/11 attacks.
REALITY: This is utter manipulation. Before 9/11, the federal government had gathered intelligence, without illegal NSA spying, about the looming attacks and at least two of the terrorists who perpetrated them, but failed to act.

MYTH: This illegal program has saved thousands of lives.
REALITY: Because the program is secret the administration can assert anything it wants and then claim the need for secrecy excuses its failure to document these claims, let alone reveal all the times the program distracted intelligence agents with dead ends that wasted resources and trampled individual rights.

MYTH: FISA takes too long.
REALITY: FISA allows wiretaps to begin immediately in emergencies, with three days afterward to go to court. Even without an emergency, FISA orders can be approved very quickly and FISA judges are available at all hours.

MYTH: Only liberals disagree with the president about the program.
REALITY: The serious concerns that have been raised transcend party labels and reflect genuine and widespread worries about the lack of checks on the president's claim of unlimited power to illegally spy on Americans without any independent oversight.

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

Never-mind the facts. Bunnypants supporters do not think, they believe - no matter the facts. Ergo - true believers.

capt

Please read the #24 post carefully!!!!! You are dying or gravely injured and you still must keep track of your equipment. The Nazis running this war are scumbags.

American Soldiers

More American soldiers are killed in the Middle East.

2,519 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan for Bush and his evil lies.

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

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

Before you seek revenge, dig two graves. Confucius

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

All Gonzales kept saying was, "this program which the president has acknowledged..."

Goes to show that there is more going on then so far determined, and the Attorney General wasna gonna say any more.

And then the GOPhers trotted out the widow of the pilot of Flight 77 which was supposed to have hit the Pentagon...

And John Boehner gives new meaning to the phrase, popularized by Rush Limbaugh, "my formerly nicotine stained fingers..."

#35
You're hatred makes you blind to reality sometimes. Remeber it's you and every American citizen that demands to know where every dollar spent on Defense goes. Because of that we keep very careful records of where our equipment goes. No survey officer in his/her right mind is going to charge a soldier for a piece of equipment he lost at the time he was injured in it. Do you think they make tank commanders or drivers pay for tanks that get destroyed? Just stop for one minute and THINK, he didnt follow the procedure that would have relieved him of financial obligation, he chose to pay up instead, the fault is his own.

EXCLUSIVE: Sibel Edmonds Rebukes Dennis Hastert Attorney's Rebuttal to Charges of Bribery
'Gag Ordered' FBI Whistleblower Gives Statement to BRAD BLOG Questioning Letter to Vanity Fair by House Speaker's Legal Counsel
Calls on Hastert to 'Come Clean' on $500k in Un-Itemized Campaign Donations, Relationship With Turkish Interest Groups

In the September 2005 issue of Vanity Fair, a lengthy feature article on former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds discussed a number of claims that Edmonds has by and large been disallowed from expressing publicly.

Her attempts at whistleblowing on the malfeasance and cover-ups she alleges to have witnessed during her time at the bureau in late 2001 and early 2002 -- during which she translated covert wiretaps recorded prior to 9/11 -- have been silenced by the U.S. government. An arcane "states-secret privilege" has been applied to her which effectively "gag orders" her from discussing her claims including allegations which the Dept. of Justice's own Inspector General found to be "credible" and "serious" and "warrant[ing] a thorough and careful review by the FBI," according to a declassified version of their investigation into her claims.

More.

Peace Takes Courage

New Animation:

Dead Wrong

capt

A cartoon for the trolls - it might help them understand something

BUSH - NAZI TIES

why would dems and the 'liberal' corporate media cover this up?

DANISH BILDERBERG CONNEX?

The controversy continues over the anti-Islamic cartoons published in a Danish publication. The latest word notes that Merete Eldrup, managing director of JP/Politikens Hus, the company that published the cartoons, is the wife of Anders Eldrup, chairman of DONG (Danish Oil and Natural Gas), a currently state-owned energy provider about to be privatized.

Moreover, according to a posting on Indymedia UK, as well as several other sources, Anders has been among the attendees at the last five meetings of the Bilderberger gathering, alleged by some to be an internationalist conspiracy bent on world government.

Meanwhile, his wife, before she took over the directorship at JP/PH, was both the Head of Secretariat at the Ministry of Economic and Business Affairs, and the Deputy Director of the Danish Energy Authority. She is currently Deputy Chairman and Managing Director of the Copenhagen Business School. - ST

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

Bilderberger’s, eh?

capt

VIDEO: Rev. Lowery’s Standing Ovation
Speaking before four presidents, including President George W. Bush, Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery received a standing ovation today at the Coretta Scott King funeral.

We know now there were no weapons of mass destruction over there. [Standing Ovation] But Coretta knew and we know that there are weapons of misdirection right down here. Millions without health insurance. Poverty abounds. For war billions more but no more for the poor.

#41,

Almost too true to be funny.

The Busheney supporters have a very odd sense of humor. They might not get it.

capt

Oh no, he did NOT say that!

Downloading the file now . . or trying to.

WOW! Take that Commander Bunnypants!

I love to hear people of courage speak truth to power.

Thanks - I needed that

capt

Bush 2007 budget quietly omits impact of policies on deficit
John Byrne
Published: February 7, 2006

President George W. Bush's fiscal year 2007 budget quietly omits a table included in previous years which lays out the impact of the Administration's proposed policies on the deficit, RAW STORY has learned.

The missing table was first discovered by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Its omission -- a single table among thousands and thousands of pages that follow a standard format each year -- likely signals that the Administration is trying to keep the focus off the massive deficits which the United States will incur after 2010.

Bloomberg News notes that under the 2007 budget, the federal deficit would decline until 2010 and then start rising at a remarkable rate.

"If Congress makes Bush's 2001 and 2003 tax cuts permanent, most of the impact won't be felt until after 2011, long after the president has left office," the financial news service writes. "Some of the tax reductions are due to expire at the end of 2008 and the rest in 2010."

The loss of revenue between 2012 and 2016 is projected at $1.2 trillion.

More

A Straussian Interpretation of the 2006 SOTU

Let us examine what seems to be the most curious idea introduced in the 2006 SOTU – human-animal hybrids. Like "aspens turning," the human-animal hybrid will someday have an important historical place in understanding the Bush administration. Exoterically, Bush is mad at the mad scientists, and wishes to see them reined in for the good of the country.

But esoterically, Bush has an entirely different meaning. While the president simultaneously alarms and comforts us common people, in fact he speaks powerfully in code to his real audience – those who understand him esoterically.

I invite you to join me in this Straussian excursion. In the final chapter of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, we find this paragraph, which has long been recognized as a key to deep understanding of political process:

Read More HERE

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

If you have not read this yet, do not miss it!

capt

#31 In your dreams Boyd.

Now, back to reality. Does the AG really think the President's NSA unwarranted survellance of US citizens in wartime within the bounds of the law... or has Bush found another minion like Powell who will, in the name of duty,put his own reputation on the line... and lose it.

February 07, 2006
The Dionne/Pandemoniac Amnesia

E. J. Dionne, one of the best liberal columnists in America, suffers from a strange attack of amnesia in today's Washington Post. He argues that the tax cuts have crippled the American budgeting process, which I'll get to momentarily, but he also lays the blame on George Bush's father for disavowing his compromise with Democrats on taxes in 1990:

The roots of our fiscal madness, on display once again yesterday with the unveiling of President Bush's new budget and its deficit in excess of $350 billion, were planted on Oct. 27, 1990.

Ironically, that's the day when the first President Bush embraced the last genuinely bipartisan budget reduction package to include both tax increases and spending cuts.

It can be seen in retrospect as one of Bush 41's admirable long-term achievements. (Another, of course, was his success in driving Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait.) In tandem with Bill Clinton's tax increases three years later, the 1990 agreement set off a decade of fiscal responsibility and exceptional economic growth.

But Bush 41 could not embrace his budget victory as a triumph, because the agreement split his party and because he had won election just two years earlier promising "no new taxes." So he backed away from his achievement as soon as it was in hand.

Er, that isn't all that happened, and either Dionne has a bad memory or has slipped into uncharacteristic disingenuity by claiming this. Dionne leaves out two important points. The first fact omitted is that the tax increase in 1990 resulted in a sudden recession, which the Gulf War made worse by driving up oil costs temporarily. In fact, the increased rates flattened tax receipts; it did not result in any significant increase to the Treasury.

Second and more to the point, the Democrats with whom the President consulted and compromised used his efforts to castigate him as unfaithful to his promises in the 1992 general election. I find it hard to imagine that Dionne cannot recall the "Read My Lips' commercials that the Clinton campaign used to devastating effect in that election, which showed Bush promising to hold the line on taxes -- and blamed him entirely for raising them later. The Democrats stabbed Bush 41 in the back for working with them, and that's the lesson that 43 learned from the experience. Compromise with Democrats, and they will use it to attack at the first opportunity.

In terms of the actual issue of tax cuts and their effect on the budget, Dionne also neglects to mention that since the inception of the tax cuts in 2003, tax revenues have actually increased -- and increased sharply. The OMB, in fact, shows tax receipts at their highest point ever for this year (page 3). The reason for the deficit isn't the tax cuts, which provided the spark for the economy that has driven tax revenues far past the $2T mark for 2005. The deficit comes from increased federal spending, which both parties have increased on almost a straight line ever since that budget agreement in 1990.

Dionne is rightly concerned about the federal budget and the deficit, but he seems to have a hazy memory about its origins and its underlying causes. His call for bipartisanship in solving the problem is also laudable, but instead of castigating Republicans for a lack of intestinal fortitude in handling its fiscal conservatives, perhaps Dionne should scold the Democrats who twisted Bush 41's bipartisanship into a character flaw and the moderate Republicans who join with the Democrats in their inability to stop spending our money.
Posted by Captain Ed at February 7, 2006 06:00 AM

Either way we all lose.

capt

Hold the Nazis Accountable

#31 Fantasy is he playground of IDLE minds.

Happy place...happy place... happy place

Let's Not Forget

Your Christian President

For all the grandstanding this administration has done on the need for secrecy and control of procedures, for all the grandstanding about the need to prosecute the leakers, this administration is the greatest enemy. They have caused the greatest damage because they are forcing whistleblowers to come forward. They are forcing hearings to uncover illegal acts done by the White House. The White House is forcing the press to print what the press sometimes knows could open the secrecy of the CIA but will also uncover illegalities.

Bush and Cheney and Gonzales and Rumsfeld can't point fingers because they are the biggest problem.

DU

Impeach Bush

The Betrayal of Valerie Plame
By Larry C. Johnson
AlterNet
Tuesday 07 February 2006

A judge's rulings make it clear that Scooter Libby did lie to the grand jury, and that, yes, Valerie Plame was an undercover agent protected by federal law.

Valerie Plame was a covert intelligence officer covered by the Intelligence Officer's Identity Protection Act, and Lewis "Scooter" Libby lied to the grand jury. These two truths emerge from the opinion written by Judge Tatel, of the U.S. Court of Appeals, and released in February 2005. Thanks to a FOIA request by the Wall Street Journal we now have a more complete record, although key parts of his decision are still blacked out. Perhaps most of the media will now realize that they have been fed a pack of lies by the likes of Ken Mehlman, Victoria Toensing, Cliff May and others.

Tatel's opinion also is relevant to the current furor over "domestic spying" and whether reporters will have any ability to protect their sources. It certainly appears that Tatel would uphold the right of the reporters to protect sources who told them about illegal spying. Tatel's concludes his opinion that Judy Miller and Matt Cooper had to testify before the grand jury with the following:

In sum, based on an exhaustive investigation, the special counsel has established the need for Miller's and Cooper's testimony. Thus, considering the gravity of the suspected crime and the low value of the leaked information, no privilege bars the subpoenas … Here, two reporters and a news magazine, informants to the public, seek to keep a grand jury uninformed. Representing two equally fundamental principles - rule of law and free speech - the special counsel and the reporters both aim to facilitate fully informed and accurate decision-making by those they serve: the grand jury and the electorate. To this court falls the task of balancing the two sides concerns ...

... Were the leak at issue in this case less harmful to national security or more vital to public debate, or had the special counsel failed to demonstrate the grand jurys need for the reporters evidence, I might have supported the motion to quash. Because identifying appellants sources instead appears essential to remedying a serious breach of public trust, I join in affirming the district court's orders compelling their testimony.

Tatel's incisive opinion makes he clear that he understands the difference between someone who leaks information designed to hurt U.S. intelligence assets, as happened in Valerie's case, and someone who leaks information about government malfeasance, as happened with the leak to James Risen that the Bush administration was spying on Americans. The key issue for Tatel was "harm" to the United States versus the public's right to know.

More.

Here's what I think about having our dying and injured soldiers pay for lost equipment

Been gone for a few days...but observed that Arlen Specter is all talk, but no meaningful action; Alberto Gonzales does not answer questions; Scooter Libby doesn't have "perfect recall" unless he's recalling what he wants to recall and that's it; lots of folks are afraid to criticise fundamentalist Islam; Arab governments are willing to instigate protests against Denmark & Norway, but not so willing to permit protests against the U.S. or Israel; the Judiciary committee (read Arlen Specter) does not want Gonzales under oath. Could it be because the administration takes the position that bush is not bound by law and the Repugs go along with that? Gonzales keeps using the national security card to avoid answering questions; bush's budget is typical; the graymail defense tactic probably won't work (I hope) because it's mainly about lying, not espionage; if Helen Thomas was Snotty's mom, he wouldn't have turned out to be such a loser.

Moving right along...If you are planning to give your sweetie flowers or chocolates on Valentine's Day, be aware that these gifts are often tainted by toxic pesticides. Commercial flowers are the most toxic and heavily sprayed agricultural crops on Mother Earth. Flower industry workers, in nations such as Ecuador and Colombia, are routinely abused and exploited; 40% of the world's chocolate comes from Africa's Ivory Coast where child slavery is widespread and starvation wages are the norm. Tell the corporate KINGPINS to shove their products! Buy Organic and Fair Trade Valentine's Day flowers and chocolate.

Are We Safer in the Dark?

SUNSHINE WEEK: March 12-18, 2006

This is an issue that is important for the public and for the press. Secrecy in government is growing at an alarming rate and public information is being withheld from citizens. We have a right to know -- we need to know much of what is being held in secret -- or is being ignored by the press. This secrecy trend in our government is hurting democracy.

Steelers Lynn Swann clears path to GOP primary!!

A black conservative Republican Steeler running against a liberal Democrat Governor, doesn't get any better than that!!!

Jimmy Carter giving foreign policy advice-now thats funny!!! The worst President in history thinks someone cares what he thinks.

Had to keep the furnace wayyyyy low the last couple days because one of us forgot to check the level in the oil tank. Had it filled today to the tune of $522. THAT'S HALF OF A $1,000! In light of the obscene profits the oil companies make, it's outrageous. What are people supposed to do? We are indeed doomed. We're all going to be freezing to death, hungry and unable to see a doctor when we get sick, and on and on..........

King Funeral Turned Into Bush Bashing Event

Only a liberal would use the funeral of a deceased wife of a civil rights leader to preach hate and intolerance against a sitting President who was in attendance. You liberals are soooo classy.

Carol

Convert to natural gas or a heat pump, you are polluting the enviroment and causing global warming by burning oil. Start practicing what you preach lefties!!!

Amidst flurry of Bush attacks, Feingold to hit Congress wiretaps: 'Congress has lost its way'

In a prepared speech advanced to RAW STORY, Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) will sear President Bush -- and Congress -- on the Senate floor over Bush's warrantless wiretap domestic spying program.

Feingold's speech, in its entirety, follows:

Mr. President, last week the President of the United States gave his State of the Union address, where he spoke of America's leadership in the world, and called on all of us to "Lead this world toward freedom." Again and again, he invoked the principle of freedom, and how it can transform nations, and empower people around the world.

But, almost in the same breath, the President openly acknowledged that he has ordered the government to spy on Americans, on American soil, without the warrants required by law.

The President issued a call to spread freedom throughout the world, and then he admitted that he has deprived Americans of one of their most basic freedoms under the Fourth Amendment -- to be free from unjustified government intrusion.

The President was blunt. He said that he had authorized the NSA's domestic spying program, and he made a number of misleading arguments to defend himself. His words got rousing applause from Republicans, and even some Democrats.

The President was blunt, so I will be blunt: This program is breaking the law, and this President is breaking the law. Not only that, he is misleading the American people in his efforts to justify this program.

How is that worthy of applause? Since when do we celebrate our commander in chief for violating our most basic freedoms, and misleading the American people in the process? When did we start to stand up and cheer for breaking the law? In that moment at the State of the Union, I felt ashamed.

Congress has lost its way if we don’¥ hold this President accountable for his actions....

......In December, we found out that the President has authorized wiretaps of Americans without the court orders required by law. He says he is only wiretapping people with links to terrorists, but how do we know? We don't. The President is unwilling to let a neutral judge make sure that is the case. He will not submit this program to an independent branch of government to make sure he's not violating the rights of law-abiding Americans.

So I don't want to hear again that this Administration has shown it can be trusted. It hasn’¥. And that is exactly why the law requires a judge to review these wiretaps.

It is up to Congress to hold the President to account. We held a hearing on the domestic spying program in the Judiciary Committee yesterday, where Attorney General Gonzales was a witness. We expect there will be other hearings. That is a start, but it will take more than just hearings to get the job done.

We know that in part because the President’≥ Attorney General has already shown a willingness to mislead the Congress...

....The President has broken the law, and he has made it clear that he will continue to do so. But the President is not a king. And the Congress is not a king's court. Our job is not to stand up and cheer when the President breaks the law. Our job is to stand up and demand accountability, to stand up and check the power of an out-of-control executive branch.

That is one of the reasons that the framers put us here - to ensure balance between the branches of government, not to act as a professional cheering section....
--------------------
Great speech. Clear, open, honest and necessary.

Iraq War Draws Veterans Into Politics

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - After 20 years in the Air Force and Bronze Star service during the 1991 Gulf War, Democrat Jay Fawcett decided to come home and run for Congress, largely out of disgust with the way American troops were being used in Iraq.

"I think it's just gotten to the point where a significant number of us who've served are looking at this administration particularly — and Congress doesn't get off the hook — and saying, `What're you doing? What's the plan?'" he said.

Fawcett is part of a large and possibly unprecedented number of former soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines running for Congress this year.

About 40 of the candidates are Republicans, while at least 55 are Democrats. By one count, at least 11 veterans of the Iraq war or Afghanistan are hoping to get elected to the House or Senate, all but one of them Democrats.

The fighting Democrats, as some call themselves, say their military experience could give them the credibility to criticize the war without being dismissed out of hand by the GOP as naive and weak on defense, as the Bush administration has often done.

"One of the things I think is behind this movement is, we're not stupid in the military. We know when we've been used and misused," Navy veteran Bill Winter, a Democrat who hopes to challenge GOP Rep. Tom Tancredo in the Republican suburbs of Denver.

Former Sen. Max Cleland, D-Ga., who lost both legs and an arm while serving in Vietnam, said the Iraq war veterans running as Democrats will offer "a direct rebuttal" to the administration on the Iraq war.

Read More HERE

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

Just the facts.

capt

Carol,
Our heating bill is high too. We have natural gas. Cold weather states.

Micki!

Glad you are back! I thought we were missing a voice or two.

Carol,

Sound like some people are going to freeze. Over $500 is quite insane. Wages are down, costs are up, how are people suppose to pay for the increase? Heating oil and gasoline are robbing us blind and Bunnypants says it is all fine and dandy.

capt

Capt,
I hope every one of those fighting Dems get elected. I see real leadership there.

#71
People will freeze. Especially when the mentality of the leadership in this nation is to cut spending on the poor. Cut it on education and health care. Both of those things directly affect the youth. There is obviously a lack of "compassion".

And our congress stands up and applauds this administration. Go figure.

LBH, THERE ISN'T ANY MONEY TO CONVERT ANYTHING TO ANYTHING! It's called stuck. It's called trapped! You want to make a donation?

Body Armor Is the Willie Horton of 2006

Yet, without question, the hands-down, all-time winner of the Silver-Bullet-In-Waiting Award for 2006 (if not the entire century) goes to – drum roll, please – Body Armor.

Yeah, you got it. I’ll put it plain and simple. If the Democrats want to destroy the GOP in 2006 – I mean flatten those bastards – they really need do just one thing: run a single commercial, over and over again. Well, okay, make that two things: Run it over and over again, and then never retreat, never explain, and never apologize.

That commercial’s theme? Simple: It’s been five years since the Bush team started planning the war in Iraq. It’s been three years since they launched the invasion. And yet, today, American soldiers still do not have sufficient body armor to protect themselves.

That’s it. That’s really all the Democrats need to win in a landslide in 2006. Body armor is the Willie Horton of 2006.

Now, you could certainly also make the thing even more compelling with the addition of a few powerful grace notes. To wit:

* A secret Pentagon report showing that 80 percent of the Marines killed from upper body wounds in Iraq would have survived if George Bush had supplied them with proper armor.

* Film of small-town American communities holding bake sales to outfit their troops in Iraq with armor, perhaps juxtaposed with shots of Tom DeLay golfing in Scotland.

* Interviews with returned soldiers describing how our troops have to jury-rig cobbled-together armor for themselves and their vehicles.

* Reports of corruption and incompetence in armor contracting, alongside reports of vast corruption in the Coalition Provisional Authority’s procurement and accounting practices, to the tune of $8 billion utterly vanished. How many entire armies could be outfitted in 24 carat gold armor for eight billion dollars?

* Film of wounded American soldiers struggling to recover their lives. Clips of families of the fallen angrily lamenting their unnecessary loss of loved ones.

The impact of such a campaign should be obvious, but there are also good strategic reasons why body armor is the Willie Horton of 2006.

First, because it is indelible and unconscionable. Republicans have been successful in recent years in part because they have picked issues which they can reduce to simple and emotionally powerful tropes that are especially effective with busy, frightened and ill-informed voters. (Moreover, the GOP works hard not only to exploit such voters, but to create them beforehand by overworking them, frightening them, and lying to them). So Democrats, trying to explain the fourth-order nuances of highly nuanced issues look like flip-flopping nothing-burgers who voted for it before they voted against it (whatever it was), or wimpy bleeding hearts who would try to stop terrorists by stretching a General Assembly resolution in front of them, printed on the finest parchment.

More Here

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

Republicans are a disgrace. They are talking about starting another war and the troops still do not have the best equipment? BODY ARMOR simple. It exposes the neocons for what they are inept and unable to lead, organize, manage, or conduct a war. BODY ARMOR should be like a laser pointer to the weak underbelly of the accidental uber-fuhrer dictator.

capt

Jeanne, we live out in the country. No natural gas. Just oil and propane. Our house came with an oil furnace. Our oil bill has always been the cheapest bill we had. Our oil bill was always cheaper than our natural gas friends living in the suburbs of Detroit. Until now. Husband wants to retire. Don't know how we'll pay the property taxes and oil bills like that if he does.

Carter is the worst president in history? ha.

Carol

Maybe you shouldn't have bought a house if you couldn't afford it. Or, maybe you should sell your house. Or, maybe you should refinance your house and change to a clean burning fuel. Or, maybe one of your liberal friends could give you a small loan. I don't think it is the governments fault if you can't manage your own finances.

"We need your undivided attention over the next six months," he said. "We need backup. We need for you to make the words that you spoke in Jackson Square a reality."

Nagin was referring to the president's September 15 address to the nation from New Orleans, in which he pledged "we will do what it takes, we will stay as long as it takes" to rebuild.

NEW ORLEANS WILL SEEK FOREIGN AID

start doing what you promise righties!

James Ha

Yes Carter was one of the worst if not the worst President ever. I think this is why a B rated movie star beat him for a second term. He sucked!!!

NEW ORLEANS WILL SEEK FOREIGN AID

A 9/11 Conspirator in King Bush's Court?

By Jeremy Scahill
Saudi prince who met with bin Laden five times is a guest at the SOTU
While Cindy Sheehan was being dragged from the House gallery moments before President Bush delivered his State of the Union address for wearing a t-shirt honoring her son and the other 2,244 U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq, Turki al-Faisal was settling into his seat inside the gallery. Faisal, a Saudi, is a man who has met Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants on at least five occasions, describing the al Qaeda leader as "quite a pleasant man." He met multiple times with Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar.

Yet, unlike Sheehan, al-Faisal was a welcomed guest of President Bush on Tuesday night. He is also a man that the families of more than 600 victims of the 9/11 attacks believe was connected to their loved ones' deaths.

Al-Faisal is actually Prince Turki al-Faisal, a leading member of the Saudi royal family and the kingdom’s current ambassador to the U.S. But the bulk of his career was spent at the helm of the feared Saudi intelligence services from 1977 to 2001. Last year, The New York Times pointed out that “he personally managed Riyadh’s relations with Osama bin Laden and Mullah Muhammad Omar of the Taliban. Anyone else who had dealings with even a fraction of the notorious characters the prince has worked with over the years would never make it past a U.S. immigration counter, let alone to the most exclusive offices in Washington.” Al-Faisal was also named in the $1 trillion lawsuit filed by hundreds of 9/11 victims’ families, who accused him of funding bin Laden’s network. Curiously, his tenure as head of Saudi intelligence came to an abrupt and unexpected end 10 days before the 9/11 attacks.

“Nobody explained the circumstances under which he left,” says As’ad AbuKhalil, author of The Battle for Saudi Arabia: Royalty, Fundamentalism, and Global Power. “We know for sure that he was tasked by the United States government back in the late 1970s and on to assemble the kind of Arab Muslim fanatical volunteers to help the United States and the C.I.A. in the fight against the Soviet communist regime [in Afghanistan]. In the course of doing that, this man is single-handedly most responsible for the kind of menace that these fanatical groups now pose to world peace and security.” Yet, there al-Faisal sat on Tuesday as President Bush spoke of his war on terror and Cindy Sheehan was being booked. At one point, the cameras even panned directly on al-Faisal listening intently to Bush.

-----------------
What an insult to the American people, mostly those who have lost members of their families in Iraq and Afghanistan and the 9/11 families.

James Ha #79

James, that is not a rightie promise. It was Bush caving into a leftie demand. I say don't rebuild New Orleans. Let Nagin have Jimmy Carter go to his Hamas buddies or Chavez or Castro to get his funding.

First off, Lynn Swann WAS a Pittsburgh Steeler about 30 years ago...but that's okay. I think it's kind of pathetic though, that his campaign is already built around his Steeler connection, rather than on ideas or experience.

Swann may win. But that doesn't mean he's qualified to be governor. Jesse Ventura -- the wrestler -- won a gubernatorial race and didn't work out too well. Schwarzenegger -- another "athlete" (hahaha) -- ain't so hot in the guv's role either.

Swann has offered little in the way of specifics -- but that doesn't seem to bother Repugs.

Swann: "I will say this: I am conservative by nature. Pennsylvania needs to find ways for business to thrive. I am for reducing taxes for business and an environment that will create more jobs and revenue for our state. I am conservative as far as social values are concerned."

At one public event, Swann called himself a conservative but declined to provide his position on gun control or taxes or even abortion. Then minutes later he returned to tell reporters that he opposed abortion rights -- putting him in line with most Republicans.

"I wasn't supposed to be born," Swann said, explaining that his father had wanted only two children, but his mother wanted a third. "I was born. That's enough for me to be pro-life."

Oh, boy.

LBH,
You have just proven to me that you are a child. Go set the table. Go pick up your clothes. Go do your homework. Get away from the computer. NOW!!

Micki,
I second that on Jesse, although he's not as bad as Pawlenty. Pawlenty's middle name is neocon.

GIVE THE DOWNING STREET MEMO A REST ALREADY...

This Downing Street memo stuff is a waste of time. Nobody with an IQ over 27 believes that Bush didn't lie and decieve the country into war. It is a given with what we know now.

The proper historic backdrop to this war is NOT 9-11. It is the stock market scandals of the late-Clinton,/early-Bush-43 administrations. Bush took his cue from the Enron types...truth is whatever you can convince some sucker to believe...truth is whatever you can hype and sell. There was no difference between Colin Powell's asinine hype job before the United Nations, and Kenny Lay's televised hype jobs to investors. The rosy scenarios of Skilling and Wolfowitz...all the same.

Of course, reality eventually trumps spin and deceit. Enron crashed in ball of flames, and this war is turning out very badly. Enron went bankrupt overnight, Iraq is doomed to a bloodbath and civil war....despite the hype told us a few years ago.

Bob in North Dakota

LBH are you defending bush? or just denigrating everyone else? because that's a typical rightwingnut response:: put everyone else down to try and distract from the fact that bushco are either incompetent saviors or competent criminals -

We are at a "magical moment in the history of liberty." -George W. Bush

Through the looking glass, indeed.

Oops, I had the oil bill amount wrong. It was $564.22.

"Be what you would seem to be -- or, if you'd like it put more simply -- Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise." ~ Lewis Carroll (1832 - 1898), Alice in Wonderland

Almost $600?

I am floored. Hey maybe the thought of record breaking profit for the big oil companies can keep the people living at or below poverty level warm, maybe even hot.

capt

James ha

"Are you defending Bush or just deningrating everyone else?"

Both, it's called tough love. It really pisses me off to see people complain about not having any money when they own a home. People are living on the streets and starving to death who only wish they had your pathetic problems. Now, quit being a whiner and do something about it.

The problem with you lefties is that you want someone else to give you a helping hand instead of helping yourself.

"I've had nothing yet", Alice replied in an offended tone: "so I can't take more."

"You mean you can't take *less*. It's very easy to take *more* than nothing." ~ the Mad Hatter's response to Alice (Lewis Carroll)

"Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop." ~ Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Said by the King to the White Rabbit - English author & recreational mathematician (1832 - 1898)

The only good thing Jimmy Carter ever did for this country was bring us Ronald Reagan!!

I never said I couldn't pay the bill, you moron. Bob told me to tell you to "go fuck yourself".

Enough already, yourself! The Downing Street Memo and the "Mother" of all Downing Street memos ARE important!

The memos are not only clear indictments of the bush administration, they are also indictments of the bush regime's accomplices -- the willing and compliant press who provided haphazard, uncritical reporting of bush's lies and war propaganda.

Additionally, those memos provide ALL the information that is necessary for the Ruling Class to be thrown out of office. The Ruling Class FEARS full disclosure and a public airing of those memos because they know that could spell their demise.

Carol

Financial Advice:

Step one

Get rid of the internet

#97 Atta girl! Those morons don't know the difference between "can't" and "how the fuck do these damned oil companies get away with their obscene profiteering at the expense of American (taxpaying -- not tax-dodging) citizens."

I agree with Bob.

Carol #74

THERE ISN'T ANY MONEY TO COVERT ANYTHING TO ANYTHING. It's called stuck. It's called trapped.

Sorry, I didn't know that you were lying.

So why not convert to a clean fuel source if you can afford it and not contribute to global warming?

Carol, I hope you don't answer it.

It is Brock.

He's mad as a hatter...from mercury in the water...

Micki #100

First of all Micki, I converted my home furnace to natural gas. I drive a Hybrid veh and ride my bicycle to work. I do not contribute to the oil companies profits unlike some of you lefties.

"If once [the people] become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress and Assemblies, Judges and Governors, shall all become wolves. It seems to be the law of our general nature, in spite of individual exceptions." : Thomas Jefferson to Edward Carrington, 1787

=
"...There is no nation on earth powerful enough to accomplish our overthrow. ... Our destruction, should it come at all, will be from another quarter. From the inattention of the people to the concerns of their government, from their carelessness and negligence, I must confess that I do apprehend some danger. I fear that they may place too implicit a confidence in their public servants, and fail properly to scrutinize their conduct; that in this way they may be made the dupes of designing men, and become the instruments of their own undoing." : Daniel Webster, June 1, 1837

=
"Find out just what people will submit to, and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them; and these will continue until they are resisted with either words or blows, or both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress." : Frederick Douglass

===

Thanks ICH Newsletter!

Don't worry, Micki. There's nothing further to say to such an idiot.