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Saturday, August 18, 2007

Former U.S. Attorney for New Mexico David Iglesias has signed a book deal

Talking Points Memo Paul Kiel August 17, 2007 03:05 PM
Former U.S. Attorney for New Mexico David Iglesias has signed a book deal.
Iglesias, remember, has been at the center of the firings controversy ever since he went public with the revelation that two New Mexico Republicans had pressured him about indicting a state Democrat shortly before the 2006 elections. The book promises to focus on Iglesias' experiences as a U.S. attorney in the Bush administration and his role in the scandal, before and after the firing. It's anticipated to be...

Federal Gov't Spent Millions In US Tax Money To Boost GOP »

McClatchy Marisa Taylor and Kevin G. Hall August 18, 2007 06:53 PM
Top Commerce and Treasury department officials appeared with Republican candidates and doled out millions in federal money in battleground congressional districts and states after receiving White House political briefings detailing GOP election strategy.
Political appointees in the Treasury Department received at least 10 political briefings from July 2001 to August 2006, officials familiar with the meetings said. Their counterparts at the Commerce Department received at least four briefings - all in the election years of 2002, 2004 and 2006.

Organization that helped Florida scrub voters in 2000 caught editing Wikipedia

I found that Choicepoint, the database organization that scrubbed black voters that shared the same information as felons in 2000, has been caught editing Wikipedia.
Here are some of the corporation's edits.
Deleted references to Greg Palast's book, "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy" and the US Commission on Civil Right's report on voting irregularities in Florida during the 2000 Election. Here
Deleted all the criticisms regarding Choicepoint's work in Florida. Here
Deleted references to Database Technologies, the service that was used in Florida. Here
Deleted it's diversity rating. Here
Deleted quotes about it. Here
Deleted all external links except for one (The one that goes straight to it's website). Here
Deleted a request to clean up the page on it's talk page (Which I believe is not allowed by the way). Here
Deleted the entire talk page. Here
Propaganda. Here
Wrote clear propaganda and deleted the information about Florida in the process. Here
Removed a clean up request. Here

NSA Judge: 'I feel like I'm in Alice and Wonderland'

Source: Wired
By Kevin Poulsen August 15, 2007 6:33:00 PMCategories: NSA
Ryan Singel and David Kravets are blogging the U.S. 9th Circuit hearing on the NSA's spying, and AT&T's alleged complicity, reporting live from the San Francisco courthouse. Hit 'refresh' in your browser and scroll to the bottom for updates.
Spectators lined up outside the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco starting at noon to guarantee a seat at a much-anticipated legal showdown over the government's secret wiretapping program.
The hearing involves two cases: one aimed at AT&T for allegedly helping the government with a widespread datamining program allegedly involving domestic and international phone calls and internet use; the other a direct challenge to the government's admitted warrantless wiretapping of overseas phone calls.
Jon Eisenberg, (right) an Oakland-based attorney, is arguing on behalf of a now-defunct Islamic charity Al-Haramain and its lawyers, who claim to have been accidentally given a Top Secret log of their own phone conversations, which they say proves the government illegally eavesdropped on them without warrants.
Judge Harry Pregerson suggests the government is asking the courts to "rubber stamp" the government's claim that state secrets are at risk "Who decides whether something is a state secret or not? ... We have to take the word of the members of the executive branch that something is a state secret?"
LinkHere

It's become a nasty joke!

24 Steps to Liberty
"Iraq's political leaders emerged Thursday from three days of crisis talks with a new alliance that seeks to save the crumbling U.S.-backed government," the AP reported earlier this morning. The "new alliance" they are referring to is between the Shiites and Kurds in the Iraqi government. And I may ask: What’s new about it? (...) The agreement talked about "the necessity of working together to succeed the political process and abide by the political process and the basics of the democratic federal system. To insure the real participation of all the political partners in power and avoid marginalization." But the new alliance did not include the Sunnis or the seculars. It just renewed what the Shiites and the Kurds have been doing in the last four years, run a dictatorship. The Kurds obviously don’t care about what is happening in Iraq because they have their own separate region. Therefore, the real leaders of the rest of Iraq are the Shiites. This is the new "democracy" in Iraq. The Kurds run their region, and the rest is for the Shiites to kill....

IRAQ IS DYING OF THIRST/ DOES ANYONE CARE ?

Allen L Roland's Radio Weblog
...U.S. ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker acknowledged to reporters July 19th that Baghdad residents were receiving on average only one hour of electricity a day. Before the U.S.-led invasion, Baghdad residents received 16-24 hours of electricity daily. Without electricity, water cannot be pumped to homes and the average daily summer temperture is well over 100 degrees. The only area where electricity is available 24 hours a day as well as plentiful water supplies is the American occupied Green Zone ~ with its fully functioning living quarters, swimming pools, restaurants and health spas....
The collapse of Iraq's infrastructure has created a worsening water crisis that is killing untold numbers of Iraqis. Iraq, with its famous Tigris and Euphrates rivers that run the length of the country, is now unable to provide drinking water to most of its people. "The two rivers are still there, great as they always were, and flowing all through the year," chief engineer Ahmad Salman of the Baghdad Water Authority told IPS. "Yet Iraqis are thirsty, and we are ashamed of being engineers in the service. We have simply failed to provide our people with half of the drinking water they need." Much of the country is suffering severe lack of water, and the small quantities supplied are not good for human use. "I analysed the water supplied by the water authority, and the result was shocking," Dr Ibrahim Ali, a laboratory owner in Baghdad told IPS. "It is definitely not good for human consumption, and every time we analyse it we find something new that might, in time, cause death." ...

Now the Saudis tool up for war


The White House line that Iraq’s extremists are all backed by Iran is a myth, writes robert fox
T his weekend, buyers from across the Gulf states and the Middle East will descend on a huge arms fair in Dubai. Sheikhs, emirs, princes and kings will be buying anything from specialised sniper ammunition by the ton, to the highest-tech surveillance gear and even the odd British Aerospace gunboat or Eurofighter.
The Arab world will use the International Defence Exhibition (IDEX), to tool up for a coming confrontation with Iran, and to arm Sunni insurgents to fight Iran's allies in Iraq, the Shia militias.
Even the Bush administration will now admit, under its collective breath of course, that Iraq is in the throes of a full-blown civil war between armed groups of its Sunni and Shia Arab communities, triggered a year ago by the destruction of the al-Laskar mosque in Samara, a revered Shia shrine.
What the American authorities are reluctant to admit, however, is that there are signs that the Sunnis of Saudi Arabia and their allies - including Jordan - have been equipping and training Sunni extremists in Iraq for some time now. Critically, not all the weaponry and munitions have been used against the militants' Shia and Kurdish Iraqi enemies. Some of them - including lethal roadside bombs - have been aimed at US forces
"The growth of the official and unofficial Saudi and Jordanian support for the militants is one of the most worrying developments," a senior British officer has told me privately after a visit to Iraq. >>>cont

"The Gulf War: A First Assessment"

Wiretapping Was Only The Beginning

New Law Allows Bush Admin To Conduct Body Searches On American Citizens, Collect Business Records Without Court Approval
New York Times JAMES RISEN and ERIC LICHTBLAU August 18, 2007 12:16 PM
Broad new surveillance powers approved by Congress this month could allow the Bush administration to conduct spy operations that go well beyond wiretapping to include -- without court approval -- certain types of physical searches of American citizens and the collection of their business records, Democratic Congressional officials and other experts said.
Administration officials acknowledged they had heard such concerns from Democrats in Congress recently, and that there was a continuing debate over the meaning of the legislative language. But they...

VideoVets Oliver Stone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yv2tAaTNNX0


VideoVets: John Bruhns interview by Oliver Stone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTTZ7Qt8_20
Provided By:
karinmoveon

Live Your Life Without Regret

Cleanse first then partition:

And on,came the news: "Maliki is forming a new alliance to save the government." A new alliance ? Save it ? From whom? I smiled...I knew it all along... Maliki declared today that a new alliance is formed. An alliance of 4 parties. - The Dawa party of which he is a member. Other members of the Dawa party are: Al Jaafari and Muqtada al Sadr and his drill boys. - The other party is the Supreme Islamic Revolutionary Council of Iran - sorry meant Iraq. The SIRCI headed by his "eminence" (hahaha) Adbel Aziz Al Hakeem. - The third party is the Jalal Talabani party, our buffoon /mossad agent/ president, of the Kurdish Patriotic Front and - The fourth is none other than the other mossad agent/crook, M.Barazani of the Kurdish Democratic Party. So our new government is made of Shias loyal to Iran and Kurds loyal to Iran and Israel...and both are loyal to America. Oh wow...what a novelty! Absent are: the Sunni Alliance and the butcher of Falluja, Allawi (...) Remember the Americans came with a precise agenda: 1) Regime Change 2) The Division of Iraq along ethnic lines. Shias, Sunnis and Kurds. Kurds are majority Sunnis by the way. And I have said it before and it is getting boring repeating myself. You cannot divide a country along sectarian and ethnic lines. It is either /or...But the Americans did as they did so many other things... continua / continued

China Is Not The Problem

By Paul Craig Roberts
08/17/07 "ICH" -- -- At a time when even the Wall Street Journal has disappeared into the maw of a huge media conglomerate, the New York Times remains an independent newspaper. But it doesn’t show any independence in reporting or in thought.
The Times issued a mea culpa for letting its reporter, Judith Miller, misinform readers about Iraq, thus helping the neoconservatives set the stage for their invasion. Now the Times’ reporting on Iran seems to be repeating the mistake. After the US commits another senseless act of naked aggression by bombing Iran, will the Times publish another mea culpa?
The Times editorials also serve as conduits for propaganda. On August 13, a Times editorial jumped on China for “irresponsible threats” that threaten free trade. The Times’ editorialists do not understand that the offshoring of American jobs, which the Times mistakenly thinks is free trade, is a far greater threat to America than a reminder from the Chinese, who are tired of US bullying, that China is America’s banker.
Let’s briefly review the “China threat” and then turn to the real problem.
LinkHere

Friday, August 17, 2007

Oh look. TOTALLY BUSTED!

WASHINGTON — Top Commerce and Treasury Departments officials appeared with Republican candidates and doled out millions in federal money in battleground congressional districts and states after receiving White House political briefings detailing GOP election strategy.

ACLU Targeting Pelosi/Reid

HOPE IT HITS HOME!!!!!!


The ACLU is planning to run this ad in the hometown papers of Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi.

There are now almost 200,000 private 'contractors' deployed in Iraq by Washington.

Didn't they marginalise and dump General Shinseki for telling Congress they would need 200000 to secure Iraq post war
Army chief says 200,000 troops needed to keep the peace

Hmmmmmm seems Georgie wanted to give all the war profits to his Mercenary Revolution
Jeremy Scahill The Mercenary Revolution: Flush With Profits From the Iraq War

Jeremy Scahill, of the Indypendent, reports: "With almost no congressional oversight and even less public awareness, the Bush administration has more than doubled the size of the U.S. occupation through the use of private war companies. There are now almost 200,000 private 'contractors' deployed in Iraq by Washington. This means that U.S. military forces in Iraq are now outsized by a coalition of billing corporations whose actions go largely unmonitored and whose crimes are virtually unpunished."

How much is good press worth? To the Bush administration, about $1.6 billion.

Bush Administration Spent $1.6 Billion to Spin the News
Christopher Lee, of The Washington Post, writes: "How much is good press worth? To the Bush administration, about $1.6 billion. That's how much seven federal departments spent from 2003 through the second quarter of 2005 on 343 contracts with public relations firms, advertising agencies, media organizations and individuals, according to a new Government Accountability Office report. The 154-page report provides the most comprehensive look to date at the scope of federal spending in an area that generated substantial controversy last year."

Government's craven energy policy.

The tragedy unfolding in Utah says mountains about America's abuse of coal miners, the land they work -- and our government's craven energy policy.
By Jeff Biggers

Bush's tangled arms deal

With the departure of Karl Rove the Bush administration now enters its last throes.

Reuters/Jason Reed
The country takes leave of the political serial killer who tried to forge a one-party state. But don't expect the Mayberry Machiavelli to pay for his civic sins
By Sidney Blumenthal
The Pygmalion strategist from Texas built up the Republican Party by exploiting the religious right -- and now his handiwork is crumbling.

The case of the perfect fall guy.

Jose Padilla Found Guilty Of Everything, Except What He Was Supposed to Have Done
Commentary and complete coverage of the case of the perfect fall guy.
A Verdict on Padilla - and the US
In an editorial, The Christian Science Monitor says: "A critical legal case shedding light on President Bush's antiterror tactics will soon come to a head. A jury will decide in coming days if an American citizen, Jose Padilla, is guilty of aiding Al Qaeda. The verdict will signal whether US civic values must be bent to win a war. A three-part Monitor series reveals the troubling ways in which the administration shifted charges against Mr. Padilla, tried to avoid judicial review of his case, and likely damaged his mental health by using extreme isolation to extract information from him."

Secret spy court orders Bush to respond to request for information on secret ruling

Source: Raw Story
In an unprecedented order, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court ordered the Bush Administration to respond to a request it received last week by the American Civil Liberties Union for orders and legal papers discussing the scope of the government's authority to engage in the secret wiretapping of Americans, according to an ACLU press release late Friday.
The release follows.
According to the FISC’s order, the ACLU’s request “warrants further briefing,” and the government must respond to it by August 31. The court has said that any reply by the ACLU must be filed by September 14.
"Disclosure of these court orders and legal papers is essential to the ongoing debate about government surveillance," said Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU. "We desperately need greater transparency and public scrutiny. We're extremely encouraged by today's development because it means that, at long last, the government will be required to defend its contention that the orders should not be released."
LinkHere

Democrats target 2008 Calif. vote plan

Source: Associated Press
Democrats target 2008 Calif. vote plan
By MICHAEL R. BLOOD, Associated Press Writer
19 minutes ago
LOS ANGELES - Leading Democrats are uniting with Hollywood producer Steven Bing and hedge fund manager Tom Steyer to oppose a California ballot proposal they fear could hand the 2008 presidential election to the Republican nominee.
A lawyer with ties to the Republican Party wants California voters to change the way the nation's most populous state awards its electoral votes — a proposal Democrats call a power grab but that supporters describe as a blueprint for fairness in presidential contests.
California now allots all of its 55 electoral votes to the statewide winner in presidential elections, a practice followed in most states.
The proposal calls for awarding two electoral votes to the statewide winner, with the rest allocated according to results in each congressional district.
LinkHere

ONE FOR THE PEOPLE

Feds pay $80,000 over anti-Bush T-shirts
Source: Yahoo News
A couple arrested at a rally after refusing to cover T-shirts that bore anti-President Bush slogans settled their lawsuit against the federal government for $80,000, the American Civil Liberties Union announced Thursday.
Nicole and Jeffery Rank of Corpus Christi, Texas, were handcuffed and removed from the July 4, 2004, rally at the state Capitol, where Bush gave a speech. A judge dismissed trespassing charges against them, and an order closing the case was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Charleston.
"This settlement is a real victory not only for our clients but for the First Amendment," said Andrew Schneider, executive director of the ACLU of West Virginia. "As a result of the Ranks' courageous stand, public officials will think twice before they eject peaceful protesters from public events for exercising their right to dissent."
White House spokesman Blair Jones said the settlement was not an admission of wrongdoing.
"The parties understand that this settlement is a compromise of disputed claims to avoid the expenses and risks of litigation and is not an admission of fault, liability, or wrongful conduct," Jones said.
LinkHere

He's Gone, Good Riddance

White House spokesman quitting
White House press secretary Tony Snow will step down from his position as early as next month, sources inside and outside the Bush administration told CNN on Friday. Snow told conservative talk-show host Hugh Hewitt on Thursday "financial reasons" may prevent him for serving the remainder of his boss's presidency.

RIVAL Darfur Arab tribes in Sudan have signed a truce after more than 140 people died in clashes

(photo: Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)
RIVAL Darfur Arab tribes in Sudan have signed a truce after more than 140 people died in clashes, an official and tribal leaders said overnight. "It's an agreement to cease hostilities," Mohammed Ahmed Hassan, a Terjem tribal leader, said of the deal his tribe signed with the Rizeigat yesterday. "If the Rizeigat adhere to and respect the..
.

Reclaiming US's liberal soul

LIBERALISM in the US is a political tradition so reviled that its adherents dare not speak its name.
Sometime in the 1960s, conservatives began using "liberal" as an epithet and, after a while, liberals gave up trying to defend its honour. When pressed for a self-description today, many prominent liberals choose "progressive". Then they explain that they don't like labels.
There's no shame in ideological change. In its modern American context, liberalism - the belief that government should intervene in society to solve problems that individuals cannot solve alone - began with Franklin Roosevelt. American progressivism (championing workers' rights and social justice in the age of industrialisation) has older roots and different emphases. But yesterday's liberals haven't become today's progressives to evoke a different intellectual tradition; they have become progressives to escape intellectual tradition. With the flip of a label, they have cast off decades of disappointment and failure. Unburdened by the past, they can now define themselves on their own terms.
Muscular liberalism, as Beinart sees it, is "a narrative of national greatness that (links) America's mission at home and abroad". It requires the US to lead by example, in the best tradition of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry Truman and the Kennedys. Military strength and firm resolve should be accompanied by fiscal responsibility and progress on inequality, education and civil rights. Above all, Beinart argues, the US must welcome international constraints on its power and fund nation-building generously.
His most damning observation is that between 1948 and 1952, the US spent $US200 billion a year on non-military assistance to Europe. The Bush administration's total non-military spending on the Muslim world has been a comparatively piddling $US8 billion. As Beinart asks, "What kind of way is that to fight World War IV?"

Interpol issues arrest warrant against Saddam's daughter

Baghdad - Voices of Iraq
Friday , 17 /08 /2007 Time 11:15:02
Baghdad, Aug 17, (VOI) – Interpol issued an arrest warrant against Raghad, former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's daughter, upon a request from the Iraqi government.
"Raghad Saddam Hussein al-Majid, 38, is wanted by the Iraqi government on several charges of terrorism and crimes against innocent people," according to a statement published on Interpol's official web site and received by the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).The site called on anyone who has information about Raghad's whereabouts to report to the local police station in their city.Raghad lives in exile outside Iraq, with her children in the Jordanian capital Amman, hosted by the Hashemite royal family.The last time she was seen publicly was during a popular rally at the professional syndicates compound in Amman to protest the execution of her father on December 31, 2006.

Bill Moyers: 'Greed and God won four elections in a row' for Rove

Bill Moyers will consider the departure of Karl Rove in a video essay released early by PBS to RAW STORY. Moyers, a Texan like Rove and Bush, is not easily swayed by the commentators and administration figures who have been quick to describe Rove as "brilliant ... mastermind ... boy genius."
"Karl Rove figured out a long time ago," says Moyers, "that the way to take an intellectually incurious, draft-averse naughty playboy in a flight jacket with chewing tobacco in his back pocket and make him governor of Texas was to sell him as God's anointed."
"Rove turned religion into a weapon of political combat,"
Karl Rove figured out a long time ago that the way to take an intellectually incurious draft-averse naughty playboy in a flight jacket with chewing tobacco in his back pocket and make him governor of Texas, was to sell him as God’s anointed in a state where preachers and televangelists outnumber even oil derricks and jack rabbits. Using church pews as precincts Rove turned religion into a weapon of political combat -- a battering ram, aimed at the devil’s minions, especially at gay people.
It’s so easy, as Karl knew, to scapegoat people you outnumber, and if God is love, as rumor has it, Rove knew that, in politics, you better bet on fear and loathing. Never mind that in stroking the basest bigotry of true believers you coarsen both politics and religion.


The following video will appear on Friday on PBS's Bill Moyers Journal.

Short of Purple Hearts, Navy tells vet to buy own

75 year old Korean War vet invited to wait 90 days or buy his own medal.
By ANNE MARIE KILDAYCopyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
PEARLAND — Korean War veteran Nyles Reed, 75, opened an envelope last week to learn a Purple Heart had been approved for injuries he sustained as a Marine on June 22, 1952.
But there was no medal. Just a certificate and a form stating that the medal was "out of stock."
"I can imagine, of course, with what's going on in Iraq and Afghanistan, there's a big shortage," Reed said. "At least, I would imagine so."
The form letter from the Navy Personnel Command told Reed he could wait 90 days and resubmit an application, or buy his own medal.
After waiting 55 years, however, Reed decided to pay $42 for his own Purple Heart and accompanying ribbon — plus state sales taxes — at a military surplus store.

For Giuliani, Ground Zero as Linchpin and Thorn

Records: Giuliani Spent Only 29 Hours At Ground Zero In Months After 9/11
By RUSS BUETTNER
Published: August 17, 2007
As Rudolph W. Giuliani campaigns around the country highlighting his stewardship of New York City after the Sept. 11 attacks, he is widely hailed for bringing order to a traumatized city. But he has also raised the hackles of rescue and recovery workers by likening his experience to theirs.
On at least three occasions, in responding to accusations that the city failed to adequately protect the health of workers in the wreckage, he has boasted that he faced comparable risks himself. In one appearance he declared that he had been in the ruins “as often, if not more” than the cleanup workers who logged hundreds of hours in the smoldering pile.
Another time he brushed aside safety claims by asserting that his long hours at the site had left him susceptible to “every health consequence that people have suffered.”
So, how much time did Mayor Giuliani spend at ground zero?

Cheney shrugs off 1994 remarks about Iraq

Cheney '94: Invading Baghdad Would Create Quagmire C-SPAN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BEsZMvrq-I

UPDATE:::: FROM THE WHITE HOUSE

'He wasn't VP,' Cheney's office says of video revealing Iraq flipflop

In White House reversal, top general in Iraq will testify on war progress

White House retreats, will allow general to testify on Iraq
Updated If the White House had its way, the Bush Administration's Sept. 15 progress report on Iraq may have been delivered by the U.S. secretaries of state and defense -- and not by top US Iraq General David Petraeus and US Iraq Ambassador Ryan Crocker in a widely anticipated public congressional briefing, a newspaper reported Thursday morning.
The White House on Thursday clarified that Petraeus and Crocker would testify publicly before Congress, but their testimony will come before the report is released. White House deputy press secretary Gordon Johndroe told reporters in Crawford, Texas, that Petraeus and Crocker's testimony would not be hampered by an inability to discuss the surge progress report before its release.
"I mean, I think everyone expects Ambassador Crocker and General Petraeus to offer a very candid assessment of the situation on the ground in Iraq. I know that's what President Bush expects. It's what the American people expect," Johndroe said. "And so, no, I don't think there will be any constraints on their testimony whatsoever."
White House officials suggested to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee last week that Petraeus and Crocker would brief lawmakers in a private, closed session before the report's release, the Washington Post reported earlier Thursday. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates then would have been the only members of the Administration to provide public testimony.
Democrats, however, say an alternative presentation plan is not viable.
"Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-DE) told the White House that Bush's presentation plan was unacceptable. An aide to Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl M. Levin (D-MI) said that 'we are in talks with the administration and... Senator Levin wants an open hearing' with Petraeus," the Post's Jonathan Weisman and Karen DeYoung reported.
White House officials said that they have no plans to shield Petraeus or Crocker from testimony--a requirement of the war-funding legislation signed by President Bush in May--but did not deny suggesting a revised plan in informal talks with Congress.
"The administration plans to follow the requirements of the legislation," said National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe yesterday.
Johndroe denied the reports that strictly closed-door briefings were being considered, and he accused Democrats of “trying to start a fight where there really isn't one.”
Read the full Post story here.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

The King Of All Elite, Effete Snobs

Karl Rove attempted to describe you and me today like so: "...sort of elite, effete snobs who can't hold a candle to this guy (Bush). What they don't like about him is that he is common sense, that he is Middle America."
Here's Karl Rove's love doll last Thursday:Nothing effete, elitist or snobby pictured there. No sir.
This is the president and his former president Dad (the patriarch of one of the world's most powerful and wealthy families) merrily cruising the ocean aboard their family speedboat. In this photo, the president and his presidential Dad are returning to their multi-million-dollar family estate at Kennebunkport, Maine. And finally, the speedboat is called "Fidelity III" which indicates two prior speedboats named "Fidelity".
Put aside the Yale, the Skull & Bones, the cheerleading, the oil wealth, the estates, the boats and this uncomfortably weird obsession with effeteness; there are very few Americans who are quite as privileged, entitled, sheltered, and coddled than this current president.
So Karl? Shut the fuck up.
LinkHere

Another Collapse At Utah Mine

At Least Nine Rescue Workers Injured..."The Floor Slipped"...Four Ambulances And Two Helicopters...Medics Seen Doing Chest Compressions
AP Paul Foy August 16, 2007 11:07 PM
At least 10 people working to find six men trapped in coal mine were injured Thursday night, authorities said.
"It is believed that the accident was caused by a bump. ... We are in the process of doing a head count to ensure that everyone is accounted for," said Dirk Fillpot, spokesman for the Mine Safety and Health Administration.
UPDATE
UPDATE

Take Action to Defend Free Speech

Stop Government Attacks Against the Anti-War Movement!Take Action to Defend Free Speech
In an unprecedented action, the ANSWER Coalition today received citations fining the organization $10,000 for the placement of posters announcing the September 15 March on Washington DC. The fines come after a campaign led by FOX news calling for the DC government to take action against those putting up posters for the September 15 demonstration.
They have told us that we have 72 hours to remove every poster, or the fines will go into effect. Tens of thousands of dollars in additional fines are expected in the coming days. Bush’s Interior Department is threatening similar actions against ANSWER. The September 15 posters are legal and conform to city regulations. We will not allow the government's intimidation tactics to slow our outreach or silence the antiwar movement.
We can stop this effort to repress the antiwar movement with your help.
This is part of a systematic effort to disrupt the organizing for the September 15 Mass March that is timed to coincide with the report of General Petraeus and the debate in Congress on the Iraq war. Iraq war veterans and their families will lead this dramatic march from the White House to the Congress on September 15. The last thing the government wants is to see the streets of Washington DC fill up with throngs of anti-war protesters right in the middle of the debate. But we will not be stopped. Organizing for this demonstration is taking place in cities and towns throughout the country. Buses and car caravans are coming from 90 cities and towns.
Please send a letter today to Washington DC Mayor (Adrian M. Fenty) and to the Director of DC Department of Public Works (William O. Howland, Jr.) demanding an end to the fines, harassment and repression of the anti-war movement. We have a right to publicize the September 15 March. Fining the anti-war movement tens of thousands of dollars for putting up Free Speech-protected literature makes a mockery out of the First Amendment.
Take Action!
The best way to take action is to call the Director of Department of Public Works, William O. Howland, Jr. at 202-673-6833, and the Mayor of DC, Adrian Fenty, at 202-724-8876. You can also send a letter or fax by clicking this link.
We'd suggest saying something along the lines of: "I am writing to protest the fines levied against the ANSWER Coalition for putting up posters for the September 15th March on Washington. The government does not fine politicians who put up campaign posters, or commercial and business interests that plaster Washington, DC with posters. It is outrageous that the city, in concert with FOXNews, are attempting to suppress the antiwar movement. Stop the harassment. Stop the fines."
Let us know how your phone conversations go by emailing us.
LinkHere

... He was happy with the result,” Waddington said!!!!! I just bet he was

SHAME SHAME SHAME
Wasn't this soldier there to liberate the Iraqi citizens, at least that was one of the many of Georgies Flip Flop reasons for his
Illegal War and Occupation
Iraqi detainee was struck with baseball bat
In a Democracy Now! national broadcast exclusive, forensic psychiatrist Dr. Angela Hegarty speaks for the first time about her experience interviewing Jose Padilla for 22 hours to determine the state of his mental health. Padilla is the U.S. citizen who was classified by President Bush as an enemy combatant and held in extreme isolation at a naval brig in South Carolina for over three-and-a-half years. His case is now before a Florida jury. "What happened at the brig was essentially the destruction of a human being's mind," said Dr. Hegarty. "[Padilla's] personality was deconstructed and reformed." She said the effects of the extreme isolation on Padilla are consistent with brain damage. "I don't know if he's guilty or not of the charges that they brought against him," said Dr. Hegarty. "But, already - before he was ever found guilty - he's paid a tremendous price for his trip to the Middle East...

Notes Describe Frail, Upset AG Ashcroft

"Feeble, Barely Articulate" Ashcroft Was Pressured By Gonzales To Approve Wiretap Program
AP Lara Jakes Jordan August 16, 2007 08:28 PM
The White House demanded in 2004 that the Justice Department approve a secret national security program without allowing the ailing attorney general, "feeble, barely articulate, clearly stressed," to discuss the matter with top advisers, according to the FBI director's personal notes.
The partially censored notes from FBI chief Robert S. Mueller, dated March 12, 2004, describe a distraught and feeble Attorney General John Ashcroft in his hospital room just moments after being visited by then-White House counsel Alberto Gonzales and Andy...

CIA, FBI Edited Wikipedia Entries About Iraq And Gitmo

CIA, FBI Edited Wikipedia Entries »
Reuters Randall Mikkelsen August 16, 2007 06:37 PM
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - People using CIA and FBI computers have edited entries in the online encyclopedia Wikipedia on topics including the Iraq war and the Guantanamo prison, according to a new tracing program.
The changes may violate Wikipedia's conflict-of-interest guidelines, a spokeswoman for the site said on Thursday.

Fleeing The Ship: White House Hints At A “Couple More” Resignations

Tony Snow Hints Own Resignation May Be Near »
ThinkProgress August 16, 2007 01:50 PM
After the recent resignation of Karl Rove, media outlets speculated on what the rest of President Bush's term will look like without "the Architect." The President is "fighting lame duck status," reported the AP. In response, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow shot back: "As the president has said many times, he's going to sprint to the tape."
But even Tony Snow doesn't want to be around for that sprint. In an interview with the conservative Hugh Hewitt show, Snow signaled...

Tool Time: Rove Goes But the Malevolent Machine Rolls On

Chris Floyd , Empire Burlesque
Karl Rove has resigned, and for the moment that seems like good news -- although given the history and M.O. of the Bush gang, it will probably lead to something worse in one way or another. For example, look how much better things are now that Don Rumsfeld has gone! We've progressed from his last-days, panicky memos about curtailing the war (while spinning it as a victory) to a full-bore, wide-open escalation of the conflict which the chief surger, Gen. David Petraeus, tells us could last for 10 more years. Or for another, even more glaring example, look how things improved at the Justice Department after John Ashcroft was replaced by Alberto Gonzales. Colin Powell was a weak and pathetic bagman, whoring his media-inflated prestige to sell a war he didn't believe in -- but aren't things so much better with Condi Rice in charge at State? ...
continua / continued
CNN August 16, 2007 11:35 AM
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden told a crowd at the Iowa State Fair Wednesday that his son will be deployed to Iraq.
Beau Biden, Delaware's attorney general, is a captain in the Army National Guard. His unit has been notified that it will be deployed in January 2008.


Bush's Lethal Legacy: More Executions
Andrew Gumbel reports for The Guardian UK: "The US already kills more of its prisoners than almost any other country. Now the White House plans to cut the right of appeal of death row inmates."

Bush's lethal legacy: more executions - Independent Online Edition ...
According to official memos, Governor Bush would give the green light to executions based on no more than a half-hour briefing from Mr Gonzales. ...

GW Bush Has Defined Himself, Unforgettably, As Shallow And Callous
Ned Parker of the Los Angeles Times writes, "Mahdi militia members have infiltrated much of the country's security apparatus, including the army, where they reportedly intimidate and bribe troops and commanders to look the other way as militants execute their brutal sectarian 'cleansing' agenda."

Insecurity: When the bearers of democracy lose it for the sake of security

From Where I Stand by Joan Chittister, OSB
There's something intergalactic about hearing world news -- U.S. news -- in another country. Last week, for instance, I listened to the news in Tokyo. In the space of 24 hours, I heard a series of dizzying reports.
First, I sat in on a conversation in which Japanese friends spoke about the internment of Japanese-American citizens during World War II and the effect of that experience on immigrant Americans to this day.
Then, I heard CNN report that telephone records of "tens of millions" of U.S. citizens had been turned over to the government -- the largest example of domestic spying in the history of the country -- without Congressional approval.
I watched as Senator Patrick Leahy held up a copy of USA Today incredulous that as a senator he had to get such information from a newspaper rather than from the administration and wondered aloud how we would ever maintain the Constitution without the presence of the press in this country.
I heard a senator bemoan the "leaks" that allow such a thing to happen, as if the leaking of constitutionally suspect activities was more dangerous than the activities themselves.
I listened as Senator Dianne Feinstein remarked that we were on our way to a "major constitutional confrontation" over the abuse of the Fourth Amendment that guarantees Americans "the right to privacy."
I breathed a sigh of relief when I heard Senator Arlen Specter, a registered Republican and one of the most non-partisan members of Congress that the U.S. has to offer, call for hearings to get the data the White House will not provide the Congress.
And finally, in Japan, I sat as the Niwano Peace Prize Committee -- of which I am an executive member -- awarded its 23rd annual Peace Prize of 20 million yen (about $200,000) to Israel's "Rabbis for Human Rights." While the world struggles to negotiate the tinderbox tilt in world relations since the invasion of Iraq and the increase in tensions in the Middle East, this group of 130 Conservative, Reform, Orthodox and Reconstructionist rabbis from Jerusalem challenge their own government to honor the rights of Palestinians as well as the rights of Israelis.
The Japanese are the only people on earth who have been decimated by the only atomic bombs ever used against a people -- indiscriminately and experimentally, not once but twice. These are people, as a result, who really know what peace means and what modern warfare implies for the future of the world. To sit as I did and watch the Japanese beg the human race to do better -- as we ourselves fumble with force now, talk peace but do war -- had the quality of an out-of-body experience.
Intergalactic. Berserk. Daft. Certifiably absurd. Or as the songwriter put it years ago, "When will they ever learn ...?"
Yet, in our time, the cry for peace has come from every direction.
There have been those who have resisted foreign oppression, as Mahatma Gandhi did in the attempt to wrest India from British rule.
There have been those who resisted national oppression as did Nelson Mandela in the face of the apartheid government in South Africa.
There have been those who resisted social prejudices enshrined in law, as did Martin Luther King Jr. in a segregated U.S.A.
There have been those who resisted gender discrimination, as did Wangari Maathai in Kenya. (See NCR Oct. 22, 2004.)
There have been those who resisted religious intolerance as does Hans Kung, anywhere and everywhere.
And now, this new icon -- a body of rabbis. In Jerusalem.
But why rabbis? Their answers are clear. They do it because of their religious obligations to, as the Hebrew scriptures put it, "the widows, the orphans and the stranger."
They do it, too, because of their country's constitutional commitment to democracy and justice.
They do it because as Jews they themselves know what it is to be oppressed.
As a result, these rabbis have risked their own public status in Israel in for the sake of all of these things: for the integrity of the country, for the religious righteousness of Judaism, as a monument to the memory of their own families whose names are listed among the victims of ethnic tensions before this one, and even in behalf of the rights of the "stranger."
Finally, they persist in the face of criticism even by other rabbis, one of whom appeared at the award ceremony intent on defending the government of Israel from opposition to its Palestinian policies.
But the Rabbis for Human Rights remained true to their principles even here. They disagreed with the political positions taken by the rabbi who had insinuated himself onto the program but defended his right to differ.
Clearly the fact that such a group can exist in Israel, sue the government, protect Palestinians and speak in another voice is itself one of the clearest signs, ironically, of Israeli democracy itself.
In the midst of our own differences, despite the cacophony of the morning news and what it implies about our own struggle ahead, such a ceremony renewed the kind of hope this world needs.
After all, in the words of Bishop Gunnar Stalsett, Lutheran bishop emeritus of Oslo and chair of the Niwano Peace Prize Committee, "the rabbis have managed to rebuild the homes of Palestinians bulldozed by the Israelis army, helped Palestinians retain their farm land, harvested their olive produce, planted or provided over 10,000 trees for Palestinian land and joined a coalition of other organizations to oppose the "Separation Barrier" that expropriates Palestinian land, cuts people off from their fields and divides or surrounds village."
From where I stand, it seems to me that if a group of rabbis can do so much to call their own country to be what it says it wants to be, surely we can do the same here. Otherwise, if the international news that the Japanese and I were watching together is accurate, it's possible that in the name of "security," the bearers of democracy may well be the first to lose it. Then we would really be insecure.
And that would be really intergalactic. Berserk. Daft. Certifiably absurd.
LinkHere

"Maybe the world isn't better off with Saddam Hussein gone"

"The president likes the heat ..."
What happened Tuesday in Crawford, Texas: "What the president loves to do when he's at his ranch is to spend time outdoors," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said. "And I know today that they were maybe going to do some trail building, some bike-trail building that they do out there, so that they can then mountain bike. And I wouldn't be surprised if the president got in some fishing, as well as some time with his wife, Laura, Mrs. Bush, and maybe other family and friends ... And I would expect that [later in the week] there would be some brush cutting to do, although it is 107 degrees, so I don't know how many people are going to be able to stand it. The president, obviously, likes the heat, so maybe everyone else is just going to have to suffer through it."
What happened Tuesday in Iraq: Four suicide bombers drove trucks into Qahataniya, a town 75 miles west of Mosul, and blew themselves up almost simultaneously. The Associated Press reports that at least 200 people were killed and 300 more people were wounded.
Now, we understand that having the president on the job Tuesday wouldn't have stopped the attacks in Qahataniya. And indeed, when the White House gets around to commenting on the attacks, it will almost certainly use them as proof that the U.S. presence in Iraq is both necessary and successful: See, with the "surge" having driven the bad guys out of the Baghdad area -- well, not really, but that's the story -- they're reduced to striking in desperation elsewhere.
But if there were ever a "maybe the world isn't better off with Saddam Hussein gone" moment, this may be it. And if you haven't asked yourself the "what the hell are we still doing in Iraq" question lately, these words from the AP report should take care of that:
"The victims were members of a small Kurdish sect -- the Yazidis -- sometimes attacked by Muslim extremists who consider them infidels ...
"The Yazidis comprise a primarily Kurdish religious sect with ancient roots, that worships an angel figure considered to be the devil by some Muslims and Christians. Yazidis, who don't believe in hell or evil, deny that.
"The sect has been under fire since some members stoned a Yazidi teenager to death in April. She had converted to Islam and fled her family with a Muslim boyfriend, and police said 18-year-old Duaa Khalil Aswad was killed by relatives who disapproved of the match."
-- Tim Grieve
LinkHere

Not fit to serve

In Mississippi a few years ago, the courts took away a woman's 8-year-old child.
Why? In part because the child's mother was a lesbian.
Two of the judges in the majority went so far as to write and sign an additional opinion, unnecessary to the case's outcome, which stated that the mother must accept the fact that losing her biological child was a possible consequence of her sexual "choice."
One of those two judges was Leslie Southwick. And today, Southwick is dangerously close to being appointed to the Federal bench by President Bush.
Only the Senate stands in the way of his confirmation - will you take action with me?
Make sure your Senators return from their August break with a full inbox saying NO on Southwick's nomination!
America's highest courts are meant to be protectors of justice, not prejudice. Yet Southwick's record as a Mississippi judge raises serious doubts about his ability to apply the law fairly to all Americans. In this case alone, Southwick:
Went so far as to cite Mississippi's irrelevant and outdated sodomy laws, which have since been invalidated.
Focused on "the practice of homosexuality" - refusing to even mention gay individuals as human beings.
Cited Mississippi's law prohibiting same-sex couples from adopting children - even though this was not an adoption case!
The American Psychiatric Association has long held that sexual orientation is not a "choice," and that lesbian and gay parents are just as successful as their heterosexual counterparts.
Yet Judge Southwick disregarded widely accepted science in favor of his personal bias. This man MUST NOT be given the responsibility to protect the basic rights of gay and lesbian Americans.
Help protect GLBT civil rights by writing your Senators today.
If approved to the Court of Appeals, Southwick's appointment would be for life. That's why I'm asking you to take action today - and when you're done, please forward this message on to everyone you know.
Thank you.
Warmly,
Joe SolmonesePresident
By Ernest Partridge
If Bush and Cheney decide to attack Iran, and thus bring about the collapse of the American economy and perhaps the onset of another world war, we can't say that we were not forewarned. If not by the mainstream media, then by the few remaining voices of sanity in the press, the internet, and the international media. And by history.

Only one key player remains ~ the dark master himself, Dick Cheney.

ALL THE LIES EVENTUALLY LEAD TO DICK CHENEY
By Allen L Roland
Absolute power absolutely corrupts and the Libby conviction was the tip of an Iceberg of deceit, deception, and abuse of power by the Cheney/Bush administration ~ which began with the 9/11 cover-up, extended to the illegal War, occupation and economic rape of Iraq and is fully visible in the tragedy of New Orleans. Karl Rove's resignation leaves only the dark master himself ~ for all the lies eventually lead to Dick Cheney .

-- At least 337 people dead and 1,350 injured following powerful earthquake in central Peru, the country's Health Ministry says.

Hide & Seek...again !

An Arab Woman Blues - Reflections in a sealed bottle...
You know something, this business with figures is starting to really aggravate me.
I understand that you can count very well, when it comes to dollars...This we all know.
But why is it when it comes to killings, you conveniently misplace numbers ?
In previous posts, "An Add'h'olic" and "Let's call...", I alluded both directly and indirectly as to the number of deaths in Iraq. I even asked you to check the series of correspondence between Gabriele Zamparini, the Guardian and Znet.
I maintain that the Iraq Body Count figure of 70'000 is shameful to say the least.
I have also said on numerous occasions, that even the Lancet figure of 655'000 Iraqis dead is obsolete by now. I was slightly relieved to see that some websites did publish the more accurate figure of 1 million +.
I reiterate yet again, the figure is greater than 1 million+.
I have also said that prior to the invasion the total population of Iraq was approximately 24 million in 2003.
German figures for 1997, placed the population number at 22.5 million. Remember that 1990-2003 were sanctions years and we lost 1.5+ million people during those 13 years.
I have also mentioned the famous Bremer question time and time again, when he asked one of the persons in his bureau in Baghdad what the population was and when the answer given was 24million, he said let us bring it down to 5 or 6 million, that should be enough.
The same hide and seek game is being played out when it comes to Iraqi detainees.
I mentioned in more than one of my posts as far back as 9 months ago, that the number of detainees in Iraq was well around 67'000.
The UN Human rights report which bases itself on official government figures quoted the number of detainees for 2006 alone at 34'000.
I need not go into the maths again to show you that the official number of detainees given by the U.S army of 40'000 is fallacious.
Back to the population figures.
Now, about three weeks ago, an american from the democratic party, by the name of J.Moran was interviewed on al Jazeerah TV. He said to the effect.
- The population of Iraq is 26 million, and these 26 million are incapable of getting along. They are infantile and are not fit for self governance. We have spent millions of dollars from the taxpayer's money and it is about time Iraqis learn the art of managing their own affairs.
- In an article by Oxfam, two weeks ago, this latter reports that the Population of Iraq is 26.5 million.
- The CIA fact book, for July 2007, reports that the current population of Iraq is 27.5 million.
- And now the "grande finale", UNICEF which has not set foot in Iraq since the sanction years (and do remember its wonderful lousy role when 500'000 Iraqi babies died during that period), now claims it has the accurate figure for natality rates.
It says in the past 12 months, the birth rate was 1 million Iraq infants.
Now how on earth did UNICEF or Oxfam get their figures? These two have not set foot in Iraq since 2003. Or have they been relying on the CIA fact book or on the Iraqi Ministry of Health figures ?
And you know what the Ministry of Health is all about. It is ruled by the Sadrists gangs of Muqtada the driller, who kill with one hand and inflate numbers with another so as to cover up their crimes.
So in the space of 6 weeks, the population rose from 26 Million to 27.5 million.
And not only that, UNICEF assures us that fertility and reproduction are booming in Iraq with a birth rate of 1 million every 12 months.
I am no statistician, and I will not sit and debate with you the how's ...
All I can tell you with certainty is that this playing around with figures fulfills an important objective.
Remember, I told you that Arabs are perceived as "breeding like rabbits..."
This is a common inherently racist belief about most "third world countries" but in particular about the Arabs and the Muslims.
I used to hear that sentence so often from the brits, the americans and the israelis are keen on repeating it too...for obvious reasons.
I also said to you that population control is a weapon to change geography and its boundaries...
These seeming discrepancies in figures are not the fruit of haphazardness. They do serve a purpose and not a noble one for that matter.
The message is clear and loud if you care to listen to it. And it goes along these lines :
However much of them die, they will keep reproducing. They will not be exterminated. And even if the real figures of the carnage finally show up, we always have an abundant, generous birth rate to make up for it...
Another perfect crime from the "respectable" West, where Iraqis are not even given the chance to bury their dead in their real numbers, but are also perceived as a baby machine that will keep on producing more feed for the beast.
And I tell you, the mass graves are here alright and no, they were not Saddam's doings but yours...
What a shameful lot this "respectable" West is.
So do you get it now or are you still playing hide and seek, yourself ?
Painting : Iraqi artist, Abdel Rahman Al Saadi
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