Sunday Morning Open Thread

I may not be here for a while. I'm heading for the bath.

Alchohol, weed, hookers and valium.

I wish.

Instead we may just have to pitchfork some bunny.

Christy..

Just for you since you love the pitchforking the bunny I posted the other day. (lol)

Make sure you watch this clip!

reposting this from the home page:

And your comment about Hillary and Obama being less willing to push back against corporations, and changing the whole structure of our elections, is why I can't support either of them fully either. It leads me to believe that the line Dianne posted is correct, "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss."

@@@@@@

Change, usually, is not dramatic but occurs over time. The country has been on an extreme rightward course after Republican rule for almost 15 years (since the Republican sweep of Congress in 1994) and this rightward change accelerated, dramatically, after 9-11. This must be stopped and corrected. Even the Republican candidates for president sense this because they never talk about George Bush. His name is not uttered in public or in the debates.

I don't particularly care about the presidency since it has become so much of a beauty contest and a fund-raising orgy. I want to focus on Congress and getting good, talented progressives in Congress and expanding the Democrat majority in both Houses. So much important work goes on in Congress. There were three high watermarks in Congress in the last two years:

1) The dumping of Rumsfeld (which Democrats and Republicans began to insist on) and credit goes to the Democrats after their taking control of the House and Senate in '06.

2) The dumping of Gonzales (after months of lies and evasion and completely unbelievable testimony) - credit going to Sens. Leahy and Schumer and Feinstein and Whitehouse etc.

3) John Bolton being rejected as ambassador to the United Nations. I remember those hearings - the Democrats were unanimous in opposition and the Repubs were, frankly, embarrassed by Bolton. Finally one of the Repubs caved on the nomination and it was blocked.

I look at the "change" as being one of institutional change (not just a change in what person is president): that the Congress reassert its traditional power and the power of executive be scaled back. This discussion of institutional change has been completely absent from the Democratic candidates. Why isn't there more of an emphasis on the president sharing power with the Congress and the Courts??

Also, I am hoping that the Democratic party - dying, corrupt, in shambles, without a clear message - can be revitalized in this election and return to power.

I think "change" is also needed in the media (especially the mass media/ MSM) - which has done an awful job of covering the Bush administration.

Sparrow, that is totally freaking hillarious.

(photo D Grieser)

Ralph,

Excellent post about change.

Yes I liked that. I saw it on the home page last night.

Protesters Arrested at the Supreme Court

DocuDharma

also at Silenced Majority

The Republicans discussing WWIII with Iran

Los Angeles Times ran a fluff piece about Bush's "spiritual journey" - I'll spare you the link but if you really want to see it, go to Google News and key in "Bush" "spiritual" (another oxymoron)

Anyway, here are the first two comments:

1. Bush always goes for media and photo opos, but who is he kidding? He and his ill-informed, ill-timed, costly and destructive invasion of Iraq are a terrible legacy. Quick trips here and there will not erase the shame of torture, Blackwater goons, early "mission accomphlished" banners and the like. Fed-up Americans (and the International Community) are just counting the days until he and nis neo-cons are out.

2. Bush has skulked away from his own country so he doesn't have to deal with early election primaries results, which clearly show conservatives and liberals want his #ss gone. Last thing any Republican candidatewants now is a George Bush endorsement. So he's scmoozing with monarchs, walking in ruins and staying the hell out of Dodge.

To georgie, do you really believe he has 'failed' in his 'lagacy'...?

I mean, seriously. His grandfather was a nazi banker, so I doubt his view of 'legacy' even resembles what we would define it as.

What does he care Iraq is in chaos? What does he even care that voters are excited to out him?

When he walks away, he will have BILLIONS of dollars in stolen loot between him his family and their cronies.

We sit here and think 'Wow what a sh*tty lagacy', but does he really even CARE what his 'lagacy' will be when he can steal an empire and command mass death on a whim?

To him the only 'legacy' worth having, is the one where he gets away with it. All of it.

That's why his legacy MUST be impeachment hearings AND hearings in the HAGUE.

If our country doesn't do it, then I hope the Hague will.

Me too.

Amen.

To the Hague!

Sorry about the terrible spelling. Was distracted by the circus I live in.

Christy
What does he care Iraq is in chaos? What does he even care that voters are excited to out him?

When he walks away, he will have BILLIONS of dollars in stolen loot between him his family and their cronies.

We sit here and think 'Wow what a sh*tty lagacy', but does he really even CARE what his 'lagacy' will be when he can steal an empire and command mass death on a whim?

To him the only 'legacy' worth having, is the one where he gets away with it. All of it.

=====
Sparrow
That's why his legacy MUST be impeachment hearings AND hearings in the HAGUE.

If our country doesn't do it, then I hope the Hague will.

=====

Amen

Principles of International Law Recognized in the Charter of the Nüremberg Tribunal and in the Judgment of the Tribunal, 1950.

Full text [Display Introduction] [Display articles]
Principle I
Any person who commits an act which constitutes a crime under international law is responsible therefor and liable to punishment.

Principle II

The fact that internal law does not impose a penalty for an act which constitutes a crime under international law does not relieve the person who committed the act from responsibility under international law.

Principle III

The fact that a person who committed an act which constitutes a crime under international law acted as Head of State or responsible Government official does not relieve him from responsibility under international law.

Principle IV

The fact that a person acted pursuant to order of his Government or of a superior does not relieve him from responsibility under international law, provided a moral choice was in fact possible to him.

Principle V

Any person charged with a crime under international law has the right to a fair trial on the facts and law.

Principle VI

The crimes hereinafter set out are punishable as crimes under international law:

(a) Crimes against peace:
(i) Planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances;
(ii) Participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of any of the acts mentioned under (i).

(b) War crimes:
Violations of the laws or customs of war include, but are not limited to, murder, ill-treatment or deportation to slave-labour or for any other purpose of civilian population of or in occupied territory, murder or ill-treatment of prisoners of war, of persons on the seas, killing of hostages, plunder of public or private property, wanton destruction of cities, towns, or villages, or devastation not justified by military necessity.

(c) Crimes against humanity:
Murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation and other inhuman acts done against any civilian population, or persecutions on political, racial or religious grounds, when such acts are done or such persecutions are carried on in execution of or in connexion with any crime against peace or any war crime.

Principle VII

Complicity in the commission of a crime against peace, a war crime, or a crime against humanity as set forth in Principle VI is a crime under international law.

They must have just forgotten Principle V
Any person charged with a crime under international law has the right to a fair trial on the facts and law.
In the case of Sadam.

Congressman Robert Wexler is organizing his colleagues to ask House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers to begin Cheney impeachment hearings. Please help by calling the Capitol Hill Switchboard: (202) 224-3121. They can tell you who your Congress Member is if you don't know, and they can connect you to their office. Ask your representative to urge Chairman Conyers to begin impeachment hearings against Dick Cheney. This is especially important if your representative is a member of the Judiciary Committee. Once you've made your phone call, please urge everyone you know to do the same. If you have further time to help advance impeachment, please call and Email the media.

Link ups here

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/30067

Let's get it ON!

US Intelligence Chief: Waterboarding Is Torture
McConnell Weighs in on Waterboarding

WASHINGTON — The nation's intelligence chief says waterboarding "would be torture" if used against him or if someone under interrogation actually was taking water into his lungs.

But Mike McConnell, in a magazine interview, declined for legal reasons to say whether the technique categorically should be considered torture.

"If it ever is determined to be torture, there will be a huge penalty to be paid for anyone engaging in it," McConnell told The New Yorker, which published a 16,000-word article Sunday on the director of national intelligence.

The comments come as the House Intelligence Committee investigates the CIA's destruction of videotaped interrogations of two al-Qaida suspects. The tapes were made in 2002 and destroyed three years later, over fears they would leak. They depicted the use of "enhanced" interrogation techniques against two of the three men known to have been waterboarded by the CIA.

As McConnell describes it, a prisoner is strapped down with a wash cloth over his face and water is dripped into his nose.

"If I had water draining into my nose, oh God, I just can't imagine how painful! Whether it's torture by anybody else's definition, for me it would be torture," McConnell told the magazine.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20080113/terrorist-interrogation/

Don't ya just luv it, 5 years of getting it wrong::::

Tony Snow On Iraq Failures: "Everybody Gets It Wrong At The Beginning Of A War"

Think Progress | January 13, 2008 02:49 PM

Yesterday, former White House spokesperson Tony Snow was interviewed on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher.

Maher discussed how woefully unprepared the Bush administration was for post-invasion Iraq. "People paid in blood for him to learn" that more troops were needed for post-Saddam Iraq, Maher said to applause and cheers from the audience. "Even if this did work," he said, referring to the surge.

Snow tried to shrug off Maher's statements, declaring that "everybody gets it wrong at the beginning of war":
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/01/13/snow-maher/

Just a reminder everyone...

Tomorrow, I go back to work. Yes, you may cry for me! And as you know, Karen is swamped at her job too.

So with that in mind, I'm asking, nay begging, all of you to continue to make this blog your own by submitting thread head articles to me.

Besides, I don't know about you, but I sure have more fun when I get to see all of your thoughts at the top of the thread too.

So write, write, write, write, write those blog heads and send them to me. I think everyone has my email address. If not, then post a quick note to me and I'll meet you in the irc to give you my email addee.

(Sorry, I don't like to post my address online. I learned my lesson about that a few years ago.)

AUDIT: 308,000 barrels missing from Petroleum Reserve.

Oil Crisis As Barrels Go Missing, According to Audit

How do you not notice when 308,000 barrels of oil go missing?
That's the question government auditors were asking after they looked into the Department of Energy's management of oil received for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a critical program to assure energy stability in the U.S. in case of an oil crisis.
To help add to the reserve, DOE receives a portion of the royalty oil that the Department of the Interior gets in return for allowing petroleum companies to drill on government lands and waters.
The department's Inspector General Gregory H. Friedman and his auditors found that in 28 percent of the oil transfers they examined, the amount received did not match the estimated amount to be shipped by the Interior Department's Minerals Management Service.
"To illustrate our findings regarding discrepancies, during a four-month period in Fiscal Year 2005, two Department contractors reported receiving 308,000 barrels of royalty oil less than the amount that MMS had scheduled for delivery to the market center. Yet, despite this significant shortfall, the Department took no action to resolve the discrepancy and to ensure that it had received all of the oil shipped by MMS," according to the audit.
Eventually, the auditors received documentation from MMS to explain reasons for the discrepancy, including "a decision by MMS to sell royalty oil rather than ship it to the Department," although 32,000 barrels could still not be accounted for in the above example.
Reached for comment, a spokeswoman for the department issued a statement. "We are confident that all royalty oil transferred to DOE was properly delivered to the SPR. However we recognize the need for enhanced controls and as such, we have followed the recommendations of the report and taken steps to strengthen the RIK program by collecting additional supporting documentation for oil receipts and increasing coordination with MMS to facilitate monthly confirmation of the quantity of oil transferred."
Last year, the Interior Department's MMS was investigated by the Government Accountability Office for losing track of billions of dollars in royalties. A GAO report in May 2007 determined that an increase in the royalty rates, which were among "the lowest government takes in the world," could potentially increase revenue by $4.5 billion over 20 years and help ensure "a fair rate of return for the American people from oil production on federally leased lands and waters."

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2008/01/oil-crisis-as-b.html

Everybody’s Happy!

Thomas F. Barton

... U.S. warplanes unleashed one of the most intense airstrikes of the Iraq war Thursday, dropping 40,000 pounds of explosives in a thunderous 10-minute onslaught on suspected insurgent in Iraq safe havens in Sunni farmlands south of Baghdad. The mighty barrage - recalling the Pentagon's "shock and awe" raids during the 2003 invasion - appeared to mark a significant escalation in a countrywide offensive launched this week....

http://www.uruknet.de/?p=m40057&hd=&size=1&l=e

Kangaroo said

... U.S. warplanes unleashed one of the most intense airstrikes of the Iraq war Thursday, dropping 40,000 pounds of explosives in a thunderous 10-minute onslaught on suspected insurgent in Iraq safe havens in Sunni farmlands south of Baghdad.

My answer to you Mr Bush. You want to rid the world of terrorism? Go commit suicide.

Guys and Gals...

I gotta say it.

I know you're really frustated with Bush and the corrupt players in DC. (Or just incompetent!) But I'm getting a little uncomfortable feeling about the level of anger in the posts out here and what someone reading it might think about your motives.

Anyways, I just want to remind everyone that this is a public board and we (you) don't want to have anyone in the ss second guessing your words or intent.

So just try to tone down some of the sentences that might sort of sound threatening to someone.

Now now, sparrow, our freedom of speech and freedom of expression is guaranteed in this country, remember?

After all, that's what our troops are dying for in Iraq, as all the rightwingers like to remind us whenever possible...

It's not like anyone is calling to fire upon anyone in a crowded movie theatre.

Monkey
The rightwingers also like to remind us we should be willing to give up a few civil liberties in order to fight terror, and that we shouldn't mind the government spying on us unless we're doing something wrong.

Oh yeh, I know monkey. But I don't want to see my friends hurt when the ss decides to frame them.

That's what worries me you know.

I hear ya, General.

Believe me, I've thought twice before hitting the submit button about 100 times.

... and that's just since Friday.

You've only thought twice a hundred times since Friday?!!!

I'd have thought you thought a lot more than twice a hundred times! More like twice a hundred times everytime you read another article about the bully in chief and his body (Congress) of enablers.

After all, we know you're a thinking sort of man.

And you've got a great heart too!

wow to think I missed this - it was near where I work
Wonder if it attracted sailors?

HILLARY TRYING TO EXPLAIN HER IRAQ VOTE IN 2002:

Hoping for Fla. win, Giuliani turns to scripture
Asks for prayers at Miami church, adding 'we didn't listen to the doubters'

MIAMI (AP) - With his plan for winning the Republican presidential nomination riding largely on a big Florida victory at the end of the month, Rudy Giuliani asked an evangelical congregation for prayers instead of votes Sunday and quoted scripture to evoke a message of hope and perseverance.

"I'm not coming here to ask for your vote," he said. "That's up to you and it's not the right place. But I am coming here to ask you for something very special and more important: I'm asking for your prayers."

The former New York City mayor has made conservative Christian Republicans nervous with some of his more liberal views — including his support for abortion rights, tolerance for gays, and gun control.

"I've faced odds that were at times seemingly impossible, situations where people had given up hope, but we didn't listen to the doubters, we didn't listen to the naysayers," Giuliani told several thousand worshippers at El Rey Jesus church in Miami.

"Fear not, be strong, and of good courage," he added, quoting the Bible. The church, which has a congregation of 10,000 people, was his first stop on a three-day bus tour through Florida.

more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22639228/

I am so sick of this crap.

monkey said

It's not like anyone is calling to fire upon anyone in a crowded movie theatre

..... or on a farming community, or any other location frequented by non-combatant civilians and their children.....

You might enjoy out of date humor I found while cleaning out my email.

Republican say "Merry Christmas!"
Democrats say "Happy Holidays!"

Republicans help the poor during the holidays by sending $50 to the Salvation Army.
Democrats help the poor by giving $50, one buck at a time, to panhandlers on the street.

Democrats get back at Republicans on their Christmas list by giving them fruitcakes.
Republicans re-wrap them and send them to in-laws.

Democrats let their kids open all the gifts on Christmas Eve.
Republicans make their kids wait until Christmas morning.

Republicans ask for sherry or mulled wine.
Democrats ask for egg nog.

When not in stores, Republicans use a catalog.
Democrats watch for "incredible tv offers" on late night television.

Democrats do a lot of their shopping at Cost-Co.
So do Republicans, but they don't admit it.

Democrats give their children gifts that make a political statement.
Republicans give their children gifts that will keep them out of their hair.

Republican parents have no problem buying their kids toy guns.
Democrats refuse to do so. That is why their kids pretend to shoot each other with dolls.

Republicans spend hundreds of dollars and hour of work decorating the yard with outdoor lights and Christmas displays.
Democrats save their time and money and drive around at night to enjoy the scenery.

Democrats favorite Christmas movie is "Miracle on 34th Street."
Republicans favorite Christmas movie is "It's a Wonderful Life."
Right-Wing Republicans favorite Christmas movie is "Diehard".

Republicans always take the price tag off any expensive gifts they buy before wrapping.
Democrats also remove price tags off pricey gifts ... and reposition them them to make sure they are seen.

Republicans wear wide red ties and green sport jackets during the festive season.
Democrats do too, all year round.

Most Republicans try, at least once, enclosing indulgent, wretchedly maudlin form letters about their families in their Christmas Cards.
Public ridicule from Democrats usually discourages them from doing it again.

Democrats favorite Christmas song is "Deck the Halls".
Young Democrats favorite Christmas song is "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer."
Republicans favorite Christmas song is " White Christmas."
Young Republicans favorite Christmas song is "White Christmas".

Cheapskate Republicans buy an artificial Christmas tree.
Tightfisted Democrats buy a real tree, but they wait until the week before Christmas when the lots lower their prices.

Democratic men like to watch football while their wives, girlfriends or mothers fix holiday meals.
On this, Republicans are in full agreement.

Republicans see nothing wrong with letting their children play "Cowboys and Indians".
Democrats don't either, as long as the Indians get to win.

Republicans first began thinking like Republicans when they stopped believing in Santa Claus...
Democrats became Democrats because they never stopped believing in Santa Claus...

NMP

See the Republican bias there, but funny nevertheless.

monkey

Rudy = tolerance of LGBT's? Give me a f'ing break.

Also, since when has arming everyone in the country been a Christian value?

Because if it is, then Christianity has been corrupted beyond all repair.

NOTW, NOTW...

That's "Not Of This World," a favorite phrase among the antisocial evangelical Christians in my area.

I do hope the Rapture comes soon, so that these antisocials can disappear forever, and leave the rest of us alone once and for all.

Ya know why Rudy is pinning his hopes on Florida?

Cuz there are as many New Yorkers in Florida as their are in New York.

From where the sun don't shine to the sunshine state.

monkey - was your Monkey Ball last weekend - like the last 2 days? I know you weren't there in the flesh, but the spirit attended. How did it all go? Not as good as usual, I'm sure without your presence. But was it a huge success? Oh yeah - maybe it's not quite over yet. Monday 2:08pm here.

It was this weekend, and it was pretty surreal for me not being there. I've been getting calls most of the weekend, and it sounds as if it went quite well. We'll know just how successful in the next few daze!

Good to hear monkey. Hopefully you'll be there in person at the next one.

I asked a small group of kids between 14-17 years old to come up with two videos that they would like to see on the site, to be viewed by people of all ages. The videos were to have a message that the group would like to propagate. These were the winners. The first is a satire of the British public broadcasting system's "Teletubbies," a children's show. Normally, a baby "sun" appears in the sky and in this case, it is the idiotic Bush. Oil derricks appear on the horizon. In the second video, Creedence Clearwater Revival, a band from the days of their fathers' or even grandfathers', uses atomic bombs to illustrate opposition to war. The kids totally "got" that.

See SilencedMajority

I hear ya, General.

Believe me, I've thought twice before hitting the submit button about 100 times.

... and that's just since Friday.

Amen Monkey, but we are listening Sparrow

Nyc has posted another Mr. Drinkwater - near as I can tell, it's some kind of satire on an Acceptance speech and somewhat cynical. I need to read it over more closely. For the curious (any ideas who might enjoy Mr. Drinkwater, let me know). He needs a broader audience.
http://silencedmajority.blogs.com/silenced_majority_portal/2008/01/mr-drinkwater-t.html

Bush Mideast speech draws cool response

By Hannah Allam, McClatchy Newspapers Sun Jan 13, 5:59 PM ET

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — President Bush on Sunday described Iran as the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism and called on Arab allies to help his administration curb the threat "before it's too late."

.................

" Iran's actions threaten the security of nations everywhere," Bush said. "So the United States is strengthening our longstanding security commitments with our friends in the Gulf, and rallying friends around the world to confront this danger before it's too late."

But Bush appears unlikely, based on the regional reaction to his address, to find many Arabs to heed his alarms against Iran , a powerful neighbor and trading partner. Nor did many endorse his speech's other theme— a vision of "free and just society" featuring broad political participation and a voice for moderate Muslims in a region where money and family are common keys to leadership.

Even political analysts here who share Bush's democratic vision said that his speech painted over the daily reality for most inhabitants of the Middle East , an oil-rich region where power is largely inherited and human rights violations abound.....

http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20080113/wl_mcclatchy/2814617

I only threatened a bunny. Not even a real bunny, a hypothetical hare.

LOVE THE TELETUBBIES!

hahaha Christy - too much - I'll never see the teletubbies sun shining in the same way again. It's ok - I've still got grandpreschoolers. I don't watch it as a program of choice whilst alone.

Strange cause teletubbies was the only kids programming I can sit through.

I just like the click, whirls and blah blah sounds they make.

I just fixed my pencil sharpner. YEAAAAA ME!!

It was a serious problem.

One day, I am going to write an Ode to My Pencils.

I would do an ode to my paintbrushes, but it may get too erotic and personal.

Does anyone know what tme Wexler is going to the floor tuesday night?

Your odes sound far more interesting than mine, Christy. I wrote an Ode to Dusty (our farm dog) once. It got the expected response. Laughter. I suppose I also wrote an ode to Flash - our horse. It got the same response. Oh yeah - and the budgie. But no, never to pencils. I didn't know they were worthy - but of course, they are.

Ummm.

What is a 'budgie'...?

Sorry I keep lagging.

Since everyone is asleep I am actually getting some work done.

That's ok Christy - I'm lagging too - almost time to go to bed. A budgie is a budgerigar - a pet bird. Looks like a small parrot.

Ohhh. TY.

I try not to get too familiar with birds. I have issues.

Ofcourse pencils are worthy of an ode! Most odes are written with a pencil! You have got to love the irony.

I'm going to write an ode to my iron... there's way more irony there than a pencil.

I'll call it "Hot Off The Press"

It'll be flattering.

(happy monday y'all!)

I'll call it "Hot Off The Press"

It'll be flattering.

Good one

Request For New Hampshire Recount Granted

By Wednesday morning, stories were flying all around the Internet--have you looked closely at the results of the primary? There was something strange about the votes, they said, about the difference between municipalities that hand-counted votes and those that used optical scanners. The chatter increased, and by Friday, the New Hampshire Department of State issued a press release announcing that two candidates, Democrat Dennis Kucinich and Republican Albert Howard had requested and been granted a recount, having met the following requirement:

Email
Print
Comment
"New Hampshire law, RSA 660:7, provides that "any person for whom a vote was cast for any nomination of any party at a state or presidential primary may apply for a recount." RSA 660:2, IV provides that if the difference between the vote cast for the applying candidate and a candidate declared elected shall be greater than 3 percent of the total votes cast in the towns which comprise the office to be recounted, the candidate shall pay the fees provided in RSA 660:2, III and shall agree in writing with the secretary of state to pay any additional costs of the recount." RSA 660:6 provides that if the person requesting the recount is declared the winner after the recount or loses by a margin of less than one percent of the total votes cast, the fees for the recount will be refunded by the State."

The recounts will begin on January 16, at a time and location to be announced after the state has completed an estimate of the cost and received payment based on that estimate.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kirsten-anderson/request-for-nh-recount-gr_b_81306.html

“No welcome for the murderers”,
Bush branded 'unwelcome murderer'
US President George W. Bush, due to visit Egypt on Wednesday as part of his Middle East tour, was branded a murderer not welcome in the country by the main opposition party.
“We say to Bush Junior - whose hands are not just bloodstained but soaked in our blood - that neither you or your American administration assistants are welcome in our land or under our skies,” the Muslim Brotherhood said.
A statement, entitled “No welcome for the murderers”, quoted the movement's supreme guide, Mohammed Mehdi Akef, and said that destruction and devastation followed Mr Bush.
Akef said Mr Bush was unwelcome because he incited Ethiopia to occupy Somalia, supported Israel, stirred up disagreement among the different political factions in Lebanon and was responsible for the destruction of Afghanistan and the occupation of Iraq.
“You continue to support corrupt and tyrannical regimes in our Arab world and support them against the wishes of their people,” said Akef.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23048268-5005961,00.html

January 14, 2008 1:27 PM
Kangaroo said:

At last it's been said. Aloud. Publicly. What a shame it's been said by an opposition. That's the job of opposition. What is wrong with the actual government making such a statement? In terms of Bush supporting ruthless regimes in the world and engaging suspect regimes in action against other states, I'd like to express outrage.

Forgive me. This isn't new. The United States has been practising these abhorrent activities for many decades. South American countries where the US has established gigantic military bases might have some interesting claims to make. It's all being done a lot more out in the open right now. Invasion. Occupation. Well, not all, but most.

And who was it again that the US invited/employed to evict the commies (soviet union) from Afghanistan again? Osama Bin Laden? Surely not.

Blackwater USA Steps Up Lobbying Efforts

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011008D.shtml

The Associated Press reports, "Private-security contractor Blackwater Worldwide, which protects U.S. government officials in Iraq and faces scrutiny over its role in the shooting deaths of Iraqi civilians, has ramped up its lobbying representation on Capitol Hill."

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - President Bush, on his first visit to this oil-rich kingdom, delivered a major arms offer Monday to a key ally in a region where the U.S. casts neighboring Iran as a menace to stability.

Bush’s talks with Saudi King Abdullah, which began over dinner and were continuing with late-night meetings, also were expected to cover peace between Israelis and Palestinians and democracy in the Middle East.

Coinciding with Bush’s trip, the Bush administration in Washington notified Congress on Monday that it will offer Saudi Arabia the chance to buy sophisticated Joint Direct Attack Munitions — or “smart bomb” — technology and related equipment, the State Department said. The administration envisions the transfer of 900 of the precision-guided bomb kits, worth $123 million, that would give the kingdom’s armed forces highly accurate targeting abilities.

The sale is part of an overall $20 billion weapons package for Saudi Arabia, administration officials say.

The arms packages are an important part of the U.S. strategy to bolster the defenses of oil-producing Gulf nations, such as Saudi Arabia, against threats from Iran.

-snip-

Congress already has been briefed on the entire arms package, which also includes the sale of the Navy’s Littoral Combat system. Lawmakers mostly see the deal as critical to maintaining relations with a war-on-terror ally. Some are opposed to the JDAMs portion out of concern that it gives Saudi Arabia a technical edge over Israel and the ability to attack it, but are unlikely to muster the two-thirds majority needed to block the sales.

As for the topic of rising oil prices, Bush national security adviser Stephen Hadley would only say “we’ll have to see” when asked whether Bush would raise the issue with the king. The Saudis are responsible for almost one-third of OPEC’s total output.

more on...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22644928/

Protect the oil! Protect the oil! Protect the oil!

This nation has ZERO interest in alternative energy, so people will keep dying so Amurukans can keep drivin their pickup trucks.

Disgusting.

And who was it again that the US invited/employed to evict the commies (soviet union) from Afghanistan again? Osama Bin Laden? Surely not.

Amen

No Escape from War and Unemployment

By Paul Craig Roberts

New Hampshire voters have chosen warmonger clones of Bush/Cheney for their party's presidential candidates. The only candidates not in Israel's pocket are Kucinich, Paul, and Gravel, who have no chance for their party's nomination.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19038.htm

What Is He Capable of?

Psychotherapist, John P. Briggs, M.D., and distinguished professor, JP Briggs II, Ph.D., write for Truthout: "In defiance of his circumstances as an unpopular, lame duck president with a minority party in Congress, George W. Bush pursues a sharply autocratic tone. He has intimidated both parties in Congress and violated the Constitution. Through dissimulation and delay, he has forced the nations of the world to conclude they must wait until his term ends to negotiate any serious treaty on the imminent perils of climate change."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011008A.shtml

From the moment she announced her candidacy, THIS is why I was angry...

Could Race Destroy the Democrats?
Monday, Jan. 14, 2008

Whenever longtime Democrats gather to note how the chemistry and calculus of the 2008 campaign seem to favor their party this year, one or another will always add some version of the following: "Yeah, but we could screw this up before it's over."

After the past few days, the pertinent question to ask is, is the crack-up happening already? Far-fetched as it would have seemed a month ago, the seeds of self-destruction are being planted in the war of coded words about race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. The bickering has exploded in the space of a week into Topic A in the Democratic race, supplanting for the moment the war and the economy and health care — and shows no sign of a quick resolution.

So yes, are the Democrats about to screw it up yet again?

Both campaigns are stoking this fire — and worrying at the same time about what this could do to them in the fall. They ought to be concerned: Keep this up and neither candidate may be able to marshal the votes from the various corners of the Democratic coalition that he or she will need in the fall. As pollster Andrew Kohut has noted, a party which found that it had at least two candidates who were seen as widely "acceptable" to its various factions just a few weeks ago could soon find that happy consensus has evaporated.

more on...
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1703310,00.html?cnn=yes

She is flat-out divisive, whether it be against Repubs or Dems, the issue is never the issues, it's about being perceived as correct.

.” This is foolishness. It's fantasy. Why? Its owned lock, stock, and barrel by corporate
It's Gross Hypocrisy

Mike Gravel rates Democrat opponents

Video & Transcript:

Congress could do a good job, theoretically, but it can't. Why? Its owned lock, stock, and barrel by corporate America. So you think you're going to become president and you're going to turn to the Congress and say, "Let's really straighten out corporate America." This is foolishness. It's fantasy.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19040.htm

'A Heartbeat Away' From War With Iran and Pakistan

As the American people amuse themselves with the illusion that they have any say in the way they are presently governed, our rulers are moving toward war. Two recent incidents underscore the imminence of this prospect.

http://snipurl.com/1x453

Heckler behind U.S.-Iran incident?
Sailors say person often heard in region might have enflamed events

CAIRO, Egypt - A threatening radio message at the end of a video showing Iranian patrol boats swarming near U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf may have come from a prankster rather than from the Iranian vessels, the Navy Times newspaper has reported.

A video and audio of the Jan. 6 incident in the Strait of Hormuz featured a man in accented English saying "I am coming to you. ... You will explode after ... minutes."

Cmdr. Lydia Robertson, spokeswoman for the Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, said the Navy was still trying to determine the source of the transmission but believed it was related to the Iranian actions.

"The Iranian boats were coming close to the ships, making aggressive maneuvers and objects were being dropped into the water," she told The Associated Press.

However, the Navy Times, a weekly newspaper published by the Gannett company, quoted several veteran sailors as speculating the transmission could have come from a heckler widely known among sailors in the region by the ethnically insulting term "the Filipino Monkey."

more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22650959/

Monday, January 14, 2008

Gideon Levy : Bush: A hostile president :

George Bush is coming to Israel this week. He will take pleasure in his visit. One can assume that there are few prime ministers with a giant photo of themselves with the U.S. president hanging on the wall in their home, as our Ehud Olmert boasted last week that he does, to his exalted guest, the comic Eli Yatzpan. There are also few other countries where the lame duck from Washington would not be greeted with mass demonstrations; instead, Israel is making great efforts to welcome him graciously. The man who has wreaked such ruin upon the world, upon his country, and upon us is such a welcome guest only in Israel.
A man is coming to Israel this week who has left a trail of killing, destruction and global hatred. Never has the U.S. been so despised as during Bush's seven years in office, which abruptly brought his county back to the not-so-merry days of Vietnam.
He led the U.S., and the free world in its wake, into two brutal and completely futile wars of conquest, first in Afghanistan and then in Iraq. He sowed mass killing in these two wretched countries under the false pretext of a battle against global terror.
But the world after these two wars is not a better world or a safer one. And these two wounded countries feel no gratitude toward the superpower that ostensibly came to emancipate them from their regimes of terror.
There was no connection between the attack on the Twin Towers and Iraq. Saudi Arabia, where most of the terrorists came from, could have been a more appropriate target but it remained an ally of the U.S. despite its despotic regime. The war in Iraq, the rationale for which - the presence of weapons of mass destruction - was revealed to be false, was an atrocious, futile war that is far from being over, even if its daily toll of killing has declined from 100 to 50.
In Western Europe, in South America, in Asia, in all parts of the Arab and Muslim world and in parts of Africa, the sole global superpower has come to be viewed as a hostile, arrogant and ostracized entity. This is not good for America and it is not good for the world.
Closer to home, it is worth remembering the damage Bush has caused to the Middle East. His seven years in power have been wasted years, barren and dangerous. Never has there been a president who gave Israel such an automatic carte blanche and even encouraged it to take violent action, to deepen and entrench the occupation.
This is not friendship with Israel. This is not concern for its future. A president who did not even try to pressure Israel to end the occupation is a president who is hostile to it, indifferent to its future and fate.
A president who endorsed every abomination - from the expansion of settlements to the failure to honor commitments and signed agreements, including those with U.S. such as the passages agreement and the freeze on settlement construction - is not a president who seeks the best for Israel or aspires to peace. >>>cont

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/941823.html

Olmert tells Bush construction in Jerusalem to continue:

Roni Sofer Published: 01.10.08, 07:22 / Israel News

Israel will not accept the American demand to stop building in east Jerusalem's Jewish neighborhoods and in the settlement blocs, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told US President George W. Bush on Wednesday.

"We made it clear that Jerusalem's status was different than that of other settlements," the prime minister stressed during a joint press conference with the US president, on the backdrop of the disagreement between Israel and the US regarding the demand to freeze the construction in the settlement and beyond the Green Line in the capital.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3492546,00.html

The Saudi royals... those despicable barbarians do NOT need American weapons or aid.

Media Did Pentagon's Bidding in Reporting Naval "Provocation" With Iran

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011408C.shtml

Juan Gonzalez, from Democracy Now, interviews historian and national security policy analyst Gareth Porter about the media reporting on the alleged Iranian naval provocation in the Strait of Hormuz.

The End of the Road for George W. Bush

Chris Hedges, writing for Truthdig, says: "The Gilbert and Sullivan charade of statesmanship played out by George W. Bush and his enabler, Condoleezza Rice, as they wander the Middle East is a fitting end to seven years of misrule. Despots stripped of power are transformed from monsters into buffoons. And this is the metamorphosis that is eating away at the Bush presidency."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011408F.shtml

Blackwater Truck Repairs "a Hurdle" for FBI

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011308B.shtml

Lara Jakes Jordan and Matt Apuzzo of The Associated Press report: "Blackwater Worldwide repaired and repainted its trucks immediately after a deadly September shooting in Baghdad, making it difficult to determine whether enemy gunfire provoked the attack, according to people familiar with the government's investigation of the incident."

By Garda Ghista

Layla Anwar - An Arab Woman Blues: Indicting The Reader

We need to listen to Layla Anwar. And then we need to dedicate our lives to stopping the endless, serial wars of the American Empire. We can do no less.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/not_sh_garda_gh_080114_layla_anwar___an_ara.htm

Appeals Court Rules That Gitmo Detainees Are Not "Persons" (And That Torture Is To Be Expected)

By Mary Shaw

A federal appeals court threw out a suit by four British Muslims who allege that they were tortured and subjected to religious abuse at Gitmo.

http://www.opednews.com:80/articles/opedne_mary_sha_080114_appeals_court_rules_.htm

Thanks for the rundown Rossi.

Now I really really do need a drink and some hug therapy.

If one 16 year old can use the internet to rustle up 500 people to attend a party at his family home, all in the space of a couple of hours; why can't we get Anwar's indictment out double, treble, quadruple that amount of people over days?

If one 16 year old can get 500 people to attend his party and trash his entire neighbourhood within a few hours, why can't we get Anwar's indictment to all presidential candidates and actually get a response to it?

We have this resource at our fingertips. Why can't we use it? Why do we sit here day after day complaining about the media? The media is crap. We have this resource and we don't seem to have the brain matter to use it and get the word out there.

No wonder Anwar doubts that Iraq will ever forgive us. I don't forgive us. I don't forgive the drillers of bones. I don't forgive the torturers. Forget about those who ordered it. The torturers DID IT!! How do these soldiers return home and live with their crimes against humanity? How do the thieves, the rapists of children, the murderers of people too poor to leave; how do they sleep at night to go do it all again tomorrow.

Even JK can't raise the world view of the American military from where it is right now. The world sees the American mighty military machine as a lawless, murderous, ill-trained, poorly-equipped bunch of criminals sent out to do what they're doing. Maim and kill; leaving noone alive or sane enough to tell about it.

McCain needs to go and have his face rubbed in all of this criminal activity - not just with the Iraqi women whored into the Green Zone to be his gift. He needs to turn up unexpectedly at any of the American detention camps and cop a little truth.

It's hard to imagine that Bush can take America any lower. Yet every single day, he does.

Now I really really do need a drink and some hug therapy.

Sent you one on messenger.

Look, Bush can only take America as low as America will allow (and has), and the American public is either too shallow, too easily mislead or too pre-occupied to do what is necessary to put an end to it.

Either that, or they are ok with it.

But I know this. You reap what you sow, and we surely will (and have).

"The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." - Plato

monkey

My assessment is that they are indeed OK with what is being done in their name.

After all, when "freedom" is a catchword rather than a real concept, anything can be done in its name, including stuff that actually cuts down on freedom.

But Ally, how many people who are ok with what is going down actually KNOW how much of their freedom has been cut down?

Those are the same people who profess, "if I've done nothing wrong, I have nothing to hide", and therefore don't believe they have anything to fear in the way of lost freedoms.

Selfish for Sale, Sailfish for Sell

"The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men."
- Plato

Amen

No Jobs for the New Economy or the Old

By Paul Craig Roberts

If December is a harbinger of the new year, it is going to be a bad one. The past year, hailed by Republican propagandists and "free trade" economists as proof of globalism's benefit to Americans, was dismal.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19019.htm

Ally - it's all about whose freedom - yours? mine? The evil spreaders? Their freedom is what they are on about. The rest of us gave away freedom years ago.

I always ask rightwingers, when we get into the whole "freedom agenda" thing, to define freedom for me.

They flat out can't do it... and when any of them come close, guess what they are describing?

Liberalism.

Trapazoid!

No the People are not OK with it.

But every traditional check and balance has failed in a way none of us have ever seen.

And most people are not being told the TRUTH of what is happening. They live in a world where they know this and that but they can be strung along for years and even decades trying to figure out what they missed.

When individuals find out, they are not ok with it at all. But if our government is completely nonfunctioning, to the point of literal failure, what are We suppossed to do?

Mob scenes and lone gunmen don't work. Electing people in 'opposition' don't work, obviously... So, what are people suppossed to do now?

Even those of us who are awake and keeping up...WTF CAN we do now? What is suppossed to happen? No one knows the answers to those questions anymore because traditional answers no longer work.

Christy I'm all for the caucus-style voting - with everyone standing in a room, it is harder to cheat, and it immediately makes clear who is "viable" and who is not, weeding out the minor candidates (but still letting those voters' votes count) but still keeping 2nd and 3rd place finishers in the race.

Anybody else?

Christy

Remember that poll? 55% (a clear majority) of Americans in that poll are fine with torture, in the name of national security.

In other words, to protect "our freedoms" it's perfectly okay to destroy some lives.

Of course, anyone who reads the Constitution (like you and us) will surely say no, but the average American doesn't read the Constitution. Sad but true.

Freedom's just another word for "nuthin left to lose". The song is familiar. I never thought about it. And now that I want to think about it, I can't puzzle out what it means. Damn. Words are confusing.

Kangaroo

2007 was a year when the US negotiated free trade agreements with several Latin American nations, plus South Korea. The Korean FTA is the largest since NAFTA.

The average American has NO idea these agreements even exist, because the US media never reports them. I wouldn't know either, if it weren't for the fascists in Koreatown singing the praises of their FTA.

The Peruvian FTA was approved by the Senate, and is in force. The other FTAs - the good thing is, if they are not approved within the next few months, then the presidential election will bog things down, and if a Democrat wins the White House, they will surely die (Hillary and Obama are both CLEAR on their oppositions to sneaky FTAs, and Edwards even more so).

Just read an interesting article positing that some "vote-switching" went on with NH Diebold machines.

Pre-vote opinion polls: 39% Obama, 30% Clinton
Hand-counted ballots: 39% Obama, 35% Clinton

So the opinion polls were relatively accurate in predicting the results of hand-counted ballots, but obviously this was not the final result - what is interesting is when you look at the ballots just cast for Clinton and Obama. Out of just those ballots:

Hand-counted: 47.07% Clinton, 52.93% Obama
Machine-counted: 52.95% Clinton, 47.05% Obama

Too close for coincidence?

More: http://www.unobserver.com/index.php?pagina=layout5.php&id=4271&blz=1

Also: I was wondering, could one reason that Obama was more "popular" in the rural areas and Clinton in the cities (which is not necessarily what one would expect) is because the cities are more likely to have machine-counting; and the rural areas to have hand-counting?

New thread.

Sorry I couldn't do it earlier.

Gosh - those figures really are a worry aren't they?