Saturday July 21st 2007
Facing
the
Truth
Must
Read - A quote...."The truth is that none of our government
officials are willing to admit to a mistake. None of our government
officials are willing to take a stand to acknowledge that their role in
sending our soldiers to war was instrumental in the greatest mistake
imaginable. Our government officials continue to hope that a “surge and
a prayer” will bring victory to the glittery false promises they so
boldly made as they sought to assure a fearful nation to put their
trust in leaders who have yet to come to terms with the true meaning of
responsibility; and the war drags on as more soldiers die and more
families face their loss in the heart of a nation whose beat yields a
very hollow sound.
Our soldiers and their families deserve better and it is past time for
American citizens to take a stand to defend the laws they have expected
our soldiers to fight for in their name.."
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War and
Leviathan: The Trick that Works Every Time
Must Read -
A quote...."Margaret
Atwood’s poem “Siren Song” begins:
"This
is the one song everyone would like to learn: the song that is
irresistible: the song that forces men to leap overboard in squadrons
even though they see the beached skulls."
Our rulers know how to sing that song, and they sing it day and night.
The beached skulls are those of our fathers and our sons, our friends
and our neighbors, for whom the song proved not only irresistible, but
fatal."
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Trouble
in Hedgistan: “Its gonna get a lot worse”
Must Read -
War Alert - Some quotes...."07/21/07
"ICH" -- -- Y’see, the hedge fund industry is based on the bizarre
notion that one does not have to produce anything of value to make
boatloads of money. You don’t even need assets any more---just a risky
loan that can be transformed into an investment grade security through
the magic of “securitization” a sprinkling of Wall Street snake oil."
Geez this all sounds so
familiar, what was the name of that corporation involved in the energy
industry which had an identical business plan, totally corrupt
accountants, bogus financials, a win at any cost mentality, and
whose employees joked "they f-cked the grandmothers of
California"? - Guess they never learn do they.
"The Fed has tried to conceal the massive increase to the money supply,
but the evidence is everywhere. (Many analysts now calculate that
inflation is running at roughly 13%) Food and energy have skyrocketed.
Housing prices have soared. Everything has gone up
except the cheapo imports which the
Fed uses to manipulate the inflation stats."
I.e. Chinese and other foreign
manufactured goods, which is why the US manufacturing base has lost
15,000 to 30,000 manufacturing jobs each and every month since Bush
took office.
"The faltering housing market has drawn attention to an even more
colossal credit bubble that is limping towards earth as loan
requirements tighten and liquidity dries up. - The
prevailing fear on Wall Street is that we may be seeing the beginning
of a global credit crunch"
If it can be contained within
the US it won't be so bad because the foreigners can use all those
dollars they've earned to come to our rescue by buying our stocks,
bonds and real estate....as long as those dollars retain their
value. Whoops....forgot about
that declining dollar! - mpg
Regarding the article shown above see
Standard
Disclaimer
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Musharraf
on the Brink in Pakistan?
A quote...."Lawyers across Pakistan burst into tears and cries of
jubilation today, as Pakistan's Supreme Court restored the country's
Chief Justice, Muhamed Iftikhar Chaudhry, whose sacking by embattled
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf last March sparked national
protests. "They have given new life to the nation. For the first time
in [my] life I have saluted the judges," says Supreme Court lawyer and
activist Ali Ahmed Kurd, a Chaudhry supporter. "It proved that Pakistan
has not yet gone dry." What it augurs for Pakistan's President may be
something else."
British
map in Iran crisis 'inaccurate'
A quote...."A BRITISH map of the northern Gulf where Iran seized 15
naval personnel in March was not as accurate as it should have been and
Britain was fortunate Iran did not contest it, a review into the crisis
said."
More from those "fact based", "reality" people.....who cares, as the
great "decider" is constantly reminding all of us, facts really don't
matter very much in this country. - mpg
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Iraq
unions vow 'mutiny' over oil law
A quote...."BAGHDAD, July 20 (UPI) -- Iraq's unions say the draft
oil law is a threat and threaten "mutiny" if Parliament approves the
bill. - "This law cancels the great achievements of the
Iraq people," Subhi al-Badri, head of the Iraqi Federation of Union
Councils, told the al-Sharqiyah TV station. He referred specifically to
laws that nationalized Iraq's oil sector."
Minister
to Resign if Oil Bill Passes
A quote...."Minister Baban called for conducting "a referendum on this
law, or distributing copies of the draft to all Iraqis to be aware of
the bill articles." - The minister called on
non-governmental organizations to hold seminars and conferences "to
increase people's awareness of the dangers of this law", and pointed
out that the coming days "will witness meetings among the leaders of
political blocs on the draft law of oil and gas."
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UK
Army doctors in Baha Mousa case 'colluded in cover-up'
A quote...."Doctors who examined Baha Mousa, a 24-year-old Basra hotel
worker who was kicked and beaten to death in British custody in 2003,
have been reported to the General Medical Council. - The
move follows allegations that army doctors who treated the detainees
colluded in a cover-up by misdiagnosing and failing to properly
document the extent of prisoners' injuries."
What's the big deal, he was just a "rag head" anyway....besides they
didn't actually participate in his
torture,
unlike what some American
doctors
have
done.
One would have thought the
Hippocratic Oath
would have given some of these American doctors pause, but what the
heck; the Hippocratic Oath is just a bunch of words like the
Geneva
conventions or the
US
Constitution., who cares? - Welcome everybody, to the New Roman
Empire. - mpg
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ACLU:
Exec Order on Iraq Threatens Due Process
A quote...."President Bush's new executive order targeting financial
assets of Iraqi insurgents risks having "a chilling effect" on
humanitarian donations in Iraq, according to Michael German, the ACLU's
chief national security security lawyer. And those who find themselves
in contravention of the order -- a determination residing entirely
within the executive branch -- would have no due process rights to
contest the freezing of their assets."
Check out the comments. - mpg
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The
Logic of Impeachment
A quote...."House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has taken impeachment “off the
table,” in line with Official Washington’s view that trying to oust
George W. Bush and Dick Cheney would be an unpleasant waste of time.
But there is emerging a compelling logic that an unprecedented dual
impeachment might be vital to the future of the United States."
Qadi
Denies Arrest, to Sue Turkish Media
A quote...."JEDDAH, 17 July 2007 — Saudi businessman and philanthropist
Yassin Qadi issued a statement through his lawyer yesterday denying
that he was arrested by Saudi authorities as some Turkish media outlets
reported recently."
A former Ptech owner. For more on this issue see....
Vote
for Us or there WILL be another Attack
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The
terrorists aren't coming, they're here . . . in Washington
A quote...."Forget Osama and the bin Laden family friends of the
Bushes. The real names of the terrorists are George W. Bush, Dick
Cheney, and company, plus a complicit Congress that, thus far, refuses
to use its constitutional powers to impeach and remove these criminals."
North
American Union- Connecting the Dots
A quote...."My previous articles on this website explain in detail the
lead up to the North American Union under the pretense of the Security
and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) and the cleverly disguised methods the
governments of Mexico, Canada and the United States have used and will
continue to use to change the face and the future of our North American
continent. - The upcoming, so-called SPP Conference in
Montebello,
Quebec from August 20-21 will bring the leaders of the three countries
together to ‘ratify’ the SPP, about which their respective citizens
know almost nothing. This is all part of a carefully laid out plan, and
is no accident. Our government leaders are not at all interested in
discussing this issue with the people who elected them. Democracy with
a different twist."
Friday July 20th 2007
Total
power drives you totally mad
Must Read - A
quote...."One tends to think of those who rule as being ruthlessly
logical in their application of power; after all, maintenance of the
status quo should surely be one of their major objectives?
- But their loss of legitimacy, obvious to all except the most
myopic and self-delusional points to something quite fundamental taking
place, for the loss of legitimacy reveals a ruling class that has
completely lost the plot. - The invasion and subsequent
destruction of Iraq is a case in point,....."
How
empires end
Must Read - A quote...."
0720/07 "WorldNetDaily" -- -- -Responding to the call of
Pope Urban II at Claremont in 1095, the Christian knights of the First
Crusade set out for the Holy Land. In 1099, Jerusalem was captured. As
their port in Palestine, the Crusaders settled on Acre on the
Mediterranean. - There they built the great castle that was
overrun
by Saladin in 1187, but retaken by Richard the Lion-Hearted in 1191.
Acre became the capital of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the stronghold
of the Crusader state, which fell to the Mameluks in a bloody siege in
1291. The Christians left behind were massacred.
The ruins of Acre are now a tourist attraction.
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Olbermann's
Special Comment on scapegoating. - (YouTube - 7 min 31 sec -
Added: July 19, 2007)
Must View - A
quote...."Keith Olbermann's Special Comment on the scapegoating of
Senator Clinton and us. " For a transcript
click here.
"Though the words might be
erased from a million books and a billion memories, though the world be
covered knee-deep in your lies, the truth shall prevail.
"This, sir, is your war.
Sen. Clinton has reinforced enemy propaganda? Made it impossible for
you to get your ego-driven, blood-steeped win in Iraq?
Then take it into your own hands, Mr. Bush.
Go to Baghdad now and fulfill, finally, your military service
obligations.
Go there and fight, your war.....Yourself."
Mr. Olbermann is certainly not alone in his sentiments, along with more
than half the country there are those in the military who would also
like to see Bush finally fulfill his military service. See
article shown below….
ABC
goes ‘Inside the Surge.’ - posted at
BuzzFlash
A quote...."Approaching his fifteenth month in Iraq, one soldier made a
personal challenge to President Bush: “I challenge the President or
whoever has us here for 15 months to ride alongside me. I’ll do another
15 months if he comes out here and rides along with me every day for 15
months. I’ll do 15 more months. They don’t even have to pay me
extra.” July 17, 2007 7:15 pm "
posted - 07-19-07 - mpg
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All the
President's Enablers
A quote...."Now Iraq is a bloody quagmire, Afghanistan is deteriorating
and the Bush administration's own National Intelligence Estimate
admits, in effect, that thanks to Mr. Bush's poor leadership America is
losing the struggle with Al Qaeda. Yet Mr. Bush remains
confident. - Sorry, but that's not reassuring; it's
terrifying. It doesn't demonstrate Mr. Bush's strength of character; it
shows that he has lost touch with reality."
The
Republican War
A quote...."It is now clear that the proper name for the war going on
in Mesopotamia is the "Republican War." Never before has a political
party so decisively asserted ownership of a foreign war."
British
government and BAe Systems revealed as money launderer for Saudi Arabia
A quote...."The scandal over allegations of BAe Systems, Europe’s
biggest weapons manufacturer, and the British government’s corrupt
dealings with the Saudi ruling clique promises to haunt the new prime
minister, Gordon Brown, despite his predecessor Tony Blair’s best
efforts to contain it. - The Labour government is accused
of functioning not simply as the marketing arm and financial
intermediary for BAe Systems, but as a money launderer and conduit for
channelling cash and arms to Islamic militants on behalf of one of the
most venal, reactionary and inhumane regimes in the world. The Bank of
England, the Foreign Office, the Department for International
Development—whose remit includes anti-corruption—and the Ministry of
Defence are all implicated."
One
crisis after another for Pakistan
A quote...."PESHAWAR, Pakistan - A week-long campaign of suicide
bombings that has killed more than 130 people across Pakistan has
seriously demoralized security personnel in the tribal areas bordering
Afghanistan. These areas are a safe haven for the Taliban and al-Qaeda.
"
Pakistan
objects to US strikes
A quote...."PAKISTAN said it could not accept "indiscriminate action"
on its territory by US forces without first being informed that there
was an al-Qaeda or terrorist target there."
Court
Restores Pakistan Chief Justice
A quote...."ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Pakistan's highest court dealt
President Pervez Musharraf the biggest political blow of his eight
years in power, blocking the U.S.-allied general Friday from removing
the country's chief justice. - The surprise decision to
throw out Musharraf's case against the jurist spurred new demands from
democracy campaigners that the president step down, clouding his future
just as Pakistan faces a surge in violence by Islamic militants."
Iran's
clerical spymasters
Must Read - Some
quotes...."The
recent detentions of four Iranian-Americans in Iran on charges relating
to national security have touched off a flurry of speculation about the
real motives behind the arrests." - "This article looks at this
sensitive and emotive issue from a purely security/intelligence
perspective. The arguments made here should in no way be interpreted as
support for the Iranian government's position. From the standpoint of
the author, we simply do not know the precise circumstances surrounding
these detentions. But to assume the innocence of the accused simply on
account of their being well-known and respected academics, journalists
and consultants is just as dangerous as assuming their guilt."
This is an extreamly good inside look at the intell. community. - mpg
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British
banks fight US over Iran embargo
A quote...."A mounting US crackdown on foreign companies and banks
doing business with Iran is provoking serious opposition in the UK and
Europe, where diplomats are warning that the action could lead to a new
trade war."
Iraq
expects troop cut, envoy says
A quote...."WASHINGTON — As Washington wrestles over the future of the
Iraq war, Iraqi leaders already have resigned themselves to the
likelihood that the Americans soon will withdraw at least some of their
troops, the country's ambassador to the United States said Tuesday."
Argentina's
"Dirty War" Trials Continue, Families Testify
A quote...."La Plata, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina - Three members
of the Miralles family, all disappeared by Argentina's military
government in 1977, testified Thursday in the trial of Father Christian
Von Wernich, indicted for crimes against humanity. They testified about
physical and psychological torture at the hands of the Argentine
police, a priest and a medical doctor."
Hey all you Neocons....you paying attention? Sooner or later your
time will come too. - mpg
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Cheney
Suppressed Evidence in California Energy Crisis - posted at
BuzzFlash
A quote...."In-depth investigation shows how Vice President Dick Cheney
pressured federal energy regulators to conceal evidence of widespread
market manipulation by energy companies during the California
electricity crisis in 2001."
Between setting up 9/11, tearing up the constitution, creating a
dictatorship, falsifying intelligence, ruthlessly smearing and "outing"
all opponents, starting various wars and murdering a million
Iraqis....it's surprising Cheney found time to screw California....than
again maybe not. - mpg
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Bringing
It All Back Home: New Bush Order Could Criminalize Dissent
A quote...."Sara Robinson at Orcinus gives us a glimpse of what could
be coming as the unrestrained executive tyranny rolls on in Are We
There Yet? She examines the new Executive Order quietly signed by Bush
this week, in which he bestows upon himself -- and designated minions
-- the arbitrary power to seize the assets of anyone whom he decides
"poses a significant risk" of commiting violence aimed at "undermining
efforts to promote economic reconstruction and political reform in Iraq
or to provide humanitarian assistance to the Iraqi people."
Bush
Executive Order: Criminalizing the Antiwar Movement
Related article - A quote...."In substance, under this executive order,
opposing the war becomes an illegal act. "
Broader
Privilege Claimed In Firings - White House Says Hill Can't Pursue
Contempt Cases
A quote...."Bush administration officials unveiled a bold new assertion
of executive authority yesterday in the dispute over the firing of nine
U.S. attorneys, saying that the Justice Department will never be
allowed to pursue contempt charges initiated by Congress against White
House officials once the president has invoked executive privilege."
White
House asserts sweeping power to defy the law
Must Read - Related
article - A quote...."California Democratic Congressman Henry Waxman,
chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, the
principal investigative committee of the House, told the newspaper that
the administration’s position “makes a mockery of the ideal that no one
is above the law.” Waxman added, “I suppose the next step would be just
disbanding the Justice Department.” - In fact, the White
House position is of a piece with the federal prosecutors’ firings to
begin with. The purpose of the purge was to secure the transformation
of the Justice Department into little more than a political agency of
the White House and the Republican National Committee, using its police
powers to influence the outcome of the 2006 and 2008 elections."
Folks what the HELL is going on? Didn't this country vote for the Demo
part of the
DemoRepubs so
they could stop all this, didn't the people
in this country vote for them so they could stop the war, didn't they
vote for them so they could restore the constitution?
This "assertion" that "the Legislature can't pursue contempt charges"
is now act number #33 in what would have been the thirty three acts to
restore Americans' rights. However it's already jumped to
thirty four acts....see below.
Bush's executive order "Criminalizing the Antiwar Movement" is now act
number #34 in the
Thirty
Four Acts to Restore Americans' Rights.
This government under the leadership of the
DemoRepubs is going backwards and
we're losing even more
rights than before many of these Demo’s were elected, such as the right
to
have OUR legislature reign in and investigate the executive branch and
OUR rights to appose government policies like this insane war. - mpg
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Plame
Case Thrown Out; National Security Imperilled
A quote...."A federal judge has thrown out the lawsuit of Valerie Plame
Wilson against Bush administration figures Irv Lewis Libby, Karl Rove,
Richard Bruce Cheney, and Richard Armitage. She sued them for
conducting a campaign to out her in the press as an undercover
operative and so ruining her career."
U.S.
Appeals Court: Gov't cannot cherry-pick evidence in Gitmo detainee
appeals
A quote...."The Washington Post reports Friday that the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the District of Columbia has ruled unanimously against the
Bush administration in cases where Guantanamo Bay detainees contest
their "enemy combatant" status."
Act
On Impeachment, Now
A quote...."The Constitution states that the president and vice
president can be impeached for “high crimes and misdemeanors.”
- If we do not impeach President George W. Bush and Vice
President Dick Cheney, we establish that it is permissible for future
presidents and vice presidents to deceive Congress and the public into
futile wars, engage in widespread illegal spying on Americans, detain
prisoners without charge, engage in torture, operate in secrecy and re
fuse to execute laws passed by Congress. In writing the Constitution,
our Founding Fathers chose impeachment as the primary check on federal
officials who act as despots while in office. They had just removed a
king and had no interest in replacing him with an elected one."
DeFazio
asks, but he's denied access
A quote...."WASHINGTON -- Oregonians called Peter DeFazio's office,
worried there was a conspiracy buried in the classified portion of a
White House plan for operating the government after a terrorist
attack. - As a member of the U.S. House on the Homeland
Security Committee, DeFazio, D-Ore., is permitted to enter a secure
"bubbleroom" in the Capitol and examine classified material. So he
asked the White House to see the secret documents. - On
Wednesday, DeFazio got his answer: DENIED."
Everything's
Terror In The United States Of Hysteria
Just the way our elites like it. - mpg
Foreclosures Up
90% From Last Year - Winners and Losers in the Housing
Market Crash
Must Read -
War Warning - A quote...."In a
quarterly conference call yesterday reported by The New York Times, JP
Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon referred to the current business climate as "a
relatively benign point in the credit cycle." - The market
judged the company differently, sending share prices 3 percent lower by
the end of the trading day."
Why is this a War Warning? See....
Effective
Fed Funds Rate
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The Five
Stages of Counterfeiting
Related article - A quote...."A truly serious counterfeiting operation
would in fact plan to do something very similar to what Mr. Heath said
a counterfeiter would not do – just not in a single step. The goal of a
serious counterfeiting operation would be to persuade the public to use
its money rather than the official bills it originally copied when it
designed its original fake plates. Its goal would be the replacement of
the original official bills with its own bills, making them official in
the eyes of the public."
Seagulls
fat, 'infertile' from fast [junk] food
Sort'a like the US population....no? - mpg
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Thursday July 19th 2007 - links
page
A
Wake-up Call
A quote...." 07/19/07 "ICH" -- -- This is a wake-up call that we are
about to have another 9/11-WMD experience. - The wake-up
call is unlikely to be effective, because the American attitude toward
government changed fundamentally seventy-odd years ago. Prior to the
1930s, Americans were suspicious of government, but with the arrival of
the Great Depression, Tojo, and Hitler, President Franklin D. Roosevelt
convinced Americans that government existed to protect them from
rapacious private interests and foreign threats. Today, Americans
are more likely to give the benefit of the doubt to government than
they are to family members, friends, and those who would warn them
about the government’s protection.
The
London bombing trial: How much did the security services know?
A quote...."If official accounts are to be believed, then every trial
that has so far taken place relating to terror plots, successful or
failed, has painted an ever more damning picture of incompetence on the
part of the security services. But given the record of MI5 and MI6, and
the role provocations have historically played in Britain’s policy in
Ireland and elsewhere, it is entirely possible that the London bombings
of both July 7 and July 21 were allowed to take place so as to provide
the government with a pretext for further attacks on civil liberties
and new military adventures overseas."
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9/11 - From The History File...US
agents told to back off bin Ladens
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U.S.
Aborted Raid on Qaeda Chiefs in Pakistan in ’05
A quote...."WASHINGTON - A secret military operation in early 2005 to
capture senior members of Al Qaeda in Pakistan’s tribal areas was
aborted at the last minute after top Bush administration officials
decided it was too risky and could jeopardize relations with Pakistan,
according to intelligence and military officials."
Special Note : This one wasn't
posted when it first came out because it contains so
much distasteful "spin". However the first paragraph tells it
all. For more on this entire issue, see the....
Kunduz
Airlift or the
Great
Escape from Tora Bora.,
Downgrading
bin Laden, and
The
Drone to Hit Bin Laden
See also....
Bin
Laden may have arranged family's US exit: FBI docs & Flights
9/11
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Bush Is
al-Qaeda's Strategic Ally
Must Read - Related article - A
quote...." Now, as the new NIE makes clear, al-Qaeda’s
“Bush-second-term” strategy continues to pay big dividends. As U.S.
forces remain bogged down in Iraq and Bush rebuffs urgent appeals from
both Democrats and Republicans in Congress for a reversal of course,
al-Qaeda expands its base and takes aim again at the American homeland."
"In that sense, Bush remains al-Qaeda’s most important strategic ally.
Arguably, too, al-Qaeda serves a symbiotic role for Bush, helping to
keep the American public forever afraid and thus unwilling to challenge
the president's leadership."
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Howard Beale: Turn
off your TVs - (YouTube -
4 min 51 sec - June 11, 2007)
Must
View - From
the Movie
Network - He's right you know, they don't
call it the boob tube for nothing. Dear gentle readers for your
own sanity, for your own peace of mind, for the sake of your
children....turn off your TV's, turn them all off, and never watch,
listen to, or read any of the commercially produced garbage spewed out
by the five conglomerates who control ninety percent of the "mass
media" in this country ever again. – mpg - regarding this issue
see the five articles listed below.
[
1 ] - How Murdoch had a hotline to the PM in the run-up to Iraq war
A quote...."Tony Blair had three conversations with the media magnate
Rupert Murdoch in the nine days before the start of the Iraq war, the
Government has disclosed."
[ 2 ] -
We're All Gonna Die
A quote...."The recipe is simple, like the directions on the back of a
shampoo bottle. Damaging reports of Bush administration malfeasance
emerge. Warnings of imminent terrorist-borne doom immediately follow,
all spread far and wide by said Bush administration. Lather, rinse,
repeat. - There are many more instances of this curious
timing to be found, but apparently, no one in the administration is
concerned this dubious pattern - spreading fear among the populace to
change the subject, an act of terrorism itself - might start to wear
thin."
[ 3
]
- Lies, More Lies, And Damn Lies
A quote...." 07/18/07 "ICH" -- -- As Americans turn increasingly
against President George Bush’s calamitous war in Iraq, and revolt
spreads through Republican ranks, the White House is again resorting to
its tried and true ploy of fanning grossly inflated fears of
terrorism. - The president just made two preposterous
claims last week that insult the intelligence of his listeners. First,
Bush insisted US forces in Iraq are fighting `the same people’ who
staged 9/11.’ - Second, withdrawing US forces from Iraq, as
the Democratic-controlled Congress is urging, means `surrendering Iraq
to al-Qaida.’"
[
4
] -Media Distortions regarding Iran
A quote...."The Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in
Iran has strongly criticised the Financial Times and launched a
complaint with the Press Complaint Commission over the publication by
the FT of a story [1] making incriminating and unfounded allegations
about Iranian government's complicity with Al-Qaeda launching terrorist
operations in Iraq, using Iranian territory."
[ 5
]
- No Evidence of Iran’s role in violence and instability in Iraq –
confirms British Foreign Minister
A quote...."07/19/07 "ICH" -- -- David Milliband, British foreign
secretary, confirmed in an interview (1) with the Financial times, 8th
July, that there is no evidence of Iranian complicity in instability in
Iraq or attacks on British troops:"
[ 6 ] - War
Made Easy - TRAILER - (YouTube - 2 min 30 sec - June 11,
2007)
A quote...."War Made Easy reaches into the Orwellian memory hole to
expose a 50-year pattern of government deception and media spin that
has dragged the United States into one war after another from Vietnam
to Iraq. Narrated by actor and activist Sean Penn, the film exhumes
remarkable archival footage of official distortion and exaggeration
from LBJ to George W. Bush, revealing in stunning detail how the
American news media have uncritically disseminated the pro-war line of
one administration after another."
[ 7 ] - War made Easy -
(YouTube - 8 min to 10 min avg. length - added May 31, 2007)
Part 1 - Part
2 -
Part
3 -
Part
4 -
Part
5
Must View - A quote....."From
Democracy Now! exerpts of the documentary War Made Easy: How Presidents
& Pundits Are Spinning Us to Death. The movie can be purchased at
WarMadeEasyTheMovie.org. From the show: "Today, we are going to spend
the hour looking at how presidents from Lyndon Johnson to George W.
Bush sold wars to the American public."
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Psychologists
respond to Vanity Fair revelations on psychologists' responsibility for
CIA torture
A quote...."The APA leadership has stated repeatedly that
psychologists' participation in interrogations help keep interrogations
"safe, legal, ethical, and effective." The public record now suggests
that the exact opposite is the case."
WELCOME to the
Nurse Ratched's
of
the world. You see when they tell your interrogators how best to
humiliate you, or torture you, or drive you insane....they're actually
"helping" you.
Anybody else out there want a US psyco(logist) to "help" you...anyone?
- mpg
========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ==========
========== ====
ABC
goes ‘Inside the Surge.’ - posted at
BuzzFlash
A quote...."Approaching his fifteenth month in Iraq, one soldier made a
personal challenge to President Bush: “I challenge the President or
whoever has us here for 15 months to ride alongside me. I’ll do another
15 months if he comes out here and rides along with me every day for 15
months. I’ll do 15 more months. They don’t even have to pay me
extra.”
July 17, 2007 7:15 pm "
New CRS
Study on War Spending - The Surging Costs of the Iraq War
Some quotes...."Assuming Congress' approval of President George W.
Bush's request for war costs for the upcoming fiscal year 2008 (a
request of $141.7 billion), total appropriations related to the wars
would reach $758 billion, including $567 billion for Iraq, $157 billion
for Afghanistan, $29 billion for other security operations in the US
and elsewhere,...." - "Counting all war appropriations to
date,
including those for not just DOD but also the State Department and the
VA, costs per month have risen from about $12 billion in FY 2006 to
about $14.4 billion in FY 2007."
Clone
Wars: The Replication of Ruin From Iraq to Somalia
A quote...."The rough beast that is George W. Bush's Terror War
replicates itself with remarkable fidelity. Each new monstrosity it
brings forth exhibits the same markings, the same structure: a weak,
corrupt client regime maintained in office by the occupation army of a
foreign power, in brutal conflict with an ever-growing opposition led
by -- but not limited to -- religious sectarians. And each replication
produces the same results: chaos, ruin, atrocity, suffering, repression
and the spread of violent, virulent extremism.
US
might strike in Pakistan: White House
A quote...."The White House on Thursday refused to rule out striking at
suspected terrorist targets inside Pakistan and would not say whether
US forces would first seek permission from Islamabad."
Iranian
President visits Syria
A quote...."July 19, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- Iranian President Mahmud
Ahmadinejad is scheduled to visit Syria today for talks reportedly
aimed at reinforcing bilateral ties."
Getting ready for the onslaught. - mpg
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Russia Reject
NATO offer!
A quote...."Russia on Wednesday rejected a NATO offer to hold a special
conference on a key European arms pact and instead proposed working on
a new agreement, local news agencies quoted a top Defense Ministry
official as saying."
MoD confirms
Iraq troop reduction
Some quotes...."The number of British troops in Iraq will be cut to
5,000 by the end of 2007, the Ministry of Defence has said."
- "Mr
Browne said a total of 500 troops would be withdrawn by the end of the
year, when control of Basra Palace will have passed to the Iraqi
authorities."
Out
of the shadows
Must Read - A quote...."In
Iraq, suicide attacks and sectarian killings grab the world's
attention. But it is the guerrilla war being waged by the Iraqi
resistance that is having such a devastating effect on US and British
forces. And now these insurgent groups want to create a united front -
and a political platform. Seumas Milne talks to some of their leaders
in Damascus"
Pentagon
extends Iraq tours for 2,200 Marines - posted at
BuzzFlash
A quote...."WASHINGTON, July 19 (Reuters) - The Pentagon has extended
the combat tours of 2,200 Marines in Iraq for 30 days, keeping the
troops on the ground to help stabilize Anbar province, a Marine Corps
spokesman said on Thursday."
Squandering
Resources on War
A quote...."The record of western powers invading and occupying
Afghanistan has been one of one western defeat after another. It is
probably a pipe dream to imagine that this occupation will turn out any
better. The Karzai government, the equivalent of the Vichy government
in France under the Nazis, is corrupt and despised. The opium trade,
once curtailed by the Taliban, is booming again, and the allies are
killing more civilian bystanders than the Taliban. The only good news
is that for western military contractors there is a lot of profit to be
made. Blood money, but so what?"
Cindy
Sheehan: Torture is a War Crime - posted at
BuzzFlash
A quote...."Journey for Humanity and Accountability: Day 5
- Today
our Journey took us to Ft. Benning, Ga, where the cancer of the School
of Americas (WINSEC) is housed. I have written on torture before and I
believe that BushCo’s policy of imprisoning people without their basic
due process and torturing them is one of the grossest breeches of
international and American law and one of the overriding reasons that
they should be impeached.
Nationwide
Protests Rock Peru, Bush Seeks Allies in Latin America
A quote...."National protests rock Peru as President Alan Garcia
navigates through an increasingly tumultuous labor and teacher
uprising. Rejections of a free trade agreement with the US and
neoliberal economic policies are at the heart of the national uprising
which has left three people dead and several wounded. National protests
rock Peru as President Alan Garcia navigates through an increasingly
tumultuous labor and teacher uprising. Rejections of a free trade
agreement with the US and neoliberal economic policies are at the heart
of the national uprising which has left three people dead and several
wounded."
ALBA
Country Representatives Meet in Venezuela to Deepen Integration
A quote...."Mérida, July 18, 2007 (venezuelanalysis.com)— The
first
meeting of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) Technical
Committees took place this week in Caracas to discuss the various
integrated projects between the ALBA nations. Chavez assured that more
countries in the region would soon be joining the structure that
currently consists of Nicaragua, Bolivia, Cuba, and Venezuela."
Cleric
Switches Tactics to Meet Changes in Iraq
A quote...."BAGHDAD, July 18 — After months of lying low, the
anti-American Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr has re-emerged with a
shrewd strategy that reaches out to Iraqis on the street while
distancing himself from the increasingly unpopular government."
The
Militarization and Annexation of North America - The Security and
Prosperity Partnership (SPP) unmasked
A quote...."Besides the Bush administration's imperial aims and
permanent war on the world, add the one at home below the radar. Its
weapons include the WTO, NAFTA, Department of Homeland Security (DHS),
FBI, CIA, NSA, NORTHCOM, militarized state and local police, National
Guard forces, paramilitary mercenaries like Blackwater USA, and all
other repressive instruments of state power and control. They target
the people of three nations slowly becoming one headquartered in
Washington. That's the apparent aim of those in power here wanting one
continent, "indivisible" minus old-fashioned ideas like "liberty and
justice for all" we used to believe in when, as kids, we recited our
"Pledge of Allegiance." They now have a whole new meaning. They're just
words drummed into young minds hoping they'll still believe them when
they're old enough to know better."
Cheney's
office implies it has executive privilege of its own
A quote...."Weeks after claiming that it was not a part of the
executive branch, the Office of Vice President Dick Cheney appears to
be readying an independent assertion of executive privilege"
U.S.
Senate Bill S. 1487: Escalating the Federal Control and Privatization
of Elections
A quote...."The name “Diebold,” when associated with elections, has
come to mean “untrustworthy.” But terms that indicate “election
dysfunction” aren’t wholly owned by Diebold. The name of another voting
machine company, “Sequoia,” has come to mean foreign ownership of
vote-counting software. “ES&S” has come to mean broken contracts,
lies to election officials, and questionable federal election results
in Sarasota. For those paying close attention, the little-known U. S.
Election Assistance Commission (EAC) has come to mean incompetent,
secretive, derelict in duties, partisan, and unduly influenced by
Diebold, Sequoia, and ES&S."
'Sicko'
in Top 5 Grossing Docs of All Time -- This Weekend it's "'Sicko' Night
in America!" -
posted at
BuzzFlash
A quote...."Good news! "Sicko," after less than three weeks in national
release, has become one of the top five grossing documentaries of all
time! So, this coming weekend, the distributor is expanding the movie
by opening it in nearly 500 new theaters in small cities all over the
country (for a total of nearly 1,200 screens nationwide)!"
China
roars ahead at the fastest pace in a decade, 11.9%
A quote...."China’s economy expanded at its fastest pace in over a
decade in the second quarter, data showed Thursday, raising
expectations authorities will act quickly but not severely to stop
overheating."
Wednesday July 18th 2007
Kissinger’s
Secret Meeting With Putin - posted at
ICH
Must Read - A
quote...." Kissinger was accompanied on his junket by
a delegation of high-powered political and corporate big-wigs
including former Secretary of State George Schultz, former
Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, former Special Representative for Arms
Control, Nonproliferation and Disarmament Ambassador Thomas Graham Jr.,
former Senator Sam Nunn and Chevron Chairman and Chief Executive
Officer David O'Reilly."
"Wow. Now, there’s an impressive line up."
========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ==========
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US
Imperialism - (YouTube - 2 min 28 sec - February 05, 2007) - posted
at
ICH
Must View - There are
allot of other interventions and coups that could have been included in
this short clip, but by then of course it would have been an hour long
- mpg
========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ==========
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U.S.
demands Pakistan act against militants, threatens intervention
A quote...."
The
Bush administration, after publicly demanding that Musharraf
rein in militants linked to al Qaida, on Wednesday
threatened
to launch attacks into Pakistani territory if it sees fit. - bold/italics
by website author - for more on this see article below
U.S.
launches artillery into Pakistan - posted at
AntiWar
A quote...."BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan - Asserting a right to
self-defense, American forces in eastern Afghanistan have launched
artillery rounds into Pakistan to strike Taliban fighters who attack
remote U.S. outposts, the commander of U.S. forces in the region said
Sunday."
Wow! Isn't this fantastic, the US currently has ongoing military
operations in Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan, soon Iran and Syria and now
we're even launching attacks against Pakistan....Oh way to go guys, a
glorious prelude to America's "thirty years war", wonderful news for
the Military-Industrial-Oil-Complex. Everyone should get a
bonus. Maybe we can even provoke some of the hard line elements
in Pakistan to use their nukes. Wouldn't that be just grand?
Admittedly Pakistan is one of the few countries, along with Saudi
Arabia,
who actually supported the Taliban and al-Qaeda, (Iraq and Iran didn't
but we don't care) and of course they supported them on our
orders. Now the US is hinting they'd like that support to be
stopped.
It's sad really, the Pakis just don't understand how we in the U.S.
want the “Great Game” to be played out. Supporting “terrorist”
groups for targeted operations is good for business because it provides
endless reasons for the Bushists to impose domestic suppression at home
and launch military adventures abroad. Supporting indigenous
"insurgents" fighting for their land is bad for business because it
keeps US corporations from getting all that juicy oil.
When are the Pakies going to get it straight? - mpg -
posted 02-12-07
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IRAQ:
Mass Graves Dug to Deal With Death Toll
A quote...."BAQUBA, Jul 17 (IPS) - The largest morgue in Diyala
province is overflowing daily. Officials told IPS they have had to dig
mass graves to dispose of bodies."
Insurgents
form political front to plan for US pullout
A quote...."Seven of the most important Sunni-led insurgent
organisations fighting the US occupation in Iraq have agreed to form a
public political alliance with the aim of preparing for negotiations in
advance of an American withdrawal, their leaders have told the
Guardian. - In their first interview with the western media
since the US-British invasion of 2003, leaders of three of the
insurgent groups - responsible for thousands of attacks against US and
Iraqi armed forces and police - said they would continue their armed
resistance until all foreign troops were withdrawn from Iraq, and
denounced al-Qaida for sectarian killings and suicide bombings against
civilians."
Bush
told Iraq war has helped al-Qa’eda - posted at
BuzzFlash
A quote...."Senator George Voinovich, a close ally of Mr Bush,
delivered a withering assessment of the situation in Iraq, declaring
that the Bush administration had "f****d up the war"."
Regarding the two articles shown above....essentially they point out
that the Bush Neocons are helping al Qaeda while trying to kill as many
Iraqi people as possible. Gee what a surprise. - mpg
========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ==========
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Turkey
Bombards Northern Iraq, Iraq Says
A quote...."BAGHDAD (AP) - The Iraqi government said Turkish artillery
and warplanes bombarded areas of northern Iraq on Wednesday and called
on Turkey to stop military operations and resort to dialogue."
Yep, Bush's lovely little war just keeps growing and growing and
growing..... - mpg
========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ==========
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Turkish
PM defends gas deal with Iran
A quote...." ANKARA (Thomson Financial) - Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan today defended a preliminary gas deal with neighbouring
Iran to carry natural gas to Europe, brushing aside US criticism that
the Islamic republic is not 'reliable.' - 'We import oil
and natural gas. We want to decrease the amount we pay for imports,'
the Anatolia news agency quoted Erdogan as telling the NTV news chanel
overnight."
King
George W.: James Madison’s Nightmare
Some quotes...."George W. Bush is the imperial president that James
Madison and other founders of this great republic warned us
about. He lied the nation into precisely the “foreign
entanglements” that George Washington feared would destroy the
experiment in representative government, and he has championed a
spurious notion of security over individual liberty, thus eschewing the
alarms of Thomas Jefferson as to the deprivation of the inalienable
rights of free citizens. But most important, he has used the
sledgehammer of war to obliterate the separation of powers that James
Madison enshrined in the U.S. Constitution."
And..."When the prime author of the U.S. Constitution explained why
that document grants Congress-not the president-the exclusive power to
declare and fund wars, Madison wrote, “A delegation of such powers [to
the president] would have struck, not only at the fabric of our
Constitution, but at the foundation of all well organized and well
checked governments. - Because “[n]o nation could preserve
its freedom in the midst of continual warfare,”
Exactly what the Straussian PNAC'ing Neocons had in mind when they
began their little conspiracy twenty years ago. - mpg
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Almost Human
- (YouTube - 2 min 29 sec - July 14, 2007)
Must View - A
quote...."The
Pathological nature of our 'Leaders'"
Ship of
fools: Setting sail with America's swashbuckling neocons
A quote...."The Iraq war has been an amazing success, global warming is
just a myth – and as for Guantanamo Bay, it's practically a holiday
camp... The annual cruise organised by the 'National Review',
mouthpiece of right-wing America, is a parallel universe populated by
straight-talking, gun-toting, God-fearing Republicans."
Industry's role
in Cheney energy report emerges
A quote...."Many meetings held with companies before environmentalists
approached"
What everyone knows for sure is that Cheney wasn’t discussing the
"environment" at those private meetings. - mpg
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Bill
Moyers Puts Impeachment On the Media Table
Program Review - A
quote...."Bill Moyers has put impeachment in the news, in the process
shaming both the national media and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the
rest of the Congressional leadership. - In his Saturday
program, Bill Moyers Journal, Moyers and guests John Nichols, the
Nation's Washington correspondent and author of The Genius of
Impeachment and Bruce Fein, a former attorney in the Ronald Reagan
Department of Justice, made it clear that the Bush/Cheney
administration has gravely threatened the Constitution and the survival
of tripartite, divided government. - the programs are listed below -
posted 07-14-07
BILL
MOYERS JOURNAL | Impeachment Panel - Part I | PBS - (PBS- Win Media
- 07/15/07 - 24m 16s)
BILL
MOYERS JOURNAL | Impeachment Panel - Part II | PBS - (PBS - Win
Media - 07/15/07 - 17m 28s)
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Pentagon
starts spin unit to target talk radio, bloggers
A quote...."With public opinion on both the President and Iraq war
cratering, it's hard to imagine any amount of PR could turn back the
tide. But don't tell that to the Pentagon's public affairs division.
Ken Silverstein reports on the latest efforts to spread the good word
on Iraq in Monday's Harper's. - The new “
Communications Outreach”
program is the latest effort to bypass the traditional media and work
directly with talk radio and bloggers." - bold/italics by website author
So that's what they call it now days...."Communications Outreach." - mpg
========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ==========
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Proof
Bin Laden Tape Is 5-Year-Old, Re-Released Footage
A quote...."Why did IntelCenter, the middleman between "Al-Qaeda" and
the media, a group that has government and Pentagon ties, re-release
old footage and why did the media report it as new when it had already
aired twice before?"
Guess we'll just chalk this one up to their brand spanking new program
of...."Communications
Outreach." - mpg
See also....
Fake
Intel
========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ==========
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An
unpalatable truth for Bush: most foreign insurgents in Iraq are Saudis
A quote...."An article in Sunday’s Los Angeles Times detailing the
national origins of foreign insurgents in Iraq has punctured a large
hole in the Bush administration’s relentless propaganda against Iran.
For months, the White House has been demonising Tehran for “meddling”
in Iraq by establishing networks to arm, train and finance anti-US
insurgents. Most foreign fighters, however, come, not from Iran, but
Saudi Arabia, a close American ally, with which the Bush administration
in particular has intimate ties."
Witness
Testifies Marine Knowingly Shot Children in Haditha
A quote...."CAMP PENDLETON, Calif., July 17 -- One of the Marines
charged with murdering civilians in Haditha, Iraq, in 2005 knew that
only women and children were huddled in a back bedroom in a house
there, but he opened the door and shot them anyway, a squadmate
testified Tuesday."
Keep in mind items like this are rarely posted, also keep in mind,
judging from the military's own reports and the polls that were taken
not to long ago....this is just a tiny fraction of what has really
happened in Iraq. Without doubt tens of thousands of people have been
indirectly and brutally murdered by US forces in Iraq, hundreds of
thousands indirectly murdered if you count the US's ongoing attempts to
"El Salvadorize"
Iraq, not to mention the continuing and increasing aerial campaign
against Iraqi civilians.
This is the ugly truth, we as a nation have to face up to it, we should
bring the troops home NOW! - mpg
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Still
Privatizing After All These Years - The World Bank's Russia office
turns 15
A quote...."Russia-watchers know the horrific stat about Russian men's
grotesquely low life expectancy, which in the 1990s reached levels
normally associated with Tse Tse fly-infested backwaters in Africa. But
over the past few years, things have started to turn around. Russia's
male life expectancy has risen from a Congo-like low of 56 to nearly
60, which, coincidentally, is the retirement age for Russian men.
Finally, they're about to live long enough to start collecting their
pensions. - Or not. - A few weeks ago, a
familiar voice suggested that in order to shore up Russia's federal
pension fund, the retirement age for men be raised to 65. After all,
there's no better way to cut pension expenditures than to make sure
recipients die before you have to pay them. - Who could
propose something this cruel and keep a straight face? The World Bank."
Bolivia's
president announces plan to nationalize railroads
A quote...."LA PAZ, Bolivia: President Evo Morales announced plans to
nationalize Bolivia's railroads, continuing his administration's
campaign to extend greater state control over key sectors of the Andean
nation's economy."
Local
attorney acquitted on federal income tax charges
A quote...."A Shreveport attorney who has challenged the government for
years on the legality of filing federal income taxes has been acquitted
on charges he failed to file returns. - A federal jury
unanimously found Tommy Cryer not guilty this week on two misdemeanor
counts of failure to file."
This is a victory for all "employees" and the self-employed.
Tired of paying more taxes on your hard earned dollars while those with
"capital gains" pay little or no tax....well your time may have come. -
mpg
========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ==========
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Bolivia
signs largest ever mining project with Indian company
A quote...."Bolivia signed a 2.1 billion US dollars mining deal with
Indian company Jindal Power & Steel Ltd. after more than a year of
negotiations for the exploitation of vast iron deposits near the
Brazilian border."
Bernanke:
US housing slump “a drag on growth” well into 2008
War Update - A
quote...."Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke revived fears
Wednesday that the housing slump could derail a pick-up in the US
economy. In his semiannual testimony before the US Congress, Bernanke
predicted "moderate" economic growth through the second half with "a
bit" of strengthening in 2008."
Why is this a war update? See....
Effective
Fed Funds Rate
Report:
Dead zone in Gulf grows
A quote...."NEW ORLEANS -- Researchers predict the recurring "dead
zone" off the Louisiana coast will grow this summer to its largest size
in at least 22 years, 8,543 square miles."
Terrorism Experts
: al Qaeda' Groups are as Unrelated as NYC's Ray's Pizzas' - posted
at
BuzzFlash
A quote...."Putting the final lie to the Bush Administration refrain
that the terrorists who killed us on 9/11 are the same as those
fighting us in Iraq, a bi-partisan panel of experts has concluded that
the separate groups calling themselves “Al Qaeda” are as independent
and unrelated as the dozens of “Ray’s Pizzas” that dot the landscape in
New York City."
