Have you contacted your legislators about Cheney/Bush Impeachment?

Tell me, who are the fools?

American’s increasing acceptance of religious diversity doesn’t extend to those who don’t believe in a god, according to a national survey by researchers in the University of Minnesota’s department of sociology.

From a telephone sampling of more than 2,000 households, university researchers found that Americans rate atheists below Muslims, recent immigrants, gays and lesbians and other minority groups in “sharing their vision of American society.” Atheists are also the minority group most Americans are least willing to allow their children to marry.

[Sure, that makes sense. Atheists have done nothing to improve their reputation as immoral and evil. Whether it be atheists from the USA shooting doctors or atheists from the Middle East flying airplanes into the World Trade Center, everybody knows atheists are out to destroy us all. Tens of thousands of children, mainly young boys, were molested by atheists and the crimes were hidden by an atheist leader in Italy. But no further proof is needed than to note that prisons in the USA are full beyond capacity with atheists. Clearly the United States needs to get rid of atheists and atheism, the sooner the better.]

Yes indeed, with a Sky-God whose power on earth is mediated by a male hierarchy there is always an excess of fatal love for those who do not fit into the divinely attributed social structure, and our mullahs and inquisitors and South Dakota legislators and priests must exert full control over the frightening power of unrestrained woman, birthing, life and thought, or "all" will be lost to "the devil" and "Marxism." Better YOU (never they) die and "go directly to heaven" -- guaranteed even better than the lifetime of your car's tires -- than to upset this finely honed hierarchy of domination and denial. GOD IS MURDER.

Torture exists because some people are "better" than others by virtue of their power, which they invariably declare a right descending from a Divinity that favors them as Its agent, Its "disciple," Its "servant." They are merely "soldiers in the Army of Christ," men who humbly submit to Allah and man His jihad, all to bring you into alignment -- defined by your betters -- with the "will of God." Priests are the executioners of the human soul, the headsmen of human intellect, stunting and poisoning the growth of human potential. Camus describes how Catholic priests blessed the barrels of the rifles of Falangist firing squads executing Republican prisoners during Spain's Civil War (1936-1939) and the following dictatorship.

Objectively, there is no compelling reason why a person of any religious or non-religious view should be more or less likely to be a torturer. But, as one looks at the sweep of history it is clear that torture follows religion, because torture is cruelty practiced by fear and ignorance. As one moves to social groups more firmly based on the Enlightenment (post-Renaissance humanism and socialism) and Buddhism (as a philosophy and psychology more than a devotional religious practice and sectarian division) one moves away from the likelihood of torture. And don't tell me about Communist torture until after you have read Camus's book "The Rebel" and understand that Stalinism was just another man-made religion -- as they all are.

[see link for full article]

Civilian Inmate Labor Program?

With Tuesday’s attacks, Abu Musab Zarqawi, a Jordanian militant with ties to al-Qaida, is now blamed for more than 700 terrorist killings in Iraq.

But NBC News has learned that long before the war the Bush administration had several chances to wipe out his terrorist operation and perhaps kill Zarqawi himself — but never pulled the trigger.

Why would Mr Bush not take out this "terrorist mastermind"?

‘People were more obsessed with developing the coalition to overthrow Saddam than to execute the president’s policy of pre-emption against terrorists.’

— Roger Cressey, Terrorism expert

Read the article

Sure, I wasn't the only journo calling out America's post-9/11 anti-terrorism campaign back in 2001 as one that would begin to resemble "a cultural and religious obsession" the longer it wore on, but I wasn't exactly being squeezed out of my box by a din of assent. Since that time, we've done everything from move the bullseye from Osama bin Laden's back and slap in onto Saddam Hussein to more or less strip United States citizens of their rights without apology.

I mean, it was only days ago that a woman in Atlanta was handed a $100 ticket by a cop from DeKalb County's not-so-finest for a bumper sticker with the word "Bushit" on it. Anyone remember Brandon Mayfield? Stop lying. Even if you did, those stories hew to the sensational, as did our push-button war in Iraq, a misadventure that will cost us all one day, according to Scott Ritter and everyone else with any sense in their skulls. But those clashes are nothing compared to the true elephant in the room, and I'm not talking about WMD, Valerie Plame, Guantanamo or Katrina's racial politics.

I'm talking about religion, and the imaginary world it foists upon our lonely planet as we jockey for power. It is the true root of all of our present evils, and it must be eradicated. One way or another.

[article continues at link]

In a March 26 interview on NBC’s "Meet the Press," Rice offered a different rationale for invading Iraq. She agreed that Hussein was not implicated in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks nor did she assert that he was conspiring with al-Qaeda on another assault.

Instead, Rice justified invading Iraq and ousting Hussein because he was part of the "old Middle East," which she said had engendered hatreds that led indirectly to 9/11.

"If you really believe that the only thing that happened on 9/11 was people flew airplanes into buildings, I think you have a very narrow view of what we faced on 9/11," Rice said. "We faced the outcome of an ideology of hatred throughout the Middle East that had to be dealt with. Saddam Hussein was a part of that old Middle East. The new Iraq will be a part of the new Middle East, and we will all be safer."

Rice’s argument – that Bush has the right to invade any country that he feels is part of a culture that might show hostility toward the United States – represents the most expansive justification to date for launching the Iraq War.

It goes well beyond waging "preemptive" or even "predictive" war. Rice is asserting a U.S. right to inflict death and destruction on Muslim countries as part of a social-engineering experiment to eradicate their perceived cultural and political tendencies toward hatred.

Despite the extraordinary implications of Rice’s declaration, her comment passed almost unnoticed by the U.S. news media, which gave much more attention to her demurring on the possibility of becoming the next National Football League commissioner.

Yet Rice’s new war rationale, combined with the British memo on Bush’s determination to invade Iraq regardless of the facts, should be more than enough evidence to put Bush, Rice, Blair and other U.S. and British officials before a war crimes tribunal.

stunningly, they open their mouths and these things come out.

like (a) they have no idea of the monstrousness of what they are saying and/or (b) they know or believe they have perfect immunity.

What gives? I'm not seeing any cache in google searches.

Google's cache causes copyright concern
Stefanie Olsen, CNET News.com
CNET News.com
July 10, 2003, 08:54 BST

Online publishers are expressing reservations about Google's caching service, which records snapshots of Web pages

Like other online publishers, The New York Times charges readers to access articles on its Web site. But why pay when you can use Google instead?

Through a caching feature on the popular Google search site, people can sometimes call up snapshots of archived stories at NYTimes.com and other registration-only sites. The practice has proved a boon for readers hoping to track down Web pages that are no longer accessible at the original source, for whatever reason. But the feature has recently been putting Google at odds with some unhappy publishers.

"We are working with Google to fix that problem -- we're going to close it so when you click on a link it will take you to a registration page," said Christine Mohan, a spokeswoman at New York Times Digital, the publisher of NYTimes.com. "We have established these archived links and want to maintain consistency across all these access points."

Google offers publishers a simple way to opt out of its temporary archive, and scuffles have yet to erupt into open warfare or lawsuits. Still, Google's cache links illustrate a slippery side of innovation on the Web, where cool new features that seem benign on the surface often carry unintended consequences.

I've been noticing this slowly going away, and on a lot of sites that have no corporate sponsorship. No more google cache, or a significanlty changed one, could make scrubbing the web a whole lot easier.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments yesterday in the Hamdan case. One key issue is whether the 2005 Detainee Treatment Act ("DTA") divests the federal courts of jurisdiction to hear Hamdan's challenge to his detention. In support of the Bush administration's position, Senators Lindsay Graham (R-SC) and John Kyl (R-AZ) submitted an amicus brief, in which they contend that Congress intended the DTA to do just that. In that brief, Graham and Kyl cite what they claim was their colloquy during debate on the Senate floor.

However, it appears that the alleged Graham-Kyl "colloquy" is a fiction -- something they concocted and inserted into the Congressional Record after the fact. There's actually nothing improper about that in itself. Members of Congress commonly ask for, and are granted, permission to "revise and extend" their remarks to include things they never actually say in debate. What is entirely improper is misleading the U.S. Supreme Court about the genesis of this "colloquy", and using this manufactured "evidence" in support of a strained construction, wholly unsupported by the statutory text.

Senators Graham and Kyl are both lawyers, and as such are subject to the ethical standards of the legal profession. These include a duty of candor toward the tribunal before which a lawyer appears. See Model Rules of Professional Conduct, Rule 3.3(a)(1) ("A lawyer shall not knowingly make a false statement of fact or law to a tribunal or fail to correct a false statement of material fact or law previously made to the tribunal by the lawyer.").

If, as seems to be the case, Graham and Kyl knowingly misrepresented the nature of their supposed "colloquy", they should be subject to disciplinary action by the bar. Let's see Graham -- who served as one of the lead figures in the Clinton impeachment -- explain why lying to the U.S. Supreme Court about legislative business is OK, but lying about a blowjob is a high crime or misdemeanor.

(Cross-posted from Reports from Poisonville.)

Okay, so let's get into this god game. I think it's time to get serious about the role God plays in human affairs, and evaluate whether it's appropriate to let everyone in on the bad news: God doesn't exist, never did, and the closest thing we'll ever see to God will emerge from our own collective efforts at making meaning.

Maybe I'm just getting old, but I no longer see the real value in being tolerant of other people's beliefs. Sure, when beliefs are relegated to the realm of pure entertainment, they pose no real danger. So, a kid believes U2 is really a supergroup on par with The Beatles or The Who. That's his problem, and it doesn't really do a lot of harm to anyone except those of us who still stop by MTV occasionally to see what might be playing.

When religions are practiced, as they are by a majority of those in developed nations, today, as a kind of nostalgic little ritual - a community event or an excuse to get together and not work - it doesn't really screw anything up too badly. But when they radically alter our ability to contend with reality, cope with difference, or implement the most basic ethical provisions, they must be stopped.

Like any other public health crisis, the belief in religion must now be treated as a sickness. It is an epidemic, paralyzing our nation's ability to behave in a rational way, and - given our weapons capabilities - posing an increasingly grave threat to the rest of the world.

[See full article in Arthur magazine via PDF or HTML. Thanks to KLINTRON for the tip.]

I spent Monday and Tuesday in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, I missed the massive demonstration over the weekend, when half a million people turned out to protest the latest outbreak of anti-immigrant fervor. But I did get to see a large group of school kids massed outside City Hall, part of a two-day walkout that has stopped traffic on various freeways and generally captured everyone's attention. For these kids, I dedicate this Sham 69 classic.

The LA Times (which has become my favorite mainstream newspaper) had some good coverage, including an interesting article about how DJs on Spanish-language radio stations helped boost the turnout for the weekend's huge march. Meanwhile, on the letters-to-the-editor page, petulant Anglos write in to bemoan the arrogance of uppity brown-skinned people daring to assert their humanity. This letter, from one Judy Herbst of Beverly Hills, really takes the biscuit:

I am appalled at the demonstrations in downtown L.A. protesting the federal government's plan to finally do something about stopping illegal immigration. It is time that people understood what "illegal" means; stop using the word "undocumented." I have nothing against immigrants; my ancestors were immigrants. But they came here legally.

Illegal immigrants are like people who would come to your house and say, "I am a nice person, I want to live here, and you have more stuff than I do. By the way, you have to pay for my medical care and to school my children."

It is time to start enforcing our laws.

Great idea. Then maybe Ms. Herbst can maintain her lovely Beverly Hills lawn all by herself. Someone should send Ms. Herbst as copy of this movie. Perhaps then she'd realize that "illegal immigrants" are like people who would come to your house and keep it tidy for sub-minimum wage with no benefits.

(Cross-posted from Reports from Poisonville.)

W/regards to Moussaoui's recent odd behavior it might be interesting to note:

If you're looking for a reason why Zacarias Moussaoui suddenly testified today to a version of the 9/11 plotline that sounds more like the Official story than even the official Whitewash Commission report, (direct link to video) this video may have the answer.
In it, NBC news reporter Pete Williams lets slip that Moussaoui is wearing a "Stun belt" underneath his clothing controlled by US Marshals. MSNBC host Dan Abrams gets some more details on the stun belt.

A taste of the exchange:

WILLIAMS: The old outbursts were gone... He was very docile today... We believe that he's wearing one of those stun belts, and it may be that he was very worried about doing anything that would cause those Marshals to press the button....

ABRAMS: A stun belt? They literally have sOmething around his waist? That they can push a button and?

WILLIAMS: [Pause] Well...

From the MSNBC post of Newsweek's April 3 2006 issue. An article titled "Hamas: Out of Money" April 3, 2006 issue – “If you think you have a lousy job, meet Omar Abdel-Razeq. … Released a week ago, Abdel-Razeq says he hasn't yet had time to sift through the World Bank's dire projections for 2006, warning of an economic downturn equivalent to the Great Depression.

So, this is an article about Hamas’ money straights. But it just happens to let slip the tidbit of Wolfowitz’s World Bank’s “projections for 2006 of an “economic downturn” EQUIVALENT to the Great Depression.” Nothing more, just that casual mention in passing. huh.

In October, Tumpey and a team led by Dr. Jeffery Taubenberger of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology announced they had achieved a remarkable feat. Not only did they discover the virus' entire genetic code, they brought it back to life in a tightly controlled laboratory at CDC offices in Atlanta.

The virus that had swept the globe, infecting more than one-fourth of the world's population, existed on earth once again.

First they develop the virus. Then they develop a vaccine, turn the virus loose then charge $100,000 a shot for the vaccine. (Free of course for insiders.)

Also see: Lab 257 by Michael Christopher Carroll

Finally,

PUBLIC LAW 95-79 [P.L. 95-79]
TITLE 50, CHAPTER 32, SECTION 1520
"CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL WARFARE PROGRAM"

"The use of human subjects will be allowed for the testing of chemical and biological agents by the U.S. Department of Defense, accounting to Congressional committees with respect to the experiments and studies."

"The Secretary of Defense [may] conduct tests and experiments involving the use of chemical and biological [warfare] agents on civilian populations [within the United States]."

-SOURCE-
Public Law 95-79, Title VIII, Sec. 808, July 30, 1977, 91 Stat. 334. In U.S. Statutes-at-Large, Vol. 91, page 334, you will find Public Law 95-79. Public Law 97-375, title II, Sec. 203(a)(1), Dec. 21, 1982, 96 Stat. 1882. In U.S. Statutes-at-Large, Vol. 96, page 1882, you will find Public Law 97-375.

The Federal Election Commission decided Monday that the nation’s new campaign finance law will not apply to most political activity on the internet.

In a 6-0 vote, the commission decided to regulate only paid political ads placed on another person’s website.

The decision means that bloggers and online publications will not be covered by provisions of the new election law. Internet bloggers and individuals will therefore be able to use the internet to attack or support federal candidates without running afoul of campaign spending and contribution limits.

Politics:

Court rejects searches when occupants disagree.

Environment:

Oregon governor wants state to use all earth-friendly sources of electricity in four years.

New plastic recycling process invented in India.

Court rejects easing of Clean Air Act.

We all are by our inaction...

Survey by Pew Research Center for the People & the Press Oct. 12-24, 2005. A nationwide survey conducted among 2,006 adults: "Do you think the use of torture against suspected terrorists in order to gain important information can often be justified, sometimes be justified, rarely be justified, or never be justified?"

Total public answering often, sometimes, or rarely: 63%
Total public answering never: 32%

Total Catholic answering often, sometimes, or rarely: 72%
Total Catholic answering never: 26%

Total white Protestant answering often, sometimes, or rarely: 65%
Total white Protestant answering never: 31%

Total white Evangelical answering often, sometimes, or rarely: 65%
Total whte Evangelcal answering never: 31%

Total secular answering often, sometimes, or rarely: 51%
Total secular answering never: 41%

[... because everybody knows that atheists have no morals.]

New York Magazine has a feature article up today titled The Ground Zero Grassy Knoll that asks some timely questions. It seems that Charlie Sheen is not alone.

Also see, Thompson's Terror Timeline .

n the aftermath of the Dubai ports dispute, the Bush administration is hiring a Hong Kong conglomerate to help detect nuclear materials inside cargo passing through the Bahamas to the United States and elsewhere.

The administration acknowledges the no-bid contract with Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. represents the first time a foreign company will be involved in running a sophisticated U.S. radiation detector at an overseas port without American customs agents present.

In November 2003, Congress directed the US Department of Commerce to complete a study on offshoring for delivery in June 2004. The 200 page study was completed by Commerce Department analysts but was never released. Instead, after more than a year of wrangling, a 12 page document, written by political appointees, was released in September 2005. The 12 page document only highlights the positives of offshoring. The original study has never been released even though it cost taxpayers $335,000. Congress cannot obtain a copy of the study from Commerce.

much more at the link...

"All Televisions tuned to FOX News" . . .

In the statement, Bush said that he did not consider himself bound to tell Congress how the Patriot Act powers were being used and that, despite the law's requirements, he could withhold the information if he decided that disclosure would ''impair foreign relations, national security, the deliberative process of the executive, or the performance of the executive's constitutional duties."

Bugmenot :
Username: me@privacy.net
Password: boston

In his latest PR offensive President Bush came to Cleveland, Ohio, on Monday to answer the paramount question on Iraq that he said was on people's minds: "They wonder what I see that they don't." After mentioning "terror" 54 times and "victory" five, dismissing "civil war" twice and asserting that he is "optimistic", he called on a citizen in the audience, who homed in on the invisible meaning of recent events in the light of two books, American Theocracy, by Kevin Phillips, and the book of Revelation. Phillips, the questioner explained, "makes the point that members of your administration have reached out to prophetic Christians who see the war in Iraq and the rise of terrorism as signs of the apocalypse. Do you believe this? And if not, why not?"

Bush's immediate response, as transcribed by CNN, was: "Hmmm." Then he said: "The answer is I haven't really thought of it that way. Here's how I think of it. First, I've heard of that, by the way." The official White House website transcript drops the strategic comma, and so changes the meaning to: "First I've heard of that, by the way."

These are the people who are in charge of your sentence. Oh, and what sentence is that? Not falling in line of course.

Also, I realize flu epidemics are off the news radar just now, but since those internment camps being built by KBR are not for nothing, I thought we could use a bit of expert opinion on just how wrong the idea of quarantines are as a counter to any flu epidemic.

There have been stories for years about experiments where a clear plate is placed in a fish tank and left for an extended period. When the plate is removed, the fish generally remain on their respective side of the tank. The same thing happens when you put gnats in a covered jar for a while, and then remove the cover. Only a few adventurous creatures emerge, but the bulk of them remain in their self-imposed isolation from the rest of the universe. One of the primary attributes possessed by those few adventurous individuals who escape the jar is awareness (awareness of the jar, the top and a sense of “potential beyond the top”) that exceeds that of the general population. What happened to the fish in the tank and the gnats in the jar? Somehow, their original intent, freedom and nature was subverted by something else, first imposed from an external source and then willingly, but unconsciously, self-imposed with equal vigor in deference to the perceived existence of the status quo.

Iraqi police have accused American troops of executing 11 people, including a 75-year-old woman and a 6-month-old infant, in the aftermath of a raid last Wednesday on a house about 60 miles north of Baghdad.

The villagers were killed after American troops herded them into a single room of the house, according to a police document obtained by Knight Ridder Newspapers. The soldiers also burned three vehicles, killed the villagers' animals and blew up the house, the document said.

This would explain why initial reports of the raid noted that the kids (5 in total) were killed by headshots.

Pictures and further background, here.

Politics:

Poll: Americans Support Censure of President Bush.

Google Keeps Search Data Private.

Environment:

Statue of Liberty torch to be lit by wind power.

Health:

Pepper ‘kills prostate cancer’.

Nanotech helps blind hamsters see.

Other:

The universe is conspiring to shower you with blessings.

Good News Network relaunchs.

- Rose Colored News.

The "Continuity Act" now provides for the reformation of the entire US House and Senate structure, even after it is 'incapacitated', yet curiously (in effect) suspends them for 50 days...

3/2005- "The bill passed by the House last week requires states to hold special elections within 49 days if 100 members or more are killed or incapacitated. The 49-day period is both too short and too long: too short because the vast majority of states would not be able to meet that deadline in normal times, never mind the trying period after an attack,

... and too long because 49 days without a Congress means no check on the president. Remember that the president after a big attack might be an obscure Cabinet member, not the elected president.

This bill is meant to accompany a very disturbing rules change made quietly at the beginning of the 109th Congress that condones the House’s operating with just a handful of members..."

As Japanese Admiral Yamamoto once said, "You cannot invade the mainland United States. There will be a rifle behind every blade of grass", however, it can be taken from within...

Read up on Edward Bernays or the 1951 Psychological Strategy Board

Prior to 9/11, numerous FBI agents were frantically trying to send warnings up the chain of command while other high level individuals in the FBI were blocking or ignoring the warnings. Also discussed are the extraordinary effort to keep Siebel Edmonds from speaking publicly about what she learned working as a foreign language translator for the FBI.

On Sept. 23, 2005--nearly three months before the Times broke the NSA story--Thomas Nelson wrote to U.S. Attorney Karin Immergut in Oregon that in the previous nine months, "I and others have seen strong indications that my office and my home have been the target of clandestine searches." In an interview, Nelson said he believes that the searches resulted from the fact that FBI agents accidentally gave his client classified documents and were trying to retrieve them. Nelson's client is Soliman al-Buthe, codirector of a now defunct charity named al-Haramain, who was indicted in 2004 for illegally taking charitable donations out of the country. The feds also froze the charity's assets, alleging ties to Osama bin Laden. The documents that were given to him, Nelson says, may prove that al-Buthe was the target of the NSA surveillance program.

more here.

looks like some of these people really do need a "Holy Ghost Enema". ROFLMAO!

"On Wednesday, March 1, 2006, at a hearing on the proposed Constitutional Amendment to prohibit gay marriage, Jamie Raskin, professor of law at AU, was requested to testify.

At the end of his testimony, Republican Senator Nancy Jacobs said: 'Mr. Raskin, my Bible says marriage is only between a man and a woman. What do you have to say about that?'

Raskin replied: 'Senator, when you took your oath of office, you placed your hand on the Bible and swore to uphold the Constitution. You did not place your hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible.'

The room erupted into applause."

Note: the above is a direct link to the video.

While your out celebrating this weekend or just away from your home for whatever reason, work, visiting friends, at the grocery, keep in mind, your home may be searched.
See more here:

No Warrant. No Problem. Bush breaking into homes

The 4th Ammendment under assault as your representative elite (both republican and democrat ) sale your rights down the river made legal by the Patriot Act of which they didn't even read.

Addendum:for you dial up folks...

KO- reading from a press release-"Soon after the 2001 terror attacks, lawyers for the White House and the Justice Dept. argued that the same legal authority that allowed warrentless electronic surveillance inside the US, could also be used to justify physical searches of terror suspects homes & businesses WITHOUT COURT APPROVAL."

(KO to Jonathan Turley)-Doesn't that send chills down your spine?

JT-Well it does, It's HORRIFIC, because what that would constitute is to effectively REMOVE the 4th Amendment from the US Constitution and the fact that it was so quick a suggestion shows the inclination, unfortunately of this administration. It treats the Constitution as some legal technicality instead of the thing were trying to fight to protect. The WNR story says the FBI officals, or some of them objected, and we're seeing a lot of people in the administration with the courage to say "Hold it, this is NOT what we're supposed to be about if we're fighting a war, it's a war of self defination and if we start to take whole amendments out of the Constitution in the name of the war on terror-we have to wonder what's left at the end, except victory."

another JT quote- "This is something to be very concerned about. These are not trival matters. We've seen a sort of broad based ASSAULT on basic Constitutional rights in our country since 9-11. We have a President who ordered Electronic Surveillance by the NSA without a warrent in something that constitutes a Federal CRIME. Congress isn't even holding serious hearings on that. So we have a system that has checks & balances but none of them seem to be working. At the same time, as we reported earlier, we have an attack on the Judiciary itself, all of this should present a picture of concern for every American."

For the past several decades, and especially since the Six-Day War in 1967, the centrepiece of US Middle Eastern policy has been its relationship with Israel. The combination of unwavering support for Israel and the related effort to spread ‘democracy’ throughout the region has inflamed Arab and Islamic opinion and jeopardised not only US security but that of much of the rest of the world. This situation has no equal in American political history. Why has the US been willing to set aside its own security and that of many of its allies in order to advance the interests of another state? One might assume that the bond between the two countries was based on shared strategic interests or compelling moral imperatives, but neither explanation can account for the remarkable level of material and diplomatic support that the US provides.

Instead, the thrust of US policy in the region derives almost entirely from domestic politics, and especially the activities of the ‘Israel Lobby’.

This is a rather long article, but it is pretty comprehensive and enlightening. Do check it out.

A group of European computer researchers has demonstrated that it is possible to insert a software virus into radio frequency identification tags, part of a microchip-based tracking technology in growing use in commercial and security applications.

Prominent leaders from the Christian right have warned Republicans they must do more to advance conservative values ahead of the US mid-term elections.

Or what?....they vote for rethug lite, i.e. democrats? hahaha...
Excuse me, while I puke now.

How a fake general, a pliant media, and a master manipulator helped lead the United States into war.

Unfortunately, the story was an elaborate scam. The purported general had indeed met with American intelligence agents in Turkey, but unbeknownst to Hedges the agents had dismissed his claims out of hand. What the reporters also didn’t know, and what has never before been reported, is that it now appears that the man himself was a fake. According to an ex-INC official, the Ghurairy who met with the Times and PBS was actually a former Iraqi sergeant, then living in Turkey and known by the code name Abu Zainab. The real Lt. General Ghurairy, it seems, had never left Iraq. ... Chalabi had been a source for Bergman since 1991, when, following the Gulf War, the CIA hired the Rendon Group, a public relations firm, to unite Saddam’s surviving enemies with the aim of destabilizing his regime. As part of that project, the Rendon Group created the INC. Led by Chalabi, an Iraqi expatriate who’d recently fled Jordan after being convicted of fraud, the INC was given millions of dollars to set up a large network of defectors and exiles, who, in addition to providing intelligence to the CIA, were charged with disseminating anti-Saddam propaganda in Iraq and to the Western media. With the help of Rendon, the INC began placing stories in the British press about Saddam’s atrocities. The aim was for the stories to then be picked up by the American media, thereby bypassing U.S. laws that prevented government funding of domestic propaganda.

The Justice Department's vile and underhanded attempt to rig the penalty-phase trial of Zacarias Moussaoui and nail him with a death penalty is Exhibit A for why Bush and Rumsfeld should not be allowed to handle the Guantanamo detainee and other detainee cases through military tribunals.

A very good essay by Ed Herman.

Today Salon presents an archive of 279 photos and 19 videos of Abu Ghraib abuse first gathered by the CID, along with information drawn from the CID's own timeline of the events depicted. [...] Although the world is now sadly familiar with images of naked, hooded prisoners in scenes of horrifying humiliation and abuse, this is the first time that the full dossier of the Army's own photographic evidence of the scandal has been made public. Most of the photos have already been seen, but the Army's own analysis of the story behind the photos has never been fully told. It is a shocking, night-by-night record of three months inside Abu Ghraib's notorious cellblock 1A, and it tells the story, in more graphic detail than ever before, of the rampant abuse of prisoners there. The annotated archive also includes new details about the role of the CIA, military intelligence and the CID itself in abuse captured by cameras in the fall of 2003.

Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff, said today he has no evidence the Iranian government has been sending military equipment and personnel into neighboring Iraq.

On Monday, President Bush suggested Iran was involved in making roadside bombs, known as improvised explosive devices, that are being used in Iraq. And Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld last week accused Iran of sending members of its Revolutionary Guard to conduct operations in Iraq.

Today, Pace, the top U.S. military official, was asked at a Pentagon news conference if he has proof that Iran's government is sponsoring these activities.

"I do not, sir," Pace said.

via

I'm guided by a signal in the heavens
I'm guided by those birthmarks on my skin
I'm guided by the beauty of our weapons
First we take Manhattan then we take Berlin
-Leonard Cohen

In an unusual and little-known case, the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office has seized four computer hard drives from a Lancaster newspaper as part of a statewide grand-jury investigation into leaks to reporters.

International: Say what you think - The importance of giving offence - It is both inevitable and important that people offend the sensibilities of others. By Kenan Malik "If liberty means anything, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear." (George Orwell) According to Malik: "Not to give offence would mean not to pursue change." How many are really capable of handling it? In Nietzschean fashion one may ask: "Are you the victor, the self-conqueror, the ruler of your senses and your freedom, able to give and take offence, and pursue change?" (Paraphrazing F.N.)

Politics:

Public becoming weary of governmental privacy intrusions.

Bush’s approval ranking sinking with Republicans.

Education:

Zambian children learn by radio.

Health:

Blood test for brain diseases.

Red wine touted as good for gum health.

Other:

UN to launch new emergency fund.

- Rose Colored News.

Although it is far from united or viable, there is a growing bunch of folks who realize how far to the right establishment politics has moved in the last two decades. Not only that, but we propose that it is the Democratic Party, not the Republican one, which has, in effect, led the march.

The simple reality is that the notion of "get elected/relected at all costs" is the driving force for all post-capitalist politicians in the USA. Power is the principle. Just exactly that.

It is one thing for Republican conservatives, steamrolled by the eastern establisment liberals for so long, to be as lock-step and blood-thirsty and corrupt as they are. I feel only sorry for folks like Delay and his clones. They really do think it's OK to reap the spoils of victory. Indeed, they won their offices by preaching disdain of liberal America. Once in power, they, in their own minds, have gone about pillaging and looting. Is it unreasonable to expect, given the 11^th century ethics they find so attractive?

The Democratic Party, on the other hand, increasingly seems to me to be the more cynical and dangerous of the two. Where the Republican Party seems to have some integrity (they do what they say the believe in), the Democratic Party has none. None. None. You know where Santorum stands. Do you know where Schumer or Pelosi or Jesse Jackson, Jr. or even Henry Waxman stand? Have you studied the furtive behavior and rhetoric of Howard Dean since he betrayed us all (finally) and went to work for the DLC? Yes, I said "DLC", not "DNC".

I gotta ask yuh, kind readers . . . what is it that keeps you believing that the Democratic Party wants anything different than the Republican Party does - P O W E R;? What??? Already, the Party has smashed the potential candidacies of two people (Sheehan and the cat from PA) who would have run as leftist Dems. The party is beyond "reform".

At the risk of allowing more reprobates to sit in Washington's excrement-stained seats, I advocate a boycott of the polls in '06. Vote not for any candidate who does not conform to the criteria I outlined here.

No more "lesser of two evils." It has not served us well. It is time to see voting for Democrats as the "lesser of ONE evil." Time to organize a truly leftist movement. Because we cannot, in Washington, have two enemies - we must see the sitting Senators and Congressmen as one ruling class. And we must defeat the weakest of them - the Democrats - in '06.

There are those who advocate giving the Left some sort of foothold by regaining a Democratic majority in DC. I must reject that. For the Democrats do not support the agenda set forth by Roosevelt. There are no good old days. The leftists who advocate a program of justice and fairness and equal opportunity for all within our borders, and who reject the exploitation and eradication of societies different from ours, are disenfranchized by the Democratic Party. How can we continue to support them?

Rev. J. Bryan Hehir, President of Catholic Charities of Boston, said that the organization would end all adoptions rather than comply with anti-discrimination laws regarding adoption. But the number of children in need of adoption is not going to diminish. This is a problem, and it has two solutions.

The first solution is to respect Catholic Charities of Boston's right to offer or not offer any service they want, because they are a private agency made up of consenting adults. If they want to discriminate, that should be their business; they just shouldn't be supported by tax dollars (collected from all) if they want to discriminate (serve less than all). This is the solution that the authors of the United States Constitution preferred when they forbade the establishment of a state-sponsored religion.

The second solution is the one proposed by Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney: make discrimination legal if it is done in the name of religion. You know, religion, that thing the Supreme Court ruled need not be need not be 'acceptable, logical, consistent, or comprehensible to others' - in short, anything you can make up. Solution number two is 'make discrimination protected by law as long as the discriminating party talks about invisible monsters that live in the sky in the process.' This is the solution that the Bush administration prefers, having provided $2.15 billion in tax dollars to sky-monster agencies that need not be acceptable, logical, consistent, or comprehensible to others, or be required to demonstrate they did anything at all for anyone much less what they were paid to do.

Which solution do you prefer?

Former FBI translator and whistleblower Sibel Edmonds has written an open letter to CIA Director Porter Goss in response to his New York Times op-ed.

When Sibel Edmonds, her father, a physician in Iran, was asked to falsify an autopsy finding. Angrily, he refused, daring the authorities to retaliate.

At home, he told his family: "Things like this do not happen in truly democratic civil societies - like America."

For United Airlines workers, the corporation's bankruptcy meant layoffs, wage cuts, and lost pensions. But not everyone felt the pain. United's law firm, Kirkland & Ellis, will walk away with a sweet $99.8 million in fees for its troubles.

One K&E partner, James Sprayregen, billed for 4,419 hours at a rate of $850 an hour, for a total of $3.45 million. But Sprayragen is a slouch next to partner David Seligman. He claims to have put in an astonishing 10,231 hours--an average of 62.4 hours a week, every week, for four years--resulting in a tab of $5.5 million.

The rich get richer and the workers get fucked.

Synopsis:

America’s future has become an Orwellian nightmare of ultra-liberalism. Beginning with the Gore Presidency, the government has become increasingly dominated by liberal extremists.

In 2004, Muslim terrorists stopped viewing the weakened American government as a threat; instead they set their sights on their true enemies, vocal American conservatives. On one dark day, in 2006, many conservative voices were forever silenced by terrorist assassins. Those which survived joined forces and formed a powerful covert conservative organization called “The Freedom of Information League”, aka F.O.I.L.

TRENTON, N.J. -- A mock war crimes trial of President George W. Bush at a Parsippany high school continued Friday, despite criticism from people across the nation who heard about the classroom exercise from a prominent Web site and talk-radio programs.

Parsippany-Troy Hills School District interim Superintendent James Dwyer said the hearing in the 12th grade politics and government class would continue, but a verdict by a five-teacher "international court of justice" panel would not be rendered as originally planned.

Sounds like those students are getting an education, alright.

According to the latest Forbes magazine ranking of the world's richest people, there are now 793 billionaires (that's billion with a b) worldwide, and increase of 102 over last year. Combined, their fortunes total $2.6 trillion (that's trillion with a t), up 18% from last year.

Those of you who didn't make the list, take heart. That money should start trickling down any day now!

No not as in 'Pink', although, listening to floyd while reading floyd is cause for concern to your mental health..

"...ha ha charade you are"

Warning: the last link in this post is (NSFW)not safe for work, but then why would you be reading 'rebel scum' amsam.org at work? ;-p

I haven't been this freaked since I first read about
Executive Outcomes INC. several years ago.

This is like living in some kind of John Carpenter/Phillip K Dick/Terry Gilliam film (think, 1994's ' In the Mouth of Madness', or Bladerunner, Brazil all rolled into one ). These people are truely on the brink of complete insanity. And the frightening thing is they are infecting us all with their delusions. This is the ultimate mindfuck.

Either the following is complete psyops propagenda or we, as--humanity-- have stepped over the threshold into mass psychosis.

Strategic Communication Laboratories

Strategic Communication Laboratories has pioneered a new methodology to enable governments and countries to manage their relationships with their key audience groups through more powerful communication.

In a world where the perception is the reality, all countries need to have the capability to manage their own perceptual alignment – otherwise someone else will.

A direct quote from the website of Strategic Communication Laboratories, a London based company that offers "the most powerful weapon in the world", the ability to manage every aspect of a conflict from one operation centre.

Take a look around their website and witness sickening quote after quote explaining how their vision is to allow the total control of citizens by their government or their military, to keep it that way, and to facilitate conflicts with and the takeover of other countries and the execution of total control over their citizens.

The idea put across by SCL is that if you can control the perceptions people have of reality, then you can control reality itself.

it is a tight rope walk in distinction.

George Orwell was right on the money when he envisaged the coming 21st century as a battle based on the PERCEPTION of reality. in 1984, his classic warning to the world, Orwell told us that we would have to face this threat:

The Party said that Oceania had never been in alliance with Eurasia. He, Winston Smith, knew that Oceania had been in alliance with Eurasia as short a time as four years ago. But where did that knowledge exist? Only in his own consciousness, which in any case must soon be annihilated. And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed -if all records told the same tale -- then the lie passed into history and became truth.

'Who controls the past,' ran the Party slogan, 'controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.' And yet the past, though of its nature alterable, never had been altered. Whatever was true now was true from everlasting to everlasting. It was quite simple. All that was needed was an unending series of victories over your own memory. 'Reality control', they called it: in Newspeak, 'doublethink'.
- George Orwell, 1984, Chapter 3 (1948)

SCL's vision is no different from the constructed artificial reality designed to house the minds of the human race portrayed in the feature film The Matrix. If you present all the people with a fabricated collective illusion of reality, and enough meaningless distractions, they may stop questioning that reality when things don't seem to add up.

Of course, speaking of PERCEPTION w/recent news reports of Negative Perception Of Islam Increasing I just wonder why that is...< snark! >

Addendum:

unbeknowst to me, salon published a piece on SCL last year around the time rummy wanted us to invest in his flu vaccine, which was pointed out by a friend.

Over the past 24 hours, seven people have checked into hospitals here with telltale symptoms. Rashes, vomiting, high temperature, and cramps: the classic signs of smallpox. Once thought wiped out, the disease is back and threatening a pandemic of epic proportions.

The government faces a dilemma: It needs people to stay home, but if the news breaks, mass panic might ensue as people flee the city, carrying the virus with them.

A shadowy media firm steps in to help orchestrate a sophisticated campaign of mass deception. Rather than alert the public to the smallpox threat, the company sets up a high-tech "ops center" to convince the public that an accident at a chemical plant threatens London. As the fictitious toxic cloud approaches the city, TV news outlets are provided graphic visuals charting the path of the invisible toxins. Londoners stay indoors, glued to the telly, convinced that even a short walk into the streets could be fatal

“The Defense Department budget last year was three-quarters of a trillion dollars. I guarantee you that when war becomes that profitable, there will be more of it.”

—Chalmers Johnson, 2005

I'd say not only his opponents, but also his tribe. I'd go even further and concur w/ commenter bastrop, in that:

It's not just political spying

It is financial as well. Not only are they trading on insider information to help corporate cronies, I'll bet it goes even to the individual level, influencing trading and tweaking investment portfolios.

Beyond that, think of whatever possible criminal use possible and it has been done or is currently being done. Pay for play?

"Hey, Rummy, we have another massive shipment of cocaine coming over the border and the guys at the gate are "white hats". Any tips on when and where I can cross? Only $1mil in a Swiss account? What was that account number again?"

"Hey Mr. Addington. Remember that shipment to Iran you mentioned you wanted done? Well, we have it lined up at the port in Haifa, but we need to take it through the Panama Canal to launder it properly, but those pesky Chinese who run your canal are paying attention again. Any tips on what time of day the screeners take their naps? Of course, that extra $4mil will be in your account by tomorrow morning."

"Hey Mr. Addington, you know that shipment leaving Haifa for Iran that we're supposed to board to find the "material" once it is on an Iranian flagged vessel? Well, we were playing "quarters" into the wee hours and got really drunk and lost track of the ship. Can you, um, help us pin it down so we can get on with the plan? Like, before it actually reaches Iran. And, oh yeah, can you do me a favor and see if that asshole from State that my wife has been balling behind my back took my garbage out this morning before he left for work? I forgot to do it last week and I know my kids will forget. Just, train that satellite right behind the garage to the left of my motorcycle. Thanks"

Hey, Chuck, it's Karl. Yeah, about that vote coming up on Tuesday. You know that electronic archive from your 1992 primary and general campaign that you keep as a trophy? Yeah, the one where your company ran the electronic voting machines? Where you won huge majorities of demographics that had NEVER voted GOP, EVER before? Yeah, well, you never should have left that drive attached to you home computer while you were surfing Bukkakke a few months back. We hate to bring it up, but we really need you on our side on this one, ok? Oh, and by the way, way to rig an election, Chuck. You really showed us all what was possible." "Hey, Olympia, have a seat. As Vice President, I have to inform you, we need your vote on Tuesday. So listen you fucking dyke, this one is of you and your girlfriend on the yacht off Portland. Sorry for the bad angle, but it was late in the day. Is that a bong on deck?

This one is you and that other fag friend of yours on the deck of that other liberal lesbian in the Hamptons. Better angle though, huh? Usually this kind of thing turns me on, but you look too much like Ruth Bader Ginsburg for my tastes. Plus you don't shave your armpits as we can see in...this one. This one is the kicker, Olympia. No one north of Cambridge would find this acceptable. And stay the fuck away from my daughter."

Note: Do skim the comments they are exceptional.

"About half of Americans reject an evolutionary explanation for the origin of humans and believe that God created humans at one time 'as is.' Those with lower levels of education, those who attend church regularly, those who are 65 and older, and those who identify with the Republican Party are more likely to believe in the biblical view of the origin of humans than are those who do not share these characteristics."

Let's take a moment to look at the issue of human origins. You want evidence for common ancestors? Got it. Observations of speciation? Check. A time scale allowing human evolution (non-random survival of random traits)? Here ya go, pal. Science, the human creation that knows its limits, has some good arguments on its side when it comes to human origins.

Now let's compare that to the Bible's account of human origins. Everything has a cause, except God, so God is the cause of everything. Plants appeared before before the sun did. All animals originally ate plants, not each other. Humans can eat any tree or plant. Snakes used to get around by some other non-snakey means, and now they eat dust. People didn't exist at all, then they did, but only one man, and then one woman, then a bunch of stuff happened and here we are. Teach the controversy! Religion, the divine creation that is never wrong, is right. See, it says right here it is right!

So maybe the reason there is such 'support for the troops' (code for willingly ignoring wars of conquest, torture, secret prisons, kidnappings, etc.) is that these people prefer to be stupid and cruel and self-defeating. In a word, Christian.

102 Dublin Priests Eyed for Child Abuse

It's for the Lord!

You bet your ass...there isn't.

The collaboration on and editing of manuscripts submitted by persons in Iran, including activities such as the reordering of paragraphs or sentences, correction of syntax, grammar, and replacement of inappropriate words by U.S. persons, prior to publication, may result in a substantively altered or enhanced product, and is therefore prohibited under ITR § 560.204 unless specifically licensed. Such activity would constitute the provision of prohibited services to Iran..

Just about everyone knows that the NSA monitors and collects data on web use, including identifying internet surfing (as much as possible) by the person sitting behind the keyboard.

What you probably don't know however is that the NSA is in the market to sell this ability to private corporations.

The National Security Agency is actively seeking venues to advance its Technology Transfer program and make more patented NSA technology available for licensing. One of those technologies, a method for determining the geographic location of Internet users, represents a nascent but promising market that has proved useful for financial institutions to combat criminal fraud and could help in the NSA's collection and production of foreign signals intelligence.

The NSA's goals are to sustain economic growth by developing the commercialization of new technologies, to increase the taxpayers' return on investment in the federal research and development budget, and to assist federal agencies in meeting their mission requirements.

One NSA technology in the program describes a step-by-step internetworking method for geo-locating the logical network addresses that indicate where an Internet user is physically located.

via

Jeez and I bet you thought the NSA was in the business of protecting the United States from harm by conducting electronic signals intelligence operations. But no, it wants to sell of its patents to provide a "better return" to the taxpayer. How noble of them.

It's nice to know however that your bank can track you down to your home computer but what about all those other sites you go to, or your child goes to, or your drunken buddy visiting your house goes to? And what will happen if those records get in the hands of your creditors? Will your bank double think a mortgage if the XYZ Corporation shows you logging onto Hentai sites?

And of course, as we all know, any technology designed to "protect consumers" will eventually be bypassed by sophisticated criminal enterprises. Will your bank or credit card company relax its security standards because they think they've verified it is you at your home address, but is in reality a criminal who stole your ID? And what's to stop a company from selling your internet surfing habits to a second or third company?

Or maybe your next employer will be able to pull up your surfing habits and decide you don't fit their profile because you visited political sites not to their liking.

The list goes on and on. As much as I resent the NSA's current domestic spying operations, I'll never advocate them trying to be "profitable" by selling their advanced technologies to megacorporations.

I should add that this "geo-location" technology is just 1 of 44 different technologies the NSA is looking to sell to the private sector.

Of course, when they talk of protecting America, they are not talking of you or I. They are talking about the corporate entity and the elite. When they talk of National Security, they are not talking about the safety of this countries citizens, but it's business ventures.

Just as the "leaders" have (moblie) rules for them and a whole different set of rules for us. Your just a cog. Consumer cog. The MIC (READ Military Indus Complex) comes above and first always; with regards to any and all technology. Then after they have perfected whatever technology they have, then and only then does it become public. And when I say public, I do not mean the common good of the people I mean the business sector. You know trickle down and all that reagan bullshit.

Also related, Glenn Greenwald's Post-mortem on the Intelligence Committee vote

What the breakdown of countries actually looks like.

. . . Most of you aren't gonna like this . . . I'm about to ruffle some feathers big time: the Right is Principles-based; the Left is Issues-based.

I'm not saying that the Right's principles are correct - for the most part their principles are empoverished, mean-spirited, immature, fear-based, destructive, and easily manipulated and exploited by the likes of the Rovians. But they are principles nonetheless . . . strongly articulated, tightly held and defended, broadly shared, not easily shaken by attacks from the truth.

The most salient point, however, is that these principles are born of and nurtured by community; and the integration of that community with its principles is nearly total. Again, put aside the fact that an immoral, cynical political faction with a whole passel of money has wooed and won that community. Put aside the fact that, in grim reality, that political faction stands no more for the values, principles, and well-being of that community than does, say, the Colombian Crack Cartel. For better or worse, it is a match made truly "in heaven". Yeah, there are some cracks in the clouds and some bending of the gates, but the likes of McCain and others have their spackle and welding torches out and the fix is on already . . .

read it

The Flights for cast and crew had been booked; the production schedule delivered; there were tickets advertised on the Internet. The Royal Court Theatre production of "My Name Is Rachel Corrie," the play I co-edited with Alan Rickman, was transferring later this month to the New York Theatre Workshop, home of the musical "Rent," following two sold-out runs in London and several awards.

We always felt passionately that it was a piece of work that needed to be seen in the United States. Created from the journals and e-mails of American activist Rachel Corrie, telling of her journey from her adolescence in Olympia, Wash., to her death under an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza at the age of 23, we considered it a unique American story that would have a particular relevance for audiences in Rachel's home country. After all, she had made her journey to the Middle East in order "to meet the people who are on the receiving end of our [American] tax dollars," and she was killed by a U.S.-made bulldozer while protesting the demolition of Palestinian homes.

But last week the New York Theatre Workshop canceled the production — or, in its words, "postponed it indefinitely." The political climate, we were told, had changed dramatically since the play was booked. As James Nicola, the theater's 's artistic director, said Monday, "Listening in our communities in New York, what we heard was that after Ariel Sharon's illness and the election of Hamas in the recent Palestinian elections, we had a very edgy situation." Three years after being silenced for good, Rachel was to be censored for political reasons.

in which Jeb Bush and NASA are going to grow
the Mars Program into a $140B white-lab-coat
welfare program, running for over a decade.

Get Junior into math and science, ha,ha,ha.
Teach him to speak Mandarin and Hindi first.
Save bucks attending Hyderabad University.

And for those of you who can pencil the math,
(yes, it's cheaper to outsource), that's some
$15,500 per working American, and which just
happens is an average Americans' life savings,
either our life savings or our Social Security.

"Daddy, why are we eating rice and beans again,
and looking for that red star up in the sky?"

"Junior, I'm just looking for your inheritance,
they said our ship would come in any day now."

?? ?????????!

Sorry I missed last week. I was very busy, and didn't have much news to round-up anyway. I'm including last week's news as well.

Politics:

Bush at all time new lows.

Smithsonian opening hip hop exhibit.

Fox News ratings down.

Anti-Darwin Bill Fails in Utah.

Google launches Google Foundation.

Court sides with church in dispute over drug-laced tea.

Environment:

Bio-Diesel Car Rental Opens in World’s Car Capital.

UND scientists nearing test for new biojet fuel.

Brazil’s sugar crop fuels nation’s cars.

Sun Microsystems leads support of 2006 TED Prize winner.

Health:

Optimists ‘have less heart risk’.

Huge protein-interaction database could save lives.

Other:

Human capacity for altruism emerges as early as 18 months of age.

Segway inventer works to bring water and electricity to the world’s poor.

- Rose Colored News.

Nato would be likely to operate air defences in Turkey, according to Dan Goure, a Pentagon adviser and vice-president of the Lexington Institute, a military think tank.

A former senior Israeli defence official said he believed all Nato members had contingency plans.

John Pike, director of the US military studies group Globalsecurity.org, said America had little to gain from Nato military help. “I think we are attempting to bring the alliance along politically so that when all diplomatic initiatives have been exhausted and we blow up their sites, we can say, ‘Look, we gave it our best shot’.”
...
Israel’s special forces are said to be operating inside Iran in an urgent attempt to locate the country’s secret uranium enrichment sites. “We found several suspected sites last year but there must be more,” an Israeli intelligence source said. They are operating from a base in northern Iraq, guarded by Israeli soldiers with the approval of the Americans, according to Israeli sources.

AP: Many Defendants' Cases Kept Secret

Despite the Sixth Amendment's guarantee of public trials, nearly all records are being kept secret for more than 5,000 defendants who completed their journey through the federal courts over the last three years.

Instances of such secrecy more than doubled from 2003 to 2005.

Also see, dkos

Before I even begin to review this ‘weapon of critical information’, I urge you not only to buy it but when you’ve finished reading it (it’s real short, so it shouldn’t overly tax our attention-deficit culture), post it to your MP, Congressman, Senator, the UN, your vicar/priest/imam/holy man/rabbi; give it to your neighbour, teacher, workmate, brother, sister, mum and dad. In short, shout it out from the rooftops; that the US government is an international criminal of staggering proportions and the entire Bush administration should be indicted as war criminals and every last one locked up and the key thrown away.

Okay, what are we dealing with here? Boyle’s short and impassioned book deals with the US government’s illegal multi-billion dollar biological weapons programme. A programme, that as Boyle makes abundantly clear presents itself as “defensive” but of course, in order to produce a ‘defense’, requires the development of offensive bioweapons. In fact, the penalties involved for engaging in even the research into biological weapons under US domestic law are life imprisonment and under certain circumstances, even the death penalty as well as impeachment for the president (followed rapidly one hopes by life imprisonment).... more? But not only does it deal with the illegal bioweapons programme initiated under the Reagan government, continued under Clinton and vastly expanded under the current regime, it reveals the linkage between the anthrax attack on Congress and 911.

Better read this before they redact it...

The purpose of this Order is to establish policies to improve the quality of intelligence needed for national security, to clarify the authority and responsibilities of the intelligence departments and agencies, and to establish effective oversight to assure compliance with law in the management and direction of intelligence agencies and departments of the national government.

Also, see:

EO 12-333

GOALS, DIRECTION, DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES WITH RESPECT TO THE NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE EFFORT

Pay too much and you could raise the alarm

DHS monitors your credit card payments.

This is fucking outrageous !

The Bush administration recently gave the Taliban more than $500,000 to repair the roof of a Mosque. This 'faith-based initiative' money was gathered through taxes collected from all US citizens but in no way was this money intended to benefit all - only the Taliban. Because Islam is the only true religion, so it makes sense to only give money to Islamic groups.

Wait a minute... ladies and gentlemen, I'm sorry, I've made a terrible error. Your tax dollars were given to a Christian group, not an Islamic group. Allah bad, Jehovah good. The apparent source of the error was confusion between this and a past donation from the Bush administration to the Taliban. The amount given to the Taliban was not $500,000; instead it was $43 million. American Samizdat regrets the error.

Creating a select committee to investigate the Administration's intent to go to war before congressional authorization, manipulation of pre-war intelligence, encouraging and countenancing torture, retaliating against critics, and to make recommendations regarding grounds for possible impeachment.Sponsor: Rep Conyers, John, Jr. [MI-14] (introduced 12/18/2005)

David Horowitz and the Attack on Independent Thought

Horowitz’s mission is clear: to attack critical work in the academy, especially critical work that does not restrict itself to the classroom, but sees intellectuals as having a necessary public role. Visible public outreach is A-OK for Milton Friedman, Stephan Thernstrom, the neo-conservative crowd, and denizens of the right, but strictly off-limits for liberals and the left.

For these reasons I would imagine that principled conservatives will run from this book faster than they would run away from a line-up for a voluntary IRS audit. But the book is important and requires a response that goes beyond pointing out its sloppiness and incoherence; we need to put what Horowitz is doing in a broader context. In my view, the best way to make sense of the book and what it represents is to see it as part of the broad attack on the autonomy and integrity of institutions and individuals who conduct independent and critical thought. It is this type of independent and uncorrupted inquiry – work that is not under the thumb of powerful political or commercial interests -- that is mandatory if viable self-government is to succeed. The space for this type of inquiry has to be fought for and preserved, and it is always considered with a certain amount of suspicion by those in power, who prefer minimal public interference with their exercise of power.

"She told me there was this new drug out that would really help me with all of my physical conditions, and my pain. She really wanted me to try it," said Woods.

But when the pill provided no relief, Woods did some research and learned that Obecalp isn't a medicine at all, but a sugar pill. He was shocked to learn the word "obecalp" is placebo spelled backward.

"Bush lies, deserts under fire"

That's the headline I'd write for the AP story
whose actual headline is the more mundane, but still blockbuster, "Tape: Bush, Chertoff Warned Before Katrina."

AP discusses Bush's lie, but can't bring itself to name it:

Bush declared four days after the storm, "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees" that gushed deadly flood waters into New Orleans. But the transcripts and video show there was plenty of talk about that possibility -- and Bush was worried too.

"A man's history begins long before he is born..."

"Who are you that knows the vampires' secrets... and betrays them?"

"I will remain here, come what may..."

"We drink the blood of men, they drink the blood of their god--so in the end, we're all quite damned."

"The roaring of lions, the howling of wolves, the raging of the stormy sea,
and the destructive sword, are portions of eternity, too great for the eye of man."
-- William Blake, "Proverbs of Hell"

A real Seraph of Sorrows...

In an interview at the start of the "Situation Room" with CNN's Ed Henry, Congressman Peter King, who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, said that the Bush administration did not investigate whether the UAE company had ties to terror. King said there was "no investigation into terror whatsovever." According to Henry, King maintained that he had asked officials at Treasury and Homeland Security whether they had checked out whether the company had ties to Al Qaeda. The response was to King was "You don't understand. We don't conduct a thorough investigation."

I had to watch this piece a couple times...and made John watch it, too. This is insane. The President is determined to enact this port security deal but we don't even know if there are Al Qaeda ties.

The Bush administration is on the verge of turning over port security to a foreign country which is bad enough. It is downright criminal that the Bush team did not check out if that company had Al Qaeda ties...especially given UAE's history with Al Qaeda.

The Patriot Act - Judge says it's not just for terrorism anymore