Let us not forget the recent Fire at Fort Meade that burned counter-intelligence records...
Is it CYA? A data purge before stepping it up to the next level (change of hands?)? Or something completely different?
I can imagine the first accountability hearing or war crimes tribunal against Michael Hayden...
Prosecutor: General, what happened to the records that we've subpoenaed?
Hayden: I don't know, they were burned in the fire of 2006.
This fire provides the entire "intelligence" community with blanket immunity from this point forward. It must be nice for the traitors among them to get a clean slate in the event that their wild days of impunity could come to (hopefully somewhat of) an end.
In decades past, every Halloween brought a crescendo of suburban governments banning trick-or-treating and religious leaders fretting over the occult while safety experts raised the specter of everything from cavities to fire hazards.
The fuss seems muted this year. Part of that has to be our becoming accustomed to caution.
Covering your little ghoul's black cloak in reflective tape and slapping a cell phone in his hand just doesn't seem the extreme precaution it once did.
But I also believe that real fears mock our fake ones.
Between the bloodbath in Iraq, the genocide in Africa, and North Korea setting off the atomic bombs that Iran clutches at, we just can't get ourselves excited over whether wearing red plastic horns will nudge a 6-year-old toward worshipping Satan. Not this year.
With the election more than a week away, Dick DeVos has spent more in his quest to become governor -- $39 million, as of Oct. 20 -- than both major party candidates spent four years ago.
But what's really impressive (or appalling, or simply curious, depending on your perspective) is that $35 million of that total -- seven out of every eight dollars the DeVos campaign has spent to pitch camp in our living rooms since last February -- has come out of the candidate's own pocket.
[...]
For more than a decade, DeVos and his wife and the tax-exempt foundation they control have funneled millions of dollars to conservative Christian groups that seek to promote school prayer, public assistance for religious education, the criminalization of abortion and the prohibition of embryonic stem cell research, among other causes.
DeVos says he is running for office to promote an economic agenda. But as governor he would be in a position to advance nearly every one of the social agenda items that have preoccupied his adult life -- and there's simply no reason to believe he has suddenly lost interest in doing so.
I have the good fortune to be a sign language interpreter in Portland Public Schools. Here's part of what it looks like on this 31st of October, 2006.
The teacher is reading a book called The Best Halloween Ever, because it is Halloween time. Today there is a small party with sweets given among students and a presentation in the auditorium with monsters and mad scientists in it. Most of the staff is wearing black and orange clothes, jackolantern jewelry, etc. But the word has come down to the staff that this is "Harvest Party" day, and Halloween is forbidden. As in, the word Halloween is forbidden. Children who show up in costume may be sent home for a change of clothes.
I'd place the blame for this foolishness and political correctness squarely in the laps of the same busy-bodies who rail against role playing games, video games, rock music, Internet chat and other forms of pretend-time. It is frustrating and sad. But I know what the kids are really learning is 'grown-ups tell lies, and call something one thing when they know it is the other.' That can be a good lesson to learn, indeed. And I like the idea of a Halloween that is a little more threatening to people who can't mind their own business, and a little more underground among those who want it bad enough to pretend to follow the rules. Me, I've got a big blind eye for that kind of rebellion.
Fortunately, we do not have and cannot achieve a cultural blank slate. I know that the word "goodbye" is a contraction of "God be with you," but being an atheist is no excuse to not say bye. I can and do speak of 'good fortune' and 'being lucky' and other nonsense, because it conveys something meaningful as well as meaningless (and because I'd be an ass to say 'the electro-chemical process that is summarized as myself would experience pleasure if the events experienced by the electro-chemical process that is summarized as you were in agreement with previously imagined goals' when 'hey, good luck!' would do). There are no gods or devils, spirits or afterlife. But thank goodness there is a Halloween.
Banana Republic is a weekly editorial cartoon series that explores the political and social culture of Amnesia, a mythical Third-World country that could not be more different from our own. Amnesia, ruled by Generalissimo Wally, grapples with the problems of a typical banana republic, namely corruption, mounting debt, a widening chasm between the underclass and the rich, one-party rule, a rubber-stamp parliament, crackdowns on dissent, state propaganda, domestic spying, torture, secret prisons, questionable elections, curtailed civil rights, imprisonment without trial, an endless guerilla insurgency, and on and on.
Virgin has been forced into an embarrassing U-turn after a new viral advertising campaign backfired spectacularly.
The company had asked readers of b3ta.com, an online community known for bad taste jokes, to create a new advert for the Virgin Money brand. Hundreds of entries were submitted, but last week the company pulled the competition from the internet after concerns over some of the submissions. (more)
Its high time one of these noxious viral campaigns blew up in the faces of the corporate world, and a more deserving candidate than the financial services "industry" — whose entire purpose, let's not forget, is to get its victims into debt, and to keep them there — I cannot for the moment imagine... viva las B3tistas!
It was rumored that Maynard (the lead singer) of the band Tool whose side project entitled, A perfect Circle dedicated this song to Judas Judy Miller of the NYT's. It wouldn't surprize me as he is quite outspoken politically.
In other words, the law facilitates the "transfer" of the newest in so-called "crowd control" technology and other weaponry designed to suppress dissent from the Pentagon to local militarized police units. The new law builds on and further codifies earlier "technology transfer" agreements, specifically the 1995 DOD-Justice Department memorandum of agreement achieved back during the Clinton-Reno regime.(4)
It has become clear in recent months that a critical mass of the American people have seen through the lies of the Bush administration; with the president's polls at an historic low, growing resistance to the war Iraq, and the Democrats likely to take back the Congress in mid-term elections, the Bush administration is on the ropes. And so it is particularly worrying that President Bush has seen fit, at this juncture to, in effect, declare himself dictator.
TITLE 10--ARMED FORCES
Subtitle A--General Military Law
PART I--ORGANIZATION AND GENERAL MILITARY POWERS
CHAPTER 15--INSURRECTION
Sec. 333. Interference with State and Federal law
The President, by using the militia or the armed forces, or both, or by any other means, shall take such measures as he considers necessary to suppress, in a State, any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy, if it-- (1) so hinders the execution of the laws of that State, and of the United States within the State, that any part or class of its people is deprived of a right, privilege, immunity, or protection named in the Constitution and secured by law, and the constituted authorities of that State are unable, fail, or refuse to protect that right, privilege, or immunity, or to give that protection; or (2) opposes or obstructs the execution of the laws of the United States or impedes the course of justice under those laws.
In any situation covered by clause (1), the State shall be considered to have denied the equal protection of the laws secured by the Constitution.
From the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007:
SEC. 1042. USE OF THE ARMED FORCES IN MAJOR PUBLIC EMERGENCIES.
(a) USE OF THE ARMED FORCES AUTHORIZED-
(1) IN GENERAL- Section 333 of title 10, United States Code, is amended to read as follows:
`Sec. 333. Major public emergencies; interference with State and Federal law
`(a) USE OF ARMED FORCES IN MAJOR PUBLIC EMERGENCIES- (1) The President may employ the armed forces, including the National Guard in Federal service, to--
`(A) restore public order and enforce the laws of the United States when, as a result of a natural disaster, epidemic, or other serious public health emergency, terrorist attack or incident, or other condition in any State or possession of the United States, the President determines that--
`(i) domestic violence has occurred to such an extent that the constituted authorities of the State or possession are incapable of maintaining public order; and
`(ii) such violence results in a condition described in paragraph (2); or
`(B) suppress, in a State, any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy if such insurrection, violation, combination, or conspiracy results in a condition described in paragraph (2).
`(2) A condition described in this paragraph is a condition that--
`(A) so hinders the execution of the laws of a State or possession, as applicable, and of the United States within that State or possession, that any part or class of its people is deprived of a right, privilege, immunity, or protection named in the Constitution and secured by law, and the constituted authorities of that State or possession are unable, fail, or refuse to protect that right, privilege, or immunity, or to give that protection; or
`(B) opposes or obstructs the execution of the laws of the United States or impedes the course of justice under those laws.
`(3) In any situation covered by paragraph (1)(B), the State shall be considered to have denied the equal protection of the laws secured by the Constitution.
`(b) NOTICE TO CONGRESS- The President shall notify Congress of the determination to exercise the authority in subsection (a)(1)(A) as soon as practicable after the determination and every 14 days thereafter during the duration of the exercise of the authority.'.
(2) PROCLAMATION TO DISPERSE- Section 334 of such title is amended by inserting `or those obstructing the enforcement of the laws' after `insurgents'.
(3) HEADING AMENDMENT- The heading of such 15 of such title is amended to read as follows:
`CHAPTER 15--ENFORCEMENT OF THE LAWS TO RESTORE PUBLIC ORDER'.
(4) CLERICAL AMENDMENTS- (A) The table of chapters at the beginning of subtitle A of title 10, United States Code, and at the beginning of part I of such subtitle, are each amended by striking the item relating to chapter 15 and inserting the following new item:
331'.
(B) The table of sections at the beginning of chapter 15 of such title is amended by striking the item relating to sections 333 and inserting the following new item:
`333. Major public emergencies; interference with State and Federal law.'.
(b) PROVISION OF SUPPLIES, SERVICES, AND EQUIPMENT-
(1) IN GENERAL- Chapter 152 of such title is amended by adding at the end the following new section:
`Sec. 2567. Provision of supplies, services, and equipment in major public emergencies
`(a) PROVISION AUTHORIZED- In any situation in which the President determines to exercise the authority in section 333(a)(1)(A) of this title, the President may direct the Secretary of Defense to provide supplies, services, and equipment to persons affected by the situation.
`(b) COVERED SUPPLIES, SERVICES, AND EQUIPMENT- The supplies, services, and equipment provided under this section may include food, water, utilities, bedding, transportation, tentage, search and rescue, medical care, minor repairs, the removal of debris, and other assistance necessary for the immediate preservation of life and property.
`(c) LIMITATIONS- (1) Supplies, services, and equipment may be provided under this section--
`(A) only to the extent that the constituted authorities of the State or possession concerned are unable to provide such supplies, services, and equipment, as the case may be; and
`(B) only until such authorities, or other departments or agencies of the United States charged with the provision of such supplies, services, and equipment, are able to provide such supplies, services, and equipment.
`(2) The Secretary may provide supplies, services, and equipment under this section only to the extent that the Secretary determines that doing so will not interfere with military preparedness or ongoing military operations or functions.
`(d) INAPPLICABILITY OF CERTAIN AUTHORITIES- The provision of supplies, services, or equipment under this section shall not be subject to the provisions of section 403(c) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170b(c)).'.
(2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT- The table of sections at the beginning of such chapter is amended by adding at the end the following new item:
`2567. Provision of supplies, services, and equipment in major public emergencies.'.
(c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS- Section 12304(c) of such title is amended--
(1) by striking paragraph (1); and
(2) by redesignating paragraphs (2) and (3) as paragraphs (1) and (2), respectively.
by Greg at Carter for Nevada [Subscribe] Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 12:59:11 PM PDT
I've just quit Jack Carter's campaign. In fact, I will no longer be working to elect Democrats during this cycle.
Don't worry - it's not what it sounds like. I've neither lost my ideals nor my mind.
I've quit because something more important has come up. "More important than electing Democrats this year?" Well, yes, hard as that may be to believe. But it's more fair to say that my individual efforts over the next ten days are needed elsewhere. I can do a little to help Jack Carter, or a lot to help protect our way of governing.It has to do with the President's ability to declare martial law
Oh how I've agonized and remonstrated, wailed and gnashed, shook my poor, tired rhetorical finger in your faceless mugs. If I were to lay awake at night obsessorating (sorry, George) about something, that something would be the dreaded "third party" monster lurking behind the closet door or under the futon.
I actually don't toss and turn about it, but Pliva, Astze, and Wyeth are responsible for that, rather than any left-handed, enlightened political leaders. Um, so maybe they should be our third party? Well, since they and their pharma phriends already own a sizable stable of both elephants and donkies, that ho won't stroll. Sigh.
I'm not, of course, a learned political analyst, 'though I do play one here, so I'm not going to forward a complex and formidable theory as to why we remain stuck, at least at the presidential and congressional level, with just the Dumbocrats and Repugnantcans. Nor will I even mention the argument that these are not really two, but actually only one entity. God forbid. There are really only two factors: stupidity and laziness. How else to explain the Left's reliance on "reforming" the Blue Party through Howard "The Scream" Dean? If you look in the dictionary for the definition of "boondoggle" you get a pic of "Wowie" Howie hiding under a desk with the Illuminati symbol on it. 'Course, this is what the Dumbs have always done best . . . identify and espouse the least effective option, then shoot absolutely everyone involved with it. But I digress. Or do I?
scientific evidence gathered from at least two bomb craters in Khiam and At-Tiri, the scene of fierce fighting between Hizbollah guerrillas and Israeli troops last July and August, suggests that uranium-based munitions may now also be included in Israel's weapons inventory - and were used against targets in Lebanon. According to Dr Chris Busby, the British Scientific Secretary of the European Committee on Radiation Risk, two soil samples thrown up by Israeli heavy or guided bombs showed "elevated radiation signatures". Both have been forwarded for further examination to the Harwell laboratory in Oxfordshire for mass spectrometry - used by the Ministry of Defence - which has confirmed the concentration of uranium isotopes in the samples.
Dr Busby's initial report states that there are two possible reasons for the contamination. "The first is that the weapon was some novel small experimental nuclear fission device or other experimental weapon (eg, a thermobaric weapon) based on the high temperature of a uranium oxidation flash ... The second is that the weapon was a bunker-busting conventional uranium penetrator weapon employing enriched uranium rather than depleted uranium."
Note this does't even mention the thousands of cluster bombs still killing people...
I wonder how the administration will justify this. my heart hurts for the people of oaxaca. i know their poverty and pride and am awestruck by their perseverance.
By the way, if you'd like to "Avenge " the election results of 2000, 2002, 2004 , 2006--and thanks to the bold dem leadership and the Daily Kos, probably 2008, 2010 and then the years become a blur because of time spent in those detention centers--then work on volunteer independent exit polling and parallel voting efforts with the Election Defense Alliance.
This is over an hour long (I tried to embed this but it did weird things to the site's margins) but its a nice summary of just about every argument made on the voter fraud front. First, this guy's credentials: He's an MIT PHD. So he's probably not completely dim. Disturbing things I learned from his presentation: 1. The exit polls probably weren't wrong and in fact the larger they are the more accurate they become. 2. Chuck Hagel not only ran a vote count company but he resides in a state that doesn't allow recounts. 3. If this is right, then Democrats are probably in on the fraud--the horrifying question is by how much? Everyone? Just a few at the top? 4. The exit polling that will be done for this election won't be real. The data won't be open to the public even for examination. Freeman was working with People for the American Way to do an independent exit poll but was stopped mysteriously. Just for the record, there was no legitimate reason to do that. Of course, why don't the Dems do it. Its within their budget. See point three. You can find more vids here.
Also related: Over at Ars Technica here are some directions on how to hack an election..I might note that the dems are far behind on the hacking wars. Hackers of the world unite...and steal an election for dems for once. If you really want to stop stolen elections, then steal on behalf of progressive candidates...
However, we need to look at states that we know are pretty much compromised. So, we need 15. Let's throw out those two seats in Florida. Let's throw out that one seat in AZ that now has a voter id law. Let's throw out those two seats in OH and for good measure Texas. That takes a 23 seat gain and turns it into 17. And quite frankly, we can't promise accuracy in the machines anywhere else. We do know that if the republicans steal it, again, the brilliant strategery of the dems, Markos and Steve Gilliard is that we don't talk about it, ever. I also love this part of the plan that does nothing to expose it, such as not supporting and funding large scale volunteer exit polling and parallel voting plans. Good plan, fellas.
How much is a human life worth? Well, according to Macsteel Service Center USA, the value is something less than $2500. That's the amount of a fine that the Indiana Occupational Health & Safety Administration (IOSHA) imposed after David Pineda, a worker in the company's Hammond, Indiana, plant, died as a result of being crushed by falling steel beams. IOSHA concluded that unsafe workplace conditions, including the company's failure to implement a training program for crane operators, were responsible for the accident.
As a single entity, Macsteel Service Centers USA has the strength of a billion dollar organization. That's the kind of clout we can use to bring our customers considerable benefits, including outstanding sourcing, a diverse and value-added product line, more flexibility in scheduling and competitive pricing.
Yet, this "billion dollar organization" is unwilling to pay a paltry $2500 to atone for killing one of its employees. I wonder if they even bothered to wipe the blood off the steel beams before delivering them to the customer?
The U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether to hear an appeal from the decision of the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (hobgoblin of reactionary minds of all sizes) in an interesting case involving the First Amendment rights of public school pupils:
In January 2002, the Olympic torch relay passed through Juneau, Alaska, on its way to the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City. Students at Juneau-Douglas High School were permitted to leave class to watch the relay, which passed by the school while it was in session. Eighteen-year-old Joseph Frederick was absent from his classes before the relay. As the torch neared the school, however, Frederick was standing on the sidewalk across from the campus, where he and several friends unfurled a large banner bearing the phrase "BONG HITS 4 JESUS." ("Bong," the petition explains helpfully, is "a slang term for drug paraphernalia commonly used for smoking marijuana.") After he declined a request from Principal Linda Morse to take down the banner -- arguing that he was not on the school's campus and invoking his First Amendment rights -- Frederick was suspended for 10 days.
The Ninth Circuit held that the suspension violated Frederick's First Amendment rights. The school district--represented by former Solicitor General and Presidential Penile Prosecutor Kenneth Starr--has asked the Supreme Court to reverse that decision.
The left (but not only the left) sometimes supports the idea of "cultural relativity." Read up on the case against Khalid Adem, then leave a comment on the theme of "cultural relativity."
Diversion and deceit may not be the primary reasons that The Doubleduh-Cheney Gang keeps us in Iraq, but clearly the war is great cover. If you read Part 3 of this series you learned, I hope, that the smog of war does veil the continuing neocon march toward its real goal: the destruction of the United States.
In this light, we can see that 9/11's effect was not primarily to allow The Gang to invade Iraq, although it certainly did that. Once there, however, they have benefited from the war's ability to mass-capture the attention and energy of those who might otherwise effectively organize against militant globalization.
Leave it not to the Left, but the jingoist, ultra-paranoid militia-types like The Minutemen to see the point . . . [more at P!]
The social psych studies actually show that women have more biases than men, so in fact you could say that women should therefore not be promoted to supervisory positions.
R.U. Sirius interviews Caroline Fredrickson, the Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office.
It is our understanding that this bill does not authorize the detention or military commission trial of US citizens. Both the stripping of habeas rights for challenges to detention and being subject to the jurisdiction of the military commissions themselves are specifically limited to aliens who are designated as unlawful enemy combatants. U.S. citizens are excluded from both of these potential consequences. Moreover, the congressional record includes statements by important Members of Congress that this bill does not apply to U.S. citizens.
The real problem is that this administration has shown no respect for the letter of the law or the intent of Congress and has time and again twisted the words of our laws, or ignored them altogether. The rush by Congress to pass this act before the elections compounded that problem. This is a bad bill in countless ways and given this administration’s propensity to stretch the meaning of the law, the ACLU and its allies will monitor to ensure that the White House does not attempt to use these extraordinary powers against Americans and we will vigorously oppose any attempt to detain citizens on the basis of this bill.
When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone,' it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.' ~Through The Looking Glass
"If you've been reading the lefty blogs, you're already well aware of the White House Whopper of the Day:
HANNAH STORM: So, Mr. Bartlett, staying the course is no longer the operative strategy? BARTLETT: Well, Hannah, it's never been a "stay the course" strategy.
That was the follow up to yesterday's Whopper of the Day, as told by the Double Whopper with Cheese himself:
STEPHANOPOULOS: That's exactly what I wanted to ask you about because [former Secretary of State under President George H.W. Bush] James Baker says he's looking for something between . . . cut and run and stay the course. BUSH: Listen, we've never been stay the course, George.
Think Progress found six previous cases where the Hamburger in Chief used the phrase "stay the course" to describe Dick Cheney's policy in Iraq. But I don't think they looked very hard, because Bernhard over at Moon of Alabama took a stroll through the White House web site and found no less than eighteen of them (all of which no doubt will be scrubbed from the site by morning.) And that's not even counting President Cheney's own use of the term:
A free Iraq will mean a peaceful world. And it's very important for us to stay the course, and we will stay the course. President Discusses AIDS Initiative, Iraq in Botswana July 10, 2003
It's in the national interest of the United States that a peaceful Iraq emerge. And we will stay the course in order to achieve this objective. President Bush, Ambassador Bremer Discuss Progress in Iraq October 27, 2003
They want us to leave, because they know that a free and peaceful Iraq in their midst will damage their cause. And we will stay the course, we will do our job. President Bush Visits California -- Talks to Victims of Fires November 4, 2003
We will stay the course. President Bush, Italian President Ciampi Discuss Iraq November 14, 2003
I was able to assure them that we were going to stay the course and get the job done . . . President Discusses Trip to Iraq with Reporters November 27, 2003
And, as in the aftermath of the terrible attack on Pearl Harbor, our Nation will stay the course, and we will prevail. National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, 2003 December 5, 2003
We will stay the course until the job is done, Steve. And the temptation is to try to get the President or somebody to put a timetable on the definition of getting the job done. We're just going to stay the course. And it's very important for the Iraqi people to know that. President Bush Holds Press Conference December 15, 2003
I told the family how much we appreciated his sacrifice -- he was killed in Iraq -- and assured him that we would stay the course. President Bush Discusses Iraq, 9/11 Commission with Reporters April 5, 2004
We will stay the course. The Iraqi people don't have to fear taking the risk toward freedom and democracy because America won't turn and run. Global Message April 6, 2004
Look, this is hard work. It's hard to advance freedom in a country that has been strangled by tyranny. And, yet, we must stay the course, because the end result is in our nation's interest. President Addresses the Nation in Prime Time Press Conference April 13, 2004
And that's why we're going to stay the course in Iraq. Bush, Blair Discuss Sharon Plan; Future of Iraq in Press Conference April 16, 2004
If we don't lose our nerve, if we stay the course, someday down the road, an American President will be working with democratically elected leaders in the broader Middle East at the table to keep the peace. President's Remarks at Mike Sodrel for Congress and Indiana Victory 2006 Reception March 24, 2006
And I'd just like to reiterate what the other governors have said, that it is very important that we stay the course, that we provide support for these incredible people that are doing such a service for liberty around the world and protecting our freedoms here. President Meets with Governors Who Traveled to Kuwait, Iraq, and Afghanistan April 19, 2006
And I saw people wondering whether the United States would have the nerve to stay the course and help them succeed. Remarks by the President at the 2006 President's Dinner June 19, 2006
As a matter of fact, we will win in Iraq so long as we stay the course. Remarks by the President at "Green for Wisconsin" Reception July 11, 2006
But there's no alternative but to stay the course with it. And we will. President Bush and Prime Minister Blair of the United Kingdom Participate in Press Availability July 28, 2006
We will stay the course, we will help this young Iraqi democracy succeed. President Bush's Remarks Upon Arrival in Utah August 30, 2006
Stay the course also means don't leave before the job is done. And that's -- we're going to get the job done in Iraq. And it's important that we do get the job done in Iraq. Press Conference by the President October 11, 2006
The Ozone Monitoring Instrument on Nasa's Aura satellite measures the total amount of ozone from the ground to the upper atmosphere over the entire Antarctic continent.
In addition, scientists from US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (Noaa) Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado, used balloon-borne instruments to measure ozone directly over the South Pole.
By 9 October, the total column ozone had plunged to 93 Dobson Units (DU) from approximately 300 DU in mid-July. Dobson Units are a measure of ozone amounts above a fixed point in the atmosphere.
More importantly, nearly all of the ozone in the layer between eight and 13 miles above the Earth's surface had been destroyed. In this critical layer, the instrument measured a record low of only 1.2 DU, having rapidly plunged from an average non-hole reading of 125 DU in July and August.
"These numbers mean the ozone is virtually gone in this layer of the atmosphere," said David Hofmann, from the Noaa's Earth System Research Laboratory.
"The depleted layer has an unusual vertical extent this year, so it appears that the 2006 ozone hole will go down as a record-setter."
In this documentary expose you can hear outraged soldiers describing how Halliburton employees ordered $80,000 trucks and threw'em away for another when tires went flat or it needed an oil filter.
There was no maintenance budget, y'see. Threw'em away for new ones. Just bill the Pentagon.
What's significant about this is not that is once again demonstrates the robotic, shark-like will to power of the modern Republican party -- a religious cult crossed with an organized crime family. We already knew that. It's just the standard Rovian tactic of attacking your enemy for your very own sins, and then persuading various corporate media suck asses (the Mark Halperins of this world) to write that you've miraculously managed to turn a weakness into a strength.
Most people, even among the realist hard Left, believe that massive internment is at best a remote possibility and that the Supreme Court will declare The Military Commission Act unconstitutional. Don't bet on it. Even with a possible Democratic majority in place.
As regular readers here realize, I'm almost convinced of the likelihood of a contrived "false flag" "terrorist event" in the US prior to the 2008 presidential elections, resulting in martial law and the last brick in the blood-red road to a totalitarian police state.
Even if this doesn't happen and there is a Democratic Party victory this November and in 2008, why do think things will change? Looking at the history of Democrats and war, there is no evidence whatsoever to believe they won't use these terrifying laws and other mechanisms to their own advantage.
Heavy hitters among the Dems, such as Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi, are already recipients of massive amounts of corporate money. Neoliberalism is no different than neoconservatism in its aims. It is ridiculous to believe that Bill Clinton was much different than the Bushes. That is a fantasy of a pathologically selective memory. And the voting records of most Democatic senators and congresspeople, especially the DLC types who still rule the party in spite of Howard Dean, are more than an adequate clue of what may be coming.
The beautifully strange video for The Tarleks from what will end up being their final album 2067. Frank Bonner of WKRP in Cincinnati fame revises his role as Herb Tarlek or more literally an army of Tarleksalighting from invading UFOs.
There are few bands whose careers I have followed from their beginnings to their possible ends. The Rheostatics are one of those few and I could say, without reservation, they are my favourite Canadian band, (with a few close seconds). I received word in a newsletter mailing from their indy label last month and somehow hoped it was some sort of ill conceived publicity stunt to sell more tickets for what turns out will be their final show at Toronto's Massey Hall. (Read the entire article...)
The government's top intelligence agency is building a computerized system to search very large stores of information for patterns of activity that look like terrorist planning. The system, which is run by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, is in the early research phases and is being tested, in part, with government intelligence that may contain information on U.S. citizens and other people inside the country.
It encompasses existing profiling and detection systems, including those that create "suspicion scores" for suspected terrorists by analyzing very large databases of government intelligence, as well as records of individuals' private communications, financial transactions, and other everyday activities.
Arrested by the Taliban in Afghanistan in January 2000, Rahim says al-Qaida leaders burned him with cigarettes, smashed his right hand, deprived him of sleep, nearly drowned him and hanged him from the ceiling until he "confessed" to spying for the United States.
U.S. forces took the young Kurd from Syria into custody in January 2002 after the Taliban fled his prison. Accusing him of being an al-Qaida terrorist, U.S. interrogators deprived him of sleep, threatened him with police dogs and kept him in stress positions for hours, he says. He's been held ever since as an enemy combatant.
There are millions and millions of perfectly sane Americans out there, claiming to be believers, or at worst agnostic, so please don't hit me, being held hostage by lunatics that really believe that 2000 years ago one guy, a tribal minority from North Africa, was born by magic through the direct intervention of the tribe's god, frigged around for 30 years, and was executed by the Romans after he took up doing magic. Being capable of magic, he came back to life and then disappeared.
Elsewhere in the world, people are being held hostage by believers in a variety of equally fruity religions, such as the one where a guy announced there was a new version of that earlier tribe's religion, and the previous version no longer applied; he did a bunch of magic too, including a visit to Heaven on a half-mule, half-donkey with wings, where he got to hang out with the previous guy that did magic.
The thing that is so terribly wrong with Faith is that it's predicated, every single time, on a terrible fallacy: that god just 'is'. There's no evidence of god, so god exists. Or everything is evidence of god, so god exists. Or as most Americans avow, it's in the Bible, so it's true. Never mind it's also in the Koran, which they hate and fear, and that every religion has had similar texts, going right back to the Greeks, the Egyptians, the Mesopotamians, and on and on into the darkness. Faith is the enemy of Truth, because faith requires you take somebody's word for something, especially something utterly preposterous. Truth requires that you use your senses and your brain to observe what is, while Faith requires you use your senses and brain to observe what isn't.
[Article continues at link. An important point, repeated... faith isn't an inquiry into something you can't prove is or isn't there. Faith is knowing it is or isn't there and pretending otherwise because SHUT UP.]
Moving to dispel the perception that Blackwater is populated with trigger-happy knuckle-draggers, Blackwater is now offering intensive language/culture courses in Iraqi Arabic and Pashto/Dari for operators and others deploying to Iraq or Afghanistan. For $1495 for five days, Blackwater claims in an email announcement:
This is no ordinary course of study— it is an endeavor that is emotionally taxing— and rewarding! SURVIVABILITY— Cultural Awareness = Situational Awareness If you don’t understand the culture, you can cause real trouble.
"Really? Profound insight 3 1/2 years into the war." writes, R J Hillhouse, whom has a kick ass website, I just stumbled upon.
I've opposed this war since it was just a malignant smirk on George Bush's face. I've spoken against it, written against it, marched against it, supported and contributed to politicians I generally despise because I thought (wrongly) that they might do something to stop it. It's why I took up blogging, why I started this blog.
But the question Riverbend has forced me to ask myself is: Did I do enough? And the only honest answer is no.
I opposed the invasion -- and the regime that launched it -- but I didn't do everything I could have done. Very few did. We may have put our words and our wallets on the line, but not our bodies. Not when it might have made a difference. In the end, we were all good little Germans.
A circuit court judge in Mississippi has ordered a new sentencing trial for Cory Maye, a man sentenced to death for shooting a police officer who had broken into his home in a no-knock drug raid in 2001. Judge Michael Eubanks ruled recently that Maye's legal counsel during the sentencing phase was unconstitutionally inadequate, and he is expected to rule later on requests for a "not guilty" verdict or a new trial.
[...]
I stumbled upon Maye's case in December 2005 while researching a paper on paramilitary drug raids for the Cato Institute. Having reviewed nearly a thousand drug raids, I found much troubling about Maye's case. I obtained copies of the search warrants and affidavits, and saw that Maye's name didn't appear on them. I began writing about the case on my Web log. Then, blogs from across the political spectrum started speaking out against the apparent injustice. Events since have confirmed my suspicions.
[So once in a while, the blogging isn't for nothing.]
More really depressing election news despite what should be a blowout. First, looks like Ken Blackwell has purged 1.2 million people from the rolls. Looks like Ken has a great shot now. As I told Steve Gilliard: never count out the guy who counts the vote.
A loaves & fishes/Holy Ghost victory for the GOP in November? by Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman October 17, 2006 The polls all point to a Democratic sweep in November. The news pours in about pedophile Republicans and Team Bush contempt for their fundamentalist bedmates. Iraq implodes. Deficits soar. Katrina lingers. Scandal is everywhere. On the other hand, there are rumors of an "October Surprise." An attack on Iran. A new terror incident. Osama finally captured. Gas prices are down, the stock market up. None of it dampens the Democrats' euphoria. They think they are about to win. In conventional terms, they should. But think again. Please. It will take just two Biblical fixes for the GOP to keep the Congress, and thus solidify their power in this country, possibly forever: a loaves and fishes vote count, a Holy Ghost turnout. We coined the phrase "loaves and fishes vote count" to describe the tally in Gahanna, Ohio, 2004. This infamous precinct in suburban Columbus registered 4258 votes for George W. Bush where just 638 people voted. The blessed event occurred at a fundamentalist church run by a close ally of the Reverend Jerry Falwell. These numbers were later "corrected." But they reflect a much larger reality: the 2004 election was stolen with scores of dirty tricks for whose second coming the Democrats have yet to fully prepare. In the two years since the fraudulent defeat of John Kerry, we've unearthed an unholy arsenal by which that election was stolen. They include: outright intimidation, wrongful elimination of registered voters, theft, selective deployment of (often faulty) voting machines, absentee ballots without Kerry's name on them, absentee ballots pre-punched for Bush, absentee ballots never mailed, touch screens that lit up for Bush when Kerry was chosen, lines for black voters five hours long while white voters a mile away voted in fifteen minutes, tens of thousands of provisional ballots pitched summarily in the trash, alleged ex-felons illegally told they could not vote, Hispanic precincts with no Spanish-speaking poll workers, deliberate misinformation on official web sites…and that's not even the tip of an iceberg whose bottom we may never see. Thanks to a federal lawsuit, we have finally been able to look at some of the actual ballots from Ohio 2004. Just for starters, researchers Stuart Wright and Dr. Richard Hayes Phillips have found a precinct in Delaware County where 359 consecutive voters allegedly cast ballots for Bush. Dr. Ron Baiman found another precinct in Clermont County where a random inspection found 36 straight replacement ballots, a phenomenon that can be accomplished only by divine intervention or outright fraud.
They might get my guns, but if they do, it will be because I can't or wont be able to use em anymore...There will be hell to pay.
Oh, and Don't forget the Bush/Cheney connection with Blackwater USA
Because they operate with little oversight, using contractors also enables the military to skirt troop limits imposed by Congress and to carry out clandestine operations without committing U.S. troops or attracting public attention. "Private military corporations become a way to distance themselves and create what we used to call 'plausible deniability," says Daniel Nelson, a former professor of civil-military relations at the Defense Department's Marshall European Center for Security Studies. "It's disastrous for democracy."
THE PUSH TO PRIVATIZE WAR got its start during the administration of the elder President Bush. After the Gulf War ended, the Pentagon, then headed by Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, paid a Halliburton subsidiary called Brown & Root Services nearly $9 million to study how private military companies could provide support for American soldiers in combat zones. Cheney went on to serve as CEO of Halliburton—and Brown & Root, now known as Halliburton KBR, has since been awarded at least $2.5 billion to construct and run military bases, some in secret locations, as part of the Army's Logistics Civil Augmentation Program.
A coalition of sectarian leaders from the approximately 185 separate political and insurgent groups vying for dominance in Iraq called for a nationwide moment of violence, to be held shortly before noon Friday in the remaining days of Ramadan.
"All of us fighting for control of this land, whether Baathists, Sunni militants, al-Qaeda sympathizers, al-Sadrites, or just plain street criminals, have one thing in common," read a statement released Monday by the ad-hoc group. "We all share a deep abiding commitment to the indiscriminate use of murder, mayhem, and massacre as a means of achieving our various ends."
It is a travesty of law under the forms of law. It is the accumulation of executive, judicial, and legislative powers in a single branch and under a single individual.
It is the very essence of tyranny.
Coda: Symphony of Madness
The word Coda, meaning the final passage of a musical structure:
Origin. a section of a movement. Added at the end to clinch matters rather than to develop the music further. However, in the symphony's of Mozart, Haydn, and especially Beethoven, the coda came to have integral formal significance, becoming at times 2nd development section and often containing new material.
The end of the begining, or the begining of the end.
Grapski is charged with felony wiretapping for making an audiotape of his efforts to obtain documents at City Hall. Those documents related to a lawsuit alleging fraud in the canvassing of absentee ballots in the election of Commissioner James A. Lewis, who won by 18 absentee votes.
"This is not the first time that sitting Commissioners who are candidates for an election have won by absentee votes. This seems to be a chronic problem here and nobody takes it seriously," Thomas said. "Suddenly absentee ballots disappear. It's outrageous."
Grapski audiotaped City Manager Clovis Watson, who commented on the fact that he was being taped, consented, and kept talking, Thomas noted. Subsequently Watson, who also serves as Police Commissioner (an apparent violation of Florida law that prohibits officials from holding more than one public office at a time), ordered Grapski arrested.
Complete Wiki of Sibel Edmonds, in particular, I thought the following interesting in light of my recent post on key officials, i.e. "leaders" and "intelligence" positions not knowing the enemy.
I've been remiss not to comment on this A1 Washington Post article from last Wednesday:
FBI Agents Still Lacking Arabic Skills 33 of 12,000 Have Some Proficiency
The key premise of the article is that basically nobody in the FBI can speak Arabic - but it goes on to argue that it is ok because the FBI agents can rely on the FBI translators.
Bullshit!
Sibel Edmonds' corrupt boss in the FBI translators unit is now in charge of all Arabic speaking translators. He's the one guy standing between all the FBI agent and all Arabic speaking terrorists.
I went down to Stephanie's site and told her she still has to vote. If polling puts Republicans down in over 40 house seats and they win anyway then even the professional voting establishment (cough kos cough) might begin to suspect a rat. But probably not, sigh. (Kos after the election: "Yep! We gotta go far far right! I'm wearing a swastika and I'm deporting relatives now...! Only way to win. Only weirdos fight to fix the machines.") Anyway, from Richard King, who I wish would get a blog, gives us this from Mark Crispin Miller:
In response to a reader's question at markcrispinmiller. blogspot. com ("Briefly, what's being done to prevent voter-machine fraud for 2006 and 2008. What can dedicated individuals do?"), Miller writes:
As far as the next election is concerned, there's little we can do, as some 80% of the vote will be electronically cast or counted on Nov. 7. So it's necessary that we take these other steps:
A) Support the independent exit polls planned by the Election Defense Alliance, at http://www.election defensealliance. org/. [This is a vital project, as independent exit polling remains the last unvarnished source of accurate information in the age of electronic voting. These polls won't be retrofitted to jibe with the corporate media's anointed victors, but lots of money is needed quickly to make this project a success.]
B) Tell people that they must vote on Election Day, so that the national turnout is as high as possible. This will make another theft that much more difficult to spin.
C) Tell people that it's very likely that the GOP will "win" despite its vast unpopularity, so that they (the people) won't become demoralized by their apparent defeat.
D) Urge everyone to monitor the process in his/her own locale as carefully as possible. Get visuals, as w/ a video camera. Take careful note of any monkey business. [We would add that it's a good idea to create a publicly-available photo/video archive of any noteworthy events you happen to record.]
E) If you spot improprieties, or have a problem at the polls, be sure to call 1-866-OUR-VOTE, and contact the EDA (address above), and tell them everything. Keep a written record of your experience.
F) Get ready, psychologically, to stand with others in defiance of Bush/Cheney' s latest "victory." [In other words, expect the worst, but remember you don't have to accept the worst. At some point, the level of active resistance will have to grow significantly if real change is going to be made. A critical mass is building, as evidenced by the WCW actions in more than 230 cities nationwide last week. Start talking with your friends and neighbors about the logic of resistance, and make connections with those living near you!]
"America was never innocent. We popped our cherry on the boat over and looked back with no regrets. You can't ascribe our fall from grace to any single event or set of circumstances. You can't lose what you lacked at conception.
"Mass-market nostalgia gets you hopped up for a past that never existed. Hagiography sanctifies shuck-and-jive politicians and reinvents their expedient gestures as moments of great moral weight. Our continuing narrative line is blurred past truth and hindsight. Only a reckless verisimilitude can set that line straight."
--James Ellroy, American Tabloid
Ensure a Free and Fair Election (Ban Paperless Voting Machines
"The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words."
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