Monday, April 30, 2007

Four students arrested for heckling FBI director

"Mueller was unfazed by the student chants to 'free all political prisoners' and 'close Guantanamo, stop the lies,' and instead commended the protest, saying they were a testament to freedom of expression."

Four students arrested for heckling FBI director - News


Can you feel the Orwellian double-speak here? The FBI Director commends them for using their free speech, then they are arrested! Our freedoms are eroding right underneath our noses, folks.

Durbin kept silent on prewar knowledge

"The Senate's No. 2 Democrat says he knew that the American public was being misled into the Iraq war but remained silent because he was sworn to secrecy as a member of the intelligence committee."

Durbin kept silent on prewar knowledge-Nation/Politics-The Washington Times, America's Newspaper


This should help us understand that any claims of "bad intelligence" driving us to war are plainly false.

Another Retired General Gives His Opinion on Bush's War

"Thus, he lets the United States fly further and further into trouble, squandering its influence, money, and blood, facilitating the gains of our enemies. The Congress is the only mechanism we have to fill this vacuum in command judgment."

The Raw Story | Retired Lt. General declares Bush 'seems to have gone AWOL'

Friday, April 27, 2007

Musharraf warns US on attacking Iran

"Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has said a possible US attack on Iran would be a "terrible mistake" and incur dire consequences."

Press TV


By being a global bully, threatening Iran not to SOME DAY develop a nuclear bomb, Bush is turning other countries WITH the bombs hostile toward the U.S. Is this a good strategy? Is it making us safer?

"America" Turns 500 Years Old


Bloomberg.com: News


Do you know where the word "America" came from?

Rice Signals She Will Not Testify in Response to Congressional Subpoena

"U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday she has already answered the questions she has been subpoenaed to answer before a U.S. congressional committee and suggested she is not inclined to comply with the order."

FOXNews.com - Rice Signals She Will Not Testify in Response to Congressional Subpoena - Politics | Republican Party | Democratic Party | Political Spectrum


Sweet! Condi has shown me the light! I'm not going to respond to any subpoenas I don't like!

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Russia to invest oil revenues in shares

"Billions of Russian petrodollars are set to be invested in shares of international companies for the first time, boosting Russia’s presence in financial markets."

FT.com / World - Russia to invest oil revenues in shares


Gee, I wonder if the cash will wind up in any U.S. companies? Again, the war is/was about keeping oil as the world's number one energy source at the top spot. All we're doing by going along with this war, and lambasting people interested in green energy technology as hippies, is keeping the price of crude high and putting money in the pockets of increasingly totalitarian regimes.

Putin freezes arms treaty commitment


Scotsman.com News - Latest News - Putin freezes arms treaty commitment

A curious reversal — now the US is the universally hated and militarily stretched empire (ironically, in Afghanistan) … and Putin seems to be betting that, like the USSR in the 80s, the US can’t afford an arms race. The reason we can't afford one?...we're paying for their arms by staying reliant on their oil. (see story above to see how flush they are with petrodollars)


Soldier: Army ordered me not to tell truth about Tillman

"The military instead released a "manufactured narrative" detailing how Pat Tillman died leading a courageous counterattack in an Afghan mountain pass, Kevin Tillman told the committee."

Soldier: Army ordered me not to tell truth about Tillman - CNN.com

U.S. Military Has to Lie to Keep Funds and Recruits Flowing In

"Official versions of the rescue of prisoner of war Jessica Lynch and the death of former US football star Pat Tillman turned both into national heroes.

But the propaganda was dismissed as "utter fiction" at a Capitol Hill hearing to expose the false battlefield stories peddled by the Pentagon."


U.S. soldier hailed for bravery in Iraq says Pentagon spin doctors made it all up | the Daily Mail

U.N. Declares Bush's Surge a Failure

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

200th Person Exonerated with DNA Evidence

"Jerry Miller was exonerated yesterday in Chicago after serving 24 years in prison. He becomes the 200th person to be exonerated by DNA evidence."

The Innocence Project - Home


Do you still support the death penalty?

Monday, April 23, 2007

U.S. Army prosecutions of desertion rise sharply

"The increased prosecutions are meant, in effect, to serve as a deterrent to a growing number of soldiers who might be looking for a way to avoid heading - or heading back - to Iraq, several U.S. Army lawyers said during interviews. The use of courts-martial for these violations, which before 2002 were treated mostly as unpunished nuisances, is a sign that active-duty forces are being stretched to
their limits, said military lawyers and mental health experts.

"They are scraping to get people to go back, and people are worn out," said Thomas Grieger, a senior Navy psychiatrist."


U.S. Army prosecutions of desertion rise sharply - International Herald Tribune


Bush Administration Awash in Scandals

"Campaigning in 2000, Texas Gov. George W. Bush would repeatedly raise his right hand as if taking an oath and vow to "restore honor and integrity" to the White House. He pledged to usher in a new era of bipartisanship."

Bush Administration Awash in Scandals - Forbes.com


Sunday, April 22, 2007

What happened to "As The Iraqis Stand Up, We'll Stand Down"?

"Military planners have abandoned the idea that standing up Iraqi troops will enable American soldiers to start coming home soon and now believe that U.S. troops will have to defeat the insurgents and secure control of troubled provinces."

McClatchy Washington Bureau | 04/19/2007 | Training Iraqi troops no longer driving force in U.S. policy


It's been the mantra of the Bush Administration's Iraq war policy, "as they stand up, we'll stand down." After so many mistakes and failed theories and strategies, when do we finally say, "You've had your chances, I just don't believe in your leadership anymore."

Friday, April 20, 2007

Why Is This Stuff Illegal, Again?

"The active compound in marijuana, THC, can slow the growth of lung
tumours and reduce the spread of the cancer in mice, a preliminary
study reveals."

Cannabis compound slows lung cancer in mice - health - 18 April 2007 - New Scientist

Of all the drugs out there (FDA approved, and otherwise), including alcohol, why is this one attacked so fervently? It seems to have less negative effects than many of them...and apparently some positive ones, too.

Donald Trump on President Bush (video)

Strange Words from Karl Rove

``I wish the war were over,'' Rove said. ``I wish the war never
existed...''

THEN...

"In a question-and-answer period after his speech, Rove was asked whose idea it was to start a pre-emptive war."

``I think it was Osama bin Laden's,'' Rove replied.


Beacon Journal | 04/19/2007 | Rove warns of threat of terrorism


Karl wishes the war never existed? Before we pre-emptively began it, wasn't he one of the main proponents attempting to convince Americans that this was a good idea? Doesn't he continue to defend it as a good idea?

Then, Rove links 9/11 to Iraq, again. Will the lies and propaganda ever cease? How can anyone take this guy seriously anymore? For those of you who don't know (or if you watch Fox News), Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11.

Old Enough to Die, Not Old Enough to Have a Beer

“In the first four years of Operation Iraqi Freedom, 563 Americans under the age of 21 were killed in the line of duty. These citizen soldiers were old enough to vote, old enough to put on military uniforms, and old enough to die for their country: They were old enough to do just about anything, except drink a red-white-and-blue can of Budweiser. Apparently they weren’t grown-up enough to enjoy that privilege. That’s because when it comes to alcohol, the United States is more like Indonesia, Mongolia, and Palau than the rest of the world: It is one of just four countries that requires people to be at least 21 years old to buy booze. The only countries with stiffer laws are Islamic ones.”

John J. Miller on Drinking Age on National Review Online


Maybe we hate them for their freedoms?


Thursday, April 19, 2007

Chiquita Pleads Guilty to Paying Colombian Terrorists

"The plea was entered at a hearing today before U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth in Washington. No Chiquita executives were charged. The company agreed to pay a $25 million
fine, to be levied at a sentencing hearing on June 1, and to cooperate in a Justice Department investigation of the payments."


Bloomberg.com: News

OK, so let's take a look at our legal system here. Chiquita, a corporation, not a U.S. citizen with all the rights bestowed upon him by the Constitution, but a corporation, is fined what amounts to maybe less than 1% of his salary for supporting terrorism...barely a slap on the wrist. No jail time for anyone. Now, if a citizen of the U.S., with full rights, was to do the same thing, the Bush Administration has the right, under the Patriot Act, to take him away, without telling anyone, do things to him that border on (come on, they are) torture, not give him a trial (maybe a military "trial"), and possibly jail him for life and/or execute him.

China's Spying Overwhelms U.S. Counterintelligence

``Iraq and the struggle with terrorism are sucking resources across the board,'' says Joel Brenner, the top counterintelligence official in the office of Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell. Meanwhile, ``the Chinese are really making a run at us.''

Bloomberg.com: News

Is it really such a good idea to be focusing such a large portion of our military and intelligence resources on "the terrorists?" Could there possibly be more important issues for our country's defense/safety?

Jonah Goldberg's Bet

"There are many shades of right-wing punditry in our country. Among the shadiest is Jonah Goldberg. With arrogance seemingly matched only by his ignorance, Goldberg...offered this wager two years ago:

'Let's make a bet. I predict that Iraq won't have a civil war, that it will have a viable constitution, and that a majority of Iraqis and Americans will, in two years time, agree that the war was worth it. I'll bet $1,000 (which I can hardly spare right now).' The Bet

The bet was offered near the end of an overheated blogo-debate between Goldberg (at National Review Online) and Dr. Juan Cole, the Middle East scholar from University of Michigan. In proposing the wager to Cole, Goldberg goaded: 'Money where your mouth is, doc. One caveat: Because I don't think it's right to bet on such serious matters for personal gain, if I win, I'll donate the money to the USO.' link

U.S. - The Paragon of Free Markets and Capitalism?

"There was a time when the United States seemed to bully Latin Americans into opening their doors to U.S. capitalism...What a colossal irony that, at the beginning of the 21st century, one of Latin America's problems is persuading American politicians to ratify free trade agreements that would boost U.S. exports to the region.

TCS Daily - Pleading for Trade

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Probable Cause...Wearing Black Clothing

"A secret FBI intelligence unit helped detain a group of war protesters in a downtown Washington parking garage in April 2002 and interrogated some of them on videotape about their political and religious beliefs, newly uncovered documents and interviews show...The probable cause to arrest the protesters as they retrieved food from their parked van? They were wearing black..." (underline added)

"FBI agents dressed in street clothes separated members to question them one by one about protests they attended, whom they had spent time with recently, what political views they espoused and the significance of their tattoos and slogans, according to interviews and court records.

The revelations, combined with protester accounts, provide the first public evidence that Washington-based FBI personnel used their intelligence-gathering powers in the District to collect purely political intelligence. Ultimately, the protesters were not prosecuted because there wasn't sufficient evidence of trespassing, and their arrest records were expunged.

Similar intelligence-gathering operations have been reported in New York, where a local police intelligence unit tried to infiltrate groups planning to protest at the Republican National Convention in 2004, and in Colorado, where records surfaced showing that the FBI collected names and license plates of people protesting timber industry practices at a 2002 industry convention.

Several federal courts have ruled that intelligence agencies can monitor domestic groups only when there is reason to believe the group is engaged in criminal activity. Experts in police conduct say it is hard to imagine how asking questions about a person's political views would
be appropriate in a trespassing case."

Washington Post link



Remember, we're being told they hate us for our freedoms.

Monday, April 16, 2007

Your Tax Dollars At Work - "The Drug War"

"The three main strategies into which successive governments have ploughed tens of millions of pounds - mass media campaigns such as 'heroin screws you up' in the 1980s, initiatives in schools aimed at pupils as young as seven and targeting of vulnerable groups - have made
little or no difference, it says."

Britain's fight against drugs 'a total failure' | UK News | The Observer

$1 billion in Abstinence Education Not Effective

"It's been a central plank of George Bush's social policy: to stop teenagers having sex. More than $1bn of federal money has been spent on promoting abstinence since 1998 - posters printed, television adverts broadcast and entire education programmes devised for hundreds of thousands of girls and boys.

The trouble is, new research suggests that it hasn't worked. At all."

$1bn 'don't have sex' campaign a flop as research shows teenagers ignore lessons | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited

Poll Shows Fox News Watchers Second-to-Least Informed

"Pew judged the levels of knowledgeability (correct answers) among those surveyed and found that those who scored the highest were regular watchers of Comedy Central's The Daily Show and Colbert Report. They tied with regular readers of major newspapers in the top spot -- with 54% of them getting 2 out of 3 questions correct. Watchers of the Lehrer News Hour on PBS followed just behind.

Virtually bringing up the rear were regular watchers of Fox News. Only 1 in 3 could answer 2 out of 3 questions correctly. Fox topped only network morning show viewers."


Pew Survey Finds Most Knowledgeable Americans Watch 'Daily Show' and 'Colbert'-- and Visit Newspaper Sites

Thursday, April 12, 2007

West Point grads exit service at high rate

"Recent graduates of the US Military Academy at West Point are choosing
to leave active duty at the highest rate in more than three decades, a
sign to many military specialists that repeated tours in Iraq are
prematurely driving out some of the Army's top young officers."

West Point grads exit service at high rate - The Boston Globe

Yet another reason why this war has hurt our national defenses, not
improved them. An illegal, unpopular war hurts the Armed
Forces credibility, therefore, damaging recruitment and lowering the quality of recruits and leadership.

FBI takes 24 years for Freedom Of Information Act Request

FBI Gets Six Years for FOIA Request - washingtonpost.com

I like the Electronic Frontier Foundation, they do some good work. I've given money. www.eff.org

Officials' e-mail may be missing, White House says

"The White House said Wednesday that it may have
lost what could amount to thousands of messages sent through a private
e-mail system used by political guru Karl Rove and at least 50 other
top officials, an admission that stirred anger and dismay among
congressional investigators."

Officials' e-mail may be missing, White House says - Los Angeles Times

Conducted official national business on private computers and when oversight comes along, they conveniently get lost....sure.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Professor who criticized Bush told added to terrorist 'no-fly' list

"I was denied a boarding pass because I was on the Terrorist Watch list," he said.

When inquiring with a clerk why he was on the list, Murphy was asked if he had participated in any peace marches.

"We ban a lot of people from flying because of that," a clerk said.

Murphy then explained that he had not marched, but had "in
September, 2006, given a lecture at Princeton, televised and put on the
Web, highly critical of George Bush for his many violations of the
Constitution."

The clerk responded, "That'll do it."

link

US forced to import bullets from Israel as troops use 250,000 for every rebel killed

"US forces have fired so many bullets in Iraq and Afghanistan - an estimated 250,000 for
every insurgent killed - that American ammunition-makers cannot keep up
with demand. As a result the US is having to import supplies from
Israel." link

Military spending to retain troops skyrockets

"The struggle to entice Army soldiers and Marines to stay in the
military, after four years of war in Iraq, has ballooned into a $1
billion campaign, with bonuses soaring nearly sixfold since 2003." link

Yet another reason why this war has hurt our national defenses, not
improved them. An illegal, unpopular war hurts the Armed
Forces credibility, therefore, damaging recruitment.

Russia threatening new cold war over missile defence

"The Kremlin has not publicly spelt out its plans. But defence experts
said its response is likely to include upgrading its nuclear missile
arsenal so that it is harder to shoot down, putting more missiles on
mobile launchers, and moving its fleet of nuclear submarines to the
north pole, where they are virtually undetectable." link

Remember, the pre-emptive war, the Patriot Act, our unilateral foreign policy...it's all supposed to be making us safer, right? Russia can afford these expenditures because oil is $65/barrel, up from $30 in 2003. What would $500 billion have done toward funding research toward a more efficient solar power cell?

Florida Legislature Forces University To Idolize Jeb Bush

"Two weeks ago, the University of Florida voted to deny Jeb Bush an honorary degree. By a 38-28 vote, the faculty Senate rejected the former governor’s nomination...

Upset by this lack of Jeb Bush adoration, the conservative-controlled House Schools & Learning Council voted yesterday to force the university to rename its education school the “Jeb Bush College of Education.”

Over the faculty’s opposition, the school will now have “to erect ‘suitable markers‘ noting the college’s new name and include the revised name in all university documents, including catalogues and brochures.” The lawmakers acknowledge they “came up with the idea as an answer” to the faculty’s denial of Bush’s honorary degree." link


White House: The American people have wanted change in Iraq, and they got it

"The American people have wanted change in Iraq, and they got it," Perino (White House Spokeswoman) said. "The president announced a new policy on January 10th that was quite different and divergent from where we were before." link

Why is the surge (a.k.a. an "escalation") so different?

Spy Chief Eyes Broader FISA Powers

“President Bush’s spy chief is pushing to expand the government’s surveillance authority at the same time the administration is under attack for stretching its domestic eavesdropping powers. National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell has circulated a draft bill that would expand the government’s powers under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, liberalizing how that law can be used." link

Let freedom ring!

Army Reserve Falters on Recruitment

"Before the 9/11 terror attacks, reservists could count on training one weekend a month and two weeks in the summer. They might be called to active duty in an emergency.

Those days are over, said Lt. Gen. Jack Stultz, the Army Reserve's top officer." USA Today link

Yet another reason why this war has hurt our national defenses, not improved them. An illegal, unpopular war hurts the Armed Forces credibility, therefore, damaging recruitment.

Three Generals Spurn War Czar Post

"The White House wants to appoint a high-powered czar to oversee the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with authority to issue directions to the Pentagon, the State Department and other agencies, but it has had trouble finding anyone able and willing to take the job, according to people close to the situation." link

Noone seems to want to step up and be a scapegoat...how strange.

Saturday, April 7, 2007

U.S. Helps Terrorist Group in Iran

"A Pakistani tribal militant group responsible for a series of deadly guerrilla raids inside Iran has been secretly encouraged and advised by American officials since 2005, U.S. and Pakistani intelligence sources tell ABC News." Link

Is the U.S. helping certain terrorist groups while supposedly fighting a global war on terror?