Dubya chickens out as leaked memo surfaces

Critical memo clouds canceled Bush, al-Maliki meeting

By Peter Wallsten and Solomon Moore, Times Staff Writer
5:49 PM PST, November 29, 2006

AMMAN, Jordan -- A highly anticipated meeting between Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and President Bush was abruptly canceled Wednesday, hours after the disclosure of a White House memo questioning al-Maliki's ability to pacify his country, and after a Shiite bloc announced a boycott of the Baghdad government.

The two leaders were scheduled to go ahead with a breakfast and joint news conference Thursday morning before Bush returns to Washington, but Wednesday's developments threatened to spoil a summit that administration officials had hoped would demonstrate progress in devising strategies for stemming civil strife in Iraq.

Instead, White House officials spent the day on the defensive -- insisting they had faith in al-Maliki despite the harsh content of the leaked memo, and struggling to explain why a meeting that had been on the president's calendar for days was suddenly scrubbed.

Senior Bush aides offered at least four explanations for the cancellation -- finally dispatching a more junior official to tell reporters late Wednesday that al-Maliki and Jordan's King Abdullah II had decided mutually that a three-way conversation was not necessary.


Following is the text of a Nov. 8 memorandum prepared for cabinet-level officials by Stephen J. Hadley, the national security adviser, and his aides on the National Security Council. The five-page document, classified secret, was read and transcribed by The New York Times

Leaked Memo

Mystery of the missing ambassador is solved in leaked memo...

One of the things mentioned in the document was that the US would encourage Zal (Zalmay Khalilzad, the American ambassador) to move into the background and let Maliki take more credit for positive developments. (We want Maliki to exert his authority — and demonstrate to Iraqis that he is a strong leader — by taking action against extremists, not by pushing back on the United States and the Coalition.);

THE STRANGE CASE OF THE MISSING AMBASSADOR

Where is Dr. Zalmay M. Khalilzad our US ambassador to Iraq? He is now strangely quiet, allthough he was in the news as an outspoken critic on Maliki and the situation in Iraq a month ago. There was a lot going on at that time, as General Casey, in concert with Zalmay, went into Sadr city without consulting prime minister Milaki. There were three separate press conferences about the events at this time. One by George W Bush, one by General Casey & ambassador Zalmay in concert, and one by prime minister Malaki.

Zalmay M. Khalilzad is a member of the PNAC "Project for the New American Century". Most of the key people in the current Bush administration were appointed to office, and came from the PNAC.

An exerpt from the letter about Iraq from the pNAC to Bill Clinton.
Zalmay's name is on this famous document.

January 26, 1998

We urge you to act decisively. If you act now to end the threat of weapons of mass destruction against the U.S. or its allies, you will be acting in the most fundamental national security interests of the country. If we accept a course of weakness and drift, we put our interests and our future at risk.

Sincerely,

Elliott Abrams

Richard L. Armitage

William J. Bennett

Jeffrey Bergner

John Bolton

Paula Dobriansky

Francis Fukuyama

Robert Kagan

Zalmay Khalilzad

William Kristol

Richard Perle

Peter W. Rodman

Donald Rumsfeld

William Schneider, Jr.

Vin Weber

Paul Wolfowitz

R. James Woolsey

Robert B. Zoellick

---------------------------------------

Some history about Zalmay from one month ago...

Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Maliki angry about raids on Sadr City

Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Yes...The concern of the voters is...THE WAR IN IRAQ

Thursday, October 26, 2006
Maliki's press conference at odds with Bush's

*************************************
This is the latest information, I could find on Zalmay....
_____________________________________

Iraq: U.S. To Replace Ambassador
November 07, 2006 02 03 GMT

The U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, will leave at the end of the year and will be replaced by Ryan Crocker, who is currently Washington's ambassador to Pakistan, two senior aides to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki disclosed Nov. 6, citing a conversation U.S. National Intelligence Director John Negroponte had with al-Maliki during a visit to Baghdad on Nov. 3.

***********************************

The George W Bush Library and Think Tank

Well...Every other president has had one and so will Dubya. Bush senior has one at Texas A&M, but only Dubya's library will include a think tank for effecting public policy. A first, and in keeping with the neoconservative control of everything they can get their hands on.


Here's a link to some of the Presidential Libraries. They all have an entrance fee of $5 to $10, with the Ronald Reagan library being the most expensive. The LBJ library is free. I wonder what Dubya will charge? Not that you will see me anywhere near it.

Lawsuit Over Eminent Domain Could Snarl Bush Library Plans
By MEGHAN CLYNE
Staff Reporter of the Sun
February 17, 2006

DALLAS - The school favored to host the George W. Bush Presidential Library, Dallas's Southern Methodist University, may encounter a snag next week in the form of a lawsuit alleging that the school has improperly seized local homes in order to secure land for the proposed library site.

Amid increasing outrage among Republicans over the use of eminent domain and other coercive measures to obtain private property for public projects, a case in Dallas County's 134th Civil District Court, which is set to begin on Tuesday, will determine whether the university violated its legal obligations to local homeowners in an effort to secure the land currently occupied by the University Gardens condominium complex, a potential library site.

"They're taking my home," said Gary Vodicka, one of the litigants and a University Gardens owner and resident, yesterday.

The case comes as the competition for the $200 million to $300 million library, which has had some schools making plans to attract the memorial since before President Bush's election in 2000, draws to a close, and could end any time in the next six weeks.

A party to the library competition told The New York Sun this week that a member of the library selection committee said a decision was expected sometime within the first quarter this year, or before March 31 - a date moved up from previous projections that the library site would be announced in the second quarter.

A spokesman for the head of the selection committee, former Bush commerce secretary Donald Evans, said the selector was declining to comment on all aspects of the competition as the committee reviewed the proposals, including the selection date.

Mr. Evans is co-chairman of the selection committee, along with Mr. Bush's brother, Marvin Bush, and the third member is a Bush cousin, Craig Stapleton. Three of Mr. Bush's top advisers - White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card, deputy chief of staff Karl Rove, and White House Counsel, Harriet Miers - are also helping the selection committee.

The competition for the library is intense among the four schools that were announced as finalists in October last year. Mr. Bush limited proposals to institutions in Texas, where the Bushes plan to return after they depart the White House in 2009. In addition to the prestige offered by a library, many cities are keenly aware of $1 billion in revenue the Clinton library has already brought to the Little Rock, Ark., area since it opened in November 2004.

Mr. Bush's options now include SMU, located in the upscale University Park area of Dallas; Baylor University, a Baptist school in Waco; the University of Dallas, a small Catholic college in Irving, a suburb of Dallas; and Texas Tech University, a public school located in Lubbock, as part of a West Texas Coalition that involves more than 10 educational institutions across the western part of the state who have promised to spend $500 million on the scheme.

SMU has long been considered the favorite to receive the library, principally because of its ties to the Bushes and their advisers. Laura Bush received her undergraduate degree in elementary education from the school in 1968 and since 2000 has been a member of its board of trustees. Vice President Cheney was in 1996 the "diplomat in residence" at SMU's John Taylor Center for political studies, and also served as a trustee. Bush adviser Karen Hughes, and White House counsel Harriet Miers - who is also advising the library selection committee - possess SMU degrees.

It also anticipated that, after their White House years, the Bushes will relocate to Dallas, where they lived from 1988 to 1994. The president and first lady remain members of the area's Highland Park United Methodist Church. The area is also home to some of Mr. Bush's most generous political donors, many of whom are also expected to contribute to his future presidential library foundation.

Mr. Vodicka said yesterday that SMU's being awarded the library is "a done deal," but that he hopes his lawsuit will succeed in preventing the school from destroying his home in order to build it. SMU is located in one of the most expensive and exclusive areas of Texas, and, while it will not disclose the acreage it has to offer a future library, is said to have little land to offer in comparison to its competitors, all of which are proposing at least 100-acre sites for the library.

Mr. Vodicka's lawsuit, filed in the fall, seeks to prevent the university, which officially bought the property in mid-December but issued vacate notices last spring, from destroying the condominiums by declaring the university's actions in obtaining the property to be illegal.

According to Mr. Vodicka, who is also a Dallas-based litigation attorney, SMU has progressively stacked the board of University Gardens with university employees since around four years ago, and the board has since failed to perform maintenance on the complex. At the same time, the school has been purchasing units in University Gardens, and according to an SMU "fact sheet" about the land deal, the school owned 93% of the complex's 347 units when "SMU moved that the property be declared obsolete and put up for sale."

Mr. Vodicka said the board's failure to maintain the complex was part of a comprehensive tactic used by SMU to drive owners out of University Gardens. The school has used the building for student housing and, Mr. Vodicka said, told tenants their property values would go down owing to the increased noise, greater traffic, and greater exposure to crime and vandalism that would likely result from student use - even as Mr. Vodicka says condos have been purchased by SMU for progressively higher per-square-foot prices.

Well...I'll admit that I don't know much about polituics or religion either one, but why in the world would an religious institution and place of learning want to have a library associated with a world class criminal. A president that is responsible for starting a war over a lie, has perpretated crimes against humanity, and has went against the principles of the constitution of our country. Does SMU really think that there is something $acred about George W Bush?

His Legacy and His Library Occupy Bush's Thoughts

By ELISABETH BUMILLER
Published: May 8, 2006
WASHINGTON — President Bush had dinner last month on the Stanford University campus at the home of George P. Shultz, who was President Ronald Reagan's secretary of state, and the topic of conversation was not, as might be expected, the war in Iraq. Instead, guests said, Mr. Bush spent the evening focused on how he could create a public policy center with his presidential library after he leaves office in 2009.

The dozen or so guests at the dinner included directors and fellows of the Hoover Institution, the Stanford-affiliated policy center with close ties to the Bush White House. Mr. Bush spent most of his time, guests said, grilling the center's director, John Raisian, about the pros and cons of having an organization like Hoover within the confines of an institution like Stanford.

"Our presence here raises all the same questions that he'll have to deal with if he puts his think tank at an elite university," said Charles G. Palm, a former Hoover deputy director who did not attend the dinner.

In 1987, Mr. Palm served as the liaison between the Ronald Reagan Foundation and Stanford when efforts to house the Reagan library on Stanford's campus fell apart because of opposition from faculty members and from homeowners near the proposed site.

~"WE THE PEOPLE" have had enough LIES~You do not have our support on war in Syria or Iran

We were angry and disgusted about the events leading to the war in Iraq. We knew they were lying then, and we know they are lying now, as they now try to start a war with Iran and Syria. It took over three years before the mainstream media would report the truth, and now that they have admited that there were no wmd's, they are still lying, and expect "We The People" to let them get by with it.

Just the evidence in England was enough to convict them, if it hadn't been covered up so well. David Kelley lost his life, Robin Cook resigned from parliament, and the head of BBC news along with the reporter who talked to David Kelley had to resign.
There was so much lying and coniving going on in so many places, by so many dishonest people, that there was no way to pursue all of the avenues.

Well we have Democratic representatives that will answer to the people now, and we can't let these sons of she dogs get away with anything. Donald Rumsfeld has resigned after being caught in a lie after being interviewed by ex CIA man Ray McGovern. and it would be good to interview everyone of them clear up to the president himself.



Robin Cook's resignation speech

Threat questioned

Ironically, it is only because Iraq's military forces are so weak that we can even contemplate its invasion. Some advocates of conflict claim that Saddam's forces are so weak, so demoralised and so badly equipped that the war will be over in a few days.

We cannot base our military strategy on the assumption that Saddam is weak and at the same time justify pre-emptive action on the claim that he is a threat.

Iraq probably has no weapons of mass destruction in the commonly understood sense of the term - namely a credible device capable of being delivered against a strategic city target.

It probably still has biological toxins and battlefield chemical munitions, but it has had them since the 1980s when US companies sold Saddam anthrax agents and the then British Government approved chemical and munitions factories.

Why is it now so urgent that we should take military action to disarm a military capacity that has been there for 20 years, and which we helped to create?

Why is it necessary to resort to war this week, while Saddam's ambition to complete his weapons programme is blocked by the presence of UN inspectors?

WMD'S~TONY BLAIR~DAVID KELLY~and the BBC
A British Take on Weapons Of Mass Destruction

Four carriers are still in the Persian Gulf

News from the Fleet

Secretary of the Navy Visits NSA Bahrain
MANAMA, Bahrain - Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV), the Honorable Dr. Donald C. Winter visited Naval Support Activity (NSA) Bahrain, Nov. 25, to meet with Sailors supporting Maritime Security Operations (MSO) in U.S. Naval Forces Central Command’s area of responsibility (AOR). more

Secretary of the Navy Visits Boxer
USS BOXER, At Sea - Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) Donald C. Winter visited USS Boxer (LHD 4) Nov. 24 to meet with Sailors and Marines conducting maritime security operations in U.S. 5th Fleet’s area of responsibility (AOR). more

BOXERESG Begins Maritime Security Operations
USS BOXER, At sea - USS Boxer (LHD 4) Expeditionary Strike Group (BOXESG) began Maritime Security Operations (MSO) in the North Arabian Gulf (NAG) in support of U.S. 5th Fleet Nov. 21 through 24. more

What are the four U.S. Carriers doing in the Gulf?


As the American President George W. Bush steps up threatening rhetoric against Iran to force it suspend its nuclear program, calling for worldwide isolation of Tehran until it “gives up its nuclear ambitions,” experts predict that the coming days would see a much violent step by Washington against the Islamic Republic.

What asserts the experts’ fears is the fact that on October 31, two nuclear-powered carriers, the USS Eisenhower and USS Enterprise, arrived in Bahrain, accompanied by their carrier strike groups. And on November 9th, the USS Iwo Jima, and the USS Boxer also arrived

Rumsfeld is still a main player in events leading to war in Iraq

Published on Friday, August 2, 2002 by CommonDreams.org

The Saddam in Rumsfeld’s Closet

by Jeremy Scahill

“Man and the turtle are very much alike. Neither makes any progress without sticking his neck out.”
—Donald Rumsfeld

Five years before Saddam Hussein’s now infamous 1988 gassing of the Kurds, a key meeting took place in Baghdad that would play a significant role in forging close ties between Saddam Hussein and Washington. It happened at a time when Saddam was first alleged to have used chemical weapons. The meeting in late December 1983 paved the way for an official restoration of relations between Iraq and the US, which had been severed since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

With the Iran-Iraq war escalating, President Ronald Reagan dispatched his Middle East envoy, a former secretary of defense, to Baghdad with a hand-written letter to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and a message that Washington was willing at any moment to resume diplomatic relations.

That envoy was Donald Rumsfeld.

VIDEO: Donald Rumsfeld and Saddam Hussein

HOW SADDAM HAPPENED

Congressional Record: September 20, 2002 (Senate)
Page S8987-S8998

Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, yesterday, at a hearing of the Senate Armed
Services Committee, I asked a question of the Secretary of Defense. I
referred to a Newsweek article that will appear in the September 23,
2002, edition. That article reads as follows. It is not overly lengthy.
I shall read it. Beginning on page 35 of Newsweek, here is what the
article says:

America helped make a monster. What to do with him--and
what happens after he is gone--has haunted us for a quarter
century.

The article is written by Christopher Dickey and Evan Thomas. It
reads as follows:

The last time Donald Rumsfeld saw Saddam Hussein, he gave
him a cordial handshake. The date was almost 20 years ago,
Dec. 20, 1983; an official Iraqi television crew recorded the
historic moment.
The once and future Defense secretary, at the time a
private citizen, had been sent by President Ronald Reagan to
Baghdad as a special envoy. Saddam Hussein, armed with a
pistol on his hip, seemed "vigorous and confident,"
according to a now declassified State Department cable
obtained by Newsweek. Rumsfeld "conveyed the President's
greetings and expressed his pleasure at being in Baghdad,"
wrote the notetaker. Then the two men got down to business,
talking about the need to improve relations between their two
countries.
Like most foreign-policy insiders, Rumsfeld was aware that
Saddam was a murderous thug who supported terrorists and was
trying to build a nuclear weapon. (The Israelis had already
bombed Iraq's nuclear reactor at Osirak.) But at the time,
America's big worry was Iran, not Iraq. The Reagan
administration feared that the Iranian revolutionaries who
had overthrown the shah (and taken hostage American diplomats
for 444 days in 1979-81) would overrun the Middle East and
its vital oilfields. On the--theory that the enemy of my
enemy is my friend, the Reaganites were seeking to support
Iraq in a long and bloody war against Iran. The meeting
between Rumsfeld and Saddam was consequential: for the next
five years, until Iran finally capitulated, the United States
backed Saddam's armies with military intelligence, economic
aid and covert supplies of munitions.
Rumsfeld is not the first American diplomat to wish for the
demise of a former ally. After all, before the cold war, the
Soviet Union was America's partner against Hitler in World
War II. In the real world, as the saying goes, nations have
no permanent friends, just permanent interests. Nonetheless,
Rumsfeld's long-ago interlude with Saddam is a reminder that
today's friend can be tomorrow's mortal threat. As President
George W. Bush and his war cabinet ponder Saddam's
successor's regime, they would do well to contemplate how and
why the last three presidents allowed the Butcher of Baghdad
to stay in power so long.
The history of America's relations with Saddam is one of
the sorrier tales in American foreign policy. Time and again,
America turned a blind eye to Saddam's predations, saw him as
the lesser evil or flinched at the chance to unseat him. No
single policymaker or administration deserves blame for
creating, or at least tolerating, a monster; many of their
decisions seemed reasonable at the time. Even so, there are
moments in this clumsy dance with the Devil that make one
cringe. It is hard to believe that, during most of the 1980s,
America knowingly permitted the Iraq Atomic Energy Commission
to import bacterial cultures that might be used to build
biological weapons.
---------------------------------------

Senator Byrd had to ask for additional time in this hearing of the Senate Armed
Services Committee and repeatedly asked Rumsfeld about these biological weapons. This is a lenghty artical, and presents many facts pertaining to chemical biological weapons and Saddams relations to Donald Rumsfeld and US government.

Here's the whole interview...
Congressional Record: September 20, 2002 (Senate)
Page S8987-S8998

Far out news from the outer reaches of the internet

Here is an example of some of the far out stuff to be found on the internet. The truth is where you find it, and I certainly hope that this is not. It scares the crap out of me, but so does the George W Bush administration. So...take it with a grain of salt, and save enough to throw over your shoulder...

They Want Your Soul -

This reveals what 911 catalyzed, and more importantly what it's distracting even the truth seekers from acknowledging. This is a crash ... all » course in the bitter truth of the state of our society, government and the technological system that's beyond even Hitler's own wet dream

Ignorance Isn't Bliss

DO THE ZORCH

~ZORCH~

Tired of the same old Kool-Aid? Try MoveOn.org

Election 2006

People Powered Politics

What 3.2 Million Determined MoveOn Members Can Do

Changing the national political landscape is a tall order. But if we build on the enormous grassroots energy we saw over the past six months, we know it’s possible. For us, for our families, for our children, for our country, the stakes could hardly be higher.

-Adam and Justin Ruben, January 18, 2005, in an email proposing a Take Back the House campaign to MoveOn members

TAKING BACK THE HOUSE
Volunteers made 7 million phone calls, organized 7,500 house parties, and launched 6,000 in-district events. More people volunteered in 2006 than in 2004.

We raised and spent $27 million in this two-year election cycle. We spent $25 million on taking back the House. Over 250,000 members contributed $3.6 million to individual 250,000 members contributed $3.6 million to individual 250,000 members contributed $3.6 million to individual House candidates and over $2.8 million to fund MoveOn TV ads in targeted districts.

Our “Caught Red-Handed” TV ads demonstrated early that Democrats could win a majority in Congress by taking on Republicans others thought couldn’t be defeated. Of the nine long-shot races we targeted with these ads, Democrats won at least five.
On-the-ground action by members helped ensure that Republicans who supported the Bush fiasco in Iraq would pay the price at the polls.

We funded strong progressive candidates like Jerry McNerney (OH) and Bruce Braley (IA) in their campaigns to win House seats, and Sherrod Brown (OH) and John Tester (MT) in their tough Senate battles.

Our membership grew by 450,000.
“I used to think my one signature or call didn’t matter. But then I got an email from MoveOn and I learned I can make a difference. MoveOn makes democracy work.”

-Helen S., Phoenix, Arizona, MoveOn member

“My son is an honest man” ~Bush senior in Abhu Dhabi~

Khaleej Times Online >> News >> THE U.A.E

Bush Sr. defends his son AP 22 November 2006

ABU DHABI — Former US president George H.W. Bush was forced here yesterday into a defence of his son, current US President George W. Bush, whose Mideast policies were derided by a hostile audience.


“My son is an honest man,” . Bush told the delegates attending a leadership conference here “He is working hard for peace. It takes a lot of guts to get up and tell a father about his son in those terms when I just told you the thing that matters in my heart is my family
.”

Bush added: “How come everybody wants to come to the United States if the United States is so bad?”

Although former leader, who served as president from 1989-1993, claimed to have faced tougher audiences, he conceded that attacks on his sons hurt more than those on him. As curiosity mounts regarding the advice James Baker, the senior Bush’s secretary of state,

Bush Sr defends son is giving Washington on the war in the Iraq, the former president declined to reveal how he had counselled his son on the conflict.

The Gulf used to be safe territory for former president Bush, an oil man who brought Arab leaders together in a coalition that drove Saddam Hussein’s troops out of Kuwait in 1991.


But gratitude for the elder Bush, who served as president from 1989-93, was overshadowed by the foreign policy of his son, whose invasion of Iraq and support for Israel are deeply unpopular here.

“We do not respect your son. We do not respect what he’s doing all over the world,” a woman audience member bluntly told Bush after his keynote speech.

Bush appeared stunned as the audience of young business leaders whooped and whistled in approval.

Book: Bush was arrested for cocaine in 1972
Texas author J.H. Hatfield claims the Republican front-runner did community service at a Houston center.


- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Salon Staff


Oct. 18, 1999 A new book by Texas author J.H. Hatfield claims that George W. Bush was arrested for cocaine possession in 1972, but had his record expunged with help from his family's political connections. In an afterword to his book "Fortunate Son: George W. Bush and the Making of an American President" (St. Martin's), Hatfield says he took a second look at the Bush cocaine allegations after a story in Salon reporting allegations that Bush did community service for the crime at the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center in Houston's Third Ward.

Huge naval build-ups around Iran and Lebanon

Exclusive to DEBKAfile’s military sources: US aircraft carriers USS Eisenhower and USS Enterprise in the Red Sea off the Saudi Arabian coast

November 7, 2006, 12:00 AM (GMT+02:00)

The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower, and its accompanying carrier strike group, passed through the Suez Canal on Monday, Oct. 30, and arrived in the Red Sea on Tuesday, Oct. 31.

DEBKAfile’s military sources report that the USS Eisenhower is at sea off the Saudi Arabian coast, together with another aircraft carrier, the USS Enterprise. The presence of the two US aircraft carriers, and their accompanying strike groups, in a body of water as small as the Red Sea is an extraordinary development.

So far there have been no indications that the USS Eisenhower arrived to replace the USS Enterprise.

US Intelligence director John Negroponte also is in the region. He was in Saudi Arabia over the weekend and in Cairo on Tuesday, and is due to arrive in Israel on Wednesday, Nov. 1.

With the arrival of the USS Eisenhower in the region, there are now three US aircraft carriers in the Persion Gulf and surrounding waters, including the USS Iwo Jima. Accompanying the USS Eisenhower are the guided-missile cruiser USS Anzio, the guided-missile destroyers USS Rampage and USS Mason and the nuclear-powered fast-attack submarine USS Newport.

DEBKAfile’s military sources report that a fourth US aircraft carrier, the USS Boxer, will arrive on the scene by the beginning of next week, together with its carrier strike group. The USS Boxer is currently taking part in joint US-Indian naval maneuvers, dubbed Malabar ’06, which include the landing of marines on beaches.

US-Led Military Thrust Focuses Heavily on Broad Naval Deployment

DEBKAfile Exclusive Military Report

October 30, 2006, 11:53 AM (GMT+02:00)

Hundreds of US and allied war ships foregathered in the strategic seas of the Middle East and India in the last days of October 2006 for two primary missions: To prepare for a US-led military strike against Iran which has stepped up its uranium enrichment program with a second centrifuge project - undeterred by the prospect of UN sanctions; and measures to fend off palpable al Qaeda threats to oil targets.

DEBKAfile’s military sources provide details of the massive deployments:

1. A large-scale US-Indian sea exercise called Malabar 06 is in progress off the Indian coast of Goa, ending Nov. 5. The American vessels taking part are the USS Boxer carrier, the USS Bunker Hill guided missile battle cruiser, the guided missile destroyer USS Howard and the USS Benfold , as well as the Los Angeles-class nuclear attack submarine Providence and the Canadian guided missile frigate HMCS Ottawa .

Indian maritime might is displayed with its warships like INS Beas , INS Mysore , INS Shakti , INS Ganga , tanking ship INS Gharial , submarine INS Shankush and Coast Guard ship CGS Samar

Malabar also involves the landing of large number of soldiers ashore, ahead of the Indian acquisition of the massive amphibious USS Trenton transport dock which can carry six helicopters and about a 1000 soldiers.

Our Tehran sources report that last Thursday, Oct. 26, Iranian officials were seriously rattled by a rumor that an Iranian spy plane had located the USS Boxer heading for the Persian Gulf. It prompted fears of an imminent American military assault to lift Republican prospects in the coming US midterm elections of Nov. 7. In any case, the Iranians suspect that at the end of the joint US-Indian exercise in the Arabian Sea, Boxer will veer west and head into the Persian Gulf. There would then be four US air carriers with task forces parked opposite Iranian shores, including the USS Enterprise Strike Group, the USS Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group and the USS Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group, which are already in place.

According to the intelligence reaching Iran, the Boxer and its escorts carry 850 Marines who have just spent months in special training for operations on offshore oil rigs and platforms.

2. American, Italy, France, Britain, Australia, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait are taking part in an exercise practicing the interception of ships carrying nuclear materials or components for use in advanced weapons. The exercise opposite Bahrain is the first to be held in the Persian Gulf under the three-year old proliferation security initiative. It applications could be translated equally into the enforcement of sanctions against North Korea, which conducted its first nuclear test on Oct. 9, or Iran.

On Oct. 27, Robert Joseph, the US undersecretary of state for arms control remarked: “From Iranian news reports we know the exercise got the attention of Iran.” But rather than climbing down, Tehran referred two days later to the war games as “adventurous” and placed its armed forces on a high alert which encompassed the joint naval units of the military and Revolutionary Guards in the Persian Gulf, while the Revolutionary Guards, the Iranian army, navy and air force were placed on “yellow” alert, one level short of full war.

Also Oct. 29, , supreme ruler Ayatollah Ali Khamenei replaced Iran’s air force chief, Karim Qavami with Brig Gen Capt Ahmad Miqani, on the recommendation of the Revolutionary Guards commander.

DEBKAfile’s Iran sources report that Khamenei did not approve of Qavami’s admiration for America’s military capabilities – especially the US air force’s advanced aircraft and equipment. Qavami was wont to speak out at general staff meetings in favor of procuring a new air fleet the better to stand up to a possible US attack. His successor follows the supreme ruler unquestioningly and has complete faith in the ability

3. Saudi Arabia did not join the multinational Bahrain exercise, but instead mustered its entire navy and all its special forces for deployment in dense defensive array around the biggest oil terminal in the world, at Ras Tanura. Riyadh acted in response to tangible intelligence that al Qaeda is preparing to attack its oil installations.

Warnings have intensified in recent days of impending al Qaeda attacks on the oil fields, oil ports, oil tankers and oil fields of Saudi Arabia and the Arabian oil emirates. One threat specifically targets the Bahraini offices and staff of the Benin Republic’s Societe Togolaise de Gaz and Societe Bengaz S.A.

It is not clear exactly why al Qaeda is targeting this African-owned oil company in particular. In addition, the US embassy in Riyadh has warned Americans operating in the Gulf region to stay clear of all oil installations, especially in Saudi Arabia. Another pointed alert covers Western residential compounds in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries, specifying American expatriates as al Qaeda targets. Saudi security forces are standing guard at these compounds which were fatally attacked in November exactly three years ago.

4. The fourth major naval concentration is deployed in the Red Sea along Saudi Arabia’s west coast. The oil kingdom has placed its military and fleet at their highest level of preparedness for Al Qaeda-instigated terrorist attacks along this coast, particularly at the ports of Jeddah and Yanbu.

DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources report: That the Saudis have by and large switched their defenses against al Qaeda to coastal targets indicates the receipt of intelligence input of a new local sea base established by al Qaeda, which enables the jihadist group to stretch its capabilities for assaulting oil and Western shore targets from the sea. This base might be located on the shore of a Gulf nation, somewhere in the Arabian Sea or in the Horn of Africa.

“Lebanese Security” Is the Pretext for the Naval Babel around Lebanon’s Shores


DEBKAfile Exclusive Military Report

September 4, 2006, 11:37 AM (GMT+02:00)


The extraordinary buildup of European naval and military strength in and around Lebanon’s shores is way out of proportion for the task the European contingents of expanded UNIFIL have undertaken: to create a buffer between Israel and Hizballah.

Close investigation by DEBKAfile’s military and intelligence sources discloses that “Lebanese security” and peacemaking is not the object of the exercise. It is linked to the general anticipation of a military clash between the United States and Israel, on one side, and Iran and possibly Syria on the other, some time from now until November

This expectation has brought together the greatest sea and air armada Europe has ever assembled at any point on earth since World War II: two carriers with 75 fighter-bombers, spy planes and helicopters on their decks; 15 warships of various types – 7 French, 5 Italian, 2-3 Green, 3-5 German, and five American; thousands of Marines – French, Italian and German, as well as 1,800 US Marines.

Bush has problems


wehategringos.com

mosnas stuff

Meteor Crater
Arizona, USA

The Meteor Crater in the state of Arizona was the first crater to be identified as an impact crater. Between 20,000 to 50,000 years ago, a small asteroid about 80 feet in diameter impacted the Earth and formed the crater.
Meteor Crater
Arizona, USA
The crater is the best preserved crater on Earth and measures 1.2 km in diameter. For many years, scientists had denied that there were any impact craters on Earth. The origin of this crater has been a source of controversy for many years. The discovery of fragments of the Canyon Diablo meteorite help prove that the feature was in fact an impact crater.

Whoa! Meteor Crash

Check out the meteor that these guys seen.

They were mighty lucky that this was a little one.

I found a few cool videos of meteors on google.

The picture on the right is actually "Hale Bopp" a comet, that we actually saw from 3&C a few years ago, not a meteor, but it's a cool photo.

The Peekskill Meteorite

METEOR 1

METEOR 2

METEOR 3


~Here's a very zorch meteorite~

~Warnin...Do not view this if ya are a stoner~

Click picture to enlarge


Rover's Martian Meteorite


Summary of All Meteorites

Most of our knowledge of the outer universe and of our own sun comes from spectrographic analysis of optical, radio and radar wavelength emissions. We have first hand data from a few hundred samples collected from the moon during the Apollo "flights" and some automated analysis in situ of the moon and of Mars. For the rest of the solar system we have to rely on meteorites, small fragments of rock ejected from a planetary surface when impacted by a larger primary meteorite. Incredibly, after a few million years floating about in inner space, some of these chunks come within the Earths gravitational field and crash onto the surface, some surviving almost intact. The collection of 27,500 new meteorite fragments lying on the ice of Antarctica and a resurgence of collecting from desert areas where they are both better preserved and more visible, has greatly increased our knowledge of the composition of both some of the other planets and of the possible primary material of which the planets are formed.

Why is Bush getting so excited about the situation in Lebanon, when he obviously stood back and did nothing when Harriri was assasinated and Lebanon was invaded by Israel?

Bush Denounces Lebanese Minister's Assassination
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
HONOLULU — President Bush strongly condemned the assassination of a Lebanese leader Tuesday as the work of "the vicious face of those who oppose freedom," and called it an effort to destabilize the democratically elected government of Prime Minister Fuad Saniora.

This is much different from his views on the invasion of Lebanon and the assination of Harriri.

Thursday, July 20, 2006
Why does the US endorse Israels destruction of Lebanon?



While the US gave to Israel, and even armed them with bunker busters.

Move could mean many targets yet to be hit in Lebanon
David S. Cloud, Helene Cooper, New York Times
Saturday, July 22, 200

At this time most of the world condemned the invasion, while the US stood back and did nothing.

Saturday, July 29, 2006
What countries support a cease fire?

Blood & Oil~ww1 in the Middle East

“Blood & Oil: World War One in the Middle East,” PBS documentary (Commentator and Consultant),

Third Coast Films, 2006

Blood and Oil - The Middle East in World War I" Gives Insight Into How Western Powers 90 Years Ago Still Influence the Violence We See Today in the Middle East

Edward J. Erickson - Author

Lt. Col. Edward J. Erickson, US Army (retired) has a Ph.D. from the University of Leeds.
He is the author of numerous books and articles on the Ottoman Army during the early twentieth century.

“Blood & Oil: World War One in the Middle East,” PBS documentary (Commentator and Consultant),

Third Coast Films, 2006

VIDEO

George W Bush in Hanoi~APEC~And some Viet Nam history

Washington Post

APEC Leaders Speak Out on N. Korea Nukes

By PAUL ALEXANDER
The Associated Press
Sunday, November 19, 2006; 12:31 PM

HANOI, Vietnam -- They would not put it in writing, but the Pacific Rim's often-divergent leaders joined together Sunday to say they worry about North Korea's nuclear weapons program and to urge the reclusive country to resume negotiations.

The verbal statement capped five days of diplomatic discussions in the aftermath of the North's first nuclear test on Oct. 9, which raised concerns about proliferation in the region. But the method of delivery provided a curious culmination to the issue that overshadowed the economic topics that are the core of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum's mission.

Even some of the participants were unsure why the statement was not issued in written form, just orally at the end of the two-day leaders' summit and by Vietnam's president at a news conference after reporters asked him about it.
-------------------------------------------------

President Bush looks strangely out of place as he shakes hands with Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet. He looks blankly at the camera, with the image of Ho Chi Minh, directly behind him as a reminder that this is a Communist country and that Ho Chi Minh was and still is one of the most revered leaders in this part of the world. We might wonder if Bush has any knowledge of the history of Viet Nam, or if he even cares about it beyond making it just another place to establish a Democracy.


Indonesian viewpoint

Indonesian News


Turkish Press

Pacific Rim leaders up ante on Doha Round in Hanoi


San Francisco Chronicle

Bush fails to win pact at Hanoi conference

Pacific Rim nations OK only a mention about North Korea

Michael A. Fletcher, Washington Post

Monday, November 20, 2006

(11-20) 04:00 PST Ho Chi Minh City -- President Bush arrived in this bustling financial center Sunday after achieving mixed results in his attempts to persuade Pacific Rim countries to press North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons.

The two-day Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Hanoi concluded with its members agreeing to a statement urging North Korea to follow through on pledges to dismantle its nuclear weapons program.

Bush had hoped for a more formal, written declaration from APEC members on the issue but was forced to settle for an oral statement, which was read aloud by Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet at the summit's closing session.



HO CHI MINH Biography

Born: May 19, 1890
Nghe An, Vietnam
Died: September 3, 1969
Hanoi, Vietnam
Vietnamese revolutionary and president

He was originally named Nguyễn Sinh Cung and is popularly called Bác Hồ ('Uncle Hồ') in Vietnam. The name Hồ Chí Minh means "he who enlightens." He is most famous for being the founder of the Viet Minh independence movement in 1941 and establishing Communist control in part of Vietnam in the 1950s.

Ho was fluent in English, several dialects of Chinese, French, German and Russian besides his native Vietnamese.



Ho Chi Minh City began as a small fishing village known as Prey Nokor. The area that the city now occupies was originally swampland, and was inhabited by Khmer people for centuries before the arrival of the Vietnamese.

In 1623, King Chey Chettha II of Cambodia (1618-1628) allowed Vietnamese refugees fleeing the Trinh-Nguyen civil war in Vietnam to settle in the area of Prey Nokor, and to set up a custom house at Prey Nokor. Increasing waves of Vietnamese settlers, which the Cambodian kingdom, weakened because of war with Thailand, could not impede, slowly Vietnamized the area. In time, Prey Nokor became known as Saigon.

In 1698, Nguyen Huu Canh, a Vietnamese noble, was sent by the Nguyen rulers of Hu? to establish Vietnamese administrative structures in the area, thus detaching the area from Cambodia, which was not strong enough to intervene. He is often credited with the expansion of Saigon into a significant settlement. A large Vauban citadel called Gia Dinh has been built.

Sébastien Le Prestre, Seigneur de Vauban and later Marquis de Vauban (May 15, 1633 - March 30, 1707), commonly referred to as Vauban, was a Marshal of France and the foremost military engineer of his age, famed for both his skill to design fortifications and to break through them.
The citadel was later destroyed by the French over the Battle of Chi Hoa.

Conquered by France in 1859, the city was influenced by the French during their colonial occupation of Vietnam, and a number of classical western-style buildings in the city reflect this. So much so that Saigon was called "the Pearl of the Far East" (Hòn ng?c Vi?n Ðông) or "Paris in the Orient" (Paris Phuong Ðông).

In 1954, the French were defeated by the Communist Viet Minh in the Battle of Ði?n Biên Ph?, and withdrew from Vietnam. Rather than recognizing the Communists as the new government, they gave their backing to a government established by Emperor B?o Ð?i. B?o Ð?i had set up Saigon as his capital in 1950. At that time Saigon and the city of Cholon (Ch? L?n), which was inhabited primarily by Vietnamese Chinese, were combined into one administrative unit, called the Capital of Saigon (Ðô Thành Sài Gòn in Vietnamese). When Vietnam was officially partitioned into North Vietnam (the Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (the Republic of Vietnam), the southern government, led by President Ngô Ðình Di?m, retained Saigon as its capital.

At the conclusion of the Vietnam War, on April 30, 1975, the city came under the control of the Vietnam People's Army. In the U.S. this event is commonly called the "Fall of Saigon," while in Vietnam it is called the "Liberation of Saigon."

In 1976, upon the establishment of the unified communist Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the city of Saigon (including Cholon), the province of Gia Ð?nh and 2 suburban districts of two other nearby provinces were combined to create Ho Chí Minh City in honour of the late communist leader Ho Chí Minh.

THE TAO OF DUBYA

VietNam/Iraq Reply
By Poor Daddy Nov 17th 2006 at 7:45 pm EST
It took 30+ years, but bush finally made it to VietNam!
Then, proving to 2/3 of America that knows hes an idiot that he's an idiot, says the lesson we have to learn from VietNam is DON'T QUIT!
What about ... you can't beat an insurgency on their own soil?, or when you find yourself in a hole, stop digging?, or get the hell out of other people's civil war? or even something simple like tell the people the truth? But no, the lesson he learned was DON'T QUIT. I'll bet in his spare time he hits his thumb with a hammer cuz it feels so good when he stops! or shoves ever larger pretzels down his throat cuz it feels so good when he quits chokin'.
Ted Koppel on the Daily Show a couple nights ago said "20 something years ago george bush went to Washington to avoid going to VietNam. Now he goes to VietNam to avoid Washington."
Now I don't care who ya are, THAT'S FUNNY!

By ghandi Nov 18th 2006 at 11:24 am EST

Not much is funny to a man of my experience...
George bush went to Washington to avoid going to VietNam. Now he goes to VietNam to avoid Washington." ...Bwaaah..hahahahahha

Bush does at times bring me to hysterics...
humour is sometimes on the edge of tragedy.

In Viet Nam he also says, "it's just going to take a long period of time" for "an ideology of freedom to overcome an ideology of hate. Yet, the world that we live in today is one where they want things to happen immediately."
"We'll succeed unless we quit,"

Haahahahahaha What in the world is he trying to say? There is a polarity between freedom and hate? And that these are ideologies? Where's the love? That's the opposite of hate. Where are the prisons? To have your rights taken away is the opposite of freedom. Then he ends it up a profound revelation about success...Bwaahahahah

As for local Vietnamese, the turnout for Bush as his motorcade moved past storefronts was far more subdued that the enthusiastic reception that greeted President Clinton six years ago. A few people waved, but most merely watched impassively. Weary of war, many here deeply disapprove of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

I just hope that they have a sense of humour.



The Tao of Dubya

by William Thomas
10/24/05

Is Bush on the beam? Is the world’s most churchgoing country truly following the path pioneered by sages? Or savages?

To find out, it seems appropriate to compare Dubya’s most noteworthy sayings with the aphorisms of one the world’s first great teachers, Lao Tzu (pronounced Lao “Tsay”). As a seeker of the Way that brings harmony to all human relationships and actions, Lao Tzu’s insights have inspired millions over millennia to follow his one-line prescriptions for right action that are so simple each can take a lifetime to master.

As leader of the world’s biggest rogue nation, committed to inspiring—through aerial bombardment and invasion if necessary—the 95% of humanity living outside its borders to find the same paths of violence, consumption, racism, graft, addiction and religious fundamentalism that has made the United States of America what it is today, Bush usually has something interesting to say on issues concerning us all. His firm grasp of logic known only to himself, his playful command of language, and his ineffable links with a bearded vengeful God who sent him to get Armageddon rolling have made him an American leader unique (many hope) in his qualifications to head an office to which he has yet to be elected.

Bush blocks research on global warming

Democrats Call for a Formal Investigation of Bush Political Appointees Blocking Legit Science Research on Dangers of Global Warming

Contact: Alex Formuzis (202) 224-7340
Friday, September 29, 2006

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In light of reports Bush Administration political appointees blocked the publication of scientific research regarding global warming and its relationship to increased intensity of hurricanes, a group of Democratic lawmakers led by United States Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) called on the Inspector Generals of both the Commerce Department and NASA to launch formal investigations.

“We are deeply disturbed by what appears to be repeated instances of scientists at these agencies having publication of their research and access to the media blocked, solely based upon their views and conclusions regarding the reality and impacts of global warming,” wrote the lawmakers.

Most recently, reports that political appointees at the Department of Commerce blocked the publication of legitimate scientific research that detailed the link between global warming and increased hurricane intensity and strength.

“We strongly believe that research paid for with taxpayer funds should be published, disseminated and debated, rather than suppressed because it does not support the stated positions of the administration,” the lawmakers stated in their letter. “Unfortunately, this recent incident seems to be only the latest in a growing list of actions taken by this administration to conceal legitimate and scientifically sound findings that do not fit the President’s stated ideological preferences.”

Earlier this month, it was reported that last October, political appointees at NOAA barred a staff scientist, Thomas Knutson, from speaking with reporters because he has published studies which link global warming and hurricane strength. In January, NASA prevented James E. Hansen, director of its Goddard Institute for Space Studies, from speaking to the media after he delivered a scholarly lecture in which he concluded that greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced in order to slow global warming.

“Global warming is a serious threat to the security and health of the entire planet. Instead of demonstrating real leadership, the Bush Administration continues to wave the ideological right wing flag as they wage their war against facts, figures and reason,” Lautenberg added.

Those Senators who signed onto the letter are Harry Reid (D-NV), Jim Jeffords (I-VT), Tom Carper (D-DE), Joe Lieberman (I-CT), John F. Kerry (D-MA), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), Richard J. Durbin (D-IL), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD).

A copy of the letter is attached to this release:


September 29, 2006

Environmental reporter exposes junkscience.com

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, a peer-reviewed scientific journal serving environmental scientists worldwide, hired Paul Thacker as a general news reporter -- not an investigative journalist. But when Thacker came across junkscience.com, a Web site that challenges scientific findings on hotbed issues such as global warming, he decided to look into the background of the site's publisher, Steven J. Milloy. Thacker discovered that Milloy had ties to both the oil and tobacco industries -- and that he was on the Philip Morris payroll as a science consultant while he was discrediting studies on the dangers of second-hand smoke in his role as a columnist for foxnews.com.

After publishing his findings on Milloy, Thacker investigated cases in which ostensibly grassroots organizations promoted industry arguments on environmental issues. In an article called "Hidden Ties" he wrote about a group called Project Protect, which appeared to be made up of concerned Oregon citizens. Project Protect advocated legislation promoting the cutting of trees to prevent forest fires -- a position also promoted by the timber industry. Thacker discovered Project Protect had a $2.9 million media campaign, and was led by an individual who had strong ties to the timber industry.

Ex CIA Ray McGovern knows Robert Gates

The Cheney-Gates Cabal

by Ray McGovern November 10, 2006

Full disclosure: Ray McGovern is indebted to Defense Secretary Rumsfeld for TV notoriety on May 4, when McGovern's impromptu questioning after a Rumsfeld speech in Atlanta elicited denials later shown to be false after fact-checks by the TV networks. McGovern's acquaintance with Robert Gates, whom the president has picked to succeed Rumsfeld, goes back 36 years to when Gates was a journeyman analyst in the CIA's Soviet foreign policy branch led by McGovern

Well folks, just want to say that I love animals, and being one myself, I believe in protecting our liberties. So must say that I'm appalled...or more like shocked and awed at HR 4239 The Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, the bill that has allready passed the senate, and waiting to be ok'd by the house. From what I read...If you do damage exceeding $10,000 in the defence of animal rights, you can be prosecuted as a terrorist, which could mean
...sayanara amigo's




Analysis of Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act

The Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act pushed by animal industry groups, corporations, and the politicians that represent them is ostensibly meant to target underground, illegal actions committed in the name of animal rights. It’s been in the works, in various forms, since the passage of the Animal Enterprise Protection Act in 1992: proponents say AEPA didn’t go far enough, and they need more sweeping legislation to crack down on illegal actions by underground groups like the Animal Liberation Front.

But underground activists won’t lose much sleep over this bill. Their actions are already illegal (and they know it). The government has already labeled them the “number one domestic terrorist threat.” And yet they continue to demonstrate that heavy-handed police tactics will not deter them.

Legal, above-ground activists are the ones that should be most concerned about this vague and overly broad legislation. And as we’ll see, it’s not just animal rights activists that should worry.

Read more about this unconstitutional subject on the dog blog.

dogster.com

Business as usual as LIEbrrrman and McCain cheerlead for Dubya

McCain and Lieberman Express Support For Sending More Troops to Iraq

Opposition to the Iraq war was the dominant factor in this week’s election. NBC’s Meet the Press invited Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) to discuss the issue. Both McCain and Lieberman expressed support for sending more
troops to Iraq.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What links Lieberman, McCain, Gingrich, Perle, Kristol, and Hoffa?
by NonNeocon Wednesday, Jul. 26, 2006 at 4:01 PM

Senators Joe Lieberman and John McCain aren't merely "hawkish"; as "Honorary Co-Chairmen" of a pre-Iraq-war spin machine called The Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, they were leading cheerleaders for a war that now threatens to mushroom out of all control--unless we remove the Liebermans, McCains, and their fellow war cheerleaders from our U.S. Congress.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Is this man an Independent? There's growing concern among independent voters in CT that Mr. Lieberman's so-called "independent candidacy" is a fraud on the voting public. CUIP Political Director sent a letter to Secretary of the State recom-mending certification of Lieberman as an independent be withheld.

Monarch butterflies in Santa Cruz California

In Santa Cruz in the 1950's the Eucalyptus trees along the ocean at Lighthouse point turned orange as they were covered by Monarch butterflies every year at this time. When most of the forest was removed years later, the Monarchs were not seen in large numbers again.
These elegant butterflies migrate from Canada to Southern Mexico every year, where they mate and go through another cycle. Wish that I could be there to see them.

Beauty for our souls
by silence
Sun Nov 12, 2006 at 11:17:59 PM EST

We haven't had one of these in a while.
The following shots are from the Natural Bridges state beach in Santa Cruz, California. Inland from the beach, in a eucalyptus grove, thousands of monarch butterflies congregate in clusters to spend the winter:

Time for Limbaugh to shut the *%#@$ up

Time For A Big Ol' Cup Of 'Shut The F*** Up'

Republican trolls who wrap up their anonymous and incomprehensible criticisms of progressives with the phrase, "and that's why your party never wins," need to shut the f*** up.

Bolton kills UN resolution for Israel withdrawal from Gaza

U.S. vetoes U.N. resolution condemning Israel

By Irwin Arieff
Reuters
Sunday, November 12, 2006; 7:36 AM

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States vetoed on Saturday a U.N. Security Council resolution urging an immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and condemning an Israeli attack there that killed 19 Palestinian civilians.

Nine of the council's 15 members voted for the measure, while four abstained: Britain, Denmark, Japan and Slovakia.

But the "no" vote cast by U.S. Ambassador John Bolton -- his second since he arrived at U.N. headquarters in August 2005 -- was enough to kill the resolution





The Latest on John Bolton Battle: Bolton Could be Appointed Deputy and then Made "Acting Ambassador" with Pay Cut

So far, there has been no sign that the Bush administration's considerable efforts to get Ambassador John Bolton confirmed are yielding any success in changing the environment currently blocking him.

But the White House has considered a shocking plan to keep the Ambassador in his position at the UN that may not involve a second recess appointment to his current position -- which would mean that he could not be compensated, may not be eligible for travel funds, may not be able to actually use government facilities for his work, and would possibly be time limited to a certain number of days that he could remain in this position, even if largely stripped of all taxpayer support.

The White House is studying appointing Bolton as one of the deputies at the United Nations, specifically the "political deputy." This position also carries the title of Ambassador, as do four other slots at the US Mission to the UN. Bolton would take a pay cut, and would then be made "Acting Ambassador" and chief of mission.

US Senator John Tester~A glimmer of hope for organic foods

November 10, 2006
International Organic Sector Celebrates Election of Organic Farmer Jon Tester to United States Senate

Jon Tester, an organic farmer and leader in the organic movement since 1987, has been elected as a US Senator from the state of Montana. A third generation farmer from Big Sandy, Montana, he has been farming organically for nearly twenty years.

In 2005, Tester and his wife Sharla were named outstanding agricultural leaders by the College of Agriculture at Montana State University. Their T-Bone Farms is a diversified organic operation with 1400 acres (567 hectares).

~VIDEO~


This comes as good news to us that appreciate real food, with no herbacides or pesticides. Not to mention the G word, but I will, because genetic engineering of our farm crops is a dangerous and unproved technology. We allready have many problems in this regard, especially in our corn crops, which all seem to contain traces of engineered genes. This is because the wind carries the pollen to crops that are supposedly organic. If you ever bite into a true organic carrot, that is not soaked in carroteen water for color, you will cast a suspicious eye on those found at the supermarket. I like to keep my hopes high, so lets also think about relaxing government controls on organic foods, seeds, and especially herbs.

~VETERANS DAY~

Mike Royko (September 19, 1932 – April 29, 1997)was a long-running newspaper columnist in Chicago, Illinois.

Penned in 1993.

I just phoned six friends and asked them what they will be doing on Monday.

They all said the same thing: working.

Me, too.

There is something else we share. We are all military veterans.

And there is a third thing we have in common. We are not employees of the federal government, state government, county government, municipal government, the Postal Service, the courts, banks, or S & Ls, and we don’t teach school.

If we did, we would be among the many millions of people who will spend Monday goofing off.

Which is why it is about time Congress revised the ridiculous terms of Veterans Day as a national holiday.

The purpose of Veterans Day is to honor all veterans.

So how does this country honor them?

By letting the veterans, the majority of whom work in the private sector, spend the day at their jobs so they can pay taxes that permit millions of non-veterans to get paid for doing nothing.

As my friend Harry put it:

"First I went through basic training. Then infantry school. Then I got on a crowded, stinking troop ship that took 23 days to get from San Francisco to Japan. We went through a storm that had 90 percent of the guys on the ship throwing up for a week.

"Then I rode a beat-up transport plane from Japan to Korea, and it almost went down in the drink. I think the pilot was drunk.

"When I got to Korea, I was lucky. The war ended seven months after I got there, and I didn’t kill anybody and nobody killed me.

"But it was still a miserable experience. Then when my tour was over, I got on another troop ship and it took 21 stinking days to cross the Pacific.

"When I got home on leave, one of the older guys at the neighborhood bar — he was a World War II vet — told me I was a ----head because we didn’t win, we only got a tie.

"So now on Veterans Day I get up in the morning and go down to the office and work.

"You know what my nephew does? He sleeps in. That’s because he works for the state.

"And do you know what he did during the Vietnam War? He ducked the draft by getting a job teaching at an inner-city school.

"Now, is that a raw deal or what?"

Of course that’s a raw deal. So I propose that the members of Congress revise Veterans Day to provide the following:

- All veterans — and only veterans — should have the day off from work. It doesn’t matter if they were combat heroes or stateside clerk-typists.

Anybody who went through basic training and was awakened before dawn by a red-neck drill sergeant who bellowed: "Drop your whatsis and grab your socks and fall out on the road," is entitled.

- Those veterans who wish to march in parades, make speeches or listen to speeches can do so. But for those who don’t, all local gambling laws should be suspended for the day to permit vets to gather in taverns, pull a couple of tables together and spend the day playing poker, blackjack, craps, drinking and telling lewd lies about lewd experiences with lewd women. All bar prices should be rolled back to enlisted men’s club prices, Officers can pay the going rate, the stiffs.

- All anti-smoking laws will be suspended for Veterans Day. The same hold for all misdemeanor laws pertaining to disorderly conduct, non-felonious brawling, leering, gawking and any other gross and disgusting public behavior that does not harm another individual.

- It will be a treasonable offense for any spouse or live-in girlfriend (or boyfriend, if it applies) to utter the dreaded words: "What time will you be home tonight?"

- Anyone caught posing as a veteran will be required to eat a triple portion of chipped beef on toast, with Spam on the side, and spend the day watching a chaplain present a color-slide presentation on the horrors of VD.

- Regardless of how high his office, no politician who had the opportunity to serve in the military, but didn’t, will be allowed to make a patriotic speech, appear on TV, or poke his nose out of his office for the entire day.

Any politician who defies this ban will be required to spend 12 hours wearing headphones and listening to tapes of President Clinton explaining his deferments.

Now, deal the cards and pass the tequila.

- Mike Royko