Why Would the US Attack Iran?

Flashback 2002:
"Why would Iraq attack America or use nuclear weapons against us? I'll tell you what I think the real threat (is) and actually has been since 1990 -- it's the threat against Israel, ... the American government doesn't want to lean too hard on it rhetorically, because it is not a popular sell ..."
- Philip Zelikow, former member of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board and executive director of the 9/11 Commission. Statement made at the University of Virginia on Sep. 10, 2002

Here we go again, or so it would seem. Despite the fact that Iran poses no military threat to the U.S. and the fact that to date there is absolutely no evidence backing the claim that Iran is developing nuclear weapons, American/Israeli saber rattling at Iran is only growing in volume. With the U.S. busy failing in Iraq, losing all of its initial gains in Afghanistan, and being humiliated in the face of actual nuclear proliferation, no military assault on Iran could conceivably be in America's interest.

Although military action against Iran is certainly not in America's interest, it certainly is in Israel's interest and the U.S. is fully aware of it. Now that the U.S. has eliminated Iraq as a viable threat to Israel, the only other state in the region that challenges Israel's regional hegemony is Iran. Israel has left no doubt that it considers military aggression a viable option with respect to Iran. Nevertheless, clearly it would suit Israel even better if the United States would attack Iran on its behalf as they have been lobbying for. Not surprisingly, this is precisely what the Israel-Firsters in Washington have been openly calling for. So make no mistake about it, if we - as in the United States - opt to attack Iran, it will be for the benefit of Israel.

MORE->

Firms Seek Access to Burma Oil Fields Despite Bloody Crackdown

By Thomas Hogue/AP Writer/Bangkok

September 29, 2007—Just last Sunday—when marches led by Buddhist monks drew thousands in Burma's biggest cities—Indian Oil Minister Murli Deora was in the country's capital for the signing of oil and gas exploration contracts between state-controlled ONGC Videsh Ltd and Burma's military rulers.

The signing ceremony was an example of how important Burma's oil and gas resources have become in an energy-hungry world. Even as Burma's military junta intensifies its crackdown on pro-democracy protests, oil companies are jostling for access to the country's largely untapped natural gas and oil fields that activists say are funding a repressive regime.

China—Burma's staunchest diplomatic protector and largest trading partner—is particularly keen on investing in the country because of its strategic location for pipelines to feed the Chinese economy's growing thirst for oil and gas.

Companies from South Korea, Thailand and elsewhere also are looking to exploit the energy resources of the desperately poor Southeast Asian country.

France's Total SA and Malaysia's Petroliam Nasional Bhd, or Petronas, currently pump gas from fields off Burma's coast through a pipeline to Thailand, which takes 90 percent of Burma's gas output, according to Thailand's PTT Exploration & Production PLC.

But investing in Burma has brought accusations that petroleum corporations offer economic support to the country's repressive junta, and in some cases are complicit in human rights abuses. This week's bloody clampdowns on protests have escalated the activists' calls for energy companies to pull out of the country.

"They are funding the dictatorship," said Marco Simons, US legal director at EarthRights International, an environmental and human rights group with offices in Thailand and Washington. "The oil and gas companies have been one of the major industries keeping the regime in power."

Demonstrations that started a month ago over a spike in fuel prices have become a broader protest against the military rulers. Ten people were killed in two days of violence this week. Soldiers fired automatic weapons into a crowd of demonstrators in Rangoon on Thursday and occupied Buddhist monasteries and cut public Internet access Friday. The moves raised concerns the crackdown on civilians was set to intensify.

Burma's proven gas reserves were 19 trillion cubic feet at the end of 2006, according to BP PLC's World Review of Statistics. While that's only about 0.3 percent of the world's total reserves, at current production rates and Thailand's contract price for gas, the deposits are worth almost $2 billion a year in sales over the next 40 years.

"It points to the potential that Myanmar [Burma] has," said Kang Wu, a fellow at the University of Hawaii's East-West Center in Honolulu.

Altogether, nine foreign oil companies are involved in 16 onshore blocks exploring for oil, enhancing recovery from older fields, or trying to reactivate fields where production has been suspended, according to Total's Web site. A block is an area onshore or offshore in which an oil company is granted exploratory and discovery rights.

Offshore, nine companies, including Total, Petronas, PTTEP, South Korea's Daewoo International Corp, Chinese state-run companies China National Offshore Oil Corp, or CNOOC, and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, or Sinopec, are exploring or developing 29 blocks, Total said.

Despite economic sanctions against Burma by the United States and the European Union, Total continues to operate the Yadana gas field, and Chevron Corp has a 28 percent stake through its takeover of Unocal. Existing investments were exempt from the investment ban.

Both Total and Chevron broadly defended their business in the nation.

Mass killing of Buddhist Monks in Yangon

Associated Press

Myanmar: Monks besieged; Internet cut
The military leadership appeared, at least temporarily, to repress the democracy movement that has shaken the country.

Associated Press

Last update: September 28, 2007 – 9:13 PM

Myanmar: Monks besieged; Internet cut
Sniper found not guilty of murdering two Iraqis
YANGON, MYANMAR - Soldiers and police took control of the streets Friday, firing warning shots and tear gas to scatter the few pro-democracy protesters who ventured out as Myanmar's military junta sealed off Buddhist monasteries and cut public Internet access.
On the third day of a government crackdown, the streets were empty of the mass gatherings that had peacefully challenged the regime daily for nearly two weeks.

"Bloodbath again! Bloodbath again!" a Yangon resident yelled while watching soldiers break up one march.

Thousands of monks had provided the backbone of the protests, but they were besieged in their monasteries, penned in by locked gates and barbed wire surrounding the compounds in the two biggest cities, Yangon and Mandalay. Troops stood guard outside and blocked nearby roads to keep the monks isolated.

Many Yangon residents feared that the crackdown had fatally weakened a movement that began nearly six weeks ago as small protests over fuel price hikes and grew into demonstrations by tens of thousands demanding an end to 45 years of military rule.

The corralling of the monks was a serious blow. They carry high moral authority in the predominantly Buddhist nation of 54 million people, and the protests had mushroomed when the clergymen joined in.

"The monks are the ones who give us courage. I don't think that we have any more hope to win," said a young woman who had taken part in a huge demonstration Thursday that was broken up when troops shot some of the protesters. She said she had not seen her boyfriend and feared he was arrested.

Burma: From comment on Ko Htike's Blog

28 September 2007 19:17

"We just got phone call with our sister living in Yangon about a few hours ago.
We saw on BBC world, saying that 200 monks were arrested. The true picture is far worse!!!!!!!!!
For one instance, the monastery at an obscure neighborhood of Yangon, called Ngwe Kyar Yan (on Wei-za-yan-tar Road, Yangon) had been raided early this morning.
A troop of lone-tein (riot police comprised of paid thugs) protected by the military trucks, raided the monastery with 200 studying monks. They systematically ordered all the monks to line up and banged and crushed each one's head against the brick wall of the monastery. One by one, the peaceful, non resisting monks, fell to the ground, screaming in pain. Then, they tore off the red robes and threw them all in the military trucks (like rice bags) and took the bodies away.

The head monk of the monastery, was tied up in the middle of the monastery, tortured , bludgeoned, and later died the same day, today. Tens of thousands of people gathered outside the monastery, warded off by troops with bayoneted rifles, unable to help their helpless monks being slaughtered inside the monastery. Their every try to forge ahead was met with the bayonets.

When all is done, only 10 out of 200 remained alive, hiding in the monastery. Blood stained everywhere on the walls and floors of the monastery.

Please tell your audience of the full extent of the fate of the monks please please !!!!!!!!!!!!

'Arrested' is not enough expression. They have been bludgeoned to death !!!!!!"

A.A.

Hong Kong



BBC News

Last Updated: Friday, 28 September 2007, 15:29 GMT 16:29 UK

Accounts from inside Burma

FRIDAY, 28 SEPTEMBER
I am in regular contact with my family and friends in Burma. There is a humanitarian crisis happening there at the moment. Because of the demonstrations, the street vendors and stalls selling vegetables and cooked food are no longer to be found on the streets of Rangoon. People are scared to go out to buy food. Most don't have proper cooking facilities and rely of cheap food sold on the streets. The mains water is foul and undrinkable and everyone relies on five gallon purified water bottles. They are not being delivered at the moment. The curfew is hurting the Muslim population quite badly. During Ramadan, the myriad street restaurants are thronged in the evening and early in the morning when large extended families would be eating together. Now they have to cope in their in home with whatever facilities are available. The increased fuel costs have almost doubled the cost of all essentials. John, UK

Police are everywhere in Yangon (Rangoon). They are arresting demonstrators on the streets, searching houses and arresting innocent people. They don't want the UN envoy to see the truth of the demonstrations in Burma. The foreign media is not getting the number of deaths right, I am sure that there are many more killed than the BBC is reporting. Shan, Rangoon

People seem to be determined to continue, despite the bullets, beatings and killings. I hear right now that shooting is still going on near our office. What we need from the international community is not just discussion on sanction or verbal pressure. Defenceless citizens are risking their lives simply to make their voice heard to live in a country free of oppression and extreme poverty, which they have been enduring for the past 19 years. Now is the time for the international community to take action. Anonymous international resident, Rangoon

A group of more than 50 soldiers and riot police just passed in front of our office. They are planning something but I do not know what. About 14:00 I saw a group of protesters - about 30 people - being arrested and prepared to be taken somewhere else by soldiers with green scarfs. They were also forced to squat with their hands behind their heads like prisoners. Teargas was used but I heard no gun shots. One of my colleague just told me that there is a large group of protesters in another part of town. He said that they were swearing at the riot police. The internet is down since last night. People are saying that the government did this to prevent Burmese people sending information to foreign media about what's going on in the country. Only a handful of people, including me, have access to the internet as embassies and big companies have their own satelite links for the internet. Myat, Rangoon

Now all the internet connections and phone lines are cut. The government worries that we will send evidence of their terrible acts to the outside world. Our people are sad and angry with this government. We are all suffering from their terrible rule. But we don't have the capacity to do anything against them. If we do something, we will be killed and our families will suffer. We don't have any choice, because we are born in Myanmar (Burma). We know it will be over one day. We only wish this day will come soon. B L, Rangoon

Because of the security situation, oficially now non-essential staff are no longer required to come to the office. I will be leaving the office at 11:00 and I'll be staying at home until things get better. The UN special envoy Gambari will leave New York for for Yangon (Rangoon) tomorrow to negotiate with the government. I hope they can work things out though there's a slim chance they will. Anonymous Rangoon resident


THURSDAY, 27 SEPTEMBER
It is 14:30 now and the riot police and army are trying to disperse the crowds on the street. At about 12:30 the whole street was filled with demonstrators. Then the soldiers started to shoot and use tear gas and then they charged with batons and took away some of the protesters. I heard that one person was killed. The crowds were yelling at the soldiers "your task is not to kill us citizens". At about 14:00 about the soldiers advanced towards the road in front of our office shouting through a loudspeaker at the crowds to disperse. The demonstrators went away, probably to another part of the town. There were only about 12 monks leading them. Similar things are happening in other parts of the town where there are protests. There are soldiers in almost all strategic parts of the town trying to disperse the crowd. There is a little restraint still as they give warnings before doing anything and the people have some time to disperse. I hope that things will get better without more bloodshed. Anonymous Rangoon resident

They're beating the crowd in front of Traders Hotel. Around 2,000 were taking part in a peaceful demonstration. There were also monks and people sat down to pay respect. They started the beating as the people sat down to bow. Tear gas were used again. Someone saw 20 trucks full of soldiers heading towards downtown. The junta has begun a full scale war against innocent civilians. Sai, Rangoon

There are many deaths on the streets of Rangoon. There were many deaths by gun-shots but the military is taking away the bodies so that they can hide their inhumane violence on civilians. Now even spectators on the streets, who are not involved in the protests are being shot at. Wai, Rangoon

I live near the Ngwe Kyar Yan monastery in south Okkalapa. They came to the monastery last night. Only 20 monks escaped out of 200. One monk from this monastery passed away at the demonstration yesterday. The soldiers came at the middle of the night and beat up the monks. The head monk and the other 19 escaped. They beat the monks and loaded them onto a truck like animals. We could hear gunshots, screams and shouting. Soldiers shouted that they are not just going to shoot in the air, but also on people. Anonymous eyewitness, Rangoon

From the BBC Burmese Service: (At a monastery at midnight) The soldiers ran up to the first floor of the monastery and grabbed the head monk by the neck and dragged him downstairs. They beat up the other monks with batons and sticks. They kicked the sleeping novices to wake them up and ask them if any monks are hiding. The novices are shaking with fear. It is as if they are raiding a rebel camp. Anonymous eyewitness, Rangoon

A Hole in Mars

A Hole in Mars Close Up

In a close-up from the HiRISE instrument onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, this mysterious dark pit, about 150 meters across, lies on the north slope of ancient martian volcano Arsia Mons. Lacking raised rims and other impact crater characteristics, this pit and others like it were originally identified in visible light and infrared images from the Mars Odyssey and Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft. While the visible light images showed only darkness within, infrared thermal signatures indicated that the openings penetrated deep under the martian surface and perhaps were skylights to underground caverns. In this later image, the pit wall is partially illuminated by sunlight and seen to be nearly vertical, though the bottom, at least 78 meters below, is still not visible. The dark martian pits are thought to be related to collapse pits in the lava flow, similar to Hawaiian volcano pit craters.

Seven Possible Cave Skylights on Mars


Seven very dark holes on the north slope of a Martian volcano have been proposed as possible cave skylights, based on day-night temperature patterns suggesting they are openings to subsurface spaces. These six excerpts of images taken in visible-wavelength light by the Thermal Emission Imaging System camera on NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter show the seven openings. Solar illumination comes from the left in each frame. The volcano is Arsia Mons, at 9 degrees south latitude, 239 degrees east longitude.

A PLANE loaded with more than three tons of cocaine crashed yesterday after it was chased by military helicopters.

The Wings Of The Web

Wolflair From Mexico, joined Sep 2007, 10 posts, RR: 0
Posted Mon Sep 24 2007 13:33:43 your local time (3 days 22 hours 34 minutes ago) and read 18741 times:

According to several mexican newspapers, G-II reg. N987SA went down this morning in Yucatan, Mexico, about 20 nm from MID.

It has been reported the plane was carrying 3.2 tons of cocaine. Mexican Air Force EMB-145MP detected the G-II coming from the south (reportedly from Colombia).

Live Flight Tracker

Origin Fort Lauderdale Executive (KFXE)
Destination Cancun Int'l (MMUN)
N987SA (details)
DONNA BLUE AIRCRAFT INC (COCONUT CREEK FL)
Aircraft Grumman Academe (twin-turboprop) (G159/L)
Other flights between these airports
Route MNATE CANOA VINKA
Date Tuesday, Sep 18, 2007
Duration Unknown
Status result unknown (?)
Proposed/Assigned Actual/Estimated
Departure 07:00PM EDT 07:22PM EDT
Arrival 12:10AM GMT result unknown (?)
Speed 440 kts
Altitude 40000 feet

Usually drug dealers re-mark their own a/c, but this time the pictures are consistent with the N987SA listed in a.net db

Bloggers in Burma keep world informed during military crackdown

click to enlarge

Richard S. Ehrlich, Chronicle Foreign Service

(09-28) 04:00 PDT Bangkok -- Dodging a deadly military crackdown that has killed at least nine protesters, Burmese bloggers are on the front lines, providing news and photos of death and insurrection.

Their Internet blogs, written in Burmese and grammatically flawed English, are posted mostly by residents of Rangoon, the commercial port also known as Yangon, where Buddhist monks, pro-democracy activists and residents have been defying security forces for more than a week.

The bloggers rely on word-of-mouth, cell phones, online chat groups, instant messaging, and firsthand accounts of protesters facing barricaded streets, tear gas and gunfire from Burmese security forces. The best blogs provide photos, video and text updates purportedly by eyewitnesses, which are later confirmed by news organizations or, in some cases, can't be verified.

The nation's military regime has refused to grant visas to foreign correspondents, and has even blocked visa requests for many foreign tourists after the mass uprising worsened this week.



Ko Htike, Burmese blogger has been doing hands on reporting of eye witness accounts concerning confrontations between protesters and riot police. Here is one of his reports from an office worker that was injured by rubber bullets.

Below is an actual of what had happen yesterday on 27/9/07.


I am a Singaporean working in Myanmar for the past 11 years.
I was on my way to office( near Thuwana area) at around 4 to 4.30pm when the riot police block the road near "Super one, ILBC area". I stop my car with my wife and walk out. suddenly riot police and soldiers drove the truck around the corner and start firing shots at the crowd. we quickly ran to the side and squat down near the wall.
The soldiers came down and start to shoot at us. I was shot twice but i did not know what hit me. My both leg were bruised. the soldiers and police kicked us and the rest of the crowds into the drain and shouted that they would kill us if we look at them.


We were forced to stay in the drain for 15 mins and gather by the into a group.
A commander came and gather his troops and drove off to Tamwe direction.
After that ,i looked at my injures and and found injures on my left and right legs.
My wife found the "40mm riot control munnition" empty cartridge that the soldiers shoot at me.

I would like the embassy and media to know the actions of this army.
We are just ordinary citizen going to work and they just shot at us for no reason.
Imagine what they would do to the protesters!

I would like the Singapore government would make a strong stand against this violence crack down on the monks and people.

Nations must fight climate change like terrorism, Rice says

Well Folks: Looks like it's time to invade the White House


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday told delegates to a global climate change conference that countries around the world must work together to combat climate change, much as they cooperate against terror and the spread of disease.


"No one nation, no matter how much power or political will it possesses, can succeed alone," she said. "We all need partners, and we all need to work in concert."

Rice said the United States takes climate change seriously, "for we are both a major economy and a major emitter."

More profound monologue from Condosleezy

G:

Spectacular Aurora Borealis Displays

Hole in the Sun

The dark expanse below the equator of the Sun is a coronal hole--a low density region extending above the surface where the solar magnetic field opens freely into interplanetary space. Shown in false color, the picture was recorded on September 19th in extreme ultraviolet light by the EIT instrument onboard the space-based SOHO observatory. Studied extensively from space since the 1960s in ultraviolet and x-ray light, coronal holes are known to be the source of the high-speed solar wind, atoms and electrons that flow outward along the open magnetic field lines. The solar wind streaming from this coronal hole triggered colorful auroral displays on planet Earth begining late last week, enjoyed by spaceweather watchers at high latitudes.

Happy Trails 2U U2

Happy Trails 2U U2

Suzie-Q
& GEF

I wish you all the best in your journey and you will always be in my memories. Thank you for providing a place where I can do my rants and speak out on anything that enters my troubled mind. I will continue to post here and also to read the interesting news to be found here.



My favorite times here were the nonsense stuff like the post where we talked about the Spam Mobile. So I've decided to give it to you two for your journeys so you can travel incognito, kinda like Steinbeck in the Wayward Bus. I've done some remodeling on the inside and hope that you will be as snug as a bug in a rug...G:

.......zzzzzzzZZZZZZZ

Kucinich Wins Debate Poll, ABC Covers Up Results

Crooks and Liars

More coverage on Mother Jones

Posted by Diane E. Dees on 08/22/07

Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich's supporters (and, according to his website, even some non-supporters) are demanding that ABC explain its actions of the last few days.

On Monday afternoon, Congressman Kucinich took a significant lead in the ABC online poll: Who won the Democratic debate? About the time that he took that lead, ABC removed the poll from its prominent position on the ABC website. Then a new poll suddenly went up, "Who is winning the Democratic debate?"

~Mother Jones~


Why is the MSM (main stream media) snubbing Kucinich?

Kucinich statement on 9/11

G:

Dan Rather: Tased and Confused, The Still-Unreported Story of "Top Gun" George Bush

thepeoplesvoice.org 09/25/07

Greg Palast

New York- Newly unearthed records reveal that, in 2004, when Americans were in the midst of a brutal electoral battle over whether to reelect a president posing as a war hero, a commanding US reporter, Dan Rather, went AWOL.

Just three months before the election, Rather had a story that might have changed the outcome of that razor-close race. We now know that Dan cut a back-room deal to shut his mouth, grab his ankles, and let his network retract a story he knew to be absolutely true.

In September 2004 when Rather cowered, Bush was riding high in the polls. Now, with Bush's approval ratings are below smallpox, Rather has come out of hiding to shoot at the lame duck. Thanks, Dan.

It began on September 8, 2004, when Rather, on CBS, ran a story that Daddy Bush Senior had, in 1968, put in the fix to get his baby George out of the Vietnam War and into the Texas Air National Guard. Little George then rode out the war defending Houston from Viet Cong attack.

The story is stone-cold solid. I know, because we ran it on BBC Television a year before CBS (see that broadcast here). BBC has never retracted a word of it.

The rest of the story...

AND MORE LIES

LIES LIES

John McCain vs The Video Tape

‘Meet the Press’ transcript for Sept. 16, 2007

Dan Rather sueing CBS for $70 million over expose' on Bush's military record.

The former anchor, suing for $70 million, says he has uncovered new facts about his ouster.

By Scott Collins, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 21, 2007

Former CBS anchor Dan Rather is vowing an aggressive pursuit of his $70-million lawsuit against the network, saying he's determined to get his former bosses under oath and prove that they caved to government pressure in forcing his ouster.

"I didn't take this on to have it dwindle away," Rather said in a phone interview Thursday. "I'm prepared to fight it all the way. . . . I don't have to be afraid anymore of standing up and speaking out."


Dan Rather
Rather, who according to the suit drew a $6-million salary at CBS, said any money he collects will go to nonprofit groups, including the Committee to Protect Journalists. "People will say, 'You're suing for $70 million?' You bet I am," he said. "That's the only language that these corporations understand."

Rather, who exited CBS after his work on a widely questioned 2004 newsmagazine report about President Bush's Vietnam-era military service, sued the network and three top executives this week for breach of contract and fraud. The 75-year-old newsman said that officials at CBS and its parent company Viacom needed "regulatory favors" from administration officials who were upset by allegations in Rather's weekday "60 Minutes" report that Bush as a young man had received preferential treatment. That report relied on documents that an expert panel, convened by CBS, later said could not be verified.

More

Astrophysicist says that metalic meteorite caused crater in Peru

Dr. Jose Ishitsuka is a researcher in radio astronomy who leads the Astronomy Area of Ancon Observatory of Geophysical Institute of Peru. He holds a Ph.D. in Astrophysics from Tokyo University, Japan, and though his early research focused on stellar astrophysics, he also became interested is solar and geospace physics. Since 2002, he has been in charge of the project to transforming a 32 meter INTELSAT antenna into a Radio Telescope. His IHY activities include hosting two Kyushu University magnetometers, MAGDAS and CPMN, and his institute will soon be the site of a FMT telescope from Hida Observatory of Kyoto University.

I was reading about this on Dad2059’s Blog of Science Fiction/Science Fact and Random Acts of Weirdness the other day and have been trying to find more information on it.

More details emerged when astrophysicist Jose Ishitsuka of Peru's Geophysics Institute reached the site about 6 miles from Lake Titicaca. He confirmed that a meteorite caused a crater 42 feet wide and 15 feet deep, the institute's president, Ronald Woodman, told The Associated Press on Thursday.

Ishitsuka recovered a 3-inch magnetic fragment and said it contained iron, a mineral found in all rocks from space. The impact also registered a magnitude-1.5 tremor on the institute's seismic equipment — that's as much as an explosion of 4.9 tons of dynamite, Woodman said.

Meteorite Likely Caused Crater in Peru
By MONTE HAYES – 17 hours ago

LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peruvian astronomers said Thursday that evidence shows a meteorite crashed near Lake Titicaca over the weekend, leaving an elliptical crater and magnetic rock fragments in an impact powerful enough to register on seismic charts.

As other astronomers learned more details, they too said it appears likely that a legitimate meteorite hit Earth on Saturday — an rare occurence.

The Patraeus Effect: No one allowed out of the Green Zone

Diplomatic Convoys Curtailed in Iraq

By MATTHEW LEE
The Associated Press
Tuesday, September 18, 2007; 6:53 PM

WASHINGTON -- The United States on Tuesday suspended all land travel by U.S. diplomats and other civilian officials throughout Iraq, except in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone. The move follows a weekend incident involving private security guards protecting a diplomatic convoy in which a number of Iraqi civilians were killed.

In a notice sent to Americans in Iraq, the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad said it had taken the step to review the security of its personnel and possible increased threats to those leaving the Green Zone while accompanied by such security details.


~MORE~

Moveon.org? Sorry I joined

Flash Back: This is the news that I missed in March. Sadly, I believe that I will be cancelling my membership to Moveon.org.

Liberal Kingpins Help Bush War Agenda

MoveOn.org, Pelosi, fake "progressive left" Neo-Cons in sheep's clothing

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Almost six months after the Democrats recaptured both Houses and political sleeping gas sent the "progressive" left off into dream world, establishment liberals like Nancy Pelosi and the MoveOn.org foundation continue to whore themselves in service of the Neo-Con war agenda and their Bush administration pimps.

While the media obsesses about the sideshow of the attorney firings "scandal," preparations for a war with Iran and the continued feeding of U.S. troops into the Iraq meat grinder continues with the utter and total complicity of kingpin Democrats and their phony advocacy groups.

An organized campaign to marginalize anti-war Democrats in Congress and force through the $124 billion wartime spending bill was employed not by Republican Neo-Cons, but by Nancy Pelosi and the so-called anti-war "progressive" MoveOn.org foundation!

~VIDEO~ America: Freedom to Fascism - Director

Peace be with you wherever you journey...

Watch America: From Freedom to Fascism for free. This film Russo rushed through production likely right after he realized his close "Rockefeller friend" was a clear accessory to mass murder in the 9-11 events, as fascist plots were being hatched from the U.S. military and the Bush/Cheney clique around 9-11. However, Russo's film starts this slow fascist coup back in 1913, toward how the Federal Reserve began to create the perfect totalitarian monitored society--of which Nicholas Rockefeller's additions to this totalitarian society are detailed and coming out into the open only from Summer 2001 to the present.

Google once censored Russo's film and deleted it--until Aaron Russo himself authorized its uploading for people to watch for free. Google hacks remain silent--for now. The film has moved steadily up after Google stopped censoring it:

~VIDEO~ 1 hr. 51 min.

Get Down...Vote for Mike Gravel

Pelosi on Moveon.org: "would have preferred that they not do such an ad.”

Eli Pariser, executive director of MoveOn Political Action, in Manhattan yesterday.

Behind an Antiwar Ad, a Powerful Liberal Group


By MICHAEL LUO and JEFF ZELENY
Published: September 15, 2007

There is no mistaking the influence of MoveOn.org, with its 3.2 million members and powerful fund-raising apparatus, within the Democratic Party.

This liberal activist group has come to occupy a prominent seat at the table among the party elite, so much so that Republicans leaped at a chance to hold Democrats and their presidential candidates responsible for MoveOn’s positions after it ran an advertisement attacking the credibility of Gen. David H. Petraeus.

MoveOn, which has raised tens of millions of dollars for Democratic candidates since its inception in 1998, clearly enjoys friendly relations with Democratic Party officials. Its leaders have met several times over the year with Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, to discuss policy and strategy on ending the Iraq war.

MoveOn representatives also take part, as co-founders of a coalition of antiwar groups together under the umbrella Americans Against Escalation in Iraq, in a daily conference call with the Democratic leadership staff on Capitol Hill to coordinate efforts.

Despite conservatives’ efforts to lump together the grass-roots organization and the party and to force individual Democrats to take responsibility for MoveOn’s wordplay on General Petraeus, the top American commander in Iraq, as “General Betray Us” in its advertisement in The New York Times, the relationship between the two is often complicated and, at times, shows visible fractures.


Antiwar Ad Prompts Dispute

By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE
Published: September 15, 2007

An advertisement by MoveOn.org in The New York Times on Monday has become the focus of a rancorous political dispute that has now rippled through the presidential campaign.

The full-page, black-and-white advertisement questioned the integrity of Gen. David H. Petraeus, the American commander in Iraq. It ran on the first day of General Petraeus’s highly anticipated testimony before Congress on the progress of the war.

Republicans seized on the advertisement, saying it was unpatriotic because it suggested that General Petraeus, a decorated four-star general, should be called “General Betray Us.” They have used what MoveOn has acknowledged was inflammatory language to denounce the group as an extreme left-wing organization. And they have tried to lash the advertisement to the Democratic presidential candidates because MoveOn has ties to the party and is influential with its core voters.

In response to the MoveOn.org advertisement, another appeared in The New York Times yesterday, this one paid for by Rudolph W. Giuliani, a Republican candidate for president and former mayor of New York. It attacked Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, a leading Democratic candidate for president, suggesting that she was part of “orchestrated attacks" on the general with MoveOn.org. It said she “continued the character attack on General Petraeus and refused to denounce MoveOn.org’s ad."

On Tuesday, Mrs. Clinton criticized the report on the war, but not the general’s character. Asked later about the MoveOn advertisement, she avoided answering.

Marine takes a stand against the Iraq war

Taking a stand

I informed my chain of command of my beliefs. I could tell from that first conversation that things were not going to go well. I told them that I believed our presence in Iraq was unlawful. I explained that I no longer believed in a policy of war and that I would file as a conscientious objector. Simply put, I could no longer in good conscience participate in a combat role against the Iraqi people.

Seconds after the words left my mouth, my life changed. Inside I had more peace than I had felt in over a year. I knew immediately that I had done the right thing. However, I was aggressively disarmed, confined, and shut off from contacting anyone, including family or an attorney.

I was illegally confined to a cot in an operations room, placed under 24 hour guard, and escorted to the bathroom before I was formally charged with refusal to follow an order two weeks later. I remained confined until I pled guilty (with little choice) less than a week after that. I was immediately sent to Camp Arifjan in Kuwait to serve 30 days in a military prison. I was just released from the brig the other day and I’m now in the process of being "kicked out" with an "Other Than Honorable" discharge. I regret nothing.

After I told my command my beliefs, and once they realized they couldn't intimidate me and that I was serious, they decided that it was going to become an "information war".

~The rest of the story~

Success in Iraq? Heck of a job Bushie!

Iraq's Death Squads: On the Brink of Civil War

Most of the corpses in Baghdad's mortuary show signs of torture and execution. And the Interior Ministry is being blamed.

Published on Sunday, February 26, 2006 by the lndependent/UK

by Andrew Buncombe and Patrick Cockburn

Hundreds of Iraqis are being tortured to death or summarily executed every month in Baghdad alone by death squads working from the Ministry of the Interior, the United Nations' outgoing human rights chief in Iraq has revealed.

John Pace, who left Baghdad two weeks ago, told The Independent on Sunday that up to three-quarters of the corpses stacked in the city's mortuary show evidence of gunshot wounds to the head or injuries caused by drill-bits or burning cigarettes. Much of the killing, he said, was carried out by Shia Muslim groups under the control of the Ministry of the Interior.

Much of the statistical information provided to Mr Pace and his team comes from the Baghdad Medico-Legal Institute, which is located next to the city's mortuary. He said figures show that last July the morgue alone received 1,100 bodies, about 900 of which bore evidence of torture or summary execution. The pattern prevailed throughout the year until December, when the number dropped to 780 bodies, about 400 of which had gunshot or torture wounds.

UN: Iraqi refugees top 4 million

08/29/2007 09:57
UN - IRAQ

Geneva (AsiaNews/Agencies) – The number of Iraqis fleeing the incessant violent in their country has topped 4 million. According to data published by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), the number of internally displaced peoples and refugees will continue to rise. “An estimated 4.2 million Iraqis have been uprooted from their homes”, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokeswoman Jennifer Pagonis told journalists “with the monthly rate of displacement climbing to over 60,000”. According to Iraqi Red Crescent sources the number of internally displaced persons (Idp) are more than 80 to 100 thousand a month

BillyBobJoe nails General Betrayus

Iraq's Mandaeans 'face extinction'

By Angus Crawford
BBC News, Damascus 4 March 2007

The Sabian Mandaeans - one of the oldest religious groups in the world - are facing extinction, according to its leaders.

They claim that Islamic extremists in Iraq are trying to wipe them out through forced conversions, rape and murder.

The Mandaeans are pacifists, followers of Adam, Noah and John the Baptist.

They have lived in what is now Iraq since before Islam and Christianity.

More than 80% have been forced to flee the country and now live as refugees in Syria and Jordan.

Even there they do not feel safe - but they say western governments are unwilling to take them in.

~MORE~

The Grapes of Wrath & George W. Bush

When I was in the sixth grade my mom handed me a copy of The Grapes Of Wrath to read, and I was turned on to real literature from the salt of the earth. This was in 1949 and we lived about 40 miles from the Salinas Valley. In fact, before we moved to Santa Cruz, our whole family spent the summer picking grapes in the San Juaquine Valley while my dad was between jobs as a Chevrolet automobile mechanic. Needless to mention I loved the writing of Steinbeck and went on to read Of Mice And Men along with many other of his books. Mom was an avid reader and always had boxes of paperbacks. If anyone had told me that Steinbecks literature would be banned from public libraries I wouldn't have believed it.

Anyway, George W. Bush, who is planning his own Presidential Library, has cut funding to many of our public libraries. In particular, the library in Salinas where it is said that he got some of his early exposure to the power of literature.

Whacking Libraries

By Jim Hightower, AlterNet

In the depths of the Great Depression, not a single public library in America closed its doors. Banks went under, farmers went bankrupt, millions of people were out of work and out of luck—but the American public clung to its libraries, not only because of their inherent value to our society, but also because they are symbols of community strength and hope.

How lame, then, to see public officials today—from George W. Bush to city council members—reaching for the budget axe to whack library funding, forcing branches to close, valuable services to be eliminated, and hours to be cut. In a time of unprecedented wealth in America, in a time when governments dump billions of taxpayer dollars into corporate subsidies and boondoggles, our so-called leaders are failing the people by going after these true public treasures.

Check out Salinas, Calif.—a hard hit working-class city which is now the largest population in America without a public library. Ironically, this is the hometown of John Steinbeck, the prize-winning author of The Grapes of Wrath and other powerful works that chronicled the human spirit during the Depression years. Steinbeck knew that literature has the power to elevate the spirit and help people rise above difficult times, and it is said that he got some of his early exposure to the power of literature at the Salinas library.

Since Steinbeck's day, Salinas expanded to three branch libraries, one named after him. But now, all three have been closed by the city council, which is facing large budget deficits. This move shuts out the 1,900 people a day who count on the library for books, literacy courses, internet access, after-school programs and other services. Also, nearly three dozen employees have been shown the door.








“If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind. Were an opinion a personal possession of no value except to the owner; if to be obstructed in the enjoyment of it were simply a private injury, it would make some difference whether the injury was inflicted only on a few persons or on many. But the peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error.”
- On Liberty, John Stuart Mill

Book Burning

According to the Records of the Grand Historian, after Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China, unified China in 221 BC, his chancellor Li Si suggested suppressing the freedom of speech, unifying all thoughts and political opinions. This was justified by accusations that the intelligentsia sang false praise and raised dissent through libel.

Beginning in 213 BC, all classic works of the Hundred Schools of Thought — except those from Li Si's own school of philosophy known as legalism — were subject to burning.

Li Si proposed that all histories in the imperial archives except those written by the Qin historians be burned; that the Classic of Poetry, the Classic of History, and works by scholars of different schools be handed in to the local authorities for burning; that anyone discussing these two particular books be executed; that those using ancient examples to satirize contemporary politics be put to death, along with their families; that authorities who failed to report cases that came to their attention were equally guilty; and that those who had not burned the listed books within 30 days of the decree were to be banished to the north as convicts working on building the Great Wall. The only books to be spared in the destruction were books on medicine, agriculture and divination.

Bu$hco gave General Betrayus a Star

Bu$hco installed, then three star, General Patraeus to replace General George Casey who was subsequently confirmed as Chief of Staff of the United States Army. He was confirmed to that position by the Senate in a vote of 81-0 on January 26, 2007, and became a four star general. Petraeus oversees all coalition forces in Iraq and carries out the new Iraqi strategy plan outlined by the Bush administration.

Before leaving for Iraq Petraeus recruited a number of highly educated military officers, nicknamed "Petraeus guys" or "designated thinkers," to advise him as commander, including Col. Mike Meese, head of the Social Science Department at West Point and Col. H.R. McMaster, famous for his leadership at the Battle of 73 Easting in the First Gulf War and in the pacification of Tal Afar more recently, as well as for his doctoral dissertation on Vietnam-era civil-military relations entitled Dereliction of Duty. While most of Petraeus's closest advisers are American military officers, he also hired Lt. Col. David Kilcullen of the Australian Army, who was working for the US State Department.

IRAQ HEARINGS: Sen. Feingold Question.

Another Bin Laden Video

TIME SPIRIT

ZEITGEIST

Zeitgeist is originally a German expression that means "the spirit of the age", literally translated as "time (Zeit) spirit (Geist)". It describes the intellectual and cultural climate of an era. In German, the word has more layers of meaning than the English translation, including the fact that Zeitgeist can only be observed for past events.

Zeitgeist - The Movie: Federal Reserve (Part 1 of 5)




Zeitgeist - The Movie: Federal Reserve (Part 2 of 5)




Zeitgeist - The Movie: Federal Reserve (Part 3 of 5)




Zeitgeist - The Movie: Federal Reserve (Part 4 of 5)




Zeitgeist - The Movie: Federal Reserve (Part 5 of 5)

Bu$hco to write the "Petraeus Report" for the man on the ground.

Whose Report Is It, Anyway?

Washington Post

By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Thursday, August 16, 2007; 12:26 PM

The "Petraeus Report" -- the supposedly trustworthy mid-September reckoning of military and political progress in Iraq by Army Gen. David H. Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker -- is instead looking more like a White House con job in the making.

The Bush administration has been trying for months to restore its credibility on Iraq (as well as stall for time) by focusing on Petraeus -- President Bush's "main man" in Iraq -- and his report to Congress. But now it turns out it that White House aides will actually write the "Petraeus Report," not the general himself.


And although Petraeus has a long history of literally and figuratively playing the good soldier for Bush, it appears that the president still doesn't trust him enough to stay on message under the congressional klieg lights.

Julian E. Barnes and Peter Spiegel wrote in yesterday's Los Angeles Times: "Despite Bush's repeated statements that the report will reflect evaluations by Petraeus and Ryan Crocker, the U.S.

The Chaser Lampoons APEC Security

A funny thing happened on the way to APEC...

The Age


Tony Wright
September 8, 2007

THOSE naughty boys from The Chaser did a great deal more this week than humiliate a multimillion-dollar security apparatus. They put humour back into what had become a largely humourless business: protest.

They have, indeed, succeeded in challenging authority — the kernel of all protest — in a way that the thousands of citizens who will gather today in the streets of Sydney under the frightfully earnest Stop Bush Coalition banner could hardly dream of achieving.

Australian governments have spent close to $170 million to keep APEC leaders isolated from mere mortals on the basis that any one of them could be a terrorist.

There are about 3500 NSW police and 400 Australian Federal Police patrolling the streets, waters and skies of Sydney. Another 1500 military personnel, many of them armed to the teeth, are on the streets and perched on rooftops. This doesn't include the hundreds of security officials, Secret Service agents, bodyguards and assorted other tough guys who have flown in with the 21 APEC leaders.

The security operations are not limited to Sydney, either. As The Chaser team prepared its assault on Thursday, a swarm of police stopped and searched a convoy of mini-buses and cars at Tarcutta, half-way from Melbourne down the Hume Highway. The police reportedly said their task was "APEC-related". Those searched all happened to be members of the Socialist Party, bound for Sydney and, perhaps, mayhem.

The Socialist Party is one of a number of protest groups that have been involved for months in a weighty debate about whether today's big anti-Bush demonstration should be billed as "peaceful".

Security officials have been monitoring the debate — much of it played out on the internet. A sample from the group known as Resistance suggests just how humourless the protest movement has become. Perfectly straight-faced, two members of Resistance — an organisation that champions the right of Iraqis to kill Americans — posted a long discussion on the matter back in May, cogitating about how the Stop Bush collective could best "assert our right to protest in the context of a crackdown on civil liberties".

"A central debate in the collective has been around the question of whether we should explicitly publicise the protest as a peaceful demonstration," the Resistance authors declared.

The authors said members of the International Socialist Organisation and student-based left group Solidarity had stated they believed describing their protest as peaceful "would be to capitulate to the government and media fear campaign and exclude those who are planning to use other tactics at the protest.

Cheney & Iran: Here We Go Again?

Juan Cole Thursday, August 30, 2007

Barnett Rubin relays a message from a well-connected friend in Washington on the Cheney Administration's plans to roll out a military confrontation with Iran in September. He writes at the Global Affairs blog:

" My friend had spoken to someone in one of the leading neo-conservative institutions. He summarized what he was told this way:

They [the source's institution] have "instructions" (yes, that was the word used) from the Office of the Vice-President to roll out a campaign for war with Iran in the week after Labor Day; it will be coordinated with the American Enterprise Institute, the Wall Street Journal, the Weekly Standard, Commentary, Fox, and the usual suspects. It will be heavy sustained assault on the airwaves, designed to knock public sentiment into a position from which a war can be maintained. Evidently they don't think they'll ever get majority support for this--they want something like 35-40 percent support, which in their book is "plenty."

Judge Rejects Government Secrecy Claims

ACLU 9/05/2007

The Justice Department must give more substantial reasons for not complying with the ACLU's FOIA request for NSA spy program documents.

"Today’s ruling deals a blow to the administration’s sweeping and often unfounded secrecy claims," said Nasrina Bargzie, an attorney with the ACLU’s National Security Project. "When documents are withheld under the Freedom of Information Act, the government must have a better excuse for keeping the documents secret than ‘because we said so.’"

In December 2005, the ACLU and the National Security Archive submitted requests under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) seeking records relating to the NSA's warrantless wiretapping program. The ACLU and the Archive filed a lawsuit to enforce the FOIA requests and the case was consolidated with a similar lawsuit brought by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC). The government asked the court to permit it to keep the NSA documents secret.

So What ~ Miles Davis

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Davin Coburn from Popular Mechanics answers 9/11 questions

Two hours before he was to debate a member of "Scholars for 9/11 Truth" on a Seattle radio talk show, a research editor for "Popular Mechanics" magazine pulls out.

Seattle - The magazine Popular Mechanics, which recently released a book slamming the 9/11 Truth movement, cancelled a radio debate Tuesday between one of the book's contributors and a 9/11 truth activist just two hours before airtime. The debate, planned two weeks in advance, was scheduled to air on the Dori Munson talk radio program on KIRO AM 710, August the 22nd, at 1:00 PM.

Richard Curtis, PhD, an Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at several Seattle area colleges and an active member of "Scholars for 9/11 Truth," was scheduled to debate Davin Coburn, a research editor at Popular Mechanics and one of the contributors to the book Debunking 9/11 Myths: Why Conspiracy Theories Can't Stand Up To The Facts, on Munson's radio show. Munson, furious about the last minute cancellation, said that the books PR firm was responsible for the decision and that none of the contributors to the new book would be allowed on the air with anyone from "Scholars for 9/11 Truth."

The "Commander in Chief" is back in Iraq

~VIDEO~

Bush, in Iraq, Sees Possible Reduction in Troop Levels

New York Times

By DAVID S. CLOUD
Published: September 3, 2007

AL ASAD AIR BASE, Iraq, Sept. 3 — On a surprise visit to Iraq today for meetings with his commanders and top Iraqi officials, President Bush raised the possibility that some American troops could be withdrawn from Iraq if security there continues to improve.

Mr. Bush told reporters after talks with Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq, and Ryan C. Crocker, the ambassador to Iraq, that they “tell me that if the kind of success we are now seeing here continues, it will be possible to maintain the same level of security with fewer American forces.”

“I urge members of both parties in Congress to listen to what they have to say,” the president said. “Congress shouldn’t jump to conclusions until the general and the ambassador report.”

Mr. Bush, who took no questions, did not say how large a troop withdrawal was possible. Nor did he say whether he envisioned forces being withdrawn sooner than next spring, when the first of the additional 30,000 troops Mr. Bush sent to Iraq earlier this year are due to come home anyway.

Administration officials were quick to point out that no troop drawdown may be possible before then if security deteriorates, as it has before.

But Mr. Bush’s statement and his arrival at this sprawling American air base after flying in secret from Washington was a dramatic move with a clear political goal — to shift the focus this week away from Congress, where a series of hearings on the administration’s Iraq strategy are planned and to buttress White House contentions that its efforts in Iraq are beginning to produce results.

Departing Washington late Sunday in secret, Mr. Bush flew with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice directly to this sprawling air base in Anbar Province, the Sunni stronghold that has seen significant security improvements in recent months. There he was joined in the 110-degree heat by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staffs, who had flown separately.

British Troops leave Basra~Bu$h makes surprise visit to Baghdad

BAGHDAD September 3, 2007, 10:40 a.m. ET · Iraqi soldiers hoisted the nation's flag over the Basra palace compound Monday after British troops withdrew from their last garrison in the city, leaving the country's second biggest city largely in the hands in the hands of Iranian-backed Shiite militias.

At al-Asad Air Base west of Baghdad, meanwhile, President Bush made a surprise visit to Iraq, hoping to bolster his case that the buildup of U.S. troops is helping stabilizing the country.

And the U.S. command said a soldier was killed and three others injured when a roadside bomb blew up next to their patrol on Sunday outside of Baghdad. No further details were released.

British vehicles rumbled out of the gates of the sprawling Basra Palace compound after dark Sunday and headed for the Basra's international airport, about 12 miles away, where the last of Britain's 5,500 soldiers are based.

~MORE~

Former Chief of NIST's Fire Science Division Calls for Independent Review of World Trade Center Investigation

Architects & Engineers for 911 Truth

— By Alan Miller Aug 22, 2007

James Quintiere, Ph.D., former Chief of the Fire Science Division of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), has called for an independent review of NIST's investigation into the collapses of the World Trade Center Towers on 9/11.

Original Content at www.opednews.com

Dr. Quintiere made his plea during his presentation, "Questions on the WTC Investigations" at the 2007 World Fire Safety Conference. "I wish that there would be a peer review of this," he said, referring to the NIST investigation. "I think all the records that NIST has assembled should be archived. I would really like to see someone else take a look at what they've done; both structurally and from a fire point of view."

"I think the official conclusion that NIST arrived at is questionable," explained Dr. Quintiere. "Let's look at real alternatives that might have been the cause of the collapse of the World Trade Towers and how that relates to the official cause and what's the significance of one cause versus another."

Dr. Quintiere, one of the world's leading fire science researchers and safety engineers, also encouraged his audience of fellow researchers and engineers to scientifically re-examine the WTC collapses. "I hope to convince you to perhaps become 'Conspiracy Theorists', but in a proper way," he said.


Arthur Scheuerman, who has commented on this blog
is the Author of a book on the collapse of the Twin Towers
which was endorsed in the front by Dr. Quintiere.

Arthur Scheuerman has written a book through the eyes of a firefighter and structural engineer. His careful and objective analysis of the facts and images of the Towers’ collapse on 9/11 should be required reading for those who seek answers. —James Quintiere, Professor of Fire Protection Engineering, University of Maryland


Senior Military, Intelligence, Law Enforcement,
and Government Officials Question
the 9/11 Commission Report

Many well known and respected senior U.S. military officers, intelligence services and law enforcement veterans, and government officials have expressed significant criticism of the 9/11 Commission Report or have made public statements that contradict the Report. Several even allege government complicity in the terrible acts of 9/11. This website is a collection of their statements. It is not an organization and it should be made clear that none of these individuals are affiliated with this website.

Listed below are statements by more than 110 of these senior officials. Their collective voices give credibility to the claim that the 9/11 Commission Report is tragically flawed. These individuals cannot be simply dismissed as irresponsible believers in some 9/11 conspiracy theory. Their sincere concern, backed by their decades of service to their country, demonstrate that criticism of the Report is not irresponsible, illogical, nor disloyal, per se. In fact, it can be just the opposite.

~MORE~ A data base of over 600 professionals from the government, military sciences, engineering, education, etc.

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Olbermann & General Wesley Clark~Iraq Benchmarks

Duhbya and Idaho Senator Craig were at odds over FISA

Bush referred to Craig as “a goddamned traitor” and told the National Republican Senatorial Committee to start recruiting someone to run against the Idaho Senator in 2008.

GOP disillusionment with Bush increasing

by Doug Thompson December 28, 2005

While die-hard Republicans try to present a unified front in support of President George W. Bush’s evasion of the law and Constitution in ordering nonstop spying on Americans, splits are showing in the GOP ranks.

“What's wrong with it is several-fold,” former GOP Congressman Bob Barr says of the domestic spying. “One, it is bad policy for our government to be spying on American citizens through the National Security Agency. Secondly, it's bad to be spying on Americans without court oversight. And thirdly, it's bad to be spying on Americans apparently in violation of federal laws against doing it without a court order.”

Barr, one of the most conservative members of Congress when he served in the House, leads an increasing group of disenchanted Republicans who have had enough of Bush’s misuse of the law and encroachment of civil liberties that are supposed to be protected by the Constitution. He has joined with fellow conservative firebrand Phyllis Schlafly and the ultra-liberal American Civil Liberties Union to fight renewal of many of the rights-robbing provisions of the USA Patriot Act.

And he’s not alone. Republican Senators Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, Larry Craig of Idaho and Olympia Snowe of Maine question Bush’s actions along with Pennsylvania Republican Arlen Specter, chairman of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee.

~MORE~
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