Famous author Karen Hughes is retiring from Bu$hco's White House staff. She was appointed by Duhbya as counseler to the president from 2001 to 2002 and has been called the most powerful woman to serve in the White House.
Since the 1990s, Hughes has worked with George W. Bush :first as director of communications while he was governor of Texas, from 1995 to 2000, and then as counselor to the president from 2001 to 2002, while he was President of the United States.
Conservative commentator Tucker Carlson once said of Hughes, "I've obviously been lied to a lot by campaign operatives, but the striking thing about the way she lied was she knew I knew she was lying, and she did it anyway. There is no word in English that captures that. It almost crosses over from bravado into mental illness." Hughes is the credited co-author of Bush's 1999 memoir...
According to Mickey Herskowitz, who was ghost writing for George W Bush's book, "A Charge To Keep", Dubya was planning on going to war with Iraq. long before he ever took office.
Two years before 9/11, candidate Bush was already talking privately about attacking Iraq, according to his former ghost writer Houston: Two years before the September 11 attacks, presidential candidate George W. Bush was already talking privately about the political benefits of attacking Iraq, according to his former ghost writer, who held many conversations with then-Texas Governor Bush in preparation for a planned autobiography.
(CBS) BAGHDAD The Iraqi government on Tuesday approved draft legislation lifting immunity for foreign private security companies, sending the measure to parliament, a spokesman said.
The question of immunity has been one of the most serious dispute between the U.S. and the Iraqi government since a Sept. 16 shooting involving Blackwater USA guards that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead.
The government's decision followed reports that the State Department has promised Blackwater bodyguards immunity from prosecution in its investigation of last month's shooting.
The State Department immunity deal has delayed a criminal inquiry into the Sept. 16 killings and could undermine any effort to prosecute security contractors for their role in the incident that has infuriated the Iraqi government.
State Department officials declined to confirm or deny that immunity had been granted. Blackwater spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell has declined comment about the U.S. investigation.
Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the draft law approved Tuesday would overturn an immunity order known as Decree 17 that was issued by L. Paul Bremer, who ran the American occupation government until June 2004.
"It will be sent to the parliament within the coming days to be ratified," he told The Associated Press.
Article 1 of Section 2 of CPA order 17 issued by then US administrator for Iraq, Paul Bremer, stipulates that the "multinational force, foreign liaison missions, their personnel, property, funds and assets and all international consultants shall be immune from Iraqi legal process."
Blackwater is still doing business as usual from their headquarters in the Green Zone ...G:
--------------------------------------------
Ambassador Ryan Crocker said on Oct. 25th "Something bad did happen and what we've got to do now, sobered by that, is then look at the whole thing and that's what we've done,".
One of the most serious disputes with the Iraqi government hinges on an immunity decree for security contractors issued by L. Paul Bremer, who ran the American occupation government until June 2004. The order, known as decree 17, was made just before he handed sovereignty to an Iraqi interim government.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has said his Cabinet is drafting legislation that would overturn Decree 17 and force the State Department to replace Blackwater with another security company.
Crocker said he was unaware al-Maliki had taken that step.
"Decree 17 hasn't been discussed with us," he said, referring to a bilateral committee of U.S. and Iraqi officials that is handling the fallout from the Sept. 16 shooting.
There are 200 species of Mycoplasma. Most are innocuous and do no harm; only four or five are pathogenic. Mycoplasma fermentans (incognitus strain) probably comes from the nucleus of the Brucella bacterium. This disease agent is not a bacterium and not a virus; it is a mutated form of the Brucella bacterium, combined with a visna virus, from which the mycoplasma is extracted.
The pathogenic Mycoplasma used to be very innocuous, but biological warfare research conducted between 1942 and the present time has resulted in the creation of more deadly and infectious forms of Mycoplasma. Researchers extracted this mycoplasma from the Brucella bacterium and actually reduced the disease to a crystalline form. It was weaponised and is now present throughout not only the military, but also the civilian population.
For our friends in California, we begin with condolences for the miseries of fire, fear, and evacuations. And to those of you living in the Southeast, where suddenly people are talking about an epic shortage of water, we'll be watching and hoping you show the rest of us how to meet one of the century's looming challenges. Where I grew up in Texas farmers would look up at the scorching skies and say: "You never miss the water until the well runs dry."
Now on to our report this week. Some of you will remember that back in July the conservative scholar Bruce Fein was here on the JOURNAL expressing outrage over expansion of presidential powers under Bush and Cheney.
BRUCE FEIN: Take for instance the assertion that he's made that when he's out to collect foreign intelligence, no other branch can tell him what to do. That means he can intercept your emails, your phone calls, open your regular mail, he can break and enter your home, he can even kidnap you, claiming I'm seeking foreign intelligence there is no other branch - Congress can't make it illegal, judges can't say this is illegal. I can do anything I want.
BILL MOYERS: Many others have joined Bruce Fein's chorus of concern. This week it's the muckraking populist Jim Hightower. Writing in his newsletter the Hightower Lowdown, shown here on the Web site Alternet, he asks the question: "Is a presidential coup under way?"
He goes on to say, "The Constitution is being trampled, the very form of our government is being perverted, and nothing less than American democracy itself is endangered."
We've posted Jim Hightower's Lowdown on our web page at pbs.org so that you can read the whole of his argument about it.
But here's some background as to why so many people of different political stripes are alarmed. President Bush and Vice President Cheney espouse the theory of the unitary executive. That means the President's orders can't be reviewed, questioned, or altered by the other two branches of government. He alone can say what the law means, or whether or not it will be enforced or ignored. In effect, George W. Bush says his powers must be unilateral and unchecked.
Critics claim the President has used the war on terror to put himself above the law and that he has created a secret presidency of classified decisions and orders, that approve extraordinary renditions, torture, illegal detentions, and wiretapping without warrants with the collaboration of big telecom companies. This boundless secrecy and surveillance evokes images counter to American values.
Daily Mail Last updated at 13:21pm on 2nd October 2007
Sylvester Stallone said he witnessed "a hellhole beyond your wildest dreams" while filming on the Burma border.
The actor and his movie crew were shooting "John Rambo", the fourth movie in the action series, on the Salween River separating Burma and Thailand.
"I witnessed the aftermath - survivors with legs cut off and all kinds of land mine injuries, maggot-infested wounds and ears cut off.
Sylvester Stallone was shooting the latest Rambo movie on the border of Burma
"We saw many elephants with blown off legs. We hear about Vietnam and Cambodia and this was more horrific," he said.
"This is a hellhole beyond your wildest dreams," Stallone said. "All the trails are mined. The only way into Burma is up the river."
Shots were fired over the film crew's heads and there were threats, he said.
"We were told we could get seriously hurt if we went on," Stallone added.
He had first hand accounts, too, from the Burmese extras whose families were imprisoned.
Stallone returned eight days ago - before the crackdown last week against the largest pro-democracy protests in Burma in two decades.
He has faced criticism for his choice of location. "I was being accused, once again, of using the Third World as a 'Rambo' victim.
"The Burmese are beautiful people. It's the military I am portraying as cruel," he said.
Now Stallone is finding the editing process difficult, and finds himself asking the question "Are you making a documentary of a 'Rambo' movie?"
He wants to retain the violence in the film - and is prepared to face the challenge from the film board, the Motion Picture Association of America, over the rating.
"This is full scale genocide. I want the violence in there because it is reality. It would be a whitewashing not to show what's over there," he said.
"I think there is a story that needs to be told," Stallone said. The film will be released in January.
When the military junta ruling Burma cut the country's Internet connection to the rest of the world September 28, it acted to return Burma's prodemocracy activists and politically minded monks to an information environment similar to that of 1988. Internet cafes throughout Rangoon were shut down, and the marchers found themselves in roughly the same position as those antigovernment protesters of twenty years ago--removed from the public eye. In 1988 the military government's crackdown on student protests left 3,000 people dead. When protest marches started in August 2007, everyone feared the worst. As one Rangoon resident explained, "In '88, Sule Paya [a sacred Buddhist shrine in the center of the city] was covered in blood. This time will be the same." There was one crucial difference this time. Monks, rather than democracy activists or students, were the ones taking to the streets on behalf of the Burmese people. They did not march for the political process or for a particular ideology. They marched because the people were hungry.
Around 100,000 Turkish forces backed by tanks and attack helicopters, have been deployed. Turkey's Prime Minister is warning the United States to act swiftly after Washington asked for a few days before any response to the killing of more than a dozen Turkish soldiers by guerrillas from the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party. Turkey's military says troops responded with a counter-offensive, killing at least 23 Kurdish rebels in sou More..theastern Turkey. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has recalled security officials to Ankara for crisis talks. The fighting took place in Sirnak province, bordering Iraq, the Anatolia news agency reported, citing the army.The Kurds attacked with a heavy mix of weapons including Sniper Rifles bombs/grenades and heavy machine guns. The regional government in Sirak reported earlier Sunday that a PKK rebel had been killed while fighting the army in the Mount Cudi area. On Saturday, the army announced that it has created 27 new temporary security zones, reinforcing the already existing plan to deter rebel movement in the Sirnak, Siirt and Hakkari provinces, all close to the border with Iraq. Ankara estimates that there are thousands of PKK rebels who are supported or tolerated by Iraqi Kurds. Twelve people were killed at the end of September after a minibus was machine-gunned in Sirnak province, the PKK's bloodiest attack in Turkey in recent years. The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Turkey and much of the international community, has waged a bloody campaign for self-rule in Turkey's mainly Kurdish east and southeast since 1984. The conflict has claimed more than 37,000 lives.
Bu$hco speaks of using air power to subdue the PKK while in the same breath asking for $46 billion more for his war budget. The figure brings to $196.4 billion the total requested by the administration for operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere for the budget year that started Oct. 1.
President Bush spoke with Turkish President Abdullah Gul by phone Monday in an effort to ease the crisis. According to an official familiar with the conversation, Bush assured the Turkish president that the U.S. was looking seriously into options beyond diplomacy to stop the attacks coming from Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq.
Duhbya, being a self proclaimed student of history surely understands what the Kurds have been through and that they are a people without a country, and will use all diplomatic means to protect their citizens...Or will he?
Turkey has many times in the past squashed Kurdish attempts at self government and it is no surprise that they are again doing so. Afterall, a large part of what was at one time called Kurdistan is in their country and a large part of their population is Kurdish.
RFID Chips: The New Privacy-Killer Written by Alan Bellows on October 14th, 2005 at 2:09 pm From DamnInteresting.com
RFID chipIf you're the type to be a bit bothered by the privacy-breaching potential of shopper loyalty cards, then RFID tags should make you pretty twitchy. Short for Radio Frequency IDentification, these transponders come in sizes as small as a grain of sand, can be manufactured for dirt cheap, and hold the potential to expose uncomfortable levels of information about you to whomever is interested in finding out.
From the Boston.com article: Why is this so scary? Because so many of us pay for our purchases with credit or debit cards, which contain our names, addresses, and other sensitive information. Now imagine a store with RFID chips embedded in every product. At checkout time, the digital code in each item is associated with our credit card data. From now on, that particular pair of shoes or carton of cigarettes is associated with you. Even if you throw them away, the RFID chips will survive. Indeed, Albrecht and McIntyre learned that the phone company BellSouth Corp. had applied for a patent on a system for scanning RFID tags in trash, and using the data to study the shopping patterns of individual consumers.
Who remembers that film? Total Recall, where Arnold had been brainwashed about his experiences mining on Mars and was sent back down to earth, given a new life ( and sexy wife ) and had a RFID chip emplaned in his brain to track his movements.
Well it seems that experience did have an impact on the Californian Governor!!
As of yesterday it is now illegal now for California employers to force anyone to have an RFID device implanted under his or her skin as a condition of receiving something—such as a paycheck or government benefits or a trip to Mars..
Arny signed Senate Bill 362 yesterday, prohibiting the forced implantation of RFID (radio-frequency identification) chips. This will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2008. Clearly RFID technology is not, in and of itself, the issue. RFID is a minor miracle in some ways, with all sorts of good uses, but forced 'tagging' of humans would not be good.
I guess that Arny will not have to make a run for it just yet...
Billions of intelligent devices are being released into the environment, each size of grain of sand, with software, hardware, operating ... all » system, memory, wireless communications... as replacement for traditional barcodes. WalMar aleady insists on all boxes being tagged with these RFIDs in warehouses. These chips can also be fused with brain tissue enabling animals to transmit basic thoughts. Human beings are already tagging themselves - to get admission into night clubs for example. That's all in the past. What about the future? Dr Patrick Dixon Futurist seminar on technology trends for Dimension Data. Patrick Dixon is an international conference speaker and author of 12 books including Futurewise.
Los Angeles (CA) – The inventor of the “KillaCycle"” electric motorcycle almost killed himself during a demonstration at the Wired NextFest conference. Bill Dube, a government scientist during the day and electric bike builder at night, did a “burn out” in front of the Los Angeles Convention Center, but accidentally accelerated too much and crashed into a Minivan.
Interview with "KillaCycle" inventor Bill Dube and the subsequent crash
Luckily we were able to interview Dube before the crash. He was quite proud of his bike and told us that it was the quickest electric bike in existence. Using A123 Systems lithium-ion batteries, the KillaCycle can go zero to 60 miles-per-hour in a mind numbing .97 seconds. It also has a top speed of 158 MPH.
Dube fatefully told us that the batteries are “more powerful than anything else” on the market. Well they were indeed the most powerful because they hurtled Dube and his bike into another vehicle. You can watch the demonstration and initial interview in the above video.
The crash threw Dube into the air and he landed on his back onto the hot Los Angeles asphalt. Luckily he was conscious, breathing and had feeling in all his fingers and toes. Paramedics from the Los Angeles Fire Department arrived and took Dube to the hospital for x-rays.
Q There's a report today from Israel Army Radio indicating that the Syrians have confirmed that the Israelis struck a nuclear site in their country. You wouldn't comment on that before, and I'm wondering if now, on the general question, you think it's appropriate for Israel to take such action if it feels that there is mortal danger being posed to the state?
THE PRESIDENT: David, my position hadn't changed. You can ask me another question.
Q Can I ask you whether -- did you support Israel's strike in 1981 on the Iraqi reactor outside Baghdad?
THE PRESIDENT: You know, Dave, I don't remember what I was doing in 1980 -- let's see, I was living in Midland, Texas; I don't remember my reaction that far back.
Q Well, but as you look at it as President now --
THE PRESIDENT: -- private citizen back there in 1981 in Midland, Texas, trying to make a living for my family and --
Q But you're a careful -- someone who studies history --
THE PRESIDENT: Student of history? I do, yes. No, I don't remember my reaction, to be frank with you.
Q But I'm asking you now, as you look back at it, do you think it was the right action for Israel to take?
THE PRESIDENT: David, I'm not going to comment on the subject that you're trying to get me to comment on.
Q Why won't you? But isn't it a fair question to say, is it -- given all the talk about Iran and the potential threat, whether it would be appropriate for Israel to act --
THE PRESIDENT: Hey, Dave -- Dave --
Q -- in self-defense --
THE PRESIDENT: I understand --
Q -- if Iran were to --
THE PRESIDENT: -- I understand where you're trying to take --
Q -- develop nuclear weapons?
THE PRESIDENT: I understand where you're trying to take. It's a clever ruse to get me to comment on it, but I'm not going to. Thank you.
Q Well, I'm just wondering why you think it's not appropriate to make that judgment, when it's a -- it is a real-world scenario, as we know, since they apparently took this action against Syria --
THE PRESIDENT: Dave. Welcome back. (Laughter.)
Q Good morning, Mr. President, thank you. I don't know if you saw the picture on the front page of one of the papers this morning of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Vladimir Putin.
THE PRESIDENT: I did.
Q It looked like they were getting along pretty well. And they are among --
THE PRESIDENT: Surprised they weren't kind of fighting each other on the front page of the paper? No, man, come on.
Q It looked like they were enjoying each other's company. And I'm wondering, since they were leaders of five Caspian Sea region nations that have now declared each country will not be used as a base to attack the other, A, what do you make of their growing relationship? B, does it complicate what the United States can do in the region? And C, would you characterize that arrangement as some sort of Caspian Sea Truman Doctrine or something like that?
THE PRESIDENT: You know, I -- I think it's hard to judge how their conversations went from a picture. Generally leaders don't like to be photographed scowling at each other or making bad gestures at each other. So I'm not surprised that there was a nice picture of them walking along. I try to make sure that when I'm with foreign leaders, there's a pretty picture of the two of us walking down the colonnades, or something like that, to send a good message.
Q Are you saying it's not so warm?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I don't know yet. What I'm about to tell you is, is that I'm looking forward to getting President Putin's readout from the meeting. I think one of the -- the thing I'm interested in is whether or not he continues to harbor the same concerns that I do. And I say "continues" because when we were in Australia, he reconfirmed to me that it is -- he recognized it's not in the world's interest for Iran to have the capacity to make a nuclear weapon. And they have been very supportive in the United Nations. And we're working with them on a potential third resolution.
So that's where my concerns -- I don't worry about the pictures. I understand why they meet. I am -- will continue to work with Russia, as well as other nations, to keep a focused effort on sending Iran a message that you will remain isolated if you continue your nuclear weapons ambitions.
Q But this declaration doesn't speak to that, Mr. President. This declaration doesn't suggest isolation for Iran. Just the opposite, that Russia and Iran are going to do business.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we'll find out, see. You're trying to get me to interpret the meeting based upon a news story or a picture. I'd rather spend some time with Vladimir Putin finding out exactly what went on. Thank you.
Duhbya and Laura met with the Dalai Lama this morning, but it seems that it was a private meeting, so I'll have to settle for this video of a meeting from Nov. 9, 2005. The Commander in Chief will be attending the award ceremony where the Dalai Lama will recieve the Congressional Medal of Honor.
(January 17, 2006 -- 10:42 AM EST) Talkingpointsmemo.com I was finally able to give a close read to the Al Gore's speech from yesterday. And I wanted to add my voice to all of those around the web who've been praising what the former vice president said. When I think about the Gore now, in the period since he left elected office, what stands out most about him is the way that he has become a standing rebuke to the shame and moral indolence of today's custodians of received opinion. You can see it in the sneering and bemused responses his speeches receive from the usual cast of characters.
These really aren't normal political times we're living in. And I think Gore is right to say that we're in the midst of a constitutional crisis, even though too few people are taking notice of it. Our constitution becomes the proverbial falling tree.
The point Gore makes in his speech that I think is most key is the connection between authoritarianism, official secrecy and incompetence.
The president's critics are always accusing him of law-breaking or unconstitutional acts and then also berating the incompetence of his governance. And it's often treated as, well ... he's power-hungry and incompetent to boot! Imagine that! The point though is that they are directly connected. Authoritarianism and secrecy breed incompetence; the two feed on each other. It's a vicious cycle. Governments with authoritarian tendencies point to what is in fact their own incompetence as the rationale for giving them yet more power. Katrina was a good example of this.
By Richard Black Environment correspondent, BBC News website
Mr Gore has taken the message of climate change to the public. In awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the committee has signalled its view that climate change is now one of global society's defining security issues.
Indian scientist Rajendra Pachauri has spoken of his surprise at the UN panel he heads being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for its work on global warming. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and campaigner Al Gore were named as joint winners on Friday.
"I can't believe it. I'm overwhelmed," Dr Pachauri, 67, told well-wishers in the Indian capital, Delhi.
"The committee is trying to tell the world we need to do something about climate change urgently."
Praise for Gore
Dr Pachauri said he was "just a symbol" and credit was due to his organisation and its efforts.
"It is really the scientific community that contributes to the work of the IPCC and the governments who support the work of the IPCC who are really the winners of this award."
The message should go out to everyone - developed and developing countries - we are all in this together
He said he felt privileged to share the prize with "someone as distinguished" as the former US vice president.
"Al Gore certainly deserves it. The amount of effort he has put into creating awareness about climate change has had a major impact."
The two men spoke on the phone after the announcement.
"This is Pachy... I am certainly looking forward to working with you. I'll be your follower and you'll be my leader," Dr Pachauri said.
"Convey my congratulations to the IPCC," replied Mr Gore.
Giuliani Bungled Preparation in Years After 1993 Attack on Trade Center.
Critical failures by former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani before, during and after the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, raise serious questions about his ability to be commander-in-chief.
In this thirteen minute documentary, fire fighters, fire officers and family members give dramatic testimony about Giuliani's leadership failures. Their dramatic stories tell how Giuliani failed to provide the FDNY with radios that worked, which led to the deaths of 121 fire fighters inside the World Trade Center's North Tower because they were unable to hear orders to evacuate.
Fire fighters also point to Giuliani's poor judgment in placing his emergency command center at 7 World Trade Center, a known terrorist target after the 1993 bombing.
This video documents the mayor's lack of respect for the fallen when he called off the recovery effort at Ground Zero on Nov. 1, 2001, after $200 million in gold bullion was recovered.
"We produced this documentary because we need to make sure our members know Giuliani's real record," said IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger.
"The UFA participated in this video to correct the myth that Rudy Giuliani has perpetrated on the American public," said Steve Cassidy, president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association of Greater New York, IAFF Local 94.
The Giuliani campaign defended the former mayor's record by issuing a release that lists items he purchased for FDNY.
"But the campaign, with its response, has neglected to address the charges of failed leadership outlined in our documentary," President Schaitberger said.
"Purchasing equipment for a fire department doesn't qualify any mayor to be president," said Jack McDonnell, president of New York City Local 854, the Uniformed Fire Officers Association.
The following video shows that Giuliani was aware that WTC tower was going to collapse...
The United States tortures prisoners in violation of international law, former President Carter said Wednesday.
"I don't think it. I know it," Carter told CNN's Wolf Blitzer.
"Our country for the first time in my life time has abandoned the basic principle of human rights," Carter said. "We've said that the Geneva Conventions do not apply to those people in Abu Ghraib prison and Guantanamo, and we've said we can torture prisoners and deprive them of an accusation of a crime to which they are accused."
Carter also said President Bush creates his own definition of human rights.
Carter's comments come on the heels of an October 4 article in The New York Times disclosing the existence of secret Justice Department memorandums supporting the use of "harsh interrogation techniques." These include "head-slapping, simulated drowning and frigid temperatures," according to the Times.
Among the first to jump into the fear business was Mark Thaller, a former naval officer and general partner at Zero Stage Capital, who in July 2001 launched Patriot Venture Partners, a VC fund devoted to the secu-rity sector. His decision to start the fund seems prescient, coming two months before 9/11, but Thaller would have you define the market in a somewhat different way than we did. "I have been very careful to avoid using the word 'fear,'" Thaller says. "Fear and paranoia might be the potential causes of action, but the real underlying need is to be a little more at ease.
Another early venture capitalist is Richard Perle, who was also a managing partner in a venture-capital company called Trireme Partners L.P., which was registered in November, 2001, in Delaware. Trireme’s main business, according to a two-page letter that one of its representatives sent to Arab investers last November, was to invest in companies dealing in technology, goods, and services that are of value to homeland security and defense. The letter argued that the fear of terrorism would increase the demand for such products in Europe and in countries like Saudi Arabia and Singapore.The letter mentioned the firm’s government connections prominently: “Three of Trireme’s Management Group members currently advise the U.S. Secretary of Defense by serving on the U.S. Defense Policy Board, and one of Trireme’s principals, Richard Perle, is chairman of that Board.” The two other policy-board members associated with Trireme are Henry Kissinger, the former Secretary of State (who is, in fact, only a member of Trireme’s advisory group and is not involved in its management), and Gerald Hillman, an investor and a close business associate of Perle’s who handles matters in Trireme’s New York office. The letter said that forty-five million dollars had already been raised, including twenty million dollars from Boeing; the purpose, clearly, was to attract more investors.
Yet another was The Paladin Financial Group with headquarters in Washington DC. The term paladine was first used in Ancient Rome for a chamberlain (officer in charge of managing a household).
National Security Experience - The Managing Directors and investment professionals of Paladin have extensive and distinguished track records in service within the security, defense and intelligence fields. Paladin team members include Ambassador Jim Woolsey (former Director of Central Intelligence) , Lt. General (Ret.) Ken Minihan (former Director of the National Security Agency and Defense Intelligence Agency), and Dr. Alf Andreassen (Bell Labs, AT&T, National Security Agency Advisory Board).
Yaknow* It sure sounds like the Neocons were pretty sure about 911 and the occupation of Iraq to me...
Under pressure from Democratic lawmakers and Iraqi officials, the State Department announced late Friday that it would expand its oversight of Blackwater private security forces dramatically. The efforts include cameras being installed in Blackwater vehicles and diplomatic babysitters joining every Blackwater convoy.
Iraq isn’t satisfied.
Iraqi authorities want the U.S. government to sever all contracts in Iraq with Blackwater USA within six months and pay $8 million in compensation to each of the families of 17 people killed when the firm’s guards sprayed a traffic circle with heavy machine gun fire last month.
The demands — part of an Iraqi government report examined by The Associated Press — also called on U.S. authorities to hand over the Blackwater security agents involved in the Sept. 16 shootings to face possible trial in Iraqi courts.
The tone of the Iraqi report appears to signal further strains between the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and the White House over the deaths in Nisoor Square — which have prompted a series of U.S. and Iraqi probes and raised questions over the use of private security contractors to guard U.S. diplomats and other officials.
Al-Maliki ordered the investigation by his defense minister and other top security and police officials on Sept. 22. The findings — which were translated from Arabic by AP — mark the most definitive Iraqi positions and contentions about the shootings last month.
In their book "Project Day Lily" the Nicolsons tell their personal saga that is intertwined with major events and forces in recent American history. This linear narrative testifies about the strength of authors' perceptions and convictions. It is also a story of transformation of a couple of scientists into advocates for causes that they believe in so deeply. Stanimir Vuk-Pavlovic, Ph.D., Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Mayo Clinic Graduate School
In researching this article on Wikipedia I found very little information on Garth Nicholson although he is a leading microbiologist and has been doing work with Gulf War Vets since Poppy Bu$h's war in 1991, but I did find plenty of information on Professor Simon Wessely
Professor Simon Wessely's name is known to the thousands of sufferers of chronic illnesses in Britain and abroad who have been hurt by his philosophy. A psychiatrist, for years Wessely has been the outspoken proponent of the view that chronic physical conditions such as Gulf War Illness, ME/chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, Lyme disease, multiple chemical sensitivity and others are simply "all in the head" of the sufferer.
Providing Reliable Information and Support Opportunities
This web site provides reliable and current information and message board support to those with a chronic disease that may be attributed to a chronic mycoplasma infection.
Chevron's Pipeline Is the Burmese Regime's Lifeline
By Amy Goodman, King Features Syndicate. Posted October 3, 2007.
The barbarous military regime depends on revenue from the nation’s gas reserves and partners such as Chevron, a detail ignored by the Bush administration.
The image was stunning: tens of thousands of saffron-robed Buddhist monks marching through the streets of Rangoon [also known as Yangon], protesting the military dictatorship of Burma. The monks marched in front of the home of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who was seen weeping and praying quietly as they passed. She hadn't been seen for years. The democratically elected leader of Burma, Suu Kyi has been under house arrest since 2003. She is considered the Nelson Mandela of Burma, the Southeast Asian nation renamed Myanmar by the regime.
No one believes that this is the end of the protests, dubbed "The Saffron Revolution." Nor do they believe the official body count of 10 dead. The trickle of video, photos and oral accounts of the violence that leaked out on Burma's cellular phone and Internet lines has been largely stifled by government censorship. Still, gruesome images of murdered monks and other activists and accounts of executions make it out to the global public. At the time of this writing, several unconfirmed accounts of prisoners being burned alive have been posted to Burma-solidarity Web sites.
The Bush administration is making headlines with its strong language against the Burmese regime. President Bush declared increased sanctions in his U.N. General Assembly speech. First lady Laura Bush has come out with perhaps the strongest statements. Explaining that she has a cousin who is a Burma activist, Laura Bush said, "The deplorable acts of violence being perpetrated against Buddhist monks and peaceful Burmese demonstrators shame the military regime."
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, at the meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, said, "The United States is determined to keep an international focus on the travesty that is taking place." Keeping an international focus is essential, but should not distract from one of the most powerful supporters of the junta, one that is much closer to home. Rice knows it well: Chevron.
Fueling the military junta that has ruled for decades are Burma's natural gas reserves, controlled by the Burmese regime in partnership with the U.S. multinational oil giant Chevron, the French oil company Total and a Thai oil firm. Offshore natural gas facilities deliver their extracted gas to Thailand through Burma's Yadana pipeline. The pipeline was built with slave labor, forced into servitude by the Burmese military.
The original pipeline partner, Unocal, was sued by EarthRights International for the use of slave labor. As soon as the suit was settled out of court, Chevron bought Unocal.
Chevron's role in propping up the brutal regime in Burma is clear. According to Marco Simons, U.S. legal director at EarthRights International: "Sanctions haven't worked because gas is the lifeline of the regime. Before Yadana went online, Burma's regime was facing severe shortages of currency. It's really Yadana and gas projects that kept the military regime afloat to buy arms and ammunition and pay its soldiers."
The U.S. government has had sanctions in place against Burma since 1997. A loophole exists, though, for companies grandfathered in. Unocal's exemption from the Burma sanctions has been passed on to its new owner, Chevron.
Rice served on the Chevron board of directors for a decade. She even had a Chevron oil tanker named after her. While she served on the board, Chevron was sued for involvement in the killing of nonviolent protesters in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Like the Burmese, Nigerians suffer political repression and pollution where oil and gas are extracted and they live in dire poverty. The protests in Burma were actually triggered by a government-imposed increase in fuel prices.
Human-rights groups around the world have called for a global day of action on Saturday, Oct. 6, in solidarity with the people of Burma. Like the brave activists and citizen journalists sending news and photos out of the country, the organizers of the Oct. 6 protest are using the Internet to pull together what will probably be the largest demonstration ever in support of Burma. Among the demands are calls for companies to stop doing business with Burma's brutal regime.
Senator Larry Craig exhibits his executive privilege as he refuses to leave his office until he serves his third term which expires in Jan. 2009. He has learned well from Bu$hco and will not leave office until he is carried out kicking and screaming, much like his proteges', Rover, Woofowitz, Bolt-on, Rummy, Gonzo, Powell, Asscroft, etc. etc.
The new RNC logo has a (blue?) sex crazed elephant on it, indicating a male role for their party, while sporting Democratic party colors. I can only guess what the three stripes are about? Would it be the three branches of government that Bu$hco is planning to take control of when an emergency arises? Excuse my cynicism but I can't help but wonder if Porkrind has really retired...G:
Bush's Faustian Deal With the Taliban By Robert Scheer Published May 22, 2001 in the Los Angeles Times
Enslave your girls and women, harbor anti-U.S. terrorists, destroy every vestige of civilization in your homeland, and the Bush administration will embrace you. All that matters is that you line up as an ally in the drug war, the only international cause that this nation still takes seriously.
That's the message sent with the recent gift of $43 million to the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan, the most virulent anti-American violators of human rights in the world today. The gift, announced last Thursday by Secretary of State Colin Powell, in addition to other recent aid, makes the U.S. the main sponsor of the Taliban and rewards that "rogue regime" for declaring that opium growing is against the will of God. So, too, by the Taliban's estimation, are most human activities, but it's the ban on drugs that catches this administration's attention.
Never mind that Osama bin Laden still operates the leading anti-American terror operation from his base in Afghanistan, from which, among other crimes, he launched two bloody attacks on American embassies in Africa in 1998.
Sadly, the Bush administration is cozying up to the Taliban regime at a time when the United Nations, at U.S. insistence, imposes sanctions on Afghanistan because the Kabul government will not turn over Bin Laden.
We have been out for half an hour, and already we have collected a dozen on-camera signatures supporting Bush's new pro-America ice age.
We are representing the Bush campaign on the streets of downtown Cleveland on a balmy spring day. Business people pour out of high-rise offices during lunch hour. Dressed in business suits we approach with clipboards and smiles, begging folks to sign our petition and explaining in no uncertain terms exactly what it's about. We also offer copies of our "position paper."
The petition and paper are about global warming—as solution, not problem. Americans should embrace global warming, we assert, and even accelerate the process should it serve any tactical military or economic advantages.
We wish we'd invented this, but we haven't. Our petition is based on a 2003 Pentagon report (full story here) acknowledging the existence of global warming, but questioning its importance. Instead of cutting down on greenhouse gas emissions, we should prepare a fortified border to protect against the influx of starving masses. Instead of trying to regulate atmospheric pollutants, we should consider the possible economic advantage that a climate change might give us over up-and-coming economic superpowers like China, Europe, and Japan.
3 Oct 07, 08:02 Admin: Yangon's Brigadier General Hla Htay Win & family have been put under house arrest and all of their properties have been confiscated. ----------------------------
2 Oct 07, 23:02 Admin: it has been confirmed by KNU that Colonel Htay Win from Battalion 99 has defected to thai boarder with his son. ------------------------------
Burma: - Colonel to seek asylum in Norway A central member of the military junta in Burma is reportedly interested in seeking political asylum in Norway. The colonel is said to have defected recently, and is now hiding in the jungle among the Karen people.
Breitbart via Drudge Report ^ | Sept 29, 2007 | ALI AKBAR DAREINI
Posted on 09/29/2007 2:36:32 PM PDT by RDTF
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran's parliament on Saturday approved a nonbinding resolution labeling the CIA and the U.S. Army "terrorist organizations," in apparent response to a Senate resolution seeking to give a similar designation to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The hard-line dominated parliament cited U.S. involvement in dropping nuclear bombs in Japan in World War II, using depleted uranium munitions in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq, supporting the killings of Palestinians by Israel, bombing and killing Iraqi civilians, and torturing terror suspects in prisons.
"The aggressor U.S. Army and the Central Intelligence Agency are terrorists and also nurture terror," said a statement by the 215 lawmakers who signed the resolution at an open session of the Iranian parliament. The session was broadcast live on state-run radio.
The resolution, which is seen as a diplomatic offensive against the U.S., urges Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government to treat the two as terrorist organizations. It also paves the way for the resolution to become legislation that—if ratified by the country's hardline constitutional watchdog—would become law.
The government is expected to wait for U.S. reaction before making its decision. In Washington, the White House declined to comment Saturday.
It is an exceedingly dangerous time. Vice President Dick Cheney and his hard-core "neoconservative" protégés in the administration and Congress are pushing harder and harder for President George W. Bush, isolated from reality, to honor the promise he made to Israel to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.
On Sept. 23, former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski warned pointedly:
"If we escalate tensions, if we succumb to hysteria, if we start making threats, we are likely to stampede ourselves into a war [with Iran], which most reasonable people agree would be a disaster for us...I think the administration, the president and the vice president particularly, are trying to hype the atmosphere, and that is reminiscent of what preceded the war in Iraq."
So why the pressure for a wider war in which any victory will be Pyrrhic – for Israel and for the U.S.? The short answer is arrogant stupidity; the longer answer – what the Chinese used to call "great power chauvinism" – and oil.
The truth can slip out when erstwhile functionaries write their memoirs (the dense pages of George Tenet's tome being the exception). Kudos to the still functioning reportorial side of the Washington Post, which on Sept. 15, was the first to ferret out the gem in former Fed chairman, Alan Greenspan's book that the Iraq war was "largely about oil."
But that's okay, said the Post's editorial side (which has done yeoman service as the White House's Pravda) the very next day. Dominating the op-ed page was a turgid piece by Henry Kissinger, serving chiefly as a reminder that there is an excellent case to be made for retiring when one reaches the age of statutory senility.
Dr. Kissinger described as a "truism" the notion that "the industrial nations cannot accept radical forces dominating a region on which their economies depend." (Curious. That same truism was considered a bad thing, when an integral part of the "Brezhnev Doctrine" applied to Eastern Europe.) What is important here is that Kissinger was speaking of Iran, which – in a classic example of pot calling kettle black – he accuses of "seeking regional hegemony."
What's going on here seems to be a concerted effort to get us accustomed to the prospect of a long, and possibly expanded war? Don't you remember? Those terrorists, or Iraqis, or Iranians, or jihadists...whoever...are trying to destroy our way of life. The White House spin machine is determined to justify the war in ways they think will draw popular support from folks like the well heeled man who asked me querulously before a large audience, "Don't you agree that several GIs killed each week is a small price to pay for the oil we need?"
Waxman: State Department ‘Acting As Blackwater’s Enabler’
In this morning’s House Oversight hearing, Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) sharply criticized not only Blackwater USA, but also the State Department, which has authority over the contractor.
Waxman pointed to a Dec. 2006 incident, in which a drunken Blackwater contractor shot the guard of the Iraqi vice president:
The State Department advised Blackwater how much to pay the family to make the problem go away and then allowed the contractor to leave Iraq just 36 hours after the shooting. Incredibly, internal e-mails documented the debate over the size of the payment. The charge d’affaire recommended a $250,000 payment but this was cut to $15,000 because the diplomatic security service said Iraqis would try to get themselves killed for such a large payout.
Waxman noted that in light of such evidence, it’s hard “not come to the conclusion that the State Department is acting as Blackwater’s enabler.”
Rudy Giuliani is interviewed by ABC News 12:01 pm 9/11/01 where he mentioned that he was told that the WTC tower was going to collapse. He didn't say it was going to fall or that it was going down. He specifically used the word "collapse". The Mayor of New York knew that the building was going to collapse. Wouldn't this indicate that he allready knew that there would be an event? An event that he is now using as a platform for his run for the presidency.
Republican Opponents Afraid To Attack Giuliani On 9/11
Huffington post
Sam Stein September 28, 2007 12:10 PM
Rudy Giuliani has made his performance on Sept. 11 the dominant pillar of his campaign, a strategy that has proved at once effective and controversial. While the former New York City mayor finds himself atop national polls and well-positioned to capture the Republican nomination, he has also exposed himself to criticism that he is overstating his terrorism credentials and crassly politicizing the issue.
Yet just three months before the first primary vote is cast, none of Giuliani's top-tier primary opponents have taken the bait.
Despite privately acknowledging that there is ample ammunition to attack Giuliani for his handling of and work after 9/11, the GOP presidential frontrunners have been either too cautious or afraid to speak out. Their silence underscores a strategic calculation that Giuliani's 9/11 record will be picked apart by Democrats, and other foes of Rudy; but also a fear that bringing up the terrorism issue could backfire.
Daily Mail UK Slaughter: Executed monks have been dumped in the jungle
By MARCUS OSCARSSON
Last updated at 15:04pm on 1st October 2007
Thousands of protesters are dead and the bodies of hundreds of executed monks have been dumped in the jungle, a former intelligence officer for Burma's ruling junta has revealed.
The most senior official to defect so far, Hla Win, said: "Many more people have been killed in recent days than you've heard about. The bodies can be counted in several thousand."
Mr Win, who spoke out as a Swedish diplomat predicted that the revolt has failed, said he fled when he was ordered to take part in a massacre of holy men. He has now reached the border with Thailand.
Meanwhile, the United Nations special envoy was in Burma's new capital today seeking meetings with the ruling military junta.
Ibrahim Gambari met detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Rangoon yesterday. But he has yet to meet the country's senior generals as he attempts to halt violence against monks and pro-democracy activists.
It is anticipated the meeting will happen tomorrow.
Heavily-armed troops and police flooded the streets of Rangoon during Mr Ibrahim's visit to prevent new protests.
Mr Gambari met some of the country's military leaders in Naypyidaw yesterday and has returned there for further talks. But he did not meet senior general Than Shwe or his deputy Maung Aye - and they have issued no comment.
Slaughter: Executed monks have been dumped in the jungle
Reports from exiles along the frontier confirmed that hundreds of monks had simply "disappeared" as 20,000 troops swarmed around Rangoon yesterday to prevent further demonstrations by religious groups and civilians.
Word reaching dissidents hiding out on the border suggested that as well as executions, some 2,000 monks are being held in the notorious Insein Prison or in university rooms which have been turned into cells.
There were reports that many were savagely beaten at a sports ground on the outskirts of Rangoon, where they were heard crying for help.
Others who had failed to escape disguised as civilians were locked in their bloodstained temples.
There, troops abandoned religious beliefs, propped their rifles against statues of Buddha and began cooking meals on stoves set up in shrines.
In stark contrast, the streets of Rangoon and Mandalay - centres of the attempted saffron revolution last week - were virtually deserted.
