Things that I like best by billybobjoe

Willie Nelson to host a 911 event (Truthstock)

Plans being drawn up to emulate Woodstock for a new generation

Steve Watson
Prison Planet
Wednesday, July 23, 2008

In an exclusive interview today on the nationally syndicated Alex Jones show, iconic musician Willie Nelson volunteered to take part in a concert for 9/11 truth and as part of a campaign to stave off an attack on Iran.

The country music superstar told listeners that some form of musical event to help generate media attention would be a great idea if it could be organized successfully.

In response to a caller’s suggestion to perform at a concert in aid of 9/11 first responders and their families, as well as to raise the profile of the 9/11 truth movement, Nelson responded:

“I would agree to both of those things in a minute.”








In an exclusive interview, Alex will talk with iconic musician and truther Willie Nelson on today's show. Nelson will talk about Dennis Kucinich's brave effort to have George W. Bush impeached for war crimes, trashing the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and a litany of other abuses and high crimes. Willie will also talk about the neocon drive to attack Iran.

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Whats in the Future for the US Presidency?

From The Economist print edition

Terror not China

Mar 27th 2008

The next president will still focus on the same problems as Mr Bush. But some of the answers may change

IT IS hard to think of a more miserable way of spending your life than running for American president. Dialling for dollars. Hanging out in diners in Iowa and New Hampshire. Glad-handing people you will never meet again. Living on aeroplanes and in hotels. Getting by on four hours' sleep a night. Delivering the same stump speech ad nauseam.

And what do you get for all that misery? A heap of trouble. America is bogged down in Iraq, the Taliban is resurgent in Afghanistan and Iran is flexing its muscles, Russian nationalism is on the rise once again and China is getting increasingly bolshy. America's problems seem to be multiplying at the same time as its ability to deliver results is waning.

Russia is becoming increasingly anti-American as well as increasingly autocratic. It is convinced that America is trying to surround it with military bases, worried that NATO is advancing to its borders and determined to become great again. It has resumed the cold-war practice of flying military missions over the North Pole. It has engaged in a cyberwar with Estonia and used its oil and gas supplies to bully its neighbours. It has also shown an increased willingness to thumb its nose at America (for example, by selling military equipment to Syria and Venezuela) and to form anti-American alliances, particularly with China and some oil-rich Central Asian states.

At the same time America is getting more anxious about China's growing economic might. Anti-Chinese sentiment in America is already strong. Democrats in Congress are preparing to hammer China over counterfeit goods, product safety and exchange-rate policy. The media have been a-twitter with stories about poisoned pet food, tainted toothpaste and lead-painted toys. America's trade deficit with China has been rising relentlessly. Many critics argue that China is trying to cheat its way to economic success, keeping its currency artificially low to give Chinese products an unfair advantage, creating barriers to keep out American goods and allowing producers to operate largely outside the law.

Article

WTC 9/11 - Bush Clinton Silverstein Bilderberg Connection

Brzezinski, Obama, AIPAC, & Iraq War

Telegraph UK

May 27 2008

By Alex Spillius in Washington

Zbigniew Brzezinski, a former national security adviser, said that the pro-Israel lobby in the US was too powerful, while the slur of anti-Semitism was too readily used whenever its power was called into question.

Presenting a solution for the Middle East, he listed historical compromises that had to be made by Israelis and Palestinians but accused the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) – the largest and most influential Jewish lobby group – of obstructing peace efforts.

He said: "Aipac has consistently opposed a two-state solution and a lot of members of Congress have been intimidated and I don't think that's healthy."

He added that other country-specific lobbies, such as the Cuban-Americans, the Armenians and the Irish, had also exerted undue influence in Washington.

Mr Brzezinski, who served under President Jimmy Carter, was a key player in the 1978 Camp David Accords and remains an important voice in the US foreign policy establishment.

An active author and analyst at 80, he is close enough to Mr Obama that his remarks may feed fears in the American-Jewish community that the senator would soften America's traditional strong pro-Israeli stance if he became president.

This perception has been created in part by Mr Obama's professed willingness to talk to Iran and partly by other foreign policy associates.

In recent weeks, Mr Obama has courted the Jewish vote and, on Israel's 60th anniversary, underlined the need for the US to show "unshakeable" support.

Mr Brzezinski has been accused of being "anti-Israel" by some Jewish academics, writers and bloggers after criticising Israel for excessive use of force and unwillingness to compromise.

Last year, censure of him reached new heights when he defended John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, two academics who had criticised the pro-Israel lobby and were accused of questioning the right of the state of Israel to exist.

Mr Brzezinski said "it's not unique to the Jewish community – but there is a McCarthyite tendency among some people in the Jewish community", referring to the Republican senator who led the anti-Communist witch hunt in the 1950s.

"They operate not by arguing but by slandering, vilifying, demonising. They very promptly wheel out anti-Semitism. There is an element of paranoia in this inclination to view any serious attempt at a compromised peace as somehow directed against Israel."

Although Mr Brzezinski is not a formal day-to-day adviser and stressed he doesn't speak for the campaign, he said that he "talks to" Mr Obama.

He endorsed the Illinois senator, lauding him as "head and shoulders" above his opponents. He said that he was the only candidate who understood "what is new and distinctive about our age".

In turn, Mr Obama has praised Mr Brzezinski as "someone I have learned an immense amount from" and "one of our most outstanding scholars and thinkers".

They share very similar views on the folly of the Iraq war.

Article

911 World Trade Center Lessons

Bu$h Whitehouse Rules Faux News Spin

I Like Icke

My nephew, (bmxmuseum.com), an eminent authority on BMX bicycles is a David Icke fan of long standing, and told me about his website many years ago. I have read some of his articals, which are well documented, but had reservations about the reptilian thing...That is untill I seen them in action in our own government...Well, any way it would explain the phenomina of a president who is obviously not even qualified to be a used car salesman, and such weird people in high places as Cheney, Rummy, Wolfowitz, and Condoleeza Rice. These are weird times folks, and weird times calls for weird blogging...G:

Broadcaster and journalist Jon Ronson encounters one of Britain’s most infamous media figures as he continues his search to uncover the truth behind who – or what – is really controlling the world. Tonight Ronson joins David Icke on a lecture tour that takes the ex-sports broadcaster headlong into controversy as his extraordinary views dismay his detractors and inspire his audiences, providing a fascinating insight into extremists – and how the public responds to them.

davidicke.com

The Republicans have no moral values

From an artical by by JOHN W. DEAN, a FindLaw columnist and former counsel to the president, where he discusses the "smoking gun" Watergate tapes with Nixon's defence attorney, Chuck Wiggins. What neither Wiggins nor other Nixon apologists were prepared to defend was Nixon’s lying to Congress and the nation.

In discussing the investigation of Bu$hco about "Executive Power and Its Constitutional Limitations” Dean says...

"It struck me that given my knowledge of the Nixon presidency, and because few in Congress today realize that Nixon was sent packing for a far lesser lie, I might focus my testimony on why Nixon was removed from office. In short, I might be able to add some perspective for the Kucinich resolution."

FindLaw

Friday, Jul. 25, 2008

John Dean discussing a conversation with Nixon's defence attorney, Chuck Wiggins, for the Watergate trial...

Wiggins believed that the lawyers representing Nixon had done a terrible job, and that Nixon should have claimed not merely “executive privilege,” but also taken the Fifth Amendment and invoked the State Secrets privilege as well to block access to his tapes. He had every right to do so, and had he done so, he would not have been forced from office. It would have been bad press, but he would have survived. (I agree with Judge Wiggins’s analysis.)

Wiggins had no doubt that the June 23rd tape showed that Nixon had participated in conspiracy to obstruct justice regarding the Watergate investigation. However, Wiggins also thought there was an argument to be made that a president could not obstruct a federal investigation, since he himself had the theoretical power and authority to establish the parameters of that investigation. In addition, it could also be argued that Nixon’s actions on June 23, 1972 had been taken based on the advice of his counsel (who believed national security issues were involved) and of his former attorney general (who similarly believed national security issues might be at stake).

As for the other charges in the articles of impeachment, Wiggins said he and the other Nixon defenders had planned to make fools of the Democrats by showing that everything that had been set forth in the articles had been done by Democratic presidents many times over. It was the classic defense: Two wrongs don’t make a right, but in law and politics they make a respectable precedent. But what neither Wiggins nor other Nixon apologists were prepared to defend was Nixon’s lying to Congress and the nation.

After the smoking gun tape surfaced, none of these various defenses and strategies were relevant, because no member was prepared to defend Nixon’s obvious lies about Watergate. As today’s hearings continue, it will be interesting to see if any members of Congress are prepared to defend Bush and Cheney’s lies about taking the nation to war in Iraq. Disturbingly, it has been clear for some time that Bush and Cheney did indeed lie – and that their lies fit within a clear, extensive pattern of abuse of power. Yet condemnation from Congressional Republicans has yet to be heard. Sadly, it seems possible that today’s Republicans -- unlike Wiggins and the other Nixon apologists who changed their minds when confronted with proven presidential lies -- have no moral lines that they will draw.

Spotlight on Berlin: Here is history in the making

Put Karl Rove in Jail

Sign

The

Petition



This obnoxious little porker has been implemental in almost all of the crooked dealings of Bu$hco, the unnacountable gang of slime dwellers that stole our government, our money, our freedom, our resources, our honor, and the very way that we live and breath. This neoconservative nerd is about as funny as a heart attack as he thumbs his nose at us to emphasize how ludicrous this whole administration really is. Lets put him in jail so that we can get started on a modern version of the Nurenburg Trials...G:

John Hagee, Christian Zionist's and AIPAC

Christians United For Israel (CUFI) July 21 through July 24, 2008

VIDEO

John Hagee

The Bible commands us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6), to speak out for Zion's sake (Isaiah 62:1), to be watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem (Isaiah 62:6) and to bless the Jewish people (Genesis 12:3). These and so many other verses of the Bible that have one overriding message-- as Christians we have a Biblical obligation to defend Israel and the Jewish people in their time of need.

Israel’s time of need is now. There is a new Hitler in the Middle East --President Ahmadinejad of Iran -- who has threatened to wipe out Israel and America and is rapidly acquiring the nuclear technology to make good on his threat. If we learned anything from the Holocaust, it is that when a madman threatens genocide we must take him seriously.

Jesse Duplantis, Benny Hinn, John Hagee

Right-wing Christian Evangelicals

by JewsOnFirst, July 31, 2006

UPDATE August 18, 2006: JewsOnFirst leads discussion on CUFI's Nights to Honor Israel.

Christian Zionists -- Christian evangelicals who avow support of Israel based on a belief in Biblical end-times scenarios -- are whipping their followers into a fervor in favor of an attack on Iran. In a related development, conservative commentators like former House Speaker Newt Gingrich have been beating the drum for a US attack on Iran, characterizing the current conflict in Lebanon as the start of “World War Three."

The calls for aggressive action against Iran wouldn’t amount to much more than laugh lines for Comedy Channel newscasts, were it not for the involvement of some highly influential, right-wing Christian evangelical leaders in a new Christian Zionist organization, Christians United for Israel, or CUFI.

Religious right groups typically support aggressive foreign policies because of their identification with the Republican Party and their interest in missionizing where the US intervenes. But CUFI, which recently brought 3,500 citizen-lobbyists to Washington, is advocating confrontation with Iran based on "cherry-picked" Biblical interpretations.

CUFI's founder, Rev. John Hagee, is leading this push for aggressive US action, purportedly based on Biblical principles. Hagee heads the Cornerstone megachurch in San Antonio and a big evangelical television operation. He founded CUFI in February and packed its leadership with luminaries of the religious right.

A Christian lobby for Israel
Hagee established CUFI as a Christian congressional lobby in support of Israel, modeled on the pro-Israel congressional lobby AIPAC (the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee), according to news reports. (However, for unknown reasons, he disclaims similarity in an opinion article for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA).)

While AIPAC generally supports current Israeli government policy, Hagee and CUFI board members, including Rev. Jerry Falwell, make clear that they do not support Israeli withdrawal from occupied territories, based on their Biblical interpretations. (For more on Christian Zionism, see the sidebar at right.)

Hagee has been promoting war with Iran since February. His book on the subject, Jerusalem Countdown: A warning to the world, has sold 700,000 copies, the Wall Street Journal reports. Speakers at CUFI's July 18th kickoff banquet hurled imprecations at Iran.


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The premeditated usurption of power over the people.

A brief summary of presidential directives, executive orders, and congressionaly approved bills that where signed into law over the last 40 or so years.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was iniated on March 31st, 1979 by Jimmy Carter through Executive Order 12127, and evolved through a series of presidential Directives that bypassed congress.

In May,2001 Bush announced that FEMA would expand its responsibility to include government response to terrorist attacks. Joe Allbaugh, head of FEMA, explained that this mission, dubbed "homeland defense", would focus on dealing with the effects of such attacks, but not extend to gathering intelligence to prevent them. This left the agency as one of the most visible responders in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks. At the time of the attacks, Bu$h appointee Joe Allbaugh was attending a conference in Big Sky, Montana, on the subject of emergency response.

Bu$hco seeked immunity for War Crimes before Iraq Invasion

While the folks here in the US were demonstrating against Bu$hco in the months leading up to the invasion of Baghdad, the Neocons were actively conducting a campaign against the International Criminal Court (ICC). The demonstrations against the war, all over the world, were the largest in history, and were, of course, underplayed by the Mainstream Media.

On the eve of Iraq war America snubs new International Criminal Court

By Stefan Steinberg
17 March 2003

On Tuesday March 11 the newly founded International Criminal Court (ICC) was officially opened in a ceremony in The Hague, capital of the Netherlands. Taking part in the ceremony, which included the swearing in of the courts first 18 judges, were Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan. Washington pointedly snubbed the ceremony, with US Ambassador to the Netherlands, Clifford Sobel, turning down an invitation to attend the gathering.

The ICC is supported by a total of 89 countries. An additional 50 countries have signed on to the statutes of the court but have yet to ratify their collaboration. The ICC has been described as the descendent of the tribunal at Nuremberg set up after the Second World War to try leaders of the Nazi party for conducting wars of aggression and war crimes. The court is mandated to deal with any war crimes and crimes against humanity committed after July 1, 2002. These would include genocide, the bombing of civilians, and systematic rape and torture.

Among the most prominent non-signatories to the court are the United States, Russia and China. The United States is the only country to have actively conducted a campaign against the ICC and has signed treaties with more than 20 nations giving its citizens immunity from the ICC.

The timing of the ceremony, on the eve of an American-led war against Iraq, was not lost on those attending the occasion. Just a day before the opening in The Hague, Kofi Annan declared that, should the UN Security Council fail to agree on a second resolution authorizing the use of force, a war against Iraq would be illegal. Nevertheless, Edmond Wellenstein, director general of the Dutch task force for the ICC, tried hard to counter any speculation that the first task for the court would be an investigation into the crimes committed in the course of a war with Iraq. The opening ICC ceremony, he said, was “about hope, and fighting impunity. It is not about a cynical coincidence.”

More on this

Condoleeza Rice Assures Diplomatic Solution to Iran

Interview With Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Radio Farda Correspondents Golnaz Esfandiari and Mosaddegh Katouzian


Secretary Condoleezza Rice

Prague, Czech Republic (July 8, 2008)



QUESTION: Madame Secretary, thank you so much for this interview with Radio Farda. Let me start with a question that's on the mind of many Iranians these days. Will there be a U.S. or Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear facilities?

SECRETARY RICE: Oh, we believe very strongly and President Bush has made very clear that this problem with Iran about its nuclear technology can be resolved diplomatically. That is what we're working on. We want very much for the Iranian people to be able to have good relations with the United States. There's no reason that this great civilization with a great history and a great culture should be isolated from international politics. And so there is a diplomatic way to do this, and that's why the United States, as a part of the group that is Germany, France, Great Britain, Russia, and China, has made a proposal to the Iranian Government that we hope they will accept.

QUESTION: Madame Secretary, Iran insists that its nuclear program is peaceful and, defying UN resolutions, continues with the enrichment of uranium. Is it a precondition for United States for bilateral talks and for lifting of the sanctions for Iran to end its enrichment program, and could you perhaps envision future talks without preconditions?

SECRETARY RICE: Well, the reason that it's important for Iran to suspend its enrichment and reprocessing, to come to the table once it has suspended, is that we shouldn't be in a position of talking while Iran continues to improve the very technologies that could lead to a nuclear weapon.

But if Iran wants a peaceful program, it can have a peaceful program. Russia has a reactor, the Bushehr reactor. The United States has been supportive of what Russia is doing there. We have offered, in the proposal that the P-5+1 have made, to help Iran with civil nuclear technology at the highest possible levels. It's just that when you enrich and reprocess, you are perfecting the technologies that can lead to a nuclear weapon; and because of the Iranian regime's history of lying to the IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency, it can't be trusted with enrichment and reprocessing. But it can have civil nuclear power. And so when the Iranian regime tells its people that the West is trying to prevent Iran from having very sophisticated technology, it could not be further from the truth.




Missiles won't work, Can I be hearing correctly? I remember something about all options on the table, including nuclear, but never anything so blatant as the threat of using Star Wars Weapons.



HAARP (High Frequency Active Auroral Reasearch Program). Supposed Weather modification, communication disruption and mind control Weapon. Extended Star Wars Defense Initiative (SDI)weapon of the US military.
HAARP has the ability of modifying the World's electro-magnetic field.

Videos compliments of Betmo and Jim from The Sirens Chronicles

McCain asked about PNAC and 9/11 at town hall

Raw Story

David Edwards and Muriel Kane

Published: Thursday July 10, 2008

During a town hall event in Portsmouth, OH on Wednesday, John McCain was asked by a member of the audience whether his links to the parent organization of the Project for a New American Century explain why he has been reluctant to support calls for a new investigation of 9/11.

The questioner began, "I was curious about a document. Back in September of 2000, the Project for a New American Century, or PNAC, whose members included Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Jeb Bush and Paul Wolfowitz, wrote a document entitled 'Rebuilding Americans Defenses.'"

As McCain turned and paced away from him, the questioner continued, "In it, they state, quote, "The process of transformation, even if it bring revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event like a new Pearl Harbor."

"Now, many Americans believe that that 'new Pearl Harbor' event took place on 9/11," the questioner went on, as McCain grimaced slightly. "And according to a recent New York Times and CBS News poll, 84% of Americans believe that there were some criminal elements of our government involved in 9/11."

Calls of disapproval began to arise from the audience, but the questioner shot back, "Hold on!" and continued asking McCain, "Can you tell us about your role as -- hold on -- as president of the "New Citizen Project" founded in 1994, which served as a chief fund-raising and parent organization to PNAC? And is this one of the factors that has made you so reluctant to support the victims' family members and first responders who are begging for a new investigation into 9/11?"

McSame didn't answer the question. but in typical Neocon fashion explained his alliance with Joe Lieberman, who he called a Democrat, and how they sponsered the 911 commision.

"I have a serious answer, sir," McCain replied, "and that is that it was Joe Lieberman and I -- a Democrat -- that sponsored the legislation for the 9/11 Commission. ... And very frankly, the administration was not, shall I say, enthusiastic about the establishment of that commission. ... I am proud of what the 9/11 Commission did. I am proud that we have enacted many of the reforms ... that they recommended. And I will stand by their recommendations and their conclusions, as will the overwhelming majority of Americans."

The question was, of course about the PNAC, which recently has taken down their long established web site, which contains the statements that the questioner was referring to...

"Can you tell us about your role as -- hold on -- as president of the "New Citizen Project" founded in 1994, which served as a chief fund-raising and parent organization to PNAC?"

A Tribute to Billyjoebob & The Sludge Report

Well, Joe has been speaking truth to power from his attic for quite a while now,and was formerly on Youtube as billybobjoe57. His account was suspended a couple of months ago, about the time that he posted a video about The day the US declared war on Iran.

BILLYBOBJOE57 TRASHED BY YOUTUBE



If you are experiencing difficulties finding Joe his new Youtube handle is called The Sludge Report where he is still giving us the lowdown on Bu$hco and the Corporate Government.

Keep up the good work Joe, you have been a real inspiration for those of us who are beginning to realise that everyone of us, "We The Sheeple", should be shouting out against George Duhhbya Bu$h & Co.

Here's Truthjocky with a message of support for Joe...



I didn't like the way The Man nixed all your hard work Joe...that was wrong! I'd seen your stuff, it was basic first amendment bread and butter man. It's a crying shame that America has been reduced to corporate lies & deceptions -- but the masses of human resources don't see the big picture man. Some do...and I hope you'll give them a honk for me bro!

Remembering Bill Manning's "Selling Out The Investigation of the 911 Disaster"

Bill Manning, editor of Fire Engineering, a 125-year-old-monthly firefighting trade magazine with ties to the New York City Fire Department, wrote in an editor's opinion piece in the January 2002 issue called "$elling Out the Investigation", "Fire Engineering has good reason to believe that the 'official investigation' blessed by FEMA and run by the American Society of Civil Engineers is a half-baked farce that may already have been commandeered by political forces whose primary interests, to put it mildly, lie far afield of full disclosure." He also called for an immediate stop to the removal of steel from the site of ground zero saying the steel from the site should be preserved as a crime scene so that investigators can examine what caused the collapse and pass that knowledge on to future generations of engineers. The editorial continues, "A growing number of fire protection engineers have theorized that 'the structural damage from the planes and the explosive ignition of jet fuel in themselves were not enough to bring down the towers," the editorial stated.

And yet rather than preserve that scene or allow the emergency workers to search for their fallen comrades, Giuliani instead brought in the NYPD to seal off the area and minimize any search and rescue work. He was in a rush to start dismantling ?the pile' siding with developers and agreed to a plan to sell off the scrap metal to foreign nations for even cheaper than what they could have sold it for here in the States. Why go through the trouble of shipping scrap metal out of country if you do not have something to hide? "New York authorities' decision to ship the twin towers' scrap to recyclers has raised the anger of victims' families and some engineers who believe the massive girders should be further examined to help determine how the towers collapsed."

Exclusive: Barry Jennings WTC7 Testimony

At 2:20 into the second video Barry mentions that it was hot very hot. He broke out the window with a fire extinguisher and down below he could see police cars on fire, buses on fire. He said that he was on the north side of the building.

The picture is from Judy Woods site: "WTC7 looks REALLY good here! (It's the building on the right, a block away from where the camera person is standing.) I believe this is after WTC1 goes poof, but am not sure. I have pictures from the next block up, next to WTC7, and it didn't look nearly as bad as this! So, I'm thinking that this part of the street got toasted when they did WTC1 and the other one was after WTC2 and before WTC1."


Barry Jennings full ABC7 "LIVE" interview from early afternoon on 9/11.

This was taken from Dylan Avery's just released FULL and UNCUT interview with Barry Jennings - This clip is from the first 1:52 of his clip.

Barry was in WTC7 on the morning of 9/11 and speaks to ABC7 shortly after escaping from WTC7 with the assistance of the FDNY, time is approx 1pm on 9/11.

UPDATE: Back from the future...Feb 28, 2010...The first part of the interview seems to be blocked on Youtube, but I'm sure that there are copies of it around the innertubes, like this one.

Barry Jennings Uncut 20:45

Postpone SOFA: A Status of Forces Agreement

The Wrong Partnership for Iraq

Washington Post

By Bill Delahunt and Rosa DeLauro
Tuesday, July 8, 2008; Page A15

The June 15 editorial " A Partnership With Iraq" criticized Democrats in Congress for opposing the proposed long-term military agreement between the United States and Iraq that would replace the U.N. mandate under which U.S. forces are fighting. The editorial called the agreement a way of "countering Iran's attempt to dominate the Middle East." We have examined this issue for many months and believe that The Post's position is badly misguided.

First, the editorial failed to recognize congressional obligations, imposed by the Constitution, on governing the use of our armed forces. The Post argued that barring a "formal commitment to defend Iraq from external aggression," congressional approval of the agreement is not required. Yet constitutional scholars testifying before the oversight subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee have stated that "the authority to fight" that the administration seeks from Iraq does indeed require congressional approval. Requiring international legal approval of combat is what makes this agreement anything but what the administration incorrectly calls it: a "status of forces agreement."

The U.N. mandate provides the last legal thread of domestic U.S. authority for combat because "enforcing relevant U.N. resolutions" was one of the two activities cited by the 2002 vote in Congress authorizing the use of force against Iraq (the other being to dispose of the threat posed by Saddam Hussein). If the U.N. mandate expires on Dec. 31, so does domestic authority for our troops to fight, along with their immunity from Iraqi prosecution. This is precisely the "legal vacuum" that constitutional scholars Bruce Ackerman and Oona Hathaway detailed in an April 5 op-ed, " The War's Expiration Date," on washingtonpost.com.
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We have proposed an alternative that would serve our interests and those of the Iraqis far better: extending the U.N. mandate in Iraq for six months, as has been done before, so that the new president and Congress can work with Iraq's leaders to determine the next agreement.

The many faceted Barack Obama

Obama drew a large crowd in Portland when he was here in Oregon. There is no doubt that he has plenty of support throughout the country and no matter what kind of swift boat politics or Rovian spin is coming at him he will become the POTUS. Can there be a better choice for the country at this point.

It's disappointing to see him become a politician that tries to cover all the bases, but the rules of the game have been in place for a long time and will continue to have a large influence on the outcome of this election.

Obama says Iraq trip could refine his policy

By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer Thu Jul 3, 7:11 PM ET

FARGO, N.D. - Democrat Barack Obama struggled Thursday to explain how his upcoming trip to Iraq might refine, but not basically alter, his promise to quickly remove U.S. combat troops from the war.

A dustup over war policy — one of the main issues separating the Illinois senator from his Republican opponent, John McCain — overshadowed Obama's town-hall meeting here with veterans to talk about patriotism and his plans to care for them. Republicans pounced on the chance to characterize Obama as altering one of the core policies that drove his candidacy "for the sake of political expedience." He denied equally forcefully that he was shifting positions.

Arriving in Fargo, Obama hastily called a news conference to discuss news of a sixth straight month of nationwide job losses, but the questioning turned to Iraq policy and his impending trip there.

"I am going to do a thorough assessment when I'm there," he said. "I'm sure I'll have more information and continue to refine my policy."

He left the impression that his talks with military commanders there could refine his promise to remove U.S. combat troops within 16 months of taking office.

"I have said throughout this campaign that this war was ill-conceived, that it was a strategic blunder and that it needs to come to an end," he said. "I have also said I would be deliberate and careful about how we get out. That position has not changed. I am not searching for maneuvering room with respect to that position."

Hmm, here's an interesting developement, in the light of what was said by Obama the other day about refining his policy.

Pentagon rebuffs Iraqis on withdrawal timetable

July 7, 2008

WASHINGTON (AFP) - In a rebuff to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, the Pentagon said Monday that any timetable for a US withdrawal from Iraq would depend on conditions on the ground there.

Maliki told Arab ambassadors on Monday he was pressing for such a timetable in negotiations with Washington on an agreement on the status of US forces in Iraq beyond 2008.

Asked about the prime minister's comments, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters: "With respect to timetables I would say the same thing I would say as respects to the security situation -- it is dependent on conditions on the ground."

Some of Obama's interesting background...



Barack Obama's grandmother, Sarah Hussein Onyango Obama

I'm sure glad that he has heritage that is close to the Earth; I'll vote for him, if for no other reason that I feel really good about his grandmother...




Barack Obama poses at Columbia University in New York City during a visit by his grandparents Stanley and Madelyn Dunham. (Photo courtesy of Maya Soetoro-Ng / March 23, 2007.

And I think that his grandparents from Great Briton are pretty cool too...



Not to mention his immediate family...

"If I am the face of American foreign policy and American power," Obama observed in a recent New York Times interview, "I think that if you can tell people, 'We have a president in the White House who still has a grandmother living in a hut on the shores of Lake Victoria and has a sister who's half-Indonesian, married to a Chinese-Canadian,' then they're going to think that he may have a better sense of what's going on in our lives and in our country. And they'd be right."

Barry Jennings: New 911 Developements

The Alex Jones Show:"Why Barry Jennings Interview Released"





Alex Jones: New 9/11 Developments - Barry Jennings Part 2




Alex Jones: New 9/11 Developments - Barry Jennings Part 3




Alex Jones: New 9/11 Developments - Barry Jennings Part 4