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US launches airstrike in Somalia| |
Excerpt: "It was a deliberate, precise strike against a known terrorist and his associates," one US military official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on the record.
He gave few other details, except to say the targets were believed staying in building known to be used regularly by terrorist suspects.
Comment: These "precision strikes" often turn out to be a little less than precise, but I don't really give a rip if it was a clean kill and they haul out the corpse of Osama bin Laden himself: This just plain ain't the proper way for any form of "justice" to be delivered, and a government that kills at will and without warning is a tyranny. Helen & Harry PERMANENT LINK |
Head of Guantanamo kangaroo trials resigns| |
Excerpt: As General Counsel at the US Defense Department, William J. Haynes was a leading architect of the military commission system US President George. W. Bush ordered established in the wake of the September 11, 2001, attacks.
But his alleged backroom insistence the commission produce only convictions provoked a rush of commentary -- much of charging it proved the trials will be a sham. ...
Haynes' alleged comments appeared in an interview Nation magazine conducted with Col. Morris Davis, who resigned last October as the commission's chief prosecutor, citing political interference.
"I said to (Haynes) that if we come up short and there are some acquittals in our cases, it will at least validate the process," Davis was quoted as saying about an August 2005 meeting the two men had.
"At which point, his eyes got wide and he said, 'Wait a minute, we can't have acquittals. If we've been holding these guys for so long, how can we explain letting them get off? . . . We've got to have convictions.'" |
Republican Party halts effort to retrieve White House e-mails| |
Excerpt: After promising last year to search its computers for tens of thousands of e-mails sent by White House officials, the Republican National Committee has informed a House committee that it no longer plans to retrieve the communications by restoring computer backup tapes, the panel's chairman said yesterday.
Comment: There's not a word in the article even mentioning the concept of a subpoena. The Congress "asked" for the emails, and the Republican Party said golly, we'll try to find 'em, and now the Republican Party says, nah, we won't even try. And without a subpoena it's all just a bipartisan cover-up. Helen & Harry PERMANENT LINK |
Mukasey refuses to enforce Congressional subpoenas| |
Excerpt: Attorney General Michael Mukasey refused Friday to refer the House's contempt citations against two of President Bush's top aides to a federal grand jury. Mukasey said White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former presidential counsel Harriet Miers committed no crime.
As promised, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that she has given the Judiciary Committee authority to file a lawsuit against Bolten and Miers in federal court.
"The House shall do so promptly," she said in a statement.
Comment: Mukasey knows he can refuse to enforce the law -- refuse to do his job -- and there's absolutely no chance he'll be impeached and removed from office. The Bush administration has made it clear that lawlessness is what's expected in high office these days, and the Democrats have signaled that they're AOK with that. Helen & Harry PERMANENT LINK |
Life in liberated Afghanistan & Iraq
Mythical "surge" in Iraq begins backfiring| |
Excerpt: "The only reason anything works or anybody deals with us is because we give them money," says a young Army intelligence officer. The 2nd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment ... is handing out $32 million to Iraqis in the district, including $6 million to build the towering walls that, in the words of one US officer, serve only to "make Iraqis more divided than they already are."
In districts like Dora, the strategy of the surge seems simple: to buy off every Iraqi in sight. All told, the US is now backing more than 600,000 Iraqi men in the security sector -- more than half the number Saddam had at the height of his power. With [so-called] Iraqi Security Volunteers in place, the Americans are now arming both sides in the civil war. |
US intelligence says Afghanistan mission close to failing| |
Excerpt: After six years of US-led military support and billions of pounds in aid, security in Afghanistan is "deteriorating" and President Hamid Karzai's government controls less than a third of the country, America's top intelligence official has admitted.
Comment: Yeah, but Afghanistan is makin' some killer opium, and those pipelines the oil companies wanted are singin' along. That's no failure in the Neo-con's book. Marshall S. PERMANENT LINK |
Turks reportedly withdraw from Northern Iraq| |
Excerpt: Turkey, which has NATO's second biggest army, sent thousands of soldiers into mountainous northern Iraq on February 21 to crush rebels of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) who use the region as a base for attacks on Turkish territory.
The General Staff said it had killed 240 rebels and lost 27 soldiers during the eight-day offensive, waged in deep snow and subzero temperatures in tough mountainous terrain.
The PKK, which says it killed more than 130 Turkish troops but only five rebels had died, described the withdrawal as a victory. It was not possible to verify the figures.
Comment: I wonder if it's true? Helen & Harry PERMANENT LINK |
New 'surge' in Iraqi deaths in February
Iraqi leaders veto law Bush administration hailed as political breakthrough
US policy blamed for minorities leaving Iran
Marines call new body armor heavy, impractical
Karzai runs maybe 30% of Afghanistan
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Blockaded Gazans are told to boil water as chlorine runs low| |
Excerpt: But Israel, which has tightened restrictions on the Hamas-run enclave in what it says is a response to militant rocket fire, said it only received a request for chlorine on Wednesday and was still processing it.
Israel threatens to unleash 'holocaust' in Gaza
Excerpt: An Israeli minister gave warning yesterday that the Gaza faces a "holocaust" if Islamist militants there do not end their daily barrages of home-made Qassam rockets, and their increasing use of Iranian-built Grad missiles.
"The more Qassam fire intensifies and the rockets reach a longer range, they will bring upon themselves a bigger holocaust because we will use all our might to defend ourselves," Matan Vilnai, the Deputy Defense Minister said.
Letter from Gaza
Excerpt: Israel is still imposing the siege and closure on the Gaza Strip, preventing people and goods to move. At least 105 patients have died suffering from a shortage of medicines while awaiting Israeli "permission" to gain access out of the Gaza Strip to be treated abroad since Gaza hospitals suffer from a shortage of basic medical supplies and medicines. |
Big Brother Bush is watching you
Bush demands immunity because telecom trials would reveal administration criminality| |
Excerpt: It's because those lawsuits are the absolute last hope for ever learning what the administration did when they spied on Americans for years in violation of the law. Dismissal via amnesty would ensure that their spying behavior stays permanently concealed, buried forever, and as importantly, that no court ever rules on the legality of what they did. Isn't it striking how that implication of telecom amnesty is never discussed, and how little interest it generates among journalists -- whose role, theoretically, is to uncover secret government actions?
Comment: The more Bush and his criminal gang lie about the so-called Protect America Act, the more their demand of immunity for telecoms is echoed in lying ads and dishonest editorials, the more I'm certain the Democratic-controlled Congress will give in, and give Bush everything he wants -- immunity for telecoms, war without end, maybe a backrub. Rebecca PERMANENT LINK |
House Intel Chair says he'll cave on telecom immunity within a few days
| | Excerpt: The House Intelligence Committee chairman expects a compromise soon on renewal of an eavesdropping law that could provide legal protections for telecommunications companies as President Bush has insisted.
Rep. Silvestre Reyes, in a television interview broadcast Sunday, did not specifically say whether the House proposal would mirror the Senate's version. The Senate measure provides retroactive legal immunity to the companies that helped the government wiretap US computer and phone lines after the Sept. 11 attacks without clearance from a secret court.
Comment: In addition to the infuriating facts of the matter (c'mon, you knew the Democrats were going to kiss Bush's ring) there's a little lie in that last sentence: The illegal spying in known to have begun months before 9/11/2001. Helen & Harry PERMANENT LINK |
American Legion stands against American Constitution, for illegal spying| |
Excerpt: It's a real shame that the American |
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BIG BROTHER BUSH
IS WATCHING YOU
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Legion, the organization that is supposed to be representing them and helping to get legislation that really benefits them (like more body armor, like fully funded veterans care, like adequate treatment for brain injuries and PTSD) is instead lying to them.
If you're a veteran and are opposed to giving AT&T a free pass for breaking the law, please let the American Legion know that they don't speak for you. Call them at (202) 861-2700 or use this contact page. |
Bush thinks spied-on Americans should 'suck it up'
Bush is lying about expired wiretap legislation (and everything else)
White House Spokesperson Perino says reporters are "clueless"
about her confused misexplanations of lapsed illegal wiretapping law
Despite lapsed legislation, intelligence officials give no indication of any heightened concern
ACLU corrects White House misstatements on illegal spying act
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Judge withdraws unconstitutional order, Wikileaks goes back on-line| |
Excerpt: WikiLeaks, a whistle-blower site publishing thousands of leaked documents, was taken offline in the United States after posting allegedly stolen documents: individuals' banking records that suggest a Cayman Islands branch of a Swiss bank was helping customers practice money laundering and tax evasion across the globe. |
Election 2008
Clinton unveils fearmongering anti-Obama TV ad| |
Excerpt: If you vote for Barack Obama, your children are going to die in their beds. This is the message of the latest Clinton television ad running in Texas. The spot starts with a moonlit shot of a blond toddler in the warm tangle of her sheets and then cuts to a close-up of an infant also in deep REM sleep. For the next 15 seconds, the images shift from one cherubic sleeping face to another. You'd think you were watching a Baby Ambien ad if the narrator weren't giving you nightmares:
"It's 3 a.m., and your children are safe and asleep. But there's a phone in the White House, and it's ringing. Something's happening in the world. Your vote will decide who answers that call. Whether it's someone who already knows the world's leaders, knows the military -- someone tested and ready to lead in a dangerous world."
At this point, we see our first adult, a concerned mother, opening the door and peering into her children's bedroom. "It's 3 a.m. and your children are safe and asleep," the narrator repeats. "Who do you want answering the phone?"
Comment: In her run for the Presidency Hillary Clinton has degraded herself, over and over again, and reduced herself -- at least in my estimation -- from a woman I disagree with on some political matters, a woman who retained her dignity during her husband's embarrassing infidelity and scandals, a woman I felt had been unfairly smeared by (as she said) a vast right-wing conspiracy ... to a woman I have no respect for whatsoever. Lee M. PERMANENT LINK
Obama responds: I will never use
"threat of terrorism to scare up votes"
Obama's response ad is quick and convincing
Comment: One of the things I like about Obama is that his campaign team is awake. Unlike sleepy ol' John Kerry, who couldn't be bothered to respond to the "swift boat" liars' until their message had been on every channel for weeks, Obama's team has a rapid and rock-solid response for every slimy attack.
I'll admit I'm a little nervous about putting such a young and inexperienced contender against Karl Rove's endless barrage of smears and canards, but I keep getting the impression that unlike past pansies the Democrats have put up for President, Barack Obama actually wants to win, so he'll fight back. Angry Annie PERMANENT LINK |
McCain is 'very honored' by support of
utterly insane minister John Hagee| |
Excerpt: Yesterday, hard-line conservative Pastor John Hagee, founder of Christians United for Israel, endorsed John McCain. Hagee said that McCain "is a man of principle, [who] does not stand boldly on both sides of any issue." McCain, who had been courting the endorsement for over a year, said that he was "very honored by Pastor John Hagee's endorsement."
So who's John Hagee?
Excerpt: Very much like Farrakhan, Hagee has regularly made remarks about current events and other religions that many would find alarming. But unlike Farrakhan, he has never truly faced the scrutiny of the mainstream press, and major politicians like Joe Lieberman and John McCain have freely associated with him. ... |
Oscar winner Gibney's next targets:
Jack Abramoff & John McCain| |
Excerpt: Alex Gibney, who made last year's "Taxi to the Dark Side," about the lethal interrogation of an Afghani taxicab driver by American military forces, told Politico his Abramoff film would be coming out later this year. Its tentative title: "Casino Jack and the United States of Money."
"The film should give viewers a greater understanding, in a blow-by-blow way, of how the political process works, particularly with regards to lobbying," Gibney says. "This movie will have it all: wild international intrigue, money changing hands in unexpected places, etc. It will be fun. As someone said about an earlier picture I made: 'It's a comedy that turns into farce and ends up in horror.'" |
Stumping for Clinton, Steinem says
McCain's POW cred is overrated| |
Excerpt: McCain was, in fact, a prisoner of war for around five-and-a-half years, during which time he was tortured repeatedly. Referring to his time in captivity, Steinem said with bewilderment, "I mean, hello? This is supposed to be a qualification to be president? I don't think so."
Comment: Of course, she's right, but golly, how rude to actually state the obvious. Helen & Harry PERMANENT LINK |
Bush blasts Obama for willingness to talk
with other countries, not just bomb them
71-year-old McCain says Obama
represents politics of the past
Pennsylvania Democrats demand Nader pay
$61K for Dems' 2004 court case against him
before being allowed ballot access in 2008
McCain says Bush should get more credit
McCain seeks to blow off
Federal Election Commission
McCain is scamming and breaking campaign
finance laws, and yet has the audacity to
attack Obama on issue of campaign finance
Further lies alleged in McCain's
response to corruption charges
McCain flip-flops on whether supporting
wars could cost him the election
McCain says he hopes Castro dies soon
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IRS investigates church for inviting Obama
to speak a year before campaign started| |
Excerpt: The IRS is investigating the United Church of Christ over a speech Sen. Barack Obama gave at its national meeting last year after he became a candidate for president, the denomination said Tuesday. ...
The UCC had invited Obama to speak a year before he announced he was running for president because of his involvement in the denomination, Guess said.
Church leaders consulted with lawyers before the event on following IRS rules. Before Obama spoke, a top church official told the crowd that the senator's talk was not a campaign-related event and that no leaflets or other signs of political support would be allowed.
Comment: I haven't heard of any IRS inquiries into right-wing charlatan millionaires like Pat Robertson and Oral Roberts or Benny Hinn or James Dobson or on and on and on, but when a middle-of-the-road denomination invites a middle-of-the-road Democrat and consults lawyers to try to follow all the rules, there will be hell to pay. Mike E. PERMANENT LINK |
U.N. torture investigator questions secret US prison| |
Excerpt: The U.N. torture investigator said Sunday he has received "credible" allegations that the US detained terror suspects on the British island Diego Garcia -- claims that contradict statements by the British and US governments.
Comment: How many more secret torture prisons are there out there? Marshall S. PERMANENT LINK |
Cuba signs human rights treaties| |
Excerpt: Just days after Raúl Castro took office as this country's new president, Cuba's Communist government has signed two important international human rights treaties that Fidel Castro had long opposed, another sign the new administration might set a new course. |
Bush administration stonewalls inquiry into construction of $736-million so-called "embassy" in Iraq| |
Excerpt: Henry Waxman, who is chairman of the oversight committee in the House of Representatives, asked US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice today to explain why her department certified the embassy as "substantially completed" in December despite inspections that reveal continued deficiencies in the facility's water, fire alarm and kitchen systems.
The Baghdad embassy, which stands to become the largest US diplomatic facility in the world, had an original opening date of mid-2007. But the project stalled amid ballooning cost estimates as well as charges of corruption and shoddy work by the private contracting company overseeing the project. |
British court gags former SAS officer
who blew the whistle on torture flights| |
Excerpt: A former SAS soldier was served with a high court order yesterday preventing him from making fresh disclosures about how hundreds of Iraqis and Afghans captured by British and American special forces were rendered to prisons where they faced torture.
Ben Griffin could be jailed if he makes further disclosures about how people seized by special forces were allegedly mistreated and ended up in secret prisons in breach of the Geneva conventions and international law. Griffin, 29, left the British army in 2005 after three months in Baghdad, saying he disagreed with the "illegal" tactics of US troops. |
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Lightning round news |
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Liars in media
Washington Post article contradicts
claim in its subhead -- attributed
to US government -- that
telecoms are "not cooperating"
with surveillance program
Women are stupid,
says the Washington Post
Russert misquotes Clinton one day, falsely states Clinton's and Obama's positions on NAFTA the next
NY Times' standards for Catholic League's Donohue: Three articles for criticism of Edwards, two paragraphs for criticism of McCain
Buchanan stands up for "white males," claiming only "white males" died at Gettysburg, Normandy
Fox's O'Reilly sees "similarities between what Hitler ... did back then and the hate-filled blogs"
Disney's Savage asks, "Why are there no queries being provoked about Saddam Hussein -- I mean, Barack Hussein Obama?"
New York Times repeats "most liberal" crap about Obama
Limbaugh lies that Obama's statement on Al Qaeda in Iraq
is "manifestly not true"
Fox's Hannity again links Obama
to Farrakhan without noting Obama's denunciation of Farrakhan
Fox continues tarring Obama
with Farrakhan, despite
Obama's repeated denunciation
ad nauseum of Farrakhan
MSNBC News mentions Hagee's endorsement of McCain, but
doesn't mention that Hagee
is a flaming delusional nutball
Fox's Hannity repeatedly distorts Michelle Obama's thesis
Fox's Emanuel conflates PAA
with FISA to suggest Dem leaders
"playing a high-stakes game"
with Americans' safety
Fox's "confused" Hill falsely
claims that "the law that lets"
US officials "listen in to phone calls from overseas by known terrorists expired two weeks ago"
Fox's Snow compares
Bush to Lincoln
Associated Press yet again
falsely "explains" debate
over illegal wiretaps
Fox's O'Reilly says there's
"no difference" between
Huffington, Nazis, and KKK
Wall Street Journal uncritically
reports McCain attack on Obama
over public financing, but
ignores McCain's public financing dilemma
NBC's Russert again distorts facts
in debate questions for Clinton
AP again reports that McCain
"didn't embrace the [bitch]
epithet" without noting that he
called the question "excellent"
L.A. Times lets Jonah Goldberg
spread lie about Obama
On HBO's Real Time, Maher lets Republican Congressman lie and smear Obama without rebuttal
CNN's Beck compares
Santorum to Churchill
CNN report on "rumors" about
Obama's patriotism doesn't
mention Republican sources
AP uncritically quotes "dirty
trickster" founder of C.U.N.T.
attacking Obama's patriotism
CNN's Beck welcomes hate-
monger Goldberg, who compares
Obama and FDR to Hitler
CNN uses "instant poll"
to smear Obama
New York Times' Kristol fudges quote to impugn Obama's patriotism
Fox pundit Kondracke
lies about Obama
On Meet the Press, Brooks lies
to minimize McCain scandal
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America's rigged elections
Cleveland goes back to paper ballots| |
Excerpt: The people involved in overseeing elections will be watching closely Tuesday as Ohio's most populous county votes, but it won't have anything to do with Barack Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton or John McCain.
No place in the nation has had as much trouble running an election in recent years as Cuyahoga County. As it moved from punch cards in 2004 to touch screens in 2006, servers crashed, printers jammed, memory cards disappeared and poll workers were overwhelmed.
So this year, it's back to basics: paper. Voters will fill in ovals the way high school students do on the SATs. They'll drop the ballots in a box, which will be taken to a county warehouse to be counted. |
Milwaukee cops find no voter fraud … but want Wisconsin to make it tougher to vote anyway| |
Excerpt: Nearly three years after police began a probe into 2004 voting flaws in Milwaukee, investigators issued a report Tuesday that says eliminating same-day registration and requiring voters to show photo IDs would minimize the problems found.
Gov. Jim Doyle told reporters in Madison: "I'm not sure why the Milwaukee Police Department should be the one deciding what the voting policy is of the State of Wisconsin."
One irony: investigators found almost no evidence supporting the GOP's claims of double voting and invalid addresses in the election. |
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Bush appointee who bragged of not caring is squeezed out at Veterans Affairs| |
Excerpt: The Department of Veterans Affairs Undersecretary for Benefits Daniel Cooper quit Thursday amid mounting criticism over a backlog of disability claims for injured veterans that runs six months long and an appearance he made in a fundraising video for an evangelical Christian organization where he said Bible study was more important than doing his job.
Comment: I'm no theologian, but unless I was missing the point during all those weeks of Sunday school, I think Jesus would rather have us helping wounded vets than sitting around talking about how Christian we are. Madeline Zane PERMANENT LINK |
Florida lawmakers want women having abortions to view ultrasounds| |
Comment: ... because women are so stupid, they don't really understand what an abortion is and they need to have it explained to them by pious male lawmakers. Maybe the next step will be to require women seeking abortions to spend an hour in a hospital's nursery, so they can see how cute the iddy biddy babies are. I will never in my life understand why people who could have freedom instead send puny little would-be tyrants to write their laws. Sandra W. PERMANENT LINK |
War brewing as Colombia raids Ecuador| |
Excerpt: Tensions between Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela reached a new high after Bogota launched a cross-border raid into Ecuador, killing the second-ranking official of Colombia's largest leftist rebel group.
Raul Reyes of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) was killed Saturday in an air raid conducted by Colombian forces on a jungle camp located on the Ecuadoran side of the common border.
In response, Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa recalled his country's ambassador to Bogota "for consultations" and warned the action might result in "ultimate consequences" because of "the offense" suffered by his country. |
Guatemala will open archives from CIA-backed "disappeared" era| |
Excerpt: Military archives spanning nearly four decades of civil war in Guatemala will be opened to the public, the country's President Alvaro Colom has announced. |
Jamaican government considers legalizing pot| |
Excerpt: Jamaica is considering the legalization of marijuana, a drug revered by members of the island's large Rastafarian population who say smoking it is part of their religion.
In 2003, a government commission recommended legalizing marijuana in small amounts for personal use. But lawmakers never acted, saying legalization might entail loss of their country's US anti-drug certification. Countries that lose it face economic sanctions.
A US State Department report Friday said that Jamaica is the largest producer of marijuana in the Caribbean and a major hub for drugs bound for the United States.
Comment: When Mexico tried something like this, they got immediately spanked by Uncle Sam. Let's see if Jamaica's got more gumption. Marshall S. PERMANENT LINK |
Trashing the planet
Research funding suspended after study shows downside of ethanol production| |
Excerpt: The Minnesota Soybean Growers Association and the Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council decided to stop paying additional research money until they meet with Allen Levine, dean of the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, and other officials.
"The university hurt the farmers' feelings, OK? That's probably the best way to say it," said Jim Palmer, executive director of the two groups. |
Alaska town sues energy firms over global warming| |
Excerpt: A tiny Alaska village eroding into the Arctic Ocean sued two dozen oil, power and coal companies Tuesday, claiming that the large amounts of greenhouse gases they emit contribute to global warming that threatens the community's existence. |
Court holds Navy to rules safeguarding marine mammals
Unsold whale meat forced into Japanese school lunch program
Pesticides, contaminants pollute West's national parks
As global starvation worsens, the US plans to
devote vast amounts of grain to producing ethanol
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Saudis are urged to leave Lebanon| |
Excerpt: The Saudi Arabian embassy in Beirut has called on its nationals to leave Lebanon a day after a US warship was positioned off the country's coast. |
More than 1 in every 100 Americans now behind bars| |
Excerpt: For the first time in US history, more than one of every 100 adults is in jail or prison, according to a new report documenting America's rank as the world's No. 1 incarcerator. It urges states to curtail corrections spending by placing fewer low-risk offenders behind bars. |
Justice Department investigates itself for authorizing torture| |
Excerpt: An internal watchdog office at the Justice Department is investigating whether Bush administration lawyers violated professional standards by issuing legal opinions that authorized the CIA to use waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques, officials confirmed yesterday.
Comment: What's to investigate? The Justice Department authorized torture. If the Justice Department was going to indict itself, or testify against itself at a War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague, then we'd be getting somewhere. Madeline Zane PERMANENT LINK |
We won't have William F. Buckley to kick around anymore| |
Excerpt: What can one say about a man so devoted to small government and private enterprise that his talk show, with fully 1504 episodes, appeared on the Public Broadcasting Service. (I mean besides pointing out to Americans that their tax dollars helped subsidize William F. Buckley's collection of fine liquor.) |
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This week's commentary
America can't compete in even the simplest of industries
by Granville's Hammer, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Mostly, as far as I can tell, the rules, regulations and laws are used to punish enemies of the state and are applied only when there is an agenda in action (having nothing to do with food safety.) So I don't know what good it does for us to even have the USDA and FDA if they only regulate American producers. |
It all makes sense if you think like a sociopath
by Herb Ruhs, MD, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: I can hardly wait for the dust to settle on this destructive process, since I hope to still be alive when the evildoers who control our country lose interest and leave for greener pastures or, hopefully, their just desserts. Left to ourselves, I believe we can institute real democracy and popular control and make a decent, if poor, life from the wreckage the sociopathic gangsters leave behind. |
This week in the Class War
by JS Magruder, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: If you've grown up in the era of celebrities performing public charity, it is difficult to translate that back down to a person-to-person level. Pretty soon we all think we should have a camera there to applaud us for our generosity-or a publicly displayed plaque, mention in a newsletter, and so on. |
A "threat" to pull out of NAFTA?
by Chris D., Unknown News| |
Excerpt: If you believe that bullshit about NAFTA being a mutually beneficial trilateral agreement to lower tariffs and facilitate fair competition with equal terms to all three countries, then you're sorely mistaken. |
Dollar disaster
by Arnie V., Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Unless the US government goes cold-turkey on currency debasement and resource squandering activities, the middle and lower-class people in the economic food chain are going to be making soup from shoe leather. |
Not all need drown as America sinks
by Kathy Fisher, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: The lifeboats are few but the swimmers are strong. They will survive because they have a fight left in them. Small numbers will say no and they might die saying no -- but they will not go passively without some noise. Defiance is the birth pain of revolution. |
An open letter to Ehud Olmert
by Skulz Fontaine, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: How about you and Israel lay off the Palestinian people for a time, two times, and two and a half times? |
The blessings of diversity in the pursuit of liberty and survival
by Herb Ruhs, MD, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: The changes that we are about to be forced to deal with as a species will be sudden -- and catastrophic. The groups that survive will be those that retain the greatest degree of diversity of behavioral and perceptual styles, those most able to innovate in the face of change. |
At least I can make a principled vote this time
by JS Magruder, Why Not Resist?| |
Excerpt: I challenge you to show me a more decent, moral, intelligent person that's run for the presidency in …oh God, what? Forty Years? I mean maybe McCarthy in '68, but I still doubt he was as "clean" as depicted, and really, Humphrey wasn't that bad, (I can't believe I just typed that, but hindsight does strange things to a person). |
The serious consequences
of Bush's Hackocracy
by Steve Benen, Carpetbagger Report| |
Excerpt: Democratic lawmakers want federal agencies that operate as they should. White House officials, fundamentally, don't even want some of these federal agencies to exist, and certainly don't believe in their missions. So, if Congress balks at an unqualified nominee, Bushies get to say, "Confirm, don't confirm. We don't really care either way." Worse, they mean it. |
Previous commentary
Greed is the problem with US medical care
by Herb Ruhs, MD, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: The problems of medical care in the US are complex and hard to understand, but the cause is easy to identify: greed by the corporate influences that are picking over the corpse of US medical care. This is the reason why US medicine is falling rapidly behind all other industrialized countries and many poorer ones as well. |
Protecting children from the horror of giving a damn
by JS Magruder, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: The thing that will drive me to civil disobedience will be some smug son-of-a-bitch telling me I can't perform the Works of Mercy. That's where I get radicalized. I'm going to feed the hungry. I'm going to give drink to the thirsty. I'm going to clothe the naked. I'm going to visit the imprisoned. I'm going to care for the sick. I'm going to bury the dead. And if that's going to be civil disobedience, then fine, count me in. |
Righteous karmic payback for banks
by Mr. Chuckles, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Thousands, maybe millions of home owners can legally fight and win against bank foreclosures by merely asking in court that the bank produce the actual proof that they own the loan. Cases are being thrown out all over the country. |
Vote for Nader as a protest against the status quo!
by Leon Fisher, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Unlike the candidates of the Democratic and Republican Party, Nader tells it like it is. Despite the enthusiastic rhetoric of hope and change coming from the lips of the mainstream candidates, the only change we the people will see is the small change we have left in our pockets after this new gang of thieves get done bailing out their benefactors on Wall Street. |
Clinton is delusional, while Obama is Cool Hand Luke
by Cindy A., Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Hillary Clinton is delusional. No clue. Or just lying about her plans, which is equally likely. Or both. She seems to think that she will be ruling the world once she reaches the Oval Office. Didn't she get the memo? Bush screwed that up permanently. The US is no longer Number One. |
What exactly is 'power to the people'?
by Herb Ruhs, MD, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: It mostly means getting over the millennia of propaganda produced by coercive organizations that served to have us believe that we are inherently weak and dependent on remote authority for our survival. That was never true, is not now true, and will never be true. When we decide to band together in cohesive local units and act cooperatively with other such units for mutual support and protection, nothing is more powerful. |
Military intelligence, or ... An exercise in oxymoronic futility!
by Don Nash, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: I can vouch for the credibility of Scroats Newton. He's a decorated war hero. Scroats was wounded in the Battle of the Kandahar Cluster F**k, so obviously, Scroats is a standup guy and knows what the hell he's talking about. And if anyone is thinking about making stupid or getting violently jiggy with the powers that be at this year's upcoming presidential candidates' coronation ceremonies, well, one just might want to think about it. Twice! Maybe three or four times. |
Criminal conduct, plain and simple
by Herb Ruhs, MD, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: We know who is trying to kill us and our children, and their children. It is our job to stop them, not their responsibility to stop committing crimes. |
Unbelievable sh*t is about to happen
by Mr. Chuckles, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Bernanke, Paulson and BushCo will trash the Treasury and economy before they leave office, so people want to get rid of their Ameribucks, which are a global joke currency now. |
Mughniyeh's assassination bodes ill
by The Canadian, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: In my opinion this assassination is analogous to the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria in Sarajevo in 1914, which lit the fuse for the Great War or what later became known as WW1. Israel is on high alert all over the world and especially along the Lebanese border. |
The hanging balls of Babylon
by Don Nash, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: 935 lies and still counting. The "surge" is a lie. Bush is a lie. It's all a lie and has been ever since 9/11/01 ... Did you know that for every one lie told by Bush to Congress, by Bush to the American people, and by Bush to the world, four American service boys and girls have been deemed privileged to be killed? |
As the Empire folds in on itself
by Herb Ruhs, MD, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Certainly I will shed no tears for the passing of the insane way of life that we have been forced to depend on, almost no matter what happens. And I do expect to see this in my lifetime.
Teetering on collapse
by Herb Ruhs, MD, Unknown News
Excerpt: In the vacuum that will result from the collapse of centralized authority, decentralization and reorganization around the basic needs of local communities and relying on local resources will likely generate different, more egalitarian, more ecological institutions designed by the people that participate in them.
It starts with you
by Herb Ruhs, MD, Unknown News
Excerpt: I pledge that, having become aware of the importance of community to my physical, emotional and spiritual health, I will seek to influence others to abandon the individualistic, self-seeking path to slavery and seek community for themselves and all others, so that we can all begin to live in peace, harmony and abundance without need to resort to aggression, selfishness, lying and deceit.
Why the current election "fever" is so disgusting
by Herb Ruhs, MD, Unknown News
Excerpt: The illusion of democratic government is so overwhelming that most people have a hard time coming to grips with the reality that our country is totally controlled by a small set of hugely wealth families and their foreign friends and that our national elections are just shams. Packaged as a sort of professional sport, our elections serve only to dull the mind and suspend real critical judgement. |
Helpless and grieving
by Gina Dee, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: A thousand times I have searched myself for an answer I could understand. I cursed myself. I was angry with myself and then angry that I felt that I thought my self so important that I SHOULD have made this NOT happen. Who am I to think I have such power as that? |
Hillary sings her way to genocide!
by Don Nash, Unknown News
State of the Union vs. Sermon on the Mount
by Herb Ruhs, MD, Unknown News
| |
Excerpt: Torture is what the executive says it is and even admitted torture can be used when the executive wants, meaning that executive power supersedes and can ignore any common understanding of decency ... |
An open letter to His Majesty,
King Abdullah II Ibn Al Hussein,
the 43rd generation direct descendant
of the Prophet Muhammad
(Peace Be Upon Him)
by Don Nash, Unknown News
| |
Excerpt: Your Kingliness, I'm not trying to be insulting here. I'm trying hard to understand how it is that Israelis can kill Palestinians with impunity and the world does ABSOLUTELY nothing to stop the massacre. |
Fairy tales: The dreams of the oppressed
by Herb Ruhs, MD, Unknown News
| |
Excerpt: To the extent that we remain asleep and dreaming, disconnected from the reality of consequences of our dreaming, then we are indeed lost. To the extent that we are willing to wake up and look upon our dreams with compassion and a degree of self-deprecating humor, we can choose those to dream those dreams that actually serve the interests of ourselves in the broader context of the rest of humanity, and the rest of life on earth, and achieve a sustainable life that is full of the vividness of both joy and sorrow. |
Curiouser and curiouser
by Marie K., Unknown News| |
Excerpt: I've checked -- the cables that reach Iran are NOT any of the severed ones. The cables to Iran DO come from the affected Gulf states, though, so they could be experiencing problems. |
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