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Rove refuses to testify under oath about Siegelman imprisonment| |
Excerpt: A House Judiciary Committee deadline passed Monday with former White House adviser Karl Rove standing by his refusal to testify about allegations that he pushed the Justice Department to prosecute former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman.
In his latest offer to settle the matter, Rove sent the panel a letter offering to respond to questions in writing, according to his attorney. But he reiterated that he would not testify publicly and under oath.
Comment: Maybe, if tough-talking weenie John Conyers is replaced by a real Democrat as Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, the questions of whether or not Rove will testify with or without an oath won't be up for negotiation, and instead Rove will be subpoenaed and compelled to testify, period. Angry Annie PERMANENT LINK
Siegelman: "This will make Watergate look like child's play" |
Military's illegal propaganda appeared or was quoted
more than 4,500 times on broadcast nets, cables, NPR| |
Excerpt: A New York Times article detailed the connection between numerous media military analysts and the Pentagon and defense industries, reporting that "the Bush administration has used its control over access and information in an effort to transform" media military analysts "into a kind of media Trojan horse -- an instrument intended to shape terrorism coverage from inside the major TV and radio networks." A Media Matters review found that since January 1, 2002, the analysts named in the Times article -- many identified as having ties to the defense industry -- collectively appeared or were quoted as experts more than 4,500 times on ABC, ABC News Now, CBS, CBS Radio Network, NBC, CNN, CNN Headline News, Fox News, MSNBC, CNBC, and NPR.
Study finds Pentagon got more pro-war coverage from U.S. media ‘embedded’ in Iraq
Comment: It's just what we knew it was at the time: propaganda. And it worked. And the US media was all too happy to deliver it. Disco Stu PERMANENT LINK
Gen. Odom: Military analysts can’t defend relationship
with Pentagon ‘because of its conspiratorial nature’ |
California Supreme Court overturns gay marriage ban| |
Excerpt: The California Supreme Court has overturned the state’s ban on gay marriage today, “paving the way for California to become the second state where gay and lesbian residents can marry.” The court stated that “an individual’s sexual orientation -- like a person’s race or gender -- does not constitute a legitimate basis upon which to deny or withhold legal rights.”
However, the court’s ruling “might not stick,” as right-wing organizations “have submitted more than 1.1 million signatures for an initiative that would amend the state Constitution to outlaw same-sex marriage. If at least 694,354 signatures are found to be valid, the measure would go on the November ballot and, if approved by voters, would override any court ruling in favor of same-sex marriage.” |
Bushies use food crisis
to push frankenfoods| |
Excerpt: The Bush administration has slipped a controversial ingredient into the $770 million aid package it recently proposed to ease the world food crisis, adding language that would promote the use of genetically modified crops in food-deprived countries.
Opponents of [genetically modified] crops say they can cause unforeseen medical problems. They also contend that the administration's plan is aimed at helping American agribusinesses. |
Iran:
America's
next war
US admits that charges
against Iran are based on
lies, then actually stops
blaming Iraq violence on
Iran for ten whole seconds| |
Excerpt: According to a report by the L.A. Times correspondent Tina Susman in Baghdad: “A plan to show some alleged Iranian-supplied explosives to journalists last week in Karbala and then destroy them was canceled after the United States realized none of them was from Iran."
"A U.S. military spokesman attributed the confusion to a misunderstanding that emerged after an Iraqi Army general in Karbala erroneously reported the items were of Iranian origin. When U.S. explosives experts went to investigate, they discovered they were not Iranian after all.”
In another extraordinary event this week, the US spokesman in Iraq, Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner, for the first time did not blame Iran for the violence in Iraq and in fact did not make any reference to Iran at all in his introductory remarks to the world media on Wednesday when he described the large arsenal of weapons found by Iraqi forces in Karbala. |
Iran says it'll sue
over alleged US
financial backing of
terror attack on mosque| |
Comment: Just based on who's usually lying and who's usually not, Iran's claim seems more plausible than the Bush administration's endless flurry of false claims about Iran. |
Lieberman still cheer-
leading for the next war
in the Middle East
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Lehrer says NewsHour
money woes are worst ever| |
Excerpt: In its 25 years on the air, NewsHour has had fallow budget periods, but none that equal the current one ... The financial squeeze was precipitated last summer when Archer Daniels Midland ended its 14-year sponsorship of the program. That sponsorship provided nearly $4 million (and some years as much as $7 million) of the program’s yearly budget, which varies from $26 million to $28 million. ... NewsHour still has two corporate sponsors -- Chevron and the Pacific Life Insurance Company -- and it receives support from PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. But only part of the Archer money has been replaced, leaving the budget several million dollars short.
Comment: Cry me a river. The PBS News Hour is only marginally better than the newsdreck on the commercial networks, in large part because (as obliquely demonstrated above) the NewsHour is utterly under the thumb of corporate underwriting -- and it shows, in every nightly newscast.
If you want to support a well-done commercial-free newscast, you can gain far better bang for your buck and a far more complete perspective on American news by supporting Democracy Now. Angry Annie PERMANENT LINK |
Election 2008
More McCain double-talk, flip-flops, and lies VIDEO | |
Comment: This is only a few minutes of McCain dishonesty, but I don't doubt they could put together a few hours worth. My favorite is the first clip, where McCain says point blank that he wasn't wearing body armor when he took his famous stroll through the Baghdad market... juxtaposed against a photo of McCain in a bullet-proof vest. Angry Annie PERMANENT LINK |
McCain is "kind of like
Jesus Christ on the cross", says Republican official
McCain loses national
finance chair
over lobbying ties
McCain campaign "momentary panicked" when he misplaced his lucky feather
McCain's Senate actions made millions for campaign donors
Obama's foreign policy is noticeably less insane than Bush's or McCain's
Edwards held out for poverty tour
Democrats unveil McCainpedia.org
McCain campaign threatens to cut off Newsweek’s access
after magazine publishes article McCain doesn't like| |
Comment: The article must have been pretty mild, as I never heard any ripples about it until this. Newsweek, of course, will buckle under and promise to resume kissing McCain's back pockets. And Democrats like Hillary Clinton will continue chatting amiably with certified propaganda outlets like Fox News. Angry Annie PERMANENT LINK |
Republicans' new slogan already trademarked to market anti-depressant
McCain was for talking to Hamas before he was against it
In 2000, McCain wanted the NRA out of Republican politics
In 2006, McCain supported talks with Syria
Obama has kick-ass response to Bush-McCain "appeasement" idiocy
McCain’s budget proposals would create largest deficit in 25 years, largest debt since WWII
McCain takes every position on Social Security
Third special election hands third Republican Congressional seat to Democrats
Cindy McCain sells off $2 million in Sudan investments
McCain says he's still "comfortable" with hatemonger Hagee's endorsement
Barr is running for President as a Libertarian
McCain loses bearings in speech on Constitution; campaign covers up error
Clinton team acknowledges $20 million campaign debt
Ferraro reminds voters, she still isn't a Democrat
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US uses dangerous
psychotropic drugs on
detainees for deportation| |
Excerpt: The U.S. government has injected hundreds of foreigners it has deported with dangerous psychotropic drugs against their will to keep them sedated during the trip back to their home country, according to medical records, internal documents and interviews with people who have been drugged.
Such episodes are among more than 250 cases the Washington Post has identified in which the government has, without medical reason, given drugs meant to treat serious psychiatric disorders to people it has shipped out of the United States since 2003.
Involuntary chemical restraint of detainees, unless there is a medical justification, is a violation of some international human rights codes. |
House passes bills to end war,
increase unemployment
and veteran benefits,
and lots of other awesome stuff,
instead of just sitting with their
thumbs up their butts because
their vote isn't "veto-proof"| |
Excerpt: On Capitol Hill, the House has approved a measure calling for an immediate withdrawal of US troops from Iraq to be completed by December 2009. The resolution passed by a 227-to-196 vote, far short of the two-thirds majority needed to overcome a White House veto. The House also approved measures including an extension to unemployment benefits, blocking of Bush administration restrictions on Medicaid, and the funding of veterans education through a half-a-percentage-point tax on wealthy Americans making over $500,000. |
HIV-positive man sentenced to 35 years for spitting at officers| |
Excerpt: In Dallas, Texas, an HIV-positive homeless man has been sentenced to thirty-five years in prison for spitting in the mouth and eye of a Dallas police officer. The man, Willie Campbell, was found guilty of harassing a public servant with a deadly weapon -- his saliva. None of the three officers contracted HIV. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there are no known cases of contact with saliva, tears or sweat transmitting HIV. Campbell will not be eligible for parole until serving at least seventeen years behind bars.
Comment: In the course of carrying occasional picket or protest signs, I've been spat on twice. It's unpleasant as hell, but it's an insult not an assault, and it's idiotic to apply a penalty like this. Idiotic and un-American to the nth degree. G.B. PERMANENT LINK |
Immigration raids puts
10% of town in jail| |
Excerpt: "They don't go after employers. They don't put CEOs in jail," complained the Postville Community Schools superintendent, David Strudthoff, 51, who said the sudden incarceration of more than 10 percent of the town's population of 2,300 "is like a natural disaster -- only this one is manmade."
He added, "In the end, it is the greater population that will suffer and the workforce that will be held accountable." |
Ex-Malaysian leader calls
for ban on Halliburton| |
Excerpt: Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Saturday slammed the government's move to allow U.S. oilfield services provider Halliburton Co. to begin operating in Malaysia, saying the country doesn't need "blood money."
"It is appalling that we have allowed this war-profiteering company to invest in Malaysia," he said in a statement, referring to Halliburton's contracts in Iraq for the U.S. government. "Are we so void of our humanity that we have to allow these war criminals to come in and thrive in our economy?" |
Kid with pro-gay rights T-shirt wins lawsuit; school must
distribute note telling students that free speech still exists| |
Excerpt: The judge also ordered the school board and Principal David Davis to notify students in writing that they had the right to express their support for equal treatment of gays in an appropriate and non-disruptive way.
Principal Davis would not go on camera. He did say he's disappointed in the judges' decision, but he will abide by that ruling. Some parents say this was a great lesson for the students and the right decision made by the judge. |
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Lightning round news |
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Senate votes to roll back media ownership rule
General disqualified from Guantanamo
kangaroo court won't resign as legal advisor
Forced by court to protect polar bears, Interior Secretary
Kempthorne says "Unfortunately I have to follow the law"
Warning: Using a mobile phone while
pregnant can seriously damage your baby
Charges dropped against so-called 20th hijacker| |
Comment: Mohammed al-Qahtani has been held without trial since 2002 and tortured at Guantanamo (though videotapes of his "interrogation" were inexplicably "lost"). Of course, there's no mention that he might be released. There's barely even a pretense of human rights at Guantanamo, but I will strenuously insist that Bush, Cheney et al be treated fairly and humanely during their trials and life-long incarcerations. Helen & Harry PERMANENT LINK |
Conyers threatens Bush with impeachment if he attacks Iran| |
Comment: John Conyers is a phony Democrat, like so many of them, and his 'threat' is phony. There are ample grounds to impeach Bush, Cheney, and others already, and there have been ample grounds for years. Conyers isn't willing to impeach, period, because he's part of the impeachment blockade. Helen & Harry PERMANENT LINK |
Drop in life expectancy shows US health care failure
US Navy jet violates Venezuela airspace
Spies for hire: Carlyle Group to become owner of
"one of America's largest private intelligence armies"
Waxman reveals docs showing White House
involvement in EPA’s California waiver denial
FBI's anti-terror boondoggle gets big bucks,
while fighting actual crime gets nada
Bush adds a new level of gov't secrecy:
"Controlled Unclassified Information" will
replace "Sensitive but Unclassified"
Lieberman pushes YouTube to censor "al Qaeda videos"
E-mail from VA worker says to avoid
PTSD diagnosis, shaft veterans
Documentary draws stark parallels between Chile
under Pinochet and the post-9/11 "War on Terror"
Bush secrecy weakens government's digital defenses
Texas communities sue DHS over border fence
Huckabee jokes about assassination attempt on Obama
Is the world's food system collapsing?
Magistrate backs soldier as conscientious objector
Mormons, Scientologists face uphill battle against Wikileaks
Crooked Congressman Young's defense fund nets $0
UnConstitutional law leads to
questions about judicial appointments
Anger after apparent US missile strike in Pakistan
US military recruiting in schools
could violate international protocol
Canada, U.S. acting just as bad as al-Qaida, says ex-general
Moore making Fahrenheit 9/11 sequel
Rumsfeld spoke of political advantage
in "another [terrorist] attack" on US
Judge orders that one of the Halliburton rape
cases should go to trial, not arbitration
Harmful chemical wafts off your TV
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Liars in mainstream media
CNet acquired by CBS| |
Comment: CNet News has long been one of the most reliable, trustworthy sources for tech news, and with CBS in charge I doubt I'll say that in a year. Helen & Harry PERMANENT LINK |
CNN doesn’t know if calling
Obama a monkey is racist or funny
Washington Times' Blankley says
the problem with Obama is he's black
Washington Post columnist Parker criticizes
Obama because his “bloodline” doesn't go
“back through generations of sacrifice”
Fox News' O'Reilly, Murdoch, and Ailes have been trying to neuter MSNBC's Olbermann by attacking his highest corporate boss
New York Times ignores McCain's flip-flops
NY Times recounts "How do we beat the bitch?"
question to McCain, but leaves out McCain's response: "That's an excellent question"
New York Times' Kristol gets
easily-checked fact wrong, again
Pentagon said O’Reilly, Malkin had
‘thoughtful’ views on Guantanamo
On Meet the Press, Russert offers
no challenge to Republican operative's lie
Rush Limbaugh berates 10th grader’s school essay
NBC's Lauer falsely suggests only "the far left"
is concerned about Bush's civil liberties violations
Washington Post reporter falsely suggests Obama made contradictory statements on withdrawal from Iraq
NY Times falsely suggests that only Clinton administration officials objected to ABC's lie-packed Path to 9/11
NBC anchor Williams reports EPA protection of polar bears
as "a huge milestone", without mentioning that it took a lawsuit to force this "milestone" from Bush administration
CNN spliced quote by Obama aide to remove part in which
he said Sec. Def. Gates, like Obama, wants to meet with Iran
Ignoring McCain's numerous falsehoods, NY Times' political writer claims McCain has shown "notable honesty" on Iraq
Limbaugh: "If Barack Obama were Caucasian,
they would have taken this guy out
on the basis of pure ignorance long ago"
Disney's Savage praises comments by
controversial McCain supporter Rev. Parsley
advocating destruction of "false religion" Islam
Fox News host Gutfeld implies that Iran was behind 9/11
Conservative yakker Kevin James (not the sit-com guy) doesn't even know who Neville Chamberlain was VIDEO
Washington Post repeats Republicans' lie about Obama
Fox's O'Reilly compares Kos's Moulitsas
to white supremacist David Duke
Fox's Hannity, Rove repeat lie about Obama
MSNBC interviews Tonya Harding on
Clinton's alleged "Tonya Harding strategy"
Time's Klein is still a joke as a journalist
ABC's Good Morning America reports that
Obama ’says he’s a Christian’
ABC's Imus calls Arabs "camel humpers"
High gas prices are the Democrats' fault, Limbaugh explains
Superstar journalists seriously argue that media
can't cover both Democratic campaign and McCain
Fox News: ‘Blame Al Gore for your rising food prices’
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The dialogue page is our "letters to the editor" section.
To participate, email your comments to unknownnews at inbox.com.
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Life in liberated Afghanistan & Iraq
British soldiers need loans to eat, report reveals| |
Excerpt: A highly sensitive internal report into the state of the British Army has revealed that many soldiers are living in poverty. Some are so poor that they are unable to eat and are forced to rely on emergency food voucher schemes set up by the Ministry of Defense (MoD).
Comment: I see the Brits "support the troops", too. Marshall S. PERMANENT LINK |
Court-martial ordered for civilian contractor in Iraq| |
Excerpt: The U.S. military on Sunday ordered a court-martial for a civilian contractor charged with aggravated assault while working as an Army translator in Iraq -- the first such military prosecution since the Vietnam War.
Comment: Even if convicted, odds are he'll walk. Marshall S. PERMANENT LINK |
Ex-official: State Dep't corruption is killing American soldiers| |
Excerpt: Retired judge Arthur Brennan alleged that poor performance by the department had led to the loss of billions of dollars, and warned some of the money could be funding outlaws, or insurgents, including the Mehdi Army.
Brennan, who served in 2007 as Director of the Office of Accountability and Transparency, at the US embassy in Baghdad, testified before a Senate Democratic Policy Committee hearing, which no Republicans attended.
"In a sense, the Department of State has contributed to the killing and maiming of US soldiers, the deaths of thousands of Iraqi civilians; the bolstering of illegal militias, insurgents and Al-Qaeda."
"Billions of US and Iraqi dollars have been lost, stolen and wasted, it is likely that some of that money is financing outlaws and insurgents such as the Medhi Army."
Comment: Don't miss the little snippet that no Republicans even attended this hearing. And that's exactly how much Republicans care about government corruption and the imperiled lives of US soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines -- nada. Angry Annie PERMANENT LINK |
US has detained 2,500 juveniles as "enemy combatants"
US planning big new prison in Afghanistan
U.S.-backed head of Iraqi anti-corruption agency is
now a ‘destitute’ undocumented immigrant in U.S.
Contractors, insurance firms in Iraq and Afghanistan gouging taxpayers, panel says
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Cops you won't see on TV's COPS
California cops shoot unarmed teen| |
Excerpt: Two police officers in Inglewood, California have been placed on administrative leave after fatally shooting an unarmed teenager. Police opened fire on a car in Inglewood Sunday after hearing gunshots in the area. But police now admit there is no evidence linking anyone in the car to the gunfire. No weapons were found in the vehicle.
Nineteen-year-old Michael Byoune, a passenger in the car, died after police officers shot him at least three times in the torso. The driver of the car, nineteen-year-old Larry White, was wounded. The Inglewood Police have refused to release the names of the police officers. |
Cops arrest, strip-search, and force surgery upon black bus rider| |
Comment: I'm pretty sure forced surgery falls under the domain of torture. Unlawful confinement, torture, and to top it all off they stuck the poor man with the hospital bill for the surgery he didn't want and the doctors should frankly be prosecuted for performing it against his will. Performing life saving surgery on an unwilling patient or a child whose parents forbid it on religious grounds can get a doctor's medical license revoked. Anally raping a guy with a camera should carry a penalty far worse. Chris D. PERMANENT LINK |
Details of airport Tasering stripped from RCMP report| |
Comment: It's refreshing to know that in some ways, our neighbor to the north is just like us. Marshall S. PERMANENT LINK |
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DNS trouble knocks NSA off Internet| |
Excerpt: "We are aware of the situation and our techs are working on it," an NSA spokeswoman said at 12:45 p.m. EDT. She declined to identify herself.
Comment: "We have top men working on it...TOP MEN..."
I think this is a quote from Raiders of the Lost Ark, near the end, when Indiana Jones is being put off by a US government bureaucrat who has no idea what's going on.
Of course, it's probably a GOOD thing if our 'best' spooks at the NSA can't even keep their own servers up and running...after all, they are friends to no one but the rich who pull the strings...(so far as I can tell from everything I've ever seen or heard). JR Mooneyham PERMANENT LINK |
Air America lets Sam Seder's contract expire| |
Comment: Well, of course Air America doesn't want Sam Seder. He's good on the radio. Helen & Harry PERMANENT LINK |
Bush blasts Obama as Neville Chamberlain| |
Excerpt: "We have heard this foolish delusion before," Bush said in remarks to the Israeli Knesset. "As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American Senator declared: 'Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided.' We have an obligation to call this what it is -- the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history."
Comment: What a thoroughly despicable thing for a President to say, and how utterly ordinary for this despicable President. While George Bush's father was President, I considered him the most despicable human being to hold that office in my lifetime -- pure evil, without a drip on conscience in him. But compared to his son, George Herbert Walker Bush is Jimmy frickin' Stewart. Helen & Harry Highwater PERMANENT LINK
McCain says Bush's war before talks crack is "exactly right," gets history exactly wrong
Excerpt: "I believe that it’s not an accident that our hostages came home from Iran when President Reagan was president of the United States. He didn’t sit down in a negotiation with the religious extremists in Iran, he made it very clear that those hostages were coming home."
... McCain’s praise of Ronald Reagan is wholly misplaced. To recap, during the Iran-Contra affair in the 1980s, hostages were not released because of Iran’s fear of Reagan, as McCain suggested. In reality, Iran released them after Reagan administration officials infamously sold arms to the country, which were transferred to Ayatollah Khomeini. As a result, 11 Reagan officials were convicted of crimes.
Lieberman too, says Bush got it "exactly right"
Biden calls Bush comments 'bullshit'
Excerpt: The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Joe Biden, D-Delaware, called President Bush’s comments accusing Sen. Barack Obama and other Democrats of wanting to appease terrorists "bulls-t” and said if the president disagrees so strongly with the idea of talking to Iran then he needs to fire his secretaries of State and Defense, both of whom Biden said have pushed to sit down with the Iranians.
“He’s the guy who’s weakened us. He’s the guy that’s increased the number of terrorists in the world. His policies have produced this vulnerability the United States has. His intelligence community pointed that out not me."
Comment: Biden always has a great flair for the dramatic when the cameras are pointed at him, but he's Mr Milquetoast when the cameras are gone. Here he's making a great, blunt, honest statement, but we've seen such statements from Biden in the past, and his track record suggests that if someone introduced a tiny little resolution to smack the President's fingers for what he said, when it came to a vote Biden would step into the men's room. Helen & Harry PERMANENT LINK
Egyptian press: "Bush aims to do nothing but appeasing Israel"
Olbermann to Bush: "Shut the hell up!" VIDEO |
Bush has given up golf in honor of the soldiers| |
Excerpt: For the first time, Bush revealed a personal way in which he has tried to acknowledge the sacrifice of soldiers and their families.
“I don't want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf,” he said. “I feel I owe it to the families to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal.”
Comment: President Bush could acknowledge the sacrifice of soldiers and their families by giving up a couple of dang fool wars and not starting a third, but instead he gives up golf.
And pardon my cynicism, but Bush as President hasn't told the truth about anything more significant than his dog's name, and I don't believe he's even telling the truth about giving up golf. I'll wager a week's wages that he's still playing golf regularly. Perhaps the media is no longer invited to accompany him. Helen & Harry PERMANENT LINK
Yup, Bush was lying about giving up golf
Excerpt: Bush said he laid down his clubs after the August 2003 bombing of United Nations offices in Baghdad that killed the UN's top official in the country, Sergio Vieira de Mello. "I remember when de Mello got killed as a result of these murderers taking this good man's life. I was playing golf -- I think in central Texas -- and they pulled me off the golf course and I said, 'It's just not worth it any more'."
According to a database held by CBS News the statement is not entirely accurate. He did cut short a round of golf at the 12th hole on that day, but his last recorded game came two months later, October 13. |
Tommy Chong says feds seized 10,000 copies of his documentary film| |
Excerpt: Only Local 12 cameras were on Mt. Carmel Tobasco Road Wednesday evening, watching federal agents raid the offices of 513 Ventures Agents also took evidence from the Spectrum Labs offices in Newport. The companies market "detoxification products," meant to help someone pass a drug test.
But [Tommy] Chong says agents seized 10,000 DVDs of his documentary. Federal prosecutors may be targeting Chong for trying to profit off his prosecution. |
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This week's
commentary
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The obvious answer
by Herb Ruhs, MD, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: If we succeed in finding justice from a court system that has been systematically corrupted over many years by criminal elements pursuing illegal gain from drugs, stock swindles, embezzlement and misuse of public funds, war profiteering and a host of other crimes, some known, many unknown, then we may be able to avoid a civil war and win back our freedom from this criminally inspired police state non-violently.
If, as seems likely, the criminals are so deeply entrenched in power that they can not be removed by peaceful means then the weight of their crimes will inexorably mount until spontaneous concerted action by the vast majority of the robbed and dispossessed population is turned against them, and they are swept into the sewer of history along with the likes of Marcos, Pinochet, Bautista, The Shah of Iran, and the rest of their slimy friends. |
Nationalism today; and
Bush lectures the Arab world
by Marie K., Unknown News| |
Excerpt: In my view, what the corporate elites disillusioned with Bush really want is a “multilateral system” that is really US unilateralism “cleverly packaged to grant other nations just enough slack to prevent them from fighting it [said of the neo-cons in the article].“ To me, what Bush and the neo-cons did was remove the clever packaging which revealed the basic unilateralism at play that other nations DID begin fighting against. |
Building the Pyramids of Gaza
by Don Nash, Unknown News
Unlimited Presidential powers
by JR Mooneyham, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Whoever the next President is (if a change from Bush-Cheney-McCain and their ilk actually occurs) they will be sorely tempted NOT to roll back the expansion of powers Bush has claimed, and the lapdog Republicans in the House and Senate helped push as far as they possibly could. |
2009 and beyond
by Siegfried Lemelson, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: The overall situation is nearly irreversible because the world already has more than enough US government and agency bonds -- and it is obvious to even the most casual observer that, thanks to the magic of compounding interest, US government and agency debt may never be fully repaid. |
Their technique is simple: Keep us hating each other
by Kathy Fisher, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: They hate us all and they would love to see us separated and killing each other. That would make it a lot easier for them, because that would be less of us to feed and deal with... but God help them if we woke up and realized that it was really ALL OF US against ALL OF THEM! They are not counting on that! |
Bovine Psychosis, or
cow pee in the Potomac!
by Don Nash, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Toss the entire sorry lot out the front door of America’s Capitol and be done with their ‘bovine psychotic’ posteriors and start over. |
Heroin economics
by Marshall S., Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Illegal drugs are a $500 billion per year business. That's a big chunk of change, in fact more than most corporations gross per year. I don't believe those in charge are weird but colorful, isolated nutcases, like one sees in movies. I think they're very well connected businessmen. ... If the illegal drug business stopped completely, I think the world economy would collapse. |
As soon as you are ready, stop obsessing about politics and all the rest of the hoopla
by Herb Ruhs, MD, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: What goes around, comes around. We have cause immense suffering in the world during the brief time that we have existed as a society. Now will come the time of our discontent, and out of that suffering there may yet emerge a society that we can be sincerely proud of participating in. |
Burma disaster vs. Katrina
by Amber Perez, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: The Katrina "response" was pure evil. The evil was not "incompetence" but the deliberate actions taken to magnify the disaster. It was Disaster Capitalism taken to an extreme. |
Syria & Lebanon -- writing about them is NOT easy
by Marie K., Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Today Syria’s interest in Lebanon requires that it stay stable so that the many Syrians working there can continue to do so. The Syrian business community also relies on Lebanese banks. For the Lebanese, 35% of their exports go overland through Syria and an important amount to Syria. Both Syria and Lebanon’s biggest trading partner is the EU. |
Mercenaries looking for a few bad men
by Chris D., Unknown News| |
Excerpt: There's a fairly obvious downside to letting potentially unbalanced and ethically challenged hired guns who owe allegiance to their company before their country reside above the law. If there's an upside to giving these companies free reign to regulate themselves and letting them act as a military despite hiring madmen and perverts, I'm just not seeing it. |
An administration with no morals at all
by Robyn E. Blumner, St. Petersburg Times| |
Excerpt: There are two kinds of people in this world: those for whom the ends justifies the means and those for whom the means matter. Count me as someone who cares supremely about the means. Count the present administration as one who doesn't give a hoot. ...
John Elwood, deputy assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel, informed Senate subcommittee members that the administration believed it could change executive orders -- even its own -- without notifying the public or alerting Congress.
Quite stunning news, I'd say. Of course presidents are free to change executive orders at their own discretion. But there is a process for that which includes letting the rest of us in on it. Otherwise we're subject to a set of rules known only to the president and his operatives -- a secret body of law that cannot be challenged or objected to.
The bombshell didn't cause much of a stir. I guess any president who spies on Americans without getting a warrant, and detains Americans and non-citizens without bringing charges, is also expected to change the rules of government without bothering to tell us. But you would think there would be some ripple. |
Why Obama has stirred the American soul
by Haroon Siddiqui, Toronto Star| |
Excerpt: Despite spending $700 billion in those two countries, [the US] has been incapable of providing clean water, electricity, security and essentials of life [in Afghanistan and Iraq]. Why, it couldn't do so even for its own citizens post-Katrina. ...
Many Americans sense this, too, their unease further burdened by mounting domestic woes:
• A huge deficit ($260 billion last year), record debt ($9.3 trillion, with China holding a tenth of the denominated assets), a weak dollar, a housing crisis, a credit crunch, soaring fuel/food costs, massive manufacturing job losses and a bleak future for the young.
• Clogged jails (2.3 million prisoners, surpassing China's 1.6 million); busy death chambers (the only debate in the 36 states with capital punishment being whether to use lethal injection or the electric chair).
• 45 million Americans with no health insurance and another 158 million with too little coverage or too high a deductible.
• The common good lost to vicious partisanship, cultural warfare or undue indebtedness to moneyed interests; a justice department that subverts justice; and an administration that operates above the law, domestic and international. ("It's a no-brainer for me," said Dick Cheney of water boarding, a torture technique that only the Gestapo, the Khmer Rouge and the North Koreans used to approve of.)
Not all American voters are experts on all those issues but, cumulatively, they know that something is fundamentally askew (81 per cent say, "the country is headed in the wrong direction").
So when Obama talks about wholesale change and a new beginning, he stirs their souls.
That he is a black man comfortable in his own skin is an added bonus. He offers a break with a racist past and a disastrous present. When he says on the night of his Iowa win, "they said, this day would never come," his audience -- white and black, in front of him or their TVs -- is moved to tears. That he is young, handsome and intelligent, speaks eloquently in a soothing baritone and exudes a "presidential" presence only make him that much more irresistible. |
Previous commentary
Big surprise: Republicans are spreading un-true smears
by Max, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Every single one of these hundreds of emails, ostensibly sent by dozens of different people, all come to my Republican-only email address -- which means they're either being sent by Republican Party workers, or (pretend this is a meaningful difference) Republican Party membership roles are sold, leased, or loaned to people who send these email lies. |
Can you empathize, do you care?
by Underground Panther in the Sky, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Will you stand up for others, will you act upon the desire to protect the living beings in this world from those who abuse them?
Or not? |
None of this seems real
by Max, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Two years into the so-called "Presidential campaign", for the very first time, a matter of actual political policy is being publicly discussed.
But even this one policy that's allowed to be discussed is inane beyond belief -- whether to suspend a nearly-nothing gas tax to encourage more driving this summer ... when of course, (a) the proposal is idiotic and accomplishes nothing and (b) the election is scheduled long after summer is over, making the whole discussion even mooter than moot. |
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