november blog

Look upon your heart

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Interview: Scott Ritter Tells Us Why We're in Iraq
read it. be sure to read it all. This is why we bombed the water desalination plants in Gulf 1. Why they were never fixed... the parts withheld under sanctions. Who suffered the most for all this? Innocent children. Still, innocent children.The foundation of our involvement in Iraq is corrupt. You can't build anything positive from this corrupt foundation. If you want to speak of solving the Iraq problem, we have to go back to how we got into this mess to begin with. … The same people who deceived us getting into Iraq are deceiving us on a daily basis about what's going on in Iraq, and we can't ignore this. [...]

BuzzFlash: The CIA undermined a true experiment: Could the UN aggressively and effectively disarm a country of WMDs peacefully and avert a war? Hindsight is twenty-twenty, but if the CIA had let UNSCOM do its job, do you believe that your mission would have confirmed – as history has proven to be true – that Iraq was complying with the UN resolution and that perhaps we never would have invaded Iraq in the years that followed?

Scott Ritter: Oh, there's no doubt. First of all, it's not just the CIA. We have to remember the CIA doesn't make policy – it implements policy. If the United States government had been serious about disarming Iraq, and serious about complying with the mandate when the U.S. voted for Security Council resolutions calling for the disarmament, and then lifting sanctions once Iraq was verified as being disarmed, then this problem could have been cleared up by 1993-1994 at the latest. We would have been able to wrap this up and conclude our business in Iraq, and there would still be inspectors in Iraq today conducting long-term monitoring of Iraq's industrial infrastructure to make sure that they never again reconstituted any of these weapons.
It would have been a tremendous victory for disarmament, for arms control, for non-proliferation, and for international peace and security. That's one of the tragedies that nobody wants to really focus on is just how good the inspectors were, and what a loss it was to the international community that the United States – not just the CIA, but the United States – corrupted the integrity of this operation. ...
posted by deborah @ 11/15/2005

'I treated people who had their skin melted'
my god, my god.Abu Sabah knew he had witnessed something unusual. Sitting in November last year in a refugee camp in the grounds of Baghdad University, set up for the families who fled or were driven from Fallujah, this resident of the city's Jolan district told me how he had witnessed some of the battle's heaviest fighting."They used these weird bombs that put up smoke like a mushroom cloud," he said. He had seen "pieces of these bombs explode into large fires that continued to burn on the skin even after people dumped water on the burns".

As an unembedded journalist, I spent hours talking to residents forced out of the city. A doctor from Fallujah working in Saqlawiyah, on the outskirts of Fallujah, described treating victims during the siege "who had their skin melted".

He asked to be referred to simply as Dr Ahmed because of fears of reprisals for speaking out. "The people and bodies I have seen were definitely hit by fire weapons and had no other shrapnel wounds," he said. more

posted by deborah @ 11/15/2005
Monday, November 14, 2005

Petition to have the Khatib family recognized as the 2005 Family of the Year, Nobel Peace Prize
Doug Keachie has set up a petition to have the Khatib family recognized as "Family of the Year," or for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Please sign it at: www.petitiononline.com/Khatib/petition.html
The petition reads:
To: United Nations
We, the undersigned, would like to place in nomination the family of Ahmed Ismail Khatib, for both “Family of the Year” and the Nobel Peace Prize. At least some of us will make holiday cards honoring them as exemplars of the highest order for the season, with their story on the back. Let the universe know humans by this family’s actions, and not by actions of the warring “statesmen” of all factions everywhere who dominate the news media with their lies and horrific stupidities.
“NABLUS, West Bank (AP) -- The father of a Palestinian boy shot dead by Israeli soldiers said Monday he believes his son's spirit is alive in "every Israeli" after donating the boy's organs to Israelis waiting for transplants.
Ismail Khatib said he was extremely proud of his decision, even if some corners of Palestinian society might be upset with him."
No one can tell me what to do," he said. "I feel very good that my son's organs are helping six Israelis. ... I feel that my son has entered the heart of every Israeli."
Khatib's son Ahmed, 12, was shot Thursday while Israeli troops conducted a raid in Jenin. The soldiers said the boy was carrying a toy rifle and they mistook him for a militant.”
Sincerely,
Please sign
The Undersigned
------------------------------
BBC NEWS
Twelve-year-old Ahmed Ismail Khatib was shot in the town of Jenin by troops who mistook his toy gun for a real one.His organs were transplanted into five Israeli children and a woman aged 58.
His father, Ismail, said saving lives was more important than religion, and added: "I feel that my son has entered the heart of every Israeli."Ahmed died in hospital from his injuries after being shot in the body and head while throwing stones at Israeli soldiers who were hunting suspected militants in Jenin.
The Israeli army expressed regret over his shooting.'Gesture of love'Israel's parliamentary speaker, Reuven Rivlin, praised the Khatib family's action as a "remarkable gesture" after decades of conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
Mr Khatib said he was very proud that his son's organs would help six Israelis."
I have taken this decision because I have a message for the world: that the Palestinian people want peace - for everyone," he told the AFP news agency."
We have no problem whether it is an Israeli or a Palestinian [who receives his organs] because it will give them life," added the boy's mother, Ablah Khatib.Ahmed's kidneys, liver, heart and lungs were transplanted into Israelis including Jews, Arabs and a Druze girl, medical officials said.
The girl, aged 12 and from Israel's Bedouin Arab minority, received Ahmed's heart, bringing to an end a five-year wait for a transplant.Her father, Riad Gadban, called the donation a "gesture of love" and said his daughter was regaining strength after the operation.

posted by deborah @ 11/14/2005

Flush Them Out
From: Tonebone
From: Nick Burbules
Today I am sickened and angry (again). I haven't felt like this sinceAbu Ghraib. How long can the same people peddle the same lies aboutthe same brutal policies, before the American people cry "enough!" All the accusations we used against Hussein -- that he tortured people,that he used chemical weapons, that he made terror a tool of official policy -- are now true of our own government as well.
When will a fraction of the outrage reserved for a blow job in theOval Office be expressed about the fact that Bush and his people haveshamed our nation in the judgment of all civilized people? When willan international court officially charge them with war crimes?
Phosphorus weapons (designed to "illuminate battlefields") used against troops dailykos
"WP [i.e., white phosphorus rounds] proved to be an effective andversatile munition. We used it for screening missions at two breeches and, later in the fight, as a potent psychological weapon against the insurgents in trench lines and spider holes when we could not get
effects on them with HE. We fired 'shake and bake' missions at theinsurgents, using WP to flush them out and HE to take them out."
More:wilsonhellie.typepad.comdailykos.com
CIA was warned by their own Inspector General in 2004 that theirinterrogation techniques constituted torture. Response? Get Dick Cheney to try to exempt you from the rules!nytimes.com/2005/11/09/politics/09detain.html
Read this!
"The list of 10 techniques, including feigned drowning, was secretlydrawn up in early 2002 by a team that included senior C.I.A. officialswho solicited recommendations from foreign governments and from agencypsychologists, the officials said. They said officials from theJustice Department and the National Security Council, which is part ofthe White House, were involved in the process." More:
atrios
And, of course, Porter Goss buried the report until after the election(as he was appointed to do)first-draft.com
A couple of days ago, the Defense Dept issued a new set ofinterrogation rules to (supposedly) limit the kind of abuses we havebeen seeing (the CIA is another matter). But today we find out thatRumsfeld can still secretly authorize exceptions to them!
www.iht.com
The Pentagon has approved a new policy directive governinginterrogations as part of an effort to tighten controls over thequestioning of terror suspects and other prisoners by Americansoldiershttp://makeashorterlink.com/?J47A2122CUS Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld can authorize exceptions to a newDefense Department policy on military interrogations that bars tortureand calls for "humane" treatment of detainees, a spokesman said.Impeachmenttalkingpointsmemo[Nelson Report] 'Torture is prohibited by law throughout the UnitedStates. It is categorically denounced as a matter of policy and as atool of state authority. Every act constituting torture under theConvention constitutes a criminal offense under the law of the UnitedStates. No official of the government, federal, state or local,civilian or military, is authorized to commit or to instruct anyoneelse to commit torture. Nor may any official condone or toleratetorture in any form. No exceptional circumstances may be invoked as ajustification of torture. US law contains no provision permittingotherwise prohibited acts of torture or other cruel, inhuman ordegrading treatment or punishment to be employed on grounds of exigentcircumstances (for example, during a 'state of public emergency') oron orders from a superior officer or public authority, and theprotective mechanisms of an independent judiciary are not subject tosuspension.' (Report of the United States to the UN Committee againstTorture, October 15, 1999, UN Doc. CAT/C/28/Add.5, February 9, 2000,para. 6.). . .Hummm. . . sounds like a pretty solid case for an impeachmentproceeding, were there anything resembling either a sense or shame, ornational ethics, in the Leadership of the House of Representatives andSenate. . .--
posted by deborah @ 11/14/2005

Has American Democracy Died an Electronic Death in Ohio 2005's Referenda Defeats?
Q: Why is Democracy in Ohio like Generalissimo Francisco Franco?A: Both are still dead...The latest results from the 11/8/2005 election in Ohio confirm that Diebold paperless voting machines are now in use in 41 of 88 Ohio counties, and discrepancies between polls and official results are as high as 30% to 40%. The poll in question was performed 2-3 days before the election by the highly respected Ohio newspaper, The Ohio Dispatch, long considered the gold standard of political polls in Ohio. The margin of error of the poll was only 2.5%.Once again, all the shifts are "red" in that the official results tend to favor no change in the elections processes.So much for the idea of reforming elections through the ballot box.Please forward this story (see link below) so more people will be aware of the problem.mbOH Ballot Measure # 11/6 Dispatch Poll FOR 11/6 Dispatch Poll AGAINST 11/6 Dispatch Poll UNDECIDED 11/8 Official Results FOR 11/8 Official Results AGAINST 11/8 Official Results UNDECIDED Shift1 53% ??% ??% 54% 46% 0% 1%2 59% 33% 8% 36.5% 63.5% 0% 22.5%-30.5%3 61% 25% 14% 33% 67% 0% 28%-42%4 31% 45% 25% 30% 70% 0% 1%-25%5 41% 43% 16% 30% 70% 0% 11%-27%1. Economic initiative pushed by OH Governor Bob Taft.2. Election Reform: easier to vote early, by mail or in person.3. Campaign Finance Reform:4. End Gerrymandering with a non-partisan commission to set Congressional and legislative districts.5. Take administration of Ohio elections away from Secretary of State and give control to a nine-member non-partisan commission.For the 11/6 Dispatch Poll:1872 voters polled 11/6, margin of error 2.5% Confidence interval: 95%For the 11/8 Official Results:41 out of 88 OH counties’ votes recorded on Diebold touch-screen machines.How large of a margin of victory would we have to have so an election wouldn't be close enough to steal? Apparently, 20% isn't enough.Source:Published on Saturday, November 12, 2005 by the Free Press http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1112-21.htm comment:
Has anyone seen anything about the latest Ohio election in local ornational media? This looks like another major stolen vote story thatis not being reported. The biggest problem the authors of the followingarticle report (beginning in paragraph 7) is a poll done the weekbefore the election by the Columbus Dispatch, a conservativepaper whose polling has historically been very accurate. The pollresults accurately reflected the official vote count on Issue One,which had bipartisan backing. But the poll results on the fourreform issues (Two through Five) differed so greatly from theofficial vote count as to be unbelievable. The poll suggested thatIssues Two and Three should have won easily, yet both lost byvery wide margins. And the poll suggested that Issues Four andFive should have been much closer, yet both of them also lost byvery wide margins.-Ralph Suter________________________Plaintiffs Blocked During Discovery Phase of New Mexico '04 Election LawsuitPlaintiffs Blocked During Discovery Phase of New Mexico '04 Election LawsuitKept From Inspecting Voting Machines as PromisedProcess So Far Has Revealed Votes Changed from One Candidate to Another, Disappearing All Together...County elections officials are reported as suddenly blocking the Plaintiff's experts from examining the Electronic Voting Machines used in New Mexico's incredibly close 2004 Presidential Election.Almost as troubling as that, if not more so, is some of what the experts have found already...Several times when [Plaintiff's experts] tried to vote for a candidate, the X appeared instead in the adjacent box for a different candidate. ... In addition, the experts were able to cast ballots that contained no votes whatsoever, something the County Clerk and her staff had told them the machines would not permit.URL: http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002008.htm---Brad FriedmanTHE BRAD BLOG - The uprising continues...http://www.BradBlog.com VELVET REVOLUTION - The revolution begins...http://www.VelvetRevolution.us *** The BRAD SHOW On the Air via RAW RADIO!*** http://www.BradShow.com *** Broadcast coast-to-coast and around the globe!----------------
posted by deborah @ 11/14/2005

Looking back at 9/11 : Y. professor thinks bombs, not planes, toppled WTC
Aside from the below... I won't , can't, don't say they planned it, but we know for a fact that they ignored the evidence of what was coming, ignored Hart-Rudman, ignored (even chastised) whistleblowers, the CIA and FBI reports they ignored -- the ones we know about, anyway (elusive as those WMD... remember Bush making his jokes, looking under his desk for them? Humor worthy of Nazis). We also know they wanted to invade Iraq. We also know that Iraq had massive oil reserves, and such things control the market, the pricing, even impacting the worth of a country's currency. (Talk about trickle down.)So here comes 911. Ignore the strangeness of the day, protocol of airplanes off-course and standard responses. Ignore the odd drills. Ignore Project for the New American Century and its plans for all the world. But I remember changing channels as it all unfolded, the way Dan Rather was sober and sane, the way FOX was calling for war with Iraq in the first half-hour.And then it happened: the sudden info revealing so fast the names of the terrorists. That they were Saudis! What if they could have been painted as Iraqis... How easy it all could have been, selling the war. But this information, the identities: Saudis. Not Iraqis, as was assumed. Implied. Suggested.Maybe that last part wasn't supposed to happen. Maybe the war between this administration and US intelligence -- the ones who want to protect this country -- began with that revelation. It threw a wrench into all of it unfolding smoothly. But if you're going to lie, tell a whopper (we had that advice on the best authority). And so it unfolded, all the Plan B's. The anthrax scares, the smallpox scares, Judy at the New York Times full throttle. FOX in high gear. How soon they had the whole Congress out on the steps singing God Bless America. It's been damage control since day one.***(article about paper below)Y. professor thinks bombs, not planes, toppled WTCBy Elaine Jarvik Deseret Morning NewsThe physics of 9/11 — including how fast and symmetrically one of the World Trade Center buildings fell — prove that official explanations of the collapses are wrong, says a Brigham Young University physics professor.In fact, it's likely that there were "pre-positioned explosives" in all three buildings at ground zero, says Steven E. Jones. In a paper posted online Tuesday and accepted for peer-reviewed publication next year, Jones adds his voice to those of previous skeptics, including the authors of the Web site http://www.wtc7.net/, whose research Jones quotes. Jones' article can be found at link."It is quite plausible that explosives were pre-planted in all three buildings and set off after the two plane crashes — which were actually a diversion tactic," he writes. "Muslims are (probably) not to blame for bringing down the WTC buildings after all," Jones writes. As for speculation about who might have planted the explosives, Jones said, "I don't usually go there. There's no point in doing that until we do the scientific investigation." Previous investigations, including those of FEMA, the 9/11 Commission and NIST (the National Institutes of Standards and Technology), ignore the physics and chemistry of what happened on Sept. 11, 2001, to the Twin Towers and the 47-story building known as WTC 7, he says. The official explanation — that fires caused structural damage that caused the buildings to collapse — can't be backed up by either testing or history, he says. Jones acknowledges that there have been "junk science" conspiracy theories about what happened on 9/11, but "the explosive demolition hypothesis better satisfies tests of repeatability and parsimony and therefore is not 'junk science.' "In a 9,000-word article that Jones says will be published in the book "The Hidden History of 9/11," by Elsevier, Jones offers these arguments:• The three buildings collapsed nearly symmetrically, falling down into their footprints, a phenomenon associated with "controlled demolition" — and even then it's very difficult, he says. "Why would terrorists undertake straight-down collapses of WTC-7 and the Towers when 'toppling over' falls would require much less work and would do much more damage in downtown Manhattan?" Jones asks. "And where would they obtain the necessary skills and access to the buildings for a symmetrical implosion anyway? The 'symmetry data' emphasized here, along with other data, provide strong evidence for an 'inside' job."• No steel-frame building, before or after the WTC buildings, has ever collapsed due to fire. But explosives can effectively sever steel columns, he says.• WTC 7, which was not hit by hijacked planes, collapsed in 6.6 seconds, just .6 of a second longer than it would take an object dropped from the roof to hit the ground. "Where is the delay that must be expected due to conservation of momentum, one of the foundational laws of physics?" he asks. "That is, as upper-falling floors strike lower floors — and intact steel support columns — the fall must be significantly impeded by the impacted mass. . . . How do the upper floors fall so quickly, then, and still conserve momentum in the collapsing buildings?" The paradox, he says, "is easily resolved by the explosive demolition hypothesis, whereby explosives quickly removed lower-floor material, including steel support columns, and allow near free-fall-speed collapses." These observations were not analyzed by FEMA, NIST nor the 9/11 Commission, he says.• With non-explosive-caused collapse there would typically be a piling up of shattering concrete. But most of the material in the towers was converted to flour-like powder while the buildings were falling, he says. "How can we understand this strange behavior, without explosives? Remarkable, amazing — and demanding scrutiny since the U.S. government-funded reports failed to analyze this phenomenon."• Horizontal puffs of smoke, known as squibs, were observed proceeding up the side the building, a phenomenon common when pre-positioned explosives are used to demolish buildings, he says.• Steel supports were "partly evaporated," but it would require temperatures near 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit to evaporate steel — and neither office materials nor diesel fuel can generate temperatures that hot. Fires caused by jet fuel from the hijacked planes lasted at most a few minutes, and office material fires would burn out within about 20 minutes in any given location, he says.• Molten metal found in the debris of the World Trade Center may have been the result of a high-temperature reaction of a commonly used explosive such as thermite, he says. Buildings not felled by explosives "have insufficient directed energy to result in melting of large quantities of metal," Jones says.• Multiple loud explosions in rapid sequence were reported by numerous observers in and near the towers, and these explosions occurred far below the region where the planes struck, he says.Jones says he became interested in the physics of the WTC collapse after attending a talk last spring given by a woman who had had a near-death experience. The woman mentioned in passing that "if you think the World Trade Center buildings came down just due to fire, you have a lot of surprises ahead of you," Jones remembers, at which point "everyone around me started applauding." Following several months of study, he presented his findings at a talk at BYU in September. Jones says he would like the government to release 6,899 photographs and 6,977 segments of video footage for "independent scrutiny." He would also like to analyze a small sample of the molten metal found at Ground Zero.E-mail: jarvik@desnews.com--------------------Accepted for publication:Steven E. Jones, (2006). “Why Indeed did the WTC Buildings Collapse?,” The Hidden History of 9-11-2001, Research in Political Economy, Volume 23, P. Zarembka, editor, Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2006.DRAFTWhy Indeed Did the WTC Buildings Collapse?By Steven E. JonesDepartment of Physics and AstronomyBrigham Young UniversityProvo, UT 84604http://www.physics.byu.edu/research/energy/htm7.htmlmirror
posted by deborah @ 11/14/2005

the report they ignored...
Hart-Rudman Commission NEW WORLD COMING: AMERICAN SECURITY IN THE 21ST CENTURY
posted by deborah @ 11/14/2005
Sunday, November 13, 2005

the myths that took us to war were known as myths at the time
I keep wondering how Congress could have been so ill informed. Is it awake yet? Or will nothing change, and we'll just be lied into another war? Why did so many private citizens know more than Congress knew? Maybe because we looked at all the news, listened to the UN, people who were on site. We learned to judge a reputable source by its track record. As Bush tries to rewrite history, what people knew about WMD and when, it's good to look back at the stories that were being ignored at the time.Remember the plagiarized thesis?First casualties in the propaganda firefightAll's fair in the war for hearts and minds: frustrated by the failure of the UN weapons inspectors in Iraq to find the 'smoking gun', Downing Street resorted to plagiarising a 12-year-old US doctoral thesisGaby Hinsliff, Martin Bright, Peter Beaumont and Ed VulliamySunday February 9, 2003The ObserverLate last Tuesday night, a three-page email started circulating among a select group of friends concerned about the impact of sanctions on Iraq.Full of academic outrage, it explained how the so-called 'secret spy dossier' published last week by the Government as a crucial plank in the argument for why the West should go to war was largely cribbed from an American postgraduate's doctoral thesis - grammatical mistakes and all - based on evidence 12 years out of date.And, to cap it all, the finished document appeared to have been cobbled together not by Middle East experts, but by the secretary of Alastair Campbell, the Government's chief spin doctor, and some gofers.It is no surprise, then, that when the email from Glen Rangwala - a 28-year-old Cambridge politics lecturer who stumbled across the plagiarism when he was sent a copy of the dossier by researchers in Sweden - reached two teenage Cambridge students they decided it deserved a wider audience.One, 19-year-old Daniel O'Huiginn, forwarded the email to journalists.In the propaganda wars that are now as crucial as any military build-up in the Gulf, Tony Blair last week fell victim to friendly fire.There has been significant collateral damage - and at the worst possible time. A crucial vote in the UN Security Council is pending. Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, praised the document as a 'fine paper' and has been embarrassed by association.The anti-war campaign has been handed a large stick with which to beat the Government. moreBlair under fire over plagiarised Iraq dossier08.02.2003Sections in the dossier on Saddam's security apparatus drew heavily on a 2002 article written by Ibrahim al-Marashi, a 29-year-old US postgraduate student of Iraqi descent who works at California's Monterey Institute of International Studies.His major sources were captured Iraqi intelligence documents from prior to 1991 that are part of Harvard's Iraq Research and Documentation Project, as well as books and public information.Marashi, who has never been to Iraq, told Reuters he was surprised and flattered that his research ended up in a British government dossier -- but could have provided the government with updated information if anyone had asked."The fact that they would have to turn to something in the open media reflects that maybe there is a deficiency in the intelligence gathering," he said. "My primary worry at the moment is that it might reflect poorly on Powell's presentation by the very fact that he referred to that document."Glen Rangwala, an Iraq specialist at Cambridge University who analysed the Downing Street dossier, told Reuters 11 of its 19 pages were "taken wholesale from academic papers"."If the nature of the intelligence is actually just web research, then it rather casts doubt about the plausibility of the government's earlier claims," said Rangwala. The editor of Jane's Intelligence Review, Chris Aaron, said sections of articles in his magazine published between 1997 and 2002 were also used in the dossier."The fact that the UK dossier does not identify the source for each bit of evidence in the report could be taken as misleading or taken to be an effort to disguise the classified material included in the dossier," he said in a statement. ... more archives at Traprock: Review of Feb. 14 Blix and ElBaradei ReportsFebruary 16, 2003 - This is the final version of Dr. Rangwala's analysis of Colin Powell's presentation. and serves as a substantial update and expansion of the "First Response" that previously appeared on this page.On Feburary 14, Hans Blix (UNMOVIC) and Mohamed ElBaradei (IAEA) presented reported to the UN. Dr. Rangwala reviews the evidence they presented to the Security Council on 14 February 2003, and contrasts it to the claims of Colin Powell to the Security Council on 5 February and Tony Blair in a dossier of 2 February.Dr. Rangwala has incorporated parts of this analysis of Colin Powell's presentation into 'Counter-Dossier II , his comprehensive analysis of claims concerning Iraq's proscribed weapons capabilities.Dr. Rangwala spotted the fact that the Blair government had plagairized its Dossier concering Iraq's intelligence infrastructure. See British Dossier Scandal.Just follow the links.13 Myths
posted by deborah @ 11/13/2005

Without the net, Judy wouldn't have gone down. She's now pushing Freedom of Press Bills that fail to protect internet blogs
Judy's page pushing H.R. 581 Why you should worry: works in progress like The Free Flow of Information Act (S. 340 and H.R. 581) fail to cover internet and blog news sources in their blanket protection of journalists. Ask anyone: Who's been breaking the news, keeping important stories, the ones often starved by major media, alive? Where would the Downing Street Memo be without the internet -- past, present, future?Imagine the past five years without the internet. Mass media hasn't kept us informed. We've had to do it ourselves. Anything that works to silence those who've stepped forward to help us would be a critical loss to Democracy. Heads up.
posted by deborah @ 11/13/2005

Jane Austen World
Elizabeth saw the new Pride and Prejudice and was heartily disappointed. It has no soul, she says. It's not so much that things are changed from the novel (though it hurts that Wickham and Darcy's sister -- *Eliza's relationships with them* -- are slashed to nil). It's that the sense of Austen as a living breathing being is lost. There's a fatalism in those times expressed by decorum, but it's an enlightenment fatalism, a being true to your soul while minding the place the gods have set you into; a fatalism with a Greek spin, very Thomas Taylor. You are good to people because you believe in the Forms, but you have a sense of humor about it all. That's Austen. Eliza Bennet would never tell her mama to shut up, no matter how much the audience wants her to. She's headstrong, not stubborn, not without reason and regret. Reason is all: she's about learning. And yes, with pheromones everywhere, the yearning is rightly strong, but body and soul and mind remain one... above all, Austen is consciousness. Or so I gather from my own young Eliza on the phone. Well. I'll have to see. I suspect it has to be an improvement on the old Olivier version which truly played to its times, but I think you likely need a director and screenwriter like Emma Thompson to really capture Jane Austen in two hours... and actresses with real soul burning bright yet quiet and deep in their blood. Kate Winslet. Jennifer Ehle. Lynn Collins. Knightly is a love and admirable, but she's always Knightly. I hope someone will help shape her great spirit into a great actress, rather than just exploit and enforce her natural Keira-ness.
posted by deborah @ 11/13/2005

Movies heavily shape teen smoking, study shows
- Yahoo! NewsBy Michael ConlonCHICAGO (Reuters) - Nearly 40 percent of U.S. adolescents who give cigarette smoking a try do so because they saw it in movies, a study said on Monday. The study, described as the first national look at the influence of movie smoking on youths, urged Hollywood to cut back on depictions of smoking or shots of cigarette brands.The industry also should consider adding a mention of smoking to movie rating data that now mention explicit sex, violence and profanity*, it said. .... more ***Okay. I can buy that this is something to consider, to be mindful of. Celebrity is, after all, the modern Pantheon. But *profanity? Who put that in there? It takes the credibility away from the study, that's for sure. When did profanity ever harm anyone? "Sticks and stones, Skelator! I am paper, you are glue. Had enough, Bonehead?"I swear like a proverbial pirate. And I do it for a reason. It's sane to swear, the doing of good and essential work. Why? Well, ask yourself: Why should certain words be allowed to contain such magic? Such power to distract, shock -- to classify the user as unworthy or of some certain tainted blood, casting them -- with a single word! -- as dirty, untouchable, lewd. Why should that be?Look at this -- the power you give a thing when you regard it as obscene.ob·sceneADJECTIVE: 1. Offensive to accepted standards of decency or modesty.2. Inciting lustful feelings; lewd.3. Repulsive; disgusting: “The way he writes about the disease that killed her is simply obscene” (Michael Korda).4. So large in amount as to be objectionable or outrageous: “local merchants in nearby stores get hammered by stratospheric rents and obscene taxes” (Joe Queenan, Spy February 1994).ETYMOLOGY: Latin obscnus.OTHER FORMS: ob·scenely —ADVERBOED:[b]OBSCENE[/b]: from Middle French, French 'obscène,' indecent, offensive (1534; a1592 as obscne (Montaigne) and its etymon classical Latin 'obscnus,' 'obscaenus,' inauspicious, ill-omened, filthy, disgusting, indecent, lewdThe power to do all that! And why allow it, when using the same words as mere babble immediately disempowers them.Now this idea of cursing someone. Does anyone believe in the reality of cursing someone? "Damn you." I mean -- what power you give a person when you believe such things. Do you really want to wash a child's mouth out with soap because of some psychotic belief in demons and fiery pits, the power to call you down in a word? Who's confused here? Which is the obscene?Yes, yes -- there is an exception: The F Word and its many splendid variations, effing this, effing that. When the act of love is degraded, it says buckets, and is, perhaps, obscene in the sense of inauspicious and ill-omened. And that is a sad thing. It truly epitomizes that phrase, cursing like a sailor: the F Word is a commonplace in war, and rape, pillage -- the ancient history of war. The new gorilla master comes in to claim the territory, the lady gorillas, as his own -- and out goes the old off-spring, in comes the new, thumping its chest. BOOTY! So yes, how sad, the pain of the F Word. But I suppose its prevalence is natural in a culture that sells cars by draping juggies across the hood. I'm looking at Rolling Stone, the way certain brands of blue jeans and Joe Camel look ready to score -- or at least they're all looking to. It's all about scoring, isn't it? And as it defaces the act of love, it's a well-intentioned defacing. After all, commerce. We all do it for a living. It's the real religion of America.If words like murder, rape, war, cluster bombs could only connect with their true terror, were used with their full force potential for horror and pain, we might take pause. We might step back and think -- as in What is he thinking, bomb 'em back to the stone age? And there are bigger words that amount to death-sentences, anonymous and of no fixed limit. Words like Reconnaissance, Collateral, Sanctions, are splashed everywhere, the FOX news in the diner, the newspaper on the chair, the speeches that come out of warm faces and smiley mouths. Words that are dulled to policy, the right thing to do.So. I say, profanitize away. What could be more simple? Step back, disengage, unhook. Liberate yourself and your fellow human. It's good work to demagic-ify these words. Community building -- and like death, a great equalizer.
posted by deborah @ 11/13/2005
Saturday, November 12, 2005

moving right along
This goes back. Cleaning out old files, I found a letter I wrote for the first MoveOn action. We were asking Congress to ... well, move on. Censure Clinton and get on with life. Why was Clinton impeached (when 75% of the public was against it)? Why -- he lied. ***Sent: Saturday, December 12, 1998 9:21 PMTo: swingvotes@list.moveon.orgI beg you to show leadership and openly vote against impeachment and for censure. It's time for true statesmen to lead the way.I am not here to judge the actions of the House. History will do that. What history will remember is a President who was hounded from the moment he stepped into office. A President who would have succeeded handily in the private sector, who instead channelled his idealism to work for the people. A President who had the same human failings as many other still beloved presidents.What the people feel in making our decision is not any lack of respect for virtue or morality as I have seen suggested by members of the committee. It is a pragmatic approach based on this resoning: if every member of Congress had to withstand the same scrutiny, using the same amount of man hours and dollars to defeat him, how few would be left standing. History will see this as the People do. It is hypocrisy. That is why THE PEOPLE who elected this President so very much want him to get on with the business of government. Censure him and let us get on with the critical work of working together. This rift will not heal for many years, nor will the people forget what was done so transparently and against their wishes for spite and political gain. With heart,Deborah muse@iland.net"...Where there is no vision, the people perish."~Proverbs
posted by deborah @ 11/12/2005

U.S. FORCES' REALIGNMENT--Entering a new phase / U.S. deterrent remainsintact : National : DAILY YOMIURI ONLINE (The Daily Yomiuri)
The problems associated with relocating the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in Okinawa Prefecture have entered a new stage following the United States' acceptance of Japan's proposal to relocate the facility to the coastal region along Camp Schwab, in the northern part of the prefecture. This is the third installment of a five-part series focusing on the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan.Speaking at a National Press Club lunch in Washington on Nov. 7, Gen. Michael Hagee, commander of the 180,000-strong U.S. Marine Corps, backed a recent agreement between Tokyo and Washington to relocate some U.S. marines stationed in Okinawa Prefecture to Guam.Hagee said, "Just as an example, going from Okinawa to Korea, we can move a battalion, with all its equipment, in just about 24 hours."Hagee added that excellent training areas around Guam made it logical to relocate some U.S. troops to that island.The relocation of the command of the Marine Corps' 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force (3rd MEF) and 7,000 marines to Guam is seen here as a symbolic move aimed at reducing the burden on communities hosting U.S. forces.The United States needs to maintain friendly relations with Okinawa to ensure an environment in which it can stably run military bases.U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's policy of stationing troops "in places where they are wanted, welcomed and needed" greatly influenced the outcome of bilateral negotiations on the realignment.Indeed, his policy has resulted in U.S. plans to withdraw 12,500 of 37,000 troops stationed in South Korea by the end of 2008.However, a genuinely decisive factor behind the reduction of the presence of marines in Okinawa was Washington's judgment that its military would be able to sufficiently maintain a deterrence in Northeast Asia thanks to the "revolution in military affairs" (RMA) doctrine.RMA proposes a major change in the nature of warfare with the application of innovative technology. An interim report on the transformation of U.S. forces refers to surface transport capabilities, including high-speed vessels (HSVs), as a key part of the RMA concept.It takes four days for U.S. marines to move from Guam to Okinawa aboard an amphibious assault ship. But an HSV carrying 1,000 troops can complete the journey in half the time.Following this logic, headquarters staff of 3rd MEF, logistics and other noncombat units no longer need to be stationed in Okinawa, while Washington will retain the 31st Marine Expedition Unit--part of the Unites States' forward deployment in the Pacific--in the prefecture.Japan, for its part, is studying whether to buy HSVs to improve interoperability with U.S. troops.U.S. Air Force and Navy units on Guam have been upgrading their presence by deploying state-of-the-art stealth bombers and nuclear-powered submarines.Richard Lawless, U.S. deputy undersecretary of defense for Asia and the Pacific, recently said Guam would become the most important hub for the Unites States' forward deployed troops in the Pacific. The U.S. side obviously wants Japan to help pay for the revamping of U.S. military facilities on Guam.While the 3rd MEF command will leave Japan, the army will station a new army command--called a unit of employment (UEx)--at Camp Zama, Kanagawa Prefecture, by reorganizing the army's 1st Corps in Washington state.The army is currently in the middle of a major restructuring program called the Modular Force Initiative to make itself "more powerful, flexible and more rapidly deployable" by shifting the emphasis from divisions to brigades.The transformation is designed to enable the army to be better prepared for small-scale conflicts involving terrorist and guerrilla attacks, rather than conventional full-scale war involving tank divisions.In its "Military Balance 2005-2006" report, the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies said irregular threats such as terrorism were overwhelmingly land based, and armies would assume a major combat role against them over the next few decades.A 1,000-strong UEx is more mobile and capable of being deployed more quickly than conventional troop headquarters. The command directs not only the army, but also the joint operations involving navy, air and marine corps.A Defense Department official said, "The UEx can be deployed anywhere in the world, as marines corp members in Okinawa were deployed in Iraq."The UEx to be based at Camp Zama will primarily command operations in the event of a conflict on the Korean Peninsula. But it could assume a wider role, including fighting international terrorism and engaging in humanitarian aid in a natural disaster.In a report released in early November, Andrew Krepinevich, executive director at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington, cited the challenges facing the United States as:-- Islamic extremists.-- A nuclear-armed India, Pakistan, North Korea and Iran.-- The emergence of China.Japan is geopolitically close to Southeast Asian countries with large Islamic populations, well acquainted with the arc of instability that stretches from Northeast Asia to the Middle East, and face-to-face with China.With this in mind, the role of U.S. forces in Japan in dealing with these three "threats" is bound to grow.(Nov. 13, 2005)
posted by deborah @ 11/12/2005

FREEWAYBLOGGER.com - Free Speech: Use It or Lose It
Do it. I'm not sure about joining groups. Having leaders. This is about each of us standing up in our living. That's Democracy. "... the individual as the only carrier of life and existence is of paramount importance. He cannot be substituted by a group or by a mass. Yet we are rapidly approaching a state in which nobody will accept individual responsibility any more. We prefer to leave it as an odious business to groups and organizations, blissfully unconscious of the fact that the group or mass psyche is that of an animal and wholly inhuman. What we need is the development of the inner spiritual man, the unique individual whose treasure is hidden on the one hand in the symbols of our mythological tradition, and on the other hand in man's unconscious psyche." ~CGJUNG
posted by deborah @ 11/12/2005

Everyone knows they lie
Tide has turned. Helen Thomas:White House Spokesman No Help To Media: "I used to get phone calls from television viewers asking why I posed such tough questions to the powers that be. Now I get calls -- and I presume other members of the media do, too -- denouncing the 'softball' questions they hear during news briefings. "
posted by deborah @ 11/12/2005

Police State: we have arrived
*Do NOT take to the streets.* We need to get smart about quiet resistance. Some reading:Darkness over Denmark: The Danish Resistance and the Rescue of the Jews*****New Scientist The shocking use of police stun gunsDo non-lethal Taser guns really offer the police the safe alternative to firearms that their makers promise, and are they being used appropriately?A YOUNG woman screams in pain and falls from the open door of her SUV onto the tarmac. Seconds earlier, a Florida traffic cop had fired his Taser stun gun at her, delivering a 50,000-volt shock and leaving her convulsing in agony on the roadside.Her crime? After being pulled over for speeding, she had insisted on making a cellphone call instead of getting out of the car when told to do so.Video footage of this event shocked many delegates at Jane's Less-Lethal Weapons Conference in Leeds, UK, last month. But the footage soon got even worse. A minute later, with the 22-year-old still stunned on the tarmac, the officer orders her to lie on her stomach and put her hands behind her back. She can't do so, and says so. His response is to pull the trigger and send another 50,000-volt shock into the Taser darts still lodged ...---------------------US shoots ahead in stun gun design15 August 2005
WEAPONS designed to fire "electric bullets" into crowds are being developed for police and border protection agencies in the US.The Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency, the domestic equivalent of the defence agency DARPA, has launched an "innovative less-lethal devices for law enforcement" programme to radically expand the capabilities of electric shock weapons.Existing stun weapons, such as the Taser, typically fire a pair of darts trailing current-carrying wires to shock the target, with a maximum range of about 7 metres. The HSARPA programme aims to develop wireless weapons that can be used over greater distances in spaces such as "an auditorium, a city street or a sports stadium".
------------------Police toy with 'less lethal' weapons02 May 2005Less-lethal weapons in development include microwave beams, acoustic blasts and knockout drugs, but there is no independent, peer-reviewed research on their health effects.The Pentagon has designed the microwave and acoustic weapons, which it plans to use to disperse crowds. The Area Denial System shines a broad microwave beam into a crowd, painfully heating people's skin and making them flee (New Scientist, 23 July, p 26). But calculations by physicist Jurgen Altmann at the University of Dortmund in Germany suggest the system will have a beam width of up to 5 metres. "In an invisible beam that wide, which way will you flee?" he asks. A Pentagon source says it has researched the health effects, but its results are classified.The Long Range Acoustic Device is an ear-jarring noise generator. It produces a highly directional sound beam far more intense than the loudest noise permitted by US workplace safety laws. At 1 metre from the device, the intensity can be 151 decibels. "This is enough to produce ear pain and endanger hearing," Altmann told the conference.Knockout drug pellets, delivered by weapons not unlike a paintball gun, are also on the way. Anaesthetist Jitka Schreiberova of Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic, is experimenting with different mixtures of surgical anaesthetics to make a fast-acting immobiliser. Based on benzodiazepines, ketamine and alpha-2 agonists - substances that activate alpha-2 receptors within the central nervous system, causing sedation - Schreiberova says she has so far immobilised macaque monkeys and human volunteers in 2 to 4 minutes."Some people might say this also contravenes the Chemical Weapons Treaty," says Andrew Mazzara of the Institute for Non-Lethal Defense Technologies at Penn State University.Details of US microwave-weapon tests revealed22 July 2005Maximum pain is aim of new US weapon02 March 2005Web LinksHomeland Security Advanced Research Projects AgencyDefense Advanced Research Projects AgencyLynntechMidé TechnologyNon-Lethal Weapons Research Project, University of Bradford
posted by deborah @ 11/12/2005
Friday, November 11, 2005

They Knew
One more time. It didn't come out of any green room.arianna:They knew Plame was undercover, as Josh notes.Go to page 5 of the indictment [PDF]. Top of the page, item #9.On or about June 12, 2003, LIBBY was advised by the Vice President of the United States that Wilson's wife worked at the Central Intelligence Agency in the Counterproliferation Divison. LIBBY understood that the Vice President had learned this information from the CIA.This is a crucial piece of information. the Counterproliferation Division (CPD) is part of the CIA's Directorate of Operations, i.e., not Directorate of Intelligence, the branch of the CIA where 'analysts' come from, but where the spies come from. [...]Read the post here.Meanwhile, Bush is singing the same old tune, as if the Downing Street Memo simply doesn't exist. As if Iraqi's did 911. As if his efforts to fight the all purpose ever expandable bogey, The Terrorists, has helped anyone in anyway (exept for Halliburton, Bechtel, Blackwater Security...) Oh yes, Saddam is out of power. And his WMD's were where? And who replaces him? Democracy? That's what's happening in Iraq?He tells us Congressional inquiries found no evidence of intelligence manipulation (hard to find, yes? Just like those WMD. And no Wilson/ Plame?), and that "many other nations, and the UN, also believed that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction." And that's why Bush had to go it alone, in-spite-of? Hans Blix agreed with it?Who is rewriting history here?
posted by deborah @ 11/11/2005

The Vallely bulls**t is spreading!
Head's up from Hesiod via Buzzflash mail I hate to say I warned people, but I warned you! This is exactly how the Swift Boat ass***es started out. I guarantee that within a month, Gen. Vallely will be all over the networks, and cable news stations peddling his bullshit about Joe Wilson. Simply posting about it once or twice isn't going to cut it. We need to be on this vigilantly. http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&q=Maj.+Gen.+Paul+Vallely+ Hesiod
posted by deborah @ 11/11/2005

Subject: A Gentleman's Agreement with Judith Miller
from the BuzzFlash Mailbag November 10, 2005All the buzz about Judith Miller makes me wonder. The Church Committee revealed in 1976 that the CIA was actively influencing all media in this country and abroad (google: Operation Mockingbird), and the Church Committee at that time secured a sort of "gentleman's agreement" with then CIA Director G. H. W. Bush:"February 11, 1976, CIA Director George [H. W.] Bush announced new guidelines governing the Agency's relationship with United States media organizations: "Effective immediately, CIA will not enter into any paid or contractual relationship with any full-time or part-time news correspondent accredited by any U.S. news service, newspaper, periodical, radio or television network or station.""[Final Report of the Select Committee to Study Government Operations With Respect to Intelligence Activities (April, 1976)] Of course it's easy to think of 1,000 ways to seduce journalists without a formal contract, signed and notarized. There is the romance of considering one's self as a sort of 'James Bond' (cf. Christopher Hitchins), there is the access to contacts in high government places as sources for one's articles (the ultimate job security for a journalist), there is the confidence of knowing you'll always have some kind of highly paid job through the CIA's network of large international corporations who are too happy to repay favors, and there is the warm and fuzzy thought that, if something goes wrong and you are put in jail, John Bolton will bring you a teddy bear. And on and on. It had probably been difficult to enforce those signed CIA contracts, anyway.Therefore it is difficult to believe that this kind of thing is not still going on (buzzflash.com excepted, of course), even when we are not showered with stories of Judith Miller et al. at the New York Times, and others at Fox, CBS, Reader's Digest, etc. The Church Committee report describes the dangers:"Domestic "Fallout": The Committee finds that covert media operations can result in manipulating or incidentally misleading the American public. Despite efforts to minimize it, CIA employees, past and present, have conceded that there is no way to shield the American public completely from "fallout" in the United States from Agency propaganda or placements overseas. Indeed, following the Katzenbach inquiry, the Deputy Director for Operations issued a directive stating: "Fallout in the United States from a foreign publication which we support is inevitable and consequently permissible.". . ."The domestic fallout of covert propaganda comes from many sources: books intended primarily for an English-speaking foreign audience; CIA press placements that are picked up by an international wire service; and publications resulting from direct CIA funding of foreign institutes. For example, a book written for an English-speaking foreign audience by one CIA operative was reviewed favorably by another CIA agent in the New York Times. The Committee also found that the CIA helped create and support various Vietnamese periodicals and publications. In at least one instance, a CIA supported Vietnamese publication was used to propagandize the American public and the members and staff of both houses of Congress. So effective was this propaganda that some members quoted from the publication in debating the controversial question of United States involvement in Vietnam." [Final Report of the Select Committee to Study Government Operations With Respect to Intelligence Activities (April, 1976)]Many people are still mystified at this point about the source of the "yellowcake document," which has so far been traced to the Italian counterpart (and cohorts) to the CIA.Duh. The "yellowcake document" obviously fits under the category in the Church Committee report called, "domestic fallout of covert propaganda." However this is a new development in the sense that it was covert propaganda intentionally produced to provide intended fallout here in our country: WAR. A line has been crossed.The Church Committee determined the danger to our democracy of "contractual obligations" by media figures with the CIA. Someone needs to point out the dangers of our current system of journalists' 'gentlemen's agreements' with the CIA, which in this case has cost us the lives of thousands of Americans and tens of thousands of Iraqis, and more to come: Syria, Iran. . .http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOCKINGBIRD http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_Committee T. R. PhillipsShreveport, LA
posted by deborah @ 11/11/2005

Senate Approves Limiting Rights of U.S. Detainees - New York Times
The jackboot comes down again.------------------------"[...] In addition to Mr. Specter, Republicans voting against the bill were Senators John E. Sununu of New Hampshire, Gordon H. Smith of Oregon, and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island. The five Democrats voting for the bill were Senators Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, Mary L. Landrieu of Louisiana, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Kent Conrad of North Dakota and Ron Wyden of Oregon. "
posted by deborah @ 11/11/2005

Why we no longer have dinosaurs - forget "intelligent design"
The Soviet War in Afghanistan: History and Harbinger of Future War?
General (Ret) Mohammad Yahya Nawroz, Army of Afghanistanand Lester W. GrauForeign Military Studies Office, Fort Leavenworth, KansasJune 1996
....Open resistance flared so quickly that only two months after the invasion, (on the night of 23 February 1980) almost the entire population of Kabul climbed on their rooftops and chanted with one voice "God is Great". This open defiance of the Russian generals who could physically destroy their city was matched throughout the countryside....The Soviet concept for military occupation of Afghanistan was based on the following:
stabilizing the country by garrisoning the main routes, major cities, airbases and logistics sites;
relieving the Afghan government forces of garrison duties and pushing them into the countryside to battle the resistance;
providing logistic, air, artillery and intelligence support to the Afghan forces;
providing minimum interface between the Soviet occupation forces and the local populace;
accepting minimal Soviet casualties;
and, strengthening the Afghan forces, so once the resistance was defeated, the Soviet Army could be withdrawn.... ...The Soviets managed to control the press throughout the war. All journalists allowed contact with the Soviet forces were accredited by communist news agencies and reported only what they were told to report. Thus, the war grew to serious proportions before the average Soviet citizen realized that Soviet troops were actually involved in daily combat...via Juan Cole
Sound familier?
posted by Michael Bersin @ 11/11/2005
Thursday, November 10, 2005

Would you like some schadenfreude with that poll?
Man, even their propagandists are getting in on the act.
FOX News/Opinion Dynamics Poll. Nov. 8-9, 2005. N=900 registered voters nationwide. MoE ± 3 (for all registered voters). LV = likely voters
"Do you approve or disapprove of the job George W. Bush is doing as president?"
Approve – 36%Disapprove – 53%Unsure – 11%
DemocratsApprove – 10%Disapprove – 84%Unsure – 6%
RepublicansApprove – 72%Disapprove – 18%Unsure – 10%
IndependentsApprove – 26%Disapprove – 58%Unsure – 16%
How far they fall, eh? A 52 point drop. Now that takes incompetence of operatic proportions.
FOX News/Opinion Dynamics Poll. Nov. 14-15, 2001.
Approve – 88%Disapprove – 7%Unsure – 5%
According to the Faux News Channel in 2001 I was a “seven percenter”. Happy to be of service.
I've always wondered from what planet the "undecided" part of their sample comes from. I can understand the apparent desperate clinginess of the true believers ("You know Barbara, I just can't let go, even though he's an incompetent putz..."). And, of course, I fully understand the majority of repondents now residing in the reality based community. But "undecided"?
posted by Michael Bersin @ 11/10/2005

Veterans Day Outrage: Conservatives End 55-Year-Old Practice of Hearings for Vet Groups
Wonder what the American Legion has to say about this.
from think progress
Veterans Day Outrage: Conservatives End 55-Year-Old Practice of Hearings for Vet GroupsOn Tuesday — three days before Veterans Day — House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Steve Buyer (R-IN) announced that for the first time in at least 55 years, “veterans service organizations will no longer have the opportunity to present testimony before a joint hearing of the House and Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committees.”Remember that Buyer was handpicked by criminally-indicted Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) to replace former veterans committee chairman Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), who had been extremely vocal about the consistent underfunding of veterans causes.The Disabled American Veterans, the “official voice of America’s service-connected disabled veterans,” just issued a scathing release calling the move “an insult to all who have fought, sacrificed and died to defend the Constitution.” The timing, they said, “could not have been worse.”Read the full release here. (More from The Hill.)
posted by deborah @ 11/10/2005

The parents of a Palestinian boy killed by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank have donated his organs for use in Israel, in the hope of promoting peace
from Doug Keachie I have set up a petition to have the Khatib family recognized as "Family of the Year," or for the Nobel Peace Prize. Please sign it at:www.petitiononline.com/Khatib/petition.html------------------------------BBC NEWSTwelve-year-old Ahmed Ismail Khatib was shot in the town of Jenin by troops who mistook his toy gun for a real one.His organs were transplanted into five Israeli children and a woman aged 58.His father, Ismail, said saving lives was more important than religion, and added: "I feel that my son has entered the heart of every Israeli."Ahmed died in hospital from his injuries after being shot in the body and head while throwing stones at Israeli soldiers who were hunting suspected militants in Jenin.The Israeli army expressed regret over his shooting.'Gesture of love'Israel's parliamentary speaker, Reuven Rivlin, praised the Khatib family's action as a "remarkable gesture" after decades of conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.Mr Khatib said he was very proud that his son's organs would help six Israelis."I have taken this decision because I have a message for the world: that the Palestinian people want peace - for everyone," he told the AFP news agency."We have no problem whether it is an Israeli or a Palestinian [who receives his organs] because it will give them life," added the boy's mother, Ablah Khatib.Ahmed's kidneys, liver, heart and lungs were transplanted into Israelis including Jews, Arabs and a Druze girl, medical officials said.The girl, aged 12 and from Israel's Bedouin Arab minority, received Ahmed's heart, bringing to an end a five-year wait for a transplant.Her father, Riad Gadban, called the donation a "gesture of love" and said his daughter was regaining strength after the operation.
posted by deborah @ 11/10/2005

Reporter Judith Miller to leave New York Times
"Miller, 57, who covered national security for The Times, came under professional fire for stories she wrote on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq that echoed Bush Administration stances and turned out to be based on faulty intelligence.Ahmad Chalabi, the Iraqi leader accused of giving U.S. officials flawed information about Saddam Hussein's weapons program, was a source on prewar Iraq for Miller... ""...based on faulty intelligence". And still it goes on, the distortions of the media. The point is how the intelligence was deliberately distorted, the way it was cherry picked. The Memo, the Memo, the Memo. The proof is there, and still the media buffers Bush with lies.And Chalabi? As long as he delivers he walks? It's not very satisfying or to the point to scapegoat Miller. Judy, speak to us.People died over this. They still die. Under Bush, we are a rogue nation and the whole world knows it. And now?
posted by deborah @ 11/10/2005
Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Roberts' Iraq Stonewall Crumbles
Last night on the Daily Show, there was McCain yukking it up, charming them all... and giving the same bullshite as Pat Roberts below. The line is: 'Was there any political manipulation or pressure?' Answer: 'No.' No, of course not. Heavens. We saw what happened to Valerie Plame when her husband spoke out. No pressure? These are people who serve up phosphorus, dissolving the skin of children. Manipulation, pressure? Who, me? It's the way this whole administration operates. Fear, something it understands. Guerrilla warfare, body bags: I can still hear Ralph Reed bragging; these are his terms, his bedfellows. We know the agenda.You owe us, Jon. Take them apart.------------
IN PERRSPECTIVE :
Over the past week, Republican Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas chose to ignore the old dictum, "when in a hole, stop digging."As I wrote last week, Roberts has been a key leader of an elaborate GOP effort to stonewall investigation into the Bush administration's uses and misuses of pre-Iraq war intelligence. Stung by the closed Senate session in which Democrats savaged his obvious obstructionist tactics, Roberts came out swinging. Now, Roberts is insisting that there is no evidence of "political manipulation or pressure" in the use of pre-war intelligence.To bolster his case, Roberts cited the British Butler Report, his own Senate Select Committee on Intelligence "Phase 1" Report, as well as the Silberman-Robb Commission Report. (To access these and other relevant documents, visit the Perrspectives Iraq/WMD Intelligence Resource Center.) On CBS Face the Nation on Sunday, Roberts stated flatly, "we interviewed over 250 analysts and we specifically asked them: 'Was there any political manipulation or pressure?' Answer: 'No.'"Unfortunately for Roberts, a growing mountain of evidence suggests otherwise.Let's start with the CIA. Roberts' claims to the contrary, current and former CIA personnel...
posted by deborah @ 11/09/2005

Bear witness: Fallujah
t r u t h o u t - MultiMedia: "Fallujah: The Hidden MassacreA Film by Sigfrido Ranucci"Bear witness. Though it is beyond bearing. Show it to your Rush loving brother-in-law. The work of ye holy chosen?
posted by deborah @ 11/09/2005

Republicans may have leaked info on secret prisons...
[Media Matters] In follow-up to its own scoop, WaPo omitted Lott bombshell that Republicans may have leaked info on secret prisonsA November 9 Washington Post article -- reporting that Republican congressional leaders demanded "an immediate joint House and Senate investigation into the disclosure of classified information to The Washington Post that detailed a web of secret prisons being used to house and interrogate terrorism suspects" -- left out a key part of the story: On the same day that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) and House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) issued the letter to the leaders of the House and Senate intelligence committees, Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS) told reporters that Senate Republicans likely leaked the information. ...[...] Another Republican, Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi, said that senators from his party might have given information to the Post. Lott told reporters that the existence of the prison system was discussed last week at the Republican policy luncheon on Capitol Hill, which was attended by Vice President Dick Cheney and held the day before the Post published its report."Information that was said in there, given out in there, did get into the newspaper," Lott said. "I don't know where else it came from. ... It looked to me that at least one of those reports came right out of that room."
posted by deborah @ 11/09/2005

Who is the most corrupt person in America?
Sign our "Six Demands for Change" and insist that Lee Scott and Wal-Mart address the serious issues facing the 1.3 million Wal-Mart workers, their families, our communities, and our country:Sign the "6 Demands for Change"
posted by deborah @ 11/09/2005

GOP wants probe into leak that led to secret prison story -- but wines and dines Chalabi who leaked to Iran
Now THIS they're hot to investigate. "Who is telling the public the truth?" Chalabi leaked classified material to the Iranians, and of course, walks... is wined and dined. See blog below.FREE PRESS NEWS SERVICESWASHINGTON -- A week-old newspaper report that the CIA is secretly using prisons abroad to interrogate terror suspects took on new life Tuesday as House and Senate Republican leaders demanded an investigation into who leaked classified material.And the Associated Press reported that the CIA's general counsel has sent a report to the Justice Department about the Washington Post story, the first step toward a criminal investigation of the leak. The Justice Department will decide whether to initiate a criminal investigation, the news service said, citing an official speaking on condition of anonymity."This is journalism worthy of protection. We stand by you.
posted by deborah @ 11/09/2005

Oil in Iraq, occupation, and Ahmed Chalabi
"On Tuesday, the Security Council adopted a resolution extending throughout 2006 the UN mandate of the 'Multinational Force' in Iraq -- that is, the U.S. occupation. ... Many squeamish Council members wanted to postpone Council action until after the upcoming Iraqi elections, but the U.S. and the U.K. twisted arms, issued threats and got their way."The occupiers are doubtless worried that the post-election government will not be as enthusiastic about occupation as the current one. Washington and London plan to fast-track billions of dollars worth of oil contracts as soon as possible in the new year and well before the new parliament gets its political footing. Ahmed Chalabi, now chairman of Iraq's Energy Council and czar of the country's oil riches, has been preparing for this moment for a long time. He and his cronies have prepared a new oil law, highly favorable to the likes of Exxon and BP, and they will submit it immediately to the new parliament. Under the watchful eye of the 'multinational force,' contracts for fabulous oilfields like Majnoon are being readied and will soon be signed."~JAMES PAUL, executive director of the Global Policy Forum, which monitors the United Nations, has written several reports about oil including "Oil in Iraq: The Heart of the Crisis." Institute for Public Accuracy
posted by deborah @ 11/09/2005

Letter to Ahmed Chalabi
ADD YOUR SIGNATURENovember 9, 2005Deputy Prime Minister Ahmed ChalabiIraqi National Congressc/o The Ritz-Carlton Georgetown3100 South Street, NWWashington, DC 20007Dear Mr. Deputy Prime Minister:We write to you as members of the 60 to 70 percent of Americans who believe that this war has been (in the words of the polling companies) a "mistake," or (in our own words) a criminal fraud. We resent the role you played in instigating it. We believe you owe an apology. You owe an apology not to Judith Miller, whose career is ruined but who consciously chose to disgrace herself by working with you. Rather, you owe an apology to the families of the over 100,000 people who have died in this war, including over 2,000 U.S. soldiers. Your misinformation campaign has been exposed:"Curveball" was a fraud and a brother of one of your top lieutenants.The 20 secret WMD sites didn't exist.You should not only offer an apology, but you should offer to testify, under oath, in a Congressional committee, on the subjects of both pre-war claims and wartime spying. Just last summer, the U.S. military raided your office in Baghdad after it learned you had passed sensitive intelligence to Iran. At the time, U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel (R., Neb.) said, "This is a very, very serious charge. There were a number of us who warned this administration about [Chalabi].... But the fact is, there were some in this administration, some in Congress who were quite taken with him."Why would anyone distrust you, Mr. Chalabi? Let's list a few reasons:The CIA stopped working with you in the mid-1990s because they didn't think you were being honest.The U.S. government cut you off again last year, after paying you $33 million, because our military had decided to raid your office.The Los Angeles Times quotes sources who suspect you of feeding phony or tricked-up sources and documents to the spies of eight nations.Seven of your aides in Iraq are wanted on charges of blackmail, fraud and other crimes.You've been convicted of embezzlement and sentenced in absentia to 22 years of prison with hard labor in Jordan.In August of 2004, Iraq issued a warrant for your arrest on charges of counterfeiting.U.S. Senator Diane Feinstein (D., Cal.) said of you: "I think he's a charlatan. I think he's a manipulator. I don't believe he's a man that you can trust. I think we made a horrendous mistake in providing him with tens of millions of dollars and enabling him to build a corps of infiltrators, allegedly to give us intelligence, which in many cases was deeply flawed."Mr. Chalabi, when you were peddling bogus reasons to launch this catastrophic war, you said "'I am not seeking any positions - my job will end with the liberation of Iraq from Saddam's rule." That quote is from the BBC, which added this commentary: "However, for the Arab media, Mr. Chalabi was the epitome of an American stooge, a man who sold his soul to the devil."So you have no desire to rule, and the people you would be ruling consider you a stooge of the U.S. And yet, here you are in Washington, apparently to ask for U.S. support to become ruler of Iraq.Should we laugh or cry, Mr. Chalabi, that you are here at the American Enterprise Institute speaking on the topic of "An Insider's View: Democratic Politics at Work in Iraq." Is democracy now something only for insiders? Democracy, to us, is something controlled by the people. The people of the United States demand an apology, a confession, and the return of all the money we've spent on you.
posted by deborah @ 11/09/2005

Panicky Bush slinks away from Chavez
OpEdNewsThe easiest way to understand the institutional bias of western media is to analyze reporting from the developing world. The economic summit in Mar Del Plata, Argentina, provides an excellent opportunity to evaluate the coverage and decide whether such partiality exists.Although tens of thousands of working people came to protest George Bush and his suspiciously-named "free trade" economic policies; they were invariably smeared by the corporate media as "Leftists" or "radicals"; eliminating the possibility that they were simply concerned citizens participating in the democratic process. This is the familiar tactic of the media to marginalize ordinary people whose interests don't correspond to those of the ruling elite."Latin America's radical leftists took to the streets on Friday," Jack Chang breathlessly reported for Knight Ridder, but all the other news outlets invoked the same disparaging language.The main target at the event was Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a leader who is invariably slandered by the media with the monikers "leftist firebrand", "radical president" (Financial Times) or fiery, populist president (NY Times). At some point in every article, Chavez is lumped together with Fidel Castro or Che Guevara in a conspicuous attempt to dismiss him as an anti-American troublemaker. In fact, Chavez was among the first countries to come to America's aid following Hurricane Katrina, offering doctors, medicine and oil to the devastated region. No major media source publicly credited him for his charitable contributions.Chavez, of course, is guilty of redistributing some of Venezuela's prodigious oil wealth to the poor and needy of his country. This has made him an imminent threat to the entrenched oligarchy and their teammates in the media."We are creating a great political body in the south, and not only geographically," Chavez opined. "This is the great task of our region, to create a consensus of 'the south' that will bring better lives to all our people."Chavez's innocuous comments were vilified in most of the reports as inciting anti-Americanism or, worse still, "subverting democracy in his country". (Knight Ridder) In fact, it is the rising tide of democracy in South America that has Washington so concerned. Chavez has captured the imagination of the common man and is pointing to a way out of the neoliberal policies that have kept Washington's boot placed firmly on neck of southern hemisphere economies for 20 years."We've come to bury FTAA," Chavez roared to the capacity crowd. "I even brought a shovel".The Venezuelan president's remarks were enthusiastically applauded by the thousands in the crowd who chanted back, "Fascist Bush, You are the terrorist". [...]
posted by deborah @ 11/09/2005

Craig Murray: The reality of Britain's reliance on torture
Torture means the woman who was raped with a broken bottle, and died after 10 days of agony "[...] We do not receive torture intelligence from foreign liaison security services sometimes, or by chance. We receive it on a regular basis, through established channels. That plainly makes us complicit. It is worth considering, in this regard, Article 4 of the UN Convention Against Torture, which requires signatories to make complicity with torture a criminal offence...."The writer was British ambassador to Uzbekistan 2002-2004
posted by deborah @ 11/09/2005

Lower Octive Courtship
From: Tony Subject: RelationshipsNot apropos anything in particular - Found these nice quotes regarding relationships, and why they are so hard for some (seemingly nice enough) people to sustain:LOWER OCTAVE COURSTHIP"Why is it so hard to find a soulmate?" asks psychologist CarolynGodschild Miller in her book *Soulmates: Following Inner Guidance tothe Relationship of Your Dreams.*Her answer: "Because most of us are actually searching for egomatesinstead. We place the most limited and unloving aspect of our minds incharge of our search for love, and then wonder why we aren'tsucceeding. To the degree that we identify with this false sense ofself, and operate on the basis of its limited point of view, we aren'tlooking for someone to love so much as recruiting fellow actors to takeon supporting roles in a favorite melodrama."ALTERNATIVE HEROES' JOURNEYIn Joseph Campbell's vision of myth, the hero is typically a solitarymale who renounces intimate companionship to pursue his glorious,arduous quest. Along the way, sporadic help may arrive from anineffable muse or deity.There are alternative scenarios for the hero's journey, but Campbellunderplayed them. In the tantric tradition, for instance, a seeker'sconnection with a beloved human companion is essential to his or herspiritual inquiry. Some early Christians described Jesus and MaryMagdalene as equal collaborators. Sufi mystic poet Rumi may not haveactually made love with his teacher Shams (then again, he might have),but it's clear the two men sought divine communion together, notthrough lonely solo work.Some modern teachers have broken from Campbell's narrow perspective.The quest for illumination, they say, can thrive on the challenges ofloving and living with an actual person. In John Welwood's Love andAwakening, the author reimagines relationship as an "alliance ofwarriors" devoted to awakening each other's "holy longing."ROOTS OF HUMAN NATUREBonobo apes and humans share 98 percent of the same genes, leading some biologists to suggest that they, along with chimpanzees, should bereclassified as members of the human genus. While their gestures,postures, walk, and facial expressions have remarkable similarities toours, however, their social behavior is quite different.Bonobos live in a peaceful matriarchy characterized by egalitarianrelationships. Power and status are of minimal concern. They build andmaintain social rapport with frequent erotic exchanges of everyvariety, from intercourse to mutual masturbation to oral sex.Homosexual and cross-generational contact is common."Bonobos use sex to appease, to bond, to make up after a fight, to easetensions, to cement alliances," writes Natalie Angier in The New YorkTimes. Because it's their social glue, says primatologist Dr. Frans deWaal, author of *Bonobo: The Forgotten Ape,* sex is casual and free ofelaborate taboos. Unlike humans, bonobos are not obsessed with orgasm.Their reproductive rate is similar to that of other primates."All of this has relevance for understanding the roots of humannature," concludes Angier. "De Waal corrects the image of humanity'sancestors as driven by aggression, hierarchical machinations, hunting,warfare, and male dominance."PLAY IS THE THINGPsychiatrist Stuart Brown has proposed this simple definition: "Play isspontaneous behavior that has no clear-cut goal and does not conform toa stereotypical pattern. The purpose of play is simply play itself; itappears to be pleasurable."In a study of 26 convicted murderers, Brown discovered that aschildren, most of them had suffered either "from the absence of play orabnormal play like bullying, sadism, extreme teasing, or cruelty toanimals."Brown's work led him to explore the biological roots of play. "New andexciting studies of the brain, evolution, and animal behavior," hewrote, "suggest that play may be as important to life-for us and otheranimals-as sleeping and dreaming."-Stuart L. Brown, "Animals at Play," *National Geographic,* December1994. Brown's website is http://www.instituteforplay.com ."Aborigines openly and unaffectedly converse with everything in theirsurroundings-trees, tools, animals, rocks-as if all things have anintelligence deserving of respect."-Robert Lawlor, *Voices of the First Day*There are hundreds more stories like this in *PRONOIA Is the Antidotefor Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You withBlessings*"Everything we shut our eyes to, everything we run away from,everything we deny, denigrate, or despise, serves to defeat us in theend. What seems nasty, painful, evil, can become a source of beauty,joy, and strength, if faced with an open mind. Every moment is a goldenone for him who has the vision to recognize it." -Henry Miller
posted by deborah @ 11/09/2005

indefensible
"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The nation's biggest oil companies will defend their combined quarterly profits of more than $30 billion on Wednesday at a Senate hearing where lawmakers are expected to demand why Americans face record heating bills this winter.[...] "They better come prepared, they better bring their charts, they better show us what they're doing with this money," said Pete Domenici, chairman of the Senate Energy Committee.However, Domenici will not require the five executives to take an oath. That will avoid an embarrassing photo akin to when tobacco executives raised their right hands at a 1994 congressional hearing and swore cigarettes were not addictive."And so it goes. Watch it on C-SPAN: WEDS., 9:30AM ET, C-SPAN3
posted by deborah @ 11/09/2005

Terminated
Reuters: "'Usually politicians can find some silver lining. There is no silver lining tonight for Arnold Schwarzenegger,' said Tony Quinn, co-editor of the California Target Book, a publication tracking state campaigns. 'Arnold was completely repudiated by the people of California.'Yet even opponents said Schwarzenegger could regain his balance ahead of next year's vote.'He will probably be very flexible now,' Warren Beatty, the liberal actor who campaigned against Schwarzenegger's initiatives, told Reuters early on Wednesday. 'He'll be very adroit in his attempt to win popularity.' "
posted by deborah @ 11/09/2005

for all the good news, the vote isn't safe in a National Election
Defeated: reform efforts in Ohio background: Daily Kos: Reform Ohio Now: Putting Election Reform on the Ballot
posted by deborah @ 11/09/2005

singing the Blues!
From one of my college daughters, this one a freshman at Mason. She worked hard for Kaine, and this is sweet.
hey mom,we dressed him all up saturday morning. then the college dems sign got ripped down. theeen the other signs got ripped down. but a friend found them in a dumpster by the johnson center by chance. so last night at about 2 am after we got done putting up kaine signs all over the roads by campus, we ambushed the statue and made it awesome again. WE'RE GONNA BE A BLUE STATE SOMEDAY!That's our girl! She's the one who, at 7 years-old, got up in front of the Ulster Project barn dance and sang Only Look at the Bright Side of Life with the band (from Life of Brian, her favorite movie at the time).
posted by deborah @ 11/09/2005
Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Bush detours to campaign in Virginia governor's race
May he be Kilgore's kiss of death. Bush called Kilgore "a man of character and integrity" with a record Virginians can count on. "And equally important, you know he doesn't need to run a poll to tell him what to think," Bush added. ...Hm. I thought politicians and elected officals were there to represent the people they serve. Why not seek the pulse? "Stay the course!" "Strong leader!" What is this, Star Trek?
posted by deborah @ 11/08/2005

"ENGROSSING" "BREATHTAKING" "MESMERIZING"
Be part of it!
posted by deborah @ 11/08/2005

Super Shorts Film Festival 2005 - Tag (2004) by Govinda Dickman
Crime & Danger Category2min 54sec/DV/ColourSouth West (2004)Average rating by on-line viewers: Review and rate this filmWatch this film on-line now (Flash required) See choices at siteMore InfoSynopsisA frenetic satire of the current climate of fear.InspirationThe film is an attempt to address & (literally) explode some of the tacit themes of racism and identity-based paranoia that have gone into the construction of the the Myth of The Mad Bomber.Directors BiographyGovinda is a lecturer in film & modern media at the University of West England. He is founder of "ghostfeather hybridmedia", an Arts & Media collective whose basic approach to production is that "every paradigm, every Who, What, Why, When & Where of Medium is open for re-evaluation". And we do mean EVERY paradigm: In the 5 years of its existence, gf has attrected over 200 artists and media-makers from every conceivable discipline, and facilitated projects ranging from multi-media performances to community media outreach initiatives and beyond. Hybridmedia is more than just the fusion of 2 or more media; it is an attempt to radically redefine the mechanism (form, content and function) of ALL media.Top TipGhostfeather is a mutually supportive network of creative individuals. We help each other realise our crazy dreams. We reject competition & consumer-based paradigms of media production. We sweat blood for each other, and we never say no. There is always a way!Production Companyghostfeather hybridmediaCrewLeading PlayersFilm Director: Govinda DickmanJulius Abraham, Neil O'Donnell, The Good People of BristolProducer: Govinda Dickman & Anna KingtonWriter: Govinda DickmanEditor: Govinda DickmanDirector of Photography: Govinda DickmanSound:Music: Govinda DickmanYou may rate and review this filmPlease read the rules & guidelines before submitting a review and rating.
posted by deborah @ 11/08/2005

Somewhere in Iran, an intelligence officer is laughing
Steve Gilliard knows that sometimes all you need is one sentence to say it all.via Think Progress:June 12, 2003
...QUESTION: Well, there was that statement from Mr. Chalabi, a day or so ago, where he said that Saddam Hussein is actually still alive and somewhere in Iraq. Do you believe that to be the case?SECRETARY POWELL: I have no idea whether he is alive or dead. And if Mr. Chalabi knows that he is alive and knows where he is, I suggest that Mr. Chalabi tell us about it. QUESTION: He says he has shared information along this vein with the United States.SECRETARY POWELL: I can't substantiate his claims. He makes new ones every year, every day....November 8, 2005
Ahmed Chalabi comes in from the cold today, arriving in Washington to meet senior Bush administration officials for the first time in two years - despite lingering allegations that the Iraqi politician provided bogus pre-war intelligence, and a continuing investigation into whether he passed US secrets to Iran.The investigation began 17 months ago, after US intelligence officials alleged that he or his aides had informed Tehran that Washington had broken Iran's spy codes. Iraqi forces, backed by US troops, raided Mr Chalabi's offices in May last year, and the Baghdad authorities issued an arrest warrant for his security chief, Araz Habib, accusing him of being an Iranian agent.Mr Chalabi and his organisation, the Iraqi National Congress, denied all the charges and claimed that the CIA was out to smear him. At the time Condoleezza Rice, then national security adviser, promised a criminal investigation into the charges, but it appears to have made little progress. Mr Chalabi, now Iraq's deputy prime minister, has offered to give evidence, but, his lawyer has said, the FBI failed to respond; nor have his closest supporters in the Pentagon been questioned. After a few months as a fugitive, Mr Habib is reported to have returned to Baghdad...
It's always nice to come in from the cold, eh?
posted by Michael Bersin @ 11/08/2005

still with us: Chalabi
The old news:Polygraph Tests In Chalabi Probe June 3, 2004"CBS News Correspondent Jim Stewart reports FBI counter-intelligence agents are focusing on the highest levels of the Pentagon in the probe. The code break was a closely held secret known only to small group of key officials.Sources have told CBS News that Chalabi tipped Iran to the fact that the codes have been broken, saying he had gotten the information from an unidentified American. .."also 2004 wapo:Wider FBI Probe Of Pentagon Leaks Includes ChalabiGoogle up the background, Ahmed Chalabi FBI investigation, etc. And never forget he was Judy's main sqeeze. THE source for the disinformation that paved the path for Bush's invasion of Iraq.Thing is, Chalabi is still under investigation for for passing U.S. intelligence to Iran. What happened? Condi promised a full investigation -- I mean, this is serious stuff. But the FBI has still not questioned him or others involved.Why?Odd things have happened in Intelligence. Who oversees them, who do they answer to? Murkier and murkier.Posted on Wed, Jun. 29, 2005Civil liberties advocates question plan for new FBI divisionBy Shannon McCaffreyKnight Ridder NewspapersWASHINGTON - A White House plan to create a massive new domestic intelligence division within the FBI raised concerns on Wednesday among civil liberties advocates who feared it could lead to a return to the bureau's dark days of spying on Americans.The nation's new intelligence czar, John Negroponte, will have a say over the budget of the new FBI national security section and will help select an official to oversee it.Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said at a news conference Wednesday that agents working in the new division would continue to report to FBI Director Robert Mueller and to respect "the privacy rights and civil liberties of all Americans."But Timothy Edgar, national security policy counsel of the American Civil Liberties Union, said giving the nation's spy chief power over the FBI was worrisome.While FBI agents are bound by the nation's Constitution, he said, spies operate abroad with fewer constraints."What we could see is the spies in charge of the cops," Edgar said. moreso the FBI now answers to Negroponte to some unknowable extent, the Bush appointed lacky uberlord.Negroponte creates new spying serviceCIA gets big Big Brother13/10/2005 18:39 - (SA)
And now who's back in town but Chalabi, lighting his cigar with dollar bills. And people sit there, eating their dinner on trays, swallowing all this... not a peep.Washington elite bring Chalabi in from the cold
Confused? We hear rumors, Libby's talking, we're catching some bigger fish. All that escapes from behind closed doors. What a mess it all seems.
Democracy. Now I go and vote.
posted by deborah @ 11/08/2005
Monday, November 07, 2005

"Shake and Bake": Use of chemical weapons by the US military in Iraq. Veteran admits: Bodies melted away before us.
update: US Army Admits Use of White Phosphorus as Weapon via KOSWed Nov 09, 2005 at 02:48:58 PM PDT(From the diaries. Let's see them deny this shit now -- kos)That's right. Not from Al Jazheera, or Al Arabiya, but the US fucking Army, in their very own publication, from the (WARNING: pdf file) March edition of Field Artillery Magazine in an article entitled "The Fight for Fallujah":
"WP [i.e., white phosphorus rounds] proved to be an effective and versatile munition. We used it for screening missions at two breeches and, later in the fight, as a potent psychological weapon against the insurgents in trench lines and spider holes when we could not get effects on them with HE. We fired 'shake and bake' missions at the insurgents, using WP to flush them out and HE to take them out."Steven D's diary :: ::In other words the claim by the US Government that White Phosphorus was used only for illumination at Fallujah had been pre-emptively debunked by the Army. Indeed, the article goes on to make clear that soldiers would have liked to have saved more WP rounds to use for "lethal missions."However, as Mark Kraft, an emailer to Eric Alter's blog, Altercation, points out today, the Field Artillery Magazine article fails to inform its audience that
. . . there is no way you can use white phosphorus like that without forming a deadly chemical cloud that kills everything within a tenth of a mile in all directions from where it hits. Obviously, the effect of such deadly clouds weren't just psychological in nature. more-----------------------White phosphorous used on the civilian populace: This is how the US "took" Fallujah. New napalm formula also used.11/07/05 "La Repubblica" -- -- ROME. In soldier slang they call it Willy Pete. The technical name is white phosphorus. In theory its purpose is to illumine enemy positions in the dark. In practice, it was used as a chemical weapon in the rebel stronghold of Fallujah. And it was used not only against enemy combatants and guerrillas, but again innocent civilians. The Americans are responsible for a massacre using unconventional weapons, the identical charge for which Saddam Hussein stands accused. An investigation by RAI News 24, the all-news Italian satellite television channel, has pulled the veil from one of the most carefully concealed mysteries from the front in the entire US military campaign in Iraq.A US veteran of the Iraq war told RAI New correspondent Sigfrido Ranucci this: I received the order use caution because we had used white phosphorus on Fallujah. In military slag it is called 'Willy Pete'. Phosphorus burns the human body on contact--it even melts it right down to the bone.RAI News 24's investigative story, Fallujah, The Concealed Massacre, will be broadcast tomorrow on RAI-3 and will contain not only eye-witness accounts by US military personnel but those from Fallujah residents. A rain of fire descended on the city. People who were exposed to those multicolored substance began to burn. We found people with bizarre wounds-their bodies burned but their clothes intact, relates Mohamad Tareq al-Deraji, a biologist and Fallujah resident.I gathered accounts of the use of phosphorus and napalm from a few Fallujah refugees whom I met before being kidnapped, says Manifesto reporter Giuliana Sgrena, who was kidnapped in Fallujah last February, in a recorded interview. I wanted to get the story out, but my kidnappers would not permit it.RAI News 24 will broadcast video and photographs taken in the Iraqi city during and after the November 2004 bombardment which prove that the US military, contrary to statements in a December 9 communiqué from the US Department of State, did not use phosphorus to illuminate enemy positions (which would have been legitimate) but instend dropped white phosphorus indiscriminately and in massive quantities on the city's neighborhoods.In the investigative story, produced by Maurizio Torrealta, dramatic footage is shown revealing the effects of the bombardment on civilians, women and children, some of whom were surprised in their sleep.The investigation will also broadcast documentary proof of the use in Iraq of a new napalm formula called MK77. The use of the incendiary substance on civilians is forbidden by a 1980 UN treaty. The use of chemical weapons is forbidden by a treaty which the US signed in 1997Fallujah. La strage nascosta [Fallujah, The Concealed Massacre] will be shown on RAI News tomorrow November 8th at 07:35 (via HOT BIRDTM statellite, Sky Channel 506 and RAI-3), and rebroadcast by HOT BIRDTM satellite and Sky Channel 506 at 17:00 [5 pm] and over the next two days.(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Information Clearing House has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is Information Clearing House endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
posted by deborah @ 11/07/2005

Keepers of the Peace
NewsweekCountries ravaged by war are turning to female leaders as the key to healing. They are far more likely to build bridges than to tear them down.
posted by deborah @ 11/07/2005

the internal war
Buzzflash:The Bush Administration has conducted a lot of wars, not just the one against Iraq.One of its major wars has been internal. It has been a war against the CIA. Because the CIA wouldn't agree to validate the shaky, untrue claims about Saddam's "imminent" threat to America and non-existent ties to 9/11, the Bush Administration went around the CIA to create a propaganda campaign -- based on lies -- to lead the country into war.In addition, the Busheviks took several extraordinary moves to try and emasculate the CIA. One of these was the highly unusual repeat presence of Dick Cheney at CIA headquarters to put pressure on the agency to produce pro-war findings of fact. The second was the creation of a "back-channel" war room that produced much of the faulty rationale for the war. That was located in the Pentagon -- and involved Rumsfeld and shadowy figures like Douglas Feith. You also had fanatical ideologues like John Bolton stirring up dust about Saddam's nuclear and biological warfare capabilities.The CIA, in fact, tried to curtail the Bushevik Neo-Con onslaught of misinformation at nearly every turn. In fact, the CIA warned the National Security Council not to include the infamous 16 word phony pronouncement about Iraq and Niger "yellow cake" in a speech prior to the State of the Union, and the White House complied. But Condoleezza Rice claims that when the State of the Union speech came up a few months later, her staff had forgotten that the statement was untrue and that's how it got in Bush's speech.So, it was no surprise that Rove and Cheney had Congressional investigations of what wrong with the false intelligence on Iraq blame the CIA! In fact, Tenet played the fall guy and got a medal of honor from Bush for being such a good sport. It may also explain why the Busheviks went after Valerie Plame. They viewed the CIA as the enemy, however much the White House's war on our own intelligence agency endangered our national security.That is a cursory overview that leads us up to the question Thomas Frank posed in his incisive book, "What's the Matter with Kansas." Frank argues that because the Democrats have been so afraid to challenge the Republican's skilled use of class warfare to divide Americans and attract middle and low income whites to the GOP on "values" issues while picking their pockets, the Dems have abandoned a natural constituency of their party.We agree with Frank's brilliant, trenchant analysis. But we also contend that the people of Kansas who vote are adults -- and they have put this country in jeopardy by electing the likes of Sam Brownback and Pat Roberts as their U.S. Senators. We won't discuss the ideologically over-the-top Brownback for the moment -- because his sins are not relevant to this commentary -- but it is Roberts (Bush's "Boy Toy") who has helped put America at risk.Pat Roberts is head of the Senate Intelligence Committee -- and he has done everything that the White House has asked him to do to suppress the truth about the role of Dick Cheney, the Rumsfeld group, and Rove in fixing information about Iraq to sell the war. Roberts towed the party line and blamed the faulty intelligence on the CIA, thus allowing Bush another PR stunt to claim that he will overhaul the "faulty" intelligence community.Then Roberts claimed he would issue a second part to his report after the 2004 holidays, one that would deal with the White House roll. But, of course, being Bush's "boy toy," Roberts never issued the report. He never even began a second round of "investigations."So Pat Roberts is an accomplice to the betrayal of the United States, to more than 2000 dead Americans and thousands wounded in Iraq, to the outing of a CIA operative, to the weakening ability of the CIA, and to the deteriorating national security of the United States.People in Kansas apparently love the "nice white Christian man" named Pat Roberts as one of their Republican senators in Kansas. But for those of us who know that he is sitting on the truth, we know what's the matter with Kansas.They elect people who betray America and our national safety -- and, therefore, endanger us all. That's what is the matter with Kansas.
posted by deborah @ 11/07/2005

AlterNet: Wal-Mart Coverage: Wal-Mart's 'China Price'
"Robert Greenwald's documentary shines a light on who pays for Wal-Mart's cheap products from China: the workers who make them. "
posted by deborah @ 11/07/2005

Looting of Iraq's Antiquities Still Common
"As an archeologist, we know in the history, there were times like this, but they never last forever." ~Dr. Donny George, director of the Iraq Museum (KCBS) SAN FRANCISCO - Three kinds of looters raided Iraq's museums, said the man in charge of Iraq's collection of antiquities--common criminals, collectors, and many who had inside knowledge of the museums...
posted by deborah @ 11/07/2005

Profiles in Stupid: Science? Science? We don't need no stinkin' science!
...the American predilection for boobism is no reason to throw out common sense and logical reasoning. It may be reason for sensible people to start looking for higher ground before the polydactyls drag the rest of us under, but that's about it...Go. Read it.
posted by Michael Bersin @ 11/07/2005

It's the economy, stupid
...For all its strength, the current economic expansion is not boosting the American worker's paycheck.
Wages have been rising nominally: Average pay rose 8 cents last month to $16.27 an hour, according to a government report Friday. That's not fast enough to counter inflation.
By one common measure, average pay for an hour's work has less purchasing power than it had four years ago - when the current growth cycle began....
via the left coaster
....As the old saying goes, God must like poor people, because he made so many of them. Maybe now that a sufficient number of Americans have had a small sample of what much of the world experiences throughout their entire lives, a critical mass has been reached - and that long-awaited political change is going to come at long last.
Reaganomics is Dead. Long Live Reaganomics - in infamy.
posted by Michael Bersin @ 11/07/2005
Sunday, November 06, 2005

Avian Flu, Pentagon Hoaxes, and Smallpox Judy
A story this week: Is Avian Flu another Pentagon Hoax?Yes, I know -- it sounds so X-Files, but what doesn't these days? Five years ago if someone had told you all that would happen, you'd never believe it.As for immunizations... flu shot: there isn't one to protect from all strains. So -- on the whole -- it's good to make your own antibodies when you can. We underestimate the future protection of antibody training, and --- well, thruth is we really don't know the long-range of immunizations. Polio, tetanus, diphteria, the first smallpox, tetanus -- all godsends. But tricky, as we've learned. Polio has had flashbacks; Pertussis was a bad vax from the start, even though it's pushed on kids, in spite of a newer, (more expensive) safer version. But the old vaccine is far more of a threat now that pertussis. And of the kids in the States who have come down with the disease, almost half were immunized.What has improved health the most? Good food, good air, a clean world. Things we're losing fast, and with Bush, taking giant steps backward from the progress we'd made. We map the genome, and then we find we've missed the more important, essential role of RNA in it. We know some tricks and we have some brilliant cures. But -- humility. Messing with nature: work with caution.--------------------------Perhaps the greatest loss is trust. Looking back at the sleight of hand, how can we trust this administration, this media? How will we respond to an emergency if they are in charge? from the moon's favor archive, 6/05:Judy Judy Judy: More Miller"It's becoming an epidemic, a form of attack on the press," Miller said.No it's not. This story is a big piece of -- well, distraction. It's sleight of hand and circumvention, dancing away from the real stories related to the breaking Downing Street floodtide, stories like1) Miller's factless scare tales in the NYTimes about smallpox and WMD, and2) the real Valerie Plame case, in which an agent was outed in an act of political revenge, which also happened to be the commission of a felony: under Title 50, Chapter 15, section 421, it's a felony to divulge the identity of a covert intelligence operative.Review:Point 1) the WMD and the smallpox question:The below, another angle on the distortions that were used to sell the war. First, a NY Times letter:To the Editor:Reassessment of the smallpox vaccination goal is needed(editorial, May 12, 2003), and it will require a frank examinationof the origins of the goal and of the resistance in themedical community.Some of us urged our colleagues to resist vaccinationbecause of the potential harm and the heavy burden theprogram imposes on public health resources. Also, the needfor the program was based largely on intelligence estimatesthat were presumably of the same quality as the"intelligence" about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.Some of us suspected that one goal of the vaccine programwas to generate support for the war. There should be anindependent investigation into whether such intelligenceexisted and whether there was manipulation to justify apolitical agenda. If there was, officials should be heldresponsible for the deaths and illnesses attributed tovaccination.HILLEL W. COHENSHARON L. EOLISBronx, May 12, 2003The writers are, respectively, an assistant professor ofepidemiology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and anurse practitioner at Cabrini Medical Center.***Did they say deaths and illnesses? Yes: Second worker dies of heart attack after smallpox vaccinationLAURA MECKLER, Associated Press writerThursday, March 27, 2003There were at least three confirmed CIVILIAN deaths.The allegation used to sell the war was that Iraq possesses the smallpox virus, obtaining it from the Russian stock. This was a widely assumed myth. There was never any proof for it, just speculation--and that speculation began with (who else?) Judith Miller (see below; and Judith Miller is a story in herself), followed up by stories that intelligence sources were "investigating", all of which worked to give the speculation credibility with no further development of fact.The WMD 'stories.'more.much more.Point 2) Think "Yellow Niger."What I Didn't Find in AfricaWho exposed whistleblower's wife?------------------archive, just after the London bombing:People seem weary of the collective cry for blood vengeance, hoping instead for justice, for getting to the real bottom of things by finding the individuals who committed these crimes. It's really the only way to dis-empower the great bogey "Terrorism." It's also the hearthstone of modern civilization. Someone rapes your daughter. Do you bomb the neighbor where the likely suspect might live? Kill his brothers? Rape him back? No. You track down the who, hope to find the why, and try your best to prevent it from ever happening to anyone again.*I read that Homeland Security (below) is taking on the questions of immunization*: fears, motivations -- and "how do we get our news?" They say: "We wanted local emergency preparedness people to meet the public and the public to see their faces ... We also trying to hand out a survey to confirm what health promotion is best, what's the best way to contact them during an emergency. Then we're trying to teach people to think ahead and be responsible for themselves."But ultimately -- the real thought is how to get people to do what you want.Why the fear when herd immunization has been such a boon? Because the success of one instance of a thing doesn't justify all others. Some vaccinations haven't been so good. People were right to fear the lousy whooping-cough (pertussis) vaccine that was forced on our kids in the 1980's. There was good cause, and even as the vaccine was improved, an insurance plan was added to the cost of the shot to protect the manufacturer -- a cost paid by the consumer.People were right to fear subjecting our kids to the mercury-laced vaccines of the 1990's. The movement was spearheaded not just by health-conscious folks, but by homeschoolers -- overwhelmingly Christian fundamentalists -- who set up websites and mailed out newsletters as they researched legal ways to get their kids out of having specific scary shots.And now, as the direct relationship between these vaccines and Autism has come out (see Robert F. Kennedy Jr's http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0616-31.htm Deadly Immunity, When a study revealed that mercury in childhood vaccines may have caused autism in thousands of kids, the government rushed to conceal the data -- and to prevent parents from suing drug companies for their role in the epidemic) , we have Bill Frist stepping in to protect the drug companies. He did it openly, and with barely a peep from the media.Not long after the Patriot Act was born, Scientific America ran an editorial asking why, in those thousand unread pages of the Act, drug giant Lily was excused carte blanche from liability for its vaccines. Who put that provision in there? Who?I googled up some of the concerns about vaccines, mostly from journalists and plain folk who weren't locked into the goosestep -- http://www.vaccinetruth.org/eli_lilly.htm and it all leaves me cold. Has anyone done any deep research, looking back at the bio scares re 911? It wasn't just Judith Miller; even PBS -- liberal PBS! -- was selling us on the horrors of Saddam's smallpox. And -- after the air cleared and the present powers had a good, firm grip on all fronts, after the deaths from the shot itself -- we heard that our old friendly patch of scar on our arm from our childhood immunization would likely protect us.I keep remembering the anthrax letters, the select people who got them, the shut-downs, the hype, the leads in the case...And then it all disappeared.Who wrote the book on such matters? Why -- Judith Miller.Shouldn't we go back and look again with a fresh perspective at all this? Now that we have clear heads and eyes that see how we've been so deliberately dis-informed.Truth, please. Truth at all costs.***the article:Terrorism? Smallpox? Lunch? State health joins Homeland Security:"Judy Smith, the state Health Department nursing director for seven North Alabama counties including Morgan, plans to discuss immunization. Then participants will fill out a community information survey to determine how best to contact them, how they get their news.''National data indicate people don't respond based on directions,' Smith said. 'This whole effort is to ask the community why. How do you get your information? Then once they get that information, why is there hesitation? What prohibits you from getting where you have to go? Is there distaste for government. Is it a lack of transportation?'Smith cited both smallpox vaccinations offered after the 9/11 attacks and annual flu vaccinations offered last year. Few people got the smallpox vaccinations after government officials suggested it would be an easy way to attack a large segment of the population. Few people showed up for the flu vaccinations until they heard there was a vaccine shortage, she said.'There's a balance between frightening people and making a point,' she said. 'That's the question. Why were people not more responsive? Did you not get the information, or did you not take it seriously or did you think the government was out in left field? At what point would this be serious to you?'The Decatur meeting is one of 11 in Alabama funded with $27,500 in Homeland Security money, said Cindy Lesinger, state Health Department branch director for immunization registry and smallpox. Other upcoming sessions are planned for Lauderdale, Tuscaloosa, Jefferson, Etowah, Talladega, Dallas, Bullock, Autauga, Baldwin, Houston and Mobile Counties. Each session is limited to $2,500. It's part of the federal and state agencies' emergency preparedness functions, she said. ..."----------------
posted by deborah @ 11/06/2005
Saturday, November 05, 2005

The benefits of a liberal arts education
via blah3
Badr Zaman Badr and his brother Abdurrahim Muslim Dost relish writing a good joke that jabs a corrupt politician or distills the sufferings of fellow Afghans. Badr admires the political satires in "The Canterbury Tales" and "Gulliver's Travels," and Dost wrote some wicked lampoons in the 1990s, accusing Afghan mullahs of growing rich while preaching and organizing jihad. So in 2002, when the U.S. military shackled the writers and flew them to Guantanamo among prisoners whom Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld declared "the worst of the worst" violent terrorists, the brothers found life imitating farce........The brothers were flown to Guantanamo in May 2002 as soon as Camp Delta, the permanent prison there, was opened. For more than two years, they sat in separate cells, waiting days between interrogation sessions to explain and re-explain their lives and writings.In his 35 months in U.S. captivity, Badr said, he had about 150 interrogation sessions with 25 different lead interrogators from several U.S. agencies. "And that satire was the biggest cause of their suspicion," he said.When one team of interrogators "began to accept that this was satire," the whole process would begin anew with interrogators from another agency. In all, Badr said he was told that four U.S. agencies -- including the CIA, FBI and Defense Department -- would have to give their assent before the men could be released. And their names would be circulated to 40 other countries to ensure they were not wanted anywhere else....Courses in satire and also music appreciation should be required for all interrogators.
Viva Verdi!Praktisch von einem Tag auf den anderen machte "Nabucco" den jungen Verdi zum neuen Stern am Opernhimmel, und mehr noch, zum politischen Helden Italiens. Der "Va Pensiero"-Chor wurde zur heimlichen Nationalhymne des nach nationaler Einheit und Selbstbestimmung strebenden Landes. Die plötzliche Verehrung ging soweit, dass man sogar begann, seinen Namen als politische Parole zu verwenden: VERDI stand dann für Victor Emanuele Re d'Italia. Verdi seinerseits begann nun das Leben des erfolgreichen Komponisten, der an die großen Häuser eingeladen wurde, um dort die Aufführung seiner Opern zu begleiten und neue Werke vorzustellen. Währendessen schrieb er - ein bis zwei Opern pro Jahr. So erscheinen bis zum Jahr 1850 dreizehn Werke in schneller Folge, die seinen Ruhm als Hauptvertreter der italienischen Oper festigten. Er erwarb eine Villa in der Heimat und agierte fortan von dort. Zu seinem neuen zweiten Leben gehörte auch eine neue Liebe: Die Primadonna Giuseppina Strepponi, die schon in der Uraufführung von "Nabucco" gesungen hatte. 1859 heirateten die beiden.
posted by Michael Bersin @ 11/05/2005

shattering Bush's hopes
"Rioters shatter Bush's hopes of forging free trade coup"I love that title. The rioters, of course, sprang out of thin air, and Bush's past and present actions have nothing at all to do with them. Bad luck, old man!
posted by deborah @ 11/05/2005

Un-American activities
The postman always rings twice.via Athenae at First Draft
...The Reed Harris hearing demonstrates one of the Senator's techniques. Twice he said the American Civil Liberties Union was listed as a subversive front. The Attorney General's list does not and has never listed the ACLU as subversive, nor does the FBI or any other federal government agency. And the American Civil Liberties Union holds in its files letters of commendation from President Truman, President Eisenhower, and General MacArthur......Earlier, the Senator asked, "Upon what meat does this, our Caesar, feed?" Had he looked three lines earlier in Shakespeare's Caesar, he would have found this line, which is not altogether inappropriate: "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves."
No one familiar with the history of this country can deny that congressional committees are useful. It is necessary to investigate before legislating, but the line between investigating and persecuting is a very fine one and the junior Senator from Wisconsin has stepped over it repeatedly. His primary achievement has been in confusing the public mind, as between internal and the external threats of Communism. We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men -- not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes that were, for the moment, unpopular.
This is no time for men who oppose Senator McCarthy's methods to keep silent, or for those who approve. We can deny our heritage and our history, but we cannot escape responsibility for the result. There is no way for a citizen of a republic to abdicate his responsibilities. As a nation we have come into our full inheritance at a tender age. We proclaim ourselves, as indeed we are, the defenders of freedom, wherever it continues to exist in the world, but we cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.
The actions of the junior Senator from Wisconsin have caused alarm and dismay amongst our allies abroad, and given considerable comfort to our enemies. And whose fault is that? Not really his. He didn't create this situation of fear; he merely exploited it -- and rather successfully. Cassius was right. "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves."
Good night, and good luck.
Ethics. It's good to know it's all about ethics.via Digby
Frank: You know, there's somethin' about this that's like, well, it's like you're expectin' a letter that you're just crazy to get. And you hang around the front door for fear you might not hear him ring. You never realize that he always rings twice.
Sackett: What's that?
Frank: He rang twice for Cora. And now he's ringing twice for me, isn't he?
Sackett: That's about it.
Frank: The truth is, you always hear him ring the second time, even if you're way out in the back yard.
posted by Michael Bersin @ 11/05/2005

On the Wal-Mart Money Trail
[...] The company also donated $20 million in cash and merchandise to the Hurricane Katrina relief effort, garnering extensive--and partially justified--praise. To antigovernment zealots like New York Times columnist John Tierney and the wing nuts running the Wall Street Journal editorial page, Wal-Mart's impressive response to the hurricane showed that the private sector is simply more effective than the government. It is true that when you starve government by draining its resources and electing officials who don't believe in it, nothing seems to work. But Wal-Mart played a major role in that eviscerating process. Much of Wal-Mart's philanthropy (as well as that of the Walton family) has been directed toward promoting anti-government politics, whether by lobbying against high taxes for the rich or contributing to Republican candidates, conservative think tanks and efforts to privatize education. [...]
posted by deborah @ 11/05/2005

Is the interim government breaking the Iraqi cultural heritage laws?
on list: An astute obsever brings this article to our attention andnotes that it says that the public statues were destroyed bythe Iraqi Interim government itself as part of an anti-Baathist campaign. If true, it means that the interimgovernment is breaking the Iraqi cultural heritage laws.http://www.kitabat.com/i9280.htm
posted by deborah @ 11/05/2005

Standing Firm Against Treason
'Never have I been slapped in the face with such an affront to the leadership of this grand institution.' - Senate Majority Leader Bill FristSorry Senator Frist, but having to face questions about why we are fighting a war based on flawed intelligence is not an affront, it's your job. It's disappointing that you are so outraged at having to fulfill this responsibility... more. go. read. BABY WON'T YOU STAND.
posted by deborah @ 11/05/2005

80% of all votes in America are counted by only two companies: Diebold and ES&S
From my friend Gordon....Dear Friends,Please distribute the following facts about voting in the United States.Let your friends know, because their TV won't....1. 80% of all votes in America are counted by only two companies: Diebold and ES&S.http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diebold2. There is no federal agency with regulatory authority or oversight of the U.S. voting machine industry.http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0916-04.htmhttp://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html3. The vice-president of Diebold and the president of ES&S are brothers.http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/private_company.htmlhttp://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html4. The chairman and CEO of Diebold is a major Bush campaign organizer and donor who wrote in 2003 that he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year."http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/28/sunday/main632436.shtmlhttp://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=16478865. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel used to be chairman of ES&S. He became Senator based on votes counted by ES&S machines.http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2004/03/03_200.htmlhttp://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/031004Fitrakis/031004fitrakis.html6. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, long-connected with the Bush family, was recently caught lying about his ownership of ES&S by the Senate Ethics Committee.http://www.blackboxvoting.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=26http://www.hillnews.com/news/012903/hagel.aspxhttp://www.onlisareinsradar.com/archives/000896.php7. Senator Chuck Hagel was on a short list of George W. Bush's vice-presidential candidates.http://www.businessweek.com/2000/00_28/b3689130.htmhttp://theindependent.com/stories/052700/new_hagel27.html8. ES&S is the largest voting machine manufacturer in the U.S. and counts almost 60% of all U.S. votes.http://www.essvote.com/HTML/about/about.htmlhttp://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html9. Diebold's new touch screen voting machines have no paper trail of any votes. In other words, there is no way to verify that the data coming out of the machine is the same as what was legitimately put in by voters.http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-05.htmhttp://www.itworld.com/Tech/2987/041020evotestates/pfindex.html10. Diebold also makes ATMs, checkout scanners, and ticket machines, all of which log each transaction and can generate a paper trail.http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-05.htmhttp://www.diebold.com/solutions/default.htm11. Diebold is based in Ohio.http://www.diebold.com/aboutus/ataglance/default.htm12. Diebold employed 5 convicted felons as consultants and developers to help write the central compiler computer code that counted 50% of the votes in 30 states.http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,61640,00.htmlhttp://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/10/301469.shtml13. Jeff Dean was Senior Vice-President of Global Election Systems when it was bought by Diebold. Even though he had been convicted of 23 counts of felony theft in the first degree, Jeff Dean was retained as a consultant by Diebold and was largely responsible for programming the optical scanning software now used in most of the United States.http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0312/S00191.htmhttp://www.chuckherrin.com/HackthevoteFAQ.htm#howhttp://www.blackboxvoting.org/bbv_chapter-8.pdf14. Diebold consultant Jeff Dean was convicted of planting back doors in his software and using a "high degree of sophistication" to evade detection over a period of 2 years.http://www.chuckherrin.com/HackthevoteFAQ.htm#howhttp://www.blackboxvoting.org/bbv_chapter-8.pdf15. None of the international election observers were allowed in the polls in Ohio.http://www.globalexchange.org/update/press/2638.htmlhttp://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/10/26/loc_elexoh.html16. California banned the use of Diebold machines because the security was so bad. Despite Diebold's claims that the audit logs could not be hacked, a chimpanzee was able to do it! (See the movie here: http://blackboxvoting.org/baxter/baxterVPR.mov. )http://wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,63298,00.htmlhttp://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/487419017. 30% of all U.S. votes are carried out on unverifiable touch screen voting machines with no paper trail.http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/28/sunday/main632436.shtml18. All -- not some -- but all the voting machine errors detected and reported in Florida went in favor of Bush or Republican candidates.linklinkhttp://www.rise4news.net/extravotes.htmlhttp://www.ilcaonline.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=950http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0411/S00227.htm19. The governor of the state of Florida, Jeb Bush, is the President's brother.http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/local/7628725.htmhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10544-2004Oct29.html20. Serious voting anomalies in Florida -- again always favoring Bush -- have been mathematically demonstrated and experts are recommending further investigation.linklinkhttp://www.americanfreepress.net/html/tens_of_thousands.htmlhttp://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1106-30.htmhttp://www.consortiumnews.com/2004/110904.htmlhttp://uscountvotes.org/NOTE: Please copy the above list and distribute freely!LET THE FACTS BE KNOWN! Thank you!Want a cheap, fair, reliable, and efficient alternative? It exists! Check out the Swiss Voting System at http://www.swissvs.orgDECEMBER 2004 GALLUP POLLS1 in 5 Americans believe the elections were fraudulent. That's over 41 Million Americans. You are NOT alone!WHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT ITGet educated. Tell your friends what's going on.Go visit http://VelvetRevolution.USThe world is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion: Thomas Paine"To look with the eyes and see with the heart is the secret of the Philosopher's Stone." ~Petrus Bonus
posted by deborah @ 11/05/2005

tea parties
Masonic resourcesSuzanne writes: [...] It may be time for another Boston Tea Party...mike: *While offering Exxon, etc., vast tax breaks... Where is Paul Revere now we need him?>>Deb: They were all Freemasons. That tea party was planned in a tavern by Freemasons. Where have they gone? is the question.[Remember Hitler took them out first thing. And why did he bother to do that? Extrapolate. And now, the historical papers he sought to hide from the future he was hoping to rewrite have surfaced again, available at The Library of the University of Poznan.]If liberals would join their local masons -- it's not hard to do anymore -- they could tap into and stop the high-jacking of this country. imho. We live local. Masons can link a community like the hub of a wheel.Sadly, any group is subject to following agendas, thus the ever-present crap detector is all. After the last 'elections' mine is sure going off.At the end of the Gnosis article on Freemasonry [No. 44, Summer 97] by the author of The Hiram Key (actually, that Jerusalem Community The Hiram Key speaks of is an area of current academic immersion -- if we can keep the region from being completely blown up -- those agendas again. Ever the real conspiracy... ), he talks about the rites being hijacked and rewritten:
Freemasonry as it's practiced today has lost its way to large degree, partly because of people's living patterns and the way times have changed, but also because it was deliberately changed around 1717 and again in the next century. (Note: He looks to the Scottish as the authentic, as well as the Masonry of the US Founding Fathers.) Christian degrees were invented, and old degrees were pushed back into the background. It's hard to understand, because it's all been carved up so much. We are still continuing to piece it all back together again. I hear ya.
posted by deborah @ 11/05/2005
Friday, November 04, 2005

"A popular wartime president" - how soon they forget edition
April 5, 2004.
...One of the biggest questions surrounding President Bush's reelection has long been whether he would repeat the path of his father - becoming a popular wartime president brought down by a sluggish economy...December 17, 2001.
....playing the economic blame game with a wildly popular wartime President can backfire faster than you can say "rally 'round the flag."February 19, 2002.
...its easy to forget that this popular wartime president is still a foreign policy neophyte who faces serious challenges in Asia that his war against terrorism has done nothing to resolve...August 2, 2003.
...Jennifer Duffy of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report said since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, Democrats have tried and failed to take on the popular wartime president on a host of issues...Gee, did everybody have to use that meme?Apparently so.April 26, 2003.
....Republicans see this race an Americas opportunity to come out and show continued support for a popular wartime President....January 9, 2003.
...The event was designed to promote the White House economic revival plan while surrounding the popular wartime president with American flags...It has always been just smoke and mirrors, wrapped in the flag. Our so-called "mainstream" media, which is apparently made up almost exclusively of sycophant stenographers, didn't help much, did they?Toto is starting to pull back the curtain.
Associated Press-Ipsos poll conducted by Ipsos-Public Affairs. Oct. 31-Nov. 2, 2005. N=1,006 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3.1. Data from 11/03 and earlier co-sponsored by Cook Political Report.
"Overall, do you approve, disapprove or have mixed feelings about the way George W. Bush is handling his job as president?" If "mixed feelings" or not sure: "If you had to choose, do you lean more toward approve or disapprove?"
Approve – 37%Disapprove – 59%Mixed Feelings – 3%Unsure – 1%
ABC News/Washington Post Poll. Oct. 30-Nov. 2, 2005. N=1,202 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3. Fieldwork by TNS. Trend includes polls conducted independently by ABC News and by The Washington Post. LV = likely voters.
"Do you approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling his job as president?"
Approve – 39%Disapprove – 60%Unsure – 1%
Zogby America Poll. Oct. 29-Nov. 2, 2005. N=854 likely voters nationwide. MoE ± 3.4.RV = registered voters
"Overall, how would you rate President Bush's performance on the job . . . ?"
Excellent/Good – 39%Fair/Poor – 61%Unsure – 0%
posted by Michael Bersin @ 11/04/2005
Thursday, November 03, 2005

ye fooking gods. look who
An Insider's View: Democratic Politics at Work in Iraq A Foreign Policy Briefing from Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi
posted by deborah @ 11/03/2005

as they try to scare you out of social security and health care...
why not an eyeful of the real pie? and now -- have a cookie. please. we can fix this. Subject: Going To Hell In A PortmanteauThink about it. What Bush really seeks is to dump, destroy social security. Why? Because a huge chunk of the national debt is what's been borrowed from social security funds (against all original policy: this is NOT the government's money. It's yours: you who pay into it) in the past. Thus, Voodoo Econ returns to make things look better on paper. Why? The little group of players who control the international club of monetary suites -- a house of cards they've constructed, based on what they can manage to agree on -- can go on with their game. Again Bush demonstrates his affinity for short term solutions, leaving the economy and environment to an end time lore of god's unlimited resources. Winner take all for the chosen few.Still doubt they're in the thrall of a psychosis?
Nearly half the U.S. Congress before the recent election - 231 legislators in total and more since the election - are backed by the religious right. Forty-five senators and 186 members of the 108th Congress earned 80 to 100 percent approval ratings from the three most influential Christian right advocacy groups. They include Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Assistant Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Conference Chair Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, Policy Chair Jon Kyl of Arizona, House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Majority Whip Roy Blunt. The only Democrat to score 100 percent with the Christian coalition was Sen. Zell Miller of Georgia, who recently quoted from the biblical book of Amos on the Senate floor: "The days will come, sayeth the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land." He seemed to be relishing the thought. ~Bill Moyers, There is no Tomorrow (Star Tribune)
posted by deborah @ 11/03/2005

Mark Twain questions the Intelligent Design (I.D.) hypothesis
[...] That it took a hundred million years to prepare the world for [man] is proof that that is what it was done for. I suppose it is. I dunno. If the Eiffel tower were now representing the world's age, the skin of paint on the pinnacle-knob at its summit would represent man's share of that age; and anybody would perceive that that skin was what the tower was built for. I reckon they would, I dunno.
posted by deborah @ 11/03/2005

Interview With Joseph Wilson
CNN LARRY KING LIVEexcerpt:KING: Do you believe, ambassador, that this was a deliberate effort, this was rather than misinformation this was provoked?WILSON: Well, I think it's -- in the case that I'm most familiar with, of course, the yellow cake from uranium, there were three reports that were done contemporaneously. There was my report, there was one done by our ambassador on the ground and there was a separate one done by a four-star Marine Corps general, all of which concluded that there was no there there, that there was no reason to believe that the transaction that had been alleged in this documents that were later deemed to be forgeries had ever taken place or could have taken place.The fact that these ended up in the State of the Union address I think in and of itself is something that's worth looking into. After all, four months before the State of the Union address, George Tenet told the White House and this is almost a direct quote, "I don't want the president to be a witness of fact on this matter because the evidence is weak and because we believe the British have exaggerated the case."And, in fact, the deputy director of intelligence on October 1st or 2nd, again four months before the State of the Union address, told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in response to a question from Senator Kyl of Arizona he said one area where we believe that the British have stretched the case beyond where we would stretch it is on this uranium from Africa to Iraq.[...]KING: You're a retired diplomat. The CIA asked you to go to Niger. Why did you go?WILSON: I went because a question that was raised by the vice president was a very serious question. Now, the vice president inquired about a report, as he has later acknowledged. That report was based on documents that were later deemed to be forgeries.But his inquiry sparked the CIA to have a meeting at which I was invited because I had a long and extensive history with Niger. At the conclusion of that meeting I was asked to undertake this mission to go out and look into whether or not I could find anything to substantiate the report.I did so because it was a very serious question. If, in fact, Saddam Hussein had been attempting to purchase yellow cake from West Africa, there would be only one reason for him to do so. A serious question posed by a serious individual, it deserved a serious answer. The CIA tried to give him the best answer possible, as did the State Department, as did the Defense Department.KING: Did your wife have anything to do with your making that trip?WILSON: She did not and, in fact, one week after Mr. Novak's article appeared, I think it was on July 21st, 2003, two reporters actually called the CIA. Now, remember July 21st of 2003 was well before I was ever in a position to acknowledge her employment but these two reporters, Newt Royce and Tim Phelps of "Newsday" actually called the CIA and the CIA said to them she had nothing to do with her husband's trip.The CIA has said the same thing to anybody who has taken the time to ask since, including most recently David Ensor, who on CNN acknowledged that senior intelligence officials had told him just recently that she had nothing to do with my going. KING: Why do you think they were looking to discredit you? Why couldn't they just have said he gave us this report, it got in the speech by mistake, we're sorry it got in, et cetera, et cetera?WILSON: Well, indeed that's a very good question because the day after my article appeared in "The New York Times," they basically said that. A White House spokesman called "The Washington Post" and said the 16 words do not rise to a level of inclusion in the State of the Union address. For me at that point my participation in this was over. It was then the responsibility of others to look into why or how it got into the State of the Union address. But, obviously for the White House, it wasn't and indeed before my article even appeared it's very clear now from the indictments of Mr. Libby that both he and Mr. Rove, that's been evidenced by Matt Cooper's testimony, the "Time" reporter's testimony, that even before my article appeared these people were going out and giving my wife's name to people who had no business having it.
posted by deborah @ 11/03/2005

Interview with Former President Jimmy Carter
CNN LARRY KING LIVEexcerpt:CARTER: Yes, there's a thin line between what I think all deeply religious people believe. Ordinarily most of us, whether we are Christians or Catholics or Protestants, whether we are Jews or whether we might be Muslims, we basically agree on justice, on service to others, on humility, on truthfulness, on peace, I worship the Prince of Peace, on forgiveness and on compassion. So, there are a lot of things that bind us together.A fundamentalist though, as I define in this book, in extreme cases has come to the forefront in recent years both in Islam and in some areas of Christianity. A fundamentalist by, almost by definition as I describe is a very strong male religious leader, always a man, who believes that he is completely wedded to God, has a special privilege and relationship to God above others.And, therefore, since he speaks basically in his opinion for God, anyone who disagrees with him at all is inherently and by definition wrong and therefore inferior. And one of the first things that a male fundamentalist wants to do is to subjugate women to make them subservient and to subjugate others that don't believe as he does.The other thing they do, and this is the only other thing I'll add, is that they don't believe that it's right to negotiate or to compromise with people who disagree with them because any deviation from their absolute beliefs is a derogation of their own faith. So, those two things, exclusiveness, domination and being very highly biased are the elements of fundamentalism.
posted by deborah @ 11/03/2005

When speculation and fear become killers
An early allegation used to sell the war was that Iraq possessed the smallpox virus, obtaining it from the Russian stock. This was a widely assumed myth. There was never proof for it, just speculation--and that speculation began with Judith Miller (see below; and Judith Miller is a story in herself; also note, when the smallpox scare failed, they went to nukes), followed up by stories that intelligence sources were "investigating", all of which worked to give the speculation credibility with no further development of fact.Just for the record, some of my notes, 2003, re MillerClosest statement is this from discussion by formerinspector:http://www.edge.org/q2003/q03_brilliant.html1) To the best of my knowledge, there is no proof of anylink between the experiments at Vector and either Al Qaedaor Saddam Hussein, but concern is understandable. If anyproof of linkage arises, I might change my mind.Lawrence B. Brilliant, M.D.Interim CEO of Cometa Networks, Inc.Medical officer for the United Nations World HealthOrganization(1970s) helping lead the successful effort toeradicate smallpox.Author of nearly 100 scientific articles and two books andis an expert on smallpox.and then there was the threat of lawsuit:***US paper to face Russian smallpox lawsuithttp://gazeta.ru/2002/12/05/USpapertofac.shtmlYelena VrantsevaThe daughter of a prominent Russian virologist isconsidering filing a suit against the New York Times. OnDecember 3 the newspaper reported, citing CIA sources, thatIraq had allegedly obtained a particularly virulent strainof smallpox from Russian scientist Nelli Maltseva.''I am shocked by that publication,'' her daughter NataliaMaltseva told Interfax news agency. ''Only at her funeral Ilearned that she was a world renowned scientist. And now,such notoriety! I intend to file a lawsuit against the paperfor defiling her memory,'' she added.Svetlana Marennikova, an expert for dangerous infectionswith the World Health Organization (WHO), who used to worktogether with Dr. Maltseva at the Moscow research lab forviral preparations, also refuted the allegations publishedby the New York Times.''Those accusations are absurd. We knew Nelli Nikolayevna[Maltseva] as a very honest, hard-working and decent person,who loved her job and her country,'' she said.''I met with the author of the article not long ago inGeneva, where I was taking part in a session of the expertcommittee for smallpox. I answered several questions, butwhen I sensed their provocative nature, I stopped theinterview. Control over the access to strains ofparticularly virulent infections is so strict that no onecould have taken anything from the lab or even entered itwithout my knowledge,'' Marennikova emphasized.The head of the Moscow Research Institute for ViralPreparations Vitaly Zverev, too, has said that Maltseva didnot have access to the deadly strains because she wasinvolved in the diagnostics of herpes, measles and Germanmeasles. Zverev denied the allegations that Maltseva couldhave supplied strains of smallpox to Iraq. He confirmed thatin 1971-1972 Maltseva visited Iraq twice as part of theglobal campaign to eradicate smallpox.Gazeta.Ru has learnt that the New York Times report, inwhich the paper cited CIA sources and alleged that Iraqcould have obtained a particularly virulent strain ofsmallpox from a Russian scientist, contained several errors.The author of the report wrote that the late director of theMoscow Research Institute for Viral Preparations NelliMaltseva visited Iraq in 1990 where she could have sold astrain of smallpox.However, Gazeta.Ru has learnt that in 1990 Nelli NikolayevnaMaltseva did not work as the head of the viral preparationsinstitute, and did not have access to any smallpox strains.The head of the institute Vitaly Zverev confirmed toGazeta.Ru that Nelli Maltseva had worked on smallpox strainsuntil the late 1970s. After the smallpox virus wascompletely eradicated in the USSR in 1974, the smallpox labwas closed.In the late 70s Malseva was appointed head of the lab fordiagnosing dangerous diseases such as herpes, measles andGerman measles and no longer had any access to strains ofsmallpox.''One need only to have known her,'' Zverev told Gazeta.Ru.''She could not have sold a virus she fought againstthroughout the best part of her life. Nelli Maltseva wassaving patients suffering from smallpox in Iran, Syria andEgypt. In the early 70s she went to Iraq. The last time shewent abroad was in 1988, to Finland.''According to Zverev, Maltseva was the best expert the WorldHealth Organization had. She travelled widely on WHOmissions to eradicate smallpox epidemics.''I think that now the Americans are alleging that NelliNikolayevna sold smallpox to Iraq because she is the onlysmallpox expert no longer alive and is therefore unable tosay anything in her defence. She died two years ago. And,undoubtedly, those allegations are politically motivated.''The Moscow Research Institute for Viral Preparations oncehoused the entire collection of 120 strains of smallpox. Thestrains were stored in a heavily guarded building. WHOexperts regularly inspected the stock, and the conditions ofstorage. In 1994 all strains were moved to the village ofKoltsovo in the Novosibirsk Region, to the Vector StateScientific Centre for Virology and Biotechnology.The main smallpox keeper in Vector is the head of the museumof virus strains Alexader Guskov. He told Gazeta.Ru thatsmallpox strains had never disappeared from their centre, asit was ''impossible''.Director general of Vector Lev Sandakhchiyev told Gazeta.Ruthat storing smallpox is fairly straightforward - atest-tube kept in a fridge. According to Sandakhchiyev,nobody had ever caught the disease in lab conditions. Headded that the scientists had discovered that smallpox canremain active for up to 200 years.Sandakhchiyev also told Gazeta.Ru that each year WHO expertsvisit Vector and inspect the storage conditions. The lastinspection was held in September this year. A delegationcomprised of biological security experts from Great Britain,the US, Sweden and Switzerland acknowledged the high levelof safety standards observed in the lab.The scientists believe that the political motives behind theNew York Times report are obvious. So far the UN inspectorsin Iraq have found nothing that could justify America'saggressive plans against that country. Hence, thespeculation about the transfer of smallpox strains to Iraq.Incidentally, this is not the first time that the US hastried to scare the world with the threat from smallpox. TheAmericans have continuously campaigned for there-introduction of mass vaccination programmes andproduction of the vaccine. WHO, however, rejected thosecalls.As the head of the department for microbiology, virology andimmunology of the Moscow Sechenov Medical Academy,Academician of the Russian Academy of Medical ScienceAnatoly Vorobyov told Gazeta.Ru, the allegations that Russiacould have sold smallpox to Iraq are absurd and untrue.Smallpox strains, according to Vorobyov, could once be foundin any ''self-respecting lab in the majority of nations thatperformed smallpox vaccinations''.In Vorobyov's opinion, smallpox could have endured in somecountries, other than the US and Russia (officially, onlytwo labs still maintain smallpox stocks - the Center forDisease Control in Atlanta and the Ivanovsky Institute inMoscow) since not all nations signed the convention on theprohibition of the development of smallpox strains and ontheir destruction.However, Vorobyov believes it is unlikely that Iraq is oneof those states. To all appearances, says Vorobyov, Iraq hasno biological weapons because such labs are very difficultto conceal. A test-tube containing a strain, in thescientist's opinion, is no biological weapon, anyway.***All else like this along line of Judith Miller's originalcircumstantial accusation.Global Security NewswireDecember 3, 2002 issue.Iraq: Russian Scientist Might Have Delivered PotentSmallpox StrainA Russian virologist might have brought an especially lethalstrain of the smallpox virus to Iraq in 1990, according to aCIA informant, the New York Times reported today (see GSN,Nov. 30).Officials from the CIA are attempting to verify that NeljaMaltseva - who died two years ago - visited Iraq in 1990 andbrought with her a strain of virus developed in the SovietUnion. Malseva worked at Moscow's Research Institute forViral Preparations for more than 30 years.Soviet scientists tested a strain of the smallpox virus onVozrozhdeniye Island in the Aral Sea and caused an outbreakof smallpox in what is now Kazakhstan, according to a reportfrom the U.S.-based Monterey Institute of InternationalStudies (see GSN, June 17). The link between the open airtest and the epidemic could point to a more contagious andvaccine-resistant strain of smallpox, according to AlanZelicoff, a scientist at Sandia National Laboratory and aco-author of the Monterey report.It is this strain that Malseva might have brought to Iraq,an informant has told the CIA. Malseva visited Iraq in 1972and 1973 as part of the worldwide effort to eradicatesmallpox.DenialsSvetlana Sergeyevna Marennikova - Maltseva's deputy at theviral institute - said that she did not know of her bosstaking any trips to Iraq."She worked, and then when she got sick, she took a sickleave when she was no longer able to work," Marennikovasaid. "I don't know about Iraq. I didn't know about a tripthere. I don't think she was there. I would know," sheadded.Maltseva's daughter, a Moscow doctor, said she does not knowof her mother taking any trips to Iraq.Russian officials have confidentially admitted that Maltsevabrought strains of the Vozrozhdeniye Island smallpox back toMoscow, but said that those strains were destroyed whenRussian smallpox stockpiles were moved to their current,internationally sanctioned Moscow laboratory, according tothe U.S. officials.Many in the U.S. government and scientific community,however, believe Russia probably did not destroy thosestrains. The military took control of the particularlyvirulent strains when the move was made, according to formerSoviet germ warfare scientists.Lack of CooperationThe possible existence of a strain of smallpox virus that isresistant to current vaccines has renewed U.S. interest inobtaining information from Russia. That information is notforthcoming, despite an agreement last year between RussianPresident Vladimir Putin and U.S. President George W. Bushto cooperate in fighting biological terrorism, according tothe Times."There is information we would like the Russians to share asa partner of ours," said William Winkenwerder Jr., U.S.assistant secretary of defense for health affairs. "Becauseif there are strains that present a unique problem withrespect to vaccines and treatment, it is in the interests ofall freedom-loving people to have as much information aspossible," he added.Officials have speculated that Russia has not beenforthcoming with information because of military secrecy orPutin's own aversion to sharing state secrets."The record so far suggests he is either unable or unwillingto push the military on this front," an administrationofficial said. "We think it may be a little of both, but we're not really sure at this point or what to do about it,"he added (Judith Miller, New York Times, Dec. 3).Excellent time to hit this story hard.Best regards,Deborah"They that give up essential liberty to obtain a littletemporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."-- Benjamin Franklin, 1759Wonder what happened to the lawsuit?--Posted by deborah to the moon's favors at 10/16/2005 02:31:00 PM
posted by deborah @ 11/03/2005
Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Report: CIA Has Secret al-Qaida Prison
Yahoo News: NEW YORK - The CIA has been hiding and interrogating some of its most important al-Qaida captives at a Soviet-era compound in Eastern Europe, according to U.S. and foreign officials familiar with the arrangement, the Washington Post reported. The secret facility is part of a covert prison system set up by the CIA nearly four years ago that at various times has included sites in eight countries, including Thailand, Afghanistan and several democracies in Eastern Europe, as well as a small center at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba, according to current and former intelligence officials and diplomats from three continents, the paper said Tuesday on its Web site.The hidden global internment network is a central element in the CIA's unconventional war on terrorism, the Post said. It depends on the cooperation of foreign intelligence services, and on keeping even basic information about the system secret from the public, foreign officials and nearly all members of Congress charged with overseeing the CIA's covert actions.The existence and locations of the facilities — referred to as "black sites" in classified White House, CIA, Justice Department and congressional documents — are known to only a handful of officials in the United States and, usually, only to the president and a few top intelligence officers in each host country, it said.The CIA and the White House, citing national security concerns and the value of the program, have dissuaded Congress from demanding that the agency answer questions in open testimony about the conditions under which captives are held. Virtually nothing is known about who is kept in the facilities, what interrogation methods are employed with them, or how decisions are made about whether they should be detained or for how long.While the Defense Department has produced volumes of public reports and testimony about its detention practices and rules after the abuse scandals at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison and at Guantanamo Bay, the CIA has not even acknowledged the existence of its black sites. To do so, officials familiar with the program told the Post, could open the U.S. government to legal challenges, particularly in foreign courts, and increase the risk of political condemnation at home and abroad.But the revelations of widespread prisoner abuse in Afghanistan and Iraq by the U.S. military — which operates under published rules and transparent oversight of Congress — have increased concern among lawmakers, foreign governments and human rights groups about the opaque CIA system. Those concerns escalated last month, when Vice President Cheney and CIA Director Porter J. Goss asked Congress to exempt CIA employees from legislation already endorsed by 90 senators that would bar cruel and degrading treatment of any prisoner in U.S. custody.Although the CIA will not acknowledge details of its system, intelligence officials defend the agency's approach, arguing that the successful defense of the country requires that the agency be empowered to hold and interrogate suspected terrorists for as long as necessary and without restrictions imposed by the U.S. legal system or even by the military tribunals established for prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay.The Washington Post said it is not publishing the names of the Eastern European countries involved in the covert program, at the request of senior U.S. officials. They argued that the disclosure might disrupt counterterrorism efforts in those countries and elsewhere and could make them targets of possible terrorist retaliation.The secret detention system was conceived in the chaotic and anxious first months after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, when the working assumption was that a second strike was imminent.Since then, the arrangement has been increasingly debated within the CIA, where considerable concern lingers about the legality, morality and practicality of holding even unrepentant terrorists in such isolation and secrecy, perhaps for the duration of their lives. Mid-level and senior CIA officers began arguing two years ago that the system was unsustainable and diverted the agency from its unique espionage mission, the Post said.
posted by deborah @ 11/02/2005

Holden gets a freakin' Clydesdale
Holden gets a freakin' Clydesdale.
CBS News Poll. Oct. 30-Nov. 1, 2005. N=936 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3 (for all adults).
"Do you approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling his job as president?"
All adultsApprove – 35%Disapprove – 57%Unsure – 8%
RepublicansApprove – 77%Disapprove – 19%Unsure – 4%
DemocratsApprove – 11%Disapprove – 83%Unsure – 6%
IndependentsApprove – 31%Disapprove – 56%Unsure –13%
posted by Michael Bersin @ 11/02/2005

King Canute he ain't
Go. Read.
....Bush's credibility has always been built on sand. It was established in one crisis, and washed away by another. There is absolutely nothing in his past to indicate that Bush can do precisely what is necessary now. He's not a "people person," not in the public-persona, Jimmy Carter or Bill Clinton sense. He's loyal to a fault to those who are loyal to him, ao shaking up his staff is no more going to happen than he's going to develop Bill Clinton's gift for touching people's hearts. And accountability? This is a man who has lived his entire life unaccountable for his failures, which have been multitude. His one success was when he acted as a figure-head rather than a leader, and he escaped even the consequences of that debacle by the skin of his teeth and some good timing....
posted by Michael Bersin @ 11/02/2005
Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Alito The Judicial Activist
Robertson: "I think this is a grand slam home run."Dobson: "We are extremely pleased."Schlafly: "Alito has a terribly impressive record."Bauer: "If Harry Reid's disappointed, I think that's good news for us."The Progress ReportSupreme Court nominee Samuel Alito has captured the hearts of the right wing. President Bush introduced him to the American people as a man who has "a deep understanding of the proper role of judges in our society [and] that judges are to interpret the laws, not to impose their preferences or priorities on the people." Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN) said on Fox News that Alito has "shown judicial restraint in the past," and the Heritage Foundation's Ed Meese noted that this nominee has "shown careful and consistent fidelity to the Constitution and laws as written." But the right wing's spin won't hold up for long. Lawrence Lustberg, a New Jersey criminal defense lawyer who has known Alito since 1981, described him as "an activist conservatist judge. He's very prosecutorial from the bench. He has looked to be creative in his conservatism." Legal scholar Jeffrey Rosen asserted that Alito has been a "conservative activist" whose "lack of deference to Congress is unsettling." Alito's past decisions show that as a Supreme Court justice, he will not hesitate to actively overstep judicial boundaries to further right-wing ideology, just like Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia have done. more----------------------stay tuned at the defcon blog : Too much is at stake to sit on the sidelines.
posted by deborah @ 11/01/2005

ensure that Americans recieve the truth
The desperate spin and attacks from the Republicans have begun, and we must remind America of the facts behind this case, and what makes this indictment so monumentally important. This is a solemn time, as these actions have not made America safer but instead jeopardized every American by putting our safety and security second to their own personal agenda.We've put it all into a video and today, we are asking you to watch it and spread the word by forwarding it to everybody you know. Together, we can ensure Americans receive the truth. Spread the word to your friends and family -- please take that extra step to stop the shameless Republican spin before it gets off the ground.Campaign for Change DCCC.org
posted by deborah @ 11/01/2005

World Can't Wait
Join a vigil.
posted by deborah @ 11/01/2005

War News Radio: downloads
"Democratic journalist Seymour Hersh and conservative former weapons inspector Scott Ritter speak about the violence they forsee in Iraq's future..."
posted by deborah @ 11/01/2005

now is not the time to force the Federal Election Commission to start regulating in an area which caused no problems of corruption in 2004
Save Online Freedom of Speech TODAYby Adam B. Tue Nov 01, 2005 at 07:15:32 AM PDTWe've got weeks to focus on Alito, but I need your help today.H.R. 1606, the Online Freedom of Speech Act, is up for a vote tomorrow, Wednesday, November 2. Its bipartisan cosponsors include Rep. John Conyers and Rep. Tim Ryan, and we need your help in calling and emailing Congress today to ensure that it passes.(See part one here.)Let me tell you what the bill does...
posted by deborah @ 11/01/2005
Look upon your heart