Friday, January 26, 2007

These Guys Are Unreal--But Impeachment's Not the Answer


I'm exhausted from two weeks of covering the Libby trial. I sit the WiFi-friendly media room, watching and listening to a feed of the courtroom proceedings (while keeping up with email). And after seven or so hours of details-drenched testimony, I quickly have to make sense of it all, create as much of an overarching narrative as possible, and post a lengthy piece before heading home. Today, I'm reading a week's worth of newspapers and other materials--catching up. Did you see Wolf Blitzer's interview with Dick Cheney? It demonstrated that Cheney doesn't just spend time in an undisclosed location; he lives on another planet. Look at this exchange:

Blitzer: But there is a terrible situation [in Iraq].

Cheney: No, there is not. There is not. There's problems, ongoing problems.



Cheney's one-line trumps anything Bush said in his State of the Union address as an indicator of the state of the White House. Thousands of Iraqi civilians are being killed on a monthly basis; scores of American GIs are being killed each month. How is that not "terrible?" Next to Cheney, Bush look like he's attached to reality.

And let me point out something else you should read--if you haven't already. Regular visitors know that I am down on impeachment. If this is news to you--or you need a refresher--check out my most recent anti-impeachment column here. Well, there's someone who can argue the con case better than me: Sanford Levinson, a scholar and law professor at University of Texas. In this week's Nation magazine, he debates former Representative Elizabeth Holtzman, an impeachment champion, and presents strong points. Levinson writes:


Only because of the Constitution are serious progressives engaging in an entirely fruitless campaign to impeach Bush by describing him as a criminal. It is fruitless for two quite different reasons. The first, and more practical, is that there is simply no possibility that Bush will actually be removed from office in the twenty-four months that unfortunately remain to him. One might well contemplate impeachment if there were a possibility of its being successful. But the House Democratic leadership has rejected the idea, not least because there is no possibility that the constitutionally required two-thirds of a nearly evenly divided Senate would vote to convict an impeached George W. Bush. Thus, advocates of impeachment are in effect supporting a strategy doomed not only to fail but also to be perceived by most of the country as a dangerous distraction from the pressing problems facing the country....

But there is a second reason to be wary of the impeachment conversation: It inevitably becomes a highly legalistic one about exactly what constitutes "high crimes and misdemeanors." It is not enough that the President be a criminal; he must be a criminal of a certain gravity. If there is anything the country needs less at this point than a self-defeating political strategy, it is the further domination of public debate by lawyers trading jargon-ridden charges and countercharges about the criminal liability of the President. Almost no one was genuinely edified by the legal debate that occurred in 1998. Most of the public believed that most of the lawyers--or at least those on "the other side"--who participated in that debate were motivated by partisan political considerations. The same would be true today.

Read the full piece here. Levinson recently published a book on the Constitution's failings called Our Undemocratic Constitution: Where the Constitution Goes Wrong (And How We the People Can Correct It).

Posted by David Corn at January 26, 2007 11:28 AM

80 comments:

capt said...

Mr. David Corn,

I thank you for your honesty and bravery. You respect your readers enough to express your opinion openly, honestly and repeatedly without regard to the fact that not one poster here has been convinced that you are right.

You writing on the subject comes across as having your mind made up and as the sand shifts and time passes your position is only complemented by events and the passage of time.

Before it was not a good idea for the Democratic party (who cares?) now it is too late and those darn lawyers will start their legal pontificating. I guess those are both good reasons for some things.

The fact that you would needlessly give reason to some crazy people that are already convinced you are a left-gatekeeper or anti-progressive CIA mole (could it be both?) or assist some that have been on the fence to climb down on the other side seems senseless. If the argument is moot and the purpose of impeachment useless - do you really need to write about it?

The fact that you are so honest and forthright in the face of such juxtaposition is brave and honest but also needlessly divisive for the bulk of your reader base.

You mentioned before that impeachment was not a ground-swell, that Barack Obama was a ground-swell. That we should ask our neighbors and people in our community what they thought and none would mention impeachment? I was hoping you could either back up your notions or accept the data I did collect and what your blog community has posted. All is in stark opposition to your position.

I have read every item you have published on your position regarding impeachment and you should consider the fact that even your most devoted fans are still not even close to being convinced.

Bush has broken many laws (you know that) he has shredded the constitution (regardless of its flaws) and he and his maladministration have shown contempt for the constitution, the rule of law, the judiciary and the other coequal branches of government.

It is NEVER too late to do the right thing. Never.



Thanks for all of your work.

Kirk

Hajji said...

"...It is not enough that the President be a criminal; he must be a criminal of a certain gravity. If there is anything the country needs less at this point than a self-defeating political strategy, it is the further domination of public debate by lawyers trading jargon-ridden charges and countercharges about the criminal liability of the President.

Almost no one was genuinely edified by the legal debate that occurred in 1998. Most of the public believed that most of the lawyers--or at least those on "the other side"--who participated in that debate were motivated by partisan political considerations.

The same would be true today...


_____________

David,

The failure of American citizens to unearth all the many deceptions of the Bush MalAdministration's illegal and unethical actions will be taken as tacit complicity by the world community. The rest of the world is watching to see if Americans will hold their obviously current "leaders" responsible for the destruction they've wrought and punish them with something other than a comfortable lifetime's pension and protection.

How we treat Bush and Co. will be indicative of what the world can expect of this and other so-called "deMOCKracies" going forward.

While the removal of Bush from the Whitehouse is doubtful, a public airing of his high crimes and misdemeanors is a critical warning to those who'd follow in his bloody footsteps.

The "gravity" of his crimes is already weighing far too heavily on the scales of public opinion worldwide. Not many, except for the profiteers from his actions, miss seeing the butcher's bloody thumb cheating our Nation of its credibility, and the planet of a peaceful future.

-T

Mookie said...

I will have to disagree with you once again, Mr. Corn.

This administration has done some very bad deeds, and if we are to believe in justice and liberty we should call for the removal of these crooks. These people should never have been in power, they should never have embarrassed us in front of the rest of the world, and they should not have been starting illegal and unconstitutional wars of aggression. All of your arguments stem from political expediency, and have nothing to do with what they did wrong. Your readers feel that their actions warrant impeachment, for the plain fact that they do. Until you can come up with convincing arguments to the contrary, anything you say about not impeaching them will fall on deaf ears. Frankly, I don't think you can effectively argue to keep these maniacs in the WH. If you did, why we would want to listen to you anymore?

What is possible and what needs to be done are often mutually exclusive options. Political expediency is no match for moral imperatives.

capt said...

Mookie,

"Political expediency is no match for moral imperatives."


Profound AND true!


capt

David B. Benson said...

I predict war with Iraq beginning 2007 Mar 2.

Hope I am completely wrong...

Gerald said...

DBB, I believe that you mean Iran on March 2, 2007.

I agree with the attack but I do not know the date.

A nuclear attack on Iran will be another glorious day in Nazi America history.

capt said...

"war with Iraq beginning "

I think that just proves Bunnypants only missed it by one letter and we should give him another chance! (NOT)



capt

capt said...

Rick,

Well put and:

"the Republic [intentional misspelling] Party"

I was thinking that very word just yesterday while listening to AAR where they were speaking to Bush's use of the democrat party.

All good stuff and as always well said.


capt

David B. Benson said...

Oops. Thanks for the correction. Iran, yup.

In other news, the lead article in today's TNYT describes the Kafkasque proceedings in the appeals court regarding warrentless wiretapping. Unbelievable that this is happening in the U.S.A...

capt said...

Rick,

Absolutely, you speak my mind better than I do.

and:

DB,

Kafkaesque?

We didn't even have to metamorphose for that!



HA!

capt

David B. Benson said...

I'm going to change my prediction.

First, the price of crude will drop to about $37 a barrel...

Hajji said...

If it ads anything to the prediction of war with Iran, Spanky has been told that he'll not be released from the Army until March 23rd.

He's been on stop-loss since September. They're told February 13th is the day they'll leave the ME. (probably a couple days in Kuwait)

For what reason could the Army justify holding onto this kid (and many others, I'm told) for more than a month?

No inquires as to reason have been forthcoming. Senator Graham won't return my phone calls or respond to my letters/e-mails with anything but form letters...

It has got me worried, y'know?

-T

capt said...

DB,

If oil drops that low all hell will break loose - no matter what.

I hate to be a cynic but I am fairly certain the oilgarchs (misspell intentional) are still shooting for $100 per before long - less than a year.


I hope I am wrong. I sometimes I will make such predictions in hopes of a good reverse jinx!


capt

capt said...

Hajji,

We are sending all the positive energy/prayers/power we have to get Spanky home.

Perish any thoughts to the contrary.

Of course we have discussed plan B so . . .

(I'll cover with the .50 cal and bring the PT pilot)


capt

David B. Benson said...

Hajji --- I suspect its the usual with the military, hurry-up-n-wait. They probably can't manage to do the paperwork (computer work?) any faster than that. Benefit of using Windows... :-)

Capt --- The Saudi oil minister has the power, essentially single-handed, to set the price of crude. The Saudis, it seems, would like to reign in Iran without (more) war in the region. So they pump like mad, lowering the price of oil below what the Iranian Government requires to support itself.

Anyway, that scenerio seems to be making the rounds at Davos this week...

David B. Benson said...

I forgot to add: I'm not an oilgarch, just somebody who would like to leave a reasonably intact environment to my children and grandchildern and in a few years, great-grandchildren. So I am all for very high oil prices. So there!

Hajji said...

Rick,

The 50-cal sniper rifle made its debut during the 1st Bush's war in Iraq/Kuwait.

The book (and film) "Jarhead" talks about its arrival in the Marine sniper ranks just before the "We gave you the go-ahead to annex Kuwait, but we didn't really mean it" war.

-T

Hajji said...

U.S. Confirms Troops' Kidnapping in Iraq

This stinks to high heaven, ffolks!

_________________

By STEVEN R. HURST and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA

BAGHDAD, Iraq Jan 26, 2007 (AP)— Four American soldiers were abducted during a sophisticated sneak attack last week in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, the U.S. military confirmed Friday. It said three were shot to death and a fourth was mortally wounded with a gunshot to the head when they were found in a neighboring province, far from the compound where they were captured.

Two of the four were handcuffed together in the back seat of an SUV near the southern Iraqi town of Mahawil. A third dead soldier was on the ground nearby. The fourth soldier died on the way to the hospital, the military said in a statement issued late Friday that confirmed details reported by The Associated Press earlier.

On Jan. 20, the day of the raid on a security meeting in Karbala, the military said five soldiers were killed repelling the attack.

The brazen assault, 50 miles south of Baghdad, was conducted by nine to 12 militants posing as an American security team, according to two senior U.S. military officials as well as Iraqi officials. They traveled in black GMC Suburban vehicles, the type used by U.S. government convoys, had American weapons, wore new U.S. military combat fatigues, and spoke English.

None of the American or Iraqi officials would allow use of their names because of the sensitive nature of the information.

The confirmation has emerged after nearly a week of inquiries. The U.S. military in Baghdad initially did not respond to repeated requests for comment on reports that began emerging from Iraqi government and military officials on the abduction and a major breakdown in security at Karbala site.

MORE
_____________

Out on the day when the headlines scream about Iranian "operatives".

WTF???

Saladin said...

Hajji, that is SUCH BULLSHIT, UGH!!!!!

Rick, my husband will love that! So will I! Sounds like we could all use one!

capt said...

Rick,

I saw that Future Weapons too.

Melons through a cinder block? WOW!

Although I was speaking to manning the 50 auto on a PT boat (Hajji and my backup plan to go get Spanky)

I hope the NSA LOVES these posts!

I STILL have not actually held a S&W 500 - still want to.


capt

David B. Benson said...

David Corn --- I took some time to like about what you wrote regarding impeachment. I suspect that Bush et al. are 'criminals of a certain gravity'. Warentless wiretapping is as grave as Watergate was, etc.

So the only question in the operational one of convincing enough senators to fullfill their oath of office and vote for removal once the bill of impeachment has passed the House. Maybe that is not possible, but one does not know until one trys.

In summary, I essentially agree with all here who have posted responses to your Friday piece...

capt said...

Smith & Wesson's Monster Magnum



Chambered for an all-new .50-caliber magnum cartridge, the new S&W Model 500 double-action revolver needs no hype.


AN ALL-NEW GUN

In overall general appearance, the Model 500 revolver is distinctly and diagnostically a Smith & Wesson. It has the same general overall configuration, same side-swing cylinder design, and same conventional double-action operation. It's all stainless steel with a natural satin finish, adjustable sights, and Hogue-made rubber grips just like nearly all other current premium-grade S&W revolver models. What it mostly is, however, is big. It dwarfs an S&W N-Frame Model 629 .44 Magnum. The introductory 8 3/8-inch-barreled Model 500 weighs in at a nominal 72.5 ounces--well over a pound heavier than a same-length Model 629. And beyond these externals the Model 500 also carries a variety of new design elements--the cylinder, yoke-frame interface, frame and grips, and barrel design--that set it distinctly apart from any previous S&W revolver and herald several new directions for future S&W products.

The Model 500 cylinder was the first part of the gun actually fabricated and proofed. The cylinder is a revolver's firing chamber, and unless it can handle the load, you don't have a gun. The Model 500's five-shot cylinder is 1.875 inches in diameter and 2.250 inches long--more than twice the mass of any S&W N-Frame cylinder. Its length is specced to accommodate cartridges as long as a full-length .223 Remington (let your imagination run). The five-shot design allows the bolt notch cuts to be offset and helps keep the overall size of the gun to a reasonable dimension. The chambers are not counterbored so the case heads are not enclosed--which is testimony to the designers' confidence in the strength of the case design and the cylinder itself given the power of the .500 cartridge. The cylinder is in fact proofed to 71,000 psi. While testing cylinder metallurgy in development, the S&W engineers actually tried deliberately to blow one up (wondering whether the alloy would shatter or would split) using special 90,000-psi loads. The chambers bulged slightly but did not give.

Unlike any other S&W revolver, the cylinder yoke-to-frame lockup does not utilize a center-pin running through a hollow ejector rod, nor is there any barrel-lug latch. The solid, small-diameter ejector rod is unsupported at the front, but the frame latches the yoke directly with a spring-loaded ball detent. Ball-detent yoke latch designs are sometimes criticized on the grounds that any spring-loaded device will be subject to disengagement under recoil. However, the fore/aft frame alignment of the Model 500 installation actually works with recoil, pressing the latch more firmly into its notch, rather than opening it. Plus the Model 500's direction of rifling twist causes the frame to torque more firmly against the yoke, rather than away from it, so the total effect of the 500's design is to actually strengthen the yoke-frame interface when firing, rather than stress it.

More HERE

*****end of clip*****

Even if you HATE guns - you have to check out this monster!

It is amazing - at the link there is a picture of the model 500 next to a model 629 .44 Magnum. WOW!



capt

David B. Benson said...

That is certainly the "go ahead, make my day" gun!

capt said...

The Week You Missed - A Link Roundup of No Small Proportions



* Nature prints an essay on Biology's Next Revolution - "The emerging picture of microbes as gene-swapping collectives demands a revision of such concepts as organism, species and evolution itself."

* The anonymous wit at Bouphonia delves into his fascination with global warming "denialist rhetoric... the postmodern relativist stuff, especially.

* And while we're on the subject, not only did climatologist Heidi Cullen get a dose of unexpected fame after her suggestion that American Meteorological Society members who don't believe in climate change be stripped of their certification, she also made it to the top of Steven Colbert's Media Threat Down list (it's at the end of the segment).

* Who knew there was a site that consisted of nothing but scientific cranks? I should start submitting some of the letters to the editor that pass through the offices of Scientific American to this guy...

* Asteroid may hit earth in 2036, scientist calls for $200 million dollar spaceship to head it off. Yeah, you saw the movie, but this time we ain't makin it up.

* Big business gets hip to climate change: Alcoa, BP America, Caterpillar, Duke Energy, DuPont, General Electric, Lehman Bros., PG&E and others call for action on global warming.

* Did you know that because of a fluke of history, it's basically impossible to use anything other than Windows to surf the internet in S. Korea? And that Windows Vista makes even that impossible. It's true.

* How to isolate amniotic stem cells from the placenta, at home!

* Federal Agency Cleans Up Its Own Wikipedia Entry. Apparently the National Instute on Drug Abuse wasn't happy with what the masses had to say about it.

* Truly stunning: Mars rovers' photo contest winners

* Genetic modeling of homosexuality

* Ever wonder what the progression of a Malaria parasite looks like? Now you know:

More HERE

*****end of clip*****

There is a few more at the link including some infoporn and more!



capt

capt said...

"We never see the smoke and the fire, we never smell the blood, we never see the terror in the eyes of the children, whose nightmares will now feature screaming missiles from unseen terrorists, will be known only as Americans." : Martin Kelly

=
"Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. To destroy this invisible government, to befoul the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of today." : President Theodore Roosevelt - 1906

=
"A great industrial Nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the Nation and all our activities are in the hands of a few men.

"We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated Governments in the world - no longer a government of free opinion, no longer a Government by conviction and vote of the majority, but a Government by the opinion and duress of small groups of dominant men." : Woodrow Wilson - From his Campaign Speeches, 1912

=
"If a baseball player slides into home plate and, right before the umpire rules if he is safe or out, the player says to the umpire - 'Here is $1,000.' What would we call that? We would call that a bribe. If a lawyer was arguing a case before a judge and said, 'Your honor before you decide on the guilt or innocence of my client, here is $1,000.' What would we call that? We would call that a bribe. "But if an industry lobbyist walks into the office of a key legislator and hands her or him a check for $1,000, we call that a campaign contribution. We should call it a bribe." : Janice Fine - Dollars and Sense magazine

===

Read this newsletter online http://tinyurl.com/dy6yy

Thanks ICH Newsletter!

DEN said...

Capt, that's not a handgun, it's a handcannon!

capt said...

Den,

I think I would have to lift some weights before ever trying to hold it.

I have shot a few large caliber handguns but nothing even close to the 500.

Handcannon - is about right.



capt

Anonymous said...

You respect your readers enough to express your opinion openly, honestly and repeatedly without regard to the fact that not one poster here has been convinced that you are right.

You should give the same respect to the readers of your blog that you give to David Corn -- "not one poster here has been convinced that you are right." Oh, really?

Please! Speak for yourself. Not for others. I agree with David Corn on this matter of impeachment.

Gerald said...

Is Vietnam and Iraq Similar

Dear Posters:

I was watching a program from Ontario Television on January 26, 2007. Agenda is the name of the program. The topic was Is Vietnam and Iraq Similar?

With Vietnam there was a clear enemy. Iraq does not have a clear enemy. Battlefields are the same. Intelligence was bad in both wars. Cost will be more for the Iraq war. With America the exception all the world is outraged as to what we are doing in Iraq. Bush has given America and the world false assumptions for the Iraq war, such as the war will be a cakewalk, Iraqis will come to America, no WMDs, we will be treated as liberators, imaginary enemies, incessant lies about Iraq, we make up so-called facts about Iraq, not clear we can defeat Iraq, there is not Iraq victory, the world will come to an end if we leave Iraq, there is no exit strategy.

We must have an exit strategy from Iraq. American soldiers are treated like cannon fodder. There will be more killing in Iraq. The world must see a difference between the Democratic and Republican Parties. Unless there are differences between the two parties, America will be more and more hated by the world populations.

Americans are not critical thinkers. We react in favor of our rulers whether they are right or wrong. Lack of critical thinkers can be seen in Vietnam and Iraq from Americans and their willingness to go to war and kill human beings.

The sectarian strife in Iraq is very serious. America wants this strife to continue so that the people will think survival and not growth in their culture for a better life. America’s foreign policy is an evil foreign policy. America is greatly hated around the world and she will continue to be greatly hated because the world sees America as an evil nation.

Sincerely,

Gerald

Gerald said...

Praying Each Day: January 27

Saladin said...

OH CAPT, I agree 100% with your post! And DAMN the torpedoes. And, I and my husband are absolutely in love with that gun! Hand cannon is right. It is fine to hate gun crime, but when it is a matter of self defense, from whoever, that is the gun to have on your side. This is why I run and lift weights! Plus, I can shoot if need be. Trying to disarm the people is the height of folly. The fact that we are armed is the ONLY reason we are still relatively free, and believe me, that is a serious thorn in the side of the powers that be! Peace is the objective, but sometimes it must be preserved by force of arms.

Gerald said...

These 28 are rotten to the core

capt said...

CBS Refuses to Broadcast Iraq Footage



CBS's chief foreign correspondent notified peers that the network won't broadcast her grisly Baghdad story "that is largely being ignored."

[…]

The segment in question -- "Battle for Haifa Street" -- is a piece of first-rate journalism but one that appears only on the CBS News website -- and has never been broadcast. It is a gritty, realistic look at life on the very mean streets of Baghdad and includes interviews with civilians who complain that the U.S. military presence is only making their lives worse and the situation more deadly.

"They told us they would bring democracy, they promised life would be better than it was under Saddam," one told Logan. "But they brought us nothing but death and killing. They brought mass destruction to Baghdad."

Several bodies are shown in the two-minute segment, "some with obvious signs of torture," as Logan points out. She also notes that her crew had to flee for their lives when they we were warned of an impending attack. While fleeing, another civilian was killed before their eyes.

Logan's email, with the one-word subject line of "help," was sent to friends and colleagues imploring them to lobby CBS to highlight that people are interested in seeing the piece. In it, Logan argues that the story is "not too gruesome to air, but rather too important to ignore … It should be seen. And people should know about this."


See for yourself what the controversy is all about. You can watch the video here (RealPlayer required)

More HERE

*****end of clip*****

The MSM are shameless. They condition the message.



capt

capt said...

Ex-flack Fleischer took 5th on Libby



WASHINGTON - President Bush's ex-spokesman invoked the Fifth Amendment when asked in front of a grand jury about the illegal outing of spy Valerie Plame, prosecutors revealed this week.

Former White House spokesman Ari Fleischer sought and received immunity from prosecution for unmasking the secret agent.

Armed with this immunity, Fleischer is now expected to testify Monday in the perjury trial of Lewis (Scooter) Libby.

Fleischer is expected to tell the court that Libby, formerly Vice President Cheney's top adviser, told him on July 7, 2003, that "he had some information that was hush-hush," said special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald.

What was hush-hush was that Bush critic and former ambassador Joseph Wilson was married to Plame, a CIA operations officer. Wilson had infuriated Cheney by debunking the White House claim that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had tried to buy uranium in Niger for a nuclear bomb.

Fleischer cited his Fifth Amendment rights in 2004 before a federal grand jury and was "reluctantly" given immunity, Fitzgerald said in court Thursday.

"I didn't want to give him immunity," Fitzgerald said.

Libby is fighting perjury charges for telling a grand jury he first learned about Plame on July 10, 2003, from journalist Tim Russert. That is three days after Libby allegedly told Fleischer about Plame.

Fitzgerald told the jury in opening arguments that Fleischer also helped spread the news about the spy.

"Ari Fleischer had conversations with reporters about Wilson's wife that he should not have had," Fitzgerald said.

Libby's lawyer Ted Wells said Fleischer told NBC's David Gregory and others about Plame during a stroll while on a presidential trip to Africa.

Wells told jurors Thursday that "Fleischer may have issues of credibility because of a deal that was cut."


More HERE

*****end of clip*****

If the only defense the Libby team has is Ari was immunized so that he cannot take the fifth, it might be a done deal. Libby's goose may well be cooked.



capt

capt said...

Theoretical Physicists Develop Test For String Theory


[…]

"The beauty of our test is the simplicity of its assumptions," explained Grinstein. "The canonical forms of string theory include three mathematical assumptions — Lorentz invariance (the laws of physics are the same for all uniformly moving observers), analyticity (a smoothness criteria for the scattering of high-energy particles after a collision) and unitarity (all probabilities always add up to one). Our test sets bounds on these assumptions.

"If the test does not find what the theory predicts about W boson scattering," he added, "it would be evidence that one of string theory's key mathematical assumptions is violated. In other words, string theory — as articulated in its current form — would be proven impossible."

"If the bounds are satisfied, we would still not know that string theory is correct," Distler said. "But if the bounds are violated, we would know that string theory, as it is currently understood, could not be correct. At the very least, the theory would have to be reshaped in a highly nontrivial way."

String theory attempts to unify nature's four fundamental forces — gravity, electromagnetism, and the strong and weak forces — by positing that everything at the most basic level consists of strands of energy that vibrate at various rates and in multiple, undiscovered dimensions. These "strings" produce all known forces and particles in the universe, thus reconciling Einstein's theory of general relativity (the large) with quantum mechanics (the small).

Proponents say that string theory is elegant and beautiful. Dissenters argue that it does not make predictions that can be tested experimentally, so the theory cannot be proven or falsified. And no particle accelerator yet exists that can attain the high energies needed to detect strings. Because of this technical limitation, tests of string theory have remained elusive until now.

"Since we don't have a complete understanding of string theory, it's impossible to rule out all possible models that are based on strings. However, most string theory models are based upon certain mathematical assumptions, and what we've shown is that such string theories have some definite predictions that can be tested," Rothstein said.


More HERE

*****end of clip*****

This could get very interesting.



capt

capt said...

The Controversy over Curtailing Habeas Corpus Rights: Why It Is a Bad Day For The Constitution Whenever Attorney General Alberto Gonzales Testifies



In the history of U.S. Attorney Generals, Alberto Gonzales is constantly reaching for new lows. So dubious is his testimony that he is not afforded the courtesy given most cabinet officers when appearing on Capitol Hill: Congress insists he testify under oath. Even under oath, Gonzales's purported understanding of the Constitution is historically and legally inaccurate, far beyond the bounds of partisan interpretation.

No wonder that with each appearance he makes on Capitol Hill, Gonzales increases his standing as one of the least respected Attorney Generals ever, in the eyes of both Congressional cognoscenti and the legal community. His most recent appearance bordered on the pathetic.

On January 18, Gonzales appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA), now the committee's ranking minority member and former chairman, asked him a series of questions. With no wish to be snide, nor less than respectful of the post Gonzales holds, I must confess that watching his testimony makes me deeply uncomfortable. Gonzales does not seem to know when he is making a fool of himself, and I can't tell if he is suffering from empty-suit syndrome or an unhealthy case of hubris.

Whatever the explanation, one thing is clear: Gonzales's latest testimony provided a micro-moment of how the Bush/Cheney Administration does business, and how it plays fast and loose with Americans' fundamental rights.

More HERE

capt said...

Ivins hospitalized in her cancer fight



AUSTIN, Texas - Liberal Texas columnist Molly Ivins has been hospitalized in her ongoing battle with breast cancer, her assistant said Friday.

ADVERTISEMENT

Ivins may be able to go home Monday, Betsy Moon said.

"That's the day the doctors said," Moon said. "We're not sure what's going to happen, but she's very sick."

Ivins, 62, had taken a break from her syndicated column, which appears in nearly 400 newspapers, but resumed writing earlier this month.

Her most recent column appeared two weeks ago, when Ivins urged readers to stand up against President Bush's plan to send more troops to Iraq.

Ivins, a California native who grew up in Houston, got her third cancer diagnosis more than a year ago. She has undergone chemotherapy.

She was overwhelmed with advice and gifts after she wrote of her initial diagnosis of breast cancer in 1999. The outpouring kept her from telling readers of recurrences in 2003 and 2005.

Ivins said last year she isn't giving in to cancer.

"Maybe this is false bravado," she said in the Austin American-Statesman. "In some ways for me, this is like having a manageable disease. It's like diabetes. It doesn't mean it's not going to come get me in the end."


More HERE

capt said...

Unfortunately, the balance of nature decrees that a super-abundance of dreams is paid for by a growing potential for nightmares.
~ Peter Ustinov

capt said...

Chips push through nano-barrier



The next milestone in the relentless pursuit of smaller, higher performance microchips has been unveiled.


Chip-maker Intel has announced that it will start manufacturing processors using transistors just 45 nanometres (billionths of a metre) wide.

Shrinking the basic building blocks of microchips will make them faster and more efficient.

Computer giant IBM has also signalled its intention to start production of chips using the tiny components.

"Big Blue", which developed the transistor technology with partners Toshiba, Sony and AMD, intends to incorporate them into its chips in 2008.

Intel said it would start commercial fabrication of processors at three factories later this year.


More HERE

*****end of clip*****

I read elsewhere that AMD is expecting to fire up 45nm production in 18 months. This is a huge leap forward. It will change the world.



capt

Saladin said...

Capt, in all the polls I've seen the vast majority of people want to see bushco impeached. Now, last I heard the reps are supposed to represent the people and carry out the democratic wishes of the majority, since when do they just do whatever is politically expedient? It is not their decision to make! David Corn may be right on the reality, but pressure from us can make a difference, hopefully, if not then our democratic republic truly is a sham. To allow those lunatics to continue unhindered will be seen by the rest of the world as complicity, this has got to stop before we ALL go down with the ship. All the war profiteers have GOT to go! If someone like swinestein is considered an upstanding democrat God help us. It's those kinds of blood money politicians that got us into this mess in the first place, impeach them all. Putting them on ethics committees is a slap in the face. Next thing you know rove will be given a position on a truth committee and cheney will be assigned a post on the moral justice committee.

Saladin said...

Rick, that was a purely rhetorical question. I think the democrats are well aware of how the majority feels, that's why they won. But to take impeachment "off the table" before it even gets going, like pelosi did, is bullshit. Of course it will take time, but the effort is what matters, to continue with business as usual, with Iran next on the list, is unacceptable. If they don't start taking steps they may have mob rule whether they like it or not! That may be all that saves us this time.

Saladin said...

Bush Is About To Attack Iran
Why Can’t Americans See It?

by Paul Craig Roberts
Lew Rockwell

Save a link to this article and return to it at www.savethis.comSave a link to this article and return to it at www.savethis.com Email a link to this articleEmail a link to this article Printer-friendly version of this articlePrinter-friendly version of this article View a list of the most popular articles on our siteView a list of the most popular articles on our site
DIGG THIS

The American public and the US Congress are getting their backs up about the Bush Regime’s determination to escalate the war in Iraq. A massive protest demonstration is occurring in Washington DC today, and Congress is expressing its disagreement with Bush’s decision to intensify the war in Iraq.

This is all to the good. However, it misses the real issue – the Bush Regime’s looming attack on Iran.

Rather than winding down one war, Bush is starting another. The entire world knows this and is discussing Bush’s planned attack on Iran in many forums. It is only Americans who haven’t caught on. A few senators have said that Bush must not attack Iran without the approval of Congress, and postings on the Internet demonstrate world-wide awareness that Iran is in the Bush Regime’s cross hairs. But Congress and the Media – and the demonstration in Washington – are focused on Iraq.

What can be done to bring American awareness up to the standard of the rest of the world?

In Davos, Switzerland, the meeting of the World Economic Forum, a conference where economic globalism issues are discussed, opened January 24 with a discussion of Bush’s planned attack on Iran. The Secretary General of the League of Arab States and bankers and businessmen from such US allies as Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates all warned of the coming attack and its catastrophic consequences for the Middle East and the world. Writing for Global Research (January 24), General Leonid Ivashov, vice president of the Academy on Geopolitical Affairs and former Joint Chief of Staff of the Russian Armies, forecast an American nuclear attack on Iran by the end of April. General Ivashov presented the neoconservative reasoning that is the basis for the attack and concluded that the world’s protests cannot stop the US attack on Iran. There will be shock and indignation, General Ivashov concludes, but the US will get away with it. He writes:

"Within weeks from now, we will see the informational warfare machine start working. The public opinion is already under pressure. There will be a growing anti-Iranian militaristic hysteria, new information leaks, disinformation, etc. . . . The probability of a US aggression against Iran is extremely high. It does remain unclear, though, whether the US Congress is going to authorize the war. It may take a provocation to eliminate this obstacle (an attack on Israel or the US targets including military bases). The scale of the provocation may be comparable to the 9-11 attack in NY. Then the Congress will certainly say "Yes" to the US President."

The Bush Regime has made it clear that it is convinced that Bush already has the authority to attack Iran. The Regime argues that the authority is part of Bush’s commander-in-chief powers. Congress has authorized the war in Iraq, and Bush’s recent public statements have shifted the responsibility for the Iraqi insurgency from al-Qaeda to Iran. Iran, Bush has declared, is killing US troops in Iraq. Thus, Iran is covered under the authorization for the war in Iraq. Both Bush and Cheney have made it clear in public statements that they will ignore any congressional opposition to their war plans.

For example, CBS News reported (Jan. 25) that Cheney said that a congressional resolution against escalating the war in Iraq "won’t stop us." According to the Associated Press and Yahoo News, Bush dismissed congressional disapproval with his statement, "I’m the decision-maker."

Everything is in place for an attack on Iran. Two aircraft carrier attack forces are deployed to the Persian Gulf, US attack aircraft have been moved to Turkey and other countries on Iran’s borders, Patriot anti-missile defense systems are being moved to the Middle East to protect oil facilities and US bases from retaliation from Iranian missiles, and growing reams of disinformation alleging Iran’s responsibility for the insurgency in Iraq are being fed to the gullible US Media.

General Ivashov and everyone in the Middle East and at the Davos globalization conference in Europe understand the Bush Regime’s agenda. Why cannot Americans understand?

Why hasn’t Congress told Bush and Cheney that they will both be instantly impeached if they initiate a wider war?

January 27, 2007
==========
Good question. I wonder if swinestein is lining up a few lucrative contracts for her husband?

Saladin said...

"Democracy is also a form of religion. It is the worship of jackals by jackasses."

- H.L. Mencken

Saladin said...


WASHINGTON DC TRAFFIC CAMERAS - FOLLOW THE PROTEST MARCHES

Gerald said...

STOP

Gerald said...

American veterans, like the veterans of other modern wars since 1945, will conclude that all they did turned out to be meaningless.

When the enemy is in American surf, when his foot is on our soil, then we will all fight and gladly die in defense of our country. But it is time to stop supplying cannon fodder to an imperial government pursuing God-knows-what secret schemes in distant parts of the world.

Do not hand your precious one-of-a-kind children over to cynical men who will squander their lives without blinking an eye. It is a sad thing to die for another's profits.

Gerald said...

The Future of Humanity

Gerald said...

In the article, The Future of Humanity, you will receive some information why the church-state alliance want to defeat the Muslims and the Islamic culture. Nazi America, Nazi England, and Nazi Israel know that they will fall to Islam and through fear they are out to genocide the Muslims. Make no mistake these three countries seek a total genocide of Muslims and their religion!!!

Gerald said...

I have come to the belief that the three Nazi states, America, England, and Israel, are nothing more than evil killing machines. All I can do is to pray for a merciful God to judge me. We will have endless wars facing us for the next 100 years. The goal of these killing machines is to exterminate 6 billion people on our planet.

Gerald said...

The Bush Regime has made it clear that it is convinced that Bush already has the authority to attack Iran. The Regime argues that the authority is part of Bush’s commander-in-chief powers. Congress has authorized the war in Iraq, and Bush’s recent public statements have shifted the responsibility for the Iraqi insurgency from al-Qaeda to Iran. Iran, Bush has declared, is killing US troops in Iraq. Thus, Iran is covered under the authorization for the war in Iraq. Both Bush and Cheney have made it clear in public statements that they will ignore any congressional opposition to their war plans.

EVIL and Nazi America are synonymous. Nazi Americans are Lucifer's disciples!!!!!

Gerald said...

I can see our streets will have American blood flowing like a river if you resist Hitler Bush and his Nazi cabal. I predict Americans will be slaughtered by Bush for our resistance to his evil, vile, and wicked ways. Nazi America is second to none as a killing machine. Nazi Americans are blood-sucking vampires.

Gerald said...

Why even think of the Libby trial? It is only a distraction away from Bush's evil, vile, and wicked ways.

I have this thought that God has given us Bush as a punishment for our hateful and sinful ways and for our contempt for the poor and the working people of the world.

Evil is Nazi America!!!!!

Gerald said...

I have these ongoing thoughts of the Vaporizer Bush and his ongoing vaporizing of human flesh on the streets across the world.

capt said...

Iraq in Talks With Chevron, Exxon



LONDON — Iraq is in negotiations with Chevron Corp. and Exxon Mobil Corp. to build a new $3 billion petrochemical facility, and is in talks with several other Western companies over industrial projects.

In an interview Thursday, Iraq's minister for industry and minerals Fowzi Hariri said the discussions with Chevron and Exxon began this week in Washington and are at an early stage.

"It will be one or the other company for this new facility, not both," he said. "We're hoping to have a (Memorandum of Understanding) in place by about July."

Hariri took his first trip to Washington early this week and met with several companies about industrial projects. The other leg of his trip took him to London, where he also met with a number of firms.

The minister, who has been in his post since last June, said the issue of security was a prominent feature of the discussions, given the sectarian conflict that has come to characterize Iraq over the past year. He said he emphasized to the companies that much of the violence has been in Baghdad. "What you see on the television is real ... but it's concentrated in the capital," said Hariri.


More HERE

*****end of clip*****

I am certain the Iraqis know darn well these petro-chemical companies do not have the Iraqis best interests as a primary consideration. The security issue will be covered by our troops no doubt.



capt

capt said...

President's Actions Could Lead to Impeachment



"The degree to which this President continues to take steps to go to war against Iran without consulting with the full Congress is the degree to which he is increasingly putting himself in jeopardy of an impeachment proceeding."
- Dennis Kucinich
Kucinich: The White House is up to its old tricks; is preparing the United States for an attack on Iran.


Washington - Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) accused the White House of mounting a media blitz to prepare the U.S. public for an eventual attack on Iran. Today The Washington Post reported the Bush administration has authorized the U.S. military to kill or capture Iranian operatives inside Iraq as part of an aggressive new strategy to weaken Tehran's influence across the Middle East.

"The White House is up to its old tricks again: Providing information by anonymous sources and portraying Iran as an aggressor in Iraq," Kucinich said.

"The President is mischaracterizing U.S. action vis-à-vis Iran. In fact, the U.S. is already engaged in offensive and provocative acts against Iran. The President's strategy, by portraying our involvement as only being on the defensive, is laying out the groundwork for him to attack Iran and bypass authorization by Congress," Kucinich said.

More HERE

*****end of clip*****

As many others have posted here before - we have no idea where the investigation will lead and what crimes or even what alibis are to be told.

I posted a question before - if the choice was impeachment or all out thermo-nuclear world wide war - the choice seems clear. If that is true to what degree should it be applied to a Bush invasion of any country? We know he doesn't care about facts or reality. Should Bush carry the football and be able to send in the marines? Does Bush possess the maturity and wisdom to really be the decider? Is it now or will it ever by politically expedient to have to make HIS word good on matters of world peace by paying his bills with our treasure and the lives of our troops?

Bush must be held to account for HIS mistakes and errors and his poor judgment because he started a war. That is not just a crime but the biggest crime anybody can ever make.

Not to mention the next CIC will have reason to do as Bunnypants has done if there is no consequence paid by the jerk making the decisions. See he wants to be the "decider" but if he decides wrong he can just decide again - no consequence. Now that is as crazy as anything I have ever heard.


capt

David B. Benson said...

Juan Cole today states that Bush is looking for a pretext for another war...

Guess where?

Anonymous said...

As Ronald Reagan may have said, "Quotations are stupid things."

"The Yale Book of Quotations" has a simple thesis: famous quotes are often misquoted and misattributed. Sometimes they are never said at all but are, instead, little fictions that have forged their way into public consciousness.

Take, for example, "Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead," a rallying cry supposedly uttered by David Farragut during the American Civil War battle of Mobile Bay on August 5, 1864.

According to Fred R. Shapiro, a Yale librarian and editor of "The Yale Book of Quotations," it was a comment either never said or at least never heard on the day of battle. The first appearance of a partial version of the phrase came in a book published in 1878 but reports from the day of the battle never mention the phrase. --Arthur Spiegelman reviews The Yale Book of Quotations

Gerald said...

A Defeated Nation

Gerald said...

Bush is looking for another war because as I have been predicting, it will be a prelude to MARTIAL LAW AND NO PRESIDENTIAL 2008 ELECTION. Bush has not taken this power grab to leave office in January, 2009. THERE WILL BE NO 2008 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.

People who have read my posts back in 2003 will remember that I predicted that Nazi America would attack Iran. I am glad that Paul Craig Roberts now agrees with me.

Yes, America will attack Iran. That fact is etched in stone.

Gerald said...

Bush craves for a terrorist attack within the USA so he can declare no elections in 2008. The October surprise is really a September surprise in 2008 in order to cancel the 2008 elections. This terrorist attack will be an inside job orchestrated by the CIA.

Saladin said...

Did I say I was quoting anyone? "Damn the torpedoes" is an old expression, and well known, and, in my opinion, appropriate in some cases. It isn't meant literally, sheesh.

capt said...

ABC News Exclusive: Murder in a Teapot



British officials say police have cracked the murder-by-poison case of former spy Alexander Litvinenko, including the discovery of a "hot" teapot at London's Millennium Hotel with an off-the-charts reading for Polonium-210, the radioactive material used in the killing.

A senior official tells ABC News the "hot" teapot remained in use at the hotel for several weeks after Litvinenko's death before being tested in the second week of December. The official said investigators were embarrassed at the oversight.

The official says investigators have concluded, based on forensic evidence and intelligence reports, that the murder was a "state-sponsored" assassination orchestrated by Russian security services.


More HERE

*****end of clip*****

They kept using the radioactive tea pot? How sad for anybody that might have been served. How did they miss that.



capt

capt said...

Will Rove Testify?



The president's political guru—and counselor Dan Bartlett—have been subpoenaed by Scooter Libby's lawyers. What it means for the most-watched trial in Washington—and who's next on the witness stand.


Jan. 26, 2007 - White House anxiety is mounting over the prospect that top officials—including deputy chief of staff Karl Rove and counselor Dan Bartlett-may be forced to provide potentially awkward testimony in the perjury and obstruction trial of Lewis (Scooter) Libby.

Both Rove and Bartlett have already received trial subpoenas from Libby’s defense lawyers, according to lawyers close to the case who asked not to be identified talking about sensitive matters. While that is no guarantee they will be called, the odds increased this week after Libby’s lawyer, Ted Wells, laid out a defense resting on the idea that his client, Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff, had been made a "scapegoat" to protect Rove. Cheney is expected to provide the most crucial testimony to back up Wells’s assertion, one of the lawyers close to the case said. The vice president personally penned an October 2003 note in which he wrote, "Not going to protect one staffer and sacrifice the other." The note, read aloud in court by Wells, implied that Libby was the one being sacrificed in an effort to clear Rove of any role in leaking the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame, wife of Iraq war critic Joe Wilson. "Wow, for all the talk about this being a White House that prides itself on loyalty and discipline, you’re not seeing much of it," the lawyer said.


More HERE

*****end of clip*****

Will Rove testify? I guess it all depends on the ratings?



capt

Saladin said...

Rick, I've finished the Greenwald book, "How Would A Patriot Act" and want to post this quote from the Fate of the Union chapter,

"President Nixon failed in his efforts to conceal his wrongdoing from the public. His cover-up was illuminated by investigative journalists, who aggressively pursued incriminating evidence that the administration had attempted to conceal by classifying it and forbidding its dissemination. And congress fulfilled its oversight responsibilities, holding hearings and investigating to determine whether the administrations claim's were truthful.
But most of all, President Nixon was held accountable for his wrongdoing and abuses of power because Americans, with the relevant evidence assembled by the press and by congress, concluded that he had siezed powers that were not rightfully his to exercise. as a result, they DEMANDED that he be forced from office, because preserving the American system of government from those who sought to assault and violate it took precedence over partisan allegiances."
=========
That is as it should be. We know there is a veritable mountain of evidence against them, all that is required is to assemble it and proceed with impeachment. The people ARE demanding it, but, is the congress listening? If they refuse to obey the law then they are derelict in their duty and should be removed from office as well. This refuting of the law must stop, and all of congress has to be held accountable if they won't enforce the laws that we are ALL subject to. No more excuses. Desperate times call for desperate measures, before more innocents are murdered.

capt said...

Bush Bamboozles Democrats Again


[…]

So, the Democrats are again learning a hard lesson they should have mastered years ago, that this breed of Republicans views Democrats as suckers who can be easily seduced with a few sweet but empty words like "bipartisanship" and "comity."

In December, the Democrats voluntarily sacrificed a golden opportunity to use the Gates nomination to force an examination of Bush’s war strategy. At that moment, they held real leverage over the administration to get documents and other needed information.

Instead, they engaged in wishful thinking, opted to be nice and are now finding what their gestures of bipartisanship got them.


More HERE

*****end of clip*****

Repeat as necessary until 2009.



capt

capt said...

Half the country has diabetes gene



ST. LOUIS, Jan. 26 (UPI) -- About half the U.S. population has the gene that puts them at greater risk of developing diabetes, a study from Saint Louis University said.

The gene causes people to metabolize fat differently and may hurt their ability to remove sugar from the blood, said Edward Weiss, an assistant professor of nutrition and dietetics at Doisy College of Health Sciences at Saint Louis University.

"This study adds to what was previously known about this gene variant by showing that after consuming a very rich milkshake, people with the variant gene process the fat from the drink differently than other people," said Weiss.

His research doesn't mean that half the U.S. population is destined to get diabetes.

"Many other genes, some known and some unknown, are involved in a person's overall risk of developing diabetes. Those are things a person can't control," Weiss said. "But there are risk factors for diabetes that a person can change -- lifestyle factors, such as diet and exercise."


More HERE

*****end of clip*****

Epidemic does not scratch the surface of diabetes. Type 2 or adult onset diabetes is a silent disease. Symptoms can be subtle until after damage is already done to the body.



capt

Saladin said...

Rick, you have far more confidence in those liars than I do. My opinion is based on years of hindsight. But, I still hope you are right. I haven't left my comment on book crossing yet, but I will. Carey is getting it next.

capt said...

Unless you become more watchful in your States and check this spirit of monopoly and thirst for exclusive privileges, you will in the end find that the most important powers of Government have been given or bartered away, and the control of your dearest interests have been passed into the hands of these corporations: Andrew Jackson, farewell address, 04 March 1837

=
"What is the great Amercican sin? Extravagance? Vice? Graft? No; it is a kind of half-humorous, good-natured indifference, a lack of "concentrated indignation" as my English friend calls it, which allows extravagance and vice to flourish. Trace most of our ills to their source, and it is found that they exist by virtue of an easy-going, fatalistic indifference which dislikes to have its comfort disturbed....The most shameless greed, the most sickening industrial atrocities, the most appalling public scandals are exposed, but a half-cynical and wholly indifferent public passes them by with hardly a shrug of the shoulders; and they are lost in the medley of events. This is the great American sin.": Joseph Fort Newman, Atlantic Monthly, October 1922

=
For in reason, all government without the consent of the governed is slavery: Jonathan Swift : Irish author, 1667-1745

===

Read this newsletter online http://tinyurl.com/dy6yy

Thanks ICH Newsletter!

capt said...

The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously.
Hubert H. Humphrey (1911 - 1978)

The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.
Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)

The fascination of shooting as a sport depends almost wholly on whether you are at the right or wrong end of the gun.
P. G. Wodehouse (1881 - 1975)

Sometimes what's right isn't as important as what's profitable.
Trey Parker and Matt Stone, South Park, Prehistoric Ice Man, 1999

The nice part about being a pessimist is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised.
George F. Will (1941 - )

from: Quotationspage.com

capt said...

Bush versus Bush


Simply Brilliant. From the Archives: Jon Stewart with Bush Vs. Bush (Video)


More HERE

*****end of clip*****

This one is a keeper.



capt

capt said...

Rick,

The last time impeachment was taken off the table by Democtaric leadership[sic] it was for GHWB and Reagan for their crimes related to Iran/contra.

The net result being pardons for all (many have returned and now work insider this maladministration).

If impeachment is legal and within the law - who has the power or even the right to take it off the table?

Wouldn't taking any law off the table require a change in the law or its authority?

Pelosi is not talking about letting an investigation find its own conclusion - she is speaking specifically of making the conclusion (no impeachment) before it is even investigated? That makes sense to you?


capt

capt said...

Schwarz-o-phrenia

[...]

He really said this

"I don’t believe lies are what took us into this war. I believe Colin Powell was sincere; I believe the president was sincere in the belief that there were weapons of mass destruction that needed to be removed."

These were the words of U-T editorial page editor Bob Kittle on the Jan. 5 Editors’ Roundtable program on KPBS. Kittle, who enjoys a position of great influence in San Diego, is clinging to the notion that the catastrophic war in Iraq is mostly the result of flawed intelligence.

Unbelievable. There’s lots and lots of reportage out there, by well-respected journalists, detailing how the Bush administration cherry-picked intelligence and sold the Iraq invasion to the public that Kittle might find enlightening. We suggest he start with Hubris by Michael Isikoff and David Corn.

Unbelievable.


More HERE

*****end of clip*****

I see "Schwarz-o-phrenia" and the first thing that came to mind was General Normal Schwarzkopf - shows how out of touch I am with my birth state, eh?



capt

Saladin said...

Rick, those very few you mentioned are FAR outnumbered, when you get the NAU video you will see what kind of govt. they have in store for us, it'll change alright, but neither you or any of us peons will have anything to say about. But don't worry, bush assures us that he has all the big business barons working night and day to secure our security and economic interests! So far I have yet to hear even one democrat mention it, though Mr. Paul has, and a resolution against it has been introduced, for all the good that'll do. The liars I refer to are the ones successfully running this country off a cliff, both left and right, the poor honest guys step in front of this train and they will be crushed! Unless the people unite behind them.

Saladin said...

Capt, that kittle idiot is the reason the MSM newspapers have been losing readership by the millions and suffering massive layoffs over the past two years. Bloggers knew the truth while the NY Times with that disgusting judy miller were spouting off every lie in the book. I hope all those "dinosaurs" end up in a giant tar pit, and SOON!

Saladin said...

Only Impeachment Can Prevent More War

January 22, 2007
by Paul Craig Roberts
Counterpunch

...Civil libertarians who have observed the Bush Regime's concentration of dictatorial powers in the presidency expect that war with Iran, especially if fearful nuclear weapons are used, will be accompanied by Bush's declaration of a state of emergency. The Bush Regime will use the state of emergency to grab more arbitrary and dictatorial powers in the name of protecting "national security interests" and American citizens from "terrorism."

As the Regime's crimes against the US Constitution and humanity will be monstrous, dissent will be throttled in ways that will make Americans afraid to speak, or even to think, the truth. By stifling dissent, the Bush Regime will escape accountability for launching wars on the basis of blatant lies. It will complete its destruction of the civil liberties that protect free speech, dissent, and Americans from arbitrary arrest and indefinite detention without charges or access to attorneys.

Congress is wasting precious time with non-binding resolutions and debates over cutting off war funding. The Bush Regime is rushing the country into a war and a domestic police state. Writing in Slate, Dahlia Lithwick reports that one of the main goals of the so-called "war on terror" (essentially a propagandistic hoax) is to achieve a massive expansion in unaccountable executive power. This is a long-time goal of VP Cheney and his chief of staff, David Addington. It is also the main goal of the "conservative" Federalist Society, an organization of Republican lawyers from whose membership Republican judicial nominees are drawn.

American public opinion is being manipulated. In the name of protecting "American freedom and democracy," the Bush regime rides roughshod over both as it ignores both the public and Congress and proceeds with a catastrophic policy supported by no one but the Bush Regime and a cabal of power-mad neoconservatives.

Nothing can stop the Regime except the immediate impeachment of Bush and Cheney. This is America's last chance.

http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts01222007.html
=========
The clock is ticking, 5 minutes to midnight?

Saladin said...

JIM WEBB IS COYOTE, THE TRICKSTER
Free Market News
Friday, January 26, 2007

...Jim Webb's comments on Iraq on Tuesday night were clear and uncompromising: We knew all along, we were told at the beginning. Senator Clinton's position, in an interview with John Roberts at CNN on Jan. 21 were: If only we knew now what we knew then. These are the same comments first brought forth my mainstream pundits of the right, David Brooks and George Will in particular, six months or so into the journey when it was clear that it the invasion of Iraq was a failed.

Indeed, we did know all along and were told at the beginning what would happen in Iraq by Jim Webb in the pages of The Washington Post. And we were told as well daily on the pages of DKos and the other political blogs and on-line journals.

Jim Webb is a folkloric character. He carries (as in a Glock 9) when he in not in the Senate and chews tobacco. He speaks proudly of being Scotch-Irish, the culture of the common people of Virginia and Appalachia, while Dems of Second Generation aspire to be billionaires and via for land deals in Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. Most Democrats in New England today share common roots with Webb, but might be called "upper working class" as they have left the common culture behind to seek instead the Manhattan penthouse. They might be called "Frasier" Democrats; in reference to the charming TV show of the ‘90s about two psychiatrist brothers who live Seattle's penthouse culture, and whose father, who lives with them and sits in an old duct-taped chair, was a cop. It is a crisis of authenticy the generation suffers and is dramatically well presented as such in this long-running sit-com. Jim Webb experiences no such crisis. Webb brings to politics the love-based values of Appalachia - family, community, honor, responsibility to one's fellows. He awakens once again in the Democratic Party its older heritage - the Party of the Common Man and Woman.

His speech in response to Bush's State of the Union was one of the greatest speeches I have ever heard. It portends something new and astonishing happening within the Democratic Party. With it, the rising political generation has crossed the river to the new country. I think Old School senses it right away, as John Kerry might have when he decided not to run the next day. Rightly so. The season has changed.

Hearing Webb's speech the other night commentator Mark Shields said "A star is born." It is a star which will rise with a new generation and the values Webb brings to politics will become the values of that generation, as always, in opposition to the generations which came before. Marcos yesterday claimed Webb as his own; that is, as the product of the net roots. Rightly so. It doesn't matter if the new culture in the Democratic Party finds success in 2008. Perhaps it will take longer for the old culture to fall away. But there is now no question that what is new in the Democratic Party will rise now with Jim Webb and a generation will rise with it which will bring new values to the Party and to the country over the next 20 years.
=========
Oh dear, he CARRIES? That will ruin the whole image for some!

Saladin said...

Israel planes dump suspicious green balloons on southern Lebanon

dpa
Sunday, January 28, 2007

Beirut - Israeli planes violated Lebanese airspace Saturday and dumped green balloons over the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanese security sources said.

Lebanese troops cordoned off the area around the coast of Tyre and prevented people from touching the 'suspicious balloons' after reports indicated that some people were poisoned when they did.

According to a hospital source in Nabatiyeh, similar green balloons were dropped over the market-town of Nabatiyeh, 54 kilometres south of Beirut.

Five people suffering from nausea and dizziness were brought into hospital after they touched the 'suspicious green balloons,' the source said.

Israel violates Lebanese airspace on a daily basis despite the fact that the attacks on Israel from southern Lebanon by the radical Hezbollah movement have stopped after a beefed-up UN force along with the Lebanese Army were deployed to the area in accordance with a UN resolution.
=========
Apparently Israel can do whatever they want and no one can stop them. When Hezbollah finally rises up and fights back they will be the bad ole terrorists!

capt said...

Jim left the Republican party after years of failed GOP leadership and policies, not only involving National Security but also the growing gap between the rich and the middle class. Jim warned against the Iraq War months before it began, and considers Iraq a strategic distraction from fighting the international war on terror. He believes a strong working middle class is how you measure the health of a society. Senator Webb serves on the Armed Services, Foreign Relations, Joint Economic, & Veterans Affairs Committees in the U.S. Senate.

From Jim Webb's Myspace

****

Another ex-GOPher - something that defies partisanship and the lunacy that goes with it.


capt

Saladin said...

A strong, secure middle class is the biggest danger to tyranny, especially when they carry a glock!

capt said...

new thread for a quicker load!