Friday, August 17, 2007

Gone




Enough about Karl Rove, I'm off to an island in the North Sea today.

Posted by David Corn at August 17, 2007 04:01 AM

63 comments:

capt said...

Mr. David Corn,

Headed to the Frisian’s?

Should be nice this time of year.

Bon Voyage


Kirk

capt said...

Moyers on Rove: He Used "Greed to Win Four Elections in a Row" [VIDEO]



Like a lot of us, Bill Moyers was disgusted with the fawning coverage the mainstream media gave Karl Rove when he announced his departure from the White House. Moyers, correctly, says there was a lot more to be said about the man than his ability to manipulate close elections. "Using church pews as precincts, Rove turned religion into a political weapon, a battering ram aimed at the "devil's minions", especially gay people," says Moyers. Moyers talks about how Rove not only shook down fundamentalists but also corporate big wigs and effectively left the US government in shambles. Check out the video to your right for more.


More HERE

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Moyers for president.



capt

capt said...

Is a Stillbirth an Act of Murder? Maryland Law Says So


Maryland’s Viable Fetus Act displays the coercive potential of legislation that gives fetuses rights at the expense of women.


Thirty-six states have some kind of fetal homicide law on the books. While Maryland's law applies only to viable fetuses, at least 15 states extend fetal homicide protection from conception. In state legislatures around the country, anti-abortionists have fought for laws that recognize the killing of fetuses as criminal acts on the grounds that full-fledged personhood begins in utero.

Freeman isn't the only woman to face murder charges for a pregnancy loss. Theresa Lee Hernandez of Oklahoma has spent the last three years in jail awaiting trial for "murder" after a late-term pregnancy loss. Her son was stillborn at 32 weeks gestation. When the son tested positive for methamphetamine, Hernandez was charged with murder.
In June, National Advocates for Pregnant Women sent an open letter to Oklahoma District Attorney David Prater, urging him to drop the charges against Hernandez. Signatories included the Oklahoma State Medical Association and the America Public Health Association. Prater issued a statement that he had no intention of dropping the charges.


More HERE

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Interesting that the number is 36 states.

From Encarta:

In the United States, restrictive legislation against miscegenation originated during the period of slavery in colonial times. These laws were designed to protect the right of the slaveholder to the offspring of the slaves, and the laws included severe penalties. Statutes passed subsequently in the majority of the states declared miscegenetic marriages void, purportedly to preserve racial purity. Most of these statutes were directed against blacks, but some applied more broadly to include all non-white people. Between 1942 and 1967, 14 states repealed their antimiscegenation laws. In 1967, the Supreme Court of the United States declared antimiscegenation laws unconstitutional.

The SCOTUS forced 36 states to accept mixed marriage.




capt

capt said...

Mayberry Man



[...]

It was here that Rudolph Giuliani, New York’s thrice-married, anti-gun, pro-gay, pro-choice former mayor, found himself one morning in April, in what appeared to be a critical moment in his young campaign for the Republican Presidential nomination. The previous day, during a campaign stop in Florida, he was asked by CNN’s Dana Bash if he supported the public funding of abortions. Giuliani seemed flustered by the question and finally answered, “If that’s the status of the law, I would, yes.”

Even before Giuliani began his run for the Presidency, the consensus, sounded in news columns, blogs, and political journals, was that he could not survive scrutiny of his political heterodoxy and his personal imperfections by the Republican Party’s conservative base.

Now, as Giuliani made his way into the capitol, his candidate smile firmly fixed, he was met by reporters. “Mayor, you talk about being a straight shooter,” one said. “Is this position you have on abortion something that’s going to shoot a hole in a key Republican plank?”


More HERE

capt said...

Bush Is the King of All Elite, Effete Snobs



Bob Cesca: There are very few Americans who are quite as privileged, entitled, sheltered, and coddled than this current president. So shut the f**k up, Karl Rove.


This post, written by Bob Cesca, originally appeared on The Huffington Post

Karl Rove attempted to describe you and me today like so: "...sort of elite, effete snobs who can't hold a candle to this guy (Bush). What they don't like about him is that he is common sense, that he is Middle America."

Here's Karl Rove's love doll last Thursday:

This is the president and his former president Dad (the patriarch of one of the world's most powerful and wealthy families) merrily cruising the ocean aboard their family speedboat. In this photo, the president and his presidential Dad are returning to their multi-million-dollar family estate at Kennebunkport, Maine. And finally, the speedboat is called "Fidelity III" which indicates two prior speedboats named "Fidelity".

Put aside the Yale, the Skull & Bones, the cheerleading, the oil wealth, the estates, the boats and this uncomfortably weird obsession with effeteness; there are very few Americans who are quite as privileged, entitled, sheltered, and coddled than this current president.

So Karl? Shut the fuck up.


More HERE

Anonymous said...

The Frisians are in the English Channel. Me thinks Corn is visiting his wife's family in the fjords of Norway.

capt said...

Frisian Islands



The Netherlands' West Frisian Islands are a chain of low-lying barrier islands on the edge of the North Sea. Further to the east these islands belong to Germany and are named the East Frisian Islands.

Inhabited islands in the West Frisian group include Ameland, Schiermonnikoog, Terschelling, Texel and Vlieland. These islands include just a few small villages and scattered farmlands.

A large swatch of Texel, an important nature preserve, has been reclaimed from the Waddenzee (Wadden Sea) by an extensive series of dikes.

The islands are a popular holiday destination. Hotels and vacation homes are certainly available, though space is very limited in the summer months.

Visitors enjoy health spas, quiet walks along the beach, as well as catamaran sailing, surf canoeing and surfing. The entire island group has a rich ecosystem, and attracts many species of birds and fish.

Cycling is the main form of transportation on most of the islands, and on Vlieland and Schiermonnikoog, only residents are allowed to use their cars.

Tours are easily arranged, and the West Frisian Islands are well served by regular ferries from the mainland; ferry details and pricing is here!

Note that the ferry from Harlingen to Texel takes about 90 minutes, dock to dock; from Texel to Vlieland is about a thirty minute journey.


More HERE

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Dutch not from Norway.

My better half is from Holland as well, her family used to vacation on Terschelling.




capt

capt said...

Potty Humor Fun Video

Some funny stuff.


capt

capt said...

Jon Stewart Is The Only Real Journalist In America



Oliver Willis: Stewart does what the mainstream media refuses to do as they play complicit lapdog for the Bush administration.


This post, written by Oliver Willis, originally appeared on Like Kryptonite To Stupid


Last week the mainstream media went wild with Kenneth Pollack and Michael O'Hanlon, describing them as anti-war when in fact Pollack wrote a book arguing in favor of invading Iraq and both are on record in favor of the surge. Nobody in the mainstream media seriously challenged this dominant theme:


*Purporting to document Pollack's evolving views on Iraq, CNN left out his original gung-ho Iraq "tune"

*CBS Evening News falsely described proponent of Iraq "surge" as former opponent of it

*Fox News Sunday is latest program to call Iraq invasion proponents "critics" of the war


But then on Monday night, on what is - theoretically - a "fake" news show hosted by a comedian, conservative pundit Bill Kristol tried to get away with the line about Pollack / O'Hanlon and Jon Stewart did what the mainstream media refuses to do time and time again as they roll over and play complicit lapdog for the Bush administration: He said nuh-uh. Jon Stewart does not have superpowers.

In fact he jokes regularly about being silly. Yet, in this instance (and in numerous others) he demonstrated the lost art of journalism that the msm does not practice anymore. Somebody made an assertion and he challenged the assertion with factual information.

Caution, the following video clip may contain journalist-like material.



More HERE

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Jon takes the idiot (“likeable guy”) to task for his lies. Worth a watch.



capt

Hajji said...

Ffolks,

I have been invited to attend a meeting with the Obama campaign's regional field director, Peachy Myers, here in Pickens on Tuesday evening.

Even though I've openly voiced my concerns with some of Obama's statements and stances, they still want to talk to me.

I'm inviting all here to communicate their concerns/questions to me @ thajji64@hotmail.com or on these forums for me to cut and paste from.

I'll see what kind of "meeting" this is and get whatever answers and responses to as many concerns as I can.

I feel like I've taken a long time off, since Spanky got home, from commenting and contributing and conversing. (lurking, though, always lurking!) It has been a joy to vacation and hang out with "the Kids" and to experience the amazingness of the mundane.

Trips to NC's outer banks and then to the Florida Keys have helped to refresh and renew something in me. I feel I'm ready to get involved again.

I look forward to ALL your questions/remarks!

-T

capt said...

Hajji,

Good thinking!

As always you RAWK!

I'll send you something.




capt

capt said...

Hajji,

I duplicate my email here:

How does Barak reconcile his selection of Joe Lieberman as his senate mentor?

What does Barak think of the DLC?

If elected does Barak intend to use or reverse the unitary presidential powers and abuses thereof?



capt

capt said...

'If Joe Average Can't Pay his Mortgage, We're all Screwed'



Volatility in the global financial markets rocked by troubles in the American subprime mortgage sector has sent the markets on a wild roller-coaster ride, heading mostly -- and steeply -- down. German commentators say we should buckle our seatbelts but not panic.



The calming hand offered by central reserve banks, including the Fed, and their repeated cash injections did little this week to stop the rumors, the smell of panic and steep sell-offs (more...) across the globe. A day after the Dow Jones Industrial Average dove over 340 points before resurfacing for almost unchanged close, German papers responded to the perceived chaos. Some say they saw it coming; some say not to worry; some prefer to point fingers, and not always at the same thing.



More HERE

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The title says it all.



capt

capt said...

I just sent George W. Bush a Labor Day "Performance Review" about his abysmal record on workers' rights over the past six years.

As Labor Day approaches, it's time for us to take the President to task on workers' rights. Bush has the top job in the country, but it's the people who hold him accountable.

We pay Bush's salary, but should we pay for what he's done to workers' rights? You can write your own performance review and let him know what you think. Go to: HERE

capt said...

Obama praises Israel aid hike



Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) welcomed a hike in defense assistance to Israel.

The Bush administration this week signed an agreement with Israel increasing its assistance from $2.4 billion a year to $3 billion a year over ten years. The assistance is part of a package that uses incentives to encourage multiple parties -- the Palestinians, Egypt and Saudi Arabia as well as Israel -- to move forward on Israeli-Palestinian peace.

Obama, a front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, said the assistance was necessary because Bush administration policies had endangered Israel. "The Administration's failed policies in Iraq, in a war that never should have been authorized, have strengthened Iran and emboldened Hamas and Hezbollah," he said in a statement Thursday. "That makes it more important than ever that the United States live up to its commitment to ensure Israel's qualitative military edge in a dangerous region. For that reason, I support the agreement on military assistance reached today."

Israeli leaders, who regard President Bush as a close friend, have questioned some aspects of the conduct of the Iraq war but worry that a U.S. withdrawal now would endanger Israel.


More HERE

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Does Obama think we risk (or could risk) an arms race in the middle east?



capt

capt said...

Court Overturns Dismissal of "State Secrets" Case



In an unusual move that may signal a new, more discriminating judicial view of the state secrets privilege, a federal appeals court has reinstated (pdf) a lawsuit which a lower court had dismissed after the government invoked the state secrets privilege.

The lawsuit was originally filed in 1994 by former Drug Enforcement Administration official Richard Horn who alleged that the State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency had unlawfully eavesdropped on his communications while he was stationed in Rangoon, Burma.

The government asserted the state secrets privilege in 2000 and moved for dismissal of the case. The government motion was granted by the D.C. district court (pdf) in 2004.


More HERE

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When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it--always.
~ Mahatma Gandhi




capt

capt said...

Flush with Profits from the Iraq War, Military Contractors See a World of Business Opportunities



Since launching the "global war on terror," the administration has funneled billions of public dollars to "private contractors" and more than doubled the size of the occupation with these hired guns.


If you think the U.S. has only 160,000 troops in Iraq, think again.

With almost no congressional oversight and even less public awareness, the Bush administration has more than doubled the size of the U.S. occupation through the use of private war companies.

There are now almost 200,000 private "contractors" deployed in Iraq by Washington. This means that U.S. military forces in Iraq are now outsized by a coalition of billing corporations whose actions go largely unmonitored and whose crimes are virtually unpunished.

In essence, the Bush administration has created a shadow army that can be used to wage wars unpopular with the American public but extremely profitable for a few unaccountable private companies.


More HERE

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If elected what would President Obama do with the “Bush” private army?



capt

capt said...

More Evidence of Gonzales Perjury Revealed in FBI Director's Notes



Documents provided by FBI Director Robert Mueller strengthen the case that Alberto Gonzales perjured himself before the Senate Judiciary committee.


Documents provided Thursday to House Democrats by FBI Director Robert Mueller reinforced the sense among Democrats and critics of the Bush Administration that Alberto Gonzales perjured himself before the Senate Judiciary committee about the physical condition of then-Attorney General John Ashcroft, as the White House attempted to seek his reauthorization of a controversial warrantless wiretapping program.

"Director Mueller's notes and recollections concerning the White House visit to the Attorney General's hospital bed confirm an attempt to goad a sick and heavily medicated Ashcroft to approve the warrantless surveillance program," said Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, who requested Mueller's notes last month.

"Particularly disconcerting is the new revelation that the White House sought Mr. Ashcroft's authorization for the surveillance program, yet refused to let him seek the advice he needed on the program.

The heavily redacted notes shed no further light upon other aspects of the controversy, including the Gonzales' much-disputed contention that a surveillance operation distinct from the NSA's warrantless wiretapping program was the source of discord within the Department of Justice

At issue is the truthfulness of Gonzales' testimony last month before the Senate Judiciary Committee during which he recounted a March 10, 2004 visit he and his fellow White House aide Andrew Card paid to Ashcroft and acting Attorney General James Comey at Ashcroft's hospital bedside.

In response to questions from Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), Gonzales insisted that Ashcroft seemed lucid in the hospital, where the White House aides sought his reauthorization of a domestic surveillance program.

"Obviously, there was concern about General Ashcroft's condition," Gonzales told Specter, "and we would not have sought, nor did we intend, to get any approval from General Ashcroft if, in fact, he wasn't fully competent to make that decision."

But Mueller's notes belie that contention. One sentence, in particular, indicates that Ashcroft was anything other than fully competent: "AG in chair; is feeble, barely articulate, clearly stressed."


More HERE

capt said...

New Mystery of Invisible Matter Generated by Cosmic Collision



Observations of a distant galaxy cluster collision reveal a core of invisible matter devoid of glittering galaxies-something that is hard to explain by current theories.

The invisible stuff is what astronomers call dark matter. They don't know what it is, but they know it exists because of its gravitational effects on normal matter and light.

If confirmed, the new results could force scientists to rethink their ideas about how dark matter behaves, or even conjure up a whole new class of dark matter. But scientists say they will await further confirmation before taking such radical steps.

The findings, to be detailed in an upcoming issue of Astrophysical Journal, are in complete contrast to observations of the Bullet Cluster, another well-studied galaxy cluster collision.

"These results challenge our understanding of the way clusters merge," said study team member Andisheh Mahdavi of the University of Victoria, British Columbia. "Or, they possibly make us even re-examine the nature of dark matter itself."


More HERE

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One for us “dark matter” nerds.



capt

capt said...

In Unprecedented Order, FISA Court Requires Bush Administration to Respond to ACLU's Request That Secret Court Orders Be Released to the Public



WASHINGTON - In an unprecedented order, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) has required the U.S. government to respond to a request it received last week by the American Civil Liberties Union for orders and legal papers discussing the scope of the government's authority to engage in the secret wiretapping of Americans. According to the FISC's order, the ACLU's request "warrants further briefing," and the government must respond to it by August 31. The court has said that any reply by the ACLU must be filed by September 14.

"Disclosure of these court orders and legal papers is essential to the ongoing debate about government surveillance," said Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU. "We desperately need greater transparency and public scrutiny.We're extremely encouraged by today's development because it means that, at long last, the government will be required to defend its contention that the orders should not be released."

The ACLU filed the request with the FISC following Congress' recent passage of the so-called "Protect America Act," a law that vastly expands the Bush administration's authority to conduct warrantless wiretapping of Americans' international phone calls and e-mails. In their aggressive push to justify passing this ill-advised legislation, the administration and members of Congress made repeated and veiled references to orders issued by the FISC earlier this year. The legislation is set to expire in six months unless it is renewed.

"These court orders relate to the circumstances in which the government should be permitted to use its profoundly intrusive surveillance powers to intercept the communications of U.S. citizens and residents," said Jameel Jaffer, Director of the ACLU's National Security Project. "The debate about this issue should not take place in a vacuum.It's imperative that the public have access to basic information about what the administration has proposed and what the intelligence court has authorized."

FISC orders have played a critical role in the evolution of the government's surveillance activities over the past six years. After September 11, President Bush authorized the National Security Agency (NSA) to inaugurate a program of warrantless wiretapping inside the United States. In January 2007, however, just days before an appeals court was to hear the government's appeal from a judicial ruling that had found the NSA program to be illegal in a case brought by the ACLU, Attorney General Gonzales announced that the NSA program would be discontinued. Gonzales explained that the change was made possible by FISC orders issued on January 10, 2007, which he characterized as "complex" and "innovative." Those orders are among the documents requested by the ACLU.

Since January 2007, government officials have spoken publicly about the January 10 orders in congressional testimony, to the media and in legal papers - the orders remaining secret all the while. They have also indicated that the FISC issued other orders in the spring that restricted the administration's surveillance activities. House Minority Leader John Boehner stated that the FISC had issued a ruling prohibiting intelligence agents from intercepting foreign-to-foreign calls passing through the United States. To a large extent, it was the perception that the FISC had issued an order limiting the administration's surveillance authority that led Congress to pass the new legislation expanding the government's surveillance powers. Yet the order itself, like the January 2007 order, has remained secret.

The ACLU's request to the FISC acknowledges that the FISC's docket includes a significant amount of material that is properly classified. The ACLU argues, however, that the release of court orders and opinions would not raise any security concern to the extent that these records address purely legal issues about the scope of the government's wiretap authority, and points out that the FISC has released such orders and opinions before. The ACLU is seeking release of all information in those judicial orders and legal papers the court determines, after independent review, to be unclassified or improperly classified.

A copy of the FISA court order, the ACLU's motion to the FISC, as well as information about the ACLU's lawsuit against the NSA and other related materials are available online at: www.aclu.org/spying

In addition to Jaffer, lawyers on the case are Steven R. Shapiro, Melissa Goodman, and Alexa Kolbi-Molinas of the ACLU and Art Spitzer of the ACLU of the National Capital Area.


More HERE

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Let’s hear it for the ACLU!


capt

capt said...

Troubled waters still ahead for markets



Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the markets, new warnings that there may still be troubled waters ahead.

"Financial markets are making a risky bet if they are counting on the central bank to get them out of the current jam," National Bank of Canada warned Friday after the U.S. Federal Reserve surprised markets with a half-point cut in a symbolic interest rate.

North American markets and the Canadian dollar surged after the Fed's rate decision.

[...]

Carl Weinberg of High Frequency Economics, a New York-based economic think-tank, said that markets should not be calmed by this tactic.

"Unlike the Fed funds rate, which affects all banks' cost of funds, a discount rate cut only lowers the cost of emergency borrowing by institutions in distress," he said. "This move is not going to provide any relief to the overall economy."


More HERE

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The fed can address the symptom but if the cause is not addressed they are spitting in the wind.



capt

David B. Benson said...

TWTWTW...

capt said...

US steps closer to war with Iran



The Bush administration has leaped toward war with Iran by, in essence, declaring war with the main branch of Iran's military, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), which it plans to brand as a terrorist organization.

A logical evolution of US President George W Bush's ill-defined, boundless "war on terror", the White House's move is dangerous to the core, opening the way for open confrontation with Iran. This may begin in Iraq, where the IRGC is reportedly most active and, ironically, where the US and Iran have their largest common denominators.

A New York Times editorial has dismissed this move as "amateurish" and a mere "theatric" on the part of the lame-duck president, while at the same time admitting that it represents a concession to "conflict-obsessed administration hawks who are lobbying for military strikes". The political analysts who argue that the main impact of this initiative is "political" are plain wrong. It is a giant step toward war with Iran, irrespective of how well, or poorly, it is thought of, particularly in terms of its immediate and long-term implications, let alone the timing of it.


More HERE

capt said...

"Nothing doth more hurt in a state than that cunning men pass for wise.": Sir Francis Bacon

=
Treason doth never prosper, what's the reason? For if it prosper, none dare call it treason: Sir John Harrington, 1561-1612

=
When the same man, or set of men, holds the sword and the purse, there is an end of liberty: -George Mason

=
The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men: -Plato

=
Demagogue: one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots: -H.L. Mencken


===

Thanks ICH Newsletter!

capt said...

Bob Geiger Saturday Cartoons

Gerald said...

Iraqis don't need IED's from Iran

Gerald said...

One reason the IEDs ascribed to Iran are usually referred to as "sophisticated" is that they're generally not cobbled together from the thousands of tons of Saddam-era munitions that the U.S. left unsecured during the invasion and early years of the occupation and that were the staple of previous roadside bomb incarnations; instead, they use efficient very high explosives (VHE) such as RDX.

Gerald said...

Iran Conspiracy

capt said...

EXPLOSIVES
Caught on Tape




OCTOBER 29, 2004

Yesterday on the campaign trail, President Bush and Vice President Cheney – unmoved by the evidence – continued to push the theory that 380 tons of munitions had been moved from the Al Qaqaa facility prior to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Cheney quoted a former commander who said "I suspect he [Saddam] had already moved it and moved it out into the desert someplace." But a tape shot 4/18/03 – well after the fall of Baghdad – by a Minnesota news crew "appeared to confirm...that hundreds of tons of high-grade explosives...had vanished from the [Al Qaqaa] site after the invasion of Iraq." Weapons experts who reviewed the tape "say the videotape appears identical to photographs that the inspectors took of the explosives, which were put under seal before the war." An expert familiar with the site said "the videotape and some of the agency's photographs of the HMX stockpiles 'were such good matches it looked like they were taken by the same camera on the same day.'" David Kay, the Bush administration's former weapons inspector, said the images on the tape "are consistent with what I know of Al Qaqaa." Kay said the photos were "game, set and match" on the question of whether the explosives were there after the invasion. (See the video for yourself here and here).

More HERE

Gerald said...

Whether the Cheney's conspiring with Lieberman and the U.S. command is part of an "end-run strategy" or are sanctioned by Bush, Cheney's ability to manipulate Bush poses the chilling possibility that a hapless president will commit the ultimate blunder of war with Iran.

Gerald said...

What Is It Good For?

Gerald said...

Did the author take my words? The below quote is from the above article.

I can only speak for myself, something more people should learn to do. I am against war. All wars for any reason. If that makes me Liberal, that's wonderful. If that makes me a Commie or a Iraqi sympathizer, I'm down with it. Because there are only two possibilities in a nuclear age - total peace or total destruction. This ain't 1860. This ain't Napoleon taking Europe in 1792. If the world doesn't make PEACE its single goal, there are grounds to argue we won't make it another 50 years.

Gerald said...

Don't Read this Article!

Gerald said...

Al Qaeda is a creation and a tool of our own CIA. The CIA through the Pakistani Intelligence Bureau called the ISI funds it. The facts are that we wired $100,000.00 to ISI that has links to al Qaeda . In late September 2001 there was an FBI source that published a report that determined that the FBI and CIA were linked to the ISI. General Ahmad, the head of the Pakistani ISI wired $100,000 to al Qaeda, in fact, to Muhammad Atta, the leader of the group that staged the 9/11 attacks. This was in the Summer of 2001.This was in a press report that was covered by the MSM, and talked about the "money man" that financed and supported the 9/11 hijackers. This General Ahmed was in Washington when the attacks on 9/11 occurred. He met with George Tenent, Richard Armitage and Senator Joe Biden. Can anyone explain this?

capt said...

A symbol of the desolation of Iraq



When British troops arrived at Basra Palace after weeks of fighting in 2003, it seemed like another world after the blood, dust and squalor they had been through.

Built for Saddam Hussein on what used to be a public park on the banks of the Shatt al-Arab waterway, the main building alone had 18 huge halls, five staircases and 12 balconies. There were 14 other rooms with equally sumptuous appointments, including gold-trimmed bathroom fittings. Ornate stone bridges spanned the many pools and channels filled by the river. Yet it is believed that Saddam, who did not trust the Shias of the south, never visited the complex.

In quieter times Basra used to be a refuge during Iraq's searing summer for Baghdad's elite, who would stroll the esplanade which led up to the gates of the palace. After the 2003 ceasefire, when the complex housed the British and US consulates, as well as UN staff, British and US troops and smaller national contingents carrying out reconstruction work, off-duty foreigners could mingle with locals on the riverside walkway and watch boats weaving between cargo vessels blasted during the war.

Such relaxed activity became impossible as the Shia militias turned against the foreign presence, and the palace complex became shut off from Basra. It was a relatively comfortable isolation all the same: there was a social club with a bar and swimming pool, bottles of Australian cabernet sauvignon on sale in the shop and electric golf carts to whiz around the spacious grounds. After the heat of the day, there was a shady rose garden in which to relax. Those fortunate enough to be guests of the Foreign Office rather than the military enjoyed fortified mini-apartments with blast-proof doors, hot showers and kitchenettes instead of a camp bed in a tent.

Those days are long gone. The UN withdrew after its headquarters in Baghdad were demolished and its chief representative killed in a suicide bombing. The increasing number of mortars and rockets fired into the complex gradually drove away civilians, with Foreign Office staff moving to Kuwait. (They refused to be stationed at the Basra airport base, where most military personnel are still in tents, until suitable "hard accommodation" was constructed.)

But now it is too dangerous for any soldier left behind to sleep under anything but "hard cover" as the steady barrage of incoming fire gradually demolishes the splendours of Basra Palace. By the time they hand over to the Iraqi army and leave, the complex will look just as damaged and neglected as the rest of Iraq.


More HERE

Gerald said...

U.S.funds and harbors terrorists?

Gerald said...

The first step in fighting any enemy is to know who they are. It is clear to me that it is the current regime that we must defend against. Matthew 7:16 says, “you shall know them by their fruit.” The United States Constitution is the United States, and because of this regime's actions against the Constitution, they have revealed themselves as the enemy of the real United States of America...the Constitution.

Gerald said...

Furthermore, I also agree that “We must speak the truth about terror. We must not tolerate any outrageous conspiracy theories about the September 11 terrorist attacks.” The story of 19 radical Islamic terrorists (5 of whom are still alive!) who overtook our multi-trillion dollar “defense” and planned all this from a cave in Afghanistan really is outrageous! Wow, that's a good one, George! You're such a prankster! As a matter of fact, that is so outrageous, it's intolerable!

Gerald said...

Most Crimes Were Israeli!

Gerald said...

The Real Reason

Gerald said...

Just Foreign Policy

Gerald said...

Billions in US Aid Wasted

It is time for a really good drunk where puking never ends.

Gerald said...

Draft Numbers

Gerald said...

In the event of war, the report noted, the nation would deploy volunteer forces. In the first stage of expansion, it would call on the National Guard and Reserves. But if the war were to go on for a while, the "standby draft" might have to be mobilized, in order "to provide manpower resources for the second stage of expansion in effective forces."

Judging from the recent statements by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Army's vice chief of staff, we seem to be approaching that stage in Iraq today.

Gerald said...

The authors of the 1970 commission report emphasized that if the standby draft is ever activated, it should not be ordered into effect by the president; rather, it should be authorized by Congress. Before such a momentous step is taken, the panelists wrote, there must first be a "public discussion."

It's getting very near time for that public discussion now.

BUT, WILL THE SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF SECURITY AND SOCCER MOMS BE DRAFTED???

capt said...

New Thread

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