Politics September 2005
9/28/2005 Politics / Blog. The Denial Continues to Amaze Me
I found this on a conservative blog today:
"Casey Sheehan's leftist asshat mother is seen here with the supporters that rallied around her as they "stormed" Washington D.C.
That is, if you consider what looks to be about 40 people as a "rally." Looks more like a small get-together to me, at least as far as political gatherings go. If this is the size and fervor of the "pull out of Iraq NOW" fringe (and it just about is), I don't think the policy has a lot to worry about.
If you read the news you'd know that on Saturday, Sept 24th there were over 100,000, not 40 anti-war protesters. About 400 people showed up for the pro war protest (although they planned for 20,000). Less than 1% now support the war if you count just these two protests and the people who felt strongly enough to show up. Click the DC anti-war protest picture from wrh below to enlarge:
Okay, actually the slur was posted a few days before the large DC protest, but my point still stands. Anti-war represents the majority American view, not that of some small crazed "leftist" group.
10/5/2005 Politics. Another Pentagon Conspiracy Theory Proven True.
Franklin admits: I gave Israel secret material
Former Pentagon analyst pleads guilty
"Former Defense Department analyst Larry Franklin pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiracy to divulge U.S. defense information to unauthorized people, namely an Israeli official and members of a pro-Israel lobbying group ... Franklin at one time worked for the Pentagon's No. 3 official, policy undersecretary Douglas Feith." - CNN
Saddam's weapons were not a threat to the USA. But, his short range missiles were a threat to Israel. Few people know that the first persons arrested by the FBI were Israeli agents in a white van who were cheering and video taping as the towers collapsed. One conspiracy theory is that Bush neocon insiders sympathetic to Israel orchestrated 9/11 to get the US behind a war that would help that foreign country and ours obtain the oil needed for future survival. Try a search for "9/11 Israeli Odigo". The middle east conflict is full of lies, hate and violence on both sides, but even the cautious person must now admit that Bush's Pentagon was guilty in at least one regard of conspiracy with Israel. Will the house of cards collapse? How much was Franklin involved with 9/11 intelligence?
Franklin worked for Douglas Feith. Feith oversaw the Office of Special Plans (OSP) which ignored the CIA intelligence and cherry picked evidence to justify the war in Iraq. The OSP was set up by defense secretary Rumsfeld under the patronage of hardline conservatives including Vice-President Dick Cheney. Neocons and pre-emptive war architects Wolfowitz, Perle and Feith are are Jewish, and some claim Cheney, Rumsfeld are as well. I don't buy any generalized hate or bigotry of any kind, but is there some much bigger conspiracy yet to be uncovered? I do think all religions are harmful in the long run, but I have friends from all walks of life. Watch the underreported news. Most truth eventually comes out. Or does it?
10/5/2005 Politics. Why did Bush nominate his personal lawyer for the Supreme Court?
According to WRH, Harriet Miers handled the 'The Presidential Daily Brief'from August 6, 2001 for BUSH which was origially 11 and a half pages long (according to an article by intelligence expert Oliver Schröm) and titled 'Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.' Bush viewed during his vacation. A text of the PDB released by the White House is one and a half pages long. In other words, most of it has been kept secret. What is missing? Harriet Miers knows (how do we know she knows?) and she is therefore in a position to blackmail the entire US Government with 9-11 to get what she wants. Is this why Bush's personal lawyer, a woman who has never been a judge in her life gets a seat on the US Supreme Court?
9/30/2005 Politics (timesonline). Cheney's aide revealed as source of CIA leak.
It doesn't get much higher than that... well, it probably does. Why would Miller spend time in jail to keep an unconfidential source confidential? Libby had already released reporters to reveal that he was a source. Something is fishy.
"What does it mean that Libby claims to be shocked, really shocked, that Miller was protecting him--and that he presumed she was actually shielding others?" - mediainfo
I would not be surprised if Rumsfeld or Cheney was the source. It is compelete BS that there is an agreement to limit Miller's testimony to Libby. Why would that be needed unless someone else was being protected?
" [Special Counsel Patrick] Fitzgerald promised to limit his questioning of Miller to the Libby contacts regarding Plame." - thestate
Uh, why? Is it not possible that she had more than one source!?
9/23/2005 Politics / Energy.
If ... 1. The world's supply of easily obtainable oil is about to reach global emergency status. (see peak oil) And if ... 2. The Bush administration knew this before 9-11. And if ... 3. They accepted that no current alternative energy source can fill the void. And if ... 4. They also knew that the large majority of Americans oppose war. (We are a democratic peace-loving people. ) Would they... Therefore, as with Pearl Harbor, or the Northwoods plan, set up or allow the attacks of 9/11/2001 (and the still "unsolved" anthrax attacks on the media, congress and the supreme court) in order to get the public
angry and afraid enough to support war? Many think so.
President Bush himself said, " what people need to hear, loud and clear, is that we're running out of energy in America." (source: whitehouse.gov)
Coincidentally, Iraq has the third largest oil reserves in the world, possibly more. (source: us dept. of energy)
Since Americans would never approve of pre-emptive war under normal circumstances, we had to be tricked into it, scared into it by WMDs and so on ... before Americans start starving, before there is no gas for their cars. Denial and anger are natural, and no one likes to be tricked, but if you try looking through this world view, so many things start to make sense.
Some conspiracies are real and people go to jail for it. Our leaders are not gods, they are human. Like the rest of us, they sometimes cheat, lie, steal, etc. My view is, if they did it, the Neocons had, in their own minds, good motives. Presidents must make difficult decisions to sacrifice the few for the good of the many. Bush obviously supports human sacrifice for what he considers to be a just cause. You can't say he would avoid killing thousands of innocent civilians at all costs or even that he is against killing American civilians. Would he (or the Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Rice, etc.) kill 3 or even 10,000 innocent American civilians in order to save millions of American from starvation? I'd like to ask them, but I think I know the answer.
Telling the truth would cause panic, so we are sold patriotic propaganda about good vs. evil. The plan, to allow us to take what we need to survive, (from other people who just want to survive) is to convince our people that they are only defending themselves from non-human dirty crazy terrorists who hate our way of life ... and of course, God is on OUR side.
What can you do? Make new friends, keep up on the news from many different sources, prepare for food, water and gas shortages, and don't get too stressed out. Have some fun! Here's what I did this weekend. I cooked breakfast at my kitchen table with just a single burner camp stove. Yum.
9/28/2005 Politics / War. Whistleblowers: Prisoner Abuse Widespread and Learned
Those who support the war must be thinking of it in a vague sort of way. Either that, or they have no empathy for fellow humans. The conviction and 3 year prison sentence for Private England doesn't wrap the whole "torture" thing up so neatly. Consider the case of Capt. Ian Fishback.
More here."Fishback ( elite 82nd Airborne ) maintains that he witnessed detainees being stripped, deprived of sleep and exposed to the elements at the behest of Army intelligence officers, who wanted the prisoners softened up for interrogation. To back up his claims, two as-yet-unnamed sergeants came forward, telling Human Rights Watch they saw soldiers break a prisoner's leg, kick and punch others and force others to hold large water jugs for long periods of time or stack themselves into human pyramids. " - latimes
" In one incident, the Human Rights Watch report states, an off-duty cook broke a detainee's leg with a metal baseball bat. "We would give them blows to the head, chest, legs and
stomach, and pull them down, kick dirt on them," one sergeant told Human Rights Watch researchers during one of four interviews in July and August. "This happened every day." ... He said he had acted under orders from military intelligence personnel to soften up detainees, whom the unit called persons under control, or PUC's, to make them more cooperative during formal interviews. ... They wanted intel," said the sergeant, an infantry fire-team leader who served as a guard when no military police soldiers were available. "As long as no PUC's came up dead, it happened." He added, "We kept it to broken arms and legs." The soldiers told Human Rights Watch that while they were serving in Afghanistan, they learned the stress techniques from watching Central Intelligence Agency operatives interrogating prisoners." ... the Army has opened more than 400 inquiries into detainee abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan, and punished 230 enlisted soldiers and officers." - nytimes
9/28/2005 Politics. Top Republican Indicted: Some Conspiracy Theories are True
If someone calls you a crazy conspiracy theorist, tell them to go jump in a lake with Tom DeLay.
" U.S. Representative Tom DeLay, the No. 2 Republican in the House, was indicted by a Texas grand jury on a charge of criminal conspiracy in connection with illegal corporate political donations. DeLay, 58, who faces up to two years in prison, will temporarily step aside as House majority leader, he said in a statement. " - bloomberg
"Now, tell me the truth, boys, is this kind of fun?" -Tom DeLay touring the Astrodome, where children evacuated from New Orleans were playing. DeLay likened their stay to being at camp.
9/14/2005 Politics / Religion/ Law. Court says flag pledge violates Constitution
"A California atheist who last year lost a Supreme Court fight to remove the phrase "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance on Wednesday won an initial round as he revived his cause in the courts. " - reuters
This matters so little. If you are a real atheist with strong principles just say "under dog" instead of "under God". Trust me, no one will ever know or care.
9/14/2005 Politics / Religion/ Law Massachusetts Rejects Bill to Eliminate Gay Marriage
The religious right is freaking out. First California's Legislature passed a bill to legalize full same-sex marriage Sept. 6. (Arnold says he will veto it), and then this thing in Massachusetts. I surf widely to stay informed of different points of view and I heard some preachers on my AM dial who sounded very threatened. The institution of marriage will crumble! We'll have to re-write the text books! The planet will stop spinning! And so on. Seems to me we straight people sure don't respect marriage all that much. Look at the divorce rate! So, why not? Doesn't hurt me. The world is overpopulated. Some refuse to live and let live. In New Zeland a millionaire anti-gay campaigner is taking out ads. That's a strange label to give someone. What do you do? Me? I'm a millionaire anti-gay campaigner. Yes, sir. Big money to be had in this line of business.
9/12/2005 Politics / Disasters. FEMA Director Michael Brown Resigns. Bush: A disaster.
Brown resigns. Great. He sure should. Thousands died needlessly because Bush appointed someone without disaster experience to head the number one disaster agency in the USA. If only Bush would get a clue and resign too. Also see: FEMA revises Brown's bio after exaggeration charges.
"The Federal Emergency Management Agency has quietly revised the official biography of its embattled director, Michael Brown, to correct an error about his background in local government following allegations he exaggerated his disaster relief experience."
News flash. Yes, I think many people would agree with this headline.
9/12/2005 Politics / Media. Fox Immediately Ties LA Power Outage to Terror
People kept in fear are easily controlled. Besides, terror helps Bush in the polls and he needs help."Today (September 12, 2005), at 4:16 p.m. ET., after the bells and whistles of a FOX NEWS ALERT, John Gibson broke the news about a large power outage in Los Angeles. CNN and MSNBC hadn't even begun covering the story when, seconds later, Gibson went to Bret Baier at the Pentagon with this segue: "Meanwhile, a new terror tape has been released with new threats for the US and Australia. A warning from a masked man that Los Angeles, Los Angeles, where the power is out right now , and Melbourne, Australia, are next on the hit list."
During Baier's report, Fox aired video clips from the latest Al Qaeda tape interwoven with video from the rubble of the World Trade Center and shots of that famous H-O-L-L-Y-W-O-O-D sign on the hillside in Southern California." - newshounds.
9/9/2005 Politics / Freedom / Disaster. Legal answers for New Orleans residents
"Q. Does Mayor Nagin also have authority to remove New Orleans residents by force?
A. Yes. The Louisiana Homeland Security Act gives essentially the same power to parish presidents -- the mayor of New Orleans is deemed the president of Orleans Parish -- as it does to the governor. According to University of Pittsburgh School of Law professor Bernard Hibbitts, parish presidents may "direct and compel the evacuation of all or part of the population from any stricken or threatened area within the boundaries of the parish if he deems this action necessary for mitigation, response or recovery measures."
... While either the mayor or the governor could order the arrest and removal of people who violate an evacuation order, practically speaking, only the governor could accomplish this in New Orleans. The only law enforcement officers that the mayor controls are the New Orleans police, nearly a third of which are missing right now. By contrast, the governor controls and commands the state police and the National Guard (even those from other states)." - cnn
Some people don't want to leave their pets or whatever. Can't blame them. They are scared, hungry, thirsty, but proud. Some say they will fight to stay in this now diseased and toxic city they call home. It doesn't make sense to have any officers injured in gunfights with people who want to stay. Just wait them out.
9/9/2005 Politics. Blame the Victims? Who would do that?
Meanwhile, self-proclaimed evil, Bush loving, pro-war, torture supporting, radio host Glenn Beck has reportedly called the hurricane survivors "scumbags". Unbelievable. If you read his site, Glenn seems to think it is cool to pollute.
Glenn, look at THIS. Pretty cool, eh?
That's what you'll get when you get rid of all the "hippies" you hate so much, the ones who try to keep your air and water clean. Some people are not intelligent enough to stop living in waste. But they should be allowed to make that choice, right? Glenn, if you think about it, you just called yourself a scumbag. Good for you. Admitting is half the battle! You are not alone in your hate. Hate is the byproduct of fear. Cowards afraid to admit to and confront their fears are the ones who hate and hurt others the most. Rise up and have courage to see the truth! There is good and bad in everyone. Learn to see! Learn to love! Get some help.
9/9/2005 Politics / Freedom. Court Rules Bush Can Indefinitely Detain Citizens Without Charges
"A federal appeals court [ Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ] ruled today that the president can indefinitely detain a U.S. citizen captured on U.S. soil in the absence of criminal charges, holding that such authority is vital during wartime to protect the nation from terrorist attacks" - washpost
This is totally illegal, scary, wrong and sick. It gives Bush the power of a dictator to decide who has the right to a lawyer and who does not. Bush and/or his father appointed many of the judges on the Fourth Circuit. If a person does a crime, fine. Accuse that person, bring evidence, have a trial, and so on. Infinite jail with no trial and no accusations is not acceptable in a civilized society.
I find this revolting and shameful. History has shown time and again that if you give power without checks and balances, that power WILL be abused. What WILL happen, sooner or later, is that bad guys who rise to (or sneak in to) high places will use this power to cover evil deeds. Eventually, whistle blowers will "be disappered" this way. This is a banana republic thug situation that should not exist in America. Jail without trial is a complete removal of human dignity and freedom. It must not stand!! No matter how vile the criminal, they are entitled to a fair trial under our laws. Anyone who rules otherwise is a traitor to the Constitution of the United States of America. Read the constitution yourself. Bush cronies are thowing away rules we citizens have had for our protection for over 200 years.
Amendment VI - Right to speedy trial, confrontation of witnesses. Ratified 12/15/1791.
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.
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