A Controversial and/or Informative Site [Archive] - Page 2

Saundra Hummer

October 27th, 2004, 01:53 PM

:secret Adventure Capitalism - The Hidden 2001 Plan to Carve-up Iraq, by Greg Palast.

Why were Iraqi elections delayed? Why was Jay Garner fired? Why are our troops still there? Investigative reporter Greg Palast uncovers new documents that answer these questions, and more about the Bush administration's grand designs on Iraq. Like everything else issued during this administration, the plan to over haul the Iraqi economy has corporate lobbyist fingerprints all over it.

_

In February 2003, a month before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, a 101-page document came my way from somewhere within the U.S. State Department. Titled pleasantly, "Moving the Iraqi Economy from Recovery to Growth." it was part of a larger under-wraps program called "The Iraq Strategy."

The Economy Plan goes boldly where no invasion plan has gone before: the complete rewrite, it says, of a conquered state's "policies, laws and regulations." Here's what you'll find in the Plan: A highly detailed program, begun years before the tanks rolled, for imposing a new regime of low taxes on big business, and quick sales of Iraq's banks and bridges--in fact, "ALL state enterprise"--to foreign operators. there's more in the Plan, part of which became public when the State Department hired consulting firm to track the progress of the Iraq makeover. Example: This is likely history's first military assault plan appended to a program for toughening the target nations copyright laws.

And when it comes to oil, the Plan leaves nothing to chance--or to the Iraqi's. Beginning on page 73, the secret drafters emphasized that Iraq would have to "privatize" (i.e., sell off) its "oil and supporting industries." The Plan makes it clear that--even if we didn't go in for the oil--we certainly won't leave without it.

If the Economy Plan reads like a Christmas wish list drafted by the U.S. corporate lobbyists, that's because it was.

From slashing taxes to wiping away Iraq's tariffs (taxes on imports of U.S. and other foreign goods), the package carries the unmistakable fingerprints of the small, soft hand of Grover Norquist.

Norquist is the capo di capi of the lobbyist army of the right. In Washington every Wednesday, he hosts a pow-wow of big business political operatives and right-wing muscle groups --including the Christian Coalition and National Rifle Association--where Norquist quarterbacks their media and legislative offensive for the week.

Once registered as a lobbyist for Microsoft and American Express, Norquist today directs Americans for Tax Reform, a kind of trade union for billionaires, unnamed, pushing a regressive "flat tax" scheme.

Acting on a tip, I dropped by the super-lobbyist's L-Streeet office. Below a huge framed poster of his idol ("NIXON--NOW MORE THAN EVER").

Norquist could not wait to boast of moving freely at the Treasury, Defense and State Departments, and in the White House, shaping the post-conquest economic plans--from taxes to tariffs, to the "intellectual property rights" that I pointed to in the Plan.

Norquist wasn't the only corporate front man getting a piece of the Iraq cash cow. Norquist suggested the change in copyright laws after seeking the guidance of the Recording industry Association of America.

And then there's the oil. Iraq-born Falah Aljibury was in on the drafting of administration blueprints for the post-Saddam Iraq. According to Aljibury, the adminstration began coveting its Mideast neighbor's oil within weeks of the Bush-Cheney inauguration, when the White House convened a closed committee under the direction of the State Department's Pam Wainwright. The group included banking and chemical industry men, and the range of topics over what to do with a post-conquest Iraq was wide. In short order, said Aljibury, "It became an oil group."

This was not surprising as the membership list had a strong smell of petroleum. Besides Aljibury, an oil industry consultant, the secret team included executives from Royal-Dutch Shell and Chevron Texaco. These and other oil industry bigs would, in 2003, direct the drafting of a 300-page addendum to the Economy Plan solely aobut Iraq's oil assets. The oil section of the Plan, obtained after a year of wrestling with the administration over the Freedom of Information act, calls for Iraqi's to sell off to "IOCs" (international oil companies) the nations "downstream" assets--that is, the refineries, pipelines and ports that, unless under armed occupation, a Mideast nation would be loathe to give up.

--The General Versus Annex D--

One thing stood in the way of rewriting Iraq's laws and selling off Iraq's assets: the Iraqi's. An insider working ont he plans put it coldly. "They have {Deputy Defense Secretary Paul} Wolfowitz coming out saying it's going to be a democratic country...but we're going to do something that 99 percent of the people of Iraq wouldn't vote for."

In this looming battle between what Iraqis wanted and what the Bush administration planned for them, the Iraqis had an unexpected ally, Gen. Jay Garner, the man appointed by our president just before the invasion as a kind of temporary Pasha to run the soon-to-be conquered nation.

Garners an old Iraq hand who performed the benevolent autocratic function in the Kurdish zone after the first Gulf War. But in March 2003, the general made his big career mistake. In Kuwait City, fresh off the plane from the United States, he promised Iraqi's they would have free and fair elections as soon as Saddam was toppled, preferably within 90 days.

Garner's 90-days-to-democracy pledge ran into a hard object. The economy Plan's Annex D." Disposing of a nations oil industry--let alone redrafting trade and tax laws--can't be done in a weekend, nor in 90 days. Annex D lays out a strict 360-day schedule for the free market makeover of Iraq. And there's the rub. It was simply incondeivable that any popularly elected government would let America write its laws and auction off the nations crown jewel, it's pretroleum industry.

Elections would have to wait. As Lobbyist Norquist explained when I asked him about the Annex D timetable, "The right to trade, property rights, these things are not to be determined by some democratic election." Our troops would simply have to stay in Mesopotamia a bit longer

----New World Orders 12, 37, 81, and 83--

Gen. Garner resisted--which was one of the reasons for his swift sacking by Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld on the very night he arrived in Baghdad last April. Rummy had a perfect replacement ready to wing it in Iraq to replace the recalcitrant general. Paul Bremer may not have had Garner's experience on the ground in Iraq, but no one would question the qualifications of a man who served as managing director of Kissinger Associates.

Pausing only to install himsef in Saddams old palace--and adding an extra ring of barbed wire-- "Jerry" Bremer cancelled Garner's scheduled meeting of Iraq tribal leaders, called to plan national elections. Instead, Bremer appointed the entire government himself. National elections, Bremer pronouced, would have to wait until 2005. The extended occupation would require our forces to linger.

The delay would, incidentally, provide time needed to lock in the laws, regulations and irreversible sales of assets in accordance with the Economy plan.

On that, Bremer wasted no time. Altogether, the leader of the Coalition Provisional Authority issued exactly 100 orders that remade Iraq in the image of the Economy Plan. In May, for example, Bremer--only a month from escaping out of Baghdad's back door--took time from fighting the burgeoning insurrection to sign order 81--"Patents," and 83, "Copyrights." Here, Grover Norquist's hard work paid off. Fifty years of royalties would now be conferred on music recording. And 20 years on Windows code.

Order number 37, "Tax Strategy for 2003," was Norquists dream come true, taxes capped at 15 percent on corporate and individual income (as suggested in the Economy Plan, page 8). The U.S. Congress had rejected a similar flat-tax plan for America, but in Iraq, with an electorate of one--Jerry Bremmer--the public's will as not an issue.

Not everyone felt the pain of this reckless rush to a free market. Order 12, "Trade Liberalization." permitted the tax-and tariff-free import of foreign products. One big winner was Cargill, the worlds largest grain merchant, which flooded Iraq with hundeds of thousands of tons of wheat. For Iraqi farmers, already wounded by sanctions and war, this was devastation. They could not compete with the U.S and Australian surplusses dumped on them, but the import plan carried out the letter of the Economy Plan.

This trade windfall for the West was enforced by the occupation's agriculture chief, Dan Amstutz, himself an import from the United states prior to George Bush takng office, Amstutz chaired a company funded by Cargill

There's no sense cutting taxes on big business, ordering 20 years of copyright payments for Bill Gates' operating system of killing off protections for Iraqi farmers, if some out-of-control Iraqi government is going to take it away afer an election. the shadow governors of Iraq back in Washington thought of that too. Bremer fled, but he's left behind him nearly 200 American "experts," assigned to baby-sit each new Iraqi minister--functionaries also approved by the u.S. State Department.

---The Price---

The free market paradise in Iraq is not free.

After General Garner was deposed, I met with him in Washington. He had little regard for the Economy Plan handed to him three months before the tanks rolled. He especially feared its designs on Iraq's oil assets, and the delay in handing Iraq back to Iraqis. "That's one fight you don't want to take on." he told me.

But we have. After a month in Saddam's palace, Bremmer cancelled municipal elections, including the crucial vote about to take place in Najaf. Denied the ballot, Najaf's Shi'ites voted with bullets. This April, insurgent leader Moqtada Al Dadr's militia killed 21 U.S Soldiers and, for a month, seized the holy city.

"They shouldn't have to follow our plan," the general said. "It's their country, their oil." Maybe, but not according to the Plan. and untill it does become their coutnry, the 82 Airborne will have to remain to keep it from them.

A GREG PALAST article.

Forgive any typo's this is a long one to copy down.

Saundra Hummer

October 27th, 2004, 05:02 PM

After Terror, a Secret Rewriting of Military Law
From The New York Times International

Here's the address, just click on it:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/24/international/worldspecial2/24gitmo.html?ex=1101441600&en=16855c70bd7225ff&ei=5087&nl=ep&rd=hcmcp

This is an article by Tim Golden, telling of "a small group of White House officials" and how they "worked in great secrecy to devise a new system of justice for the new war they had declared on terrorism."

They ,it says, were "Determined to deal aggessively with the terrorists they expected to capture, the officials bypassed the federal courts and their constitutional guarantees, giving the military the authority to detain foreign suspects indefinitely and persecute them in tirbunals not used since World War II."

The plan was considered so sensitive that senior White House officials kept it's final details hidden from the president's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, and the secretary of state, Colin L. POwell, offiicials said. It was so urgent, some of those involved said that they hardly thought of consulting Congress.

Dick Cheney, they say was the driving force behind this rewriting of our laws.

There are several more pages to this article, and of information regarding this issue, so log onto The New Yorks Times International site.

October 24, 2004

Saundra Hummer

October 28th, 2004, 10:20 AM

CONGRATULATIONS, MR. PRESIDENT!
FLORIDA'S COMPUTERS HAVE ALREADY COUNTED THOUSANDS OF VOTES FOR GEORGE W. BUSH.

Before one vote was cast in early voting this week in Florida, the new touch screen computer voting machines of Florida started out with a several-thousand vote lead for George W. Bush. That is, the mechanics of the new digital democracy boxes "spoil" votes at a predictably high rate in African American precincts, effectively voiding enogh votes cast for John Kerry to, in a tight race, keep the White House safe from the will of the voters.

Excerpted from the current (November) issue of Harper's Magazine by Greg Palast.

To understand this fiasco in progress in Florida, we need to revisit the 2000 model, starting with a lesson from Dick Carlberg, acting elections supervisor in Duval County until this week. "Some voters are strange." Carlberg told me recently. He was attempting to explain why, in the last presidential election, five thousand Duvalians trudged to the polls and, having arrived there, voted for no one for president. Carlberg did concede that, after he ran these punch cards throught the counting machines a second time, some partly punched holes shook loose, gaining al Gore 160 votes or so, Bush roughly 80.

so it was throughout the state - in certain precincts, at least. In Jacksonville, for example, in Duval precincts, 7 through 10, nearly one in five ballots, or 11,200 votes in all, went uncounted, rejected as either an 'under-vote' (a blank ballot) or 'over-vote' ( a ballot with extra markings). In those precincts, 72 percent of the residents are African-American, ballots that did make the count went four to one for Al Gore. All in all, a staggering 179,855 votes were "spoiled" (i.e.,cast but not counted) in the 2000 election in Floorida. Demographers from the U.S. Civil Rights Commission matched the ballots with census stats and estimated that 54 percent of all the under-and over-voted ballots had been cast by blacks, for whom the likelihood of having a vote discarded exceeed that of a white boter by 900 percent.

Votes don't "spoil" because they are left out of the fridge. Votes spolage, at root, is a class problem. Just as poor and minority districts wind up with shoddy schools and shoddy hosoptals, they are stuck with shoddy ballot machines. In Gadsen, the only black-majority county in Florida, one in eight votes spoiled in 2000, the worst countywide record in the state. Next door in Leon County (Tallahassee), which used the same paper ballot, the mostly white, wealthier county lost almost no votes. The differnce was that in mostly-white Leon, each voting booth was equipped with its own optical scanner, with which voters could check their own ballots. In the black county, absent such "second-chance" equipment, any error would void a vote.

The best solution for vote spolage, whether from blank ballots or from hanging chads, is Leon County's paper ballots, together with scanners in the voting booths. In fact, this is precsely what Governor Bush's own experts recommended in 2001 for the entire state. His Select Task Force on Elections Procedures, appoiinted by the governor to sooth public distrust after the 2000 race, chose paper ballots with scanners over the trendier option - the touch screen computer.

Although the computer rigs cost eight times as much as paper with scanners, they result in many more spoiled votes. In this years presidential primary in Florida, the computers had a spoilage rate of more than 1 percent, as compared to one-tenth of a percent fro the double-checked paper ballots.

Apparaently some Bush boosters were not keen on a fix so inexpensive and effective. In particular, Sandra Mortham - a founder of Women for Jeb Bush, the Governor's re-election operation - successfully lobbied on behalf of the Florida Association of Counties to stop the state the legislature from blocking the purchase of touch-screen voting systems. Mortham, coincidentally, was also a paid lobbhyist for Election Systems & Strategies, a computer voting -machine manufacturer. Fifteen of Florida's sixty seven counties chose the pricey computers, twelve of them ordered from ES&S which, in turn, paid Mortham's County Association a percentage on sales.

Florida's computerzaton had it's first mass test in 2002, in Broward County.
The ES&S machines appeared to work well in white FT. Lauderdale precincts, but in black communities, such as Lauderhill and Pompano Beach, there was wholesale disaster. Poll workers were untrained, and many places opened late. Black voters were held up in lines for hours. No one doubts that hundreds of Black votes were lost before they were cast.

Broward county commissioners had purchased the touch-screen machines from ES&S over the objection of Elections Suppervisor Miriam Oliphant, notably, one commissioner's campaign treasurer was an ES&S lobbyist. Governor Bush responded to the Broward fiasco by firing Oliphant, an African-American, for "misfeasance."

Even when computers work, they don't work well for African-Americans. A July 2001 Congressional study found that computers spoiled votes in minority districts at three times the rate of votes lost in white districts.

Based on the measured differential in votes loss between paper and computer systems, the fifteen counties in Florida, cAn expect to lose at least 29,000 votes to spoilage-some 27,000 more than if thecounties had used paper ballots iwth scanners.

Given the demographics of spoilage, this translates into a net lead of thousands for Bush before a single ballot is cast.

For the full story, read "Another Florida" in the November issue of Harpers, out now. Mr. Palast, a contrihuting editor to the magazine is author of the New York Times bestseller, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy. See the film of his investigative reports for BBC Television. "Bush Family Fortunes," out now on DVD. Watch a segment at www.gregpalast.com/bff-dvd.htm.

To sign up to recieve Greg's writings, click here:

http://www.gregpalast.com/contact.cfm

For media cntact: media@gregpalast.com

Saundra Hummer

October 28th, 2004, 01:27 PM

I have mailed out several of the article above by Greg Palast to friends I know have large mailing lists with the hope they will see fit to sent his report to others, and I have mailed out Xrrici's post for his friend, "Take back the process- words from a centrist"

It is written well, and expresses the views many of us hold, in precise and, consise terms. It should be published. I would hope it could be sent to a paper, a news station, or a national news magazine, as it says so much of what we all need to hear, to realize.

Saundra Hummer

October 28th, 2004, 08:28 PM

10/28/04

An article by John Pilger

"Will there be a war against the world after Nov. 2?"

This is one more troubling thought coming from Information Clearing house

Here's a link, then look up the story once there.

Bipartisan in a way as it is thinking Kerry will stay the course in Iraq.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info

Saundra Hummer

October 28th, 2004, 08:35 PM

While on the site above, look up this article, it is actually a video.

It has sixty-four interviews, with soldiers and Marines enroute to and returning from the war in Iraq, plus interviews with military families make up this moving documentary by longtime activist-artists Sally Marr and Peter Dudar.

It is titled: Arlington West the Film

This film could save the life of someone you know.

Saundra Hummer

October 28th, 2004, 09:17 PM

This Is The Fight of Our Lives

by Bill Moyers
Keynote speech
Inequality Matters Forum
New York University
June 3, 2004

This is an article which among other things reminds us of our rightous struggles for civil rights and how a lot of us joined the cause and made a difference. We need the same fervor today, as we are beginning to regress, we are losing our rights right along with minorities who are being disinfranchised as we speak

Here's the address, just click on it:

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0616-09.htm

Saundra Hummer

October 29th, 2004, 01:39 PM

Patricia, you asked for the info on the video of GW Bush's "One fingered Victory Salute" here's the address:

It is on Quick time Video, and it is titled: President Bush's One Fingered Victory Salute:

QuickTime video

http://207.44.245.159/video1033.htm

Saundra Hummer

October 29th, 2004, 02:04 PM

At the Crossroads of America

The Calling of our Times

10/29/04 "ICH" -- Throughout history, it is few the men and women who are living at moments such as these, when monumental shifts in human existence can be touched and it's ramificatins seen over the bright sunrays of hope. It is few the men and women in the short sand clock of human civiliaztion whose waking conscious and steadfast courage can propel future generations forward in time, to lands promising and cultures floirishing, in an instant breaking free from the grip of absolute inertia that has hijacked an entire society.

One such moment of human crossroads, which destiny has placed upon our modern civilization to endow us with it's great responsibility, will in a few days time stampede onto the shores of the American empire, testing the confines of our existence in times of great global distress and bitter national national division. At the crossroads of America do we find ourselved immersed, confronted by two most fdifferent paths whose choices will invariably confront the essence not only of all Americans but the citizenry of the globe as well.

Our decision on election-day 2004 will say as much about who we are as what we want to become in short time transforming our destiny to the society that will exist into the future. We are each others' gate keepers, and through the monumental decision we must we must make, make the future course of humanity will take. The referendum of the new few days is as much one regarding us as a society as it is on the presidency of George W. Bush. Do we approve of what has transpired,of what has been commited and of what has and continues to be done in our name? Do we condone all that has been lost, our reputation, our humanity, our nation? Have the last four years been an anomaly, a feak period of time not accepted or sought by the American people? Do the policies of the corporate administratin have resonance and complicity acquiescence among us, or are they to be discarded and erased for our collective conscious? In our answers to these quetions America will thus come to be defined.

click on the address below to see the rest of this article.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article7173.htm

Subscribe to a great news letter by writing to: emailtom@cox.net

Saundra Hummer

October 29th, 2004, 03:55 PM

Here is an article about a whisleblower and why it seems the administration and Bush himself is so strong in his fight against "Whistleblowing"

They do need our support and help as is being requested of us on other posts here on AAJ.

Here's the address to the article on one womans struggle and her efforts to do what is right and rightious for our country.

Here's the address:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/printout/0,8816,1101041101-733760,00.html

Saundra Hummer

October 29th, 2004, 04:18 PM

I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts: Abraham Lincoln.

This seems to go to that point in my opinion: Since it has been lost at home in many cases, perhaps it is our schools and teachers who should be entrusted with teaching us ethics; their importance; what it is they are all about.

How is it that the sons of a president have so little of what we think of as ethical behaviour? So little regard for the truth? Such a lack of fair play, of compassion, of good works, of being capable of doing the right thing for the right reasons? Did their parents not teach them a thing, or did they learn their lessons well? :shrug: Sandi

Saundra Hummer

October 29th, 2004, 04:58 PM

When even one American-who has done nothing wrong-is forced by fear to shut his mnd and close his mouth-then all Americans are in peril: Harry S Truman

Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who want to be their own governors must arm themselves, with the power which knowledge gives: James Madison.

=

Faharenheit 9/11 the movie

I don't know if this is free or not, as I haven't looked into it. So far there have been clips of video's that you are charged for should you want to order one, or there are just entire video's for free viewing, not sure how they are doing this one. Hope it's free!

Watch it Online at this address, just click on it.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info1035.htm

Saundra Hummer

October 29th, 2004, 07:56 PM

Well, we finally took our absentee ballots in to the drop site here in our little rural community, and now we are concerned about them, as there is something that has changed, they are no longer made in the same way, so I am hoping that there is honesty in our officials and here's why. They have changed the "secrecy envelope" entirely, and it isn't sealed on each end.

The envelope now unfolds like a letter, it has the flap that most envelopes have with glue on it, then it unfolds, and there are two flaps on the sides, one on each side. It unfolds to the size of a piece of typing paper. When you fold up the envelope and insert your ballot, the sides aren't sealed, anyone can get the ballot out. The envelope now has a perforated flap that can be pulled on to open the envelope without messing withthe glued down flap. I do hope that there is honesty at the polls as the secrecy envelope is no longer very secret, it is ripe for tampering as are the electronic voting machines.

At least we have voted, it is done and over with, now we'll have to sit back and watch the swing states and Florida and see how messed up that becomes. The stories out of Florida, and Ohio are disturbing to say the least. Other states are in a bad state as well, but those two places seem the most blatant in their abuses of voters rights. Another election down the tubes????

Saundra Hummer

October 30th, 2004, 11:27 AM

:angry3: :rant2: :angry3:
Bush Seeks Limit to Suits Over Voting Rights

October, 30, 2004

Administration Lawyers argue that only the Justice Department, not the voters, may sue to enforce provisions in the Help America Vote Act.

Summary: Days before the election the justice Department has taken steps to bar individual voters from suing over infringements to their voting rights. This marks a "philosophical shift" from the :tearhair: :rant2: :rant2: :tearhair: longstanding protection of private rights of action. Meanwhile, over 1000 federal workers have been dispatched to monitor and observe the election in 25 states. (Posted by silverback)

How many more rights are we going to allow this administration to rob from us? This is a terrible thing they are attempting. Our rights mean doodley squat with these men and women, and they want to take more and more of our rights away from us. When they do, what will we be? Will be considered a Democracy??? Will the revolution be televised?

Here's the address, just click on it!

http://www.guerrillanews.com/headlines/headline.php?id+89

Saundra Hummer

October 30th, 2004, 11:41 AM

Networks Refuse to Air Soldier Ad

Friday, 20 October, 2004

Hiding the reality of war.

By Operation Truth: Republished from Operation Truth

Summary: Earlier in the year, Sinclair Broadcsting ordered it's stations to not run an edition of ABC'S Nightline, which featured the reading of the names of fallen U.S. soldiers. Now a non-partisan, pro soldier activist group is having trouble getting an ad featuring a wounded soldier on the air. Operation Truth executive director Paul Ricebkoff told Gnn, "the bottom-line is there are some networks who don't want to hear the truth becuase the truth is a little too abrasive for people to handle. But the soldiers have dealt with this truth, their families are dealing with this truth, and the rest of America at least needs to begin to understand this. Our ad is a wake-up call and the fact that some networks don't want to air this is extremely troubling." {Posted by anthony}

Here's the address, just click on it

http://www.guerrillanews.com/headlines/headline.php?id=83

Saundra Hummer

October 30th, 2004, 11:58 AM

:soapbox
REPUBLICANS PRESSED TO HALT VOTE SUPPRESSION EFFORTS

SAT. OCT. 30, 2004
BY JIM LOBE
PUBLISHED FROM OneWorld.net

With election coming down to the wire, a move to thwart GOP tactics.

Summary: With the election coming down to the wire, election activists are working overtime to stop what many are saying is an effort by the Republican Party to suppress the Democratic vote. Is our vote going to count? It may come down to how hard activist groups like Global Exhchange fight to make sure it does. {Posted by anthony}

Read the complete story, by clicking below:

http://www.guerrillanews.com/headlines/headline.php.?id=90

Saundra Hummer

October 30th, 2004, 12:13 PM

OSAMA'S ELECTION EDITORIAL

OCTOBER 30, 2004

TANNED, RESTED AND CLOWNING BUSH. WHAT DOES OSAMA WANT?

SO THE BASTARD IS STILL ALIVE.

SUMMERY: It was out of Austin Powers, the evil, cave-dwelling arch-villian issuing a videotaped statement to the American people. In his latest dispatch, Osama bin Laden calmly explained why American foreign policy has led to his attacks against innocent American people. For the first time, took credit for 9/11, ridiculing George Bush for allowing the attacks to succed so easily. Is bin Laden's message to America a backhanded endorsement of Bush (if bin Laden wants Bush out, then shouldn't we want him in?), or an attempt to help defeat him? {Posted By anthony}

W've also heard it said, with Bush in office, bin Laden can recruit more and more men and women to his cause. He needs him in office to grow like he would like. He, GW Bush, is that hated around the world. :mad2:

Here's the address for the complete article

http://www.guerrillanews.com/headlines/headline.php?id=91

Saundra Hummer

October 30th, 2004, 03:17 PM

The world is just becoming stranger and stranger, and with communications as they are, satellite tv, the internet, and internaional telephone calling available, we are able to find out things at a moments notice, and here's an odd thing I found on Albasrah.net, (and it is so strange), they have a link up to Al Jazeera, in which they are calling Osama bin Laden Bush's business partner. Unbelievable.

Then there is an article where a man who was a maintainance worker in the Twin Towers is suiing the US government for being in collusion with the terrorists. I know we are living in strange times, and there isn't much this administration isn't capable of, but as much as I detest what they have done, and what they're doing, I don't believe any of this for a moment.

Interesting to see, nevertheless.

Here's the address, just click on it, however this site comes and goes,as it's been shut down in the past:

http://albasrah.net

=======

then here's the article about bin Laden:

http://www.propagandamatrix.com/index.html

This to me is just so much of what they say, propaganda. Or it seems to be, I haven't read all of it.

======

Here's another link directly to the article above. The claims with this story are over the top, way over the top, saying it is right on cue, in time to influence the elections, that bin Laden is dead, and has been for a long time, that this video is a composite, pieced together, and is being fed to us by the administration! :frown2: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :frown2: Here' the link to it:

http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/october2004/291004binladenappears.htm

=======

Then there is an article saying that Bush wants a draft. :eek2:

Here's the address, just click on it:

http://www.bushdraft.com/proof.html

alankin

October 31st, 2004, 05:52 AM

Saundra Hummer

October 31st, 2004, 09:34 AM

It turns out that most of the stations ran the Nightline episode anyway.

See Ted Koppel (http://freshair.npr.org/day_fa.jhtml?display=day&todayDate=10/28/2004)'s interview on NPR's Fresh Air (http://freshair.npr.org/day_fa.jhtml?display=day&todayDate=10/28/2004) last Thursday (10/28).

Probably because of the stink everyone raised. Great! Our complaints being backed up by Nightline is a big help.

Too abraisive? Since when do we need to be shielded from the truth? We need to know it and, the tragedy of it, to be able to make informed decisions as to where we want this country to go and, why. Do people want to believe, or do they believe war is just names and, numbers? If so they are insensitive and, they're delluding themselves.

Thanks for the links!

I saw the author of "Without a Doubt", the newspaper article, on Nightline, and he was so much more circumstpect on television than in print, so much so that I was surprised.

I have that artlcles link posted here a few posts back, and it was interesting, and I thought while on Nightline he might go into the same subject with a little more depth, but didn't, however, it was still interesting to see.

Here's a link for all kinds of topical information, just click on it:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info

Saundra Hummer

October 31st, 2004, 01:57 PM

Syria under Bashar Asad: Modernisation and the Limits of
change

by:Voler Perthess

A summary:
Volume 366, July 2004

In the summer of 2000, Bashar al-Asad inherited the presidency of Syria form his father, the long-ruling Hafiz al-Asad. This paper evaluated the capacity of the new leadership to meet growing societal, economic, political
and foreign policy demands.

Halfway through Bashar al-Asad's first term, Syria finds itself in a rapidly changing regional environment. The country is undergoing a process of economic change which in the long run, may add up to a full transformation from etatism to a market economy.

Political factors, however, limit the reach and impact of economic reform. The new generation of leaders has a much deeper understanding of the country's reform needs, but they are not willing to risk their own hold on power. It is unlikely, therefore, that Syria's authoritarian structures, will be dismantled in the near future.

On the foreign-policy front, the first years of Bashar al Asad's tenure coincided with the breakdown of the Middle East peace process, the Iraq war and that conflict's regional repercussions. The Regional geopolitical situation has not made the task of reformation easier - rather, renewed tension in the Midlle East has strengthened the hand of conservative elements in the regime.

This is from " The Institute for Strategic Studies"

This is only a summary, and there will be more on he subject which you can either order through this site, or find more with links or have your local library get it for you.

The writings on this site give a calm evenhanded assessment of the Middle East, and of other hot spots around the globe.

I remember Hafiz al-Asad's son Bashar al-Asad making cell phones and other modern convenieces legal and available to everyone in Syria, these are things which his father had resisted, fearing openness would weaken his and his military's position in the country. His son however was wishing for a bit more modern and open state, but now with the situation as it is, I wonder if he will become the man his father was?
Here's the address, just click on it:

http://www.iiss.org/adelphisummaries.php

Saundra Hummer

October 31st, 2004, 02:31 PM

War...should only be declared by the authority of the people, whose toils and treasures are to support it's burdens, instead of he government which is to reap it's fruits...James Maddison (1751 - 1836)

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War: first, one hopes to win, then one expects the enemy to lose, then, one is satisfied that he too is suffering, in the end one is surprised that everyone has lost : Karl Kraus (1874 - 1936)

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Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted, the indifference of those who should have known better, the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most, that has made it possible for evil to triumph: Haile Selassie

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The victor will never be asked if he told the truth: Adolf Hitler

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To Subscribe To This Site, Just Click Here:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/subscribe.htm

Saundra Hummer

October 31st, 2004, 02:41 PM

The Power of Nightmares Part I

This is a must watch BBC documentary.

In the past our politicians offered us dreams of a better world. Now they promise to protect us from nightmares. The most frightenng of these is the threat of an international terror network. but just as the dreams were not true, neigher are these nightmares.

Watch it Now!

http://207.44.245.159/video1037.htm

The Power of Nightmares: Part II - The Phantom Victory

This is a must watch BBC documentary.

The Power of Nightmares continues its assessment of whether the threat from a hidden and organised terrorist network is an illusion. Part two, the Phantom Victory looks at how two groups, radical Islamists and neo-conservatives with seemingly opposing ideologies came together to defeat a common enemy.

Watch It Now!

http://207.44.245.159./video1038.htm

Saundra Hummer

October 31st, 2004, 02:53 PM

Part of 9/11 Report Remains Unreleased, An Inquiry is Begun:

One last chapter of the investigation by the Sept. 11 commission, a supplement completed more than two months ago, has not yet been made public by the Justice Department, and officials say it is unlikely to be released before the presidential election.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/1030/politics/30panel.html?ex=1256875200&enOe28c45fc47dea&ei=5090&partner=rssusertland
:

http://snipurl.com/a719

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War makes democracy a dirty word

As thousands of Iraqis flee to neighbouring countries, as Al-Jazeera television and the internet bring imagies of the killing, looting and social disclocaton into homes around the Middle East, the mood against America and what it stands for is hardening.

http://207.44.245.159/article7190.htm

Letter from Iraq: A matter of survival:

We appreciate your support, but we can't see those yellow ribbons from here.

http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041028/
REPOSITORY/410280355&SearchID=73188412774667
:
htp:/snipurl.com/a71d

Saundra Hummer

October 31st, 2004, 03:05 PM

In the news letter from Information Clearing House today, there is an unbelievable amount of news about the situation in Iraq, and of Prime Minister Blairs wife's accusations against Bush, concerning the abuse of prisoners, some of whom are British subjects. Lots and lots of other current topical articles, there are also some revealations, and some great quotes.

There are articles on bin Laden, and so much more. :yeahthat:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info

Saundra Hummer

October 31st, 2004, 06:02 PM

Here's another site from the U.K., called NewsNow: Behind the News

it searches news sources every 5 minutes, a great site, featuring many American reporters.

One article is:
Ronald Brownstein: Why 'This Is About Bush' truthout 00:42

Elanor Clift: Ending the Fantasy

Le Monde: The American Choice

William Rivers Pitt: Stand, Be Counted, Vote

Envioronment Could Prove Decisive in Senate Races

Ex-Soldier Resists Backdoor Draft into Iraq war

Reporter saw Insurgents Loot QaQaa Arms Depot

Top Officer Objected to Halliburton Deal

9 Marines Killed in Iraq Car Bombing

Greg Palast: Voter Claim Abuse of Electoral Rolls

Kerry Pounds Bush for Failing to Get bin Laden

These are just the latest stories from the last 5 minutes. It is 4:57 Pacific Coast Time, Halloween!

Here's the address, just click on it:

http://www.newsnow.co.uk./newsfeed/?name=Behind+the+News

Saundra Hummer

October 31st, 2004, 06:23 PM

We are living in a world gone mad. Three more people have been killed by the people in Iraq who would scare us out of their country. This is the most disturbing turn of events since 9/11. Everyone is a victim, the Iraqi's, and foreigners in their land. We bomb, they bomb, we bomb, they behead.

Now from the Common Dreams Newscenter comes this story from the San Francisco chronicle

The EPA Plan to Study Pesticides' Effect on Kids Spurs Backlash within Agency.

Poor families may join just to get the perks, staff fears
by Juliet Eilperin

The thought alone is criminal, but to plan it out, is immoral and I believe anyone behind such a plan should resign. This is a travisty and shows you how the poor are thought of in this universe! :rant2:

Here's the address:

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1031-06.htm

Saundra Hummer

October 31st, 2004, 07:33 PM

Here's an address to a site that say Colin Powell is privately telling friends in recent weeks that we are losing the war in Iraq.

Also see "Hell to Pay"

Interesting site with lots of political issues.

Just click on it:

http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/110104V.shtml

Saundra Hummer

November 1st, 2004, 09:00 AM

A site which has discertations on contemporary art, ancient Rome and a story about Sissi, an Austrian Royal who had a strange life, filled with tragic and strange relatives, Maximillian her brother in law was executed in Mexico, and she herself was stabbed to death by a disgruntled anarchist who killed her for no other reason than that of being an aristocrat A strange and tragedy filled family history.

Here's the address, just click on it:

http://ikastikos.blogspot.com/2002_08_01_ikastikos_archive.html

Saundra Hummer

November 1st, 2004, 09:29 AM

"The pre-September 11 mindset"

Bush continues milking national tragedy for campagn purposes.
Ellen Goodman 10/29/04

"Boston -- While we are still in a pre-November 2nd mindset, may I offer my last few words on the "pre-September 11 mindset"?"

{I don't know about you but scare tactics about anything has always been a pet peeve with me. I just cannot believe that the American public (in such large numbers) are so willingley falling for this tactic, one the administration and their spin doctors said they would use throughout their (Bush and Cheney's), time in office, using that ploy to get elected. They said as much and there are records of it in memorandums. I would have thought that the American public would have awakened to the fact that they are being manipulated and used in a way that is hurting us all.
Sandi}

Here's the address, just click on it:

http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?iternid=17988.

Saundra Hummer

November 1st, 2004, 10:05 AM

A quote from the above link's article:

"Now we are led in a dangerous time by a man who calls chaos "Freedom on the march," a president who uses 9/11 as his cover story." :shrug: :violin :shrug:

Saundra Hummer

November 1st, 2004, 10:22 AM

Even Republicans Fear Bush

The Nation.

The Online Beat, by John Nichols

Even Republicans Fear Bush

The most divisive election campaign in recent American history has not merely split the nation along party lines, it has split the Grand Old Party itself.
Unfortunately, most Americans are wholly unaware of the loud dissents against Bush that have begun to be heard in Republican circles. :duel :elephant: :duel

To read this story, click on this address, or go to the Working For Change web site and it will be there as well.

http://thenation.com/thebeat/index.mhtml?bid=1&pid=1960

Saundra Hummer

November 1st, 2004, 10:43 AM

After posting the above link about the Republican discent over Bush, I thought I should type in a couple of thoughts.

Many of the Republicans who are abandoning Bush express sorrow at what the Bush-Cheney administration and its allies in Congress have done to their party: "The fact is that today's 'Republican' Party is one that I am totally unfamiliar with," writes John Eisenhower. But the deeper motivation is summed up by former US Senator Marlow Cook, a Kentucky Republican, who explained in a recent article for the Louisville Courier-Journal newspaper that, "For me, as a Republican, I feel that when my party gives me a dangerous leader who flouts the truth, takes the country into an undeclared war and then adds a war on terrorism to it without debate by the Congress, we have a duty to rid ourselves of those who are taking our country on a perilous ride in the wrong direction. If we are indeed the party of Lincoln (I paraphrase his words), a president who deems to have the right to declare war at will without the consent of the Congress is a president who far exceeds his power under our Constitution. I will take John Kerry for four years to put our country on the right path." :rant2: :angry3: :rant2:

{It will take more than four years to correct the damage, but we will be on a straighter path, a less bumpy road with anyone other than the Cheney-Bush cabal, that is if the Carylyle Group, Halliburton and their offshoots don't sabatoge every effort any one in the Democratic party or in the Republican party who are against what it is they are about, what it is they will be trying to do. Their tasks are enormous, and growing each and every day! Sandi}

Saundra Hummer

November 1st, 2004, 02:44 PM

Our real collective Nightmare: Nightmare Combination: Chief justice's illness and disputed results.

Summary: What's the worst case scenario if tomorrow's election goes to the lawyers? Consider this nightmare for democracy. Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who just disclosed he has cancer, becomes too infirm to sit on the bench; Bush appoints a replacement judge while Congress is out of session; that judge casts the deciding vote to settle a disputed electoral result in favor of Bush. It's not that crazy a scenario, and it might just break this country apart.

Much more to this story, click on this address:

http://www.guerrillanews.com/headlnes/headline.php?id=105

Saundra Hummer

November 1st, 2004, 03:21 PM

This subject has been done to death, but here is an interesting take on the story, and of a smear to discredit an author who was writing a book about Bush, and of being told to "Watch your back!''

Some interesting information about how Bush talked about "The political benefits" of attacking Iraq well before the 2000 election.

This is an interesting article that fleshes out a few more things about the innerworkings of Bush politics, and the people he surrounds himself with, Ms Hughes among them.

Here's the address, just click on it:

http://www.guerrillanews.com/articles/article.php?id=761

Political benefits? How about the problems that are happening there now?

Look at the number of deaths! Of our troops, there are well over 1000, and there are the deaths of the civilian contractors, the women, children, and innocent men as well. The troops, the men, women and children who are dying aren't reaping any political benefits.

How dare he plan such a thing and dress it in patriotism! How dare he and his cohorts who are for this war! We will never forget his transgressions and mendacity!

Saundra Hummer

November 1st, 2004, 04:24 PM

Scott Ritter: The war on Iraq has made moral cowards of us all

I've been saying this for quite some time now, and we need to change. we need to buck up! We need to become what we've always been; champions of truth, of bravery, and lets not let selfseeking politicians and the corporate giants they are serving, as well as the terrorists they are fueling, define us as a people. :yeahthat: Sandi

Here's the address, just click on it!

http://207.44.245.159/article7197.htm

Saundra Hummer

November 1st, 2004, 05:12 PM

GI's LACK ARMOR, RADIOS, BULLETS (AS WE WERE SHOWN ON 60 MINUTES LAST NIGHT)

Davis said his Humvee was armored with plywood, sandbags, and armor salvaged from old Iraqi tanks. (which they scrounged up trying to save their lives)

http://news4colorado.com/topstories/topstories_story_305195404.htm

US ARMY OFFICIAL SLAMS BUSH OVER HALLIBUTRON IRAQ CONTACTS:"The "worst case of contracting abuse she has ever seen."

http://207.44.245.159/article7194.htm

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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

VIDEO: EXPOSED: The Carlyle Group:

"I defy iou to watch this 48 minute documentary and not be outraged abouthe depth of corruption deceit within the highest ranks of lur government":

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3995.htm

Read these other stories when you access the above address, Information Clearing House:

It goes deeper than Bush: The problem may not be him alone but America itself. article 7195

China Faults Bush on Iraq.

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Then here's an address for other stories: China Lays into 'Bush Doctrine Ahead of U.S. Poll -
China Iran sign oil and gas deal
George W. Bush and the 'politics of fear'.
A families debt paid with blood.
To Bush, courts don't matter.
If it's close, the Armageddon election could be about t sink in to a legal purgatory.

http://snipurl.com/ab62
http://snipurl.com/ab68
http://snipurl.com/ab6g
http://snipurl.com/ag6q
http://snipurl.com/ab6z
http://snipurl.com/ab76

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Then there's this: BUSH: YOU'RE AND ASS#OLE

FLASH PRESENTATION -

Warning - Contains some adult language.

http://filmstripinternational.com/

All of this comes from the newsletter from Information Clearing house

to subscribe:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/subscribe.htm

A great site with lots of info, and links to news sites.

Saundra Hummer

November 1st, 2004, 05:26 PM

How can this be?

I just received a news letter from Greg Palast, and it is telling us what we have feared all along, and just how is it that this is being allowed to happen, what have we come to?

Tom Paine.com

Monday, November 1, 200r

It's not even Election Day yet, and that Kerry-Edwards campaign is already down by almost a million votes. That's because, in important states like Ohio, Florida and New Mexico, voter names have been systematically removed from the rolls, and absentee ballots have been overlooked-overwhelmingly in minority areas, like Rio Amba County, New Mexico, where Hispanic voters have a 500 percent greater chance of their vote being "spoiled." Investigative journalist Greg Palast Reports on the trashing of the election.

To receive Greg's investigative reports, click here:

http://www.gregpalast.com/contact.cfm

To see the complete story not just the summary, go to the above site.
Do I ever hope he is mistaken, but if he isn't there should be consequences, like being removed from office, or any job which is a part of such an illegal act, and their ever being connected with politics or govenment from local to the top echelons of power, should be forever forbidden to them, criminals that they are.

Saundra Hummer

November 1st, 2004, 06:49 PM

Well!!!! Some good news out of Cincinnati Ohio!!!

2 Judges Bar Party Challengers at Polls
By Terry Kinney, Associated Press Writer,
November 1, 2004

Two federal judges Monday barred Republican Party representatives from challenging the eligibility of voters at Ohio polling places on Election Day.

U.S. District Judge Susan Dlott said that a black couple suing over such challenges would probably be able to prove them unconstitutional. In a similar case in Akron U.S. District Judge John Adams said it is up to regular poll workers to determne if voters are eligible.

"In light of these extraordinary circumstances, and the contentious nature of the imminent election, the court cannot and must not turn a blind eye to the substantial likelihood that significant harm will result not only to voters but also to the voting process itself, if appointed challengers are permitted at the polls, " Adams said.

The GOP said it appealed the first ruling and would do so in the second.

Republicans wanted to put challengers in many polling places, citing the possibility of tens of thousands of fraudulent voter registrations in a state both President Bush, and Democratic Sen. John Kerry say they need to win. The Democrats argued that such challenges were aimed at intimidating black voters and suppressing Democratic turnout.

Republicans initially said Adams' ruling would allow them to observe at the polls Tuesday, but later backed off that interpretation.

Dlott rulled on a lawsuit by a black couple who siad Republican plans to deploy challengers in largely black precincts in teh Cincinnati area were meant to intimidate black voters.

Adams' rulling came in a lawsuit from the Akron-area Democratic Party, which claimed that the law allowing registration challenges is unconstitutional because it does not give a disqualified voter a chance to appeal in time to cast a ballot.

The GOP registered about 3,500 challengers. The Democrats said they have registered thousands, too.

If the challengers are barred from polling places, the only people under state law who could then challenge would-be voters, would be the four election officers at each precinct, two Republican and two Democrat, or another voter.

Under state law, voters may be challenged on their citizenship, age or residency. Poll workers might challenge someone if his or her signature didn't match the one in the poll book or if the poll worker recognized the individual as someone who did not belong in that precinct.

In a separate case last week, Dlott blocked Ohio's Republicans from holding pre-election hearings to challenge tens of thousands of voter registrations. The GOP had claimed that many of those registrations might be fraudulent, because mail sent to some of those addresses came back undelivered.

Democrats said the GOP was trying to keep poor people and minorities, who move more ofter, from voting.

The list of 23, 000 registered voters became the subject of a federal judge's decision in Newark, N.J.

The judge said the GOP list in Ohio unfairly targeted minority voters and violated a decades-old order prohibiting such tactics. "The public interest is always served by encouraging people to vote, "U.S. District Judge Dickinson R. Debevoise said.

The Republicans in Ohio, however said they never planned to use the list at the polls.

Debevoise was asked to intervene because he brokered a decades-old agreement stemming from a suit by Democrats to block Republican voter challenges in areas of New Jersey with heavy minority concentrations.

That suit resulted in an agreement by the Republican National committee to seek Debevoise's approval before conducting further so-called 'Ballot security" measures in New Jersey or elsewhere. :guitar: :guitar:

Saundra Hummer

November 1st, 2004, 07:29 PM

ALIAS" ALIBI

Hoorya for Open Sourced Media.

2004-11-01

"I'm estatic that GNN has unleashed the power of the commons on cyberspace. Following the lead of indymedia, GNN has pleasantly surprised me by granting us (the masses) with an expanded forum to express our ideas and opinions. Freedom is never quite free though. Those of us who have read and posted and followed GNN for sometime must now prove that our ideas merit the space they have been offered. This experiment in media has the potential to alter the stagnant pool of corporate directed media. We need enought creativity and ingenuity to drain the media cesspool and unleash a torrent of smart, relevant, and interesting imaginings onto the public consciousness. Interest in blogging and open sourced media is already cracking the surface and emerging in conversations at water coolers and dinner tables everywhere. People at Starbucks and Delta Airlines have been fired for blogging-and newspapers have covered their stories. Indymedia's servers were confiscated in England through an American directive. Major media outlets are reporting on it. The interest is growing. The hour is near when anyone can let out a primal scream over digital chanels that can that (? sandi) shake the foundations of distant lands. Our thoughts can transcend borders, and oceans. Use this power for whatever ends you choose. Just understand the implications of this newfound force. Thank you GNN"

http://guerrillanew.com/users/user.php?id=2302

Saundra Hummer

November 1st, 2004, 10:27 PM

This just caught my eye, the story, the idea that "Real Sportsmen Don't Vote Bush"

Amazing!

Here't the reasoning!

Worried there won't be any wilderness left to hunt or fish in, increasing numbers of Americans are tuning out the NRA and turning to Kerry.

by Kevin Berger

This is on Salon, and to read the whole article one needs to subscribe.

Oct. 31, 2004

New Mexico native Alan Lackey is disgusted at how "George Bush's energy policies are running amok" and degrading the natural splendor of his state, and its bounty of elk and deer. A former hunting guide, Lackey, 46 and his family, have been Republicans for generations. An industrious, middle-class businessman -- he , his father and brother now own a car dealership in Raton, N.M. -- Lackey has always identified with the socially conservative GOP.

In 2000, Lackey voted for Bush and Cheney, who were endorsed by the National Rifle Association, as they are this year. At the time like many hunters, Lackey was swayed by the NRA's party line that gun owners' Second Amendment rights were going to be stolen from them in the middle of the night by liberals in black ski masks. Which Lackey now realizes is a crock. Indeed, Sen. Kerry supported the Brady Bill, which placed some commonsense new restrictions on gun registrations, and like President Bush, he backed a ban on assault weapons. But Kerry has stated countless times that he supports the right to bear arms and has no intention of undermining it. (this is all they furnish of the article on the Salon Site.)

Saundra Hummer

November 2nd, 2004, 10:50 AM

The Dubya Reposr

Out on Deranged

Special to The Dubya Report
October 27, 2004

"I think a light has gone off for people who've spent time up close to Bush, that this instinct he's always talking about is this sort of wierd, Messianic idea of what he thinks God has told him to do." former Reagan and Bush Official Bruce Bartlett told reporter Ron Suskind. Suskind's 8,500-word article on Bush's faith-based approach to government appeared in the Oct. 17 New York Times. Based on interview with members of Congress, government officials and others who had met with Bush during his first term, the article aroused the administration's ire by revealing that Bush had bragged to wealthy supporters in a closed meeting that he would announce plans to "Privatize" Social Security soon after his re-election."

To read the entire article and others on this web site click on the following address:

http://www.thedubyareport.com/bushmanstate.html

Saundra Hummer

November 2nd, 2004, 02:27 PM

Here's a bit of an excerpt from the link and article provided in the previous post, from the Dubya Report.

"Plato regarded forms of government as phenomena paralled to the mind of the leader. From that perspective insight into Bush's mental processes may inform analyses of the policies and practices of this administration and his election campaign. If as an individual one does not allow fact to intrude on ones view of the world, it follows that policy initiatives may be named and promoted as if their effect is the opposite of what is actually the case, if one is an agent of God, then fraudulent campaign practices are justified because one's opponents are evil. In Bush on the Couch, psychoanalyst Justin Frank, M.D. turns applied psychoanalysis -- a recognized body of techniques used, for example, by the CIA to analyze foreign leaders in advance of negotioations or crises -- on George W. Bush. The results are extremely disturbing , but provide a consistent framework from which to view Bush's strange behaviour (mannerisms, malapropisms), the systematic decepton employed by his administration, and the efforts of his campaingn to subvert the election process.

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"WE CREATE OUR OWN REALITY"

"In one of the more telling episodes in Suskinds's account he writes of a meeting in December 2002 between Bush and high-ranking members of Congress from both parties, to discuss the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. There was general agreement that the armed forces of some European countries, such as France and Germany, would be unacceptable to either side as peacekeepers, Senator Tom Lantos of California, born in Hungary, and the only holocaust survivior in Congress, suggested that the Swedish army might be more acceptable. (Sweden has what Suskind describes as "a well-trained army of 25,000") "I don't know why you're talking about Sweden", Bush told Lantos "They're the neutral one." "They don't have an army." In his European diplomatic way Lantos suggested that Bush may have misheard him, and that he was referring not to Switzerland, but to Sweden. Bush was adamant. "No, no, it's Sweden that has no army, " he insisted."

There is more to this and then the article goes on to say: A megalomaniac sees himself as the center of the world, the one figure who has all the answers. He tolerates no disagreement, and sees external reality as either threatening or nonexistent. This view stems from a need to triumph over insecurity and fear, to deny and annihilate internal fantasies of persecution and fears of being attacked.

The article is really a report on Bush's state of mind and what it is that drives him, what it is that has and is harming him, and the potential for his coming undone. Where his motivation comes from, his lifes experiences which have formed him into who he is. He has the us-against-them mentality according to the article, and it is the reality based community that he and his administration are against, along with the governments of the world. It's hard not to pity him.

The article goes into this campaign, and the issues we are fearing regarding it, and of how there are already problems arising at the polling stations.

Then there is a list of other issues for you to see GW Bush's postion and record on.

=Environment

=Appointments

=Economic Policy

=So-called Foreign Policy

=Health and Human Services

=Educatrion

=Competence, Character, and Credibility

=Political Parties Campaigns

=Civil Rights and Liberty

=Editorials

A lot to read and perhaps it will help us to see more of what has happened and why, and what is transpiring now, and what might be in our future if the GOP ticked is elected.

Saundra Hummer

November 2nd, 2004, 03:54 PM

Secret Afghan Envoy Tells All:

How Bush Was Offered Bin Laden and Blew It.

http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn11012004.htm

The Iraqi ambassador in Cairo, Ahmad al-Iraqi, accused Israel of sending to Iraq immediately after the US invasion "a commando unit" charged with the killingof Iraqi scientists.

http://207.44.245.159/article7199.htm

Iraqi Girl Blog. Some Terrorists...

So Umm Ahmed is one of the terrorists who were driven from teh city. Should her husband and son die, they will be leaders from Al-Qaeda or even relatives of Abu Mussab Al-Zarqawi himself... That's the way they tell the story in America.

http://www.riverbendblog.blogspot.com/2004_11_01riverbendblog_archive.

http://snipurl.com/acex

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Uranium pollution in Iraq damaging.

http://www.idnews.com/story.php?id=25921

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Much much more on the following site, even the plot of bin Ladens to bankrupt the U.S.

(Why bother, let Bush and his crew have free rein, and he wouldn't need to bother his turbaned head about it!)

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info

If any of the links don't work just go to the last link for Information Clearing House, the story should be there.

Saundra Hummer

November 2nd, 2004, 07:00 PM

Early voting in Central Florida Proves Democrat Claims of Harrassment and Fear. :banana: :wink2: :banana:

Here's the address, this from Doc Weasle.com

Here's the address, just click on it:

http://docweasel.com/css/2004/0413.html

The jury is still out on this one, we will be hearing more I'm sure. :wink2: :banana: :wink2:

Saundra Hummer

November 2nd, 2004, 10:29 PM

Just received a shocking "Breaking News Brief" from CNN. "CNN projects Bush will win Florida" Do you believe it? 9:27 PM Pacific Time.

Let me get my breath back! :eek2:

clave

November 2nd, 2004, 11:01 PM

Saundra Hummer

November 2nd, 2004, 11:37 PM

If the country doesn't go to a uniform balloting (etc.) system for presidential elections by 2008, we're in big trouble...

I don't even want to think about deja vu all over again, and I'm speaking from a non-partisan position. I can't believe that Ohio's provisional ballots may well decide this election!!! (and I'm ticked off about it, too.)

Am also living in a swing state, and I think everyone (no matter what their preferences) has had it with being hit over the head (ad nauseum) with nasty, insulting campaign commercials and other tactics.

Rove is a master, read the post over on the other site about his tactics, the one I posted, and read pepperminta's as well. I can't believe the ends to which these men and women will go to to win,win at all costs, destroying lives with whisper campaigns, whisper campaigns of the worst kinds, accusing people of being a pediphile, accusations like that ruin lives. That is so wrong, so very wrong, and this is the man who knew to use gay marriage, the swift boat vets, and fear to put his boy who he made governor into the White House. How can anyone even stomach it? Really it is so smarmy as to be unbelievable, especially coming from a campaign manager who uses religion, gay bashing, and any other fear tactic he can dredge up, and a candidate who claims to be chosen and directed by God. Since when did God have his hand in the till? Look at the no bid contracts and say that isn't happening, someone sure has their hand in as deep as they can go, and since when did God try to destroy good people? Rove has left a pathway of his victims carcasses everywhere he treads, and Bush laps up the gravy. :barf:

Off topic with your post here Clave, but you're so right, we have to reform our voting, we are too big a country to have such diverse and suspect methods being employed by states, counties, and different polling places. There needs to be uniformity, a paper trail and some method to verify each vote afterwards, then maybe we won't feel we are being disinfranchised by these creeps. The most polite word I could find to tag them with! This has been such a shock to find out that voter fraud and manipulation could exist in our country, it is a total shock. We had heard rumors as far back to the Nixon-Kennedy election. We did hear there were votes that were crooked then, but never anything as blatant as Florida in 2000. The Supreme Court, which I always admired, got low and dirty, their image always tarninshed in my opinion, my respect of them is gone and now I believe they are just another political tool. :deadhorse

Saundra Hummer

November 2nd, 2004, 11:49 PM

Here's the link address where there's an article about Karl Rove, Bush's "King Maker"

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200411/green

A bit unsavory wouldn't you say? :barf:

Saundra Hummer

November 3rd, 2004, 10:58 AM

Late on posting this little tid bit, as the election, as we all know is over, but there is a tiny bit of info on slavery and the electorial college, one I either didn't know or forgot. Thought I would post it now even though part of it isn't timely. It is interesting.

I would like to see our election process reformed, and safeguards put in place for states with low populatins and the electorial college abolished, as slavery was, and the one man, one vote process written into law.

Here's the address, just click on it:

How U.S. Election System Works:

Nov. 2, 2004
By Anthony Harwood

WHY does America have such a confusing way of electing its presidents? It's because the racists of the Deep South wanted to hang on to their slaves.

In 1787, when the Founding Fathers met to hammer out a constitution, delagates from the South feared the populous North would win power and abolish slavery.

So they came up with the Electoral College. The parties in each state would appoint "electors" to choose the president depending on the voting in their state. The number of a state's electors depended on its population.

Then the slave owners played their trump card. Each slave would count as three-fifths of a white man.

When America votes today (yesterday), the system will still bear the legacy of racist Deep South gerrymandering.

{A graph is inserted here to show polling results.)

In order for Democratic senator John Kerry to move into the White House he has to win a simple majority - 270 - of the 538 electors. Safely in his "blue" column are the 55 electors of California, the biggest state, the 31 from New York and 12 from his home state of Massachusetts.

Bush will carry the 34 Texas electors and the threes, fours and fives from the sparsely populated mid-west "red" states such as Utah, Montana, and Wyoming.

Maine and Nebraska are exceptions to the "winner take all" rule. Their electors split according to the proportions of voters for each party.

The election will come down to states whose results are on a knife edge. Florida's 27 votes are famously in the balance. They join Pennsylvania (21 electors). Ohio (20), Michigan (17), and around seven others.

Many believe if Kerry takes two from Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, he will be homa and dry.

The election could be a 269-269 tie. The house of Representatives would pick Republican Bush as president.

One other potential tiebreaker is Richie Robb, a Republican who will be one of West Virginia's five electors. He is preparing to be a "faithless elector" and may refuse to vote for Bush in protest over Iraq.

I found this on Information Clearing House this morning, here's their address, just click on it.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info

Saundra Hummer

November 3rd, 2004, 08:49 PM

Another article on Iraq and the plans for it.

The Presidents Real Goal In Iraq.

We were warned and we chose not to listen, or about half of you didn't.

There's the argument floating around out there that so many people can't be fooled, well look back in history and you know the stories there, they sure can be, especially if they want to be, if they don't look at both sides of the coin.

This is an article with links

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article2319.htm

Saundra Hummer

November 4th, 2004, 05:34 PM

Since I can't pull up the other Rove story any longer, I found one that was written by the same reporter, different, but from the same prospective.

It talks about the Atlantic Monthly's story, but doesn't have the detail or the length.

Here's the address, just click on it.

http://www.anninstonstar.com/opinion/2004/as-editorials-1005-editorial-4j04q1948.htm

Rove in Alabama

In our opinion
10-05-2004

Forget Peoria. When Bush political strategist Karl Rove trots out his latest campaign strategy, he does so with the knowledge of what plays well in Prattville, Pell City and Piedmont.

The Atlantic Monthly's latest edition offers a glimpse of Rove's tactics as they played out in campaigns in Alabama 10 years ago.

Writer Joshua Green shows how many of the unsavory tactics Rove is using on behalf of George Wl Bush's 2004 re-election bid were employed by the campaign consultant in Alabama State Supreme Court races during the 1990's.

In terms of results --- and that is what counts above all else in the cutthroat world of politics --- Rove has been fabulously successful, turning what was once an all Democrat court into one dominated by Republicans.

The aftershocks of Rove's campaign style are still felt "Activist judges" and "trial lawyers" are two favorites of Rove. Both buzzwords have lingerd in campaigns here and have been exported to the national stage, where Bush and Dick Cheney liberally season thier speeches with such terms intended to scare voters.

This magazine examines another Rove tactic that would be familiar to voters who've watched the smear campaign launched against John Kerry's heroic Vietnam service.

Rove prefers the head-on style of attacking an opponent at his or her strongest point.

Hence, a decorated war hero named John Kerry who volunteered for the Navy, volunteered for Vietnam and volunteered for service on a dangerous swift boat endured a rough August. Kerry was left to answer if he actually earned his medals. Most making these charges were suppporters of Bush whose Vietnam-era record still contains massive holes.

Rove used a similar ploy against Democratic uncumbent Mark Kennedy in 1996. Rove's jujitsu style meant taking on Kennedy's record of advocating on behalf of neglected children.

Atlantic Monthly writer Green reports: "Some of Kennedy's campaign commercials touted his volunteer work, including one showing him holding hands with children. 'We were trying to counter the positives from that ad, ' a former Rove staffer told me, explaining that some with the {Harold} See camp initiated a whisper campaign that Kennedy was a pedophile."

Rove refused to comment for the article.

Kennedy is quoted as saying, "People in Alabama vote for two reasons. Anger and fear. It's a state that votes against somebody rather then for them."

So, what are we to make from this sordid airing of Alabama's dirty laundry?

First, Rove is managing to expand this fear tactic nationwide as seen recently when key Bush-Cheney campaigners argued that Kerry would be soft on terrorists and that his election would lead to another al-Qaida attack.

Secondly, assuming The Atlantic got the details right, Alabamians shoud ask hard questions of candidtates, especially those running for judgeships who are willing to allow this type of dirty campaigning to be done on their behalf.

And lastly, our citizens might be shamed that such unethical gossip and unconfirmed rumor holds so much sway in this state.

Alabamians are a people who cling so tightly to a high moral standards and brag so requently of possessing upright character. People reading October's Atlantic Monthly have reason to believe otherwise.

This is an article from the Anniston Star

Saundra Hummer

November 4th, 2004, 08:41 PM

What a pity a man who has such a reputation would seek to undo a man who had dedicated a big part of his time and career helping children in need.

This is an inner circle cronie of Bush's and of other political "conservatives" who are willing to do anything to win. Even football has rules governing dirty play. Not politics; a much dirtier game; one which effects more than a few men on a field a few days a week.

I wonder if needy children even enter these mens heads? Do you think they will ever do as much for children as Mark Kennedy? Of course not.

You know, children and the elderly often times don't have a voice, and it is a crime for someone to try to destroy someone who was seen as a strong advocate of the weakest among us, those without a voice, our needest, our children. :shrug: What's a person to do? :shrug:

Saundra Hummer

November 5th, 2004, 09:19 AM

TODAY!!!!!...................LIVE AT CARNEGIE: IRAN--WHAT NEXT?...............

The United States faces mounting concerns abut Iran's quest for a Nuclear fuel cycle as well as the escalating insurgency in Iraq. Listen to a discussion on the prospects for moving beyond the current -- and quite possibly dangerous -- stalemate in U.S-Iranian relations.

The panel will feature presentations from Hadi Semati (link provided on him), visiting scholar at Carnegie, and Abbas Milani, Hoover Institution research fellow. Long time observers of Iranian politics, Semati and Milani will tackle the following key question: Can a policy of engagement offer the United States an effective means of addressing the political and security challenges posed by the Islamic Republic of Iran?

Also speaking, Gerald Seib, Washington Bureau Chief of the Wall Street Journal and Ellen Laipson, President of the Henry L. Stimson Center. Daniel Brumberg will moderate the discussion.

To listen to LIVE at Carnegie, you will need the latest version of Windows Media Player. Click link at left to download.

www.CarnegieEndowment.org/live

There is a download link in the email I just received for the download, but I imagine there will also be one on their site as well.

For those of us who don't know about this administrations stated plans for Iran. There is a link featuring this topic: Carnegie Analysis: Dealing with Iran, if you aren't able to lsiten to the radio broadcast.

Iran is breaking agreements with Germany, France and, Russia, so if sanctions or military actions are used, it should be in conjunction with these countries, and getting UN support would be wise.

Saundra Hummer

November 5th, 2004, 10:30 AM

I just recieved an email from NDA

Here's a link to this organization and in it, it's saying: This debate about where we are going as Democrats is not a new one for members of our community. Planning and investing in a better and more modern party has been NDN's central mission these past eight years.

Since we've written and spoken so much about this subject for so long, we feel it best to use NDN as a central hub for this conversation in the days ahead. On our blog at:

www.ndnblog.org

You will find a new central thread so you can read what others are thinking, and we're posting interesting things we're finding each day. So keep going back to the blog each day to find more, and feel free to weigh in with your thoughts, or suggest other things to read.

Below we provide links to some of most intersting pieces we've read so far, and I've also included links to some of the most important things we've published here at NDN

So, keep the faith. We've received a tough but not fatal blow. We lost by a single state, not a landslide. We've begun to make the long-term investment needed to take on the modern Republican Party, this information-age Tammany Hall. and despite our anguish this week, we know that the answers we provided this election to our national security, economic, fiscal and health care challenges were simply better than what the Republican Party offered. Their vision is still not best for America, and despite the outcome, 55 million Americans agreed.

========================

Here are names to the link to articles of interst:

Why We Lost, The New York Times, by Andrei Cherny:
http://nytimes.com/2004/11/05/opinion/05/cherny.html

Wiring the Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy, The New York Times:
http://www//nytimes.com/2004/o7/25/magizine25DEMOCRATS.html?ex=1428494400&en=13ada638bbe5410&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt
(not sure this address is correct, as I can't make out the 5410, it could be a l or a t, ??)

Fighting for the Soul of the Democrats, Time Magazine by Joe Klein:
http://www.time.com/time/columnist/klein/article/0,9565,641110,00.html

The Future of Progressive Politics, New Democrat Network, by Simon Rosenberg. Go the site for this, my computer won't pull up the address with the type of link provided. The same with the next two

The DNC and $100 Revoluton

Meeting the Conservative Challenge

A Commitment to Hope and Progress

Tell a friend and sign up for this news letter!

Saundra Hummer

November 5th, 2004, 11:02 AM

Since none of you believed my "tale" of the jet low flighting and buzzing civilians on horseback, firing off rounds up in the Ochoco's, now we have a story of a F-16 which fired off rounds at a school in New Jersey's Egg Harbor, hitting the roof and the asphalt. Luckily it was 11:00 PM! So these things happen, but the jet thing in Oregon happened twice, (each time I believe it was pilots from the base in Klamath Falls), once with rounds being fired, and once in the Cascades on the Pacific Crest trail, injuring a man and his wife severely, as were the two in the Ochocos Documented, in magazines, newspapers, radio, and on Television. Paul Harvey told of the incident in the Cascade Mountain range involving Cole Steel and his wife. So, still waiting for a response from all of those who accused me of tall tales. HA, it is pretty unbelievable, but it was the attitude that was exhibited that was unbelievable to me, not really called for do you think? :guitar: Okay fellas, it's your turn. :guitar:

Saundra Hummer

November 5th, 2004, 12:15 PM

QUOTE OF THE DAY!

11.4.04

So fellow progressives, stop thinking about suicide or moving abroad. Want to feel better?...Think about how you can lend a hand to the amazing myriad efforts that will promptly break out to help the country recover from what is has done to itself. Now is the time. Don't mourn, organize.

--Molly Ivans

Go to this address to see this and lots of other links to some great quotes in a progressive train of thought!

http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=14750

Saundra Hummer

November 5th, 2004, 12:51 PM

While on this site, read the article by an op-ed contriubutor to the New York Times. It will be on the link to Working for Change in the previouis post.

Truths Worth Telling

by Daniel Ellsberg
Sept. 28, 2004

Here's an excerpt:

Kensington, Calif. -- On a tape recording made in the Oval office on June 14, 1971, H.R. Haldeman, Richard Nixon's chief of staff, can be heard citing Donald Rumsfeld, then a White Huse aide, on the effect of the Pentagon Papers, news of which had been published on the front page of that morning's newspaper.

"Rumsfeld was making this point this morning." Haldeman says. "To the ordinary guy, all this is a bunch of gobbledygook. But out of the gobbledygook comes a very clear thing: you can't trust the government: you can't believe what they say, as you can't rely on their judgment. And the implicit infallibility of presidents, which has been an accepted thing in America, is badly hurt by this, because it shows that people do things the president wants to do even though it's wrong, and the president can be wrong."

He got it exactly right. But it's a lesson that each generation of voters and each new set of leaders have to learn for themselves. Perhaps Mr. Rumsfeld - now secretary of defense, of course - has reflected on this truth recently as he has contemplated the deteriorating conditions in Iraq. According to the government's own reporting, the situation there is far bleaker than Mr. Rumsfeld has recognized or president Bush has acknowledged on the campaign trail.

This is only an excerpt from the article.

Hit this address once again for this article in it's complete form, and while there, check out the political cartoons, and other topical articles.

http://www.workingforchange.com

Saundra Hummer

November 5th, 2004, 05:53 PM

"Of all forms of tyranny the least attractive and the most vulgar is the tyranny of mere wealth, the tyranny of plutocracy" : John Pierpont Morgan.

"I hope we shall crush in it's birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country." : Thomas Jerrerson

"I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavour to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands, and the Republic is destroyed." : Abraham Lincoln

"The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial element in the large centers has owned the government of the U.S. since the days of Andrew Jackson." : Franklin D. Roosevelt.

"Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of State and corporate power." : Benito Mussolini.

We're not a democracy. It's a terrible misunderstanding and a slander to the idea of democracy to call us that. In reality, we're a plutocracy, a government by the wealthy." Ramsey Clark, former U.S. Attorney General.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++
++

ICH: You can't Say That!:

Election 2004: Americans Endorse War, Religious Fanaticism, And State Terrorism

"Speaking the truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act." : George Orwell.
http://207.44.245.159/article7216.htm

================================================== ========

You can't Say That! :

Hello: you are now Living In A Fascist Empire

What a few in America understand, despite the astute observations of millions of individuals around the world, is that we are living in an empire, and we are no longer living in a democracy.

http://207.44.245.159/article7217.htm

================================

You can't Say That! :

Greg Palast:

Kerry Won. Here are the Facts (by the way it is said that Greg Palast was run out of the country for his articles on the Bush Family. Any thoughts on this?)

"I know you don't want to hear it. You can't face one more hung chad. But I don't have a choice. As a journalist examining that messy sausage called American democracy, it's my job to tell you who got the most votes in the deciding states. Tuesday, in Ohio and New Mexico, it was John Kerry."

http://207.44.245.159/article7221.htm
================================

Sheila Samples: The Last Battle

http://207.44.245.159/article7224.htm

====================================

Rusian Observer Shocked by U.S. Election Procedures:

http://www.mosnews.com/news/2004/11/03/russianobserver.shtml

================================================== ====

A four-year nightmare :

It is not anti-American to reject this imperial power

http://207.44.245.159/article7218.htm

================================================== ========

A moral Dilemma.

The evangelical churches became instruments of political organization, ideology was enforced as theology, turning noncomformity into sin, and the the faithful, following voter guides with bibical literalism, were shepherded to the polls as thought to the rapture.

http://207.44.245.159/article 7220.htm

================================================== ===

Religous right relishes chance to push agenda :

Abortion and gay marriage to be targeted as moral crusaders demand election payback.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/story/0,13918,1343992,00.html

http://snipurl.com/afjq

========================================

The depressing reality of this messianic Presidents new empire:

What will he do with his second term? The one thing you can rule out is that he will seek to heal political divisions

http://comment.independent.co.uk/low_res/story.jsp?story=579187&host=6&dir=140

http://snipurl.com/afjr

============================

There is much more and it isn't too pretty of a picture, as there are more deaths and it is being said that Bush will celebrate by putting Fallujah to the torch, Brits are crying out against deaths of their soldiers, so go to the site and subscribe for your own newletter. Here's the address for doing that, just click on it:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/subscribe.htm

================================================== ========

Saundra Hummer

November 5th, 2004, 06:19 PM

Media Cover-Up

This is a story found on Information Clearing House and here is a brief excerpt from the summary, (a summary of the summary.)

This is a two-page summary of revealing accounts by 18 award wiinning journalists from the book "INTO The BUZZSAW", compiled by Kristinia Borjesson. All of these courageous writers were prevented by corporate media ownership from reporting major news stories. Some were even fired or laid off. These journalists have won numerous awards, including several Emmys and a pulitzer. Join in Building a Better World. Spread this news (links to this) across the land.

I don't understand what is happening to our country, it is a mystery as to why anyone would want what is happening to us, all in the name of patriotism, and religion! It is senseless and therefore some believe destiny. I happen to believe if enough people learn the truth and think, truly think about what it is we need to be doing, that perhaps, just perhaps, we can start to make a difference, surely people are capable of this type of reason.

"Media Cover-Up: Leading Journalists Expose Major Cover-ups by Media Corporations"

Here's the address, just click on it and then spread it around. Have a Kiosk in your school? In your mall? Have a large mailing list? Send this information out to everyone.

http://www.wanttoknow.info/mediacover-up

Saundra Hummer

November 5th, 2004, 07:40 PM

Here's another story on Information Clearing House that is controversial and might rate a special link:

Guilty, Disgusted, America : By Ted Rall

11/03/04

New York -- How interesting, Democrats watching the election results at a high-rise hotel in midtown Manhattan commented, that the rest of America thinks it understands terrorism better than we do. New York bore the brunt of 9/11 yet CNN's exit poll found that New Yorkers considered Iraq a bigger issue than terrorism when casting their votes for president. Midwesterners and Southerners felt the opposite, motivated by fears of the unknown--literally, as they are neither likely targets of terrorism, nor did they feel or smell the horrors of that terrible day. Ranking terrorism their number one concern, they nevertheless supported an incumbent for whom the war on terrorism is nothing more than a marketing slogan.
Such astonishing gall! Only women are affected by the abortion debate; only women ought to be allowed to vote on it. The same goes for war -- only the young who fight and die in a war enjoy the moral right to declare it. Terrorism? Please if you live in Mississippi, or Colorado or Alaska, don't presume to talk about, much less cast your vote based upon, our "views" of Islamist terrorism. New Yorkers don't lecture you about hunting. Butt out of our business. Or at least have the grace to follow the lead of New York City voters if, contrary to history or logic, terrorism is your number one concern.

Some New Yorkers, reported the New York Times , said they didn't even know any people who had voted for President Bush. (In both Manhattan and the Bronx, Mr. Bush received 16.7 percent of the vote.)"

In other parts this story goes on to say: A dictator had put himself up for "reelection" and declared war on gays and pregnant teenagers. An Administration whose principals built concentration camps, lied us into two wars and fleeced the treasury to further enrich themselves and their campaign contributors, is getting four more years rather then the forty to life they deserve. Florida 2000 became Ohio 2004, complete with it's own Kathereine Harris, discarded voter registrations and Jim Crow-style assaults on blacks. Most of all the whole thing stunk.

"Successive waves of national exit polls in the afternoon and evening reported that Kerry had a two - or three - percentage-point lead over Bush nationally and in several key states, including Ohio," wrote the Washington Post. On ABC, Charles Gibson said: "The exit polls got it flat wrong."

If so , that would be a first. That's what they said back in 2000, when exit pollsters called Florida for Gore. We later learned that Gore had won Florida, by at least several thousand votes. The exit polls were right last time. This year I trust them more than Ohio's Secretary of state.

The day after a shady election handed to a maniacal buffon, New Yorkers whose dead remain scandoulsy unavenged were in the streets. Civil strife, rage, the fight for decency and democracy -- they were nowhere to be found.

People looked up at the sky, taking in the sun on a crisp fall day. They streamed in and out of the Disney store. They lived their lives. I lived mine. Half a world away, meanwhile, AC-130 planes and tanks bought by American citizens and dispatched on the orders of criminal goons busily declaring themselves a mandate, dropped bombs and shot shells in to a city called Fallujah. "Marine Expeditionary Forces will continue to conduct operations and will not cease until Fallujah is free of foreign terrorists and insurgents." read an official military statement. Issam Mohammad, spokesman for the Fallujah hospital, said that a woman was "badly wounded." A young girl lost her leg.

Here's the address for this article in it's complete form:

http://207.44.245.159/article7223.htm

Saundra Hummer

November 5th, 2004, 10:33 PM

Institute for Public Accuracy

Was the Ohio Election Honest and Fair? :rant2:

Go to this link and read several articles about this subject, by people who feel it was not, that it absolutley wan't fair, and that the Kathrine Harris play book was utilized at every turn.

Here's the address link, just click on it:

http://www.accuracy.org/new.htm

Saundra Hummer

November 5th, 2004, 10:47 PM

The Carol Baker story about us living in a fascist state I'm finding hard to swallow. I can't find it in me to believe her view of 9/11. This to me is stretching the limit of human decency, and even though I think that the administration has lost theirs, I don't think for a moment that anyone in this country would do such as she claims. I didn't read the links on her story, but if she is taking a route such as this to make some sort of point, that it was our actions which caused such murderous acts, I still don't believe her, as this is beyond my comprehension. I see no reason for the terrorists to have commited such cruel acts. Such craziness we have never seen. I don't choose to belive it is our fault or that anyone in our government was a part of it, regardless of the fact that she teaches history. I know lots of people who have struggled to survive, and I know lots of people who have suffered terrible hardships, who have been discriminated against, and they never wanted to hurt people in this way, not ever.

Saundra Hummer

November 6th, 2004, 09:43 AM

A well written article about GW Bush using an earpiece by a man who worked as his interpreter in the White House, etc. when foreign representatives were discussing issues, this being used to give the impression of his knowing the ins and outs of complicated diplomatic concerns. Interesting and informative.

I remember thinking while watching the debates, wondering what in the world is he thinking to make such odd expressions. He must have been trying to listen to two things at a time, or he was trying to block out one to hear the other. He did have such strange looks come over his face at times that he became somewhat pitiful. Now it all makes sense.

He has no direct information, just an educated surmation, knowing that Bush didn't use notes, and didn't read, so he truly believes he has to be being fed some heavy duty information that only an expert, or experts would know, all the while with no notes in front of him. Unheard of really.

I am getting an error message so wrote the webmaster and hope to have this worked out, but follow the link in the Carol Baker story about living in a fascist state, and you will find this story. I must say I don't believe Bakers theory, but this is a good link

Here's the address, just click on it:

http://www.community.democrats.com/forums/discussion.cfm?forumid=170&topicid=139727

Saundra Hummer

November 6th, 2004, 10:51 AM

Jim Hightower America's # 1 Populist

A special Pep-Talk from Jim Hightower.

We've Just Begun to Fight

Going back over this sight, I see there is an archive link to hear radio articles, or you can read them if you prefer, and the ones I've listened to are "Four More Years of What?" and "Conservatives Push for More Big Brother"

I don't understand where these people are coming from, (our politicians), they are educated, they, for the most part, attended top schools in our country, but what have they been taught? How to subjugate all of us? Don't they get the big picture? We will be made to have "Internal passports of sorts if Ms. Miller's idea is implemented, as she is advocating a nationwide identity card, a national uniform drivers license that will only be issued after answering a myrid of questions pertaining to our personal information. It is my oppinion, along with Mr Hightower, that our elected officials are just being carried away with they need to control, and their need to know all. All fear based,in my opinion, but I fear what it is they are doing more than the threat of subversion and/or terrorists. :frown2:

Here's the address and there's an email you can sign up for!

Just click on it:

http://www.jimhightower.com/
==============================

For his radio page, click here:

http://www.jimhightower.com/air/archive.asp

Saundra Hummer

November 6th, 2004, 11:11 AM

There are lots of strange information out in web land, and in our libraries!

Here is a web site that goes into some predicted occurances, one of which is the possibility of $180.00 to $200.00 a barrel for oil, which they say is Osama bin Ladens goal.

We had better be working on alternative sources of energy, renewable sources, not some electric powered car, not the hybrids they are now wanting us to purchase. There are better and cheaper sources I would imagine. But unlike me, not knowing the answers, there are experts and inventors out there that will find them, who will know them when they see them.

"The Saudi's have a saying about the situation, "My father rode a camel. I drive a car. My son flies a jet airplane. His son will ride a camel."

Here's the address, just click on it:

http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/

Saundra Hummer

November 6th, 2004, 12:43 PM

Jim Hightower Radio Archives contain these stories (and others)

The Name Game, concering the naming of sports stadiums.

A Plan for Ceo Pay

"Four More Years" of What?

"Conservatives" Push for More Big Brother

Jobs

Good News on Iraq

The Draft

Why the Polls are Wrong. Hightowers missed prediction who will win 2004

Trumping Trump

Wal-Mart Milks Taxpayers.

Who Needs American Workers

Corporate Government, or a Peoples Government

Fight for Your Freedom to Read

Big Brother Burrows Deeper

More Bioengineering Insanity

Bush Bows to Dictator

Bushites go after Sue Niederer; .......This is a story I didn't see a follow up on, but Jim Hightower has one here on his site, the radio broadcast isn't coming up, as several I've tried haven't, but the text is avaiilable and it is saying this about this lady, Sue Niederer, how after yelling out to Laura Bush during her appearance at a get out and vote for GW Bush get together, she was arrested for yelling out "President Bush Killed My Son." As Laura pattered on about the Heroic nature of her husband's war on terrorism, Ms. Niederer hollered out an uninvited but totally legitimate question "If the war is so essential to our national security, why aren't the Bush Daughters enlisting in it?"...............Here's the problem, since she did say in her grief and anger that she'd like to "rip the president's head off" and "shoot him in the groin area," she is now being investigated and that the vindictiveness of the Bushites is destroying her. Or trying to, according to this story. To tell the monarchy of King George the W to leave Sue Niederer alone, call the White House comment line: 202-456-1111.

To lose a son or a loved one, caused by a war being carried out and started with lies to all of us and the world, a war for monetary goals and power, not for fighting terrorism as we have all been told, over and, over again, would just have to be one of the worst imaginable griefs. We are so sorry for her anguish.

Then I've heard that when you write any letter at all, send a birthday card or Christmas card to any elected member of the federal government, (let alone a letter to a president), the FBI does an investigation into your life.

Run Granny Run!

Going from Hummer to Humongous

The Oops of Electronic Voting

New York's Gooberhead Mayor

The Ranks Stand Tall

Intimidating Florida Voters: This story is amazing, and shows the lengths to which this family will go to insure GW is elected. This is so terrible and so wrong, that there should be laws to protect those it is happening to. All within the law they say. Of course! So is them pooping their pants, but it doesn't mean it doesn't stink! Some changes are in order all across the country.

Missing the Train, Sold out to he WTO

Who Needs a Pay Raise

The orthodoxy of Offshoring is

Walking with Autocrats,

and more. :tanz: :tanz: :tanz:

http://www.jimhightower.com/air/archive.asp?page=1

Saundra Hummer

November 6th, 2004, 01:45 PM

This is an article from the above site, but it is of so much importance that I think you should take a listen and send this into on to all of your friends, whether or not they have school aged children or not. This is just one more way that Bill Bennet is benefiting from this ploy of the administration. He doesn't come up in this article, but he is in line for the dole that education under Bush and Cheney is handing out. This is pretty bad.

The Hidden Push to Privatize Schools. 9/23/2004
:eek2:
Give this a listen and then do some follow up if you feel the need, but this is not anyway to help us stay on top of our game in the world of economics and of haveing an educated work force. We are in for some serious problems if these men and women get their way with our education system. :eek2:

http://www.jimhightower.com/air/archives.asp

The link above isn't working for me so use this one and find the stories when you get on his site.

Try to make sure to listen to the article that tells of new jobs for American workers bacause of outsourcing, it's a humorous look at a serious problem. It's called, .......... "Who Needs Amercan Workers?"

Lots of the articles on his site are entertaining and eyeopening. try this one to see if you can access him.

http://www.jimhightower.com

Saundra Hummer

November 6th, 2004, 02:41 PM

CHILDRENS DEFENSE FUND

THE MISSION OF CHILDREN'S DEFENSE FUND IS TO LEAVE NO CHILD BEHIND
and to ensure every child a Healthy Start, A Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start, and A Moral Start in life and, successful passage to adulthood and the help of caring families and communities.

There are Audio/Video's of featuring speakers etc., lists of publication, Current Press Releases, and Facts and figures "Where America Stands and Movements in America for Children, and Key Facts About American Children.

I feel this is something more of us who have the time and the means should become more involved in. There are differences to be made out there, and if we start with our children, the moon's the limit.

Here's the address, just click on it:

http://www.childrensdefense.org/

Saundra Hummer

November 6th, 2004, 03:51 PM

I keep finding items of interest on Jim Hightowers site, and one is "The Corporate Sacking of Iraq". Disgraceful. The Iraqi's will never stop fighting us with what is happening to them. We are doing more than bombing and shooting them, we are bankrupting them, we are leaving those of them who are left with nothing; they will be totally destitute and, totally dependent on our large corporations largess. Do you think they have ever been that charitable? Not that we've ever seen. He is referencing an article from Harpers by Naomi Klein (sic?) Listen to his audio article and then read her story. Her article appeared in Harpers Magazine, and here's the address, just click on it.

http://harpers.org/

Saundra Hummer

November 6th, 2004, 04:23 PM

:tanz: The interim Iraqi government officially notified the International Atomic Energy Agency that 380 tons of extremely powerful HMX and RDX explosives that American forces simpy failed to secure have disappeared from a former military facility called Al Qaqaa. The explosives can be used to destroy buildings, arm missile warheads, and detonate nuclear devices, and it was generally conceded that the Al Qaqaa cache, which was under seal by the IAEA prior to the U.S. invasion, is the most likely source of the explosives used in the extremely effective roadside and suicide bombs that have been the primary weapon of the Iraqi insurgency. The Department of defense has known about the loss of the explosives for more then a year. U.S. officials have said that the Iraqi insurgency is at least twice as large as previously estimated and that it has "unlimited money." Attacks on Americans in Iraq were up about 30 percent. Transparency International announced that Iraq is among the most corrupt countries on Earth, and the chief contracting officer for the Army corp of Engineers called for an investigation of how Halliburton was awardeed large government contracts for work in Iraq. Fifty new Iraqi soldier were ambushed and killed near Mandali. Margaret Hassan, the local director of CARE Internatinal was kidnapped and later appeared on Televison begging for her life. Pat Robertson revealed that God told him the Iraq war would be a disaster and that he tried to warn Presidnet Bush, who refused to listen. "I mean, the Lord told me it was going to be (a), a disaster, and (b), messy." Robertson said "I warned him about casualties."

President Bush accused Senator John Kerry of using "old-style scare tactics" in his campaign for president, Vice President Dick Cheney warned that John kerry isn't strong enough to win the war on terrorism, especialy if a nuclear bomb goes off in the middle of one of our cities. It was reported that the federal government has still failed to stockpile anti-radiation pills, which can prevent thyroid cancer from radiation in the event of a nuclear accident or terrorist tttack, and that even the distribution study required by the Bioterrorism act of 2002 has not been completed. Counterterrorism officials were still having a hard time finding specific evidence to support Tom Ridge's claim in July that Al Qaeda is planning to disrupt the November election. Absentee ballots missing the names of John Kerry and John Edwards were mailed to Ohio voters. Two Polish Doctors and two ambulance workers were charged with murder for killing patients in exchange for kickbacks from funeral homes. Some Israeli rabbis were calling on soldiers to disobey orders if they are told to expell settlers from the Gaza Strip. The state government of Utar Pradesh in India was investigating reports that the Taj Mahal is leaning. Secretary of health and Human services Tommy Thompson siad that the flu vaccine debachle is "not a health crisis," several states were threatening to jail or fine medical personnael who gave flu shots to healthy people and it was reported that European countries, which prudently avoided depending too much on any one supplier, do not expect to experience shortages. A 14-year old Thai girl died of avian flu, and twenty -three tigers died in a Thai zoo after they were fed infected chickens. Senator John Kerry killed some geese in Ohio and showed reporters his bloody hand to prove it.

There is more to this article just go to the Harpers site to see "The Week in Review", a fast moving bite of the week that was. :tanz:

http://harpers.org/WeeklyReview/2004-10-26.html

Saundra Hummer

November 6th, 2004, 04:37 PM

Okay, it's back to Jim Hightower again, and this is an amazing story about how far advertisers will go to make a splash, a sales pitch. You have to hear this one!

the name of this article is Making a Splash

http://www.jimhightower.com/air/archive.asp?page=2

If the link doesn't work just go to one of the links to his site up above on a previous post, and then go to the archives for "On Air Archives"

These are short little articles that are informative and, entertaining and you can either listen to them, or read them as text.

Saundra Hummer

November 6th, 2004, 06:43 PM

So George Bush is now saying he is going to reach out to Democrats. Why is this? And why should Democrats work with him any longer? How could they welcome this? I don't want anyone I voted for working for any of his plans as they are all and, have been detrimental to the United States. Detrimental to all of us.

I believe that they have worked with him too much already. They have given him too much of what he's asked for all along, except prehaps judgeships. On this issue it seems they found their spines were still with them and they didn't allow him to pack the courts like he had tried to do. I'm sure he'll be able to this term, unless he is kicked out of office for voter fraud or some such thing. He has lied to us, and so why no impeachment for this? We should leave him in office, and allow his words to be the cause of thousands of deaths in the Mid East?

Why is it that now at this point in time, he wants to find common ground? It sounds to me like he has plans of doing some arm-twisting, and some cajoling to push through god knows what? We don't need any of the policies he wants to put in place in the next four years. There are policies apleanty already. We will need to fight him all the way on whatever cockamamie plans he now has in store. It is too late on a lot of things, but we need to try to find a way to undo some of the damage he and his group have wrecked, and to not allow him to tack more onto the Patriot Act. We just cannot add to it by giving him anything that he wants, not a thing.

I can see no good that has come from these men and women,in this administration of corporate puppets, not a thing, zip, nada! We will hurt for years because of their policies and their greed. We as a nation, might never recover, and his social security rape will haunt us forever. They say money for Social Security was drawn out to give Corporate America their large tax refund, so there it is, sitting off shore, never in all likelyhood to be seen again, not with outsourcing that's for sure, most of it will not be invested here stateside we've been told.

Baby boomers read up on all of this, and weep. Your Social Security money in all likelyhood is gone. Hope you didn't vote for Bush and Cheney, because if you did you'll be feeling the hurt just like those of us who knew not to vote for them, and your pill will be twice as bitter when you finally learn you were taken in.

There are more countries the administration (the PNAC, remember Dick Cheney drew it up) wants regime change in, there are already plans drawn up for that occurance, they even have stated their willingness to use nuclear weapons to insure victory, to ensure empire Are we going to let them do these things? Do we have any options? What laws has he (they) broken? Surely there are reams of them, and why can't there be ways found to stop these people from destroying us? They have even layed out plans to carve up Iraq and hand it over to Corporate America, so no wonder the Iraqis are so violent and so determened to rid their country of us, and I'm wondering were we will be next, as Bush says he is going to spread Democracy throughout the Middle East. God help them and us.

Read up on the PNAC and try to sleep the innocent untroubled sleep of children with all of these nightmares in your head. :rolleyes:

Saundra Hummer

November 6th, 2004, 07:49 PM

Again, go to Hightowers web site to hear how Oklahoma's ex-governor is a war Profiteer.

The name of the article is:

Profiteering on America's Grunts. This is shameful, you need to hear this one and see how this turns out.

Here's the address, just click on it:

http://jimhightower.com/air/archive.asp?page=3

Saundra Hummer

November 6th, 2004, 09:36 PM

Things just get stranger and stranger, and tell me that this wasn't us known to the supplier of these machines.

Here is an article by:

Eliot Kleinberg
The Palm Beach Post

Friday 05, November 2004

Fort Lauderdale - It had to happen. Things were just going too smoothly.

Early Thursday, as Broward Country elections officials wrapped up a long day of canvassing votes, something unusual caught their eye. Tallies should go up as more votes are counted. That's simple math. But in some races. The numbers had gone . . . down.

Officials found the software used in Broward can handle only 32,000 votes per precinct. After that, the system starts counting backward.

Why a voting system would be designed to count backward was a mystery to Broward Country Mayor Ilene Lieberman. She was on the phone late Wednesday with Omaha-based Elections Stystems and Software.

Bad numbers showed up only in running tallies through the day, not the final one. Final Tallies were reached by cross-checking machine totals and officials are conficent they are accurate.

The glitch affected only the 97,434 absentee ballots, Broward Elections Supervisor Brenda Snipes said. All were placed in their own precincts and optical scanners totaled votes, which were then fed to a main computer.

Thats where the counting problems surfaced. They affected only votes for constitutional amendments 4 through 8, because they were on the only page that was exactly the same on all county absentee ballots. The same software is used in Martin and Miami-Dade counties, Palm Beach and St Lucie Counties use different companies.

The problem cropped up in the 2002 election,. Lieberman said ES&S told her it had sent software upgrades to the Florida Secretary of State's office, but that the office kept rejecting the software. The state said that's not true.
Broward elections officials said they had thought the problem was fixed.

Secretary of State spokeswoman Jenny Nash said all counties using this system had been told that such problems would occur if a precinct is set up in a way that would allow votes to get above 32,000. She said Broward should have split the absentee ballots into four separate precincts to avoid that and that a Broward elections employee since has admitted to not doing that.

But Lieberman said later. "No election employee has come to the canvassing board and made the statements that Jenny Nash said occurred."

Late Thursday, ES&S issued a statement reiterating that it learned of the problems in 2002 and said the software upgrades would be submitted to Hood's office next year. The company was working with the counties it serves to make sure ballots don't exceed capacity and said no other counties reported similar problems.

"While the county bears the ultimate responsibility for programming the ballot and structuring the precincts, we . . . regret any confusion the discrepancy in early vote has caused," the statement said.

After several calls to the company during the day were not returned , and ES&S spokesman said late Thursday she did not know whether ES&S contacted the secretary of state two years ago or whether the software is
is designed to count backward.

While the problem surfaced two years ago, it was under a differnt Broward elections supervisor and a different secretary of state. Snipes said she had not known about the 2002 snafu.

Later, Lieberman said, "I am not passing judgements and I'm not pointing a finger." But she said that if ES&S is found to be at fault, actions might include penalizing ES&S or even defaulting on it's contract.

There is more to this article, it involves North Carolina:

COMPUTER LOSES 4,500 VOTES IN N.C. Go to this address to read both stories, just click on it:

http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/110704V.shtml

Saundra Hummer

November 7th, 2004, 10:43 AM

Ready for a respite from all of the political seriousness? Some funny, and some bizarre news stories from around the globe. Well, some are pretty serious, but there's some humor here as well.

"eNews - bizarre, humorous, wierd, extreme, controversial, off-beat bews stories" (not a typo, it is down as bews.)

Here's the address, just click on it:

http://enews.ebaumsworld.com/

Saundra Hummer

November 7th, 2004, 01:05 PM

The Jerusalem Post: Analysis: Bush can't escape Mid East, and other stories, this one having dealt with the current situation there involving Yassar Arafat.

McCain:... Bush should broker Middle East peace.

Falluja:... Insurgents attack as US readies strike

India test fires nuclear-capable missile

Iran:... Deal reached with EU on nukes

I'm finding letters written in to this paper pretty intersting, they're worth a look see.

And much more, here's the address, just click on it:

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1099543824938

Saundra Hummer

November 7th, 2004, 08:22 PM

Here I go being a "spoiled sport", but according to an article in Common Dreams, evidence Mounts that the vote was stolen.

Published November 6, 2004, by Thom Hartman:

"Evidence Mounts That The Vote May Have Been Hacked."

"When I spoke with Jeff Fischer this morning (Sat, November 6, 2004), the Democratic candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida's 16the District said he was waiting for the FBI to show up. Fisher has evidence, he says, not only that the Florida election was hacked, but of hwo hacked it and how. Fisher has evidence, he says, not only that the Florida electin was hacked, but of who hacked it and how. And not just this year, he said, but that these same people had previously hacked the Democratic primary race in 2002 so that Jeb Bush woudl not have to run against Janet Reno, who presented a real threat to Jeb, but insteard against Bill McBride, who Jeb beat.

"It was practice for a national effort, " Fisher told me.

And some believe evidence is accumulating that the national effor happened on November 2, 2004.

The State of Florida, for example publishes a county-by-county record of votes cast and people registered to vote by party affiliation. Net denizen Kathy Dopp compiled the official state information into a table, available at:

http://ustogether.org/Florida_Election.htm

and noticed something startling.

While the heavily scrutinized touch -screen voting machines seemed to produce results in which the registered Democrat/Republican ratios largely matched the Kerry/Bush vote, in florida's conties using results from optically scanned paper ballots - led into a central tabulator PC and thus vulnerable to hacking - the results seem to contain substantial anomalies.

================================================== ==

To see the complete article go to this address:

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1106-30.htm

Saundra Hummer

November 8th, 2004, 09:52 AM

Fariness & Accuracy In Reporting:The National Media Watch Group

This is a sight which I believe a lot of you will find interesting, as fairness in reporting is something we hear talked about quite a bit, on this site and out in the real world.

This week it has as stories FROM THE EXTRA! ARCHIVES:
Media's Gay Marriage Consensus: Insider critics charge press didn't play it straight. 9/10/04 by Julie Hillar

Election 2004: Elections and the Media;
Covering the "Caged Hamster" is but one of the articles critical of how the press covered the election, and here is an excerpt. It's the final paragraph of the article: The microscopic scrutiny the press corp pays to Kerry's statements is jarring, considering the obviously lenient attitude journalists takes when it comes to Bush's much more important "flip-flops." A TIME magazine piece (4/12/04) wondered why Kerry's alleged inconsistencies were more important than Bush's. The magazine offered on explanation: "How tight the label sticks depends a lot on the impression voters have already formed, which means that a less well-known candidate can be vulnerable in ways a familiar one may not be." Not mentioned was the rather significant role played by the press corp in determining whether such a label "sticks."
This article goes into more that was happening in the campaign, regarding both candidates, however it does leave you believing Kerry got a bum rap.

Daily Links: Media Views--Media News and Criticism From Around the Web .

NEW FAIR BOOK: The Oh Really? Factor Unspinning Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly

Fair's Fox Archives: Articles and resources on News Corp?/Fox

MEDIA ADVISORY
Action Alert: Bush's Kerry Comments Go Unchecked (10/26/2004)

ACTION ALERT: Washington Post Still Stretching to Find Kerry Fibs.

COUNTERSPIN: Anne-Marie Cusac on voting rights and Dave Lindoff on the military draft

An interesting site with issues we have been discussing and more.

Here's the address, just click on it:

http://www.fair.org/

==============================================
Here's an address for News Corp Fox: Fair Resources

http://www.fair.org/media-outlets/newscorp-fox.html

One archieved article is titled: "We Paid $3 Billion for These TV Stations. We Will Decide What the News Is."

Felons On the Air: Does GE's Ownership of NBC Violate the Law? - Murdoch's Maneuvers, by Sam Husseini.

America's Most Wanted Takes Credit for a Killing, by Jim Gordon.

Murdoch Exploits 9/11 for Kerry Smear (11/1/04)

O'Reilly on Sexual Harassment: In His Own Words

Irresistible Lies: Fox News on White HOuse "Vandalism"
Update: Respons from Fox News Channel
Update: White House Responds to Vandalism Charges, Fox responds to Fair

Fox Reporter on Florida Ballots: Burn them or Shred Them?

Seth Ackerman: Fox News Roundtable

Joan Garry and Urvshi Vaid on Fox Homophobia

Jane kre on Fox Censored Bgh Story

All of this and much much more. Not all of this is recent, but it is topical and is still effecting us and the press.

Saundra Hummer

November 8th, 2004, 10:56 AM

Common Dreams has another article out that is almost comical.

"The New Republican Reality: No Policy Is Too Right-Wing

Conservative Pipedreams Are Suddenly Part of America's Mainstream
by Andrew Gumbel.

Here's a few excerpts, not all in order, random picks: Where should the United States invade next? Iran, Syria, or Cuba? Will George Bush merely slash taxes on the rich even further in his second term, or will he have the courange to abolish income tax altogether? Will gay marriage simply be outlawed state by state or will a much-threatened constitutional amendment come into being?

"I don't know if we're going to abolish the prescription drug benefit (for senior citizens), but we'd like to. It's just an expansion of government," the Republican strategist and direct-mail guru Richard Givuerie said over the weekend. "We'd like to see oil and gas exploration increased in the continental United States. We want a constitutional amendment on marriage. We want the culture of life expanded." (Sandi: I'm not sure if these statements were his thoughts or the current administrations thoughts as I saw a man I believed to be him who believes that the Republican Party has lost its focus, it's base and that they need to fight to take it back, as the policies in place now aren't those of the Republican party he knows and loves, but one which is damaging the country. so perhaps he is playing devils advocate with these comments, if it is indeed the man I saw. He is more levelheaded than this article shows him being.)

The New York Times reported yesterday that Vice-President Dick Cheney was supporting the idea of abolishing income tax and replacing it with a flat national sales tax - a highly regressive notion that would effectively shift the tax burden drastically away from the rich to the dwindling middle class and the working poor. (Sandi: Isn't this part of the PNAC manifesto?)

There is more, much, much more in just this one article, worth a read, regardless of party, as it gives all of us an indication which directions we are heading.

Here's the address, just click on it:

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines/or/1108-01.htm

Saundra Hummer

November 8th, 2004, 10:27 PM

This seems to be a pretty good site!

there are articles on

Iraq War
Climate Change
Peak Oil
Us Imperialism
Plestine
Globalisation
Gender/Feminism
Dalit/Adivasi
India Elections
Communalism
WSF
Human Rights
Economy
Kashmir
India-pak
Environment
Acton Alert
Gujarat Pogrom
Arts/Culture
Archives,
Links

Here's a lesson Karl Rove learned well. An article: Electronic Prophets by Greg Guma Religous Right broadcasters long ago learned an important lesson: Repeat almost anything often enough and many people will believe you--even if it leads them to act against thier own interests. A 1996 article which is even more relevant now.
================================================== ======
Columbia: who is Committing the Abuses? By James J. Brittain

For more than four decades, Columbia has been in te grip of a civil war between the people and the state. The state sponsored paramilitary forces surreptitiously cooperate with the military to attack oppositional social organisations created by the people.
================================================== =====
There's a lot more to this site!

Here's the address, just click on it:

http://www.countercurrents.org/

Saundra Hummer

November 9th, 2004, 10:35 AM

I have this article posted in another post, but will post it here again, as it is important.

The name of the article is:

AMBITIONS OF EMPIRE: THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION ECONOMIC PLAN FOR IRAQ (AND BEYOND)

There's a breakdown of events and lists of orders Such as Bremer order #12:

Trade Liberalization. On June 12 Bremer signed teh "Trade Liberalizatin Policy suspending a until December 31, 2003 "all tariffs, customs duties import taxes, licensing fees and similar surcharges for goods entering or leaving Iraq, and all other trade restrictions that may apply to such goods." BearingPoint's Plan makes clear that this ORder is just the beginning - it sets an amazing Frebruary 2004 target date for preparation of an applicatin for Iraq to join the WTO. Of course, Iraq's laws must be fundamentally altered (as detailed by BearingPoint) in order to meet WTO obligations. The Bush Administration has out-lined an identical plan for the entire region. On May 9, 2003, President Bush announced plans for an U.S> -Middle East Free Trade Area (MEFTA) by 2013.

IN speech on June 23, 2003 in Jordan, US Trade Representative Zoellick described teh Mefta as "a region-wide commitment to open trade with the United States" with the following components:

1) The U.S. will actively support WTO membership for those "peaceful" countries in the region that seek it.
2) The U.S. will offer to negotiate Trade and Investment Framework Agreements (TIFAs) which establish a work program to expand trade and resolve outstanding disputes. The TIFAs will specifically "encourage private sector participation through business concils that drive trade agendas and help us address the specific concerns of business."
3) The U.S. will offer to negotiate BITs it in each country.
4) The U.S. will negotiate comprehensive fee trade agreements "which remove all barriers to trade across all sectors - with the aim of expanding the bilateral FTAs into "sub - regional" Ftas by mooring other interested and qualified countried int he safe harbors of existing free trade agreements."
5) These agreements will be melded into one "historic" regional MEFTA.

The Middle East insulated by oil revenue, has historically been less susceptible than other regions to the extreme sacrifices required by governments under corporate free trade agreements. But with the invasion and occupaton of Iraq, the Bush Administration demostrated that it will defy global public opinion and the United Nations to use military force when and where it deems necessary. Thus, it can now return to the more traditional model of advAncing corporate globalization, the free trade agreement.

The Bremer Orders and the BearingPoint plan are not merely temporary fixes for a country under occupaton: they are designed to permanently revolutionize the Iraq economy, yanking a state-run system into a mode for global corporate capitalism by U.S. Fiat. Iraq is only the beginning.
================================================== ========

All in all, this at first glance doesn't seem like much, like it might be a sensible solution to Iraq's economic woes, but read the complete article and go to other sites and see more about "The Plan" and you will see that this is wrong and it is going to cause severe problems around the world. It really does take seeing the complete article to grasp the implications of our plans for Iraq and the whole of the Middle East.

Here's the address, just click on it

http://www.globalpolicy.org/

my computer isn't pulling up the complete address, will have to get it later

Saundra Hummer

November 9th, 2004, 12:39 PM

:clap: :clap: :clap: "Power Conceeds Nothing Without A Demand. :clap: :clap: :clap:

:thewave It never has and it never will." :thewave

........................Frederick Douglass...........................

Saundra Hummer

November 9th, 2004, 12:54 PM

NO STOLEN ELECTIONS!

"POWER CONCEDES NOTHING WITHOUT A DEMAND. IT NEVER HAS, AND IT NEVER WILL."
--FREDERICK DOUGLAS

This quote is from Nov3.us

Pledge of acton to Stop a Stolen Election

Check out the signatures who have signed onto this action.

Read their plans, their article:

Here's the address, just click on it!

http://www.nov3.us/index.php
================================================== =======
Well, you know, after the 2000 Supreme Court decision, no wonder there are millions of us who just don't accept what the counties with Diebold voting boxes are telling us, what the states with these boxes are telling us, (or those counties and states) with other hackable boxes, and programable boxes are telling us. Why should we? We weren't leveled with in the past and we feel we aren't being told the truth once again! Call us spoiled sports and cry babies, I think we are realists, the facts have spoken for themselves.

Saundra Hummer

November 9th, 2004, 02:05 PM

Here's more activist web site addresses, some look pretty intersting, and there are some with an agenda, which is to stop the fraud, and one with links to a university that investigates censorship on the news, how important stories are not allowed to run. Interesting items all over the web, it is a treasure trove, not just political but historical items, the arts, just everything imaginable and then some. Lets hope it stays open and free!

Here's some addresses, just click on them: :cheers :welcome: :cheers

http://www.billionairesforbush.com/index.php

http://www.beyondvoting.org/

http://www.leftturn.org/

http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/irqindx.htm
the above link is a wealth of information on Iraq.

Oil and the Iraq Crisis
Sanctions against Iraq: Post-War Iraq...-...Occupaton and Rule in Iraq...-...Corporate Contracts adn Reconstruction Towards Iraq's Government...-...Development Fund for Iraq...-...Humanitarian Crisis..l.-...Justificatins for War...-...Oil in Iraq...-...US Arm-Twisting...-...War against Iraq...-...Iraq Tribunal...-...War and International Law...-...Consequences of the War...-...Movement Against the War and Occupaton...-...
================================================== =======
Historical Background...-...Weapons Inspections...-...Saddam's Regime...-...No-Fly Zones...-...Links and Resources...-...Documents...-...General Articles...-...Media Coverage

:thewave Lots of information in these articles. :thewave

Saundra Hummer

November 9th, 2004, 04:32 PM

...............................................EMP IRE............................................... .

The United States is the most powerful nation in the world and it often acts unilaterally, but is it an Empire? Though some insist that "empire" means only direct rule over large-scale conquered territory, the United States today looks decidedly imperial. The term empire has entered common usuage, not only among critics but also among advocates of muscular US policy and global superiority. Economist Niall Ferguson has written about the British Empire as a lesson-book for contemporary US power. Influential Washington neo-conservatives are using the E-word freely, insisiting that the United States is the world's most benelvolent nation and that it should use its imperial power robustly to expand "freedom" across the globe. This section considers not only the utility of the Empire concept but also the way in which the United States (empire or not) deploys its economic, political and military power globally, limiting the force of international law, shrinking the capacity of international organizations, and reducing the possibility of multilateral acton and democratic self-governance in an increasingly interdependent world. We ask also: what limits will this empire encounter, can it sustain "full spectrum dominance" for the forseeable future or will it provoke such broad opposition that its era of hegmony and prosperity comes swiftly and decisively to a close.

Click on this site and read these appendages to this summary.

General Analysis...-...Military Expansion and Intervention...-...Economic Expansion...-... US, UN and International Law...-...9/11: Causes, Repercussions and Consequences...-..."War on Terrorism"...-...Humanitarian Intervention?...-...Media...-... Evolving Empire...-...Tables and Charts...-...Bibliography...-...Links and Resources.

This is a very interesting site and will explain to others our pessimestic outlook, as the policies the administration is determined to carry out could be so frightening and angering to the world that our long held isolaton from attack from nations here in the continential U.S. could end in the blink of an eye. We are upsetting the world. :angel

Here is the address, just follow links to the web of what is he Middle East, Terrorism, Corporate Greed and actions, the War, and on and on it goes:

http://www.globalpolicy.org/empire/empireindex.htm

http://www.globalpolicy.org/securityissues/iraq/after/2004/0120/ambitions.htm

Saundra Hummer

November 9th, 2004, 05:20 PM

..................................IT'S ThE PEOPLE STUPID!....................................

It's the People Stupid: by Jerry GHinelli

"Good Americans" are repulsed by a couple of gays holding hands in public, but not by the severed limbs and destrucition of a poor and impoverished people in an illegal and immoral attack on a country that was never a threat to the fiercest military machine in the history of the planet Earth.

http://207.44.245.159/article7246.htm

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Eyewitness Report From Fallujah: 'Watching tragey engulf my city':

http://207.44.245.159/article7256.htm

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"I got my kills...I just love my job":

For many American soldiers the opportunity to avenge dead freinds by taking a life was a moment of sheer exhilaration.

http://207.44.245.159/article7258.htm

I find the title to this article and it's contents disturbing. What have we done to these young men? We are turning them into avenging killing machines. No one should be being made to have these thoughts swimming in their souls.

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:secret THIS IS A MUST LISTEN INTERVIEW!

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

http://207.44.245.159/article7253.htm

This is shocking, although business as usual for corporate run America, the
United States!

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Video: Mosaic: World News Reports From Middle East TV for 11/08/04:

The nations only uncensored compilaton of daily television news reports from more than 15 countries in the Middle East. QuickTime Video.

http://snipurl.com/aiqp

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Worse then 2000: Tuesdays Electoral Disaster:

We just edited an election, and it took us 90 seconds"" Any system that makes it this easy to steal or corrupt an election has no business being anywhere near the votes on election day.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/110804A.shtml

I read a report that a safer cheaper method was put in front of election officials in Florida, one which was not hackable and 1/8th of the price and they for the most part chose the ones that were 8 times more expensive. Tell you something? It should at least around suspicion. :secret

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The New Republican reality,: no policy is too right wing:

Where should the United States invade next? Iran, Syria or cuba? Will George Bush merely slash taxes on the rich even further in his second term, or will he have the courage to abolish income tax altogether?

http://207.44.245.159/article7248.htm

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:) There are many more stories on this site and they have a great news letter which furnishes links to these stories. :)

Saundra Hummer

November 9th, 2004, 07:15 PM

"BUSH CAN RUN, BUT HE CANNOT HIDE FROM THE CONSTITUTION"
BY RAMSEY CLARK

11/O9/OR

"ICH" -- President Bush can run, but he cannot hide from the Constitution of the United states. The election does not pardon the President for past, or future "high Crimes and Misdemeanors."

IMPEACHMENT is not a partisan political issue. The House of Representatives, possessed of the "sole power of impeachment," is required to consider a bill of impeachment on the facts even if every Member were of the same party, or political persuasion, as the President. The seven specific provisions of the Constitution setting forth the powers and duties of the congress in considering impeachment intend that any President or other civil officer of the United States who has committed a high Crime or Misdemeanor" ...shall be removed from Office."

The power of impeachment assures the people against criminal acts and despotic ambition by govenment officials.

We, the People have the power to require the House of Representatives to do it's duty and act on a bill of impeachment after full investigaton and consideration. It it fails to do so those House members who failed to perform this Constitutional duty can and should be voted from office. Remember that President Nixon resigned under threat of impeachment for Watergate less than two years after his landslide reelection in 1972.

Impeachment is Imperative.

For the American people who support and defend the Constitution of the United States, who want to prevent further crimes by a lawless administraton, who believe we can redeem our country in the eyes of those we have assaulted and those who have witnessed this brutality and who dare to demand of tfuture government leadership, NEVER AGAIN, Impeachment is Imperative. A decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that Americans should declare the causes which impel us to impeach.

There is much more as to the reasons and there is an email form to sign the petition to impeach.

Here's the address to read the article, just click on it:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article7265.htm

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Here's the address for the form to sign, just click on it:

http://www.votetoimpeach.org/

They are asking you to join the over 466137 who have already voted in the referendum to Impeach Bush.

Saundra Hummer

November 10th, 2004, 09:04 AM

Over A Barrel by Paul Roberts Nov./Dec 2004 Issue

Experts say (as noted in above posts with addresses to "The Peak") we're about to run out of oil. But we're nowhere near having another technology ready to take its place.

Here's the address, just click on it:

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2004/11/10_401.html

Saundra Hummer

November 10th, 2004, 09:16 AM

This article deals with the road this administration is taking us down. The world isn't too happy with us and this is understating the fact. We are putting ourselves in harms way with our imperialistic bent.

Mike Davis is the author of the following article from MotherJones.com News

Apocalypse Denial

Check out the "White House Rodeo"

Introduction by Tom Engelhardt

Here's the address, just click on it:

http://www.motherjones.com/news/dailymojo/2004/11/11_513.html

Add this site for a different slant on the news:

http://www.tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml

Saundra Hummer

November 10th, 2004, 09:49 AM

.....................................NO CARROTS, ALL STICK..................................

by Dilip HIro

"We had to stop some operations until the [U.S} elections were over," said a senior Iraqi Defense Ministry official who requested anonymity because he's not an authorized spokesman. "The Iraqi government requested support from the American side in the past, but the Americans were reluctant to launch military operatons because they were worried about American opinion. "Now their hands are free." (Jonathan S. Landay and Hannah Allam. Bush expected to move quickly on Iraq(link available) Knight Ridder)

{Iraq is} a huge strategic disaster, and it will only get worse...The idea of creating a constitutional state in a short amount of time is a joke. It will take ten to fifteen years, and that is if we want to kill ten percent of the population." {Lt. Gen. William Odom,Director of the National Security Agency 1985-88]

So let the madness begin.

In his first post-election press conference(link provided), our President said, "You asked, do I feel free. Let me put it to you this way: I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it. It is my style...and I'm going to spend it for what I told the people I'd spend it on, which is-you've heard the agenda: Social Security and tax reform, moving this economy forward, education, fighting and winning the war on terror."

So brace yourself because we are evidently on the eve of the spending of more than a little of that "capital" in Falluja. As I write, perhaps 10,000 American troops are at the edges of that recalcitrant city in the heartland of Sunni Iraq, supported by small numbers of recently trained untrusted Iraqi troops who are meant, in that classic American phrase, to put an 'Iraqi face' on the American battle to come. No news reports on these new Iraqi troops seem complete anymore without a quote from a skeptical American (quote available in complete article) "These people", says (Marine Sgt.} Scarfe, 'will let us walk right to our death." And almost all reports out of Iraq indicate that these troops like the Iraqi police are thoroughly infiltrated by the insurgents. ("The infiltration [link] is all over, from the top to the bottom, from decision making to the lower leverls, " says (a) senior Iraqi official.") In fact, just this weekend reports have surfaced that a Kurdish officer (link) in the Iraqi security forces, briefed on the American plans for taking Falluja, has deserted, evidently with his briefing notes but without his uniform.

Much Much More

Here's the address, just click on it:

http://www.motherjones.com/news/dailymojo/2004/11/11_512.html

BUSH VISITS THE WOUNDED (AND STRETCHES THE TRUTH)

Here's an excerpt:

This country takes---asks a great deal of the men and women who serve our military; we're asking a lot of them, particularly in the first war of the 21st century. We put a lot of fine troops into harms way to make this country more secure and the world more free and the world more peaceful. We ask them to face great dangers to meet a national need. In return, we have made a commitment. We have made a commitment to the troops, and we have made a commitment to their loved onse, and that commitment is that we will privide excellent health care -- excellent care -- to anybody who is injured on the battle field.

(Sandi. I remember reports on television to just the opposite) Read the complete article and the underlined links to get the scope of these untruths.

here's the address:

http://www.motherjones.com/news/blog/index.html#5

Saundra Hummer

November 10th, 2004, 11:44 AM

.........................................The Bullies Win...........................................
A sad, pretty little story.

Here's the address, just click on it"

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1109-22.htm

While here, to to the home page, and check out the article, "D is for Democracy....T is for ?"

Read this article, as it ties in with the same thoughts as in "The Bullies Win" article, although it does emcompass more.

Saundra Hummer

November 10th, 2004, 12:15 PM

..................CIA OFFICIAL CHALLENGES AGENCY ON TERRORISM..................

Defying orders to halt his public criticism, the author and former chief of the Bin Laden unit outlines failures in combating Al Qaeda. :secret

This article is about Michael Shceuer, a 22 year veteran of the CIA and former chief of the unit that tracked Osama bin Laden, acknowledged in an interview that he might be putting his job in jeopardy, particularly by discussing details of a September letter in which he cited 10 examples of agency failures to aggressively pursue Bin Laden or otherwise halt the growth of Al Qaeda. :secret

Scheuer decided over the weekend to speak out, he said, because his concerns were being ignored by his superiors at the CIA and by the Sept. 11 commission. :guitar:

"I'm proud to work [at the CIA], and they can say what they want about me, but I have no intention of leaving." Scheuer said. "They may force me to leave, they may fire me, But it's the best place to work that I know of. I'm proud to be an intelligence officer, and I want to stay one." :guitar:

A U.S. intelligence official confirmed Monday that the CIA was reviewing the matter for possible disciplinary action.

"Mike Scheuer is not authorized to speak on behalf of the Central Intelligence Agency." the official said "There are procedures to follow for employee contacts with the press, and he has not followed those procedures."

In July, Scheurer anonymously wrote a best-selling book, "Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror," in which he faulted the way the U.S. was combating terrorism. The CIA soon ordered Scheuer to stop criticizing the agency during public appearances to promote the book.

But he continued working as a seniour intelligence service official at the CIA's counter-terrorism center, a measure of the respect he receives at the agency.

One whistle blower-expert said that Scheuer's decision to publicly defy the CIA was unprecedented.

"I've never seen someone at that level come forward in the way that he has. It just doesn't happen," said Kris Kolesnik, executive director of the National Whistleblower Center.

MUCH MORE:

Click on the address to see more of this article.

Here's the address:

http://commondreams.org/headlines04/1109-09.htm

Saundra Hummer

November 10th, 2004, 12:27 PM

.....................................Another Story From Florida!...............................

........................TampaVote: Dispatches from the Ground.........................

Popular vote? Does everyone believe he won the popular vote? Too much hankypanky, too much subterfuge. Here's just one tiny little story about a short period of time involving only a few people, and we have heard there is much, much more to stories just like this one.

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1110-30.htm

Saundra Hummer

November 10th, 2004, 02:02 PM

Here'a very interesting site and an article "OccupationInc."
This is very interesting.

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War profiteers in Iraq pursue quick fixes and high profits by overcharging for shoddy work, while Iraqis protest that they could do the work better and cheaper.

Here's the address, just click on it. This is a pretty good article, lengthier than some. :(

http://www.southernstudies.org/reports/OccupationInc.htm

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Here is another address for Corporation watching:

http://www.corpwatch.org

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:welcome: This piece was made possible in part due to support from the Fund for Investigative Journalism, the Fund for Constitutional Government, and the Bob Hall Investigative Fund.

Southern Exposure is published quarterly by the INstitute for Soutern Studies a non-profit research and education center.

http://www.southernstudies.org

Saundra Hummer

November 10th, 2004, 02:15 PM

Check out this article about Texas Tort Reform and it's harm.

Ken Lay, CEo of Enron, Richard Weekly, a homebuilder frequently sued for dangerous home construction, James Leininger, who headed up Kinetic Concepts, maker of hospital beds known for dropping and crushing patients, and Jim "Mattress Mac" McIngvale, a furniture store owne who were sued after a 300 pound Lion at his Texas Flea Market mauled an eight year old girl, tearing off part of her skull.

To see the complete article, This is an important article, it's content revealing and upsetting as this is how we are being used, the American tax payer, and people are suffering because of it, and we are going under paying for this type of action. It's uncalled for and needs to be stopped. :yeahthat:

See the article in Common Dreams.com in their "Progressive newswire.

'Texas"Tort Reform" a disaster for Citizens'

*** Investigation warns of consequences if Texas law to restrickt legal penalties, enacted under Governor Bush and held up as model by the 'tort reform' movement, becomes the law of the land ***

A bit late with this story, but it is interesting nontheless.

http://www.commondreams.org/news2004/1025-14.htm

Saundra Hummer

November 10th, 2004, 02:56 PM

.....................................Survivor: Texas Style.......................................

Due to the popularity of the Survivor shows, Texas is planning to do one entitled, "Survivor - Texas Style."

The contestants will all start in Dallas, then drive to Waco, Austin, San Antoinio, over to Houstron and down to Brownsville. They will then proceed up to Del Rio, El Paso, Midland, Odessa, Lubbock, and Amarillo. From there they will go on to Abilene, Fort Worth, and finally back to Dallas.

Each will be driving a pink Volvo :elephant: with bumper stickers that read:

"I'm gay, I love the Dixie Chicks, Boycott Beef, I voted for Al Gore, George Strait Sucks, :laugh: Hillary in 2008, and I'm here to confiscate your guns!"

................The first one who makes it back to Dallas alive, wins!.................
.............................:thewave :elephant: :thewave...............................

Saundra Hummer

November 10th, 2004, 04:05 PM

WAR PROFITEERS

Halliburton Hit With Multiple Lawsuits

Http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11613

Saundra Hummer

November 10th, 2004, 04:35 PM

"The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly...It must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over." Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Propaganda Minister.

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"The process [of mass-media deception] has to be conscious, or it would not be carried out with sufficient precision, but it also has to be unconscious, or it would bring with it a feeling of falsity and hence of guilt... To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just so long as it is needed, to deny the exixtence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality, which one denies ---all this is indispensably necessary." George Orwell in the book 1984

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Like the effect of advertising upon the customer, the methods of political propaganda tend to increase the feeling of insignificance of the individual voter. Erich Fromm, psychoanalyst and social philosopher. 1900-1980

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Half a truth is often a great lie: Benjamin Franklin

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My God what have we come to? Is it to be Kent State all over again? I had put in Penn State earlier this is an edit. Thinking about our founding fathers I suspose, and how they would handle todays world.

This is an outrage, this shouldn't be, and I'm infuriated over this, this is uncalled for, and just not right. On the edge of UCLA Campus, this is where Westwood sits. Next to the military cemetary, with it's thousands and thousands of white crosses, one's which stir your soul to it's depths to see. I have been there to put flowers on a friends fathers grave, and put flowers on other graves as well, along with small American flags.

To have tanks brought up against our own citizens for protesting this illegal war is not something any of us can take pride in. There is just no way.

Here is the story:

Video: Tanks on the streets of LA;

Two armored tanks showed up at an anti-war protest in front of the federal building in Westwood.

http://la.indymedia.org/news/2004/11/118865_comment.php#118868

Saundra Hummer

November 10th, 2004, 06:08 PM

The tank driver says they were lost. They had come for a parade. Instead of taking the off-ramp to the West, they went East. This is evidently all it was, but this was terribly upsetting to hear and I thought the worst. Evidently it is all a big misunderstanding. I would hope it is, that's for sure. Whew!!!

Saundra Hummer

November 11th, 2004, 12:13 PM

.................................THE REPUBLICAN DICTIONARY................................

bY KATRINA VANDEN HEUVEL
November 10, 2004

At least until the draft comes, progressive Americans will not be fleeing en masse to Canada, despite the charming offer of so many compassionate Canadians to sacrifice their singlehood (link provided) to save us from the "cowboy" Bush. (As the New Yorker's Hendrik Hertzberg says (link provided) the Canadians make us proud to be North Americans.)

After all , who is to say Canada is safe from a preemptive strike? Canada's leaders are a bunch of socialists hostile to our president just like the Baathists were. Canada might have hidden stockpiles of WMD, it possesses a natural resource-cheap prescription drugs-(link provided) critical to our peoples's security , and historically-speaking it would be a really bad idea (see Quebec, Battle of, 1812, War of)

No alas, we will stay and fight to retake our country from the forces of extremism, corrupton, and incompetence that have set up shop in the White House, Capitol HIll and K Street. Taking our cue from the venerable military strategist Sun-tzu, (link provided) the first stage of this battle is to understand our opponents, who are as bold as they are devious.

Nowhere is their deceptiom more in need of debunking than in the realm of political discourse, where they have over the last several decades created a veritable Orwellian Code of encrypted language. The key to their linguistic strategy is to use words, which sound moderate to us but mean something completely different to their base. Their tactics range from the childish use of antonyms, "i.e., 'clean' = dirty' to the pseudo-academic use of prefixes-"neo" is a favorite-to the "pernicious (and the very expensive) rebranding" of traditional political labels--"liberal"- as an insult.

We need to break the code by buiding a Republican dictionary. Here's a small list I've put together to get us started. Please feel free to add your own contributions by clicking here. (link provided) I'll be publishing more examples on the coming weeks.

BI-PARTISANSHIP, n When conservative Republicans work together with moderate Republicans to pass legislation Democrats hate.

CLARIFY, v. Repeating the same lie over and over again.

CLEAN, adj. The word used to modify any aspect of the enironment Republican legislation allows corporations to pollute, poison, or destroy.

FAIRER, adj. Regressive.

FAITH, n. The stubborn belief that God approves of Republican moral values despite the proponderance of textual evidence to the contrary.

FAITH COMMUNITY, n. Evangelicals, because they are saved, and hawkish conservative Jews, because they are useful, Israel is the bait-on-the-hook just waiting for God to take that Rapturous bite.

FISCAL CONSERVATIVE, n. A Republican who is in the minority.

FREEDOM, n. What Arabs want but can't achieve on thier own without Western military intervention. It bears a striking resemblance to chaos.

GROWTH, n. The justification for tax cuts for the rich. What happens to the deficits when Republicans cut taxes on the rich. :cheers
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To see the complete article, and the use of links, visit the Common Dreams site, here's the address, just click on it:

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1110-23.htm

Saundra Hummer

November 11th, 2004, 02:19 PM

For those of you interested in Art Pepper and his times, here is an intersting web site. You've probably all seen it before but hey! Just in case here's the address, just click on it

http://home.ica.net/~blooms/hollywood.htm

Saundra Hummer

November 11th, 2004, 03:17 PM

An elder Cherokee Native American was teaching his grandchildren about life. He said to them, "A fight is going on inside me...It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One wolf represents fear, anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, pride and superiourity. The other wolf stands for joy, peace, love, hope, sharing, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, friendship, empathy, generosity, truth compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside of you and every other person too."

They thought about it for a minute, and then one child asked his grandfather "Which wolf will win?" The old Cherokee simply replied..."The one I feed."

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info

Saundra Hummer

November 11th, 2004, 03:23 PM

OUR VANISHED VALUES:

This is the election in which American Christianity destroyed itself. Today the church is no longer a religion but a tacky political lobby.

http://207.44.245.159/article7271.htm

I feel that anytime we use religion in a political context, we are devaluing it, and this article's ideas confirms my belief, to me anyway. It validates my thoughts.

Saundra Hummer

November 11th, 2004, 03:34 PM

The Center for Constitutional Rights Opposes Nomination of Alberto Gonzales to Attorney General Post:

Group Cites Gonzales Memo Calling Geneva Conventions "Quaint" and "Obsolete"

http://www.ccr-ny.org/v2/reports/report.asp?ObjlD=7Sji957UtN&Content=463

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

SPOTLIGHT ON eNRONS LAW FIRM:

Alberto Gonzales enjoys a reputation for covering George W. Bush's back. IN 1996 for example, Gonzales, as Bush's general counsel, managed to get the then-Texas governor excused for jusry duty, thus saving Bush from having to disclose a 1976 arrest for drunk driving.

(In all fairness, how many elected officials actually have served jury duty? Doubt many ever do or will. Too many time constraints, and the machinery of state could be harmed, but to hide drunk driving? )

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=chronicle/archive/2002/02/15/BU132842.DTL

Saundra Hummer

November 11th, 2004, 04:11 PM

LIghthouse history resurrected: Musicans and fans alike gathered to pay tribute to Conte Condoli, while there, Pete Condoli Called the Lighthouse "the greatest jazz pub in the world." Seemed that way to me, that's for sure! I absolutely loved it!

Here's the address, just click on it :wink2:

http://easyreader.hermosawave.net/news2002/storypage.asp?StoryID=20025123&IssueDate=11/11/2004

I'll be back to add more.

Saundra Hummer

November 11th, 2004, 06:12 PM

ABC SEEKS TO KEEP STATIONS FROM DESERTING 'RYAN'

NOV. 11, 2004.

LOS ANGELES: (Rueters) - ABC televisin, backed by Republican Senator John McCain and other leading conservatives, sought on Thrusday to keep nervous affiliate stations from deserting a Veterans Day broadcast of the acclaimed World War II film "Saving Private Ryan."

Several ABC affiliates, including eight stations owned by the Sinclair Broadcst Group and four owned by the Belo Corp., said they would show other programming, citing concerns about profanity and graphic violence in the film.

Sinclair said the recent crackdown on indecent material by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission was major factor in it's decision to shun the R-rated film, which ABC is obligated to air without editing or bleeps, under a license agreement with DreamWorks SKG, the studio that produced it.

ABC said it was going ahead with plans to show the movie in it's entirety from 8 p.m. to 11:20 p.m. EST and would post parental advisories at every commercial break as it did during two previous Veterans Day telecasts in 2001, and 2002.

While the FCC declined to comment in advance of Thrusdays telecast- "that would be censorship," a spokeswoman told the Hollywood Reporter - the agency defended the 2002 airing of film in a letter to the American Family Association, ruling that the film was neither profane nor indecent.

Executives at the Walt Disney Co. network said most of ABC's 225 affiliates would carry the film, including 10 stations owned by the network in the nations biggest markets. One insider put the number of stations leaning against the movie at about 18, but said the tally was fluctuating as the network worked behind the scenes get them back on board.

McCain, a former Vietnam prisoner of war who is introducing the broadcast on ABC, issued a statement saying the film "comes nowhere near indecent."

"Saving Private Ryan ' is a powerful and important depiction of the sacrifices made for our country." McCain said "While it contains violence and profanity, these are not shown in a gratuitous manner."

The film also received an endorsement from the Parents television Council, a conservative watchdog that has led the charge against many radio and TV shows it regards as indecent.

"Context is everything," said council president L. Brent Bozell, who said "Ryan" belonged in the same category as Steven Spielberg's Holocaust drama, "Shindlers List."

Sinclair, Belo and other stations groups balking at the film said they had asked ABC to permit them to show it later in the evening, when fewer children were watching and FCC guidelines allow for more mature content, but Abc rejected their request. "although we do not personally believe that this movie is indecent in any manner, we believe the FCC guidlines and ABC's refusal to delay the broadczst require us to pre-empt the movie, " Sinclair said in its statement.

The 998 film starring Tom Hanks earned five Academy Awards, including a best-director Oscar for Spielberg.

Reluctance on the part of some stations to show the film in prime time reflected heightened skittishness among broadcasters since an industry backlash sparked by Janet Jackson's breast baring Super Bowl performance in February.

The FCC recently levied fines totaling $550,000 against 20 CBS-owned stations for airing Jackson's brief flash of nidity duringher halftime show.

( :confused: I think the real reasoning is that this movie shows the emotions of war, the destruction of war, the heartfelt sadness, sick to your soul, that is brought on by war. God forbid we might be influenced to turn against the one going on now, or on wars that are being planned.)

Saundra Hummer

November 11th, 2004, 06:43 PM

U.S Envoy Pressed for Costly Fees, Memo Says.

This shows the criminal investigation into Halliburton with such items as tribute being paid in the form of a diamond encrusted Cartier watch being demanded for an executive's wife, they are claiming they demanded one to replace a stolen one; now that the information is public! Stranger than fiction with this company.

Here's the address, just click on it:

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1111-07.htm

Saundra Hummer

November 11th, 2004, 06:50 PM

Win or Lose, Kerry voters are smarter than Bush voters

By Ted Rall

For all you neo-cons with a sense of humor. :welcome:
(Won't be being read will it?)

Here's the address, just click on it:

It's painless, really!

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1110-25.htm

Saundra Hummer

November 11th, 2004, 08:28 PM

Dangerous Times Demand Tough Questions.
by Mary MacElveen

"Articles of Impeachment"

http://www.mikehersh.com/Plan_B_Impeach_Bush.shtml
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http://www.mikehersh.com.article_92.shtml
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Having trouble with this link, but once on the site you will be able to to link up

http://www.mikehersh.com/Bush_We_Are_Praying_While _You_Prey.shtml
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Hit all of the links once on the page for numerous stories of wrong doing.

www.Mike Hersh.com: political commentary & analysis

http://www.MikeHersh.com

One of the articles early on says "From the erroneous voter purging that went on previous to election 2000 that was proven in court by the NAACP, to the oil leases that were purchased by the Bush administration to help buy the re-election of this brother Jeb as Gov. of the state of Florida and lastly how billions of dollars in Florida's retirement system were lost since they were invested in Enron.

Remember Enron? The Bush family friendly company W. Bush denied helping after he tried to give them a quarter billion ($250,000,000.00) of our tax dollars? The very same company that flew the Bush/Cheney ticket around the country during the 2000 presidential campaign, instead of looking out for thier workers, many of whom have been laid off, their life savings lost. (Remember how another Bush Brother/son lost others life savings in the Silverado fiasco in Arizona?)

The article says we are hearing facts not spin.

It also says that perhaps, if this adminstration can somehow be forced to turn over the secret Reagan/Bush Sr. papers, (Sandi: which we all know that GW sealed them along with his governor of Texas papers), we the American people can know exactly how this was done, and how best to deal with it in our persent day. But, I will not hold my breath for that to ever happen. After all many people are being all to0 complicit to ever let this happen.

This article also says "I call that blind complicity. Such blind complicity helped to create the Third Reich and we are seeing history repeat itself right here in sustaining the Fourth Reich."

It also says that Oliver North said that those countries that are not going along with us have something to hide. The author says what have we hid? I would cite this administrations not allowing the American people to know what is in the Reagan/Bush Sr. Papers.

Saundra Hummer

November 11th, 2004, 09:36 PM

A site with the explainations in orange lettering as to why they don't believe the election results.

here's the address, just click on it, I copied it all down and it wouldn't post, so go to this address to see it for yourself, tired of typing. :eek2:

http://www.bushoccupation.com/

Saundra Hummer

November 11th, 2004, 09:41 PM

Go to this site for weekly syndicated columns written by Governor Howard Dean. M.D There are also archived articles.

Democrats Cannot Give Up

here's the address, just click on it:

http://www.democracyforamerica.com/

While there check out the article: Faith abuse: When God Becomes a Campaign Ploy.

Saundra Hummer

November 11th, 2004, 09:55 PM

BLOG FOR AMERICA

The article on John Ashcroft is interesting, as are quite a few of their other stories and news updates. Lots of information on this site.

here's the address:

http://www.blogforamerica.com/

Saundra Hummer

November 12th, 2004, 11:17 AM

The Iraqi Resistance,
The Hutton Inquiry,
Pakistan's Nuclear Program
An interivew iwth Amy Goodman, Greg Palast & Tariq Ali

Greg Palast's response to one of the subjects being discussed:
"Yeah. The question is really, why are we still there? And as we know, we have had Paul O'Neill, the former Secretary of the Treasury saying that right after Bush got inaugurated there were sit-downs sessions with oil companies talking about dividing up Iraq into oil concessions, way before the invasion. I have obtained.................." :shrug: :frown2: :shrug:

To see the complete article go to this address, just click on it.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/02/10/151239

Saundra Hummer

November 12th, 2004, 11:44 AM

GONZALES NOMINATED AS ATTORNEY GENERAL: "BUSH TOOK HIS PERSONAL LAWYER AND MADE HIM LAWYER TO THE NATION." :(

You can: Listen to Segment, or Watch, or Read Transcript.

"President Bush has nominated White, house, counsel Alberto Gonzales to replace John Ashcroft as attorney general. We take a look at Gonzales' record with Karen Greenberg New York University School of Law and Rep. John Conyers (D-M)." [includes rush transcript]

Here's the address, just click on it:

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/11/1541207

Saundra Hummer

November 12th, 2004, 02:21 PM

JUSTICE DELAYED: Tom DeLay has spun one of Washington's most powerful fundraising networks. But now a series of state and federal investigations could unravel it all.

By Lou Dubois

"...three separate sets of state and federal investigartors are looking into whether DeLay and his associates may have finally crossed the line. They are trying to determine how the majority leader's interlocking political action committees (PACs) work in concert with his proteges in the lobbying industry -- a fundraising apparatus the Washington press corps refers to as "DeLay Inc." They are also considering allegations that this elaborate operation broke state nd federal laws -- allegations that have prompted DeLay to hire criminal defense attorneys and raise money for a legal defense."

Suits allege that DeLay's Texas political action committee raised hundrds of thousands of dollars through illegal means. There are criminal ivestigations that have led to the indictment of DeLay's top Texas fundraisers. DeLay could also be investigated.

His power isn't being theatened at this time, but combined they could be a threat to him.

There is much more to this story, and I for one believe he is so lacking in ethics, ever since I saw the report about off shore business and the conditions workers are kept in, prisonlike conditions, and he backed these contractors all the way, a crime for him to do so in my eyes.

Heres the address, just click on it:

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2004/11/10_403.html

Saundra Hummer

November 12th, 2004, 02:34 PM

James (Jimmy) Massey tells the saddest tale, one of killing Iraqi's at checkpoints. He is a 22 year Marine Corp veteran, and he tells of the men guarding the checkpoint, putting up their hands to stop Iraqi's driving up in their cars, and how they continued on through, so they "lit them up", killing and wounding them. No one had told them that to Iraqi's hands in the air is a greating of "Hello"

This is an article in MotherJones.com

Here't the address for the complete article, it is about how some of our troops have started not agreeing with this war, of how they are turning against it.

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2004/11/10_400-2.html

Saundra Hummer

November 12th, 2004, 03:48 PM

Political Language... is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind: George Orwell

====

The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities, committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them: George Orwell.

Todays news letter is more than I want to read about, as it is so violence filled, just more than I want to take in today. I will furnish you with the address and you can choose to read it or not. Too much for today. Tomorrow maybe. Then there is the possible positioning of the Attorney General nominee so as to make it easier to appoint him to the Supreme Court. Wouldn't that just be great, a man who ingnores Geneva convention rules and laws believes they are quaint and antiquaited, so he advocates breaking them, which we have done. Will this be the man who will become Attorney General and perhaps Supreme Court Justice?

We are living in unbelievable times. The Chinese curse is upon us. :(

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/

Saundra Hummer

November 12th, 2004, 04:35 PM

Boy, I'm getting some of this!

Supplement may decrease abdominal fat in older people.

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist.

DHEA a hormone produced by the adrenal gland whose levels go down with age.

Here's the address for the article.

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/redir.php?jid=17acl8dd7f14863e&cat=9741944f2e7496e

Saundra Hummer

November 12th, 2004, 05:47 PM

ECONOMY HURTING IRAQ MORE THAN VIOLENCE

INTER PRESS SERVICE

NOVEMBER 9th, 2004

Like has been reported before, "violence is taking a heavy toll in Iraq (news - webs sites) but everyday economic difficulties could be hurting people more. Nearly 20 months into the occupation, Iraqis find themselves in a desperate situation, with countless struggling to survive.

U.S. President George W. Bush said at a speech at the U.S. Army War College May 24 this year that the United states wants "freedom and independence, security and prosperity for the Iraqi people." Prosperity now looks like 70 percent unemployment. A recent study found that if the food ration programme set up by Saddam Hussein's regime during the U.S.-led sanctions was disbanded, more than 25 percent of Iraqi's would starve to death. Bush had also praised "a growing private economy" in Iraq after the former governing council approved a new law "that opens the country to foreign investment for the first time in decades."

But Antonia Juhasz, project director at the International Forum on Globalisaton based in San Francisco in the United States says that order to this effect by the disbanded Coalition Provisional Authority have allowed the economy of Iraq to be sold from under Iraqis. :( In a paper "The Hand-Over That Wasn't: Illegal Orders give the U.S. a Lock on Iraq's Econcomy', she wrote that order no. 39 allows for "privatisation of Iraq's 200 state-owned enterprioses; (2) 100 percent foreign ownership of Iraqi businesses: (3) national treatment' -- which means no preferences for local over foreign businesses;, (4) unrestricted, tax-free remittance of all profits and other funds; and (5) 40-year ownershi;p licenses." .......... :shrug: Edit.....( These policies are going to lead us into WWIII, because other countries around the globe are going to want to stop our land grabs; our economic policies are scaring eveyone every bit as much .Sandi.).. :shrug: ..............

Iraqis are therefore not given preference in reconstruction eforts in their own country. Foreign corporations such as Halliburton and Bechtel have been allowed "to buy up Iraqi businesses, do all of the work and send all of their money home" Juhasz said. "They cannot be required to hire Iraqis or to reinvest their money in the Iraqi economy. They can take out their investments at any time and in any amount."

The consequences of those decisions are being felt in Iraqi homes. Abu Ahmed al-Hadithi, 40, sells vegetables in the al-Adhamiya district of Baghdad. "The economic situation is very bad now," he said as he stood waiting to sell some cucumbers. "The costs of gas and food are going up so high. So even if we make more now, everything is costing more." The vegetables he sells now are imported. "I make less profit now, I have nine people to take care of, and it has made my life very difficult," he said.

This is the consequence of order no. 12 of the Brememr orders as they came to be called after former U.S. administrator in Iraq L. Paul Bremer. The order suspends "all tariffs, customs duties, import taxes, licensing fees and similar surcharges for goods entering or leaving Iraq." Juhasz says this led to "an immediate and dramatic inflow of cheap foreign consumer products -- devastating local producers and seller who were thoroughly unprepared to meet the challenge of their mammoth global competitiors."

Another critical factor leading to the dismal economic situation in occuped Iraq is that little has come by way of the promised reconstructin funds. Anthony Cordesman from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington says that as of June 25 this year, "the Programe Management Office (PMO) data show...out of 18.4 billion dollars in aid, 11 billion dollars has been approtioned, 7.6 billion dollars has been committed, 4.8 billion dollars has been obligated, and all of 333 million dollars has actually been spent." This has meant idle factories, and Abu Bouda, 50, knows what that means. The ex-factory worker too is now selling vegetables in al-Adhamiya market. "I make between 8,000-10,000 dinars (five to seven dollars) a day, and this is just enough to feed my familhy of seven." he said at his vegetable stall. "Things have become so difficult for us, this is what I have to do to take care of my family."

The charity Christain Aid says the U.S.-controlled coalition in Baghdad is handing over power to an Iraqi government without properly investigating what it has done with some 20 billion dollars of Iraq's own money. Many Iraqis say the economy is suffering because of the security situation. "We have no securtiy and this means our economy cannot functin." said Sabah Ahmed, a former local official, now unemployed. "People are in a critical situation becasue of the increase in prices. The gasoline, transportation, everything is going up so much." Another former official is trying to sell sweets, but does not sell many. "Before people used to eat so many sweets, but now they are buying less because nobody can afford them."

..........(EDIT :shrug: ........... I dont know about how all of you are thinking. I am for corporate profits, but this is obscene and it is dangerous, extremely dangerous! I don't understand how any one can think the way this administration is thinking, and how corporations are so greedy as to take us down such a perilous path, really it just doesn't make any sense. Dreams of empire, well we've seen where those lead, and always have. Are we any different to not fall victim to our own dillusions of grandure? We can't do this and survive! My opinion anyway. No one around the world will want us to. I believe they will be trying to sabatoge or hinder us with every means at their disposal, and we know what each country has to use against us. Frightening thoughts, but there are others more educated in these matters than I, and they are saying the same thing, with baited breath I might add, as they are as worried as I am.....Sandi. :shrug:

Here's the address, just click on it for this story and other links:

http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/attack/consequences/2004/l109economy.htm

Saundra Hummer

November 12th, 2004, 09:05 PM

Friday November 12, 2004

KERRY WON OHIO

JUST COUNT THE BALLOTS AT THE BACK OF THE BUS

In These Times

Most voters in Ohio chose Kerry. Here's how the votes vanished.
By Greg Palast

http://www.gregpalast.com/index.cfm

Saundra Hummer

November 13th, 2004, 09:49 AM

HOW WE GOT INTO THIS IMPERICAL PICKLE: a PNAC PRIMER

bY BERNARD WEINER

This is an old article, but timely, and it is still amazing that little is known about the situations he discusses. I wil try to type in more of the story later.

Here's the address, just click on it:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3544.htm

EDIT: Additions, excerpts in no particular order:

"I'm not making up this stuff," I said. "It's all talked about openly by the neo-conservatives of the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) - who now are in charge of America's military and foreign policy - and published as official U.S. doctrine in the Natonal Secruty Strategy of the United States of America."

The talk-show host seemed to gulp, and then replied: "If you really can demostrate all that, you probably can deny George Bush a second term in 2004."

Two things became apparent in that exchange:

1) Even a well-educated, intelligent radio commentator was unaware of some of this information, and,

2) Once presented with it, this conservative icon understood immediately the implications of what would happen if the American voting public found out about these policies.

Here's a list of the items this article discusses.

1) Origins Of The Crisis
2) Setting up PNAC
3) The Domestic Ramifications.
4) The PNAC Paper Trail
5) Summary & The PNAC Future

By.... Bernard Weiner, a playwright and poet, was the San Francisco Chronicle's theater critic for nearly two decades. Holder of a Ph.D in government *International relations, he has taught American politics and international relations at Western Washington University and San Diego State University, and has written for the Nation, Village Voice, The Progressive and other political journals. He is a contributing writer for Liberal Slant and co-editor of the new online site: www.CrisisPapers.org

Here is the address for the complete article, just click on it:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article/3544.htm

Saundra Hummer

November 13th, 2004, 10:44 AM

CIA CRITIC OF U.S. WAR ON TERROR RESIGNS

NOVEMBER 12, 2004

WASHINGTON - A CIA analyst who wrote a book that criticized the U.S war on terror has resigned from the spy agency after it effectively banned him from publicly discussing his views, his publicist said on Thrusday.

Michael Scheuer, whos book "Imperial Hubris, Why the West is Losing the War on Terror" (link provided) was signed as "anonymous" and publicshed this summer, will resign effective Friday after 22 years at the Central Intelligence Agency.

In a statement, Scheuer siad the CIA had not forced him to resign, "but I have concluded that there has not been adequate national debate over the nature of the threat posed by Osama bin Laden and the forces he leads and inspires, and the nature and dimensions of intelligence reform needed to address that threat."

He intends to speak to the media over the next several weeks, including an appearance on the CBS show "60 Minutes" on Sunday.

Scheuer's statement said senior leadership had allowed the intelligence officers working against al Qaeda Leader Osama bin Laden to be made scapegoats for pre-Sept. 11 failures.

Scheuer was chief of the CIA Counterterrorist Center's unit which focused on bin Laden from 1996 to 1999 and remained a CIA analyst after that.

"The Atlantic Monthly" in its December issue published a letter sent by Scheuer to U.S. Congressional Intelligence Community did not operate optimally to defend america." Scheuer said in the letter.

In June, just before Scheuer's book was published, he did a series of media interviews, appearing on TV in silhouette and was identified in print as "Mike"

In the first week of August, CIA officials told him that he had to ask for permission in advance for media interviews and provide summaries of what would be discussed ahead of time, Scheuer's editor and publicist Christina Davidson said.

"They rejected every single request," she said. "It was effectively a ban."

His book said the United States was losing the war against terrorism and that sticking to current policies would only make its enemies in the Islamic world grow stronger.

The statement released by his publicist about Scheuer's resignation said that "after a cordial meeting with senior CIA officials on tuesday, Scheuer decided that it would be in the best interests of the intelligence community, and the country for him to resign in order to continue speaking publicly with regard to Osama Bin Laden, al Qaeda, and the 9- 11 Comimission Report." A CIA spokeswoman had no immediate comment

A Reuters Article. on Common Dreams.com

Saundra Hummer

November 13th, 2004, 11:27 AM

From the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace:

WHY MUSLIMS ALWAYS BLAME THE WEST
BY HUSAIN HAQQANI

International Herald Tribune,
October 16, 2004

Excerpts:

The Palestinian issue and the pre-emptive war in Iraq have undoubtedly accentuated anti-Western sentiment among Muslims from Morocco to Indonesia. But the conduct and rhetoric of Muslim leaders and their failure to address the stagnation of their societies has also fueled the tensions between Islam and the West. ..............................

According to an opinion poll conducted by the Washington-based Pew Research Center as part of the Global Attitudes Survey, 86 percent of Pakistanis have a favorable wiew of General Musharraf while 65 percent also support Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden is viewed favorably by large percentages in other Muslim countries with "moderate" rulers. .................

Ironically, a cult of the warrior has defined the Muslim world view throughout the period of Muslim decline. Muslims have had few victories in the last two centuries, but thier admiration for the proverbial sword and spear has only increased. ............................................

Textbooks in Muslim countries speak of the victories of Muslim fighters from an earlier era. Orators still call for latter-day mujahedeen to rise and regain Islam"s lost glory. More streets in the Arab world are named after Muslim generals than men of learning. Even civilian dictators in the Muslim world like being photographed in military uniforms. Saddam Hussein being a case in point. .................................................. ..............

These are all excerpts in no particular order. This gives us another insight into Islam and the Arab mindset.

An interesting article, and to see it in it's entirety, just click on the address:

http://www.carnegieendowment.org/publications/index.cfm?fa=view&id=15997

Saundra Hummer

November 13th, 2004, 12:18 PM

A little Patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their spells dissolve, and the people recovering theiir true sight, restore theiir government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are suffering deeply in spirit, and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public debt...... If the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have patience till luck turns and then we shall have an opportunity of winning back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at stake.
..............................................Thom as Jefferson, 1798
.................................................. .................................................. .....
Check out these EDITORS ESSAYS

Bernard Weiner:

........................Roves Electon Diary: Takiing Care of the Blue People.
It's not often we can get inside the head of the powerful to learn what they're really thinking. Here's an inside peek into the personal diary of Bush's "Architect," who after Cheney probably is the most important politico in America. What's revealed ain't pretty, but it's how politics is played these days --- To the death.

............................Let the Rumpus Begin! -- An Oppositional Strategy. Lets stay forcused on who the enemy is and devise a plan for attack, rather than play the blame game amongst ourselves. absent Rove's dirty tricks, Kerry would have won -- Indeed, he may have won. We have oppositional infrastructure to work from, so let's use it.

Ernest Partridge:
...........................Do We Still Have A Democracy? The issue of the reliability of paperless electronic voting is fundamentally misconceived. the citizen is not obligated to prove that his ballot is secure, instead, the citizen has a right to be confident that his vote will be counted, as he cast it. And for reasons acknowledged by both the critics and defenders of "e-voting." the American citizen who votes with these machines , is denied this fundamental right.

.................................................. .................................................. ....

A Reprise: The Late Great American Republic. An imaginary essay by an Oxford University historian at Mid-21st century. It assumes a continuation of current political and economic trends set in motion by the Bush Adminsitration and countinuing with his victory in the recent election. With a sudden and early awakening of sanity amongst the public. The media and the elites, which catalyzes effective dissent, protest and reform, a far different future might be realized.

Hacking the Elections: Reports from a conference.

Guest Essays ~ Archiive.

This is an interesting site, and to see the above articles in their complete state, and much, much more, just click onthe following address!

http://www.crisispapers.org/

Check out their "BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK"

LOTS AND LOTS OF INFO! :tanz:

Saundra Hummer

November 13th, 2004, 03:35 PM

A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES

BY DOM STASI

So far we've spent $200,000,000,00 in Iraq, and done nothing but alienate the world, and kill about 35, 000 innocent people , mostly women and children. Attacking Iraq in retribution for 9/11 (or whatever the Bush faithful are being offered as this weeks excuse) [the real reason has been documented and was planned well before 9/11, Sandi] is the logical equivalent of invading Mexico to get even for Pearl Harbor. But Bush did just that and, thanks to 59 million American fools who believe whatever he and his media stooges tell them, Bush can now continue to do more of just that on our nickle and the blood of our young.

http://207.44.245.159/article7281.htm

================================================== ========

HERE'S AN ARTICLE WHICH I HOPE IS JUST A FABRICATION:

U.S. plans to launch surgical strikes against North Korea:

Rep. Roh Hoe-chan of the progressive Democratic Labor party (DLP) claimed Thursday the planned realignment of U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) is based on a U.S. plan to launch surgical strikes against North Korea.

http://times.hankooki.com/1page/200411/kt2004111115044653460.htm

http://snipurl.com/ambp

================================================== ========

Deputy chief resigns from CIA

Agency said to be in turmoil under new director Goss

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6473454/

This article tells of deep seated problems this early in the game with Goss and his selection of staff. Some serious conficts, and another amazing show of arrogance in men who would be king. Or so it seems. Don't you think they need to have the country's best interest at heart, instead of oneupmanship? :(

================================================== ========

See the other sites and articles by following links once on the ones above.

Saundra Hummer

November 13th, 2004, 08:18 PM

Check out Bart Cops most recent "Rants"

Article's include: Ashcroft resigns form the BFEE
......Can you hear the angels singing.

Quotes from Charles Colson, and comments about it, and other off the wall reactions.

Bush on Social Security and the moves he plans on.

"Whoever won it would have been God's will. But because Bush won, God has
clearly shown America his blessings. If Kerry had won, it would have proved God was cursing the United States.

Richard Land :rolleyes: (%$##**&@##) a Southern Baptist who participates in a weekly strategy call between the White House and evangelical leaders!.. : :tearhair:

http://www.100monkeystyping.com/

The monkey site is interesting, comments from people, not spin.

the above link is on BartCop. [This is the view of too many. Just how far out there can you be? How is it that this type of radical thought is so easily fueled?] :tearhair:
================================================== ========
This is a site that takes a differrent approach than the Carnegie Center, that's for sure. :)

http://www.bartcop.com/

Saundra Hummer

November 13th, 2004, 11:19 PM

THE UNITED STATES AS AN EMPIRE

SEE ALSO NEO-CONSERVATISM

MARJORIE COHN: KERRY HITS NAIL ON HEAD,

TRUTHOUT.

"John Kerry cut to the heart of the matter when he said in the debate with George W. Bush that, "a critical component of success in Iraq is being able to convince the Iraqi's and the Arab world that the United States doesn't have long term designs on it." Kerry cited the United States construction of 14 military bases in Iraq that are said to have a " a rather permanent concept to them." Building these bases belies Bush's protestations that he has no anmbitions of empire." In fact, the neoconservative cabal that drives Bush's foreign policy has long advocated a strategy premised on worldwide U.S. military dominance. Their blueprint for aggessive war first appeared twelve years before George W. Bush tried to reassure the American people that his war on Iraq was not an imperialist endeavor."

See the complete article and other stories, just click on the address below:

http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/100404A.shtml

Saundra Hummer

November 14th, 2004, 11:50 AM

DIRTY WARRIORS

How South African hit men,
Serbian paramilitaries, and other
human rights violators became
guns for hire for military
contractors in Iraq

BY Barry Yeoman
November/December 2004 issure
Mother Jones.com

WHEN THE BUSH administration turned over much of its Iraqi security operations to the private sector last year, one of the companies that stood to profit was the London-based Hart Group. Run by former British soldiers, the firm received a large contract throught the Army Corp of Engineers to Guard Iraqi energy facilities and protect engineers rebuilding the country's electricity network.

Hart Group needed to hire 170 English Speaking guards with military experience-and it had to do it fast. "We had to recruit people in a very, very short order, " says Simon Falkner, the company's chief of orperations. But Falkner knew exactly where to find many of his recruits: in South Africa, where soldiers trained under that country's apartheid regime now often find themselves unemployable. "They're good soldiers, the South Africans," says Falkner, a retired colonel. "they're tough people , and they're well disciplined,. And there are a lot of them who want to do the work. A lot of people have left the South African defense force since Nelson Mandela came in."

Hart's hiring practices might have passed entirely unnoticed had one of the company's employees not died in a firefight with Iraqi insurgents last spring. The victim was 55-year-old Gray Branfield, a former covert-operatons specialist in South Africa's fight to preserve white minority rule. In the early 1980's, the apartheid government decided to assassinate the top 50 African National Congress (ANC) officials living beyond the counry's borders, and Branfield was charged with tracking down apartheid opponents in Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Zambia. "We saw it as a battle in the global war to fight communism," he said in an interview shortly before his death.

There is more to this story, the African involvement and the men hired in Iraq.

I had been told about mercenaries in Iraq by an Iraqi at the beginning of the occupation, and I was sceptical. I posted an article on it, telling how much companies and hired securitry teams are being paid by our government. Much much more, but does it equal out? With the layers and layers of contracts, it is a maze!..

To read the complete article go to this address:

http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/notebook/2004/11/11_200.html

Saundra Hummer

November 14th, 2004, 03:59 PM

An Evangelical leader speaks out.

An interesting look into his take on politics and us.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/111304W.shtml

Saundra Hummer

November 14th, 2004, 04:20 PM

The Letter of the Week on the "Crisis Papers" web site is an interesting one, and lets you in on how people around the world are feeling, as we are truly living in a "Global Society" and how the main powers in the world are letting us all down, and how they are using all means to stay in power.

There are other letters and other issues that are being gone into. Just hit the links.

here's the address, just click on it!

http://www.crisispapers.org/features/corres.htm

Saundra Hummer

November 14th, 2004, 04:28 PM

More on Paper Ballots v. Machine tally and the Exit poll, graphs. :rant2:

http://img103.exs.cx/img103/4526/exit_poll.gif

Saundra Hummer

November 14th, 2004, 06:27 PM

Unsolicited Advice, Sprigs, and, It's Not Easy Being Green.

Here's the address, just click on it.

http://www.clsg.com/kumbayadammit/blog.cfm

Saundra Hummer

November 14th, 2004, 07:33 PM

What Wasn't There

Across Ohio's minority-rich cities, there were fewer voting machines than during past elections, including March's presidential primary. As the number of voters grew by as much as 50% in some precincts, according to pro-Kerry field organizers, the number of voting machines on Election Day shrank by a third. (Even though they knew there would be record turnouts) Precincts that ususlly had five machines only had three. (So this alone is suspect)

The lack of voting machines was a disaster.

The shortage of voting machines didn't just create long lines. It kept thousands of new and longtime voters from casting ballots in the states minority communities--the Democratic strongholds. The accounts of people who had to leave the polls for work or family obligations were everywhere. But on Election Day, very few Democrats realized this was happening. They just saw long lines.

(Just excerpts from a longer story, and not in order.) Here's the address for the complete article, just click on it:

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/the_perfect_election_day_crime.php

Saundra Hummer

November 14th, 2004, 08:49 PM

A Bit of Livation with your chocolate? How about some coffee?

BOURBAN BALLS,

2 cups vanilla wafer crumbs
2 cups pecans
2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
3 Tbs corn syrup
1/3 cup Bourban

No baking required, just make sure crumbs are fine, roll in a plastic bag or put the vanilla waffers in a food processor and process till finely processed.

Mix waffer crumbs, pecans, powdered sugar and cocoa.

Combine corn syrup and bourbon, stir in to crumb mixture

Shape into 1 inch balls.

Roll balls in finely ground coffee, and cocoa, or just one of these items, or
you could use powedered sugar, but I prefer the cocoa and coffee. I would use fresh coffee beans and grind them up to a very fine poweder.

I will be back later with other liquors, like Rum, or Brandy, etc.

Happy Holidays! :banana: :clap: :clap: :elephant: :clap: :clap: :banana:

Saundra Hummer

November 15th, 2004, 03:45 PM

SOMETHING IS ROTTEN IN THE STATE OF DENMARK

CAROLINA ON MY MIND.....INDIANA UPDATE.....LEADING READINGS (kEITH'S BLOG HIGLIGHTS 'LINK PROVIDED'........THE GREY LADY KICKS ASS, TAKES NAMES 'LINKS PROVIDED'.....NEW MECICO, 'LINKS PROVIDED'......OHIO PROVISIONALLY, 'LINKS PROVIDED'......EXIT POLLS CONTINUED, 'LINKS PROVDED'......THE READERS SPEAK, 'SEVERAL LETTERS'......EMAIL TO DENMARK......'I DON'T THINK WE HAVE CLOSURE YET.' MICKEY KAUS, 'LINKS PROVIDED'......NEW HAMPSHIRE: FIRST IN THE NATION? 'LINK PROVIDED'......SAVING DEMOCRACY......EXIT POLLS AS AUDITS? 'LINK PROVIDED'......OLBERMANNIA, CONTINUED, 'LINK PROVIDED'......MIXED MESSAGES 'LINK PROVIDED'......AND NOW>>>INDIANA?.....WHAT IT WAS LIKE IN CLEVELAND, 'LINK PROVIDED'......DOGS AND CATS, LIVING TOGETHER 'LINKS PROVIDED'......BROWARD CONTINUES TO SMELL, 'LINK PROVIDED'......WHERE WE ARE NOW......YALE FREE PRESS UPDATE, 'LINK PROVIDED'.....COMMENTS!!!.....RECOUNT UPDATES -- THE GREEN PARTY JOINS THE FRAY, 'LINKS PROVIDED'..............BROWARD SMELLS a long list of infractions!!!............KERRY LAWYERS IN OHIO!, 'LINK PROVIDED'........KAUSFILES ON THE CASE, 'LINKS PROVIDED'......MOVEON JOINS THE FRAY! 'LINKS PROVIDED'........SHUSTER NO LONGER SO SKEPTICAL, 'LINKS PROVIDED'......EQUAL VOTE, 'LINKS PROVIDED'......MORE ON THE GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE INQUIRY, 'LINKS PROVIDED'......NADER TAKES NEW HAMPSHIRE (WELL, KINDA) 'LINK PROVIDED'.......WHAT THE F*#K HAPPENED IN NORTH CAROLINA? 'LINKS PROVIDED'......MORE WRITE-UPS, 'LINKS PROVIDED'......SALON WEIGHS IN, 'LINKS PROVIDED'......HERE'S WHAT'S CLEAR.........AH........MACHINE MALFUNCTIONS/VOTER PROBLEMS: A LIST, 'LINK PROVIDED'......MORE VOTERS THAN VOTES.........BEV HARRIS, 'LINKS PROVIDED'........MORE ON OHIO........WHAT VOTE-COUNTING MECHANISMS DO COUNTIES USE?.......OLBERMANNIA, CONTINUED......OHIO RECOUNTS! WELL, NOT YET, 'LINKS PROVIDED'.......

SEVERAL SHORT ARTICLES WTH LINKS TO OTHER SITES, SUCH AS THE YALE FREE PRESS.

HERE'S THE ADDRESS, JUST CLICK ON IT, AND I'M INCLUDING THE ADDRESS TO AN INDEX OF ARTICLES ON THE SAME SITE:

http://rottendenmark.blogspot.com/

http://www.motherjones.com/news/blog/index.html#5

Saundra Hummer

November 15th, 2004, 04:20 PM

A friend sent this to me today:

"This is something I would never have thought of.........."

CBS Report.

Keep a watch out for people standing near you in the checkout line at retail stores, restaurants, grocery stores, etc., who have a camera cell phone in hand. With the camera cell phones, they can take a picture of your credit card, which gives them your name, number, and expiration date. CBS reported this type of indentification theft is one of the fastest growing scams today. Be aware of your surroundings, forward to all your friends and familys.

Saundra Hummer

November 15th, 2004, 04:56 PM

"Cowardice asks the question: is it safe? Expediency asks the question: is it politic? Vanity asks the question: is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular-but one must take it simply because it is right." : Martin Luther King Jr. 1929- 1968.

"Today's human rights violations are the causes of tomorrows conflicts." Mary Robinson: United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (Retired)

"Youth is the first victim of war, the first fruit of peace. It takes 20 years or more of peace to make a man, it takes only 20 seconds of war to destroy him." : King Baudouin I : King of Belgium

"Misunderstanding arising from ignorance breeds fear, and fear remains the greatest enemy of peace." : Lester B. Pearson.

================================================== ========

The Enlightenment of Resistance

Manueal Valenzuela

Once more we find ourselves, surrounded by war, destruction and death, gnawed at by suffering and misery, living among the ignorant, fearful and easily led, taken hostage by fundamentalists, zealots and extremists, refusing to eradicate from the our condition the plague called violence and the warmongering, greed-infected leaders who birth it.

http://207.44.245.159/article7294.htm.

================================================== ========

Haunted Empire

Sheila Samples

It's not enough that Bush wants Americans to look under their beds at night for Osama Bin Laden, a near-7foot specter dragging around a dialysis machine, or Abu Musab al=Zarkawi, a one legged dead escape artist - now he insists the people go throught their days in a dead run, looking over their shoulders to see if History is gaining on them.

http://207.44.245.159/article7288.htm

================================================== ========

Who is the real enemy?

By John Kamiski

Do you support your country even if what is does is evil? So what does that make you?

http://207.44.245.159/article7291.htm

================================================== ========

Denial of Water to Iraqi Cities

Water supplies to Tall Afar, Samarra and Fallujah were cut off curing US attacks during the past two months, affecting up to 750, 000 civilians. This appears to form part of a decliberate US policy of denying water to the residents of cities under attack.

PDF Format

Http://www.casi.org.uk/briefing/041110denialofwater.pdf

( I hear that Bechtel is in charge of repairing the water lines and the machinery needed to supply the water, but that the parts they need are only available from France, and that President Bush will not allow them to deal with a French company, so therefore no repairs can be made. How humane!. Did he ask for divine guidence in making this decision?)

================================================== ========

Other articles:

Dollar's Decline is Reverberating.

Journalist predicts war in Iraq will plunge U.S. Economy into downturn.

Pat Buchanan: Goodbye, Dollar--and Empire.

Last gasp of U.S. hegemony.

Empires as Ages of Religious Ignorance

Luxury Cell in Afghan jail for American Bounty Hunter

"Let them Drink Sand!"

U.S. Prebysterians warned to change 'anti-Israel' stance

Neo-cons: Around the world in seven steps

Four Candles: Flash Presentation

Go to this site to see all of the above:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info

Saundra Hummer

November 15th, 2004, 06:21 PM

There are evagelicals who subscribe the beliefs that are told of in the article I will give you the address to, and I'll be adding more addresses to this one. They truly believe this is what will be happening with Bush in office, and this is why they wanted him elected, to bring the world as we know it to an end, following and beleving this interpertation. Fantastical and confusing, never the less, this is how many evangelicals believe.

Here's the address, just click on it:

http://www.samliquidation.com/whore.htm

Additions:

http://www.ecclesia.org/truth/whore.html

http://www.catholic.com/library/hunting_the_Whore_of_babylon.asp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylon_(New_Testament) : This link isn't working for me, so go the wikipedia site and just look it up that way or pull it up with a google search.

http://www.cin.org/users/james/files/huntwhor.htm

There's a lot more on a google search

Saundra Hummer

November 16th, 2004, 11:51 AM

Has Tony Blair Come To His Sense's, Or Has He Found Another Path To The Same Place?

In an article by the "The Independent"
November 16, 2004

By Andrew Grice Political Editor he states:

Tony Blair warned the United States last night not to go it alone as the world's policeman as he urged America and Europe to unite behind a new doctrine that would allow the most powerfrul nations to intervene against regimes that harm their own people.

The Prime Minister issued a strong plea to US neo-conservatives to endorse a multilateral approach, through a United Nations armed with a new charter allowing it to force "bad" countries like Saddam Hussein's Iraq to respect human rights and democracy. But he also appealed to his domestic critics and countries such as France and Germany not to ridicule America's arguments or "parody" George Bush.

There is more to this article, to read the complete story, here's the address:

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=583277

Saundra Hummer

November 16th, 2004, 06:26 PM

JIM HIGHTOWER: "FOUR MORE YEARS OF WHAT?"

HEAR THE AUDIO, OR READ IT! :lol:

http://jimhightower.com/air/archive.asp

See or listen to this story or see or listen to several others.

Lots lots more.

Saundra Hummer

November 17th, 2004, 12:14 PM

From "workingforchange.com" I found this article by Bill Berkowitz 11.15.04

Welcome to the resurrection

Will the Rev. Jerry Falwell's new organization, "The Faith and Values Coalition," become a 21st Century Moral Majority?

"Riding the tide of the 2004 elections, the Reverend Jerry Falwell thinks he knows which way the waves are breaking. In the November 9 edition of his online newsletter, "Falwell Confidential," the Rev. Falwell said that in order to "finish" what he started twenty-five years ago, he was announcing the launch of The Faith and Values Coalition, an organization that he intends to become the 21st Century version of the Moral Majority. The central purpose of the new organization "is to utilize the momentum of the November 2 elections to maintain an evangelical revolution of voters who will continue to go to the polls to 'vote Christain," the Rev. Falwell stated.

There is much more to this article, and there are other article's by this author, just click on the address below to read the entire story and to find links to other topical articles by this author and others such as Molly Ivens.

http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=18089

Saundra Hummer

November 17th, 2004, 12:35 PM

"HISTORY IS WRITTEN BY THE WINNERS"

An article by Geov Parrish: "I've got moral values, too"

Progressives must identify and voice own moral imperatives.

(I agree with this so much, and always wanted to know why it is that the so called "Faith based, or Values party" think otherwise, think we are all sinners in their eyes. We have the same faith on the whole, as a rule, but they choose to look at us as being evil if not unpatriotic.even traitorious if we disagree with the administration or their beliefs.)

"History is written by the winners, and so the instant history that's been written of this year's presidential election is that it was decided by people concerned with "moral values."

All sorts of yammering has since followed, about the need for Democrats and progressives to be more respectful of the cultural and social conservatism of our country. But let's back up a moment.

What, exactly, are "moral values"? What does the phrase mean? When the same exit polls that told us Kerry would win asked voters what they cared about, what did voters who cited morals think they were describing?

There are a lot of different moral values out ther other than the ones prescribed by evangelical Christians. And maybe, just maybe, it's time for progressives to start talking about our moral values.

There is more to this article, this article goes into the new attorney general, and his beliefs, helping the less fortunate, etc. and to see it in it's entirety, just click on the address:

http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=18085

I just find it so hard to believe that a large segement of our voters believe that the rest of us have no moral center, no core beliefs. It just floors me to think that they think we are evil, sinners, or even traitors because we disagree with the administration. Where are they coming from?

Saundra Hummer

November 17th, 2004, 12:54 PM

An article by Joe Conason
The New York Observer
11.17.04

"Politics prevails again in Rice's appointment"
Prevaricationg National Security Advisor rewarded for loyalty

An excerpt: The rise of Condoleezza Rice demostrates this disturbing trend, however inspiring it is to see the first black woman appointed Secretary of State. As National Security advisor, Ms. Rice nimbly abandoned her own once-cautious views to echo those of the dominant faction in the White House and the Pentagon. She repeatedly proved her willngmess to prevaricate, whether to conceal the administration's missteps before Sept. 11 or to promote myths about Saddam Husseins arsenal

An excerpt: Historians will someday ask how Ms. Rice escaped accountability for neglecting urgent warnings about Al Aqaeda by former couter terroism chief Richard Clark

An interesting article, and to see it in it's entirety, click on the address:

http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=18103

Saundra Hummer

November 17th, 2004, 01:45 PM

People in power are amazing.

Allawi in Iraq says there are no civilian casualties in Falluja,

Tommy Franks when in charge said of Iraqi civilian deaths, "We don't do body counts."

New head of the CIA, Director Goss said to his subordinates, men who have tenure, and years and years of experience, when they came to him and wanted to discuss matters with him personally, on a one on one situation, "I don't do personel." ???????????
That amounts to a slap in the face; an insult and I have to believe he knew it would infuriate the old hands in the CIA, it would make anyone who knew their business upset. A ploy perhaps? One to weed out the men who don't toe the Bush doctrine line? Seems that way to me. It's working as they are resigning in droves and more are expected to leave, and not a bit of worry expressed, nor is there any talk of concilliation by GW.

Saundra Hummer

November 18th, 2004, 02:16 PM

To European Friends:

Explaining the 2004 Election Disaster

By Bernard Weiner,
Co-Editor, "The Crisis Papers."

November 16, 2004

A series of answers to a series of questions:

1. WHY DO YOU ELECT CLOWNS & DOLTS?

..... DAY-BY-DAY FIGHT OR EVERY 4 YEARS?

2. aBOUT THAT GREAT POLITICAL DIVIDE.

......WOMEN AND AFRICAN AMERICANS

......LOCATE THE NEW 'ENEMY'

3. WHO VOTES COUNTS, BUT WHO COUNTS THE VOTES RULES

.....THE ELECTORAL TRAIN WRECK

4. KERRY DOES A GORE WITH EARLY CONCESSION -- WHY?

5. THE IRAQ WAR'S INFLUENCE ON ELECTORATE

TO READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE AND THE PREFACE TO THESE ANSWERS CLICK ON THIS SITE:

http://www.crisispapers.org/essays/election-disaster.htm

Head to this site to read any number of articles, here are couple of titles:

Do We Still Have a Democracy?

The Late Great, American Republic

Then there are these informative links:
Progressive Talk Radio
The Dissenting Internet
The Activists' Page
The Liberty Library
Letters to Crisis Papers.

Major issues in the news
with: Editors' Choices: Best of the Web

An Archive of Internet Articles.

Guest Essays -- Archive

The Crisis Papers Blog,

Recommended Blog sites.

Much to see and hear from this one site.

Here's the home page address, just click on it:

http://www.crisispapers.org/

Saundra Hummer

November 18th, 2004, 03:19 PM

HOW DID CORPORATIONS LIKE HALLIBURTON GET MILLIONS IN GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS DESIGNATED FOR SMALL MINORITY BUSINESSES?

By Michael Scherer
November 18, 2004

This story focuses on an Alaskan Eskimo business, and also on 10 Native American tribes.

Here's the address, just click on it:

http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/notebook/2004/11/11_400.html

While here, read some other articles, one is "The Great Media Breakdown" by Todd Gitlin. The press admits it fell for the adminstration's line on weapons of mass destruction. But the media's failure goes far beyond Iraq=Nov.-December 2004 issue. :rolleyes (I guess they became as frightened as everyone else who lived in the East, and it clouded their good judgement, their common sense, just like it has so many others.)

See "Justice DeLayed" by Lou Dubose" Tom DeLay has spun one of Washington's most powerful fundraising networks. But now a series of state and federal investigations could unravel it all. :rolleyes: :rant2: :frown2:

Saundra Hummer

November 18th, 2004, 03:57 PM

THE HIP-HOP GENERATION AND BROWN V. BOARD OF EDUCATION:

DE FACTO SEGREGATION IS STATUS QUO 50 YEARS LATER :soapbox

Check out this article by Farai Chidaya from "Pop Politics"

http://www.workingforchange.com

Saundra Hummer

November 18th, 2004, 04:59 PM

"Force is the vital principle and immediate parent of despotism." Thomas Jefferson quotes (American 3rd US Presiden (1801-09) Author of the Declaration of INdependence. 1762-1826)

"War: a massacre of people who don't know each other for the profit of people who know each other but don't massacre each other" Paul Valery quotes (French poet, essayist and critic, 1871-1945)

Democracy passes into despotism. Plato. Ancient Greek philosopher (428/427-348/347 B.C.)

"War is like a big machine that no one really knows how to run and when it gets out of control it ends up destroying the things you thought you were fighting for, and a lot of other things you kinda forgot you had." Anonymous

All of this is from Information Clearing House.info

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info

Saundra Hummer

November 18th, 2004, 05:29 PM

SEVEN (7) RETIRED MILITARY LEADERS AGREE: BUSH SCREWED UP:

"We spoke with a group of generals and admirals that included a former supreme Allied commander and a former chairman of the Joint chiefs, and they all agreed on one thing: Bush screwed up.

Find this on the Information Clearing House site, or just click on this address.

http://snipurl.com/aq8q

or this one for the home page:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info
================================================== ========

Is Iran Next?

Powell says Iran pursuing nuclear bomb:

pttp://msnbc.msn.com/id/6516658/

================================================== ========

Colin and the crazies:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,122271,1353796,00.html

================================================== ========

AMERICA, "LEFT BEHIND":
Bush the Neocons and Evangelical Christian Fiction

http://www.counterpunch.com/urgan11182004.html

================================================== ========

HISTORY OF FUNDAMENTALISM:

How far apart are Al-Queda and Extremist Judeo Christianity?

http://www.irmep.org/essays/hf.htm

================================================== ========Here's a list of titles to be found on Information Clearing House.info and there will a lot more that I didn't list.

Police scoff at Ashcroft speech (and lashed back at the Whitehouse on Tuesday)

Recount New Hampshire, (he didn't win it but the numbers look decidedly odd.)

Senate OKs $800B Debt Limit Hike

Dollar continues record decline (they're killing us in more way than one.)

The Arrival of Secret Law (this is just the craziest! What kind of fools are trying to do all of this?)

GOP Lawmakers Alter Intelligence Reform Bill to Cloak Financial Ties.

New chief tells CIA it's job is to support administration'

Molly Ivins: White House to 'gut' CIA.

(My exact thoughts! By one of my favorite columnists, as she dishes up a little humor to make the bitter taste of the Bush administration go down a little bit easier.)

Saundra Hummer

November 18th, 2004, 07:18 PM

REPORTER GOES TO TRIAL OVER CIANCI TAPE

By Jeff Donn Associated Press Writer
An excerpt:
Cranston, R.I. (AP) - Investigative reporter Jim Taricani has stared down crooks, corrupt politcians, even his own mortality during a heart transplant. Now, he's saying "no" to a federal judge. Taricani is headed for trail Thursday, for refusing to reveal a news source.

More excerpts. "His partition is papered with news clips about reporters in trouble for protecting sources. A quote from Thomas Jefferson declares": "Our liberty depends on freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost."

Around the nation several reporters now confront possible fines or jail including cases of the leaked identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame and a lawsuit against the govenment by nuclear physicist Wen Ho Lee. Taricani would be the first of this crop of reporters to go to trial on a charge of criminal contempt.

Taricani is a man who has led an interesting life, and one who doesn't deserve or need jail time. I plan on writing to the court to voice my concerns and complaints. This is an interesting story, worth a read and a follow up. With his special medical needs jail time could be a death sentence.

It's no wonder we are being fed pap so often by the press, it's a dog, eat dog world out there.

Here's the address for the story in it's complete form:

http://news.findlaw.com/ap_stories/other/1110/11-17-2004/20041117121507_16.html

LAL

November 18th, 2004, 07:46 PM

HISTORY OF FUNDAMENTALISM:

How far apart are Al-Queda and Extremist Judeo Christianity?

http://www.irmep.org/essays/hf.htm

================================================== =======
Sorry, another apologist article. Mentioning Nelson Mandela and Arafat in the same vein is just low!! 25K Al Qaeda members there may be but psychological support for them is probably 20000 times that. Even in so-called "moderate" countries, the people were cheering 911.

Saundra Hummer

November 18th, 2004, 08:04 PM

Sorry, another apologist article. Mentioning Nelson Mandela and Arafat in the same vein is just low!! 25K Al Qaeda members there may be but psychological support for them is probably 20000 times that. Even in so-called "moderate" countries, the people were cheering 911.

It was on the site, and I hadn't read that article, but I do know that at one time Mandela was thought of as a subversive, a communist, or a Marxist by much of the world as Arafat was and will always be connected to terrorism. There was a time when the leaders of the state of Israel were bombing the King David Hotel, where the British officers were billited, and where they would hang out. I won't have the time to get to it for a while, but there are articles on this site which I do think are good ones, and if for nothing else, the quotes are usually of interest and fit in with what is happening today, whether we agree with the articles' or not. I like to see as many of the thoughts that are floating around out there, and do some comparative look abouts and see what it is I believe, or not believe, or agree or not agree with. It's a complicated world we're living in, and it is intersting to hear and see as much of how people are thinking as I can.

Saundra Hummer

November 18th, 2004, 08:49 PM

On the MFSO site there was a link to this organization and they are asking for help, for backing, and it is:

Bring them Home Now.org

Here's their address, just click on it:

http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/

Saundra Hummer

November 18th, 2004, 08:58 PM

A Former Special Forces Soldier Responds to Bush's Invitation to Iraqi's to Attack US Troops

"Bring 'Em On?"
By STAN GOFF

This isn't a new story, but it is timely never the less, as it tells of the misery of our troops in Iraq. It tells of the conditions, the heat, the food, the weight of their equipment and survival supplies, etc.

Here's the address, just click on it:

http://www.mfso.org/

Saundra Hummer

November 19th, 2004, 05:09 PM

Iraq Crisis

....Solving Iraq's Security Riddle (November 19, 2004)

This article finds that hte core of the insurgency consists fo Baathists rather than as formerly suspected, Arab Salafi extremists. Former Baath party members have a strong interest in resistiing and defeating the new Iraqi government and have used propaganda tactics similar to Saddam Hussein's to lure militants into doing the "dirty work.

Here the address, just click on it:

http://en.groundspring.org/EmailNow/pub.php?module=URLTracker&j=13683955&u=123427

.....Senate Told of Oil-For-Food Bribes (November 16, 2004

A statement to the US Senate revealed that a Scottish blue-chip engineering group paid kickbacks to Saddam Hussein as part of a deal to securer contracts with Saddam u;nder the oil-for-food programme. Hundreds of companies pid similar bribes and left Saddam with several billion dollars in illicit income (The Herald)

http://en.groundspring.org/EmailNow/pub.php?module=URLTracker&crnd=track&j=13683955&u=123428

================================================== ======

From Florida to Fallujah: What the News Coverage Covers Up (November 9,2004)

The US administration has a tight hold on the media and its coverage of the fight for Fallujah. The US-controlled broadcasters' narrative deceives its audience and focuses solely on "our boys." With the help of the media's one-sided coverage as well as its lack of analysis, Washington has generated wide support for it's imperialist agenda.

This should be an interesting read! I haven't had a chance to check it out yet, but it goes with what everyone has been saying about our press lately. Not everyone, but the liberal's sure have been voicing complaints.

http;//en.groundspring.org/EmailNow/pub.php?module=URLTracker&cmd=track&j=13683955&u=123431

....Denial of Water to Iraqi Cities (November 2004)

The US has violated the Geneva Convention by cutting of water supplies to Tall Afar, Samarra and Fallujah for several days in September and October, 2004, denying up to 750,000 civilians access to water. The US further breached international law when forces refused to let the Red Cross deliver water to Fallujah in the hopes that dwindling suppplies of food and water would eventually cause the insurgents to surrender (Cambridge Solidarity with Iraq)

http://en.groundspring.org/EmailNow/pub.php?module=URLTracker&cmd=track7j=13683955&u=123433

================================================== ========

...Rewriting the Geneva Convention (November 13, 2004)

The US has violated the Geneva Convention, which forbids "individual or mass forcible transfers [...] of protected persons from occupied territory," by taking prisoners out of Iraq for interrogation. In an attempt to confer legality upon its actions, the White House ordered the Justice Department to issue a memorandum defining the status of such "protected persons". The reslult is a very disturbing exception to "an allencompassing right." (Boulder Daily Camera.)

I had troubles linking up to this article with the following linke, I've checked it out to mistakes, and can't see any but there must be something I'm missing. However once on site with any of these links you should be able to pull up the story.

http://en.groundspring.org/EmailNow/pub.php?module=URLTracker&cmd=track&j=13683955&u=123434

Tired, think I found it, it should work now!

================================================== ========

...Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention and Iraq (October 2004)

This report provides evidence taht the US supplied Iraq with material for its chemical weapons program in the 1980's when it supported Iraq int eh war against Iran. The White HOuse has confirmed that it licensed the export of anthrax to "established scientific research institutes" but this report questions such claims and argues that he US justified the war in Iraq on evidence of materials Washington itself provided (University of Sussex, Shcool of Social Sciences and Cultural Studies)

http://en.groundspring.org/EmailNow/pub.php?module=URLTracker&cmd=track&j=13683955&u=123438

================================================== ========

There is so much more to this site and one article reports on the growing of opium poppies in Afghanistan. Most of our crime in the US can be tied to drugs and this is one form of drug addiction that could be worked out to a high success rate if they would do something to make it more profitable for the farmers of Afghanistan to use their lands for other crops grow other things on their lands. I would prefer to pay them not to grow it, than to have my home, my car, my being, robbed by a drug addict. Then there is the costs which are an enormous burden on the taxpayer. Prisons, police, rehab, medical, the expenses related to the drug culture which we all pay for are enormous. The human toll is enormous and almost every family in the US has had their share of the saddeness that is brought on by a loved one becoming a victim of addiction. There are better ways.

================================================== ========

The UN Sees No New Nuclear Signs in Iran (November 16, 2004) Not what our government is telling us. Is war with Iraq in the works once again?
================================================== ========

EMPIRE?

Rumsfeld Urages a Latin Push Aganst Terror
Uncle Sam is Watching You.
Neoliberalism and Class Politics in Latin America
Groups, US Battle Over "Global Terrorist' Label
The Laws of War
The New Terrorist Screening Center: Feds Working with Local Cops in the War on Terrorism
Pentagon Envisioning a Costly Internet for War.

Lots and lots to read, with a newsletter you can subscribe to.

Forgive my typo's.

Saundra Hummer

November 19th, 2004, 07:29 PM

Here's an interesting article that kindof jumps around from Karl Rove to evolution and GW Bush, and it is titled:

The Battle for American Science
Thursday April 10,2003

The Guardian

Creationists, pro-lifers and conservatives now pose a serious threat to research and science teaching in the US, report Oliver Burkeman and Alok Jha

Here's the address, just click on it:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/feature/story/0,13026,933055,00,html

You will probably have to type in the name of the story on the site to pull it up. I believe it is in their Life section.

Saundra Hummer

November 20th, 2004, 12:43 PM

GW Bush is in South America trying to round up support for whatever plans he and his administration have for Iran and Korea. He says Korea and Iran are going forward with their manufacturing of nuclear devices. While the UN says Iran isn't, Colin Powell says Iran is.

After what the administration has done in the past as far as truths go, why should we believe them now?

What will they be wanting us to support in the future? Invasions or missle strikes against these two countries? We are in a bogged down state in Iraq already; we are having a dificult time containing their uprisings. Then there's this; (we've talked about this before), Iran is much larger and has many more people than Iraq, so how is it they believe we can have an easier time, an easier war, and easier peace there?

Look at Korea; that could end up being a real quagmire, they are far more militant and much much tougher than the Iraqi's, or so I've always heard. In the PNAC papers they have planned on the use of nuclear weapons if need be, against anyone we might try to subjugate, to rule, to change, against anyone they believe wouldn't be an easy pushover.

Korea's missles are capable of hitting the West Coast, or so we've been told, and if they have nuclear war heads, what will that do to us? Will we implement a preemptive strike that utilizes nuclear warheads to prevent them from sending their missles against us?

The Korean government is in dire straits as they are so destitute, having spent most of their money on military might, while the rest of the country sufferes terribly. Just like Russia, Korea spent their monies on the military and it has broke both countries. I'm just hoping we don't end up in the same boat. Already the dollar is falling and falling, and it is foreign countries who hold the papers . We are going deeper and deeper into insolvency, a bottomless pit with all we are spending on the war effort; the tax breaks are just accelerating the situation.

I just don't get these people who are in control of our future, not in the least.

I wish the administration would do what sculptors and artists have learned to do. Stop, step back, take a look, walk away and come back later and look at what it is they are doing with a fresh eye. Maybe they are just so caught up in what they are doing that rationale is gone, maybe they need a fresh look at what it is they are trying to accomplish. I don't believe anyone thinking straight would wish war on anyone, especially on our own people, our own country.

Where will corporate profits be if we end up in a nuclear holocaust?

Saundra Hummer

November 20th, 2004, 03:58 PM

****************THIS MAY BE THE MOST IMPORTANT NEWS WE'VE HAD ALL MONTH!*****************
....................:tanz: :clap: :clap: :cheers :clap: :clap: :tanz:....................

THE EU CARROT, NOT THE US STICK

DIPLOMACY ON IRAN'S NUCLEAR STRATEGY MAY NOT SUCCEED, BUT IT'S OUR BEST HOPE

Ian Black
Saturday November 20, 2004
The Guardian

Buried under an avalanche of events as the world adjusts to George Bush's second term, Palestine without Arafat, and mayhem in Iraq, there was some rare, and important, good news this week: Europeans, acting together, and largely ignoring American wishes, persuaded Iran to stop processing uranium , a key stage in the production of nuclear weapoins.

The immediate effect will be to prevent Tehran from being referred to the UN Security Council for concealing its nuclear programmes, to stave off the threat of sanctions and forestall the possibility of US military action against the Islamic republic - included in Bush's "axis of evil".

It is unlike governments not to crow over such a success. British diplomats like to say, with bogus self-deprecaton, that they don't "do triumphalism". But by quietly working together, Britain, France and Germany - The EU's "big three" - have pulled off something of a coup.

The novelty is that Europe has a strategy. Offering Iran the carrot of engagement - rather than the stick of regime change and war - may not succeed, but in the light of the disaster in Iraq, it is definitely worth persuing. "it is," a senior EU policy-maker says wryly,"a good deal better than the alternatives."

Europe learned the hard way last year that unless it can offer an alternative to unbridled US power, it's ambitions to be a global player are doomed to remain an empty boast. And Britain, this time, is working with the old continent, not the new, though very much on the quiet.

This is not just a question of not annoying the Americans. Iran agreed only to suspend uranium processing pending a long-term deal with the EU. It is probably not ready to surrender it's nuclear strategy - a useful card to play in the game of nations. The conservative-controlled Majlis (parliament) has accused the reformists of giving away too much. but the suspension buys time, if only a few months, and raises the stakes for a resumption.

Officially, Iran insists it is not planning to build nuclear weapons, though hardliners say this would be justified - despite the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT). Two neighbours - Russia and Pakistan-have nuclear weapons, the latter in breach of the NPT. So has Israel, outside international law, as well as missiles than can reach Iran.

Evidence of Iranian intentions is strong yet inconclusive, and broadly shared by the US and Europe. The IAEA, the UN nuclear agency, knows a lot about past activity but has found no smoking gun. The intelligence is also said to be more solid that those dodgy dossier's about Iraqi WMD.

Two years ago, this made Iran a tempting target for US neocons, who also cited its support for Hamas in Palestine, Hizbullah in Lebanon, and alleged, though unproven, links with al-Qaida. "Baghdad is for wimps, Teharan is there the real men go," went the Washington joke. No longer. The US is as obsessed by Iran as it has been since 1979, but being overstretched in Iraq and Afghanistan and with oil at $50.00 a barrel, regime change and war are off the agenda. Sabre-rattling by Israel, threatening a bunker busting repeat of its 1981 attack on Iraq's nuclear reactor, has kept up the pressure.

US responses to Europe's initiative have ranged from the dismissive to the frosty. Ominously, even the dovish Colin Powell warned on Thrusday that Iranian missile capabilities were well advanced. Washington worries that an EU offer to supply light-water reactors for civil nuclear power would allow Tehran to follow North Korea in freezing weapons programmes only to resume them at will.

But the EU initiative goes beyond proliferation concerns to entice Iran with trade and the $18bn. (L9.7bn) in foreign investment urgently needed to create jobs for the million youngsters who enter the market every year. Human rights and democratic reform will be part of any dialogue.

London, Paris and Berlin are in the lead, but the EU as a whole, in the person of its foreign policy chief Javier Solana, has claimed "owenrship" of the negotiations. In Brussles, this is seen as a key test of whether a union of 25 countries can act coherently on the world stage. The EU can point to real success in forging a common view on Israel/Palestine and getting its act together in its Balkan backyard. But a constructive, moderating relationship with Iran woud be a huge prize.

EU officials say they have learned a vital lesson from Macedonia- once part of Yugoslavia - where preventive political, economic and military engagement halted a slide into war. Europe's Iranian policy is about effective multilateralism versus a discredited unilateralism. Fingers crossed, because a lot coud hang on the outcome.

ian.black@guardian.co.uk

Special reports
Iran
Iraq
Israel and the Middle East
Saudi Arabia

World newsguide
Iran

Saundra Hummer

November 20th, 2004, 06:04 PM

WHITE HOUSE TO 'GUT' CIA

PURGING FOR DISLOYALTY MAKES US SICK TO OUR STOMACHS

AUSTIN, Texas --Whilst the punditry wander weak and weary in the deep fogs of the "moral values debate," what say we pay some attention to what is going on, eh?

According to Newsday, "The White House has ordered up the new CIA director, Porter Goss, to purge the agency of officers believed to have been disloyal to President GW Bush or of leaking damaging information to the media about the conduct of the Iraq war and the hunt for Osama bin Ladin..."

Bad Nooz. In the first place, the concept of "purge" has not hitherto played much part in our history, and now is no time to start. Considerable pains have been taken to protect the civil service from partisan pressure for extremely good reasons.

"Disloyalty to Bush, " or any president, is not the same as disloyalty to the country. In fact, in the intelligence biz, opposing the White House is sometimes the highest form of loyalty to country since when we fight without good intelligence, we fight blind.

I would not have been troubled to learn that there was to be a "purge" at the
CIA of those responsible for giving bad information to the administration about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Even a "purge" of those who caved in under pressure from the White House to confirm the dubious WMD theory might be useful. (George Tenet is already gone.) But that's not a purge of incompetent officers or of those who have caved under political pressure -- this is a political purge of those "disloyal to George W. Bush."

That's what I was most afraid of in the next four years: the complete closing of the circle, the old Bush emphasis on loyalty as the first and most important asset, above brains, judgement or expertise. Bush has been making this mistake for years, and it is clear it will now get worse. The clash of ideas is not welcome in his office. He wants everything solved in a one-page memo. This effectivelly limits him from being exposed to anything but obsequious third rate thinking. It's precisely how he got in to Iraq.

One of Bush's personal weaknesses is his tendency to go with his "gut" when both facts and logic are against him. This used to be just an intellectual failing, one that led many who know him to conclude he cannot think very well.

It is more alarming to find that those around him are so familiar with the phenomenon that they have now invented a sort of justifying philosophy for it. According to Ron Suskinds much noted New York Times Magazine article, some White House staffers now refer slightingly to "reality-based" decision-making as though it were quite inferior to delusional thinking. This bodes poorly.

One does not have to be an expert on the CIA to see the problem here.
Bureaucracies are peculiarly vulnerable to bullying from the top: Everyone who has ever worked in an office is familiar with the gesture toward the ceiling for "upstairs" to explain some damn fool command from on high. Punishing those who were right is not smart.

Michael Scheuer, the former head of the CIA's bin Laden unit, who wrote"Imperial Hubris" as Anonymous, has now resigned. The book is about the Bush team's failure to pursue bin Laden and about the diversion of intelligence and military manpower from the war on Al Qaeda to the war in Iraq. The thesis is dirt commen, not a state secret.

Another leak involved a report that concluded the likely outcomes in Iraq are all fairly grim and the worst-case is civil war. Since I wrote the very same thing all by my little self before this war even started without a shred of input from the CIA, this strikes me as a "leak" of the self-evident.

It's no secret there is a sort of culture war at the CIA -- see "Charlie Wilson's War," among others. The tug-of-styles is between gung-ho risk-taking agents prepared to jump into any harebrained scheme and the more cautious higher ups, often Ivy Leaguers who worry about dull stuff like breakng international law and starting World War III. Naturally we like the gung-ho sort ("Huah!"), but it's not a bad idea to keep some grown-ups in charge. Otherwise, you wind up with stuff like the plot to make Castro's beard fall out or Ollie North taking a cake to Iran.

We consistently see this administration trying to solve real policy problems by knocking out dissent, as though dissent itself were the problem. The Bushies always remind me of Cousin Claud a major political thinker.

Clause says: "Hell, yis, I believe in the right to dissent. H'it's in the Constitution! What I can't stand is all this criticism. Criticize, criticize, criticize. Why don't they leave poor Dubya alone and let him fight his war in peace?"

"We're sendin' our best boys over there, and you know what them Eye-raqis do? They come out at night. Waring dirty robes. Not even Christian. If they don't like waht we're doing for 'em, whyn't they just go back where they come from?" :tearhair: :duel :tearhair:

Here's the address to Workng for Change.com just click on it:

http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=18092

Saundra Hummer

November 20th, 2004, 06:07 PM

WHITE HOUSE TO 'GUT' CIA

PURGING FOR DISLOYALTY MAKES US SICK TO OUR STOMACHS

AUSTIN, Texas --Whilst the punditry wander weak and weary in the deep fogs of the "moral values debate," what say we pay some attention to what is going on, eh?

According to Newsday, "The White House has ordered up the new CIA director, Porter Goss, to purge the agency of officers believed to have been disloyal to President GW Bush or of leaking damaging information to the media about the conduct of the Iraq war and the hunt for Osama bin Ladin..."

Bad Nooz. In the first place, the concept of "purge" has not hitherto played much part in our history, and now is no time to start. Considerable pains have been taken to protect the civil service from partisan pressure for extremely good reasons.

"Disloyalty to Bush, " or any president, is not the same as disloyalty to the country. In fact, in the intelligence biz, opposing the White House is sometimes the highest form of loyalty to country since when we fight without good intelligence, we fight blind.

I would not have been troubled to learn that there was to be a "purge" at the
CIA of those responsible for giving bad information to the administration about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Even a "purge" of those who caved in under pressure from the White House to confirm the dubious WMD theory might be useful. (George Tenet is already gone.) But that's not a purge of incompetent officers or of those who have caved under political pressure -- this is a political purge of those "disloyal to George W. Bush."

That's what I was most afraid of in the next four years: the complete closing of the circle, the old Bush emphasis on loyalty as the first and most important asset, above brains, judgement or expertise. Bush has been making this mistake for years, and it is clear it will now get worse. The clash of ideas is not welcome in his office. He wants everything solved in a one-page memo. This effectivelly limits him from being exposed to anything but obsequious third rate thinking. It's precisely how he got in to Iraq.

One of Bush's personal weaknesses is his tendency to go with his "gut" when both facts and logic are against him. This used to be just an intellectual failing, one that led many who know him to conclude he cannot think very well.

It is more alarming to find that those around him are so familiar with the phenomenon that they have now invented a sort of justifying philosophy for it. According to Ron Suskinds much noted New York Times Magazine article, some White House staffers now refer slightingly to "reality-based" decision-making as though it were quite inferior to delusional thinking. This bodes poorly.

One does not have to be an expert on the CIA to see the problem here.
Bureaucracies are peculiarly vulnerable to bullying from the top: Everyone who has ever worked in an office is familiar with the gesture toward the ceiling for "upstairs" to explain some damn fool command from on high. Punishing those who were right is not smart.

Michael Scheuer, the former head of the CIA's bin Laden unit, who wrote"Imperial Hubris" as Anonymous, has now resigned. The book is about the Bush team's failure to pursue bin Laden and about the diversion of intelligence and military manpower from the war on Al Qaeda to the war in Iraq. The thesis is dirt commen, not a state secret.

Another leak involved a report that concluded the likely outcomes in Iraq are all fairly grim and the worst-case is civil war. Since I wrote the very same thing all by my little self before this war even started without a shred of input from the CIA, this strikes me as a "leak" of the self-evident.

It's no secret there is a sort of culture war at the CIA -- see "Charlie Wilson's War," among others. The tug-of-styles is between gung-ho risk-taking agents prepared to jump into any harebrained scheme and the more cautious higher ups, often Ivy Leaguers who worry about dull stuff like breakng international law and starting World War III. Naturally we like the gung-ho sort ("Huah!"), but it's not a bad idea to keep some grown-ups in charge. Otherwise, you wind up with stuff like the plot to make Castro's beard fall out or Ollie North taking a cake to Iran.

We consistently see this administration trying to solve real policy problems by knocking out dissent, as though dissent itself were the problem. The Bushies always remind me of Cousin Claud a major political thinker.

Claude says: "Hell, yis, I believe in the right to dissent. H'it's in the Constitution! What I can't stand is all this criticism. Criticize, criticize, criticize. Why don't they leave poor Dubya alone and let him fight his war in peace?"

"We're sendin' our best boys over there, and you know what them Eye-raqis do? They come out at night. Waring dirty robes. Not even Christian. If they don't like waht we're doing for 'em, whyn't they just go back where they come from?" :tearhair: :duel :tearhair:

Here's the address to Workng for Change.com just click on it:

http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=18092

Saundra Hummer

November 20th, 2004, 06:18 PM

While on the above site, Working for Change.com, read about this:

The world's largest private army.

Your tax dollars continue funding mercenary boondoggle in 51st state

An excerpt: United States taxpayers will pay up to $293 million for a contract to Aegis Defense Services of London, a new company created by Spicer, to create an "integrator" or coordination hub for the security operation for every single reconstruction contractor and sub-contractor throughtout Iraq, effectively creating a private military that can attack Iraqi protestors at any time anywhere in the country.

http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=17179

For More Information, see:

http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11350

Saundra Hummer

November 20th, 2004, 06:28 PM

Working for Change.com

Check out this article, and it's subtitles which I'll give to you:

Investigations are still brewing

Bubbling on the back burner:

***Who Outed CIA Agent Valerie Plame :rant2:

***Who in Halliburton Approved Bribing a Nigerian Official? :rant2:

***Did Cheney approve Illegal Halliburton Operation in Iran? :rant2:

***Was Representative Nick Smith Offered a Bribe? :rant2:

***How Did Iran Learn that the U.S. broke it's Secret Code? :rant2:

***And then there is an investigation which appears to be over but should not be. :rant2:

Here's the address:

http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=17472

Saundra Hummer

November 21st, 2004, 12:02 PM

MIDDLE EAST ACADEMIC RESEARCH & EXPOSITION - IRAQ - ONE YEAR LATER

The US Invasion of Iraq: One Year Later

The Middle East Academic Survey Research and Exposition project polled 16 Middle East academics about the one year anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq. The survey was fielded between May 11 and May 19, 2004. Drawn from a pool of 2,300 academics with advanced degrees in Middle East area studies, IRmep compiled and presents 116 survey responses. This poll should
not be interpreted as a statistically significant reflection on the views of all US Middle East academics specialists.

Question# 1

Did the events of the last decade, American Interests, and terrorist attacks of 9/11 warrant a US military invasion of Iraq?

Yes= 4%
No = 96%

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Question #2

What drivers do you believe are influencing Bush administrations policies on Iraq?

a. Establishing a military foothold in the Middle east
1 Uniimportant=6%
2. Not a factor=2%
3. Neutral=6%
4. Critical=37%
5. Important=49%
..............................There is much more to question #2, but too long to put on this post, and there are several other questions with pie charts, and comments.....

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Question #1 Comments

Did the events of the last decade, American intersts and terrorist attacks of 9/11 warrant a US military invasio of Iraq? (Go to site to see the answers and comments)

================================================== ========

Question #2 Comments:

What drivers do you believe are influencing Bush Administration policies on Iraq. (go to site to see answers and the follow up comments at the end of the article.)

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Questions # 3, #4, #5, and About MEASURE

Measure is the acronym of Middle East Academic Research and Exposition. MEASURE is a grant funded research tool that advises policy makers and the American public on highly relevant topics. MEASURE surveys are fielded by the Washington DC based Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy, (IRmep) a non-profit, non-partisan, non-ideological public policy institure.

MEASURE surveys academics via a series of multiple choice and open questions to compile an aggregate of informed opinion on timely policy issues.

================================================== ========

A lot of information available on this site, with graphics and text. Very interesting, and this comes from the top academics in Middle Eastern Studies.

================================================== ========

Here's the addrress, just click on it, and then visit their home page, etc.

http://www.irmep.org/measure2.htm

Saundra Hummer

November 21st, 2004, 12:33 PM

While on the IRmp site, look up this article:

The Impact of U.S. Visa Policies: Implications for America's Economiy
.....An Initial Inquiry

We are losing billions according to this article due to lack of travel to the US by Arabs countries citizens and because of students not staying to study at US universities and because of new applications for attending the colleges here are down. Several reasons, these being the main ones for our economic losses. An interesting article going into Acaedmia, Culture and the Arts, Medicine and Healthcare.

We just don't realize how many things are so interconnected.

Here's an address, just click on it:

http://www.asaa.net/nusacc/04VisasReportFinal-Sept10.pdf

Saundra Hummer

November 21st, 2004, 02:25 PM

It seems that off and on we see new members from places as distant as the Ukraine, Paraquay, and other places near and far, now we have a new girl into jazz from Singapore, who is with a group with a decidedly global flavor. Hope she sticks around I enjoy her site, and her web design is terrific and easy to see, not too dark which is a problem with my monitor and the Lady Bug works for me. as do the great photo's.

Anyway I can't help but wonder what has happened to a lot of our new members. Where have they gone off to? It's always interesting to see and hear from people from other countries, and I which they would have stuck around.

Saundra Hummer

November 21st, 2004, 03:41 PM

Peak Oil Theory

An Independent Iraq

For what it's worth, polls in Iraq reveal considerable and apparently growing support for withdrawal of the US occupying army, apart from the Kurdish regions.

That doesn't mean withdrawal tomorrow. No one is talking about that, and it isn't even technically feasible. But expeditous withdrawal, with a clear deadline, and an authentic, rather than merely nominal transfer of sovereignity to Iraqis. That isn't in the cards, but not because of concerns that the region be left in chaos, rather, becasue it would mean abandoning the primary and quite crucial war aim of establishing the first stable military bases in a dependent client state at the heart of energy-producing regions, a major lever of wolrld control, as has long been understoood. The US isn't about to do that.

There are other reasons. An independent Iraq woud probably take steps to gain a leading position in the Arab world, which would mean confronting the main enemy, US-backed Israel. That would mean rearming, probably with WMD, to counter Israel's. It might also lead to improving relations with Iran. Not impossible is a Shi'ite alliance with Iran and a majority-run Iraq, which might further stimulate moves towards independence int eh nearby Shi'ite areas of Saudia Arabia, where the oil is. That would lead to domination of the world's energy resources by an independent Shi'ite alliance. Nothing's inevitable about any of this of course, but hardly impossible. Can you imagine the US tolerating anything like this? These are among the reasons why permitting democracy in Iraq, even if the rhetoric were meant seriously by Washington and Western commentators, is hardly a likely prospect.

Suppose that internal pressures in the US, and whatever pressures exist elsewhere, led to abandonment of the major war aims, so that there could be plans for expeditious withdrawal of the occupying army and transfer of authentic soverignty. Would that lead to chaos in the region? Or would it reduce tensions and conflicts in the region? We cannot say much with confidence, of course, any more than we could have said anything with confidence about withdrawal of Japanese armies from much of Asia in the early 1940s, or of Russian forces from Afghanistan, and many other cases. But that lack of confidence is not much of an argument for military occupation.

Here's the address to this web site, just click on it and vist the home page to subscribe and then comment, etc. Check out the archives.

http://blog.zmag.org/ttt/archives/000925.html

Saundra Hummer

November 21st, 2004, 05:26 PM

:elephant: :guitar: :guitar: :guitar: :elephant: EnchantedLearning.com has a great site for children. There are printouts of coloring books, activity books, all sorts things concerning this holliday, Thanksgiving, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, and Christmas. Lots and lots of crafts, and not only for this time of year, but there are word scavenger hunts, book printouts, Pebble and rock crafts, Family trees, Native American, Ocean Crafts, Pop up Cards, Stationery, Thankyou notes, Origami, and lots of other things for kids to make, or you for that matter, if you should feel like it. Labels in Spanish, French, German, Italian, Words of Autumn in those languages as well. A lot of printouts. A cute and eductional site for children, lots of fun. Lots and lots of activities. I enjoy this site myself.

Here's the address, just click on it and check out all it has to offer:

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/thanksgiving/

Saundra Hummer

November 22nd, 2004, 12:13 PM

The Hostile Takeover of Childhood.

'A readable and detailed account of how corporations vie more and more aggressively for young consumers.'

This is an article about Susan Linn's Consuming Kids: The Hostile takeover of Childhood.

"Perhaps if there is interest we can draw up a list of such books, and if there is anyoine willing to help me, we could create a website for interested people who are around children who want toread good books to hem. If you are inclined, please get in touch with me."

Read the article to see what it is she means by this exerpt.

Here's the address, just click on it.

http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/2004-11/15prashad.cfm

Saundra Hummer

November 22nd, 2004, 12:42 PM

Medial.ens: correcting for the distorted vision of the corporate media

"Medial.ens is our response to the unwillingness, or inability, of the mainstream media to tell the truth about the real causes and extent of many of the problems facing us, such as abuses, poverty, pollution and climate change."

"Because much modern suffering is rooted in the unlimited greed of corporate profit-maximising - in the subordiantion of people and planet to profit - it seems to us to be a genuine tragedy that society has for so long been forced to rely on the corporate media for 'accurate' information.' (More link)"

Sunday November 21, 2004

MEDIA LENS, COGITATION: TRANSFORMING SUFFERING INTO FREEDOM

BY DAVID CROMWELL

"it's ti;me you realized that you have something in you more powerful and miraculous than the things that affect you and make you dance like a puppet." (Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor and philosopher)

Believe it or not, this is a very interesting article - as dull as it might sound, this does go into all of lifes emotions and happenings or it pretty much does, and it it trying to give you the will to "to take respoinsibility for one's actions and thoughts, to cut the umbilical cord of dependency on 'highter forms of authority, and to grow as a fully-intergrated person." I

It's encouraging us to get on with our lives whatever it is that our 'benign' leaders do, It says "The world isn't fair, never has been, never will be, and it's survival of the fittest whether we like it or not, so if we want to survive and maintain our pampered life-styles, we stay the fittest - and that doesn't necessarily mean the nicest. If you're not part of our tribe,"

You will just have to read this article to really get what it is that he is saying.

Then there are the articles going into the "Politics of Fear." Demolishing Democracy, Understanding bin Laden - Motives Behind September 11. Noam Chomsky comments, Legitimising Mass Slaughter in Fallujah - Part 2, and more.

This is an unusual site with some good information, and followup comments. They also have a media alert.

Really, check this one out, it has merit.

Here's the address, just click on it:

http://www.medialens.org/

Saundra Hummer

November 22nd, 2004, 02:09 PM

He Won the Election...
But 3 signs Show He
Can't Save the Economy!

Get Ready for:
Bush Presidency, Act 2:
The Depression

Buy These 7 Investments Before Jan
21, 2005 - OR KISS YOUR MONEY
GOODBYE.......FOREVER

http://www.agora-inc.com/reports/DRI/depressB29/

This is a spam post I'm afraid, but the article is intersting in spite of it being just that.

Saundra Hummer

November 22nd, 2004, 06:21 PM

When poeple speak to you about a preventive war, you tell them to go and fight it. After my experience, I have come to hate war. War settles nothing.
Dwight David Eisenhower - 34th president of the United States, 1890- 1969.

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I find war detestable but those who praise it without participating in it even more so. Romain Rolland.

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The most shocking fact about war is that its victims and its instruments are individual human beings, and that these individual beings are condemned by the monstrous conventions of politics to murder or be murdered in quarrels not their own. Aldous Huxley - English novelist and critic, 1894- 1963

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Report: US discussing strikes on Iran

The Pentagon is considering strikes in suppor of regime change, including attacks on the leadership, as well as on political security targets.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1101010793582

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Then there are these articles on Information Clearing House.info

Bush Wayne - A "Caped Crusader" in a comic book world.

By Jerry Ghinelli

Deep inside a bunker in an undisclosed location just outside Washington DC, the dynamic duo of Bush Wayne and his trusted confidant, Dick (Grayson) Cheney, hunker down, plan and execute their endless struggle to rid the world of freedom-hating terrorists, insurgents and unpatriotic, immoral liberals.

http://www.indormationclearinghouse.info/article7344.htm

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The LIfe and Mysterious Murder of Margaret Hassan:

Margaret Hassan was born Margaret Fitzsimmons in Dublin, Ireland and murdered in the US-occupied Iraq. She has lived in Iraq for more than 30 years.

http://207.44.245.159/article7345.htm

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The Uncounted:

Soldiers injured in Iraq, even if in a hostile war zone, are not including casualty counts unless their injuries are the direct result of combat. Bob Simon talks to some soldiers who think this is unfair.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/11/19/60minutes/main656756.shtml

================================================== ========

Don Nash: The National Nervous Breakdown:

The fabric of American society is frayed and wearing thin. You can't wrap Bush's deceit in an American flag and make his atrocity into something that is worthy of patriotic praise.

http://207.44.245.159/article7346.htm

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Much, much more today on Information Clearing House.info

Saundra Hummer

November 23rd, 2004, 12:47 AM

The Texas Observer

11/19/2004

K Street Croupiers

How Twp of Tom Delay's Players Bet the House at the Grand Coushatta Casino

By LOU DUBOSE

On May 9, 2001, Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff did President George W. Bush a small favor by directing a modest sum of money to Grover Norquist. Norquist was bringing a group of Republican state legislators to the White House to sell them Bush's proposed tax cuts. He decided to use the event to make a little money for his organization, Americans for Tax Reform. So he had Abramoff ask two of his American Indian clients for $25,000 each for the privilege of meeting the president. This money ATR raised at the White House three years ago is a small part of a big scandal involving Abramoff, his partner Mike Scanlon, six Indian tribes, $66 million in questionable lobbying fees, and millions of dollars in political contributions.

Also entangled in the scandal is House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, whose Washington "network" was offered to Indian casino clients by Abramoff and Scanlon, if the tribes woud hire them. DeLay is the only member of Congress associated with Abramoff and Scanlon's extensive casino tribe dealings. After DeLay used his leadership position to kill a bill that would have taxed Indian casinos, Abramoff and Scanlon used their access to "the Leader" to attract Indian casino clients. (Neither of the two men seemed to have any interest in Indian tribes that did not have casinos.) The Lousiana tribe that paid almost half of the lobbying fees collected by Abramoff and Scanlon contributed more to DeLay's political action committee thatn they did to any other member fo Congress in 2002. Because of his close ties with the two men, Delay is the only member of Congress whose conduct has been questioned in an ongoing Senate committee investigation of the lobbying scandal. Other federal and state agencies are investigating the two men as well.

The Indian lobby fee story moved DeLay toward center stage in the Senate shortly after three of his fundraisers were indicted in Austin and he himself was handed three senate admonishments by the House Ethics Committee for transgressions unrelated to Abramoff and Scanlon. So for DeLay, who is lawyered up and nervously watching a grand jusry in Ajustin, Abramoff and Scanlon represent a third front in what now seems like an endless war over ethical and legal questions involving his fund-raising operations.

Much much more to this story that has been reported on, on PBS. :rant2:

It left the tribe broke, and the lobbiests have built the most expensive of homes with the money they took from the tribe, or so it was said

To see more on this story here's the address for the complete article which was in "The Texas Observer." :rant2:

http://www.texasobserver.org/showArticle.asp?ArticleID=1800

Saundra Hummer

November 23rd, 2004, 10:33 AM

Iraq Reconstruction Contracts

The Governments effort to rebuild Iraq has shed unexpected light on the secretive and arcane world of federal contracting. POGO has been on the front lines working with government insiders to expose attempts to weaken contractin rules for over 20 years.

*Testimony of Danielle Brian, Executive director, before the Senate Democratic Policy Committee - Halliburton should be Suspended or Debarred for Goverment Contracts. (read the testimony>)

To see more on POGO, and the completion of this article, testimony, etc., just click on this address:

http://www.pogo.org/p/x/2004iraqreconstruction.html

Saundra Hummer

November 23rd, 2004, 01:25 PM

REPUBLICAN CHALLENGES PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION BASED EXIT POLLS

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2004
FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES.

An international election observer mission - from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the European Parliament, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and the Council of Europe - released a preliminary report on Monday declaring that the election did not meet democratic standards.

The observers' findings were seconded by Republican Senator Richard G Lugar of Indiana, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Citing the disturbing fact that official results diverged sharply from a range of surveys of voters at polling places, Lugar said " A concerted and forcefull progrm of election-day fraud and abuse was enacted with either the leadership or cooperation of governmental authorities."

Other prominent Western observers were unsparing in thier criticism of the states conduct of the election.

"Fundamental flaws in Ukraine's presidential election process subverted in legitimacy." The National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, sponsored by the Democratic Party in the United States, declared in its preliminary report. The institute, cited "systematic intimidation, overt manipulation and blatant fraud" that were "designed to achieve a specific outcome irrespective of the will of the people." ---New York Times/

From GregPalast.com This reporter was unable to reach Senator Lugar regarding the inconsistency of official election results and exit polls in the USA, the intimidation of minority voters in Florida and Ohio, nor the failure to count two million ballots cast, half by Arican-American voters, in America's first post-democratic election held earlier this month.

Eastern bloc observers noted that balloting in Ohio, New Mexico and Florida did not meet Ukrainian standards, but applauded America's attempt to restore democratic institutions after the otherthrow of elected government in 2000.

================================================== ========

Greg Palast is author of the New York Times bestseller, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, now available on a 5 CD audio set read by ED Asner, Alec Baldwin, Jello Biafra, Al Franken, Janeane Garofalo, Amy Goodman, Jim HIghtower, Congresswoman Cynthis McKinney, Alexandra Paul and Shiva Rose.

To hear a segment of the book or receve Greg's investigative reports,click here'

http://www.gregpalast.com/contact.cfm

Saundra Hummer

November 23rd, 2004, 01:49 PM

WALTER CRONKITE ON THE MEDIA----AND THE MEDIA CHANNEL

HERE'S AN EXCERPT: (A video is also available on the site.)

"Good evening, I'm Walter Cronkite. I really wanted to be with you in person tonight for Globalvision New Media's launch of the new internet site The Media Channel, but unfortunately I was called out of the country. Yet the issues that led to the creation of this unique global resource, and the crisis that's facing all of us who work in and care about journalism and the media, are so profound that I simply felt compelled to tape this message so that you would know that I am with you in spirit at least.
As you know, I've been increasingly and publicly critical of the direction that journalism has taken of late, and of the impact on democratic discourse and principles. LIke you, I'm deeply concerned about the merger mania that has swept our industry, diluting standards, dumbing down the news, and making the bottom line something seem like the only line. It isn't and it shouldn't be.

At the same time, I'm impressed that so many other serious and concerned people around the world are also becoming interested in holding media companies accountable and upholding the highest standards of journalism.

The Media channel will undoubtedly be worth watching and taking part in. I'm intrigued by its potential, and its global reach. The idea that so many leading groups and individuals around the whole world have come together to share resources and information about a wide range of media concerns is very promising, and I urge you to make the Media Channel your media "bookmark" and your portal to the internet.

THERE IS MUCH MORE TO HIS ARTICLE, TO SEE IT, TO SEE THE VIDEO OR TO READ THE TEXT, JUST CLICK ON THE ADDRESS THAT FOLLOWS:

http://www.mediachannel.org/originals/cronkite.shtml

Saundra Hummer

November 23rd, 2004, 02:02 PM

THE "mediachannel.org" HAS THESE ARTICLES TODAY:

Between Big Media and Brotherly Love

Media Falls into Step With 'Iraqi Forces'

From Florida To Fallujah: What the News 'Coverage' Covers Up

Iraqis Refuse to Buy in to US Propaganda

Election Angst Update: Clark Kent Vs. The Media Wimps

FCC Chief Has Had Quite a Year

"MediaChannel is respoinding to the crisis of our times. We are adding news from diverse sources to demonstrate that the world can be covered in a better, more democratic way. Your comments welcome to tim[at] (Sandi: this may be a typo on the address?) mediachannel.org. Your dontations will help us survive. Please consider becoming a member of MediaChannel's Global Movement."

here's the address:

http://www.mediachannel.org/

Saundra Hummer

November 23rd, 2004, 02:34 PM

Some interesting items are to be found here, then hit the home page for more,

http://64.225.103.105/forum/showthread.php?threadid=717

One is "Cheap and Tawdry Political Tricks~Natural and Necessary Conditions

Legal obstructions to a fair election. (submitted by an unregistered guest).

There are chats on this site that are in the exact format that we have on AAJ.

Saundra Hummer

November 23rd, 2004, 03:16 PM

This isn't a new article but one worth a read. Amazing!

Lynne Cheney-Joe Liberman Group Puts Out A Blacklist

by Roberto J. Gonzales.

An excerpt: An aggressive attack on freedom has been launched upon America's college campuses. It perpetrators seek the elimination of ideas and activities that place Sept. 11 in historical context, or critique the so-called war on terrorism.

The offensive, spearheaded by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, a Washington-based group, threatens free speach, democratic debate and the integrity of higher education. In an incendiary report, "Defending Civilization: How Our Universities Are Failing America, " the American Council claims that " Colleges and University faculty have been the weak link in America's response" to Sept 11. It also asserts that " When a nation's intellectuals are unwilling to defend its civilization, they give comfort to it's adversaries."

The report documents 117 campus incidents as "evidence" of anti-Americanism. More than 40 professors are named, including the president of Wesleyan University, who suggested in an open letter that "disparities and injustices" in American society and the world can lead to hatred and violence.

Other examples abound. A Yale professor is criticized for saying,
"It is from the desperate, angry and bereaved that these suicide pilots came." A professor emeritus from the University of Oregon is listed for recommending that "we need to understand the reasons behind the terrifying hatred directed against the U.S. and find ways to act that will not foment more hatred for generations to come."

Dozens more comments, taken out of context and culled from secondary sources, are presented as examples of an unpatriotic academy.

Much more to this story, click on the address to read the complete article.

http://www.commondreams.org/views01/1213-05.htm

Saundra Hummer

November 23rd, 2004, 03:35 PM

RIGHTS GROUP CALLS ON CATERPILLAR TO HALT BULLDOZER SALES TO ISRAEL......BY JIM LOBE

Excerpts:

An interesting article being that 70 Palestinians houses were totally destryoyed and 200 others partially destroyed, according to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR). The report noted that IDF operation in Rafah over the past four years had rendered some 16,000 people or ten percent of its population homeless since 2000.
================================================== ========
the U.S. Episcopal church also moved over the past several months toward adopting a similar policy, but, after meetings with Jewish organizations, announced that it would try to engage targeted companies over their sales to Israel, rather then to endorse an across the board divestment policy

SEE THIS ARTICLE AND IT'S LINKS BY GOING TO:

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1123-02.htm

Saundra Hummer

November 23rd, 2004, 08:19 PM

Here's another good news site:

NEWS IS FREE

This seems to be an excellent site to find important news. With News maps and such. :clap:

Here's the address, just click on it

http://www.newisfree.com/sources/browse/?cat=10&first-250

Saundra Hummer

November 24th, 2004, 11:31 AM

An Australian News station that has video's for you to see and some have a comical bent or so I have read.

It isn't coming in for me, but perhaps you'll have better luck. I'll try it later and see if it is as good as people are saying.

Here's the address, just click on it:

http://accessnews.skatv.org.au/

Saundra Hummer

November 24th, 2004, 12:55 PM

Jim Hightower Common-Sense Commentaries

For November 24, 2004

Try this site more than once, as it is having problems today. It is not coming in, so maybe later. I tried several ways and it just isn't responding, too many hits perhaps.

WE'VE JUST BEGUN TO FIGHT
http://updates.jimhightower.com/ctt.asp?u=3610486&l=68710
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BACK TO DEMOCRATIC VALUES
http://updates.jimhightower.com/ctt.asp?u=3610486&l=68711

************************************************** ********
MANDATE FOR A MUGGING? (About Dick Cheney.)
http://updates.jimhightower.com/ctt.asp?u=3610486l=68712

************************************************** *******
WAL-MARTS NUMBERS GAME
http://updates.jimhightower.com/ctt.asp?u=3610486&l=68713

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************************************************** *******

Saundra Hummer

November 24th, 2004, 03:48 PM

IRAQ'S NEW PATENT LAW:

DECLARATION OF WAR AGAINST FARMERS

By Focus on the Global South and GRAIN

(Foreign Policy in Focus)

November 2004

When Former coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) administratior L. Paul Bremer III left Baghdad after the highly publicized "transfer of sovereignty" in Iraq. Among them is Order 81 regarding "Patent, Industrial Design, Undisclosed Information, Integrated Circuits and Plan Variety." 1 (one) This order amends iraq's original patent law of 1970, and unless and until it is revised or repealed by a new Iraqi government, it wields the status and force of a binding law. 2 (two) With Important implications for farmers and the future of agriculture in Iraq, this order is yet another important component in Washington's attempts to radically transform Iraq's economy.

WHO GAINS?

For generations, small farmers in Iraq operated in an essentially unregulated, informal seed supply system.; Farm-saved seed, agricultural experimentation, and the unrestricted exchange of planting materials among farming communities has long been teh basis of Iraq's cultivation practices. All this is rendered illegal by the new law. the seeds that farmers are now allowed to plant -- "protected " crop varieties brought into Iraq by transnational corporations in the name of agricultural reconstruction -- will be
the property of the corporations.

Althought historically the Iraqi Constitution prohibited private ownership of biological resources, the new U.S. -imposed patent law introduces a system of monopoly rights over seeds. Inserted into Iraq's previous patent law is a whole new chapter on plant variety protection (PVP) that provides for the "protection of new varieties of plants." PVP is antintellectual property right (IPR) or a kind of patent for plant varieties that gives an exclusive monopoly right with respect to planting material to a plant breeder who claims to have discovered or developed a new variety. So the "protection" in PVP has nothing to do with conservation; rather it refers to safeguarding the commercial intersts of private breeders (usually large corporations) claiming to have created the new plants.

To qualify for PVP, plant varieties must comply with the standards of the UPOV3 Convention, which requires each variety to be new, distinct, uniform, and stable. farmers's seeds cannot meet these criteria making PVP-protected seeds the exclusive domain of corporations. the powers granted to plant breeders under this scheme include the exclusive right to produce, reproduce, sell, export, import, and store the protected varieties. these rights extend to harvested matrerial, including whole plants and parts of plants obtained from the use of a protected variety. this kind of PVP system is often the first step toward allowing the full-pledged patenting of life forms. Indeed, in this case the rest of the law does not rule out the patenting of plants or animals

The time frame of the monopoly is 20 years for crop varieties and 25 years for trees and vines. In effect, for 20-25 years the protected variety becomes the property of the breeder, and nobody can plant or otherwise use this variety without compensating the breeder. This means that Iraqi farmers can neither freely legally plant nor save for replanting seeds of any plant variety registered under the plant variety provisions of the new patent law.4 (four) This deprives farmers of what they and many others worldwide claim as their inherent right to save and replant seeds.

CORPORATE CONTROL

The new law is presented as being necessary to ensure the supply of good quality seeds in Iraq and to facilitate Iraq's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO).5 (five) What it will actually do is facilitate the penetration of Iraqi agriculture by the likes of Monsanto, Syngenta, Bayer, and Dow Chemical--the corporate giants that control seed trade across the globe. Eliminating competition from farmers is a prerequisite for these companies to establish operations in Iraq, a condition that the new law has achieved. Taking over the first step in the food chain is the next corporate move.

The new patent law also explicitly promotes the commercialization of genetically modified (GM) seeds in Iraq. Despite serous resistance from farmers and consumers worldwide, these same companies are pushing GM crops on farmers around the world for their own profit. Contrary to industy assertions, GM seeds do not reduce the use of pesticides. Instead, they pose a threat to the environment and to everyone's health while increasing farmer's dependency on agribusiness. In some countries like India, the "accidental" release of GM crops is deliberately manipulated, 6(six) since physical segregation of GM crops from GM-free crops is not feasible. Once GM crops are introduced into the agro-ecological cycle, there is no possible recall or cleanup from genetic pollution. 7 (seven)

As fo rthe WTO argument, Iraq legally has several options for complying with the organization's rules on intellectual property, but Washington has simply decided that Iraq should not explore them.

There is more but there is a need to understand the implications of such rules and laws. These are harmful policies all in the name of corporate profits and control. Terrible!

Here's the address to see the complete report. There is much more to this, and the end result is harmful, ask some of our own farmers here in this country. Besides once hooked in with them, most of their seeds are hybrids and that leaves the farmer dependant on the seed growers. Dependant and at their mercy as far as supplies and cost goes. A nightmare scenario.

http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/occupation/2004/1100seeds.htm

Check out his organizations other stories as well.

Saundra Hummer

November 27th, 2004, 03:22 PM

PRESIDENT BUSH, I NEED SOME ADVICE REGARDING GOD'S LAWS AND HOW BEST TO FOLLOW THEM

A tongue in cheek look at bibical laws.

This is such a topical article and fits in with what is happening with the Values movement, also known as the Faith-based movement. It just goes to show that we take what we want to take and leave the other laws behind, and there are more than enough good reasons for not following all of the laws in the bible. If we were to follow all of the laws the bible teaches, earth would be a far less populated planet. Tolarance of others would be unheard of in many instances.

Here's the address for the complete article, and then hit the home page to see more at this interesting site: just click on it:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article7371.htm

Saundra Hummer

November 28th, 2004, 11:49 AM

In an article by Molly Ivins on "A Few Political Developments"
Thursday November, 2004 and in "The Free Press" and in "Truthout."

She talks about "A study by the Walter Reed Army Institute on Marines and soldiers who were surveyed after tours in Iraq", and how they are suffering from major depression, generalized anxiety of post traumatic stress disorder, which can cause flashbacks, sleep disorders, violent outbursts, panic atttacks, acute anxiety and emotionmal numbness. The numbers are expected to be higher among reservists than among career soldiers.

The article reports how 30% of Vietnam vets experienced PTSD, and the greater tragedy was that at first it went unrecognized and later often went untreated. This time, we should have known it was coming, (except this time it was supposed to be a "cakewalk" and our troops greeted with flowers) We're totally unprepared again, and the system cannot more fast enough to treat the problem. But, hey, anyone who criticizes the Pentagon is "not supporting our trops." right?

Interested in how companies are fighting to keep from paying retiree's retirement benefits? Interested in environmental legislation? This article briefly talks about these issues as well.

Here are the two addresses to these issues, just click on them:

http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/112804F.shtml

http://www.freepress.org/columns/display/1/2004/1006

Saundra Hummer

November 29th, 2004, 04:55 PM

FISCAL COLLAPSE IN AMERICA: PRIVATIZATION AND NEO-FEUDALISM
By Bill Willers

An interesting article, however it was written in 07/15/03.

It still holds true today, even more-so, as the effects of government policies have become larger and larger, and with the cost of the war being around $2,000.00 a second, it is all the more obvious that things are getting worse, not better. It won't be the government making any profits if there are profits to be made in Iraq, but the large corporations who have flocked there to be in on the kill.

The article also states that "Following 9/11, a mourning public and their congressional representatives too quickly handed the keys to the Kingdom to ideologues dedicated to killing government of, by, and for the people. If we do not waken soon from our collective daze, our descendants will surely feel a deep rage at our having given up their birthright without a struggle." :shrug:

Here's the address, just click on it:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4114.htm

Saundra Hummer

December 1st, 2004, 07:18 PM

COLDTYPE DECEMBER ISSUE

Six new e-books, photo essays and essays for FREE downloading

I had typed out the complete email, but my hand slipped and I deleted it all before I could post, so here is a shortened list of very interesting sounding articles to see.

1. WITH PALIN TO KYLE:
A 36 PAGE EXCERPT FROM IAN MARCHANTS NEW BOOK

2. OFF THE RAILS
To accompany the main feature, and exclusive 12 page article

3. WMD 7 THE CHALLENGE TO TV NEWS

4. JOURNALISM UNDER FIRE
Bill Moyers: A 22 page essay...

5. HUNG OVER IN THE END TIMES.

6. DINING WITH THE RHINOS
Dissent, etc.

Plus lots of new columns and lots of additions to their "Other Voices" section.

Here's the address, just click on it:

http://www.coldtype.net/

Saundra Hummer

December 2nd, 2004, 07:35 PM

Here is a site for PBS, there are video's and interviews concerning Iran, and the injustices carried out by the Iranian government.

PBS does much more, check out their home page; it is an interesting site to bookmark.

Here's the address, just just click on it.

http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/iran/index.html

LAL

December 2nd, 2004, 08:36 PM

Seems like a growing number of people in Iran, especially the young, are increasingly unhappy with the harsh living conditions there. Are we to expect a form of backlash against their oppressive government in future? Only time will tell if they're able to bring upon changes to their government and country and hence way of life or go on to become even more extremist. Hope it's the former. Maybe GW could give these youngsters a hand instead of bringing out the tanks! Tough one.

I wonder if this article (http://www.faithfreedom.org/Announcement/BushVictory.htm) is trustworthy?

LAL

December 6th, 2004, 10:29 PM

Marshall Plan or Poll Tax? (http://www.faithfreedom.org/oped/WolfgangBruno41203.htm)

Saundra Hummer

December 7th, 2004, 04:52 PM

LAL, I wonder about both articles, and it seems the more I read of Islam the less I understand. It is hard to wrap your mind around what it is they are said to believe and be. Full of contradictions, like Christianity, and biblical scholars are still at odds about the bible's teachings. All of us can't understand all of it's doctrines either. Times have changed and there have been progressions in the Christian religion, progressions which lots of believers choose to ignore, while we read that in Islam the majority of Muslims have gone backwards to a more primative form of Islam, that it isn't progressive, instead it regresses due to it's "warrior" base of belief. It is a confusing matter,especially when it can bring the most forward looking nations into a state of war, that state of mind being all too pervasive. Astounding really!

LAL

December 7th, 2004, 10:11 PM

Saundra

I live in a majority Muslim country (60-65%) but in general, most are nice, decent people, and easy to get along with. However, there is a discernible trend of increasing "fundamentalism" among some, ranging from dressing and behaviour to naming of newborns with fully Arabic names. Some of the youth choose to study in the Middle East/Pakistan (vs the West) and are often infused with extremist ideology. This really commenced in the 80s and I believe was influenced by Ayatollah's takeover of Iran (slight delayed impact) and continues today. While ties with people of other faiths are still very congenial, there is always an undercurrent of unease when dealing with one another especially with respect to customs, food, relationships, discussion of religious issues etc. But so far, the climate here is still very good. Thank goodness in the national elections this year, PAS, the Islamic party which sought/seeks to implement strict Syariah laws nationwide was trounced by the secular multi-faith ruling party - but it will be a perpetual battle.

Since I haven't read any of the "holy books" of the three monothestic religions, particularly the last one, and only derived information from various on and offline sources, I can't confirm the alleged hate doctrines are true. However, based on 1400 years of bloodstained history, something is definitely not right about the underlying principles. Indoctrination of hate in their young, biased and selective media reporting on how they are always wronged, always blaming others for their predicaments only adds fuel to the fire.

IMO it's probably the doctrine of us and them and either you embrace this concept/religion/ideology or you are wrong and must submit to our rules is the source of enmity and disrespect towards people not of their faith. I agree it's a very complicated issue and even moreso to resolve if ever possible.

Rocket #9

December 8th, 2004, 12:55 AM

LAL,

You may be interested to know that many of the more conservative Muslim leaders in Indonesia (where I used to live) studied in the West, whereas the more traditional leaders like Gus Dur studied in the Middle East. There's also the pesantren/madrassah difference, is that in Malaysia too?

LAL

December 8th, 2004, 01:36 AM

Most of the Muslim leaders of the ruling party have at least a Western education or Western-style local education. Similarly for many Muslims from secular schools (unsure of those from religious ones). Hence the more open-minded environment at present. On Islamic schools, AFAIK, there is only one official type, the regular people's Islamic schools or madrasahs. Any of these leaning towards a Pesantren-type school would likely be closed immediately using the "infamous" Internal Security Act (ISA) to curb potential terrorist activities. However, as to what's really taught in madrasah's, only they know.

Rocket #9

December 8th, 2004, 10:14 PM

The terminology seems to be a bit different between Malaysia and Indonesia. The pesantren in Indonesia are an outgrowth of traditional Indonesian Islam, which contains a lot of good old Javanese syncretism and is quite tolerant of other religions and beliefs. Generally, these people keep to Javanese traditions (no real minarets in mosques, for example: it's impolite to stand above someone else) and haven't adopted a lot of the aggressive Arabism of the more modern Muslims who are often called fundamentalists. Perhaps because of their traditional roots, the leaders in this movement--roughly represented in politics by NU--tended to go for their religious schooling to the Middle East.

The madrassahs in Indonesia tend to be more "modern" from an Indonesian point of view. The old Javanese traditions are discarded in favor of Arab traditions, the brand of Islam is much less tolerant. There is even a vocal, though minority (for now), movement to institute shariah law based on a largely fictional unadopted article of the constitution. As modernists, the leaders of this brand of Islam--roughly represented in politics by PPP and PK, and in everyday life by the Muhammadiyah organization--tend to seek education in the west, the better to condemn it while pretending to understand it (whoops, a bit of editorializing there!).

What a lot of westerners, including my fellow Americans (to coin a phrase), don't understand is that the Muslims whose views are routinely presented in the western press as backward, fundamentalist, etc., are actually considered by a lot of fellow Muslims (in Southeast Asia) as modernists. I don't mean Taliban types, but people like Amien Rais in Indonesia and Anwar in Malaysia (if I'm not misreading him). These people are well-educated (usually in the west), modern in appearance, and seductive in presenting the message that the only way forward is to reject traditional values in favor of an aggressive Arabist Islam.

Westerners are never going to get a handle on Islam today until they realize that most Muslims don't see "fundamentalism" as a return to some sort of medieval Taliban state. For them it's the only way forward, and the way they'll achieve the prosperity and respect they feel they deserve.

We now return to the show already in progress...

Ed

clave

December 8th, 2004, 10:50 PM

Westerners are never going to get a handle on Islam today until they realize that most Muslims don't see "fundamentalism" as a return to some sort of medieval Taliban state. For them it's the only way forward, and the way they'll achieve the prosperity and respect they feel they deserve.

"Most Muslims" -- I don't think so... There have been a number of attempts by younger moderates to oust the current Iranian government in elections, to cite one example. (And there are a lot of moderates there.) I've met a fair number of Muslim immigrants to the US who fit your categorization, but far, far more who don't. (Also a good number of people who believe in "the greater jihad," which is about dealing with one's own evil desires, not bloodshed.)

But there's absolutely no question that so-called "fundamentalism" is gaining an increasing number of adherents in Muslim/predominantly Muslim countries.

Saundra Hummer

December 10th, 2004, 06:00 PM

I said the more I read on Islam the more confusing it becomes to me, and in that vein, the more I hear about what it is our goverment is doing in Iraq the more mind boggling it becomes and now I hear there is a soldier, Spc. Robert Loria who while in Iraq lost an arm. He's been discharged from his company in Fort Hood, Texas without the money to make it home to his wife in New York and a bill from the Army. This story is going to be on Aaron Brown tonight on CNN which I don't get, so if anyone watches it, let me know what the reasons for this are, okay?

Saundra Hummer

December 10th, 2004, 10:39 PM

Found a story on this soldier and his plight in Information Clearing House.info

Here's the address:

http://informationclearinghouse.info/7457.htm

I'm having trouble accessing this site for the article so just go to their home page and look it up if you have the same problem, here it is:

http://informationclearinghouse.info/

LAL

December 13th, 2004, 01:55 AM

Persian Gulf Soon To Be Arabian Gulf? (http://hoder.com/weblog/archives/012895.shtml)

The funny part is if you do a google search for Arabian Gulf, this turns up (first among others):
http://arabian-gulf.info/ :duel :tanz:

Saundra Hummer

December 15th, 2004, 08:32 PM

On the Information Clearing House there are some pretty inflamitory articles this week, terrible reports, and pleas for desertions by our troops by the Iraqi's. However here is one article that isn't about the war, but upsetting never the less and It is "What they don't tell you on Social Security reform."

"It's WHAT politicians don't emphasize about their ideas that counts. Take Social Security.

For more than four years President bush has trumpeted the idea of personal investment accounts grafted onto the best retirement safety net we"ve ever had. He has yet to utter a syllable about how he would finance the transition once tax revenue intended to fund current benefits is diverted to create such accounts. He's happy to emphasize the free lunch aspects - no benefit cuts for those 55 or younger, an all voluntary scheme, a benefits floor, and even no increase in payroll taxes (thought his spokesmen resist saying whether that applies to increasing the income ceiling to $876,700).

For this reason Bush should be watched like a hawk at his domestic policy summit this week. If he doesn't start emphasizing what he has been ignoring all these years, it's a decent bet that he's more interested in the politics of Social Security than it's actual repair."

To see the complete article by Thomas Oliphant just click on the following address:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info

Saundra Hummer

December 15th, 2004, 08:36 PM

Really, I've been gone a while and didn't see the "Lighthouse" Thanks whomever, that is nice. I appreciate it!

xricci

December 16th, 2004, 04:42 AM

you got it, sandi. :wink2:

jazzcritic

December 17th, 2004, 05:03 AM

I noticed that Social Security emerged in this Iraq thread.

What people seem to fail to realize about Social Security:

The money we contribute, along with our employer's matching money, is not invested or set aside, but used for current government expenses.

If you are so unfortunate as to die before you retire or shortly thereafter, your spouse gets a flat payment of a few hundred dollars. Imagine the uproar if you paid into an insurance policy, IRA, 401k, 403b, etc., and that's all your family received.

Social Security is a ripoff and a Ponzi scheme for a lot of taxpayers. It doesn't help that I have an in-law who is institutionalized with no need for money, yet he gets disability checks out of this fund and has for over two decades.

Don't forget the generous Democrats who got Social Security benefits subject to income tax, even though folks already paid taxes on their original contributions.

Most taxpayers would have a difficult time earning a worse return than the Federal government does on FICA contributions. Perhaps the solution would be to limit personal investments to fairly conservative types of accounts.

Leaving it alone or raising this tax is not a solution. A serious bipartisan group needs to be involved in repairing this sinking ship, leaving out the usual mugging for the cameras with threatening comments.

Saundra Hummer

December 17th, 2004, 10:30 AM

Not an Iraq thread, but one to put in anything you would like from poetry to what ails you. It's just that Iraq became so embroiled in our everyday lives, along with the politics of it during the election, as well as now, that it became the main focus of my postings. When we shifted focus from Al Qaeda and went into Iraq, the bogus reasons we were being fed fueled anti administration beliefs, and still do. therefore there are lots of Iraq postings. We for the most part all know the reasons behind the invasion, and the enept ways this war is being handled, and the fact that no matter how much we are against this war, nothing much is changing.

We do need to know more about how they plan on handling Social Security, as we certainly don't want soup lines filled with our over 65 years of age citizens. We had those in the past, and they were filled with working age and not just with those over the age of 65. The soup lines were seen during the great depression, and they were only a band aid approach. We need such a program as Social Security. Mapes while owning large tracts of land, cattle ranches and a successful Casino in Reno Nevada collected his monthly check. I wonder how many other very wealthy people do also? I would be handing it back if I were in his position. He earned it of course, but that's an issue. We need an overhauling of the program, a program that is protected from raids that use it's funds for other purposes.

clave

December 17th, 2004, 09:20 PM

There was an excellent article in yesterday's New York Times regarding vets with severe PTSD who are coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan. I'll try to find the link -- it's a harrowing story, but very important. At least this time around, we are helping the sufferers when they come back, not scorning them, as in the Vietnam War.

Saundra Hummer

December 28th, 2004, 04:41 PM

Unemployed and gray? Truly, Uncle Sam wants you:

They are desparate. How else can I explain the fact that I am 54 years old and the militray is trying to recruit me?

Click on the addresses below to see the stories:

http://207.44.245.159/artricle7565.htm

===================================

Then there is this: Disasters and Unnatural:

Before there was an earthquake and tsunami, there was Wolfowitz.

Indonesia finally makes the front page in the U.S. Unfortunately, it's not because of Paul Wolfowitz's activities there.

http://www.villagevoice.com/blogs/bushbeat/archive/000614.php

==================================

Asia Struggles with Disaster Aftermath, 50,000 Dead

http://abcnews.go.com/international/wireStory?id=365697

========================================

Dramatic Images of Tsunami Emerge:

From NBC News and the Associated Press, new images of the South Asian tsunami disaster

http://www.nbc5.com/news/4028888/detail.html

======================

Saundra Hummer

December 28th, 2004, 04:47 PM

Now after results are known in Washington there comes this story out of Ohio, and I wonder what the results will be there and if the courts will make another dubious ruling regarding the election process in that state.

Ohio GOP Election Officials Ducking Subpoenas as Kerry Enters Stolen Vote Fray.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1228-01.htm

===============================================

To subscribe to Information Clearing House, visit this site:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/subscribe.htm

Saundra Hummer

December 31st, 2004, 01:48 PM

Thomas Tops On High Court In Acceptance Of Lavish Gifts

Justice reported valuable items, $5,000 check and trip, among others.

by Richard A. Serrano and David G. Savage, Los Angeles Times.

Gifts included a bible once owned by the 19th-century author and abolitionist leader Frederic Douglass, which Thomas vallued at $19,000, and a bust of President Lincoln valued at $15,000.

He has taken a private jet trip to an exclusive club in Northern California arranged by a Dallas real estate investor who has helped run an advocacy group that filed briefs with the Supreme Court.

There were other gifts and more expensive presents.

To see the article go to this address, just click on it:

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/2972139

If this isn't a story about how things shouldn't be, then what is?

Go to:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info

for this story and more. There are some great quotes today as well. How is it that Hitler knew human nature so well? To think it hasn't changed much in all those years after we have learned so much, it is just amazing that we, in too large a part, are still ruled by our basest instincts.

Saundra Hummer

December 31st, 2004, 02:17 PM

An interesting, thought provoking, article by Diane Christian

"Empire Doesn't Analyze, It Acts"

The Other Cheek

In the newsletter, "Counterpunch"

http://www.counterpunch.com/christian11272004.html

Lots of other topical articles here on this site, but this site can be accessed by using:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info

Saundra Hummer

December 31st, 2004, 02:28 PM

Looking for an easy to do Super Bowl Party stick to your ribs food item, one that will feed an army of hungry beer drinking sports nuts?

Here you go, I use Bull Stout Malt liquor to cook it in instead of the wine, I also put in chunky apple sauce or some cut up in cubes apples or dried apples to give it even more complexity, and it is good believe it or not!

here is an address for you to find a more comprehensive recipe than how I would be able to relate. Basically the same as mine but easier to understand.

I forgot to include the name of the dish It is "Choucroute Garnie". Increase meats doubling or whatever to make up for how many people will be eating it, but it might be o.k. just as is if you furnish other foods beside. Depends on how big of eaters you are entertaining,

www.cleveland.com/recipes/plaindealer

Found this in the Plain Dealer, a Cleveland Newspaper online, or you cAn reach the coloumnist once you are on the article, here it is describing the dinner.

http://cleveland.com/living/plaindealer/joe_crea/index.ssl?/base/living/110431626049460.xml

Saundra Hummer

January 3rd, 2005, 03:05 PM

The United States Had Advance Warning Of Tsunami: Canadian Professor

"Daily Times" (link provided on site)---Washington: A Canadian expert has claimed that the US Military and the State Department were given advance tsunami warning and America's Navy base on the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean was notified but the information was not passed on to the countries that bore the brunt of the disaster.

To see the rest of the story go to this link, just click on it:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article7600.htm

Saundra Hummer

January 9th, 2005, 07:49 PM

Loretta (Laurie) Johnston Williams where are you? Still in Texas. Where is Doug? I have looked and looked for you, no luck, so hope you find this post.
How is Bill and did he stay with Shell, did he continue with computer math programing for Shell?

Don't you wish you still had your hot Corvette? I wrote to Bob Bondurant and he didn't know where you are either, or he thought I was the IRS.

Hope this finds you, and you find it. Did you ever get back to Playa del Rey? Or did you move back to Pasadena?

I heard you were big in the March of Dimes, so I contacted them with no luck there either.

Thought about calling the Catholic church in Houston or San Antonio, but never did, however I did write to Marymount or one of the other girls schools in Santa Monica.

If this shows up on google and you see it, get in touch. The 60's, now that's a long, long time ago!

Dropping lots of words here hoping you get to see it in some strange search. Should have put in Squaw Valley and the Crystal Bay Club, Thor (Ace) my Samoyed, and Pat Johnston as well. So this is an addition, as I had spelled Houston with an a. Remember Eugene stealing the Russian ski teams ski's and the FBI searching everywhere for him? He stole everything he could get his hands on didn't he? Such a nice guy, yeah, right! He is so lucky that he didn't get the daylights beaten out of him or end up in jail.

Saundra "Winkler" Hummer

Saundra Hummer

January 10th, 2005, 01:32 PM

There is a warning on Information Clearing House.info.

This is a "Warning From a Student of Democracy's Collapse

By Chris Hedges.

Fritz Stern, a refugee from Hitler's Germany and a leading scholar of European history, startled several of his listeners when he warned in a speech about the danger posed in this country by the rise of the christian right.

Read the story in it's entirity by clicking on the following address:

http://207.44.245.159/article7643.htm

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info

Saundra Hummer

January 10th, 2005, 01:46 PM

Cocaine now Cheaper Than a Cappuccino

The failure of the government's policy to stem drug imports is revealed today by research which shows that Britain is awash with cheap drugs, with a line of cocaine now costing less than a cappuccino.

Here's the address, just click on it.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/drugs/Story/0,2763,1386240,00.html

Remember the "drugs for arms" and how drugs flowed into this country and devastated whole communities? I had friends who were working the docks and they told me, that if our government had wanted to stop them, it was easy to do, it was something that was allowed, and we are still feeling the ill effects of that terrible time. Remember Kerry following the money? His works were disregarded and the money people were given a slap on the wrist. Where's the money trail now, and will anyone even want to attempt to follow it when so much hard work is for naught?

Saundra Hummer

January 10th, 2005, 03:01 PM

HALIBURTON WINS DRILLING TENDER IN IRAN:

A US grand jury issued a subpoena to the Texan firm in July, seeking information about its Cayman Islands unit's work in Iran, where it is illegal for US companies to operate

See the story here, just click on it:

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_10-1-2005_pg4_17

http://snipurl.com/gwpi

You know for years it was illegal to deal in Libyia, yet Halliburton skirted that law and is making millions, they're in the catbird seat, and will be in Iran?

Saundra Hummer

January 18th, 2005, 01:52 AM

According to "Nightline" tonight, the American public is finally realizing that this war is crazy. Not how they put it, but hearing that the war is losing public support is such good news. Now that Bush has stated that his election proved he is supported by us in his crazy war, perhaps he needs a better understanding of us. Support is beginning to swing away, many of us are no longer willing to follow the Bush/Cheney war machine blindly. More of us are questioning the reasoning and feasibility of this war of theirs. We are questioning their sacrificing of our men and women in this crazy war. We are questioning whether or not our losses are worth it, and we are questioning if it's right to kill so many Iraqi's for the bogus reasons we've been handed. It has taken a while, but we're getting there. Surely more will see the light.

Saundra Hummer

January 19th, 2005, 02:36 AM

Washington -- January 18 2005-- A lawsuit was filed late Friday 14th in the U.S. District Court in Reno, Nevada against President Bush and Vice President Cheney.

To see the article, click on this address:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article7752.htm

Saundra Hummer

January 19th, 2005, 02:45 AM

Forgot to mention in the previous post about the lawsuit, that they are seeking an injunction against further implementation of the PNAC plan without a 2/3 vote of the congress and a full disclosure to the Amerian Public.

It would be great if that could happen and then perhaps the American public will see for once what it is this administration is trying to accomplish. Doubt it will happen as the courts have become so ingrained in political actions, ones which a lot of us believe they should leave up to lower courts. I would just imagine the Federal Supreme Court will step in on this one, because if this suit is won, it would throw a cog in the administrations wheel. :shrug:

Here's the link again, which is required to reprint any part of this article. I give it all the time anyway, as it is such an interesting sight.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article7751.htm

Saundra Hummer

January 19th, 2005, 04:13 PM

With a Little Boy in the back:

In today's security -obsessed, post-9/11 era, one might thinki that it would n be difficult to haul a convincing replica of an atomic bomb across the coutnry
Not so. "We drove a full-scale WMD 800 miles across the United States and no one stopped or questioned us," Coster-Mullen told me. "in fact, it was quite easy!"

To see this report go to:

http://wwwinformationclearinghouse.info

or to:

http://www.thebuletin.org/article.php?art_ofn=jf05auer

I probably wouldn't recognize one either, but shouldn't weigh stations and brake inspection stations manned by state police be an area where someone trained in recognizing such a thing be stationed? I know in each state there are inspection stations and inspection sites at each border crossing into another state, much less the international border crossings into Canada and Mexico. This is it in a nutshell, we just wouldn't know in most cases what is in or on the next vechicle down the road. Just not always possible. There are very few inspection stations, and most are manned by one person, at some isolated location like up on mountain pass roads.

Saundra Hummer

January 19th, 2005, 04:21 PM

How are you naked? :banana: :cool: :banana:

A little song for you, just click on the address below:

http://www.goodolddogs2.com/older.html

Saundra Hummer

January 21st, 2005, 04:41 PM

"This so-called ill treatment and torture in detention centers, stories of which were spread everywhere among the people and later by the prisoners who were freed...were not, as some assumed, inflicted methodically, but were excesses committed by individual prison guards, their deputies, and by men who laid violent hands on teh detainees.": Rudolf Hoess the SS commandant at Auschwitz.

A Nurembefg Lesson

Torture scandal began far above 'rotten apples.'

By Scott Horton

Most people who hear this quote today assume it was uttered by a senior officer of the Bush Administration. Instead it comes from one of history's greatest mass murders, Rudolf Hoess, the SS commandant at Auschwitz. Such a confusion demonstrates the depth of the United States' moral dilemma in it's treatment of detainees in the war on terror.

http://207.44.245.159/article7790.htm

This is all from Information Clearing House.info

http://www.informationclearinghoue.info

Subscribe to the news letter as it has quotes you don't always see on the site.

Saundra Hummer

January 21st, 2005, 04:52 PM

Possible War Crime Charges Force Rumsfeld To Cancel Trip

See the story on Infomation Clearing House.info

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info

Race to War:

Cheney Says Iran tops U.S. List, Warns Israel:

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?
type=politiclNews&StorylD=7385089

http://snipurl.com/c73p

Next Stop, Tehran?: "Real men want to go to Tehran."

So went the mordant barroom quip-variously attributed to Undersecretary of State John Bolton and other neoconservative hawks--during the --long build up to the U.S. led invasion of Iraq.

http://www.progressive.org/feb05/toen0205.html

Again all of this is on "Information Clearing House.info"

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info

Check out the archives and links, not all what I agree with, but much that is illuminating nonetheless. A freedom we enjoy!

Saundra Hummer

January 21st, 2005, 05:16 PM

USA Secretly Entering 10 Sovereign Countries?

http://freepress2005.blogspot.com/2005/01/usa-secretly- entering- 10- sovereign.html

http://snipurl.com/c73q

From "information Clearing House.info

================================================== ========

60 second Video:

QuickTime video'

http://207.4r.245.159/article7785.htm

================================================== ========

Paul Craig Roberts: Our Troops are Dying for Sycophants:

In her confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, "Condi" Rice personified the Bush administration's delusion-based "war against terror." Whenever a senator's question penetrated to the harsh reality, condi waffled and evaded, choosing to protect at the expense of her reputation the neocon delusion that invading Iraq was the "right thin;g to do."

http://207.44.245.159/article7781.htm

================================================== ========
There is so much more, so check out the site for stories about war crime fear, check out the stories on Rumsfeld; Judge Gonzales reviving "Nazi Legal Argument", Amenesty Internatonal: "Human rights not hollow words" in their appeal to President George W. Bush on his inauguration. One of GW's "New Best Friend Boils People Alive. Women held in Abu Gharaib are talking, but the government isn't. British troops injured in abuse revenge attack. The Nuremberg Principles Today. Cartoon: Bush: Blood on his Hands. Administration denial of failure in Iraq. There is also this, a "Video: Mosaic: World News Reports from Middle East TV for 01/20/05. I haven't watched it so I don't know it's content, but thought I would provide the link: here it is:
http://snipurl.com/c744

There is much more but as you can see it is easier to just click on to this site to find it all:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info

Saundra Hummer

January 21st, 2005, 08:28 PM

Okay everyone, where are our two contendors, Chris and Hard-Bop, in alphabetical order here, but all kidding aside, where have they gone to?

Hope everyone is alright out there! Drop in once in a while and let us know. I think Hard Bop has been around a bit, but Chris, haven't heard a word from or about him since before Christmas I believe.

Saundra Hummer

January 26th, 2005, 12:43 AM

Reuters has a story online that tells of "Islam Gains Toehold in Mexico's Zapatista Country. A story by Alistair Bell.

It's being reported that much good has come from this, soberness and more upstanding behavour among the Tzotzil Indians in Chiapas state, the home of Zapatista rebels and "a hotbed of sectarian strife between Christians."

A fascinating story.

Islam as is being adopted by the Mexicans of Chiapas, is a radical offshoot founded by a Scotsman who converted in the 1960's The Murabitun sect, and they're from the orthodox Sunni branch. They are "highly critical of the charging of interest rates as unIslamic and advocate scrapping currencies, taxes and the nation state, to be replaced with Islamic emirates trading in gold coins."

Go to yahoo.com's news columns and click onto Rueters and find the story in that section, or click here:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story?cid602&ncid=602&e=4&u=/nm/20050125/lf_nm/religion_mexico_muslims_dc

Hope I have this right, it takes a while to copy going back and forth.

Saundra Hummer

January 26th, 2005, 04:58 PM

Just received another news letter from the "CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT"

There's a list, among other things of new publications about world events, etc., One of the publications is : A Better Way to Support Middle East Reform, by Thomas Carothers: Carnegie Endowment Policy Brief #33

Summary: "The Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI), and important component of the Bush administration's policy of promoting Middle East reforms, is falling short. MEPI should be relaunched as a private foundation funded by the government, akin to the Asia Foundation or the Eurasia Foundation. Such a relaunch would permit MEPI to devolop greater expertise in the region, use more flexible, effective aid methods, and gain some independence from other U.S. programs and policies that serve conflicting ends. The restructuring of MEPI should be part of a broader set of measures to establish a more visible, coherent institutional policy structure to pursue the critical goal of fundamental political change in the Middle East

"A limited number of print copeis are available

Request a copy

There are other bits and pieces of articles at this web site, where you can also sign up for their news letter.

Here's the address, just click on it:

http://www.carnegieendowment.org/publications/index.cfm?fa=view&id=16413

Rocket #9, Lal, and BaliCat might just know how these programs that are being discussed are working.

It is not something I'm familiar with, having heard of these things, but not really looking into them. Do any of you have any input as to how or why this is or isn't working or what your beliefs are about how it would benefit or the Middle East, or hurt it?

I just know that the way we are going about the business of "Democracy" in Iraq so far seems like a huge cruel hoax, one that is making the Iraqi's suffer terribly, one that is causing our own citizens to be maimed and killed, &
causing untold mental anguish on both sides. When we are made financially bankrupt by this war, when we have become morally bankrupted by this war, where and to whom will we turn to refresh our spirit? What Man of faith will we want to follow next? Will we be more than ready to follow another such leader? Are we so weak in our own faith that we need to be told untruths by those working on our beliefs? I find this hard to fathom, this willy nilly way of ours as to how we are believing everything this administration is feeding us. Not all of us, but too many to feel safe, to be safe.

We had a Columbian on our front lawn looking for a neighbor, one the Government was hunting for, something we later learned of, bad enough, but what if it had been a terrorist? What if he had been followed by the Anti Terrorism division of our government? What if they thought we had exchanged information? After all ,we buy tons of fertalizer, nitrates, magnesium, etc., for our pasture/hayfields fields. What if we had become suspects and we had been carted off in the middle of the night? To where? Who would now of it? Who would be able to check on us, to see if our rights were being observed? Not a family member, nor an attorney allowed to visit us, or even know where we were sent. Who would be there to see if we weren't being tortured? This is a frightening thought, perhaps a way out in left field one, but what if, our neighbors thought we were part of such a movement, the terrorist movement, and because of their beliefs and their own fears they wouldn't care what happened to us? What if our rights weren't being observed, don't you think they just wouldn't care at all if we were going through an extended hell, as long as they themselves would feel safe? Well a lot or our neighbors all around the U.S. don't give a darn about what happens to their neighbors or any others, or the soldiers we are sending into harms way, or the men and women being tortured and abused in Iraq as long as they themselves feel safe. Smacks of Nazism to me, this turning a blind eye to others suffering believing it's to improve ones own situation. How is it that these policies make people feel safe? Wouldn't we all feel a whole lot safer knowing that our laws and ideals were being followed and implemented? I truly believe I would.

Saundra Hummer

January 26th, 2005, 06:57 PM

Turner Compares Fox's Popularity to Hitler

A story by Jim Finkle
(on Information Clearing House)

It seems that Ted Turner believes and called Fox a Bush propaganda tool, and implied a comparison between "Fox's popularity to Hitlers popular election to run Germany before WWII"

All of this in front of a "standing-room-only crowd at NATPE's opening session Tues. His talk drew lots of laughter and applause at his "sometimes humorous approach during a one hour Q&A.

Not always my favorite, I nonetheless would like to see a tape of that event.

For this story which upset Fox, go to this address, just click on it:

http://informationclearinghouse.info/article7829.htm

Saundra Hummer

January 27th, 2005, 06:51 PM

Returning veterans paint grim picture of wars toll, and there is insult to injury, as "Some wounded soldiers back from Iraq are having to pay for meals at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Veterans' groups say it's another symptom of fighting a costly war on the cheap.

This is hard to hear and after their having to fight and eat "on the cheap" while in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, it must be very difficult for them to suffer this insult as to their worth, their contribution.(An aside, have you hear how D.C. is having to pay for security provided during the inauguaration?A district with high crime, poor housing, and needy children. Not fair, not at all. "On the cheap", it's the way of GW, as he was a known sponger using everyone as a tool to save his own money, or this is the story we have heard about how he was when he first arrived on the scene in Texas, anything to keep from spending his own money, and it has now carried over into his political life, or so it seems.

Then there is the story of how USAF is playing a game of cat and mouse over Iran trying to "lure" them into turning on their radar so we can grid their system to use in future targeting data. This is where were headed??? War one more with another country in the Middle East, while rattling sabers around North Korea's ears? There's a story on this also. Amazing as to how things are evolving, and how will it all turn out?

To see the story on this and to hear of other things which are disturbing to our troops go to this site:

http://www.informatonclearinghouse.info

http://207.44.245.159/article7890.htm

http://207.44.245.159/article7895.htm

http://www.theaustralian.new.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12076218%255E1702,00.html

http://snipurl.com/cckb

Then check on this little tidbit, "Pentagon's Feith, an architect of Iraq policy to leave post. This is a man who played a role in developing the faulty intelligence on Iraq's weapons programs and ties to terrorism that the Bush Administration used to build it's case for invading Iraq.

http://www.realcities.com/mid/krwashington/10742127.htm

http://snipurl.com/ccjg
================================================== ========

Then check out these articles as well, one about Senator Barbara Boxer being "the elephant in the room."

http://207.44.245.159/article7894.htm
================================================== ================================================== ================================================== ========================++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

This group of stories that Information Clearing House has compiled today is extremely disturbing and ones which more should see and know of. Even "Tort Reform" is discussed and gives another side of the picture as opposed to the administrations views and what they have in store for us as far as even being compensated for malpractice. In our family we have had several times malpractice has been a problem, so this is something that we need to be very careful of, not leaving us any protections against malpractice can be and will be devestating. Medical malpractice which causes irrepairable injury, painful injury often times need to be compensated, and well. There are things that can happen which could change your life forever if not end it. Why should you not be protected? You barely are now, and it is only after the fact that you are able to demand to be compensated, and even then there are hard times ahead of you and often times years, as everything in the doctors and hospitals reach is used by them to squash any attempt by you to be compensated and made more comfortable. There weren't enough protections in place to begin with. There are horror stories out there, not as often as good ones, but when a doctor ruins your health, a hospital knowingly allows certain actions, why wouldn't you need to be compensated, and well? How about attorney's who abuse their position, and companies who knowingly expose their worker and the public to dangers? Will they have free rein to do what ever it is they would like without consequenses? How safe will we all be then. This is a position, this Tort Reform, which we all need to be up on, and inform the government what it is we need, not what they are proposing. This bill alone could leave a lot of people in a very precarious position, very precarious

The news letter from Information Clearing house is full of information and it starts out with quotes from Hitler, and ends with a story about "Numerous Congress Members May Have Received Illegal Congressional Pay in 2003-2004."

"Many current or former Senators and Representatives appear to have taken illegal Congressional salary payments during the current Congress, prior to the October recess."

http://www.ntu.org/main/page.hph?PageID=71

Here's a list of the stories on the site:

Criminals the lot of us. By Scott Ritter
================================================== ========
Why the Children in Iraq Make No Sound When They Fall. By Bernard Chazelle
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++
Ashes to Ashes: The ashes of Auschwitz are still fallin;g on the innocents being murdered today. By Chris Floyd
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++

11 Iraqis, one Marine Killed in pre-election violence, From USA Today

================================================== ========

Three US hostages held in Iraq: officials say.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++

Video : U.S. Hostage Pleading For His Life:
Windows Media: http?/snipurl.com/ccj1

================================================== ========
US soldiers raid Baghdad mosque
================================================== ========
Dahr Jamail: Here comes "The Freedom".
================================================== ========
Iraqui Resistance Group Says Not to Target Elections.
================================================== ========

Prostitute used in Habib torture: lawyer said.
================================================== ========

British Soldier Tells of Forced Sex Simulations.
================================================== ========

Ayatollah sistani may call the tune, but the US will still have the power.
================================================== ========

U.S. commander in Iraq says Iraqi security forces still not ready.
================================================== ========

This Pollyanna army: Bush will not admit that his troops are too exhausted to sustain his global missions. (from the Guardian)
================================================== ========

Much Bigger Military is Called for. New calls from Republicans and Democrats alike and by some of the administrations staunchest allies.
================================================== ========

Returning Veterans Paint A Grim Pictuare of War's Toll.
================================================== ========

Insult to injury
================================================== ========

N Korea has 'bought nuclear bomb'.
================================================== ========

USAF playing cat and mouse game over Iran
================================================== ========

Pentagon's Feith, an architect of Iraq policy, to leave post
================================================== ========

Rice Confirmed Despite Dems' Criticisms
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Sen. Reid criticizes GOPs, then votes to confirm Rice. (Irony in this story, no wonder we are so cynical about politicians.)
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Confirmation Condoleezza Rice
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Boxer's Spine Gets Her Cut off at the Knees.
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Never Mind the Body Count, from the Village Voice.
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Isolation, breakdowns and mysterious injections
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Sendiing Fighters to Iraq Not Terror: so rules an Italian Judge..
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Barbarity is the inevitable consequence of foreign rule.
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Feeling a Draft? Poor kids of color fight the Pentagon.
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Anger over Iraqi war dead on Internet.
The US Defense Department has been asked to investigate a web sitht that is being used by American soldier to post grisly picture of Iraqi war dead:

httpj:www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12065854%255E401,00.html
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Israel Refuses To Rule Out Attack on Iran.
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Video: Mosaic: World News Reports from Middle East TV For 01/26/05
................The nations only uncensored compilation of daily television. From more than 15 countries in the Middle East.
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On This Day 01/27/1945 Auschwitz death camp liberated.
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The shadow of Auschwitz
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In case you missed it:

How Bush's grandfater helped Hitler's rise to power : The guardian has obtained confirmation from newly discovered files ih the US National Archives that a firm of which Prescott Bush was a director was involved with the fnancial architects of Nazism.
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I am an orthodox Jew who is opposed to Zionism. (more to the story see it on the web site provided below. All on Information Clearing house.info

Why Orthodox Jews are opposed to the Zionist "State"

Audio: RAbbi Goldstein gives a historic over view of Zionism.

W And Dostoevsky. George W. Bush is a man Possessed:

A fire in the mind-surely,...................
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Economist: China Loses Faith in Dollar::
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Here are some quotes for the site

"The National Government will regard it as it's first and foremost duty to revive in the nation the spirit of unity and cooperation. It will rpreserve and defend those basic principles on which our nation has been built. It regards Christianity as the foundation of our national morality, and the family as the basis of national life."

We are fighting to vindicate the principle that smalll nationalities are not to be crushed in defiance of international good faith at the arbitrary will of a strong and overmastering Power. : Author: TR. Hon. Herbert Asquith-Source: Statement to House of Commons, Declaration of War with Germany, Aug. 4 1914.

Only the winners decide what were war crimes. : Author: Gary Wills

Here't the address to the site where you will be able to read this letter an it it's quotes and sources, and how to subscribe to their newsletter.
Just click on the address below to read this newsletter online.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/

Saundra Hummer

January 31st, 2005, 10:48 AM

It's amazing what you hear coming from the kids of today, gansta rap, oral sex isn't sex, and now the most disturbing of all, U.S. students say press freedoms go too far. Do you believe it????

In a story by Greg Toppo, a USA TODAY reporter, he says that "one in three U.S. highschool students say the press ought to be more restricted, and even more say the government should approve newspaper stories before readers see them," according to a survey being released today. :tearhair:

I fear for our country with this attitude, and wonder where our schools and where their parents have gone wrong? It's amazing they read the news, hear press reports being that they have been brought up on soundbite product related t.v.,WalkMans, and their video games, evidently things have gone terribly awry, for they don't realize the importance and priviledge of having a free press. It's our inborn right, and we don't want anyone to believe it has no importance, that it isn't needed, that indeed it needs to be changed. This is a frightening thought process. Truly amazing, especially when it comes from students who are known for rebelling and wanting to go against the norm, do their "own thing" so to want controls on the press is so far out of character that it flies in the face of reason. I mean, I just can't believe what it is I'm reading.

The survey of 112,003 students finds that 36% believe newspapers should get "government approval of stories before publishing. 51% say they should be able to publish freely, 13% have no opinion.

This is from a survey commissioned by the John S and James L. Knight Foundation and conducted last spring by the University of Connecticut. It also questioned 327 principals and 7,889 teachers.

I wondered if they were questioned about the music they are into, and what their opinions they would have about it and thought to myself, I bet they want a hands off approach when it comes to it, regardless of how it advocates violent, abherrent sexual attitudes, crime, and ego, and here's the results of those questions and questioned, they did think to ask that question, "a large majority of students surveyed say musicians and others should be allowed to express 'unpopular opinions." 74% say people shouldn't be able to burn or deface an American flag as a political statement. 75% mistakenly believe it is illegal."

"The survey 'confirms what a lot of people who are interested in this area have known for a long time,' he says: Kids aren't learning enough about the First Amendment in history, civics or English classes. It also tracks closely with recent findings of adults' attitudes."

The article quotes Dvorak who has worked with student journalists since 1968, "it's part of our Constitution, so this should be part of a formal education.", he says.

We used to be shown films in a general assembly, and even more often in our classrooms, about the founding of our country and about the documents drawn up for us to live by and protect us. This should be done again, and studied again. The reading of biographies about our founding fathers would also be a good thing, as many aren't the dry boring texts that schools put out for you to read and comprehend, to draw opinions and knowledge from. Some biographies are page turners and might let them in on what it was like for the country to be founded on the ideals it was, and how it was that so many of the colonists had the a thirst for the country to have it's laws drawn up to protect us down throught the years.

We know with all of our being, that "Freedom of the press" is one of our most needed rights, a right so important that we need to do all in our power to educate our students that this is how it is. I fear for the country if these attitudes spread. Surely they will learn, and quit going through life with tunnel vision. If not, well say goodbye to our world here in the U.S. as we've known it.

Perhaps someone proficient in a foreign language and a countries history, countries known for their iron fists when it comes to freedom of the press, someone who knows the subtleties of propaganda and news control, should translate a newpaper run by such a government and show the students what it's really like to live without our freedoms. Show them the differences in their lives because of our freedoms, show them how the free countries of Europe compare to other countries where freedom is an unknown concept, a dreamed of concept perhaps, but unknown to them in reality, in real time. Perhaps then they would change their minds.

We had our Constitution and our Bill of Rights explained to us and taught to us starting in grade school, in the very beginning classes. We were taught about it, of course there were fears that we'd be overrun with either German or Japanese, so it seemed so very important to start us out young to implant the knowledge of what is needed and what it's like to be free. Perhaps this should start being done all over again as there are threats out there every bit as real now, as there were then. Every year and in every school I went to, our founding fathers brilliant documents were taught and explained to us, we studied them and marveled at their forsight and their putting aside their own egos and personal agendas, how they worked to build what would be the most brilliant and far seeing, and reaching document governing any country in the world. So misguided highshool students would make changes to these mens insightful laws? When I love gansta rap, maybe then I'll say "I'm with you!"

These thoughts are more threatening than terrorism. What's in the hearts and minds of our own people can make us strong and good, or tear us down.

Saundra Hummer

February 1st, 2005, 05:30 PM

Some Quotes:

"ALLIANCE,n. In international politics, the union of two thieves who have their hands so deeply inserted in each others pockets that they cannot separately plunder a third" Ambrose Bierce

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Nothing in the world is more haughty than a man of moderate capacity when once raised to power: Baron Wessenberg

Saundra Hummer

February 1st, 2005, 05:58 PM

Read these stories by clicking on the link at the bottom, it will take you to Information Clearing House.Info.

Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Mass)

"The U.S. military presence has become part of the problem, not part of the solution."

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Rebels threaten to behead captured US soldier.

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The Vietnam turnout was good as well.

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Dahr Jamal: What They're not telling you aout the "Election"

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GORBACHEV Calls Iraqi Elections "FAKE".

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Kurds set to win two-thirds of vote in tense Iraq oil city.

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Turks to Kurds: hands off oil town.

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Video of Purported UK Plane Shootdown By Iraqi Resistance

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Death in the wilderness: what really happened?

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Fallujah in Pictures: Warning - Pictures depeict the reality and horror of war.

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Gonzales Added To War Crimes Complaint in Germany.

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U.S. human rights lawyers ask German court to expand war crimes probe of U.S. officials. (Amazing! Sandi)

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Religion at Guantanamo: An American Disgrace.

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Guantanamo military tribunals illegal, federal judge rules.

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The Inquisition Strikes Back in Guantanamo.

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AUDIO: British Human Rights Lawyer Gareth Pierce Says Torture "is the Recipe for the Destruction" of International Human Rights.

This is a must listen interview.
http://207.44.245.159/article7941.htm

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Wounded Kentucky Soldier Flees to Canada.

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US Military Facing budget gap with Haliburton.

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US to spend $1.5 billion on new Iraq Embassy.

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Noam Chomsky: It should have been one of the easiest military occupations in history.

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Soldiers demoted for robbing Iraqi store.
http.www.armytimes.com/print.php?f=1-292925-621821.php

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Why an attack on Iraq is inevitable:
http://207.44245.159/article7933.htm

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Jerusalem land seizures 'illegal". (Not according to legislation.)

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There's a lot more, this is but a taste. To see more articles , some which will stun you and amaze, go to this link, just click on it:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info

Saundra Hummer

February 3rd, 2005, 01:58 PM

In Bloomberg.com, thre's an article by" William Pesek Jr. This is being carried by Information Clearing House.info

Here are some excertps:

If China Shuns Dollar, Look Out U.S. Bonds: William Pesek Jr.

Jan 28 (Bloomberg) -- Malaysia is an place traders look for clues about the U.S. dollar, yet Asia's No.10 economy may be offering some ominous ones.

They can be found in a recent report on international reserve holdings at Bank Negara Malayasia, the nation's central bank. It states that Malaysia made a $2.1 billion "revaluation gain" in 2004, " arising mainly from the depreciation of the U.S. dollar against the major currencies."

Central banks are always reticent to detail their holdings, but one can't help but wonder if Malaysia is buying an increasingly amount of euros -- or even yen -- these days. Its central bank sure didin't make that kind of cash holding the dollar, the currency to which its own, the ringgit, is pegged.

The plot thickens, when you consider how such a shift away from the dollar would jibe not only with comments from top Malaysian officials, but trends throughout Asia.

Here in Malaysia, for example Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi recently said he is seeking ways to reduce the economy's reliance on the dollar for trade. Indonesia has mentioned it is considering trimming its holdings of U.S. Treasuries. The same goes for Thailand, according to the Financial times.

China also has been in the news as traders speculate that Asia's No. 2 economy may pull the plug on dollar-denominated debt. Such a move by the second-biggest holder of U.S. Treasuries after Japan could send shockwaves through global markets.

To see this article and others which may relate to this subjuct, go to this address, just click on it:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info

Saundra Hummer

February 3rd, 2005, 02:12 PM

Kurdish Party says self-rule is inevitable and I say I certainly hope so, it's about time that the only group in the area who has shown the will and the knowhow, to exist successfully, who have shown organizational skills, who have show an overwhelming desire to be free of others dictates, as we've all been witness to, it's their time to be free. How about us letting them be?

Would that mean war with the Turks who hate the Kurds and the Kurds them, every much as Suni's hate the Shia.

This hatred for others is so very hard for many of us to understand, although I can see why many Mexicans have a deep seated hatred for us up here North of the border. It's just I've never felt a hatred for any ethnic group or nationality, hatreds you see happening around the world. It is the stuff of destruction, of loss. Nothing seems to have ever been gained by it.

To see the story and other related links to this story which was reported in Al Jazeera.net, and carried by Information Clearing House.info, go the the address below and just click on it.

http://informationclearinghouse.info

Saundra Hummer

February 3rd, 2005, 02:33 PM

"Elliot Abrams, who pleaded guilty in 1991 to withholding information from Congress in the Iran-contra affair, was promoted to deputy national security adviser to President Bush.

Abrams who previously was in charge of Middle east affairs, will be responsible for pushing Bush's strategy for advancing democracy."

This as reported by the Washington Post from News services Thrusday, February 3, 2005, Page A25

How is this man with his abrassive manner gong to advance anything diplomatically? This administration never cease's to amaze!

"Abrams"s 1991 plea stemmed from the congressional inquiry into the Iran-contra affair during President Ronald Reagan's administration. On Oct. 10, 1986, Abrams, then a State Department employee, testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that he did not know that Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North was directing illegal arms sales to Iran and diverting the proceeds to assist the Nicaraguan contras."

"Abrams was pardoned by Bush's father, President George H.W. Bush."

"His name surfaced last year as part of the investigation into who leaked the name of a CIA operative whose husband publicly disputed Bush administration claims that Iraq tried to buy uranium in Africa. White House spokesman Scott McClellan has said that Abrams denied responsibility."

This is the same group of people running the government as during Reagans & G.H.W. Bush's terms in office. So are we surprised at the carrying on of less than above board policies and actions? They have just better learned what it is they want to carry out and how to do it. What a slap in the face to even have Abrams anywhere near Capital Hill.

To see more of this type of story, go to:

http://informationclearinghouse.info

Saundra Hummer

February 3rd, 2005, 03:12 PM

"This is thug law, a death-cult of blood and domination -- the true religion of the Bushists and their mirror-image crimelords in al-Qaida."

This from an Article that was reported by Chris Floyd and printed in the "Moscow Times" which we might consider propagandist in it's outlook or at least biased, none the less it is interesting and there are annotation after annotations following the story, an interesting read. Disheartening and sickening to think of, but look at the administration and its' actions as others might see us, and think of us.

With more reading we can decide for ourselves what is real and what isn't. Perhaps? Fact or fiction? Based in truths, or stretched? Knowing what has been going on, most if not all, it's likely it's all factual.

the annotations are by
The Nation, Feb.3, 2005.....Chertoff and Torture
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New York Times, Jan. 29, 2004....Bush Security Nominee gave advice to CIA on torture..................
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New York Times, Jan. 20, 2005...Gonzales Excludes CIA from Rules On Prisoners
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LA Weekly, Jan.14-20, 2005...Alberto Gonzales"Tortured Arguments for Reigning Above the law..............................
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Knight-Ridder, Jan. 26, 2005....Torture Treaty Doesn't Bar 'Cruel, Inhuman' Tactics, Gonzales Says
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The Observer, June 13, 2004... The Secret World of US Jails
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This gives you an idea as to the content of the annotations, and how long this has been going on. There's more and here's a further list of the stories available on his one story page.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> :rant2:

CounterPunch, Feb. 2, 2005
The White House, Jan. 28, 2003
New York Times, Jan. 13, 2005
Village Voice, Feb21, 2003
New York Times, June 8, 2004
Boston Globe, Jan. 20, 2002
Washington Times, Jan. 8, 2003
Washington Post, Oct.27, 2001
TomDispatch, Jan. 29, 2005
TomDispatch, Jan 31, 2005
Inter Press Service, Jan. 11, 2005
The Independent, Jan. 30, 2005
The New American, 24 January 2005
Democracy Now, May 17, 2004
Federal Bureau of Investigation, May 22, 2004
American Civil Liberties Union, Dec. 20, 2004
Washington Post, Dec. 21, 2004
Washington Times, Dec. 20, 2004
New York Times, Dec. 15, 2002
Associated Press, Dec. 3, 2002
Newsweek, Dec. 18, 2004
Copy right: Moscow Times.

To see this story and the links to these news sources, just clikd on the address below:

http://informationclearinghouse.info/article7965.htm

Saundra Hummer

February 3rd, 2005, 07:05 PM

This is an old intereview but one which might interest some of you.

What's Happening?: Atiilio A. Boron Interview Noam Chomsky

Here's and excerpt, to see the complete article go to this site:

http://informationclearinghouse.info/article3791.htm

Noam:If you want to look at timing, I think that it became quite clear that the massive propaganda for the war began in Setember of last year, September 2002. Before that there was a condemnation of Iraq, but no effort to whip people into war fever. So we asked what else happened then, September 2002. Well, two important things happened. One was the opening of the mid term congressional campaign, and the Bush's campaign manager, Karl Rove, was very clearly explaining what should be obvious to anybody, anyway: that they could not possible (sic) enter the campaign with a focus on social and economic issues. The reason is that they are carrying out policies which are quite harmful to the general population and favorable to an extremely narrow sector of corporate power and the corrupt sectors as well, and they can't face the electorate on that. As he pointed out, if we can make the primary issue national security then we will be able (to) win because people will flock to power if they feel frightened. And that is second nature to these people: That's the way they have ran the country -- right through the 1980's -- with very unpopular domestic programs but accustomed to press into the panic button -- Nicaragua, Grenada, crime , one thing after another. And Rove also pointed out that something similar would be needed for the presidential election

And thatj's true and what they want (to) do is not just to stay in office, but they would like to institutionalize the very regressive program put forward domestically, a program which will basically unravel whatever is left of New Deal social democratic systems and turn the country almost completely in to a passive undemocratic society, controlled totally by high concentrations of capital. This means slashing public medical assistance, social security; probably schools and increasing state power. These people are not conservatives, they brought the country into a federal deficit with the largest increase in federal spending in 20 years, that is since their last term in office and huge tax cuts for the rich, and they want to institutionalize these programs. They are seeking a "fiscal train wreck" that will make it impossible to fund the programs. They know they cannot face an election declaring that they want to destroy the very popular programs, but they can throw up their hands in despair and say "What can we do, there's no money?," after they have made sure there would be no money by huge tax cuts for the rich and sharp increase in spending for miilitary (including high tech industry) and other programs beneficial to corporate power and the wealthy. So that's the second, that's the domestic factor and in fact, there was a spectacular propaganda achievement on that. After the government -media propaganda campaign began in Septermber they succeeded in convincing a majority of the population very quickly that Iraq was an imminent threat to the security of the United States and even that Iraq was responsible for September 11th. I mean there is not a grain of turh in all that, but by now majority of populations believes those things and those attitudes are correlated strongly with the commitment to which is understandable. If people think thay are threatened with destruction by an enemy who's already attacked them it is likely that they'll go to war. In effect, if you look at the press today, they describe soldiers as saing: "we are here for revenge -- you know -- because they blew up the World Trade Center, they will attack us," or something. Well these beliefs are completely unique to the United States.

No one in the World believes anything like this. In Kuwait, and Iran people hate Saddam Hussein, but they are not affraid of him, they know they're the weakest country in the region. In any event the government-media propaganda campaign worked brilliantly as the population was frightened and to a large extent it was willng to support the war despite the fact that there was a lot of opposition. And that's the second factor.

And there was a third factor which was even more important. In September the government announced the national security strategy. That is not completely without precedent, but it is quite new as a formulation of state policy. What is stated is that we are tearing the entire system of the international law to shreds, the end of UN charter and that we are going to carry out an aggressive war -- which we will call "prevenative-- and at any time we choose and that we will rule the world by force. In addition, we will assure that there is never any challenge to our domination because we are so overwhelmingly powerful in military force that we will simply crush any potential challenge.

Well you know that caused shudders around the world, including the foreign policy elite at home which was appalled by this. I mean it is not that things like that haven't been heard in the past. Of course they had, but it had never been formulated as an official national policy. I suspect you will have to go back to Hitler to find an analogy to that. Now, when you propose new norms in the international behavior and new policies you have to illustrate it, you have to get people to understand that you mean it. Also you have to have waht a Harvard historian called an 'exemplary war", a war of example, which shows that we really meant what we say. And we have to choose the right target. The target has to have several properties. First it has to be completely defenseless. No one would attack anybody who might be able to defend themselves. That would be not prudent. Iraq meets that perfectly: it is the weakest country in the region, it's been devastated by sanctions and almost completely disarmed and the US knows ever inch of the Iraq territory by satellite surveillance and overflights and more recently U-2 flights. So, yes Iraq it is extremely weeak and satisified the first condidion.

And secondly, it has to be important, So there will be no point invading Burundi, you know for example, it has to be a coutnry worthwhile controlling, owning, and Iraq has that property too. It's as mentioned, the second largest oil producer in the world. So it's a perfect example and perfect case for this exemplary war, intending to put the world on notice saying that is is what we're going to do, any time we choose. We have the power. We have declared that our goal is domination by force and that no challenge will be accepted. We've showed you what we are intending to do and be ready for the next. We will proceed on to the next operation. Those various conditions fold together and they make a war a very reasonaable choice in taking to a test some principles.

Atillio ABoron: Acording to our analysis then the question is: who is next? Because you don't believe that they are going to stop in Iraq, wouldn't you?

Noam chomsky: "No." (to see the rest of this interview go to the following address and just click on it.)

http://informationclearinghouse.info/article3791.htm

There is a lot to look for here on this site with much to choose from.

Saundra Hummer

February 4th, 2005, 03:32 PM

TWO FACES OF AMERICA
by Tom Engelhardt

Feb 2, 2005

There is something thorougly inspiring when people under the threat of death turn out to vote in a country that has become an armed camp. The urge of a long oppressed people to take back their lives, to act, is always moving and powerful.

Certainly, the Iraq vote, as presented in the media here in the U.S., has also provided a boost to the Bush administration at home at a useful moment. "It ought to give heart to the American people that the effort we've made to help the Iraqi people get to this day was well worth it -- that the Iraqi people have justified the faith we put in them," commented National Security Advisor Stephen J. Hadley. (As in Vietnam, though, such boosts in the midst of a disastrous war are unlikely to be long lasting.)

The meaning of the vote in Iraq is another question entiresly. It's not just a matter of the actual turnout -- how high in ShiIte and Kurdish Iraq, how low in Sunni areas of the country , or what the irregularities were, -- but of what exactly Iraqis were turning out for. Were they, for instance voting not for George Bush's version of freedom, but to end the American occupation itself, as embedded reporter Dahr Jamail suggests at his blog? Was it to grasp that will o'the wisp, a land that will not be a "republic of fear: in a place where "the only institutions...with real power are the US and the UK military," as BBC reporter Rageth Omaar recently suggested in the British Guardian? Was it to end centuries of Sunni dominance and establish Shiite dominances (and so possibly cause a civil war); or, in Kurdish areas of the north, to establish the basis for further independence (and a possible Turkish intervention)?

And then there's that other question: Whatever Iraqis thought they were voting for at polling places where, due to security concerns, most didn't even know the name so the candidates, what exactly are they going to get from this election? Was is even possible, as Brian Whitaker asked in the Guardian, to achieve anything like a genuine democracy when the Bush administration has paid so little "attention to the slow and laborious business of creating the civil institutions that make elections meaningful"? Or was it, as Pepe Escobar suggested in the Asia Times, a means of further embedding American power in the country? (" Only the naive may believe that an imperial power would voluntarily abandon the dream scenario of a cluster of military bases planted over virtually unlimited reserves of oil.") Or might the Bush administration not even mind a post-election descent into something approaching civil war, as James Carroll of the Boston Globe suggested in a devestating colum on the election and George Bush?

And what will be possible for a future Iraqi government in a land still occupied by foreign army and a foreign power 'whose "advisers" ' are now emplaced in every important ministry, whose bases or "enduring camps" are now 'gargantuan, permanent structures', whose officials control much of the money that will be available to any new administration which will also face a fierce home-grown insurgency not about to go away any time soon? Still, Iraqis at the polls represented at least one modestly hopeful face of Iraq.

Over a week ago, President Bush offered an official American face to the world when, in his inaugural speech, he plunked for the messianic global spread of "freedom" (as defined by his administratin), essentially by force of (or the threat of) arms. But how different the face of America we see and the faces we turn to the rest of the world.
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This is from: MotherJones.com
Much more to see of this article and many interesting links to round out this story, one being an Assessment of the Iraqi People Here'e the address, just click on it:

http://www.motherjones.com/news/dailymojo/2005/02/iraq_bombing.html

Saundra Hummer

February 4th, 2005, 06:18 PM

Higly controversial interview coming up on NOW on CNN:

Paula Zahn interviews Ward Churchhill
Friday, February 4, 2005

Exclusive: He Likened some victims of 9/11 to a notorious Nazi. Now, the controversial professor defends his comments. Tune in a 8 p.m. E.T on CNN>com. it airs 8-9 p.m. ET Monday-Friday

You can send your questions to Paula Zahn NOW.

Do a google search to hear more of his beliefs. He is a University of Colorado professor and he's "sparked controversy in New York' (and thats an understatement I would imagine),' over an essay he wrote that maintains that people killed in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks were not innocent victims."

The students and faculty members at Hamilton college in Clinton, N.Y., have been protesting a speaking appearance on Feb. 3 by Ward L. Churchill, chairman of the CU Ethnic Studies Department.

They're upset over an essay Churchill wrote titled, "Some People Push Back: On the Justice of Roosting Chickens."

The essay takes its title from a remarke that black activist Malcom X made in the wake of the assassination of President of John F. Kennedy. Malxom X created controversy when he said Kennedy's murder was a case of "chickens coming home to roost."

Churchill's essay argues that the Sept. 11 attacks were in retaliation for the Iraqi children killed in a 1991 U.S. bombing raid and by economic sanctions imposed on Iraq by the United Naitons following the Persian War.

There is more to this essay, but it contends that "the Most that can honestly be said of those involved on Sept. 11, is that they finally responded in kind to some of what this country has dispensed to their people as a matter of course."

The essay maintains that the people killed inside the Pentagon were military targets."

"As for those in the World Trade Center, " the essay said, "well, really, let's get a grip here, shall we?" True enught they were civilians of a sort. But innocent? Gimme a break."

The essay goes on to describe teh victims as "little eichmanns," referring to Adolph Eichmann, who executed Adolph Hitler's plan to extermnate Jews during World War II.

Churchill said he wasn't especially surprised at the controversy at Hamilton, but he also defended the opinions contained in his essay.

"When you kill 500,000 children in order to impose your will on other countries then you shouldn't be surprised when somebody responds in kind, " Churchill said.

"If it's not comfortable, that's the point. It's not comfortable for the people on the other side, either."

The attacks on Sept. 11, he said, were "a natural and inevitable consequence of what happens as a result of business as usual in the United States. Wake up."

(Boy these are harsh thoughts, and it is how others, and even some of us in the U.S., might be thinking as well, after all, this was written by one of our own.)

A longtime activist with the American Indian Movement, Churchill was one of eight defendants acquitted last week in Denver County Court on charges of disrupting Denver's Columbus Day parade.

His pending speech at Hamilton has drawn criticism from professors and students, including Matt Coppo, a sophomore whose father died in the World Trade Center attacks.

"His view are completely hurtful to the families of 3,000 people," Coppo said.

A spokesman for Hamilton College released a statement noting that Hamilton is comitted to the "free exchange of ideas. We expect that many of those who strongly disagree with Mr. Churchill's comments will attend his talk and make thier views known."

Rubbing salt it seems, wanting to make a point about this countries policies which most Americans are oblivious to, but it's so harsh as to make one feel that to agree with him is somehow un-American. It hurts me to hear these statements. especially when I know that other than where the victims of 9/11 live, and where they just happened to be on that morning, how can they be the guilty ones? They can't be, it isn't them we should blame, not at all, their fate is still so heart wrenching to me, and to most of us, that to hear such as he puts out there, even though I believe I understand why he's said what he says, is too hard and it is angering to hear such talk, regardless of how much he wants to make his point, that it is our governments indiscrimante bombings and shelling of civillians that brought it all on us, it is still not what we want to hear. Not that the people who died were not innocents, as they surely were. What are we to do, move out of the country in droves, or rise up in the streets as in China? Kent State once more? How are we to get the power to stop all of the madness? Especially now that it's gained the momentum of a snowball rolling downhill. Sandi

To see more on this man, do google search and to see this article without typo's, go to this address:

Rocky Mountain News: Education

http://www.insidedenver.com/drmn/education/article0,1299,DRMN_957_3510617,00,html