A Controversial and/or Informative Site [Archive] - Page 4

Saundra Hummer

April 19th, 2005, 06:20 PM

I found this odd that there would be a bill under foot which by the way I have heard nothing about. Surely it has been on the news, and I just missed it somehow, but it concerns this:

Oregon Bill Would Require New Drivers to Automatically Register for Selective Service.

From the Catholic Sentinel (link): The Oregon Catholic Conference and Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon have teamed up to oppose a bill that connects drivers' licenses with a military draft. House Bill 2575 (PDF of bill), (Link), would automatically register young men for Selective Service when they sign up for licenses or state identification cards.

"There is a significant difference in moral judgements that an individual makes between applying for issuance or renewal of a driver's license, permit or an identification card on the one hand and registering with the Selective Service System on the other," says a statement written by Oregon Catholic Conference executive director Bob Castegna and read to the house Transportation Committee March 30 by Philip Kennedy Wong of Ecumenical Ministries...

Signing up for a driver's license does not involve moral questioning, the statement said, but registering for Selective Service "raises issues of the most critical judgments and moral decisions a person may be called to make in life: potentially placing oneself in the position of agreeing to engage in warfare, use all the weapons in our nation's arsenal and take human lives" ..... Read More (link)

Posted by Mike Burke on April 16, 2005

There comments are posted , or I should say you may comment on the article if you so wish. There is much more to this site, such as article's concerning the CIA on campus. Military Recruiters kicked off of Santa Cruz Campus by Students, Army Flies Blackhawk Helicopter to High Schools in Recruitng Ploy, Recruiters fall short of Recruiting goals in Bush's hometown in Texas, etc.

Here's the address, just click on it: WELL, IT'S NOT COMING IN BUT GO HERE FOR THEIR EMAIL ADDRESS AND ACCESS TO THEIR STORY BY CLICKING ON THE FOLLOWING ADDRESS:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info

http://mcwatch.typepad.com/counterrecruiter/2005/04/oregon_bill_wou.html

Saundra Hummer

April 20th, 2005, 06:55 PM

"The United States cannot reshape other countries in its own image and that, with a few exceptions, its efforts to police the world are neither in its interests nor within the scope of its resources. this whole tendency to see ourselves as the center of political enlightment and as teachers to a great part of the rest of the world strikes me as unthought-through, vainglorious and undesirable." George F. Kennan - (1904 - 2005) - Quote from an interview with the New York Review of Books in 1999.

===

Check out todays articles in Information Clearing House.info for some amazing and somewhat revealatory information coming out of Iraq regarding the American Aid worker Marla Ruzicka who was killed by a suicide bomber just recently.

Check out "The Rise of Disaster Capitalism", "The War Party, and more. There are videos a well as articles in print. Also there is this: "Reports Reveal Zarqawi Nuclear Threat.", and there is an article which tells how we "are Spending millions...To Change the Very Face of Islam." and then there is a report on "Religious bias claimed at Air Force Academy. I believe there's even an article about the Arayn Nation and Al Qiada joining forces. ...Dumbing down are they?

Click on the following address:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info

Saundra Hummer

April 21st, 2005, 01:37 PM

I know CNN gets a rap along with Fox and any Murdoch publications, but here is an interesting comment which came in a CNN newletter, one outlining what the topic of conversation will be on Crossfire.

........"Is Congress doing it's job? Forty-eight percent of Americans believe the nation's economy is getting worse according to a recent poll, gas prices are sky high, and of course the U.S. is still militarily involved in Iraq and Afghanistan while fighting a daunting terrorist threat. So why is Congress so preoccupied with Tom DeLay, Terri Schiavo, and Senate filibusters? Has the legislative agenda been hijacked by campaign considerations and partrisan politics? Rather than campaigning to run the country, are lawmakers now running the country only to win the next election? Are RepublicAns too concerned now with protecting their flank with conservatives? Have the Democrats implemented an agenda, or do they risk being seen as the party of no?"

==

Well I do believe the issues thrown out as a consideration as to how the country is being let go - to front these partisan issues is important. I don't want the crooked dealing of "the Tom DeLays" to be the norm without consequences for either side of the isle. We don't need the Tom Delays of the world influencing politics, ....do we? Do we really have to put up with such crooked self-seeking men or women regardless of party? Fillibuster? This has ofen times been a saving grace - and to lose it - is giving whichever party is in office more control and checks than they need, or should have. So yes the filibuster issue is an all important one. A pain for the majority in power, but a safeguard nonetheless. such cases such as the Terry Schiavo incident, :o ....this should be up to family and local government, ...state government. The Feds never seem to understand this issue: that States do have rights. I know the Federal Government oftentimes goes against this fact. When "The Constitution" is followed it is the states who should have more control than the Federal Governement would sometimes allow.

There needs to be a way that any and all connections to big business is curtailed and that after serving terms as an elected official, if ones means are such as to afford them a decent exixtence (and who among us couldn't survive on the pensions they receive?) that signing on to Corporate advisory committies and other "gravy time" positions is just not allowed. No one in their family (once legislation is presented which benefits Corporations, their lobbying or voting for laws and contracts which will enrich the corporations they have helped) should be able to benefit as an advisor or employee of those companines. This is an out of the question and a far fetched idea, one which will never take place, but look at what Ronald Reagan did after allowing Japanese electronics to flood the country. It has been said that he did this because he had neen promised a large windfall after he was out of office in the form of a higly paid speaking engagement, more than the $3,000,000 stipend afforded him. We have been told it came to around $10,000,000. Wonder what it would amount to today?

Anyway this is how it works, money isn't necessarily paid out immediately, but there are many ways of filling up a politicians pockets, and they are slick and effectual, however it isn't a pretty picture, it is disgusting and low.

Saundra Hummer

April 21st, 2005, 05:11 PM

....>>>>THE END OF OIL IS CLOSER THAN YOU THINK

OIL PRODUCTION COULD PEAK NEXT YEAR. JUST KISS YOUR LIFESTYLE GOODBYE :shrug:

BY JOHN VIDAL.

The one thing that international bankers don't want to hear is that the second Great Depression may be around the corner. But last week, a group of ultra-conservative Swiss financiers asked a retired English petroleum geologist living in Ireland to tell them about the beginning of the end of the oil age.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8608.htm

Just click on the address ^^^^

Saundra Hummer

April 21st, 2005, 05:42 PM

THE WAR FOR OIL

This is the story of the hidden agenda behind the invasion of Iraq. How much has this war really been about control over a dwindling resource? (LIke I've been saying, location, location, location!)

This is a must watch documentary. Real Viceo

http://www.informatinclearinghouse.info/article8582.htm

http://snipurl.com/e5yg

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MILITARISM THREATENS TO BANKRUPT U.S. ECONOMICALLY AND MORALLY

It is up to the American people to demand that our representatives stop the warhawks' world-girdling military appetite in the Middle East and elsewhere, & restore our own democracy

By Reed M. Smith

Michael Parenti, eminent author and historian, recently told an audience of almost 300 people in Penn State's Schwab Auditorium that what empires do is much different from how they are represented in history by their leaders.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8609.htm

Just click on this address to access the site.

==

While there read the astronomical predictions for the price of a barrel of oil in the year 2015.

This is gettig crazier and wilder by the minute, and if an alternate source isn't found we will be hoofing it. Your've heard the saying, "My grand father and father rode a camel ---I ride in a car --- my son and my grandson will ride a camel." Whichever Arab said that was prophetic. We need to work and work fast to get transportion which isn't dependent on oil. (or pretty close to the quote, same basic meaning.)

We'll be walking or riding electric street cars trains and buses and these methods of transportaion may be all we have available to us, but wait a minute! Are there any of those where you live? Not where we are!

We have some pasture, looks like we need to get some horses again, and probably a buggy. Oh ..... by 2015 it is predicted "oil prices could reach $380 a barrel...." :rant2:

Saundra Hummer

April 22nd, 2005, 10:37 AM

Our beloved Stan Levey (all of us who lived in Hermosa, the kids who knew, enjoyed and admired him and his talent) has died and it is so saddly that I post this link to an article about him.

What a great fellow, and such a talent, he was wonderful to be around. To know Stan and to hear him play was a great experience for us. Never a grandstander, always doing what he did to complement rather than be the show. A truly great talent & a great friend to me - however casual. This is such a shock, as he sounded so good in his last letter. I just wish I had known. He will alway be remembered, he will always be special and loved in my thoughts.

It's wonderful that he has such a loving family, his boys meant the world to him. My heart goes out to Angela, his sons, and all of those many grandkids, what a wonderful legacy he leaves with them and with us.

God Speed, and God Bless Stan

Here's a link to a short little article about him:

http://www.miami,com/mld/miamiherald/news/nation/11458043.htm

The first link doesn't take you there and to get there you will have to go through the process of registering with the Paper before you can read it, It's a free subscription to their news-letter. Not all of the information in the article is correct. Stan was married two times before he married Angela, and there were two sons by those marriages that I knew of, one I held when he was a new little baby, only a few days old, the youngest, the third, I didn't know of, and I don't know if he and Angela had children of their own, I just know from the pictures of her that she is a beauty and I hope they had many happy years. Didn't they look great together? Here's the link:

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/nation/11458043.htm

Saundra Hummer

April 22nd, 2005, 02:45 PM

.....IRAQ

CORRUPTION DRAINING OIL INDUSTRY (APRIL 20, 2005)

While the media devotes much attention to poor security as the cause for Iraq's "disappointing" oil exports, corruption also plays a major role. The Iraqi oil ministry has fired "more than 450 employees suspected of selling fuel on the black market," and smuggling operations in parts of Iraq take place in plain view of the authorities, prompting Iraqis to ask "whether or not smuggling of petrol is a legtimagte act." (Institute for War and Peace Reporting)

http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/oil/2005/0420undermined.htm

==

.....ANNAN SAYS US AND UK ALLOWED IRAQI OIL SCAM (APRIL 16, 2005)

http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/sanction/iraq1/oilforfood/2005/0416annan.htm

There are these stories as well:

Rethinking Reconstruction: Grand US Plan Fractures Again

The Baghdad Folies

A Hole in Bush's Iraq Exit Strategy

Security Measures Preventing School and Work Attendance

Britain "Turned a Blind Eye" to Iraq Oil Smuggling

Arms Equipement Plundered in 2003 Is Surfacing in Iraq

Halliburton Unit's Work in Iraq Is Called "Poor"

Trajectory of Violence

Follow links for these stories and more.

jonesy

April 22nd, 2005, 05:09 PM

.....ANNAN SAYS US AND UK ALLOWED IRAQI OIL SCAM (APRIL 16, 2005)

You'd have to be living in a fairy tale not to believe they knew exactly what was going down.

It's about time Kofi took the gloves off. He's got nothing to lose - he's done anyway. I'd like to see him sling a lot more on his way out.

jazz_man

April 23rd, 2005, 03:55 PM

Saundra Hummer

April 24th, 2005, 06:39 PM

http://www.calpoly.edu/~doleary/bushaccomplishments.htm

The truly sad thing is for this country, many, many people actually believe this!! Whoever takes over at the end of Bush's reign will have the monumental task of cleaning up unprecendented harm done to this country and rest of the world.

He now has a Pope on his side, even more than previous popes, in-as-much as he has instructed priests in this country who are only upholding our laws on abortion, he instruced our Catholic priests in our country to not give communion to our lawmakers who uphold the voted for and judicially approved laws on this issue.

Shall we start taxing churches who are political? If the separation is no longer there then shouldn't they be taxed?

It's an amazing thing to see, where, in so few years where this administration has taken us. It is just now that lots of us are waking up and looking around and we are being dumbfounded and we want change. Well where were they when it would have been an easy matter to have never let all of this happen in the first place -- and for god sakes, look around who would lead us next --- William Frist who might make GW and Cheney look like little boys in training when it comes to inserting religion into politics, as he has seen how it works. Just like GW Bush once did according to reports, and he, William Frist, is so hepped up on it as to be a fanatical nut. The old Chinese curse is just gaining momentum, we are living in interesting times indeed.

Saundra Hummer

April 24th, 2005, 06:56 PM

.....RICE CHANGED TERRORISM REPORT

BY JULIAN BORGER

04/23/05 "THE GUARDIAN" - - A state department report which showed an increase in terrorism incidents around the world in 2004 was altered to strip it of its pessimistic statistics, it emerged yesterday.

The country-by-country report, Patterns of Global Terrorism, has come out every year since 1986, accompanied by statistical tables.

This years edition showed a big increase, from 172 significant terrorist attacks in 2003 to 655 in 2004.

Much of the increase took place in Iraq, contradicting recent Pentagon claims that the insurgency there is waning.

Condolezza Rice, the Secretary of State, ordered the report to be withdrawn and a new one issued minus the statistics.

A Democratic congressman, Henry Waxman, has written an angry letter about the change to Cameron Hume, the state departments Inspector General, arguing that Ms Rice's decision "denies the public access to important information about the incidence of terrorism".

Mr Waxman said: "There appears to be a pattern in the administration's approach to terrorism data: favorable facts are revealed while unfavorable facts are suppressed."

Ms Rice's spokesman, Richard Boucher, denied the change was politically inspired and said Ms Rice had decided the statistics would be better handled by the national counter terrorism centre.

However, intelligence officials said there were no immediate plans to publish the figures.

For this report go to it by clicking on the address below.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info

Saundra Hummer

April 24th, 2005, 11:42 PM

"I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war, that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality." Danielle Wolfe

jazz_man

April 25th, 2005, 11:35 AM

William Frist who might make GW and Cheney look like little boys in training when it comes to inserting religion into politics, as he has seen how it works. Just like GW Bush once did according to reports, and he, William Frist, is so hepped up on it as to be a fanatical nut. The old Chinese curse is just gaining momentum, we are living in interesting times indeed.

Speaking of the good Mr Frist, he was just on a Christian Evangelical station denouncing the Democrats over the judicial nomination process. He is definitely positioning himself for a run in 2008.

I honestly do hope people wake up to what's happening. If not, we will soon be back in the Rockefeller era, where there was no income tax, no protections for workers, and no middle class. Just a small wealthy ruling minority, and vast poverty.

Saundra Hummer

April 25th, 2005, 01:43 PM

REMEMBER THE PLAY AND MOVIE BY TENNESSEE WILLIAMS, "CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF?" ....... IF SO, REMEMBER THE WORD "MENDACITY?"

HERE IT IS AGAIN ... IN OUR WORLD AGAIN, HOPE IT GETS AS MUCH NOTICE, AS THIS IS FOR REAL, NOT SOMETHING FROM A PLAYWRIGHTS MIND OR AN ACTORS LIPS.

THE MACHINERY OF MENDACITY

BY RUSS RYMER

In his article "Some Like It Hot," Chris Mooney pinpoints a critical distinction in the battle over global warming. The think tanks, crank scientists, and pseudo-journalists who dispute climate changes with the aid of millions of corporate dollars are not just arguing the economics of the problem, as they sometimes pretend. That activity, engaging in a thoughtful discussion of politics and priorities, the wisdom of one or another course of action, could be considered honorable regardless of which side one argued from. Rather, the mouthpieces are ignobly contesting the very science itself, using any tactic, andy slipshod fiction, that might throw doubt into the public mind and so deflect the dictates of hard fact. In other words, given a public policy debate, conservatives have decided to forgo real debate entirely - to adopt instead a radical course: denying reality itself.

*****

This article isn't about the environment so much - as it goes into several other issues as to how we are being misled. It's about the means being employed to manipulate us here in this country; the manipulation of the press, etc., and the means by which those in the administration & of those in their employ implement their policies around the world.. Using the most corrupt and deceptive means possible, it is pay offs like we don't remember having happened ever before, and by the not so clever abuse of the truth by those in this administration. But then ... it might be clever, as there are so many of us out there who are willing wholeheartedly to believe anything and everything being put out in front of us. We lap it up like a cat in front of a bowl of warm milk.

To see the article in it's entirety, just click on the following address:

http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/ednote/2005/05/ednote.html

Saundra Hummer

April 25th, 2005, 03:35 PM

Speaking of the good Mr Frist, he was just on a Christian Evangelical station denouncing the Democrats over the judicial nomination process. He is definitely positioning himself for a run in 2008.

I honestly do hope people wake up to what's happening. If not, we will soon be back in the Rockefeller era, where there was no income tax, no protections for workers, and no middle class. Just a small wealthy ruling minority, and vast poverty.

People thought he would think better of using such a ploy and not do that. However, he knows where his bread is buttered and if it weren't for the radical element of the C. Conservatives, or whatever it is they are calling themselves these days, (I call them "DANGEROUS"), he wouldn't have much of a base would he? We need to stop his progress. He is a radical element who believes what he is doing is best for the country, as do most radicals. lHe seems to believe like all of these wacked out politicians alligned with the Bush Cheney administration believe. I tend to think this makes them doubly dangerous. They are so radical in their thoughts and plans for this country. We are already feeling the hurt, and the pain is growing.

Condeleeza Rice became upset when her honesty was questioned, incensed really, but look! Look what she had done in the past and in the now! She must be believing that her misleading us is righeous. It's her truth. In my mind, I believe she's the most dangerous kind of prevaricator. She believes all of her made up tales, as do others whom we've heard mislead us in these past few years.

Dan Rather's "mistake" cost jobs and reputations, why is there no consequence for politiicians and their consultants and spin doctors? It's their actions which have come home to haunt us. Is it just a fact of life that we expect and honor prevarications which politicians & their consultants concoct? We've learned to expect such actions which come from these quarters, these actors, on a regular basis. Wouldn't we like to have it stopped? Why wouldn't we? Shouldn't there be an end to such carryings on?

All great nations in history have fallen and it is like it is also our destiny with this administration and it cohorts with men such as Frist rushing us into ruin.

It is just so strange and unbelievable we have come to this. It must be fate. What other explaination's are there; other than people are just so taken in?

People who follow this administration's wishes are so determined to force their will and lifestyle on the rest of us. This symbiotic relationship between the administration and those in the CC Movement are turning our country into a place I'm not so sure we will be able to recognize not too far down the road. Already the changes have manifested themselves and are wrecking havoc

jazz_man

April 26th, 2005, 10:29 AM

This symbiotic relationship between the administration and those in the CC Movement are turning our country into a place I'm not so sure we will be able to recognize not too far down the road. Already the changes have manifested themselves and are wrecking havoc

Sigh.....amen Sandi......

The path we are presently headed will lead us to a Chrisian Theocracy, dare I say fascist, with no tolerance for others. Unless you are a white Christian male, you will not prosper in any manner under this rule.

Kind of reminds me of the Taliban.

Saundra Hummer

April 26th, 2005, 12:02 PM

Our Cougars are getting more press lately, as they seem to be moving all about the town of Bend, and all around the fringes. Probably different ones, but they aren't certain. This time they are going into one of the more affluent neighborhoods so the word given out now, is they are going to track and kill it. One is a mother with a cub.

I thought that if at all possible they usually trap in humane catch traps and transport them to isolated areas, but they say not. They're telling us they are going to kill it, or them, if they are located. Pity, as we are moving into their habitat in droves.

We have had a deer go into one of the malls on the edge of town, into the area where Penney's store is. That was a hazard, and scared a lot of people. The mall was built on a little clearing where deer used to feed, just off the highway. There was a sizable little herd of them that fed on both sides of the road, so she just ran into where they had always gone before, and was crashing into windows and everything else trying to escape. She was totally confused and dangerous with all of the leaping and crashing she was doing.

About the cougar, they have been spotted in the Bend area for years; in residential areas and near schools, but so far, until this year, nothing has come of it that anyone knew about. This year, however, just about two weeks ago, one killed a dog tied up in it's back yard. This is the first time something happening like this has been reported.

Hate to see any thing die, peoples pets, or the mountain lion, I just wish they would trap and move it, or them to a distant, desolate, isolated spot, somewhere here in Oregon or any of the surrounding states which have wilderness areas.

Saundra Hummer

April 26th, 2005, 01:02 PM

LONELY IN THE MIDDLE

MARCH-APRIL 25,2005

BY LOU DOBBS

Compassionate conservatism has been the catchphrase of George W. Bush since the presidential campagn of 2000, but those two words must now ring hollow to the more than 100 million Americans who make up our middle class. Tere is nothing conservative about our rising record budget and trade deficits. There is nothing compassionate about he president's idea of Social Security (link provided) reform, the rollback of coverage for ever more costly health care for working Americans, or the most recent assault on the middle class the new bankruptcy reform bil tat Bush signed into law last week.

It's ironic that congress approved the bankruptcy bill to impose fiscal discipline on the middle class when the federal government last year rean up a $412 billion budget deficit and a $617 billion trade deficit. President Bush's (link provided) temerity in signing this legislation was the ultimate hypocrisy in a town already very well credentialed. Add to that hypocrisy the House of Representative's vote to permanently repeal the estate tax for the walthy, as Congress further rent the middle class's social safety net.

==

Click on the folloeing address to see the rest of the article. Yahoo News.com and click on their US News and World Report in the blue ring hand column, and it will be in their articles.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=index2cid=959

Saundra Hummer

April 26th, 2005, 01:23 PM

Sigh.....amen Sandi......

The path we are presently headed will lead us to a Chrisian Theocracy, dare I say fascist, with no tolerance for others. Unless you are a white Christian male, you will not prosper in any manner under this rule.

Kind of reminds me of the Taliban.

Jazz_man there's an article on this on Yahoo.com and so go to the above link to get the whole article but here is a brief bit

==

FAITH IN OUR FUTURE?

If you read the headlines, you run the risk of thinking we are headed toward a theocracy. Alarmists note that George W Bush invokes his religious faith in many speeches and that his positions on abortion, embryonic-stem-cell research, and faith-based charities are informed by in. They decry the law congress passed to provide federal judicial review in the Terri Schiavo case. Vocal American Catholics bewail the election of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI. Blogger Andrew Sullivan called it "a full scale assault" on liberal Catholics, one of his correspondents called the new pope "this headstrong, self-assured, anti-democratic and egotistical little man." We all look abroad at the violence done by Islamist fanatics and wonder, without any clear way of being sure, how far such doctrines have taken hold among the world's 1.2 billion Muslims. We note, more reassuringly but perhaps with some wariness, that most Iraqi voters seem to have followed the lead of he country's most powerful cleric, Ayatollah Ali Sistani.

But whether the US is on the way to becoming a theocracy is actually a silly question. .......

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To see this story go to Yahoo.com in the link furnished in the previous post.

It is in usnews.com

Go to the blue colomn of news agencies and you will find them there.

If they are correct there may be some reassurance's, .... but I'm not so sure I agree with all of what it is they're telling us. It depends on Congress??? Look at what they've been doing so far. Yet it is a somewhat reassuring article and not sugar coated, so it does have things to say.

Saundra Hummer

April 27th, 2005, 04:21 PM

Check this out:

A MOTHER JONES SPECIAL PROJECT ON GLOBAL WARMING

MAY/JUNE 2005 ISSUE

AS THE WORLD BURNS

THINK TANKS AND JOURNALISTS FUNDED BY EXXONMOBIL ARE OUT TO CONVINCE YOU GLOBAL WARMING IS A HOAX

Check out this "extra" by going to the following address, and while there read some of their other controversial "based on fact" article's. They are also invitiing you to visit their archives and see several years worth of environmental reporting. Eye-opening. It oftentimes does help to go back and see what has been reported on in the past and then to see who was right and who was feeding us the proverbial line, much like we are being feed an even more unbelievable diet of falsehoods today.

Climate of Denial

Some Like it Hot: A dose of doubt trumps years of solid science, but skepticism doesn't come cheap. ExxonMobil is spending millions to sustain an echo chamber of global warming denial. (Why would they spend so much on this when they still haven't cleaned up their monumental mess in Alaska? SRH)

Snowed: Why the balanced media would rather promote paid flakes and fantasy than report the biggest story on earth.

.....Plus * How an Asian tsunami flooded America with a conservative lie.
****Exxons extensive doubt refinery
****Playing the race card, (and getting it wrong)
****Interactive map: Global Hot Spots
****Big U.S> business see's the light, in Europe

Then there is their online only
****How the insurance industry is putting its money on global warming
****Two explorers attempt to cross the Artic-before it melts.
****A film crew crosses the US to find out if anyone cares about climate change.
****The Hockey Stick: Professor Michael Mann on the science
****Drop it Like It's Hot! Ross Gelbspan on our ineffectual media.
****Some people think climate change is still up for debate. Here's how to set them straight.
****A quick look at some of the best books on global warming.

Lots more, this is just one issue this site it tellig about, there are others as well and to see them just click on the following address.

http://www.motherjones.com/news/featurex/2005/05/world_burns.html

Saundra Hummer

April 27th, 2005, 10:13 PM

Where in the world do people with such thought processes come from, and from under which rock have they crawled? This is old news, but still it shows us what those who want to make more and more money will stoop to to get it. A horrific story with a good ending, thanks to the press, and those who still have scruples.

MAKING PROGRESS IN WASHINGTON 4/26/05

This is an audio, although there is the printed version as well, here it is and it is by Jim Hightower, just click on the address.

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

Saundra Hummer

April 28th, 2005, 11:35 AM

I feel like flooding the Nigerian Embassy with emails, phone calls and USPS letters asking them to clean up their own mess concerning email scams. I go to the trouble of filing abuse complaints everytime one comes in my email, but I do wonder how many people who are needing money have fallen for these attempts to part them with thei hard earned cash. Seniors are much more likely to be taken in as they oftentimes have more need.

If they were nearby I would print up some large signs, get a bull horn and picket them asking for something to be done. .....But what?

There are so many people out there with similar scams or ones even more clever, so how in the world do you stop all of it? I guess we are just going to have to grin and bear it.

I wonder if they even know how to stop them, as they just move on with a different identy and a new name.

Saundra Hummer

April 28th, 2005, 02:06 PM

..."EXTINCT" WOODPECKER FOUND IN ARKANSAS, EXPERTS SAY

JAMES OWEN
FOR NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC NEWS
APRIL 28, 2005

For 50 years, the ivory-billed woodpecker has been widely considered extinct. But the Elvis of the bird-watching world is alive in eastern Arkansas, bird experts announced today. (Watch a video on discovery from the nature Conservancy [requires quick time] )

To read the complete story go to Natinal Georgraphic by clicking on the link below:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/04/0428_050428_extinctwoodpecker.html

Other interesting stories here as well. One has photo's a whale fossil found in Egypt's Wadi Hitan Desert.

Tsunami Proofing: Where to put Walls, Why to keep Trees.

Does "Intelligent Design" Threaten the Definition of Science?

Without Top Predators, Ecosystems Turn Topsy-Turvy.

Losts more on Animals and nature, archaeology and paleontology, news, travel and adventure and then there's the offbeat.

Saundra Hummer

April 28th, 2005, 02:16 PM

Well here's a solution for the overpopulatin of the world. Use agricultural chemicals to the extreme, using them to kill bugs, kill or promote growth and use them in cities everybit as much as they are used in rural areas, or on golf courses, and the sperm count is thought to be dramatically lowerd. The article does say it's from the water they are drinking. Those living in large metropolitan areas were less affected.

See the report in National Geographic, a story by Stefan Lovgren April 27, 2005.

One other good reason for drinking bottled water from springs up above the farming runoff contaminated aquifers. Not all bottled water is good either, so you do have to know about it's origin's as well.

Go to the previous post, click on the address and access National Geographic for some interesting articles this time around.

*****Got side tracked, so coming back to this post.

It seems so odd that birth control methods of any kind are being denied to overpopulated poor countries, and help to these countries is denied them if they provide any type of information to their people which will assist them in curbing population growth and assist them to over come individual suffernig due to poverty, much of which is caused by massive over population. We, the United States, will not suport these or other needs with our dollars and knowledge. But we can contaminate with chemicals (which ofter times leads to brain damage, cancers, any number of malady's and/or even death, then there is the killing in wars which is far more anti life than condoms or birth control pills. Where is reason in all of this?

Saundra Hummer

April 28th, 2005, 02:33 PM

THE FOX NEWS POPE

THE RIGHT WING ARE CLAIMING POPE BENEDICT XVI AS THEIR OWN

This is the viewpoint of an article in Black Commentator - Freedom Rider by Margaret Kimberley

This is an interesting article with her views and links to Fox New, "We have a popet --Fox News (link provided)

"Who is 'we?'" the article asks, saying "Only Catholics have a pope." It goes on to say the right wing and Fox are claiming Pope Benedict XVI as thier own.

It asks the question, "Did the Non-Catholic world convert overnight or is Fox saying that the pope belongs to them and their ideological, brethren?

There is a cartoon showing Dick Cheney, Pastor Dubya and Tom Delay as the "Unholy Trinity."

All in all an interesting viewpoint of an extremely controversial issue, and it ends saying how it is terrible that the new pope influenced an American presidential campaign.

Go to the sight by clicking on thie address below.

http://www.blackcommentator.com/136/136_fr_fox_news_pope.html

Saundra Hummer

April 28th, 2005, 05:33 PM

BRIGADIER SHOCKS AND AWES: THERE IS NO WAR ON TERRORISM

The so-called global war on terrorism does not exist, a high-ranking army officer has declared in a speech that challenges the conventional wisdom.

By Cynthia Banham

In a frank speech, Brigadier Justin Kelly dismissed sevral of the central tenents of Iraq war and the war on terrorism, saying the "war" part is all about politics and terrorism is merely a tactic.

Get the whole story by clicking below on the address.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8690.htm

Saundra Hummer

April 28th, 2005, 08:35 PM

Bobby Darin 1936 - 1973

A nice little tribute and story about Bobby Darin by his friend and business partner. It's a nice little read and he's also selling - so - this may be a spam - or - it may not be. I'm not buying but his story on Bobby tells things I didn't know of. You might find this site interesting.

Heres the address, just click on it.

http://www.bronxbabe.com.hosting.domaindirect/Page27.html

Saundra Hummer

April 29th, 2005, 07:58 PM

"But they don't use law -- they use the law for their interests. They don't go by law, international, federal, local -- nothing! They go by whatever is expedient to protect the intersts that are at stake." Malcolm X, answer to question, Militant Labor Forum, January 7, 1965

=

Who will show me any Constitutional injuction whch makes it the duty of the American people to surrender everything valuable in life, and even life, itself, whenever the purposes of an ambitious and mischievous government may require it? ___ A free government with an uncontrolled power of military conscription is the most ridiculous and abominable contradiction and nonsense that ever entered into the heads of men." Daniel Webster (1782 - 1852), US Senator Source: Speech in the House of Representatives, January 14, 1814

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"The press is so powerful in it's image-making role, it can make a criminal look like he's the victim, and make the victim look like he's the criminal. This is the press, an irresponsible press." . . . . "If you aren't careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing." . . . "At the Audobon, December 13, 1964." In Malcolm X Speaks: Selected Speeches and Statements, ed. George Breitman, 96-114. New York: Ballantine Books, 1964, 101.

==

From Information Clearing House.info in their daily newsletter

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/

Or:

http://snipurl.com/ayzc

Saundra Hummer

April 29th, 2005, 08:04 PM

.....BURIED TREASURE

THE BUSHES ARE ROBBER BARONS, NOT CAPITALISTS.

BY CHRIS FLOYD

It's simply the way the Bush boys do business, trawling the globe for sweetheart deals and gushers of blood money from the war and terror they foment.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8699.htm

http://snipurl.com/ekex

Saundra Hummer

April 29th, 2005, 08:10 PM

A SPYMASTER'S VIEW OF THE WORLD:

Retired Mossad cheif is hinting at nothing less than an American occupaton of the Saudi oil fields!

http://www-gulfnews.com/Articles/OpinionNF.asp?ArticleID=162706

This can also be seen on Information Clearing House.info to view here just click on this link or click on the link in the previous post and it is in with other stories on this site.

There are a lot of interesting stories there and some horrific ones regarding the occupation of Iraq, and the potential for war with Iran.

Saundra Hummer

April 29th, 2005, 09:19 PM

BELGIAN DOCTORS BILL U.S. FOR TREATING IRAQ GIRL

YAHOO! NEWS.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgian doctors sent an Iraqi girl home Thursday after treating her for leg wounds caused by a bomb during the U.S. invasion -- and sent the 51, 570 euro ($66,650) bill to the U.S. Embassy.

"We haven't heard from them yet," said Bert De Belder, coordinator of the humanitarian agency Medical Aid for Third World which brought the girl to Belgium.

"I'm curious to knw their reaction," he told Reuters. "We're giving them 10 days to respoind ... I don't think they will pay it."

=

To see the story go to Reuters or to Yahoo.com at this address:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050429/od_nm/iraq_belgium_dc;_ylt=AvGuro/GMw9VWQVtdq3YCUTAZ3QA;_ylu=X3oDMTA5MmOycTEwBHNIYwN sbjc1Nw-

Hope this is right, if not sorry about that, just look it up on google.

It will tell you (I have just found out) that the story has been retired and to go to their home page and find it there. Just click on the link provided by them with this message. Then while there look up the fantastical story about genitic co-mingling, it is fascinating, and I'm surprised this has been allowed. Wonder where this will take medicine. An old heart? They will just grow you a new one.

Saundra Hummer

April 30th, 2005, 01:15 AM

IRAQ THROUGH THE EYES OF UNEMEBEDDED, INDEPENDENT JOURNALIST DAHR JAMAIL: People who want to go back into that city (Fallujah) have to get retina scans, all ten fingers fingerprinted, then they're issued an ID card. People inside the city are refering to it as a big jail. It is a horrendous situation.

Go to the following link and click on it for the print version or "Listen to Segemnt and or Download, or even use Printer-friendly version.

Dahr Jamail, one of the few independent, unembedded journalists reporting in Iraq for months, joins us in our firehouse studio to discuss the siege of Fallujah, detention of Iraqis, so-called "reconstruction" and much more [includes rush transcript]

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/04/28/1346252

Saundra Hummer

April 30th, 2005, 06:59 PM

KAI WINDING MUSICAL INSTRUMENT COLLECTION IS BEING SOLD TO HELP HIS DAUGHTER IN AN ATTEMPT TO RAISE FUNDS TO COVER MEDICAL EXPENSES FOR HER MOTHER, JEANNE WINDING.

"Please pass this on to any serious collectors you may now of."

Rene Laanen sent this information to me in a news letter this morning.

visit his web site and learn more by clicking on the following address:

www.renelaanen.com

==

The link below is to the auction site:

http://homepages.apci.net/~moncelli/home.html

Saundra Hummer

May 1st, 2005, 03:19 PM

"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 :shrug:

Saundra Hummer

May 2nd, 2005, 06:52 PM

.................MISSING TEXT!

"A GREEK MEDICAL STUDENT AT BOLOGNA UNIVERSITY WHO WAS SURFING THE WEB EARLY ON SUNDAY FOUND THAT WITH TWO SIMPLE CLICKS OF HIS COMPUTER MOUSE HE COULD RESTORE CENSORED PORTIONS OF THE REPORT"

"ITALY MEDIA REVEALS IRAQ DETAILS."

"ITALIAN MEDIA HAVE PUBLISHED CLASSIFIED SECTIONS OF AN OFFICIAL US MILITARY INQUIRY INTO THE ACCIDENTAL KILLING OF AN ITALIAN AGENT IN BAGHDAD."

"THE 40-PAGE REPORT WAS CENSORED BY THE PENTAGON BEFORE BEING OFFICIALLY PUBLISHED ON SATURDAY." (YOU SHOULD SEE THE BLACKED OUT PORTIONS, OVER HALF IT SEEMS WAS CENSORED.)

"Italy has refused to accept the US report's findings and is to publish its own version of events later this week."

"Details of the official report were published in newspapers on Sunday with censored material restored in full."

The article goes on to say that the full text was forwarded to Italian newspapers and they immediately put out the full text on their own websites.

The missing text contains the names and ranks of all of the American military personnel involved in the killing of Nicola Calipari, the Italian agent who was given a state funeral and awarded Italy's highest medal of valor.

It also reveals the rules of engagement in operation at the military checkpoint near Baghdad airport which have been contested by the Italian authorities.

To see the story and others about Iraq and "The Plan" go to this address,

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info

Saundra Hummer

May 2nd, 2005, 08:25 PM

Spyware!!! When is someone going to do something to stop it? I have removed 21 instances of it today, I no sooner delete it and 5 of the offenders are back on. They are programmed to live in my computer it seems and I am tired of it as it is causing problems. I would think it should be made illegal if it already hasn't.

Which companies are employing these methods?

If I knew I would start a campaign against them, I think I know where these came from, how they got wind of me, as I wanted access to a site and I filled out too much information to get there, and now I regret it. The site did have, among several other businesses, membership to BMG records, but BMG isn't the culprit, they just happen to be in the bad guy's list of deals. I do feel like complaining to BMG about the promotions to draw you in, it isn't a good thing. I would imagine if enough people were to complain something might get done about this. I am doubly sorry that I submitted any information at all, and if my computer goes dunk because of it, I will be just sick. I'm running it again and I imagine all five instances, plus others will just be back up and running once again, screwing up the works like they always do.

jazz_man

May 2nd, 2005, 09:01 PM

Saundra Hummer

May 2nd, 2005, 11:07 PM

Sandi, I feel you pain and frustration! Try these two pieces of freeware:

1 spybot:

http://www.download.com/3000-2144-10122137.html?part=104443&subj=dlpage&tag=button

2 adaware:

http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-SE-Personal-Edition/3000-8022_4-10319876.html?tag=lst-0-1

Thanks, I have done the spyware thing 4 more times and these programs keep coming back up, and I want rid of them for good, they are:

SideFind

Money Tree

DyFuCA

180Solutions

Transponder VX2

This is just a bit ridiculous! How is this allowed? If they can be programed in, why isn't there a simple way to rid your comptuer of them? I wonder how many more times this will be here, or if the spyware programs I use will figure out a way to get rid of them for good. Somehow I doubt it.

I downloaded one of your programs and it didn't show up, I think I should have said open instead of save, I'll try to figure it out tomorrow. I have heard that some of these free downloads will put spyware on your computer to get you to buy there more expensive software, or something along those lines.

I will do the other one tomorrow as well, surely something will work.

Saundra Hummer

May 4th, 2005, 12:53 PM

ANIMAL FIGHTING.................SIGN ON TO STOP IT!!!!

HERE'S THE ADDRESS, JUST CLICK ON IT:

http://community.hsus.org/campaign/endanimalfighting/sn33kk2o5j753e?source=GABAFY

Saundra Hummer

May 4th, 2005, 07:30 PM

The Bush Crimes will go on

Deadly Hypocrisy is Business as Usual

By CHRIS FLOYD

Last week saw a bumper crop of death-dealing hypocrisy, as the freedom-loving', terrorist fightin' he-men of the Bush Regime were caught in flagrante delicto with some rough trade indeed: genocidal rape-fiends, diabolical flesh-boilers and tyrannical peddlers of violent, ignorant religius extremism. (And no, it wasn't a meeting of the Repubican National Committee.)

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8747.htm

http://snipurl.com/ee2b

==

Here is a disturbing fact, and it is that "Turkey is Gathering Troops Along Southern Border Wih Iraq." (Another tragedy in the works? Will it never cease? Are we going to end up in a place we most fear? SRH)

Ankara has long warned that it would not tolerate the presence of the PKK in northern Iraq. about 5,000 PKK fighters were said to have been operation along the nothern border and operatives were sent to Turkey for insurgency attacks

See this article on the address up above, or click below.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8744.htm

http://snipurl.com/eo2k

Saundra Hummer

May 4th, 2005, 08:02 PM

There are some new books out to downloand, here's a rundown:

Terror's Unwilling Ally, a 30 page excerpt from her new book, "Terror Incorporated: Tracing the Dollars Behind the Terror Networks, by Loretta Napoleoni, she maps out the arteries of an internaional economic system that feeds armed groups that world over. Chasing terror money, she takes the reader from CIA headquarters to the smuggling routes of the Far East, from the back rooms of Wall street to hawala exchanges in the Middle East.

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2. The Draft: Between Iraq & A Hard Place.

After two years of intensive fighting in Iraq, the Pentagon is feeling the strain in every military muscle, says Michael Schwartz, and has been looking for relief in just about every direction but one - the draft. Across the USA, young people are wondering whether, sooner or later, in its increasingly airless military universe, the Bush administration will open the window a crack and let the draft in.

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3. What's So Funny about Peace, Love & Armageddon?
At the beginning of the sci-fi TV series, The X-Files, we were shown the words 'I want to believe.' We were to understand that one of the FBI investigators was eager to overcome his scepticism . . . When it comes to the humanity and compassion of leaders like Tony Blair and George Bush, mainstream journalists also 'want to believe'. By David Edwards, of the British media watchdog, Media Lens.

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4. How the New York Times Suports Thought Control
"The New York Times has never been a very courageous newspaper in times of political hysteria and threats to civil liberties," says Edward S. Herman. "We must evaluate the Joseph Massad case, Columbia University's handliing of that case, and the New Yourk Times' editorial on "Intimidation at Columbia."

==

5. Fear and Favour 2004
New York Media watchdog, Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting, has released its latest Fear & Favor report which illustrates a grwong encroachment on journalism by advertisers and special interest groups. The report, by Peter Hart and Julie Hollar, offers real examples that have been made public - a reminder that such pressures exist, and that reporters serve the best interests of citizens and the journalistic profession by coming forward with thier own accounts.

==

There's a bit more but these are the main stories and then there are the latest columns form George Monbiot, Danny Schechter, Michael I. Niman, Norman Solomon and Uri Avnery.

go to this site to download and see more:

http://www.coldtype.net

Saundra Hummer

May 4th, 2005, 08:51 PM

RESEARCHERS TESTED DRUGS ON FOSTER KIDS

BY JOHN SOLOMAN

ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

Government-funded researchers tested AIDS (link provided) Drugs on hundreds of foster children over the past two decades, often with providing them a basic protection afforded in federal law and required by some states, Associated Press review has found.

The research funded by the National Institutes of Health (link provided) spanned the country. It was most widespread in the 1990's as foster care agencies sought treatments for their HIV (link provided)-infected children that weren't yet available in the market place.

The practice ensured that foster children--- mostly poor or minority --- received care from world class researchers at government expense, slowing their rate of death and extending their lives. But it also exposed a vulnerable populaton to the risks of medical research and drugs that were known to have serious side effects in adults and for which the safety for children was unknown.

The research was conducted in at least seven states --- Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Colorado and Texas --- and involved more than four dozen different studies. The foster children ranged from infants to late-teens, according to interviews and government records.

Several studies that enlisted foster children reported patients suffered side effects such as rashes, vomiting and sharp drops in infection-fighting blood cells as they tested antiretroviral drugs to suppress AIDS or other medicines to treat secondary infections.

In one study, researchers reported a "disturbing" higher death rate among children who took higher doses of a drug. That study was unable to determine a safe and effective dosage.

There is much, much more to this report and to see it go to this address:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/aids_foster_kids_ylt=AuOCRvSJwJVhxZKJGmqalRVasONUE ,_yluX3oDMTA2bm5xNXVjBHNlYwNtcA-

If this address is incorrect go to Yahoo News or to see documents associated with this story go to the following address by clicking on it.

http://wid.ap.org/inv/foster.html

==

National institutes of Health:

http://www.nih.gov

After reading this report, it would seem that it would make much more sense for the government to advocate birth control and prevenative measures to prevent children being born into such a world, their world being filled with disease and abandoment. Wouldn't the patch, or the morning after pill be a much better alternative . . . a prevenative measure . . . one that works? Wouldn't that be a better alternative than closing the barn door after the horse has bolted?

Using the most vulnarable and helpless of us all, children, without a voice, the sickest and the poorest, the forgotten ones. This is a troubling report. Yet the government funds research with is harmful to living vialble human beings already in this world of human suffering. Where is the humanity in this? Where are the banner carriers and candle burners shouting for justice as in the Schiavo tragedy?

Saundra Hummer

May 4th, 2005, 10:28 PM

"And so long as they were at war, their power was preserved, but when they had attained empire they fell, for of the arts of peace they knew nothing, and had never engaged in employment higher than war." Aristotle, Politics.

=

"It would be some time before I fully realized that the United States sees little need for diplomacy. Power is enough. Only the weak rely on diplomacy . . . The Roman Empire had no need for diplomacy. Nor does the United States.". . . Boutros Boutros-Ghali

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"Our position is that whatever grievances a nation may have however objectionable it finds the status quo, aggessive warfare is an illegal means for settling those grievances or for altering those conditions." : Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson, the American prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials, in his opening statement to the tribunal.

Saundra Hummer

May 5th, 2005, 03:14 PM

"What's good about the American people is that you have to lie to them. What's bad about the Americans is that it's so easy to do." A quote from Doug Palast's newsletter, attributed to Daniel Ellsberg.

IMPEACHMENT TIME: "FACTS WERE FIXED."

THURSDAY, MAY 5, 2005 BY GREG PALAST

Here if is. The smoking gun. The memo that has "IMPEACH HIM" written all over it.

The top-level government memo marked "SECRET AND STRICTLY PERSONAL.," dated eight months before Bush sent us into Iraq, following a closed meeting with the President, reads, "Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam through military action justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."

Read that again "The intelligence and facts were being fixed...."

For years, after each damning report on BBC TV, viewers inevitably ask me, "Isn't this grounds for impeachment?" --- vote rigging, a blind eye to terror and the bin Ladens before 9-11, and so on. Evil, stupidity and self-dealing are shameful but not impeachable. What's needed is a "high crime or misdemeanor."

And if this ain't it, nothing is.

The memo, uncovered this week by the Times, goes on to descrbe an elaborate plan by George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair to hoodwink the planet into supporting an attack on Iraq knowing full well the evidence for war was a phony.

A conspiracy to commit serial fraud is, under federal law, racketeering. However, the Mob's schemes never cost so many lives.

Here's more. "Bush had made up his mind to take military action. But the case was thin. Saddam was not threatening his neighbors, and his WMD capability was less than that of Libya, North Korea or Iran."

Really? But Mr. Bush told us, "intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised."

A month ago, the Silberman-Robb Commission issued its report on WMD intelligence before the war, dismissing claims that Bush fixed the facts with this snooty condescending conclusion written directly to the President, "After a thorough review, the Commission found no indication that the Intelligence Community distorted the evidence regarding Iraq's weapons."

We know know the report was a bogus 618 pages of thick whitewash aimed to let Bush off the hook for his murderous mendacity.

Read on. The invasion build-up was then set, says the memo, "beginning 30 days before the U.S. Congressional elections." Mission accomplished.

You should parse the entire memo -- posted on my website -- and see if you can make it throught its three pages without losing your lunch.

Now sharp readers may note they didn't see this memo, in fact, printed in the New York Times. It wasn't. Rather, it was splashed across the front pages of the Times of LONDON on Monday.

It has effictively finished the last, sorry remnants of Tony Blair's political career. (While his Labor Party will most assuredly win the elections Thursday, Prime Minister Blair is expected, possibly within months, to be shoved overboard in favor of his Chancellor of the Exchequer, a political execution which requires only a vote of the Labour party's members in Parliment.)

But in the US, barely a word. The New York Times covers this hard evidence of Bush's fabrication of a casus belli as some "British" elections story. ?Apparently, our President's fraud isn't "news fit to print."

My colleagues in the UK press have skewered Blair, digging out more incriminating memo's, challenging the official government factoids and fibs. But in the US press nada, bubkes, zilch. Bush fixed the facts and somehow that's a story for "over there."

The Republicans impeached Bill Clinton over his cigar and Monica's affections. And the US media could print nothing else.

Now, we have the stone, cold evidence of bending intelligence to sell us on death by the thousands, and neither a Republican Congress nor what is laughably called US journalism thought it worth a second look.

My friend Daniel Ellsberg once said that what's good about the American people is that you have to lie to them. What's bad about Americans is that it's so easy to do. :frown2:

Read the memo in its entirety at

http://www.GregPalast.com

Saundra Hummer

May 5th, 2005, 03:40 PM

Saundra Hummer

May 5th, 2005, 04:23 PM

"When a long train of abuses and usurpations [...] evinces a design to reduce them [the people] under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government." Thomas Jefferson, United States Declaration of Independence

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"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in peoples minds." : Samuel Adams

==

"Individuals have international duties which transcends the national obligations of obedience...therefore [individual citizens] have the duty to violate domestic laws to prevent crimes against peace and humanity from occurring." Nuremberg War Crime Tribunal, 1950.

=

"Some explanations of a crime are not explanations: they're part of the crime." Olavo de Cavarlho

Saundra Hummer

May 7th, 2005, 11:56 AM

THEY GET TO WRITE LAWS TO LEGALIZE THEIR OWN IMMORAL BEHAVIOR

SEE JIM HIGHTOWERS ARTICLE OR LISTEN TO HIM TELL OF IT ON THIS SITE, THIS AND OTHER STORIES REGARDING OUR GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS AND THEIR LESS THAN STELLAR ACTIONS AND WAYS.

Read or listen to: CONGRESSIONAL LIFESTYLE SLUSH FUNDS

CHECK OUT THE ARCHIVES FOR MORE.

VISIT HIS SITE BY JUST CLICKING ON THE FOLLOWING LINK:

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

Saundra Hummer

May 7th, 2005, 02:04 PM

.....FEELING OVERWORKED? WELL WHO ISN'T?

Check out Mother Jones and it's "MoJoBLOG for an "on top of the news" report.

"The Families and Work Institute (link provided) just put out a new report (pdf) (link provided) entitled 'Overwork in America' that deserves a bit of discussion." MoJoBLOG is saying

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

http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2005/05/feeling_overwor.html

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Lynndie England Trial Farce: Why did England plead guilty for her role in Abu Gharaib

==

Sweet Strategic Clarity: NATO's love hate relationship with our Middle Eastern "allies" underscores the contradictions in the war on terror.

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Fighting AIDS with Morals: No reason for the United States to fund AIDS prevention programs, huh?

==

Lots of controversial articles this week, these are just a few of them on the Blog site, then there's their home page articles as well

Saundra Hummer

May 7th, 2005, 02:25 PM

.."Fortunately, even as broken clocks are right twice a day, we are sometimes given a sensational story that is worthy of our attention."

This in the second paragraph in a story in "The Black Commentator." This in response to how the press oftentimes reports on stories that are sensational and how they sensationalize them even more, however when it comes to the story they are talking about in this article they believe the media got it right this time. So do I.

"ANOTHER FIVE YEAR-OLD WAS HANDCUFFED IN ST. LEWIS." This after the incident in St Petersburg Florida.

Adults were handiling this?

This is so bizarre as to be unbelievable, but we did see the films of the little girl, and undeniably, she was being a brat, she was out of control, but how much of a fool is the principle and other school employees not to know how to respond with common sense in such an instance? They are trained & have studdied how to handle situations such as these. I myself, haven't had training in this field. but for heavens sake, I could have done a heck of a lot better in responding to such situations.

I can't believet the police would even contemplate handcuffing children that young, no matter how much of a fit they were throwing. I've had a child kick me while I was watching him for his parents. I was down on the floor reading to him, I switched the t.v. channel with the remote after I had finished the book, and it angered him, he hopped up, and since I was propped up on my elbows, he kicked me right in the eye with heavy leather shoes, and I saw stars - and more stars, it was really pretty painful, however, I handled it without the police or any type of corporal punishement. That didn't even begin to enter my mind. What in the world were these professionals thinking?

This article evolves into much more than the story of the small children, it goes into the black experience in many different ways, and areas.

Here's the link to the Black Commentator and the article, just click on it:

http://www.blackcommentator.com/137/137_fr_five_year_old.html

jazz_man

May 7th, 2005, 02:53 PM

Concerning the previous post, we all know all of this and frankly, no one really cares, everyone just shrugs it off and thinks "business as usual", so why should we care? We don't. We have our own lives to take care of, so what?!! So until it hits us in the wallet - or - in the mouth, we just could care less.

I even more disgusted than usual with our mainstream media, even the so-called liberal media for not raising an issue over this memo, which was published last Sunday in England.

Instead, our media decides that it's far more important to discuss the run-away bride (think there would have been any coverage whatsoever if she was a minority?), or Paula Abdul's private life.

Clinton was impeached for lying under oath about a BJ in the White House, yet W. lied to world about this war. This resulted in thousands of American deaths, and tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians' deaths.

A friend of mine told be a couple of days ago:

"If I were a theist, I would sleep easier at night knowing W. will burn forever in eternity."

Saundra Hummer

May 7th, 2005, 03:15 PM

I even more disgusted than usual with our mainstream media, even the so-called liberal media for not raising an issue over this memo, which was published last Sunday in England.

Instead, our media decides that it's far more important to discuss the run-away bride (think there would have been any coverage whatsoever if she was a minority?), or Paula Abdul's private life.

Clinton was impeached for lying under oath about a BJ in the White House, yet W. lied to world about this war. This resulted in thousands of American deaths, and tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians' deaths.

A friend of mine told be a couple of days ago:

"If I were a theist, I would sleep easier at night knowing W. will burn forever in eternity."

Still would be too late for all of us in the here and now. :tearhair:

Saundra Hummer

May 7th, 2005, 04:50 PM

PROMISE SHOWN IN ARTIFICIAL RETINA, HOPEFULLY RESEARCH WILL CONTINUE TO IMPROVE AND RESTORE SIGHT IN THE BLIND.

kATHLEEN DOHENY IN "HEALTH DAY NEWS" REPORTED ON MAY 6TH THAT:

An "artificial retina is helping six previously blind patients detect light, identify objects and perceive motion, reasearchers announced Friday.

This is a wonderful story and it is a wonderful outcome for researchers who are hoping to find a way to restore sight in the blind. It isn't giving back all inclusive eyesight, but it will help about 6 million people in the United states alone who have been blinded or their vision severely impaired because of retinitis pigmentosa or age-related macular degeneration, enabling them to see light, and motion, still a vast improvement, and one would hope that research will be finding even more successful methods now that this door has been opened. The device she reported on could be on the market in two years, however some believe "4 years is more realistic."

When tested, patients in one study group were able to make out objects with 74 percent to 99 percent accuracy. They could distinguish simple shapes -- items like the capital letter L -- with 61 percent to 80 percent accuracy, he said.

In another test, the team placed a plate, a cup or knife in front of the patients. They could differentiate one object from another. Humayun said.

Several researchers around the world are independently working on similar devices which consist of glasses and tiny camera, etc., however it is the USC team which is furthest along in studying a "chronically implanted" device in humans.

Anything which can help one to see is a blessing. Lets hope this comes to fruition sooner than is being talked about.

How wonderful for those suffering from such an affliction.

Saundra Hummer

May 7th, 2005, 05:37 PM

SMALL PETS ARE CAUSING SEVERE ILLNESSES IN CHILDREN, ILLNESSES CAUSED BY A TREATMENT RESISTANT BACTERIA, SO BE CAREFULL OUT THERE.

It was assumed that illnesses associated with animals such as reptiles, turtles, etc., weren't being transmitted by furry little critters such as Hamsters and other "pocket pets." They (the furry little critters) were believed not to pose much of a problem.

Now is has been found that Gerbils, guinea pigs, ferrets and rabbits could also carry the germ, the CDC said.

An "outbreak" of a treatment resistent salmonella bacterial infection highlights the fact that there is no perfectly safe pet. Parents and children should wash their hands thoroughly after contact with any pet" -- even the family dog, said Dr Stephen J. Swanson, a CDC epidemiologist working in the Minnesota Department of Health.

This article goes into much more, but common sense when it comes to animals is very important, and I believe, having been around so many animals, the health of the animal is important, although the study shows that healthy animals can also transmit the salmonella germ which has been the culprit.

We have had every animal imaginable other than snakes, but we have them around in our garden. We have never had a problem health wise when it comes to animal contact.

Go to YahooNews.com to see the article, and just use common sense, however if you have young children who have such pets and they become ill, it would be a good idea to see a doctor just check to is if it is, or isn't, salmonella. Better safe than sorry.

These are isolated cases and nothing to panic over, but common sense should be at work when it comes to feeding, watering and handling any animal. Much like making sure you wash your hands well after handing grocery carts at a market. That seems to be the only place we catch any bugs from, at the grocery stores from handling their dirty grocery carts, and we are very careful to wash our hands well after being out and about, but it doesn't take long to become exposed to who knows what!

Saundra Hummer

May 7th, 2005, 09:34 PM

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION ASKS ISLAMIC NATIONS FOR POLIO FUNDS

This after outbreaks of POLIO in their own countries, the Organization of the Islamic Conference have contributed just $3,000,000.00, even though as stated earlier "recent outbreaks of polio have occurred mostly in Islamic countries." Said spokeswoman Linda Muller.

SAUDI'S AT THIS JUNCTURE HAVE NOT CONTRIBUTED!!!

DITTO FOR KUWAIT AND BAHRAIN, NADA, ZIP, NOTHING!

(Never will we in the West understand the mindset of such countries where their royals and other wealthy citizens wear runway fashions, and any number of expensive items, own fleets of luxury cars, dine on Beluga caviar, cruise the oceans of the world staying in the most expensive ports, and hotels while anchored off shore, fly about in private jets and helecopters. The monies spent as "mad money" would fund the world in research and treatments of the most ruinious diseases. Mad money, pocket change. They spend this much in a day and more just having the time of their lives, and they're only giving $3,000,000.00 between all of them???? Come-on!)

(Wouldn't one think they should be hanging their heads in shame? There seems to be no concept of compassion and of working to help the less fortuanate unless it it to put poor young children in their religous schools and brainwash them into being violent oriented individuals out to change their world with horrors we have already experienced.)

==

This is another story by an Associated Press Writer, SAM CAGE:

"The WHO campaign to fight polio has cost $4 billion so far, but states of the Organization of the Islamic Conference have contributed just $3 million, even though recent outbreaks of polio have occurred mostly in Islamic countries, said spokeswoman Linda Muller.

"The time to act is now, we can't afford to wait," Muller told the Associated Press. "That's critical at this point of the initiative, everyone pulling together."

WHO said it is looking to Bahraiin, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to give more money to its polio eradication campaign. None of those countries has contributed funds. :tearhair:

[Astounding don't you think, but yet who among us is surprised? They don't fund outside charities, they have never been known to do so that I can recall, they only fund their own we've heard, and we have seen the outcome of their charities, they aren't like what we know of charities here in this country and in other places around the world. Perhaps they need to set up a strongly run charitable organization in their own country, not just the type that funds the religous schools of hate instilling madras's (or however it's spelled) as they don't like giving to outsiders. Is this still a tribal issue? But can't they see the wisdom in Polio being stopped in it's tracks? Who has all to gain? It is them, they do. SRH]

A meeting of foreign ministers of the 57-nations Islamic conference in June will be an opportunity to increase funding for the polio eradiction campaign, Muller said.

WHO said it needs $50 million by July to fight polio this year. For 2006, the health agency has a funding shortfall of $200 million.

Last year, some 1,267 people were infected in the world ---with 792 of those in Nigeria. {A very poor country, as are the following ones. srh] The current total of new cases in 2005 stands at 124, according to WHO, with Nigeria, Sudan and Yemen the worst-affected countries.

When WHO launched its anti polio campaign in 1988, the worldwide case count was more than 350,000 annually.

Indonesia and Yemen---both predominantly Muslim countries-- are the most recent of previously polio-free states that have reported new cases since 2003.

==
===
====

I have seen people from small children to men in their 40's nd 50's with Polio and it wasn't pretty, it was and is a terrible disease and one which one of my very best friends has suffered from, and as strong an individual as he is, physcally, character and personality wise; he has had a rough go of it, and that shouldn't have to happen to anyone, not now, or in the future.

What if Polio gains a foothold once again? Will it mutate as so many afflictions have and become even harder to treat and erradicate? We need this nipped in the bud and it seems these wealthy leaders and individuals need to realize we aren't living in a box canyon where we are isolated from the world community, we can be and are all at risk.

Come-on fella's you probably spend more betting on the falconry contests and camel races than is needed for the proposed eradication of Polio. You and all of your childen and their childrens children could be at risk.

Some of these countries like Yemen and Nigeria are terribly poor and disease and suffereing isn't new to them, but this could improve with some thoughtful intervention and funding, and one would think their neighbors would be beating a path to improve their lot, thereby improving and stabilizing their own.

Look at how we ourselves are being overrun with people from Mexico seeking a better life, and I have to believe if we had done differently with the governments of Mexico and with helping the country out - instead of trying to hold them down, we would be better off here in our own country as well. Healther, wealthier and just all around better living conditions for us all. Take a lesson Islamic countries, see how not to do., and how to do, as somethings we have done are terrific and wonderful and others, well, learn from our mistakes and dumb foreign policies, and open up hearts, it is all possible.

Saundra Hummer

May 8th, 2005, 02:34 PM

... "The true hypocrite is the one who ceases to perceive his (or her) deception, the one who lies with sincerity." Andre Gide

Saundra Hummer

May 8th, 2005, 02:57 PM

.... BIBICAL PROPHECY AND CHRISTAIN ZIONISM

BY GARY LEUPP

.............................END TIMES IMPERIALISM................................

Belief in Bibical prophecy surely provides hope and comfort for the believer, and I take no pleasure in attempting to subvert humble faith. But the belief in prophecy that justifies imperialist aggression, especially when joined to bull-headed support for an ignorant president who pompously fancies himself a "religious scholar" is frightening.

To see this story go to the following address:

http://informationclearinghouse.info/article8770.htm

==

While onsite on the preceeding article, go to the home page and see this story. It is a video lecture.

.... THE NEW PEARL HARBOR."

Disturbing questions about the Bush Administration and 9/11 attacks.

(Watch it now Windows Media)

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8765.htm

http://snipurl.com/eqky

===

There seems to be some pretty inflametory articles this issue, even one where Bush's claims to have captured a top Al Qaida general have turned out to be a stretch, a mid level person in that organization described as being among flotsam and jetsam, hardly a top gun, a top player. Articles calling for Bush and Blair to be thrown out of office and imprisoned as war criminals and much more. A letter from a grieving parent, a mother of a soldier killed in Iraq, and more.

Here is another odd and maddening article one in which the Bush/Cheney administration is claiming Presidential Privilege for LBJ Documents. For those of us who like to know, we can't see the need for such secrecy, as we doubt there are formula's included as to how to build a top secret weapon, or any such thing as to be harmful to the US.

CIA Refuses Release of 35 Year Old President's Daily Briefs

http://www.gwu.edu-nsarchiv/pdbnews/index.htm

Sun shining too brightly here so hope this address is correct, but if not, you will find it at Informationclearinghouse.info.

Saundra Hummer

May 10th, 2005, 06:45 PM

An interesting new site has just debuted and it is terrific, and varied. One of it's first photo's is a picture of what King Tut may have looked like, then there is more concerning archaeology; it is an article about an ancient, size ten leather shoe, found in an English quarry. The shoe is from the Iron Age and was found in a hollowed tree trunk at Whitehall Quarry, near Wellington, Somerset. There is more talk about Bronze age finds as well.

Archaeologists say the shoe is the equivalent of a size 10, and is so well preserved that stitch and lace holes are still visible in the leather.

As far as is known, this is the oldest shoe ever found.

=

This site is diverse, however it does have the dreaded "Liberal" slant, with articles by Walter Cronkite, then there's an off the wall story about Lou Dobbs, which brings everyone into play including Paula Abdull, Pat O'Brian, and even down to the Chappelle Show, just no telling what will pop up, and out, on this site and the surface has hardly been scratched.

There is an article byTim Goodman who just has that way of looking at the goings on in this world of ours which is fun, and while I have to admit he pushes the envelope I believe someone needs to, as there is just too much which is way too serious out there.

This site has it's serious side, but it also knows a little humor is a good thing, as it makes that which is so distasteful go down so much easier. :banana: :elephant: :elephant: :elephant: :banana:

Go to this site and see the premier post, it is worthwhile. Check their blog and other links as well.

Here's the address, just click on it:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/?tr=y&auid=872796

Saundra Hummer

May 11th, 2005, 01:51 AM

Since everyone we know with diesel fueled cars, SUV's and pickups are having a tizzy over the higher than gasoline prices, this might be a welcome bit of news.

Biodiesel,a clean-burning alternative fuel produced in a simple refinery process from everyday fats and oils is being talked about as a safe and replaceable energy source.

Check out the article in The Huffington Post by Bill Maher, where he addresses this issue. Find it on the address in the previous post.

Oh well, nothing will come of it in this day and age, and talking about energy and it's availability at an affordable price, when will the government do something about alternative sources? And I'm not talking about drilling in Alaska or Montana or anywhere else.

Then there is this, have you heard how the Court of Appeals has thrown out a suit which was wanting Dick Cheney to let us all know what went on with the likes of Enron behind closed doors in the Vice Presidential Offices?

This man, this vice president thinks so much of this country, he had never registered to vote, and had therefore never voted and he would have us believe he has the countries best interest at heart? Are any of us that easily fooled? Well maybe some out there are, but not all of us, that's for sure. It is the oil companies in my estimation who hold his loyalty, his devotion. After all it was there that he exercised his power and influence all over the world. He is a product of it, a product of the oil business, and we know how that goes, we know how their policies have affected the country, and why we suffered, and continue to suffer while the energy companies reaped, and continue to reap massive profits. If this weren't enough there are government contracts which is being said, Haliburton and others overcharged and bilked us with during the Iraq war and previously in dealing with Iraq, Iran and Libyia. They really are being accused of bilking the USA all the while. Dick Cheney making sure that they got theirs while screwing the USA out of untold dollars.

So, what is happening with the audits and investigations they were to conduct? Remember how Haliburton and it's subsideraries used foreign companies to circumvent business with Iraq, Libyia and Iran? What is going on with that? The querries into their practices? Where is that going, or has it just fizzled?

I just feel that if these companies and men, were to put half of this misguided energy and know-how into solving our energy crises, we would all be in a much better place, and the world would be so much safer. Long term we would all benefit tremendously.

Saundra Hummer

May 11th, 2005, 03:39 PM

...."The Roots of Violence: Wealth without work, Pleasure without conscience, Knowledge without character, Commerce without morality, Science without humanity, Worship without sacrifice, Politics without principles": Mahatma Gandhi, Indian leader, 1869-1948

===

"The greatness of every mighty organization embodying an idea in this world lies in the religious fanaticism and intolerance with which, fanatically convinced of its own right, it intolerantly imposes its will against all others": Adolf Hitler [German chancellor, leader of the Nazi party, 1889-1945]

"I know what I believe. I will continue to articulate what I believe and what I believe---I believe what I believe is right.": George W. Bush. 43 President of the United States

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info

Saundra Hummer

May 12th, 2005, 05:48 PM

All About Tom Delay, and a petition to stop him, by having him removed from office, have him fired.

While onsight read of the things which he has done and what is alleged he has done and see if you don't believe we can do better, surely the Republican party can do better for the country without him, or is it thier own agenda they are worried about more than what happens to "our" country? :rant2:

To see everything go to the home page and then follow links.

==

Here is a letter from Move On.org

Dear MoveOn member,

A month ago it looked like the scandals surrounding Republican Majority Leader Rep. Tom DeLay couldn't get any worse. Newspapers were breaking new stories every week about lobbyist-paid golf tirps, the $500,000 paid from DeLay's political coffers to his family, and back-room deals DeLay was cutting to save his hide.

Then, it got worse.

The latest scandal connects DeLay to sweatshops in the Mariana Islands making apparel wtih "Made in the USA" labeling while avoiding U.S. labor laws --- exploiting Chinese immigrant labor. But a growing number of Republicans are going mute on DeLay's Ethical abuses. They're afraid of far-right organizations -- who are staunch DeLay supporters -- and of retribution from DeLay himself. :rant2:

The thing that will push Tom DeLay out of his leadership role is a public outcry and pressure on the Republicans who gave him that office. That's where you come in. In a few weeks, we're going to organize events across the nation to deliver our petition to fire Tom DeLay to the Republicans who still back him --- either Repubicans in Congress or the Local Republican Party.

Take a moment to sign it now --- the more signatures we can deliver (Rep. Walden, in Oregon), the more likely he is to think twice about DeLays leadershop.

http://www.moveonpac.org/delay/?id=5502-5015719-dKNSGSuGfmV7zinPP0BYXA&t=1

I hope this is right if not just google.com onto a moveon.org search. You will find it.

Once there there is another one to sign and it will explain what it is as well.

http://www.moveonpac.org/delay/?id=5502-5015719-dKNSGSUGfmV7inPP0BYXA&t=2

Then after we clean up the Republicans mess or at least this one Republican's, lets go down the list and rid our country of every dishonest politician we know of - and start-a-fresh. We will have sent a message. We aren't willing to take it any longer, as it is their ways which are destroying this country we love. :rant2:

Saundra Hummer

May 12th, 2005, 06:08 PM

Once again in a national emergency, (or so they thought), it was VP Cheney who was whisked away to safety, the seats of government emptied - people running for their lives - while GW was on a path in MD, blissfully unaware of impending doom. The President of the United States was never notified nor did the secret service grab him under his armpits and spirit him away to the bunker. This is how it was as an aircraft flitted about the restricted zone in the sky over Washington DC.

What is this saying? :shrug:

Saundra Hummer

May 12th, 2005, 08:31 PM

Check out the audio or the text version of Jim Hightowers look at "Corporate Free Speech", Amazing it really is. .....While on site, check out the other stories and archives for a bit of a lighthearted, yet right on look at politics, the corporate world and the men and women who are the string pullers and at us, the American public. We are often times right in step.

Here's the address, just click on it:

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

Saundra Hummer

May 13th, 2005, 01:45 AM

Would you like to hear what is coming out of the Iraq War from the minds of the military men and women serving there? From their families and other individuals interested in what is going on in Iraq and at Military installations all around the globe? Then this is the place to visit, the blog address furnished below.

Some bloggershave already been found out and ordered to stop blogging as their commanders believe they are inadvertantly giving information which might compromise our troops, but there is still lots coming from there, mostly from unknown bloggers.

Here is their address, just click on it:

http://www.mudvillegazette.com

This is a directory of sorts for the troops' blogs. It now links to about 170 "milblogs." Many of the blogs on the site's list are written by troop's family members, by civilians interested in the military and by troops stationed around the world.

==

another site:

http://www.iraqfiles.com

links to about 50 milblogs.

==

This information is from Yahoo News, and there are interesting stories about individuals who are involved in these blogs. One of the fellows lost his life to a sniper - Army Spc. Francisco G. Martinez. He had one of the more interesting and more heavily read blogs until his death.

Some of these bloggers stories have held such appeal that they are being published in magazines and other publications.

Saundra Hummer

May 13th, 2005, 12:31 PM

Faithful America has forms for you to sign to send letters to your represenatives in Washington DC to stop the abuse of your faith by some fundamentalists.

Here is the address so that you may sign on to protect your own personal beliefs. Go to the sight and see if you believe something must be done to protect all of our rights and "our own private beliefs", not having it become the practice of government to mandate what are really private faith based issues.

http://www.faithfulamerica.org

Saundra Hummer

May 13th, 2005, 01:47 PM

BUSH'S REALITY

5/12/2005

Bush's handlers keep him in a happy little bubble, comfortably isolated from something kind of important for a president. Reality.

George says he doesn't read newspapers, instead trusting his aides to give him any "news" he needs to know. And when he goes on the road for one of his "town meetings," he doesn't really meet the town. Instead, the audience is carefully selected by Republican political operatives to make certain that their man only hears praise from folks who agree with him - potential critics are forcibly removed from these "public" meetings.

Basically, Bush hears only from the three pillars of his political base. Coprorate executives, Republican Party faithful, and the extreme Christian right-wing. This leaves him clueless about what the workaday majority of Americans are experiencing and thinking, which helps explain why he is pushing policies so outside the American mainstream.

For example, George keeps insisting that the economy is booming, and his top economic official, Treasury secretary John Snow, has even exclaimed that the economy is in a "sweet spot" Well, yes, if you're a CEO - corporate profits are zooming, exceeded only by CEO pay. But the reality for working families is that their wages aren't even keeping up with the cost of living and their health care is being cut (assuming they have any coverage at all). In fact, only a third of Americans think the economy is improving -- and they're the only ones Bush ever talks to.

Go to the following address by just clicking on it to read the rest of this report by Jim Hightower, or do like I do, listen to it as the audio is entertaining, there's just something about how he tells a story which in itself is interesting, and while there check out his archives.

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

Saundra Hummer

May 13th, 2005, 02:17 PM

THE FAMILY RELEASED A STATEMENT....

"Mass round-ups and detentions of innocent civilians, torture and abuse of prisoners and detainees, America's honor and prestige at the lowest point ever, and investigatins that whitewash the president's men and blame it all on the enlisted personel.

.............by Michael Gillespie

The obscene spectacle of the grieving families at funerals forced by the president's dishonesty to defend the honor of their dead even as they mourn: Small wonder that the president, desparately attempting to hide behind a facade of rigid religiosity that glorifies war and false patriotism that exalts the very evils it claims to despise, never attends the funerals of those who have died in the line of duty. How could he?"

Continued

===

MIAMI VICE

.....by Chris Floyd

I haven't read this yet, but it sounds so inflamitory as to be unreal. *****(Now I have and it is revealing, however, it isn't surprising, as when it comes to money and political aspirations it seems that these men in power will do just about whatever it takes, no mater the shamefulness or illegal manner in which they have gained their positions. Of course family and family connections have always been a plus for some, but do we have to fall for these conflictions? Not hardly! We only need to look around and into what has been their history and what it is they are trying to do now will become so clear. .......

The Next President of the United States was on the road last week, throwing red meat about "moral issues" to a baying crowd of Bushist Party faithful --- while simultaneously trying to cut off medical support for a 6-year-old girl his agents had previously tried to kill.

Continued.

===

To read these stories go to this address by clicking on it:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info

Saundra Hummer

May 13th, 2005, 02:47 PM

...SMOKING GUN MEMO? (MAY 10, 2005)

*The US media hads virtually ignored an incriminating memo revealed by the London Times, which shows that US President George W. Bush "had made up his mind to take military action" against Iraq in July of 2002, and that "facts were being fixed around the policy" in Washington. The lack of news coverage leads one US columnist to wonder "Are Americans so jaded about the deceptions perpetrated by our own government to lead us into war [...] that we are no longer interested in fresh and demning evidence of those lies?" (Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting)

http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/media/2005/0510smoking.htm

It is as if no one cares. There are a few who turn out for protest marches and a few who voice their concerns but we are all so caught up in our own everyday existence that we just don't take the time to speak up and fight for what is just. Is it becase we too want their oil?

===
===

....* OVER THERE (May 10, 2005)

Fred Kaplan of "Slate" lays out the evidence that the US will not leave Iraq anytime soon. He points to two US government documents which suggest that, in the eyes of Washington, "Iraqi leaders have a long way to go [...] before they can rebuild their country, secure order, stabilize their regime, and protect their borders without a large American military presence." Kaplan includes reconstruction statistics which show how little of the money provided by the US for infrastructure projects is actually spent, either due to mismanagement or poor security.

http//www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/occupation//2005/0510anytime.htm

===

.....* British Memo Indicates Bush Made Intelligence Fit Iraq Policy (May 5, 2005)

A leaked Downing Street memo reveals that the head of Britains' M6 intelligence service stated after meeting with top US officials in July 2002 that US President George W. Bush "wanted to remove Saddam through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD." But in July 2002 and well afterward, top Bush advisers insisted the "there are no plans to attack Iraq on the president's desk." (Knight Rider) :lol:

http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/justify/2005/0505fit.htm

Saundra Hummer

May 13th, 2005, 03:58 PM

.... "If you think of yourselves as helpless and ineffectual, it is certain that you will create a despotic government to be your master. The wise despot, therefore, maintains among his subjects a popular sense that they are helpless and ineffectural." :shrug: Frank Herbert.

==

..."When I tell the truth, it is not for the sake of convincing those who do not know it, but for the sake of defending those that do." William Blake

===

...."Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak, and that it is doing God's service when it is violating all his laws." John Adams

Saundra Hummer

May 16th, 2005, 01:15 AM

DOCTOR REPORTS ABU MUSAB al-ZARQAWI WOUNDED LAST WEEK.

MAY 15, 2005,
ARTICLE BY HALA JABER AND ALI RIFAT, BAGHDAD
AS REPORTED IN "THE SUNDAY TIMES - WORLD"

IRAQ'S most wanted terrorist, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, has been seriously wounded, according to a doctor who claims to have treated him last week.

The doctor told an Iraqi reporter in the western city of Ramadi that Zarqawi was bleeding heavily when he was brought into hospital on Wednesday. After treating his wounds the doctor tried to persuade him to remain, but the Jordanian-born terrorist's minders drove him away.

The claim was supported yesterday by a senior commander in the Iraqi resistance who had been to Ramadi to investigate the report. The doctor, who refused to specify the nature of the wounds and asked not to be identified, was detained by the Americans on Friday for questioning, residents said.

Zarqawi, described as Osama Bin Laden's "emir" in Iraq, is the Americans' top target. He has been blamed for countless suicide bombings and for the execution of western hostages, including Ken Bigley, the Liverpool engineer. There is a 13 Million Pounds bounty on his head.

Last week US forces launched an offensive near al=Qaim, more than 100 miles northwest of the city, and claimed to have killed scores of insurgents.

According to the doctor, Zarqawi was escorted into Ramadi general hospital by smartly dressed men. "He was bleeding heavily and his escorts were well dressed with a look about them that was different from the casualties and family members we had been receiving from the al=Qaim offensive," he was quoted as saying.

"I treated his injury and asked that he remain in hospital for further observations and told him that we would have to register him and take down his name and details. But he became very nervous and agitated. He refused and told me he would not be staying.

"The three men with him asked me politely that he be allowed to leave hospital immediately and that I supply them with a prescription and a list of medication that he may need."

The doctor, who recognized Zarqawi from his photograph on television, followed them to their vehicle to try to convince them that the patient should remain in hospital. At that point, he said, he saw machineguns. They threatened to kill him if he told anyone what he had seen.

They then produced a wad of US dollars to secure his silence. The Doctor said that he had refused to take the cash.

See this article and more on the following address, just click on it:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info

Saundra Hummer

May 16th, 2005, 07:29 PM

Newsweek screws up, misreports an occurance, or non-occurance. People died. A terrible consequence.

Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/and/Rice screw up and speak mistruths, knowingly, and thousands upon thousands die. A terrible consequence.

Rumsfeld is on televisions deriding the fact that Newsweek made a mistake, pointing an accusatory finger. A terrible holier than though attitude after what this administration has done and is doing and even planing on doing all the while - saying they are protectiing us from terrorism. It looks as though we have only switched things around as I'm sure the middle east considers us to be every bit as dangerous and unlawful as we do the likes of al Qaida, and it's followers.

A world gone mad.

Saundra Hummer

May 16th, 2005, 07:50 PM

"... the United States, for generations, has sustained two parallel but opposed states of mind about military atrocities and human rights: one of U.S. benevolence, generally held by the public, and the other of ends-justify-the-means brutality sponsored by counterinsurgency specialists. Normally the specialists carry out their actions in remote locations with little notice in the national press. That allows the public to sustain its faith in a just America, while hard-nosed security and economic interests are still protected in secret." Robert Parry, investigative reporter and author.

A quote from:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info

Click on the above address to access curent issues about the war in the middle east, etc.

(This has been the case in most instances, this is how I always believed. That on the whole our country was, and is, above what despotic goverments and brutal individuals were and what they were and are doing in other parts of the world. Well, a bit of looking about has changed this viewpoint in a lot of our minds, however it hasn't stopped us from loving our country and most of those who live in it and from wanting what is best for it and from it. It's really not too much to ask, and this doesn't mean that someone has to tell me how and when to pray, or even to pray for that matter, but that we need to demand better from our goverment and not have those in power who have the deep seated belief (like Oliver North), that they work for the real government - not the people who elected them, and so, the less than honorable clandestine operations to weaken those who share this planet with us are considered by them to be the only way to run a government, and they continue on doing their evil works. We are shamed by these practices, and they didn't start with the Bush administration, but they have learned their lessons well and seem much more adroit than any they have followed.

What in the world is going on? Doesn't any one out there see the danger and the folly? I would think more and more of the main stream politically minded people and the press would be crying to the high heavens over what is transpiring. Where are the questions and the demand for answers? Where is the outrage over the physical suffering and monetary miscalculations and abuses? So many questions, and no answers, not even a flimsy attempt to assuage our concerns.

Saxman

May 17th, 2005, 11:47 AM

Saundra Hummer

May 17th, 2005, 05:52 PM

Quotes from Information Clearing House

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

==

"They tell us that we live in a great free republic, that our institutions are democratic, that we are a free and self governing people. That is too much, even for a joke. ... And that is war in a nutshell. The master class has always declared the wars, the subject class has always fought the battles." : Eugene Victor Debs

==

"Few of us can easily surrender our belief that society mst somehow make sense. The thought that The State has lost its mind and is punishing so many innocent people is intolerable. And so the evidence has to be internally denied." Arthur Miller, playwright.

"**

http://www.informationcleairnghouse.com

Saundra Hummer

May 17th, 2005, 06:39 PM

BUSH 'TURNED BLIND EYE TO IRAQ DEALS'

BY PATRICK SAWER,
EVENING STANDARD
MAY 17, 2005

George Galloway arrived in Washington today to rebuff accusations that he profited from Iraqi oil sales as a Senate investigation found that the US government turned a blind eye to millions of dollars of sanctons busting.

The Bush administration knew about the illegal oil sales and kickbacks to Saddam Hussens regime but did nothing about them, according to a report from Democrats on a Senate committee.

The report found that US oil purchases accounted for 52 percent of kickbacks paid to the regime in return for sales of cheap oil under the UN's food for oil programme - more than the rest of the world put to gether.

The scale of the shipments is understood to dwarf those alleged to have been made by UN staff and European politicians such as Galloway and the former French minister Charles Pasqua.

Mr. Galloway, the newly elected MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, has demanded an apology from the Senate subcommittee-which has named him as a beneficiary of Iraqi oil allocations. Mr Galloway, who overturned a 10,000 majority to win the seat for the anti-war Respect party, arrived in Washington yesterday and immediately demanded an apology from the subcommittee for what he called their "schoolboy dossier" against him, he said: "It was full of holes, full of falsehoods and full of value judgments that are apparently only shared here in Washington.

"I have no expectation of justice. I come not as the accused but as the accuser. I am going to show just how absurd this report is."

The new report accuses the Bush Government of failing to take action against a Texas oil company which facilitated payments of "at least $37 million in illegal surcharges to the Hussein regime".

It also states that the state Department and the US military agreed to the shipment of nearly eight million barrels of oil brought by Jordan outside the Oil For Food programme.

It was not clear whether the Democrats' report would be accepted by the Republicans on the committee. The Pentagon declined to comment.

==

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info

Saundra Hummer

May 18th, 2005, 03:45 PM

....'THE RIDDLER' FRANK GORSHIN DIES AT 72

BY JEFF WILSON, ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER.

BURBANK California May 18th, 2005.

BURBANK, Calif. - Frank Gorshin, the impressionist with 100 faces best known for his Emmy nominated role as the Riddler on the "Batman" TV series, has died. He was 72.

Gorshin's wife of 48 years, Christina, was at his side wehn he died at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center, his agent and longtime friend, Fred Wostbrock, said Wednesday.

"He put up a valliant fight with lung cancer, emphysema and pneumonia, " Mrs. Gorshin said in a statement.

Despite dozens of TV and movie credits, Gorshin will be forever remembered for his role as the Riddler, Adam West's villanous foil in the question mark pocked green suit and bowler hat on "Batman" form 1966 to '69.

"It really was a catalyst for me," Gorshin recalled in a 2003 Associated press interview. "I was nobody. I had done some guest shots here and there. But after I did that, I became a headliner in Vegas, so I can't put it down."

West said the death of his longtime friend was a big loss.

"Frank will be missed," West said in a statement. "He was a friend and fascinationg character."

Gorshin earned another Emmy nomination for one for a guest shot on "Star Trek," a 1969 episode called "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield."

In 2002, Gorshin portrayed George Burns on Broadway in the one-man-show "Say Good Night Gracie." He used only a little make up and no prosthetics.

"I don't know how to explain it. It just comes." he said. "I wish I could say, 'This is step A, B and, C' But I can't do that. I do it, you know. The ironic thing is I've done impressions all my life --- I never did George Burns."

Gorshins final performance will be broadcast on Thursdays CBS series "CSI Crime Scene Investigation."

Born in Pittsburgh, Gorshin broke into show business in New York. He did more than 40 impressions including Al Jolson, Kirk Douglas, Bobby Darin, Dean Martin and James Cagney.

Later, he took his impressions to "The Ed Sullivan Show" on a memorable evening --- the same night the Beatles were featured. He did impressions in Las Vegas showrooms, opening for Darrin and paving the way for other impressionists like Rich Little.

Sammy Davis Jr. said it was Gorshin who taught him to do impressions, Wostbrock said.

"He said you had to look like them and walk like them, Once you get that down the voice comes easy." he said. .....(Ever see Sammy Davis do Robert Mitchem or John Wayne? I laughed till I cried, the walk made it so very funny SRH.)

Gorshins movie roles included "Bells are Ringing" (1960) with his idol Dean Martin and a batch of fun B-movies such as "Hot Rod Girl" (1956), "Dragstrip Girl" (1957) and "Invasion of the Saucer Men" (1957).

"He was fun, fascinating, wild and always a class act," Wostbrock said. "Here's a guy who always wore great clothes, stood up when a woman walked into the room --- he was a gentleman. We did all our deals with a handshake. There was never a signed contract."

His other TV credits included roles on "General Hospital, "The Edge of Night" and "The Munsters" as well as guest appearances on "Donny and Marie," "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson." "Late Night with Conan O'Briewn," "Lois and Clark The New Adventures of Superman." "Murder, She Wrote," "The Fall Guy." "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century." :Wonder Woman." "Charlies Angels" and "Police Woman."

Besides his wife, Gorshin leaves his son Mitchell Gorshin of Orlando, Fla, and sister Dottie Roland of Pittsburg.

Wostbrock said the funeral would be private and Gorshin would be buried in the family plot in Pittsburg.

==

What an extraordinay talent this man was. An all time favorite. He was just fascinating and on talk shows, he would shine. I always wished I had known him. I always wondered how much fun and how interesting it would be to spend time with him. Had to have been a kick, as he was so smart, and so funny.

Saundra Hummer

May 18th, 2005, 04:00 PM

ABOUT JANE FONDA:

Two Kentucky movie theatres have refused to show the movie she is starring in with Jennifer Lopez, This all over her stance taken during the Viet Nam War.

I was watching the tape of her in North Viet Nam on televison a few days ago, and how childish she was. I think that a lot of people have to know where this girl had been in her life and where she was coming from.

These were the actions of an 8 to 13 year old kid, not a grown mature woman. I had never really watched these before, although I had read a lot about it and I have known quite a bit about her upbringing and so I wasn't so surprised back then during the war that she did what she did, but seeing it, it is so silly and so ridiculous. Seeing that a grown person could act like she was. But then I remember how it was she was brought up. Her mother with her severe mental problems, her uncaring and distant father. She just didn't have interaction with adults who could teach her much, she was more or less on her own as a child, and she was starved for attention and affection, so her actions didn't come as a shock or surprise, but seeing it and the extent she went to to try to make a difference, you could really see this girl was out of it, and not really qualified to rein herself in. She had no life experiences, other than make believe, to teach her right from wrong, stupidity from common sense. So just think of her as having the social and political skills of an 8 year old. If even that! One who had spent all eight years of her life, (ok, she was in her twenties wasn't she? -- but still back in her child mode), more or less isolated, growing up on her own. Never being taught a blasted thing. So get over it for gods sake. She wasn't the one who sent thousands and thousands of men over there to die and to kill, she, in her backwards way thought she was going to make a difference, she was trying to help end the war, and I grant you, it was in the most ill-conceived manner possible, she just didn't have a clue. It was an embarrasement, and so wrong. But remember where she was coming from. I think the men who concocted the war had ideas as to how and what to do, but she sure didn't. She just didn't know a thing. :shrug:

Saundra Hummer

May 19th, 2005, 01:59 AM

...COWARDICE IN JOURNALISM AWARD FOR NEWSWEEK

GOEBBELS AWARD FOR CONDI

BY GREG PALAST

(This is an amazing story, one which is hard to imagine. A news publication agreeing to the Defense Department's wishes to look over their articles before being published, all because of this one story about the Koran! Osama bin Laden said we would lose our freedoms because of his actions. How well he knows us and how little it seems we understand about the rest of the world. :confused2 SRH)

...."It's appalling that this story got out there," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on her way back from Iraq.

What's NOT appalling to Condi is that the US is holding prisoners at Guatanamo under conditions termed "torture" by the Red Cross. What's not appalling to Condi is that prisoners of the Afghan war are held in violation of international law after that conflict has supposedly ended. What is NOT appalling to Condi is that prisoner witnesses have reported several instances of the Koran's desecration.

What is appalling to her is that these things were REPORTED. So to Condi goes the Joseph Goebbels Ministry of Propaganda Iron Cross.

But I don't want to leave out our President. His aides report that George Bush is "angry" about the report --- not the desecration of the Koran, but the REPORTING of it.

And so long as George is angry and Condi appalled, Newsweek knows what to do: swiftly grab its corporate ankles and ask the White House for mercy.

But there was no mercy. Donald Rumsfeld pointed the finger at Newsweek and said, "People lost their lives. People are dead." Maybe Rumsfeld was upset that Newsweek was taking away his job. After all, it's hard to beat Rummy when it comes to making people dead.

And just for the record. Newsweek, unlike Rumsfeld, did not kill anyone - nor did it's report cause killings. Afghans protested when they heard the Koran desecration story (as Christians have protested crucifix desecrations). The Muslim demonstrators were gunned down by the Afghan military police - who operate under Rumsfeld's command.

Our Secretary of Defense, in his darkest Big Brother voice, added a warning for journalists and citizens alike. "People need to be very careful about what they say." And Newsweek has now promised to be wary, very good and very, very careful not to offend Rumsfeld, appall Condi or anger George.

For their good behavior, I'm giving Newsweek and its owner, the Washington Post, this week's Yellow Streak Award for Craven Cowardice in Journalism.

As always, the competition is fierce, but Newsweek takes the honors by backing down on Mike Isakoffs expose of cruelity, racism and just plain bone-headed incompetence by the US military at the Guantanamo prison camp.

Isakoff cited a reliable source that among the neat little "interrogation" techniques used to break down Muslim prisoners was putting a copy of the Koran into a toilet.

In the old days, Isakoff's discovery would have led to Congressional investigation fo the perpetrators of such official offence. The Koran-flushers would have been flushed from the military, panels would have been impaneled and Isakoff would have collected his Pulitzer.

No more, Instead of nailing the wrong-doers, the Bush Administration went after the guy who REPORTED the crime, Isakoff.

Was there a problem with the story? Certainly. If you want to split hairs, the inside government source of the Koran desecration story now says he can't confirm which military report it appeared in. But he saw it in one report and a witness has confirmed that the Koran was defiled.

Of course there's an easy way to get at the truth. RELEASE THE REPORTS NOW. Hand them over, Mr Rumsfeld, and let's see for ourselves what's in them.

But Newsweek and the Post are too polite to ask Rumsfeld to make the investigative reports public. Rather the corporate baby sitter for Newsweek, editor Mark Whitaker, said, "Top administration officials have promised to continue looking into the charges and so will we." In other words, we'll take the bush Administration's word that there is no evdence of Koran-dunking in the draft reports on Guantanamo.'

It used to be that the Washington Post permitted journalism in its newsrooms. No more. But, frankly, that's an old story.

Every time I say investigative reporting is dead or barely breathing in the USA some little smartass will challange me, "what about Watergate? Huh?" Hey, buddy, the Wategate investigation was 32 years ago -- that means it's been nearly a third of a century since the Washington Post has printed a big investigative scoop.

The Post today would never run the Watergate story: a hidden source versus official denial. Let's face it, Bob Woodward, now managing editor at the Post, has gone from "All the President's Men" to becoming the President's Man -- "Bush at War." Ugh!

And now the Post company is considering further restrictions on the use of confidential sources -- no more "Deep Throats."

Despite its supposed new concern for hidden sources, let's note that Newsweek and the Post have no trouble providing, even in the midst of this story, cover for secret Administration sources that are FAVORABLE to Bush. Editor Whitaker's retraction relies on "Administration officials" whose names he kindly withholds.

In other words, unamed sources are OK if they defend Bush, unacceptable if they expose the Administration's mendacity or evil.

A lot of my readers don't like the Koran-story reporter Mike Isakoff because of his goofy fixation with Monica Lewinsky and Mr. Clinton's cigar. Have some sympathy for Isakoff. Mike's one darn good reporter, but as an inmate at the Post/Newsweek facilities, his ability to send out serious communications to the rest of the world are limited.

A few years ago, while I was tracking the influence of the power industry on Washington, Isakoff gave me some hard, hot stuff on Bill Clinton --- not the cheap intern-under-the desk gossip -- but an FBI report for me to publish in The Guardian of Britain.

I asked Isakoff why he didn't put in in Newsweek or in the Post.

He said, when it comes to issues of substance, "No one gives a sh--," not the readers, and especially not the editors who assume that their US target audience is small minded ignorant and wants to stay that way.

That doesn't leave a lot of time, money or courage for real reporting. And woe to those who practice investigative journalism. As with CBS's retraction of Dan Rather's report on Bush's draft-dodging, Newsweek's diving to the mat on Guantanamo acts as a warning to all journalists who step out of line.

Newsweek has now publicaly committed to having its reports vetted by Rumfelds Defense Department before publication. Why not just print Rumsfeld's press releases and eleiminate the middleman, the reporter?

However, not all of us poor scribblers will adhere to this New News Order. In the meantime, nowever for my future security and comfort, I'm having myself measured for a custom-made orange suit.

******

Greg Palast was awarded the 2005 George Orwell Prize for Courage in Journalism at the Sundance Film Festival for his investigative reports produced by the British Broadcasting Corporation. See those reports for BBC, Harper's, The Nation and others at:
www.Greg Palast.com

Saundra Hummer

May 19th, 2005, 04:59 PM

....

"Yes, we did produce a near-perfect republic: But will they keep it? Or will they, in the enjoyment of plenty, lose the memory of freedom? Material abundance without character is the path of destruction.".. Thomas Jefferson - (1743-1826), US Founding Father, drafted the Declaration of Independence, 3rd US President Source: in a letter to John Adams as quoted in John A. Stormer, None Dare Call it Treason (Florissant, MO: Liberty Bell Press 1965) 93.

==

"The doctrine of blind obedience and unqualified submission to any human power, whether civil or ecclesiastical, is the doctrine of despotism, and ought to have no place among Republicans and Christians.".: Angelica Grimke - (1805-1879) Source: Anti-Slavery Examiner, September 1836

jonesy

May 20th, 2005, 11:49 AM

Saundra Hummer

May 20th, 2005, 01:46 PM

COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS --- MAY 12, 2005

CPJ CALLS ON US, IRAQI AUTHOURITIES TO EXPLAIN JOURNALIST DETENTIONS

The Committee to Protect Journalists today expressed deep concern aboutthe detentions of at least eight Iraqi journalists by U.S. and Iraqi military forces. CPJ called on U.S. and Iraqi officials to publicly explain the basis for the journalists' continured detention.

U.S. military spokesman LT. Col. Steve Boylan told CPJ that U.S. and Iraqi forces are holding eight Iraqi journalists who pose a "security risk to the Iraqi people and coalition forces." He declined to provide details about the detentions or the names of the journalists, all of whom work for Western news organizations. None of the journalists have been formally charged, and Boylan gave no indication that they would be.

Agence France-Presse reported last week that the detainees included the news agency's reporter, Ammar Daham Naef Khalaf, who was detained by U.S. troops on April 11 in Ramadi, and AFP photographer, Fares Nawaf al-Issaywi, who was taken by Iraqi forces on May 1 while photographing in Fallujah and then transferred to the custody of U.S. troops. AFP siad no details were provided regarding the basis for the detentions.

A freelance camerman working with the U.S. broadcaster CBS News, remains in custody after being detained by U.S. forces in early April on suspicion of insurgent activity. The camerman, wholse name CBS has withheld for safety reasons, was taken into custody after being wounded by U.S. forces' fire while he filmed clashes in Mosul in northern Iraq. CBS News reported last month that the U.S. military said footage in the journalists' camera led them to suspect he had prior knowledge of attacks against coalition forces. AFP also cited U.S. officials as saying the journalist "tested positive for explosive residue" (Who wouldn't if it were wafting through the air or was on any item one would come into contact with, car seats, sides of buildings, etc.)

Hassan al-Shummari, who reports for the privately owned satellite station Diyar TV, was detained by Iraqi National Guard forces in Diyala province in March or early April and remains in custody. Salah Abdel Majid al-Shikarchi, news editor of Diyar TV, told CPJ that al-Shikarchi said that Iraqi officials informed him al-Shummari was being held for aiding insurgents but provided no details. The identies and affiliations of the other detainees were unclear.

"We are deeply concerned by the arbitrary nature of these detentions and are concerned taht these journalists are in detention merely for doing thier work," CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper said. "U.S. and Iraqi officials must credibly explain the basis for these detentions at once."

U.S. military officials have often voiced suspicions that some Iraqi journaalists collaborate with Iraqwi insurgents and have advance knowledge of attacks on coalition forces. But the military never provided evidence to substantiate these earlier claims, in previous instances, journalists detained on such suspicions were all released without charge. In 2004, the U.S. military detained Iraqi, Turkish and South Korean journalists after allegedly finding expolsive residue on them, according to press reports at the times. All were released after their credentials were established.

===

To be a journalist in any war is such a hazard. You are not safe from either side.

Saundra Hummer

May 20th, 2005, 01:59 PM

...IRAQI'S LAMENT A CALL FOR HELP (MAY 17, 2005)

When tribal leaders from towns near the Iraqi border with Syria asked for US assistance in stemming the tide of foreign jihadis entering the country across the unprotected border, US forces responded iwth a massive assault that did not distinguish between friendly Iraqis and foreign fighters. US troops flattened neighborhoods and killed Iraqis who supported the US effort, prompting tribal leaders to wish they had never asked for assistance (Philadelphia Inquirer)

To see the complete article click on the address below.

http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issue/iraq/occupation/2005/0517lament.htm

This story came in a newsletter to me, and trying to access it with just the above link is a bit of a round-about way, Once on site look on the sidebar, Click on Iraq, then click on "What's New" on the Iraq sidebar and you will find the story, along with a few others. These are stories put out by the U.N., not everyones favorite organization, but interesting nonetheless.

Saundra Hummer

May 20th, 2005, 03:01 PM

I recieved a news- letter from Rene' Laanen which relates Dana Rogers notice that her father trombonist Bill Rogers has passed. Here is the letter:

"Former Las Vegas resident, Bass-trombonist and Sinatra arranger has passed away on Turesday, May 10th 2005 in Chicago Il..

Just to let you fellow trombonists know from his daughter how much he loved his fellow "boneheads", and I'm sure he'd want me to let you know.

Always Yours,

Dana Rgers, Adoring Daughter"

www.danarogers.us

Saundra Hummer

May 20th, 2005, 04:04 PM

Just received this in a news-letter from Rene Laanen, from his trombone site

www.trombone-usa.com

Here is a session you can hear on the web

The band leader is Malcolm Braff, a Brazilian piano player who lives in Switzerland. The fellow who is telling of the session is in the band, Samuel Blaser, here's his rundown from the letter.

Malcolm Braff (P) (Brazil), Banz Oester (b) (CH), Julio Barreto (dm) (CUBA), Yaya Ouatarra (perc) (Burkina Faso), Minino Garay (Perc) (Argentina), Mathieu Michel (tp) (CH), Samuel Blaser (tb) (CH), Cyrille Bugnon (as,ts) (CH).

You can listen to the music on:

http://www.malcolmbraff.com

Hope I got all of this correct, as the sun is blinding me and the print is miniscule.

Samuel Blaser
25, rue Numa-Droz

2300 La Chaux-de-Fonds
Switzerland
mobile: 441(0)79 638 22 84
http://www.samuelblaser.com

Saundra Hummer

May 20th, 2005, 04:24 PM

Conspicuoulsy absent from mainstream newscasts:

"When Newsweek's source admitted that he had misidentified the government document in which he had seen an account of Quran desecration at Guantánamo prison, Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita exploded, "People are dead because of what this son of a bitch said. How could he be credible now?"

Di Rita could have said the same things about his bosses in the Bush administration.

A leaked British memo, and other documents, make it clear that Bush intended all along to invade Iraq - and lied about it to the American people. The full gravity of his offense has not yet sunk in."

article (http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/051905O.shtml)

Too many of the wrong people own network news,the networks, & many of our countries newspapers and magazine publishing companies. They are controlling what they feed us like a nurse in charge of drugs in a hospital, only one having the key to the meds, keeping those of us out who might try to get something which might harm us out. But with the news it's a different story. We need to know truths to keep us strong, and healthy, "We the people" won't die from them. These who control the news, and those they seem to want to promote and protect might themselves be put in a weaker position, but we, the American public can only gain from knowing truths, regardless of how damning they might be. The truth can only protect and make us stronger in the long run, "We the people", not special interests, not those who would deceive and profit from those deceptions, will gain. Look around, who is it the press is helping, who is it they are protecting? Let's hope for more of them who would protect and inform "Us." Thankfully there are still men and women of conscience in the press, letting us see the light of day. Hopefully because of these men and women of conscience we will be able to choose our paths more carefully.

Saundra Hummer

May 20th, 2005, 08:08 PM

SMUGGLING NUCLEAR MATTER

BY GEORGE JAHN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

MAY 20, 2005

VIENNA AUSTRIA - Iran is circumventing international export bans on sensitive dual-use materials by smuggling graphite and a graphite compound that can be used to make conventional and nuclear weapons, an Iranian dissident and a senior diplomat said Friday

Graphite has many peaceful uses, including steel manufacture, but also can be used as a casing for molten weapons-grade uranium to fit it to nuclear warheads or to shield the cones of conventional missles from heat.

With most countries adhearing to international agreements banning the sale of such "dual-use" materials to Tehran, Iran has been forced to buy it on the black market, Iranian exile Alireza Jafarzadeh told the Associated Press ---
allegations confirmed by a senior diplomat familiar with Iran's covert nuclear activities.

"It is not clear how much governments are involved." Jafarzadeh said later in interview with Associated Press Television News, adding that he believes Iran is "using front companies, other entities in foreign countries, and they wouldn't know what the destination would be."

Phone calls to Iranian diplomats seeking comment were not answered.

While with the National Coalition of Resistance of Iran, Jafarzadeh disclosed information about two hidden nuclear sites in Iran in 2002 that hekped uncover nearly two decades of covert Iranian atomic activity --- and sparked present fears Tehran wants to build the bomb.

Much of the equipment---including centrifuges for uranium enrichment and other technology with possible weapons applications ---was acquired on the nuclear black market.

Those implicated include Henk Slebos, a Dutch businessman who is awaiting trial in the Netherlands on charges of importing banned material---including 100 pieces of graphite---as part of disgraced Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan's clandestine smuggling network.

To see the rest of the story log on to Yahoo News.com

Or try this:

http://news.yahoo.com/

It works so just click on it^^^

Sounds legitimate but we have been told so many untruths by this administration since before and after taking office that who is to know what or what not to believe any longer? These could be people who are helping the administration build a legitimate or an illegitimate case against Iran, because after all Iran, like Iraq, sits where we want to be.

Saundra Hummer

May 21st, 2005, 06:45 PM

PIGS AT THE TROUGH: ABRAMOFF, INDIAN-TRIBE MONEY REACHED DEEP INSIDE U.S. CONGRESS

BY MIKE FORSYTHE & KRISTIN JANSEN

05/19/05 (BLOOMBERT link provided) ---Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist at the center of ethics questions involving House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, joined with his partner and Indian tribal clients to give money to a third of the members of the U.S. Congress, records show (SURPRISE, SURPRISE! SURPRISE!! srh)

A Bloomberg News analysis of Federal Election Commission and Internal Revenue Service records shows that at least 171 lawmakers got $1.4 million in campaign donations for the group between 2001 and 2004, mostly from tribes with casino interests. DeLay, a Texas Republican, ranked 10th, receiving $35,000.

The contributions show the extent of the tribes' reach in Congress since they hired Abramoff and Michael Scanlon, a former DeLay spokesman. As details emerge from two Senate investigations and an FBI probe of Abramoff's dealings with the tribes, questions of ethics may haunt some congressional races in 2006.

"That is always an advantage for the party out of power," says Steve Gunderson, a Republican representative from Wisconsin until 1007. ' ' The politics of 'it's time for a change' always comes back in to AmericAn politics."

Dissatisfaction with the legislators is at an eight-year high, a Gallup poll conducted May 2-5 found. Only 35 percent of 1,000 adults said they approved of the way Congress does its job.

"It's not a pretty picture," says Frank Newport, editor-in-chief at the Princeton, New Jersey-based Gallup Organization. It's hard to gauge how concern over ethcs affects approval ratings, Newport says, adding "'it's a logical suspect" in the decline.

Many lawmakers -- Republicans and Democrats -- got contributions from the tribes for reasons that had nothing to do with Abramoff's activities and say they never met the lobbyist.

$86.7 Million

Abramoff and Scanlon were attracted to the tribes as potential clients because of their substantial casino revenue -- $18.5 billion in 2004 for all U.S. tribes -- according to e-mails released at Senate Indian Affairs Committee hearings last fall. The lobbyists collected $86.7 million in fees from tribal clients from 2001 to 2004 and sometimes steered campaign contributions from the tribes to politicians , according to committee documents and federal disclosures.

Republican Senator Conrad Burns of Montana led all 535 members of Congress in donations from Abramoff and the tribes, netting at least $136,500 from 2001 to 2004. As head of a panel overseeing the Bureau of Indian Affairs budget, Burns, 70, had a say in the flow of funding to tribes running casinos.

Four other senators were among the tip 10 recipients of money from the tribes and lobbyists: North Dakota Democrat Byron Dorgan, with $54,000; Kansas Republican Sam Brownback, with $43,000; Mississippi Republican Thad Cochran, with $37,000; and Washington Democrat Patty Murray, with $36,980.

Kenned, Ney, Hastert

Represenative Patrick Kennedy a Rhode Island Democrat, ranked second among recipients, taking in $115,000. He was followed by Ohio Republican Representative Robery Ney, with $56,500. House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois was fifth with $49,500.

Most of Kennedy's donations came from the Mississippi Choctaw triibe. Kennedy and Chief Phillip Martin are friends and the congressman has never met Abramoff, says Sean Richardson, Kennedy's top aid. Dorgan spokesman Barry Piatt says the senator ' ' Doesn't know Jack Abramoff, has never met him and has never dealt with anyone that he understood to work for him."

About $18,000 of Delay's donations came from the Saginaw Chippewas. Another $17,000 came from Abramoff. Abramoff spokesman Andrew Blum had no comment.

"Troglodytes"

Abramoff, 46 instructed tribes to make donatons to candidates and party commities, even as he referred to the Indian clients as ' ' Morons" and ' 'troglodytes" in messages to Scanlon released at last year's Senate hearings.

Since then, DeLay has faced allegations that he violated House rules by accepting Abramoff-sponsored trips. He may face an ethics committee hearing.

Montana newspapers editoralized against Burns in March after a Washington Post story and he helped win a $3 million government award for the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe of Michigan to build a school. The Interior Department ruled the tribe was ineligible because its Soaring Eagle casino makes it one of the richest, the Post reported.

The tribe, and Abromoff client, donated $32,000 to Burns from 2001 to 2003.

Burns, who was re-elected in 2000 with 51 percent of the vote, would get backing of only 36 percent of Montanans in 2006, according to a Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee poll taken after the Post story. Twenty-seven percent of respondents said they would vote for someone else. The poll, which surveyed 602 likely voters from March 3-7, has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Burns says he met Abramoff only once for 10 minutes in his office, and the lobbyist asked for nothing.

'Money From Everybody'

"We take money from everybody," Burns says "If they want to contribute to our campaign that's fine and dandy, but that doesn't alter my view on how we handle different situations."

After the Post report, Burns hired lawyer Cleta Mitchell to conduct an internal review. She said there was no wrongdoing.

Ohio's Ney, chairman of the House Committee on Administration, which oversees campaign finance, has also faced scrutiny for ties to Abramoff. He's the only lawmaker to receive donations from both Abramoff and Scanlon.

Abramoff told the Tigua Indians of El Paso they should expect to make about $300,000 in campaign contributions as they fought to reopen their Speaking Rock casino, according to an e-mail between Abramoff and Tigua consultant Marc Schwartz released at a Senate hearing in November. Texas authorities shuttered the casino in February 2002.

"Going to Do Tigua"

Ney, 50, who was tapped by Abramoff to insert language in legislation allowing the Tiguas to re-open the casino, was the bigget recipient of that money. On March 20, 2002, Abramoff reported success in an e-mail to Scanlon.

" Just met with Ney!!!" Abramoff wrote. "We're f'ing gold!!! He's goin to do Tigua."

Six days later, Abramoff instructed Schwartz to have the tribe give $25,000 to Ney's American Liberty political action committee, the biggest single donation in Ney's decade-long career as a congressman.

The donation was so big that Ney had no place to put it, since Federal law limits Pac donations to $5,000 a year. Ney set up a special ' 'soft money" account for the Tigua cash.

He had to move fast: Presidnet George W. Bush signed a bill the next day -- March 27 -- making such accounts illegal after the November 2002 elections. The account was registered with the Internal Revenue Service in May and dissolved after the election.

Most of that money went to Ohio charities, Ney spokesman Brian Walsh says.

Lasting Impact?

The 2006 elections are 18 months away, allowing time for the Abramoff matter to fizzle. ' 'I'm not sure it will have that much effect," says Paul Findley, an Illinois Republican who left Congress in 1983. ' ' It depends upon the fate of Tom DeLay himself and the direction of the party."

Still, a May 11-15 Pew Research Center poll found that voters' satisfaction with their representatives is about as low as it was before the Democrats lost control of the House in 1994.

' 'These generally unfavorable views may have political ramifications for incumbents seeking re-election in 2006," the Washington -based center said.

This article and others are from this web site, to see it and their current articles enter the site by clicking on the following link:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info

Saundra Hummer

May 21st, 2005, 07:17 PM

IN THE BELLY OF THE BEAST

MR. GALLOWAY, PLEASE ACCEPT FROM THIS AMERICAN THREE CHEERS FOR A JOB WELL DONE

SCOTT RITTER :

IN THE RECENT PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS, THE BRITISH PEOPLE, GIVEN THE CHOICE BETWEEN STANDING FOR THE RULE OF LAW OR EMBRACING PARTISAN POLITICS, CHOSE THE LATTER, VOTING WITH THEIR POCKETBOOKS, EVEN THOUGH IT MEANT RE-ELECTING A MAN WHO LED BRITAIN INTO AN ILLEGAL WAR OF AGRESSION, BASED ON LIES AND MISREPRESENTATION OF FACT. (We are so alike in our moral strength's - don't you think?)

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info

===

Report Implicates top brass in Bagram scandal

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Seymour Hersh: The unknown unknowns of the Abu Ghraib scandal.

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TARNISHED IMAGE ABROAD FAILS TO REGISTER WTH AMERICANS AT HOME.

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KARZAI WANTS MORE CONTROL OF U.S. FORCES.

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New Swedish Documents Iluminate CIA Action.

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Pentagon Caught In Fib about Koran-gate?.

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Patriarch denouces U.S. evangelicals in Iraq: The head of Iraq's largest Christain community denounced American evangelical missionaries in his country on Thursday for what he said were attempts to convert poor Muslims by flashing money and smart cars.

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BATTLING THE WINDMILLS WHILE IRAQ BURNS: BUSH'S WARS IN THE NAME OF DEMOCRACY SHOULD BE TAKEN AS SERIOUSLY AS DON QUIXOTE'S BATTLES AGAINST WINDMILLS; BOTH ARE FICTIONAL AND SILLY.

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COMMITTEE DOCUMENTS SHOW BUSH POLITICAL FRIENDS AND FAMILY PAID OIL-FOR-FOOD KICKBACKS TO SADDAM HUSSEIN : THE TOTAL SUM IN KICKBACKS FROM GEORGE W. BUSH'S COUSIN-IN-LAWS TO SADDAM'S BANK ACCOUNTS: $1,294,620.

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1 in 2 IRAQ/AFGHAN VETS SEEK MEDICAL CARE: Out of the 360,000 discharged veterans form Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), nearly one in four had already visited VA for physical injuries or mental health counseling by February 2005. This number far exceeds the 12,000 wounded reported by the Department of Defense (DoD). :mad2:

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Is The USA Addicted to War? First consider the Evidence, Then Draw Your Own Conclusions.

=

Much - much more at this address, access it by just clicking on the following link:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info

Saundra Hummer

May 21st, 2005, 08:23 PM

There's a new spoof (scam) on eBay. Now they are sending out a letter saying your bid had been retracted, canceled. To see the reason why, they have a form for you to fill out and then click a link, and if you do, you have given them your password and no telling what all. Don't click on anything other than the forward button and send this letter to:

spoof@ebay.com

It will be handled by them, remember, don't click on any links within this letter, just forward it to ebay, and they will let you know that they are handling it.

Anytime you get a letter from a credit card company, an online payment company such as Western Union, PayPal, etc. Go to that company by typing in thier address on your own tool bar.

You should also forward the letter either to abuse@paypal.com or spoof@paypal.com, or just use your regular way of contacting them and don't fill out any email requests and don't click on their links, as you could open up your computer with all of it's personal information in it to scam artists.

Don't just delete these letters, as eBay (or whomever) can use your letter to stop them.

Saundra Hummer

May 21st, 2005, 09:27 PM

BUSH GETS MIXED RECEPTION AT CHRISTIAN COLLEGE

BY CAREN BOHAN

MAY 21, 2005

GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN (REUTERS)

President bush on Saturday championed faith in American society, but ran into some criticism as courted his Christian base in a commencement speech at a Michigan college.

"We need to support and encourage the institutions and pursuits that bring us together. And we learn how to come together by participation in our churches and temples and mosques and synagogues." Bush told graduationg seniors at Calvin College, a Christian liberal-arts college.

The college describes itself as a "center of faith anchored liberal arts teaching and scholarship." and Bush has aggressively sought to reinforce his support among religious conservatives who helped deliver him a reelection victory in 2004.

But anti-Bush ads that ran in the local newspaper, protests outside the
event and buttons worn on graduates' robes made clear that many students and faculty objected to Bush's policies.

"We believe your administration has launched an unjust and unjustified war in Iraq," said a letter signed by about one-third the college's 300 faculty members, and published in Saturday's Greand Rapids Press.

"As Christians, we are called to be peacemakers and to initiate war only as a last resort." it said.

The letter criticized economic policies that it said favored the wealthy over the poor, and faulted Bush for mixing religion and politics and exhibiting and "intolerance" for others' views.

It cited "conflicts between our unerstanding of what Christians are called to do and many of the policies of your adminstration."

The letter followed an earlier ad by students, alumni and faculty who said they were troubled that Bush was to be the commencement speaker.

Bush's speech emphasized community service and he urged graqduates to volunteer. "This isn't a Democrat Idea. This isn't a Republican idea. This is an American idea." he said.

Some graduating students wore buttons that said "God is not a Democrat or a Republican."

A few dozen protestors gathered outside, carrying signs that read, "Conservatives and moderates reject extremism" and "Thou shalt not torture."

But there were also many Bush supporters, with placards that said, "We love Bush" and "Cutie pie."

Bush a Methodist, often talks of the importance of faith in his life. Some critics see this as crossing a line between religion and politics.

Bush said his emphasis on religion does not make him intolerant of those who do not share his beliefs.

I don't condemn somebody in the political process because they may not agree with me on religion." he said.

Calvin College is the venue for one of two commencement speeches Bush will be delivering this year. He is scheduled to speak at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis on Friday

http://news.yahoo.com

Saundra Hummer

May 22nd, 2005, 11:59 PM

Watching the program on PBS tonight, about American speak, how Americans talk, they were talking about surfer talk, and valley talk, saying that much of it was from the 80's. Wrong, wrong, and wrong again. Phat, new, Rad almost as old as I am. That was a saying at the beach when I was a kid, as were tubular, in the barrel, on the lip, down the tubes, hanging ten, and it goes on. I think I heard them say two things which weren't part of the way things were said back then, but were after all a shortening of an old saying even so, and back then the words they were using weren't conveyed, in such a silly way. More matter of fact, just everyday talk. Cruising??? New? That was used by the Chicano's when I was little, I mean I don't remember not hearing that term being used. Sorry boys, (you surfer dudes) it's all older than you are.

Saundra Hummer

May 23rd, 2005, 01:57 PM

BOY OH BOy!!!! THANK GOODNESS for "THE WHISTLE BLOWERS" (who need our support by the way, which this report drives that need home), as they have let it be known that the much troubled and in need of fixing program MEDICAID --- has been funding VIAGRA FOR CONVICED RAPIST'S & other HIGH-RISK SEX OFFENDERS, according to a whistle-blowing report from the New York State Comptroller.

This discovery has caused an uproar, and now federal authorities are scrambling to close this legal loophole. This from a newsletter from CNN about tonights Wolf Blitzer Reports. This is just one of the subjects for tonights show. There will be the situation in Iraq, with the belief Civil war is eminent, and the problem over Bush's judicial nominee's and the plan to go nuclear and change the rules to prevent a filibuster by the Democrats. The problem of Bank employees stealing over 100,000 identies is also being discussed.

We're living in a Topsy Turvey World!

Saundra Hummer

May 24th, 2005, 03:41 PM

.......GEORGE WASHINGTON: FROM HIS 'FAREWELL ADDRESS." 1796

A passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarells and wars of the latter without adequate inducement or justification. It leads also to concessions to the favorite nation of privleges denied to others which is apt doubly to injure the nation making the concessions, by unecessarily parting with what ought to have been retained, and by exciting jealousy, ill-will, and a disposition to retaliate, in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld.

And it gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens (who devote themselves to the favorite nation), facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own country, without odium, sometimes even with popularity, gilding, with the appearances of a virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable deference for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the base or foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation: George Washingtons's "Farewell Address" . 1796

http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/washing.htm

===

Other quotes for this day and age:

"ALLIANCE, n. In International politics, the union of two thieves wh have their hands so deeply inserted in each others pockets that they cannot separately plunder a third": Ambrose Bierce

==

Our real enemies are the people who make us feel so good that we are slowly, but inexorably, pulled down into the quicksand of smugness and self-satisfaction": Sydney Harris

==

Saundra Hummer

May 24th, 2005, 04:29 PM

...... SENATE PANEL SET TO DEBATE PATRIOT ACT

BY DAN EGGEN
WASHINGTON POST STAFF WRITER
TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2005

The long political battle over the USA Patriot Act will enter a new phase this week as the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence debates whether to approve a bill that not only would renew the anti-terrorism law, but also would give the FBI significiant new powers in conducting conterterrorism and counterintelligence investigations.

Legislation proposed by committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R.Kan.) would allow the FBI to subpoena records in intelligence probes without the approval of a judge or grand jury and would make it easier for the bureau to get copies of mail, according to aides and a draft copy of the bill.

Civil liberties groups vowed yesterday to fight the proposals, arguing that they pose significant threats to individual privacy rights and that the government's anti terrorism powers need to be pared.

James Dempsey, executive director of the Center for Democracy and Technology, said in a conference call with reporters that the bill would give the FBI new powers that have been "long sought, and rejected" by congress because of civil liberties concerns.

Representatives from both sides of the debate are slated to testify before the committee today, although aides said the ongoing Senate battle over judicial filibusters could force a postponement. The intelligence committee has also scheduled a closed-door markup session on Roberts's proposal Thursday -- prompting further objections from critics who say the process should be held in public.

Although Robert's bill is the first one likely to advance in Congress, its fate is far from certain. Both the House and Senate judiciary committees are debating their own Patriot Act changes.

The Patriot Act, passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, has been the subject of numerous hearings in recent months as lawmakers debate whether to renew 16 provisions that are set to expire by year's end.

===

===

I don't know how many you have ever been investigated only because of who you have worked with, who you've known (only casually), who you have lived near and who has stopped and talked to you while you are working about your flowers, yard and hay fields. All because of a neighbor and their grown kids. All because they were being investigated you fall into that investigation yourself, and were under surveillance every bit as much as they were,. but if you ever have been, you have to know after Ruby Ridge and other instances how terrifying it can be. To realize your home has been entered, your having found electronic listening devices on your telephone, having strange people wth powerful binoculars, cameras, tape recorders and other strange filming devices around where you are and live on a consistant basis. All of this for over a year -- or so it seemed, (and no telling how long it was happening as this time period was only after we noticed it). After having lived through this for a considerable length of time, off and on for over two years I feel law enforcement has more than enough tools at their disposal. Enough power,I believe.

What an enormous waste of time and the tax payers money investigating us. How very foolish an endeavor! I mean really!!! We aren't even smokers of pot, much less the drug and arms dealers they seemed to believe we were for Pat's sake (My dad's nickname was Pete, so Pat is what was used around our house.). Really!!! What another collosal waste of time and money, what an abuse of the powers already in place. What will they do with more? I was afraid to move about in my own house and wouldn't go to sleep until Rich would come in off of his swingshift job, so tell me they need more power? This will take a lot of convincing as far as how I believe goes. It seems to me they have more than enough power at their disposal right now.

Saundra Hummer

May 24th, 2005, 05:00 PM

Would you like to see more and hear about issues we thouht were dead and long gone? Vietnam, money abuses in Iraq, Darwinism and evolution. Can you imagine the North Vietnamiese flag flying in this country as a proud statement? I think this is just asking for trouble, some very serious trouble. There are these stories and much much more on this web site"
Of course there are also the stories of our military men killed in battle. Then there is much more on issues which are once again topical.

http://www.truthout.org/index.htm

$100 Million in Iraqi Oil Money "Mishandled"

******Ohio's Election Theft Scandal re-Fired

Afghanistan" Violence Surges.

US Citizens Tortured, Held Illegally.

Filibuster Compromise 'Kicks the Can down the Road'.

Senate Panel Set To Debate Patriot Act
US Plans Retreat to Four Giant Bases in Iraq

Bush Rules out Afghan Command Over US Troops.

Evangelicals Protest Bush Visit.

*****The Viet Nam War is Over ....AN OP-ED by Marjorie Cohen, a vocal critic of the war, and the war in Iraq. She has several other OP-EDs up today.

*****The Return of the Body Count by Tom Engelhardt AN OP-ED.

*****Darwins Theory Evolves Into Culture War.

John Bolton: In HIs Own Words 04/04/05

Pat Tillman's Family Blasts 'Disgusting' Army Lies.

Secret Plan to Track US "Terror Mail"

US Security Trumps Iraqi Reconstruction

*****Rush for Homeland Security Led to Abuse

Lots and lots more -- informative and timely.

http://www.truthout.org/index.htm

Saundra Hummer

May 24th, 2005, 05:33 PM

New Newsletter just in from Truthout

"Go directly to 'our' issues pages" by just clicking on this link:

http://www.truthout.org/issues.shtml

===

The focus is of the newsletter is.... "The Courage to Develop Clean Energy"

Then there are these articles and more:

Global Warming Versus Nuclear Power

Fueling America: Canadian Oil Showdown

Time is Ripe for Urban Agriculture

Robin Cook Decoding Health Insurance

More on Social Security, Labor, Canadian Native Women Violence Study, how Banks Penalize Women in Business,Saudi Campaigner to Fight on for Women Drivers (good luck when they aren't even allowed to go to the market by themselves! srh) Insurance, Unemployement, etc.

Saundra Hummer

May 25th, 2005, 05:51 PM

When Amnesty International says we are bad, that we are abusers, then it is something we should be looking into and changing - wouldn't you think?

Check out:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info

Just click on to the above link to access the site.

In the news letter today it says "Congress will soon be asked to renew the Patriot Act with the inclusion of further restrictions on our liberty, restrictions which were originally to be introduced as Patriot Act ll.

"Why did the German people not act?"

Patriot Act vs, German Enabling Act.

The Decrees of 1933

(a) The February 28 Decree. One of the most repressive acts of the new Nazi government, this one allowed for the suspension of civil liberties ..... The president was persuaded that the state was in danger and, hence, that the emergency measures embodied in the decree were necessry. Even though under Art. 48 of the constitution, the decree would have been withdrawn once the so-called emergency had passed, any hope of this happening was prevented by the establishment of Hitler's dictatorship following the Enabling Act (see below). It was in fact never withdrawn and remained until the end as an instrument of Nazi terror against ordinary citizens who ran foul of the regime.

ARTICLE 1. In virtue of paragraph 2, article 48,* of the German Constitution, the following is decreed as a defensive measure against communist acts of violence, endangering the state.

Section 114, 115, 117, 118, 123, 124, and 153 of the Constitution of the German Reich are suspended until further notice. Thus, restrictions on personal liberty [114], on the right of free expression of opinion, including freedom of the press [118], on the right of assembly and the right of association [124], and violations of the privacy of postal, telegraphic, and telephonic communications [117], and warrants for house-searches [[115] , orders for confiscation as well as restrictions on property [153], are also permissable beyond the legal limits otherwise prescribed.

"Article 48 of the German Constitution of August 11, 1919. If public safety and order in Germany are materially disturbed or endangered, the President may take the necessary measures to restore public safety and order, and, if necessary, to intervene with the help of the armed forces. To this end he may temporarily suspend, in whole or in part, the fundamental rights established in

Articles 114, 115, 117, 118, 123, 124, and 153.........

Patriot Act.

3. Section 218 which amends the 'probable cause" requirement before conduction secret searches or surveillance to obtain evidence of a crime.

4. Sections 215, 218, 350, and 508 which permit law enforcement authorities to have broad access to sensitive mental health, library, business, financial, and educational records despite the existence of previously adopted state and federal laws which were intended to strengthen the protection of these types of records.

5. Sections 411 and 412 which give the Secretary of State broad powers to designate domestic groups as "terrorist organizations" and the Attorney General power to subject immigrants to indefinate detention or deportation even if no crime has been committed, and

6. Sections 507 and 508 which impose a mandate on state and local public universities who must collect information on students that may be of interest to the Attorney General.

Please call your Senator and Representative, voice your opposition. For years I have been asked "Why did the German people not act?"

(Vigilance is one thing -- but to expect our universities, library's, doctors and others to become spys for the government is another thing altogether. This is too "Big Brother" to my way of thinking, and against my beliefs. SRH)

Are you acting ? Please do .

from their newsletter ...vvvvv

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info .... .

Saundra Hummer

May 26th, 2005, 12:42 PM

Tom Ridge has stated that National Security alerts were upgraded to higher degrees after his agency advised the administration the threats weren't as high as they, (the administration) reported. It seems there was their need for political capital , it being tied to those reports, or so one recognizes.

Saundra Hummer

May 26th, 2005, 07:01 PM

A "BREAKING" news letter just arrived a few minutes ago in my e-mail telling about the Democrats launching Bolton Filibuster. Want to join in on the discussion concerning this action? Then if you do or if you are interested in this issue or any other number of actions going on around the world, then here is the link to the site, just click on it:

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/052605W.shtml

==

Should be interesting to see and to join in on.

Can't believe the Democrats are finally showing a bit of backbone. Surprising really! But there are Republicans everybit as much opposed to this abrasive man. This man who has abused the power granted to him by the positions he has held, given to him by the ones who enjoy his type of brown-nosing. Trying to give him back to us again all because of how they like his type of bullying when it isn't them on the receiving end of his tirades.

It doesn't sound as though he should ever be in a position of power which calls for sensitivity or diplomacy. This isn't a position for a defensive coach in the NFL, or AFL for heavens sakes. This is a position that calls for a man who can at least get along with his own staff. Which he hasn't been capable of, or so we have been told. Not even that.

Once on the site check out their home page menu and see what else might interest you. Lots there.

Saundra Hummer

May 27th, 2005, 11:33 AM

Not that Jim Hightower is always controversial but this time he is pushing the envelope especially with his living in the "Bible Belt", Texas is the place.

Here is a breakdown on his audio (or) print article that came in today: (use the next address to gain access as the links I posted after each article aren't taking you to them, this next link is a better and more simple solution*****

The long addresses weren't working, I deleted them, so use this one and access the archives for these stories, much more simple

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

********

FRIST'S POLITICAL GAME

Bill Frist has gone nuts. The rich, aristocratic, Harvard-educated, Presbyterian, country-club senator who was chosen by Republicans to be majority leader to portray a more "moderate" image for their party - has become a raging Christian extremist, pushing the entire nutty agenda of the ultra-right-wing televangelists..........

=

Then there is more and here are the titles and links:

BUSH'S NEW SOCIAL SECURITY TACTIC

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MOTHER NATURE DUMPS ON GEORGE

George W. loves April Not because the cherry blossoms are in bloom, but because April 22nd is Earth Day, which means he gets to put on some Khaki pants, a plaid shirt, some hiking -type boots - and then gets to ride on Air Force One to some national park where he can pose as Environmental Man all day long........

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HELP EASE EXXON'S HEADACHE

Friends, there is someone among us who has a big pboblem, and he needs our help. Knowing the inate generosity of Americans, I'm certain that you'll reach out and do all you can to assist Mr. Lee Raymond.....

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While on site, you can either view the printed version or hear the audio, and then there are the archives.

Saundra Hummer

May 27th, 2005, 02:01 PM

.....hAS THE LONG ARM OF TOM DELAY PUT HIS MONEY IN YOUR REPRESENATIVES POCKETS ?

.....Long Arm of DeLay

The Public Campaign Action Fund has put out a fun ranking list (link provided) that helps you look up how close your representative is to Tom DeLay. (A representative's ranking is based on money received and/or donated, as well as lockstep voting patterns, among other things.) My own representative managed to clock in at a measly #406--that would be, ah, Nancy Pelosi--but perhaps your representative does better.

Posted by Bradford Plummer on 05/23/05 at 12:06 PM

=

Here are the addresses to the sites with this post and the address to the DeLay Rankings Master File

http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2005/05/long_arm_of_del.html

http://www.pcactionfund.org/delayspocket/di.htm

Saundra Hummer

May 27th, 2005, 02:19 PM

...ONLY THE PRESS HAS TO TELL THE TRUTH......

Since the time of the Newsweek bruhauhau it has been talked about by CIA operatives and those who study and know of how goverment works when it comes fo disinformation. How to plant it and how to use it and what to expect. It is their conlusion that the Newsweek "scandal" was a set up, as these things did happen and the administration, CIA, and the Pentagon, wanted to discredit any source so when it did come out in full it would be suspect or such old hat that again, the American public, the ones who voted for this administration and want all that they put forth as policy, will think "Oh well, that's old news." not especially caring as it wasn't their belief system or people being treated in such a manner. Makes one wonder how many experts in human behaviour and mass behaviors are employed by these offices.

"Only the Press Has To Tell The Truth...

After the newsweek fiasco, the magizine published a letter (link provided) to their readers, in which the editors laid out their new guidelines for handling "anonymous sources." The gist is that they will seek to avoid such citation, pushing those involved in the proposed story to go on record: or, if the anonymity is crucial to that individual, to find another source to bolster the allegations. Sounds good, I guess. In the way that saying you are going to try to do a better job always sounds good. But is it necessary? Yes, it would have been nice if they could have gotten the same information from more than one source. But does that then mean that the piece should not be published? Perhaps if the allegation is shocking and inflammatory. Whcih the Koran incident was. But it was no more shocking and inflammatory than information already available (link provided) to the public

http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2005/05/only_the_press_1.html

You're able to comment on this story, and read the comments by other viewers, however to coment yourself, you will need to sign in. People are seeing and saying there are diversions from the photo's of Saddam in Rupert Murcoch's Sun, to Uzbekistan, to Brigham Young University. An interesting mix of beliefs.

Saundra Hummer

May 27th, 2005, 02:32 PM

.."The chains of military despotism once fastened upon a nation , ages might pass away before they could be shaken off." William Henry Harrison (American 9th US President (1841) 1773-1841)

Saundra Hummer

May 27th, 2005, 02:42 PM

Amnesty International has urged foreign governments to use international law to investigate Donal Rumsfeld, Alberto Gonzales, and other "alleged American 'architects of torture" at abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay and other prisons where detainees suspected of ties to terrorist groups have been interrogated.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8956.htm

http.//snipurl.com/170k

Too much to go into here on this site and all of it disturbing, but who is it we should be believing? Who is it we should put our faith in?

They say that in times of great nationa need and/or peril, someone of outstanding courage and fortitude has always been there for us, for the country, for the others who need them or him around the world. Where is our man or woman who we can rely on at this time in our history? Have we, or will we be too quick to just accept anyone? Or is there anyone even out there in this time of the "me", "my", "mine" generation?

Saundra Hummer

May 27th, 2005, 08:02 PM

.....BUSH SLASHES SOUTH FLORIDA FUNDING

GOVERNOR JEB BUSH SLASHED MILLIONS FROM THE STATE BUDGET DESTINED FOR HIS HOME COUNTY, BUT DENIED HE WAS RETALIATING AGAINST LAWMAKERS WHO MAY HAVE THWARTED HIS AGENDA.

(Sound familiar? Remember his brother letting those states which didn't carry him in his bid for the presidency twist in the wind of the energy storm, allowing the states to go under because of his vindictivness? SRH)

Bush slashes S. Fla. funding
by Gary Fineout and Mary Ellen Klas

TALLAHASSEE - Gov. Jeb Bush, who has agravated other Repuboicans in the Florida Legislature in years past by slashing millions from the state budget, spared much of the state's $63 billion budget from his veto pen Thursday.

But Bush, who denied that he had targeted any lawmaker for retaliation, still managed to whack away millions that were destined for South Florida, wiping out projects whose top advocates were legislators who rebuffed the governor during the 2005 session.

Gone was money to help with spinal cord research at the University of Miami, as well as money to help set up a program to aid the elderly in Broward and Miami-Dade counties, assistance to Miami Childrens Hospital and money for road improvements in Key Biscayne. Bush cut $27 million in funding for South Florida counties before signing the state budget into law.

"Some of it is just inexplicable," said Senate Majority Leader Alex Villalobos, a Miami Republican who led the revolt in the Senate during the recent legislative session against Bush's plan to revamp the controversial class-programs, they are needy programs, they deserve help."

Other legislators, however, including some Democrats, were pleased that Bush vetoed far less money for local projects - $180 million - than he did just a year ago, when he vetoed a record $350 million. Bush has vetoed more than $1.5 billion in spending since he first became governor in 1999. (Maybe some of this is needed? SRH)

"The governor certainly cut a lot less than last year," said Rep. Jack Seiler, a Wilson Manors Democrat. "From that perspective I'm somewhat pleased he exercised more confidence in our discretion."

FOLLOWING: THESE ISSUES ARE ALSO DISCUSSED IN THIS ARTICLE.

.HOMETOWN PROJECTS
"GOOD BUDGET"
MORE CONTROL

==
Without knowing more, these could very well be necessary cuts, but this goes to history with the Bush boys.

To see the complete article with more links to the budget and such just click on the following link. There are downloads of the budget and other items go to the links on the right in the box to learn more about this issue.

http://www.miami.com/mid/miamiherald/news/11749214.htm

Saundra Hummer

May 29th, 2005, 04:05 PM

........100,000 SIGNATURES NEEDED ON DOWNING STREET LETTER

BY CONGRESSMAN JOHN CONYERS
dailyKos.com

FRIDAY 27, mAY 2005

I have written to you in this space on a number of occasions about my profound concern about the implications of the Downing Street Memo, "which actually consists of the minutes of a July 2002 meeting between British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his top advisers. During this meeting Blair and his advisers reveal details about conversations with their American counterparts. These details cast substantial doubt on the honesty of contemporaneous claims made by the Administration to Congress and to the American people about the Iraq war.

First, the memo appears to directly contradict the Administration's assertions to Congress and the American people that it would exhaust all options before going to war. According to the minutes, in July 2002, the Administration had already decided to go to war against Iraq.

Second, a debate has raged in the United States over the last year and one half about whether the obviously flawed intelligence that falsely stated that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction was a mere "failure" or the result of intentional manipulation to reach foreordained conclusions supporting the case for war. The memo appears to close the case on that issue stating that in the United States the intelligence and facts were being "fixed" around the decision to go to war.

These are not routine questions within a partisan give and take. Under the United States Constitution (Article l, Section 8), the Congress has the sole power to declare war. If the Executive Branch deceives the Congress in this duty, it represents an attack of our democracy of the most serious nature. These Constitutional questions are not going away and must be answered
forthrightly and completely by this Administration.

I and 88 of my colleagues (that number is growing - more of that soon) asked the Administration to come clean about these troubling allegations. Our inquiries have been met with silence.

The press has also been negligent in giving this mater the attention it deserves.

I am committed to seeing this through until we get the answers we deserve. But I need your help.

The conventional wisdom, which unfortunately governs Washington's political discourse, hold that the American people have long ago made peace with the mistakes or deceptions which led us into war. Help me prove them all wrong. I want to show the White House, the Press and my congressional colleagues that nothing could be further from the truth.

That is why I am giving you the opportunity to sign on to a letter asking the same questons of the President that now nearly 100 Members of Congress have asked. If I get at least 100,000 signatures on this, I will personally deliver the letter to the White HOuse.

If you want to sign on to this letter, go to my website. (link provided on truthout's site. as well as here on AAJ. SRH)

I also want you to know that I am exploring many, many avenues to get to the truth about this matter.

Thank you in advance for your help and assistance.

http://www.johncoyners.com/

I just tried to access this site with the above address and it isn't coming up but it does when you use this link and then click on the story and hit the link provided with it, which is odd as this is the address which comes up on the tool bar so just use the truthout link
:
http://www.truthout.org

Use the link above, by just clicking on it to access the letter signing site.

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Use the link below to access truthout.com. their home page. Just click on it.

http://www.truthout.org

=

There are other articles on:

"Why Rumsfeld Should Go :rant2:

US is Set to Test Missle Defenses Aboard Airlines

Lebanese Seek to Map A Future Mired in Past.

Health Leaders Seek Consensus Over Uninsured :rant2:

US and UK Bombing Raids Tried to Goad Saddam Into War :rant2:

British Troops Face War Crimes Trial

Fear of Civil War Spreads Across Iraq

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Check out their archives as well.

Saundra Hummer

May 29th, 2005, 05:14 PM

Dale Velzy, has died, from complications suffered during chemo therapy for cancer. Too many cigars too many inhaled dust bits from balsa wood, and fiberglass, not to mention the fumes from the resins used to make the surfboards he was so famous for.

His was the top name for years and years on the West Coast and in Hawaii. His boards were sought by just about everyone who ever entertained the thought of standing up on a board and shooting the curl at outrageous speeds, usually a California shorebreak, one which the Hawaiians couldn't believe when they would come over to visit all of us. Saying that "now we see why you guys from California, especially 22nd. Street, are so good, there's not much room for error."

I remember the little board Dale made for his son Matt, and how tiny it was in comparison to the huge "logs" everyone was riding, and how the first day at the beach with it, at the pier in Manhattan Beach, how everyone kept borrowing it, the board was made for a 4 year old, not grown men and teenaged kids. It was the size of what was then called a "belly board" and everyone was having a great time surfing on it saying it was a performing board, one you could do some outrageous things on. So it seems that was the first small performance board, but it was slow to catch on, however it eventually did, and even if I'm wrong, I still like to believe it was Dale Velzy who started the whole 360 thing with his tiny little board for Matt.

We're all going to miss him, but there are always the outrageous memories and talk about some fun! We all had that, and Dale was a big part of our lives. I mean he really was a big part of our lives, and he did pretty much watch out over a lot of us, and we appreciated his efforts, knowing what a fun-loving pushing the envelope kind of guy he himself was, it made it all the more important to us, his wanting what was best for all of us kids.

Darn, things aren't susuposed to happen this way, but that's just how it goes sometimes. So many with such tragic endings. But thanks for the memories as Bob Hopes theme song goes. So many it is hard to even relate them, you would just have had to been there.

Saundra Hummer

May 30th, 2005, 11:38 AM

..HONOR THEIR SACRIFICE
FROM THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE [EDITORIAL

MONDAY MAY 30, 2005

With daily dispatches of car bombings, helicopter crashes and deadly clashes with insurgents, this Memorial Day brings with it more vivid reminders that many such days of the past for all the celebrations that mark this heartfelt American holiday, the harrowing duties being carried out by U.S. troops overseas offer a stark picture of the grim realities of war.

In times of peace and prosperity, it is easier to forget the great valor and personal sacrifice of the millions of Americans who have died in combat. Today, with the aftermath of war raging in Iraq and Afghanistan, the price of the dedication of soldiers in harm's way is impossible to overlook.

For each generation looking back on its own war, the meaning of death never changes, just the reasons for why they occurred. But the politics and purpose behind each conflict do not diminish the bravery and suffering of soldeirs lost.

Whether remembering family members lost in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf or the wars of today, the soldiers we commemorate deserve ouir lasting respect for thier ultimate sacrifice. When we see the fresh flowers on the graves, the flags blowing in the wind, the parades and official tributes, it's important to remember that those casual images mark what Shakespeare called a "fellowship of death. No matter if we agree with the reason for the fight -- or the vision of those who would justify it -- the dead cannot be dishonored.

Our veterans will note that this is the 137th Memorial Day celebrated in this country since it was inaugurated to pay tribute to Union soldiers killed in the Civil War. Time may fade the memory of the oldest wars, but it never obscures the meaning of true duty and a greater purpose.

Saundra Hummer

May 30th, 2005, 11:44 AM

To see several stories regarding the sacrifices of our military and of their loved one's - go to this site by just clicking on the following link:

http://www.truthout.org

=

See the following stories by clicking the above link^

"Honor Our Children's Sacrifices."

Honor Their Sacrifice

A Mothers War

They Also Serve Those Who Stand For Peace

Remember the Wounded

Why War is All The Rage

Too Few, Yet Too Many

Saundra Hummer

May 30th, 2005, 03:54 PM

LareDOS

A JOURNAL OF THE BORDERLANDS

GENE WALKER TO AGENT MONTOYA

It seems that there are problems with ranchers and the border partrol like one hears of problems with the Army Corp of Engineers. Surprising, as they are causing problems much like the other government entitiy. The following is for an link so you can read a letter to the head of the Border Patrol in the Laredo area. It shows you how some of these goverenment agencies feel about the public, the ones they are working for.

http://www.laredosnews.com/usbp_03.html

We hear of goverenment employes and elected officials using government helicopters to loot Indian areas quite a bit, and one of the ones they say took loads and loads out Of Mesa Verde and similar area's by helicopter was the California politician Jesse "Big Daddy" Unruh. This was told to us by avid collectors of Indian pottery and other Indian artifacts, saying Unruh was stealing sights blind, and that he had a huge collection, one they envied, yet it was one he had stolen using goverment helicopters to augment his collection.

There is a big market in Indian artifacts and for the border patrol to be cutting fences and being on his property as much as they seem to have been, it is in all probability to augment their saleries or to enlarge their own collections.

My mother says when she was a child they would go out into the fields after her father had plowed and pick up arrowheads by the dozens, they were plentiful and not thought of as anything other than a fun thing to look for, a curiosity, and so there are none of them left, as they lost them again while playing with them. This was in Northeast Texas, not too far from the Red River so it was a land of plenty and there were remenants of all sorts of Indian belongings. My father had found the burial site of an important Indian, buried in a hollow tree, with all sorts of belongings, and trappings, which he didn't touch. He honored that mans site, but I doubt that would be the case if found today. I'm not sure what state that was in, perhaps New Mexico, I just know it was in one of the states from Arkansas to Oklahoma to New Mexico when they were working the timber business his family was in. I don't know which tribes burried their important chiefs like that. I believe he said his horse was there as well. Of course the site was in decent shape when he found it, since that time it would have suffered more storms and fires, or maybe someone else found it. Perhaps a museum, I just really wonder about it and I've always wondered which tribe it could have been.

Saundra Hummer

May 30th, 2005, 04:49 PM

.....DOWNLOADS FROM "ColdType.com"

................ORWELL'S BEAUTIFUL FIT TO AMERICA

"Although 1984 was a Cold War document that dramatized the threat of the Soviet enemy, and has always been used mainly to serve Cold War political ends, it also contained the germs of a powerful critique of U.S. and Western practice. Orwell himself suggested such appolications in his essay on "Politics and the English Language" and even more explicitly in a "Neglected Preface to Animal Farm." But doublespeak and thought control are far more important in the West than Orwell indicated, often in subtle forms but sometimes as crudely as in 1984, and virtually every 1984 illustration of Ingsoc, Newspeak and Doublethink have numerous counterparts in what we may call Amcap, Amerigood, and Marketspeak"

Go to this site to download the story, here is the link, just click on it:

http://www.coldtype.net/herman.html

There is more on this site to download, such as:

How the New York Times Supports Thought Control:
The New York Times has never been a very courageous newspaper in times of political hysteria and threats to civil liberties . . . we must evaluate the Joseph Massad case, Columbia University's handling of that case, and the New York Times' editorial on "Intimidation at Columbia."

Class Warefare
How George W. Bush plans to implement an agenda that will hurt the interests of the majority of the people who gave him their vote.

The Elections in Iraq
The US propaganda machine is still working in high gear.
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They Kill Reporters Don't They?

=

Studies in Hypocrisy

=

There are newspapers, magazines, photo essays, books, lots and lots to down load, works by important authors

=

Check out the site to see if you are interested in downloading, here is the address:

http://www.coldtype.net

Saundra Hummer

May 30th, 2005, 06:01 PM

...TWO CUSTOM TROMBONES OF KAI WINDING" ARE SELLING ON EBAY

Go to AAJ's bulletin board listings here on this site, and look up Buy and Sell. There is a link posted to help get you to the auction page. It has six days to go. Should be interesting to see how much they go for.

His daughter had been trying to raise funds to help with her mothers medical expenses, and she was the one who had talked about selling them earlier. So spread the word.

Saundra Hummer

May 31st, 2005, 11:05 AM

..... CIA EXPANDING TERROR BATTLE UNDER GUISE OF CHARTER FLIGHTS

BY SCOTT SHANE, STEPEHN GREY AND MARGOT WILLIAMS
THE NEW YORK TIMES

TUESDAY 31 MAY 2005

Smithfield, NC - The airplanes of Aero Contractors Ltd. take of from Johnston Country Airport here, then disappear over the scrub pines and fields of tobacco and sweet potatoes. Nothing about the sleepy Southern setting hints of foreign intrigue. Nothing gives away the fact that Aero's pilots are the discreet bus drivers of the battle against terrorism, routinely sent on secret missions to Baghdad, Cairo, Tashkent and Kabul.

When the Central Intelligence Agancy wants to grab a suspected member of Al Qaeda overseas and deliver him to interrogators in another country, an Aero Contractors plane often does the job. If agency experts need to fly overseas in a hurry after the capture of a prized prisoner, a plane will depart Johnston County and stop at Dulles Airport outside Washington to pick up the
C.I.A. team on the way.

Aero Contractors' planes dropped C.I.A. paramilitary officers into Afghanistan in 2001, carried an AmericAn team to Karachi, Pakistan, right after the United States Consulate there was bombed in 2002, and flew from Libya to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the day before an American-held prisioner said he was questioned by LIbyan intelligence agents last year, according to flight data and other records.

While posing as a private charter outfit - "aircraft rental with pilot" is the listing in Dun and Bradstreet - Aero Contractors is in fact a major domestic hub of the Central Intelligence Agency's secret air service. The company was founded in 1979 by a legendary C.I.A. officer and chief pilot for Air America, the agency's Vietnam-era air company, and it appears to be controlled by the agency, according to former employees. .................

==

There is a lot more to this story, and since this is a story which has been floating around for a long time now, there is old information scattered in with new, but it is nonetheless an interesting read.

=

Here's the link, just click on it:

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/053105Y.shtml

If this link is a problem, just access the sites' home page:

http://www.truthout.org

Saundra Hummer

May 31st, 2005, 01:43 PM

.......DEEP THROAT REVEALS HIMSELF?????

"DEEP THROAT' REPORTEDLY COMES FORWARD

By the Associated Press

Tuesday 31, May 2005

Former top official at FBI reportedly admits he was Deep Throat source that led to Nixon resignation.

Former FBI official claims he was "Deep Throat," the long-anonymous source who leaked secrets about President Nixons Watergate coverup to The Washington Post, Vanity Fair reported Tuesday.

W. Mark Felt, 91, who was second-in-command at the FBI in the early 1970s, kept the secret even from his family until 2002, when he confided to a friend that he had been Post reporter Bob Woodward's source, the magazine said.

"I'm the guy they used to call Deep Throat," he told lawyer John D. O'Connor, the author of the Vanity Fair article, the magazine said in a news release.

To see the story click on the following link:

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/053105X.shtml

:hail WOW!!!! :hail

Saundra Hummer

May 31st, 2005, 03:49 PM

......."DEATH BY STONING FOR ATHEISTS, ADULTERERS, AND PRACTICING MALE HOMOSEXUALS" ??????

..........."THE AYATOLLAH OF HOLY ROLLERS"

BY STEVE WEISSMAN
MAY 31, 2005

"And, oh yes, death to witches, Satanists, and those who comit blasphemy."

Does this sound like a radical Islamist nightmare, a replay of Afghanistan under the Taliban?

CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING LINK TO READ THIS ASTOUNDING ARTICLE:

http://www.truthout.org/docs/2005/053105A.shtml

Or just log on to the following link ot access their home page, from where you can look up this article or several more.

http://www.truthout.org

Saundra Hummer

May 31st, 2005, 04:00 PM

STEVE WEISSMAN AND HIS ARTICLE. CHECK OUT HIS EDITORIAL, IT IS ANOTHER REVEALING LOOK AT HOW MR. WEISSMAN SEES HOW IT IS THE ADMINISTRATION, AND IT"S FOLLOWERS, IT"S TRUE BELIEVERS SEE THE SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. A BIT OF PERSPECTIVE ON HOW THINGS ARE LOOKING TO BE.

http://www.truthout.org/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cg/24/54/79
this link isn't working so.....

Or just look up this article on Truthout.com

http://www.truthout.org

Article name: Jesus, Jihadis, and the Red-State Blues

=

"Stop the world", said the playwright, "I want to get off."

Saundra Hummer

May 31st, 2005, 06:14 PM

.....SO THIS IS HOW LIBERTY DIES?

THE RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE TO BE SECURE IN THIER PERSONS, HOUSES, PAPERS, AND EFFECTS, AGAINST UNREASONABLE SEARCHES AND SEIZURES, SHALL NOT BE VIOLATED, AND NO WARRANTS SHALL ISSUE, BUT UPON PROBABLE CAUSE, SUPPORTED BY OATH OR AFFIRMATION AND PARTICULARLY DESCRIBING THE PLACE TO BE SEARCHED AND THE PERSONS OR THINGS TO BE SEIZED.

THE FOURTH AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

by Steven LaTulippe

(WAKE UP AMERICANS! WE ARE BECOMING LOST! SRH)

05/27/05 " Lew Rockwell.com" - - In the most recent episodes of Star Wars George Lucas takes his audience on a journey through the process of political decay. He illustrates the ironies and absurdities inherent in the collapse of a limited, republican form of government. He portrays the defenders of the republic as confused and impotent while he exposes the vile and conspiratorial nature of their imperial adversaries.

In what surely must be one of the fascinating examples of life imitating art, the typical observer of American politics ought to be awestruck by the events unfolding around him on a routine basis.

Hardly a day passes now without some new outrage being perpetrated on our republic by those in the halls of power. It is happening with such regularity that one could almost excuse the concerned citizen for simply throwing in the towel and tuning out.

But occasionally something so egregious occurs that even the most jaded and cynical among us have to stand up and take notice.

Just such an even unfolded in the halls of the United States Senate this week in the form of a hearing concerning the FBI's quest for new investigative powers included in the latest Patriot Act.

Alan Eisner at Reuters reports:

The FBI on Tuesday asked the U.S. Congress for sweeping new powers to seize business or private records, ranging from medical information to book purchases, to investigate terrorism without first securing approval from a judge.

Valerie Caproni, FBI general counsel, told the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee her agency needed the power to issue what are known as administrative subpoenas to get information quickly about terrorist plots and the activities of foreign agents.

In essence, the FBI wants the power to issue "administrative supoenas" to execute searches without the annoyance of having to show probably cause in a court. (Since the agency carrying out the search is going to be the one issuing the subpoena, one wonders why they even bother with a subpoena at all. Why not just ransack wherever they please and dispense withthe fiction altogether? Can anyone envision a circumstance where the FBI would refuse to issue a search warrant to itself?)

The Republicans, who have discarded their previous concerns for the Bill of Rights like a snake shedding its skin, are the primary supporters of this scheme.

Committee chairman, Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts, (why does this not surprise me? SRH) noted that other government agencies already had subpoena power to investigate matters such as child pornography, drug investigations and medical malpractice. He said it made little sense to deny those same powers to the FBI to investigate terrorism or keep track of foreign intelligence agents.

One has to admit certain logic in his argument. After all, if other government agencies are already disregarding the constitution, then why can't the FBI?

But the really fascinating parts of the testimony came later. The first example was when the FBI counsel claimed that these powers were needed to prevent terrorist attacks such as car bombs. When challenged on that point, she responded:

Caproni said she could not cite a case where a bomb had exploded because the FBI lacked this power, but that did not mean one could not explode tomorrow.

Whether she appreciated it or not, this is the pure, undiluted logic of a Sith Lord. In essence, she contends that we should discard our constitutional protections here and now in the theoretical hope that we can avoid a terrorist attack at some undefined point in the future.

We are, in short, to abandon our freedom for the mirage of security.

While the advocates for the empire are obnoxious and tragically predictable, their odiousness is petty compared to the nature of the bill's opponents. If anyone dares look down upon the defenders of Lucas' Republic as being ineffectual and spineless, I give you the junior Senator from West Virginia:

"I am not aware of any time in which Congress has given directly to the FBI subpoena authority. That doesn't make it right or wrong. It just needs to be thought about," said West Virginia Democrat Jay Rockefeller.

An agent of the executive branch paraded into the Senate Chamber with a proposal that directly trashes one of the most important protections in our Bill of Rights, and the esteemed legislator's only reply was thae he cannot say if it is "right or wrong".

With friends like these, liberty hardly needs enemies.

Patrick Henry, he is not.

In better times, any government official openly agitation for the evisceration of our constitution would be immediately relieved of his job. After all, are not members of our security forces sworn to protect and defend our freedoms? And how has our system degenerated so badly that those advocation authoritarian policies are outspoken and arrogant while those supporting our freedom are wishy-washy and pathetic?

Truly, we are seeing the visions of Yeats come to life before our very eyes.

"The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity."

A glance at the structure of our government in this late era of Republican governanmce demonstrates a variety of oddities and ironies. The most interesting is the observation that each branch of our government is now ignoring those areas where its actual responsibilities lie while simultaneously intruding into areas wehre it was once explicitly forbidden.

Thus we have a judiciary that is meekly turning over its responsibility to scrutinize warrants to various elements of the executive branch. Meanwhile, these same judges have abandoned the constitution's moorings and are dictating social policy to the nation far in excess of any powers envisioned by our Founders.

The congress, in a cowardly and cynical attempt to avoid respoinsibility, has abrogated its constitutional mandate to make declarations of war to the executive branch. Thus, presidents now take America into conflicts without the necessary debate and scrutiny that the Founders intended. Meanwhile, these same legislators have constructed a myriad of bloated and corrupt programs that are found nowhere in thier powers enumerated by the constitution (i.e. retirement Ponzi schemes, prescription drug programs, Byzantine agricultural subsidies, etc. etc.).

The executive branch now reigns supreme over foreign policy with almost no checks or balances whatsoever. The result has been the repeated abuse of the military in a variety of undeclared wars that have almost no relationship to the well-being of the people of this country. This same executive branch, meanwhile, refuses to enforce federal laws that it finds objectionable, such as defending our own borders form the hordes of illegals crossing on a daily basis.

Thuse we have a judiciary that wants to be a legislature, a legislature than wants to be a sugar daddy, and a president who wants to be an emperor.

It is a sorry sight to behold, and one that will probably make for a great tragic adventure series someday.

Unfortunately, we are all cast in the role of the "innocent bystanders."

And everyone knows what usually happens to them.

=

Steven LaTulippe (send him mail-link provided on informationclearinghouse.info) is a physician currently practicing in Ohio. He was an officer in the United States Air Force for 13 years.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8993.htm

Saundra Hummer

June 1st, 2005, 11:51 AM

......BREAKING WATER REMAINS WET.....

[ABOUT FAIRNESS AND BALANCE IN THE NEWS WE ALL HEAR AND READ.]

[this is just an excerpt from a longer article, there is also a video report "Making the Media Work, check out both the script and the video.]

"It was something of a surprise, then to read Scott Norvell's comments in the Wall Street Journal on May 20th. Norvell is the London bureau chief for Fox News, and perhaps accidentally let the mask of impartiality slip a bit. He was comparing the privately owned Fox to the publicly owned BBC when he said, "Even we at Fox News manage to get some lefties on the air occasionally, and often let them finish thier sentences before we club them to death and feed the scraps to Karl Rove and Bill O'Reilly. And those who hate us can take solace in the fact that they aren't subsidizing Bill's bombast, we payers of the BBC license fee don't enjoy that peace of mind. Fox News is, after all, a private channel and our presenters are quite open about where they stand on particular stories. That's our appeal. People watch us because they know what they are getting." (And they, like I always say, believe what they want to believe! SRH)

It's an interesting perspective, that. Indeed, Fox News is a private channel, and the glory of private ownership, like private property, is that the owner can do whatever he or she wants with it within certain limits. Yet the airwaves upon which Fox is carried belong to the people here in America, we gave those arirwaves over for free a few decades ago, but still lay claim to a say in what goes out over them from time to time.

Again, however there are no surprises here. Water is wet, the sky is up and Fox News loves George W. Bush. The Wall Street Journal revealed in a article back during the late campaign season in 2004 which said, "Mr. Bush believes the key to victory lies in his party"s conservative core. He gave a rare interview over the weekend to Fox News, a network sympathetic in the Bush cause and popular with Republicans." Not long after, the Journal ran a pathetically abject 'correction' which stated, "News Corp's Fox News was incorrectly described in a page-one article Monday as being sympathetic to the Bush cause."

The sky is at your feet, and water has turned to sand

One has to wonder, sometimes, what the dedication to all things Bush costs the producers and on air 'talent' of Fox News from time to time, especially when the Commander in Chief does one of his firebombing of Dresden jobs on the Queen's English. An example of this happened during a press conference on May 31st. Bush was asked to rply to an Amnesty International accusation about our prison in Guantanamo being a brutal gulag. Quoth Bush:

..."In terms of, umm == you know, the -- the detainees, we've had thousands of people detained. We've investigated every single complaint against the detainees. It seemed like to me thay based some of their decisions on, on the word of, uhh -- and the allegations -- by people who were held in detendion, people who hate America, people that had been trained in some instances to disassemble -- that means not tell the truth. And so it was an absurd report. It just is. And, uhh, you know ---yes, sir."

The word he was scrambling for was 'dissemble.' That means not tell the truth. Right. Pass the Pepto, Mr. Hannity. Mr. Gibson has to try and make a silk purse out of this sow's ear.

==
To see this story in it's entirety click on the following link and look up:

Breaking: Water Remains Wet
By William Rivers Pitt
Truthout [ Perspective

Wednesday 01, June 2005

http://www.truthout.org

Saundra Hummer

June 1st, 2005, 04:12 PM

......."Never forget that everthing Hitler did in Germany was legal." : Martin Luther King (American Baptist minister and civil-rights leader. 1929-1968 Murdered.)

Saundra Hummer

June 1st, 2005, 04:20 PM

......OPERATION DEPERATION, RUMSFELD'S BAGHDAD FIASCO

"I think they're in the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency." Vice President Cheney assessing the strength of the insurgency on CNN"S larry King. 5-30-05

by Mike Whitney

It's clear now that the size and strength of the insurgency has surpassed all the previous predictions and that the civilian leadership of the occupation forces is lashing out in desperation to quell the violence. Iraq has quickly degenerated into the most poorly executed military campaign in American history.

Just click on the following link:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article 8990.htm

=

http://snipurl.com/l9v2

or: http://snipurl.com19v2

I just can't see it in this bright room.

Saundra Hummer

June 1st, 2005, 05:09 PM

.............................THE I WORD

By Ralph Nader and Kevin Zeese

THE IMPEACHMENT of President Bush and Vice president Cheney, under Article ll, Section 4 of the Constitution, should be part of mainstream political discourse.

Minutes from a summer 2002 meeting involving British Prime Minister Tony Blair reveal that the Bush administration was "fixing" the intelligence to justify invading Iraq. US intelligence used to justify the war demonstrates repeatedly the truth of the meeting minutes -- evidence was thin and needed fixing.

President Clinton was impeached for perjury about his sexual relationships. Comparing Clintons misbehaviour to a destructive and costly war occupation launched in March 2003 under false pretenses in violation of domestic and international law certainly merits introduction of an impeachment resolution.

Eighty-nine members of Congress have asked the president whether intelligence was manipulated to lead the United States to war. The letter points to British meeting minutes that raise "troubling new questions regarding the legal justification for the war." Those minutes describe the case for war as "thin" and Saddam as "nonthreatening to his neighbors," and "Britain and America had to create conditions to justify a war." Finally, military action was "seen as inevitable . . . But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy." .....

(How hard this must be for those whose loved ones have been lost to this fiasco , been permanantly disabled, physically and mentally because of this fiasco . . . how hard will it be to hear of these facts? I wonder how much denial will be in them - as this will just be too hard for them to be able to accept? SRH)

Indeed, there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, nor any imminent threat to the United States:

The International Atomic Energy Agency Iraq inspection team reported in 1998, "there were no indications of Iraq having achieved its program goals of producing a nuclear weapon; nor were there any indications that there remained in Iraq, any physical capability for production of amounts of weapon-usuable material." A 2003 update by the IAEA reached the same conclusions.

The CIA told the White House in February 2001: "We do not have any direct evidence that Iraq has . . . reconstitute [d] its weapons of mass destruction programs."

The CIA told the White House in two Fall 2002 memos not to make claims of Iraq uranium purchases. CIA Director George Tenet personally called top national security officials imploring them not to use that claim as proof of an Iraq nuclear threat.

Regarding unmanned bombers highlighted by Bush, the Air Force's National Air and Space Intelligence Center concluded they could not carry weapons spray devices. The defense Intelligence Agency told the president in June 2002 that the unmanned aerial bombers were unproven. Further, there was no reliable information showing Iraq was producing or stockpiling a chemical weapons or whether it had established chemical agent production facilites.

When discussing WMD the CIA used words like "might" and "could." The case was always circumstantial with equivocations, unlike the president and vice president, e.g., Cheney said on Aug. 26, 2002: "Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction."

The State Department in 2003 said "The activities we have detected do not . . . add up to a compelling case that Iraq is currently pursuing . . . an integrated and comprehensive approach to acquire nuclear weapons."

The National Intelligence Estimate issued in October 2002 said "We have no specific intelligence information that Saddam's regime has directed attacks against US territory."

The UN, IAEA, the State and Energy departments, the Air Force's National air and Space Intelligence Center, US inspectors, and even the CIA concluded there was no basis for the Bush-Cheney public assertions. Yet, President Bush told the public in September 2002 that Iraq "could launch a biological or chemical attack on as little as 45 minutes after the order is given." And just before the invasion, Presidnet Bush said "Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof -- the smoking gun -- that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud."

The president and vice president have artfully dodged the central question: "Did the administration mislead us into war by manipulating and misstating intelligence concerning weapons of mass destruction and alleged ties to Al Qaeda, suppressing contrary intelligence, and deliberately exaggerating the danger a contained, weakened Iraq posed to the United States and its neighbors?"

If this is answered affirmatively Bush and Cheney have commited "high crimes and misdemeanors." It is time for Congress to investigate the illegal Iraq war as we move toward the third year of the endless quagmire that many security experts believe jeopardizes US safety by recruiting and training more terrorists. A Resolution of Impeachement would be a first step. Based on the mountains of fabrications, deceptions, and lies, it is time to debate the "I" Word.

Ralph Nader is a consumer advocate. Kevin Zeese is director of DemocracyRising.US.

http://informationclearinghouse.info

When will the American public tire of the deception, the deaths and loss of our constitutional rights, the abuse of our constitution and of those it is supposed to protect? When will we demand change? Demand what is right? Do we even know what that is any longer? SRH.

Saundra Hummer

June 1st, 2005, 05:30 PM

............Then there is this about impeachment on the same site, an article by Norman Solomon titled:

IMPEACHMENT FEVER AND MEDIA POLITICS.

IF YOU THINK PRESIDENT BUSH SHOULD BE IMPEACHED, IT'S TIME TO GET SERIOUS.

We're facing huge obstacles -- and they have nothing to do with legal standards for impeachment. This is all about media and politics.

Five months into 2005, the movement to impeach Bush is very small. And three enourmous factors weigh against it: 1) Republicans control Congress. 2) Most congressional Democrats are routinely gutless. 3) Big media outlets shun the idea that the president might really be a war criminal.

For now, we can't end the GOP's majority. But we could proceed to light a fire under congressional Democrats. And during the next several weeks, it's possible to have major impacts on news media by launching a massive eductaional and "agitational" campaign -- spotlighting the newly leaked Downing Street Memo and explaining why its significance must be pursued as a grave constitutional issue.

The leak of the memo weeks ago, providing minutes from a high-leval meeting that Prime Minister Tony Blair held with aides in July 2002, may be the strongest evidence yet that Bush is gulty of an impeachable offense. As Rep. John Conyers, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee wrote in late May:

* "First, the memo appears to directly contradict the administrations assertions to Congress and the American people that it would exhaust all options before going to war. According to the minutes, in July 2002, the administration had already decided to go to war against Iraq."

* "Second, a debate has raged in the United States over the last year and one half about whether the obviously flawed intelligence that falsely stated that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction was a mere 'Failure' or the result of intentional manipulation to reach foreordained conclusions supporting the case for war. The memo appears to close the case on that issue stating that in the United States the intelligence and facts were being 'fixed' around the decision to go to war."

To see the rest of this ongoing story, just click on the following link to take you to the site where you can see this story and others:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info

Saundra Hummer

June 1st, 2005, 06:23 PM

OK.....War Crimes aside, .....Bush and Cheney, along with everyone who has ever sworn an oath as they were being installed in office have promised (with their hand on the good book), to uphold and protect our Constitution haven't they? Well they haven't kept that promise. They have gone against it and what it stands for and this alone is reason to think about the "I" word.

Bill Clinton had to pledge under oath to be truthful. I wonder how Bush, Cheney, Rice and others would hold up under investigations as thorough as the one undertaken to remove Bill Clinton from office? Where would they stand after that kind of scrutiny and poking about in their offices and in their lives? Not that they were having illicit affairs, but who were they taking money from, and why. What were they making up stories about and who were they telling them to -- and why? What reasons have they given that won't stand up to scrutiny, to investigations? And who will look like the biggest prevaricator? All ducks in a row, I would imagine, but who'll be the biggest quacker? (Couldn't resist that one. :p )

Saundra Hummer

June 2nd, 2005, 12:38 PM

Molly Ivins: ....CATAPULTING THE PROPAGANDA
Creators Syndicate

Monday, 31 May 2005

AUSTIN, TEXAS - As a longtime fan of both Bushes' eccentric grasp of English, I naturally enjoyed this gem from W. "See, in my line of work, you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda." (Bush in Greece, N.Y. May 24, once more explaining his Social Security plan to a town hall meeting of perfectly average citizens, - except they had all been pre-screened to allow only those who agree with him into the hall.)

"Catapulting the propaganda" would explain his performance at the press opportunity that same day at which he appeared surrounded by babies born from frozen embryos. He used the phrase "culture of life" at least 27 dozen times (I think I exaggerate, but maybe not). "The use of federal dollars to destroy life is something I simply do not support," he said to the press the following day.

Meanwhile, back in Baghdad, federal dollars are being used to destroy life at pretty good clip because Bush decided to wage an entirely elective war against a country that presented little or no threat to us. And according to the Downing Street memo, he damn well knew it, too.

The destruction of life in Iraq is more dramatic than taking a blastocyst smaller than a pinpoint out of a petri dish. The 1,600 American dead so far - not much culture of lie there. The 15,000 wounded, many of them irreparably - not so good there, either. Estimates of Iraqi civilian deaths are all over the lot a British medical journal claimed 100,000 last year, the Iraq Body Count website says between 21,000 and 25,000. The US/UN sanctions are widely believed to have killed hundreds of thousands, most of them babies, even after the Oil for Food Program was instituted.

The New York Times reports that the doctors in Iraq are now being threatened by insurgents and so are fleeing what was a showcase system under Saddam. I think we'd all have to agree, so far there's no progress on bringing a culture of life to Iraq.

Nonsense. Fertility treatments that help couples to have children leave far too many excess embryos for all of them to be adopted. They are simply discarded by the laboratories, thrown out. What in the world is he talking about?

Seems to me that the anti-abortion people are getting as nutty as the gun lobby, which lets cop-killer bullets on the street, wants to allow .50 caliber rifles that can bring down airplanes, and stops efforts to close loopholes that let dealers sell to terrorists and criminals. Plus a bunch of other nutcase stuff that is not only harmful to society, but opposed by the great majority of the American people . Anti-abortion people are even going after the process of judicial bypass for girls woh cannot fulfull the parental consent restriction.

Look, 60 percent of the American peole are in favor of funding stem cell research. Do we have a First Amendment issue here? Is this the case of a few people imposing thier religious views on everybody else? I don't know enough about stemcelll research to tell yu that it will produce miracle cures for Alzheimer's, Parkinsons's, and other diseases, as some scientists claim. But it's not only worth a shot, it would be criminal not to do it. The people who are ill are here, now, human beings in terrible suffereing.

Bush is prepared to use his first-ever veto. Didn't stop the bankruptcy bill, didn't stop all those tax cuts for the very rich, didn't stop that gross agriculture bill - but this he will veto. He says we will "cross a critical ethical line by creating new incentives for the ongoing destruction of emerging human life." and he doesn't think starting an unnecessary war was crossing a critical ethical line?

It's the old slippery slope argument. Look, all of law is a process of drawing lines on slippery slopes. The difference between misdemeanor theft and felony theft is one penny. The difference tetween misdeamonor and felony drug possession is one gram. For that matter, the difference between a pig and a hog is one pound. We're always drawing distinctions, and it is necessary to do so - hunting rifles, OK, .50 caliber firles, don't be a fool.

This is a don't-be-a-fool argument. "Culture of life"? Whose life?

+++

Catch Molly Ivins on Working for Change.com

http://www.workingforchange.com

=

See this article on Truthout.org

http://www.truthout.org

Saundra Hummer

June 2nd, 2005, 01:17 PM

.....AMNESTY DEFENDS 'GULAG,' URGES GUANTANAMO ACCESS

Reuters
Thrusday 02 June 2005

Human rights group Amnesty defended its description of Guantanamo prison as a "gulag" Thursday and urged the United States to allow independent investigations of allegations of torture at its detention centers for terrorism suspects.

A verbal feud between Amnesty International and Washington has escalated since Amnesty last week compared the prison at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to the brutal Soviet system of forced labor camps where millions of prisoners died.

President Bush dismissed as "absurd" the Amensty report, which also said the United States was responsible for an upsurge in global human rights violations, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld called the description "reprehensible."

"The administration's response has been that our report is absurd, that our allegations have no basis, and our answer is very simple: if that is so, open up these detention centers, allow us and others to visit them, " Amnesty International Secretary General Irene Zubaida Khan told a news conference.

"Transparency is the best antidote to misinformation and incorrect facts." said Khan, who is here to meet with Japanese officials.

The United States holds about 520 men at Guantanamo, where they are denied rights accorded under internaional law to prisoners of war.

Many have been held without charge for more than three years.

Khan rejected a suggestion that Amnesty's use of the emotive term "gulag" had turned the debate into one over semantics, and distracted attention from the situation in the detention centers.

"What we wanted to do was to send a strong message that. . . this sort of network of detention centers that has been created as part of this war on terrorism is actually undermining human rights in a dramatic way which can only evoke some of the worst features of human rights scandals of the past." she said.

"I don't think people have got off the hook yet." Kahn also said Japans bid for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council meant that Tokyo should play a bigger role in the global firght for Human rights and improve its own record at home.

Japan has stepped up its campaign for a permanent seat as part of an effort to boost its global clout in security affairs.

"Japan, by its strong bid to become a U.N. Security Council member, is subjecting itself to greater international scrutiny and that creates an imperative for change," she said.

Khan urged Japan to abolish the death penalty, improve the treatment of prisoners, revise a strict stance toward refugees - only 15 refugees were accepted last year - and do more to prevent and protect victims of human trafficking.

http://www.truthout.org

Saundra Hummer

June 2nd, 2005, 04:37 PM

....IRONY OVERFLOWING

OIL MIGHT BE DRYING UP, BUT WASHINGTON'S GREASY AS EVER

Molly Ivans
Creators Syndicate
05 -26-05

AUSTIN, Texas -- I often complain about the excess of irony in our national life, but this week, if you're not begoshed by the irony surplus, you haven't been paying attention. If we could just figure out a way to get energy out of the stuff, we'd be set for life.

Liberals for the filibuster; conservatives against it -- hilarious. Pentagon loses track of more than $1 trillion, and the Army can't find 56 airplanes, 32 tanks and 36 Javelin missile command launch-units. Not to mention Osama bin Laden. And more.

*Right-wing Republicans fight to make the world safe from "judicial activists" by appointing Pricilla Owen -- the biggest baddest, worstest judicial activist Texas ever produced -- to the federal bench.

Owen is so notorious for reading her own opinions into the law, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, then her colleague on the Texas Supreme Court, described her opion in a parental consent case as "an unconscionable act of judicial activism." (For further irony, see Gonzales' subsequent attempts to deny that he was describing Owen.)

Each Owen aficionado here in Texas has his or her own favorite Owen ruling, but I always liked the one about the boy rendered quadriplegic by a defective safety belt, who died waiting for the dilatory Owen to figure out if a lower court decision that the manufacturer owed him enough money for his care was constitutional in Texas. Hey, sometimes it takes more than a year, But she's very pro-life.

In Texas we elect our Supreme Court, which handles only civil matters. The Pattern in Owen's decisions is to favor those corportations and law firms that contributed to her campaigns for office. One little gem involved Enron. Owen wrote the decision that allowed the company to escape paying $200,000 in school taxes.

In her 1994 campaign, Owen got $8,600 from Enron and $31,550 from Vinson and Elking, the Houston law firm that represented Enron. Enron and V-E showed up in her court two years later, trying to get out of paying school property taxes. Not only did Owen not recuse herself -- get this -- she wrote the opinion that allowed Enron to choose its own method for property tax assessment, and lo, it cut its own assessed property values by millions of dollars.

Another fave: claiming, on behalf of a contributor, that property owners have a right to pollute the water supply. Moral: Judicial, activism, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.

* The George Galloway hearing (OK, so it was last week). In addition to being the funniest biter-bit performance in years (If you missed it, the transcript and the video are floating around on the internet {on informationclearinghouse.info for one SRH}, ) It was yet another victory for the Brits over the Americans when it comes to spoken English. Holy cow, whata display of pyrotechnic master of language. The American senators were left with so much egg on their faces they looked like a bad day at a Tyson chicken plant.

As one of those slow-spoken Americans often out-tap-danced on panels by the nimble-tongued Brits, I defensively assert they don't really think faster and better than we do -- they just talk faster and better.

Galloway, a member of the British Parliament, simply danced rings around the clumsy Sen. Norm Coleman of Minnesota, and the others. The hearing bore and uncanny resemblance to the scene in Leonardo DiCaprio's popular bio-pic about Howard Hughes. "The Aviator," in which the deteriorating Hughes triumphs over a low-rent, witch-hunt committee.

In case you missed the flap, Galloway is a way-left Brit M.P. who actually did defend Saddam Hussein before the war which may or may not have been based on his position that the pre-war boycott of Iraq did nothing to topple Hussein, but was a humanitarian nightmare for Iraqis.

In fact, the boycott, as has long been documented, did kill tens of thousands of Iraqis, in particular babies and small children. An insane policy. The United Nations effort to mitigate it was the Oil for Food Progream, and Galloway was accused of being a beneficiary of the corruption of that program, via a charitable foundation he had set up.

He has won two libel suits over the accusation, against the Christian Science Monitor and the London Telegraph. The Monitor, by mishap, used crudely forged documents, later discredited, to go after him. Now, British libel law is, frankly, hideous. How its press continues to function in such a lively fashion under that load of legal crap is a mystery to me: The burden of proof there is on the defendant.

Beyond the specifics of those cases, Galloway is generally in bad smell in Britain. This may or may not be attributable to his political enemies, but it is certainly attributable to more journalisst than the neo-neo-con Christopher Hitchens, who described Galloway in London's The Independent as "a thug and a demagogue, the type of working class-wideboy-and-proud-of-it who is too used to the expense accounts, the cars and the hotels -- all the cigars and backslapping." (Only a Brit could have written that sentence.)

So here is the irony of ironies. Into our midst comes this one Brit, who deservedly or not carries with him the whiff of bad reputation, to confront our Puritan-pure, sea-green, incorruptible politicians (Heh? Our guys never carry water for their campaign contributors, do they?), and in 20 minutes, he told more truth about our policy and our war in Iraq than any of our politicians have in years.

Reduced to this: George Galloway is a truth-teller. :lol:

=

Read more in the Molly Ivins archive (link provided.)

http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=19115

Saundra Hummer

June 2nd, 2005, 05:54 PM

.....VIDEO: "FALLUJA-THE DAY AFTER."

'Falluja-The day After" shows the total devastation of the Iraqi town, the corpses of the victims, the mass graves, the exhumation of many corpses by local rescue teams in order to try to recognize some of the victims

WARNING:

VIDEO contains images depicting the reality and horror of war and should be vied bya MATURE audience.

Click here to watch it online. Windows Media

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article/9010l.htm.

http://snipurl.com/fbmi

+++

......WATERGATE UNDER THE BRIDGE :

The more horrific crimes and misdemeanors of te current White House have been exposed by insiders and outsiders, but so far the wheels of justice have not started to grind. If Nixon were still with us, he'd be envious.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1497063,00.html

http://snipurl.com/fbn0

Or go to Information Clearing House.info to see the story and while there check out the other articles, and their archives.

***

One more article of interest for you to see, and it's something that won't have any of us shedding tears.

************UNCONFIRMED REPORT: June 2, 2005 (AKI)

FALLUJAH SHEIKH SAYS AL-ZARQAWI DIED ON FRIDAY:

(His body is in Fallujah's cemetary, an Iraqi Sunni sheikh, Ammar Abdel Rahim Nasir, has told the Saudi on-line newspaper Al-Medina. He claims that gunfights which broke out in Fallujah in the last few days involved militants trying to protect the insurgency leader's tomb from a group of American soldiers patrolling the area.)

During a telephone conversation from the city of Fallujah with the Saudi newspaper, Nasir said al-Zarqawi was taken there after being injured in the city of Ramadi around three weeks ago and may have been treated by two doctors who had worked with his aides in Baghdad. He said the two doctors had stopped a serious hemorrhage in al-Zarqawi's intestines, but that after his condition worsened last week, the militant dies on Friday.

Nasir adds that in his will the insurgent leader left the order that no funeral should be held for him and the right to announce his death should be left to the al-Qaeda leadership in Afghanistan and Osama bin Laden.

The Al-Medina newspaper reports that it also called the headmaster of a school in Fallujah, who preferred to remain anonymous but confirmed that many people in the city were aware of the fact that al-Zarqawi had recently been taken to the city.

Sheikh Nasir's claims appear to correspoind with reports several weeks ago that al-Zarqawi had been injured and taken to Ramadi hospital for emergency treatment, and with messages on the Internet talking of two Arab doctors accompanying him. Al-Zarqawi was reported to have been seen at the hospital on April 27. The hospitals director told an Iraq-based newspaper that US troops later surrounded and raided the entire building, searching for the Jordanian militant.

Only two days ago, an audio message attributed to al_Zarqawi was posted on the Internet, in which he assured his followers that he had only been lightly inuured. Following the message, the US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld warned countries neighbouring Iraq not to give any medical assistance to al-Zarqawi. "Our current theory is that he is in Iraq," he said. "Were a neighbouring country to take him in and provide medical assistance or haven for him, they obviously would be associating themselves with a major linkage in the al-Qaeda network, and a person who has a great deal of blood on ihs hands." Rumsfeld continued. "And that's something that people would want to take note of."

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9020.htm

++

One has to hope he isn't one of many Hydra's.

Saundra Hummer

June 2nd, 2005, 07:19 PM

.......'THE NAZI'S TOOK OVER THE MEDIA, FOLKS.

No newspaper published a single sentence without governmental approval, and propaganda was fed to the populace instead of news. Sound familiar? A TIME magazine article, (April, 2005), gave illustrated examples of how the current administration administers this process."

".....the Nazi's took over the German government in its entirety with one simple maneuver: They simply took over the courts. You know, like it's happening right now, today, even as we speak: Our filibuster was busted, and those neo-con activist judges are a-sittin' on the bench, ready to take over the Supreme Court. Because, once that Supreme Court is co-opted, hey, driver's license ID cards are gonna be the least of our worries. Ask me. I know!

(We're all going to be identified with a national computer with the new defense bill. SRH)

From Papiere Bitte (Translation: "Papers Please.") From a Nazi German survivor, from someone who remembers those chilhood times with clarity!

There is much more to this story other than the short excerpt I'm posting.

"No one ever forgets the stench."

"I smell the long forgotten skunk, the long forgotten rot of fascism. What is happening all around can no longer be denied. . What I ran away from so desperately in 1938 is coming back full circle. Only the jack-boots have not yet arrived.

=

"America quite literally saved my life. The love and gratitude deep in my heart for this country will never go away. But I'm scared now."

None of these quotes are in context, check out the article to get the whole story.

Here's the link, just click on it:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9007.htm

gabegabrielsky

June 2nd, 2005, 08:42 PM

Saundra Hummer

June 2nd, 2005, 10:17 PM

I'm certainly no fan of the current regime in Washington. Nevertheless, I think it is a huge mistake to equate the dreadful politicies of the Bush administration with fascism. Civil liberties, freedom of speech and the right to organize certainly are more circumscribed than was ever the case in living memory in the US, yet they are not completely abrogated as is the case in a genuinely fascist regime. Police powers are perhaps greater than they have ever been, but we are a very long way from living in a genuine, totalitarian, one-party police state. I think these distinctions are extremely important. We can be relatively assured that we can organize an opposition to the current administration without being marched off to a concentration camp or a death camp. These distinctions are not simply academic. There most certainly is little reason to celebrate what is left of American democracy. There is a lot of reason to use what is left of it to build an opposition and rebuild a democratic culture.

I totally agree. We have the greatest freedoms of any country, and because of them we need to protect them with ever fibre in our bodies. Do you realize that a survey of highschool aged children believe our press should have limits placed on it believing that it is able to print too much, that it has too many freedoms, that their stories should have to be approved by the government before going to press or being aired? Our generation knows better or most of us do, we see the inherent dangers in such thoughts, but I fear for where the next generation, the people with such thoughts will take this country. Look at the problems we are already enduring with those who should know better. Greed, power, aviarice, and malice seems to be the order of the day with this administration and it scares her and worries the heck out of me as well and the future? Lets hope someone drills some sense into the younger generations heads.

Did you believe 15, 20 years ago that we would have as policy the covert flights of prisoners to countries where torture is a standard proceedure? Did you believe we would have our own military take part in the things that have gone on in Afghanistan, Iran and Cuba? Never in a million years would we have ever thought that our voting machines would turn up as suspect, and that the Supreme court appointees of one mans father would determine his son's presidency.

No we have freedoms, but as Osama bin Laden himself said, his terrorist acts will insure our loss of many of them ... and as they say in Texas, "Boy Howdie", he had that one right. No we aren't a fascist state, but never say never.

If we become too complacent, there are those out there who would make our lives a lot more complicated. Will we ever become like Nazi Germany or like the Soviets under Stalin? In all probability, there's not a chance that will happen. It is just that we don't want to lose ANY of our hard earned freedoms. We don't want to ever feel threatened in our own homes by our own governrnent, which by the way, I have. No . . . we aren't approaching facism in it's purest state at this juncture, but lets make sure it can never happen.

We need to quit being "Chicken Little" with our fears, and our willingness to accept whatever it is this administration tells us is best for us. I for one don't believe them, and, I don't want their brand of government; their brand of politics; their brand of national security. I just don't like this administration and how they operate. It has changed our country too much. Jack Boots? Well she fears for us as she has been there. I understand her point of view, not that it will ever get as horrid as it did for the Germans. But you know we are being compared to them, as far as out tactics go, and this is horrid; it's an insult and it shouldn't be happening.

Saundra Hummer

June 3rd, 2005, 02:38 PM

.......EXXON SHAREHOLDERS GET MAD

As reported (link provided on site) in todays Guardian, criticism of Exxon Mobil continued today as insurance giant CIS protested the re-appointment of Exxon's boss, Lee Raymond, CIS, which owns $25 million worth of Exxon shares, takes issue with the company's handling of climate change, arguing that Raymond has not only guided Exxon to downplay the significance of global warming, but has also lobbied the U.S. Government against signing the Kyoto treaty.

Meanwhile, Social investment group Claris Consulting has also claimed (link provided on site) that unlike some of its competitors, including BP and Shell, Exxon, doesn't factor in carbon trading in its financial decision making, which may put it at a competitive disadvantage if carbon-trading programs around the world start taking off. Nor, say other critics, does Exxon disclose greenhouse risks to its investors, as many of its competitors do.

According to the Financial Times (link provided), at a shareholder meeting on Wednesday, Raymond dismissed efforts (link provided) to press the board to make data relevant to Exxons's position on climate change available, as well as to report on how Exxon plans to meet reduction tartgets in those countries in which it operates where Kyoto has been adopted.

Shareholders proceeded to berate him for relying on "junk science" to support his position on climate change. His response? "Frankly, I think this company is a leader in climate science."

Posted by Erik Kancler on 05/27/05.

Go to this site to see more blogs and news articles by just clicking on it.

http://www.motherjones.com

We also keep hearing that they haven't ever completed the clean-up job in Alaska, that terrible environmental disaster caused by the EXXON VALDEEZ. Why not????

Saundra Hummer

June 3rd, 2005, 03:46 PM

........WOW! GREG PALAST STILL KNOWS HOW TO BLAST THOSE HE'S AT ODDS WITH:

FRENCH FRIED FRIEDMAN THE NOUVELLE GLOBALIZER......., AND DEEP THROAT COVER BLOWN........ WASHINGTON POST STILL SUCKS....... ECUADOR GETS CHAVEZX'D ____BUSH HAS SOME ONE NEW TO BLAME (SOME NEW--SOME OLD)

AN EXCERPT FROM FRENCH FRIED FRIEDMAN......."He forgot to add, "and where Indian families are ready to sell thier children into sexual slavery to survive." Now, THERE"S a standard to reach for. (Wish our jobs all being transferred off-shore, where will we be in 20 years? What will we be doing to survive?)

=

AN EXCERPT FROM DEEP THROAT COVER BLOWN.......It was in the summer of 2001. Afew months earlier, for the Guardian papers of Britain, I'd discovered that Katherine Harris and Governor Jeb Bush of Florida Had reoved tens of thousands of African-Americans from voter registries before the 2000 election
thereby fixing the race for George Bush. Hosenball siad the Post Newsweek team "looked into it and couldn't find anything." .........Nothing at all? What I found noteworthy about the Post's investigation was that "looking into it" involved their reporters chatting with Florida officials -- but not bothering to look at the voter purge list itself.

=

PALAST INVESTIGATIONS UNDER ATTACK
IRAQ OIL, ELECTIONS STORY SCOOPS GENERATE AWARDS AND LWASUITS.
AN EXCERPT: Our work is under attack and we need your help. Greg Palast has never and will never pay a dime to "settle" law suits against our journalism.
......However, our successful, aggressive defense of the truth is costly.
Example: Our story on secret US plans for Iraq's oil for BBC and Harper's Magazine has already generated two threats of awsuits form the oil industry. Our revelations on the manipulation of the US voting operations has generated more threats. We still have bills left over from our smashing legal victory over George Bush Sr.'s partners in is blood-soiled Gold mining business. (They go on to ask for tax-deductible donations, how that can be, I really don't understand. For donating a certain amount he will send out a copy of his "Weapon of Mass Instruction,", his spoken word CD).

"The team is embarking on a whole new round of investigations on the solid evidence that -- gasp! - George Bush did 'not' win the last election, on the secrets of Big Oil and Dick Cheney in their cared-up of Iraq; and more: I am writing this from Ecuador, covering the State of Siege in this one time member of OPEC."

Click on the following link to see his expose's and views.

http://www.GregPalast.com

Saundra Hummer

June 3rd, 2005, 04:20 PM

....WHERE'S OSAMA?

BUSH DOESN'T CARE. DO WE?

BY TED RALL

Either the Bushies are too stupid to catch bin Laden or they're not really trying. Capturing him alive, after all, could lead to discomfiting revelations from interesting info re-Reagan's Stinger missle giveaways to reports that a CIA agent hung out with the suspect of the 1996 East Africa embassy bombings weeks before 9/11

http://www.informationclearighouse.info/article9028.htm

http.//snipurl.com/fch0

We've heard that one reason Manuel Noriega tried so hard to be taken alive with Catholic priests involvement was that he didn't want to be killed, thereby taking his secrets about the Administrations previous dealings with drugs and arms quiet. Just a rumor but goes to history.

Saundra Hummer

June 3rd, 2005, 06:24 PM

.....OIL ON ICE
KELPIE WILSON INTERVIEW DALE DJERASSI

TRUTHOUT [SPECIAL

FRIDAY 03, JUNE 2005

KELPIE WILSON INTERVIEWS DALE DJERASSI, PRODUCER/DIRECTOR OF OIL ON ICE.

Oil on Ice opened the UN World Environment Day Green Screen Film Festival in San Francisco on June (can't see the date), It will also close the World Environment Day activities with a special screening that is free to the public at San Francisco's Grace Cathedral at 1 pm on Sunday June 5. For more informaton on Oil on Ice or upcoming screenings please visit:
www.oilonice.org or call 415-593-0192.

Oil on Ice is a new documentary on the Artic National Wildlife Refuge that will show you exactly why drilling in ANWR is such a terrible idea. But that's not the reason to watch it. The reason to see it is for the wildlife footage.

A young fox, its fur a patchwork of white and brown as its winter coat molts away, trots across the flowering tundra. It stops, turns toward the camera and lets loose a baby fox how. Somehow, throght the medium of camera and screen, you feel in your own innards the exhilratio of the artic spring.

But there is nothing like actually being there. The producer/director team of Dale Djerassi and Bo Boudart traveled to Alaska to make this film and centered it around an 11 day raft trip on the Hullhula river which flows through the Artic National Wildlife Refuge.

Dale Djerassi agreed to answer a few of my questions about the film

Q: Dale which came first, the idea fot he raft trip or the idea for the film?

Gw Bush made drilling the Artic National Wildlife Refuge the cornerstone of his energy policy during his presidential campaign. The opportunity to take a trip downt he Hula Hula River, which runs from the Brooks Range to the Beufort Sea, arose around the same time. It seemed like a good idea to document the place that was at the center of the energy debate. But what began as river rafting expedition, quickly evolved into a more profound and important journey.

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

To read the rest of this story go to the truthout site by clicking on this address:

http://www.truthout.org

There is this in the article remember the Exxon Valzez?

Q. Obviously the Artic Wildlife Refuge has some wildlife. And many people know that there are traditional native cultures that will be impacted as well, but to me one of the most powerful segments of your film is the segment on the Exxon Vadez oil spill and the long term impacts?

A: Ricki Ott, a marine bioligist who is featured in the film is an expert on this subject and has devoted her life since the Exxon Valdez oil spill to the documentation of its effects. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) went to the Prince William Sound 12 years after the spill to investigate the long term effects. What they found is deeply disturbing. There are residual oil deposits everwhere. Marine life productivity continues to decline, which means that carcasses are not necessarily washing ashore, but we could see certain speciaes of fish that once thrived in the sound continue ot diminish over time. In addition to the adverse environmental impacts, Exxon has yet to pay damages to the residents in the spill zone for the destruction of their commercial fishing and subsistence way of life. The Exxon Valdez disaster should serve as a reminder that even with the best of intentions and more sincere promisses of responsibility, safety and minimal impact, the oil business is vulnerable in the hands of human error and Mother Nature.......(there's more)

Saundra Hummer

June 4th, 2005, 02:41 PM

.....WHY THE REVELATION OF THE IDENTITY OF DEEP THROAT HAS ONLY CREATED ANOTHER MYSTERY

BY JOHN W. DEAN

FRIDAY 03 JUNE 2005

(AN INTERESTING LOOK AT THIS HOT TOPIC AND ONE WHICH RAISES QUESTIONS. THERE ARE LINKS AND MORE LINKS TO SEE ABOUT THIS BREAKING STORY, ALL INTERESTING. SRH)

The Bush Administration prosecutes government officials, who leak sensitive informatio, even when that information is not classified - as I noted in my column on Jonathan Randal (link provided on site). The administration is also prepared to send reporters to jail when they refuse to reveal their sources to a grand jury, as I noted in another column (link provided on site).

I doubt the Justice Department will go after W. Mark Felt - the ninety one -year-old former Deputy Director of the FBI - even if he is the greatest leader in American political history. Still, in the context of the Administration's stances on leaking, the surfacing of Deep Throat at this time is rather ironic.

Bob Woodward (and Carl Bernstein) have confirmed the Vanity Fair story (link provided) identifying W. Mark Felt as thier legendary Watergate source. The best kept secret in Washington, for three decades, is no more.

But this is not to say the mystery is resolved. To the contrary, while Mark Felt is alive, his memory for the details of his relationship with Woodward seems to be all but gone. So the revelation of his identity raises many new questions that it seems Felt himself will not be able to answer.

-

This article goes on with much more:
A PASSING TRIBUTE TO GOOD SLEUTHING - NOW ENDED
THROAT SLEUTHING MOVES INTO A NEW PHASE: SCRUTINY OF THROAT AND THOSE AT THE POST.

FELT'S POSITION - AND POWER - DURING WATERGATE.
WHAT FELT TOLD WOODWARD, AND WHY IT RAISES NEW QUESTIONS
HOW COULD FELT GET SO MANY THINGS WRONG?
WAS FELT TRYING TO FRIGHTEN WOODWARD AND THE WASHINGTON POST INTO OVER-REACTION?
WAS FELT WORKING ALONE? THE EVIDENCE MAKES IT SEEM VERY UNLIKELY
IS FELT A HERO AND, MORE SPECIFICALLY, WHAT IS HIS LEGACY

===

WATERGATE'S LOST LEGACY
BY DAVID J. SIROTA
AMERICAN PROSPECT

THURSDAY 02, JUNE 2005

INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM IS DEAD; LONG LIVE INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM.

Upon the news this week that Watergate source "Deep Throat" had come foreward, CNN's Judy Woodruff waxed nostalgic about the golden era of muckraking journalism. "It is so hard, I think, for young people we know who work here at CNN and other news organizations to even imagine what Watergate was like," she said. "To have a White House come undone, an administration come undone, because of some news reporting." Coming from a lead reporter of one of America's largest cable networks, it was truly a sad commentary.

First and foremost, it was sad because she was right - American journalism today has lost its confrontational, hold thier feet to the-fire attitude that gave it a reputation as our government's fourth check and balance. Young reporters can't imagine what that kind of reporting really is because they've never experienced it.

Certainly there was Whitewater and the Monica Lewinsky scandal, but those were cheap attempts by journalists to recreate Watergate without actually doing the real investigative work. They were pathetic journalists' attempt to grab the sizzle of scandal without doing the hard work that uncovers serious crimes like Watergate. Though there are certainly some very fine investigative reporters left, they have become a rare breed, usually replaced by blow-dried blowhards who spend more time sucking up to the power than challenging it.

It was also sad because Woodruff, one of CNN's senior reporters, had the nerve to complain about the decline of journalism, even though she and her television news colleagues have had a big hand in that decline. Though Beltway insiders lament the termination of Inside Politics, that show- like most others - has cheapened journalism and made politics into a melodramatic soap opera. For every occasional story that delves into real issues like health care, jobs, and stagnating wages, we get hundreds of stories that are nothing more than "he said, she said" fights between dueling suits, the reporter never once taking the time to delve into the issues that are actually being discussed.

Interestingly, one of the much-lauded reporters who broke Watergate, Bob Woodward, actually epitomizes these problems. More than any other, his career charts the decline of the national press corp to the laughingstock it is today. Here was a tough-nosed reporter who made his name doing the gritty, unglamorous work that eventually exposed one of the most egregious abuses of power in American history. But instead of using the credibility he had earned from Watergate to build a career exposing corruption, he quickly dove into the Beltway culture, where that kind of thing is looked down upon. He used his fame to suck up to those in power and then write books like Bush at War that simply told power's story, ultimately becoming just another bloviating cardboard cutout on the pundit circuit.

To be sure, Woodward's sad story is just one in a constellation of similar tales, and certainly he can't be blamed for all of journalism's current failings. But make no mistake about it, Woodward's pathetic trajectory was a very powerful model for young journalists. He helped legitimize the practice of discarding what journalism shouuld be about (investigation and challenging power) in favor of exactly what journalism should never be about (glamour, propaganda, and genuflectrion). (Tough words, don't you think? SRH)

And we see the results today. We have top White House reporters like The New York Times' Elisabeth Burniller spending much of their time writing doozies like the one about what's on the president's iPod, or the one about how the president's butler ahs a good sense of humor and a nice hairdo. But when it came to asking tough questions of the president in the run-up to war, Bumiller said, the press was "very deferential" because "no one wanted to get into an argument with the president at this very seriuos time." When the subject was the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal, The Washington Post could quote the Beltway's top pundits frothing at the mouth about Bill Clinton's deceptons. "I resent deeply being constantly lied to, " said Hardball's Chris Matthews. yet these same reporters have been for the most part silent about being constantly lied to about the war in Iraq.

Toward the end of her segment, Woodruff did (inadvertently) manage to offer a silver lining. "In the beginning [of Watergate]." she said, "the reporting was considered blasphemous, pratically." That offers us at least a glimmer of hope. Yes, much of the national press corps today is a joke. But it doesn't have to be. The courageous reporters, while rare, are out there (Sy Hersh, Bill Moyers, David Cay Johnston, to name a few). And when they break stories, they face the kind of establishment scorn that Woodruff was talking about. But that scorn is usually a sign that they are touching a nerve in the power structure, which is exactly what they are supposed to do. It means a reporter is having far more of an impact than simply using cocktail party connections to get on television.

That is the journalist legacy of Watergate, too often forgotten. It is the lesson of Watergate Woodward, not Bush at War Woodward, and one we should pray comes back into style sometime soon - for the sake of our country and our democracy.

===

David Sirota, a Northwestern University journalism-school graduate, is finishing a book about the middle-class economic squeeze. He was previously a top strategist for Montan Governor Schweitzer's successful campaign in 2004, and the chief spokesman for Democrats on the US House Appropriations Committee. He lives in Helena, Montana.

Go to the following link to see both of these stories, and there will be an intersting one coming up Monday about California owned energy company Sempra fouling up Baha. It will be Part i of a multi-part series by filmkaer Chris Hume, it is a powerful documentary and it takes you for a hike into the unspoiled wilderness of Baja's coast. Unspoiled by the local fishermen that is, but as you will see in it is in the process of being spoiled by Sempra Energy. Quite intersating, how they are using Enrons's old tricks for their profit and Baja's environmental detriment. Bypassing environmental concerns. Ever read up on the Sea of Cortez? It is a fascinating and wonderful ecological treasure trove, and to ruin it is sinful. Remember the Japanese with their drift nets and factory fishing fleets, remember the plans to mine salt there and how it will ruin the Gulf Of California, the Sea of Cortez? Greed is just so overwhelming that world treasures, (which is what the Sea Of Cortez is, a world treasure), be damned.

Bio Diesel -- it is already on the market and being used. It is more expensive, but will it save lives and money in the long run? Will wars be fought over it? Will farmers die trying to protect their corn, peanut and soyfields? Facetious? Absolutely. Will we all smell like a greasy spoon restaurant? Well we will adjust. The smell will probably be like getting used to clorine in your water; we don't have it here so when we go into a restaurant we can smell it in the air and the water when served about knocks our heads off so we ask for lemon or lime to put in it to hide that odor. That is another thing they will research I'm sure, maybe I want to buy stock in a company which works to rid the air of such a stench, ha!

http://www.truthout.org

Saundra Hummer

June 6th, 2005, 04:04 PM

VIDEO OF THE DISASTEROUS POLICY OF AN ENERGY COMPANY IN BAJA CALIFORNIA.......REMEMBER THE SEA OF CORTEZ?
Here's the address to the video telling of what is happening in that beautuful and ecologically important place. One we Americans throng to for our vacations - either to soak up the sun - golf - scuba dive - sports fish or surf. It is one of our playgrounds. and an important fishing ground for all of us. Mexico will suffer greatly if this wonderful environmentally threatened sea and it's coastal lands are fouled. What is happening to it?

By: Chrise Hume [ Enron ll -- 06.06.05

While there check out their impressive list of videos, with controversial topics. There are phone call interviews with Greg Palast, John Zegby, Sherrod Brown, Allie Metzer, Dan Rakowski Mitch Dworkin, and to Rep. Henry Waxman, all from 2004 archives, however there is an article from 02/17/05 wanting Rice 9/11 hearings. Besides telephone interviews, there are several other video's which are from this spring. Here's the link, just click on it:

http://www.truthout.org/multimedia.htm

Saundra Hummer

June 6th, 2005, 04:37 PM

....."Be not intimidated...nor suffer yourselves to be wheedled out of your liberties by any pretense of politeness, delicacy, or decency. These, as they are often used, are but three different names for hypocrisy, chicanery, and cowardice." John Adams

Saundra Hummer

June 6th, 2005, 05:09 PM

...

......BUSH'S FOREIGN POLICY SHIFTING

SPREADING DEMOCRACY HAS BECOME HIS TOP PRIORITY, AT TIMES TRUMPING URGENT ISSUES. SOME SPECIALISTS DISMISS HIS MISSION AS UNREALISTIC.

By Tyler Marshal
Times Staff Writer

06/05/05 "Los Angeles Times" - - WASHINGTON --- President Bush's ambitious vision of global democratic reform has begun to dominate the administration's foreign affairs agenda, in some cases pushing aside urgent international issues.

So far, the president's plan has been driven mainly by high-level rhetoric symbolic gestures and a handful of modestly funded development. But collectively, this mix has started to shift the focus in relations with key nations.

In the four months since Bush unveiled the approach in his second inaugural address, nearly every meeting with foreign officials and many of the changes taking place within the Bush administration, including several key appointments, has refected the priority of expanding the boundaries of democracy.

By now the presidential vision even has its own buzz phrase: "practical idealism," a reference to the policy's underlying premise that in a post-Sept. 11 workd, America's national security is tied directly to the spread of free and open societies everywhere, including the Middle East.

Although a few foreign policy specialists interviewed for this article questioned the president's personal sincerity, some dismissed his plan as little more than fantasy. Others expressed doubt that the U.S. had the credibility to advance such ambitious reforms ---- expecially in the Islamic world.

Whatever the eventual outcome, there is evidence of initial effects.

"People in the Middle East already see it as a very powerful initiative," said Walter Russell Mead, and expert on America's role in the world at the Council on Foreign Relations. "A lot of people are beginning to wonder if American foreign policy isn't in the midst of a fundamental change."

Egyptian Prime Minster Ahmed Nazief got a tast of this change during his weeklong visit to Washington last month. Egypt is an important player in the Middle East peace process and a vital, if quiet, ally in the struggle to create stability in Iraq. But Nazief repeatedly was put on the defensive by questions on one topic: Egypt's plans for democratic reform.

Nazief said two pressing regional issues were largely left out of his May 18 visit with Bush: the unfolding crisis just to Egypt's south in the Darfur region of Sudan, and Syria's involvement in Lebanon.

The president and the first lady have alternately criticized and cheered the Egyptian regime. During a trip to Cairo, Laura Bush praised a controversial draft law to create multi-candidate presidential elections, while Bush condemned beatings of government opponents.

Despite the administrations aggressive new effort to promote reform, formidable hurdles litter the path toward Bush's goal.

In the Middle East, America's poor image and more urgent strategic concerns, such as assuring the welfare of U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, diminish the administrations leverage to induce reform. Closer to home, bureaucratic resistance with parts of the U.S. government that are skeptical of the agenda threaten to blunt the effect of existing pro-democracy initiatives.

More significant, the new emphasis on promoting democracy has launched policymakers on a journey wiht no clear path to their goal

"What we want is a world of democratic, market-oriented countries," said Stephen Krasner, whose job as head of policy planning at the State Department is to direct the search for future external challenges that the country might face. "The big challenge is how to get there."

Want to read the rest of the article?.....

Go to the folliing link, just click on it to access the article in it's completed form, this is just a little over half of it.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info

Saundra Hummer

June 7th, 2005, 12:46 PM

Will it ever end? Will we ever tire of such carrying on? Are we all so independantly wealthy that we can afford to stand by and watch the Bush administration, and others in politics hand out money to the wealthiest corporations on the face of the earth, and have their actions not hurt our own well being? Hardly! Not in my case, that's for sure, /and how about you, and yours? Are we all just going to continue to think it can't be stopped or or that it can't be changed, and who cares anyway it doesn't affect me; will we keep thinking in this manner, and let them just run amuck with our lives and our welfare?

Here is a new story from the Public Citizen

Tuesday 07 June 2005

.......SENATE ENERGY BILL CONTAINS PROVISION FOR HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN LOAN GUARANTEES FOR POWER PROJECT.

.....Washington D.C. - Buried in the 700-plus page energy bill corrently under debate in the U.S. Senate is a provision that provides hundereds of millions of dollars worth of federal loan guarantees for a power project apparently to be built by four former Enron executives. One of the former executives :tearhair: is Thomas White former head of Enron's retail and energy trading in California during the energy crisis who later served as President Bush's Secretary of the Army.

..Title XIV, Section 1403(c)(1)(B) of the Senate energy bill provides federal loan guarnatees for "a project to produce energy from coal.....mined in the western United states using appropriate advanced intergrated gasification combined cycle technology that minimizes and offers the potential to sequester carbon dioxide emissions and ...shall be located in a western state of an altitude greater than 4,000 feet."

******" :rant2: Congress should not be in the business of slipping taxpayer subsidies into large bills to benefit individual corporatins, especially executives from a company that perpertrated one of the greatest corporate frauds in American history." :rant2: Said Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook.*******

....The Federal loan guarantee makes taxpayers responsible for repaying the loan if the company dedfaults :tearhair: or if the project ends up not being economically feasible after its constructiohn. The provision states that if an energy company receiving such a loan guarantee defaults on that loan, the bank to which the loan is owed "shall have the right to demand payment of the unpaid [loan] amount from the Secretary of Energy. Therefore, taxpayers hold all the risk while energy companies reap all the rewards. :tearhair:

...."Has Congress learned nothing from the Enron bankruptcy and the fallout from the company's fradulent behavior?" said Tyson Slocum, research director for the energy program. "The fact that the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is willing to back these former Enron executives with taxpayer's money is truly unsettling." ***** [Are these the same men who Dick Cheney held his secret energy policy meetings with, the meetings which he refuses to hand over records of????] ****

The committee has approved the bill, and it is scheduled for Senate action as early as this week. Among the members of the energy committee is Republican Craig Thomas of Wyoming. The provision is not in the House energy bill, which has been approved by the House.

...Public Citizen speculated that those four former Enron executives are seeking taxpayer handouts because they have had a difficult time attracting the necessary private capital without the loan guarantee. White served as Secreatary of the Army from May 2001 to March 2003. Prior to that, he served as vice chairman of one of Enroan's largest divisions, Enron Energy Services (EES).

Under Whites tenure, EES played a major role in the California energy crisis. In 1996, the year he became its vice chairman, EES was America's 61st largest energy trader. When he left, his division was the 28th largest energy trading firm in the country. Until March 2001, the trading operations of EES were separate from the rest of Enron's Wholesale Energy unit meaning White was responsible for a huge trading operation that played a significant role in California's energy crisis.

Also under Whites direction, EES severed at least two large retail contracts in California in January/February 2001 during the height of the energy crisis which Enron helped create. Based on the evidence on hand it appears that EES took the power that had been obligated to serve these retail condumers and sold it in the wholesale mariket, where EES could fetch higher prices than it could by continuing to sell power at lower, fixed rates to retail customers. This significant wholesale trading operation, combined with White's decision to break retail contracts in California, made the division a major player in California's deregulated wholesale market.

The energy bill also contains other giveaways to energy corporations. Title XIV, Section 1403(c)(1)(C), provides $800 million in federal loan guarantees to a Minnesota company, Excelsior Energy, whose executives have ties to a company that filled for bankruptcy after amassing $9.2 billion in debt and paid $25 million to settle allegations of energy market manipulation. [See our Novermber 2003 report.]

Title XIV, Section 1403(c)(1)(D), provides loan guarantees ot Lexington, KY based EnvilRes to build a coal gasificatin facility in East ST. Louis, Ill. The total cost of the project is $254.2 million. EnviRes is a joint venture of three companies, including Triad Research, which in turn is operated by Robert Addington of Addington Energy (AEI Resources), one of the nations largest coal conglomerates,. Among the members of energy committee is Republican Jim Bunning of Kentucky.

"Since the energy bill was first drafted it has been larded with pork for corporate America," said Wenonah Hauter, director of Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program." If this project can't stand on it's own, it shouldn't get a taxpayer bailout. In this case, taxpayers take all the risk but the former Enron executives will reap al the rewards.! :tearhair:

To see this and much more click on the link below

http://www.truthout.org

Saundra Hummer

June 7th, 2005, 04:53 PM

Where Are You Mrs. Robinson???

Anne Bancroft dies of cancer at the age of 73, and wasn't she so very good? Not just in that roll we can all still picture her in so vividly, but in every thing she was ever in, and on the talk shows her depth was still in evidence, she just had it, a terrific talent and such an interesting lady. She is missed, we will always remember her fantastic smile and wit. Did I mention the talent???

Saundra Hummer

June 9th, 2005, 11:02 AM

"ETHICS STANDSTILL COULD LET TOM DELAY COAST FOR A YEAR"

Better then being out on bail wouldn't you say? How many arms can he twist in the meantime?

http://www.truthout.org

Check out this story and others check their current stories and their archives concerning this issue and others that are timely and topical.

Saundra Hummer

June 9th, 2005, 11:03 PM

......"We know that dictators are quick to choose aggression, while free nations strive to resolve differences in peace." George W. Bush UN Speech Sept 2004.

=

......."Allow the President to invade a neighboring nation, whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so, whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such a purpose -- and you allow him to make war at pleasure. If today, he should choose to say he thinks it necessary to invade Canada, to prevent the British from invading us, how could you stop him? You may say to him, "I see no probability of the British invading us" but he will say to you, "Be silent, I see it, if you don't." Abraham Lincoln

=

Until lions have thier historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunters. African Proverb

Saundra Hummer

June 9th, 2005, 11:09 PM

.....TORTURED LOGIC

BUSH'S PROPAGANDA RUBICON

BY TED RALL

......Failing an increasingly elusive military victory against the Iraqi resistance, the American public is looking for any excuse to cut and run. Revelations of systemic torture of innocent civilian detainees by American troops at Guantinamo, Abu Ghraib and Bagram provides a perfect reason for immediate withdrawal. There are neither WMDs to find nor hearts and minds to win, so why the hell are we there?

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9084.htm

http://snipurl.com/ih4k

Check out the other stories about Iraq and there are always the archives.

The Arab world is still remembering "The Crusades," saying they were "in their recent history" and they are still hating the West for it. So what will come of our having done the things we're doing over there?

Not all of the men and women are handing out gifts of love to the Iraqi's as we know has happened, and not all have metted out the abuses that are happing in the detention centers, and prisons, but think about it --- what is the most ingrained thoughts in our minds as a rule? We often times remember the abuses much more clearly than acts of kindness, we're just wired that way. How many centuries will we be hated for what has happened in our "fight against terrorism?" We manufactured terrorists where none were. Now we learn it was for oil and positon. Location, Oil, Location, Oil, and all that comes with it. Terrorism is on the rise because of our actions. Look at how many lives we've lost since 9/11. Don't you wonder how many more will have to die? I'm not just talking about the deaths from "our side", but the Iraqi's and others who have suffered more than we are led to believe. We don't count their dead you know - much less their injured and maimed.

Saundra Hummer

June 10th, 2005, 02:59 PM

.....WE LOVE HOWARD DEAN! by JOE CORY a Vietnam veteran. He recieved the Purple Heart and Bronze Star with V device, 1969 - 1970

FRIDAY JUNE 10 2005

FOR AN IN YOUR FACE ARTICLE, ONE THAT FIGHTS THE BUSH GOP ALL THE WAY WITH RHETORIC THAT HOLDS IT'S OWN AGAINST WHAT WE HAVE BEEN BEING FED SINCE BEFORE AND AFTER SEPTEMBER 11, GO TO:

http://www.truthout.org

This article goes to the truth of the matter on issues involving the KKK, David Dukes and how there are those in some parts of the country using religion and racism for political clout.

There is more; the way the Bush administration involved Dowing Street; Iran's WMD's -- pardon me, I meant to say Iraq's, but face it, Iran is also on the table as is Syria, read elsewhere of the saber rattling going on about them.

A quote from the article:

"Howard Dean said something mean."

......"Oh my God! Stop the presses! Did you hear? Dean has gone mean, pass it on. Get Candy Crowley at CNN and Chris Matthews at MSNBC. Don't forget Scarborough. This is a week's worth of programming! Get Holy Joe Lieberman to speak for the good Democrats. Get Jive-Joe Biden, he'll be good for a sensible quote to contrast with the madness of Howard "Beal" Dean."

....."Quick, do you know why Republicans are against federal money for stem cell research? They're afraid the Democrats will use it to grow a spine. (ba-da-boom)."

To see the complete article, click on the sight below and find the story.

http://www.truthout.org

Full of tough talk, tongue in cheek, but tough nonetheless

Saundra Hummer

June 10th, 2005, 04:52 PM

....."Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak, and that it is doing God's service when it is violating all his laws." John Adams.

Saundra Hummer

June 10th, 2005, 05:12 PM

.....EXIT STRATEGY: CIVIL WAR

The plan is an exact replica of an extreme right-wing Israeli plan to balkanize Iraq - an essential part of the balkanization of the whole Middle East.

By Pepe Escobar.

Against all odds, a national libertion front is emerging in Iraq. Washington hawks may see it coming, but they certainly don't want it. Many groups in this front have already met in Algiers. The front is opposed to the American occupation and permanent Pentagon military bases, opposed to the privatization and corporate looting of the Iraqi economy (Remember "The Plan?" It has been written about on several sites and here on AAJ as well. If not, do a google and just be amazed at how we had a plan for Iraq that would have left them with absolutely nothing but hatred. SRH), and opposed to the federation of Iraq, in balkanization

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9099.htm

There is this story as well. "U.S. Military Chief Admits, 'Good and Honest' Iraqis are fighting US forces."

=

The Occupiers Will Lose In Iraq

America's military mission [in Iraq' has become impossible to succeed in "the London based International Institute of Stragegic Studies has just written. The dramatic situation in Iraq is, indeed, well known. On the military side, violence goes on unabated.

http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=168534

http://snipurl.com/fi4k

Check out the other articles about Bob Woodward; Bush and Regime Change; attacks against our military and others by "insurgents." There is also the "In Case You Missed It" section which even though it back tracks, the stories are fitting and topical, not really out of date. Same men and women, same problems and an insight as to why.when and how.

Saundra Hummer

June 10th, 2005, 06:12 PM

A Story Concerning The Environment:

...SHELL SHOCK ON THE ISLAND TERRIFIED BY OIL GIANT'S PIPELINE

BY JONATHAN BROWN
THE INDEPENDENT UK
JUNE 8, 2005

THE UK FIRM WILL MAKE BILLIONS FROM ONE OF THE WORLD'S BIGGEST GAS PROJECTS. BUT WHAT WILL IT MEAN FOR THE PEOPLE AND ENVIRONMENT ON SAKHALIN?

"They no longer let their children play in the woods beside the dachas on the hills overlooking Aniva Bay.

From the waters to the bears, the whales, and the people living there, everything is threatened. One breed of whale, the "western grey whale in the north of the island could be driven to extinction as there are only one hundered of them. The islanders will not benefit, quite the opposite, they will be totally ruined, they with their $28.00 a month subsistance as it is. They will be left with a ruined landscape and a way to survive is doubtful according to those in the know. Ecologically speaking this is something that shouldn't be happening.

Shame on Shell! However it seems there is blame to go around. Corporate and political.

=

Go to Truthout.org's website to see the complete involved story, go there by clicking on the link below and then look up this story.

http://truthout.org

Saundra Hummer

June 10th, 2005, 06:55 PM

CAUTON.....CAUTION.....CAUTION........

HACKERS USE JACKSON SUICIDE RUMOR TO SPREAD VIRUS.

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (June 10) -- E-mails claiming pop star Michael Jackson, on trial on sex abuse charges, has tried to kill himself are being spread by hackers as a means to break into computers, a British antivirus firm said on Friday.

The hackers have sent e-mails with the subject "Re: Suicidal attempt" and the message text: "Last night, while in his Neverland Ranch, Michael Jackson has made a suicidal attempt", said security software specialists at Sophos.

Jackson is awaiting a California court verdict on charges of child molestation.

The e-mail asks recipeints to click on a link that takes them to an internet site which secretly installs malicious code on their computers.

"If you click on the link, the Web site displays a message saying it is too busy, which may not surprise people who think it might contain genuine breaking news about Michael Jackson," said Carole Theriault, security consultant at Sophos.

===

Tell everyone to be careful not to fall for it.

Saundra Hummer

June 11th, 2005, 12:10 PM

...GOP CHAIRMAN WALKS OUT OF MEETING

BY JIM ABRAMS
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
FRIDAY 10, JUNE 2005

WASHINGTON --The Republican chairman walked off with the gavel, leaving Democrats shouting into turned off microphiones at a raucous hearing friday on the Patriot Act.

The House Judiciary Committee hearing, with the two sides accusing each other of being irresponsible and undemocratic, came as President Bush was urging Congress to renew those sections of the post Sept 11 counterterrorism law set to expire in September.

Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R. Wis., chairman of the panel, abruptly gaveled the meeting to an end and walked out, followed by other Republicans. Sensenbrenner declared that much of the testimony, which veered into debate over the detainees at Guantanamo Bay, was irrelevant.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler. D.N.Y., protested, raising his voice as his microphone went off, came back on, and went off again.

"We are not besmirching the honor of the United States, we are trying to uphold it." he said.

Democrats asked for the hearing, the 11th committee has held on the act since April, saying past hearings had been too slanted toward witnesses who supported the law. The four witnesses were from groups, including Amnesty International USA and the American Immigrations Lawyers Associaltion, that have questioned the constitutionality of some aspects of the act which allows law enforcement greater authority to investigate suspected terrorists.

Nadler said Sensenbrenner, one of the authors of the Patriot Act was "rather rude", cutting everybody off in mid sentence.

Tempers flared when Rep. Mike Pence, R. Ind., accused Amnesty International of endangering the lives of Americans in uniform by referring to the prison at Guantanamo Bay as a "gulag" Sensenbrenner didn't allow the Amnesty representative, Chip Pitts, to respond until Nadler raised a "point of decency."

Sensenbrenner's spokesman Jeff Lungren siad the hearing had lasted two hours and "the chairman was very accommeodating, giving members extra time."

James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, speaking Immediately after Sensenbrenner left, voiced dismay over the proceedings. "I'm troubled about what kind of lesson this gives" to the rest of the world, he told the Democrats remaining in the room.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, in a statement, said the hearing was an example of Republican abuse of power and she would ask House Speaker Dennis Hastert to order an apology form Sensenbrenner.

See this article and more by clicking on the link below,

http://www.truthout.org

===

Better than an apology how about some reversals in policy when it comes to the Patriot Act? Policies which have given us the feeling of shame. Why should we be made to feel this way? To feel safe at all costs? I don't feel a bit safer because of the Patriot Act, quite the opposite.....and how safe do our cituzens feel around the world? How safe do our troops in the Middle east feel because of the Patriot Act? Has it stopped roadside bombing or other acts of violence? Hardly. They are on the rise and seem to be more horrendous with each passing day. More of our military men are returning home in coffins in the dead of the night as are the injured ..... hidden from our sight. Feel safer all of you out there? Pandora's box has been opened and along with the other tragedies which dog us, we should realize it also contained the Patriot Act.

Saundra Hummer

June 12th, 2005, 04:53 PM

See the Truthout Editorial by Chip Pitts

Sunday 12 June 2005

"Friday's Congressional hearing on the USA Patriot Act and civil liberties was indeed an interesting experience."

To read the article go to the link below and just click on oit. I had typed in the complete article, but my computer crashed just as I was going to check for errors. Should know by now, just to click it in and correct it later, that saves a lot of articles as I'm always crashing.

http://www.truthout.org

Saundra Hummer

June 12th, 2005, 05:49 PM

..... "Our country is not the only thing to which we owe our allegiance. It is also owed to justice and to humanity. Patriotism consists not in waving the flag, but in striving that our country shall be righteous as well as strong." James Bryce

From a news letter from: Informationclearinghouse.info

Saundra Hummer

June 12th, 2005, 06:08 PM

....UK Ministers were told of need for Gulf war 'excuse.'

Bush and Blair agreed on regime change in April 2002 and then looked for a way to justify it.

Michael Smith

MINISTERS were warned in July 2002 that Britain was committed to taking part in an American invasion of Iraq and they had no choice but to find a way of making it legal. The briefing paper is certain to add to the pressure, particularly on the American president, because of the damaging revelation that Bush and Blair agreed on regime change in April 2002 and then looked for a way to justifly it

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9111.htm

http://snipurl.com/fj1a

===
===

This next story is the clincher as to why we should be so against this war.

Leaving aside the human toll of all other countries, (which is a tragedy in itself), think of the men and women of our own country, and whether we were willing to send then off to die in such a foolish and unnecessary war? I for one wasn't and am not. This is a stupid and evil war. Not that war is righteous, but this one was elective on our part, not that Osama bin Laden was anywhere near Saddam Hussien. They were at opposite poles.

vvvv

Memo: U.S. Lacked Full Postwar Iraq Plan:

A briefing paper prepared for British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his top advisers eight months before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq concluded that the U.S. military was not preparing adequately for what the British memo predicted would be a "protracted and costly" postwar occupation of that country.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9115.htm

http://snipurl.com/fj1c

===

Check out this video while on site with ICH.

"This is a must watch video."

Video: Hijacking Catastrophe

Documentary featuring Noam Chomsky, Chalmers Johnson, Tariq Ali, and many more experts speaking about the Neo-Con agenda and the cloud of fear which the Neo-Cons have settled over America

"This is a must watch video"

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article6895.htm

http://snipurl.com/awgc

Saundra Hummer

June 13th, 2005, 02:34 PM

The jurors in the Michael Jackson trial have reached a verdict. I wonder what it will be.

If anything else he is guilty of endangering children, young boys, by having them think it is OK to jump into bed with men. This alone is wrong on his part, regardless of whether he is guilty of worse perversions or not; as it's dangerous for any child to think this is part of normal behaviour, which we all know isn't the case, and we all know, there are more dangerous men out there than Michael Jackson, maybe not as clever and rich, but worse in so many ways. I'm not saying he is innocent of worse behaviour, as I don't feel he is, I believe he is so wacked and perverted that he is a threat in several ways. It's just that he isn't as abusive or as dangerous as some who would kill for the ultimate thrill or to prevent detection. Michael Jackson by setting this example, and his insistance that there is nothing more beautiful than sharing your bed with someone in friendship is dangerous for children to be hearing, don't you think?

Remember the Oprah interview from Neverland? It was quite sometime ago. Things had been removed from view for that staged performance. My friend has friends who were at Neverland ranch in the main house. They had to sign a letter of confidentiality, which they did, (but didnt' keep) as they told my friend that there were nude paintings, statues and other artwork depicting young nude boys, all sorts of art featuring nude young boys everywhere they looked, all of which had been removed for the Oprah Winfrey interview. They thought it so funny and so staged and phony, & they were amazed that Oprah had agreed to be there in the first place, as they felt it was such a phony self promoting act on Michaels part. None of the artwork was in sight like it was when they were there.

I can't help but feel somewhat of a pity for Michael, but good grief, can't he see for himself how crazy all of his actions are to most of us? How perverted and/or abnormal it seems to most of us? Can't someone, his family or someone stand up to him and let him know that the way he is just can't continue to go on???? Someone , somewhere needs to help him, and let him in on the secret. But look at him, if he can't understand after all of what he has done to himself and then his knowing how people think of his ways, then is there any hope for him at all? Doesn't seem like it, does it?

Anyway, wonder when they will announce the verdict? Sometime today, I would imagine - probably as soon as all the players can arrive at the court house. Wonder what color Michael will be once he is in prison if he's convicted, as I doubt they will let him bleach himself there, or would they?

Saundra Hummer

June 14th, 2005, 03:49 PM

After listening to the jurors reasoing behind their decision to aquit Michael Jackson, I wonder how and where these men and women were found! It's like we have to wonder, where in the world did these people come from? The people I have always known from Santa Barbara were or liked to believe they are a cut above the rest of us. I have never heard such convoluted stupid reasoning in my life. They were saying the boy's mother looked at them, (the jurors) constantly, and she had the nerve to snap her fingers at them! So it was the mother on trial not Jackson? I have never heard such crazy reasoning from jurors since the O.J. trial; not much of what they had to say afterwards seemed to make a lick of sense, well, not any of what they were saying when I was watching. Surely they had better reasoning capabilities when in the jurors room; but I really have my doubts. So many of them seemed star struck and struck by their own role in this trial. Self importance rules it seems, with all of the people involved. Where and when do the rights of children come into play? A forty year old man having sleep overs with young children???? Come on!

Saundra Hummer

June 14th, 2005, 04:10 PM

Just how insiteful were our founding fathers? It seems they weren't just very bright men, but that they were visionaries as well, even to the point of where it looks as though they were capable of seeing into the future. It is just that they knew the human condition and what motivated men of all nationalities down through the ages. It seems not much has changed, vigilence is still very much needed. The knowledge of our forefathers is being overlooked by those who would try to control us and the rest of the world, so what are they driving us to? Where will we end up when we over look the lessons of the very bright men who founded this country? Wisdom is dying on the vine along with our freedoms as they envisioned them; freedoms we should be striving to protect and keep. Where are the bright men who could instill and work for the same wishes and desires today? SRH

"War ___should only be declared by the authority of the people, whose toils and treasures are to support its burdens, instead of the government which is to reap its fruits." : James Madison (1751--1836)

====

..."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)

===

..."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 ..........(Of the Ethiopian Empire, said to be decended from the Queen of Sheba and Soloman, who was imprisoned by those who overthrew his government, his empire. Not much was said and done about his plight. He died in prison didn't he? SRH)

Saundra Hummer

June 14th, 2005, 04:32 PM

.....A TRUCKLOAD OF NONSENSE.....

THE GB PLAN TO SAVE AFRICA COMES WITH CONDITIONS THAT MAKE IT LITTLE MORE THAN AN EXTORTION RACKET.

GEORGE MONBIOT

Twenty-five countries have so far ratified the UN convention against corruption, but none is a member of the GB. Why? Because our own corporations do very nicely out of it.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9142.htm

http://snipurl.comfkto

=

WAR CRITICS HAVE COME UP WITH SEVEN MORE MEMOS, VERIFIED BY NBC NEWS.

Current and former diplomats tell NBC News they understood from the beginning the Bush policy to be that Saddam had to be removed -- one way or the other. The only question was when and how.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8207731

=

New 'Downing Street Memo' says Bush, Blair agreed on 'regime change' in 2002,

Iraq seen to 'slide into civil war', and more

http/snipurl.com/fku6

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Mother of dead soldier vilifies Bush over war:

"We're watching you very carefully and we're going to do everything in our power to have you impeached for misleading the American people." she said, quoting a letter she sent to the White House. "Beating a political stake in your black heart will be the fulfillment of my life . . . ," she said, as the audience of 200 people cheered.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9135.htm

http://snipurl.comfkub

=

Silence in the Face of Truth. The Downing street Memo:

"My brother died scouring the Iraqi countryside, not to protect his country, but to satisfy the Bush administration's public relations agenda."

http://www.fpit.org/commentary/2005/0506silence.html

http://snipurl.com/fkvm

=

Go to the link below to see several other stories about the attempt to impeach. It seems this has been bandied about for a long, long time now, with nothing much coming of it, but it has now picked up steam once again; but one has to wonder if anyone will stick with it and develop enough of a following to make it even possible to start such proceedings? So far it is just signatures on petitions, nothing else that I have learned of. To see the other articles just click on the links below the leads to the articles which will be in their full form on site.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info

Saundra Hummer

June 14th, 2005, 04:41 PM

Does anyone out there know of Frank Bode? I believe he played guitar, perhaps Bluegrass (I believe he may have been from North Carolina), and maybe some jazz. I know he is said to have played for Elvis among others, and that he was recording in the late 50's. I have read where he also played other instruments but there were only letters leading you to wonder if it was right, seems if was letters for bongo's and ???? Was he ever involved in jazz or studio playing that any of you might know of???? :shrug: There are a few Bode's turning up in musican searches, and I wonder if they are relatives or if it's just coincidence? Is he still playing or is he still alive? I'm hoping someone out there knows something about him.

Saundra Hummer

June 14th, 2005, 10:22 PM

Check out this site for earthquake info, and sign up for their email updates and reports on earthquakes around the globe, site maps, history etc. Always interesating. There is still a bit of concern about a Tsunami, but so far nothing has occured to cause alarm.

We just had an earthquake off the California Coast which measures 7.1 or 7.4, we keep getting conflicting reports. I need to learn to read the updates better but it is saying 7.1, whereas the television report is saying 7.4.

We only hear of quakes that are close to populated areas a lot of the time or nearer our shores, but it seems that everyday there are quakes which measure at least a 5. somewhere, Indonesia, Fiji, the Sea Of Cortez, they are happening almost everyday somewhere.

Just click on the following link to access the site, then follow links that interest you.

http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/FM/neic_ziae_q.html

Saundra Hummer

June 14th, 2005, 10:47 PM

BMG is having another big sale. $17.50 albums for as little as $1.99. There are other good buys as well, but the Sonny Rollins 7 disk box set it still $99.00. Darn!

Lots of good jazz available at decent prices, just wish they would let us combine shipping - then it would be a complete steal.

Saundra Hummer

June 15th, 2005, 01:59 PM

...NAIL IT TO THE WHITE HOUSE DOOR

BY WILLIAM RIVERS PITT

TRUTHOUT [ PERSPECTIVE

WEDNESDAY 15, 2005

Almost five hundred years ago, Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to the door of the Wittenberg Church, initiating a sequence of events which forever altered the geometry of global religion, politics and power. Luther's Theses began with the words, "Out of love for the truth and the desire to bring it to light, the following propositions will be discussed at Wittenberg."

Another document is going to be nailed to another door on Thursday, June 16th. This door opens not to a church, but to the White House. This document is freighted with the hard truths, stem demands and nearly a million names. This document, once nailed up, likewise carries with it all the possibilities of change.

Very slowly and after an embarrassing gap of silence for the news media, the American people have come to hear about the Downing Street Minutes. This document, once confidential but leaked by a British version of Deep Throat, describes in plain language the manner in which Bush and Blair administrations planned to manipulate their way into an invasion of Iraq. The Minutes describe how intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy of invasion, and that a pretence for war had to be manufactured in order to paint a veneer of legitimacy over what everyone involved knew was a patently illegal military action.

Subsequent secret documents have followed the release of the Downing Street Minutes, further exposing the lies, distortions and moral convolutions put forth by the offices of Bush and Blair in their rush to war. According to these documents, which have been verified as genuine by the British government, the decision to invade Iraq was made as early as April 2002, months before anyone in America or Britain became aware that such an act waas even being considered.

This April 2002 decision was made between Bush and Blair at a summit in Crawford, Texas. The fact that the decision to invade had been made so early shatters all the mealy moutherd porotestations of Bush and his people, who spent those months before the attack preaching peace and international cooperation while sharpening their knives behind closed doors.

One document, a briefing paper partnered with the Downing Street Minutes, states bluntly that British officials knew an invasion would be illegal, but had no choice but to figure out a way to frame it as legal, because Bush was going into Iraq no matter what and would use British bases in Cyprus and Diego Garcia to do so. This would make Britain complicit in the invasion even if they decided not to send troops, and so it was "necessary to create the conditions" which would make it legal.

How does one go about creating the conditions for legality? By framing facts and intelligence around the policy, or course the word "Lie" does not appear in any of the released documents, but the need to lie, the decision to lie, in order to justify war permeates every word.

This document also exposes the Bush Administrations rhetorical nonsense about "supporthing the troops" by describing how their war plans did anything but. In a section of this briefing paper titled "Benefis/Risks," the authors wrote, "even with a legal base and a viable military plan, we would still need to ensure that the benefits of action outwweigh the risks. A post war occupation of Iraq could lead to a protracted and costly nation-building exercise. As already made clear, the U.S. military plans are virtually silent on this point."

.....Virtually silent. 1,706 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq thanks to the virtual silence of the Bush administration, for a total of 1,891 "Coalition" soldiers dead. Multiply that number by at least ten to count the wounded and maimed. Twenty -five Amercian soldiers have been killed in the last week alone. Tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians have been killed and wounded and the car bombs continue to explode on a daily basis.

The decision to make war at all costs, the decision to lie about the reasons for going to war, the massive trans-Atlantic effort to make an illegal act appear legal, and the astounding fact that more effort went into manufacturing a political pretext for invasion than went into planning for the invasion and aftermath, all of this led us into the horror show that is this occupation.

The American military has all but conceded that the fact that this war is lost. "I think that more accurate way to approach this right now is to concede that this insurgency is not going to be settled, the terrorists and the terrorism in Iraq is not going to be settled, through military options or military operations," Brig. Gen. Donald Alston, chief American military spokesman in Iraq, said last week. "It's going to be settled in the political process." There are no more viable military options. the war is lost. It is going to be settled in the political process.

.....So be it.

.On Thursday, June 16the. Rep. John Conyers will hold a hearing to investigate and expose the facts revealed by the release of the Downing Street Minutes and the other documents. A variety of witnesses will be called to describe the contents of these documents, and to describe what has been done to Iraq, and to us all, by this administration. Lurking in the corners of the hearing will be a phrase. "High Crime" - that aptly describes what has taken place.

The Conyers hearing will be held on Thursday at 2:30pm EST in room HC-9 in the Capitol Building in Washington DC. This is a small room, so any overflow of public viewers will be directed to the Wasserman room in the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee.

At 5:00pm EST, a rally will take place in Lafayette Park, at the gates of the White House. Rep. Conyers will speak, along with Ambassador Joseph Wilson and Cindy Sheehan, wo lost her son Casey in Iraq in May 2003, as Bush was unfurling his "Mission Accomplished" banner. The hearing and rally have been organized by the After Downing street coalition (on site link provide for more information ), a collection of mroe than 120 organizations and news outlets that came together for the purpose of nailing the facts of the Downing street Minutes to the White House door.

That just before the opening of the rally on Thursday, is exactly what will happen. Several weeks ago, Rep. Conyers published a letter demanding answers from the Bush administration regarding the Minutes. That letter has been signed by more than one hundred Congresspeople, and by nearly a million American citizens. Rep. Conyers will personally deliver this letter and all those signatures to the White House on Thursday.

Jawaharlal Nehru, who with Mahatma Gandi successfully freed India from British colonial rule, once said. "A moment comes which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new,when an age ends, and when the sound of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance."

Thursday, June 16, may see shuch a moment come to pass. It has been a long time coming, and so much remains to be done if the terrible damage of these last years is to be repaired. But a moment is before us. Let us see where this moment takes us.

==

Williams Rivers Pitt is a New York Times and internationally bestselling author of two books: WAR ON IRAQ WHAT TEAM BUSH DOESN'T WANT YOU TO KNOW and THE GREATEST SEDITION IS SILENCE (LINK PROVIDED TO THIS INFO ON SITE.)

Click on the following link to access this story, it's links, and other topical articles which are curent and relevant. Interesting - informative

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/061505X.shtml

Saundra Hummer

June 15th, 2005, 04:00 PM

......MOLLY IVINS:

SOMETIMES YOU LOOK AT THE PEOPLE BUSH APPOINTS TO HIGH PUBLIC OFFICE AND THE ONLY POSSIBLE RESPONSE IS, "WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?"

According to Molly, when talking about Zalmay Khalitzad being put up as US Ambassador to Iraq, she says he iis a second-rank neo-con with all the same credentials as the rest of those bozos--pre-emptive war, world hegemony, Project for a New American Century. . the whole stinking lot of it. P. Plus he's been a big booster for Iran's ayatollahs, the Afghani Mujahideen and the Taliban, not to mention an oil company consultant. Isn't that just jim-dandy?"

What this tells us is that the administration has learned exactly nothing from the past three years of insurgency in Iraq. The 1,700 dead, $1 billion-a-week mistake will continue to be run in exactly the same waqy we have already proved doesn't work. We'll keep trying to put out a growing insurgency with too small an army as the country drifts ever closer to civil war. It's like Ben Franklin's definition of insanity -- doing the same thing over and over, expection different results.

"As one who has long argued that George W. Bush is not stupid, I must admit that not larning from your mistakes is a prime signal of stupidity. But of course, in order to learn from your mistakes, you have to recognize you made them. Thre president assured us just last week he is "heartened" by what is happening in Iraq and, "I am pleased with the progress." The vice president says there is "major progress" and the insurgency is in it's 'last throes.' These folks are in such adeep denial"

Then there's Chris Cox, and here's what Molly has to say about him: "Chris Cox, now there's an appointment of near genius level. Hey, is this the man you would put in charge of teh Securities and exchange Commission to protect investors from greedy, capitalist crooks? Cox, a Republi an form Orange County, Calif., helped produce the Enron mess and subsequent scandals in the first place. Just the guy for the job!"

(No wonder Dick Cheney doesn't share his meeting with the energy companies minutes with the public. He might as well do it as our imaginations are working over time on this one. He doens't have Jesus juice to sway people now does he? He's screwing with us just the same, at least in our minds. SRH)

"Cox" according to the record and to Molly's article, "led the fight in 1995 to pass the 'Private Securities and Litigation Reform Act,' which provided extensive legal protections to coroprate executives, accountants and lawyers who make misleading statements. The law paved the way for corporate executives to lie without fear of being sued -- it's the Ken Lay Protection act."

"Of course the fact that he's gotten more than $640,000 in campaign money from the very people he will now be reulation has nothing to do with his views."

Go to this site to see Molly Ivens article in it's complete form.

http://www.truthout.org

===

They say that voters in a country get the leaders they deserve. If this is the case - we must be a pretty rotten group. The people in the cat bird seat (the current adminstration and their appointee's), seem to be the most self seeking, corrupt, power grubbing, war mongering, & money grubbing group of politicians to have ever run for office and seek appointments. Yep, we must be pretty darned rotten. How else in the world would we deserve this crew now in power? Oh wait, . . . . we didn't really elect them did we?

Saundra Hummer

June 15th, 2005, 04:32 PM

..............JOIN THIS DRIVE TO SAVE PUBLIC RADIO AND PUBLIC TELEVISION.

I don't know about you, but I watch PBS on a consistant basis, the news, Charley Rose, specials of all sorts drama, music, all sorts of documentary's, cooking, instruction, home repairs and building, just all kind of things I dont' get on the three big networks.

We keep hearing that it isn't necessary and not needed, that it should be gotten rid of. I really hope they won't do this. I do admit I don't listen to much public radio, but I enjoy visual stimulaton. I like it, but public radio must serve a needed function as well as PBS.

Go to these links right away as there isn't much time, tomorrow is the deciding day, and they need your input and help.

http://www.moveon.org/publicbroadcasting/?id=5665-4054703-fVXegFa5pqG1G17MKIAW3Q?t=1

I hope this is the proper link and that I have all of it entered correctly if not just go to the following link and look up the proper link. There is just so much reflection in here that seeing the small print at times is difficult. Keep hoping for a cloud then it is just fine.

http://www.moveon.org

Share this and get others to sign the petition to keep this service. Send it on with their form once you're on site.

Saundra Hummer

June 16th, 2005, 01:02 AM

....."IT IS AN INVASION, BUT IT WILL ACT LIKE A COUP."

This from a newsletter from Greg Palast.

"March 2001 - Vice-President Dick Cheney meets with oil company executives and review oil field maps of Iraq. Cheney refuses to release the names of those attending or their purpose. Harper's has since learned their plan and purpose"

As usual Palasts expose's are right on target. He is single minded in letting us in on the corruption and mendacity within the hierarchy of the Bush/Cheney administration. They are so emboldended by their neo-con, Christain Right base that they have let the constitution languish.

Click on the following link to see his report in full, it is, as always, full of controversy and damning evidence.

http://www.GregPalast.com

*******

This week Greg Palast's investigative team was named winner of a 2004-5 Project Censored award from the California State University of Sonoma Journalism School for their expose of the secret US plans to seize Iraq's oil assets. Special thanks to the chief investigator on Iraq, Leni von Eckardt, as well as additional support from Matt Pascarella. The investigation was conducted for Harper's Magazine, BBC Television Newsnight and "blog" outlet TomPaine.com

View the BBC television reports and the Harper's and related reports at his web site

Saundra Hummer

June 16th, 2005, 11:28 AM

Just In From Truthout:HOUSE VOTES TO CURB PATRIOT ACT

BY MIKE ALLEN
WASHINGTON POST STAFF WRITER,
THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 2005,

FBI's POWER TO SEIZE LIBRARY RECORDS WOULD BE HALTED.
(Could it be that they themselves don't want it to be known what they or their family members and friends are reading? (Would any of us?) Where were they on other important issues concerning our rights and our privacy? This bill was signed onto when 9/11 had just happened and reason was overidden by fear, and unknowing. SRH)

The House handed President Bush the first defeat in his effort to preserve the broad powers of the USA Patriot Act, voting yesterday to curtail the FBI"s voting yesterday to curtail the FBI's ability to seize library and bookstore records for terrorism investigations.

Bush has threatened to veto any measure that weakens those powers. The surprise 238 to 187 rebuke to the White House was produced when a handful of conservative Republicans, worried about government intrusion, joined with Democrats who are concerned about personal privacy.

ONe provision of the Patriot Act makes it possible for the FBI to obtain a wide variety of personal records about a suspected terrorist - - including library transactions - - with an order from a secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Couirt, where the government must meet a lower threshold of proof than in criminal courts.

Under the House change, officials would have to get search warrants from a judge or subpoenas from a grand jury to seize records about a suspect's reading habits.

Some libraries have said they are disposing of patron's records more quickly because of the provision, which opponents view as a license for fishing expeditions.

House Administration Committee Chariman Robert W. Ney (Ohio), one of three House Republicans who opposed the Patriot Act when it was enacted in 2001, voted yesterday to curtail agents' power to seize the records.

"Everybody's against terrorism, but there has to be reason in the way that we fight it," Ney said. "The government doesn't need to be sifting through library records. I talked to my libraries, and they felt very strongly about this." ..... (Doing such, in my opinion, would be a huge waste of time and money. These efforts would be much better directed inanother direction wouldn't you think? SRH)

The Justice Department said in a letter to Congress this week that the provision has been used only 35 times and has never been used to obtaon bookstore, library, medical or gun-sale records. It has been used to obrain records of hotel stays, driver's licenses, apartment leases and credit cards, the letter said.

"Bookstores and libraries should not be carved out as safe have, in fact, used public libraries to do research and communicate with their co-conspirators," Assistant Attorney General William E. Moschella said in the letter.

The vote -- on an amendment to limit spending in a huge bill covering appropriations for science as well as the departments of Justice, State, and Commerce -- came as Bush is traveling the country to build support for reauthorizing 15 provisions of the Patriot Act that are scheduled to expire at year's end.

House Republican leadershiop aides said they plan to have the provision removed when a conference commettee meets to work out the differences betweeen the House and Senate Versions of the bill. "The administration has threatened to veto the bill over this extraneous rider, and there are too many important initiatives in the bill for that to happen," said Appropriations Committee spokesman John Scofield.

Last year, the House leadership barely staved off the amendment with a 210 to 210 tie, engineered by holding the vote open to pressure some Republicans to switch their votes

CONTINUED>>>>>>>

CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING LINK TO SEE THE WHOLE STORY, AND TRUTHOUTS TAKE ON IT, JUST FOLLOW THE LINKS GOING TO THE ORIGINAL SOURCE ONCE ON SITE:

http://www.truthout.org

Bernard Sanders, I. VT. the sponsor of the measure is quoted as having said.... "This is a tremendous victory that restores important constitutional rights to the American People," He also said the vote would help "rein in an administration intent on chipping away at the very civil liberties that define us as a nation."

Saundra Hummer

June 16th, 2005, 01:34 PM

...THE HOMELESS

Los Angeles county has estimated that there are 90,000 homeless there. Thrity-five thousand are chronically homeless.

Of that number, (the number of inhabitants of Santa Barbara) there are men wiomen and children. Besides just being up against it financially, many of this number have severe mental situations as well as drug and alcohal problems.

How many are suffering the plight of homelessness in your county? I have no idea as to how many we have here in Central Oregon, in Deschutes or Crook Country, not many as the weather is so severe, so the programs to feed and shelter them are small. We have assistance here - Salvation Army, St. Vincent de Paul - and other programs to help those in need, but not many.

We are now hearing that the veterans of the wars we are involved in are coming back to us with problems that are leaving them homeless as well. Are there programs for them that are good enough to really be of assistance? Not just a bandaid - if that much? I would hope so. I would hope they are and will be receiving the medical and mental help they need; the help they might need in finding housing, and having enough food to eat, and that their old employers have had or will have their jobs ready and waiting for them - but I can see the problems in that. Someone will lose their job to give them theirs. It is a no-win situation.

I do hope that communities and the governent give them all the help they might require, all they are needing or will need, as I would hate to see our veterans living under bridges, going without proper medical attention. I hope that the goverenment won't have the view that they're expendable, us no longer having a need for them. A lot of our men and women who are in, or were in the military need our help, a lot of them do, and we should be seeing to it that they aren't forgotten.

Saundra Hummer

June 16th, 2005, 03:18 PM

..."In the eyes of empire builders, men are not men but instruments": Napoleon Bonaparte French Emperor (1769-1821)

=

..."The first sign of corruption in a society that is still alive is that the end justifies the means." George Bemanos

=

Quotes from daily news letter sent out by:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info

Just click on the above link to access the site.

Saundra Hummer

June 16th, 2005, 03:48 PM

.....In case you missed it:

..SECRET U.S. PLANS FOR IRAQ'S OIL :

....The Bush administration made plans for war and for Iraq's oil before the 9/11 attacks sparking a policy battle between neo-cons and Big Oil, BBC's Newsnight has revealed.
Windows media

BBC News Night Video Report

Insiders told News night that plannng began "within weeks" of Bush's first taking office in 2001, long before the September 11th attack on the US. Windows Media.

(We've also heard that this was on the table long before they were given the election by the Supreme Court. Our going to war with Iraq was, and is, part of The Plan and the PNAC. How crazy are all of these people? I know one thing --- we're out of our ever-loving minds to put up with all of this. SRH)

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8307.htm

http://snipurl.com/fmpm

=

In case you missed it:

Seymour Hersh : The US government has videotapes of boys being sodomized at Abu Ghrab prison. (And our governement swears up and down we are there to promote and instill democracy and to free the Iraqi people of the abuses of Saddam, give us a break, how naive do they believe we are? SRH)

"The worst is the soundtrack of the boys shrieking." the reporter told an ACLU convention last week. Hersh says there was a massive amount of criminal wrongdoing that was covered up at the highest command out there, and higher."

Real video and transcript

http://informationclearinghouse.info/article6492.htm

http://snipurl.com/fmpp

Here is an unbelievable article:

Senate Republicans Target International Red Cross.

Senators ask Bush to reconsider financial support for the agency after its criticism of how U.S. forces treat their detainees abroad.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9159.htm

http://snipurl.com/fmqm

=

Impeaching President for Stains.

Acts ordered by state leaders that kill thousands of people without just cause ware usually petitioned to war crimes tribunals.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9155.htm.

http://snipurl.com/fmqn

=

The Lie OF The Century:

Any government that desires to initiate a war usually lies to thier people to create teh illusion that support for the war is the only possible choice they can make.

http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/lieofthecentury.html

=

IN case you missed it:

Video: The World According to Bush:

..."This administratin has chosen to use the propaganda tools of HItler, Goering, and Goebels" --- Robert Steele, CIA Covert Operations (HE SHOUDL KNOW!)

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/video1025.htm

http://snipurl.com/e7bd

Saundra Hummer

June 16th, 2005, 06:15 PM

...Have a curious mind? I believe I gave this address out earlier but it is an interesting sight for those of you interested in all manner of science.

There are title's which may or may not scare you off, articles that are intriguing, and topical, from Carbon Dioxide decline to Genome-Scale indentification of Nuclesome Positions in Sl Cerevisiae, to Complete Replication of HepatitisC Virus in Cell Culture, and ....Heat Flux Anomalies in Antartica Revealed by Satellite Magnatic Data. Here's one that maybe even I will understand and it is : Genomic Sequencing of Pleistocene Cave Bears.
Oh, I can't leave out ..... Penetration of Human-Induced Warming Into The Worlds Oceans. (A top concern to me.)

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

http://www.sciencemag.org/sciencexpress/recent.shtml

Saundra Hummer

June 17th, 2005, 04:42 PM

......."The evils of government are directly proportional to the tolerance of th the people." Frank Kent

-

......."If there is one principle more deeply rooted in the mind of every American, it is that we should have nothing to do with conquest." Thomas Jefferson

=

I think more and more each day that we should all study what it was that shaped our founding fathers belief systems, what gave them such a grasp of what's right and wrong, what was needed by nations and what we as a people, and as a nation had to do, and need to do, to exist. To have a population with heartfelt patriotism, (a healthy love of country, not hob nail goosestepping militarism); what to do to protect ourselves, and what rights we had, and have to insure.

We should read the same books, and come to understand what it is that shaped their minds, their philosophies, as the things they put in place for us as a people and as a nation were, and are to this day so very enlightened. Their everyday thoughts are still here benefiting us all.

We should all know that, like the song, "Things are a Changing." We need to know that these changes made by the Bush/Cheney administration (and proposed changes) that are happening still, are two fold, some are put in place to only benefit a few, not we the people. Others take away basic rights of us here in this country and others around the globe. We have "Our Constitution" to protect us, and the "Bill of Rights" to guide us. Lately we have let them lie idle, all the while letting others tack on destructive measures, ones which should appall us. It's something we need to know more about, we in our rush around lives, doing what it is we do for our own comforts and survival, while these inroads, the taking away of freedoms are are being laid. Our Constitution and Bill of rights have filled our heads with a sense of security, while now, with all that has been going on, we have to know and realize that we have to stand up and protect these documents which have filled our heads and hearts with a sense of well being; of being secure in them. We just can't allow this assault on our most basic rights.

To allow this administration and the courts to wreck the havoc on them that has gone on for the past 5 years is a danger to us as a nation. Already it will be impossible to undo the damage, the Humpty Dumpty syndrome. It is a pity but we now stand for what we have despised in others, and how do we ever undo the perception of us as war mongers, carpet-baggers, torturers, murderers and degenerates? Really, does anyone know how to undo the terrible damage the Bush/Cheney administration has done to our own thoughts, much less to how we are perceived around the world? Will this all be allowed to continue?

We need to learn from men who had the best of intentions for us as a people, as a nation, not from those who are making changes for those who are self seeking in their nationalism of greed and undemocratic power abuse, not at all interested in the people of this country or of those around the world.

Tenorman

June 17th, 2005, 04:51 PM

Saundra Hummer

June 17th, 2005, 05:17 PM

Can someone confirm or deny this for me

There was a BBC article today, along the line of someone trying to change the patriot act so that people's book purchases and withdrawels from the library would not be made available to the security departments.

When you buy a book over there, using cash, do they ask for your name and address before giving you the book. If not, is the assumption that all terrorists will use legally acquired credit cards with all the personal details filled in correctly.

I thought Nah the BBC have got it wrong - or have they???

They have it right that there are people fighting to have the Patriot act chaged and held in check. Fighting to have some of it's provisions changed, and not added onto, such as records of book purchases and checkouts from libraries not being legal for them to obtain without a search warrant issued by a judge, not wanting fishing expeditions - but only if it is warranted and felt by a judge to have merit, that there is reason to believe that they are checking out books to use the information in them for seditous purposes, like bomb building, chemical warfare, etc. Then there are those who want to make it possible for all of our medical records to be available to the FBI as well. This is just going overboard, and look at how much time and money will be spent setting up such programs. Spend it on our schools spend it where it is really needed, our infrastructure is hurting, that type of money could do a lot of good. It needs to go to these problems, these programs.

This knowledge or access to our buying and reading habits (and our medical records) won't be abused they tell us, yeah! --- right!
There is so much abuse of searches now. What will happen if this is allowed to become law. Wait till they are in your home, can open your mail, read your doctor records. Will it be harmful? It could be - that is the problem, not that it is. This is all just unnecessary.

We havn't been buying books as much lately, just magazines and for deeper reading it's the library, and if our checkouts are being monitored, well Miles Davis has put out a lot of subversive thoughts and music, and then there are terrible things that went on with Pancho Villa, and the Basque cooks are really cooking up some dangerous combinations with their recipe for Sheepherders bread. Oh, that's right, ever since Franko and the Germans they are a very dangerous people. Picasso let us in on what drives them.

I don't know the process for buying books with cash, but this is just going too far. Look at the manpower and expense for such a stupid unneeded law. A perversion of our Constitution, and our Bill of Rights. What in the world is wrong with these people who think up such schemes?

No, you've only heard the half of it, it gets worse.

Tenorman

June 17th, 2005, 05:25 PM

Saundra Hummer

June 18th, 2005, 12:30 AM

Careful of Basque cooking (Corsets taste terrible whatever way you cook them)
Apart from that Basques are part of the Celtic nation, and it was the Celts (Scottish Branch) that brought you that gastronomic delight of the battered deep-fried Mars Bar.

Think about it doesn't that make your eyes, err sorry, mouth water

We were out one night at the local honkey tonk during the Crook County Rodeo and we had been talking to the cutest cowboy kids from Winnemuca, Nevada, it was a big party, no one sitting down or hardly as there wasn't much room. There were about three of them and such good looking, cute acting kids, just barely in their twenties, and they were having a great time, just like everyone else. I was talking to them and a friend of ours, Terry Zell, when one of the fellows from Nevada started not making a bit of sense where before he had been acting just fine. I would say something to him or he to me, and I just thought he was so out of it as to be concerned for him so I asked Terry, "do you hear him, he's so drunk they had better take him to their room - he's in such bad shape, I can't understand half of what he's saying,, this isn't normal, he just can't talk!" Terry listened to him, and said "not a damm word, they had better get him to quit drinking and get him out of here." So I told his friends and they started listening to him, and it was just that half of his conversation with us was in Basque and since it sounds like no other language I'd ever heard in my life, I thought he had just gone out of it. Well he was getting there, I guess the fact that he was talking Basque to me like I should know it was the clue, but it wasn't as bad as we thought it was. That was the oddest sounding language. Really, I had never heard anything like it before, so totally different. Strange that they can't pin down it's roots, all unto it's self. I think the Basque people are like the Australians, nice to be around. Does this sound bigoted? Well they always have been, at least the ones I've been fortunate enough to get to know.

Saundra Hummer

June 18th, 2005, 12:36 AM

Saundra Hummer

June 19th, 2005, 01:47 PM

......................CLIMATE-GATE: NEW LEAKED MEMOS

NEW US MOVE TO SPOIL CLIMATE ACCORD
BY MARK TOWNSEND
THE OBSERVER UK

SUNDAY 19 JUNE 2005

Extraordinry efforts by the White House to scupper Britains's attempts to tackle global warming have been revealed in released US government documents obtained by the Observer.

These papers - part of the Bush administrtaions submission to the G8 action plan for Gleneagles next month - show how the United States, over the past two months, has been secretly undermining Tony Blair's proposals to tackle climate change.

The documents obtained by the Observer represent an attempt by the Bush administration to undermine completely the science of climate change and show that the US position has hardened during the G8 negotiations. They also reveal that the White House has withdrawn from a crucial United Nations commitment to stabilise greenhouse gas emissions.

..........THE DOCUMENTS SHOW THAT WASHINGTON OFFICIALS:

...*REMOVED ALL REFERENCE TO THE FACT TAHT CLIMATE CHANGE IS A 'SERIOUS THREAT TO HUMAN HEALTH AND TO ECOSYSTEMS".

...*DELETED ANY SUGGESTION THAT GLOBAL WARMING HAS ALREADY STARTED.

...*EXPUNGED ANY SUGGESTION THAT HUMAN ACTIVITY WAS TO BLAME FOR CLIMATE CHANGE.

Among the sentences removed was the following. "Unless urgent action is taken, there will be a growing risk of adverse effects on economic development, human health and the natural environment, and of irreversible long-term changes to our climate and oceans."

Another section erased by the White House adds: 'Our world is warming. Climate change is a serious threat that has the potential to affect every part of the globe. (Did you know the Inuit are suing the US Governement over this very issue? SRH) And we know that... mankind's activities are contributing to this warming. This is an issue we must address urgently.' The government's chief scientific adviser, Sir David King, has dismissed the leaking of draft communiques on the grounds that 'there is everything to play for at Gleneagles.' However, there is no doubt that many UK officials have become exasperated by the Bush administrations refusal to accept the basic principle that climate change is happening now and is due to man's activities.

Earlier this month, the senior science academies of the G8 nations, including the US National Academy of Science, issued a statement saying that evidence of climate change was clear enough to compel their leaders to take action. "There is now strong evidence that significant global warming is occuring." they said.

It is now clear that this advice has been completely ignored by Bush and his advisors. "Every year, it (local air pollution) causes millions of premature deaths, and suffering to millions more through respiratory disease,' reads another statement removed by Washington.

Washington also appears to be unsympathetic towards the plight of Africa, the other priority singled out by Blair for the G8 summit in Gleneagles.

The documents reveal how the Bush administration has pulled out of financial pledges to fund a network of regional climate centres throught out Africa which were designed to monitor the unfolding impact of global warming.

'Africa, Asia-Pacific and the Artic (remember the Inuit?) are particularly vulnerable to climate variability and are starting to experience the impacts.' reads another excerpt rejected by the US.

Other crucial schemes ditched by the US include the Clean Develpment Mechanism (CDM) set up to help developing states develop economically while controlling greenhouse gas emissions.

According to the documents, the American government has reneged on plans to 'ensure that the CDM executive board is adequately funded by the end of 2005.'

=

. Now - to swim in the ocean off of several areas of Southern California - you are at risk. Pollution is the norm, and what a pity, and you know, if we pollute our oceans with heavy metals and other toxins, we will have a dead planet, we ourselves will be at risk, and look about, how is it that so many cancers and other deseases which many attribute to toxins are rampant in our country? I don't remember so many sick people as a child, what is causing all of this? Of course there are so many more of us today. This could be a factor, but all the more need for us to realize changes must be made; protections and ecologically sound practices put into place. I don't mean we all have to run out and hug a tree - common sense is needed here - but we do need to make sure that programs are put in place to protect us all. We need to protect our planet, thereby protecting ourselves our ours. SRH.

Saundra Hummer

June 20th, 2005, 03:21 PM

.......LET THEM EAT WAR

from Mother Jones

BY ARLIE HOCHSCHILD

INTRODUCTION BY TOM ENGELHARDT

Long before our bookstores were packed with copies of WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH KANSAS?, (link provided on site.) Thomas Franks provocative look at how the right-wing (link provided) wages its political wars against a fantasy "liberal power elite" and wins elections, over a year before George Bush was reelected (reelected? That's up for debate. SRH), by slipping the
war and terror cards out from under the American deck, in a period when those color-coded alerts were just beginning to pour out, Arlie Hochschild wrote a prescient piece for Tomdispatch, posted on October 2, 2003, entitled "Let Them Eat War," She suggested then that the President, strutting the flight deck of American politics while flexing his G.I. Joe-style muscles, could win the blue-collar vote, and so the election of 2004, simply by feeding the heart of American darkness and a complex set of white, male blue-collar fears.

I wrote by way of introduction at the time:

.......Here's one of the great unspoken questions of 2000, not to say 2003. Why do people support George Bush? Why, in particular, do significant numbers of working people suport him when it seems so self=evident that he doesn't represent their economic interests? The strange thing -- to me at least -- is that, while questions like these are bound to be on the minds of all those who opppose the Bush administration , its policies and its president, they are not questions often raised in public, no less publicly explored. So --- Call it a conversation starter ---todays Tomgram considers the question of blue collar support for Bush.

Hochschild's then novel piece touched a nerve. Letters poured in -- anxious, supportive, outraged --not least from blue-collar guys. Of course, we know more now than we knew then about the way the Bush campaign fed American fears. Right now, we have, for instance, the British "smoking gun memo" (link provided on site), -- (and the assorted supporting memos that have tumbled out after it) which convincingly showed that, before July of 2002, the Bush administration, amid a smokescreen of lies, had already irrevocably decided upon an invasion of Iraq and was only casting around for how to present that war and then use it for its own purposes at home and abroad. An even more recent British bombshell (link provided on site) indicates that British Prime Minister Tony Blair met George Bush at his Crawford ranch in April 2002 and agreed at that time to support an invasion of Iraq. In that same period, we know for instance, that Undersecretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz (link provided) (and, undoubtedly, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, National Security advisor Condoleezza Rice, who would soon be putting imaginary Iraqi mushroom clouds over American cities in her public pronouncements, surely Vice President Dick Cheney, and probably the President himself) didn't take the Iraqi weapons-of-mass-destruction explanation especially serously. It was, as Wolfowitz admitted at the time, simply the lowest bureaucratic common denominator (link provided) _"?We settled on the one issue that everyone could agree on, which was weapons of mass destruction as the core reason."--for explaining a desparately desired war. We know as well that within a day of the September 11 attracks, Donald Rumsfeld was already calling on his aides to round-up the usual suspects in considering where to strike back. (From this alone it sounds as every last one of these men and women should get the boot! Where's Ken Star and his wiley crew when they are needed for real????? SRH)

To see the rest of the story, which is pretty interesting go to the following link and just click on it.

One of the main thrusts of the article is this---

"Why do those who stand to gain the least from virtually every policy of George W. Bush, support him the most?" (read the conclusions and the complete article and access it's links on site.

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

Saundra Hummer

June 20th, 2005, 04:24 PM

.....HIT BY FRIENDLY FIRE

BY KEVIN WHITELAW
US NEWS AND WORLD REPORT

WITH HIS POLLS DOWN, BUSH TAKES FLACK ON IRAQ FROM A HOST OF CRITICS-INCLUDING SOME IN HIS OWN PARTY.

...Nebraska Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel is angry. He's upset about the more than 1,700 U.S. soldiers killed and nearly 13,000 wounded in Iraq. He's also aggravated by the continued string of sunny assessments from the Bush administration, such as Vice president Dick Cheney's recent remark that the insurgency is in its "last throes." "Things aren't getting better, they're getting worse. The White house is completely disconnected from reality." Hagel tells U.S. News. "It's like they're just making it up as they go along. The reality is that we're losing in Iraq."

...That's strikingly blunt talk from a member of the president's party, even one cast as something of a pariah in the GOP because of his early skepticism about the war. "I got beat up pretty good by my own party and the White House that I was not a loyal Republican," he says. Today, he notes, things are changing. "More and more of my colleagues up here are concerned."

Indeed, there are signs that the politics of the Iraq war are being reshaped by the continuing tide of bad news. Take this month in Iraq, with 47 U.S. troops killed in the first 15 days. That's already five more than the toll for the entire month of June last year. With the rate of insurgent attacks near an all-time high and the war's cost set ot top $230 billion, more politicians on both sides of the aisle are responding to opinion polls that show a growing number of Americans favoring a withdrawal from Iraq.

Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee and Lindsey Graham have voiced their concerns. And two Republicans, including the congressman who brought "freedom fries" to the Capitol, even joined a pair of Democratic colleagues in sponsoring a bill calling for a troop withdarawal plan to be drawn up by years's end "I feel confident that the opposition is going to build," says Rep. Ron Paul, the other Republican sponsor and longtime opponent of the war.

.....Sagging polls. The measure is not likely to go anywhere, but Hagel calls it "a major crack in the dike." Whether or not that's so, the White House has reason to worry that the assortment of critiques of Bush's wartime performance may be approaching a tipping point. Only 41 percent of Americans now support Bush's handling of the Iraq war, the lowest mark ever in the Associated Press-Ipsos poll. And the Iraq news has combined with a lethargic economy and doubts about the presidents Social Security proposals to push Bush's overall approval ratings near all-time lows. For now, most Republicans remain pubicly loyal to the White House. "Why would you give your enemies a timetable?" asks House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. "[Bush] doesn't fight the war on news articles or television or on polls"

Still, the Bush Administration is planning to hit back, starting this week, with a renewed public-relations push by the president. Bush will host Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari and has scheduled a major speech for June 28, the anniversary of the handover of power to an Iraqi government from U.S. authorities. But congress's patience could wear very thin going into an election year. "If things don't start to turn around in six months, then it may be too late," says Hagel. "t think it is that serious."

...Bush's exit strategy--which depends on a successful Iraqi political process--got a boost last week when Sunni and Shite politicians ended weeks of wrangling over how to increase Sunni representation on the constitution -writing committee. Now, however, committee members have less than two months before their mid-August deadline. And given how long it took to resolve who gets to draft the doccument, it's hard to imagine a quick accord on the politically explosive issues they face

==with Ilanna Ozemoy and Terrance Samuel

http://www.truthout.org

Saundra Hummer

June 20th, 2005, 04:59 PM

.....To Quote Bill Clinton in talking about the prison camp the Bush/Cheney administration established at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, he says it should "be closed down or cleaned up." Adding his support to a growing list of prominant men and women here at home who are critical of the methods used by this administration in handling suspects. "It is time that there are no more stories coming out of there about people being abused" he adds. He believes the policies there can be judged by whether or not, these means challenged the "fundamental nature" of American society, and if the answer is Yes, a victory has already been given to terrorists, a "profound victory."

Go to the following links to read a story concerning this, and to read Interview Transcrips of:

Interview Transcript: Bill Clinton
By Lionel Barber and Paul Taylor
The Financial Times

Sunday 19 June 2005

"The following is a transcript of an interview conducted by Lionel Barber and Paul Taylor of the Financial Times on June 17 with former US president Bill Clinton at his home in Chappaqua, New York.

http://www.truthout.org

Look up the story by clicking on the above link, as giving the whole address isn't working for me????

Saundra Hummer

June 22nd, 2005, 01:35 PM

...US WAS BIG SPENDER IN DAYS BEFORE IRAQ HANDOVER (why is this not a surprise??? SRH)

by Sue Pleming
Reuters

Wednesday 22 June 2005

CASH WAS LOADED ONTO GIANT PALLETS FOR SHIPMENT BY PLANE TO IRAQ AND PAID OUT TO CONTRACTORS WHO CARRIED IT AWAY IN DUFFEL BAGS.

The United States handed out nearly $20 billion of Iraq's funds, with a rush to spend billions in the final days before transferring power to the Iraqi's nearly a year ago, a report said on Tuesday (Not wanting to leave "The Plan" and the PNAC strategy an empty policy I suppose. SRH)

A report by Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman of California, said in the week before the hand-over on June 28, 2004, the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority ordered the urgent delivery of more than $4 billion -- the largest movement of cash in the bank's history, said Waxman.

Most of these funds came from frozen and seized assets and from the Development Fund for Iraq, which succeeded the U.N."s oil-for-food prograqm. After the U.S. invasion, the UN directed this money should be used by the CPA for the benefit of the Iraqi people.

Cash was loaded onto giant pallets for shipment by plane to Iraq, and paid out to contractors who carried it away in duffel bags.

The report, released at a House of Representatives committee hearing, said despite the huge amount of money, there was little U.S. scrutiny in how these assets were managed:

....."The disbursement of these funds was characterized by significant waste, fraud and abuse, " said Waxman.

An audit by the U.S. Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction said U.S. auditors could not account for neaqrly $8.8 billion in Iraqi funds and the United States had not provided adequate controls for this money.

"The CPA's management of Iraqi money was an important responsibility that, in my view, required more diligent accountability, pursuant to its assigned mandate, than we found," said chief inspector Stuart Bowen in testimony.

....CASE of ABUSE

Auditors found problems safeguarding funds including one instance where a CPA comptroller did not have access to a field safe as the key was located in an unsecured backpack.

Bowen's office has referred three criminal cases to the U.S. Attorney's Office in the past two weeks for misuse of funds. Bowen declined to provide details at the hearing.

In one e-mail released in Waxman's report with the subject line "Pocket Change." a CPA official stressed the need to get money flowing fast before the handover.

Rep. Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts, a Democrat questioned why so much money had to be transferred so fast.

Senior defense official Joseph Benkert said an infusion of funds was needed to address a wide variety of needs before the new Iraqi government took over.

Part of the challenge in tracking how money was spent was the cash environment and lack of electronic trasfers. (How convenient. SRh)

Contractors were told to run up with big duffel bags to pick up their payemnts and some were paid from the back of pick-up trucks.

One picture shows grinning CPA officials standing in front of a pile of cash said to be worth $2 million to be paid to a security contractor.

....Rep. Christopher Shays of Connecticut, a Republican, said the photograph disturbed him "It looks a little loose to me." he said, of the smiling officials

...."I share your condern," said Bowen.

Citing documents from the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank in New York, Waxman said the United States flew in nearly $12 billion over all in U.S. currency to Iraq from the United States between May 2003 and June 2004.

.....This money was used to pay for Iraqi salaries, fund Iraqi ministries and also pay some U.S. contractors.

.....In total, more than 281 million individual bills, including more than 107 million $100 bills, were shipped to Iraq on giant pallets loaded onto C-130 planes, the report said.

http://www.truthout.org

==

Maybe things were, and have been, loose to warrant this kind of attention

Saundra Hummer

June 22nd, 2005, 02:54 PM

Check out Mother Jones and their new radio BROADCAST with Ross Gelbspan on "Why Mainstream Coverage of Global Warming Has Failed

PLUS
Chris Mooney, author of "The Republican War on Science."
Michael Scherer, Washington correspondent
Dr. David Graham, FDA whistleblower
Comedian Will Durst: The environment wars.

In the premiere broadcast, Mother Jones Radio exposes junk scientists and pseudo-journalists who say global warming is a hoax - and who get millions of dollars from ExxonMobil. Investigative journalist Ross Gellispan (link provided) discusses why mainstream media coverage of global warming has failed. Chris Mooney, author of "The Republican War on Science," tells us how ExxonMobil is one of the last - and loudest - holdouts in the campaign to deny the dangers of global warming. Plus we'll talk to Dr. David Graham, on FDA whistleblower who government officials told to be quiet when he found that Vioxx raised heart attack risks, And comedian Will Durst, a "modern-day Will Rogers," gives his hilarious take on the environment wars.

http://www.motherjones.com/radio/2005/06/061905_broadcast.html

Saundra Hummer

June 22nd, 2005, 03:41 PM

Rich after graduating from high school left for Nevada and spent time on the Quinn River ranch that summer as he had the hay contract for that year. He fell in love with it and the people. He talks to this day of the Sabala's and the Dufurrena's, Buster and John Dufurrena; Dutch, Sarah and Johnny Sabala, of the ranch experiences, the beauty, the wild life, and the graciousness of the Basque families he met while there. A favorite time in his life. I came to know Dutch Sabala as he lived in the same town in California as we did for a while and seeing Lindas name reminded me of him, but he is the only one from there I've actually met. Linda Dufurrena --- I have to wonder how she is related to Buster and John? I'll have to ask Rich when he comes in if he knows her as well. I saw Buster on a PBS special one day, and enjoyed seeing him but I never had the chance to meet him in person. Rich just couldn't speak more highly of all of them.

Linda Dufurrena is a noted photographer and here's a link to some of her photo's and a short run-down on her.

I don't know what happened to the old Quinn River Ranch, if it has changed hands, been split up into smaller ranches or what, but Rich has always wanted to go back to visit, and for some reason down through the years we have never made it, always visiting family instead. We're both sorry we were never able to make that trip. Too many other things going on in our lives. When he comes in, he'll enjoy seeing these photos of one of his favorite places, remembering his special friends.

Again, here's the link:

http://www.weberstudies.weber.edu/archives/archive%20E%20Vol%2021.2-24.1/Vol.%2021.3.L%20Duferrena%20Photography.htm

If this link doesn't work just go to Google and do a Quinn River Ranch Winnemucca Nevada search and it will be there close to the top of the search.

Saundra Hummer

June 22nd, 2005, 05:54 PM

Remember when GW stated that he doesn't read books, newspapers or magazines, or watch television and go to movies? He must believe most of us don't either or surely he wouldn't be saying the same things after we've all had a chance to read and see what it is he is telling us about Iraq and 9/11 is all so made up. Not a lick of truth in it, so he's telling us the same old story, doing the same old song and dance. Why? How is it he doesn't give us more credit? More to the point, how stupid does he think we are?

Terrorism in Iraq, well now there is, where there was none before. It is building and building. Ask the survivors of the hostages and those hostages fortunate enough to have survived.

Do we pull out and quit giving them impetus to attack us each and every-day? Or do we keep our troops there in harms way? Can we afford this fiasco in lives and in dollars? I don't think so. This war is causing us irreparable harm in all sorts of ways. We all know what they are, and this will only continue to grow untill we are all going to be in such danger; danger as we never imagined. Keeping us safe? We have been made all the more a target by this administrations actions. Our standing in the world has been harmed. SRH.....

Here is an article to read:

BUSH ADMINISTRATION PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE AGAINST THE U.S.?

AN INTERVIEW WITH (RETIRED) COLONEL SAM GARDINER
BY KEVIN ZEESE

(here is an excerpt)

I find it amazing that there is now a growing interest in the (?) marketing the war. There is absolutely no question that the White House and the Pentagon participated in an effort to market the military option. The truth did not make any difference to that campaign.

http://wwwlinformationclearinghouse.info/article9239.htm

http://snipurl.com/frmv

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...Americans inching closer to a reckoning

Do you want to know?

By Robert Steinback

Either you want to know if you've been lied to, or you don't

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9232.htm

http://snipurl.con/frmx

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IN THE NAME OF SECURITY

We now have the latest anti-terrorist legislation, which permits house arrest and detention without a jury trial - eroding principles going back to the Magna Carta.

Tony Benn

Constitutents who visit the Commons, now policed by men with machine guns, can only observe those whom they have elected through a transparent bullet proof screen, which only emphasises the widening gap between government and governed.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9235.htm

http://snipurl.com/fm0

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US 'CONCEALING' SADDAM'S SECRETS:

"There should be transparency and there should be frankness, but there are secrets that, if revealed, won't be in the interst of many countries," Mr. Shandal said. "Who was helping Saddam all those years?"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4115976.stm

http://snipurl.com/fm8

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"THE BEGINNING OF THE END?" :

It's finally over. My despair is over. Something has happened these last ten days that has revived the antiwar issue. It has to do with public opinion polls and casualties and Republicans like Walter Jones and more Democrats standing up. I won't say how optimistic I am. But something is coming together--yes you can feel it." http://news.yahoo.com/s/thenation/20050619/cm-thenation/73614

http://snipurl.com/fmc

====

Look at what Germany has allowed in it's courts. Should we this time around be learing from them, a lesson in humanity?

COURT BACKS SOLDIER'S ANTI-IRAQ WAR SILENCE :

A German court ruled Wednesday that a soldier, who refused to follow orders because he did not want to support the US-led war in Iraq, had every right to do so.

http://snipurl.com/fmd

==

Lots and lots more on Information Clearing House, military casualties, assassinations, Guantanamo abuses and accusations. To see this and much more click on any of the above links to their site and while there check out the archives and links. //\\ Yep GW, we can read and we do, and our comprehension skills are at work as well. Your falsehoods aren't believed by all of us. More, and more, we are taking stock and remembering past comments and deceptions We know how it is, and we aren't going to take it any more (Another famous movie quote from last night's show) so your administration needs to start doing what is right, not what's been going on since before you even took office. Big changes are needed and must take place. :gavel:

Saundra Hummer

June 23rd, 2005, 01:44 PM

..............WE NEED WARS:

Excerpt from the article:

....THINGS WE DON'T TALK ABOUT

Without wars, the economy flakes and falls apart. Without wars, the trillions of dollars spent on weapons systems, military preparedness and a planetary army would dry up, dealing a death blow to the economy as currently constituted. Without wars or the threat of wars, the populace is not so easily controlled and manipulated.

Let us be clear, however. When I say "we," I do not refer to your average working man and woman on the street. The man running the shoe store or the woman managing the bar does not need war to remain economically viable. The "we" I speak of is that overwhelmingly wealthy and powerful few who have wired their fortunes into the manufacture of weapons, the plumbing of oil, and the collection of spoils through political largesse.

These are the people who need war. They need it to pile up the contracts from the Pentagon, to enrich the banking institutions that protect them, to pay the lawyers who defend them, to pay the lobbyists who sustain them, to purchase the politicians who champion them, and to buy up the media that hides them from sight.

Yet though this group is small in number, they are "we," for they are our leaders, and our myth makers. They have convinced the majority of this population that war is a necessity. They create the premises for combat and invasion, they convince and cajole and, when necessary, frighten us into line. All too often, almost every time, we buy into the fictions they manufacture, thus sustaining the "permanent crisis" mentality and the need for war after war.

The economic need for war creates the required excuses for war. The "permanent crisis" of the Cold War motivated the United States to support the Shah in Iran, a decision that led to the Islamic Revolution and the establishment of Iran as a permanent enemy. The Cold War motivated us to support Saddam Hussein financially and militarily as a bulwark against Iran. The Cold War motivated us to establish the House of Saud in Saudi Arabia to ensure a steady supply of oil. The Cold War motivated us to support Osama bin Laden and the so-called "Jihadists" in Afghanistan in their fight against the Soviet invaders.

Now, we prepare to invade Iran. We have invaded Iraq for the second time in 15 years. We will never invade Saudi Arabia, despite the fact that this nation's vast wealth and Wahabbist extremists make it the birthing bed of international terrorism. We lost two towers in New York City at the hands of a group that we created in the 1980's to fight the Soviets. Put plainly, the "permanent crisis" of the Cold War created a cycle of military self-justification. WE build enemies with arms and money, and then we destroy them with arms and money, thus keeping our wartime economy afloat.

The Cold War ended more than ten years ago, but we still need war, and we need that "permanent crisis" to continue the cycle of military self-justification. If a legitimate war is not available, we will create one because we have to. We have our new "permanent crisis," which we call the War on Terror, another turn of the cycle created by an attack that our foreign policy and war -justifications of the last 50 years made almost inevitable.

We need wars. That's why we are in Iraq. This invasion and occupaton of that nation has given our economy what it needs, and has also created the justification for future wars by creating legions of enemies in the Mid East and around the world. Our wartime economy will tolerate no less.

Talking aobut Bush's lies regarding weapons of mass destruction, or about bringing democracy to the region, or about the dollar-to-Euro transfer, or about the midterm elections, is window-dressing. We invaded Iraq because we had to. This is the elephant in the room, the foreign policy reality nobody talks about.

If you want peace, work to change the underpinnings of our economy. Untill that change is made, there will always be wars, invasions and lies to bring such things about. It is what it is.

Willims Rivers Pitt. (An excerpt from an article in Truthout.

http://www.truthout.org

==

After reading several years ago that a war economy is a false economy, I can see some truth in what it is he is writing.

Once a war is over and the jobs in wartime factories and other business dry up, other avenues must open up to keep the econmy "booming." Leaders must insure there is road and bridge construction, all sorts of things to shore up our infrastructure, home construction, etc. A wartime economy can only flourish and keep the arms dealers up in the stratisphere if there is a climate for war, he is right about this and so perhaps there is truth in what he writes. An easy fix, yet a treacherous one, as there are inherent dangers associated with wars, short and long term. Hatreds die hard. Middle Eastern ones are known for their longevity.

Saundra Hummer

June 23rd, 2005, 03:10 PM

......BUSH AND BOLTON: THE BULLY TWINS

BY MARJORIE COHN
TRUTHOUT [ PERSPECTIVE

JUNE 23, 2005

...George Bush and John Bolton have a symbiotic relationship. They need each other to nail shut the coffin of the United Nations, to make the world safe for US domination.

Boltons record of cooking intelligence to whip up US aggression against other countries fits nicely with Bush's modus operandi. In 2002, while Bush told Tony Blair they would invade Iraq together, Bolton orchestrated the ouster of Jose Bustani, head of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, to prevent him from inspecting and revealing that Saddam Hussein had no chemical weapons. Had Bustani sent chemical weapons inspectors to Baghdad, that might have defused the crisis over alleged Iraqi weapons and undermined the US rationale for war. All the while, Bush lied to the American people. "I have not ordered the use of force. I hope that the use of force will not become necessary."

Bush's choice for US ambassador to the UN is also famous for hyping threats posed by Cuba and Syria, and taking a dangerously combative stance toward North Korea.

It is noteworthy that the US State Department has made positive diplomatic steps since Bolton stepped down form his post as undersecretary of state. US negotiators have finally secured a breakthrough with Russia to eliminate enought plutonium to fuel 8,000 nuclear bombs. The administration abandoned its campaign to remove the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency. And for the moment, Team Bush is talking to our European allies to achieve a peaceful solution to the problem of Iran's nuclear program. But rest assured that Bolton is ready to do what he does best - wreak havoc - if he is confirmed as US ambassador to the UN.

If former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter is right about US designs on Iran - the way he called George W. Bush's Iraq charade early on - Bolton as UN ambassador can be expected to pave the way for a US attack on Iran.

In his op-ed on Al Jazeera on Sunday, Ritter claimed that the US war with Iran has already begun. He cited American flights over Iran with pilotless drones, CIA-backed actions by and Iranian opposition group, and US military preparations for a base of operations in Azerbaijan to support a massive military presence from which the US could launch a land-based campaign to capture Tehran.

If Bolton becomes US ambassador to the UN, he will escalate the rhetoric and the pressure on other Security Council members against Iran, the third member of Bush's "axis of evil."

Despite the tenacity of Democratic senators in insisting the administration come clean about Bolton's hit list, Bush is likely taking Cheney's advice to hold tight and force an "up-or-down" senatorial vote on Bolton.

Bush could take the easy way out with a recess appointment come Independence Day. But that wouldn't fly quite like Bush's last two end runs around the Senate, when he installed Charles Pickering and Bill Pryor, two right-wing judges, on the federal bench (See Marjore Cohn [ Bush's Judges: Right Wing Idealogues [link provided on site[)

The United Nations is slated to consider Kofi Annan's proposed UN reforms in September, and Bush is eager to have his bully on the job to push the Bush agenda of taking over the UN. If Bolton is unilaterally appointed by Bush, he would enter the job hobbled with a lack of support and a term that will end with the 2006 Congress.

Bush opposed the House of Representatives' decision last week to cut US dues unless the UN goosesteps to their right-wing Republican program. Bush wants to maximize his chances for remaking the UN in his own image, and the dues ultimatum wouldn't play well with his fellow permanent Security Council members. For example, Annan's proposal to interpret "preventive war" as consistent with the UN Charter will be championed by Bush, but opposed by most other countries.

If Bush really wanted to woo his colleagues at the UN, he would attend the 60th anniversary celebration of the founding of the United Nations in San Francisco later this month. But like Cheney during the Vietnam War, Bush has other priorities, and won't be traveling to San Francisco to honor the world's premier peace-building organization.

As United States ambassador to the UN, John Bolton would walk in lockstep with his twin bully, George Bush. And the promise of the United Nations in 1945, to "save succeeding generations form the scourge of war," will be rendered even more hollow

Marjorie Cohn, a contributing editor to truthout, is a prefessor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, executive vice president of the National Lawyers Guild and the US representative to the executive committee of the American Association of Jurists.

http://www.truthout.org

===

Many of us can remember how the "Soviet Block" controlled the United Nations and how upsetting and how angry this made us here in this country and in others who wished to see a more peaceful and helpful United Nations. What is it with Bush and his administration? It is as if the tables had been flipped --- we have become everythiing we just couldn't abide --- what we couldn't stand about the disliked and feared Soviets. This is such a topsy turvy world, that is seems to be unreal. Surely we are imagining all of this, this war, these gruesome acts --- plans which aren't ours. Actions which are so shameful, they must be claimed by someone else, we aren't capable of such acts. SRH

Saundra Hummer

June 23rd, 2005, 05:40 PM

..."I wouldn't call it fascism exactly, but a political system nominally controlled by an irresponsible, dumbed down electorate who are manipulated by dishonest, cynical, controlled mass media that dispense the propaganda of a corrupt political establishment can hardly be described as democracy either." Edward Zehr

=

"Facism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini

=

The peace and welfare of this and coming generations of Americans will be secure only as we cling to the watchword of pure patriotism. "Our country -- when right to be kept right; when wrong to be put right." : Carl Schurz

=

From the following site, just click on the following link to see the news they've gleaned for the day and check out the archives as well.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info

Saundra Hummer

June 24th, 2005, 01:41 PM

.............WHY SO LAME?

MoJoBLOG
......on top of the news

Ah, the question of the year: Why is President Bush such a lame, unpopular duck these days? (Perhaps we can't stay stupid forever! SRH) Why can't he get anything substantial done? Why does the public hate him? Why won't even Congressional Republicans listen to him anymore? Sifting through this (link provided on site) New York Times article on the subject offers a few explanation. One, Republicans have rulled Congress with such a partisan iron fist over the past four years, that suddenly, when they need Democratic help, they're not getting it. Two, "maverick" Republicans are finally lashing out and expressing their discontent at Bush, although it should be noted that, apart from a few hard hitting quotes, moderates like Chuck Hagel and John McCain aren't actually doing anything to help fix the problems they claim Bush (link provided) is creating. Three, Bush is trying to gut Social Security, which isn't called the "third rail" of politics for nothing.

Other possible reasons for lame-duckitudes: Bush is being yanked by social conservatives into wildly unpopular territory, from his opposition to stem-cell research to the whole Terry Schiavo affair. Also, the lack of a clear presidential successor means that prominent Republicans--from Bill Frist to, well, Chuck Hagel--are all more conderned with preening and positioning themselves for the 2008 presidential nomination than they are about lining up behind Bush and supporting him.

A final reason why Bush has become such a wildly unpopular and ineffective president, as explained (link provided on site) by Ryan Lizza, is that voters are seeing a massive disconnect between the campaign Bush--who won the election by convincing everyone that he could kill terrorists with lasers blasting out of his eyes--and the second-term Bush, who seems to care only about progressive indexing and slashing benefits for the elderly. The former was stately, even heroic, for many voters; the latter just petty and stingy. Expectations for Bush are wildly out of line with what he actually wants to accomplish. Here's Lizza:

..In his influential book: The Personal President: Power Invested, Promise Unfilled, released just as Ronald Reagan was settling in for his second term, political scientist Theodore Lowi argued that the final years of any modern presidency are doomed to failure. His argument, written in the wake of the disappointing presidencies of Johnson, Nixon, Ford and Carter, was that the rise of the president as the central figure in U.S. political life had created expectations of what the president could accomplish that are wildly out of sync with the actual powers of the job. The result is a continually frustrated public. He argued that every failure only created more frantic p.r. attempts by the president to be seen as successful, often creating incentives for "adventurism abroad." "As visibility goes up," Lowi once told The Atlantic,"so do espectations and vulnerability. There's more of a chance to make really big mistakes. It's a treadmill to oblivion. It's why modern history is filled with so many failed presidencies."

Now maybe if the president puts the focus back on national security--Iraq, say, or a more menacing stance towards Iran--he'll regain his footing. Maybe some sort of national security crisis will break out. But barring that, it seems the only way for Bush to salvage his second term is to become genuinely bipartisan and start reaching out to Democrats and other moderates. That's what Ronald Reagan did when facing lame-duckhood--both with his bipartisan tax reform package and holding summit talks with Gorbachev--and it's what Clinton did too, with balanced budgets and intervention in Kosovo. Sadly for Bush, compromise and outreach isn't really in his DNA, so he's going to spend the next four years looking mighty useless. Oh well

To access the site this article is posted on, just click on the following link:

http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/

Saundra Hummer

June 24th, 2005, 01:57 PM

Saundra Hummer

June 24th, 2005, 03:31 PM

....It's just getting crazier everyday. Now in Italy, a judge has ordered the Arrest of 13 CIA agents.

An Italian judge ordered the arrests of the 13 for the "purported CIA abduction of an imam, who was then sent to Egypt. These were CIA agents who were involved in US anti-terrorism efforts according to an Italian official.

OSama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, known as Abu Omar was siezed it is suspected by the 13 in Milan, Feb. 17, 2003 and was flown to Egypt and reportedly tortured according to Milan prosecutor Manilio Claudio Minale in a released statement.

An Italian newspaper claims all 13 were American agents.

The US Embassy in Rome and the CIA in Washington declined to comment.

Threre are, once again, claims of torture, electrical shock, of being hung upside down, subjected to exptreme temperatures and loud noise that damaged his hearing (one night we were in a club, and the Kids playing didn't understand the sound system and they blasted a squeel out of it that hurt terribly, it must have hit my friend and me just perfectly as we both ducked our heads yelling ow!!! and for over 3 months I couldn't hear out of my right ear. It was pretty painful and the hearing loss really surprised me, as it only lasted a second and it only hit us with other people standing all around, a strange thing, so I do understand how sound can be torture. SRH)

The iIailans are saying that this seizure of Omar represented a violation of Italian sovereignty. Investigations are being called for by several in their country.

Omar isn't considered too nice a man, at least in how we in the west view him. He is said to have fought with jihadists in Afghanistan and Bosnia, and he was being investigated before his abduction for his involvement in terrorism and the Italian authorities had planned on arresting him themselves.

"It seems the 13 accused CIA operatives ran up $144,984 in hotel bills in Milan and two couples took Holidays in Southern Italy after delivering Omar at the Aviano air base. (Not operating on the cheap it seems, as they expect so many of us, our elderly, and our schools to do. SRH)

Friday June 24, 2005

ITALY: Cia Agents Indicted for Imam Abduction:

Go to the following link, and click on it to access this and ther other stories which are part of all of this and to read of Rumsfeld being sued over Torture.

http://www.truthout.com

Saundra Hummer

June 24th, 2005, 03:41 PM

Rather watch video of the issues dogging us today? Ones we consider to be so very important?

Here's a short list

Rep. Maxine Waters [ The Big Lie -06.20.05

The Smoking gun --06.15.05 --HijackingCastastrophe.org

GOP Walks Out on Patriot Act Hearing -06.10.05

Aidan Delgado [ What I saw in Iraq--o6.03.05

Arlington West--05.30.05

And, so much more

http://www.truthout.org/multimedia.html

==

Information Clearing House has lots of reports which are also on video and a terrific source for truths.

Here iis there address, just click on the links to access:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info

Saundra Hummer

June 24th, 2005, 03:59 PM

Read about the children in several reports by clicking on his site and finding the lead story, which is inflammatory and disgusting, yet factual it seems to me:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9260.htm

1. Child Abuse (lead story by Chris Floyd)

Links: (Annotations)

Unending Health Disaster for Iraqi Kids
Japan Times, June 18, 2005
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Iraq Attacks Preceeded Congressional OK
San Francisco Chronicle, June 19, 2005
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Former Regan Official: This is War Waged by Liars and Moraons
CounterPunch, June 21,2005
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They Died So Republicans Could Take the Senate
Buzzflash.com, June20, 2005
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House Agrees to Spend More for Iraq War
Reuters, June 21, 2005
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Heat and Dust: Inside the Green Republic
Baghad Burning, June 21, 2005
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WMD Claims Were Totally Implausible, says Key UK Diplomat
The Guardian
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Why the Memo Matters
TomDispatch,June19, 2005
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How Much Proof Needed Before theTruth Comes Out? (This is my take exactely! SRH)
Online Journal, June 17, 2005
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British Documents Show Determined U.S. March to War
Knight-Ridder, June 17, 2005
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Down the Iraqi Rabbit Hole
TomDispatch, June 15, 2005
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US Lied to Britain Over use of Napalm in Iraq War
The Independent, June 17, 2005
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Bush Wanted to Invade Iraq if Elected in 2000, says Family Biographer
Gurilla News, Oct. 27, 2004
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British Military chief Reveals New Legal Ferars Over Iraq War
The Observer, May 1, 2005

Go on site by clicking on the link furnished earlier. ^^^ Information Clearing House.info

Saundra Hummer

June 24th, 2005, 06:23 PM

..Mad Cow Disease Again, the Second One Discovered in the US

They aren't telling us where this case originated, but they are saying it was in a cow born in the U.S. or that at least there was no evidence that it was imported. Evidently the cow was taken to a rendering plant to be killed and it was subsequently tested for the disease.

This cow was at least 8 years old and , and was born before the United States and Canada banned cattle parts in cattle feed, which is how the disease is believed to spread. It is common for bone and blood meal to be added to cattle feed to insure they are getting enough vital minerals and vitamains to stay healthy and gain well, making for better tasting and healthier beef animals. Bonemeal was often a supplement humans took as well, now it must be heated to a certain temperature for animal consumption as well as for people, whereas before it was only processed without heating to a safe degree.

This is bound to hurt the ranchers raising cattle once again. Anything like this is always a detriment and when operating on such a tiny margin with no room for things such as this popping up, an occurance such as this is just devastating, and can be the difference between success or such a major blow as to have to sell and move on into something else, when this is all you've done all your life. But having said this, it is easier for a rancher to do this, and they are oftentimes successful in other endeavors, while "city folk" would find it much, much harder if not impossible to fit into their world. I've seen it done and attempted a lot and believe me the rancher is much better suited to both worlds.

Tenorman

June 24th, 2005, 06:37 PM

Did anyone see Tom Cruise on the Today show on NBC this morning? He was so patronizingly rude to Matt Lauer as to make you believe he himself has a chemical imbalance, which by the way, for those of you who missed it, he was saying is non existent in everyone who suffers from debilitating mental problems because of them. Post partum depression? Non existant and can be handled as he is say's, so don't even think about going to a doctor.

I agree many things are brought on by improper diet, and a proper diet and vitamin therapy can only help, not hurt, but this self proclamed Scientology guru has all the answers you know.

Has he lost his every loving mind? Chemical imbalances? Cruise himself acts as though he is in the midst of this very malady. Something seems terribly amiss with him, he is acting like a person ready for some serous treatments.

He needs to give the over extended smile a break while he's at it.

On the other hand, did you see how he handled himself when some idiot (UK) television team arranged a stunt, whereby he was sprayed with water on the "Red Carpet" He didn't know it was water - it could have been acid or something else. All he knew was that he had been attacked with some liquid He has my admiration for the way he handled himself under that stress.

He also takes a lot of time to talk to fans (at least when he comes to the UK). I think you will be hard pushed to find anyone over here with a bad word to say against him

Saundra Hummer

June 24th, 2005, 06:45 PM

It seems that since GW and his administration have been slipping in the polls and since he is beginning to take on the tag of "Lame Duck", the news media is catching up with bloggers and a few brave news organizations and reporters.

It often times used to take a week or so for some stories to be reported on television, the four networks, NBC, CBS, ABC, and Fox, then there are Time and Newsweek magazines. All of them, or so it seemed to me, kept pretty quiet about a lot of things which were going on. Most of these were and are the news sources we had come to rely on for coverage of important happenings. Now it is the internet or PBS which keeps us current and abreast of what is unfolding around the world, especially as pertaining to this administrations actions and policies.

Glad to see the changes, and the willingness to let us know in more detail as to what is going around the world with the Bush/Cheney administration. Still too quiet on a lot of things, but maybe it takes a while to get sea legs when they have been so high and dry; so safe for such a long time - for much too long, but glad to have them back and telling it like it is in some instances. I hope they keep it up, and expand and do it all up right.

Tenorman

June 24th, 2005, 06:56 PM

Saundra Hummer

June 24th, 2005, 06:58 PM

On the other hand, did you see how he handled himself when some idiot (UK) television team arranged a stunt, whereby he was sprayed with water on the "Red Carpet" He didn't know it was water - it could have been acid or something else. All he knew was that he had been attacked with some liquid He has my admiration for the way he handled himself under that stress.

He also takes a lot of time to talk to fans (at least when he comes to the UK). I think you will be hard pushed to find anyone over here with a bad word to say against him

I should have brought that up, as it was admirable and for him to handle that incident like he did. He not knowing what was in the squirt microphone, was pretty spooky I'm sure, it could have been any number of dangerous substances.

No this is not someone who is looked down on , but he is so looking down on everyone else. You would have to hear and see how rude and pompous he was being. I really believe he has issues which should be handled by someone - as he was out there - I mean out there. I really do think that there is something wrong for him to be doing and saying the things he's doing and saying. Did you see him? It was astounding and about the rudest I've ever seen a celebrity act. it was like this: I'm smart and know, while you're dumb and don't. Not his words but that's the impression one was left with. The most self promoting thing I've heard or seen anyone do in a long, long time. It was extreme.

He isn't a dummy, he knows where his bread is buttered, but he was a pompous, self adulating ass on the morning show, and one couldn't help but feel embarassment for him.

It will be reported on again, I'm sure, in fact I believe more will be shown on Monday. "NBC." Perhaps there's a report to be seen on NBC's web site.

Saundra Hummer

June 24th, 2005, 07:07 PM

Ever had the suspicion that your own country was too honest??

One thing that we learned about Mad Cow Disease (Bovine Spongeiform Encephalitis ), was that it did not come singly. If you had one animal testing positive in a herd, then you had several.. The strategy in this country was to put down every animal in a herd where it was found, and every animal in every herd to which cattle had been transferred over the incubation period. If the US is not doing that, they are about to have some pretty nasty cases of CJD

This is really going to hurt a lot of cattlemen and the industries thy support. What a mess. All from feeding uncooked animal bi-products they say. I know our deer have a similar disease, one which works much the same but it is rare they say.

This incidence is going to hurt and hurt severely, and we know cattlemen who are just now coming out of some hard times, things are looking good, or at least they were, now the public will back off and prices will bottom out once more.

Well now that factory ships, & driftnets have almost depleted the oceans, over-fishing until there's several species of fish being endangered, like snapper, we'll have to all be eating chicken and pork, or just become vegetarians.

Tenorman

June 24th, 2005, 07:12 PM

Saundra Hummer

June 24th, 2005, 07:24 PM

Mad Cow disease reputedly comes from a sheep diease called Scrapey in the UK. Sheep /Deer similar genetics. So this disease has crossed from sheep to cattle and then to human

Scrapey --- BSE --- CJD (Creuzfeld Jacob disease)

I haven't kept up with it all for a long time, but we used to vacinate our cattle for one form of encephalitis, but I don't believe it is for this strain, well I'm sure of it. We have to vacinate our dogs for several things which are transferable from cattle to dogs as well, but again I'm not up on it like I used to be or should be. I know there are problems with rabies popping up here in Oregon, a rabid bat, so two cats had to be destroyed in Southern Oregon, Klamath Falls I believe. We have screw worms too, which they say have been erradicated, but we had a sheep get them about 15 or so years ago, We had a Samoyed dog get them too when we lived in California, and we didn't have a clue he had them untill we saw watery blood dripping from his sides. They are, (for the people who don't know), the maggot of a fly, not really what we think of as a worm, and unlike most fly maggots which eat only dead or rotton flesh, these attack healthy skin and are deadly. Real pleasant topic, but just a (sometimes) fact of life out in the country and on ranches, and this mad cow thing is bad for everyone.

Tenorman

June 24th, 2005, 07:32 PM

Saundra Hummer

June 24th, 2005, 07:42 PM

You haven't hit the worst part yet - it is transferable to humans. It comes from cheap cuts and the meat round the spine. CJD in humans is like rapid advanced senility and can (and has) happened to 18 year olds. In this country it was traced to hamburger eaters. (Hamburgers tend to be all the crap meat that is high-pressure-hosed off the bone) Go figure

We know that, as they've shown people in advanced stages of it on television and of people who they suspected had contacted a similar disease from eating venison. It was just pathetic and it scared everyone here so that they quit eating any beef and it really hurt our cattlemen. We are just now pressuring Japan into accepting our beef back into their country, but I would imagine that will not be happening since this has been made public.

We buy mostly local beef, beef the local butchers grind up themselves. and we have even quit doing that as they put additives in it to stretch it in most supermarkets, but they don't get it in big blocks that has already been ground at the large slaugher houses, our meat is usually pretty much local but they do put in additives to stretch it like I said earlier, like soy or who knows what all, bone, ice chips and ??? Now we just buy a chuck roast trimmed of fat, and have them grind it up or if we want it super lean we have them grind up a flank steak for us. It is always so much better. We eat a lot of ground meat in taco's and my California Ranch style enchilladas, and I like ground meat for these dishes. I just won't be buying any of their ground up meat anymore. Since I don't like it anyway, that's o.k.

Tenorman

June 24th, 2005, 07:48 PM

Saundra Hummer

June 24th, 2005, 08:01 PM

Buy a mincer (grinder in the US??)

Buy a decent cut of meat and mince (grind) it yourself.

I only bought Aberdeen Angus meat. It is a pure breed and was and still is totally free of BSE. It is more expensive, but hey, I can still do a crossword

Face it, Angus is the best, more flavor, just easier keepers. We had a Red Angus bull we used one year and talk about nice calves, but he was a bit much, I have some funny stories to tell about him, especially since our back fence ran along the length of the local golf-course, and he would chase and bellow at men playing golf, scaring the daylights out of them, they would take off running for their lives and leave their carts standing. It was like out of a cartoon, we stood on the hill and laughed till we could hardly stand up, it just looked so funny. They had ruined our fences climbing in to get their golf balls,and after we got him in, you should have seen the drawers of golf balls we collected. One day he was bellowing at our big gate by the house after a big rain and Rich, for some reason, knew he wanted salt, as he kept loose salt and minerals out for the cattle and he knew it must have washed away so he got a handfull and went out to the gate and he licked it out of Rich's hand and he never went after Rich again. Too funny. He was so bad that he would herd the cows away from the golfers, and if they didn't move away fast enought to suit him, he would knock them down, just bellowing, it was the strangest thing you ever saw. I mean he acted like some sort of throw-back, he was an odd bull. Pretty as could be, but so different. I know one thing after that the golf course built a stye and fixed fences the golfers had ruined, also after we tossed all their whiskey bottles back over the fence in a huge pile, they quit throwing their bottle and beer cans in our pasture. What jerks they were. They threatened to sue us for the bull and cows getting on the golf course, but their grounds keeper was a cattleman and he told thim how it really was, and what the laws were, and after that they didn't climb in ruining the fences as much they had in the past, and after that, they kept the fences up and like they had to be to contain cattle. A big relief to us as we were constantly repairing fences, because of them, and it was getting old.

Tenorman

June 24th, 2005, 08:10 PM

Saundra Hummer

June 24th, 2005, 08:30 PM

Obviously they had never met a Highland Cow.

Sorry Bull. The cows are quite placid, the bulls are un-predictable

Long shaggy coat. Large handlebars, about the same weight as an Aberdeen Angus.

I am a country lad, but I can assure you that it takes guts to stand your ground when one of these beasties is trundling down a hill towards you

For some obscure reason they are known on the West Coast of Scotland as Hielan' Stoats.

They are lovely placid flea-ridden, bad-tempered smelly SoBs

There are people who raise them here, and a fellow whose business is bulding some pretty fancy log homes has a few head near here, in the town of Sisters. I think he is the same fellow I met at the Olympics one year who was telling about squatting on governemt land and he would build a cabin and live in it until discovered and kicked off. He was friends with a lot of the guys in the Forest Service and they, for the most part, would let him get away with it until a supervisor higher up the chain would discover him and he would move and search out another location. (EDIT! He said that the forest service men liked the fact that that gave them a place to go in and warm up and have a break from the weather, so they loved him having a few cabins dotted around the mountains.) Now with helicopter flights and constant flyovers, it probably woudn't be possible to get away with it, but then it was. He learned his craft pretty well. He did an interview for a newspaper and mentioned having done that, so I'm sure he must be the same fellow.

Anyway he has a herd of Scottish Highlanders, the red ones with the long coats and the long horns. Pretty cattle, look like they belong back in te ice age don't you think? I think that there was some crossing in of other cattle which produced the Black Angus, and the red Angus is the older of the two breeds. I don't think I have this backwards, but could.

Here in this country, they had the people showing cattle introduce Holstein blood and make them so large and lengthy as to how they used to look, and it became such a problem that a big stink was going on about it, like the Hereford breeders introducing Simental blood to get larger cattle, and then they were showing them as registered Herefords. At one show we were showing in at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, the judge kicked out a ranch as he said the bull had Simental in him so get him out of the ring, the guy just laughed, and admited to us he sure did have it in him, and everyone knew it. No way was he a pure bred Hereford. Lots of money was being made at that time with cattle. The bull we used one time sold for $350,000.00. John Wayne bought him, so there was lot of cheating going on to try to rake in the big money. After that the prices kept climbing until the cattle market just crashed and it has never been the same again. Property is just too expensive to raise catlle on as a rule, and everything else costs a fortune besides, so ranching, expecially raising cattle is just not the thing to be in any longer. Love it, it was one of my favoirite things in life, but not feasible for us any longer.

I meant to tell you about how it is with the Angus, huffy little black devils, when we were showing the people with them would come through the barn and tell us to get where ever we needed or wanted to be, a safe place as "Angus coming through!!!" "Heads Up, Watch Out, Here They Come." It was kind of a joke but they were very serious as they would be coming through with them either going into the ring, to tie them out for the night or to the wash racks.

They could be pretty dangerous. One time an Angus steer went on a rampage at the Stanislaus County Fair we were showing at in California. A car dealer had a bunch of nice new cars on display out on a big lawn area, must have been about 13 cars that the steer broke headlights, tail lights, kicked in and butted in doors, jumped on areas, tore off bumpers, he went through the cars for what seemed like forever, it was a big, big mess. Totaled them. Then, at the same fair, an Angus, a long yearling bull, almost two, went on a rampage as well. A man tried to stop him and the bull jumped up in the air and came down on him, snapped his leg, and hip. I was grabbing up a little three year old girl, which scared her a lot, but her mother panicked, and the little girl not knowing me at all was a bit frightened of me. and in nano seconds I was trying to figure out what to do with her to keep her from getting hurt if the bull keep bucking our way. He was six feet away and I thought we had had it, and I thought I would have to throw. literally throw her about 4 feet into the show ring to keep her from being killed, as there were shavings and sawdust about a foot deep in front of where we were, and I kept thinking bruises or a broken bone would be better than her being smashed by a bull. Luckily about 5 men managed to get him under control. It took a lot of nerve to do what they did, but one of them had a broken leg and hip from it. Snapped right in two. Lots of little kids would have been severely injured if it weren't for him, and then the others joined in and stopped him. Yep, Angus are huffy little devils.

Tenorman

June 24th, 2005, 08:37 PM

Here is the real beastie
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~chicnmo/islay/backgrounds/Highland%20cow%20small.jpg

Saundra Hummer

June 24th, 2005, 09:02 PM

Here is the real beastie
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~chicnmo/islay/backgrounds/Highland%20cow%20small.jpg

Did you take this picture or did you pull it up? I guess you can't enter from your own files unless you have a service to do it.

I think they are so great looking.

Are the black curly cattle from Scotland? Weren't they part of the Angus somehow? I've forgotten. I know there are curly horses as well, and I've forgotten where they are from, must be the British Isles, or so it seems that's where they're from but I really don't remember.

Saundra Hummer

June 25th, 2005, 12:03 AM

Thirty four Army, one Navy and one Marine. This is the number of women and the branches they served in, who have died, who have been killed, since the war began.

June 24, 2005

Saundra Hummer

June 25th, 2005, 11:31 AM

......MOLLY IVINS

CREATOR'S SYNDICATE

06-23-05

SUPER SENATE SWEEP?

GRAFT RUNS RAMPANT ON CAPITOL HILL

SAN DIEGO -- As that great American, Deep Throat, never said, "Follow the Money." (The line is by William Goldan who wrote the movie, "All the Presidents Men"). Keeping your eye on the shell with the pea under it is not easy when the right wing echo chamber continually takes up new chapters in the culture wars -- the dread case of the senator who didn't, in fact, say the United States is as bad as the late Soviet Union and the equally grave perennial constitutional amendment to prevent the menace of flag desecration.

Meanwhile, largely unnoticed and unreported, the drumbeat of giveways to big corporations continues: unneccessary tax breaks for the undeserving, more green lights for the rampant exploitation of the environment and all manner of theft and skullduggery.

Seriously, the administration is starting to look like the old telvision show in which contestants lined up their shopping carts in a grocery store and, on the signal, began running around throwing every valuable item they could find in their carts. Whoever grabbed the most high-priced items won. The contestants here and now are corporations and lobbyists.

The amusing case of the congressman whose house was bought by the founder of a defense firm for $700,000 more than it was worth is being exceptionally well reported by the congressmans' hometown paper, the San Diego Union Tribune. You will not be amazed to learn the congressman in question (Randy Cunningham) oversees the committee that grants contracts to that very defense firm.

The story gets better by the day -- the congressman lives on a yacht in D.C. owned by the defense contractor, and employees of the defense firm say they were threatened with firing if they did not give to the comany PAC. Well shut my mouth!

Meanwhile, the Senate has endorsed the Bush administration's do nothing poliocy on global warming by approving a measure that avoids mandatory reductions of heat-trapping pollution. These are the same bozos who refuse to require better mileage per gallon from the auto industry, even though the technology is readily available.

The Senate also passed an inventory of offshore oil and gas resources, apparently a step toward drilling in coastal waters that are now off limits to the oil companies. See above reference to bozo's.

Now here's a jewel of a giveaway to those deserving citizens, the tobacco companies. The Justice Department suddenly dropped it's request from $130 billion in the long-running tobacco case to $10 billion. Justice Department lawyers say political appointees at the top of the department were responsible for the decision.

The tobacco industry contributed a total of $54.1 million in individual, PAC, and soft money from 1989 throught last year, according to Capital Eye a news letter put out by the Center for Responsive Politics. Seventy-five percent of its contributions have gone to Republicans.

In addition, the tobacco industry has spent hundreds of millions on lobbying over the same years. In 1998, the tobacco companies settled with several states for a reported $246 billion. Individual states have won settlements larger than $10 billion, yet the federal government is apparaently planning to run a national anti-smoking campaign on a fraction of that. One expert witness for the government said he had been asked to change his testimony on how much such a program woud cost, but refused to do so. This action has several names - - sellout, cave-in, giveaway and payoff among them.

When this administration's Department of Interior promises you that increased grazing on public lands will improve the quality of rangelands, do you believe it? Would your answer be influenced by news that once again the advice of scientists in the field was ignored by the political appointees in charge?

A government bioligist and a hydrologist, both retired from the Bureau of Land Management, said their conclusion that the proposed new grazing rules might adversely affect water quality and wildlife, including endangered species, was excised and replaced with language justifying less stringent regulation.

"They rewrote everything. It's a crime," said one of the scientists. The ranchers are happy about the proposed new regs, but how happy are they going to be when the rangeland detiorates?

And how many times are we going to let the administration get away with just changing science to suit its own political purposes?

The R's have passed an energy bill that increases our dependence on foreign oil by 85% by 2025, according to a 2004 report by the Energy Information Administration. No wonder the White House has to keep changing the science in these reports.

One-striking feature of the bill is a nifty little waiver for the manufacturers of MTBE, that lets them avoid liability suits filed since September 2003. MTBE is a toxic substance now working its way into various water supply sources. The waiver is worth billions to the manufacturers of MTBE, who happpen to be clustered in the home districts of Majority Leader Tom DeLay and Texas Rep. Jon Barton who is chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. :fineprint Surprise!

To see more of Molly and other articles go to the site by clicking on the following link:

http://www.workingforchange.com

Saundra Hummer

June 25th, 2005, 12:25 PM

......"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." ---Margaret Mead

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"Majority rule only works if you're also considering individual rights. Because you can't have five wolves and one sheep voting on what to have for supper." Larry Flynt

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"Good Night America, How are You?"

Land of Confusion: where the Only Constant is Change

By Dom Stassi

06/25/05 "ICH" - - Ever want to change things? Ever want to do something - or more realistically - ever wantto be part of a movement or a group that does something which, once it's been done, effects a cultural or physical change that in turn affects just about everybody else in some way - even those billions who have no idea that something's changed? Ever want to do that?

If your answer is yes, but you've never tried it, I say, try it. By all means, try it. Or at the very least, if such an opportunity presents itself, don't step aside. Confront it. See where it takes you, or where you take it. Change is what life is all about. Quality of life is what change is all about.

The world could really use a change right now, especially one that starts here at home. If it starts here at home, it could be a peaceful change. Becuase, make no mistake about it, the rest of the world cannot, and will not, coexist with the cultural aberration that is America under George W. Bush. There's just too much imbalance. Which imbalance when coupled with our current diplomatic arrogance, will inevitably lead to crisis if left to fester. History is explicit on this.

So , if the 150 million Americans who are unhappy about the direction our country is being taken, each made an effort to invoke a difference, however microscopic, the aggreagate effect would be one of (Dare I borrow a word from the republicans...? "Biblical" proportions.

But if only if that change is self-imposed might it be effected without the usual Biblical slaughter.

Simply stated, if we 150 million concerned Americans take the initiative and change our current leaderships' hehavior in the world, we won't be subjected to whatever solution the 6.5 billion equally-concerned non-American's eventuall come up with in seeking quiescence without us.

You would be astoiunded at how easy it can be to help effect change. C'mon, if physhotic jerks like Osama bin Laden and George W. Bush can go around changing the entire world whenever they feel like it, why can't decent, normal pople change things a bit too? There are more of us than them. In fact, if marginal people such as Bush and his puppet masters change the world in ways we decent normal people doon't like or that we're reasonaably certain will bring enslavement or premature death to countless of our children and grandchildren (or anyone else's for that matter), wouldn't we be concerned enough about those changes to at least attempt to set things right again? It's our world too. Isn't it?

"Hell yes!" say's I.

Can we look about us, see what's happening to our world, remain passive and continue to call ourselves decent normal people?

"Hell no!" sez I

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Click on the following link to see the rest of this article, there's much more to consider.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info

Saundra Hummer

June 25th, 2005, 12:56 PM

.... ROAD THE U.S. TRAVELED TO BAGHDAD WAS PAVED BY "SCOOP JACKSON"

THE HAWKS' HAWK

BY ROGER MORRIS

.."Seattle Post Intelligence" (link provided on site)
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This is something which if I had known in the past, it isn't something I remember much about now. I know over the years we've heard rumors of CIA attrocities and of their connections and complicity in backing despots and their actions.

No wonder this is a country which is fighting us with such abandon. Who wouldn't with this history? Although there are outside influences at work as much or more than there are local freedom fighters -- the ones we are calling insurgents -- many of them are not Iraqi's, and financing for the most part seems to be coming from outside the country.

This is a pretty disgusting bit of information. This bit on Scoop Jackson and the CIA, Saddam and how it comes into play with our current involvement in Iraq. Remember (like I keep asking you) when during the Iran Contra hearings, when Oliver North smuggly told the investigating committee, and us, on uninterrupted television this little jewel --- "I work for the 'Real Government.'?" --- I was so astounded by that comment, I have never forgotten it, and I can hear and picture him in my mind to this day. It seems he at that moment at least, was being oh so truthful. What is it with men such as these (the administration, the courts, etc) ? They act as though they truly believe they are doing everthing which is best for this country, while it's their policies which are tearing us down. How misguided is this?

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info

Saundra Hummer

June 26th, 2005, 02:39 PM

......PARKING LOT SEALCOAT: A MAJOR SORCE OF PAHs IN URBAN AND SUBURBAN ENVIRONMENTS :eek2:

Coal-tar based sealcoat-the black, shiny emulsion painted or sprayed on asphalt pavement such as parking lots---has extremely elevated concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and can affect the quality of downstream water resources, according to a recent joint study in Texas by the USGS National Water Quality Assesment (NAWQA) Program and the City of Austin, PAHs are an environmental concern because they are toxic to aquatic life and because several are suspected human carcinogens. Small particles of sealcoat flake off as they are abraided by vehice tires, and can wash into urban streams with rain and runoff. The study found that particles in runoff from coal based sealcoated parking oots have Pah concentrations that are about 65 times higher than in particles washed off parking lots that have not been sealcoated. Particles in runofff from parking lots sealed wth asphalt-based sealcoat, the other major product on the market, have PAH concentrations about 10 times highter than those from unsealed lots. The large differences suggest that abraided sealcoat is a potentially dominant (and heretofore unrecognized) source of PAHs in urban and suburban water bodies. PAH concentrations have been increasing over the past 30-35 years in many urban and suburban lakes across the United States.

Findings are scheduled to be published in the Aug. 1, 2005 issue of Environmental Science & Technology (ES&T). ES&T is a publication of the American Chemical Society, the worlds largest scientific society.

The abstract of the ES& T article is available on line. Full text for the ES&T article can be obtained from Michael Bemstein, Office of Communications, American Chemical Society, (202)-872-6042.

To to the folloiwing link to find other links to freequently asked questions, contacts and other related information

http://water.usgs.gov/nawqa/asphalt_sealers.html

Saundra Hummer

June 27th, 2005, 02:24 PM

..... A TEENAGE BOY ISTHE SECOND TO BE ATTACKED BY A SHARK WITHIN 3 DAYS IN THE GULF OF MEXICO ALONG THE FLORIDA PANHANDLE.

The boy, whose name and age weren't released, underwent surgery and his condition stabilized. Christa Hild, spokeswoman for the hospital, said: "That means he's going to be OK."

The boy was, (as was the girl who died) riding a boogie board, which from beneath, from the sharks viewpoint looks a lot like a sunbasking seal.

I've been wanting to get a boogie board, but now it will depend on where I'll be swimming whether or not I'll get one.. Clifford Brown always was asking us about sharks, and had a big fear of the ocean, where the kid who died in the wreck with him was up for learning to body surf and surf on boards besides. We had it all planned to teach hm when they came back in two weeks. To have heard Clifford talk about his fear of the ocean and to hear the questions he asked us about it was so funny to us, as we just never had that fear, but did know that when we saw the small bait size fish jumping up in the air to get out and get out quickly, but fear just wasn't there.

I've wondered what the seal kill and the overfishing of the oceans does to the balance of ocean life, but it seems shark attacks have been decreasing not increasing, but then there are those who harvest sharks for their fins, so maybe their number's are down. Maybe there still isn't enough food sources for them as they say our oceans fish populations are really in danger, their numbers down dramatically. Odd, but without heavy shark numbers they say the lobster population decreases dramatically, perhaps they need what sharks are leaving behind to make it. ...... Perhaps they creates an eco system the lobster and other small aquatic life needs. ....... I've always wondered about the salmon runs. Do they need the larger predators devouring large numbers of them and putting back into the streams, rivers and oceans the offal from their feeding? I know when the sea lions were devouring salmon in the Columbia, the next year there were record runs. Everyone was wanting to shoot the main culpret, a beautiful large male. I think that there might be something to this, as there is more food created by these animals killing salmon (for the offspring, the juveniles who swim back out to sea), and other critters lower on the food chain, and how about the polar bears, when the baby seals are killed, what does that do to their numbers, and the orcas, etc, or are they eathing them and cleaning up the mess from mans clubbing and skinning of the pups? Does this increase or decrease their food supply? The sharks? The krill? I wonder what all of this does to their food chain. Not to mention the factory boats, drift nets and other detrimental practices which really do harm our environment. What are the benefits and what's detrimental?

Anyway, here's hoping the young boy has a full and speedy recovery, and our hearts go out both he and the young girl's family. Such a tragedy.

Saundra Hummer

June 27th, 2005, 03:02 PM

........OUR CONSTITUTION: ALL IT MEANS, GUARANTEES & STANDS FOR

It's time we go back to the basics, when students in our publically supported schools, paid for by our taxes, start believing as they do now, that the press should have to submit stories to our government before they are published, something is terribly amiss. Taught by those in this country who know what it is they should know about the laws and constitutional guarantees this country is founded on. Straight forward and simply, the complexities can come later. It seems even the current administration hasn't a clue or if they do they are choosing to disregard it and do whatever it takes to make themselves, more powerful, richer and above the law. How things have changed and we do, as I have said, need start all over again as to how we educate in this country. We need to understand the concepts of "Our Constitution," and protect it, not sweep it aside so as to control situations which are, and have been a detriment to society.

If teachers can't teach it correctly, then taped messages should be made expounding the virtures of what it is the Constitution has given us, what it guarantees us, not how it can be twisted and ignored.

There are some very bright men and women out there who need to lay aside their party line and start using some of their time (on the salaries we pay them) to teach the American public and their children what it is that has given them the freedom to live the lives they live, and how it is that they can use the laws of the land to protect their being and their childrens. Too much has slipped through the holes in the fence, and we need to make some drastic and quick repairs; we need a quick fix, yet one that has strengths, one with the fortitude our founding fathers envisioned for us, not what's being done now to tear us apart. We need to study ethics, and "Our Constitution." We need to understand it, and learn to honor it. We need some help from those out there who are the brightest, not the greediest, nor the most power hungry. There are still some giving people out there who must know of a better way. (SRH.)

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A Quote from Information Clearing House:

...."If you call yourself an American that means that you have embraced the constitution, because that is what an American is. A citizen of the United States of America is someone who has sworn an oath of allegiance to that document, to the words, to the ideals of that document. Right now we have citizens who don't even understand what that document is."

Scott Ritter - June 23, 2005, Scott Ritter Traprock Peace Center at the Soolman Hill Meeting House.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info

This is so true and the shameful part is to look at those in this administration who have sworn under oath, over, and over in their approach to the White House. Now just step back and look at how they honor those oaths. They are in many cases ignoring our most noble document, ignoring the laws of our country. Shaming us at home and world wide. How does one teach honesty and an upstanding way of being when our children see so much avoidance of the truth. There's shame in this don't you think?

Saundra Hummer

June 28th, 2005, 02:29 PM

.....SHELBY FOOTE, CELEBRATED CIVIL WAR HISTORIAN & NOVELIST HAS DIED.

MEMPHIS, Tennessee - Novelist and historian Shelby Foote whose Southern storyteller's touch inspired millions to read his multivolume work on the Civil War, has died. He was 88

Foote died Monday night, his widow, Gwyn, said Tuesday.

To see the story go to Yahoo News.com

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I'd written up some of my own feelings and observations about Shelby, however, the site didn't take it, so this will have to do.

I truly enjoyed Shelby Foote, his perspective. He had such a plesant and laid back style, he was a pleasure to listen to, and learn from. He will be missed.

Saundra Hummer

June 28th, 2005, 02:52 PM

.....TEaCHING ETHICS & COMPREHENSION OF ETHICS NEEDED IN OUR LIVES

PHOENIX -- A tabloid promised Monday to give money to an organization for burn victims after labeling as "ugly" a police officer who suffered disfiguring burns in a crash while on duty.

How unfeeling and unethical to write and then print such a thing, Where did this person learn how to write for a publication? What did their parents teach them? Not a bit of caring it seems, this is just one form of unethical behavior. It abounds.

The tabloid, which is the type to run such fluff and craziness as articles on UFO's and the whereabouts of Elvis --- fired the employees responsible for the inclusion of Schecterle's photo in the "ugly" list, aid Stuart Zakim, senior vice presidentfor American Media. He said the tabloid was "incredibly happy" to make the donation.

Schechterle was so badly burned that surgeons had to strip awayhis face, covered in dead tissue, to save his life.

The photo that appeared in the Weekly World News was one taken by The Associated Press for a seris of award-winning stories chronicling Schechterle's accident and fight to recover.

===

We've all known and seen the type, those who snicker and laugh, whisper and point at others misfortunes. Compassion and ethical behaviour is alien to them. I really believe parents are missing the boat in so many instances. As teaching right from wrong, good from bad, empathy from callousness There are those who need, and should be counting their lucky stars to be blessed with good fortune, and they need to not look down on, or make fun of those less fortunate than themselves.

Ethics in politics is much needed as well. It needs to be a much studdied subject. Fingerpointing and whispering about others is a form of ridicule if not unethical behavior, or some would say it is just poor manners, however these acts are unethical in my opinion, and we've all seen this go on. A link is needed, a broken link is in need of fixing, as ethical behavior seems to be on the decline.

Saundra Hummer

June 28th, 2005, 03:33 PM

..TROOPS "PRESPOND" TO PRESIDENTS SPEECH...."WE NEED HONEST ANSWERS NOT PREP RALLIES."

Tonight at Fort Bragg, in front of a backdrop of American service members, President bush will tell the nation that victory is at hand, as long as we stay the course. Add a banner praising a job well-done and an aircraft carrier, and this all begins to seem eerily familiar.

But the men and women of the American military have had enough of whats familiar from this administration. For us there is no alternative but to serve when called, as we have in Iraq for the past two years.

Mr. President, this is a time for hard truths, and now that the opinion polls on the war have started to turn, you are going to Fort Bragg to make your case. Will it continue to be one version of progress from our Commander in Chief, but a very different measure from our commanders in the field? Why does your view of Iraq look so different from ours?

We agree there is no choice but to succeed in Iraq. But Mr. President what is the plan to get there? We still don't know. To quote Senator Chuck Hagel, a great patriot "It seems to those of us who served in Iraq that your administration is "making it up as they go along."

What is success? Tonight you will tell us Iraq is on the path to freedom and
stability, but what does right look like? The CIA tells us Iraq is now a top breeding ground for terrorists. Are we killing more enemies than we're making?

Last week, Vice President Cheney said the insurgency is in its last throes, but this week we're told to dig in for a 12 year battle. Have you asked your Secretary of Defense and Vice President to offer the Troops a straight answer?

We don't need to be told about the political successes in Iraq, because we were there to safeguard an election one year ago that you will certainly cite as progress. And we know that now is not a time for cheerleading.

Mr President, we dont' need to be told that the insurgents intend to shake our will, because we've sifted through the havoc wreaked by even the crudest weapons, then watched our friends sent home, changed forever. We don't need to be told that your administraton is committed to taking care of the Troops, because we've already gotten the bill you sent us for the meals we ate while recovering at Walter Reed. :rolleyes:

We don't need to be told that flak jackets and safer Humvees are on the way, because we've already learned that a phone call hom and a few hundred bucks is probably the quickest way to get body armor. :rolleyes: Hundreds of Troops have been wounded or killed because of faulty vechicles or missing armor, but who has been held accountable?

Each day we fulfilll our commitment to this country, but we are stil waiting for a Veteran's Administration that is properly funded and prepared to handle the comsequences of this war. This past week it was revealed the VA was one billion dollars shortof its health care need. Whose fault is that, and have you punished them for their failure to serve America's hero's?

We have come a long way since the early days of tough talk and "Mission Accomplished" banners. The body count has increased exponentially, and the rumbling of an awakening public can now be heard. But for the American Troops on the ground in Iraq, little has changed. For their families back home, the sleepless nights continue. The members of the military have long agreed that the strength of our force in iraq cannot be sustained with all-volunteer Army and dwindling recruitment numbers. Are you prepared to tell America's parents that their children will be needed to finish the job?

Mr President, we need honest answers, not pep rallies.

Go to this site to see the other topical and interesting blog articles,

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theblog/featuredposts.html

Saundra Hummer

June 28th, 2005, 04:32 PM

......."Many that live deserve death. And some that die that deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then be not too eager to deal out death in the name of justice, fearing for your own-safety. Even the wise cannot see al ends." J.R.R. Tolkien

=

......."No passion effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear." Edmund Burke

==

Jusitice, sir, is the great interest of man on earth. It is the ligament which holds civilized beings and civilized nations together." Daniel Webster

==

Who is feeding the insurgency? We are!

Iraq Exit Plan by Raymond Long

"The insurgency will continue as long as we "stay the course"

(by Raymond Long, for todays article.)

==

A Defeat Bred in Deceit.

"When Bush decided, prior to Sept 11, to attack Iraq, he committed himself to lies and deceit. As his British co-conspiriators realized, only victory could save them from the consequences."

By Paul Craig Roberts.

==
There are responses by factions in Iraq concerning negotions with us. These are not written by Western or journalists sympathetic to our government. Some of you might find these reports, and video's interesting.

Go to information Clearing House by just clicking on the link below.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info

Saundra Hummer

June 28th, 2005, 06:41 PM

...BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES

KARL ROVE LEADS ATTACK ON 'LIBERALS' WHILE TRYING TO RAISE SUPPORT FOR WAR

MOLLY IVINS: CREATORS SYNDICATE

06.28.05

AUSTIN, TEXAS -- The first thing I ever learned about politics was never let anyone else define what you believe, or what you are for or against. I think for myself.

I am not "you liberals" or "you people on the left who always..." My name is Molly Ivins, and I can speak for myself, thank you. I don't need Rush Limbaugh or Karl Rove to tell me what I believe.

Setting up a straw man, calling it liberal and then knocking it down has become a favorite form of "argument" for those on the right. Make some ridiculous claim about what liberals think, and then demonstrate how silly it is. Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly and many other right-wing ravers never seem to get tired of this old game. If I had a nickle for every idiotic thing I've ever heard those on the right claim "liberals" believe, I'd be richer than Bill Gates.

The latest and most idiotic statement yet comes form Karl Rove, who is not, actually an objective observer. He is george Bush's hatchet man. Last week, Rove, in an address to the Conservative Party of New York, made the following claim: "Conservatives saw the savaery of 9-11 in the attacks and prepared for war; liberals saw the savagery of the 9-11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers."

This seemed to the editorial writers at the San Diego Union-Tribune such a reasonable sumary of the liberal position thay couldn't figure out why Democrats were "hyperventilating" and getting "bent out of shape."

"What is harder to understand is how Democrats can think they can have it both ways," they wrote. "Even as they beat their chests and profess support for military action, they can't help but criticize the military and do everything they can to undermaine the war effort."

What a deep mystery. Let's see if we can help the San Diego thinkers solve it. On Sept. 14, 2001, Congress approved a resolution authorizing the president to take military action. The vote in the Senate was 98 to zero: the vote in the House was 420 to one. The lone dissenter was Democrat Barbara Lee of California, who expressed qualms about an open-ended war without a clear target.

Find me the offer for therapy and understanding in that vote. Any one remember what actually happened after 9-11? Unprecedented unity, support across the board, joint statements by Democratic and Repubican political leaders. The whole world was with us. The most important newspaper in France headlined, "We Are All Americans Now," and all our allies sent troops and money to help. That is what George Bush has pissed away with his war in Iraq.

The vote on invading Iraq was 77 to 23 in the Senate and 296 to 133 in the House. By that time, some liberals did question the wisdom of Invasion because: A) Iraq had nothing to do with 9-11 and B) It looked increasingly unlikely that Iraq actually had great stores of weapons of mass destruction, since the United Nations inspectors, who were on the ground, couldn't find any sigh of them --- even though Donal Rumsfeld claimed we knew expactly where they were.

Since my name is Molly Ivins and I speak for myself, I'll tell you exactly why I opposed invading Iraq: because I thought it would be bad for this country, our country, my country. I opposed the invasion out of patriotism, and that is the reason I continue to oppose it today --- I think it is bad for us. I think it has done nothing but harm to the United States of America. I think we have created more terrorists than we faced to start with and that our good name has been sullied all over the world. I think we have alienated our allies and have killed more Iraqis than Saddam Hussein ever did.

I did not oppose the war because I like Saddam Hussein. I have been active in human rights work for 30 years, and I told you he was a miserable s.o.b. back in the 80's when our government was sending him arms.

I did not oppose the war because I am soft on terrorists or didn't want to get Osama bin Laden. To the contrary, I thought it would be much more useful to get bin Laden than to invade Iraq -- which, once again, had nothing to do with 9-11, as a handy excuse to invade Iraq, which iit already wanted to do for other reasons.

It is one thing for a political knife-fighter like Karl Rove to impugn the patriotism of people who disagree with him. We have seen this same crappy tactic before, just as we have seen adminisration officials use 9-11 for political purposes again and again. But how many times are the media going to let them get away with it?

The first furious assault on the patriotism of Democrats came right after the 9-11 commission learned President Bush had received a clear warning in Aughst 2001 that Osama bin Laden hws planning a hijacking.

Batten down the hatches: This is the beginning of an adminstration push to jack up public support for the war in Iraq by attacking anyone with enough sense to raise questions about how it's going.

See Molly's articles by clicking on the following link

http://www.workingforchange.com

==

Those of us who read, comprehend and have reasoning ability -- do make up our own minds -- we don't need the Rush's and O'Reilly's goading us into believing what it is they espouse, their brand of poison. We know when we're being flim-flamed, and like Molly we use our own faculties to come to our own conclusions, which are more likely than not, educated, researched, and careflly thought out reason.

Having known the about Osama bin Ladden and Saddam Hussein, their objectives, personalaties and belief systems, this knowledge sent off warning signals, actual alarms, telling us something was amiss with what the administration was leading us to believe. But how unpatriotic to not believe GW, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rice, who we now know are seldom truthful or forthright. We who questioned and disagreed with GW and his ilk were thought of as low down and pessimestic, and somehow without honor. Oh really!. We were thought of as being terrible to even question this administration -- all because of bull horns at "Ground Zero" and because of tears in a t.v. broadcast. Who wouldn't have cried? But that didn't mean we had to follow GW and his policy makers blindly into more chaos. That was a foolish ill informed mistake many made. It involved several politicians and the American public, while we who questioned and feared the policies being put forth, were being called traitors, pessimists and all sorts of less than flattering names. :tearhair:

We also remember what has been said and done in the past, once fooled, well? -- OK..... Twice fooled? Now that's just plain stupid. SRH :shrug:

Saundra Hummer

June 29th, 2005, 02:14 PM

..............STAY THE CROOKED COURSE

By Ray McGovern

WEDS. JUNE 29, 2005

.....The editors of the New York Times this morining feign shock that in his speech at Fort Bragg yesterday evening President George W. Bush woud "raise the bloody flag of 9/11 over and over again to justify a war in a country that had nothing whatsoever to do with the terrorist attacks." Kudos for that insight! Better three years late than never, I suppose.

Forget the documentary evidence (the Downing Street minutes) that the war on Iraq was fraudulent from the outset. Forget that the US and UK started pulverizing Iraq with stepped up bombing months before president or prime minister breathed a word to Congress or parliament. Forget that Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and his merry men - co-opted, castrated military brass - have no clue regarding what US forces are up against in Iraq. The president insists that we must stay the course.

As was the case in Vietnam, the Iraq war is being run by civilians innocent of military experience and disdainful of advice from the colonels and majors who know which end is up. Aping the president's practice of surrounding himself with sycophants, Rumsfeld has promoted a coterie of yes-men to top military ranks - men who "kiss up and kick down," in the words of former Assistant Secretary of State Carl Ford, describing UN-nominee, Johan Bolton's modus operandi at the State Department. So when the president assures us, as he did yesterday, that he will be guided by the "sober judgment of our military leaders" he is referring to the castrati.

This is all lost on doting congresspeople like Sen. John Warner (R.VA), who has been around long enough to know better than to recite oxymorons. Most striking last week was his quixotic appeal to the military's top brass to give a candid assessment of the situation.

Is there no top military official - active duty or retired - around to tell it like it is? Active duty? No. Retired? Sure there are. But the latter get little or no ink or airtime in our domesticated media. There is Marine Corps Gen. Anthony Zinni, for example, or Gen. Brent Scowcroft (USAF), who was national security adviser to George H.W. Bush and, until this year, Chair of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. If their remarks are reported at all, one must dig deep into the inside pages to find them.

...
*******A GENERAL WITH THE COURAGE TO SPEAK TRUTH

...More outspoken still has been Lt. General William Odom (US Army, ret), the most respected senior intelligence officer still willing to speak out on strategic and intelligence issues. Unfortunately, you would have to understand German to know whe thinks of "staying the course" in Iraq, because US media are not going to run his remarks. :tearhair:

.......Here is my translation of what Gen. Odom said last September on German TV's Panorama program:

.........When the president says he is staying the course, that makes me really afraid. For a leader has to know when to change course. Hitler did not change his course, rather he kept sending more and more troops to Stalingrad and they suffered more and more casualties.

When the president says he is staying the course, it reminds me of the man who has just jumped from the Empire State Building. Half-way down he says. "I am still on course." Well, I would not want to be on course with a man who will lie splattered in the street. I would like to be someone who could change the course.

Our invasion of Iraq has make it a homeland for al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups. Indeed, I believe that it was the very first time that many Iraqis became terrorists. Before we invaded, they had no idea of terrorism.

*****

.....At Fort Bragg yesterday, the president spoke of the need to "prevent al-Qaeda and other foreign terrorists from turnng Iraq into what Afghanistan was under the Taliban, a safe haven from which they could launch attacks on America and our friends." Too late, Mr President, has no one told you that you've succeeded in accomplishing that yourself?

Gen. Odom, now professor at Yale and senior fellow at the conservative Hudson Institute, does not confine his criticism to the president, Rumsfeld, and the malleable generals they have promoted. Odom has also been highly critical of leader of the intelligence community, an area he knows intimately, having served as Chief of Army Intelligence (1981-85) and Director of the National Security Agency (1985-88). Commenting on the farcical pre-election-campaign "intelligence reform" last summer, he wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post, observing:

..........No organizational design will compensate for incompetent incumbents.

Odom is spot-on. In my 27 years of experience as an intelligence analyst I learned the painful lesson that lack of professionalism is the inevitable handmaiden of sycophancy. Military and intelligence officers and diplomats who bubble to the top in this kind of environment do not tend to be the real professionals.

And who pays the price? They young men and women we send off to a misbegotten, unnecessary war.

When the president spoke last evening, Medal of Freedom winners former CIA director George Tenet, Gen. Tommy Franks, and Ambassador Paul Bremer, no doubt were cheering him on from their armchairs. A most unsavory spectacle. :rolleyes:

..........If they quetion why we died,
Tell them because our fathers lied
---Rudyard Kipling

----------

.....Ray McGovern works for Tell The Word, the publishing arm of the ecumenical Church of the Saviour in Washington, DC. Now retired, he is a 27-year veteran of the analysis division of the CIA, and more recently co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity

....A pre-Fort Bragg-speech version of this article appeared yesterday on tomPaine.com

http://www.truthout.org

Click on the above link to see this article and other and check out truthouts archives and links to other intersting sites.

Another newsletter with topical issues is:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info

Or there's always this site:

http://www.workingforchange.com

Saundra Hummer

June 29th, 2005, 04:53 PM

........'PRO-LIFERS SUPPORT PESTICIDE TESTING ON FETUSES'

The Senate voted to block the Environmental Protection Agency from using studies that intentionally expose peole to pesticides when considering new permits for pest killers. Todays Senate vote, a vote to ban the agency which oversees such programs the agency which is meant to keep a watch out for such abuses, the Environmental Protection Agency, it is not to use funds to study these pesticides the chemical companies want tested. The Senate voted to keep the studies from them, keeping them from using studies which show what will happen, which would have exposed many children and women to pesticides, all the while considering the issuance of permits for new pesticides and new tests.

The measure did pass and we have it's protection, however, having said this, take a look at the number of "Senators" who were elected by us, thinking they had our best interests at heart, while it is the chemical companies and other corporations which they seem to try to please, and who it is they work for.

There were 37 Senators who voted against this measure. :rant2: There is a list of Senators provided in the voting record in the link I'll give you. Will you be surprised to learn that it is the aka. "Pro-Life" Senators who wanted to override this protective bill? I wasn't, not in the least. Mr. "Culture of LIfe" GW Bush is pressuring the EPA "to accept data from human tests on children, pregnant women, newborns, infants, and fetuses. Newborns of 'uncertain viability' could be tested." Hey' he's of "questionable (uncertain) viability", now that people are seeing the light and he's in the process of becoming a lame duck. Now that this is happening he could volunteer himself and see if the 37 Senators and the Chemical corporate heads he has so much pull with, won't do the same. Yeah right! :barf:

These "caring" Republican Senators and George Bush himself are always claiming they care about the unborn, :rolleyes: now it is they who are backing corporations in their desire to test hazardous chemicals on those with no voice, fetuses, poor children and poor pregnant women.:rolleyes: I myself sure wouldn't want to be their research subject, their Guinia Pig, no way at all, would any of you?

Corporate America at it's worst. What are they wrecking with their corrupting influences? When will we learn who it is who is for us, and who it is is for them, the ones who would be king? In Kiplings little story there were ideals and principles which won out, but we don't see that in these men and women who govern us, and in those who govern, those who have undue influence over over this Senate and this administration, what is known as Corporate America. Oh that we could impeach the Corporate giants for their illegal and corrupting influences. :cry:
.......

Senate Roll Call Vote:

U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 109th Congress - 1st Session

As compiled through Senate LIS by the senate Bill Clerk under the Direction of the Secretary of the Senate

Vote Summary

Question: On the Amendment (BoxerArndt.No. 1023)

Vote Number: 162

Required for 1/2
Majority:

Amendment sArndt 1023 to H.R.2361 (Department of the Interior,
Number: Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2006)

Statement of Purpose: To prohibit the use of funds by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to accept, consider, or rely on third party intentional dosing human studies for pesticides or to conduct intentional dosing human studies for pesticides.

Vote counts: Yeas: 60 Nays: 37 Not Voting; 3

http://www.senate.gov

++

See another article about this issure by blogger:

Sirotablog on this address:

http://workingforchange.com

Saundra Hummer

July 3rd, 2005, 06:03 PM

Reporters still might be jailed over the Plame Affair Leak. The Times has turned over the information on the stories they submitted, but they, the reporters, not the leakers, may still face jail time.

Such a sorted affair, all to discredit her husband it now seems, and the leak from all indications started in the White House, so why is it reporters going to jail, when it is against the laws of our country, the U.S. to out an undercover agent? One who is working to protect this country.

From what is being reported, even Karl Rove provided "leaked" information, so why is it that the reporters (curiously leaving out Bob Novac) are the ones whom the government is intent on going after, sounds like they knew the source all along, so why this charade?

Saundra Hummer

July 3rd, 2005, 08:39 PM

.....SPYWARE, DOES IT WACK YOU OUT? OR JUST YOUR COMPUTER?????

Today, since I didn't plan on being on the computer a lot, I decided to put it through some cleanups and checkups. So the first thing I did was check for spyware. There were no instances. Then I had seen a recipe in a magazine from the library and thought that food looked pretty good in the Real Simple magazine, a magazine I really like for the type it is. I would see what else they had featured, so I went on line and once I found their site, I filled out the information they wanted, and then my computer, within a few minutes started doing things it had never done, telling me to go to safe mode, and all sorts of wierd things, saying to change video adapters; just all sorts of strange instructions, it was also saying it was "beginning dump of physical memory." I think it must have been their spyware as I have not accessed any other sites that required my email, my address, my gender and age. So I guess what I'll never do again is fill out anything that asks for age, gender and such. Why would they need this info? They wouldn't unless they were going to research me or send me spam. I'd rather have the spam than the spyware, at least it doesn't shut you down or damage your computer. Now I'm wondering what else will happen, as right now I am going through another spyware search and it has already picked up one so until my spyware zapper upgrades, it looks like this one is automatically reinstalled once it is removed or blocked.

Wish they would pass a law against this. They need to, but free speech? How is it considered that when they invade your personal space? It is distubing my peace every bit as much as someone out on my front lawn with a bull horn. I have the right to stop that, but do we have a right to stop this infernal spyware?

Saundra Hummer

July 4th, 2005, 02:16 PM

.......THESE ACTS ARE GETTING TIRED

BUSH AND RUMSFELD RETURN TO SAME GROUND THEY'VE COVERED UNCONVINCINGLY BEFORE.

If you could distill this administration down to one single thing it would be this: a complete inability -- indeed a pathological aversion -- to changing course, even when the current course is taking us over the cliff.

Combine that with rank incompetence, and you're got quite a potent -- and deadly -- combo. It was in full display last night during the president's speech on Iraq and last week during Donald Rumsfelds multiple public appearances.

First the presidents speech.

The president's "new direction in Iraq" speech was actually a rehashing of the same tired material he's been using on Iraq for years. Indeed, it was a veritable Greatest Hits collection. He even invoked the terrorist formaly known as Osama Been Forgottten two times. Even more shockingly -- though not unexpectedly he played the conflate-9/11-and-Iraq card again and again and again and again and again. Five mentions in all for the terrorist attack that had absolutely nothing to do with the war in Iraq -- supposedly the topic of the speech. Here's a sample: "The only way our enemies can succed is if we forget the lesson of Sept. 11."

And now on to the secretary of defense.

I'ts time to cancel the Rummy show. Remember when it was fun to watch Don Rumsfeld come out and do this preening Master of the Universe act? Actually, I never thought it was that much fun and I was always surprised by how much the self-loathing press loved Rummy's cocky, cutesy little putdowns and the jabberwocky nonsense answers he'd use to duck a question without uttering a single word of substance.

But he intimidated them, humiliated them, and so they subserviently accepted their role in the kabuki theater performances his appearances became. But with two to three soldiers and dozens of Iraqis dying each and every day, his smug verbal pirouettes are no longer so endearing. As time goes on, it's become clear that he sees his role less as making sure our soldiers vanquish the enemy than making sure he vanquishes the press and the straw men he puts so much rhetorical energy into creating.

There he was at the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, spinning and spinning. But on one's laughing anymore. "Timing in war is never predictable," he said "There are no guarantees," he said. That wasn't what Rumsfeld was saying back at the beginning, when he said he"doubted" it would last as long as six months.

Rumsfeld then propped up this latest made-of-straw beauty: "Success in this effort cannot be defined by domestic tranquility." Who on earth is saying "domestic tranquility" is the goal? How about: "An end to dozens of deaths a day, with the carnage no longer continuing as far as the eye can see"?

It's now beyond dispute that the enemy Rumsfeld is most suited to fight is the latest straw enemy he has created in his mind. It's then that he's at his most effective -- like a 9 -year-old at the arcade, delighting in mowing down his imaginary foes with his BB gun. Then he wants a little prize for his efforts. Tragically, we've got a real enemy to fight, and Rumsfeld is clueless about how to do it. One person who has clearly had his fill of Rummy is Ted Kennedy, who pointedly asked: "Isn't it time for you to resign?" After a pregnant pause, Rumsfeld answered: "I've offered my resignation to the president twice."

He should keep trying. Bush has already gotten a four-year pickup, but it's time to pull the plug on the Rummy dog and pony show. Or, better yet move his all-too-real reality show from the Pentagon to Fox -- where the body count will be significantly lower. And they can use a laugh track to sweeten the deadly silence his tired routine now provokes.

http://www.workingforchange.com
===

See more in the Arianna Huffington archives

Arianna Huffington is the author of Fanatics and Fools: The Game Plan for Winning Back America. (These are her political tomes, but check out her Bio of Picasso, it's pretty good.)

Saundra Hummer

July 4th, 2005, 03:35 PM

....TO BE OR NOT TO BE A PATRIOT?, A GOOD OR AN UNDESIRABLE WAY OF BEING???

I know I am a patriot and I have been since I learned what we were saying in the Pledge of Allegiance, this during WWII.

Now I'm hearing from intellectuals with large following's that I'm wrong -- that my patriotism is bad for the country and for the world.

I am strongly disagreeing. There is common decency and common sense in how I perceive being "patriotic." Like a parent, I don't have to think, (or tolerate) everything my child does, thinking he or she can do no wrong, that everything he or she does is just fine, believing it's right. I have the right, and the obligation (for the childs well being and for those around him/her) to not want, or allow, he or she to go down a path I believe is wrong, dangerous or foolish, one which may or may not hurt others. It is my responsibility to do all in my power to change what I perceive as not being in my childs (Our countries) best interests. This is how I see being a patriot, I don't blindly back the administration (whomever's in power) facilitating their ability to continue with behavior and policies which I feel is wrong and dangerous regardless of how much I love my country. That would be the most unpatriotic thing I could do, not stand up for right, and to not stand up against wrong. SRH

Here's a quote from Information Clearing House.info

...."We should take care, in inculationg patriotism into our boys and girls, that is a patriotism above the narrow sentiment which usually stops at one's country, and thus inspires jealousy and enmity in dealing with others.. Our patriotism should be of the wider, nobler kind which recognises justice and reasonableness in the claims of others and which lead our country into comradeship with...the other nations of the world. The first step to this end is to develop peace and goodwill within our borders, by training our youth of both sexes to its practice as their habit of life, so that the jealousies of town against town, class against class and sect against sect no longer exist, and then to extend this good feeling beyond our frontiers towards our neighbours: Lord Baden-Powell.

Here are a few more quotes, not necessarily in the same vein, but pertinent.

=
......."To fight evil one must also recognize one's own responsibility. The values for which we stand must be expressed in the way we think of, and how we deal with, our fellow humans" -- From the Christmas Message 2001 of HM Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.

=

......."And reason...teaches all mankind who will but consult it, that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or possessions." John Locke

......."When the people fear thier government, there is tyran