Sunday, April 29, 2007

Party of Death

This is what happens to a political party that is bereft of ideas and embraces a governing philosophy that explicitly hates government functions.

277 comments:

1 – 200 of 277   Newer›   Newest»
Anonymous said...

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT for Repubs!

without the Republicans, I doubt the Democrats would ever be elected

ALSO FIRST!

-conbo

toniD said...

What's new at Daily Kos, Connie

War Dog said...

Oh Sam, you know better than that. There are only two Parties, but there are Conservatives in both....

Look at me, I am a Democrat now along with Hillary..

We are here to help you see the the light..

The No Crazy Talk Light..!!!

Come into The Light Sam...

Come into The Light..!!!

Anonymous said...

not much

a new wave of weird people have started posting so I look normal


:)

what's new with you ToniD?

-conbo

Anonymous said...

Jesus on Toast!

it must be activity time at the old folk home

-conbo

War Dog said...

While you fight to get a toe-hold on the Democrat Party..

We are already taking charge..

Bill and Hill are a fine example of what can be achieved in a Blue Dog Democrat Party..

We are interested in a Strong National Defense..

And a Strong Economy..!!!

We find the Democrat Party to be a very Comfortable Fit..!!!!

War Dog said...

Hi Connie...

We had a great training Weekend...

We drove down to Parsons Kansas for a Charity Ride...

Can you believe George Carlin was in town for a show that night..

Parsons Kansas..!!!!

That was a shocker..!!!

toniD said...

:)

what's new with you ToniD?

-conbo

April 29, 2007 9:24 PM

Not much Connie, just working alot lately. My boss had a baby and is on maternity leave so I've been putting in extra hours.

Anonymous said...

oh man

i think he has been eating his macramae projects again

-conbo

Anonymous said...

Not much Connie, just working alot lately. My boss had a baby and is on maternity leave so I've been putting in extra hours.

April 29, 2007 9:30 PM

i hope you are getting time and a half!!!

-conbo

toniD said...

War Dog is into the "Hippy Dippy Weatherman"

War Dog said...

We have a 450 mile bike ride in June..

So we will be riding every weekend for a month or so..

It great now that the weather is warmer..

There is nothing like visiting this country on bicycle..

People are so warm and friendly..

And you know what...

They are happy and prosperous...

Anonymous said...

"Discover The Complete A to Z Guide To Macrame..."

Attention: Macrame Enthusiasts...Learn the Secrets Behind Easy To Follow Knot Patterns,
Finding Top-Notch Suppliers and the Highest Quality Materials...

-conbo

War Dog said...

I am tryin to get caught up so that I can spend a week in Branson soon..

They have great music in Branson..

And trout fishing as well..

I want to get down there before it gets hot and work on the big Motorhome..

It will be summer before you know it..

Anonymous said...

that is so interesting, War Dog.

-conbo

toniD said...

Connie, I don't work full time so I don't get time and a half.

George Carlin started his career as the Hippy Dippy Weatherman.

The Weathermen were a protest group from the 60's, Viet Nam. Carlin's weatherman was a play on words of the protest group.

Here's the info on them:

LINK

War Dog said...

I read back a ways ol' Crank Bait was cryin the blues about Capitalism and Rush Limbaugh....


Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha...

Those are 2 of my favorite subjects..

I don't think Crank understands Rush..!!!

I know he is a listener...

But I fear he gets himself too worked up for understand the show..

Ha ha ha ha ha..

Rush is a great entertainer...

Anonymous said...

Connie, I don't work full time so I don't get time and a half.

George Carlin started his career as the Hippy Dippy Weatherman.

The Weathermen were a protest group from the 60's, Viet Nam. Carlin's weatherman was a play on words of the protest group.

Here's the info on them:

thats crap, ToniD

you should get something

I know about the weathermen, but I did not know thats how Carlin made his start-mocking them. I am so not surprised

-conbo

Alice said...

Presidential Candidate Wants to Supplement Social Security

The Social Security Administration was established in 1937 under the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, it was an important part of Roosevelt’s New Deal to America; now 70 years since the system was introduced, Stewart Alexander, Candidate for President, wants to give more to an aging America.

Stewart A. Alexander for President
Peace and Freedom Party

April 29, 2007

The Social Security Administration was established in 1937 under the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, it was an important part of Roosevelt’s New Deal to America; now 70 years since the system was introduced, Stewart Alexander, Candidate for President, wants to give more to an aging America.

In 2006 Stewart Alexander was running as a candidate for California lieutenant governor and part of his platform advocated doubling the California minimum wage. Now Alexander is seeking to establish a universal basic income for all seniors to guarantee a basic standard of living.

Alexander wants everyone, 50 and over, to receive a basic income that will provide for basic needs; food housing, clothing, transportation and utilities.

The present social security system will be bankrupt in 35 years, under the present management, and will not provide for America’s aging. Alexander also rejects some ideas to privatize social security because he believes it will subject the system to corporate abuse.

More and more senior Americans are being forced to work into their 70’s and 80’s just to afford food and transportation, and are having to rely on family for housing and to meet other critical needs. Alexander wants to guarantee all seniors a basic.

Many seniors receive less than $10,000 annually from social security and are without any other sources of income. The present system is forcing seniors to live at poverty levels and will leave many, nationwide, homeless and hungry.

Stewart Alexander is a candidate with the Peace and Freedom Party and the party has been an advocate for working people since 1967; when the organization was established.

Alexander says, “The platform of the Peace and Freedom Party works for working class people; the PFP demands a guaranteed dignified income for those who cannot work, and a Universal Basic Income to alleviate poverty and homelessness.”
...

War Dog said...

I worry about Sam's new show..

Sunday Afternoon..??

That is crap for a radio slot..

Does anyone know what time he will be on..??

Anonymous said...

I wonder if there is a new thread at Sam's blog, dag gummit!

-conbo

Alice said...

Arcata Homeless Rights Encampment Attacked

Updated 04/28/07

On April 21st, activists from the Arcata People Project established an encampment on a lawn at 11th and D streets in Arcata California. According to an organizer, the protest aimed to "reclaim common spaces and create awareness about the issue of homelessness in the country and the fact that folks just don't have a place to sleep and be safe." About thirty people spent Saturday night in the encampment, sleeping in tents and under tarps.

On April 25th, shortly after 6am, police raided the protest encampment. About 16 protesters sat in a circle, locking arms. A large crowd formed across the street. About 20 of those locked arms and chanted. A girl was arrested at about 8:45, when she approached the police and started talking to them. The police then began to pull protesters from the circle and drag them to a van. One handcuffed protester went into a seizure, while police held him face down on the street. The crowd was disturbed by the police conduct, leading at least one onlooker to cross the street and get arrested.

As of Friday April 28th, Homeless protesters are continuing their protest on the lawn in front of The Arcata City Hall, where they intend to stay until the city gives back the property siezed by the police in Wednesday's raid.

Alice said...

according to uncyclopedia, Sam's show will be on from 4:44 - 4:48....

Anonymous said...

hi Shell!

:)

-conbo

Alice said...

Interview with Vittorio Sergi (Italy) about mobilizations against the G8 Summit in Europe

http://www.radiozapatista.org

Alice said...

Hi conbo!

Starting tomorrow, two of my co workers are on a weeks vacation...so me & a new girl there are going to change a bunch of things while they're gone, to make the place more fun..like redecorate, & I've made some cards with quotes about books we can slip in their books, or let them draw one if they want to..I have some other ideas on my list but not with me...If you think of anything fun we could do let me know...I'm going to look at that librarysupportstaff.com website & see if there are any ideas there...

Alice said...

Why No Violent Protests Against the Iraq War?

...
I believe that five factors are as or more important than the end of the draft or the lower casualties in explaining the absence of violent protests against the Iraq war. The first is that the opponents of the war in Iraq have the support of one of the two political parties.
...
Third, the great expansion of the electronic media, including the advent of blogs, gives people outlets to blow off steam that are much cheaper, in cost of time, than street demonstrations or acts of violence. The electronic media enable a message to be communicated to far more people than street demonstrations do, and at lower cost, so one expects substitution in favor of the media.
...

Anonymous said...

I love the qoute idea!

we do a banned book display every year

that gets people's attention

people will fall over themselves to read a book that was once banned

(http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bbwlinks/100mostfrequently.htm)The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–20001

(http://www.adlerbooks.com/banned.html:)Books Banned at One Time or Another in the United States

its like reverse pyschology

:)

-conbo

also be careful not to make any major changes...then your supervisors might get irratated

well depending on the level of control freakyness


-conbo

mmrules said...

Beach Impeach.


http://bp3.blogger.com/_jQuOy2dzWEQ/Ri3jWBSU_pI/AAAAAAAAAAo/AOrpQsoiGZ4/s1600-h/beachimpeach2.jpg

Alice said...

I love banned books week..we put up a poster with a killer Chomsky quote on it...

George Tenet reminds me of a teenage boy trying to convince me I won't get pregant the first time we have sex...

Anonymous said...

Another cool thing that we did one time

We got a huge flip chart and wrote on the top of it:

'What does patriotism mean to you'

And we left markers next to it and people went through and wrote what they thought. It was very interesting. It was like a physical blog. we had four pages full of people's thoughts. was so cool

-conbo

that wasn't my idea, btw, but it was one of the coolest things I have ever seen done here.

Anonymous said...

//George Tenet reminds me of a teenage boy trying to convince me I won't get pregant the first time we have sex... //

George Tenet is fhreaking right now. He is scrambling to save anything left of his career.

-conbo

Alice said...

Oh that's a very cool idea!

Alice said...

Interesting relative you have here mmrules..

Anonymous said...

i was scared there was going to be a marker fight, but people were fairly civil

-conbo

toniD said...

Shell, here's a few ideas...

Food for Fines, Pick a month and ask for non-perishable food item. for each one they bring in, it will clear a dollar off their fine to a max of 15.00 Donate the items to a local food pantry.

You could also do it for old cell phones and ink cartridges and recycle them.

Anonymous said...

WOW!

that is an excellent idea ToniD!

I am stealing it!!!!

-conbo

when is world hunger week?

i should look

Anonymous said...

October 15-21

nice

I am going to put this in my email
and ask if we can do this on world hunger week

Im sure the answer will be NO-GO SIT DOWN AND LOOK HAPPY.

but you never know

-conbo

Anonymous said...

that is such a good idea, ToniD!

you rock!

-conbo

mmrules said...

Alice said...
Interesting relative you have here mmrules..


I didn't think anybody picked that up.But,you my Dear are too sharpe for me.He really is a nice guy though.He retired about 10 years ago,or more.He's on my late wifes side of the family.He is now a Very good artist.And he's son very cool Sculptors. :)

toniD said...

Connie, I used to have a food basket at my travel agency and once a month our delivery man (a senior citizen that wanted a job) used to take what we collected to the local food pantry. That's what gave me the idea.

And eveyone seems to have an old cell phone and empty ink cartridges. Just find a place that will recycle them locally.

toniD said...

Speaking of libraries, I ordered Greg Palast's book at mine. So I get it first. It's the new soft cover with extra chapters added.

Alice said...

That is a great idea, Toni..I read about another lib doing that...I will find out which one it was and see how it worked for them...If it's in October I have plenty of time to get through the red tape ball I'll need to go through...

Anonymous said...

nice!

im reading 'our enemies in blue' right now.

its about how policemen are crazy bastards.

i don't think I have ever read a Greg Palast book.

he is a leftist author, right?

-conbo

toniD said...

Connie,

Look at this site for money back for ink cartridges. This way you won't be out the money at the library and still give people a way of paying for their fines.

Money for ink cartridges

Anonymous said...

//If it's in October I have plenty of time to get through the red tape ball I'll need to go through...//

By next October they will have a definate answer for you!

-conbo

Alice said...

I'm also planning to cover the desk with my very own brand of "propaganda"...I recently made these check off lists for fiction & mystery book series...so people can read them in order & know all the titles...Some people were writing R's in the books so they would know if they've read them already...

Anonymous said...

Money for ink cartridges

April 29, 2007 10:55 PM

ooh

this is such a good idea

and I bet it will never happen here not in a million years

UNLESS..i go over some heads

bwhahahahahaha

toniD said...

He's a lefty, Connie. He's on with Randi frequently.

Here's his site:

the Writings of Greg Palast

He is a journalist for the UK Observer.

Alice said...

Have you ever worked somewhere where it seems like the more they know you want to do something, the more they try to keep you from doing it? Even if it's a good idea?

Alice said...

mmrules said...

April 29, 2007 10:34 PM

Are you from the marc maron blog or something? Just where did you come from? How did you find this blog? Tell all time, mmrules... (unless you've told already & maybe I missed it)....

:)

Anonymous said...

//Have you ever worked somewhere where it seems like the more they know you want to do something, the more they try to keep you from doing it? Even if it's a good idea?//

hahahaha! yes! here!

my supervisor, a control freak takes great joy in making me miserable

Here are some ways around it

1)Act happy no matter what. I mean no matter what. This will take away their joy at seeing you miserable.

2)When they ask you to do ridiculous things, go overboard.
For instance, when my supervisor wanted us to patrol people's internet usage (walk through and make sure there was no porn) I called public safety every time I saw a bikini clad woman. After awhile my supervisor told me to use my own jugdement. Which I did, which is to say I don't monitor people at all now.

3)For every little complaint give them your supervisor's number. Even dumb stuff, like no paper towels in the bathroom. :)

After awhile you are such a pain the ass they won't ask you to do anything

-conbo

DAVE LIKES FISH said...

It's been two weeks. I can't stand it! I want Sam Seder back.
Tell me. What can I do? Air America is sucking without Sam.
What can we do to get him back on?
What's the plan? There has to be a plan.

Crank Bait said...

I think he has been eating his macramae projects again
-conbo
April 29, 2007 9:30 PM
---------------------------------
Spinning yarns, for sure.

pbtrue1 said...

Sam...

OMG, I miss Sam.

We all need your wisdom and wit Sam.

America needs you.

Help....

Anonymous said...

i guess i was thinking macaroni, crank bait

at least he went away

too bad

i had one more i was going to use on him:

Iraq Is Not Going To Bomb Itself!

-conbo

mmrules said...

Alice said...
mmrules said...

April 29, 2007 10:34 PM

Are you from the marc maron blog or something? Just where did you come from? How did you find this blog? Tell all time, mmrules... (unless you've told already & maybe I missed it)....

:)


Just my rank and serial No.Ma'am..Just kidding.I'm a big M.
Maron fan,and Jeanane too.That's how I heard about Sammy.Sammy brought me back to AAR.Because,I was sooooo pissed at AAR for screwing around M.Maron.Now they are screwing around Sam.It Never fails,as soon as I like something,they take off.I had been reading blogs alittle bit,but never writing in them.But,the more I read this blog,you guys seem cool,I thought I should get over my stage fright.And,I can get out alittle aggression when the Moron war puppy shows up.I'm not a great writer,but you guys are good,and funny.So,I'll just hang out in the background,and try and get my hot links to work.(I can get to a website,via hot link,but not the right page).Thanks to Sunshine,I've at least gotten that far.O'well,I stop rambling.Thanks for asking :)

mmrules said...

2)When they ask you to do ridiculous things, go overboard.
For instance, when my supervisor wanted us to patrol people's internet usage (walk through and make sure there was no porn) I called public safety every time I saw a bikini clad woman. After awhile my supervisor told me to use my own jugdement. Which I did, which is to say I don't monitor people at all now.

3)For every little complaint give them your supervisor's number. Even dumb stuff, like no paper towels in the bathroom. :)

After awhile you are such a pain the ass they won't ask you to do anything

-conbo


And we wonder why so many people go Postal at work! Just kidding. :)

Alice said...

Anonymous said...

//Have you ever worked somewhere where it seems like the more they know you want to do something, the more they try to keep you from doing it? Even if it's a good idea?//

hahahaha! yes! here!

my supervisor, a control freak takes great joy in making me miserable

Here are some ways around it

1)Act happy no matter what. I mean no matter what. This will take away their joy at seeing you miserable.

2)When they ask you to do ridiculous things, go overboard.

-conbo

April 29, 2007 11:09 PM

HaHaHaHa!!! I've had to do that patrol too... ! I did see a young boy writing back to the spam friend thing he got from myspace...poor kid...it started off "Hi You Sexy Girl..."...

Anonymous said...

//I did see a young boy writing back to the spam friend thing he got from myspace...poor kid...it started off "Hi You Sexy Girl..."//

oh no! poor guy

-conbo

mmrules said...

Am I about the only one whose not a Librarian on this blog? :)

Alice said...

Oops..I meant to cut out your post first..

Umm...here's some advice of what not to do...I have a sore back so I made peppermint essential oil mixed with olive oil...It works..So after my shower I thought how bright it would be of me to use it on the rest of me...I have goosebumps, tingling & I feel frozen...Plus it will probably absorb through my skin and keep m up late....

Anonymous said...

Aaarrrggggghhhhh

I miss Maron. I miss Seder. I even miss Miss Janeane! The entertainment factor is gone! The Young Turks dropped most of its pop culture references with Jill, as well. AAR has lost its fun Hollywood ties (though the YTs broadcast from L.A.)! It's too serious now.

Anonymous said...

Im not a librarian

I just hang out at the library and pretend that I work here

after awhile paychecks started being sent to me

-conbo

was neato

Anonymous said...

//Umm...here's some advice of what not to do...I have a sore back so I made peppermint essential oil mixed with olive oil...It works..So after my shower I thought how bright it would be of me to use it on the rest of me...I have goosebumps, tingling & I feel frozen...Plus it will probably absorb through my skin and keep m up late....//

hahahaha! sorry, its not funny.

do you have an electric blanket?

-conbo

Anonymous said...

I like to eat grain, folks. I like to eat wheat bread sometimes. I don't want to eat wheat bread constantly. I like variety. VIVA VARIETY (shout-out to Michael Ian Black and Thomas Lennon)

Alice said...

and I just like to pretend I'm a librarian...

:)

mmrules said...

Anonymous said...
Im not a librarian

I just hang out at the library and pretend that I work here

after awhile paychecks started being sent to me

-conbo

was neato


Ha,Ha..Good answer.I'm going to have to try that too..Librarian's do a great job for little pay.Just like teachers.It's just not right.

Alice said...

Nope, no electric blanket...I just took another hot shower...I feel better now...I make this peppermint with distilled water in a spray bottle...I give it to ladies who are going through menopause, they say it cools them off fast..

Anonymous said...

im not a librarian

i am the library beeyotch!

the chain of command stops right above me.

however, i find my ways around having to do stuff

-conbo

Anonymous said...

that is a good idea, Shell

you should sell it

from the circ desk

no don't do that

but that is a good idea!

-conbo

Alice said...

Children tap into divine consciousness, meditation guru says

...
Meditation has already been tried in Catholic schools in Townsville. So successful was the pilot project that mandatory meditation classes have been introduced to all 31 schools in the diocese, and the program is being used as a model for other dioceses.

Ernie Christie, the deputy director of Townsville's Catholic Education Office, said meditation was taught as prayer three times a week from kindergarten to year 12. Sessions are accompanied by gentle music and a candle.

"It's a skilled discipline, and the earlier we get them the more they see it is a natural part of their being. Anecdotally, the feedback has been nothing but positive. The kids are calmer, more open to doing school work, and in secondary school they are asking to do meditation sessions prior to exam time.

"The teachers are saying kids are not as aggressive after meditation. There has not been one negative comment from any of our parents across all our 31 schools, and that's remarkable."

mmrules said...

Alice:You should sell it..Sounds like a fun evening :)

mmrules said...

Do you think we can get War puppy to meditate??No,probably not.About,the only thing that would on him is Electric Shock!

Alice said...

I did sell it years ago, that and a bunch of other homemade things...I called them Shelly's Smellies :)

mmrules said...

Oops.(Work).

Alice said...

His bike riding sounds like his meditation...

mmrules said...

Alice said...
I did sell it years ago, that and a bunch of other homemade things...I called them Shelly's Smellies :)


I'd like to see that marketing campaign :)

Alice said...

mmrules said...

:)

*

naturalcollection.com
A cool selection of natural, eco-friendly products

mmrules said...

Alice:Look over to the right.I'm sorry but my Guitar looks like it's getting abit frisky with your picture..Sorry,It's a guy thing..Just kidding :)

Alice said...

I see what you mean.... ;)

mmrules said...

Cool stuff on that web page.

mmrules said...

Who could blame Graves for leaving when he did?


http://www.kansascity.com/124/story/87761.html

Alice said...

I like the solar recharger ...

mmrules said...

Alice:Are you up in the Bay Area?Beautiful city..I'm down in Old San Diego,via SmelLA.Moved from LA to San Diego about 25 years ago..But,I really love San Francisco,Mill Valley etc..

mmrules said...

I liked the solar charger too.

Alice said...

US Media Have Lost the Will to Dig Deep, by Greg Palast

April 29, 2007
Los Angeles Times

A changed news culture has let several important investigative stories slip through the cracks.

In an e-mail uncovered and released by the House Judiciary Committee last month, Tim Griffin, once Karl Rove's right-hand man, gloated that "no [U.S.] national press picked up" a BBC Television story reporting that the Rove team had developed an elaborate scheme to challenge the votes of thousands of African Americans in the 2004 election.

Griffin wasn't exactly right. The Los Angeles Times did run a follow-up article a few days later in which it reported the findings. But he was essentially right. Most of the major U.S. newspapers and the vast majority of television news programs ignored the story even though it came at a critical moment just weeks before the election.

According to Griffin (who has since been dispatched to Arkansas to replace one of the U.S. attorneys fired by the Justice Department), the mainstream media rejected the story because it was wrong.

"That guy is a British reporter who accepted some false allegations and made a story up," he said.

Let's get one fact straight, Mr. Griffin. "That guy" is not a British reporter. I am an American living abroad, putting investigative reports on the air from London for the British Broadcasting Corp.
...

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=21&ItemID=12696

Alice said...

I'm 2/12 to 3 hours east of SF..I grew up 15 minutes south of there...Now I live in the mountains...Sierra Foothills...

Cat Chew said...

Bob Herbert quoting David Halberstam (via Free Democracy):

“You have to keep digging,” he would say, “keep asking questions, because otherwise you’ll be seduced or brainwashed into the idea that it’s somehow a great privilege, an honor, to report the lies they’ve been feeding you.”

Alice said...

The escalating war in Somalia has received little attention in the US media especially on broadcast television. Using the Lexis database, Democracy Now! examined ABC, NBC and CBS's coverage of Somalia in the evening newscasts over the past three months. The result may surprise you: ABC and NBC has not mentioned the war at all. CBS mentioned the war once on a Sunday night news broadcast. The network dedicated a total of three sentences to the story.

Salim Lone is a columnist for the Daily Nation in Kenya and a former spokesperson for the UN mission in Iraq. He joins us today from London. Welcome to Democracy Now!, Salim.

SALIM LONE: Thank you for covering Somalia, Amy. As you said, the coverage is absolutely shameless.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, first, Salim, can you describe who the fighting forces are and who's behind them?

SALIM LONE: Well, I mean, the key country there is Ethiopia. Their occupation forces have been there, in fact, long before the actual war began. They came in around September, October. But at the moment, those fighting the Ethiopians and the nominal transitional central government, which is really an absolutely puppet -- it’s quite hapless. In fact, the Ethiopians don't even deal with Somalis that their fighting through the transitional government. They go directly to the elders of the clans to try to negotiate ceasefires. But those fighting them are obviously the Hawiye Clan fighters who dominate Mogadishu. I mean, historically, they're the largest clan in there. But there are also many others, not just Islamists, which is a codeword for terrorists, but there are many Somalis. In fact, most Somalis will not abide this occupation. I mean, this is what is most distressing about this fighting. All fighting is terrible, but you hope in the end something good comes out of it. But in this particular case, it is clear Somalis will not abide the Ethiopian occupation or the government they put in place there. So it is not going to be a successful war for the Somali government, for Ethiopia and, of course, for the US, which is the orchestrator of the whole adventure this time.

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=2&ItemID=12701

mmrules said...

It's so Sad what has happened to our Media,(Now Corporate Media),and this country.I'm not kidding,sometimes I think we are living in a Banana Republic!The Media,and The People need to turn of The Idol,and get off their asses.(I'm real good at run-on sentences)Anyhoo,I'll get off my soapbox now :)

mmrules said...

Alice said...
I'm 2/12 to 3 hours east of SF..I grew up 15 minutes south of there...Now I live in the mountains...Sierra Foothills...


You lucky girl.That's beautiful there.I'm so sick of living in a big city....Someday I'll get a una-bomber shack,and just chill out! Just kidding :)

mmrules said...

Alice:Did you grow up in Burlington(sp?)or down by the airport.SFO??Can't think of the name of that city by SFO.

mmrules said...

Alice:Great Greg Palast story.He's so right,unfortunately...

Alice said...

Burlingame? Near there...Redwood Shores...

Alice said...

I think I'm finally tired...

Goodnight, mmrules, Blog... oxoxo...

mmrules said...

Alice said...
Burlingame? Near there...Redwood Shores...

Damn blog.just lost everything I wrote.O'well.
Burlingame..That's it.My late wife'a other uncle used to live there.Nice place..I had a Uncle who lived in Mill Valley for many years.He lived down the street from The Jefferson Airplane,until they got kicked out for getting too rowdy,and partying..At My Uncles house we used to feed the Raccoons,at night.They were so cool..I never wanted to go back to SmelLA,but I was just a kid.I just miss the Bay area.It was the first time I really saw Mass Transit!And,the city has so much culture..Well,I'll stop whinning now.Unless,I loss this post again!Oh,Sammy where's the new Blog?Vacations over!Just kidding..

mmrules said...

Good Night Alice.Sorry about my guitar.Bad boy!..Nice talking to you.Take care,Michael.

mmrules said...

Is Chimpy back on the Sauce??


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=450787&in_page_id=1811

mmrules said...

Chimpy:28% Approval rating.

Dickhead Cheney:25% Approval rating.(That high?)Getting in Nixon territory..But,they are unimpeachable??

mmrules said...

Comment by John Lott —
April 30, 2007 @ 12:26 am

I cannot BELIEVE that you are spreading the disgusting, scurrilous, and totally unfounded rumor that President Bush is sleeping with Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. It is true that there have been rumors of strains in the marriage of President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush, leading to speculation that President Bush is sleeping with Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, but that’s all it is - speculation. It’s true that in 2004, the Secretary of State nearly called President Bush her “husband” - specifically, she called him “my husb- the President”, also leading to speculation that President Bush is sleeping with Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. But again, that’s all it is - speculation. There is NO CONCLUSIVE AND IRREFUTABLE EVIDENCE THAT President Bush is sleeping with Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, and until there is such conclusive and irrefutable evidence that President Bush is sleeping with Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, there is no justification for spreading rumors and speculation that President Bush is sleeping with Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice!

highclearing.com

toniD said...

Morning mmrules!

Can't sleep?

Stephanoe Miller is on MSNBC now.

toniD said...

An open letter to George Tenet, written by group of former CIA and other intelligence officials, urges the former CIA Director “to dedicate a significant portion of his royalties to soldiers and families of those killed or wounded in Iraq.” They write:

Mr. Tenet, you cannot undo what has been done. It is doubly sad that you seem still to lack an adequate appreciation of the enormous amount of death and carnage you have facilitated. If reflection on these matters serves to prick your conscience we encourage you to donate at least half of the royalties from your book sales to the veterans and their families, who have paid and are paying the price for your failure to speak up when you could have made a difference. That would be the decent and honorable thing to do.

LINK

toniD said...

Bush squad trying
to discredit Tenet accusations
Like every other VIP who has turned on Bush, the spin-machine to discredit George Tenet is in full mode. The backlash has built up even before the official release of former CIA Director George Tenet's memoir, with criticism about his version of the run-up to the Iraq war, interrogation techniques and other events.


LINK

toniD said...

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-ferguson30apr30,0,7557486.column?coll=la-opinion-rightrail

From the Los Angeles Times
NIALL FERGUSON
What war?
At home, the economy soars and Americans let the good times roll. Meanwhile, Iraq burns.
Niall Ferguson

April 30, 2007

IT'S A THEME OF nearly all the great post-Vietnam movies. In "Taxi Driver" and "The Deer Hunter," Robert De Niro plays a veteran who is dismayed, if not unhinged, by homecoming. From the mean streets of New York in the former to the Pennsylvania mining town in the latter, the folks back home just don't get it about the war.

I imagine that some American soldiers returning from tours of duty in Iraq might get an even stronger feeling of alienation if they were to visit, as I have in the last seven days, those quintessential American playgrounds, Las Vegas and Palm Beach. From the casinos of Nevada to the condos of Florida, the good times are rolling, regardless of events in the Middle East.

It's hard to believe, as you walk past the thronged roulette tables and inanely burbling slot machines of Vegas, that this is a country at war. As for that eye-catching billboard "For the Injured" on Interstate 95, I'm afraid it has nothing to do with the war wounded of Operation Iraqi Freedom. It's just another ambulance-chasing lawyer, brazenly advertising his readiness to sue someone if you trip on the sidewalk.

At least vets who came back in the 1970s found that home was pretty messed up too. By contrast, those returning home today must feel like latecomers to a gold rush.

On Wednesday, fueled by seemingly limitless liquidity and reports of strong corporate earnings, the Dow Jones industrial average hit a record 13,000. The financial markets seem to have shrugged off their recent anxieties about so-called subprime mortgages, focusing instead on the megabucks being made at the other end of the income distribution scale. A survey by Alpha magazine revealed that three American hedge-fund managers earned more than $1 billion last year.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, Iraq burns. More than 3,100 Americans have died there, the equivalent of 100 Virginia Techs. Nearly 25,000 have been wounded in action, many of them gravely. And that's nothing compared to the number of Iraqis who have been killed as the country has slid into civil war. Fatalities among the civilian population are running about 3,000 a month. The Brookings Institution's latest Iraq survey carried one statistic that froze my blood: According to a recent poll, one in four Iraqis has personally experienced or witnessed the murder of a family member as a result of violence since the U.S.-led invasion. Dow 13,000, meet Iraq 13,000. That's approximately the number of Iraqis killed so far this year.

Last week, Army Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq, tried to explain to his fellow Americans that stabilizing Iraq would require "an enormous commitment."

"This effort may get harder before it gets easier," he told reporters at a Pentagon briefing. Real stability might be "years down the road."

LINK

mmrules said...

Hi tonid.Yep,I'm part vampire some nights..And,I'm listening to Stephanoe too.......I want to check out you CIA link.Remember when about 4 CIA department cheifs,not the exact titles,resigned a few yours back.Bush sure knows how to piss off people..

toniD said...

US April death toll
in Iraq passes 100
Five U.S. troops were killed in separate attacks in the capital this weekend, including three in a single roadside bombing, the military said Monday, pushing the death toll past 100 in the deadliest month so far this year.

LINK

mmrules said...

Letter to George Tenet
The following was sent to George Tenet today in care of his publisher. The letter, written by a group of former intelligence officers, reflects disgust with George Tenet's effort to burnish his image with his new "tell" all book.



28 April 2007
Mr. George Tenet
c/o Harper Collins Publishers
10 East 53rd Street
8th Floor
New York City, New York 10022
ATTN: Ms. Tina Andredis

Dear Mr. Tenet:

We write to you on the occasion of the release of your book, At the Center of the Storm. You are on the record complaining about the “damage to your reputation”. In our view the damage to your reputation is inconsequential compared to the harm your actions have caused for the U.S. soldiers engaged in combat in Iraq and the national security of the United States. We believe you have a moral obligation to return the Medal of Freedom you received from President George Bush. We also call for you to dedicate a significant percentage of the royalties from your book to the U.S. soldiers and their families who have been killed and wounded in Iraq.

We agree with you that Vice President Dick Cheney and other Bush administration officials took the United States to war for flimsy reasons. We agree that the war of choice in Iraq was ill-advised and wrong headed. But your lament that you are a victim in a process you helped direct is self-serving, misleading and, as head of the intelligence community, an admission of failed leadership. You were not a victim. You were a willing participant in a poorly considered policy to start an unnecessary war and you share culpability with Dick Cheney and George Bush for the debacle in Iraq.



You are not alone in failing to speak up and protest the twisting and shading of intelligence. Those who remained silent when they could have made a difference also share the blame for not protesting the abuse and misuse of intelligence that occurred under your watch. But ultimately you were in charge and you signed off on the CIA products and you briefed the President.

This is not a case of Monday morning quarterbacking. You helped send very mixed signals to the American people and their legislators in the fall of 2002. CIA field operatives produced solid intelligence in September 2002 that stated clearly there was no stockpile of any kind of WMD in Iraq. This intelligence was ignored and later misused. On October 1 you signed and gave to President Bush and senior policy makers a fraudulent National Intelligence Estimate (NIE)—which dovetailed with unsupported threats presented by Vice President Dick Cheney in an alarmist speech on August 26, 2002.

You were well aware that the White House tried to present as fact intelligence you knew was unreliable. And yet you tried to have it both ways. On October 7, just hours before the president gave a major speech in Cincinnati, you were successful in preventing him from using the fable about Iraq purchasing uranium in Africa, although that same claim appeared in the NIE you signed only six days before.

Although CIA officers learned in late September 2002 from a high-level member of Saddam Hussein's inner circle that Iraq had no past or present contact with Osama bin Laden and that the Iraqi leader considered bin Laden an enemy of the Baghdad regime, you still went before Congress in February 2003 and testified that Iraq did indeed have links to Al Qaeda.

You showed a lack of leadership and courage in January of 2003 as the Bush Administration pushed and cajoled analysts and managers to let them make the bogus claim that Iraq was on the verge of getting its hands on uranium. You signed off on Colin Powell's presentation to the United Nations. And, at his insistence, you sat behind him and visibly squandered CIA's most precious asset—credibility."

You may now feel you were bullied and victimized but you were also one of the bullies. In the end you allowed suspect sources, like Curveball, to be used based on very limited reporting and evidence. Yet you were informed in no uncertain terms that Curveball was not reliable. You broke with CIA standard practice and insisted on voluminous evidence to refute this reporting rather than treat the information as suspect. You helped set the bar very low for reporting that supported favored White House positions, while raising the bar astronomically high when it came to raw intelligence that did not support the case for war being hawked by the president and vice president.

It now turns out that you were the Alberto Gonzales of the intelligence community--a grotesque mixture of incompetence and sycophancy shielded by a genial personality. Decisions were made, you were in charge, but you have no idea how decisions were made even though you were in charge. Curiously, you focus your anger on the likes of Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld, and Condi Rice, but you decline to criticize the President.

Mr. Tenet, as head of the intelligence community, you failed to use your position of power and influence to protect the intelligence process and, more importantly, the country. What should you have done? What could you have done?

For starters, during the critical summer and fall of 2002, you could have gone to key Republicans and Democrats in the Congress and warned them of the pressure. But you remained silent. Your candor during your one-on-one with Sir Richard Dearlove, then-head of British Intelligence, of July 20, 2002" provides documentary evidence that you knew exactly what you were doing; namely, "fixing" the intelligence to the policy.

By your silence you helped build the case for war. You betrayed the CIA officers who collected the intelligence that made it clear that Saddam did not pose an imminent threat. You betrayed the analysts who tried to withstand the pressure applied by Cheney and Rumsfeld.

Most importantly and tragically, you failed to meet your obligations to the people of the United States. Instead of resigning in protest, when it could have made a difference in the public debate, you remained silent and allowed the Bush Administration to cite your participation in these deliberations to justify their decision to go to war. Your silence contributed to the willingness of the public to support the disastrous war in Iraq, which has killed more than 3300 Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.

If you are committed to correcting the record about your past failings then you should start by returning the Medal of Freedom you willingly received from President Bush in December 2004. You claim it was given only because of the war on terror, but you were standing next to General Tommy Franks and L. Paul Bremer, who also contributed to the disaster in Iraq. President Bush said that you:

played pivotal roles in great events, and [your] efforts have made our country more secure and advanced the cause of human liberty.

The reality of Iraq, however, has not made our nation more secure nor has the cause of human liberty been advanced. In fact, your tenure as head of the CIA has helped create a world that is more dangerous. The damage to the credibility of the CIA is serious but can eventually be repaired. Many of the U.S. soldiers maimed in the streets of Fallujah and Baghdad cannot be fixed. Many will live the rest of their lives missing limbs, blinded, mentally disabled, or physically disfigured. And the dead have passed into history.

Mr. Tenet, you cannot undo what has been done. It is doubly sad that you seem still to lack an adequate appreciation of the enormous amount of death and carnage you have facilitated. If reflection on these matters serves to prick your conscience we encourage you to donate at least half of the royalties from your book sales to the veterans and their families, who have paid and are paying the price for your failure to speak up when you could have made a difference. That would be the decent and honorable thing to do.

Sincerely yours,

Phil Giraldi

Ray McGovern

Larry Johnson

Jim Marcinkowski

Vince Cannistraro

David MacMichael

UPDATE: Signatories who were not CIA officers but worked in high level intelligence and national security positions.

W. Patrick Lang (Colonel, retired, US Army and former Chief of Middle East Division, DIA)

Thomas R. Maertens (Director for nonproliferation and homeland defense under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush)

Posted by Larry Johnson on Saturday, 28 April 2007 at 17:46 | Permalink

No Quarter.

mmrules said...

Rebuilt projects crumbling in Iraq.


http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/04/29/rebuilt-projects-crumbling-in-iraq/

toniD said...

mmrules, isn't Larry Johnson great!!

Did you watch Tenet on 60 minutes last night? The way he sounds is he's been steaming for 3 years but until someone offered him money for a book, he wasn't going to say anything. That and the Dems taking power and subpoenaing everyone.

The most he did was confirm Richard Clarke's remarks about this admin.

Keith Olberman will talk about him tonight.

toniD said...

I can just hear all the wingers watching her today. They must be going into catatonic shock!!! Heh!

mmrules said...

Did you know that the FCC is once again considering relaxing the media ownership rules? If they get their way, big media companies will be allowed to get even bigger -- and our television, radio and newspapers will be the worse for it.

I sent my message to the FCC, and you should too. Just go to: http://www.commoncause.org/NoMoreConsolidation


Even though the dealine of Jan.16 has passed,the FCC is still accepting messages from the public.

Anonymous said...

http://neomeme.net/2007/04/29/mike-gravel-2008-presidential-campaign-given-new-life-by-the-internet/

Mike Gravel 2008 Presidential Campaign Given New Life by the Internet

mmrules said...

oniD said...
mmrules, isn't Larry Johnson great!!

Yes.And,it's a major shame that he's not still in the CIA striaghtening things out there.Yes,I listened part of Tenet's poor me deal.He started to make me sick.So I taped it.

Richard Clark is the man!Larry Johnson too!

toniD said...

Monday Morning Open Thread
by Joe Sudbay (DC) · 4/30/2007 07:25:00 AM ET

Four years ago, the media was agog that Bush was heading to the aircraft carrier to make his big announcement about Iraq. Yes, tomorrow is the anniversary of "Mission Accomplished" day. Four years later, most of the media still refuses to grasp how often Bush lies to them, flat out lies:

LINK

mmrules said...

toniD said...
I can just hear all the wingers watching her today. They must be going into catatonic shock!!! Heh!


Oh,they are watching those boobs on Faux mornings anyways.Getting their political advice from a weatherman,some blond,and some ex-used car salesman..Maybe Tom "The Bugman"Delay can get a job there..What abunch of Weasels!!

toniD said...

Unless another bombshell comes out, the big news today is the DC Madame and George Tenet.

blah blah blah said...

do we know whether the iraq war funding bill will be presented on mission accomplished day?

given all the weird sex associated with the gop and their supporters its hard to get excited about the dc madame.

toniD said...

'I Abhor Injustice,' Alleged Madam Says

By Sue Anne Pressley Montes
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, April 29, 2007; A01

"Miz Julia" doled out a steady stream of advice, both practical and philosophical.

From her California home, she e-mailed tips to the 132 women who worked across the Washington area for the firm Pamela Martin & Associates. Her newsletters, now excerpted in court records, were a virtual how-to manual for avoiding all kinds of trouble in a business said to specialize in erotic fantasies.

"One never quite knows where evil, i.e., the vice squad is lurking in this business," read one arch entry from 1995. "The misogynists get a real kick out of surprising (shocking) you girls, when you give them the opportunity!!! . . . Therefore, you are to lock, double lock, triple lock all doors!!! . . . Figure it out, before they 'get cha'!!!"

Miz Julia was the pseudonym for Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the woman at the center of a sex scandal that has caused a deputy secretary of state to resign and has lawyers calling around town trying to keep their clients' names out of public view. A one-time law student, Palfrey ran for 13 years what she insists was a legal escort service. Federal prosecutors allege she was providing $300-an-hour prostitutes, and a grand jury indicted her in February on federal racketeering charges.

Palfrey piqued fascination -- and anxiety -- by first threatening to sell phone records that could unveil thousands of clients, and then handing them over, apparently for free, to ABC News. She is scheduled to appear tomorrow in U.S. District Court in the District.

On Friday, Randall L. Tobias resigned as deputy secretary of state one day after confirming to Brian Ross of ABC that he had patronized the Pamela Martin firm. Speaking yesterday on "Good Morning America," Ross said Tobias told him Tobias's number was on Palfrey's phone records because he had called "to have gals come over to the condo to give me a massage." There had been "no sex," Ross quoted Tobias as saying, and that recently he has used another service, "with Central American gals," for massages.

Tobias, who is 65 and married, was director of U.S. Foreign Assistance and administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development. He previously held a top job in the Bush administration overseeing AIDS relief, in which he promoted abstinence and a policy requiring grant recipients to swear they oppose prostitution.

Palfrey's flamboyant attorney, Montgomery Blair Sibley, said Friday that he has been contacted by five lawyers recently, asking whether their clients' names are on Palfrey's list of 10,000 to 15,000 phone numbers. Some, Sibley said, have inquired about whether accommodations could be made to keep their identities private. ABC is expected to air a report on Palfrey and her clients on "20/20" on May 4, during sweeps.

More revelations are in the offing. Ross said the list includes the names of some "very prominent people," as well as a number of women with "important and serious jobs" who had worked as escorts for the firm.

LINK

toniD said...

A U.S.-led raid Sunday on a suspected insurgent cell in Afghanistan left as many as six Afghans dead, including a woman and a teenage girl, and sparked protests by hundreds of angry Afghans chanting, “Death to Bush!” One resident said, “We are not the enemy. We are not al-Qaeda. Why are they attacking us?”

LINK

toniD said...

The New York City Bar, one of the largest lawyers’ organizations in the country, charges that the Bush administration is “trying to evade responsibility for problems at the Guantanamo Bay prison by falsely blaming defense lawyers for the trouble.” The association’s criticism comes as the administration is proposing limiting attorneys’ access to detainees.

LINK

toniD said...

“Tucked inside Frank Rich’s Sunday column in the New York Times is indication that the newspaper will no longer play ball with the annual White House Correspondents Association dinners in Washington, which he calls ‘a crystallization of the press’s failures in the post-9/11 era.’ He writes that the event ‘illustrates how easily a propaganda-driven White House can enlist the Washington news media in its shows.’”

LINK

Alice said...

An anarchist May Day
Posted by Andreas

The 1st of May is celebrated as worker’s day in most countries around the world, but few people are aware of the fact that the tradition began in commemoration of four anarchist trade unionists executed in the United States.

On the evening of May 3 1884, a rally was held in Chicago’s Haymarket Square, a busy commercial centre at the time, as part of a nationwide campaign for an eight-hour working week. The event and speeches were calm and orderly until police attempted to disperse the assembled workers.

A bomb was thrown towards the advancing police, killing a policeman by the name of Mathias J. Degan .

The police opened fire immediately and in the fighting that ensued seven more policemen and at least four workers were killed and many more injured.

The bomb-thrower was never found, but eight men (August Spies, Albert Parsons, Adolph Fischer, George Engel, Louis Lingg, Michael Schwab, Samuel Fielden and Oscar Neebe) connected directly or indirectly with the rally and its anarchist organisers were charged with Degan’s murder.

The trial, which is often described by legal experts as one of the worst cases of miscarriage of justice in United States history, resulted in a 15 year jail sentence for Neebe and the death penalty for the other seven.

Fielden and Schwab’s sentences were subsequently commuted to life in prison and Lingg committed suicide on the eve of his scheduled execution.

Spies, Parsons, Fischer and Engel were hanged on November 11 1887.

*

Police charging the mob after the explosion, Explosion of the bomb, and Hospital scene.

Border images include clockwise from left: A.R. Parsons, Louis Lingg, Inspector Bonfield, Captain Schaack, Sheriff Matson, Michael Schwab, August Spies, Samuel Fielden, Officer Mathias Degan, Mrs. Parsons, Oscar Neebe, Nina van Zandt, Captain Ward, George Engel, and Adolph Fischer

toniD said...

Republican Support For Troop Buildup Wears Thin
Los Angeles Times | April 29, 2007 11:00 PM

But nuances no longer might be enough to keep Republicans from breaking ranks. GOP leaders warn that they will need dramatic evidence of progress, something that has been in short supply in Iraq, to maintain support for the war.

"We need to get some better results from Iraq both politically, economically and militarily, and that needs to happen in the foreseeable future," said House Minority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., a Bush administration loyalist.

LINK

Anonymous said...

“ the newspaper will no longer play ball with the annual White House Correspondents Association dinners in Washington.’”

By all means, continue to go, but bring tar and feathers next time.

toniD said...

Tenet: Al-Qaida
tried to kill Gore
The operations, which either were thwarted by authorities or were canceled for one reason or another, included efforts to assassinate Vice President Al Gore.

LINK

Alice said...

Report of succesful blockade of Shell HQ in Dublin

This morning at 7.30 Dublin Shell to Sea members brought a taste of Mayo to Corrib House. Over 50 people took part in an ongoing blockade of the three entrances of the Shell HQ. The protest was peaceful with protesters linking arms and standing in front of the cars of employees as they attempted to enter the underground car park. According to Dublin Shell to Sea the aim of the blockade was "to shut down Shell E&P Ireland's offices ... to highlight the giveaway of Ireland's offshore gas."

Photos at link....

Alice said...

SUPER-IMPERIALISM:
The Shameful Legacy Of Liberal Democrats


Professor Michael Hudson, an independent Wall St. financial economist, has written an extraordinary book entitled Super Imperialism: The Origins and Fundamentals Of U.S. World Dominance. I first heard of Michael Hudson when browsing Bonnie Faulkner’s “Guns And Butter” website, and as I listened to him, I knew that I needed to read Super Imperialism for many reasons, not the least of which is that I am not an economist and am only beginning to educate myself on how the money works in the domestic and world economies. For this reason, I have been reluctant to write a review of Hudson’s book; I am still learning, as are many of my readers, about dysfunctional and oppressive economic systems and how they work, as well as learning about how a healthy economy might function to meet the needs of its citizenry without harming them or the ecosystem. That said, as an historian, I believe that in order to fully appreciate the current tyranny of centralized financial systems, it is necessary to understand how they evolved within the past six decades.
...
In the current milieu of blatant neo-conservative world domination rhetoric and behavior, it is oh so tempting to believe that the Republican Party and political conservatism have been historically at the forefront of an imperialist foreign policy. What is crucial to understand is that from an historical perspective, the economic imperialism engineered by the United States was overwhelmingly the brain child of the liberal wing of the Democratic Party.
...
Bretton Woods

Hudson takes us back to 1945 when the United States was the most powerful creditor nation on earth, having lent billions to other nations during and after World War II. Today, the U.S. is the most powerful debtor nation on earth, and Super Imperialism describes and documents superbly how such a stunning reversal of economic positioning occurred.

Although corporations and centralized financial systems were the means by which economic imperialism was implemented, …it is not to the corporate sector that one must look to find the roots of modern international economic relations as much as to U.S. Government pressure on central banks and on multilateral organizations such as the IMF, World Bank, and World Trade Organization….At the root of this new form of imperialism is the exploitation of governments by a single government, that of the United States, via the central banks and multilateral control institutions of intergovernmental capital rather than via the activities of private corporations seeking profit. What has turned the older forms of imperialism into a super imperialism is that whereas prior to the 1960s the U.S. Government dominated international organizations by virtue of its preeminent creditor status, since that time it has done so by virtue of its debtor status. (23-24)

The genesis of this re-positioning was the International Monetary and Financial Conference of 1944 held in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire out of which was born the Bretton Woods System of “international monetary management for commercial and financial relations among the world’s industrial states.” It was there that the World Bank and International Monetary Fund were established, and as Hudson notes, “The U.S. economy was enabled to draw the finances of other governments into an international cartel directed by its own policy-makers, dominated by U.S. officials and their appointees.” (139)

As I have noted in my recent book U.S.HISTORY UNCENSORED: What Your High School Textbook Didn’t Tell You, the ultimate “cure” for the Great Depression was not the New Deal and its economic programs, but World War II, out of which the U.S. emerged not only as the most powerful nation militarily, but economically as well. A number of modern historians have speculated that one reason Franklin Roosevelt’s administration failed to intervene economically to undercut Hitler’s rise to power was Roosevelt’s ultimate dream: that the U.S. would emerge from war as the most powerful nation on earth economically and militarily, forever precluding, in Roosevelt’s mind, the possibility of another Great Depression. FDR’s dream was realized, making possible the economic supremacy of the United States during and subsequent to the Bretton Woods conference, without which the U.S. could never have achieved the commanding position it assumed at the momentous gathering of nations.

Hudson seems unable to overemphasize the auspiciousness of America’s post-war preeminence:
...

Cat Chew said...

Just in case someone missed it:
Big changes for Air America by LTR
LTR posted the entire new AAR line-up in the comments.

Even new habits are hard to break. This morning I walked to the computer and the first thing I wanted to do was tune into the AAR stream for Sam's show.

toniD said...

Be back later dr.'s appointment.

Alice said...

As Blogs Proliferate, a Gadfly With Accreditation at the U.N.

...
Matthew Lee runs the blog innercitypress.com. A United Nations official says rules for accrediting bloggers are a work in progress.
...

bibimimi said...

I didn't know Stephanie Miller was a homey!!

Anonymous said...

Oh I'll weigh in on this 'ever so meaty subject'.

I'm not listening to Air America to listen to this 'local news' crap.

Who let this bozo on? What on earth is Mark Green thinking?

What Air America needs is a leftwinger AT THE TOP OF THE ORGANISATION.

When Al Franken said 'Sam Seder is the future of Air America', he was right for once.

Please don't quote the fucking essay. I don't care if he was arrested.

If this is some kind of intro for 'Leonard', AAR is in trouble. First
The Young Turks, now this, you would think that management doesn't trust the Air America audience to listen to political news.

bibimimi said...

you would think that management doesn't trust the Air America audience to listen to political news.

April 30, 2007 10:15 AM

it's all SO awful

Anonymous said...

On Stephanie Miller:

A Serbien man needed surgery after having sex with a hedgehog.

This is going great!

Alice said...

Twitter’s fans include some high-profile technology pundits and even John Edwards, the former senator who uses it to inform followers of his whereabouts on the campaign trail.

blah blah blah said...

bibimimi troll'p said...

it's all SO awful

no, its worse than that. i'm not sure what aar's business plan is, but it ain't workin. this weeks seder replacement, dave barber is downright painful.

Anonymous said...

this is the second guy i've heard in Sam's spot and so far neither one can hold a candle to the Samminess that used to start my day.

Anonymous said...

maybe someone in the know can share greens email with us so we can share our intense feelings about what they're doing?

Anonymous said...

when AA started i supported them wholeheartedly. I listened religiously and I bought thier crap, i.e., shirts, mug, clock, etc.

now everything has changed and not for the better.

this station is now officially ERROR America.

you don't deserve the talent you squandered.

Anonymous said...

Now you folks really did well this morning. War Dog came in here and started running his lame shit and EVERYBODY except Conbo ignored him. Great work!

That's the way to handle him. Sooner or later, even Connie will get the picture. Ignore War Dog and he just goes away...like he did this morning.

bibimimi said...

this weeks seder replacement, dave barber is downright painful.

April 30, 2007 10:46 AM

his 'a 70 yr old guy wants a little somethin'-somethin', who gets hurt?' and i logged off. took 2 minutes.

Anonymous said...

Did anyone listen this morning? I have no where else to go to discuss this, other than the letter I'm writing to Air America. Sam, of course, is missed in the morning. Lee was a great replacement. Due to how impressed I (my whole family) was with Lee, I waited, hoping the new show would be worthy. It isn't. I tried to give the guy a chance, he's from Flint so that got him a few association points (Moore). However, his style, his ignorance (Jeff Gannon....hello, so if you don’t have a picture of it or a “real” journalist didn’t put it in the paper, it didn’t happen?; asking that anti-prostitution female caller who does "a happy ending hurt?") Not commenting on whether a "happy ending" hurts anyone, just making the point that if this is what Air America thinks is a "provocative" host, I'll go back to National Propaganda Radio in the morning. This is not what I’m looking for from Air America; debate, yes, agita from a mainstream, center blowhard, NO! What did everyone else think?

Anonymous said...

Hey you guys, sorry, I was reading the blog backwards (shows how long its been since I've been here :-o ) and didn't see the other related comments. Whew, so glad I'm not the only one!

Anonymous said...

i would rather listent to the kid with the creative writing assignment than this guy.

Anonymous said...

Air America Radio,

Are you kidding? You dump Sam Seder for this? Al Franken and Sam Seder were the best you had. They showed that you can have both substance and humor. My God, this is awful.

mauman

Crank Bait said...

Anonymous said, "...sorry, I was reading the blog backwards (shows how long its been since I've been here :-o )..."
April 30, 2007 11:15 AM
--------
.tnemmoc siht dnatsrednu t'nod I

Unknown said...

Janeane was mentioned in a web comic I frequent: http://xkcd.com/c254.html

Anonymous said...

Oh, for God's sake (& ours), Air America, bring back Sam Seder and stop trying these wanna-bees. And while you're at it, bring back Mark Maron, too.

Please get rid of Matt Gerson, because he made me want to puke this weekend by having Dick Morris on. Listened all of 3 minutes then 'off went the radio'.

Anonymous said...

Crankbait,
)-:, notahcsE saw ti ekil ti gnidaer saw I!yzarc tusj m'I, saw reve ti kniht t'nod I. tsetal eht saw tenmmoc pot eht thgouht I tnaem I
anonymous

Anonymous said...

HIGH NOON!

Have a toke now for peace on Earth!

Anonymous said...

take a toke and a listen to this song

http://www.myspace.com/jimmyreefercake

Crank Bait said...

Anonymous,
Yak'o!

Ken Wells said...

I've developed the Democracy Now habit in the morning.

Anonymous said...

Sam -- still calling and hounding AAR to bring you back. Thanks for you keeping in touch for now with your blog. We really miss you!

Cat Chew said...

Glenn Greenwald - Various Items
(Salon, you watch the ad, you get a cookie)

which led me to
Truth's Consequences
by digby


Crank, are your oaks showing signs of re-leafing?

Anonymous said...

I'd Just Like To Say Hello To My Uncle!

Cat Chew said...

.sregnil-eartH ,retaL

Crank Bait said...

Cat Chew,

Nope. One, big white oak (mentioned in a previous rant) has growth that survived the freezes but only on a portion of the tree.

I use binoculars to closely view the trees. I don't see anything different from one day to the next since the freezes. The tiny, curled leaves are brown. If an iota of green appears, I should be able to see it readily.

The dogwoods are enjoying the sunshine windfall because the canopy that usually exists at this point in the springtime ain't there.

I am on high ground, relatively speaking; on a ridge top at better than 800 ft. elevation. I haven't examined trees in the "hollers", nearer to surface water or better protected from wind. There are probably more and less affected locations? I don't know. The freezes continued for several nights and were widespread.

Crank Bait said...

I think I found a phrase in which I can get away with using "affected" or "effected" interchangeably.

Anonymous said...

TO

BRASKY!

Anonymous said...

Air America's management is on crack. What is the deal here??? Sam clearly had one of the best shows on AAR. A few points about what's going on:

AAR's management flat out LIES to us: They say they didn't have a problem with Sam, rather they're just building a "stronger lineup". Why, then, doesn't Sam KEEP HIS SHOW, AT LEAST UP TO THE TIME THE "REPLACEMENT" BEGINS??? Clearly they didn't just happen to find someone they liked "better"--they pointedly wanted Sam OFF the air. Why will AAR (management) never just TELL THE TRUTH to the people they serve??? I don't get it. What are they trying to hide?

Can someone please tell me WHY they are doing this?

Moreover, WHY, isn't Hartman on AAR-XM? Once again, what do I have to do to get the truth from AAR's management? I'm sure they could get him on XM if they wanted: He's the AAR host for that timeslot--and it's the AAR channel. What are they thinking? And why do they have so little respect for the people they serve that they will never tell them the truth about any of these kinds of decisions?

The first fill-in guy for Sam (Lee Rayburn) wasn't terrible. No Sam, but clearly a guy of integrity trying to do a good job. What AAR apparently has on this week (Dave Barber?) however is pure crap. What's the deal with the cartoon-voice, gameshow-host types Green seems to love? How out of touch can this guy be??? This isn't what Air America is about: a relevant, meaningful voice for the progressive movement. Air America was about smart, hip, informed, REAL political news and commentary. It was about the future, and about building something relevant, lasting, and with integrity. I've now heard several of these melodramatic, cartoon-voice fill-in hosts lately on AAR. I fear the One-Named Wonder (Lionel) is going to be like this too.

The best AAR people were Seder, Maddow, Bender, Flanders, Ring of Fire, Hartman... Even Malloy. People with passion, integrity, intelligence--not vacuous game show hosts doing phony voices, putting on phony personalities, and phony names, and putting on stupid acts to cater to some imagined "Joe Six-Pack" who's supposed to like that sort of thing. Air America was so much better than that. So much more real, relevant and inspiring. Firing Sam is the worst thing Green has done so far. I'm afraid he's going to kill AAR through his out-of-touch stupidity faster than bankruptcy could have done. How can we get OUR network back? Any ideas?

-Jim K

Anonymous said...

Dewey!

Anonymous said...

Why is Thom 'talking' to Dewey?

Cat Chew said...

Anecdote is all I've got. We've had similar weather in the past, also this year. I had three enormous oaks the last place I lived and they did come back but more slowly than the other trees. Less leafy, more acorns than usual. I hope that'll be the case with yours.

Later, Crank Bait.

Anonymous said...

I would rather have Billy Mumphrey as host than some of these peckerheads they've been giving us in place of Sammer!

I have quit AAR and I hardly ever post here anymore, either.

Anonymous said...

Any ideas?

-Jim K

April 30, 2007 12:54 PM

We get rid of Mark Green, and a whole lot faster than they got rid of Danny Goldberg?

I mean, haven't they read a book on management? If someone sucks, you don't keep them around.

But there is a pattern here. Goldberg comes in, and breaks up Unfiltered. Green comes in, and fires Sam.

Fact One. They either are grossly incompetent, or they home in on the best show on air and destroy it.

Fact Two. Green is no leftwinger.

Conclusion - they are here to break up Air America by turning it into a generic radio station with no distinguishing features and no particular audience.

I say we get A REAL LEFTWINGER into management, and fast.

I support Sam. If not Sam, then maybe Amy Goodman, or anyone on the left, who is intelligent and AT LEAST understands that this is not some kind of generic radio station where any bozo can have a go at being the next Jerry Springer or Lionel or anything else.

Anonymous said...

And another thing. This Dave Barber doesn't get it. He thinks he has to enthuse the audience into being interested in the news.

Gee whiz, this Asian kid being picked up over a bad essay. This is a really meaty subject. Really, it is.

Puke.

Anonymous said...

I hate AAR - Where is SAM????? I need him - on a daily basis....NOVA M are you listening? XM Radio are you listening??

Anonymous said...

Dave Barber... what a joke. On the verge of the anniversary of "Mission Accomplished" this dude spends 40 minutes about some red herring incident involving disturbing writing from a teenager. Unbelievable!

Anonymous said...

And this is what Mark Green calls 'strengthening the lineup'.

I SAY GIVE SAM MARK GREEN'S JOB.

That would turn the station around.

Anonymous said...

Middle East Conflict Intensifies As Blah Blah Blah, Etc. Etc.
April 26, 2007 | Issue 43•17

MIDDLE EAST—With the Iraq war in its fifth year, the war in Afghanistan in its sixth, and conflict between Israel and the rest of the region continuing unabated for more than half a century, intelligence sources are warning that a new wave of violence in the Middle East may soon blah blah blah, etc. etc., you know the rest.


Yet another act of violence in response to something else terrible that occurred in, oh, let's say Basra.
"Tensions in the region are extremely high," said U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker, who added the same old same old while answering reporters' questions. "We're disappointed by the events of the last few months, but we're confident that we're about to [yakety yakety yak]."

The U.N. has issued a strongly worded whatever denouncing someone or something presumably having to do with the vicious explosive things that raged across this, or shattered the predawn calm of that, or ripped suddenly through the other, killing umpteen innocent civilians in a Jerusalem bus or Beirut discotheque or Fallujah mosque or whatever it was this time.


Either a car bomb killed people or a car hit a roadside bomb, killing people.
In the aftermath of a whole series of incidents, there have also been troubling reports of just fill in the blanks. Middle East experts say the still somehow worsening situation has inflamed age-old sectarian tensions between the Sunnis, Shiites, Semites, Kurds, Turks, Saudis, Persians, Wahhabis, radicals, extremists, Baathists, mullahs, clerics, et al, which is likely to lead to more gurgle-gurgle over the coming weeks and months.

A certain number of U.S. troops were also killed somewhere in some tragic fashion, while a much greater number were wounded. Meanwhile, impoverished or oppressed supporters of whichever faction carried out the attack or ambush probably celebrated, angering an angry U.S. public that is already angry. Locals are calling for an investigation into excessive force or outright corruption by military or political officials on one of the 15 sides of the various conflicts, although the implicated party has categorically denied wrongdoing, just like they always do, without fail, every time this happens, which is daily, it seems.

And in Afghanistan, the Taliban.

In Israel, Palestinians and Israelis escalated tensions and so on and so on ad infinitum, ad eternum, and some say, ad absurdum, and although Hamas released a statement condemning Israeli forces for the resulting civilian deaths, Israeli officials say the teens were armed with rocket launchers, though it doesn't really matter.

Also, Ahmadinejad, Iran's nuclear program, bin Laden at large, Moqtada al-Sadr, Moqtada al-Sadr's militia, Fallujah, renegade mullahs, embedded and/or beheaded journalists, oil revenues, stockpiles of former Soviet armaments, freedom, racism, Halliburton, women's role in Islamic society, the Quran, withdrawing troops, economic disparities, Sikhs, Pakistanis, oil, rebuilding, stories of hope, the Saudi royal family, the Holy Land, insurgents, and the tragedy of Sept. 11th.

In an attempt to increase public support of whatever the fuck it is he thinks he's doing, President Bush trotted out the same old whoop-de-do you've heard over and over at a solemn-yet-resolute speech attended by soldiers, or religious leaders, or firemen, or some mix of ethnic-looking people from one of those countries.

"We have to give this plan time to wop bop a loo bop, a wop bam boom, ah ah ting tang walla walla bing bang," President Bush may as well have said. "May God [help/bless/save] the United States of America."

© Copyright 2007, Onion, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Onion is not intended for readers under 18 years of age.

Anonymous said...

I think the best thing to do is give up on Error America and try to get Sam on Nova M, in Al Franken's old time slot. Nova M has the potential and the management to become what Air America SHOULD HAVE BEEN.

I was saddened to hear Al leave but he left for a noble cause. Sam did a superb job filling the viod. I was devistated when they let Sam go. The weekend gig isn't gonna cut it. I'm too busy watching sports on sunday afternoon. We need Sam and his crew on every day as long as there is right wind dishonesty to talk about!

Anonymous said...

Hold my meat!

Anonymous said...

Check out this NYTimes article on Barak Obama, especially the photo.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/30/us/politics/30obama.html

If this was a Republican candidate in a photo and article like this, Sam would be howling about on the rooftops.

Just goes to show Sam's blatant double standards.

Anonymous said...

"I was saddened to hear Al leave but he left for a noble cause."

Lining his pocket with millions of dollars is a noble cause?

War Dog said...

Reagan's men are backing - an actor

By Tim Shipman in Washington,

Sunday Telegraph

Last Updated: 1:02am BST 29/04/2007



Ronald Reagan's closest allies are throwing their weight behind the White House bid by the late president's fellow actor, Fred Thompson.

The film star and former Republican senator from Tennessee will this week use a speech in the heart of Reagan country, in southern California, to woo party bigwigs in what insiders say is the next step in his coming out as a candidate.


Fred Thompson’s character in Law and Order is ‘the president all Americans want’


A key figure in the Reagan inner circle has now given his seal of approval to Mr Thompson, best known as a star of the television crime drama Law and Order.

As deputy chief of staff, Michael Deaver was a key member of the "troika" of aides who kept the Reagan White House on track. With the chief of staff James Baker and special assistant Ed Meese, he was the master of image and presentation.

Mr Deaver sees the same raw material in Mr Thompson as was perceived in Ronald Reagan, describing him as someone "that could really make a difference". He added: "He is very popular in his party. He could change this whole thing and turn this primary system upside down.

"As Ronald Reagan used to say, after he stole a line from Al Jolson, 'Stay tuned, you ain't seen nothing yet'."

War Dog said...

So what do you think of ol' Fred..

He could end up being The Man..!!!

War Dog said...

Don't you just love elections..???

I know I do..

Hillary is Kickin Ass..

War Dog said...

Hillary Vs Fred...

I sounds like a 50's TV show..!!!

Anonymous said...

Fred Thompson’s character in Law and Order is ‘the president all Americans want’

What no one seems to remember is that he used to be the grouchy detective on Matlock (the newer version of the Andy Griffith Show).

Anonymous said...

Please Nova M can't even gather 5,000 financial backers. It's going nowhere.

Anonymous said...

*Please.

Anonymous said...

*Please.

bibimimi said...

Hillary Vs Fred...

I sounds like a 50's TV show..!!!

Hayes Code.

Twin beds.

One foot on the floor.

Hill in a pink peignoir, Fred in a satin smoking jacket with a talking horse in the stable named Mary Matalin.

Anonymous said...

George Tenet: "Hindsight is perfect".

But foresight is better.

Alice said...

Anarchists take it to be an empirical fact that people who exercise the greatest control over their own affairs are the happiest and most fulfilled, while people who exercise the least control over their affairs are the most unhappy and unfulfilled....

Alice said...

US Democrats raise prospect of Bush's impeachment over Iraq

A top US congressional Democrat has raised the possibility of George W. Bush's impeachment in a bid to force the president to accept a compromise that would place conditions on continued US military involvement in Iraq.

Representative John Murtha, who chairs the House Subcommittee on Defense and is close to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, made the comment Sunday in response to repeated threats by the president to veto legislation that calls for withdrawal of US troops from Iraq by the end of next March.

"There's three ways or four ways to influence a president," Murtha said on CBS's "Face the Nation" program. "One is popular opinion, the election, third is impeachment and fourth is the purse."

Asked specifically if Democrats, who now control the US Congress, were seriously contemplating the impeachment option, the congressman responded: "What I'm saying, there's four ways to influence a president ... And one of them's impeachment."
...

Anonymous said...

The Top 10 Best Ways to Screw-up The Law of Attraction

1. Keep whining about how your stuff isn't coming.

Continue to notice several times during the day how much different your life would be “if” you had the things you are wanting. Talk about how this Law of Attraction stuff really doesn’t work because if it did you would have your stuff by now.

2. Use your current reality as a measuring stick of whether any of this works.

Keep looking at what is currently in your life and notice how it’s not the way you want it to be. Make sure you really feel discouraged and disappointed because those are strong emotions that will help you to keep getting what you’ve got

3. Hold onto the belief that it works for everyone else but you.

This one works so well with number three – this is where you look to see what is missing in your life but you notice that other people have what you are wanting so they must be doing something “right” and you are either not doing something right or you aren’t smart enough, or worthy enough. You can figure out a few more reasons when you get to #7.

4. Keep doing what you've been doing hoping something will be different.

All this requires is for you to continue saying things like “This is the way I am” and “When I have more time I will ….(meditate, exercise, take a class, decide what I really want)”.

5. Visualize what you want but don’t take action on it.

Stare at your vision board and mumble positive statements about how you want this in your life. Do this in a flat, lifeless way where you will probably lose interest in it after a few weeks (if you make it that long!). Believe that if you don’t know “how” it will happen it means you don’t have to do anything.

6. Hold tight to all your old limiting beliefs.

You know the ones that go something like; I’m not good enough, lovable enough, smart enough, or valuable enough. Fight like heck to keep the them. Believe they are the truth about you. Believe that you are your past experiences and this is the way it will always be.

7. Believe in scarcity.

Believe there is only so much and that if someone else gets it then there isn’t going to be enough for you.

8. Use the words "Yes, but”, "What if" and "I can't"

Every time you use these words it’s like little affirmations that support your limiting beliefs. Make sure to say them in a highly emotional state, such as fear, anxiety, and hopelessness, to give them that extra wallop.

9. Hang around with complainers and people who support your limiting beliefs.

What could be more helpful that to surround yourself with people who reaffirm your limiting beliefs and will help you notice what is missing in your life? Make sure you keep those people close and share your dreams with them often!

10. Be wishy-washy in your desires

This one is really the best of all! Never decide what you want, or better yet, ask using vague and fussy terms. Things like “more money” or “a job I like” or “my soul mate”. After all, if you don’t know where you want to go it’s a sure bet you’ll get there!!

If you have found that you are engaging in any of the ten behaviors that are keeping you from creating the life you dream of – No Worries!! Watch for some very simple and quick tips to get you back on track in no time over the next couple of months!

Anonymous said...

ignore him

toniD said...

Iraqi Parliament is taking a two month summer vacation. I posted this yesterday when I first heard it.

Now it on CNN and it's Jack Cafferty's question. He was ranting about this one and I don't blame him. Our troops are trying to protect them and dying for them and the Parliament is taking 2 months off!!

It's time to leave and let them sort it out. They don't seem too in a hurry as long as the Americans are there to protect them!

By the way...Good afternoon!

toniD said...

Cafferty File

Jack Cafferty sounds off on the stories crossing his radar. Write in to answer Jack's hourly questions, and watch to see if he reads your response.

4 p.m.: Should the Iraqi parliament take a two-month summer vacation?

5 p.m.: Some former CIA officers want George Tenet to return the Medal of Freedom and to give book royalties to soldiers wounded in Iraq. Are they right?

7 p.m.: What does it mean if terror attacks worldwide were up 30% last year?

Answer his question here...

http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5t.html

Alice said...

Hi Toni...my lunch is over...bbl...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democide

Democide is defined as "The murder of any person or people by a government, including genocide, politicide, and mass murder."

toniD said...

Robert Novak on Chuck Hagel: “Over a dozen years, I have had many such conversations with Hagel, but not for quotation. This time, I asked him to go on the record about his assessment of what the ’surge’ has accomplished. In language more blunt than his prepared speeches and articles, he described Iraq as ‘coming undone,’ with its regime ‘weaker by the day.’ He deplored the Bush administration’s failure to craft a coherent Middle East policy, blaming the influence of deputy national security adviser Elliott Abrams.”

LINK

toniD said...

Tony Snow Returns: ‘There Has Been No Attempt To Try To Link Saddam To 9/11′ »
White House Press Secretary Tony Snow returned to the job this morning and hit the ground running. In his first interview with CBS’s Early Show, Snow declared that the White House never tried to link Iraq and September 11.

Snow was asked about former CIA Director George Tenet’s remarks from 60 Minutes:

TENET: We could never verify that there was any Iraqi authority, direction, and control, complicity with al Qaeda for 9/11 or any operational act against America. Period.

Snow responded, “Wait a minute, Chris. The president has been saying exactly that all along. I don’t know what the headline is.” He insisted “there has been no attempt to try to link Saddam to September 11.”

Watch it:

In fact, the supposed Iraq-al Qaeda links formed the basis of the administration’s rationale for war. Here’s what the resolution authorizing force against Iraq said:

Whereas members of al Qaida, an organization bearing responsibility for attacks on the United States, its citizens, and interests, including the attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, are known to be in Iraq

Snow also claimed today that President Bush “made it clear before the State of the Union in 2002 that there was no link between Saddam Hussein and September 11.” Here’s Bush during his major Iraq policy speech, just prior to Congress’ vote on the Iraq authorization in Oct. 2002:

We know that Iraq and the Al Qaida terrorist network share a common enemy: the United States of America. We know that Iraq and Al Qaida have had high-level contacts that go back a decade.

LINK

toniD said...

'They sold out the world for an F-16 sale' Luke Ryland
Published: Monday April 30, 2007

Onetime CIA analyst alleges Cheney, Libby lied to Congress about Pakistani nukes

In the era of Ronald Reagan, intelligence officer Richard Barlow was an analyst for the CIA, monitoring Pakistan's nuclear program. In 1989, he moved over to the Pentagon, where he worked for then-Secretary of Defense Richard Cheney. Barlow lost that job when he raised objections to his bosses about senior Pentagon officials allegedly lying to Congress concerning Pakistan’s emerging nuclear program.

In a series of interviews with RAW STORY conducted over several weeks, the onetime intelligence officer revealed new details about intelligence on Pakistan’s nuclear program—and efforts by the US to quash attempts to stop development. Barlow's story also casts light on recent efforts by the current administration to keep information from Congress on Iraq and other matters.

Pakistan gets the bomb

In 1975, Pakistani scientist AQ Khan “acquired” nuclear blueprints from his Dutch employer and was immediately put in charge of Pakistan's nuclear program. In 1988, Pakistan would detonate its first atomic bomb.

Former Dutch Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers has said that the CIA was monitoring Khan from the beginning. He asserts that the US turned down offers to detain Khan in 1975 and 1986 because they wanted to “gain more information” about the scientist’s activities.

Intelligence information later showed that the US and its allies allowed Pakistan to clandestinely acquire most of the technology for its nuclear program from abroad, unwittingly facilitating the spread of nuclear weapons technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya over the past several decades.

When Richard Barlow joined the CIA in 1985 as a counter-proliferation intelligence officer with particular expertise on Pakistan, he quickly realized that Pakistan was continuing to develop its nuclear program, and that some of its clandestine and illegal procurement activity was occurring within the US.

It didn't take Barlow long to realize that US officials knew what Pakistan was doing. According to Barlow, individuals at the State Department later actively facilitated procurement, tipping off targets of sealed arrest warrants in undercover operations and illegally approving export licenses for restricted goods.

Naturally, this situation created problems.

Much more here

toniD said...

Op-ed: 'Bushified' federal government 'isn't pretty' RAW STORY
Published: Monday April 30, 2007

The emerging picture of the Bush Administration's efforts to politicize the federal government "isn't pretty," Cox News columnist Tom Teepen writes in an op-ed slated to appear in Tuesday's papers.

"Bit by bit, as odd scraps of information surface, the hidden history of George W. Bush's presidency is emerging, like a jigsaw puzzle coming together," Teepan writes. "With complaints becoming public, the Justice Department has announced it will remove political appointees as screeners for hiring interns and young attorneys. That's the sort of bureaucratic bric-a-brac shuffling that usually goes unremarked and, if reported at all, is sensibly ignored by anyone with something better to do, which would be just about anything."

Teepen argues that, thanks to "Bush political appointees [being] in charge," applicants for the Justice Department's Honors Program have "found themselves in interviews that suggested less a professional assessment than an ideological vetting," and notes "a sudden influx from doctrinally conservative law schools and from the Federalist Society, created to nurture activist conservative lawyers."

"The Bushified Environmental Protection Agency ignores science -- or even brazenly rewrites it -- to act out the right's conviction that environmental concerns rank somewhere between mistaken and nutty," Teepen writes. "Political appointees override the agency's professionals at will, the case repeatedly in this administration."

According to Teepen, the "relentlessness and reach of Bush's drive to turn the traditionally professional departments of the government into a chain of party proprietaries are unexampled in modern times, and it is unlikely we have heard the last of these tales."

Excerpts from column:

LINK

bibimimi said...

'Bushified'

toni;

dumbed down? politicized? ideology over competence? politix over policy?

it will take YEARS to get the stench out

Anonymous said...

saw Tenet last night---WHAT A FREAK!
the guy went from not being able to hold still in his chair twisting and writhing all while ranting and raving almost hysterically.
it seemed like he was trying to intimidate the inerviewer Scott Pelley with his open hostility

another Ahole that was running our country

bibimimi said...

Should the Iraqi parliament take a two-month summer vacation?

Lotta beach, no shore

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