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::fuzzy and blue --political musings by a proud Democrat::
::Author::  Name::Tina From::United States Married college graduate and parent who lives in the Mid West View my complete 
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Saturday, September 30, 2006 Were the 60 Mins TANG Docs faked so Bush's gay past wouldn't get uncovered?  The following post is dedicated to Repub hypocrisy about homosexuality due to self hatred (which I already posted about in 2/06) b/c me thinks they doth protest too much b/c they art deep in the closet. And science fully backs me up on this: "Research by a Univ of GA psychologist suggests that 80% of men who are homophobic have secret homosexual feelings. The research results were published in the Journal of Abnormal Psych, w/the backing of the Amer Psych Assoc. This finding lends scientific support to the long-standing speculation that those who shout the loudest against homosexuality have something to hide. In tests conducted at the Univ of GA, homophobic men who said they were exclusively hetero were shown gay sex videos. 4 out of 5 became sexually aroused by the homoerotic imagery, as recorded by a plethysmograph . . . a calibrated band fitted around the penis, which measures any enlargement. The prof who performed the tests, Dr Henry Adams says his research shows that most homophobes "demonstrate significant sexual arousal to homosexual erotic stimuli" suggesting that homophobia is a form of "latent homosexuality where persons are either unaware of -or deny- their homosexual urges." Now, w/that study in mind, please question why in the hell do Repukes gay bash and make anti-gay legislation the very centerpiece of their GOP platform? Example: Rep Marliyn Musgrave (Repuke and Wingnut of CO) says: "Gay Marriage is THE most important issue facing America in 2006." Now I know several gay men in long term committed relationships, who would say that THEIR gay marriage is THE most important issue in their lives, but why in TF does Musgrave put it at the top of her list for 2006 when we have 2 fricking wars going on? Does she find herself a little too transfixed by the LPGA? Is she watching a heckuva lot more of The View since Rosie joined the cast? And... I know this comes from Wayne Madsen... but if true, this could explain SOOOO very much when it comes to this BushCo/ Repuke obsession w/ homosexuality, no?: "According to individuals who investigated Bush's stint in the 147th Fighter Group of the TX Air Natl Guard (TANG), the GOP's top dirty tricksters, notably Karl Rove and Roger Stone, interceded to derail the investigation and, instead, had CBS focus on Bush's faxed, scanned, and Xeroxed original TANG records -- which were later hyped by the right-wing media as fakes. The reason for the GOP's concern was that the investigation was getting dangerously close to exposing Bush's suspected homosexual activity w/ other members of his TANG unit. Given the times and culture of the early 1970s, investigators were surprised to discover Bush's frequent association with an abundant number of gays in the unit, which was nicknamed the "Champagne Unit." Bush's homosexuality is the bête noire of Bush's past for GOP political operatives, precisely because of the anti-gay stance of the Republican right and its Christian fundamentalist base. In 1976, the Bush family sent young George to El Paso's Worthy Creations, a Christian gay conversion center. From that time on, Bush became a tool of the Christian right and a self-hating homosexual. The investigation of Bush's gay activities in the TANG unit would have unraveled Bush's new "straight" persona. The GOP went to battle stations to prevent Bush's past from being resurrected. Bush's alleged homosexuality in college was hinted at in Kitty Kelley's massive biography of the Bush family, The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty, which was released at about the same time as CBS 60 Minutes was investigating Bush's Natl Guard stint. In the case of Kelley's book and the gay charge, the criticism came not from the GOP operatives but from their allies in the corporate media, including the Wash Post's Howard Kurtz, who is married to a GOP operative. While Bush attended all-boys Andover prep school (nicknamed "bend over"), Bush, not able to make it as an athlete, instead became a male cheerleader. At Yale, Bush, according to Kelley, had a "very special relationship" with Victor Ashe, his room mate and fellow cheerleader. Ashe, a former Mayor of Knoxville, is now Bush's ambassador to Poland. At the Delta Kappa Epsilon frat house, Bush became known as "a jock sniffer." And let's please not forget the info floating around the internets about this woman: Leola McConnell, who is running for Gov of NV, and for 2 ys now, she has had a site up that fully divulges her dominatrix activities w/ bisexual lovers Victor Ashe and Dubya. And folks wiser than me ask a very important question: If this info floating around out there about Bush's closeted life is mere lies, why hasn't someone-- anyone-- had the shit sued outta them by now? 
In light of the uncovering of Rep Mark Foley's revolting pedophilia thru Instant Messaging w/ 2 underage boys (pdf of the IM's here and here) when he is the chairman of the House Committee on Missing and Exploited Kids, and the unspeakable coverup of the crime for almost a full yr by Repuke House leadership, by House Majority Leader Boehner (who is changing his story to suit different newspapers), as well as a coverup by the GOP Speaker of the House Hastert-- who dares to put a link on his site that boasts about protecting kids in cyberspace!-- is reason enough to discuss the blatant hypocrisy of the Repuke Party and their Religious Fright fanbase, but since so many in the GOP leadership knew about Foley's pedophilia and did nothing to protect the kids from this sick fuck but instead helped cover it all up for almost a yr, I seriously doubt if the real truth will come to light. Add to all of this the inexplicable reactions from Foley's own GOP fans... seriously these sick fucks need therapy. They aren't pissed that he was online trolling for a teenage boy. Oh no. They are pissed that he resigned. They are pissed that news of this came out just wks before the election. And they are pissed b/c Foley was INDISCREET. Funny, I don't recall them feeling the same way about Prez Clinton's legal and consensual indiscretion with an adult woman, do you? Of course not b/c as we all know, there is nothing more detrimental to the very foundation of America than a man receiving a consensual and legal bj from an adult woman. But isn't it strange that the Dems don't have a site dedicated to documenting their rampant sex crimes with children?
Torture Vote: Of course it passed. Dubya tortured animals as a kid... whad'ya expect?  I'm sure Mama Barbara the Barbarian is oh-so-proud of her son getting that torture bill thru. She's probably even more proud of this than she was when lil Georgie would shove fire crackers up the rectums of frogs and blow them to bits. Well... everyone always has said George is much more like his mama Barbara than like his papa George the Elder. So with a quick vote, and next to no meaningful debate or even an acknowledgement of harsh facts, America has now proudly joined the "club." That club being those nations who torture and treat habeas corpus, the Constitution, and the Geneva Conventions like inconvenient nuisances. And forget that the NYTs calls this piece of trash legislation: "A tyrannical law that will be ranked with the low points in American democracy, our generation’s version of the Alien and Sedition Acts." C'mon people! The truly important talking point for the Repukes is this: Dennis Hastert got to put his box of glazed donuts down and accuse us Dems of coddling terrorists and daring to care about their rights while in our custody. And hey! In case you ever wanted to know what exactly waterboarding looks like, check this out. Way to go Repukes and spineless Dems. Did you even think to kiss America goodbye before you raped her and tossed her --dirty, used, and bruised-- over the cliff? I'd say that I'm holding out hope that the Supreme Court will declare this insane shit 100% unconstitutional, but when we have Rep Steven King (R-IA) running around spewing his Repuke torture happy crap that the Supreme Court was wrong to decide Hamdan was unconstitutional, and when we have a suddenly repentant and panicking retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor warning us, about the Prez in an interview w/ Jeffrey Toobin of CNN, where I half expected her to bite her fist and tell us how sorry she is for the crumbling state of affairs of the SCOTUS, I just don't feel so hopeful. And sorry Justice O'Connor that you feel so badly NOW, but bitch, you put Crazy George in office when you SELECTED him in 2000, and gave the crazy bastard more control by retiring under his insane watch this year, and while I applaud O'Connor galavanting around America-- giving speeches about how scared she is for judges and Justices as they come under fierce attack from the WH and politicians and are being labeled as "activist judges" by wingnuts, I'm not feeling so good about that last line of protection We the People are supposed to have against these fascist fuckers anymore. Especially since this unspeakable trainwreck of a torture bill allows Dubya the frog killer to declare ANYONE he wants an enemy combatant and he can do WHATEVER he wants with them. Our elected officials just said he could.
First we have Bush saying that the deaths in Iraq are merely a comma in history, and now we have the oh-so cavalier Trent Lott saying that the GOP and REAL Americans don't think about Iraq that much and that no matter how hard he tries, he just can't tell Shiia from Sunni, b/c gosh darnit, they all look alike to him. Holy macaca! Where was Sen George Allen to chime in about the brown folks?
Hmm... all I can think of is the scene in The Shining where Nicholson pokes his face thru the freshly axed door and screams: "Here's Johnny!" Except in this case... we would say "Here's Jacky!" (via NYTs) "A bipartisan Congressional report documents 100s of contacts between White House officials and the corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his partners, including at least 10 direct contacts between Abramoff and Karl Rove, the president's chief political strategist. The House Govt Reform Committee report, based on e-mail messages and other records subpoenaed from Abramoff's lobbying firm, found 485 contacts between Abramoff's lobbying team and WH officials from 2001 to '04, including 82 with/ Rove's office. The lobbyists spent almost $25,000 in meals and drinks for the WH officials and provided them with tickets to numerous sporting events and concerts, according to the report, scheduled for release Friday." Hmm. 485 contacts between WH and Abramoff? That's between Jan. 01 and Mar 04. If I did the math right, that averages out to more than 1 contact per month for over 3 yrs. That's hardly a "casual acquaintance" in my book. I have close personal friends that I love that I don't see that often. But wait... the article gets better: "Abramoff's lobbying resulted in Bush admin actions that benefited Abramoff clients, including decisions to distribute millions of dollars in federal money to Indian tribes with large gambling operations." Shocking! And talk about special favors granted: "Rove has described Abramoff as a "casual acquaintance," but the records obtained by the House committee show that Rove and his aides sought Abramoff's help in obtaining seats at sporting events, and that Rove sat with Abramoff in the lobbyist's box seats for an N.C.A.A. basketball playoff game in '02." Casual my ass. Unless Rove meant a casual criminal acquaintance. But get this, in addition to personal favors, the horrific sex-trafficikng Mariana Islands surfaces in this article, too: "In Oct 2001, the report said, Abramoff asked the WH to withhold an endorsement from a Repub candidate for Gov of the N. Marianas Islands, an American commonwealth in the western Pacific where Abramoff had clients b/c Abramoff was backing another candidate. On Oct. 31, 2001, the report said, Susan Ralson (Karl Rove's secretary) sent an e-mail message to Abramoff that read: "You win :) KR said no endorsement." I'm sure THAT can somehow be explained away by the forked tongued Karl Rove, huh? In case you ever needed a handy dandy chart that listed the "Abramoff 65" (ya know... the 65 Repukes knee deep in Abramoff scandal shit) here it is.
Olbermann's anthrax hoax scare & Keith knocks another BushCo 9/11 lie outta the ball park  A few days ago, info arose about Bill O'Reilly claiming to be on an al Qaeda "hitlist" along w/ Fox News. As lovely as it might be to entertain the thought of Bill O being in an orange jumpsuit w/ a group of masked men standing behind him ready to behead him at any second, the claim was proven to be absolutely 100% false. I guess Bill O's pompous self bloat got in the way of the truth, huh? But then on Weds' Countdown, Keith divulged the awful secrets behind an anthrax hoax in the mail he had to endure at his own home! Why did he divulge the info? B/c the NY Post had already broken the story. What did the NY Post do? Blew it off, made fun of Keith by feminizing him, and completely disobeyed FBI orders to NOT print the info, and went ahead and printed it. Now who among us would NOT be scared shitless to receive a threatening letter (w/ an unknown powder) in our home that stated that the letter and contents were revenge for daring to say what you've been saying on air about Pres Bush after the post 9/11 anthrax scares? I'm sure after Weds' broadcast, Keith might just receive even more scary mail. Keith provides a fierce bitchslapping to the bogus Lying Condi claim that Clinton left BushCo no counterterrorism tools in place and that BushCo did everything to prevent 9/11 and that Clinton did nothing. (For more info on a "Bush did nothing to prevent 9/11 timeline", check this out and for a '99 Wash Post article that praises all of the focus Clinton put on bin Laden, check this out.) If I were Keith, I'd invest in a SERIOUS security system for my home, consider putting in a panic room, and hire a big, beefy, and burly bodyguard.
As America (and the twisted, torture happy Repukes jump w/ glee as our impotent Dems sit back and watch) gets ready to chuck aside habeas corpus, please read this mother's plea to keep habeas corpus intact so that she doesn't have to tell her 4th grader-- just freshly schooled about our Constitution-- that America is a nation that no longer believes in such things. Buy hey! Look on the bright side... we now get to tell our kids that we are part of "THE LIST." Ya know, the list of nations that tell habeas corpus & the Geneva Conventions to piss up a rope? When you're in cahoots with the likes of China, Iran, Uganda, Uzbekistan, and North Korea... membership has it's esteemed privileges.
Since we are told that we're not going to get a peek a at more up to date and damning NIE b/c BushCo refuses to let it see the light of day, we have a 2nd source backing up the current NIE that says Iraq has made terrorism worse and the US more unsafe (as if the 40 tortured dumped bodies turning up in Baghdad and the news that the formerly heralded Iraqi Police forces are on the edge of collapse is not enough of a clusterfuck wakeup call.) If the Dems don't pounce on this, they deserve to be run out of DC asap (via Reuters): "A U.N. report released on Wednesday said the Iraq war provided al Qaeda with a training centre and recruits, reinforcing a U.S. intelligence study blaming the conflict for a surge in Islamic extremism." Wait. It gets even better: "New explosive devices are now used in Afghanistan within a month of their first appearing in Iraq," said the report. "And while the Taliban have not been found fighting outside Afghanistan/ Pakistan, there have been reports of them training in both Iraq and Somalia." Wait... wait for the shoe to drop: "Al Qaeda, it said, "has gained by continuing to play a central role in the fighting (in Iraq) and in encouraging the growth of sectarian violence, and Iraq has provided many recruits and an excellent training ground," it said." Wowzers. That's hurts.
Since Bush says ridiculous things like: "The war in Iraq isn't a civil war b/c the Iraqi people haven't voted for civil war," maybe Bush needs to take a look at these eye-popping numbers when it comes to the clear majority of Iraqis who want us to get the hell out of Iraq immediately if not sooner. But then again... when reality conflicts with wishful thinking, BushCo will just deny reality, b/c to them the polls must be wrong. They simply must be! How else can you explain Bush miraclulously defying all exit poll numbers and then "winning" the 04 election? So much for we'll step down the minute the Iraqis ask us to, huh?
7 Point Plan by the Religious Fright to fight the deadly "Gay Agenda"  I know I should be posting about Lying Condi spinning blatant tales to cover up for her fuckup boyfriend, or showing this shocking graph that proves how terrorism has sharply RISEN under BushCo's watch & launch of the Iraq war, or posting about the clearly delusional Bush's latest debacle with the completely chopped up yet declassified NIE (PDF of it here), or even about the secret second NIE that is supposedly even more damning and damaging than the first one, yet BushCo is keeping in the dark, but I just had to post about this b/c it made me physically ill to read. In case you wondered what the Religious Fright wants to shove down your throat and especially the throats of your children, then read this 7 Point Plan to help you fight homosexuality. Oh yes... it is the fight against that deadly gay agenda, and the assault this "chosen lifestyle" has on the sensibilities of the oh-so brave Culture Warriors like Bill O'Reilly. This is the type of poison that is being fed to kids in the name of religion. I was torn between laughing outloud at the ridiculousness, and swallowing down that small amount of vomit that kept coming up in the back of my mouth. I wonder why these folks have cherry picked over the parts of Leviticus that tells your kids what a sin eating shellfish is, how females should be shunned during menstruation, how girls can be married at the unimaginable age of 12, how adulterers can be stoned to death, how sinful it is to plant more than one crop in the same field or wear clothes made of mixed materials, or how owning slaves is A-okay? Oh that's right... if they had to actually live this holier than thou crap that they spew, we would see what hypocrites, bigots & non-Christians they really are. And since they want everyone to repress their true sexuality, get married and live hetero lives even if they're gay, they will of course be volunteering their own daughters and sons to marry these secretly gay men and lesbians, right? B/c let's face it: Nothing makes for a happier and healthier marriage than that kind of deeply closeted Brokeback Mountain mentality, no?
I really hope WalMart doesn't think they've actually been fooling anybody with their "family-friendly" bullshit b/c the new healthcare plans that will begin on Jan 1, 07 for all new WalMart employees are positively cutthroat (via WakeUpWalMart): "According to the 2007 WalMart Medical Benefits Booklet, as of Jan 07, Wal-Mart will only offer 2 health care options: 1) Catastrophic health care w/ multiple high deductibles (laughingly called the "Value Plan") and 2) Health Savings Accts, which new employees will not be immediately eligible for (laughingly renamed the "Freedom Plan"). By making this change, Wal-Mart is eliminating the Network Saver plans and the Standards for new hires, 2 plans which had much lower deductibles for employees and their families. In addition to eliminating all "low deductible" health care options for new hires, Wal-Mart is increasing premium costs for current employees by 8.3% for the Network Saver Plan, 7.6% for the Standard Plan, and 6.9% for the Freedom Plan, and charging a whopping $1800 a year "spousal surcharge" to deter spouses from being insured by Wal-Mart. Wow. That is certainly pro-family, no? I'm no psychic, but I'm willing to bet plenty of spouses AND children of WalMart employees simply remain uninsured or rely upon welfare when they get sick. Either way, it costs all of us b/c the tab has to be paid somehow, so it all comes out in the wash in the form of us paying for it in higher premiums. Despite Wal-Mart calling it a 'Value' plan, the plan includes multiple, expensive deductibles like a $300 pharmacy deductible and a $1000 in-patient deductible on top of the $1000 deductible the plan already has. And yes... WalMart verifies this new healthcare plan for new hires is correct, but offers this weak defense: "WalMart spokesman Dan Fogleman said the change was aimed at helping employees, after internal surveys showed that half of all workers w/ company insurance used up less than their full deductible last yr. Uhm, that wouldn't have anything to do w/the fact that people simply didn't go to the doctor b/c they couldn't afford to pay off the large deductible amount before their benefit coverage kicked in, now would it? "This meant they were paying more in premiums than they were getting out in benefits, and lower premiums mean more money left to cover the deductibles, the argument goes, and employees will be smart consumers of health care and go where prices are lower." Go where prices are lower? Like where exactly? Since when do people get to price shop when it comes to doctors or hospitals? Do doctors accept coupons? Is there a wholesale health clinic that I'm unaware of, perhaps called Crazy Eddie's where they'll deliver your baby at prices that are so low, you'll swear Dr Eddie is insane?
GOP Justice: Torture... it ain't just for Jesus  As America gets ready to toss aside the Western world's 800 yr tradition of habeas corpus, (and toss it aside we most probably will, even for all of us US citizens, who can be deemed enemy combatants b/c the newly negotiated bill allows for this bloodcurdling bit: "The definition applies to foreigners living inside or outside the United States and does not rule out the possibility of designating a US citizen as an unlawful combatant." ) and despite a pesky lil point that Sen Arlen Specter has raised about the deal, saying that it would suspend a fundamental legal right against unlawful detention, we actually have people not only justifying the use of torture, but we also have op/ed columnists saying this: "Habeas corpus is not needed: We didn’t try prisoners during WWII. Why should we start now?" by James Robbins. This op/ed made my blood chill. Not only b/c it was advocating chucking habeas corpus into a garbage heap, but also b/c he was wrong. Robbins says: "Extending the rights of habeas corpus to individuals detained during the war on terrorism would be an unnecessary and dangerous step. The foreign detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, and elsewhere do not have the same status as criminals. These people are not being held for rehabilitation or as punishment. The detainees are precisely that, detained. Some are useful for purposes of intelligence exploitation. Others are held simply to keep them from returning to the battlefield to kill Americans. Furthermore, it is not as though all detainees are held for life, and it is not true that the detainees have been held without due process. The debate over the McCain amendment to the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 was an attempt to define exactly what process was due. Congress chose not to include habeas corpus in this bundle of rights, leaving the question of detainee status to the Combatant Status Review Tribunals. The Constitution gives Congress the right to suspend the "privilege" of habeas corpus in the interest of public safety." Now I can only guess that Robbins is either stupid, a blatant liar, or simply chose to ignore these nasty lil facts, according to US military and governmental documents on Gitmo detainees (PDF): "More than half the prisoners have been determined NOT to have been involved in ANY violent or hostile activity against the US/coalition forces. 1) Only 8% of the detainees were characterized as al Qaeda fighters. Of the remaining detainees, 40% have no definitive connection with al Qaeda at all and 18% have no definitive affiliation with either al Qaeda or the Taliban. 2) 86% of the detainees were sold by Pakistani or Northern Alliance figures to the US for a considerable bounty. 3) This war on terror has no declared end in sight or definition of what exactly would bring an end to our govt's hostilities in this region of the world. So, it makes sense that these detainees should be able to challenge the legality of their detention. 4) The Constitution allows for suspension of Habeus Corpus for reasons of 'Insurrection or Invasion', neither of which have happened. 5) Our Constitution's 5th Amendment guarantees every citizen the right to due process, in addition, as signatories of the Geneva Conventions, the US is bound to respect Article III. Robbins goes on w/his lie-filled spew: "According to the Geneva Conventions, prisoners (even legitimate POWs) may be held for the duration of hostilities without trials. We did not try prisoners during World War II, for example. The notion would have been thought absurd. Some have observed that the detainees potentially face lifetime detention if hostilities continue, but this is because their leaders refuse to end their jihad against the US." Well, captured Nazi prisoners were given military tribunals during the war, and after the war, prisoners were tried in world courts. Waterboarding was precisely 1 of the war crimes we were able to find the Japanese guilty of commiting against our captured men. And since we are discussing WWII war actions and crimes that were once considered crimes but suddenly under BushCo are not, I guess someone should have clued in WWII Col/ former Pres Eisenhower about habeas corpus, b/c he made his feelings crystal clear about the esteemed position he felt it deserved in American society: "Why are we proud? We are proud, first of all, because from the beginning of this Nation, a man can walk upright, no matter who he is, or who she is. He can walk upright and meet his friend--or his enemy; and he does not fear that because that enemy may be in a position of great power that he can be suddenly thrown in jail to rot there without charges and with no recourse to justice. We have the habeas corpus act, and we respect it." And even if these GOP war/ torture fans wanted to somehow justify torture and the chucking aside of habeas corpus, how can they possibily do so while at the same time they are trying to ram thru HR 2679-- the "Christian Theocracy Act"? According to Christians (and we all know these Repukes simply embody the very loving and peaceful spirit of Christianity, no?) Jesus is THE ultimate symbol of the unspeakable horrors of state sponsored torture. So, am I missing something here? Oh... right... as these Theo-Cons spread around "liberty, the Gospel of Jesus, and democracy" around the globe, I guess it is high time that torture isn't just for Jesus anymore, huh?
The contrast couldn't be more shocking: 1) We have Keith Olbermann telling we the people the truth YET AGAIN (video link here and transcript here). This time Olbermann knocks the GOP/Fox News/ ABC-Disney lies and cowardice about Pres Clinton over 9/11 out of the ballpark... and then we have 2) NEWSWEEK, who is blatantly refusing to tell we the people in the US the truth... but allowing the truth to be told to the people in Europe, Asia, and Latin America about Afghanistan. I don't know about you, but I don't appreciate being treated like a child (and a tax-paying child at that) who can be lied to and have the truth withheld from them b/c the corporate whore media or my govt says so. But somehow, I imagine NewsWEAK can justify Annie Leibovitz’s life in pictures as infinitely more important to Americans than losing Afghanistan. Come on, people!
Let's ignore facts, info about drug use & NIEs, and maybe Iraq will seem less like Vietnam  Yes, plenty of comparisons between Vietnam and Iraq have been made, but most raise some especially valid points and questions that can't be ignored or dismissed. After a little reading this weekend, I came up with one comparison of my own. According to uber conservative William F Buckley, Jr: "The assertion, which has been made in reputable circles, was that over 40% of Americans fighting in Vietnam were using heroin and 80% marijuana... under special circumstances, the use of drugs increases. Well, granted there was stress in Vietnam." Uh... do ya think? And now according to The Sunday Times UK: "The army is suffering an epidemic of drug abuse. Earlier this yr The Sunday Times revealed how the army regiment involved in the first Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal was awash with drugs as the soldiers went to war. One former fusilier claimed that 75 men from his company, some 60% of its strength, regularly took cocaine, ecstasy or marijuana. "There's guys who have to have 2 or 3 lines of coke before they can operate," he said. According to a parliamentary answer, 1,020 army personnel tested positive for drugs last yr, including 520 cases using class A drugs — a 50% rise in the past 5 yrs." Uh, ya don't think these UK troops are trying to... gee, I don't know... perhaps drown out the horror that unfolds around them and helps numb them to the things they have done and will be asked to do, do ya? Of course not. B/c according to BushCo, it is a non-stop party in Iraq, and quite frankly, if you ask Bush himself, the bloodshed and deaths in Iraq will merely be "like a comma in the history books." Awfully cavalier attitude for a man who was AWOL during his own chance to see and cause some bloodshed, and for a man who has 2 perfectly healthy daughters in their 20s who could easily strap a set of combat boots on, huh? Well, a party it ain't. Just take a gander at this compilation of nonstop bloodshed and violence... and it compiles the bloodshed and violence for the month of Sept ALONE, and month by the way which has allowed us to reach the grim troop death landmark of 2700 killed (58 deaths in the month of Sept thus far). Perhaps Bush needs to ask Iraqi police officers how fabulous things are for them when the decapitated heads of 9 of their fellow officers are tossed out of a speeding car in the centre of Tikrit, and maybe he needs to wonder why exactly is it that Iraqi Pres Talebani is asking for a long-term US military presence in Iraq, and saying that his country will need 2 permanent US air bases to deter "foreign interference"? But why would Bush ask those pertinent questions when the WH refuses to acknowledge the NIE report that says in clear terms that the war in iraq is making us less safe and is actually fueling terrorism?
Maybe I just don't get Repuke/Wingnut hypocrisy, but could someone please explain to me why it is fine and dandy for Jerry Falwell to call Hillary Clinton "Lucifer" but it is not fine for Hugo Chavez to call Bush "Satan"? And if you can explain that, could you also explain why it is fine for Chris Wallace to be angry when the film, "The Path to 9/11" quoted and portrayed his father incorrectly and spread untruths about his dad, but when former prez Clinton is rightfully angry at being portrayed incorrecty and having untruths spread about him in the film, Cinton is smeared by Wallace and called "crazed"? Never mind.. I already know the answer: IOKIYAR.
France says Osama bin Laden is dead... guess Bush can't drag him out for Oct surprise  Now maybe I'm jaded... but a new report comes out this wk that sums up BushCo's complete incompetence: "Five yrs, and 2 wars after the Sept. 11 attacks, the Bush admin still does not fully understand the threat from al-Qaida, according to a new congressional report released by the House of Reps' Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on threats facing the US, just released on Weds." We have Bush telling CNN's Wolf Blitzer that if bin Laden were inside Pakistan, that the US would just ignore the sovereign rights of Pakistan and waltz right on in there to get Osama. Then we hear from Pakistan's President Musharraf that days after Sept 11th, Richard Armitage met with Pakistan’s intelligence director, Gen. Mahmoud Ahmad, seeking cooperation on the newly hatched "war on terror," and then told Ahmed that without that cooperation, Pakistan had better: "Be prepared to be bombed. Be prepared to go back to the Stone Age." Of course, Bush and Armitage were simply "taken aback" by Musharraf's claim... err... riiight. And now we have this gem coming out of France about a supposed event in Pakistan: "The French defense ministry on Sat called for an internal investigation of the leak of an intelligence document that raises the possibility that Osama bin Laden may have died of typhoid in Pakistan a month ago but said the report of the death remained unverified. The daily newspaper for the Lorraine region in eastern France, l’Est Republicain, printed what it described as a confidential document from the French foreign intelligence service DGSE citing an uncorroborated report from Saudi secret services that the leader of the al-Qaida terror network had died. In Pakistan, a sr official of that country’s top spy agency, the ISI or Directorate of Inter-Service Intelligence, said he had no info to confirm bin Laden’s whereabouts or that he might be dead. The official said he believed the report could be fabricated. The official was not authorized to speak publicly on the topic and spoke on condition of anonymity. US Embassy officials in Pakistan and Afghanistan also said they could not confirm the French report." Asia Yahoo News reports: "Pakistan has received no info from any foreign govt that would corroborate the French newspaper report." And what does the Taliban have to say about this?: "A sr Taliban official, whose fighters are allied to the remnants of al Qaeda in Afghanistan, also poured cold water on the French newspaper story. "Taliban have no information about the death of Osama. It's only baseless propaganda against mujahideen (Muslim holy warriors)," Mullah Obaidullah told Reuters by satellite telephone from an undisclosed location." Well, who knows how reliable a Taliban source is, but does it really matter anyway? What about this guy... ya know... Osama's right hand man? And what about this guy who was named as al-Qaeda's new leader in Iraq after so much ado about nothing when Zarqawi was killed and it was hailed by BushCo as some watershed moment? Al Qaeda is like the mythical Hydra. You chop off one head and yet another grows to threaten you. Now let's be clear here, if bin Laden is dead, then buh-bye to bad rubbish. And let's face it: Bush can't claim this as some kind of GOP victory, and W can't pop his nearly 7ft tall ass out of a glass cage for an October surprise. If true, typhoid took out Osama. Not some crazy-ass cowboy bullshit that "justifies" waterborading, Abu Ghraib, Gitmo, Shock & Awe, or the unspeakable deaths and maimings in Iraq. But am I the only one who finds these coincidences a wee bit too....uhm... coincidental?
One big miserable family: Rumsfeld leads the pack to unite Canada w/US and Mexico  Now last Christmas season, I came across this WashPost article about a declassified 1930's US war plan to invade and take over Canada. Little did I know that this week, I would come across an actual plan to invade Canada and take over our neighbors to the North by the yr 2007 (yes, this is all tied to that infamous NAFTA Superhighway we discussed a few months ago): via Sept 16/06 Global Research: What would you think if it was announced that Canada was to cease as an independent country as early as 2007? Well, during the last wk there have been announcements from at least 2 sources that Canada will soon cease to exist as a sovereign country. 1) The 1st notice received was in the form of an Aug. 18 email from Connie Fogal, leader of the Canadian Action Party. The email includes a bulletin from the Fraser Institute entitled, "The Case for the Amero: The Institutions of a N Amer Monetary Union." A statement near the end of the bulletin reads, "On the day the N Amer Monetary Union is created--perhaps on January 1, 2010--Canada, the US, & Mexico will replace their national currencies with the Amero. On that day, all American dollar notes and coins will be exchanged at the rate of one US dollar for one Amero." 2) Then much worst news came. On August 30 an article from 'Vivelecanada.ca' entitled, "Timeline of the Progress Towards a North American Union" arrived. At the end of the timeline it projected that the N Amer Union would be created in 2007, three yrs before the projected date the Fraser Institute came up with!" Now, I have nothing against Canadians (Hubby and I have been mulling over fleeing America into the arms of Canada since this train-wreck clusterfuck BushCo regime goosestepped into our lives and have even taken the Canadian immigration test), and I have nothing against Mexicans, but here's the thing: We are independent sovereign nations. When in the hell were we the people-- the very citizens of these independent sovereign nations-- asked if we wanted to ditch individual nationship and become the N. Amer Union? We weren't... and as a matter of fact, neither were any of our elected officials. This gig was decided by well, "The Deciders" of Mexico, Canada & the US. But here's a list of some of the players who are pushing for this thing (via ViveLeCanada): "Thru Sept 12-14, proponents of the formation of a N Amer Union from Canada, the US & Mexico met at a secret conference at the Banff Springs Hotel in Alberta. No major media reported on the conference, yet the topic of the conference, the formation of the NAU, will profoundly affect everything in our lives from our health and security to the currency we use (soon to be the "Amero") to our very national identity. In essence, we will no longer be Canadians, but N Americans only--and worse, N Americans hog-tied in lock-step with the US even as they gain open access to our national resouces, energy resources, and defense resources. Some of the scary "players" who attended this meeting were: Donald Rumsfeld, former Reagan Sec of State George Shulz, former Premier of Alberta Peter Lougheed, Admiral Tim Keating Commander of US N. Command, former director of the CIA James Woolsey, and the corporate execs from Chevron, Suncor Energy and Lockheed Martin (who also is close friend of The Big Dick Cheney), to name just a few. There is a small sign of hope in the Canadian news (via CBCNews): "Mel Hurtig, author and founder of the Council of Canadians, obtained internal documents about the Sept 12-14 meeting revealing that the gathering was called Continental Prosperity in the New Security Environment. Hurtig says questions should be raised in the House of Commons about why Canadians are being kept in the dark on such meetings: "We're talking about such an important thing, we're talking about the integration of Canada into the US. For them to hold this meeting in secret and to make every effort to avoid anybody learning about it, right away you've got to be hugely concerned." Uh, yeah. At least some at the Toronto Star are talking about this. I will do my part by blogging about this, sending letters, faxes and calling our jokes of elected officials, and I did send Lou Dobbs a lengthy email tonight with all of the links I provided in this post to back up what I said. I can only hope that Lou (whom I do not agree with all issues, but you have to give the man credit where credit is due: He does report on things that expose this administration's fuck ups) will cover this b/c he has been one of the few in the media (besides Keith Olbermann) who seems to be interested in being an independent thinking journalist. To our Canadian friends: Scream from your Canuck rooftops! The last thing you want is to be run by the US and made to goosestep like we are. You have SOOOO MUCH to lose if we do take your nation over: Not only did our US healthcare system get the grade of a giant shameful "D", our Repukes blatantly steal elections, they toss voting rights over a cliff, they give torture a giant thumb's up and dare to call it a "maverick deal, and they will happily slap boots on your young men and women and use them as cannon fodder for a clusterfuck war in Iran, which according to this, just may go down as early as October. Maybe Canada needs to build a fence to keep us out?
Hey GOP? Since you passed Bush's torture bill, have you seen these missing ladies?  If you see these 2 missing ladies, please let some patriot who truly loves America and our rule of law know, m'kay? The tall green lady is French, so I'm not holding out much hope for her b/c the "Old Europe-hating" Repukes have probably blown her to bits and have buried her deep in NY Harbor by now, but the sword carrying lady with the scales is a Roman goddess and she could probably kick some serious GOP ass if she weren't blindfolded. As for habeas corpus, well... who cares, right? I mean it is just so old and passe in 2006, no? Now I admit: I have been ashamed of my nation's behavior before. But the passing of Bush's torture bill really is the icing on the maggot ridden, rotten Bush cake. It is not just that this unspeakable bill tosses aside the 800+yr old tradition of habeas corpus (which is Latin for "You have the body" in reference to a nation demanding to be shown the physical body of their citizens in order to see if that citizen had been tortured while in custody and to see if they have been imprisoned unlawfully), and it's not just that all civilized nations have upheld habeas corpus since the days of the Magna Carta and this concept is even a founding part of our beloved Constitution, it also is b/c this evil bill tosses our beloved missing ladies, Lady Liberty and Lady Justice, over a cliff at 100 mph after lighting them on fire. I wish some heartsick Dems would slap together a milk carton campaign to see if we can find them all, but I'm sure the Repukes would pull some equally shady trick as they did Weds evening when they passed this horrifying piece of Bush garbage by holding a revote when 2 Dems were out of the room at an already pre-scheduled news conference on Medicare. Yes, you read that right. They had already held the vote and lost, then waited for the 2 Dems to leave the room, pulled some Tom DeLay strongarm tactics and then forced a vote thru and *voila* passed the bill! And as if that wasn't bad enough, wanna guess what other slithering shady crapola the House pulled on us Americans Weds night?: "The House Intelligence Committee approved by voice vote a bill that would put into law the admin's warrentless wiretapping program. The sponsor, Rep. Heather Wilson, (R-NM) had rewritten the measure to make it more Bush's liking. The Wilson bill (PDF here) gives the president the power to declare a pre-emptive state of emergency and have free rein to wiretap Americans and search their homes without court warrants if the President submits a secret letter to the heads of Congress, Congressional Intelligence committees, and the secret court set up to handle wiretapping warrants." See America? It isn't ILLEGAL surveillance when Bush says it isn't, just as rewriting the Geneva Conventions, taking a giant dump on habeas corpus, and legalizing illegal torture isn't wrong when Bush says it isn't. Dontcha feel better? But that won't last long b/c we had better prepare for this: Amerika uber alles. It's starting people. We are 1937 Germany and moving steadily ahead. So who knows? Maybe the missing ladies really ran away flailing and crying in fear and shame instead of being abducted, huh? God knows it is what I'm ready to do at any given moment.
If you can stomach it, please read this LA Times' article: "A new UN report released Weds says that 5106 people in Baghdad died violent deaths during July/ Aug, a number far higher than reports that have relied on figures from the city's morgue. The report also describes evidence of torture on many of the bodies found in Baghdad (deaths whether from sectarian fighting, death squads, or official detention centers) such as gouged-out eyeballs, wounds from nails, power drills and acid, beatings from electrical cables, head and genital mutilation, broken bones of the spine, legs and hands, missing skin and teeth, and electric and cigarette burns." Wow. Thank God we deposed that torture happy dictator Saddam, huh? This has certainly been worth the $300+ billion, huh? But always remember, no matter how clearly the Iraqi people show us that they want us to get the hell out of their country, according to BushCo, the minute the Iraqis ask us to go, we'll be leaving: "Gangs" of up to a 100 kids (some as young as 6 or 7 yrs old) are roaming around Sadr City, (a stronghold of radical anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army militia) to hurl stone, bottles of oil, cement blocks and gas bombs at US convoys, hoping to lure US troops into ambushes or provoke them into shooting back, US soldiers say. US soldiers have seen young men, their faces covered by bandanas, talking with the children before the rock-throwing attacks begin, sometimes handing out slingshots so the volleys will be more accurate, the troops said. "It's like a militia operation. They'll mass rocks on the last or second-to-last vehicle" in a US patrol, said Capt. Chris L'Heureux, 30, of Woonsocket, R.I. "There's no doubt in my mind that they're utilizing these kids in a deliberate, thought-out way." Al-Sadr's followers insist they are not organizing attacks by children. Ali al-Yassiri, an aide to al-Sadr, told The AP: "Such behavior by Iraqi children is spontaneous and the natural reaction from innocent children who are witnessing horrible deeds committed by the occupation forces in Iraq." I honestly don't what is saddest about this news: The fact that these kids are doing this b/c their elders want them to or b/c these kids now genuinely do hate the US, OR that our soldiers have to deal with being pelted by these kids-- unable to really do anything about it except point a gun at the kids and blow them away-- while worrying if it is an ambush.
Reality check: Bush Bonaparte's Attempt to Legalize Torture  Can we for 1 min please put Bush's attempt to legalize torture in the proper perspective and face an ugly, ugly reality? Simply put, wanting to legalize torture, refusing to allow detainees to see the evidence against them, and rewriting the Geneva Conventions are NOT the actions of a President in a law-abiding democracy. These are the actions of an cut-throat Emperor. When the WH refuses to even allow former Bush Sec of State Colin Powell, former Reagan Sec of State George Shulz, former tortured POW now Sen John McCain (whose anti-torture position, by the way, we are told should be ignored b/c he is "crazy" due to being a tortured POW, and will only hurt his chances of being the GOP choice in '08 b/c a TRUE Repuke embraces torture), military lawyer (JAG) and Sen Lindsey Graham, nine former federal judges beg the Pres and Congress to NOT trample on Habeas Corpus, and at least 29 retired military brass and Def Dept officials dare to THINK that rewriting the Geneva Conventions, refusing to allow detainess to even see the evidence against them and legalizing torture is an immoral way to "fight" a so-called moral war, we the people stand only to lose bigtime. Just see how military lawyer Sen Lindsey Graham and Constitutional expert Jonathan Turley sum it up. Who will come to America's aid in times of need? Who will respect us when we know for a fact that innocent people have been wrongly tortured and detained? Who will think for 1 second that anything we do is done legally or "morally" if we allow Bush to get away with this? If you are willing to sacrifice your beliefs in civilized behaviour, and if you are willing to convict prisoners on secret evidence, perhaps obtained by torture, can you explain to me how "you" are any different from "them"? Isn't the whole point of being in the right actually being in the right? If you abandon your principles and wage a war the same way as terrorists do, how can you possibly claim any kind of moral superiority? We can't have it both ways. We can't say that we're the morally upright, bringing freedom, democracy & liberty to every street corner of the globe, while our President and Att Gen are announcing to the world that we'll sell our morals if the right flimsy argument comes along. Not to mention the fact that BushCo's immoral actions have been the greatest recruitment tool for terrorists as the Muslim-extremists being targeted right now are having their cause fueled by our decline in standards. I'm already fed up with paying for the deaths, maimings, and complete destruction of Iraqi and US lives with my taxes. I sure as hell am not willing to pay for the clearly illegal and immoral and utterly ineffectual use of waterboarding, either. But sadly, I am totally prepared for Bush Bonaparte to get what he wants by simply using YET another signing statement to clearly tell us that we can piss up a rope when it comes to maintaining some shred of dignity for our nation and attempting to keep the Empty-Headed Emperor's cut-throat powers in check.
Isn't it heartwarming to see a PHYSICIAN embrace torture and threaten his fellow Repuke dissenters if they dare to consider a filibuster against Emperor Bush? Actually, I guess I should be more shocked that Dr Frist hasn't asked for a special personal clause to be tossed into Bush's torture bill that gives him exclusive torture time with detainee kittens.
If this isn't indicative of the intelligence level of Repukes and a blatant display of their complete disconnect from reality, I don't know what the hell is: According to this Sept 14/06 Pew Poll, 72% of Repubs think the war in Iraq is going "fairly well", and 76% of Repubs continue to believe that the US will probably or definitely succeed... Well, I still continue to believe that I probably or definitely will be able to get back into those favorite "skinny" jeans of mine that somehow always made my booty and thighs look thinner, but almost 2 kids and plenty of tasty Reese peanutbutter cups later, guess what? It just ain't in the cards, baby.
Just as it was in Paradise and in Faust, Knowledge & Thinking in BushWorld is Sinful  So I watched Keith Olbermann's special comment Monday night (video here and transcript here) where Keith rightfully ripped Bush another new one over wanting to rewrite the Geneva Conventions and said that Bush fully owes America an apology (which he does... but Bush really owes us his resignation): "With increasing rage, he and his admin have begun to tell us, we are not permitted to disagree with them, that we cannot be right, that Colin Powell cannot be right. And then there was that one, most awful phrase: It's unacceptable to think," the President said. It is never unacceptable to think. And when a President says thinking is unacceptable, even on one topic, even in the heat of the moment, even in the turning of a phrase extracted from its context, he takes us toward a new and fearful path -- one heretofore the realm of science fiction authors and apocalyptic visionaries." Wow. I was not only stunned by how accurate Keith was, but I couldn't help but be reminded of what exactly the deadly sin of Adam & Eve was, as well what the sins Goethe's Faust and Marlowe's Dr. Faustus were deemed to be: Adam and Eve's stealing of the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge is the original sin of humanity. They dared to gain knowledge that was independent of God's express wishes. Faust's sin was the prideful desire to gain knowledge for its own sake and for the power that it would give him. A similar complaint has been raised against most modern education and science for centuries; it only serves man, not God. Think about that will ya? That is exactly what the Religious Frighters, who are terrified the theory of evolution may force their flocks to question the Bible's Genesis, are most afraid of. This is exactly what the same people who are brainwashing our kids into becoming "Jesus' lil army" are most afraid of. It is also exactly what the Repukes and BushCo are afraid of: If America were to wake up from the collective coma (as Colin Powell apparantly has) and educate themselves and make educated decisions when it comes to voting and so-called values, and dare to ask questions, the GOP and their evil financers the American Taliban wouldn't stand a popsicle's chance in hell of surviving b/c America would see what pure unadulterated mindless bullshit their spew is. Knowledge to this BushCo regime is what threatens them the most. Bush said as much beyond a shadow of a doubt when a reporter "dared" to ask him: "If a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and former Sec of State feels this way, don't you think that Americans and the rest of the world are beginning to wonder whether you're following a flawed strategy?" What was Bush's ready to rip off the reporter's head w/his bare hands response?: "If there's any comparison between the compassion and decency of the American people and the terrorist tactics of extremists, it's flawed logic. It's just -- I simply can't accept that. It's unacceptable to think that there's any kind of comparison between the behavior of the US and the action of Islamic extremists who kill innocent women and children to achieve an objective." Well, to our very own unhinged and paranoid Pres Caligula Jr, I ask: When was the last time Islamic extremists respected the Geneva Conventions and Habeas Corpus? Probably the last time you did. When was the last time Islamic extremists gave a single thought to how many innocent civilians would be killed by a car bomb? Probably the last time you bothered to consider how many innocent civilians would be killed by white phosphorus, by Shock & Awe, or by your orders to kill, maim, and humiliate the 1000s rounded up in Abu Ghraib, Gitmo, and those secret black prisons. You have no moral highground. You pissed all that away the minute you launched this pre-emptive bloodletting for your PNAC/Neo-Con imperialistic agenda. So STFU about those of us who dare to THINK. God knows it happens so infrequently in your GOP sychophant/ born again circles. Your wife was supposedly a librarian... perhaps if she comes down from the lithium, she could introduce you to a few lil things called books, knowledge and law. Until then, I'm holding out the hope that just like the bloodthirsty Islamic extremists you delusionally believe you are somehow above, your evil-doing ass will rot in hell.
A must see documentary: Exposing Evangelical "Jesus Camp" for kids  As if I needed yet another reason to consider leaving the US: Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, who previously made the acclaimed The Boys of Baraka, have a new documentary being released on Sept 22. "Jesus Camp" documents the Pastor Becky Fischer, and her summer camp for evangelical kids in North Dakota called "Kids on Fire." Please visit the movie's offical site, but I also recommend that you watch the film's trailer at YouTube, b/c you really do need to watch these 2 scary-ass clips, including a look at "Tory," who is break-dancing for the Lord, and a very pivotal conversation with Pastor Fischer as she says we need to "train" our lil ones to be God's army b/c "let's face it, we have the truth on our side." (Hmm... besides the crystal clear bigoted blanket statement that crap is, I have to wonder if by "we have the truth on our side" if she is referring to all Christians, or just her own personal brand of Christians?) The film's purpose is to show how these young "foot soldiers for Jesus" are being trained (mmm.... can we say smacks of the Hitler Youth?) and Fischer believes in the political and moral importance of a Christian presence in America, and uses her camp to reinforce the religious training most of her charges are already receiving at home (the majority of the campers are home-schooled by their parents... (well, at least that is a fucking relief... the last thing I want is these freaky ass kids being in the same classroom as BabyGirl). Using video games, animated videos, and group activities (like dressing them up in face and body camouflage... b/c honestly, Jesus truly needs a 6 yr old mini- Green Beret trained in Special Ops tactics, no?) to help get her message across, Fischer encourages the kids to pray for George Bush and his Supreme Court appointees while urging them to help "take back America for Christ." (hmm... just as lil German kids prayed for their beloved Fuhrer and their Fatherland, right?) Some of the "fun" activities the kids engage in are praying to a Pres Bush effigy, speaking in tongues, bursting into tears while listening and swaying to "Wow Worship" songs, telling the camera how they are willing to die at this very moment in their young lives for Jesus, and rolling on the floor in an epileptic-tremor like fit as "The Spirit" enters their lil bodies. Along with Fisher and her cohorts, "Jesus Camp" features interviews with Ted Haggard, an evangelist and advisor to Pres Bush, and Mike Papantonio, a Christian talk show host who believes the right-wing slant of many Christian evangelists is taking the church into a dangerous direction (do ya think??) When a children's pastor says: "I want to see our Christian children be as devoted to the cause, be as ready to lay down their lives for The Gospel as the children of Islam are, b/c excuse me, WE have the truth on our side" I am sickened to the core of my being. She likens her cause to the cause of the Muslim extremists... yet people had the actual nerve to freak out and feign shittin' kittens over what Rosie O'Donnell dared to say on The View when she said Christian extremists are just as dangerous as their Muslim cohorts. Puh-leeze... These crazy fucks exist and they fully believe that God is only on their side. Just take a gander at some of these reviews that have been written by folks who have seen the film. THAT is what terrifies me. This is one of the thoughts that keep me up at night: My kid might be able to tell me that she thinks that a fellow classmate is weird like this... but how many of the parents are exactly like these "Jesus Camp" reviewers and I might not catch on or realize it and blindly let my kiddo go to their home or be influenced by them?
Please read the LA Times' "Death Squads Target the Iraqi Next Door" and ask yourself what have we unleashed on these people?
I was perusing ABC News for a link to the story I posted above, and I came across this article about Bilal Hussein, an Iraqi citizen, and Assoc Press photographer whom the US military officials say is being held for "imperative reasons of security" under UN resolutions, yet for the duration of the 5 months he has been imprisoned, Hussein has never had any charges filed against him nor has been permitted a public hearing. Hussein is only one of an estimated 14000 people detained by the US military worldwide (13000 of them in Iraq) in what amounts to a legal vacuum. They are held in limbo where few are ever charged with a specific crime or given a chance before any court or tribunal to argue for their freedom. My Iraqi blog-friend NZ, oddly enough, left a comment for me at another post, urging me to post about the plight of Bilal Hussein (I hadn't published my post yet on this topic when he left the comment) so a hat tip goes to NZ as he provided info on Hussein, and also about another Iraqi trapped in legal limbo in one of our detainee prisons, Dr Fadhil Al-Bedrani (via the Brussels Tribunal Org): "The Brussells Tribunal today demands that the US govt immediately release Dr Al-Bedrani and all members of his family who were taken into US military custody Sept 12/06. Al-Bedrani is a professor of journalism and a prominent patriotic writer known for his anti-occupation stand and whose reports appear on Al-Jazeera, Reuters & the BBC. When talking about the difficulty of getting news out of Iraq and into mainstream media, he said: "we report but they censor." Little info is yet available, but some reports say that as many as 65 members of Al-Bedrani’s family were arrested with him. It is also reported that US forces killed have killed Dr Al-Bedrani’s brothers: 1 a student at the Islamic Sciences College, and another brother, also a reporter for Reuters, was shot by the US and Iraqi troops in Fallujah in Aug 05. Please circulate this widely/Contact: info@brusselstribunal.org. We urge you to contact our Senators asking them to put an end to these senseless and illegal detentions (and our Sens may be setting themselves up to being charged w/war crimes themselves if they okay BushCo's attempt to decriminalize torture) and if Bush gets his wish- which is to rewrite the Geneva Conventions, Article III in particluar - (as the Brit Att Gen Lord Goldsmith warns us) we all as Americans should face internatl condemnation, and lose any moral standing we may have managed to barely scrape up off of BushCo's shoes, b/c God only knows what will become of those 1000s who are trapped in those detainee prisons just b/c BushCo says they should be imprisoned.
President shows how pissy his pants are by throwing a hissy fit  Wow. I have never been more ashamed of having this pissy panted 5 yr old as my President: Bush admitted to running secret prisons last wk and now he is threatening to take his ball home and throw a hissy fit if he isn't allowed to rewrite the Geneva Conventions to avoid prosecution for these very war crimes he just admitted to... and then to add insult to injury, he shows his true tantrum colors at a press conference (via Ezra Klein): "This is by far the pissiest press conference Bush has given. He's furious. I assume his feet are manacled behind the microphone. Otherwise, he'd be stalking across the stage, tearing apart the podium, and occasionally leaping into the crowd to rip out David Gregory's heart. The content is no finer than the normal Bush fare, but the attitude is entirely different. Where Bush is generally petulant and unhappy at these events, he's now snapping at reporters, straightforwardly insulting them, yelling from the podium, losing control, and generally evincing a combativeness and barely suppressed rage that I've never seen from him before." Bush refused to accept reporter David Gregory’s question which is very relevant to the discussion about Article III of the Geneva Conventions, and resorts to trying to humiliate Greogory (watch via Crooks & Liars). Funny, but Article III was never vague before. So why now exactly? Oh yeah... b/c the big baby with the pissy President pants says so.
At the pissy pants press conference, Bush also showed us how completely delusional he is by outright lying and making shit up (via Think Progress): "During Friday’s press conference, ABC News reporter Martha Raddatz asked Bush why he continues to say Saddam "had relations w/ Zarqawi," despite the Senate Intelligence Report findings that Hussein "did not have a relationship with, harbor, or turn a blind eye toward Zarqawi." Bush replied: "I never said there was an operational relationship." Oh really? In fact, Bush has repeatedly asserted that Saddam "harbored" and "provided safe-haven" to Zarqawi: 1.) BUSH: Saddam was a threat because he provided safe-haven for a terrorist like Zarqawi… [6/17/04] 2.) BUSH: Saddam is a man who harbored terrorists - Abu Abbas, Abu Nidal, Zarqawi. [9/23/04] 3.) BUSH: Zarqawi’s a man who was wounded in Afghanistan, received aid in Baghdad, ordered the killing of a U.S. citizen, USAID employee, was harbored in Iraq. [3/6/03] Umm... care to revise that statement, Dubya? Or how about this "just making shit up" statement from Bush's mouth at that same conference on the very same day that the GAO warns of "ever-larger, imprudent and unsustainable deficits resulting in a federal debt burden that ultimately spirals out of control." (via Think Progress): Here's delusional Bush on our country’s fiscal health, 9/15/06: "If the American people would take a step back and realize how effective our policies have been, given the circumstances. … I’ve strongly believed the reason it is b/c we cut taxes, and at the same time, showed fiscal responsibility here in Washington with the people’s money. That’s why the deficit could be cut in half by 2009, or before." Wh-wh-what? So by fiscal responsibility, do you reckon Bush is referring to the GOP denying the working poor a raise in the min wage, for the 9th yr in a row? Fiscal restraint? Sure - when it comes to Katrina victims, fiscal restraint is easy to point to. Oh... I get it: By "fiscal restraint here in Washington," I guess he is literally talking about expenditures in the District of Columbia... i.e., they've done a good job cutting DC school funds, road repairs, police and fire dept money, etc, right? All of the BIG expenditures have taken place OUTSIDE of DC--like all of those war profiterring payments to the Houston-based bank accts of Halliburton for shoddy services rendered in Iraq, huh?
Pope Benny... please... just zip it b/c you don't speak for all us Catholics, m'kay? Dontcha have something better to do? Like ask Bush if he agrees with you? Or return those ruby red shoes back to the witch before a house falls on you, too? Jean Schmidt wants 'em back.
The GOP: They have lost 2 wars for America... what else do Dems need to say?  Oh, poor little Georgie and his torture happy sychophants got a swat on the knuckles with a ruler as they were denied the pro-torture kangaroo courts that they so desperately need to get their sadist rocks off (via MSNBC): "A rebellious Senate committee defied Pres Bush on Thurs and approved terror-detainee legislation he has vowed to block, deepening Republican conflict over terrorism and national security in the middle of election season. Sen John Warner (R-VA)normally a Bush supporter, pushed the measure through his Armed Services Committee by a 15-9 vote, w/ Warner and 3 other GOPers joining Dems. The vote set the stage for a showdown on the Senate floor as early as next wk." Wow. Who put the packet of instant morals in the Armed Services Committee's bowl of Wheaties yesterday morning? It seems that even former "I sold my soul to the Devil for BushCo peanuts" Sec of State Colin Powell decided to get in on the instant morals action: "The world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism (umm... do ya think?)... by redefining the kind of treatment the Geneva Conventions allow, would add to those doubts. Furthermore, it would put our own troops at risk." And how does the WH downplay what Powell dared to do?: "Tony SnowJob said Powell was confused about the White House plan b/c: "I know that Colin Powell wants to beat the terrorists too." Funny, but the "we are sooo winning in Vietnam" GOP thought Powell was NOT confused when he determined that there was no wrongdoing at the My Lai massacre when Powell deemed relations between US soldiers and Vietnamese civilians was simply so wonderful that a massacre just couldn't happen, so what's the deal w/his sudden confusion now? Now, Mr SnowJob... and by beat the terrorists, too... do you mean Powell literally wants to join in w/these sadist interrogators and BEAT them? Or do ya mean that the only way we can "win" is by torturing them? Yeah... b/c by beating them, we are really winning, aren't we? But we all know what is going to happen now: The GOP "we need to torture to win" machine is going to be cranked up full throttle, and they will spew this crap about us Dems: You liberals care more about the rights of terrorists than protecting the Fatherland. Well, to that particular crapola, I have this frame that should shut down all repuke spew: You GOPers are the first group to lose 2 wars in the same decade. Count 'em: TWO wars. One in Iraq. One in Afghanistan. The results speak for themselves loud and clear. Americans hate failure. Do really want to elect failures…again? Reject the loser Republicans. They've caused these failures, and only want a whole lot more of the same.
If you want to straighten out your short and curlies, read this.
Why I blog the way I do  This pix of BabyGirl "in stereo" was taken on my lifelong best friend DJDeweyKablooie's Mac. Hubby and I had a very busy day today... the post below will clue ya in some of our activities, so my posts will be short... but when asshat testicleless anonymous commenters leave nasty little comments for me about why do I "dare" to question Der Bushler's fascist motives and document his many crimes, I just take one look at BabyGirl's face, I have my answer: I owe my kid this. She is counting on me to question why exactly the Repukes are fighting us Dems tooth and nail in their GOP attempts to whip it out and piss on our Constitution w/the clearly illegal NSA spying on US citizens. She is counting on me to fight against the Repukes who want to give their beloved despot kingly rights over our Constitution. She is counting on me to make certain that our basic democratic right of ONE MAN/ ONE VOTE is upheld and that the Repukes and their sychophant criminal vote stealers Diebold have their vote stealing and hacking exposed. She is counting on me to fight against the wingnut's theocratic/ Christian Dominionists' vision for America as Bush tells folks he envisions a GOP-led Crusades Sequel... a lil something he fondly calls a "Third Awakening" of religious devotion in the US that just happens to coincide w/ our struggle against internatl terrorists-- a war that he depicts as "a confrontation between good and evil." She is counting on me... and I don't let my kid down.
 This is reason number 2 for why I blog the way I do. BabyToBe is counting on me, too. And I'll be damned if I let this kid down, either.
New GOP Military Plan on Test Subjects for Crowd Control: American Citizens shot w/ High Powered Microwave Weapons  I'm innocently perusing the NYTs, and dontcha know it, just when I think the Repukes can't sink any lower on the sociopath scale, they somehow simply do: Secretary of the Air Force, Michael Wynne (who joined the Bush admin in 2001) proposes that nonlethal weapons such as high-power microwave devices should be used on American citizens in crowd-control situations before they are used on the battlefield. (Hmm, crowd control situations, huh? Lemme venture a guess... instead of just continuing to arrest and toss us Dems for daring to wear the "wrong" kind of T-shirt, being anti-war, being a Dem, or yanking us outta those hand picked GOP Kool-Aid guzzler events b/c we refuse to sign a Bush loyalty pledge card, they'll just zap us with a microwave gun, huh?) Wynne said: ''If we're not willing to use it here against our fellow citizens, then we should not be willing to use it in a wartime situation. Because if I hit somebody with a nonlethal weapon and they claim that it injured them in a way that was not intended, I think that I would be vilified in the world press.'' Gee, that is awfully big of him. Think he and his family members will be volunteers for such experiments? And umm... excuse me... but doctors advise pregnant women to avoid such things as sleeping under electric blankets AND standing directly in front of microwaves while using them. Could someone please tell me how using high power microwave devices is NOT harmful to human beings if OB/GYNs advise pregnant women to protect their fetuses from such things? Will all women somehow be ruled out as NOT being pregnant BEFORE these weapons are aimed at crowds? What about elderly folks with pacemakers? Maybe Cheney could volunteer for THAT test, eh? And could someone please tell me WTF is a high powered microwave device anyway? Well, this person seems to have figured out what exactly Wynne was talking about, as did the Telegraph UK in this 2004 article: "The skin gets extremely hot, and people can't stand the pain, so they have to move - and move in the way we want them to," said Col Wade Hall of the Office of Force Transformation, a body formed in Nov 2001 to promote rapid improvement across all of the US armed services. Using technology similar to that found in a conventional microwave oven, the beam rapidly heats water molecules in the skin to cause intolerable pain and a burning sensation. The invisible beam penetrates the skin to a depth of less than a millimeter. As soon as the target moves out of the beam's path, the pain disappears. The non-lethal weapons are to be issued to US troops and fitted to vehicles already in Iraq, as concern mounts over the growing number of civilians killed in fighting. (Well, I don't know why the military even cares about such fatality numbers since they're just cherry picking the numbers of Iraqi dead by not counting people killed by bombs, mortars, rockets or other mass attacks -- including suicide bombings.) And what kind of microwave "rays" will these things give off? Microwave ovens operate at 2.4 GHz. These "non-lethal" weapons operate at 95 GHz, and the weapon's beam causes pain w/in 2 to 3 secs and it becomes intolerable after less than 5 secs. People's reflex responses to the pain is expected to force them to move out of the beam before their skin can be burnt. BUT what if crowd or riot conditions don't allow the person to move out of the way? Will the gun just fry these people to kingdom come? And what about damage to water filled organs like the eyes? (Microwaves heat items by making water molecules heat up) Well, the experimenters banned glasses and contacts to prevent possible eye damage to the subjects, and in the 2nd and 3rd tests removed any metallic objects such as coins and keys to stop hot spots being created on the skin. They also checked the volunteers' clothes for certain seams, buttons and zips which might also cause hot spots. Wow. Call me crazy, but do these morons honesty think that in a crowd of Iraqi people, none of them will be wearing eye glasses, contacts, underwire bras, zippers, buttons, or carrying keys & coins? This is the yr 2006... not 26 B.C. for Christ's sake... which oddly enough, is the exact same year I wish we could send these GOP freaks back to if we had a time machine.
New online movie: 9/11: Press for Truth  I thought I would post about Bush's 9/11 address to the nation...but really?... what is the point? We all knew what to expect and what the gist would be: Iraq, more lies, more spin, Iraq, more fearmongering, Iraq, we're the only ones who can keep you safe America w/ our inept incompetence, and yes, even more Iraq. Alas... Bush never fails to disappoint. So instead, how about some signs of hope? Matt Lauer makes Bush all pissy when Lauer "dares" to ask him real questions, here is a list of who/ what to boycott to let ABC/ Disney know you don't appreciate their ABC lie-fest, Pres Clinton's legal team lets ABC know that they are still pretty pissed about the ABC lie-fest, former Vice Chrmn of the 9/11 Commission, Lee Hamilton, in regards to ABC, says that to fudge the distinction between news and entertainment "is not good for the country," it appears that American Airlines is really pretty pissed about being smeared by ABC's lie-fest, and hopefully, all parties smeared will be suing the shit outta these lying liars, despite ABC's furious attempts to rewrite and scrub history. But against the backdrop of Bush's spinning and whoring out of 9/11, comes this online movie: 9/11: Press for Truth. It centers around the Jersey Girls (shh... nobody tell Ann Coulter... although the Emaciated Hag is probably too busy licking her wounds from that letter Jersey Girl Kristen Breitweiser delivered to her) and the widows' heartwrenching quest to simply find out the truth behind their loved ones' deaths on Sept 11th. You don't have to wear a tin foil hat to watch this film b/c it is pretty straightfoward: The fuck ups and inactions were massive, but the BushCo spins and coverups that followed were positively criminal. Watch it. Spread it far and wide. In fact, let's see if you can get some Bush sycophants to furiously defend their beloved despot after watching it. And if you are in the mood for something a bit more tin foil hatish when it comes to 9/11 back stories, try "Why 9/11 happened: Bush curtailed Operation CATCHERS MITT," and "Bush Made Secret Deal with Bin Laden: No Retaliation for Cole Bombing." Any way you look at it, there will be more truth gleaned in any one of these links than we have heard outta Bush's mouth in the past 5+ looong yrs.
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