Republicans want another war

A classified draft CIA assessment has found no firm evidence of a secret drive by Iran to develop nuclear weapons, as alleged by the White House, a top US investigative reporter said on Saturday. Seymour Hersh, writing in an article for the November 27 issue of the magazine The New Yorker released in advance, reported on whether the administration of Republican President George W. Bush was more, or less, inclined to attack Iran after Democrats won control of Congress last week.

A month before the November 7 legislative elections, Hersh wrote, Vice President Dick Cheney attended a national-security discussion that touched on the impact of Democratic victory in both chambers on Iran policy. "If the Democrats won on November 7th, the vice president said, that victory would not stop the administration from pursuing a military option with Iran," Hersh wrote, citing a source familiar with the discussion.

Cheney said the White House would circumvent any legislative restrictions "and thus stop Congress from getting in its way," he said. The Democratic victory unleashed a surge of calls for the Bush administration to begin direct talks with Iran.

But the administration’s planning of a military option was made "far more complicated" in recent months by a highly classified draft assessment by the Central Intelligence Agency "challenging the White House’s assumptions about how close Iran might be to building a nuclear bomb," he wrote.

"The CIA found no conclusive evidence, as yet, of a secret Iranian nuclear-weapons program running parallel to the civilian operations that Iran has declared to the International Atomic Energy Agency," Hersh wrote, adding the CIA had declined to comment on that story.

the difference

the first liberal

The First Liberal:

If Jesus of Nazareth was anything, he was an extraordinary friend of the down- trodden, definitely a Liberal, whose advocacy on their behalf so infuriated the ultra-Conservative religious and political leaders of his day that they had him killed to prevent the public from hearing the very liberal teaching that you will see quoted abundantly in Jesus' own words.

Those who actually know what the Bible says about the life and teaching of Jesus recognize that far from being like Jesus of Nazareth, today's "Religious Right" are much more like the kind of clerics who battled this revolutionary prophet from the day he opened his mouth until the day they had him nailed to a cross.

Although these people claim to represent Jesus Christ, they rarely quote him or follow his example. What they do instead is use his name ("in vain") to promote their ideas, ideas which Jesus himself did not teach, and might well have opposed.

Gandhi said it best, "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."

recommendations for Democratic Party

Drawing on bluster and hubris, Republican bullied Democrats into going along with the transfer of the federal tax burden from the rich to the middle class. Next they skillfully exploited Americans' fear and anger following the September 11th attacks to attack Afghanistan and Iraq. By 2004, Republicans had eliminated civil liberties that citizens of Western countries had enjoyed for hundreds of years, emasculating Congress and the Courts to create a "unified executive" form of government.

Most of the changes carried out by Bush's neoconservatives during his first term--new tax rates, USA-Patriot Act, two wars, pulling out of the Geneva Conventions, torture, domestic eavesdropping--will probably remain in force for decades. Their strategy of running roughshod over the Democrats worked. Democrats should cancel the tax cuts, close the torture camps, restore habeas corpus, get the NSA out of our email, yank our troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq.

bipartisanship?

The Bush administration has appointed, Eric Keroack, as a new chief of family-planning programs at the Department of Health and Human Services who worked at a Christian pregnancy-counseling organization and opposes contraception and is against distributing information promoting birth control.

Bush last week pushed the Senate to confirm John R. Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations and this week renominated six candidates for appellate court judgeships who have previously been blocked by lawmakers. AND, he also wants more troops in Iraq. SO MUCH FOR REPUBLICAN PROMISES OF BIPARTISANSHIP..

get out of Iraq NOW!

President George Bush has told senior advisers that the US and its allies must make "a last big push" to win the war in Iraq and that instead of beginning a troop withdrawal next year, he may increase US forces by up to 20,000 soldiers, according to sources familiar with the administration's internal deliberations.

Mr Bush's refusal to give ground, coming in the teeth of growing calls in the US and Britain for a radical rethink or a swift exit, is having a decisive impact on the policy review being conducted by the Iraq Study Group chaired by Bush family loyalist James Baker.

MY QUESTIONS ARE , " HOW MANY HAVE TO DIE FOR THIS FIASCO IN IRAQ AND WHICH ONE OF THE NEO-CONS / CHICKENHAWKS IS GOING TO BE THE LAST MAN OR WOMAN TO VOLUNTEER TO DIE THERE???" "GET OUT NOW"

update Iraq

U.S. price tag of $342 billion of our money and "at least 2,863 "(5 more yesterday) members of the U.S. military have died, not counting (1)"contractors" (2) Iraqi civilian women and children (3) the tens of thousands that have been wounded, and (4) the one in five surviving soldiers that have lingering mental problems.

no more hunger under these republicans

The USDA said that 12 percent of Americans -- 35 million people -- were hungry because they could not put food on the table at least part of last year.. Beginning this year, the Republican controlled USDA has determined "very low food security" to be a more palatable description for that group.
Now that is just like these Republicans, call it something else and cover up the problem. It is a crime that people in this country have to go to bed humgry, period. Changing the terminology doesn't get rid of the problem.

update Iraq

U.S. price tag of $340 billion of our money and "at least 2,858 "(6 more yesterday) members of the U.S. military have died, not counting (1)"contractors" (2) Iraqi civilian women and children (3) the tens of thousands that have been wounded, and (4) the one in five surviving soldiers that have lingering mental problems.

church of the unwanted

Catholics and certain religious denominations are widening their denial of membership to certain people. It seems so contrary, at least to me, to the picture and posture of Jesus in the gospels," "Jesus's life and ministry were marked by radical hospitality, openness, vulnerability, and humility.

By contrast, Catholics and the Baptist State Convention is requiring their congreatations to magnify the message that certain types of people, as well as their friends and perhaps their fellow believers and family members are neither welcome nor worthy of a place at the table in their communities.

I think we need a new organization of faith that excepts you and asks you only to come as you are, to join an open communions. So, I am contemplating creating a new congregation of the faithful to be named, "International Church of the Unwanted".

republican caucus vs. a cactus

For a Republican party that has just been through a big loss, and whose commitment to minority voters is a question mark, elevating Lott seems like a dubious move. The voters of Virginia punished Republican Sen. George Allen for a racially insensitive comment, yet the GOP promotes Lott, whose utterance was equally offensive.

Lott said that if Thurmond had been elected president in 1948, "we wouldn’t have had all these problems over the years …" Thurmond ran as a segregationist Dixiecrat, and Lott’s words were interpreted as racist.

This proves that the difference between the republican caucus and a cactus is that with a cactus "the pricks are on the outside.

republicans say we are making progress

Iraq's Health Ministry is a case study in how al-Sadr used his government role to consolidate his political and military support. Ministry-run hospitals have been used as a weapon against rival Sunnis, according to critics, such as Sunni lawmaker Mithal al-Alusi. "It's a jungle," al-Alusi says. "What (al-Sadr) has done with that ministry is criminal."
Last month, a Sunni man was taken to Kindi Hospital in central Baghdad for a gunshot wound, says Omar al-Jubouri, human rights director at the Iraqi Islamic Party. He was shot and killed in his hospital bed, al-Jubouri says. His brother went to retrieve the body. He brought 17 male relatives along for protection, but they were quickly outgunned by an even larger group of armed men, believed to be the Mahdi Army, al-Jubouri says. The group was kidnapped and killed, he adds.

Two days later, the family picked up the 19 bodies, escorted by an Iraqi army convoy, from the Baghdad morgue. Al-Jubouri says some of the bodies showed signs of torture, including drill holes to the skull and electrocution burns. So many Sunnis have been followed and killed after picking up relatives at the ministry-controlled Baghdad morgue that al-Jubouri's party regularly coordinates Iraqi army convoys to escort the families, he says. "We'll wait until we have 17 or 18 bodies waiting," he says. "Then we'll send for the convoy."

Convoys are not always safe. On June 12, Ali al-Mahdawi, a physician and head of the Diyala Province health department, arrived at the Health Ministry headquarters with six bodyguards for an 8:30 a.m. meeting with Health Minister Ali al-Shemari, al-Samarrai says.Al-Mahdawi had been nominated by Sunni political leaders to be deputy minister. After arriving at the ministry, three of the bodyguards waited in the parking lot, while three escorted the doctor to the meeting, al-Samarrai says. When the meeting ran late, a bodyguard in the parking lot called al-Mahdawi on his mobile phone.

"Don't worry, he's with friends," a voice on the other end said before switching off the phone. Al-Mahdawi and the three guards haven't been seen since, al-Samarrai says. "Most probably, he's dead now," he says. "It happens so often. Everybody knows about it. And they're not doing anything about it."

nobody cares

The day the shells fell, Athamneh's daughters Tamam and Najat had been sleeping in the house with their children, because their houses had been badly damaged during the last IDF invasion. No one is investigating whether they were hit by tanks or bulldozers, shells or missiles, or from an explosion when the soldiers blasted holes in the walls to pass between houses.

Four hundred homes were damaged in Beit Hanun in one week, including 25 that were completely destroyed.

The soldiers' invasion of the Athamneh family home has also been almost forgotten. At 10 A.M., on November 1, a tank entered the garden, destroying hothouses, trees, pipes and a generator, until it hit a wall. The soldiers made a hole in the wall and entered the house, gathered all the family members and sent the women to a room on the first floor. The men were put in the kitchen and bathroom.

The soldiers collected all the cell phones, and with leashed dogs, searched all the rooms on all four floors. They called out the names of all the family members. Majdi, Zahar's husband, has a pacemaker. He said he felt ill and asked the soldiers to call an ambulance. He overheard one say someone was sick. Another soldier responded, "Let him die."

Majdi showed the soldiers his medical papers. One of the soldiers hit him in the chest and his nose started bleeding. After two hours, the soldiers left. They returned three days later through the hole in the wall. They again gathered all the family members, counted them, searched and left after three hours.

"They knew very well who was in the house, how many children, how many women. They knew very well there were no terrorists and no arms in this house," said Majdi.

Majdi showed visitors the walls and ceilings hit by the shells, the clothes strewn by the blast, the broken furniture and concrete. "I believe the soldiers are happy they killed us," he said. "They had an order from [Defense Minister Amir] Peretz and [Prime Minister Ehud] Olmert to kill us. They wouldn't do it without orders.

What kind of a mistake is it, if 10 shells hit one after the other, killing people in their beds? Not one shell was a mistake. I collected the martyrs. One by one. Avigdor Lieberman said Israel must act like the Russians in Chechnya. He just joined the government, and they immediately started doing what he said." War, War, War. AND NOBODY CARES.

good advice

Outgoing RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman's advice to Republicans:
We have to recommit ourselves to being the party of reform (party of change). Sounds like the Democratic Party.
Next is to say that people who are in public service ought to be about serving the public not aggrandizement for themselves, and certainly not for personal enrichmen. A big problem with the these current Republicans.
And three, try as hard as you can to work in a bipartisan way, consistent with principles, and make sure your tone is always a respectful tone. Just because someone disagrees with you is no reason to call them names.
This is a big fault of current Republicans. I have been pointing this out to Republicans for the last year and a half. All together, good advice.

stop hypocrisy

During the Vietnam war, American forces sprayed about 12 million gallons of Agent Orange over the jungle canopies and jade-green highlands of Vietnam. The most toxic of the herbicides used for military purposes, it defoliated countless trees in areas where the communist North Vietnamese troops hid supply lines and conducted guerrilla warfare.

Because Vietnam lacked the resources to conduct its own environmental cleanup, dioxin-related birth defects have been diagnosed in thousands of children whose parents were not exposed during the war.

The USA sprayed chemicals that still create birth defects in Vietnam.
I find it ironic that on one hand we put Saddam Hussein on trial for using biological warfare, but in another country where we sprayed chemicals for warfare, 30 years after, we still have not cleaned it up. Hypocrisy is alive and well and will be our downfall if we don't stop it.

a liberal and Christian

If by a liberal and a Christian, they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people- their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, their civil liberties.. if that is what they mean, then I am proud to be a liberal and a Christian

ways of republicans

People are finally seeing the ways in which Republican hypocrisy and cruelty support one another. Their whole ideological system--promotion of international and domestic state violence, homophobic moralism and religious zealotry, corruption and piety, prostitution of government to big business--is on the verge of collapse.

Politicians and lobbyists on their way to jail, right-wing preachers paying for the kind of sex they denounce, rampant profiteering, a disgraceful and chaotic war--they all add up to an obsolescent governing model.

reject republican ways

Democrats should avoid the overreaching, arrogance and rancorous partisanship that Democrats them virtually powerless on Capitol Hill and spawned an era of political corruption and influence-peddling. Democratic leaders vowed last week to pass major ethics reforms early in the new 110th Congress, and to offer Republicans seats at the negotiating table and ample opportunities to amend bills on the floor -- opportunities that were denied their party.

"What republicans did was very effective in pulling up all the ladders for any other party to gain the majority," incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said last week of the Gingrich revolutionaries. "They just shut the doors to debate on the floor, to amendments coming, to even how special orders [speeches] were conducted. Everything they were effective in using to gain the majority they shut down."

"We're going to do the opposite," she pledged.

don't be like those republicans

Democrats should avoid the overreaching, arrogance and rancorous partisanship that left Democrats virtually powerless on Capitol Hill and spawned an era of political corruption and influence-peddling.

Democratic leaders vowed last week to pass major ethics reforms early in the new 110th Congress, and to offer Republicans seats at the negotiating table and ample opportunities to amend bills on the floor -- opportunities that were denied their party.

"What they did was very effective in pulling up all the ladders for any other party to gain the majority," incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said last week of the Gingrich revolutionaries. "They just shut the doors to debate on the floor, to amendments coming, to even how special orders [speeches] were conducted. Everything they were effective in using to gain the majority they shut down."

"We're going to do the opposite," she pledged.

Demos to be different

Democrats should avoid the overreaching, arrogance and rancorous partisanship of Republicans that left them virtually powerless on Capitol Hill and spawned an era of political corruption and influence-peddling.

Democratic leaders vowed last week to pass major ethics reforms early in the new 110th Congress, and to offer Republicans seats at the negotiating table and ample opportunities to amend bills on the floor -- opportunities that were denied their party.

"What Republicans did was very effective in pulling up all the ladders for any other party to gain the majority," incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said last week of the Gingrich revolutionaries. "They just shut the doors to debate on the floor, to amendments coming, to even how special orders [speeches] were conducted. Everything they were effective in using to gain the majority, they shut down."

"We're going to do the opposite," she pledged.

are we dumb

Wes Anderson, a Republican strategist who consulted in some of the closest Senate races, said that before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, voters identified the GOP as the party of fiscal conservatism, middle-class economics, national security and ethical reform. "Our problem is our brand is broken," Anderson said. "Voters didn't walk away from the core principles of the brand. They just didn't think we represented them effectively." Rubbish.

Fiscal conservatism--they gave the biggest tax breaks to those who are richest and have the most,
Middle-class economics--the middle class is worse off with these republicans,
National security--turned Iraq into a killing field and a recruiting field for Al Quaeda,
and ethical reform--crookedness and immorality abound among republicans.

AND HE SAID "voters didn't think we represented them effectively" more B---S--t spin and hypocrisy from these republicans--they never learn because they think you are dumb.
Are you?

"me-to-ers"

The Democratic Party has been all but dead for years as a meaningful national alternative. The party has no recognized national leader. It has no cause, no fire in the belly. It has been largely silent for six years while Bush rampaged through the world and literally peed on American liberties like a grotesquely-smirking, small-town sheriff.

No President in history has shown so little respect for human rights, and with so little excuse, yet all the would-be defenders of the Republic, whether Congressmen or the Don't-Tread-on-Me crowd, have been no where to be seen. And Democrats like Lieberman or Kerry can hardly be distinguished from Republicans.

The Democrats have been elected because Americans are now sick of Iraq. Their enthusiasms die quickly. American expectations for the wars they start are perfectly captured by the image of Bush landing on an aircraft carrier with a big banner behind him saying Mission Accomplished.

Democrats better get on the stick and quit trying to be "me-to-ers" and get aggressive, go on the offense; or they will be just a blip on the radar screen, waiting for the "Republicrats" to return in two years.

cheney a "deadender"

This is all about Cheney now; Dick Cheney, political survivor and skilled bureaucratic infighter. If anyone thinks that he’s going to sit around waiting for the Democrats to start sniffing around the Republican corruption-cesspool; they’re crazy. He knows what’s going on. He knows that Bush Senior, and Brzezinski, and Baker, and the rest of the “old order” Republicans have muscled in and are taking over. He knows he won’t be able to bomb Iran, kill another 650,000 Iraqis, or declare martial law at home. And, he also knows that Conyers and the rest of them will be nosing-around the Halliburton “no bid” contracts; going through every sordid detail with a fine-tooth comb, and dredging up new scandals on a daily basis.

He grasps all of that. He understands the political climate and he knows that he only has two choices left; offense or defense? Either he steps down or he collects his wits, gets his team together; Addington, Abrams, Chertoff, Gonzales etc; all the guys who are “one step ahead of the hangman”; and slaps together one “last-ditch” effort to establish absolute-dictatorial power that will put him forever beyond the reach of the law or of any future accountability for his war crimes.

It’s a tough task. Bush is teetering and he’s probably left the Cheney-Rumsfeld orbit already. Robert Gates’ job is to influence Bush, to win him over with reason and, thus, move the country away from the brink of disaster. Cheney has been removed from the policy-making apparatus and he knows it. So, what’ll he do next? What will Cheney do now that he’s been backed into a corner and his power is oozing away like the blood from a sucking chest-wound?

Will he quietly retire and disappear into the political vapor or “lock-n-load” and go down with both guns blazing? Here’s a clue: Cheney is a “dead-ender”. He won’t go peacefully.

long but the best read

Well, someone's head had to roll -- not for our bloody defeat in Iraq, but for the GOP's defeat in the mid-terms. Well, I'm not celebrating. I know that most of my readers will be tickled pink that Donald Rumsfeld has been given the kiss-off. But let's get this straight:

It wasn't Rumsfeld who stood up in front of the UN and identified two mobile latrines as biological weapons labs, was it, General Powell? It wasn't Rumsfeld who told us our next warning from Saddam could be a mushroom cloud, was it Ms. Rice? It wasn't Rumsfeld who declared that al-Qaida and Saddam were going steady, was it, Mr Cheney?

Rummy's the puppet -- but the problem is the puppeteer. And the timing of this smells. Rather than gossip about the dunking of The Don, I'd rather focus on suspicious electoral arithmetic. In Virginia, only 7,000 votes separates the Democratic Senatorial candidate Jim Webb from incumbent Republican George Allen. Leading up to the election, the State of Virginia rejected more than 91,000 names submitted from voter drives, blocking their registrations.

The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School says that Virginia's methods of rejecting voters had a notably racial bias. Golly. Put the two numbers together -- the 91,000 citizens questionably barred from voting and the teeny-weeny Senate vote margin, and Virginia begins to look a lot like Florida on the Potomac.

The blockade of voters at the Virginia polling station doors followed on last year's promise of Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman to mount a, "challenge to voter eligibility" in Virginia. Mehlman vowed, through an attack on the voter rolls, to "do whatever we can" to keep control of Virginia. And he did. Voters blocked (and other purged from voter rolls) received "provisional ballots." The state only counts about 15% of these.

Americans didn't end up in a Vietnam on the Tigris because of Rumsfeld's failure of command. The problem was, and is, the failure of Rumsfeld's Commander-in-Chief.

beware

Last week, Democrats were weak on defense and wrong on taxes. By Thursday, Mr. Bush had this to say about them: "We won’t agree on every issue, but we do agree that we love America equally, that we’re concerned about the future of this country and that we will do our very best to address big problems."

Don't be fooled by the words. There is little evidence that the White House will depart from its "arrogance and extraordinary single-mindedness."

Bush's mind works differently from the normal political mind. He seems to be motivated by faith and ideals and willing to take risks politically. Maybe these Baker guys can talk him off the ledge, but nobody's done it yet." Beware!

oh the thrill

hurrah

The Post's Michael Grunwald recently reported, an ugly low was established this year, partly because candidates could pretend they had nothing to do with the more disgraceful practices financed through independent expenditures by national parties and other groups. The worst offenders this year were Republicans. Republican racist ads did not work. Hurrah

dirty politics, hypocrisy

"None of these folks have really spent enough time around the all volunteer military to understand we've got the best educated, the best trained, and also the most professional military we've ever had," Snow, Bush's Press Secretary, said of the Democrats.

Col. Murtha, Secretary Webb, Maj. Duckworth, Capt. Murphy, Lt. Cmdr. Carney, and Vice Adm. Sestak, I believe he was talking about you.

UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT

WHY WE ARE UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT:
Iraq-------incompetence
Lying----- lying, lying
Terri Shiavo/ Katrina-------Republicans act in Shiavo fcase for extreme right ,
but not for ordinary victims of Katrina
The economy-- -------------wealthy doing good, the deteriorating fortunes
of the working and middle classes,
Republicans -------------push privatizing social security,
Republicans--------------won't increase minimum wage.
Sleasy Campaigning----------
Voter Suppression----------

now he wants to cooperate

Bush admits he lied about keeping Rumsfeld on . Well. now he is the"flipflopper in chief" as well as the "liar in chief"

is it too late to change

Extremity on Display
So, just past the midterm election mark of 2006, what's left of the New Rome? You could say that George W. Bush's dark success story has involved bringing his version of the United States into line with the look of the "rogue" enemies and terrorist groups he set out to destroy. By the time Americans went to the polls on November 7th, 2006 to repudiate his policies, he had given our country the ultimate in makeovers, creating the look of an Outlaw Empire.

We now have our own killing fields in Iraq where, the latest casualty study tells us, somewhere between 400,000 and 900,000-plus "excess Iraqi deaths" have occurred since the 2003 invasion

. And do you remember Saddam's "torture chambers" (which the President used to cite all the time)? Now, we are the possessors of our own global prison system, our own (rented, borrowed, or jerry-rigged) torture chambers, our own leased airline to transport kidnapped prisoners around the planet, and a Vice President who has openly lobbied Congress for a torture exemption for the CIA and spoke glibly on the radio about "dunking" people in water.
And, thanks to a supine Congress, we now have the laws to go with it.

Is it too late to change??

they lie again

During today's press conference, President Bush announced that Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld was resigning. Bush's remarks came less than a week after he pledged that he would keep Rumsfeld on as defense secretary until the end of his presidency. It takes more than a week to arrange for such a high level replacement.

This is not the first time Bush has been caught in an apparent lie about whether a member of his Cabinet would continue to serve in his administration.

He repeatedly said that they were going to win, when he knew better. That makes two lies.

pray it doesn't happen

This election is indeed about George W. Bush — and the Congressional majority’s insistence on protecting him from the consequences of his mistakes and misdeeds. Mr. Bush lost the popular vote in 2000 and proceeded to govern as if he had an enormous mandate.

After he actually beat his opponent in 2004, he announced he now had real political capital and intended to spend it. We have seen the results.

It is frightening to contemplate the new excesses he could concoct if he woke up next Wednesday and found that his party had maintained its hold on the House and Senate.

don't be fooled by republican dirty tricks

Voters should not be intimidated or deceived by phone messages purporting to be from election officials.
Any communication from federal, state or local election officials will always be in a written form clearly identifying the official source."

voter harrassment?? call this number

National Voter Assistance Hotline: 1-866-Our-Vote

robo calls

At the center of many of these "robo" calls seems to be the work of Conquest Communications Group. Its list of lovable clients includes: Tom DeLay; the Louisiana Gambling Alert, run by Jack Abramoff; the right wing Family Research Council; Gun Owners of America; and Sen. George Allen.

Alert, double check your votes

ALERT, ALERT--Some machines are registering your Democratic vote for the Republican. Double check your votes before completing your vote.

ALERT and beware

ALERT, ALERT, ALERT, REPUBLICANS RUNNING A RACIST AD IN TENNESSEE IN THE LAST 9 HOURS UNTIL THE POLLS OPEN UP IN THE MORNING. That's so it's too late to file a complaint or respond. We are not surprised.

Also watch for robo calls. They are making repeating calls to irritate potential Democratic voters. Beware.

update Iraq

Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged)In Bush's War 2836.

White House incompetence

As Iraq slips further into chaos, some of the war's neoconservative boosters now have turned sharply on the Bush administration trying to save their reputations, charging that their grand designs have been undermined by White House incompetence.
In a series of exclusive interviews, Richard Perle, Kenneth Adelman, David Frum, and others play the blame game with shocking frankness. Target No. 1: the president himself.

Yet, Bush, Cheney, and Republican leaders in the Congress still, as of yesterday, say they are gong to stay the course in Iraq.

religion and politics

With the Mark Foley scandal still troubling Republicans, one of the nation's top evangelical leaders is now accused of paying for gay sex. Heading into Tuesday's election, when voters in eight states will decide on gay marriage bans, liberals and some conservatives are saying the party that prides itself on family values has a hypocrisy problem.

Rep. Don Sherwood, R-Pa., a married father of three, has been burdened by revelations about his five-year affair with a mistress who says he physically abused her. Now Haggard.

David Kuo, a born-again Christian and former White House aide who thinks politics is corrupting Christianity said "It's religious hypocrisy with a political rocket booster," "It's tragedy enough if a pastor falls, but this is not about a pastor falling. This is about a politician falling, and the politician is bringing down Jesus with him."

who are these guys???

more republican hypocrisy

read today:
It's only been a few short days since "Rev" Ted Haggard was dragged out of planning sessions for the hate-filled agenda of the Republican Party-- electing virulent homophobes like Marilyn Musgrave and Doug Lamborn and passing some cockamamie anti-gay amendment to the Colorado Constitution-- by the news that his longtime paid male lover had outed him.

Of course it started out as pure Republican taking-responsibilty: I never met that guy; no idea who he is; never had sex with a man, etc. Then he admitted buying-- albeit not using-- meth from the guy. Oh and he gave me a little massage. It's gone rapidly downhill since then.

This morning he apologized to his fellow cult members and admits he's "a deceiver and a liar". Holy Moley! (Although, he does say the devil made him do it... redemption cometh.)

"It's a political ploy by Satan himself and his minions to try and take the focus off the real issues of the election," explains one zombie-like cult employee. Another was babbling that "I saw the Holy Spirit on the platform. I will miss and will always love Pastor Ted." He'll be baaaaackkkkkkkkk; don't fret."

please vote for change

We the people once owned our democracy. We elected "representatives" to run it for US. Have you noticed? Somewhere along the way we lost our democracy.

It was foreclosed by wealthy and power elites that corrupted our "representatives" who literally sold us out. Our homeland was foreclosed right in plain sight. Sure, we citizens still reside in the USA, but we no longer own our democracy. We pay rent through our taxes. But we no longer have any equity.

Our democracy is owned by the rich, and their partner foreign elites and governments, which is why in a strict sense it no longer is a democracy, but rather a plutocracy.
Modern day aristocrats – an apt terms considering the many political dynasties in our ruling class - maintain the charade that America is still a democracy by letting us vote. They also give us many freedoms to distract us from our dire political conditions. They’re smart, so they limit our choices to the main parties that constitute the two-party duopoly.

Even smarter, they convert consumer spending (that they spur) into economic inequality, making them, the rich, even richer and everyone else, all of us, poorer.

Donald Trump says we hardly have any middle class left. He ought to know. Lou Dobbs says there is a war on the middle class. He does not say what would only depress his audience, even more. We the people have already lost the war. We have a large Upper Class, for whom prosperity is real, and an expanding Lower Class, for whom economic slavery based on compulsive borrowing, debt and spending is all too real.
We need a change! Please vote

Republicans won't admit lies and mistakes

The number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed ( now Officially acknowledged) in this Republican War is 2831, and 44,779 wounded and counting, in this Iraq civil war.

We continue because these Republicans cannot admit they made big mistakes on a war based on lies and deceit.

Haggard, Republicans, Hypocrisy

The Rev. Ted Haggard, who is an advisor to the White House, and who stepped down as head of the 30 million-member National Association of Evangelicals on Thursday after allegations that include having gay sex, has confessed to some of the allegations, a fellow pastor said in an e-mail to church members.

"It is important for you to know that he confessed to the overseers that some of the accusations against him are true,” Ross Parsley, the acting senior pastor at New Life Church stated. Haggard on Thursday also stepped aside as leader of the 14,000-member New Life Church, based in Colorado Springs.

Haggard a staunch supporter of President George W. Bush and is credited with rallying evangelical voters behind the Republicans during the 2004 election.He reportedly takes part in regular conference calls with White House staff and was named by Time Magazine as one of the 25 most influential evangelical Christians in America.

accused

The president of the U.S. National Association of Evangelicals, who has had regular talks with the White House and vocally opposes gay marriage, resigned Thursday after being accused of having a sexual relationship with a male escort.

Republican scandals

With just five days left before Election Day, Four GOP House seats have been tarred by lobbyist Jack Abramoff's influence-peddling scandal. Five have been adversely affected by then-Rep. Mark Foley's unseemly contacts with teenage male House pages. The remaining half a dozen or so could turn on controversies including offshore tax dodging, sexual misconduct and shady land deals.

More Hypocrisy

More hypocrisy:
While representing the good people of the 10th District, the married congressman Don Sherwood, shacked up in Washington with a Peruvian immigrant more than three decades his junior. During one assignation in 2004, the woman, who says Sherwood was striking her and trying to strangle her, locked herself in a bathroom and called 911; Sherwood told police he was giving her a back rub.

At a time when Republicans are struggling to motivate religious conservatives to go to the polls next month, it is not clear what benefit the White House found in sending Bush to stump for Sherwood -- smack dab in the middle of what Bush, in an official proclamation, dubbed "National Character Counts Week."

Hypocrisy

.The president of America's National Association of Evangelicals, who has been a vocal opponent of gay marriage, resigned Thursday after an accusation he had a sexual relationship with a male escort for three years. Now that is hypocrisy.

The Rev. Ted Haggard said he is also temporarily stepping aside from the pulpit of his church in Colorado Springs, Colorado, pending an internal investigation by the church. The National Association of Evangelicals is an umbrella group for more than 45,000 churches and some 30 million members across the country.

deaths in Iraq

Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged)
In Bush's War equals 2819.

we abandon our own

American commanders believe Shiite gunmen may be holding a kidnapped US soldier in the east Baghdad slum and, since last week, and have been maintaining a cordon of checkpoints and roadblocks around the area .

The Americans abandon the search for one of their own when Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered US and Iraqi units to lift a blockade around the flashpoint suburb of Sadr City.

Never Leave a Soldier Behind apparently is just a political slogan to these Republicans like their "No Child Left Behind".

Bush should apologize for lies about Iraq

The document, which summarizes a July 23, 2002, meeting of British Prime Minister Tony Blair with his top security advisers, reports on a visit to Washington by the head of Britain's MI-6 intelligence service.

The visit took place while the Bush administration was still declaring to the American public that no decision had been made to go to war."There was a perceptible shift in attitude. Military action was now seen as inevitable," the MI-6 chief said at the meeting, according to the memo.

"Bush wanted to remove Saddam through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD," weapons of mass destruction.

The memo said "the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."No weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq since the U.S. invasion in March 2003.

Corporations boycott Air America

Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting has documented that Traffic Directors at ABC affiliates have received memos from several companies including HP and MS that specifically request that their ads not air on Air America with the result, of course, that Air America gets no ad revenue. 90 companies are included in what appears to be an apparent boycott of all Air America Radio affiliates of ABC.

The McCarthyite era, we are told, ended in the 1950s. Clearly, McCarthyism has now been privatized as a tacit CONSPIRACY to exclude all but right-wing views...allowing in fact a wide spectrum of hateful views, allowing in fact monkeyshines and worse that make radio listeners
and phoners into buffoons beneath pity and contempt, but NOT allowing reasonable discussion to a permanent war economy.

Some propose that insofar as possible, Microsoft be boycotted. I will NOT upgrade from the Visual Basic and C# Express products which are free for my own work. I will NOT upgrade to Windows Vista. I will continue to use Open Office despite its slowness and limitations and develop my own SQL parser, or use mySQL, for data base products. I will convert IE to the Mozilla browser named FireFox, ASAP.

These are the companies on the list as of Nov 1, 2006:
Allstate, American Heart Association, Avents, Avon, Bank of America, Baye, BMVV Motor cycles, Chattam…. Phisoderm, Gold Bond, Selsun Salon, Ultimate Healing Lotion,.Cigna, Cingular Clorox, Coke, Coty, Dean’s Morningstar, Denny’s, Discovery Channel, Eharmony.com, Epson, Expedia.com,Exxon Mobil, Farmer’s Insurance, FedEx, Foot Action, Frito Lay, GE, Gillette Venus, Goodyear, Heinekin Amstel, Hershey’s, Hewlett Packard, Home Depot, Hormel, Hyatt, Interstate BakersJC Penney, Johnson & Johnson, Kohl’s, Levi’s, Masterfoods (all brands}, McDonalds, Merial Frontline,MGM, Michelin, Microsoft, Morningstar, National Cattleman Beef, Nestle, Nissan, NYSE, Office Depot, Outdoor Life Network, P & G – Bounty, Charmin, Febreeze, Iams Dog/Cat food, Pepto Bismol,Paramount, Pepsi, Philip Morris, Pier 1 Imports, Red Lobster, ReMax, REI Sporting, Rent-way, Rebert HerrSchering Plough, Sherwin Williams, Sony, State Farm, Toys R US, Travelocity.com, True Value,United Healthcare, US Navy, USPS, Visa, Walgreens, Wal-Mart, Welch’s, Wrigley,Wyeth

Iraqi army trained by US

Iraqi soldiers being trained by American military advisers go on rampages, flee from dangerous situations and waste ammunition in undisciplined bursts of fire at any provocation, according to an account in a U.S. Army journal.

Iraqi soldiers frequently use excessive force, going on retaliatory rampages after colleagues are killed by insurgents.

Bush's progress in Iraq

Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki demanded the removal of American checkpoints from the streets of Baghdad on Tuesday, in what appeared to be his latest and boldest gambit in an increasingly tense struggle for more independence from his American protectors.

For their part, Mr. Malaki and other leading Shiites have begun to chafe at American control of the military and what they view as American favoritism toward Sunnis. On Wednesday, Mr. Maliki challenged an American assertion that the two governments had agreed on a timetable for stabilizing Iraq. The toll of American deaths in October was at least 103.

money for republican judgeships

Federal judges appointed by President Bush since 2001 made political contributions to key Republicans or to the president himself while under consideration for their judgeships, government records show.

Some gave money directly to Bush after he officially nominated them. Other judges contributed to Republican campaign committees while they were under consideration for a judgeship.

Republicans who received money from judges en route to the bench include Sens. Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, Sens. George Voinovich and Mike DeWine of Ohio, and Gov. George Pataki of New York.

Iraq vs Iran

Iran is at least 5 years – but more likely 10 or more years – away from producing weapons-grade nuclear materials. Iran poses no imminent threat to the US, Israel, or its neighbors.

The Bush administration has already selected the military option and is moving to make it operational. The consequences of a military confrontation with Iran are global and nightmarish.
We should be pursuing multilateral negotiations and have missed key opportunities to do so – including not even responding to an Iranian offer to put recognition of Israel and suspension of its nuclear program on the table.

The threat assessment conducted by the intelligence agencies should be declassified. Let dissenters voice their opinions before Congress. We should have learned this lesson from the intelligence failure in Iraq.

The cheerleaders for this war are – you guessed it – Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney. The Joint Chiefs are believed to be opposed to yet another catastrophic misadventure.

Some consequences of this insane déjà vu-like war would include: skyrocketing oil prices; Hezbollah attacks on Israel; Iranian attacks on US forces in Iraq; Iranian sabotage of pipelines in Iraq; Iran blocking Gulf oil flow; and threats to regional governments. If you like the war in Iraq, wait until you see the war in Iran. It will be a massive, global war.

your children and grandchildren's debt

The inspector general’s office has found major discrepancies in American military records on where thousands of 9-millimeter pistols and hundreds of assault rifles and other weapons have ended up.

The American military did not even take the elementary step of recording the serial numbers of nearly half a million weapons provided to Iraqis, the inspector general found, making it impossible to track or identify any that might be in the wrong hands.

Because the inspector general is charged only with looking at weaponry financed directly by the American taxpayer, the total of lost weapons could end up being higher.

It was found that the American military was not able to say how many Iraqi logistics personnel it had trained — in this case because, the military told the inspector general, a computer network crash erased records.

Those problems have occurred even though the United States has spent $133 million on the weapons program and $666 million on Iraqi logistics capabilities.

It's only your money that your children and grand children will have to come up with because it is in the national debt amount (8.5 trillion and exploding).

our USA under these republicans

This is a long read but worth your time if you are a truthseeker:
By Maher Arar
Canadian citizen Maher Arar, who is barred from entering the United States, delivered his acceptance speech for the Letelier-Moffitt International Human Rights Award in a pre-recorded videotape. This is a transcript of his speech, which was viewed at the award ceremony hosted by the Institute for Policy Studies on Oct. 18, 2006 in Washington, DC.

10/27/06 --- - Hello my name is Maher Arar. Sorry I could not join you for today's ceremony.
All Center for Constitutional Rights Staff and I are humbled to have been chosen this year's recipient for the Letelier-Moffitt International Human Rights Award. This award means a tremendous amount to us. It means that there are still Americans out there who value our struggle for justice.

It means that there are Americans out there who are truly concerned about the future of America. We now know that my story is not a unique one. Over the past two years we have heard from many other people who were, who have been kidnapped, unlawfully detained, tortured and eventually released without being charged with any crime in any country.
JFK Stopover

My nightmare began on September 26, 2002. I was transiting through New York airport, JFK Airport, when they asked me to wait in a waiting area. I found that to be strange. Shortly after, some FBI officials came to see me and they asked me whether, I was willing to be interviewed.
My first immediate reaction was to ask for a lawyer and I was surprised when they told me that I had no right to a lawyer because I was not an American citizen.

Then I asked for a phone call, I wanted to call my family to let them know what was going on. And they just ignored my request.

Then they told me, we only have couple of questions for you and we'll let you go. So I agreed. I had nothing to hide. And the interrogation started. Soon after, you know, they asked me about people I knew. It was deeper, until the interrogation was going deeper and deeper and deeper.
During this time, they played mind games with me. They would sometimes insult me; say to me something like you're smart. Other times they would accuse me of being dumb.

And, I repeatedly ask for a lawyer, to make a phone call. They always ignored my question.
The interrogation that day lasted about four hours with the FBI officials and another four hours with immigration. At the end of that day, instead of sending me back to Canada, they shackled and chained me and sent me to another, another terminal in the airport where I stayed overnight and in that place, in that room they kept me in, the lights were, were always on. There was no bed in that room and I could not sleep that night.

The next day another set of interrogations started. This time it was about, they asked me about political opinions--I answered openly, I didn't try to hide my political opinions. The asked me about Iraq. They asked me about Palestine and so many other issues. And they also, if I remember correctly, asked me about my emails and some other questions.
Going to Syria

And they told me that day we are about to decide about your fate. At the end of that day, surprisingly, one of the immigration officers came and asked me to volunteer to go to Syria. I said to them: why do you want me to go to Syria, I've never been there for 17 years. And they say, "You are special interest." Of course, back then I did not know what this expression meant. But it was clear that the Americans, the officer did not want me to go to Canada.

When he insisted, I said, let me go back to Switzerland. That was my point of departure before I arrived at JFK and he refused. Eventually they took me into the Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal prison, where they kept me for about 12 days. During this time I was interviewed for six hours by INS. It was a very exhaustive interview from 9PM to like around 3AM in the morning. When I asked them to, during this interview to go, to allow me to go back to my cell to perform my prayer, they refused, completely refused.

Also during my stay at the Metropolitan Detention Center I could clearly see that I was being treated differently from other prisoners. For example, they didn't give me toothpaste they would allow me to go for recreation for about a week. They always ignored my demand for making a phone call. Eventually they allowed me to make a phone call. Up until that time, which was a week after I was arrested, no one in my family knew where I was. My wife thought I was disappeared, I was killed. No one knew exactly what happened, until I informed my mother-in-law that I was arrested.

Eventually on October 8th, against my will, they took me out of my cell. They basically read the pieces of document to me saying, that we will be sending you Syria. And when I complained, I said to them, I did explain to you if I'm sent back I will be tortured and they, I remember, the INS person flipped a couple of pages in this document, to the end of this document and read to me a paragraph that I still remember until today, an extremely shocking statement she made to me.
She said something like: The INS is not the body or the agency that signed the Geneva Convention, convention against torture. For me what that really meant is we will send you to torture and we don't care.

So they put me on a private jet, which I found extremely strange. I was the only passenger on that, on that plane. Its a luxurious plane, with leather seats in it. My only preoccupation during this trip is how I could avoid torture. By then, I realized that they were exactly sending me to Syria for torture. And that became very clear to me. Then the plane flew to Washington from Washington it flew to Maine then to Rome, then from Rome to Jordan.
Shackled and Chained

And I remember on the plane I was most of the time I was shackled and chained except the last two hours when they offered me a shish-kabob dinner. Up until this day I do not, I cannot explain why they did that. If I was a dangerous person like they claimed in the beginning, why they would remove my chains and shackles the last two hours of the trip?

During also the trip, whenever I wanted to use the bathroom, one of the team members would go inside with me. Even though I complained that this was against my religious belief.
The plane landed in Jordan on three in the morning October 8th. And a couple of Jordanians were waiting, men, were waiting for me. They took me, they blindfolded me, they put me in a car and shortly after they started beating me on the back of my head. Whenever I complained about the beating they would actually start beating me more. So I just kept silent.

I stayed in Jordan for about 12 hours in a detention center. I still don't know what that place is.
I was always blindfolded whenever they took me from one cell to another or when they took me to see the doctor. But I felt something strange in that prison. I felt, what, that I used an elevator, which is quite strange for a Middle Eastern prison.

After 12 hours of detention, unlawful detention in Jordan I was eventually driven to Syria. And I just didn't want to believe that I was going to Syria. I always was hoping that someone, a miracle would happen--the Canadian government would intervene. A miracle would happen that would take me back to my country Canada.

I arrived in Syria that same day, at the end of the day and I was able to confirm that I was in fact in Syria after my blindfold was removed and I was able to see the pictures of the Syrian President. My feeling then is I just wanted to kill myself because I knew what was coming. I knew that the Americans, the American government send me there to be tortured.

Sometime later the interrogators came in. They started asking questions, routine questions at the beginning, but whenever I hesitated to answer their questions or whenever they thought I was lying one of them would threaten me with a chair, a metallic chair with no seats in it, only the frames. And back then I did not understand or I did not know how they would torture people with it. I later learned that from other prison inmates.

But the message was clear: if you don't speak quickly enough we will torture you. That day, the interrogation lasted about four hours. There was no physical beating; there was only verbal threats. Around midnight, they took me to the basement. In the basement, the guard opened a door for me, a metallic door. I could not believe my eyes. I looked at him and I said, what is that? He didn't answer. He just said to me: Enter.

The Grave
The cell was about three feet wide, six feet deep and about seven feet high. It was dark. There was no source of light in it. It was filthy. There were only two thin covers on the floor. I was naïve; I thought they would keep me in this place for one, two, maybe three days to put pressure on me. But this same place, the same cell that I later called the grave was my home 10 months and 10 days. The only light that came into the cell was from the ceiling, from the opening in the ceiling. There was a small spotlight and that's it.

Life in the cell was impossible. At the beginning--even though it was a filthy place, it was like a grave--I preferred to stay in that cell rather than being beaten. Whenever I heard the guards coming to open my door I would just think, you know, this is it for me that would be my last day.
The beating started the following day. Without no warning...(long pause as he fights tears) without no warning the interrogator came in with a cable. He asked me to open my right hand. I did open it. And he hit me strongly on my palm. It was so painful to the point that I forgot every moment I enjoyed in my life.
Torture

This moment is still vivid in my mind because it was the first I was ever beaten in my life. Then he asked me to open my left hand. He hit me again. And that one missed and hit my wrist. The pain from that hit lasted approximately six months. And then he would ask me questions. And I would have to answer very quickly. And then he would repeat the beating this time anywhere on my, on my body. Sometimes he would take me to a room where I could, where I was alone, I could hear other prisoners being tortured, severely tortured. I remember that I used to hear their screams. I just couldn't believe it, that human beings would do this to other human beings.
And then they would take me back to the interrogation room. Again another set of questions, and the beating starts again and again.
On the third day the beating was the worst. They beat me a lot with the cable. And they wanted me to confess that I have been to Afghanistan. This was a big surprise to me because even the Americans who interviewed me, the FBI officials who interviewed me, did not ask me that question. I ended up falsely confessing in order to stop the torture. The torture decreased in intensity.

From that moment on they rarely used the cable. Mostly they slapped me on the face, they kicked me, they humiliated me all the time.
The first 10 days of my stay in Syria was extremely harsh and during that period I found my cell to be a refuge. I didn't want to see their faces. But later on living in that cell was horrible. And just to give you an idea about how painful it is to stay in that place--I was ready after a couple of months, I was ready to sign any piece of document for me, not to be released, just to go to another place where it is fit for human being.

During this time I wasn't aware that my wife launched a campaign with other human rights organizations like Amnesty International and others. My wife lobbied the media, she lobbied politicians and eventually I was released. The Syrians released me and they clearly stated through the ambassador in Washington that they did not find any links to terrorism. I was not charged in any country including Canada, United States, Jordan and Syria.

Since my release I have been suffering from anxiety, constant fear, and depression. My life will never be the same again. But I promised myself one thing, that I will continue my quest for justice as long as I have a breath. What keeps me going is my faith, Americans like yourselves and the hope that one day our planet Earth will be free of tyranny, torture and injustice.
Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen, was a victim of the U.S. policy known as "extraordinary rendition." He was detained by U.S. officials in 2002, accused of terrorist links, and handed over to Syrian authorities, who tortured him. Arar is working with the Center for Constitutional Rights to appeal a case against the U.S. government that was dismissed on national security grounds.

Ambassador Khalilzad finished off his Arabian Nights version of a press conference introduction with assurances that "victory" was possible and "success" achievable in the foreseeable future.

The solution was simple: "Iraqi leaders must step up to achieve key political and security milestones on which they have agreed." (There's a new ad-jingle-style line to replace our President's "As the Iraqis stand up, we will stand down": "As the Iraqi leaders step up, we will…")

Like some genie from a bottle, Prime Minister Maliki, our recalcitrant "partner," who only the previous week had to check with George Bush to make sure he still held his job, promptly stood up at a rival news conference and "slammed" American officials for demanding a timeline. ("I affirm that this government represents the will of the people and no one has the right to impose a timetable on it.")

Still, he seemed to grasp the essence of the message the ambassador and general were sending out: "Al-Maliki said he believed the U.S. talk of timelines was driven by the upcoming U.S. midterm election. ‘We are not much concerned with it.'"

Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged)
In Bush's War 2810

snow job for votes

President Bush and his aides are annoyed that people keep misinterpreting his Iraq policy as "stay the course." A complete distortion, they say. "That is not a stay-the-course policy," White House press secretary Tony Snow declared yesterday. Where would anyone have gotten that idea?------------ Well, maybe from Bush, himself., as shown below.-------More lies.

"We will stay the course. We will help this young Iraqi democracy succeed," he said in Salt Lake City in August.
"We will win in Iraq so long as we stay the course," he said in Milwaukee in July.
"I saw people wondering whether the United States would have the nerve to stay the course and help them succeed," he said after returning from Baghdad in June.

But the White House is cutting and running from "stay the course." A phrase meant to connote steely resolve instead has become a symbol for being out of touch and rigid in the face of a war that seems to grow worse by the week.

With midterm elections two weeks away, the Bush team is searching for a formula to address public opposition to the war, struggling to appear consistent and flexible at the same time. In other words, it's a snow job by the Republicans to make us voters believe that they are changing their no win position for votes.

We can't believe them when they continually lie.

update Iraq

Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed
(Officially acknowledged)in Bush's War 
is now 2800 (86 US troops killed in
first three weeks of October).

MIKE MALLOY RETURNS

ATTENTION ALL TRUTHSEEKERS:
Don't miss the Return of MIKE MALLOY nights beginning October 30,2006, Monday night 9pm-12-m (EST) on Nova M Radio affiliate 1480-AM KPHX Phoenix.

Just click on the "Windows Media" icon on the http://novamradio.com website to internet stream the show. (Watch your back!)

republicans are liars

These Republicans lie repeatedly. For example, Al Franken played tapes of 1. Bush yesterday saying" we have never stayed the course in Iraq". and 2. tapes of Bush saying, MULTIPLE TIMES in the past, " We will 'stay the course' in Iraq". I guess they are so used to lying and it works with their base, so it doesn't bother them to continue to do it.

Mothers tell their children, " Don't lie so you don't have to remember what you said".

not surprised when they do it again

One insider aware of the Iraq plans, and knowledgeable about the inevitably disastrous result of executing those plans, was Richard Clarke, chief of counterterrorism for George W. Bush and adviser to three presidents before him. He had spent September 11, 2001, in the White House, coordinating the nation’s response to the attacks. He reports in his memoir, Against All Enemies, discovering the next morning, to his amazement, that most discussions there were about attacking Iraq.

Clarke told Bush and Rumsfeld that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, or with its perpetrator, Al Qaeda. As Clarke said to Secretary of State Colin Powell that afternoon, “Having been attacked by al Qaeda, for us now to go bombing Iraq in response”—which Rumsfeld was already urging—“would be like our invading Mexico after the Japanese attacked us at Pearl Harbor.”

Actually, Clarke foresaw that it would be much worse than that. Attacking Iraq not only would be a crippling distraction from the task of pursuing the real enemy but would in fact aid that enemy: “Nothing America could have done would have provided al Qaeda and its new generation of cloned groups a better recruitment device than our unprovoked invasion of an oil-rich Arab country.”

According to these reports, many high-level officers and government officials are convinced that our president will attempt to bring about regime change in Iran by air attack; that he and his vice president have long been no less committed, secretly, to doing so than they were to attacking Iraq; and that his secretary of defense is as madly optimistic about the prospects for fast, cheap military success there as he was in Iraq.

Even more ominously, Philip Giraldi, a former CIA official, reported in The American Conservative a year ago that Vice President Cheney’s office had directed contingency planning for “a large-scale air assault on Iran employing both conventional and tactical nuclear weapons” and that “several senior Air Force officers” involved in the planning were “appalled at the implications of what they are doing—that Iran is being set up for an unprovoked nuclear attack—but no one is prepared to damage his career by posing any objection.”

update Iraq

The United States has shown "arrogance" and "stupidity" in Iraq, a senior U.S. diplomat said in an interview aired on Sunday, after U.S. President George W. Bush said he was flexible on tactics, if not strategy.

U.S. military deaths in Iraq in October reached 78 this weekend, making it the most deadly month for Americans this year and raising pressure ahead of Congressional elections in November where Bush's Republican party could lose its majority in both houses halfway through his second term as president.

"We tried to do our best (in Iraq) but I think there is much room for criticism because, undoubtedly, there was arrogance and there was stupidity from the United States in Iraq," senior U.S. State Department official Alberto Fernandez told Al Jazeera speaking in Arabic in a broadcast heard on Sunday by Reuters.

A US state department spokesman on Saturday said that Fernandez alleged he had not been quoted accurately in the interview.
However, Aljazeera said Fernandez' interview had been rechecked and confirmed the comments were accurate and the words "arrogance" and "stupidity" were used.

Grand Oil Party(GOP) is over

The Bush Administration’s foreign policy apparatus has spent the past sixteen months on the strategic mission to develop plausible deniability regarding exactly when they were warned (a) that the Iraqi War was lost; (b) that the Iraqis never had WMDs; (c) that the creation of hordes of wannabe terrorists in Iraq was totally unforeseen and yes, the world was a safer place now that an isolated, secular, Iraq had been turned into a jihadist Petri dish paradise for incubating a new generation of Islamist terrorists.

And did we mention roughly 3,000 body bags and 10,000 tragically injured U.S. soldiers? While Pentagon attempts to rewrite reality and prevent photos of flag-draped coffins from being broadcast were partly successful, it’s hard to hide that many skeletons in the GOP’s closet.

Add to that a deficit clearly out of control (closets can be expensive, just ask Mark Foley how much coming out of his cost him), a housing bubble that has popped, Exxon and Enron secretly controlling energy policy, and the usual lingering effects of outsourcing, streamlining, and other business practices and you have an electorate that has come to the conclusion that the GOP’s time in power needs to end soon.

failure of oversight

Now fallout from the Mark Foley story is giving the GOP establishment a taste of its own sanctimonious medicine, as Democrats tsk-tsk their way back into power.

Al Gore describes his fight against global warming as a moral imperative. Progressives from the Rev. Jim Wallis of Sojourners magazine question ("When did Jesus become pro-war? When did Jesus become pro-rich?")

Publicity about an influential gay Republican subculture in Washington makes the GOP's pandering on gay marriage less persuasive. And the story adds to the overall sense that the current congressional leadership has failed to offer oversight on a series of moral issues, from corruption to burdening our children with debt to protecting minors from predators in what is supposed to be the "Daddy" party.

cover-up

On one night in 2002 or 2003, an allegedly inebriated Foley showed up at the pages' dorm after a 10 p.m. curfew and tried to gain entry, according to an account provided by two congressional sources, who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter.

Word of the incident reached the House Clerk, who notified Foley's chief of staff, Kirk Fordham. ordham decided that it was time to go to a higher authority, so he went to see Scott Palmer, chief of staff to the Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert.

The secret world of Mark Foley—and the denial and bumbling of the House leaders who possibly did not want to know too much about that world—is beginning to emerge in bits and pieces of lurid detail.

Voters may not understand the legalistic ins-and-outs of campaign-finance scandals or know much about an influence peddler like Jack Abramoff beyond his name. But they can follow the details of a sex scandal, especially one that they can imagine harming their own children.

Republican never bothered to investigate further—a step that might have uncovered the broader pattern of predatory behavior now evident.

bloggers beware

Mid the swirls of gun smoke from the Republican's circular firing squad in the Foleygate scandal, this little chestnut slipped through the media cracks. The Department of Homeland Security is paying three universities $2.4 million to develop software able to monitor negative opinions of the United States and its leaders in foreign publications.

Here we have yet another example of the Bush administration's uncanny ability to combine Orwellian tactics with utter incompetence. To track anti-American sentiment all you need is a $10 bucket of paint and a map of the globe. A quick look at the polling data shows that we don't have many supporters left. Take this dramatic example: six out of ten Iraqis favor attacks on US forces, and we liberated them.

If polling data proves the general trends, then the only real reason for the software is to identify specific publications, editors, and writers, who are quote-unquote anti-American and anti-Bush. And why would Homeland Security want that very long list? Are they planning on seizing their pencils and paper during airport security checks? It sounds to me like the basis for the prosecution of thought crimes.

Of course it's illegal for the government to build that kind of database on American citizens. Then again, it was also illegal to wiretap without a court order and to detain without charge. So all you bloggers be warned. Big Brother is watching.

support the troops, oppose the war

Seventy-four American troops have died in Iraq in October, likely to become the deadliest month for U.S. forces in nearly two years.

With the war in its fourth year and the U.S. death toll above 2,780, Bush faces intense political pressure to change what critics say is a failed Iraq policy. Bush gambled in Iraq on false facts and lies and to change course now, he would have to admit he goofed.

So he keeps on sacrificing our troops in a civil war. It's common sense that you choose the battles you can win. Every promise Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld made turned out to be a lie. Support our troops, oppose the war.

Seventy-four American troops have died in Iraq in October, likely to become the deadliest month for U.S. forces in nearly two years.

With the war in its fourth year and the U.S. death toll above 2,780, Bush faces intense political pressure to change what critics say is a failed Iraq policy. Bush gambled in Iraq on false facts and lies and to change course now, he would have to admit he goofed.

So he keeps on sacrificing our troops in a civil war. It's common sense that you choose the battles you can win. Every promise Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld made turned out to be a lie. Support our troops, oppose the war.

RNC to scare you into voting Republican

The scaremongering continues. The Republican National Committee is planning to run a terror ad on national cable to scare us into voting republican, beginning on Sunday.

Strangely absent from the ad is any hint of the Republican agenda for domestic policy, energy policy, educational policy or economic policy. Be afraid, stay afraid, vote Republican!

bunch of hooey and non-starter to all suggestions

The growing doubts among GOP lawmakers about the administration's Iraq strategy, coupled with the prospect of Democratic wins in next month's midterm elections, will soon force the Bush administration to abandon its open-ended commitment to the war, according to lawmakers in both parties, foreign policy experts and others involved in policymaking.

Press secretary Tony Snow yesterday dismissed a dramatic about-face in policy -- such as a division of the country or phased withdrawal -- as a "non-starter" and called the idea that the White House will seek a course correction in Iraq "a bunch of hooey."

Well, I say this Republican administration has been a non-starter AND a bunch of hooey!

all alternatives are "non-starter or bunch of hooey"

The growing doubts among GOP lawmakers about the administration's Iraq strategy, coupled with the prospect of Democratic wins in next month's midterm elections, will soon force the Bush administration to abandon its open-ended commitment to the war, according to lawmakers in both parties, foreign policy experts and others involved in policymaking.

Press secretary Tony Snow yesterday dismissed a dramatic about-face in policy -- such as a division of the country or phased withdrawal -- as a "non-starter" and called the idea that the White House will seek a course correction in Iraq "a bunch of hooey."

Well, I say this Republican administration has been a non-starter AND a bunch of hooey!

foley, rumsfeld,hastert,reynolds

What do Mark Foley and Donald Rumsfeld have in common?

They both proved to be completely unfit for their offices, but were kept in power by Republican leaders who cared more about power than the public interest. After demonstrated failures, leaving Rumsfeld in charge of Iraq is like leaving Mark Foley in charge of the Missing and Exploited Children Caucus.

--------------

That is why the Foley scandal continues to reverberate in races across the country: It is not an isolated incident. This scandal fits with the Congressional Republicans' larger pattern of corruption, cover-ups, hypocrisy and refusal to hold any of their own accountable for failure.

Recent reports indicate Republican leaders like Dennis Hastert and Tom Reynolds knew about Foley's inappropriate actions. They did nothing because they were more concerned about protecting a congressional seat than protecting the children working in Congress. When they were exposed, Republican leaders misled the public, attacked the media, defended Foley's "overfriendly" emails and even tried to rally sympathy for Foley's alcohol problems. (Reality check - the issue here is child abuse, not substance abuse.)

The Republicans response to the scandal is not only immoral, but politically tone-deaf, and it is reinforcing voters' concerns about the Republican failures in Iraq, which is the real issue in this

more corruption by republicans

Former congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif.) channeled more than $70 million in Pentagon and intelligence agency contracts to two companies that paid him bribes, and required the "cooperation or at least the non-interference of many people" to pull that off, a congressional investigation has found.

Since Cunningham had no authority to award contracts, he needed the acquiescence of some members of Congress, congressional staff members and Defense Department officials, according to the executive summary of an investigation by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence into his activities as a panel member.

Our tax money at work.

vote, vote and vote

Emboldened by victory, Democrats could use their ascendance to begin a new era of oversight and investigation. A Democratic victory could mean that Bush's tax cuts for the 1% of the nation's most wealthy would not be renewed, attempts to revive his privatizing (meaning destrying the guarantees in) our Social Security would be doomed and efforts to further broaden fascist national security presidential power in the face of civil liberties concerns would be thwarted.

Most worrisome to the White House is the subpoena power that Democrats would gain with a majority in the House or Senate. For years, Republicans have looked the other way in the Bush administration, but Democrats are eager to reexamine an array of issues, such as Vice President Cheney's energy task force, the Jack Abramoff scandal, and preparations for the Iraq war.

MALLOY

MALLOY IS COMING BACK OCTOBER 30, 9PM -12 Midnight (EST) on Nova M Radio affiliate 1480-AM KPHX Phoenix. 9PM -12 Midnight (EST), HOPE TO GET HIM ON THE INTERNET, TOO. PASS THE WORD

Bush likely to attack again

The Bush administration has made sweeping changes in the nuclear weapons policy of the United States during the past 5 years, singlehandedly without consulting Congress nor the American people [1], [2], [3]. Under the name of "New Triad", the key concept is "integration" of conventional and nuclear forces.

Don't be fooled by the rhetoric stating that it means that some missions previously assigned to nuclear forces will be taken over by conventional forces. What it really means is "a seamless web of capabilities": there is no longer a sharp line, a sharp distinction, between nuclear and non-nuclear weapons.

The outcome of the November election is likely to determine whether or not the US goes to war with Iran before President Bush leaves office. For multiple reasons recounted below such war will with very high probability include the US use of tactical nuclear weapons. In casting or not casting a vote in November, each of us will contribute to determine events of potential consequences immensely larger than local taxes, illegal immigration or even the Iraq war.

Crossing the nuclear threshold in a war against Iran will trigger a chain reaction that in weeks, years or decades could lead with high probability to global nuclear war and widespread destruction of life on the planet.

more icebergs

FBI agents raided the home of a daughter of U.S. Representative Curt Weldon, a Pennsylvania Republican, as part of an investigation into whether he used political influence to steer business toward his daughter, Karn Wldon's consulting firm, a person familiar with the case said.

Karen Weldon's firm received lobbying and consulting contracts to represent the firms, including a $500,000 contract to represent a Russian energy company, a $20,000-a-month contract to represent a Russian aviation company, and at least $240,000 to represent the family foundation of the Serbian brothers, according to documents her firm filed at the Justice Department.

Two Other Contracts: Solutions North America had two other contracts with foreign firms, according to records at the Justice Department office that compiles disclosures on U.S. companies working for foreign entities. Saratov Aviation Plant, a Russian aviation company, paid Solutions at least $20,000 a month starting in 2003. The Karic Foundation, based in Belgrade, paid at least $240,000 to Solutions in 2003 and 2004. Solutions helped the nonprofit group set up an office in Washington, documents show.

Republicans Abramoff, Delay, Cunningham, Ney, Hastert, Kolbe, Reynolds, Shimkus, Foley and now Weldon among other Republicans. AND the beat goes on.

why believe them

" Iraq was a direct imminent threat to the US, had WMD's, was in cahoots with Al Quaeda, and will great us with candy and flowers", they said, none of which was true.

Speaking as a former republican, why should we believe these current rightwing republicans now?

Fool me once shame on them. Fool me twice, shame on me.

civil war

U.S. and Iraqi troops conducting a raid in Baghdad found a blood-soaked torture chamber that may have been operated by a Shiite Muslim militia with ties to the government. Soldiers found Interior Ministry badges in the compound, and U.S. forces saw an Iraqi policeman on the roof of the compound before Sunday's raid, said Lt. Col. Avanulas Smiley, 40, a battalion commander who led U.S. troops in the raid.

One room of the complex contained a long wooden bench stained with a large pool of blood and urine, which could indicate victims were tortured there. In another room, posters of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his white-bearded father, the late Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr, were plastered on the walls. On the floor were stained mattresses strewn among baseball bats, bayonets and electric drills.

Sounds like civil war to me.

republican cover-up

As much as anything else, this scandal is about GOP House Leaders prancing around as the Protectors of our nation's children from Internet Predators while, at the same time, knowing that there was such a predator, Republican Foley, in their midst.

And they not only failed to do anything about it, but they actively worked to conceal the behavior by ensuring that all Democrats -- including even the Democrat on the House Page Board -- were blocked from learning about these accusations. That alone proves their cover-up.

more of the same

The FBI is investigating whether Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., used his influence to secure lobbying and consulting contracts for his daughter, two people familiar with the inquiry said Saturday.

The inquiry focuses on lobbying contracts worth $1 million that Weldon's daughter, Karen Weldon, obtained from foreign clients and whether they were assisted by the congressman, they said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the confidentiality of the criminal investigation.

another tip of the iceberg

Five conservative nonprofit organizations, including one run by prominent Republican Grover Norquist, "appear to have perpetrated a fraud" on taxpayers by selling their clout to lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Senate investigators said in a report issued yesterday.

Officers of the groups "were generally available to carry out Mr. Abramoff's requests for help with his clients in exchange for cash payments," said the report, issued by the Senate Finance Committee

The groups named in the report are Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform; the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, which was co-founded by Norquist and Gale Norton before she became secretary of the interior; Citizens Against Government Waste; the National Center for Public Policy Research, a spinoff of the Heritage Foundation; and Toward Tradition, a Seattle-based religious group founded by Rabbi Daniel Lapin.

Emails released by the committee show that Abramoff, often with the knowledge of the groups' leaders, exploited the tax-exempt status and leveraged the stature of the organizations to build support among conservatives for legislation or government action sought by clients including Microsoft Corp., mutual fund company DH2 Inc., Primedia Inc.'s Channel One Network, and Brown-Forman, maker of Jack Daniel's whiskey.

A spokeswoman for Grassley said the chairman did not co-write the report because he had hoped it would include a broader range of groups that he believes also breached their tax status

may be tip of the iceberg

In New Jersey, Democratic candidate Linda Stender this week sent voters a two-page brochure accusing Rep. Mike Ferguson (R) of improperly preying on young women in a fashionable D.C. nightclub.

Democratic candidate Chris Carney is running an ad accusing Rep. Don Sherwood (R-Pa.) of "repeatedly choking" and "attempting to strangle" a young mistress. Foley and Sherwood share "the arrogance of power," said Carney. "They're willing to cover up these types of things to retain power."

Democratic candidate Kirsten Gillibrand is calling on GOP Rep. John E. Sweeney in Upstate New York to explain a drunken driving arrest

For the Ohio seat to be vacated by indicted Rep. Robert W. Ney (R), the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is blanketing the district with mail saying GOP candidate Joy Padgett, a state senator, is too "dirty" to clean up Congress. "You can't clean up Congress if you are covered in mud," the mailings say, drawing links between Padgett and Ney.

In California, for instance, Democrats are assailing Rep. John T. Doolittle for supporting "forced abortions and sex slavery" in the Northern Mariana Islands, which were represented by Abramoff. Democrat Charlie Brown said the attack is fair because Doolittle has refused to return his contributions..

AND these may be just the tip of the iceberg.

the problem

The problem is not that the Democrats are intimidated. The problem is that the Democrats are part of the problem. The editors of "Impeach the President" indirectly acknowledge this fact when they report that Congress "looked the other way" when Bush acknowledged that he lied to cover up his felony of illegally spying on US citizens and declared the real criminal to be the NSA official who blew the whistle.

Democrats, no less than Republicans, have permitted the Bush regime to violate the separation of powers and the rule of law. A branch of government that no longer defends its power, is a branch of government that no longer believes in its power.

Just as the Reichstag faded away for Hitler, the US Congress has faded away for the Bush administration

liberty in danger

Kellogg Brown & Root, a Halliburton subsidiary, is constructing a huge facility at an undisclosed location to hold tens of thousands of Bush's "unlawful enemy combatants." Americans are certain to be among them
Because the bill was adopted with lightning speed, barely anyone noticed that it empowers Bush to declare not just aliens, but also U.S. citizens, "unlawful enemy combatants."

Anyone who donates money to a charity that turns up on Bush's list of "terrorist" organizations, or who speaks out against the government's policies could be declared an "unlawful enemy combatant" and imprisoned indefinitely. That includes American citizens.

We can expect Bush to continue to exploit 9/11 to strip us of more of our liberties. Our constitutional right to dissent is in serious jeopardy. Benjamin Franklin's prescient warning should give us pause: "They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security."

gasoline prices going up after election

Read this today:

Saudia Arabia has remained conspicuously silent on cutting oil production.

OPEC watchers reason that the Saudi rulers, which acccount for 13% of OPEC's output, want to be discreet, because midterm elections in the United States are just a few weeks away.

We know that Bush Senior is a member of the Carlyle Oil Group, and the Bushes are tight with the Saudi Royal Family.

CAN YOU ADD TWO PLUS TWO?????????????????

update Iraq

update Iraq( and the beat goes on and on):
1. As many as 655,000 Iraqi civilians including women and children slaughtered in a civil war.

2.U.S. price tag of $334 billion of our money and "at least 2,755 dead" members admitted by U.S. military , not counting "contractors" .

3. the tens of thousands that have been wounded, the one in five surviving soldiers that have lingering mental problems, AND the republican war in Iraq has now lasted longer than the US involvement in the Second World War.

AND the Bush Republicans are preparing to keep us there through 2010, unless you vote them out!

loyalty, patriotism to who or what?

The our government fires its own lawyers for doing their constitutional duty. Navy lawyer Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift was assigned the task of bringing Salim Hamdan to a guilty plea before the unconstitutional military tribunal that President Bush created for Guantanamo detainees.

Instead, Cmdr. Swift did his duty and defended his client, winning in the US Supreme Court. The Bush administration retaliated by blocking Cmdr. Swift’s promotion, which killed his military career and sent the chilling message to all US military and government attorneys that constitutional scruples are career-enders in the Bush regime.

Anyone who stands for the US Constitution is against Bush and his neocon regime. The Bush regime is proceeding exactly as the Nazi regime proceeded.

First, eliminate every person of conscience and integrity from the government. Second, redefine duty as service to the leader: “You are with us or against us”--a formulation that leaves no place for duty to the US Constitution.

Patriotism is redefined from loyalty to country and Constitution-- to loyalty to our republican leaders.

making us more at risk

The Bush administration has repeatedly rejected North Korea’s appeals for a "non-aggression" pact. Bush believes that he has the inherent right to attack whomever he chooses if it is in the national interest--his interest, which is to say, if it furthers his ambitions for global domination.

Bush has openly supported "regime change" in North Korea and placed the country on his axis of evil list.He then attacked on the the three countries, Iraq, on that list. On a personal level, Bush stated that he "loathes" Kim Jung-il and has referred to him as "a pygmy".

These provocations have been duly noted in North Korea. Kim knows that he’s a top candidate for a preemptive attack unless he develops a credible deterrent. Any sane person would draw the same conclusion even if they hadn’t been humiliated in public as "evil".

It's gong to take years to undue the damage these republicans have done to our country.

current republican party

A common trait that seems to come from the current Republican leaders:

If you disagree with them stating your opinion, reasons, logic, and research, they resort to replying with personal attacks, and smears and sneers, all this from people who don't want to or can't debate the issues.

That may be how their party has disintigrated into something quite different from the party to which I used to belong. They digress with the hate attacks if you DARE disagree with them, as though that makes their argument.

just another republican lie

The U.S. Army has plans that would keep the current level of troops in Iraq — about 15 brigades — through 2010, the top Army officer said Wednesday. His comments come less than four weeks before congressional elections, in which the unpopular war in Iraq and the Bush administration's policies there are a major campaign issue.

Last month, the top U.S. commander in the Middle East, Gen. John Abizaid, said the military would likely maintain or possibly even increase the current force levels through next spring. There are 141,000 troops in Iraq, including about 120,000 Army soldiers.

In recent months the Army has shown signs of strain, as Pentagon officials have had to extend the Iraq deployments of two brigades in order to bolster security in Baghdad and allow units heading into the country to have at least one year at home before redeploying.

This puts the lie to Republicans saying (for the elections) that the troops are likely to be drawn down next year.

Halliburton/Cheney,soldier speaking out

read today:

“For two years, I risked my life in the Iraq war. I am the child of a career Army man, and when it came time to decide what to do after high school, I knew I wanted to follow the same path. In 2003 and then again in 2005, my unit was deployed to Iraq.As a maintenance unit, we were responsible for repairing everything and anything soldiers used to do their jobs and stay alive: weapons, radios, trucks, computers—you name it.

So you can imagine our shock, weeks after getting to Iraq, when we were ordered to hand our mission over to private contractors employed by Halliburton.But there's a catch: Halliburton had neither the training nor the equipment to take over our mission. Most of the contractors had no previous knowledge at all of our equipment before coming to Iraq. One of the contractors I "trained" was not even remotely familiar with radio systems, but had been a missile systems repairman while he was in the Army.

Because our unit no longer had a mission, we were forced into other things that we weren't trained to do. Mechanics found themselves on guntruck missions escorting convoys between bases. Many of us were forced onto guard duty while the contractors fumbled through our old jobs getting paid way more than any soldier. I spent months checking ID cards at the Post Exchange and Recreation facility.

I felt helpless and awful, like I was letting down my fellow soldiers while they were being put into life-threatening situations with unsafe equipment, and there was nothing I could do about it.

Since I returned to the States, I've learned more about why all that happened—about how the Republicans gave Dick Cheney's old company all these huge contracts and didn't care at all how it endangered us soldiers.

And now, there is something I can do about it—I can speak out.
Respectfully,–David Mann,
SPC US Army 2003 & 2005
Tuesday, October 10th, 2006"

our Constitution, telephone conversations

Bush is running around the country campaigning on our taxpayer money and saying that Democrats don't want us to listen in on terroists telephone conversations. THAT'S ANOTHER REPUBLICAN LIE.

Democrats are saying we should listen to terroist telephone conversations but inform a judge, later, pursuant to our Constitution.

the two faces of Rumsfeld

Rumsfeld in 2000 was a non-executive director of ABB, a European engineering giant based in Zurich, when it won a $200m (£125m) contract to provide the design and key components for the reactors. The current defence secretary sat on the board from 1990 to 2001, earning $190,000 a year. He left to join the Bush administration.

In other words, Rumsfeld, the US defense secretary, sat on the board of a company which sold two light water nuclear reactors to North Korea - a country he now regards as part of the "axis of evil" and which has been targeted for regime change by Washington because of its efforts to build nuclear weapons