The US Tortures Prisoners. Period.

I wrote about that too, Casey.

http://www.progressiveu.org/201812-new-photos-from-abu-ghraib

Almost missed this Casey! Great job! You've been nominated for best writing!

http://wampum.wabanaki.net/vault/2006/02/002312.html

OMG!!! We've hit the jackpot!!!

http://wampum.wabanaki.net/vault/2006/01/002325.html

Apparently the Pentagon was questioning the authenticity of the photos, acc/BBC, but I read earlier that Rumsfeld said images existed from Abu Graib, 2003 that hadn't been aired and that they were pretty bad (paraphrase), & they also matched the description of ones requestsed by ACLU but not yet received.

In the best post category:

Democracy Cell Project: Sweeping it Under the Rug by Suz Krueger

Democracy Cell Project: George W. Bush has more in common with Richard Nixon than with his father Suz Krueger,

Democracy Cell Project: Hitting the Wall by Suz Krueger

Democracy Cell Project: It's not the Sex it's the lies by Casey Morris

Democracy Cell Project Pop Quiz: Please Define "Bribe" for the Class by Casey Morris

Democracy Cell Project: Polly Celebrates American Politics by Polly Sigh

Democracy Cell Project: Preaching to the Choir by Christy Cole

Democracy Cell Project: Our Truly Trivial Media by Casey Morris

Democracy Cell Project: This wasn't in the Sales Brochure by Casey Morris

Democracy Cell Project: Evidence Mounts About July 2002 by Casey Morris

Democracy Cell Project: If Not Now, When? by Suz Krueger

Democracy Cell Project: Coingate by Casey Morris,

think this was posted before:

http://wampum.wabanaki.net/vault/2006/01/002284.html

http://www.truemajority.org

I am on my 15th tank.

Of the top oil producing countries in the world, only one is a democracy with a president who was elected on a platform of using his nation's oil revenue to benefit the poor.1 The money you pay to Citgo goes primarily to Venezuela - not Saudi Arabia or the Middle East.

"Citgo is not just another oil company," says Citgo CEO Felix Rodriguez. "With Venezuela's state oil company, of which we are a subsidiary, we share a broad social mission." So buy Citgo gasoline and support democracy in South America:

Find the Citgo station closest to your home address.

And this winter Citgo is helping out less fortunate Americans, too.

You already may have seen the headlines about how Citgo, unlike every other oil company in the U.S., is making cut-rate heating oil available to struggling families in the Northeast. The Energy Department predicts a nearly 26 percent jump in heating costs this winter compared with last year,2 and despite a year of record oil company profits, the country's heating oil assistance fund is falling behind.3

Citgo has stepped in to help out. They're selling heating oil at discounted rates to poorer communities in Massachusetts and the Bronx, NY, and working on deals to keep low-income homes in Rhode Island and Vermont warm, too.

Casey - Thanks for the thread header. Besides the issue of an illegal, unjust, unethical and immoral attack and war and occupation of Iraq, the issue of torture and detention camps pushed everything into the abyss for me.

Torture and detention camps is THE issue that makes me ashamed to be an American, wishing I lived in an honorable country headed by someone who was an honorable person with a legislative body that would be strong enough to stop egomaniacal monsters from doing these horrors in the names of the innocent people in that country who, if fully informed by an independent media, would never, ever approve of torture and detention camps. It makes me physically ill to read the stories about torture, but I try to read them anyway.

Torture and detention camps is THE issue (besides that stupid war) that SHOULD send Bush & Cheney & Rice & Rummy (and whomever else is culpable) to jail for war crimes for the rest of their lives!!!!!

I can't put all of this in caps because it's rude to shout at innocent people. I would like to shout it to my legislators and to the administration. STOP the torture! CLOSE the detention camps and do not build any more! When did America stoop low enough to be on the same level as Hitler?!?!?

Congratulations on the nominations. Looking at the list of nominations confirms my impressions that Democracy Cell Project has some of the best posts on the net.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060215/ap_on_go_pr_wh/cheney_11

Cheney to Break Silence in Fox Interview

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Vice President Dick Cheney planned to break his silence Wednesday in his first televised interview about the Texas hunting accident in which he shot a 78-year-old lawyer. Cheney was to appear on Fox News Channel at 6 p.m. EST, the network and the White House announced. He hasn't spoken publicly about the accident Saturday that hospitalized Harry Whittington of Austin.

{{{More on link, description of the ammo, etc. This monster who accidentally shot his hunting buddy, ladies and gentlemen, is one of the masterminds behind the torture and detention camps, and the man who is profiting from the building of the detention camps via Halliburton....! There are no words to describe my disgust and feelings of revulsion, but I did note the interview will be on Faux, the official propaganda network for the Criminal Cabal....}}}

The release of the photos will undoubtedly be portrayed as harming our efforts in the Middle East.

Our efforts were pointless the minute we dropped that first bomb on Baghdad.

DiAnne:

It's okay to keep us all posted on the ongoing recount of your Venezuelan gas-tank fillups, I suppose. But for whatever it's worth, I've made a conscious point for the last couple of years of filling up my own non-SUV, fuel-efficient vehicle's tank with gasoline that was refined here in the U.S. -- right here in Pennsylvania, in fact, less than 75 miles from my house, by a company that employs U.S. workers and pays U.S. taxes -- and that was refined from 100% North American crude oil at that.

Not everybody has that local an opportunity to support homegrown industries, I understand. But when I read your updates I can't help but keep thinking that if somebody wanted to be proud of what they put in their tank, well... they really could do better than bragging about getting their gasoline fix from a historically unstable country that Amnesty International cites as having a truly appalling human rights record, especially with regard to its horrendous treatment of innocent children.

just my 42.99649 Venezuelan Bolivars, of course -- your mileage may vary,
Otter

Ballot botch: Coulter votes in wrong precinct
By Jose Lambiet
Palm Beach Post Columnist

She may be smart enough to earn millions from her acidic political barbs, but when it comes to something as simple as voting in her tiny hometown, hard-core conservative pundit Ann Coulter is a tad confused.

Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections records show Coulter voted last week in Palm Beach's council election. Problem is: She cast her ballot in a precinct 4 miles north of the precinct where she owns a home — and that could be a big no-no.
(snip)

Coulter, who owns a $1.8 million crib on Seabreeze Avenue, should have voted in Precinct 1198. It covers most homes on her street. Instead, records show, she voted in Precinct 1196, at the northern tip of the island.

A fave on the college speaking circuit and the occasional target of cream-pies-to-the-face, Coulter registered as a Republican (no kidding!) with the supervisor's office June 24. That's three months after she bought the home and moved to Palm Beach from Manhattan.

Here's the sticky part for The Right's Lady Macbeth: She wrote down an Indian Road address instead of Seabreeze on her voter's registration application. And she signed to certify the information as true.

"She never lived here," said Suzanne Frisbie, owner of the Indian Road home. "I'm Ann's Realtor, and she used this address to forward mail when she moved from New York."

Coulter didn't respond to requests for comment. But the blond GOP pit bull's former agent, Joani Evans, last year told Page Two Coulter left NYC to escape stalkers.

Is a desire to hold on to privacy the reason she gave the wrong address?

"I know but I'm not going to say," Frisbie replied.

No matter, Florida statutes make it a third-degree felony to vote knowingly in the wrong precinct. Lying on a voter's registration can cost up to $5,000 and five years behind bars.

"We're not a policing agency," says Elections Chief Deputy Charmaine Kelly. "You do not have to show proof that you live at your address. But when you sign the registration application, you also take an oath that everything you wrote is the truth.

"If someone brings us proof that a person falsified a registration, we'll check into it, then refer the matter to the state attorney's office if necessary."

(displayed with a story on airhead Paris Hilton, who does not know London is in the UK & thinks everyone in Europe speaks French)

For energy, I'll take Chavez over Cheney:

As the leader of the "Bolivarian Revolution", Chávez is known for his democratic socialist governance, his promotion of Latin American integration, and his criticism—which he terms anti-imperialism — of neoliberal globalization and United States foreign policy.[2]

Chávez was elected President in 1998[3] on promises of aiding Venezuela's poor majority, and reelected in 2000.[4] Domestically, Chávez has launched massive Bolivarian Missions to combat disease, illiteracy, malnutrition, poverty, and other social ills. Abroad, Chávez has acted against the Washington Consensus by supporting alternative models of economic development, and has advocated cooperation among the world's poor nations, especially those in Latin America.

Chávez has been severely criticized, mostly by Venezuela's middle class and upper classes. Whether viewed as a socialist liberator or an authoritarian demagogue, Chávez remains one of the most complex, controversial, and high-profile figures.

(edited, Wikipedia)

Cheney told Hume that Ranch owner Katharine Armstrong made the call to the local media because she was an "acknowledged expert," had "grown up on the ranch," had been a former official with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, along with being an eyewitness to the shooting. Cheney also said that Rove communicated with Armstrong since he knew her, and had hunted before at the Armstrong Ranch.

Cheney said, "I thought it was the right call," and that he still believes so, then added, "I had no press [staffers] with me."

The Vice President "guessed" that Whittington was around thirty yards away when he shot him, and that it was one of the "worst" days of his life. Cheney has "no idea" if he hit the bird that he was aiming at.

"The image of him falling is something that I'll never be able to get out of my mind," Cheney said, "I fired and there's Harry falling."

"One of the fortunate things," Cheney added, is that he always travels with a medical staff nearby, and they got to Whittington within minutes.

Hume later told Fox Anchor Shepard Smith that he tried to get Cheney to admit that he made a mistake in the handling of the incident, but was unable to do so, and that the vice president was "unapologetic" about that aspect. Hume wondered how Cheney felt about leaving White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan and others hung "out to dry." But the Vice President thought that the White House staff had handled the matter appropriately.

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Vice_President_Cheney_tells_Fox_about_0215.html

Hey, just a second here...

Per Dick Cheney: Katharine Armstrong made the call to the local media because she was an "acknowledged expert," had "grown up on the ranch," had been a former official with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department...

Acknowledged expert at what? Dealing with the media? Withholding information?

Well, if she was an acknowleged expert and former official with TX Parks & Wildlife, how come neither the VP or Whittington had the proper hunting stamps?

So much for being an expert.

Congrats to all the DCP nominees for best posts!! WOOOOHOOOOO!!

Congratulations DCP nominees!!!

Wow-lots of nominations!
WAY TO GO!!!

HUH????

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060215/ap_on_go_co/budget
House GOP Won't Revisit Flawed Budget Bill
WASHINGTON - A clerk's mistake could mean a budget bill President Bush signed isn't technically law, but congressional Republicans said again Wednesday they have no plans to try to fix the problem.

Congrats, Nominees! Way to go! :-)

A clerk's mistake could mean a budget bill President Bush signed isn't technically law, but congressional Republicans said again Wednesday they have no plans to try to fix the problem.

Posted by: NonnyO at February 15, 2006 05:33 PM

Nothing Bush does is ever technically legal, so this should come as no suprise.

We dont need no stinkin' laws.

http://firedoglake.blogspot.com

If you need a laugh, chk out the graphics here

Congratulations, writer-nominees! I always knew there was a reason I hung out here - this confirms it!

Congressional Probe of NSA Spying in Doubt
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021506Z.shtml
Congress appeared ready to launch an investigation into the Bush administration's warrantless domestic surveillance program last week, but an all-out White House lobbying campaign has dramatically slowed the effort and may kill it, key Republican and Democratic sources said yesterday.

Need public pressure.

Posted by: DiAnne at February 15, 2006 10:29 AM

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

Move On Org is organizing a day of protests of the NSA Wiretapping program, February 22, WEDNESDAY....

http://political.moveon.org/event/events/index.html?action_id=34&id=6834-1800471-11sFYg82r170jGqMdzbcAA&t=1

Go to the above webpage to either find an existing protest or to organize your own in your area.

The below webpage will give you a petition/letter to your Senators opposing the wiretap program:

http://political.moveon.org/ruleoflaw/?id=6800-1800471-Y4sbu_GpHTigesHdtu8h5Q&t=1

Does Sherrod Brown, running for Senate in Ohio, have a position on the Iraq war???

Other than we can't "cut and run" like "cowards".

WOW!!! Sherrod wants troops to begin withdrawing from Iraq by October 1 2006 (right during the champaign), at least that's what he said in this interview:

Singer: Where do you stand on the Murtha resolution? Not the fake Murtha resolution that came up, but the real Murtha plan, that he laid out?

Brown: I have sponsored legislation – I’m not sure when we introduced it, three months ago, maybe; most of us who sponsored this legislation had voted against the original war resolution – that would say that the President must submit to Congress and the American people by December 31st a winning exit strategy, and that troop withdrawal must begin October 1st – but an orderly, safe troop withdrawal must begin by October 1st of 2006.

That’s the direction I think we should go. It’s pretty clear to me when I hear Condoleezza Rice say that she believes we’re going to be in Iraq ten more years, that we need to act and begin to get our troops out, partly because it’s so divisive for our country, partly because we have seen that this war is costing a billion and a half dollars a week, and partly because, as we saw in the recent 9/11 report, this war is breeding more terrorism and making us more unsafe as a nation.

BTW - there is no mention of this timetable for withdrawal from Iraq on Brown's Campaign site.

We dont need no stinkin' laws.
Posted by: monkey at February 15, 2006 05:36 PM

I guess that's why The Cretin has Halliburton building a detention camp in CA, eh...? Getting prepared to start illegally detaining US citizens to torture once they're rounded up after illegal wiretaps while DynCorp and KBR mercenaries do the dirty work...? (Oh, please let me be wrong about that horrible attempt at macabre humor....)

I listened to BBC and the opening stories on The News Hour on PBS. Both had stories on the latest released torture photos. National news on regular networks is on at the same time as BBC news here, so I didn't catch those and don't know if they had stories on the torture photos or not.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More Abu Ghraib Torture Pictures Published
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021506K.shtml
They include photographs of six corpses, although the circumstances of their deaths are not clear. There are also pictures of what appear to be burns and wounds from shotgun pellets.
{{{Several thumbnails of torture photos, apparently from the Aussie paper.}}}

Baptiste Legrand | "The United States Begins to Worry"
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021506H.shtml
President of Amnesty France, Genevieve Sevrin, believes the US government has begun to worry about reaction to its torture policies, but doesn't see a change happening soon.
{{{From a French publication.}}}

EU Seeks CIA Info on Secret Prisons
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021506C.shtml
A European Parliament committee investigating allegations that the CIA had secret prisons in Europe will contact senior CIA and Bush administration officials in the next few days - and ask them to testify on the matter, an official said Tuesday.
{{{Good Luck to them. Perhaps they can save America from the wannabe dictator and maybe it will get attention in Lamestream Media in America so the people who supported this regime will finally see the "moral" quality of the people they "elected"... and don't forget: Halliburton is building a prison/detention camp in America, too, and while we know about one, there could be more in the works....}}}

Thanks for the article, Casey.

Why on earth do they think they need to treat the prisoners like this?

No telling what has gone on that we don't know about. This, like everything else, is a slow leak.

I lost my appetite for dinner.

Jason Leopold | Gonzales Withholding Plame Emails
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021506J.shtml
Sources close to the investigation into the leak of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson have revealed this week that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has not turned over emails to the special prosecutor's office that may incriminate Vice President Dick Cheney, his aides, and other White House officials who allegedly played an active role in unmasking Plame Wilson's identity to reporters.

Whistleblower Alleges Second Wiretap Program
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021506A.shtml
A former NSA employee said Tuesday there is another ongoing top-secret surveillance program that might have violated millions of Americans' Constitutional rights. Russell D. Tice told the House Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations he has concerns about a "special access" electronic surveillance program that he characterized as far more wide-ranging than the warrantless wiretapping.

Quick Rise for Purveyors of Propaganda in Iraq
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021506G.shtml
Two years ago, Christian Bailey and Paige Craig were living in a half-renovated Washington group house, with a string of failed startup companies behind them. Now their company, Lincoln Group, works out of elegant offices along Pennsylvania Avenue. The company's rise, though, has been built in part by exaggerated claims about its capabilities and connections, according to interviews with more than a dozen current and former Lincoln Group employees and associates, and a review of company documents.
Excerpt:
Although Lincoln Group's work in Iraq is now under scrutiny in two Pentagon investigations, the firm is hunting for more government work. Last month, Mr. Bailey attended a going-away reception at the Virginia condominium of a mid-level government employee on her way to a new job at the American Embassy in Baghdad. Her job: Overseeing contracts.

Missing Justice O'Connor already?

Me too!

http://www.progressiveu.org/175545-samuel-alito-on-the-bench-whose-influence-will-he-surround-himself-with

Ralpheh,
I can't quite figure out your position. Are you advocating that those of us who live in Ohio vote for Mike DeWine because Paul Hackett has withdrawn from the race or are you just trying to find out as much about Sherrod Brown as you can ?

Just one more for you to see. I'm not sure if you're aware of John Conyer's recent report. Anyways, I wrote a post about accountability and obstruction of justice. Please read it.

http://www.progressiveu.org/180806-so-nice-to-see-the-respect-the-white-house-has-for-congressional-oversight#comment-3791

http://news.yahoo.com/fc/us/us_armed_forces
Pentagon confirms authenticity of abuse photos
WASHINGTON - Photographs of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib that surfaced publicly for the first time are authentic but had been investigated previously by the US military, a defense official said. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the pictures matched those gathered by the US military two years ago as part of its investigation into the Abu Ghraib prison scandal.

{{{Like there was any doubt of the authenticity of torture?!?!? Puh-leeze!!! I did notice that some of the people quoted are treating this like "old news" - even though we saw other torture photos before, these are 'new' photos to us, and people need to be aware of what people in our government have condoned in our names, whether we approve or not...! And I, for one, do NOT approve - not then, not now, not EVER!!!}}}

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060215/pl_afp/australiausiraq_060215232213
Full Story on this link.....

Feingold's speech is relatively long, but he makes some valid points.

Russ Feingold | I Strongly Oppose Patriot Act Deal
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021506R.shtml
Senator Russ Feingold: What we are seeing is quite simply a capitulation to the intransigent and misleading rhetoric of a White House that sees any effort to protect civil liberties as a sign of weakness. Protecting American values is not weakness, Mr. President. Standing on principle is not weakness. And committing to fighting terrorism aggressively without compromising the rights and freedoms this country was founded upon - that's not weakness either.
Excerpts:
The draft conference report requires the government to notify the target of a "sneak and peek" search no earlier than 30 days after the search, rather than within seven days, as the Senate bill provides and as pre-Patriot Act judicial decisions required. The conference report should include a presumption that notice will be provided within a significantly shorter period in order to better protect Fourth Amendment rights. The availability of additional 90-day extensions means that a shorter initial time frame should not be a hardship on the government.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I suspect, Mr. President, that the NSL power is something that the Administration is zealously guarding because it is one area where there is almost no judicial involvement or oversight. It is the last refuge for those who want virtually unlimited government power in intelligence investigations. And that is why the Congress should be very concerned, and very insistent on making the reasonable changes we have suggested.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Let me make one final point about sneak and peek warrants. Don't be fooled for a minute into believing that this power is needed to investigate terrorism or espionage. It's not. Section 213 is a criminal provision that applies in whatever kinds of criminal investigations the government has undertaken. In fact, most sneak and peek warrants are issued for drug investigations. So why do I say that they aren't needed in terrorism investigations? Because FISA also can apply to those investigations. And FISA search warrants are always executed in secret, and never require notice. If you really don't want to give notice of a search in a terrorism investigation, you can get a FISA warrant. So any argument that limiting the sneak and peek power as we have proposed will interfere with sensitive terrorism investigations is a red herring.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
But, Mr. President, adding sunsets and new reporting and oversight requirements only gets you so far. The conference report, as it would be modified by S. 2271, remains deeply flawed. I appreciate sunsets and reporting, and I know that the senior Senator from Pennsylvania worked hard to ensure they were included, but these improvements are not enough. Sunsetting bad law in another four years is not good enough. Simply requiring reporting on the government's use of these overly expansive tools does not ensure that they won't be abused. We must make substantive changes to the law, not just improve oversight. This is our chance, and we cannot let it pass by.
Mr. President, trust of government cannot be demanded, or asserted, or assumed; it must be earned. And this Administration has not earned our trust. It has fought reasonable safeguards for constitutional freedoms every step of the way. It has resisted congressional oversight and often misled the public about its use of the Patriot Act. We know now that it has even authorized illegal wiretaps and is making misleading legal arguments to try to justify them. We sunsetted 16 provisions of the original Patriot Act precisely so we could revisit them and make necessary changes - to make improvements based on the experience of four years with the Act, and with the careful deliberation and debate that, quite frankly, was missing four years ago. Well, Mr. President, this process of reauthorization has certainly generated debate, but if we pass the conference report, even with the few White House modifications, we will have wasted a lot of time and missed our opportunity to finally get it right.

{{{WHY is "sneak and peek" even still in the Patriot Act...??? Then Feingold goes on to talk about National Security Letters and gag orders.... Gag orders? NSLs??? WHAT is our Clueless Congress doing to us??? LET the Patriot Act expire, for pete's sake!!! If the Resident can't stop 9/11 with the adequate intelligence he had as noted in the August, 2001 PDB, there is nothing whatsoever in the Patriot Act, revised or not, that can help him get adequate intelligence to stop another terrorist attack - or anything else - since he so obviously ONLY wants to cherry pick intelligence to start wars against other countries, not stop any terrorist attacks!!! Jeez, Congress. Get a Reality Check, will ya?!? The Cretin's administration is the most corrupt in our history, we know it, and so will everyone else in a few years when all this stupid and unnecessary secrecy is dropped...!}}}

Expressing the sense of the Senate that Senate Joint Resolution 23 (107th Congress), as adopted by the Senate on September 14, 2001, and subsequently enacted as the Authorization for Use of Military Force does not authorize warrantless domestic surveillance of United States citizens.

http://www.tedkennedy.com/page/s/resolution350

Go below the part where you can add your name if you wish, read the whole Resolution first....

If the Resident can't stop 9/11 with the adequate intelligence he had as noted in the August, 2001 PDB, there is nothing whatsoever in the Patriot Act, revised or not, that can help him get adequate intelligence to stop another terrorist attack - or anything else - since he so obviously ONLY wants to cherry pick intelligence to start wars against other countries, not stop any terrorist attacks!!!

Posted by: NonnyO at February 15, 2006 09:39 PM

Nonny - AFAIK, W could've stopped 9/11 in its tracks easily. He chose not to, because he knew that he could use it as an excuse to pass Patriot Act and turn himself into the Unitary Executive that he so badly wanted to be.

If Hitler could set fire to the Reichstag, blame the Communists, and give himself absolute power in the end, why not W?

Ralpheh,
I can't quite figure out your position. Are you advocating that those of us who live in Ohio vote for Mike DeWine because Paul Hackett has withdrawn from the race or are you just trying to find out as much about Sherrod Brown as you can ?

Posted by: kay at February 15, 2006 09:16 PM

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

If the Democrats keep putting up awful candidates who avoid taking positions - they won't win in 2006 and the Republicans will maintain control of Congress and the White House. I have seen how awful the Democratic party is run in Michigan.

Can't the Dems come up with a clear, simple and consistent message this election year? Something like

1) Bush and Cheney lied to the American people about Iraq and Al Qaeda

2) We are in an awful situation in Iraq

#) We should get out of Iraq, find Osama and concentrate on HOMELAND SECURITY....

Is this asking too much of the Dems. to TAKE A POSITION??? to stand up to Bu$h?? instead of empty slogans? like Jobs jobs and more jobs....??? Unfortunately Brown"s homepage does not even have the word "Iraq" mentioned. Political cowardice? strategizing/gaming for the mythical middl-of-the-road voter? That's what it looks like.

BTW I was asked to contribute money to encourage Hackett to get into the Senate race. I was told there was no strong candidate to go against DeWine and that Hackett was undecided. Hackett had done extremely well in a Republican district that lazy and timid Dems had written off.

I really don't want Republican lite in Dem candidates.

Posted by: AllyMcLesbian at February 15, 2006 10:32 PM

Yes, that's exactly what he is doing.

IMHO, whoever the brains behind the propaganda are (and it can't all be The Cretin - his IQ isn't high enough, even if the paranoia is mostly all his; he's just the face of it), they're using the same type of LYING logic that worked in Germany under Hitler to gain power, and the fear/terror tactics are the same as McCarthyism. It's psy-ops against the American people.

I agree; he could have stopped 9/11. He CHOSE not to.... He wanted it to happen.

My only question is: Why has no one asked why he CHOSE to ignore the Aug. PDB? The "explanations" I've heard so far (mostly from CondiSleazy, not precise enough intelligence) don't float.... He CHOSE to ignore the PDB because he wanted 9/11 to happen. I've looked at that piece of footage in F-9/11 over and over where The Cretin is sitting in that classroom, and to me it does not look like he's "frozen" (as some have interpreted it). I think he's sitting there relishing the moment, thinking he's got his pseudo-Pearl Harbor event that will give him power, and he seized it immediately with talking Congress into giving him war powers for Afghanistan (which he illegally turned into general war powers to invade Iraq illegally), and with shoving the Patriot Act through Congress shortly after that, before anyone ever had a chance to read what they were voting on.

Many people have forgotten: Just before 9/11 his poll ratings were bottoming out (everyone except the kool-aid drinkers knew he was the most incredibly stupid man ever to be pResident and he did not acquire his office via a clear election process, but SCOTUS gave him the office) and his ratings zoomed in the hours following 9/11 because of the false propaganda the media put out in their false patriotic zeal....

If he has a chance to repeat 9/11, he will. All the stupid laws he's trying to shove down our throats to make us give up our rights are just icing on the cake. If he can keep the general populace scared spitless, he can control them through fear. It's the control he's after (and the control his co-conspirators are after). But if the intelligence community gets firm info that another attack will happen, he will again choose to ignore it and allow it to happen... just to keep controlling the people of this country through fear/terror tactics....

The ONLY terrorists this nation needs to fear are the ones in control of this nation at this moment....

325,000 on terror list

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/14/AR2006021402125.html

may include innocents

Saddam Reportedly Warned US of Terrorism

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5623294,00.html

& also Britain

Bush Plans $75 Million Propaganda Campaign in Iran

http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,,1710721,00.html

Blair Victorious in "Glorificaton" of Terrorism

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/legal/article345716.ece

Translation: crumbling liberal opposition to pass restrictive new laws

& isn't that a neofascist sounding title?!
Some of this "cracking down" may be effective in some ways but at the expense of civil liberties. Then with the combination of Danes publishing dumb cartoons, Brits torturing including boys, & the new Abu Graib photos getting out - there will be even more "cracking down" to do.

In the next 2 years, both US and UK will have national ID cards with biometrics. Prepare to be tracked, even if all you're doing is trying to buy groceries.

Bonnie Erbe | Just When You Think it Couldn't Get Worse...
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0215-20.htm
{{{Erbe hosts "To The Contrary" which airs on PBS. The all-woman show used to air at noon on Sundays in our local market, but it now airs at 5:30 AM on Monday morning, no repeats of the show at any other day or time, even though most of the adult shows get aired at least twice, sometimes three times, in any given week, at different times of the day or night.... The women panelists are progressive, conservative, and independent, the topics are almost always political and/or about women, and all views are heard.... Putting the show on at 5:30 AM on Monday morning is tokenism.... and practically guarantees the show will not be seen by anyone unless they tape it. Erbe's article is not about the show; this note is only my snarky comment about when the show is on, 'cuz I always used to watch it on Sun. at noon and enjoyed the show, and think the show should be aired in it's old time slot again because too many women's voices are being silenced, marginalized, and not heard enough.}}}
Ed Garvey | Bushies Seek to Revolutionize the Country the Wrong Way
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0215-23.htm

The American Turkey Is Dead
By Mary Pitt
When the rank-and-file American voter rubs the propaganda-induced sleep from his eyes, he will realize that his freedoms are gone, his patriotism is misplaced, and the two buzzards, Democrat and Republican, are picking the lint from his empty pockets.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11911.htm

Pigs at the trough:
U.S. Has Royalty Plan to Give 7 Billion Windfall to Oil Companies :
The federal government is on the verge of one of the biggest giveaways of oil and gas in American history, worth an estimated $7 billion over five years.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11910.htm
{{{Like the oil companies with record profits really need any more financial windfalls?!?!?}}}

Ralpheh,
Thanks for the reply. I agree with all your points about the need for the Dem party to take a stand. I contributed to Hackett's campaign. However, the choices are Brown or DeWine . I'll be working at the local level to defeat DeWine and Ken Blackwell, who will be the candidate for governor. I hold Blackwell responsible for Kerry's defeat in Ohio with a lot of help from Diebold. Please pass me the tin foil hat, NonnyO!

Please pass me the tin foil hat, NonnyO!
Posted by: kay at February 16, 2006 06:52 AM

Ummmmmm.... Actually, I think I'd better make you a new one - and make myself a new one, too. I keep smacking myself on the forehead with my hand, and the one I've got is pretty wrinkled and beat up.... I'll need to throw it in with the recyclables pretty soon. ;-) Now there's a thought... if I recycled my brain, would I wake up in a world that's returned to sanity...? Reading articles like on the below links doesn't help... I just keep smacking my forehead....

MISSING THE SCANDAL AT ABU GHRAIB
Jeremy Scahill, AlterNet
The new photos from the Iraqi prison obliterate any idea that what happened there wasn't torture. So why is CNN treating it like nothing more than a military scandal?
http://www.alternet.org/story/32321/

In the Mix, Rachel Neumann challenges readers: first, to view the horrifying new torture images from Abu Ghraib; next, to do something about it. "This is one of those historical moments where passivity is tantamount to complicity," she urges:
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/themix/32303/

On the torture:

I totally agree that silence is complicity and therefore noise is absolutely required. What can do here, singly and collectively, to make the noise necessary for people to WAKE UP?

I keep thinking about the FEAR UP tactics--the subtle and not-so-subtle appeals to vague repercussions-- I still believe that, in addition to the voting machine fraud in 2004 (and 2002 and 2000), the additional nuanced references to *something bad's gonna happen if you vote Dem* and *Bush is a Christian; therefore saviour-connected* played a huge part in the election results. I still get chills in my spine when I remember Dick driving the car the Sunday morning before the election, and saying to me: "I have a horrible feeling people in churches all across this country are listening to negative messages about John Kerry and postive messages about Bush."

And I swear I could SENSE the fear with which people went into the voting booths--the unattached sense of danger/anxiety that leads to fear of anything new, different, challenging. And so, we have the status quo that so many of us knew was disastrous in Term One--an unending unfolding of the casualties of arrogance and greed.

We are a clever and concerned group of wildly varying sensibilities, locations, and lifestyles--what can we DO to bring an end to these horrific policies?

On another topic, there are $430 million dollars in brand new FEMA trailors sitting and deteriorating at the Little Rock airport, while thousnads of Katrina folks are getting kicked out of their hotel rooms in 2 weeks, according to our local news. FEMA just blew another $8 million in gravel to keep them from sinking. Has anyone in the media bothered to look at the possible connections between lobbyists and croanies of either Brownie or Chertoff. This story really smells and I sense there might be some graft as wasteful as the $1,000 per week that was paid to the Carnival cruise ships. In these days of exploding deficits you would think that so called conseratives might be bothered by this waste of tax payer dollars. What happened to the Golden Fleece Award? Maybe its time to bring it back. Brownie you did a heck of a job.

UN calls for Guantanamo closure

UN human rights investigators have called for the immediate closure of the US detention camp at Guantanamo Bay.

The UN report on conditions in the Cuba camp says the US should try all inmates or free them "without further delay".

Some aspects of the treatment of the 500-strong camp population amount to torture, the UN team alleges.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4718724.stm

Karen
On election day, I heard exit polls said Ohio, PA & Florida had Kerry winning. Then I read accounts of the final rallies of Bush, of Kerry. I heard them speaking on radio. Stevie Wonder played for Kerry, who talked about a "journey" and then Bush, speaking to his pre-selected cronies - I started crying, thinking "they won't let someone like JK be president"

Interesting diary on Kos - a conversation/interview with Mark Warner about what it will take for Dems to win.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/2/15/225345/669

Gov. Mark Warner: We don't need no stinkin' Rove...

ePluribus Media columnist Jeff Huber has a new article out entitled the "Top 10 War-Powers Myths".

It's worth your time - check it out here...
http://www.epluribusmedia.org/columns/20060214huber.html

a good email item for friends

Madame:

It will only take one thing for Dems to win: more voters voting per district.

Chuck in Doha

In enough districts and for the Dem candidate, that is, to take control of either the House or the Senate.

Chuck in Doha

Just read the dkos diary about Gov Mark Warner that MD recommended above. These snippets really struck home and here's the reason...

"How does a pro-choice, pro-government, pro-tax Democrat get elected with an 80% approval rating in the state of Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and Grover Norquist?"

"His tactic to approaching the Republican base starts with: "I'm a Democrat but, contrary to what you may think..." He paused, indicating that's the way he begins every appeal to a conservative area. He continues `I may not check every box of what you want, but I want to work with you to solve the problems that are important to you.' He mentions jobs, healthcare, education, economic development, and key to this, creating opportunities for `regular Americans' to stay in the community they grew up in by helping those communities compete in new industries of the future. He says he also boldly declares "I will never take away your guns. We need to enforce our existing laws. I'm not going to add a whole bunch of new ones." This, to counter the wall of deception by the NRA's constant "lib'ruls wanna take your guns away" droning."

"...Warner's approach appears to be to acknowledge those things that Virginians (and Americans) value most, finding solutions that embrace and bolster those values, and if it is necessary to increase revenues, to allow people to see how their tax dollars provide direct benefits to what it is that they value. In that way, people don't feel their money is disappearing into the black hole of government, but they feel as if they are making a contribution to help their own communities and their own futures. Further, this appeals to the things that unite communities not divide them. It provides a true sense of hope, not the venom and anger of Rove."

"He stressed the importance of finding ways to get American companies to insource rather than outsource. For this reason, Warner also helped get widespread broadband internet access to rural parts of Southwest Virginia, giving communities a tangible tool to help them compete. And his education restructuring had the same weak-point reinforcement approach, focusing vital resources into failing schools that were struggling, rather than punishing them Republican style..."

"It may seem subtle, but the essence of the approach is really to change the brand image of the Democrats. Rather than having the redstater perception of "liberal elitists" who think they know best, the idea is to retool the conversation from a fine wine-sipping tone to an ice tea-sipping tone. Warner talked to the people he wanted to help in their own language. He sponsored a NASCAR truck, had a bluegrass campaign song, and he addressed the redstaters with respect and concern rather than the contempt and anger fueled by Rove."

Maybe we need to send this out to people who are campaigning...

Here's the link to read it all...
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/2/15/225345/669

Great catch madame!

Victoria Wilson, Congressional candidate, releases Paul Hackett from his promise not to run for Schmidt's Congressional seat in Hamilton County Ohio. Let's hope the other 2 Democratic candidates do the same before the close of candidates applications which I believe ends today. Perhaps we can email the Hamilton County or Hackett office today and urge him to reconsider. Hackett would be Schmidt's worst nightmare.

Hi,

I need some help giving a more thorough response to Alex on my Alito thread. Please help me give Alex more facts.

http://tinyurl.com/c6p9b = progressiveu site

Hey Ira!

I like that Wilson lady!

Chuck in Doha

Posted by: nolies32fouettes at February 16, 2006 10:44 AM

nolie - please use www.tinyurl.com for your links. They are too long for the width of our page. We recommend that you use the smaller URL and identify the source, like this:

http://tinyurl.com/c6p9b = progressiveu site

Thanks.

Huge news from Bradblog

Maryland's Republican Governor Issues Devastating Blow to Diebold!

Calls for Paper Ballots, Decries Lack of Security, 1000% Increase in Maintenance Cost for Diebold Voting System!

In Letter to Election Board, Guv of Diebold's Model State Declares He 'No Longer Has Confidence in Their Ability to Conduct Fair and Accurate Elections'

Maryland was the "model state" for Diebold. It was amongst the first to roll out a near state-wide adoption of the new paperless Diebold DRE (touch-screen) voting machines after the 2000 election.

Diebold plowed millions into advertising campaigns across the state in order to declare the dawn of their new electronic voting age. "It's Here!" screamed billboards on buses, billboards, mall kiosks and television commercials -- "Maryland's Better Way to Vote".

Diebold's dream has become a nightmare for the once-great company.

As of yesterday, and a letter from the Governor [PDF] of the state obtained by The BRAD BLOG, indications are that the dream may soon be on the way towards a crashing and fitting end.

In the letter sent by Maryland's Republican governor Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. to the State Board of Elections on Wednesday, he declares that he "no longer [has] confidence in the State Board of Elections’ ability to conduct fair and accurate elections in 2006."

Citing the "widespread national concern about the reliability and security of electronic voting systems," the decertification and denial of certification of Diebold around the country, and the need to "get aggressive in responding to citizens' concerns over public confidence in the elections system," Ehrlich says it's time to demand paper ballots once again in the State of Maryland.

"It is my personal belief," writes Ehrlich in a letter to BoE Chairman, Gilles Burger, "that the voters of Maryland should be allowed to vote a paper ballot or have a voter verification paper-trail to electronic voting as reassurance to voters that their votes are being accurately cast."

In his excoriating letter to Burger, the Governor goes on to cite the 78% increase in base cost for the system over original estimates and the -- sit down for this -- "1000% increase for estimates of the annual maintenance costs for this system."

"The cost of Maryland’s Diebold voting machines has skyrocketed as our confidence in the system has plummeted," wrote the Governor.

Finally, the letter concludes with a brutal condemnation of the MD Elections Administrator, Linda Lamone, charging that her work and that of her staff, has been "primarily on behalf of partisan legislators and their interests and not on the interests of the citizens of Maryland."

Lamone, who is currently President of the National Association of State Elections Directors (NASED) has been a champion of Diebold's paperless touch-screen machines in the state. She recently testified to the state Senate that there was not enough time or money to add "voter-vefied paper trails" to Maryland's touch-screen machines prior to the 2006 election. As well, she has maintained for years that the system is safe, reliable and secure. Those claims are not well-founded.

An internal review by the state Elections Board after the 2004 election titled "Lessons Learned" [PDF] reveals that "189 voting units (7%) of units deployed failed on Election Day. An additional 122 voting units (or 5%) were suspect based on number of votes captured."

Those documented failures, of course, are just the ones we know about. In Leon County, Florida, when Diebold machines were hacked last December, it was done without a trace being left behind.

Washinton Post's Thursday coverage of Ehrlich's letter quotes him as telling reporters, "Maryland is not prepared to conduct an election."

Some Democrats in the Maryland Senate, however, are critical of Ehrlich who, they point out, had previously blocked efforts to include "voter-verified paper trails" on Maryland's paperless touch-screen machines.

That, however, was several months, and many "Diebold hacks" ago. Despite Diebold spokesman David "Baghdad" Bear's predictable response that there is still nothing to worry about and these machines work just great! -- there is most definitely something to worry about and the machines are terrible. Democrats in Maryland would be wise to recognize that, and be wary of getting lost in partisan politics, even if they were the ones responsible for deploying these crappy systems across the state in the first place.

The BRAD BLOG cannot overstate the devastating impact of Ehrlich's letter on the future of Diebold's Electronic Voting Machine hopes for this country. And it comes not a moment too soon.

Extended "must read" selections follow...

http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002431.htm

Here are two items mentioned at my website, http://www.thesoapboxroadshow.com

GENERAL MILLER QUITS IN THE MIDDLE OF ABU GHRAIB TESTIMONY:

By ERIC SCHMITTPublished: January 13, 2006WASHINGTON, Jan. 12 - Maj. Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller, the former commander at the detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, who also helped set up the interrogation operation at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, is declining to testify further about harsh interrogation practices and will retire from the service, Army officials said Thursday.

General Miller, 56, decided this week to invoke his right not to give testimony that might incriminate him and will not answer questions in court-martial proceedings against two soldiers who are accused of using dogs to terrify detainees at Abu Ghraib, Maj. Michelle Crawford, a military lawyer representing the general, said Thursday by e-mail.

The general's plans to retire after 34 years of service have not been announced, Army officials said, and it was unclear how the plans related to his decision to invoke his rights under military Article 31, the rough equivalent of invoking the Fifth Amendment in a civilian court. Invoking that right does not constitute an admission of guilt or wrongdoing.

cont......

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/13/politics/13detain.html?th&emc=th

also see the photos of prisoners and dogs in "Abu Ghraib PHOTOS" on this website.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OFFICER CHARGED WITH MURDER CONVICTED ON MINOR, LESSER CHARGE:

The Officer (called a Warrant officer) was not convicted of "murder" in his military trial but of "negligent homicide" in the death of an Iraqi prisoner/detainee who was a general in the Iraqi military. The other expression that the U.S. military uses for detainees is "PUC's"; persons under control - because in the Pentagon's eyes they ARE NOT prisoners of war, POW's. This strange legal/military distinction between between "detainees", "persons under control" PUC's, and POW's might have led to the rampant "confusion" in Iraq about how to treat these prisoners. Some have suggested that the U.S. military was purposefully vague about how to treat and interrogate "detainees".

The Iraqi general died of suffocation, apparently after the accused officer sat on him. The New York Times describes the officer thusly as "Chief Warrant Officer" and as "a chief interrogator with the Third Armored Cavalry Regiment in Qaim" and "a 19-year Army veteran". It would seem impossible to believe that the military would place the interrogation of an Iraqi general in the hands of a "rogue", or inexperienced or incompetent interrogator who had no notion of the rules of interrogation.

Here is another interesting tidbit in the New York Times article:

"The widely publicized incident (the general's death) has drawn special attention from human rights groups as one of the worst instances of abuse against detainees in American custody in Iraq, and because General Mowhoush had been beaten shortly before his death by a team that included one or more C.I.A. contract workers."

*****

(Link to the Times article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/22/politics/22cnd-general.html )

******

The extremely light sentence of 3 years (MAXIMUM) and the drastically reduced charges, in my estimation, sends a clear signal to the entire world that the Pentagon does not really care about punishing wrong-doing - in this case murder - by its officers. In the Abu Ghraib abuse trials, Military Policeman Graner received a far harsher sentence - 10 years in prison - for mistreating and battery of prisoners.

From the AP article quoting the prosecutor in the murder trial:
************************

During the trial, prosecutors described a rogue interrogator who became frustrated with Mowhoush's refusal to answer questions and escalated his techniques from simple interviews to beatings to simulating drowning, and finally, to death.

Welshofer used his sleeping bag technique in the presence of lower ranking soldiers, but never in the presence of officers with the authority to stop him, Dolan said.

The treatment of the Iraqi general "could fairly be described as torture," Dolan said.

In an e-mail to a commander, Dolan said, Welshofer wrote that restrictions on interrogation techniques were impeding the Army's ability to gather intelligence. Welshofer wrote that authorized techniques came from Cold War-era doctrine that did not apply in Iraq, Dolan said.

From Media Matters:

Propaganda/Noise Machine

http://mediamatters.org/items/200602150007

AP failed to note that McClellan withheld heart attack info in press briefing

An Associated Press article failed to inform readers that White House press secretary Scott McClellan, during his noon press briefing on February 14, withheld from reporters the fact that the man Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot had suffered a heart attack earlier that morning. Moreover, the AP article left the false impression that McClellan had indeed informed reporters of this development. Read more

IRAQ
A Festering Symbol

Australia's Special Broadcasting Service yesterday released new images of the mistreatment of Abu Ghraib prisoners. The photos are "more graphic than those previously published" in 2004, and satellite stations such as Al Jazeera immediately beamed the images across the Arab world. "They could hardly have come out at a worse time," the BBC rightly points out, "amid the furor over the Danish cartoons and immediately after the emergence of a video showing British troops beating up Iraqi protesters." The new photos can only hurt American efforts to win hearts and minds in Iraq, and could start "fueling more Arab anger against the United States." The right wing will no doubt attack the media for releasing the photos, but it is the Bush administration that has not dealt with the larger problems the Abu Ghraib torture scandal exposed. Donald Rumsfeld is still Secretary of Defense, there still has been no independent investigation of the abuses, the White House believes it can "waive the restrictions" of the McCain torture amendment, and Abu Ghraib remains a "festering symbol of the unsolved problems" the administration has had stabilizing Iraq.

A TERRORIST INCUBATOR: "Detainees at Abu Ghraib will be relocated," Bush promised in May 2004. "Then, with the approval of the Iraqi government, we will demolish the Abu Ghraib prison, as a fitting symbol of Iraq's new beginning." Instead, the prison has become "an incubator for more violence." The prison is "a breeding ground for extremist leaders and a school for terrorist foot soldiers." One American commander described the prison as "a graduate-level training ground for the insurgency." The crowded prison allows detainees to exchange methods, pass along information, and create lasting relationships with each other. The prison is symptomatic of the larger issues in a country that "has become a magnet for violent extremists from across the Islamic world."

ALLAWI SAYS VIOLENCE REMAINS WORSE THAN UNDER SADDAM: Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi told the Observer in London late last year, "People are doing the same as [in] Saddam's time and worse." "People are remembering the days of Saddam," Allawi added. Last Sunday on CNN Late Edition, Allawi said he still felt the same way about what's happening in Iraq. "It is still my position," he told Wolf Blitzer. "Unfortunately, there are lots of atrocities being committed and are happening, and if this is allowed to continue, then Iraq would be thrown back again to the darkness of the evil forces that Saddam led in Iraq." The Iraqi government is currently investigating the existence of a "police death squad" after the government "found the bodies of 10 more men who had been shot execution-style and dumped in three different areas of Baghdad's predominantly Shiite suburb of Shula."

BUSH SENDING WRONG SIGNALS ON TORTURE: "The abuses at Abu Ghraib have been fully investigated," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said. Yet the clear line between what soldiers can and cannot do to detainees remains blurred. The anti-torture legislation which Bush signed into law was meant to clear up the sort of confusion that led to Abu Ghraib. But after signing the bill, Bush released a "signing statement" which said "executive branch shall construe [the law] in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the President...as Commander in Chief." In other words, he will follow the torture law when he sees fit. Meanwhile, high-level supervisors have thus far escaped punishment for the Abu Ghraib scandal. Last month, Maj. Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller, who helped establish operations at the prison, "invoked his right not to incriminate himself in court-martial proceedings against two soldiers accused of using dogs to intimidate captives." It was the "first time the general has given an indication that he might have information that could implicate him in wrongdoing."

(Center for American Progress)

Anyone here read "Secrets" by Daniel Ellsberg. He talks about his wife reading the McNamara Report for the first time just before he released it to the New York Times in 1971. He started reading them in earnest in 1969. She noticed something he never noticed. They talk about the bombing of N. Vietnam using the terminology of torture. They intended to bomb N. Vietnam in ways to elicit the most fear possible using terms such as water torture to describe the intent. Apparently, the US has been interested in torture for a long time. Didn't work so well in Vietnam. What makes them think it's a good idea now?

Posted by: madame defarge at February 16, 2006 10:55 AM

Ok i'll use tiny url, thanks!

Cheney says he has power to declassify information

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/02/16/cheney.classified.ap/index.html

Can somebody find the law that gives the Vice-President this right, or is he pulling this one out of a hat?

Posted by: oncall at February 16, 2006 02:04 PM

Al Franken & Tom Oliphant were just talking about that on Air America... Apparently, no one really knows where this "right" came from, since they'll classified so many (all?) of their documents as top-secret & unaccessible.

It's clear to me that the current executive branch of our government is just playing by their own rules and making those rules up as they go, with no regard to the other two branches or the good old Constitution & Bill of Rights...

And BTW, how convenient for the Veep to have these powers to declassify information, now that his former chief of staff has been indicted.

How many more days until this nightmare is over?...

For many reasons, I love Chicago. And now, here's another really good one...

Aide: Chicago Not Interested In 2008 RNC
(AP) CHICAGO Thanks but no thanks.

That's Chicago's answer to an invitation to submit a bid to host the 2008 Republican National Convention.
http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/local_story_047082857.html

From http://www.d-n-i.net/fcs/lane_fizzle.htm

A Short Checklist on Why the Iraq War Will Fizzle
Bryce Lane, February 13, 2006

A great article about how we allow our leaders to get us in messes and why they must keep us in messes to continue to reap the benefits.

[snip]
The gang problem. The US does not have nearly the troops or resources in the area to be any more than one more gang in a neighborhood full of them already. Yes, a gang with lots of firepower; but the problem is in not in the power of the weapons but in figuring out which way to point them.

- Only Feingold is filibustering the Patriot Act so it will be extended.
- The US is justifying what is happening at Guantanamo & refusing to chang, & getting upset at "leakers" of more Abu Graib photos rather than the torture itself.
- Cheney can "declassify" what he wants, which may get him and Libby off the hook, & Gonzalez will probably be able to protect Abramoff/Delay.

The government appears to be made of teflon - nothing sticks.

Last summer, we featured the song "Lives in the Balance" by Jackson Browne. Check out this powerful 3 minute video with the song as the soundtrack...for our children's sake...

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11924.htm

A CNN investigator just went over the statute that Cheney is claiming gives him Executive Powers to DE-classify information. The investigator said the statute gives the President, and on SOME occassions the VP the power to CLASSIFY information, not to DE-classify it. He said (and I quote)all Cheney is doing by saying he has the power to DE-classify information is "muddying the waters".

The transcript is not posted on CNN's "Live From" transcript page yet, but the page is constantly updated, and then the statute Cheney is "trying" to refer to will be posted.

I have a deadline due at work, so will not be able to check back until this evening for that statute.

In the meantime, this is the original statute that many feels they violated:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/07/14/sanford/index.html

Check here at "Live From" with Kyra Phillips for an update on the transcript of Kyra presenting the statute that says the Executive Branch can CLASSIFY info, but doesn't say it can DE-classify it. The full transcript should be available soon, along with the full statue number and description.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/lol.html

Oliphant read the executive order Cheney was referring to oncall and it talks about Classifying documents not declassifying which requires prior authorization from the Justice Dept.
If Gonzalez won't recuse himself then Dems should insist that the Abramoff investigation be referred to Fitzgerald or a federal judge.

Posted by: Truth Shall Prevail at February 16, 2006 03:31 PM

They'll probably scrub it from the transcript.

Here it is!!!

Email yourself the page while it's still up!

~ SNIP~

(Kyra Phillips on Live From today on CNN):

Former Republican congressman and regular CNN contributor Bob Barr is here with us.

OK. So a couple of things to hammer up here, or hammer on. Declassification of documents. From what you've known and know, did you know or do you believe that a vice president has the ability to declassify documents?

BOB BARR, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: It's not quite that simple, but the bottom line, Kyra, is that no, the vice president cannot just wake up one day and say, oh, I'm going to declassify something. It doesn't work that way. It is a specific procedure that the vice president, who does have authority to classify information, which is very different from the authority to unilaterally declassify information -- he has the authority to classify. But if he wants to have something declassified, there is a process through a National Security Council adviser that he has to go through.

PHILLIPS: OK, because he came out in his interview yesterday, and this is what he said when he was asked about this. "I certainly advocated declassification. I have participated in declassification decisions. There's an executive order that specifies who has classification authority, and obviously it focuses first and foremost on the president, but also includes the vice president."

OK. So we went digging a little further here and found executive order 13292, section 1.3. Now I'm getting really technical here.

BARR: I'm impressed. PHILLIPS: Yes, are you impressed? OK, I tell you, this took all morning. Our staff was going crazy. All right, here's what it says. "The authority to classify information originally may be exercised only be the president and in the performance of executive duties, the vice president, agency heads and officials designated by the president." So if you're looking at this executive order, it looks like Dick Cheney is right, he would have the ability to declassify documents.

BARR Now, there's another -- there a number of documents that one would really have to look at here. The vice president clearly has the authority, in his official duties as vice president, to classify information.

But the vice president cannot, under these executive orders -- plus the fact there are federal laws that relate to certain types of information, such as, in the Valerie Plame case, the identity -- releasing the identity of an undercover operative of the CIA, for example. An executive order cannot override those specific statutes. That's sort of a side issue here.

But having the authority to classify information and being able to participate, as the vice president correctly said in his interview just the other day, in declassification procedures and requests, are very different from having the unilateral authority to declassify, which I do not believe from reading these documents the vice president has.

PHILLIPS: So why would the vice president come forward and say this? Because if it's -- if Scooter Libby, indeed, was told by a superior -- you would think that's Dick Cheney, his boss -- that he could release this information about Iraq, talking about the identity of Valerie Plame.

And now you've got the vice president coming forward, saying I can declassify information if I want. If you start putting everything together, it looks like if that indeed, if all those facts -- well, if all that information are, indeed, facts, that they didn't do anything wrong?

BARR: Well, of course, what we're not dealing with here are facts. We're dealing here with interpretations of executive orders, interpretations of perhaps other bureaucratic procedures, interpretations of law.

And the vice president, although I don't think he's said anything technically wrong in his statement to the press the other day, he's being very clever about it. He throws this issue out there, that hey, I really may have authority to declassify something. Then when he's pressed on it, he says, oh, I might be a witness, so I can't say anything about that. What they're doing is very simple. It's an old Latin term called muddying the waters.

more.......

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0602/16/lol.03.html

I don't know about the rest of you, but I am incensed by this administrations cavalier attitude toward breaking the law.

They really think they are above the law, and can rewrite and skirt the law of this land - as well as international law.

God help us.

BattleBob,

Good to see you here!

Posted by: Truth Shall Prevail at February 16, 2006 05:02 PM

When you control all three branches of government, know how to manipulate the media, have corporate America (and most of the wealthiest Americans) in your back pocket, and have used the churches to ensure that a majority of the population feels their daily needs are being met...

...and just in case, you have laws in place that allow you to do just about whatever you want to a "terrorist" or to combat "terrorism"...although since you never define those terms, you can expand them to mean anything you want...

...well then, you really are above the law, and can skirt it, interpret it, or do away with it as you please.

Steve Clemons at Washington Note talks about classification/declassification...

Can Cheney be His Own Declassification Machine?

--snip--
Executive Order 12958 on "Classified National Security Information" was promulgated by President Clinton on April 17, 1995.

This Executive Order "prescribes a uniform system for classifying, safeguarding, and declassifying national security information."

In this 1995 Executive Order, the VICE PRESIDENT is mentioned only one time -- and only in such a way that the automatic, 25-year declassification of historically important documents can be preempted if declassification would "impair the ability of responsible United States Government officials to protect the President, the Vice President, and other individuals."

Now, let's move to the March 25, 2003 Executive Order by President Bush, No. 13292, that amends President Clinton's Executive Order on National Security Information.

The Vice President's "presence" in the Executive Order increased by 1000%. Instead of just one mention in the Executive Order, Cheney's office is referred to eleven times.

(See the link to read the details of this order.)

--snip--
There is NOTHING HERE that indicates that the Vice President has any embedded authority to be a declassification machine unto himself.

--snip--
Vice President Cheney is right that he has the ability to classify materials; that is clear from the Executive Order.

It is also clear, however, that the rules and processes for CLASSIFYING national security information are completely different than DECLASSIFYING information. That is evident from reading the structure of the Executive Order itself.

So, Cheney is engaged in Executive Branch over-reach again, implying he has a power that is not designated.

This is the issue that the nation should be focused on -- and in TWN's view, it is far more important than Cheney's hunting accident and even his obsession with making the White House opaque to this country's citizens.

If Cheney authorized Scooter Libby to leak classified national security secrets, then Cheney broke the law and should be investigated. GOP presidential hopeful George Allen agrees.

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/001253.php

Posted by: madame defarge at February 16, 2006 02:35 PM

MN was also invited to send in bids. I wonder if it will or not...? The one Dem mayor who stood with The Cretin during the '04 campaign was just soundly defeated in a Mayoral race by another Dem with the surname Coleman but no relation to the neoCon senator of the same surname from MN. However, unfortunately, we do have a VERY neoCon Republican governor who appears to be a Bu$h darling, and that horrid senator Norm Coleman whose lips are surgically attached to Bu$h's behind....

I guess I'll have to watch tonight's 10 pm in-state news to see if there's an update.

MN is being blitzed with commercials spouting war propaganda and lies (which goes to a five-state area, not just the "test market" state of MN), some sports team is ganging up on a suburb of the Cities and says it will contribute some funds for an entire sports complex, but is demanding both county and state tax money for the rest (no one wants state tax money to be donated to sports stadium building funds for any of the three sports teams from the Cities), and an RNC convention might prove to be a wee bit too much of a headache and cost too much money in overtime for law enforcement - or else, if the war propaganda commercials work, this very blue state may make a bid because of that idiot governor (who has sometimes been mentioned as someone who might want to run for president)....?

With a lot of luck, MN will stay true blue....

Feingold, Alone, Filibusters Patriot Act
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021606J.shtml
In a case of legislative deja vu, Sen. Russell Feingold launched another lonely filibuster against the USA Patriot Act, but sponsors predicted enough support to overcome the objection and extend parts of the law set to expire March 10.
{{{Did anyone else see the filibuster? I didn't see this in time to tune in to C-SPAN....}}}

Amid China Threat, US to Hold Mammoth Naval Operations in Pacific
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021606G.shtml
Amid persistent warnings about China's growing military clout, the US military said Tuesday it would hold one of its biggest naval exercises in the Asia Pacific this summer. The large-scale operations will involve several carrier strike groups, each of which includes at least three warships, an attack submarine and a support ship.
{{{ Gee. I wonder if this will appear in any American media as well?!?!? Playing war games sounds like a build-up to war to me....}}}

Outrage Spreads over New Images
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021606E.shtml
New footage of British soldiers beating up young Iraqi men in Amarah city in 2003, and the release of more photographs of atrocities by US soldiers against Iraqi detainees in Abu Ghraib prison has spread outrage
across Iraq. The timing of the new images is potent, in the wake of violence spreading through Iraq and much of the Muslim world over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed carried by a Danish newspaper and then other European publications.

Bush Plans Huge Propaganda Campaign in Iran
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021606B.shtml
The Bush administration made an emergency request to Congress yesterday for a seven-fold increase in funding to mount the biggest-ever propaganda campaign against the Tehran government, in a further sign of the worsening crisis between Iran and the West.
{{{ Anyone else see this as a monumental waste of money?!?!? Is this going to make it to Lamestream Media in America?}}}

Norman Solomon | Cheney's Dodge: Taking Responsibility
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021606C.shtml
When Dick Cheney surfaced on Wednesday long enough for an interview with Fox News eminence Brit Hume - an event that CNN's Jack Cafferty promptly likened to "Bonnie interviewing Clyde" - the vice presidential spin
emerged from a time-worn bag of political tricks, writes Norman Solomon. Cheney took responsibility. Whatever that means.
Excerpt:
And so it goes: Whether the media uproar has to do with a quail hunt, or lethal negligence in connection with a hurricane, or chronic deception for a war, top officials may finally opt to "take responsibility." But that's nothing more than a propaganda technique for those who view lying as an essential means of governance.

Jonathan Schell | Farewell to Ground Zero
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021606D.shtml
How is it, then, that the United States has returned to a systemic crisis so profoundly similar to the one in the early 1970s, asks Jonathan Schell. By looking at external foes, are we looking in the wrong place for the origins of the illness? Is this transformation what a more "conservative" public now wants? Or is there instead something in the
dominant institutions of American life that push the country in this direction?

ABU GHRAIB PHOTOS THOUSANDS!?!?!?!?

I was just over at Salon.com and I saw about 20 more, new abuse/torture photos. I CANNOT HELP BUT CONCLUDE THAT THERE WAS SYSTEMATIC, SANCTIONED ABUSE AND TORTURE OF PRISONERS BY THE U.S. MILITARY.

The military and Rummy have tried to blame it all on low-level rogue MP's BALONEY. THERE PICTURES ARE A CELEBRATION AND DOCUMENTATION OF TORTURE/ABUSE.

As I posted previously, AN OFFICER was charged