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Habeas, Shmabeus
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Way back in the deep dark days of the current political cycle -– you know, in those long-ago weeks and months before the Foleygate scandal changed everything, ahem -– there was a brief but intense flurry of outrage over the current administration’s reckless handling of such little legal niceties such as, oh, government-sanctioned torture, the Geneva Convention, habeas corpus, that sort of thing.
And brief it was, too. How could it not be, in comparison to the delightfully salacious stories dripping down from the Hill? There's nothing sexy about arbitrarily redefining the core tenets of common law. It's hard to get folks all worked up over the government's systematic dismantling of obscure Latin legalisms. Nobody can keep track of all those icky fine points of international law, after all. But oh, those pesky pages!
Yep. Sex sells, all right. And, more importantly, sex distracts. It’s a lot easier for plain folks to relate to predatory pedophiles in public office than to all that complicated legal stuff. (And that’s a pretty sad indictment of what’s wrong with this country right there… but we digress.)
The habeas corpus thing is a particularly difficult one for Jane Q. Public to wrap her head around. Understand it? Heck, she can’t even pronounce it. Sure, the term comes up every now and again on the ubiquitous reruns of “Law and Order” that seem to clutter the airwaves like so much curbside litter after the annual zoo parade has passed.
But other than that, the whole concept of habeas corpus is so strange and remote from daily life that it’s much easier to shrug, sigh, and say “Yeah, okay, whatever. But it doesn’t have anything to do with me, right?”
Wrong. It has everything to do with you, Ms. Public, and with everyone around you. Oh, sure, it may not seem like that right now. But it will. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon. And for the rest of your life.
Just ask Ali Partovi. As this little-noticed article from the weekend’s AP newswire points out... Ali Partovi knows.
In a jail cell at an immigration detention center in Arizona sits a man who is not charged with a crime, not suspected of a crime, not considered a danger to society.
But he has been in custody for five years.
His name is Ali Partovi. And according to the Department of Homeland Security, he is the last to be held of about 1,200 Arab and Muslim men swept up by authorities in the United States after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
There has been no full accounting of all of these individuals. Nor has a promised federal policy to protect against unrestricted sweeps been produced.
Human rights groups tried to track the detainees; members of Congress denounced the arrests. They all believed that all of those who had been arrested had been deported, released or processed through the criminal justice system.Just this summer, it was reported that an Algerian man, Benemar "Ben" Benatta, was the last detainee, and that his transfer to Canada had closed the book on the post-9/11 sweeps.
But now The Associated Press has learned that at least one person - Partovi - is still being held. The Department of Homeland Security insists he really is the last one in custody.
"Certainly it's not our goal as an agency to keep anyone detained indefinitely," said DHS spokesman Dean Boyd. Boyd said the department would like to remove Partovi from the United States but that he refuses to return to his homeland of Iran.
And so he remains, a curious remnant of a desperate time.
“A curious remnant?” More like a typical representative. There are some 450 detainees in the Guanatamo Bay prison complex who are in the same unheralded hell as Mr. Partovi, and hundreds or even thousands more like him worldwide who have also been detained illegally and indefinitely under the current administration’s policies without fuss, without fanfare, without public outcry… and without habeas corpus.
“But that’s different,” says Joe and Jane Average Citizen. “They’re not like us. They’re terrorists. And besides, they’re not from here. So that doesn’t really have anything to do with me, does it?”
Yes. It does. Just ask the fine folks at KBR. They’re the ones building those so-called “detainment centers” at taxpayer expense –- essentially a series of in-country concentration camps with room to hold not just hundreds, or thousands, but tens of thousands of unspecified but eagerly-anticipated prisoners right here on American soil. And KBR's not building them for their health. Or for yours.
Nope. Whether you know it or not, Ms. Q. Public, hundreds of millions of dollars of your tax dollars are being spent right this minute to build huge prisons capable of locking up your friends, your neighbors, even your kids for years on end without anyone having to explain a darn thing about what they’re doing in there.
And all because the powers that be in the current administration have arbitrarily declared that “habeas corpus” doesn’t mean anything any more. But that’s okay. No need to worry about that, Joe. No need to fret, Jane. After all, there’s bound to be some fresh breaking-news development in the sordid Foley's Follies sleaze festival to take your mind back off Ali Partovi's fate before it can bother you too much.
And that's exactly what those men behind the curtain are counting on.
I know that the KBR prison building makes me deeply uneasy. Why hasn't there been a major MSM investigative report on this? Or has there been one and I just missed it?
Privacy under attack, but does anybody care?
It's vanishing, but there's no consensus on what it is or what should be done
By Bob Sullivan
Technology correspondent
MSNBC
Updated: 5:02 a.m. ET Oct 16, 2006
Bob Sullivan
Technology correspondent
Someday a stranger will read your e-mail, rummage through your instant messages without your permission or scan the Web sites you’ve visited — maybe even find out that you read this story.
You might be spied in a lingerie store by a secret camera or traced using a computer chip in your car, your clothes or your skin.
Perhaps someone will casually glance through your credit card purchases or cell phone bills, or a political consultant might select you for special attention based on personal data purchased from a vendor.
In fact, it’s likely some of these things have already happened to you.
Who would watch you without your permission? It might be a spouse, a girlfriend, a marketing company, a boss, a cop or a criminal. Whoever it is, they will see you in a way you never intended to be seen — the 21st century equivalent of being caught naked.
Psychologists tell us boundaries are healthy, that it’s important to reveal yourself to friends, family and lovers in stages, at appropriate times. But few boundaries remain. The digital bread crumbs you leave everywhere make it easy for strangers to reconstruct who you are, where you are and what you like. In some cases, a simple Google search can reveal what you think. Like it or not, increasingly we live in a world where you simply cannot keep a secret.
The key question is: Does that matter?
For many Americans, the answer apparently is “no.”
When pollsters ask Americans about privacy, most say they are concerned about losing it. An MSNBC.com survey, which will be covered in detail on Tuesday, found an overwhelming pessimism about privacy, with 60 percent of respondents saying they feel their privacy is “slipping away, and that bothers me.”
more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15221095/
dwahzon:
There was a small amount of MSM attention paid to the KBR prison-building contracts around the time they were awarded, but there was a lot of other higher-profile news happening at the time and the story seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle pretty quickly.
I had kind of expected more of this American-gulag to come back into the public spotlight during the whole detainee/habeas legislation kerfluffle several weeks back, not to mention in the context of the ongoing immigration debates. But once again, it got shoved to the back of the bus by other events then too. Coincidence? You make the call.
I'd sure love to see Keith Olbermann take this one one in time for the Nov. 7 elections, though. Anybody reading this have any inside connections over at MSNBC?
I'd love to sing along but they've thrown away the key,
Otter
Welcome to the Republic of Halliburton, aka The United States of KBR.
As of 26 Sept 2006, there is an initial public offering of KBR stock. On Oct. 23 9 AM C, you can get in on Halliburton's conference call re their quarterly profits. ESG is their energy sector, KBR is for construction.
http://www.halliburton.com
KBR is mentioned in Kerry's "Tour of Duty," as they built alot of the military infrastructure in Vietnam. Halliburton has been around since 1919. Halliburton employs 80,000 people in 100 countries. KBR has 60,000 employees in 43 countries. It was purchased by Halliburton in 1962. With one foot after oil, the other foot building government infrastructure, they aren't going away soon. They're a megalith. I went to the "locations" part of their website and can "select a region" and then a country, and there will be offices.
Here is their latest big project (Halliburton):
SAUDI ARAMCO AWARDS HALLIBURTON MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR CONTRACT TO DEVELOP KHURAIS MEGA PROJECT
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 7, 2006--Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) has been awarded the oilfield services component of the largest oil development project in the Arabian Gulf Region since the 1950s - the Saudi Aramco Khurais mega project. This three-year contract includes a full range of Halliburton's integrated services and technologies. In order to produce 1.2 million barrels of oil per day (MMB/d) for several years, the project will utilize up to 23 rigs to support the drilling and completion of more than 300 wells. Development of this project is a key contributor to Saudi Aramco's plan of increasing production capacity.
--Is it any wonder we've had two wars in the Gulf?
On to Kellogg, Brown and Root section of the Halliburton website:
Welcome to KBR
Site is Temporarily Unavailable.
----
Typing simply KBR, I get the Wikipedia entry. It turns out the company is now called simply KBR. They are basically a private military contractor, and Dick Cheney is still listed among "key people." They are non-union, and also the largest non-union construction company in the US. They are based in Houston.
In a smaller form (before several mergers), they built military infrastructure during World War II.
Imagine the lobbying power they have!
On April 15, 2006, Halliburton filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission to sell up to 20 percent of its KBR stock on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Halliburton will still own at least 80 percent of KBR should the statement be approved. Halliburton has stated in its SEC filings its intent to eventually dispose of its KBR holdings, believing the two companies would best be served by being separate from the other.
--So, the two companies have separated, at least on paper, and now people can buy stock.
They've built Navy warships, dams, offshore oil platforms, 85% of Vietnam War infrastructure, Balkan war infrastructure, Kosovo war infrastructure.
At the height of the war protesting of the 1960s, Brown & Root was derided as "Burn & Loot" by protesters,
KBR build such things as laundry servies, Burger Kings, Subways, Papa John's, cable access, basketball courts, gyms.
" The success of Brown & Root during the Clinton Administration further bolstered the opinion that the private sector could better determine how to provide deployed soldiers with adequate supplies for day to day life in a forward area."
In September 2005, KBR was contracted to provide debris removal and reconstruction during natural disasters, starting with Hurricane Katrina cleanup. 8 facilities were involved.
In Afghanistan they built the Kabul embassy and did $216 million of work under Operation Enduring Freedom.
Activities in Iraq (two bases in Afghanistan, one in Georgia).
KBR was hired to house 100,000 soldiers in Iraq - a $200 million contract (long-term, signed in 2001). They also had a pre-invasion order to repair oil facilities in Iraq ($28.2 million to build POW camps, $40.8 million for Iraqi Survey Group, deployed after the war to find WMDs). They developed a contingency plan for extinguising oil well fires in Iraq. KBR's 2001 long-term plan is classified.
In March, 2003, KBR was awared five Iraq orders worth $7 billion. Center for Public Integrity obtainedone of the orders, which was to procure and deliver fuels to Iraq. The contract was awarded two weeks before it was announced, without any competitive bidding or Congressional notification.
When Congress inquired, KBR said fire extinguishing fell under their old long-term 2001 contract, that they already had security clearances. They said that contract was classified, so that precluded open bidding. Dingall and Waxman asked the GEO to investigate whether the Pentagon were circumventing government contracting procedures and favoring companies with ties to the Bush administration. They also accused KBR of inflating prices for importing gasoline into Iraq.
Another contract, RIO, (Restore Iraqi Oil), was awarded to KBR when the Department of Defense determined that KBR was "the only contractor that could satisfy the requirement for immediate execution of the plan" As of September, 2006, hearings are still being conducted into the RIO project over possible billing, management, and procurement violations.
Now KBR gets contracts by co-bidding with other Texas-based companies (like a front). There have been Texas connections before, as LBJ got KBR a dam-building contract in exchange for helping fund his Senate race. Cheney was chairman and chief executive officer of Halliburton from 1995 to 2000. He has been accused by political opponents of supporting the 2003 invasion of Iraq and providing work to KBR under contingency contracts to financially benefit himself and his business associates.
Looks like their main competitor is DYNCOR, also Texas based, which got some of the government contracting in 1994 (remember the rapes that occurred & the guys got off because they were under no one's jurisdiction, in Kosovo?)
Employee Safety
As of September 22, 2006, 91 KBR employees and subcontractors have been killed and 400 wounded in Iraq, Kuwait, and Afghanistan.
HERE WE GO ..
On October 9th 2006 it was reported "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" including US citizens. The Military Commissions Act of 2006 empowers Bush to declare not just aliens which means 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. It claims that Kellogg Brown & Root, a subsidiary of Cheney's Halliburton, is constructing a huge facility at an undisclosed location to hold tens of thousands of undesirables.
Houston's convention center was named after company founder and namesake George R. Brown.
Reading through Executive Orders.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/03/20060307-5.html
It describes the relationship between faith-based organizations and Homeland Security.
There are some strange ones. "Protecting the American People"
I doubt MSM would be able to write or film much, as it's all going to be classified.
As usual, these kids are on top of it - the have the specifics on size of the contract AND they provide a pdf for an Army memo on Civilian labor on military bases.
http://www.progressiveu.org/144800-bushs-new-programs-will-we-see-interment-and-labor-camps-for-muslims-and-fifth-collumn-unloyal-americans
More here:
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2006/01/332775.shtml
Could we get Waxman on this maybe? (mentions Carlyle Group too)
From previous thread:
Posted by: monkey at October 16, 2006 06:41 AM
Posted by: Otter at October 16, 2006 10:19 AM
I just heard about the Saddam sentencing date on the noon snooze.
Wowzers, indeed.... ~sssssnnarrk~!
This dollar number is a close match for the number provided by Progressive U story:
http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7B62C8724D-AE8A-4B5C-94C7-70171315C0A0%7D&dateid=38741.5136277662-858254656
It refers to the camps as being able to hold an "influx of immigants"
Chertoff insists the camps are for immigrants, that we have too many & our jails are too crowded.
http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=35120&dcn=todaysnews
more detail, includes Operation Granite Shadow, whereby the military can operate without civilian control.
http://news.pacificnews.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=eed74d9d44c30493706fe03f4c9b3a77
Power Geyser, "purported" program for security of US officials, has been reported in NYT.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Geyser
Did Bush really by a 98,000 plus acre ranch in Paraguay?
http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID={EBA55617-2676-4091-ABBC-20650EB6FEE1}&language=EN
Is he going into exile?
From your lips to the Goddess's ear, DiAnne...
The Saddam thing is probably timed to try to make the Admin look good before the mid-term election.
It's not just me. "Karl Rove at his best .."
http://thepremise.com/archives/10/16/2006/402
The only thing that would be more blatantly obvious than Saddam being sentenced on the SUNDAY before the midterm elections would be if Osama gets smoked out of his hole during the morning drive segment of the Rush Limpball show on the following TUESDAY.
Ba-a-a-a, Dumbug.
Report by Kayakbiker on protest against Cheney, Minnesota
http://www.silencedmajority.blogs.com/
from their prepared statement regarding their protest on the urban lake:
I AGREE WITH HENRY DAVID THOREAU.
What are we to do when the agents of government who are responsible for enforcing the law wantonly break the law? You can’t just call the police. “They” are the police. David Henry Thoreau wrote a famous book called Civil Disobedience (Published in 1849) around the time that the United States started a totally unjust land-grabbing war against Mexico. Thoreau opposed the war by acts of non-violent civil disobedience. When he got put in jail for his acts of civil disobedience he said, “In times like these, all good citizens should be in jail.” These are my sentiments for these times, as well. Every good citizen should be in jail, including me! Not for violent actions, but for opposing violence by blockading the war machine with everything we have, including our bodies. We must not just be in favor of peace. We must wage peace.
Roger Cuthbertson
Posted by: DiAnne at October 16, 2006 12:47 PM
Exile on a continent where the leaders of almost every nation there hate him...? I would have thought he would have chosen those new artificial islands being built (some already done?) in the Mideast as a place of exile.
Do we have an extradition treaty with Paraguay?
98,000+ acres. Hmmmm.... That must be big enough to build an air base on, or build a training camp for guerillas..., eh???
NonnyO
He can play bridge with the Nazis who went there.
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/040130.html
Sectarian death squads kill scores in Iraq
Car bombs kill 20 in northern Baghdad; U.S. death toll hits 58 in October
Updated: 2 hours, 12 minutes ago
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Two near simultaneous car bombs killed 20 people and wounded 17 in a mixed neighborhood in northern Baghdad on Monday, an Interior Ministry source said, bringing the death toll from a four-day rampage of sectarian fighting to at least 111.
One of the blasts in Ur district went off near a market, police said. The attacks took place at sunset shortly before Iftar, when Muslims break their fasting during the holy month of Ramadan, Reuters reported.
Meanwhile, five soldiers and two Marines were killed in fighting Sunday, bringing to 14 the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq over the past three days. A total of 58 U.S. troops have been killed in the first two weeks of October.
more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15285032/
By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - President Bush personally assured Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki Monday that he has no plans to pull troops out and told him to ignore rumors the United States intended to enforce a deadline for Baghdad to rein in sectarian violence.
The president's pledge came in a 15-minute morning phone call with al-Maliki, who told Bush he was concerned because he had been hearing that the United States was giving him a two-month timeline to operate on his own.
"He (al-Maliki) said that rumors sometimes can undercut confidence in the government and also its ability to work effectively in fighting terror," said Bush spokesman Tony Snow. "And the president said, `Don't worry, you still have our full support.' "
Snow said he wasn't clear where the rumors were coming from, although there is growing frustration in Congress and across the country about Iraq. Snow said that in his talk with al-Maliki, Bush did not express any sense of urgency. Casualties have been increasing amid almost daily violence that has eroded support for the war in the United States.
Bush initiated the call to Maliki. Snow said the prime minister made clear that talk about "giving timetables or expiration dates or whatever to the government were not only undermining the government, but also inspiring terrorists. ... And, similarly, he dismissed the notion of partition, which he also thought was undermining the government.
The White House also said that Bush would not be bound by the recommendations of a special commission exploring U.S. options in Iraq. The group, led by former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, is to report its recommendations after the elections.
"This is something you listen to seriously," Snow said. "But we're not going to outsource the business of handling the war in Iraq. ... The president is the commander in chief. And simply because you have a blue-ribbon panel, it does not mean that he hands it off to them."
A growing number of U.S. lawmakers are calling for a new strategy in Iraq, including two leading Republican senators who spoke out Sunday on television talk shows.
more...
http://tinyurl.com/vfrvo
Posted by: monkey at October 16, 2006 04:28 PM
PBS's The News Hour just had someone on it talking about what's not working, what may have to be done, and the partition of Iraq into three states for Kurds, Sunnis, and Shias was one of the map graphics, and which areas had control of how much oil beneath their sands was mentioned, as well as the mixed groups in larger cities....
What to DO about the shameful and disgusting "Iraq problem" for the neoCons...? And still make it possible for them to say they were the "victors" in an illegal and unconstitutional war, which, by definition, makes "victory" impossible....
Clearly, something has to be done. Too many lives have been lost, too much money wasted for the series of LIES we were fed that made sheeple jump on the patriotic bandwagon to support the troops on the quest to control Iraq's oil (and I maintain that if Iraq erupts in a civil war, we don't need to waste any more American lives there - that part of this "battle" is entirely in the hands of the Iraqi factions, and they need to figure out how to keep killing each other or arrive at a common ground of agreement to oust the US occupiers before they continue with their own civil war). That the neoCons will have that uppermost in what they impose on Iraq's government is a given. Bu$hCo has made a mess of things, but we certainly do not need to participate in their civil wars, reasons for which we don't understand, nor should any more American lives be lost in their civil wars. (The latter is only MHO, of course. Taking sides in anyone else's civil war only gets more of our own people killed; deaths as a result of Bu$hCo lies is bad enough already; more death, more ruined lives won't solve anything.)
Posted by: DiAnne at October 16, 2006 02:42 PM
Errr... is he smart enough to know how to play bridge? I don't know the game, but I thought it involved things like strategy, thinking ahead... traits which DimWit doesn't have....
BUSH'S PETRO-CARTEL ALMOST HAS IRAQ'S OIL
By Joshua Holland, AlterNet
Even as Iraq is on the verge of splintering into a sectarian civil war, four big oil companies are on the verge of locking up its massive, profitable reserves, known to everyone in the petroleum industry as "the prize."
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/43045/
Poll: Support for Iraq war at all-time low
October 16, 2006
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A poll conducted for CNN over the weekend suggests support among Americans for the war in Iraq is dwindling to an all-time low. Just 34 percent of those polled say they support the war, while 64 percent say they oppose it.
Women led the opposition, with seven in 10 saying they oppose the war. Twenty-eight percent say they support it, which is the lowest support among women in any CNN poll taken since the invasion more than three years ago.
Support among men is stronger, with 40 percent supporting the conflict and 58 percent opposed to it.
This comes as the nation's top general acknowledged the overall strategy in Iraq is under review. Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told CNN that military plans, including the linchpin of U.S. exit strategy -- reliance on Iraqi forces to take up the fight -- is being reviewed.
Troop withdrawal is a key condition for ending the insurgency, according to one of Iraq's most visible insurgent groups. A man believed to be the spokesman for the Islamic Army of Iraq issued a videotaped message Sunday reiterating interest in negotiating with U.S. forces.
However, President George W. Bush personally assured the Iraqi prime minister Monday that he has no plans to pull U.S. troops out and that there is no U.S. timeline for Iraqi forces to take over.
Thirty-four percent of those polled approve of how Bush is handling the war, with 64 percent disapproving.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/10/16/iraq.poll/index.html
Saddammit!
Posted by: NonnyO at October 16, 2006 07:52 PM
"Keep you eyes on the prize" doesn't mean what it used to...
I don't know if anyone has noticed my absense. But remember the seed Karen mentioned a few weeks ago.
Well, here's what I've been helping with.
http://www.patriotictruthteller.net/index.html
Books start being printed tomorrow. So please check it out, buy a book, and say nice things about this wonderful woman and the awsome book and website!
ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) -- A woman who was ticketed for having an obscene anti-Bush bumper sticker filed a lawsuit in federal court Monday against a county in the state of Georgia and its officials.
Denise Grier, 47, of Athens, Georgia, got a $100 ticket in March after a DeKalb County police officer spotted the bumper sticker, which read "I'm Tired Of All The BUSH**."
A DeKalb judge threw out the ticket in April because the state's lewd decal law that formed the basis for the ticket was ruled unconstitutional in 1990.
Grier is seeking damages from the county for "emotional distress," according to the lawsuit.
Grier also seeks a declaration in federal court that her bumper sticker is considered constitutionally protected speech because she is "uncertain and insecure regarding her right to display her bumper sticker in DeKalb County," the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia.
Grier, a nurse who works at Emory University and other hospitals, also is seeking punitive damages against the DeKalb police officer who gave her the ticket because he "acted with reckless disregard" of her rights, the lawsuit said.
The state law prohibited lewd or profane stickers and decals on vehicles.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/10/16/sticker.suit.ap/index.html
They died for our freedoms...
FBI Agents Raid Home of Rep. Curt Weldon's Daughter
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101606R.shtml
Federal agents raided the home of the daughter of US Rep. Curt Weldon this morning. The agents departed Karen Weldon's three-story brick home on Queen Street in Philadelphia with their arms loaded with boxes. The raids came three days after news broke that the FBI is investigating whether the Republican congressman used his influence to help his daughter, a registered lobbyist, win consulting contracts.
Pombo's Energy Bill a Boon to Oil Companies
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101606H.shtml
Tucked into a massive energy bill sponsored by Congressman Richard W. Pombo (R-Tracy) are provisions that would open the outer continental shelf to oil drilling and slash future royalties owed to the federal government by companies prospecting in Rocky Mountain oil shale deposits.
Keith Olbermann Goes On the Attack Against President Bush
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101606T.shtml
Keith Olbermann has delivered a series of hard-hitting commentaries on the failures of the Bush administration on MSNBC. As a result, his ratings are moving up. Olbermann says he hasn't spoken to NBC Chairman Bob Wright or anyone at corporate owner General Electric Co. about his commentaries, and no one has asked him to tone things down. Such is the almighty power of the Nielsen meter.
{{{Hint, hint, hint.... Pay attention, Lamestream Media! If you want people with an IQ higher than a rock to watch your nightly snooze you'll have to follow Olberman's example and start broadcasting the truth about the current administration, snark and all. We're fed up to here with spin about infotainment and daily propaganda about what you think FumbleMouth has said in his rose garden hissy fits and otherwise. WE know he's lying! When are YOU gonna figure out he's lying every time he opens his mouth?}}}
America's "Other" War Party
By Mike Whitney
The giddiness among Democrats about their prospects for a sweep in both Houses of Representatives has reached a level of absolute euphoria. But what exactly are the voters are hoping for?
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15309.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I left this message on their Comment section for the article:
Do we have an extradition treaty with Paraguay?
Does Paraguay have oil wells?
Sounds like a big enough "ranch" that it could be converted to a military base, thus Bu$hCo could remain on the land or sell it back to the US government for buku bucks. Or it could be converted to one of those black hole prisons (aka concentration camps) by Halliburton/KBR to house dissidents or anyone Bu$hCo deems 'an enemy combatant' and where they definitely would not have access to US laws if Congress wakes up and repeals that horror known as the US Military Commissions Act of 2006 which effectively makes him the dictator. Or it could be converted to a place to house and train guerilla fighters when Bu$hCo wants to 'impose democracy' on any South American nation.
In any case, none of this is gonna be pretty with PNAC in charge of our government through surrogates like the dumbass sitting in *our* White House.
My rep has already signed on to Conyers' impeachment bill, and I'm going to urge any new Dems elected in my state (we have all paper ballots; any contested results can be recounted accurately) to either sign on or support impeachment proceedings (right after they repeal the Patriot Act and amendments and repeal the torture bill that makes Bu$h a dictator, as well as a lot of other insane legislation the Rubber Stamp Congress voted for since 2001).
It may be an uphill battle, but we must at least TRY to get some common sense back into our government....
Hi guys. Back in Linton, N.D.
Trying to post at the new John Kerry blog.
Can't find out how to enter a post.
Can anyone help me?
Tnx,
Truth
Truth Shall Prevail
If you went to http://www.johnkerry.com and clicked on Blog, then hit "comments" at the bottom and it didn't open up to "comments" with a box for you to post a comment at the bottom - then you may have to make sure you have actually joined http://www.johnkerry.com since the site is up again.
NonnyO
I guess Bush couldn't play Bridge or Chess - it would have to be Chutes and Ladders, Go Fish or Candyland.
DiAnne,
Bush bought land in Paraguay, so soon after being named Torturer in Chief?
Very simpatico to another exile and torturer, Dr. Joseph Mengele, of that earlier fascist regime, apprehended in Paraguay.
Posted by: dwahzon at October 16, 2006 10:48 AM
DW,
Don't count on the MSM to expose a multibillion corporation.
Hey All,
Back in the States after a long day of planes, trains, and airport security. But tomorrow is the day I wear the t-shirt on Jet Blue.
Saw lots of footage from Baghdad in Vienna and realized (again) that we never see those images here. Still, most folks seem to know it's bad.
The t-shirt (and all of the t-shirts) are importnt because they remind people that there is collective understanding of how deeply WRONG the people in charge of the country are right now.
And check out the book Suz mentions above. And know that that book would NOT be published if not for our own Suz. She took it on and would not take "no" for an answer.
Marjorie G
It's so ironic ..
Posted by: DiAnne at October 16, 2006 01:01 PM
http://thepremise.com/archives/10/16/2006/402
DiAnne,
I read that article yesterday. The ONE reason I can believe for Rove's and Bush's confidence about the upcoming election is their confidence that the machines have been programed to elect Republicans. Has anybody noticed Bush's recent smirk when he was asked about the upcoming elections? It was the exact same smirk he gave when asked how he felt about the 04 election when the exit polls initially predicted his ass whipping.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-cesca/if-youre-gonna-cheat-_b_31772.html
Posted by: Karen at October 16, 2006 11:46 PM
Karen,
Good luck coming to SoCal tomorrow.
You'll be too tired, and I'll be too busy, so I won't be meeting you this time (as I mentioned in email - have you checked it?). I'll try to give you a call during your stay, however.
Hopefully we could do some good plotting for our country's future - though we will have to mind the NSA.
Don't push yourself too hard, and have a nice trip.
Wow.
On rare occasions on the overnight snooze between 3-5 a.m. in Lamestream Media, one can find out the most astonishing things. This from CBS overnight....
I assume it was taped earlier, but there was an in-studio interview with Gloria Steinem about the new talk radio network she and Jane Fonda (and other powerful women, according to two blogs) have started. So, I went to the two web sites quoted - well, actually you only need to go to one, since there's a link to the other one on that web site. The target audience is women, but I don't know why men wouldn't be interested, if only on behalf of their mothers, grandmothers, aunts, wives, daughters, granddaughters, et al., and probably on their own behalf, too - there are non-gender-specific issues to be talked about when it comes to environment, etc., after all.
I haven't listened yet, but it looks interesting... and the mere idea of talk radio that does not feature rightwingnuttia xenophobia is enough to get me to give it a listen for a few days to see if I like it....
http://www.greenstoneradio.com/GSM/
Streaming audio/radio. Click on the tabs; it looks like they're setting up for live-blogging sessions to coincide with the radio hosts...
http://www.womensmediacenter.com/home.html
Under the tab 'Columnists/Bloggers' are links to articles by various authors (Molly Ivins, one of the perennial favorites, is listed).
N. Korea: U.N. sanctions are declaration of war
U.S. envoy: Pyongyang should pay 'high price' for its 'reckless behavior'
Blaming the United States for instigating U.N. Security Council sanctions against it, North Korea today called the resolution approved over the weekend a "declaration of war." North Korea's Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency that the country wants "peace but is not afraid of war."
cnn.com
msnbc.com
wearesoscrewed.com
WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. spy agencies confirmed North Korea's nuclear test on Monday, even as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice declared that U.N. sanctions prove the world is united in opposing Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions.
Such strong opposition should be a warning to Iran, too, said Rice, who is leaving Tuesday morning for an Asian trip that is expected to be dominated by the nuclear issue. She will visit Japan, South Korea, China and Russia.
-snip-
At the State Department, Rice said the world "has responded calmly and firmly" to the test.
"North Korea cannot endanger the world and then expect other nations to conduct business as usual in arms or missile parts," Rice said, previewing her message for the Asia trip. "It cannot destabilize the international system and then expect to exploit elaborate financial networks built for peaceful commerce."
She said Iran - another government accused of running an illicit nuclear program - should pay attention to the global reaction. That would include the U.N. Security Council's sanctions adopted on Saturday, aimed at making life difficult for the North Korean government and its weapons proliferation business.
"The Iranian government is watching, and it can now see that the international community will respond to threats from nuclear proliferation," said Rice, who added that she believes the Security Council will begin working on a sanctions resolution against Iran this week. "The Iranian government should consider the course that it is on."
http://apnews.myway.com//article/20061017/D8KQ3G6O0.html
FEAR: THE OCTOBER SUPPLIES
Iran leader in Bush 'Satan' claim
By Frances Harrison
BBC News, Tehran
Ahmadinejad says he has inspirational links to God
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has reportedly delivered a scathing attack on US President George W Bush, saying he is inspired by Satan.
Speaking to a group of supporters, Mr Ahmadinejad said he himself had inspirational links to God, Iranian media reports.
He was talking to supporters at a mosque in the capital Tehran.
The reports come as Iran is facing the prospect of UN sanctions over its nuclear programme.
The president has been making light of the risk of any confrontation with the outside world.
According to the Iranian media, Mr Ahmadinejad said he had inspirational links to God, and went on to say that if you were a true believer, God would show you miracles.
Then the Iranian president said Mr Bush was similar to him.
According to Mr Ahmadinejad, the US president also receives inspiration - but it is from Satan.
He repeated: "Satan inspires Mr Bush."
Mr Ahmadinejad also reiterated that Iran would not suspend its nuclear programme, "even for one hour", and said there would be no retreat, "even one millimetre back".
He dismissed talk about possible war breaking out over the nuclear issue as nonsense, saying some people were making an unnecessary fuss about US naval ships reportedly sailing towards the region.
http://apnews.myway.com//article/20061017/D8KQ3G6O0.html
Posted by: Karen at October 16, 2006 11:46 PM
To be more specific, it would not be published if I wouldn't take no comment (silence) as a no.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061017/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_terrorism
Bush to sign law for tough interrogation
WASHINGTON - President Bush is signing into law new standards expediting interrogation and prosecution of terror suspects, a bill the White House says strengthens his hand in a time of war.
Bush's plan becomes law just six weeks after he acknowledged that the CIA had been secretly interrogating suspected terrorists overseas and pressed Congress to quickly give authority to try them in military commissions.
The bill ready for signing would protect detainees from blatant abuses during questioning — such as rape, torture and "cruel and inhuman" treatment — but does not require that any of them be granted legal counsel. Also, it specifically bars detainees from filing habeas corpus petitions challenging their detentions in federal courts.
White House press secretary Tony Snow said that after Bush signs the legislation Tuesday, the government will immediately begin moving toward the goal of prosecuting some of the high-value suspects being held at the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He expected it would take a month or two to get "things moving toward a trial phase."
"In terms of having trials, for good and obvious reasons, you don't do that overnight," Snow told reporters. "You do have to make sure that the defense is going to be able to do its job properly and the prosecution the same."
The swift implementation of the law is a rare bit of good news for Bush as casualties mount in Iraq in daily violence. Lawmakers are increasingly calling for a change of strategy and political anxieties are jeopardizing Republican's chances of hanging onto control of Congress.
{See link for more nonsense about this horror. Mark it on your calendar: October 17, 2006, is the day the United States of America officially becomes a dictatorship, the day all of the rights and privileges granted to us under the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights disappear, the day US law becomes null and void on the say-so of one pea-brained cretin, the day the Geneva Conventions become null and void...... A day of infamy, indeed. I wonder if there will be a televised rose garden ceremony to mark the occasion...?}
October 17, 2006
Iraq’s Christians Flee as Extremist Threat Worsens
By MICHAEL LUO
BAGHDAD, Oct. 16 — The blackened shells of five cars still sit in front of the Church of the Virgin Mary here, stark reminders of a bomb blast that killed two people after a recent Sunday Mass.
In the northern city of Mosul, a priest from the Syriac Orthodox Church was kidnapped last week. His church complied with his captors’ demands and put up posters denouncing recent comments made by the pope about Islam, but he was killed anyway. The police found his beheaded body on Wednesday.
Muslim fury over Pope Benedict XVI’s public reflections on Islam in Germany a month ago — when he quoted a 14th-century Byzantine emperor as calling Islam “evil and inhuman” — has subsided elsewhere, but repercussions continue to reverberate in Iraq, bringing a new level of threat to an already shrinking Christian population.
Several extremist groups threatened to kill all Christians unless the pope apologized. Sunni and Shiite clerics united in the condemnation, calling the comments an insult to Islam and the Prophet Muhammad. In Baghdad, many churches canceled services after receiving threats. Some have not met since.
“After the pope’s statement, people began to fear much more than before,” said the Rev. Zayya Edward Khossaba, the pastor of the Church of the Virgin Mary. “The actions by fanatics have increased against Christians.”
Christianity took root here near the dawn of the faith 2,000 years ago, making Iraq home to one of the world’s oldest Christian communities. The country is rich in biblical significance: scholars believe the Garden of Eden described in Genesis was in Iraq; Abraham came from Ur of the Chaldees, a city in Iraq; the city of Nineveh that the prophet Jonah visited after being spit out by a giant fish was in Iraq.
- more -
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/17/world/middleeast/17christians.html
Welcome back Karen, and great work Suz!!!
I'll have to get the book and check it out (not that I need convincing about my vote!)
And Otter -
Thanks for a great thread topic. Hopefully this will be back in the news today - after it really is too late.
How did we get here?
How did we get here?
Posted by: Carol at October 17, 2006 07:50 AM
I blame those that refuse to see reality.
The Not Sees
The Last Throes of the Love thy Neighbor Campaign...
Shootings, bombings, kill at least 28 across Iraq
Violence claims 708 Iraqi lives; Oct. on track to be deadliest month for GIs
Updated: 56 minutes ago
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP)- Bombings and shootings across Iraq killed at least 28 people on Tuesday, including four students and a doctor. In Balad, the scene of sectarian fighting that has killed close to 100 people, U.S. troops aided Iraqi security forces struggling to contain the bloodshed.
October was shaping up as one of the country’s deadlier months. According to an Associated Press count, 708 Iraqis have been reported killed in war-related violence this month, or just over 44 a day, compared to a daily average of more than 27 since the AP began tracking deaths in April 2005.
U.S. deaths were also running high. Seven American troops died in fighting over the weekend, raising the U.S. toll to 58 killed in the first two weeks of October, a pace that if continued would make the month the worst for coalition forces since January 2005.
Ten people were killed a spate of shootings in the southern, predominantly Shiite city of Basra. Unidentified gunmen in police and civilian cars opened fire on the victims, who included four students shot on campus and a well-known doctor killed on her way to work, Basra police said.
In Karmah, west of Baghdad, a roadside bomb killed five Iraqi soldiers as their convoy passed through the town, police Lt. Ahmed Ali said.
Gunmen stormed into the house of a Shiite family in Balad Ruz, northeast of Baghdad, killing a woman and her four grown sons, provincial police said.
Two policemen in a patrol car were killed by gunmen in a passing car in the western city of Fallujah, police said.
Violence in Mosul
In the northern city of Mosul, gunmen killed a member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, one of two main Kurdish political parties, police Brig. Saed Ahmed said. Gunmen approached by car and fired at Fatah Hurki as he stood in front of his home, Ahmed said.
Also in the heavily Kurdish north, two suicide car bombers blew themselves up in a botched attack near the police academy in Kirkuk, police Brig. Sarhat Qadir said. There were no reports of other casualties in the attack.
A suicide bomber attacked a Kurdish girls’ high school in Kirkuk on Sunday, one of several attacks that killed at least 10 people in the ethnically mixed city.
Unidentified gunmen attacked an electrical facility in the town of Hillah, south of Baghdad, killing a technician.
Elsewhere in Hillah, gunmen raided a house of a merchant and kidnapped one of his sons, police Capt. Mothana Khalid Ali said.
A deadly mortar attack
In Baghdad, two people, including a policeman, were killed in a mortar attack on the downtown Ilwiyah neighborhood.
The blindfolded and bound bodies of two unidentified men were found dumped in west Baghdad early Tuesday, Lt. Maitham Abdul-Razaq said. Abdul-Razaq said the men had been shot in the head and their bodies showed signs of torture — a calling card of roving sectarian death squads blamed for nightly killings and abductions.
The fighting in Balad, a town near a major U.S. air base an hour’s drive north of the capital, began Friday with the slaying of 17 Shiite Muslim workers. Revenge-seeking Shiite death squads then killed 74 Sunnis, causing people to flee across the Tigris River to the nearby Sunni-dominated city of Duluiyah.
U.S. forces have kept a low-profile in the fighting, in which local police units have reportedly joined with Shiite militiamen to attack Sunnis.
American spokesmen have said only that U.S. forces were units were “partnering with” Iraqi police and army units operating around Balad and providing “quick reaction assets” to the Iraqi police and army.
The situation in the area was unclear on Tuesday and witnesses said Balad was largely blocked off by security forces.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15300668/
Nice.
Link follows, but this NY Times feeder headline says it all:
"Cheney Hits Heartland, And He Can Feel The Love"
http://tinyurl.com/yge89g
*fnord*,
Otter
Just an FYI for those who have sent emails to congress critters via some of the services that promise to send them through for you (versus going and looking up said congress critter's individual email/website contact form):
Email your Congressman? - The Internet and e-mail have made it easier than ever for citizens to communicate with their Congress. But how confident should citizens be that the e-mails they send in fact reach their elected representative?
A study published by Capitol Advantage, under the guidance of Dr. Dennis Johnson, reviewed email deliverability by online advocacy vendors.
The study tested 37 offices that use an auto-responder to confirm a message has been received by the office. The research found that several of the vendors failed miserably in their ability to send e-mails to Congress: 6 of the 10 could not deliver 50 percent of the e-mail through their systems.
And even worse than failing to deliver, it appears that most vendors did not even inform the citizen about the failure. There were no indications by any of the vendors that they informed customers when they were unable to deliver e-mail messages to Congress.
read the rest here...
http://www.politicsonline.com/netpulse/netpulse.asp?issue_id=10.18
Just FYI: politicsonline website is run by Phil Noble -- Dick knows him.
Why we're losing.
Op-Ed Contributor
Can You Tell a Sunni From a Shiite?
By JEFF STEIN
Washington
FOR the past several months, I’ve been wrapping up lengthy interviews with Washington counterterrorism officials with a fundamental question: “Do you know the difference between a Sunni and a Shiite?”
A “gotcha” question? Perhaps. But if knowing your enemy is the most basic rule of war, I don’t think it’s out of bounds. And as I quickly explain to my subjects, I’m not looking for theological explanations, just the basics: Who’s on what side today, and what does each want?
After all, wouldn’t British counterterrorism officials responsible for Northern Ireland know the difference between Catholics and Protestants? In a remotely similar but far more lethal vein, the 1,400-year Sunni-Shiite rivalry is playing out in the streets of Baghdad, raising the specter of a breakup of Iraq into antagonistic states, one backed by Shiite Iran and the other by Saudi Arabia and other Sunni states.
A complete collapse in Iraq could provide a haven for Al Qaeda operatives within striking distance of Israel, even Europe. And the nature of the threat from Iran, a potential nuclear power with protégés in the Gulf states, northern Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, is entirely different from that of Al Qaeda. It seems silly to have to argue that officials responsible for counterterrorism should be able to recognize opportunities for pitting these rivals against each other.
But so far, most American officials I’ve interviewed don’t have a clue. That includes not just intelligence and law enforcement officials, but also members of Congress who have important roles overseeing our spy agencies. How can they do their jobs without knowing the basics?
- more -
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/17/opinion/17stein.html
Why Mommy is a Democrat - The book George W. Bush doesn't want your kids to read!
http://www.littledemocrats.net
Bush to Sign Law on Terror Suspects
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush is signing into law today new standards expediting interrogation and prosecution of terror suspects, a bill the White House says strengthens his hand in a time of war.
Bush's plan becomes law just six weeks after he acknowledged that the CIA had been secretly interrogating suspected terrorists overseas and pressed Congress to quickly give authority to try them in military commissions.
-snip-
The signing ceremony offered Bush the chance to bask in a legislative victory. About 150 people were invited to the White House for the event, including military officers, members of Congress and members of Bush's cabinet.
"President Bush is going to mark this bill signing as a historic moment because it is a law that he knows will be effective in preventing terrorist attacks and keeping Americans safe," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.
Bush needed the legislation because the Supreme Court in June said the administration's plan for trying detainees in military tribunals violated U.S. and international law.
more...
http://tinyurl.com/yjm5b6
"...because it is a law that he knows will be effective in preventing terrorist attacks and keeping Americans safe,"
HE KNOWS?
HE KNOWS?
HE KNOWS?
ANYBODY ASK HOW OR WHY HE KNOWS?
Teen questioned for online Bush threats
By Don Thompson, The Associated Press
SACRAMENTO — Upset by the war in Iraq, Julia Wilson vented her frustrations with President Bush last spring on her Web page on MySpace.com. She posted a picture of the president, scrawled "Kill Bush" across the top and drew a dagger stabbing his outstretched hand. She later replaced her page on the social-networking site after learning in her eighth-grade history class that such threats are a federal offense.
It was too late.
Federal authorities had found the page and placed Wilson on their checklist. They finally reached her this week in her molecular biology class.
The 14-year-old freshman was taken out of class Wednesday and questioned for about 15 minutes by two Secret Service agents. The incident has upset her parents, who said the agents should have included them when they questioned their daughter.
On Friday, the teenager said the agents' questioning led her to tears.
"I wasn't dangerous. I mean, look at what's (stenciled) on my backpack — it's a heart. I'm a very peace-loving person," said Wilson, an honor student who describes herself as politically passionate. "I'm against the war in Iraq. I'm not going to kill the president."
Her mother, Kirstie Wilson, said two agents showed up at the family's home Wednesday afternoon, questioned her and promised to return once her daughter was home from school.
After they left, Kirstie Wilson sent a text message to her daughter's cellphone, telling her to come straight home: "There are two men from the secret service that want to talk with you. Apparently you made some death threats against president bush."
"Are you serious!?!? omg. Am I in a lot of trouble?" her daughter responded.
Moments later, Kirstie Wilson received another text message from her daughter saying agents had pulled her out of class.
Julia Wilson said the agents threatened her by saying she could be sent to juvenile hall for making the threat.
"They yelled at me a lot," she said. "They were unnecessarily mean."
Spokesmen for the Secret Service in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., said they could not comment on the case.
Wilson and her parents said the agents were justified in questioning her over her MySpace.com posting. But they said they believe agents went too far by not waiting until she was out of school.
They also said the agents should have more quickly figured out they weren't dealing with a real danger. Ultimately, the agents told the teen they would delete her investigation file.
Assistant Principal Paul Belluomini said the agents gave him the impression the girl's mother knew they were planning to question her daughter at school. There is no legal requirement that parents be notified.
"This has been an ongoing problem," said Ann Brick, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union in San Francisco.
Former Govs. Pete Wilson and Gray Davis vetoed bills that would have required that parents give consent or be present when their children are questioned at school by law enforcement officers. A similar bill this year cleared the state Senate but died in the Assembly.
Julia Wilson plans to post a new MySpace.com page, this one devoted to organizing other students to protest the Iraq war.
"I decided today I think I will because it (the questioning) went too far," she said.
http://tinyurl.com/ymctkc
Otter,
I don't know if I mentioned it but great thread header.
~~About the book though...
It's only limited supplies so I recommend pre-ordering it and getting it now.
Posted by: dwahzon at October 17, 2006 09:54 AM
This is why I take the trouble to go to official web sites for congress critters... I don't quite trust those group email sites to get things through.
Also, when I have the links, I go to the individual web sites (like Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, et al.) rather than to the web sites provided to each one by the government.
When sectors internal to a country fight and people flee and become refugees, that's a civil war, no matter what else they try to call it. The peace negotiating conference was called off. Some progress in Iraq.
Heard His Highness 2x on the BBC this morning, talking about "terrists"
We'll hear the Stones tonight - hope they do Sweet Neocon.
You call yourself a Christian
I think that you're a hypocrite
You say you are a patriot
I think that you're a crock of shit
And listen now, the gasoline
I drink it every day
But it's getting very pricey
And who is going to pay
How come you're so wrong
My sweet neocon.... yeah
It's liberty for all
'Cause democracy's our style
Unless you are against us
Then it's prison without trial
But one thing that is certain
Life is good at Haliburton
If you're really so astute
You should invest at Brown & Root
How come you're so wrong
My sweet neocon
If you turn out right
I'll eat my hat tonight
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah....
It's getting very scary
Yes, I'm frightened out of my wits
There's bombers in my bedroom
Yeah and it's giving me the shits
We must have lots more bases
To protect us from our foes
Who needs these foolish friendships
We're going it alone
How come you're so wrong
My sweet neocon
Where's the money gone
In the Pentagon
Yeah, ha ha ha
Yeah, well, well
Neocon
and they ain't even from here,
Otter
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061017/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_terrorism
Bush signs terror interrogation law
"With the bill I'm about to sign, the men our intelligence officials believe orchestrated the murder of nearly 3,000 innocent people will face justice," Bush said.
A coalition of religious groups staged a protest against the bill outside the White House, shouting "Bush is the terrorist" and "Torture is a crime." About 15 of the protesters, standing in a light rain, refused orders to move. Police arrested them one by one.
Among those the United States hopes to try are Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the accused mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, as well as Ramzi Binalshibh, an alleged would-be 9/11 hijacker, and Abu Zubaydah, who was believed to be a link between Osama bin Laden and many al-Qaida cells.
~~~~~
Bush signed the bill in the White House East Room, at a table with a sign positioned on the front that said "Protecting America." He said he signed it in memory of the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks.
"We will answer brutal murder with patient justice," Bush said. "Those who kill the innocent will be held to account."
~~~~~
"The bill I sign today helps secure this country and it sends a clear message: This nation is patient and decent and fair and we will never back down from threats to our freedom," Bush said. "We are as determined today as we were on the morning of Sept. 12, 2001."
~~~~~
The bill also eliminates some rights common in military and civilian courts. For example, the commission would be allowed to consider hearsay evidence so long as a judge determined it was reliable. Hearsay is barred from civilian courts.
The legislation also says the president can "interpret the meaning and application" of international standards for prisoner treatment, a provision intended to allow him to authorize aggressive interrogation methods that might otherwise be seen as illegal by international courts. White House press secretary Tony Snow said Bush would probably eventually issue an executive order that would describe his interpretation, but those documents are not usually made public and Snow did not reveal when it might be issued.
{{{More on link. Ugh, there was a photo-op pix with it. The people who hijacked the planes died with their victims, so they can't be brought to justice. People seem to forget that little detail. I'm less certain of the other prisoners described as "planners" of 9/11 because the evidence against them may have been gained under torture, and therefore lies to get the torturers to stop the pain. I wonder if the protesters know that they can be incarcerated without due process...? I wonder if Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, et al., will EVER be held to account for the 'brutal murders' they committed in our names when they authorized the unconstitutional and illegal invasion of Iraq...? The greatest "threat" to "our freedom" is the bill he just signed because with signing that bill, we no longer have our freedoms...! And why does the administration go off half-cocked over "threats" to the US. We had more to fear from 'threats' during the Cold War than we do now. Very "clever" of the writer to word the story to imply only the "others" - the prisoners" - will face this unconstitutional and illegal "law" - the fit will hit the shan when US citizens are thrown into jail without due process....}}}
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061017/pl_nm/security_bush_dc
Bush signs law authorizing harsh interrogation
Excerpt:
Shortly after Bush signed the law, the Republican National Committee issued a press releasing headlined, "Democrats would let terrorists free" and listed the names of many House and Senate Democrats who opposed it.
The American Civil Liberties Union expressed outrage, calling the new law "one of the worst civil liberties measures ever enacted in American history."
"Nothing separates America more from our enemies than our commitment to fairness and the rule of law, but the bill signed today is an historic break because it turns Guantanamo Bay and other U.S. facilities into legal no-man's-lands," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero.
More on link.....
Nonny,
Where are our articles of impeachment? You can not protect, preserve and uphold something by dismantling and destoying it. He broke his oath of office by signing that bill and that IS an IMPEACHABLE offense.
It makes me ill. I do not kinow what to do except continue the day by reminding people about the "We Love Torture" bill.
Posted by: karen at October 17, 2006 11:58 AM
My daughter is dating a Republican I told her to keep him out of my house today it could get ugly.
I tell everyone who says anything about the so called Detainee Bill to call it by its right name the Torture Bill and explain that they are nuts if they think this is a good thing by pointing out that without Habeas Corpus we basically have NO Constitution. Bush has become a king today I am shouting it loud and clear. The republicans have crowned him and he signed it into law.
Disgraced former Rep. Randy ''Duke'' Cunningham parlayed his seat on the Intelligence Committee into winning at least $70 million in authorizations that benefited two contractors who -- in turn -- paid him millions in bribes.
That was a key finding, released Tuesday, in a declassified summary of a report by the panel's independent investigator. It confirms what has long been suspected: The intelligence committee was one more venue that the California Republican exploited to help his associates.
from
Report: Cunningham Helped Contractors
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Congressman-Bribery.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
The report finds that Cunningham secured the cooperation -- or at least the noninterference -- of many people. That included Congress members who handled bills that govern the spending of contracts, Pentagon officials who awarded the contracts and officials at agencies where the contracting work was actually done.
from
Report: Cunningham Helped Contractors
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Congressman-Bribery.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
The report finds that Cunningham secured the cooperation -- or at least the noninterference -- of many people. That included Congress members who handled bills that govern the spending of contracts, Pentagon officials who awarded the contracts and officials at agencies where the contracting work was actually done.
from
Report: Cunningham Helped Contractors
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Congressman-Bribery.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
Le Roi est mort. Vive le Roi!
:o sorry about double-post :p
(also Republican)
WELDON PROBE WIDENS
Feds raid 6 spots in Pa., Fla.; congressman denies wrongdoing
http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/15777202.htm
MOVING SWIFTLY in a criminal investigation involving U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon, federal agents yesterday raided six locations in Philadelphia, in Delaware County and in Florida.
The probe apparently is focused on links between the congressman's official activities and clients of his daughter's lobbying firm...
Zogby
http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1181
Bush Job Approval Dips to 37%
Job approval for Congress drops below 20%;
Just one in three say Iraq war has been worth it
Posted by: Otter at October 17, 2006 12:05 PM
Et qui est le Roi?
I want to know if Bush issued a signing statement when he signed this bill, I have been looking but can not find one yet.
On C-SPAN 1 @ 1:00pm Eastern
Abuse of Power: Law, American Values & the National Interest
American Civil Liberties Union
John W. Dean, Counsel (Fmr.), White House
Steven R. Shapiro, Legal Director, American Civil Liberties Union
Katrina Vanden Heuvel, Editor, The Nation
At a session of the American Civil Liberties Union membership conference a panel moderated by Jackie Northam discussed "Abuse of Power: Law, American Values and the National Interest."
http://inside.c-spanarchives.org:8080/cspan/schedule.csp
Shortly after Bush signed the law, the Republican National Committee issued a press releasing headlined, "Democrats would let terrorists free" and listed the names of many House and Senate Democrats who opposed it.
Posted by: NonnyO at October 17, 2006 11:41 AM
And the fact that the Dems are not returning the favor, by painting the Republicans as the party of unitary executives and dictatorships, shows just how much of a brain-dead organization it is.
And we only wonder why the Dems keep losing.
Posted by: April at October 17, 2006 12:02 PM
If tomorrow all the things were gone,
I’d worked for all my life.
And I had to start again,
with just my children and my wife.
I’d curse the wicked czars above,
that are ruling here today.
‘ cause the flag that used to stand for freedom,
It's been illegally ripped away.
And I’m not proud to be an American,
where I know now I’m not free.
And I wont forget the men who lied,
And stole those rights from me.
But I gladly stand up,
Next to you and defend her still today.
‘ Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land,
God, grace the USA.
From the lakes of Minnesota,
to the hills of Tennessee.
Across the plains of Texas,
From sea to shining sea.
From Detroit down to Houston,
and New York to L.A.
Well there's pride in every American heart,
and its time we stand and say.
We're not proud of YOUR America,
where We know now We're not free.
And We wont forget the men who lied,
And took those rights from We.
But We'll gladly stand up,
Next to you and defend her still today.
‘ Cause there ain’t no doubt We love this land,
God, grace the USA