"Free Speech Is Not A Crime"

Posted by DiAnne Grieser at June 24, 2007 02:49 PM

Good thread header!!! :-)

Without the First Amendment, I suspect the Constitution and the other nine amendments to the Constitution would be rendered fairly useless. On the whole, that elegant, simply-worded, easily understood First Amendment may be one of my top ten favorite pieces of writing. Ever.

FACTS are one thing and can't much be disputed. The OPINIONS about facts are pretty well up for debate at all times. Most people fervently believe in the right of each person to hold whatever opinions they want, and to freely express those opinions. I agree with that completely, even enthusiastically. I respectfully disagree with anyone who has differing opinions about a whole range of topics (and secretly enjoy the debates because I'm forced to see things through the experiences of others)..., but distortion of facts, lies about facts (of which the Bush administration has been consistently guilty since the SCOTUS decision of December 2000) tends to drive me batty. Incessant repetition of lies about facts is just plain propaganda, and, as such, facts need to be brought to light about the lies, and facts need to be incessantly repeated to highlight the lies.

Now, if only there were some way to get all newspaper & TV "journalists" to recognize facts vs. bobblehead opinions vs. propaganda.... If we did not have a corporate-controlled media so blindly devoted to the current administration, perhaps things would be different in this country today. We'll never know. For the sake of profit margins, Lamestream Media has been slavishly devoted to promoting the corporate fascist agenda of the current administration to the detriment of us all (domestically and internationally)....

Does anyone know about text messages of cellular phones? Do all cell phones accept text messages?

I see that it is much cheaper to send a text message than to make a phone call.

And does anyone know what this means:

ALL UP RADIO SHOWS AND GIVE OUT THE CELL PHONE SHORT CODE, AND AT
RALLIES

5. At considerable expense we have fronted the money to set up the
capacity to take votes by cell phone. If you are hip to sending text
messages you can text "IMPEACH" to 30644 to vote Yes, or "KEEP" to
30644 to vote No (we haven't had any No votes this way yet even
though the option is available). Call up progressive shows and talk
about the latest Cheney abuses of power, and then ask if you can give
out the cell phone voting options. This is also a great thing to do
if you are speaking at a rally of any kind.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19378776/
Posted by: Ralpheh at June 24, 2007 01:50 PM

I suspect someone in Lamestream Media is just now (FINALLY!) waking up to the same realization that bloggers have known all along: that Cheney has always been the sock-puppet master, that he's the real de facto dictator behind the face of the de facto dictator Bush (who can't even speak in intelligible sentences; Cheney knows it, and so does the puppet's father, which is why Cheney was selected as VP, and why Rove is the babysitter/sock puppet caretaker; all of which leads anyone with knowledge about the players involved with the Iran-Contra illegal activities to connect the dots back in time), and that their/Cheney's currently assumed and ursurped powers are not justly derived from our Constitution. This is a damning article about Cheney, and since it's only the first of four, I'll be anxious to read the rest. Embedded links refer back to documents that have always been legally and constitutionally questionable (likely just plain illegal and/or unconstitutional, which are, IMHO, grounds for impeachment of first Cheney, then puppet Bush) or, at the very least, extremely unethical.

To read the entire article without having to click 'next' to other pages, click on the print menu and it comes up on one page in its entirety. The same story without the embedded links to documents mentioned is at the TO web site:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/062407B.shtml

Oh, and was the Northrup-Grumman ad blazoned across the top of the page when anyone else clicked on the link, as well as the N-G ad on the first page further down between paragraphs...? This is the wording of the one at the top of the page:
Northrup Grumman
Defining the future
Air Force, Army, Navy, Marines, One Force

Frank Rich | They'll Break the Bad News on 9/11
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/062407D.shtml
Frank Rich writes: "By this late date we should know the fix is in when the White House's top factotums fan out on the Sunday morning talk shows singing the same lyrics, often verbatim, from the same hymnal of spin. The pattern was set way back on September 8, 2002, when in simultaneous appearances three cabinet members and the vice president warned darkly of Saddam's aluminum tubes. 'We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud,' said Condi Rice, in a scripted line. The hard sell of the war in Iraq had officially begun. America wasn't paying close enough attention then. We can't afford to repeat that blunder now."

Excerpt:

The second message was more encoded and more ominous. Again using similar language, the two men said that in September they would explain what Mr. Crocker called "the consequences" and General Petraeus "the implications" of any alternative "courses of action" to their own course in Iraq. What this means in English is that when the September "snapshot" of the surge shows little change in the overall picture, the White House will say that "the consequences" of winding down the war would be even more disastrous: surrender, defeat, apocalypse now. So we must stay the surge. Like the war's rollout in 2002, the new propaganda offensive to extend and escalate the war will be exquisitely timed to both the anniversary of 9/11 and a high-stakes Congressional vote (the Pentagon appropriations bill).

{{{I've found that the actions of psychopaths are predictable as long as one deconstructs what they've said or written. It seems that a FEW of those working with newspapers in Lamestream Media now have a clue about the predictability of this psychopathic administration (and I'm convinced that there is more than one psychopath in the administration; Georgie, yes, but Dickie, too, along with Turd Blossom). Will anyone else figure out this pattern before the dictatorial coup takes place in the fall of '08 that so many bloggers fear...?}}}

Maureen Dowd | A Vice President Without Borders, Bordering on Lunacy
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/062407F.shtml
"I've always thought Cheney was way out there," says Maureen Dowd. "But even in my harshest musings about the vice president, I never imagined that he would declare himself not only above the law, not only above the president, but actually his own dark planet - a separate entity from the White House."

Excerpt:

I love that Cheney was able to bully Colin Powell, Pentagon generals and George Tenet when drumming up his fake case for war, but when he tried to push around the little guys, the National Archive data collectors - I'm visualizing dedicated "We the People" wonky types with glasses and pocket protectors - they pushed back.

Archivists are the new macho heroes of Washington.

{{{Bwahahahaha! "The pen is mightier than the sword." Bwahahahaha! ;-) I've long held the opinion that intelligent people are the sexiest (yes, I'd call insistent archivists sexy)... this would seem to bolster my opinion. ;-) Heh....}}}

William Fisher | State Department Seeks to Outsource Iraq Diplomacy
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/062407A.shtml
The Bush administration is seeking to recruit foreigners to fill 16 critical jobs at the massive new American Embassy in Baghdad while close to 50 experienced American Foreign Service Officers remain in legal limbo at the State Department in Washington.

Ex-Surveillance Judge Criticizes Warrantless Taps
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/062407Y.shtml
A federal judge who used to authorize wiretaps in terrorism and espionage cases criticized yesterday President Bush's decision to order warrantless surveillance after the September 11, 2001, attacks.

Get this hedging of the Cheney article from the WAPO:

Cheney is not, by nearly every inside account, the shadow president of popular lore. Bush has set his own course, not always in directions Cheney preferred. The president seized the helm when his No. 2 steered toward trouble, as Bush did, in time, on military commissions. Their one-on-one relationship is opaque, a vital unknown in assessing Cheney's impact on events. The two men speak of it seldom, if ever, with others. But officials who see them together often, not all of them admirers of the vice president, detect a strong sense of mutual confidence that Cheney is serving Bush's aims.

LOL!!!!!

I am going to blog this tomorrow:

The WAPO reporter who wrote the Cheney article will be online to answer questions and discuss the article.

Barton Gellman
Washington Post National Reporter
Monday, June 25, 2007; 1:00 PM

Washington Post reporter Barton Gellman will be online Monday, June 25 at 1 p.m. ET to discuss his stories about how Dick Cheney built one of the most powerful vice presidencies in U.S. history and his role in post-9/11 decisions.

Submit your questions and comments before or during the discussion.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2007/06/22/DI2007062201277.html?hpid=topnews

Gellman is a special projects reporter on the national staff of The Washington Post. He shared the Pulitzer Prize for national reporting in 2002 and has been a jury-nominated finalist (for individual and team entries) three times.

Please excuse this everyone, I haven't read the new header yet. This is a response to you, NMP from the last thread.

NMP

Australians dissing the US. I'm not surprised. It's kind of like the bickering of 2 siblings. The one upmanship. However, it makes a refreshing change. Australians are renowned for dissing our own. It's called the "Tall Poppy Syndrome".

Mel Gibson had to make it in the US before we really claimed him as ours. Yet he was absolutely brilliant in the Australian movie of Colleen McCullough's 1st novel, Tim. And he wasn't even ours to begin with! Kylie Minogue had to become successful in Europe and then come home with breast cancer before we acknowledged her as ours. Russell Crowe. Nicole Kidman is now "poor Nicole". Barry Humphreys became acceptable once Dame Edna became so popular in the UK. The list goes on and on. Almost all of our musos have to make a hit on the world stages before we accept them. We take on all things American and then rubbish Americans for it.

Down here in the southern hemisphere, Americans are renowned for being too bossy and demanding. They ask for a latte and then complain loudly that they did NOT ask for a half-filled cappuccino. I use that example because it's the one that bugs ME. The cappuccino instead of the latte. Secretly I cheer the American tourist. We are improving. And Americans who visit us are improving.

However, we still have our yobbos making us cringe all over the world. Especially now that we're trying to outgrow our lay-back image and become clever, quick-witted placid and diplomatic. Some of us refuse to part with the old image cos we like it. We live in Tasmania. It's an island that resembles a sprawling country town of fewer than half a million people. And rather than diss America, I usually find that I'm more likely to end up friends with your expats down here.

Recently I saw a documentary on Australian Story on the ABC. It was about a young Aboriginal man who dropped out of school at about 14 because he just wanted to be a musician. This is a wonderful story. Poignant with its tinge of sadness. And shame.

His story is here:
http://www.abc.net.au/austory/content/2007/s1923473.htm

tsp

Re the publishing. If you click on my name you can email me. Well, I can email me so I think it should work for you too. :)

Thanks for the great header, photos and quotes DiAnne. The top one just leaves me cold. What a truly despicable man Rumsfeld is. May he never rest in peace when his time comes.

Hillary the Hawk picking up support in New Hampshire:

new CNN/University of New Hampshire post debate poll (June 6-10) shows Senator Hillary Clinton widening her lead in New Hampshire. According to the results of the poll, Senator Clinton is strongest with women voters and voters residing in and around Manchester and the North Country. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson also significantly increased his poll numbers compared to his numbers in the UNH April 2007 poll.

June 2007 April 2007
Clinton 36% 27%
Obama 22% 20%
Edwards 12% 21%
Gore 12% 11%
Richardson 10% 4%

Polling in Iowa: June 4th

Edwards leads

Former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., and former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass., are the front-runners in Iowa to win their respective party’s caucuses in a new poll released Monday by Public Policy Polling (PPP), based in North Carolina.

Edwards leads all Democrats at 31 percent with Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama tied for second place with 17 percent. Romney leads all Republicans with 31 percent with former Tennessee senator Fred Thompson in second with 15 percent, beating out former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Arizona Sen. John McCain. Both McCain and Giuliani polled in the single digits.

Karen - Women Who Run With the Wolves - have to do the laundry, simultaneously, on the run. Everyone with a family does this. In the book Estes "argues that woman's genuine nature has been repressed for centuries by a value system that trivialises emotional truth, intuitive wisdom and instinctual self-confidence."

Everyone who contributes to this blog honours all those things in ouselves and each other whilst the master manipulators of our universe continue to repress those who are needed to serve their every whim. The young, the poor and the voiceless.

Karen, from the last thread - you are certainly a woman who has been running with wolves for a very long time I'd say. When I read your posts, you occasionally feel you are beating your head against a brick wall, but within a line, a word, or a moment, there you are, in the front row, facing down the predators, with your instinctual wisdom and emotional strength to counter those who would attack your world. You are a woman who fiercely protects her home, children and country. That's what this book is about. You are already there. Some of us need to get there still. And we will.

http://news.yahoo.com/comics/uclickcomics/20070624/cx_nq_uc/nq20070624
Non Sequitur

http://news.yahoo.com/comics/uclickcomics/20070624/cx_crwiz_uc/crwiz20070624
Wizard of Id

http://www.iraqmoratorium.org/
IraqMoratorium.org
Demanding an end to the war through an escalating series of actions on the THIRD FRIDAY of every month beginning Friday September 21st
{{{My only question: Why wait until September? Why not start it now (black armbands, black ribbons, etc.) and have the first rally in July?}}}

posted by: woz at June 24, 2007 07:49 PM

I was glad you posted about US/Australia. I'm more familiar with Canada since we're close to the border and I love to go to Vancouver BC. Like Australia, their musicians and actors need to be tested before they reach popularity at home. There are laws to determine that the radio stations will play a certain percentage of Canadian artists. Yet they gave the world Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, kd Laing, Avril Lavigne, Celine Dion and so many more. Canada seems very similar to US when you cross the border but there are more references in signage etc. to England and there is a bit of a Scottish accent for some (though English is now a minority language in Vancouver, having been overtaken by Cantonese). It is refreshing not to see all the political bumper stickers. They have their own problems politically but when their soldiers are killed in Afghanistan, their flag-draped coffins are spilled across full-page front of the newspaper, in full color, an outrage. Here we have an average of maybe eight a day killed and it's just a number, no face, no bio - unless you really scrape for it. x number got hit by a roadside IED etc. It becomes routine, just like when I was a teenager and came home each night for the body count during dinner. They showed more then than they do now.

Source: Press Esc

US university students will not be able to work late at the campus, travel abroad, show interest in their colleagues' work, have friends outside the United States, engage in independent research, or make extra money without the prior consent of the authorities, according to a set of guidelines given to administrators by the FBI.

Federal agents are visiting some of the New England's top universities, including MIT, Boston College, and the University of Massachusetts, to warn university heads about the dangers of foreign spies and terrorists stealing sensitive academic research.

FBI is offering to brief faculty, students and staff on what it calls "espionage indicators" aimed at identifying foreign agents.

Read more: http://pressesc.com/01182668252_espionage_indicators

Sitting in Charlotte NC--the connecting flight departed sans moi. I was sitting in Pensacola while thunderstorms battered the southeast. So now I am in a Day's Inn, eating dinner out of a vending machine. I am not so fierce tonight! Just a tired traveler.

Free speech matters though. I sat on the plane next to a young woman whose husband is in prison--sounded like bad luck on who was the judge and a piss-poor lawyer. Still, a crime was committed. It just wasn't much of a crime compared to the true criminal acts of those in power.

She cried for most of the flight, and wrote, furiously. I watched her struggle to think through what she needed to say and find the right words. She didn't talk to me until she had finished having her say on paper, but then we talked about the usual things; kids, books and coping.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070625/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/venezuela_us
Chavez warns of resistance war with U.S.

CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez urged soldiers on Sunday to prepare for a guerrilla-style war against the United States, saying that Washington is using psychological and economic warfare as part of an unconventional campaign aimed at derailing his government.
~~~~~

"We must continue developing the resistance war, that's the anti-imperialist weapon. We must think and prepare for the resistance war everyday," said Chavez, who has repeatedly warned that American soldiers could invade Venezuela to seize control of the South American nation's immense oil reserves.

U.S. officials reject claims that Washington is considering a military attack. But the U.S. government has expressed concern over what it perceives as a significant arms build-up here.

{More on link. Sigh... Even if both Chavez and Amadinidjad (sp?) are correct about Bush's personality and his war crimes, I do wish they would resist the urge to sound like idiot Bush with his bullying tactics and fear-and warmongering rhetoric.... They play right into Bush's hand by sounding like him. [pounding head on keyboard]}

Even though I do not 'run with wolves', its funny cause that phrase reminds me of something I tell my kids.

You know how 6 and 8 year olds are, they like to lolly gag and fall behind.

I tell them...' Remember the lions. If you don't stay with the herd, you are going to get eaten by a lion.'

It works everytime.

Speaking of freedom of speech, I just realized something wierd.

Wanda Hudsons murder is still called 'the bloodiest murder Red River ever saw'. The details are revolting, sickening.

You know those one inch colums on the front page, like way over to the far left or right...? They are like runners down the page, news to take up space. Yall know what I mean.

"The bloodiest murder Red River ever saw, got exactly one write up in one Red River paper one single time, and it was in on the side of the front page, one inches wide and I was told 'an inch and a half long'.

Told by whom? A reporter with the Shreveport Times, about 4 years ago, who made it a point to go into the press archives of all of Red River and try to find any mention of either Aline or Wandas deaths.

She found one single 1 inch by 1 inch article on Wanda Hudson. The bloodiest murder ever in Red River was never again to be found in any press anywhere in Red River.

No press in Red River ever wrote a single article about Aline.

I remember when the Times reporter called back to tell me the results of her days and days and days, she was slightly freaked out a little but I blew it off.

I mumbled something like 'I am not surprised.' and really never thought of it again until recently.

The more I process it the more ...freaky.. it gets. I can't quit thinking about it.

No wonder Wandas family never heard the name Faye Aline Self until last year.

That reporter was FREAKED OUT.

Now that I think about it, it freaks me out too.

"The story is a fascinating one for New York's newspaper of record. As a massive investigative piece written by some of the Times' finest reporters and organized by the Times Managing Editor herself -- Jill Abramson -- it stands to have a major impact on a pending deal between Murdoch and the Times' New York competitor he is seeking to buy, The Wall Street Journal."

Is it just me or does some cosmic shift seemed to have occurred and the msm press are now all out to get each other?

They play right into Bush's hand by sounding like him.

Posted by: NonnyO at June 25, 2007 04:18 AM

Unfortunately, that's right. Lunacy breeds more lunacy, whether we're talking about Chavez, Ahmadinejad, or our own W.

Just saw a passing reference to some blow to free speech for the individual at SCOTUS today. Will have to keep eyes and ears open.

It's got to be this. Creepy issue ads near an election are now legal. It's an overturn of prohibition against them. This is good news for Swift Boaters and their ilk, I suppose.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003761691_webscowcampaign25.html

Posted by: not my president at June 24, 2007 11:55 PM

Written Canadian English is more British than American, while spoken Canadian English sounds like American English. I've found the juxtaposition intriguing. And there are words, like "parkade," that are uniquely Canadian.

And don't forget Sarah McLachlan either! Positively the best musician to come out of Canada in ages. There is also the young crooner Michael Buble. Both McLachlan and Buble are Vancouverites.

I didn't realize that Cantonese is more common than English in Vancouver - though Vancouver definitely has a strong Asian streak. What I find valuable about British Columbia is that instead of pitting these immigrants' social conservatism against other demographics, those in power have legalized medical marijuana and gay marriage, teaching them a lesson instead. (And thanks to Ontario and BC, gay marriage is now legal nationwide in Canada.) Unthinkable in the US.

It's a shame I will have to travel to Mormon Country next week, instead of Canada, as originally scheduled!

Well - can always put messages on the back of the truck, like in the photo above - that's not illegal yet.

Just saw a passing reference to some blow to free speech for the individual at SCOTUS today. Will have to keep eyes and ears open.

Posted by: not my president at June 25, 2007 12:12 PM

The Roberts SCOTUS is the worst enemy of American freedoms. All brought to you courtesy of Toyota Motor Manufacturing USA.

My father was asking the other day about a possible fuel-efficient replacement for my Honda Accord. I refused to name any Toyota products - not even the Prius. He thinks I don't like Toyotas because they are not athletic enough; the real reason I am so anti-Toyota is because of its role in John Roberts' career.

Taxpayers cannot challenge faith-based initiatives:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19414473/

We seriously need to consider picketing Toyota dealerships.

Re: Toyota

And seriously, I expect better from a company based in Japan, a country that doesn't have a tradition of rigid religious fundamentalism and has resisted the Dominionist takeover, unlike its neighbor Korea.

And I expect better from a company that ranks right up there with Subaru as being LGBT-friendly, miles ahead of Honda and Nissan.

For this "progressive Japanese company," to crush workers and support theocracy in the American society, is utterly unforgivable.

My son said to steer clear of Verisign -that they do government contract work and hire ex military officers who have clearance to read email, that someone he knows personally refused to work for them because of this. He also said domain names run around $35 in US but you can get them through Australia for about $4.

Posted by: not my president at June 25, 2007 12:40 PM

Speaking of working for unsavory companies, my high school friend in Yuma (the one who turned Republican over illegal immigration) has just accepted work with Wal-Mart as a pharmacist.

I haven't spoken with him since.

Posted by: not my president at June 25, 2007 12:12 PM

One of the cases RE: an individual's freedom of speech right that was ruled upon today was the "Bong Hits for Jesus" one. You can read about it here

http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/06-278.ZS.html

or here

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/6/25/122322/380

Madame defarge
It is indeed a sad day for free speech. I saw "Bong Hits for God" "Bush's Approval Rating - Even Lower than the TB Guy" written on the sidewalk at the Solstice Parade here.

If such a message promotes use of illegal drugs, could it not also be promoting legalization of certain drugs, which should not in and of itself be illegal.

What is this world coming to?!

Ally
After the China/Hong Kong change a few years ago, all sorts of people moved to Vancouver BC - they mostly live south of BC in the suburbs and in some areas nothing is spoken or written in English. It's really amazing! I imagine some of them are of the conservative type too, being paranoid about mainland China. I've certainly met alot of Republicans from Taiwan too. & the other day I met a Cuban one. I think that alot of people who come here are well off or hope to be, so they certainly don't want to join the Democratic throngs.

Think of the Americans who can afford to buy apartments in Paris, retire to Tuscany etc. I'll bet alot of them have so much money they're out for tax breaks etc. and only looking out for themselves. The Democratic party has never been the party of the rich (though there are some wealthy Democrats and some poor Republicans too). Amazing how anyone without money could think they could benefit from the conservatives - I suppose it's set up so there is competition (real or perceived) between immigrants and the working poor born here. Then there are the social conservative wedge issues too.

Speaking of bong hits, marijuana enforcement was voted overwhelmingly by Seattle voters in 2003 to be the the lowest enforcement priority of the police.

This is the law:
http://www.sensibleseattle.org/text.php

NMP,

My HS friend in Yuma, who's now a Republican working at Wal-Mart, is from Taiwan too. There are plenty of conservative Taiwanese, both native Taiwanese and Chinese mainland transplants. Although my friend is a Dominionist Christian, Dominionism is not a plague among the Taiwanese - yet.

(The so-called "Korean Wave" is starting to seep into the Taiwanese and Chinese communities though, and with it, Dominionism.)

I'd say that Al Gore's perceived favoritism toward Taiwan (one that the likes of Gingrich repeatedly pointed out) is the major factor that's keeping the Taiwanese from defecting en masse to the Republicans, like the Koreans and the Vietnamese.

You're right on re: competition between immigrants and working-class Americans. This is especially true re: Asians as "model minority" with social and financial success - never mind that Asians born in the US, or from poorer countries, struggle just as much as other nonwhites, and suffer from just as much discrimination.

My Taiwanese friend is a son of a now-deceased medical doctor, and owned four homes in Los Angeles area (one sold though, due to the father's cancer treatment). He had the money, and though he never showed it off, he was a firm believer in the "model minority" myth. He was shocked to hear of Asian homeless people on the streets of San Francisco, when I told him about it.

BLOGGING AT THE "WAPO" SITE REGARDING THE CHENEY ARTICLES.

My question was posted but not answered the way I would have liked:

Lansing, Mich.: It looks like the Vice President and his then chief of staff, Lewis Libby, orchestrated the leak and smear campaign against Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame. Is there any discussion in your articles about the Libby conviction and the Plame leak etc....?

Barton Gellman: Nope. We and others have said all we know about that, and this series aimed to break some ground in places that had not been much examined before.

_______________________

More from the Cheney blog at WAPO:

Los Angeles: Why are fellow Republicans who support strong law-and-order initiatives totally mute when members of the executives branch ignore or violate laws and statutes? I just can't understand it.

Barton Gellman: I won't endorse the "ignore or violate" premise, but a similar phenomenon has fascinated me in the Bush years. Why did a Republican Congress allow the Bush administration to step so hard on its oversight prerogatives? There were lots of examples of a GOP-chaired committee asking for information and getting stiffed -- without any serious objection. I don't think there's a huge mystery here. Partisan politics are so polarized in recent years that there weren't enough Republicans who were unhappy enough to do anything contrary to their party interests. It will be interesting to see whether Democrats behave any differently.

_______________________

Atlanta: In your mind and regarding the war on terror, who is the "acting" chief executive? Your article seems to put Bush in a more passive role; aquiesing to Cheney's direction instead of the other way around.

Barton Gellman: I'll just keep saying we can't know that. It's perfectly plausible, and from all the circumstances seems likely, that Bush told Cheney (whoever brought it up) that yes, he'd like to make sure captured terrorists are kept out of criminal courts where they'd have access to lawyers and technicalities. And that yes, sending them to Guantanamo Bay sounds like a great answer. I doubt that Bush proposed a particular legal mechanism, but it's not uncommon for a president to tell a subordinate to "find me an answer that achieves this result."

_______________________

Milpitas, Calif.: What got you started on this series now, rather than, say, five years ago?

Barton Gellman: Been busy with other things. ;-)

(See link to my home page above.)

I'd love to have tackled this in 03-04, when it was clear that Cheney loomed unusually large for a vice president, but (1) there was a war on, and we had our hands full with that and (2) the VP is a hard target. It's always easier to look back and reconstruct, because far more information becomes available over time, so Jo and I could not have learned half this much had we tried to do it when you suggest.

_______________________

Richmond, Va.: How do you think Richard Cheney, Chief of Staff would have handled Richard Cheney, Vice President when it comes to process and protecting the President from "oh, by the way" decisions?

Barton Gellman: Now that would have been a collision worth watching. I'd put my money on this VP. He has a lot more experience, a bigger network, and a spot in the constitution that chief-of-staff Cheney couldn't touch. OTOH, it didn't come out so well for Rockefeller. Cheney helped push him off the ticket in 1976.

_______________________

Tuscaloosa, Ala.: Barton, in your article you suggest that David S. Addington, Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, was widely experienced in what Judge Advocates call "operational law." What experience did Addington actually possess?

Barton Gellman: What we meant to suggest is that Addington was highly experienced in, and very well read in, national security law and the authorities of the commander in chief (including the authority to detain and question enemies). He had been General Counsel of the Defense Department, a lawyer at the CIA and counsel on the House intelligence committee. I haven't met a lawyer who knows him -- including lots of those who dislike him -- who doesn't think he's one of the sharpest minds and best informed lawyers in government.

_______________________

Augusta, Maine: Will your series examine the relationship of KBR and/or Halliburton to the vice president's policies?

Barton Gellman: We've got to leave something for another day.

_______________________

Floris, Va.: Have been wondering when the next Woodstein might emerge; I hereby dub thee The Gellbeck Gang!

Barton Gellman: With all due respect to Jo, it beats BecGell, which could be subject to embarrassing mispronunciation.

_______________________

Jemison, Ala.: Was the Vice President ever associated directly with the creation of "Prospect for a New American Century," or part of its think tank? Are any of his top advisors and aides associated with it, besides Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz?

Barton Gellman: At least two of Cheney's staffers, Scooter Libby and Aaron Friedberg, were signatories to the Project for the New American Century. Cheney was not.

_______________________

Barton Gellman: We're up to around 600 questions here, I believe, and I've got to end this -- so don't take it personally if I didn't get to yours. If you have tips or information, do please find my contacts on the home page above. Thanks for coming.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070625/ap_on_go_su_co/scotus_faith_based

Court bars suit against faith-based plan

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that ordinary taxpayers cannot challenge a White House initiative that helps religious charities get a share of federal money.

The 5-4 decision blocks a lawsuit by a group of atheists and agnostics against eight Bush administration officials including the head of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.

The taxpayers' group, the Freedom From Religion Foundation Inc., objected to government conferences in which administration officials encourage religious charities to apply for federal grants.

Taxpayers in the case "set out a parade of horribles that they claim could occur" unless the court stopped the Bush administration initiative, wrote Justice Samuel Alito. "Of course, none of these things has happened."

"In the unlikely event that any of these executive actions did take place, Congress could quickly step in," Alito added.

The justices' decision revolved around a 1968 Supreme Court ruling that enabled taxpayers to challenge government programs that promote religion.

The 1968 decision involved the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which financed teaching and instructional materials in religious schools in low-income areas.

"This case falls outside" the narrow exception allowing such cases to proceed, Alito wrote.

In dissent, Justice David Souter said that the court should have allowed the taxpayer challenge to proceed.

The majority "closes the door on these taxpayers because the executive branch, and not the legislative branch, caused their injury," wrote Souter. "I see no basis for this distinction."

{More on link.}
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This CAN'T be good, and it's a violation of the First Amendment!!! It's been a violation of the First Amendment mandating separation of church and state since DimWit gave religious charities taxpayer monies! I wish Jefferson could come back and slap DimWit upside the head...!!! This offends me on so many levels I just can't even go there without screaming in hysteria.....

NonnyO
So that makes what - three moronic SCOTUS rulings in one day that affect free speech?

I have some of the coolest mushrooms ever growing in my yard.

I have never seen shrooms like them.

Blood red on top, neon yellow on the stem and underside.

Thats 3 times now Ive found a patch of them.

Very cool looking.

Posted by: NonnyO at June 25, 2007 03:21 PM

This is ridiculous, and I had already posted an MSNBC article on the same subject earlier.

Again, I will not forgive the Roberts SCOTUS, and its corporate maker Toyota.

Pushing the Envelope on Presidential Power
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/062507A.shtml
Cheney and his allies, according to more than two dozen current and former officials, pioneered a novel distinction between forbidden "torture" and permitted use of "cruel, inhuman or degrading" methods of questioning. They did not originate every idea to rewrite or reinterpret the law, but fresh accounts from participants show that they translated muscular theories, from legal counsel to the attorney general John Yoo and others, into the operational language of government.
~~~~~
Full Title: Part II | Pushing the Envelope on Presidential Power; this is the second of the four-part series on Cheney. To get to any embedded links mentioned in the article, you have to go to the original story:
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/cheney/chapters/pushing_the_envelope_on_presi/index.html

{{{The condensed info that at least bloggers have known about for years as each new offense occurred just makes me speechless. And there are two more articles to come.... The extent of the crimes of VP Dickie (and his conspiratorial staff) just feels overwhelming. I think after all four articles are published I'll put them in one email and send them to my rep... and demand he endorse Kucinich's impeachment proposal. If we can get rid of Dickie first, it should be easy to get rid of Georgie. If our legislators are any good at all, they should be able to walk and chew gum at the same time, multi-task, get other official business done, but, more importantly, IMPEACH the bam dastards who are taking us straight into a fascist corporate dictatorship. Perhaps that will take celebrities off the front page and out of the headlines and get people to focus on something worthwhile and genuinely important for a change..!!!}}}

Posted by: NonnyO at June 25, 2007 06:04 PM

Not only that, but we must revive the whole "buy blue" mentality, which has been kind of sagging (even for myself) lately.

And no political correctness applies here. Companies like Toyota and Samsung must be classified as "bleeding red" and boycotted, not coddled just because they are not bald, fat, old, white men's companies (bald, fat, old ASIAN men are just as evil).

Also, the red/blue distinction shall be made on entire corporate practices, not just party affiliation alone.

Citibank, for example, is a Democratic company in its political contributions, but I'll consider it red anyway.

US House Votes to Deny All Aid to Saudi Arabia
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/062507D.shtml
The US House of Representatives has voted to deny all aid to Saudi Arabia, despite repeated assurances by the administration the desert kingdom was cooperating with the United States in the war on terror.
{{{Why am I reading this from a French newspaper? This should be a news teaser in US Lamestream Media for the evening snooze. I don't give a flying #### how many days in jail Paris has now served; she's a completely irrelevent human being for everyone except her family and friends. I want to know what's going on "behind closed doors" in the US government because that affects everyone in this country and many people around the world!!!}}}

Ohio "Vote Caging" Allegations in US Attorney Firings
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/062507B.shtml
Four days before the 2004 election, the Justice Department's civil rights chief sent an unusual letter to a federal judge in Ohio who was weighing whether to let Republicans challenge the credentials of 23,000 mostly African-American voters.

White House Opposes Move to Declassify Report on Iraq's WMDs
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/062507F.shtml
The White House is resisting a move by both Republicans and Democrats to fully declassify a Senate report on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. The White House believes the declassification would trigger another round of negative news media coverage and Democratic-led Congressional hearings, said a Senate Republican, who asked to remain anonymous because of ongoing private discussions.

Ruler of a Media Empire Reaches Out for More
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/062507C.shtml
The American newspaper industry has never seen a publisher quite like Rupert Murdoch. Mr. Murdoch has long been a pivotal figure in England and Australia, and in the dozen years since he has moved his base of operations to this country, he has insinuated himself into the political and financial fabric of the United States. His businesses have thrived in a highly regulated environment in part because of his remarkable ability to mold the rules to fit his needs.

Posted by: Ally McRepuke at June 25, 2007 06:15 PM

I never stopped my personal boycott. I don't buy big ticket items (don't have the money to do so), but I do continue to only buy what's absolutely necessary for existence (blue when I know the politics of any company).

I'm only one person however, so whatever few pennies or dollars of sales tax or corporate profit anyone could make off of me don't amount to much.

Still, I get an 'up yours' thrill knowing even those few pennies are in my pocket, not a neoCon corporation's profit margin....

I will continue to buy blue and/or only enough for necessities until after this criminal administration is out of office.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070625/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/eu_us_travel_security

U.S. to fingerprint E.U. visitors

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Visitors from European nations traveling with visas or visa-free to the United States will soon have to give 10 digital fingerprints when entering the country, a senior U.S. Homeland Security official said Monday.

Border checks could also soon include other biometric data, such as facial and eye retina scans, as the U.S. upgrades security at its ports, airports and border crossings, said P.T. Wright, the operations director for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's US-VISIT Program.

All people from European nations and others participating in the U.S. Visa-Waiver program would have to give additional prints, as would people traveling from nations where visas are needed, he said.

Wright, who was in Brussels to explain the new system to EU officials, said a pilot project at 10 major U.S. airports would be launched in late 2007, expanding the current program that calls for taking prints of two fingers and facial photographs.

{{{More on link. If you were a tourist from another country, would you want to come to the US if it involved being treated like a criminal...???}}}

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/06/25/the-man-behind-the-curtain/#more-18720
The Man Behind the Curtain

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/06/25/john-dean-says-stop-funding-dick-cheney/
John Dean says stop funding Dick Cheney

http://www.indecision2008.com/blog.jhtml
Comedy Central's Indecision 2008

Madame and NMP,

Dare I admit that I don't find the decision to be that unreasonable?

The Supreme Court has previously ruled that Free Speach that disrupts the educational process in schools may be regulated.

The hurdle is "Was the message disrupting the classroom?"

I can see where it would.

Posted by: not my president at June 25, 2007 03:39 PM

Three regarding free speech, one regarding religion, all First Amendment issues, although the religious funding originally came from an executive order, and not a law passed by Congress Critters, although they had to vote to fund religious charities with the rest of the budget - I don't know why Congress can't declare that particular executive order unconstitutional and refuse to fund religious charities. I'm against any religious organization of any kind whatsoever getting taxpayer dollars. Period. If they want money, they need to get it through the members of their congregations, not through tax dollars (aren't donations to religious charities tax-deductable anyway?). IMHO.

5-4, 5-4 Supreme Court Contradicts Itself
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/062507R.shtml

Business Prevails in Environmental Case
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/062507EA.shtml

{Re: the other issues nmp was talking about....}

Rick Perlstein | Will the Progressive Majority Emerge?
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/062507T.shtml
"For as long as I can remember," says Rick Perlstein, "there's been a generally accepted story about the recent history of Democratic Party fortunes, a neat little morality tale that goes something like this: The New Deal majority fell apart when the party was taken over by forces outside the mainstream of American life. Getting blindsided by Reaganism was the party's just desserts. And if Democrats wanted the country back, they would just have to learn to become mainstream again."

David Whitfield | Hatred of Women Is Pervasive in US
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/062507WA.shtml
"The first time I witnessed violence against a woman, I was 17, living next door to a stockyard butcher, his wife and baby, on the South Side of Chicago," says David Whitfield. "'I hate you!' was followed by the B-word, then flesh hitting flesh - the butcher was at it again. After entering their apartment, I managed to wrestle the meat cleaver from him."

Posted by: sparrow at June 25, 2007 07:48 PM

As I understand the case, the school was at a parade & the kid hoisted the sign there. It was out in public, not in the school building. But they claimed that since he was there with the school, he had no right to free speech.

I do think it's the wrong decision. These 5-4 decisions are really starting to piss me off. Let's hope Stevens hangs in there for another 1 1/2 years...

Speaking of freedom of speech, I just realized something wierd.

Wanda Hudsons murder is still called 'the bloodiest murder Red River ever saw'. The details are revolting, sickening.

You know those one inch colums on the front page, like way over to the far left or right...? They are like runners down the page, news to take up space. Yall know what I mean.

"The bloodiest murder Red River ever saw, got exactly one write up in one Red River paper one single time, and it was in on the side of the front page, one inches wide and I was told 'an inch and a half long'.

Told by whom? A reporter with the Shreveport Times, about 4 years ago, who made it a point to go into the press archives of all of Red River and try to find any mention of either Aline or Wandas deaths.

She found one single 1 inch by 1 inch article on Wanda Hudson. The bloodiest murder ever in Red River was never again to be found in any press anywhere in Red River.

No press in Red River ever wrote a single article about Aline.

I remember when the Times reporter called back to tell me the results of her days and days and days, she was slightly freaked out a little but I blew it off.

I mumbled something like 'I am not surprised.' and really never thought of it again until recently.

The more I process it the more ...freaky.. it gets. I can't quit thinking about it.

No wonder Wandas family never heard the name Faye Aline Self until last year.

That reporter was FREAKED OUT.

Now that I think about it, it freaks me out too.

Posted by: Christy at June 25, 2007 10:27 AM

"The story is a fascinating one for New York's newspaper of record. As a massive investigative piece written by some of the Times' finest reporters and organized by the Times Managing Editor herself -- Jill Abramson -- it stands to have a major impact on a pending deal between Murdoch and the Times' New York competitor he is seeking to buy, The Wall Street Journal."

Is it just me or does some cosmic shift seemed to have occurred and the msm press are now all out to get each other?

Posted by: Christy at June 25, 2007 11:30 AM

And "violence begets violence". You'd think Bush would have read - nah, he's illiterate - but surely he'd have heard it. That was in my head in those early days after 9/11 when he vowed to take bin Laden "dead or alive". The terror was in the madness of his eyes way back then.

the real reason I am so anti-Toyota is because of its role in John Roberts' career.

Posted by: Ally McRepuke at June 25, 2007 12:23 PM

I am utterly confused? John Roberts?

He also said domain names run around $35 in US but you can get them through Australia for about $4.

Posted by: not my president at June 25, 2007 12:40 PM

Really? Where?

Sorry for the big, long repost above. It's morning here - but not early.

The vote to cut off funding for the OVP is coming to the floor Weds or Thursday.

HAHAHAHAHA!HAHA!!!HA!

I know it may fail, but it is still funny as hell.

You know I try lately to not think very hard about the political goings on with georgie, because it pisses me off so bad I want to pop my freaking cork and go Revolutionary.

But this whole thing with Dick talking himself into a corner is AMAZING.

He totally screwed himself with the 'But I'm not part of the Executive Branch' thing. It is like a gift from God to all of us who knew he was already that way.

I bet more than a few republicans got lockjaw just hearing him say it!!! HAHAHAHA!!

Congress is about to seriously start jerking with dick. His argument is as dumb as anything I have ever heard.

This showdown is maybe one of the biggest we have ever faced.

I am now considering we all might already be in Hell and Dick Cheney is the Devil.

Woz
Re Australian domain names - I'll have to ask my son where those were gotten but he said those places like yahoo.com, hotmail.com with free email do something via Australia too because it's cheaper than via US.

It's strange nowdays - lately in US and Canada, there has been fake Chinese-made Colgate toothpaste that came via South Africa. & there are plenty of US corporations that are technically based elsewhere. & alot of the porn that comes in is from Russia.

The internet truly has fulfilled Marshall McLuhan's idea of a global community but I don't know if he would have envisioned all this.

Sparrow,
About the kid and the First Amendment - couldn't the school discipline kids & institute rules without involving the government? When I was in high school, we were allowed to DJ at lunchtime and I played "Brown Shoes Don't Make It" by Frank Zappa and my privilege was taken away. They just need some clearcut rules from the get-go. The kids will challenge them but it's good that they "question authority" and push for some boundaries. It will serve them well in life.

Breaking from NewsMax.com

Jane Fonda Wants Bush, Cheney Impeached

Giuliani: Cubans Key to Winning 2008 Election

NBC Denies Making Paris Hilton Money Offer

Special: Will Bill Clinton's Wild Ways Hurt Hillary?

Defeat Stubborn Belly Fat Once and For All

Posted by: madame defarge at June 25, 2007 08:30 PM

I didn't know they were at a parade. If that's the case then I think there could be more reasons that their decision was wrong. I thought they were on their own school property. (I think if they were taking a bus to the parade even that might not be enough to rise to disruption of the school (education).)

The original rulings on school and free speech is that it has to be disruptive to the education at the school.

Thanks for adding that new information for me. I haven't had the chance to read the whole article today. Though now that you mention that, I guess I remember the story from a while ago. (Sorry--was sneaking a peek at our blog while at work.) (Thanks--I really mean it. I don't mind being corrected when I miss something. I'm not always the best at multitasking.)

The church down the street is showing "Iraq for Sale" tonight.

The Seattle P-I had this wonderful item, sent to me by a friend in OR.

Scholars urge Bush to ban use of torture

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

President Bush pauses during remarks on the" No Child Left Behind" reauthorization, Monday, June 25, 2007, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
WASHINGTON -- President Bush was presented with a letter Monday signed by 50 high school seniors in the Presidential Scholars program urging a halt to "violations of the human rights" of terror suspects held by the United States.

The White House said Bush had not expected the letter but took a moment to read it and talk with a young woman who handed it to him.

"The president enjoyed a visit with the students, accepted the letter and upon reading it let the student know that the United States does not torture and that we value human rights," deputy press secretary Dana Perino said.

The students had been invited to the East Room to hear the president speak about his effort to win congressional reauthorization of his education law known as No Child Left Behind.

The handwritten letter said the students "believe we have a responsibility to voice our convictions."

"We do not want America to represent torture. We urge you to do all in your power to stop violations of the human rights of detainees, to cease illegal renditions, and to apply the Geneva Convention to all detainees, including those designated enemy combatants," the letter said.

The designation as a Presidential Scholar is one of the nation's highest honors for graduating high school students. Each year the program selects one male and one female student from each state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Americans living abroad, 15 at-large students, and up to 20 students in the arts on the basis of outstanding scholarship, service, leadership and creativity.

"I know all of you worked hard to reach this day," Bush told the students in his education speech. "Your families are proud of your effort, and we welcome your family members here. Your teachers are proud of your effort, and we welcome your teachers. And our entire nation is proud to call you Presidential Scholar."

(more at http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/printer2/index.asp?ploc=t&refer=http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1151AP_Bush_Torture.html)

I reread the "Bong Hits for Jesus" thing - the kid was not on school property but he was on school time. He put up the banner as the Olympic Torch passed, in Alaska, of all places.

The school needs rules about what is acceptable on school time. Those who attend the school need to agree to the rules or negotiate for those mutually acceptable to the community.

I don't understand why the case was taken to the Supreme Court and I don't understand why they decided as they did. But I don't understand alot of things nowdays.

In my high school days - skirts had to reach the bottom of the knee and only girls wore skirts - no pants in school for girls even if it was forty below zero - no hair for boys below the nape of the neck. I got sent home for too short a skirt so I argued that the cheerleaders wore shorter ones. I was told that those were in the school colors. I asked if it was ok to wear what you wanted as long as it was in the school colors. I was sent home to change. I came back in one of my mother's skirts that was almost down to my ankles and was sent home again.

I thought those rules were much stricter than what has followed but now there are high schools where "no physical contact" is allowed. That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard of and my uncle that I stayed with right after high school thinks so too.

In college we didn't have clothing rules but we had curfew. I didn't like the idea of curfew so I got married one weekend because only married freshmen and sophomores could get out of living in dormitories.

Kids will always find a way to test the rules but the rules at least should be made clear, and if possible, some sort of rationale. It would be great if kids had a part in making the rules. I work with kids 0-15 and I let my small groups do that all the time. I draw the line at safety, where my word is the bottom line.

With my son, the rule was that he paid outstanding bills, returned library books, got schoolwork in on time, paid any tickets, returned any borrowed property and otherwise kept his word. Regarding decision making, he was presented with pros and cons, knowing that parental bias was included, and then we hoped for the best. We were seldom disappointed.

By the way, I met Sparrow's daughter and Karen's kids and they were delightful - we have some great families and people put alot of heart and consideration into them.

Posted by: woz at June 25, 2007 09:07 PM

John Roberts is the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. When Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, a moderate Republican, offered her resignation in 2005, W chose Roberts, and when another vacancy opened up due to the death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Roberts was elevated to that spot instead.

Up to that point, Roberts' experience was limited to two years as a judge, with pro-corporate bias. He had more experience as a corporate lawyer, however. Toyota hired him when it was defending its decision to fire workers who had been disabled on the job, in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act; Roberts won the case for Toyota.

Another thing to know: Japanese car factories in America are, with the exception of Mazda, all non-union. However, Toyota has been the most virulently anti-labor of them all, using perpetual temps to cut on benefits costs, among other things.

I hope this clears up your questions.

Giuliani: Cubans Key to Winning 2008 Election

Posted by: not my president at June 25, 2007 10:02 PM

No doubt about it.

And so are the fellow Cold War relics, the Korean and Vietnamese communities, especially in California.

The Korean and Vietnamese communities strongly prefer McCain's war record and conservatism to Giuliani...

I do expect the Dems to retake the White House in 2008, but I won't take anything for granted - especially if Hillary ends up as the nominee.

http://www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/article.php?id=LJS2007062101

THE HILLARY DILEMMA
What Should Democrats--and the Country--Do?

NB: Essay on pros and cons of Hillary for prez. Ending paragraphs (you'll have to go to the web site to see where Sabato has highlighted some sentences in bold print):

A much more reasonable criticism is directly related to the dominating presence of Hillary Clinton in this election cycle. The population of the United States now exceeds 300 million, and the talent pool of the world's only superpower is deep and rich. How is it that the country is on the verge of filling its highest office for the sixth consecutive term from one of two families? That every President from 1989 to 2017 may be a Bush or a Clinton is a national disgrace. What has happened to the American Republic? How does it differ from a banana republic--where a couple of dominant families often run everything for generations? Have we driven the vast majority of the potentially best Presidents out of the contest because of the high personal and professional costs of running for office? Are we the voters responsible because we are too lazy to go beyond the simplistic attractions of familiarity and high name identification? Or, most disturbing of all, has our political system become ossified, so that we are too fearful of change to seek out the most outstanding leaders among us for the toughest job in the world?

We don't pretend to have the answers. But we are shocked and dismayed that more people aren't even bothering to ask the questions.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070626/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/attacks_health

Whitman on hot seat over 9/11 aftermath

WASHINGTON - Ex-EPA chief Christie Whitman was bombarded by boos and a host of accusations Monday at a hearing into her assurances that it had been safe to breathe the air around the fallen World Trade Center.

{More on link.}

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070625/us_nm/usa_security_patrol_dc

Border Patrol hiring surge raises concerns

TUCSON, Arizona (Reuters) - A drive to recruit thousands more Border Patrol agents may flood the service with inexperienced officers and lead to increased corruption, officials said on Monday.

The U.S. government is seeking to increase the size of the Border Patrol by almost half, for a total of 18,000 agents, as part of an immigration overhaul President George W. Bush announced last year seeking to combine tougher enforcement with concessions for 12 million undocumented immigrants.

A Government Accountability Office report released last week concluded that the drive to add 6,000 agents to the force in a little over two years -- a mainstay of the White House's efforts to tighten border security -- could dilute their training and supervision.

"Our concern is that as you ramp up, the supervisory staff is just not there ... and this creates a vulnerability," Richard Stana, director of Homeland Security and Justice Issues in the GAO, said in a telephone interview on Monday.

Legislation pending in the Senate and favored by Bush would add a further 9,600 agents by 2012.

{{{More on link. Sniff... sniff... sniff.... I smell "private security" and "outsourcing" in the air.... Smells like Blackwater and/or Halliburton and/or DynCorp and/or KBR and/or....}}}

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/honktoimpeach-1

Homk to Impeach (July 4)

I got the above link off of a Democrats.com newsletter. They had several links in it.

What a great program and letter. The really obscene part of the entire proceedings was Bush blatantly lying to them about US sanctioned torture which is currently being used - still - on Guantanamo residents. This is worse than lying to adults. Their president. Lying to them. That is more than abhorrent.

Journalists report witnessing prisoner abuse

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/06/ap_prisoner_070624/

You can get domain names just as cheap here in the US, too. In fact, you can get them that cheap anywhere. 10 seconds spent on a Google search will give you a very long list of vendors offering domain name registration for $6.99 or less.

This is, I will note, the direct result of a progressive-politics initiative that passed legislation taking the domain name monopoly advantage away from companies like ICANN, and then by extension VeriSign and Network Solution, some years ago. (Thank you for your key part in that, Mr. Gore.)

I told ya.... Only Mississippi or Alabama could maybe go pound for pound with corruption from Louisiana.

"The curtain was pulled back on this plan when Dana Jill Simpson, a Republican lawyer who previously worked on a campaign against Siegelman, decided to blow the whistle. Her affidavit described William Canary, a legendary figure in the Alabama GOP, bragging that “his girls” would take care of Siegelman. Canary’s wife is Leura Canary, the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Alabama. Alice Martin, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama is a close confidante of Canary’s. He referred repeatedly to “Karl,” assuring that “Karl” had worked things out with the Justice Department in Washington to assure a criminal investigation and prosecution of Siegelman. Canary is a close friend of Karl Rove, and I have documented their long relationship in another post.

The response to Simpson’s affidavit has been a series of brusque dismissive statements – all of them unsworn – from others who figured in the discussion and the federal prosecutor in the Siegelman case, who has now made a series of demonstrably false statements concerning the matter. She’s been smeared as “crazy” and as a “disgruntled contract bidder.” And something nastier: after her intention to speak became known, Simpson’s house was burned to the ground, and her car was driven off the road and totaled. Clearly, there are some very powerful people in Alabama who feel threatened. Her case starts to sound like a chapter out of John Grisham’s book The Pelican Brief. However, those who have dismissed Simpson are in for a very rude surprise. Her affidavit stands up on every point, and there is substantial evidence which will corroborate its details.

This disclosure was treated as explosive news by Time Magazine and the New York Times. However, newspapers inside of Alabama reacted with awkward silence, as if these disclosures were very unpleasant news, best swept immediately under the living room carpet. I will single out the Birmingham News and the Mobile Register. I took some time earlier this week to review their coverage of the Siegelman story from the beginning. It left me wondering whether these publications were really newspapers.

http://harpers.org/archive/2007/06/hbc-90000351

If the entire nation is not watching this womans back, they will KILL HER.

And I doubt any newspaper in her community will write up a damn thing about it.

I keep thinking the vote rigging and basic corruption we are seeing overtake this nation all originated in the Deep South.

The Deep South was their MODEL, their testing ground.

But now I see the way the local presses down here can ensure a local blackout is really starting to freak me out.

Wanda Hudson... 1 single 1 inch by 1 1/2 inch article then never mentioned again AT ALL.

HOW CAN THAT BE?

Posted by: not my president at June 25, 2007 12:40 PM

You can get a domain name reserved in the US for a whole lot cheaper than $35.

What may cost more, and how much more depends on what you choose, is web hosting for your website and there are all kinds of options there.

godaddy and dotearth both offer domain registration for $1.99 when you purchase any webhosting package with them. Godaddy's basic package can run as low as $2.80/month depending on how long you contract for. Dotearth is $9.95/month for the basic. Dreamhost offers free domain registration if you buy a webhosting package with them and their basic plan runs as low as $7.95 / month.

Plus there a lots more sites where you can register a domain name for $6.95 if you do a little googling.

The point is that there is a difference between registering a domain name and registering a domain name at the same time one is setting up a website which is where I presume the $35 figure came from.

You know what I just did?

Oh, the cleverness of me.

I went back and tried searching again for 'Wanda Hudson Coushatta', I was trying to find the earliest mention of her, and I just so happened to reread an article that first broke in the days right after we learned of the confession. Lots of details washed over us all the sudden and we were still too stunned to take it all in.

I reread the article, from a Colorado press, and I just caught the current sheriff and DA in BIG FAT LIES.

Funny how our local press never picked up on that.

http://www2.gazette.com/display.php?id=1319662&secid=47

William Rivers Pitt | How Dick Cheney Broke My Mind
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/062607Q.shtml
William Rivers Pitt writes: "I was absolutely savaged by an unexpected emotional detonation on Thursday. Every rough emotion I am capable of experiencing - anger, fear, sorrow, rage, bitterness, despair, loathing, astonishment, woe, regret, horror, fury - erupted within me at the same time that day. I spent hours in the aftermath trying to type an accurate description of what had happened to me and why, but I failed. For the first time in a long, long while, I was completely unable to write. What could have been powerful enough to huff and puff and blow my house down? What manner of mind bomb could hurl me so far off kilter that I was incapable of explaining it on paper? It was, of course, Dick Cheney."

{{{What he said, better than I could say it; brilliant essay. Highly Recommended reading!}}}

Secrecy May Cost Cheney, Democrats Warn
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/062607J.shtml
"Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Illinois)," write Elana Schor and Mike Soraghan of The Hill, "warned Dick Cheney that his office would risk losing its budget unless the vice president agrees to follow a presidential directive ordering the protection of classified information."

{And, as usual, neoCons are calling it "partisan politics." Yawn. Can't they come up with a new line?}

dwahzon
Thanks! I'll pass on to my son etc.

Posted by: Christy at June 26, 2007 09:20 AM

The Republicans used to refer to the Democrats as the party of the Deep South, complete with all its corruption.

But now, having taken in the racist Southern Democrats, it's the Republicans who have taken in the corruption, it seems.

Your posts about Wanda's case are giving me cause for concern for the future of the nation, Christy... Thank you so much for keeping us all informed.

thanks Otter too (domain name info etc.) - I am used to sometimes reading backwards, even w/books

Funny how our local press never picked up on that.

Posted by: Christy at June 26, 2007 10:07 AM

Same thing on the national level.

I have to read BBC, The Guardian, etc. in order to get information on, say, the latest free-trade agreements the US signs with unsavory, primitive Third World countries. There is a complete information embargo in the US media.

Report Blasts US for Failures in Fighting Terrorism
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/062607M.shtml
"A just-released report by the Government Accountability Office slams the federal government for failing to coordinate the work of US law enforcement agencies overseas to fight terrorism," reports CNN.
Excerpt:

The Government Accountability Office found that in one country a lack of clarity about the roles and responsibilities of the FBI and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency may have compromised several investigations intended to identify and disrupt potential terrorist activities.

{{{Those are the first two paragraphs of this article. Anyone besides me see the fallacy of that argument??? The FBI is a domestic US law enforcement agency, as is Immigration and Customs. They are NOT international law enforcement entities! The US has NO law enforcement jurisdiction within any other nation to arrest, try, or otherwise deal with criminals ('ter'rists' or any other kind of criminals), nor even "assist" law enforcement agencies in any other nation (which could lead to invading another nation via a back door policy, rather than with an army)...! This is more of Bu$hCo imposing its standards and its will on other nations, acting like the world's dictator!!! The only "terrorists" we need to fight are homegrown "terrorists" - notably, Georgie and Dickie and their entire administration whose rhetoric is designed to keep us cowering in fear while they play their delusional roles as the great patriarchs who are promising to keep us "safe"....}}}

Posted by: Christy at June 26, 2007 08:59 AM

Mississippi and Alabama are Third World countries, plain and simple, with legal systems to go along with it (i.e. right-to-work, laughably weak labor laws).

That's how they attract the Asian automotive pigs (TOYOTA, HONDA, NISSAN, HYUNDAI) the same way Chinese and Southeast Asian sweatshops do for smaller scale manufacturers.

Good thing my current Honda was made in Japan with plenty of TLC.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070626/ts_nm/palestinians_israel_blair_dc_4

Middle East mediators close to deal on Blair

JERUSALEM (