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Traitors and the Congress Members Who Love Them
The American store is being quietly robbed by a bunch of slick, pinky-ring wearing lobbyists and corporate hacks, and Congress doesn't give a damn. In fact, they're holding the door open and driving the getaway car.
Glenn Greenwald has written a great article for Salon on the proposed legislation that will wipe the slate clean for any telecom companies that helped the government spy illegally on U.S. citizens. Newsweek also reported on this pending legislation.
If you've got a strong stomach, you can read the Salon article here:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/09/22/telecom_immunity/index.html
Think this sounds like a Republican mission? Think again.
A NYT article by Jim Risen reported that "Congressional Democrats appeared likely to agree to some form of retroactive immunity for telecom companies which illegally enabled the Bush administration's warrantless eavesdropping on Americans (thus compelling dismissal of most of the remaining lawsuits challenging the illegality of the eavesdropping)."
Now, there are a multitude of horrifying things in the article, but some of them literally jumped off the page at me.
From Greenwald's article:
"Congressional staffers said this week that some version of the proposal is likely to pass -- in part because of a high-pressure lobbying campaign warning of dire consequences if the lawsuits proceed."
"Dire consequences?" (Right this way, Mr. Badinoff. Your table's waiting.)
The Newsweek article sheds further light onto the reasons for its likely passage:
"The nation's biggest telecommunications companies, working closely with the White House, have mounted a secretive lobbying campaign to get Congress to quickly approve a measure wiping out all private lawsuits against them for assisting the U.S. intelligence community's warrantless surveillance programs."
Isn't that just perfect? The government and big telecoms work together to spy illegally on American citizens, and then they work together to pass a law making it illegal for citizens (or any government watchdog agency) to do anything about it.
Apparently we're waiting for goose-stepping troops in the streets to call this a dictatorship.
"The campaign -- which involves some of Washington's most prominent lobbying and law firms -- has taken on new urgency in recent weeks because of fears that a U.S. appellate court in San Francisco is poised to rule that the lawsuits should be allowed to proceed."
Yeah, they've got to get moving before some piss-ant member of the judiciary branch exhibits some sign of rebellion against the politburo, and rules that this sh*t is actually illegal. Step lively, boys.
It gets worse. I found this part particularly toxic:
"The lobbyists have set up meetings and arranged conference calls, pressing the argument that failure to provide protection to the companies could interfere with the vital assistance they say the telecom industry has provided the intelligence community in monitoring the communications of Al Qaeda and other terrorist operations overseas."
I guess that would be the vital intelligence that led to the capture of Osama Bin Laden. Or maybe the vital intelligence that led to actually inspecting cargo coming into our ports. (And by the way, Big Daddy, if we get sued by somebody and it costs us a dime, you can fight the terrorists without us.)
Oh, wait! Maybe they meant the vital intelligence that led to spying on Americans to "monitor the communications of Al Queda overseas."
Got it? Illegally monitoring your phone calls and emails is actually monitoring the communications of Al Queda overseas.
Right.
And Democrats are just fine with all this. Why? Because there are 12 people in America who still think 'we're winning' something. And we certainly don't want to lose those votes, do we?
I could write more about the multi-headed doormat that the Democratic Congressional Delegation has become. Instead, I'm going to call their offices and rip the liver out of whatever 12-year old staffers answer my calls.
Until then, I'll be down in my basement making bullseye glass.
God Save America.
This is why we send money to the ACLU, and like you say, we can bug those staffers and hope they pass on messages. Telecom is something, like petroleum, that most of us have a hard time doing without. Wonder about switching internet providers, to take away a little of their revenue? It's so hard though - Murdoch owns MySpace and Anne Coulter runs banner ads at the top.
Mann Coulter has apparently written a new volume of lunatic rantings in which she calls liberals stupid.
I thought that was hilarious.
Vic,
That sick feeling in the stomick just doesn't go away does it? Lie, cheat, coverup, steal, create laws to make the illegal legal and then make it retroactive, and this is the NORM in DC.
It makes me sick and as far as I'm concerned, these actions will rip apart our democracy because as people get frustrated there will be a revolution in the streets.
Passivity only helps those beltway blobs. But what they don't understand is that the rage is increasing out here and it's not the left or the right wingers who are the only ones feeling the blues either and thinking about the unthinkable.
Reposting ncyeve's diary from previous thread.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/9/23/8729/17719#c235
Victoria Ellen
I lurked at Mann Coulter's Forum and even though I didn't sign up she snatched my email address and signed me up for the Conservative Book Club where her book can be bought on the three books for one dollar plan, even though it is just out!
I also belong to NewsMax, where I learn that people are very paranoid about terror attacks and upset that the full Bin Laden tape was not released to the public, that we are too slow in nuking Iran, that we had better all start buying gold. It's also where you can get the Mann Coulter book for next to nothing.
It's hard to believe young people actually click on the Mann Coulter link at the top of many MySpace pages. I think most would much rather watch this - I certainly would.
http://www.hiphop.ch/multimedia/videoplayer/index.php?vid=bcone_3
I think it would be great if all the Presidential candidates had to come out into the ring like this and breakdance. They would be put into pairs of two, and timed, down to the finals. Republicans too. Imagine the slick moves of Huckabee, for example!
Watching these lst thing in the morning and then a second time informed my whole day and I got all inspired about why do people do war or even football when they could be dancing?!!
& just now I got a call from my son's friend who is a 20 something young woman who once put a badly-done Star of David on her ankle. At that time I thought it was really amateurish and told her that it would be cool to have all the religions. Well now, several years later, she has done it and said "It was all inspired by you. They fixed by Star of David and I have a Mandala Wheel and Islamic symbol and Cross and Lotus and everyone says it's my best tatoo."
She also told me she didn't have hope for the future, that Canadians were buying property here and her friend in Scotland (who is from here) said that people there are flying over to NYC to buy things because they're so much cheaper it compensates them for the airfare. I told her not expect to fix everything and to try to avoid the worst of it, that we'd seen hard times during the Vietnam War and that if she's not part of the solution, she's part of the problem - to just hang in there.
I'm exhausted but technically on vacation (though taking a class tomorrow) so ready to take off. The terrorists don't want us to travel and neither does our government, I don't think. I agree with Rick Steves though, that it is a mind-bending experience that is educational as well as recreational. I definitely believe the mind and body both need to be well-stretched.
& I'm going to the Mr. Bean movie today (where he goes to France), in honor of Marcel Marceau. More dancing at http://www.silencedmajority.blogs.com - good to see French young people dancing in the streets instead of lining up at recruitment offices, though we'll see how long that lasts with the recent change in administration. Not to mention the 5 & 8 year old DJs!
This explanation doesn't lend much credence to the "false flag" speculation that was going on with the tin-hat set or the speculation that nukes were being snuck to staging for attack on Iran. It also doesn't explain the high number of dead/missing bomb squad guys from the Minot base right after this happened.
Well, file it away, I guess..
How Nuclear Warheads Made Unplanned Flight Over US
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092307C.shtml
Joby Warrick and Walter Pincus, The Washington Post, investigate what happened at North Dakota's Minot Air Force that led up to "the first known flight by a nuclear-armed bomber over US airspace, without special high-level authorization, in nearly 40 years."
Now this one - I can distract myself with breakdancers and Mr. Bean movies all day long and it will still make me have insomnia for the next few days!! What can we do to stop this?! Let's hope Californians aren't nutty enough to sign this petition en masse. Because if they are, they might as well line up and jump in the sea, and us too!
Bob Herbert | In 2008, Bush v. Gore Redux?
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092307D.shtml
Bob Herbert of The New York Times says, "Right now it's just a petition drive on its way to becoming a ballot initiative in California. But you should think of it as a tropical depression that could develop into a major storm that blows away the Democrats' chances of winning the White House next year. And
it could become a constitutional crisis."
Sparrow
Pink with her father, I have seen the rain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWIQJOfjEbc
That is very cool Rossi. I love that song.
I am headed back to my shop but I got pics I will send you in just a bit once I can figure out how to open them.
Christy, did you go into my site and get pics of the paintings you sent me, I have put Gandi up there to.
AM I DREAMING??? DO I BELIEVE MY EARS??
HILLARY SUPPORTS DEFUNDING THE IRAQ WAR ON "MEET THE PRESS":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMcsneLOZYA
FOOL ME ONCE, SHAME ON YOU; FOOL ME TWICE, SHAME ON ME
GOP Presidential Candidates To Bush: Stay Away
AP | LIZ SIDOTI | September 23, 2007 02:26 PM
Republican presidential candidates can't be any more clear: President Bush isn't welcome on the campaign trail.
Competing to succeed him, top GOP candidates Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson and John McCain barely utter Bush's name. They essentially ignore the lame-duck president, or give him only passing credit, as they rail against the status quo and promise to fix problems he hasn't solved.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20070923/republicans-bush/
Ralpeh
Amazing. So I signed up to for the Warren Magnusen Awards on Oct. 22 and will see if she is consistent. I saw her at YearlyKos in Chicago but there wasn't much pinning down of candidates about Iraq at that particular event.
Posted by: rossiann at September 23, 2007 05:46 PM
He hasn't solved?
Come on! Truth in media? Liberal media?
Let's be honest here. It should read, "fix problems he and the Republican party who supported his wild reckless dictates caused!"
Ralpheh
Here is a politician who tells the truth - Mike Gravel (though he won't win). I saw him twice at YearlyKos. In the breakout group, those who chose to see him rather than Obama, Clinton, Edwards etc etc were treated to a tutorial on the Constitution. Then he showed up at a Teamsters picnic with Jimmy Hoffa. He told us politicians will say anything to get elected.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf9wAo_i4K0
This is good.
Last week sometime, the San Diego city council voted not to join a brief that other CA cities were filing before the CA Supreme Court in support of marriage for same-sex couples. Then it re-voted and decided to join the brief. The conservative Republican mayor, who's a former police chief, announced he would veto the measure. Then he gave a surprise and teary-eyed press conference yesterday and said he'd sign the brief, noting that his daughter's a lesbian, that he has gay folks on his staff, and that he's come a long way on this issue. It's worth the 5 minutes to watch this video. Really quite amazing.
http://cbs5.com/video/?id=26888@kpix.dayport.com
That takes courage.
Mayor Jerry Sanders. City Administration Building 11th Floor, 202 C Street San Diego, CA 92101 Phone: (619) 236-6330 Fax: (619) 236-7228
Let's be honest here. It should read, "fix problems he and the Republican party who supported his wild reckless dictates caused!"
Posted by: sparrow at September 23, 2007 06:30 PM
Isn't that the truth
Two guys that noticed the same fishy thing about Hillary Rodham's You Tube Website that I did:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x56696
They did a video on it
Here is my video on Hillary's You Tube Site:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFFpv3_rUGU
Iraq: Blackwater staff will face criminal charges
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The Iraqi government said it will file criminal charges against employees of security firm Blackwater USA who were involved a gun battle in Baghdad in which civilians were killed, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said Sunday.
The official said the charges will come within a week.
It is not clear how Iraqi courts will attempt to bring the contractors to trial.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/09/23/blackwater.probe/index.html
Candidates Compete for the Idjit Vote
http://www.theonion.com/content/video/in_the_know_candidates_compete
Ralpheh
Looks like she has strategy down pat - a plus in some ways, not in others. We shall see.
In rightwing stuff I'm collecting, I can also see counterstrategies developing, on about the same level as the Swift Boaters.
Here are some disturbing videos of how protesters are attacked and accosted by counter-protesters or the police. Both of these involve Code Pink:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3g3MfVrZ4jA
This is a video of Code Pinker being approached and harassed during a street march in D.C.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUV-xEMgGUo
This is a Hardball clip with Medea Benjamin on how protesters are banned from being within the city of D.C. for months at a time....
From the last thread re: Christianity and my renunciation of it
Rossiann and sparrow, I am very assured that there ARE good Christians, and I come across them all the time - especially in a Unitarian Universalist framework, but outside as well. Plenty of those are right here at DCP (including TSP and others I can't think of right now).
I am also happy to see that Pope Benedict, though still disagreeing with my key issues, is coming around on many other topics.
It's just that the Christian label, and the theology, have been hijacked by a whole bunch of extremists, who think it's better to plunder the Earth to hasten Jesus' second coming. They are the ones who display those obnoxious "NOT OF THIS WORLD" window stickers on their SUVs.
Recently, there was a post somewhere (either here or on NMP's blog) where a survey found that American evangelical Christianity has degenerated into a twisted nationalism first, and Christianity second. American evangelicals are at odds with Christians elsewhere in the world (maybe except their colonial subjects in South Korea). And it's this trend that I want to never associate with.
Yes Rossi, I got them, thank you.
I have come a long way since those paintings, and I am going to start a second piece to send you as well, just to show off.
I learned a few new tricks and the first piece I have started for you is the wrong style to show you.
I see the damn republicans are still screwing up everything.
I have to get back to my shop and finish my moms bd present. If I keep reading the news I will probably get too depressed to paint.
How was that put recently? Oh yeah, bush-avoidant. I am so sick of that little bastard I could scream.
I lurked at Mann Coulter's Forum and even though I didn't sign up she snatched my email address and signed me up for the Conservative Book Club where her book can be bought on the three books for one dollar plan, even though it is just out!
Posted by: nmp at September 23, 2007 02:10 PM
That's how the Mann's books end up on the NY Times Bestsellers' List. Thanks for letting me know.
As Randi Rhodes says... it's a MAN, baby! Tranny whore.
Christy,
A public thanks to you for all your artwork, including one for me (which Karen has, for now).
Thanks for caring so much for our fellow DCPers.
I am christian Ally.
No longer affiliated with a church, and I am a One God christian, not a Jesus christian.
Which in Louisiana terms probably makes me either an athiest or a devil worshipper.
Christianity, muslims, Hindus...whatever. We all worship the one who made the trees and waters.
You are welcome Ally.
Have you seen it yet? It is a perfect example of my preferred style.
Christy
I would fit pretty much into that category you described at 11:07 PM.
By the way, I was a little freaked out - I bought some Halloween lights and on the back was a warning about lead - to wash my hands after touching them. Made in China, for Target. I am wondering for how many years we have been handling lead-containing lights and not washing our hands right after. The only reason it had a warning was possibly because of a CA law.
Posted by: Christy at September 23, 2007 11:13 PM
I've only seen the one you made for Karen.
I'll keep my fingers crossed... Don't spoil the suspense!
Thanks again.
As Randi Rhodes says... it's a MAN, baby! Tranny whore.
Posted by: Ally McRepuke at September 23, 2007 11:04 PM
It might be how she is getting on the NY Times best seller list, but that man baby, Tranny Whore is still making the mega bucks working it that way.
Christianity, muslims, Hindus...whatever. We all worship the one who made the trees and waters.
Posted by: Christy at September 23, 2007 11:07 PM
Good for you Christian
The only reason it had a warning was possibly because of a CA law.
Posted by: not my president at September 23, 2007 11:18 PM
Yes, Proposition 65, a law about carcinogens, warning especially pregnant mothers.
One of the examples of California leading to protect the people over the greed of the corporate lobby.
I do believe Proposition 65 warnings, for example, are now found on all cars sold in the US *and* Canada. (At least in the owner's manual anyway.)
I'm not sayin nuthin.
Except...Baby blue and olive green are absolutely beautiful together.
I'll be back.
From last thread:
HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher weighs in on the MoveOn 'Betray Us?' ad
http://rawstory.com//news/2007/Bill_Maher_on_Betray_Us_ad_0922.html
Posted by: Carol at September 23, 2007 09:37 AM
Carol, thankyou for this link. These people make the same points I've been making about General Betrayus and his thin skin for anything that isn't coming out of Bush's backside. What the heck is he General of, I asked ..... the Teddy Bears' Picnic?
Thanks to the sanity of the panel of 3 on the Moyer interview, others may start to realise just how apt the name really is. General Betrayus, obeyed orders from his Commander In Chief. He didn't take an oath because he didn't have to. He obeyed orders from the president and said nothing of what his troops believed and wanted. He obeyed orders from his CIC and in so doing he Betrayed ALL troops and all of the world. He Betrayed All Of Us.
The Democrats need to start taking the Republicans to task for this idiotic umbrage about General Betrayus. Well - so what - I call Bush our Terrorist In Chief or TIC for short. I've been on the *listening-in* radar since way back in the dawn of my adult life. Bush is a TIC literally. He's a parasite on the American people. He's a parasite on the poor and all minorities. He's a TIC.
Simple. Surely there are Democrats with brains enough to realise this is another ridiculous distraction from what our poor troops truly believe and trust their government to save them from.
sparrow - thanks for the Global Village link. She makes such an amazing connection between the music, the lyrics and the photos. Very talented woman. Thanks GV.
Reposting ncyeve's diary from previous thread.
Posted by: sparrow at September 23, 2007 01:22 PM
Excellent diary, thanks sparrow. Living in a country where there is universal health care, makes me horrified to realise that the huge United States of America has none. And I wonder how the United States can continue to regard itself as a leader of the Free and Developed world.
It is a country lacking in some major factors required of leaders of the Free and Developed world. Social Justice. Compassion. All Equal Under the Law. Presumption of Innocence. A country that refuses to maintain a high standard of health for all of its citizens is impoverished indeed. Primitive even.
In terms of Universal Health Care, the United States should have led the world. Instead, it's on a par with some 3rd world countries.
I think it would be great if all the Presidential candidates had to come out into the ring like this and breakdance. They would be put into pairs of two, and timed, down to the finals. Republicans too. Imagine the slick moves of Huckabee, for example!
Posted by: nmp at September 23, 2007 02:10 PM
Oh yuck! And I was eating lunch!
Watching these lst thing in the morning and then a second time informed my whole day and I got all inspired about why do people do war or even football when they could be dancing?!!
Posted by: nmp at September 23, 2007 02:10 PM
Exactly! Or simply watching, listening, playing, singing - music and poetry and dance. We can learn a lot from the indigenous and the slaves of the past in terms of music and being the foundations of culture. It's hard to stay hateful when listening to good music. I do exclude heavy metal and hate-filled lyrics.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf9wAo_i4K0
This is good.
Posted by: not my president at September 23, 2007 06:36 PM
Since the leader of the US affects us on all the continents of the world, we should be able to register and have a vote as well. This man I would like to vote for.
http://cbs5.com/video/?id=26888@kpix.dayport.com
Posted by: nmp at September 23, 2007 06:39 PM
oh wow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUV-xEMgGUo
This is a Hardball clip with Medea Benjamin on how protesters are banned from being within the city of D.C. for months at a time....
Posted by: Ralpheh at September 23, 2007 09:43 PM
Hooray for Medea! Her words were a shock to hear, and yet a logical brain would have known that the democrats are behaving in the identical way to the Republicans. That Hilary Clinton has goons to throw out a person with a bring the troops home message on a t shirt. This is criminal absurdity and criminal at its worst.
The more I hear of the two parties in the US and the two parties here in Oz, the less difference there is between them. What is there for our future?
An interesting premise, as relevant to Americans as it is to Australians.
Emotions get the vote
Gordon Farrer
September 24, 2007
The federal election will be won or lost on less rational grounds than good arguments or policies.
HERE'S my prediction. The Coalition will lose the next federal election. Not because Labor offers better arguments or more appealing policies. Not because the electorate is impressed by Kevin Rudd's intellect or wit. Not because "It's Time" or because John Howard is seen as yesterday's man. The Coalition will lose because of the way the human brain works.
Backed by research in neuroscience, political psychologists argue that the thought processes behind decision-making — including how we vote at elections — are fundamentally emotional, not rational.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/emotions-get-the-vote/2007/09/23/1190486129798.html
It's hard to stay hateful when listening to good music.
Posted by: woz at September 24, 2007 01:38 AM
"Music Saves" - Monkey 3:16
Monkey 3:16 - etched on my brain - the part that stays with me - not the part that absents itself for hours at a time throughout each day.
Military is ‘baiting’ insurgents in Iraq
Snipers describe classified program
A Pentagon group has encouraged some U.S. military snipers in Iraq to target suspected insurgents by scattering pieces of "bait," such as detonation cords, plastic explosives and ammunition, and then killing Iraqis who pick up the items, according to military court documents.
The classified program was described in investigative documents related to recently filed murder charges against three snipers who are accused of planting evidence on Iraqis they killed.
"Baiting is putting an object out there that we know they will use, with the intention of destroying the enemy," Capt. Matthew P. Didier, the leader of an elite sniper scout platoon attached to the 1st Battalion of the 501st Infantry Regiment, said in a sworn statement. "Basically, we would put an item out there and watch it. If someone found the item, picked it up and attempted to leave with the item, we would engage the individual as I saw this as a sign they would use the item against U.S. Forces."
more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20947008/
A woman dies in childbirth every 68 minutes in Afghanistan. Not much has changed really. Except that most of the money that was promised has not been seen by the needy.
Unfortunately the program isn't available to be seen. Maybe some time in the future ?? ?? ?? Who knows?
http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/content/2007/s2038790.htm
A Pentagon group has encouraged some U.S. military snipers in Iraq to target suspected insurgents by scattering pieces of "bait," such as detonation cords, plastic explosives and ammunition, and then killing Iraqis who pick up the items, according to military court documents.
Posted by: monkey at September 24, 2007 07:10 AM
There's a name for that isn't there? Entrapment? But hey - saves all the bother and expense of a trial since the Iraqis will be dead. Bloody hell.
There's a name for that isn't there?
Posted by: woz at September 24, 2007 08:33 AM
yeah, it's called stupid.
I opened my email this morning to the latest challenges to personal agency and my own sanity:
A Year Later, Spellings Report Still Makes Ripples
More colleges test students and share data
By PAUL BASKEN
Washington
A year ago, Charles Miller, a former chairman of the University of Texas' Board of Regents, walked into the U.S. Education Department here and dropped off a glossy 76-page document with a crisp red cover.
Its recipient, Secretary Margaret Spellings, promptly hailed the final report of her Commission on the Future of Higher Education as a turning point: It was the day, she hoped, when U.S. colleges reoriented their mission to provide the highest possible quality of education to the most students possible at the lowest possible cost.
Such epochal aspirations motivate many government commissions. One year later, however, there is accumulating evidence that the vision in this case might, at least in some key aspects, actually be realized.
"Something is changing out there," says Patrick M. Callan, president of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. After initial criticisms of the Spellings commission and the sometimes caustic tone of its yearlong deliberations, many college leaders are recognizing common ground.
"This was not," Mr. Callan says, "some group of ideologues or people who had no respect for higher education or had an ax to grind."
Among recent key developments seen to stem from or be encouraged by the Spellings commission:
· Hundreds of U.S. colleges are using standardized student-achievement tests, allowing comparisons between institutions, while investigating options for creating more such tests.
· Several major college groups are set to outline in coming weeks projects in which their members will post to their Web sites specific performance-related data to allow direct comparisons between institutions.
· Congress, with broad bipartisan backing, this month approved the largest increase in federal student aid since the GI Bill in 1944.
"We're under way," Ms. Spellings said in an interview with The Chronicle last week. "Are we done? Heck no. We haven't even started."
.....
Yet the Spellings commission tackled college orthodoxies in ways that previous panels had not. Rather than urge more government funds or suggest some shifts in academic focus, the Spellings panel proposed a direct challenge to some deeply cherished and longstanding ways in which colleges operate, calling on higher education to shed some of its mystery and fundamentally prove the value it delivers.
That change should be accomplished, the commission said in its final report, by devising new "accountability measures" that allow comparisons of student performance. That means developing standardized tests and compiling and sharing more data on both "inputs" and "outcomes," including total student costs and college completion rates, it said...
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v54/i05/05a00101.htm
Here is why that article is infuriating:
Whether or not my graduate students are employed at a certain income level is not an indication of my success as an educator. Nor is it the case that graduate programs are, or should be, comparable in outcomes. We can all agree on baseline standards (and we have labored long to do so FOR OUR OWN FIELD) but to make those standards the goal for every program, and to measure achievement by economic indicators as a result of those baselines is to sell us short. Our baseline standards are common to the field, but our student outcomes are specific to the institution and our own hopes and dreams for our graduates.
U.S. accuses Iran of smuggling missiles
Military says troops finding surface-to-air weapons in Iraq
BAGHDAD - The U.S. military accused Iran on Sunday of smuggling surface-to-air missiles and other advanced weapons into Iraq for use against American troops.
The new allegations came as Iraqi leaders condemned the latest U.S. detention of an Iranian in northern Iraq, saying the man was in their country on official business.
Military spokesman Rear Adm. Mark Fox said U.S. troops were continuing to find Iranian-supplied weaponry including the Misagh 1, a portable surface-to-air missile that uses an infrared guidance system.
more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20940954/
Brzezinski: U.S. in danger of 'stampeding' to war with Iran
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski likened U.S. officials' saber rattling about Iran's alleged nuclear ambitions to similar statements made before the start of the Iraq war.
"I think the administration, the president and the vice president particularly, are trying to hype the atmosphere, and that is reminiscent of what preceded the war in Iraq," Brzezinski told CNN's "Late Edition" on Sunday.
But Henry Kissinger, the former national security adviser and secretary of state under President Nixon, appeared not to doubt Iran's alleged ambitions.
"I believe they are building a capability to build a nuclear bomb," Kissinger told CNN. "I don't think they're yet in a position to build a nuclear bomb, but they may be two or three years away from it."
more...
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/09/23/iran.us/index.html
~new thread~
The Water is Blacker