Empowering the monster (part II)...

House approves Iran Freedom Support Act.

The House voted Thursday to impose mandatory sanctions on entities that provide goods or services for Iran's weapons programs. The vote came as U.S diplomats continued to press the U.N. Security Council to penalize Tehran if it fails to end its uranium enrichment program.
The bill, passed by a voice vote, sanctions any entity that contributes to Iran's ability to acquire chemical, biological or nuclear weapons. The president has the authority to waive those sanctions, but only when he can show that it is in the vital national interest.
"It would be a critical mistake to allow a regime with a track record as bloody and as dangerous as Iran to obtain nuclear weapons," said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (news, bio, voting record), R-Fla., sponsor of the measure. "Enough with the carrots. It's time for the stick."
But critics questioned the need for unilateral action when the United States was pushing for a multinational approach to Iran's alleged nuclear program. "It is, if you will, a cruise missile aimed at a difficult diplomatic effort just as they are reaching their most sensitive point," said Rep. Earl Blumenauer (news, bio, voting record), D-Ore. "The timing for this legislation could not be worse."
But others warned that language in the bill supporting democratic change in Iran would only antagonize people in Iran who might see parallels to U.S. regime change objectives in neighboring Iraq. It's time, said Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, "to give assurance to Iran that we are not going to attack them."

Sorry - can't give those assurances. The wheels are already in motion.

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Empowering a monster...

U.S. Senate passes new detainee rules.

The U.S. Senate approved a measure on Thursday on the interrogations and trials of terrorism suspects, establishing far-reaching rules to deal with what President George W. Bush has called the most dangerous combatants in a different type of war.
The vote was 65 to 34. It was cast after more than 10 hours of often impassioned debate that touched on the Constitution, the horrors of Sept. 11 and the role of the United States in the world.
Both parties also positioned themselves for the continuing clash over national security going into the homestretch of the midterm elections.
The bill would set up rules for the military commissions that will allow the government to proceed with the prosecutions of high-level detainees including Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, considered the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
It would make illegal several broadly defined abuses of detainees, while leaving it to the president to establish specific permissible interrogation techniques.

Yep, W will determine what is permissible. Pulling out fingernails - possibly. Urinating and defecating on detainess - definitely. Waterboarding - of course. Bringing back the medieval rack and iron maiden - if a manufacturer stops forward then most definitely.

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October Surprise...

Anthrax, Iran & bin Laden: Waiting for the October Surprise.

Presidential advisor Karl Rove has been touting his "October surprise," aimed at keeping Republicans in office.
While Rove will most certainly exploit the fear factor, the question remains if we'll let ourselves be fooled - yet again.
So perhaps Rove's surprise will involve some form of domestic bioweapons attack, handily foiled by Bush's superior intelligence capabilities. How intriguing that Project BioShield, a $5.6 billion farce aimed at protecting the American public after the anthrax attacks, has been getting a lot of flak recently. A little domestic scare might give the administration's pharmaceutical boondoggle more credibility.
A second possibility is that Rove plans to serve up bin Laden "dead or alive," as Bush had originally requested. Recent rumors of bin Laden's having succumbed to typhoid support the possibility, yet he was also reported to have died before the 2002 congressional elections. The very thought of eliminating bin Laden might score Republicans some easy votes, but it's hard to imagine he will be permanently bumped off until a new, equally scary bogeyman is made available.
The most terrifying prospect is that the October surprise will involve an attack on Iran, and all signs indicate the growing possibility. A US armada of war ships, including a nuclear aircraft carrier, is due to arrive off Iran's coast in the third week of October, and according to retired Air Force colonel Sam Gardiner, the US is already conducting preparatory military operations inside the country.
Rove may reason that a US attack on Tehran's alleged nuclear-weapons facilities would be enough to rally the public around Republicans come November, but it's a cataclysmic miscalculation. The Iranian military's Blow of Zolfaqar war games last month demonstrated that the country is armed and ready to fight, and Tehran's other options are just as devastating: activating Hezbollah, inciting further violence in Iraq and interrupting the world's oil supply.
The patent contradiction of waiting for a surprise aside, we've got to show more sophistication this time in preempting Rove's inevitable trick or treat. The stakes are just too high.

Wonder which surprise the oddsmakers are pushing. My money is on the Iranian adventure. Brings us closer to the END!

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Finessing the reports

Combative Bush Releases Parts of Terror Study.

Portions of a National Intelligence Estimate on terrorism that the White House released under pressure on Tuesday said that Muslim jihadists were “increasing in both number and geographic dispersion” and that current trends could lead to increasing attacks around the globe.
The report, a comprehensive assessment of terrorism produced in April by American intelligence agencies, said the invasion and occupation of Iraq had become a “cause célèbre” for jihadists. It identified the jihad in Iraq as one of four underlying factors fueling the spread of the Islamic radicalism, along with entrenched grievances, the slow pace of reform and pervasive anti-American sentiment.

Critique of the war? A slap on the wrist? Sure but the rest lends credence to W's calls for staying the course - keep on fighting.

The intelligence estimate said American-led counterterrorism efforts in the past five years had “seriously damaged the leadership of Al Qaeda and disrupted its operations.” But it said that Al Qaeda continued to pose the greatest threat to American interests among terrorism organizations, and that the global jihadist movement overall was “spreading and adapting to counterterrorism efforts.” [Text and news analysis, Page A16.]
In recent months, without disclosing the existence of the intelligence estimate on terrorism, some senior American intelligence officials have given glimpses into its conclusions. During a speech in San Antonio in April, Gen. Michael V. Hayden, who was then Mr. Negroponte’s deputy, said that new jihadist networks and cells were increasingly likely to emerge.
“If this trend continues, threats to the U.S. at home and abroad will become more diverse and that could lead to increasing attacks worldwide,” General Hayden said, using the exact language of the intelligence assessment made public on Tuesday. General Hayden is now director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Interesting that W also

...attributed the disclosure of some of the assessment findings to what he said were government officials leaking classified information to “create confusion in the minds of the American people” weeks before an important Congressional election.

What if W and friends created it as an argument for staying the course - right before the election?

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Leaked Reports

Leaked Intelligence Report Rocks Bush Election Stance

US spy agencies have dropped a political bombshell six weeks before national elections, with the leak of a classified report concluding that the war in Iraq has spawned a new wave of Islamic radicalism and increased the global threat of terrorism.
The intelligence document on Sunday rocked a central pillar of the Republican Party's campaign platform ahead of November elections: that the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the ouster of Saddam Hussein made America safer, not weaker.
With opinion polls showing President George W. Bush's party possibly losing control of both houses of Congress in the the mid-term polls, in large part due to unhappiness over the war in Iraq, the report stating categorically the opposite will make for painful reading at the White House.
Bush has argued repeatedly in pre-election speeches that Iraq is the central front in the war on terrorism and that demands for a US troop withdrawal from the country by the opposition Democrats underscores why the center-left party should not be trusted with the nation's security.

But on the other hand, can this play into W's hands?

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist expressed confidence US voters would not be swayed by the intelligence report.
"I think the American people, when they read an article like that ... say, 'Listen, just keep me safe -- I just want to be safe in Nashville, Tennessee, I want to be safe in Memphis, New York City, Washington, DC,' that's what they want."

This report may just be the fodder needed to stay in Iraq. This report proves the point that Iraq (and soon Iran) must be overwhelmed with troops and bombs so those pesky "terrorists" learn their lessons.

This report and the Osama death reports may become the surprises Rove has been looking for and ready to twist to W and the Repug's advantage.

Anything coming out of this administartion or any of its arms should be suspect.

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Bin Laden death not confirmed

Bin Laden death not confirmed.

US intelligence agencies "can't confirm" a French newspaper report that al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden died in August in his hideout in Pakistan, a US official said on Saturday.
"I can't confirm that account," said the government official, who spoke to AFP on the condition that neither his name nor his affiliation would be revealed.
The French newspaper l'Est Republicain reported earlier on Saturday that Saudi intelligence had concluded that bin Laden might have succumbed to typhoid fever - at some point between August 23 and September 4 - while hiding in Pakistan.
French President Jacques Chirac said earlier that the newspaper report was "in no way confirmed."
He added that he was "surprised" that the French newspaper l'Est Republicain had published an excerpt from a French secret service note relaying information from Saudi Arabia's intelligence service.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Pakistan has received no information from any foreign government that would corroborate the report.
"No government has shared any such information with us so far, which is the normal thing to do under such circumstances," the official, who has close knowledge of intelligence matters, told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
A senior official in Pakistan's interior ministry also said: "We have no information about Osama's death."

Damn those French. This rumor wasn't suppose to come out until late October. There goes the election impact.

Wonder if this had anything to do with the "blow Pakistan back to the stone age" leak. Tell us now and further blow the plan.

This just in...the way it was supposed to go down...drop some major ordinance on Pakistan and then bring out Osama's body, W the hero...supporters of the wars = good guys...steal the elections once again.

So since this plan is kaput...expect the Iranian gambit!

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Sign it today!

Sign the Don't-Attack-Iran petition.

We know W won't listen, but Congress might.

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War Signals? Here we go!

The Nation reports:

that the Bush Administration and the Pentagon have moved up the deployment of a major "strike group" of ships, including the nuclear aircraft carrier Eisenhower as well as a cruiser, destroyer, frigate, submarine escort and supply ship, to head for the Persian Gulf, just off Iran's western coast. This information follows a report in the current issue of Time magazine, both online and in print, that a group of ships capable of mining harbors has received orders to be ready to sail for the Persian Gulf by October 1.
As Time writes in its cover story, "What Would War Look Like?," evidence of the forward deployment of minesweepers and word that the chief of naval operations had asked for a reworking of old plans for mining Iranian harbors "suggest that a much discussed--but until now largely theoretical--prospect has become real: that the U.S. may be preparing for war with Iran."
According to Lieut. Mike Kafka, a spokesman at the headquarters of the Second Fleet, based in Norfolk, Virginia, the Eisenhower Strike Group, bristling with Tomahawk cruise missiles, has received orders to depart the United States in a little over a week. Other official sources in the public affairs office of the Navy Department at the Pentagon confirm that this powerful armada is scheduled to arrive off the coast of Iran on or around October 21.

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Jericho

I don't know why but ended up watching Jericho on CBS. Nukes hit Denver and Atlanta (at least those two last night), town in panic, unrest, pull together, convict on the run...

Don't think I'll watch again.

As I was watching it last night I couldn't help but think that this is a perfect TV series for this administration. Build up the fear of nuclear attacks on our shores. Wonder who the moneymen were behind this series?

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Apologies to Hugo Chavez

I previously took Hugo to task about calling W a "devil." But you know, in a certain light...

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A "How To..."

Great little video clip from Freeway Blogger. This serves as a great how-to on getting the word out to the masses. Ideas for materials, approach.... Let's get out and spread the words of sanity.

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At U.N., Chavez calls Bush 'the devil'

At U.N., Chavez calls Bush 'the devil'

The impassioned speech by the leftist leader came a day after Bush and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sparred over Tehran's disputed nuclear program but managed to avoid a personal encounter.
"The devil came here yesterday," Chavez said, referring to Bush's address on Tuesday and making the sign of the cross. "He came here talking as if he were the owner of the world."
The leftist leader, who has joined Iran and Cuba in opposing U.S. influence, accused Washington of "domination, exploitation and pillage of peoples of the world."
"We appeal to the people of the United States and the world to halt this threat, which is like a sword hanging over our head," he said.

No Hugo, you have it wrong. Pariah or scourge of the earth maybe - but anti-Christ or devil?

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Tactical nukes needed to blast Iranian defenses

Tactical nukes needed to blast Iranian defenses.

Tactical nuclear weapons would be required to penetrate the defenses Iran has constructed around its nuclear facilities, according to Col. (res.) Shlomo Mofaz, an international consultant on terrorism and intelligence and a research fellow at the Institute of Counterterrorism at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya.
Mofaz argued that any preemptive action - not necessarily launched by Israel - against Iran's nuclear facilities would need to employ tactical nuclear weapon

Boy this really is an encouraging thing to consider for the future, isn't it?

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R. Crumb's View of Tomorrow

 

Found this at Peak Oil scenarios. Been looking for my hard copy of this issue for quite awhile.

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Terrorists may have attacked spinach crops...

At least if you read this article.

There is no evidence of tampering in the outbreak, FDA spokeswoman Susan Bro said Monday. That leaves a broad range of other possible sources, including contaminated irrigation water that’s been a problem in California’s Salinas Valley. The area on California’s central coast produces much of the U.S. spinach crop.
Meanwhile, the FBI is monitoring the situation, said spokesman Rich Kolko. He called it a routine and precautionary measure, not an indication of suspicious activity.

Just those few lines raise the spectre of terrorists - or am I reading to much into it? What's next, a link between lung cancer, smoking and Osama?

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The Endtimes?

Bush 'Prepares Emissions U-Turn'.

President Bush is preparing an astonishing U-turn on global warming, senior Washington sources say.
After years of trying to sabotage agreements to tackle climate change he is drawing up plans to control emissions of carbon dioxide and rapidly boost the use of renewable energy sources.
Administration insiders privately refer to the planned volte-face as Mr Bush's "Nixon goes to China moment", recalling how the former president amazed the world after years of refusing to deal with its Communist regime. Hardline global warming sceptics, however, are already publicly attacking the plans.
The rethink follows increasing pressure on the White House from Republican governors such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, the mayors of more than 300 cities, business leaders and Congress.
Over the past few days rumours swept the capital that the "Toxic Texan" would announce his conversion this week, in an attempt to reduce the impact of a major speech tomorrow by Al Gore on solutions to climate change.
The White House denied the timing, but did not deny that a change of policy was on its way. Sources say that the most likely moment is the President's State of the Union address in January.
Environmentalists expect the measures to fall far short of what is needed, but say this does not matter. "The very fact that Bush would reverse his position will liberate many Republicans to vote for meaningful pollution cuts," says Phil Clapp, president of the National Environmental Trust.
But Iain Murray, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, Mr Bush's chief climate change cheerleader, is deeply alarmed: "We are left with the unpleasant conclusion that the only motivation is political."

I guess time will tell if he is sincere. Of course it is poltically motivated, but I'll take it if it goes far enough.

This may signal the endtimes W and others are predicting. What else could explain the world being turned upside down like this. Or is it just Bizzaro W coming out of the shadows?

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DIVINE STRAKE - It's baaaaaaaaack!

Divine Strake Heads for New Mexico.

A spokesman for Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., said recently that the Divine Strake test - an explosion of 700 tons of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil over a series of tunnels to see how deep it will go, how much damage it will create - has not been scrubbed.
This test was pushed out of the Nevada Test Site when the Defense Threat Reduction Agency could not guarantee that detonation of this 700 tons of fuel would not stir up old radioactive dust left over from the many nuclear explosions that took place there during the Cold War.
The safety of those who live downwind of the test site provoked the grassroots opposition that grew to political opposition to this test.
And, although that was a primary concern, it was not the only concern because these "robust penetrators," as they are called, are destined to be the next-generation nukes.
So whether they test this thing in Nevada, New Mexico or some abandoned rock quarry in Indiana -as has also been discussed, all roads lead back - eventually, to the Nevada Test Site, one of the few places on the continent where nuclear testing can be performed.
This has been well-disguised by the DOD ever since the administration decided it was going to take on the so-called "Axis of Evil" - Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran and North Korea at the moment. These rogue nations have supposedly dug deep into the earth to hide nuclear programs so, according to the administration brain trust, we must have weapons to burrow deep into the ground and destroy them. Of course, all this intelligence is the same that pointed at weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, so take it for what you will.
But, the feds are biting, which is why there is, once again, money in this year's Department of Defense Appropriations Bill. You won't see Divine Strake or bunker busters by name, but you will find dollars attached to defeating "hardened and deeply buried targets."
They've done this before, which is why Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, who has been one of the most outspoken opponents of the bunker busters in Congress, is concerned.
He believes this whole Divine Strake business is designed specifically to develop and test new nuclear weapons.

Can't kill it. But we can't live with it either.

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You should go Rummy!

And take your boss and friends with you.

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Deepak Chopra and...

"Fighting In A Fog."

Terrorism, since it strikes out of the blue, is unpredictable, and therefore coping is much more difficult--Bush's policy of fighting all the time offers, if nothing else, a predictable response.
Unfortunately, this tactic doesn't work to stop terrorism, to eradicate it at its root source, or even to push it back within check. As long as American troops stand on Muslim soil, there will be a bottomless supply of new jihadists. In interviews last week the official 9/11 commission unanimously declared the failure of our response to the attacks that day.
If you want certainty, there you are. For certain we will keep on financing terrorism through Arab oil profits. For certain the number of terrorists is growing. For certain the worldwide perception of the U.S. is that of an uncontrollable aggressor. People don't want to face these certainties. They accepted Bush's "win the battle at any cost" mentality, but now that conditions are growing ever worse and the Iraqi policy ever more frustrating, there's no way out but to start living with uncertainty.
Two years from now, when right-wing war makers no longer control the White House, we can hope for intelligent, flexible, realistic talk from the next President. Meanwhile, we are fighting terrorism blinded by fog.

Let's hope Deepak is correct in his view that the war-makers are short-lived. Let's hope the machinery of war doesn't set a different scenario into motion.

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W is pissed and he's not going to take it anymore...

Facing revolt, Bush defends terror proposals.

"The enemy wants to attack us again," he said in urging Congress to pass controversial legislation to detain, interrogate and try suspects in the war against terrorism.
“Time is running out,” Bush said from the White House Rose Garden. “Congress needs to act wisely and promptly.”
“If not for this (anti-terror) program, our intelligence community believes al-Qaida and its allies would have succeeded in launching another attack against the American homeland,” he said.
“Unfortunately the recent Supreme Court decision put the future of this program in question. ... We need this legislation to save it.”

So if the legislation is gone, an attack before November elections? How convenient! And if the Court didn't like it the first time...?

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Deja Vu...

The International Atomic Energy Agency is having problems with us again - just like they had in the path to Iraq.

U.N. inspectors have protested to the U.S. government and a Congressional committee about a report on Iran's nuclear work, calling parts of it "outrageous and dishonest," according to a letter obtained by Reuters.
The letter recalled clashes between the IAEA and the Bush administration before the 2003 Iraq war over findings cited by Washington about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction that proved false, and underlined continued tensions over Iran's dossier.
Sent to the head of the House of Representatives' Select Committee on Intelligence by a senior aide toInternational Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei, the letter said an August 23 committee report contained serious distortions of IAEA findings on Iran's activity.
The letter said the errors suggested Iran's nuclear fuel program was much more advanced than a series of IAEA reports and Washington's own intelligence assessments have determined.
It said the report falsely described Iran to have enriched uranium at its pilot centrifuge plant to weapons-grade level in April, whereas IAEA inspectors had made clear Iran had enriched only to a low level usable for nuclear power reactor fuel.
"Furthermore, the IAEA Secretariat takes strong exception to the incorrect and misleading assertion" that the IAEA opted to remove a senior safeguards inspector for supposedly concluding the purpose of Iran's program was to build weapons, it said.

They were not duped again. Will the U.S. public be duped?

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World has 10-Year Window to Act on Climate Warming

World has 10-Year Window to Act on Climate Warming.

NASA scientist James Hansen, widely considered the doyen of American climate researchers, said governments must adopt an alternative scenario to keep carbon dioxide emission growth in check and limit the increase in global temperatures to 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit).
"I think we have a very brief window of opportunity to deal with climate change ... no longer than a decade, at the most," Hansen said at the Climate Change Research Conference in California's state capital.
If the world continues with a "business as usual" scenario, Hansen said temperatures will rise by 2 to 3 degrees Celsius (3.6 to 7.2 degrees F) and "we will be producing a different planet".
On that warmer planet, ice sheets would melt quickly, causing a rise in sea levels that would put most of Manhattan under water. The world would see more prolonged droughts and heat waves, powerful hurricanes in new areas and the likely extinction of 50 percent of species.

10 years? Well with W around I guess we are looking at doing 10 years of work in about 8 years.

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Good Old Knuckles - back again!

Mark Fiore's latest.

I guess I am just a "big, sissy softie."

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Thank you Keith

Selected parts of the transcript:

Instead they bicker and buck-pass. They thwart private efforts, and jostle to claim credit for initiatives that go nowhere. They spend the money on irrelevant wars, and elaborate self-congratulations, and buying off columnists to write how good a job they’re doing — instead of doing any job at all.
Five years later, Mr. Bush, we are still fighting the terrorists on these streets. And look carefully, sir — on these 16 empty acres, the terrorists… are clearly, still winning. And, in a crime against every victim here and every patriotic sentiment you mouthed but did not enact, you have done nothing about it.
There is something worse still than this vast gaping hole in this city, and in the fabric of our nation. There is, its symbolism — of the promise unfulfilled, the urgent oath, reduced to lazy execution.
The only positive on 9/11 and the days and weeks that so slowly and painfully followed it was the unanimous humanity, here, and throughout the country. The government, the President in particular, was given every possible measure of support.
Those who did not belong to his party — tabled that.
Those who doubted the mechanics of his election — ignored that.
Those who wondered of his qualifications — forgot that.
History teaches us that nearly unanimous support of a government cannot be taken away from that government, by its critics. It can only be squandered by those who use it not to heal a nation’s wounds, but to take political advantage. Terrorists did not come and steal our newly-regained sense of being American first, and political, fiftieth. Nor did the Democrats. Nor did the media. Nor did the people.
The President — and those around him — did that.
They promised bi-partisanship, and then showed that, to them, "bi-partisanship" meant that their party would rule and the rest would have to follow or be branded, with ever-escalating hysteria, as morally or intellectually confused; as appeasers; as those who, in the Vice President’s words yesterday, "validate the strategy of the terrorists."
They promised protection, and then showed that to them "protection" meant going to war against a despot whose hand they had once shaken… a despot who we now learn from our own Senate Intelligence Committee, hated Al-Qaeda as much as we did.
The polite phrase for how so many of us were duped into supporting a war, on the false premise that it had ’something to do’ with 9/11, is "lying by implication."
The impolite phrase, is "impeachable offense."
Not once in now five years has this President ever offered to assume responsibility for the failures that led to this empty space… and to this, the current, curdled, version of our beloved country.
Still, there is a last snapping flame from a final candle of respect and fairness: even his most virulent critics have never suggested he alone bears the full brunt of the blame for 9/11. Half the time, in fact, this President has been so gently treated, that he has seemed not even to be the man most responsible — for anything — in his own administration.
Yet what is happening this very night? A mini-series, created, influenced — possibly financed by — the most radical and cold of domestic political Machiavellis, continues to be televised into our homes.
The documented truths of the last fifteen years are replaced by bald-faced lies; the talking points of the current regime parroted; the whole sorry story blurred by spin to make the party out of office seem vacillating and impotent, and the party in office seem like the only option.
How dare you, Mr. President, after taking cynical advantage of the unanimity and love, and transmuting it into fraudulent war and needless death, after monstrously transforming it into fear and suspicion and turning that fear into the campaign slogan of three elections -- how dare you or those around you ever "spin" 9/11.
Just as the terrorists have succeeded — are still succeeding — as long as there is no memorial and no construction here at Ground Zero, so too have they succeeded, and are still succeeding — as long as this government uses 9/11 as a wedge to pit Americans against Americans.
This is an odd point to cite a television program, especially one from March of 1960. But as Disney’s continuing sell-out of the truth (and this country) suggests, even television programs can be powerful things. Long ago, a series called "The Twilight Zone" broadcast a riveting episode entitled "The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street."
In brief: a meteor sparks rumors of an invasion by extra-terrestrials disguised as humans. The electricity goes out. A neighbor pleads for calm. Suddenly his car — and only his car — starts. Someone suggests he must be the alien. Then another man’s lights go on. As charges and suspicion and panic overtake the street, guns are inevitably produced. An "alien" is shot but he turns out to be just another neighbor, returning from going for help.
The camera pulls back to a nearby hill, where two extra-terrestrials are seen manipulating a small device that can jam electricity. The veteran tells his novice that there’s no need to actually attack, that you just turn off a few of the human machines and "they pick the most dangerous enemy they can find, and it’s themselves."
And then, in perhaps his finest piece of writing, Rod Serling sums it up with words of remarkable prescience, given where we find ourselves tonight: "The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices, to be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill and suspicion can destroy, and a thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all its own — for the children and the children yet unborn."
When those who dissent are told time and time again — as we will be tonight by the President and tomorrow by his portable public chorus — that he is preserving our freedom, but that if we use any of it, we are somehow un-American…
When we are scolded that if we merely question, we have "forgotten the lessons of 9/11"…
Look into this empty space behind me and the bi-partisanship upon which this administration also did not build, and tell me:
Who has left this hole in the ground?
We have not forgotten, Mr. President.
You have.
May this country forgive you.

Thank you Keith.

All should watch this clip. All should watch the Twilight Zone episode mentioned (I have written about this episode before).

For this and more - I am not ready to forgive W, are you?

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A struggle for civilzation?

Trying to watch W's speech without throwing my shoe at the TV. There is only one comment after his fear mongering lies: HE'S INSANE!

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Schools compete for Saudi students

Schools compete for Saudi students after a deal was "...brokered by President Bush and Saudi King Abdullah."

The kingdom’s royal family — which is paying full scholarships for most of the 15,000 students — says the program will help stem unrest at home by schooling the country’s brightest in the American tradition. The U.S. State Department sees the exchange as a way to build ties with future Saudi leaders and young scholars at a time of unsteady relations with the Muslim world.

On the surface, a great idea. But we have to stop and wonder how many are Wahhabists? Have to stop and wonder where the cries of "border security" are now?

Oh that's right I forgot. Abdullah and W are kissing cousins - deals and promises made. Just like some of the deals Michael Moore alluded to in "F911".

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Peaceful Tomorrows : September 11th

Peaceful Tomorrows 9/11/06 Statement:

Today, five years after September 11th, 2001, we see clearly that civilian casualties overwhelmingly have been the common denominator in all that has taken place. We see that the path we have taken has created a world that is less safe, less humane, and less likely to survive. Where we saw children in mortal danger from unexploded cluster bombs in Afghanistan, we now see children in mortal danger from cluster bombs in Lebanon. Where we saw the brutality and inhumanity of Saddam Hussein, we now see the same brutality and inhumanity occurring under U.S. occupation, in Fallujah, in Haditha, in Abu Ghraib.
As we did five years ago, and as we do today, we stand in solidarity with those ordinary people whose lives have been permanently transformed by violence. We pledge to continue that journey of transformation from pain to promise, from fear to fellowship. Martin Luther King, Jr. identified the choice as being chaos or community. Five years after September 11th, we have seen enough of chaos. It is time for each of us to create community with our counterparts from around the globe, and to create a safer and more peaceful world for everyone.

As W and others use 9/11 for their political and power grabbing purposes I think it is important that we listen to families who were directly affected by 9/11. Their example and message is one that should be followed.

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US plays down al-Qaeda in list of terror threats

W asks; Osama who?

The Bush administration yesterday defended its record in combating terrorism, and identified the principal terrorist threat facing the US as a "transnational movement of extremist organisations" that exploit Islam, rather than the al-Qaeda group.
The White House report, "Combating Terrorism", was an updated version of a 2003 strategy report. It made no mention of Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader, and said the US had made "substantial progress in degrading the al-Qaeda network, killing or capturing key lieutenants, eliminating safe havens and disrupting existing lines of support".

Of course! We are now fighting the Shia militia - and soon will be fighting the Iranian Army. Al Qaeda, Bin Laden - old news and old enemies that don't necessarily fit into our plan for world conquest and domination (well at least Mid East conquest and domination).

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Five years ...

A Nation Remembers is the latest from Mark Fiore. Great points. WTC and 911 will be brought up to stir our fears, stir our emotions... Used for political purposes - shameful!

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Bush fanning the flames...

W vows to press fight against terrorism.

President Bush used terrorists’ own words Tuesday to battle complacency among Americans about the threat of future attacks, defending his record as the fall campaign season kicks into high gear.
“Bin laden and his terrorists’ allies have made their intentions as clear as Lenin and Hitler before them,” the president said before the Military Officers Association of America and diplomatic representatives of other countries that have suffered terrorist attacks. “The question is ‘Will we listen? Will we pay attention to what these evil men say?”’
“Like al-Qaida and the Sunni extremists, the Iranian regime has clear aims. They want to drive America out of the region, to destroy Israel and to dominate the broader Middle East,” Bush said. “America will not bow down to tyrants.”

Great use of words to instill fear and hatred. W didn't care about Osama a few months ago, but it's time to bring up his name again - elections. Might as well throw in our newest arch-enemy - Iran. We always need a new monster or boogeyman to keep the people in fear and ready to bow down to W and regime.

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A Dire Warning?

Israel will use 'full force' against Syria.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Monday it would exert its maximum force if it had to go to war with Syria.
"Syria knows that we limited ourselves in our operations in Lebanon, and it knows that in an operation against Syria, against Damascus, Israel won't limit itself," Israel Radio cited Olmert as saying.
Olmert, in a speech to his parliament's foreign affairs and defense committee, also voiced his opposition to beginning negotiations with Syria, meeting participants said.
"This is not the time to talk to the Syrians," a member who had attended the meeting quoted Olmert as saying.
"He said he would not negotiate with Syria at this time because Syria is the enemy," the committee member said.

Not too open to negotiation and diplomacy is he? And why bring this up now, unless....

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The drums of war keep beating

Bush’s Salt Lake Whoppers:

Just as he once called Iraq a “grave threat,” he said in Salt Lake City that “the world now faces a grave threat from the radical regime in Iran.”
Just as he once fused Al Qaeda and Iraq, so he is fusing Al Qaeda and Iran.
Said Bush: “The Iranian regime arms, funds, and advises Hezbollah, which has killed more Americans than any terrorist network except Al Qaeda.”
Just as he once denounced Iraq for “sponsoring terrorists,” so he now does with Iran.
Just as he once denounced Iraq for denying “basic human rights to millions of its people,” so he now does with Iran.
Just as he once denounced Iraq for pursuing weapons of mass destruction, phantom as they were, so he now decries Iran’s pursuit of a nuclear weapon.
And just as he once said it was time for Iraq to make a choice, when he himself had already chosen war, so he now says, “It is time for Iran to make a choice.”
I have no doubt whatsoever about Bush’s intentions.

Hey he can bring out some of those photos Powell used at the U.N. Recycle old propaganda. The question is will the majority be fooled again?

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Iraq wants more control over security

Deadlocked talks. And the deaths mount.

A day after the dispute forced an embarrassing delay of a signing ceremony in Baghdad, an Iraqi defence ministry source said disagreements remained on Sunday over the wording of a document that outlines the new relationship between US-led forces and Iraq's military.
"There are some disputes between the two parties. We have our own point of view and they have theirs. We want thorough control and want the freedom to make decisions independently," the source said on condition of anonymity.

Why don't we give them that control and independence? Or is it that W and regime think Iraqis or Muslims are incapable of self-government?

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Lie By Lie

Lie By Lie is a great timeline on W's Iraqi Adventure.

From 1990 to Now. A great way to see the tangled web W and friends have woven.

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