And Cats

"Heaven's the place where all the dogs you've ever loved come to greet you."
--Unknown

"War On Drugs": Societal Disconnect

The Salina Police Department caught two businesses allegedly selling to a minor in a Thursday evening alcohol sting. Deputy Police Chief Mike Marshall says that an 18-year-old female went into 23 businesses and attempted to buy beer. According to Marshall, two of the businesses allowed her to make the illegal purchase.

Marshall adds that the sting was funded through a state grant.

Source: KSAL.com, March 30, 2007

______________________

And yet, if a child or the child's parent refuses mind-altering drugs such as antidepressants that permenently rewire the brain, and carcinogens like Ritalin, the child can be taken into governmental custody for force-feeding of pharmaceutical toxins, and the parent can be jailed.

Sick, sick, sick...

TLC

Greyhound Racing: Reality Check

The print edition of The Salina [Kansas] Journal, March 30, 2007, had three nice photos accompanying an prominent front-page article promoting legalization of gambling of Kansas, and how that would benefit the greyhound racing industry. The first picture showed a kindly-looking old man reaching over the fence to pet one of his enslaved minions, the other two were of greyhounds racing on tracks.

My email to the author of that article, David Clouston, with copies to Executive Editor Scott Seirer and Publisher Tom Bell, which was followed by the London Times article from July 16, 2006, "Revealed: the man who killed 10,000 dogs":


Hey, nice pictures & promotion of the business of greyhounds.

How about tomorrow you run this story, below, from the London Times, showing the other side of this nice little "sport"?

Darned reality...it keeps getting in the way of make believe...

"We have enslaved the rest of the animal creation, and have treated our distant cousins in fur and feathers so badly that beyond doubt, if they were able to formulate a religion, they would depict the Devil in human form."
--William Ralph Inge, Outspoken Essays, 1922

TLC

Judge Allows Private Testing for Mad Cow

Creekstone Farms Premium Beef, a meatpacker based in Arkansas City, Kan., wants to test all of its cows for the disease, which can be fatal to humans who eat tainted beef. Larger meat companies feared that move because if Creekstone tested its meat and advertised it as safe, they could be forced to do the expensive test, too.
The Agriculture Department currently regulates the test and administers it to less than 1 percent of slaughtered cows. The department threatened Creekstone with prosecution if it tested all its animals.

U.S. District Judge James Robertson ruled that the government does not have the authority to regulate the test.

After the first case of mad cow disease heightened concern about the disease, the department increased its testing for the disease to about 1,000 tests each day.

Last July, the department cut its testing by about 90 percent.

Full wire service article, ABC, March 29, 2007

__________________________________

Or does the government oppose the testing because then the public would have some inkling just how prevalent mad cow disease is?

Once again, government protecting big business over the public.

Mad Cow Disease...One of God's many paybacks for eating his friends...

TLC

Experience III

"We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it -- and stop there; lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove-lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove-lid again -- and that is well; but also she will never sit down on a cold one any more."
--Mark Twain, Following the Equator, 1897.

Fräulein Feinstein: Further Documentation Of Her Hand In The Cookie Jar

SEN. Dianne Feinstein has resigned from the Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee. As previously and extensively reviewed in these pages, Feinstein was chairperson and ranking member of MILCON for six years, during which time she had a conflict of interest due to her husband Richard C. Blum's ownership of two major defense contractors, who were awarded billions of dollars for military construction projects approved by Feinstein.
Perhaps she resigned from MILCON because she could not take the heat generated by Metro's expose of her ethics (which was partially funded by the Investigative Fund of the Nation Institute). Or was her work on the subcommittee finished because Blum divested ownership of his military construction and advanced weapons manufacturing firms in late 2005?

You would think that, considering all the money Feinstein's family has pocketed by waging global warfare while ignoring the plight of wounded American soldiers, she would show a smidgeon of shame and resign from the entire Senate, not just a subcommittee. Conversely, you'd think she might stick around MILCON to try and fix the medical-care disaster she helped to engineer for the vets who were suckered into fighting her and Bush's panoply of unjust wars.


Full story--much much more: AETA--Purchasing A U.S. Senator

AETA--The Mindset Of Fräulein Feinstein

The Disintegrating Facade Of Democracy

FeinsteinSpeak


TLC

Plans

"We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us."
--Joseph Campbell

War On The Poor, er, "Drugs"

State of Kansas v. $323 in U.S. currency. Court grants judgment in favor of the state for possession of the money seized by forfeiture.

Source: Salina [Kansas] Journal, March 27, 2007

_____________________________________

Kansas, like much of the Midwest, is flooded with meth. So what is an overworked Court system and limited "police" resources focused on? $323.00 from some poor schmuck. Ah, Salina is sleeping better tonight, with their doors and windows deadbolted wondering if some junkie will break into their home next because the cops don't have time for genuine crime.

TLC

Circuit City: What's Good For The Goose...

Circuit City to Cut More Than 3,500 Jobs

A new plan for layoffs at Circuit City is openly targeting better-paid workers, risking a public backlash by implying that its wages are as subject to discounts as its flat-screen TVs.

The electronics retailer, facing larger competitors and falling sales, said Wednesday that it would lay off about 3,400 store workers — immediately — and replace them with lower-paid new hires as soon as possible.

Full A.P. wire service article, SF Chronicle, March 28, 2007

_________________________________

Since Circuit City is screwing its workers, I have just two words for Circuit City: Screw You!

TLC

Hillary: Buying Endorsements?

UPDATE: Tim Grieve at Salon made basically the same points as Rolling Stone's Tim Dickinson.
So I Posted my comments, below, to Salon as well.

TLC
__________________________


A Debt of Gratitude? An Endorsement, Followed by $400,000

I know Tom Vilsack and Hillary Clinton are buds, but this is ridiculous.

Following the Iowa governor’s Monday endorsement of Hillary, Hillary’s campaign announced today that their candidate would be raising $400,000 for Vilsack to retire his campaign debt.

Reminds me of that line from Wimpy of the Popeye cartoons: ‘I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday, for a hamburger today.’

“There was no quid pro quo,” a Clinton spokesman told AP.

Maybe not, but that’s a hell of a way to repay a debt of gratitude.

--Tim Dickinson

Source: Tim Dickinson, Rolling Stone, March 28, 2007

________________________________________
My comment, Posted at Rolling Stone:

Any other candidate would have done the same thing. And it gets Hillary in front of Iowa voters, which she certainly will be doing anyhow, and solidified her standing with Iowa voters. I'm no fan of Hillary--far from it--but this one is a good example of how the media creates non-issues.

TLC

Tony Blair's Latest Big Lie: "International Law"

“In the end, it is a question really for the Iranian government as to whether they want to abide by international law or not. I hope that they do and we are working hard to try to persuade them that that is a sensible thing to do."
--British Prime Minister Tony Blair

Source: Democracy Now, March 28, 2007

_____________________________

Say what??? Blair goes along with the manufacturing of lies to somehow justify the attack, invasion, and occupation of Iraq, in blatant violation of international law, including but not limited to the Nuremberg Conventions, all in order to obtain control over Iraq's oil for the benefit of the multinational oil cartel--and now is invoking international law?

And there is plenty of evidence to indicate the colonial British empire ships were in Iranian waters. Another lie, eh Tony?

TLC

Pet Food Recall - What TO Use

My attitude since this whole nightmare started has been to no longer use any pet food from a company that used anything from Menu Foods. If they weren't interested in quality products before, there's no reason to think that's going to change in the future. So, for example, if any of a company's wet food has been Recalled, I won't be buying their dry food either.

Finally, lists are starting to come out as to what companies do not use any product from Menu Foods. Remember to check this from time-to-time, as some of the information is from manufacturers, which may be suspect in some cases. I like this list in particular because it has an active group of participants:

http://petsitusa.com/blog/?p=210

This list is also really good, because it often mentions companies that use products from Diamond. What's wrong with Diamond? I Posted the following comment at the above site:

Diamond...as in the same Diamond whose foods were Recalled in December, 2005, due to Aflatoxin?

http://www.fda.gov/oc/po/firmrecalls/diamond12_05.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10771943/

(For those who say the best way is to prepare completely organic meals for our furfriends: I completely agree. Come on over. The kitchen is yours to start making those meals).

TLC

Force

"Force may make hypocrites, but it can never make converts."
--William Penn

Defeat

"A man is not finished when he is defeated. He is finished when he quits".
--Richard Nixon (1913-1994) 37th United States President

Just A Few Democrats Against The War

Eight Anti-War Democrats Vote Against War Funding

A total of 14 Democrats voted against the bill including eight who oppose any more funding of the war. The eight anti-war Democrats were, Maxine Waters, Lynn Woolsey, Diane Watson and Barbara Lee, all of California, Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, John Lewis of Georgia, Mike McNulty of New York and Mike Michaud of Maine. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi managed to secure passage of the spending bill because she received the support of many Democrats who had voted against previous supplemental spending measures. The Senate is taking up a similar spending bill this week.


Source: Democracy Now, March 26, 2007

_______________________________

And the rest support the war through continued funding, even though a significant majority of the American people want the U.S. out of Iraq. "Representative Democracy", R.I.P..

Why did we have an "election" last November? For appearances sake.

TLC

Postponements

"He who postpones the hour of living rightly is like the rustic
who waits for the river to run out before he crosses."
--Horace

The Purpose

"I say to Senator Inhofe, I don’t prostelytize my own beliefs, but all religious traditions hold to the same teachings: That the Earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof. That the purpose of life is to glorify God, and you cannot do it while heaping contempt on God’s creation."
--President Al Gore, testimony to Congress, March 21, 2007

Getting A Straight Answer Out Of Your Pet Food Manufacturer

Please feel free to use, with or without attribution, the letter below, in order to try to get a straight answer out of the manufacturer of the pet food you use.


My email to Nutro, http://www.nutroproducts.com/contact.html, which illustrates the non sequitur on several manufacturers' websites:



Dear Nutro:

Your website http://www.nutroproducts.com states:

No dry Nutro pet foods, biscuits or treats are impacted by this matter and no other canned or pouch products are subject to this recall. Nutro's dry dog and dry cat foods are produced at Nutro's company owned manufacturing sites in Tennessee and California.


Please advise:

Do any of the dry Nutro pet food products contain any ingredient from Menu Foods, whether purchased directly or indirectly?

Do any of the dry Nutro pet food products contain any wheat product imported from any other country, including but not limited to China?


Besides responding to my email, please Post your answers on the main page of your website.

Thank You,

Terry L. Clark

Determination

"Let us not be content to wait and see what will happen, but give us the determination to make the right things happen."
--Peter Marshall

Turkey Wants To Play "Invade Iraq" Too

U.S. Tries to Prevent Turkey From Attacking Northern Iraq

The Guardian newspaper is reporting the Bush administration is scrambling to prevent Turkey from attacking Kurdish-controlled areas in northern Iraq. U.S. officials fear such an attack would open up a third front in the battle to save Iraq from disintegration. Turkish sources said special forces operations have already begun in northern Iraq to target fighters connected to the PKK or the Kurdish Workers' Party. This would not be the first time Turkey has invaded Northern Iraq. Ten years ago Turkey sent 40,000 troops into Iraq but there was been no large-scale Turkish intervention since the US invasion four years ago. The U.S. has vowed to crackdown on the PKK but Turkey accuses the US of playing a double game in northern Iraq. Officials say the CIA is covertly funding and arming the PKK's sister organization, the Iran-based Kurdistan Free Life party, to destabilize the Iranian government.

Source: Democracy Now, March 23, 2007

___________________________

Remind me again how, under international law, not to mention plain ol' everyday concepts of morality and decency, the U.S. can attack and occupy another country to steal oil, but it's wrong when other countries want to play that game?

TLC

Iraqi Freedom Fighters: Armed To The Teeth By The USA

Report: U.S. Left Large Weapons Depot Unguarded in Iraq

A newly declassified U.S. government report has revealed that half of the US deaths in Iraq have been caused by explosives seized from old Iraqi military depots that have been left largely unguarded since the fall of Saddam Hussein. Over 3200 U.S. soldiers have died since the war began four years ago.

Source: Democracy Now, March 23, 2007

Living

"He who postpones the hour of living rightly is like the rustic
who waits for the river to run out before he crosses."
--Horace

The First Thing We Do, Let's Jail All The Children

From the London Times:

Teenagers who drop out of school or training at 16 will face criminal action and £50 on-the-spot fines under plans to raise the age for leaving full-time education.

Ultimate sanctions include community sentences or fines.

He [Education Secretary Alan Johnson] added that he expected the sanctions, which may also include the confiscation of driving licences, to apply only to a small “hardcore” of refuseniks.

The names of all 16 and 17-year-olds will be added to a database held by local authorities so that they can track their participation in education or training. [Ah--More of that totalitarian police state--TLC]

Currently, parents face criminal prosecution if they fail to ensure that a child under 16 goes to school. The new measures shift the legal responsibility on to the young person.

Source, and full story: London Times, March 23, 2007

Petition: Fund Withdrawal From Iraq

The Petition--Sign Here


The proposed Amendment:

(a) Funds appropriated for Operation Iraqi Freedom or otherwise made available to the Department of Defense under any provision of law may be obligated and expended within the Republic of Iraq only for the purpose of providing for—

(1) the continued protection of members of the Armed Forces who are in Iraq participating in Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Department of Defense contractor personnel who are in Iraq performing contracts related to such Operation, pending and during the withdrawal of such members of the Armed Forces and such contractor personnel; and

(2) the safe and complete withdrawal from Iraq of all members of the Armed Forces and contractor personnel described in paragraph (1) pursuant to a plan that provides for completion of the withdrawal not later than December 31, 2007.

(b) Nothing in subsection (a) shall be construed to prohibit or otherwise restrict the use of funds available to any department or agency of the United States to carry out diplomatic efforts or social and economic reconstruction activities in Iraq.

________________________

My comments posted at the site:

Congress must enact a law ensuring that ownership of Iraqi oil is returned to the Iraqi people. Why is it that people with black skin go to prison in the U.S. in extraordinary numbers, yet a predominately white Congress and predominantly white White House are allowed to murder for oil yet nothing happens?

TLC

Conservatives Form Campaign to Protect Civil Liberties

A coalition of prominent conservative writers and former government officials have launch a new campaign to restore checks and balances and to protect civil liberties Founding members of the American Freedom Agenda include former Republican Georgia Congressman Bob Barr, who led the effort to impeach President Clinton, David Keene of the American Conservative Union, constitutional scholar Bruce Fein, and the writer and conservative direct mail pioneer Richard Viguerie. They are also calling for Congress to restore habeas corpus, end torture and extraordinary rendition, narrow the President's authority to designate "enemy combatants," prevent unconstitutional domestic spying and protect journalists from prosecution under the Espionage Act.
Source: Democracy Now, March 22, 2007

What Happened To Life Imprisonment For Murder?

U.S. Soldiers Sentenced for Abuse In Iraq

In news on Iraq, a U.S. soldier has been sentenced to 27 months in prison for his role in the raping of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and killing her family. Private Bryan Howard was sentenced after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obstruct justice and being an accessory after the fact. At a hearing in Iraq last year, testimony indicated Howard did not participate in the crime itself but lied to investigators in an attempt to cover up the crime. Earlier this week a US staff sergeant was sentenced to 10 years in prison for his role in killing three Iraqi detainees.

Source: Democracy Now, March 22, 2007

Cursing The Political Darkness

From The Salina [Kansas] Journal's "Extension 333" anonymous call-in line, published
March 22, 2007, talking about the upcoming election for the City Commission:

"Well, great. Six new candidates, and no different than the ones before. Big art lovers. Why bother to vote? The only solution is to move out of this town."

____________________________________

Uh, duh, what about running for office yourself? Or getting off your butt and helping someone run for office who does have a different outlook on what needs to be done?

TLC

Monument

"After I'm dead I'd rather have people ask why I have no monument than why I have one."
--Cato the Elder

Bogus Headlines = Bogus Reality

The Arkleyville Gazette hasn't been brought up here lately, but today's headline (March 21, 2007) really took the cow pattie on page A6 of their print edition: "Bush says Congress can question aides; Democrats say no".

Uh, do a Google News search on that phrase, and you won't get a single hit. Nor will you with a straight Google search.

As has been covered here before, many, perhaps most, people get their "news" from reading headlines.

The reality? Many commentators have made the point, but Tim over at Salon's "War Room" has one of the best: "You agree that you won't subpoena anyone from the White House, and we'll let those of you we deem "relevant" talk to officials we deem "key" about subjects that we deem "relevant," but you can't do it in public, you can't have a transcript, and you can't issue a subpoena later even if you think that whoever it is we let you interview has lied to you along the way.

Perhaps it's just another Humboldt County denizen who writes headlines while enjoying our top export, rather than a crude attempt to sell the public a load of Bu$h.

TLC

Unbalanced And Out Of Their Minds

According to a poll conducted by Democratic pollster Mark Mellman, in 2004, "Fox News viewers supported George Bush over John Kerry by 88% to 7%. No demographic segment, other than Republicans, was as united in supporting Bush. Conservatives, white evangelical Christians, gun owners, and supporters of the Iraq war all gave Bush fewer votes than did regular Fox News viewers."

Source: Taegan Goodard's Political Wire, March 21, 2007

The 18-Page Gap

In DOJ documents that were publicly posted by the House Judiciary Committee, there is a gap from mid-November to early December in e-mails and other memos, which was a critical period as the White House and Justice Department reviewed, then approved, which U.S. attorneys would be fired while also developing a political and communications strategy for countering any fallout from the firings.

Full Article, The Politico, March 21, 2007

Democrats Want Peace? Bu$hit

Democratic Leadership Pressures Anti-War Caucus To Back War Funding

On Capitol Hill, the House Democratic leadership is intensely pressuring anti-war lawmakers to approve a controversial bill to give President Bush $100 billion more for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The bill also establishes tough new readiness standards for deploying combat forces and sets an Aug. 31, 2008, deadline to bring the troops home. A vote is scheduled for Thursday. As of last night it appeared the House leadership did not have enough votes to get the bill passed in part because of opposition led by the leaders of the Out of Iraq Caucus, Maxine Waters and Lynn Woolsey. The House leadership has tried a number of hardball tactics to secure the needed votes. The website Politico reports one Democratic Congressman on the fence was warned that new funding requests for his district would be blocked if he didn't support the war funding. In addition Democratic leaders have added $21 billion to fund projects unrelated to wartime spending in a bid to gain more votes. Some of the money would go to help spinach growers, to build peanut storage facilities in Georgia, to help Atlantic fishermen and to fight wildfires. The House Leadership has also gained the support of the liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org. Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey criticized MoveOn's decision. Woolsey said "For people who are undecided and looking for a reason to vote for the supplemental, MoveOn is going to make a difference, providing instant cover for these members."

Source: Democracy Now, March 21, 2007

___________________________________

The political party that led the U.S. against the Third Reich has joined forces with the Fourth Reich.

TLC

2-For-1 Liver Transplant Saves Two

The transplant surgeon had good news: A donated liver was on the way for critically ill Maggie Catherwood. Then he asked: Would she let doctors cut off part of her new liver to share with an equally sick baby?
"I can't imagine anyone saying no," the 21-year-old college student said last week as, teary-eyed, she met 8-month-old Allison Brown, carefully cuddling the wide-eyed baby so as not to bump each other's healing incisions.

A liver is unlike any other organ: A piece of a healthy one can grow into a whole organ in about a month. That's why some people receive liver transplants from living donors who have just a portion of their organ cut out and given away.

Split-liver donation is different. It divides an organ donated when someone dies, to try to save two lives with one donation.

Full A.P. wire service article, SF Chronicle, March 19/20, 2007

_____________________________

Sometimes, modern medicine gets it right. A fascinating article.

TLC

Happiness Is A Loaded Nutcase

Local governments couldn't impose their own restrictions on people's ability to legally carry concealed guns under a bill that gained first-round approval Tuesday by the House.

Last year's law banned concealed guns in some locations, including bars, taverns, schools, courthouses, churches and day-care centers. Also, property owners can ban concealed guns by posting a sign.

Lawmakers complained that some Johnson County cities took it step further, banning concealed guns from public parks, open spaces and city buildings.

Supporters of the bill say the patchwork process could mean someone following state statute could unknowingly break the law by walking into a city park where a local ordinance bans concealed guns.

Full A.P. wire service story, Topeka [Kansas] Capital-Journal, March 20, 2007

__________________________________

Yes, that would be terrible if citizens of Kansas could go to public parks or walk into a government office without fear of being blown away by someone with a concealed weapon. The search for Bambi is neverending!

TLC

Roads

"Hope is like a road in the country; there was never a road,
but when many people walk on it,
the road comes into existence."
--Lin Yutang

Uncle Josef Blair

First-time passport applicants aged over 16 will face a list of up to 200 personal questions when compulsory interviews are introduced later this spring.

Applicants will be asked about their ancestry, including the background of their parents, previous addresses, details about counter-signatories and other questions designed to establish a ''social footprint'' of who they are.

Joan Ryan, a Home Office minister, said the new system was justified to combat fraud, though this amounted to just 0.15 per cent of applications.

Full article, Telegraph UK, March 21, 2007

__________________________

My letter to the Telegraph UK:

Dear Editor:

I had thought the United States would win the race to the creation of a totalitarian police state. But not to be underestimated. the Brits have leapt ahead with the outrageously invasive Stalinist interrogation techniques that will precede the granting of a passport.

Terry L. Clark

Chlorine: Bad For Iraqis, Bad For Americans

Hospitals Treat Victims of Chlorine Gas Bomb Attack

Hospitals in Iraq are still treating Iraqis poisoned in a series of chlorine gas bomb attacks over the weekend. Eight people died in the attacks and 350 people became sick. David Dorsey, the medical director of the Intensive Care Institute, said the injured included many children.

David Dorsey: "I am worried about scars on her lungs in the long term. I also know that children heal up very well and I feel that it is hopeful that that she will live a full life without problems with her lungs."

Source: Democracy Now, March 20, 2007

____________________________

Earth to America: Chlorine is put in your drinking water, and unless you purchase a filter, no effort is made to remove it--or even warn you that it's a poison.

Remember: Chlorine is put in water to kill things. What makes you think *you* are exempt?

TLC

The U.S.: Uniting Iraq

Poll: Large Percentage of Iraqis Oppose Coalition Forces

A new poll of Iraqis commissioned by USA Today has found that 83% of Shiites and 97% of Sunni Arabs oppose the presence of coalition forces in Iraq. By a margin of more than 3 to 1, Iraqis say the presence of U.S. forces is making the security situation worse.

Source: Democracy Now, March 20, 2007

MoveOn - More War Funding

MoveOn Criticized For Backing Additional War Funding

On Monday the liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org publicly endorsed the Democratic House leadership's bill to approve $100 billion in additional funding for the war. On Thursday, the House is scheduled to vote on the bill that would fund the war for another year on the condition that American troops begin to withdraw by next March. Eli Pariser of MoveOn said, "While this measure doesn't go far enough, they know the choice is a war without end or a safe and responsible end to the war. This measure is an important step in the right direction." Several prominent anti-war advocates have criticized MoveOn for refusing to support the Iraq amendment from Congressional Progressive Caucus leaders Barbara Lee, Lynn Woolsey and Maxine Waters, which calls for "a fully funded, and systematic, withdrawal of U.S. soldiers and military contractors from Iraq" by the end of 2007.

Source: Democracy Now, March 20, 2007

______________________

Credit where credit's due, at least DN ran this piece. Some analysis would be nice, tho, such as asking how one can be opposed to war by supporting its continued funding. Until funding is cut off, CONgress won't--nor should it be--taken seriously.

TLC

Over 100 Arrested in Anti-War Actions in NYC and SF

On Monday, over 100 anti-war activists were arrested in New York and San Francisco as they marked the fourth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. In New York, dozens of activists lied down in front of the entrance of the New York Stock Exchange.

Full (brief) story, Democracy Now, March 20, 2007

_________________________

Meanwhile, war criminals get flown around the world on Air Force One, driven around in limos, and are protected by the SS while Iraqis and Americans die in droves, many of the living envying the dead.

TLC

Cheney Returns to Hospital for Checkup

Vice President Dick Cheney went to George Washington University Hospital Tuesday morning after experiencing discomfort in his left lower leg, where a blood clot was discovered a few weeks ago.
Full A.P. wire service article, SF Chronicle, March 20, 2007

_______________________

Send him to Walter Reed!

TLC

Heckuva Job, Alberto

President Bush sent a powerful message of support Tuesday for embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, calling his longtime friend to express unwavering support in the face of calls for his resignation.

The White House also denied reports that it was looking for possible successors for Gonzales. "Those rumors are untrue," White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino said.

"The president reaffirmed his strong backing of the attorney general and his support for him," Perino said. "The president called him to reaffirm his support."

Full A.P. wire service article SF Chronicle, March 20, 2007

______________

The Bu$h Mafia version of the Kiss-O-Death?

Meanwhile...Gonzales' Hold on Job Grows Uncertain

Full A.P. wire service article, SF Chronicle, March 20, 2007

Perhaps he'll get a Halliburton Golden Parachute.

Bonus Time: The U.S. has no extradition treaty with Halliburton's new home, the United Arab Emirates! Alberto won't have to be annoyed by those Congressional busybodies.

TLC

Steps

"Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps down new roads armed with nothing but their own vision."
--Ayn Rand

If

"If you love animals called pets, why do you eat animals called dinner?"
--Unknown

Saddam's Former Deputy Hanged in Iraq

The former deputy in Saddam Hussein's government was hanged before dawn Tuesday for the killings of 148 Shiites, an official with the prime minister's office said, despite appeals from international human rights groups.

Full A.P. wire service article, SF Chronicle, March 19, 2007

_______________________

Seems like there are some empty ropes awaiting a few more war criminals...

TLC

Great Job, Saddam!

Too Bad The US Lacks Moral Standing To Criticize

Robert Mugabe's regime has launched a desperate attempt to shut off the country from the outside world, arresting and assaulting key opposition leaders as they attempted to leave Zimbabwe and stealing the body of a murdered activist to prevent his funeral from taking place.

Nelson Chamisa, the national spokesman for the main opposition party Movement for Democratic Change, was fighting for his life last night in a Harare hospital after being ambushed in an airport departure lounge by plain-clothes agents wielding iron bars.

Full story, Independent UK, March 19, 2007

__________________________

Not much different than the effect of U.S. torture upon people with brown skin, directly or through surrogates.

TLC

Details On The Next Postage Increases

The cost of mailing a letter will go up on May 14, but you'll be able to lock in that price — no matter how rates rise in the future — by buying the new "forever" stamp.
[T]he 41-cent rate is for the first ounce, but each additional ounce will cost just 17 cents, down from the current 24 cents.

Full A.P. article, SF Chronicle, March 19, 2007

Prison To Bolster The Poll Number

After ushering in a more lenient parole policy by freeing nearly 80 convicted murderers and kidnappers in his first year-and-a-half in office, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has clamped down on the release of inmates serving life sentences.
Full article, SF Chronicle, March 19, 2007

_____________________

My letter to the SF Chronicle:

Dear Editor:

HerrGoobernator's reduction in the numbers of those granted parole who are serving life sentences is a no-brainer: He doesn't want to face the "soft on crime" nonsense when he runs against Barbara Boxer in 2010.

Terry L. Clark

But Nothing Happens To The CORPORATE Meth Manufacturers

Three people from Ellsworth were arrested in Salina for purchasing an ingredient used to make meth in several Salina stores.

The I-135/I-70 Drug Task Force was given a tip about some people buying pseudo-ephedrine Saturday at the Dillons Superstore at 2350 Planet Avenue. Officers observed the vehicle go to Wal-Mart at 2900 South 9th Street where a woman purchased a box of pseudo-ephedrine. They then returned to the Dillons Superstore where a woman purchased another box. Then they went to Walgreens at 700 South Broadway where more of the medicine was purchased.

They were stopped trying to leave town. Nine boxes were found in the car. [Three people, whose names are irrelevant], each face possible charges of possession of ephedrine.

Source: KSAL.com, Salina, Kansas, March 19, 2007

______________________________________

Meanwhile, the pharmaceutical drug cartel that manufactures pseudo-ephedrine continue to rake in huge profits, knowing their product will be used for the production of meth, while the non-corporate schmucks get prosecuted to the max.

More proof that Money Talks, Bu$hit Walks. The best government that drug money can buy.

TLC

The White House Plan For Success: "Zip It"

Tony Snow ‘Defensive’ On Iraq Anniversary, Tells CNN’s Ed Henry To ‘Zip It’

CNN’s Ed Henry told Snow that since he was attacking the House plan, he should explain the Bush administration’s “recipe for success.” According to Henry, Snow “tried to turn it around on me,” asking Henry what his recipe for success was. When Henry objected to Snow’s question, Snow told him to “zip it.” Watch it:

Full story, and video, at Think Progress, March 19, 2007

Breaking Propaganda From ABC (All Bu$h Channel)

Breaking News from ABCNEWS.com [March 19, 2007]:

WALEED MOHAMMED BIN ATTASH HAS CONFESSED TO THE BOMBING OF THE USS COLE IN 2000 THAT KILLED 17 U.S. SAILORS

http://abcnews.go.com?CMP=EMC-1396

______________________

My email to ABC:

Did he also confess to doing in JFK? And Santa?

TLC

All Of 'em

"This government, no. It does not represent the people. It"s given us a horrible name, it's given us an obscene war, and they have no leadership, and no credibility. They are disgraceful. They all belong in the federal penitentiary, all of them."
--Martin Sheen

Passive

"He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it."
--Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Vote Different"

The power of personal computers and of the internet...so much in just 74 seconds...

TLC

"Tar Baby" Republicans

Responding to a question about the rights of divorced fathers during a town hall meeting in Cedar Falls, Iowa, today, John McCain said that he wouldn't want to interfere in the decisions of divorce courts because doing so would be "getting into a tar baby of enormous proportions."

Random House notes that "tar baby" is "used occasionally as a derogatory term for black people" and that "some people suggest avoiding the use of the term in any context." At a press conference after today's town hall event, McCain said: "I don't think I should have used that word. And I was wrong to do so."

The Arizona senator isn't the first Republican presidential candidate to use -- and then apologize for using -- the term. Mitt Romney was forced to apologize last summer after using it to describe a troubled highway project. Tony Snow also used the term in his very first White House press conference. Later, he said that he'd take "tar baby" out of his "toolchest of rhetorical devices" even though he thought people who consider the term racist just don't understand "a hundred and fifty years of American culture."

--Michael Scherer, Salon, March 17, 2007

Bridge

"There is an Indian legend which says when a human dies there is a bridge they must cross to enter into heaven. At the head of that bridge waits every animal that human encountered during their lifetime. The animals, based upon what they know of this person, decide which humans may cross the bridge.... and which are turned away..."
--Unknown

60 million containers of pet food recalled

60 million containers of pet food recalled
Eukanuba, Iams and store brands tied to kidney failure, deaths
The Associated PressUpdated: 5:26 p.m. PT March 16, 2007

A major manufacturer of dog and cat food sold under Wal-Mart, Safeway, Kroger and other store brands recalled 60 million containers of wet pet food Friday after reports of kidney failure and deaths.

An unknown number of cats and dogs suffered kidney failure and about 10 died after eating the affected pet food, Menu Foods said in announcing the North American recall. Product testing has not revealed a link explaining the reported cases of illness and death, the company said.

“At this juncture, we’re not 100 percent sure what’s happened,” said Paul Henderson, the company’s president and chief executive officer. However, the recalled products were made using wheat gluten purchased from a new supplier, since dropped for another source, spokeswoman Sarah Tuite said. Wheat gluten is a source of protein.

The recall covers the company’s “cuts and gravy” style food, which consists of chunks of meat in gravy, sold in cans and small foil pouches between Dec. 3 and March 6. The pet food was sold by stores operated by the Kroger Company, Safeway Inc., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and PetSmart Inc., among others, Henderson said.

Menu Foods did not immediately provide a full list of brand names and lot numbers covered by the recall, saying they would be posted on its Web site — www.menufoods.com/recall — early Saturday. Consumers with questions can call (866) 463-6738.

The company said it manufacturers for 17 of the top 20 North American retailers. It is also a contract manufacturer for the top branded pet food companies, including Procter & Gamble Co.

P&G announced Friday the recall of specific 3 oz., 5.5 oz., 6 oz. and 13.2 oz. canned and 3 oz. and 5.3 oz. foil pouch cat and dog wet food products made by Menu Foods but sold under the Iams and Eukanuba brands. The recalled products bear the code dates of 6339 through 7073 followed by the plant code 4197, P&G said.

Menu Foods’ three U.S. and one Canadian factory produce more than 1 billion containers of wet pet food a year. The recall covers pet food made at company plants in Emporia, Kan., and Pennsauken, N.J., Henderson said.

Henderson said the company received an undisclosed number of owner complaints of vomiting and kidney failure in dogs and cats after they had been fed its products. It has tested its products but not found a cause for the sickness.

“To date, the tests have not indicated any problems with the product,” Henderson said.

The company alerted the Food and Drug Administration, which already has inspectors in one of the two plants, Henderson said. The FDA was working to nail down brand names covered by the recall, agency spokesman Mike Herndon said.

Menu Foods is majority owned by the Menu Foods Income Fund, based in Ontario, Canada.

Henderson said the recall would cost the company the Canadian equivalent of $26 million to $34 million.

Source: MSNBC, March 16, 2007

Kucinich: If Bush invades Iran, impeachment is the only option

If Bush invades Iran, impeachment is the only option
Submitted by Kucinich 2008 Press Secretary on Thu, 2007-03-15 09:31.
March 15, 2007

The Iraq war funding bill, currently under consideration by the U.S. House of Representatives, would allow the Bush Administration to launch an attack against Iran without Congressional approval, Congressman and Democratic Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich said on the floor of the House today.

"The House Appropriations Committee removed language from the Iraq war funding bill requiring the Administration, under Article 1, Section 8, Clause 11 of the Constitution, to seek permission before it launched an attack against Iran," Kucinich said today. "Since war with Iran is an option of this Administration, and since such war is patently illegal, then impeachment may well be the only remedy which remains to stop a war of aggression against Iran."

Kucinich continued, "This House cannot avoid its constitutionally authorized responsibility to restrain the abuse of Executive power. The Administration has been preparing for an aggressive war against Iran. There is no solid, direct evidence that Iran has the intention of attacking the United States or its allies."

He went on to explain, "The United States is a signatory to the U.N. Charter, a constituent treaty among the nations of the world [that mandates] all members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state."

"Even the threat of a war of aggression is illegal," Kucinich told other House members.
Kucinich is the only Presidential candidate who voted against the original war authorization measure in 2002 and every war-funding appropriation since.

Also See:
Kucinich: 'Impeachment may well be the only remedy which remains to stop a war of aggression against Iran' - Ron Brynaert, RAW STORY, March 15, 2007


Source: Kucinich 2008

Just Two

"There was apparently a proposal at the recent America Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) meeting in Washington to invite Israel to join the United States as the 51st state. Delegates rejected the idea after they learned that Israel would be limited to only two U.S. Senators."
--Wayne Madsen, March 15, 2007

Difference II

"The difference between a welfare state and a totalitarian state is a matter of time."
--Ayn Rand (1905-1982) Author

Pharmaceutical Profits Over Life

A federal appeals court upheld the U.S. government's authority Wednesday to prosecute medical marijuana patients in California, but left open the possibility that a gravely ill patient could defend against criminal charges by showing that marijuana was her only shield against excruciating pain or death.

[Angel] Raich, 41, has used marijuana since 1997, taking it every two hours to combat the pain of scoliosis, endometriosis, seizures and a life-threatening wasting syndrome. Other drugs have proven painful and ineffectual, and her doctor says she would die in agony without marijuana.

Full article, SF Chronicle, March 15, 2007

____________________________

The pharmaceutical drug cartel is vehemently opposed to anything that would compete with its toxic products that could be created by consumers.

Thus, the lapdogs in the US Government argued that Angel Raich must suffer, and even die, in order to protect the profits of the Pharmaceutical Overlords.

Apparently, the Court forgot that laws must bear a "Rational Relationship" with a reasonable governmental objective. The torture and death of Angel Raich does nothing to protect the public, and is not a reasonable goal of government.

The Court also ignored the fact that one may not be deprived of life without Due Process Of Law. A rapist-murderer of a child, caught in the act on live television, would be accorded the full panoply of Due Process, while Angel Raich is told to go away and die.

TLC

Right

"The right man is the one who seizes the moment." --Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Profile In Courage: In The US, Many Are Too Scared To Write A Letter To The Editor

A defiant Morgan Tsvangirai has called for a popular struggle against Robert Mugabe's government and said the injuries which have put him in intensive care should be an "inspiration" to his countrymen.

The main opposition leader was moved into the intensive care unit of a private hospital in Harare yesterday after suffering a suspected fractured skull, brain injury and internal bleeding.

For the struggle, I think it's an inspiration to everyone. There is no freedom without struggle, and there is no freedom without sacrifice."

Full article, Independent UK, March 15, 2007

Corporate Terrorism On The Cheap

NOT A Chiquita Corporate Executive

Banana company Chiquita Brands International said Wednesday it has agreed to a $25 million fine after admitting it paid terrorists for protection in a volatile farming region of Colombia.

In court documents filed Wednesday, federal prosecutors said the Cincinnati-based company and several unnamed high-ranking corporate officers paid about $1.7 million between 1997 and 2004 to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, known as AUC for its Spanish initials.

The AUC has been responsible for some of the worst massacres in Colombia's civil conflict and for a sizable percentage of the country's cocaine exports. The U.S. government designated the right-wing militia a terrorist organization in September 2001.

Prosecutors said the company made the payments in exchange for protection for its workers. In addition to paying the AUC, prosecutors said, Chiquita made payments to the National Liberation Army, or ELN, and the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, as control of the company's banana-growing area shifted.

Full AP wire service article, SF Chronicle, March 14, 2007

______________________________

On the other hand, if you're some poor b*****d with brown skin, you're tortured for four years until you finally break and tell your tormenters what they want to hear.

TLC

The Gonzales Smokescreen

Democrats' Calls for Resignations are Pointless Diversions

All these calls from Democrats in Congress for Bush administration people to resign are missing, or deliberately obfuscating, the point.

But the problem isn’t the officials; it’s the laws that were passed--usually with Democratic Party support.

The only way to stop the ongoing rape of the Constitution is to change the laws that have been used as legal cover by the rapist-in-chief and his accomplices.

The only way to stop the trashing of veterans is to change the VA from an organization designed to keep ailing vets from getting assistance, and turn it into on that is designed to help vets get help.


Read the full article--Well worth a couple minutes to read, and many hours to think about.

"Immoral Acts"

Letter to the editor, San Francisco Chronicle, March 14, 2007, by Webb Johnson:


'Immoral acts'

Editor -- Marine Gen. Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as quoted in the March 13 Digest, said, "I believe homosexual acts between two individuals are immoral and that we should not condone immoral acts."

He did not mention the 70,000-plus civilians, mostly women and children, who have been killed as a result of the U.S. invasion and military occupation of Iraq, or the millions more who have fled their country in terror for their lives.

If we stop condoning immoral acts, people such as Pace will be out of work. Hasten the day.

WEBB JOHNSON
Walnut Creek

Back To The Killing Fields Of New York

Officer in Diallo Shooting Sues to Return to Duty

Here in New York, one of the four police officers involved the fatal shooting of Amadou Diallo has filed suit against the New York Police Department to return him to active duty. Kenneth Boss says he has been effectively blocked since his acquittal and his time served as a Marine in the Iraq war. Boss and three other officers were cleared in Diallo’s killing eight years ago. The unarmed Diallo was shot forty-one times.

Source: Democracy Now, March 14, 2007

__________________________

Since when does "Unable to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt" equal "fit for duty"?

TLC

Opposing Torture: Better Late Than Never (Except For All The Victims)

Evangelical Group Criticizes Admin on Detainees

One of the nation’s largest evangelical groups has come out against the Bush administration on the treatment of detainees in the so-called war of terror. The National Association of Evangelicals has endorsed a statement saying the administration’s policies have crossed “boundaries of what is legally and morally permissible.” The declaration continues: “Tragically, documented cases of torture and inhumane and cruel behaviour have occurred at various sites in the war on terror, and current law opens procedural loopholes for more to continue.” The National Association of Evangelicals represents nearly forty-five thousand churches in the United States.

Source: Democracy Now, March 14, 2007

___________________________

We've known about organized methodical torture since 2004 (before that if one bothered to look at media reports outside the US corporate press). Apparently Abu Ghraib was fine, but somewhere, sometime, a line got crossed between "good torture" and "bad torture". Could somebody explain when that line was crossed, and what the criteria is?

TLC

Prison Nation: Iraq

Pentagon Expands Iraqi Prisons

The US military is expanding two major prisons in Iraq ahead of an expected rise in Iraqi prisoners from the new crackdown in Baghdad. Thousands of prisoners are expected on top of the 17,000 already behind bars.

Source: Democracy Now, March 14, 2007

__________________________

Invade their nation...steal their oil...kill 650,000 of their people with the eventual toll to be in the millions...lock up large numbers of the survivors, especially those opposed to the invasion and occupation...

Yeah, that'd be enough to piss off a few people...

And note that it is the US Military, not the pseudo-government of Iraq, that is building the prisons.

TLC

Gonzales: The Devil Is Outed

Buried in the fourteenth paragraph of what appears on first brush to be a recap of the exploding "Gonzales" scandal:


Questions about whether the dismissals were politically motivated have been swirling since January. But they reached a fever pitch on Tuesday with disclosures by the White House that Mr. Bush had spoken directly with Mr. Gonzales to pass on concerns from Republican lawmakers, among them Senator Pete V. Domenici of New Mexico, about the way certain prosecutors were handling cases of voter fraud.

Source: Yes, the New York Times, March 14, 2007

_________________________________

Deja Vu? Yes...

In his conduct of the office of President of the United States, Richard M. Nixon, in violation of his constitutional oath faithfully to execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his consitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, has prevented, obstructed, and impeded the administration of justice, in that...

Article Of Impeachment # 1, adopted by the House Judiciary Committee, July 27, 1974


Oh but that's not all:

Using the powers of the office of President of the United States, Richard M. Nixon, in violation of his constitutional oath faithfully to execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in disregard of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, has repeatedly engaged in conduct violating the constitutional rights of citizens, impairing the due and proper administration of justice and the conduct of lawful inquiries, or contravening the laws governing agencies of the executive branch and the purposed of these agencies...

Article Of Impeachment # 2, adopted by the House Judiciary Committee, July 27, 1974


TLC

Cringe

"Shall I tell you what the real evil is? To cringe to the things that are called evils, to surrender to them our freedom, in defiance of which we ought to face any suffering."
--Seneca (Roman philosopher, mid-1st century AD)

The Real George W. Bush

March 13, 2007 --Our White House Press Corps sources report further disturbing news about President George W. Bush. Our sources have witnessed a clearly inebriated Bush approaching members of the press corps and making rude comments, including one particularly crude remark about First Lady Laura Bush. In that case, Bush, nodding toward Laura, called her a "c**t." While Bush's drinking is no secret to the White House press contingent, that particular comment was reportedly the worst they have heard uttered by Bush. Our sources also report that Laura Bush's stays at the White House are less frequent and that her overnight trips to the Mayflower Hotel often coincide with the president's drunken binges.

Full Story, Investigative Reporter Wayne Madsen, March 13, 2007

March 13, 2007 -- The actual reason Halliburton and its chairman David Lesar are moving their corporate digs to Dubai is that the UAE's lax laws on corporate record keeping and the opaqueness of business transactions in the emirates will allow the firm to avoid responding to congressional subpoenas for its scandalous war profiteering in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other locations. A source with extensive ties in Dubai also reports that after leaving office, Dick Cheney will be spending "a lot of time in Dubai." WMR was told that Cheney will likely start looking for property in the emirate -- there are a number of highly-secured gated communities springing up in Dubai, which is fast becoming the "Hong Kong" of the Middle East.
Halliburton will also be able to avoid paying U.S. corporate taxes as a UAE-headquartered corporation.

Source: Investigative Reporter Wayne Madsen, March 13, 2007


Short and to the point: The latest screwing of America by Halliburton and Dickless Cheney. I doubt it took very long to research this one...so why isn't it in the NY Times, the Washington Post, etc etc?

Because they're part of the problem.

TLC

Maybe They Could "Treat" 'em At Walter Reed

Representatives from the Army Corps of Engineers, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment were at Kansas State Salina Tuesday afternoon to explain Vapor Intrusion. It's part of the groundwater cleanup project at the site of the former Schilling Air force Base in south Salina.

Robyn Kiefer, Project Manager with the Army Corps of Engineers said that simply put, Vapor Intrusion is the vapor from the contaminated underground water that can seep through the soil and into buildings. She said tests of buildings in the area have shown no immediate health risk, and it could be several years before there is such a risk.

KSAL News asked Fred Molloy with the K.D.H.E. if the state feels the overall project is moving in a timely manner. He said, since he became involved within the past year, yes, that great strides have been made. Molloy said, "There has been good cooperation. A lot of good data has been gathered and evaluated which is always necessary on a project like this to insure that you're going in the right direction."

So, when does actual cleanup of the contamination begin? Vanessa Bauders, Industrial Hygienist with the Army Corps of Engineers, said a design plan should be ready in about three years.


Source: KSAL Radio, Salina, Kansas, March 13, 2007

________________________________

Lies of ommission, lies of commission, and lies perpetrated due to the passive news media.

So there's no "immediate" health risk? How about long-term health risk? Gradual health risk? The Army doesn't answer those unasked questions.

It "could" be several years before there is an "immediate" effect. And it could be fewer than "several" years. In any event, isn't the upcoming three-year period in which the Army will supposedly be doing its planning "several years"?

Cleanup? Well, there should be a plan in about 3 years. What harm will people suffer during those three years? And how long will it be until the actual cleanup--no hint when it will begin--is completed? Health problems developing during that time? No questions, no comments.

So, to my friends back in Salina: Run for your lives, before the government kills you, hand-in-hand with the cowering news media.

TLC

Gonzales Meltdown

Tim over at Salon's War Room has a great rundown of the various excuses that the public was to be fed as to why Federal prosecutors were being canned.

Keith Olbermann's people over at Countdown have an excellent collection of statements that Attorney General Gonzales made today, falling all over himself as he sinks deeper into the mire of his criminality and contradictions.

Kicking Gonzales while he's down? Well, considering the attacks on the U.S. Constitution by Gonzales throughout the Fourth Reich, that would be warranted.

But the amazing thing is, expose the Fourth Reich to just a little bit of sunshine, just a few tepid questions, and they fall apart at the seams. Their string of lies, tied together with cotton candy and rhymes-with-spit, completely fall apart.

Imagine if the news media in this country had, since the beginning and throughout the Bu$h Regime, taken its role seriously. Would we still have invaded Iraq, killing millions, not to mention the horrors inflected upon the U.S. soldiers who bought the lies perpetrated by the media?

TLC

Trashing The Constitution: A "State Secret"

Admin Urges Appeals Court to Reject AT&T Spy Suit

Back in the United States, the Bush administration is urging an appeals court to dismiss a lawsuit accusing the telecom giant AT&T of illegally helping the National Security Agency spy on the internet use of US citizens. In court papers released Monday, the Justice Deparment says the suit’s subject matter, including AT&T’s ties to government surveillance, is a “state secret.” The filing was released by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which brought the suit.

Source: Democracy Now, March 13, 2007

ABC Rewrites History

Exclusive: Curveball, the Defector Whose Lies Led to War

The Iraqi defector known as Curveball, whose fabricated stories of "mobile biological weapons labs" helped lead the U.S. to war four years ago, is still being protected by the German intelligence service, an ABC News investigation has found.

Intelligence sources, who provided ABCNews.com with the first known photo of the man, say he has been resettled in a small town near the Munich headquarters of the German service, which has continued to honor its original commitment made when he fled Iraq in 1999.

Curveball's false tales became the centerpiece of Secretary of State Colin Powell's speech before the United Nations in February 2003, even though he was considered an "unstable, immature and unreliable" source by some senior officials at the CIA.

Full story, ABC Pseudo-News, March 13, 2007

____________________________

My email to ABC "News":

What a load of crap! It was the lies of DerBu$hler, Dickless Cheney, and the rest of the neofascists, that led to war.

TLC

Home Is Where The Cemetary Is

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi brushed past peace activists Monday who camped outside her home overnight to demand that Congress stop funding the war in Iraq.

The small group confronted Pelosi and asked for a meeting at about 6:30 a.m. as she hurried to a waiting vehicle without stopping to speak. "My home is my home," Pelosi curtly told the protesters before being driven away.

Full AP Wire Service Article, SF Chronicle, March 12, 2007

_________________________________

And thanks to gutless wonders like Pelosi, many innocent Iraqis, and US soldiers fighting for the multinational oil companies having been fed a pack of lies, find their new home is a cemetary or one of the VA hellholes.

TLC

Fox Orders Review Of Chicken Coops

The VA is ordering its 1,400 hospitals and clinics to report on the quality of their facilities to determine if squalid conditions found at Walter Reed exist elsewhere.
Full A.P. wire service article, SF Chronicle, March 13, 2007

_____________________________

Does the VA think we're all whacked out on the drugs the VA Clinics hand out like candy in lieu of genuine treatment that improves the health of those who risked all, and those who sometimes gave all?

TLC

Dems Fess Up: Destroy Iran, Too

Democratic leaders are stripping from a military spending bill for the war in Iraq a requirement that President Bush gain approval from Congress before moving against Iran.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and other leaders agreed to remove the requirement concerning Iran after conservative Democrats as well as other lawmakers worried about its possible impact on Israel, officials said Monday.

Several officials said there was widespread opposition to the proposal at a closed-door meeting last week of conservative and moderate Democrats, who said they feared tying the hands of the administration when dealing with an unpredictable and potentially hostile regime in Tehran.


Full A.P. wire service article, SF Chronicle, March 13, 2007


So there you have it: The Republicrats will fully fund the war on Iran, and won't interfere with the Fourth Reich's legal authority to wage that war.

As a political sham dance, the Republicrats claim DerBu$hler misled them, while supporting the war without end.

And since when does Israel dictate American foreign policy? Why is Israel so hellbent on being destroyed so as to hasten the Second Coming?

TLC

Mountains

"Never measure the height of a mountain until you have reached the top. Then you will see how low it was."
--Dag Hammarskjöld

Kristol: Pardon Libby to remove "cloud" over White House

From the "Department of Opposite Thinking" comes Weekly Standard editor and Fox News pundit Bill Kristol, who says that not pardoning Scooter Libby now "is to leave" a "cloud hanging over his White House and over the war."

Source, and full article: Salon's War Room, March 12, 2007

"Military Intelligence": Non Sequitur

U.S. Military Defends Deleting Journalists' Footage

The U.S. military is defending its decision to force two freelance journalists working in Afghanistan for the Associated Press to delete photos and video at the scene of a U.S. shooting last week. An Army spokesperson claimed that taking pictures could misrepresent what had happened in the incident. Col. Victor Petrenko said "When untrained people take photographs or video, there is a very real risk that the images or videography will capture visual details that are not as they originally were." The Associated Press disputed the assertions. AP Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll said: "In democratic societies, legitimate journalists are allowed to work without having their equipment seized and their images deleted."


Source: Democracy Now, March 12, 2007


Or the pictures just might depict reality. Gen. Petrenko must: 1) Be a product of No Standardized Test Left Behind, and never developed basic thinking skills; 2) Think enough of the public has been victimized by NSTLB for this to fly; or 3) Be an adherent to the Big Lie philosophy.

TLC

Wal-Mart: Watch Out For Falling IQs

Another internet scam hooked in someone from Salina. Police were called to Wal-Mart because a 68-year-old woman was trying to cash five fraudulent money orders for $500 a piece.

She told Police she was cashing them for someone she had met online named Mark Marcson who was in Nigeria and needed money to get back to the United States. The money orders had come from Santa Barbara, California.

Since the money orders were found to be frauds before they were cashed the Salina woman did not lose any money.

Source: KSAL Radio, Salina, Kansas, March 12, 2007

Walls

"I ask people why they have deer heads on their walls. They always say because it's such a beautiful animal. There you go. I think my mother is attractive, but I have photographs of her."
--Ellen DeGeneres

Benedict Halliburton

Oil services giant Halliburton Co. will soon shift its corporate headquarters from Houston to the Mideast financial powerhouse of Dubai, chief executive Dave Lesar announced Sunday.

"Halliburton is opening its corporate headquarters in Dubai while maintaining a corporate office in Houston," spokeswoman Cathy Mann said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. "The chairman, president and CEO will office from and be based in Dubai to run the company from the UAE."

Full A.P. wire service article, SF Chronicle, March 11, 2007

The Bu$h Legacy

Bumper Sticker Seen:


The Bush Legacy: No Child Left A Dime

Hope

"Hope is the thing with feathers, that perches in the soul - and sings the tune without words, and never stops - at all."

--Emily Dickinson

New Mexico's Impeachment Resolution & The State Of America

Dave Lindorff has a good recap on the Impeachment Resolution that went down to defeat in New Mexico.

More extensive coverage can be found at Democracy For New Mexico

What New Mexico State Senator John T.L. Grubesic really moved me:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE SENATOR JOHN T.L. GRUBESIC MARCH 8, 2007

This country was founded by rebels. This country was forged in violence, ferocity, dissent and uproar. This country is vanishing before our eyes, not because we are blind, but because we are willing participants in its destruction. Today on the Senate floor you witnessed an excellent example. The Impeachment Resolution died quietly with no debate whatsoever. The dignity of the New Mexico State Senate was maintained as we followed carefully designed rules of procedure to ensure that nothing disrupted the workings of this austere body. We did a great job of making it appear that government was working.

However, we have to ask, which government and on whose behalf? The action taken by the Senate was not the action taken by a body that protects the freedoms of a sovereign people. The action was a carefully orchestrated option designed to protect the integrity of an institution and perpetuate the well oiled workings of government. A government that has evidently forgotten that we serve at the pleasure of those we govern.

It is clear, that from the highest levels of government in our country down to our State, very few of us want to deal with the unpleasant political mess that impeachment could become. Our actions today showed where our priorities are, we forgot that the Constitution was not designed to serve government, but to protect the people. There should have been a debate, argument, uproar. Instead, we quietly gutted the sovereign power of the people with polite political procedure.

When future generations look back on our time, the shock will not be because of the violent, impolite nature of the fight that preceded the destruction of Constitutional government, but by the meekness with which we watched it die.

Source, and Thanks, to Democracy For New Mexico

A Few Choice Words From Salt Lake City Utah Mayor Rocky Anderson

"It's been obvious, I'm sure, that I've wanted to see an end to the disastrous and immoral policies of the Bush administration, but never before was I so absolutely convinced as I am now that impeachment and removal from office is not only appropriate, but morally and legally compelled. I firmly believe that our nation is at its lowest point ever — morally, legally and in terms of its relations with the rest of the world.

Any review of what the founders had in mind when they drafted the impeachment clause of the Constitution would make it abundantly clear that the outrageous abuses of power, the violations of our Constitution and of sacred treaty obligations, the dictatorial assumption of powers and derogation of the balance of power between the three branches of government implicit in our democracy and the disgraceful human rights abuses are far beyond anything that would have to be established to demonstrate a high crime or misdemeanor."

--Rocky Anderson, Mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah

US sends spies into Pakistan to kill bin Laden

America is stepping up its hunt for Osama bin Laden by dispatching additional CIA operatives and paramilitary officers to Pakistan to kill or capture the al-Qa'eda leader.

Osama bin Laden is believed to be hiding in the Pakistani region bordering Afghanistan
US officials said that the mission is intended to intensify the pressure on the terrorist leader, who turns 50 tomorrow, and perhaps force him into making a mistake. He is widely believed to be hiding in the region bordering Afghanistan.


Source: C.I.A.. Oh wait--This came from their (in this case) mouthpiece, the Telegraph UK, March 10, 2007.

Now if the U.S. Government were really serious about capturing their close ally, er, mortal enemy, they wouldn't be broadcasting it for all the world--and the bad guys--to hear loud and clear.

How stoopid does the U.S. Government think the public is?

TLC

Gas prices may approach all-time high within days

Gas prices may soar another 20 to 30 cents a gallon in California in the next few days - approaching all-time highs - to the frustration of motorists who have seen pump costs jump more than 40 cents in the past month.
____________________

So far, so good. But in the very next paragraph, the article veers out of control into oil cartel propaganda:


A series of refinery problems and the conversion to the state's summer blend of fuel are the main causes behind the dizzy increase at local stations. Motorists were paying an average of $3.04 a gallon in the South Bay today up from $2.68 four weeks ago.


Full article, San Jose Mercury News, March 9, 2007

____________________

What gives? The Mercury News has a good reputation, right?

Guess again, Alice. Welcome to Propagandaland.

The Mercury News is one of many papers that has been assimilated by Dean Singleton's MediaNews corporation.

So what's *really* going on? The fall erections [sic] are over, and the public is getting screwed again. What, you thought the declining gas prices as November 2006 approached were anything other than an attempt to lull the American people into a false sense of non-panic? Ha! Connecticut is the best example, with Independent-In-Name-Only Joseph LIEberman getting back into the U.S. Senate over genuine Democrat Ned Lamont.

Bend over and grab yer gas cap, because the multinational oil cartel is just getting warmed up, with Iran their next target.

TLC

Priests to Purify Site After Bush Visit

Mayan priests will purify a sacred archaeological site to eliminate "bad spirits" after President Bush visits next week, an official with close ties to the group said Thursday.

"That a person like (Bush), with the persecution of our migrant brothers in the United States, with the wars he has provoked, is going to walk in our sacred lands, is an offense for the Mayan people and their culture," Juan Tiney, the director of a Mayan nongovernmental organization with close ties to Mayan religious and political leaders, said Thursday.

Full A.P. wire service article, SF Chronicle, March 8, 2007

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Too bad most of the Priests in the U.S. are clueless. We definitely need help expelling
The Antichrist.

TLC

Falwell Invites Gingrich to Give Address

Newt Gingrich's admission of an extramarital affair as he pursued President Clinton's impeachment in the Monica Lewinsky scandal has won praise from another conservative Christian leader: the Rev. Jerry Falwell.

It's also helped to gain Gingrich an invitation to deliver the commencement address at Falwell's Liberty University. Gingrich is considered a possible Republican presidential contender, although he has not announced any intention to run.

Full A.P. wire service article, SF Chronicle, March 9, 2007


WTF??? Literally and metaphorically!

Yes, this is the same Jerry Falwell who said about homosexual child predator Rep. Mark Foley: "We lived through Bill Clinton, and this situation with Foley is minuscule in comparison."
(Thanks to Media Matters for ferreting this out)

The same bastion of morality that supported Apartheid in South Africa. Apparently Falwell's God created people of color to be subjugated to the favored white people made by that same God.

The same caldron of hatred that claimed, "AIDS is the wrath of a just God against homosexuals." Amazing how many people God created so that they could be despised and destroyed.

And what is Falwell obsessed with? Mother Jones raises some interesting questions on that: Parents Alert: Is Jerry Falwell Gay? Secret symbols of homosexuality abound.

Now we have Jerry and Newt, together again.

Birds of a feather...

TLC

Embrace The Hate

Rove: You'll all see Bush's wisdom eventually

While insisting that George W. Bush isn't focused much on how history will remember him, Karl Rove tells the Washington Post that the president's biggest legacy will be the "Bush doctrine" -- preemptive war mixed with the notion that countries that make nice with terrorists should be treated like them.

Won't the disaster that is Iraq discourage future presidents from embracing Bush's way? "Could be," Rove says. "But it has a logic of force and nature and reality that will cause people to examine it, adjust it, test it, resist it -- but ultimately embrace it."

-- Tim Grieve, Salon's "War Room"

Strategy: Ignore (M)ann Coulter?

Rolling Stone's Tim Dickinson raises the interesting question of whether it is better to ignore Coulter, because challenging her fascism seems to increase her book sales and rally the wingnuts.

My Post at Rolling Stone:

Ignore (M)ann? Doesn't work for cancer, didn't work for the Germans in the 1920s dealing with Hitler's agitation.

Firefighters v. Rudy

[C]iting safety concerns, Giuliani decided on Nov. 2, 2001, to limit the number of FDNY searchers to 25 - touching off brief but furious scuffles between the NYPD and the FDNY and earning Giuliani the lasting animosity of many city fire officers.

"The disrespect that he exhibited to our 343 fallen FDNY brothers, their families and our New York leadership in the wake of that tragic day has not been forgiven or forgotten," reads the draft.

"The events of November 2001, we think, showed the true character of Rudy Giuliani," Zack said, "and we are going to make sure the firefighters of this country know that story."

Full article, New York Daily News, March 9, 2007

Recap: Salon, March 9, 2007

Patience

"I am patient with stupidity but not with those who are proud of it."
--Edith Sitwell

Gingrich Had Affair During Clinton Probe

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich acknowledged he was having an extramarital affair even as he led the charge against President Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky affair, he acknowledged in an interview with a conservative Christian group.

"The president of the United States got in trouble for committing a felony in front of a sitting federal judge," the former Georgia congressman said of Clinton's 1998 House impeachment on perjury and obstruction of justice charges. "I drew a line in my mind that said, 'Even though I run the risk of being deeply embarrassed, and even though at a purely personal level I am not rendering judgment on another human being, as a leader of the government trying to uphold the rule of law, I have no choice except to move forward and say that you cannot accept ... perjury in your highest officials."

Full A.P. Article: SF Examiner, March 8, 2007

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Oh good grief...Perjury about something that never should have been made an issue in the first place vs. Newt The Moralistic Crusader dipping his wick in a well other than that of his wife while leading the charge. And these high standards make Newt a heavily promoted CONservative.

TLC

California's Mentally Ill Prison System

The SF Chronicle had an article about an inmate who died today, shot three days ago by one of the guards, supposedly in the course of the prison officials trying to break up a fight.

Killing someone, that'll sure break up a fight. Don't hold your breath waiting for a bona fide investigation as to whether deadly force was required.

The really interesting thing was the last paragraph of the article:


Calnan, 41, was serving time on a third-strike conviction from San Diego County. He was sentenced to 496 years for two counts of receiving stolen property, one count of second-degree burglary, six counts of first-degree burglary, four counts of possession of a firearm by an ex-felon, one count of possession of marijuana for sale, and one county of possession of a controlled substance.

__________________________________

496 (Four Hundred Ninety-Six) years for a jackass needing an attitude adjustment and/or rehabilitation for relatively minor crimes??? The product of a prison system providing third-world medical care, garbage masquerading as food, no meaningful counseling, no meaningful job training for life on the outside. Where was the medical analysis as to whether he had mercury, lead, other medical conditions affecting his ability to function as a productive member of society.

496 years??? For that list of offenses? No rape, no murder, none of the stuff one might be ok with incarcerating someone for the rest of their life.

The California prison system is indeed mentally ill, not just the inmates but the administration going all the way up to HerrGoobernator's office.

TLC

Technology

"Technological change is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal."
--Albert Einstein

Call Upon The California Legislature To Impeach Bush

My email to California State Senator Pat Wiggins:
Email Website

and California State Representative Patty Berg:
Email Website


To contact other California State Senators

To contact other members of the California State House


Why are you not at the forefront demanding that the California state legislature, like state and local governments around the country, pass a resolution calling for the Impeachment of George W. Bu$h, in accordance with Thomas Jefferson's Manual Of The Rules Of The House Of Representatives, Section 603.

As with Germany in the 1930's, those who fail to oppose the slaughter of Iraqis for empire and the control of oil are, through their silence and inaction, accessories to the most horrific of crimes, offenses that the tribunal at Nuremberg did not take lightly. President Kennedy reminded us: "The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who in time of moral crisis preserve their neutrality."

Terry L. Clark

Pelosi: Keep On Killin'

House Democratic leaders, still lacking the consensus they need to move ahead with a bill to spend almost $100 billion on the war in Iraq, are considering a plan to give the war's fiercest critics a floor vote on their proposal for a quick withdrawal from Iraq.

The idea is that in return for the vote -- which is sure to lose -- some of the anti-war Democrats would support the leadership's approach to ensure its passage. Without such an agreement, it would remain difficult for Speaker Nancy Pelosi to move ahead with the spending bill that has been tied up for almost a month by disagreements within the Democratic caucus.

Source and full article: SF Chronicle, March 7, 2007

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So there you have it: Pelosi wants to make sure that DerBu$hler continues to have full funding of the wars for oil and empire.

And it doesn't stop with Iraq: If the gusher of funds ebbs, DerBu$hler's slaughter of Iran might be inhibited. That conflicts with the scheme of Pelosi and company: Let DerBu$hler take the blame for what they also want done.

Bipartisan Fascism: It's what's for dinner--breakfast--lunch.

TLC

Murder & Thievery On A Massive Scale: A "Mistake"

Poll: 60% Call Iraq War “Mistake”, Favor Withdrawal

Meanwhile in Washington, President Bush addressed Iraq at a speech before the American Legion.

President Bush: "Iraqi and U.S. forces are making gradual and important progress almost everyday, and we will remain steadfast until our objectives are achieved."

President Bush’s comments come as a new poll shows a record six out of ten Americans believe the Iraq war has been a mistake. According to the Gallup/USA Today survey, the same number want a US withdrawal within a year. Just 13% favor sending more troops.

Source: Democracy Now, March 7, 2007

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Actually, 59%. Per USA Today, March 5, 2007:

• The share of those surveyed calling the war a mistake, 59%, was up from 56% last month and was the highest since September 2005.


What's wrong with this picture?

Where is the analysis? WHY is the war for oil a "mistake"? Because oil prices haven't come down? Because the Iraqis didn't roll over and surrender their oil?

What percentage of the American people think that there is something not just morally wrong, but downright evil, about attacking another nation, murdering over 650,000 of its citizens--with perhaps a million or more yet to die--in order to steal its oil so the price of oil and the supply of oil can be controlled by the multinational oil cartel?

Many call the U.S. a "Christian nation", and yet where is it in the Bible that God deliberately did not provide his creations enough resources so that they would have to kill each other in order to maintain luxurious lifestyles?

The corporate media is much to blame for the mind control and brainwashing they have facilitated for the Fourth Reich. It is one thing to curse Hitler, but this latest incarnation could not be so "successful" if not for the mass media in this nation.

TLC

Recap: Why The $cooter Libby Show Was A Waste

Despite Verdict, Libby's Fate Uncertain

But the case offered little new information about whether President Bush was involved or whether he authorized any leaks. Defense attorneys never delivered Cheney or Libby to the witness stand as promised to discuss the White House effort to undermine the credibility of former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, a campaign that resulted in the disclosure of his wife Valerie Plame's job at the CIA.

Libby's attorneys offered few details about a supposed White House conspiracy to protect Bush adviser Karl Rove from prosecution.

It also was never explained why former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, who originally leaked Plame's identity, was never charged.

Now that Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald says his investigation is complete, those questions are likely to go unanswered. Nobody will be charged with actually leaking Plame's identity. Libby was convicted of lying to cover up his conversations about Plame.


Full wire service article, SF Chronicle, March 7, 2007

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The headline's misleading insofar as what is important, and the excellent recap doesn't begin until the fourth paragraph. Welcome to the New World Media Order. Perhaps eventually one of the non-mainstream media outlets will pick up the salient points and run with it.

The short version: The "prosecution" pulled its punches, as did the "defense". Patrick Fitzgerald will not pursue the higher-ups because, it appears as in the old west, the bad guys got the draw on him (Sept 17-18, 2006). The news media, corporate and much of the "alternative", has been distracted by the Libby sideshow.


All the world is a stage,
And all the men and women merely players.
They have their exits and entrances;
Each man in his time plays many parts.
--William Shakespeare


TLC