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Iran: America's next war
Media and Pentagon keep it quiet, but those weapons weren't Iranian| |
Excerpt: A plan to show some alleged Iranian-supplied explosives to journalists last week in Karbala and then destroy them was canceled after the United States realized none of them was from Iran. A US military spokesman attributed the confusion to a misunderstanding that emerged after an Iraqi Army general in Karbala erroneously reported the items were of Iranian origin.
When US explosives experts went to investigate, they discovered they were not Iranian after all.
This item only showed up on the L.A. Times's Iraq blog, not in a regular news piece. If it weren't for the blog, I wonder if we ever would have heard of this?
Comment: Do me a favor, would ya? Please stop and read this item a second time, savor it, let it sink in. The evidence is unavoidable and incontrovertible: The Bush administration is preparing to kill another million or so innocent people. Helen & Harry PERMANENT LINK |
Relying on discredited reporter, NY Times highlights
alleged (but undocumented) Iranian interference| |
Rerun from last week, because it's important: Michael Gordon, the military writer for the New York Times who contributed several false stories about Iraqi WMD in the run-up to the US attack on Iraq in 2002, has written several articles in the past year about Iran’s alleged training of Iraqi insurgents -- or supplying them with weapons to kill Americans. He produced another major report on this subject for today’s Times -- based solely on unnamed sources -- which is at odds with an account from McClatchy’s Baghdad bureau.
Gordon asserts that ... "The United States has long charged that the Iranians were training Iraqi militia fighters in Iran, which Iran has consistently denied, and there have been previous reports about Hezbollah operatives in Iraq. ... But the Americans say the reports of Hezbollah’s role at the Iranian camp offer important details about Iranian assistance to the militias, including efforts Iran appears to be making to train the fighters in unobtrusive ways."
But McClatchy has a quite different take.
Leila Fadel, the bureau chief, and Shashank Bengali report: "The Iraqi Government seemed to distance itself from US accusations towards Iran Sunday saying it would not be forced into conflict with its Shiite neighbor. And Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki ordered the formation of a committee to look into foreign intervention in Iraq. ...
"The government spokesman, Ali al Dabbagh, told reporters Sunday that a committee was formed to find ‘tangible information’ about foreign intervention, specifically Iran's role in Iraq rather than ‘information based on speculation.’
"’We don't want to be pushed into any conflict with any neighboring countries, especially Iran. What happened before is enough. We paid a lot,’ Dabbagh said, referring to the eight years war between the two nations in which an estimated 1 million people died."
Also today from Agence France-Press: "Iraq said on Sunday it has no evidence that Iran was supplying militias engaged in fierce street fighting with security forces in Baghdad.
Former Bush official cites NY Times lie to push war with Iraq.
I mean Iran. Wait, Who are we invading for no reason this time?
Excerpt: In a Fox News interview this afternoon, former UN Ambassador John Bolton discussed his desire to bomb camps inside Iran that are reportedly training and arming Shiite insurgents who fight in Iraq.
Comment: So the Bush administration has some of the most evil minds in the country working on this for years and all they can come up with is the same tired ploy of planting stories in the press -- using the same reporter they used last time, mind you -- and then going on TV to cite the propaganda that they themselves created as a reason we should go to war? Against another country that starts with the letters I, R, and A? Because none of us have seen the clip of Dick Cheney doing this with Tim Russert in 2002 about a million times.
Seriously, guys. Is this all you have? If you want us to screw with a completely different oil-rich Muslim country in the next six months, you're going to have to start ginning up this war like you mean it. Madeline Zane PERMANENT LINK
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Life in liberated
Afghanistan & Iraq
Bush again declared,
‘Bring ‘em on’| |
Excerpt: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) reveals in his new book, Bush again used that infamous phrase as recently as 2007. Last night on MSNBC, Reid said that on the anniversary of 9/11 last year, he was "complaining" to Bush about the situation in Iraq. Bush replied, "Bring ‘em on. We’re killing them. We’re killing them." |
Shoot, kill, lie, repeat:
America's new moral universe| |
Excerpt: Tell me that this doesn't sound like something out of a history of Nazi tactics in World War II:
The rules [of engagement]t explicitly allowed the killing of unarmed Iraqis under certain circumstances... Specifically, the snipers were allowed to shoot unarmed people running away from explosions or firefights.... Of course, it's not unusual for innocent people to run from explosions. |
More troops dead from
suicide than combat| |
Excerpt: Suicides by veterans of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could well top the combat deaths in the two conflicts, according to the top official of National Institute of Mental Health.
On Monday, Dr. Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health, told reporters at an annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in Washington that it was possible that "suicides and psychiatric mortality...could trump combat deaths." Insel said he based this assessment in part on figures from a recent RAND Corp. study as well as suicide rates for patients who have substance abuse problems and other complications of post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of combat. |
US Army's "stop-loss"
orders up dramatically
over last year
State Department renews Blackwater’s Iraq contract
‘for at least another year’
Blackwater unlikely to
face charges for
Sept. ‘07 Iraq shootout
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UN adviser calls for over-
haul of food aid system| |
Excerpt: US economist Jeffrey Sachs blasted the West Thursday for responding to the world food crisis by shipping "unsustainable" aid, and said just 10 billion dollars could double Africa's food production.
Sachs -- who is credited with "saving" the economies of Bolivia, Poland and other countries and is often regarded as the most influential economist of the past decade -- warned that the current inflation was not about to be reversed and blamed the West for years of deeply-flawed policies.
"But what is the usual donor response? Send food aid -- the least sustainable of all forms of aid," Sachs complained.
Sachs is campaigning for the creation of a "global fund for small grower agriculture", mirrored on the system used to operate the global fund for AIDS, TB and malaria. |
Election 2008
Why is McCain's involve-
ment in the Keating Five scandal off limits?| |
Excerpt: "I remain very upset that what they did caused such damage," said William K. Black, Black, a senior federal savings and loan regulator at the time, now a professor at the University of Missouri at Kansas City, recalling how Lincoln’s bankruptcy cost the government $3 billion. Moreover, he said he believes McCain intervened partly because his wife had invested money with Lincoln chairman Charles Keating, a campaign contributor who let the McCains use his home in the Bahamas.
The story of how the "Keating Five" senators allegedly pressured regulators to lay off a failing Arizona S&L became a major scandal, and marked a turning point in McCain’s life -- the near-death of his political career followed by his eventual rebirth as a crusader for campaign finance reform. ...
If you’ve forgotten the details or need a refresher, this piece is a pretty good primer. Obama wants to take the high ground and steer clear of this humiliating part of McCain’s past, but if the media were anxious to be even-handed in their scrutiny of the candidates’ past, one would like to think the Keating Five scandal could draw at least as much attention as, say, the Rezko story, which appears utterly irrelevant by comparison. |
Zawahiri endorses McCain plan to bomb Iran| |
Excerpt: It turns out that al-
Qaeda No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahiri has declared that he is actually on McCain's side in wanting to destroy Iran. Al-Zawahiri is hurt that McCain keeps confusing hyper-Sunni al-Qaeda with radical Shiism: "Ayman al-Zawahiri said al-Qaeda wants to see the destruction of Iran -- a Shiite nation battling the terrorists ... "The dispute between America and Iran is a genuine struggle, and the possibility of the US striking Iran is real," al-Zawahiri said..." Al-Zawahiri hopes that the US struggle with Iran will destroy the latter and weaken the former, putting al-Qaeda in a position to administer the coup de grace.
In essence, al-Zawahiri is endorsing McCain's plan to "bomb, bomb, bomb/ bomb, bomb Iran." |
Taylor wins Democratic
primary for Congress
in North Carolina| |
Excerpt: Democrats turned out in large numbers for the presidential primary Tuesday, and if they rally again in November, Taylor said he could benefit.
Comment: This news report is quick and shallow, not even worth a click, but it's worth adding that the Democratic Party's winner, Harry Taylor, is the same guy who stood up at a Bush "town hall" meeting in 2006 and asked the President if he had any sense of shame at all. Helen & Harry PERMA LINK |
NY Times, Washington Post
confirm claim that McCain
did not vote for Bush| |
Excerpt: On Monday, Arianna reported that John McCain told her he had not voted for George W. Bush in 2000. Today, both the New York Times AND the Washington Post published articles with sources confirming John McCain had indeed told Arianna and others at an event that he did not vote for Bush in 2000. |
Clinton says she should
be nominee
because she's white| |
Excerpt: Hillary Rodham Clinton vowed Wednesday to continue her quest for the Democratic nomination, arguing she would be the stronger nominee because she appeals to a wider coalition of voters -- including whites who have not supported Barack Obama in recent contests.
"I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on," she said in an interview with USA TODAY. As evidence, Clinton cited an Associated Press article "that found how Sen. Obama's support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me."
Comment: Okay, I know we're not allowed to remember anything older than three days ago, but didn't Obama give an intelligent, compassionate, lengthy speech about the complexities of race a few weeks ago? Meanwhile, Clinton eagerly exploits the nation's racism for her own personal benefit by reminding us all how electably white she is. Could we please officially nominate the clearly-less-evil Democrat for president, already? Madeline Zane PERMA LINK |
McCain's convention chair
worked for Myanmar's
military junta
McCain campaign more
than a little touchy
about the age issue
Anti-pork McCain speaks
at New Jersey museum
funded by nearly
$1 million in earmarks
New Congressional report proves McCain is ‘full of it’
in his opposition to GI Bill
McCain stays silent on
Hagee’s homophobic slurs
McCain’s proposes
creating a task force
that already exists
McCain explains his support for women's lack-of-rights
to 14-year-old girl
McGovern tells Clinton
to give it up
McCain continues to
shift with the wind
Clinton gives herself
another multi-
million dollar loan
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Lightning round news |
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Trashing the planet
23 dead in Missouri, Oklahoma,
Georgia after new round of storms| |
Comment: I understand enough about weather patterns to know that the term "global warming" is a bit of an oversimplification, and what should be called "global climate change" will have truly global repercussions. GCC will unavoidably cause more and more extraordinary weather of all kinds -- more powerful hurricanes, deeper snowstorms than you've walked through before, hard-hitting cyclones, record-setting downpours and floods, new all-time summer highs almost every summer, and so forth.
What I don't know for sure, what I'd like to ask, 'cuz there's probably an expert reading this, is whether all these almost-common-now news reports about weather catastrophes are reflections of the aggravating effects of GCC, or whether it's more a reflection of crappy journalism, as TV stations send camera crews to film storms' damages, just because that's easier than assigning reporters to cover City Hall or the state legislature. Somreht PERMANENT LINK |
EPA official says agency might not
regulate toxic chemical in water
Bush's plan for global warming: Do nothing.
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To participate, email your comments to unknownnews at inbox.com.
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E-mails show derogatory banter at Secret Service| |
Excerpt: Secret Service supervisors shared crude sexual jokes and engaged in racially derogatory banter about blacks, and passed around an anecdote about a possible assassination of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, according to internal e-mail disclosed in a federal court filing on Friday by lawyers for black Secret Service agents. |
FBI raids Special Counsel Office, seizes records| |
Excerpt: FBI agents on Tuesday raided the offices of Special Counsel Scott J. Bloch, who oversees protection for federal whistle-blowers. The agents seized computers and shut down e-mail service as part of an obstruction of justice probe, as first reported by NPR News.
FBI agents also searched Bloch's home and a Special Counsel field office in Dallas. A grand jury in Washington issued subpoenas for several OSC employees, including Bloch ...
Bloch shut down probe of Siegelman case last year
Excerpt: The US Office of Special Counsel last year shut down a previously undisclosed investigation into the federal prosecution of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, according to an internal memo made public Wednesday.
Special Counsel Scott Bloch ordered the case closed, according to the Jan. 18 draft memo, made public by the Project on Government Oversight, a watchdog group.
An attorney for Bloch, who himself is under a federal investigation, declined comment.
Comment: There's no reason to have any confidence in high-level Justice Department officials -- they're more corrupt than Bloch. So this is either an operation authorized below the top levels of the Justice Dept (unlikely -- it would be career suicide) or, more likely, it's a coordinated effort, and the FBI is actually seizing evidence of wrongdoing by Bloch and others, so that evidence can be quietly destroyed. Rebecca PERMANENT LINK
FBI search, leaked documents lead to renewed calls for ousting of Bloch
Feds seeking records of 2004 Condoleezza Rice ethics probe |
Racial disparity in drug arrests grows, says human rights group| |
Excerpt: The 67-page report concludes that a black man is 11.8 times more likely than a white man to be sent to prison on drug charges, and a black woman is 4.8 times more likely than a white woman.
In 16 states, African Americans are sent to prison for drug offenses at rates between 10 and 42 times greater than the rate for whites, the report said.
College drug sting snags justice, security majors, scores of others
Comment: Apparently, some white kids got arrested in this drug bust, because if they hadn't been white, it wouldn't have been news. Gerry R. PERMANENT LINK |
"DC Madam"'s building manager: That's not her signature on suicide notes| |
Excerpt: [Joe Strizack, the manager of Deborah Jeane Palfrey's condo building] looked over the suicide notes, but he questioned if the notes were actually written by Palfrey, and if they were, he thinks they may have been written under duress.
"She could sign her signature a hundred times and it would be identical," Strizack said. "That is not her signature."
He remains adamant that Palfrey was murdered. "Monday morning a woman tells you that she’s afraid for her life, she told me several instances where people we following her, and Thursday she’s dead," Strizack said. "What do you think? If someone would put a hit out for her and id someone wanted something done they could do it." |
After drunk driving arrest, Republican Congressman
calls mistress, not wife, to bail him out (hilarity ensues)| |
Excerpt: Representative Vito Fossella of New York ran a red light and wrecked his life. A drunken driving arrest last week led to talk of an extramarital affair, and then finally yesterday, an admission of a child from that affair. ...
Fossella is the only Republican member of Congress from New York City and the paternity revelation could lead to the loss of a seat in Congress at a time when the House GOP faces the possibility of a second grim November of election setbacks. |
US re-establishes Navy fleet in South America| |
Excerpt: In military news, the Pentagon has announced the re-establishment of a US Navy fleet to oversee activity in the Caribbean and Central and South America. The Fourth Fleet has not been used since its disbandment in 1950.
Some critics warn the fleet’s renewal could be seen as a warning to governments seeking greater regional integration to counter US influence, most notably Venezuela. |
Right-wing is indifferent as America helps al Qaeda’s recruiting| |
Excerpt: John McCain appeared on The Daily Show this week, and Jon Stewart raised a point that conservatives generally don’t want to hear.
"Don’t you think, these past few years, in terms of a recruiting tool for bin Laden and al Qaeda, I mean, let’s say al Qaeda is trying to fire up their base," Stewart said. "Isn’t President Bush kind of, and our policies there, their Rev. Wright? Isn’t [Bush] the guy they throw out there and inflame their base and get support? Don’t you think he’s actually been okay for al Qaeda?"
McCain dodged the question, talking about a "transcendent evil" ...
Comment: Cut through the crap and lies, and what remains is obvious: Terrorism and the fear of terrorism have been great for the military-industrial complex that dominates the right-wing. Every time the right-wing warmongers shake rattle and roll their terror terror terror lines and the fear of terrorism gets ratcheted up a little bit more, the military-industrial war machine makes another billion bucks and the right wing politicians get their kickbacks. Rebecca PERMANENT LINK |
Gitmo lawyers sue to find out whether they're being spied on| |
Excerpt: In interviews and a court filing Tuesday, lawyers for detainees at Guantánamo said they believed government agents had monitored their conversations. The assertions are the most specific to date by Guantánamo lawyers that officials may be violating legal principles that have generally kept government agents from eavesdropping on lawyers.
The new filing, by the Center for Constitutional Rights, came in a 2007 lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act in which Guantánamo lawyers are seeking records to determine whether they have been targets of surveillance. |
US cancels plan to put Gitmo chief in charge of US military in Pakistan| |
Excerpt: The Army officer named in March as the military's chief liaison to Pakistan has been pulled from that assignment partly because of controversy in that country over his past command of the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a US military official confirmed yesterday.
Hood's initial selection, meant to boost cooperation on counterterrorism issues, drew quick criticism from Pakistani politicians and news organizations. A US military spokesman said Hood's shift stemmed from unexpected job openings at Central Command in Tampa. |
San Diego investigates "secret" permit for Blackwater mega-compound| |
Excerpt: San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders wants to know whether Blackwater Worldwide misrepresented itself when it sought city permits to set up an indoor military training facility in Otay Mesa.
On Monday, Sanders sent a memo to the city's chief operating officer, Jay Goldstone, asking for an investigation into the company's permits with a report by May 23.
"Questions have been raised as to the means used by the company to acquire the necessary permits from the City," the memo said. "Specifically, allegations have been made that the company potentially used misleading names ... to inappropriately disguise the true identity of the occupant."
Blackwater recently scuttled plans for an 824-acre training center in Potrero in East County after noise tests showed gunfire at the site exceeded county standards. The company's plans there had sparked intense opposition. |
Networks still don’t report on their own role in Pentagon propaganda program| |
Excerpt: But what is most extraordinary about all of this is that huge numbers of Americas who were subjected to this propaganda by their own government still don't know that they were, because the television networks which broadcast it to them refuse to tell them about it, opting instead to suppress the story and stonewall any efforts to find out what happened.
As corrupt as the Pentagon was here, our nation's major media outlets were at least just as bad. Their collective Pravda-like suppression now of the entire story -- behavior so blatantly corrupt that even the likes of Howie Kurtz and The Politico are strongly condemning them -- has become the most significant and revealing aspect of the entire scandal.
Reid promises Senate hearings on Pentagon propaganda program
Comment: Well, maybe the "newscasts" would cover the story then? Helen & Harry PERMANENT LINK |
Librarian is now allowed to speak about FBI's gag order, harassment, and phony subpoena| |
Excerpt: [San Francisco librarian Brewster Kahle] was allowed to speak publicly Wednesday under a rare settlement in which the FBI agreed to withdraw its letter and lift the gag order. That should show other librarians, and members of the public who receive any of the nearly 50,000 national security letters the government issues each year, that "you can push back on these," Kahle said. |
Evangelicals call for movement to shun politics| |
Excerpt: Darrell Bock is one of more than 70 evangelical leaders who signed the Evangelical Manifesto, an attempt to depoliticize their movement and restore its religious roots. The statement, released this week at the National Press Club, rebukes anyone who uses the movement for political gain. ...
But Robert Parham, director of the Nashville Baptist Center for Ethics, said the manifesto was too little, too late. Many of the signers were supporters of the Religious Right, he said, and have now changed their tune as conservative Republican political power has waned.
"It's kind of hard to see how they are now going to advance a kinder, gentler evangelicalism based on their past behavior," he said. "Had they begun by saying that they were wrong on the war in Iraq, wrong on global warming, wrong on torture, then they might have a little more credibility."
Comment: Charlatans blow with the wind, but mostly, charlatans just blow. Angry Annie PERMANENT LINK |
Spanish-language US newscasts didn't get the memo -- they're still covering news| |
Excerpt: At 11 p.m. each night here, the best newscasts in the market appear on two Spanish-language channels, Univision's flagship KMEX and Telemundo affiliate KVEA. ...
In Spanish, viewers got fewer soft features and more deeply reported, longer pieces. ...
"There's no comparison in the coverage," says Josh Kun, a communications professor at the University of Southern California who closely follows Spanish TV. "For people here, there are two places to look for better news: BBC News and Spanish-language news."
Why the difference? As English-language news organizations -- desperate to stop the declines of their audiences and ad revenues -- cut back on news-gathering, they devote their time and resources to entertainment, celebrities, pets and crime (or, best of all, stories that combine all four). But Spanish-language TV producers, who serve a clearly defined, growing audience, have space to tackle weightier topics. |
Nevada First Lady says she doesn't know why Governor (R, of course) is divorcing her| |
Excerpt: The matter comes on the heels of a rocky 17 months in office during which the governor has been the subject of a still-unresolved FBI public corruption investigation and at a time when his administration is struggling to cope with a $914 million tax revenue shortfall. |
Only six years later, Newsweek almost notices that hyping terror is a racket| |
Excerpt: Radicals and crazies of many different stripes have targeted the city repeatedly over the last century, from alleged Reds to Black Blocs, from Puerto Rican nationalists and a "mad bomber" to Al Qaeda's aspiring martyrs. But the police have limited resources, so they've learned the art of terrorist triage, focusing on what's real and wasting little time and money on what's merely imagined. |
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This week's
commentary
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Big surprise: Republicans are spreading un-true smears
by Max, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Every single one of these hundreds of emails, ostensibly sent by dozens of different people, all come to my Republican-only email address -- which means they're either being sent by Republican Party workers, or (pretend this is a meaningful difference) Republican Party membership roles are sold, leased, or loaned to people who send these email lies. |
Can you empathize, do you care?
by Underground Panther in the Sky, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Will you stand up for others, will you act upon the desire to protect the living beings in this world from those who abuse them?
Or not? |
Why Hillary won't quit
by William M., Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Hillary will remain in the race "until a nominee is selected." Can you guess how the math could work for her?
Right. One man, one book depository, one magic bullet. Obama's plane could crash. He could suffer an embolism, fall down and hit his head, commit suicide and leave two goodbye notes like Deborah Jeane Palfrey... He could O.D. on heroin, he could be taken by aliens, he could be outed for something... maybe even something true-ish. Obama might eat a bad burrito, be bitten by a rabid dog, drown in his bathtub, or be hit by lightning! That's how Hillary wins. She hangs in JUST IN CASE. Anything could happen, and Hillary won't leave till the Fat Lady sings, because it ain't over 'till its over! |
Relentless propaganda on Iran
by Marie K., Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Clearly it is easy for Gen. Petraeus, Sec. Rice, Defense Sec. Gates, and all of those unnamed sources to spew forth their accusations/propaganda against Iran etc. while providing no proof or in the case of the "Syrian reactor" altered/fake pictures (no cooling tower). On the other hand, those of us who care about the truth have to take time to find sources that debunk the propaganda -- AND, I don’t mean sources that have to be taken with a grain of salt or LOTS of them, either. So here is what I found. |
None of this seems real
by Max, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Two years into the so-called "Presidential campaign", for the very first time, a matter of actual political policy is being publicly discussed.
But even this one policy that's allowed to be discussed is inane beyond belief -- whether to suspend a nearly-nothing gas tax to encourage more driving this summer ... when of course, (a) the proposal is idiotic and accomplishes nothing and (b) the election is scheduled long after summer is over, making the whole discussion even mooter than moot. |
How business culture dragged America down with it
by Sam Smith, Progressive Review| |
Excerpt: We now live in the second robber baron era. ...
Once, I think, we knew our greedy were greedy but they were obligated to justify their greed by reference to some of the other values in which all of us could participate. Thus, maybe 'old Joe' was a crook but he was also a 'pillar of the business community' or 'a member of the Lodge' or a 'good husband' and these things mattered. Now the pretense of justification is gone and greed is its own justification.
The result is a stunning lack of restraint. We find ourselves without heroism, without debate over right and wrong, with little but an endless narcissistic struggle by the powerful to get more money, more power, and more press than the next person. In the chase, anything goes and the only standard is whether you win, lose, or get caught. |
The prosecution of George W. Bush
for murder
by Vincent Bugliosi, Common Dreams| |
Excerpt: There is direct evidence that President George W. Bush did not honorably lead this nation, but deliberately misled it into a war he wanted. Bush and his administration knowingly lied to Congress and to the American public -- lies that have cost the lives of more than 4,000 young American soldiers and close to $1 trillion.
Comment: There's nothing in this short article that isn't fairly well known, at least among people who don't watch network newscasts, but it's good to see it all in one place -- and the author, Vincent Bugliosi, is the lawyer who sent Charles Manson to prison. Helen & Harry PERMANENT LINK |
Previous commentary
Chicken Little saves the world from the Dogs of War
by Herb Ruhs, MD, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Meanwhile, ever-greater chunks of sky were falling everywhere, burying cities and towns, and causing great consternation. The Dogs of War, Commerce, Industry and Finance continued to claim that the Terrorist Goats were behind the destruction and that the Illegal Sheep crossing the border were also a big part of the problem. |
Bush regime rewards incompetent and dysfunctional corporations
by Mr. Chuckles, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Imagine a country with countless Paris Hiltons -- millionaires never tested by reality, never forced to dig deep and excel, never offered any incentive to improve.
Which is pretty much what we have today: an upper class of wealthy bunglers who have too much time on their hands and want to run for office. Like George W. Bush, our inbred, water-brained, devo chuckle-monkey president. How did we get him? It is as if his father screwed a chimpanzee when the circus came to town! If not for the wealth and power of the Bush-Walker clan, Curious George W. would probably have ended up as an alcoholic, cokehead con-artist used-car salesman with a sub-prime mortgage in foreclosure. |
Blast from the past: Whip Inflation Now (WIN)
by Juan P., Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Or in elementary terms, chum, the price of everything else must now rise if real estate and stock prices are not allowed to fall. Otherwise, real estate would not be economically viable. |
The audacity (and consequences) of truth
by Chris M., Unknown News| |
Excerpt: It took being bombed to rubble for Japan and Germany to finally get over most of their race-based nationalism which the people rallied around for their identity. And it may take the same thing for this country to finally be brought into reality and out of its delusional little bubble of denial. 9/11 was just a shot across the bow. |
Endless war for endless profit
by Herb Ruhs, MD, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Victory, in this setting, is the last thing desired, as it would mean an end to the flow of profit. Defeat and retreat, likewise, are unthinkable for the same reason. The business plan is endless war for endless profit. |
Next bubble: Food (and other necessary commodities)
by Mahdi Abdul Finkelstein, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Because governments no longer back their currencies with gold, increases in money supplies have resulted over the past several decades, which greatly exceed the growth in planetary production. Therefore, in the years following the implosion of the internet stock bubble and the real estate bubble, both of which had global reach, another bubble was "needed" by the "investors" managing the excess trillions of dollars. |
Why democracy does not matter right now
by Herb Ruhs, MD, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Almost anything that substitutes local sources of goods and services for corporate ones extracts another drop of blood from the beast. It doesn't seem like very much at the time, but every effort to feed, clothe, house and care for ourselves that does not send money toward the center of the exploitive economy are blows that can, when taken cumulatively, weaken the beast to the point of harmlessness. |
Freedom is for brave people, not for farm animals
by Mr. Chuckles, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Let's face it, the long and slow decline of America is well deserved. We are ignorant, lazy, fearful sheep who inherited a rich paradise and watched placidly as it was stolen and obliterated. Freedom is for brave people, not for farm animals. |
Making it harder for the speculators
by Marie K., Unknown News| |
Excerpt: The more prices rise, and big profits are made, the more others invest, hoping for big returns. Look at the financial web sites: everyone and their mother is piling into commodities. ... The trouble is that if you are one of the 2.8 billion people, almost half the world’s population, who live on less than $2 a day, you may pay for these profits with your life. |
Problems & solutions with Yanquis & corporations
by Marie K., Unknown News| |
Excerpt: The European Union has put pressure on and been negotiating with 77 countries in Africa, the Caribbean, and Pacific since 2002 to sign on to "Economic Partnership Agreements" (EPAs) -- sanctions were threatened if they didn’t sign. In general, this will result in local production in these countries being further exposed to big international corporations. |
Obama's "get out the vote" emails delayed
by Enduring in the East, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Who is Comcast endorsing? Is some other ISP interfering? Is there a mole in the Obama camp? Have aliens messed with our satellite transmissions? |
Which numbers deserve our attention?
by Herb Ruhs, MD, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Compassionate people recognize that our suffering here at home is dwarfed by the unbelievable suffering that these wars have inflicted on the people of the Middle East. Their suffering, as well as our own, will echo down through generation after generation. |
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