Saintperle

7/24/05

Certainly I oversimplify ...

... and it may be a total coincidence, but can anyone deny that the capture of Osama ben Ladn would immediately lead to a wave of overwhelming disinterest in the American public to continue shovelling money in the direction of George W Bush's daddy's friends?

For that matter, it might even lead to noticing that the game-players of this administration --- the ones with their hands up the ass of the sock-puppet we call Dubya -- are in their own special way, just another version of ben Ladn -- vicious, self-serving, fanatical monsters who believe anything they do is justified -- people who compare badly with David Berkowitz ("Son of Sam Killer") insofar as social responsibility is concerned.

Of course, now that Bush & Company has run the world's biggest terrorist recruiting center in Baghdad for several years, it might also lead to a shitstorm of retributive violence. And that of course would be a powerful force to maintain the flushing of billions into the open-mouth sewers of Cheney's hench-corporation, kind of like the Dr. Benway exchange in Naked Lunch --

"How long will this (epidemic) last?"

"Just as long as we can keep it going."

Cui bono?

In real terms, who benefits from this war going on longer and longer and longer and forever?

I still find it curious that the number one named terrorist in the world is the flaky sociopathic son of a long-time close pal of the Bush family.

And the number one unnamed (as such) terrorist in the world, is the flakey sociopathic son of the Bush family itself.

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It's enough to give one faith in the future of the United States, to know this is being said right out in the open halls of congress...

David Corn has posted this and I'm linking to him but also reprinting it here because it's important and comes from someone whose life has been dedicated to actually transferring straight ( unspun) information ....

A CIA Vet's Message for the Save-Rove Spinners: "A True Patriot Would Shut Up"

I've wasted too many hours of my life going on talking head shoutfests with conservatives who pooh-pooh the Plame/CIA leak matter (now known as the Rove scandal), who claim there was little damage done, who say that Valerie Wilson was only a desk jockey and dismiss her undercover status as "light" or "flimsy," who argue that no crime was broken and no wrongdoing occurred, and who are lightning quick to depict the controversy as nothing but a game of politics. These folks are spinning to save Rove and to protect the White House, and they distort, disinform, and dissemble for the team.

Today, the Senate Democratic Policy Council and the Democratic side of the House Government Reform Committee held an unofficial hearing in the Senate Dirksen Office Building, in which former intelligence professionals discussed the Plame/CIA leak, especially its impact on the intelligence community, current officers, and Valerie Wilson. (The Democrats had no choice but to hold such a session because the Republicans in the House and Senate refuse to examine or investigate the leak.) The testimony was not expected to contain many surprises. And the media presence at the hearing was not heavy. But as I watched the proceedings on C-SPAN 3 and saw James Marcinkowski, a former CIA case office and a former prosecutor, testify, I realized his statement was perhaps the most powerful rebuttal of and rebuke to the rightwingers who have been pushing disinformation about the Valerie Wilson case. I wish they all could have been tied to a chair and forced to listen to him. (Ken Mehlman, Tucker Eskew, Clifford May, William Safire--this means you.) Referring to those who have derided Valerie Wilson and belittled the seriousness of this leak, an angry Marcinkowski said, "Before you shine up your American flag lapel pin and affix your patriotism to your sleeve, think about what the impact your actions will have on the security of the American people....Those who take pride in their political ability to divert the issue from the fundamental truth ought to be prepared to take their share of the responsibility for the continuing damage done to our national security." For the spinners engaged in "partisan obfuscation," he has this message: "a true patriot would shut up." As a public service, I am posting below the bulk of his testimony.

Testimony of James Marcinkowski
July 22, 2005

What is important now is not who wins or loses the political battle or who may or may not be indicted; rather, it is a question of how we will go about protecting the citizens of this country in a very dangerous world. The undisputed fact is that we have irreparably damaged our capability to collect human intelligence and thereby significantly diminished our capability to protect the American people.

Understandable to all Americans is a simple, incontrovertible, but damning truth: the United States government exposed the identity of a clandestine officer working for the CIA. This is not just another partisan "dust-up" between political parties. This unprecedented act will have far-reaching consequences for covert operations around the world. Equally disastrous is that from the time of that first damning act, we have continued on a course of self-inflicted wounds by government officials who have refused to take any responsibility, have played hide-and-seek with the truth and engaged in semantic parlor games for more than two years, all at the expense of the safety of the American people. No government official has that right.

For an understanding of what is at stake it is important to understand some fundamental principles. No country or hostile group, from al Qaeda to any drug rings operating in our cities, likes to be infiltrated or spied upon. The CIA, much like any police department in any city, has undercover officers--spies, that use "cover."

To operate under "cover" means you use some ruse to cloak both your identity and your intentions. The degree of cover needed to carry out any operation varies depending on the target of the investigation. A police officer performing "street buys" uses a "light" cover, meaning he or she could pose as something as simple as a drug user, operate only at night and during the day and, believe it or not, have a desk job in the police station. On the other hand, if an attempt were made to infiltrate a crime syndicate, visiting the local police station or drinking with fellow FBI agents after work may be out of the question. In any scenario, your cover, no matter what the degree, provides personal protection and safety. But it does not end there. Cover is also used to protect collection methodology as well as any innocent persons a CIA officer may have regular contact with, such as overseas acquaintances, friends, and even other U.S. government officials.

While cover provides a degree of safety for the case officer, it also provides security for that officer's informants or agents. In most human intelligence operations, the confidentiality of the cover used by a CIA officer and the personal security of the agent or asset is mutually dependent. A case officer cannot be identified as working for the CIA, just as the informant/agent cannot be identified as working for the CIA through the case officer. If an informant or agent is exposed as working for the CIA, there is a good chance that the CIA officer has been identified as well. Similarly, if the CIA officer is exposed, his or her agents or informants are exposed. In all cases, the cover of a case officer ensures not only his or her own personal safety but that of the agents or assets as well.

The exposure of Valerie Plame's cover by the White House is the same as the local chief of police announcing to the media the identity of its undercover drug officers. In both cases, the ability of the officer to operate is destroyed, but there is also an added dimension. An informant in a major sophisticated crime network, or a CIA asset working in a foreign government, if exposed, has a rather good chance of losing more than just their ability to operate.

Any undercover officer, whether in the police department or the CIA, will tell you that the major concern of their informant or agent is their personal safety and that of their family. Cover is safety. If you cannot guarantee that safety in some form or other, the person will not work for you and the source of important information will be lost.

So how is the Valerie Plame incident perceived by any current or potential agent of the CIA? I will guarantee you that if the local police chief identified the names of the department's undercover officers, any half-way sophisticated undercover operation would come to a halt and if he survived that accidental discharge of a weapon in police headquarters, would be asked to retire.

And so the real issues before this Congress and this country today is not partisan politics, not even the loss of secrets. The secrets of Valerie Plame's cover are long gone. What has suffered perhaps irreversible damage is the credibility of our case officers when they try to convince our overseas contact that their safety is of primary importance to us. How are our case officers supposed to build and maintain that confidence when their own government cannot even guarantee the personal protection of the home team? While the loss of secrets in the world of espionage may be damaging, the stealing of the credibility of our CIA officers is unforgivable....

And so we are left with only one fundamental truth, the U.S. government exposed the identity of a covert operative. I am not convinced that the toothpaste can be put back into the tube. Great damage has been done and that damage has been increasing every single day for more than two years. The problem of the refusal to accept responsibility by senior government officials is ongoing and causing greater damage to our national security and our ability to collect human intelligence. But the problem lies not only with government officials but also with the media, commentators and other apologists who have no clue as to the workings of the intelligence community. Think about what we are doing from the perspective of our overseas human intelligence assets or potential assets.

I believe Bob Novak when he credited senior administration officials for the initial leak, or the simple, but not insignificant confirmation of that secret information, as I believe a CIA officer in some far away country will lose an opportunity to recruit an asset that may be of invaluable service to our covert war on terror because "promises of protection" will no longer carry the level of trust they once had.

Each time the leader of a political party opens his mouth in public to deflect responsibility, the word overseas is loud and clear--politics in this country does in fact trump national security.

Each time a distinguished ambassador is ruthlessly attacked for the information he provided, a foreign asset will contemplate why he should risk his life when his information will not be taken seriously.

Each time there is a perceived political "success" in deflecting responsibility by debating or re-debating some minutia, such actions are equally effective in undermining the ability of this country to protect itself against its enemies, because the two are indeed related. Each time the political machine made up of prime-time patriots and partisan ninnies display their ignorance by deriding Valerie Plame as a mere "paper-pusher," or belittling the varying degrees of cover used to protect our officers, or continuing to play partisan politics with our national security, it is a disservice to this country. By ridiculing, for example, the "degree" of cover or the use of post office boxes, you lessen the level of confidence that foreign nationals place in our covert capabilities.

Those who would advocate the "I'm ok, you're ok" politics of non-responsibility, should probably think about the impact of those actions on our foreign agents. Non-responsibility means we don't care. Not caring means a loss of security. A loss of security means a loss of an agent. The loss of an agent means the loss of information. The loss of information means an increase in the risk to the people of the United States.

There is a very serious message here. Before you shine up your American flag lapel pin and affix your patriotism to your sleeve, think about what the impact your actions will have on the security of the American people. Think about whether your partisan obfuscation is creating confidence in the United States in general and the CIA in particular. If not, a true patriot would shut up.

Those who take pride in their political ability to divert the issue from the fundamental truth ought to be prepared to take their share of the responsibility for the continuing damage done to our national security.

When this unprecedented act first occurred, the president could have immediately demanded the resignation of all persons even tangentially involved. Or, at a minimum, he could have suspended the security clearances of these persons and placed them on administrative leave. Such methods are routine with police forces throughout the country. That would have at least sent the right message around the globe, that we take the security of those risking their lives on behalf of the United States seriously. Instead, we have flooded the foreign airwaves with two years of inaction, political rhetoric, ignorance, and partisan bickering. That's the wrong message. In doing so we have not lessened, but increased the threat to the security and safety of the people of the United States.


--- funny, I remember when the lynch mob first climbed up the hill to go after Bill Clinton for his late night PRIVATE error in judgment, the big deal among the knife-sharpening GOP mouthpieces was "what if he passed classified information to Ms Lewinsky?"

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7/22/05

Not enough people read this last summer ... here's another chance -- it's important

From the Journal of the Middle East Policy Council, Volume XI, Summer 2004, Number 2

Drinking the Kool-Aid

W. Patrick Lang

Throughout my long service life in the Department of Defense, first as an army officer and then as a member of the Defense Intelligence Senior Executive Service, there was a phrase in common usage: "I will fall on my sword over that." It meant that the speaker had reached a point of internal commitment with regard to something that his superiors wanted him to do and that he intended to refuse even though this would be career suicide. The speaker preferred career death to the loss of personal honor.

This phrase is no longer widely in use. What has taken its place is far more sinister in its meaning and implications. "I drank the Kool-Aid" is what is now said. Those old enough to remember the Jonestown tragedy know this phrase all too well. Jim Jones ... built a village (in Guyana), isolated from the world ... controlled all news, regulated all discourse and expression of opinion, and shaped behavior to his taste. After a time, his paranoia grew unmanageable ...

He called together his followers in the town square ... then invited all present to drink from vats of Kool-Aid* containing lethal doses of poison. Nearly all did so, without physical coercion. Parents gave their children the poison and then drank it themselves. Finally Jones drank. Many hundreds died with him.

What does drinking the Kool-Aid mean today? It signifies that the person in question has given up personal integrity and has succumbed to the prevailing group-think that typifies policymaking today. This person has become "part of the problem, not part of the solution."

You need to read the rest of this article here.

(My thanks to Blondesense for directing us to this article and informing us that The author, W. Patrick Lang, was on the panel this week at the hearing regarding Public Disclosure of Covert Agents. If you don't know their blog, check it out.)


*OK -- it was Flav-r-Ade, not Kool-Aid (sic), but hey, even marketing people deserve a break from time to time. And it was most likely Jones was a CIA asset. And to be fair, the story went, when they did the autopsy, his brain was almost gone, some kind of black fungal mold having eaten a great deal of it. But none of that invalidates this article.

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Rice Seeks to Rescue Shaky Mideast Truce

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By ANNE GEARAN AP Diplomatic Writer

July 22,2005 | JERUSALEM -- In a hastily arranged visit, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is seeking to rescue a shaky Mideast truce amid an escalation of violence before Israel's mid-August withdrawal from the Gaza Strip..."

Well, a whole lot of government types and a lot of Jewish boys do love those whips and leather. So you'd think that combination of Jewish government types would be right there, licking her boots and grovelling.

But when Jewish guys fantasize about "a shiksa with a whip," it's usually someone more like -- say -- Rebecca DeMornay, the most perfect plus blanc since Jean Harlow.

And I've never heard that the Palestinians -- the other Semites in the mix are all into that sort of business. But then I don't know much about Palestinians except that they tend to be educated and abused.

I know there's an old Saudi saying "For children, a woman, for enjoyment, a young boy, but for ecstasy -- a melon." You'd have to ask George W Bush about that, he spent a lot of time with Prince Bandar.

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Bush and His Mother Pitch His Agenda

By TOM RAUM Associated Press Writer

July 22,2005 | ATLANTA -- His mother at his side, President Bush on Friday sought to rekindle interest in his languishing Social Security restructuring plan, marketing it as part of a "Senior Security" package.

Calling his mother, Barbara Bush, "my favorite senior citizen," Bush said that the new prescription drug program under Medicare -- which takes effect in January -- would benefit nearly every one who signed up.


Jeez -- I joked about this and now it's right out there ...

"They're not buying my Sellout Social Securty Scam.... they're picking on me and they're saying bad things and calling me names .... MOMMY!!"

Well, Richard Nixon said it himself, that the person who scared him the most in all his years in Washington was Barbara Bush.

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7/21/05

Rove's Most Telling Words


Tom Hamburger and Peter Wallsten of the Los Angeles Times reported on July 18 that top White House aides were in a state of mania around this time two years ago, "intensely focused on discrediting" Joseph Wilson after he wrote his now-famous New York Times op-ed piece.

Hamburger's and Wallsten's sources tell them that Karl Rove's animus toward Wilson was so intense that curiosity arose within the White House about it. When asked about this, Rove reportedly said, "He's a Democrat...."

Wilson spent two decades in his country's service -- in diplomatic postings in Africa, chiefly, but also at the National Security Council, and in Baghdad leading up to and during the Gulf War of 1991. Former Secretary of State James Baker once thanked him for his "outstanding service to the nation," and the current president's father was equally effusive in a late-1990 telegram to Wilson in Baghdad.

But to Rove, that service and those testimonials meant nothing. Rove had someone run Wilson's Federal Election Commission sheet and noticed, according to the Los Angeles Times story cited above, that Wilson's campaign donations "leaned toward Democrats." That was true. And that was enough: Nail him. Even though -- get this -- Wilson had donated $1,000 to the Bush campaign in 1999!


If Karl Rove were a dog, Animal Control would have him put down.

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Bush follows the grand American tradition -- protect Drug Trafficking

Somehow we always seem to end up on the side of drug traffic -- is it just a coincidence?

OK --

Chiang Kai Shek --OPIUM -- China lobby, Dick Nixon and Anna Chenault, et al -- controlled world distribution of opium from the Golden Triangle until his men -- the KMT -- figured out -- Hey Chiang -- you're there and we're here and we have guns and you got diddly."

The Diem Family -- OPIUM -- pack yer seabags men, we're goin' to war -- in Veetnam through which the opium (from Laos/Cambodia -- Golden Triangle) gets packed and shipped. Air America did a lot of it. Madame Nhu was eyewitnessed at one loading with a machine gun. LBJ

Richard Nixon -- OPIUM -- oh lord, he was up to his eyeballs with Mob money, you know, the guys what got throwed out of Cuba by Fidel Castro? And did he ever promise, in 1968, privately, to business conerns legal and illegal, that he would keep the war going for at least 5 years so everyone could recoup their investment. One reason it was sooo important to win re-election.

Reagan/Bush1 -- Something new for a change -- COCAINE -- the Contras (You may call them mass murderers -- I call them Freedom Fighters) -- biggest coke deal in history -- 500 TONS of coke came into LA alone during their regime. A lot of Republicans made a LOT of money. But a lot of it came in through Mena, Arkansas, and the governor of that state couldn't help but find out about it, so he was always regarded, once he won, as the Grinch that Stole Christmas.

Clinton -- a return to good old OPIUM -- there was a whole lot of nasty going on in Bosnia, Croatia, etc for a long time, so why did Bill decide to send in the troops to cover Kosovo? Did it have anything to do with Kosovo being the transport point for our pals in Turkey to ship their opium?

BUSH2 -- OPIUM -- since we chased out the Taliban and installed out client warlords, the opium trade has returned, in fact, Afghanistan is once again the world's number one supplier of the stuff. Taliban is re-establishing itself, but not in the areas we want clear. And as long as the Bush family pal's kid, Osama, remains loose, we have a great excuse for keeping troops, moving materiel, andjust all those things that make shipping the big O so easy.

SO you see, all you slanderous lefties out there -- it's not JUST for oil we're doing this. Shame on you. This is a tradition that goes all the way back to the Cutty Sark -- fastest packet on the waves, greatest opium smuggling ship in history ..

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Lawmakers Blast Pentagon Over Iraq Report

Thursday July 21, 2005 5:31 PM

By ROBERT BURNS

AP Military Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Congessional critics of Bush administration Iraq policy lashed out at the Pentagon Thursday for keeping classified parts of a report that gave a detailed assessment of the readiness of Iraqi fighting forces...

On Wednesday, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told reporters that a full report was to be provided to Congress by Thursday or Friday and he said that it would not include an estimate of how many U.S. troops are likely to be required in Iraq next year, even though Congress is pressing for that estimate.

``The information we're getting is in large measure from the Iraqi security forces,'' he said. ``It's their information. It's not for us to tell the other side, the enemy, the terrorists, that this Iraqi unit has this capability and that Iraqi unit has this capability.'' Rumsfeld said it would be ``mindless'' to publish information about the combat readiness of Iraqi security forces that would reveal their strengths and weaknesses.


Does that signifying sonofabitch think the insurgents DON'T know exactly how strong each unit is? Are they just getting lucky, hitting foreign attaches and ambassadors?

This IS Vietnam all over again -- the guys blowing people u pand blowing them away know exactly what's going on ... our troops who come under fire every day -- they know what's going on ... the Iraqi citizens who see 150 - 200 of their fellow citizens killed EVERY WEKK -- THEY know what's going on -- the only people who DON'T get to know what's going on are the American Public, because then even Scott McClellan would have to answer questions.

So it is really no more than descriptive to call Donald "Redrum" Rumsfeld a lying, murdering, sonofabitch.

And to salute him with that particular finger of the hand that symbolizes ONE NATION, straight up -- no ice.

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7/20/05


...learning experiences -- leave no child behind.

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And there's always prayer.

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The man is NOT laughing at you. He's laughing at IT.

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Hey -- it's not ALL ugly mean-spirited people out there. There's Boccioni's pictures.

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Thinking of Bork and Nixon -- why is it Republicans always sneer at Democrats who suggest there has been a meeting of minds and an agreement to take simultaneous covert action ... like Talking Points or Swift Boat Veterans ... ha ha, conspiracy? Oh you paranoids...


But when one of THEIR guys loses it, it's always how the Liberals conspired against them, implied unfairly.

Listen -- Nixon was a crook and a stupid one -- George V Higgins, author and former Boston DA, made it clear in The Friends of Richard Nixon that the "dumbest Southie leg-breaker knows better than to go back to cover things up. He knows if you walked away from it, you stay away from it -- you're halfway home."They were doing BURGLARIES for Chrissakes!

This is a lesson too late for the learning for Karl Rove et al.

And Robert Bork, aside from being such an ambitious little climber and kiss-ass he was willing to fire the people investigating Richard Nixon even after others resigned rather than do such a thing, he was just plain fucking nuts.

When he talked about why people should be prohibited from viewing erotic films, even in theaters where no posters were outside to offend others, because "they still (those people) would carry the poison in their minds back to society," well, we knew here was a judge who would find ways to convict people of metaphysical crimes.

If Monkey Boy could look into former KGB-head Valeri Putin's eyes and say he knew this was a Good Man, there's no reason any of us couldn't look into Robert Bork's eyes and see he was just looney toons.

But for Republicans, it CAN NEVER BE that their guy was just not right.
No -- it's always conspiracy time when their side gets a hit.

Which leads me to think these big tough-talking MEN are just a bunch of whiny spoiled brat babies who throw tantrums if they don't get their way. And all they do is take OUR money to go fight the things that terrify THEM ... or did John Ashcroft spending $800+ of taxpayers' money to cover up a semi-nude classical statue's nipple not seem a bit off the mark?l

Fuck 'em all.

They're all swine except you and me.

And Barbara Lee.

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Bork.

Bork. Borking. Borkie. Borkier. Borkiest.


Borkaroni. Borkamonie. Borkerella.


Borkeritis. Borkalosis.


Borkism. Acute Borkism. Congenital Borkism. Terminal Borkism.


Borkeriffic. Non-specific Bork.


Borkety-borkety-borkety-shoop.


Borklings.


Bork.

Bork.

Bork.



Bork.



Sidonia von Bork

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Barbara Boxer -- at least she'll put up a fight...

Today, part of what she said about Rove, Plame, and Ambassador Wilson:

But Karl Rove and maybe others in this Administration leaked the identity of a CIA agent.

And to what end? To discredit her husband. And here is the real irony– her husband was right in the advice he gave to the Administration. He said Iraq did not buy uranium from Niger.

Instead of being thanked for his work, Karl Rove set out to destroy his wife’s career.

Is this the way we treat women who risk their lives for their country?



Well, it wasn't as if no one told him:

Voltaire said it more than a century ago:

"It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong."

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Andres Serrano's Urinary Jesus

OK -- back before the ranting, runamok, rabid, religious right wing found yet another to-do to get all upset about, Andres Serrano presented a work consisting of a clear container filled with urine and cow's blood, suspended in which was a crucifix.

"Piss Christ" has become a battle cry, not unlike "Deus Lo Volt!" was for the happy bands of murderers who went on the Crusades.

But Serrano, before all the flap began, made it clear he was representing the commercialization of Christianity -- Easter and Christmas to be specific.

That in his view, he perceived that AMERICA was DROWNING JESUS in a pool of PISS and BLOOD.

And so, the Pharisees decided that Serrano was the bad guy, because he used NEA money to insult Jesus. (Well, they weren't going to admit he was looking at THEM when he did it, were they?)

Too bad, the reaction, and what it did to his career -- sort of killed it, made it impossible to get grants, difficult very difficult to get his work displayed because people denounced the work when they heard his name, without ever seeing it.

So John Wilmot, Second Earl of Rochester had it right in the 17th century when he said:

"Any man who would call things by their rightful name will surely be hanged."

Yet another martyr to mindless mania (not Wilmot -- a vile and despicable person -- Mr Serrano).

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Yes - -the Reagan Revolution is a complete success: NO ONE trusts the government

Of course, in the final analysis, even a smirking ignoramus of a chimp in the oval office wasn't enough.

It took the fulsome presence of Karl Rove -- that noxious, toxic pile of human smegma -- before even the mainstream people of middle America threw up their hands in despair and disgust and came to recognize this government as nothing more than a machine for theft and punishment, run over and over again by people whose only motivating factors are greed and a sense of inferiority compensated for by inflicting pain on anyone who does not agree with them.

Charles Schultz was canonized as people came to realize what he was telling us with Charlie Brown and the Football.

The Great Prophetic Strip (as it came to be called), the strip that prophesied the coming of the Bush, was not a football one, but a strip generally unrecognized in which Violet and Lucy and the rest of the kids are taunting Charlie Brown and he turns on them and says:

"Just you wait until I'm President and THEN you'll be sorry."

To which they reply in unison:

"You bet we will."

And they were and we are and now, the dismantling of the credibility of government as fronted by smiling morons is complete.

We'll tell our grandchildren, someday, about how there used to be government services, how the government used to do things to protect the people. And they will look up at as and say, "What's a government, gramps?"

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7/19/05


Come on -- would you even let this guy stay alone in the house with your kids while you zipped down to the 7-11 to pick up some ice? Let alone carve out their future?
Look at that face -- it tells you all you need to know about the man --a LITTLE man, a mean, pissed off, angry, petty nasty motherfucker -- and no, that's not Osama he's looking at that way -- That's the Democrats in congress who were elected to their offices by people who didn't think Bush's agenda was necessarily written by God, people who might think he's somewhat less-than-honest about a few things. (Ooh, they say he HATES that, anyone making note of how many times he changes his story.) Mean, petty, nasty little rich-kid spoiled brat prick. (What's that? You say I'm not really objective about Monkey Boy? You think? Well, maybe not, ok -- no -- I admit it. And he speaks so very highly of me.)

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Gimme a "Duhhhh."

"Study cites seeds of terror in Iraq War radicalized most, probes find"

By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff | July 17, 2005

WASHINGTON -- New investigations by the Saudi Arabian government and an Israeli think tank -- both of which painstakingly analyzed the backgrounds and motivations of hundreds of foreigners entering Iraq to fight the United States -- have found that the vast majority of these foreign fighters are not former terrorists and became radicalized by the war itself."

...''To say we must fight them in Baghdad so we don't have to fight them in Boston implies there is a finite number of people, and if you pen them up in Iraq you can kill them all," said Bergen. ''The truth is we increased the pool by what we did in Iraq."

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Blair: London Blasts, Iraq War Not Linked

And here we all thought Tony Blair was the smart one --

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By ED JOHNSON Associated Press Writer

July 19,2005 | LONDON -- Prime Minister Tony Blair warned Tuesday against making a connection between the London bombings and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, saying that would be adopting the 'perverted' logic of terrorists.

A third of the people sampled in a British opinion poll published Tuesday thought Blair bore 'a lot of responsibility' for the attacks, because he joined the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq."



He went on to say that the terrorists who perped 9-11 had a different excuse, so there ... nyahh, nyahhh....

And...?

He seems to equate recognizing a monstrous act as being a reaction to the Iraq/Afghanistan business with justifying it...

Hey Tony -- no justification for murder.

Period.

Not now.

Not ever.

But that doesn't mean this couldn't possibly have anything to do with your decision to send your lads out to ride into the Valley of Death with Monkey Boy, because it may well.

Perhaps they'll name a sweater after you, too.



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THIS is who we are ...

-- at least, who we like to think of ourselves as being -- who we want to be and who we can try to be -- people who do NOT give up our humanity, turn into sociopathic hate machines (even when circumstances might excuse it). This is why those of us who love our country react harshly AGAINST reports that we torture, because that's not who we are.

Those who defend a policy of torture (Redrum Rumsfeld, et al) or who think we're at the point of being Nazi's (Dick Durbin) need to resign their posts, go into retreat, and reconsider the fact that this is the only country in the world founded on an idea -- not just because our tribe had been living there (in fact we took it away from the tribes living there and pretty much killed them all) but on an idea that inspires and an ideal to which we may aspire.

This man -- Army Pfc. Stephen Tschiderer, of Mendon, New York -- deserves a salute from every person in uniform, regardless of rank, same as if he wore the blue ribbon with white stars that denotes a recipient of the Medal of Honor.

Thank you private, for reminding us who we want to be:


... Army Pfc. Stephen Tschiderer, of Mendon, New York ... Baghdad June 2 l... routine patrol in Baghdad, Tschiderer, a medic, was shot in the chest by an enemy sniper, hiding in a van just 75 yards away. The incident was videotaped by the insurgents.

Tschiderer, was knocked to the ground from the impact, but he wasn’t killed, thanks to the protective body armor he was wearing. “I knew I was hit,” said Tschiderer, “but was uncertain of the damage or location of the hit. The only thing going through my mind was to take cover and locate the sniper’s position.'

After a few seconds, Tschiderer jumped to his feet, shot back, then took cover and located the sniper.

After being shot and calling for help, other soldiers from Tschiderer’s unit joined him and together they tracked down the wounded sniper by following the blood trail he left as he and another attacker fled the scene.

The sniper was handcuffed and given medical aid by the very man he had tried to kill, Tschiderer.

“Treating the man who shot me didn't really sink in until afterwards. At the time, I just did my job and didn't really think about it too much...'

Tschiderer is with E Troop, 101st “Saber” Cavalry Division, attached to 3rd Battalion, 156th Infantry Regiment, 256th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division."



We can only hope this is really the way it happened -- and I believe it, because it involves too much humanity to be a propaganda construct of this soulless administration.

Once again, thank you, Private Tschiderer.

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7/17/05

Top Cheney Aide Among Sources in CIA Story

"... In a first-person account in the latest issue of Time, Cooper said Rove ended their telephone conversation with the words, 'I've already said too much.' Cooper speculated that Rove could have been worried about being indiscreet or 'it could have meant he was late for a meeting or something else...'"

Or -- come on, do we really appear that stupid -- it could have very well meant, and most likely did, since that's the way it's usually used:

"Ooops, I just told you a very important secret -- ACCIDENTALLY -- what a mistake! But what a scoop for you -- Don't forget to report it."

But -- oh yeah, we're still pretending Rove and Lewis Libby and Dick Cheney are nice guys. Right.

Would you leave any of them alone in a cabin with your sister? OR your brother? Or even your dog?

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7/15/05

Where is Osama ben Ladn?

Does anyone care?

Certainly Monkey Boy doesn't seem to care.

Or does George W Bush just have adult attention deficit disorder? ("Yeah well we looked for him for a week, but then all these new video games came out and, y'know how Laura has them biggies, so I was...")

Or is he (and all of them in his mob) so grateful to his old financial benefactor's son for handing him a GIGANTIC panic bell on September 11, 2001 that he can ring over and over and over and over and heaven help anyone who criticizes the grotesque display of a mentally-challenged redneck rich kid dancing on the vaporized bones of dead New Yorkers for his own "Hey Ma, look at me!" aggrandizement.

The more he rings that bell, the more reason-minded folks wonder if maybe the conspiracy-heads who point at Bush-Cheney-&-Company as complicit in the attacks on the World Trade Center and the... hmmm, what else happened that day...

THE FUCKING PENTAGON ... no one even seems to remember that part of it...

maybe there's some factuality behind the finger-pointing.

In murder mysteries, it's called "CUI BONO?"

Find the perp by finding out "Who benefits?"

Have we figured it out yet?

Who was the big winner on September 12, 2001 ... and since?

But if we had Ben Ladn in custody.
Or dead.

Well then people might just think: "Thank God, now we don't have to listen to that simpering sniggering smirking schmuck from Texas anymore..."

I've said it before and I'll say it again, right now ... this country can not afford to let the Republican party go down the tubes, which is where Bush is taking it... what does he care? He and his boys will get away clean and rich...

I favor Democrats -- in principle -- I want to see the Democrats back in power --- but NOT unopposed.

I mean they've already decided Mr Kerry and Ms Clinton are the 2008 favorites.

JEEZUS KEERIST ON A CRUTCH!

Nearly 300 million people and THAT's the best we can do?

I mean -- Hey, Kerry -- you had your shot and you choked. So get fucking lost. Unfortunately for us, your wife can't run for President, not being native Born -- too bad, because while I'd walk a mile to avoid hearing you flap your sold-out gums, I've vote for her in a New York minute. She could actually have something to say.

As to Ms Hilary, this country is NOT ready to elect a woman who is discernibly smarter than most of the men in government. Not unless she's got a gingham housefrau cover like Libby Dole.

No, to American men (most of them) Hilary Clinton is like Sharon Stone in that Michael Douglas gynophobia classic, Basic Instinct. Too intelligent to be trusted. She might come up with some plans the boys in the corner don't understand.

How about the guy who took us through Bosnia and got us the hell out -- Wesley Clark?

Or how about letting registered Democrats ACTUALLY have some choices in the primaries.

But first, how about SOMEONE giving a flying fuck as to where Osama Ben Ladn happens to be?

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So Di-DI is appalled by the (typically) lame-brain decision in San Francisco to refuse to allow a WWII battleship to be berthed here...

... I love the Bay Area, even if I live on the other shore in Oakland. It's the inane crap like this decision to blow off the USS Iowa because they "don't want to glorify war and/or an anti-gay system that's so much fun.

Ahhhh....

But, Ms Di-Di -- when you say "This isn't the San Francisco I knew and loved when I was growing up," I can only say this:

"If you HADN'T persuaded Mayor Moscone to renege on his promise to Dan White (that if he WANTED to reconsider his resignation from the Board of Supervisors, wanted to take his job back after a period of reflection, he would welcome him), if you hadn't convinced Mayor Moscone that fucking over the obviously unstable Supervisor White was the way to gaining a Liberal majority on the Board, well, perhaps the City would still be a bit more like the one you knew when you grew up." *

Oh yeah, the record states it was Harvey Milk who convinced Mayor George to go back on his word, but hey -- he's dead and you became mayor, and the survivors get to write / re-write history.

But once Danny Boy cracked and took out the Mayor and the most extraordinary intelligent, compassionate, humanitarian Supervisor The City had perhaps ever seen (his being gay irrelevant to me, as I'm not) -- Harvey Milk -- (actually being gay was not irrelevant, but he was so much more of a human than any single aspect-label could encompass), well, many people consider that the trauma coupled with you being sworn in as the new mayor was what made you become such an uptight authoritarian.

But those of us who were around City Hall BEFORE know you were ALWAYS like that, or as one of your aides told me "If she COULD force us to dress up in brown uniforms and march in step, she WOULD. I've never SEEN a liberal fascist before."

Oh, and oh yeah, also went on to say, "And if you EVER quote me by name or even tell people if I'm male or female, I will have to hunt you down and kill you, because she will make sure I can't ever work in government again."

Those of us who tend to favor small-l liberal attitudes (tolerance, live-and-let-live, compassion for the disadvantaged, etc) have long been sorry that you claim to be a Democrat, because then that leaves us with the only alternatives at the polls total duds like Michael Huffington and Dan "Eddie Haskell" Lundgren.


*Well, the history of San Francisco is such that shootouts at City Hall and mean-spirited betrayals ARE totally historically consistent.
Remember where the Tammany Hall fellows went after they were run out of New York? Right. Their City by the Bay.
And when the Sydney Ducks showed up -- a bunch of rogues who were thrown out of the penal colony in Australia -- that was another glorious part of the history.
Too far back? How about 1936 when the response to a demonstration for Union on Market Street one Thursday afternoon was to direct the guard to shoot them from the tower ... shot 600 of them in broad daylight, of which a few dozen were killed.
So maybe refusal to anchor gigantic big guns in the harbor is a betrayal of Captain Montgomery's warship taking over the City from the Spanish, but hey, izzit such a big deal?
The point, Di-Di -- is you can sell YOUR OWN future to the highest bidder, but for many of us -- voters -- it's a delight to see the city of San Francisco is still the sort of unruly child that won't necessarily go along.


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7/14/05

Dear George -- LOYALTY TO THE COUNTRY! Not to your pals

I know I said it before and I'll say it again.
And again.
Until he gets the idea.

If you want to be a Big Man to your pals, stay in the private sector.

If you want to serve your country, your loyalty is to the Constitution (you swore an oath before the God you claim to worship).

And if you want the issue of High Crimes and Misdemeanors to come up, just keep on hiding out and taking Roverer's advice. (Because when the shit really comes down, Turd Blossom will be in Switzerland, ringing his dual citizenship bell as loud as he can. No extradition. He'll let them cut off your balls and leave you holding the empty bag. That's the kind of loyalty you can expect from him when the ride is over.)

Because what we're seeing right now is a President who is afraid of the press, afraid to think, afraid to come out in day light, afraid of everything because you may be getting the RIGHT idea, i.e., that you're THEIR patsy.

YOU OWE US, Dubya -- US -- not Rove, not Rummy, not Cheney --- US, the American Public.

You were the one who stood up and asked for the job.

You were the one who made promises -- doesn't matter if Rove wrote them for you -- they came out of your mouth.

You were the one who took the money and took the job and took the treasury and the taxpayers for all they were worth.

So now it's getting tougher than you thought -- thousands of dead bodies and maimed bodies and everyone is laughing at you when we're not crying about what you've done to the USA's place in the world...

It was bad enough when we thought you were a moron, but honest.

Now it turns out the truth is something you wouldn't recognize if it bit you on the ass.

Do the job right or resign.

Tell the truth or resign.

Because the Truth MAY just jump up and bite you on the ass.

And this time around -- impeachment time around -- even tho they're your own party -- they may actually convict to protect their own necks.

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7/13/05

Sing it out, Georgie...

A-Rove-ing

A-Rove-ing

Oh Rove has been my Roo - eye - in

I'll go no more a-Rove-ing

with that smartass turd.*


*You know -- Turd Blossom -- Georgie's pet name for his evil chubette. (It's another term for a Cow Patty... a Texas thing.)

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HEY George --

Rove Case May Loom as Test of Loyalty for Bush

WASHINGTON, July 12 - Loyalty has long been the most hallowed virtue in the Bush White House, but rarely has it been tested the way it has this week.

No one has been closer to the president longer, or bailed him out of more tight spots, than Karl Rove, his chief political adviser. Now the question is whether President Bush can protect Mr. Rove from a gathering political storm, no matter how furious it becomes....



So -- George --

We, the people who pay your salary mean LOYALTY TO THE COUNTRY, NOT JUST LOYALTY TO YOUR PALS. Understand the difference? Or are you, like both your grandfathers, willing to be a traitor* for your personal gain?


*Both Prescott Bush and George Herbert Walker sold Nazi bonds throughout the 30's, i.e., raised money for the Third Reich even after we were at war with them.
For 10 months after we were at war with Germany, those two raised and sent money to the Third Reich -- money to buy Nazi bullets to kill our soldiers. Finally. congress had to forcibly stop them. There's this family tradition of thinking a Bush is bigger than the law.

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7/12/05

A brief note for Monkey Boy, Dick Cheney, et al:


"War is delightful to those who have had no experience of it."


Erasmus

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I'll say it as simply as I can:

Watching "Washington Journal" this morning, someone called in talking about the (American) "commies" and how terrible it is they get all upset about naked pictures of prisoners in Abu Ghraib but don't care about 5 American Marines tortured and burned and strung up by the Iraqis --

Let me explain the difference (aside from the fact that the roadside bomb killed them and all the sick games took place after they were dead -- and that this -- judging from his accent -- good ole boy -- doesn't know how any of us -- I assume he's talking about us -- felt about that sick business on that bridge)

We live here.

They live there.

They (the Iraqis) are fighting against the people who invaded their homes and kill their people.

We invaded their homes and kill their people.

They didn't do that to us.

We do that to them.

You see the difference?

US -- HERE

THEM -- THERE

US -- THERE

THEM -- THERE

Even a rabid redneck should be able to understand those words of one syllable.

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Erasmus said (Desiderius Erasmus 1466 - 1536 -- Dutch humanist and theologian):

"Man is to man a god or a wolf"

And I think, well, better a wolf because I've seen -- we're all seeing right now -- what happens when man believes he's acting on God's instructions -- "Deus lo Volt -- God has willed it." Nothing but death destruction, bitterness, cruelty and suffering.

Erasmus was one funny guy ... that's why we need to study humanities and history -- here's some more of his famous 16th Century Standup routine...

From The Praise of Folly (1509)

The merchants are the biggest fool of all. They carry on the most sordid business and by the most corrupt methods. Whenever it is necessary, they will lie, perjure themselves, steal, cheat, and mislead the public. Nevertheless, they are highly respected because of their money. There is no lack of flattering friars to kowtow to them, and call them Right Honorable in public. The motive of the friars is clear: they are after some of the loot. . . .

. . . After the lawyers come the philosophers, who are reverenced for their beards and the fur on their gowns. They announce that they alone are wise and that the rest of men are only passing shadows. . . . The fact that they can never explain why they constantly disagree with each other is sufficient proof that they do not know the truth about anything. They know nothing at all, yet profess to know everything. They are ignorant even of themselves, and are often too absent-minded or near-sighted to see the ditch or stone in front of them. . . .

. . . Perhaps it would be wise to pass over the theologians in silence. That short-tempered and supercilious crew is unpleasant to deal with. . . . They will proclaim me a heretic. With this thunderbolt they terrify the people they don't like. Their opinion of themselves is so great that they behave as if they were already in heaven; they look down pityingly on other men as so many worms. A wall of imposing definitions, conclusions, corollaries, and explicit and implicit propositions protects them. They are full of big words and newly-invented terms. . . .

. . . Next to the theologians in happiness are those who commonly call themselves the religious and monks. Both are complete misnomers, since most of them stay as far away from religion as possible, and no people are seen more often in public. They are so detested that it is considered bad luck if one crosses your path, and yet they are highly pleased with themselves. They cannot read, and so they consider it the height of piety to have no contact with literature.... Most of them capitalize on their dirt and poverty by whining for food from door to door. . . . These smooth fellows simply explain that by their very filth, ignorance, boorishness, and insolence they enact the lives of the apostles for us. It is amusing to see how they do everything by rule, almost mathematically. Any slip is sacrilege. each shoe string must have so many knots and must be of a certain color. . . . They even condemn each other, these professors of apostolic charity, making an extraordinary stir if a habit is belted incorrectly or if its color is a shade too dark. . . . The monks of certain orders recoil in horror from money, as if it were poison, but not from wine or women*. They take extreme pains, not in order to be like Christ, but to be unlike each other. Most of them consider one heaven an inadequate reward for their devotion to ceremony and traditional details. They forget that Christ will condemn all of this and will call for a reckoning of that which He has prescribed, namely, charity.

*or little boys (ed.)




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What a difference a century makes ...

I was driving across the bridge yesterday and thinking about our president, thinking that the man has Adult Attention Deficit Disorder -- that would explain why he never completes anything, not his National Guard Service, not Arbusto Oil, not his involvement with the Texas Rangers, not his "We will hunt him down" committment to finding Osama Ben Ladn ...

He just loses interest and forgets what it was he was doing. He's not dumb, he's got a neurological disorder that makes him a wonderful tool for the oil-money-property monomaniacs who paid for his ticket. In other words, he's not dumb -- he's a fool. He forgets about finding the perp and goes off to play with his video games.

He's also a blustering swaggering full-of-crap overbearing bully who delights in pushing around anyone littler than his daddy's money has made him. And that's why I thought of the following:


1901 -- Teddy Roosevelt, his motto:

"Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far."


2001 -- George W Bush, his motto:

"Talk tough and play with your own dick; your pals will get rich."

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7/10/05

Allawi: this is the start of civil war - Times Online

Hala Jaber, Amman
IRAQ’S former interim prime minister Iyad Allawi has warned that his country is facing civil war and has predicted dire consequences for Europe and America as well as the Middle East if the crisis is not resolved.

“The problem is that the Americans have no vision and no clear policy on how to go about in Iraq,” said Allawi, a long-time ally of Washington.

In an interview with The Sunday Times last week as he visited Amman, the Jordanian capital, he said: “The policy should be of building national unity in Iraq. Without this we will most certainly slip into a civil war. We are practically in stage one of a civil war as we speak.”

...Allawi’s concern comes amid signs of growing violence between Shi’ites, who make up 60% of Iraq’s estimated 26m people, and the Sunni minority who dominated the upper reaches of the civilian bureaucracy and officer corps under Saddam Hussein.

The Shi’ites, who endured decades of oppression, are threatening to purge members of Saddam’s former Ba’ath party from the army and the intelligence services, a move that would provoke fierce retaliation from the Sunnis.

Since the execution-style killings of 34 men whose bound and blindfolded bodies were found in three predominantly Shi’ite areas of Baghdad in May, other tit-for-tat murders have followed, with clerics among the targets...

So it seems the reason this administration was so intense on keeping Mrs Schiavo alive was that she was one of the only people outside the administration who couldn't have seen this coming.

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7/8/05


But my FAVORITE Friday cat is still the IWW's good old Sabocat.
Sabocat?
Yes, sweet kitty, Sabocat.

(If you read enough history ... you'll find out what life was like for the working stiff before the IWW -- the "Wobblies" -- came along and put their asses on the line to create unions. In some ways itt was one step down from slavery -- like slavery, you had no rights, but in slavery, at least you had a job and a place to live.)

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Another snoozing cat from the late Kerry Thornley

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Some things stay the same -- Friday nap for Tara, better known as Bean.

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Meet the New Boss -- Same as the Old Boss

West turns blind eye as police put Saddam's torturers back to work

From James Hider in Baghdad

IRAQI security forces, set up by American and British troops, torture detainees by pulling out their fingernails, burning them with hot irons or giving them electric shocks, Iraqi officials say. Cases have also been recorded of bound prisoners being beaten to death by police.

In their haste to put police on the streets to counter the brutal insurgency, Iraqi and US authorities have enlisted men trained under Saddam Hussein’s regime and versed in torture and abuse, the officials told The Times. They said that recruits were also being drawn from the ranks of outlawed Shia militias.

Counter-insurgencies are rarely clean fights, but Iraq’s dirty war is being waged under the noses of US and British troops whose mission is to end the abuses of the former dictatorship. Instead, they appear to have turned a blind eye to the constant reports of torture from Iraq’s prisons.

Among the worst offenders cited are the Interior Ministry police commandos, a force made up largely of former army officers and special forces soldiers drawn from the ranks of Saddam’s dissolved army. They are seen as the most effective tool the coalition has in fighting the insurgency.

“Blah blah blah situation,” a senior Iraqi official said. “You have to understand the blah blah special commandos blah blah. Blah blah blah Saddam’s forces . . . ”

“This”, said Saad Sultan, the Human Rights Ministry official in charge of monitoring Iraq’s prisons, includes random arrests, sometimes without a warrant, hanging people from ceilings and beating them, attaching electrodes to ears, hands, feet and genitals, and holding hot irons to flesh.

Four of his 22 monitors have already quit their jobs, leaving a handful of lawyers to inspect scores of prisons....
...The abuse has not gone unnoticed by the coalition, but little has been done to address it. A US State Department report in February stated that Iraqi authorities had been accused of “arbitrary deprivation of life, torture, impunity, poor prison conditions — particularly in pre-trial detention facilities — and arbitrary arrest and detention.” A Human Rights Watch report also noted that “unlawful arrest, long-term incommunicado detention, torture and other ill-treatment of detainees (including children) by Iraqi authorities have become routine and commonplace”.

Evidence of extra-judicial killings ...

--ok, hold it a second -- let's not let that lovely phrase pass unnoticed -- "Extra-judicial killings." Is that something like ... murder? A lot like "extra-judicial detention... like ... kidnapping?" No one ever had to tell these guys not to be so hard on themselves... but they go on...)


...by the security forces has also come to light. Mr Sultan is investigating the case of three members of the Badr Corps, the paramilitary wing of one of the main Shia parties in government, who were arrested by police, handcuffed and beaten to death...

He added that while the de facto death squads were not part of government policy, little was being done to counteract them. “Blah blah exceptional times. Blah blah emergency.”



Well, this suggests that they don't hate our freedom as such, but the fact that we seem to feel free to do whatever we want because DEUS LO VOLT!

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International Herald Tribune: London bombings - Police sift rubble for evidence in London bombings

Sorry guys, but that's what it means when some asshole plays tough guy and shouts:

"Bring it on."

It ALWAYS means someone ELSE will get hurt.

I know this sounds cold, but when we've been trying to warn those out-of-control weenies about this for a couple of years, it comes as no surprise, just brings an overwhelming sadness ...
and a bit of a chill remembering what Voltaire knew:

"It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong."

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"At the end of the fight
is a tombstone white
And the name of the late deceased
With an epitaph drear:
'A fool lies here
Who tried to hustle the East.' "


Rudyard Kipling, from The Naulahka

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From one George to another ---


"Fanaticism consists in redoubling your effort when you have forgotten your aim."

George Santayana

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7/7/05

Carlos Mencia -- funny guy but there's more

The July 6 Comedy Channel airing of Carlos Mencia's show was good, funny, and near the end, Mencia did more to wake up the American voting public than all my blogs together and quite a few of other peoples' when he did a bit about what SHOULD be on the news and said: "THIS!" and ran tape of pre-speech readiness by MonkeyBoy which ended with Bush giving the finger to the camera, at which point Mencia went to a freeze frame.

During those moments, more people saw exactly and demonstrably what Bush thinks of them than are dreamed of in your philosophies, Henrietta.

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London Explosions Kill at Least 33 -- Londoners ready to lynch Arabs or Muslims or whatever Brown People they can find


Blair Calls Apparent Terror Attacks 'Barbaric' Acts

By Glenn Frankel and Fred Barbash
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, July 7, 2005; 1:24 PM

LONDON, July 7 -- Explosions rocked the transportation system across an arc of central London on Thursday morning, injuring more than 345 people and killing at least 33 with the numbers expected to rise, according to early reports.

Described by authorities as a coordinated terrorist attack, three separate blasts detonated without warning in subway carriages underground near three stations of London's subway system. Another tore apart a double-decker bus.



---and all morning, people assumed -- as they did in Oklahoma City that hideous day -- "IT WAS MUSLIMS."

Well, as Malcolm X found out, there are Swedish Muslims and Spanish Muslims and Tutsi Muslims and etc... but they'd rather not say "Sand Niggers," or "Rag-Heads," or "Camel Jockeys," because they've all become enlightened enough to know that -- while that's what they still think they ALL are -- they've found out the rest of us recognize them -- properly -- and racist bigoted asshole scum. But the lynch mob was there this morning -- you could see it behind the reporters... looking for an Ayrab to string up.

There are also desperate, psychopathic True Believers with names like McVeigh and North and Calley and Sharon and Bush and Rumsfeld and Blair and Etcetera. Hell, the timing was so precise, maybe it was the Swiss with their great watches.

So as of 8:30 PM Greenwich Time, right or wrong, the emotional money is on the Semites with the robes. We'll see. Either they'll find the guys responsible, or they'll find the new version of Marinus Ven Der Lubbe, the poor schmuck the Nazis found to blame the Reichstag Fire on ... beat the crap out of him until he claimed responsibility -- a good choice since he had a habit of doing that for other things he hadn't done. Achmed Van Der Lubbe this time.

********************

--- it doesn't matter that "The Secret Organization of al-Quaida in Europe" later claimed responsibility for the deed. They may have even done it. The point here was to comment on that good old-fashioned "Gimme a rope and let's hang some darkies," fervor sweeping the crowds. There are enough people world-wide pretending to care about the victims ... hell, most of them probably even believe they're being sincere.

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Yet another actor gets so megalomaniacal he ALSO becomes unwatchable

The Great Tom Cruise Backlash / Will this annoying phase pass, or will Tom become the next super-rich, Mel Gibson-like nutball?

There was Ronnie Reagan, but no one watched his movies anyway (and before him George Murphy, of whom almost no one knew he'd ever been in movies), then George C Scott and Barbra Streisand -- making us scream "I don't WANT to know anything about their private lives, their off-screen lives -- (I was only willing to not run screaming from anything with Elliot Gould in it out of sympathy for him having spent years sharing Barbra's bed, and good, I got to see MASH when it came out -- Jesus -- if there's any group of people about whom you can generalize they're MORE superficial and flakey than actors, it's Songbirds.)

Then Sonny Bono and Ahhnold, not that anyone was listening to Sonny Bono, but we still would watch Ahhnold's movies from time to time on cable, perhaps more to see Sandahl Bergman or Grace Jones than him, but still, they didn't cause outright nausea.

And now Tom Cruise, who has enough money to handle the loss of income if not the rejection becomes the new pain in the ass "Hey-I'm-not-just-an-actor ... I'm a real genuine intelligent person."

No, Tom, you're not. You're a shallow self-serving asshole, and the actor who isn't pretty much that (and there are some) is the exception. You're no exception. You make your living pretending to be Tom Cruise with another name, a sort of rabid weasel-man with bonded teeth.

You don't even do that very well. In other words, you and Steven Spielberg make a perfect couple -- make lots of noise and tell the world how fucking wonderful you are when what you do is distract without informing, entertaining, or delighting, millions of assholes excited to see themselves in you, notwithstanding. And if the Top Guns of Scientology could see how you are anti-selling the Church about as much as if Volkswagen got Henrich Himmler's grandson as their spokesman.

But now let's go back to Mark Morford, who says it better than anyone:

Let it begin now. Let it start with a wry askance glance and evolve into full-fledged annoyance and then move into raging hell-bent OK that's quite enough now please stop before we slap you silly.

Note to Tom Cruise: You are maxing out. Wearing out the welcome. Becoming less the tolerable and moderately talented and mildly likable megastar and more like an itchy boil on the deranged ferret of popular culture, requiring lancing.


--- gotta admit, Mr Morford has the handle on this one ---


The signs are all in place. The crazy ranting, the jumping on couches, the crazed grins, the enormous piles of money, the incessant photos of you sucking the face off your new and bewildered and child-like fiancee, the weird diatribes about psychiatry and mental health, the relatively common knowledge that you are super-seriously involved at the highest levels with one of the creepier money-hungry pseudo-religions in the nation.

Also: the assigning of a "handler" from said cult to tag along with your new bewildered young fiancee everywhere she goes to "keep her on the path" and make sure she doesn't, I don't know what. Talk about the nightmares? Break down in a heap and confess that it's all a staged setup? Reveal your true lizard identity?

you can read the rest of it here complete with all the links he's used to make his (admittedly easy) case, and even follow the URL path to subscribe to his column by email... it's an elegant display of acid-spray as art... if you liked this sample, you'll love having him come in on your email.

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7/6/05

Bush falls off bike in Scotland



July 6, 2005 | Gleneagles, Scotland -- President Bush collided with a local police officer and fell during a bike ride on the grounds of the Gleneagles golf resort while attending a meeting of world leaders Wednesday.

Bush suffered scrapes on his hands and arms that required bandages by the White House physician, said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.

The police officer was taken to a local hospital as a precaution, McClellan said. Police said the officer suffered a "very minor" ankle injury.

It was raining lightly at the time.

The officer was on a security detail. He is a member of the police department of Strathclyde, a nearby town, McClellan said.

The president was concerned about the officer's condition, and talked with him for some time after the collision, McClellan said. The president also asked White House physician Richard Tubb to monitor the officer's condition at the hospital.

The fall did not affect the president's schedule. Dressed in a tuxedo, he attended a dinner hosted by Queen Elizabeth at the annual Group of Eight economic summit. He showed no signs of distress.


--- they did that plastic skin thing, cut a new patch and put in on over the wires and servo-mechanisms ... ain't science wonderful?

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Y'see I was thinkin' about the joke that Scottish fellow told -- it was about --- well, I sorta spaced out and one thing led to another and then that darn policeman got in my way... and that joke? -- somethin' about a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle and the same goes for America and George W Bush -- and I'm not sure what that means... I'll ask Laura when she gets back from Africa. Hope she's not doin' a Big Black Man thing like Nancy did when SHE was First lady...

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Ahh, there goes George W Bush again -- trying to break the Guinness record for the number of countries he can fall off a bicycle.

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So how can you NOT know when you reveal someone as CIA?

Is weaseling more honorable than just lying? How is THIS more honorable than THIS? or THIS?

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7/5/05

"Six Feet Under" gets a de-fib hit...

OK -- the quality level had slid down like the swirling I-don't-want-to-know-what-it-is swirls down the drain behind Rico's feet down in the basement cadaver room.

But the show aired on July 4th titled "Eat a Peach" had a few moments of what was so amazing about this show originally -- moments that appear/feel as if they're just happening, perhaps shot while the actors were on a break but in character ... the scene between the two crazies -- George and Billy on the back porch steps passing a beer back and forth ... Ruth's explosion at Claire as she comes into the kitchen... bits of the magic, the lightning in a bottle they had originally ... and I have to give them the cheer, because as hard as it is to do it the first time, it's much harder to find it again once you've lost it.

No one (other than Parsival) ever got to go back to the Grail Temple once they woke up outside, evicted. And Parsival went back with a Muslim knight after they'd decided "after all, we're both children of the same father," that line being part of the reason the Roman Church declared the Grail Cult an excommunicable offense.

But they found it again -- Parsival and the Six Feet Under folks -- so kudos to y'all -- whether it took firings, hirings, joining the Rosicrucians -- whatever, there was a bit of magic there.

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7/4/05

Still whining (and maintaining their victim-fantasy) about Robert Bork


Bork's 1987 hearings on senators' minds


July 4, 2005 | WASHINGTON -- In the eyes of still-bitter conservatives, Robert Bork is the symbol of the Senate's advise-and-consent power gone haywire. To liberals and the Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Bork's confirmation hearings revealed extreme views that warranted rejection of the Supreme Court nominee...

Bork suggested he is still being demonized by senators who opposed him in 1987.

"I think they recognized what they did and they have to keep justifying it, and they have to keep misrepresenting me,'' Bork said of the senators who sent his nomination down to defeat. Bork appeared on CNN's "Late Edition....''


--- oh what unbelieveable crap... I remember watching those hearings and LONG BEFORE anyone discussed Right or Left or general judicial philosophy, Bork, asked about porn theaters (he was against 'em because of kids walking by and seeing the posters and etc and etc...) was asked then what if the theater couldn't put ANY posters outside, not even the name of the film playing, what about that?

And he said, "No -- because the people would watch the movie inside but the poison would be in their minds and they'd carry the infection out into society."

HUH?

At that point, I decided there was no question of Right or Left, but that this baritone with a bad beard was ... to put it technically... Robert Bork was fucking nuts.

That was before the great smackdown when Barbara Jordan deigned to give Mr. Bork a public scolding and much-needed lesson about the First Amendment. (She was the last person I could have voted for for President with great enthusiasm and without any reservations.)

To all those right-wing assholes who keep telling those of us who still bridle at the memory of at least one and, apparently, TWO elections stolen in the last 5 years and the resultant theocratic return to Oliver Cromwell and tell us to "get over it..."

GET OVER IT -- stop whining and complaining

You didn't get what you wanted -- oh boo-fucking-hoo.

Grow up.

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7/3/05

You ever see a"turd blossom" in Free Fall?


Lawrence O'Donnel
l said it on the McLaughlin Group:

"... when Matt Cooper's emails-within Time Magazine, uh, are handed over ... the ultimate revelation... the source of-for Matt Cooper was Karl Rove and that will be revealed in this document dump that Time Magazine's going to do with the grand jury."

REALLY?


O'Donnell confirmed his statement on Ariana Huffington's new site.
" I revealed in yesterday's taping of the McLaughlin Group that Time magazine's emails will reveal that Karl Rove was Matt Cooper's source. I have known this for months but didn't want to say it at a time that would risk me getting dragged into the grand jury.


--- according to one legal expert, when this story started back when, if any of her (Valerie Plame's) assets from when she was undercover and in the field, are killed, then the federal law against murder/manslaughter applies...
even if not invoked, watching "turd blossom" as W calls him, fall like a turd off the Bank of America building could be creepily entertaining ... I'd watch it ...
When the government -- OUR Government -- is taken over as a coup d'fou in two rigged elections, and their people there are homogenously nasty selfish greedy and without conscience

... well, the slogan could be:

"It's not just TV -- it's schadenfreude."

Who knows -- maybe JUSTICE will raise her beautiful head now that John Ashcroft's cloak of shame has been removed from her statue.

We can hope...

Here's some additionally interesting data on this affair.

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7/2/05

A question on a point of law...

...obviously, since congress granted Monkey Boy the authority to go play cowboy around the world, there's no legal standing there, and since he and his crew feared getting the Milosoviching they knew they would ultimately so sorely deserve, they ran away screaming from the World Court issue, there's no chance for any relief in that corner ---

BUT

-- y'think it might be possible to use that Sam Watterston Law and Order standby -- "Depraved Indifference to Human Life" to prosecute for 1,683 counts of Murder 2? Or at the least, 1600+ counts of "reckless endangerment" (2d Degree Manslaughter)

'Cause when you're hiding out behind a wall of security 7000 miles away, shouting "Bring 'em on" is a "Let's you and him fight" cry -- the kind of craven crap this poor excuse for human protoplasm has been doing all his life...


JULY 2, 2005 -- 2d Anniversary of “BRING ‘EM ON”

By Stan Goff

On July 2, 2003, George W. Bush, caught up in his own bluster, uttered the words, “Bring ‘em on,” in response to a reporter’s question about the dismaying frequency of a supposedly vanquished foe in Iraq.

On that day, only 65 American troops had been killed since May, when George W. Bush was flown onto the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln to deliver a victory speech, backgrounded by a huge sign that stated, “Mission Accomplished.”

A lot has happened since them.

Most significantly, no mission has been accomplished, and the Iraqi resistance apparently accepted his challenge to “Bring ‘em on.”

Over 1,748 American corpses who used to be fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, grandsons and grand-daughters, nieces and nephews, friends and neighbors, have been flown out of Iraq. Most estimates are that more than 15,000 Americans have been wounded, many severely. And the human cost for Iraqis themselves – death, grief, and pain – is currently incalculable but certainly measured in the hundreds of thousands.

It’s easy to talk trash from the White House, where its chief resident has attended one funeral while in office – that of the Pope. No dead soldier’s family has had him cross its threshold.



Stan Goff is more than adequately articulate on the meaning of that/this day in our history.






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7/1/05


Friday Catblog day -- Cosmo pensive about Independence Day -- he purrs condescendingly at what we call Independence.

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