Conservative Fatigue Syndrome

From Jon Swift blog:
In the past few weeks, I have been feeling a profound sense of fatigue, an inexplicable emptiness. These feelings have been accompanied by crazy, almost hallucinatory thoughts, moments when I wondered if President Bush wasn't the greatest President who ever lived, if the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the War in Iraq could have been handled better and if immigration was being adequately dealt with like the emergency it has suddenly become. At first I thought it might have something to do with fluoride in the water, but switching to pure spring water failed to dissipate my ennui. Finally, I went to see a doctor and after a series of tests he was able to diagnose my malady. "I am very sorry to have to tell you this," he said looking down, avoiding my eyes. "You have Conservative Fatigue Syndrome."

McCain booed at The New School
Ari Berman:

"I haven't heard anyone aroused about me speaking at the New School," John
McCain said in April, defending his decision to address Jerry Falwell's Liberty
University. Nobody at all, except for virtually the entire crowd at the New
School's Madison Square Garden graduation ceremony in New York City...The
Senator spoke in a dull monotone, without his usual charisma or charm. He was noticeably deflated by the crowd's harsh reception towards him. Remarks such as "I supported the decision to go to war in Iraq," were met with loud boos..." read on

MP to investigate Dr Kelly's death
A backbench MP is to investigate the "unanswered questions" from the official inquiry into the death of weapons scientist Dr David Kelly. The former Liberal Democrat environmental spokesman Norman Baker today revealed his decision to stand down from the shadow cabinet two months ago was based on a quest to establish the "truth" behind Dr Kelly's death.
Mr Baker said he wanted to return to the issue because the 2003 Hutton inquiry had "blatantly failed to get to the bottom of matters". Dr Kelly was found dead on July 18 2003 after being named as the possible source of a BBC story on the government's Iraq dossier.
Mr Baker, who is known for his forensic use of parliamentary questions, admitted he already holds a "number of theories" about the scientist's death, but declined to speculate so early into his investigation.

Former Deputy Mayor Files Medical Claim For Post-9/11 Illness
In New York, a former deputy mayor in the Giuliani administration has filed a medical claim for respiratory illnesses contracted by pollution at the World Trade Center site. The man, Rudy Washington, worked in the area around Ground Zero for several weeks after the towers fell.

Murtha: Haditha Probe Shows Marines Killed Iraqis “In Cold Blood”
The Pentagon has concluded its investigation into the shooting deaths of civilians in the Iraqi city of Haditha at the hands of US Marines. On Wednesday, Democratic Congressmember John Murtha of Pennsylvania said the probe will show that Marines: "killed innocent civilians in cold blood.” Iraqis say 15 villagers were killed after US troops herded them into one room of a house near the city of Balad. The dead included five children and four women and ranged in age from 6 months to 75 years old. The Pentagon initially claimed the civilians had died in a roadside bombing.
But Murtha said: "There was no firefight. There was no improvised explosive device that killed those innocent people. Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them. And they killed innocent civilians in cold blood. That is what the report is going to tell."

David Gregory and The Nixonian President
David brought up the Nixon parallel to Bush yesterday while talking about the Border issue. To Bush, disapproval means unsettled. Surprisingly, he then blamed the media:
GREGORY: Let me ask you about your leadership. In the most recent survey, your disapproval rating is now one point lower than Richard Nixon‘s before he resigned the presidency ... why do you think that is?
BUSH: Because we're at war, and war unsettles people. We got-listen, we've got a great economy. We've added 5.2 million jobs in the last two-and-a-half years. But there's a-but people are unsettled. They don‘t look at the economy and say life is good. They know we're at war and I'm not surprised that people are unsettled because of war.
The enemy has got a powerful tool, and that is to get on your TV screen by killing innocent people, and my job is to continue to remind the people it's worth it. We're not going to retreat hastily. You know, we're not going to pull out of there before the job is done and we‘ve got a plan for victory.
GREGORY: But they're just not unsettled, sir. They disapprove of the job you‘re doing.
BUSH: That's unsettled.

Bush Re-Election Figure Sentenced To 10-Month Prison Term
A senior official in President Bush's re-election campaign has been sentenced to 10 months in prison. James Tobin was convicted for his involvement in a phone-jamming scheme intended to block a Democratic get-out-the-vote campaign during mid-term elections in New Hampshire in November 2002. Democrats say the scheme may have gone higher than Tobin. According to phone records, Tobin made two dozen calls to the White House during the three-day period in question. Tobin served as the New England chair of President Bush's re-election campaign at the time.

Giuliani has the wrong 'Reed' on 2008
Rudy Giuliani's appearance in Atlanta yesterday with Ralph Reed hasn't generated nearly as much attention as John McCain's speech at Falwell U last weekend, but it's equally as shameless. And harder to understand. If Giuliani thinks Reed is a safe bet for 2008 purposes, he's picked the wrong horse. After all, Reed is up to his ears in the Abramoff scandal and most Republicans have the good sense to avoid Reed like the plague. And yet, there's Rudy -- who supports abortion rights, gay rights, and gun control -- cozying up to Reed in an attempt to prove how conservative he is. Oddly enough, there's one thing Giuliani and Reed clearly agree on -- neither wants to be tied to Bush right now. When these two don't want to mention the president's name -- at a Republican fundraiser, in Georgia -- you know Bush has fallen on hard times.

UN: US Should Close Guantanamo Bay Prison
The UN has called on the US government to close its prison at Guantanamo Bay. In its final report on US compliance with international torture conventions, the U.N. Committee Against Torture said the US should close all down the Cuba prison and avoid using secret prisons in other parts of the world. The committee also said the US should outlaw the use of several of its known interrogation techniques, including sexual humiliation, mock drownings and the use of dogs to induce fear.

Aid Groups Warn of Crisis in Congo Province
Tens of thousands of people in the Congo province of Katanga are at risk from fighting between armed groups. More than 300,000 displaced people have been left in limbo by clashes that have destroyed scores of villages. Beatrice Oechsli of the International Committee of the Red Cross said, "Now the people are coming back and they need help to reconstruct their lives, to reconstruct huts to be able to start again their lives here back in the villages."

One Step Closer to a Police State
Placing National Guard troops on the border could be a violation of the Posse Comitatus Act.

The Snooping Goes Beyond Phone Calls
How the government sidesteps the Privacy Act by purchasing commercial data.

JUAN GONZALEZ: Kate Martin, the Senate Judiciary Committee
could consider as early as today a bill by Senator Specter on this whole issue. Your concerns about the bill that Senator Specter is proposing?
KATE MARTIN: Yes. Well, that's very interesting, and it's a little-covered story in the media. You know, Senator Specter has been quoted as raising concerns about the program and quoted as saying that he wanted the program -- now we're talking about the warrantless eavesdropping on Americans' telephone calls -- submitted to court review for a determination of its constitutionality. But that's not what his bill does. And he's circulated various draft bills, which, first of all, would authorize a much larger program than the President has admitted to. It would basically authorize the NSA to intercept millions of phone calls of Americans without specifying which individuals' phone calls they're intercepting, and especially without any probable cause that those individuals are engaged in wrongdoing. The NSA would then be free to troll through, data mine all of those phone calls. And it's only at the tail end that -- well, even then, there's no court review. And what Senator Specter's bill does is authorize this kind of general warrant, that says the FISA Court can authorize this general program to intercept all of these phone calls as long as it's done initially by a computer. And you have to wonder whether or not what's described in Senator Specter's bill isn't in fact the actual program being run by the NSA, and that it is much broader than what the President has admitted to.

Senate Votes To Build 370-Mile Border Fence
The Senate has voted to build a fence along parts of the Mexico border to prevent illegal immigrants from entering the country. In total, 370 miles of triple-layered barriers would be added near San Diego and in the Arizona desert. Senators also approved a provision that would prevent illegal immigrants from petitioning for a guest-worker permit without the sponsorship an employer. And in a unanimous vote, Senate accepted an amendment that would bar granting work permits to undocumented immigrants convicted of either a felony or at least three misdemeanors. The measure would effect even those who ignored a court-deportation order.

Bush Looks To Military Contractors For “Virtual Fence”
New York Times is reporting the Bush administration is preparing to turn to several military contractors for a planned “virtual fence” along the border. Companies including Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman have announced they will bid on the multi-billion dollar contracts within weeks. The “virtual fence” would place unmanned aerial vehicles, ground surveillance satellites and motion-detection video equipment in isolated areas along the Mexican and Canadian border. According to the Times, the Bush administration will ask contractors not just to supply equipment but to devise and build a whole new border strategy. Earlier this year, Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Michael Jackson told military industry leaders: "We're asking you to come back and tell us how to do our business."

Senate Vote Makes English US “National Language”
On Capitol Hill, the Senate voted Thursday to make English the “national language” of the United States. The measure affirms that that no one has a right to federal communications or services in a language other than English except those already guaranteed by law. Immigrant-rights activists called the vote a major defeat.

Mexico-Bound Driver Shot By US Guards At San Diego Crossing
The border between San Diego and Tijuana was closed for over nine hours Thursday when border guards shot and killed the driver of a car headed for Mexico. The car was followed after custom agents saw it pick up passengers near the US side of the border crossing. Agents said they shot the driver when he tried to speed off.

Patriot Act used to justify spying on the Press

Exposed: The Carlyle Group

Shocking documentary uncovers the subversion of Americas democracy.

NZ firm makes bio-diesel from sewage in world first
Creating fuel from the algae removes the problem while producing useful clean water, said Mr Leay. The clean water can then be used for stock food, irrigation and, if treated properly, for human consumption. Mr Leay said the process could also benefit dairy farmers and food processors as the algae also thrive in those industries' waste streams. And unlike some bio-fuel sources which require crops to be specially grown - using more land, fuel, chemicals and fertilisers - the algae already exist extensively.
Now that's a brilliant idea!! Next: Landfill rubbish?

ABC News Reports: Feds Monitoring Reporters' Calls
Freedom of the Press Under Attack: Government Begins Tracking Phone Calls of Journalists
ABC News reported on Monday that a senior federal law enforcement official had revealed that the government is now tracking phone calls made by journalists from the New York Times, Washington Post and ABC News. On Monday, ABC News reported the government is tracking the phone numbers dialed from major news organizations in an effort to root out confidential government sources that speak to reporters. The media groups include the New York Times, the Washington Post, and ABC News itself. Government leaks have led to front-page stories detailing the Bush administration’s spy program and the CIA’s network of secret prisons in Eastern Europe. The leaks have greatly angered Bush administration officials. This revelation comes on the heels of last week’s disclosure that three of the country’s largest telecom companies handed over millions of phone call records to help the National Security Agency build the world’s largest database, comes a new revelation.
BRIAN ROSS: And they do this, they say, legally. What that means is they use a provision in the PATRIOT Act -- which is designed to go after terrorists, but they're using it to go after reporters -- what they call a national security letter. Essentially, it’s a letter an F.B.I. agent writes, takes it to a phone company -- or anywhere, really -- but takes it to a phone company, and the phone company is then required under the provisions of the PATRIOT Act to turn over the information, and also a phone company is required not divulge to the customer, me or anybody else, that the records have been sought by the government.
AMY GOODMAN: And these national security letters, or NSLs, are not signed by a judge?
BRIAN ROSS: They are not signed by a judge.
AMY GOODMAN: Why do you think they’re going after you, Brian Ross?
BRIAN ROSS: There are two stories that I know by talking to people who have been interviewed that the C.I.A. considers to be evidence of criminal behavior on the part of someone. Our story on the C.I.A. secret prisons, the Washington Post broke that story. They did not report the two countries. We came along and with our own sources reported the two countries where the prisons had been were Poland and Romania, and this set off quite a firestorm inside the C.I.A. As well, we reported on an attack in Pakistan using a C.I.A. Predator with missiles attached to it, the one that killed 18 people there, looking for the number two man in al-Qaeda, al-Zawahri. We got word of that very early and reported it, and that infuriated the C.I.A., because it embarrassed them with the Pakistanis. They hadn’t quite made up the cover story they used when the C.I.A. operates inside Pakistan.

Wednesday, May 17, National Call-in to Congress on NSA Warrantless Surveillance

Join thousands of other Americans by calling Congress on Wednesday, May 17 to demand they investigate this government intrusion immediately. ADC, the BORDC, the ACLU, People For the American Way, and other organizations (see below) have declared the week of May 15 "National Call-in to Congress Week" and are asking their constituents to call their members of Congress on a specific day. Let's keep those phones ringing in the Congressional halls all week long! Call the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask the operator to connect you.

No One is Accountable in the Pentagon

The Defense Department has failed to comply with the Chief Financial Officers Act since its enactment in 1990. This means that the Pentagon has only very imperfect information about what it owns, what it has and has not paid out to contractors, how much money is being spent, and why. Today, no reliable and verifiable system exists for knowing what new equipment the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan need, who needs them, and when – or if - the supplies will be delivered.

Verizon stock takes hit on $50 billion lawsuit

"The terrorists are on the pay phones or using the prepaid phones," he said. "They are not on landlines so this entire exercise is another one of the administration arguments that we have to protect national security by doing something which doesn't have any protection for national security."

CNN: Alligators and the Duke rape case are bigger stories than Bush spying on America's media

Nothing on CNN. Nothing at all about the breaking news that the Bush administration is allegedly spying on the phone calls of journalists from ABC, the Washington Post, and the NYT.

Who owns CNN these days?

FCC Commissioner Calls for Inquiry into NSA Spying Scandal
Meanwhile FCC Commissioner Michael Copps said the Federal Communications Commission should investigate whether the phone companies violated the Communications Act by handing over the customer calling records to the National Security Agency. Copps said the “privacy of our citizens must still matter.”

Germany orders end to press spies
Chancellor Angela Merkel's government has ordered its foreign intelligence service not to spy on German reporters. The move comes after reports that the BND agency had kept journalists under surveillance and allegedly paid others to spy on colleagues to trace leaks.
The defenders of the NSA wiretaps keep assuring us that we have nothing to fear as long as we are doing nothing wrong. Well, the same applies here. Governments have nothing to fear from leaks if they are doing nothing wrong. But here Germany is spying on reporters, and we learned yesterday that the US Intelligence agencies are monitoring the phones of journalists to try to find leakers.

Veterans Surround Richard Perle, Demand Accountability for His Role in Launching Illegal War
Here's 8 great shots I took, with a disposable camera, of Neo-Con Architect of the Iraq war, Richard Perle, and our Iraq Veterans Against the War Heroes & Sheroes, joined by our Gold Star Families "Matriots".

Richard Perle had a PBS camera crew about 80 or 90 yards off to the side of the Speakers' Rostrum @ yesterday's AFSC Eyes Wide Open (BOOTS) Demo, in Washington, DC. The PBS Producers said they were rehabilitating Perle's image, so he can be kicked upstairs, similar to the Bush promotion of Paul Wolfowitz to the World Bank.

They thought they wouldn't be noticed using the "Boots" demo background during the speaking portion of the EWO demo, but Philly VVAW & VFP-31 signaled our speakers line-up, and we surrounded the Adolf Eichman of the Bush Administration, and had BIG FUN humiliating the MURDERER! CHECK OUT THESE PHOTOS!
Sue Neiderer, Celeste Zappala, and our four Iraq refugees who educated Perle on why 82% of ALL Iraqis want the U.S. OUT NOW! Sorry, folks, but I ran out of film!

Sunni Group Accuses U.S. of Killing 25 Civilians in Iraq
In Iraq, a leading Sunni religious group has accused U.S. forces of killing 25 civilians in a series of recent raids near Baghdad. The Muslim Clerics Association accused U.S. and Iraqi forces of carrying out air strikes against civilians in Latifiya. In addition the group said U.S. forces shot and killed people who ran from their houses during the bombing. In a statement the Muslim Clerics Association said "We hold the Iraqi government and the occupiers responsible for this brutal atrocity." The U.S. military admits it killed 41 people in the recent attacks but the military described all of the victims as either associates of al Qaeda or terrorists.

Drone aircraft may prowl U.S. skies
Unmanned aerial vehicles have soared the skies of Afghanistan and Iraq for years, spotting enemy encampments, protecting military bases, and even launching missile attacks against suspected terrorists.

Russia, China: Don't use force in Iran
Russia and China will not vote for the use of force in resolving the Iranian nuclear dispute, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday in a sign of persisting differences with the U.S. In an outreach to Tehran, Lavrov also said that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will attend a summit meeting next month in Shanghai of leaders from Russia, China and four Central Asian nations.

U.S. Orders Ban of Arms Sales to Venezuela
The Bush administration has announced it is banning arms sales to Venezuela. Officials said the decision was made because Venezuela has not cooperated with the Bush administration on so-called anti-terrorism efforts.

Ecuador Expels Oil Giant Occidental Petroleum
The government of Ecuador has expelled the oil company Occidental Petroleum and plans to hand over the company’s local operations to a state-owned oil company. Ecuador is Latin America’s fifth largest oil producer. The move comes just two weeks after the Bolivian government announced plans to nationalize its oil and gas industry.

U.S. Restores Diplomatic Ties With Libya
In other foreign news, the U.S. has announced it will restore diplomatic ties to the oil-rich nation of Libya for the first time in over 25 years. Two years ago the Bush administration lifted economic sanctions against Libya to allow U.S. oil companies to do business in the country which has one of the ten largest oil reserves in the world.
Wonder if that has anything to do with the recent testimony of a Scottish police officer that the CIA planted the "evidence" to blame Libya for the boming?

Police chief- Lockerbie evidence was faked
from The Scotsman, Aug 28, 2005
"He said he believed he had crucial information. A meeting was set up and he gave a statement that supported the long-standing rumours that the key piece of evidence, a fragment of circuit board from a timing device that implicated Libya, had been planted by US agents....He has confirmed that parts of the case were fabricated and that evidence was planted. At first he requested anonymity, but has backed down and will be identified if and when the case returns to the appeal court."
The vital evidence that linked the bombing of Pan Am 103 to Megrahi was a tiny fragment of circuit board which investigators found in a wooded area many miles from Lockerbie months after the atrocity. The fragment was later identified by the FBI's Thomas Thurman as being part of a sophisticated timer device used to detonate explosives, and manufactured by the Swiss firm Mebo, which supplied it only to Libya and the East German Stasi.


Greg Palast on His New Book "Armed Madhouse"
While the NSA spy story continues to make headline news, BBC Investigative reporter Greg Palast says that the corporate media is missing the real story.
He writes "The snooping into your phone bill is just the snout of the pig of a strange, lucrative link-up between the Administration’s Homeland Security spy network and private companies operating beyond the reach of the laws meant to protect us from our government. You can call it the privatization of the FBI -- though it is better described as the creation of a private KGB....You should be more concerned that they are linking this info to your medical records, your bill purchases and your entire personal profile including, not incidentally, your voting registration."

GREG PALAST: Bush does not like cheap oil. When we talk about paying $3-a-gallon gasoline, Bush’s benefactors, donors and his own family collects the $3 a gallon. Well, we're paying three bucks a gallon. ExxonMobil is collecting $3 a gallon. When Bush came in, we had oil as low as $18 a barrel. It was like water. Bush has successfully built up the price of oil from 18 bucks a barrel to over $70 a barrel. That's the “mission accomplished.” He didn't make a mistake here. That's the “mission accomplished.”
ExxonMobil, which after Enron is the biggest lifetime donor to the Bush campaigns, its value of its reserves, of its oil reserves, because of the Bush wars and Bush actions, has gone up by almost exactly $1 trillion in value. Just one company. A trillion-dollar windfall to a single company. That's the Bush benefactors.
So, the problem that they have now is that Chavez is trying to supplant the Saudis running OPEC, and we've got a president who basically is caught up in these dictators of Saudi Arabia in the Gulf. And that's what the Bush family is linked up to, and they are not going to let them be supplanted by Chavez....they had to get rid of Saddam, because he was jerking the oil markets up and down. I was very interested in why did we go into Iraq suddenly, and the answer was he was destabilizing the oil markets. He was making it jump up, making it jump down. And he had to go. And that's right in the documentation.
... There was a neo-con plan, which was 101 pages long. Now, they actually did want to break up OPEC and destroy Saudi Arabia, but the Bush family wasn't going to let that happen, nor was big oil. And you will see behind this all: James Baker and, of course, Dick Cheney. (In my book) You’ll see all the stuff about the hugger muggers between Cheney, big oil, Rumsfeld, Jim Baker. Nowhere is there any discussion of George Bush. He was not in the picture. He was not in the frame. Basically, there was no decision made or even discussed with George Bush. He’s the president who’s not there.

NSA Used City Police as Trackers
The National Security Agency used law enforcement agencies, including the Baltimore Police Department, to track members of a city anti-war group as they prepared for protests outside the sprawling Fort Meade facility, internal NSA documents show.

Divide & Conquer

National Guard Stretched Too Thin for Border Security Deployment

Border troops would be temporary, US tells Mexico
President Bush is planning to deploy thousands of National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexican border to help keep out undocumented immigrants. White House officials have said the deployment is a temporary measure to give the government time to hire private contractors to support Border Patrol.
Yeah, that's all we need, Blackwater guys not in either legal jurisdiction killing people without oversight, just like in Iraq and New Orleans.

US files motion to intervene in AT&T secrets case
The Justice Department has filed a motion on Saturday to intervene and seek dismissal of a lawsuit by a civil liberties group against AT&T over the company’s role in the National Security Agency’s warrant-less domestic surveillance program. In court papers, federal officials argued that whether the operations were legal or not, the program involved secrets too sensitive for public discussion.

BLOCKING JUSTICE
Once rarely used, the "state secrets" privilege has over the past five years become a routine defense used by the U.S. Government to keep cases from being tried.

Bush and CIA Director-Designate Hayden Rewrite the 4th Amendment
Bush's nominee for head of the CIA, Gen. Michael Hayden, at a recent press conference, offered an interpretation of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution that removes the requirement of "probable cause" from that important guarantee of freedom. Asked by Jonathan Landay of Knight-Ridder about the Fourth Amendment's standard of "probable cause" for issuance of a warrant for a police search, Gen. Hayden disputed the standard.
He doesn't know the law. How can he uphold it?

Negroponte Had Denied Domestic Call Monitoring

Verizon Sued For Sharing Phone Records with NSA
Verizon has been sued for giving the NSA the phone records of millions of Americans. The lawsuit was filed on Saturday just days after USA Today reported Verizon, Bell South and AT&T handed over millions of phone call records to help the government build the world’s largest database, The 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act made it illegal for telephone companies and computer service providers to give the government records showing who their customers had dialed or e-mailed. Attorneys say that under the 1986 law the telecoms could be forced to pay out one thousand dollars per violation per customer.
Guess that's why Qwest declined to participate with the NSA.

New EU Law Allows U.S. Gov't To Access Europeans' Phone Records
Meanwhile U.S. spy operations are also making headlines in Europe. A Swedish newspaper is reporting that a new European Union law may allow the U.S. government to access information on phone calls, text messages and emails sent by EU citizens. The new law – which goes into effect next year -- requires European telephone operators and internet service providers to store information on who called whom and who emailed whom for at least six months.

Israel's Mossad remains in charge of Iran nuclear file

Russia and US trade angry words over Iran at UN dinner

The American secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, and her Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, traded barbs during bad-tempered talks at a foreign ministers' summit in New York on Iran's nuclear programme. The gathering in Ms Rice's suite had been intended as a 30-minute chat before dinner but turned into a two-hour session. By the time the foreign ministers sat down to eat at 10.30pm, their sea bass was shrivelled and, to Mrs Beckett's surprise, the bickering continued in front of senior officials.

Boston College Professor Resigns Over Decision to Honor Condi Rice
In education news, an adjunct professor at Boston College has resigned to protest the school’s decision to award Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice an honorary degree. In a letter to the school’s president, professor Steve Almond said Rice has quote “lied to the American people knowingly, repeatedly… in an effort to justify a pathologically misguided foreign policy.”

US opposed to good Iran-Turkey ties: Ejevit
Former Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ejevit was quoted in a daily as saying that US President George W Bush as even opposed to amicable relations with Tehran during his tenure, IRNA reported. He said, "The United States is creating crises in this very sensitive strategic region of the world, that is a potential threat for Turkey and the entire region."

US Sending Mentally Unstable Troops into Battle
Among the troops who plunged through the gaps in the mental health system was Army Spec. Jeffrey Henthorn, a young father and third-generation soldier, whose death last year is still being mourned by his native Choctaw, Okla. What his hometown does not know is that Henthorn, 25, had been sent back to Iraq for a second tour, even though his superiors knew he was unstable and had threatened suicide at least twice, according to Army investigative reports and interviews. When he finally succeeded in killing himself on Feb. 8, 2005, at Camp Anaconda in Balad, Iraq, an Army report says, the work of the M-16 rifle was so thorough that fragments of his skull pierced the barracks ceiling.
In a case last July, a 20-year-old soldier who had written a suicide note to his mother was relieved of his gun and referred for a psychological evaluation, but then was accused of faking his mental problems and warned he could be disciplined, according to what he told his family. Three weeks later, after his gun had been handed back, Pfc. Jason Scheuerman, of Lynchburg, Va., used it to end his life.

In Kentucky Hills, a Homeland Security Bonanza
The Department of Homeland Security has invested tens of millions of dollars and countless hours of labor over the last four years on a seemingly simple task: creating a tamperproof identification card for airport, rail and maritime workers.
Yet nearly two years past a planned deadline, production of the card, known as the Transportation Worker Identification Credential, has yet to begin. Instead, the road to delivering this critical antiterrorism tool has taken detours to locations, companies and groups often linked to Representative Harold Rogers, a Kentucky Republican who is the powerful chairman of the House subcommittee that controls the Homeland Security budget.

The congressman has also taken 11 trips — including six to Hawaii — on the tab of an organization that until this week was to profit from a no-bid contract Mr. Rogers helped arrange. Work has even been set aside for a tiny start-up company in Kentucky that employs John Rogers, the congressman's son.
"Something stinks in Corbin," said Jay M. Meier, senior securities analyst at MJSK Equity Research in Minneapolis, which follows the identification card industry, referring to the Kentucky community of 8,000 that has perhaps benefited the most from Mr. Rogers's interventions. "And it is the sickest example of what is wrong with our homeland security agenda that I can find."

Andy Stern is changing the face of Service Employees International Union
"When unions were strong, they raised everyone up. Look at what's happening in America. The gap between the rich and the rest of the population is growing so wide and so fast that even Alan Greenspan says it threatens democratic capitalism. I think unions are the best anti-poverty program that America's ever had."
Stern spent 10 years as a leader in the AFL-CIO, arguing that the federation's priorities were misguided. He was frustrated that so much money went into supporting political candidates instead of into recruiting new members. So last summer, Andy Stern did what insiders thought was unthinkable: he marched six million workers out of the AFL-CIO, cutting it by 40 percent, and created a new federation called "Change To Win." The split left the AFL-CIO reeling and it had to cut its budget by 25 percent.
Stern's central motivation: lifting the very lowest-paid service workers into the middle class. What's amazing here in Illinois is that by going door to door, SEIU was able to organize 49,000 other women who run day care centers. After 10 years of recruiting and lobbying, Illinois agreed to a union contract, giving the women a 35 percent raise and health care during the next three years.
"I think I'm going to win the Nobel Prize because I think I can finally prove that Ronald Reagan is wrong, George Bush is wrong. Wealth does not trickle down, it trickles up," Stern said at a rally.

One of SEIU's big successes in trickle up economics is janitors. You'd think a janitor like Emmanuel Tanis, who works in an office building in New York, would make minimum wage. But he's in SEIU and, with overtime, Tanis made $53,000 last year.
"Well, here's what we know. The members of our union -- janitors, security officers -- are getting health care while other workers are losing it. The members of our unions are getting raises while other people aren't. The success has to be judged by what's happening to the members of our union."

U.S. Blocks Access for Red Cross to Secret Prisons
The International Committee of the Red Cross is accusing the Bush administration of ignoring requests from the organization to have access to detainees being held in secret U.S. jails around the world. The U.S. has disappeared an unknown number of people captured in the so-called war on terror. The government refuses to reveal where they are held or to allow anyone – including attorneys – to see them.


Laura Bush doesn't believe bad polls on husband
First Lady Laura Bush said Sunday she doesn’t believe the public opinion polls that show her husband is one of the least popular presidents of the past 50 years. On Friday a Harris Poll put the President’s approval rating at a new low of 29 percent. Laura Bush told Fox News "I don't really believe those polls… As I travel around the United States, I see a lot of appreciation for him. A lot of people come up to me and say, 'Stay the course'."
Ah, life in a bubble....

Media hide truth: 9/11 was inside job
Last Saturday, former Bush administration official Morgan Reynolds drew an enthusiastic capacity crowd to the Wisconsin Historical Society auditorium. It is probably the first time in Historical Society history that a political talk has drawn a full house on a Saturday afternoon at the beginning of final exams.
Reynolds, the former director of the Criminal Justice Center at the National Center for Policy Analysis, and the ex-top economist for George W. Bush's Labor Department, charged the Bush administration with gross malfeasance, and proposed the prosecution of top administration officials.
Despite the prestigious speaker and venue, and the gravity of the charges aired, for most Americans indeed most Madisonians the event never happened. Why? Because it was censored, subjected to a total media blackout. Not a word in the State Journal. Not a word in The Capital Times. Not a word on the local TV news. Not a word on local radio news. And, of course, not a word in the national media.

Opposition Grows to Army’s 700-Ton Bomb Test in Nevada
In Southern Utah, scores of protesters gathered Saturday to protest the government’s plan to set off 700-tons of explosives next month in the Nevada Test Site. The explosion will be 50 times more powerful than the Army’s largest conventional bomb. Although the test – known as the Divine Strake -- will use conventional explosives, it is being conducted in order to better understand nuclear bunker buster bombs. According to government documents, the test is needed to determine the “proper nuclear yield necessary to destroy underground facilities.” The Pentagon estimates the blast will be so large that it will create a 10,000 foot-high mushroom cloud. Critics fear the dust could spread radioactive particles from old nuclear tests.
Isn't this illegal under the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty, which the US is signatory to?

US Military Plans Joint Exercise in West Africa
The U.S. military curently enjoys cooperation with a number of countries in West Africa, and Africa's growing oil industry, concentrated in West Africa's Gulf of Guinea, has also led to an increased U.S. military presence in the region.

Report: Global Warning Could Kill 184 Million in Africa
The charity group Christian Aid is warning that global warming could have a devastating effect on the continent of Africa. A new report by the group estimates 184 million people could die in Africa this century as a result of climate-induced floods, famine, drought and conflict. The group said "Poor people will take the brunt, so we are calling on rich countries to help them adjust as the seas rise, the deserts expand, and floods and hurricanes become more frequent and intense."

Army Withdraws Support For Baghdad ER Documentary
And senior Army officials are withdrawing their support for a new HBO documentary filmed inside an Army combat hospital in Baghdad. The Secretary of the Army Francis Harvey and other senior Army officials were originally planning to attend a screening tonight of the film Baghdad ER. But they have decided that the film’s graphic footage might demoralize soldiers and negatively affect public opinion about the war. Last week the Army's chief surgeon issued a memo warning medical staff at Army posts across the country to prepare for a possible influx of soldiers and families seeking comfort and counseling after watching the documentary. Baghdad ER was produced by Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill of Downtown Community Television in New York. The documentary will air on HBO on Sunday.

"Witch Hunt" for traitors

Times' Frank Rich: Any 'witch hunt' for traitors should begin in the White House"
Ex-CIA Director Porter Goss should not be allowed to "escape into retirement unexamined," Rich argues, calling him "so inept that an overzealous witch hunter might mistake him for an al-Qaida double agent."

Truthout reporting Rove indicted!

During the course of that meeting, Fitzgerald served attorneys for former Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove with an indictment charging the embattled White House official with perjury and lying to investigators related to his role in the CIA leak case, and instructed one of the attorneys to tell Rove that he has 24 hours to get his affairs in order, high level sources with direct knowledge of the meeting said Saturday morning.

So far this report remains uncorroborated.

A Fresh Focus on Cheney
Handwritten notes by the Vice President surface in the Fitzgerald probe
It is extremely rare, if not unprecedented, for Cheney's own notes to be made public. The notes—apparently obtained as a result of a grand jury subpoena—would appear to make Cheney an even more central witness than had been previously thought in the criminal probe. Karl Rove, the President Bush's chief political adviser, recently made his fifth grand jury appearance in the case and remains under scrutiny while Fitzgerald weighs whether to file criminal charges against him.
Fitzgerald first alleged that Cheney had questioned whether Wilson's trip was a "junket" in a court filing last month. In that filing, Fitzgerald also asserted that the vice president, acting with the approval of President Bush, had authorized Libby to disclose portions of the classified National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq to rebut some of Wilson's claims.
This evidence, Fitzgerald added, "directly contradicts" the assertion by defense lawyers that Libby "had no motive to lie" to the FBI and to the grand jury because he "thought that neither he nor anyone else had done anything wrong." Instead, Fitzgerald asserts, "the evidence about the conversation concerning the Novak column provides a strong motive for the defendant to provide false information and testimony about his disclosures to reporters."
A spokeswoman for Libby declined comment on the filing.


Foggo the focus of multiple investigations

There are inquiries into whether he improperly awarded agency contracts to a longtime friend, Brent R. Wilkes, a military contractor whose companies have received nearly $100 million in government contracts. Foggo has admitted attending poker parties throughout the 1990s held by Wilkes at the Watergate Hotel in Washington. The parties were attended by C.I.A. officials and congressmen, including Randy "Duke" Cunningham, a California Republican, who has already resigned admitting to bribery. Several news media accounts have reported that prostitutes frequented the parties.

Wilkes, Skyway, and more: The corruption converges

For quite a while now, I've contended that Brent Wilkes -- the spooked-up bribe-meister still described as a "defense contractor" by most mainstream publications -- ran a largely phoney string of businesses. Wilkes paid off Republican pols to get fat contracts; any actual work usually went to subcontractors who charged a lot less, and the profits were recycled back into Republican campaign warchests. (The same schemes took place during the Katrina clean-up: A company run by a G.O.P. good old boy would receive megadollars, while the subcontractor -- the local guy with the truck who did the actual labor -- received pennies.)

NSA Whistleblower To Expose More Unlawful Activity:
‘People…Are Going To Be Shocked’

A former intelligence officer for the National Security Agency said Thursday he plans to tell Senate staffers next week that unlawful activity occurred at the agency under the supervision of Gen. Michael Hayden beyond what has been publicly reported, while hinting that it might have involved the illegal use of space-based satellites and systems to spy on U.S. citizens. …

Bush's CIA nominee designed spy plan, pushed its merits

In the weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, Vice President Dick Cheney and his top legal adviser argued that the National Security Agency should intercept purely domestic telephone calls and e-mail messages without warrants in the hunt for terrorists, according to two senior intelligence officials.

Washington Post Slants Poll to Make it Appear Americans Support Domestic Spying

Washington Post loaded a poll so that it would appear that Americans support illegal domestic spying. The problem is that when you read the poll closely, they only support it when it might lead to apprehending terrorists. As we know, that is the discredited and highly dubious claim being used by the Busheviks to implement their domestic spying program -- and the dismantling of the Constitution in general. So, it is an extremely incompetent, even propagandistic poll.

Why did Bush revoke Executive Order 13011 today?

Debate about Executive Order 13011 has never been resolved completely. It created an environment in which a massive information technology bureaucracy could be allowed to thrive, if only the government were so efficient/inefficient, depending on your individual point of view. There are many that argue that the Executive Order, in typical Executive Order elliptical phrasing, sets the stage for the kind of far-reaching and extensive gathering of intelligence data that the NSA is doing and that the Order further establishes the original "technical" mandate for secretive use of such gargantuan amounts of data.

FLASHBACK: Bush prepares for possible shutdown of GPS network in national crisis

President Bush has ordered plans for temporarily disabling the U.S. network of global positioning satellites during a national crisis to prevent terrorists from using the navigational technology, the White House said Wednesday.

FLASHBACK: An NSA Whistleblower Speaks Out

Russell Tice explains why he wants to tell Congress about what he saw on the job -- and what he thinks should happen to president Bush.

US urges judge to dismiss German's CIA abduction claim

The US government urged a judge Friday to dismiss a German citizen's lawsuit that claims he was kidnapped, imprisoned and tortured by the CIA because the US mistakenly believed he was a terror suspect. The lawsuit by Lebanese-born Khaled El-Masri charges former CIA director George Tenet and three US-based aviation companies with breaking US and international law, drawing attention to highly disputed US practices in the fight against terrorism.

Halliburton wins concentration camp contract
Bush's Mysterious 'New Programs'

Is the Pentagon building U.S.-based prison camps for immigrants? Evidence points to the possibility.

there was that curious development in January when the Army Corps of Engineers awarded Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root a $385 million contract to construct detention centers somewhere in the United States, to deal with "an emergency influx of immigrants into the U.S., or to support the rapid development of new programs," KBR said. Later, the New York Times reported that "KBR would build the centers for the Homeland Security Department for an unexpected influx of immigrants, to house people in the event of a natural disaster or for new programs that require additional detention space." Like most news stories on the KBR contract, the Times focused on concerns about Halliburton's reputation for bilking U.S. taxpayers by overcharging for sub-par services. "It's hard to believe that the administration has decided to entrust Halliburton with even more taxpayer dollars," remarked Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif.
Less attention centered on the phrase "rapid development of new programs" and what kind of programs would require a major expansion of detention centers, each capable of holding 5,000 people. Jamie Zuieback, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, declined to elaborate on what these "new programs" might be.
Only a few independent journalists, such as Peter Dale Scott and Maureen Farrell, have pursued what the Bush administration might actually be thinking. Scott speculated that the "detention centers could be used to detain American citizens if the Bush administration were to declare martial law." He recalled that during the Reagan administration, National Security Council aide Oliver North organized Rex-84 "readiness exercise," which contemplated the Federal Emergency Management Agency rounding up and detaining 400,000 "refugees," in the event of "uncontrolled population movements" over the Mexican border into the United States.
Farrell pointed out [on Buzzflash] that because "another terror attack is all but certain, it seems far more likely that the centers would be used for post-9/11-type detentions of immigrants rather than a sudden deluge" of immigrants flooding across the border.
Vietnam-era whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg said, "Almost certainly this is preparation for a roundup after the next 9/11 for Mid-Easterners, Muslims and possibly dissenters. They've already done this on a smaller scale, with the 'special registration' detentions of immigrant men from Muslim countries, and with Guantanamo."

Labor camps
There also was another little-noticed item posted at the U.S. Army website, about the Pentagon's Civilian Inmate Labor Program. This program "provides Army policy and guidance for establishing civilian inmate labor programs and civilian prison camps on Army installations." The Army document, first drafted in 1997, underwent a "rapid action revision" on Jan. 14, 2005. The revision provides a "template for developing agreements" between the Army and corrections facilities for the use of civilian inmate labor on Army installations. On its face, the Army's labor program refers to inmates housed in federal, state and local jails. The Army also cites various federal laws that govern the use of civilian labor and provide for the establishment of prison camps in the United States, including a federal statute that authorizes the attorney general to "establish, equip, and maintain camps upon sites selected by him" and "make available … the services of United States prisoners" to various government departments, including the Department of Defense.
Though the timing of the document's posting—within the past few weeks—may just be a coincidence, the reference to a "rapid action revision" and the KBR contract's contemplation of "rapid development of new programs" has raised eyebrows about why this sudden need for urgency. These developments also are drawing more attention now because of earlier Bush administration policies to involve the Pentagon in "counter-terrorism" operations inside the United States.
In a 2001 Defense Department memo that surfaced in January 2005, the U.S. Army's top intelligence officer wrote, "Contrary to popular belief, there is no absolute ban on [military] intelligence components collecting U.S. person information."
Former NSA employee Russell D. Tice told a congressional committee on Feb. 14 that such a top-secret surveillance program existed, but he said he couldn't discuss the details without breaking classification laws. Tice added that the "special access" surveillance program may be violating the constitutional rights of millions of Americans. With this expanded surveillance, the government's list of terrorist suspects is rapidly swelling. [UPI, Feb. 14]
In December [15] 2005, NBC News revealed the existence of a secret 400-page Pentagon document listing 1,500 "suspicious incidents" over a 10-month period, including dozens of small antiwar demonstrations that were classified as a "threat."
In such extraordinary circumstances, the American people might legitimately ask exactly what the Bush administration means by the "rapid development of new programs," which might require the construction of a new network of detention camps.

The Freefalling Dollar and Bush’s war on the Middle Class

Can’t the American people see what is happening to their future? In just 6 years Bush has taken the world’s strongest currency and chopped it into finally ground hash. By the time people rouse from their stupor, the greenback will be eye to eye with the peso.

Film on U.S. military hospital 'extremely graphic'
The Army is bracing for the release of a documentary film that promises a graphic and unflinching portrait of life in a U.S. military hospital in Iraq.

US Iraq War Vets Decry Public Apathy

For many Iraq war veterans, those moments of gratitude were short-lived or limited to close friends and family as they soon come to realize bitter impressions of a society that seems to be increasingly indifferent to their psychological and combat sufferings in Iraq, The Washington Post reported on Sunday, May 14.

Spies ‘hid’ bomber tape from MPs
This looks like an attempt to save face by MI5. Meanwhile, if Khan were a real terrorist (as opposed to an informant working for MI5), and it was known he was discussing bombs, then why was he allowed to tour Parliament?

M15 INFILTRATED BY AL-QAEDA
Okay, so here we have the London bombings taking place at the exact same time and exact same location as a terror exercise "simulating" a bombing attack, and now we find out that the bombers were working as informants for MI5? 'Infiltrated by Al Qaeda'? These poor saps were asked to play terrorist for the drill, probably told their job was to sneak fake bombs past the security detail as part of the exercise, then given real bombs instead of fake ones. Think about it for a minute. If these guys really were Al Qaeda and had really infiltrated MI5, don't you think Al Qaeda would want to keep them right where they were, inside MI5, not waste them in a single bombing attack?

Al Qaeda ‘escapee’ calls for attacks in Europe
Abu Yahya Al Libi is believed to be the alias of Libyan Mohammad Hassan who along with three other Al Qaeda militants broke out of the Bagram Air Base last year.

How convenient.

A Democrat-controlled House wouldn't impeach, Pelosi says
Is $63,000 from pro-Israel Political Action Committees really enough to get her to sell out her own party along with the country? Perhaps she will not be re-elected?

UC scientist says ethanol uses more energy than it makes
A lot of fossil fuels go into producing the gas substitute
Ethanol, touted as an alternative fuel of the future, may eat up far more energy during its creation than it winds up giving back, according to research by a UC Berkeley scientist that raises questions about the nation's move toward its widespread use.
A clean-burning fuel produced from renewable crops like corn and sugarcane, ethanol has long been a cornerstone of some national lawmakers' efforts to clear the air and curb dependence on foreign oil. California residents use close to a billion gallons of the alcohol-based fuel per year.
But in a recent issue of the journal Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences, UC Berkeley geoengineering professor Tad Patzek argued that up to six times more energy is used to make ethanol than the finished fuel actually contains. The fossil energy expended during production alone, he concluded, easily outweighs the consumable energy in the end product. As a result, Patzek believes that those who think using the "green" fuel will reduce fossil fuel consumption are deluding themselves -- and the federal government's practice of subsidizing ethanol by offering tax exemptions to oil refiners who buy it is a waste of money.
"People tend to think of ethanol and see an endless cycle: corn is used to produce ethanol, ethanol is burned and gives off carbon dioxide, and corn uses the carbon dioxide as it grows," he said. "But that isn't the case. Fossil fuel actually drives the whole cycle."
Cornell University ecology Professor David Pimentel, however, sides with Patzek, calling production of ethanol "subsidized food burning."
"The USDA isn't looking at factors like the energy it takes to maintain farm machinery and irrigate fields in their analysis," he said, adding that the agency's ethanol report contains overly optimistic assumptions about the efficiency of farming practices. "The bottom line is that we're using far more energy in making ethanol than we're getting out."
Patzek thinks lawmakers and environmental activists need to push ethanol aside and concentrate on more sustainable solutions like improving the efficiency of fuel cells and hybrid electric cars or harnessing solar energy for use in transport. If they don't, he predicts economics will eventually force the issue.
"If government funds become short, subsidies for fuels will be looked at very carefully," he said. "When they are, there's no way ethanol production can survive."

Whatever happened to ethics?

Federal agents raid home of CIA's former No. 3 boss
Federal agents Friday morning raided the home of Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, who stepped down this week from the No. 3 post at the CIA amid accusations of improper ties to a defense contractor named as a co-conspirator in the bribery case of former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham. Foggo resigned his post at the CIA on Monday, after the FBI began investigating whether he improperly steered contracts to Brent Wilkes, a Poway defense contractor and longtime friend of Foggo's. The CIA's inspector general has been investigating Foggo for at least three months. Wilkes, who has not been charged with a crime, has been identified as one of two defense contractors who plied Cunningham with at least $2.4 million in bribes in return for government contracts. The other contractor, Mitchell Wade, pled guilty to corruption charges in February. Cunningham, a Republican from Rancho Santa Fe, is serving an eight-year prison term.
Foggo has worked at the CIA since 1982, with postings in Honduras, Austria and Germany.
Throughout most of his career, he worked as a procurement officer, concentrating on technology purchases, associates have said. Wilkes was eager to sell technology to the government and, according to papers filed in the Cunningham case, those sales were often at inflated prices.

A New Gesture From Iran?
A top Iranian official, in an open letter given to TIME, offers what could be a starting point for negotiations.
The second document, written by a top Iranian official and given to TIME just before Ahmadinejad's letter was made public, offers a more concrete foundation for negotiations to resolve the nuclear impasse.
Smart move--go straight to the propaganda machine.

The Bush Administration is Trying to Link Hugo Chavez to Iran's Nuclear Program
Washington is no stranger to flimsy pretexts when it comes to justifying its ill-conceived, and at times illicit, Latin American initiatives.

Iranian nukes not the real issue
In pushing for a showdown over Iran's nuclear program in the United Nations Security Council, the administration of US President George W Bush has presented the issue as a matter of global security - an Iranian nuclear threat in defiance of the international community. But the history of the conflict and the private strategic thinking of both sides reveal that the dispute is really about the Bush administration's drive for greater dominance in the Middle East and Iran's demand for recognition as a regional power.

Bush alters standard for firing in leak case--
says an aide would have had to commit a crime, not just be involved
President Bush said Monday that he will fire anyone in the administration found to have committed a crime in the leaking of a CIA operative's name, creating a higher threshold than he did one year ago for holding aides accountable in the unmasking of Valerie Plame.

Grand Jury meets today
If Rove gets indicted, Bush will launch the attack against Iran immediately. Remember how Clinton attacked an Aspirin factory in Sudan to get the reporters away from Monica the day she testified?

Rifle pointed at protesters in Florida during Bush visit
We stood with about 50 others on Route 674 and when the motorcade came by there was assault rifle OUT the window pointing at ALL of us...It was absolutely chilling!

Bush job approval falls to 29% in new poll
Bush approval rate at 29%
President Bush’s approval rating has hit another new low. According to a poll by Harris Interactive, just 29% of Americans believe the President is doing a good job. Another poll tracking views on the President and the outlook for the United States led the New York Times to conclude: “Americans have a bleaker view of the country’s direction than at any time in more than two decades.”

An Easy Call: Lying
At least now we know that the Bush administration's name for spying on Americans without first seeking court approval -- the "terrorist surveillance program" -- isn't an exercise in Orwellian doublespeak after all. It's just a bald-faced lie.

Flashback: Gonzales: NSA may tap 'ordinary' Americans' e-mail
Agents operating a controversial National Security Agency surveillance program may have inadvertently spied on the e-mails and phone calls of Americans with no ties to terrorists, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Monday. Gonzales stressed that the program is "narrowly focused" and that adequate steps are taken to protect privacy, though he said he was unable to describe such procedures because of the program's classified nature.

COMMENT LINK FOR QWEST
Say "Hi" to the one phone company that refused to give the NSA your phone records.

FOX News Doesn't Like The Fourth Amendment
FOX News buried a discussion about the uproar over the NSA’s secret collection of phone call records of tens of millions of Americans into the second half-hour of Hannity & Colmes. Then it provided conservative Republican Newt Gingrich as the only guest, with no civil liberties expert as balance. So when Gingrich, who also happens to be a FOX News employee, dismissed search warrants as legal technicalities – well, one began to get the message. And that’s not counting the false, misleading information given by Sean Hannity.

Displaced Iraqis 'living like animals'
Those with nowhere to stay find themselves reduced to tent cities like Shu'lah in Baghdad, where 800 families now live.

The 7/7 London Bombings: How to Set Up a Patsy
A consultancy agency with government and police connections was running an exercise for an unnamed company that revolved around the London Underground being bombed at the exact same times and locations as happened in real life on the morning of July 7th.
Just like Dick Cheney's NORAD war games on 9/11!!!!

EU Lawmakers In US For CIA Prisons, Rendition Investigation
Back in the United States, a group of European lawmakers are in this country as part of their investigation into the CIA’s secret prison facilities and renditions of suspects throughout their continent. But after a meeting with the State Department, Carlos Coelho, the delegation’s Portuguese chair, said US officials had given very little information.

• Carlos Coelho: "They reminded the European committee the United States of America are [bound] by international law, so they deny anything like making renditions to foreign countries to torture someone. They reminded some declarations from Ms. Rice, admitting perhaps some kind of mistakes can happen, but it's our duty to provide if it is true, no other errors can be made in the future."

US Mulls Troop Deployment To Mexican Border
The Associated Press is reporting the Pentagon is examining ways to use the military to patrol the United States border with Mexico. Paul McHale, the assistant secretary of defense for homeland security, has asked aides to draw up plans for the deployment of military resources and troops, including the National Guard. The news comes on the heels of a meeting this week between White House political strategist Karl Rove and several Republican lawmakers where the issue was discussed. Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill Thursday, lawmakers approved a measure that would allow limited deployments of military personnel to assist border officials.

Chomsky Criticizes US Stance on Iran
Meanwhile, on a visit to Lebanon, MIT professor Noam Chomsky was asked about the Bush administration’s row with Iran.

• Noam Chomsky: "The regional superpower Israel is threatening to attack [Iran], the U.S. is threatening to attack it. These threats alone are outright violations international law and of the U.N. charter. Iran is in difficulty. Iran has been trying for some years to negotiate settlement but the U.S. just refuses."

What do you call it then?

The Prez sez he's not trolling
He didn't look too happy going in front of the cameras this morning for only a few minutes to give a prepared statement as a reaction to the USA Today article.

Greenwald: "Amazingly, again and again, they don't even want their own Justice Department to know what they are doing because they are afraid that DoJ lawyers will tell them that it is against the law. They don't want to hear that it is against the law. As USA Today reported: "For similar reasons, this person said, NSA rejected Qwest's suggestion of getting a letter of authorization from the U.S. attorney general's office. A second person confirmed this version of events." They know very well that their conduct might be, and in some cases that it is definitely is, illegal, but they are purposely avoiding having the DoJ be able to opine on the legality of their behavior...".read

Court Pick Deflects Questions On White House Controversies

As White House staff secretary, Brett M. Kavanaugh has a desk near the Oval Office, and he sees most letters and documents that go in there before President Bush does. But Kavanaugh, nominated by Bush to an appellate court judgeship, testified yesterday that he knew nothing about the administration's warrantless surveillance program, a now-rescinded memo on torture and White House visits by former lobbyist Jack Abramoff until they were in the newspapers.

All About NSA's and AT&T's Big Brother Machine, the Narus 6400

Specifically, this equipment was the Narus ST-6400, a machine that was capable of monitoring over 622 Mbits/second in real time in May, 2000, and capturing anything that hits its' semantic (i.e. the meaning of the content) triggers. The latest generation is called NarusInsight, capable of monitoring 10 billion bits of data per second.

NSA Whistleblower Alleges Illegal Spying
Russell Tice, a longtime insider at the National Security Agency, is now a whistleblower the agency would like to keep quiet. For 20 years, Tice worked in the shadows as he helped the United States spy on other people's conversations around the world.
"I specialized in what's called special access programs," Tice said of his job. "We called them 'black world' programs and operations." But now, Tice tells ABC News that some of those secret "black world" operations run by the NSA were operated in ways that he believes violated the law. He is prepared to tell Congress all he knows about the alleged wrongdoing in these programs run by the Defense Department and the NSA in the post-9/11 efforts to go after terrorists. Tice says the technology exists to track and sort through every domestic and international phone call as they are switched through centers, such as one in New York, and to search for key words or phrases that a terrorist might use.
"If you picked the word 'jihad' out of a conversation," Tice said, "the technology exists that you focus in on that conversation, and you pull it out of the system for processing."
Why won't the Congress hear his testimony? Maybe he should be around for the Michael Hayden appointment hearings?

NSA has collected 'tens of millions' of phone records
Telecom Companies Helped NSA Spy on Millions of US Citizens
One source with direct knowledge of the program called it “the largest database ever assembled in the world” whose goal is to collect a record of “every call ever made" within the United States. The companies -- AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth – have been under contract since after the 9/11 attacks.
Only one major telecom company declined to participate in the program. The company, Qwest, reportedly asked the NSA to get FISA-court approval before it would hand over the records. The NSA refused. Although the program does not involve the direct monitoring of phone conservations, it amasses detailed records on who people have called and when they’ve called them. At least one company had already been implicated in the program.
In a lawsuit filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation earlier this year, former AT&T technician Mark Klein said AT&T has been working with the National Security Agency to spy on Americans. In addition to raising new questions about the extent of the NSA spy program and the companies involved, the disclosure also raises new questions about CIA Director-nominee Michael Hayden. Hayden headed the National Security Agency at the time the spy program was implemented. He declined USA Today’s request for comment.

Wiretap Whistleblower's Statement

Former AT&T technician Mark Klein has come forward to support the EFF's lawsuit against AT&T for its alleged complicity in the NSA's electronic surveillance. Here, Wired News publishes Klein's public statement in its entirety.

Constitutional Skin

Jonathan Turley, a Constitutional law expert, unloaded on Bush during his segment on "Countdown" tonight. He's been critical before, but watch this clip. Turley calls attention to the fact that Bush likes hiring officials who have either been convicted or pleaded guilty to crimes or others who should have been indicted.

Turley: Well, first of all this President's theory of his power I think is now so extreme that it's unprecedented. He believes that he has the inherent authority to violate federal law. He has said that. Not just the signing statements and the infamous torture memo-that Alberto Gonzales signed. It was stated that he could in some circumstances order federal officials to violate federal law and this is consistent across the board with this President. Frankly, I'm not too sure what he thought he was swearing to when he took the oath of office to uphold the Constitution and our laws. I've never seen a President who is so uncomfortable in his constitutional skin.

Security issue kills domestic spying inquiry
The government has abruptly ended an inquiry into the warrantless eavesdropping program because the National Security Agency refused to grant Justice Department lawyers the necessary security clearance to probe the matter. According to the Office of Professional Responsibility, investigators had been asking for the clearances since January, but were only told their requests had been denied this week. New York Democratic Congressmember Maurice Hinchey called for a probe of the NSA’s denial, saying: "The Bush administration cannot simply create a Big Brother program and then refuse to answer any questions on how it came about and what it entails.”

Abramoff's NSA and Domestic Spying Scandal
We now learn that Abramoff is at the center of a much wider web of criminal activity involving private-sector NSA contractors and GOP lawmakers. Abramoff served as a conduit between the NSA and private companies that have become the focus of multiple criminal prosecutions and national security investigations, including the abuse of prisoners abroad, and alledged spying on Capitol Hill lawmakers by Abramoff clients. Yesterday, we reported that Verizon (dba Qwest Wireless), is the focus of an NSA contracting scandal and a little-noticed trial of executives for cooking company books. Attorneys for Qwest's CEO, Joseph Nacchio, raised knowledge of classified government contracts anticipated by Qwest in 2001 as "one of the key elements to his defense."
In 2001 Verizon, along with CACI (a defense contractor shepherded by Abramoff that heavily contributed to the GOP), was awarded part of a multi-billion dollar NSA contract to privatize the NSA's information technology systems, capabilities that were then used by the Bush Administration to carry out illegal domestic spying. As part of that ten-year program, code-named Project Groundbreaker, NSA surveillance systems continue to be developed, operated and maintained by private sector IT companies.
CACI is part of the Groundbreaker contract. A CACI contractor working for the CIA was implicated in the torture and homicide of a detainee in Afghanistan. Sourcewatch reports that Abramoff's former law firm, Greenberg Traurig, working with a CACI lobbyist on a junket to Israel to introduce Capitol Hill to prisoner interrogation techniques. See, http://www.sourcewatch.org/...

Abramoff Linked to NSA Contracting Scandal
Yet another scandal-plagued corporation with close ties to GOP fixer Jack Abramoff is in the news. Telecommunications giant Qwest bid on huge NSA contracts for outsourced IT services to develop secret surveillance capabilities that ended up being used by the Bush Administration for illegal domestic spying.
Even before revelations of massive NSA domestic spying, Big Telecoms appear to have engaged in a whole host of dirty dealings and intrigue that involved Abramoff. Qwest was previously implicated in improper transactions with Enron to inflate both companies' bottom lines. Global Crossing -- yet another bankrupted market-maker -- was doing shady business with Qwest, a spin-off of Verizon.
Jack Abramoff presents a common link between all these scandal-plagued companies. Abramoff's former law firm, Greenberg Traurig has operated as a deal-maker and arm of the GOP and the Bush White House at a number of crucial junctures.
Abramoff's close associate, former Tom DeLay Chief of Staff Ed Buckham, was Enron's registered lobbyist. Here we see Abramoff at the center of yet another web of corporate and government corruption. As we pull back a layer of his incredibly convoluted influence-peddling career, Jack also appears as a player in the emerging NSA domestic spying scandal.

Lewis Surfaces in Probe of Cunningham
Federal prosecutors have begun an investigation into Rep. Jerry Lewis, the Californian who chairs the powerful House Appropriations Committee, government officials and others said, signaling the spread of a San Diego corruption probe. Lewis is being investigated for his ties to a lobbyist linked to jailed former Congressmember Randy "Duke" Cunningham. The lobbyist, Bill Lowery, represents clients who received millions of dollars in government contracts under measures that Lewis proposed.

Exodus of the Iraqi middle class: Shia militias are driving out professionals in Baghdad
Colleagues were astonished when Hussain, a nurse at Kadimiyah Hospital in Baghdad, turned up for work in a new suit with a pistol strapped around his waist and announced that he was now in charge. A doctor who ridiculed the idea of this 34-year-old appointing himself administrator of the 700-bed hospital was slapped across the face by his new boss, who ordered armed security guards to escort the medic from the building. The expulsion was a brutal warning to other staff who might question the right of the al-Mahdi Army, a Shia militia, to install one of their own to run the hospital.

LOOK IN THE MIRROR
People have forgotten the embargo years in Iraq. Nobody gave a shit. Now, today we may see a suicide bomber kill three Americans in an attack. Does anyone realize that the bomber may have had his grandparents and a sister die during the embargo because Iraq was not allowed to import medicine? Or because they were poisoned by drinking water? After a few days of bombing Iraq in 1991, Schwarzkopf took to the podium and proudly stated that the Iraqi drinking water would be poisoned for years to come. He laughed about it. Many resistance fighters now in Iraq did not laugh and they are getting back for the deaths of family members.

Brazil Officially Starts First Uranium Enrichment Facility
No one is suggesting a bombing campaign....

Iranian President's Letter Highlights 9/11 Inside Job
Here is the excerpt from the letter:

"September eleven was not a simple operation. Could it be planned and executed without coordination with intelligence and security services – or their extensive infiltration? Of course this is just an educated guess. Why have the various aspects of the attacks been kept secret? Why are we not told who botched their responsibilities? And, why aren’t those responsible and the guilty parties identified and put on trial? All governments have a duty to provide security and peace of mind for their citizens."
"It is now time for all governments who still operate outside of the control of the Globalists to come forward and join humanity in unveiling the real terrorists who are attempting to deform the world into a prison planet. On a governmental level the challenge is here before you. Either scream from the rooftops about government orchestrated terrorism or sit back and watch your country become a victim of it as it is wrestled away from your hands and placed in the domain of a black and cancerous global dictatorship."

Turkish, Iranian armies build up forces along Iraq's only quiet area
Iran and Turkey are sending troops, tanks and artillery to the frontier to seal off the borders and send a message: If the U.S.-backed Iraqi government doesn't clamp down on Kurdish guerrillas who use Iraq as a base, they could do it themselves. That has left the United States in a quandary. If U.S. forces take action, they risk alienating Iraqi Kurds, the most pro-American group in the region. And if they don't, they risk increased tensions – and possibly worse – with two powerful rivals.

US Army Troop Build up on Iraq-Iran Borders
After the Tehran administration conducted operations against the terror network Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) by crossing the Iraqi border, the US Army in Iraq is claimed to have increased the military build up of US troops on the Iranian border. The US administration, however, announced they increased the troops stationed at the border as a security measure since the insurgent’s smuggle stocks weapons into Iraq from Iran.

US military, intelligence officials raise concern about possible preparations for Iran strike
Concern is building among the military and the intelligence community that the US may be preparing for a military strike on Iran, as military assets in key positions are approaching readiness.

How Iran will win a sanctions war
Over the past two months US President George W Bush and officials of his administration have repeatedly asserted that diplomacy is crucial to resolving the Iran nuclear issue. But rather than focusing on relations between Washington and Tehran, this diplomacy has been fixated on gaining international support for US-led economic sanctions against Iran.

US should be aware of the risks of Bush's war talk
Why is US President George Bush threatening to go to war against Iran over its civilian nuclear program at a time when American forces are bogged down in Iraq and US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld is facing a virtual insurrection against his disastrous handling of the war by retired American military generals? Considering another adventure under such circumstances appears grossly irrational, but Washington is not run by rational beings.

Sir! No Sir

YOU MUST WATCH THIS!

HAVE 200,000 AK47S FALLEN INTO THE HANDS OF IRAQ TERRORISTS?

The 99-tonne cache of AK47s was to have been secretly flown out from a US base in Bosnia. But the four planeloads of arms have vanished. Orders for the deal to go ahead were given by the US Department of Defense. But the work was contracted out via a complex web of private arms traders.

US presses China to toughen stance on Iran

Robert Zoellick, deputy secretary of state, elevated Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons development to the single most important issue at stake in US-China relations rather than the usual concerns over the strength of China’s currency and its ballooning trade surplus.

Many war vets' stress disorders go untreated
Only about one in five Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans who screen positive for combat-related stress disorders are referred by the Pentagon for mental health treatment, according to a draft of a report to be released today by the Government Accountability Office. In the report, the GAO criticized the Pentagon for failing to specifically explain how it identifies troops who may be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Pentagon, Congress Spar Over Standards On Detainee Treatment
The Los Angeles Times is reporting the Pentagon has delayed release of the revised Army Field Manual due to Congressional opposition to rules that would establish differing standards for how detainees can be treated. Congress adopted a torture ban last year which bars the mistreatment of all detainees in US custody -- regardless of how the Pentagon chooses to classify them. But the Pentagon and the Bush administration are pushing for a separate set of rules that would allow laxer standards for the treatment of those detainees it deems “enemy combatants.”

The Israeli Torture Template
With mounting evidence that a shadowy group of former Israeli Defense Force and General Security Service (Shin Bet) Arabic-speaking interrogators were hired by the Pentagon under a classified "carve out" sub-contract to brutally interrogate Iraqi prisoners at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison, one only needs to examine the record of abuse of Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners in Israel to understand what Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld meant, when referring to new, yet to be released photos and videos, he said, "if these images are released to the public, obviously its going to make matters worse."

John Israel, who was identified in the report as being employed by both CACI International of Arlington, Virginia, and Titan, Inc., of San Diego, may not have even been a U.S. citizen. The Taguba report states that Israel did not have a security clearance, a requirement for employment as an interrogator for CACI. According to CACI's web site, "a Top Secret Clearance that is current and US citizenship" are required for CACI interrogators working in Iraq. In addition, CACI requires that its interrogators "have at least two years experience as a military policeman or similar type of law enforcement/intelligence agency whereby the individual utilized interviewing techniques."
Speculation that "John Israel" may be an intelligence cover name has fueled speculation whether this individual could have been one of a number of Israeli interrogators hired under a classified contract.

San Diego Defense Contractor Linked to Company in 5.5 Ton Cocaine Bust
An investigation of Titan Corp. also revealed that the firm has a curious and so-far unexplained connection to Makram Chams, a mysterious Lebanese man who provided assistance to Mohamed Atta and other terrorist hijackers in Venice Florida before the 9.11 attack.

UK Attorney General Calls For Guantanamo Closure
Britain’s Attorney General has called for the closure of the US prison facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In a speech in London, Lord Peter Goldsmith said: "The existence of Guantanamo remains unacceptable.”

Students Torture Vietnam Vet
It’s no surprise that in a country, where torture is condoned by our GOP leaders, that a bunch of high-school kids thought it would be fun to lure a 53-year-old mentally ill Vietnam veteran onto school grounds with money and food, and then force the man to strip naked while they all stood around pointing and laughing.
You've got to be carefully taught. They'll be great in the Marines.

US flight security's sharp practices
"A couple of times I have found bride and groom cake-cutting set. A lot of times it has their names on it as well as the wedding dates and it is really sad for them because its clearly a memento or something that maybe somebody flew on the plane to the wedding wanted to give them as a gift, and that's really a shame."
So they don't just break the little nail files off the fingernail clippers?

Judge orders "World Can't Wait" activist to be jailed in psych unit
In a hastily called hearing yesterday, Judge McGinty made a highly unusual and outrageous decision to force Carol to undergo a state psychological exam as part of her pre-sentencing investigation. From the very start of Carol's case, the judge has openly said that she must have mental problems for resisting an unlawful and brutal encounter with Cleveland Heights police. He went even further in yesterday's hearing, saying that her opposition to the Bush regime makes her "delusional."
Send them to Siberia!!!

London bombers acted alone: official
Long-awaited British government reports into attacks last July on London's transit network conclude the gang acted without the assistance of foreign terrorists, British officials and politicians say.
Exactly like Lee Harvey Oswald, James Earl Ray, Sirhan Sirhan & Mark David Chapman!

Terror Expert: 7/7 Mastermind was working for British Intelligence, Group was used by Brits in Kosovo in the late 90s
The Dud Bombers of 21/7, the patsies, have all been rounded up along with 18 others currently under questioning, yet the so called "mastermind" is allowed to go free and is protected time and time again by MI5, MI6, FBI and CIA. The same thing happened in 93 with the WTC bombing, 95 with the OKC bombing, 01 with 911 and it's happening again, it's the same type of operation EVERY TIME.

THE DISGRACE OF ABC'S BIRD FLU MOVIE
I can safely say that never has network television sunk to such sleazy, reprehensible and wicked depths. It's abundantly clear what kind of a picture is going to be painted here. It's the same catastrophizing and fear mongering, without any regard for the facts, which we see in the headlines of the mainstream news on a regular basis. The promos even made the claim that this movie was "ahead of the headlines," or words to that affect, virtually bragging about foretelling what's in store for the poor American people. Other things that jumped out and grabbed you were a reference to 20-million people dying, a shortage of vaccine, the fact that there was nothing that could be done to stop it, and one of the characters saying, "We're all going to die."
Brought to you by Donald Rumsfeld & Gilead Sciences, the makers of TAMIFLU. Get yours today!

NYC Council Passes Anti-COPE Measure
New York City has become the latest metropolitan area to pass a bill in support of local control over public access media. On Wednesday, New York’s City Council unanimously passed a measure opposing the proposed Communications, Opportunity, Promotion, and Enhancement Act. Among several controversial provisions, the COPE bill would cut back the obligation of cable TV companies to devote channels to public access and fund the facilities to run them. It also would replace local cable franchises with national franchises. According to the Manhattan Neighborhood Network, over eighty cities or towns have proposed or passed resolutions similar to the one in New York City.

Hookergate limo svc gets $25million in DHS contracts

HOOKERGATE Limos provided by Shirlington Limosine
AMY GOODMAN: We're talking to Ken Silverstein, Washington editor for Harper's Magazine, who has just launched a blog there and has written about the “loss of Goss.” You talk about related news: Member of Congress calling for – saying they’ll investigate a more than $21 million contract between the Department of Homeland Security and Shirlington Limousine of Alexandria, Virginia. Who are they? What is this business?
KEN SILVERSTEIN: What I learned at the time was that Shirlington, which appeared to be the exclusive provider of transportation by Brent Wilkes, was ferrying people to the Watergate and the other hotels, is owned by Christopher Baker, a man who had a 62-page rap sheet, a ten-year record of criminal conduct from 1979 to 1989. Shortly after that, he gets hooked up with Wilkes and, you know, begins providing limousine service for him. And, meanwhile, this guy, who doesn't have the most impressive background, let's say, gets a big, fat $21.2 million contract from the Department of Homeland Security, on top of an earlier contract for, I believe it was $3.8 million. I’ve also discovered three additional contracts that the company got from other federal agencies.
And so, the question is: How did a company that is headed by a guy with this sort of background get plugged in to the point that it got from D.H.S. alone about $25 million worth of contracts? So now, Congress is calling for an investigation into this and trying to figure out whether any political influence was exercised to help Shirlington get the contracts. And, I think, obviously the investigators in the Cunningham scandal are very closely looking at what role Shirlington played here, and did it, in fact, ferry prostitutes over to the Watergate and potentially other hotels at the behest of Brent Wilkes? That's what's been alleged.

FROM KEN'S WASHINGTON BABYLON blog:

Follow-up 2: Red Lights on Capitol Hill

A few days ago I wondered aloud exactly how Shirlington Limousine of Arlington, Virginia, owned by Christopher Baker—a man with a lengthy history of illegal activity—got millions of dollars in federal contracts with the Department of Homeland Security and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and if those contracts had anything to do with Shirlington’s relationship with defense contractor and accused Duke Cunningham-briber Brent Wilkes. The latter, readers might recall, allegedly used Baker's limo service to transport congressmen, CIA officials, and perhaps prostitutes to his Washington parties.

Follow-up 1: Red Lights on Capitol Hill

I reported last Thursday that Shirlington Limousine and Transportation, Inc., a firm allegedly used by defense contractor Brent Wilkes to provide prostitutes to ex-Rep. Duke Cunningham, is headed by a man who has a long criminal rap sheet and is also a contractor for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). It was Mitchell Wade, another defense contractor who has acknowledged bribing Cunningham, and who is cooperating with investigators, who reportedly told prosecutors about Shirlington's relationship with Wilkes and the latter's alleged pimping scheme. (Wilkes's attorney denies the charge.)

Under Hayden, NSA Went "Deaf," Spending Skyrocketed
Gorman found that between 1999 and 2005, the NSA bungled two key technology programs and an important oversight effort. As a result, "The agency has been gradually 'going deaf,' as unimportant communications drown out key pieces of information," an official told Gorman. Meanwhile, the secretive agency has been burning through billions -- billions -- of dollars.

Cunningham said to be uncooperative
Send him to Abu Ghraib.

Ray McGovern & Cindy Sheehan to lead March on the White House
The crooks in power don’t care if we schedule another weekend protest- the one thing they don’t want is an extended protest like the Ukranians had. Several weeks of peaceful demonstration led to their President stepping down. That’s what we need.

BREAKING: SEC INVESTIGATION OF DIEBOLD UNDER WAY!"
The investigation of Diebold by the SEC, which we had heard previously about through background sources over the past several months, comes on the heels of a class action Securities Fraud litigation suit, originally reported exclusively by The BRAD BLOG just before it was filed last December.

Republicans Reach Agreement on Controversial Tax Bill
House and Senate Republicans have agreed on a new tax bill critics say will disproportionately favor the wealthiest Americans. The $70 billion dollar measure would extend the 15 percent tax rate on capital and dividends until the year 2010. According to the Tax Policy Center, households earning more than $1 million dollars would save $42,000 dollars in taxes. Meanwhile, households earning around $45,000 dollars would save $46 dollars.

Sex, Greed And Forced Abortions
One would imagine that Tom DeLay, a right-wing Christian, would be appalled by the teeming red-light district of Saipan, the main island in the Micronesian chain of the Northern Marianas. Or Jack Abramoff, an Orthodox Jew. Yet these two men have been among the strongest supporters of an exploitative labor and immigration system on Saipan that has helped fuel not just this sex tourism, but work arrangements that are tantamount to indentured servitude.

FBI, DoD, NSA: All Spying on You
Over the last several months, it has been revealed that the FBI, the Pentagon and the National Security Agency have each set up apparently independent covert operations to monitor the constitutionally protected political activities of citizens opposed to the Bush administration’s war in Iraq.

HUD Secretary Turns Down Contractor Who Criticized Bush
Housing and Urban Development Department Secretary Alphonso Jackson is coming under scrutiny after he revealed he cancelled a proposed deal with a government contractor who made critical comments of President Bush. According to the Dallas Business Journal, Jackson said the contractor had been selected for a government advertising contract. But the contractor was ultimately not selected after he told Jackson he didn’t like President Bush. Jackson said: "Why should I reward someone who doesn't like the president, so they can use funds to try to campaign against the president? Logic says they don't get the contract. That's the way I believe."
In response, Democratic Congressmembers Barney Frank of Massachusetts and Henry Waxman of California called for a full investigation of Jackson’s contract decisions. In a letter to Jackson, the Congressmemembers wrote: "If this account is accurate, your comments and actions were improper and most likely illegal. Federal contracts should be awarded based on merit, not on whether a contractor likes or dislikes President Bush."

Uncovered Letter Says Yale's "Skull & Bones" Stole Geronimo’s Remains
A Yale historian has uncovered a letter that supports the theory that Yale’s Skull and Bones society stole the skull of Native American leader Geronimo. According to legend, Skull and Bones members — including Prescott Bush, President Bush’s grandfather — dug up Geronimo's remains from his burial plot in Ft. Sill, Oklahoma. The letter, written by a Skull and Bones member in 1918, says group members took skull and other remains and buried them in their Yale clubhouse.

"There's three things to remember: claim everything, explain nothing, deny everything."
-- Senator Prescott Bush (Skull & Bones 1917)

President Bush’s Approval Rating at 31%
President Bush’s approval rating has reached a new low -- 31%. That figure matches the lowest rating of the presidency of his father, George H. W. Bush, and is the third lowest approval rating of any president in half a century.

44 Countries Join New UN Human Rights Commission
At the United Nations, the General Assembly elected 44 countries to the newly created Human Rights Council. The Council was created in March to replace the much-criticized U.N. Human Rights Commission. The US government took itself out of the running in protest of what it said were the council’s low standards.

US Peace Activists Travel to Tehran
Twenty-two US citizens have traveled to Iran to promote peace between Washington and Tehran. "(We are here to promote) understanding between our peoples so that our governments don't get us into a situation where we go into a Conflict,” said delegate member Dave Robinson, Executive Director Of The National Catholic Peace Movement.“We're here to learn about Iran firsthand so that we don't succumb to the enemy building and demonising that's going in the United States at the moment."

Indians Protest Patent on Popular HIV Drug
In India, hundreds of people took the streets today to protest a US drug company’s attempt to patent a popular drug used by millions of people to treat the HIV virus. The company, Gilead Science (Donald Rumsfeld is a major shareholder), wants the Indian government to recognize its patent claim to the anti-retroviral drug TDF. Activists say the patent will make drugs like TDF inaccessible to thousands of people who could only afford a generic version. "We are protesting against the patent on anti retroviral drugs, HIV drugs because if it is patented the price will shoot up and we won't be able to afford them and then we are going to die, it is a matter of life and death," said Loon Gangte from The Indian Network Of People Living with HIV/AIDS.

Controversial Nevada Bomb Test Delayed
In Nevada, a controversial bomb test that has drawn the opposition of local Native groups has been delayed at least three weeks. Members of the Western Shoshone tribe filed suit last month to prevent the military from setting off a 700-ton ammonium nitrate and fuel oil bomb that would generate a mushroom cloud over the Nevada deserts. Tribe members say the blast could let loose radioactive material and threaten their well-being.

Letter From Tehran

What's clear enough, however, is that these restrictions do not apply to Israel, which, as everybody knows, possesses nukes. Much is made of the possibility that Iran, facing sanctions, has threatened to drop out of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty – yet we hardly hear that Israel refused to sign it in the first place.

Actually, Bush has already broken the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Under the terms of the treaty, which both the US and Iran have signed (but as this article points out, Israel has not), member nations are allowed to use nuclear technology for power generation, and to refine their own fuel. In demanding that Iran cease uranium enrichment, President Bush is in clear violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. This is not only illegal under international law, but under the US Constitution itself.

Iran president says West nuclear concern a "big lie"

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused Western nations on Wednesday of hypocrisy and said their expressions of concern over nuclear programs were a "big lie".

Full text of President Ahmadinejad's letter to George Bush

Mr George Bush,
President of the United States of America,
For sometime now I have been thinking, how one can justify the undeniable contradictions that exist in the international arena -- which are being constantly debated, especially in political forums and amongst university students. Many questions remain unanswered. These have prompted me to discuss some of the contradictions and questions, in the hope that it might bring about an opportunity to redress them.
Can one be a follower of Jesus Christ, the great Messenger of God, feel obliged to respect human rights, present liberalism as a civilization model, announce one’s opposition to the proliferation of nuclear weapons and WMDs, make “War on Terror” his slogan, and finally, work towards the establishment of a unified international community – a community which Christ and the virtuous of the Earth will one day govern, but at the same time, have countries attacked. The lives, reputations and possessions of people destroyed and on the slight chance of the presence of a few criminals in a village, city, or convoy for example, the entire village, city or convoy (are) set ablaze.

Or because of the possibility of the existence of WMDs in one country, it is occupied, around one hundred thousand people killed, its water sources, agriculture and industry destroyed, close to 180,000 foreign troops put on the ground, sanctity of private homes of citizens broken, and the country pushed back perhaps fifty years. At what price? Hundreds of billions of dollars spent from the treasury of one country and certain other countries and tens of thousands of young men and women – as occupation troops – put in harms way, taken away from family and loved ones, their hands stained with the blood of others, subjected to so much psychological pressure that everyday some commit suicide and those returning home suffer depression, become sickly and grapple with all sorts of ailments; while some are killed and their bodies handed to their families.

Uranium's Effect On DNA Established
The use of depleted uranium in munitions and weaponry is likely to come under intense scrutiny now that new research that found that uranium can bind to human DNA. The finding will likely have far-reaching implications for returned soldiers, civilians living in what were once war-zones and people who might live near uranium mines or processing facilities.
Northern Arizona University biochemist Diane Stearns has established that when cells are exposed to uranium, the uranium binds to DNA and the cells acquire mutations, triggering a whole slew of protein replication errors, some of which can lead to various cancers. Stearns' research, published in the journals Mutagenesis and Molecular Carcinogenesis, confirms what many have suspected for some time - that uranium can damage DNA as a heavy metal, independently of its radioactive properties. "Essentially, if you get a heavy metal stuck on DNA, you can get a mutation," Stearns explained. While other heavy metals are known to bind to DNA, Stearns and her team were the first to identify this characteristic with uranium.

Return of the Death Squads: Iraq’s Hidden News
The real news, which is not reported in the CNN "mainstream", is that the Salvador Option has been invoked in Iraq. This is the campaign of terror by death squads armed and trained by the US, which attack Sunnis and Shias alike. The goal is the incitement of a real civil war and the breakup of Iraq, the original war aim of Bush's administration.

Yes Men Pull Off Halliburton Hoax
The Yes Men have struck again. On Tuesday, a man claiming to be a representative for the company Halliburton gave a presentation at the "Catastrophic Loss" conference at the Ritz-Carlton in Amelia Island, Florida. The conference included leaders from the insurance industry. The phony spokesperson gave his name as Fred Wolf. He told conference-goers Halliburton had invented the SurvivaBall -- a new orb-like inflatable product to protect corporate managers from the effects of global warming. Wolf said: “It's essentially a gated community for one.”
The hoax comes less than two years after a Yes Men member appeared on the BBC claiming to be a spokesperson for Dow Chemical. He said Dow was taking responsibility for the Bhopal chemical disaster -- forcing the company to remind the world it did not take responsibility for the disaster and that there was no compensation fund set-up for the victims.

Hookergate

Is 'Al Qaeda' the modern incarnation of 'Emmanuel Goldstein'?

Is "Al Qaeda" the modern incarnation of "Emmanuel Goldstein", the arch-villain manufactured by the state to rule the population with fear? Is it really far-fetched? If one can accept a real terrorist organization willing to kill people for their political aims, is a fake terror organization willing to kill people for their political aims any less possible? Once you accept that there can be one group of people willing to commit acts of terror you must accept that there can be a second group equally willing to commit acts of terror to blame on the first group.

Republican Sex Scandal!
Federal prosecutors are investigating whether two contractors implicated in the bribery of former Rep. Randall "Duke" Cunningham supplied him with prostitutes and free use of a limousine and hotel suites, pursuing evidence that could broaden their long-running inquiry. Besides scrutinizing the prostitution scheme for evidence that might implicate contractor Brent Wilkes, investigators are focusing on whether any other members of Congress, or their staffs, may also have used the same free services, though it isn't clear whether investigators have turned up anything to implicate others.

HOOKERGATE continues: CIA’s Third Highest Official, Dusty Foggo, Resigns
The number three man at the CIA, Kyle 'Dusty' Foggo, has resigned just days after the unexpected resignation of CIA Director Porter Goss. The FBI is investigating whether Foggo helped defense contractor Brent Wilkes win government contracts. The two are childhood friends and so close they have named their children after each other. Wilkes has been accused of bribing former Republican Congressman Duke Cunningham with prostitutes, limos and hotel rooms and arranging private poker games attended by Foggo and others.
A number of top Republicans, including House Speaker Dennis Hastert, are voicing concern over President Bush’s decision to nominate four-star General Michael Hayden to become the head of the CIA. Hayden acknowledged his critics during a brief ceremony at the White House.
A spokesperson for House Speaker Dennis Hastert said the country “should not have a military person leading the CIA, a civilian agency.” Republicans are also concerned that Hayden’s confirmation hearing will center on his role at the National Security Agency where he approved President Bush’s plan to illegally conduct domestic surveillance without court warrants. Earlier this year NSA whistleblower Russell Tice appeared on Democracy Now and criticized Hayden’s role in the spy operation. “Certainly General Alexander and General Hayden and Bill Black knew that this was illegal,” Tice said.

General Michael C. Hayden is the perfect Bush nominee.
He doesn’t know the Constitution. Especially as it applies to his job. He loudly proclaims that he and his department know it better than most. He blithely breaks the law. When he's asked a difficult question, he simply ignores it. Most important, the media, led by The New York Times, gives him a pass on all of that.

CIA nominee Hayden linked to Cunningham-Wade bribery firm MZM

Behind the Goss toss
But the spillover from the continuing FBI investigation, coupled with a parallel probe by the CIA's inspector general, could impact on what were already expected to be difficult Senate confirmation hearings for the new director. The investigations have focused on the Watergate poker parties thrown by defense contractor Brent Wilkes, a high-school buddy of Foggo's, that were attended by disgraced former Rep. Randy (Duke) Cunningham and other lawmakers. Foggo has claimed he went to the parties "just for poker" amid allegations that
Wilkes, a top GOP fund-raiser and a member of the $100,000 "Pioneers" of Bush's 2004 reelection campaign, provided prostitutes, limos and hotel suites to Cunningham. Cunningham is serving an eight-year sentence after pleading to taking $2.4 million in bribes to steer defense contracts to cronies. Wilkes hosted regular parties for 15 years at the Watergate and Westin Grand Hotels for lawmakers and lobbyists. Intelligence sources said Goss has denied attending the parties as CIA director, but that left open whether he may have attended as a Republican congressman from Florida who was head of the House Intelligence Committee.

Congress For Sale: Who Else Was Bribed With Limos, Cash and Prostitutes?
High-level corruption and sleaze are alive and well in Washington D.C. -- and your member of Congress might just be the next one indicted. The newest scandal involves allegations that multiple members of Congress and high-ranking CIA officials were bribed with free limo rides, hospitality suites at hotels in Washington, and prostitutes to induce them to steer federal contracts to undeserving businesses.

Crashing WatergateGate
We knew this was big back in March, when a court sent ex-Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, R-Calif. — convicted of taking $2.4 million in bribes from military contractors — off to serve eight years in prison, the most severe sentence ever handed out to a member of Congress. From then on, the sleaze chain has been metastasizing.

Extra Pay: Many CEOs Receive Dividends on 'Phantom' Stock
Amid the drive to tie executive pay more closely to company results, a little-known and poorly disclosed practice is allowing many executives to receive hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in dividends on performance stock -- shares that they may never earn.

Top GOP House Aide Pleads Guilty In Abramoff Scandal
A former top Republican Congressional aide has pleaded guilty to conspiring with lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The aide, Neil Volz, served as chief of staff to Republican Congressman Bob Ney of Ohio. Volz admitted he accepted gifts and trips from Abramoff in exchange for political favors. According to the plea deal, Abramoff also bought off Congressman Ney who is identified in the papers only as Representative Number One. The court papers suggest Ney personally helped Abramoff by meeting with his Indian tribal clients and promising to introduce legislation to benefit their gambling operations.

Rove Indictment in Leak Case Remains A Possibility
David Shuster, a reporter from MSNBC has publicly said he is convinced Karl Rove will be indicted in the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame. Shuster, made the comment last night, a week after Rove made his fifth appearance before the grand jury investigating the outing of Plame, the wife of Ambassador Joseph Wilson. Shuster is the same reporter who revealed on MSNBC that Plame was working undercover investigating Iran’s nuclear program at the time of her outing. On Monday the Washington Post reported that Rove had advised his colleagues at the White House on the importance of defending prewar intelligence and countering Wilson’s critique of the war.

Mossad murdered 530 Iraqi scientists
Numerous reports for many months have stated that with collaboration from American occupation forces, Israel’s espionage apparatus, Mossad, slaughtered at least 530 Iraqi scientists and academic professors.

The new suit is designed to protect against roadside bombs
Armoured suits are 'too goofy' say US troops
American troops have complained that a new armoured body suit designed to be worn in Iraq makes them look "goofy". Typical narcissistic American vanity! Know anybody who looks cool with missing limbs?

THREE CHEERS FOR THE HAWAII STATE SENATE!
The Hawaii State Senate has passed a resolution "CALLING UPON THE GOVERNOR OF HAWAII TO TAKE STEPS TO WITHDRAW THE HAWAII ARMY AND AIR NATIONAL GUARD TROOPS FROM IRAQ."
All readers who are opposed to this war and the lies used to start it should take a moment to contact the Hawaii State Senators and congratulate them on their courage in taking such a step. Contact info is HERE As of this writing, three states are considering passing bills which would force the US House of Representatives to initiate impeachment proceedings against the President. May Hawaii have the courage to be the fourth.

Darfur refugees riot, U.N. workers flee
More than two million people are living in makeshift camps, displaced by two years of fighting between local Arab militias who have aligned with the Sudanese government and carried out brutal attacks on non-Arab villages.

Blasts hit northwestern Iranian city
More than seven people were wounded when two explosions hit the northwestern Iranian city of Kermanshah, close to the Iraqi border, Iranian officials said, according to BBC.

Ex-Bush Official Busts 9/11 Perps at U.W. Historical Society
An enthusiastic standing-room-only crowd packed the Wisconsin Historical Society auditorium Saturday to hear ex-Bush Administration insider Morgan Reynolds prosecute top administration and military officials for the 9/11 inside job. Reynolds indicted Richard Cheney, George W. Bush, former Joint Chiefs Chairman Richard Meyers, confessed WTC demolisher and insurance-fraudster Larry Silverstein, and others for mass murder, conspiracy, and other charges including high treason. The enthusiastic response from the overflow crowd was a de facto vote for conviction on all counts.
The former Director of the Criminal Justice Center at the National Center for Policy Analysis, showed that the defendants conspired to create a false cover story of suicide hijackings in order to “blow the World Trade Center to kingdom come” with explosives—a shock-and-awe psy-op designed to coerce the American people into supporting a pre-planned “long war” in the Middle East, massive increases in military spending, and the rollback of Constitutional civil liberties.
Reynolds stated that everyone in the worldwide intelligence community knew that 9/11 was an inside job as soon as it happened, with the obvious stand-down of US air defenses, controlled demolition of the World Trade Center, and non-protection of the President in Florida being the biggest tip-offs.
Reynolds, who served as George W. Bush’s Labor Department Chief Economist in 2001-2002, believes that one or more of the 9/11 insiders will soon “give it up” and come forward with what they know, saying “Remember, you heard it here first.” He said that most of those complicit in the attacks did not realize how over-the-top the plot was, due to the need-to-know compartmentalization of such covert operations, and that some semi-complicit individuals will probably be coming forward.
Reynolds argued that 9/11 truth is a matter of extreme urgency, since the perpetrators seem to be preparing another 9/11-style terror hoax as a pretext for attacking Iran with nuclear weapons. He said that exposing the 9/11 fraud is the best way to stop Cheney’s plan to stage an unprovoked nuclear attack on Iran, and the military draft and Pinochet-style prison camps and death squads for dissenters that might accompany it.
Reynolds urged the audience to help educate the American public about the 9/11 inside job. Personal contact with family and friends, the internet, alternative media, and public events like this are all good educational strategies, he said, adding that a demonstration of 100,000 9/11 truth supporters at Ground Zero next year would be hard for the media to ignore.

Russia Explodes over "Blackmail" Remarks
When US Vice-President Dick Cheney publicly accused Russia of undemocratic policies and attempts to "blackmail" Europe through its oil supplies, he probably underestimated the turbulence that would follow. However, since Mr Cheney's May 4 speech in Lithuania delivered at a regional meeting between former Soviet republics, the Russian press has exploded with accusations that the Cold War is once again on the doorstep.
Which is what US Defense Corporations WANT. A new cold war with which to soak the American taxpayers for trillions of dollars.

Moussaoui Asks to Withdraw Guilty Plea
So did James Earl Ray. It didn't help. Being the star of a show trial is a lifetime committment.

I lied, 9/11 plotter says; but guilty plea stands
Facing life in a so-called supermax prison, convicted Al Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui says he lied in admitting involvement in the Sept. 11 plot, but a judge Monday rejected his attempt to withdraw his guilty plea.
Why would Moussaoui lie?
see HERE
If you're looking for a reason why Zacarias Moussaoui suddenly testified to a version of the 9/11 plotline that sounds more like the Official story than even the official Whitewash Commission report, this video may have the answer. In it, NBC news reporter Pete Williams lets slip that Moussaoui is wearing a "Stun belt" underneath his clothing controlled by US Marshals. MSNBC host Dan Abrams gets some more details on the stun belt.

Racial and economic disparities contribute to the U.S.' relatively high newborn death rate.

U.S. has second worst newborn death rate in modern world, report says
U.S. Newborn Survival Rate Ranks Low

America may be the world's superpower, but its survival rate for newborn babies ranks near the bottom among modern nations, better only than Latvia.
Human life only sacred "in the womb"? Or is that just a ploy to fool the fools?

Doctors Urge Women to Keep 'Morning After' Pill on Hand

Get an advance prescription for emergency contraception so it will be on hand if you need it, the nation's largest gynecologist group advised women Monday. The new campaign aims to increase access to the morning-after pill following the Bush administration's refusal to allow the emergency birth control to be sold over the counter nationwide.

Sold to the highest income bracket!

Republican Leaders Abandon Tax Cuts For Middle Class, Focus On Cuts For Uber-Rich, Wall Street
Six months before elections that may return a Democratic majority in at least one house of Congress, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee and House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois are focusing on extending the 15 percent rate on investments and repealing the estate tax. They won't push extensions of lower rates for all taxpayers and expanded breaks for married couples and families with children, which expire after 2010.

Fmr. NSA Chief General Michael Hayden Nominated to Replace Porter Goss as CIA Director
Four star general Michael Hayden has been nominated to head the civilian agency. As head of the National Security Agency, Hayden oversaw the warrantless domestic spy program, which many say is illegal.

CIA Nominee Hayden Linked to MZM
While director of the National Security Agency, Gen. Michael V. Hayden contracted the services of a top executive at the company at the center of the Cunningham bribery scandal, according to two former employees of the company

Hayden, President Bush's pick to replace Porter Goss as head of the CIA, contracted with MZM Inc. for the services of Lt. Gen. James C. King, then a senior vice president of the company, the sources say. MZM was owned and operated by Mitchell Wade, who has admitted to bribing former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham with $1.4 million in money and gifts. Wade has also reportedly told investigators he helped arrange for prostitutes to entertain the disgraced lawmaker, and he continues to cooperate with a federal inquiry into the matter. King has not been implicated in the growing scandal around Wade's illegal activities. However, federal records show he contributed to some of Wade's favored lawmakers, including $6000 to Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA) and $4000 to Rep. Katherine Harris (R-FL Before joining MZM in December 2001, King served under Hayden as the NSA's associate deputy director for operations, and as head of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency.
The NSA did not immediately respond to my request for comment. Hayden left the NSA in April 2005 to take the post of Deputy Director of National Intelligence. The DNI office referred my call on the matter to the NSA.
As an MZM employee, King was involved in a number of controversial projects. In 2002, he was a key adviser to the team creating CIFA, the Pentagon's domestic surveillance operation. In 2004, he was one of three MZM staffers who worked on the White House Robb-Silberman Commission, which recommended expanding CIFA's powers.

Cunningham and MZM: The White House Connection
Why did the White House hire MZM, a “defense and intelligence firm,” to buy office furniture for the White House? It’s worth noting that MZM also did some unusual business with the White House:

[O]ver the past three years it [MZM Inc.] was also awarded several contracts, worth more than $600,000, by the Executive Office of the President. They include a $140,000 deal for office furniture in 2002 and several for unspecified “intelligence services.”

Pentagon Is Winner Over CIA
The pending appointment of General Michael Hayden as director of the Central Intelligence Agency will pave the way for the agency's emasculation and for the Pentagon to assume full authority over paramilitary operations.

Computer ills hinder NSA
Two technology programs at the heart of the National Security Agency's drive to combat 21st-century threats are stumbling badly, hampering the agency's ability to fight terrorism and other emerging threats, current and former government officials say. Data overload?

Porter Goss On His Resignation: “[It is] Just One of Those Mysteries”
Questions still remain over why Porter Goss resigned from the CIA. Neither Goss nor President Bush have publicly given any reason for the resignation. On Saturday Goss told CNN his departure is “just one of those mysteries.”
Not to people who know the facts behind it:
Goss’ Appointee Tied To Defense Contractor Bribery Scandal
Goss quit just days after it was revealed that one of his top appointees within the agency was under a federal criminal investigation. The official, Kyle “Dusty” Foggo, has been linked to a defense contractor bribery scandal that has already sent former Republican Congressman Duke Cunningham to jail. It has been alleged that a defense contractor named Brent Wilkes bribed Cunningham and other lawmakers with prostitutes, limousines rides and free rooms at the Watergate and Grand Westin Hotels.
Now officially known as: HOOKERGATE

AMY GOODMAN: Larry Johnson, what more do you do know about these prostitute poker parties?

LARRY JOHNSON: The way that Dusty Foggo, the number three guy at the C.I.A., got his job was through this staff member of Goss. Goss had no ties with Foggo. It was a staff member of Goss, and I've been told that the Goss staff member, in fact, probably was an active participant in the prostitution parties, but there are members of Congress, and some fairly prominent names on the Republican side, so that’s going to be trickling out. You know, this is a story that is not going to go away, and it’s going to – just as you think the Republicans had enough black eyes, they're going to get two or three more in the process.

Basra Erupts in Anti-UK Riots After Helicopter Shot Down
A British Army helicopter was shot down killing up to five soldiers. After the helicopter crashed, a crowd of over 300 Iraqis celebrated at the crash scene. Iraqi police said five Iraqis including a child were killed after British forces opened fire on the crowd which had been hurling stones and Molotov cocktails at the soldiers. The fighting marked the most intense anti-British riots in Basra since August of 2003.

Report: 4,100 Civilians Killed in Baghdad During First Three Months
In other news from Iraq, the Los Angeles Times, reports at least 4,100 civilians were killed in Baghdad during the first three months of the year. Many of the dead were found hogtied and shot execution-style. Many bore signs of torture such as bruises, drill holes, burn marks, gouged eyes or severed limbs. Execution-style killings are now claiming nine times more lives than car bombings.
Thanks to "School of the Americas" training....

US Veterans Being Ignored To Greatest Possible Extent
Much has been written about how President Bush and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld waged war on the cheap, sending too few ill-equipped young soldiers -- 30% of them ill-trained Reservists and National Guardsmen -- into battle. But little has been reported about how shockingly on-the-cheap the homecomings of these soldiers have proved to be. The Bush administration awarded Blake Miller a medal, but it has fought for three long years to deny soldiers like him the care they need. While Miller and his men were being thrown into the fire in Fallujah, the White House was proposing to cut the combat pay of soldiers like them. (Only an outburst of outrage across the political spectrum caused the administration to back off from that suggestion.)

An Army of one wrong recruit
Jared Guinther is 18. Tall and lanky, he will graduate from Marshall High School in June. Girls think he's cute, until they try to talk to him and he stammers or just stands there -- silent. Diagnosed with autism at age 3, Jared is polite but won't talk to people unless they address him first. It's hard for him to make friends. He lives in his own private world.Jared didn't know there was a war raging in Iraq until his parents told him last fall -- shortly after a military recruiter stopped him outside a Southeast Portland strip mall and complimented him on his black Converse All Stars.
"When Jared first started talking about joining the Army, I thought, 'Well, that isn't going to happen,' " said Paul Guinther, Jared's father. "I told my wife not to worry about it. They're not going to take anybody in the service who's autistic." But they did. Last month, Jared came home with papers showing that he not only had enlisted, but also had signed up for the Army's most dangerous job: cavalry scout. He is scheduled to leave for basic training Aug. 16.
This highlights how deviously desperate recruiters are to fill quotas, even with people like this young man. The fact that his autism appeared never to have been recorded, which would have made him ineligible for military service, speaks volumes.

Blair Demotes Foreign Secretary Jack Straw
Prime Minister Tony Blair has demoted Foreign Secretary Jack Straw shortly after he spoke out against a possible U.S.-led attack on Iran. Straw had described such an attack as “nuts.” Several reports in the British press allege the White House pressured Blair to get rid of Straw. Straw was sacked just days after Blair’s Labour Party recorded its worst defeats in local elections since coming to power in 1997.

Iranian President Reaches Out to U.S. President in Letter
For the first time in 27 years an Iranian head of state is reaching out to an American president to discuss U.S.-Iranian relations. The Iranian government announced today that president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has sent a letter to President Bush via the Swiss Embassy in Tehran. (Hope Bush found someone to read it to him). The Iranian government did not release the text of the letter but said Ahmadinejad discussed "new solutions for getting out of international problems and the current fragile situation of the world.” Iran sent the letter as the U.S. is pushing the U.N. Security Council to censure Iran for refusing to cease enrichment of uranium.

White House unaware of Iranian letter
The White House is unaware of any letter from Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attempting to ease mounting tensions with Tehran, U.S. national security adviser Stephen Hadley said on Monday. Maybe none of them know how to read?

Sudanese Peace Deal Signed
A peace deal has been signed between the Sudanese government and the Sudan Liberation Army. Two smaller opposition groups refused to sign the deal which was brokered by the African Union. Over the past three years, fighting has killed at least 180,000 people and forced 2 million people from their homes.

Report: International Aid Workers Sexually Exploiting Girls in Liberia
A British aid organization is warning girls as young as eight years old are being sexually exploited in Liberia by humanitarian workers and peacekeeping troops stationed at refugee camps. According to the group Save the Children, the aid workers are forcing the girls to have sex in exchange for food, money and clothing.

All Their Speechest" href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/05/08/wh-orders-all-cabinet-mem_n_20575.html" target="_blank">White House Orders All Cabinet Members To Put Positive War On Terror Message Into All Their Speeches
Career appointees at the Department of Agriculture were stunned last week to receive e-mailed instructions that include Bush administration "talking points" -- saying things such as "President Bush has a clear strategy for victory in Iraq" -- in every speech they give for the department.

Bush Administration Rejects Torture Allegations At UN Hearing
At the United Nations, the Bush administration is being forced to defend its treatment of detainees captured in the so-called war on terror. On Friday the U.N. Committee Against Torture began reviewing U.S. compliance with international treaties barring torture. The panel raised questions about abuse inside Iraqi prisons, extraordinary renditions and the CIA’s secret overseas jails. A representative from China asked "Where would you put such methods as interrogation by mock drownings -- as torture or as other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment?”

U.S. Releases Five Innocent Chinese Muslims From Guantanamo
Meanwhile the U.S. has released five Chinese Muslim men from Guantanamo -- more than two years after the Pentagon determined they had no ties to terrorists. The Bush administration said the men could not be sent back to China out of fear they would be persecuted. Last week Albania agreed to take the men. On Thursday lawyers made public a letter one of the men wrote to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice in January. The man identified as Ahmed Doe wrote, ''It is very hard to understand that I am still languishing in a prison with very little rights even after being found innocent. It is beyond my reasoning . . . that a nation like the United States that has an agenda to promote and protect democratic rights of the oppressed people would treat anyone the way that I have been treated.''

In Interview, Bush Says He Would Like to See Guantanamo Closed
And President Bush has told a German television station that he would like to see Guantanamo Bay closed if the Supreme Court allows suspects to be tried by military tribunals

Bush: Catching 7.5 Pound Perch as Highlight Of Presidency
Meanwhile in another interview with the German press, President Bush was questioned about the high point of his presidency. Bush said "I would say the best moment of all was when I caught a 7.5 pound perch in my lake.”
Figures. The guy just enjoys seeing innocent life snuffed out.

Jury Awards Exonerated Death Row Prisoner $2.25 Million
In Virginia, an exonerated death row prisoner who came within nine days of being executed has been awarded $2.25 million. A jury determined the man, Earl Washington, was put on death row because a police officer deliberately falsified evidence. Washington’s lawyers say this marks the largest award in a federal civil rights case in Virginia history. Washington spent nine years on death row before his sentence was commuted.

Police chief- Lockerbie evidence was faked
The retired officer - of assistant chief constable rank or higher - has testified that the CIA planted the tiny fragment of circuit board crucial in convicting a Libyan for the 1989 mass murder of 270 people.
The vital evidence that linked the bombing of Pan Am 103 to Megrahi was a tiny fragment of circuit board which investigators found in a wooded area many miles from Lockerbie months after the atrocity.
The fragment was later identified by the FBI's Thomas Thurman as being part of a sophisticated timer device used to detonate explosives, and manufactured by the Swiss firm Mebo, which supplied it only to Libya and the East German Stasi.

"Never said that"

Time to smear Ray McGovern, the latest Bush critic
Glenn Greenwald:
"Donald Rumsfeld told the country that he "knows" where WMDs are, and when confronted by McGovern with that false statement, denied that he made it. That fact is, of course, nowhere near as important as engaging in a vicious and frenzied character smear of yet another American who spent his entire career in service to his country and yet has his patriotism and mental health called into question by virtue of standing up to the administration...."read on
Ray McGovern, you are my hero!

Rumsfeld developing revisionist habits
Defense chief focuses on verbatim transcripts at cost of larger context
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld tried to rewrite history last week when he denied making prewar claims that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. Rumsfeld's latest backtracking on his prewar statements came last Thursday at a contentious public forum in Atlanta when he faced a handful of hecklers and CIA veteran Ray McGovern, an anti-war questioner in the audience, who charged that he had lied about Saddam having weapons of mass destruction.The Pentagon chief denied that he had lied and said he had relied on official intelligence reports about Saddam's weapons.
McGovern: "You said you knew where they were."
Rumsfeld: "I did not. I said I knew where 'suspect' sites were."
The record shows that in the weeks preceding the war, Rumsfeld flatly said he knew the whereabouts of Saddam's WMD arsenal. On March 30, 2003, 11 days into the war, Rumsfeld was asked in an ABC News interview if he was surprised that American forces had not yet found any weapons of mass destruction.
"Not at all," Rumsfeld said, according to an official Pentagon transcript. "The area in the south and the west and the north that coalition forces control is substantial. It happens not to be the area where weapons of mass destruction were dispersed. We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat."
His comments in Atlanta were in line with an earlier attempted revision. Six months after the invasion, on Sept. 10, 2003, Rumsfeld revisited the WMD issue in remarks at the National Press Club. "I said, 'We know they're in that area,"' referring to the weapons. "I should have said, 'I believe we're in that area. Our intelligence tells us they're in that area,' and that was our best judgment."
On Feb. 20, 2003, a month before the invasion, Jim Lehrer asked Rumsfeld on the PBS show "The News Hour" if he thought the invasion would "be welcomed by the majority of the civilian population of Iraq?"
"There is no question but that they would be welcomed," Rumsfeld said, referring to American forces in Iraq. He then connected the earlier invasion of Afghanistan with the 2003 invasion of Iraq. "Go back to Afghanistan, the people were in the streets playing music, cheering, flying kites, and doing all the things that the Taliban and the al-Qaida would not let them do," Rumsfeld continued. "Saddam Hussein has one of the most vicious regimes on the face of the earth. And the people know that."
On Sept. 25, 2003 — six months after the invasion and a day on which one U.S. soldier was killed in an ambush, eight Iraqi civilians died in a mortar strike and a member of the U.S-appointed governing council died after an earlier assassination attempt — Rumsfeld was asked about his prewar remarks.
"Before the war in Iraq, you stated the case very eloquently and you said … they would welcome us with open arms," Sinclair Broadcasting anchor Morris Jones said to Rumsfeld as the prelude to a question.
The defense chief quickly cut him off.
"Never said that," Rumsfeld said, according to the official Pentagon transcript. "Never did. You may remember it well, but you're thinking of somebody else. You can't find anywhere me saying anything like either of those two things you just said I said. I may look like somebody else."
Rummy: 'WMD claims not "extensive" '
Six months before the invasion, when testifying about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Sept. 19, 2002, Rumsfeld said Saddam "has amassed large, clandestine stockpiles of biological weapons," according to the committee's transcript.
That theme continued right up to the weeks before the invasion. At a Jan. 29, 2003, Pentagon news conference, Rumsfeld said that "the Iraqi regime has not accounted for some 38,000 liters of botulism toxin, 500 tons of sarin, mustard gas, VX nerve agent, upwards of 30,000 munitions capable of delivering chemical weapons," along with mobile biological weapons labs.
After U.S. inspectors failed to locate any weapons of mass destruction seven months after the invasion, a reporter at a Pentagon news conference asked Rumsfeld: "In retrospect, were you a little too far-leaning in your statement that Iraq categorically had caches of weapons, of chemical and biological weapons, given what's been found to date? You painted a picture of extensive stocks" of Iraqi mass-killing weapons."
"Wait," Rumsfeld interjected. "The U.N. reported extensive stocks. That is where that came from. I said what I believed to be the case, and I don't — I'd be surprised if you found the word 'extensive.'"

Right Wing Talk show hosts admits being wrong about Bush
C&L reader Kevin caught this last night on KABC AM-Los Angeles. Talk Show host Doug McIntyre, has turned on Bush. Will this start to become a trend? full transcript:

"So, I’m saying today, I was wrong to have voted for George W. Bush. In historic terms, I believe George W. Bush is the worst two-term President in the history of the country. Worse than Grant. I also believe a case can be made that he’s the worst President, period. After five years of carefully watching George W. Bush I’ve reached the conclusion he’s either grossly incompetent, or a hand puppet for a gaggle of detached theorists with their own private view of how the world works."

Emails link Delay and Abramoff on trips
This is not good news for Tom Delay:

Tom DeLay's office knew lobbyist Jack Abramoff had arranged the financing for the GOP leader's controversial European golfing trip in 2000 and was concerned "if someone starts asking questions." House ethics rules bar lawmakers from accepting free trips from lobbyists. DeLay, R-Texas, reported to Congress that a Republican advocacy group had paid for the spring 2000 trip that DeLay, his wife and top aides took to Scotland and England. The e-mails obtained by The Associated Press show DeLay's staff asked Abramoff -not the advocacy group - to account for the costs that had to be legally disclosed on congressional travel forms. DeLay's office was worried the group being cited as paying the costs might not even know about them, the e-mails state...read on

Hookergate
Josh Marshall:

"Here at TPM HQ we were listening to the president's announcement. And the talking heads on CNN were speculating whether Goss's departure might be part of Josh Bolten's 'new blood' shake up in the Bush administration. I don't suppose it has anything to do with the fact that Goss is neck deep in the Wilkes-Corruption-and-Hookers story that's been burbling in the background all week. We don't know definitely why Goss pulled the plug yet. But the CIA Director doesn't march over to the White House and resign, effective immediately, unless something very big is up" More here...

Norah O'Donnell discusses Hookergate's possible connection to Goss

Norah brought up the possible connection between Porter's resignation and some level of involvement on the Hookergate story that Josh Marshall has been covering.
Norah: ...we have learned and the CIA has confirmed-that its # 3 official, a guy named Dusty Foggo, was attending poker games at The Watergate with a defense contractor who is now alleged to have provided prostitutes to Congressman Duke Cunningham..

Porter & 'the boys': Goss Made His "Bones" on CIA Hit Team
Deposed CIA head Porter Goss was once a member of the CIA's super-secret Operation 40, an assassination squad which roamed through North and Central America during the 1960's.

Write your own Caption

More Questions Surface in the Wake of a Congressman's Bribery Case
"The inquiry into the poker games has also put a spotlight on the limousine company that ferried Mr. Cunningham and others to the Watergate and Westin Grand. The company, Shirlington Limousine and Transportation, is operated by Christopher D. Baker, a man with a history of criminal convictions and financial troubles. Shirlington won a contract worth as much as $25.2 million to drive homeland security employees and officials around Washington."

Porter Goss: Turf War?
Laura Rosen

"The story line until today has been far different: that much of the operative camp of the Agency perceived Goss as a political enforcer, someone who wasn't seen to be looking out for them but for the White House's interests; that Goss was rather passive and out of touch and overly delegated day to day affairs to his staff, "the Gosslings," led by the fiercely partisan Patrick Murray. I don't believe I have ever heard from people in that world a sense that Goss was looking out for them...

Drum: "So what's the deal?--But now, out of the blue, we're supposed to believe that Bush woke up Friday morning and suddenly decided that some previously unreported bureaucratic turf war finally needed to be stopped?"
"A former CIA buddy tells me that Porter's main problem, however, is a key staffer who is linked to both Brent Wilkes and the CIA's Executive Director, Dusty Foggo. My friend also said that it is highly likely that the Goss staffer did participate in the hooker extravaganza. Goss, politician that he is, probably recognized that even though he did not participate in the sexual escapades and poker games, his staffer's participation created a huge problem for him that would be difficult to escape..."
read on

GOP's Hoekstra: General Hayden is Wrong Choice for CIA

On Fox News Sunday, Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee Rep. Peter Hoekstra vehemently opposed Gen. Hayden to be appointed to the CIA. Hoekstra claimed that Hayden would be "the wrong choice" for the job. Hoekstra was concerned that Hayden, as a member of the military, would be seen as "under the sway" of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

HOEKSTRA: I do believe he's the wrong person and the wrong place at the wrong time...We should not have a military person leading a civilian agency at this time.
WALLACE: Well, is it your feeling that as an active general that General Hayden would be under the sway of Don Rumsfeld?
HOEKSTRA: I think that clearly will be the perception in the CIA both I think here in Washington and again at the CIA. I don’t think you can underestimate the difficulty in rebuilding, reshaping and transforming the Central Intelligence Agency. This is the debate we don’t need at this time..

Gen. Hayden: "4th Amendment and wrong"

Keith Olbermann posted this video clip of Gen. Hayden botching the fourth amendment.
Landay: "...the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution specifies that you must have probable cause to violate an American's right against unreasonable searches and seizures..."
Gen. Hayden: "No, actually - the Fourth Amendment actually protects all of us against unreasonable search and seizure."
Landay: "But the --"
Gen. Hayden: "That's what it says."

OLBERMANN: To quote the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States in its entirety, the one the general and the NSA folks are so familiar with and know is about reasonableness and not about probable cause, quote, "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
Well, maybe they have a different Constitution over there at the NSA.

Michael Hayden's past misdeeds
WMR reported extensively on Michael Hayden's management, scandal, and morale problems at the National Security Agency (NSA). The Bush administration, always anxious to reward misconduct and mismanagement, now wants Hayden to bring his baggage to a decimated Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Based on Hayden's past at the NSA, Langley should stand by for psychiatric abuse, more Gestapo-like tactics from imported security personnel from Fort Meade, contractor fraud, FBI "sting" set ups like that which befell NSA Iraqi shop SIGINT analyst Ken Ford, Jr. -- the author of a SIGINT report that stated reports of Iraqi WMDs were not backed up by intercepts of Iraqi communications -- and a general disregard for the law. There will also be harassment by Hayden of retired and former CIA officers who continue to speak out. This was a hallmark of Hayden's tenure at NSA where he subjected former NSA officers and journalists to whom they spoke to special surveillance from an intelligence database code-named FIRSTFRUITS.

Hayden bringing his special baggage from Fort Meade to Langley:
The situation at the CIA can only get worse with "Hitler Hayden" at the helm.
Read WMR's past reports on NSA malfeasance and corruption under Hayden:
Hayden's heroes
SPY AGENCY DISRUPTION REACHES FORT MEADE
NSA and selling the nation
NSA INTERCEPTS FOR BOLTON MASKED As "training exercises"
SPY AGENCY DISRUPTION at nsa

Shuster: Prosecutors may have more on Rove

via "Coundtown," with Keith Olbermann. David Shuster tonight talked about more problems for Libby, which possibly could open up a charge for leaking, but a potential blockbuster on Rove.
Olbermann: And movement in one of the other major scandals' investigations underway in the capital, Scooter Libby denied access to records documenting Ambassador Joseph Wilson's trip to Niger, and a revelation that in July 2003 Libby was warned about the potential damage of outing Valerie Plame's name and identity. The judge also signaling that the prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's investigation into Karl Rove might be nearing the close, noting that he expects resolution in the foreseeable future of the problem of documents in the case that have been withheld because they touch on Rove, and because he is part of an ongoing investigation.
Olbermann:...Scooter Libby's attorney says he was warned about the implication of outing Valerie Plame's name, any idea who warned him or how did this come out in court?
Shuster: It came out from defense attorney's when they're talking about possible evidence that might get introduced to show that Scooter Libby did not intent to leak Valerie Plame's identity.... but it does explain one thing. If this information and if this warning to SL came from the CIA or an official representing the CIA. It does explain why the CIA was so infuriated right from the beginning when it was disclosed right from the beginning when it was disclosed that this information got leaked to reporters and why the criminal referral from the CIA to the justice dept. happened so quickly.
The tea leaves seem to suggests that Karl Rove is going to get indicted and again these are just tealeaves, but first the judge talked about a resolution of Karl Rove coming soon and again remember, Karl Rove testified for the fifth time and he still has not been cleared. And secondly the body language of Patrick Fitzgerald was astounding. He went to such great lengths to try to avoid mentioning Karl Rove or talking about his status. That in of itself seemed to signal something unique...all the other attorneys are talking about evidence and there was evidence mentioned today involving documents and memos of, from Karl Rove to another administration official about Valerie Wilson. If they're talking about documents and memos as opposed to the Stephen Hadley email that Karl Rove wrote, in other words, if there are other emails or documents that would suggest that perhaps prosecutors have an even stronger case to suggest that Karl Rove didn't have memory problems, he was willfully trying to avoid remembering certain things to the grand jury, but we'll see pretty soon I think.
FDL's new analysis on PlameGate: Countdown to Ecstacy

The Drug of War
I am alienated from these people who buy me drinks and praise me for my service to their country. Who thank me for all those dirty Arab bastards that I ghosted in the name of freedom, democracy, basic cable, and free trips to the salad bar. I am not these pseudo patriots who go on to tell me how they would’ve been in the desert with me, if they didn’t have such a dynamite job, or a bad knee, or a promising future at the local university. I hate them for their gross ignorance, as they declare they would kill without hesitation.

Bullshit Artist: The 9/11 Leadership Myth by Ron Schalow

Subtitled "America was under attack for 102 minutes and for 102 minutes the president did nothing: How George W. Bush turned his pathetic performance on 9/11 into political gold," this book certainly caught our attention

Bush and Repugs at Their Most Dangerous; Scorching the Earth Behind Them
This could be the most dangerous period of Bush's reign. The carefully layered walls of Bush's bubble are closing in as the outer layers of purchased politicos are beginning to peel away, revealing the core ideologues of the cabal. Long gone are wistful architects of the new, bloody American imperialism like Wolfowitz and Perle. As they receded, loyalists like Rice, Hadley, Gordon England, etc. advanced up the chain they forged with their military industrial alliances into catbird seats, lording over our defense budgets, plotting out their imperious ambitions with no fear in their fiefdom.

Colbert shakes up Bill Kristol over PNAC ties
Mainstream Media, Why the Blackout on Stephen Colbert?


Panel Faults Pfizer in '96 Clinical Trial In Nigeria
The panel said an oral form of Trovan, the Pfizer drug used in the test, had apparently never been given to children with meningitis. There are no records documenting that Pfizer told the children or their parents that they were part of an experiment, it said. An approval letter from a Nigerian ethics committee, which Pfizer used to justify its actions had been concocted and backdated by the company's lead researcher in Kano, the report said.

Congo's tragedy: the war the world forgot
In a country the size of Western Europe, a war rages that has lasted eight years and cost four million lives. Rival militias inflict appalling suffering on the civilian population, and what passes for political leadership is powerless to stop it. This is Congo, and the reason for the conflict - control of minerals essential to the electronic gadgetry on which the developed world depends - is what makes our blindness to the horror doubly shaming
This is the story of the deadliest war since Adolf Hitler's armies marched across Europe - a war that has not ended. But is also the story of a trail of blood that leads directly to you: to your remote control, to your mobile phone, to your laptop and to your diamond necklace. The Democratic Republic of Congo is full of mysterious connections that show how a seemingly isolated tribal war is in reality something very different.
...Oh, and the reason why this invasion was so profitable? Global demand for coltan was soaring throughout the war because of the massive popularity of coltan-filled Sony PlayStations. While Sony itself does not use Congolese coltan, its sudden need for vast amounts of the metal drove up the price - which intensified the war. As Oona King, one of the few British politicians to notice Congo, explains as we travel together for a few days: "Kids in Congo were being sent down mines to die so that kids in Europe and America could kill imaginary aliens in their living rooms."
In Bukavu, a 29-year-old human rights campaigner called Bertrand Bisimwa summarised his country's situation for me with cruel concision. "Since the 19th century, when the world looks at Congo it sees a pile of riches with some black people inconveniently sitting on top of them. They eradicate the Congolese people so they can possess the mines and resources. They destroy us because we are an inconvenience." As he speaks, I picture the raped women with bullets burying through their intestines and try to weigh them against the piles of blood-soaked electronic goods sitting beneath my Christmas tree with their little chunks of Congolese metal whirring inside. Bertrand smiles and says, "Tell me - who are the savages? Us, or you?"

Senate opposes Iraq military bases
Amendment mirrors House-approved measure to prevent permanent U.S. troop presence
The U.S. Senate accepted an amendment Wednesday mirroring Rep. Barbara Lees House measure to prevent creation of permanent military bases in Iraq. The Senate amendment to the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations bill to bankroll the war, introduced by U.S. Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., puts the chamber on record against permanent U.S. military bases or control of oil in Iraq. The House unanimously approved a similar amendment by Lee, D-Oakland, on a March 16 voice vote. Despite all of the division and the partisanship about when to leave Iraq and under what circumstances, I think there is one thing that everyone ought to be able to agree on, namely that we should not be in Iraq permanently, Lee said in a statement issued Wednesday. As long as we keep the door to a permanent military presence open, we will continue to fuel the insurgency, undermine the security situation and keep the targets on our troops backs.
Lee in 2005 introduced H.Con.Res. 197 to make it the policy of the United States not to enter into any base agreement with the government of Iraq that would lead to a permanent United States military presence in Iraq. That bill now has bipartisan support from 81 cosponsors.
A recent University of Maryland poll found 80 percent of Iraqis — and 92 percent of Iraqs Sunni Arabs — believe the United States plans a permanent military presence in their country.

"Why did you lie?"

Rumsfeld Heckled by Former CIA Analyst Ray McGovern

Protesters repeatedly interrupted Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld during a speech Thursday and one man, a former CIA analyst, accused him of lying about Iraq prewar intelligence in an unusually vociferous display of anti-war sentiment.
"Why did you lie to get us into a war that caused these kind of casualties and was not necessary?" asked Ray McGovern, the former analyst, during a question-and-answer session.
"I did not lie," shot back Rumsfeld, who waved off security guards ready to remove McGovern from the hall at the Southern Center for International Studies.
Ray, you're my hero.

US defends torture charges

Mr Gonzalez said he was taking the time to talk to them on a visit to Vienna to do "a better job" in explaining the US position, amid growing protests that Washington is violating human rights.
Can't polish a turd, Mr. Gonzales.

U.S. vice president asks Kazakhstan for oil

At a news conference, Cheney also shrugged off Russian criticism of a speech he delivered Thursday that accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of backsliding on democracy and using energy resources as political leverage against European countries. He said Washington is working with others to try to find a "diplomatic solution to avoid a confrontation over this issue."
Cheney & Rummy were the ones behind Reagan & Bush pushing for the continuation of the original Cold War during the 1980's.

Russian media considers Cheney's speech to be first step towards new Cold War

The Kremlin's official response toCheney's speech at a conference in Lithuania has been cautious. But angry reaction from Kremlin-allied politicians and pundits reflects a deepening chill that has marked ties in the second terms of two presidents who seemed to hit it off early in their relationship.

Bolton Refuses To Answer Kucinich's Questions About US Troops In Iran

“I find it hard to believe that the United States Ambassador to the United Nations does not know about ongoing military activity in one of the world’s most volatile regions, and in a country at the heart of current debate before the UN,” stated Kucinich after the hearing. “Congress has a Constitutional role to play in providing checks and balances of this Administration. Ambassador’s Bolton testimony today, and his refusal to answer even the most basic questions about Iran, is just another example of this Administration’s contempt of Congress.This Administration has set our nation on the path to war against Iran,” continued Kucinich. “It has done so without consulting the Congress, and without proper Congressional oversight. Today’s hearing could have been an important moment to educate the public and the Congress about this Administration’s policy towards Iran, and the role US military is already playing in implementing that policy. Unfortunately, Ambassador Bolton’s stonewalling prevent this from happening.”

Watergate Hotel Subpoenaed in Hooker Probe
by Justin Rood
I stopped by the Watergate Hotel this afternoon and chatted with Josh Graham, the assistant general manager, about the recent stories swirling around his establishment. According to Graham, the Watergate has received multiple subpoenas in connection with the Wilkes Hookergate scandal. He went on to say that the hotel is complying with those subpoenas but that he couldn't discuss the content of the orders, nor could he discuss details of the investigation, "out of respect for our guests' privacy." The Wall Street Journal had originally reported that investigators "had requested, and been given, records relating to the investigation and rooms in the hotel," but not that they had used subpoenas. I put in a call to the Westin Grand -- the other hotel reportedly used by Wilkes to entertain lawmakers with poker, food, drink and possibly women. No one there could immediately confirm it had received similar subpoenas.Brent Wilkes: Hookergate

House Intel Chair "Not Surprised" Duke Slept with Hookers
AP reports:The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said Thursday he's not surprised by allegations of prostitution in the corruption case involving former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, a former committee member. Chairman Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., said he has discussed the matter with authorities and expected to raise the issue with an independent investigator he has hired to review Cunningham's committee work. "If I'm trying to connect dots, this is not a surprising outcome," Hoekstra said in an interview with The Associated Press. Hoekstra also said he expected his committee to wrap up its investigation into Cunningham's activities within "weeks."

U.S. House bill allows expansion of ground troops
FEEL A DRAFT?

Pentagon wants US battle-injured soldiers settle their debts

“Those guys in the White House really have no shame. They want to collect the money allegedly owed to the government by the soldiers who served in Iraq, by the families of those who were killed out there,” said the 25-year old U.S. Army Sergeant (Retired) Ryan Kelly who lost his leg while on a battlefield near Baghdad.

But nobody went looking for the $2.3 trillion that vanished while Dov Zacheim was comptroller of the Pentagon.

Bush Admin. Accused of Funding Somalian Warlords
In Somalia, the Bush administration is being accused of fermenting unrest through the support of warlords fighting Islamic militants in Mogadishu. A Somali government spokesperson said the US government’s backing is helping fuel a civil war that has led to many civilian deaths. Some 90 people were killed during the fighting in March – the worst violence Somalia has seen in years.

Government 'secrets' expanding

Unencumbered by a First Amendment, Britain for almost 100 years has had an Official Secrets Act to prevent leaks to the media and to prosecute offenders, including journalists. Some Bush administration officials and members of Congress are casting a longing eye at the British law. If only the United States had a similar law, their reasoning goes, the reporters who revealed CIA-run prisons in Eastern Europe and the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping of terrorism suspects would be prosecuted instead of receiving Pulitzer Prizes.

FLASHBACK: FOX News confirms Osama died in 2001

Probe Targets Ex-Navy Official For Link to Disgraced Contractor

The probe of Douglas Combs, who served as a special assistant to then-acting Secretary of the Navy Hansford Johnson in 2003, stems from a series of probes into Custer Battles LLC.The probe may mark the first time a former high-ranking Pentagon official has been linked to the recent wave of government-contracting scandals.

White House: Secret Service logs on Abramoff visits may not show all

The White House says Secret Service records may not reveal all of convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff's contact with Bush administration officials.

GOSS RESIGNS AS CIA CHIEF
CIA Director Goss resigns
C.I.A. Director Porter Goss Resigns

The CIA has come in for harsh criticism in recent years, not only for questionable prewar intelligence on Iraq but also in connection with the failure of it and a host of other federal agencies to coordinate information closely in connection with the terrorist threat. The decision was the latest in a series of moves by President Bush to shake up his team and reinvigorate his second term. A successor to Goss could come as early as Monday, a senior administration official said. Among those talked about as possible candidates were Bush's homeland security adviser, Frances Fragos Townsend; David Shedd, chief of staff to National Intelligence Director John Negroponte (Wouldn't that be lovely?), and Mary Margaret Graham, Negroponte's deputy for intelligence collection.Okay, so what is about to happen that Goss does not want to be around for?

US survey shows autism very common

The first national surveys of autism show the condition is very common among U.S. children -- with up to one in every 175 with the disorder, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday.

Oh? And how common was it before Thimerasol was used in vaccines?

KATRINA CONTRACTORS BILKED TAXPAYERS
A House report says companies overstated mileage claims and billed twice for removing debris during the ongoing $63 billion recovery effort.

FEMA To Close New Orleans Recovery Office
FEMA has announced it is closing down the local office tasked with planning the long-term recovery of New Orleans. FEMA says it made the decision because local officials have failed to begin adequate planning. (BULLSHIT) New Orleans officials say the government has again abandoned their city. Deputy Mayor Greg Meffert said: “We can’t plan on a paper napkin.”

US Invokes Voting Rights Act To Sue African American
For the first time ever, the Justice Department is using the 1965 Voting Rights Act to prosecute an African American for racially discriminating against whites. Ike Brown, a Democratic Party leader in Mississipi, is accused of intimidating and insulting white voters and candidates. Brown is a well-known political organizer who has ran several successful campaigns. The government has one main witness – a county prosecutor. The prosecutor, Ricky Walker, says Brown recruited a black opponent to run against him solely because he is white. Brown responded: "They've been trying to target me for years, the attorney general and all them, because we're so successful. Hey, if you're a failure, nobody will mess with you. But we're successful in east Mississippi."

A U.S. appeals panel challenges wiretapping
...challenged the Bush administration over new rules making it easier for police and the FBI to wiretap Internet phone calls.

Veto? Who Needs a Veto?
One of the abiding curiosities of the Bush administration is that after more than five years in office, the president has yet to issue a veto. No one since Thomas Jefferson has stayed in the White House this long without rejecting a single act of Congress. Some people attribute this to the Republicans' control of the House and the Senate, and others to Mr. Bush's reluctance to expend political capital on anything but tax cuts for the wealthy and the war in Iraq. Now, thanks to a recent article in The Boston Globe, we have a better answer.President Bush doesn't bother with vetoes; he simply declares his intention not to enforce anything he dislikes. Charlie Savage at The Globe reported recently that Mr. Bush had issued more than 750 "presidential signing statements" declaring he wouldn't do what the laws required. Perhaps the most infamous was the one in which he stated that he did not really feel bound by the Congressional ban on the torture of prisoners.
In this area, as in so many others, Mr. Bush has decided not to take the open, forthright constitutional path. He signed some of the laws in question with great fanfare, then quietly registered his intention to ignore them. He placed his imperial vision of the presidency over the will of America's elected lawmakers. And as usual, the Republican majority in Congress simply looked the other way.

AP-IPSOS POLL HAS BUSH AT NEW LOW OF 33%
The poll showed dismal ratings for President Bush and Congress, even among conservative voters, 45% of whom now disapprove of the president.

GOP Popularity Dips Among Conservatives

Angry conservatives are driving the approval ratings of President Bush and the GOP-led Congress to dismal new lows, according to an AP-Ipsos poll that underscores why Republicans fear an Election Day massacre.

Microsoft's $1.6 Million Man: Ralph Reed Jr.

The former Christian Coalition leader turned political consultant did not have to reveal payments by Microsoft prior to that five-year period. But Reed was known to have been on Microsoft's payroll in 2000, when George W. Bush began his White House campaign (see "A Bug in Windows GOP," June 1, 2005) and for several years prior, which could bring his total Microsoft income to $2 million or more. While working for Bush in 2000, Reed worked on Microsoft's behalf for settlement of the company's landmark antitrust lawsuit. Reed asked supporters to write his candidate, Bush, in support of his client, Microsoft. He ultimately apologized for the "misperception" that might have caused.

DEFYING BUSH, SENATE PASSES SPENDING BILL
The bill would fund operations in Iraq and Afghanistan along with Katrina relief but faces veto because it exceeds President Bush's spending limit by $14 billion.
LIMITED EARMARK REFORM PASSES
The House voted last night to reform the process by which billions of dollars in government spending are doled out in political favors each year.

SANTORUM'S CORPORATE FLIGHTS
Santorum paid $6,955 - first-class rates, as Senate rules require, but a fraction of what it costs to operate the plane.

MZM WAS HARRIS' PRIORITY
Former senior members of U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris' congressional staff say they initially rejected a defense contractor's $10 million appropriation request last year but reversed course .

Feds' Watch List Eats Its Own

What do you say about an airline screening system that tends to mistake government employees and U.S. servicemen for foreign terrorists?

"United 93" is pure crap

Universal shuts down message boards!

Due to debates raging about whether "United 93" was pure lies and propaganda! They deleted all the messages earlier, now they shut all the forums for all their films down.

Judge Doubts Moussaoui's Claims About 9/11
The judge presiding over Zacarias Moussaoui's sentencing told trial lawyers that she doesn't believe Moussaoui's claims on the witness stand that he knew advance details of the Sept. 11 plot.
"I still think that Moussaoui was not accurate in a lot of what he said about how much he knew about what was going to happen with which particular buildings and when," U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema said.
The wheels come off the show trial.

Rove's Unexplained Personal Wealth

Have you ever wondered how a man who owns a $1,500,000 house in DC, a $1,000,000+ house in Florida and a $48,000 cottage in Texas manages to survive on $161,000 a year federal salary? It's odd. Would it raise questions that same man had sold a property to a shell company controlled by his former business partners and that man made between $250,000 and $750,000 profit? Maybe it would raise further questions if those former business partners that bought the property were raking in millions of political dollars from the Bush-Cheney presidential campaign, the RNC and multiple other Republican candidates? Would that just be a coincidence? Well, those are a string of coincidences that happened to Karl Rove.

Could it be all his stock holdings in the Carlysle Group?

Blackwell reports embarrassing buy of Diebold stock

Secretary of State Ken Blackwell (The guy who declared Bush the winner in Ohio 2004) made an embarrassing announcement Monday: He accidentally bought stock in Diebold Inc., a voting machine maker that benefited from decisions made by his office.

How do you "accidentally" buy stock?

Confusion, delayed results mark first punch-card free election

Tardy poll workers, scattered technical problems and a puzzling order from the secretary of state to delay reporting results marked Ohio's first punch-card free election.

Voter smashes electronic voting machine

It's unclear what caused the man to become upset.

Cleveland Polling Place Delays Statewide Election Results

With all the problems reported at the polls Tuesday, NewsChannel5 has learned that the absentee results will be delayed. About 17,000 absentee votes will have to be hand counted because of a problem with optical scanners. There were also reports of problems with the new electronic machines. Both machines are made by Diebold, NewsChannel5's Duane Pohlman reported.

Brent Wilkes was a mechanism by which public funds earmarked for national defense were funneled to G.O.P. candidates and causes.

... along with a few hookers.

Since 1994, Wilkes and ADCS gave $40,700 in campaign contributions to Rep. Duncan Hunter, a San Diego Republican who now chairs the House Armed Services Committee. Hunter has acknowledged that he joined with Cunningham in 1999 to contact Pentagon officials who reversed a decision and gave ADCS one of its first big contracts, for nearly $10 million." (USA Today, 11/29/05)

"Duke" Cunningham is hardly the only Republican politician to receive economic "assistance" from Brent Wilkes, head of the Poway-based "defense" firm ADCS -- a.k.a. the Wilkes Corporation, a.k.a. Group W Advisors, a.k.a. lots of other names. But they still treat this company as though it were something real. Not a single mainstream reporter has scrutinized those web sites and reported on the obvious signs of fakery.
No reporters -- and, for that matter, no procurement officers at the Pentagon -- bothered to do any checking at the patent office. If they had, they would have found that there are no patents covering the "proprietary" designs and innovative equipment advertised by the many ADCS subsidiary firms.

More on the Duke Cunninham bribery scandal from CANNONFIRE blog.

Illegal alien riots break out in California during the night!

“The Sheriff's Department is not placing blame on the demonstrators. We believe this is a very small group of people who are making this protest for criminal behavior.”

Agents provocateurs?

Hollywood star Robbins blasts US media ignorance of 'high crimes' in Iraq

Acclaimed American actor/director Tim Robbins blasted the US government's policy on terrorism -- and the US media's failure to examine it critically -- at a news conference in Athens promoting his stage version of George Orwell's "1984". "We have right now a media that is willfully ignoring the high crimes and misdemeanours of the president of the United States. Clinton lied about a blowjob, and got impeached by the media and Congress. (Bush) got us into (the Iraq) war based on lies that he knew were lies. ... His war has recruited more Al-Qaeda members than Osama bin Laden could ever have dreamed for ... yet no one in the media is calling for impeachment," he said.

Western aid cutoff ravages Gaza Strip

The U.S.-led boycott is designed to force Hamas, the militant Islamic group that won elections in January, to renounce terrorism and recognize Israel. The aid cutoff is causing severe hardships in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, where nearly 4 million Palestinians, many already in poverty, face a total breakdown in government services.

Depleted Uranium - Far Worse Than 9/11

In 1979, depleted uranium (DU) particles escaped from the National Lead Industries factory near Albany, N.Y.,which was manufacturing DU weapons for the U.S military. The particles traveled 26 miles and were discovered in a laboratory filter by Dr. Leonard Dietz, a nuclear physicist. This discovery led to a shut down of the factory in 1980, for releasing more than 0.85 pounds of DU dust into the atmosphere every month, and involved a cleanup of contaminated properties costing over 100 million dollars.

Steve Colbert – Everyone is Missing the Issue

Steve Colbert did not make any jokes about George W. Bush. He simply told the truth about Bush. The joke however was on the so called “journalists” of this nation.

Colbert Reaction Shows Media Are Frightened Of Bush
The attending press whores were frightened to laugh at Colbert because they didn't want to upset their boss, George W. Bush.

(Minority Whip Steny) Hoyer: Bush deserves respect (re: Colbert)
“I thought some of it was funny, but I think it got a little rough,” Hoyer said. “He is the president of the United States, and he deserves some respect.”
Respect cannot be demanded. It must be earned. And Bush has not earned our respect. If anything, he has earned the contempt of the entire world.

Stephen Colbert's Blistering Performance Mocking Bush and the Press Goes Ignored by the Media
Every night on my show, The Colbert Report, I speak straight from the gut, okay? I give people the truth, unfiltered by rational argument. I call it the "No Fact Zone."
And as excited as I am to be here with the President, I am appalled to be surrounded by the liberal media that is destroying America, with the exception of FOX News. FOX News gives you both sides of every story: the President's side, and the Vice President's side.
Reporting on NSA wiretapping or secret prisons in Eastern Europe? Those things are secret for a very important reason: they're super-depressing.
See who we've got here tonight. We’ve got General Moseley, Air Force Chief of Staff. We’ve got General Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. They still support Rumsfeld. Right, you guys aren't retired yet, right? Right, they still support Rumsfeld. Look, by the way, I've got a theory about how to handle these retired generals causing all this trouble: Don't let them retire!
Senator McCain, it's so wonderful to see you coming back into the Republican fold. I’ve actually got a summer house in South Carolina. Look me up when you go to speak at Bob Jones University. So glad you've seen the light, sir.
Mayor Nagin, I'd like to welcome you to Washington, D.C., the chocolate city with a marshmallow center and a graham cracker crust of corruption.
Joe Wilson is here. Joe Wilson, right down here in front, the most famous husband since Desi Arnaz. And, of course, he brought along his lovely wife Valerie Plame. Oh, my god! Oh, what have I said? Ay, gee monetti! I am sorry, Mr. President, I meant to say he brought along his lovely wife “Joe Wilson's wife.” Patrick Fitzgerald is not here tonight, right? Okay, dodged a bullet.
And, of course, we can't forget the man of the hour, new press secretary, Tony Snow. Secret Service name: "Snow Job." Toughest job. What a hero! Took the second toughest job in government, next to, of course, the ambassador to Iraq. Got some big shoes to fill, Tony. Big shoes to fill. Scott McClellan could say nothing like nobody else.
Now, Mr. President, I wish you hadn't made the decision so quickly, sir. I was vying for the job myself. I think I would have made a fabulous press secretary. I have nothing but contempt for these people.

Torture "widespread" under U.S. custody: Amnesty International
Reuters--Torture and inhumane treatment are "widespread" in U.S.-run detention centers in Afghanistan, Iraq, Cuba and elsewhere despite Washington's denials, Amnesty International said on Wednesday. In a report for the United Nations' Committee against Torture, the London-based human rights group also alleged abuses within the U.S. domestic law enforcement system, including use of excessive force by police and degrading conditions of isolation for inmates in high security prisons.
"Evidence continues to emerge of widespread torture and other cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment of detainees held in U.S. custody," Amnesty said in its 47-page report. It said that while Washington has sought to blame abuses that have recently come to light on "aberrant soldiers and lack of oversight", much ill-treatment stemmed from officially sanctioned interrogation procedures and techniques. "The U.S. government is not only failing to take steps to eradicate torture, it is actually creating a climate in which torture and other ill-treatment can flourish," said Amnesty International USA Senior Deputy Director-General Curt Goering.
The U.N. committee, whose experts carry out periodic reviews of countries signatory to the U.N. Convention against Torture, is scheduled to begin consideration of the United States on Friday. The last U.S. review was in 2000. It said in November it was seeking U.S. answers to questions including whether Washington operated secret detention centers abroad and whether President George W. Bush had the power to absolve anyone from criminal responsibility in torture cases. The committee also wanted to know whether a December 2004 memorandum from the U.S. Attorney General's office, reserving torture for "extreme" acts of cruelty, was compatible with the global convention barring all forms of cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment. War crimes territory, folks.

New Army documents reveal US knew of and approved torture before Abu Ghraib scandal
The release of thousands of de-classified military documents is raising new questions about the role of senior army commanders in the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal. According to the ACLU, the documents show Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the former top U.S. military commander in Iraq, urged his troops to "go to the outer limits" to extract information from prisoners. Previously released documents have linked Sanchez to the use of army dogs during interrogations.

In the chaos of Iraq, one project is on target: a giant US embassy

In the pavement cafés, people moan that the structure is bigger than anything Saddam Hussein built. They are not impressed by the architects’ claims that the diplomatic outpost will be visible from space and cover an area that is larger than the Vatican city and big enough to accommodate four Millennium Domes. They are more interested in knowing whether the US State Department paid for the prime real estate or simply took it.

US bird flu plan seeks to slow pandemic
Reuters--Americans should prepare for travel restrictions and school closures if an influenza pandemic hits, but such measures can only temporarily slow the inevitable spread of disease, the government's new flu plan says. The White House influenza plan released on Wednesday builds on an earlier plan to combat a potential pandemic of H5N1 avian influenza, including preparations to build a stockpile of vaccines and drugs, already under way, and work to develop newer and better vaccines. (Donald Rumsfeld a major shareholder of Gilead Pharmaceuticals, which holds the patent for "Tamiflu", a drug being stockpiled which only "lessens symptoms" of "bird flu.")
As before, it assumes that 30 percent of the population would be infected, and that anywhere between 200,000 and 1.9 million would die, depending on how deadly the virus turns out to be.Although the disease is still confined largely to birds, it has killed 113 people out of a recorded 205 infections since late 2003 and experts fear it will trigger the next pandemic once it becomes able to transmit efficiently among people.

By spring of this year (2005), Jeffery Taubenberger expects to have in hand the entire genetic sequence of the influenza virus responsible for 1918's devastating global epidemic. Taubenberger , is using the 1918 flu genome information to answer lingering mysteries about the flu virus, such as where it originated, why it was so virulent, and why it struck with such ferocity among presumably healthy young adults. Already, he and other researchers have come up with some intriguing clues. Since 1994, Taubenberger has served as chief of the division of molecular pathology at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Washington, D.C. -- Read an interview with Taubenberger

As much as 40 percent of the workforce will be out during two-week-long peaks as people become sick or stay home to care for children, ill relatives or to protect themselves from infection.
"In terms of its scope, the impact of a severe pandemic may be more comparable to that of a war or a widespread economic crisis than a hurricane, earthquake or act of terrorism," the report reads.
(In other words, a great excuse to delare MARTIAL LAW).
If the pandemic hits the United States, the report lays out some specific actions while acknowledging there is still a shortage of vaccines, drugs and other supplies. The government will "deploy 'containment stockpile', if available, to any domestic region with confirmed or suspected cases of pandemic influenza," the report reads.
It does not give specifics on who would get vaccinated first or who would be the first to get scarce antiviral drugs. Some Democrats immediately attacked the plan.
"A flu plan that doesn't say how to distribute vaccine is about as useful as a hurricane plan that doesn't say how to rescue people from a flood," Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy said.
President George W. Bush, whose approval ratings have been sagging, has been under pressure to show his administration can deal with a catastrophe in the United States after being widely criticized for responding slowly to Hurricane Katrina last year. The federal government's plan would "limit non-essential passenger travel in affected areas and institute protective measures/social distancing and support continued delivery of essential goods and services," the report reads. "Measures at our borders may provide an opportunity to slow the spread of a pandemic to and within the United States, but are unlikely to prevent it," it adds.
The federal government will also issue guidance to people on what they can do to protect themselves from flu. This includes basic handwashing, covering the mouth when sneezing or coughing, and staying at least three feet away from others during a pandemic. But the report adds that while such measures might buy time, they are unlikely to reduce the number of people who get sick or reduce the overall effects on a community.
"Measures to limit domestic travel may delay the spread of disease," the report adds. "These restrictions could include a range of options, such as reductions in non-essential travel, and, as a last resort, mandatory restrictions."

The 1918 virus was the likely ancestor of both the human H1N1 and "classical" swine H1N1 viral lineages that were first identified in the 1930's with the isolation of influenza viruses from people and pigs. The historical data suggests that swine influenza was a novel disease in 1918. The silent nucleotide changes that make 1918 less bird-like are retained to a significant degree in the the viruses directly descended from the 1918 virus --human and swine.

In other words, the last worldwide pandemic in 1918 was a swine flu, not a bird flu.

Republicans Drop Gas Rebate, Tax Proposals
On Capitol Hill, Republicans have dropped a proposal to provide consumers with $100 dollar rebates to offset rising gas costs. The idea was floated last week amidst a growing public outcry over record fuel prices. The abandonment of the rebate plan comes just one day after Republicans said they would also drop a tax proposal opposed by the oil industry and other business leaders. Republican House Speaker Denis Hastert said Republicans would focus their efforts on opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. Hastert made the announcement after meeting with ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson.
Speaking in Washington, New York Senator Chuck Schumer criticized the Republicans’ ties to the oil industry: "The last person in the world you want to make oil policy in America is George Bush. Because George Bush believes in his bones that what is good for Exxon Mobil is good for America that's how he was raised, that's how he was brought up, he can't do anything against. And that's why the policies that he and his Republican leadership have come up with are sort of a joke."

Iraqi Ambulance Worker Killed By US Security Contractors
Meanwhile, an unidentified Iraqi ambulance worker was killed Tuesday when he was shot by a group of American security contractors. The worker’s colleague, Abu Ali, described the attack: "We were driving here to deliver a case (to the hospital) when a bomb went off close to a passing convoy of Americans. They (the Americans) opened fire on him, shooting him in his heart. Their sniper shot him twice and one of them in his heart. What is his crime? We are ambulance drivers who help people during attacks. What have we done wrong?"