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Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Honor the Troops by Screwing Them

The hypocrisy is totally reprehensible – yet Bush and his fascists don't care. You see, for them, the youth of this country is nothing than more than another resource to be exploited. All of our national resources exist for one sole purpose – to make money for those who have the wherewithal and required connections to do it. America's youth is just cannon fodder in the increasing incestuous relationships between multi-national corporations and governments worldwide as evidenced by the “secret” Dubai Port scandal currently embroiling Washington. Once the resource is utilized, it is discarded.

At least tens of thousands of veterans with non-critical medical issues could suffer delayed or even denied care in coming years to enable President Bush to meet his promise of cutting the deficit in half....In fact, the proposed cuts are so draconian that it seems to some that the White House is simply making them up to make its long-term deficit figures look better.

The veterans' medical care cuts would come even though more and more people are trying to enter the system and as the number of people wounded in Iraq keeps rising. Those cuts would prove traumatic to the already troubled VA medical system, and would force staff cuts, delay investment in new medical equipment and deny care to hundreds of thousands of veterans.

So what would the definition of 'non-critical' medical issues include? Maybe one would be mental health care:

The U.S. government has underfunded the Department of Veterans Affairs and placed too low a priority on mental health services for active and discharged soldiers, said Paul Rieckhoff, a former Army battalion commander in Iraq.

“We need some leadership in Washington to recognize the pending threat of PTSD to veterans and our country as a whole,” Rieckhoff said in an interview yesterday. He is executive director of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, a New York-based advocacy group. “George Bush doesn't talk about mental health and he doesn't talk about veterans. Veterans' issues are not a big priority for him.”

“We've known this was coming for four years,” said Charles Figley, director of the Traumatology Institute at Florida State University, in an interview yesterday. He said the study signaled a “coming tsunami of mental health needs” among soldiers returning from Iraq.

Extol the virtues of service to the country, offer huge monetary incentives to retain personnel and encourage enlistments. Use the troops to further political aims and hide behind them when you need to. America's soldiers serve honorably and they love America. Bush thanks them, prays for them and then craps on their outstretched hands needing help.
Posted on The Human Stain

The Next VP

So the rumor has it that Tricky Dick Cheney will step down after the 2006 elections. Apparently Cheney is attaining such a level of liability that the increasing friction between VP's acolytes and Bush's stormtroopers is creating a poisonous atmosphere that even Bush can understand.

Of course, absent the inter-office friction, Georgie would probably keep Dick on. Even if Cheney has a staff member indicted, and even if he's drunk and shoots someone in the face, and even if he leaks government secrets, and even as he is increasingly likely to be indicted, that's not grounds enough for Chimpie to let him go.

The stage still seems to be set for his “graceful” departure. So who will replace him? The bets in this camp are that it will be Sen. John McCain. Last year there were rumors that Condi Rice would get the nod, but she seems to have scotched the idea and she would really not be the best choice for the continued hegemony of the Republican dynasty. McCain would be because of his cross-over capability with voters who are not part of the Bush base. McCain is electable, Sen George Allen is not, Sen Bill Frist is not, Gov. Mitt Romney is not, Rudy Guilliani is not. McCain and Bush have been getting cozy lately, and it seems that advantageous positioning is underway.

With Bush and his crowd sinking deeper into the netherland of political viability, they need a spark that can create some magic. McCain will get the nod.
Posted on The Human Stain

Monday, February 27, 2006

Aww, Too Bad

Well it appears America needs to take up a collection for poor Ken Lay. Once the king of Enron, Ken has fallen into hard times. Let's all chip in and help him rebuild his life. After all, he gave up everything while attempting to fleece his employees and electricity consumers across the nation. After all, this is America, the land where every little boy can grow up, cultivate rich, powerful, and crooked friends, and then become buddies with the President. What better way is there to become rich?

Once at the pinnacle of Houston's financial and political elite with a fortune worth as much as $400 million, Mr. Lay, the former chairman of the Enron Corporation, is now facing financial ruin.

While he has talked about his shrinking wealth since Enron's collapse, he has managed to keep up appearances, continuing to live in a full-floor apartment in the city's affluent River Oaks section. But already, according to personal financial records obtained by The New York Times, Mr. Lay has fallen out of the ranks of the city's millionaires, with a stated net worth of less than $650,000.

In addition, Mr. Lay, 63, faces potential liability from lawsuits that were filed against him by shareholders and others after Enron's collapse that would almost certainly force him into personal bankruptcy. Mr. Lay may also be forced to forfeit his remaining home, along with some other assets, if he is convicted in the criminal fraud trial that is now taking place in Houston.

The tears keep flowing, can't we all lend him a hand?
Posted on The Human Stain

Little Miss Goody Two Shoes

Katherine Harris, the former Florida Attorney General who dutifully helped steal the election for Bush in 2000, has been caught with her hands in the till - taking illegal campaign contributions. Oh my, there must be some mistake, pray it isn't true!

Washington defense contractor Mitchell J. Wade admitted yesterday in federal court that he attempted to illegally influence Defense Department contracting officials and tried to curry favor with two House members, in addition to lavishing more than $1 million in cash, cars, a boat, antiques and other bribes on convicted Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif.).

The new admissions, including details that identify Reps. Virgil H. Goode Jr. (R-Va.) and Katherine Harris (R-Fla.) as recipients of illegal campaign contributions, are contained in Wade's agreement to plead guilty to four criminal charges stemming from his role in the Cunningham probe.

Harris, who claims she had no idea there was anything wrong when she accepted $32,000, has offered a poor little me defense stating that this occurrence “demonstrates the perils of a process in which candidates are sometimes asked to determine the intent of a contributor.” Never mind that the contribution was over twice as large as any other she received.

This is the real kicker though, Harris says that she gave all the money from Wade to charity!! Now if people believe that, we've got some nice property in Florida for sale – and it's not near a swamp at all.

Posted on The Human Stain

Dirty “Elites”

Bill Moyers is traveling across America on an eight-city tour discussing politics and the influence of money. Dismayed the current state of affairs in America, he had some comments on Tricky Dick Cheney's shooting spree:

"What intrigues me as a journalist now is the rare glimpse we have serendipitously been offered into the tightly knit world of the elites who govern today," says Moyers. "At the heart of this story is a metaphor of power. The Vice President turned his host, the lobbyist who is also the ranch owner, into his de facto news manager. She would disclose the shooting only when Cheney was ready and only on his terms."

"Ms. Armstrong suggested the blame lay with the victim, who, she indicated, had failed to inform the Vice President of his whereabouts and walked into a hail of friendly fire. It is a Dick Cheney world out there –- a world where politicians and lobbyists hunt together, dine together, drink together, play together, pray together and prey together, all the while carving up the world according to their own interests."

Posted on The Human Stain


Who's the Real Traitors?

Bush and the neo-con thugs that surround him, not only love to instill terrorism fears into the populace, they take fiendish pleasure in describing anyone who disagrees with them as “aiding the enemy”, or as “giving comfort to our enemies”, and even make more scurrilous, baseless charges. Preferring rule by decree, they are truly incapable of governing – scaring is their modus operandi. In order to scare, they need to score political points and what better way than to manipulate classified intelligence information? Take a few secrets, twist them, mold them into something useful – who's to know?

Senator Jay Rockefeller has charged that the Bush administration authorized leaking classified information to reporter Bob Woodward.

Rockefeller charged in his letter that the most "damaging revelations of intelligence sources and methods are generated primarily by Executive Branch officials pushing a particular policy...."

Later in the same letter, Rockefeller said: "Given the Administration's continuing abuse of intelligence information for political purposes, its criticism of leaks is extraordinarily hypocritical. Preventing damage to intelligence sources and methods from media leaks will not be possible until the highest level of the Administration cease to disclose classified information on a classified basis for political purposes."

...it is well known and has been reported long ago that one of Woodward's sources for both of his books about the Bush presidency was then-VicePresidential chief of staff, Lewis Libby. On February 9th, the National Journal reported that Lewis Libby told a grand jury that he was 'authorized' by Vice President Cheney and other White House superiors to disclose classified information.

Does anyone really believe this group would not twist or leak classified information? Does Valerie Plame ring a bell, WMD's, or the mushroom cloud??? Does Bush damage national security – did he with Woodward? There are more reputable people who believe so:

Michael Scheuer, the CIA's former head of the CIA's Bin Laden Unit, wrote in his book Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror:

After reading Mr. Woodward's Bush at War, it seems to me that the U.S. officials who either approved or participated in passing the information--in documents and via interviews--that is the heart of Mr. Woodward's book gave an untold measure of aid and comfort to the enemy.

Ahhh, so who are the traitors to America?
Posted on The Human Stain

Hoping It Goes Away

Following up on a previous Human Stain post, the hollowness of the “economic recovery” that Bush and his henchmen like to trumpet, is no more apparent than when reading the following information:

A national survey of people eating at soup kitchens, food banks and shelters found that 36 percent came from households in which at least one person had a job. In the Chicago area, it was 39 percent. "Even though the economy might be changing, it isn't creating the kinds of jobs that allow people to make ends meet," said Lisa Koch of the Greater Chicago Food Depository.

More than 25 million Americans turned to the nation's largest network of food banks, soup kitchens and shelters for meals last year, up 9 percent from 2001, says the report by America's Second Harvest. Those seeking food included 9 million children and nearly 3 million senior citizens, the report says.

America has plenty of Wal-Mart, McDonalds, and other low paying service sector jobs. What it doesn't have are jobs adequate for families to sustain a decent living. Consider this – here, in America, a nation of ~300 million people, nearly ten percent need food assistance. To think the country can continue on this path is really an extreme example of ignorance or disregard for common sense.
Posted on The Human Stain

Sunday, February 26, 2006

Sin City - Obesity

America – Sweaty and Fat

Percent of adults 20 and over who are overweight or obese: 65 percent.
Percent of adults 20 and over who are obese: 30 percent.
Percent of children ages 6 to 19 who are overweight: 16 percent.
Diabetes: Seven percent of Americans have diabetes; experts predict that 30 percent to 40 percent of all children born in the U.S. in 2000 will be diagnosed with diabetes during their lifetime.
Arthritis: Arthritis cases linked to obesity rose from 3 percent in 1971 to 18 percent in 2002.


Let's put some more soda machines in our schools shall we?
Posted on The Human Stain


Visit This Site

A vitally important site for everyone to stay abreast of the latest happenings in the battle against Avian Flu.

You can learn a lot about bird flu and the specter of a global human flu epidemic by checking official information from the government or medical groups. But thousands of times a day, people turn to a much different source.

It's Flu Wiki, a Web site maintained by a 52-year-old writer who specializes in risk communication. It draws in part on contributions from people who don't reveal their names, much like Wikipedia, an encyclopedic Web site that lets anyone contribute.

Why should anybody trust a source like this? "I'm working with some of the best scientists in the country on the subject of pandemic influenza," said Melanie Mattson, who maintains the site. "If I have a question about what's going on I ask them." And Flu Wiki, the Virginia resident said, is "probably the most complete authority in English on pandemic influenza on the Internet."

Flu Wiki: http://www.fluwikie.com
CDC bird flu page: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/avian/
Posted on The Human Stain

Anyone See a Pattern?

Ahh yes. Things sure have gotten better. Chimpie and the boys are taking car of America real well. You can almost hear the sounds of joy, the laughter, the enjoyment of life that comes from every nook and cranny from across the American landscape. Wait a minute, there are some notes of discord:

The 2001 recession was shallow, but its effects were steep. Average family incomes fell in the USA from 2001 to 2004, pulled down by a sluggish recovery from the downturn and the sharp stock market drop, the Federal Reserve said Thursday. The decline - the first since 1989-92 - was accompanied by the smallest increase in net worth in that period.

In its comprehensive Survey of Consumer Finances, released every three years, the Fed said the median net worth of the bottom 40% of families declined, while those at the top saw gains. The percentage of families investing in stocks fell 3.3 percentage points to 48.6% from 2001 to 2004, a level last reached some time between the 1995 and 1998 surveys.

Apparently the sounds of joy, the laughter, the enjoyment of life that we hear is just coming from the rich. Hmmm – the decline is the first since 1989-1992. Wasn't that when Bush senior was President? He was a Republican - just like little Georgie. What happened from 1992 to 2000? Ohh, that was when Clinton was president and family incomes increased. Clinton was a democrat, wasn't he? Guess the old adage is true after all – if you want to live like a republican, vote democrat.
Posted on The Human Stain

Idiots

Thankfully some states are now creating the needed legislation to prevent right wing religio-nuts like Rev. Fred Phelps of Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, KS from expressing his profoundly ignorant viewpoints at the burial services for American military personnel. Phelps - an ignoramus without peer, and his cult followers, actually picket military funerals, holding signs with such messages as "Thank God for IEDs" and "God Hates Fag Enablers." They say God is punishing America for tolerating gays.

Governors in South Dakota and Wisconsin signed laws this month restricting funeral protests. At least 13 states are considering such laws, plus Kansas may expand its existing ban. The Wisconsin law bans protests within 500 feet of a funeral before, during and after the service.

Gov. Jim Doyle says Phelps and his followers "have a constitutional right to state their opinion, as totally bizarre as this one is. But the families have a right to a time in which they can grieve and express their admiration and respect for these fallen soldiers."

David Hudson, an attorney at the First Amendment Center, says a key issue is whether family privacy is a compelling reason to restrict speech. "The courts are obviously going to have to sort this out," he says.

Reprehensible as Phelps actions are, the First Amendment does give him the right to express his warped viewpoint. Like the Neo-Nazis discussed in an earlier Human Stain article, to say Phelps and his acolytes have brains the size of walnuts would be giving them too much credit.
Posted on The Human Stain

It Will Happen

America likes to think of itself as a world leader in most every endeavor. We always like to be first, to be on top, to win. We take pride in ourselves, our abilities, our initiative, and are quite satisfied to perceive the rest of the planet trailing behind us.

Well, we're not the best in the world when the discussion turns to health care. Most other civilized countries have nationalized plans that provide health care to all citizens. These plans are widely accessible, readily used, they provide top quality care, and the benefits to each countries society is undeniable.

Why we don't do it here is really no mystery. There's too much money to be made. Never mind that we have millions who cannot afford medical care - parents who cannot care for their children, children who cannot care for their elderly parents, husbands or wives who cannot afford medical care for their spouses. Never mind that there are many studies showing the inefficiencies in our “system” are hugely expensive and wasteful. Never mind that our system has huge bureaucracies that suck huge amounts of money out of this economy. Never mind that other countries look at us and wonder why we don't care about our fellow citizens. There's too much money to be made.

Luckily there is hope:

With millions of Americans losing health insurance and crying for relief from soaring medical costs, Illinois is considering a bold and once-unthinkable proposal--extending medical coverage to all state residents.

"Medical providers are taking it on the chin. Consumers are taking it on the chin. Employers are taking it on the chin. And there's a real feeling out there that this could be the last great chance we have to do something," said Howard Lerner, who heads the new health-care task force and is president of the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago.

What's really new is the fact that consumer and business organizations, medical providers, health insurers, lawmakers and others are working together for the first time to consider reform options.

People continue to die needlessly. Sooner or later, America will wake up and know that Universal Health Care for all citizens is not only a necessity, it is also the only moral path we should travel. What type of society are we if we don't care for one another? Who would Jesus deny medical care to?
Posted on The Human Stain

Hate-Mongers

Deliberately trying to provoke a reaction from a mostly black community, a group of Neo-Nazis marched through a section of Orlando, FL yesterday. Arrests were made as a result of confrontations between some of the 30 skinhead morons and about 100 counter-demonstrators.

In khaki uniforms, tall black boots and red arm patches bearing swastikas, about 30 members of the National Socialist Movement were barricaded on one side by SWAT team members at the rally. On the other side of the SWAT officers, a group of about 100 black-clad counter-demonstrators, many covering their faces with black masks, held anti-Nazi signs.

More than 300 law enforcement officers were on hand, hoping to avoid the violence that marked another gathering of the Minneapolis-based neo-Nazi group in October in Toledo, Ohio. A march there led to a riot in which businesses were burned and looted and bricks were thrown at police.

These idiots march under the protection of both the police and the first amendment to the Constitution. Without this ability, they would be home, hiding behind Momma's skirt. To say their brains are the size of walnuts would be giving them too much credit.
Posted on The Human Stain

Saturday, February 25, 2006

The Buck Stops With Bush

A White House report released this week ladled blame on former FEMA head Michael Brown for the bungled response to Hurricane Katrina - though not his boss, Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff, or anyone in the White House.

Brown has fired back charging:

"We ought to get mad at the President. We ought to get mad at Secretary Chertoff," Brown said in an interview with NBC News.

Brown said Bush should have known by Sunday, Aug. 28, the day before landfall, that the storm would be a cataclysm. "The alarm bells were being sounded on Sunday," he said. "Because not only was I having conferences with the President on the telephone, but he was also on the video conference with all of the state emergency managers."

The White House had no immediate reaction to Brown's latest comments. A spokesman referred reporters to White House homeland security adviser Frances Townsend's previous comment that Brown had broken the chain of command, attempting to deal directly with the White House instead of reporting to Chertoff, leading to a communication and coordination breakdown.

So let's get this straight, the White House says the reason Katrina became a disaster was because Brown didn't follow the chain of command and there was a communication breakdown. Brown was talking to the President, the Big Cheese, the Head Honcho, the one guy who could order mobilization of all emergency resources – right away, and there was a communication breakdown??

Bush and his drones = incompetence.
Posted on The Human Stain

Remember When?

10/06/03

President Bush is giving his national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, the authority to manage postwar Iraq and the rebuilding of Afghanistan. "We want to cut through the red tape and make sure that we're getting the assistance there quickly so that they can carry out their priorities," Bush spokesman Scott McClellan said. "It's a new phase, a different phase we're entering." Rice will head the Iraq Stabilization Group, which will have coordinating committees on counterterrorism, economic development, political affairs and media messages.

12/14/05

The White House said on Wednesday it had put the State Department in charge of U.S. efforts to stabilize and rebuild nations roiled by war or civil upheaval, a move seen aimed at avoiding the inter-agency bickering that plagued the aftermath of the invasion of Iraq. U.S. President George W. Bush signed the directive last week giving Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice the lead in stabilization and reconstruction missions, a White House statement said. "(This will) empower the Secretary of State to improve coordination, planning and implementation for reconstruction and stabilization assistance for foreign states at risk of, in, or in transition from conflict or civil strife."

So Condi, how are those little gigs going??
Posted on The Human Stain

American Stains

Disgraced
Military interrogators
posing as FBI agents at the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, wrapped terrorism suspects in an Israeli flag and forced them to watch homosexual pornography under strobe lights during interrogation sessions that lasted as long as 18 hours, according to one of a batch of FBI memos released Thursday. The memos offer some of the clearest proof yet that the abuses and torture of prisoners in U.S. military custody weren't the isolated actions of low-ranking soldiers but a result of policies approved by senior officials, "These documents show that the abuse at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib was not caused by rogue elements but rather it was the consequence of policies that were deliberately adopted by senior military and Pentagon officials."

Traitorous Acts
The Dubai company at the center of a political furor over its plans to take over some terminal operations at six U.S. ports said that it planned to close the deal in the week ahead, but that it would "not exercise control" over its new operations in the United States while the Bush administration tried to calm opposition in Congress. The action came after the Bush administration and leading members of Congress, including Senator John Warner, Republican of Virginia, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, quietly told the company that more time was needed to derail congressional action to block the deal.

Failure in an Adventure Based on Lies
The number of Iraqi army battalions judged by their American trainers to be capable of fighting insurgents without U.S. help has fallen from one to none since September, Pentagon officials said yesterday.

Another Crooked Pol
Sen. Rick Santorum's charity donated about 40 percent of the $1.25 million it spent during a four-year period, well below Better Business Bureau standards - paying out the rest for overhead, including several hundred thousand dollars to campaign aides on the charity payroll. Operation Good Neighbor is based at the same address as Pennsylvania Sen. Santorum's campaign office in suburban Philadelphia, and some of the same people who have worked on his campaign are working for his charity and collecting money from it, records show.
Posted on The Human Stain

Completely Missing the Point

The recent uproar in California over whether inmate Michael Morales should be executed by lethal injection, is really a red herring in the overall debate regarding capital punishment. Morale's lawyers have a valid argument by contending:

....the state's execution procedures amounted to cruel and unusual punishment because scientific evidence suggests the intravenously administered three-drug mixture doesn't alleviate severe pain as it stops the heart.

This argument was not enough to stop the execution however. What did was the ethical and moral stance taken by doctors, who refused to participate in the execution. Doctors would normally serve as as monitors and would intervene if complications arise during the execution. Since the doctors take a Hippocratic oath to do no harm, they could not stand by and knowingly participate in an execution process that is increasingly seen as one where the drugs used have the potential to cause considerable pain and suffering. Good for them – but their stance while noble, still misses the crux of the issue.

The government, the state, we the people, have no moral right to take a life, to execute, to kill, as punishment. This act is one of barbarism, one of retribution, one that attempts to mask its amorality under a cloak of 'deterrence'. It is wrong.

More here.

Posted on The Human Stain

Baseless Smears

They never, ever fail to stoop to lower and lower levels of decency. Once a party of honorable opposition, the current brood of goons in charge of the GOP are not only destroying political discourse but they will soon destroy their party - again. The Rethuglicans are now making outrageous claims that anyone opposed to the Dubai – US Ports deal is at best an idiot and at worst a racist. The disgusting hypocrisy of that statement is readily apparent. This is the party that always finds a way to use the baser instincts of human nature to divide people in pursuit of cheap political goals. They divide by income level, by faith, by age, and by sexual orientation. They divide by race and they use false patriotism to create hysteria in the public that will allow them to abrogate Constitutional rights and solidify power. To suggest that concerned Americans who object to this secret Bush deal are racists is a vile, baseless, traitorous smear.

Just who are the people making this smear against American patriots? One of those unthinking, uncaring, amoral politicians is Little Georgie himself who has condemned opposition to the deal as anti-Arab bigotry, saying it had been thoroughly vetted and raised no legitimate national security concerns. Chimpie has also threatened to veto any attempt by Congress to scuttle the deal and at the same time, in an act of phony contrition, has expressed regret that he did not keep congressional leaders informed of the deal. Ever the slimy hypocrite, Georgie has never even rooted out the bigots in his own ranks. Gen. William "Jerry" Boykin, an outspoken Christian conservative who has ridiculed Islam as "Satan" and dismissed Muslims as idol worshipers, is still a high-ranking Pentagon official, in charge of intelligence-gathering because Little George has not wanted to risk the ire of other anti-Islam Christian fundamentalists by dumping the general.

Yesterday, however, Representative Peter King of New York, the Republican chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, dismissed Bush's contention of bias against Arabs. ''I don't think it serves any purpose saying that this is somehow anti-Arab," King said. ''It's real concerns about a company which comes out of a country which had the strongest pro-Taliban leanings in the world prior to 9/11 and also in many ways refused to cooperate with the US in the war against terrorism until recently. These are real concerns which have to be addressed.''

Another smearer is the increasingly clueless drone, Sen Pete Domenici, who said much of the criticism has an anti-Arab bias: "We are at war against terrorists, not any religion or ethnicity. Some politicians seem to have forgotten that. ... Such alarm, verging almost on hysteria, harms our efforts to have the broadest coalition possible against worldwide terrorism."

So it is racist to question a country that recognized the Taliban government in Afghanistan as being legitimate, that has a very spotty record in resisting terrorism, that operates ports in it's own country that are known havens for hijacking, smuggling, and other illegalities, that owns Dubai Ports World (which may already have infiltrators form al Qaeda as employees), that had citizens as members of the 9/11 terrorist group who destroyed the World Trade Towers, and that has not enacted any policies nor made any strong public pronouncements that condemn terrorism or the extremists Muslims who support terror acts? Seems like common sense to most Americans.

Oh, for residents of Florida, this will be quite comforting: Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has said he trusts his brother the president on such security issues.
Posted on The Human Stain

Friday, February 24, 2006

How Others See Us

Guatemala:

When photographs of the maltreatment of detainees at the Iraqi prison at Abu Ghraib first appeared, the first reaction of United States authorities was to reject any implication that linked these practices to official military policy. Then, more than two years into the scandal, the photographs grew in number, and to these were added those of the gratuitous beatings by British soldiers, the torture of prisoners at the U.S. base in Guantánamo, and clandestine flights by the CIA over Europe - transporting prisoners to secret prisons.

The most despicable part of this is the moral double standard displayed by the governments in developed countries when, after ordering inhumane treatment against inhabitants of their colonies and countries that are economically dependent on them, (they) try to impose sanctions (on other governments) for violations of human rights......

Germany:

The United States is worried about its image abroad. Particularly in the Muslim world. But a massive propaganda offensive worth billions of dollars seeks to address the problem.

"Friendly contact with the Islamic world," is the secret marching order Bush has given the State Department, the Pentagon and the CIA in carrying out the largest propaganda offensive since the end of the Cold War. "We must do more to confront hateful propaganda, dispel dangerous myths and get out the truth," says US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

The Americans hope that almost no one recognizes the broad reach of the PR machine. They haven't publicized the fact that thirty radio stations in Afghanistan have been financed with US aid. "We don't want people to recognize the participation of the US government and tune out," said Colonel James Treadwell, an expert in psychological warfare.

Indeed, the propaganda program is being eyed more critically since it became public that a company named Lincoln Group was paying Iraqi newspapers up to $2,000 for America-friendly articles and greasing journalists with $500 per month under orders from the Pentagon. In the past the Lincoln Group had been hired by the CIA to help the Iraqi National Congress in its campaign against Saddam Hussein before the war. The reports they produced then on Saddam's supposed weapons of mass destruction went too far even for Washington's intelligence apparatus.

France:

The clash of civilizations? It is certainly taking place, but who is involved? Three weeks after the outbreak of the troubles that transformed the controversy of the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad into a spiral of violence across the globe, the debate has gone beyond the simple theory of a clash between Islam and the West. In displaying the progression of values in Europe and the United States, it exposes two other fractures: one in the midst of Western society and the other between the Muslims of Europe and those of the East, whether moderate or extremist.

From the start, the reactions of governments and Western media revealed a profound gap between Continental Europe and the United States, which later actions have not papered over. Motivated by its neoconservative convictions, the Bush Administration spontaneously and clearly expressed its religious solidarity with Muslims, offended by the caricatures and its regret at their publication in Europe. This reaction must be considered startling, given that the First Amendment permits one to say and write more or less anything one wants - even more so than in Europe. But the expression of solidarity comes from a country where religious expression is increasingly a basic element of public discourse, and where the status of the Fourth Estate has been seriously eroded over the last five years.

Posted on The Human Stain

Indian Courtship

From The Economist:

In the 13-hour flight next week from Washington to Delhi, George Bush could curl up with E.M. Forster's best-known novel. “A Passage to India” is a tale, of misunderstanding: of wrong signals, exaggerated expectations, offense unwittingly caused and taken. It is a parable of the complications that arise when eager Anglo-Saxons go travelling on the Indian subcontinent.

A degree of wide-eyed enthusiasm on Mr Bush's part is forgivable. India is a rich and exotic prize...(it) is the world's largest democracy, and the arguments for forging a much closer partnership between India and America seem unassailable.

Despite all this, there are reasons to urge both sides to tread as carefully as angels before they rush in to an over-enthusiastic partnership. Mr Bush needs to avoid two kinds of mistake. The first, and most serious, would be to shower America's new friend with gifts that the United States can ill afford. Unfortunately, this has already happened. In July, when India's prime minister, Manmohan Singh, visited Washington, he came home with a remarkable present: a promise from Mr Bush that he would aim to share American civilian nuclear technology with India.

That was too generous. Under American and international law, such technology can be given only to countries that have renounced nuclear weapons and joined the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. India has never joined the treaty, and it tested nuclear weapons in 1998. Mr Bush, in effect, was driving a coach and horses through the treaty in order to suit his own strategic ends, a move that invites the accusation of hypocrisy from other nuclear states and wannabes not so favored....

Posted on The Human Stain


More Phony Excuses

Georgie is in trouble again with the voters. The Rethuglicans are getting more and more nervous everyday. Trying to fight his image of a man engaged in an intimate affair with the oil industry, Bush is hitting the road to pump up his 'common man' image by showing his 'commitment' to alternative forms of energy. Oh – and in a two for one shot, he's also trying to be seen as being 'environmentally friendly'. Why - how could anyone question his integrity and commitment?

President Bush, on a three-state trip to promote his energy policy, said Tuesday that a budgeting mix-up was the reason 32 workers at one of the nation's premier renewable energy labs were laid off and then reinstated just before his visit. "Sometimes, decisions made as the result of the appropriations process, the money may not end up where it was supposed to have gone," Bush said. "My message to those who work here is we want you to know how important your work is."

Two weeks ago, the lab workers, including eight researchers, were laid off at the lab because of a $28 million budget shortfall. Then, over the weekend, at the direction of Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, $5 million was transferred back to the lab to get the workers back on the job.

Gee, could that reversal have had anything to do politics? Could Georgie have been caught with his pants down, failing to pass another switcheroo over on the public? Certainly looks that way.

Critics say Bush's proposals are modest, and that the president is promoting renewable energy because polls show his job approval numbers are being weighed down by American's concern about high utility bills and the price of gasoline.

"As the premier renewable energy lab, it makes no sense to begin an effort to achieve America's energy independence with cuts to the lab that will likely lead the way," said Drew Nannis, a spokesman for Sen. Ken Salazar D-Colo.

"This is a series of photo-ops entirely driven by polls that tell the president that he isn't doing enough on energy," said Philip Clapp, president of the National Environmental Trust. "The president is talking a good game, but his budget doesn't back it up."

Posted on The Human Stain

It's No Mystery

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was traveling, hat in hand, throughout the Middle East this week in a futile attempt to convince Arab governments to cut all funding to the Hamas-led Palestinian government. She and the Bushies seemed totally bewildered as to why they cannot get anyone to agree to the US idea of boycotting and isolating the new government.

The answer to their bewilderment is elementary – the US idea is WRONG.

The Bush Administration responded to Hamas assuming the reins of power in the Palestinian Authority by demanding the return of $50 million in aid, and urging others to join it in cutting all funding until the movement agrees to renounce violence, recognize Israel and accept existing peace treaties. Israel — with its center-right government looking over its right shoulder ahead of next month's election — has even suspended the transfer of tax and customs revenues owed to the Palestinian Authority, that form the bulk of its budget. But when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was rebuffed by both Egypt and Saudi Arabia this week as she sought their support to cut all funding to a Hamas-led government, she was left to concede that "different countries will have different modalities and how to deal with this." In other words, the U.S. attempt to impose a financial blockade on the Palestinian Authority to force immediate concessions from Hamas has essentially been stillborn.

Palestinians freely elected their government, the elections were not crooked or stolen, their right to self determination is just that – THEIR RIGHT. If America really is true to it's ideals - not the hypocritical imperialist we appear to be, Palestinians deserve our respect and they deserve non-interference from America. We should support them – not shun them.
Posted on The Human Stain

Business Stupidity

Most people would think that 'common sense' is readily apparent to anyone with even a nominally functioning brain. Everyone has had a 'lightbulb moment' or a time when they feel stupid for not thinking of something earlier – because 'it's just so simple and makes so much sense'.

Well, it really seems that executives in the recording industries and their attack dogs in the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) have a level of brainpower that is registering as the lowest ever recorded. What they fail to understand about digital music downloading – and why consumers flock to it, is a depressing mystery.

It has been a scant three years since Apple unveiled the iTunes store. The sale of the billionth download indicates that consumers have become comfortable with digital technology, said Frost & Sullivan analyst Zippy Aima. "Apple has redefined the way digital entertainment is made available to consumers," Aima said. "That iTunes has reached a hallmark of selling a billion songs is an indicator that the buying behavior of consumers is changing and they are ready to pay for good quality music."

Sales of digital music skyrocketed in 2005, increasing 190 percent to $1.1 billion, at which point digital music accounted for roughly 6 percent of all music sales worldwide. Some 20.7 million users visited the iTunes store in December 2005 alone, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. By July 2004, the iTunes service had sold 100 million songs and reached 200 million by the end of that year. Seven months later, the service recorded its 500 millionth sale. That amount has once again doubled in the past seven months.

Rather than embark on a truly energetic and innovative process that would enable their hidebound music companies to COMPETE, these executives continue to threaten their customers with lawsuits and jail time. Doesn't Business 101 teach that driving customers away does not lead to long term viability? CD sales are hitting record lows in the U.S. and will not get better. Much wasted attention has been directed towards the downloading of songs from file-sharing services, 'piracy' in the RIAA vernacular.

The reason file-sharing is so popular has nothing to do with being able to get the songs for free as the vast majority of people are totally willing to pay artists for their creations. What people refuse to pay for are crappy CD's (costing $10-$20) that contain one good song and twelve rotten ones. People want to be able to obtain songs individually – not half baked bundles created by 'music marketers' trying to foist the next new craze onto consumers. What is so difficult to comprehend?
Posted on The Human Stain

Arrogance of Power

The Rethuglicans currently infesting the White House have thumbed their noses once more at Congress, the American people, and common sense. Refusing to even consider a re-evaluation of the ill conceived Dubai Ports deal they secretly concocted with Georgie's friends in the United Arab Emirates, they are traveling down a road of doom. Apparently blinded by arrogance and their self imbued sense of imperiousness (and cozy family ties), they stated today that no reconsideration of their approval will be undertaken.

The Bushies don't listen to anyone but their own kind – and then only if they agree with the messianic zeal and direction of the Bush minions. Marching in lockstep, speaking to the same talking points, and repeatedly beating the same dead horses, they are all robotic clones that believe the world is the way they say it is – regardless of the crushing realities around them. It must be nice for them to look through such a distorted lens, seeing only what you want to. Unfortunately while they proceed living in their own unreal bubble, the rest of us shed blood and tears.

Expressing the commonly felt sentiment of most Americans, Thomas Kean, a former Republican governor of New Jersey who led the bipartisan probe of the Sept. 11 attacks, said the deal was a big mistake because of past connections between the 2001 hijackers and the UAE.

Said Kean - "It shouldn't have happened, it never should have happened...."There's no question that two of the 9/11 hijackers came from there and money was laundered through there....From our point of view, we don't want foreigners controlling our ports.......From their point of view, this is a legitimate company that had a legitimate bid and won, and here are all these congressmen saying all these things about not wanting this company. It looks to them like it's anti-Arab......I think this deal is going to be killed......The question is how much damage is this going to do to us before it's killed."

Voicing additional concern, Rep. Peter King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee and a leading opponent said, "Governor Kean knows as much as anyone how risky it is to deal with the United Arab Emirates......This just proves that no real investigation was ever conducted, and it's unfortunate that he and the other 9/11 commissioners were not contacted before the government approved this."

The former head of the CIA's Osama bin Laden unit joined in the criticism. "The fact that you are putting a company in place that could already be infiltrated by al-Qaida is a silly thing to do," said Mike Scheuer, who headed the CIA unit until 1999.

Bush and his cronies – selling America's security to make a buck.
Posted on The Human Stain

Thursday, February 23, 2006

It's the System!

If ever there was a perfect example of why the perpetrator of a crime cannot realistically determine guilt, one needs only to look at the sham “investigation” of the government's pitiful Hurricane Katrina response that has just been released by the Bush White House.

The report's conclusion is one that any five year old would love - “It wasn't me, I didn't do it”.

The White House acknowledged Thursday that the response to Hurricane Katrina was botched because federal officials were confused, poorly prepared and communicated badly. But instead of an overhaul of the Homeland Security bureaucracy, officials proposed 125 smaller fixes.

The 11 most urgent recommendations, which the White House said are needed before the hurricane season starts this year, had been routine practices by the Federal Emergency Management Agency before it was folded into the Department of Homeland Security, two former FEMA directors said Thursday.

"We did all that stuff all the time," said James Lee Witt, who ran FEMA under President Clinton. "I don't understand what they're doing. It's weird. They need to put FEMA back as an agency as it used to be. ... They need to look at how it used to be done, because it did work extremely well."

Homeland security adviser Frances Townsend, the author of the 228-page "Lessons Learned" report, blamed former FEMA Director Michael Brown, but not his boss, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, for the communication and leadership problems.

"The response to Hurricane Katrina revealed a lack of familiarity with incident management, the planning discipline, legal authorities and field-level crisis leadership," the report said.

Beverly Cigler, who co-chaired a study of Katrina response for a public administrators' association, disputed Townsend's assessment. The plan "was as clear as day," Cigler said. "The people didn't read the plan, didn't know the plan or didn't implement the plan," said Cigler, a Penn State University public administration professor. The problem wasn't the leadership on the ground.....- but in Washington, and the White House didn't want to look at that, Cigler added.....This report just kind of says, `It's the system.'"

So I guess everyone was totally unqualified for their job and they all are ducking individual responsibility – just like frat boy George does.
Posted on The Human Stain


Portgate Scandal

The Bushies continue to amaze. They lie. They bypass Congress. They think Bush is a king and rules by decree. They speak condescendingly towards anyone who is not one of “them”. They believe they are above the law and menial, pedestrian concerns like the US Constitution. The latest fiasco is the secret United Arab Emirates (UAE) “Dubai Port” deal that smells increasingly bad. Whenever it comes to making money, the Bushies reliably prove that America's well being takes a back seat.

'The administration's secret deal did not require Dubai Ports to keep copies of business records on U.S. soil, where they would be subject to court orders nor did it require the company to designate an American citizen to accommodate U.S. government requests. Outside legal experts said such obligations are routinely attached to U.S. approvals of foreign sales in other industries. The concessions — described previously by the Homeland Security Department as unprecedented among maritime companies — reflect the close relationship between the United States and the United Arab Emirates.'

Now Dubai Ports is a state owned company. So Little Georgie says a country that has ties to terrorist organizations and a record of supporting Al Qaeda and the Taliban, a country with ties to bin Laden, can operate American ports and they do not have to keep any records in the US. How convenient for abuse. There's more to turn the stomach:

Under the deal, the government asked Dubai Ports to operate American seaports with existing U.S. managers "to the extent possible." It promised to take "all reasonable steps" to assist the Homeland Security Department, and it pledged to continue participating in security programs to stop smuggling and detect illegal shipments of nuclear materials.

So the terrorist linked country can promise to take “all reasonable steps” to assist Homeland Security. I'll bet they had their fingers crossed behind their backs when they made that pledge. Oh, by the way – it was just a pledge – where are the sanctions for non-compliance?

It should also be noted that the “close relationship” between the US and UAE is heavily influenced by a long term business friendship between the Bush family and the United Arab Emirates royal family. Watch this video to see a report by Lou Dobbs that details the financial connections between both Bush Presidents, the UAE, the Carlyle Group, Dubai Investment Fund, Neil Bush and John Snow. Another cozy relationship is Georgie's appointment of a former Dubai Ports Executive, David Sanborn, as head of the U.S. Maritime Administration. In his new position, Sanborn oversees all U.S. port operations.

So on Tuesday Georgie gave the veto threat defense:

"After careful review by our government, I believe the transaction ought to go forward," Bush said. He added that if the U.S. Congress passed a law to stop the deal, "I'll deal with it with a veto."

On Wednesday, the obedient Bushies used the painfully familiar “we didn't know” defense:

The White House said Wednesday that Bush was unaware of the pending sale until the deal already had been approved by his administration.

Today he is using the reassuring, all knowing, putrid, “Father Bush Knows Best” ploy:

Bush, talking to reporters at the conclusion of a Cabinet meeting earlier Thursday, said that "people don't need to worry about security."

Quick, get the Pepto-Bismol. Thankfully, the nightmare ends in 2008.
Posted on The Human Stain

Drunken Liar

Posted by Capitol Hill Blue:

Secret Service agents guarding Vice President Dick Cheney when he shot Texas lawyer Harry Whittington on a hunting outing two weeks ago say Cheney was "clearly inebriated" at the time of the shooting. Agents observed several members of the hunting party, including the Vice President, consuming alcohol before and during the hunting expedition, the report notes, and Cheney exhibited "visible signs" of impairment, including slurred speech and erratic actions.

According to those who have talked with the agents and others present at the outing, Cheney was drunk when he gunned down his friend and the day-and-a-half delay in allowing Texas law enforcement officials on the ranch where the shooting occurred gave all members of the hunting party time to sober up.

We talked with a number of administration officials who are privy to inside information on the Vice President's shooting "accident" and all admit Secret Service agents and others say they saw Cheney consume far more than the "one beer' he claimed he drank at lunch earlier that day. "This was a South Texas hunt," says one White House aide. "Of course there was drinking. There's always drinking. Lots of it."

One agent at the scene has been placed on administrative leave and another requested reassignment this week. A memo reportedly written by one agent has been destroyed, sources said Wednesday afternoon.

If Cheney was legally drunk at the time of the shooting, he could be guilty of a felony under Texas law and the shooting, ruled an accident by a compliant Kenedy County Sheriff, would be a prosecutable offense.

Secret Service officials also took possession of all tests on Whittington's blood at the hospitals where he was treated for his wounds. When asked if a blood alcohol test had been performed on Whittington, the doctors who treated him at Christus Spohn Hospital Memorial in Corpus Christi or the hospital in Kingsville refused to answer. One admits privately he was ordered by the Secret Service to "never discuss the case with the press."

Capitol Hill Blue has been accused of fabricating the story – they respond here to those claims.

They have a reliable record and it will come out further that the VP is a liar and a cover-up is underway. The sooner Americans really wake up to the fact the Bushies cannot be trusted – with anything – the better off this country will be.
Posted on The Human Stain

Monday, February 20, 2006

In Honor of Presidents Day

The dangers faced by our fore bearers regarding human weaknesses, government intrusion, and erosion of liberty are as applicable today as they were in the 18th and 19th centuries. As a species, humankind has not changed very much. The lessons they learned and the warnings they voiced are for us to benefit from – if we care enough to listen.

George Washington:

As Mankind becomes more liberal, they will be more apt to allow that all those who conduct themselves as worthy members of the community are equally entitled to the protections of civil government. I hope ever to see America among the foremost nations of justice and liberality.

How soon we forget history... Government is not reason. Government is not eloquence. It is force. And, like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.

If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.

It will be found an unjust and unwise jealousy to deprive a man of his natural liberty upon the supposition he may abuse it.

The constitution vests the power of declaring war in Congress; therefore no offensive expedition of importance can be undertaken until after they shall have deliberated upon the subject and authorized such a measure.

Abraham Lincoln:

You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.

Allow the president to invade a neighboring nation, whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such a purpose - and you allow him to make war at pleasure.

Don't interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties.

I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts.

Our safety, our liberty, depends upon preserving the Constitution of the United States as our fathers made it inviolate. The people of the United States are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.

This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or exercise their revolutionary right to overthrow it.

Posted on The Human Stain

Misapplied Power – in Idiot's Hands

The rights we all enjoy as Americans are under assault as kooks and nuts have been let out of the the playpen. Recently created, the Homeland Security Department seems to be increasingly populated by zealots and misanthropes who are utilizing newly found powers to impose their personal views on America.

What's needed are professional personnel with finely trained police and investigative capabilities – not the dimwitted prison guard types that are causing problems now. Ranging from minor abuses of power by self appointed morality police belonging to the religio-fascist brigades to the more egregious violations of the Constitution by their unthinking storm troopers, the department is in serious need of restructuring, re-training, and mission policy analysis. Their efforts to 'protect' America are being misdirected. For example, a newly instituted program has enlisted school bus drivers to watch for potential terrorists. Now, it's a mystery, how a bus driver, regardless of the training provided, is going to be anything more than a neighborhood snoop that will cause innocent people harm.

Such a training program demands strong oversight, said John Rollins, a former senior Homeland Security intelligence official now with the Congressional Research Service. Otherwise, he said, some bus drivers could think of themselves as undercover agents.

"Today it's bus drivers, tomorrow it could be postal officials, and the next day, it could be, 'Why don't we have this program in place for the people who deliver the newspaper to the door?' " Mr. Rollins said. "We could quickly get into a society where we're all spying on each other. It may be well intentioned, but there is a concern of going a bit too far."

It is going too far. We are losing America – bit by bit. The most dangerous aspect of this loss of liberty is the glacial pace it marches at - so slowly that people do not become alarmed, but relentless in it's damage. People need to wake up now – or their children will think the police state is the way America always was.
Posted on The Human Stain

Cover-up is Underway

Yesterday on Meet The Press, Cheney's ghoulish beard, Mary Matalin tried mightily to put the best face possible on the 'shooting mishap' this week. Trying to avoid the subject – Cheney did shoot someone in the face - and evading any recognition of the fact that his lack of public notification has dishonored his office and disregarded America's citizens, she soldiered on, looking more foolish with every statement.


Q: Initially, there was—seemed to be an attempt to blame Mr. Whittington. Was the vice president part of that? Aware of it?

A: Absolutely not. When I spoke to the vice president Sunday morning, he made it more than clear that it was his fault, no matter what the conditions, no matter how much the shared risk. That this should not be blamed on Harry......

So after Armstrong and Scott McClellan had stated that it was Whittington's fault for not letting Cheney know of his approach, we hear that Cheney had expressly told everyone Sunday AM that Whittington should not be blamed. People must regularly disregard Cheney's instructions. Normal White House protocol must also be to make fun of the situation and the fact that someone could have been killed. At least Whittington's friends are sticking up for him – maybe this is why Dickie crawled into the warm womb of FOX News for his 'interview' the next day.


Q: Was alcohol in any way, shape or form consumed during the afternoon? And should we accept the [Vice] president’s “a beer” as literally one beer?

A: What Katharine Armstrong was answering is a literal fact going to the question she was asked, which is always the case on the Armstrong ranch, you don’t drink and hunt, and you don’t hunt with drinkers. And that’s what the sheriff reported, that’s what she reported. It is true that the vice president had a beer at lunch, and let me ask anybody sitting at this table who knows the vice president, has known him for many years, has seen him in social situations, he’s known not to be a drinker. But let me ask you a more logical question—you think the Secret Service would let the vice president out, tanked up, with a loaded gun, or let him be around anybody who’s drunk with a loaded gun? It just defies common sense that the press would even go there. And that’s why these adversarial question-and- answer periods set up the presumption that Cheney would be drunk, or having to deny that Cheney was drunk, as opposed to presuming what we all know, that he doesn’t drink, he wouldn’t hunt and drink, the Secret Service wouldn’t let anybody around him who is drinking and hunting.

So the rule at Armstrong Ranch is you don't drink and hunt – except when you drink beer at lunch. Cheney had beer at lunch, but he's not a drinker. Cheney had a cocktail later that evening – but he's not a drinker. The Secret Service would not allow Cheney out 'tanked up' or to be around anyone who has a gun and had been drinking – except when they had been drinking.


Q: Scott McClellan said he was speaking for himself and the president when he said that this could have been handled better..... Could the vice president have handled this better?

A: ...And I think what most normal people would empathize with—that is, people who have a full complement of human empathy—is that a—that person who shot his friend in the face would be most concerned with that friend’s health, with giving that friend help, with getting to that friend’s family, with consoling the other parties that were in the—with him that weekend. That’s a little bit different situation. The problem with these rules is that they’re presumed to be inviolate. This vice president, who is logical and who is human, was not following the conventional rule, but he wasn’t doing anything that was irrational, that’s for sure.

So what are “these rules”? Could they be LAWS? Could one of these rules require shootings to be reported to the police? Could another of these rules require that those involved in shootings submit to breathalyser and blood tests to screen for alcohol and drugs?


Q: Once he (Cheney) was assured—excuse me—that Mr. Whittington was in the ambulance, on his way to his hospital, being transferred to another hospital, that any time during that night, before or after dinner, did he consider picking up the phone, calling the president, saying, “Mr. President, I want to tell you something terrible has happened. I shot a man inadvertently in a hunting accident, and I wanted you to be—to know and hear it from me”?

A: Well, understand, what’s going on in the course of the evening, they’re in this 50,000- acre farm, it took a half-hour for the ambulance to even reach them, they had to get out, so—by the time they got back and called the family, located them, got them to the hospital, and made all those machinations, it’s now, what, 10 or 11 o’clock back here? The vice president knew that the president had been informed within the hour, he knew that Karl Rove, who’s dear friends with Katharine Armstrong and Harry Whittington, had called, so he knew that the president had a full accounting. I’m not—this question’s repeatedly asked—I’m not sure what the implication of it is. What purpose would have been served by the vice president then waking up the president to say, “Feel my pain”? He knew he was fully informed, and he knew he was informed from personal friends, not just from the medics and the Secret Service. I just am hard-pressed to understand what is—what are we trying to—what itch are we trying to scratch?

So again, why didn't Cheney talk to the President?


Q: Mary Matalin....the overall approval of the vice president, and here it is. Approve: 29 percent; disapprove 41 percent. A 29 percent approval rating. Will that hamper the vice president’s effectiveness in terms of governing, or helping fellow Republicans in the midterm elections?

A: Absolutely not. Why—I’ve heard this repeatedly for six years. He’s been the whipping boy for the liberals for six years.....no, it doesn’t diminish his effectiveness, nor has his role in any way been diminished at the White House.

Of course not, Cheney's in charge after all. Georgie's been told what to say too.

More contradictions here, here, here, here.
Posted on The Human Stain

Sunday, February 19, 2006

Destroyed Image

Just finished watching 'Tears of The Sun' again. The movie stars Bruce Willis as a US Navy Lt. who leads a team of Navy Seals on a rescue mission in Nigeria. Caught between the chain of command, responsibility for his men's lives, and making a right choice - it is a good flick. The thing that really hit home however was the realization that the portrayal of the American soldier - their sense of duty, honor, integrity, and morality is now shattered by the prisoner abuse scandals at Guantanamo, Afghanistan, and Abu Ghraib.

The Bushies have destroyed what our fathers fought for. It will take decades and $ billions to attain that respect once more. The saddest thing is - they have no shame for doing it.
Posted on The Human Stain

Saturday, February 18, 2006

How to Kill an Industry

Music Industry: CD to IPod transfer Illegal
Posted on The Human Stain

What Happens When You shoot Someone – and You're Not the VP?

"Immigrant shot to death on ranch; Webb sheriff rules it an accident. Man charged with manslaughter", San Antonio Express-News, June 3, 2003:

An undocumented Mexican immigrant was shot and killed Sunday evening in an apparent hunting accident on a Webb County ranch owned by the family of former U.S. diplomat John G. Hurd.

"The illegals were crouching out in the brush. They said they mistook this guy for a hog," said Webb County Sheriff Juan Garza....Juan Garza Mendoza, 34, an employee of the ranch, was charged Monday with manslaughter, a second-degree felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison....

Mendoza had apparently hit Barrera Vasquez while shooting at a feral hog, and immediately contacted authorities after the shooting, Hurd said. Sheriff Garza said interviews with three of the victim's Mexican traveling companions and the others in the ranch hunting party led him to rule out anything but an accidental shooting.

After indicting Mendoza for manslaughter, the district attorney eventually dropped the charges in favor of a civil suit. During jury deliberations, the fact that a 911 call from the ranch was made over an hour after the shooting, helped the jury award $20 million in damages which the ranch owner's insurance paid. How convenient for Cheney, and Armstrong (the ranch owner) that everything was judged to be just fine. Really pays to be the VP and white and rich and politically connected in Texas – doesn't it?
Posted on The Human Stain


Hiding Something?

From Raw Story:

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has responded to a request from a San Francisco-based blogger for Vice President Dick Cheney’s FBI file—but has been withholding its release since September 2005.

In a letter to blogger Michael Petrelis, of PetrelisFiles.com, the section chief for the FBI’s records management division acknowledged in August 2005 that the bureau had located some 780 pages on the vice president. To date, Petrelis hasn’t received a single page on Cheney.

Petrelis said the FOIA office had told him that the delays were due to the declassification process. After the office locates files relevant to a request, they must then be examined by government censors to expunge any information believed to jeopardize national security.

If you've got nothing to hide..... why not release the records?
Posted on The Human Stain

Descent Into Darkness

"I never imagined I would live to see the day when the United States and its satellites would use precisely the same arguments that the apartheid government (in South Africa) used for detention without trial. It is disgraceful.....One cannot find strong enough words to condemn what Britain and the United States and some of their allies have accepted." - Archbishop Desmond Tutu in a British radio interiew 2/17/06.
Posted on The Human Stain

The Big Lie

A new report from the Government Accountability Office reveals that the Bush administration has spent $1.6 billion in federal funds on the 'positive benefit' of their various pet projects and programs, with the bulk of the money (~$1 billion) directed towards efforts that would improve the image of the military in 'The Global War on Terror'. The Bushies awarded more than 340 contracts to PR, advertising and media firms from 2003 through the early 2005. Advertising and PR agencies were to broadcast positive messages about government policies and initiatives with some $15 million being spent on 'building connections' with media outlets . Individual contracts of up to $100,000 went to members of the press for 'promotion' work. O'Reilly? Limbaugh? Malkin? Miller?

“The insurgency is in it's last throes”, paying Iraqi' journalists to write 'favorable stories', the trumpeting of Jessica Lynch and Pat Tillman, promotion of the disastrous Social Security privatization plan, the promotion of the failing Prescription Drug program.....all parts of the efforts????

The biggest problem with Georgie's PR program - it's clandestine and would not have been revealed without the US House Democratic leadership demanding the report. The Bushie effort smacks of propaganda – because it is. It is clearly being undertaken to manipulate the American citizenry.

All this was inspired by the principle - which is quite true in itself - that in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods......Mein Kampf (James Murphy translation, page 134):

To be perceived, propaganda must evoke the interest of an audience and must be transmitted through an attention-getting communications medium.

Propaganda must label events and people with distinctive phrases or slogans.

Posted on The Human Stain

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Hanky Panky

Two guys and two gals, in the country - eating, drinking, and...... Where are their wives and husbands?

Hmmm? Could it be Dick's got a chick? Well it's not unbelievable, history shows all despots have girlfriends, mistresses, companions - you get the idea. And remember this is a “special time” of year, they were out there just before Valentines Day. How snuggly and warm - just full of romance isn't it?

Sirius Radio's Alex Bennett came out and said what many folks in the media had been whispering about but were too timid to report: Pam Willeford, the ambassador to Switzerland and Lichtenstein who was standing at Cheney's side when the shotgun went off, could be more than his hunting partner. RJ Eskew has more: "The real story is already emerging, if you're willing to do a little digging. Cheney and Whittington went hunting with two women (not their wives) …"

Posted on The Human Stain