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And, yes, I DO take it personally: 02/10/2008 - 02/17/2008
Mandy: Great blog!
Mark: Thanks to all the contributors on this blog. When I want to get information on the events that really matter, I come here.
Penny: I'm glad I found your blog (from a comment on Think Progress), it's comprehensive and very insightful.
Eric: Nice site....I enjoyed it and will be back.
nora kelly: I enjoy your site. Keep it up! I particularly like your insights on Latin America.
Alison: Loquacious as ever with a touch of elegance -- & right on target as usual!
"Everybody's worried about stopping terrorism. Well, there's a really easy way: stop participating in it."
- Noam Chomsky
Send tips and other comments to: profmarcus2010@yahoo.com

And, yes, I DO take it personally

Saturday, February 16, 2008

My humble opinion on what's happening to Hillary

i certainly can't speak for anyone else, but, for me, the more hillary pushes forward with her campaign, the more i am reminded just how much our country was screwed over by her husband... every time she - or bill or mark penn - open their yaps, it's like my nose is being shoved into the smelly piles of shit they left lying around, while, at the same time, they're whacking me upside the head with a rolled-up newspaper, yelling, "you BETTER vote for her, dammit..."

just sayin'...

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"No one checks the weather before leaping out of a burning building"

barbara ehrenreich...
Obama is different, really different, and that in itself represents "change." A Kenyan-Kansan with roots in Indonesia and multiracial Hawaii, he seems to be the perfect answer to the bumper sticker that says, "I love you America, but isn't it time to start seeing other people?" As conservative commentator Andrew Sullivan has written, Obama's election could mean the re-branding of America. An anti-war black president with an Arab-sounding name: See, we're not so bad after all, world!

So yes, there's a powerful emotional component to Obama-mania, and not just because he's a far more inspiring speaker than his rival. We, perhaps white people especially, look to him for atonement and redemption. All of us, of whatever race, want a fresh start. That's what "change" means right now: Get us out of here!

help...! somebody...! anybody...!

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Greg Palast: Bush election fraud mechanics

from brasscheck tv...


Were you ever curious about why Karl Rove resigned so suddenly?

Alberto Gonzales, Bush buddy and ... all » Attorney General who made torture as American as apple pie, resigned around the same time.

The two events may be connected.

You see, Mr. Rove appears to have been involved in a felony called election fraud. And to pull it off, he may have had help from Alberto Gonzalez.

Remember all those federal prosecutors who Gonzales fired and replaced with Bush-friendly crooks?

You know why removing them was so important? They were standing in the way of Rove's scheme.

When this news broke it was on the front page of every newspaper in the world - except in the United States.

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Well, you see, it's because when WE do it, it's different

no comment necessary, merely irresistible...
U.S. Makes Case About Satellite To Foreign Envoys

The State Department sent cables to all embassies yesterday instructing diplomats to explain to foreign governments how the upcoming attempt to shoot down an out-of-control spy satellite is different from China's destruction of one of its orbiting satellites early last year.

it's all clear to me now...

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Attention, fans of fear-mongering... Here's your new tool...

fans of fear, paranoia, and imminent disaster have a new tool at their disposal... the global incident map displays in very nearly real-time incidents around the world in the following categories...
Airport/Aviation Incidents
Arson/Fire Incident
Biological Incidents/ Threats/ Anthrax Hoaxes etc
Bomb Incidents/Explosives/ Hoax Devices
Chemical Incident
Dam Incident
Radiation Incidents/ Smuggling/ Proliferation
Chemical Attack
Other Suspicious Activity
Shipping/Maritime/Ports/ Cargo/Waterways Security
Assassination/ Assassination Attempt
Railways/Train Stations
Bus Stations/ Bus Security/ Bus Related Incidents
Bridge / Tunnel Incidents and Security
Shootings / Sniper Incidents etc
Terrorist Arrests/Captured/Killed Locations
General Terrorism News
Oil Gas Infrastructure - Incidents / Threats/ News
Food/ Product Tampering
Embassy/ Consulate Incidents or Threats

here's the map, displaying various icons that represent the various categories of threats as listed above... note the one icon-free continent...


Click on map for larger version

here's the same map with an arrow roughly indicating my present location...



nyah, nyah, nyah...

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Friday, February 15, 2008

More than 24,000 interrogations have been conducted at Guantánamo since 2002 and EVERY ONE WAS VIDEOTAPED

let's see if THIS grows legs...
INTERROGATION AND VIDEOTAPING
OF DETAINEES IN GUANTÁNAMO

By
Mark Denbeaux
Professor, Seton Hall University School of Law
Director, Seton Hall Law Center for Policy and Research
Joshua Denbeaux,* and R. David Gratz,*
Denbeaux & Denbeaux
Counsel to two Guantánamo Detainees
Jennifer Ellick ’09
Michael Ricciardelli ’08
Matthew Darby ’08
Research Fellows
Seton Hall Law Center for Policy and Research


[...]

[P]ublicly available Government documents demonstrate the following:

  • More than 24,000 interrogations have been conducted at Guantánamo since 2002
  • Every interrogation conducted at Guantánamo was videotaped.
The Central Intelligence Agency is just one of many entities that interrogated detainees at Guantánamo.

The agencies or bureaus that interrogated at Guantánamo include: the Central Intelligence Agency and its Counterterrorism Center; the Criminal Investigation Task Force (CITF); the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) of the FBI; Defense Intelligence Analysis (DIA); Defense Human Intelligence (HUMINT); Army Criminal Investigative Division (ACID); the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI); and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS). Private contractors also interrogated detainees.

Each of these entities has identical motives to destroy taped investigations as has the Central Intelligence Agency. As one former senior Central Intelligence Agency official put it: “It’s a qualitatively different thing—seeing it versus reading about it.”

One Government document, for instance, reports detainee treatment so violent as to “shake the camera in the interrogation room” and “cause severe internal injury.” Another describes an interrogator positioning herself between a detainee and the camera, in order to block her actions from view.

The Government kept meticulous logs of information related to interrogations. Thus, it is ascertainable which videotapes documenting interrogations still exist, and which videotapes have been destroyed.

in a parallel universe somewhere, a report like this would result in the resignation of the president, the vice president, and the entire cabinet...

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$1.46B: Germany is shoveling money at their floundering banks just as fast as the U.S.



trying to prevent a "significant loss of confidence" is a hoot and a half... the confidence is gone, baby, gone...
German Economy Minister Michael Glos announced Wednesday that the government, via the state-owned KfW banking group, will bail out the beleagured IKB Deutsche Industriebank AG to the tune of 1 billion euros ($1.46 billion).

Glos said that the Dusseldorf-based bank needs a total of 1.5 billion euros as a result of losses resulting from the subprime crisis. Other banks and investors will have to come up with the remaining money, he said, adding that it was still not clear "who will be taking part and for how much."

Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück warned that allowing IKB to go bankrupt would raise the risk of "a significant loss of confidence in Germany's entire financial sector."

$1.46 BILLION...! damn...!

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Killing "Bubba" using hi-tech, remote-controlled horror: "Suddenly, the two men explode"

gosh... it's just like a video game...


Photos provided by the U.S. Air Force
Inside the U.S. Air Force's Combined Air & Space Operations Center
in the Middle East

Each [screen] is about 5 feet wide, displaying remarkably clear live footage from cameras mounted on the Air Force's un-manned Predator drones that buzz incessantly above Iraq and Afghanistan. The Predator drones, however, are not filming a raging firefight, or a bridge about to be strafed from the air.

They are stalking prey.

You see a man, walking through a shrub-dotted, dusty field. A small dog wanders behind him. Another screen shows a group of individuals, standing huddled together on a city street, looking like they could be chatting about a ballgame. A third Predator tracks a figure getting into a car, following as the car snakes through traffic. Yet another screen stays fixated on a single squat house surrounded by what looks like a low cement wall, as if someone is about to emerge from the front door.

The scenes look misleadingly pedestrian. The miniature people on the screens do not know they are being watched. "We are looking for individual people," Lt. Col. Walt Manwill says, as he stares up at the massive screens. "Especially when you are killing people, you want to make sure you do it right." Manwill, a blockish former pilot whose call sign is Fridge, is a chief of combat operations here, on what the Air Force simply calls "the floor." He handles one of three eight-hour shifts in a job that runs 24 hours a day.

Targeters here show me recent footage of two men on the ground in Iraq. The two men, far below the Predator drone's gaze, appear to be setting up a mortar on a city street. They are in the shadow of a building just feet away. Suddenly, the two men explode. Everything around the men, including the buildings, looks unharmed. But when the dust clears, the two men are wiped away. A small bomb, tailor-made for hunting single individuals, has done the job.

besides the nightmarish scene described above in which a duo presumably intent on causing death and destruction are exterminated, seemingly by god himself, we have our u.s. air force coming to realizations like this from the comfort of their air-conditioned operations center...
The Air Force learned the hard way that inadvertently killing and injuring civilians or damaging property is counterproductive to the overall cause. "We went back and looked at our procedures -- how we use air, why we use air and under what circumstances," explains [Col. Gary Crowder, the commander of the operations center]. "We changed the way we do business."

"It's just like a business," agrees Maj. Gen. Maury Forsyth, the deputy commander of Air Force operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. "Every time you have one unsatisfied customer, you have to have nine satisfied customers to counteract that," he says during an interview in his office. "I'll put it this way: All of the military and political benefits of 10 perfect airstrikes targeting insurgent leaders can be lost in a few seconds by one strike that goes awry and causes civilian casualties."

to complete the absolute horror of this hi-tech operation and the characterization of those ordering the killing as "customers", the targets have even been given a nickname - "bubba"...
The technology the Air Force relies on to kill Bubba, but not his neighbors, is mesmerizing. It also makes the process of killing another human being eerily impersonal.

On the floor, once Bubba is up on the screen, targeting officials can quickly call up satellite images of his location. They have at their fingertips high-fidelity images less than 90 days old of nearly every square foot of Iraq and Afghanistan -- a vast amount of data. By overlaying two images of the same location taken from separate angles, and donning a pair of gray 3-D glasses (I wore a pair), a stunning real-life-looking, 3-D image of Bubba's house appears on a computer screen: There is Bubba's yard, the tree in Bubba's yard and so on. Using a mouse to point and click, a computer quickly determines the size, height and precise location of nearby structures.

to say that i am aghast would be a serious understatement... and, as much as i would like to repress it, another thought crosses my mind... this available and highly-sophisticated technology of instant and impersonal death is on the horizon for domestic use... bet on it...

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Olberman's FISA comment last night: "illegal and unjustified spying" [UPDATE]

[BUMPED]

truth bites...



"Mr. Bush, you are a fascist!"


[UPDATE]

i was just sitting here, browsing through my daily assortment of blogs and news sites when a terrible thing occurred to me... what if the house passing the contempt measures and then adjourning for presidents' day weekend without taking action on the fisa bill, accompanied by all the ballyhooing about the house dems suddenly having grown a spine is nothing but more charade, designed to lull us into a false sense of a congress that actually takes its oath of office seriously...? and, yes, i could be accused of exceptionally hard-edged cynicism had it not already happened so many times recently...

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Guantánamo detainees: supportive evidence...? Tish-tosh... That's so constitutional... So YESTERDAY...!

justice...? detainee rights...? rules of evidence...? constitutional guarantees...? how quaint...!
The Bush administration asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to review an appeals court decision that it said had created a “serious threat to national security” by requiring the government to supply extensive evidence supporting the classification of more than 180 Guantánamo detainees as enemy combatants.

The administration asked the court to choose one of two options: either accept its appeal for expedited review, with arguments taking place in May and a decision to come in the current term, or defer action until the justices decide the case on the rights of the Guantánamo prisoners that is currently before them.

Under either option, the administration is seeking a stay of the lower court’s ruling, which it characterized as “serious legal error.”

The ruling, issued last July by a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, became final on Feb. 1 when the full appeals court rejected the administration’s request for reconsideration by a vote of 5 to 5.

On Wednesday, the appeals court granted a stay until Feb. 21 to permit the administration to seek relief in the Supreme Court.

note the deliberately chosen adjective, "extensive," a word that somehow manages to suggest "excessive" without actually saying so... after five goddam years, the very likely odds of lost sanity, and now the threat of capital punishment, don't you think those detainees DESERVE "extensive", even "excessive," evidence...? shouldn't our criminal government be REQUIRED to present very nearly INCONTROVERTIBLE EVIDENCE to support its case...?

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Thursday, February 14, 2008

CONTEMPT...! "Beyond arrogance ... hubris taken to the ultimate degree"

what took 'em so goddam long to get here...?

pelosi...




conyers...




this should have happened MONTHS AGO...

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Drug trafficking, cocaine, and the CIA

i've posted a fair amount on drug trafficking, the cia, and cocaine (here)... here's a youtube video that talks a little more about the gulfstream II jet, formerly registered to the cia, that went down in the yucatan with FOUR TONS of cocaine aboard...

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What does it tell you that the 9/11 FAMILIES are concerned about Gitmo detainees getting a fair trial?

great god in heaven... you'd think that if ANYBODY would be out there demanding justice at the end of a rope, niceties be damned, it would be the 9/11 families...
The families of victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks want justice for the killers of their loved ones. But according to a report broadcast Tuesday on CNN, they want that justice to come at the end of a fair trial, and they worry the detainees in Guantanamo Bay will not get one.

"The evidence so far against these people will be tainted," said widow Lori Van Auken. "You put people to death based on tainted evidence...because of the torture."

The father-in-law of another victim, Bruce Decell, was less concerned with the prospect of the death penalty being requested by military prosecutors. But he also wants the trials of the detainees to be fair.

when these folks speak, i tend to listen...

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Reminder: the "And, yes, I DO take it personally" radio show

join me, raphael cruz (profmarcus) and co-blogger brother tim today at blog talk radio for the "And, yes, I DO take it personally" radio program... the is the first edition of the 30-minute expanded version and we're dedicating the program to the demise of the united states constitution and the bill of rights... you can listen live here... you can also call in at (646) 200-0056 - or +(1 646) 200-0056 for those outside the u.s. - or talk with us via the live chat window...

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R.I.P., 4th Amendment

Amendment 4 - Search and Seizure

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 shall 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. [emphasis added]

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When I read stuff like this from a so-called "liberal-progressive," I want to cry

what is it going to take from some people to get it...?

clammyc at daily kos, writing an open letter to senator chuck schumer...

Allowing for retroactive immunity in a FISA bill that had no business even being brought to the floor is not progressive. Folding to Mister Bush on Iraq over and over and over when the vast majority of the country is on your side is not progressive. Sending a big "F-You" to MoveOn.org on the Senate floor is not progressive. Allowing extremist appointment after extremist appointment by Bush is not progressive. Caving to an unpopular President and an even less popular Congressional minority is not progressive. Allowing non-progressives to continuously set the tone of the debate is not progressive.

[...]

I sincerely hope that we can recruit more progressives for the Senate, and win more seats. However, we also expect more from the lion’s share of the current Democratic Senators – on the very issues that we were promised results on. Blaming republican obstruction is part of it - but we know better. There is much more that you and your colleagues could have (and still can) accomplish if you were to keep your promises made to us back in 2006.

You can do better. We did our part for you. Now it is time that you and your colleagues really do what you promised us. If I can't trust the DSCC and who it represents to keep up your end of the deal, then you'll have to excuse me while I work for and donate money to true progressives.

No hard feelings, though...

i completely understand the value of courtesy, especially when couched in articulate and intelligent writing, but, clammyc, in all seriousness, the time for that is long past... what we are witnessing here is criminal complicity, nothing more and nothing less, and i'm thinking of the fisa votes of the "better" democrats tester and webb as i type this... what we have here is a system so rotten to the core that even brand new "better" democrats are betraying us... scratch that... they are betraying their COUNTRY...

who are we to trust...? i was beginning to warm to obama, to "catch the wave," so to speak, but, ya know what, i simply can't get past zbigniew brzezinski as one of his chief policy advisors any more than i can get past mark penn as hillary's campaign chief...

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The global financial crisis deepens: $26.6B MORE for UBS

do they think that if they just let the bad news dribble out slowly, nobody's going to notice...? how long do they think they can hold on...?
Swiss bank UBS has revealed $26.6 billion in exposure to risky U.S. mortgages distinct from subprime loans, increasing its vulnerability to the global credit crisis and sending its shares sharply lower.

Shares in the bank, which declined to say if it would return to profit in early 2008, were trading down 5.9 percent at 38.46 francs at 5:45 a.m. EST.

UBS said on Thursday the newly unveiled exposure, announced together with full-year and fourth-quarter results, was to so-called Alt-A mortgages, which are of higher quality than subprime loans but also considered risky.

UBS has taken about $18 billion of dollars in write-downs on its exposure to U.S. subprime mortgages, which at the end of December amounted to a net $27.594 billion, making it one of the biggest casualties of the global credit crunch.

the first collapse of a major bank is going to send tsunami-size shock waves around the world, bet on it...

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Lessons From History

The Folly of Attacking Iran.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
Benjamin Franklin




When will they ever learn?

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A Congressional Barbeque

Congressman Robert Wexler grills Condiliesalot Rice.

The lieing, shoe-shopping ditz continues with the Bush Doctrine of Smoke, Mirrors, and Bald-faced Lies.




And, yes, she DOES wear jack-boots............but they're Ferragamos.

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Wednesday, February 13, 2008

What a police state looks like

from ich...

This is What A Police State Looks Like

Añadir a mi perfil | Más Videos

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Hillary, the narcotics trade, high-level bribery, Dennis Hastert, and the Turkish "deep" state

yet more damning info that says hillary should just drop out...

luke ryland at let sibel edmonds speak...

Key Clinton Backer Guilty in Sibel Edmonds Case

The UK's Times has already run three bombshell articles on the nuclear black market element in the case of former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds this year, and we are expecting more fallout in the near future as new evidence and witnesses come forward.

In the meantime, another important angle to Edmonds' case has opened up. Earlier this week, the New York Post ran a Page 6 piece, ODD FILM BY HILLARY BACKER, which highlights the close relationship between Hillary Clinton and Chicago-based Turkish businessman Mehmet Celebi.

Celebi, "one of the national leaders of the Turkish-American community in the US," is a key fundraiser for Clinton, and is one of Clinton's Chicago delegates to the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Celebi was also heavily involved in the controversial 2006 movie "Valley of the Wolves: Iraq" which has been widely regarded as "anti-Semitic, anti-American, conspiratorial agitprop."

Mehmet Celebi is also a key figure in the Sibel Edmonds case - he is heavily involved in the narcotics trade in the US and the corruption and bribery of high-level US officials.

According to Celebi's bio:

He has been serving as the President of the Turkish-American Cultural Alliance (TACA) since 2000, and as Member of the Board/Vice-President of the Assembly of Turkish-American Associations (ATAA), a Washington, D.C. based umbrella organization representing 57 organizations.

The Chicago-based Turkish-American Cultural Alliance (TACA) and the Assembly of Turkish-American Associations (ATAA) both figure prominently in Sibel Edmonds' case. Both are reported to be front groups for criminal activity involving illegal weapons sales, narcotics trafficking, and the bribery and corruption of high level US officials.

[...]

Why is Hillary Clinton involved with such a character? The claims against him are well documented, and extend back to her husband's presidency, including steps in place to appoint a Special Prosecutor to investigate Celebi and the bribery of Hastert's and others.

[...]

Has Hillary forgotten all this? Or is she too for sale to the highest bidder? We are all well aware of George Bush's fund-raising giants, the Rangers and Pioneers, which resulted in many a scandal and prosecution including Ken Lay, Jack Abramoff and Brent Wilkes - yet here is Hillary Clinton engaging in the exact same behaviour, taking large sums of money from corrupt interests, and appointing these people to positions of political power. How can we even hope that a Clinton presidency will be an improvement over the last 8 years?

The right-wing blogs are already beginning to pick up this story of Celebi and Clinton - Debbie Schlussel, National Review Online, Gateway Pundit - focusing solely on Celebi's involvement with the movie "Valley of the Wolves." The Right-Wing-Noise-Machine will no doubt go into overdrive if Hillary wins the nomination to be the next president. This information needs to be made public immediately.

[...]

The FBI's Chicago Field Office has investigative files relating to Mehmet Celebi's involvement in the trafficking of narcotics as well as the corruption of high-level US officials. We need to recruit some prominent 'good government' groups, of any political persuasion, to file a FOIA request with the FBI's Chicago Field Office (CFO) for all information relating to Mehmet Celebi and this criminal activity. I expect that the CFO will deny and stonewall, but as we saw with the recent UK Times article, false denials can lead to other frustrated whistleblowers coming forward with documents and other evidence which can prove the case. Please contact me if you can prepare, file, and follow-up the FOIA request.

keep it comin', luke...

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The elites hate us, "the rabble they use as cannon fodder and cash cows"

screw the poor... in fact screw anybody who isn't a pampered heir of the ruling class...

chris floyd, posting in counterpunch, comments on mitt romney's speech to the conservative political action conference on 7 february...

[from Romney's speech]
The threat to our culture comes from within. In the 1960s, there were welfare programs that created a culture of poverty in our country. Now, some people think we won that battle when we reformed welfare. But the liberals haven't given up. At every turn, they tried to substitute government largess for individual responsibility. They fight to strip work requirements from welfare, to put more people on Medicaid, and remove more and more people from having to pay any income tax whatsoever. Dependency is death to initiative, risk-taking and opportunity. Dependency is culture killing. It's a drug. We've got to fight it like the poison it is.

The ignorance -- and inhumanity - of this statement is breathtaking. Think of it: there was no poverty in the United States until "liberals" came along in the 1960s and "created" it with their welfare programs. (Before this "culture of poverty" was created, apparently, the few poor people in America just died off discreetly, like Russians, instead of hanging around a bit longer on government handouts, the way they do now, the shiftless, no-good wretches. Oh yeah, and they breed a lot too, more than white folks.) And even though Bill Clinton (uncredited here, of course, but the elite are well aware of his sterling services) finally drove the stake through the welfare program, these evildoers will still not rest. Just look at what they want to do: "put more people on Medicaid," and "remove more and more people from having to pay any income tax whatsoever." (Wait a minute; I thought red-meat-chomping CPACkers were in favor of people paying no taxes. I guess that only applies to the right sort of people.)

All of this -- especially the stuff about "risk-taking" and "dependency" on government largess -- is pretty rich coming from an avatar of a ruling class that is glutted with pampered heirs of wealth and power who, like Romney, begin their totally risk-free careers at the very top of the ladder, and who are continually fattened with no-bid contracts, kickbacks, tax breaks, subsidies, war profits and myriad other forms of "government largess." But beyond the transparent hypocrisy--and the ludicrous pretense that the "liberals" in today's Democratic Party pose some kind of genuine threat to this cornucopia--Romney's blast is a perfect encapsulation of the elite's hatred for the rabble they use as cannon fodder and cash cows. Let them get sick, let them die, let them languish in poverty, let them lose their homes, let them work three jobs to make ends meet--but by God don't you ever do anything, anything at all, to change the system that produces these chronic inequities and keeps the pampered elite in clover. That's evil. That's "poison." And it won't be allowed.

[...]

The Terror War is simply an extension of the long-held goal of the American elite (and their British "junior partners") to maintain and extend their dominion over the world's natural resources and political arrangements--and the exorbitant profits this dominion produces. There is ample evidence in the historical record of the Anglo-American elite's abiding--and quite open--anxieties on this score, going back for generations. Literally millions of people all over the world have been sacrificed to these ambitions and anxieties, which have not abated but grow more frantic and acute with each passing year.

it's one thing when the elites choose to talk to US... it's quite another when they talk to THEMSELVES...

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"Americans no longer have an understanding of what it means to be free"

a call to action...
Americans no longer have an understanding of what it means to be free, we’ve become so accustomed to big brother’s hand that torture, spying without warrants, and engaging in illegal wars of aggression are to be expected. Many of the candidates running for president campaigned hard on these issues, insisting that we would “remain on offense” in the propaganda-ridden war on terror. What Americans need now is a miracle, we need a hero or group of heroes to stand up in our legislature and fight for them. We don’t need more government parenting and rules that cater to corporations and fear.

Terrorism should be a tool that only the enemy is allowed to use. Illegal government activity should not be tolerated in its current form. Soon, we will lose a part of ourselves, the American spirit will die. This country is no longer FDR’s America, it isn’t JFK’s or Reagan’s America. It most definitely is not Bill Clinton’s America, yet his wife was curiously absent from the Senate floor on this most important matter. Unless our voters and elected officials stand up and fight for freedom, we’re going to lose this fight for our country. If you feel even a modicum of pride and love left for this nation that people the world over once admired, equip yourself with knowledge and do your part so that our country won’t slip away into the dark abyss of fascism.

still beating the same old drum, but it's the only one i've got...

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"A mishap last year in which a B-52 bomber unknowingly carried six nuclear warheads across the country"

can you BELIEVE the crap we're expected to swallow...?
Air Force's nuclear focus has dimmed, studies find

The U.S. military has lost focus on its nuclear-weapons mission and has suffered a sharp decline in nuclear expertise, factors that may have contributed to a mishap last year in which a B-52 bomber unknowingly carried six nuclear warheads across the country, according to two new independent reviews.

mishap...?

lost focus...?

unknowingly...?

nuclear warheads...?

across the country...?

and we're supposed to sit here, read the story on the "official" report, solemnly nod, cluck our tongues, and mutter under our breath, "well, shit happens...?"

are they FUCKING KIDDING ME...??

do they think we're COMPLETE IDIOTS...??

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An official Australian apology to indigenous peoples



history in the making...

Here is the text that the Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd read to the parliament in a live broadcast across Australia today.

"Today we honour the Indigenous peoples of this land, the oldest continuing cultures in human history. We reflect on their past mistreatment. We reflect in particular on the mistreatment of those who were Stolen Generations – this blemished chapter in our nation’s history.

The time has now come for the nation to turn a new page in Australia’s history by righting the wrongs of the past and so moving forward with confidence to the future.

We apologise for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians.

We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country. For the pain, suffering and hurt of these Stolen Generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry.

To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry. And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry.

We the Parliament of Australia respectfully request that this apology be received in the spirit in which it is offered as part of the healing of the nation. For the future we take heart; resolving that this new page in the history of our great continent can now be written.

We today take this first step by acknowledging the past and laying claim to a future that embraces all Australians. A future where this Parliament resolves that the injustices of the past must never, never happen again. A future where we harness the determination of all Australians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, to close the gap that lies between us in life expectancy, educational achievement and economic opportunity. A future where we embrace the possibility of new solutions to enduring problems where old approaches have failed. A future based on mutual respect, mutual resolve and mutual responsibility. A future where all Australians, whatever their origins, are truly equal partners, with equal opportunities and with an equal stake in shaping the next chapter in the history of this great country, Australia."

Watch the statement and reaction at the ABC online website.

i hope i live long enough to see the my country do the same thing...

(thanks to little and tunney at daily kos...)

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Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Hey, Nancy, you worthless bitch... Shirley's putting HERSELF on the table...!

shirley golub is challenging nancy pelosi in her home district and has a few things to say about impeachment...

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Paulson: "The worst is just beginning"

you preach it to us, brother paulson...

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I quit

this is the last fucking straw... why do we bother...? the country is totally at the mercy of criminals... ordinary citizens...? screw 'em...
The Senate voted Tuesday to shield from lawsuits telecommunications companies that helped the government eavesdrop on their customers without court permission after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

After nearly two months of stops and starts, the Senate rejected by a vote of 31 to 67 an amendment that would have stripped a grant of retroactive immunity to the companies. President Bush has promised to veto any new surveillance bill that does not protect the companies that helped the government in its warrantless wiretapping program.

so much for the united states constitution, the rule of law, and any semblance of oversight or accountability... just shoot me... now... please...

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A new low of cynicism at the NYT

whether it was intended that way or not, the following headline and the accompanying teaser on this op-ed in today's nyt strikes me as unrelievedly cynical...
Gates, Truth and Afghanistan

The fact that Defense Secretary Robert Gates was permitted the candor that he demonstrated last week is a measure of how bad things have gotten in Afghanistan. [emphasis added]

gates was PERMITTED to engage in candor...?? lord, i never thought i'd read a comment like that about a united states cabinet member...

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Monday, February 11, 2008

If WE'RE going to be a police state, EVERYBODY'S got to be a police state

not content with reducing the united states to the level of a repressive police state, the bush administration wants to force other countries to sign up for the program...
The US administration is pressing the 27 governments of the European Union to sign up for a range of new security measures for transatlantic travel, including allowing armed guards on all flights from Europe to America by US airlines.

The demand to put armed air marshals on to the flights is part of a travel clampdown by the Bush administration that officials in Brussels described as "blackmail" and "troublesome", and could see west Europeans and Britons required to have US visas if their governments balk at Washington's requirements.

According to a US document being circulated for signature in European capitals, EU states would also need to supply personal data on all air passengers overflying but not landing in the US in order to gain or retain visa-free travel to America, senior EU officials said.

And within months the US department of homeland security is to impose a new permit system for Europeans flying to the US, compelling all travellers to apply online for permission to enter the country before booking or buying a ticket, a procedure that will take several days.

The data from the US's new electronic transport authorisation system is to be combined with extensive personal passenger details already being provided by EU countries to the US for the "profiling" of potential terrorists and assessment of other security risks.

Washington is also asking European airlines to provide personal data on non-travellers - for example family members - who are allowed beyond departure barriers to help elderly, young or ill passengers to board aircraft flying to America, a demand the airlines reject as "absurd".

provide personal data for OVERFLYING...? secure PERMISSION to enter the country BEFORE BOOKING OR BUYING A TICKET...? personal data on NON-TRAVELLERS...?? WTF...??!?!

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Fear-mongering jerk

michael chertoff, asshole...

"If you're asking me what keeps me up at night or what I most worry about -- in the short term, obviously, you worry about homegrown terrorists or somebody coming in with an explosive device or the kind of act of violence or terror that we've actually seen occasionally carried out in this country by people who are simply nuts or like a Timothy McVeigh." Chertoff told WTOP news.

"But in the longer run, in terms of something that would really be earth-shattering, the kinds of things I'm worried about are a nuclear or a dirty bomb attack or a nuclear or biological attack." Chertoff continued, citing the motive of toppling the already teetering US economy.

The threat from "Al Qaeda" is not over, Chertoff is at pains to remind us, "Just look at what's happened in the last year." he adds, referring to the fact that two men, since proven to be totally unconnected to "Al Qaeda", set a jeep on fire and drove it towards Glasgow airport in Scotland last August.


"earth-shattering..." i bet even the thought of something like that turns him on...

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Denzel Washington on torture: "They've already won"

from 1998...

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Making people suffer through corporate and state-initiated economic warfare





Vs.



i posted the other day on exxon's move to freeze $12B of venezuela's assets via court orders obtained in britain, the netherlands, and the netherlands antilles, and also via a pending court action in the u.s... my point was that those assets belong to the PEOPLE of venezuela... they do not belong to hugo chávez nor do they belong to pdv (petróleos de venezuela s.a.), the state-owned oil company... exxon has declared economic WAR on the people of venezuela much as israel has done with gaza... given that the prime responsibility of the head of a sovereign nation is to his people, chávez has responded... unfortunately, his response stoops to the same low level as exxon, although i honestly don't see any other viable options...
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez yesterday threatened to cut off oil sales to the United States if ExxonMobil pursues international court orders it has obtained against billions of dollars of Venezuelan state assets in a contract dispute.

"If you end up freezing [Venezuelan assets] and it harms us, we're going to harm you," Chavez said in his weekly radio and television show. "Do you know how? We aren't going to send oil to the United States. Take note, Mr. Bush, Mr. Danger."

Venezuela sells about 1.3 million barrels a day of oil to the United States, making it the fourth-largest source, at 14 percent, of U.S. petroleum imports.

naturally, those who worship at the twin altars of greed and power are thrilled at exxon's move...
"Hugo Chávez foolishly thought he could get away with it," said Fadel Gheit, oil analyst at Oppenheimer & Sons. "You just cannot go unilaterally and confiscate assets at will like that especially when your largest customer is the government of the company you're seizing assets from. Obviously Exxon is going to have the last laugh."

i'm so glad he thinks exxon will be laughing... israel must be positively doubled over now that egypt has re-sealed the border wall...

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Sunday, February 10, 2008

Sunday photoblogging, sick of the news edition

yesterday, a friend and i took a late breakfast at the SECOND oldest cafe in buenos aires, las violetas... a photo of the goodies we sampled and the cafe itself below...


Las Violetas - more than enough for breakfast, lunch, AND dinner - for TWO!


Las Violetas Cafe, Avenida Rivadavia, Buenos Aires

following that, we visited parque rivadavia and its book fair, both great spots for people watching...


Siamese cat on a leash, Parque Rivadavia, Buenos Aires


Book fair, Parque Rivadavia, Buenos Aires

on the way back home, i stopped at estación lavalle, on línea "c" of the subte (subway) to snap a photo of one of the wonderful murals that decorate many subte stations in buenos aires... the photo below depicts buenos aires as it appeared back in the early 1800s...


Estación Lavalle, Línea "C", Subte, Buenos Aires

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Something different for Sunday

this is a clip of the woman who is teaching tango dancing to a friend of mine... her name is cecilia garcia and her partner is horacio godoy, and they are dancing to the music from the movie, cinema paradiso... be warned, the entire first minute is in total darkness...



how lovely...

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Internet cable cuts

given what's now up to five cuts to internet cables serving the middle east, egypt, and the indian subcontinent and the rampant speculation that's gone with it, the uk guardian obliges by offering this most informative graphic detailing undersea communication cables around the world, their capacity, and internet usage by country, among other interesting details...


Click on graphic for larger version

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