Suicide by President, Follow the Leader… 31 October 2007
Posted by marisacat in 2008 Election, AFRICOM, Big Box Blogs, Culture of Death, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter, WAR!.115 comments
graffiti: totenkopf
…lemmings off the cliff, sadly after we have killed millions. Again.
Preparing for National Suicide: What “all options on the table” really means
For more than a year, the USA has been openly threatening to bomb Iran. Some scenarios see the use of nuclear bombs. “All options are on the table” says Bush, Cheney, Rice, and most of the candidates in the 2008 Presidential race.
The reason? They say they feel threatened by Iran’s pursuit of nuclear power technology, although they formally granted Iran that right when they ratified the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1968. The IAEA has found no evidence of a nuclear weapons program. They say they feel threatened by Iran’s support of the Shia militia, especially those in Iraq and Lebanon. Iran has traditionally played the role of defending Shia communities, even in the Ottoman era. They say they feel threatened by Iran’s opposition to Israel’s expansion and Israel’s oppression of Palestinians, which is against international law and many UN resolutions. The say they feel threatened by Iran’s energy exports and its ability to influence world prices.
In general, they feel threatened by an independent nation in an oil-rich region they wish to dominate. Therefore, they threaten to bomb Iran. “All options are on the table.”
[…]
One consequence of these threats is that Iran must prepare to defend itself. On Oct. 20, a top Iranian military commander announced that Iran is ready to retaliate with 11,000 missiles in the first few minutes after an American surprise attack. The missiles are aimed at the military bases, ships at sea, and economic assets of the threatening nations. To launch that many missiles AFTER a shock-and-awe surprise attack means that Iran must have distributed the ability to launch missiles. There is not one launch button and one commanding finger on the button.
There are many buttons and many different fingers on them. War is now on a hair trigger, and the risk of accidental war is now very, very, very high. War might be started by an Iranian religious fundamentalist eager to go to heaven, or patriot eager to defend Iran, or a traitor eager to destroy Iran, or someone depressed or bored or simply misreading a radar screen and thinking a flock of birds are an incoming attack.
The USA has over 300,000 military and support personnel in the region around Iran, all of them now the target of 11,000 missiles on hair-trigger. That is what repeated threats of war have achieved.
[…]
War seems inevitable. With war will come thousands of deaths, maybe millions, and whole economies will collapse, the first being that of the USA since it is most dependent on imported oil.
[…]
But the USA and other belligerent nations have decided to act contrary to international law and in violation of the United Nations, with the consequence that their military forces and economies are now in jeopardy.
Among all of the options on the table, the most likely are self-destruction and national suicide.
**************************************
There is a lovely interview with Studs Terkel in the UK Independent… days old, no doubt everyone has read it, nevertheless:
“It’s true what you say. I can’t deny it. At the same time, I once wrote a book called Hope Dies Last. I believe that. I might feel hopelessness, except for one thing: the young. I don’t mean the young as they’re portrayed in TV commercials: whores, bimbos and dummies. There are many who do not fall into those categories. The big problem is that there’s no memory of the past. Our hero is the free market. People forget how the free market fell on its face way back in the Depression. And how the nation pleaded with its government and got help. Today, all these fat CEOs say we don’t need government. And these fat boys get away with it, because of our collective Alzheimer’s, and the power of Rupert Murdoch and CNN. There is despair in this country, sure. At the same time, we are waiting.”
“For what?”
“For new voices.”
“Fat boys”… there you go… yes, we have too many of those. We lack for new voices…
^^^^^^^^^^^^
Couple of grafs from a new article from Gore Vidal, at TruthDig…
Not since the glory days of Watergate and Nixon’s Luciferian fall has there been so much written about the dogged deceits and creative criminalities of our rulers. We have also come to a point in this dark age where there is not only no hero in view but no alternative road unblocked. We are trapped terribly in a now that few foresaw and even fewer can define despite a swarm of books and pamphlets like the vast cloud of locusts which dined on China in that ‘30s movie ”The Good Earth.”
And, really, there is nothing to add to this:
We live in an impermeable bubble without the sort of information that people living in real countries have access to when it comes to their own reality. But we are not actually people in the eyes of the national ownership: we are simply unreliable consumers comprising an overworked, underpaid labor force not in the best of health: The World Health Organization rates our healthcare system (sic—or sick?) as 37th-best in the world, far behind even Saudi Arabia, role model for the Texans. Our infant mortality rate is satisfyingly high, precluding a First World educational system.
Also, it has not gone unremarked even in our usually information-free media that despite the boost to the profits of such companies as Halliburton, Bush’s wars of aggression against small countries of no danger to us have left us well and truly broke. Our annual trade deficit is a half-trillion dollars, which means that we don’t produce much of anything the world wants except those wan reports on how popular our Entertainment is overseas. Unfortunately the foreign gross of “King Kong,” the Edsel of that assembly line, is not yet known. It is rumored that Bollywood—the Indian film business—may soon surpass us! Berman writes, “We have lost our edge in science to Europe…The US economy is being kept afloat by huge foreign loans ($4 billion a day during 2003). What do you think will happen when America’s creditors decide to pull the plug, or when OPEC members begin selling oil for euros instead of dollars?…An International Monetary Fund report of 2004 concluded that the United States was ‘careening toward insolvency.’ “
Meanwhile, China, our favorite big-time future enemy, is the number one for worldwide foreign investments, with France, the bete noire of our apish neocons, in second place.
I noticed an odd thing at TruthDig just now (sometimes I neglect to look around, but today I did)… the Blogroll lists all the Dkos affilated “blue” franchises and the assorted sponsored blogs similarly inclined [cough: roped in] that do not use “blue” in the name. Then I noticed the site adopts the “Advertising Liberally” blogroll.
Oh well. Tho one would think that Sheer or his son would be aware of online political astroturf. Prolly something to do with [drumroll] electing Democrats…
It is possible to be very heartless in viewing America. It preaches “Wake Up” from the various pulpits… but nods off in place.
************************************************************************
The Shining City on the Hill… 29 October 2007
Posted by marisacat in Culture of Death, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter, WAR!.176 comments
A dynamic is in play, a process paradox, in which the means rise to dominance as the ends recede from view. The United States has worldwide interests, and needs the tools to pursue them, but in a wild and wired 21st century the static diplomatic embassy, a product of the distant past, is no longer of much use. To the government this does not seem to matter. Inman’s new bureaucracy, the Diplomatic Security section, has blossomed into an enormous enterprise, employing more than 34,000 people worldwide and engaging thousands of private contractors—all of whom also require security. Its senior representatives sit at hundreds of diplomatic facilities, identifying real security risks and imposing new restrictions which few ambassadors would dare to overrule.
Safety comes first, and it is increasingly difficult to achieve. In Baghdad the mortar fire is growing more accurate and intense. After 30 mortar shells hit the Green Zone one afternoon last July, an American diplomat reported that his colleagues were growing angry about being “recklessly exposed to danger”—as if the war should have come with warning labels.
At least the swimming pool has been placed off limits. Embassy staff are required to wear flak jackets and helmets when walking between buildings, or when occupying those that have not been fortified. [so… we are to assume no debauchery in the pool house? — Mcat]
The ambassador, Ryan Crocker, is distributing a range of new protective gear, and is scattering the landscape with 151 concrete “duck and cover” shelters. Not to be outdone, a Senate report has recommended the installation of a teleconferencing system to “improve interaction” with Iraqis who may be in buildings only a few hundred yards away. So, O.K., the new embassy is not perfect yet, but by State Department standards it’s getting there.
What on earth is going on? We have built a fortified America in the middle of a hostile city, peopled it with a thousand officials from every agency of government, and provided them with a budget to hire thousands of contractors to take up the slack. Half of this collective is involved in self-defense. The other half is so isolated from Iraq that, when it is not dispensing funds into the Iraqi ether, it is engaged in nothing more productive than sustaining itself. The isolation is necessary for safety, but again, the process paradox is at play—and not just in Iraq. Faced with the failure of an obsolete idea—the necessity of traditional embassies and all the elaboration they entail—we have not stood back to remember their purpose, but have plunged ahead with closely focused concentration to build them bigger and stronger. One day soon they may reach a state of perfection: impregnable and pointless.
All it lacks is the ramparts and a hot oil defense system, which would seem appropriate – considering the true “mission”.
… the location of the compound is well known in Baghdad anyway, where for several years it has been marked by large construction cranes and all-night work lights easily visible from the embattled neighborhoods across the river. It is reasonable to assume that insurgents will soon sit in the privacy of rooms overlooking the site, and use cell phones or radios to adjust the rocket and mortar fire of their companions. Meanwhile, however, they seem to have held off, lobbing most of their ordnance elsewhere into the Green Zone, as if reluctant to slow the completion of such an enticing target.
One thing is certain, in classic fashion those dispatched to outposts of empire will be drinking themselves to death, inside the luxe prison.
Good Luck. Don’t write…
Dean: Democratic president would end war
Posted on Jun 09, 2007 @ 10:12 AM –
WASHINGTON – The high hurdles faced by congressional Democrats in their efforts to end the Iraq war make electing a Democratic president in 2008 the best way to finish the conflict, Democratic party chairman Howard Dean said Saturday.
He noted his party has made little progress toward ending the war, the cause, he said, that returned them to power.
“The American people hired Democrats last November to ensure that we end this war,” Dean said during the weekly Democratic radio address. “So let me be clear, we know that if we don’t keep our promise, we may find ourselves the minority again.
Dean put the blame for the lack of progress squarely on the White House and congressional Republicans for blocking his party’s attempt at tying war funding to deadlines for troop withdrawals.
“We have to face the reality that Republicans in Congress are standing with President Bush as he stubbornly wields his veto pen,” Dean charged. In response, he proposed that the “one way to truly ensure we end this war” was to elect a Democrat as president in 2008. [pound it into the brains of the little Democrats — Mcat]
A former presidential candidate himself, Dean contrasted the field of Democratic and Republican candidates who participated in separate party debates earlier this week, saying only Democrats would end the war.
Democrats also seek to shift troops from Iraq to Afghanistan, restore damaged relationships with other countries and provide the military with “the resources they need,” Dean said.
Good luck. Don’t write… don’t phone either…
**********************************
Vampyres about in the land… 28 October 2007
Posted by marisacat in 2008 Election, Big Box Blogs, California / Pacific Coast, DC Politics, Democrats, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter, Iran, Iraq War, Political Blogs, U.S. Senate, WAR!.166 comments
Right right right… that was such an outside the Beltway, insurgent run. Riiiight:
Webb, a former Pentagon official and Navy secretary, wrote novels based on his Vietnam War experiences. In the Senate, he sits on three relevant committees: Armed Services, Foreign Relations and Veterans’ Affairs. He keeps a writing office in Rosslyn that overlooks the Iwo Jima Memorial, and he often takes walks through Arlington National Cemetery, where his father is buried. [I am making a sign of the cross, head bowed in deep respect… yeah right… – Mcat]
Reid, who met Webb in the early days of his long-shot Senate campaign, has become his patron in the chamber. The two were introduced by former senator Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.), another Vietnam veteran with an independent streak, who for years had been encouraging Webb to seek public office. [another fucking pro-war whack job! — Mcat]
Reid lobbied his party to invest in Webb’s candidacy, convinced that the political neophyte’s unusual profile put the Virginia Senate seat, held by GOP rising star Allen, within reach. “It was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made,” Reid said in an interview, but he conceded, “He’s not easily led.”
Shortly after his election, Webb snubbed the president at a White House reception when Bush asked about his son, a Marine recently deployed to Iraq. Asked by Reid to deliver the Democratic response to the State of the Union address, Webb discarded a draft prepared for him and wrote his own. This spring, when a senior Webb staffer was arrested carrying the senator’s loaded handgun into a Capitol office building, Webb asserted his right “to defend myself and my family.”
No small “d” democrat mentioned in that article – not a one! LOL
Myself, I always thought Raising Kaine, the online site that backed Kaine and later Webb smelled to high heaven of Republican (tho not pro George Allen) elephant droppings… The objective of the Wapo piece is to push (or merely profile, who knows) Webb for Veepessa (he just gave the key note speech at the J-J dinner in NH, woohoo!).
I could see it, tho I have zero idea who Hillary will pick.
No matter what, we are screwed, so — why worry ?? (truly! I have learned to love the bomb!). Her annual State of the Union speeches should make George’s look tolerable.
Yes, I did say that.
**************************
Sunday morning – Malibu – October 07 fires [LAT reader photo]
Love it when the vampyres rise up and piss on the Democrats – (remember… I have learned to Love the Bomb!!)
BREAKING NEWS: Electoral initiative backers give up
Plagued by a lack of money, supporters of a statewide initiative drive to change the way California’s 55 electoral votes are apportioned, first revealed here by Top of the Ticket in July, are pulling the plug on that effort.
In an exclusive report to appear on this website late tonight and in Friday’s print editions, The Times’ Dan Morain reports that the proposal to change the winner-take-all electoral vote allocation to one by congressional district is virtually dead with the resignation of key supporters, internal disputes and a lack of funds.
The reality is hundreds of thousands of signatures must be gathered by the end of November to get the measure on the June 2008 ballot.
…
Opposition was led by Democratic consultant Chris Lehane who received financial backing from donors such as Stephen Bing, like Lehane a Hillary Clinton backer who saw any threat to keeping all of California’s electoral votes as unacceptable.
“We want to to make sure this is not the Freddy Krueger of initiatives,” Lehane said today, “that comes back to life. We’ll continue to monitor it.” Morain’s full story is available here.
The Democrats even ran a puff piece in the NYT, loaded with slobbery luv for Lehane, how he had vanquished the Republican efforts…. Both sides are making sure their operatives appear above the fold in this play for the CA EV…
The intent is to change California’s winner-take-all system, which would give Republicans an edge in the presidential race.
SACRAMENTO — Veteran GOP consultants said Monday that they were relaunching a drive to change the way California allocates its electoral college votes, aimed at helping the 2008 Republican presidential nominee capture the White House.
Political strategist David Gilliard said he was taking over the ballot initiative campaign, along with strategist Ed Rollins and fundraiser Anne Dunsmore. Consultant Mike Arno will oversee the signature-gathering effort.
…
Our budget is going to be whatever it takes to make the June ballot,” said Gilliard, who played a key role in getting the recall of Democratic Gov. Gray Davis onto the 2003 ballot.
The proposed initiative would change California’s method of allocating its 55 electoral votes from a winner-take-all basis, which favors Democrats, to a congressional district-based approach. Republicans hold 19 congressional seats, so presumably the GOP nominee could win a similar number of electoral votes.
The effort stalled last month when its original organizers failed to raise the $2 million needed to place the initiative on the June ballot.
Until recently, Dunsmore oversaw fundraising for Rudolph W. Giuliani’s presidential campaign — prompting Democrats to charge that the former New York mayor was behind the initiative drive. A major Giuliani benefactor, Wall Street mogul Paul E. Singer, donated $175,000 to fund the original effort.
Yes there is a daunting number of signatures to gather to get this on the ballot… but this has loads of behind-the-scenes Republican factions, operatives and consultants working on it. And has for a long time… Arnold publically claims hands off, but last year Tom Campbell (ran agaisnt Feinstein three times, from her LEFT, as a R) was working with Arnold on this very putsch. Long time R money from the 2003 Recall as well as no tax/low tax CA pols and operatives are behind this. And Guiliani money and operatives.
The last kicker…
This can go on the ballot as late as the NOVEMBER 2008 ballot and be legal in the 2008 run. Our votes are not certified ’til January ’09. The current plan, the public plan, is that it should go on the June ’08 [rimary ballot here… yes … our primary is split. The moved up, gamed up, Dem mobbed up early presidential primary, then later, in June, we vote in the down ticket primary. They plan to wear us out, voting for scheisse.
Republicans feel that with low turn out (our primary numbers are falling – 30% in the ’03 Recall and less than 25% in the ’04 primary – any shock? We are WEARING OUT!) June might work for them, low turn out, but more Republicans.
No point counting the R out of the game. And, for months now Guiliani says, support me, I can win in CA. I caught Willie Brown, the other night on television, trying to say this is a very blue state.
BULLSHIT!
No, it’s not … it has some big blue districts. And the Republicans have parsed the numbers, very finely. You break the ‘winner take all’ system of apportioning the EV, you can, conceivably, deny the Democrats the WH. For a long time.
Years ago, I used to worry — about this very thing. But I learned to Love the Bomb: In all its forms….
*******************************************
Light and Dark 26 October 2007
Posted by marisacat in California / Pacific Coast.151 comments
Driving down Highway 18 evacuating Lake Arrowhead. (Submitted to YourScene – LA Times – by s_stockley)
I noticed New American Media a few months ago… we still have, on KQED our local PBS station, a pretty liberal, open local news roundup on Friday nights… Occasionally a reporter from NAM will be on.
They hve this report at their site, about the non white and hidden face of the ‘fire this time’:
Invisible Fire Victims in the Canyons
Enlace, News Report, Hiram Soto, Translated by Elena Shore, Posted: Oct 25, 2007
CARMEL VALLEY, Calif. — They were kicked out of the canyon, literally, laying their suitcases full of clothing and other items on the side of a tomato field. This was their evacuation. They stayed there for hours while they tried to figure out a plan B.
These farm workers and Mixtec peasants who have lived in the open air in the McGonigle Canyon for years are among the most destitute residents affected by the forest fires. But while some left the area, many remain in the canyons, either because they do not want to or can’t leave.
“We’ve been telling them that they are in an evacuation zone but they don’t want to move because they have all their stuff in the hills and because they’re afraid of the police and the people,” said Juan Ramon, an activist with the Indigenous Front of Binational Organizations.
Many of these immigrants have been targets of harassment and frequent protests by groups like the Minutemen, and have been evicted by the police several times. [snip]
There is some outreach but it is easy to see, the situation is more than ordinarily difficult… and close to dire.
^^^^^^^^
The Santiago Fire rages above Foothill Ranch. (Submitted to YourScene / LAT By jwlchr)
The flip side….
[A]IG’s Wildfire Protection Unit, part of its Private Client Group, is offered only to homeowners in California’s most affluent ZIP Codes — including Malibu, Beverly Hills, Newport Beach and Menlo Park — and a dozen Colorado resort communities. It covers about 2,000 policyholders, who pay premiums of at least $10,000 a year and own homes with a value of at least $1 million.
Carrier and his 15 crew mates sprayed retardant on and around more than 160 homes in Malibu, Lake Arrowhead and the hardest-hit areas of Orange and San Diego counties this week. They claim to have saved a dozen homes.
Jim Moore of Malibu, for one, was grateful for their services.
“Just picture it,” said Moore, whose house was sprayed by Firebreak early Monday. “Here you are in that raging wildfire. Smoke everywhere. Flames everywhere. Plumes of smoke coming up over the hills. Here’s a couple guys showing up in what looks like a firetruck who are experts trained in fighting wildfire and they’re there specifically to protect your home. . . . It was really, really comforting.” [snip]
An eerie cloud of smoke above a pocket of clean air. Sierra exit on I-15 (Submitted to YourScene / LAT by kathy)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
From the previous thread, as it came up late, pulling some comments forward… A congressional House bill that has passed and is moving on to the senate…
marisacat |
when I saw this over at PFF, I thought it was a joke.
Legislating against radical idealogy – with references to homegrown violence as diversion (that is my take, they already spy on anti war Quakers… and sic the FBI/Homeland Securitat on librarians).
It’s not. Put forward by Jane Harmon, pro war, pro Israel… and 14 co sponsors.
Don’t miss the Bloooooooooooo Dogs… and the shits (Dan Lundgren is a fucking nutter). It passed the House, now goes to the Senate.
Rep. Christopher Carney [D-PA]
Del. Donna Christensen [D-VI]
Rep. Yvette Clarke [D-NY]
Rep. Charles Dent [R-PA]
Rep. Norman Dicks [D-WA]
Rep. Al Green [D-TX]
Rep. James Langevin [D-RI]
Rep. Zoe Lofgren [D-CA]
Rep. Nita Lowey [D-NY]
Rep. Daniel Lungren [R-CA]
Rep. Ed Perlmutter [D-CO]
Rep. Ted Poe [R-TX]
Rep. Dave Reichert [R-WA]
Rep. Bennie Thompson [D-MS]
Oct 25, 10:56 PM —
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Text of HR 1955 as it was referred to the Senate, via thomas.loc.gov
BooHooHooMan opened up the text and posted this comment:
BooHooHooMan |
That Bill passed 404 – 6.
After reading that Bill, its hard to know where to begin
I’m going to throw in a few bits here on this
ONE:It shows clearly the bipartisan interest in a police state:
`
(c) Composition of Commission- The Commission shall be composed of 10 members appointed for the life of the Commission, of whom–`(1) one member shall be appointed by the President from among officers or employees of the executive branch and private citizens of the United States;
←→`(2) one member shall be appointed by the Secretary;
`(3) one member shall be appointed by the majority leader of the Senate;
`(4) one member shall be appointed by the minority leader of the Senate;
`(5) one member shall be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives;
`(6) one member shall be appointed by the minority leader of the House of Representatives;
←→`(7) one member shall be appointed by the Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives;
`(8) one member shall be appointed by the ranking minority member of the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives;
`(9) one member shall be appointed by the Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate; and
`(10) one member shall be appointed by the ranking minority member of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate.
`(d) Chair and Vice Chair- The Commission shall elect a Chair and a Vice Chair from among its members.[snip}
Reading the markup language is a trip:
The Bold below ironically was in the first draft.
Cops and Contractors all getting paid in the Jane Harmon Zionist Stasi Jackboot Center. `
(e) Qualifications- Individuals shall be selected`(1) for law enforcement activities, except for appointment`(2) to the Commission solely on the basis of their professional qualifications, achievements, public stature, experience, and expertise in relevant fields, including, but not limited to, behavioral science, constitutional law, corrections, counterterrorism, cultural anthropology, education, information technology, intelligence, juvenile justice, local law enforcement, organized crime, Islam and`(3) to construct buildings or other world religions, sociology,`(4) to acquire land; or`(5) for any State or terrorism.
Oct 26, 1:27 AM —
************ close of BHHM comment ************
Oh yes… the vote:
10/23/2007 Passed/agreed to in House: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by the Yeas and Nays: (2/3 required): 404 – 6 (Roll no. 993).
—- NAYS 6 —
| Abercrombie Costello |
Duncan Flake |
Kucinich Rohrabacher |
—- NOT VOTING 22 —
| Barrett (SC) Bilbray Bishop (UT) Carson Conyers Cooper Cubin Davis (IL) |
Davis, Tom Feeney Hunter Issa Jindal Johnson, E. B. McKeon Moore (KS) |
Paul Peterson (PA) Reyes Sherman Wilson (OH) Woolsey |
I feel just great .. don’t you? Plus they have the CBC and the Hispanic Caucus in lock down. Or lock-jaw.
********************************************
UPDATE 3:09 am
Anotehr post from BHHM, pulled from previous thread:
BooHooHooMan |
Further on HR 1955
Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007
Point Two: A Setup for rampant contractor abuse delving into political opponents of the bipartisan PTB leadership that controls the thing.
.
(i) Powers of Commission- The powers of the Commission shall be as follows:`(1) IN GENERAL-
`(A) HEARINGS AND EVIDENCE- The Commission or, on the authority of the Commission, any subcommittee or member thereof, may, for the purpose of carrying out this section, hold hearings and sit and act at such times and places, take such testimony, receive such evidence, and administer such oaths as the Commission considers advisable to carry out its duties.
`(B) CONTRACTING- The Commission may, to such extent and in such amounts as are provided in appropriation Acts, enter into contracts to enable the Commission to discharge its duties under this section.
`(2) INFORMATION FROM FEDERAL AGENCIES-
`(A) IN GENERAL- The Commission may request directly from any executive department, bureau, agency, board, commission, office, independent establishment, or instrumentality of the Government, information, suggestions, estimates, and statistics for the purposes of this section. The head of each such department, bureau, agency, board, commission, office, independent establishment, or instrumentality shall, to the extent practicable and authorized by law, furnish such information, suggestions, estimates, and statistics directly to the Commission, upon request made by the Chair of the Commission, by the chair of any subcommittee created by a majority of the Commission, or by any member designated by a majority of the Commission.
`(B) RECEIPT, HANDLING, STORAGE, AND DISSEMINATION- The Committee and its staff shall receive, handle, store, and disseminate information in a manner consistent with the operative statutes, regulations, and Executive orders that govern the handling, storage, and dissemination of such information at the department, bureau, agency, board, commission, office, independent establishment, or instrumentality that responds to the request. [ SURE political and ideological counter intelligence will be handlead appropriatly!@&%!! . Not even taking the bait to argue over the missing language dealing with the outcome that it won’t. ]
`(j) Assistance From Federal Agencies-
`(1) GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION- The Administrator of General Services shall provide to the Commission on a reimbursable basis administrative support and other services for the performance of the Commission’s functions.
`(2) OTHER DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES- In addition to the assistance required under paragraph (1), departments and agencies of the United States may provide to the Commission such services, funds, facilities, and staff as they may determine advisable and as may be authorized by law.
`(k) Postal Services- The Commission may use the United States mails in the same manner and under the same conditions as departments and agencies of the United States.
`(l) Nonapplicability of Federal Advisory Committee Act- The Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) shall not apply to the Commission.
Oct 26, 2:50 AM —
***** close of BHHM comment ******
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Here a border, there a border… what’s a little invasion between friends? 24 October 2007
Posted by marisacat in 2008 Election, California / Pacific Coast, DC Politics, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter, Iraq War, SCOTUS, WAR!.153 comments
TAKING POSITIONS: Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) rebels storm a hilltop during military exercises in the mountains of northern Iraq’s Kurdish autonomous region in this 2006 file photo. [hindu.com]
Both bay and moiv posted this to the previous thread, within a minute or so of each other:
Russia’s Novosti says the Turks have crossed the border.
ANKARA, October 24 (RIA Novosti) – Units of the Turkish army have crossed the Iraqi border in a special operation against Kurdish militants, local newspapers said Wednesday.
The Yeni Safak newspaper reported that Turkish commandos supported by helicopters were chasing militants from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), and F-16 Falcon fighter-bombers and artillery were delivering pinpoint strikes at militant bases about 50 kilometers (30 miles) deep into the Iraqi territory.
Zaman, Turkey’s third largest newspaper, said the Turkish Armed Forces had stepped up their bombardment of the Iraqi border as part of an operation launched in retaliation for Sunday’s terrorist attack that killed 12 soldiers and wounded 16 others.
The newspaper cited a government spokesman as saying that the U.S. had been informed about the start of the cross-border operation, although Turkey’s military has not confirmed the media reports.
The Turkish parliament sanctioned last week military cross-border operations against the PKK, based in north Iraq, following an earlier government request. The PKK says it is currently holding several Turkish soldiers hostage.
Turkey’s military said on Monday that eight military personnel were missing following clashes with Kurdish fighters on the Iraqi border, 34 Kurds and at least 12 Turkish servicemen were killed last Sunday in an ambush by Kurdish militants.
Turkey’s National Security Council is meeting Wednesday to discuss further action against the PKK insurgents and the reaction of the U.S. and neighboring countries on the Turkish incursion into northern Iraq.
The PKK, listed by the U.S., NATO and the EU as a terrorist organization, has been fighting for autonomy status in southeast Turkey for nearly 25 years. The conflict has so far claimed about 40,000 lives. [snip]
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Other than that, Toobin is on with Charlie Rose, saying Hillary will put Obama on the SC.... frankly it seems nearly immaterial to me, by now. Probably convinced a listener or two of the Rose show to give her another look.
enh
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
BHHM posted that his ISP Comcast is beginning to “mediate bandwidth” for overseas access, then posted this:
October 19th, 2007
EFF tests agree with AP: Comcast is forging packets to interfere with user traffic
Posted by Seth SchoenThis morning the Associated Press reported that Comcast is interfering with users’ ability to run file sharing applications over its network.
Since we spoke to Comcast last month and understood them to deny that they are doing this, we’ve been running our own tests.
The results of our tests have agreed with AP’s. Comcast is forging TCP RST packets which cause connections to drop (a technique also used by Internet censorship systems in China). These packets cause software at both ends to believe, mistakenly, that the software on the other side doesn’t want to continue communicating.
BHHM provided some additional links as well:
*****************************************************
UPDATE, 5:54 am
Day 3, Tuesday, of the fire:
Horses move restlessly as a fire approaches on Palomar Mountain in San Diego County. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times / October 23, 2007)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
A rabbit runs for shelter from theapproaching flames of the Ranch Fire near Lake Piru. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times / October 23, 2007)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
UPDATE, 6:18 pm – still hot in San Francisco…….
Calvin Culbertson, a maintenance worker, surveys the damage to a trailer that melted on the Rincon Indian Reservation. (Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times / October 24, 2007)
****************************************
Money money money money…….. [updated :: fire fire fire] 22 October 2007
Posted by marisacat in 2004 Election, 2006 Mid Terms, 2008 Election, California / Pacific Coast, DC Politics, Democrats, France, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter, WAR!.194 comments
Photo – T C Breuer :: Margaret Truman’s Launderette
I think Carl Hiassen has this just right…
[I]n this instance, the mystery is why Clinton and the other Democrats would take a nickel from anyone so prominently linked to such slimy allegations. There are plenty of reputable (and affluent) trial lawyers who’ve never been indicted for anything.
One possible excuse is that the candidates didn’t know about the Milberg Weiss scandal, which would mean they’d been living in a subterranean cave without the benefit of newspapers, TV or the Internet. [oh puh-leeeze… Mcat]
Another defense would be that they didn’t know about the Milberg Weiss donations, which seems farfetched considering the firm’s heavy connections to the party. After all, its lawyers kicked in $500,000 toward the construction of a new headquarters for the Democratic National Committee.
The final possibility — and the only believable one — is that the candidates knew all about the indictments and accepted the money anyway, hoping nobody would notice.
That would be a big, fat, flapping in the air BINGO!
It’s not illegal for a politician to accept campaign contributions from a defendant in a pending bribery case, or from somebody who’s copped a guilty plea.
But it sure looks bad, not to mention hypocritical.
Not that it really matters.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I landed on a link to this forthright [more than a few tart replies] little interview in the NYT magazine, at Angry Arab…
and let me snip out the best description I have ever read for injected, plumped lips:
Are you suggesting that veiling and unveiling women are equally reductive? I disagree.
We have to look at ourselves here also. Why do all the women get plastic surgery? Why? Why? Why should we look like some freaks with big lips that look like an anus? What is so sexy about that?
What is sexy about having something that looks like a goose anus?
I never really thought about goose anatomy.
I looked when I was on a farm in France.
Travel is so broadening.
***************************************************
A goose anus hanging from a human face is a good segue to this re-telling…
An emailer mentioned being at dinner in Manhattan, 4 plus the emailer. As the political conversation devolved (talk of the Armenian Resolution and Democrats in congress) it fell to who would you vote for today…
3 out of 5 declared for Hillary. One for Colbert and one (emailer) “none of the above”.
Now, this ws not some gathering of semi Republicans, quasi Libertarians… or what have you. They had all marched in every anti war march in NYC, as well as travelling to DC. One had gone to DC on inauguration January 20, 2005 in a bitter storm just to protest.
Bill and Hill rely on this vagueness of purpose from the electorate.
My own belief is that Hill and Bill are gambling on ringing in a landmark win for Democrats. That, with Blacks lining up (and they may), Latinos lining up (and they may), the women, esp working class women, lining up (they may) as well as LGBT and assorted minorities (they may) they will not bring in a 51, 52, bare scrape to 53 per cent win (or Bill’s own 43% in the ’92 three-way), they hope to ring in a decisive majority with an historic pt spread.
Just a guess. (Please note: I am not saying they manage to win, I am saying that is the gamble.)
I will watch, but as in ’04 and ’06, sorry, I will not be there with them.
Oh you think this was a tad dark? Think again. I skipped the war fronts.
Iraq – Ed Kashi
***********************************************************
UPDATE, 1:11 pm
Luke Schroder, 14, turns back to look at the smoke-filled sky in Malibu. (Richard Hartog/Los Angeles Times – October 21, 2007)
From Tijuana north to Santa Barbara the fires are not contained. The Santa Ana winds, feeding the fires and drying the dry vegetation are not dying down:
[G]usts hit 108 mph at Whitaker Peak near Castaic Lake and 111 mph at Laguna Peak, near Point Mugu.
The powerful Santa Anas are the result of a cool high-pressure system in the Great Basin above Utah and a warmer low-pressure system along coastal Southern California.
The differential between the two systems is strong, causing winds to barrel over the desert and mountains, then through canyons to the ocean.
At the same time, other areas such as downtown L.A. and Pasadena experienced little, if any, wind Sunday.
“It’s a fickle combination of a lot of things, including the topography,” said Kelly Redmond, interim director of the Western Regional Climate Center at the Desert Research Institute in Reno.
“As the moving air makes its way to the coast, it doesn’t move as a uniform sheet of air. In some parts it stagnates, in other parts it speeds up.”The erratic nature of the winds made it difficult for firefighters to battle the flames. In Malibu, the wind raged in the morning, ebbed around noon, then raged again in the late afternoon and evening.“These add to the dilemma of people fighting fires or evacuating homes,” Redmond said.“The winds are one way one minute, and it seems OK. Then they come right back again, and you think the world is ending.”
As Santa Ana winds move from high to low elevations, crossing deserts and mountains, they heat up.
That is bad news for firefighters, because the winds heat and dry already-parched vegetation.
“The relative humidity went from 60% to 70% around dawn to single digits: 5, 7, 8%,” Kenneth Reeves, director of forecasting for Accuweather.com said.
***********************************
UPDATE, 3:13 pm
KISS THE FUCKING COUNTRY GOOD BYE:
Learning to be white: “It is a theme that seems to have informed the youthful Republican congressman’s every step, from his decision at age 4 to jettison his given name of Piyush for that of a character in the television series “The Brady Bunch” to the attentive faith-infused courting of conservatives that led to his victory on Saturday with 54 percent of the vote….Mr. Jindal is a technocrat and a Roman Catholic convert, a policy aficionado well-versed in free-market solutions to the crisis in health insurance and a proponent of “intelligent design” as an alternative theory to evolution, suggesting it may be appropriate in school science classes.”
“Rancho Bernardo is burning to the ground due to lack of resources, while they can put an engine crew at any Malibu house at risk. My prayers go out to all affected.” — David
******************************************
UPDATE, 9:43 pm – a warm night in San Francisco…
A view of the Witch Fire from the corner of Nordahl and Mission in Escondido. (Submitted to YourScene – LAT – By Michelle)
***************************************************************
UPDATED, 1:57 am Tuesday – still a warm night in San Francisco…
Firefighters trapped along a ridge near Santiago Canyon Road use fire shelters. None were seriously hurt. (Karen Tapia / Los Angeles Times)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Well… 19 October 2007
Posted by marisacat in Big Box Blogs, Political Blogs.227 comments
Carnevale – Venezia
one thing is certain… no Blog Maids here… nor fluffers nor herders nor goons.
Just a simple little blog… [she said, laughing]
It’s a thread… if anyone wants one.
********************************************
Lookin’ a little human… 18 October 2007
Posted by marisacat in 2008 Election, DC Politics, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter.255 comments
A fresh water fish swims in a tank on display at a shopping mall in Bangkok, Thailand, for National Ornament Fish Day. [AP via BBC]
Could be post-nuclear, from human flesh. Fascinating version of the human face, forehead, good peripheral vision, lips, cheeks, chin… and apparently some decorative whorls on either side of that knob of a chin. I’d love to see the profile…
A very fleshy presentation… Hell, dress it with self-segregating head gear, from a “white lady” summer straw affair to baseball cap to some sort of identifying color tag cotton neckerchief on the head… and you have the non-voter. Or the voter.
A haunting image…
Enjoy………………
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Listening to Negroponte on Charlie Rose. Gah. He blames the Iranians for “upsetting their neighborhood”. I am going to be hearing this utter scheisse for the. rest. of. my. life………
************************************************
WHY? 15 October 2007
Posted by marisacat in 2008 Election, Big Box Blogs, California / Pacific Coast, DC Politics, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter, la morte de St Germain Dog - the best the BLAHgers had, U.S. House.205 comments
Cindy for Congress [official website, 2 links that follow are at the same site]
Donate to Cindys Campaign Sign up for Newsletter Updates
Because she will not ever, as long as she lives, be saying this
“If they were poor and they were sleeping on my sidewalk, they would be arrested for loitering, but because they have ‘Impeach Bush’ across their chest, it’s the First Amendment.”
Thre is no whiff of brioche, no sniff of Shepherdess — with Cindy.
Thar she blows – that whiff and sniff, and look closely, with Steny bringing up the rear.
Next year it will be small trained monkeys carrying a Cathedral length train. I have it on good authority the monkeys’ custom suits are being made, as I write, at Versace. Little violet suits, from the softest vicuna, trimmed with South Seas Pearls… sweat shops on the Marianas (Delay gave Nancy the keys) are sewing, fast as they can, the many sets of undies for the monkeys, from China silk.
And of course, there is this little tidbit – Ray McGovern writing at Consortium News [thanks to Madman]:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has admitted knowing for several years about the Bush administration’s eavesdropping on Americans without a court warrant. She said she was briefed on it when she was ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.
But was she told that the illegal surveillance began well before 9/11?
Referring to her briefing in an apologia-sans-apology Washington Post op-ed on Jan. 15, 2006, she wrote: “This is how I came to be informed of President Bush’s authorization for the NSA to conduct certain types of surveillance.”
Demonstrating her unconstitutionally subservient attitude toward the Executive Branch, Pelosi wrote:
“But when the administration notifies Congress in this manner, it is not seeking approval. There is a clear expectation that the information will be shared by no one, including other members of the intelligence committees. As a result, only a few members of Congress were aware of the president’s surveillance program, and they were constrained from discussing it more widely.”
How did the American people react upon learning in December 2005 of this glaring infringement on their Constitutional rights. Most reacted as they have been conditioned to act—out of the old fear-factor shibboleth: “After 9/11/2001, everything changed.”
And I won’t be leaving this part out!
Yes, just as after 2/27/1933, the night of the burning of the German Parliament (Reichstag) in Berlin, everything changed.
As a German attorney there at the time put it:
“What one can blame them [German politicians and populace] for, and what shows their terrible collective weakness of character, is that this settled the matter. With sheepish submissiveness the German people accepted that, as a result of the fire, each one of them lost what little personal freedom and dignity was guaranteed by the Constitution; as though it followed as a necessary consequence. If the Communists burned down the Reichstag, it was perfectly in order that the government took ‘decisive measures.’” [Defying Hitler, A Memoir, by Sebastian Haffner, p. 121]
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Dennis Perrin has an interesting and timely post up on John Lennon. Calmez! I am nto especially a Lennon fan, but I can appreciate and even venerate the struggle.
[I] knew about the harassment of Lennon before watching this film, but I didn’t realize how deep this campaign ran. When Lennon used his celebrity and popularity to help spring from jail the radical John Sinclair, the powers-that-be became very concerned about what Lennon would do next.
Unlike Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Angela Davis, or even the Weather Underground, Lennon’s appeal crossed over to apolitical types; and if he could wake them up, or worse, radicalize them, that would be a bad thing for those higher-ups already shaken by the growing opposition to the Vietnam war.
So J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI, in concert with the Nixon White House, began spying on Lennon and Yoko Ono, assembling a fat file on their every movement and personal associations. They weren’t about to let some long-haired dope-smoking limey fag and his Jap wife fuck with their domestic power. This is confirmed in the film by G. Gordon Liddy, who takes pride in that operation which Nixon not only knew about, but obsessed over.
Good post, very political… and this:
They weren’t about to let some long-haired dope-smoking limey fag and his Jap wife fuck with their domestic power.
So classic. And yes, cross over appeal drives the ptb absolutely batshitfuckingcrazy. They feel they cannot control groups that may pop up in support, from either left or right field. Or hell, center field. You never know, the center right libertarian batshit all but Republicans Boyos [and they know who they are] could wake up.
Not likely, but could happen. Not likely tho….. 😉
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
This is open to comments:
I am going to try to do 2 – 3 “real” posts a week. With or without threads… But will have threads 3 – 4 times a week, of course leaving that thread open til there is a new one…. If I could physically do more, I would. But I intend to continue to post thru the GE election and into the new Congress and Administration, on all the subjects I usually post about…
Last: “donkeytale” – and his titz – is banned, are banned. He has a lap pool to ply his trade in now and in all his parts and pieces is banned. Personally, I think he is paid astroturf.
Hey, Dkosser/Moon/noom got three diaries out of being asked to lay off for a while. Go for it, donk.
*****************************************
Another conservative shimmies and shakes it – for Hillary [updated] 12 October 2007
Posted by marisacat in 2008 Election, Abortion Rights, AFRICOM, Big Box Blogs, Democrats, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter, Lie Down Fall Down Dems, Political Blogs, SCOTUS, Sex / Reproductive Health, WAR!.comments closed
Former President Bill Clinton talks to media while next to his wife, U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, as they visit the damage of the Radisson SAS hotel, one of the three hotels bombed last Wednesday [November 2005], in Amman Jordan. (AP Photo)
I have had more time to read the BlahgSnarls and Snots – as well as just blogs. I see the screen names, some old, some new, hardly any a genuine shade of non-red however! herding the sad sloths, slowly and incrementally toward Hillary.
Oh stuff it. For that bitch? For whom hard core winger after hard core winger states some version of this:
I could never vote for her, but I (and others of my ideological ilk) could live with her — precisely because she is so liberated from principle. Her liberalism, like her husband’s — flexible, disciplined, calculated, triangulated — always leaves open the possibility that she would do the right thing for the blessedly wrong (i.e. self-interested, ambition-serving, politically expedient) reason.
Brooks, whom I call the Boy Scout face for the Neo-cons, embraced her similarly months ago. Lowry too has made soft cooings for Hillary, from his baby pen. Perhaps he wishes she had been his mother…
Is some of this strategy? Well yes. If they can crumble together a viable R challenger, it is clear, they wish to run against the Clintons.
The left side of the aisle, in whatever numbers they vote for her, will perfect to a near fine art capitulation – and consummate the long dirge filled decades of bonding with Republicanism, right wingerism and sleeping in reactionary ditches by the roadway…
Krauthammer opens his article with these grafs:
WASHINGTON — Bill Clinton’s greatest domestic achievement, aside from abolishing welfare, was free trade. The crown jewel was the North American Free Trade Agreement. He got that through Congress over sustained union opposition in 1993. Monday, Sen. Hillary Clinton proposed that NAFTA and other existing trade agreements be reassessed every five years.
The Washington Post correctly calls Hillary’s retreat from free trade “opportunism under pressure,” the pressure being the rampant and popular protectionism of her presidential rivals, particularly in protectionist Iowa. But while “opportunism under pressure” suggests (pace Hemingway) cowardice, the better description of Clintonism is slipperiness. Adaptability. Cynicism, if you like.
The money cast about on Hillary’s behalf is long and dedicated. It was 20 months ago that a small site where I was posting … well, I moved on quietly, soon opening Mcat, but the drum beat had begun: “be nice to Hillary” or the other version “let’s not be mean to Hillary”.
Seemed remarkably early to me. And, you know, fuck “nice”, twice over.
Earlier, in relation to that site and a small post pie email list for women, the thought of ‘withholding the vote” was raised. Perhaps making it a small on-going campaign at non-aligned blogs… And was raised not by me, by the way, but by two others.
But soon the constrictions appeared, the exhortation to be nice. A once strong liberal voice posting to the email list now was exhorting for Hillary, suddenly commenting on her own canvassing and outreach work in MD — and urging to “moderate” (otherwise known as: blast a hole in the dinghy and sink it) on abortion to save birth control.
The small blog received an “anonymous” donation sufficient for a server move. Oh.. from some PAC, no doubt.
And I moved on from the small blog. Which I noticed lately gets a comment a week and on the day of the SCOTUS ruling on “partial birth abortion” the blog owner, a woman widely perceived as a feminist voice, linked to mcjoan as the definitive take.
The email list died from exhortations at such deep divergence from its original purpose.
Stuff it bitch. “Bitch” would be all of them, from Krauthammer to HIllary to those who settle for the words of a bought off Blog Maid…
Clinton rarely falters. Always careful, always calibrated, always leaving room for expediency over ideology. That’s Clintonism, of both marital flavors. Gender sensitivity prevents me from calling her the consummate needle-threader. Consider her instead Columbus’ match as the Great Navigator.
By the by, John Lewis of Georgia endorsed Hillary today … so the media tells me.
Sometimes very small things catch my eye. In the aftermath of Katrina there were reports that the two great oil pipelines running out of that region were unharmed. I noted their names, Colonial and Plantation.
^^^^^^^^^^^^
In The Politics of War, by Walter Karp … some quotes pulled out on oppression under Wilson…
“Nothing was to be said or read in America that Wilson himself might find disagreeable…Americans rotted in prison for advocating heavier taxation rather than the issuance of war bonds, for stating that conscription was unconstitutional, for saying that sinking armed merchantmen had not been illegal, for criticizing the Red Cross and the YMCA.” (pp 325; 326)
“Wilson and the war party were determined to corrupt the entire body of the American people, to root out the old habits of freedom and to teach it new habits of obedience.” (p 329)
Here is a telling one:
“The official repression drove millions of independent-minded Americans deep into private life and political solitude. Isolated, they nursed in private their bitterness and contempt.” (Karp, p 329)
A last one:
“The triumph of Wilson and the war party struck the American Republic a blow from which it has never recovered. If the mainspring of a republican commonwealth – its “active principle” in Jefferson’s words – is the perpetual struggle against oligarchy and privilege, against private monopoly and arbitrary power, then that mainspring was snapped and deliberately snapped by the victors in the civil war over war.” (p 324)
It is infinitely sad that people who oppose war and repression will vote for Hillary, led to her by those who do not oppose war and embrace eagerly the opportunities afforded the State under an age of Terror.
*****************************
UPDATE, 1:20 am
Gore Gore Gore… I so dismissed Gore the pol when he stubbed and then flubbed in ’00 that when I see the name I think it is a new interview from Vidal. Oh No.
Boy won a prize.
Here is a good reaction that I have lifted whole from Schechter’s News Dissector
COMMENT FRIDAY MORNING ON THE NOBEL COMMITTEE’S PEACE PRIZE
By Jan Oberg of Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research (TFF is wholly independent taking no government nor corporate research funds):
The 2007 Nobel Peace Prize – particularly the part to Al Gore – is a populist choice that cannot but devalue the Prize itself.
Alfred Nobel wrote in his will that the Peace Prize should be awarded to “the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.”
Without diminishing the importance of global warming and the work done by this year’s recipients – the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Changes (IPCC) and Al Gore Jr. – it is highly disputable whether it qualifies as a PEACE prize in the spirit of Alfred Nobel – even if interpreted in the contemporary world situation and not that of 1895 when Nobel formulated his vision.
The concept and definition of peace should indeed be broad. But neither of the recipients have made contributions that can match thousands of other individuals and NGOs who devote their lives to fighting militarism, nuclearism, wars, reducing violence, work for peacebuilding, tolerance, reconciliation and co-existence – the core issues of the Nobel Peace Prize.
It is also regrettable that the Prize rewards government-related work, rather than civil society – Non-Governmentals, making the implicit point that governments rather than the people make peace.
In particular, Al Gore – as vice-president under Bill Clinton between 1993 and 2001 was never heard or seen as a peace-maker. Clinton-Gore had a crash program for building up US military facilities and made military allies all around Russia – and missed history’s greatest opportunity for a new world order.
In contravention of international law and without a UN Security Council mandate, they bombed Serbia and Kosovo, based on an extremely deficient understanding of Yugoslavia and propaganda about genocide that has caused the miserable situation called Kosovo today (likely to blow up this year or the next), and they bombed in Afghanistan and Sudan.
The Prize would have been linked to the environment if it has been awarded to someone who struggles against military or other violent influence on the global environment: military pollution, thousands of bases and exercises destroying nature, deliberate environmental warfare, militarization of space and the oceans, and – of course – nuclear weapons that, if used, would create more heat than global warming.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee’s consists of members who have little background, if any, in the theory and practise of peace. That however can not be an excuse for making a mockery of peace and the Prize itself.
The prestige of the Nobel Peace Prize has been further reduced today – adding to the disgrace that it never rewarded Gandhi but people like Kissinger, Shimon Peres, and Arafat.
Kindly
Jan Oberg
**********************************
UPDATE, 2:22 am Saturday
In related matters (who gets their money and support where and thus, what will get said)… if you can stand it, catch Charlie Rose Monday on PBS with his Eric Prince interview… listen for the George Clooney connection. Where Clooney called Prince, lotsa great ideas that Blackwater can be a ‘do gooder’ intervenor in places like Darfur. LIsten to the interview work to humanise Eric (clearly Charlie’s job here), who arrives with gentle little bangs that caress his forehead. Listen to Eric, a fan of the movie Hotel Rwanda. More should have been done. He has some reservations about Blackwater in those “situations”, but the boy stands ready.
Listen up, all Clooney ass kissers. And listen good, if you can stand it. It is all to do with AFRICOM, spreading the war globally.
So many Faustian bargains about. Shop Shop Shop for those bargains.
Earlier tonight, on Rose I caught the Australian actress who is reprising ERex once again, Cate Blanchette… wax fulsomely for Hillary and her great devotion to……………….
children. And how very fascinating she finds that. Hon, it won’t make a movie…
She must be a great excavator, finding all that devotion, once again.. The Wright-Edelmans, Marion W-E of the Children’s Def Fund did yoeman’s work in ’92 to provide Hilary with a bio in that area. Then the administration fucked them over but good… despite Wright having a spot at HHS, one which he resigned (three in all left) over Clinton slashing welfare.
With luck the actress is still a non-national and thus cannot vote. And don’t miss her slobber for Pinter.
Ah, but does she fucking READ what he writes?
Democracy
There’s no escape.
The big pricks are out.
They’ll fuck everything in sight.
Watch your back.
Harold Pinter February 2003
*********************************
Marisacat 