In other words: A discussion of The Bush Administration
Today's GOP: Innovation is BAD!
Republicans are actively trying to kill the future of the US economy
(because big media campaign donors said it'd be okay)
Copyright Bill to Kill Tech?
The Senate Judiciary Committee will consider a bill Thursday that would hold technology companies liable for any product they make that encourages people to steal copyright materials.
Critics say the bill would effectively outlaw peer-to-peer networks and prohibit the development of new technologies, including devices like the iPod. The Inducing Infringement of Copyrights Act was introduced last month by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), head of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The legislation would hold a company liable that "intentionally induces" a person to infringe copyright.
Oh my! Intentionally inducing a person to infringe on a copyright - why that's just evil! I mean, imagine a machine that could take sound and images straight from your television and copy them in a form that you could later give or sell to friends. Imagine the poor people who worked hard making a video masterpiece that is aired on HBO which you pay for the honor of viewing. But say, because you own this device you could make a copy and give it to a friend who didn't pay for HBO. This machine just let you steal copyrighted material. Heck it didn't just "let" you do it, it "induced" you to do it, I mean that is pretty much the sole purpose of the machine: to copy what you see on your TV!
Yes, Orrin Hatch wants to make any new technology like the VCR illegal. Yes a world where the cassette tape was illegal, the ipod (basically a better walkman) was illegal. Heck let's take this back to the beginning of technological theivery: The Edison Cylinder Phonograph!
You know there was a day when rational thought was occasionally allowed in Washington:
In the Betamax decision, the Supreme Court ruled that any technology that people use for legal purposes would be legal -- even if the device could be used for illegal purposes, like content piracy. Because of the ruling, the consumer electronics industry and Hollywood went on to develop a thriving market in home video and DVDs.
Media Corporations (all coporations actually) which are supposedly responsible for long term wealth generation for their share holders, can't see beyond their own yachts. They'd have wanted to make the ipod illegal if they new about them before hand, and now it seems if the recording industry is to survive it'll be partly be because of the itunes music store/ipod business model.
They'd kill themselves tomorrow if they could get a free meal today (heck they'd kill themselves today if they thought it meant a new tax break).
The truth is corporations are lazy. Innovation and change is difficult and requires work, sure there is potentially huge rewards but it is so much nicer to just sit on your ass and pay your legislators (I'm sorry, I mean, fund the campaigns of the citizen's legislators) to write laws that limit any new competition. Just let the money flow... don't rock the boat.
How far do you take "intentionally induce" copying anyway? I mean I have a video camera and to me it just screams "take me into the theater and record the show" (but that's just me). I also have a computer and it allows me to take any thing I see on the internet - sound, text, images, video... let's just get rid of all that too.
Hatch misses the good old days when kids didn't have VCRs or computers and stayed outside and tricked other kids into painting their fence. (though kids playing outside would be nice).
Heck even peer to peer networks are just new fangled swap meets. Besides copyrighted material people share their own songs and videos, their own programs, their own stories, photos, and pictures. Yes it is mostly copyrighted material but sometimes it isn't and its existence doesn't necessitate the swapping of copyrighted materials. It is the electronic version of lending something to your neighbor. Sometimes its some bread you made but an awful lot of times it is a really great book you just finished. Thief! Thief! Giving to neighbors should be illegal too! And don't get me started on "lending libraries!"
- rob 3:22 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Flashback to Dick Cheney 1998 courtesy of Talking Points Memo
"I have made it clear that our (the US unilateral) sanctions policy is wrong," he said when asked to comment on the Iran-Libya Act which contains provisions for sanctions to be imposed by the US against foreign companies making investment beyond US$20 million a year in the oil and gas sector of the targeted countries.
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Speaking to reporters after calling on Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad at the Prime Minister's office here [Kuala Lumpur], Cheney, who is now the chairman and CEO of Halliburton, said: "The US needs to be much more restraint then we have been in terms of pursuing unilateral economic sanctions."
Cheney:
- nunilateral sanctions (which were working) don't show enough restraint.
- unilateral invasion of a country (which isn't working) shows just the right amount of restraint.
- rob 2:14 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Says Jeb Bush "if they ain't voting for my brother then why should they get the right to vote back?"
Florida: Ex-felons face new twist in voting
Days after a Florida appeals court demanded that the state provide more help to felons who want their right to vote restored, Gov. Jeb Bush introduced a new policy that civil rights advocates say circumvents the will of the court and threatens to exclude tens of thousands of potential voters.
Last week, the First District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee unanimously ruled that state prison officials must follow the law and provide newly released felons the necessary paperwork and assistance to get their full civil rights back.
That would include a one-page application for a formal hearing before the Florida Clemency Board -- the only way an estimated 85 percent of felons will ever get their rights restored.
But instead of providing the application, Bush decided to scrap it altogether. On Wednesday, he announced that felons will now have to contact the Office of Executive Clemency when and if they want to apply for a hearing to have their rights restored.
Bush argues that the policy reduces paperwork and, therefore, provides the ease and assistance demanded by the court.
They're aren't even trying to make their lies sound reasonable. Ease my ass.
Come on if Ken Lay was allowed to vote for Bush in 2000, at least some poor kid who's served his time for smoking pot should be allowed to vote in 2004.
Why are the Republicans so scared of voters?
- rob 2:09 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Presently we at TCS sometimes quote other articles. I know it is hard to believe, but we do. I was just wondering how do you like to read the quotes.
Is it horribly annoying to see large sections of content in italics?- rob 1:28 PM - [PermaLink] -Or should the quoted content simply be indented and that would be sufficient enough to show that the text was taken from an article? Kind of like this little paragraph here that I'm trying to make long enough so it could serve as an example of how indenting look. But suddenly I'm at a loss for words, hey why don't I mention that F9/11 looks as if it'll easily pass the 100 million mark this weekend. Not bad. Probably should have mentioned that in the post below this but I forgot. Or maybe I didn't? Either way this should be enough text to show what I'm talking about when I talk about indenting the text.Anyway, why don't you tell us how it should look? Please participate in or little poll:
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Documentary List Update
Last week I noted that besides F 9/11 There are other Docs out there you might want to see:
- OutFoxed which is where the below Fox News memos originally came from.
- Super Size Me (makes you hungry just reading the title, don't it)
- The Fog of War
- The Corporation
- Control Room
- The Hunting of the President (the true story of the right wing conspiracy that was trying to take down President Clinton from before he even took office).
- And from early on this century Journeys with George
What I forget to mention was Bush's Brain a documentary about Karl Rove:
“BUSH'S BRAIN” is a documentary that introduces the country to Karl Rove, the man known as “Bush's Brain”, the most powerful political figure America has never heard of, the Wizard of Oz behind the curtain of today's Presidential politics.
And since I'm talking about docs I figure I should plug my friends film Shelter Dogs which is now available on video and DVD, check it out and see what The Boston Phoenix called: One of the Ten Best Documentaries of 2003.
- rob 1:16 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Flashback: Bush Sums Up 2001
President Highlights Administration's First-Year Accomplishments
I must tell you, I'm disappointed that the Senate did not follow up on the opportunity to pass a stimulus package that would have taken care of workers. We worked really hard with members of both parties to get legislation that would do two things -- one, help workers by extending unemployment insurance, as well as helping with their health care. And then there was a -- part of the package that would encourage investment and job creation. It just didn't get done, and that's a big disappointment.
I know there was enough votes to get it out of the Senate, had there been the will to get the bill done. And maybe early next year we can work on it again.
But all in all, it's been a fabulous year for Laura and me. Emphasis mine.
One of Bush's major disapointments of 2001: didn't pass all of his deficit creating "stimulus" packages. But hey 9/11 did happen, maybe that's part of the all in all that made the year so very Fabulous.
- rob 11:18 AM - [PermaLink] -
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A Republican's definition of a government by the people: A vote by your own people and not, you know, Those people.- Thursday, July 22, 2004 -
Democrats blast GOP lawmaker's 'suppress the Detroit vote' remark
DETROIT (AP) -- Democrats on Wednesday denounced a Republican lawmaker quoted in a newspaper as saying the GOP would fare poorly in this year's elections if it failed to "suppress the Detroit vote."
State Rep. John Pappageorge, R-Troy, acknowledged using "a bad choice of words" but said his remark shouldn't be construed as racist.
Okay maybe not racist, certainly anti-democracy.
I know the whole Democratic Party & Republican Party names are pretty much arbitrary, and the America is a Democratic Republic, but it really does seem that the Republican Party seems much more interested in the Republic side of that and the Democratic side be damned.
- rob 9:43 AM - [PermaLink] -
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Some Letterman quickies:
- In an interview with ESPN magazine, John Kerry says he learned about life from playing sports...Of course, the most frustrating thing about playing sports for John Kerry - finding a helmet that fits.
- And today, President Bush said he also played a lot of sports as a child – but somehow those records were lost or destroyed.
- In a speech to the Amish, President Bush said that "I trust that God speaks through me”. Which sounds reassuring until you realize, that’s what Courtney Love has been saying.
- rob 7:10 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Makes you puke
Does anyone - congress - the president - the pentagon give a rats ass about our troops?
Basic Training Doesn't Guard Against Insurance Pitch to G.I.'s
Nicholas Stachler was 19 years old when he reported for basic training with the Army at Fort Benning, Ga., before shipping out for 11 months to Iraq.
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About six weeks into his training - six weeks of combat drills and drummed-in lessons in Army ways - he tasted one of the less-honorable traditions of military life: a compulsory classroom briefing on personal finance that was a life insurance sales pitch in disguise.
As he remembers the class and as base investigative records show, two insurance agents quick-stepped him and his classmates through a stack of paperwork, pointing out where they should sign their names, where they should scribble their initials. They were given no time to read the documents and no copies to keep.
Specialist Stachler says he thought he had arranged to have $100 a month deducted from his pay for some sort of Army-endorsed savings plan or mutual fund. When he returned from Iraq, he found that he had not been saving the money at all. He had been paying $100 a month in premiums for an insurance policy that promised him some cash value far down the road and a death benefit that was almost certainly less than $44,000, a small amount compared with the $250,000 in life insurance he had through a military-sponsored plan that cost him $16.25 a month.
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The Pentagon has been aware of practices like these since the Vietnam War; investigations have even cited specific companies and agents. But because of industry lobbying, Congressional pressure, weak enforcement and the Pentagon's ineffective oversight, almost no action has been taken to sanction those responsible or to better protect those who are vulnerable, The Times has found.
And the problem has only intensified since the beginning of the Iraq war, say military employees who monitor insurance agents. With the death toll rising in Iraq, interest in insurance among the troops has surged, making the war a selling opportunity for many agents, they said.
Hey Kerry! Show you're love for our soldiers! Shine a spotlight on this! Get this to stop!
$100 a month for basically nothing... what a reward for a young man risking his life. (and unfortunately risking his life on a misadventure based on lies from the commander in chief... these guys are getting screwed in multiple ways).
- rob 5:31 PM - [PermaLink] -
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'Fahrenheit' seen as GOP headache
"Damn that Michael Moore he can't communicate directly to Americans with these facts, these images, these opinions!!! It must all go through the correct channels. It must be reviewed by our media whores! This is not APPROPRIATE!"
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Republicans initially dismissed "Fahrenheit 9/11" as a cinematic screed that would play mostly to inveterate Bush bashers.
Four weeks and $94 million later, the film is still pulling in moviegoers at 2,000 theaters around the country, making Republicans nervous as it settles into the American mainstream.
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Based on a record-breaking gross of $94 million through last weekend, theaters already have sold an estimated 12 million tickets to "Fahrenheit 9/11." A Gallup survey conducted July 8 to 11 said 8 percent of American adults had seen the film at that time, but that 18 percent still planned to see it at a theater and another 30 percent plan to see it on video.
This films got legs.
Current numbers from BoxOfficeMojo: $97 million as of Wendesday night. It fell to 6th place since Tuesday but has a better per screen average then the 5th placed film. Its been out for 29 days... and still going strong. It'll be interesting to see if it can stay above 7th place after Catwoman and The Bourn Supremacy each open to over three thousand screens (and Fahrenheit 9/11 will probably drop under 2,000 screens... it'll be interesting to see by how much).
Thanks to sy for the link.
- rob 5:23 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Bush is Against tax cuts
(if it makes Democrats looking okay)
Bush - Politics before Americans (of course)
White House Helps Block Extension of Tax Cuts
WASHINGTON, July 21 - The White House helped to block a Republican-brokered deal on Wednesday to extend several middle-class tax cuts, fearful of a bill that could draw Democratic votes and dilute a Republican campaign theme, Republican negotiators said.
It was so good for America everyone was going to vote for it, but if democrats voted for it it would dilute Bush's campaign theme "all democrats are evil and love taxes;" so Bush killed it.
Tell your republican friends. Besides Bush flip flopping between being the War president (FEB, 2004) to the Peace president (JULY, 2004), he can't even stay devoted to his most sacred cow: tax cuts. Can you trust him on anything?
Thanks to Atrios for the original link.
- rob 5:02 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Second Coming
Evangenitals: (n., pl.) When the right ball knows what the left ball is doing -- but they're both nuts.
- Michael 4:58 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Video shows 4 scrutinized at D.C. airport
WASHINGTON -- Surveillance video from Washington Dulles International Airport the morning of Sept. 11 shows four of the five hijackers being pulled aside to undergo additional scrutiny after setting off metal detectors but then permitted to board the fateful flight that crashed into the Pentagon.
But Bush has not only made the world safer (that's what the war...er... I mean peace president says), and with all the amazing improvements he's overseen (via TSA and FAA), airports are much more secure.
er....
Man Steals Atlanta Airport Baggage Tractor
ATLANTA - An airline passenger wearing only a pair of pajama bottoms stole a baggage tractor at the city's main airport and drove it onto an active runway early Wednesday, police said.
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Authorities said the man appeared mentally unstable. (no!)
Okay he didn't have a knife on him... so gate security let him through. Did the fact that he was wearing only pajama bottoms give anyone pause???
Yes, I know this a stretch to blame this on Bush, but that's what we here before. Besides, you've go to admit... it doesn't make you feel safer does it? (and besides its just plain weird)
- rob 4:57 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Hello Maryland?!? Do you not care that your votes are potentially worth nothing?
Ohio shows Maryland how it is done.
A Diebold update (its been a while)
Blackwell Halts Deployment Of Diebold Voting Machines For 2004
COLUMBUS – Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell today halted deployment of Diebold Election Systems’ electronic voting devices in Ohio for the 2004 General Election. The decision is based on preliminary findings from the secretary of state's second round of security testing conducted by Compuware Corporation showing the existence of previously identified, but yet unresolved security issues. Hardin, Lorain and Trumbull counties had selected to use new Diebold equipment this November. Those counties will use their current voting devices in 2004.
“As I made clear last year, I will not place these voting devices before Ohio’s voters until identified risks are corrected,” Blackwell said. “Diebold Election Systems has successfully addressed many, but not all, of the problems that were identified in our first security review. The lack of comprehensive resolution prevents me from giving county boards of elections a green light for this November.
- rob 4:47 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Why? Because he's not dumb
Annan Rejects Bush Claim That World Is Safer Now
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The world is no safer than it was three years ago, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Wednesday, countering President Bush's claims he had made the world a safer place.
Annan, at a news conference, also criticized a Bush administration decision to withhold $34 million from the U.N. Population Fund, saying the agency was saving women's lives.
The Pentagon thinks the world is so dangerous it is closing its day care center out of concern for the children's safety. Bush says these things because he has no idea what is happening in the world.
- rob 4:44 PM - [PermaLink] -
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HELLISBURNIN- Wednesday, July 21, 2004 -
If the Devil is in the details, Dick Cheney is in the particulars. A Halliburton Primer:
Meanwhile, Cheney was busy developing Halliburton's business in other parts of the world. "It is a false dichotomy that we have to choose between our commercial and other interests," he told the [public policy research foundation] Cato Institute in 1998, speaking out against economic sanctions levied by the Clinton administration against countries suspected of terrorist activity. "Our government has become sanctions-happy," he continued.
In particular, Cheney objected to sanctions against Libya and Iran, two countries with which Halliburton was already doing business regardless. Even more disconcerting, though, was the work the company did in Iraq. Between his stints as secretary of defence and vice-president, Cheney was in charge of Halliburton when it was circumventing strict UN sanctions, helping to rebuild Iraq and enriching Saddam Hussein.
In September 1998, Halliburton closed a $7.7bn stock merger with Dresser Industries (the company that gave George HW Bush his first job). The merger made Halliburton the largest oilfield services firm in the world. It also brought with it two foreign subsidiaries that were doing business with Iraq via the controversial Oil for Food programme. The two subsidiaries, Dresser Rand and Ingersoll Dresser Pump Co, signed $73m-worth of contracts for oil production equipment.
Cheney told the press during his 2000 run for vice-president that he had a "firm policy" against doing business with Iraq. He admitted to doing business with Iran and Libya, but "Iraq's different," he said. Cheney told ABC TV: "We've not done any business in Iraq since UN sanctions were imposed on Iraq in 1990, and I had a standing policy that I wouldn't do that."
Three weeks later, Cheney was forced to admit the business ties, but claimed ignorance. He told reporters that he was not aware of Dresser's business in Iraq, and that besides, Halliburton had divested itself of both companies by 2000. In the meantime, the companies had done another $30m-worth of business in Iraq before being sold off.
When Cheney left to become Bush's running mate, he took a golden parachute package - in addition to the stock options he was obliged to sell for $30m. In September 2003, Cheney insisted: "Since I've left Halliburton to become George Bush's vice-president, I've severed all my ties with the company, gotten rid of all my financial interests. I have no financial interest in Halliburton of any kind and haven't now for over three years."
The Congressional Research Service (CRS), a non-partisan agency that investigates political issues at the request of elected officials, says otherwise. Cheney has been receiving a deferred salary from Halliburton in the years since he left the company. In 2001, he received $205,298. In 2002, he drew $162,392. He is scheduled to receive similar payments through 2005, and has an insurance policy in place to protect the payments in the event that Halliburton should fold. In addition, Cheney still holds 433,333 unexercised stock options in Halliburton.
And here's the kicker -- of those 433,333 unexercised stock options, 433,333 of them are going to charity! Can you beat that? What a guy! How much do you wanna bet? I'll bet a nickel. Who's game? They say it's better to serve in Heaven ...
But what's money when you rule in Hell? (Emphasis Satan's)
- Michael 2:25 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Republican Fury
Since the New York Times isn't interested in this letter I sent, I might as well post it here.
To the Editor:
Re: "Fury from Republicans" ("Kerry Advisor Leaves Race Over Documents," July 21, A1): Where is Republican fury at having been manipulated into granting the president sole authority to wage a war without sufficient cause? Where is Republican fury at having been assured that the war would pay for itself, when reality and common sense dictated otherwise? Where is Republican fury at the outrageous and persistent claim by the administration that Saddam Hussein had anything to do with 9/11, when the Senate Commission's report refuted any such assertion? Where is Republican fury at a White House and Justice Department that used its legal brain trust to overturn the Geneva Conventions, in clear violation of domestic and international law?
The magnitude of hypocrisy is staggering.
Michael W.
Valerie Plame, anyone? It's only a matter of treason.
- Michael 6:43 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Update on the Bush protesters who were arrested in WV
City apologizes to Bush protesters
After Charleston City Council agreed to apologize Monday to two people arrested at a President Bush appearance in the city this month, Mayor Danny Jones suggested sending the couple some West Virginia T-shirts.
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The apology, presented in a resolution by Councilman Harry Deitzler, said that the rights of the Ranks “to freely express themselves, as guaranteed by both the United States and West Virginia Constitutions, was directly or indirectly abridged, suppressed, or prevented by the City of Charleston.”
“It was a public event, not a private or a political event,” Deitzler said. “Taxpayers paid to bring [the president] in on an official presidential visit. In this country ... those who disagree with the government are allowed to state that disagreement.” Emphasis mine.
What does it say about Bush and his people when a councilman from Charleston City, WV has a better understanding about one of our most important liberties.
Council’s apology did not place any blame on the city or the Charleston Police Department. Deitzler said he thinks the blame should be laid on the White House staff, because local police were expected to defer to federal law enforcement officers.
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Although people who peacefully protest Bush policies with signs and the like have routinely been removed from, and sometimes arrested at, Bush appearances since 2001, the Ranks’ story has been the one that has been circulated nationwide.
This is one (of many) chilling things about the Bush administration - its requirement of a "dictator ship" zone around Bush at all times. You can protest, but only if Bush can't see you. He really does think everyone loves him... he's a sad boy in a bubble. Pathetic.
- rob 4:11 PM - [PermaLink] -
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A Republican Senator's soft spot for totally scary religious freaks
Warner Helped the Rev. Moon
Sen. John W. Warner's office acknowledged yesterday that the Virginia Republican arranged for religious activists to use a Senate office building last March for a ceremony in which the Rev. Sun Myung Moon declared himself the Messiah and said his teachings have helped Hitler and Stalin be "reborn as new persons."
Warner said "look he gave us a platform in the Washington Times to say anything we darn well pleased against the democrats without us having to worry about verification, so giving his wacko religious ceremonies a feeling of government sanction is the least I could do."
- rob 4:04 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Second Funny, from the always funny Tom Burka's Opinions You Should Have
U.S. Election Held Yesterday "Just to Be Safe"
Better Safe Than Sorry, Says Bush
U.S. officials discussing the idea of postponing Election Day to prevent a terrorist attack instead held it nearly four months early, in order to prevent what they called "a possible terrorist-related disruption of the democratic process."
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Although turnout was at a record low -- only a little more than 50 votes were cast -- George W. Bush carried every state, and won every vote except one.
- rob 3:41 PM - [PermaLink] -
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First funny:
Ben & Jerry's co-founder inflamed by Bush
Call it the burning Bush.
The co-founder of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream is on the road, towing a 12-foot-tall effigy of President Bush with fake flames shooting out of the pants.
Ben Cohen believes it is an acceptable way to point out what he calls the president's lies.
"In a polite society, you don't go up to a person and look at them in the face and say, 'You're a liar,'" Cohen said Monday in a telephone interview.
"We think it's a lot more dignified and there's a lot more decorum to say, 'Excuse me sir, your pants are getting a little warm, don't you think?'" Cohen said.
- rob 3:21 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Of all forms of tyranny the least attractive and the most vulgar is the tyranny of mere wealth, the tyranny of plutocracy.- Tuesday, July 20, 2004 -
- Theodore Roosevelt (1858 - 1919), Theodore Roosevelt, an autobiography
- rob 11:26 AM - [PermaLink] -
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Got this ABC News Operation Northwoods article via the Free speech zone (check him out, if you haven't), and that got the ball rolling.
U.S. Military Wanted to Provoke War With Cuba
Book: U.S. Military Drafted Plans to Terrorize U.S. Cities to Provoke War With Cuba
In the early 1960s, America's top military leaders reportedly drafted plans to kill innocent people and commit acts of terrorism in U.S. cities to create public support for a war against Cuba.
Code named Operation Northwoods, the plans reportedly included the possible assassination of Cuban émigrés, sinking boats of Cuban refugees on the high seas, hijacking planes, blowing up a U.S. ship, and even orchestrating violent terrorism in U.S. cities.
The plans were developed as ways to trick the American public and the international community into supporting a war to oust Cuba's then new leader, communist Fidel Castro.
America's top military brass even contemplated causing U.S. military casualties, writing: "We could blow up a U.S. ship in Guantanamo Bay and blame Cuba," and, "casualty lists in U.S. newspapers would cause a helpful wave of national indignation."
One of the masterminds behind this was Gen. Lemnitzer, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Kennedy, this site has a lot of the details about Operation Northwoods and 9/11 connections: Chapter 11: The Conspiracy
Gen. Lemnitzer retires in 1969. But in 1975, while the Senate opens investigations into the CIA's exact role in the Nixon administration, Gerald Ford, who has held the interim presidency since the Watergate scandal, asks Lemnitzer to participate in this investigation. After he had helped him bury the controversy, Ford comes to him once again, to ask him to take over the CPD (Committee on the Present Danger). This group is a CIA creation (the CIA director at the time was George Bush père). The CPD runs anti-Soviet campaigns. Among its administrators, one finds various CIA officials as well as Paul D. Wolfowitz (current adjunct Secretary of Defense, in charge of operations in Afghanistan). In parallel, Ford names Brig. Gen. William Craig, who conducted the initial studies for Operation Northwoods, as NSA Director. Gen. Lemnitzer dies on 12 November 1988.
In 1992, American public opinion on the Kennedy assassination is re-sparked after the release of the Oliver Stone film which showed the incoherencies of the official version. President Clinton orders that very numerous archives from the Kennedy era be declassified. In Defense Secretary McNamara's papers, the only surviving copy of the Northwoods project plan comes to light. Emphasis mine.
What this? 9/11 connections? We've got a "special group" of right wing hawks with personal vendettas against Castro that are willing to kill American citizens as a pretext for war. Something that will jolt Americans out of complacency, and force them to fight communism. Idiots who will destroy a free government of the people to protect freedom (being able to reconcile these ideas is a symptom of insanity).
Jump to the late '90's and you've got a group of right wing hawks with personal vendettas against Saddam, and who wish for an opportunity to shake America out of its complacency so we can fight a war with Iraq and other axis of evil nations.
The Plan
Were Neo-Conservatives? 1998 Memos a Blueprint for Iraq War?
March 10 ? Years before George W. Bush entered the White House, and years before the Sept. 11 attacks set the direction of his presidency, a group of influential neo-conservatives hatched a plan to get Saddam Hussein out of power.
The group, the Project for the New American Century, or PNAC, was founded in 1997. Among its supporters were three Republican former officials who were sitting out the Democratic presidency of Bill Clinton: Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney and Paul Wolfowitz.
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And in a report just before the 2000 election that would bring Bush to power, the group predicted that the shift would come about slowly, unless there were "some catastrophic and catalyzing event, like a new Pearl Harbor."
That event came on Sept. 11, 2001. By that time, Cheney was vice president, Rumsfeld was secretary of defense, and Wolfowitz his deputy at the Pentagon.
The next morning ? before it was even clear who was behind the attacks ? Rumsfeld insisted at a Cabinet meeting that Saddam's Iraq should be "a principal target of the first round of terrorism," according to Bob Woodward's book Bush At War.
"a new pearl harbor" ABC isn't exaggerating. You can read it in the "Rebuilding Americas Defenses: starters, Forces, and Resources for a New Century." (acrobat required, go to page 51) It is still at the Project for a New American Century website. They're proud of it.
People think we're paranoid at the administration's talk of canceling or delaying elections ("we must disrupt our democratic process because the terrorists are trying to disrupt our democratic process" - hilarious flash cartoon), but people of their ilk have considered killing Americans as part of political strategy.
These days paranoia is keeping things in historical context.
- rob 5:36 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Krugman: The Arabian Candidate
The Arabian candidate wouldn't openly help terrorists. Instead, he would serve their cause while pretending to be their enemy.
After an attack, he would strike back at the terrorist base, a necessary action to preserve his image of toughness, but botch the follow-up, allowing the terrorist leaders to escape. Once the public's attention shifted, he would systematically squander the military victory: committing too few soldiers, reneging on promises of economic aid. Soon, warlords would once again rule most of the country, the heroin trade would be booming, and terrorist allies would make a comeback.
Meanwhile, he would lead America into a war against a country that posed no imminent threat. He would insinuate, without saying anything literally false, that it was somehow responsible for the terrorist attack. This unnecessary war would alienate our allies and tie down a large part of our military. At the same time, the Arabian candidate would neglect the pursuit of those who attacked us, and do nothing about regimes that really shelter anti-American terrorists and really are building nuclear weapons.
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Last week, Republican officials in Kentucky applauded bumper stickers distributed at G.O.P. offices that read, "Kerry is bin Laden's man/Bush is mine." Administration officials haven't gone that far, but when Tom Ridge offered a specifics-free warning about a terrorist attack timed to "disrupt our democratic process," many people thought he was implying that Al Qaeda wants George Bush to lose. In reality, all infidels probably look alike to the terrorists, but if they do have a preference, nothing in Mr. Bush's record would make them unhappy at the prospect of four more years.
- rob 2:01 PM - [PermaLink] -
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DeLay paid his jury
Dallas Morning News
Let's say you get called for jury duty. It happens that the person on trial once gave you money. Would you expect to get picked for that jury?
Heck, no.
You'd expect to be sent home, pronto, and for good reason.
Even if you, as an upright and fair-minded citizen, could put the financial tie completely out of your mind, how could those of us looking on, who can't get inside your head, be confident in your impartiality?
That's essentially the situation in Washington, where Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas stands accused of unethical fund-raising practices. Four of the five Republicans on the committee investigating him have received money from his political action committee.
- rob 1:35 PM - [PermaLink] -
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From a Fark posting by someone named mccaffry who runs a really pretty art site: Artzar: Art and Literature Showcase
- rob 11:52 AM - [PermaLink] -
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This should make everyone stop and think, and I know it'll freak the heck out of Michael
Minn. GOP Asks Activists to Report on Neighbors' Politics
The state Republican Party has developed a Web site that allows its activists to tap into a database of voters whose political allegiances and concerns it would like to know. But it is not just any group of voters -- they are the activists' neighbors.
The project, dubbed WebVoter, gives GOP activists the names and addresses of 25 people who live, in most cases, within a couple of blocks from them. The party has asked 60,000 supporters from across the state to figure out what issues animate their neighbors and where they stand in the political spectrum, and report that information back to the party -- with or, possibly, without their neighbors' permission.
But its really not the freaking, because, you see, the Minn GOP is really just interested in promoting democracy.
Republicans Helping Nader to Help Themselves
The Michigan Republican Party submitted more than 40,000 signatures last week in a bid to get independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader on the state's November ballot.
Of course, this is not really about helping Nader. It is all about helping President Bush and hurting Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry's campaign in a closely contested state.
The Michigan GOP denies that, of course. Matt Davis, a spokesman for the group, said it was merely concerned about third-party candidates being left off the ballot. He could not name, however, another third-party or independent candidate his party has helped. Emphasis mine.
- rob 9:21 AM - [PermaLink] -
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Is Business as usual finally catching up to Halliburton?- Monday, July 19, 2004 -
Halliburton Subpoenaed Over Unit's Iran Work
HOUSTON (Reuters) - A U.S. grand jury issued a subpoena to Halliburton Co. seeking information about its Cayman Islands unit's work in Iran, where it is illegal for U.S. companies to operate, Halliburton said on Monday.
...
U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg, a Democrat, said the probe into possible sanctions violations should address the role of the Republican vice president.
"The question must be asked: did this possible violation occur between 1995 and 2000 while Dick Cheney was the CEO of Halliburton?" Lautenberg said in a statement released by his office.
Well, under Cheney Halliburton did business with Libya and Iraq (despite the embargo) so why should Iran be any different?
United Nations records disclose that the subsidiaries of Halliburton and its joint venturer earned more than $73 million through their dealings with Iraq. In a report by the Washington Post report it was disclosed that two former senior executives of the subsidiaries said there was no company policy against doing business with Iraq and they heard no objections from any Halliburton executive, including Mr. Cheney, to doing business with the country. When running for vice-president and when interviewed on ABC's "This Week" on July 30, 2000, Mr. Cheney contradicted the two executives. He said: "I had a firm policy that we wouldn't do anything in Iraq, even arrangements that were supposedly legal. We've not done any business in Iraq since U.N. sanction were imposed . . . ." Three weeks later he contradicted himself and supported the two executives he'd contradicted earlier saying: "We inherited two joint ventures with Ingersoll-Rand that were selling some parts into Iraq, but we divested ourselves of those interests." He neglected to point out that the divestiture did not occur until more than a year later during which time the companies signed close to $30 million in contracts. Mr. Cheney never bothered to explain why he got it wrong the first time.
But the truth of the matter is if there is money involved ranking members of the Bush administration have a real soft spot for the "axis of evil"
Rummy's North Korea Connection
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld rarely keeps his opinions to himself. He tends not to compromise with his enemies. And he clearly disdains the communist regime in North Korea. So it's surprising that there is no clear public record of his views on the controversial 1994 deal in which the U.S. agreed to provide North Korea with two light-water nuclear reactors in exchange for Pyongyang ending its nuclear weapons program. What's even more surprising about Rumsfeld's silence is that he sat on the board of the company that won a $200 million contract to provide the design and key components for the reactors.
The Bush Administration: Money Before America.
- rob 9:10 AM - [PermaLink] -
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Vote for a Man, Not a Puppet
have sadly come to the conclusion that President Bush is merely a frontman, an empty suit, who is manipulated by the people in his administration. Bush has the most dangerously simplistic view of the world of any president in my memory.
It's no wonder the president avoids press conferences like the plague. Take away his cue cards and he can barely talk. Americans should be embarrassed that an Arab king (Abdullah of Jordan) spoke more fluently and articulately in English than our own president at their joint press conference recently.
John Kerry is at least an educated man, well-read, who knows how to think and who knows that the world is a great deal more complex than Bush's comic-book world of American heroes and foreign evildoers. It's unfortunate that in our poorly educated country, Kerry's very intelligence and refusal to adopt simplistic slogans might doom his presidential election efforts.
But Thomas Jefferson said it well, as he did so often, when he observed that people who expect to be ignorant and free expect what never was and never will be.
...
It would be good to have a man in the White House who has killed people face to face. Killing people has a sobering effect on a man and dispels all illusions about war.
- rob 6:10 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Based on stats from box office mojo.
F9/11 is number 5 after 4 weeks. It lost only 7 theaters last week, and had a $3,493 per screen average (King Arthur had only $2,244 on its second week).
In other words. This films got legs. See it again, take a republican friend.
- rob 6:05 PM - [PermaLink] -
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A great post up at Corrente: Field of Screams
Ashcroft's great war on terror:
Federal prosecutors say they built 35 terrorism-related cases in Iowa in the two years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
...
Included among the 35 cases were:
• Five Mexican citizens who stole cans of baby formula from store shelves throughout Iowa and sold them to a man of Arab descent for later resale.
• Two Pakistani men who entered into or solicited sham marriages so that they and their friends could continue to live in the Waterloo area and work at convenience stores there.
That is why we need the patriot act, to save the our women (sham marriages) and children (some missing baby formula) from Pakistani men and men of Arab descent.
- rob 6:03 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Fool me once, shame on... shame on you. Fool me........ can't get fooled again.
Yahoo! News - U.S. Exploring Possible Iran-9/11 Link
WASHINGTON - President Bush said Monday the United States is exploring whether Iran had any role in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, a scenario discounted by the CIA.
Well, it isn't really the United States that is exploring it, its Karl Rove, and exploring isn't the right word for it... dreaming is more like it.
"We will continue to look and see if the Iranians were involved," Bush said. "I have long expressed my concerns about Iran. After all it's a totalitarian society where people are not allowed to exercise their rights as human beings."
hmmm.... a totalitarian society where people are not allowed to excercise their rights? Connection to 9/11? Is he finally talking about Saudi Arabia?
- rob 5:58 PM - [PermaLink] -
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New Monday Tradition (when we remember)
Bumper sticker Monday
Every Monday (as long as we remember and have time) TCS will have a new bumpersticker up at the ThisCenturySucks.com Store. They'll only be up for a week before they change (so get them while they are mildly warm). We'll keep this up until the election, or until we run out of random slogans (doubtful, Michael has a boat load of 'em).
Here's this week's specials:
Full size bumper sticker.
and
Half size sticker.
And even if these ugly items don't intrigue you, please do visit the TCS store, there some things that at least will entertain you (you know, if you find the existence of such items entertaining).
- rob 5:47 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Republican senators (and senator wannabes) who are doctors come in different stripes.
On one hand we've got Senate Majority leader Bill Frist who had a hankering for killing cats.
On the other we've got Tom Coburn who wants to kill some humans
Coburn different kind of political cat
On the death penalty, he [Coburn] said: "I favor the death penalty for abortionists and other people who take life."
He said he performed two abortions to save the lives of mothers who had congenital heart disease, but opposes the procedure in cases of rape. Emphasis mine.
Without mentioning his self hatred in wanting to receive the death penalty, we'll look at the logic of utilizing the death penalty for 'abortionists' or others who take a life because they take a life. Now I realize the Roe v. Wade decision proclaimed a fetus 'not a life,' but that is just plain stupid. Of course a fetus is alive, but that doesn't mean abortion should be illegal. Whether a fetus or a teenager or an old stupid senator, no one has the right to utilize someone else's body as a life support system without permission. You have the right to say "no." So yes it is a choice. So people may be making the wrong choice for the wrong reasons but that doesn't mean it should be illegal. Anyway, giving the death penalty to anyone who takes a life requires the death penalty to be administered by a self-manufacturing and self-programmed robot (so no one could be blamed for the program that lead to the administration of the death penalty, or else they too would become a later victim of the death penalty). It also means that any one who has killed in self defense, or lost control of a car or who voted for Bush (as their vote lead to his victory which lead to war which lead to death... all so very simple) is put to death.
You see after a while the population of the country would be greatly diminished, thus bringing America to an environmental golden age. Less pollutants, less logging, zero dependence on foreign oil.
Coburn: Environmental extremist.
Sorry if this post makes no sense.
- rob 4:38 PM - [PermaLink] -
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It's Monday: The Top Ten Conservative Idiots, No. 164 - Democratic Underground
7. The Bush Administration
In Idiots 163 we noted the political implications of Tom Ridge's latest terror alert - but a small part of that announcement became big news last week when Bush administration officials admitted they were investigating ways to postpone November's general election in the event of an attack. What? That's right - despite the fact that this country held successful elections during the Civil War and during World War II, this administration thinks the "War on Terror" is important enough to prevent voters from heading to the polls. It all began when DeForest Soaries Jr., chairman of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, sent a letter to Tom Ridge asking whether the election could be postponed. And according to CNN, "The department has referred questions about the matter to the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel." Ridge, for his part, keeps referring to a potential terrorist attack as "an effort to disrupt the democratic process." So what better way to avoid disrupting the democratic process than by postponing the election? Um...
...
9. Gary Allen Beebe
Gary Allen Beebe, a Republican candidate for Sheriff of Forsyth County, Georgia, was recently busted by the FBI. Despite the fact that the "Code of Ethics" section on Beebe's campaign website read, "I shall ensure that during my tenure as sheriff I shall not use the office of sheriff for private or personal gain," he was arrested just one week before the election after "allegedly accepting thousands of dollars from undercover FBI informants with the promise that he would give them special treatment if elected, including making sure a planned murder would go unsolved," according to the Associated Press. Murder? That's right - apparently "During a meeting with one of the informants... Beebe said he would grant permission to rob known drug dealers in Forsyth County that have eluded police. When an informant asked Beebe if he could 'put a cap' in a person who he felt had wronged him, Beebe responded that it would be an 'unsolved murder.'" I expect Bill Clinton's penis made him do it. Or that damned liberal media.
- rob 3:29 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Some Good News
that nevertheless has me
thorougly rattled:
Mindful of the election problems in Florida four years ago, aides to Senator John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, say his campaign is putting together a far more intricate set of legal safeguards than any presidential candidate before him to monitor the election.
Lawyers for the campaign are gathering intelligence and preparing litigation over the ballot machines being used and the rules concerning how voters will be registered or their votes disqualified. In some cases, the lawyers are compiling dossiers on the people involved and their track records on enforcing voting rights. The disputed 2000 presidential election remains a fresh wound for Democrats, and Mr. Kerry has been referring to it on the stump while assuring his audiences that he will not let this year's election be a repeat of the 2000 vote.
Its plans include setting up SWAT teams of specially trained lawyers, spokesmen and political experts to swoop into any state where a recount could be needed.
Democrats say they learned from the Florida vote, and from the Supreme Court rulings that arose from it, that the most important legal battles are those fought before Election Day, over how election laws are to be carried out, who is allowed to register and who will be allowed to vote.
America's Families United, a racial-justice advocacy group that is registering thousands of people, has set up a "voter protection project" to ensure that its new registrants make it onto the rolls, by comparing each new voter list to its own list. Penda D. Hair, the project director, said her goal was to recruit 6,000 lawyers in 20 states who could challenge registrars when they reject applications improperly.
The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, meanwhile, has made a Freedom of Information Act request to review the Justice Department's communications to local and state election authorities during this election cycle.
Bear in mind that the Freedom of Information Act is under assault by the very Justice Department sworn to uphold it, and John Ashcroft has issued directives to stymie and stifle and suppress anything he finds politically inconvenient, including outright refusal to comply with the law. Anyone requesting such information must sue the Justice Department to get it, litigation that, as we all know, may get hung up in courts for years (remember Dick Cheney's Energy Task Force and that duck? "This is our due" I believe is the quote). Four months before an election and you think for one minute that Ashcroft is going to make his communications available upon request in a timely fashion -- that is, before the actual election? Are you kidding?
And monitors? Remember those monitors in Florida who were literally shrieked at, howled at, threatened physically, and intimidated to the point of hysterical exhaustion by paid Republican commandos, banging on the recount walls and shouting? The news media always referred to this hijacking mob as "ordinary Floridians" and "the people." The fact that every one of them was a paid operative (including John McSweeny, my Congressman from New York -- I didn't know he was an ordinary Floridian; he did so much for my district by banging on that glass with his hairy fists and screaming about how un-American it is to count a vote) was never mentioned once in the media during the actual debacle. Yeah, I have a ton of faith in monitors.
And disenfranchised blacks? Remember how the Florida cops erected a labyrinth of police barriers and blockades that made it virtually impossible for people who lived in black communities to actually navigate physically to the polls? They simply couldn't get to them. How are lawyers going to guarantee that the cops won't do exactly the same thing? By the time the lawyers intervene, election day is over. Then what? Sue the cops? Oh yeah, I have a ton of faith in Florida cops guaranteeing somebody his or her constitutional right to vote. How is a lawyer supposed to remove a blue barrier, at the point of a gun, in a state owned and operated by a Bush?
I have so much faith I don't where to put it anymore.
- Michael 12:15 PM - [PermaLink] -
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TCS Now offers a News Reader Feed
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Previous Posts
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Sites we often like:
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The office of the independent blogger
Buzzflash
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Some More Site Mottos
"To announce that there must be no criticism of the
president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is
not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the
American people."
- Teddy Roosevelt
"Government has a final responsibility for the well-being of
its citizenship. If private cooperative endeavor fails to provide work
for willing hands and relief for the unfortunate, those suffering
hardship from no fault of their own have a right to call upon the
Government for aid; and a government worthy of its name must make
fitting response."
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt
"I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and Constitutions, but laws must and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors."
- Thomas Jefferson
"The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home."
"All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain
degree."
- James Madison
"I believe in human dignity as the source of national purpose, in human liberty as the source of national action, in the human heart as the source of national compassion, and in the human mind as the source of our invention and our ideas. It is, I believe, the faith in our fellow citizens as individuals and as people that lies at the heart of the liberal faith. For liberalism is not so much a party creed or set of fixed platform promises as it is an attitude of mind and heart, a faith in man's ability through the experiences of his reason and judgment to increase for himself and his fellow men the amount of justice and freedom and brotherhood which all human life deserves."
- John F. Kennedy
"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are [a] few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
More Sites we often
like:
more coming...
