We'll never claim to be fair and
balanced, just honest and trustworthy
December 15, 2007
Latest video from
Countdown
Mitchell Report List
From Stan Matuska for U-Blog Press
Here's a list of most of the names Major
League Baseball players (AP) - listed in the Mitchell
Report.
The following players were connected to steroids, either
use or possession, in the report:
Lenny Dykstra, David Segui, Larry Bigbie, Brian Roberts,
Jack Cust, Tim Laker, Josias Manzanillo, Todd Hundley,
Mark Carreon, Hal Morris, Matt Franco, Rondell White,
Andy Pettitte, Roger Clemens, Chuck Knoblauch, Jason
Grimsley, Gregg Zaun, David Justice, F.P. Santangelo,
Glenallen Hill, Mo Vaughn, Denny Neagle, Ron Villone,
Ryan Franklin, Chris Donnels, Todd Williams, Phil Hiatt,
Todd Pratt, Kevin Young, Mike Lansing, Cody McKay, Kent
Mercker, Adam Piatt, Miguel Tejada, Jason Christiansen,
Mike Stanton, Stephen Randolph, Jerry Hairston, Paul Lo
Duca, Adam Riggs, Bart Miadich, Fernando Vina, Kevin
Brown, Eric Gagne, Mike Bell, Matt Herges, Gary Bennett,
Jim Parque, Brendan Donnelly, Chad Allen, Jeff Williams,
Exavier "Nook" Logan, Howie Clark, Paxton Crawford, Ken
Caminiti, Rafael Palmeiro, Luis Perez, Derrick Turnbow,
Ricky Bones, Ricky Stone
The following players were cited under "Alleged
Internet Purchases of Performance Enhancing Substances
By Players in Major League Baseball."
Rick Ankiel, David Bell, Paul Byrd, Jose Canseco, Jay
Gibbons, Troy Glaus, Jason Grimsley, Jose Guillen,
Darren Holmes, Gary Matthews Jr., John Rocker, Scott
Schoeneweis, Ismael Valdez, Matt Williams, Steve Woodard
The following players were linked through BALCO
(Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative):
Benito Santiago, Gary Sheffield, Randy Velarde,
Jason Giambi, Jeremy Giambi, Bobby Estalella, Barry
Bonds, Marvin Benard
What do you think about steroid use in
sports? What do you think about the Mitchell report
list? I think steroids should be illegal in sports; but
I also think publishing this list was a big mistake! I
don't see where any good will come from the list.
Pro Torture GOP Protects Bush,
Blocks Torture Ban, Supports Bush Torture Policies
From
Len Hart for The
Existential Cowboy
The
GOP blocks passage of a bill that would have banned torture
outright even as Bush had threatened to veto it. Bush and
his criminal conspirators --the GOP leadership in Congress
--have thus worked mightily to cover up his crimes, obstruct
justice and make legal --ex post facto --the crimes
that Bush has already committed. But that's not all. The GOP
is moving to quash an investigation of Bush that will
involve "obstruction of justice", an investigation that one
hopes would end in Bush's impeachment, removal, arrest and
trial for war crimes.
WASHINGTON (AFP) — The US government has asked a
Congressional committee to suspend its probe into the
destruction by the CIA of videotapes, citing
'significant risks' to its own investigation, the New
York Times reported Saturday.
The US Justice Department's request Friday to the House
Intelligence Committee came after the panel had summoned
two CIA officials to testify next week -- a hearing that
now is likely to be postponed, the daily reported.
The committee had demanded that the CIA produce by
Friday all cables, memorandums and e-mail messages
related to the videotapes, as well as the legal advice
given to agency officials before the tapes were
destroyed.
The deadline passed without the arrival of any of those
documents, the Times wrote.
There is mounting evidence that the dubious "authorization"
for the widespread tactic of
torture by the US goes all the way to the White House
--Bush himself! There is also evidence that "Water boarding"
is not the only torture that US/CIA torturers employ.
Integral to Bush policy is "sleep" deprivation" --the
subject of correspondent Brian Ross' interview found on
Uruknet:
BRIAN ROSS: And did you know the CIA officers feel
without a doubt you had the legal right to do what you
were doing?
JOHN: Absolutely. Absolutely. I remember - I remember
being told when - the President signed the - the
authorities that they had been approved - not just by
the National Security Counsel, but by the - but by the
Justice Department as well, I remember people being
surprised that the authorities were granted.
JOHN: You know, you may not think about it, but-- but
exhaustion is-- is a very difficult thing to handle.
It's one thing to be tired. It's another thing to be so
tired that you begin to hallucinate.
And
after a while some people just can't take it anymore.
And they'll tell you if-- "Just give me an hour. Give me
two hours of sleep, I'll tell you anything you wanna
know."
BRIAN ROSS: Really?
JOHN: Uh-huh (AFFIRM)
BRIAN ROSS: And that's after how long generally?
JOHN: I recall the handful of times it was used on
people it was usually 40 hours plus. They just simply
couldn't take it anymore.
Like all criminals desperately trying to cover their
tracks, the conspirators forgot an important detail and it
is too late to rewrite the history. The destruction of the
so-called torture tapes violated a federal court order.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal courts had prohibited the Bush
administration from discarding evidence of detainee
torture and abuse months before the CIA destroyed
videotapes that revealed some of its harshest
interrogation tactics.
Normally, that would force the government to defend
itself against obstruction allegations. But the CIA may
have an out: its clandestine network of overseas
prisons.
While judges focused on the detention center in
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and tried to guarantee that any
evidence of detainee abuse would be preserved, the CIA
was performing its toughest questioning half a world
away. And by the time
President Bush publicly acknowledged the secret
prison system, interrogation videos of two terrorism
suspects had been destroyed.
The CIA destroyed the tapes in November 2005. That June,
US District Judge Henry H. Kennedy Jr. had ordered the
Bush administration to safeguard "all evidence and
information regarding the torture, mistreatment, and
abuse of detainees now at
the United States Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay."
White House press secretary Dana Perino said Bush does not
recall being informed about the destruction of the tapes.
That is not a denial. If Bush himself had not authorized the
US program of torture at GITMO, Abu Ghraib and the CIA's
Gulag Archipelago throughout Eastern Europe, why is he and
the GOP leadership intent upon making legal the crimes for
which there is probable cause in the public record to
prosecute Bush. Why did the CIA obstruct justice, violating
a Federal Court order not to destroy the tapes?
It must be pointed out that Bush did not issue a
preservation order until after the tapes had been
destroyed. UPDATE II: Perino says she’s
“not
allowed” to comment on Bush’s reaction to the
destruction of the tapes:
Q Dana, is the President
concerned about the impact on the CIA’s reputation and
its integrity, not just here but around the world? I
mean, there’s been similar episodes — we don’t know the
full scope of this — but we know what we know, based on
his point, that may be comparable to Abu Ghraib, where
there were photos that were released –
MS. PERINO: No. No.
Q — the President spoke extensively about that.
MS. PERINO: Well, one, I haven’t — I’m not
allowed to characterize the President’s reaction to this,
but what I can tell you is that he — as I said Friday,
he has complete confidence in General Hayden, and that
remains.
Despite their worst efforts this criminal conspiracy,
consisting of
George W. Bush, the CIA, and the leadership of the GOP
in Congress, the US is still bound to the Geneva Convention
and US criminal codes which make Bush subject to trial on
charges that he committed capital crimes.
Water
boarding is torture! It is
not an "enhanced interrogation technique"; nor is it
mere "harsh interrogation". It was torture when Torquemada
did it for the
Spanish Inquisition and it is torture now! Nor is "water
boarding" the only procedure inflicted by modern versions of
Torquemada. Check
out the pic on the right. This is
not water boarding.
We have no reason
to assume that this victim of US torture is alive. We have
less reason to suppose that useful information of any kind
was ever elicited. We have no more reason to believe that
this man was in any way at any time, a "terrorist". He most
certainly had nothing to do with 911. We have
every reason to
suppose that George W. Bush is personally culpable for what
may very well be a capital crime.
Even Britain, considered our closest ally, has dealt with
this issue --but not Bush. In the year 2005, the British
government was told by the courts that it would be required
to demonstrate that evidence obtained under torture had not
been used in some 30 cases in which foreign terror suspects
were held in Britain. The GOP, by contrast, attempts to
re-define the issue with euphemisms. I expected nothing more
from them. The GOP is, after all, not a party, it is a crime
syndicate, a criminal conspiracy. The party in Congress will
try to re-write the laws to make legal the crimes Bush has
already committed.
Senate Republicans blocked a bill Friday that would
restrict the interrogation methods the CIA can use
against terrorism suspects.
The legislation, part of a measure authorizing the
government's intelligence activities for 2008, had been
approved a day earlier by the House and sent to the
Senate for what was supposed to be final action. The
bill would require the CIA to adhere to the Army's field
manual on interrogation, which bans water boarding, mock
executions and other harsh [torture]
interrogation methods.
What else could have been expected from a rogue "President"
eager to cover up his complicity in war crimes and crimes
against humanity? Just recently it has been charged that
Bush himself may have ordered the destruction of video tapes
depicting US torture in progress.
I appeal to Federal Judges throughout the US. A Federal
Judge, by law, may, upon his own motion convene, a Federal
Grand Jury with broad investigatory powers and the power to
issue subpoenas. If you are reading this and you are Federal
Judge, I appeal not only to your sense of patriotism but to
your regard for the law and the jurisprudential principles
which constitute the legal foundation of American justice. A
cowardly Congress, perhaps threatened, has proven itself
incapable of investigating 911 let alone the myriad of
crimes that Bush openly boasted about in his State of the
Union Address of 2003.
All told, more than 3,000 suspected terrorists have been
arrested in many countries. Many others have met a
different fate. Let's put it this way -- they are no
longer a problem to the United States and our friends
and allies.
This ominous remark most certainly refers to the summary
execution of more than 3,000 thousand people. How many more
have died upon an imperious order is just a matter of
conjecture. Bush, typically, delivered this aside with a
demonic sneer, a smirk notable for what it does not
say. It does not claim that these victims of Bush's
megalomania are in fact terrorists; only that they are
"suspected" terrorists. Even in "barbarous" countries
"suspects" are given a chance to prove their innocence. But
the US was once a civilized nation. Prior to Bush, it was
the responsibility, the duty of prosecutors to prove guilt.
Those accused of crimes were not expected to prove
innocence. The arbitrary abrogation of this "presumption of
innocence", as we have witnessed in Bush's criminal regime,
is a defining characteristic of tyrannies. Down with
tyrants!
The Only
Republican
I Fear
In
November
2008
From
Oliver
Willis
Is John McCain. Thankfully, the Republican party seems to be a few days away from putting him in the dustbin of history. I think he can be beaten, but of the entire Republican field I think he's the most formidable, thanks to his appeal to some Democrats and especially Independents - still. Ironically, that's what is likely to sink his nomination.
The Republican I'm least afraid of is Rudy Giuliani.
Know a blog that
deserves to be featured on the Blog World Report? Contact Robert.
Some
Good News in New Orleans, At Least for Now
From Libhom for
Godless Liberal Homo
The Housing Authority of New Orleans agreed in court today not
to demolish the C.J. Peete, Lafitte or St. Bernard public
housing developments unless the New Orleans City Council
approves permits for the work.
The agreement allows HANO to proceed with demolition work,
approved in November 2003 by the City Council, at the B.W.
Cooper housing development.
Officials with the housing authority and attorneys for
demolition opponents, who sued HANO Thursday to stop tear-downs
at C.J. Peete, Lafitte and St. Bernard, reached the
accommodation after meeting privately with Civil District Court
Judge Herbert Cade, who said he would sign an order later today
approving the deal.
Plaintiffs argued that the City Council had to approve
demolition work at the three housing complexes. HANO had not
secured that approval for the three demolition projects.
Attorney Tracie Washington, representing the plaintiffs, said
HANO's willingness to halt demolition work pending a City
Council review is a first: "We have never (before) been able to
get a court to order a stop to demolition."
The City Council is expected to address the demolition matter
next week.
The Housing Authority
of New Orleans is administrating federally-funded housing in
that city. They have been expected to tear down safe housing
projects and replacing them with far fewer housing units for poor
people.
The ultimate authority for doing this is coming from the US Dept. of
Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Amy Goodman on Democracy Now!
explains:
The US Department of Housing and Urban Development, known as HUD, is
expected to begin demolishing four of the largest public housing
projects in New Orleans this Saturday. For more than two years after
Hurricane Katrina, some 4,600 apartments in these buildings have
been boarded up and closed to former residents.
Only 744 affordable housing units will replace the 4,600 units.
That’s an 82% drop in a region where affordable housing remains a
key issue.
The people who write the funding checks generally call the shots,
and that is what has happened between HUD and HANO.
On the show, Bill Quigley, attorney and housing advocate, described
the tenants:
And there’s a couple things that I think it’s important for people
to know. These are 100% African American-rented apartments,
overwhelmingly female-headed households. Most of the people that we
work with are grandmothers, usually on disability after a lifetime
of working as a nurse’s aide or working as a cafeteria worker or a
minimum-wage job in the tourist industry.
The timing of the demolitions are bad as well. Quigley estimated
that homelessness in New Orleans has doubled since Katrina.
TIt's all about the non-panties
From BAC
for
Yikes!
Hey, everyone knows that
Blue Gal is the "panties"
blogger. So when I saw this I
immediately thought of her. In
honor of the Queen of Panties --
the woman we all think of when
we hear the word "panties" --
this post is for you, Blue Gal!
And hey, who knows ... maybe
this post could make me the
"anti-panties" blogger! ha
Found this on AOL, under
some heading called
"fashion" -- okay! Maybe
disposable underwear IS
fashion. Deanna Glick thinks
it's
a new fashion low.
I
was browsing amongst the
beautiful people in
Georgetown over the weekend
with a friend. Amid clothing
items for $500 in
Cusp and just as I was
thinking the fashion world
and capitalism couldn't get
any crazier I came across
Nundies. Disposable
underwear. Not kidding.
Think super, ultra, extra
thin maxi pad that you stick
to your pants instead of
your washable underwear.
Here's the marketing shtick:
Nundies are a one-time use,
pantyless panty that adhere
to the inside inseam of a
woman's pants. Nundies are a
great fashion solution
product for women who want
to go bare-down-there
without the discomfort of
itchy clothing. Nundies also
save women from the
embarrassment of tacky panty
lines and from having to
wear uncomfortable thongs.
They retail five (um,
well, I can't say pairs, but
anyway) for $15. That's
enough to buy a nice whole
organic chicken. OK, maybe
that's off track. How about
two jugs of
Seventh Generation laundry
detergent to wash your
underwear in? Or a few pairs
of
underwear from Target
that you can wash hundreds
of times in that detergent?
Or you can just leave the
darn $15 in your pocket for
crying out loud.
So there you have it! The
non-panties "panties" -- the
Nundies!
The Straight Dope on Obama's Drug Use. Plus,
Fred Thompson's Favorite Possession
Posted by
James for
Genius of Insanity
So the Clinton
campaign is still
looking as desperate
and conflicted as a
rat on a floating
piece of cheese. Now
they are attacking
Obama for his
youthful drug use
just in time with
Christmas (What a
Grinch/Scrooge),
kind of ironic
coming from a
campaign where
Hillary's husband
once absurdly
claimed, "I did not
inhale." What a load
of shit, of course
he inhaled!! In this
day and age, who
hasn't tried
drugs??? O.k.,
besides Mitt Romney
and Mick Huckabee
but I'm talking
about people who
live in the
real world.
I'd rather deal with
someone who was
fully honest and
said, "Yeah, I did
drugs" instead of
saying something
like, "I rolled up
the dollar bill but
I didn't snort."
So then the staffer
who made an issue of
his past drug use
apologized (as did
she) and was "let
go." Actually he
isn't gone from the
campaign like they
first hinted, rather
she said that he,
"isn't in a
leadership
role in my
campaign." So he
could very well
still be in an
advisory position in
her campaign, which
is quite deceitful.
Then Mark Penn
(Hillary's chief
messenger and her
Karl Rove) came onto
Chris Matthews's
show and mentioned
Obama's cocaine
"issue." "Issue,"
which makes it sound
like he was
twitching addict!!
As if no, he didn't
just experiment with
it, he had an
"issue" with it.
Come on. That's the
Clinton attack dogs
mentality for ya!!
So Penn mentioned it
twice in a
suggestive way while
talking out of the
other side of his
mouth saying the
issue isn't
something we (the
Clinton campaign)
want to raise!!
YOU JUST DID RAISE
IT YOU DUMB ASS!!!
AGAIN!!!
This is straight out
of the same stale
bag of tricks that
brought us Hillary
trying to slam Obama
over his
kindergarten desire
to be president.
It's pathetic and I
it predict will
backfire on her. The
harder you throw
shit at someone else
the more splashes
back onto you and
your target can get
sympathy, wipe it
off, hold their head
up high, play from a
defensive position
and you just end up
smelling and looking
like that shit your
originally threw!!
There are only a few
weeks left before
the primaries begin
and for her campaign
to be sniping like
this shows that she
is grasping. She
apologized to Obama
for the comments but
then turned around
today and said that
even though she
disagrees with the
drug comments by her
staffer, she thinks
the GOP will make an
issue of it and he
would be vulnerable
because of it. Then
she went on to say
that she wouldn't be
vulnerable because
she's use to enemies
dragging out her the
skeletons in her
closet so to speak.
Yeah, whatever. It's
not like
she comes
with any baggage or
anything. ;)
I think that since
Obama has been able
to stay in stride
with the Clinton
political machine
then he can hold is
own with the
Republicans. And
just because she's
use to fighting back
doesn't mean we want
to have to watch the
whole Clinton dog
and pony circus show
all over again. If
she is the
nomination there
will be blood in the
streets after the
massacre that will
occur over her past.
I think a little
cocaine use in
Obama's early years
is better then the
dumpster of crap
that's following
Shrillary around!!
Let's talk about
issues that matter
to the average Joe
like you and I. Such
as how we can afford
our health care, how
we can keep our
jobs, how we can get
out of the Iraq war.
No, instead let's
talk about some
lines of blow that
Obama did when he
was a dumb
teen-ager. I'm sure
many of those guys
in the Iraq could
care less about drug
use when they're
being shot at. Hell,
they could probably
go for a snort or
two over there to
deal with the
insanity!!
Now the Clinton
lovers are trying to
make hay out of the
point brought up in
the last debate that
Obama has several
former Clinton
advisors and how can
he claim he is going
in a new direction
while keeping them
on board? I loved
his response when
Hillary said, "Yeah,
I want to hear this"
while cackling like
the wicked witch of
the west. Obama
replied, "Well, I'm
looking forward to
you advising me too
Hillary!!" Ouch.
To the point raised,
however, doesn't
anyone wonder why
those former Clinton
advisers with her???
I think it is
because they
do want to go
in a different
direction, blaze a
different trail,
turn over a new leaf
and they realize
that the Clinton
race horse has
fallen back into
dustbin of political
importance and want
to go with something
new. They want to be
apart of something
different and have a
shot to make history
not just keep having
to wipe the ass of
the Clinton's.
Shifting gears, the
candidates were all
asked by someone,
what they favorite
possession was.
Obama said a picture
of a cliff
over-looking a beach
where his mother's
ashes were spread.
Rudy said his
grandfathers' pocket
watch and Fred? His
trophy wife. Yep, he
sees his wife as a
possession. Fred is
dead.
"Love Is but a
song we
sing"..The
Youngbloods
From
Proud
Progressive for
Some Notes on
Living
Jessie Colin Young and the Youngbloods did this lovely song titled "Get Together" which has since been hijacked into a consumer product soundtrack, (so many great songs have been) though hopefully he is receiving needed royalties and able to feed his family BUT -
Once upon a time, this was an anthem and plea for universal love and courage. This emotion blossomed in the sixties. It was a time when people lived in communes and had "Be Ins" ,"Love Ins ", took to the streets, and had huge losely planned concerts (Woodstock) which were actually peaceful spiritual events. Without commercial vending boothes !! The "products" being "sold" were 3 days of music, peace and love. Marijuana and other psychedelics was felt by many to be a spiritual vehicle and did expand minds of many. People didn't fear each other, back then, like they do now. The Radical Faeries were founded, and continue to flourish, to this day, now with women included. (i am on their list serve or whatever it is)
Men at that time challenged gender roles with long hair and flowing clothes, sex was also seen as Tantric or spiritual path. The slogan was "make love NOT war", and getting back to the land was a goal. Crosby Stills and Nash sum it up in their song "Woodstock"
Women burnt bras, though still in the kitchen too much of the time, indeed, "the times they were a changin" Bob Dylan was writing new highly charged political folk songs and caused a stir when he went "electric" at a big folk festival. He would not be boxed in, though his songs were as radically potent as any by Pete Seeger or Woody Guthrie, or Joan Baez, who all sang about the plight of the common man, the workers, the disenfranchised and the senselessness of war.
Admittedly after Kent State and various Nixonian Crack downs, when our own National Guard killed several Students on the Kent State College Campus in cold blood, and the concert at Altamont where the Hells Angels stupidly did security for the Rolling Stones and beat a poor soul to death, the beauty and energy of the 60's got obscured, things got tumultuous. But there had been so much good. Yes the protests got large as a draft was on for Vietnam, and this was harbinger of worse to come . The smearing of the Hippies, FBI files on activist groups who were being driven to more extreme means (which i do not condone) to stop the policies of our government in Vietnam etc. The Government then, like NOW was not listening to the will of of " WE the people" to have no war. Instead they were infiltrating peace groups, and acting as provocateurs. Much like today. All under the guise of trumped up BS known as the Global War on Terror. News flesh, you cannot wage war on an "ism" i.e. "terrorism" and now we are all suspects under the Patriot Act. This defies habeas corpus, and our Constitutional rights. (even in a time of "war" as Benjamin Franklin said ,those who would give up liberty for securityderserve neither) Its very troubling. Will our rights ever be restored in what could be a never ending "war" if every discreet criminal act of terrorism is treated as an extraordinary event ? The new terms, "enemy combatant" are Orwellian to say the least. The outright lies from our Government that go unchallenged spell out disaster for this great experiment, that was America. - back to the 60's -
The Civil Rights Movement was just starting and very dangerous, as bigots were killing voter rights workers. Martin Luther King gave his I have Dream Speech ,then he, JFK, RFK ,all progressive democrats were assassinated. It was a very traumatic time for the country and for progressives. And the CIA was behind a lot of treachery, some things have not changed in that dept. thats for sure. (ok i am getting weird, but notice that,all of them have K as a last initial, and that is KKK and i am a firm believer that just because you are paranoid doesn't mean they are not out to get you. ) (the assassination link, is pretty interesting)
I am not saying it was all good, in fact by the end it was pretty chaotic, but it was an iconoclastic time; and the country is due for another period like this. However in this current climate of big brother, the peddling of fear, the surveillance now on steroids, it will be challenging to launch. What will the vehicles be ? Perhaps sustainable living communities and communes will. Maybe the Green Revolution, and voluntary simplicity, will take us there ? Are we willing to sacrifice the selfish , isolatated life styles sanctified in the 80's. ? Hopefully some of us are. We must save this planet, as Al Gore says "the earth has a fever" We must act and act now.
Do we have the courage ? As the song says "fear is the way we die" One reason i started blogging, actually my first post talks about it , was that i was feeling so chilled , by big brother , that i felt it my Civic Duty , Patriotic duty to speak out, to exert the Rights given to us in Our Constitution, to fight my own fears.
As they say , if you don't use it , you lose it. Its time, to raise our voices," louder" as DKRaed of Red Headed Windom says in the comments section of Chloe Elise's first post below. Oh , a bit of trivia for you , in Tom Brokaw's new book , he covers every movement of the 60's but the lgbts...go figure. And i just want to say , one more time welcome and thank you Chloe for being here , and welcome as well, to all the new readers you will surely bring to "notes" who will leave a little more open, a little more understanding ,a little less isolated, and hopefully a little more loved and loving. It is but a song we sing.
Please
understand,
I definitely
do NOT
approve of
steroid use.
But after
seeing MSM
sports
steroid-humping
news all
day, I'm
just
wondering
which is
worse:
BARRY BONDS
or
BLACKWATER
juicers?
Which has
the
potential to
do more harm
in the
world? Why
is the
sports
steroid
story
covered to
death, when
Blackwater
steroid use
increases
likely
deaths in
Iraq and
elsewhere?
Many large
corporations
require
their
employees to
provide
random urine
& blood
samples;
what about
Blackwater?
Who handles
heavy
artillery in
a stressful
situation:
baseball
players,
corporate
accountants,
or
Blackwater
employees?
Blackwater's
private
army-for-hire
(oops,
"security
force") is
accused of
failing to
control
steroid use
[<--- nice,
quick read]
among its
mercenary
goons (oops,
"contractor
guards")
which helps
foster the
culture of
lawlessness
(oops,
"legal
immunity")
known as
Order Number
17
[<---excerpt
from The
Nation].
Beyond the
physical
changes
associated
with steroid
use, some of
the
troubling
mental side
effects are:
increased
aggression &
anger ("roid
rage"),
hypomania
(inflated
self-esteem,
psychomotor
agitation,
uncontrollable
impulsivity),
hostility,
arrogance,
paranoid
personality
disorders,
and impaired
judgment.
Any doubts?
Watch this
youtube
Blackwater
Psycho
Killers
(5.25
minutes)
and tell me
these guys
aren't
juicing ...
Or watch
Jeremy
Scahill who
wrote the
book on this
Shadow Army.
Man,
this guy Romney really
wants to be President. It's a bold move,
buying almost all the radio stations in America while you run
for President, but when you're all in, you're all in I guess.
To clarify the report,
Romney left Bain Capital in 2001. The question is, did he leave
Bain in 2001 the same way Cheney left Halliburton in 2001?
As for what this means for Clear Channel... it couldn't get worse
and it won't get better.
Rep. Carson was the first
woman and the first black
person to represent
Indianapolis in
Congress.
She championed children's
rights, women's rights...was
an advocate for the homeless
and worked for peace rather
than war.
As Senator Bayh (D-Indiana)
said..."She
was elected to important
public offices, but never
forgot who she was, where
she came from or who she was
there to serve."
May we all be inspired to do
the same...
[Editor's
Note: I met Miss
Carson on three different
occasions and she was always
smiling and friendly.
The last time I saw her, was
when I was a delegate to the
Indiana Democratic
Convention. I could
see she was in pain and yet
the smile never left her.
Robert Rouse]
I will never understand. Conservatives and Republicans will crow about people with ‘government jobs’ sucking on the ‘tax payer tit’ yet they continually turn a blind eye to those in the defense industry that bilk tax payers out of hundreds of billions of dollars. In their mind, wasting money on the military industrial complex is a noble thing. Spending billions on failed projects, faulty equipment, and just flat out getting robbed is a savory alternative to them rather than using that money for domestic purposes such as building roads, bridges, and developing alternative energy resources.
Here we stand at yet another precipice of wasteful spending. The Pentagon is crying that it might have to slash 200,000 jobs if Congress doesn’t give Bush more money for his wars. It’s pure propaganda meant to tug at the heart strings of Americans so they will support more wasteful spending on failed occupations. “Think of all the poor defense employees who will lose their jobs during Christmas if we don’t get more money…”
First off, rather than try to cut the pork and wasteful spending in their budgets The Pentagon is instead looking to lay off employees. Second, rather than questioning the lucrative no-bid cost plus contracts they hand out to private corporations and looking to pare down their expense they are instead going to lay off employees. Third, what the heck were these people doing for work before 9/11?
No one talks about how many defense sector jobs were created as a direct result of Bush’s incursions into Iraq and Afghanistan. These jobs were literally created out of thin air with borrowed money. I’ve got news for them. Sooner or later the occupations will end and those jobs will have to be slashed. But it’s not in their interest to cut costs or slash jobs. It’s in their interest to keep the occupations going on for as long as possible so they can continue to siphon tax dollars into the military industrial complex.
We’re right back to a war time economy. The trouble is we need more wars to keep it going. As things start to wind down more and more people with in the defense industry are going to cry the blues about cut backs. Sooner or later we’ll have to make a choice. Sooner or later those who have profited off war and latched themselves onto the tax payer tit will have to be removed.
We go through this about every 10 years. As Vietnam began winding down the defense industry cried the blues. They begged and pleaded for Congress to keep funding ongoing military operations. Eventually the American People got so fed up with the amount of money being wasted that Congress just stopped funding the war. Guess what happened? Our troops came home from Vietnam.
Unfortunately with the stop in military spending and tensions over oil the U.S. experienced a recession and inflation that lasted through the 70’s. After 7 years in came Reagan who once again primed the military industrial complex and got the tax payer dollars flowing again to the corporate cronies. The climax came in 1991 with Desert Storm. Finally there was a use for all the high tech military equipment the American tax payer had been buying for the previous 10 years. Finally, before the equipment rotted and became out dated, we could do something with it. After Desert Storm and the fall of the Soviet Union Americans once again began questioning the amount of military spending our government was engaging in. It accounts for over half our budget.
Under Clinton began the process of scaling back military bases and reigning in rampant spending, fraud, and abuse. Fortunately for the Clinton Administration this process coincided with the internet revolution which helped prevent a recession. Things were hopeful. We were still spending a lot of money on the military. We still had a strong defense and were developing new military technology. But it wasn’t running the Federal Budget into the ground as it had in the past. We actually had a balanced budget and projected surplus. If Bush had stuck with the budget recommendations the U.S. would have been debt free by 2012. Instead we now have $9 Trillion in debt. Bush inherited about $5 Trillion of debt.
With Bush and 9/11 we were once again plunged into a war time economy. The military industrial complex (MIC) saw their chance and jumped. Yes, jobs have been created. Yes, the economy has been held afloat largely by the Bush Administration’s willingness to float debt and hand hundreds of billions of dollars over the MIC with no accountability. But this cannot last for ever. Sooner or later the whole house of cards will collapse. But don’t expect the leeches to voluntarily disconnect themselves from our tax dollars. They won’t go without a fight.
We’ve never been able to maintain a peace time economy. Since America’s inception, we have had a war at least every 20 years. Now we’re having wars every 10 years.
The real test for the next Presidential Candidate that no one is talking about is if they can successfully create a peace time economy. Whoever wins will likely face difficult economic times. No doubt a Republican Administration will turn to the MIC to help float the economy. This will mean more war or at the very least another cold war in addition to more debt.
A Democratic Administration runs the risk of not being able to jump start the economy as fast as injecting hundreds of billions into the MIC does. This means the Republicans will crow as loud as possible about the ‘failing’ economy and how ‘weak’ America has become thus paving the way for another war monger in 2012.
Republicans are setting Democrats up for failure. Even if Democrats win the POTUS, keep the House, and make gains in the Senate, they will be inheriting a nearly impossible budget situation. Republicans will completely flip again and claim to be about ‘fiscal discipline’ and ‘small government’. They are counting on the short term memory of Americans to forget that it was the Republicans who presided over the most wasteful spending in American history and presided over the largest expansion of the government ever.
Our Congress,
which
knows
what is and
isn't important
has honored a
holiday. On this
holiday you get
gifts. What does
America want for
Christmas?
This is only the
demonstration
model. Your
actual action
figure does come
complete with a
coffin and dirt
so insane people
who vote for the
Nationalsozialistische
Deutsche
Arbeiterpartei
Republican party
can dig it up
and vote for it
next November.
The worms and a
rotted brain are
an additional
charge. Nancy
Reagan and
astrologer dolls
are sold
separately
*The Reagan
action figure,
made in China to
save money and
make more
corporate execs
rich, is not
recommended for
children or
Mikhail
Gorbachev.
These are some excerpts, read the whole thing (ht2 Cory Doctorow BoingBoing). You will be unable to ignore the very obvious involvement of doctors, psychiatrists and psychologists in every aspect of the mental vivisection of their victim. The ‘war on terror’ sells a moronic narrative of marauding barbarians that are intent on a clash of civilisations, the west in this fairy tale being a civilised beacon of goodness. Rather this war of terror reveals barbarians within taking over a cowed nation. And people who have the training to absolutely know better giving themselves to degenerate obscenity. Utterly corrupted. May the empire fall-
He was sometimes naked, and sometimes handcuffed for weeks at a time. In one cell his ankle was chained to a bolt in the floor. There was a small toilet. In another cell there was just a bucket. Video cameras recorded his every move. The lights always stayed on — there was no day or night. A speaker blasted him with continuous white noise, or rap music, 24 hours a day.
Bashmilah finally tried to slash his wrists with a small piece of metal, smearing the words “I am innocent” in blood on the walls of his cell. But the CIA patched him up. So Bashmilah stopped eating. But after his weight dropped to 90 pounds, he was dragged into an interrogation room, where they rammed a tube down his nose and into his stomach. Liquid was pumped in. The CIA would not let him die.
On several occasions, when Bashmilah’s state of mind deteriorated dangerously, the CIA also did something else: They placed him in the care of mental health professionals. Bashmilah believes these were trained psychologists or psychiatrists. “What they were trying to do was to give me a sort of uplifting and to assure me,” Bashmilah said in a telephone interview, through an interpreter, speaking from his home country of Yemen. “One of the things they told me to do was to allow myself to cry, and to breathe.”
A camera was mounted above a solid metal door. For the first month, loud rap and Arabic music was piped into his cell, 24 hours a day, through a hole opposite the door. His leg shackles were chained to the wall. The guards would not let him sleep, forcing Bashmilah to raise his hand every half hour to prove he was still awake. Cells were lined up next to each other with spaces in between. Higher above the low ceilings of the cells appeared to be another ceiling, as if the prison were inside an airplane hanger.
At one point, the cell across from him was being used for interrogations. “While I myself was not beaten in the torture and interrogation room, after a while I began to hear the screams of detainees being tortured there,” he wrote.
He was forced into a room and stripped naked again. Photos were taken of all sides of his body. He was surrounded by about 15 people. “All of them except for the person taking photographs were dressed in the kind of black masks that robbers wear to hide their faces,” Bashmilah wrote in the declaration. He was again examined by a doctor, who took notations on the diagram of the human body. (It was the same form from Afghanistan. Bashmilah saw his vaccination scar marked on the diagram.) The doctor looked in his eyes, ears, nose and throat. He was then thrown into a cold cell, left naked.
In this cell there were two video cameras, one mounted above the door and the other in a wall. Also above the door was a speaker. White noise, like static, was pumped in constantly, day and night. He spent the first month in handcuffs. In this cell his ankle was attached to a 110-link chain attached to a bolt on the floor.
Guards wore black pants with pockets, long-sleeved black shirts, rubber gloves or black gloves, and masks that covered the head and neck. The masks had tinted yellow plastic over the eyes.
And he saw mental healthcare professionals. “The psychiatrists asked me to talk about why I was so despairing, interpreted my dreams, asked me how I was sleeping and whether I had an appetite, and offered medications such as tranquilizers.”
I got an email this morning from Oxfam America that was full of great ideas for holiday gifts:
$40.00: Here's a gift you can tap into. Provide farmers with a much-needed system to irrigate their land. With your support for two months, four months, or a full year, you'll help farmers grow a bumper crop!
$40.00 They’re cheaper by the dozen. Who can resist these fuzzy little beauties? Your gift provides HIV/AIDS-affected households with a starter flock: a dozen chicks to produce eggs, generate income, and improve nutrition. Now that’s an eggs-ceptional gift!
$25.00 Forget the apple for the teacher; we've got a plum of a gift. School supplies—like rulers, notebooks, erasers, pencils, and pens—mean that a child will have the necessary tools for class. Everyone involved with this gift deserves a gold star!
$18.00 Baby, it's cold outside! And nothing takes the chill off like a cozy blanket—especially for those who are driven from their homes because of a natural disaster. This gift of blankets for an entire family provides both warmth and comfort.
$75.00 It's got milk and so much more! Help a family by buying a cow, and you will provide an entire economic support system. A cow provides nutritious products for a family to sell, mows the grass, and moo-ves a family toward greater opportunity.
Here's how it works. Oxfam America is an amazing organization that works in 26 countries around the world. When you select an item from the online catalog, it represents project goals from grants disbursed by their offices around the world. So purchasing each gift item is a contribution toward Oxfam America's many programs, not a donation to a specific project or goal. So althought it might feel more rewarding as the person who gives if you were actually giving a cow to a family, the bottom line is: donations are used where needed the most--to help people living in poverty throughout the world.
Every year we all say how commercial and material the holidays have become. Maybe it's time we actually did something about it.
Corporate
welfare
program
has
passed!
Farm
subsidies
Corporate
Welfare,
Dead
Farmers
get
Billions,
Corporations
get
millions!
From
James
Joiner
for
An
Average
American
Patriot
I am trying to take a bit of a down day today so I will stay off my usual subject of the chief idiot, his underhanded power grab, and improved American Fascism. I did a story last july highlighted that once again I for one was hoodwinked. I actually thought the farm subsidies were to help needy farmers then I found out the truth! Farm subsidies is our largest Corporate Welfare program with more given to them than we spend on Home Land Defense which by the way is being cut by 50%. Dead Farmers get Billions, Corporations get millions and needy farmers get nothing but for Willie Nelson!A while back I became aware of another corruptive program I never realized before because it was well hidden by corruptive Politicians. I keep seeing more and more related information and because of all the unfolding corruption and problems this is getting no attention and it should!
Having gone to an Agricultural High School I am a Farmer by Vocation I worked on and managed many farms. Struggling small farmers was to me normal and just thought that was part of the hard but fun life of today's farmers. That was before I served my country, became an accountant, then turned to writing the truth about Bush and the ever growing corruption.Thinking that Farm Subsidies were out there to help average farmers, I should have known better but I was really caught off guard when I became aware that Washington spends more on corporate welfare than on homeland security and farm subsidies are America's largest corporate welfare program.
Farms have come a long way since subsidies were introduced as a temporary solution to alleviate the effects of the Great Depression. Today farms have one of the lowest failure rates of any industry in the country. But that is because of the millionaire farmers subsidized by Politicians as the small farmer continues to be left to fail and helped only by Willie Nelson and Farm Aid.
If farm subsidies were really about alleviating farmer poverty, then lawmakers could guarantee every full-time farmer an income of 185 percent of the federal level ($38,203 for a family of four) for under $5 billion annually — one-fifth the current cost of farm subsidies. Instead, small farmers are largely excluded from farm subsidies. Farm subsidy payments are based on acreage, so by definition, the largest agribusiness's get the largest subsidies. Consequently, commercial farmers — who report an average income of $200,000 and net worth of nearly $2 million — now collect the majority of farm subsidies. Most farm subsidy dollars go to millionaires.
The Environmental Working Groups farm subsidy database reveals that from 1995 to 2005, farm subsidies have been distributed to Fortune 500 companies such as John Hancock Life Insurance ($2,849,799) and Westvaco ($534,210); as well as celebrity hobby farmers like David Rockefeller ($553,782) and Ted Turner ($206,948). Even Members of Congress who vote on farm legislation have received subsidies, such as Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa, $225,041) and Rep. John Salazar (D-Colo., $161,084).
Then like all the rest of the underhanded activities going on today it gets worse. I found out the U.S. Department of Agriculture distributed $1.1 billion over seven years to the estates or companies of deceased farmers and routinely failed to conduct reviews required to ensure that the payments were properly made, according to a government report. In a selection of 181 cases from 1999 to 2005, the Government Accountability Office found that officials approved payments without any review 40 percent of the time. The report cited a 1,900-acre soybean and corn farm in Illinois that collected $400,000 on behalf of an owner who lived in Florida before his death in 1995. The company did not notify the government of the death but certified each year that the dead shareholder, who owned 40 percent of the company, was "actively engaged" in managing the farm. again the more you hear the worse it gets.
In that report we hear from,Surprise! Senator Grassley of all people that these programs are to help- "needy" farmers, that to him is needy Millionaire corporate farmers. Knowing this Billion dollar corporate Welfare system has been going on at least under my radar can anyone really expect the no over sight, corruption champion Bush to veto the $300 billion farm bill expected to come before the U.S. House of Representatives this week? No way! The farm bill, which includes $35 billion in crop subsidies for farmers, also contains production incentives that would benefit some of the world's biggest food companies, including Tyson Foods Inc. and Archer Daniels Midland Co. July's story
We knew the Bill would pass because many Republicans need it and it primarily benefits wealthy Corporations not Needy or small family farmers. Well it passed! The Senate on Friday approved a $286 billion farm bill with an election-year expansion of subsidies for growers and food stamps for the poor. With Food stamp use going up drastically since Bush thank God someone atached that to this Corporate welfare Program. Corporate Welfare Bill Passes
I suggest you check out the link and see just how corrutive this Bill and the program is! So much for my down day!
Military
Recruiter
must
be
the
most
thankless
job
in
the
country
right
now.
If
you
don’t
meet
certain
recruitment
quotas
you
go
back
to
the
front
lines.
But
who
in
the
F#$%&!#!
would
want
to
enlist
now?
Even
those
ever-reliable
minorities
are
staying
away
in
droves.
They
keep
raising
the
age
limit
and
lowering
their
recruitment
standards,
but
that
ship
has
sailed.
By
now,
every
42-year-old
drug-addicted
couch
potato
with
a
police
record
who
might
want
to
enlist
probably
already
has.
The
recruiters’
newest
tactic
is
to
try
connecting
with
Generation
Y by
getting
familiar
with
their
music
and
memorizing
their
current
slang.
Oooookay.
Good
luck
with
that
one.
Anybody
remember
the
Fabulous
Furry
Freak
Brothers?
The
author,
Gilbert
Shelton,
continued
writing
into
the
1990s
but
their
popularity
peaked
in
the
early
‘70s.
One
of
the
strip’s
funniest
characters
was
Notorious
Norbert
the
Narc.
He’d
put
on a
wig
and
a
psychedelic
T-shirt
and
try
to
infiltrate
groups
of
hippies
so
he
could
bust
them.
But
no
matter
how
he
tried
to
disguise
himself
or
how
much
hippie
slang
he
could
recite,
he
still
had
NARC
stamped
all
over
him.
“Wow
man,
I
need
a
hit
of
acid
man,
anybody
know
where
I
can
score
some
shit
man?”
Needless
to
say,
he
never
made
a
bust,
and
I’m
guessing
these
text
messaging
Green
Day-listening
recruiters
won't
be
doing
much
better.
Last
spring
some
recruiters
attended
a
slide
show
called
“The
Road
to a
2025
Total
Force:
Talkin’
‘bout
Their
Generation.”
Quiet
now,
no
laughing.
The
person
presenting
the
slide
show
referred
to
Generation
Y
(aka
“Millennials”)
as
“narcissistic
praise
junkies”
and
“an
alien
life
force.”
In
order
to
help
them
communicate
with
this
newfangled
younger
generation,
recruiters
were
given
a
pop
quiz
where
they
had
to
identify
members
of
Green
Day
and
the
Black
Eyed
Peas
and
demonstrate
knowledge
of
emoticons
and
text
messaging.
During
the
slide
show
a
voiceover
says:
“Teach
them.
Guide
them.
Mentor
them.
Bullshit
them,
and
they
will
just
walk
away.”
Just
minutes
after
Barack
Obama
announced
he
was
running
for
president,
an
ignorant
right-wing
caller
phoned
C-Span
and
said
that
America
should
not
elect
Obama
because
he
is a
Muslim.
One
problem
with
that
logic:
he's
not
Muslim,
he's
Christian.
The
C-Span
moderator
set
the
caller
straight.
So
remind
me
again,
what
is
the
advantage
of
believing
made-up
information
from
Fox
News?
Late
last
month,
the
Fox
Network
had
furthered
the
myth
that
Obama
was
a
Muslim
and
attended
a
Madrasa
--
which
later
was
proved
false:
Please
understand,
I definitely
do NOT
approve of
steroid use.
But after
seeing MSM
sports
steroid-humping
news all
day, I'm
just
wondering
which is
worse:
BARRY BONDS
or
BLACKWATER
juicers?
Which has
the
potential to
do more harm
in the
world? Why
is the
sports
steroid
story
covered to
death, when
Blackwater
steroid use
increases
likely
deaths in
Iraq and
elsewhere?
Many large
corporations
require
their
employees to
provide
random urine
& blood
samples;
what about
Blackwater?
Who handles
heavy
artillery in
a stressful
situation:
baseball
players,
corporate
accountants,
or
Blackwater
employees?
