Archive for October 4th, 2006
Revolution
The Beatles
WORLD CAN’T WAIT……. FIND A LOCATION NEAR YOU AND JOIN IN THE PROTEST TOMORROW.
Michael Ware reports from Iraq on the Situation Room.
Listen Wolf, this is the way to put it in a nutshell. If the U.S. continues it’s policy and operations as they are now, the situation will worsen and the enemies of the u.s, principally Al Queda and Iran will continue to strengthen.
Colin Powell is right…..staying the course will only further strengthen America’s enemies.
21 U.S. troops killed in Iraq in 4 days. If this rate keeps up, we’ll lose near 200 in a month. Last month, there were 79 U.S. troops killed. There have been 173 Iraqi deaths in the last 4 days. There were 1, 579 Iraqi deaths last month.
CBS) An assembly line of rotting corpses lined up for burial at Sandy Desert Cemetery is what civil war in Iraq looks like close up.
The bodies are only a fraction of the unidentified bodies sent from Baghdad every few days for mass burial in the southern Shiite city of Kerbala, CBS News chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan reports.
They come from the main morgue that’s overflowing, relatives too terrified to claim their dead because most are from Iraq’s Sunni minority, murdered by Shiite death squads.
And the morgue itself is believed to be controlled by the same Shiite militia blamed for many of the killings: the Mahdi Army, founded and led by anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
Read full story at CBSNews
Tyson Vivyan shares IMs with Foley.
 As posted earlier (’VENEZUELA ARMS BUILDUP CONCERNS RUMSFELD‘) here on BlueHerald, Rumsfeld voices his concerns over what appeared to be a Venezuelan arms buildup. “I don-t know of anyone threatening Venezuela, anyone in this hemisphere,” and “I can understand neighbors being concerned,” said Rumsfeld.
Moments ago, Rumsfelds concerns were answered:
 Venezuelan Defense Minister Gen. Raul Isaias Baduel Monday rejected the “concerns” of his U.S. counterpart Donald Rumsfeld regarding Venezuela’s recent military hardware purchases. Baduel said that Venezuela has a purely “peaceful vocation” and does not intend to be a threat to other nations.
…
Speaking at the same gathering General Baduel responded by saying that, “We, in the heart of our country, subscribe to the biblical precept that we hope the day will come when swords will turn into plows,” but, he continued, until that day Venezuela had the right to defend itself from any threat, internal or external.
Link
There you have it, Rummy. Venezuela is just a country taking the necessary steps to protect itself, no differently than us. Now be a good, little old-fart and lay off Chavez.
Top GOP Staffer Forced Out for Role in Page Scandal
October 04, 2006 1:44 PM
Brian Ross and Rhonda Schwartz Report:
The chief of staff for Republican Congressman Tom Reynolds, Kirk Fordham, resigned after questions were raised about his role in the handling of the congressional page scandal, according to Republican sources on Capitol Hill.
Those sources said Fordham, a former chief of staff for Congressman Mark Foley, had urged Republican leaders last spring not to raise questionable Foley e-mails with the full Congressional Page Board, made up of two Republicans and a Democrat.
“He begged them not to tell the page board,” said one of the Republican sources.
People familiar with Fordham’s side of the story, however, said Fordham was being used as a scapegoat by Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert.
Read more at ABC News
Now McCain is getting in on the action, too……..
By Michelle R. Smith, Associated Press Writer | October 4, 2006
PROVIDENCE, R.I. –Sen. John McCain on Wednesday called for Congressional leaders to appoint a panel of “credible” people to investigate a scandal about inappropriate e-mails and electronic messages sent by former Rep. Mark Foley to teenage pages.
“The institution is under assault right now,” the Arizona Republican said after calling for the investigation during a campaign appearance on behalf of Sen. Lincoln Chafee, who is facing a strong challenge from a Democrat.
“We need to move forward quickly and we need to reach conclusions and recommendations about who is responsible,” McCain said.
Chafee said he supported McCain’s call.
More at Boston.com
I posted on this last month, and thank you to Bubba for a link with an update on it. Scary shit my friends……..
Remember this story from last week? “The Air Force secretary says nonlethal weapons such as high-power microwave devices should be used on American citizens in crowd-control situations before they are used on the battlefield.” It’s worse than we heard … much worse. These weapons, which cause “intolerable pain” and have been condemned by scientists as mass torture devices, may be coming soon to a demonstration near you. And there are stranger and more lethal weapons where these came from.
The Secretary, Michael Wynne, is a longtime exec at defense contractor General Dynamics - a fox now in charge of the henhouse. The weapon he was describing is “intended to cause heating and intolerable pain in less than five seconds,” as described in this Australian newspaper account.
And guess which company is one of the world’s leaders in military microwave technology? General Dynamics. So you can rest assured that Wynne’s very knowledgeable about this technology’s intended use here and abroad, both by the military and other agencies.
Read full article at A Night Light
“Some members betray their trust by taking advantage of them. We should not subject young men and women to this kind of activity, this kind of vulnerability,” LaHood said in a CNN interview. He said the program should be suspended, at least until its flaws can be corrected.
Well this guy is a genius, isn’t he. Let’s not get rid of the slimeball congressmen/women who would prey on pages…..let’s get rid of the pages and that’ll fix the problem. No more scandals. The “flaws” aren’t with the program you friggin moron, the flaws are members of congress who chose to prey on these kids, and the people who cover for the predators.
By Andrew Taylor, Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The House page scandal engulfing former Rep. Mark Foley and House Republican persists as Speaker Dennis Hastert works to hold onto his job and rank and file Republicans worry that the pre-election drip, drip of damaging political news isn’t over yet.
The daily disclosures about Foley’s salacious Internet exchanges with former teenage congressional pages has GOP lawmakers and conservative activists fearing the foibles of other politicians may be exposed. “People are very, very concerned,” Rep. Ray LaHood, R-Ill., acknowledged Tuesday night.
Republicans are increasingly nervous about their November midterm election prospects and Hastert, R-Ill., is working to contain the fallout and retain his job as the scandal dominates the 24-hour news media and the Internet blogosphere.
Read more at USA Today
True! Take Sen. George Allen (R-Va.). Allen recently came under fire for (repeatedly) uttering a racial slur during a press conference. Yesterday, at an event to kick-off his new campaign strategy, aimed at shifting focus away from his racist side and more towards “Issues, Ideas and a Proven Record”, Allen continued to show is true colors:
 Allen took a handful of questions after he gave his speech, but deflected any questions about his past racial statements. He also seemed unhappy with questions about why, if he wants to talk about real issues, his campaign is still running ads criticizing Webb for statements about women made 27 years ago.
“It’s respect for women,” Allen said, hurrying to his car to return to Washington for a meeting.
link
Bigotry, thy name is Allen!
Colbert takes responsibility for Foley.
I wonder, why were these people transferred from Abu Ghraib?
Geneva/Baghdad (ICRC) - The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has completed its first visit to people held under American authority at the newly extended Camp Cropper internment facility in Baghdad.
Of the approximately 3,550 people held there, most were recently transferred from Abu Ghraib.
A team of 16 delegates, including a medical doctor, carried out the visit in accordance with the ICRC’s standard procedures.
The delegates were authorized to talk in private to persons of their choice, to visit all the premises and to discuss detention-related issues with the authorities.
The detainees were given the opportunity to write messages to their families.
Assessing the conditions of detention of people deprived of their liberty remains a priority for the ICRC in Iraq despite the constraints imposed by the difficult security situation.
Read more here
This guy is lucky to have gotten out. Our policy would have allowed the U.S. to stick him in Gitmo, never to be seen again. Bush needs to personally pay for this.
By Craig Whitlock
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, October 4, 2006; Page A18
BERLIN — More than two years after a German citizen reported being kidnapped in the Balkans by the CIA, several lawmakers here are criticizing prosecutors for not conducting a more aggressive investigation into the bungled counterterrorism operation.
Last month, prosecutors in Munich disclosed that they had obtained a list of about 20 CIA operatives suspected in the abduction of Khaled al-Masri, a German citizen of Lebanese descent who was forcibly taken to Afghanistan in early 2004 and interrogated for four months in a covert prison.
Despite the apparent break in the probe, prosecutors said they were not close to issuing arrest warrants or indictments. They complained of a lack of cooperation from the U.S. government.
Although many of the names appear to be aliases, a German television network identified and tracked down three people allegedly involved in the case, prompting legislators and other critics of U.S. counterterrorism tactics in Europe to question whether German prosecutors are reluctant to dig too deeply into a case involving American spies.
Read full article at the Washington Post
I guess he would. When people feel threatened, they tend to attack. How ironic that the party that can’t even keep our pages in the halls of congress safe has the balls to say Democrats are soft on terror. I’m so sick of this rhetoric……. time for them to go.
By Peter Baker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 4, 2006; Page A04
STOCKTON, Calif., Oct. 3 — President Bush ratcheted up his campaign offensive against Democrats on Tuesday with perhaps his bluntest rhetoric yet as he accused them of being “softer” on terrorists and willing to allow attacks on Americans rather than interrogate or spy on the nation’s enemies.
With his party in serious trouble five weeks before Election Day, Bush shifted into full campaign mode this week, kicking off a month of frenetic barnstorming aimed at drawing disgruntled Republicans back into the fold. As part of the effort, he has escalated the intensity of his attacks with each passing day, culminating with what aides called a “very aggressive” series of speeches Tuesday.
Full article at the Washington Post
by Dennis Behreandt
October 2, 2006
The plans for a North American Security and Prosperity Partnership are steps on the way to a North American Union. (Tell your representative and senators “NO North American Union!”)
On June 21, viewers of CNN’s Lou Dobbs Tonight heard the alarming introduction to a segment of the program devoted to the future of the United States of America. “The Bush administration’s open-borders policy and its decision to ignore the enforcement of this country’s immigration laws is part of a broader agenda,” Dobbs intoned. “President Bush signed a formal agreement that will end the United States as we know it, and he took the step without approval from either the U.S. Congress or the people of the United States.”
The agreement Dobbs was talking about was crafted a year earlier. On March 23, 2005, then-Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin and Mexican President Vicente Fox met with President Bush in Waco, Texas, to discuss plans for integrating Canada, the United States, and Mexico. During that meeting, the three heads of state argued that the three nations are “mutually dependent and complementary” and need to work together more closely on a range of issues. “In a rapidly changing world, we must develop new avenues of cooperation that will make our open societies safer and more secure, our businesses more competitive, and our economies more resilient,” the three leaders said in a joint statement.
The standard diplomatic language was a prelude to a radical proposal calling for the merger of the three nations in several important ways. Under a so-called Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), the nations will no longer have separate borders, but will “implement common border’security.” The three nations will no longer respond on the national level to emergencies but will have a “common approach to emergency response.” And, in a move that has tremendous implications for the growing immigration crisis, the three leaders agreed that the United States’ north and south borders would be eliminated. Under the SPP plan, the three nations will “implement a border-facilitation strategy to build capacity and improve the legitimate flow of people and cargo at our shared borders.”
Read full article at The New American
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