The Eagles
Desperado

After running up and down every dock, jumping on a few different boats to visit, taking a little swim and eating everything in sight……

Time for a nappie.

Ok, ok……no more puppy pictures ……… for atleast a week.

Bush: “(I have) the authority to act no matter what Congress wants.”

He works for us, right?

Critics won’t halt Iraq surge, Bush says

WASHINGTON - President Bush, facing opposition from both parties over his plan to send more troops to Iraq, said he has the authority to act no matter what Congress wants.

“I fully understand they could try to stop me from doing it. But I’ve made my decision. And we’re going forward,” Bush told CBS’ “60 Minutes” in an interview to air Sunday night.

Vice President Dick Cheney asserted that lawmakers’ criticism will not influence Bush’s plans and he dismissed any effort to “run a war by committee.”

“The president is the commander in chief. He’s the one who has to make these tough decisions,” Cheney said.

The defiant White House stance comes as both the House and Senate, now controlled by Democrats, prepare to vote on resolutions that oppose additional U.S. troops in Iraq. Cheney said those nonbinding votes would not affect Bush’s ability to carry out his policies.
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The White House also said Sunday that Iranians are aiding the insurgency in Iraq and the U.S. has the authority to pursue them because they “put our people at risk.”

“We are going to need to deal with what Iran is doing inside Iraq,” national security adviser Stephen Hadley said.

Added Cheney: “Iran is fishing in troubled waters inside Iraq.”

Source: Yahoo! News

It’s nice when countries can come together and form a unity in times of worldly turmoil. It’s a God-damn shame that the U.S. (hijacked by Bushco) is the prime instigator of said turmoil.

Venezuela, Iran to finance opposition to U.S.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — fiery anti-American leaders whose moves to extend their influence have alarmed Washington — said Saturday they would help finance investment projects in other countries seeking to thwart U.S. domination.

The two countries had previously revealed plans for a joint $2 billion fund to finance investments in Venezuela and Iran, but the leaders said Saturday the money would also be used for projects in friendly countries throughout the developing world.

“It will permit us to underpin investments … above all in those countries whose governments are making efforts to liberate themselves from the [U.S.] imperialist yoke,” Chavez said.

“This fund, my brother,” the Venezuelan president said, referring affectionately to Ahmadinejad, “will become a mechanism for liberation.”

“Death to U.S. imperialism!” Chavez said.
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Chavez and Ahmadinejad have been increasingly united by their deep’seated antagonism toward the Bush administration. Chavez has become a leading defender of Iran’s nuclear ambitions, accusing the Washington of using the issue as a pretext to attack Tehran.

Ahmadinejad, meanwhile, has called Chavez “the champion of the struggle against imperialism.”

Source: CNN.com

Ten bucks says George Soros’s financial records are scrutinized on a daily basis.

Pentagon, CIA, spying on financial records of Americans

Washington, Jan 14 (DPA) In the latest revelation about the expanding investigative reach of the US government, the New York Times reported that the US military and CIA have been spying on the banking and credit records of hundreds of Americans and foreigners.

The two agencies, which are barred by law from conducting domestic law enforcement work, have been issuing documents known as national security letters to American companies to obtain financial records on individuals suspected of terrorism or other crimes.
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After the Sep 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld directed military lawyers and intelligence officials to see how they could expand their intelligence collection inside and outside the US. They have cited a 1978 US law, The Right to Financial Privacy Act, as allowing government access to banking data using the letters.

The Times cited two examples where the military used the letters - one was a government contractor with unexpected wealth, another was a Muslim chaplain at Guantanamo Bay prison for terrorist suspects.

The practice demonstrates the fine line that democratic governments walk during wartime in guarding civil liberties - a line that many critics feel has been crossed too often since the terrorist attacks.
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‘They are moving into territory where historically they have not been authorized or presumed to be operating,’ (Elizabeth Rindskopf Parker, a former lawyer at the NSA and the CIA) said.

Source: EARTHtimes.org