another fabulous article, one that'll explain just how they were able to accomplish the coup.
What Became of Conservatives? - by Paul Craig Roberts: "America has blundered into a needless and dangerous war, and fully half of the country's population is enthusiastic. Many Christians think that war in the Middle East signals 'end times' and that they are about to be wafted up to heaven. Many patriots think that, finally, America is standing up for itself and demonstrating its righteous might. Conservatives are taking out their Vietnam frustrations on Iraqis. Karl Rove is wrapping Bush in the protective cloak of war leader. The military-industrial complex is drooling over the profits of war. And neoconservatives are laying the groundwork for Israeli territorial expansion.
The evening before Thanksgiving, Rush Limbaugh was on C-Span TV explaining that these glorious developments would have been impossible if talk radio and the conservative movement had not combined to break the power of the liberal media.
In the Thanksgiving issue of National Review, editor Richard Lowry and former editor John O'Sullivan celebrate Bush's reelection triumph over 'a hostile press corps.' 'Try as they might,' crowed O'Sullivan, 'they couldn't put Kerry over the top.'
There was a time when I could rant about the 'liberal media' with the best of them. But in recent years I have puzzled over the precise location of the 'liberal media.'
Not so long ago, I would have identified the liberal media as the New York Times and Washington Post, CNN and the three TV networks, and National Public Radio. But both the Times and the Post fell for the Bush administration's lies about WMD and supported the U.S. invasion of Iraq. On balance, CNN, the networks, and NPR have not made an issue of the Bush administration's changing explanations for the invasion.
Apparently, Rush Limbaugh and National Review think there is a liberal media because the pri"
Saturday, November 27, 2004
the billion dollar hoax. a MUST READ!!
The New York Times > Arts > The Great Indecency Hoax: "Even the stunned Mr. Limbaugh, curiously enough, didn't get around to mounting his own diatribe until Wednesday. Mr. Owens's agent, David Joseph, says that the flood of complaints at his office and Mr. Owens's Web site also didn't start until more than 24 hours after the incident - late Tuesday and early Wednesday. Were any of these complainants actual victims (or even viewers) of 'Monday Night Football' or were they just a mob assembled after the fact by 'family' groups, emboldened by their triumph in smiting 'Saving Private Ryan' from 66 ABC stations the week before? Though the F.C.C. said on Wednesday that it had received 50,000 complaints about the N.F.L. affair, it couldn't determine how many of them were duplicates - the kind generated by e-mail campaigns run by political organizations posting form letters ready to be clicked into cyberspace ad infinitum by anyone who has an index finger and two seconds of idle time. "
The New York Times > Arts > The Great Indecency Hoax: "Even the stunned Mr. Limbaugh, curiously enough, didn't get around to mounting his own diatribe until Wednesday. Mr. Owens's agent, David Joseph, says that the flood of complaints at his office and Mr. Owens's Web site also didn't start until more than 24 hours after the incident - late Tuesday and early Wednesday. Were any of these complainants actual victims (or even viewers) of 'Monday Night Football' or were they just a mob assembled after the fact by 'family' groups, emboldened by their triumph in smiting 'Saving Private Ryan' from 66 ABC stations the week before? Though the F.C.C. said on Wednesday that it had received 50,000 complaints about the N.F.L. affair, it couldn't determine how many of them were duplicates - the kind generated by e-mail campaigns run by political organizations posting form letters ready to be clicked into cyberspace ad infinitum by anyone who has an index finger and two seconds of idle time. "
the double standard. one would have to ask: so what did you expect from hypocrites?Consortiumnews.com: "The Washington Post and other leading American newspapers are up in arms about the legitimacy of a presidential election where exit polls showed the challenger winning but where the incumbent party came out on top, amid complaints about heavy-handed election-day tactics and possibly rigged vote tallies.
In a lead editorial, the Post cited the divergent exit polls, along with voter claims about ballot irregularities, as prime reasons for overturning the official results. For its part, the New York Times cited reports of ?suspiciously, even fantastically, high turnouts in regions that supported? the government candidate. The U.S. news media is making clear that the truth about these electoral anomalies must be told.
Of course, the election in question occurred in the Ukraine.
In the United States ? where exit polls showed John Kerry winning on Nov. 2, where Republican tactics discouraged African-American voting in Democratic precincts, and where George W. Bush?s vote totals in many counties were eyebrow-raising ? the Post, the Times and other top news outlets mocked anyone who questioned the results."
In a lead editorial, the Post cited the divergent exit polls, along with voter claims about ballot irregularities, as prime reasons for overturning the official results. For its part, the New York Times cited reports of ?suspiciously, even fantastically, high turnouts in regions that supported? the government candidate. The U.S. news media is making clear that the truth about these electoral anomalies must be told.
Of course, the election in question occurred in the Ukraine.
In the United States ? where exit polls showed John Kerry winning on Nov. 2, where Republican tactics discouraged African-American voting in Democratic precincts, and where George W. Bush?s vote totals in many counties were eyebrow-raising ? the Post, the Times and other top news outlets mocked anyone who questioned the results."
no wonder berlosconi and bush are friends. they're both nazis.
News: "They make no bones about their contempt for capitalism and consumerism and their desire to change the system. And they were present in strength at the protests against the G8 summit in the northern Italian city of Genoa in July 2002 which ended in bloody violence and mass casualties among police and demonstrators.
But the 13 members of Italy's 'disobbedienti' group who go on trial next week are not charged with crimes of assault or vandalism. Instead, they face grave but abstract accusations: 'political conspiracy ... with the aim of disrupting the functions of the government'; 'making subversive propaganda, and creating an association of 20,000 people to violently subvert the constituted economic order of the state'.
The disobbedienti - the disobedient ones - have few friends in parliament, but voices across the opposition spectrum have united to condemn the trial, due to begin on Thursday in the southern city of Cosenza. The charges, used rarely, are a relic from pre-war years.
'The crime of opinion,' said the left-wing daily L'Unita, 'is a relic of the Fascist era and must be abolished'. Fausto Bertinotti, leader of the Rifondazione Comunista party, called the trial 'disturbing and dangerous', the product of a 'repressive drift, in progress for some time, for which they want to criminalise dissent, menacing the basis of the state of rights.'"
News: "They make no bones about their contempt for capitalism and consumerism and their desire to change the system. And they were present in strength at the protests against the G8 summit in the northern Italian city of Genoa in July 2002 which ended in bloody violence and mass casualties among police and demonstrators.
But the 13 members of Italy's 'disobbedienti' group who go on trial next week are not charged with crimes of assault or vandalism. Instead, they face grave but abstract accusations: 'political conspiracy ... with the aim of disrupting the functions of the government'; 'making subversive propaganda, and creating an association of 20,000 people to violently subvert the constituted economic order of the state'.
The disobbedienti - the disobedient ones - have few friends in parliament, but voices across the opposition spectrum have united to condemn the trial, due to begin on Thursday in the southern city of Cosenza. The charges, used rarely, are a relic from pre-war years.
'The crime of opinion,' said the left-wing daily L'Unita, 'is a relic of the Fascist era and must be abolished'. Fausto Bertinotti, leader of the Rifondazione Comunista party, called the trial 'disturbing and dangerous', the product of a 'repressive drift, in progress for some time, for which they want to criminalise dissent, menacing the basis of the state of rights.'"
when those who control every facet of government are unable to do their jobs, why are we still supporting them?
DesMoinesRegister.com: "Members expressed shock at the provision and promised to rescind it, though no one has taken responsibility for putting it in the bill. The latest explanation is that some congressional staffers might have inserted the language.
Think about that. Is the operation of Congress so slipshod that unelected staffers can write legislation, put it into bills and no one notices? What do we pay the members for if not to oversee the writing of the bills themselves?"
DesMoinesRegister.com: "Members expressed shock at the provision and promised to rescind it, though no one has taken responsibility for putting it in the bill. The latest explanation is that some congressional staffers might have inserted the language.
Think about that. Is the operation of Congress so slipshod that unelected staffers can write legislation, put it into bills and no one notices? What do we pay the members for if not to oversee the writing of the bills themselves?"
International news from swissinfo, the Swiss news platform: "ANKARA (Reuters) - The head of Turkey's parliamentary human rights group has accused Washington of genocide in Iraq and
behaving worse than Adolf Hitler, in remarks underscoring the depth of opposition in Turkey to U.S. policy in the region.
The United Sates embassy said the comments were potentially damaging to Turkish-U.S. relations.
'The occupation has turned into barbarism,' Friday's Yeni Safak newspaper quoted Mehmet Elkatmis, head of parliament's human
rights commission, as saying. 'The U.S. administration is committing genocide...in Iraq.
'Never in human history have such genocide and cruelty been witnessed. Such a genocide was never seen in the time of the
pharoahs (of ancient Egypt), nor of Hitler nor of (Italy's fascist leader Benito) Mussolini,' he said.
'This occupation has entirely imperialist aims,' he was quoted as telling the human rights commission on Thursday."
behaving worse than Adolf Hitler, in remarks underscoring the depth of opposition in Turkey to U.S. policy in the region.
The United Sates embassy said the comments were potentially damaging to Turkish-U.S. relations.
'The occupation has turned into barbarism,' Friday's Yeni Safak newspaper quoted Mehmet Elkatmis, head of parliament's human
rights commission, as saying. 'The U.S. administration is committing genocide...in Iraq.
'Never in human history have such genocide and cruelty been witnessed. Such a genocide was never seen in the time of the
pharoahs (of ancient Egypt), nor of Hitler nor of (Italy's fascist leader Benito) Mussolini,' he said.
'This occupation has entirely imperialist aims,' he was quoted as telling the human rights commission on Thursday."
Friday, November 26, 2004
HOLY CORRUPTION BATMAN!
Saudis, Enron money helped pay for US rigged election: "November 25, 2004?According to informed sources in Washington and Houston, the Bush campaign spent some $29 million to pay polling place operatives around the country to rig the election for Bush. The operatives were posing as Homeland Security and FBI agents but were actually technicians familiar with Diebold, Sequoia, ES&S, Triad, Unilect, and Danaher Controls voting machines. These technicians reportedly hacked the systems to skew the results in favor of Bush.
The leak about the money and the rigged election apparently came from technicians who were promised to be paid a certain amount for their work but the Bush campaign interlocutors reneged and some of the technicians are revealing the nature of the vote rigging program.
There have been media reports from around the country concerning the locking down of precincts while votes were being tallied. In one unprecedented action in Warren County, Ohio, election officials locked down the facility where votes were being counted. The officials said this was in response to a Level 10 high-threat terrorist warning being issued by the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI for Warren County. George Bush won 72 percent of the vote in Warren County, much larger than his percentage of victory statewide.
The money to rig the election in favor of Bush reportedly came from an entity called Five Star Trust, largely based in Houston but a worldwide entity that is directly tied to the Saudi Royal Family. Five Star Trust was termed 'a well-protected vehicle' that has been used to support both Bush and Osama bin Laden in the US and around the world.
Other money used to fund the election rigging was from siphoned Enron money stored away in accounts in the Cook Islands, which was once the base of one of the more questionable and Saudi-linked"
Saudis, Enron money helped pay for US rigged election: "November 25, 2004?According to informed sources in Washington and Houston, the Bush campaign spent some $29 million to pay polling place operatives around the country to rig the election for Bush. The operatives were posing as Homeland Security and FBI agents but were actually technicians familiar with Diebold, Sequoia, ES&S, Triad, Unilect, and Danaher Controls voting machines. These technicians reportedly hacked the systems to skew the results in favor of Bush.
The leak about the money and the rigged election apparently came from technicians who were promised to be paid a certain amount for their work but the Bush campaign interlocutors reneged and some of the technicians are revealing the nature of the vote rigging program.
There have been media reports from around the country concerning the locking down of precincts while votes were being tallied. In one unprecedented action in Warren County, Ohio, election officials locked down the facility where votes were being counted. The officials said this was in response to a Level 10 high-threat terrorist warning being issued by the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI for Warren County. George Bush won 72 percent of the vote in Warren County, much larger than his percentage of victory statewide.
The money to rig the election in favor of Bush reportedly came from an entity called Five Star Trust, largely based in Houston but a worldwide entity that is directly tied to the Saudi Royal Family. Five Star Trust was termed 'a well-protected vehicle' that has been used to support both Bush and Osama bin Laden in the US and around the world.
Other money used to fund the election rigging was from siphoned Enron money stored away in accounts in the Cook Islands, which was once the base of one of the more questionable and Saudi-linked"
SACRAMENTO -- Although Arnold Schwarzenegger says he won't make up his mind for months about whether to run for re-election, he is using a trip to Texas next week to raise money for his 2006 campaign account.Source
The governor plans to receive an award for public service from former President George H.W. Bush on Tuesday night. Then, he will raise an expected $150,000 or more at a small breakfast gathering the next day in Dallas, a city considered the Mecca for Republican fund raising.
and we are reminded by barklley on DU:
Recall that CA separated the power industry into two pieces. Generators, like mainly owned by out-of-state companies, such as Dallas-based Reliant Energy to produce power and sell it wholesale to utilities, which then sell retail power to consumers.
Reliant Energy benefited greatly from the run up in electricity wholesale prices. There is mounting evidence that Reliant and others acted so as to restrict output and raise prices; in other words become the Generators such as Reliant were price makers in the wholesale market
Reliant Energy?s profit margin from generating electricity in California was $327 million in 2001. Soon thereafter, Pacific Gas and Electric filed for bankruptcy protection.
One of the primary factors that lead to the energy crisis was the market power of generator which helped robbed CA of more than $8 billion.
Now they're going to line Arnold's pockets so he'll squash any serious investigation into their criminal practices.
with friends like these, who needs enemies?
Newsday.com - AP News: "ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Pakistani authorities have banned an issue of Newsweek magazine for publishing material they said was offensive to Islam, local media reported Friday.
A government official in Islamabad had ordered the 'forfeiture of all copies of the weekly Newsweek of November 22,' the state-run agency Associated Press of Pakistan reported, quoting Tariq Mahmood Bajwa, a government official in the capital, Islamabad. "
Newsday.com - AP News: "ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Pakistani authorities have banned an issue of Newsweek magazine for publishing material they said was offensive to Islam, local media reported Friday.
A government official in Islamabad had ordered the 'forfeiture of all copies of the weekly Newsweek of November 22,' the state-run agency Associated Press of Pakistan reported, quoting Tariq Mahmood Bajwa, a government official in the capital, Islamabad. "
imagine if you will, defendants paying off jurors before trial. that's exactly what is happening here. no money unless you ignore our guilt.
Congress Seeks to Curb International Court (washingtonpost.com): "UNITED NATIONS -- The Republican-controlled Congress has stepped up its campaign to curtail the power of the International Criminal Court, threatening to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in economic aid to governments that refuse to sign immunity accords shielding U.S. personnel from being surrendered to the tribunal.
The move marks an escalation in U.S. efforts to ensure that the first world criminal court can never judge American citizens for crimes committed overseas. More than two years ago, Congress passed the American Servicemembers' Protection Act, which cut millions of dollars in military assistance to many countries that would not sign the Article 98 agreements, as they are known, that vow not to transfer to the court U.S. nationals accused of committing war crimes abroad."
Congress Seeks to Curb International Court (washingtonpost.com): "UNITED NATIONS -- The Republican-controlled Congress has stepped up its campaign to curtail the power of the International Criminal Court, threatening to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in economic aid to governments that refuse to sign immunity accords shielding U.S. personnel from being surrendered to the tribunal.
The move marks an escalation in U.S. efforts to ensure that the first world criminal court can never judge American citizens for crimes committed overseas. More than two years ago, Congress passed the American Servicemembers' Protection Act, which cut millions of dollars in military assistance to many countries that would not sign the Article 98 agreements, as they are known, that vow not to transfer to the court U.S. nationals accused of committing war crimes abroad."
DesMoinesRegister.com: "I wonder, would the ABC Television football commercial (so-called sex scene) have created the same outrage among the moral-right folks if the actors had been the same color?
-John Tapscott,
Indianola."
-John Tapscott,
Indianola."
BUSTED!!
Matthew Shepard's Killers Deny Attack Was Hate Crime in First Interviews Since Gay Student's 1998 Death - from TBO.com: "CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - In their first public interview since attacking gay college student Matthew Shepard, his killers said they were motivated not by homophobia, but the prospect of robbery to fuel a methamphetamine binge.
'He was pretty well-dressed, had a wallet full of money,' Aaron McKinney said of meeting Shepard at a Laramie bar in October 1998. 'All I wanted to do was beat him up and rob him. ... Seemed like a good idea at the time.'
The interviews air Friday on ABC's '20/20.'
The robbery got out of hand, said McKinney and his buddy, Russell Henderson, and Shepard was beaten into a coma while tied to a fence outside the small college town. The 21-year-old died five days later. "
OH REALLY??
Although the conviction left McKinney eligible for the death penalty, Shepard’s parents agreed to let McKinney be sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole, saying their son would have wanted it that way. “I really don’t know what to say other than that I’m truly sorry to the entire Shepard family,” an emotional McKinney said in court Friday before his sentencing. “Never will a day go by I won’t be ashamed for what I have done.” McKinney’s actions in jail contradict that show of remorse, however, DeBree said. McKinney had laughed about the case and repeatedly used derogatory terms about gay men to refer to Shepard, including such references in letters, he said.
FROM THE ADVOCATE ARCHIVES
Matthew Shepard's Killers Deny Attack Was Hate Crime in First Interviews Since Gay Student's 1998 Death - from TBO.com: "CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - In their first public interview since attacking gay college student Matthew Shepard, his killers said they were motivated not by homophobia, but the prospect of robbery to fuel a methamphetamine binge.
'He was pretty well-dressed, had a wallet full of money,' Aaron McKinney said of meeting Shepard at a Laramie bar in October 1998. 'All I wanted to do was beat him up and rob him. ... Seemed like a good idea at the time.'
The interviews air Friday on ABC's '20/20.'
The robbery got out of hand, said McKinney and his buddy, Russell Henderson, and Shepard was beaten into a coma while tied to a fence outside the small college town. The 21-year-old died five days later. "
OH REALLY??
Although the conviction left McKinney eligible for the death penalty, Shepard’s parents agreed to let McKinney be sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole, saying their son would have wanted it that way. “I really don’t know what to say other than that I’m truly sorry to the entire Shepard family,” an emotional McKinney said in court Friday before his sentencing. “Never will a day go by I won’t be ashamed for what I have done.” McKinney’s actions in jail contradict that show of remorse, however, DeBree said. McKinney had laughed about the case and repeatedly used derogatory terms about gay men to refer to Shepard, including such references in letters, he said.
FROM THE ADVOCATE ARCHIVES
BUSTED!!
Matthew Shepard's Killers Deny Attack Was Hate Crime in First Interviews Since Gay Student's 1998 Death - from TBO.com: "CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - In their first public interview since attacking gay college student Matthew Shepard, his killers said they were motivated not by homophobia, but the prospect of robbery to fuel a methamphetamine binge.
'He was pretty well-dressed, had a wallet full of money,' Aaron McKinney said of meeting Shepard at a Laramie bar in October 1998. 'All I wanted to do was beat him up and rob him. ... Seemed like a good idea at the time.'
The interviews air Friday on ABC's '20/20.'
The robbery got out of hand, said McKinney and his buddy, Russell Henderson, and Shepard was beaten into a coma while tied to a fence outside the small college town. The 21-year-old died five days later. "
OH REALLY??
Although the conviction left McKinney eligible for the death penalty, Shepard’s parents agreed to let McKinney be sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole, saying their son would have wanted it that way. “I really don’t know what to say other than that I’m truly sorry to the entire Shepard family,” an emotional McKinney said in court Friday before his sentencing. “Never will a day go by I won’t be ashamed for what I have done.” McKinney’s actions in jail contradict that show of remorse, however, DeBree said. McKinney had laughed about the case and repeatedly used derogatory terms about gay men to refer to Shepard, including such references in letters, he said.
FROM THE ADVOCATE ARCHIVES
Matthew Shepard's Killers Deny Attack Was Hate Crime in First Interviews Since Gay Student's 1998 Death - from TBO.com: "CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - In their first public interview since attacking gay college student Matthew Shepard, his killers said they were motivated not by homophobia, but the prospect of robbery to fuel a methamphetamine binge.
'He was pretty well-dressed, had a wallet full of money,' Aaron McKinney said of meeting Shepard at a Laramie bar in October 1998. 'All I wanted to do was beat him up and rob him. ... Seemed like a good idea at the time.'
The interviews air Friday on ABC's '20/20.'
The robbery got out of hand, said McKinney and his buddy, Russell Henderson, and Shepard was beaten into a coma while tied to a fence outside the small college town. The 21-year-old died five days later. "
OH REALLY??
Although the conviction left McKinney eligible for the death penalty, Shepard’s parents agreed to let McKinney be sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole, saying their son would have wanted it that way. “I really don’t know what to say other than that I’m truly sorry to the entire Shepard family,” an emotional McKinney said in court Friday before his sentencing. “Never will a day go by I won’t be ashamed for what I have done.” McKinney’s actions in jail contradict that show of remorse, however, DeBree said. McKinney had laughed about the case and repeatedly used derogatory terms about gay men to refer to Shepard, including such references in letters, he said.
FROM THE ADVOCATE ARCHIVES
if ever there was any doubt about the new phase of what i'm calling a religious crusade, there will be none after you read this.
The New York Times > National > After Victory, Crusader Against Same-Sex Marriage Thinks Big: "'I'm building an army,' Mr. Burress said. 'We can't just let people go back to the pews and go to sleep.'"
The New York Times > National > After Victory, Crusader Against Same-Sex Marriage Thinks Big: "'I'm building an army,' Mr. Burress said. 'We can't just let people go back to the pews and go to sleep.'"
Betting on apocalypse: "11/25/04 'New York Times' -- NEW YORK If America's secular liberals think they have it rough now, just wait till the Second Coming.
The 'Left Behind' series, the best-selling novels for adults in the United States, enthusiastically depict Jesus returning to slaughter everyone who is not a born-again Christian. The world's Hindus, Muslims, Jews and agnostics, along with many Roman Catholics and Unitarians, are heaved into everlasting fire: 'Jesus merely raised one hand a few inches and ... they tumbled in, howling and screeching.'
Gosh, what an uplifting scene!"
The 'Left Behind' series, the best-selling novels for adults in the United States, enthusiastically depict Jesus returning to slaughter everyone who is not a born-again Christian. The world's Hindus, Muslims, Jews and agnostics, along with many Roman Catholics and Unitarians, are heaved into everlasting fire: 'Jesus merely raised one hand a few inches and ... they tumbled in, howling and screeching.'
Gosh, what an uplifting scene!"
Thursday, November 25, 2004
Creators.com - Creators Syndicate: "As though things on the legislative side weren't bad enough, Bush and Cheney are moving to make the executive branch all-powerful. You can already see several of the unfortunate characteristics of the first term being intensified in the second. The emphasis on secrecy is already more pronounced, as is the selection of people for loyalty rather than competence. "
U.S. ELECTION: 59,054,087 'Stupid' - 6,260 Sorry: "The site sprung up just days after the election and little more than a week later a response, ApologiesAccepted.com, appeared in cyberspace to welcome the gesture. That Europe-based site now counts 1,000-plus postings.
The two have elicited a number of counter-sites, including You'reWelcomeEverybody, which says its goal is ?to counter those who would pathetically apologise for the Bush victory.? It has nearly 200 submissions to date. "
The two have elicited a number of counter-sites, including You'reWelcomeEverybody, which says its goal is ?to counter those who would pathetically apologise for the Bush victory.? It has nearly 200 submissions to date. "
Newsday.com - AP Washington: "On Monday, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case that will determine whether Raich and similar patients in California and 10 other states can continue to use marijuana for medical purposes. "
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | One gulp, and Bush was gone: "Offstage, beforehand, Rove and Bush had had their library tours. According to two eyewitnesses, Rove had shown keen interest in everything he saw, and asked questions, including about costs, obviously thinking about a future George W Bush library and legacy. 'You're not such a scary guy,' joked his guide. 'Yes, I am,' Rove replied. Walking away, he muttered deliberately and loudly: 'I change constitutions, I put churches in schools ...' Thus he identified himself as more than the ruthless campaign tactician; he was also the invisible hand of power, pervasive and expansive, designing to alter the fundamental American compact.
Bush appeared distracted, and glanced repeatedly at his watch. When he stopped to gaze at the river, where secret service agents were stationed in boats, the guide said: 'Usually, you might see some bass fishermen out there.' Bush replied: 'A submarine could take this place out.' "
Bush appeared distracted, and glanced repeatedly at his watch. When he stopped to gaze at the river, where secret service agents were stationed in boats, the guide said: 'Usually, you might see some bass fishermen out there.' Bush replied: 'A submarine could take this place out.' "
its amazing how this lil' war is unfolding. what we have here is the abuse of intel taking backstage to charges that the intel was wrong.The New York Times > Washington > 2 Top Officials Are Reported to Quit C.I.A.: "Under Mr. Goss, it is a cadre of former House Republican aides, not Navy officers, who dominate the new management team. This month, they have toppled Mr. Kappes and his deputy, Michael Sulick, in a way that former intelligence officials say has shown little regard for the tradition-bound clandestine service which has always prized rank, experience and lines of authority."
Wednesday, November 24, 2004
Stop ?Big Brother? from snooping around your medicine cabinet!: "Do you want the government to have a record of every prescription you get? Every painkiller? Every anti-depressant? Every sleeping pill? And then to pass that information along to law enforcement to prosecute you and your doctor if they don?t like what they find?
The National All Schedules Prescription Electronic Reporting Act (H.R. 3015) was passed by the House, but hasn?t been passed yet in the Senate so we still have time to stop it.
While masquerading as a law enforcement tool to help control the illegal use of painkillers, the national bill would cast a net so wide that tens of millions of suffering patients & doctors will be snared in suspicion. Not limited to prescriptions for painkillers, it would create a central database affecting tens of millions who are not even suspected of a crime. And the information will be shared with state and local law enforcement.
Prosecutors and law enforcement already second-guess doctors and prosecute them for prescribing ?too much? or if they decide the patient doesn?t ?deserve? treatment.
Overzealous prosecutors have already frightened many doctors out of prescribing pain treatment for the almost 50 million patients who suffer from pain. We can?t let them do it to the rest of us as well.
Do you want law enforcement deciding who ?deserves? medicines?"
The National All Schedules Prescription Electronic Reporting Act (H.R. 3015) was passed by the House, but hasn?t been passed yet in the Senate so we still have time to stop it.
While masquerading as a law enforcement tool to help control the illegal use of painkillers, the national bill would cast a net so wide that tens of millions of suffering patients & doctors will be snared in suspicion. Not limited to prescriptions for painkillers, it would create a central database affecting tens of millions who are not even suspected of a crime. And the information will be shared with state and local law enforcement.
Prosecutors and law enforcement already second-guess doctors and prosecute them for prescribing ?too much? or if they decide the patient doesn?t ?deserve? treatment.
Overzealous prosecutors have already frightened many doctors out of prescribing pain treatment for the almost 50 million patients who suffer from pain. We can?t let them do it to the rest of us as well.
Do you want law enforcement deciding who ?deserves? medicines?"
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
BostonHerald.com - Business: Economic `Armageddon' predicted: "Stephen Roach, the chief economist at investment banking giant Morgan Stanley, has a public reputation for being bearish.
But you should hear what he's saying in private.
Roach met select groups of fund managers downtown last week, including a group at Fidelity.
His prediction: America has no better than a 10 percent chance of avoiding economic ``armageddon.''
Press were not allowed into the meetings. But the Herald has obtained a copy of Roach's presentation. A stunned source who was at one meeting said, ``it struck me how extreme he was - much more, it seemed to me, than in public.''
Roach sees a 30 percent chance of a slump soon and a 60 percent chance that ``we'll muddle through for a while and delay the eventual armageddon.''
The chance we'll get through OK: one in 10. Maybe. "
But you should hear what he's saying in private.
Roach met select groups of fund managers downtown last week, including a group at Fidelity.
His prediction: America has no better than a 10 percent chance of avoiding economic ``armageddon.''
Press were not allowed into the meetings. But the Herald has obtained a copy of Roach's presentation. A stunned source who was at one meeting said, ``it struck me how extreme he was - much more, it seemed to me, than in public.''
Roach sees a 30 percent chance of a slump soon and a 60 percent chance that ``we'll muddle through for a while and delay the eventual armageddon.''
The chance we'll get through OK: one in 10. Maybe. "
they need 300,000 trained iraqi forces to ensure that the elections are able to take place. commanders are reporting that there are about 150,000 trained now. remember now, we had these same commanders telling us there were 120,000 when actually there were less than 20,000. and of those 20,000, only 1 in 5 were trained fully. that doesn't take into account the 80% desertion rate at many of the outposts. i'll have to find a reliable source on just how many iraqi FULLY trained forces there really are.
for future reference. the title says it all. how the GOP is earning their swastikas. Back-room dealing a Capitol trend - GOP flexing its majority power
Monday, November 22, 2004
November 22, 1963: The Day Democracy Went Into a Tailspin. Kennedy Assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Johnny, We Hardly Knew You. Since Then, the Texas Neo-Confederate, Neo-Cons Have Turned Democracy Into a Politburo.
No More Sham Elections, By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF should say it all. and he's got remedies that should be given serious, and i do mean SERIOUS consideration.
fantastic article on jeff cohen's remarks at the ILCA workshop in d.c. on 11/12:
I had an ulterior motive in wanting to come to DC today.
I'm in search of the political genius who thought it would pass the smell test with swing voters if Kerry suspended his campaigning 12 days before the election and went duck-hunting in Ohio. Swing voters are often highly misinformed, but they're not stupid.
As labor communicators, you have an understanding of working people and swing voters that the high-priced Democratic Party strategists seem to lack. They pander to stereotypes of what a swing voter is. Democratic Party strategists need your help. And labor communicators can help in developing language that emphasizes economic and social justice as issues of morality and values.
You all know about journalists embedded with the troops in Iraq. I started out as a media critic at FAIR and, as if in a slow-motion nightmare, I ended up embedded inside the mainstream media. I've worked as a panelist/commentator over the years at all three cable news channels.
What I've found inside TV news is a drunken exuberance for stories involving celebrity, lurid crime and sex scandal -- matched by a grim timidity and fear of offending the powers that be, especially if they're conservatives. The biggest fear is of doing anything that could get you or your network accused of being liberal.
In 2002, I was an on-air commentator at MSNBC, and also senior producer on the "Donahue" show, the most-watched program on the channel. In the last months of the program, before it was terminated on the eve of the Iraq war, we were ordered by management that every time we booked an antiwar guest, we had to book 2 pro-war guests. If we booked two guests on the left, we had to book 3 on the right. At one meeting, a producer suggested booking Michael Moore and was told that she would need to book 3 right-wingers for balance. I considered suggesting Noam Chomsky as a guest, but our studio couldn't accommodate the 86 right-wingers we would have needed for balance.
When we look at the media's role in the 2004 election, we make a mistake to focus on election coverage per se. The basis for Bush's victory was in place way before 2004. At the end of last year, a huge study done by the University of Maryland's PIPA, the Program on International Policy Attitudes, found that most of those who got their news from the commercial TV networks held at least 1 of 3 fundamental "misperceptions" about the war in Iraq (and some held 2 or 3 of them):
-- that Iraq had been directly linked to 9/11
-- that WMDs had been found in Iraq
-- that world opinion supported the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Viewers of Fox News, where I worked for years, were the most misled. But strong majorities of CBS, ABC, NBC and CNN viewers were also confused on at least one of these points. Among those informed on all 3 questions, only 23 percent supported Bush's war.
How can you have a meaningful election in a country where, according to polls, half or more of the American people don't know who attacked us on 9/11? They think Saddam Hussein was involved.
To help Bush mislead Americans, Fox News Channel required that the banner "War on Terror" run when Iraq was discussed.
I was at MSNBC when Tom Ridge was holding a news conference at Homeland Security in late 2002 about alleged new terror threats from Al Qaeda -- and MSNBC ran a lower third: "Showdown with Saddam."
At MSNBC, I was asked to debate Frank Gaffney, the former Reagan official who seems to live on TV, in a segment based on Gaffney's claim that not only was Saddam Hussein behind 9/11, he was also behind Tim McVeigh and the Oklahoma City bombing! I'm not kidding.
Last month, PIPA released a new study that found majorities of Bush supporters, sometimes huge majorities, not only had major misunderstandings of the basic facts about Iraq, but they were misled on all sorts of other Bush positions. 74 percent of Bush supporters believed that Bush favors inclusion of labor and environmental standards in trade agreements.
60 percent of Bush supporters said the US should not have initiated a war with Iraq unless evidence established that Iraq had WMDs and was supporting the Al Qaeda terrrorists. This should have been a bloc of Kerry voters. But they were unaware the evidence did not exist.
These are faith-based voters -- not fact-based voters.
Among the reasons some of us worked for Bush's defeat was to get a new Federal Communications Commission. Many of us were ready to fight for the elevation of commissioner Michael Copps, a Democratic appointee, to FCC chair, replacing Michael Powell, Colin's son. Powell is the best friend of the media conglomerates. We need to stop Powell from any further media concentration over the next 4 years, and unions need to be in the forefront of that resistance.
Thanks to media deregulation started during the Reagan administration, and unfortunately continued by Bill Clinton: there are now 8 companies that largely determine what Americans see, hear and read through the media -- 8 companies sitting on the windpipe of the First Amendment.
We can thank Clinton's Telecommunications "Reform" Act of 1996 for the right-wing Clear Channel's dominance of radio and for the right-wing Sinclair Broadcast Group becoming the biggest TV chain in the country. Clear Channel owned 40 radio stations before the Telecom bill and 1200 soon after. Sinclair had 11 stations before the bill, and now has 62 TV stations.
TV news is dominated by 5 corporations.
NBC, CNBC, MSNBC are owned by GE. When I worked at MNSBC, some of the constraints imposed on the "Donahue" show were the result of GE ownership and a conservative NBC boss who'd come out of GE Financial and GE's plastics division.
Fox News is owned by the right-wing Rupert Murdoch (and News Corporation), and does Murdoch's ideological bidding.
ABC is owned by Disney. You'll remember that CEO Michael Eisner said that Disney wouldn't distribute "Fahrenheit 911" because Disney "didn't want to be in the middle of a politically-oriented film during an election year." Eisner's comment was allowed to pass only because so few people realize that Disney is one of the biggest purveyors of political opinion this election year and every recent election year -- almost all of it right-wing political opinion. Each day in major radio markets nationwide, Disney radio stations serve up hour after hour of Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Laura Ingraham, Matt Drudge, etc. etc.
CBS News, owned by Viacom, got taken in by forged documents -- and then censored accurate reporting critical of Bush, apparently at the behest of Viacom's CEO, Sumner Redstone. Six weeks before the election Redstone endorsed Bush on behalf of Viacom: "From a Viacom standpoint, the election of a Republican administration is a better deal. Because the Republican administration has stood for many things we believe in, deregulation and so on."
Until broadcasting is demonopolized and removed from the control of these corporations, and until major insulated funding goes to genuine public broadcasting, misinformed voters will be easy prey for political demagoguery in election after election.
When I lecture about media in culturally conservative places, as I did this week in West Virginia, what comes as a shock to people, including the so-called "values voter," is that what they see as sleaze on TV and radio is not brought to them by the "liberal media" but by Republican-endorsing media moguls like Murdoch and Redstone.
The spectrum of debate in our country keeps getting pushed further rightward by corporate media. Look at what passes for left-right debates in the distorting lens of national TV. Many complain about the Fox News pairing of forceful, telegenic Sean Hannity on the right against the less telegenic, often backpedaling Alan Colmes. But Fox News Channel did not invent the narrow center-right, GE to GM spectrum. That was firmly in place thanks to PBS and CNN years before Fox News Channel was invented. Indeed, FAIR has recruited thousands of members and subscribers over the years through full-page magazine ads with pictures of folks like Michael Kinsley, Mark Shields and others -- with the headline: "I'm not a leftist, but I play one on TV."
Almost all those who regularly represent the left on TV support corporate globalization and NAFTA; a TV rightist like Pat Buchanan opposes it. TV leftists tend to defend the immorality of media corporations while only rightists attack it. On CNN and NBC this election season, Time magazine's Joe Klein was presented as the left side of the debate against various hardcore rightwingers. A few months ago in a Time column, Klein hailed the corporate sponsored Democratic Leadership Council for supporting "fiscal responsibility and free trade" within the Democratic Party and for "gleefully assaulting the reactionary left -- the trade unions and bureaucrats."
Every day on TV and radio, you can hear from regular hosts and pundits who are proud allies of the anti-abortion movement, proud allies of the NRA movement, proud allies of the religious right movement. You don't hear from regulars who are proud allies of the labor movement.
Moving briefly from punditry to what passes for "objective reporting," too many reporters have become easily manipulated by Republican operatives. They allowed false and defamatory Swift Boat ads to dominate coverage for weeks; their fact-checking of campaign and debate claims has often meant that if they identify 2 huge whoppers from Bush, they have to inflate or invent 2 Kerry claims in the name of a false balance that actually distorts the news. FAIR has written thousands of words this year on "false balance" in election coverage.
Ending on good news: The movement to challenge media bias has never been stronger among progressive and union activists, and the movement to challenge media concentration has never been stronger. We had a real victory in 2003 in resisting FCC proposals to allow even greater media consolidation, with a coalition that started with groups like Free Press and FAIR and MoveOn and Common Cause and then attracted groups on the right to the effort: the NRA and the Parents Television Council. One easy way to get involved in these battles is to sign up for activist alerts at FAIR's website: http://www.fair.org.
Jeff Cohen founded FAIR, the New York-based media watch group. He's been a nationally-syndicated columnist, TV commentator and communications director of the Kucinich for President campaign.
ya know, blogger is getting to be pathetic with its servers. takes forever to get connected any more. ANYhoo... on with the show.
today's entry is the first up in a new series i'm carrying over from ITM: HYPOCRISY ALERT. today's mark from vermont is a doozie.
today's entry is the first up in a new series i'm carrying over from ITM: HYPOCRISY ALERT. today's mark from vermont is a doozie.
"The results of the presidential election of 2004 are still being parsed for what they say about the electorate’s supposed closer embrace of traditional cultural values. But for the network television executives charged with finding programs that speak to tastes across the nation, one lesson is clear. The supposed cultural divide is more like a cultural mind meld. Representatives of the four big broadcast networks as well as Hollywood production studios said the returns on display in the nightly television ratings bore little relation to the message apparently sent by a significant percentage of voters.
a blurb in the nytimes that i think sums up john ashcroft right nicely:
Criminal charges of civil rights violations were brought against 84 defendants last year, down from 159 in 1999, according to Justice Department data analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.
The study also found that the number of times the Federal Bureau of Investigation or another federal investigative agency recommended prosecution in civil rights cases fell by more than one-third, from more than 3,000 in 1999 to just over 1,900 last year. Federal court data also show that the government has sought fewer civil sanctions against civil rights violators.
One of the study's authors, David Burnham, said the results showed that civil rights enforcement dropped across the board in President Bush's first term in office. "Collectively, some violators of the civil rights laws are not being dealt with by the government," Professor Burnham said. "This trend, we think, is significant."
It is unlikely the decline has occurred because of fewer civil rights violations occurring, the study suggests. The number of complaints about possible violations received by the Justice Department has remained at about 12,000 annually for each of the past five years.
The Justice Department had no comment about the study.
When he announced his resignation on Nov. 9, Attorney General John Ashcroft listed as one of the department's accomplishments a statistic that showed the number of civil rights prosecutions was slightly higher over the past three years than the previous three-year period. Mr. Ashcroft also said the department had tripled the number of defendants charged in human trafficking cases compared with the previous three years.
...
Civil rights cases made up a tiny fraction of the Justice Department's total of 99,341 criminal prosecutions in 2003. The study found, however, that only civil rights and environmental prosecutions were down from 1999 to 2003 as the total caseload rose by about 10 percent.
By far the biggest criminal prosecution category is illegal drugs, at about 33,100 cases last year, followed by immigration, weapons violations, white-collar crime and others. The study was based on data collected from the Justice Department, federal courts and Congressional budget documents.
the perfect example of how georgie bush will cause a problem, then publicly whine about the problem being a problem.
"I was disappointed that the bill didn't pass. I thought it was going to pass up to the last minute."
-gwbush
http://nytimes.com/2004/11/22/politics/22panel.html?ei=5094&en=28092337b6be3110&hp=&ex=1101099600&partner=homepage&pagewanted=all&position=
"There's been a lot of opposition to this from the first," Roberts said on "Fox News Sunday." "Some of it is from the Pentagon. Some of it, quite frankly, is from the White House, despite what the president has said." As a result, he added, "I just don't see it [being approved] as of December 6."
--sen pat roberts
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2475-2004Nov21.html?sub=AR
"I was disappointed that the bill didn't pass. I thought it was going to pass up to the last minute."
-gwbush
http://nytimes.com/2004/11/22/politics/22panel.html?ei=5094&en=28092337b6be3110&hp=&ex=1101099600&partner=homepage&pagewanted=all&position=
"There's been a lot of opposition to this from the first," Roberts said on "Fox News Sunday." "Some of it is from the Pentagon. Some of it, quite frankly, is from the White House, despite what the president has said." As a result, he added, "I just don't see it [being approved] as of December 6."
--sen pat roberts
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2475-2004Nov21.html?sub=AR
Sunday, November 21, 2004
(reprinted here for educational purpose)
The Revised Constitution of God’s United States
A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
Excerpted from America 2014: An Orwellian Tale Copyright 2004
The Revised Constitution of God’s United States
A Patriotic Citizens Bill of Rights and Responsibilities
(Passed by Congress and Ratified in 2009)
Preamble: We the people of God’s United States, in order to provide for the common defense, in balance with the blessings of liberty and our position as the Freest Country on Earth ™, do ordain the replacement of the Amendments of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with law, and ratified as per the original, outdated Constitution of the United States, by two thirds of both Houses of Congress, as well as the Legislatures of three fourths of the fifty states, in the year of our Lord 2009, to hereafter be known as The Patriotic Citizen’s Bill of Rights. The full force of the provisions of these Amendments are effective immediately, and the Judicial Branch of the Government of God’s United States is hereby instructed to interpret any disparity between the original Articles of the Constitution and its original Amendments, and this revised and updated Patriotic Citizen’s Constitution, in favor of the latter.
Amendment I: With the exception of the state-sanctioned religion of Christianity, Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of any other religion or prohibit the private, non-subversive exercise of any religion. Nor shall Congress abridge the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances; although the President and his appointed agents may do so, in Time of War, or serious threat of war or terrorism, to protect the Country and its people, as he, in his sole discretion, deems fit in the exercise of his duty as Commander in Chief.
Amendment II: A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state of Patriotic Citizens, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed, unless such people are suspected or actual abortionists, illicit drug users, subversives, terrorists, enemy sympathizers or propagandists, as determined by the Department of Homeland Security.
Amendment III: No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law, as determined by the President and Commander in Chief, and administered by the Department of Homeland Security.
Amendment IV: Except during Time of War, the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. During Time of War, as defined by the President and Commander in Chief, representatives of the Department of Homeland Security may take any and all measures necessary to search the homes, effects, electronic communications or records of suspected or actual abortionists, illicit drug users, subversives, terrorists, enemy sympathizers or propagandists, and it shall be a federal crime, as prescribed in federal criminal statute 841 (d) 1, as described in Patriot Act V, to inquire about such searches, or to inform the subjects of such searches, or the public, of any actions taken under this statute by representatives of the Department of Homeland Security.
Amendment V: No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in Time of War or public danger. With the exception of suspected or actual abortionists, illicit drug users, subversives, terrorists, enemy sympathizers or propagandists; no Patriotic Citizen shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation, unless deemed necessary by the President and Commander in Chief or the Department of Homeland Security.
Amendment VI: In all criminal prosecutions except those involving suspected or actual abortionists, illicit drug users, subversives, terrorists, enemy sympathizers or propagandists, Patriotic Citizens accused of crimes shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.
Amendment VII: In suits at common law which do not involve the Government of God’s United States, Government officials, Party Members or Party Institutions, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.
Amendment VIII: Excessive bail shall not be required of any Patriotic Citizen, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted, with the exception of suspected or actual abortionists, illicit drug users, subversives, terrorists, enemy sympathizers or propagandists. Should abortionists, illicit drug users, subversives, terrorists, enemy sympathizers or propagandists be found guilty, by any state or federal court, of any criminal offense, then their voting privileges for any public election shall be permanently revoked.
Amendment IX: The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage such rights to unborn children, from the very moment God Almighty breathes life into their eternal souls. In any and all cases, including rape, incest, and health emergencies, any persons infringing upon the life of the unborn, whether mothers, relatives, health care providers, or their co-conspirators, shall be subject to the full force of state statutes concerning homicide or attempted homicide.
Amendment X: During Time of War the President, Vice President, and all other elected officials who are members of the Nationalist Party, the only Party found by the American people to be a Patriotic Citizens Party, are exempted by federal, state and local term limit legislation, including Amendment XXII of the outdated Constitution of the United States, prescribing a two term limit to the Office of President.
In Time of War, as determined by the President and Commander in Chief, all political parties, with the exception of the Nationalist Party (“The Party”), are suspect and illegal until such Time of War has passed, and it shall be a criminal federal offense to lobby, propagandize, assemble, or vote for any political person or action that is not part of the official Party. It is henceforth the duty of all Patriotic Citizens to vote for and provide support to the Party, until such time as the President, in his sole discretion, determines that God’s United States is no longer at war.
This Patriotic Citizens Constitution expands the rights, and responsibilities of Citizens in the following manner:
All Patriotic Citizens of the United States shall enjoy the right, and responsibility, of receiving and watching Interactive TV. Such responsibilities include an obligation to watch requisite public service announcements, as determined by the President in Time of War. It shall be a federal offense, in Time of War, to tamper with or disable the security delivery or monitoring functions of any Interactive TV device.
Patriotic Citizens are also entitled to an expanded right of Pharmacological Happiness, and all providers of health insurance must fully cover the cost of providing such Pharmacological Happiness. In the event that the Department of Homeland Security establishes, in it sole discretion, that a citizen is psychologically imbalanced, then representatives of the General of Homeland Security shall have the right, in Time of War, to define Pharmacological Happiness within the context of the needs of God’s United States, and to medicate and/or genetically reform law-breaking criminals as they deem necessary.
A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
Excerpted from America 2014: An Orwellian Tale, available from BuzzFlash.com.
The Revised Constitution of God’s United States
A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
Excerpted from America 2014: An Orwellian Tale Copyright 2004
The Revised Constitution of God’s United States
A Patriotic Citizens Bill of Rights and Responsibilities
(Passed by Congress and Ratified in 2009)
Preamble: We the people of God’s United States, in order to provide for the common defense, in balance with the blessings of liberty and our position as the Freest Country on Earth ™, do ordain the replacement of the Amendments of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with law, and ratified as per the original, outdated Constitution of the United States, by two thirds of both Houses of Congress, as well as the Legislatures of three fourths of the fifty states, in the year of our Lord 2009, to hereafter be known as The Patriotic Citizen’s Bill of Rights. The full force of the provisions of these Amendments are effective immediately, and the Judicial Branch of the Government of God’s United States is hereby instructed to interpret any disparity between the original Articles of the Constitution and its original Amendments, and this revised and updated Patriotic Citizen’s Constitution, in favor of the latter.
Amendment I: With the exception of the state-sanctioned religion of Christianity, Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of any other religion or prohibit the private, non-subversive exercise of any religion. Nor shall Congress abridge the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances; although the President and his appointed agents may do so, in Time of War, or serious threat of war or terrorism, to protect the Country and its people, as he, in his sole discretion, deems fit in the exercise of his duty as Commander in Chief.
Amendment II: A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state of Patriotic Citizens, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed, unless such people are suspected or actual abortionists, illicit drug users, subversives, terrorists, enemy sympathizers or propagandists, as determined by the Department of Homeland Security.
Amendment III: No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law, as determined by the President and Commander in Chief, and administered by the Department of Homeland Security.
Amendment IV: Except during Time of War, the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. During Time of War, as defined by the President and Commander in Chief, representatives of the Department of Homeland Security may take any and all measures necessary to search the homes, effects, electronic communications or records of suspected or actual abortionists, illicit drug users, subversives, terrorists, enemy sympathizers or propagandists, and it shall be a federal crime, as prescribed in federal criminal statute 841 (d) 1, as described in Patriot Act V, to inquire about such searches, or to inform the subjects of such searches, or the public, of any actions taken under this statute by representatives of the Department of Homeland Security.
Amendment V: No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in Time of War or public danger. With the exception of suspected or actual abortionists, illicit drug users, subversives, terrorists, enemy sympathizers or propagandists; no Patriotic Citizen shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation, unless deemed necessary by the President and Commander in Chief or the Department of Homeland Security.
Amendment VI: In all criminal prosecutions except those involving suspected or actual abortionists, illicit drug users, subversives, terrorists, enemy sympathizers or propagandists, Patriotic Citizens accused of crimes shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.
Amendment VII: In suits at common law which do not involve the Government of God’s United States, Government officials, Party Members or Party Institutions, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.
Amendment VIII: Excessive bail shall not be required of any Patriotic Citizen, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted, with the exception of suspected or actual abortionists, illicit drug users, subversives, terrorists, enemy sympathizers or propagandists. Should abortionists, illicit drug users, subversives, terrorists, enemy sympathizers or propagandists be found guilty, by any state or federal court, of any criminal offense, then their voting privileges for any public election shall be permanently revoked.
Amendment IX: The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage such rights to unborn children, from the very moment God Almighty breathes life into their eternal souls. In any and all cases, including rape, incest, and health emergencies, any persons infringing upon the life of the unborn, whether mothers, relatives, health care providers, or their co-conspirators, shall be subject to the full force of state statutes concerning homicide or attempted homicide.
Amendment X: During Time of War the President, Vice President, and all other elected officials who are members of the Nationalist Party, the only Party found by the American people to be a Patriotic Citizens Party, are exempted by federal, state and local term limit legislation, including Amendment XXII of the outdated Constitution of the United States, prescribing a two term limit to the Office of President.
In Time of War, as determined by the President and Commander in Chief, all political parties, with the exception of the Nationalist Party (“The Party”), are suspect and illegal until such Time of War has passed, and it shall be a criminal federal offense to lobby, propagandize, assemble, or vote for any political person or action that is not part of the official Party. It is henceforth the duty of all Patriotic Citizens to vote for and provide support to the Party, until such time as the President, in his sole discretion, determines that God’s United States is no longer at war.
This Patriotic Citizens Constitution expands the rights, and responsibilities of Citizens in the following manner:
All Patriotic Citizens of the United States shall enjoy the right, and responsibility, of receiving and watching Interactive TV. Such responsibilities include an obligation to watch requisite public service announcements, as determined by the President in Time of War. It shall be a federal offense, in Time of War, to tamper with or disable the security delivery or monitoring functions of any Interactive TV device.
Patriotic Citizens are also entitled to an expanded right of Pharmacological Happiness, and all providers of health insurance must fully cover the cost of providing such Pharmacological Happiness. In the event that the Department of Homeland Security establishes, in it sole discretion, that a citizen is psychologically imbalanced, then representatives of the General of Homeland Security shall have the right, in Time of War, to define Pharmacological Happiness within the context of the needs of God’s United States, and to medicate and/or genetically reform law-breaking criminals as they deem necessary.
A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
Excerpted from America 2014: An Orwellian Tale, available from BuzzFlash.com.
from the bush's mass graves department:
BAGHDAD -- Acute malnutrition among young children in Iraq has nearly doubled since the United States led an invasion of the country 20 months ago, according to surveys by the United Nations, aid agencies and the interim Iraqi government.
After the rate of acute malnutrition among children younger than 5 steadily declined to 4 percent two years ago, it shot up to 7.7 percent this year, according to a study conducted by Iraq's Health Ministry in cooperation with Norway's Institute for Applied International Studies and the U.N. Development Program. The new figure translates to roughly 400,000 Iraqi children suffering from "wasting," a condition characterized by chronic diarrhea and dangerous deficiencies of protein.
why do i allege that we can't win this 'war on terrorism'? because this 'war' is a fraud. a fraud is perpetrated when you sell something that isn't what you say it is. and now that we understand that nobody really has a grasp on what 'terrorism' really is, how can it be disputed that we are fighting an unknown enemy. and when you fight an unknown enemy, there is no way in hell you can win. from the
LAT:
LAT:
WASHINGTON — Five months after embarrassed State Department officials acknowledged widespread mistakes in the government's influential annual report on global terrorism, internal investigators have found new and unrelated errors — as well as broader underlying problems that they say essentially have destroyed the credibility of the statistics the report is based on.
In a 28-page report, the State Department's Office of Inspector General blamed the problems on sloppy data collection, inexperienced employees, personnel shortages and lax oversight. Investigators also concluded that the procedures used by the State Department, CIA and other agencies to define terrorism and terrorist attacks were so inconsistent that they couldn't be relied upon.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)