cia's history of lying to congress from lisa pease: On TV this week, with a measure of disbelief in their voices, the pundits ask, did the CIA lie to or deliberately mislead Congress? How is that not a rhetorical question? The Agency has a long history of manipulating Congress and others to support its programs. That this was posed as an actual question reveals the media’s historical illiteracy in this matter.
...an interesting note on this so-called super majority story is the term filibuster: it literally means 'pirate'
long-serving republican senator turns democrat from dpa: Senator Arlen Specter, who has served as a Republican in Congress for nearly 30 years, announced Tuesday that he has switched parties, inching the Democrats closer to a super majority in Congress's upper chamber. The Pennsylvania senator's defection brings the Democrats to within one seat of the 60 needed in the 100-seat Senate to overcome Republican attempts to block votes on legislation, and enhances President Barack Obama's ability to advance his ambitious legislative agenda. Specter, 79, would have faced a strong challenge within the Republican Party for the nomination for the 2010 election after angering conservatives by supporting Obama's 787-billion-dollar economic stimulus package. "I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans," Specter said in a statement, pointing out that more then 200,000 Pennsylvania voters switched from Republicans to Democrats last year.
specter & oswald from copycat effect: Lest we forget, Arlen Specter has been involved in conspiracies for a long time, and Lee Harvey Oswald remains on his mind. Don't take my word for this. Read what he said today. But first a bit of background. Guess who invented the "Magic Bullet Theory"? The Magic Bullet Theory was introduced by the Warren Commission (November 29, 1963 - September 24, 1964) to explain how three shots supposedly made by Lee Harvey Oswald resulted in the assassination of the United States President John F. Kennedy. The theory is credited to Warren Commission staffer Arlen Specter (currently the present U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania). Specter proposed that a single bullet, known as "Warren Commission Exhibit 399" (also labeled as "CE399"), caused all of the non-fatal wounds in both President Kennedy and Texas Governor John Connally on November 22, 1963, at Dealey Plaza, the site of the first Masonic temple in Dallas, Texas. The fatal head wound to JFK was caused by a bullet other than this alleged "Magic Bullet." Today, April 28, 2009, as the media swarmed and tried to interview Senator Arlen Specter about his jump from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party, he is reported to have said, "I don't think Lee Harvey Oswald had this big a crowd trailing him."
specter's jfk specter from lisa pease: Given that Arlen Specter has decided to leave the Republican Party, I think it's worth examining Specter's history to see if he will be an asset or a burden for the Democratic Party. While Specter is perhaps most famous for coming up with the "single bullet theory" which purports that one bullet entered and exited two people (President Kennedy and Governor Connally) seven times, only to emerge nearly intact, his legislative efforts of late also give cause for concern... So why would the Democrats want Specter in their corner? The magic number. Sixty votes. A filibuster-proof majority, the holy grail of any administration. I can understand why President Obama himself has said he'll raise money for Specter. But given Specter's history, I can't help but feel the Democrats are welcoming the fox into the hen house.
obama beats jesus as america's hero from suntimes: Americans named President Obama as their No. 1 hero, followed by Jesus Christ and Martin Luther King, in a new Harris poll. Others in the top 10, in descending order, were Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, Abraham Lincoln, John McCain, John F. Kennedy, Chesley Sullenberger and Mother Teresa. People were asked whom they admired enough to call their heroes. Those surveyed were not shown a list of people to choose from. The Harris Poll was conducted online among a sample of 2,634 U.S. adults by Harris Interactive.
obama's 'seven days in may' moment from robert parry: Only one month into his presidency, Barack Obama is finding himself confronting not only George W. Bush’s left-behind crises but an array of influential enemies in the military, financial circles, the political world and the media – determined to thwart Obama’s agenda for “change.” ... It is not entirely inconceivable that Obama’s powerful enemies could coalesce into a kind of “Seven Days in May” moment, the novel and movie about an incipient coup aimed at a President who was perceived as going too far against the country’s political-military power structure. Far more likely, however, Obama’s fate could parallel Jimmy Carter’s, a President whose reelection bid in 1980 was opposed by a phalanx of powerful enemies at home and abroad, including disgruntled CIA officers, angry Cold Warriors, and young neoconservatives allied with Israel’s right-wing Likud leaders furious over Carter’s Middle East peace initiatives. Carter little understood the breadth, depth and clout of the opposition he faced – and the full story of how his presidency was sabotaged has never been told. [For the most detailed account, see Robert Parry’s Secrecy & Privilege.]
update: jfk, fdr & 'seven days in may' from lisa pease: Robert Parry recently wrote of how President Obama's early actions might bring him a "Seven Days in May moment," referring to a fictitious coup attempt from a film of the same name, in which a popular military figure nearly took over the government. In Parry's piece, he compared Obama's situation to that of President Jimmy Carter. I was reminded, however, of President John Kennedy's comments regarding his own brush with the "Seven Days in May" scenario, and the dangers Obama too will face. I was also reminded of the coup that almost came about during President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's first term. The film "Seven Days in May" began as a novel by Fletcher Knebel, inspired to a great degree by Knebel's conversations with Gen. Curtis LeMay, President Kennedy's contentious Air Force Chief of Staff who was furious at Kennedy for not sending in full military support during the Bay of Pigs incident.
obama administration continues US military global dominance from project censored: The Barack Obama administration is continuing the neo-conservative agenda of US military domination of the world — albeit with perhaps a kinder-gentler face. While overt torture is now forbidden for the CIA and Pentagon, and symbolic gestures like the closing of the Guantanamo prison are in evidence, a unilateral military dominance policy, expanding military budget, and wars of occupation and aggression will likely continue unabated. The military expansionists from within the Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Clinton, G. W. Bush administrations put into place solid support for increased military spending. Clinton’s model of supporting the US military industrial complex held steady defense spending and increased foreign weapons sales from 16% of global orders to over 63% by the end of his administration.
cfr/rockefeller deputy attends white house bank meeting from kurt nimmo: “The incoming chairman of Citigroup, Richard Parsons, showed up at the White House Monday, fueling talk that the federal government might take a massive ownership stake in the troubled banking behemoth,” reports Politico. “Parsons’ appointment was to see Valerie Jarrett, one of President Barack Obama’s closest West Wing confidants.” According to the corporate media, the government plans to grab 40 percent ownership in Citigroup, a move that is widely explained as “nationalization” of the banks. “Nationalizing ailing banks means the government would tell bank execs to take a hike, and then oversee taxpayer dollars as they course through the banking sector’s veins,” writes Thomas Kelley for Yahoo News. “When all is well, perhaps after selling assets and operations to new private investors, the government then steps back and lets a newly regulated bank sector float on its way.” In fact, “nationalization” has nothing to do with telling the banksters to “take a hike” and it certainly has nothing to do with regulation. Bank nationalization is a code word for a banker scheme to “socialize” the insolvency of selected banks, i.e., this insolvency will be transferred to the tax payers. (See Nationalization: Code Word for Banker Takeover.)
lawmaker warns of 'forced servitude' under obama from paul joseph watson: New Hampshire state representative Dan Itse, who is one of many lawmakers leading the charge to assert state sovereignty against federal encroachment, has warned that the Obama administration seeks to institute “involuntary servitude”. Appearing on Fox News to discuss the states’ rights movement, Itse told hosts Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade, “This is about drawing a line in the sand and saying we’ve tolerated usurpations for so long but we’re not going to tolerate you violating the constitution, we’re going to hold you accountable.” Asked if his warning about involuntary servitude under Obama meant young people being forced to attend community service, Itse responded, “Exactly, I mean, if you are required to do a job against your will with a pay scale not set by you or not agreed to by you, that’s involuntary servitude.”
(Editor’s Note: The Washington Post and some other publications are predictably panning Robert Redford's "Lions for Lambs" because it poses tough moral questions about the neoconservative agenda. In this guest review, historian Lisa Pease finds the movie compelling for those same reasons...)
from lisa pease: “Lions for Lambs,” directed by Robert Redford and starring Redford, Tom Cruise, and Meryl Streep, opens this weekend. It is one of the few “must see” films of the year.
Through crackling dialog, splendid performances, and emotional sequences, the film seeks to elevate the national discussion not only on the war in Iraq, but on the Americans at home who have chosen neither to participate nor to protest.
The film’s Web site asks a question one must answer before one can enter: what do you stand for? The film itself asks a bigger question: What are you willing to do for what you believe?
The title of the film comes from a comment a German general offered in a letter during World War I. Impressed by the bravery of the British soldiers, if not their officers, who were often given their commission because of social ranking, not military prowess, he wrote, “Never have I seen such Lions led by such Lambs.”
And that’s the essential thrust of the film. Lions have put their lives on the line for a war that was sold by Lambs. Now, what are we going to do about it?
"Lawyers for the Central Intelligence Agency faced pointed questions in a federal court hearing Monday morning about the agency's efforts to block disclosure of long-secret records about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy."
Morley filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the CIA for failing to disclose records about a CIA officer named George Joannides. Joannides was responsible for running the DRE, an anti-Castro CIA front group that had extensive interactions with Lee Harvey Oswald in the months leading up to the assassination of President Kennedy.
The CIA has consistently refused to release Joannides' records, even though they are mandated to by the 1992 JFK Assassination Records Act.
What's at stake here matters greatly to all historians. If the government can simply choose which records to release, and which to withhold, they can pervert and deliberately misshape history to serve their purposes.
In this particular case, the CIA appears hellbent on undoing the will of the people. The JFK Act came into being due to an enormous outcry from the public when they learned, at the end of Oliver Stone's film JFK, that many records relating to the assassination were still classified.
Congress passed what became known as "The JFK Act," which mandated the creation of a board to declassify records and, if necessary, seek out new and pertinent records and make them public.
The Board, officially named the Assassination Records and Review Board, put Joannides on the JFK assassination story map when it declassified five personnel reports of his in 1998. In addition, researchers learned that it was Joannides who had helped shut down an early investigation of the CIA's possible involvement in the assassination...
If the CIA was involved in the Kennedy assassination, wouldn't that change entirely our understanding of events from that time forth, and wouldn't that call into question much of the reporting on the case, and the credibility of the media from that time forward?...
Even anti-conspiracy authors Gerald Posner and Vincent Bugliosi have sided with the law, calling for the documents to be released.
If our government can simply choose which laws to support and which to break, is it really our government anymore?
related: 'oswald's ghost'
from american experience: The assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas on November 22, 1963 left a psychic wound on America that is with us still today. Few Americans then or now accept that a lone, inconsequential gunman could bring down a president and alter history.
In that breach, a culture of conspiracy has arisen that points to sinister forces at work in the shadows. Drawing upon rarely seen archival footage and interviews with key participants, Oswald's Ghost takes a fresh look at Kennedy's assassination, the public's reaction to the tragedy, and the government investigations that instead of calming fears lead to a widespread loss of trust in the institutions that govern our society.
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challenger abdullah says polls rigged*
