obamessiah signs debt limit bill after 'nasty' fight

including the disturbing new #supercongress...
from cbsnews: President Obama signed a hard-fought, last-minute compromise bill to avert economic catastrophe Tuesday, saying the deal to cut spending and increase the nation's $14.3 trillion debt limit marked an "important first step to ensuring that as a nation we live within our means." The bill, he said, was the outcome of a "long and contentious debate" to avoid a man-made economic disaster that he described as creating "unsettling" economic uncertainty. He said that while voters chose divided government, "they sure didn't vote for dysfunctional government."

previous: white house & congress critters close in on debt deal

related econocrash updates:
satire: drunken ben bernanke tells everyone at neighborhood bar how screwed the US economy really is*
the committee of 13 & the debt ceiling deal from hell*
US eats up most of debt limit in one day*
US borrowing tops 100% of gdp*
moody's confirms US aaa rating; meanwhile, food stamp use rises to record*
georgia & colorado bank failures cost US $2.5b*
howard stein, who helped teach public to invest, dies at 84*
US govt sues ubs for $900m, charging mortgage fraud*
reid announces deal to end faa shutdown*
dow plunges 512 points: here's what's bothering the stock market*
video: pelosi on house floor - 'novus ordo seclorum'*

2/4 newspurge: geopolitiks, mystery/mayhem & obamessiah

geopolitiks:
video: americans arrested taking children out of haiti*
americans charged with child trafficking in haiti*
formaldehyde-laced trailers may be sent to haiti*
haiti pm says more than 200,000 dead*
US military no where to be found in port-au-prince*
dem calls for US relief head in haiti to step down*
'enough is enough': council on foreign relations president richard haass wants regime change in iran*
senate quietly passes iran sanctions bill*
US raises stakes on iran by sending in ships and missiles*
US beefs up military presence off iranian shores*
US says 200 troops on the ground in pakistan*
long history of israel's covert killing*
israel finally admits to using white phosphorus in gaza*
cia chief holds secret talks with egypt & israel*
china threatens sanctions over arms sale to taiwan*
china threatens US sanctions over arms sale*
1000s in tokyo protest against US troops in japan*
romania 'to host US missile shield'*
herman van rompuy accused of acting like a 'king'*
yemen on the brink: implications for US policy*

history/mystery:
controversial author/historian eustace mullins dead at 86*
vietnam vets allowed to proceed with lawsuit over drug experiments*
video: columbine: unraveling the sheriff's official line*
flashback: interview w/ evan long of 'the columbine cause'*

murder/mayhem:
body of lottery winner found buried in florida*
twilight language: bus rampage in china*

obamessiah updates:
obama ups spending on nukes to even more than bush*
obama's open government not so open yet*
obama ups pakistan drone strikes in assassination campaign*
obama 2011 budget request: doj*
doj official reportedly clears torture architects yoo & bybee*
digging through obama's closet for the emperor's new clothes*
taxpayers pay $101,000 for pelosi plane's in-flight food & booze*
obama & scott brown are cousins, genealogist reveals*
trailer: american faust: from condi to neo-condi*

uk press: 2 million march to US capitol to protest obamacare

corporate media seriously under reports numbers at dc protest
from daily mail: Up to two million people marched to the U.S. Capitol today, carrying signs with slogans such as "Obamacare makes me sick" as they protested the president's health care plan and what they say is out-of-control spending. The line of protesters spread across Pennsylvania Avenue for blocks, all the way to the capitol, according to the Washington Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency. People were chanting "enough, enough" and "We the People." Others yelled "You lie, you lie!" and "Pelosi has to go," referring to California congresswoman Nancy Pelosi... Today's protests imitated the original Boston Tea Party of 1773, when colonists threw three shiploads of taxed tea into Boston Harbour in protest against the British government under the slogan 'No taxation without representation'.

house approves $106b bill to fund wars in afghaniraq

from washington post: The House today passed a $106 billion bill funding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through September, as House Democrats backed President Obama despite misgivings among the ranks about his strategy in Afghanistan.

The 226 to 202 vote came after Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner had called some reluctant Democrats during the day imploring them to back the bill, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) had strongly pressed her colleagues in a closed-door meeting to vote for the bill in a show of support for Obama, even if they oppose his strategy for increasing troops in Afghanistan. In the end, 221 Democrats voted for the bill, while 32 opposed it.

All but five Republicans opposed the bill after the White House inserted money to fund a line of credit for the International Monetary Fund, which the GOP said amounted to a "global bailout."

"We are in the process of wrapping up the wars. The president needed our support," said Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.), who had earlier said he opposed the war funding but voted for it in the end. "But the substance still sucks."

update1: kucinich: ‘another $106b & all we get is a lousy war’
from raw story: One week after declaring that the United States “cannot afford” the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq “financially or spiritually,” Ohio’s Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich, a staunch anti-war crusader, took aim at Congress for not taking a more active role in any of the war on terror fronts.

“We are destroying our nation’s moral and fiscal integrity with this war supplemental... Instead of ending wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan now by appropriating only enough money to bring our troops home, Congress abdicates its constitutional authority, defers to the president, and asks for a report. That’s right, all we are asking for is a report on when the president will end the war... There is also money for the IMF, presumably to bail out private European banks. Billions for the IMF so they can force low and middle income nations to cut jobs, wages, health care and retirement security, just like corporate America does to our constituents. And there’s money to incentivize the purchase of more cars, not necessarily from U.S. manufacturers because a ‘Buy America’ mandate was not allowed... Another $106 billion dollars and all we get is a lousy war... Pretty soon that is going to be about the only thing made in America – war.”

update2: house passes bill with 'global bailout' provision
from steve watson: The House has passed a war funding bill which had tagged onto it a completely unrelated provision to hand over $5 billion to secure $108 billion in loans to the IMF. The chamber voted 226 to 202 yesterday to forward the legislation to the Senate, which may take it up later this week, reports Bloomberg News. The measure in the bill will also increase the U.S. member contribution to the IMF by $8 billion and authorize the United States to back the IMF’s plan to sell 400 tons (12.97 million ounces) of gold. It was placed in the bill at the behest of the Obama administration in order to fulfil the president’s pledge to the G20 in April, to contribute toward a $500 billion boost for the IMF, which it says will go toward “helping poorer nations” during the economic downturn.

ghosts of admins past & present: tillman, torture, war & more

flashbacks: deliberate & calculated lies about tillman & lynch &
officers blamed for tillman case errors

tillman's parents want general's record reviewed
from ap: The parents of slain Army Ranger and NFL star Pat Tillman voiced concerns Tuesday that the general who played a role in mischaracterizing his death could be put in charge of military operations in Afghanistan. In a brief interview with The Associated Press, Pat Tillman Sr. accused Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal of covering up the circumstances of the 2004 slaying. "I do believe that guy participated in a falsified homicide investigation," Pat Tillman Sr. said. Separately, Mary Tillman called it "imperative" that McChrystal's record be carefully considered before he is confirmed.

video: rumsfeld greeted as 'war criminal' at white house correspondents dinner


obama admin reverses itself, won’t release detainee abuse photos
from thinkprogress: Last month, the Pentagon agreed to comply with a court order and release dozens of photos showing abuse of detainees by American captors. Now the White House has reversed course, and will object to the court order: "The president 'believes their release would endanger our troops,' a White House official says, adding that the president 'believes that the national security implications of such a release have not been fully presented to the court'." Yesterday, conservatives were outraged about the potential release, claiming that the photos would incite future terrorists. Of course, at the very same time, they ardently defended the actual tactics depicted in the photos.

evangelicals wrestle with torture issue & more broken promises: obama’s military commissions, detainee photos betrayal

oh, but now al qaeda's global base is pakistan, petraeus says
from wsj: Senior leaders of al Qaeda are using sanctuaries in Pakistan's lawless frontier regions to plan new terror attacks and funnel money, manpower and guidance to affiliates around the world, according to a top American military commander. Gen. David Petraeus, who oversees the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, said in an interview that Pakistan has become the nerve center of al Qaeda's global operations, allowing the terror group to re-establish its organizational structure and build stronger ties to al Qaeda offshoots in Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, North Africa and parts of Europe. The comments underscore a growing U.S. belief that Pakistan has displaced Afghanistan as al Qaeda's main stronghold. "It is the headquarters of the al Qaeda senior leadership," said the general, who took the helm of the military's Central Command last fall.

navy seal jesse ventura volunteers to waterboard cheney


pipeline-istan: everything you ever wanted to know about oil, gas, russia, china, iran, afghanistan & the obama administration

update1: pelosi says cia misled lawmakers on torture
from mcclatchy: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi charged Thursday that U.S. intelligence officials had misled Congress about the use of torture on terrorism suspects. The California Democrat recalled a September 2002 briefing in which "the only mention of waterboarding at that briefing was that it was not being employed... But we also now know that techniques including waterboarding had already been employed, and that those briefing me in September 2002 gave me inaccurate and incomplete information."

harman, wiretaps, doj & aipac: more massive corruption

major scandal erupts involving congress, cabinet & corruption

download greenwald & stein interview [10.5mb mp3]
wiretap recorded rep harman promising to intervene for aipac
from cqpolitics: Rep. Jane Harman, the California Democrat with a longtime involvement in intelligence issues, was overheard on an NSA wiretap telling a suspected Israeli agent that she would lobby the Justice Department reduce espionage-related charges against two officials of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, the most powerful pro-Israel organization in Washington. Harman was recorded saying she would "waddle into" the AIPAC case "if you think it'll make a difference," according to two former senior national security officials familiar with the NSA transcript... The identity of the "suspected Israeli agent" could not be determined with certainty, and officials were extremely skittish about going beyond Harman's involvement to discuss other aspects of the NSA eavesdropping operation against Israeli targets, which remain highly classified. But according to the former officials familiar with the transcripts, the alleged Israeli agent asked Harman if she could use any influence she had with Gonzales, who became attorney general in 2005, to get the charges against the AIPAC officials reduced to lesser felonies. Rosen had been charged with two counts of conspiring to communicate, and communicating national defense information to people not entitled to receive it. Weissman was charged with conspiracy... "It's a story about the corruption of government - not legal corruption necessarily, but ethical corruption." Ironically, however, nothing much was gained by it. The Justice Department did not back away from charging AIPAC officials Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman for trafficking in classified information. Gonzales was engulfed by the NSA warrantless wiretapping scandal. And Jane Harman was relegated to chairing a House Homeland Security subcommittee.

flashback: harman conflates 9/11 truth & jihadist websites

video: 'wide circle' of people knew about harman wiretap

harman caught on tape agreeing to lobby for alleged aipac spies
from jeremy scahill: This is a huge story... The case, known as the AIPAC espionage scandal centers around allegations that at least two AIPAC staff members passed sensitive US intelligence on Iran, provided by Pentagon official Lawrence Franklin, to Israel. In early 2006, Franklin pled guilty to espionage-related charges and was sentenced to 13 years in prison. The case against two indicted AIPAC staffers, Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman, is ongoing. Allegations that Harman intervened in this case in an effort to win the spot as chair of the Intelligence Committee have been widespread since 2006, but an FBI investigation into Harman was dropped for “lack of evidence.”

flashback: israel might have many more spies here

harman & aipac: more evidence of massive government corruption
from kurt nimmo: It really comes as no surprise Rep. Jane Harman was caught on a federal wiretap offering to lobby the Justice Department to reduce espionage-related charges against AIPAC officials. Much of Congress is beholden to the Israeli pressure group. Instead of taking note of this common practice — politicians coming to the rescue of their favored constituents at the expensive of those they were elected to represent — we should take note of the willingness of the NSA and FBI to make this information public. Somebody wanted Jane Harman out of the picture. The case is yet another example of how politics works in the District of Criminals. In exchange for help in getting espionage-related charges reduced against two AIPAC officials, a suspected Israeli agent pledged to lobby Nancy Pelosi, then-House minority leader, to appoint Harman chair of the Intelligence Committee after the 2006 elections, according to CQ Politics. More specifically, the Los Angeles Times reveals, the caller told Harman Haim Saban would threaten to withhold campaign contributions from Pelosi unless Harman became committee chairwoman... “I’m a one-issue guy and my issue is Israel,” Saban told Forbes in 2003. Harman’s office told the Associated Press she “never contacted the Justice Department about its prosecution of present or former AIPAC employees, and the Justice Department never informed her that she was or is the subject of or involved in an investigation.” In a statement, Harman attempted to change the subject. “If there is anything about this story that should arouse concern it is that the Bush administration may have been engaged in electronic surveillance of members of the congressional intelligence committees.” Harman didn’t bother to mention the fact she had leaned on the New York Times in order to get the newspaper to hold off on publishing an article on the unconstitutional NSA wiretap program. “Harman is a poster child for what has been wrong with Congress for the last 8 years,” writes George Washington’s Blog. She needs to be brought up on ethics and bribery charges immediately and drummed out of Congress. If the AIPAC operatives are convicted, treason charges against Harman should not be ruled out.

flashback: declassified docs shed new light on aipac espionage

update1: pelosi: 'i don't respond to threats... bring it on!'

video update: harman wiretap story is real life spy thriller
from raw replay: CQPolitics.com reported that Rep. Jane Harman was caught on NSA wiretaps offering to intervene in the case of an accused spy. MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow explains how the case compares to classic movie plotlines. This video is from MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show, broadcast Apr. 21, 2009.

more details on the surveillance grid emerge

from kurt nimmo: Now that two whistleblowers have come forward with allegations that the Bush neocons used the NSA to spy on U.S. military officers, American journalists, American aid workers, and others who were calling home from abroad, Democrat Jay Rockefeller is calling for another Church Committee investigation of the NSA.

Rockefeller, however, and Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, were briefed on the NSA snoop program back in 2003 and said nothing about it. Rockefeller did write a two-page letter to Cheney expressing his “concerns” about the surveillance. “But Rockefeller never did anything beyond that, such as contacting a lawyer,” writes Declan McCullagh for CNet News, even though the Senate Intelligence committee is officially charged with “vigilant legislative oversight over the intelligence activities of the United States to assure that such activities are in conformity with the Constitution and laws of the United States.”

our political mis-leaders latest bad moves

video: congress ends 9/11 workers’ health care bill
from ny1: Congress has abandoned legislation to provide billions of dollars in health care for September 11th recovery workers. The program would have provided long term care for workers who were at the World Trade Center on or shortly after September 11, 2001 at an estimated cost of at least $5 billion. Mayor Michael Bloomberg strongly objected to a part of the bill that would have forced the city to pay for 10 percent of the program, saying it would place an undue burden on city taxpayers. In addition, the legislation would have reopened the federal September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, adding around $6 billion to the plan.

and speaking of bloomberg...

bloomberg plans to seek re-election by rewriting term limit law
from thinkprogress: On Thursday, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg reportedly plans to announce that he will be seeking a third term, arguing that “the financial crisis unfolding in New York City demands his steady hand and proven business acumen.” The New York Times reports: "The move represents an about-face for Mr. Bloomberg, who has repeatedly said he supports term limits and once called an effort to revise the law 'disgusting.' He will apparently try to do so through legislation in the City Council, rather than the ballot box. Mr. Bloomberg’s gambit carries significant political risk. The city’s term limits law was passed twice by voters, in 1993 and 1996, and several polls show widespread popular support for keeping it in place. Under the plan Mr. Bloomberg has outlined to associates, those voters will have no say in the matter, raising the possibility of a backlash." After 9/11, Rudy Giuliani also considered running for a third term, citing national security concerns. The Albany Project has more.

and then, there's mike's nazi-friend arnold...

schwarzenegger vetoes bill honoring harvey milk
from thinkprogress: Yesterday, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill that “would have made the birthday of gay political icon Harvey Milk a statewide ‘day of significance.’” Schwarzenegger, who opposes efforts to ban same-sex marriage in the state, explained his veto by saying that he believes Milk should “be recognized at the local level.” But the AP notes that conservative groups had lobbied the governor to oppose the measure: "In his veto message issued Tuesday, the governor said that while he respected the measure’s intent, he thinks Milk’s “contributions should continue to be recognized at the local level. Conservative groups had lobbied Schwarzenegger not to sign the legislation, sponsored by Assemblyman Mark Leno of San Francisco." Milk, who was the first openly gay man to hold a prominent political office in America, was assassinated in 1978. Watch the trailer of Gus Van Sant’s upcoming biopic of Milk.

and speaking of california corruption...

pelosi paid husband with pac funds
from washington times: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has directed nearly $100,000 from her political action committee to her husband's real estate and investment firm over the past decade, a practice of paying a spouse with political donations that she supported banning last year. Financial Leasing Services Inc. (FLS), owned by Paul F. Pelosi, has received $99,000 in rent, utilities and accounting fees from the speaker's "PAC to the Future" over the PAC's nine-year history. The payments have quadrupled since Mr. Pelosi took over as treasurer of his wife's committee in 2007, Federal Election Commission records show. FLS is on track to take in $48,000 in payments this year alone - eight times as much as it received annually from 2000 to 2005, when the committee was run by another treasurer. Lawmakers' frequent use of campaign donations to pay relatives emerged as an issue in the 2006 election campaigns, when the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal gave Democrats fodder to criticize Republicans such as former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas and Rep. John T. Doolittle of California for putting their wives on their campaign and PAC payrolls for fundraising work.

mccain: 'i always aspire to be a dictator'

from paul joseph watson: During an interview with the Des Moines Register editorial board yesterday, John McCain - presumably making an attempt at humor - said with a completely straight face that he aspired to be a dictator, while decrying the Congressional rejection of the bailout bill. “I just want to make a comment about the obvious issue and that is the failure of Congress to act yesterday. Its just not acceptable,” said McCain. “This is just a not acceptable situation. I’m not saying this is the perfect answer. If I were dictator, which I always aspire to be, I would write it a little bit differently.” McCain has urged the Bush administration to bypass the will of Congress and invoke executive orders to pass the bailout bill, along with a further $1 trillion dollar spend on buying up bad mortgage debt.

fbi prevents agents from telling 'truth' about 9/11 on pbs
from cq politics: The FBI has blocked two of its veteran counterterrorism agents from going public with accusations that the CIA deliberately withheld crucial intelligence before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. FBI Special Agents Mark Rossini and Douglas Miller have asked for permission to appear in an upcoming public television documentary, scheduled to air in January, on pre-9/11 rivalries between the CIA, FBI and National Security Agency. The program is a spin-off from The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America, by acclaimed investigative reporter James Bamford, due out in a matter of days. The FBI denied Rossini and Miller permission to participate in the book or the PBS "NOVA" documentary, which is also being written and produced by Bamford, on grounds that the FBI "doesn't want to stir up old conflicts with the CIA," according to multiple reliable sources. Bamford, contacted by phone, said he could not comment because his publisher has embargoed his new book for release around Oct. 10.

a new financial world order

gordon brown calls for 'a new global financial order'
from un news: The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom today called for a new global financial system to bring an end to the current economic turmoil, laying out five principles on which the order should be based as he addressed the General Assembly’s annual high-level debate. “This has been an era of global prosperity. It has been an era also of global turbulence,” Gordon Brown said at United Nations Headquarters in New York. To bring an end to the culture of irresponsibility, “we must now build a new global financial order founded on transparency, not opacity; rewarding success, not excess; responsibility, not impunity; and which is global, not national.”

bailout plan gains key support

from wsj: The emerging plan to rescue wounded U.S. financial markets received the tentative support of both presidential candidates and key lawmakers Sunday, as days of haggling over the $700 billion package appeared to be coming to a close. "I'd like to see the details, but hopefully, yes," Sen. John McCain, (R., Ariz.) said when asked on ABC's "This Week" if he would support the plan. "The outlines that I have read of it, this is something that all of us will swallow hard and go forward with. The option of doing nothing is simply not an acceptable option." Lawmakers plan to vote on the bailout measure on Monday. Final details haven't been released yet, but the agreement will include significant oversight of the Treasury Department's purchases of troubled assets, executive compensation restrictions, the potential for equity stakes in firms that participate in the asset-sale program, and other taxpayer protections. "I'm not happy with the whole situation, but we have something we can support," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) said Sunday.

is our 'financial crisis' a new 9/11?
chumps think so & i do, too
from winter patriot: I've seen a remarkable number of mentions of 9/11 in connection with the current so-called "financial crisis". Most of them have come from people who seem to have no knowledge of or interest in what actually happened on 9/11. And yet they all seem to "get" the parallel. How odd. Or maybe not. The most prominent common features, in my view, between the so-called "terrorist attacks" of 2001 and the so-called "financial crisis" of 2008 are: It's an inside job - a terrorist attack of unprecedented scope and scale - enabled by statements from politicians and the media which are chock-full of lies and spin. There was nothing sudden about it; it was forseen by many and could have been prevented if the government had wanted to prevent it. Instead it has been encouraged, and facilitated, by the very people who claim to be keeping you safe. But you can see that they don't want you to feel safe. They want you to be afraid, very afraid.

ron paul: greenspan & bernanke should be criminally charged

from paul joseph watson: Congressman Ron Paul says that the bailout bill is likely to pass, heralding a 10-year plus economic depression for America and the potential for martial law should civil unrest arise as the financial meltdown worsens. Speaking on The Alex Jones Show, Paul said of the bailout, “They want dictatorship, they want to pass all the penalties and suffering on to the average person on Main Street,” adding, “We will have a depression or recession, it’s locked in place due to previous Federal Reserve actions... When they say that if we don’t do exactly as they say and turn over more of our money and more of our liberties and exempt themselves from any court in the whole nation, they’re trying to intimidate us and lead us into doing the wrong thing,” said Paul. The Congressman added that serious problems would arise if nothing was done to address the problem, but that more serious consequences would follow should the bailout be passed... Asked if civil unrest was a possibility in the midst of an economic depression, referencing a recent Army Times report concerning the use of active duty military being brought back from Iraq for “Homeland patrols” and “crowd control,” Paul questioned, “Are we going to have martial law or are we going to have more freedoms? The more problems that we have, the more likely it is that we’re going to have martial law, so I do think they anticipate and they plan for these things.”

US banking collapse a 'controlled demolition'
from op-ed news: What does the rest of the world know that we don't? The United States Dollar is dead. While we are being jerked around by the mainstream media here at home, the rest of the world has already drawn the final conclusion for us, and what they are saying about us isn't pretty. We are in the middle of a crisis much larger than most Americans could imagine, a portion of America can't even handle it, for that matter. The Bailout is an awful idea, and the majority of Americans realize that. There is even a provision that would grant Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson dictatorial powers, and that is obviously insane, but here we are debating it. It's like asking a dead man whether he wants to be buried or cremated; it's a non issue and Congress is just playing a game to distract the American people. We need to move ahead, and we should begin with taking our country back from the tyrants. Hank Paulson has already taken control of the US banking system; journalist and expert economist Max Keiser compares Paulson to the 9/11 hijackers, calling him a financial terrorist. Keiser has been making his rounds on international broadcasts, including France 24 and Press TV where he compares the collapse of the US banking system to WTC 7 - "a controlled demolition."


evidence that bush will exploit 'crisis' to declare martial law
from existentialist cowboy: Having spent '35 of the last 60 months' patrolling Iraq armed and in uniform, the 1st Brigade Combat Team has been re-assigned. According to the Army Times, it will perform the same duties in the United States - or, as the Times puts it - "at home"... Excuse me! I believe that the 'goddamned piece of paper' - otherwise known as the Constitution of the United States --makes the use of armed forces against American citizens on American soil a matter of 'high treason' i.,e the government waging 'war' upon the people, a matter that is expressly forbidden by the "Goddamn piece of paper", Article III...

meanwhile, benjamin fulford is claiming the US economy will fail on september 30, setting the stage for the combat brigades...

nancy pelosi talks about the 'novus ordo seclorum'

from we are change florida: This was on Pelosi's book tour stop in Coral Gables, Florida on August 6th, 2008. Pelosi speaks about the New World Order and explains how it's written on the one dollar bill.

238-180 vote in favor of impeachment hearings

from brad blog: There will be a hearing related to Rep. Dennis Kucinich’s Article of Impeachment against George Bush in the House Judiciary Committee. That was assured by a vote of 238 to 180 on Tuesday.

But, according to Keith Olbermann on MSNBC’s “Countdown” last night, Speaker Nancy Pelosi has mandated that questioning in the hearing be relegated to Bush’s abuses of power, not his criminal wrongdoing.

“There’s never been one [hearing] that accumulated all the things that constitute an imperial presidency,” said Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, according to CQ Politics. He indicated topics covered in the hearing would include the firing of U.S. attorneys for political reasons, the betrayal of CIA agent Valerie Plame and Bush’s alleged lying to Congress about the reasons for invading Iraq.

Kucinich’s single Article of Impeachment only deals with Bush’s lies to Congress.

There were no Democratic votes against holding the hearing. While 180 Republicans voted to follow their Dear Leader lock-step over the cliff, 10 Republicans abstained and nine Republican members of Congress voted with the Democrats:

Rep. Kevin Brady (Texas)
Rep. Wayne Gilchrest (Md.)
Rep. Walter B. Jones (N.C.)
Rep. Don Manzullo (Ill.)
Rep. Tim Murphy (Penn.)
Rep. Ron Paul (Texas)
Rep. Dave Reichert (Wash.)
Rep. Christopher Shays (Conn.)
Rep. Mike Turner (Ohio)

Kucinich promises a surprise witness against Bush. Also from CQ Politics: “An unidentified government official of a U.S. ally wants to participate if and when Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich makes his case to impeach President Bush before the House Judiciary Committee, according to the Ohio Democrat.”

kucinich impeachment battle no longer so quixotic
from huffington post: Rep. Dennis Kucinich continued his seemingly quixotic crusade to impeach President Bush last week. But with Speaker Pelosi suggesting the House Judiciary Committee may hear his argument, Kucinich might get his day very soon. The American News Project has a new video explaining Kucinich's ongoing fight:

media pans bush speech

from us news & world report: In a televised speech last night, President Bush said his 'surge' strategy has produced positive results, which will allow the US to cut the number of troops in Iraq. The Washington Post say on the front page that Bush "coined a new slogan to describe his latest strategy, 'Return on Success,' meaning that further progress will enable further withdrawals". However, Bush's remarks, in which he endorsed the recommendations of Gen. David Petraeus, are receiving generally skeptical coverage. The Washington Post says Bush "made a case for progress in Iraq by citing facts and statistics that at times contradicted recent government reports or his own words." On MSNBC, Chris Matthews said, "The idea we're one of 36 countries fighting the war I think is ludicrous and why the President would throw that out there, I think it only opens him up to ridicule."

democratic response to bush’s surge speech
from crooks & liars: Senator Jack Reed gave the Democratic response to tonight’s surge spin President Bush’s speech to the nation on our future in Iraq and he was right on the money.

In addition to Reed, Rep. Silvestre Reyes of Texas presented the Spanish language response, available here. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi issued her own statement, available here, as did Sen. Barack Obama. Hillary Clinton’s response

The Speaker’s office has released some fact-checking as well: Below is the transcript of Reed’s official Democratic party response, let’s hope the Democrats stand behind these words...

cheney determined to strike in US

today marks he sixth anniversary of that fabled august 6th pdb, 'bin laden determined to strike in US.' so in honor of this occasion, here is an important warning...

from webster tarpley: A few days ago, a group of lawyers from western Massachusetts met with the local congressman, Democrat John Olver. Their request was that Olver take part in the urgent effort to impeach Bush and Cheney. Olver responded by saying that he had no intention of doing anything to support impeachment. He went further, offering the information that the United States would soon attack Iran, and that these hostilities would be followed by the imposition of a martial law regime here.

According to reports in the British press, the Cheney war party has gained the upper hand in the secret councils of the Bush White House, pushing aside the purported hesitations of Miss Rice, Secretary Gates, and the NATO allies to chart a direct course towards war with Iran:

'The balance in the internal White House debate over Iran has shifted back in favour of military action before President George Bush leaves office in 18 months, the Guardian has learned.... A well-placed source in Washington said: "Bush is not going to leave office with Iran still in limbo." at a meeting of the White House, Pentagon and state department last month, Mr Cheney expressed frustration at the lack of progress and Mr Bush sided with him. "The balance has tilted. There is cause for concern," the source said this week. "Cheney has limited capital left, but if he wanted to use all his capital on this one issue, he could still have an impact," said Patrick Cronin, the director of studies at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.' ("Cheney pushes Bush to act on Iran" Guardian, July 16, 2007.)

Deluded supporters of the Democratic Party may soon have to throw away their pathetic countdown clocks, those self-consoling little devices that remind them of how much time remains until noon on January 20, 2009, the moment when it is thought that Bush will finally leave office. These countdown clocks make no provision for the Cheney doctrine, which calls for a new super 9/11 with weapons of mass destruction in the US, to be used as the pretext for a nuclear attack on Iran and for martial law at home. Those who think the Republicans cannot hold the White House in 2008 have forgotten that neocons always prefer a coup d'etat to an election. As Cheney told Bob Schieffer of CBS's Face the Nation on April 15, 2007:

"The greatest threat now is 'a 9/11' occurring with a group of terrorists armed not with airline tickets and box cutters, but with a nuclear weapon in the middle of one of our own cities."

Pelosi and Reid need to toss out their fatuous countdown clocks, and get out their impeachment stopwatches fast.

pelosi's capitulation

from antiwar: If George W. Bush launches a preemptive war on Iran, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will bear full moral responsibility for that war.

For it was Pelosi who quietly agreed to strip out of the $100 billion funding bill for Iraq a provision that would have required President Bush to seek congressional approval before launching any new war on Iran.

Pelosi's capitulation came in the Appropriations Committee.

What went down, and why?

"Conservative Democrats as well as lawmakers concerned about the possible impact on Israel had argued for the change in strategy," wrote The Associated Press' David Espo and Matthew Lee...

"The speaker has erred dangerously and dramatically," writes Nichols. Her "disastrous misstep could haunt her and the Congress for years to come."

Nichols does not exaggerate.

If Bush now launches war on Iran, he can credibly say Congress and the Democrats gave him a green light. For Pelosi, by removing a provision saying Bush does not have the authority, de facto concedes he does have the authority.

Bush and Cheney need now not worry about Congress.

They have been flashed the go sign for war on Iran.

what is aipac?

from google video/wikipedia: The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is a special interest group that lobbies the United States Government in favor of maintaining a close US-Israel relationship. Describing itself as "America's Pro-Israel Lobby," it is a mass-membership organization including both Jews and non-Jews. AIPAC was formed during the Eisenhower administration, and since then has helped secure American aid and support to Israel.