skeleton in the bush family cupboard

from telegraph: One of America's great historical controversies intensifed yesterday with the publication of fresh evidence that members of an elite secret society may have dug up the remains of the Indian leader Geronimo and displayed his skull in their headquarters.

from cnn: A Yale University historian has uncovered a 1918 letter that seems to lend validity to the lore that Yale University's ultra-secret Skull and Bones society swiped the skull of American Indian leader Geronimo.

read more at the straight dope...

rfid-hacking underground

from wired: They can steal your smartcard, lift your passport, jack your car, even clone the chip in your arm. And you won't feel a thing. 5 tales from the RFID-hacking underground.

talking smack and saying thanks

some call it 'speaking truth to power.' alternet may have coined the phrase 'getting colbert-ed.' but we don't care what you call, just as long as you keep on doing it! and we'll remember to say thank you...

thank you ray mcgovern, thank you harry taylor, thank you stephen colbert and now, thank you jay babcock for "talking to Godsmack about what they use their music for."

JAY (arthur magazine): What about this? In 2003 you did a show that started with video footage of Apache helicopters ”honing in on a desert target interspersed with the words ‘We will prevail…Stronger than them all.”

SULLY (godsmack frontman): Say that again?

JAY: I’m reading from a Boston Globe review of a show you did at the Tweeter Center.

SULLY: Yeah.

JAY: In front of 13,000 people on May 22, 2003.

SULLY: Yeah, but tell me what it said again.

JAY: Yes sir. It said “Godsmack’s ferociously high energy 90-minute set started with video footage of Apache helicopters honing in on a desert target, interspersed with the words ‘We will prevail…Stronger than them all.”

SULLY: Yeah…?

JAY: So you’re using military imagery with your music at your concerts?

SULLY: First of all, it was a COMPUTER image, a computer-animated helicopter that didn’t… There was no scene of a desert in there. It was a helicopter that rose up from the screen and scanned the audience. It was an EFFECT. And then it shot out missiles that hit the stage.

kennedy's & cars

so let's get this straight: if you're a kennedy and you are f*cked up (i.e. drunk) while you're driving, it's your fault and you are in deep sh*t...
but, if you're a kennedy and you get f*cked (i.e. assassinated) while someone else is driving, it's still your fault and you are, well, still in deep sh*t...

from boston globe: Rep. Patrick Kennedy crashed his car near the Capitol early Thursday, and a police official said he appeared intoxicated. Kennedy said he had had no alcohol before the accident.

Kennedy, D-R.I., addressed the issue after a spate of news reports.

"I was involved in a traffic accident last night at First and C Street SE near the U.S. Capitol... I consumed no alcohol prior to the incident. I will fully cooperate with the Capitol Police in whatever investigation they choose to undertake."

rage against the (electronic voting) machine

from newsnet5: A 61-year-old man was arrested after an alleged poll rage incident, NewsChannel5 reported. Officials said Marc A. Fenster was arrested after he knocked over two voting machines worth $2,700 each. They also said he assaulted a 17-year-old outside the polling place.

Fenster faces disorderly conduct, obstructing official business and resisting arrest charges. It took several people to restrain Fenster, who was trying to vote at a 4330 Jennings Road.

It's unclear what caused him to become upset.

mission: incompetent

from thinkprogress: On May 1, 2003, President Bush stood underneath a “Mission Accomplished” banner and announced that “Major combat operations have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed.”

billions wasted in iraq

from guardian: A US congressional inspection team set up to monitor reconstruction in Iraq today publishes a scathing report of failures by contractors, mainly from the US, to carry out projects worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

In one case, the inspection team found that three years after the invasion only six of 150 health centres proposed for Iraq had been completed by a US contractor, in spite of 75% of the $186m allocated having been spent.

is "united 93" a fantasy?

from mirror uk:

UA93: THE EVIDENCE

THE WITNESSES
At least SIX witnesses, including Susan Mcelwain saw a small military-type plane flying around shortly BEFORE UA93 crashed. The FBI denies its existence.

THE DEBRIS
The US Government insists the plane exploded on impact, yet a one-ton section of the engine was found over a mile away and other light debris was found scattered over eight miles away.

THE MOBILE CALL
Passenger Edward Felt made an emergency call from the plane. He spoke of an explosion and seeing some white smoke. The superviser who took the call has been gagged by the FBI.

THE F-16s
UA93 was identified as a hijack at 9.16am. At 9.35am three F-16s were ordered to "protect the White House at all costs" when it turned towards the capital. At 10.06am it crashed at Shanksville, less than 10mins flying time from Washington.

THE BLACK BOXES
Sources claim the last thing heard on the cockpit voice recorder is the sound of wind - suggesting the plane had been holed.

THE SONIC BOOM
The FBI insists there was no military plane in the area but at 9.22am a sonic boom - caused by a supersonic jet - was picked up by an earthquake monitor in southern Pennsylvania, 60 miles away from Shanksville.

movie promo confused with bomb

from apnews/myway: A newspaper promotion for "M:I3" got off to an explosive start when a county arson squad blew up a news rack, thinking it contained a bomb.

and speaking of bombs... the conspiracy theory known as "united 93" opened at a dismal third place, behind other fantasy crap like "rv" & "stick it."

and speaking of sticking it... the official message board for "united 93" was hijacked by truth seekers, but the unknown moderators called it "technical difficulties."

and speaking of technical difficulties... you can read more about the three-minute discepency in flight 93's cockpit voice recorder & the right-wing ad campaign for the movie...

and speaking of right-wing ad campaigns... blahblahablaa

al-zarqawi video is a pentagon propaganda psy-op

from propaganda matrix: The Pentagon is engaged in a psychological PR propaganda campaign to exaggerate the role of Musab Al-Zarqawi in Iraq and link the war in Iraq to 9/11. How do we know? Because their own leaked documents admit it.

fbi sought info without court ok

from apnews/myway: The FBI secretly sought information last year on 3,501 U.S. citizens and legal residents from their banks and credit card, telephone and Internet companies without a court's approval, the Justice Department said Friday.

It was the first time the Bush administration has publicly disclosed how often it uses the administrative subpoena known as a national security letter, which allows the executive branch of government to obtain records about people in terrorism and espionage investigations without court approval.

byrd to bush: we can impeach you

from newsmax: In a speech on the Senate floor on Tuesday, former Ku Klux Klansman, Sen. Robert Byrd, pledged to put President Bush on trial in the Senate if the House impeaches him.

Addressing the president in absentia, Sen. Byrd began by warning that Congress retains all its original powers under the Constitution.

"You better read that again in the Constitution," Byrd said, declaring that the Senate's powers include "serving as a court of impeachment.

"You better believe it, Mr. President," Byrd continued. "The Senate can send you home. You better believe that."

'nothing prepared me for bush'

from alternet: Robert Scheer has reported on every administration since Richard Nixon. But as he says in this interview, he never expected the lies and cynicism of Bush II.

iraq for sale

here's the teaser for the new robert greenwald documentary...

U.S. seeks to keep evidence from 9/11 families

from cnn: Prosecutors asked a judge to rethink granting 9/11 families suing airlines access to evidence gathered for the criminal case against al Qaeda terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui.

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema's April 7 order requires prosecutors to provide copies of all unclassified aviation security documents to attorneys representing September 11 families in a civil lawsuit pending in New York.

vermont lawmakers call for bush impeachment

for those keeping score, that's three...

from vermont guardian: A Progressive lawmaker today will introduce a formal resolution in the state Legislature calling on Congress to draft articles of impeachment against Pres. George W. Bush.

(thanks to what really happened?)

california 2nd state to introduce impeachment

from after downing street: Joining Illinois, California has become the second state in which a proposal to impeach President Bush has been introduced in the state legislature. And this one includes Cheney as well.

more world-class bush diplomacy

from democratic underground: ...what was going through George's mind at this point - perhaps he was making a last-ditch effort to beg for another few trillion dollars in loans, or maybe he thought he'd caught one of those illegal immigrants he's been hearing so much about - but as Hu attempted to leave the podium, Our Great Leader decided manhandle him in front of the cameras.

protesters force bush to move meeting

let's do this everyday...

from mercury news: President Bush's visit to Stanford University's Hoover Institution was quickly moved to another location after more than 1,000 protesters converged around the Hoover tower.

a toast to oppression

from thinkprogress: President Hu can’t suppress dissent in the United States like he does in China, but the Bush adminstration is helping out where it can.

protest the new freedom

from the age: A heckler from the Falun Gong spiritual movement, who entered White House grounds as a reporter, interrupted a formal arrival ceremony for Chinese President Hu Jintao today, prompting President George W Bush to apologise to his guest.

Falun Gong, which thrives overseas despite being largely stamped out in China, alleges that government persecution of the group includes a vast system of concentration camps, where doctors harvest inmates' organs for transplants.

from canada.com: Security forces in a southern town shot into a crowd marching on the main highway to protest Nepal's royal dictatorship Monday, killing one and wounding five, a local administrator said.

from guardian: A sit-in at Gov. Jeb Bush's office stretched into a second day Thursday as about 30 college students protested the state's response to the boot camp beating of a teenager who later died.

The students, who met with Bush on Wednesday, are demanding the arrest of guards who were videotaped beating and kicking 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson.

waco, columbine & okc

from lew rockwell: Thirteen years ago the federal government of the United States ended its altercation with a group of peaceful religious separatists – a conflict the government had initiated – by driving a tank through the Branch Davidians’ home and church, pumping the interior with poisonous gas, and keeping the fire engines at a distance while the building and the people inside burned. For many Americans, Waco represented the nightmare their government had become.

from westword: Are Columbine's remaining secrets too dangerous for the public to know -- or too embarrassing for officials to reveal? Seized by Jefferson County investigators right after the shootings, the [basement] tapes have been sitting in an evidence vault for the past seven years, seen by almost no one -- except, of course, a small army of cops, attorneys, reporters, victims' families, expert witnesses and assorted hangers-on.

from msnbc: More involved in Oklahoma City bombing? On 11th anniversary, Rita Cosby talks to Terry Nichols' son, Josh Nichols...

COSBY: Do you believe what your dad is ready to say about the Oklahoma City bombing could hurt the U.S. government?

NICHOLS: I believe it could.

COSBY: And how so?

NICHOLS: Because he knows what happened that day. He knows what happened in Oklahoma City.

COSBY: And how many others do you believe are involved?

NICHOLS: I couldn't put a number on it, you know? It could be five, it could be 10, it could be more, but there has to be others involved.

iranian official in washington for... who knows?

from spacewar: The US State Department confirmed Monday a senior official from arch-US nemesis Iran was in Washington but would not say how he got into the country or what he was doing here.

flashbacks...
from prison planet: Bush Sr. was meeting with Osama bin Laden's brother, Shafig bin Laden, in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Washington, on the morning of 9/11. They were on Carlyle Group business just a few miles from where hijackers, supposedly acting on behalf of Osama bin Laden, would fly a plane into the Pentagon.

Recall that the chief financier of the so-called hijackers, Pakistan's Chief Spy General Mahmoud Ahmad, was meeting with Bush administration officials the week before 9/11. He also met with Bob Graham and Porter Goss on the morning of the attacks, who would later go on to head the first 9/11 investigative committee.

from guardian observer: On 11 September, while Al-Qaeda's planes slammed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the Carlyle Group hosted a conference at a Washington hotel. Among the guests of honour was a valued investor: Shafig bin Laden, brother to Osama.

read more at cooperative research

"will someone please give bush a bj so we can impeach him?"

from pressconnects: One day last week, a wire photo found its way into this newsroom as I suspect it did in just about every newsroom in the country. I'm also quite sure it never made it into any newspaper.

The undatelined photo from wherever it was our nominal president happened to be that day, showed a woman holding up a sign bearing the following message: "Will Someone Please Give Bush a B--- J-- So We Can Impeach Him?"

why april 15th sucks

1865 - Abraham Lincoln dies
1892 - General Electric is formed
1912 - Titanic sinks
1920 - Sacco and Vanzetti allegedly murder two security guards
1943 - Allied bomber misses its target & kills 936 civilians
1955 - McDonald's opens "first" restaurant
1983 - Tokyo Disneyland opens.
1994 - Marrakesh Agreements revise GATT and set up the WTO
2006 - You paid income tax

thanks to wikipedia & this day in history

tracking me, tracking you

from county courier: Big Brother on the animal farm? Animal ID system raises Orwellian concerns for some

from san luis obispo: Oakland to test gunshot location system in violent neighborhoods

from mobiledia: Sprint Unveils Mobile Child Locator Service

from san jose mercury news: Whistle-blower says AT&T gave spy agency access to network

from newsmax: Random Weapons Scans at N.Y.C. Schools

pope condemns those who play god

in other news: pot calls kettle black













from times online: The Pope will deliver a blistering attack on the “satanic” mores of modern society today, warning against an “inane apologia of evil” that is in danger of destroying humanity.
(from times online 1 year ago)

that's pretty tough talk from an ex-hitler youth...

from about: The question of Joseph Ratzinger’s involvement with Nazi Germany and the Hitler Youth is important: there is reason to think that Ratzinger has been less than fully candid about his past.

states of emergency

from summit daily news:
GOP Group Urges Bush to Declare National Emergency
Eight conservative Republicans in the state House called on President Bush Tuesday to declare a national emergency on illegal immigration, saying they were “shocked by the blatant, coordinated, and anti-American demonstrations” this week.

from irrawaddy:
Thai Leader Warns of National Emergency
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra vowed today to declare a national emergency if anti-government protesters in the capital turned violent, as tens of thousands massed near his office demanding he resign over corruption allegations.

business-as-usual

from rocky mountain news: Everybody here who is shocked that a president would leak secret information to defend a policy, advance an agenda or simply gain political advantage please raise your hand. No one? We thought so.

from cbsnews: Phone-jamming records point to White House... a GOP scheme that jammed phone lines to keep state Democrats from being encouraged to vote.

from latimes: Investigators for California's attorney general and secretary of state have launched an inquiry into allegations of voter registration fraud...

news on the march

from raw story & wapo: Attorney General Gonzales suggested that the president might have the legal authority to order wiretapping without a warrant on communications between Americans that occur exclusively within the US...

from ap & msnbc: “These numbers are scary. We’ve lost every advantage we’ve ever had.” Bush's approval ratings hit a series of new lows...

from slate: A brief Slate debate about the controversial new movie, United 93.

piggy or squealer?

from vanity fair: is press secretary scott mcclellan a victim, a pawn, or a P.R. disaster? is he piggy from lord of the flies or squealer from animal farm?

western white house

from waco tribune: President Bush calls the 1,600-acre ranch he owns outside Crawford with his wife, Laura, “our little slice of heaven,” but some experts question whether anti-war demonstrators are making the Western White House a less attractive getaway.

alex jones vs alan colmes

from prison planet: Alex Jones was featured on the Alan Colmes show In a segment called 'Governments Do This'.

armageddon it

from salt lake tribune: Bush foreign policies play to the 'rapture-and-Armageddon' crowd...

from raw story: What would happen if Iran sank a couple of American warships? Bush would find another megaphone and another telegenic pile of bubble to stand on... And millions who only recently wandered out of Camp Jingo would scurry back in mortal fear.

from newsmax: McCain said Sunday that the consequences of a military conflict with Iran over that country's nuclear program could be so serious they could lead to "Armageddon."

bush resigns

George Walker Bush announced last night that he will resign as the 43rd President of the United States at noon today.

Al Gore and John Kerry will take the oath as new co-President's at noon to complete the remaining 2 1/2 years of Mr. Bush's term.

After five years of bitter public debate over scandals abroad, deception at home, fraudulent elections and unconstitutional spying and surveillance, President Bush bowed to pressures from the public and leaders of his party to become the second President in American history to resign.

"By taking this action," he said in a subdued yet dramatic television address on Fox News, "I hope that I will have hastened the start of the process of healing which is so desperately needed in America."


...thanks to the washington post

spies like US

from alternet: More evidence that the U.S. government is justifying surveillance of political dissidence under the guise of monitoring "terrorism"...

from ny daily news: The NYPD is installing 505 surveillance cameras around the city... that could track hundreds of thousands of people and cars a day...

from rochester-citynews: You're being taped --- and it's happening so unobtrusively that you're probably not aware of it. What's more, it's legal, and it's only the beginning.

from asbury park press: "If you're doing the right thing, then there is no cause for concern."

sheen & heard

everybody's talking about him, but no one hear's a word he's saying...

so for the past several days the charlie sheen interview has been gaining steam or 'going viral.' in an amazing move, cnn actually covered the story. so that meant that the other news stations would have to cover it. and, of course, most love to use the c-word. but at least people are talking & questioning: cnn, raw story, allhiphop, himalayan times, wonkette, new york magazine, etc. or just check google news yourself...

one of the guests on the cnn/sheen segment was webster tarpley. in his book, "synthetic terror," tarpley writes that:

"The entire controversy about conspiracy theory is a diversion, and is generally conducted in such a way as to lead away from the facts on the table. Charges of conspiracy theory represent in their own way a form of ideological terrorism, and grow out of the intellectual climate of cold war McCarthyite witch-hunts."

v for voices

more and more people in prominent positions are speaking out against this culture of war. people like charlie sheen, carlos santana, maria bello & paul haggis are doing interviews, throwing concerts & attending rallies. but it's going to take more than celebrities to change things. it's up to people like us. it's our job to be watchdogs.

speaking of watching... after going to the portland protests on sunday, we went to see the comic-turned-movie v for vendetta. and then last night we watched the war at home, a documentary about the decade of vietnam protests centered in madison, wisconsin.

but it's going to take more than watching stuff to change things...

weird science

from livescience: Republicans are happier than Democrats. People who worship frequently are happier than those who don't. The rich are happier than the poor. Whites and Hispanics are happier than blacks. Married people are happier than the unmarried.


plus: rfid tags!, insect cyborgs! & the big bang!

'freedom' at clinton st. theater

it was standing room only on sunday at the clinton street theater for an advanced screening of america: from freedom to fascism. the crowd stretched around the block for a movie that exposes the lies foisted upon the american public in the form of income tax & the federal reserve. the screening was sponsored by we the people.

see my previous post here. read more here & here.

'butcher of the balkans'

from my way news: Former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic, the so-called "butcher of the Balkans" being tried for war crimes after orchestrating a decade of bloodshed that killed 250,000 people and broke up his country, was found dead Saturday in his prison cell. He was 64.

winter of our discontent

from associated press: More and more people, particularly Republicans, disapprove of President Bush's performance, question his character and no longer consider him a strong leader against terrorism...
(read poll results here and brace yourself for what desperate people will do to stay in power.)

from herald sun: The US military prison at Abu Ghraib, Saddam Hussein's torture centre that became a symbol of shame for the American occupation of Iraq, is to close within months.

from the register: RFID has been steaming ahead in the US, with the combined weight of Walmart and the Pentagon forcing a broad spectrum of vendors and suppliers to pick up the technology.

from slate: why coppola's wiretap classic still bugs us

from aol news: faith hill calls katrina cleanup "bull$#it"

they're coming to take me away, haha

a few months ago we found out that halliburton would be building "temporary detention facilities" here in the land of the free. they will, at least, be used in the case of an "immigration emergency." others say they will be for used as forced labor camps US dissidents. and now we see the borderwars heating back up. this is called operation: endgame.

from freedom...

aaron russo has won grammys, golden globes, tonys & emmys. he used to promote the dead, the who, janis & jefferson airplane. he even produced trading places. now he has a new documentary feature called america: from freedom to fascism. the film's website calls it "an expose of the Internal Revenue Service, and proves conclusively there is no law requiring an American citizen to pay a direct unapportioned Tax on their labor."

watch the trailer here.

patriot? it's all an act.

i just can't wait to see what happens next...

from associated press: The House renewed the USA Patriot Act in a cliffhanger vote Tuesday night, extending a centerpiece of the war on terrorism at President Bush's urging after months of political combat over the balance between privacy rights and the pursuit of potential terrorists.

Bush, forced by filibuster to accept new curbs on law enforcement investigations, is expected to sign the legislation before 16 provisions of the 2001 law expire on Friday.

news on the march

from wikinews:
iraq war increases likelihood of terrorism, says bbc poll

from ny daily news:
are we ready for 'terrorist' movies?

from tennessean:
surveillance = safety

from alternet:
"we, you know, bring up subjects."

bush on trial

from newsday: A mock war crimes trial of President George W. Bush at a Parsippany high school continued Friday, despite criticism from people across the nation who heard about the classroom exercise from a prominent Web site and talk-radio programs.

more bush secrecy...

from star-telegram: Intelligence officials will meet with the county's top archivist early next week to discuss the withdrawal of historical documents from the National Archives' public shelves, Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein said Friday.

He said he requested the meeting following disclosure last month of a program in which thousands of documents, previously declassified, were being removed from public access. Historians protested the practice, saying they had access to many of the documents in past years...

The New York Times, which disclosed the reclassification program last month, reported that archivists have said the agencies involved include the Central Intelligence Agency, the Air Force and the Defense Intelligence Agency.

snorer in the court

from world net daily: According to the Associated Press, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg snoozed during oral arguments today over political redistricting in Texas.

"The subject matter was extremely technical," notes AP writer Gina Holland, "and near the end of the argument Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dozed in her chair."

During a report by Megyn Kendall of Fox News, an artist's sketch of the hearing was aired with Ginsburg's head using the bench as a pillow.

There was no word if there was any audible snoring echoing through the esteemed chamber, but the sleep session was noticed by Bader's colleagues who made a snap judgment to let their associate continue her slumber.

oregon senator unveils 'net neutrality'

from information week: Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., on Thursday unveiled a bill that would prohibit telephone and cable companies from charging others businesses for faster delivery of content to consumers over the Internet.

The bill to ensure so-called 'Net neutrality' would also prohibit network operators from favoring content over others, such as their own video services over those of Internet companies.

In unveiling the Internet Nondiscrimination Act of 2006, Wyden said in a statement that allowing cable and telephone companies to create a two-tiered system for distributing content over their networks would "have a chilling effect on small mom and pop businesses that can't afford the priority lane, leaving these smaller businesses no hope of competing against the Wal-Marts of the world."

patriot act renewed by senate

sen. wyden of oregon and sen. byrd of west virginia are 2 of the only 10 senators who voted against the renewal of the patriot act...

from the new york times: Senators voting against the bill today, besides Mr. Feingold and Mr. Jeffords, were Akaka of Hawaii, Bingaman of New Mexico, Byrd of West Virginia, Harkin of Iowa, Leahy of Vermont, Levin of Michigan, Murray of Washington and Wyden of Oregon.

The ACLU expressed deep disappointment with today's vote. "The Patriot Act contains too many intrusive powers that lack meaningful checks and balances... debate is far from over: secret record searches must be reformed so they are focused on suspected foreign terrorists and not used to invade the private records of ordinary Americans. Congress can, and must, take steps to fix the Patriot Act to keep America both safe and free."

the most dangerous film of the year

from chud: It'’s shocking that a film like V For Vendetta, in which the hero can be described in no other terms but terrorist, has been made by a major movie studio, which is itself a part of a major, world-dominating corporation...
Sure, this film is about a fictional fascist state that denies its people basic liberties and makes them live in fear, and sure it'’s set in the London of the future, but there'’s no hiding the fact that the film'’s timeline is one that begins today.

tim robbins' patriot act

from alternet: In his newest production by Los Angeles' Actors' Gang ensemble, a corrosive play based on George Orwell's novel "1984"... Big Brother is here and torture is us.

The Actors' Gang show differs markedly from previous Orwell adaptations in that Sullivan and Robbins focus on the book within the novel, written by Big Brother's enemy No. 1, Goldstein, who argues that capitalism uses continual warfare as a means of economic exploitation and control.

simpsons 'trump' 1st amendment

from bbc: Americans know more about The Simpsons than the 1st Amendment, an opinion poll says. Only 1 in 4 could name more than 1 of the 5 freedoms it upholds but more than half could name at least 2 members of the cartoon family. About 1 in 5 thought the right to own a pet was 1 of the freedoms.

seventy-two percent

from zogby: An overwhelming majority of 72% of American troops serving in Iraq think the U.S. should exit the country within the next year, and nearly one in four say the troops should leave immediately...

from msn: John Zogby, president of Zogby International, said US commanders in Iraq unofficially gave approval for the poll of 944 respondents to take place. It took place before last week's bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra. Although Mr Bush has acknowledged that Iraq played no role in September 11, 85 per cent of the troops said the US mission was mainly "to retaliate for Saddam's role in the 9/11 attacks".

what, me worry?

from abc news: "And there's no -- look, these are -- there are people that don't want to see democracy, and the reason why is because it defeats their vision of a totalitarian type government from which they can launch either attacks on America or future instability in the Middle East. You're witnessing this ideological struggle that's taking place..."

- president bush inadvertently describes self
(while describing insurgents)

enabling/patriot

the 21st century enabling act clears final hurdle...

from ap news: Months overdue in a midterm election year, the USA Patriot Act renewal cleared a final hurdle in the Senate Tuesday on its way to President Bush's desk... Others still plan to vote against the bill as a whole, but they stand little chance of blocking it. Led by Sens. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., and Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., they contend that the months of haggling produced few meaningful curbs on government power.

thirty-four percent

from cbsnews.com: The latest CBS News poll finds President Bush's approval rating has fallen to an all-time low of 34 percent, while pessimism about the Iraq war has risen to a new high...
Even on fighting terrorism, which has long been a strong suit for Mr. Bush, his ratings dropped lower than ever. Half of Americans say they disapprove of how he's handling the war on terror, while 43 percent approve.

garofalo: inside job

from total 411/911truthaction/revere radio network:

Today, 2/23/06 at 7:39 pm EST, XM SAT radio channel 167, Air America Radio, The Majority Report, co-host Janeane Garofalo said, "9/11 was an inside job!! I have come to this conclusion about that."

I think all Air America phone-in callers should open by saying, "9/11 was an inside job. We can all agree on that.", then get on with their specific question or comment. We should re-condition the listening audience to accept the Truth about 9/11 as the gospel. Repetition, to inspire research....

he ain't hitler... he's hirohito

from katy mcky on raw story:

Teddy Roosevelt said, "The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants...Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth...Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile."

Emperor Bush doesn't understand this. Like Emperor Hirohito, he is distracted from his designated service by his dreams of empire. And his base still believes that Bush knows best-by his birth.

bbc: the big brother corporation

from the independent:
In the event of all-out nuclear war, the BBC was to distract the nation by broadcasting a mix of music and light entertainment shows... Hundreds of security-vetted BBC staff and a select band of unnamed radio artistes were to be clandestinely dispatched to transmission sites across the country...to broadcast a national service that the Government hoped would create "a diversion to relieve strain and stress".

morrissey vs. the fbi

morrissey was recently interrogated by the federal bureau of investigation. and he would've fought them in a battle of wits, but he refused to fight an unarmed bureaucracy...

read all about it here, here & here.

"democracies die in darkness"

From MySA: The greatest threat to democracy is not terrorism but secrecy, said Bob Woodward... Although a massive attack is still possible, the nation faces a greater threat from the government's secrecy... He said, "9-11 will be a footnote, but it could happen, and if it does, we will become a police state."

if you tolerate this your children will be next

From the Telegraph: British troops were braced for violent retaliation in Iraq last night after a video film allegedly showed soldiers assaulting defenceless Iraqi youths. Senior officers expressed horror at the footage, which they believe will aggravate already difficult relations with Iraqis...

false opposition

"Isn't this just deep cover? Isn't this sort of black ops stuff?"

the "i" word

Lisa Sorg of Uruknet writes: The argument for impeaching Bush isn’t based on disagreements over philosophy or policy, but on the Constitution. As detailed in a 3,900-word article in January 30 issue of The Nation, impeachable offenses include presidential abuses of power that endanger the constitutional system.

Elizabeth Holtzman of The Nation: Finally, it has started. People have begun to speak of impeaching President George W. Bush ... As a former member of Congress who sat on the House Judiciary Committee during the impeachment proceedings against President Richard Nixon, I believe they are right to do so.

Ronnie Dugger of the Texas Observer: The year 2006 will be historic for the nation, and probably for humanity. Texans Bush and Rove and their conspirators in the second Bush presidency have disgraced American democracy at home and in the world with debasements of our nation and our values that have now entered their climactic phase.

Jim Puzzanghera of Knight Ridder Washington Bureau: The word "impeachment" is popping up increasingly these days and not just off the lips of liberal activists spouting predictable bumper-sticker slogans. After the unfounded claims about [WMD's] and recent news of domestic spying without warrants, mainstream politicians and ordinary voters are talking openly about the possibility that President Bush could be impeached.

Detroit Free Press: A Democratic congressman, a prominent legal scholar and a self-described target of government surveillance urged Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee on Friday to consider impeaching President George W. Bush for his domestic surveillance program.

bush could seize absolute control

Doug Thompson of Capitol Hill Blue writes: Bush has signed executive orders giving him sole authority to impose martial law, suspend habeas corpus and ignore the Posse Comitatus Act...
This would give him absolute dictatorial power over the government with no checks and balances.

Bush discussed imposing martial law on American streets in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks by activating “national security initiatives” put in place by Ronald Reagan during the 1980s.

we will nuke you

From CBS: North Korean three-star General Ri Chan Bok tells correspondent Dan Rather that if the U.S. invades his country, he will use nuclear weapons to defend it.

“Tell the American people that you met the general. If the United States invades our country and starts a war, the People’s Army will fight to the death and defend ourselves, taking appropriate revenge,” says Gen. Bok.

year of living dangerously

Tom Engelhardt writes: 2006 is sure to be the year of living dangerously -- for the Bush administration and for the rest of us. In the wake of revelations of warrantless spying by the NSA, we have already embarked on what looks distinctly like a constitutional crisis... In the meantime, the President, Vice President, Secretaries of Defense and State, various lesser officials, crony appointees, acolytes, legal advisors, leftover neocons, spy-masters, strategists, spin doctors, ideologues, lobbyists, Republican Party officials, and congressional backers are intent on packing the Supreme Court with supporters of an "obscure philosophy" of unfettered Presidential power called "the unitary executive theory" and then foisting a virtual cult of the imperial presidency on the country.

dystopian nightmare

Steve Watson of Infowars writes: The implementation of such technology represents a giant leap into a total surveillance Big Brother society. People are faced with walking into booths raising their hands above their heads like they're a criminal and being electronically scanned... The general public will accept any level of intrusiveness so long as it gives the IMPRESSION that they are safer, in reality it doesn't make anyone safer it just eliminates your liberty.

crow gives bush the business

NY Daily News: Sheryl Crow can't get George Bush off her mind. Like his father, the President has sought to turn America into "an imperial power and create strongholds over oil-heavy countries in order for us to control and manipulate them," she told us. "Now, if we pull out [of Iraq] we are going to leave a complete and total mess. We don't even know who we're fighting over there."

secret government - part one

This lost PBS documentary by Bill Moyers
is being swiped from the good folks at
information clearing house.

secret government - part two

This lost PBS documentary by Bill Moyers
is being swiped from the good folks at
information clearing house.

nuclear war against iran

Michel Chossudovsky of Global Research writes: The launching of an outright war using nuclear warheads against Iran is now in the final planning stages.Coalition partners, which include the US, Israel and Turkey are in "an advanced stage of readiness".

Various military exercises have been conducted, starting in early 2005. In turn, the Iranian Armed Forces have also conducted large scale military maneuvers in the Persian Gulf in December in anticipation of a US sponsored attack.

In turn, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has given the green light to the Israeli Armed Forces to launch the attacks by the end of March.

the whitewashing of ariel sharon

Saree Makdisi for the Los Angeles Times writes: From the beginning to the end of his career, Sharon was a man of ruthless and often gratuitous violence. The waypoints of his career are all drenched in blood, from the massacre he directed at the village of Qibya in 1953, in which his men destroyed whole houses with their occupants — men, women and children — still inside, to the ruinous invasion of Lebanon in 1982, in which his army laid siege to Beirut, cut off water, electricity and food supplies and subjected the city's hapless residents to weeks of indiscriminate bombardment by land, sea and air.

belafonte calls bush the 'greatest terrorist'

Ian James of AP writes: The American singer and activist Harry Belafonte called President Bush "the greatest terrorist in the world" on Sunday and said millions of Americans support the socialist revolution of Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez.

bush flashes the devil sign (again)

Propaganda Matrix writes: Ask yourself, why is Bush flashing a Texas football sign at an Economic Club gathering in Chicago?

morrissey: los angeles a 'police state'

Aversion says: Morrissey has no love for Los Angeles' police force. In an online interview conducted by True-to-You, Morrissey... revealed that, although he’s made Los Angeles his surrogate home in the States, he’s a little uneasy around the town’s police force. “As stunningly beautiful as Los Angeles is, it is also essentially a police state,” he said.

Read full text here.

operation: hollywood

"You must glorify war in order to get the public to accept the fact that you're going to send their sons and daughters to die."

so as we approach oscar season, you should know that the pentagon uses hollywood for propaganda .

Brian Courtis of The Age writes: "We hear less...about the effects of the powerful relationship that has grown over the years between the Pentagon and the Hollywood studios, a partnership that not only can save millions of dollars for filmmakers and produce fine recruiting propaganda for Washington, but can twist history and reality to produce the ultimate in international spin."

for more information, check out some of these stories:
h'wood's dirty little secret by the age
h'wood invasion! by strike the root
celluloid wars by instant punditry
h'wood's ideological war by world socialist web site
c.i.a. enlists h'wood & h'wood gives war games "razzmatazz"
by technical advisor

wiretap lies

Chris Floyd writes: "What a difference a year makes -- or is it an election? Back in 2004, George W. Bush was caught on camera explaining very carefully that the government always requires a court order when "chasing down terrorists." Trying to sell the Patriot Act -- which he wanted renewed but which was coming under increasing fire from all sides of the political spectrum -- Bush was very clear that "a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way." By that, he meant thatneither the Patriot Act nor its ostensible cause -- the 9/11 terrorist attacks -- changed the absolute legal requirement for the government to get a court order before ordering wiretaps against suspected terrorists."

'it's just a goddamned piece of paper'

from capital hill blue: GOP leaders told Bush that his hardcore push to renew the more onerous provisions of the [Patriot] act could further alienate conservatives...

“I don’t give a goddamn,” Bush retorted. “I’m the President and the Commander-in-Chief. Do it my way.”

“Mr. President,” one aide in the meeting said. “There is a valid case that the provisions in this law undermine the Constitution.”

“Stop throwing the Constitution in my face,” Bush screamed back. “It’s just a goddamned piece of paper!”

I’ve talked to three people present for the meeting that day and they all confirm that the President of the United States called the Constitution “a goddamned piece of paper.”

And, to the Bush Administration, the Constitution of the United States is little more than toilet paper stained from all the shit that this group of power-mad despots have dumped on the freedoms that “goddamned piece of paper” used to guarantee.

10 big questions

Jarrett Murphy of the Village Voice writes:
1. Where was the "National Command Authority"?
2. Who gave the order to try to shoot the planes down?
3. What exactly were all those firefighters doing in the towers?
4. Did anyone think the towers would collapse?
5. Why was Giuliani's command bunker at ground zero?
6. Why did 7 WTC fall?
7. How did the twin towers fall?
8. How dangerous was—and is—the air at ground zero?
9. What exactly did Zacarias Moussaoui plan to do?
10. What's on those blanked-out pages?

another war

Eric Alterman, author of "When Presidents Lie," writes: We know now...that after the famed Gulf of Tonkin "incident" on Aug. 4, 1964 - in which North Vietnam allegedly attacked two American destroyers - NSC officials doctored the evidence to support President Lyndon Johnson's false charge in a speech to the nation that night of "open aggression on the high seas against the United States of America." In fact, no real evidence for those attacks has ever been found.

Here is 60 Minutes Producer Don Hewitt discussing the fake Gulf of Tonkin incident.