September 12, 2006

"War is so unjust and ugly that all who wage it must try to stifle the voice of conscience within themselves." Leo Tolstoy, novelist and philosopher (1828-1910)


The Phony War
Robert Dreyfuss writes, "President Bush not only created a fake 'War on Terror' to scare voters into supporting his policies - he is failing to address the real threat facing America."
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/091206M.shtml
(This bothers me too - very much folks.)

Situation Called Dire in West Iraq
Anbar Is Lost Politically, Marine Analyst Says
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/10/AR2006091001204.html

IDF commander: We fired more than a million cluster bombs in Lebanon
In addition, soldiers in IDF artillery units testified that the army used phosphorous shells during the war, widely forbidden by international law. According to their claims, the vast majority of said explosive ordinance was fired in the final 10 days of the war.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/761781.html

Cheney attacks majority of Americans as well as GOP candidates
Why does Dick Cheney hate America? Why does Cheney prefer a Soviet style government where freedom of speech is banned? Armed with his classic finger-wag and arrogance, Cheney, the man who has lied about key facts related to entering the war in Iraq, is now telling America that they love bin Laden and al Qaida.
http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/09/cheney-attacks-majority-of-americans.html

Tancredo gets his “Hate” on
Rove has shown a positive genius for organizing campaigns around poisonous trivia. He will question the patriotism of Democrats (and, once again, be aided by those on the noisome left who believe that the U.S. is a malignant, imperialistic force in the world). He will deploy an ugly, stone-throwing distortion of Christian "values," especially against those Democrats who choose not to discriminate against homosexuals. And if things get really desperate, he will play the race card, as Republicans have ever since they sided against the civil rights movement in the 1960s.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/09/12/tancredo-gets-his-hate-on/

The Olbermann factor The MSNBC maverick gives Salon the countdown on his anti-Bush orations, battling with Bill O'Reilly, and the nauseating truth about cable news.
"Olbermann closes each broadcast with a personal, often acerbic, commentary. In the past two weeks, as the Bush administration launched its pre-election anti-terror public relations blitz, Olbermann upped the ante and cemented his hero status in Left Blogistan with two especially acid speeches."
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/09/11/olbermann/index_np.html
Keith Olbermann: This Hole in the Ground
Keith Olbermann: "How dare you, Mr. President, after taking cynical advantage of the unanimity and love, and transmuting it into fraudulent war and needless death, after monstrously transforming it into fear and suspicion and turning that fear into the campaign slogan of three elections? How dare you - or those around you - ever 'spin' 9/11? Just as the terrorists have succeeded - are still succeeding - as long as there is no memorial and no construction here at Ground Zero. So, too, have they succeeded, and are still succeeding as long as this government uses 9/11 as a wedge to pit Americans against Americans."
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/091206Z.shtml


"Ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have." James Baldwin, writer (1924-1987)


Meet the Official White House 9/11 Myth Maker: Philip D. Zelikow
Do a little research on Philip D. Zelikow, the Executive Director of the Kean Comission and you will find that his area of expertise is precisely suited for people who have a story that is not necessarily known to be true, but want the public to accept it as such.
http://tvnewslies.org/blog/?p=444

Time Runs Out on Bolton Nomination:
Last week's eleventh-hour request by moderate Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee put off its vote on President George W. Bush's nomination of the outspoken -- some say bullying -- envoy pending clarification of the administration's current Middle East policies may have doomed Bolton's chances.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=34685

Capitol Hill Democrats Come Out Swinging on National Security:"
Rather than try to defend their own failed record, Republicans have resorted to the
desperation politics of fear," said Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060912/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_democrats

All eyes on the states; Governor's races may swing vote for president 9/12
When Wisconsinites pick a governor Nov. 7, they'll also be setting the stage for the state's next huge election drama: the 2008 race for president.
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=494186

ABC's '9/11': Clinton was Right
ABC decided not to listen to 200,000 Americans, a bunch of historians and even Republican commentators like Bill Bennett and Pat Buchanan, who said ABC should not distort the truth and "falsify the record" on 9/11.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/flavia-colgan/abcs-911-clinton-was_b_29267.html

EXCLUSIVE...9/11 Debate:
Loose Change Filmmakers vs. Popular Mechanics Editors of "Debunking 9/11 Myths"
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14944.htm
Video: Loose Change
2nd Edition Recut
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14946.htm
9/11: Press for the facts: Video .
Even your Republican grandpa from Texas will have doubts about 9/11 when he finishes it!
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14922.htm

From the Archives: Clinton wanted stronger anti-terrorism laws in 1996, but Republicans watered them down. 9/12
July 30, 1996….President wants Senate to hurry with new anti-terrorism laws…WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Clinton urged Congress Tuesday to act swiftly in developing anti-terrorism legislation before its August recess.
http://www.cnn.com/US/9607/30/clinton.terrorism/

Poll: More Americans blame Bush for 9/11
The percentage of Americans who blame the Bush administration for the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington has risen from almost a third to almost half over the past four years, a CNN poll released Monday found.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/09/11/911.poll/index.html?section=cnn_topstories&eref=yahoo


"Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak; and that it is doing God's service when it is
violating all his laws."
John Adams, 2nd US president (1735-1826)


Bush 'murder' film seals US deal
A controversial British film portraying the fictional assassination of President George Bush
has secured a distribution deal for the US.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/5337330.stm

How bad is he?
Bush ran as a moderate, tacked right and governed ineffectually -- before 9/11. Since then
he's become the most radical American president in history -- and arguably the worst
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/09/12/book_excerpt/index_np.html

Top soldier quits as blundering campaign turns into 'pointless' war
THE former aide-de-camp to the commander of the British taskforce in southern Afghanistan has described the campaign in Helmand province as “a textbook case of how to screw up a counter-insurgency”….. “All those people whose homes have been destroyed and sons killed are going to turn against the British,” he said. “It’s a pretty clear equation — if people are losing homes and poppy fields, they will go and fight. I certainly would…..“We’ve been grotesquely clumsy — we’ve said we’ll be different to the Americans who were bombing and strafing villages, then behaved exactly like them.”
http://www.therandirhodesshow.com/live/node/3992

Ambassador Joseph Wilson Updates BuzzFlash on the Bush Administration's Betrayal of Our National Security
" Joe Wilson, however, fought back on behalf of the truth. 'Baby Doc' Bush was forced to admit that Wilson was correct, but unleashed Karl Rove to out a covert CIA operative and smear the Wilsons anyway. 'Baby Doc's' father thought differently of Wilson, however. Bush the Senior recognized Joe for his brave efforts to save Americans in Iraq when Saddam was threatening them in the period before the 1991 Gulf War."
http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/interviews/033

'Wash Post' Hires Key White House Speechwriter/Aide
Michael Gerson, a key aide and speechwriter for President Bush until this summer, will soon join the Washington Post as op-ed columnist, the paper announced today. Gerson will start in January with a twice-weekly column that will also be syndicated.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003120055

Magazine's Lengthy Profile of Keller Years at 'NYT'
A wide-ranging cover story on the current state of The New York Times in this week's New York magazine offers, among other things, fresh details about the pressure brought on the paper by the Bush administration to hold back on its National Security Agency spying story late last year.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003119672

From the Archives: Commission warned Bush; But White House passed on recommendations by a bipartisan, Defense department-ordered commission on domestic terrorism. 9/12
"….. two former senators, the bipartisan co-chairs of a Defense Department-chartered commission on national security, spoke with something between frustration and regret about how White House officials failed to embrace any of the recommendations to prevent acts of domestic terrorism delivered earlier this year."
http://archive.salon.com/politics/feature/2001/09/12/bush/

Blair is no help to the Middle East :
Having finally obtained his visa from George Bush to visit the Middle East, Tony Blair must rank as one of the most unwelcome British visitors to the region in decades
http://www.guardian.co.uk/syria/story/0,,1870086,00.html

And People Wonder Why So Much of the World Has Much Distaste for the USA
Video: Confessions of an Economic Hit Man:
How the U.S. Uses Globalization to Cheat Poor Countries Out of Trillions
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article8171.htm

Prophet and Loss:
A litany of business failures suggests Pat Robertson is losing his Midas touch
http://www.radaronline.com/features/2006/09/prophet_and_loss.php

Consuming Omega-3 Fats Better For Your Health Than Having a Defibrillator Close By
A study of a computer-simulated community of 100,000 (resembling the population of Olmsted County, Minnesota), showed that a diet rich in omega-3s worked better for preventing death than defibrillators in homes and public places, and it even worked better than implanted defibrillators.
http://www.mercola.com/2006/sep/12/consuming_omega-3_fats_better_for_your_health_than_having_a_defibrillator_close_by.htm

The Simple, Inexpensive Cure for Afternoon Drowsiness Confirmed
Sitting inside a poorly lit office surrounded by incandescent or fluorescent lighting day and night starves your body of the unfiltered ultraviolet light that helps your body produce vitamin D. Science is really beginning to appreciate how full-spectrum light improves our health.
http://www.mercola.com/2006/sep/12/the_simple_inexpensive_cure_for_afternoon_drowsiness_confirmed.htm

Harvard to Drop Early Admissions Program
University Says It Disadvantages Minority and Poor Students
Under early action, applicants must agree not to apply to other schools early but can apply elsewhere in the spring. More commonly, colleges allow students to apply early decision, which requires them to commit to attending if accepted.
http://articles.news.aol.com/news/_a/harvard-to-drop-early-admissions/20060912003309990001?cid=

Tension at the Top
New Probes Zero In On HP Leak as Board Debates Dunn's Fate
The Justice Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and a House subcommittee have started their own probes into how Hewlett-Packard Co. investigators obtained private phone records in an attempt to identify a source of company leaks to the media, according to the company and regulatory filings released yesterday.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/11/AR2006091100334.html

George Allen's Opponent Has “Nearly Erased Lead” In Wake Of “Macaca” Comment...
The Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc. found 46 percent of those interviewed supported Allen in his bid for a second term and 42 percent backed Webb. Twelve percent were undecided
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060911/D8K2BBHO0.html

VA report: There is no Gulf War syndrome
There is no such thing as Gulf War syndrome, even though U.S. and foreign veterans of the war report more symptoms of illness than do soldiers who didn't serve there, a federally funded study concludes.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/09/12/gulf.illness.ap/index.html