January 13, 2007

THE THINKING SPOT
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HYPOCRITE, n. One who, profession virtues that he does not respect secures the advantage of seeming to be what he depises.”: Ambrose Bierce - Journalist and Editor, 1842-1914
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1. Well, I guess we know where we stand!?!?!? *** Bush: "No matter what Congress wants' surge is on." - In an interview set to air on this Sunday's 60 Minutes, President George W. Bush vows to send an additional 21,500 troops to Iraq "no matter what" the Democratic-controlled Congress tries to do.

2. U.S. Attorney Carol Lam of San Diego is fired by the White House. She was apparently kicked out by the Busheviks, an extremely rare action for a U.S. Attorney, because she pursued the corruption of Republicans, most notably Duke Cunningham. If the Busheviks aren't an organized crime family, I don't know what one is.

3. Huge corporations like GE and Time Warner have deep pockets but no inherent moral conscience. Under their watch, a dictator has risen to power. These news organizations have betrayed their constitutional charge as "Fourth Estate" during a time when checks and balances were so direly needed."

DUMB BUSHISM
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Evil when we are in its power is not felt as evil but as a necessity, or even a duty: Simone Weil
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"I try to go for longer runs, but it's tough around here at the White House on the outdoor track. It's sad that I can't run longer. It's one of the saddest things about the presidency." —interview with "Runners World," Aug. 2002

PONDER THIS

Anybody who doesn't know what soap tastes like never washed a dog.

WAR
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I have seen men march to the wars, and then I have watched their homeward tread, And they brought back bodies of living men, But their eyes were cold and dead: Edmund Vance Cooke
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STAYING THE COURSE OF DESTRUCTION *** Bush's "surge" is the "decent interval" redux. It's too little, too late, and it relies on the Iraqis to do what we know full well they can't do. There is no realistic likelihood that it will lead to an enduring solution in Iraq. But it may well provide the decent interval the GOP needs if it is to survive beyond the 2008 elections....At this point, the Republicans win by losing in Iraq — as long as they can blame the loss on the Democrats. And unless they find a way to refuse to play the game, the Democrats will just lose.

THE WHITE HOUSE
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"I have never had a feeling, politically, that did not spring from ... the Declaration of Independence ... that all should have an equal chance. This is the sentiment embodied in the Declaration of Independence ... I would rather be assassinated on this spot than surrender it." -- Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) 16th US President
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Bring back the professional criminals. Reagan Lawyer Ready to Return to White House - Mr. Fielding forged his skills in politically charged episodes like Watergate and the air traffic controllers’ strike in 1981.
http://tinyurl.com/y78x9r

Former Reagan aide compares Bush to Hitler - "Bush is like Hitler," Paul Craig Roberts writes in a column entitled The Surge: Political Cover or Escalation?. "He blames defeats on his military commanders, not on his own insane policy." "Like Hitler, he protects himself from reality with delusion," Roberts continues. "In his last hours, Hitler was ordering non-existent German armies to drive the Russians from Berlin."
http://tinyurl.com/ymd9mh

CABINETS, COMMISSIONS, etc

Officials believe White House chose new Intelligence chief in effort to darken Iran Intelligence Estimate, broaden domestic surveillance - The nomination of retired Vice Admiral John Michael "Mike" McConnell to be Director of National Intelligence is part of an effort by the Vice President to tighten the Administration’s grip on domestic intelligence and grease the wheels for a more aggressive stance towards Iran, current and former intelligence officials believe.
http://tinyurl.com/ybsbp8

DID YOU KNOW

- The so-called War on Terror is nothing more than an excuse for corporate-sponsored fascism

-Joe Lieberman and John McCain have become brothers in bloodshed.

-Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell to filibuster any Democratic attempt to decrease funding for Bush's new Iraq plan

-2 percent of Americans identify themselves as Jewish. But in Congress, the proportion of Jewish members is now four times that.

-Ex-Cheney aide's trial starts Tuesday

-Job growth under Bush slower than under Clinton, Reagan

-Gates Foundation May Shift Billions into Ethical Stocks after Attack on Investments

-Streetcars make comeback in US

-In china, major pollution spill every other day*

LEGAL ITEMS

Victim owed compensation in CIA case, judge told - Montreal woman who was experimented on should receive reparations, lawyer says
http://tinyurl.com/uamly

ECONOMY

Global Markets Face `Severe Correction,' Faber Says - Marc Faber, who predicted the U.S. stock market crash in 1987, said global assets are poised for a ``severe correction'' and it's time to sell.
http://tinyurl.com/y5bwap

911

Computer disk drives from WTC could yield clues - An unexplained surge in transactions was recorded prior to the attacks, leading to speculation that someone might have profited from previous knowledge of the terrorist plot by moving sums of money. But because the facilities of many financial companies processing the transactions were housed in New York's World Trade Center, destroyed in the blasts, it has until now been impossible to verify that suspicion.
http://tinyurl.com/nmgmc

CONGRESS
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"The life of the nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous.": Frederick Douglass - [Frederick Baily] (1818- 1895), Escaped slave, abolitionist, author, editor of the North Star and later the New National Era
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The First 100 Hours = Ethics Reform, Minimum Wage, 9/11 Panel Recommendations, Stem Cell Research, Medicare...the Senate hasn't been as ggressive – Their version of ethics reform is little more than window dressing.
http://tinyurl.com/6umfo

Nancy 'Oops, I did it again!' Pelosi and a special exemption to the Minimum Wage Bill - she provided an exemption to the Minimum Wage Bill to two companies based in her district, doing business in America Samoa.
http://tinyurl.com/wbute

MILITARY
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In the democracy of the dead all men at last are equal. There is neither rank nor station nor prerogative in the republic of the grave: John James Inga
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U.S. Soldier Was 'Homicidal' Before Attack - An Army private charged with the slaughter of an Iraqi family was diagnosed as a homicidal threat by a military mental health team three months before the attack.
http://tinyurl.com/tskgn

HEALTH

Health insurers deny policies in some jobs - health insurers in California refuse to sell individual coverage to people simply because of their occupations or use of certain medicines, according to documents obtained by The Times.
http://tinyurl.com/uaxeu

HUMAN RIGHTS

German child porn ring busted - The police didn't even have access to the data itself, the credit companies carried out all of the matching.
http://tinyurl.com/y5punx