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Ongoing stories:
BUSH SAYS, "BRING'EM ON!" WE SAY BRING THEM HOME NOW! A movement calling for the immediate withdrawal of United States troops from Iraq has been started
by the families of US soldiers and army veterans. [MORE - Bring Them Home Now! Website]
Police cannot entrap people into committing crimes
they would not otherwise have committed...
What is a legal sting?
By RACHEL CLARKE
U.S. Government Sting Operation Criticized as Entrapment
By BRIAN ROSS
16AUG2003
New York Blackout Enron-Related By GREG PALAST
Greg Palast tells us, "The power outage is traced back to the dim bulb Bush White House.
The tale of the Brits who swiped 800 jobs from New York, carted off $90 million, then turned
off our lights." [MORE]
Palast is author of the New York Times bestseller, "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy" (Penguin USA) and the worstseller, "Democracy and Regulation," a guide to electricity deregulation published by the United Nations (with T. MacGregor and J. Oppenheim).
Also see Greg Palast's award-winning reports for BBC Television and the Guardian papers of Britain
at www.GregPalast.com. Contact Palast at his New
York office: media@gregpalast.com.
If Bush Really
Wants to Investigate the Cause of the Largest Blackout in American History, Start
with Big Dick Cheney, Tom DeLay and Himself.
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS
An Energy Solutions Reader
The TomPaine.com Staff
The Ayatoljahso Reader features, David Morris, Greg Palast, The Rocky Mountain Institute, CBC News Online, Frank O'Donnell,
Wenonah Hauter, Lester R. Brown, Terry Tamminen, Fighting For Our Energy Future, Rep. Henry Waxman,
Adam Werbach and Mike Shellenberger. [MORE]
The
Smoking Gun: CIA's Interest in Peak Oil
By MICHAEL RUPPERT
Richard Heinberg, author of the revolutionary new book The Party's Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies, has found and dissected a newly declassified 1977 CIA
report on the peak of oil production in Russia. What it reveals is a stark
acknowledgment of the reality of Peak Oil for the entire planet and the
fact that its implications have been of concern to the CIA for a long time.
[Special to Michael Ruppert's From The Wilderness - Requires subscription]
Green Militias -- Your New Park Service
By BILL BERKOWITZ
Although it tends to focus on "War on Drugs" issues, the
Oregon Rangers Association, ORA's Web site insists it's equipped to handle any number of
emergencies: "We... monitor 911 frequencies and respond to logging accidents, auto accidents, and
medical emergencies in Oregon parks. They are also, claims the Web site, "E.M.T.'s with a full line of
medical equipment on board our vehicles as well as high-powered radios and satellite
phones. The Oregon Ranger Association Web
site says it's equipped to handle any number of emergencies: "We... monitor 911 frequencies and respond
to logging accidents, auto accidents, and medical emergencies in Oregon parks. They are also, claims the
Web site, "E.M.T.'s with a full line of medical equipment on board our vehicles as well as high-powered
radios and satellite phones."
ORA ("Making Oregon's backcountry safer and cleaner") is also equipped with a canine unit, horses,
a plane and a boat. Our friend Carl Worden, laison officer
for the Southern Oregon Militia
says, "They're cool! We've talked to them." [MORE]
The Truth About Charlie Krauthanger and Dan Pipes
by CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER
Ed. note: Charlie Krauthammer, who favors the appointment of Dan Pipes to the U.S.
Institute of Peace, is a bitter Vietnam vet, who got shot up and still has some
hair brained idea that we should have and could have won that war. I'm not going to take
Charlie's pro-Pipes article apart line by line but "Pipes's nomination has been greeted by charges
of Islamophobia, bigotry and extremism" because Pipes is an islamaphobe, a bigot and a pro-Zionist
extremist. Krauthanger hates Ted Kennedy, Christopher Dodd and Tom Harkin mainly because they are
Democrats. Krauthanger hates Jim Jeffords for bailing out from the Republican party. Krauthanger
is a Republican-type.
While Krauthanger tells us how astute Pipes is to have warned us about the Wahabbis, the fiercely
anti-Muslim Pipes actually paints nearly all Muslims as Wahabbists. But even worse, Krauthanger
considers Pipes to be a kind of prophet.
Politically correct, which Krauthanger brings up, has nothing to do with this discussion so I won't
try to be too careful about anything I have to say on the subject.
"Pipes's nomination has been endorsed by, among others, Fouad Ajami, Walter Berns, Donald Kagan, Sir
John Keegan, Paul Kennedy, Harvey Mansfield, James Q. Wilson..." and Charles Krauthammer. Pipes
has also been denounced by dozen and dozens of people who have every bit as much to say on the subject
as the pro-Pipes, pro-Zionist war monger and Bush White House quid-pro-quo kiss-ass-types.
This nomination is after all for a seat on the U.S. Institute of Peace, a kind of western-secular "house
of peace" (dar ul-Islam - as is explained in
Jihad: The True Belief by Stephen Schwartz). Neither Pipes nor Karuthanger know anything
of secular or sacred peace experientially. Both experience themselves on the Mr. Smith(s)* side of The
Matrix. Both Krauthammer and Pipes would do well being appointed to positions in the Bush White
House "bat cave" (as is explained in Repeating Mistakes of the Cold War by
Carol Brightman as a kind of "house of war" - dar ul-harb - as is explained in
Jihad: The True Belief by Stephen Schwartz). [MORE]
*It should be noted that The Oracle too (portrayed by Gloria Foster, who in real life died before the movie was
completed) was a mere program operating within the bounds of The Matrix infrastructure.
Workers of the world, at least demand a month's vacation!
According to
Dominic Hilton, author of
Bush is Superman, George W Bush has spent 27% of his presidency on holiday.
In "
America, you are in need of a longer vacation" Joe Robinson asks, "How do Americans
do it? Europeans get four or five weeks by law and can get another couple of weeks by agreement
with employers. The Japanese have two legally mandated weeks, and even the Chinese get three.
Our vacations are solely at the discretion of employers."
The Fascist government in cahoots with the Corporate world keeps us so busy that we don't have
enough time each year to plan for the kind of Revolution this country so richly deserves.
What next? THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT BEGINS - MoveOn.org
Also see 31JUL2002 Draft Hillary 2004 Update
15AUG2003
Remembering the George and/or Jonathon Jackson Brigade(s)!
The Revolution! That was my first thought when the lights went out in New York City, and the media kept
saying they didn't know if it was a "terrorist attack". Why did it hafta be terrorism? Why could it
not have been the beginning of The Revolution?
Well, it turns out to have been a nuclear plant in Pennsylvania that may have been the culprit?
Waitaminute! Are we still using nuclear plants?
The Power Struggle IS the Energy Crisis
Vatican to Weigh In on Biotech Food Issue
Some years ago - some 600 or more, the butcher approached the Pope's secretary, asking that the Bible's
"give us our daily bread" be changed to "give us this day our daily meat..."
Are you kidding? Well, explained the butcher, he (the butcher) would be willing to pay. Please, go ahead, ask him.
So the secretary went in and explained to the Pope what the butcher's deal was.
Are you kidding? The Pope explained to the secretary that changing the words to the Holy text
would be quite impossible.
The secretary left the Pope, and explained to the butcher that "Changing the words to the Holy text
would be quite impossible."
The butcher then said he could sweeten the deal considerably. Please, go ahead, ask him again.
So the secretary went in and explained to the Pope what the butcher's (considerably) sweetened deal was.
The Pope thought about it for a moment, and then told the secretary, "Call the baker!"
Obviously the baker at very least matched the butcher's deal so 'til this day the Bible
still reads, "give us this day our daily bread..."
Besides having the inside track on some really great
sex in the church stories, and knowing (personally)
who painted both the Shroud of Turin and the
Mona Lisa, we also know the
Vatican to Weigh In on Biotech Food Issue
was initially floated by
Monsignor Velasio De Paolis, a direct descedant of the butcher who originally approached the Pope's
secretary about the bread/meat deal. Monsignor Paolis a professor of canon law at the
Pontifical Urban University, and is quoted in the article as saying that it is "easy to say no to
GM food if your stomach is full." Didn't Ronald Reagan attempt to classify ketchup as a vegetable for
school lunch programs?
Another of the Vatican deal-makers is Archbishop Renato Martino, head of the pontifical council for
Justice and Peace, and who said the Pope is
"greatly interested in new technologies for food development as part of a policy of sustainable
agriculture and that he ardently desires to do something for the billions of people who go to bed
hungry every night."
Archbishop Martino also said there is biblical support for the new view, offering
that "the Book of Genesis clearly establishes the domination of man over nature ... God
has entrusted mankind to preserve nature but also to use it."
Yeah. On other than "biblical grounds" the Vatican is using its clout to back a
scheme that will leave the world's food supply in the hands of multinational corporations who
coincidentally own patents on GM seeds that don't naturally reproduce.
Business in Italy
AGI on behalf of the Italian Prime Minister's office
ITALY: Vatican lends support
for GM crops as tools to end world hunger
SOURCE: just-food.com
Vatican mulls view change on GMO
By ERIC J. LYMAN
Vatican Mulls View Change on Modified Foods
United Press International
Vatican Council Backs Genetically Modified Foods on Moral Grounds
By MARC MORANO
See Earlier cnsnews.com Stories:
Bush Urged to Battle 'Technological Apartheid' in Dispute Over Biotech Food
- May 28, 2003
Green Activist Accused of Promoting Famine Wins Time Magazine Honor
- Sept. 17, 2002
Ban on Genetically Modified Crops Causing Starvation, Food Experts Say
- Sept. 26, 2002
MEDIA: Weapons of Deliberate Disinformation
By WILLIAM BOWLES
Verizon standoff compels union to consider consumer campaign
NEW YORK (Press Associates Union News Service) -- A bargaining standoff with Verizon,
mostly over job security and company demands for unlimited
transfers, forced the Communications Workers of America
to consider urging customers to dump the telecom's
service in favor of other unionized carriers.
CWA and the International Brotherhood of Electrical
Workers, which together represent approximately 80,000
Verizon workers in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states,
have been bargaining with Verizon even before their
old contract expired Aug. 2.
"Verizon needs to understand that not only are we determined
to protect hometown jobs and good health benefits,
but that we've got thousands and thousands of others
behind us," CWA said on its campaign website, www.FairnessAtVerizon.com.
"We're asking Verizon customers to sign a pledge to
switch their service to another provider, or to cancel
their enhanced services, if and when the union decides
it's time," CWA adds. [MORE]
Also see 31JUL2002 Draft Hillary 2004 Update
14AUG2003
Only white people can have the "bat cave" blues...
OR the USUKI-inspired war in-the-making can't be won!
Just as gratitude is a dynamic in the human scheme of things, so is intent...
The justification for treating those who practice infidelity with such scorn, and even those who are
not grateful, godly or ungodly intent (nee-yah) also goes a long way in how the dynamic of karma
works; i.e., what goes around comes around. Do the ordinary American people want to reap what the Bush
White House policy makers have sown?
Rand Beers: "Washington underestimates the enemy and has thus far failed to address the root causes of
terror."
From Brightman's article (below) we surmise an element of that underestimation:
The combination of disdain for the USUKI infidel and hypocrite, and a natural inclination to find
direction from a well known and comforting Islamic ideology is what the west has no clue about in terms
of
who they (USUKI) have designated their oil-rich enemy to be - but are willing to fight blind - with or
without a coalition or war strategy. There is no "exit strategy" because the policy makers have no
intention of
ever leaving Iraq - not until every drop of oil has been extracted from those desert sands.
In Brighton's article we find the WHY of a no-win for the US in Iraq: American presence.
Is that so difficuly to understand? Conversely, is it so difficult to understand that U.S. policy
makers are willing to pay any price in taxpayer dollars and the lives of American soldiers and for as
long as is necessary to ultimately control the Iraqi oil fields for the ultimate benefit of the USUKI
coalition?
Repeating Mistakes of the Cold War
By CAROL BRIGHTMAN - AlterNet
Like Vietnam during the Cold War, Iraq is a disastrous test case for an ill-advised foreign policy
doctrine. [MORE]
The Finest Liars in the World
By EDUARDO GALEANO - tomdispatch
For forty-five years, Iraqi Ahmad Chalabi
ate the hard bread of exile. To ease his woes he established
a bank, Petra Bank, in Jordan. When the bank went bust, Chalabi switched countries. On the way out he
made $500 million vanish into thin air, robbing thousands of shareholders.
In 1992, a Jordanian court tried him in absentia and sentenced him to twenty years of prison and hard
labor. That same year the Iraqi National Congress was formed in London and Chalabi was consecrated as
leader of the democratic opposition to the corrupt tyranny of Saddam Hussein.
The ubiquitous chorus of resentful foes conspired against him in the years that followed and accused
him of taking a cut of contributions from the CIA. One of the absent-minded acts on the list of charges
against him was pocketing $4 million.
None of this kept Chalabi from becoming the favorite adviser for the forces that recently invaded
Iraq. His collaboration enabled the invaders to lie with admirable sincerity during and after the
slaughter that they carried out. And President Bush confirmed that he had been a good choice: This
new ally had the same habits as his friends at Enron.
Since 1958, Chalabi had not set foot in Iraq. Finally, he made it back. He is now the favorite
mascot of the occupation forces.
In Afghanistan, the favorite mascot of the occupation forces is Hamid Karzai,
who is pretending to be president.
Before Iraq, Afghanistan was the chosen site for bombardment in the new millennium's geography of
evil. Thanks to the thunderous victory of the invaders, there is freedom now. Freedom for drug
traffickers.
According to various specialized organizations of the European Union and the United Nations,
Afghanistan has become the world's principal supplier of opium, heroin, and morphine.
Estimates from these bodies show that in the first year of liberation the production of drugs
increased eighteen-fold, from 185 to 3,400 tons-the equivalent of $1.2 billion. And since then,
it has continued to increase. Even Tony Blair recognized this past January that 90 percent of the
heroin consumed in England came from Afghanistan.
The government of Hamid Karzai, which controls only the city of Kabul, is tight with Washington.
Of its sixteen ministers, ten have U.S. passports. And Karzai himself, a former consultant for the
U.S. oil company Unocal, lives surrounded by soldiers from the United States, which gives him orders
and watches wherever he goes and as he sleeps.
The invaders were supposed to stay just two months, but there they remain. This is why: The
incorruptible warriors of the war on drugs have set up shop in Afghanistan to guarantee the
freedom to grow, the freedom to traffic, and the freedom to cross borders.
Of the reconstruction of this razed country, there is little mention any more. Ahmed Karzai,
brother of the virtual president and prominent figure in the government, recently lamented: "What
did they do for us? Nothing. The people are exhausted and I don't know what to tell them." [MORE]
Pipes-Schemes - MotherJones
Congress has been out on recess for little more than a week, and already, Bush has been sneaking in
and pushing his agenda through on the sly. This time, the leader of our democracy is sidestepping
Congress to put a friend of his with a reputation as an anti-Muslim and an extremist, Daniel Pipes,
into the US Institute of Peace -- a federally funded think tank dedicated to promoting peace.
Christopher Hitchens, writing for Slate, slams Pipes as "dangerous and unreliable." Hitchens points
out Pipes' blatantly racist comments towards Palestinians, and cites Commentary magazine's February
2003 issue in which Pipes attacked road map proposals and used the words "the so-called Palestinian
refugees" and what Hitchens calls other "crude tricks of language" to imply there had been no
Palestinian dispossession.
Mother Jones' Michael Scherer notes that Pipes sees no need for diplomacy, compromise, or even
negotiation:
"Like many other Middle East scholars, Daniel Pipes sees a way to end the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict. But unlike most of his peers, Pipes sees no room for negotiation, no hope for compromise and
no use for diplomacy. 'What war had achieved for Israel,' Pipes explained at a recent Zionist conference
in Washington DC, 'diplomacy has undone.'
His solution is simple: The Israeli military must force what Pipes describes as a 'change of heart'
by the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza -- a sapping of the Palestinian will to fight which will
lead to a complete surrender. 'How is a change of heart achieved? It is achieved by an Israeli victory
and a Palestinian defeat,' Pipes continued. 'The Palestinians need to be defeated even more than Israel
needs to defeat them.'"
Scherer notes that Pipes' extreme views put him at odds with the Bush administration and its stated
policies towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; i.e., the "road mad" for peace. As a result, Bush's
nomination of Pipes to a peace-promoting think tank took many by surprise...
More on Dan Pipes - Statement from Senator Tom Harken
Mr. Chairman. I would like to address the nomination of Mr. Pipes to the U.S. Institute of Peace Board
of Directors.
I was here at the beginning of our efforts to start the Institute of Peace with my former colleagues,
Senator Sparky Matsunaga and Senator Mark Hatfield. At that time, we wanted to set up a National
Academy of Peace. This idea had first been proposed by George Washington and a couple of others
involved in our Revolutionary War. They proposed setting up a Department of Peace within the Federal
Government.
Unfortunately, the idea of a Peace Academy did not take hold at first and was debated for many, many
years. Finally in the late 1980's through compromise and negotiation it was decided that there would be
an institute rather than an academy. The law establishing the U.S. Institute of Peace was signed by
President Reagan in 1984.
Since its inception, the U.S. Institute of Peace has had a very good record of stimulating discussions,
working with high schools, colleges, and hosting visiting professors. I have spoken with many people
involved with the Institute's work of Peace, and since we fund it through our Appropriations
Subcommittee I have had a keen interest in how it has evolved and how it has operated. I think it has
had a very distinguished board, not all of whom I have agreed with philosophically, but I always have
thought that they were well-meaning individuals who brought a degree of rigorous academic examination
to the policies and procedures of the Institute of Peace.
I have never met Mr. Pipes, but I have read his writing. I have taken the time to read his writings.
I have also taken the time to contact people who have been involved with Mr. Pipes and it is clear to
me that after you strip away everything else, Mr. Pipes is a highly controversial individual.
I think anyone could agree on that. Mr. Pipes is highly controversial.
At this point in time there is a need for a United States Institute of Peace that can usefully be
involved in negotiation, conciliation, understanding, and dialogue. The United States Institute of
Peace is the last place that we need someone who is going to be a lightning rod for controversy - and
Mr. Pipes is a lightning rod. If he is on this board, more of the talk is going to be about him and
his views than it will be about the work of the entire institute.
Someone said Mr. Pipes was a scholar. As I have read more of Mr. Pipes' writings and commentaries,
it seems to me that he prefers provoking controversy. That's fine, but that is not the kind of
individual that I think we want on the board of the Institute of Peace. Mr. Pipes appears to have taken
this course, to engender controversy, to make outrageous statements that people can then pick up on.
I have an interview - this was a report done by Mark Richardson that was in the Ontario, Canada London
Free Press in which Pipes was quoted as saying, "I worry very much from the Jewish point of view that
the presence and increased stature, and affluence, and enfranchisement of American Muslims will present
true dangers to American Jews." Increased stature, affluence, and enfranchisement. He is talking about
the right to vote. The right to vote.
The writer says, "Mr. Pipes makes is no distinction between Islamism and Islam. So I e-mailed Pipes for
clarification and he was good enough to respond." From Mr. Pipes, "As the number of Muslims increases in
Western countries, those countries are going to become more Muslim in nature, and that will
inevitably be to the detriment of some elements. I was speaking to a Jewish audience. I would make
the same point to audiences of women, gays, civil libertarians, Hindus, evangelical Christians, among
others, all of whom face similar true dangers as the number of Muslims increases and threaten their
interests. For an example of a country that is experiencing advanced problems along those lines, see my
article about Denmark at www.danielpipes.org
Article 450."
The writer says, so I did. In his New York Post article Pipes says, among other things, "Muslims are
only 4 percent of Denmark's 5.4 million people but make up a majority of the country's convicted
rapists, an especially combustible issue given that practically all the female victims are
non-Muslim." This is Daniel Pipes' writing, not mine. This is his writing. "This is not a pleasant
fact to point out," Pipes noted in closing, "but all concerned are better off dealing with the truth
and not hiding from it."
The writer goes on to say, "not so fast. No one can blame minorities for feeling threatened, but that
applies to Islamic minorities too. I suspect that the root cause of the problems Pipes associates with
Muslim immigration are the very lack of stature, affluence, and enfranchisement that he fears."
Another writer went on to point out that the stats he pointed out about Denmark are really not true.
So somehow this was made out of whole cloth, that Muslims make up 4 percent of Denmark's 5.4 million
people but make up a majority of their convicted rapists. These are inflammatory statements made by
Daniel Pipes to invoke controversy. But again, I hope you can see that someone like this on the
Institute of Peace is going to draw more fire around him.
I might just add, Mr. Chairman that this inordinate fear that Mr. Pipes has of the enfranchisement,
stature, and affluence of American Muslims falls on deaf ears when it comes to this Senator. In the
State of Iowa we have the oldest operating mosque in America. The oldest, in my State of Iowa, in Cedar
Rapids, Iowa. We have been blessed with a rich diversity in our State of Northern Europeans, we have a
huge Jewish population in many parts of our State, and we have Muslims in Cedar Rapids and Des Moines.
Now if Mr. Pipes's fears were anywhere true, we would have seen a lot of discontent and discord in
Cedar Rapids, Iowa. That has been the opposite of what has happened. The Muslims in Iowa have become
lawyers and business owners, union members, doctors, part of our community. And they have been
enfranchised; they vote. And some of them are quite affluent, and some of them are not. They make up
a wide range.
From the deepest part of my body I strongly disagree with Pipes when he says that the very fact of
enfranchisement, affluence, and assimilation will somehow threaten our values. The opposite is true.
They have taken on our American values and have become American Muslims, just like other minorities who
have come to this country. They brought their religions. They brought their customs. But they have
Americanized.
I remember as a young child going to my small Catholic Church in my small community with my mother who
was an immigrant who could barely speak English. On certain feast days my mother liked to wear the
clothes of her native land. These were not the normal clothes that one would wear in a small town in
Iowa. And I can remember people making fun of her.
So when Mr. Pipes makes statements like this, I think about my mother. Sure, she talked funny. Maybe
she didn't dress like everyone else did. She wanted to bring some of her customs with her to this
country. But anyone who knew my mother could never deny that she was American to the core.
My staff also contacted Dr. Juan Cole at the University of Michigan department of history. I do not
know Juan Cole. I have never met him, but my staff has talked to him to verify what he has said and to
make sure that he can back up what he has written. According to Mr. Cole, in September of 2002 Mr. Pipes
set up a web site that targeted scholars that "did not support U.S. interests in the Middle East."
Quoting from Dr. Cole, "in September of 2002 Mr. Pipes placed me and other academics on a McCarthyite
watch list that disrupted our teaching and scholarship and resulted in death threats and massive
spamming. The watch list encouraged those who know me to spy on me and to submit to Mr. Pipes reports on
my statements and activities, which would either be secretly archived by his Middle East forum or
published on the web."
The keeping of dossiers on individual academics provoked an outcry among all Americans concerned about
freedom of speech. Judith Butler of the University of California suggested that persons all across the
U.S. "turn themselves in" to Pipes and ask that they be added to his watch list.
On 21 September, the eight targeted scholars on whom Pipes had set up web-based dossiers began
receiving hundreds and even thousands of e-mails each day. This massive spamming was the work of hackers
who illicitly nested in a Verizon server in southern California and automated the sending out of these
numerous spam messages. Mr. Cole goes on to say, as a result of this, I could not even do my work.
I could not read by e-mails. I could not even e-mail fellow academics. I had thousands of spasm every
day locking up his computer."
Mr. Cole continues, "around October 1st of 2002 Mr. Pipes responded to the outcry that his
neoMcCarthyism had provoked by taking down the dossiers on individual professors. He continued to have
web pages on individual campuses, however, and the materials on the individuals was simply transferred
to those sites. That is, the surveillance continued simply under a different heading."
For all of these reasons, Mr. Chairman, and especially for what he did to these professors, indicated
that this is an individual that is a lightning rod, highly controversial. When he talks about Muslims
being funny looking, bringing different customs, I am sorry; this is not the person that ought to be on
the U.S. Institute of Peace board.
I close, Mr. Chairman, by saying I do not know why we are considering this person. We have had no
hearings on him. I have not been able to question him. He has not appeared, and all of a sudden his
name is brought up. I do not know what is going on. But for all these reasons, this is not a person
that ought to be put on the United States Institute of Peace.
U.S. Government Sting Operation Criticized as Setup
By BRIAN ROSS - ABC News
Administration officials are leaving out key facts and exaggerating the significance of the alleged
plot to smuggle a shoulder-launched missile into the United States, law enforcement officials told
ABCNEWS. They say there's a lot less than meets the eye.
The accused ringleader, British national Hemant Lakhani, appeared today in federal court in
Newark, N.J., and was ordered held without bond on charges of attempting to provide material support
and material resources to terrorists and acting as an arms broker without a license.
Outside the courtroom, U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie called Lakhani an ally of terrorists who
want to kill Americans.
"He, on many occasions, in recorded conversations, referred to Americans as 'bastards' [and] Osama bin
Laden as a hero," said Christie.
But what he did not say was just how much of the alleged missile plot was a government setup from
start to finish.
For example, Lakhani had no contacts in Russia to buy the missiles before the sting and had no known
criminal record for arms dealing, officials told ABCNEWS...
Ed. note: Yesterday Danny Schechter asked, "Has the word "entrapment" surfaced in any news report you have
seen on the news reports about the SAM missile sting that led to the arrest of a British arms dealer
and two accomplices? It was all over every program yesterday with a host of different details. First,
the missile was for terrorists who were out to shoot down Air Force One with the President as the
target. (Shades of 9/11 when the POTUS plane was racing hither and yon to allegedly avoid an unhappy
fate that proved to be quite speculative.) Then the Air Force One connection seemed to have been dropped
as we heard more about how Russian, British, and US agents worked together to crack (or possibly set up)
the plot. More to come I am sure."
Today he adds, "The war on terror was back in the news with new arrests of militants in Saudi Arabia,
the largest death toll (50) in any one day in Afghanistan in a bombing incident, and fresh details in
New Jersey on the indictment of a British arms dealer who is said to have called Americans "bastards"
and praised Osama bin Laden. So far he has not spoken -- if he ever will. He apparently told the court
that he is destitute and needs a court appointed lawyer. BBC reported that he also ran a clothing
business that failed. This does not exactly sound like a big fish. Also, embarrassingly to those who
see this in ethnic or religious terms, he is from India, not Pakistan, and had a Jewish businessman as
an accomplice. Stay tuned."
Power and Peril
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Having been known to convey a message from time to time meself, we do not advocate shooting the
messenger. We tend to filter news through the War on Tourism, so today's Comical
Tom (Friedman) piece is especially welcome, also because it is funny. I mean, Tom complains about
highway robbery in Iraq. Shoot. They could have just as easily killed him dead. Then the Bush White
House would
have been sorry, and the rest of us would have been very sad. I cannot imagine a Beirut to Jerusalem
world without Tom Friedman, even though I think he's completely and totally lost it to his unconscious
pro-zionist thing; i.e., he ain't here anymore.
In the war on tourism, Tom Friedman brings us some half bad travel news; how he and his pals got robbed
at gunpoint in Iraq the other day. Cash only. No credit cards. The half good news is that his ordeal was
only a matter of highway robbery - that Tom was still alive to call his story in.
When "Freedom to Travel" reaches a certain level of acceptability, it is thereby determined the world
is safe, and we can get back to the business of tourism and trade. Look for
travel (canary-in-the-mine-shaft barometer-like) readings from Baghdad and Bethlehem if you want to
know what's what. Freedom to travel in Mecca (for all Muslims), and Jerusalem, and downtown Beirut
and the Bekkah Valley wouldn't be bad either.
Tom also complains about electric power being on the fritz throughout Iraq. Also not good for tourism
or trade. Iraq is a mess. Reminiscent of the California Energy Crisis days.
Re-call circus aside,
some of the same guys who were involved in keeping the lights on in California then are now in charge
of keeping it cool in Iraq. We are doomed! [MORE]
How Liberals Look from the Middle of the Road
By WALTER CRONKITE
What next? THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT BEGINS - MoveOn.org
Also see 31JUL2002 Draft Hillary 2004 Update
13AUG2003
A Fair and Balanced Look at Fox News By SUSAN SAULNY
 In the dry corner of business law called trademark litigation,
Fox v. Franken is an unusually lively document. Along with mundane accusations of unfair competition,
the lawsuit includes some especially derisive remarks about the defendant, Al Franken, the political
satirist.
The court papers were filed in State Supreme Court in Manhattan and became public yesterday. In the
lawsuit, a judge is being asked to decide an important question: who has the right to use the
word "fair" and the word "balanced" together, connected by the word "and"?
Lawyers for Fox News Network, part of Rupert Murdoch's media empire, News Corporation, contend that
Al Franken should not be allowed to use those words in the title of his new book due in stores next
month, "
Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right" (Penguin).
They argue that Fox has trademarked "Fair and Balanced" to describe its news coverage and that Mr.
Franken's use of the phrase would "blur and tarnish" it. [MORE]
Also see e.thePeople re: FAUX and Franken.
Fox News: The No Credibility Zone
By CARL F. WORDEN
I've had my doubts about the credibility of Fox News for some time now, and the events
of August 12, 2003 confirm every last one of them: Fox News is just as government controlled and
unreliable in it's slanted news reporting as CNN ever was.
The tax evasion acquittal of Vernice Kuglin in a Memphis federal court spurred thousands of readers
to e-mail Bill O'Reilly at Fox News, urging him to cover the story and to interview Kuglin and her
attorney.
We'll never know exactly what transpired in the hallowed halls of Fox News, but it appears Bill O'Reilly
didn't want to touch the story. But a major Internet story it was, so instead of the "No-Spin Zone",
Fox arranged interviews by John Gibson, a spot on Hannity & Colmes, and with Greta Van Susteren.
Gibson and Hannity & Colmes did the interviews, but for some reason it was bumped from Van Susteren's
segment.
It's just as well: Fox clearly got and gave orders to discredit Kuglin and her attorney, Larry Becraft.
It was a hit piece all the way.
In all fairness, John Gibson was less antagonistic, although he made it a point to insist all
Americans should pay their fair share of taxes at the end of the interview when Kuglin and Becraft
could not respond. But today's award for the lowest form of pond-scum bottom-feeder unquestionably
goes to Sean Hannity.
Hannity is a televised Rush Limbaugh. No matter what happens in his world, Republicans can do no
wrong, while Democrats are the leading cause of cancer. This writer happens to be a life-long
Republican, but give me a break: Nobody's perfect. Hannity would undoubtedly disagree.
There was no question Hannity went into the interview intending to embarrass and vilify Kuglin
and Becraft. He was real sly in the beginning, but at the end of the interview, he went for their
jugulars.
Instead of reasonably discussing the rule of law and the particulars involved in the case,
Hannity railed and tried to shame Kuglin for getting away with not paying taxes all the rest of us
Americans have to pay. It was well beyond deliberate, and his antagonistic comments lacked any form
of relevance to the actual case.
There was no question Fox had been tapped to prejudice any potential juror who might serve in a civil
prosecution the IRS may bring against Kuglin in the future. I am beyond certain that was their intent.
As a result, I have completely lost all respect for Fox News, and they will never regain it again.
Bill O'Reilly and his gang are government brown-nosed chumps.
It will be interesting to see what the IRS does now. They lost their criminal case against Kuglin in a
huge way. In order to get a criminal conviction, they had to prove Kuglin intended to violate the law.
That was practically impossible to prove, because of all those letters Kuglin wrote to the IRS, asking
them to show her where the Tax Code required her to pay federal income taxes. She clearly showed good
faith by making those requests, and the IRS showed nothing but bad faith by not responding to her.
That's probably the main reason Kuglin was acquitted.
So now we come to a possible civil prosecution, where the IRS may try to force Kuglin to pay federal
income taxes, including interest and penalties, on $920,000.00 of income.
If there ever was a time for the IRS to proceed cautiously, this case is it. First, there's been a
good deal of publicity in favor of Kuglin's position - no thanks to Sean Hannity and Fox News - and if
the IRS were to lose against Kuglin in a civil trial due to their failure to convince a jury she is
subject to federal income tax, then Katie bar the door! If they lose to Kuglin on those grounds, a
substantial chunk of American workers might just file W-4 forms with 99 exemptions the very next day.
I can already hear that giant sucking sound emanating from the U.S. Treasury...
It will be very interesting to see how this case plays out.
Carl F. Worden, Liaison Officer
Southern Oregon Militia
Psychological study says Bush (and Hitler, Mussolini, Reagan, and Limbaugh) are nuts!
Study of Bush's psyche touches a nerve
By JULIAN BORGER - The Guardian
"A study funded by the US government has concluded that conservatism can be explained psychologically
as a set of neuroses rooted in "fear and aggression, dogmatism and the intolerance of ambiguity". [MORE]
CIA plan to "plant" WMD in Iraq Bungled - Nelda Rogers
"According to a stunning report posted by a retired Navy Lt Commander and 28-year veteran of the
Defense Department (DoD), the Bush administration¹s assurance about finding weapons of mass destruction
in Iraq was based on a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) plan to "plant" WMDs inside the country. Nelda
Rogers, the Pentagon whistleblower, claims the plan failed when the secret mission was mistakenly taken
out by "friendly fire." [MORE]
MS Worm Eats Way Across Internet
CBS told a good news/bad new story last night re: the computer virus (worm). The good news is that the
virus only affects PCs that use Windows and Microsoft products. The bad news is that 90% of computers
are PCs and use Windows and Microsoft products...
"The computer worm that knocked thousands of U.S. computers off the Internet has spread across
Europe and Asia. The virus-like infection takes advantage of a flaw in most Microsoft Windows operating
systems." [MORE]
Arnold Schwarzenegger up 575% on Amazon
10. What was the purpose and substance of the May 11, 2001 meeting with then-Mayor Richard Riordan,
former junk bond king Michael Milken, and Arnold Schwarzenegger? Lawmakers should obtain the materials
Ken Lay provided at that meeting. [See Questions 1-9]
How Liberals Look from the Middle of the Road
By WALTER CRONKITE
What next? THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT BEGINS - MoveOn.org
Also see 31JUL2002 Draft Hillary 2004 Update
12AUG2003
The Nightmare Continues in Palestine - By GIDEON LEVY - Ha'aretz
 TEL AVIV - Israel's
contact with the next generation of Palestinians - those who grew up under the
occupation - and its attempts to achieve peace with them, will be far more problematic than with the
generation that preceded it. This is something we need to be aware of and take into account. No past
generation grew up in conditions as severe as those that afflicted the members of the current
generation in the territories. Indeed, there is no place in the Western world where children live in
comparable conditions. A year ago, a report by USAID, the U.S. Agency for International Development,
found that about a quarter of the children in the territories suffer from malnutrition, either
prolonged or passing. A United Nations agency found at the time that 62 percent of the Palestinians
did not have sufficient access to food. Since then, the situation has only been aggravated.
A similar state of affairs exists in the health system, in which all medical treatment, including
vaccinations and first aid, is a complicated, and at times impossible, bureaucratic process. One need
only participate in one of the events held by Physicians for Human Rights to see the health conditions
in which children are growing up in Israel's backyard.
It is not only food and physical health that these children lack. From Jenin to Rafah, hundreds of
thousands of children are suffering from psychological traumas whose impact is difficult to gauge.
These are children who, in the past three years, have been exposed to death in truly frightening
dosages, to destruction, shooting, tanks in the streets, soldiers invading their homes in the middle of
the night, arrests, beatings and multiple forms of humiliation. Some of them lost their friends, in
some cases before their eyes: 230 Palestinian children under the age of 15 and another 208 aged 15-18
have been killed since September 2000. Many others have been rendered paralyzed or disabled, and their
friends have been exposed to horrors. One doesn't have to be a psychologist to understand that children
who live with deep anxiety for such a lengthy period will suffer mental problems. And, of course, hardly
any of them are getting professional assistance.
These children are growing up with deprivations that are hard for an Israeli parent or child to
imagine. They have never seen a beach, have never been in an air-conditioned room, have never splashed
around in a swimming pool, have never been on a bus, have never gone on a trip anywhere‹they can only
dream of being on a train or a plane. Some of them were unable to leave their homes for months on end,
or leave their villages for years.
Day and night in the same village, without a community center, without a sports field, without books,
toys or games. They have never been to an amusement park, they have no idea what a computer is, they
have never been to a movie theater, seen a play, visited a museum, attended a concert or taken part in
extracurricular activities. For months they couldn't even get to school. Their cultural and social
world was formed by the conditions of their lives under the closures and sieges imposed by Israel. Some
of them have never seen their grandparents, even though they live in a nearby town; others have never
seen their imprisoned brothers or fathers (in some cases, both parents are in Israeli detention) since
visits to prisons became impossible. Many children, too, have been arrested and given severe punishments
without any consideration for their age, and have been jailed together with adults.
However, it is not only the living conditions of the Palestinian children that should be causing
Israelis sleepless nights. Because in addition to their distress, for most of which Israel is
responsible, this is a generation that "did not know Joseph." Their fathers worked in Israel, in
some cases from a very early age, working its fields, building its houses, cleaning its streets or
doing commerce with Israel. From childhood they were exposed to Israelis, becoming familiar with
both their ugly and their good sides and even learning their language. Consequently, the attitude
of that generation toward Israel is more complex: the great majority of that generation still
believes in peace and some of it aspires to emulate Israel in certain spheres.
In contrast, the children of the present generation are totally cut off from us. Their only exposure to
Israel is through two figures: the soldier who bursts violently into their home in the dead of night,
smashes a hole in their living room wall and humiliates their parents; or the settler, who has
plundered their land and sometimes also abuses them.
This is a generation that has never heard of nonviolent, unarmed Israelis. The only Israelis today's
Palestinian children - tomorrow's generation of adults - have seen are those who imprison them in their
homes, shoot them, beat them and humiliate them. They don't need the incitement doses in day camps or
Palestinian television to mold their worldview. All they have to do is look around at what is happening
close to home.
When they come of age they will carry these memories with them. They will not be able to forget the
spectacles of horror they were exposed to, or those they hold responsible for them. Thus before our
eyes a generation is growing that is not only hungry, psychologically traumatized, unhealthy and
without proper education‹but is also thirsty for revenge and consumed by hatred. This is a message
that should be of deep concern, not only to the parents of these wretched children, but to us
all. [Thanks to tikkun.org]
Photo above: 18-year-old
Erez Hershkovitz. Killed in a suicide attack on Tuesday.
Not pictured:
Yehezkel Yakutieli, 43, also killed elsewhere in Israel on Tuesday.
Palestine as an Action Item.
Please sign the petition!
The California Recall - Remember, this recall isn't about what a jerk Gray Davis is; he always was a
jerk, and the California voters elected him over Bill Simon in 2002. Never mind that Davis spent
millions from his own campaign war chest to defeat former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, so's Davis
could run against
Simon, who he knew he could defeat rather than face Riordan who he could not.
The Republicans were furious over how Davis had bought and manipulated the electoral process, and because
they had the legal right to do it, they began the recall process. All is fair in the whatevers...
So while the days leading up to the October 5th Recall and Election of a new Governor for the State of
California have had the whole world laughing, the Carl Rove revelation has taken all the fun out of it.
Arnold Schwarzenegger
is a tool of the Bush Administration. He's trying to get elected California Governor so the Bush
Family can get more control over the rogue state.
The way BuzzFlash
sees it is that Rove was planning the recall initiative probably within days after Davis beat Simon
last November. Also see the BuzzFlash
Evidence of the Bush White House Role in the California Recall.
So it seems that our boy Arnold is up to his "male prostitue in Vienna" and "his father was a Nazi Stormtrooper"
whatevers and he's in even deeper "porn movies" bullshit than anyone except a conspiracy theorist
could imagine.
Besides infidelity to his wife,
Arnold is a cruel sonofabitch, and mean besides. There are stories circulating that he sexually harassed
women, some that made the supermarket magazine racks.
Says
Celebrity, "Much has been made of the March, 2001 story in Premiere magazine, "Arnold the Barbarian:
Sex, Pets and the Videotape" - It accuses the actor of frequently groping females and engaging in
extramarital affairs.
Arnold threatened to sue, but he didn't because the storie were true.
None of the above, the
cruelty, the
infidelity, the porn movies, his father being a Nazi or Arnold's
male prostitute escapades will matter. After all, it was known that George W was a draft dodger, a cocaine
user and an alcoholic, and he mocked the repentant born-again Carla Fay Tucker befor he blew her away,
and George W was cruel to animals. None of that made a difference. Nearly half of the Election 2000
voters didn't care and voted for him anyhow.
What does matter in Hillary Clinton's ongoing saga of the "vast right wing conspiracy" against the
Democrats is that
Schwarzenegger met in April with Karl Rove.
Is this all a Karl Rove plot?
From Village Voice: "In April Rove met with Schwarzenegger, who was considering running for governor in 2006. But maybe
Rove had other ideas."
"I think we, as Democrats, are going to have a very difficult time defeating Arnold,"
San Francisco mayor Willie Brown told CNN last week. "The Republican Party and the White House are
literally orchestrating now this whole thing. They understand that in 2004, they need to destabilize
California... They don't think they'll win it, but with Arnold at the helm they're in a position to
do incredible damage. This is an opportunity for them, not unlike what they were attempting to do in
Texas, not unlike what they did in Florida when they first got the presidency. So don't misread this."
The Washington Times puts forth a bland overview of the Recall story in
Arnold early favorite in California election by RALPH Z. HALLOW.
Afterthought: Like father like son? Maybe the sins of the father is an unfair Nazi rap on Arnold. Even beyond Arnold's
blood-connection to the Nazi however, he's still got a problem.
See
Arnold's Nazi Problem: The Kurt Waldheim Connection. Ironic, ain't it? As in birds of a feather,
the known Nazi past of the Bush Family did not affect how many millions of votes George W received in 2000.
California Republic Flag above links to CBS site. "let the games begin" and "state of amusement" kind of humor.
Global Warming: A Day and Night Reminder Across the Globe
TOM ENGELHARDT - tomdispatch
DIEBOLD E-Vote Machines Face Audit
By KIM ZETTER - Wired
Mike Hawash pleads guilty to conspiracy to aid the Taliban
politech
The Islamophobe Next Door
By DANIEL PIPES
Mike Hawash Archives on The Geeze
GROUPS REACT TO RECESS APPOINTMENT OF 'ISLAMOPHOBE'
Wednesday is 'National Call-in Day' to oppose Daniel Pipes appointment
On THURSDAY, AUGUST 14, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), along with a number of other
Muslim, Arab-American, civil liberties, and interfaith groups, will hold a news conference in
Washington, D.C., in reaction to reports that President Bush will soon issue a recess appointment for
Daniel Pipes, regarded by many Muslims as the nation's leading Islamophobe. (A recess appointment
allows the president to circumvent the normal approval process in the Senate.)
Those same groups have designated WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 13, as a "NATIONAL CALL-IN DAY" to oppose the
Pipes appointment. The thousands of people who have already contacted the White House and Senate to
oppose Pipes' nomination are being asked to call, e-mail or fax the president to express their concerns
about a recess appointment.
"This back-door move by the president is a defeat for democracy and an affront to all those who seek
peace," said CAIR Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper. "Pipes' appointment calls into question all of
President Bush's previous statements claiming that the war on terrorism is not an attack on Islam and
shows total distain for the democratic process."
The president nominated Pipes to the board of directors of the United States Institute for Peace (USIP)
in April, but his nomination has been stalled by concerns about Pipes' bigoted anti-Muslim and pro-war
views. The nomination has been opposed by the Washington Post, the Dallas Morning News, the Chicago
Tribune, as well as many foreign policy scholars and Jewish peace groups.
At a meeting in July of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, the body that
would have taken the initial vote on the nomination, several senators expressed opposition to Pipes'
bigoted views. That meeting ended without a vote.
Also see Bush to Sidestep Muslim Groups, Senate on Scholar By ADAM ENTOUS
Iraq War Protesters Face Fines - 'Human Shields' Violated U.S. Sanctions
By JONATHON WEISMAN
Today We Face Another 'Watergate'
By SAM DASH
The government overreaches when it employs its war against terror to attack the liberties of American
citizens. We now face sweeping federal wiretapping, secret searches and seizures, arrest and detention
without trial or right to counsel, infiltration by FBI agents in our places of worship and in our social
and political clubs and associations. Not even what we read, either from libraries or bookstores, is
respected. [MORE - ICH]
Ideas to Save our Withering Democracy - Redistribution of Wealth and Power
By CARMEN LAWRENCE
The Nine Firms That Dominate the World
By ROBERT W. McCHESNEY
"Those who own the world ought to govern it..." Time Warner, Disney, Bertelsmann, Viacom, Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, TCI, General Electric and
Seagram. [MORE]
ON/OFF SUBJECT:
How LBJ Killed Liberalism
The Assassination of Julius Caesar: A People's History of Ancient Rome
The Military records of George Walker Bush
 
How Liberals Look from the Middle of the Road
By WALTER CRONKITE
What next? THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT BEGINS - MoveOn.org
Also see 31JUL2002 Draft Hillary 2004 Update
11AUG2003
ABC/NBC/CBS/MSNBC/FOX/CNN/PBS
Some Good News from The News Dissector
"The total evening news audience on the broadcast networks has been
lower this summer than it was during the summer of 2001, when the pressing stories of the day were
shark attacks and Chandra Levy. CBS Evening News has been particularly hard hit; in late June, CBS,
which is owned by Viacom Inc., had one of its least-watched weeks for its nightly news report in at
least a decade, and perhaps in its history, according to Nielsen Media Research. The audience of ABC,
which is owned by the Walt Disney Company, is down nearly 600,000 from last year..."
Transgenerational Financial Terrorism
By JEFF GATES
The nation's fast-weakening financial condition is embedded in a flawed economic model
embraced by neoliberals that fritters away thr fiscal resources needed for healthcare, education,
foreign aid, intelligence-gathering, and environmental clean-up.
Though hate-radio hosts assure their listeners that the dreaded "death tax" devastates small business
owners and family farmers, that's another big lie conveyed by a bought-up and shut-down media. As they
know but dare not tell, a quarter of 1999's estate tax receipts were paid by just 467 estates worth more
than $20 million each.
Texas-based Clear Channel now owns 1,225 radio stations and syndicates programming to 7800
broadcasters, enabling hard-right radio icon Rush Limbaugh to dominate the nation's drive-time eardrums
while crowding out other perspectives like nothing seen since the fall of the Soviet Union.
With support from both major political parties, Americans find themselves immersed in a media
environment where it's all but impossible to learn the real facts about the perilous state of their
nation.
Media consolidation helps obscure the gross mismanagement of the nation's financial affairs as both
parties embraced the University of Chicago's "neoliberal" economic model. As the 1980s began, the
national debt was already a hefty $909 billion. After 20 years of leadership by two like-minded,
neoliberal-inclined parties, that debt our debt is on track to reach $7384 by September 2004. In a
2003 survey on transgenerational accounting, economists working for the U.S. Treasury identify $43
trillion in unfunded government liabilities.
Half the total gain in real income (47 percent) between 1983 and 1998 flowed to the topmost one percent
while only 12 percent trickled down to the bottom four-fifths.
In the four years to 1999, the world's 200 richest people doubled their wealth to a combined $1
trillion. By comparison, the combined income of the world's 2.5 billion poorest is $1 trillion. [MORE]
Jeff Gates is the author of "The Ownership Solution" (1998) and "Democracy at Risk: Rescuing Main
Street from Wall Street" (2000). For more information, visit www.sharedcapitalism.org.
Bush White House Pushing "Ideological" Science
President Bush's science policies came under fire in a report from Democrat lawmakers and studies by
reproductive health experts and scientists. All accuse the Bush administration of distorting science
to suit ideology and of ignoring scientific studies that do not support conservative viewpoints.
A report from the House Government Reform Committee also accuses the administration of appointing
scientific panel members based on ideology. The report accuses the government of posting a page on the
National Cancer Institute website, for instance, incorrectly linking abortion with breast cancer.
The page was removed after an outcry.
It also accuses the White House of appointing a CDC advisor who believes children can remain healthy
with blood lead levels much higher than presently allowed.
The Bush White House denies its health and science policies are politically distorted.[MORE - Wired]
The end?
By STEPHEN JAMES KERR
Get out of the way. American capitalism has declared war on the laws of physics. [MORE]
Hypnosis's magic is that it works
By BRAD EVENSON - National Post
Hypnosis relieves anxiety and pain: Research shows measurable changes in brain function. [MORE]
Also see: Black boxes on crashed airplanes reveal that pilots' last words are
usually "Oh, God!" or Oh, shit!"
 In the case of a hypnotist who after hypnotizing a whole theater full of audience by swinging a
priceless family heirloom gold watch from a gold chain in front of them and mezmerizing them into
a deep hypnotic sleep, dropped the watch that fell to the stage floor and broke all to pieces.
The hypnotist's response to the damage of the watch was "Oh, shit!" It took them a month to
clean up the theater. [Photo by Bob Pennell. Subjects slump under the influence of a hypnotist in Oregon, a U.S. state
where until recently the practice was banned. There is no generally accepted scientific explanation of
how hypnotism works...]
A Piece of the Amazon Pie
MoJo
The Bush White House is, yet again, lending a helping hand to its chums in the natural gas industry.
Who stands to profit from their latest project? None other than familiar Bush and Cheney darlings:
Hunt Oil (whose chairman Ray Hunt raised nearly $100,000 for the 2000 Bush campaign), and Kellogg,
Brown and Root (a subsidiary of Halliburton). According to the Washington Post's James V. Grimaldi,
KBR's parent company, Halliburton, has a $1 billion stake in the venture:
Halliburton's KBR unit is a top candidate to build a $1 billion seaside liquefied-natural-gas plant
on the Peruvian coast if Hunt goes ahead with plans to export "Camisea" gas to the United States by 2006.
[MORE]
Preventive
War 'The Supreme Crime'
Iraq: invasion that will live in infamy
by NOAM CHOMSKY
The Seven Mortal
Sins of American Blindness
By LUC DEBIEUVRE
Iran-Contra, Amplified
By JIM LOBE
Ex-FBI Official Assails 9/11 Report
By H.G. REZA and GREG KRIKORIAN
* He disputes claims of Saudi aid and that the agency missed chances to catch two hijackers.
Never mind the fact that neither the "Ex-FBI Official" or the 9/11 Report make mention of Mossad or
the so-called "art students" who were surrveiling the actual 911 hijackers.
On Terrorism, Methodism, Saudi "Wahhabism" and the Censored 9-11 Report
By GARY LEUPP
U.S. Clamps Secrecy on Warnings Before 9/11
By MARIE COCCO
A Debate Over U.S. 'Empire' Builds in Unexpected Circles
By DAN MORGAN - Washington Post
"America has begun to stray far from its founding tradition of leading the world by example rather
than by force."
Playing the
Word-Count Game
By SHEILA SAMPLES
The 296 Congressmen and 77 Senators who - out of fear of political blowback - voted to make
assassination and mass murder the foreign policy of this great nation - are liars!
If it's true that words come back to haunt you, it must also be true - like the late,
great "Comical Ari" Fleischer once warned - folks need to "watch what they say..."
The entire political apparatus is jones'n out on Bush's January 2003 State of the Union speech, or at
least the 16 words where he said, "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently
sought significant qualities of uranium from Africa." They're shocked - shocked - to discover that
here, six months, 260 dead American soldiers and counting, and more than 7,000 dead Iraqi civilians
later, their president may have - just may have - unintentionally created this chaos by telling a...
well, he may have embossed the tru... or maybe he just mis-spoke because he was misled... yeah, that's
it - Bush mis-spoke - and besides, even if it was, well you know, that other thing - it was only a
tiny white one...
Lie. The word is Lie.
Forget those 16 words, or at least put them into perspective. It's all a matter of rhetoric anyway.
As George Orwell said when describing 1984's Newspeak, "...what was required, above all for political
purposes, was short, clipped words of unmistakable meaning which could be uttered rapidly and which
roused the minimum of echoes in the speaker's mind." The intent of such rhetoric, Orwell said, was to
make speech on any subject that was not ideologically neutral as nearly as possible independent of
consciousness...
National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice won the duckspeak prize which, according to Orwell was speech
that - although articulate - issued from the larynx without involving the higher brain centers at all.
There was no mistaking the short-clipped meaning of Rice's "smoking gun/mushroom cloud" rhetoric. The
world trembled, remained silent as their freedoms were curtailed "for security reasons," and anxiously
watched the skies. [MORE]
Critics of US policy are racist, says Rice
By DAVID RENNIE
Condoleezza Rice, the most senior black woman in the Bush administration, has levelled a charge of
racism against critics of the US drive to bring Western freedoms to the Middle East. [MORE]
Waitaminute! This war in Iraq is about USUK's mainly white men, and mainly self-proclaimed Christians
and Zionist-Christians stealing away oil from mostly brown men, women and children, who also happen to
be mainly Muslims. Sorry, Condodo. If its racism you're looking for, you'll hafta look a little closer
to the Bush White House than Affirmative Chevron.
The Jailing of Black
America is Adding to Cycle of Low Family Income
By ALEX P. KELLOG - BET.com
U.S.
Justification for War: How it Stacks up Six months Later
By ROBERT BRIZE
The Powell case and Powell himself can be examined in a new light. Remember, this is the same Colin
Powell who the Democrats and Republicans were wooing to be their guy; as presidential candidate
material. As the possibility of there ever being a black President of the United States, unlike Jesse
Jackson, the American people really liked and trusted Powell in a Walter Cronkite kind of way.
All that's gone now. But remember, just like Clarence Thomas was the Republican's house nigger and
sure Supreme Court vote for whatever they wanted wheneveer they wanted it, even if Powell hadn't sold
his soul to the Bush White House, Powell did have one skeleton that could come back to haunt him anyhow.
Colin Powell was "in charge" of the CIA's Mi Lai Massacre cover-up*. According
to
Irwin Wingo at onlinejournal.com, "The only other minor blot on Powell's
record is that he is a mass murderer and a war criminal for his oversight of the slaughter of Iraqi
non-combatants in Desert Storm. Had he been judged at Nuremberg he would have been hanged."
*According to BartCop.com, the Mi Lai
massacre, where Lt Calley was sent to the Vietnamese village of My Lai on instructions of Captain Ernest
Medina to kill everyone and everything in the village; some 400 men, women, children and animals (some
rapes too), simply because of the frustration of not being able to find and fight an enemy who
constantly wounded and maimed his own men. Calley was sentenced to life in prison in the 70's.
See
Why Richard Nixon Should Have
Executed Lt. William Calley (instead of being placed under house arrest, and eventually paroled with
a dishonorable discharge - then he traveled through the American legal system on his road to freedom).
Captain Medina, Lieutenant Calley, and all of the members
of Charlie Company who participated in the killings at My Lai village should have been tried by the
military courts and the state and federal courts, found guilty and executed.
"Secretary of State Colin Powell is a lifelong operative of the CIA/military-industrial complex. While
working for the Pentagon he helped cover up the Mai Lai massacre, the contra/arms deal and Gulf War
Syndrome. Powell's fame derives from presiding over a war in which US troops were used as guinea pigs
for experimental vaccines so that they could "safely" fight George Bush's friend Saddam Hussein-who had
been given the go ahead to attack Kuwait after being supplied with chemical and biological weapons by
the Bush administration. Like many of GW's appointees of color, Powell proudly admits he owes his career
in large part to affirmative action while joining an administration that considers ending affirmative
action one of its topmost priorities." -- Thanks to
Dubya's Closet.
Wietnam'da Yapilan Katiliamar Ve Meshur ABD Disisleri Bakani Colin Powell
Information on Colin Powell and American war crimes (from Ted Smith)
Depiction of Threat Outgrew Supporting Evidence - Powell Full Circle
By BARTON GELLMAN and WALTER PINCUS
Pipes the Propagandist
By CHRISTOPHER HITCHINS - Slate Magazine
When I read that Daniel Pipes had been nominated to the board of the United States Institute of
Peace (a federally funded body whose members are proposed by the president and confirmed by the
Senate), my first reaction was one of bafflement. Why did Pipes want the nomination? After all,
USIP, a somewhat mild organization, is devoted to the peaceful resolution of conflict. For Pipes,
this notion is a contradiction in terms.
I am not myself a pacifist, and I believe that Islamic nihilism has to be combated with every weapon,
intellectual and moral as well as military, which we possess or can acquire. But that is a position
shared by a very wide spectrum of people. Pipes, however, uses this consensus to take a position
somewhat to the right of Ariel Sharon, concerning a matter (the Israel-Palestine dispute) that
actually can be settled by negotiation. And he employs the fears and insecurities created by Islamic
extremism to slander or misrepresent those who disagree with him.
This makes him a poor if not useless ally in the wider battle...
He is the founder of Campus Watch, a Web-site crusade that purports to expose heretical or subversive
teachers in America...
On more than one occasion, Pipes has called for the extension of Israel's already ruthless policy of
collective punishment, arguing that leveling Palestinian villages is justifiable if attacks are
launched from among their inhabitants. It seems to me from observing his style that he came to this
conclusion with rather more relish than regret. And, invited recently to comment on the wartime
internment of the Japanese-as a comparison case to his own call for the profiling and surveillance of
Muslim and Arab-Americans-he declined on the grounds that he didn't know enough about the subject. One
isn't necessarily obliged to know the history of discrimination as it has been applied to American
security policy-unless, that is, one is proposing a new form of it. To be uninformed at that point
is to disqualify oneself, as the Senate should disqualify Pipes.
The board of USIP already contains enough people to make sure that the hawkish viewpoint does not go
unrepresented. It includes Douglas Feith, undersecretary of defense, and Harriet Zimmerman of the
American Israel Public Affairs Committee. The objection to Pipes is not, in any case, strictly a
political one. It is an objection to a person who confuses scholarship with propaganda and who pursues
petty vendettas with scant regard for objectivity. [MORE]
Accused scientist says letter links to anthrax mailers
By GUY TAYLOR - The Washington Times
Neither Charlie Manson, OJ nor Bobby Blake are running for California Governor
Squeezing Salt from
Califoria Coastal Waters
The California Coastal Commission reported that allowing desalination plants to proliferate could
threaten marine life, spur development in sensitive habitats and turn what has long been considered a
common good - the ocean - into a commodity.
The report says desalination poses risks to marine life because it can trap plants and small sea
creatures while drawing in water, and it releases large amounts of salt back into the ocean. The study
also says companies that are permitted to build and run desalination plants are likely to seek
profit over protection of coastal resources.
The report does not take a stand for or against desalination. But it urges California to join other
states to petition the federal government to ensure that international free-trade agreements do not
infringe on the ability of states to protect coastal resources. [MORE - Wired]
The War on Tourism...
A Trilogy of Dysfunction: When the Bully Whines
By HANAN ASHRAWI
Closing today with another Dissector observation: "The Israeli peace journalist Uri Avnery
predicts "Abu-Mazen will
fall before the end of October. This conviction is gaining ground in leading
Palestinian circles. This forecast is based on the belief that Abu-Mazen will get nothing, from either
the Americans or Sharon. No release for most of the prisoners, no complete removal of the checkpoints
inside the Palestinian territories, no stop to the building of the wall, no total withdrawal of the
army from Palestinian towns, no lifting of the blockade on President Arafat, no freeze of the
settlements, no dismantling of the settlement outposts that were put up in the last two and a half
years (as stipulated by the Road Map).
What next? THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT BEGINS - MoveOn.org
Also see 31JUL2002 Draft Hillary 2004 Update
10AUG2003
Uncautionable Executive Branch Tinkering in the Judiciary
By EDWARD WALSH and DAN EGGEN
Ed. note: Buried on page 27 of the Boston Globe is a horrific story of John Ashcroft and the Bush
White House setting-up to further rip-up our American life as it was known before the Kennedy
Assassination, uh, make that 911.
In
Ashcroft tells prosecutors to keep tabs on lenient sentencing by EDWARD WALSH and DAN EGGEN,
Ted Kennedy speaks of Ashcroft's "ongoing attack on judicial independence" and of requiring federal
prosecutors "to participate in the establishment of a blacklist of judges who impose lesser sentences
than those recommended by the sentencing guidelines."
This is John Ashcroft's latest salvo in an escalating battle over how much discretion
an "independent" judiciary should have anymore.
As a measure of centralizing and homogenizing "justice" into a universal Big Brother package,
the twisted-ass bastard has amended a section of the United States Attorneys' Manual so's to
now require the reporting of all so-called "downward departure" sentencing decisions.
"The effect of the change will be to shift most decisions on whether to appeal a sentence that is less
than called for in the sentencing guidelines from federal prosecutors to Justice Department
lawyers in Washington." [MORE]
Department of Homeland Security to Crack Down on Sex Offenders - REUTERS
The "Tom Ridge launched an operation to protect children from pornographers, child prostitution rings,
Internet predators and human traffickers" story seems like a good idea, but is drifting away from Homeland Security's primary mission
really going to protect the rest of us from their war on tourism? [MORE]
A Speech by the Honorable Cynthia McKinney
"Democracy Is Under Attack - Let's Take it Back!"
[As the credibility of the US government unravels across the board, former Georgia Congresswoman
Cynthia McKinney, now completely vindicated in her open questions about the government's account
of 9/11, is making her presence felt throughout America. Currently in the midst of a lawsuit that
may well see her returned to Congress with full seniority, she has become a living reminder for
politicians around the country that there are questions to be answered and that undefeated and
dedicated voices with growing strength on the political battlefield are not afraid to demand full
accountability.
The truth never disappears.
In a recent speech delivered at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, Cynthia McKinney offered some sobering
and very direct observations about race relations in America, 9/11, civil liberties, independent media,
From The Wilderness and our national ad campaign which is encountering stiff, unethical, and
unconstitutional resistance from major publications which seem to be continually resetting the height
of the bar we must clear in order to get the ads run. To clarify one point: While papers like The Boston
Globe and The Atlanta Journal Constitution have refused to run the ad after checks were written to the
brokerage firm and AFTER the papers had approved it, no check has yet been written for The New York
Times. The Times has simply reneged on a prior approval and agreement to run the ad. Each
time From The
Wilderness passes a new test, another one mysteriously appears. The powers that be are afraid of
these ads. Yet they have seen nothing compared to the price they will pay when the stench of censorship
becomes so blatant and obvious that the people realize that the most precious right of every American
has been taken away.
Such censorship is not going unnoticed. The right of free speech and equal access is not one that can
be violated without a reaction. -- Micheal C. Ruppert]
From the Land of Fruits and Nuts - The California Recall:
Arnold Schwarzenegger aka Arnold Schwarzenpecker
By LACY H. RICH, JR.
Bringing out all this on Arnold
I have been attacked because of my faxes and internet postings on
Arnold Schwarzenegger. A few want to make in a personal issue. My main
purpose in bringing out all this on Arnold is to bring attention to the
Synergy that controls the mainstream news media. I grew up believing
that our press was free, and would protect us form arbitrary government
actions and expose those would break laws or moral restrictions. It was
the realization that Arnold wanted to run for the senate or governorship
of California that got me speak out. When I did speak out, I ran head
long in to the media synergy. This very difficult to someone that has not
dealt with to press and very complicated.[MORE]
WAR ON TOURISM:
Scotland and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival
Muslim Comedienne Triumphs with Veiled Humor
By PAUL MAJENDIE - Reuters
EDINBURGH - British Muslim comedienne Shazia Mirza strides on stage dressed all in black and
says: "Don't worry, I won't blow you up."
The predominantly white audience titters nervously but she soon has them onside with another caustic
one-liner: "My name is Shazia Mirza. At least that is what it says on my pilot's license."
Then it is onto the Saudi Arabian women caught stealing on security cameras. "Police are looking for
a woman with brown eyes," she said, delivering her deadpan humor with a face as somber as her
traditional dress. The crowd at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival lap it up.
From New York to the Netherlands she loves to mock Western ignorance of Islam, using her
literally veiled humor to push out the boundaries of taste.
It has worked well. She has been garlanded with awards and acclaimed as a positive role model for
British Muslim women in a multi-cultural society. [MORE]
Also see Jeff Mirza (no relation to Shazia) at a Fringe Fest near you!
 
Ed. note: A new Shopping Mall is opening in Ramallah. This is news! This is a story we've been
following since one night we heard a sane voice interview of a Palestinian speaking of peace and the
true story of who was keeping it from happening. Sam Bahour, a Palestinian - American from Ohio, who
was then living in the besieged Palestinian City of Al-Bireh/Ramallah in the West Bank, planned an end
run around the Israeli status quo by opening a business in Ramallah; believing that doing good business
would bring about peace faster than anything. So he packed up from Ohio and went to Ramallah. Bad
timing. Just when he arrived, Intafada started. That was three years ago. Sam kept at it until now,
as was written in Washington Post yesterday, "An oasis of civility and modernity in a desert of violence, economic devastation and
psychological gloom" has sprung up, and behind it, our sane voice on the radio friend, Sam Bahour.
"By American standards, the two-level Plaza shopping center that opened last month on the dusty edge of
Ramallah's commercial district is modest, at best. By Palestinian measures, it is revolutionary..."
"Only blocks away from where Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's government compound lies in rubble and
where Israeli tanks destroyed chunks of the city's business district last year, the mini-mall has become
a symbol of hope for Palestinians worn down by nearly three years of war and deprivation."
So forget the Road Map, the "fence" and the War on Tourism. Sam might have gotten us all a breakthough.
Over the years, we published two of Sam's articles;
"The New United States of Israel"
and "Breaking the Fear - A day
in the life..., and linked to some of his other commentary at
http://www.amin.org/eng/sam_bahour/index.html.
Also see
Israel: A Failing Experiment - September 9, 2001, and
Corporate America and Israeli Occupation - May 1, 2002
We'll keep monitoring Sam's mini-mall pulse (story), interpreted at this moment as the life-blood of
potential peace in the mideast.
Daniel Pipes Nomination a Cruel Joke
By LOU MARANO - UPI
Senators opposing President Bush's nomination of Daniel Pipes' nomination to the U.S. Institute of
Peace have cited a single quote that, taken out of context, does not accurately represent Pipes'
published views.
On April 4 Bush named Pipes, head of the Philadelphia-based Middle East Forum, to the USIP.
Congress established the institute in 1984 "to promote the prevention, management, and peaceful
resolution of international conflicts." Its 15 board members, Democrats and Republicans, serve without
pay.
The forum describes itself as a think thank that works to define and promote American interests in the
Middle East. "In particular, it believes in strong ties with Israel, Turkey, and other democracies as
they emerge," according to its Web site.
The nomination has sparked opposition. The Washington Post, for example, called it "sort of a cruel
joke." On April 19 the Post editorialized that Pipes "has long been regarded by Muslims" as a destroyer
of bridges between Islam and the West, and that his nomination is "salt in the wound" of Muslims who
are "anxious that they are being singularly scrutinized" by the Department of Justice.
Pipes' often-stated position is that militant Islam is the problem, and moderate Islam is the solution.
He believes authoritarian Muslim societies must modernize by embracing democratic institutions and the
rule of law.
On Nov. 19, 1990, Pipes argued in the National Review that an unwarranted fear of Islam should not be
used to fill an emotional vacuum that the end of the Cold War might create. He wrote that nothing
justifies seeing Muslims as the paramount enemy.
Pipes revised and updated the article as the second chapter of his 2002 book "Militant Islam Reaches
America." The chapter is titled "The Imaginary Green Peril." In it he dismissed fears of an Islamic
military threat but stated that immigration now concerns him more than in 1990, when he wrote that
Muslim immigrants to Western countries had shown themselves to be more resistant to assimilation than
their predecessors.
Nevertheless, Pipes wrote, "if handled properly, the immigrants can ... bring much of value,
including new energy, to their host societies."
At a July 23 meeting of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee, Sen. Edward
Kennedy, D-Mass., speaking against the nomination, read a quote from the chapter that Pipes has said
characterizes European views and not his own:
"Western European societies are unprepared or unwilling to deal with the massive immigration of
brown-skinned peoples whom they perceive as cooking strange foods and not exactly maintaining
Germanic standards of hygiene."
Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, objected to Pipes' nomination on many grounds, including the extracted quote*.
He recalled his mother, a Slovenian immigrant, who "talked funny" and would on certain feast days wear
the clothes of her native land to church.
"She wanted to bring some of her customs with her to this country," Harkin said. "But anyone who knew
my mother could never deny that she was American to the core."
However, these objections are not supported by a full reading of the chapter.
Pipes wrote that the last time Muslims physically threatened the West was the Turkish siege of
Vienna in 1683 and that nothing justifies seeing Muslims as the paramount enemy.
He said Muslims are not fanatical by nature, that radical Islamists are no more than 15 percent of the
Muslim population in most places, and that Islam is not a political unit. "More Muslim governments
cooperate with the West than threaten it," Pipes wrote. For all these reasons, jihad remains outside
the realm of serious U.S. policy discussion.
Shifting to issues of culture, Pipes wrote that all immigrants bring exotic customs and attitudes, but
those of Muslims are more troublesome than most. Most troublesome, he wrote, is the stated goal of
taking political power to build an Islamic society.
But Pipes'conclusion is that the challenges created by Muslim immigration to the West, although
painful, are also finite. Alarmist predictions of a cataclysmic battle of civilizations are wrong.
Pipes wrote that communities of even fundamentalist Muslims who choose to live outside the American
mainstream could be accommodated, along the lines of the Pennsylvania Amish and the Hassidic Jews of
New York City.
The vote at the July 23 committee meeting was postponed for lack of a quorum.
*No matter Pipes' explaining away this or that, his on-the-record hatred and bigotry is too well known
for Lou Marano and UPI to make any difference. Pipes should not sit with the U.S. Institute of
Peace under any circimstances.
ON/OFF SUBJECT: Michael Ladeen, the author of The War Against the Terror Masters: Why It Happened. Where We Are Now. How We'll Win was interviewed
this ayem by KGO's John Rothman, who is an admitted Zionist, who was pro-war, pleading WMD, but blind
to the Israel tail wagging the US dog.
Iran, who Ladeen considers to be "the mother of modern terrorism" supports Hisballah, Hamas, and
Islamic Jihad, and so Ladeen "hopes for" a US pre-emptive strike against the Islamic Republic. The
hoped for result of the pre-emptive strike against Iran is "regime change", but which the Ladeen/Perle
and New American Century crowd are now calling a "democratic revolution".
Colin Powell and Richard Armitage, says Ladeen, are "dramatically confused" about Iran.
Ladeen's way of eliminating hatred of US is to scare the enemies into submission. Fear works.
Ladeen says we should make our enemies "dread the punishment" of US.
Ladeen deems Iran near-ripe for overthrow because it is surrounded by the "peaceful and democratic"
Afghanistan and Iraq. Huh?
Michael Ladeen reduces to "fact" that any enemy of Israel is and must be an enemy of the US, and
has the Jewish/Israeli Lobby, plus the Christian-Zionist (religious right) to back up his fact OR
as Maureen Dowd puts it, "
Make sure it's good for Ariel Sharon."
After Iran, Syria is next on the Ladeen "democratic revolution" hit list.
Sa'udi Arabia, as explained by Ladeen is both "friend and enemy" to the US, and just as we were once
friendly to the tyrants Stalin, Marcos and the Shah, eventually, he says, we turned against them.
In fact, the US and the western world would have succumbed to the Nazi had USUK not joined with the former
Soviet Union; the US let Marcos escape the Philippines with billions, and losing Iran to Imam
Khomeini's Islamic Revolution is as acceptable to the American oil companies as the California election
results were to the Republicans, and promptly attempted to reverse the elections with their current
re-call effort. Sa'udi Arabia will eventually be completely lost by the American oil company interests,
when the Bush White House "friends" leave Sa'udi Arabia and make their new homes in Europe and the U.S.
Ladeen says the Sa'udi financed Wahabbi doctrine is preached in 1,000 Wahabbi mosques in US.
Ladeen admitted the failure of the Iraqi campaign and its accompanying "democratic revolution"
and cites the responsibility of the failure to the bungling Bush White House.
Item: "Iran-Contra alumnus Michael Ledeen (and close Perle associate) has renewed ties with his old acquaintance, Manichur Ghorbanifar, an Iranian arms merchant who became the key link between the NSC's Oliver North, the operational head of Iran-Contra, and the so-called "moderates" in the Islamic Republic." -- Thanks to ICH
What next? THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT BEGINS - MoveOn.org
Also see 31JUL2002 Draft Hillary 2004 Update
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DISCUSSION * NEWS * IRAQ BODY COUNT * 
