this is great:
(hat tip to feministing
Posts
DEBTOCRACY- A GREEK FILM WITH LESSONS FOR IRELAND
13 years ago
Saturday, April 12, 2008
penn and teller are effing NUTS
remind me to NEVER go see them in person
(it looks like there are people in the audience, no?)
(shout out to boing boing)
(it looks like there are people in the audience, no?)
(shout out to boing boing)
i'm really at a loss (once again)
besides laura, moms and pops, condi and the big dick (oh yeah, scooter too) who makes up the rest of the 28%? who possibly COULD approve? (oh, we'll add in everyone that works for faux 'news' too for good measure. ok, that accounts for a handful. where are the rest?
Bush approval averages 28.3%
by
Joe Sudbay (DC)
From Pollster.com:
President Bush's approval trend has taken a sharp downturn in recent weeks, to fall to a new low for the administration at 28.3%. This follows a lengthy period of stable approval at around 32-33%.Recent polls from Gallup and AP/Ipsos put approval at 28%, a new low for the Gallup poll. Harris recently found approval at 26% while CBS News put approval at 28%. Pew similarly has approval at 28%, though the Diageo/Hotline result for registered voters (as opposed to adults in the other polls) has approval at 35%, the only recent poll over 30%.............
Bush approval averages 28.3%
by
Joe Sudbay (DC)
From Pollster.com:
President Bush's approval trend has taken a sharp downturn in recent weeks, to fall to a new low for the administration at 28.3%. This follows a lengthy period of stable approval at around 32-33%.Recent polls from Gallup and AP/Ipsos put approval at 28%, a new low for the Gallup poll. Harris recently found approval at 26% while CBS News put approval at 28%. Pew similarly has approval at 28%, though the Diageo/Hotline result for registered voters (as opposed to adults in the other polls) has approval at 35%, the only recent poll over 30%.............
bbi
beckett brown international. i'd never heard of them. i will remember the name now (aka S2i)
Exclusive: Cops and Former Secret Service Agents Ran Black Ops on Green Groups
By James Ridgeway Additional reporting by David Corn, Jennifer Wedekind, Daniel Schulman, and Nick Baumann
A private security company organized and managed by former Secret Service officers spied on Greenpeace and other environmental organizations from the late 1990s through at least 2000, pilfering documents from trash bins, attempting to plant undercover operatives within groups, casing offices, collecting phone records of activists, and penetrating confidential meetings. According to company documents provided to Mother Jones by a former investor in the firm, this security outfit collected confidential internal records—donor lists, detailed financial statements, the Social Security numbers of staff members, strategy memos—from these organizations and produced intelligence reports for public relations firms and major corporations involved in environmental controversies.
In addition to focusing on environmentalists, the firm, Beckett Brown International (later called S2i), provided a range of services to a host of clients. According to its billing records, BBI engaged in "intelligence collection" for Allied Waste; it conducted background checks and performed due diligence for the Carlyle Group, the Washington-based investment firm; it provided "protective services" for the National Rifle Association; it handled "crisis management" for the Gallo wine company and for Pirelli; it made sure that the Louis Dreyfus Group, the commodities firm, was not being bugged; it engaged in "information collection" for Wal-Mart; it conducted background checks for Patricia Duff, a Democratic Party fundraiser then involved in a divorce with billionaire Ronald Perelman; and for Mary Kay, BBI mounted "surveillance," and vetted Gayle Gaston, a top executive at the cosmetics company (and mother of actress Robin Wright Penn), retaining an expert to conduct a psychological assessment of her. Also listed as clients in BBI records: Halliburton and Monsanto...........
Exclusive: Cops and Former Secret Service Agents Ran Black Ops on Green Groups
By James Ridgeway Additional reporting by David Corn, Jennifer Wedekind, Daniel Schulman, and Nick Baumann
A private security company organized and managed by former Secret Service officers spied on Greenpeace and other environmental organizations from the late 1990s through at least 2000, pilfering documents from trash bins, attempting to plant undercover operatives within groups, casing offices, collecting phone records of activists, and penetrating confidential meetings. According to company documents provided to Mother Jones by a former investor in the firm, this security outfit collected confidential internal records—donor lists, detailed financial statements, the Social Security numbers of staff members, strategy memos—from these organizations and produced intelligence reports for public relations firms and major corporations involved in environmental controversies.
In addition to focusing on environmentalists, the firm, Beckett Brown International (later called S2i), provided a range of services to a host of clients. According to its billing records, BBI engaged in "intelligence collection" for Allied Waste; it conducted background checks and performed due diligence for the Carlyle Group, the Washington-based investment firm; it provided "protective services" for the National Rifle Association; it handled "crisis management" for the Gallo wine company and for Pirelli; it made sure that the Louis Dreyfus Group, the commodities firm, was not being bugged; it engaged in "information collection" for Wal-Mart; it conducted background checks for Patricia Duff, a Democratic Party fundraiser then involved in a divorce with billionaire Ronald Perelman; and for Mary Kay, BBI mounted "surveillance," and vetted Gayle Gaston, a top executive at the cosmetics company (and mother of actress Robin Wright Penn), retaining an expert to conduct a psychological assessment of her. Also listed as clients in BBI records: Halliburton and Monsanto...........
yet MORE good news (NOT)
from YOUR king and his court. more ignoring of our constitution, our rights and our liberties.
why isn't anyone arresting them for the crimes they HAVE committed and ARE committing?
well the spinless pieces of steamin' shite that are our senate and our congress don't seem to be doing anything (except interviewing major league baseball players)
Administration Set to Use New Spy Program in U.S.
Congressional Critics Want More Assurances of Legality
By Spencer S. HsuWashington Post Staff Writer
The Bush administration said yesterday that it plans to start using the nation's most advanced spy technology for domestic purposes soon, rebuffing challenges by House Democrats over the idea's legal authority.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said his department will activate his department's new domestic satellite surveillance office in stages, starting as soon as possible with traditional scientific and homeland security activities -- such as tracking hurricane damage, monitoring climate change and creating terrain maps.
Sophisticated overhead sensor data will be used for law enforcement once privacy and civil rights concerns are resolved, he said. The department has previously said the program will not intercept communications.
"There is no basis to suggest that this process is in any way insufficient to protect the privacy and civil liberties of Americans," Chertoff wrote to Reps. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) and Jane Harman (D-Calif.), chairmen of the House Homeland Security Committee and its intelligence subcommittee, respectively, in letters released yesterday. ..........
why isn't anyone arresting them for the crimes they HAVE committed and ARE committing?
well the spinless pieces of steamin' shite that are our senate and our congress don't seem to be doing anything (except interviewing major league baseball players)
Administration Set to Use New Spy Program in U.S.
Congressional Critics Want More Assurances of Legality
By Spencer S. HsuWashington Post Staff Writer
The Bush administration said yesterday that it plans to start using the nation's most advanced spy technology for domestic purposes soon, rebuffing challenges by House Democrats over the idea's legal authority.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said his department will activate his department's new domestic satellite surveillance office in stages, starting as soon as possible with traditional scientific and homeland security activities -- such as tracking hurricane damage, monitoring climate change and creating terrain maps.
Sophisticated overhead sensor data will be used for law enforcement once privacy and civil rights concerns are resolved, he said. The department has previously said the program will not intercept communications.
"There is no basis to suggest that this process is in any way insufficient to protect the privacy and civil liberties of Americans," Chertoff wrote to Reps. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) and Jane Harman (D-Calif.), chairmen of the House Homeland Security Committee and its intelligence subcommittee, respectively, in letters released yesterday. ..........
ahhhhhhhhhhhh
they just make this shite up as they go along. if it's going 'good' they have one story. if it gets a little bad, they have another. if it worsens, yet another. then if it's over the edge, they start pointing fingers at phantoms. he did it. no, she did it. no, he. no, that one. no him. no her. and on and on. when i say going good, i only mean no us troop deaths. i do NOT in any circumstance mean going good for the iraqi people. we've disrupted their lives and their country for generations to come.
if it's al-qaeda or iran or whomever, WE DID IT. we are 100% responsible.
Iran Top Threat To Iraq, U.S. Says
Focus on Al-Qaeda Now Diminishing
By Karen DeYoung Washington Post Staff Writer
Last week's violence in Basra and Baghdad has convinced the Bush administration that actions by Iran, and not al-Qaeda, are the primary threat inside Iraq, and has sparked a broad reassessment of policy in the region, according to senior U.S. officials.
Evidence of an increase in Iranian weapons, training and direction for the Shiite militias that battled U.S. and Iraqi security forces in those two cities has fixed new U.S. attention on what Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates yesterday called Tehran's "malign" influence, the officials said.
The intensified focus on Iran coincides with diminished emphasis on al-Qaeda in Iraq as the leading justification for an ongoing U.S. military presence in Iraq.
In congressional hearings this week, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus said the U.S. military has driven al-Qaeda from Baghdad, Anbar province and central Iraq, and he depicted the group as now largely concentrated in a reduced territory around the northern city of Mosul.
During their Washington visit, Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker barely mentioned al-Qaeda in Iraq but spoke extensively of Iran. .....
if it's al-qaeda or iran or whomever, WE DID IT. we are 100% responsible.
Iran Top Threat To Iraq, U.S. Says
Focus on Al-Qaeda Now Diminishing
By Karen DeYoung Washington Post Staff Writer
Last week's violence in Basra and Baghdad has convinced the Bush administration that actions by Iran, and not al-Qaeda, are the primary threat inside Iraq, and has sparked a broad reassessment of policy in the region, according to senior U.S. officials.
Evidence of an increase in Iranian weapons, training and direction for the Shiite militias that battled U.S. and Iraqi security forces in those two cities has fixed new U.S. attention on what Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates yesterday called Tehran's "malign" influence, the officials said.
The intensified focus on Iran coincides with diminished emphasis on al-Qaeda in Iraq as the leading justification for an ongoing U.S. military presence in Iraq.
In congressional hearings this week, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus said the U.S. military has driven al-Qaeda from Baghdad, Anbar province and central Iraq, and he depicted the group as now largely concentrated in a reduced territory around the northern city of Mosul.
During their Washington visit, Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker barely mentioned al-Qaeda in Iraq but spoke extensively of Iran. .....
Friday, April 11, 2008
because i just can't get enough
tom cruise inspired video:
Tom Cruise Scientology Deutsche original Übersetzung
(shout out to boing boing - Tom Cruise Scientology video, robot-translated to German, then re-enacted)
Tom Cruise Scientology Deutsche original Übersetzung
(shout out to boing boing - Tom Cruise Scientology video, robot-translated to German, then re-enacted)
'sketches of my nightmare'
how can one be held for FIVE years without charges and without trial? isn't that AGAINST ALL OF OUR LAWS?
who do we kidnap and detain and torture and who do we give a pass too (hint: ask saudi arabia)
(i don't know if sami is guilty or innocent. i DO know he deserves representation AND charges AND a FAIR trial)
The Torture Drawings the Pentagon Doesn't Want You to See
By Andy Worthington, AlterNet.
Sami al-Haj is a journalist, but one unlike any other. For over six years since December 15, 2001 -- when he was seized by Pakistani soldiers on the Afghan border while on assignment as a cameraman for the Qatar-based broadcaster al-Jazeera -- he has been in a disturbing but unique position: a trained journalist held as an "enemy combatant" on the frontline of the Bush administration's "War on Terror," first in Afghanistan, and then in Guantánamo.
The outline of Sami's story should be familiar to readers; last summer AlterNet published a detailed article by Rachel Morris: "Prisoner 345: An Arab Journalist's Five Years in Guantánamo," which made clear how Sami was seized because of the erroneous claim that he had interviewed Osama bin Laden, and the disturbing fact that his many interrogations in Guantánamo have focused solely on the administration's attempts to turn him into an informant against al-Jazeera, to "prove" a connection between the broadcaster and Osama bin Laden that does not exist. As his lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith of the legal action charity Reprieve, noted bluntly and accurately in his book Eight O'Clock Ferry to the Windward Side: Seeking Justice in Guantánamo Bay, "Sami was a prisoner in the Bush Administration's assault on al-Jazeera."
Less well known is Sami's frontline reportage from within Guantánamo. Stafford Smith recalls that when he asked Sami for information, he "would assemble important facts on almost any topic in the prison relying on the incredible prisoner bush telegraph." These have included reports on the religious abuse -- primarily of the Qu'ran -- that preceded a series of hunger strikes and suicide attempts, and a pioneering assessment of the number of prisoners who were under 18 at the time of their capture.
Since January 7, 2007 (the fifth anniversary of his detention without trial by the US), Sami has been on a hunger strike. Although he is strapped into a restraint chair twice a day and force-fed against his will and despite the fact that he is "very thin" and "[h]is memory is disintegrating," according to Stafford Smith, Sami continues to seek ways to publicize the plight of his fellow prisoners. During the most recent visit from his lawyers in February -- with Cori Crider of Reprieve -- he produced a number of morbid, and almost hallucinatory sketches illustrating his take on conditions in Guantánamo, which he described as "Sketches of My Nightmare."............
who do we kidnap and detain and torture and who do we give a pass too (hint: ask saudi arabia)
(i don't know if sami is guilty or innocent. i DO know he deserves representation AND charges AND a FAIR trial)
The Torture Drawings the Pentagon Doesn't Want You to See
By Andy Worthington, AlterNet.
Sami al-Haj is a journalist, but one unlike any other. For over six years since December 15, 2001 -- when he was seized by Pakistani soldiers on the Afghan border while on assignment as a cameraman for the Qatar-based broadcaster al-Jazeera -- he has been in a disturbing but unique position: a trained journalist held as an "enemy combatant" on the frontline of the Bush administration's "War on Terror," first in Afghanistan, and then in Guantánamo.
The outline of Sami's story should be familiar to readers; last summer AlterNet published a detailed article by Rachel Morris: "Prisoner 345: An Arab Journalist's Five Years in Guantánamo," which made clear how Sami was seized because of the erroneous claim that he had interviewed Osama bin Laden, and the disturbing fact that his many interrogations in Guantánamo have focused solely on the administration's attempts to turn him into an informant against al-Jazeera, to "prove" a connection between the broadcaster and Osama bin Laden that does not exist. As his lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith of the legal action charity Reprieve, noted bluntly and accurately in his book Eight O'Clock Ferry to the Windward Side: Seeking Justice in Guantánamo Bay, "Sami was a prisoner in the Bush Administration's assault on al-Jazeera."
Less well known is Sami's frontline reportage from within Guantánamo. Stafford Smith recalls that when he asked Sami for information, he "would assemble important facts on almost any topic in the prison relying on the incredible prisoner bush telegraph." These have included reports on the religious abuse -- primarily of the Qu'ran -- that preceded a series of hunger strikes and suicide attempts, and a pioneering assessment of the number of prisoners who were under 18 at the time of their capture.
Since January 7, 2007 (the fifth anniversary of his detention without trial by the US), Sami has been on a hunger strike. Although he is strapped into a restraint chair twice a day and force-fed against his will and despite the fact that he is "very thin" and "[h]is memory is disintegrating," according to Stafford Smith, Sami continues to seek ways to publicize the plight of his fellow prisoners. During the most recent visit from his lawyers in February -- with Cori Crider of Reprieve -- he produced a number of morbid, and almost hallucinatory sketches illustrating his take on conditions in Guantánamo, which he described as "Sketches of My Nightmare."............
did the crockmesiter and the petty tray us mention
the curfew in their 'testimony'? why waste our time? iraq is a f**king mess. WE did it. we KNOW we f**ked up. now what do we do? it appears, 'stay the course'. why? to save face? we need the money we're spending there, HERE. our economy is FAILING. our OWN people are hurting. we've killed their country, now we're aiming to kill our own (and we're WELL on our way)
Five years after fall of Baghdad, all-day curfew is imposed
By Kim Sengupta
The fifth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad and the toppling of the statute of Saddam Hussein – a symbol of US victory and might – was marked yesterday by death and destruction across the country and an admission from the White House that projected troop withdrawals would have to be delayed.
The Iraqi capital remains under curfew after another round of bloodshed in which mortar rounds landed in Sadr City, killing seven people, including two children, and injuring 24 others. Further gunfights in the sprawling Shia slum led to six more dying and 15 others being wounded.
The area is a centre of support for the radical Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, and came after days of clashes between his militia, the Mehdi Army, and Iraqi government forces in which 55 people have been killed and more than 200 injured. The Shia fighters vowed last nightthat retribution would be taken for the "unprovoked attack" in Sadr City which they claimed was the responsibility of the US forces.
Meanwhile in Washington, President George Bush was set to accept the plea of General David Petraeus, the US commander in Iraq, for a "pause" in pulling out some of the thousands of troops sent in for the "surge". At the same time the operation is being portrayed as a vindication of American policy and a tacit admission of the fragility of the so-called stabilisation which is supposed to be taking place now............
Five years after fall of Baghdad, all-day curfew is imposed
By Kim Sengupta
The fifth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad and the toppling of the statute of Saddam Hussein – a symbol of US victory and might – was marked yesterday by death and destruction across the country and an admission from the White House that projected troop withdrawals would have to be delayed.
The Iraqi capital remains under curfew after another round of bloodshed in which mortar rounds landed in Sadr City, killing seven people, including two children, and injuring 24 others. Further gunfights in the sprawling Shia slum led to six more dying and 15 others being wounded.
The area is a centre of support for the radical Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, and came after days of clashes between his militia, the Mehdi Army, and Iraqi government forces in which 55 people have been killed and more than 200 injured. The Shia fighters vowed last nightthat retribution would be taken for the "unprovoked attack" in Sadr City which they claimed was the responsibility of the US forces.
Meanwhile in Washington, President George Bush was set to accept the plea of General David Petraeus, the US commander in Iraq, for a "pause" in pulling out some of the thousands of troops sent in for the "surge". At the same time the operation is being portrayed as a vindication of American policy and a tacit admission of the fragility of the so-called stabilisation which is supposed to be taking place now............
this my dears is VERY telling
ain't it?
Veterans Affairs refuses to provide voter registration for wounded vets
John Byrne
VA suggests voter registration not held because it's partisan
At a quiet 1999 ceremony in MaComb County, Michigan, a plainspoken former Texas governor delivered a patriotic speech to commemorate Veterans' Day.
But none of the eight veterans interviewed by The New York Times after the ceremony promised George W. Bush their vote.
A new report Thursday reveals that Secretary of Veterans Affairs James Peake told two Democratic senators his department will not help injured veterans register to vote before the 2008 election.
"VA remains opposed to becoming a voter registration agency pursuant to the National Voter Registration Act, as this designation would divert substantial resources from our primary mission," Peake said in an April 8th letter to Sens. Diane Feinstein (D-CA) and John Kerry (D-MA) acquired by Steven Rosenfeld at Alternet.
Peake refers to a 1993 law that allows government departments to engage in voter registration efforts, Rosenfeld says.
What this means is that many injured veterans still in VA hospitals who can't find means to register outside of their facilities will effectively lose their right to vote. Wounded veterans who have moved must re-register at their "new addresses" or file for absentee ballots in order to participate in the presidential and other elections...........
Veterans Affairs refuses to provide voter registration for wounded vets
John Byrne
VA suggests voter registration not held because it's partisan
At a quiet 1999 ceremony in MaComb County, Michigan, a plainspoken former Texas governor delivered a patriotic speech to commemorate Veterans' Day.
But none of the eight veterans interviewed by The New York Times after the ceremony promised George W. Bush their vote.
A new report Thursday reveals that Secretary of Veterans Affairs James Peake told two Democratic senators his department will not help injured veterans register to vote before the 2008 election.
"VA remains opposed to becoming a voter registration agency pursuant to the National Voter Registration Act, as this designation would divert substantial resources from our primary mission," Peake said in an April 8th letter to Sens. Diane Feinstein (D-CA) and John Kerry (D-MA) acquired by Steven Rosenfeld at Alternet.
Peake refers to a 1993 law that allows government departments to engage in voter registration efforts, Rosenfeld says.
What this means is that many injured veterans still in VA hospitals who can't find means to register outside of their facilities will effectively lose their right to vote. Wounded veterans who have moved must re-register at their "new addresses" or file for absentee ballots in order to participate in the presidential and other elections...........
an update on randi rhodes
she's found a NEW home
nova m radio network
here's a little bit on the founding of the network Air America Co-Founders to Start Nova M Radio
nova m radio network
here's a little bit on the founding of the network Air America Co-Founders to Start Nova M Radio
Thursday, April 10, 2008
everyone who knows him
and the ap, whom he works for says he's NOT a terrorist. he's A WAR PHOTOGRAPHER. taking pictures of what the WAR wreaks- does to people AND countries. that's his JOB. TAKING PICTURES. some of them may NOT be nice. but war ISN'T nice, is it?
LET HIM GO.
AP Photographer Ordered Released After 2 Years Held In Iraq
By Robert Reid, The Associated Press
BAGHDAD An Iraqi judicial committee has dismissed terrorism-related allegations against Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein and ordered him released nearly two years after he was detained by the U.S. military.A decision by a four-judge panel said Hussein's case falls under a new amnesty law. It ordered Iraqi courts to "cease legal proceedings" and ruled that Hussein should be "immediately" released unless other accusations are pending.The ruling is dated Monday but AP's lawyers were not able to thoroughly review it until Wednesday. It was unclear, however, whether Hussein would still face further obstacles to release.Hussein, 36, remains in custody at Camp Cropper, a U.S. detention facility near Baghdad's airport.U.S. military authorities have said a U.N. Security Council mandate allows them to retain custody of a detainee they believe is a security risk even if an Iraqi judicial body has ordered that prisoner freed. The U.N. mandate is due to expire at the end of this year......
...........The committee may still be reviewing a separate allegation that Hussein had contacts with the kidnappers of an Italian citizen, Salvatore Santoro, whose body was photographed by Hussein in December 2004 with two masked insurgents standing over Santoro with guns.Hussein was one of three journalists who were stopped at gunpoint by insurgents and taken by them to see the propped-up body. None of the journalists witnessed his death, said Santiago Lyon, AP's director of photography. The AP wrote a story about the incident at the time.The AP said a review of Hussein's work and contacts also found no evidence of any activities beyond the normal role of a news photographer. Hussein, 36, was a member of an AP team that won a Pulitzer Prize for photography in 2005, and his detention has drawn protests from rights groups and press freedom advocates such as the Committee to Protect Journalists."The Amnesty Committee took only a few days to determine what we have been saying for two years. Bilal Hussein must be freed immediately," said Curley, the AP's president.............
LET HIM GO.
AP Photographer Ordered Released After 2 Years Held In Iraq
By Robert Reid, The Associated Press
BAGHDAD An Iraqi judicial committee has dismissed terrorism-related allegations against Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein and ordered him released nearly two years after he was detained by the U.S. military.A decision by a four-judge panel said Hussein's case falls under a new amnesty law. It ordered Iraqi courts to "cease legal proceedings" and ruled that Hussein should be "immediately" released unless other accusations are pending.The ruling is dated Monday but AP's lawyers were not able to thoroughly review it until Wednesday. It was unclear, however, whether Hussein would still face further obstacles to release.Hussein, 36, remains in custody at Camp Cropper, a U.S. detention facility near Baghdad's airport.U.S. military authorities have said a U.N. Security Council mandate allows them to retain custody of a detainee they believe is a security risk even if an Iraqi judicial body has ordered that prisoner freed. The U.N. mandate is due to expire at the end of this year......
...........The committee may still be reviewing a separate allegation that Hussein had contacts with the kidnappers of an Italian citizen, Salvatore Santoro, whose body was photographed by Hussein in December 2004 with two masked insurgents standing over Santoro with guns.Hussein was one of three journalists who were stopped at gunpoint by insurgents and taken by them to see the propped-up body. None of the journalists witnessed his death, said Santiago Lyon, AP's director of photography. The AP wrote a story about the incident at the time.The AP said a review of Hussein's work and contacts also found no evidence of any activities beyond the normal role of a news photographer. Hussein, 36, was a member of an AP team that won a Pulitzer Prize for photography in 2005, and his detention has drawn protests from rights groups and press freedom advocates such as the Committee to Protect Journalists."The Amnesty Committee took only a few days to determine what we have been saying for two years. Bilal Hussein must be freed immediately," said Curley, the AP's president.............
AMENDMENTS?
we don't need no stinkin' amendments! especially in THIS case, the FOURTH one:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
News last week of former White House lawyer John Yoo's recently disclosed 2003 memo positing, among other things, that the president's authority as commander in chief allows him to override federal laws prohibiting "assault, maiming, and other crimes" against suspects in the "war on terror," was followed by a second revelation: an alarming footnote on page 8 referring to another secret memo, written shortly after 9/11, and, in the name of national security, dispensing with the Fourth Amendment.
In the age of the "war on terror," according to the footnote, the Department of Justice "recently concluded that the Fourth Amendment had no application to domestic military operations." (Emphasis in the original.)
The Fourth Amendment, of course, lays out "the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures." Critics of the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program -- which was started in the same weeks the memo was written -- have staked their claims in part on its violation of this right. Proof that the program originated at the same time that the White House officially jettisoned the Fourth Amendment in the name of national security is a damning -- if not surprising -- revelation........
In the age of the "war on terror," according to the footnote, the Department of Justice "recently concluded that the Fourth Amendment had no application to domestic military operations." (Emphasis in the original.)
The Fourth Amendment, of course, lays out "the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures." Critics of the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program -- which was started in the same weeks the memo was written -- have staked their claims in part on its violation of this right. Proof that the program originated at the same time that the White House officially jettisoned the Fourth Amendment in the name of national security is a damning -- if not surprising -- revelation........
you do know i'm MORE mad, not at the fact king george and his court stomped on our rights BUT that we (especially those in our congress and senate) continue to ALLOW them to do so
instead of issuing them portable lie detectors
which EVERYONE knows CANNOT possibly be 90% accurate as claimed, HOW ABOUT ISSUING THEM GOOD BODY ARMOR? how about issuing them armored vehicles? how about issuing them better PROTECTIVE equipment? huh?
you can just bet the data on the accuracy of these devices WAS manipulated. of that, i have NO doubt
(so if someone reads 'liar' INACCURATELY-does that mean OUR troops have the right to kill them?)
Pentagon issues pocket lie detector to troops
David Edwards and Nick Juliano
The Pentagon is planning to give US troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan "hand-held lie detectors" aimed at rooting out potential insurgents and terrorists. But polygraph experts doubt the system's accuracy and Defense Department memos show results of the few tests that were run were manipulated to demonstrate more success with them than was achieved, according to an MSNBC investigative reporter.
"The Defense Department says the portable device isn't perfect, but is accurate enough to save American lives by screening local police officers, interpreters and allied forces for access to U.S. military bases, and by helping narrow the list of suspects after a roadside bombing," MSNBC's Bill Dedman reports. "The device has already been tried in Iraq and is expected to be deployed there as well."
The Pentagon argues the portable polygraphs have accuracy rates up to 90 percent, but Dedman reports the military arrived at those figures by omitting some results from the tests. The Preliminary Credibility Assessment Screening System, or PCASS, uses a hand-held computer that analyzes readings from censors attached to an interviewees hand and wrist. The computer displays "Green" if it believes the person is honest, "Red" if they are being deceptive and "Yellow" if it is unsure...........
you can just bet the data on the accuracy of these devices WAS manipulated. of that, i have NO doubt
(so if someone reads 'liar' INACCURATELY-does that mean OUR troops have the right to kill them?)
Pentagon issues pocket lie detector to troops
David Edwards and Nick Juliano
The Pentagon is planning to give US troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan "hand-held lie detectors" aimed at rooting out potential insurgents and terrorists. But polygraph experts doubt the system's accuracy and Defense Department memos show results of the few tests that were run were manipulated to demonstrate more success with them than was achieved, according to an MSNBC investigative reporter.
"The Defense Department says the portable device isn't perfect, but is accurate enough to save American lives by screening local police officers, interpreters and allied forces for access to U.S. military bases, and by helping narrow the list of suspects after a roadside bombing," MSNBC's Bill Dedman reports. "The device has already been tried in Iraq and is expected to be deployed there as well."
The Pentagon argues the portable polygraphs have accuracy rates up to 90 percent, but Dedman reports the military arrived at those figures by omitting some results from the tests. The Preliminary Credibility Assessment Screening System, or PCASS, uses a hand-held computer that analyzes readings from censors attached to an interviewees hand and wrist. The computer displays "Green" if it believes the person is honest, "Red" if they are being deceptive and "Yellow" if it is unsure...........
you go - p o
US postal workers union endorses Obama
US Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama on Wednesday won the endorsement of the country's largest postal workers union in a fresh boost to his 2008 nomination race against rival Hillary Clinton.
"Senator Obama's message is one of hope and change," American Postal Workers Union (APWU) president William Burrus said in a statement.
"We believe he will be a president who will strongly represent the interests of working Americans," he added.
The union represents more than 300,000 postal employees and retirees.
The support follows last week's endorsement of Obama by the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees......
US Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama on Wednesday won the endorsement of the country's largest postal workers union in a fresh boost to his 2008 nomination race against rival Hillary Clinton.
"Senator Obama's message is one of hope and change," American Postal Workers Union (APWU) president William Burrus said in a statement.
"We believe he will be a president who will strongly represent the interests of working Americans," he added.
The union represents more than 300,000 postal employees and retirees.
The support follows last week's endorsement of Obama by the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees......
looks like don siegelman wasn't the only one
and we shouldn't be surprised at how many there really are:
Mississippi Justice: Bush US Attorney targeted my wife, supporters and friends
Larisa Alexandrovna
Republican effort jails largest Democratic donor in Mississippi, helps put ex-RNC chairman in governor's chair
The Permanent Republican Majority Part V
In an exclusive interview with RAW STORY, a former Mississippi Republican state legislator who was later backed by Democrats to win a seat on the Mississippi Supreme Court discussed political prosecutions and what he sees as the corruption and politicization of the Department of Justice.
Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Oliver Diaz Jr. was indicted in 2003 on charges relating to his receipt of a loan guarantee from trial lawyer Paul Minor – a personal friend and the largest Democratic donor in Mississippi – to help defray campaign debts. A Bush-appointed US Attorney, Dunnica Lampton, brought charges of bribery against Diaz, Minor and two other Mississippi judges.
Diaz was acquitted of all those charges. A jury acquitted Minor of the charges related to Diaz, but was unable to reach a verdict on other charges. Within days of his acquittal, Diaz was indicted a second time. He was again acquitted. .........
Mississippi Justice: Bush US Attorney targeted my wife, supporters and friends
Larisa Alexandrovna
Republican effort jails largest Democratic donor in Mississippi, helps put ex-RNC chairman in governor's chair
The Permanent Republican Majority Part V
In an exclusive interview with RAW STORY, a former Mississippi Republican state legislator who was later backed by Democrats to win a seat on the Mississippi Supreme Court discussed political prosecutions and what he sees as the corruption and politicization of the Department of Justice.
Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Oliver Diaz Jr. was indicted in 2003 on charges relating to his receipt of a loan guarantee from trial lawyer Paul Minor – a personal friend and the largest Democratic donor in Mississippi – to help defray campaign debts. A Bush-appointed US Attorney, Dunnica Lampton, brought charges of bribery against Diaz, Minor and two other Mississippi judges.
Diaz was acquitted of all those charges. A jury acquitted Minor of the charges related to Diaz, but was unable to reach a verdict on other charges. Within days of his acquittal, Diaz was indicted a second time. He was again acquitted. .........
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
we are here, we are here, we are HERE!
remember, a person's a person no matter how small (and that INCLUDES girls and women)
please read the entire review by peter sagal. it's at the link below. it's NOT that long
AND it's wonderful
Gender Inequity in 'Whoville'
by Peter Sagal
All Things Considered, April 2, 2008 · I don't know what sins Dr. Seuss committed in his life to be doomed to have Jim Carrey star in movie adaptations of his books. But I came out of Horton Hears a Who, with my wife and my three excited and happy daughters, irritated by something even more annoying than Carrey's tics. In a new subplot added by the filmmakers, the mayor of Whoville has 96 daughters. He has one son. Guess who gets all his attention? Guess who saves the day? Go ahead, think about it, I'll wait.
No I won't. What's so irritating about this casual slap at daughters is the sense that the makers of the film didn't really mean it. They seemed mostly interested in riffs on pop culture and jokes about violating bodily integrity. But what writers are told, you see, in Hollywood notes meetings, is that every character has to make a journey, towards something he needs and ultimately gets, and what they decided the Mayor of Whoville needs was a better relationship with his son.....
............And there's this — not only does the movie end with father and son embracing, while the 96 daughters are, I guess, playing in a well, somewhere, but the son earns his father's love by saving the world. Boys get to save the world, and girls get to stand there and say, I knew you could do it. How did they know he could do it? Maybe because they watched every other movie ever made? ..........
please read the entire review by peter sagal. it's at the link below. it's NOT that long
AND it's wonderful
Gender Inequity in 'Whoville'
by Peter Sagal
All Things Considered, April 2, 2008 · I don't know what sins Dr. Seuss committed in his life to be doomed to have Jim Carrey star in movie adaptations of his books. But I came out of Horton Hears a Who, with my wife and my three excited and happy daughters, irritated by something even more annoying than Carrey's tics. In a new subplot added by the filmmakers, the mayor of Whoville has 96 daughters. He has one son. Guess who gets all his attention? Guess who saves the day? Go ahead, think about it, I'll wait.
No I won't. What's so irritating about this casual slap at daughters is the sense that the makers of the film didn't really mean it. They seemed mostly interested in riffs on pop culture and jokes about violating bodily integrity. But what writers are told, you see, in Hollywood notes meetings, is that every character has to make a journey, towards something he needs and ultimately gets, and what they decided the Mayor of Whoville needs was a better relationship with his son.....
............And there's this — not only does the movie end with father and son embracing, while the 96 daughters are, I guess, playing in a well, somewhere, but the son earns his father's love by saving the world. Boys get to save the world, and girls get to stand there and say, I knew you could do it. How did they know he could do it? Maybe because they watched every other movie ever made? ..........
say WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT????????
f**k the troops and their families. let's make sure the big oil companies are well taken care of! damn straight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
just when you thought you heard and knew it all, something else jumps up and bitch-slapps ya
Outside View: Petraeus' promise to Big Oil
By NICK MOTTERNUPI Outside View CommentatorHASTINGS-ON-HUDSON, N.Y., April 8 (UPI) -- Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of Multi-National Force-Iraq, needs to answer some oil questions as he testifies before Congress this week, coinciding with Wednesday's fifth anniversary of the U.S. occupation of Iraq's Oil Ministry.Speaking at a news conference in Iraq with Vice President Dick Cheney on March 17, Petraeus said Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had asked him to call "large Western corporations" to get them to invest in Iraq's oil, according to United Press International. Since the world knows how eager the likes of ExxonMobil, Shell, BP, ConocoPhillips, Chevron, Total and others are to get into Iraq, Petraeus' calls were apparently necessary to give them some strong military assurances that their investments and people will be safe there."We have made a few initial inquiries on (Iraq's) behalf," Petraeus' military spokesman said in a coyly disingenuous statement, refusing to tell UPI the companies the general had contacted. "Rest assured," he said, "it would be companies that have the capability and reach to take on projects of the size and scope that Iraq needs to continue to progress forward."The general needs to be asked which companies he talked to and what military information he may have imparted when he made these extraordinary calls, which may well violate military regulations, trying to clinch the deal that U.S. troops staked out when they chased looters out of the Oil Ministry five years ago and surrounded it with barbed wire. ..........
just when you thought you heard and knew it all, something else jumps up and bitch-slapps ya
Outside View: Petraeus' promise to Big Oil
By NICK MOTTERNUPI Outside View CommentatorHASTINGS-ON-HUDSON, N.Y., April 8 (UPI) -- Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of Multi-National Force-Iraq, needs to answer some oil questions as he testifies before Congress this week, coinciding with Wednesday's fifth anniversary of the U.S. occupation of Iraq's Oil Ministry.Speaking at a news conference in Iraq with Vice President Dick Cheney on March 17, Petraeus said Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had asked him to call "large Western corporations" to get them to invest in Iraq's oil, according to United Press International. Since the world knows how eager the likes of ExxonMobil, Shell, BP, ConocoPhillips, Chevron, Total and others are to get into Iraq, Petraeus' calls were apparently necessary to give them some strong military assurances that their investments and people will be safe there."We have made a few initial inquiries on (Iraq's) behalf," Petraeus' military spokesman said in a coyly disingenuous statement, refusing to tell UPI the companies the general had contacted. "Rest assured," he said, "it would be companies that have the capability and reach to take on projects of the size and scope that Iraq needs to continue to progress forward."The general needs to be asked which companies he talked to and what military information he may have imparted when he made these extraordinary calls, which may well violate military regulations, trying to clinch the deal that U.S. troops staked out when they chased looters out of the Oil Ministry five years ago and surrounded it with barbed wire. ..........
if you stop on by cv rick's
you'll find his most insightful review of the wire. it's a damn fine right on the mark review too.
(you should be stopping by any damn way. the man CAN write)
(you should be stopping by any damn way. the man CAN write)
it's one thing for you and i to read and understand
this. it's a totally different thing for king george and his court to read AND UNDERSTAND THIS. our congress and our senate have been sitting on their effing fat asses for more than five years. this war is wrong and it has been from day one. yet the shite keeps going on and on and on. more reports, more testimony more of this and that. while the people of iraq are killing themselves (and us). they don't have water and electricity and education. their country is in ruins and our troops are in ruins (as well as their families). when is someone going to say ENOUGH?
Exhausted, Overextended Troops Ready to 'Unravel'
By Bobby Muller, AlterNet.
A central theme of General David Petraeus' tour of Capitol Hill are his pleas for patience with the U.S. war in Iraq. He called for a "pause" against the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq, citing the need to consolidate the gains that have been achieved over the past few months.
The crushing burden our military already endures ought to give serious pause to Members of Congress. The health of our military must be a top priority because current deployment rates are grinding up our military men and women, tearing at the bonds of families, eroding military readiness -- and leaving us less secure at home.
It is commonly known that a very small percentage of the American population has borne a disproportionate burden of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. What is less commonly understood is that our Army's Brigade Combat Teams (BCTs) -- a subset of this already small population -- have been repeatedly sent to the frontlines, enduring high-intensity combat for extended periods with inadequate time at home between tours. This has always been a problem during America's wars, but at least in previous conflicts the draft provided a pool of manpower resources that could be dipped into to provide rest for those who bore the greatest burden. That is no longer true.
Some Army BCTs have deployed four times since Sept. 11, 2001. Members of the 10th Mountain Division, one of the most heavily used in Iraq and Afghanistan, had a mere six months of dwell time between their second and third deployments since Sept. 11. Dozens of soldiers based at Fort Carson, Colorado, were recently sent back to Iraq despite having medical conditions that should have made them ineligible for continued deployments.........
Exhausted, Overextended Troops Ready to 'Unravel'
By Bobby Muller, AlterNet.
A central theme of General David Petraeus' tour of Capitol Hill are his pleas for patience with the U.S. war in Iraq. He called for a "pause" against the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq, citing the need to consolidate the gains that have been achieved over the past few months.
The crushing burden our military already endures ought to give serious pause to Members of Congress. The health of our military must be a top priority because current deployment rates are grinding up our military men and women, tearing at the bonds of families, eroding military readiness -- and leaving us less secure at home.
It is commonly known that a very small percentage of the American population has borne a disproportionate burden of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. What is less commonly understood is that our Army's Brigade Combat Teams (BCTs) -- a subset of this already small population -- have been repeatedly sent to the frontlines, enduring high-intensity combat for extended periods with inadequate time at home between tours. This has always been a problem during America's wars, but at least in previous conflicts the draft provided a pool of manpower resources that could be dipped into to provide rest for those who bore the greatest burden. That is no longer true.
Some Army BCTs have deployed four times since Sept. 11, 2001. Members of the 10th Mountain Division, one of the most heavily used in Iraq and Afghanistan, had a mere six months of dwell time between their second and third deployments since Sept. 11. Dozens of soldiers based at Fort Carson, Colorado, were recently sent back to Iraq despite having medical conditions that should have made them ineligible for continued deployments.........
can you imagine being so uneducated
you couldn't spell your own last name? you didn't know your bithdate? can you imagine at the age or 13 or 14 being forced into a plural 'marriage' (or even a SINGLE marriage), being forced to bear babies? being beaten?
there is a reason most of the children removed were girls. why? because the leaders get rid of the boys and young men. competition you know. they find some excuse and boot them out or excommunicate them.
my question is, WHY DID IT TAKE SO LONG TO RESCUE THESE CHILDREN (and women)? why? they've crossed state lines.
it's ok, they're only women and children. that's why. who gives a flying yoo hoo about THEM?
Late-Night Call Revealed Secret World
Sect Had Moved to Compound After Fleeing Utah, Colorado
By Sylvia Moreno and Adam Kilgore Washington Post Staff Writers
SAN ANGELO, Tex., April 8 -- The cry for help came late at night -- at 11:32 p.m. -- and it came in a whisper. Speaking in a low voice to avoid being overheard, the 16-year-old girl -- mother of an 8-month-old baby and pregnant with a second child -- sketched out chilling tales. She spoke of teenage girls, some as young as 13, being forced to have sex with older men for the purpose of bearing their children. She said she was the seventh "spiritual" wife of a 49-year-old man. She described beatings by him as so vicious that one time several of her ribs had been broken.
The March 29 phone call, and one the next day from the compound run by an insular and secretive splinter sect of the Mormon Church, prompted raids by authorities; they took 416 children into protective custody, the largest child removal in Texas history. The children, mostly girls, ranged in age from infants to 17. Several have babies or are pregnant. ..........
there is a reason most of the children removed were girls. why? because the leaders get rid of the boys and young men. competition you know. they find some excuse and boot them out or excommunicate them.
my question is, WHY DID IT TAKE SO LONG TO RESCUE THESE CHILDREN (and women)? why? they've crossed state lines.
it's ok, they're only women and children. that's why. who gives a flying yoo hoo about THEM?
Late-Night Call Revealed Secret World
Sect Had Moved to Compound After Fleeing Utah, Colorado
By Sylvia Moreno and Adam Kilgore Washington Post Staff Writers
SAN ANGELO, Tex., April 8 -- The cry for help came late at night -- at 11:32 p.m. -- and it came in a whisper. Speaking in a low voice to avoid being overheard, the 16-year-old girl -- mother of an 8-month-old baby and pregnant with a second child -- sketched out chilling tales. She spoke of teenage girls, some as young as 13, being forced to have sex with older men for the purpose of bearing their children. She said she was the seventh "spiritual" wife of a 49-year-old man. She described beatings by him as so vicious that one time several of her ribs had been broken.
The March 29 phone call, and one the next day from the compound run by an insular and secretive splinter sect of the Mormon Church, prompted raids by authorities; they took 416 children into protective custody, the largest child removal in Texas history. The children, mostly girls, ranged in age from infants to 17. Several have babies or are pregnant. ..........
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
a damn fine analysis
of what went down and what's going down in iraq
Spin One for the Gipper
by Jeff Huber
I have to say it again: If the Bush administration put a fraction of the effort it spends on spinning its wars into winning them, it wouldn’t need to spin them.
The current clash between Iraqi Shiite Cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s security forces took root last year when Sadr told his forces to take an operational pause for resupply and recuperation. That reduced violence levels enough to allow U.S. commander David Petraeus to claim his surge strategy was working even though it didn’t accomplish its intended political objectives. One might have expected a supposedly smart guy like Petraeus to leave well enough alone, but no. George Bush’s “main man” had to poke his pistol into the hornet’s nest, raiding selected elements of the Mahdi Army in Baghdad’s Sadr City and Shiite population centers in southern Iraq.
The Sadrists warned for months that they would retaliate if the harassment didn’t stop. Petraeus must have been too busy escorting John McCain and Lindsey Graham on shopping sprees in Baghdad to listen, because he kept at it, using both U.S. forces and elements of the Badr organization, one of Sadr’s rival Shiite political groups whose members dominate Iraq’s security forces.
It was not too long after Dick Cheney’s surprise visit to Baghdad on March 17 that Maliki launched his offensive against the Mahdi Army in Baghdad and in the southern city of Basra. The big media were strangely silent about the implications of the timing of the two events. Sadr’s people responded to Maliki’s push with a rocket and mortar attack on the Green Zone in Baghdad. ..........
Spin One for the Gipper
by Jeff Huber
I have to say it again: If the Bush administration put a fraction of the effort it spends on spinning its wars into winning them, it wouldn’t need to spin them.
The current clash between Iraqi Shiite Cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s security forces took root last year when Sadr told his forces to take an operational pause for resupply and recuperation. That reduced violence levels enough to allow U.S. commander David Petraeus to claim his surge strategy was working even though it didn’t accomplish its intended political objectives. One might have expected a supposedly smart guy like Petraeus to leave well enough alone, but no. George Bush’s “main man” had to poke his pistol into the hornet’s nest, raiding selected elements of the Mahdi Army in Baghdad’s Sadr City and Shiite population centers in southern Iraq.
The Sadrists warned for months that they would retaliate if the harassment didn’t stop. Petraeus must have been too busy escorting John McCain and Lindsey Graham on shopping sprees in Baghdad to listen, because he kept at it, using both U.S. forces and elements of the Badr organization, one of Sadr’s rival Shiite political groups whose members dominate Iraq’s security forces.
It was not too long after Dick Cheney’s surprise visit to Baghdad on March 17 that Maliki launched his offensive against the Mahdi Army in Baghdad and in the southern city of Basra. The big media were strangely silent about the implications of the timing of the two events. Sadr’s people responded to Maliki’s push with a rocket and mortar attack on the Green Zone in Baghdad. ..........
hmmmmmmmm
what's up with this?
by Frank James
Was Terry McAuliffe, chairman of Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, engaging in his own sort of hedging strategy at a recent meeting of Washington State Democrats? Or was the former Democratic National Committee chair engaging in a kumbayah, all-us-Democrats-are-in-this-together moment?
McAuliffe attended the regional caucuses of the Washington State Democrats over the weekend and graciously posed with some grass-roots Democrats.
What's really interesting, as you can see from these photos, is that McAuliffe posed with supporters of Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign and that a beaming McAuliffe helped them hold up their large Obama signs for the camera. McAuliffe is wearing his Clinton button but it's dwarfed by the Obama sign he's holding..........
Was Terry McAuliffe, chairman of Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, engaging in his own sort of hedging strategy at a recent meeting of Washington State Democrats? Or was the former Democratic National Committee chair engaging in a kumbayah, all-us-Democrats-are-in-this-together moment?
McAuliffe attended the regional caucuses of the Washington State Democrats over the weekend and graciously posed with some grass-roots Democrats.
What's really interesting, as you can see from these photos, is that McAuliffe posed with supporters of Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign and that a beaming McAuliffe helped them hold up their large Obama signs for the camera. McAuliffe is wearing his Clinton button but it's dwarfed by the Obama sign he's holding..........
the greatest silence
debuts on hbo tonight
The Brutal Truth
A Filmmaker Confronts the Rapists of the Congo and Finds No Remorse (note: she didn't find remorse in the congo and if she got a chance to talk to rapists ANYWHERE, she most likely wouldn't get ANY remorse from THEM either)
A Filmmaker Confronts the Rapists of the Congo and Finds No Remorse (note: she didn't find remorse in the congo and if she got a chance to talk to rapists ANYWHERE, she most likely wouldn't get ANY remorse from THEM either)
By DeNeen L. BrownWashington Post Staff Writer
Six rapists in the lush forest of the Democratic Republic of Congo: One in a green hood, another in a red baseball cap, another in military fatigues and a camouflage hat, another in black sunglasses. Their guns are pointed down. Smoking cigarettes, they swagger. They hold up their fingers, counting the number of women they have raped, violated, damned. Sexual terror as a weapon of war, perpetrated sometimes with sticks, knives, tree limbs.
The men seem unafraid to confess. They are bragging to an American filmmaker who holds a camera, recording their words.
"Ask him to tell me what he did," says Lisa F. Jackson, whose chilling documentary, "The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo," debuts tonight on HBO. In a 10-year-old conflict that has left some 5 million people dead, the tens of thousands of women and girls who have been systematically raped and mutilated by an array of combatants are the silent victims among the living, Jackson tells us. What makes her documentary more stunning: She goes into the forest and confronts the rapists.
"I slept with some women," says the rapist, a gray sweater wrapping his head, the sleeves tied around his neck...............
The men seem unafraid to confess. They are bragging to an American filmmaker who holds a camera, recording their words.
"Ask him to tell me what he did," says Lisa F. Jackson, whose chilling documentary, "The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo," debuts tonight on HBO. In a 10-year-old conflict that has left some 5 million people dead, the tens of thousands of women and girls who have been systematically raped and mutilated by an array of combatants are the silent victims among the living, Jackson tells us. What makes her documentary more stunning: She goes into the forest and confronts the rapists.
"I slept with some women," says the rapist, a gray sweater wrapping his head, the sleeves tied around his neck...............
we all know you and i are being spied upon
i hope THEY (the they being those in government. YES OUR GOVERNMENT) know THEY are being spied upon too. do they think they're beyond the scopes of king george and his court? well i hope they think again. it's all ok when we, the little ones are having our rights and liberties tossed. i wonder when they'll figure out THEIR rights and liberties are being trounced on as well
king george is NOT exempting anyone. not me. not you or you OR YOU
FBI Data Transfers Via Telecoms Questioned
By Ellen NakashimaWashington Post Staff Writer
When FBI investigators probing New York prostitution rings, Boston organized crime or potential terrorist plots anywhere want access to a suspect's telephone contacts, technicians at a telecommunications carrier served with a government order can, with the click of a mouse, instantly transfer key data along a computer circuit to an FBI technology office in Quantico.
The circuits -- little-known electronic connections between telecom firms and FBI monitoring personnel around the country -- are used to tell the government who is calling whom, along with the time and duration of a conversation and even the locations of those involved.
Recently, three Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, including Chairman John D. Dingell (Mich.), sent a letter to colleagues citing privacy concerns over one of the Quantico circuits and demanding more information about it. Anxieties about whether such electronic links are too intrusive form a backdrop to the continuing congressional debate over modifications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which governs federal surveillance.
Since a 1994 law required telecoms to build electronic interception capabilities into their systems, the FBI has created a network of links between the nation's largest telephone and Internet firms and about 40 FBI offices and Quantico, according to interviews and documents describing the agency's Digital Collection System. The documents were obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit advocacy group in San Francisco that specializes in digital-rights issues. .........
king george is NOT exempting anyone. not me. not you or you OR YOU
FBI Data Transfers Via Telecoms Questioned
By Ellen NakashimaWashington Post Staff Writer
When FBI investigators probing New York prostitution rings, Boston organized crime or potential terrorist plots anywhere want access to a suspect's telephone contacts, technicians at a telecommunications carrier served with a government order can, with the click of a mouse, instantly transfer key data along a computer circuit to an FBI technology office in Quantico.
The circuits -- little-known electronic connections between telecom firms and FBI monitoring personnel around the country -- are used to tell the government who is calling whom, along with the time and duration of a conversation and even the locations of those involved.
Recently, three Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, including Chairman John D. Dingell (Mich.), sent a letter to colleagues citing privacy concerns over one of the Quantico circuits and demanding more information about it. Anxieties about whether such electronic links are too intrusive form a backdrop to the continuing congressional debate over modifications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which governs federal surveillance.
Since a 1994 law required telecoms to build electronic interception capabilities into their systems, the FBI has created a network of links between the nation's largest telephone and Internet firms and about 40 FBI offices and Quantico, according to interviews and documents describing the agency's Digital Collection System. The documents were obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit advocacy group in San Francisco that specializes in digital-rights issues. .........
Monday, April 07, 2008
is this saudia arabia
or is it the united states of america? sometimes i wonder
i've written about tory bowen before. here, here and here
what a sad sad sad state of affairs
Appeals Court: The word 'rape' can be banned from rape trials
This makes me want to tear my hair out. Remember the Nebraska judge who banned the word 'rape' from a rape trial? (You know, so the accuser was forced to use words like "intercourse" and "sex" to describe the attack. Charming.) Well, according to an appeals court, that's all fine and dandy.
The lawsuit argued that Lancaster County District Judge Jeffre Cheuvront violated Tory Bowen's constitutional rights in barring her from using certain words during her testimony in the trial, in which she said Pamir Safi sexually assaulted her.
While Cheuvront barred Bowen from using phrases and words like "rape kit" and "victim" in her testimony, he allowed Safi's attorneys to use words such as "sex" and "intercourse" when describing the encounter between Safi and Bowen.
Even worse, of course, was that the jury wasn't told about the banned words.
Dahlia Lithwick at Slate had this to say when news of the case first came out: "The fact that judges are not rushing to ban similarly conclusory legal language from trial testimony—presumably one can still say murder or embezzlement on the stand—reflects not just the fraught nature of language but also the fraught nature of rape prosecutions. We as a society still somehow think rape is different—either because we assume the victims are especially fragile or because we assume they are particularly deceitful. Is the word rape truly more inflammatory to a jury than the word robbery?" Indeed.
Bowen (who made her name public), has been an inspiration through this disgustingness. First, she refused to abide by the judge's rule: "I refuse to call it sex, or any other word that I'm supposed to say, encouraged to say on the stand, because to me that's committing perjury. What happened to me was rape, it was not sex." ...........
i've written about tory bowen before. here, here and here
what a sad sad sad state of affairs
Appeals Court: The word 'rape' can be banned from rape trials
This makes me want to tear my hair out. Remember the Nebraska judge who banned the word 'rape' from a rape trial? (You know, so the accuser was forced to use words like "intercourse" and "sex" to describe the attack. Charming.) Well, according to an appeals court, that's all fine and dandy.
The lawsuit argued that Lancaster County District Judge Jeffre Cheuvront violated Tory Bowen's constitutional rights in barring her from using certain words during her testimony in the trial, in which she said Pamir Safi sexually assaulted her.
While Cheuvront barred Bowen from using phrases and words like "rape kit" and "victim" in her testimony, he allowed Safi's attorneys to use words such as "sex" and "intercourse" when describing the encounter between Safi and Bowen.
Even worse, of course, was that the jury wasn't told about the banned words.
Dahlia Lithwick at Slate had this to say when news of the case first came out: "The fact that judges are not rushing to ban similarly conclusory legal language from trial testimony—presumably one can still say murder or embezzlement on the stand—reflects not just the fraught nature of language but also the fraught nature of rape prosecutions. We as a society still somehow think rape is different—either because we assume the victims are especially fragile or because we assume they are particularly deceitful. Is the word rape truly more inflammatory to a jury than the word robbery?" Indeed.
Bowen (who made her name public), has been an inspiration through this disgustingness. First, she refused to abide by the judge's rule: "I refuse to call it sex, or any other word that I'm supposed to say, encouraged to say on the stand, because to me that's committing perjury. What happened to me was rape, it was not sex." ...........
an interesting find
by jake tapper at abc news. perhaps she was ONCE AGAIN over tired? hmmmmm
i am just waiting to see how long now (i REFUSE to link to them) continues to endorse her.
In Oregon, Clinton Makes False Claim About Her Iraq Record Vs. Obama's
Jake Tapper
In Eugene, Ore., Saturday. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., attempted to change the measure by which anyone might assess who criticized the Iraq war first, her or Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., by saying those keeping records should start in January 2005, when Obama joined the Senate. (A measure that conveniently avoids her October 2002 vote to authorize use of force against Iraq at a time that Obama was speaking out against the war.) She claimed that using that measure, she criticized the war in Iraq before Obama did.
But Clinton's claim was false.
Clinton on Saturday told Oregonians, "when Sen. Obama came to the Senate he and I have voted exactly the same except for one vote. And that happens to be the facts. We both voted against early deadlines. I actually starting criticizing the war in Iraq before he did."
It's an odd way to measure opposition to the war -- comparing who gave the first criticism of the war in Iraq starting in January 2005, ignoring Obama's opposition to the war throughout 2003 and 2004. (And Clinton's vote for it.)
But even if one were to employ this "Start Counting in January 2005" measurement, Clinton did not criticize the war in Iraq first............
i am just waiting to see how long now (i REFUSE to link to them) continues to endorse her.
In Oregon, Clinton Makes False Claim About Her Iraq Record Vs. Obama's
Jake Tapper
In Eugene, Ore., Saturday. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., attempted to change the measure by which anyone might assess who criticized the Iraq war first, her or Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., by saying those keeping records should start in January 2005, when Obama joined the Senate. (A measure that conveniently avoids her October 2002 vote to authorize use of force against Iraq at a time that Obama was speaking out against the war.) She claimed that using that measure, she criticized the war in Iraq before Obama did.
But Clinton's claim was false.
Clinton on Saturday told Oregonians, "when Sen. Obama came to the Senate he and I have voted exactly the same except for one vote. And that happens to be the facts. We both voted against early deadlines. I actually starting criticizing the war in Iraq before he did."
It's an odd way to measure opposition to the war -- comparing who gave the first criticism of the war in Iraq starting in January 2005, ignoring Obama's opposition to the war throughout 2003 and 2004. (And Clinton's vote for it.)
But even if one were to employ this "Start Counting in January 2005" measurement, Clinton did not criticize the war in Iraq first............
this goes with the posting below
we have to stop this now
it's not the green zone. it's the red with blood zone
Fighting resumes in Baghdad; rockets kill three Americans
By Leila Fadel and Mohammed al Dulaimy McClatchy Newspapers
BAGHDAD — The U.S.-backed Iraqi government Sunday began deploying Shiite Muslim volunteer fighters in neighborhoods dominated by the rival Mahdi Army militia of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr.
As the new volunteers took to the streets on the eve of key congressional testimony by Army Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, Iraqi security forces backed by U.S. forces clashed again with the Mahdi Army in the Shiite slum of Sadr City, and U.S. aircraft attacked militants.
In the heavily fortified Green Zone, where U.S. and Iraqi officials live and work, rocket attacks killed two U.S. soldiers and injured 17, at least five of them seriously. Rocket attacks on a U.S. base in southeast Baghdad killed another American soldier and wounded 14.
In some Mahdi Army strongholds, new government-backed militiamen were manning checkpoints with Iraqi National Police and others were piling up sandbags in anticipation of possible attacks.......
it's not the green zone. it's the red with blood zone
Fighting resumes in Baghdad; rockets kill three Americans
By Leila Fadel and Mohammed al Dulaimy McClatchy Newspapers
BAGHDAD — The U.S.-backed Iraqi government Sunday began deploying Shiite Muslim volunteer fighters in neighborhoods dominated by the rival Mahdi Army militia of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr.
As the new volunteers took to the streets on the eve of key congressional testimony by Army Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, Iraqi security forces backed by U.S. forces clashed again with the Mahdi Army in the Shiite slum of Sadr City, and U.S. aircraft attacked militants.
In the heavily fortified Green Zone, where U.S. and Iraqi officials live and work, rocket attacks killed two U.S. soldiers and injured 17, at least five of them seriously. Rocket attacks on a U.S. base in southeast Baghdad killed another American soldier and wounded 14.
In some Mahdi Army strongholds, new government-backed militiamen were manning checkpoints with Iraqi National Police and others were piling up sandbags in anticipation of possible attacks.......
oh yeah, around every corner
we can ALL see (though it seems most of the american public, well at least our congress and senate) choose to keep their heads in the sand, so to speak.
americans vs. iraqis
sunnis vs. shiites
now shiites vs. shiites
shite
yup,
Basra Offensive Inflamed Long-Standing Rivalry, Redefining Nature of Conflict
By Sudarsan RaghavanWashington Post Foreign Service
BAGHDAD, April 6 -- As verses from the Koran floated from a loudspeaker, the Shiite militia commander's face glowered. Inside the cavernous funeral tent, a large portrait of his 16-year-old son, Mustafa, hung over the mourners. Abu Abdullah, who fought U.S. troops and Sunni insurgents for five years, never expected his son to die before him. Now, he said, his anger was directed at other Shiites.
An Iraqi soldier, he said, had shot Mustafa two days earlier as he approached a checkpoint in Sadr City, where Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army rule. Abu Abdullah blamed Sadr's Shiite rivals, who lead the Iraqi government.
"What do I feel inside me?" asked Abu Abdullah, dressed in black. "I want to do to them exactly what they did to my son, and even more."
In this volatile Shiite redoubt, animosity toward Prime Minister Nouri-al Maliki and his allies has deepened in the aftermath of Iraq's worst violence in months, threatening to escalate a conflict among Shiites that could further draw in U.S. troops. ..........
americans vs. iraqis
sunnis vs. shiites
now shiites vs. shiites
shite
yup,
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
Between Iraqi Shiites, a Deepening AnimosityBasra Offensive Inflamed Long-Standing Rivalry, Redefining Nature of Conflict
By Sudarsan RaghavanWashington Post Foreign Service
BAGHDAD, April 6 -- As verses from the Koran floated from a loudspeaker, the Shiite militia commander's face glowered. Inside the cavernous funeral tent, a large portrait of his 16-year-old son, Mustafa, hung over the mourners. Abu Abdullah, who fought U.S. troops and Sunni insurgents for five years, never expected his son to die before him. Now, he said, his anger was directed at other Shiites.
An Iraqi soldier, he said, had shot Mustafa two days earlier as he approached a checkpoint in Sadr City, where Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army rule. Abu Abdullah blamed Sadr's Shiite rivals, who lead the Iraqi government.
"What do I feel inside me?" asked Abu Abdullah, dressed in black. "I want to do to them exactly what they did to my son, and even more."
In this volatile Shiite redoubt, animosity toward Prime Minister Nouri-al Maliki and his allies has deepened in the aftermath of Iraq's worst violence in months, threatening to escalate a conflict among Shiites that could further draw in U.S. troops. ..........
Sunday, April 06, 2008
well it IS sunday
unusual christian themed products from dark roasted blend
ONE example is the god breath spray. yup, that's what i said
sunday with
one of my favorite bands the niagaras (is that a coronet in robert's pocket or is he just happy to see me?)
(they'll be back at the half door next saturday)
(they'll be back at the half door next saturday)
oh no
no. mccain has someone who is a 'jew-counter' AND a dog B B Qer on his staff? wtf???????????? how sick is that? excuse me while i take a few moments to scrub myself down with a wire brush and lysol
McCain's Finance Chair: Jew-Counter and Dog-Barbecuer
Posted by Kathy G, The G-Spot
I was gratified to see that General J.C. Christian, patriot ("an 11 on the manly scale of absolute gender") has picked up on my earlier post which mentioned the Jew-counting exploits of McCain's finance chair, Fred Malek. The good general is worried that Malek's Jew-hunting proclivities might be cutting into his effectiveness as a fundraiser.
While I'm surprised that Gen. Christian found his way onto a foul-mouthed fem blog such as this one, I suppose he takes his duty to monitor the enemy very seriously.
In other Malek news, on that earlier thread commenter Lambert Strether writes, "I'll see the 'Jew counting,' and raise 'helping kill and barbecue a dog, while drunk, in college" and directs our attention to this charming story. I'll give you the highlight reel, in the form of a Washington Post report that is quoted in the link:
On a Friday in August 1959, five men in their twenties were arrested about 2 a.m. and held in the county jail all day after sheriff's deputies found a blood-spattered, unoccupied car about 1:15 a.m. at the entrance to Vicary's Park on Kickapoo Creek Road near Peoria, Ill.
Joined by Sheriff Harry P. Backes, two deputies had found two men walking toward the park entrance; the two men told the deputies that they had struck a dog and were going to bury it.
Further investigation revealed three others hiding in some weeds, the sheriff said. Because the men's car was saturated with blood and they gave conflicting stories at the time of their arrest, Sheriff Backes thought there might have been a connection between the dog incident and a strong-arm robbery earlier in the evening.
After checking the blood-spattered pants of one of the men at the state crime laboratory in Springfield, it was determined that the stains were animal and not human blood. Backes said the men then changed their story and said they had "caught a dog and were barbecuing it."...........
McCain's Finance Chair: Jew-Counter and Dog-Barbecuer
Posted by Kathy G, The G-Spot
I was gratified to see that General J.C. Christian, patriot ("an 11 on the manly scale of absolute gender") has picked up on my earlier post which mentioned the Jew-counting exploits of McCain's finance chair, Fred Malek. The good general is worried that Malek's Jew-hunting proclivities might be cutting into his effectiveness as a fundraiser.
While I'm surprised that Gen. Christian found his way onto a foul-mouthed fem blog such as this one, I suppose he takes his duty to monitor the enemy very seriously.
In other Malek news, on that earlier thread commenter Lambert Strether writes, "I'll see the 'Jew counting,' and raise 'helping kill and barbecue a dog, while drunk, in college" and directs our attention to this charming story. I'll give you the highlight reel, in the form of a Washington Post report that is quoted in the link:
On a Friday in August 1959, five men in their twenties were arrested about 2 a.m. and held in the county jail all day after sheriff's deputies found a blood-spattered, unoccupied car about 1:15 a.m. at the entrance to Vicary's Park on Kickapoo Creek Road near Peoria, Ill.
Joined by Sheriff Harry P. Backes, two deputies had found two men walking toward the park entrance; the two men told the deputies that they had struck a dog and were going to bury it.
Further investigation revealed three others hiding in some weeds, the sheriff said. Because the men's car was saturated with blood and they gave conflicting stories at the time of their arrest, Sheriff Backes thought there might have been a connection between the dog incident and a strong-arm robbery earlier in the evening.
After checking the blood-spattered pants of one of the men at the state crime laboratory in Springfield, it was determined that the stains were animal and not human blood. Backes said the men then changed their story and said they had "caught a dog and were barbecuing it."...........
can you imagine a public health school
that doesn't allow for the use of the word 'abortion'? this is 2008, right? this is america right? abstinence? it F**KING DOESN'T WORK. if proper COMPREHENSIVE sex education was taught (and practiced) there would be very little need for abortion indeed!
Health site blocked 'abortion' searches
Johns Hopkins Health Web Site Restores 'Abortion' As Allowable Search Term
A prominent public health school has restored the word "abortion" as an acceptable search term on a reproductive health Web site funded by a federal agency that restricts references to abortions. The move by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health follows criticism from some health advocates and librarians that the restriction amounted to censorship.
The restriction on the POPLINE Web site — "population information online" — had been put in place after inquiries by the United States Agency for International Development, which funds the site, according to a statement from Dr. Michael J. Klag, the dean of the Bloomberg school.
USAID denies funding to non-governmental organizations that perform or actively promote abortion as a methods of family planning in other nations. The policy was started under President Ronald Reagan and was revived when President Bush took office in 2001.
"I could not disagree more strongly with this decision, and I have directed that the POPLINE administrators restore 'abortion' as a search term immediately," Klag said in a statement. "The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is dedicated to the advancement and dissemination of knowledge and not its restriction."
USAID officials did not immediately respond to calls seeking comment Saturday............
Health site blocked 'abortion' searches
Johns Hopkins Health Web Site Restores 'Abortion' As Allowable Search Term
A prominent public health school has restored the word "abortion" as an acceptable search term on a reproductive health Web site funded by a federal agency that restricts references to abortions. The move by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health follows criticism from some health advocates and librarians that the restriction amounted to censorship.
The restriction on the POPLINE Web site — "population information online" — had been put in place after inquiries by the United States Agency for International Development, which funds the site, according to a statement from Dr. Michael J. Klag, the dean of the Bloomberg school.
USAID denies funding to non-governmental organizations that perform or actively promote abortion as a methods of family planning in other nations. The policy was started under President Ronald Reagan and was revived when President Bush took office in 2001.
"I could not disagree more strongly with this decision, and I have directed that the POPLINE administrators restore 'abortion' as a search term immediately," Klag said in a statement. "The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is dedicated to the advancement and dissemination of knowledge and not its restriction."
USAID officials did not immediately respond to calls seeking comment Saturday............
of all the people they could pick
they pick THIS one?
Get out the siren: Clinton leaks tax returns to Drudge
John Byrne
Man that broke Lewinsky scandal now target of Clinton news machine
The man who broke the story that nearly derailed her husband's presidency continues to get first dibs from Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.
Clinton's tax returns were leaked early to the conservative website The Drudge Report, "who has been extremely hard on Hillary for months — as good proof as any since the time of Machiavelli that it's better to be feared than loved," "according to Politico.
Clinton has also leaked her fundraising numbers first to Drudge in the past.
Matt Drudge came to prominence during the Bill Clinton Administration when he leaked a report Newsweek was holding on Monica Lewinsky's sexual relationship with the president.
The Washington Times reported in 2007 that Drudge and the Web have played important strategic roles in the Clinton campaign.
"The New York Democrat's third-quarter [2007] fundraising blowout was leaked to the Drudge Report," the Times said. "She made sure an Iowa newspaper printed her comments that she found Sen. Barack Obama's answer to a foreign-policy question 'irresponsible' and 'naive.' She also uses her "Hillary Hub" campaign creation to break news.".............
Get out the siren: Clinton leaks tax returns to Drudge
John Byrne
Man that broke Lewinsky scandal now target of Clinton news machine
The man who broke the story that nearly derailed her husband's presidency continues to get first dibs from Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.
Clinton's tax returns were leaked early to the conservative website The Drudge Report, "who has been extremely hard on Hillary for months — as good proof as any since the time of Machiavelli that it's better to be feared than loved," "according to Politico.
Clinton has also leaked her fundraising numbers first to Drudge in the past.
Matt Drudge came to prominence during the Bill Clinton Administration when he leaked a report Newsweek was holding on Monica Lewinsky's sexual relationship with the president.
The Washington Times reported in 2007 that Drudge and the Web have played important strategic roles in the Clinton campaign.
"The New York Democrat's third-quarter [2007] fundraising blowout was leaked to the Drudge Report," the Times said. "She made sure an Iowa newspaper printed her comments that she found Sen. Barack Obama's answer to a foreign-policy question 'irresponsible' and 'naive.' She also uses her "Hillary Hub" campaign creation to break news.".............
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