more truth

YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH

yes i can

NO YOU CAN'T

yes i can

NO YOU CAN'T

yes i can - so let me hear it
(video at the link below)

U.S. Is Paying Off Iraq's Worst War Criminals in Attempt to Ward Off Attacks

By Katie Halper, AlterNet
Title: Director's Cut: New Video shows the truth in Anbar that Petraeus does not want us to see.
When Bush was in Iraq two weeks ago he posed for photographs with Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha, the leader of the Anbar Awakening, an alliance of Sunni tribes who vow to back the United States and fight against al Qaeda.
Last Monday, General Petraeus testified to Congress that "a year ago" Anbar province "was assessed 'lost' politically ... Today, it is a model of what happens when local leaders and citizens decide to oppose al Qaeda and reject its Taliban-like ideology."
Three days later, the assassination of Abu Risha in Ramadi dramatically undercut Bush and Petraeus' claims of Anbar victory and peacekeeping. But what else is the administration keeping from us about Anbar?
Rick Rowley, a journalist and independent filmmaker of Big Noise Films, was one of the last people to videotape and interview the Sunni sheikh, and his video report Uncovering the Truth Behind the Anbar Success Story, presents a very different picture of the Anbar Awakening.
Embedded with the U.S. Army and Iraqi militias, Rowley shows us that the Sunni "freedom fighters" with whom the United States is now allied are not just insurgents who had been killing Americans but war criminals responsible for sectarian cleansing........

shiver me timbers

aye maties did ye think I would forget? Nay. Tis talk like a pirate day again. seems t’was just a fortnight ago it last be talk like a pirate day. me hearties, may all the booty of the world be left at ye door (NOOOOOOOO NOT THAT KIND OF BOOTY)

talk like a pirate
talk like a pirate day

yarrrrrrrrrrrr
pirate talk

My pirate name is:

Iron Bess Flint

A pirate's life isn't easy; it takes a tough person. That's okay with you, though, since you a tough person. Like the rock flint, you're hard and sharp. But, also like flint, you're easily chipped, and sparky. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network

reformed pirate: www.gutenberg.org/.../15373-h/images/image25.jpg

some cool pirate knitting charts:

argyle scull

scull scarf

we call them pirates

pirate socks

scull socks of fury

kid's pirate hat

the pirate queen's booty bag

craft like a pirate

pirate lil

i'm surprised and shocked

and in a state of disbelief! (NOT)

our government interfering? noooooooooooooooooooooooooo

State IG Accused of Averting Probes

By Glenn Kessler and Karen DeYoung Washington Post Staff Writers
Howard J. Krongard, the State Department's inspector general, has repeatedly thwarted investigations into contracting fraud in Iraq and Afghanistan, including construction of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, and censored reports that might prove politically embarrassing to the Bush administration, the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform charged yesterday in a 13-page letter.
The letter, addressed to Krongard and signed by the committee chairman, Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), who released it yesterday, said the allegations were based on the testimony of seven current and former officials on Krongard's staff, including two former senior officials who allowed their names to be used, and private e-mail exchanges obtained by the committee. The letter said the allegations concerned all three major divisions of Krongard's office -- investigations, audits and inspections........

.............The letter alleges that Krongard "interfered with ongoing investigations to protect the State Department and the White House from political embarrassment." It said that "your strong affinity with State Department leadership and your partisan political ties have led you to halt investigations, censor reports and refuse to cooperate with law enforcement agencies."
The Senate confirmed President Bush's nomination of Krongard, who had no previous State Department experience, in May 2005...........

and another shocking item KRONGARD HAS NO STATE DEPARTMENT EXPERIENCE. noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

NOT ONE DAY

these returning troops should not wait ONE DAY for treatment. no red tape, no shite. TREAT THEM

VA Secretary Cites Backlog of Claims

By Hope Yen Associated Press
Outgoing Secretary Jim Nicholson acknowledged yesterday that the Department of Veterans Affairs is struggling to reduce backlogs in disability claims from Iraq war veterans.
Delays in processing disability payments reach up to 177 days, and Nicholson, in addressing Congress for a final time before stepping down Oct. 1, said the department has hired 1,100 new processors to cut that waiting time.
Even with the new staffing, Nicholson told the House Veterans Affairs Committee, VA can hope to reduce delays only to about 145 to 150 days -- assuming that the level of compensation and pension claims does not spike higher........

stop on by

the life and times of a carolina parrothead and read a powerful posting on our constitution (through one man's eyes)

one again, i'm more apt to believe this

than what the msm has been reporting. to say this is eye opening is not doing it justice. seems like iraq 'families' aren't too far off from the sopranos. keep your mouth shut, chip in some dough, you may have a chance. you go against the family fredo and YOU SLEEP WITH THE FISHES

Greg Palast: Bush's Fake Sheik Whacked: The Surge and the Al Qaeda Bunny
BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTIONby Greg Palast
A special investigative report from inside Iraq
Monday, September 17, 2007 -- Did you see George all choked up? In his surreal TV talk on Thursday, he got all emotional over the killing by Al Qaeda of Sheik Abu Risha, the leader of the new Sunni alliance with the U.S. against the insurgents in Anbar Province, Iraq.
Bush shook Abu Risha's hand two weeks ago for the cameras. Bush can shake his hand again, but not the rest of him: Abu Risha was blown away just hours before Bush was to go on the air to praise his new friend.
Here's what you need to know that NPR won't tell you.
1. Sheik Abu Risha wasn't a sheik.2. He wasn't killed by Al Qaeda.3. The new alliance with former insurgents in Anbar is as fake as the sheik -- and a murderous deceit.
How do I know this? You can see the film -- of "Sheik" Abu Risha, of the guys who likely whacked him, and of their other victims.
Just in case you think I've lost my mind and put my butt in insane danger to get this footage, don't worry. I was safe and dry in Budapest. It was my brilliant new cameraman, Rick Rowley, who went to Iraq to get the story on his own.
Rick's "the future of TV news," says BBC. He's also completely out of control. Despite our pleas, Rick and his partner Dave Enders went to Anbar and filmed where no cameraman had dared tread......

wow you kill people (from BOTH the left and the right)

(and everything in between) and you get placed on super secret double secret probation

i want to leeevvvvvveeeeeee in a-mer-i-caaaaaaaaaaaa

Chiquita pays fine for supporting Colombian terrorist group

By Pablo Bachelet McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — Chiquita Brands International, the Cincinnati-based company famous for its banana brand, on Monday made the first $5 million installment on a $25 million fine that it's agreed to pay as part of a guilty plea to charges that it supported a right-wing terrorist group in Colombia.
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth approved the plea deal during a court hearing at which a prosecutor said that Chiquita had made payments to both left-wing and right-wing terrorist groups to buy protection for its employees and facilities in Colombia.
In addition to the fine, the plea agreement places the corporation on five years probation and requires that it set up an internal ethics training program. Last week, the Justice Department decided that no Chiquita executives would be charged.
"This was a difficult situation for the company,'' James Thompson, Chiquita's general counsel, said after the hearing. "We were being extorted and we had to protect the well-being of our employees and their families.''
But Jonathan Malis, the Department of Justice prosecutor, called the payments "morally repugnant'' and said the company may have protected the lives of its workers but "fueled violence everywhere else.''......

why is it some can 'associate' with TERRORISTS while others have their phones tapped for being on some kind of MEANINGLESS 'list' somewhere? why is it a company can be responsible for THOUSANDS of DEATHS and TORTURE and they get a slap on the bannana?

recent immigration orange posts on chiquita

one of my recent chiquita posts

and stories just like this

are why i have issues with the ccsu polydongs 'comic' i wrote about the other day (see a few postings ago for THAT shite)



Federal Prosecutor Arrested In Child Sex Sting

DETROIT -- A U.S. Justice Department official has been arrested on suspicion of traveling to Detroit over the weekend to have sex with a minor.
John David R. Atchison, 53, an assistant U.S. attorney from the northern district of Florida, was arraigned in U.S. District Court in Detroit Monday afternoon.
An undercover officer posed as a mother offering her child to Atchison for sex, according to police.

He is charged with enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity.
According to authorities, Atchison made contact with a detective working undercover for the Macomb County Sheriff's department's.
The detective, acting as the child's mother, allegedly arranged a sexual encounter between Atchison and her 5-year-old daughter, police said.
In deposition, detectives said Atchison suggested the mother tell her daughter that "you found her a sweet boyfriend who will bring her presents."
The undercover detective expressed concern about physical injury to the 5-year-old girl as a result of the sexual activity. Detectives said Atchison responded, " I am always gentle and loving; not to worry, no damage ever, no rough stuff ever. I only like it soft and nice."...........



(and NO, i don't think a cartoon where a triange or square or whatever, pisses on a 14 year old grrrl CAUSES the rape of a five year old. i just don't think it's FUNNY or a CARTOON when a 14 year old grrrl is tied up and locked in a closed and pissed on because shite like that happens in real life. i know for a FACT it does)

a hero soldier in iraq

punished for NOT taking an anthrax (well anti-anthrax shot). you tell me where the justice is. king george and his court with the blood of tens of thousands on their hands not only walk around FREE, but get to still commit crimes against humanity. one little soldier decides what to put into his body or NOT and HE gets punished?

Soldier faces threats from military after refusing anthrax vaccine
Julie Weisberg
A soldier serving in Iraq who is stationed in Baghdad says he has faced “threats” and “intimidation” from his Army superiors – including the possibility of forced inoculations – after he refused to take the military’s controversial anthrax vaccine.
Private First Class Leif Hamre, 22, is currently serving out a Field Grade Article 15, a non-judicial punishment for disciplinary offenses, for refusing to take the Pentagon’s anthrax vaccine, BioThrax, earlier this summer.
According to Hamre, 22, the military gave him an ultimatum in late June: Either take the mandated six-shot anthrax series or face military punishment. He was given 24 hours to decide. ...........

i personally cannot imagine

making my living as a soldier of fortune. i don't understand what is inside of someone that could possibly MAKE them want to be a mercernary (you know i want to use the word killer, right?) .

and as an aside? why are THEY guarding crocker and state department employees anyway? why aren't our troops?

Iraq Bans Security Contractor
Blackwater Faulted In Baghdad Killings

By Joshua Partlow and Walter Pincus Washington Post Foreign Service
BAGHDAD, Sept. 17 -- The Iraqi government on Monday said it had revoked the license of Blackwater USA, an American security company involved in a shootout in Baghdad that killed at least nine people, raising questions over which nation should regulate tens of thousands of civilian hired guns operating in Iraq.
The Iraqi government's announcement was its most public assertion to date of its right to take action against foreign security companies when a suspected crime has been committed.
Several violent episodes involving Blackwater have infuriated Iraqi officials. An Interior Ministry spokesman, Brig. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf, said the decision meant Blackwater "cannot work in Iraq any longer."............

and even more info:

Will Iraq Kick Out Blackwater?
Monday, Sep. 17, 2007 By ADAM ZAGORIN AND BRIAN BENNETT/WASHINGTON
TIME has obtained an incident report prepared by the U.S. government describing a fire fight Sunday in Baghdad in which at least eight Iraqis were reported killed and 13 wounded. The deadly incident occurred when a convoy of U.S. personnel protected by Blackwater security contractors came under small arms fire. Blackwater returned fire, resulting in the Iraqi deaths. The loss of life has provoked anger in Baghdad, where the Interior Ministry has suspended Blackwater's license to operate around the country. Several Iraqi government officials have indicated their opposition to Blackwater's continued presence in their country. If the suspension is made permanent, it could significantly impair security for key U.S. personnel in the country, a U.S. official in Baghdad told TIME. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, whose State Department depends on Blackwater to protect its Iraq-based staffers, called Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki to say that the U.S. has launched its own investigation into the matter......

(please understand IF i happened to be in iraq, would i want these guys - yes, i think they're all men, but i could be wrong - watching my back? YES the answer is YES i would. morally, NO but in real life, YES)

"Rockets Redglare!,"

i happened to see the movie. i don't remember if i rented it or saw it on a cable channel (i'm guessing sundance here). rockets was an actor (well SOME of the time. he was a drug addict, con man and a LOT of other things as well). you'd recognize rockets if you saw him. he always played the toothless man behind the bars or glass in a seedy urban motel (NOT to be confused with the seedy motels in the country - mostly used as settings for horror movies and the like).

anyway, i LOVE steve buscemi and most everything he's done. how can you NOT?

Steve Buscemi Settles Lawsuit Over Film

The Associated Press

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Actor Steve Buscemi and the estate for the late film director Luis de la Reguera have settled a lawsuit over a film they co-produced against the film's distributor, a lawyer for Buscemi and de la Reguera's estate said Sunday.
Michael Broder, of Fort Lauderdale distributor Small Planet Pictures, must turn over the rights to the film "Rockets Redglare!," to the plaintiffs and pay $35,000 of their legal fees, said Hunter Chamberlain, a lawyer for the producers.

The film, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2003, is a documentary on the life of actor Michael Morra, said Chamberlain.
If Broder fails to pay the fees within five years, he will have to pay $1.75 million. The settlement was finalized Sept. 5, according to court documents.............

rockets redglare

please stop by

the new republic to see

jill greenberg's INCREDIBLE monkey portraits

the manipulator jill greenberg's site

and now for some

REAL facts and figures.....

What They’re Saying in Anbar Province

by Gary Langer
IN his address to the nation on Thursday, President Bush singled out progress in Anbar Province as the model for United States success in Iraq. The president’s claims echoed those made earlier in the week by Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top American commander in Iraq, in his Congressional testimony. And they raised a question worth examining: Do United States military alliances with Sunni tribal leaders truly reflect a turning of hearts and minds away from Anbar’s bitter anti-Americanism?
The data from our latest Iraq poll suggest not.

Withdrawal timetable aside, every Anbar respondent in our survey opposed the presence of American forces in Iraq - 69 percent “strongly” so. Every Anbar respondent called attacks on coalition forces “acceptable,” far more than anywhere else in the country. All called the United States-led invasion wrong, including 68 percent who called it “absolutely wrong.” No wonder: Anbar, in western Iraq, is almost entirely populated by Sunni Arabs, long protected by Saddam Hussein and dispossessed by his overthrow. There are critical improvements in Anbar. Most important have been remarkable advances in confidence in the Iraqi Army and police. In ABC’s survey in March, not a single respondent rated local security positively - now 38 percent do. Nonetheless, nobody surveyed in Anbar last month gave the United States any credit. Ratings of living conditions remain dismal: respondents were deeply dissatisfied with the availability of electricity and fuel, jobs, medical care and a host of other elements of daily life. And the violence, while sharply down, has hardly ended: One in four reported that car bombs or suicide attacks had occurred near them in the last six months. Last week’s murder of Abdul Sattar Buzaigh al-Rishawi, an Anbar sheik who had allied himself with the United States, only underscored this grim reality.

if mother's ruled the world.........

Fox censors Sally Field’s anti-war speech at Emmy’s



.............Field then continued, “If mothers ruled the world, there would be no –” But the Fox Emmycast cut off her sound and pointed the camera away from the stage, silencing the rest of her sentence: “god-damned wars in the first place.” Watch it:................

ptsd

and the treatment or LACK THEREOF for some of our veterans (that is a crime. an out and out crime)

these men and women are heroes and should be treated as such. no excuses. NONE

VA studies: PTSD care inconsistent

By Chris Adams McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — The Department of Veterans Affairs, which touts its special programs to treat post-traumatic stress disorder in returning soldiers, spends little on those programs in some parts of the country, and some of its efforts fail to meet some of the VA's own goals, according to internal reports obtained by McClatchy Newspapers.
In fiscal year 2006, the reports show, some of the VA's specialized PTSD units spent a fraction of what the average unit did. Five medical centers — in California, Iowa, Louisiana, Tennessee and Wisconsin — spent about $100,000 on their PTSD clinical teams, less than one-fifth the national average.
The documents also show that while the VA's treatment for PTSD is generally effective, nearly a third of the agency's inpatient and other intensive PTSD units failed to meet at least one of the quality goals monitored by a VA health-research organization. The VA medical center in Lexington, Ky., failed to meet four of six quality goals, according to the internal reports..........

i don't know

does THIS sound like things are getting better in iraq to YOU? it sure as shite doesn't to me.
a us state department motorcade being fired upon? a PRIVATE security firm (wonder which one it was. they are not releasing any names yet) firing AND KILLING innocent civilians. suicide bombers everywhere. al-qaeda in iraq everywhere...........and blood fills the streets

State Dept. Convoy Attacked in Baghdad, Sparking a Shootout
Security Guards Kill 9 Civilians, Iraqis Say


By Joshua Partlow Washington Post Foreign Service
BAGHDAD, Sept. 17 -- A U.S. State Department motorcade came under attack in Baghdad on Sunday, prompting security contractors guarding the convoy to open fire in the streets. At least nine civilians were killed, according to Iraqi officials.
The shootout occurred in the downtown neighborhood of Mansour at midday after an explosion detonated near the convoy, police said. In response, the security contractors "escalated the force to defend themselves," a U.S. Embassy official in Baghdad said.
Iraqi officials alleged that the response by the security company, which was not named, involved excessive force and killed innocent civilians. The Iraqi government will investigate the incident and "probably will withdraw the authority for this security company in Baghdad," said Brig. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf, an Interior Ministry spokesman...........

10,000 out of how many?

how many did we displace? way more than 10,000 that's for sure. how many iraqis have helped our troops? way more than 10,000 that's for sure. how many iraqis lives are on the line? way more than 10,000 that's for sure. are these 10,000 going to be alive when (and IF) they really do get into the us? even one of king george's court, ryan c crocker thinks we're not doing our jobs (as far as the refugees go that is)

Crocker Blasts Refugee Process
Iraqis Could Wait 2 Years for Entry, Ambassador Says

By Spencer S. Hsu and Robin Wright Washington Post Staff Writers
The U.S. ambassador to Iraq warned that it may take the U.S. government as long as two years to process and admit nearly 10,000 Iraqi refugees referred by the United Nations for resettlement to the United States, because of bureaucratic bottlenecks.
In a bluntly worded State Department cable titled "Iraqi Refugee Processing: Can We Speed It Up?" Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker noted that the Department of Homeland Security had only a handful of officers in Jordan to vet the refugees.
Bush administration officials in Washington immediately disputed several of Crocker's claims.
Still, the "sensitive" but unclassified memo, sent Sept. 7, laid out a wrenching, ground-level view of the U.S. government's halting response to Iraq's refugee crisis. Human rights groups and independent analysts say thousands of desperate Iraqis who have worked alongside Americans now find themselves the targets of insurgents and sectarian militias, prompting many of them to seek residency in the United States or Europe...........

follow up to yesterday's posting: he nutmeg grater: this is a posting i found (by 'kitty')#links#links

the nutmeg grater: this is a posting i found (by 'kitty')#links#links

an army of god or

an army OF TERRORISTS?

there ARE terrorists right here right now and many of them are walking free. these three have just been released (and mind you THEY got attorneys, THEY got their rights read to them, THEY got trials..............)


9/11/07 - Convicted Terrorist Released from Federal Prison
By AnnRose
Guest front pager Ann Rose is, among other things, a partner in the National Women’s Health Organization, a group of 5 abortion and family planning clinics in the Eastern and Southern United States. She is also the co-founder of Hot Flash Report. -- FC
Convicted anti-abortion terrorists Don Benny Anderson, and brothers Matthew Moore and Wayne Moore, were released from jail and into a halfway house yesterday, September 11, 2007.
Don Benny Anderson was convicted in 1982 of kidnapping the owner of an abortion clinic and his wife in Illinois. The doctor was forced at gunpoint to make an audio recording urging then President Reagan to oppose abortion, even though Reagan already did. After 8 days in fearful captivity, the couple were released unharmed, but have remained relatively low profile since then. Anderson was released yesterday from Federal Prison into a halfway house near the clinic after spending 24 of his 30 year sentence in jail. The infamous Army of God claimed responsibility for the kidnapping.
While the media is obsessed with foreign terrorists and the Petreaus report and the fear of Iraq, Iran, AlQuida, Osama Bin Laden, and other boogey-men, these three bonafide convicted terrorists will be walking the streets. But wait, these dudes are "White Christians", so never mind. The chilling details of their crimes are below the fold............

we have some good news and some bad news

the GOOD news is sea voyages (cargo) can be cut by THOUSANDS of miles. the BAD news is, OUR PLANET IS DYING. (i was sitting next to two normal collage aged looking young men on friday afternoon. yes at the the half door. both of them (remember i said they looked 'normal') claimed they did NOT believe in global warming. it was a myth to 'scare us'. i don't understand their outlook. i really don't)


Images Show Arctic Ice Shrinking to Record Low

By Jamey Keaten Associated Press
PARIS, Sept. 15 -- Arctic ice has shrunk to the lowest level on record, new satellite images show, raising the possibility that the Northwest Passage that eluded famous explorers will become an open shipping lane.
The European Space Agency said nearly 200 satellite photos this month showed an ice-free passage along northern Canada, Alaska and Greenland, and ice retreating to its lowest level since such images were first taken in 1978.
The waters are exposing unexplored resources, and vessels could trim thousands of miles from Europe to Asia by bypassing the Panama Canal. The seasonal ebb and flow of ice levels has already opened up a slim summer window for ships.
Leif Toudal Pedersen of the Danish National Space Center said Arctic ice has shrunk to about 1 million square miles. The previous low was 1.5 million square miles, in 2005...........