Casinos,Lobbiests, DeLay...Murder...

Untangling a Lobbyist's Stake in a Casino Fleet
With Millions of Dollars Unaccounted for, Another Federal Investigation Targets Abramoff

By Susan Schmidt and James V. Grimaldi
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, May 1, 2005; Page A01

It was a gangland-style hit straight out of "Goodfellas."

A man in a BMW was driving down a quiet side street after an evening meeting at his Fort Lauderdale office when a car slowed to a stop in front of him. A second car boxed the BMW in from behind, then a dark Mustang appeared from the opposite direction. The Mustang's driver pulled alongside and pumped three hollow-point bullets into the BMW driver's chest.

The dead man was Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis, a volatile 51-year-old self-made millionaire, a Greek immigrant who had started as a dishwasher in Canada and ended up in Florida, where he built an empire of restaurants, hotels and cruise ships used for offshore casino gambling. Boulis's slaying, still unsolved four years later, reverberated all the way to Washington. Months earlier he had sold his fleet of casino ships to a partnership that included Republican superlobbyist Jack Abramoff.

More...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/30/AR2005043001147.html

1975: Saigon surrendersThe war in Vietnam ended today as the government in Saigon announced its unconditional surrender to the Vietcong.
The President, Duong Van Minh, who has been in office for just three days, made the announcement in a radio broadcast to the nation early this morning. He asked his forces to lay down their arms and called on the Vietcong to halt all hostilities.
In a direct appeal to the Communist forces, he said: "We are here to hand over to you the power in order to avoid bloodshed."
The announcement was followed swiftly by the arrival of Vietcong troops. Their entrance was virtually unopposed, confounding predictions of a bloody and protracted last-ditch battle for the city.
 

Art For Everybody. 

Art For Boys. 

LAW is about to catch up to torturers.

Published on Saturday, April 30, 2005 by Hearst Newspapers


Commanders Responsible for Abu Ghraib
by Helen Thomas

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon has got to be kidding. It turns out that only those rogue enlisted men and women and one woman general are to blame for the horrifying treatment of prisoners and detainees of the Iraqi war, according to Lt. Gen. Stanley Green, the Army inspector general.

He cleared four senior army officers of any responsibility for the abuse of prisoners at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison after reviewing the results of 10 separate inquiries into the prison abuse, some of which the world was able to view though photos.

In effect, his report is the final word unless there are some brave members of Congress who are willing to investigate the role of the military higher-ups who gave the green light for the severe interrogation of prisoners in U.S. custody.

The responsibility ultimately lies with President Bush, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, then White House counsel, who decided that the Geneva Conventions on Humanitarian Treatment of Prisoners of War didn't apply in the "war on terrorism."

Among the military hierarchy, only Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, an Army reserve officer who commanded the military police unit at Abu Ghraib, has paid a price. Karpinski, who was relieved of her command and given a written reprimand, claims she is a "scapegoat" and plans to fight the charge.

The military has targeted 125 individuals with either criminal or administrative charges in connection with 350 cases of abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan. Six low-ranking servicemen have been convicted or pleaded guilty to abuse-related charges.

In a recent interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Karpinski pointed to the role of Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, who had been sent from his duty at the Guantanamo Bay, prison -- known as "gitmo" -- to Iraq where his orders were to "gitmoize" Abu Ghraib. Miller told officers there "to treat the prisoners like dogs."


more... http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0430-25.htm

A miracle pulled from the wreckage of Iraq.

Shielded by corpses, infant survives Baghdad suicide bombing

By Hannah Allam, Knight Ridder Newspapers
Sat Apr 30, 3:56 PM ET



BAGHDAD, Iraq - A tiny cry rose from among corpses as Iraqis soldiers dug through the wreckage of a minibus caught in the rampage of suicide bombings that shook Baghdad on Friday.

The soldiers followed the wail to two slumped passengers, one headless and the other burned beyond recognition. They gently lifted up the bodies to find 8-month-old Sajjad Hassan, bloodied but alive, spared from the blast by the bodies of his dead mother and grandmother.

This scrap of life among so much death inspired hope in the soldiers at the scene, in the doctors who treated the shocked infant, in the stranger who cared for him overnight and in the father finally reunited with his son on Saturday. Sajjad's family and rescuers attributed his implausible survival to the will of God, a miracle on a day of destruction.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/krwashbureau/20050430/ ts_krwashbureau/_bc_usiraq_survivor_exclusive_wa&printer=1

---God help us all.---

How our friends leave the party. 

Top Britian Military Man vows to take Blair down with him for WAR CRIMES.

---HOLY SHIT---


FORCES CHIEF BLASTS BLAIR

The man who led Britain's armed forces into Iraq says Tony Blair will join British soldiers in the dock if the military is ever prosecuted for war crimes.

The newspaper interview with former Chief of Defence Staff Admiral Sir Michael Boyce, brings Iraq back into the election spotlight.


Sir Michael's interview in the Oberver also comes as two other newspapers make claims that Mr Blair had been committed to war in Iraq from the outset because he wanted regime change.

Sir Michael said he did not have full legal cover from prosecution at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

He told the newspaper: "If my soldiers went to jail and I did, some other people would go with me.

"I wanted to make sure sure that we had this anchor which has been signed by the government law officer. It may not stop us from being charged, but my God, it would make sure other people were brought into the frame as well."

Pressed if he meant Tony Blair, he replied: "Too bloody right."

The former defence chief added that he had never been shown the crucial March 7 advice by Attorney General Lord Goldsmith that questioned whether the war was legal.

He had only been given a later assurance of legality which contained none of the caveats.

In another damaging development for Mr Blair, The Sunday Times says it has obtained Downing Street documents that show the Prime Minister was privately committed to war long before a decision was taken by Parliament.

It says Mr Blair was discussing the possibility of regime change in Iraq in July 2002.

At that time the arguments publicly revolved around a breach of UN sanctions by Iraq being the only justification for war.

Another leaked document published in the Independent on Sunday suggests the Foreign Office had severe doubts about the March 2003 invasion.

The claims come days after the Government was forced to publish the Attorney General's original advice on the legal basis of the war.

The Government had refused to publish it for almost two years - but was forced to after another leak.

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1180268,00.html


---Blair has a serious problem...I wonder does he still think King George was worth it...?---

Art From Americas Past. 

Eyewitness account of Iraq.

We turn now to Iraq. An article in the British newspaper the Guardian titled "This Is Our Guernica" reads:


"In the 1930s the Spanish city of Guernica became a symbol of wanton murder and destruction. In the 1990s Grozny was cruelly flattened by the Russians; it still lies in ruins. This decade"s unforgettable monument to brutality and overkill is Falluja, a text-book case of how not to handle an insurgency, and a reminder that unpopular occupations will always degenerate into desperation and atrocity."

Those are the words of journalist Dahr Jamil. He spent many months in Iraq as one of the only independent, unembedded journalists there. He published his reports on a blog called DahrJamailIraq.com and was a regular guest on Democracy Now! He joins us in our firehouse studio today.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RUSH TRANSCRIPT
This transcript is available free of charge, however donations help us provide closed captioning for the deaf and hard of hearing on our TV broadcast. Thank you for your generous contribution.
Donate - $25, $50, $100, more...

AMY GOODMAN: Welcome to Democracy Now!

DAHR JAMAIL: Thanks, Amy.

AMY GOODMAN: It's very good to have you with us. Can you talk more about this image of the Guernica, and what Iraq and specifically Fallujah has meant?

DAHR JAMAIL: Fallujah, which was the symbol of the resistance in Iraq to the U.S. occupation and throughout the Middle East at that point is now 70% estimated to be bombed to the ground, no water, no electricity. People who want to go back into that city have to get retina scans, all ten fingers fingerprinted, then they're issued an ID card. People inside the city are referring to it as a big jail. It is a horrendous situation, and we still have hundreds of thousands of refugees as a result. And the goal of the mission of sieging Fallujah as announced by the U.S. military was to capture the phantom Zarqawi and to bring security and stability for the elections, and what's left is a situation where Fallujah is in shambles, and the resistance has spread throughout the country.

AMY GOODMAN: Who is doing the retina scans, the fingerprinting?

DAHR JAMAIL: The U.S. military is doing all of this.

AMY GOODMAN: And how many people are kept out of Fallujah now? How many people actually live there? How many were there to begin with?

DAHR JAMAIL: The latest estimate is of a city of 350,000 people, that 50,000 now have returned back inside the city.

AMY GOODMAN: And what's happened? Where have the others gone?

DAHR JAMAIL: They are still in refugee camps. There are refugee camps all around the outskirts of Fallujah, throughout many areas of Baghdad, even parts of Iraq south of the capital city. They are living in, of course, horrible conditions. There's running water at some of these refugee camps, none at others. No electricity. They are depending primarily on other Iraqis for aid, which is a very difficult situation, because now we have an estimated 65% unemployment in Iraq. Basic infrastructure remains in shambles. And this is a community then that is trying to support over 300,000 refugees at this point.

AMY GOODMAN: Now that you have come back, what is the contrast or the difference between what you learn about Iraq when you are here versus when you are there on the ground?

DAHR JAMAIL: Well, watching the corporate media back here, I see the disparity between that and what's actually happening on the ground continue to grow. If we look at corporate media, we're led to believe that after the January 30 elections, things are better in Iraq. We have a democracy there. Yes, it's -- there's still a little chaos, but things are getting better, but that is not the facts at all when we look at just the numbers. We have still an average of over a soldier a day dying, ten times that number wounded, infrastructure in shambles, and things continue to get worse. At least a car bomb a day in Baghdad and insecurity throughout most of the rest of the country.

AMY GOODMAN: We're talking to Dahr Jamail, unembedded reporter in Iraq, now back in the United States. We'll come back to talk with him in a minute.

[break]

AMY GOODMAN: Our guest in studio, Dahr Jamail, who runs the blog, DahrJamailIraq.com, just returned from Iraq, was there for eight months and reported to us on a somewhat regular basis. You are talking about Fallujah. What about the use of chemical weapons there? Last November, you reported the U.S. military has used poison gas and other non-conventional weapons against civilians in Fallujah. How do you know this?

DAHR JAMAIL: Many of the refugees I interviewed throughout November, just after the beginning of the siege, and then people who had been coming out of the city even into December, continued to report the use of chemical weapons in Fallujah, but really, one of the most important sources I have for this is an Iraqi doctor that I interviewed on the outskirts of Fallujah, and he said that he had worked as a medic during the Iran-Iraq War, he had treated Iraqi soldiers who had been hit with Iranian chemical weapons, so he knew what these types of injuries look like. And he said that he had treated people from Fallujah with the same types of injuries, as well as another Iraqi man that I had interviewed who went into the city, brought in by U.S. soldiers to help bury bodies, and that he had seen many bodies that he believed to have been hit by chemical weapons.

more... http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/04/28/1346252

What's going on 'cross seas
Every minute a child dies by this disease
In record numbers indeed
Got momma's crying out please
My baby hold on
My child ain't done nothing wrong
Still I want to holler
Ask them why they don't bother Make me turn to my father
And ask him why they all got a trapped soul

 

Peace 

Truth In Music

Where is the Love

Black Eye Peas

What's wrong with the world, mama

People livin' like they ain't got no mamas

I think the whole world addicted to the drama

Only attracted to things that'll bring you trauma

Overseas, yeah, we try to stop terrorism

But we still got terrorists here livin'

In the USA, the big CIA

The Bloods and The Crips and the KKK

But if you only have love for your own race

Then you only leave space to discriminate

And to discriminate only generates hate

And when you hate then you're bound to get irate, yeah

Badness is what you demonstrate

And that's exactly how a nigga works and operates

Nigga, you gotta have love just to set it straight

Take control of your mind and meditate

Let your soul gravitate to the love, y'all, y'all

People killin', people dyin'

Children hurt and you hear them cryin'

Can you practice what you preach

And would you turn the other cheek

Father, Father, Father help us

Send us some guidance from above'

Cause people got me, got me questionin'

Where is the love

It just ain't the same, always unchanged

New days are strange, is the world insane

If love and peace is so strong

Why are there pieces of love that don't belong

Nations droppin' bombs

Chemical gasses fillin' lungs of little ones

With the ongoin' sufferin' as the youth die young

So ask yourself is the lovin' really gone

So I could ask myself really what is goin' wrong

In this world that we livin' in people keep on givin'in

Makin' wrong decisions, only visions of them dividends

Not respectin' each other, deny thy brother

A war is goin' on but the reason's undercover

The truth is kept secret, it's swept under the rug

If you never know truth then you never know love

Where's the love, y'all, come on (I don't know)

Where's the truth, y'all, come on (I don't know)

Where's the love, y'all

I feel the weight of the world on my shoulder

As I'm gettin' older, y'all, people gets colder

Most of us only care about money makin'

Selfishness got us followin' our own direction

Wrong information always shown by the media

Negative images is the main criteria

Infecting the young minds faster than bacteria

Kids act like what they see in the cinema

Yo', whatever happened to the values of humanity

Whatever happened to the fairness in equality

Instead in spreading love we spreading animosity

Lack of understanding, leading lives away from unity

That's the reason why sometimes

I'm feelin' under

That's the reason why sometimes I'm feelin' down

There's no wonder why sometimes I'm feelin' under

Gotta keep my faith alive to lovers bound

HAHAHA. 

Kinky,Kinky,Hes Our Man!

---Kinky For Governor of Texas...Why the hell not?---


Ex-Senator Joins Kinky Friedman's Campaign

By KELLEY SHANNON,
Associated Press Writer Fri Apr 29, 7:09 PM ET


AUSTIN, Texas - A former senator who engineered Jesse Ventura's surprise election as Minnesota governor is joining author Kinky Friedman's independent bid for governor of Texas.

Former Sen. Dean Barkley, who has recently been a consultant and lobbyist, will serve as campaign director and chief strategist, Friedman announced Friday.

Barkley founded Minnesota's Independence Party and in 1997 recruited Ventura, a former pro wrestler and actor, to run the following year. As governor, Ventura appointed Barkley to fill the vacancy left when Sen. Paul D. Wellstone died in a plane crash in 2002.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050429/ap_on_el_gu/governor_kinky

Night-cap Art. 

ReBelle Dispatch.

The Blind are CURED. Literally.


Pioneering stem-cell surgery restores sight

By Sam Lister, Health Correspondent

A PIONEERING form of surgery has been developed that can restore the sight of patients by using stem cells to encourage damaged eyes to repair themselves. A team of British specialists has successfully treated more than a dozen patients with impaired corneas by transplanting human stem cells grown in a laboratory on to their eyes.

Recent operations on ten patients showed that the technique restored sight in seven cases of people who had been blinded after getting acid, alkali and boiling metal in their eyes, or because of congenital disorders.

Many of the patients treated at the Centre for Sight, Queen Victoria Hospital, in East Grinstead, West Sussex, had been told that they had no hope of getting their sight back, or had already undergone failed corneal transplants. The process involves taking stem cells, which occur naturally in the eye, and developing them into sheets of cells in the laboratory.

These are transplanted on to the surface of the eye where they are held in place by an amniotic membrane, which dissolves away as the sheet fuses to the eye.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1589642,00.html


---The blind are healed. No such miracle available here thanks to the Christian conservative leaders.---

God wrote those instructions on those stemcells. ANYONE telling you not to read them is hiding something unholy.


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ATTENTION...These people are BEING RETALIATED AGAINST for reporting crimes such as ESPIONAGE.


Mondo Washington
In the Name of Sibel Edmonds
Intelligence whistleblowers storm Capitol Hill, asking for the right to be heard.


WASHINGTON, D.C.—Galvanized by the case of FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds, intelligence agents representing more than 50 current and former federal employees—calling themselves the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition—stormed Capitol Hill yesterday to demand Congressional protection from retaliation by their dead beat bosses in the intelligence bureaucracy.

Many of these whistleblowers have tried to get someone to listen to what they know about national security issues, from cover-ups to possible espionage. More often than not, they say, their protests result in vicious, demeaning, ruinous retaliation by the bosses. In any number of cases, they're put under gag orders.

http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0518,Ridgeway-edmonds,63557,6.html

---God Bless you Ms. Edmonds. Good luck. Your a truely brave woman.---

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Italy, U.S. Disagree on Agent's Iraq Death

By NICOLE WINFIELD,
Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 10 minutes ago

ROME - Italy and the United States said Friday they had failed to agree on whether U.S. soldiers were at fault in the death of an Italian agent in Iraq — an acknowledgment that will further irritate relations and increase pressure on Italy to withdraw its forces from Iraq.

In a statement, the two countries said their joint investigation into the March 4 death of agent Nicola Calipari had concluded and that they couldn't arrive at any "shared final conclusions."

The statement said the case had now be referred to respective national authorities; Italy has launched a criminal inquiry into Calipari's death.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050429/ap_on_re_eu/italy_us_iraq; _ylt=Ao0zvpEgCvAEmHIU27v1llqs0NUE;_ylu =X3oDMTA2MTQ3MTFjBHNlYwN0cw


---The Italians choose to do this after examining the car he died in.---

Re-posted by request. Click to enlarge and read. Google relevent names for further info. 

Art For Boys. 

Chairman of Bush/Cheney Ohio campaign RAIDED by FBI.

---Oh look, the LAW showed up..---


FBI raids Noe's condo, seizes 'some property'
Investigators seek evidence of campaign-fund activity


By MIKE WILKINSON and JAMES DREW
BLADE STAFF WRITERS


The federal probe into whether local Republican fund-raiser Tom Noe was illegally funneling money to the Bush campaign had been ongoing for months. It reached a turning point Wednesday night.

FBI agents swept into Mr. Noe’s Maumee condo about 7:30 p.m., spending three hours scouring the home of one of the most prominent Republicans in northwest Ohio. They were looking for evidence of violations of federal campaign contribution laws.

The federal probe is studying Mr. Noe’s campaign contributions to the President, and specifically contributions made by others who may have received money from Mr. Noe, possibly allowing him to exceed the $2,000 spending cap.

Jon Richardson, Mr. Noe’s attorney, said the search was “very civilized” and that Mr. Noe’s wife, Bernadette, cooperated with agents who removed “some property” from the condo. Mr. Noe was not home at the time of the search.

The search warrant was signed by U.S. Magistrate Vernelis Armstrong. The affadavit that outlines why federal authorities are seeking the warrant has been sealed by the court.
On Wednesday, Gregory A. White, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, confirmed his office is looking into Mr. Noe, who was chairman of the Bush-Cheney campaign in northwest Ohio.

Mr. Richardson said he has advised Mr. Noe not to make any statement to authorities at this time.

Mr. Noe, 50, is a coin dealer and former chairman of the Lucas County Republican Party. He manages two rare-coin funds that have received $50 million from the Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation.

That investment arrangement is currently under a separate investigation being conducted by the Ohio inspector general.

Mr. Noe also is chairman of the Ohio Turnpike Commission and a member of the Ohio Board of Regents.

He also is chairman of the U.S. Mint’s Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee.

Yesterday, state Sen. Marc Dann, a Democrat from suburban Youngstown, asked federal, state, and county authorities to investigate whether there were any violations involving state and local campaign contributions.

“It’s becoming clear that Tom Noe has given large contributions to Republicans, while also obtaining state contracts in which he made millions of dollars investing in risky rare coins,” Mr. Dann said.

“Tom Noe has given thousands and thousands of dollars to Republican candidates. Now he’s at the center of a federal probe.

We deserve to know if Noe laundered state party, candidate, and caucus campaign monies to statewide Republicans.” more....


http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050429/NEWS24/50429002

---I'll be damned....There really IS a vast right-wing conspiracy.---

Art For Girls. (Sorry it was late ladies.) 

Good Lord.Unbelievable.

How Far Will The Army Go?


Apr 28, 2005 9:59 pm US/Mountain

How far will U.S. Army recruiters go to bring young men and women into their ranks? An Arvada West High School senior recently decided to find out. The following is CBS4 Investigator Rick Sallinger's report..

ARVADA, Colo. (CBS4) -- Last month the U.S. Army failed to meet its goal of 6,800 new troops.

Aware of this trend, David McSwane, a local high school student, decided he wanted to find out to what extent some recruiters would go to sign up soldiers who were not up to grade.

McSwane, 17, is actually just the kind of teenager the military would like. He's a high school journalist and honor student at Arvada West High School. But McSwane decided he wanted to see "how far the Army would go during a war to get one more solider."

McSwane contacted his local army recruiting office in Golden with a scenario he created. He told a recruiter that he was a dropout and didn't have a high school diploma.

"No problem," the recruiter explained. He suggested that McSwane create a fake diploma from a non-existent school.

McSwane recorded the recruiter saying that on the phone.

"It can be like Faith Hill Baptist School or something -- whatever you choose," the recruiter said.

As instructed, McSwane went on the computer to a Web site and for $200 arranged to have a phony diploma created that certified him as a graduate of Faith Hill Baptist High School, the very name the recruiter suggested. It came complete with a fake grade transcript.

"What was your reaction to them encouraging you to get a phony diploma?" CBS4's Rick Sallinger asked.

"I was shocked," McSwane said. "I'm sitting there looking at a poster that says 'Integrity, Honor, Respect' and he is telling me to lie."

McSwane also pretended he had a drug problem when he spoke with the recruiter.

The Army does not accept enlistees with drug problems.

"I have a problem with drugs," McSwane said, referring to the conversation he had with the recruiter. "I can't kick the habit ... just marijuana."

"[The recruiter] said 'Not a problem,' just take this detox ... he said he would pay half of it ... told me where to go."

Drug testers CBS4 contacted insist it doesn't work, but the recruiter claimed in another recorded phone conversation that taking "detoxification capsules and liquid" would help McSwane pass the required test.

"The two times I had the guys use it, it has worked both times," the recruiter said in the recorded conversation. "We didn't have to worry about anything."

Then the original recruiter was transferred and another recruiter, Sgt. Tim Pickel, picked up the ball....more....

http://news4colorado.com/topstories/local_story_118125046.html

CBS4 Video:Watch Rick Sallinger's Investigates ReportFull Interview With Lt. Col. Jeffrey Brodeur (8 Minutes)


---I don't even know what to say.---

Art for Everybody. 

Lapdancers named Jeff....? 

Racial Data Sought for Bush Event

Secret Service Says Request Is Routine

By Dana Milbank
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 29, 2005; Page A09

The Secret Service has requested racial information on journalists and guests scheduled to attend a reception tomorrow night with President Bush.

White House reporters said they were offended that after furnishing the customary information -- name, date of birth and Social Security number -- they were also asked for the race of each person expected to attend the small reception scheduled before the White House Correspondents' Association's annual dinner.

The Secret Service said that it has been routine for many years to request such information of people who will be near the president, and that the information allows for quicker and more accurate searches of criminal databases. The policy has not been applied universally, however; such information is not requested of the people who greet the president and first lady at White House Christmas parties, for example, and is not always asked of people who have appointments in the White House complex.

After officers of the White House Correspondents' Association provided the Secret Service with names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers of those who would attend the VIP reception, an agent called back to ask for racial identities. "It's offensive on the face of it," said Edwin Chen, a Los Angeles Times White House reporter who is secretary of the association and who provided the information. "Why do they need to have race?"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/28/AR2005042801727.html?referrer=email&referrer=email


---"and that the information allows for quicker and more accurate searches of criminal databases"....Ummmm..hmmmm...sure...---

Holy Shittoki Batman, I like him.

In scathing interview, Democrat says Bush Social Security plan won't help; Dubs Cheney 'ass kisser'


By John Byrne RAW STORY

In an exclusive interview with RAW STORY , Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) slammed President Bush and Congressional Republicans' attempts to take on Social Security, saying he believes Bush has surrounded himself with those who agree with him and has lost touch with America.

Touching on issues from Social Security to the president's energy plan, Congressman Moran asserted that Republicans had repeatedly put the interests of the wealthy before the poor.

"I think the Republicans basically resent the poor and they figure if we can get the poor investing in the stock market, maybe they’ll start thinking like Republicans," Moran said. "God help us."

The Virginian said he believes that the Republican base has used Bush to push Social Security reform, a project that he says is essentially one to axe Social Security.

"I think they realized that they’re never going to find anybody who is as willing to carry out the agenda of these Republican right wing nuts and reverse the course of American progress," he remarked. "This is their chance. This is their chance to cut taxes down to the bone. This is their chance to repeal Social Security and to bankrupt Medicare and Medicaid."

President Bush is holding an event to promote his plan in Moran's district Friday. The events—like most of those the president held during his presidential campaign—are prescreened to include supporters. Moran suggested that such events may have contributed to what he sees as a sense of "self-delusion" Bush has shown in promoting a plan that polls poorly with the American public.

"I don’t think he has much experience with regular people that haven’t been prescreened," he said.

"He doesn’t read any books, and he doesn’t talk with people that don’t already agree with him," he added. "He’s surrounded himself with ideological sycophants. And the biggest ass-kisser of all is Dick Cheney."

A transcript of the interview follows.

http://rawstory.com/exclusives /byrne/jim_moran_interview _bush_republicans_429.htm


---My new hero...I like this man....Amen Congressman! NOW THATS HOW ITS DONE!---

Propaganda from the Past.

Art for Everyone 

DISPATCH FROM DOWN UNDER

Venezuelan leader: U.S. 'oppressed'

Meeting with Castro, Chavez says Americans 'must liberate' themselves.

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Bush seeks racial data for dinner

Journalists offended about being asked to provide race data to Secret Service.

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23 killed, 80 injured in Iraq car bombs

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U.S., Italy disagree on Iraq death

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Rape survivor says she'll burn self alive

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IN SCATHING INTERVIEW, VIRGINIA CONGRESSMAN SNUBS BUSH SOCIAL SECURITY PLAN, SAYS AIM ISTO KILL PROGRAM; DUBS VP CHENEY 'ASS-KISSER'

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Images of soldiers' coffins releasedSpecial report: Iraq

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Incoming cloud forces Bush into safe bunker

April 29: President George Bush was bundled into an underground bunker, Dick Cheney was evacuated to an "undisclosed location" and heavily armed secret servicemen took up defensive positions when a fast-moving cloud scudded towards the White House, it was reported yesterday.

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Ahmad Chalabi makes a spectacular comeback after fall from grace

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Chalabi unlikely to pursue previous goal of pulling Iraq out of OPEC
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)

- Before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Ahmad Chalabi curried favour with Washington by suggesting a post-Saddam Hussein Iraq would pump huge amounts of oil and break with OPEC if the cartel tried to set limits. Full Story

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Insurgents kill at least 41 Iraqis a day after new government approved
BAGHDAD (AP)

- Insurgents unleashed a string of car bombings and other attacks across Iraq on Friday, killing at least 41 people, including three U.S. soldiers, and wounding dozens of people a day after the country's first democratically elected government was approved. Full Story

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Guantanamo interrogations faked
4/29/2005 11:00:00 PM

Former U.S. Army translator revealed on Friday that U.S. officials at Guantanamo staged interrogations of detainees for visiting politicians and generals with the aim of giving them the impression that valuable intelligence was regularly being gathered.

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Military told Hill of ghost prisoners


An Australian military officer on secondment to US forces during the Iraq war has told the Howard Government he was aware of evidence indicating US troops hid top-level Iraqi prisoners for interrogation. more

Military lawyers a war unto themselves

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Cost of war hits home as coffin photos released

From a row of silhouetted hearses on a rain-drenched tarmac to a convoy of olive-green trucks, each bearing a coffin, more than 700 images of flag-draped caskets of American service personnel killed at war have been released by the Pentagon in response to a lawsuit. more

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Bush starts to look more like a lame duck

Honeymoon is over, writes Michael Gawenda, Herald Correspondent in Washington. more

WHATS IN ROSSIS MAILBOX?

Video Special MoveOn Rallies against Nuclear Option
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/042905X.shtml

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FOCUS: William Rivers Pitt The Crawling King Snake Returns

CHALABI GETS THE OIL MISISTRY OF IRAQ
HOW ABOUT THAT

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/042905Y.shtml

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FOCUS: William Rivers Pitt The Crawling King Snake Returns

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/042905Y.shtml

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Analysis
A Gambler Decides to Raise the Stakes
President Bush made a huge gamble last night in a bid to restore momentum to his flagging proposal to restructure Social Security -- and to his presidency.
Social Security: President's Plan Shields Benefits of Low Earners
Bush Social Security Plan Would Cut Future Benefits

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Budget Deal Sets Stage for Arctic Drilling And Tax CutsCongress passed a five-year, $14 trillion budget last night that will pave the way for oil drilling in parts of an Alaskan wildlife refuge, a new round of tax cuts and the first curbs on entitlements for the poor in nearly a decade

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Two Detail Bolton's Efforts to Punish Dissent

A former senior Bush administration official told Senate staff members yesterday that John R. Bolton, the president's nominee for ambassador to the United Nations, sought to punish two State Department officials for disagreeing with him on nonproliferation issues, congressional sources said

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GOP Offers Trade-Off on Filibusters

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist offered a compromise yesterday in the long-running impasse over federal judges. His Democratic counterpart immediately labeled it "a big wet kiss to the far right," and several liberal groups were even less kind

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WSJ editorial falsely claimed Abu Ghraib report absolved senior officials

An April 27 Wall Street Journal editorial claimed that the Schlesinger report on the Abu Ghraib prison abuses concluded that they "weren't related to interrogations at all" and that "[t]hat should have put the nail in the coffin of the theory that high-level Bush Administration discussions about techniques for handling al Qaeda detainees somehow resulted in the abuses in Iraq." In fact, the Schlesinger report, compiled from an independent inquiry headed by former Defense Secretary James R. Schlesinger, explicitly states that abuses did occur during interrogations. In addition, the report includes evidence that policy decisions by President Bush and political appointees in the Pentagon and Justice Department contributed to the abuse.
Read more...

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Fox's Angle claimed Dems' opposition to private accounts "does nothing" to fix Social Security -- but the accounts don't fix it, either

Fox News chief Washington correspondent Jim Angle criticized Senate Democrats in his report on the Senate Finance Committee's April 26 hearing on Social Security reform, claiming that their opposition to President Bush's proposed private accounts "does nothing to address the financial problems in Social Security." But neither would the establishment of private accounts, as even the White House has acknowledged. Angle also stated that the Democrats "didn't talk much about what they were for," but failed to note that Bush still has not presented Congress with his legislative proposal to address Social Security's solvency issues, which some Republicans have recently pressured him to do.
Read more...

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Novak repeated conservative canard that Democrats "are opposing Judge Pryor of Alabama because of his religion"

CNN host and syndicated columnist Robert Novak repeated the baseless accusation that Democrats "are opposing Judge Pryor of Alabama because of his religion." In fact, senators who have opposed William H. Pryor's nomination to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals -- and even current Judiciary Committee Chair Arlen Specter (R-PA) -- have questioned Pryor over his willingness and ability to put aside his personal views and follow the law. Specter also echoed Democrats' concerns over inconsistent statements Pryor made to the committee regarding his involvement in the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA).
Read more...

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Are newspapers covering Akbar case under a military gag order and not reporting it?


In an April 27 letter to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Military Reporters & Editors (MRE) president Sig Christenson expressed concerns "about restrictions imposed" on reporters covering the military trial of Army Sgt. Hasan Akbar, who was convicted of murder on April 21 for a fatal attack on fellow soldiers in Kuwait. The restrictions on the press reportedly include a ban on speaking without permission to any civilians or soldiers at the Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Army base where the trial was held. The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, and the Associated Press have all covered the trial, but none has reported allegations that the Department of Defense (DOD) imposed restrictions on coverage, nor did they report -- as would be the case if DOD did, in fact, enforce such a policy -- that their own reporters agreed to and complied with those restrictions.
Read more...

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Falwell, Gordon Robertson repeat false information on judicial nominations

Echoing a falsehood by conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, Rev. Jerry Falwell and The 700 Club guest host Gordon Robertson falsely claimed that Bush judicial nominee Janice Rogers Brown received high marks from the American Bar Association (ABA). In fact, Brown received the ABA's lowest "passing" rating. Robertson also claimed that "for the first time in the Senate's history the Democrats are using the filibuster rules to block judicial nominations." While it may be the first time Democrats are using the filibuster against judicial nominations, it is not a "brand new" phenomenon. Republicans first used the filibuster against a judicial nominee in 1968, attempted to filibuster three Clinton appellate court nominees, and used other parliamentary tactics to block dozens of President Clinton's judicial nominees from even getting out of committee.
Read more...

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"Bush's Most Radical Plan Yet"

By Bradford Plumer A tiny paragraph tucked away in Bush's budget proposal could lead to the dismantling of the federal government.

April 26, 2005

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Give Contractors... Nukes?

By Bradford Plumer The White House hints at updating our nuclear arsenal... with a bit of privatization thrown in for good measure.

April 25, 2005

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Empty Promises in Afghanistan

By Bradford Plumer The anti-poppy campaign is only repeating the mistakes of past "war on drugs" failures

April 26, 2005

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What Abu Ghraib Scandal?

By Onnesha Roychoudhuri How the Army's Inspector General report whitewashed the prison abuses.

April 25, 2005

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This is our site Christy, Four friends, joined
America and Australia

Art From Americas Past. Paul Revere. A simple man with uncommon courage. 

The Legacy Of One Patriot.

---Thanks to our dear Rossi, your the best!---


Paul Revere's Ride

LISTEN, my children, and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-Five;
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.

He said to his friend, "If the British march
By land or sea from the town to-night,
Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch
Of the North Church tower, as a signal light, --
One, if by land, and two, if by sea;
And I on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Middlesex village and farm,
For the country-folk to be up and to arm."

Then he said "Good-night!" and with muffled oar
Silently rowed to the Charlestown shore,
Just as the moon rose over the bay,
Where swinging wide at her moorings lay
The Somerset, British man-of-war;
A phantom ship, with each mast and spar
Across the moon like a prison-bar,
And a huge black hulk, that was magnified
By its own reflection in the tide.

Meanwhile, his friend, through alley and street
Wanders and watches with eager ears,
Till in the silence around him he hears
The muster of men at the barrack door,
The sound of arms, and the tramp of feet,
And the measured tread of the grenadiers,
Marching down to their boats on the shore.

Then he climbed the tower of the Old North Church,
By the wooden stairs, with stealthy tread,
To the belfry-chamber overhead,
And startled the pigeons from their perch
On the somber rafters, that round him made
Masses and moving shapes of shade, --
By the trembling ladder, steep and tall,
To the highest window in the wall,
Where he paused to listen and look down
A moment on the roofs of the town,
And the moonlight flowing over all.

Beneath, in the churchyard, lay the dead,
In their night-encampment on the hill,
Wrapped in silence so deep and still
That he could hear, like a sentinel's tread,
The watchful night-wind, as it went
Creeping along from tent to tent,
And seeming to whisper, "All is well!"
A moment only he feels the spell
Of the place and the hour, the secret dread
Of the lonely belfry and the dead;
For suddenly all his thoughts are bent
On a shadowy something far away,
Where the river widens to meet the bay, --
A line of black, that bends and floats
On the rising tide, like a bridge of boats.

Meanwhile, impatient to mount and ride,
Booted and spurred, with a heavy stride
On the opposite shore walked Paul Revere.
Now he patted his horse's side,
Now gazed on the landscape far and near,
Then, impetuous, stamped the earth,
And turned and tightened his saddle-girth;
But mostly he watched with eager search
The belfry-tower of the Old North Church,
As it rose above the graves on the hill,
Lonely and spectral and somber and still.
And lo! as he looks, on the belfry's height
A glimmer, and then a gleam of light!
He springs to the saddle, the bridle he turns,
But lingers and gazes, till full on his sight
A second lamp in the belfry burns!

A hurry of hoofs in a village street,
A shape in the moonlight, a bulk in the dark,
And beneath, from the pebbles, in passing, a spark
Struck out by a steed flying fearless and fleet:
That was all! And yet, through the gloom and the light,
The fate of a nation was riding that night;
And the spark struck out by that steed, in his flight,
Kindled the land into flame with its heat.

He has left the village and mounted the steep,
And beneath him, tranquil and broad and deep,
Is the Mystic, meeting the ocean tides;
And under the alders that skirt its edge,
Now soft on the sand, now loud on the ledge,
Is heard the tramp of his steed as he rides.

It was twelve by the village clock,
When he crossed the bridge into Medford town.
He heard the crowing of the cock,
And the barking of the farmer's dog,
And felt the damp of the river fog,
That rises after the sun goes down.

It was one by the village clock,
When he galloped into Lexington.
He saw the gilded weathercock
Swim in the moonlight as he passed,
And the meeting-house windows, blank and bare,
Gaze at him with a spectral glare,
As if they already stood aghast
At the bloody work they would look upon.

It was two by the village clock,
When be came to the bridge in Concord town.
He heard the bleating of the flock,
And the twitter of birds among the trees,
And felt the breath of the morning breeze
Blowing over the meadows brown.
And one was safe and asleep in his bed
Who at the bridge would be first to fall,
Who that day would be lying dead,
Pierced by a British musket-ball.

You know the rest. In the books you have read,
How the British regulars fired and fled, --
How the farmers gave them ball for ball,
From behind each fence and farm-yard wall,
Chasing the red-coats down the lane,
Then crossing the fields to emerge again
Under the trees at the turn of the road,
And only pausing to fire and load.

So through the night rode Paul Revere;
And so through the night went his cry of alarm
To every Middlesex village and farm, --
A cry of defiance and not of fear,
A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door,
And a word that shall echo forevermore!
For, borne on the night-wind of the Past,
Through all our history, to the last,
In the hour of darkness and peril and need,
The people will waken and listen to hear
The hurrying hoof-beat of that steed,
And the midnight-message of Paul Revere.


Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1860.

This Afghan girl graced the cover of National Geographic in June of 1985. It is now possibly the MOST sought magazine cover in the world. I started searching for her tonight for other reasons, but as soon as I saw her again I only wanted to post it. I want you to remember this about Afghanistan, no matter what, there IS beauty there. Piercing, and persistant, the beauty of these people must surely be celebrated. And if we can toast thier beauty, surely we can find a better day than the ones that bring death to so many. It is time to stop it now. It is time for beauty to count atleast as much as tyranny. To blind ourselves to it, we have failed in the most simple of Gods tests. For if we can not protect and love beauty, even if for a moment, then whats the point....?  

Art For Rossi. 

Support our Troops.Bring them home. 

Who Loves You Baby?

From: http://www.dailykos.com


If we're going to send hundreds of thousands of young men and women into harm's way, the least we could do is not screw with their paychecks.
Common sense – maybe. But Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld presumably disagrees. Back in December, regular Defense Tech readers will recall, Rummy's braintrust decided to dip into the Army's payroll into order to fund truck armor and other wartime expenses. Congress would make up the difference later on, they figured, with a second, emergency "supplemental" funding bill. The fact that the payroll accounts would dry up in May didn't seem to factor into the Pentagon calculus -- except maybe as a lever to force Congress into action.

But as senators loaded the $80 billion supplemental with pet projects -- $23 million for a baseball stadium in DC, $32 million for forest roads in Cali -- and the Pentagon added billions in long-term programs to the supposedly last-minute funding measure, its progress slowed.

So now, Rummy is getting all weepy, complaining to Congress that they're keeping soldiers from getting paid.





Last Thursday, the Senate agreed to an amendment to change the Emergency Supplemental to provide an additional $213 million in funding to produce armored Humvees. Here's how the vote broke down:



YEAs ---61
Akaka (D-HI)
Alexander (R-TN)
Allen (R-VA)
Baucus (D-MT)
Bayh (D-IN)
Biden (D-DE)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Boxer (D-CA)
Burns (R-MT)
Byrd (D-WV)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Carper (D-DE)
Chafee (R-RI)
Clinton (D-NY)
Coleman (R-MN)
Collins (R-ME)
Conrad (D-ND)
Corzine (D-NJ)
Dayton (D-MN)
DeWine (R-OH)
Dodd (D-CT)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feingold (D-WI)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Harkin (D-IA)
Hutchison (R-TX)
Jeffords (I-VT)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Kerry (D-MA)
Kohl (D-WI)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Lieberman (D-CT)
Lincoln (D-AR)
Lott (R-MS)
Lugar (R-IN)
Martinez (R-FL)
McCain (R-AZ)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murray (D-WA)
Nelson (D-FL)
Nelson (D-NE)
Obama (D-IL)
Pryor (D-AR)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Salazar (D-CO)
Santorum (R-PA)
Sarbanes (D-MD)
Schumer (D-NY)
Snowe (R-ME)
Specter (R-PA)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Talent (R-MO)
Thune (R-SD)
Wyden (D-OR)


NAYs ---39
Allard (R-CO)
Bennett (R-UT)
Bond (R-MO)
Brownback (R-KS)
Bunning (R-KY)
Burr (R-NC)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Craig (R-ID)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)
Dole (R-NC)
Domenici (R-NM)
Ensign (R-NV)
Enzi (R-WY)
Frist (R-TN)
Graham (R-SC)
Grassley (R-IA)
Gregg (R-NH)
Hagel (R-NE)
Hatch (R-UT)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Inouye (D-HI)
Isakson (R-GA)
Kyl (R-AZ)
McConnell (R-KY)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Roberts (R-KS)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Smith (R-OR)
Stevens (R-AK)
Sununu (R-NH)
Thomas (R-WY)
Vitter (R-LA)
Voinovich (R-OH)
Warner (R-VA)

For Christy and Kimmy Peace be with you and yours 

propaganda from the past

This website is dedicated to the coalition servicemen who have lost their lives in the War with Iraq started by George Bush on March 19, 2003.
Long may we remember them.

http://www.pigstye.net/iraq/index.php?display=new

Art for Everyone 

propaganda from the past