UK Times: Brewster Jennings outed by 'treasonous' US govt official in 2001, not 2003

lukery
Sat Jan 26, 2008 at 03:42:45 PM PST
The UK's Sunday Times has another article today, Tip-off thwarted nuclear spy ring probe, in their series about the penetration of US agencies by a criminal network of Turkish, Israeli and US government officials stealing nuclear secrets and selling them on the black market to the highest bidder.
The focus of this new Times article is the original outing of Brewster Jennings, the CIA cover company that Valerie Plame Wilson worked for. The article confirms that Marc Grossman, former # 3 State Dept official, and former Ambassador to Turkey, warned his Turkish associates to be wary of Brewster Jennings because it was a CIA front operation. This disclosure occurred in the summer of 2001, two years prior to the outing of Valerie Plame.
The FBI warned the CIA about Grossman's activities and Brewster Jennings was dismantled shortly thereafter.
lukery's diary :: ::
Given the libel laws in the UK, the Times has not published Marc Grossman's name again in this piece, but long-time observers of this case all recognize that Grossman is the unnamed official in this article, as well as the previous two articles.
From the Times: cont
LinkHere

Barack Obama wins South Carolina in romp

Black vote propels Obama

JFK's daughter backs Obama

Welcome to Georgies Foreign Policy

Chavez to allies: Drain reserves out of US banks

Chavez Urges Latin American Allies to Begin Withdrawing Billions of Dollars From U.S. Banks
IAN JAMESAP News
Jan 26, 2008 13:21 EST
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez urged his Latin American allies on Saturday to begin withdrawing billions of dollars in international reserves from U.S. banks, warning of a looming U.S. economic crisis.
Chavez made the suggestion as he hosted a summit aimed at boosting Latin American integration and rolling back U.S. influence.

Bush - Satan or Saviour?
Is the world we live in a better or worse place thanks to the USA Govt?

Gunmen Kidnap American Aid Worker In Afghanistan

American Woman Kidnapped in Afghanistan »

AP NOOR KHAN January 26, 2008 at 12:28 PM
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Gunmen kidnapped a burqa-clad American aid worker and her driver in southern Afghanistan's largest city early Saturday, snatching the woman from a residential neighborhood as she was on her way to work.
Cyd Mizell worked in Kandahar for the Asian Rural Life Development Foundation. Jeff Palmer, the aid group's international director, said the group had not been contacted by the kidnappers and that he did not know their identity or demands.

Democrats Battle For South Carolina

TODAY.

Woz Said

This may be too Australian - however, patriotism I believe, has caused more harm than good in latter years. Patriotism has become an excuse to hate, an excuse to suspect, an excuse to rape, an excuse to kill and to plunder. We need to redefine patriotism and nationalism. And in so doing we may redefine our image in the rest of the world.

Kangaroo Said:
Amen

What is President Bush's job?

not my president said

$20 Million to Celebrate Victory in Afghanistan and Iraq

Don't worry - Mitch McConnell earmarked money for this big kegger in the last military spending bill.
What is President Bush's job?

Australia Day

Australian National Anthem - Advance Australia Fair


Waltzing Matilda

Just a little bit of Patriotism for the best Country in the Hemisphere, I say

WHEN YOU'VE GOT YORRO YORRO, YOU DON'T NEED A FLAG

Woz submitted today's thread header about patriotism at DCP

This may be too Australian - however, patriotism I believe, has caused more harm than good in latter years. Patriotism has become an excuse to hate, an excuse to suspect, an excuse to rape, an excuse to kill and to plunder. We need to redefine patriotism and nationalism. And in so doing we may redefine our image in the rest of the world.
The headline and quoted passages for this post are from Australian artist, cartoonist and writer, Michael Leunig. He is writing on Australia Day January 26, 2008. Leunig is remarkable in his talent for stating the most gigantic conundrum in a tiny little drawing or a few words.
Since 9/11/2001 our leaders have urged us all to rise up in our fervor of nationalistic pride and hate and invade countries to kill others. And we've acquiesced. Out of fear. His story of his Aboriginal friend who taught him the meaning of yorro yorro, is worth sharing
.......
Earnest nationalism has never taken root in Australia and most seem to like it that way.
IT'S AUSTRALIA DAY AND ALL the flags and words are flying in the breeze. It is a day of fantasy, because nobody really seems to understand what it's all about and nobody seems to care too much, either. Perhaps it suits the temperament of the bewildering Australian landmass that the national song, the national day and the national flag are all rather wonky and not up to the task of nationalism somehow, and seem quite naturally and pleasantly just a bit insignificant.
The citizens, in their wisdom, seem mostly content with this quaintly ramshackle situation, sensing that the failure of earnest nationalism to take root in Australia is a blessing that constitutes for them a very special and delightful freedom.
Many Australians regard their flag and song and national day, not so much with awe, but rather, a casual, bemused affection, in the way that we may regard an eccentric uncle or a peculiar spinster aunty. They are ours but they are not us.
---snip---
Many Australians regard their flag and song and national day, not so much with awe, but rather, a casual, bemused affection, in the way that we may regard an eccentric uncle or a peculiar spinster aunty. They are ours but they are not us.
Perhaps it is a sign of political health and great good fortune that these symbolic national devices continue to be slightly lame and pleasantly uninspiring to the nation. In spite of the perfunctory efforts of weary public officials and headmasters to solemnise the Australian identity and its symbols, it appears that the citizens of the southern land are inclined to be a shrugging, winking sort of people rather than the saluting kind; a people who don't want nationalistic things to function too well — with the obvious exception of sport.
Our dawdling and dysfunctional national song, for instance, works about as well as they want a national anthem to work and I suspect that many Australians quite enjoy its wacky dullness and the fact that they can't remember the words and regard this mass forgetfulness a wonderful, convivial joke.
My youngest son grew up believing the opening line for the anthem was:
"Australians all eat ostriches

For we are young at three".
I think this is a great improvement on the official version and no doubt there are other fabulous and worthy variations floating about in the minds of Australian children.
How wise and liberal of the government, to bestow to its people an anthem with a do-it-yourself component; an anthem wherein the citizens may innovate and roam or giggle and get lost and feel completely free. How inspiring can you get!
* * *
But of course there are those who take nationalism and its artefacts terribly seriously, and for them Australia Day is an important feast, with no shortage of flags and fulsome speeches to satisfy the strongest appetite for national identity.
There is an experiment with American-style patriotism but this will fizzle out and the urban masses will continue to head off to the fleshpots and beaches to celebrate their globalism where there are only three identities: the rich, the poor and the frantic slaves in the middle. And so it will proceed.
* * *
---snip---
* * *
I once lived in a small town in central Victoria, and there it was my good fortune to dwell in a house across the street from a little old lady named Mrs Heggie. She was a bright soul and I often found her rustling about like a wren in her front garden and took delight in chatting with her about whatever was at hand. One autumn morning we were talking about the news: a ghastly story of a young woman taken by a crocodile in the Prince Regent River of north-west Australia.
"Frightful creatures those big crocodiles," offered my neighbour, and I told her how I had only just recently met an old indigenous man from that country and how much he had enchanted me as he spoke about the beautiful dangers of life up there in the Kimberley.
"Oh yes, and who would that be?" inquired Mrs Heggie in the most excited and unusually pointed way.
"David Mowaljarlai was his name," I replied.
"Oh, and how is David these days?" she inquired in a matter-of-fact voice.
After a moment of blank incomprehension, I told her that he seemed fine and thought that perhaps she had misheard me or was having a mixed-up dotty moment and inquiring after somebody in her imagination.
"Do you know of David Mowaljarlai?" I asked.
"Oh yes, he was such a lovely young man; he rescued me from the plane crash."
What then followed in the sunshine of our quiet little street was Mrs Heggie's astonishing story. She had worked on a mission in Kimberley during the 1930s where cyclones and pirates could suddenly descend from the sea to terrorise the community, and where the giant black crocodiles roamed freely along the river banks and shores of a wild land.
One day she had made a long and difficult journey in the region to attend to some practical business and was offered a quick ride back to the mission in a biplane piloted by a Salvation Army missionary.
"He was a good pilot but a dreadful navigator," recalled Mrs Heggie.
The plane got lost and ran out of fuel, resulting in an emergency landing on a mangrove flat surrounded by deep water and crocodiles in the Prince Regent River.
"We sat on the wings for nearly a week listening to the crocodiles underneath us at night and drank water we collected from the fabric of the plane. The Salvation Army man lost his nerve and I had to spend all my energy trying to calm him down. He was a terrible sook and this annoyed me very much.
"I told him that David from the mission would find us, as I believed he would. David and I had a special understanding of each other and he always seemed to know where I'd be.
"One morning I looked up and there across the water at the edge of the bush was David with his lovely smile. He had found us. He had the most beautiful smile. But you know, to this day, whenever the Salvation Army people come collecting at my door, I give them a donation but I always feel annoyed because of that pilot behaving like a frightened child — he really wasn't much help."
In later life David Mowaljarlai travelled the country and spoke urgently and eloquently of his concern for the wellbeing of white society, which he could see was suffering from a loss of spirit and an incomprehension of the land in which it lived.
His integrity and wisdom often included an important word from his Ngarinyin language: a word that could be very useful to this country in these depressed and anxious times. I use it often.
"Yorro-yorro" is the word — and it means "everything standing up alive" or "the spirit in the land that makes everything stand up alive".
Mrs Heggie had lots of yorro-yorro.
"Each day faces you like a murderer," said Mowaljarlai also — but he said it as an enlivening truth to stimulate the spirit and to remind us of yorro-yorro.
It's a beautiful Wandjina country word to use on Australia Day — or any other day, for that matter. David Mowaljarlai gave it to us and left us with it.
When you've got yorro-yorro you don't need a flag.

Sibel Edmonds - "Kill the Messenger" - Part 1/6

Sibel Edmonds - "Kill The Messenger" - Part 1/6

Sibel Edmonds - "Kill The Messenger" - Part 2/6

Sibel Edmonds - "Kill The Messenger" - Part 3/6

Sibel Edmonds - "Kill The Messenger" - Part 4/6

Sibel Edmonds - "Kill The Messenger" - Part 5/6

Sibel Edmonds - "Kill The Messenger" - Part 6/6

What’s $34 Billion on Wall Street?

By LANDON THOMAS Jr.
Published: January 27, 2008
UNDER the stewardship of Dow Kim and Thomas G. Maheras, Merrill Lynch and Citigroup built positions in subprime-related securities that led to $34 billion in write-downs last year. The debacle cost chief executives their jobs and brought two of the world’s premier financial institutions to their knees.
LinkHere

News Corp. And Judith Regan Settle Lawsuit About Protecting Giuliani
AP HILLEL ITALIE January 25, 2008 at 02:53 PM
NEW YORK — The war is over: Judith Regan, the publisher fired in the wake of her efforts to release O.J. Simpson's hypothetical "confession," has settled her $100 million lawsuit with Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.
"The parties are pleased that they have reached an equitable, confidential settlement, with no admission of liability by any party," according to a joint statement issued Friday.

No Plans for Special Prosecutor to Investigate Destroyed CIA Tapes, Mukasey Says

LARA JAKES JORDAN AP News
Jan 25, 2008 15:50 EST
Attorney General Michael Mukasey said Friday he doesn't plan for a special prosecutor to investigate whether the CIA broke the law when it destroyed videotapes of terror interrogations, defying some in Congress who want an independent look at the politically charged case.
Mukasey, in a 41-minute briefing with reporters, also ducked repeated questions about whether he considers waterboarding an illegal form of torture — an issue expected to be at the top of the agenda when he appears next week before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Speaking tersely and in an even, low tone, Mukasey would not discuss whether he has seen any evidence that destroying the interrogation tapes violated court orders or otherwise interfered with any case. He said the ongoing criminal investigation, headed by career federal prosecutor John Durham of Connecticut, was opened on grounds of "some indication — which is a lot less than probable cause — some indication that there was any violation of any federal statute."
"And that's the only basis on which we proceeded," Mukasey said.
Asked if he has reconsidered his decision not to put a special prosecutor in charge of the investigation, Mukasey said, simply, "No."
LinkHere

US not pushing Pakistan to let troops hunt Osama

Bush can't catch bin Laden

New York Times endorses Clinton, backs McCain over Giuliani

NEW YORK (CNN) -- The New York Times endorsed Arizona Sen. John McCain for the Republican presidential nomination over Rudy Giuliani and the rest of the GOP field, strongly criticizing the former mayor of its home city.
=====
The endorsement anticipated readers asking how the New York paper could reject Giuliani, a man it endorsed for re-election in 1997 and praised for his work cleaning up crime in the city and during the time of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
"That man is not running for president," the paper wrote.
"The Rudolph Giuliani of 2008 first shamelessly turned the horror of 9/11 into a lucrative business, with a secret client list, then exploited his city's and the country's nightmare to promote his presidential campaign," the paper writes, describing Giuliani as "a narrow, obsessively secretive, vindictive man."
LinkHere

Boycott Corporate Media

Cancel your Subscriptions,

& Turn Off your Television!

In 1944, Henry A. Wallace, one of three Vice Presidents to serve under Franklin D. Roosevelt, assessed the threat of fascism in America, and predicted that the time might come when the MEDIA was in collusion with the RULING POWER.

Link Here

"Worst Person in the World" John Gibson Faux News, You Decide?

MSNBC - Countdown with Keith Olbermann (1.23.08) Olbermann makes Fox News host John Gibson his "Worst Person in the World" for mocking the death of Heath Ledger on his radio show by playing the iconic "Why can’t I quit you?" quote from Brokeback Mountain.[ watch ]

U.S. Asking Iraq for Wide Rights on War

By THOM SHANKER and STEVEN LEE MYERS
Published: January 25, 2008
WASHINGTON — With its international mandate in Iraq set to expire in 11 months, the Bush administration will insist that the government in Baghdad give the United States broad authority to conduct combat operations and guarantee civilian contractors specific legal protections from Iraqi law, according to administration and military officials.
This emerging American negotiating position faces a potential buzz saw of opposition from Iraq, with its fragmented Parliament, weak central government and deep sensitivities about being seen as a dependent state, according to these officials.
At the same time, the administration faces opposition from Democrats at home, who warn that the agreements that the White House seeks would bind the next president by locking in Mr. Bush’s policies and a long-term military presence.
The American negotiating position for a formal military-to-military relationship, one that would replace the current United Nations mandate, is laid out in a draft proposal that was described by White House, Pentagon, State Department and military officials on ground rules of anonymity. It also includes less controversial demands that American troops be immune from Iraqi prosecution, and that they maintain the power to detain Iraqi prisoners.
LinkHere

Stallone: We are told lies to keep us pacified and to avoid "anarchy in the streets."

by amydemiceli Page 1 of 1 page(s)
http://www.opednews.com
At Ain't It Cool News an entertainment news website based out of Austin Texas, there has been a talk back with Sylvester Stallone, the last one, January 14th, was titled, "Answering Questions Is As Easy As Breathing - Sly Answers Back!"
Here, Stallone himself answered ten questions from his fans. One fan Dr. H from Los Angeles offers insight into the mind of an average American. He asks why Rambo doesn't fight a real enemy in the latest Rambo movie, "I always assumed that if Rambo returned he'd be taking on the real villain of this day: extreme, radical Islamist bastards hellbent on worldwide jihad...they are clearly the bad guys in the real world right now." But in this film, Rambo finds his enemy in "a hellhole beyond your wildest dreams." The latest film takes place and was filmed in Burma. A place that "has had the longest civil war in global history." Stallone chose Burma after finding out that "Soldier of Fortune magazine said Burma was the foremost area of human abuse on the planet." But this American movie fan wonders where the "real enemy" is, like the blond haired blue eyed Al-Qaeda recruits they reported about on Fox News? Before closing Dr. H completes his ignorance with a cliche, and questions Rambo's intentions, "Has he become politically correct?"
Stallone gently puts things into perspective, "The phrase ‘politically correct’ is basically a euphemism for bold face lying because unfortunately, lies keep society functioning." That is what is going on in America today, and Stallone goes even further, "The day we have our politicians actually tell us the real truth, we’d have anarchy in the streets. So we’re told what they think will pacify the masses." That is a powerful statement from Stallone, loaded with truth about what is really going on, could all these years of playing John Rambo taught him about the military industrial complex and the plans of the New World Order?
LinkHere

For Bush And McCain, Iraqis Are Merely "ropes For American Dirty Laundry"

By Walter C. Uhler

Like the quislings in the Green Zone that the Bush administration installed via so-called "democratic elections," the Awakening forces are coming to be seen as mere "ropes for American dirty laundry." Not just the dirty laundry of Bush's sordid invasion and McCain's myopic cheerleading, but also the dirty laundry of American Exceptionalism.

Iraq seeks sharp reduction in U.S. military role

monkey said:
Well wouldja looky looky... how many of US predicated THIS might happen just before His Stupidness leaves orifice????

Negotiations to begin on taking American forces out of combat

EXCLUSIVENBC News and MSNBCupdated 3:22 p.m. ET, Thurs., Jan. 24, 2008BAGHDAD - The United States and Iraq will soon begin negotiating a power shift for U.S. forces, nearly five years after they invaded Iraq and installed a new government, Iraqi and U.S. officials told NBC News on Thursday.
Both countries are working on assembling negotiating teams to shape a new long-term bilateral strategic agreement redefining the fundamental role of U.S. troops, whose mission would shift from combat operations to logistics and support, the officials told NBC News’ Richard Engel.
President Bush did not address the report at an economic briefing for reporters Thursday afternoon in Washington, but Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, confirmed that negotiations would begin soon. Petraeus would not provide details, but he said the U.S. role in Iraq would be changing.
LinkHere

Operation Rescue: The Liars Legacy is underway

One Day of the War in Iraq

From the Washington Post:
The money spent on one day of the Iraq war could buy homes for almost 6,500 families or health care for 423,529 children, or could outfit 1.27 million homes with renewable electricity, according to the American Friends Service Committee, which displayed those statistics on large banners in cities nationwide Thursday and Friday.
The war is costing $720 million a day or $500,000 a minute, according to the group's analysis of the work of Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz and Harvard public finance lecturer Linda J. Bilmes.

One Day = $720 Million

http://www.silencedmajority.blogs.com/

Olbermann: Why does Bill O'Reilly hate homeless Veterans?

John Edwards responds to Bill O'Reilly on COUNTDOWN

Super Tuesday Won't Decide Nominations

WASHINGTON — Don't look to crown any presidential nominees on Super Tuesday.
The race for delegates is so close in both parties that it is mathematically impossible for any candidate to lock up the nomination on Feb. 5, according to an Associated Press analysis of the states in play that day.
"A lot of people were predicting that this presidential election on both sides was going to be this massive sprint that ended on Feb. 5," said Jenny Backus, a Democratic consultant who is not affiliated with any candidate. Now it's looking as if the primaries after Super Tuesday _ including such big, delegate-rich states as Texas, Ohio and Pennsylvania _ could grow in importance.
"Maybe some states were better off waiting," said Backus.
That doesn't mean Super Tuesday won't be super after all. Voters in more than 20 states will go to the polls on the biggest day of the primary campaign, and thousands of delegates will be at stake.
But it's possible Feb. 5 might not even produce clear front-runners.
Here's why:
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton leads the race for delegates to the Democratic National Convention this summer. She has 236, including separately chosen party and elected officials known as superdelegates, giving her a 100-delegate lead over Sen. Barack Obama.
There will be nearly 1,700 Democratic delegates at stake on Feb. 5, enough to put a candidate well on his or her way to the 2,025 needed to secure the nomination. But even if somehow either Clinton or Obama won every one of those delegates, it wouldn't be enough. And with two strong candidates, the delegates could be divided fairly evenly because the Democrats award their delegates proportionally _ not winner-take- all.
The biggest prizes among the Democratic states are California (370 delegates), New York (232) and Illinois (153). All three states award Democratic delegates proportionally, with most delegates awarded according to the popular vote in individual congressional districts, and the rest based on the statewide vote.
The wild card for the Democrats involves the superdelegates, nearly 800 elected officials and members of the Democratic National Committee. They are free to support any candidate they choose at the national convention, regardless of the outcome of the primaries.
The AP has interviewed more than 90 percent of the superdelegates who have been identified by the party, and most have yet to endorse a candidate. Many say they will not make endorsements until after their states vote.
LinkHere

George W. Bush - WWIII Find Out What Nostradamus Says About The Years 2008 - 2012.

Imagine knowing the secrets Nostradamus never intended humanity to decipher.

In May 2005, the Italian National Library in Rome made an amazing discovery. Buried in their archives was an unknown manuscript written by the famed prophet Michel de Nostradame, or Nostradamus (1503-1566). This manuscript was handed down to his son and later donated to Pope Urban VIII. It did not surface again until now, almost four hundred years later.

Using cutting-edge data mining techniques, Dr. Rathford sifted this complex word puzzle searching for significant patterns and relationships. Almost immediately, he came up with the predictive model known as The Nostradamus Code

Click to read a Sample Chapter

Chapter Four: The Time of Troubles
Crazed leader launches nuclear bombs on Mediterranean and Europe

American Electoral College voting stalemate
(Century VII, Quatrain 41)

The presidents of the United States, a supposedly free country, have been abusing their power to an increasingly greater extent. During a time of social unrest even more so than the period of Vietnam and Watergate, the Electoral College will be evenly split over the election of the new president. The process will stalemate, with many people clamoring for whichever candidate they voted for, causing enormous tension in the country. Internationally it will be a sensitive situation.
Because of the split, and the extremely volatile and explosive social unrest, putting either candidate in office instead of the other could start a civil war or a revolution. After a long time of impassioned speeches invoking patriotism and the founding fathers, a compromise solution of holding another election will be taken, and a candidate will be installed without disaster.

When the prophecies-within-prophecies are deciphered, the hidden timeline of World War III is revealed. A sample of the new predictions include:
A conflict between the US and Iran
The next major terrorist attack on the US
Osama, Obama and "Mabus"
The nuclear destruction of Rome
LinkHere

Kucinich drops presidential bid

Simply Amazing, the one that got it right 100% of the time.

LinkHere For more coverage of Dennis Kucinich, go to the Openers blog.

UK Ordered To Make Blair's Iraq WMD Documents Public

Blair's 'dodgy dossier' on Iraq set to be revealed after Government loses appeal on keeping it secret

LinkHere

Darn now why is this man not running for president, only 1 of his votes in the senate, have I disagreed with, should be Fiengold for President.

Showdown Over Warrantless Spying

Feingold: "I Really Do Disagree" With Reid On FISA

Voters Showing a Darker Mood Than in 2000 Race

By KEVIN SACK
Published: January 24, 2008
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Whatever their ideological differences this election year, Americans seem able to agree on one thing: the political landscape being crisscrossed by the 2008 candidates is barely recognizable as the one traveled by George W. Bush and Al Gore a mere eight years ago.
Obviously, Sept. 11 and its aftermath have changed the country in countless and irretrievable ways. But even beyond the emergence of war and national security as pre-eminent concerns, there has been a profound reordering of domestic priorities, a darkening of the country’s mood and, in the eyes of many, a fraying of America’s very sense of itself.
While not universal, that tone pervaded dozens of interviews conducted over the last week with Americans of all political stripes in 8 of the 24 states that hold primaries or caucuses on Feb. 5, as well as with historians, elected officials, political strategists and poll takers. As the candidates fan out to New York and California and here to the heartland, they are confronting an electorate that is deeply unsettled about the United States’ place in the world and its ability to control its own destiny.
Since World War II, the assumption of American hegemony has never been much in doubt. That it now is, at least for some people, has given this campaign a sense of urgency that was not always felt in 2000, despite the dramatic outcome of that race.
Several writers and historians remarked on the psychological impact of such a jarring end to the Pax Americana, just as it seemed that victory in the cold war might usher in prolonged prosperity and relative peace (save the occasional mop-up operation). Its confluence with an era of unparalleled technological innovation had only heightened the nation’s sense of post-millennial possibility.
Now, Americans feel a loss of autonomy, in their own lives and in the nation. Their politics are driven by the powerlessness they feel to control their financial well-being, their safety, their environment, their health and the country’s borders. They question whether each generation will continue to ascend the economic ladder. That the political system seems so impotent only deepens their frustration and their insistence on results.
As she considers this campaign, Susan C. Powell, a 47-year-old training consultant who lives in a Kansas City suburb, said that what she feels is not so much hopelessness as doom.
“I know plenty of people who are doing worse than they were,” Ms. Powell said, “and nobody’s helping them out. People’s incomes are not keeping pace with inflation. People can’t afford their homes. People in their 30s and 40s, middle-income, and they don’t have jobs they can count on or access to health care. How can we say that we’re the greatest country on earth and essentially have the walking wounded?”
Carter Eskew, a top strategist for Mr. Gore in 2000, recalled the factors that drove public opinion then — like a modest increase in fuel prices and the bursting of the technology stock bubble — as “naïvely quaint by today’s standards.” His Republican counterpart, Mark McKinnon, who advised Mr. Bush in 2000 and now works for Senator John McCain, said the electorate saw this campaign as far more consequential. “It feels like we’re collectively more mature, or collectively more evolved,” Mr. McKinnon said.
The change in tone came through in interviews in coffee bars, barbecue joints and shopping malls as people vented about unaffordable health premiums, porous international borders, freakish weather, government eavesdropping, Chinese imports and customer service calls that are answered in India.
Like many of those interviewed, Robert W. Jennings, a 45-year-old Kansas City landlord who considers himself politically independent, said he thought the stakes were higher than in 2000, when the country last chose new leadership after an eight-year incumbency. Two years ago, after the adjustable-rate mortgage on his apartment building kicked in, Mr. Jennings had to take an hourly job for the first time in a decade, at the Home Depot. It also provided him with his only health insurance since college.
“I used to be master of my universe,” he said from a bar stool at McCoy’s Public House. “Now I work for this soul-less corporation. I used to make the rules. Now I have to follow them.”
Mr. Jennings also does not like the war in Iraq, or its impact on the country’s international standing. “Most of the times I go overseas I say I’m Canadian,” he said. “I just get a better response.”
1 2 3

The Legacy of George W Bush's Presidency

The Country He Inherited, The Country He Leaves Behind

LinkHere

McCain wins Louisiana caucus: preliminary results

While longshot candidate Ron Paul took second place, the state party said Wednesday, citing preliminary results.
LinkHere

Bob Cesca: Fareed Zakaria Says The War Is Over! Awesome!

We can clearly gather that there are now two Iraqs. There's Fareed Zakaria's awesomely successful "New Reality Iraq" which the traditional media and the Bush Republicans are observing -- mouths locked in frozen grins, and sweaty palms robotically smacking together in a deluded, drone-like round of applause. In the New Reality Iraq, nothing is ever achieved now -- everything is achieved six months from now. Maybe. And then there's what I've been calling "Bizarro Iraq": an opposite, alternate Iraq in which the surge didn't work because the political benchmarks the increased troop levels were meant to facilitate... weren't achieved. In Bizarro Iraq, failing to meet those political benchmarks cost us the highest level of American military deaths in the war so far.
LinkHere

Piggies: Truth is off the Table

“If impeachment is off the table,”

Mr. Kucinich said (to Congress),

“truth is off the table.

If truth is off the table then this body is living a lie.”

No truer words ever spoken, I think

pic not my president

Kucinich Starts New Impeachment DriveBy David M. HerszenhornJanuary 23, 2008, 12:57 pm
Representative Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio may get excluded from Democratic presidential debates, as he has been recently, but no one can deny him the floor in the House.And today Mr. Kucinich took to the floor to fire off his latest salvo at the Bush administration: his plans to introduce Articles of Impeachment against President Bush on Jan. 28 — the day of Mr. Bush’s State of the Union speech.
Accusing the administration of lying about the need for the war in Iraq, Mr. Kucinich said he did not need to hear the president’sassessment. “We know the State of the Union,” he declared. “It’s a lie.”
He also fired a volley at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California who has maintained that impeaching Mr. Bush is not on the table for Congressional Democrats. “If impeachment is off the table,” Mr. Kucinich said, “truth is off the table. If truth is off the table then this body is living a lie.”
more...

Hamas Beats Israel's Gaza Siege

Palestinians cross over a destroyed section of the border wall from Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, into Egypt Wednesday, January 23, 2008.
Kevin Frayer / AP
It took explosives to do what diplomacy couldn't: allow Palestinians to go on a shopping spree. The siege of Gaza, imposed by Israel and the international community after Hamas seized control of the Palestinian territory last July, ended abruptly before dawn on Wednesday when militants blew as many as 15 holes in the border wall separating the territory from Egypt. In the hours that followed, over 350,000 Palestinians swarmed across the frontier, nearly one fifth of Gaza's entire population.
Some Palestinians craved medicine and food — goats appeared to be a hot item — because Israel had cut off most supplies from entering Gaza as punishment for militants' firing rockets into southern Israel. Students and businessmen joined the throng heading for Egypt. There were scores of brides-to-be, stuck on the Egyptian side, who scurried across to be united with their future bridegrooms in Gaza. And some, like teacher Abu Bakr, stepped through a blast hole into Egypt simply "to enjoy the air of freedom."
The previous day, President Housni Mubarak faced the wrath of the Arab world when his riot police used clubs and water hoses to attack Palestinian women pleading for Egypt to open the Rafah crossing in Gaza. And despite pressure from Israel and the United States, Mubarak wasn't about to order his men to use force to restrain Palestinians rendered desperate by Israel's siege. The Egyptian President said he ordered his troops to "let them come to eat and buy food and go back, as long as they are not carrying weapons."
At 2 a.m. on Wednesday, Palestinian militants detonated explosive charges knocking out slabs in the 26-foot concrete border wall, and by dawn, Gazans were racing to the open border on donkey carts and tractors and in cars. Once through the holes, they trampled across barbed wire, vaulted over fences and picked their way gingerly through cactus. Many carried heavy suitcases and said that they were never coming back to captivity in Gaza.
But most Gazans were in a mad scramble to go shopping, and they returned with everything from goats to tires to jerricans full of gasoline. One stout woman in a veil threaded nimbly through barbed wire with a tray of canned fruit balanced on her head. The Palestinians cleaned out every shop on the Egyptian side: By afternoon, there was nothing to buy within a six-mile distance of the border; and even the Sinai town of El-Arish, three hours drive away, had been sucked dry of gasoline. One taxi driver who brought back cartons of cigarettes and gallons of gas to resell for a profit in Gaza said, "This should help feed my family for several months."
Israel expressed fears that Hamas militants would use the breach in the border to bring in weapons. One Palestinian said he witnessed dozens of Hamas men who had been stuck in Egypt for months crossing into Gaza. Israeli Foreign Ministry Spokesman Aryeh Mekel told newsmen, "We have real concerns that they can now freely smuggle explosives, missiles and people into Gaza, which makes an already bad situation even worse."
Hamas moved quickly to capitalize on the mass celebration of the border's breach. The movement's parliamentary leader, Prime Minister Ismael Haniyeh, called on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Egypt to join in urgent talks to find a formula for keeping the Gaza-Egypt border permanently open. Haniyeh said Hamas was prepared to set up joint control of the border with the President's forces, bringing an end to a hostilities between the two factions that erupted last July when Hamas militants chased the President's Fatah militia out of Gaza.
Now that Gazans have exploded out of their besieged enclave, it may be up to Israel to seal up the border again, since the Egyptians are showing no signs of doing so. Israel had put the economic squeeze on Gaza's 1.5 million people — a policy described as "collective punishment" by many aid organizations — hoping it would turn the Palestinians against Hamas. But with the siege broken, even if temporarily, Hamas has earned the gratitude of hungry Palestinians and reinvigorated its popularity in Gaza.
LinkHere

Two Against One

If Bill Clinton has to trash his legacy to protect his legacy, so be it. If he has to put a dagger through the heart of hope to give Hillary hope, so be it.
If he has to preside in this state as the former first black president stopping the would-be first black president, so be it.
The Clintons — or “the 2-headed monster,” as the The New York Post dubbed the tag team that clawed out wins in New Hampshire and Nevada — always go where they need to go, no matter the collateral damage. Even if the damage is to themselves and their party.
Bill’s transition from elder statesman, leader of his party and bipartisan ambassador to ward heeler and hatchet man has been seamless — and seamy.
After Bill’s success trolling the casinos on the Las Vegas Strip, Hillary handed off South Carolina and flew to California and other Super Tuesday states. The Big Dog relished playing the candidate again, wearing a Technicolor orange tie and sweeping across the state with the mute Chelsea.
He tried to convey the impression that they were running against The Man, and with classic Clintonian self-pity, grumbled that Barack Obama had all the advantages.
When he was asked yesterday if he would feel bad standing in the way of the first black president, he said no. “I’m not standing in his way,” he said. “I think Hillary would be a better president” who’s “ready to do the job on the first day.” He added: “No one has a right to be president, including Hillary. Keep in mind, in the last two primaries, we ran as an underdog.” He rewrote the facts, saying that “no one thought she could win” in New Hampshire, even though she originally had had a substantial lead.
He said of Obama: “I hope I get a chance to vote for him some day.” And that day, of course, would be after Hillary’s eight years; it’s her turn now because Bill owes her. “I think it would be just as much a change, and some people think more, to have the first woman president as to have the first African-American president,” he said.
Bad Bill had been roughing up Obama so much that Representative James Clyburn of South Carolina suggested that he might want to “chill.” On a conference call with reporters yesterday, the former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, a national co-chairman of the Obama campaign, tut-tutted that the “incredible distortions” of the political beast were “not keeping with the image of a former president.”
Jonathan Alter reported in Newsweek that Senator Edward Kennedy and Rahm Emanuel, the Illinois congressman and former Clinton aide, have heatedly told Bill “that he needs to change his tone and stop attacking Senator Barack Obama.”

LinkHere

Pakistan's Bomb, U.S. Cover-up

By Daniel EllsbergJanuary 22, 2008
For the second time in two weeks, the entire U.S. press has let itself be scooped by Rupert Murdoch's London Sunday Times on a dynamite story of criminal activities by corrupt U.S. officials promoting nuclear proliferation.
But there is a worse journalistic sin than being scooped, and that is participating in a cover-up of information that demands urgent attention from the public, the U.S. Congress and the courts.

LinkHere

The Democrats-Praise-Reagan Game

By Robert ParryJanuary 23, 2008
As a journalist who investigated Reagan-era scandals – from secret arms deals with Iran and Iraq to drug traffickers protected by the covert wars in Nicaragua and Afghanistan – I always recoiled when Democrats prostrated themselves in praise of Ronald Reagan.
Beyond the pandering component, there was the annoying assumption that the rest of us were too stupid to see what they were up to, as they tried to sound “bipartisan” or buy a measure of protection from Republican attacks.
LinkHere

FOCUS Tom Ridge: Waterboarding Is Torture

Eileen Sullivan, reporting for the Associated Press, states that Tom Ridge, the first secretary of the Homeland Security Department, "says waterboarding is torture."

FOCUS Eighty Dead in Iraqi Bloodshed

Alexandra Zavis, reporting for The Los Angeles Times, writes: "Members of an obscure messianic cult fought pitched battles Friday with Iraqi security forces in two southern cities, leaving at least 80 people dead, injuring scores and spreading panic among worshipers marking Shiite Islam's holiest holiday."

What you may not know about MLK

Today we honor Dr. King's birthday. We all know him because of his historic impact on civil rights, but many don't realize that later in life he fought just as passionately for the rights of workers and against the entrenched institutions of injustice.
"Equality means dignity. And dignity demands a job and a paycheck that lasts through the week."
The War on Greed is exactly this kind of fight. The livelihoods of families have been directly attacked by the actions of buyout billionaires like Henry Kravis putting Wall Street's special interests ahead of his 800,000 employees... and pocketing $51,000 an hour in the process.

US deficit soars $250 billion in a year

ANDREW TAYLORAP News
Jan 23, 2008 10:38 EST
The deficit for the current budget year will jump to about $250 billion, the Congressional Budget Office estimated Wednesday, citing the weakening economy. And that figure does not reflect at least $100 billion in red ink from an economic stimulus measure in the works.

After three years of declining budget deficits, a slowing economy this year will contribute to an increase in the deficit," the CBO report said.
The figure greatly exceeds the $163 billion in red ink registered last year. Adding likely but still unapproved outlays for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan brings its "baseline" deficit estimate of $219 billion to about $250 billion, the nonpartisan CBO said.
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., said the 2008 deficit would reach more than $350 billion once the costs of an upcoming economic stimulus measure under negotiation between the Bush administration and Congress are factored in.

Supreme Court to Throw Another Election?

Gloating about doing wrong is a higher degree of venality than just committing evil. Several Republican judges openly acknowledge that the Indiana law--and 23 others like it, enacted in other states--will hurt the Democrats, but nevertheless champion such laws. Judge Richard Posner, who wrote in the majority opinion upholding the Indiana law for the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, affirmed that "no doubt most people who don't have photo ID are low on the economic ladder and thus, if they do vote, are more likely to vote for Democratic than Republican candidates" and that "the new law injures the Democratic Party by compelling the party to devote resources to getting to the polls those of its supporters who would otherwise be discouraged by the new law from bothering to vote." Now the Republican-dominated Supreme Court seems inclined to follow suit --and rule that these laws are constitutional.

If the highest court in the land will indeed allow these discriminatory laws to stand, if it will continue to be so blatantly partisan, the people will have few choices other than impeach some of these judges or increase the number of judges on the court, as Roosevelt threatened to do, in order to add some progressive judges.
At first it may seem that the Indiana law, and others like it, are politically neutral. All these laws require is that each voter present a state issued form of ID, photo included. However, in effect these laws are about as discriminatory against the elderly, the poor, the less educated and minorities as the old literacy tests and poll tax laws. These social groups contain most of the voters who have no such ID cards and who do not have the means to go and acquire them. (For instance, consider senior citizens in nursing homes, who would have to find their birth certificates, have them validated, and present them in state offices to get their photo IDs). Indeed it is estimated that more then ten percent of Americans-- some 21 million people! - have no such IDs, and most belong to these vulnerable groups, which tend to lean toward the Democrats. Given that elections are often tight, disenfranchising more than one out of ten voters is enough to throw many elections. Given that the electoral voters of a few states, even one, can decide an election, affecting the elections in 24 states goes a long way to favor the Republicans.
Those who favor the Indiana-like voter ID laws, for instance the right wing editorial page of the Wall Street Journal, argue that electoral fraud must be prevented, and IDs are a good way to proceed. (The same ideologues go ballistic when ID cards are suggested for other purposes). However, strong data shows that there is next to no voter fraud due to misidentification--and fairly wide abuse due to ballot box stuffing, voter machine manipulation, registration list manipulation and absentee balloting.
The Supreme Court already greatly endangered its legitimacy when it in effect granted the elections to Bush over Gore. If it will turn partisan in this case, its legitimacy will be further undermined in an age when the national executive and national legislature--think Bush and Congress--are already much distrusted. It is crucial for American democracy that at least the highest court be considered fair. Hopefully the justices will see the light and reject the Indiana and other such voter ID laws. If not, as unappealing such a line of action is, the people will have to act, by either impeaching Scalia and company or adding some progressive judges to balance the court, and to set it right.

LinkHere

Goodbye, Rudy Giuliani

Matt Littman, 01.22.2008
After going through eight years of George W., who surrounds himself with "yes" men (and women), you would have to be a glutton for punishment if you opted for Rudy Giuliani.

Giuliani Plagued By Paul Supporters

PATHOLOGICAL

Bush & Co. Lied 935 Times In Run Up To War
Study: False Statements Preceded War

WASHINGTON - A study by two nonprofit journalism organizations found that President Bush and top administration officials issued hundreds of false statements about the national security threat from Iraq in the two years following the 2001 terrorist attacks.
The study concluded that the statements "were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses."
The study was posted Tuesday on the Web site of the Center for Public Integrity, which worked with the Fund for Independence in Journalism.
White House spokesman Scott Stanzel did not comment on the merits of the study Tuesday night but reiterated the administration's position that the world community viewed Iraq's leader, Saddam Hussein, as a threat.
"The actions taken in 2003 were based on the collective judgment of intelligence agencies around the world," Stanzel said.
The study counted 935 false statements in the two-year period. It found that in speeches, briefings, interviews and other venues, Bush and administration officials stated unequivocally on at least 532 occasions that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or was trying to produce or obtain them or had links to al-Qaida or both.
"It is now beyond dispute that Iraq did not possess any weapons of mass destruction or have meaningful ties to al-Qaida," according to Charles Lewis and Mark Reading-Smith of the Fund for Independence in Journalism staff members, writing an overview of the study. "In short, the Bush administration led the nation to war on the basis of erroneous information that it methodically propagated and that culminated in military action against Iraq on March 19, 2003."
Named in the study along with Bush were top officials of the administration during the period studied: Vice President Dick Cheney, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and White House press secretaries Ari Fleischer and Scott McClellan.
Bush led with 259 false statements, 231 about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and 28 about Iraq's links to al-Qaida, the study found. That was second only to Powell's 244 false statements about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and 10 about Iraq and al-Qaida.
The center said the study was based on a database created with public statements over the two years beginning on Sept. 11, 2001, and information from more than 25 government reports, books, articles, speeches and interviews.
"The cumulative effect of these false statements -- amplified by thousands of news stories and broadcasts -- was massive, with the media coverage creating an almost impenetrable din for several critical months in the run-up to war," the study concluded.
"Some journalists -- indeed, even some entire news organizations -- have since acknowledged that their coverage during those prewar months was far too deferential and uncritical. These mea culpas notwithstanding, much of the wall-to-wall media coverage provided additional, 'independent' validation of the Bush administration's false statements about Iraq," it said.
Read the full report.

Musharraf: Pakistan Not Hunting bin Laden

Musharraf: Pakistan Is Not Hunting Osama bin Laden

PARIS — Pervez Musharraf says he still gets the question a lot: When will Osama bin Laden and his top deputy be caught? The Pakistani president insists it's more important for his 100,000 troops on the Afghan border to root out the Taliban than search for al-Qaida leaders.
That bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri are still at large "doesn't mean much," the former general said Tuesday on the second day of a swing through Europe. He suggested they are far less a threat to his regime than Taliban-linked militants entrenched in Pakistan's west.
Bin Laden and al-Zawahri are believed to be hiding somewhere in the lawless tribal areas along Afghanistan's frontier with Pakistan.
"The 100,000 troops that we are using ... are not going around trying to locate Osama bin Laden and Zawahri, frankly," Musharraf told a conference at the French Institute for International Relations. "They are operating against terrorists, and in the process, if we get them, we will deal with them certainly."
A U.S. ally in its war on extremist groups, Musharraf has come under increasing pressure following the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto last month and for his brief declaration of emergency rule in early November.
Musharraf, who as commander of Pakistan's military seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999, said the remnants of Afghanistan's former Taliban regime and its Pakistani sympathizers are the "more serious issue" for both countries.
But he said there was "zero percent chance" that al-Qaida, the Taliban and their Pakistani allies could defeat his 500,000-strong army or that Islamic militants could win control of the government in Feb. 18 parliamentary elections.

Retired generals tell Musharraf to go

Escape From Gaza: Tens Of Thousands Cross Downed Wall

Gazans Knock Down Border, Flee to Egypt

AP IBRAHIM BARZAK January 23, 2008 at 10:08 AM
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Tens of thousands of Palestinians on foot and on donkey carts poured into Egypt from Gaza Wednesday after masked gunmen used land mines to blast down a seven-mile barrier dividing the border town of Rafah.
The border breach was a dramatic protest against the closure of the impoverished Palestinian territory imposed last week by Israel.
LinkHere

Humanitarian Impact of Israel's Blockade of Gaza
2 Minute Video Report

Gaza's 1.5 million residents are struggling to cope without electricity and other basic necessities on the fourth day of an Israeli blockade. Hospitals have begun to run short of fuel for generators, and sewage has spilled out onto the streets.

LinkHere

American Pressure Thwarts UN Censure of Gaza Strip Blockade

By Shlomo Shamir and Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondents, and News Agencies
The United Nations Security Council will not approve a resolution condemning Israel over the closure of the Gaza Strip, due to pressure applied by the United States.

LinkHere

The Lessons of Violence

By Chris Hedges
This is not another typical spat between Israelis and Palestinians. This is the final, collective strangulation of the Palestinians in Gaza. The decision to block shipments of food by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency means that two-thirds of the Palestinians who rely on relief aid will no longer be able to eat when U.N. stockpiles in Gaza run out.

Iraq and Afghanistan casualties to get HIV tests. Poor record keeping at US field hospitals blamed.

Iraq Casualties Tested for HIV

In The Guardian UK, Richard Norton-Taylor writes: "British soldiers and civilian contractors seriously injured in Iraq and Afghanistan are being tested for HIV, hepatitis and other diseases as health campaigners reacted angrily to the news that they had been given blood from American donors who not been properly screened."

Yes, We Hate Your President--Deal With It.

For eight years we watched vicious attacks on a first family that had done nothing but try to serve the American people and bring justice to the world. Sure, they weren't perfect, but who is? But now, while we watch what is arguably the WORST President in the history of our country shit all over our Constitution, the Geneva Convention, and everything it means to be an American, the only thing you have to say is to call us Bush haters.
Well, no shit. We've been "misled" into war, participated in the slaughter of countless civilians, sent 2500 hundred of our soldiers to the Great Beyond, practically crippled our armed forces, discovered that our President considers himself above any act of Congress, and are now being spied upon IN OUR OWN FUCKING COUNTRY while all too many people shrug and say "so what?."
What's to hate?
You people make me sick. Every one of you Bush apologists is a hypocritical gasbag of monumental proportions. If a Democratic government did 1/10 of these things, you'd be up in arms. Hell, you'd be calling for mass assassinations.
All we want is his impeachment. Clinton lied about sexual indiscretions. Bush lies about EVERYTHING. Yet you seem to consider him above reproach.
What's wrong with you people cannot be fixed. Therapy would be like a bandaid placed over a knife-wound to the belly. We used to think you were simply deluded. Maybe a bit confused.
No, I think now that you're clinically insane. Too crazy to be allowed to vote. You'd vote for a rabid pitbull if he could be taught to speak like a human being. As long as he mouthed the right catch-phrases.
Sure, maybe Bush wouldn't be a bad guy to sit down and have a beer with. But YOU would be picking up the tab. Or maybe you could just defer it to your children and grandchildren. That's the gist of his economic policy, after all. Play now, pay later.
You call us traitors because we don't like Bush?
Fuck you. Look in the goddam mirror. EVERY principle on which this country was founded is but a hurdle for this asshole to jump. He has about as much respect for America as he did for the population of New Orleans when Katrina was bearing down on them. Which is is to say... NOT THE SLIGHTEST BIT.
"America...Love it or leave it." Remember when that was thrown in the faces of those who dared to stand up to oppressive government in the past? We do. You know what? We know who REALLY hates America and all she stands for. YOU PEOPLE. Every last one of you who still think Bush walks on water and turns water into wine. Why don't YOU just get the hell on a boat and get the fuck out of our country?
We don't want you. We don't need you. And we're sick and tired of listening to your stupid excuses.
We don't care where you go. Just go somewhere where you can't fuck up our country anymore. And take your dumbass President with you. We'll even throw you a going-away party.
Bon Voyage, you stupid bastards. Write when you find work.

LinkHere

Study: Bush Admin Made 935 False Statements About Iraq Threat In March To War

"LIAR, LIAR"

And still they don't impeach!!!

AP DOUGLASS K. DANIEL January 22, 2008 at 11:13 PM
WASHINGTON — A study by two nonprofit journalism organizations found that President Bush and top administration officials issued hundreds of false statements about the national security threat from Iraq in the two years following the 2001 terrorist attacks.
The study concluded that the statements "were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses."
LinkHere

System Used by Clinton Was Scrapped

Bush Scrapped Clinton Email System

White House Has No Comprehensive Archive ... Decision Ignored Courts Orders

By Elizabeth Williamson and Dan EggenWashington Post Staff Writers Tuesday, January 22, 2008; Page A03
For years, the Bush administration has relied on an inadequate archiving system for storing the millions of e-mails sent through White House servers, despite court orders and statutes requiring the preservation of such records, according to documents and technical experts.
President Bush's White House early on scrapped a custom archiving system that the Clinton administration had adopted under a federal court order. From 2001 to 2003, the Bush White House also recorded over computer backup tapes that provided a last line of defense for preserving e-mails, even though a similar practice landed the Clinton administration in legal trouble.
As a result, several years' worth of electronic communication may have been lost, potentially including e-mails documenting administration actions in the run-up to the Iraq war.
White House officials said last week that they have "no reason to believe" that any e-mails were deliberately destroyed or are missing. But over the past year, they have acknowledged problems with archiving, saving and finding e-mails dating from early in the administration until at least 2005.

To bad Monkey, that the rest of America were not interested in exploring and understanding the morals of the man,

they allowed the Supreme Court to declare President and Commander in Chief of the USofA January 22, 2008 9:15 AM
monkey said:
No, you are NOT the only one who remembers how Bush was SOLD to us... and I won't forget how many of us said, "Ummm, look at his business dealings and see how THOSE worked out"... I also won't forget how he was sold as an expert in the OIL business, but look how ARBUSTO worked out...
It has all gone EXACTLY as I knew it would, and we are all completely F*CKED because of it.
Anyone, and I mean ANYONE, who bought into the pile of SH*T that was sold to this nation in both 2000 and 2004 (and yes yes, I know, he lost both elections, yada yada yada), ANYONE who didn't see through that sham of a human being and his piece of garbage VP has some serious soul searching to do (unless they have already).
I am disgusted beyond words, beyond feeling, beyond comprehension.
It has all gone down the drain, just like me and a handful of others have predicted all along... and yet WE are the labeled extremists, unpatriotic, or LIBERAL.
Take a look around folks, this crap didn't happen by accident, it happened by design, by willful deceict, but blatant ignorant ideology that repeats failed history.
You are about to witness a collapse of, dare I say, BIBLICAL proportions.
Screwed, blued, and tattooed.
Adios amigas y amigos.
Kangaroo said::::
Amen
January 22, 2008 7:38 AM
monkey said:
Wall Street expected to plunge at openingU.S. stocks are seen adding to heavy selling throughout the world
NEW YORK - Wall Street was expected to plunge at the opening of trading Tuesday, extending its huge losses from last week and taking more cues from heavy selling that has spread throughout the world. Indicators showed the Dow Jones industrial average was set to fall by about 500 points when trading begins.
Fears of a recession in the United States that could pull down the global economy as well have infected markets around the world, and those declines further unnerved U.S. investors who were unable to trade Monday, when Wall Street was closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 476, or 3.93 percent, to 11,630. Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 57.30, or 4.32 percent, to 1,628.00. Nasdaq 100 index futures dropped 77.00, or 4.16 percent, to 1,772.50.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei stock average closed down 5.65 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index lost 8.65 percent a day after showing its biggest losses since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
more...
Hey, let's hear a big round of applause for 7 years of Bush/Republican economic stewardship... come on America, vote for some more of that.
monkey said:
CNN Breaking NewsTreasury Secretary Paulson says Congress, Bush administration need to agree quickly on measures to boost economy, calm markets.
monkey said:
MSNBC BREAKING NEWS: Fed cuts key U.S. interest rate by three-quarters of a percentage point
monkey said:
Can you say "Meltdown", boys & girls?
Global Warning
sparrow said:
Monkey,
I'm CRINGING for our 401k's!
I wish the market would just stay CLOSED until they get some COMPETENT people in our government.
So much for the 'business model' being good for businesses.
sparrow said:
Am I the only one who remembers how they sold us on Bush being a CEO President and how he was going to show us how government should be run?
Business-like-but fair--campassionate but conservative.
He was going to bring truth and bi-partisanship to DC.
OMG.
The lies! THE LIES!!!

AUSTRALIA
4th-worst day in ASX history
THE biggest share market rout since October 1987 has caught out millions of shareholders.
Welcome to Georgies Business Aquem, 7 years of GW in the White House.

AUSTRALIA BLACK TUESDAY

4th-worst day in ASX historyTHE biggest share market rout since October 1987 has caught out millions of shareholders.
By Scott MurdochJanuary 23, 2008 02:00am
THE biggest share market rout since the October 1987 crash has caught millions of Australian shareholders offguard and raised fears the China boom might not protect the Australian economy from a looming US recession.
Panic engulfed world financial markets yesterday, with Australian shares plunging by 7.3 per cent to suffer their fourth-worst day in history and wipe $110 billion off the savings of investors.
The carnage - which was worse than the financial market reaction to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 - left traders stunned.
The S&P/ASX200 index lost 393.6 points to close at 5186.8, the lowest point in two years, while the All Ordinaries was smashed by 408.9 points to end at 5222.

Gen Y: First taste of a meltdown

By Victoria Laurie and Anthony KlanJanuary 23, 2008 02:00am

WHILE Gen Y investors flooded sharemarket chat sites begging for advice on what to do, 32-year-old broker Ben Polkinghorne spent much of yesterday telling his clients to "hold tight" during the biggest market bloodbath in decades.
It was a different story in cyberspace, where the internet generation was reacting to its first taste of market meltdown. On sites such as HotCopper and Aussie Stock Forum, young bloggers who were losing big money by the minute were panicking.
"For f%%$$K's sake, a bounce must be coming? Maybe it is the end of the world," wrote one blogger on HotCopper, which claims to be Australia's largest stock market internet forum. Fellow HotCopper blogger "Rogues Trade" jokingly offered to hire a bus and drive it off Melbourne's West Gate bridge, offering "25 seats" to fellow distraught young investors.
"Oh what a terrible day, time for a Valium or something stronger," wrote another.

McCrann: Hang on for wild ride

By Terry McCrannJanuary 23, 2008 02:00am

WHAT happened? Fear and loathing took over.
Fear of the unknown. What would happen when Wall St opened last night? Was the mighty US economy spiralling into recession? Would it drag us all and especially China with it?
Loathing of losses suffered. Nearly $400 billion in less than three months. And the billions more that could go, so sell now.
What does it all mean for you? What should you do about it?
That has to be separated into what it does to your superannuation and any shares you own directly, like Telstra and the Commonwealth Bank. And to the economy -- your business, your job, to rates.
First, shares, super, property.
Share values are down 24 per cent from their peak in November, taking them back to where they were in October 2006.