Bush Admin May Have Violated 26 Statutes, Dems Say

TPM Muckraker: Bush Admin May Have Violated 26 Statutes, Dems Say

By Justin Rood - July 31, 2006, 1:53 PM

The Bush administration may have broken over two dozen federal laws and regulations -- some of them multiple times -- according to an unreleased report from the House Judiciary Committee Democrats.

"The misconduct I have found is not only serious, but widespread," reads a draft summary of the report by Ranking Member John Conyers (D-MI):

The laws implicated by the Administration’s actions include federal laws against making false statements to congress [sic]; federal laws and international treaties prohibiting torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment; federal laws concerning retaliating against witnesses and other government employees; Executive Orders concerning leaking and other misuse of intelligence; federal regulations and ethical requirements governing conflicts of interest; the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act; communications privacy laws; the National Security Act; and the Fourth Amendment. More>>>

Think Progress » Zakaria: Rumsfeld ‘Seems In A Parallel Universe and Slightly Deranged’

Think Progress » Zakaria: Rumsfeld ‘Seems In A Parallel Universe and Slightly Deranged’ - Well...glad to see I'm not alone in thinking that Rummy is from another planet.

See Video Here

Transcript Here

US Has "Quietly Reversed Its Goal" Of Troop Withdrawal From Iraq... | The Huffington Post

US Has "Quietly Reversed Its Goal" Of Troop Withdrawal From Iraq... The Huffington Post - No suprise here:

The US administration has quietly reversed its goal from whittling down troop numbers in Iraq before the mid-term congressional elections in November.

A Pentagon spokesman on Friday confirmed that US troop levels in Iraq rose to 132,000 during the past week – the highest since late May – from 127,000 at the start of the week. The spokesman said troop numbers often fluctuated and “there might be temporary spikes during periods of troop rotation”. More at Financial Times>>>

C-Span Airing Of L.A. Conference Shows Mainstreaming Of 9/11 Truth

Paul Joseph Watson/Prison Planet.com July 28 2006
8:00pm EDT and repeated at 11:00pm EDT C-Span

A decision that many of us were waiting on with baited breath - C-Span's scheduling of the American Scholars Symposium highlights - infuses the 9/11 truth movement with a fresh injection of credibility and exposure to more mainstream audiences.

The panel features incredible presentations by 9/11 Scholars for Truth founder James Fetzer, BYU Physics Professor Steven Jones, President of the Institute for Space and Security Studies Dr. Robert M. Bowman, Lt. Col., USAF, ret., Filmmaker and Radio Broadcaster Alex Jones, and Terrorism Expert Webster Tarpley.

C-Span viewers will witness what many consider to be the most hard hitting conference to date including the most professional and credible speakers ever assembled. More>>>

Audit Finds U.S. Hid Actual Cost of Iraq Projects - New York Times

Audit Finds U.S. Hid Actual Cost of Iraq Projects - New York Times - This should be of no suprise to anyone. The only suprise is that Mainstream Media is actually reporting it:


BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 29 — The State Department agency in charge of $1.4 billion in reconstruction money in Iraq used an accounting shell game to hide ballooning cost overruns on its projects there and knowingly withheld information on schedule delays from Congress, a federal audit released late Friday has found.

The agency hid construction overruns by listing them as overhead or administrative costs, according to the audit, written by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, an independent office that reports to Congress and the Pentagon.

Called the United States Agency for International Development, or A.I.D., the agency administers foreign aid projects around the world. It has been working in Iraq on reconstruction since shortly after the 2003 invasion.

More>>>

Gore Vidal Interview | The Progressive

Gore Vidal: Bush Is A Thug. There Is Something Really Wrong With Him.

By David Barsamian August 2006 Issue

Gore Vidal is a gold mine of quips and zingers. And his vast knowledge of literature and history—particularly American—makes for an impressive figure. His razor-sharp tongue lacerates the powerful. He does it with aplomb, saying, “Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn.” He has a wry sense of noblesse oblige: “There is no human problem which could not be solved if people would simply do as I advise.”

Now eighty, he lives in the Hollywood hills in a modest mansion with immodest artwork. I felt I was entering a museum of Renaissance art. A stern painting of the Emperor Constantine was looking down upon us as we sat in his majestic living room. A Buddha statue from Thailand stood nearby. But all was not somber. He had a Bush doll with a 9/11 bill sticking out of it on a table behind us.

His aristocratic pedigree is evident not just in his artistic sophistication but also in his locution. In a war of words, few can contend with Vidal.

“I’m a lover of the old republic and I deeply resent the empire our Presidents put in its place,” he declares.

Vidal moved gingerly and was using a cane. A recent knee operation left him less mobile. He says, “The mind is still agile but the knees have grown weak.” We sat in upholstered chairs. On a nearby table I saw the galleys of his second memoir, Point to Point Navigation. It will be out this fall. His earlier one, Palimpsest, came out in 1995.

Prolific does not even begin to describe Vidal’s literary output. He’s the author of scores of novels, plays, screenplays, essays. In 1993, he won the National Book Award for his collection of essays, United States. His recent books (he calls them “pamphlets”)—Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace, Dreaming War, and Imperial America—have sold in huge numbers. When I asked him what was the point of his work, he said, “I am chronicling America.” The prose, whether polemical or fictional, is elegant.

Distantly related to Jackie Kennedy, he does not romanticize JFK. “He was one of the most charming men I’ve ever known,” says Vidal. “He was also one of the very worst Presidents.”
He’s been a Democratic candidate for the House from New York and for the Senate from California. Today, he ridicules the Democrats for supineness.

He sees a certain continuity in U.S. foreign policy over the last fifty years. “The management, then and now, truly believes the United States is the master of the Earth and anyone who defies us will be napalmed or blockaded or covertly overthrown,” he says. “We are beyond law, which is not unusual for an empire; unfortunately, we are also beyond common sense.”

I talked with him on a hot afternoon in mid-April.

The Q&A follows....here.

Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | 49 Katrina Victims Remain Unidentified

Guardian Unlimited World Latest 49 Katrina Victims Remain Unidentified
Thursday July 27, 2006 8:01 PM

AP Photo LAAB104
By MICHELLE ROBERTS
Associated Press Writer

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - They lie in silvery airtight caskets in a rented warehouse near the Superdome or in black body bags stacked in a refrigerated truck behind an abandoned funeral-home-turned-morgue.

Nearly a year after Hurricane Katrina, 49 of the storm's 1,300-plus victims in Louisiana are stuck in a kind of purgatory, with no final resting place, because their identities are still a mystery.

The anonymous souls died undignified deaths, their bodies left in muddy water for days or buried in rubble for months. Many died in the flood-leveled Ninth Ward.
Not much else is known about them. Many had no clothing or ID, and their bodies were bloated from exposure or reduced to skeletons before medical examiners could begin looking for clues.
The nameless dead wait for medical records, dental charts or DNA analysis - anything that might tell the world who they are.

"We're not going to give up,'' said Dr. Louis Cataldie, Louisiana medical examiner. Cataldie said authorities will keep trying until they have exhausted all possibilities; New Orleans Coroner Dr. Frank Minyard has set no deadline on the task.

Altogether, local, state and federal officials identified more than 1,300 people found dead in Louisiana after Katrina struck on Aug. 29. (The official Louisiana death toll is close to 1,600, but the number includes nearly 300 who died outside the state shortly after fleeing the storm.)

More>>>

Rumsfeld On Whether Iraq Is In A Civil War: "Oh, I Don't Know. You Know, I Thought About That Last Night"... | The Huffington Post

Rumsfeld On Whether Iraq Is In A Civil War: "Oh, I Don't Know. You Know, I Thought About That Last Night"... The Huffington Post

His detachment from his own responsibility is breathtaking. The glibness with which he describes tha mass slaughter of innocents in a country whose security he is responsible for is astonishing. Check this transcript out. Money quote:

Q: Is the country closer to a civil war?

SEC. RUMSFELD: Oh, I don't know. You know, I thought about that last night, and just musing over the words, the phrase, and what constitutes it. If you think of our Civil War, this is really very different. If you think of civil wars in other countries, this is really quite different. There is - there is a good deal of violence in Baghdad and two or three other provinces, and yet in 14 other provinces there's very little violence or numbers of incidents. So it's a - it's a highly concentrated thing. It clearly is being stimulated by people who would like to have what could be characterized as a civil war and win it, but I'm not going to be the one to decide if, when or at all. Read Whole Story - ReadTranscript

Re-Post of PNAC 101 - How We Got To Where We Are Today

This post is reproduced from The Democratic Underground. It is a very clear and concise analysis of the Neocon Agenda: The Project For A New American Century. That treatise is actually the framework from which the Bush administration has mapped out its foreign policy stratergy...long before September 11, 2001. Take a look:

George W. Bush constantly reminds the nation about the threat of terrorism that began with 911 but he leaves out a few important details that you should know...

June 1997 - The Project for a New American Century (PNAC) was born. Populated by influential Movers of industry and Shakers of public opinion, the PNAC is an organization united in the vision for a global U.S. empire - "Pax Americana" - through coercion and military domination. Their philosophy can be simply summarized:

There are countries to plunder and fortunes to be made. You have it, we want it. Do as we say or suffer the consequences.

The U.S. already has a powerful military but we plan to nurture and grow it until it's massive and we are indominable. Resistance is futile. We are...

Dick Cheney, Jeb Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Steve Forbes, William J. Bennett, Frank Gaffney, and I. Lewis ("Scooter") Libby, signator's - among others - of the PNAC's "Statement of Principles".

"We need to...challenge regimes hostile to our interests and values."

"We need to increase defense spending significantly if we are to carry out our global responsibilities today and modernize our armed forces for the future."

"It is important to shape circumstances before crises emerge."

http://www.newamericancentury.org/statementofprinciples...

JANUARY 1998 - The PNAC knew that he who owns the oil also owns the world so they sent a letter to President Clinton urging him to attack Iraq and remove Saddam Hussein from power since he put "a significant portion of the world's supply of oil at hazard". Clinton didn't grant them their wish and the PNAC was disheartened that they couldn't manipulate the military while outside of the White House power structure.

http://www.newamericancentury.org/iraqclintonletter.htm

MARCH - APRIL 1999 - In an effort to capture and control the castle and all its warriors and weapons, the PNAC offered up members Steve Forbes, Dan Quayle and Gary Bauer to run as Republican candidates in the upcoming Presidential election.

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/election/profile.htm

JUNE 1999 - Ever persistent and determined to maximize their potential for success in the Presidential campaign, the PNAC exercised their power of nepotism and member-Jeb Bush's brother George stepped up to the plate to join the race.

SPRING 2000 - The PNAC may have felt confident with their candidate's chances for winning the White House but they were absolutely smug over what they saw as a possible Fallback Plan...electronic voting machines with severe security flaws that included hidden backdoors, erasable audit trails and multiple vote totals with the potential to propel vote tampering to new heights through the magic of remote access.

How To Rig An Election In The United States.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0307/S00065.htm

Can the votes be changed?
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/access-diebold.htm

GAO Report Finds Flaws in Electronic Voting http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/102105Q.shtml

Bettter yet, Chuck Hagel - a fellow Republican loyalist - owned the ES&S voting machine company that counted 60% of all U.S. votes. He had already won one election and was part of the U.S. Senate power team in Washington.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0301/S00166.htm

Assured that the White House would soon be theirs, the PNAC debuted their 76-page blueprint to achieve world domination. "Rebuilding America's Defenses" became the PNAC's manifesto, detailing the ideal level of military power to specifically eliminate the hostile regimes of Iraq, Iran, Syria and North Korea and it endorsed pre-emptive strikes against them, tradition be damned. Iraq was given star billing as Control Central for their Mideast base of operations.

"At present the United States faces no global rival. America’s grand
strategy should aim to preserve and extend this advantageous position as far
into the future as possible."

"American landpower is the essential link in the chain that translates U.S. military supremacy into American geopolitical preeminence.

"We cannot allow North Korea, Iran, Iraq or similar states to undermine American leadership."

"While the unresolved conflict with Iraq provides the immediate justification, the need for a substantial American force presence in the Gulf transcends the issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein."

What is particularly foreboding and chilling in view of events to later unfold, is this statement bemoaning the lengthy process of rebuilding the existing U.S. military according to the heightened standards and specifications the PNAC aspired to.

"...the process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event - like a new Pearl Harbor."

http://cryptome.org/rad.htm

NOVEMBER 2000 - Saddam may have sensed an ill wind in the air when he made the first strike, turned his back on the U.S. Dollar and accepted only Euros as payment for his oil. This had the potential of seriously destabilizing the U.S. economy and the PNAC considered this an hostile act of aggression towards their personal and business interests. The heat was on for them to make their first move.

http://www.rferl.org/nca/features/2000/11/0111200016084...

DECEMBER 2000 - In a highly contentious Presidential vote battle on the home turf of PNAC-Jeb Bush, the Supreme Court decided that George Bush was the new President. Bush now had the green light to seamlessly merge members of the PNAC into his Administration with no one the wiser. PNAC members elevated to the Bush hierarchy include, among others:

Donald Rumsfeld - Secretary of Defense
Paul Wolfowitz - Deputy Secretary of Defense
Elliott Abrams - Member of the National Security Council
John Bolton - Undersecretary for Arms Control and InternationalSecurity
Richard Perle - Chairman of the advisory Defense Policy Board
Richard Armitage - Deputy Secretary of State
John Bolton - Undersecretary of State for Disarmament
Zalmay Khalilzad - White House liaison to the Iraqi opposition
An Honorable Mention was awarded to Condoleezza Rice - National Security Advisor - who is a former oil-company consultant having been on the board of directors of Chevron as its main expert on Kazakhstan.

The PNAC agenda had now passed "Go". The most powerful military machine in the world stood at their ready and Saddam was in the crosshair.Wasting no time, Cheney secretly assembled an advisory panel of oil and gas executives from Enron, Dynergy, Shell Oil, Chevron/Texaco and British Petroleum under the direction of James Baker (former Secretary of State under George Bush Sr.) to help shape our national energy policy and justify the PNAC's anticipated war with Iraq.

Contributing substantially to the task force discussions and recommendations was a shadowy group of unidentified observers who still remain unknown. Sheikh Saud Al Nasser Al Sabah, the former Kuwaiti oil minister, also made a contribution to the group's final report which was funded through Khalid Al-Turki (a Saudi Arabian oil and gas enterprise) and the Arthur Ross Foundation (a non-profit organization that - on the surface - appears to be a supporter of the Arts.)

http://www.yuricareport.com/PoliticalAnalysis/FraudinWh... http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20...

MARCH 2001 - Cheney closely guarded the details surrounding his energy task force but documents released through the Freedom of Information Act reveal a map of Iraqi oilfields, pipelines, refineries and terminals, as well as 2 charts detailing Iraqi oil and gas projects, and “Foreign Suitors for Iraqi Oilfield Contracts.”

http://www.judicialwatch.org/071703.c_.shtml

As one internet poster pointed out:

"The Iraq map is not a map, it's a plan "There are several areas marked 'earmarked for production sharing' (look at the map legend), which means privatized oil fields. Iraq did not have privatized oil fields and production sharing agreements before the US took it over.

"There are also parcels marked on the Iraq oil field and exploration map (numbered 'Block 1' through '9'). Iraq did not have an active, privatized oil exploration program going on before it was conquered by the US.

"If you read the footnotes and entire contents of the other documents, there is a heavy emphasis on business concerns, such as contracts and vendors over items one might think would be more important in a government discussion, such as capacity, long term reserves, etc.

"One footnote (in UAEOilProj.pdf) even contains investment advice for the participants at the meeting, suggesting opportunities in downstream projects, such as power desalination and pipeline projects.

"These are not 'just maps'. Read them."

It can be argued that the spoils of war were being doled out two years before Iraq once again became a household word. Perhaps this explains why Cheney worked so hard and so long to keep this information suppressed until Iraq was under U.S. military control...by then it would be too late for the public to object to the invasion.

Not by coincidence, the United States Agency for International Development (USAid) began coordinating infrastructure and engineering contracts to rebuild post-war Iraq. Halliburton, where Cheney formerly served as chief executive, acquired the contract to oversee firefighting operations at Iraqi oilfields.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2837657.stm

Iraq, circa March 2001, painted a completely different picture than the Evil Empire the Bush Administrations tried to portray in their determined rush to war.

"Iraq was one of the more progressive Islamic countries in the region. It provided full rights for women and public education for its citizens who enjoyed a decent standard of living."

"Despite the years of bombings and the even greater toll on human life taken by the sanctions, visitors to Baghdad don't see a city in ruins. Much of the wreckage has been cleared away, much has been repaired.

"In our hotel, there's running water throughout the day, hot water in the morning. Various streets in Baghdad are lined with little stores, surprisingly well-stocked with household appliances, hardware goods, furniture, and clothes (much of which has a second-hand look).

"We see no derelicts or homeless people on the streets, no prostitutes or ragged bands of abandoned children, though there are occasional youngsters eager to shine shoes or solicit spare change. But even they seem to be well-fed and decently clothed. ......large swaths of the city used to be shrouded in complete darkness; today, there are lights just about everywhere.

"People used to feel hopelessly isolated and now there seems to be more hope and better morale.

Sadly though, "more and more children are turning up with leukemia" (a result of the tons of depleted uranium the U.S. military used and left behind after Gulf War I.)

"The Iraqi leadership could turn US policy completely around by uttering just two magic words: "free market." All they have to do is invite the international Monetary Fund and World Bank into Iraq, eliminate free education and free medical care, abolish the minimal food ration that goes to every Iraqi, abolish the housing and transportation subsidies, and hand over the country's oil industry to the corporate cartels. To lift the sanctions, Iraq must surrender to the tender mercies of the free-market paradise...

"Until then, Iraq will continue to be designated a "rogue nation" by those policy makers in Washington who themselves are the meanest profit-driven, power-mongering rogues on earth."

http://www.michaelparenti.org/DefyingSanctions.html

The issue of trade sanctions against Iraq put the Bush Administration in a bind - the sanctions had been designed to punish Saddam for not conceding to U.S. demands but it ended up handicapping U.S. corporations and undermining the PNAC's drive for U.S. economic supremacy. The Bush Administration was on a tight four year schedule to oust Saddam and launch the PNAC's Grand Plan for World Domination but they still didn't have a viable script to sell to the public. Yet.

"It is important to shape circumstances...... ." - PNAC Statement of Principles

May 2001 - The U.S. State Department met with Iran, German and Italian officials to discuss Afghanistan. It was decided that the ruling Taliban would be toppled and a "broad-based government" would control the country so a gas pipeline could be built there.

http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/7969.pdf .http://www.gasandoil.com/goc/features/fex20867.htm

Even as plans were being made to remove the Taliban rulers from power, Colin Powell announced a $43 million "gift" to Afghanistan.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-091701scheer.column http://www.cato.org/dailys/08-02-02.html

Meanwhile, the U.S. Embassy in the UAE received a call that Bin Laden supporters were in the U.S. planning attacks with explosives. It was rumored that Bin Laden was interested in hijacking U.S. aircraft.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/images/04/10/whitehouse.pdf

June 2001 The decades-old procedure for a quick response by the nation’s air defense was changed. NORAD’s military commanders could no longer issue the command to launch fighter jets because approval had to be sought from the civilian Defense Secretary and PNAC-member, Donald Rumsfeld.

http://www.9-11commission.gov/hearings/hearing7/for_the_record_ashley.pdf

July 2001 The private plot formulated in May for toppling the Taliban was divulged during the G8 summit in Genoa, Italy. Immediately after the conference, American, Russian, German and Pakistani officials secretly met in Berlin to finalize the strategy for military strikes against the Taliban, scheduled to begin before mid-October 2001.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1550366.stm http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,556254,00.html http://www.gasandoil.com/goc/features/fex20867.htm

September 2001 - The "catastrophic and catalyzing" modern-day Pearl Harbor envisioned years earlier by the PNAC came to pass when the WTC and Pentagon were attacked as Rumsfeld sat passive and unresponsive. The finger of blame was pointed at Osama bin Laden, a former CIA operative with ties to Afghanistan. Suddenly, the U.S. "gift" of $43 million to the Taliban in May was cast in a new light. Coincidentally, Pakistan had participated in the plan to attack Afghanistan and the chief of Pakistan's Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) agency was later linked to a 911 hijacker after wiring him $100,00 just days before the WTC fell. Pakistan's ISI also had a long-standing working relationship with the CIA.

http://cryptome.org/rad.htm http://www.observer.com/pages/story.asp?ID=8830 http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO109C.html http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?msid=1454238160 http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1266317,00.html

The PNAC had scored a home run with the bases loaded with the 911 event: shock, horror and fear gripped the nation, the war on "terrorism" had been established in no uncertain terms, attacking Afghanistan with public approval was a foregone conclusion and the stage was set for building a public case against Saddam. Not one to let a good attack go to waste, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld sprung into action.

He told his aides to come up with plans for striking Iraq, even though Saddam wasn't linked to the attacks.

PNAC-James Woolsey, former CIA director, was dispatched to London to look for and 'firm up' evidence of Iraqi involvement in the 911 attacks.

PNAC-member and Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz was authorized to create the Office of Special plans.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/09/04/september11/main520830.shtml

"It is important to shape circumstances..........."- PNAC Statement of Principles

The Office of Special Plans (OSP) was a secret group of analysts and policy advisors with no status in the intelligence community. Nevertheless they reported directly to the White House and National Security office with cherry-picked intelligence from questionable sources to support the case for invading Iraq. The OSP circumvented formal, well-established oversight procedures, ignored intelligence that didn't further their agenda, expanded the intelligence on weapons beyond what was justified and over-emphasized the national security risk. They became more influential than the C.I.A. or the Defense Intelligence Agency who didn't even know the ultra-secret OSP existed for at least a year.

Because they were based in the Pentagon, it was assumed that the OSP was an intelligence-gathering agency that was second-guessing the C.I.A. but in actuality it was the White House Military Marketing Machine charged with the task of writing the PNAC's "Get Saddam" sales pitch for the public. Shading and bending reality to suit their own purpose, it wasn't important for the OSP's stories about Saddam to be factual, only that the average American believed them to be - in true Hollywood fashion.

http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?030512fa_fact

While the nation was stripped to the emotional bone and painfully vulnerable, the White House capitalized on the opportunity to reshape public perceptions and responses to conform with the PNAC's new American agenda. Rather than buoy the "can do" American spirit with optimism and hope for the future as Presidents before him had done in times of crisis, Bush spoke with an alarmist and pessimistic tone that served to perpetuate the high anxiety, excitability and fear in the populace.To hear him speak, the world was a dark, evil and dangerous place....terrorism was here to stay....it would be a long struggle....America was helpless without the military might of the Government to keep the nation safe. The intent was to create a psychologically broken, weary and docile populace that would be easier to lead into war.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/130534_focusecond13.html

Fear became the Administration's strategic tactic for reprogramming the public into accepting the PNAC's militaristic designs. Still shell-shocked and exhausted from the enormity of the WTC and Pentagon tragedies, the public's panic shifted into frenzied over-drive when anthrax-laced envelopes arrived in government and media offices, killing five people. A perpetrator was never identified but the investigation eventually centered around the Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, one of the nation's main anthrax research centers.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,126244,00.html

Using classic "operant learning" techniques from the realm of consumer psychology, the public was purposely kept on High Alert and continually "shaped" with ominous sound bites on the nightly news and "Level Orange Terror Alerts" at regularly scheduled but discrete intervals.

http://www.consumerpsychologist.com/#Perception

October 2001 - With flags waving, crowds cheering, and anthems playing, the "War On Terror" and the hunt for Osama began when Afghanistan was attacked right on schedule of July's secret meeting.Immediately afterwards the PNAC and White House collaboration of "GET SADDAM" played relentlessly on televisions and in newspapers across the nation and the World as the "War on Terror" waged on and the litany of lies began.

Pass It On This has been a presentation of The Whispering Campaign - an opportunity to become ACTIVELY involved in educating the American public without drawing attention to yourself. This is a game of Political "Gossip" where the story of our Government's deception and betrayal gets passed from one person to another.

Anyone can play. The rules are simple: make ten copies of this timeline and leave it in a public place where someone else will find it and read it. Ideal locations for maximum exposure include book stores, copy shops, libraries and train stations. Buses, taxis, laundromats, and check-out lines at the grocery store. Hair salons, rest rooms, gas stations and convenience stores.

Anywhere you happen to be will work just fine. The American public deserves to know the TRUTH!

Cheney uses Mideast as campaign issue - Yahoo! News

Cheney uses Mideast as campaign issue - Yahoo! News - It's no suprise that the Vice President says that the war in Lebanon shows that Americans should vote to keep the republican congress in control to combat terrorism. I cannot believe that these crazy sons of bitches are actually capitalizing on the deaths of innocent humans to politicize THEIR VIEW:

Vice President Dick Cheney on Friday pointed to the fighting between Isreal and Hezbollah as fresh evidence that the ongoing battle against terrorismthat underscores the need to
keep President Bush's Republican allies in control of Congress.

"This conflict is a long way from over," Cheney said at a fundraising appearance for a GOP congressional candidate. "It's going to be a battle that will last for a very long time. It is absolutely essential that we stay the course."

Cheney's visit to Tampa helped raise about $200,000 for the campaign of Gus Bilirakis, a state legislator who is running for the Tampa Bay area congressional seat his father, Michael, is vacating.

"Gus is going to remember that the first order of business is to protect the American people and to support the men and women who defend us in time of war," Cheney told the audience at a $500-a-ticket fundraising reception. "There's still hard work ahead in the war on terror."

Cheney said that as Republicans make their case to voters in the midterm elections, "it's vital that we keep issues of national security at the top of the agenda." He faulted Democrats in Congress who have pushed for a timetable for withdrawing Americans from Iraq, saying that would send the wrong message to terrorists.

"If anyone thinks the conflict is over or soon to be over, all they have to do is look at what's happening in the Middle East today," he said. More>>>

Quote Of The Week

Quote of the Week: Charles Barkley: “I Was a Republican Until They Lost Their Minds”

Read article here.

The Shame of Being an American

The Shame of Being an American - By Paul Craig Roberts

Do you know that one-third of the Lebanese civilians murdered by Israel's attacks on civilian residential districts are children? That is the report from Jan Egeland, the emergency relief coordinator for the UN. He says it is impossible for help to reach the wounded and those buried in rubble, because Israeli air strikes have blown up all the bridges and roads. Considering how often (almost always) Israel misses Hezbollah targets and hits civilian ones, one might think that Israeli fire is being guided by US satellites and US military GPS. Don't be surprised at US complicity. Why would the puppet be any less evil than the puppet master?

Of course, you don't know these things, because the US print and TV media do not report them.

Because Bush is so proud of himself, you do know that he has blocked every effort to stop the Israeli slaughter of Lebanese civilians. Bush has told the UN "NO." Bush has told the European Union "NO." Bush has told the pro-American Lebanese prime minister "NO." Twice. Bush is very proud of his firmness. He is enjoying Israel's rampage and wishes he could do the same thing in Iraq.

Does it make you a Proud American that "your" president gave Israel the green light to drop bombs on convoys of villagers fleeing from Israeli shelling, on residential neighborhoods in the capital of Beirut and throughout Lebanon, on
hospitals, on power plants, on food production and storage, on ports, on civilian airports, on bridges, on roads, on every piece of infrastructure on which civilized life depends? Are you a Proud American? Or are you an Israeli puppet? More>>>

Troops: Under orders to kill - Conflict in Iraq - MSNBC.com

Troops: Under orders to kill - Conflict in Iraq - MSNBC.com
Soldiers say officers commanded them to ‘kill all military age males’ in Iraq

This order HAS TO BE in violation of the Geneva Conventions!! Hell..it HAS TO BE a crime against HUMANITY!

Article:

EL PASO, Texas - Four U.S. soldiers accused of murdering suspected insurgents during a raid in Iraq said they were under orders to “kill all military age males,” according to sworn statements obtained by The Associated Press.

The soldiers first took some of the men into custody because they were using two women and a toddler as human shields. They shot three of the men after the women and child were safe and say the men attacked them.

“The ROE (rule of engagement) was to kill all military age males on Objective Murray,” Staff Sgt. Raymond L. Girouard told investigators, referring to the target by its code name. More>>>

Diplomats See Nominee Bolton "As A Stand-In For The Arrogance Of The Bush Administration"... | The Huffington Post

Diplomats See Nominee Bolton "As A Stand-In For The Arrogance Of The Bush Administration"... The Huffington Post

Last week John Bolton stated that there is no "moral equivalence" between the death of Isreali citizens and the death of Lebonese citizens in the ensuing battle between Hezbollah and Isreal.

Diplomats at the UN have spoken out about the arrogance of the Bush administration manifested via Bolton and his rhetoric:

In recent months, as one international crisis followed another, John R. Bolton has fulfilled the role of the United Nations’ most influential ambassador at full strength, firmly articulating the position of the United States government regarding Iran, North Korea and the Middle East.

His performance won over at least one crucial critic, Senator George V. Voinovich, Republican of Ohio. Mr. Voinovich’s opposition a year ago forced Mr. Bolton to take the job as a presidential recess appointment, an arrangement that expires at the end of this Congress in January. More from NYT>>>

.

NY Times: US Speeds Up Bomb Delivery To Israel... | The Huffington Post

NY Times: US Speeds Up Bomb Delivery To Israel... The Huffington Post - I have wondered why our country has not intervened in calling a cessation to the slaughter going on in the Middle East. However, THIS is not the intervention I had imagined:

The Bush administration is rushing a delivery of precision-guided bombs to Israel, which requested the expedited shipment last week after beginning its air campaign against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, American officials said Friday.

The decision to quickly ship the weapons to Israel was made with relatively little debate within the Bush administration, the officials said. Its disclosure threatens to anger Arab governments and others because of the appearance that the United States is actively aiding the Israeli bombing campaign in a way that could be compared to Iran’s efforts to arm and resupply Hezbollah. More>>>>

Gates Foundation to Finance Search for H.I.V. Vaccine - New York Times

Gates Foundation to Finance Search for H.I.V. Vaccine - New York Times - Say what you will about Bill Gates' and Microsoft, but this man and his wife have comitted to humanitarian causes like no one I have seen in my lifetime.

NYT reports:

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation awarded more than a quarter of a billion dollars today to researchers in 19 countries to speed the lagging development of an H.I.V. vaccine.

The grants are the largest private investment in making such a vaccine, the foundation said. They represent a significant shift in emphasis, to large-scale collaborative projects instead of small teams of researchers working independently.
The money will be given over five years to 16 scientific teams, including two New York groups. The scientists applied for the grants before Warren E. Buffett announced last month that he was giving $31 billion to the Gates Foundation.

The Gates Foundation has made development of an effective vaccine against H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS, a major goal, and the new grants bring to $528 million the foundation’s investment for this purpose.

By contrast, the National Institutes of Health has spent $3.4 billion since the 1980’s to develop a vaccine.

A vaccine to fight H.I.V., the human immunodeficiency virus, is the best hope to control the AIDS epidemic, health officials and experts say. But that hope had been frustrated again and again.

GOP Talking Points Document Uses Psychological and Verbal Manipulation To Win Their Case for Further Global Aggression

The GOP and its media pundits always seem to repeat the same talking points in one week. For example, starting with Newt Gingrich declaring on Meet The Press that we are at the beginning of World War III, every Fox News pundit as well as other media people used the term "world war III" when referencing the goings on in the Middle East. Here, in part is one of the "talking point strategies" reccommended. This document was authored by Frank Luntz, GOP pollster and consultant. Here is the link to the entire document. Hat Tip to Randi Rhodes for this info.

COMMUNICATING THE
PRINCIPLES OF PREVENTION & PROTECTION
IN THE WAR ON TERROR

WHAT MATTERS MOST

1) "9/11 changed everything" is the context by which everything follows. No speech about homeland security or Iraq should begin without a reference to 9/11.

2) The principles of "prevention and protection" still have universal support and should be addressed prior to talking about Iraq.

3) "Prevention at home can require aggressive action abroad" is the best way to link a principle the public supports with the policies of the Administration. "It is better to fight the War on Terror on the streets of Baghdad than on the streets of New York or Washington."

4) "Terrorism has no boundaries, and neither should efforts to prevent it." Talk about how terrorism has taken the lives of the British, the Spanish, Italians, Germans, Israelis, innocents from all across the globe. Remind listeners that this is truly an international challenge. "Americans are not the only target."

5) "The world is a better place without Saddam Hussein." Enough said.

CNN.com - Israeli troops enter southern Lebanon - Jul 18, 2006

CNN.com - Israeli troops enter southern Lebanon - Jul 18, 2006 - BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) -- Israeli ground troops have entered southern Lebanon on a mission to destroy outposts of Hezbollah, an Israel Defense Forces spokesman told CNN early Wednesday.
The spokesman said the troops are "close to the border." No further details were immediately available.

Hours earlier, Israeli airstrikes pounded the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital near the airport, lighting up the night with explosions. MORE>>>

IMHO this seems a lot like the Biblical metaphor of "David and Goliath".

Murtha Compares Iraq Policy to Domestic Policy

This info was sent to me by a friend and I felt this had to be posted. Hat tip to Ozy at www.mainstreampolitics.com for sending this to me and Chad Shue of "The Left Shue Blog" the author of the post:

As anyone who reads this humble Blog should know, I seldom relate the cost of the invasion and ongoing occupation of Iraq to dollars. Today, however, this item from Lynn Allen over at Evergreen Politics (which she credits to Taylor Marsh at the Blog of the same name) and, in particular, the source of the information caught my eye.

As most people know, Congressman John Murtha (D-PA), a decorated Marine, was an early supporter of the debacle that is the Bush Iraq policy. He has since come to recognize that our continuing presence there is a mistake. He has spoken to top military leaders inside the Pentagon and on the ground in that country to reach this conclusion. For his dedication to country (both in uniform and in the Congress) Rep. Murtha has been branded a "lefty" and an advocate of the infamous "cut and run" policy so widely embraced by the Democrats (tongue firmly planted in cheek here). For some six months, until just a couple of weeks ago, it seems Democrats couldn't run away from him fast enough.

It is with this introduction that I proudly present:

Murtha compares cost of war and domestic expenses.
A Report by Congressman John Murtha

(Washington D.C.)- We are spending $8 billion a month in Iraq. That equates to $2 billion a week, or $267 million a day, or $11 million an hour.

The following are some comparisons between what we are spending in Iraq as we "stay the course" indefinitely and what those funds could be used for instead.

I've been fighting for our military to get out of Iraq because I'm concerned about the loss of our troops and the future of our military, and also because I believe they have accomplished their mission there and the Iraqis must resolve their internal conflict themselves. However, I also wanted to demonstrate what these expenses mean to domestic policy in the United States and give you an idea of just some of the things that we could accomplish with this amount of money.

NATIONAL SECURITY

$31.7 billion/yr Homeland Security budget FY 07 = (4 months in Iraq)

$10 billion (1-time) Equipping commercial airliners with defenses against shoulder-fired missiles = (5 weeks in Iraq)

$8.6 billion/7 years Shortage of international aid needed to rebuild Afghanistan = (one month in Iraq)

$5.2 billion (1-time) Estimated need for capital improvements to secure public transportation system (trains, subways, buses) = (3 weeks in Iraq)

$1.5 billion/year Radiation detectors needed at all US ports (rejected due to cost) = (5 days in Iraq)

$1.4 billion/ year Double the COPS (community police grants) program (5 days in Iraq)

$800 million/year Public transportation personnel training and technical support = (72 hours in Iraq)

$700 million/year 100% screening of all air cargo - rejected because of cost (1/4 of domestic shipping and 1/2 of international shipping is done on passenger planes) = (2 days in Iraq)

$350 million (1-time) Make emergency radio systems interoperable (5 years after 9/11, this hasn't happened yet) = (1.2 days in Iraq)

$500 million/year Double the firefightersÂ’ grant program = (2 days in Iraq)

$94 million/year Restore cuts to cities hit on 9/11 in Homeland Security budget = (8-1/2 hours in Iraq)

HEALTH CARE/VETERANS

$36 billion/5 years reduction for Medicare spending in president's fiscal year 2007 (FY 07) budget = (4-1/2 months in Iraq)

$5 billion/5 years Cut in Medicaid in President's FY 2007 budget = (2-1/2 weeks in Iraq)

$2.5 billion/5 years VA health care premium increases in this year's budget. Premiums will double or triple and drug co-payments will increase, costing our military retirees $2.4 billion over 5 years = (9 days in Iraq)

$100 million Additional funding recommended for mental health research for veterans = (9 hours in Iraq)

$48 million Medical and prosthetic research for veterans = (half a day in Iraq)

$65 million/yr National Institutes of Health research funding cuts in this year's budget (scientists are leaving the field of health research because funding has been cut so severely) = (6 hours in Iraq)

$15 billion/yr Provide health insurance to 9 million children with no health insurance = (1-1/2 weeks in Iraq)

$118 million/yr The Commodity Supplemental Food Program, which provides nutritional food packages for less than $20 a month to more than 400,000 elderly people - eliminated in the president's budget ... = (12 hours in Iraq)
**********************************************************************************
Shue continues:

There is more to the report (including things specific to Murtha's home state of Pennsylvania. I recommend that you read the entire report. You should write the numbers down and then you should ask your Congressional Delegation (Rs and Ds) if they are familiar with these numbers. You should ask them if the are concerned about Homeland Security and National Defense and the healthcare needs of our nation's veterans. Then you should ask when they are going to start working with Congressman Murtha to end the travesty in Iraq and start working on the needs in this country.

Think Progress » Williams Confronts Kristol: ‘You Just Want War, War, War, And You Want Us In More War’

Think Progress » Williams Confronts Kristol: ‘You Just Want War, War, War, And You Want Us In More War’

This morning on Fox News Sunday, William Kristol argued that the Bush administration’s “coddling” of Iran had “invited” the latest outbreak of violence, and that the United States should join in the current fighting. Juan Williams pushed back:

You just want war, war, war, and you want us in more war. You wanted us in Iraq. Now you want us in Iran. Now you want us to get into the Middle East. … You’re saying, why doesn’t the United States take this hard, unforgiving line? Well, the hard and unforgiving line has been, we don’t talk to anybody. We don’t talk to Hamas. We don’t talk to Hezbollah. We’re not going to talk to Iran. Where has it gotten us, Bill?
Kristol threw up his hands and didn’t answer. Watch it

The Blog | Arianna Huffington: Bush on the World Stage: While Events Heat Up, the President Hams it Up | The Huffington Post

The Blog Arianna Huffington: Bush on the World Stage: While Events Heat Up, the President Hams it Up The Huffington Post - Arianna is right about President Bush. Just as he did when Katrina hit our gulf coast, Bush is hamming it up in Russia and Germany rather than addressing the global implications of this Isreali/Hezbollah/Hamas conflict. Here is what she says:

I picked the wrong week to spend more time than usual on the treadmill, flipping channels from one horrific occurrence to another and another and another. And, in between, watching snippets of our president looking lost on the world stage.

As the significance of the play of current events has increased, the stature of the lead actor seems more dwarfish then ever.

So it wasn't the intensity of my workout but our president in stark relief with the magnitude of world events that made me sweat.

There he was at his press conference in Russia, where he unwittingly gave Vladamir Putin one of the great set-up lines in recent history. Responding to a question about his concerns over the state of Russia’s democracy, Bush said he had talked to Putin “about my desire to promote institutional change in parts of the world like Iraq where there's a free press and free religion, and I told him that a lot of people in our country would hope that Russia would do the same thing.”

To which Putin replied: “We certainly would not want to have the same kind of democracy as they have in Iraq, I will tell you quite honestly.”
Ouch. After that one, Bush may have to change his nickname for Putin from “Pootie-Poot” to “Vlad the Presidential Impaler.”
Bush reacted to Putin’s spot-on zinger like a petulant third-grader, saying “Just wait.” Somehow he resisted the urge to stick out his tongue and say, “Wanna bet a million-zillion dollars on that, Pootie-Poot?” More>>>

The Wisdom Of Tony Snow

Funniest Quote Of The Week From The Bush White House:
Tony Snow: It’s Important Israel Tries To “Limit As Much As Possible The So-Called Collateral Damage, Not Only On Civilians But Also On Human Lives”…

Israel Attacks Central Beirut…Says Iran Helping Hezbollah…

Huffington Post:
Witnesses said Israeli aircraft attacked central Beirut Saturday for the first time in a four-day offensive, striking a lighthouse and the capital's seaport.

In Lebanon's northernmost city, Tripoli, witnesses said Israeli helicopters carried out the deepest strike yet into Lebanon, firing four missiles into the city's port area and hitting grain silos. Read Complete AP Story Here>>>

U.S. accused of kidnappings in Iraq | Salon News

U.S. accused of kidnappings in Iraq Salon News - Congress demands that the Pentagon release documents that could show U.S. forces kidnapped family members of terror suspects.
By Mark Benjamin:

July 14, 2006 Congress has demanded that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld hand over a raft of documents to Congress that could substantiate allegations that U.S. forces have tried to break terror suspects by kidnapping and mistreating their family members. Rumsfeld has until 5 p.m. Friday to comply.

It now appears that kidnapping, scarcely covered by the media, and absent in the major military investigations of detainee abuse, may have been systematically employed by U.S. troops. Salon has obtained Army documents that show several cases where U.S. forces abducted terror suspects’ families. After he was thrown in prison, Cpl. Charles Graner, the alleged ringleader at Abu Ghraib, told investigators the military routinely kidnapped family members to force suspects to turn themselves in.

A House subcommittee led by Connecticut Republican Christopher Shays took the unusual step last month of issuing Rumsfeld a subpoena for the documents after months of stonewalling by the Pentagon. Shays had requested the documents in a March 7 letter. "There was no response" to the letter, a frustrated Shays told Salon. "We are not going to back off this."


The subpoena demands that the Pentagon turn over documents about apparent retribution by the military against Army Spc. Samuel Provance, a whistle-blower, who sought to expose abuse at the infamous prison by talking to military investigators and the press. Following his revelations, the Army demoted Provance from sergeant and revoked his security clearance.

The subpoena also includes a separate demand, at the behest of Government Reform Committee Ranking Member Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., for any documents that might show that U.S. forces were systematically detaining family members of suspects at Abu Ghraib, and mistreating them to force suspects to talk.

In a hearing before Shays' Government Reform subcommittee last February, Provance testified that the Army had retaliated against him. Provance also made the disturbing allegation that interrogators broke an Iraqi general, Hamid Zabar, by imprisoning and abusing his frail 16-year-old son. Waxman was shocked. "Do you think this practice was repeated with other children?" he asked Provance. "I don't see why it would not have been, sir," Provance replied.

Zabar's son had been apprehended with his father and held at Abu Ghraib, though the boy hadn't done anything wrong. "He was useless," Provance said about the boy in a phone interview with Salon from Heidelberg, Germany, where he is still in the Army. "He was of no intelligence value." More>>>

ABC News: Activists Sue to Block Electronic Voting

ABC News: Activists Sue to Block Electronic Voting - Electronic Voting Machines, Thought to Be the Solution to Electoral Errors, Come Under Legal Attack

Jul 13, 2006 (AP)— Computerized voting was supposed to be the cure for ballot fiascos such as the 2000 presidential election, but activist groups say it has only worsened the problem and they've gone to court across the country to ban the new machines.

Lawsuits have been filed in at least nine states, alleging that the machines are wide open to computer hackers and prone to temperamental fits of technology that have assigned votes to the wrong candidate.

Manufacturers say their machines are more reliable than punch cards and other traditional voting technologies.

But they face a determined opponent in Voter Action, which has filed lawsuits in Colorado, California, Arizona and New Mexico. Similar bans have been sought by voters in Texas, Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania. On Thursday, a coalition of groups filed a lawsuit in Georgia.

"The designers of video games have built far more sophisticated security into their systems than have the manufacturers of voting machines," said Lowell Finley, co-director of Voter Action, a nonprofit and nonpartisan group based in Berkeley, Calif. "The biggest problem is security against tampering."

About 80 percent of American voters will use some form of electronic voting in the November election, where every seat in the House of Representatives is up for re-election, as are 33 Senate offices and 36 governorships. More>>>

USATODAY.com - House overwhelmingly votes to renew 1965 Voting Rights Act

USATODAY.com - House overwhelmingly votes to renew 1965 Voting Rights Act - Finally Congress came to their senses.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House voted Thursday to renew the 1965 Voting Rights Act, rejecting efforts by Southern conservatives to relax federal oversight of their states in a debate haunted by the ghosts of the civil rights movement.
The 390-33 vote sent to the Senate a bill that represented a Republican appeal to minority voters who doubt the GOP's "big-tent" image. Southern conservatives had complained that the act punishes their states for racist voting histories they say they've overcome. More>>>

nbc6.net - Politics - Former CIA Operative Sues Rove, Cheney, Libby

nbc6.net - Politics - Former CIA Operative Sues Rove, Cheney, Libby - The Wilsons are suing Rove, Cheney and Libby! Details here:

WASHINGTON -- The CIA officer whose identity was leaked to reporters sued Vice President Dick Cheney, his former top aide and presidential adviser Karl Rove on Thursday, accusing them and other White House officials of conspiring to destroy her career.

In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, Valerie Plame and her husband, Joseph Wilson, a former U.S. ambassador, accused Cheney, Rove and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby of revealing Plame's CIA identity in seeking revenge against Wilson for criticizing the Bush administration's motives in Iraq.

Several news organizations wrote about Plame after syndicated columnist Robert Novak named her in a column on July 14, 2003. Novak's column appeared eight days after Wilson alleged in an opinion piece in The New York Times that the administration had twisted prewar intelligence on Iraq to justify going to war. More>>>

Hat Tip to Talking Points Memo who has posted the actual complaint HERE.

If Fox News Had Been Around Throughout History

If Fox News Had Been Around Throughout History - I got this link from my son a couple of days ago. This is a must see. The author of this site is very much on point with this one:

http://mysite.verizon.net/vze1ldyn/id2.html

Ga. judge blocks voter ID law enforcement - Yahoo! News

Ga. judge blocks voter ID law enforcement - Yahoo! News - This is good news for us Georgians!

ROME, Ga. - The same federal judge who threw out Georgia's voter ID law last year blocked the state Wednesday from enforcing its revised law during this year's elections.

The ruling came less than two hours after the Georgia Supreme Court denied the state's emergency request to overrule a state court order that blocked enforcement of the new photo ID law during next week's primary elections and any runoffs.

U.S. District Judge Harold Murphy's ruling, which he delivered verbally from the bench, was much broader, also including the Nov. 7 general elections and any runoffs. More>>>

THE GREATEST STORY EVER SOLD: The Decline and Fall of Truth from 9/11 to Katrina

THE GREATEST STORY EVER SOLD: The Decline and Fall of Truth from 9/11 to Katrina - I, for one can't wait to read this book. The timing is perfect. Between this book and John Dean's "Conservatives Without Conscience", perhaps now the Sheeple who still hold on to the idea that BushCo is the greatest thing since the coming of Christ will finally wake up. Here is the review...in part:

New York Times columnist Rich delivers a savaging sermon on the US government's "rampant cronyism, the empty sloganeering of 'compassionate conservativism,' the reckless lack of planning for all government operations except tax cuts"—and so much more.

Anyone who knows his work will know that Rich is no fan of either George Bush, a man "not conversant with reality as most Americans had experienced it," or the Bush administration. In this blend of journalism and mentalits-style history—that is, the study of the mindsets that underlie and produce events—Rich looks closely and critically at the White House's greatest hits, from the 2001 defense of gas-guzzling as essential to the American way of life to "Heckuva job, Brownie" to the ongoing morass of Iraq. By Rich's account, of course, that parade of missteps is organic; Bush and company cannot help but err. In an effort to disguise that track record, the Republicans have exercised single-minded control of the grand narrative of the last five years, at least in part because they have exercised quasi-totalitarian control over the news media. (They are nearly forgotten already, but one needs to remember Judith Miller, Jeff Gannon, Karen Ryan and various columnists and commentators paid off to repeat the party line.) More>>>

Rove Tells of 'Shared Values' With Latinos - Los Angeles Times

Rove Tells of 'Shared Values' With Latinos - Los Angeles Times - One gets the feeling that these vile, insidious slimeballs are approaching THEIR "end of days". Ya know!!!

Enron Witness Found Dead... | The Huffington Post

Enron Witness Found Dead... The Huffington Post - I tell ya...Tom Clancy couldn't make up THIS stuff. I'll keep my conspiracy theories to myself on this one.

The BRAD BLOG : Former Bush-Appointed EAC Chair Decries Lack of Standards for Running Elections in the U.S.

The BRAD BLOG : Former Bush-Appointed EAC Chair Decries Lack of Standards for Running Elections in the U.S.:

Says Little Interest in Washington for True Election Reform, Federal Agency Created after Florida 2000 Election 'Put Together With Spit'.

"We really had to put together a federal agency with spit," says Rev. DeForest Soaries in a great interview by Tim Dickinson for Rolling Stone exposing (again) the cruel federal hoax.

Soaries was the first chair of the Elections Assistance Commission (EAC) created by the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) in the wake of Florida 2000. He's a Republican and a Bush appointee. Apparently, one of the few honest ones left.

He resigned some time ago, apparently out of frustration with the EAC and the fact that the entire commission seems to be little more than a bad joke. More>>>

In Big Shift, U.S. to Follow Geneva Treaty for Detainees - New York Times

In Big Shift, U.S. to Follow Geneva Treaty for Detainees - New York Times:

WASHINGTON, July 11 — The Bush administration called today for Congress to fix, rather than scrap, the system of military tribunals that was struck down by the Supreme Court last month, while the Pentagon pledged to treat detainees in accordance with the Geneva Conventions as the court required.

But a key Republican senator warned that the administration was risking a “long, hot summer’’ if it pushed Congress to retain the tribunal system for the suspects now held at the detention center in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, instead of working to adapt traditional military courts to meet the demands of the war on terror.

The new Pentagon policy, outlined in a memo released today, and the proposal for modifying military tribunals, outlined in testimony before a Senate panel, represent the administration’s most detailed response to the Supreme Court ruling so far. The court found that the tribunals were illegal, and contradicted President Bush’s assertion that terror suspects were not entitled to the protections of the Geneva Conventions.

President Bush said last week that he “would comply’’ with the court’s ruling, but he has given no details of how he would do so.

The Pentagon memo, issued last Friday and released today, orders that all detainees be treated in compliance with what is known as Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, a passage that requires humane treatment and a minimum standard of judicial protections for prisoners.

More>>>

Courts, Congress, Allies Telling White House To Rethink War On Terror... | The Huffington Post

Courts, Congress, Allies Telling White House To Rethink War On Terror... The Huffington Post:

Five years after the attacks on the United States, the Bush administration faces the prospect of reworking key elements of its anti-terrorism effort in light of challenges from the courts, Congress and European allies crucial to counterterrorism operations.

The Republican chairman of the House intelligence committee and other members of Congress have complained about not being briefed on classified surveillance programs and huge unprecedented databases used to monitor domestic and international phone calls, faxes, e-mails and bank transfers. More on this WAPO article here>>>

Violence Flares in Divided Baghdad

Violence Flares in Divided Baghdad:
BAGHDAD, July 10 -- A barrage of bombings and gunfire killed at least 40 people in Iraq on Monday in a burst of sectarian warfare a day after Shiite Muslim militiamen terrorized a Sunni Arab neighborhood in Baghdad.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki called on Iraqis to "unite as brothers" and stop the cycle of retaliatory violence.

But the killings that started Sunday morning -- with mobs of gunmen pulling Sunnis out of their cars and storming their homes in the neighborhood of al-Jihad -- spread to Shiite enclaves in the capital and other cities across Iraq.

Many in Iraq expressed fear that the recent attacks were pushing the country past isolated killings into civil war.

Two car bombs exploded Monday morning on a commercial street in the Shiite slum of Sadr City in Baghdad in apparent retribution for the killings of Sunnis the day before. The two bombs, within 10 minutes of each other, crumbled buildings, killed 11 people and injured 17 others, Col. Sami Jasim of the Interior Ministry said. The second explosion was aimed at a police patrol, a frequent target of attacks in recent months. More>>>

PNAC 101- How We Got To This Point

This post is reproduced from The Democratic Underground. It is a very clear and concise analysis of the Neocon Agenda: The Project For A New American Century. That treatise is actually the framework from which the Bush administration has mapped out its foreign policy stratergy...long before September 11, 2001. Take a look:

George W. Bush constantly reminds the nation about the threat of terrorism that began with 911 but he leaves out a few important details that you should know...

June 1997 - The Project for a New American Century (PNAC) was born. Populated by influential Movers of industry and Shakers of public opinion, the PNAC is an organization united in the vision for a global U.S. empire - "Pax Americana" - through coercion and military domination. Their philosophy can be simply summarized:

There are countries to plunder and fortunes to be made. You have it, we want it. Do as we say or suffer the consequences.

The U.S. already has a powerful military but we plan to nurture and grow it until it's massive and we are indominable. Resistance is futile. We are...

Dick Cheney, Jeb Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Steve Forbes, William J. Bennett, Frank Gaffney, and I. Lewis ("Scooter") Libby, signator's - among others - of the PNAC's "Statement of Principles".

"We need to...challenge regimes hostile to our interests and values."

"We need to increase defense spending significantly if we are to carry out our global responsibilities today and modernize our armed forces for the future."

"It is important to shape circumstances before crises emerge."

http://www.newamericancentury.org/statementofprinciples...

JANUARY 1998 - The PNAC knew that he who owns the oil also owns the world so they sent a letter to President Clinton urging him to attack Iraq and remove Saddam Hussein from power since he put "a significant portion of the world's supply of oil at hazard". Clinton didn't grant them their wish and the PNAC was disheartened that they couldn't manipulate the military while outside of the White House power structure.

http://www.newamericancentury.org/iraqclintonletter.htm

MARCH - APRIL 1999 - In an effort to capture and control the castle and all its warriors and weapons, the PNAC offered up members Steve Forbes, Dan Quayle and Gary Bauer to run as Republican candidates in the upcoming Presidential election.

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/election/profile.htm

JUNE 1999 - Ever persistent and determined to maximize their potential for success in the Presidential campaign, the PNAC exercised their power of nepotism and member-Jeb Bush's brother George stepped up to the plate to join the race.

SPRING 2000 - The PNAC may have felt confident with their candidate's chances for winning the White House but they were absolutely smug over what they saw as a possible Fallback Plan...electronic voting machines with severe security flaws that included hidden backdoors, erasable audit trails and multiple vote totals with the potential to propel vote tampering to new heights through the magic of remote access.

How To Rig An Election In The United States.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0307/S00065.htm

Can the votes be changed?
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/access-diebold.htm

GAO Report Finds Flaws in Electronic Voting http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/102105Q.shtml

Bettter yet, Chuck Hagel - a fellow Republican loyalist - owned the ES&S voting machine company that counted 60% of all U.S. votes. He had already won one election and was part of the U.S. Senate power team in Washington.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0301/S00166.htm

Assured that the White House would soon be theirs, the PNAC debuted their 76-page blueprint to achieve world domination. "Rebuilding America's Defenses" became the PNAC's manifesto, detailing the ideal level of military power to specifically eliminate the hostile regimes of Iraq, Iran, Syria and North Korea and it endorsed pre-emptive strikes against them, tradition be damned. Iraq was given star billing as Control Central for their Mideast base of operations.

"At present the United States faces no global rival. America’s grand
strategy should aim to preserve and extend this advantageous position as far
into the future as possible."

"American landpower is the essential link in the chain that translates U.S. military supremacy into American geopolitical preeminence.

"We cannot allow North Korea, Iran, Iraq or similar states to undermine American leadership."

"While the unresolved conflict with Iraq provides the immediate justification, the need for a substantial American force presence in the Gulf transcends the issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein."

What is particularly foreboding and chilling in view of events to later unfold, is this statement bemoaning the lengthy process of rebuilding the existing U.S. military according to the heightened standards and specifications the PNAC aspired to.

"...the process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event - like a new Pearl Harbor."

http://cryptome.org/rad.htm

NOVEMBER 2000 - Saddam may have sensed an ill wind in the air when he made the first strike, turned his back on the U.S. Dollar and accepted only Euros as payment for his oil. This had the potential of seriously destabilizing the U.S. economy and the PNAC considered this an hostile act of aggression towards their personal and business interests. The heat was on for them to make their first move.

http://www.rferl.org/nca/features/2000/11/0111200016084...

DECEMBER 2000 - In a highly contentious Presidential vote battle on the home turf of PNAC-Jeb Bush, the Supreme Court decided that George Bush was the new President. Bush now had the green light to seamlessly merge members of the PNAC into his Administration with no one the wiser. PNAC members elevated to the Bush hierarchy include, among others:

Donald Rumsfeld - Secretary of Defense
Paul Wolfowitz - Deputy Secretary of Defense
Elliott Abrams - Member of the National Security Council
John Bolton - Undersecretary for Arms Control and InternationalSecurity
Richard Perle - Chairman of the advisory Defense Policy Board
Richard Armitage - Deputy Secretary of State
John Bolton - Undersecretary of State for Disarmament
Zalmay Khalilzad - White House liaison to the Iraqi opposition
An Honorable Mention was awarded to Condoleezza Rice - National Security Advisor - who is a former oil-company consultant having been on the board of directors of Chevron as its main expert on Kazakhstan.

The PNAC agenda had now passed "Go". The most powerful military machine in the world stood at their ready and Saddam was in the crosshair.Wasting no time, Cheney secretly assembled an advisory panel of oil and gas executives from Enron, Dynergy, Shell Oil, Chevron/Texaco and British Petroleum under the direction of James Baker (former Secretary of State under George Bush Sr.) to help shape our national energy policy and justify the PNAC's anticipated war with Iraq.

Contributing substantially to the task force discussions and recommendations was a shadowy group of unidentified observers who still remain unknown. Sheikh Saud Al Nasser Al Sabah, the former Kuwaiti oil minister, also made a contribution to the group's final report which was funded through Khalid Al-Turki (a Saudi Arabian oil and gas enterprise) and the Arthur Ross Foundation (a non-profit organization that - on the surface - appears to be a supporter of the Arts.)

http://www.yuricareport.com/PoliticalAnalysis/FraudinWh... http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20...

MARCH 2001 - Cheney closely guarded the details surrounding his energy task force but documents released through the Freedom of Information Act reveal a map of Iraqi oilfields, pipelines, refineries and terminals, as well as 2 charts detailing Iraqi oil and gas projects, and “Foreign Suitors for Iraqi Oilfield Contracts.”

http://www.judicialwatch.org/071703.c_.shtml

As one internet poster pointed out:

"The Iraq map is not a map, it's a plan "There are several areas marked 'earmarked for production sharing' (look at the map legend), which means privatized oil fields. Iraq did not have privatized oil fields and production sharing agreements before the US took it over.

"There are also parcels marked on the Iraq oil field and exploration map (numbered 'Block 1' through '9'). Iraq did not have an active, privatized oil exploration program going on before it was conquered by the US.

"If you read the footnotes and entire contents of the other documents, there is a heavy emphasis on business concerns, such as contracts and vendors over items one might think would be more important in a government discussion, such as capacity, long term reserves, etc.

"One footnote (in UAEOilProj.pdf) even contains investment advice for the participants at the meeting, suggesting opportunities in downstream projects, such as power desalination and pipeline projects.

"These are not 'just maps'. Read them."

It can be argued that the spoils of war were being doled out two years before Iraq once again became a household word. Perhaps this explains why Cheney worked so hard and so long to keep this information suppressed until Iraq was under U.S. military control...by then it would be too late for the public to object to the invasion.

Not by coincidence, the United States Agency for International Development (USAid) began coordinating infrastructure and engineering contracts to rebuild post-war Iraq. Halliburton, where Cheney formerly served as chief executive, acquired the contract to oversee firefighting operations at Iraqi oilfields.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2837657.stm

Iraq, circa March 2001, painted a completely different picture than the Evil Empire the Bush Administrations tried to portray in their determined rush to war.

"Iraq was one of the more progressive Islamic countries in the region. It provided full rights for women and public education for its citizens who enjoyed a decent standard of living."

"Despite the years of bombings and the even greater toll on human life taken by the sanctions, visitors to Baghdad don't see a city in ruins. Much of the wreckage has been cleared away, much has been repaired.

"In our hotel, there's running water throughout the day, hot water in the morning. Various streets in Baghdad are lined with little stores, surprisingly well-stocked with household appliances, hardware goods, furniture, and clothes (much of which has a second-hand look).

"We see no derelicts or homeless people on the streets, no prostitutes or ragged bands of abandoned children, though there are occasional youngsters eager to shine shoes or solicit spare change. But even they seem to be well-fed and decently clothed. ......large swaths of the city used to be shrouded in complete darkness; today, there are lights just about everywhere.

"People used to feel hopelessly isolated and now there seems to be more hope and better morale.

Sadly though, "more and more children are turning up with leukemia" (a result of the tons of depleted uranium the U.S. military used and left behind after Gulf War I.)

"The Iraqi leadership could turn US policy completely around by uttering just two magic words: "free market." All they have to do is invite the international Monetary Fund and World Bank into Iraq, eliminate free education and free medical care, abolish the minimal food ration that goes to every Iraqi, abolish the housing and transportation subsidies, and hand over the country's oil industry to the corporate cartels. To lift the sanctions, Iraq must surrender to the tender mercies of the free-market paradise...

"Until then, Iraq will continue to be designated a "rogue nation" by those policy makers in Washington who themselves are the meanest profit-driven, power-mongering rogues on earth."

http://www.michaelparenti.org/DefyingSanctions.html

The issue of trade sanctions against Iraq put the Bush Administration in a bind - the sanctions had been designed to punish Saddam for not conceding to U.S. demands but it ended up handicapping U.S. corporations and undermining the PNAC's drive for U.S. economic supremacy. The Bush Administration was on a tight four year schedule to oust Saddam and launch the PNAC's Grand Plan for World Domination but they still didn't have a viable script to sell to the public. Yet.

"It is important to shape circumstances...... ." - PNAC Statement of Principles

May 2001 - The U.S. State Department met with Iran, German and Italian officials to discuss Afghanistan. It was decided that the ruling Taliban would be toppled and a "broad-based government" would control the country so a gas pipeline could be built there.

http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/7969.pdf .http://www.gasandoil.com/goc/features/fex20867.htm

Even as plans were being made to remove the Taliban rulers from power, Colin Powell announced a $43 million "gift" to Afghanistan.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-091701scheer.column http://www.cato.org/dailys/08-02-02.html

Meanwhile, the U.S. Embassy in the UAE received a call that Bin Laden supporters were in the U.S. planning attacks with explosives. It was rumored that Bin Laden was interested in hijacking U.S. aircraft.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/images/04/10/whitehouse.pdf

June 2001 The decades-old procedure for a quick response by the nation’s air defense was changed. NORAD’s military commanders could no longer issue the command to launch fighter jets because approval had to be sought from the civilian Defense Secretary and PNAC-member, Donald Rumsfeld.

http://www.9-11commission.gov/hearings/hearing7/for_the_record_ashley.pdf

July 2001 The private plot formulated in May for toppling the Taliban was divulged during the G8 summit in Genoa, Italy. Immediately after the conference, American, Russian, German and Pakistani officials secretly met in Berlin to finalize the strategy for military strikes against the Taliban, scheduled to begin before mid-October 2001.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1550366.stm http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,556254,00.html http://www.gasandoil.com/goc/features/fex20867.htm

September 2001 - The "catastrophic and catalyzing" modern-day Pearl Harbor envisioned years earlier by the PNAC came to pass when the WTC and Pentagon were attacked as Rumsfeld sat passive and unresponsive. The finger of blame was pointed at Osama bin Laden, a former CIA operative with ties to Afghanistan. Suddenly, the U.S. "gift" of $43 million to the Taliban in May was cast in a new light. Coincidentally, Pakistan had participated in the plan to attack Afghanistan and the chief of Pakistan's Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) agency was later linked to a 911 hijacker after wiring him $100,00 just days before the WTC fell. Pakistan's ISI also had a long-standing working relationship with the CIA.

http://cryptome.org/rad.htm http://www.observer.com/pages/story.asp?ID=8830 http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO109C.html http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?msid=1454238160 http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1266317,00.html

The PNAC had scored a home run with the bases loaded with the 911 event: shock, horror and fear gripped the nation, the war on "terrorism" had been established in no uncertain terms, attacking Afghanistan with public approval was a foregone conclusion and the stage was set for building a public case against Saddam. Not one to let a good attack go to waste, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld sprung into action.

He told his aides to come up with plans for striking Iraq, even though Saddam wasn't linked to the attacks.

PNAC-James Woolsey, former CIA director, was dispatched to London to look for and 'firm up' evidence of Iraqi involvement in the 911 attacks.

PNAC-member and Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz was authorized to create the Office of Special plans.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/09/04/september11/main520830.shtml

"It is important to shape circumstances..........."- PNAC Statement of Principles

The Office of Special Plans (OSP) was a secret group of analysts and policy advisors with no status in the intelligence community. Nevertheless they reported directly to the White House and National Security office with cherry-picked intelligence from questionable sources to support the case for invading Iraq. The OSP circumvented formal, well-established oversight procedures, ignored intelligence that didn't further their agenda, expanded the intelligence on weapons beyond what was justified and over-emphasized the national security risk. They became more influential than the C.I.A. or the Defense Intelligence Agency who didn't even know the ultra-secret OSP existed for at least a year.

Because they were based in the Pentagon, it was assumed that the OSP was an intelligence-gathering agency that was second-guessing the C.I.A. but in actuality it was the White House Military Marketing Machine charged with the task of writing the PNAC's "Get Saddam" sales pitch for the public. Shading and bending reality to suit their own purpose, it wasn't important for the OSP's stories about Saddam to be factual, only that the average American believed them to be - in true Hollywood fashion.

http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?030512fa_fact

While the nation was stripped to the emotional bone and painfully vulnerable, the White House capitalized on the opportunity to reshape public perceptions and responses to conform with the PNAC's new American agenda. Rather than buoy the "can do" American spirit with optimism and hope for the future as Presidents before him had done in times of crisis, Bush spoke with an alarmist and pessimistic tone that served to perpetuate the high anxiety, excitability and fear in the populace.To hear him speak, the world was a dark, evil and dangerous place....terrorism was here to stay....it would be a long struggle....America was helpless without the military might of the Government to keep the nation safe. The intent was to create a psychologically broken, weary and docile populace that would be easier to lead into war.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/130534_focusecond13.html

Fear became the Administration's strategic tactic for reprogramming the public into accepting the PNAC's militaristic designs. Still shell-shocked and exhausted from the enormity of the WTC and Pentagon tragedies, the public's panic shifted into frenzied over-drive when anthrax-laced envelopes arrived in government and media offices, killing five people. A perpetrator was never identified but the investigation eventually centered around the Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, one of the nation's main anthrax research centers.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,126244,00.html

Using classic "operant learning" techniques from the realm of consumer psychology, the public was purposely kept on High Alert and continually "shaped" with ominous sound bites on the nightly news and "Level Orange Terror Alerts" at regularly scheduled but discrete intervals.

http://www.consumerpsychologist.com/#Perception

October 2001 - With flags waving, crowds cheering, and anthems playing, the "War On Terror" and the hunt for Osama began when Afghanistan was attacked right on schedule of July's secret meeting.Immediately afterwards the PNAC and White House collaboration of "GET SADDAM" played relentlessly on televisions and in newspapers across the nation and the World as the "War on Terror" waged on and the litany of lies began.

Pass It On This has been a presentation of The Whispering Campaign - an opportunity to become ACTIVELY involved in educating the American public without drawing attention to yourself. This is a game of Political "Gossip" where the story of our Government's deception and betrayal gets passed from one person to another.

Anyone can play. The rules are simple: make ten copies of this timeline and leave it in a public place where someone else will find it and read it. Ideal locations for maximum exposure include book stores, copy shops, libraries and train stations. Buses, taxis, laundromats, and check-out lines at the grocery store. Hair salons, rest rooms, gas stations and convenience stores.

Anywhere you happen to be will work just fine. The American public deserves to know the TRUTH!