Another Roving report suggests an indictment is coming soon.
Check this out.
t r u t h o u t - Jason Leopold: Fitzgerald Maintains Focus on Rove: "Tuesday 10 January 2006
Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is said to have spent the past month preparing evidence he will present to a grand jury alleging that White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove knowingly made false statements to FBI and Justice Department investigators and lied under oath while he was being questioned about his role in the leak of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity more than two years ago, according to sources knowledgeable about the probe."
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Respect agenda or state terrorism?
On the Today programme this morning we heard Blair talk of "eye watering proposals, not eye catching proposals."
It's Blair's way to detain , it's his way to embrace,
Like a knee to your balls or a fist in your face.
This is the next stage of imposing a Police State.
If you have cash in your pocket now you must prove it is yours.
If you do something the Police do not like you face an instant fine, summary justice. You can appeal later, if you dare.
Now you are suddenly guilty till proven innocent.
This is Blair's 21 century England.
Meanwhile a National Parenting Academy knows more about parenting than we do as parents. Just as we must assume British people know better how to rule Iraq than the Iraqis.
I come back to the fundamental issue that parenting is about giving an example.
The Blair Government is a terrible parent to the country, just as the Blair's are poor parents to their own children. Blair's son is a drunken brawler, his daughter probably suicidal.
Blair has made peace with the IRA. Why not, he behaves just like they did.
The IRA imposed their own bully boy gun-law on republican parts of Northern Ireland where the RUC had lost control.
The UN had lost control of Iraq according to Blair, so he was entitled to impose his torturing murdering army on the people of Iraq, doing the will of the UN in spite of its democratic opposition to the Anglo American invasion.
Blair and Bush can override democracy in the UN and start wars of aggression with impunity based on deliberate lies.
Student sare sent down for plagiarising essays, while Blair gets away with plagiarising out of date thesese for false propaganda.
We simply will not take it any more.
You absolutley invalidate your right to impose law in this country if you refuse to abide by the International system of law that you signed up to, Mr Blair. You are a war criminal. You are a thug.
Now you think you can impose state thuggery on our own people.
Nanny Blair strikes again on parenting | the Daily Mail: "Tony Blair is today giving the State alarming powers to seize control of how parents raise their children.
A National Parenting Academy will teach health professionals and social workers how to educate new mothers and fathers about their 'responsibilities'.
They will begin handing out the advice at ante-natal classes or in home visits immediately after a child is born.
Look here too...
Skip gossip links to more articles
* In focus: How his action plan would work
* News: Cameron rejects knee-jerk proposals
* Daily Mail comment: Cameron sets a new standard for schools
* Vote: Should the Government intervene in parenting?
* Story: 'Public backs sex advice for young'
* News: Today's top headlines
Our blogs
* Editor's blog
* Showbiz
* Sport
* Travel
* Money
Don't miss today
* Photos: New Year Honours
* Comment: Cameron sets a new standard for schools
* Picture: Diana's 'Elvis Dress' returns home
Have your say
Should Ruth Kelly resign after letting a registered sex offender go back to teaching?
* Yes
* No
More polls »
Parents whose children step out of line later in life will face draconian sanctions, including parenting orders, even if they have not broken the law.
Last night, critics attacked the plan as the most alarming example to date of the Government's 'nanny statism'.
They said the Prime Minister wanted to control every aspect of a child's upbringing from Whitehall.
'Orwellian'
Will McMahon, senior associate of the Crime and Society Foundation, said: 'The Government clearly wants to take over the parenting role. This expansion in powers has an Orwellian feel to it.'"
It's Blair's way to detain , it's his way to embrace,
Like a knee to your balls or a fist in your face.
This is the next stage of imposing a Police State.
If you have cash in your pocket now you must prove it is yours.
If you do something the Police do not like you face an instant fine, summary justice. You can appeal later, if you dare.
Now you are suddenly guilty till proven innocent.
This is Blair's 21 century England.
Meanwhile a National Parenting Academy knows more about parenting than we do as parents. Just as we must assume British people know better how to rule Iraq than the Iraqis.
I come back to the fundamental issue that parenting is about giving an example.
The Blair Government is a terrible parent to the country, just as the Blair's are poor parents to their own children. Blair's son is a drunken brawler, his daughter probably suicidal.
Blair has made peace with the IRA. Why not, he behaves just like they did.
The IRA imposed their own bully boy gun-law on republican parts of Northern Ireland where the RUC had lost control.
The UN had lost control of Iraq according to Blair, so he was entitled to impose his torturing murdering army on the people of Iraq, doing the will of the UN in spite of its democratic opposition to the Anglo American invasion.
Blair and Bush can override democracy in the UN and start wars of aggression with impunity based on deliberate lies.
Student sare sent down for plagiarising essays, while Blair gets away with plagiarising out of date thesese for false propaganda.
We simply will not take it any more.
You absolutley invalidate your right to impose law in this country if you refuse to abide by the International system of law that you signed up to, Mr Blair. You are a war criminal. You are a thug.
Now you think you can impose state thuggery on our own people.
Nanny Blair strikes again on parenting | the Daily Mail: "Tony Blair is today giving the State alarming powers to seize control of how parents raise their children.
A National Parenting Academy will teach health professionals and social workers how to educate new mothers and fathers about their 'responsibilities'.
They will begin handing out the advice at ante-natal classes or in home visits immediately after a child is born.
Look here too...
Skip gossip links to more articles
* In focus: How his action plan would work
* News: Cameron rejects knee-jerk proposals
* Daily Mail comment: Cameron sets a new standard for schools
* Vote: Should the Government intervene in parenting?
* Story: 'Public backs sex advice for young'
* News: Today's top headlines
Our blogs
* Editor's blog
* Showbiz
* Sport
* Travel
* Money
Don't miss today
* Photos: New Year Honours
* Comment: Cameron sets a new standard for schools
* Picture: Diana's 'Elvis Dress' returns home
Have your say
Should Ruth Kelly resign after letting a registered sex offender go back to teaching?
* Yes
* No
More polls »
Parents whose children step out of line later in life will face draconian sanctions, including parenting orders, even if they have not broken the law.
Last night, critics attacked the plan as the most alarming example to date of the Government's 'nanny statism'.
They said the Prime Minister wanted to control every aspect of a child's upbringing from Whitehall.
'Orwellian'
Will McMahon, senior associate of the Crime and Society Foundation, said: 'The Government clearly wants to take over the parenting role. This expansion in powers has an Orwellian feel to it.'"
Monday, January 09, 2006
Feingold won't rule out Bush impeachment
Hey there, why not string them up together,
or better yet, erect a ducking stool across the pond, maybe even start a sweepstake on who gets impeached first.
Feingold won't rule out Bush impeachment: "Feingold won't rule out Bush impeachment
By Shay Totten & Kathryn Casa | Vermont Guardian
posted January 8, 2006
BURLINGTON — If Pres. George Bush broke laws when ordering wiretaps and secret spying on U.S. citizens, a key Senate Democrat said he would not rule out calling for his impeachment."
or better yet, erect a ducking stool across the pond, maybe even start a sweepstake on who gets impeached first.
Feingold won't rule out Bush impeachment: "Feingold won't rule out Bush impeachment
By Shay Totten & Kathryn Casa | Vermont Guardian
posted January 8, 2006
BURLINGTON — If Pres. George Bush broke laws when ordering wiretaps and secret spying on U.S. citizens, a key Senate Democrat said he would not rule out calling for his impeachment."
Blair 'should be impeached over Iraq war' - Yahoo! News UK
Hey the big "I" word over here.
But is it being said out side of the land of the Yahoos?
It is great to see a top General standing up to be counted asking for Blair to be held account.
Maybe we need a military coup before we have true democracy.
Wait a minute, is that they way they are justifying the iraq invasion now?
Well, the yanks are already embedded here, threatening to shoot ius if we go near their permanent bases.
Blair 'should be impeached over Iraq war' - Yahoo! News UK: "Blair 'should be impeached over Iraq war'
ITN Monday January 9, 11:50 AM
* Email page
* IM Page
* Print page
Blair 'should be impeached over Iraq war'
Click to enlarge photo
Tony Blair should be impeached over the Iraq war, a former top British soldier has said.
General Sir Michael Rose, who was a UN commander in Bosnia, says the Prime Minister has to be held to account.
He claims Mr Blair's actions were somewhere in between getting the politics wrong and actually acting illegally.
Certainly from a soldier's perspective there can't be any more serious decision taken by a prime minister than declaring war,' he said.
'And then to go to war on what turns out to be false grounds is something that no one should be allowed to walk away from.'
The general accepted Parliament had endorsed the war, but he said that was because the Prime Minister had stressed the weapons of mass destruction argument.
Plaid Cymru MP Adam Price has already led calls for Tony Blair to be impeached over the war in Iraq.
Mr Blair's official spokesman said: 'General Rose is entitled to his view. Equally, the Government is entitled to point out that we have had free democratic elections in Iraq for the first time in well over a generation."
But is it being said out side of the land of the Yahoos?
It is great to see a top General standing up to be counted asking for Blair to be held account.
Maybe we need a military coup before we have true democracy.
Wait a minute, is that they way they are justifying the iraq invasion now?
Well, the yanks are already embedded here, threatening to shoot ius if we go near their permanent bases.
Blair 'should be impeached over Iraq war' - Yahoo! News UK: "Blair 'should be impeached over Iraq war'
ITN Monday January 9, 11:50 AM
* Email page
* IM Page
* Print page
Blair 'should be impeached over Iraq war'
Click to enlarge photo
Tony Blair should be impeached over the Iraq war, a former top British soldier has said.
General Sir Michael Rose, who was a UN commander in Bosnia, says the Prime Minister has to be held to account.
He claims Mr Blair's actions were somewhere in between getting the politics wrong and actually acting illegally.
Certainly from a soldier's perspective there can't be any more serious decision taken by a prime minister than declaring war,' he said.
'And then to go to war on what turns out to be false grounds is something that no one should be allowed to walk away from.'
The general accepted Parliament had endorsed the war, but he said that was because the Prime Minister had stressed the weapons of mass destruction argument.
Plaid Cymru MP Adam Price has already led calls for Tony Blair to be impeached over the war in Iraq.
Mr Blair's official spokesman said: 'General Rose is entitled to his view. Equally, the Government is entitled to point out that we have had free democratic elections in Iraq for the first time in well over a generation."
Salon.com News | The atheist
Oh Mr Dawkins, please!
I am delighted Dawkins is having air time to attack religion. But I wish he were a little less naive than this.
The quote below looks like the most innocent believer in some kind of unacknowledged "God" of progresss or scientific advance.
The Bush dark age is not something we can suppose will just go away. These morons have atomic bombs at their disposal.
Salon.com News | The atheist: "Still, so many people resist believing in evolution. Where does the resistance come from?
It comes, I'm sorry to say, from religion. And from bad religion. You won't find any opposition to the idea of evolution among sophisticated, educated theologians. It comes from an exceedingly retarded, primitive version of religion, which unfortunately is at present undergoing an epidemic in the United States. Not in Europe, not in Britain, but in the United States.
My American friends tell me that you are slipping towards a theocratic Dark Age. Which is very disagreeable for the very large number of educated, intelligent and right-thinking people in America. Unfortunately, at present, it's slightly outnumbered by the ignorant, uneducated people who voted Bush in.
But the broad direction of history is toward enlightenment, and so I think that what America is going through at the moment will prove to be a temporary reverse. I think there is great hope for the future. My advice would be, Don't despair, these things pass."
I am delighted Dawkins is having air time to attack religion. But I wish he were a little less naive than this.
The quote below looks like the most innocent believer in some kind of unacknowledged "God" of progresss or scientific advance.
The Bush dark age is not something we can suppose will just go away. These morons have atomic bombs at their disposal.
Salon.com News | The atheist: "Still, so many people resist believing in evolution. Where does the resistance come from?
It comes, I'm sorry to say, from religion. And from bad religion. You won't find any opposition to the idea of evolution among sophisticated, educated theologians. It comes from an exceedingly retarded, primitive version of religion, which unfortunately is at present undergoing an epidemic in the United States. Not in Europe, not in Britain, but in the United States.
My American friends tell me that you are slipping towards a theocratic Dark Age. Which is very disagreeable for the very large number of educated, intelligent and right-thinking people in America. Unfortunately, at present, it's slightly outnumbered by the ignorant, uneducated people who voted Bush in.
But the broad direction of history is toward enlightenment, and so I think that what America is going through at the moment will prove to be a temporary reverse. I think there is great hope for the future. My advice would be, Don't despair, these things pass."
GM: New Study Shows Unborn Babies Could Be Harmed
It is pretty clear we are getting GM foods by the back door (Europe) even after closing the front door on this Blairy option through public opinion.
Now science starts to put the boot in.
Just how much damage has been done already to us or the biosphere?
GM: New Study Shows Unborn Babies Could Be Harmed: "GM: New Study Shows Unborn Babies Could Be Harmed
Mortality rate for new-born rats six times higher when mother was fed on a diet of modified soya
by Geoffrey Lean
Women who eat GM foods while pregnant risk endangering their unborn babies, startling new research suggests.
The World Trade Organization is expected next month to support a bid by the Bush administration to force European countries to accept GM foods.
The study - carried out by a leading scientist at the Russian Academy of Sciences - found that more than half of the offspring of rats fed on modified soya died in the first three weeks of life, six times as many as those born to mothers with normal diets. Six times as many were also severely underweight.
The research - which is being prepared for publication - is just one of a clutch of recent studies that are reviving fears that GM food damages human health. Italian research has found that modified soya affected the liver and pancreas of mice. Australia had to abandon a decade-long attempt to develop modified peas when an official study found they caused lung damage.
And last May this newspaper revealed a secret report by the biotech giant Monsanto, which showed that rats fed a diet rich in GM corn had smaller kidneys and higher blood cell counts, suggesting possible damage to their immune systems, than those that ate a similar conventional one."
Now science starts to put the boot in.
Just how much damage has been done already to us or the biosphere?
GM: New Study Shows Unborn Babies Could Be Harmed: "GM: New Study Shows Unborn Babies Could Be Harmed
Mortality rate for new-born rats six times higher when mother was fed on a diet of modified soya
by Geoffrey Lean
Women who eat GM foods while pregnant risk endangering their unborn babies, startling new research suggests.
The World Trade Organization is expected next month to support a bid by the Bush administration to force European countries to accept GM foods.
The study - carried out by a leading scientist at the Russian Academy of Sciences - found that more than half of the offspring of rats fed on modified soya died in the first three weeks of life, six times as many as those born to mothers with normal diets. Six times as many were also severely underweight.
The research - which is being prepared for publication - is just one of a clutch of recent studies that are reviving fears that GM food damages human health. Italian research has found that modified soya affected the liver and pancreas of mice. Australia had to abandon a decade-long attempt to develop modified peas when an official study found they caused lung damage.
And last May this newspaper revealed a secret report by the biotech giant Monsanto, which showed that rats fed a diet rich in GM corn had smaller kidneys and higher blood cell counts, suggesting possible damage to their immune systems, than those that ate a similar conventional one."
Iraq news
A despatch from Iraq for you.
Like 120 other occupied countries there will be permanent US bases in Iraq.
Meanwhile the US are retreating on the ground everywhere and bombing more and more places from the air.
War is utterly disgusting. This war is an Anglo-saxon obscenity.
Like 120 other occupied countries there will be permanent US bases in Iraq.
Meanwhile the US are retreating on the ground everywhere and bombing more and more places from the air.
War is utterly disgusting. This war is an Anglo-saxon obscenity.
"US Propaganda vs. Iraqi Reality
It appears as though the Cheney administration will soon “redeploy”
thousands of US troops out of Iraq. While several permanent US military
bases are under construction there as I type this, the Capital Hill
Cabal, desperate to paint the Iraq disaster in a glorious hue, are
working their pundits and spokespeople overtime to convince the
ill-informed they have not failed dismally in every aspect of their
illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq.
In his weekly radio address on Saturday, Mr. Bush did not mention Iraq
once. Instead, he spoke of the bright and shining US economy and the
need to maintain current tax cuts.
“Unfortunately, just as we’re seeing new evidence of how our tax cuts
have created jobs and opportunity, some people in Washington are saying
we need to raise your taxes,” he said, “They want the tax cuts to expire
in a few years, or even repeal the tax cuts now.”
What better time to maintain tax cuts in the US, particularly when a new
study by Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz and Harvard budget expert Linda
Bilmes estimates the cost of the Iraq war to be between $1-2 trillion,
and the national debt already over $8 trillion?
Meanwhile, the reality in Iraq is the opposite of that generated by the
Cheney administration as the carnage and chaos in Iraq worsens each day.
A quick look at foreign media outlets yields the following developments
that were either not reported or under-reported in the US:
January 4:
-Unidentified gunmen assassinated Rahim Ali al-Sudani, director-general
of the Iraqi Oil Ministry, and his son early on the morning of 4 January
in Al-Amiriyah area in northern Baghdad.
-Clashes broke out between civilians protesting against unemployment and
Iraqi police in Al-Nasiriyah city in Dhi Qar Governorate, wounding
scores of civilians and police officers. The TV added within the same
news summary that two civilians were “martyred” and two others were
injured when an explosive charge missed a US patrol unit in Kirkuk.
-Al Sharqiyah television reported that a US plane had crashed in Mosul.
Quoting its correspondent in the city, the TV said that US forces had
rushed to the area and sealed off the scene where the crash occurred.
January 5:
-At least 130 Iraqis and 11 US soldiers die (highest number of US
soldiers killed in one day since August) in one of the bloodiest days in
Iraq since the invasion.
January 6:
-A medical source at Al-Ramadi State Hospital [speaking on condition of
anonymity] reports that 14 civilians, including three children, “were
martyred at the hands of US snipers today.” The source added that “the
snipers stationed on roof tops of high buildings in Al-Ramadi, killed
those victims in the Al-Ma’arid district in the city center this
morning”. Al Sharqiyah correspondent adds that “Al-Ramadi has witnessed
massive protests against the presence of US snipers who have been
deployed throughout the city, spreading fear among residents.”
Al-Sharqiyah says that the US armed forces have yet to comment on this
incident.
-For security purposes, Iraq has suspended its daily pumping of 200,000
barrels of crude oil to major oil refineries in Bayji, north of Baghdad.
-A US convoy came under attack in Samarra when an explosive device
planted near a petrol station was detonated. Four children were injured
in the attack and were rushed to Samarra State Hospital.
-A doctor at Nasiriyah Hospital reported that two Iraqis were killed and
23 were injured today as clashes between demonstrators, who were
protesting against unemployment, and Iraqi police continued in Nasiriyah
in southern Iraq.
January 7:
-Fierce clashes broke out between resistance fighters and US forces in
Fallujah when armed men battled with the US troops in al-Tharthar Street
in the eastern part of the city as the latter tightened security
measures, blocking all main entrances to the city. Local residents also
reported fierce clashes between US soldiers and resistance fighters on
Arba’ien Street in central Fallujah.
-Earlier in the day, a roadside bomb went off at about 7:30 a.m. (0430
GMT) in eastern Fallujah as a US military patrol was passing by,
destroying a US Humvee, killing or wounding the soldiers aboard, the
source said. An Iraqi doctor from Fallujah General Hospital was killed
by a US sniper, according to residents.
A recent email from a good friend in Baghdad sums up life for Iraqis in
their new “democracy”:
“We are living in a very critical situation now, for the ING [Iraqi
National Guard] are covering every corner around us wherever you go
inside Baghdad. The killings are ongoing everywhere inside and outside
the city.”
“Everybody in my family is safe for now only because no one is
interested in putting themselves in danger. Demonstrations are going on
all over Iraq for different reasons; price of fuel, lack of security,
jobless people are having demonstrations as well as those who do not
accept the presence of the Badr Brigades or the American forces.
[Meanwhile others are demonstrating in support of the Badr Brigades but
against the Americans.]”
“This is some kind of situation around us. The last four nights without
electricity…only half an hour every six hours. Fuel prices prevent
people from running their generators at home. Fuel on the black market
is fifty times the price what it used to be, and nobody can stand
waiting at the pumps for days anymore. The minister of oil resigned for
this, and Ahmed Chalabi is now the minister…everybody is frustrated yet
life is still going on as if the people are hypnotized.”
“Nothing has changed except that we see US Humvees and pick-up trucks
full of Iraqi National Guard everywhere [in Baghdad,]” he concluded."
Sharon the man of pieces.
Hail and farewell "man of peace."
I want to ask if this is what unites Israelis?
I want to ask if this is what unites Israelis?
- 1953: he was the leader of the Israeli army’s Unit 101 that herded 69 civilians into their houses during a raid against the Palestinian village Qibya – before dynamiting all the houses. There were no survivors.
- 1971: he promoted a policy of bulldozing and demolishing Palestinian houses in the Gaza under the pretext of security. Destroying the houses of an occupied population is a war crime under Geneva Conventions.
- 1982: he was the architect of Israel’s invasion of Lebanon which became known in Israel as ‘Sharon’s war’. His invasion resulted in the deaths of more than 15 000 Lebanese civilians and he earned the epithet ‘the Butcher of Beirut’.
- 1982: during the invasion, Sharon cooperated with and provided protection to the armed militias of the extreme right wing Phalange fascist group when they massacred over 3 000 unarmed refugees (largely women and children) in the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps. An Israeli Commission of Enquiry found him “personally responsible” for the massacres and ruled that he was not fit to be the Israeli minister of defence.
- 1990-92: he served as Israel’s housing minister. This period saw the rapid and deliberate expansion of Israeli colonies (or settlements) on Palestinian land. The building of settlements / colonies on occupied land is illegal under the Geneva Conventions.
- 2000: Sharon triggered the second intifada by deliberately and provocatively swaggering into the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem, supported by thousands of Israeli security personnel.
- 2003: he was responsible for initiating the building of the apartheid wall, a grotesque 8-metre high wall which, on completion, will be 750 km long, imprisoning thousands of Palestinians and stealing large tracts of Palestinian land. The International Court of Justice ruled that the wall was illegal; Sharon refused to accept the ruling.
- Through his prime ministership, he championed extra-judicial assassination of Palestinian leaders and the wanton bombings of Palestinian residential areas – both of which are illegal under international law.
- When he was taken ill, Sharon led the world’s fourth largest army and sat atop more than 200 nuclear warheads, continuing to refuse the International Atomic Energy Agency any access to nuclear facilities.
Sunday, January 08, 2006
BBC NEWS | UK | Education | School entry pledge is 'rubbish'
Does kelly's absolute assurance on school selection rank alonside Blair's absolute assurances on Iraq.
whatever the lawyerly fine print says the reality is that schools will be better able to cheat on student selection after the Blair government has had its way.
The question is will these Tory reforms get through without the backing of the tory party.
We wait with baited breath.
What we do not have is a debate on how more power to individual schools will benefit either parents or children.
The case has simply not been made.
BBC NEWS | UK | Education | School entry pledge is 'rubbish': "
Last Updated: Friday, 6 January 2006, 11:27 GMT
E-mail this to a friend Printable version
School entry pledge is 'rubbish'
By Sean Coughlan
BBC News education reporter, in Gateshead
John Bangs
John Bangs: critical of government intentions
A teachers' leader says it is 'absolute rubbish' for the government to say that school admission rules will not be changed by its Education Bill."
whatever the lawyerly fine print says the reality is that schools will be better able to cheat on student selection after the Blair government has had its way.
The question is will these Tory reforms get through without the backing of the tory party.
We wait with baited breath.
What we do not have is a debate on how more power to individual schools will benefit either parents or children.
The case has simply not been made.
BBC NEWS | UK | Education | School entry pledge is 'rubbish': "
Last Updated: Friday, 6 January 2006, 11:27 GMT
E-mail this to a friend Printable version
School entry pledge is 'rubbish'
By Sean Coughlan
BBC News education reporter, in Gateshead
John Bangs
John Bangs: critical of government intentions
A teachers' leader says it is 'absolute rubbish' for the government to say that school admission rules will not be changed by its Education Bill."
Saturday, January 07, 2006
Newspapers Urge President to Quit
Good grief. Impeaching Bush. No wonder the democrats are not keen. We would be left with Richard the heartless.
Newspapers Urge President to Quit: "Still, it amazes me when people make fun of the very notion that a president under a dark cloud might be asked to leave office, or given a push, in light of the very recent experience involving one William Jefferson Clinton. This seems especially poignant, in light of President Clinton leaving office with an approval rating over 60%, while the current occupant of the White House sits at around 40%. Then there's the perennial debate over the relative demerits of fooling around with an intern vs. fooling an entire country into going to war based on false evidence (and anything else you'd care to add on top of that)."
Newspapers Urge President to Quit: "Still, it amazes me when people make fun of the very notion that a president under a dark cloud might be asked to leave office, or given a push, in light of the very recent experience involving one William Jefferson Clinton. This seems especially poignant, in light of President Clinton leaving office with an approval rating over 60%, while the current occupant of the White House sits at around 40%. Then there's the perennial debate over the relative demerits of fooling around with an intern vs. fooling an entire country into going to war based on false evidence (and anything else you'd care to add on top of that)."
Friday, January 06, 2006
Fisk on Sharon
Reading Fisk on Sharon is shocking, not for the fact that he was legally held responsible for terrible masacres of Palestinians. We should all know that. What is shocking was the ruthless brutality with which the Israeli military and the US responded to the attempts to hold him accountable.
Did you know the Americans passed a law that allows them to attack the hague if it tries to arraign an American war criminal?
The "man of peace" is fading. His peace makers go on killing as willfully as any German fascist.
"The subsequent Israeli Kahan commission of enquiry into this atrocity
Did you know the Americans passed a law that allows them to attack the hague if it tries to arraign an American war criminal?
The "man of peace" is fading. His peace makers go on killing as willfully as any German fascist.
"The subsequent Israeli Kahan commission of enquiry into this atrocity
provided absolute proof that Israeli soldiers saw the massacre taking place.
The evidence of a Lieutenant Avi Grabovsky was crucial. He was an Israeli
deputy tank commander and reported what he saw to his higher command. "Don't
interfere," the senior officer said. Ever afterwards, Israeli embassies
around the world would claim that the commission held Sharon only indirectly
responsible for the massacre. It was untrue. The last page of the official
Israeli report held Sharon "personally responsible". It was years later that
the Israeli-trained Phalangist commander, Elie Hobeika, now working for the
Syrians, agreed to turn state's evidence against Sharon - now the Israeli
Prime Minister - at a Brussels court. The day after the Israeli attorney
general declared Sharon's defence a "state" matter, Hobeika was killed by a
massive car bomb in east Beirut. Israel denied responsibility. US Defence
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld traveled to Brussels and quietly threatened to
withdraw Nato headquarters from Belgium if the country maintained its laws
to punish war criminals from foreign nations. Within months, George W Bush
had declared Sharon "a man of peace". It was all over."
I picked up some quotes collected by Brian Robinson. they make scary reading.
On British TV soon we have Richard Dawkins picking up the cudgels to fight with the men of religion. He would not get a platform in America. He should get one here.
It is a pity he is such a very fundamentalist sort of atheist.
I guess that is too much to ask of this mad mad world.
Quotes of the Week
ARE AMERICANS AT LAST WAKING UP THE DANGER THEY ARE IN?
“I can’t help but recall the words of my ethics professor at Harvard Divinity School, Dr. James Luther Adams, who told us that when we were his age, and he was then close to eighty, we would all be fighting the ‘Christian fascists.’ He gave us that warning twenty-five years ago, when Pat Robertson and other prominent evangelists began speaking of a new political religion that would direct its efforts at taking control of all major American institutions, including mainstream denominations and the government, so as to transform the United States into a global Christian empire. At the time, it was hard to take such fantastic rhetoric seriously. But fascism, Adams warned, would not return wearing swastikas and brown shirts. Its ideological inheritors would cloak themselves in the language of the Bible; they would come carrying crosses and chanting the Pledge of Allegiance.”
(Chris Hedges, Harpers magazine)
“What is unique today is that the radical religious right has succeeded in taking over one of America’s great political parties - the country is not yet a theocracy but the Republican Party is and they are driving American politics, using God as a battering ram on almost every issue... What’s also unique is the intensity, organization, and anger they have brought to the public square. Listen to their preachers, evangelists, and home grown ayatollahs: Their viral intolerance their loathing of other people’s beliefs, of America’s secular and liberal values, of an independent press, of the courts, of reason, science and the search for objective knowledge has become an unprecedented sectarian crusade for state power.”
(Bill Moyers, Union Theological Seminary)
“I am persuaded we face in our country a movement that is trying its best to hijack this nation in the name of a set of ideals and values it claims to be Christian but which, on examination, are the very antithesis of the Gospel that our Lord preached and by which we, as Jesus disciples, are challenged to live our lives in the world. If this movement is successful if it is not stopped in its tracks it will transform the United States into a political and cultural nightmare that not only turns its back on two hundred years of American history, it will also be one that leaves this nation unrecognisable from all that we have been and all that we might aspire to be as a democratic society.”
(Dr Hubert Locke, Afro-American theologian)
On British TV soon we have Richard Dawkins picking up the cudgels to fight with the men of religion. He would not get a platform in America. He should get one here.
It is a pity he is such a very fundamentalist sort of atheist.
I guess that is too much to ask of this mad mad world.
Quotes of the Week
ARE AMERICANS AT LAST WAKING UP THE DANGER THEY ARE IN?
“I can’t help but recall the words of my ethics professor at Harvard Divinity School, Dr. James Luther Adams, who told us that when we were his age, and he was then close to eighty, we would all be fighting the ‘Christian fascists.’ He gave us that warning twenty-five years ago, when Pat Robertson and other prominent evangelists began speaking of a new political religion that would direct its efforts at taking control of all major American institutions, including mainstream denominations and the government, so as to transform the United States into a global Christian empire. At the time, it was hard to take such fantastic rhetoric seriously. But fascism, Adams warned, would not return wearing swastikas and brown shirts. Its ideological inheritors would cloak themselves in the language of the Bible; they would come carrying crosses and chanting the Pledge of Allegiance.”
(Chris Hedges, Harpers magazine)
“What is unique today is that the radical religious right has succeeded in taking over one of America’s great political parties - the country is not yet a theocracy but the Republican Party is and they are driving American politics, using God as a battering ram on almost every issue... What’s also unique is the intensity, organization, and anger they have brought to the public square. Listen to their preachers, evangelists, and home grown ayatollahs: Their viral intolerance their loathing of other people’s beliefs, of America’s secular and liberal values, of an independent press, of the courts, of reason, science and the search for objective knowledge has become an unprecedented sectarian crusade for state power.”
(Bill Moyers, Union Theological Seminary)
“I am persuaded we face in our country a movement that is trying its best to hijack this nation in the name of a set of ideals and values it claims to be Christian but which, on examination, are the very antithesis of the Gospel that our Lord preached and by which we, as Jesus disciples, are challenged to live our lives in the world. If this movement is successful if it is not stopped in its tracks it will transform the United States into a political and cultural nightmare that not only turns its back on two hundred years of American history, it will also be one that leaves this nation unrecognisable from all that we have been and all that we might aspire to be as a democratic society.”
(Dr Hubert Locke, Afro-American theologian)
t r u t h o u t - FOCUS | Lou Dubose: The Pimping of the Presidency
Any doubts I may have had that Bush and the Republicans are in deep trouble have gone with this story.
Hey, though, he will probably declare it is all a legitimate part on the war on the rest of us/ sorry / terror.
t r u t h o u t - FOCUS | Lou Dubose: The Pimping of the Presidency: "Four months after he took the oath of office in 2001, President George W. Bush was the attraction, and the White House the venue, for a fundraiser organized by the alleged perpetrator of the largest billing fraud in the history of corporate lobbying. In May 2001, Jack Abramoff's lobbying client book was worth $4.1 million in annual billing for the Greenberg Traurig law firm. He was a friend of Bush advisor Karl Rove. He was a Bush 'Pioneer,' delivering at least $100,000 in bundled contributions to the 2000 campaign. He had just concluded his work on the Bush Transition Team as an advisor to the Department of the Interior. He had sent his personal assistant Susan Ralston to the White House to work as Rove's personal assistant. He was a close friend, advisor, and high-dollar fundraiser for the most powerful man in Congress, Tom DeLay. Abramoff was so closely tied to the Bush Administration that he could, and did, charge two of his clients $25,000 for a White House lunch date and a meeting with the President. From the same two clients he took to the White House in May 2001, Abramoff also obtained $2.5 million in contributions for a non-profit foundation he and his wife operated."
Hey, though, he will probably declare it is all a legitimate part on the war on the rest of us/ sorry / terror.
t r u t h o u t - FOCUS | Lou Dubose: The Pimping of the Presidency: "Four months after he took the oath of office in 2001, President George W. Bush was the attraction, and the White House the venue, for a fundraiser organized by the alleged perpetrator of the largest billing fraud in the history of corporate lobbying. In May 2001, Jack Abramoff's lobbying client book was worth $4.1 million in annual billing for the Greenberg Traurig law firm. He was a friend of Bush advisor Karl Rove. He was a Bush 'Pioneer,' delivering at least $100,000 in bundled contributions to the 2000 campaign. He had just concluded his work on the Bush Transition Team as an advisor to the Department of the Interior. He had sent his personal assistant Susan Ralston to the White House to work as Rove's personal assistant. He was a close friend, advisor, and high-dollar fundraiser for the most powerful man in Congress, Tom DeLay. Abramoff was so closely tied to the Bush Administration that he could, and did, charge two of his clients $25,000 for a White House lunch date and a meeting with the President. From the same two clients he took to the White House in May 2001, Abramoff also obtained $2.5 million in contributions for a non-profit foundation he and his wife operated."
3 GOP Senators Blast Bush Bid to Bypass Torture Ban
Is McCain bidding to be the next President already or do Republicans actually oppose torture?
3 GOP Senators Blast Bush Bid to Bypass Torture Ban: "3 GOP Senators Blast Bush Bid to Bypass Torture Ban
Reject assertion he has right to waive rules to protect US security
by Charlie Savage
WASHINGTON -- Three key Republican senators yesterday condemned President Bush's assertion that his powers as commander in chief give him the authority to bypass a new law restricting the use of torture when interrogating detainees.
John W. Warner Jr., a Virginia Republican who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican, issued a joint statement rejecting Bush's assertion that he can waive the restrictions on the use of cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment against detainees to protect national security."
3 GOP Senators Blast Bush Bid to Bypass Torture Ban: "3 GOP Senators Blast Bush Bid to Bypass Torture Ban
Reject assertion he has right to waive rules to protect US security
by Charlie Savage
WASHINGTON -- Three key Republican senators yesterday condemned President Bush's assertion that his powers as commander in chief give him the authority to bypass a new law restricting the use of torture when interrogating detainees.
John W. Warner Jr., a Virginia Republican who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican, issued a joint statement rejecting Bush's assertion that he can waive the restrictions on the use of cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment against detainees to protect national security."
Anger as Britain Admits it was Wrong to Blame Iran for Deaths in Iraq
This is a very interesting development.
When America and Israeli are looking set to attack Iran, why is the Uk suddenly backing off?
Soldiers families are angry about the politics being played with the deaths of their children.
Could our Albion just be respecting the trurh?
I doubt it.
Anger as Britain Admits it was Wrong to Blame Iran for Deaths in Iraq: "MPs and soldiers' families have demanded an explanation from the Government after a U-turn over claims that Iran was complicit in the killing of British soldiers in southern Iraq.
Britain has dropped the charge of Iranian involvement after senior officials had repeatedly accused the Tehran regime of supplying sophisticated explosive devices to insurgents. Government officials now acknowledge that there is no evidence, or even reliable intelligence, connecting the Iranian government to the infra-red triggered bombs which have killed 10 British soldiers in the past eight months.
The twist comes three months after British officials first made strong assertions, widely reported in the media, of an Iranian hand in killing British soldiers. The highly publicised allegations emerged as America was locked in tense confrontation with Iran over its nuclear policy. It led to a major row and the US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, warned Tehran of the consequences of continuing interference in Iraq."
When America and Israeli are looking set to attack Iran, why is the Uk suddenly backing off?
Soldiers families are angry about the politics being played with the deaths of their children.
Could our Albion just be respecting the trurh?
I doubt it.
Anger as Britain Admits it was Wrong to Blame Iran for Deaths in Iraq: "MPs and soldiers' families have demanded an explanation from the Government after a U-turn over claims that Iran was complicit in the killing of British soldiers in southern Iraq.
Britain has dropped the charge of Iranian involvement after senior officials had repeatedly accused the Tehran regime of supplying sophisticated explosive devices to insurgents. Government officials now acknowledge that there is no evidence, or even reliable intelligence, connecting the Iranian government to the infra-red triggered bombs which have killed 10 British soldiers in the past eight months.
The twist comes three months after British officials first made strong assertions, widely reported in the media, of an Iranian hand in killing British soldiers. The highly publicised allegations emerged as America was locked in tense confrontation with Iran over its nuclear policy. It led to a major row and the US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, warned Tehran of the consequences of continuing interference in Iraq."
News from Italy
"Italian kids hunted out stockings on Thursday ahead of the Epiphany holiday which brings a final round of gifts for children and the knowledge that seasonal festivities are almost over .
According to tradition, a white-haired witch known as the 'Befana' arrives on her broomstick during the night of January 5 and fills the stockings of good children with toys and sweets .
The naughty ones, on the other hand, find a lump of coal ."
I thought this was Condi rice on a visit.
I guess it is just the same old epiphany. It would indeed be a miracle if Rice brought anything but a cold and deadly smile.
The Italians have been trying to arrrest suspicious if not very wise men from the middle east who have been trying to steal their citizens.
Maybe under their Berlusconi leader, they will just hand the CIA men the odd lump of coal.
According to tradition, a white-haired witch known as the 'Befana' arrives on her broomstick during the night of January 5 and fills the stockings of good children with toys and sweets .
The naughty ones, on the other hand, find a lump of coal ."
I thought this was Condi rice on a visit.
I guess it is just the same old epiphany. It would indeed be a miracle if Rice brought anything but a cold and deadly smile.
The Italians have been trying to arrrest suspicious if not very wise men from the middle east who have been trying to steal their citizens.
Maybe under their Berlusconi leader, they will just hand the CIA men the odd lump of coal.
Thursday, January 05, 2006
t r u t h o u t - John Pilger | The un Quiet Death of Freedom?
The BBC that fought against the war in iraq has been crushed. Now they do not even quote our greatest living dramatist when he tells the truth about the destruction of our free world.
t r u t h o u t - John Pilger | The Quiet Death of Freedom?: "To its credit, the Guardian in London published every word of Pinter's warning. To its shame, though unsurprising, the state television broadcaster ignored it. All that Newsnight flatulence about the arts, all that recycled preening for the cameras at Booker prize-giving events, yet the BBC could not make room for Britain's greatest living dramatist, so honoured, to tell the truth.
For the BBC, it simply never happened, just as the killing of half a million children by America's medieval siege of Iraq during the 1990s never happened, just as the Dhafir and Padilla trials and the Senate vote, banning freedom, never happened. The political prisoners of Belmarsh barely exist; and a big, brave posse of Metropolitan police never swept away Maya Evans as she publicly grieved for British soldiers killed in the cause of nothing except rotten power."
t r u t h o u t - John Pilger | The Quiet Death of Freedom?: "To its credit, the Guardian in London published every word of Pinter's warning. To its shame, though unsurprising, the state television broadcaster ignored it. All that Newsnight flatulence about the arts, all that recycled preening for the cameras at Booker prize-giving events, yet the BBC could not make room for Britain's greatest living dramatist, so honoured, to tell the truth.
For the BBC, it simply never happened, just as the killing of half a million children by America's medieval siege of Iraq during the 1990s never happened, just as the Dhafir and Padilla trials and the Senate vote, banning freedom, never happened. The political prisoners of Belmarsh barely exist; and a big, brave posse of Metropolitan police never swept away Maya Evans as she publicly grieved for British soldiers killed in the cause of nothing except rotten power."
t r u t h o u t - John Pilger | The Quiet Death of Freedom?
When I write about the death of freedom I feel like an outsider who is not going to be believed.
When I see Pilger writing this article I feel chilled.
Bush and Blair are completing their programme to destroy a free world.
700 people have been to Blairy england this week.
Our visitors are going up staedily.
But we have to do something more than read and write.
If the mad dads can do something we surely must be able to find a way to confront the new barbarism.
t r u t h o u t - John Pilger | The Quiet Death of Freedom?: "Freedom is dying.
Eighty-year-old John Catt served with the RAF in the Second World War. Last September, he was stopped by police in Brighton for wearing an 'offensive' T-shirt, which suggested that Bush and Blair be tried for war crimes. He was arrested under the Terrorism Act and handcuffed, with his arms held behind his back. The official record of the arrest says the 'purpose' of searching him was 'terrorism' and the 'grounds for intervention' were 'carrying placard and T-shirt with anti-Blair info' [sic].
He is awaiting trial."
When I see Pilger writing this article I feel chilled.
Bush and Blair are completing their programme to destroy a free world.
700 people have been to Blairy england this week.
Our visitors are going up staedily.
But we have to do something more than read and write.
If the mad dads can do something we surely must be able to find a way to confront the new barbarism.
t r u t h o u t - John Pilger | The Quiet Death of Freedom?: "Freedom is dying.
Eighty-year-old John Catt served with the RAF in the Second World War. Last September, he was stopped by police in Brighton for wearing an 'offensive' T-shirt, which suggested that Bush and Blair be tried for war crimes. He was arrested under the Terrorism Act and handcuffed, with his arms held behind his back. The official record of the arrest says the 'purpose' of searching him was 'terrorism' and the 'grounds for intervention' were 'carrying placard and T-shirt with anti-Blair info' [sic].
He is awaiting trial."
Insurgency or low key civil war in Iraq?
The level of bombing has suddenly escalated. Shia and Sunni are becoming more antagonistic. A Shia minister's sister is kidnapped by Sunnis.
At what point should we start to call it civil war?
The Sunnis protest about the elections. But the UN seems to be content.
What is true?
t r u t h o u t - 50 Killed in String of Bombings in Iraq: "And this morning, Baghdad residents awoke to massive traffic jams and roadblocks as Iraqi security forces responded to a more personal attack: The kidnapping of the sister of Interior Minister Bayan Jabr. Mr. Jabr is one of the most polarizing figures in Iraq, a former Shiite militia leader whom Sunni Arabs have accused of orchestrating a widespread program of assassinating Sunnis.
After the kidnapping, Iraqi forces shut down bridges, set up checkpoints and rerouted traffic across much of central Baghdad. But insurgents penetrated the security to launch several car bombs throughout the city. In Khadhamiya, a large Shiite district, a stationary car bomb ripped through an Iraqi police patrol at about 10:30 a.m., killing 5 and wounding 15, the Interior Ministry said."
At what point should we start to call it civil war?
The Sunnis protest about the elections. But the UN seems to be content.
What is true?
t r u t h o u t - 50 Killed in String of Bombings in Iraq: "And this morning, Baghdad residents awoke to massive traffic jams and roadblocks as Iraqi security forces responded to a more personal attack: The kidnapping of the sister of Interior Minister Bayan Jabr. Mr. Jabr is one of the most polarizing figures in Iraq, a former Shiite militia leader whom Sunni Arabs have accused of orchestrating a widespread program of assassinating Sunnis.
After the kidnapping, Iraqi forces shut down bridges, set up checkpoints and rerouted traffic across much of central Baghdad. But insurgents penetrated the security to launch several car bombs throughout the city. In Khadhamiya, a large Shiite district, a stationary car bomb ripped through an Iraqi police patrol at about 10:30 a.m., killing 5 and wounding 15, the Interior Ministry said."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)