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Showing posts from August, 2005
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Right Wing Religious McCarthyites and John Roberts The Radical Right is overjoyed by the nomination of John Roberts because they believe President Bush kept his promise to his right-wing base and given them exactly what they demanded: a Supreme Court nominee “in the mold of ” Scalia and Thomas. Within minutes of learning of the Roberts nomination, Right Wingers were flooding the press with praise for the nominee. Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council gloated that President Bush had “promised to nominate someone along the lines of a Scalia or a Thomas, and that is exactly what he has done” while Pat Robertson bragged that Roberts “was at the top of the list of candidates that Jay Sekulow and the ACLJ [an organization founded by Robertson] put together.” The Right Wing quickly organized a campaign to aggressively promote Roberts’ confirmation that includes petitions, websites, ads and an $18 million pledge to “defend” the nominee. Beginning the moment that Roberts was nominated, th
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Zero effort is shameful by Denis Hamill - NEW YORK DAILY NEWS It has been four years since Sept. 11, and all we have in the place where 3,000 died is a hole in the ground. For shame. It is simply staggering, a failure of monumental proportions, that we have not put one brick on top of another at Ground Zero. Recently I've been researching a mostly forgotten episode in the history of WWII, a feat of engineering second only to the building of the Panama Canal in the 20th century. It's called Alcan, later renamed the Alaskan Highway. Right after the Pearl Harbor bombing on Dec. 7, 1941, the nation was in a panic - much as we were after 9/11 - about where our enemies would attack next. Many people believed that the next and most vulnerable flank in North America was Alaska. Japanese spies were known to have been in the Bering Sea since 1939, photographing and sizing up the Aleutian Islands, which pointed like a curved dagger down at Japan. If the Japanese could get a foothold in Al
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F.B.I., Using Patriot Act, Demands Library's Records By ERIC LICHTBLAU WASHINGTON, Aug. 25 - Using its expanded power under the antiterrorism law known as the USA Patriot Act, the F.B.I. is demanding library records from a Connecticut institution as part of an intelligence investigation, the American Civil Liberties Union said Thursday. The demand is the first confirmed instance in which the Federal Bureau of Investigation has used the law in this way, federal officials and the A.C.L.U. said. The government's power to demand access to library borrowing records and other material showing reading habits has been the single most divisive issue in the debate over whether Congress should extend key elements of the act after this year. Because of federal secrecy requirements, the A.C.L.U. said it was barred from disclosing the identity of the institution or other main details of the bureau's demand, but court papers indicate that the target is a library in the Bridgeport area. Th
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Are all politicians narcissists? The answer, surprisingly, is: not universally. The preponderance of narcissistic traits and personalities in politics is much less than in show business, for instance. Moreover, while show business is concerned essentially (and almost exclusively) with the securing of narcissistic supply - politics is a much more complex and multi-faceted activity. Rather, it is a spectrum. At the one end, we find the "actors" - politicians who regard politics as their venue and their conduit, an extended theatre with their constituency as an audience. At the other extreme, we find self-effacing and schizoid (crowd-hating) technocrats. Most politicians are in the middle: somewhat self-enamoured, opportunistic and seeking modest doses of narcissistic supply - but mostly concerned with perks, self-preservation and the exercise of power. Most narcissists are opportunistic and ruthless operators. But not all opportunistic and ruthless operators are narcissists. I
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Cindy Sheehan: American Antigone by Jan Hartman American Mother Cindy Sheehan has parked her grief outside the gates of George Bush’s Crawford ranch as Antigone set hers at the gates of King Creon’s ancient Thebes. Though today’s setting is Texas not Thebes, the core of the women’s separate actions links them over 2500 years: both women are driven by grief to speak Truth to Power. Antigone wants to bury her dead brother in order to honor him. Cindy Sheehan wants to honor her dead son by challenging the President to explain the inner meaning of his words to her. Antigone challenges her king by burying her dead brother in defiance of the King’s decree to leave him to the vultures. Cindy Sheehan’s son will rest no more easily than Antigone’s brother Polyneices until his leader speaks the truth behind his cruel actions. Private grief calls public posturing to explain itself. The raw truth and emotion of grief withers any lies, prevarications, justification, falsehoods, hypocrisies. Grief c
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Analysts behind faulty Iraq intelligence rewarded Army staffers who bolstered tube claim received bonuses By Walter Pincus The Washington Post Two Army analysts whose work has been cited as part of a key intelligence failure on Iraq — the claim that aluminum tubes sought by the Baghdad government were probably meant for a nuclear weapons program rather than for rockets — have received job performance awards in each of the past three years, officials said. The civilian analysts, former military men considered experts on foreign and U.S. weaponry, work at the Army's National Ground Intelligence Center (NGIC), one of three U.S. agencies singled out for particular criticism by President Bush's commission that investigated U.S. intelligence. The Army analysts concluded that it was highly unlikely that the tubes were for use in Iraq's rocket arsenal, a finding that bolstered a CIA contention that they were destined for nuclear centrifuges, which was in turn cited by the Bush admi
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We Have the Power By Cindy Sheehan My day started way too early today. After 3 hours of sleep, I was being shaken awake by someone at 6:30 a.m. telling me that the Today show wanted me to be on. I had come into town to sleep in a trailer because my tent had been infested with fire ants. We had a very interesting day. We had Bush drive by really, really fast twice. I caught a glimpse of Laura. I was hoping after she saw me that she would come down to Camp Casey with some brownies and lemonade. I waited for her, but she never came. The Bushes were going to a barbeque/fundraiser down the road from us. I was very surprised that they let us stay so close to Bush. The families of the fallen loved ones held their son's crosses from Arlington West while Bush drove by. I bet it didn't even give him indigestion to see so many people protesting his murderous policies. I am a continued thorn in the side of right-wing bloggers and right wing-nut "journalists." One man, Phil Hendry
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Did you see this? It was must-see TV. And not only because what it revealed about Bill O'Reilly--he was forced into a four corners delay to run out the clock after he realized the mess he was in with Dolores Kesterson, mother slain Chief Warrant Officer Erik Kesterson--but also what the segment revealed about president Bush, who apparently tried to bully the grieving mother when she questioned him about his war of choice. (For details, refer to: http://www.huffingtonpost.com) At one point during the interview O'Reilly asked Kesterson, the Santa Clara mother, about her allotted three-minute meeting with Bush following her only child's death in 2003. But keep in mind what Cindy Sheehan told CNN's Wolf Blitzer this Sunday regarding her brief grief time with Bush in 2004: Sheehan: "He wouldn't look at the pictures of [my son] Casey. He didn't even know Casey's name. He came in the room and the very first thing he said is, 'So who are we honoring here?&#
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Cindy Sheehan to Be Arrested Thursday by David Swanson Cindy Sheehan phoned me from Texas a few minutes ago to say that she's been informed that beginning Thursday, she and her companions will be considered a threat to national security and will be arrested. Coincidentally, Thursday is the day that Rice and Rumsfeld visit the ranch, and Friday is a fundraiser event for the haves and the have mores. Cindy said that she and others plan to be arrested. http://www.meetwithcindy.org David Swanson's diary :: :: NOTE: CODE PINK is reporting that the idea of Thursday arrests started with speculation, not a threat from authorities. I am unable to confirm or deny that. Meanwhile, I have a voice message from Cindy saying that they left their spot on the side of the road because of a storm and now the Sherrif's men are trying to post no trespassing signs and force them to leave. I am unable to confirm or deny this or provide any more details. UPDATE : I got Cindy on the phone and she c
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President Bush Ditches Mother Of Slain Soldier By Nathan Diebenow Associate Editor CRAWFORD — The mother of a U.S. soldier slain in Iraq was denied a face-to-face meeting with President Bush here Saturday after she walked through a ditch-like path in the August heat to the President’s Prairie Chapel Ranch. “I didn’t come all this way from California to stand here in a ditch,” said Cindy Sheehan, 48, co-founder of Gold Star Families for Peace, attempting to continue her trek to the ranch. Even though two of the President’s aides later agreed to deliver her message to him, Sheehan said that she would remain in Crawford for the whole month, if need be, until she is granted a private audience with the commander-in-chief to ask him for what “noble cause” did her son die overseas. “If he doesn’t come out to talk to me in Crawford, I’ll follow him to D.C., and I’ll camp out on his lawn,” she said, to a round of applause from her supporters. “I’ll go to prison. I don’t want to live in a countr
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Avoiding Hoaxes, Charlatans, Traps, Scams and Other Cons And how to find a real psychic and get a helpful reading. A good psychic reading can help you to tend your life as you would a garden, and aid you in growing along with it. Maintaining balance on all levels of existence is an important goal that a personal psychic can help you achieve. A reader can illuminate your possibilities, choices and options as you approach the many intersections of life. The following are a few tips to consider as you select a psychic who will meet your needs: Selecting a Psychic: Above all, chose a person with whom you are comfortable. Being nervous is normal, but you should not feel intimidated. No matter how well known, or how highly recommended, not every psychic will blend with you and be able to give you useful information. A high-priced psychic is not always better. Some of the best second opinions I've received are from psychics who are new to the business, still used their guidebooks and char