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WhoLinks2Me?

Brokedown Coffee

Fare you well, my crystals, fare you well my peculated grind...

Brokedown Coffee is a brief view of my experience with coffee and contains the coffee formula I have used since 1971, at home and United State Cafe.

If you have a problem viewing the page, turn JavaScript off in your browser preferences (It is broken in some browsers), or use Firefox, the free browser mentioned on the left side of this page.

http://www.flyingsnail.com/brokedowncoffee/index.html

New Jam Loop

New: Bluz Ate My Song - Created with 'stock' GarageBand and M-Audio Oxygen 8 MIDI Keyboard Controller. I have been using this piece as a loop to exercise my fingers on guitar and piano.

http://www.flyingsnail.com/Podcast/BluzAteMySong.mp3

Source: http://www.flyingsnail.com/Podcast/index.html

Remembering Political Promises

The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth becomes the greatest enemy of the State. Dr. Joseph M. Goebbels

Wondering If Your Vote Will Count and Be Counted?

Grand Theft America
Flash Animation by Eric Blumrich
EricBlumrich.com
Music by: The Shootas

If we don't have a clear vision of the military, if we don't stop extending our troops all around the world and nation building missions, then we're going to have a serious problem coming down the road, and I'm going to prevent that. - October 3, 2000 - George W. Bush, Liar

Bush Should Live Up to 2000 Pledge

By Terry M. Neal
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 18, 2005; 8:04 AM

During the year and a half that I covered George W. Bush's 2000 presidential campaign, I must have heard his stump speech a thousand times. The lines changed little over the months, and the ending almost never changed -- Bush would raise his hand, as if taking an oath, and promise to restore honor and dignity to the White House.

He also vowed to restore civility to the poisonous atmosphere of the nation's capital, declaring at a GOP fundraiser in April 2000 that "it's time to clean up the toxic environment in Washington, D.C."

A few months later, Bush told voters at a campaign event in Pittsburgh that his administration would "ask not only what is legal but what is right, not what the lawyers allow but what the public deserves."

The latter comment in particular was a not-so-subtle slap at the legalistic parsing of words of both President Clinton, who parried with prosecutors over the meaning of the word "is," and Vice President Al Gore, who twisted himself into a pretzel with legalisms about raising money at a Buddhist temple during the 1996 presidential campaign.

Bush's speech resonated with many voters, and the themes of honesty and integrity helped propel him to the White House in one of the closest [rigged] elections in decades.

Today, the president's White House and party are mired in scandal, and Washington waits breathlessly to see whether special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, who is investigating the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's name to the reporters, will indict any prominent West Wing staff members.

Political strategist Karl Rove, aka "Bush's Brain," and Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, are believed to be possible targets in the investigation. An indictment of either man would be a serious blow to the administration, but what many observers are watching is how President Bush will respond.

After all, back in June 2004 the president said he'd fire anyone involved in the leak of Plame's name. But Bush seemed to lower the standard this summer -- when it became clear that Rove and Libby did in fact have conversations with reporters about Plame -- saying only that if someone "committed a crime, they will no longer work in my administration."

Given the opportunity on Monday to reassure the public that he meant all of those things he said back in 2000 during the campaign and specifically what he said in June 2004 about the Plame scandal, the president punted.

"There's a serious investigation," Bush said when asked by reporters during a White House photo-op with the Bulgarian prime minister. "I'm not going to prejudge the outcome of the investigation."

But Bush wasn't being asked by the press to "prejudge" the outcome. He was, essentially, being asked to define his standard of propriety. Does someone have to be indicted and convicted of a specific crime in the Plame case to deserve dismissal from Bush's staff? Or does a person merely have to have engaged in questionable, or possibly unethical, behavior?

The investigation into the Plame leak raises plenty of questions that the president may eventually be forced to answer. Among the biggest is what exactly have Rove and Libby told Bush about their roles in the leak?

Murray Waas raised just this question in a National Journal story earlier this month, writing:

"White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove personally assured President Bush in the early fall of 2003 that he had not disclosed to anyone in the press that Valerie Plame, the wife of an administration critic, was a CIA employee, according to legal sources with firsthand knowledge of the accounts that both Rove and Bush independently provided to federal prosecutors.

"During the same conversation in the White House two years ago -- occurring just days after the Justice Department launched a criminal probe into the unmasking of Plame as a covert agency operative -- Rove also assured the president that he had not leaked any information to the media in an effort to discredit Plame's husband, former ambassador Joe Wilson. Rove also did not tell the president about his July 2003 a phone call with Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper, a conversation that touched on the issue of Wilson and Plame."

If reports such as those are true, Rove clearly misled the president about his role. And to make matters worse, the White House wittingly or unwittingly played along, in the form of White House spokesman Scott McClellan's denials two years ago that anyone in the administration had anything to do with the Plame leak.

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SCOTT MCCLELLAN SAYS, WHITE HOUSE TOLD HIM TO LIE TO 'THE PEOPLE'

"The most powerful leader in the world had called upon me to speak on his behalf and help restore credibility he lost amid the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. So I stood at the White house briefing room podium in front of the glare of the klieg lights for the better part of two weeks and publicly exonerated two of the senior-most aides in the White House: Karl Rove and Scooter Libby. There was one problem. It was not true. I had unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest ranking officials in the administration "were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice President, the President's chief of staff, and the president himself. "

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/

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There was a time when Bush's strength was the public's belief in his character and leadership. A CBS News poll earlier this month found that only 45 percent of people believe Bush has "strong qualities of leadership" (compared with 52 percent who don't).

At this point, we don't know if Rove or Libby or anyone else at the White House committed a crime. But given the president's past insistence that his administration would restore honor and dignity to our government, it's fair to ask how hard will Bush work to get to the truth? Will he confront Rove and Libby? Will he ask Vice President Cheney if he had any knowledge of what his top aide was doing or whether he played any role at all in the leak?

Bush's handling of the Plame issue could be a defining issue for him, as he seeks to get his presidency back on track.

If Rove, Libby or anyone else is indicted, the president should at minimum suspend that person without pay pending the outcome of the case. But even if no one is indicted, Bush should fulfill his promise to restore honor and integrity to the White House by assuring the public that strict legality is not the only standard he seeks to uphold.

Bush will have to resist his penchant for secrecy and loyalty and launch an aggressive internal investigation, pledging complete transparency -- with a full public accounting released at the end of that investigation.

Will the president send the message that he is serious about what he promised at that campaign event in Pittsburgh five years ago? Or will he suggest it all depends on what the meaning of "what is right" is?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/18/AR2005101800410.html

BlackMustache.com

If a president is willing to lie about the most basic governmental and political facts, civic debate becomes impossible, and the public becomes incapable of informed judgment. Because of the great weight that any president's words have with the public, the president of the United States must not be a liar. - Tony (I wonder what I was smoking when I said that) Blankley

The Scooter Libby verdict is inextricably linked to Iraq: his lies were an attempt to cover up the disingenuous case for war. - Sidney Blumenthal

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/sidney_blumenthal/2007/03/scooter_libby_1.html

Why should we hear about body bags and deaths and how many, what day it's gonna happen? It's not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that? - Barbara Bush, 3/18/2003

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Support for Political Assassination?

If you harbor a terrorist, if you support a terrorist, if you feed a terrorist, you're just as guilty as the terrorists - George W. Bush

U.S. Officials See Waste in Billions Sent to Pakistan

By DAVID ROHDE, CARLOTTA GALL, ERIC SCHMITT and DAVID E. SANGER
Published: December 24, 2007

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — After the United States has spent more than $5 billion in a largely failed effort to bolster the Pakistani military effort against Al Qaeda and the Taliban, some American officials now acknowledge that there were too few controls over the money. The strategy to improve the Pakistani military, they said, needs to be completely revamped. [Continue Reading At]:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/24/world/asia/24military.html?ref=us

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Satire and Speculation

by Paul Krassner

A few years ago, in my last album, right after the Abu Ghraib scandal broke, I talked about how furious Senators and congressmen were, looking at such photos as a prisoner forced to wear women’s panties on his head and a naked prisoner with a dog collar attached to a leash held by a woman who is pointing at the man’s penis and laughing. Why were those legislators sputtering with such rage? Because THEY have to pay EXTRA for those services.

Now, I asked Sam Leff--given his background as an anthropologist studying and writing about the hidden rituals of American sadomasochism--for his take on the CIA’s cover-up of torture videos.

“I have been watching with fascinated horror,” he said, “as America's S/M patterns of culture have emerged into the open in the Abu Ghraib/Gitmo Bush administration. I’ve been flashing on some clear images of the fratboy reality underlying the White House torture tape controversy.

“Picture this. Bush and Karl Rove sitting around a big plasma screen (drinking beer?) and laughing their asses off watching helpless prisoners drowning under a waterboard, or naked getting cigarette burns, or maybe having analgesic balm applied to their genitals.

“Once the existence of the tapes became known, their cover story is that they were having a big discussion about whether or not to keep or destroy the torture tapes. Like that old pervert, J. Edgar Hoover, the reality is they were getting off looking at them as sadistic porn--over and over. Perhaps sharing them with the ‘frat brothers’ of their inner circle.”

Indeed, in November 2005, Garry Trudeau was queried by Editor & Publisher about his Doonesbury strip the previous Sunday which had George Bush defending the branding of Yale University fraternity initiates with a red-hot coat-hanger in 1967, and Trudeau replied that it was “Totally fact based. Bush’s comment in panel seven is a direct quote.” He was referring to the collegiate Bush saying, “Insignificant! There’s no scarring mark physically or mentally!”

Some pledges told the Yale Daily News that their branding was preceded by a physical beating. Said one: “By that time, my body was so numb [from the beatings] that the iron felt good, like a match was being held close to my body.” Bush, who was president of the fraternity, said that the resulting wound was “only a cigarette burn.” Or maybe enhanced pledging technique.

Whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness - Declaration of Independence

SKIDOO
January 4th - TCM
Turner Classic Movies
11:00 PM Pacific Time

Subject: Otto Preminger's "Skidoo" will air on TCM on January 4th.
Date: Mon, 31 Dec 2007 18:35:44 EST
From: BsarlesWire
To: undisclosed-recipients:;

Otto Preminger's "Skidoo" will air on TCM on January 4th. See The Great One drop acid and Groucho blow a doobie.

FROM WIKIPEDIA:

Skidoo is a 1968 comedy film starring Jackie Gleason and Groucho Marx, directed by Otto Preminger, and released by Paramount Pictures, with storyline by Doran William Cannon.

The movie featured a cast of mostly stars and veteran character actors, including Carol Channing, Cesar Romero, Frankie Avalon, Peter Lawford, Burgess Meredith, George Raft, Richard Kiel, Arnold Stang, Frank Gorshin, Mickey Rooney, Slim Pickens, Stacy King, newcomers John Phillip Law, Alexandra Hay, Donyale Luna and Austin Pendleton, Groucho in his final movie role, and a score (arranged and conducted by George Tipton) by singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson, who also appeared briefly in the movie. It was an "acid comedy", with elements of free love and the hippie movement, and satires of technology, anti-technology, modern times and creature comforts.

The story is about a retired mobster, Tony Banks (Gleason), now settled with wife Flo (Channing) and daughter Darlene (Hay), who worries about his daughter's new hippie boyfriend Stash (Law), and his own paternity of Darlene. Romero and Avalon appear as two mob bosses, Hechy and Angie, who bring Tony the news that "God" (Marx) wants him to carry out one last job; murder his old pal " Blue Chips" Packard (Rooney), before he can testify before the US Senate's Crime Commission. Tony refuses, but upon finding his friend Harry (Stang) shot through the head, goes along with God's wishes, and is sent to the new, high-tech island prison where Packard is being held, infiltrating as a convict.

In his absence, Flo invites Stash and his friends to stay at their house, to beat a vagrancy charge. She visits Angie (as does Darlene, looking for her in turn) to persuade him to either cancel the job, or take her to God (who's living without a country, on a yacht in international waters) so she can ask personally. Angie won't take Flo— but he will take Darlene, who nonetheless insists on bringing Stash along. God takes a liking to Darlene, as does God's mistress Elizabeth (Luna) to Stash, but both are frustrated in their pursuit.

One of Tony's cellmates turns out to be a draft dodger called Fred the Professor (Pendleton); an electronics wizard who has renounced technology, but still rigs a television set to allow Banks to communicate with Packard between cells. Banks realises he can't kill his old friend, and thus will probably never leave the prison. He writes his wife with the news, on stationery borrowed from Fred, and ignores Fred's pleas not to lick the envelope. When he does, he discovers the hard way that all the stationery is soaked with LSD... enough to send the whole prison on a hard trip. Fred guides Tony through the resulting acid experience, helping him come to terms with his worries about Darlene and his past, and plotting their escape.

Darlene and Stash spend the night aboard God's yacht, with Stash getting word back to Flo and his friends about their location, and a coded plea for help. As the hippies mount a rescue, Tony and Fred build a makeshift balloon from discarded freezer bags and garbage cans, dump the whole supply of stationery into the prison's lunch, and fly out of the prison as everyone below begins to freak out.

As it happens, both the hippies (led by Flo, who sings the title number as they storm the yacht) and the balloon arrive at God's hideaway at the same time. As they hunt him down, God abandons ship. Tony and Flo borrow a cabin on the yacht and renew their relationship, while Angie marries Elizabeth, and Stash and Darlene take their own hippie vows. God and Fred sail off together to pursue a simpler life.

Before anyone can leave their seat, Preminger's voice calls out "Stop!" and beckons the audience to stay for the credits, sung by Nilsson with asides ("How was your popcorn?").

TCM - Turner Classic Movies: http://www.tcm.com/index.jsp
Wikipedia - Skidoo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skidoo_%28film%29

Photo source: http://www.gulfnews.com/images/08/01/10/10_bz_tata_ap_4.jpg

World's cheapest car unveiled in India

Agencies: Published: January 10, 2008, 13:25

New Delhi: India’s India's Tata Motors Ltd unveiled the world's cheapest car on Thursday, bringing car ownership closer to millions of consumers.

The four-seater Nano will have a dealer price of 100,000 rupees ($2,500), and will go on sale later this year. It costs less than half of India's cheapest car, the Maruti 800.

"Let me assure you and our critics the car we have designed will meet all safety norms and all foreign environmental criteria," Chairman Ratan Tata said at the unveiling.

The car has a rear-wheel drive, an all-aluminium body, a 623cc engine, a multi-point fuel injection system. It has a roomy passenger compartment with generous legroom.

"It's a dream come true," Ashok Singh, a constable with the Delhi Police. "I look forward to buying that car. My wife will be really happy."

Tata said the car would have a rear-mounted engine and travel 20 kilometres per litre of petrol. It would be offered in a basic model and two deluxe variants.

Tata said it would focus on the home market for up to three years before considering exporting the Nano to countries in Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia.

Source: http://www.gulfnews.com/business/Automobiles/10180877.html

Asses of Evil

Steve Bell

Bush fails to gain concessions on settlements from Olmert

Little progress made since Annapolis peace talks
Security forces on alert during president's visit

Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem
Thursday January 10, 2008
The Guardian

The Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, last night refused to rule out further settlement building in East Jerusalem and parts of the West Bank, highlighting the deep gulf between Israel and the Palestinians that confronts George Bush on his first visit to Israel and the West Bank as president. [continue reading at]:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,2238158,00.html

Bushie Rove'r Publicans Behind Extended Writers Strike
by fly_on_the_wall

The following is based on an insider rumor circulating around Washington, D.C. and should be made public, in case it is true.

The rumor is, the Bush Administration, led by Karl Rove and certain corporate media executives are responsible for the extended writers strike, because it takes the heat off current events, like elections leading up to the 2008 Presidential race, and despicable acts committed by a murderous Bush Administration.

Apparently, due to high television ratings of fake news shows like "The/A Daily Show" and "The Colbert/Col_bert Report", and hard hitting real news reporting on Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Corporate Media Executives jumped on the 'Rove'r bandwagon' to repress FUN and HUMOR for U.S. citizens. Anybody believe in Impeachment... maybe starting with Pelosi, and working up?

Crazy Man At Work
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Bush Says: Iran threatens world security
Monday, January 14, 2008
Bush Urges Unity Against Iran

.

WMD Was A Lie

...and Lying Lame Duck Failure Has A Year Left

Value Your Child's Future? Please Look Up and Research:

DRY DRUNK SYNDROM

guruji beta

New - India Search Engine
http://guruji.com

About Guruji

India, known for being the spiritual Guru of the world, is now seeking to become the technology Guru with Indians spearheading the IT revolution. With Guruji.com, a totally indigenous product, we aspire to become a world-class search engine and showcase the "Indian" content to the world.

Guruji, a respectful way to call one's teacher, is the person one seeks help from in times of need. Likewise, Guruji.com is built to help provide easy access to information in every walk of life.

Guruji.com is the first crawler based search engine for India and India related content. Our proprietary algorithm automatically identifies India related content on the web and organizes it in such a way that you get the most relevant results fast. Our team of young, dynamic and passionate engineers from India's premier institutes like the IITs,IISc and other top engineering colleges, is working arduously to make this product better each day.

A local page with a few pictures from India:
http://www.flyingsnail.com/Scrapbook/page009.html

Steve Bell

General NBC Electric,
A Skilled Killing Machine

General Electric is one of the largest exporters of weapons of mass destruction on the planet Earth.

Corporations who profit from War should NOT be allowed to own Corporate Media.

Columbia Journalism Review
Who Owns What

General Electric is one of the largest exporters of weapons of mass destruction on the planet, has problems with honesty, profits from war, and should not be allowed to own 'any' public media.

Click HERE to see what General Electric Owns

Click HERE to view General Electric's Corporate Timeline

Click HERE to view (PDF) of how General Electric stole Nikola Tesla's Patent Rights

1985 General Electric [profits from war and exports WMD] buys NBC

1995 Westinghouse Electric [profits from war and exports WMD] buys CBS

1996 CBS buys Infinity radio broadcasting

1997 CBS buys American Radio Systems

1999 NBC takes 32% of Paxson Communications Corporation

1999 CBS buys King World Productions

1999 Infinity [GE/NBC] buys Outdoor Systems billboard group

1999 Viacom ["holding the public airwaves hostage"] buys CBS

PermaLink: http://www.flyingsnail.com/Dahbud/corporatemediatoolofevil.html

Did General Electric/Microsoft/NBC Joe Scarborough Murder Lori Klausutis?

Don Imus [ex-MSNBC Implied Racist] asked you why you aren't in Congress. You said, that you had sex with the intern and then you had to kill her. Then you laughed and replied, "Yeah, well, what are you gonna do?" [Read the rest at Project for the Old American Century listed below]

A Death in the Congressman's Office

Does Anybody in the Press Care About Lori Klausutis?

A young female employee of one of Florida's Congressmen had died unexpectedly in the Congressman's office. There were no witnesses to her death and the cause of death was not apparent. Klausutis' boss, Joe Scarborough had recently resigned from Congress prematurely and unexpectedly, amid rumors about his marital fidelity and soon after a divorce. He had also abruptly resigned as publisher of the Independent Florida Sun, claiming that resigning from Congress and as publisher was necessary to spend more time with his sons.

Source: http://oldamericancentury.org/lori_klausutis.htm

Alternative: http://www.flyingsnail.com/Dahbud/firejoescarborough.html

If You Boycotted the Debate, Didn't Watch, Or Didn't Care About What Any Candidate Was Going to Say...
by Kevin Gosztola

This is a small collection of comments from across the web responding to the media exclusion committed by NBC tonight.

(This is not an article endorsing or not endorsing Dennis. It is mainly to shed more light on NBC’s recent achievement, the exclusion of Dennis Kucinich from another debate.)

I was reading some of the comments or responses to Dennis Kucinich’s exclusion posted all over the Internet and decided that some of these definitely deserve posting so that they can be read. I have chosen to expand the discussion and include some other viewpoints so I can continue a dialogue on media exclusion that is not limited to what I have to say.

I think you will find this nation can hope for a bit better than what the current leaders in America have to offer if some of these people commenting step up and become the leaders we vote for. A few of them properly highlighted how they miss the League of Women Voters. [Continue Reading At]:

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_kevin_go_080115_if_you_boycotted_the.htm

Galactic Fart
Headed Towards A Neighborhood Near You
by Balz

Gas cloud to collide with Milky Way

A massive cloud of gas is on a collision course with the Milky Way galaxy and will trigger a new round of star formation when it arrives, astronomers reported last week. The cloud, called Smith's Cloud, is 11,000 light-years long and 2,500 light-years wide, and is on a path that will collide with our galaxy in 20 to 40 million years, according to research by NRAO astronomers. That collision will trigger a round of star formation, much of it supergiant stars that will live for only a few million years before going supernova. The region of the collision is about 90 degrees ahead of the Sun in the plane of the galaxy.

Pictures and related links: http://www.spacetoday.net/Summary/4050

Wondering If Your Vote Will Count and Be Counted?

Image source: http://www.tomflocco.com/banner/Rushmore08.gif

New Hampshire vote fraud evidence elicits calls for recount
by Tom Flocco

New York—January 12, 2008—TomFlocco.com—Evidence of vote fraud in Tuesday’s New Hampshire Primary has inflamed the internet with reports that disparities exist between swapped precinct percentages regarding Diebold electronic optical scanning machines versus hand-counted ballots involving presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

Curiously—with percentages so perfect as if someone was attempting to entrap the perpetrators—Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton received 91,717 votes or 52.95% in precincts using Diebold Accuvote optical scan electronic voting machines and 20,889 votes or 47.05% of ballots from precincts using hand-counted votes.

Democratic Senator Barack Obama received the same 52.95% or 23,509 votes in hand-counted precincts and the same 47.05% or 81,495 votes in precincts using Diebold optical scanning tabulators, both according to analysts at the Election Defense Alliance (EDA) who used results from the New Hampshire Secretary of State website, raising questions as to how the percentage swap occurred.

More importantly, CNN, MSNBC, FOX and the three television networks all had scores of election analysts and exit poll reporters watching New Hampshire ballot returns like hawks, yet all failed to report the above anomaly to New Hampshire voters.

There is also evidence that at least one cable television network may have already known about vote count and percentage anomalies given the manner in which coverage was affected according to one authority with strong U.S. intelligence connections. [Continue Reading At]:

http://www.tomflocco.com/fs/NewHampshireVoteFraud.htm

[200801.09 from fly_on_the_wall: Anybody find it interesting (in New Hampshire) Neocon choices won? Many years ago Rove was asked about elections and he said 'he went to work about an hour or so before polls closed'.

My understanding of what he said was, 'near the closing of the polls, we change the vote by a small margin, in our favor, and if anybody complains, we'll call them, SORE LOSER. It works every time!]

Silvestro the cat & the New Hampshire election

From: Ecological Options Network
Date: January 8, 2008 1:31:58 AM EST
Subject: Hackable New Hampshire A YouTube video from Black Box Voting that you won't soon forget.

THE CAT THAT CONTROLS NEW HAMPSHIRE ELECTION PROGRAMMING

John Silvestro and his small private business, LHS Associates, has exclusive programming contracts for ALL New Hampshire voting machines, which combined will count about 81 percent of the vote in the primary. And as to Super Tuesday and beyond: Silvestro also has the programming contracts for the states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont.

Silvestro IS the New Hampshire chain of custody in New England -- Or at least, a very large component in it.

Last fall, with the help of citizens like you, Black Box Voting began working on "Chain of Custody" projects, in which we identified some of the areas of concern that might affect many jurisdictions at once. First on the list for the Northeast U.S. is LHS Associates, a vendor with inside access to every memory card, as well as to the chips containing the "brain" of the Diebold optical scan machines.

RARE VIDEO FOOTAGE

In an unusual confluence of available video, we obtained footage of Silvestro grappling with Harri Hursti, the master hacker who had his way with the Diebold optical scans in Leon County, Florida in the famous exploit that was showcased in the film Hacking Democracy.

The exact same make, model and version hacked in the Black Box Voting project in Leon County is used throughout New Hampshire, where about 45 percent of elections administrators hand count paper ballots at the polling place, with the remaining locations all using the Diebold version 1.94w optical scan machine. Because the voting machine locations tend to be urban, this represents about 81 percent of the New Hampshire voters.

The video shows Harri Hursti testifying on Sept. 19 before the New Hampshire legislature, attempting to explain significant vulnerabilities requiring urgent mitigations; throughout his testimony, Silvestro inserted his own comments, opinions, misstatements and speculations.

VOTING MACHINE CHECKUP

One area of disagreement between Hursti and Silvestro was the amount of expertise needed to exploit the Diebold 1.94w optical scan system. Silvestro claimed (in a strange contortion of reasoning) that he doesn't hire very skilled programmers, implying that this makes New Hampshire elections more secure.

Hursti pointed out that hiring programmers with a lack of knowledge is generally not considered a security feature, and also that an average high schooler can learn to exploit the system in two days to two weeks.

WE THINK IT DOESN'T TAKE THAT LONG

Black Box Voting purchased a Diebold optical scan with 1.94w firmware, and chose a computer repair shop out of the phone book, took it in, grabbed the first available technician. It took him less than 10 minutes to zero in on the memory card as a point of critical vulnerability -- and oh my, did he point out some other intersting things!

NEW HAMPSHIRE HASN'T UPGRADED SYSTEM SECURITY

Silvestro tries to claim that the security problems have been fixed in newer editions. Whether or not they have been, it's a moot point in New Hampshire where the upgrade is not made unless the Ballot Law Commission meets, and they have not met for ages.

Silvestro then points to extraordinary measures taken by other states to enact special procedural safeguards, but of course none of those were implemented in New Hampshire either, because the Ballot Law Commission has not bothered to meet since March 2006.

IN FACT, NEW HAMPSHIRE HAS NOT IMPLEMENTED MITIGATIONS FOR KNOWN RISKS

Not only that, they have turned all the programming over to a sole source private company, taking vote counting for 81 percent of New Hampshire citizens out of the public domain.

LHS is not subject to public records requirements, as the government is, at least, not in New Hampshire. The control over memory card contents is absolute; when cards malfunction or get lost, LHS brings the replacements.

CONTROL OVER THE "BRAINS" OF THE MACHINE: ACCESS TO THE CHIP

Since LHS maintains the machines, repairs the machines, and replaces the machines -- often on Election Day -- when they malfunction, they have intimate access to the chips, sockets, ports, communications devices and other electronic components.

Silvestro stated that the chip has "read only memory" and cannot be reprogrammed without frying it under ultraviolet light overnight.

Hursti never had a chance to examine the hardware, nor have most of the recent university studies had access. But our friendly neighborhood computer repair guy differed with Silvestro on the point of plug & play reprogramming of the guts of the machine.

After I push the button to send this message out to the media and the citizenry, I'll work on getting a short YouTube video of the Accuvote checkup by our local computer repairman. And before you say, "But wait! He's not a world class expert!" -- That's just the point.

Our local computer repairman may hit or miss on some of his analyses. You'll all be able to try your hand at second guessing him as soon as the next video is up. But if he hits even one of his ideas for how to exploit the machine to steal votes, that's all it takes. From someone who is not, certainly, a world class hacker or even a hacker at all.

I'll post the link to that in a follow up here:

http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/1954/71200.html?1199744175,

and invite you techs to weigh in.

Please feel free to distribute, reprint or excerpt, with link to Black Box Voting and the video link above.

Bev Harris
Black Box Voting
http://www.blackboxvoting.org

Grand Theft America
Flash Animation by Eric Blumrich
EricBlumrich.com
Music by: The Shootas

Remnant of Paradise Continued by ~@~

The End of the InterTubes

Most folks, who 'actually know me' (these are old non-working addresses):

cspang@mit~ai.arpa
ccs.cspang@mit~oz.arpa
bliv.~cas~@mit~oz.arpa
l5!cas@lll~crg.arpa
cas@su~shasta.arpa
cas%umunhum@su~csli.arpa
{sun,pacbell,uunet,pyramid,amdahl}!hoptoad!cas
cas@toad.com
[snip]
~@~

(to list a few under that 'handle'), have heard I've been preparing, for years, to "drop out" of the Internet; however, very few know why, and that is what this story is about.

Down the road, there is going to be a battle over control of the Internet. Although I feel qualified to help, I'm not playing, and here is the reason why, on two levels.

Level One: History leans towards the rich, not the creative.

A lot of alleged facts about the birth and growth of microcomputer technology in the United States are based on omission. [Continue Reading At]:

PermaLink: http://www.flyingsnail.com/Scrapbook/page012.html

Remnant of Paradise Continued by ~@~

Reneging On My Refusal to Buy Intel

This page is out of order, but needs to be placed here now, because I am about to go back on my word, but not by choice. Later, this section will be moved into its 'proper place' within Remnant of Paradise. ~@~

I am one of 'those folks' who get excited about MacWorld; usually held in San Francisco, during the month of January.

Leading up to MacWorld there is speculation on what Steve will present for Apple and this year I have an opinion that I have been trying to get out since Apple moved to the Intel processor.

I personally believe one of the best computer equipment producers was Digital Equipment Corporation, believe DEC had some of the best software and hardware engineers on the planet, and cut my '2nd teeth' on PDP 8s and 10s.

Although I can not prove this, I feel Steve was aware of DEC, what happened to it, and who ended up owning certain Digital processor designs (Intel). I also believe DEC was about to topple Intel, at that time, due to a processor constructed by Samsung, for DEC, at one third the cost of the original processor, and that it ran circles around anything Intel could produce. Ask Linus!

I got the feeling Steve reminded Intel they were sitting on something futuristic, in regard to processor technology, and the next thing I hear is, Apple is switching to the Intel processor.

Here is something that gives a little credibility to this story from May 13, 1997:

Digital Equipment Corporation sues Intel Corporation for violating microprocessor architecture patents

... Lawsuit maintains Intel infringed Digital patented technology to enhance performance of Pentium, Pentium Pro and Pentium II microprocessors ...

and here is a Photoshop PDF with the complete story. [snip]

How the Boyz in the Back Room Got Rid of
Digital Equipment Corporation

[Continue Reading At]: UPDATED: 200801.16:

PermaLink: http://www.flyingsnail.com/Scrapbook/page013.html

Remnant of Paradise

Crap, Here We Go Again

Backyard Fire - Noon - Saturday - January 19, 2008

Backyard Fire - 2 PM - Saturday - January 19, 2008

Backyard Fire - 2:30 PM - Saturday - January 19, 2008
Fire under control. The End.

Weekend Thoughts

Rich Get Richer and Nobody Supports Striking Writers

GE profit meets expectations, infrastructure key
By Scott Malone

BOSTON, Jan 18 (Reuters) - General Electric Co [Corporate Media Giant (NBC/etc. and largest exporter of WMD on the planet.] posted a 4 percent rise in net profit on Friday, matching Wall Street expectations, with strong demand for heavy equipment from outside the United States offsetting the effects of a slowing domestic economy. [Continue Reading At]:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/feedarticle?id=7237441

Wondering If Your Vote Will Count and Be Counted?

Many years ago Karl Rove was asked [On General Elelctric's NBC-WMD by misrepresenter Tim-me Russert] about elections and he said, 'he went to work about an hour or so before polls closed'.

My understanding of what he said was, 'near the closing of the polls, we change the vote by a small margin, in our favor, and if anybody complains, we'll call them, SORE LOSER. It works every time!

TV Subscribers Should Not Have To Pay For Commercials

If one has any form of pay television (Cable/Satellite), ask yourself why are you paying for commercials?

An interesting exercise is calculating the actual number of minutes consumed by commercials during a half hour, 'prime time', show. On a side note, why does it appear corporate media evening news are drug dealers and WTF is with all those, FDA approved, drug side effects?

Sponsors of commercials should pay for time stolen from a viewer.

Lowering a subscriber's monthly bill by 75%, or removing commercials from subscriber paid television, seem to be a correct path.

It is not fair subscribers should have to pay for commercials and 'this' inhibits pursuit of happiness.

That Middle East Tour In Full

Steve Bell

Many miles, no breakthroughs
January 17 2008: For all the bullish talk, President Bush will end his Middle East tour in little doubt that US policies in the region are failing, writes Ian Black

[Note from Dahbud Mensch: Most of the following links were obtained from Dizzy Dayz BLOG located at: http://dizzydayz.blogspot.com/]

If you weren't paranoid before..this should do it.
from Dusty at The Sirens Chronicles

Oh yeah..this will do it..from RawStory:

National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell is drawing up plans for cyberspace spying that would make the current debate on warrantless wiretaps look like a "walk in the park," according to an interview published in the New Yorker's print edition today. Read the PDF here.

Debate on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act "will be a walk in the park compared to this," McConnell said. "this is going to be a goat rope on the Hill. My prediction is that we're going to screw around with this until something horrendous happens."

Read all our emails? As if they haven't done that already.

McConnell is developing a Cyber-Security Policy, still in the draft stage, which will closely police Internet activity.

"Ed Giorgio, who is working with McConnell on the plan, said that would mean giving the government the autority to examine the content of any e-mail, file transfer or Web search," author Lawrence Wright pens.

"Google has records that could help in a cyber-investigation, he said," Wright adds. "Giorgio warned me, 'We have a saying in this business: 'Privacy and security are a zero-sum game.'"

I am speechless, seriously and utterly speechless. Congress better step up to the plate on this bullshit. The infrastructure to tap into Americans' email and web search history may already be in place.-May be? Fuck it IS in place boys and girls, its called Room 641A. AT&T has the capabilities NOW, just ask Mark Klein.

Tags: Spying on Americans, Warrantless Wiretapping, Mike McConnell, Cyber spying

Source:
http://sirenschronicles.com/2008/01/14/if-you-werent-paranoid-beforethis-should-do-it/

The Neocon money-men behind Facebook
by Tom Hodgkinson

Facebook has 59 million users - and 2 million new ones join each week. But you won't catch Tom Hodgkinson volunteering his personal information - not now that he knows the politics of the people behind the social networking site

I despise Facebook. This enormously successful American business describes itself as "a social utility that connects you with the people around you". But hang on. Why on God's earth would I need a computer to connect with the people around me? Why should my relationships be mediated through the imagination of a bunch of supergeeks in California? What was wrong with the pub?

And does Facebook really connect people? Doesn't it rather disconnect us, since instead of doing something enjoyable such as talking and eating and dancing and drinking with my friends, I am merely sending them little ungrammatical notes and amusing photos in cyberspace, while chained to my desk? A friend of mine recently told me that he had spent a Saturday night at home alone on Facebook, drinking at his desk. What a gloomy image. Far from connecting us, Facebook actually isolates us at our workstations. [Continue Reading At]:

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/147201-The-Neocon-money-men-behind-Facebook

The Orwellian Thermostat
by Omnipotent Poobah

Back in the day, monopolistic utilities were benevolent dictators. In exchange for guaranteed profits, they provided reasonable service at reasonable prices. Also back in the day, citizens could expect minimal intrusion into their privacy in exchange for simply requiring government to follow the Constitution . We traded these reasonable and symbiotic relationship s for deregulated utilities that pillage their customers at will and government that intrudes any time it damn well pleases as long as President Buttmunch signs off on it. A recent proposal by the California Energy Commission borrows the worst traits from both.

They plan to put remote-contr olled thermostats in homes to cut power use during summertime electricity shortages. It's not that controlling energy consumption is an unnecessary thing. It's good for the environment, it saves money, and everyone gets a taste of precious wattage at a time when it's scarce. But like many things that seem good on paper, this crapulent plan falls apart in the details. [Continue Reading At]:

http://national.teambio.org/2008/01/15/the-orwellian-thermostat/

Sundance Shrinks From Web as Online Video Explodes
By Jason Silverman

Sundance says it wants a "webolution." Just don't look for it at the indie film fest's website, which has slashed its online offerings even as internet video is taking off.

This year's Sundance Film Festival, which opens Thursday in Park City, Utah, includes a panel called "Webolution" with Motion Picture Association of America chief Dan Glickman and representatives from online players Netflix, Veoh Networks and Joost.

At the same time, Sundance is beating a stealthy retreat from the web. Its Online Film Festival, launched in 2001, has suffered: In 2007, Sundance's site offered nearly 50 films continuously over the course of the festival; this year, it'll show just one for each of the festival's 10 days. (iTunes will make 35 additional Sundance shorts available for download, at $2 each, after the festival ends.) [Continue Reading At]:

http://www.wired.com/entertainment/hollywood/news/2008/01/sundance_walkup

3-D, Zombies and Secrecy:
Geekiest Films at Sundance 2008
By Jason Silverman

Ignore the Ugg-clad starlets. Duck the paparazzi. Leave your snowboard at home. Beyond the Sundance Film Festival's hype and snow lies a geeky wonderland.

During the 10-day fest that starts Thursday, sleepy Park City, Utah, will be filled with films and presentations about science, technology, alt.culture and zombies. Like these: [Continue Reading At]:

http://www.wired.com/entertainment/hollywood/multimedia/2008/01/gallery_sundance_walkup

A Reminder Bush Republicans Wanted to Privatize Social Security and
Invest YOUR Money In the Stock Market

Where Would You Be Today If Bush Republicans Had Gotten Their Way?
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/opinion/baroneweb/mb_020814.htm

I encourage you all to go shopping more. - GWB

The cuts on dividends and capital gains are reaching families and businesses alike. About half the households in America, 57 million in all, have some investment in the stock market. And they either own shares in individual companies or through mutual funds. Sometimes, they own these shares through their retirement plans. By cutting the taxes on dividends and capital gains, we helped add about $4 trillion in new wealth to the stock market. - GWB

Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that.

Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction....

The chain reaction of evil -- hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars -- must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation. - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength To Love, 1963

YOU STUPIDS!

During 1999 Dahbud Mensch wrote, "It's NOT about who becomes President, it is about who selects Supreme Court judges!"

Corporate Media failed "THE PEOPLE" by covering up Bush's Resume, Bush and Cheney's Military AWOL, Bush's Drug Use, and the fact a Shameful Supreme Court, not "THE PEOPLE", appointed "Miserable Failure" George W. Bush pResident.

Since the 2000 election there have been numerous cases of voting Fraud and it apparently is still happening.

Nobody has answered, "Who ordered the Air Force to STAND DOWN during 9/11," but everybody believes it was Cheney. Most people forget a plan to inhibit attacks on National Monuments was established when some idiot tried to fly a small aircraft into the Whitey House during 1994 ...and that would suggest Somebody is a liar!

The world stood by 'No Nation Building' Bush when he went after Osama in Afghanistan shortly after 9/11 and who, reading this, did not get the impression our troops would be home by Christmas 2002?

When AWOL Bush turned towards Iraq and performed "Shock_N_EFn_Awe_Full" he was obviously under Neocon control, but that is not the worst of it. The most horrible aspect of his personal war were lies of omission about depleted uranium, or DU, and the three hundred thousand (300,000) affected military from the Desert Storm era!

The Whitey House also lied about 9/11 Pollution in New York City and ordered the EPA to issue false assurances on air quality to a trusting/unquestioning/gullible public.

Anybody serving the Bush Administration, Senate, or Congress during 2003, with exception of Barbara Lee, is a KILLER/"EVIL-DOER" and should be brought up on 'accessory to murder' charges!

Republicans constantly talk about family values, but cover their perversions.

Jesus never said, "Kill One Another" and any Christian who advocates any form of murder, war, or changing the Constitution, is obviously a Minister of Satan!

If one has been paying attention, there is an awareness our current political administration has gone 'far out of their way', to the point of abusing our military, to prevent a military draft and I believe everyone knows why: It would bring "THE PEOPLE" out in the streets opposing our, implied, dictatorial government.

Bush has made numerous statements about continuing his personal war beyond 2008 election and perhaps 10 to 20 years in the future.

Peace candidates have been eliminated and (Neocon Corporate Media) selected candidates who say they will stop Bush's war are really stupid and here is why.

At this moment, 200801.19, there is a fleet of U.S. ships in the Persian Gulf with enough fire power to take out the Middle East, Asia, and part of Europe. Bush sold Israel and Arabia billions of dollars of "smart weapons" (How far away is Europe from those weapons of mass destruction?) and Nobody seems to remember Tommy Franks saying "the Constitution will likely be discarded in favor of a military form of government"!

In regard to the 2008 election, Dick Cheney and Karl Rove want you to elect a Democrat President and government, so they can start something behind the scenes that forces Democrats to re-establish the Draft, and continue Bush's War. The other scenario is, 'if it looks like any of the lying Bush Administration are headed towards jail, it has been suggested a mysterious terrorist strike will occur in the United States, Bush will declare marshal law, move dissidents to FEMA Concentration Camps, and become America's first dick_tater! If you don't think Bush has the power to continue his personal version of Armageddon, then you are truly stupid!

Finally, and please keep an eye on the Vice Presidential Mansion, I WANT MY REWARD MONEY FOR POINTING OUT WHERE OSAMA IS!

Osama is housed in Cheney's basement, in the D.C. V.P. Mansion, and don't let this one example fool you into thinking he is not there. It was not a bunker, it was a luxury apartment with the latest dialysis machine from Area 51, that they installed! ...Where else would a friend of the Bush family stay? #5

In Memory of Harvey Lembeck

Kiss My FISA

Senator Kit Bond Is A Liar

January 24, 2008, 3 PM EST - Senator Kit Bond joined the ranks of political lying rooster lollipops this afternoon, when he insisted THEY were spying on terrorists (al-Qaeda), which is total utter bull feces, ...if one considers the following:

If Secret Wire Tapping was only done on al-Qaeda, why did the news story break with, 'Spying on Peaceful Quakers' and 'protestors handing out peanut butter sandwiches at Halliburton'? Where is the al-Qaeda in that, liar ?

Rumsfeld Spies on Quakers and Grannies
By Matthew Rothschild - December 16, 2005
http://progressive.org/mag_mc121605

Lies, lies and more lies

by Chuck Lewis
Asia Times

WASHINGTON - Eight key players in the George W Bush administration, including the president himself, made at least 935 false statements in the run-up to and aftermath of the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

These are some of the findings of a mammoth report just released by the Center for Public Integrity, directed by founder Chuck Lewis.

Lewis asked his researchers to track every utterance by the top US officials made from September 11, 2001, through September 11, 2003, regarding Iraq, "weapons of mass destruction" (WMD), and the alleged link between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein. These officials include Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, secretary of state Colin Powell, defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld, deputy defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice (now secretary of state), and former White House press secretaries Ari Fleischer and Scott McClellan.

What this report proves is remarkable, even though it is now a matter of public record that there were no WMD in Iraq and that the attacks against the US in 2001 had no connection to Saddam. Lewis concludes in a statement: "Clearly, this Iraq chronology calls into question the repeated assertions of Bush administration officials that they were merely the unwitting victims of bad intelligence. More broadly, consider the timeless words of the late historian and Librarian of Congress, Daniel Boorstin, in his classic 1961 work, The Image: "We suffer primarily not from our vices or our weaknesses, but from our illusions. We are haunted, not by reality, but by those images we have put in place of reality. America went to war nearly five years ago after an orchestrated campaign of false statements by the nation's top officials, a war begun under the illusion of an imminent national security threat. We are haunted by a war begun, in other words, under false pretenses."

Lewis spoke with Inter Press Service's editor-in-chief Miren Gutierrez about what he says is "an unprecedented, 380,000-word, online searchable, public and private Iraq war chronology, the public statements interlaced with the internal knowledge, discussions, doubts, and dissent known at the time. What they said publicly juxtaposed against what they knew internally."

Inter Press Service: You have tagged how many false statements were made by these top officials over the two years. How many exactly? Can you make any comparisons?

Chuck Lewis: We found 935 false statements ... Bush made the most statements; McClellan the fewest. No one has ever done this for any other US war, to my knowledge, a public and private chronology of what they said versus what they knew internally. There is no comparison to the past.

IPS: What do these statements tell us about their timing? Was it an orchestrated, systematic operation? How do you know?

CL: The statements were made most heavily in the weeks leading up to the Congressional resolution and midterm elections, and spiked up twice as high in volume between January and March. Nine hundred and thirty five false statements, 532 different occasions ... Yes, it was a systematic operation. We know it now because the saturation of statements, officials, all saying essentially the same thing, 935 times, always on message. It could not possibly be inadvertent or coincidental.

IPS: Separately, you have gathered material from more than 25 government, whistleblower and journalist-reported books about this subject, published between 9/11 and the end of 2007. Do any clear patterns emerge from that exercise? Is there any consensus?

CL: The most disturbing pattern is that questions were raised internally, at the White House, Pentagon, State Department and intelligence community, about these officials' statements and their ambitions for war, and most important, about the intelligence being asserted. There were dissonant views suggesting various key parts of the "evidence" were a hoax or simply inconclusive. Repeatedly the top officials were told not to say things in their speeches, repeatedly they said them anyway. The biggest news to me is that the "consensus" was anything but unanimous, as the White House would like everyone to believe. Certain pro-war intelligence was exaggerated and overstated, and cross current intelligence suggesting there was no imminent national security threat to the US or other nations was ignored. All of this can be found searching and reading through the 380,000-word public and private Iraq war chronology.

IPS: Bush's government had made lots of noises about Iran's nuclear program. However, a December 2007 US intelligence report concluded that Iran halted work toward a nuclear weapon in 2003, and is unlikely to be able to produce enough enriched uranium for a bomb until 2010 to 2015. Can you spot any similarities with the situation right before the invasion of Iraq?

CL: The human intelligence sources cited by Powell in his UN speech were not reliable, doubts had been expressed inside the administration, especially the intelligence agencies. But on with the show anyway ... In the weeks before the Congressional Iraq vote, Bush and Cheney made flat declarations we now know were false about the WMD threat in Iraq - and no National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) had been done by the CIA in years, because it was not seen as a hotspot or front-burner problem. And the White House had not requested an NIE ... Intelligence information in this and other past administrations is a commodity to be marshaled for political policy outcomes.

IPS: The report is part of a book on which you are working about "truth, power, the state of journalism today". What is the state of US journalism after the war in Iraq? Why has this war been different for journalism from other wars in the past?

CL: Not good, emaciated economically, thousands of reporters and editors fired since 2000, still too easily misled, not sufficiently skeptical of officialdom, of government, of power. This war based on false pretenses played out over 18 months, before our eyes, with all the world to see, with nearly all of the US news media stenographically repeating what the Bush administration had said, amplifying the misinformation with little skepticism or original reporting. In the Gulf of Tonkin resolution in 1964, the false pretenses about the US being fired upon first (the opposite was true), the Congressional lockstep response to a president's request for war legislation and fawning, uncritical media coverage, between "attacks" and war legislation signed into law, took exactly one week. Journalism didn't have a chance - that war was remote, out on the water, often at night, no reporters nearby, solely reliant on the White House and Pentagon, coordinating their messages ...

IPS: All this has happened a few years ago. Why is it relevant now?

CL: Because the full story of why the US went to war has still not been fully told, memoirs and presidential legacies and mythologies will only grow over time. What we need are facts, who said what, when, what did they actually know before they spoke. This chronology sets that down in one place, accessible and updatable for years to come.

And it is relevant because presidents make flawed, human decisions that affect the nation and the world, not to mention thousands upon thousands of lives, and there must be, in a democracy, independent accountability and factual scrutiny about what is true, was true, will always be true. What the world needs most, though, is real-time truth, not years later. Maybe, because of this debacle of the past five years, reporters and citizens will become more skeptical and discerning of politicians and those in power.

Source: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JA25Ak01.html

Home
by Roger Waters

Could be Jerusalem, or it could be Cairo
Could be Berlin, or it could be Prague
Could be Moscow, could be New York
Could be Llanelli, and it could be Warrington
Could be Warsaw, and it could be Moose Jaw
Could be Rome
Everybody's got somewhere they call home

When they overrun the defenses
A minor invasion put down to expenses
Will you go down to the airport lounge
Will you accept your second class status
A nation of waitresses and waiters
Will you mix their martinis
Will you stand still for it
Or will you take to the hills

It could be clay and it could be sand
Could be desert, could be a tract of arable land
Could be a house, could be a corner shop
Could be a cabin by a bend in the river
Could be something your old man handed down
Could be something you built on your own
Everybody's got something he calls home

When the cowboys and Arabs draw down
On each other at noon
In the cool dusty air of the city boardroom
Will you stand by a passive spectator
Of the market dictators
Will you discreetly withdraw
With your ear pressed to the boardroom door
Will you hear when the lion within you roars
Will you take to the hills

Could be your father and it could be your mother
Could be your sister, could be your brother
Could be a foreigner, could be a Turk
Could be a cyclist out looking for work
Could be a king, could be the Aga Khan
Could be a Vietnam vet with no arms and no legs
Could be a saint, could be a sinner
Could be a loser or it could be a winner
Could be a banker, could be a baker
Could be a Laker, could be Kareem Abdul Jabar
Could be a male voice choir
Could be a lover, could be a fighter
Could be a super heavyweight, or it could be something lighter
Could be a cripple, could be a freak
Could be a wop, gook, geek, could be a cop, could be a thief

Could be a family of ten living in one room on relief
Could be our leaders in their concrete tombs
With their tinned food and their silver spoons
Could be the pilot with God on his side
Could be the kid in the middle of the bomb site
Could be a fanatic, could be a terrorist
Could be a dentist, could be a psychiatrist
Could be humble, could be proud
Could be a face in the crowd
Could be the soldier in the white cravat
Who turns the key in spite of the fact
That this is the end of the cat and mouse
Who dwelt in the house
Where the laughter rang and the tears were spilt
The house that Jack built
Where the laughter rang and the tears were spilt
The house that Jack built
Bang, bang, shoot, shoot
White gloved thumb, Lord thy will be done
He was always a good boy his mother said
He'll do his duty when he's grown
Everybody's got someone they call home

http://www.rogerwatersonline.com/lyrics_radio_kaos.html#home

Neocon Letter To Clinton, 1998, signed by Paul Wolfowitz
http://www.flyingsnail.com/Dahbud/pnac26jan1998letter.html

I am reasonably certain that they [Iraq] will greet us as liberators, and that will help us to keep requirements down. In short, we don't know what the requirement will be, but we can say with reasonable confidence that the notion of hundreds of thousands of American troops is way off the mark. - Paul Wolfowitz, 2/27/03

Arms control role for Wolfowitz
By Jane O'Brien

Former World Bank chief Paul Wolfowitz has been appointed head of an influential panel advising the US government on arms control.

Mr Wolfowitz was ousted from the Bank last year over a scandal involving payments to his girlfriend, who was also a bank employee at the time. [Continue Reading At]:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7208286.stm

Forget about war with Iran?
By Leon Hadar

Ding-dong, the witch is dead," cheerlead the proponents of the Conventional Wisdom (CW) in the Beltway's reality-based community these days - the "witch" being President Buscheney's plan to bomb Iran, which was supposed to be the next chapter in the neo-conservative narrative.

Unfortunately, this CWers' (pronounced se-wers) don't-worry-be-happy spinning is based not on reality but on a lot of wishful thinking masquerading as a larger-than-life Realpolitik axiom, that is, the realist "surge" in Washington is working!

On a macro-level, this realist faith has helped construct a fairy-tale-like narrative in which Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Pentagon chief Robert Gates have mounted a courageous and effective bureaucratic and political campaign against the neo-con remnants in the George W Bush administration now that Rummy (Donald Rumsfeld) the matinee idol, Paul "Wolfie" Wolfowitz of Arabia, "The f**ing stupidest guy on the face of earth," and the man-with-the-bad-toupee who'd been given the pink slip.

We are being asked to believe that Gates, who, as the former chief spook once upon a Cold War. had pressured the CIA's analytical division to exaggerate the Soviet menace to fit the ideological perspective of Reagan's neo-cons, has been transformed into President Bush's Elliot Richardson and that "Mushroom Cloud" Condi's pair of black knee-high boots are going to walk all over her boss' Dick Cheney.

How else would you explain the "dramatic" changes in the administration's policies on North Korea (sending love letters to nutty Kim) and Israel/Palestine (did we say A-N-N-A-P-O-L-I-S?), not to mention the "thaw" in the relationship with those who were once bashed as Old Europe (Germany) and Cheese-Eating-Monkeys (the French)?

According to the CWers these are all signs that the so, so Brilliant Condi and Very Cool Bob have gained the upper-hand in the struggle over Bush's foreign policy as Cheney has been forced to spend his time gushing over his miracle-of-the-sperm-bank grandkid instead of, say, nuking someone somewhere or doing regime-changes around the world.

And then there was of course the piece de resistance in the Realist Resurgence - the historic bureaucratic coup d'etat in during which the Realists struck back - and in the "key judgments" of their US National Intelligence Estimates (NIE) that pulled the rug right out from under President Bushcheney's scheme to fillet the New Hitler and the rest of the Holocaust Deniers in Tehran. Yep. It's time for that proverbial collective sigh of relief, for some good old' shadenfroid as we watch humiliated John Bolton doing his Churchill shtick as he accuses the "appeasers" of perpetrating a new Munich in the name of Peace in Our time, etc.

But let's be a bit contrarian here. It is possible that what the CWers are celebrating as strategic changes in Bush's foreign policy - suggesting that the Dubya has decided to abandon his grand designs of Freedom Marching and hegemonizing the Middle East - are really nothing more than tactical maneuvers on the way towards a new age of Pax Americana here (Iraq), there (Iran) and everywhere (watch out Russia and China!). After all, even builders of great world empires - Napoleon and Hitler come to mind - had to suffer many tactical setbacks and adjust to realities on their way to continental and global domination. Not that we - God forbid! - are comparing mini W to the big H. Instead, Bush's own Truman Narrative seems to project his fantastic mindset. The War against Islamo-Fascism equals the War against Communism, and Bush like Truman established the foundations for the grand American strategy in dealing with a global menace.

From that perspective, the Rice-Gates-led so-called realist resurgence should be seen for what it really is: taking one step backward so as to prepare for racing full-speed forward. Hence, an overstretched US military cannot threaten Pyongyang with war, especially after Kim Jong-il possessed the Bomb; so the Bushies talk with him. Sort of. Try to make a deal. Perhaps. But notice that American troops are still on the Korean Peninsula.

Meanwhile, Condi recognizes that she cannot "make" peace between Arabs and Jews in the Holy Land and in any case, she doesn't want to pressure the Israelis. But America needs to placate the (oil-producing) Saudis by "doing something". So here we go with a photo-ops in Annapolis, Jerusalem and Ramallah that produce a sense of "momentum" in the peace process, and make it possible to maintain US influence in the region.

And then there has been the coming-to-power of more conservative figures in Berlin and Paris who have been depicted by the CWers as "pro-American" (which they aren't; they're pro-German and pro-French respectively) and who are supposedly willing to support the Bush Administration's policies in the Mideast as long, that is, as the Bushies don't mention the war (if you haven't notice: there are no French or German troops in Iraq).

Which brings us back to Iran. Even before the release of the NIE report and at a time when Rumsfeld and Bolton were still hanging around Washington it was becoming clear that with all the mess in Mesopotamia, the Americans didn't have the military resources to "do an Iraq" in Iran. Yes, there was some talk about targeting Iran's nuclear installations if the diplomatic pressure on Tehran would fail to force the ayatollahs to cry "uncle". And even before the coup d'etat in Washington, many CWers were arguing that a limited US strike on Iranian installations would be impractical (do we really know where they are?) and costly (oil prices and anti-Americans in the Middle East would rise above their current dangerous levels).

t could be argued that the spooks in Washington just provided the Bushies with an excuse not to do what they had already decided not to do (which explains why some conspiracy theorists have suggested that the Bushies were the driving force behind the decision to release the NIE report). But consider the following: Does anyone really think that President Bush would like to read the following Wikipedia entry 10 years from now:

George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) was the 43rd US president. His decision to invade Iraq and oust Saddam Hussein resulted in the disintegration of Iraq and in the emergence of its neighbor and rival Iran as the main military power in the Persian Gulf, turning the Shi'ite-headed regime in Baghdad as well as the Shi'ite-led groups in Lebanon and other parts of the Middle East into political satellites of Tehran. The invasion of Iraq accelerated Iran's efforts to acquire nuclear military capability (which it did in 2009 immediately after President Barack Obama entered the White House), posing a major threat to US allies in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Western strategic and economic interests in the oil-rich region.

In short, President Bush proved to be Iran's most faithful ally. Indeed, President Bush recognizes that the mess he has made in Iraq, combined with the rising power of radical Shi'ite forces there, has played into the hands of the Iranians.

That, together with the failure of Israel to deal a military blow to the Hezbollah in Lebanon has helped shift the balance of power in the Persian Gulf toward Iran and its Shi'ite allies in the Middle East, in a way that threatens the interests of key regional US allies, Saudi Arabia and Israel. Hence the current status quo is only making Iran more assertive, inducing it to continue its nuclear programs, and threatening the "legacy" of President Bush (see the above Wikipedia entry). That means that the Bushies are hoping that they'll be able to "do something" that would change the status quo, and remove that smirk from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. At the minimum, Bush wants to be recalled as someone who "kicked some ass" in the Persian Gulf before leaving office.

That doesn't mean an all-out war with Iran or even an attack on its suspected nuclear installations. If you followed the recent bizarre encounter between the US Navy and the Iranians in the straits of Hormuz, you get an idea of the opportunities that are opened to the Bushies if and when they decide to orchestrate or exploit a crisis in the Persian Gulf that could lead to an American retaliation against an Iranian "provocation".

That kind of opportunistic approach is not different from the way the Bush Administration took advantage of September 11 to mobilize public support for going to war against Iraq. Just change the nationality of the 15 sailors who were seized by the Iranians in March last year, imagine that they would have been Americans and not British and you here we are watching CNN's Wolf Blitzer reporting on "Day 15: American Held Hostage" ("We have an exclusive interview with the mother of Sergeant Brittany Steele ... " and before you know it, Congressional and public pressure builds-up and US troops are storming into a headquarters of Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

And it's possible that a "provocation" could turn to be a (real) provocation if and when elements in the Iranian leadership who are looking forward towards a military confrontation with the US would make sure that Iranian forces do take military action against the forces of the Great Satan.

Iran will hold parliamentary elections on March 14, 2008, and you don't have to be an expert in Iranian politics to figure out that the political parties associated with President Ahmadinejad who has been under attack at home for his mismanagement of the country's economy could benefit politically from rising tensions with between Tehran and Washington.

Interestingly enough, it's not inconceivable that by early March the Iranian political calendar will intersect with the American one, when we'll probably know by then who the Democrats and the Republicans have nominated as their presidential candidate. And you don't have to be an expert on American politics to figure out that neither Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama would be in a position to challenge President Bush's decision to retaliate against Iran. Mix American nationalism aimed at long-time adversary, Revolutionary Iran, the threat of Islamo-Fascism and the support for Israel and the role of its American friends in US electoral politics, and you understand why Obama or Hillary won't allow themselves to sound less hawkish than John McCain or Mitt Romney.

And apropos Israel. It's an open secret that Israel's leaders have been alarmed by the effect that the NIE report had on Washington and they clearly are concerned that the Bush Administration and Congress may lack the will to confront Tehran over the nuclear military program which, they insist, is alive and well. So if you're in the shoes of the Israeli prime minister, you will probably conclude that Israel has a narrow window of opportunity extending until the end of 2008 - before Bushcheney, Likud's best friend in Washington, leaves office - to take military action against Iran.

Realistically speaking, the Israelis will not attack Iran without at least an American "yellow light" (and we'll learn about that in Bob Woodward's next anthology of White House memos and conversations). And there is no doubt that the CW in most world capitals - certainly in Tehran and the rest of the Middle East - will be that Iran was attacked by Israel and the US. Expect Obama and McCain, Clinton and Romney in the midst of a heated election campaign to stand squarely behind the Israelis in their confrontation with Iran, ensuring that Bush's successor at the White House will be forced into a multi-front war in the Middle East that could involve Israel and Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon.

If these scenarios sound improbable - like terrorist flying planes into the World Trade Center or the United States invading Iraq - it's probably a failure of imagination on your part. Contrary to the narrative promoted by the CWers, the realists have not won the policy war in Washington and Bushcheney and its neoconservative minions continue to have the upper hand in setting US foreign policy agenda. We're still watching and taking part in the Bush Show - and we shouldn't be surprised to find out sometime this year that the witch is not dead.

Leon Hadar is a research fellow with the Cato Institute
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JA26Ak03.html

Report: Libby a long-time Israeli intelligence agent
by Wayne Madsen

Global Research, July 7, 2007
waynemadsenreport.com

Irving Lewis "Scooter" Libby (Leibowitz) has been a long-serving intelligence agent for Israel's Mossad, according to a veteran CIA "official cover" officer who spoke to the Wayne Madsen Report on deep background. The CIA's Clandestine Service has, over the years, gathered a tremendous amount of intelligence on Libby's activities on behalf of Mossad.

Libby served as the lawyer for Switzerland- based American fugitive financier Marc Rich, aka Mark David Reich, who is also known to be an Israeli intelligence asset and someone Israel relies upon for missions that demand "plausible deniability" on the part of the Mossad. Rich heads up a worldwide empire of dummy corporations, foundations, and numbered bank accounts that have been involved in sanctions busting and weapons smuggling. The nations involved include Israel, United States, United Kingdom, Iran, Panama, Colombia, Russia, Iraq (under Saddam Hussein), Cuba, Spain, Nigeria, Singapore, Bolivia, Jamaica, Bermuda, France, Italy, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Kazakhstan, Philippines, Australia, Argentina, Peru, Ireland, Zambia, Sw

In 1983, the then-U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York urged jail time for Rich and his partner Pincus Green for racketeering. The name of that U.S. Attorney is Rudolph Giuliani. Giuliani, who is now running for president, praised Bush's decision to commute Libby's jail sentence. After Clinton 's pardon of Rich, Giuliani said he was "shocked." Paul Klebnikov, the Moscow editor for Forbes' Russian edition, wrote about the connections of Rich to Russian gangsters like Boris Berezovsky, a business partner of Neil Bush, in his book "Godfather of the Kremlin." Klebnikov was shot to death gangland-style on a Moscow street on July 9, 2004.

Libby not only provided the Mossad with a top agent inside the White House but also an important conduit for the Russian-Israeli Mafia.

Libby arranged for Rich's eleventh hour pardon by outgoing President Bill Clinton in January 2001. The pardon of Rich was urged in a phone call to Clinton by then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, as well as Shimon Peres and Ehud Olmert.

Yesterday, Libby received a commutation of his 30-month prison sentence from President George W. Bush. Libby was convicted on four counts of perjury, lying to a federal law enforcement officer, and obstruction of justice in the investigation by U.S. Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald of the White House's leak to the media of the identity CIA non-official cover officer Valerie Plame Wilson.

Libby was denied bail by U.S. Judge Reggie Walton and was ordered to prison while appealing his sentence. Libby was assigned Bureau of Prisons inmate number 28301-016.

Libby worked for Paul Wolfowitz in the State Department's Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs from 1982 to 1985. Libby again worked for Wolfowitz in the Pentagon as the Principal Undersecretary for Strategy and Resources. Libby later became the Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Policy and served as a chief aide to Defense Secretary Dick Cheney.

It was while Libby was working for Wolfowitz at State, the FBI arrested Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, who had delivered enough highly-classified U.S. documents they could have entirely filled a garage. It was well known that Pollard had a "control officer" within the Reagan administration. The control officer was code-named "Mega."

Current British Lord Chancellor and former British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said that during Middle East peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, "It's a toss-up whether [Libby] is working for the Israelis or the Americans on any given day." Clinton 's Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder told the House Government Affairs Committee in 2001 that he discovered much more about Rich after Clinton 's pardon and said, "Knowing everything that I know now, I would not have recommended to the president that he grant the pardon."

It has also been reported that, in addition to pressure from leading neocons in the United States to keep Libby out of jail, Bush was urged by leading Israeli government officials to prevent Libby from going to prison.

Fitzgerald issued the following statement regarding Bush's commutation of Libby's prison sentence:

"We fully recognize that the Constitution provides that commutation decisions are a matter of presidential prerogative and we do not comment on the exercise of that prerogative.

We comment only on the statement in which the President termed the sentence imposed by the judge as 'excessive.' The sentence in this case was imposed pursuant to the laws governing sentencing which occurs every day throughout this country. In this case, an experienced federal judge considered extensive argument from the parties and then imposed a sentence consistent with the applicable laws. It is fundamental to the rule of law that all citizens stand before the bar of justice as equals. That principle guided the judge during both the trial and the sentencing.

Although the President's decision eliminates Mr. Libby's sentence of imprisonment, Mr. Libby remains convicted by a jury of serious felonies, and we will continue to seek to preserve those convictions through the appeals process.

Wayne Madsen is a frequent contributor to Global Research.
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=6236

http://911exposed.org/BBC.htm
Video
http://911exposed.org/BBC_files/barak-bbc.mpeg

YouTube - BBC Ehud Barak 9/11 Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hhiJanLm7g

THE NEXT ACT
Is a damaged Administration less likely to attack Iran, or more?
by SEYMOUR M. HERSH
The New Yorker 200611.27
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/061127fa_fact

Steve Bell

Attention Slimy Corporate Media:
You Should Be Asking Presidential Candidates:

If THEY Want War,
where will THEY get the troops,
and will THEY bring back the DRAFT?

Warning Sign

The forced recall of 3,500 Marines is a clarion call warning to all Americans, and along with other distortions of deployment practices, is now, in effect, a form of reviving the draft.

Listening to the President, Vice President Cheney, the various neoconservative policy pushers, their vision appears to be a vision of endless and permanent world war, with expanding and ever more dangerous fields of combat, when we do not even have the troops strength to meet our commitments today.

Having been involved in intelligence and military matters for more than two decades, this much is clear: we cannot sustain our commitments today; with any additional wars to fight, we will be left with only two choices: either inadequate forces creating more Iraqs, or adequate forces that can only be maintained through a revival of the draft, no matter what it is called. That is the fact.

When these neoconservative voices rush to the airwaves to proclaim the wars they would like (others) to fight, Democrats, Republicans and all in the media should ask [INCLUDING THOSE RUNNUNG FOR PRESIDENT]:

If you want war with Iran, where will you get the troops, and will you bring back the draft?

If you want war with Syria, where will you get the troops, and will you bring back the draft?

If you want war with North Korea, where will you get the troops, and will you bring back the draft?

It is high time and long overdue that the United States resumes its role of world diplomatic and political leadership and brings in people of world-wide credibility and stature to at least test the waters for game-changing diplomacy.

For those who prefer the course of war, we must all ask, on every occasion: for the wars you would like to fight, where will you get the troops, and are you prepared to bring back the draft?

Brent Budowsky was an aide to U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen on intelligence issues, and served as Legislative Director to Rep. Bill Alexander when he was Chief Deputy Whip of the House Democratic Leadership. Budowsky can be reached at brentbbi@webtv.net

Source: http://www.consortiumnews.com/2006/082306a.html

A FLASH VIDEO ON: The Draft - http://www.flyingsnail.com/draft.html

President justifies war to parents of dead:

http://www.flyingsnail.com/Dahbud/2deadday.html

Rebirth of Evil
http://www.flyingsnail.com/Podcast/RebirthOfEvil.mp3

200801.26
Underground
[BB 14,7 GB 5,2 RB 21,4, WB 17,13]

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.

U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 110th Congress - 2nd Session
as compiled through Senate LIS by the Senate Bill Clerk under the direction of the Secretary of the Senate
Vote Summary
Question: On the Motion to Table (Motion to Table Committee on the Judiciary Reported Substitute Amendment, as Modified, to S.2248 )
Vote Number: 2 Vote Date: January 24, 2008, 02:03 PM
Required For Majority: 1/2 Vote Result: Motion to Table Agreed to
Measure Number: S. 2248 (FISA Amendments Act of 2007 )
Measure Title: An original bill to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, to modernize and streamline the provisions of that Act, and for other purposes.
Vote Counts: YEAs 60
NAYs 36
Not Voting 4

YEAS [Evil-Doers Who Support A Lying Republican Administration] - 60

Alexander (R-TN) - Allard (R-CO) - Barrasso (R-WY) - Bayh (D-IN) - Bennett (R-UT) - Bond (R-MO) - Brownback (R-KS) - Bunning (R-KY) - Burr (R-NC) - Carper (D-DE) - Chambliss (R-GA) - Coburn (R-OK) - Cochran (R-MS) - Coleman (R-MN) - Collins (R-ME) - Corker (R-TN) - Cornyn (R-TX) - Craig (R-ID) - Crapo (R-ID) - DeMint (R-SC) - Dole (R-NC) - Domenici (R-NM) - Ensign (R-NV) - Enzi (R-WY) - Grassley (R-IA) - Gregg (R-NH) - Hagel (R-NE) - Hatch (R-UT) - Hutchison (R-TX) - Inhofe (R-OK) - Inouye (D-HI) - Isakson (R-GA) - Johnson (D-SD) - Kyl (R-AZ) - Landrieu (D-LA) - Lieberman (ID-CT) - Lugar (R-IN) - Martinez (R-FL) - McCaskill (D-MO) - McConnell (R-KY) - Mikulski (D-MD) - Murkowski (R-AK) - Nelson (D-FL) - Nelson (D-NE) - Pryor (D-AR) - Roberts (R-KS) - Rockefeller (D-WV) - Salazar (D-CO) - Sessions (R-AL) - Shelby (R-AL) - Smith (R-OR) - Snowe (R-ME) - Specter (R-PA) - Stevens (R-AK) - Sununu (R-NH) - Thune (R-SD) - Vitter (R-LA) - Voinovich (R-OH) - Warner (R-VA) - Wicker (R-MS)

NAYS - 36

Akaka (D-HI) - Baucus (D-MT) - Biden (D-DE) - Bingaman (D-NM) - Boxer (D-CA) - Brown (D-OH) - Byrd (D-WV) - Cantwell - (D-WA) - Cardin (D-MD) - Casey (D-PA) - Conrad (D-ND) - Dodd (D-CT) - Dorgan (D-ND) - Durbin (D-IL) - Feingold (D-WI) - Feinstein (D-CA) - Harkin (D-IA) - Kennedy (D-MA) - Kerry (D-MA) - Klobuchar (D-MN) - Kohl (D-WI) - Lautenberg (D-NJ) - Leahy (D-VT) - Levin (D-MI) - Lincoln (D-AR) - Menendez (D-NJ) - Murray (D-WA) - Reed (D-RI) - Reid (D-NV) - Sanders (I-VT) - Schumer (D-NY) - Stabenow (D-MI) - Tester (D-MT) - Webb (D-VA) - Whitehouse (D-RI) - Wyden (D-OR)

Not Voting [or did not care] - 4

Clinton (D-NY) - Graham (R-SC) - McCain (R-AZ) - Obama (D-IL)

If a president is willing to lie about the most basic governmental and political facts, civic debate becomes impossible, and the public becomes incapable of informed judgment. Because of the great weight that any president's words have with the public, the president of the United States must not be a liar. - Tony (I wonder what I was smoking when I said that) Blankley

Romans 12:19

"When a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security."

Real Hackers Use Microwave - ^xam^

Texas UFO sightings are part of larger, deeper questions

By Steve Hammons

The sightings of unusual lights and a huge object or craft in the vicinity of Stephenville, Texas, seem to have helped improve the public discussion, news coverage and understanding about these kinds of situations.

The news media appeared to cover the story fairly responsibly with initial "hard news" coverage from reputable organizations such as the Associated Press. [Continue Reading At]:

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/49945

Texas UFOs at - Google News

Listen Up Earth

and pass it around:

UFO-1974.mp3

While participating with an amateur radio network, during 1974, I heard a high speed Morse code message that repeated three times, without identification, and went silent. The message stated a time, date, frequency, and requested the broadcast be recorded. The broadcast was on high frequency radio and starts off with poor sound and gets better a few minutes after the start. Even though some of the information is 'off', it is important to remember this was 1974 and that some things mentioned, in some cases, pertain to today. Of interest are claims the government is being taken over, references to oil crisis, and a disaster on the 'Gulf Coast'. Source [No adds at Flying Snail and hotlinking encouraged.]

because, we may have changed our minds.
SOG - #5

Zen Judaism

If there is no self, whose arthritis is this?

Be here now.
Be someplace else later.
Is that so complicated?

Drink tea and nourish life.
With the first sip. . . joy.
With the second. . . satisfaction.
With the third, peace.
With the fourth, a danish.

Wherever you go, there you are.
Your luggage is another story.

Accept misfortune as a blessing.
Do not sigh for perfect health.
Or a life without problems.
What would you talk about?

The journey of a thousand miles
Begins with a single "oy."

There is no escaping karma.
In a previous life, you never called, you never wrote, you never visited.
And whose fault was that?

Zen is not easy.
It takes effort to attain nothingness.
And then what do you have?
Bupkis.

The Tao does not speak.
The Tao does not blame.
The Tao does not take sides.
The Tao has no expectations.
The Tao demands nothing of others.
The Tao is not Jewish.

Breathe in. Breathe out.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
Forget this and attaining Enlightenment will be the least of your problems.

Let your mind be as a floating cloud.
Let your stillness be as the weeded glen.
And sit up straight.
You'll never meet the Buddha with such rounded shoulders.

Be patient and achieve all things.
Be impatient and achieve all things faster.

To find the Buddha, look within.
Deep inside you are ten thousand flowers.
Each flower blossoms ten thousand time.
Each blossom has ten thousand petals.
You might want to see a specialist.

To practice Zen and the art of Jewish motorcycle maintenance, do the following:
Get rid of the motorcycle.
What were you thinking?

Be aware of your body.
Be aware of your perceptions.
Keep in mind that not every physical sensation is a symptom of a terminal illness.

The Torah says, "Love thy neighbor as thyself."
The Buddha says there is no "self."
So, maybe you are off the hook