HAMMERNEWS- Mike Hammerschlag

WHO's SAYIN 'HUSSEIN' NOW?

2011-05-02T12:49:00.009-04:00

WHO's SAYIN 'HUSSEIN' NOW?

by Michael Hammerschlag

The successful raid on OBL brings many emotions- the damn Pakistani ISI (and govrnmt?) were protecting him for years, keeping this incredible secret against the 50-65% of Pakis who would have gladly killed him themselves for the many terrorist attacks he carried out in Pakistan. With a large Paki military compound only a km away, that is absolutely amazing- with a $25 million reward out for him? Obama's extraordinary patience in waiting since last August is incredible- given OBL's uncanny evasiveness, but there was another family of doubles reportedly living there; and secretly invading "allies" is dangerous stuff, not the least cause they can, uh, shoot you down.

I think it is too bad he wasn't taken alive, rotting in an American prison forever would evaporate his cultish superman status and reduce him to an ordinary man, and it's the one thing bastards all over the world fear above all. Now he become myth and martyr. [On the other hand, holding him could provoke more grizzly hostage spectacles]. Worse, disposing of him at sea will fuel endless conspiracy theories that he is NOT dead- where is the proof video now? When monsters are killed, they must be displayed- Mussolini, Pol Pot, Escobar, Ceausescu; or people will never really believe or overcome the fear. The fact that Hitler wasn't fueled Nazi groups for decades. OBL wasn't a dummy- I wouldn't be surprised if he created a banked "They say I'm dead, but it's a lie!" video with something current then woven in. Frankly I couldn't care less about honoring Muslim 24hr burial traditions- this wasn't a military leader- but a soft-spoken megalomaniacal killer who targeted innocents because of his twisted notions of Islamic purity. Or we could have kept his head for future reference (displayed on the Mall?). Note a 40 minute firefight for SEALS is a long time- maybe much of that was searching for documents.

I warned 12 days after 9-11 that the cure was part of the problem:
"...- in fact Pakistan is probably a greater source of terrorism than Afghanistan itself, with 120 training camps for mujahadeen (most for the conflict with India), a huge and uncontrolled criminal element, an unstable government of limited support, a definite radical anti-American element, and most terrifyingly- nuclear weapons. In fact many Taliban themselves were trained and supported by Pakistan; the anti-Taliban Afghans considered them a foreign invasion. Recently assassinated Ahmed Massoud claimed Pakistan sent thousands of Army troops to help the Taliban attack his Northern Alliance."

My connections with 9-11 were many: from supposed to fly over Central Park at 5:30pm on 911, to feeling a huge attack was coming 2 months earlier just from accumulated Palestinian rage, to suffering a direct attack on my airline ticket business, to running into 2 of the hijackers in the Ft. Lauderdale public library 5 months earlier (I believe), to exploring the sealed to press ruins secretly for 2 hours in Dec 2001. If you really want to relive that day, find the incredible French documentary of firefighters shown once in US TV and disappeared, that shows the command center INSIDE the ground floor of WTC2 as WTC1 is hit by the second plane, or the horrific explosions from the roof above as jumpers slammed into it at 150mph.

http://hammernews.blogspot.com/2005/09/9-11-predictions-dreams-and-hitchens.html

It's hard to really celebrate- the waste, the destruction, the evaporation of American principles has been so extreme, in the insanely named "War on Terror". If the Repubs hadn't jimmied up Monica in the first of their 3 great treasons (w Bush election theft + Iraq Invasion), I believe Clinton would have sent commandos to wipe out OBL + his training camps in Afghanistan after the 1998 African US Embassy bombings. Bush's election + the Iraq Invasion + maybe 2008 meltdown wouldn't have happened. If only retarded Rummy had sent 2000 Rangers into Tora Bora rather than hew to his smarter faster lighter military theories, Qaida may not have metastasized into the world.

Coupled with the devastating attack on Khaddafi's home, airliners better give Libya a 150 mile berth for a while; but hopefully the death of OBL will coordinately with the Arab Spring, be the death knell of Islamic radicals, who may fade to relative irrelevance. Arab rage was always fueled by their powerlessness against their dictators- now they have worlds to build and promises to keep. As NYT Roger Cohen says: "Bin Laden’s rose-tinged caliphate was the solace of the disenfranchised, the disempowered and the desperate. A young guy with a job, a vote and prospects does not need virgins in paradise". And America can finally retire the somehow un-American breast-beating victimhood that 9-11 engendered.

If Obama is smart, he would take this chance to ease Patriot Act outrages, stop continuing torture, rescind onerous restrictions on foreign students who go to China instead, and close Guantanamo- screw Congress- he has the power. It's tempting to say this guarantees BO's reelection, but Bush 1 achieved a great victory in the Gulf War at this time in the election cycle, then lost in 1992 due to economic factors. Repub lunatics will keep hacking away at the Other with every tool they can find, and the US/World economy could easily tank again.

But in Bush's vicious manipulation of 911, he let the Islamo-radicals succeed- they provoked Bush into his criminal invasion of Iraq (classic great power reckless overreaction) and bled us of $3 trillion and 50,000 soldiers (inc. wounded); they changed us forever, allowed our fear and paranoia to overcome our good sense, turned Americans into torturers, upending our most cherished beliefs, and the massive security apparatus created will eventually and inevitably be used against us- imagine what a Prez Palin or Trump would do with it. The survival of the American Experiment is not guaranteed, and we still struggle against domestic extremist forces far more dangerous than anything external.

MH's 9-11 + Security articles

I saw this on unrestricted 460 channel satellite TV, and it's been fascinating flipping through 20 different countries' news channels coverage- the most striking thing is the English versions are 90% identical. Al-Jazeera Intern. is totally professional- and has an excellent documentary on the Egyptian uprising.

Michael Hammerschlag’s (Hammernews.com) articles have appeared in the NYT, International Herald Tribune, Seattle Times, Providence Journal; Moscow News, Tribune, + Guardian, Kiev Weekly. He has spent over 5 years reporting from Ukraine and Russia.

TEPCO TWITS; KHADDAFFI, QUADAFI; NUCLEAR NIGHTMARES, FREEDOM RINGS in ARABIA

2011-03-08T08:24:00.008-05:00

TEPCO TWITS; Khaddaffi Quadafi, who cares; NUCLEAR NIGHTMARES, FREEDOM RINGS in ARABIA

I'm shocked by the incompetence and frankly chicken reaction of the Japanese. Seems America was very successful in inculcating them with safety and peace values, over everything, to the extent that the samuri spirit was bred out of them... and their unique and terrible history with nuclear bombs has caused lasting psychological damage. If you run nuclear power stations, you have to be willing to sacrifice people to keep them under control- they understood that at 3 Mile Island and Chernobyl (though in fact most people thrown in the fight here were unaware it was probably a death sentence).. but the Japanese reacted with such an abundance of caution that when it was possible to observe and control the damage without fatalities or even permanent injury, they did almost nothing. And so we get these incredible idiotic coy statements about “highly radioactive water, but we don't know where it's coming from”. Well, FIND OUT!! Now, with highly contaminated lethal plants there is no possibility they will get in there. So we are looking at real meltdowns, and years of trouble and terror.

Where are the military bomb robots from Iraq, or the bird-size drones we've been hearing about for years?? How can they still not know what's going on in these plants? The spent fuel pools are giant sources of danger- one has 10 reactors of spent fuel, and with one a Pl-U mix, burning Plutonium in the air is still a possibility. It's already in the water outside the plant, so now there is rupture of maybe 2 internal containments. The Japanese NRC, if it exists, should have taken over from the wimps and fools at TEPCO; but I guess they are also toothless and compromised.

Hard-core anti-nuclear activists are deeply convinced of their moral rectitude, but the world has changed around them w GW: nuclear power is like a fly in your house and GW is a freight train running through it. The campaign against nuclear power has been tragic and Pyrrhic- if there were double the nuclear plants, the Earth would be in much better shape. And we may be past the point of no return, which this producer who made the Coal Mtn-top Removal movie and is just finishing a GW documentary, believes. There are no absolutes- the world is moving towards coal, and all of its effects are incredibly poisonous to the environment. You saw the effect of one 10M tsunami on a small part of Japan- 26,000 dead- imagine the effect of one 20-30M hitting the whole world from ice sheet collapse. As Americans, we may not initially die from food shortages or exponential price rises, unless you are poor, but there are a lot of ways to die, it will get worse and worse, and your children and grandchildren are in mortal threat.

Obama is now calling for 1/3 reduction of foreign oil imports by 2025, too little too late- total independence by 2020 should have been the goal, with massive alternative energy projects across the sun and wind belts, and yes, fast track nuclear too. He barely mentions solar or wind power. France is +85% nuclear and hasn't had any problem, likewise the US Navy has run nuclear submarines for over a half-century, where they breathe the same air for months, and not had any nuclear disasters. I toured the Trojan Nuclear power plant and prophylactic factory on the Columbia R. once in the days when you could get press tours, but they don't let you see the cool stuff, like the eerie Kirilian blue light from the spent fuel pools.

----- The ppm of CO2 has increased over 4 ppm to 389, that is over a 1% rise in only 2 years; over the next 10 years, at 2.3 ppm/year and accelerating, that is a 6.6% further rise to 415. And these levels are already 28% higher than anything seen in the last 4 million years.

--so the 0.9° C (1.62° F) 5 yr average rise, the latest 2010 number, over the last 100 years (from 1907 to 2010 a 1.06C rise in annual averages; in 2003, the IPCC number was only 0.7, so thats a 28% rise of 100 yr-change in only 7 years), can mean a .4° C rise in the tropics, 1--1.6° rise in Europe, and 3-6° change in the Arctic, ----- "ARE WE COOKED"

Khaddaffi, Qaddaffi, Kadaffy, lets call the whole thing off: (not really)

As I was afraid, there is a certain organic process to this. momentum to overthrowing evil dictators- they are aware in their bones of their accumulated crimes, and have nightmares of their oppressed people rising up and dismembering them.. and had the West intervened at just the right moment when all the momentum was against the K-man, their fear would have turned to panic, many government and military people would have turned against them, and I believe he would have already fled. Now it looks to be a long fight, probable partition, and a trained experienced military always have a significant advantage. Course it's always better to act internationally, but even Arab govs support us in this.

NUCLEAR NIGHTMARES

The news out of Japan is incredible- that the most earthquake-prepared country on earth has 4 nuclear plants in serious trouble- with a full meltdown at one and partial at others, although with the reactor control rods in, a full meltdown shouldn't be possible. I've been without Internet so haven't even watched the videos and only read sketchy reports. With the fuel exposed heats up and zirconium in the rods hydrolyze the water into Oxygen and Hydrogen, which accumulates in the building. I've written 3 long articles on nuclear war, and read The Warning- a book about 3 Mile Island (which was entirely human caused- operators shut off 4 redundant cooling systems on the basis of ONE erroneous sensor, so insane that I thought maybe they were all dosed with acid- the NRC guys almost couldn't believe they did what they did when they came on the scene). Oh, and I lived 60 miles from Chernobyl for 2½ years in Kiev, swam in the Dneiper, and drank the tap water (which comes from another river). And it hasn't affected me at all, at all, ah...ah... ah. A Brit friend doing a doctorate on Chernobyl tourism showed me the pics of the Red Forest, bright red trees in the intense radioactive zone, where you don't venture even for 10 minutes. The restricted area has an enormous amount of wildlife now- humans are a lot worse than radiation.

I bodysurfed the tidal bore (42ft tides-highest in the world, but they come in in 45min, not 6 hours) at the river end of the Bay of Fundy in a display of youthful bravado that may have ended badly had I been swept into quicksand flats past it (luckily hit a central pier of rocks, sucked under a whirlpool in the 8ft water, then the wave broke to only a foot deep and could walk out). One thing to think about in watching are the tsunami footage- this is Pacific winter ocean water: 5 degrees C if they are lucky, and most of the people killed were probably by the cold- only 15-30 minutes survival.

Actually Arthur, the Hindenburg burned nice and evenly, as pure hydrogen does, but mixed with air at 1 part to 10 or whatever, it becomes spectacularly explosive, so it would be much worse. With burning hot nuclear fuel and oxygen also generated, explosions aren't a possibility, but an automatic eventuality. Worse it would happen INSIDE an egg, which a containment building essentially is. A 5 psi overpressure (blast wave) will knock down any normal wooden house, but in a 3 Mile Island hydrogen explosion inside the containment, there was a 30psi spike (enough to knock down even reinforced apartment bldgs), way above what it was built to take (thank Westinghouse). Had it cracked open (like an egg), it would have dumped 70,000 roentgens of an evil stew of radionucleotides into the air 60 miles north of Harrisburg, or 100? west of Trenton.

I took a whole college course in earthquakes at ---, one reason many free thinkers went there, and always wanted to be in a really big one (outside of course), but only saw two 4's in Seattle and Hawaii. A 9.0 is as big as they get, 100 times bigger than the 1989 SF one that I was almost in (left a week before) in the logarithmic scale. LA and SF are on schedule to be part annihilated, since the accumulated unrelieved fault slippage in the San Andreas is now 2x more than the 1906 quake- none of the other Cal. quakes were really on the main San Andreas (in the 70's it was supposedly already 7 ft).

The radioactive stuff you hear about is iodine, because it is concentrated in the thyroid, intense beta emitter w 8 day half-life, and quickly causes cancer (but can be avoided by saturating the system with regular iodine); but the truly dangerous long term stuff are two 30 year half-life isotopes: Strontium 90, which being in the same family as Calcium, gets absorbed into the bones (especially children); and Cesium 137, which being similar to Sodium and Potassium, gets absorbed in the muscles, and highly soluable, so deeply contaminates the environment. It is a vicious gamma emitter so strong that it is used in cancer treatment machines (and achieved some fame when Brazilian and Russian scrap metal junk scavengers toasted themselves and families with the beautiful mysterious glowing substance). Since Calcium is so slowly absorbed, flooding the system with it doesn't remove the danger of Strontium- it is a long long term threat after a nuclear bomb or accidental release. We all have detectable traces of this shit in our bones (under 78 yo) from the hundreds of nuclear tests in the 50's and 60's.

Pressurized water nuclear reactors with primary and secondary loops work at temperatures and pressures that seem impossible (past the critical points of solid-liquid-gas transitions, from what I thought I learned; no thats 374C and 220 atm)- 155 atmospheres pressure and 320 degree C. Any damage of anything in them guarantees further catastrophic failure. A pinhole leak in one of these things would cut a person in half and blow down walls. Luckilly Fukushima has boiling water reators, which operate at a far lower pressure- 74 atm +283C, but have only one loop of water for spinning the turbines, so everything is somewhat radioactive. Even with the main nuclear reaction shut down- the fuel rods themselves keep cooking from all the byproducts created in the intense neutron field, and must be water cooled for 5 years or so. The explosion in #4 was only from a breakdown of old stored fuel rods getting so hot they started hydrolyzing the water.

What is inexplicable is why all the failsafe cooling systems have failed; and why all these things weren't hardened to withstand tsunami- oil fired diesel pumps aren't the most reliable things after a tsunami. It is very bad that they are cooling them with sea water- first it conducts electricity and will short out everything, second it is highly corrosive, third the sodium chloride will react with the various metals and radionucleotides on it's own, creating more deadly byproducts like chlorine. All the plants in trouble are in a row- 4 of them, and now they say 3 are trashed forever, causing a permanent devastating blow to Japans economy- they don't have backup plants to replace all that capacity. Likely the 50 hero guys remaining to fight the meltdowns are ghosts, like virtually all the people dumping sand and fire fighting stuff on Chernobyl and later cleanup. They all will probably receive lethal doses.

NYT: “Readings reported on Tuesday showed a spike of radioactivity around the plant (#2) that made the leakage categorically worse than in had been, with radiation levels measured at one point as high as 400 millisieverts an hour. Even 7 minutes of exposure at that level will reach the maximum annual dose that a worker at an American nuclear plant is allowed. And exposure for 75 minutes would likely lead to acute radiation sickness.” “We are on the brink. We are now facing the worst-case scenario,” said Hiroaki Koide, a senior reactor engineering specialist at the Research Reactor Institute of Kyoto University. “We can assume that the containment vessel at Reactor No. 2 is already breached. If there is heavy melting inside the reactor, large amounts of radiation will most definitely be released.”

Lets hope the winds blow Westerly (from, that is, still think its stupid to not call winds where they blow, to) and the major cities avoid getting dosed with anything nasty. California (and Hawaii) may have a few weeks of radically different pollution warnings, though. Chernobyl was much much worse, though- the worst accident possible- 5 days of burning Plutonium- the tiniest particle of which if inhaled- always caused cancer.

Even with all the travails and terror, I still am a booster of nuclear power, because with this included, the fatalities from nuclear accidents are maybe a few tens of thousands whereas the deaths from global warming will probably be billions. Imagine a tsunami twice that height hitting all over the world if a Long Island piece of Antarctic ice 2 miles high slams into the ocean at 150mph.

Before +After Photos

FREEDOM RINGS in ARABIA

The revolutions ripping through Africa/Middle East are hopeful and encouraging, but also dangerous to their people and to the West . For eons, Arabs have lived under absolute dictators- some brutal (Assads, Khaddafi, Somali's, Sudan's), some enlightened (Husseins-Jordan, Hariri), but democracy was brutally suppressed, even in our best buddy Egypt. When anti-[extremist Muslim] protesters in Cairo tried to hold a demonstration in a central circle, they were instantly arrested.

------The 28 year Mubarak government rules with an iron hand: any protests, including those against Islamic control, which the government might be expected to support, are summarily crushed. Recently by Talaat Harb Sq., 3 large police vans disgorged 60 black-clad police, reported whisking away 20 protesters about Egypt’s refusal to let in Gazan refugees before they even had a chance to be noticed. The Muslim Brotherhood, responsible for past slaughters of tourists, is banned, but bizarrely holds 20 seats in Parliament----- Cairo Calm

The enormous youth population across the Arab (and all 2nd-3^rdworld, where people breed at an incredible rate, mostly as their form of Social Security) have made such an upheaval almost inevitable- America wasn't caught unaware- Hillary Clinton warned the Big Cheeses that they were sitting on a volcano that would soon blow them away only a month or 2 before the tectonic shift.

While Libya is getting all the attention, Egypt is still the big story- encouragingly their shift has been peaceful so far, despite the housebroken military apparently not being a huge transition from the geriatric Mubarak, but latest news is the new cabinet is almost all different than the old regime, some chosen by the demonstrators. In echoes of 1989, demonstrators stormed and sacked the security police headquarters and liberated embarrassing documents.

The truth is, one of the huge draws of Islam is it's deep democratic strains- perhaps more than any religion (with the exception of women)- something never acknowledged or understood in the West. People are intimately involved in deciding everything in local mosques, and the network of religious social services is extensive. In America, 1 of 10 churches may really help the poor, in Arabia or Pakistan or Indonesia- every one does- its part of the extended social contract with the people. When an insane homeless guy came to my friend Riz's Seattle travel agency, he was assured of some money or sustenance, as are the poor in any mosque. The essential democracy of the Haj, or pilgrimage to Mecca, where the ultra-rich and dirt poor dress in simple white garb, pack into tiny areas, and are equal for a few days, is also unappreciated by the West.

BUT: their beliefs about women are deeply twisted.

That said, the vicious history of Algeria provides a huge cautionary note, that Al Kaida (I'm officially changing the name, since the Bush people basically created these guys in their scare campaign- the extremists actually were molded around Bush's advertising and publicity, from maybe 100 actual real members to thousands.*) will use this if possible to come to power in places that have a real vacuum of power like Tunisia (Libya's opposition is a real force, Egypt's military is too strong and coherent, but the little states, like Bahrain, Yemen, or UAE, are vulnerable.

The possible Civil War in Libya should be squelched early by concerted action of US-EU, not with an incredibly complex no-fly zone; but with selected attacks on the fighters and bases- modern missile cruisers can take out planes 150 miles away, safely offshore (with Khaddafi having almost all air power, determining the enemy isn't difficult). Khaddafi (Gaddafi, Qaddafi, lets call the whole thing off) is a longtime brutal scumbag- not in Saddam territory, but stories of his unknown massacres are steadily coming out. And one ex-Minister ally has claimed (without too much credibility and self-tarringly) that he heard Muammar (love that name-maybe it will become a candy bar) give the order to shoot down Pan Am 103 (that destroyed thousands of my free ticket-broker Pan Am awards, when they went bust). Obama must weigh in quickly against Khadaffi, before too many lives or treasure is lost- little actions could quickly tip the balance against the defiant and recalcitrant relic of the 70's. The little bastard had a good run- 42 years of erratic “revolutionary” show-biz spectaculars- send him to some luxury Elbe before he manages to enact his scorched earth Hitlerian resistance. That said, its kind of nice to see bastards fight to the death- “give me my dictatorship, or give me death”. Uh..... OK!!!!

The other simmering threat to world stability is these revolutions spreading to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, and other big oil producing states. SA is the largest wild-card, a brutal corrupt monarchy ruling a tiny populace in a big empty desert, that has embraced extreme Sunni Wahabbism (like the mustard) cynically to co-opt the hate-mongering whack jobs,.... but in fact, has institutionalized the most extreme and fervent fanatics... who are suppressed only with extreme brutality and a pervasive security apparatus. Saudi Arabia is the worst pressure cooker in the ME, and greatest danger to the tenuous oil supply, whose price is spiking mostly on fears, not any real shortage. The Royals were forced to release a Shiite democracy advocate, as the terror of overthrow washes over them in multiple waves. Hosni is reportedly in exile there. Yemen's Saleh is barely holding on to power after killing about 25 protesters, and Jordan's young Hussein has also been shaken by mass protests, and made various concessions. Iran's murderous mullahs are trembling at this unleashing of people power- their rotten Talibanic rule is already decades too long and death toll over a million, with the unnecessary 6 year extension of the Iran-Iraq War.

America has for decades supported whatever dictator was in power, helping them with vast assistance (like Egypt), but the alternatives were often much worse. Pressure for liberalization often went nowhere, but to our corporate government, stability was paramount. But truthfully, across the Middle East and Africa, brutal kleptocrats seem to be de rigueur (one thing that made the Neocon's sunny vision for a democratic Iraq so imbecilic): Western democracy does not have a very successful history there.

Oil is the raw material for plastics, pharmaceuticals, fertilizer; and the coming oil shortage will hit these things first- meaning, with the first Great Drought, a lack of fertilizer will maximize the death toll, raising food prices 5-10 fold. I believe with total conviction, that we are within 10 years of the first Great Drought, there will be more, and the human race will learn with monstrous certainty that it is not exempt from the iron laws of supply and demand, that we are rapacious animals who have destroyed the environment that sheltered us, even as we furiously over-bred. Previously disease culled humans so population crashes from food shortages weren't that common, but our conquering of the various plagues have enabled us to eat up the world... and soon it will return the favor. These epidemics will also return, with the load of weakened and dying, and the collapse of much of higher civilization.

But in the short term, the Arab earthquake is a good thing for them and us- unleashing massive amount of fallow captive energy, talent, and creativity... hogtied by the paranoia and paralyzing control of the dictators for so long. Our obsessive fears of extremist Islam shouldn't blind us to the enlightening power of this democratic hurricane. [How long it will last before the GD decimates them is really the question- there isn't much arable land in North Africa.] This revolution was the result of the mobile phone and Internet, not the fruit of the treasonous Iraq Invasion, which empowered the crazies, radicalized the populace, discredited America, and destroyed the Cradle of Civilization. Obama and Hillary were very wise to get out ahead of it- they can solidify their creds by helping blast the rat Khaddafi from his warren. We do owe him.

* [Another treason of BushCo, with the theft of Election2000, allowing OBL to escape, and invading Iraq in perhaps the most counterproductive military action in US or world history.]

1st PERSON SHOOTERS, LEAKING TRUTHS, HOT WET + WILD, HAMMER COMES DOWN, PYRRIC REPEAL OF HEALH CARE, QE2

2011-01-16T10:50:00.015-05:00

1st PERSON SHOOTERS

While the whack-job Loughner wasn't an obvious politically motivated assassin, his pet obsession- personal currency (huh), and the need to return to gold and silver.. is shared by the new head of the House Financial Services Com. of Monetary Policy, Ron Paul, and has long been a fixation of anti-government types. According to On Point Radio, the gibberish about Government mind control through language comes straight from a militant-linked character David Wynn Miller, and the worthlessness of money and eternal value of gold and silver come from Glen Beck's endless promotional sermons.

Personally I wish the crowd had dispatched this puke, had they pummeled him to death, the next insane imbecile might have second thoughts about validating their vacuous lives with a gun. We don't need to see his manic leering face and lunatic ideas for months on TV, and the media shouldn't even repeat his name or photo- he should be a non-person, since every bit of publicity + fame could lead more nutcakes to emulate him. One argument for easy-carry laws is that other gun-toting people will take out a maniac like him (which probably has some truth- a citizen responder with a gun almost shot the guy who had picked up the gun after Loughner was disarmed)- where were they, and where were the other heroes while he unloaded 30 shots? It fell on some woman to rip away his new clip.

I guess the days of easy access to Congresspeople will end, like tours of the White House- still mad I didn't do it with my Senator's ticket after helping save Billy-Boy from Impeachment in '99, but 8am was too early in the unheated DC hostel.
Here's a great article on the malignant craziness of AZ by the guy who wrote that great Dust Bowl book: The Hardest Times.

RADIO GAGA

The question is whether Obama will step up and put a stop to the sickness of right wing radio/TV threats by simply instructing Mueller or Holder to bust the next scumbag to publicly threaten any Government or public figure, or go to the tape- 5 of the worst offenders could be arrested tomorrow. Beck’s repeated tirades provoked one lunatic shooter to go after the harmless philanthropic Tide Foundation, Rush Scumbaugh puts out 3 hours a day of 90% lie demagogic attacks, and a neo-Nazi Obama-hater in 2009 killed 3 Pittsburgh police officers. There are clear and severe laws against this and the mystery is why they haven't been applied- all authorities have cringed in cowardice against the power of right wing hate-mongering broadcasting. Some prominent arrests would put a huge damper on RW hate speech.

Or have the FCC levy multi-million dollar fines for every violent threat- even Repubs like UT. Sen. Bennett have been subject to some of the most virulent threats. Imagine during Bush's era, if anyone had publicly threatened him on the air- the show would have been yanked immediately. Instead of targeting the problem, I hear some nonsense about Obama now proposing an Internet ID- will a Constitutional professor really be the one the establish the total surveillance state.

There must be more strict screenings for mentally disturbed gun purchases- by simply using more anecdotal statements and testimony of insane, bizarre and antisocial behavior. And who needs a 33 bullet clip, unless you are going to war. And absolutely, permitting open guns (with "Blood of Tyrants" signs, no less) anywhere near national political gatherings should be instantly squelched, and an example made of armed diseased "protesters".

Palin's attempt to be "Presidential" managed to jam her cloddish snowboot into her insipid trap again with her “I am the victim” narcissism, and Blood Libel comments, which I'm sure she had no idea of the actual meaning. Not too many minorities in her Alaska to 'splain things, Lutcy. After her election map targeted Cong. Gabrielle Giffords with rifle cross-hairs, she suffered intense reprobation- she now sports a 53% disapproval.

LEAKING TRUTHS

Assange's motivations are not completely clear; and as a possible public servant, I'm uncomfortable with total exposure of, say, intricacies of Mid-East peace talks, or military doctrines. He had a bizarre childhood, being dragged around Australia by his mother for 5 years in hiding because of a custody dispute, and lived on Magnetic Island. But it's clear, while maybe a criminal hacker, he is also a journalist revealing and exposing all types of government and military malfeasance- just the chilling casualness of our drone execution/murders- nothing could enrage tribal people more than the implicit cowardice of robotic joystick killings from the other side of the world. So we should all support him, as more revelations come out from Wikileaks- next is an eyeopening dump from BoA, which should expose their massive Mortgage fraud machinations and maybe finally provoke some prosecutions somewhere for the Crisis (as they call it here). Here's hoping he has some smoking gun of the initial Iraq Invasion Conspiracy- somebody must pay for ordering the casual deaths of 300-500,000. Taking on the entire power of the United States, Assange is guaranteed of a life of misery, and every tool will be directed against him.

But in revealing all these diplomatic cables, Assange, as planned, became the most famous man in the world, and as crap draws flies, power and fame draw women, which Assange, being a normal guy, wasn't going to resist. In that situation, with various ladies proffering themselves, men will test the limits of their power and sometimes act as cads, knowing their "loves" are temporary and not interested in the man. This seems to have happened with his hostess, who was so horrified by his "rape" that she continued to sleep with him for a week, and brag about her proximity to the whirlwind! Apparently he failed to use a condom , or it broke. Big deal, but in Sweden, which is more American than America in some of the worst ways, maybe a crime. Initially the women just wanted him to take an AIDS test, which he stupidly refused, though legally, agreeing could have been used as proof of sex for the next stage of the possible persecution. [I had similar power in the heyday of the Russian early 90's ($1 =$110 in Rubles), when movie star gorgeous women would just tell their boyfriends or husbands, "I'm going with him" after a few seconds, but the pervasiveness of Soviet evil and natural conservativism made me limit my adventures; and being kidnapped by gun-toting thugs in St. Petersburg as the SU literally collapsed put a big crimp in my American swagger.]

Prosecutors initially dismissed it, but hey, if you prosecute the most famous man in the world, you become the most famous prosecutor (the most corrupting job), and one can't underestimate hundreds of thousands of dollars motivation from US intelligence, military, or corporate powers bent on vengeance. Why he surrendered in England is bizarre- it would have been tactically better to stay on the move and wage a campaign in the press, till things settled down and most other countries wouldn't have arrested him in what was obviously a vendetta. Reports are he was directed to appear. But maybe the threat from America was so serious that he thought he should fight it in the most civilized country, ALTHOUGH England doesn't have a 1st Amendment. And the preposterousness of $370,000 bail over this BS charge shows how firmly in the American camp the Brits are (though Asange brilliantly wrote a PO Box as an address in court). Sweden is a strange place- sex can be as casual as a cup of coffee, but still it is usually more honest and level-headed than this (despite supposed Dragon Tattoo evil), and the fact even they are being rolled into vindictive judicial abuse is evidence of the massive political forces as work- JA has enraged a giant and embarrassed many around the world. Too many want to make Julienne fries out of him, and I don't give him much chance of cleanly escaping.

HOT, WET, and WILD

Big surprise-2010 was the hottest year ever but also the wettest, confirming projections that the increased heat would vaporize massive amounts of water. Devastating floods in Australia, Brazil, Sri Lanka, Haiti, Pakistan, Columbia, Eastern Europe show monstrously destructive storms will be a fixture in our roasting world. The good news- increased cloud cover will reflect more heat; the bad news- water vapor is the most powerful greenhouse gas (by total effect); note see Venus, aka Hell (though that's CO2). Sadly, the curve only gets steeper from here.

DELAY FOR DELAY’S TRIAL OVER, BUT JUSTICE STILL DELAY’D
THE HAMMER COMES DOWN

The venal and contemptible Tom Delay, who was single handedly responsible for ramming through the impeachment of Bill Clinton, sending the Cong. Staffers “voter”/rioters to scare the Miami Election Board into shutting down the recount that may have given America the real elected President: Al Gore (with the hour late Broward Co. recount), received 3 years prison for his acceptance of corporate money in TX to illegally redistrict the state in mid-decade (money laundering, maybe the most mild acts of his turnstile pay-to-play extortion operation, where Repub-only lobbyists had to pony up $300K to just walk in the door ).

However, given the constitution of the Extreme Court, whose ruling that unlimited secret corporate cash was as American as apple pie, has reduced USA to Nigeria-level corruption, and this case falls firmly in into that realm- I don’t expect the Exterminator to spend a day in prison.

I extensively investigated Florida 2000, and the margin of Gore’s Florida victory has grown in my estimation from 20-40K to 40-80K- just the 42% inaccurate illegal Felon Purge mysteriously doubled later in number to some 92,000, vastly Democratic!!! If any of the ten crooked things Bushmen did had been reversed, Gore would have been Prez, and if the Extreme Court had had a speck of honor, they would have said OK, we don’t want to decide this, but if you insist- Florida has so many irregularities that it is EXCLUDED, and BASED ON THE FACT OF GORE WINNING THE ELECTORAL VOTE (without FL) AND THE COUNTRY BY 540,000 votes, HE HAS THE MORAL PRESUMPTION OF VICTORY …. And is the next President. The Supreme Repubs decided differently in an insane decision that would have invalidated every national election ever held in US history, because they said "the standards were different", using a civil rights measure to deny blacks the President they elected. Funny, if you weren't one of the half million-odd people killed in Bush's insane Iraq Invasion.

Read the whole detective story about all the mistakes that night that whipsawed the world, cost America eternal disgrace, maybe $6 trillion, 500,000 dead in Iraq; allowed OBL to escape, and Afghanistan to become a quagmire.

----Meanwhile, hard by the lush Ocala National Forest, 20 miles west of Daytona in Deland, a silver, battery-powered credit card-sized memory card in an Election System AccuVote 2000 optical ballot-scanning machine had lost its mind, recording negative 16,022 Gore votes, 2813‡ extra Bush votes, and 9,880 for the Socialist Workers candidate in one Volusia Co. precinct (#216) that had only 585 registered voters----

Pyrrhic Victory in the House

Repubs displayed their contempt for the non-rich and new Tea Party extremism by repealing the Obama Health Care bill in the House (w 3 Dems) in a cheap display of political theater, despite polls showing 64% support the bill or want it stronger. Repubs lie so often that the country doesn’t want the Bill that they ultimately believe it. Of course, it will go nowhere, the Dem-controlled Senate won’t even bring the Bill up for a vote.

The hypocrisy of Repubs on controlling the exploding deficit was evident in the “compromise” on maintaining the Bush Tax Cuts (50% for the rich) even for the superrich, which would add another trillion of red ink to the budget over the next decade, and Obama’s achievements in extending unemployment will add another $700 billion. If that weren’t enough to devalue the dollar, the Fed decided in another mysterious and experimental process, to issue another trillion-odd dollars of unsupported cash in the 2^nd Quantitative Easing or QE2 to goose the economy. Jeez, if they're going to do this, why not put it all into alternative energy: wind + solar farms, electric cars, fuel cells with the slogan that Obama should have used for $300-400 billion of the stimulus: US ENERGY INDEPENDENT BY 2020 , meaning no foreign sources- easily sold as a nat. security issue, which it is.

"DEADLY" EPIDEMIC in UKRAINE

2009-11-03T23:06:00.011-05:00

"DEADLY" EPIDEMIC in UKRAINE

by Michael Hammerschlag

WHO Ukr Info

HAMMERNEWS

Nov 4: KIEV new

Oct 30: With 34 confirmed deaths in 11 days, about 3 a day, Ukraine has gone nuclear over the swine flu threat, closing
schools and public gatherings for 3 weeks??, banning travel???, and reportedly doing aerial spraying to kill the virus (rumor)???? Now far be it from me to puncture anyone's hysterical balloon, but they say viral pneumonia deaths (what most people die from) are normally about 3000 a year, about 9 a day. The idiotic Egyptians slaughtered all their pigs, but the swine flu is harbored exclusively in humans, the bug is in people- unless you spray them with Sarin you can't stop it "in the fields". Ukraine quarantined a plane from the US for 2 hours because one passenger had a headache.

But they also say some of the deaths are in young and healthy and there are another 40 or so critical patients, so there is some cause for concern. Already many people today in the giant Home Depot I shopped for a door for my new aptmt, were wearing face masks, mostly employees.. and metros and restaurants are 60% empty. Ukrainians are a very fad
oriented society and quite obedient - they will line up in 30M lines for buses that haven't come yet. One girl's company is ordering all employees to wear face masks and change them every 2 hours. They'd probably be better off getting it, since the 1918 victims who got the first mild form were protected from the rampaging killer of the 2nd and 3rd permutations, which killed (according to book The Great Influenza- J Barry) up to 100 million- 5% of the world then. That also was H1N1, and just to fuel horror movies, they dug up a 1918 Alaska tundra victim and reconstructed that virus.

A young English student of mine invited me to her dorm because she was sick and running a temperature, and recently visited her Ternopil home, where the epidemic originated and many cases are from.

PM Yuliya Timoshenko used the epidemic to shut down all election activity, then castigated politicians for using it for their own purposes.:

"All educational institutions without exception ... will be put on a three-week
holiday period," Tymoshenko said. She indicated this could be extended if necessary.

"Apart from this, we will cancel all
mass meetings ... for three weeks,"
she told an emergency government session.
"We will introduce a special system
to stop unnecessary travel from one region
to another." (No news about any actual
restrictions on travel) Yushchenko's Our Ukraine Party has canceled it's convention.

------------------------------------------

Nov 2: As of today's morning 64 people died from
flu in Ukraine.

According to an UNIAN correspondent, first
Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine Oleksandr
Turchynov said this today at the Conciliatory
council.

According to his words, 191 thousand Ukrainians
turned for help for hospitals, 7.5 thousand
of them are hospitalized. -Unian News Service
(Ukr)

------------------------------------------------

the country's deputy health minister said on Monday. 11-2-09

Vasil Lozoryshynets said 22 out of a total 67 deaths from flu or acute respiratory illness have been confirmed
as caused by the H1N1 virus.

The deputy minister said 255,000 flu cases had been reported in the country as of Monday, with 15,000 receiving treatment at a hospital and 170 being admitted to intensive care departments.

The government has imposed quarantines in nine western provinces to curb the spread
of swine flu, which originated in the Tirnopol Region.-

RIA Novesti http://en.rian.ru/exsoviet/20091102/156683867.html

----------------------------------------------

Lets do the numbers of the health minister's claims (the most credible- notice the enormous discrepancy of the hospital visits- even vice prime ministers can parrot nonsense here)- 255,000 people have the flu, and there are 67 deaths. A normal flu kills up to 0.1% or up to 1 in 1000 ( http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=11150&page=61 ), at half that rate (1 in 2000) a normal death toll for 255k would be 128, twice the number that has been reported so
far. SO THIS IS A NORMAL FLU!! IT is not Bird Flu, or any rampaging killer, and apparently
some is regular seasonal flu.

In fact, the Canadian Broadcasting System http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2009/11/03/h1n1-world.html reports deaths are less than last year!!!!

"Some Ukrainian health officials and medical experts have accused the government of exaggerating the outbreak ahead of January's presidential elections, given that the total number of flu deaths has dropped by 10 per cent compared with last year, the UNIAN news agency quoted Deputy Health Minister Vasily Lazorishinets as saying."
Tymoshenko says deaths are 71 as of Nov 3.

That said it is a possible epidemic- a friend who had a 850 person conference said ¼ of them got sick afterwards (one expat diagnosed with swine says it was a bastard).. and most is a swine flu-H1N1 (as the monstrous 1918-19
killer was). The terrifying thing is of the up to 1 million offspring of a single flu virus- 98-99% of them are mutants, new forms, most unviable, but some maybe much more virulent . So every person is a biological weapons factory, and that explains why it is almost impossible to make a long lasting vaccine.
If 30% of the country (15 million) gets sick over 2 months that would be about 3750 deaths
at 1 death per 4000 cases. A WHO team arrived in Ukraine Teus Nov 3, but said that "border closures and international travel restrictions are not warranted".

------------------------------------------------------------

Last, there is a wild story http://www.rense.com/general88/bax.htm about some fiendish conspiracy by Baxter Labs to release some bio- weapon in Ukraine- conspiracist gibber-jabber I think. Baxter was involved in the criminally careless accidental dispersal of live bird flu in Feb http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aTo3LbhcA75I and killed 1990's hemophiliacs with AIDS tainted blood, but it is the largest blood disease treatment firm in the world- whatever big mistakes happen, they would be part of them. The story, by some David Rothscum (sounds real) says:

-- "A man named Joseph Moshe who was arrested after a hours long standoff with the police because he had supposedly made threats against the White House. The man was able to withstand multiple rounds of tear gas...which left L.A. police officers amazed.

Comments on the Huffington Post website immediately began pouring in about an unreported side to this story, namely that Joseph Moshe was a Mossad Agent who specialized in biological warfare and who called into a radio show to warn people about a biological weapon that was being made by Baxter international that would be spread through vaccine and
would cause a plague upon its release."---

It has everything- except any kind of motive, and the conspiracist obsession with killer vaccines will ensure many people won't get swine vaccine (though the 1976 version did kill more people than the virus), which could lead to unnecessary deaths among pregnant women, elderly, and the immune compromised. (Incredibly they are going to do extended testing on the vaccine rather than give it to the vulnerable). The plot really breaks down when he starts raving:

---"that massive numbers of microbiologists have been dying bizarre deaths. This .... may explain why so many microbiologists have been murdered. The fact that this man managed to predict an outbreak of highly lethal influenza in a place where we would least expect it, 2 months before it actually occurred, lends credence to his claim that Baxter International is responsible for the outbreak and shows that top microbiologists can pose a problem to the people responsible for this ongoing disaster."---

6 microbiologists have died this year (according to following link), including one by head on collision that also killed the other driver, not a common CIA assassination technique unless we are now hiring Taliban; and a few other by unremarkable means (suicide when depressed over a daughters death, a lifelong plague researcher of plague)- not "massive numbers". http://www.stevequayle.com/dead_scientists/UpdatedDeadScientists.html
NOTE: I just read a sci-fi book where the target (who was a dissenter in a human-brain-in-supercomputer project is targeted for killing by claiming he made a threat against the President, so am quite susceptible to this, and there is something very weird about that standoff story. But still, one should take that story with a shaker of salt.

But there are many people who still think that an explosion bigger than the building, 5 story gas fueled fire, and the kinetic force of a fully loaded 767 going 530 mph wasn't enough to bring down the WTC, when the miracle was it stayed up for over an hour.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This self-generated paranoia has the potential to really hurt Ukraine, just as the IMF is about to perhaps deny the next tranche of $3 billlion aid that Ukriane has been living off of for the last year. Other countries are now about to close borders and restrict trade with Ukraine (and Ukraine is also calling for that!), and flu epidemics last 2-5 months:

Slovakia closes border crossings to contain
flu; http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-11/03/content_12374039.htm

BRATISLAVA, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Slovakia will close the pedestrian crossings in Velke Slemence and Ubla on the border with Ukraine starting Tuesday Slovakian Interior Minister Robert Kalinak announced Monday. The move, together with the establishment of health check-points on crossings that remain open, is a response to flu epidemic in Ukraine.

http://crofsblogs.typepad.com/h5n1/2009/11/romania-ukraine-wants-to-shut-border.html

Authorities in the Ukrainian region of Chernivtsi have requested that several crossing points on the borders with Romania and the Republic of Moldova be closed. The reason is the risk of the spread of the swine flu epidemic, according to news agency Omega.

"We have already petitioned the border guard service and requested the closing of crossing points on the border with the Republic of Moldova and Romania in places where medical examinations cannot be performed," Chernivitsi Oblast Governor Volodymyr Kulish said.

The centrally generated steam heat just came on over the country 2 1/2 weeks ago, so all the bug-laden dust and particulate matter from the radiators was dispersed in the air of the suddenly sealed apartments (just dropped from 21 to -2 in under 3 weeks). Another stupid thing about these omnipresent masks (saw 2 cops with them and should have asked to take their photo) is that they may protect from airborne virus particles, but that only happens when people are sneezing or coughing (better off washing hands 10 times a day), and I haven't seen one person doing that, except.... me on the subway (to the delight of all present).

LION of the SENATE- Teddy.com

2009-08-26T21:40:00.004-04:00

TEDDY.com

Well, the lion of the Senate is gone. I covered his announcement for President in Fanuel Hall in Boston in 1980, and it was an event- a Kennedy was going for the Presidency, what was considered their unfulfilled legacy. Although the timing was terrible, going against an incumbent Dem, there was much expectation that he would pull it off. But it rent the party and helped poor Carter, who was trashed by forces beyond his control, lose. He then lost the Senate Whip post, and never tried again for the highest office. I never met the man, but talked to his people when I was distributing my anti-Impeachment book in 1999 in the Senate. He was a giant, apart from Roosevelt, the most determined and effective liberal in history. Another tremendous blow to health care, as if it hasn't been betrayed by the greedy swine of Congress, slurping up their industry payoffs till they reek with corruption. Ted's 1980 speech

The New York Times (full long) says it with some eloquence:

“He was a Rabelaisian figure in the Senate and in life, instantly recognizable by his shock of white hair, his florid, oversize face, his booming Boston brogue, his powerful but pained stride. He was a celebrity, sometimes a self-parody, a hearty friend, an implacable foe, a man of large faith and large flaws, a melancholy character who persevered, drank deeply and sang loudly. He was a Kennedy.”

TED KENNEDY'S 2008 Dem Convention Speech http://vodpod.com/watch/969308-ted-kennedy-historic-speech-denver-convention

On the eve of the Iraq War, I caught Patrick, our RI Congressman (Teddy's son, who was the only RI Rep who had voted for the Iraq War) alone and debated him for 15 minutes until he pretty much admitted it was going to be a disaster. A Prov. Journal reporter was there so he couldn't run away, and a Kennedy was almost never without his extended retinue who would protect him from any criticism. He has some of the same traits as his father- health problems, somewhat limited, but a decent hard earnest worker whose heart is usually in the right place. On the terrible 2000 Election night I somehow found myself in the morose Kennedy suite, where I pontificated on Myrth York's mistakes in her 2^nd or 3^rd attempt at the governorship (lost to convivial chump Carcieri) to the extreme displeasure of her daughter + co.

Debate with Congrsmn. Patrick Kennedy D-RI (audio) about validity of IRAQ Invasion (he voted to authorize force)- 11 of 15 minutes 3/30/03 Prov. Journal article on it (bottom) + Andrea Mitchell speech ARTICLE: 3/17/03 FIRM of MIND; SOFT on FACTS
See how this holds up today

OBAMA IN MIDEAST, SUPREME DECISION, CHENEYS TREASON HITS TOUR, OBAMA SPEECH audio, AFGHANISTAN QUANDRY, HELL ON EARTH, KIEV KAPADES

2009-05-25T20:52:00.032-04:00

OBAMA TOURS MIDEAST IN MOMENTOUS MONTH

OBAMA SPEECH (audio strm 54min) VIDEO TEXT Aud DOWNLOAD (50mb) ARTICLE AP

OBAMA SPEECH June 4: Obama brought the healing vision of his multiracial, tricontinental, polyglot life to Cairo in apologizing for the ignorance and sins of the past and expressing his respect and understanding of the Muslim faith. "I consider part of my responsibility as President of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Muslims, whereever they appear. But that same principal must apply to Muslim perceptions of America.... The Holy Koran teaches that whoever kills an innocent, it is as if he has killed all mankind, and whoever saves a person, it is as if he has saved all mankind."

While he chastised "hateful" Muslim denigration of Jews and America's resolute commitment to them, he then made a clarion call for a homeland for the Palestinians: "They endure the daily humiliations that come with occupation…The situation for the Palestinian people is intolerable and America will not turn our backs on the legitimate Palestinian aspiration for dignity, opportunity, and a state of their own! ...2 states where Israelis and Palestinians each with with peace and security.... The US does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements."

Obama takes a historic tour through the Mideast in a time of great risk: Here is the timeline from a perceptive Haaretz article on the folly of Israel's disgracist hard-liners:
June 2: Civil defense exercise of unprecedented scope in Israel
Scenarios include of hundreds of missiles thundering into Tel Aviv, chemical warheads striking the north of the country. News of the exercise prompts neighboring Arab armies to go on alert.
June 3: Obama visits Saudi Arabia
The president is expected to ask Riyadh as well as moderate Gulf states for preliminary steps toward normalization of ties with Israel. The measures may include granting a limited number of business and perhaps tourist visas to Israelis, anchorage rights for Israeli vessels, mutual air space rights for Israeli and Arab airliners, and opening interest offices.
June 4: Obama, in Cairo, addresses the Muslim world
The speech will be closely watched, intended as it is to quell the seething enmity between the Bush administration and Muslims around the globe.

SEE MY NEW NEO-TRAVEL ODE TO EGYPT where I spent 2 months: CAIRO CALM
June 7: General elections in Lebanon
The strongly pro-Iranian and Syrian-allied Hezbollah could win the crucial contest, tilting the precarious balance of power in the Mideast. MH: Another Bush initiative- to force Israel to attack Syria, which responded by pulverizing Lebanon as a consolation prizein 2006- may bear the bitter fruit of Hezbollah winning their current election June 7th. Everything these people touched turned to dust.
June 12: Presidential elections in Iran
If incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wins a second term, he is seen as likely to leverage the victory into more authoritarianism at home and a clear endorsement of hardline foreign policies, in particular the drive for nuclear capability and upgraded intercontinental ballistic missiles, support for, and perhaps instigation of, proxy wars on Israel's borders with Gaza and Lebanon, as well as steps to undermine the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.
Throughout the month: looming indictment of Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman
Two severe tests of the resolve of the Netanyahu government. If Lieberman is brought to trial on a range of money-laundering and other charges, the nation's spearhead of disgracism would be blunted if not rendered moribund.

MH: If Obama wants to effect any solution on Palestine, he must be willing to twist Bibi's arm till it breaks, and the only way to do that is threaten a 50% cut of the $2-3 bil/year US aid that keeps their war machine running. Sadly, nothing in Obama's obsequious history re. Israel shows he has the raw courage to defy the AIPACers, or that he could push it through a slavish Congress, ... and nothing will change till the Palestinians have a real undivided homeland.

SUPREME DECISION

Re: Looks like Obama appointed a solid tough untouchable liberal to the Supreme Court; and the Senate may finally have the cajones to crush the expected Repub filibuster. For months now, the Dems have acted like every decision needed 60 votes, when, even with 2-5 conservative Dems, a filibuster is a really tough thing to carry out- they must have real dedication, if the Dems actually force them to speak. I thought Obama should pick a black or Hispanic, but I didn’t care, as long as they can take up the fight against the increasingly extremist Catholic majority.

NYC Hispanic Fed. Appeals Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor seems like a good inspirational candidate that will be difficult for wing nuts to oppose without further alienating another huge voting block. Hopefully she is Bronx tough enough to battle the reactionaries who have been "legislating from the bench", overturning established 30-40 year opinions again and again. As expected, bilious blowhards Rush and Newt have savaged her a "racist", alienating millions of Hispanics from ever voting for Repubs.

CHENEYS GREATEST TREASON HITS TOUR

Here’s the best reason to prosecute the scumbag Veep- to stop him running around the country (would be world but maybe Spanish Prosecutors will abridge that) undermining (video) Obama in neo-treasonous ways. Considering he is the architect of America’s embrace of torture, the invasion of Iraq, and the granting of tens of billions of no-bid dollars to his own company (the most clear-cut crime), you’d think he might slide quietly into retirement and hope his monstrous constitutional crimes would go unpunished. But the most unpopular person in US political history- at 11% probably lower than Hitler- continues to defend his record for posterity, as if his treachery will sway historians. He is terrified that the full truth of his torture abuses at Guantanamo will emerge if these people are tried in America. Moreover if he did torture people to provide the pretext for invading Iraq, as seems to be, he wasn’t just like Saddam, he was Saddam!

Former Army psychiatrist Maj. Charles Burney testified that "a large part of the time we were focused on trying to establish a link between Al Qaeda and Iraq. The more frustrated people got in not being able to establish this link ... there was more and more pressure to resort to measures that might produce more immediate results"; that is, torture.... [Cheney and Rumsfeld] demanded that the interrogators find evidence of al Qaida-Iraq collaboration...”

A declassified CIA cable later described how al-Libi told the CIA that the Egyptian interrogators had said they wanted information about al-Qaeda's connections with Iraq, a subject "about which [al-Libi] said he knew nothing and had difficulty even coming up with a story."

"The cable went on to say that al-Libi indicated that his interrogators did not like his responses and then "placed him in a small box" for approximately 17 hours. When he was let out of the box, the cable states that al-Libi was given a last opportunity to "tell the truth." When al-Libi's answers did not satisfy the interrogator, al-Libi says he "was knocked over with an arm thrust across his chest and he fell on his back" and was then "punched for 15 minutes." It was then that al-Libi told his interrogators that Iraq had trained al-Qaeda operatives in chemical and biological weapons, information that was later used in Colin Powell's speech to the UN Security Council to justify war with Iraq."

They kept America safe alright, from 200 fatalities in some as yet unknown plot, by killing 4300 American soldiers, maiming 35,000 more, destroying the sanity of maybe 200,000 more, and killing 400,000 Iraqis for the mistake of having Saddam Hussein for a leader and a load of oil.

Shut this walking piece of excrement up: prosecute him and send him to some disclosed location deep in the US penal system, maybe some South Carolinan brig where a little enhanced interrogation would do his heart well. Has any journalist ripped into this American disgrace for his lies and treason????? I think he and Bush co-conspirators are forever at risk from the cruelly used soldiers in Iraq, like the snipers that they had killing farmers from a mile away… because they violated curfew tilling their fields when the power came on. Think they might have nightmares? Maybe he should take that South Korean leader’s way out and commit hari-kari, but these vermin have never acknowledged a single error, let alone the bankruptedness of their whole philosophy.

Obama rebutted Cheney in an almost simultaneous national security

speech (audio download 46 min) in the presence of the Constitution at the National Archives, but that dignifies the dirtbag Veep, who has set up a situation where Obama is responsible for any terrorist attack. The only way to settle this is prosecute him for what were war crimes, and Obama’s desire to avoid the “distraction”, however understandable, is more and more seen as cowardice. This must be settled as a crime or any other President can do it again. Coupled with Obama's continuation of renditions (when you rip up meat), and legal defense of Bush secrecy, privilege, "prolonged detention", and spying claims, many are deeply disappointed at his reluctance to boldly chart a new course. Simple, when defending some egregious Bush policy in court, conceed their claims and standings were false and specious; and throw in the towel. Bizarrely, Obama seems to be respecting precedent in the Presidency, like a lawyer, that previous decisions of the Bushistas should have legal weight, no matter how radical, criminal, and destructive. 46 min mpg audio download

AFGHANISTAN QUANDARY

While the Iraq Invasion was treason pure and simple, I don’t share the notion that the war in Afghanistan is evil or unjustified. That said, Bush fouled it up so completely by the strategically insane war in Iraq and it has gone on so long that it has probably provoked an immune reaction from the fearsome Afghan tribal body politic, which has driven out every foreign invader and destroyed 3 empires. The one smart thing Bush ever did was let the War be run by Special Forces with a low profile and use and pay the locals, who fight as a sport and profession. Now we are killing from little robot drones- to simple tribal people, cowardly technological techniques that must enrage them to great acts of revenge. The idea that America must control any area of instability in the world is a crazy infinite challenge… but Afghanistan/Pakistan is the nexus of Al Qaida and must be engaged by us. Reducing the war to targeted anti-terrorist actions is a good direction, though somewhat countermanded by bulking up the undermanned regular military. And Pakistan, with it’s nuclear arsenal, is every apocalyptic nightmare nuclear scenario rolled into one- I think it will have the first nuclear war with India or terrorist detonation.

So we must be there in some capacity- we should hope Obama is as smart there as in other places.

HELL ON EARTH

Well, North Korea just exploded a second nuclear bomb underground that actually worked: 10-20 kt, a Hiroshima sized device that could kill 250-500,000 in Manhattan, launched 5 short-range missiles just to carelessly intimidate neighbors, and arrested 2 Al Gore network reporters. Wrap that with a little lithium deuteride and you have a 400kt hydrogen bomb, that could take out a city and kill 3-4 million. There were serious risks in trying to destroy North Korea’s nuclear facilities, but fewer in bombing Iran’s, which will have the Bomb within a year, I believe. They now reportedly have enough enriched uranium for a bomb, with some 4000 centrifuges spinning.

With the mindlessly brutal destruction of Gaza, and the proliferation caused by NK and Iran (Japan, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Brazil), I think it sadly is just a matter of time before Israel is nuked, even if that fries the Palestinians themselves (which the crazies don’t really care about). Not by any missile of course, Bush’s obsession, but from smuggling, probably by boat, as it would in NYC. Though the threat of an Iranian nuclear missile would cause immense psychological distress in Israel.

KIEV KAPADES

President Yushchenko is inline to be removed in new elections in October, his popularity is 3-5%, but his likely successor is thug mugger Yanukovich, the guy who stole the 2004 election that provoked the Orange Revolution. Yulia Timoshenko, she of the infinite braid, has lost so much credibility in her bitter internecine war with Yushchenko, that she possibly can’t win, but she has at least done some necessary things to settle the gas war with Russia, and get the next tranche of a $14 billion IMF loan.

ANGELS + THE OPPOSITE

Saw Angels + Demons with great delight, having watched them film it all over magnificent Rome in the 3 months I spent there last year + 2007. Could even identify the scenes I watched in Piazza Popolo, where I came off the train from the hostel-campground north, and shot some nice pics of Tom Hanks. Almost everyplace they run in the movie (and they are always running because the evil Illuminati are killing a Cardinal an hour)… I been there. Tried to get in it (been in 6 movies w 1 cu speaking scene with the stars), but Italians don't speak any other language and nobody could point me to casting director. It is a mindless fun romp, far more sympathetic to the Catholic Church than the DaVinci Code.

THE AL FRANKEN DECADE, GOTTA BE THE SHOES, WE DON’T NEED NO STINKING BRIDGES, GM GM, DOUBTING DYNASTY, RETRO ROOSIYA-GASWARS, DANCING DOLLAR,MELTDOWN

2008-12-29T23:06:00.031-05:00

Kiev: The MN recount (latest Franken website) first showed no sign of ending as the Supreme Court refused to invalidate ballots Coleman the Stove says were counted twice, but the Election Board now says Monday they will certif y Franken THE WINNER BY 225 votes. There were 1600 maybe improperly rejected ballots counted- so Coleman, of course, vowed to file a lawsuit, then came up with 654 more ballots to be analyzed- standard Repub wrench-throwing to delay the results. He has promised a challenge to the vote, and TX cracker Sen. John Cornyn promised a filibuster if the Senate tries to seat Franken Teus, Jan 6th. Fine- let the games begin- if the Dems can't crush a filibuster with 59 Senators (where virtually every Republican would have to be continuously present- quick vote during bathroom breaks!), they don't deserve their majority. The MN Court may have been swayed by the fact that most of Colemans challenges were bogus, while Franken's were mostly honest. This probably won’t be resolved by Jan 6, when the US Senate can simply rule on the winner (cool rule)- since it is essentially a tie, they are Dems, so we pick, oh I don’t know, maybe THE DEM!!!!!!! Insanely the MN Supremes allowed both candidates to have a say in which of these disputed ballots are rejected: Coleman was challenging 40% of them. I don’t like ol Norm- he reminds me of a grumpy Midas Man, and not sure he should have been elevated much above that, and even the Repubs are probably looking forward to Franken high jinks in the Senate (showing up with a satellite dish on his head). Besides, if Al Gore could win the popular vote by 540,000 and FL by 20-40,000; and the FL legislature still vowed to send a Bush slate of electors if Gore had won… we can do what is best for the country. See my scoop on the worst election scandal in 2000 FL (9%-27,000 votes rejected in Jacksonville), which didn’t get picked up by AP cause Dave ran my rare straight news story as a commentary. http://hammernews.com/duval.jpg SAMPLE BALLOT DECEPTIVE, DIFFERENT - Dems denied hand count in Duval Co. - Nat. scoop Capital Times - Nov 25, 2000

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081225/ap_on_el_se/minnesota_senate

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Minnesota's highest court on Wednesday ruled against Republican Sen. Norm Coleman's attempt to keep dozens of possible double votes from Democratic-heavy precincts out of the long-running U.S. Senate recount, but left the door open for a lawsuit.

The state Supreme Court unanimously denied Coleman's request for a temporary restraining order to block the votes, which the Coleman campaign contended were duplicates that mostly favored Democratic rival Al Franken. The court upheld the state Canvassing Board's ruling on the matter. The court's decision leaves Coleman with fewer ways to make up ground in the recount, where he now trails Franken by 47 votes.

Coleman's attorneys, who said the campaign was "deeply disappointed" by the decision, added that it virtually guaranteed the recount would end in litigation and delay the seating of a Minnesota senator past Jan. 6, when the next Congress convenes.

The recount, after slogging through useless swamps of clear ballots, found a motherload of unjustifiably challenged Franken votes. Here is the constantly updated total from Mpls Star-Tribune- http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/senate/36382129.html . I lived there once- a fun place of solid decent Scandinavians with the worst winters in the world (still has record for my coldest place after 4 winters in Russia and one in Jackson Hole), and yes, I often drove over that bridge that collapsed. God, does the senate need a Barney Frank to puncture the self-serving lies of the rejectionist Right. Too bad they didn’t kill the filibuster a couple of years ago- gee, where did the Repubs generational majority go? Oh, that’s right, they gave it to US! Now I wish I’d called Al, when I had his NYC number from a Mpls college bud and was lobbying to work on SNL.

GOTTA BE THE SHOES

How about the Baghdad shoe-throwing reporter- he might have a future hurling for the Red Sox once his 20 year solitary torture sentence is over. Or maybe after the Great Pretender has flown off they give him a medal and many prostitutes. (Yeah they are dancing in the streets in support of this guy- looks like he might not even get hard time, though he has a broken hand, ribs, and eye injuries and is in the hospital.) He was right on target- what a pity Bush was looking and still has his cheerleading reflexes- the twit actually looked like he was having fun. This disgrace is trying to rehabilitate his image - ohh, it's too bad the intelligence was wrong. Only the intelligence of our legacy President and neocon radical Veep + Cabinet- everyone else in the world knew it was lies. The only person who should interview him is Keith Olbermann- I’m sure he would have some real questions.

Shoe man- Muntadar al-Zaidi, a Shiite TV reporter, was enraged about American destruction, but also, Iranian influence, which American actions h

ave ensconced in the top leadership, and this is the first glimmer of a actual pan-religious Iraqi nationalism that is a good sign- that even the Shiites are alarmed at the power of Iran's proxy's. Insane, that even as US blusters and threatens Iran (with good justification), they've made them a regional superpower in overthrowing the Baathists (cleanliness is next to.. well,

you know) and allowing democracy to elect their agents in Iraq. A Saudi businessman has bid $10 million for one of the W shoes.

WE DON’T NEED NO STINKING BRIDGES

Obama’s science picks are really great, but I would like to see almost his entire stimulus go to alternative energy. We don’t need to spend a fortune renovating our roads and bridges- “upgrades” of roadwork can cost more than building new ones, and so what if a bridge collapses every 2 years or so. Alternative energy and electric car development will determine if we freeze in the dark in 10-20 years or have to reinvade the Middle East and steal their oil. And GW will kill millions within tens of years- hundreds of millions if collapsing Antarctic and Arctic Ice Cap worldwide tsunamis occur. On my last GW article 10 years ago, got nice letter from Al Gore and the second piece I ever wrote was on energy crisis an indeterminate period ago.

GENETICALLY MODIFYING GENERAL MOTORS-

best idea I heard is creating a US Motors out of them and mandate them to start banging out electric cars and the best hybrids- the Volt can only go 40 miles, about half of what is necessary for a real all-electric vehicle. The Chinese just unveiled theirs, the romantically named F3DM, which can go 100km and plug into home outlets, was backed by Warren Buffet. I understand all the arguments against the big 3- frankly all the top management should be canned, stripped of 5 years of bonuses, tarred and feathered, and then jailed for destroying the EV1, which they had 12 years ago. The whole world would be buying American now- $1 to charge up rather than burning $50-150 of precious hydrocarbons (which are raw materials for plastics, drugs, chemicals, fertilizer, etc). I suspect nothing will change in 2-3 months when the latest infusion of money- $13 billion runs out.

But seeing Bush as the savior of anything, while his Southern fried scumbag Senators scheme to crush their (American) competition in service of their foreign employers, is enough to make one’s brains explode. “Do you finally have, at long last, some decency, sir?”

Will people be buying Detroit in 3 months- no, and not in 12 months either, nobody will be buying new cars for quite a while. Without that, no bailout can work, and the welcome and unfortunate collapse of oil prices means the panic buying of electric vehicles won’t occur. I begged my Senator to do a 20% windfall profits tax on the Oilcos ($25-30 bill then) and have a contest for a functional electric car and funnel the money straight to the winner (with some to subsidize the cost) partly because the auto industry was on a fast track to oblivion. The Repubs crushed a windfall profits tax bill last year that got barely a peep of publicity.

OBAMA’s STMULUS PROGRAM is going to be a trillion spread over 2 years, but still, one has to

wonder, will China, Japan, England, OPEC, etc. keep buying the US bonds that keep us afloat with these monstrous deficits- more to the point- can they? 0% prime means absolute peanuts interest for our bonds- why should anyone buy them? And if they can’t or don’t because of their own problems, what then?

DOUBTING DYNASTY

It is all very nice and egalitarian to decry the apparent imperial privilege Caroline Kennedy has in lobbying for HC’s Senate seat without the dirty work of campaigning.. but sorry- appointments are just that, and often are payoffs to pals, contributors, etc. As for paying her dues, go back and see the pictures of 6 year old Caroline after her father’s brains were splattered over television by a still undetermined conspiracy (JFK- LINGERING SHADOWS this is probably best thing I’ve written). I think, maybe…. she’s paid her dues. Her heart is in the right place, she has 4 years to find her place, and we gotta have a Kennedy somewhere- unlike the Bushies- their dynasty has stood for social justice, hard work, and real service. Remember girlfriend gushing over seeing JFK Jn. at the RISD Tap Room, but then he was in his sleazo Italian playboy mode and I never hunted him down- how was I to know he would run a nat. vanity political mag. After he w ent to Brown, the obscure Ivy became the most selective school in the country.

On the other hand, she has appeared woefully unprepared as she repeated “you know” a few hundred times in a fatal interview- it seems her bid is dead.... so sometimes.... I can be wrong.

RETRO ROOSIYA

In more bad news, Putin is ramming through a law to make treason far more inclusive of say, things like complaining. And those pesky juries weren’t coming to the right verdicts- they let some people go, so they fixed it by making them all judge trials. Medvedev, bullied to do Vlad’s bidding, has been looking more stressed as he sells Russia’s hard line – the pressure of waiting for the moment when Putin says “GET OUT”, like Arnie does in Terminator 2 to the pilot of the helicopter (note- 100 ft up, ha ha), which I saw in the new Tretiakovskaya Museum with artist sweetheart Olga on a print with peoples heads on the bottom before it was even released, for 8 cents. The phrase became a running joke between us. When I left a year ago, I thought, with infinite sadness, that Russia is lost to the world.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081217/ap_on_re_eu/eu_russia_treason_law

Russian treason bill could target Kremlin critics

--------MOSCOW – Under Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, people who fraternized with foreigners or criticized the Kremlin were "enemies of the people" and sent to the gulag. Now there's new legislation backed by Vladimir Putin's government that human rights activists say could throw Russia back to the days of the Great Terror. The legislation, outspoken government critic and rights activist charged Wednesday, creates "a base for a totalitarian state. Some of Russia's most prominent right activists, including Moscow Helsinki Group head Lyudmila Alexeyeva and Civic Assistance director Svetlana Gannushkina, said the b ill in fact gives authorities the power to prosecute anyone deemed to have "harmed the security of the Russian Federation."

It is "legislation in the spirit of Stalin and Hitler," the activists said in a joint statement — legislation that "returns the
Russian justice to the times of 1920-1950s."----

Shutting down the Great Terror remembrance group Memorial is the ugly logical step in the whitewashing of Russian history. If Stalin wasn’t so bad, how bad can Putin be. Uncle Joe was just rated number 3 in the endless massive poll for Great Russians.

And desperate to ratify my “growing threat to the world” prognostication, Russia has:

“thrown down a new gauntlet to Barack Obama with an announcement that it will sharply increase production of strategic nuclear missiles.
In the latest of a series of combative moves by the Kremlin, a senior government official in Moscow said the Russian military would commission 70 strategic missiles over the next three years, as part of a massive rearmament program which will also include short-range missiles, 300 tanks, 14 warships and 50 planes.” This has the potential to restart Cold War lunacy again.

DO YOU SMELL GAS?
LASTLY, Vlad has cut off the flow of natural gas to Ukraine Jan 1, though the stove is still cranking in Kiev with more pressure than before (good cause its 16F, -9C), courtesy of the 110 days of reserves Ukraine salted away for future shutoffs, which they claim they are tapping now, but I think they've tapped the European gas because feeding it into the network is harder than taking it out. Russia really wants control of their pipelines and is trying to barter 1-2 years prepayment of the vastly below-market transit fees they pay for shipment across Ukraine to supply 25% of Europe's demand. The $179/1000 cu M they pay is significantly below world prices, but those are crashing too, because they are tied to oil. Both sides have been back + forth 10 times now, with Russia demanding $250/1000cum, Ukraine finally offering 201, then 235.... now Russia says $438- the old price before the oil price crashed.

The Slavic tendency to renegotiate everything (as in reneg) coupled with Russian bullying for political purposes combine to ensure that any agreement will be written in sand. Meanwhile Pres. Yushchenko's and PM Tymoshenko's bitter personal feud mean they are more interested in gathering ammunition against the other than saving their people or solving the problems- both are close to treason in their heedless scorched earth tactics.

Germany of all people, is threatening Ukraine to "not steal their gas", a notable departure from their sympathy the last time this came up- when Russia was the meanie. This is the new hard-knuckle energy politics where all they care about is GIVE ME MY OIL+GAS! Don't give me excuses, which will lead to various wars within 10-20 years. It is an extraordinarily dangerous situation- if Ukraine diverts European gas, Russia, hammered by the oil price collapse and increasingly isolated and paranoid, is capable of any hostility.

DANCING DOLLAR

Dec 18, 8pm Dollar broke 9hr today, with the daily rises that are like Moscow in the early 90’s- exhilarating if you have dollar- a 12% rise in a day… but so far it has lost me my aptmt, and new mag that wants my stuff pays quite well… in hryvnas, won’t be much. That means dollar has doubled from 4.6 in Sept- boo ya, after a steady 2 years of collapse, and it’s only because we have destroyed the economy of the world with our junk “investment vehicles”. The irony. After reaching 9.7 hryvnas to the dollar Wed, the dioxin damaged Ukrainian government decided the problem was all the obmens changing money and decided to shut them down, and injected hundreds of millions of dollars into circulation. Voila, the dollar dropped to only 6hr/$ (to sell, 8 to buy) at the obmens at the same time that the central bank still had it pegged at 7.97- if you see something wrong with this, you haven’t mastered Soviet accounting. Spreads between obmens and banks were so wide that one could make 11% changing things back and forth, but dollars had become almost unfindable.

Spoke too soon- dollar dropped to 7.5 just before had to pay rent in hryvnas, but my prediction Sept 3 to editors that the Euro (then $1.26) would rise was quickly born out- now at $1.40

MELTDOWN

$5 trillion of outlays, guarantees, loans, giveaways.. and they’ve not stopped the financial hemorrhage, only fed money in as fast as it flows out. There are $30-40 trillion more of bad paper, bonds, instruments, and its way too much for any or all governments to pay off… so this economic collapse is just getting started- think 2-4 years. And that’s if they do everything right. Rubin’s firm- Citibank got 80 or $120 billion- the numbers keep growing.. in the corrupt sweetheart deals that Paulson, Kashkari, and co. are making.

DEATH OF A GENTLEMAN
The urbane, eccentric, blueblood liberal 36 yr Senator from our little RI just died at 90, Claiborne Pell, whose college grants sent over 60 million kids to college and who created the Nat. Endowment for the Arts + Humanities . He was an unfailing decent and polite man who retained untouchable political power in the rough and tumble blue-collar state. I dealt with him a few times, in Moscow on a visit, and when he was retiring and I lobbied for help in a foreign policy slot (when of course he would be looking after his staffers); though my father, City Planning Dep. Director of Providence, knew him quite well. He was a class act and will be missed, and in the swath of wreckage the Bushies left, the Pell Grants were cut to the bone- only $4700 max/yr, when good state schools now run $20K, and private ones start at 40K/year.

IF CHRISTMAS DIDN’T FALL..

Thatis supposed to be if a “if tree falls in the woods and nobody hears it” takeoff, since here, it doesn’t fall. Oh, the Slavs celebrate Christmas, but according to the Gregorian or Druid calendar, on January 7, so Christmas is a normal workday with all the stores open- nice to avoid those end of the world and nowhere to go blues. Time to get that last last minute shopping done- ooh too late, guess I just have to keep it for myself. Their Santa is Ded Moroz, and dresses in green (no,no- the trees are green). Speak of, did you hear of the Bad Santa that walked into a Christmas party in LA and started shooting- 9 dead, including kids. I blundered unawares into the superb but devastating schoolyard shooting movie The Life Before Her Eyes- with the magnificent beauty/actress/star Evan Rachel Wood a couple of days ago. Review here: http://imdb.com/user/ur0741615/comments

Friend got an Acer Aspire One 110 new microcomputer- 9”screen, 2 lbs, WiFi, 3 hr battery, cardreaders, Office equivalents, IM clients. No hard drive (8 gig flashcard memory w expandable linked SD- got fast 8gig), modem (LAN and WiFi), or CD/DVD (jump drives); or Windows (Linpus Linux, which has most equivalents)… but it weighed in at <$200- absolutely amazing considering 2 years ago would have to pay $1600 for an rough equivalent Sony (or get a 6 year old NEC MobilePro 900, if you could). Better AAO versions have 120-160gig HD and XP and cost $300-400. Asus and MSI make something equivalent.

THE DAY, JESSE JACKSON; SMITH CONCEEDS (57 D Senate); FRANKEN TIE, SENATOR PALIN?, NASHI SUROUNDS EMBASSY, PERMNT PUTIN, MIKE ON NPR, UNMENTIONABLE

2008-11-07T23:09:00.018-05:00

JESSE JACKSON; GORDON SMITH CONCEEDS (57 Dem Senate); FRANKEN FUNK, SAXBY RUNOFF, SENATOR PALIN!!!???, NASHI SUROUNDS EMBASSY, INDIANA NC MISSOURI UNDECIDED, PERMANENT PUTIN, OUT NOW!, MIKE ON NPR, PREZ OBAMA PRESS CONFERENCE, THE UNMENTIONABLE

Some more thoughts on the Day. Obama lost his father as a young man; his mother a decade later as his political career started and then in a tragic irony, his grandmother that raised him the day only before his election.. and as you watched his speech, one couldn’t help being amazed by his macho strength, resolute chin, and fierce courage, and think that it was a movie… but if the movie was done right, grandmamabama would have lived another day to see Bear-ick (father’s pronunciation) reach the highest office on earth. That’s why he reached so high so fast – because he understood how tenuous life is and how little time there is to affect things. He has no real older family any more…. but now he has America.

Giant NEWSWEEK 7 part campaign odyssey story

Tears streamed down millions of faces, but the one that was most bittersweet had to be Jesse Jackson, who paved the way with his 2 runs for President, took the jabs, ran the risks, and broke the barriers. He couldn’t win, but the point was to be in the game, and play in the majors. But he ran as a black man, said a friend derisively, but what else could he be – the Obama multiglot post racial genetic modification was still forming in Harvard’s yards. Jackson, in a couple debates where Dukakis and Bush just sniped stupidly, was the voice of reason and wisdom- the only man with a plan. I met him and took some exc. pics of him in Seatown during that race, where I managed a Dem caucus, and suggested in a Seattle Times column that he would make a great Sec State,

“Imagine the entry he would have in the 2^nd+3^rd world: a mediator who can persuade the despots… by force of language, charm, and sincerity rather than by force of guns.” Course that would have required Dukaka to win! Ahead of the curve, as usual, like Jackson was.

JACKSON DESERVES A SEAT AT THE TABLE - Seattle Times- Jackson's energy, eloquence, careful reasoned arguments, + superb performance in 1988 debates has earned him a shot at Sec. State http://hammernews.com/jackson2.gif

But his tears, like most peoples, were for himself, because with his profane slam of Obama at some rally, picked up by a microphone, his acknowledgements and imperial connections were vaporized. Many people’s joy and pain was partially that- agony at the lost dreams and opportunities they had, as this young cool confident man grasped the ultimate prize… and burden. So say a word of thanks to Jesse. And so much of it was tears of desperate exhaustion that the Bushies, hard right, and neocons will be driven from the temple, hopefully into the desert till the buzzards pick them clean.

OB historic win was most stunning in Indiana, a hard right kind of place of

scrubbed families and serious hatred. South IN was the home of the KKK for decades, and the first time I just drove through there, the hackles went up on my neck- it was a place where different was destroyed. Indianapolis was Nixon's favorite place- the real America Palin postulates proudly. But now Real America also belongs to BO. North Carolina- a richly beautiful state, home of Jesse Helms, finally tilted blue. We worried about Missouri, which has voted with the winner for 100 years, which we GOTV called election day, afraid it could be a harbinger- that the election might could be predicated on it. It did go very narrowly-6489 votes- for McCain, but NYT (full results) still shows it undecided, cause 7085 provisional ballots remain. Call it McCain already. Missori was schitzophrenic- the Dem won governor by 20 points but an English official language also did- by 86%. If it had gone blue- the area of blue vs red states (exc. AK) would have been roughly equal- for the first time since Clinton (but county maps still show a few dots of blue in an ocean of red). A swath of 4-5 southern states actually voted more Republican than in 2004: LA, AR, TN, KY, WV. Someone needs to take a hard long look at their voting machines and procedures- or racism still does live in states without large black pops to counterbalance it. WY and OK votted over 65% McCain- in Okieville, which has the 2 dumbest Senators in US history, BO didn't win a single county.

GORDON SMITH ® has conceded nto Merkley in Oregon, that’s 6 Senators and 57 dems, with Al Franken separated by only 237 votes? and facing a s..l..o .w recount that doesn’t start till Nov 15 and won’t be finished till Dec. Dean Barkley, the Ind.manager of Ventura's governor campaign, then appointed Senator for a month or 2 when Wellstone died, recieved 437,000 votes, probably most from Al. A bud went to school with Al in Edina and we had his phone number in NYC when we were trying to do Sat Night Live Update, but I wasn’t really a fan of his then. He brought us back from beaten dogs in the desert with his ballsy books, Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot + Lying Liars, and every liberal owes him a huge debt of gratitude. Later I produced and starred in a bang-up comedy/news ½ hr show, but too many years before the Daily Show became the hottest thing on TV. Only one more Dem Senator is 58, but with 2 independents, actually: 60!!

GA Sen. Saxby Chamblis ® of the Osama/Max Cleland slander ads is forced into a under 50% runoff, but at 3% down + the 3% Libertarians breaking for him, so there is little chance of this peach blueing. Felonious Sen. Ted Stevens is hanging by a thread, and we’d better hope Mark Begich wins (3300 deficit with 75,000 outstanding), because otherwise this or the coming Senate will force Ted out, and the Gov of AK will appoint the new Senator…. Herself, and national audiences will have to suffer the linguistic lacerations of Sarah Palin for the next God know how long. (although Kos says its a special election- AK gov can't appoint). A hopeful Prez needs a lot of Northern Exposure. Her improvement from the disastrous TV interviews to the Biden debate was impressive- she is a dangerous radical politician (like GB2) and not to be underestimated. She wanted to speak at the McCain concession (never before done), but advisors Schmidt and Salter squelched her. The bitter battles between McCain and Palin people highlighted here- http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/06/us/politics/06mccain.html?hp

She bought much more than $150,000 of clothes (maybe $250K), charged all kinds of stuff after getting a budget of $25K (what do you expect from a “reformer” who takes a per-diem for living in her own house as Gov), and they say PNAC scumbag Scheunemann was fomenting revolt by leaking trash to NYT neocon William Krystal. Fox News aired a savage piece claiming she didn’t know Africa was a continent or how many countries were in North America.

Speaking of whom (he visited Georgia before invasion), the Nashi (Putin Youth thugs) surrounded the US Embassy in Moscow Nov 3 to protest supposed US encouragement of Georgia to attack S. Ossetia, which makes me feel more creepy, since I was maybe the only person to directly suggest that: http://hammernews.com/georgia.htm Kasperov posted my IHT article on Nashi (http://hammernews.com/putinschildren2.htm ) and I often criticized Vlad the Impaler, so someone there may have noticed. Medvedev (insanely) celebrated Obama's win by threatening to put missiles on the Polish border and is changing the term of office to 6 years, and speculation is he will quit for Putin- exactly my forecast a year ago:

THE INFINITE PUTIN - Capital Times ORIGINAL Moscow: Putin is supposed to leave office in March, but that was impossible to believe. Appointing unknown crony Viktor Zubkov PM ends the doubt. Zubkov will be anointed President (+ win), Putin will become Prime Minister, and Zubkov will resign in 6-12 months to let Vladimir Vladimirovich return as Prez. http://hammernews.com/infintiteputin-captimes.htm

If you missed grabbing a historical paper with BO on Nov 5, the incredible BO org has put together a mosaic of clickable med-res 1000 front pages from US and the entire world- by alphabetical order of states, then country.

The crowd of hundreds that surrounded the White House must have rattled the Bushes, where they were singing: “Na, na, na, na. Hey, hey, hey. Goodbye.” This is an idea, surround the White House by thousand of protesters chanting OUT NOW, OUT NOW, and like Tiananmen or Nezhaleznisty, don’t go home for weeks. We couldn’t impeach him- didn’t have the numbers, but something should be done to convince this impostor disgrace of his proper place in history (the ad flyer in a book that you throw away).

And in another demonstration of my extraordinary reach, we did an invited NPR Talk of the World (Nation) Nov 6^th on whether Obama can force a peace between the Palestinians + Israelis (minute 33) w Hanan Ashrawi (whom I met at Bruno) and Natan Sharansky.

PRESIDENT Obama’s first press conference had the head-snapped dislocation of new history (with this jarring Prez-Elect sign), with putsy Volcker messing up the shot, and so many things are going to be new and head-shaking. But I suspect we are going to find him boringly steady after a while. But calling himself a mutt was a huge mistake- that word will be repeated 1000 times by his enemies. Obama had obviously pre-chose the questions, calling on people without looking at them. Rahm Emmanuel is a great choice for COS, someone able to move legislation through a recalcitrant Congress, and a political warrior who maybe won’t chicken out on the prosecutions of the Repub criminals that have abused America and the Constitution. We shall see. Dems are lined up with their 8 years of pent up demands- here 2 of the biggest.

Lastly, a nat security writer mentions the unmentionable- an attempt on BO- and the atmosphere of hate and nutcake encouragement created by McCain/Palin’s demagogic smears. Socialist, pal around with terrorists, not one of us, Hussein, untrustworthy - these words have dangerous power to unhinge the freaks and monsters among us, and should never have been ever used against the first real black candidate. There is a serious racist/neo-Nazi/Christian subclass in America, and they are dangerous (see The Order or CSA). McCain graced himself with Salter’s generous concession speech, but tone-deaf imbeciles started chanting "USA, USA"- what team did they think Obama played for. Hey, Sparky, the game’s over and you lost- head for the showers! http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0810/S00373.htm Obama Target.

I always liked McCain until this election- his humor, his self-deprecating jokes, his straight-forward blame taking, even his psychotic explosions at colleagues- these pompous fatuous lawyers who check the wind before they go to the toilet, need to be slapped down periodically. His big mistake was taking Rove slug Steve Schmidt as a top advisor, who brought the entire malignant standard Repub smear+slander crap into the campaign, including the vermin that called McCain's India adopter daughter a product of a black prostitute in 2000 SC. They neutralized every strength JM had, and made him a cartoon of a cranky old man. Mark Salter, his eloquent speechwriter, resisted + resented much of it, but they convinced JM that the press, his old pals and "base", were the enemy. As he went negative, they became that, and McCain, cut off from the stimulating smart human interaction, became embittered and grouchy. He was so divorced from the effects of his actions that when old friend John Lewis excoriated him for inciting hatred, McCain acted like the aggrieved party.

In the end, Obama benefitted from a 76 year political hurricane, and any Democrat would have won easily, which must still torture Hillary. He beat her by wrapping up the caucuses, where 30-40 partisans can take over a precinct, early- she had lost without even realizing it, and too many superdelegates had bitter feelings. I watched this election from 20 countries as I toured around Europe and Africa, voted for Obama in Morroco, America's oldest friend (first country to recognize US in 1777), and again from Kiev. It was incredible. The incompetent criminal Repubs have left an almost unbelievable mess for the next President, and his hands will be half-tied by the economic devastation they created.

OBAMA’s LAST DEBATE, POLLS -A NEW AMERICA, DESPERATE DISENFRANCHISEMENT, 2nd DEBATE NSHVL, MESSAGE TO BO OFFICIAL, UKRAINIAN UNDULATIONS, PALIN's PICK

2008-10-20T21:54:00.059-04:00

WHEN YOU ARE RIGHT....

As we started another chapter in Kiev, Putin, of all people, ratified our perspicacious vision on Georgia’s 2 invasions 10 days after I ran it (GEORGIA’S FOLLY)- that maybe the neocons engineered the first Georgian S. Osettian incursion, for which there is some evidence. He could be reading my articles, since I criticized him in almost every one, and this controlling strongman doesn’t allow any criticism to go unmonitored.

And then of course, the economic meltdown- the category 6 financial hurricane that I predicted in my March article, THE BUSH BATTERED DOLLAR, and have been warning friends about since last Oct, hit, and it won’t be finished for maybe 5 years, 10 if we are unlucky. Millions will die, and billions will be impoverished. The criminal Republicans created an unlimited casino with these fragmented mortgage bonds derivatives and credit default swaps, which wasn’t necessarily a problem, but they destroyed all government regulation, and the “financial instruments” thus increased exponentially in 4 years- till they dwarfed the real stock market and economy.

Ironically, the meltdown has trashed developing countries, because everyone pulls money out of them first in panic, so Russia’s (+ Ukr) stock market has collapsed by 70%, and the dollar has risen everywhere, though the US caused this mess. My Bloomberg financial journo ex-friend Will Mauldin is finally happy- he “couldn’t wait for the collapse”, so sick of the arrogance and face-control abuse of Russian thugs (but having lived in Russia for 2 years- he’s become Ratzo Rizzo-ized too). Finally- after 2 years of steady decline- the dollar has risen 20-30% here, but I still lose, because I have accumulated some Hrivnas. Ukraine, because of the success of Orange Revolution, is one of only places in the world where Bush is popular- had an hour conversation with a Kiev editor who thought he was fine. But the Kiev American Library ran the US Embassy sponsored movie Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, trying to ease the shock of a chorney President to virulently color-conscious Slavs- which Frank Rich just happened to use as a title.

PRESIDENT..: IF you had said 3 years ago America would be electing a black President, I would have bet 20 to 1 against it. But it is a new morning in (broke) America. McCain's pathetic charges of socialism should be called what they are: stupid. The simplest response is that "I'm returning to Clinton tax levels (when times were good)- was he a socialist?". 1/3 of actual voters have already voted early. McCainians have insanely taken possible plant Joe the Non-Plumber as a traveling mascot, amazing considering the guy doesn't have a plumbing license, owes taxes, makes way less that $250K to "buy his own business", and just happened to live before in AZ and AK. When Joe (Sam) pontificated on how Obama would destroy Israel, even Fox's Shepard Smith (he of the creepily widely spaced eyes) smacked him down. McCain's group is becoming dangerously divorced from reality, and acting so blithely clueless that it spotlights his erraticness.

St Louis Dispatch offers a well-done endorsement of BO; even conservative financial papers like Economist + Financial Times have endorsed Obama and Reagan shill Peggy Noonan reaches for eloquence in WSJ, whereas McCain received the endorsement of Al Qaida- remember OBL's advise to destroy the US economy- he wants to reward the Repubs for obeying; and Dick Cheney, the most hated figure in America.

Steven Colbert (hero of the WH Correspondents Dinner and the smartest performer ever) says McCain's only hope for victory is endorsing Obama... and The Daily Show, which sustained us during the dark days when the MSM were intimidated into silence, now has full shows online. While Obama draws crowds of a hundred thousand, McCain had to bus in 4000 schoolkids to make up a 6000 person crowd. A Montreal radio comedy group got Sarah Palin on the phone for 6 minutes pretending to be Sarkozy (even "from my house I can see Belgium", or thanking Hustler for porn film Nailin Palin wasn't enough to clue the starstruck Gov in). McCain+Cindy appeared on the last SNL and humanized himself with his once trademark humor and humility (selling pork knives on QVC) with Tiny Fey (making a "sad grandpa" appeal). The right wing dug up an illegal Obama half-aunt living in Boston who had contributed to his campaign.

BATTLING POLLS IN A NEW AMERICA

Latest polls have Obama up by 4-11 points nationwide: 6.4% average; but FiveThirtyEight. com has a Obama win pegged at 96% likely. McCain dumped huge Hail Mary energy into Penn. and has managed to only close the gap from 11% to maybe 7%. And there is 60% probability of 58 Dem Senators.

Brian Adams, a mathematics and computer science professor at Franklin & Marshall College, reports that there's a 99.98% chance that Sen. Barack Obama will win the presidential election on Tuesday. "Adams has developed a simulation model that involves running 50 million simulated state-by-state races, using the late-October poll results for each state.

Obama is about to do do something that no Dem Prez has done since LBJ- win the white male vote; his dominance is such that he is winning in Repub stalwarts IN (birthplace of KKK), CO, VA, NV (ND is a tossup)- he could lose Ohio and Florida and still win! This is maybe shaping up to be 1964, with a Dem wipeout of a very conservative AZ Senator (barely holding there!), though after 2000 + 2004, I won't believe anything until BO is ensconced in the Billy Dom with an army of Secret Service. Only strange or sour note is Missouri, which has picked the winner for 100 years, but is dead even. Massive Dem dominance in state races will allow them to gerrymander districts after the next census in 2010-11 to consolidate their advantage for the next 20-30 years, long deserved. Since the Bill Clinton Jihad, Repubs have operated less as a party than an ongoing criminal conspiracy.

Recent Reuters/Zogby poll had Obama up by 12 points, Pew by 14 points, meanwhile a deeply suspect AP poll had it neck in neck with a 1 point Obama lead: turns out their full sample had a 10 point BO lead, while the 70% likely voters were almost tied. Smells like someone wanted to make news with a radically different story, but when numbers diverge that much there is something rotten. Pew is estimating likely 12% black turnout, while AP has it at only 9% from old elections.

From David Sederis: To put undecideds in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. “Can I interest you in the chicken?” she asks. “Or would you prefer the platter of sh*t with bits of broken glass in it?”
To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked.

OBAMISTORY: Here is WP Obama's story by ace biographer David Maraniss of his young life in Hawaii and Indonesia, with the tremendous courage and wisdom of his peripatetic mother after being (pretty much) used and abandoned by Obama's father, who already had a wife + child in Kenya. It is a moving story, with some portions paralleling my own Odyssey from Cambridge to Seattle to Hawaii. Hawaii is a bizarre place with violent racial divisions, with whites having roughly the status of blacks in 1920's Mississippi- one can be attacked, beaten, even killed with relative impunity. Blacks were almost non-existent (except in military) but also suffered discrimination- but browns, which Obama really is, ruled, which is why he is different than any other black man we've ever seen. With the influx of immigrants, Hispanics, and incorporation of black culture; America has seemingly finally transcended race with even racists grudgingly voting for BO.

And in the spirit of American inclusiveness, here's a Newsweek portrait of John McCain, who, though would be disastrous as Prez and is lately breathtakingly dishonest, still has had an amazing and courageous life.

4 days, baby, that will shake the world.

DESPERATE DISENFRANCHISEMENT

The Repubs have moved to another level of criminality in their desperate attempt to purge voters, with Sen. Minority Leader Cong. (Delay's rt hand vermin) Boehner asking Bush to order AG Mukasey to order Ohio Sec State Jennifer Brunner to match voter's registrations with SS or Drivers License numbers. This was subject of a suit by the local Repubs, and some Ohio court went along with them. But the SUPREME COURT voided that decision and said she did not have to do the notoriously inaccurate procedure (over 10% -200,000 unmatching for various reasons that have nothing to do with fraud).

So this cartoon President is now trying to jimmy a third election with the crudest of illegal partisan stunts- ignoring a applicable SC decision, and send the top cop out to disenfranchise voters. There should be riots and effigy burning all over America over this. There is a chance Mukasey will say “no thanks” to Bush's contemptible order. Should have impeached and removed Bush + Cheney 5 years ago- if it had been possible.

ECONOMIC MELTDOWN EXPLAINED (radio)

This is an hour This American Life (which is a gonzo hip funny program on culture fm Chicago NPR-audio) that completely explains the mortgage casino meltdown- making $1/2 million NINA loans to destitute "homeowners" (no income, no assets) which were then repackaged to Wall St houses and then resold to Japan, Europe, Middle East. They got up to CDO- Credit Debt Obligations? (where weasel middlemen repackaged toxic garbage that somehow acquired AA ratings). It is good, and amazing, where the mortgage agents would just fill out the form and make up 5 fold more than real incomes for "applicants", who only needed a pulse. In fact one issued about a dozen to dead people, so you didn't even need that.

OBAMA’s LAST DEBATE

Obama’s last debate (video-trans), as the first, was intensely frustrating. Given multiple chances to put McCain away with devastating honest counterpunches on his responsibility in this economic catastrophe, Obama instead wasted much time reacting to McCain’s distracting and total bull attacks- who cares about a 3-8% tax hike if you have over $¼ mil income- compared to many tens of millions being out of work and losing their homes, who cares about William Ayres or so-called “class warfare”, when McCain’s primary economic advisor, pal, and campaign co-chair, Phil Gramm, wrote the bill that will wipe out the world economic system, deregulating credit default swaps !!!!!!@!! That is class warfare, enriching the obscenely moneyed class by stealing from everyone. There are $62 trillion of these things (most worthless cause they bet that housing prices would always rise), far more than all the monetary reserves in the world- so this meltdown is just beginning. And he didn’t even mention it- the wimp. Seriously, Dems have a death wish- when you spend most of your time reacting to the other’s attacks, you are asking to lose. What would you do if Kitty Dukakis was raped and murdered? There were shades of that in BO’s professorial response- instead of slapping it back down McCain’s throat. Obama has a 4-12 point lead, but it is soft- he will lose half of it to racism, 2-3 points to disenfranchisement and machine fraud?, and any last minute desperate trash attack might swing it.

But, still, it seems Americans have grown up- out of the yahoo jackass “patriotism” that inflicted the traitor GB2 on the world (who wanted to invade Iraq right after 9-11 and ignore OBL, till Blair talked him out of it)- and they are sick of stupid. And they won’t elect the snarling crotchety old man McCain, whose festering anger, contempt, and imagined superiority was so on display in all the debates and many of the speeches, and reckless horrible judgment (A QUESTION OF JUDGMENT) in the Palin choice and every other position he has compromised to appeal to the wacko right. Watch the Des Moines Register interview- he snarls and attacks them on every question and answers nothing, and witness his 120/minute blink rate on this last debate- a symbol of nervousness and honesty- this guy should be nowhere near the nuclear button, as even 3 Repub Senators have said.

I questioned him (realp) about his crazy decision to remain in a NV prison for 4 1/2 years rather than go home, mostly because he was ashamed of facing his 4-star admiral father after cooperating with his brutal captors after hideous torture.

I long thought he was unelectable just on his Iraq and hard right positions, but he has run his campaign and honor into a ditch with his embrace of the extreme religious right. McCain is a bottom of his class goof-off protected by his famous heritage who learned the formula of telling reporters something spirited that conflicted with his party, and earned gigantic kudos for it. But it’s a circus trick and the real McCain is a right wing fool who is pumping these disastrous boilerplate Republican tax and trickle-down theories that have been proven wrong for 30 years- as 5 trillion more dollars of debt and a global collapse proves. He created this financial disaster with his unending support for deregulation, and Obama hasn’t brought it to the center of the campaign. People are exhausted with Repub smear and slander tactics, and have finally, after so much sheep-like following, have turned against it. It is quite incredible- one after another media figure and voter turning against McCain for his sleazy tactics. Chris Mathews skewered some McCain spokesman, furiously repeating ten times, "Do you think Obama pals around with terrorists?", until the guy was out of time.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2nd DEBATE NASHVILE TOWN HALL- 9pm Oct 7

Obama was much tougher on McCain + the issues and looked vibrant, young, and healthy, while McCain looked old and feeble. BO kicked back firmly and effectively and dispelled the overly cerebral nerd image he gave in the first debate. I believe that barring some major vicious successful slander (which will come), BO has clinched the Presidency. We gonna have a black President. Shazam.

As I was telling Moroccans in March when I voted in the Primary by Internet from Fes due to the great org Democrats Abroad, which with massive registration of the 12 million US ex-pats around the world, may tip the scales. I was swept up in Obamamania, but quickly had second thoughts about Obama's conservatism (only #44th most liberal Senator, next to Lieberman, voted for illegal spying immunity- though McCain constantly lies, calls him the most liberal Senator)- that I had betrayed Hillary, who suffered for us- maybe the most unfairly attacked person in US political history, who knows what the Repubs were and how to deal with them, and arguably was tougher and had a more concrete agenda.

Obama, however, has transcended so many boundaries and will change the equation on what it means to be an American… to something positive and honorable again. And he will have a massively Dem Congress to help manage the catastrophic hard times the Repubs have left us, and finally pick the best and brightest, rather than the worst and dimmest. But still, not a mention of Phil Gramm- absolutely inexplicable- a top woman in campaign says Gramm doesn't poll well with Joe Six Pack. Jeez.

MESSAGE TO TOP OBAMA OFFICIAL AFTER FIRST DEBATE:

I did media advice and produced commercials for candidates all the way back to Gary Hart and Mondale and have maybe 70% accurate record in forecasts over 2 1/2 decades of commentaries (see exact prediction of this economic meltdown from March). Kerry used a phrase of mine in a speech.

I am amazed that Obama isn't repeating "Phil Gramm" in every speech- it's the silver bullet against McCain, but I haven't heard anybody mention him. Why talk about Keating 5 when his economic "genius" caused this economic disaster? Screw the focus groups- you educate people with your ads- it's the truth, though I know that's lost so much currency that it's easier to exaggerate some silly detail. Explain this economic disaster in a few clear sentences and lay the blame on Gramm and McCain- that should terrify people that they might elect the moron who helped cause it. And just keep running it over + over, like the Repubs do with their slanders and lies- repetition is what crams things into the heads of our moronic electorate (42% think Palin is qualified to be Prez?).

Keating is ancient history- nobody under 42 even remembers it. And when people realize McCain's culpability in this mess, it will expose the virulent hypocrisy and dishonesty of his charges against Obama. Obama's hopes for a different campaign were always naive- Repubs always go for the slime, but you can tie this economic disaster so tightly around their neck they can't escape the reckoning. Others also don't understand why you weren't clubbing McCain with this nonstop.

My heart fell when McCain challenged Obama's judgment and Obama did his Roots speech- people want to see a liar slapped down; and Obama has to stop McCain when he gets on a rant- "Enough!", trying 8 times unsuccessfully looks weak. You want to connect to Joe Sixpack, punch your way out of clinches- there were times last debate that Obama looked like a jr high schooler unhappy that his opponent wasn't following the rules. Elections are won and lost on perceived toughness, black or white, if you can't face down an American liar, how can you do that with Putin or Kim or Ahmadinejad? Don't praise his record on torture when he rolled over and gave away the store- this flip flop business is potent.

No candidate has ever been handed a more perfect tool than McCain's responsibility in this financial wipeout. If you don't use it you are crazy, if you do you probably can't lose. Or you can sit on your hands and wait as the Muslim ads and vicious garbage activate enough unconscious racism to sway fence sitters.

Specific Phrases: "That's dumb, John. And we've done dumb for 8 years- that's why we're in this mess." (McCain is a screw-up who graduated in the bottom 1/2% of his class- but people don't know that.)

"You've changed your position on everything you've stood for in the last 10 years. Where's the old John McCain? What do you really believe?"

"Do you really think Sarah Palin is the best person in America for Vice President?"

UKRAINIAN UNDULATIONS

Ukraine will have another election- the third in 3 years- as the once hero President Victor Yushchenko further damaged his legacy by suicidally dissolving the Parliament- Rada- and the ruling coalition with PM Yulia Tymoshenko, she of the infinite braid (bet she hates it now). Suicidal because his popularity is somewhere between 3 and 7%, but his party now has 15% representation, and it will likely lead to domination by ex-con mugger Yanukovich’s Party of the Regions. “It’s the end of Our Ukraine,” said the director of Fullbright scholarships in Ukraine, Myron Stachiw, flatly. The bitter junior high school rivalry between Victor Yushchenko and Yulia has become so dysfunctional that when she jetted off to Moscow to successfully charm Putin into permitting another few years of vastly subsidized gas to keep Ukraine afloat… Vic appropriated her plane, leaving her to scramble for a charter. YT for her part, has refused provide the $83 mil for the election and her BUTE party avoided a vote by jamming the Rada voting machines with garbage. While the leaders endlessly quarrel, an economic semi is coming down the pike that will smash the burgeoning young country flat- they failed to finalize an incipient World Bank loan of $16 billion.

Yushchenko went ballistic about the Russian invasion of Ossetia/Georgia, castigating the Russians, flying off to Tbilisi to show support with his friend Saakashvili, and making idiotic threats that the Russian Navy wouldn't be allowed to return to Sevastapol after they had annihilated the Georgian Navy. Timoshenko was far more circumspect at alienating their mammoth neighbor, for which Vic accused her of treason, even tried to bring charges against her for plotting with Russia. This was the final straw in their relationship - she had already allied with the Regions to cut the President's power and make it easier to impeach him (although that was reversed). Victor also is a huge booster of joining NATO, while Yulia realizes the instant violent reaction it would provoke in Moscow (NATO NO)- instigating revolt in the Crimea or Donbass.

People are deeply disgusted by the squabbling and waste of energy… and VY own hallowed star has fallen to the depths, even as he is feted in Washington by a despised President desperate to touch base with perhaps the only success of his sorry destructive reign.

PALIN’S PICK

Sarah Palin tried to humanize herself on Saturday Night Live to defang the most perfect impression ever done by Tina Fey (capturing the inarticulate half baked jn high school golly gee whiz personality to a tee), but they basically used her as a prop and savaged her with a hilarious rap. She, as I thought, has put a nail in the coffin of McCain- many Repubs are terrified of this creature becoming President and 52% think she's unqualified to be President.

Apparently this grating-voiced frightening brittle woman has filled the entire AK state gov with school pals from 5000 person (when she was mayor) city she grew up in.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/us/politics/14palin.html?em=&pagewanted=all

=====As she assembled her cabinet and made other state appointments, those with insider credentials were now on the outs. But a new pattern became clear. She surrounded herself with people she has known since grade school and members of her church.

Ms. Palin chose Talis Colberg, a borough assemblyman from the Matanuska valley, as her attorney general, provoking a bewildered question from the legal community: “Who?” Mr. Colberg, who did not return calls, moved from a one-room building in the valley to one of the most powerful offices in the state, supervising some 500 people.

“I called him and asked, ‘Do you know how to supervise people?’ ” said a family friend, Kathy Wells. “He said, ‘No, but I think I’ll get some help.’ ”

The Wasilla High School yearbook archive now doubles as a veritable directory of state government. Ms. Palin appointed Mr. Bitney, her former junior high school band-mate, as her legislative director and chose another classmate, Joe Austerman, to manage the economic development office for $82,908 a year. Mr. Austerman had established an Alaska franchise for Mailboxes Etc.

But careers were turned upside down. The mayor quickly fired the town’s museum director, John Cooper. Later, she sent an aide to the museum to talk to the three remaining employees. “He told us they only wanted two,” recalled Esther West, one of the three, “and we had to pick who was going to be laid off.”

Days later, Mr. Cooper recalled, a vocal conservative, Steve Stoll, sidled up to him. Mr. Stoll had supported Ms. Palin and had a long-running feud with Mr. Cooper. “He said: ‘Gotcha, Cooper,’ ” Mr. Cooper said.

In 1997, Ms. Palin fired the longtime city attorney, Richard Deuser, after he issued the stop-work order on a home being built by Don Showers, another of her campaign supporters.

Your attorney, Mr. Showers told Ms. Palin, is costing me lots of money.

“She told me she’d like to see him fired,” Mr. Showers recalled. “But she couldn’t do it herself because the City Council hires the city attorney.” Ms. Palin told him to write the council members to complain.

Meanwhile, Ms. Palin pushed the issue from the inside. “She started the ball rolling,” said Ms. Patrick, who also favored the firing. Mr. Deuser was soon replaced by Ken Jacobus, then the State Republican Party’s general counsel.

“Professionals were either forced out or fired,” Mr. Deuser said.

The new mayor also tended carefully to her evangelical base. She appointed a pastor to the town planning board. And she began to eye the library. For years, social conservatives had pressed the library director to remove books they considered immoral.

“People would bring books back censored,” recalled former Mayor John Stein, Ms. Palin’s predecessor. “Pages would get marked up or torn out.”

Witnesses and contemporary news accounts say Ms. Palin asked the librarian about removing books from the shelves. The McCain-Palin presidential campaign says Ms. Palin never advocated censorship.

Last summer State Representative John Harris, the Republican speaker of the House, picked up his phone and heard Mr. Palin’s voice. The governor’s husband sounded edgy. He said he was unhappy that Mr. Harris had hired John Bitney as his chief of staff, the speaker recalled. Mr. Bitney was a high school classmate of the Palins and had worked for Ms. Palin. But she fired Mr. Bitney after learning that he had fallen in love with another longtime friend.

“I understood from the call that Todd wasn’t happy with me hiring John and he’d like to see him not there,” Mr. Harris said.

“The Palin family gets upset at personal issues,” he added. “And at our level, they want to strike back.”

Democrats and Republicans alike describe her as often missing in action. Since taking office in 2007, Ms. Palin has spent 312 nights at her Wasilla home, some 600 miles to the north of the governor’s mansion in Juneau, records show.

During the last legislative session, some lawmakers became so frustrated with her absences that they took to wearing “Where’s Sarah?” pins.

Many politicians say they typically learn of her initiatives — and vetoes — from news releases.

Mayors across the state, from the larger cities to tiny municipalities along the southeastern fiords, are even more frustrated. Often, their letters go unanswered and their pleas ignored, records and interviews show.

“Sarah said she didn’t need to read that stuff,” Ms. Chase said. “It was disturbing that someone would be willing to remove a book from the library and she didn’t even read it.”

“I’m still proud of Sarah,” she added, “but she scares the bejeebers out of me.”

Laura Chase, the campaign manager during Ms. Palin’s first run for mayor in 1996, recalled the night the two women chatted about her ambitions.

“I said, ‘You know, Sarah, within 10 years you could be governor,’ ” Ms. Chase recalled. “She replied, ‘I want to be president.’ ”==========

With this creature as VEEP, McCain better have a constant taste-tester. In another (Frank Rich called a chilling) speech, she compared herself to another small town Prez Harry S, who just happened to become Prez when FDR died.

PUTIN'S CHILDREN, ESTONIAN EGRESS, POLONIUM POISON, MPLS BRIDGE COLLAPSE

2007-08-02T17:00:00.000-04:00

PUTIN'S CHILDREN Our primo commentary on the creepy Putin Youth organizations made IHT, leading an explosion of coverage of Nashi, et al, at their current neo-fascist summer camp with SU-27 flyovers and visits by both Presidential successors. And other reporters picked up my Putin Youth phrase, so although Saddamnesty failed to catch on (when he released the criminals before the invasion), I may have finally coined a word- 50,000 links now.

International Herald Tribune- Scan July 6 -new from Moscow The Putin Youth groups: Nashi, Young Guard, Young Russia; badger and terrorize anyone who even differs with Kremlin positions; By propagandizing the vulnerable, is the Kremlin poisoning the seed corn of young minds? On June 12th, Russian Independence Day, Red Sq. was reserved for the Party faithful Original

ESTONIAN EGRESS

Having to leave and return before 6 months in one of the nonsensical Russian visa laws, we decamped for beautiful Tallin, 14^th century medieval perfect walking capital of Estonia, which has long fascinated me, since my first girlfriend here, accomplished artist sweetheart Olga in St. Petersburg, was from there. “Michael, you can buy a house in Estonia for $20”, she implored, then in ‘92. My response, “I’ll give you $40, buy me one too”, was unfortunately taken as ridicule when I was serious. The joke was on me, since Estonia was the only CIS country that didn’t have hyperinflation and complete collapse, because they introduced their Kroon (crown, 11.6 EEK /$) quickly, then stabilized and defended it, with Finnish + Swedish help. I could have bought a house then for $100, that now, with prices skyrocketing due to tourism, EU, + NATO membership… would be worth $200-300K. “Ow-ow- home”, as Jenny used to say when I was hurting some part of her. It also was the most free of neo-Soviet theft, which made any long term purchase a 7% crap shoot in Russia.

Tallin is loaded with picturesque children’s toy medieval high castle towers, overlooks, walls, ramparts, and has almost no cars in the gorgeous Old Town, where we spent a week. Moreover, there are no visas, no face control vermin, and everyone loves Americans- I almost forgot what that was like. I didn’t pay for 1 museum or even club admission there. There are a host of young loud Brit drinking tourists, who are now common in the Eastern Block. One guy was talking to me in the chique all white Stereo Lounge and I couldn’t make out one word. “Do you speak Estonian?” No. Russian? No What do you speak? Cockney.

Another item of interest was the huge dustup over the Esties moving a Soviet statue and some graves in the city center (now covered with flowerbeds) that Russia(ns) went ballistic over- inc. violent Tallin riots that injured 200 and killed 1, and a provoked a host of sanctions against Estonia- no more oil- that are still in place. The Russians just held a Finno-Ugric festival- with exactly 3 such countries in the world: Finland, Hungary, and Estonia; guess which one was left out? The Russians are angry about discrimination against the 30% Russian minority, who were largely shipped in after WW2 to Russify the place after the Estonians brief 21 year moment in the sun of freedom between the Wars.

Before WW1 they were dominated by the Russians for 200 years, the Swedes for 150, the Germans, the Danes, the Lithianians/Poles, and Microsoft- in the horrendous great power wars on their territory they were almost annihilated 3 or 4 times- reduced to under 50,000 population (now 1.4 mil). They retained their cultural identity by holding a huge 2 day 40,000 youth Songfest every 4 years since 1880’s, where they all sing in Estonian simultaneously- which incredibly coincidentally took place just when I arrived. I first thought the beautiful native costumes were normal school uniforms and was very impressed, but I had a sleepless hot upper bunk. Train tickets were stiff: $100 for a 1w 450 mile train trip- 15 years ago I went 3500 miles to Irkutsk for 80 cents- I could have flown for the same price, but it was a thrill to buy 50 cent pastries when they are $6 in Mockba. My cabin mate Artur was a Vesti Russ-tonian* Tallin newspaper reporter, who had just returned from 2 week Gov. invited trip where he got to question hoards of top Russian officials. left photo+passport copyright Michael Hammerschlag 2007

There are tensions between the Russians + Estonians, who have instituted a language + history test for citizenship (8% still have Russian citizenship + 8% have a bizarre alien passport- “please allow this creature we disavow entrance into your country”- ET call home; about half the Russian-speakers have Estonian citizenship- they must chose between easy admission into the EU or Russia). The Russians bitch about discrimination in jobs or shops (“true”, says a returning prodigal Estonian restaurant-opening world travelless, “but they are guests in our home who won’t learn or speak our language”); the Estonians complain about thuggish bullying (skateboard kid, “They rob me”, and a college girl- “a guy just punched my friend in the face walking down the street”), and loud or gauche behavior… but truthfully the combination of Scandinavian precision, coolness, and civilization.. and Russian passion, energy, and eroticism makes for good people, and beautiful babes. With the various foreign occupations, deep interbreeding, and commuting Finns across the narrow Gulf, linguo-ethnic identities are an uncertain mélange. “My first language is Russian,” said a 22 year old girl who spoke 4 languages, “my father was Finnish and my mother was Russian, but I am Estonian,” she said proudly.

You get the sense that few Russians here would rather live in Russia, than the incredibly comfortable and friendly Estonia (at least in Tallin). “Russia is better for business,” said Vasily, a cool Russ-tonian who had just returned from St. Petersburg, “but this is my home.” He exulted in the native freedom of his linguistic homeland, though. We were drinking beers on a bench (nelzya here)- a moment earlier a drunk Estonian thug had insanely almost attacked me when I asked for a bottle opener (his girlfriend had restrained him). He swaggered up and demanded a cigarette- Vasily responded in perfect Estonian, “What will you give me?” The eastern parts of Estonia are predominantly Russian: Narva, Kohtla Yarve. Estonia features a startling low 4% unemployment, and first world income of $20,000/yr.

According to a guy who seemed to know, the 20 year old Russian-speaking-citizen Estonian-residing demonstrator, Dmitri Ganin, killed (stabbed) during the April 26-8 Bronze Soldier riots had been smashing windows of a bar with people inside, when the rioters started to prepare Molotov cocktails, patrons inside were armed and counterattacked. This is unsubstantiated though. In the Nashi pictures of him, he looks 14 years old (and maybe is in the picture), he may have just been the smallest or slowest in getting away. The Estonian police arrested 13 people who had supposedly beaten him, but let them all go, saying they couldn’t prove who had killed him. Over 200, including police, were injured and they arrested some 1200 in the week period. In watching maybe 40 minutes of U-tube video, one can’t see a single instance of police brutality that Russians were claiming in fevered rhetoric. Including several Duma members, they also claimed the statue was destroyed and cut up- a lie- it was moved whole to it’s new home, along with the 13 graves of 12 men and one woman. A blogger described the heaviest action.

The Estonians have bitter memories of the 48 year Soviet occupation, when perhaps 70-80,000 were killed (32,000 in just 2 deportations after the Soviets returned after Hitler and Stalin concluded their peace in our time VR-M pact); and their language and culture suppressed. When the Soviets retook Estonia in 1944 against fierce resistance from Estonian brigades (Germans had fled), the whole government and tens of thousands more were “repressed”. In the Museum of the Occupations, the Soviets are the meanies, very little space is given to the Germans (3 year occupation), who were welcomed as liberators. Because of their Aryan complexion, the Estonians suffered far less than almost anyone under the Nazi yoke. This is another grievance of Russians- that the Esties were Nazi sympathizers who had their own SS battalions, and this is true (pic), but so did many other occupied countries. There was a statue of an Estonian SS soldier erected briefly in 2004 by a neo-nazi mayor in an eastern town, but it was taken down by the government within 3 weeks. Not a word on the fate of 950 Jews in that museum, though (99% slaughtered says a Baltic Times piece).

In the directly opposite direction, watching long videos on the Soviet collapse 1986-1991 (liberation) in the Estonian history museum, you can’t help not getting choked up at the monumental inspiring wonder of the geo-political earthquake that was setting them free and their fortitude at wrenching loose - which I’d never really seen from the historical viewpoint of a near satellite (Ukraine was during). The 1989 Songfest and amazing chain of 2 million holding hands throughout the Baltics were instrumental. No people, of course, suffered more under the Soviets than the Russians themselves; which is why their silence at Vlad’s attempts to whitewash history is so disturbing.

The hysterical propaganda campaign against Estonia was appallingly effective: 95% of Westernized sophisticated Russians were convinced the Estonia police were beating innocent protesters, treating ethnic Russians like animals, and had murdered Ganin in cold blood. Just trying to explain what I had discovered to a worldly Ukrainian Moscovite who hosts foreigners and thinks Yanukovich is a thug, descended into a screaming match. Such is the power of blind patriotism, and the chilling ease with which Russians can be manipulated. They have lost the cynicism that once provided immunity from government indoctrination (now maybe 40% of all pronouncements), and are quick to accept the “evil foreigners plotting against Russia” paranoia that is crazy in a wealthy, modern, powerful country. [They mostly believe the laughable “Brits + Berezovsky killed secret agent Litvinenko” story the Kremlin was peddling.] The xenophobia crudely promulgated by the government over the last year could have long lasting malignant consequences.

Returning home on the train, I chatted with 2 obnoxious chauvinistic Estonian girl students on their way to Moscow to study Russian for a month, “Russian girls are slutty,”^Å loudly in a restaurant car with 40% Russians, “don’t worry, I know when to be quiet.” “Don’t touch me,” said the other to my tiny conversational emphasis pats. I hadn’t heard that kind of crap since… oh yeah.. America. They should have a good time in Mother Russia.

*Russ-tonian= Russian speaking Estonian citizen who also speaks Estonian

+ - I did hold hands with some Russian girl at a café table, “What do you do for work?”, I asked innocently. “Sex,” she replied. “Oh… never mind.”

POISONING RUSSIA

The latest from the Litvinenko investigation points squarely at the Russian government. According to London's The Times, the polonium-210 that killed him, is from Sarov (secret nuclear city Arzamas-16), where over 90% of the world’s supply is made. But the clincher is that this stuff is A. about the most lethal substance known to man, with a 50% fatal dose only 50 billionths (nano) of a gram, or 3 million times less than cyanide; and B. perhaps the most expensive- they claim the amount used to dispatch Litvinenko was worth $9 million dollars, significantly more than your average hit- in fact the most expensive assassination ever (scant comfort for Lit). How this squares with it being used in antistatic dust brushes is a mystery. Litvinenko had only one sip of the poisoned tea, which the barman claims he saw one of the men spray something into. A vicious alpha particle emitter used to warm spacecraft electronics and only created in nuclear reactors, it has a half life of 138 days and attacks all the body organs- destroying the liver and spleen. Had they identified it much sooner- chelating agents used to remove heavy metals- mercury, lead, and arsenic, may have saved him.

The supposed assassination plot against Berezovsky (with a strangely incompetent deported hitman with child) is the reason the Brits reacted so strongly with the 4 expulsions of Russian embassy workers. Not only was there powerful evidence of a state sponsored reckless assassination with dangerous nuclear material.. it seemed they weren't finished yet.

MPLS BRIDGE COLLAPSE

The collapse of the 40 year old downtown I-35 W bridge crossing the Mississippi is a shock, since that was my standard crossing East from where I lived by Lake of the Isles there manoga got nazat. 50 cars tumbled 60 ft., many into the water, killing maybe 5. Mpls is one of the most livable and decent cities in America (if you leave 3 months every winter), with sober, fun, decent, smart semi-Scandanavians. It is arctic hell, though, with the entire downtown connected by skybridges and underground passageways so one never has to venture into the bitter howling cold blowing southwest from the Arctic taiga of Canada. In 4 winters in Russia, inc Murmansk- above the Arctic Circle, and far Siberia, I’ve never seen colder temps than 1 winter in Mpls- -25F, -32C. This undoubtedly is the most salient factor, because metal at such cold temps becomes brittle- instead of flexing with the load- it cracks with barely visible hairline cracks. I remember changing a van clutch in -5 to 0 F weather and being very worried that the bolts would snap rather than unscrew. Another huge question is how much Mn used salt over the 40 years to melt ice.

From Google Maps, you can see locks just 200 ft north of the 8 lane bridge, so high variable water flow may have eroded foundations. CNN has the video from a security camera, where you can see the entire roadway portion of the 458 ft superstructureless pierless deck metal truss bridge over the river pancaking flat into the river, the access portion follows a second or 2 later. 140,000 cars a day cross the major river bridge, and it was crowded with crawling bumper to bumper traffic- even looking at the before pics, it's obvious the concrete support pillars look too small and steel connections too spindly.

Crashing into the water in a car is one of the most deadly experiences there is: in crash tests into a canal with divers standing by, even trained underwater people were almost killed by the total disorientation, sealed doors, icy water, blind panic. I used to travel often with scuba gear (till some clown on the Interstate rear ended the trunk where the charged tank was) just in case I came across such a scene- I think of the poor slobs trapped underwater, unable to open or break window. Agonizingly, the water there is only 7-8 feet deep, though the current makes free-swimming recovery hard because you are constantly blown downriver. This could have been much much worse- the shallow water, below bridge framework and horizontal collapse meant the roadway stayed above water, no superstructure came smashing down on the cars, and most cars weren't thrown off or submerged.

There are probably dozens or hundreds of structural failures waiting to happen in US bridges and bldgs are - they are more common in the rest of the world, but there are so so many such objects in America. "As of 2003, there were about 160,570 bridges deemed structurally deficient or functionally obsolete (like this one was), according to the American Society of Civil Engineers. The number represented 27.1 percent of the nation's bridges." A 2001 study conducted by the Minnesota Department of Transportation found "several fatigue problems" in the bridge's approach spans and "poor fatigue details" on the main truss. The study suggested that the design of bridge's main truss could cause a collapse if one of two support planes were to become cracked.

This is where the $3 trillion of tax breaks for the rich (and $600 billion for Iraq) Bush has issued could have come in handy.

For an altogether more creepy explaination, rent the Richard Gere movie The Mothman Prophecies, a partially true story about a 1967 West Virgina bridge collapse that killed 46.

GONZALES GOING; IRAQ CUTOFF; WOLFOWITZ WAVERING; GULIANI's SLANDER, THE BEST + THE BRIGHTEST, ANTARCTIC TSUNAMIS, PADILLA TRIAL + FT DIX PLOT

2007-04-30T23:03:00.002-04:00

MAY 10 After 13 years away, I’ve returned to Russia with the new year, and the changes are staggering.
FADING FREEDOMS- Capital Times - from Moscow (must view in IE) Step by step democracy has become a fading photograph of the nineties, as Putin restricts, harasses and crushes political independence, the free press, and concentrates all power in the Kremlin; Giant state industries reconstituting as the state forces out foreign oilcos- March 24 LONG with Pics

GONZALES GOING GOING:
The grilling of Gonzales by the Senate Committee was deeply gratifying, but the truth was, this was one of the worst appointments in history- a total unqualified toady to Bush becoming head cop of America, where every outrageous illegal request from the White House would be dutifully carried out. The Republicans were going to confirm him no matter what in 2005, as he smugly arrogantly deflected all questions with a contemptuous half smile during his confirmation. Now what is so striking, is those same craven Republicans slow roasted him like a shish kabob, having heard the message of the elections and disgusted at their decimation and irrelevance. The head of US law enforcement lied like a rug, saying 71 or so times “I can’t recall”, connected with his Dec. massacre of US attorneys who were prosecuting Republican criminals, or who failed to go after Dems on specious grounds (voter fraud to intimidate Dems). Gonzales lasting claim to be one of the most despicable characters in any government is his authorship of the torture memo justifying the unprecedented violation of International Law, where he argued that to be considered torture, there must be "major organ failure or death". They have given his White House liaison Monica Goodling immunity to get her to testify, but Condi and other leading Bushmen have vowed to ignore subpoenas. Time Contempt of Congress findings start be used. Bush must stick with Alberto no matter what, because if he is driven out, they won’t be able to keep the bodies buried in the wide ranging Constitutional crimes of this administration- in particular the illegal spying controversy, which I know included journalists and Democrats. That finally should send many people to prison. FULL COVERAGE

WAR, WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR: Al Sadr sniper
It’s kind of stunning, the wide ranging support for withdrawing the Iraq troops, esp. hearing respected ex-West Point instructor Sen. Jack Reed lead the charge (though still don’t understand how he could brag to me that he coined the phrase The Long War, which I feared would create a self-fulfilling mentality). But make no mistake about it- for our arrogance, recklessness, and incompetence in devastating the heart of the Arab world and Vatican of the Shiite faith, America should be sentenced to police-keeping duties in Iraq for the next 20 years. The only reason America has had enough of this war is because Americans keep dying, not because we reduced a modern society back to the stone age, not because 100 or 400 or 700,000 Iraqis have been killed, not because we allowed the bombs that are shattering their world to all be looted (losing the war in the first 4 months), not because we made US soldiers torturers, not because 2 billion people around the world hate us. No, it just wasn’t fast enough for US sensibilities. Americans are bored and tired with this war, but imagine how tired the Iraqis are, living in that hell on earth. Who in America cares about them?- the threats that “Iraqis get their act together, or else” are laughable if they weren’t so contemptible. Even for US security, we should stay in Iraq, the costs may be less than the horrendous effect of the coming Iraq Civil War, 1000-2000 a day dead instead of 100.

From 9-11 Narcissism: “But escaping Iraq is a no win situation. We can stay forever and maintain the eroding status quo against ever increasing terror, or we can get out- leading to a 10 year civil war that will kill maybe a million (Odom aud) Iraqis, create the unlimited training ground for terrorists that Bush claimed to be stopping, stop the 1.6 million barrels of oil a day coming from Iraq, and destabilize the entire Mideast. Or the swelling civil war will drive us out. Iraq is a jackpot that the ignorant arrogant fools of this Administration bullied, blustered, and badgered us into- without the slightest understanding of the consequences.” We have, in effect, turned the country over to Iran, our most dedicated enemy; and the promulgation of this war will be seen as an act of treason.

Bush can veto this bill, but in 6 months, Congress will have a veto proof majority, and Bush will be utterly neutralized, 7 years too late. If only the Dems had rustled up this fortitude when it mattered in Oct 2002, when I was sure the Senate would toss Bush's Wanton War back in his legacy face. Maybe sooner- 11 Congressman just read Bush the riot act in a WH meeting, "There is no credibility!"

WOLFOWITZ WAVERING: The monstrous PC controversy over Paul Wolfowitz’s corruption because he gave his girlfriend a job is almost laughable- one has a different view of corruption being in Russia. Being the guiding light and motivating force behind the illegal, strategically insane, and (neo-con) religiously inspired invasion of Iraq weren’t enough to prevent the hack’s appointment to the World Bank. For some inexplicable reason, Bush’s reelection and notable vindictiveness perhaps, the Europeans didn’t revolt over that appalling unqualified appointment- now however, the situation is different and everyone wants the neo-nut gone, and his penny ante neo-nepotism is grounds. Maybe next Bush can give him an appointment as head of Federal Prison… Inmates. Wolfy-wish is, incredibly, fighting like a banshee for his job, and has hired Wash. superlawyer Bob Bennett. Not a speck of acknowledgement of guilt in these people, no matter what they’ve done.

THE BEST + THE BRIGHTEST: First it was Boris Yeltsin, the Urals bear, who passed away on April 23, a day that begin with a little blizzard (video) in Moscow. Read my eulogy to a historical giant, who was the only one of his administration I never questioned. Then later, the classy comprehensive journalistic artisan David Halberstam, died in a SF traffic accident after a Berkeley lecture and a dream career. I spent some time with him at an intimate speech at Brown Alumni Club 2-3 years ago, and he was a elegant decent guy, whom I wish I had kept in touch with. I haven’t read much of his vastly diverse voluminous writings, but may remedy that. “Halberstam wrote 15 bestsellers, including "The Best and the Brightest" on the Vietnam War, "Summer of `49" on the 1949 pennant race between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Box and his latest book, "The Education of a Coach" on New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick.”

On Friday cello legend, Wash Symphony Dir., and famous dissendent Rostropovich, who returned to Russia in Aug 1991 to play to Yeltsin supporters at the White House and in front of the KGB, died. He was laid to rest Sunday next to his friend Boris in Novodevichy Cemetary.

GIULIANI’s SLANDERS + REPUB ALTS: In a NH speech, Rudy Giuliani, who somehow has become the front runner due to McCain’s “surge” beliefs, took a page from Rove’s book, saying electing Dems would lead to more terrorism:

Insisting that the election of any Democrat would mean the country was "back... on defense," Mr. Giuliani continued: "But the question is how long will it take and how many casualties will we have. If we are on defense, we will have more losses and it will go on longer."

The great Keith Olbermann (will Columbia give this guy a Pulitzer already) delivered a long scathing dissection and diatribe against the rank hypocrisy of Giuliani, who mishandled so many things before 9-11 (emergency center in the buildings that were attacked), and after (asbestosis of 70% of ground zero workers).. in what has become a regular event. There is no one to compare Olbermann to but Edward R Murrow- he started these eloquent truth soliloquies when the Bushistas were crushing dissenting voices right and left and US journalism has never seen anything like it: as devastating, powerful, crisp, relentless, and overdue 5-10 minute video commentaries pour tank fire into the crumbling edifice of the House of Bush and the corrupt Republican cabal. America has suffered through a reign of lies and propaganda unparalleled in its history- KO is ripping off the veil and forcing us to see the truth, at long last, with a sense of decency. “How dare you, sir!! This is the language of Bin Laden!!”, KO inveighed against Giuliani.

If you’ve never heard KO’s killer commentaries, you must click on that link. Giuliani is given the inside track on the Repub nomination, but the nation doesn't know how rash, beligerant, and ignorant many of his actions were as mayor- I think there' a good chance he'll self-destruct. Mitt Romney is a scary possibily- as a Mormon, he is crisp, clean, polite, smart, sharp, more than a little facist, and deeply wierd. See the Frontline PBS doc they just did on the Mormons. The most interesting idea yet is a pairing of Chuck Hagel + Mike Bloomberg- unlimited money, limited Iraq guilt, clear talking, Vietnam vet, moderates- they seem to have much going for them. There is that little matter of Hagel's touch screen paperless voting machines (he was president of co.) giving him the biggest margins in Nebraska history from a neck in neck Senate race.

But I am sick with worry that both Hillary and Obama are too radical and discomforting to too many Americans to be elected- the 7 year jihad against the Clintons allienated tens of millions forever and Newsweek's Howard Fineman self-servingly speculated whether Obama would be assasinated. Bill Clinton has finally weighed in with a TV commercial for Hillary. Can you say 2 for 1? If Hillary were elected President for 8 years that would be 36 straight years with a Bush or Clinton in the White House as Prez or Veep, which means we've returned to the ancient idea of a hereditary leader.

MARCH 30 Hot as hell and I'm going to keep taking it + so will you
It’s a brisk 63 degrees today and you didn’t need a coat, jacket, or sweatshirt- warmest winter in Russia in 126 years. Was happy at the sun streaming through the windows when got place, thank god have some defense against cold, I thought. Ha ha. It's already hot with the windows open and heat off. What it will be in June-July don’t know, but the only summer (but this is 4th winter) I spent here in ‘93, the only hot period was 3-4 days in beginning of May, and they were 80-85 degrees. Anyone who lives to 2050 will probably see the deaths of millions by catastrophic tidal waves and sea level jump from the Antarctic ice cap sliding into the ocean. Don’t believe it? Check out this incredible map. (not one pictured) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:AntarcticaRockSurface.jpg

Antarctica is about 70% below sea level, which means 1-2 miles of ice is sitting on the OCEAN FLOOR. Inertia tends to keep it there, but salt water penetrating under the liquid shield of melted bottom and top water (several huge lakes under Antarctica, inc the South Pole) will melt it enough, I’m convinced, to break huge chunks of it loose, esp the bulge of West Antarctica (which is 85% below sea level). The Larsen B shelf collapsed in 40 days in 2002, the massive Ross Ice Shelf is 2000 ft thick and the size of Cal.. Imagine the effect of 1½ mile thick 1x100 mile chunk of ice cracking off the continental shelf into the deep ocean- it will make Indonesia tidal wave look like child’s play.. and it would happen over and over for centuries. Over 600 million people live under 33 ft altitude, about half within 100ft altitude. Or maybe the Northern hemisphere should be more worried about Greenland, where warning will be far shorter (1-3 hours)- on the southeast tip, the continental shelf is only 100 miles wide.

Thursday 29 March 2007 Amundsen Sea ice shelves thinning, raising fears of sea level rise.
Houston - A Texas-sized area of Antarctica is thinning and could cause the world’s oceans to rise significantly in the long-term, polar ice experts said in wrapping up a three-day conference. “Surprisingly rapid changes” are occurring in Antarctica’s Amundsen Sea Embayment, an ice drainage system that faces the southern Pacific Ocean, the experts said in a statement, adding that more study was needed to determine how fast it was melting and how much it could cause sea levels to rise. The warning came Wednesday at the end of a conference of U.S. and European polar ice experts at the University of Texas in Austin. (Amundsen faces Baja Cal.)

The scientists blamed the melting ice on changing winds around Antarctica that are causing warmer waters to flow beneath the ice shelves in the Amundsen Sea. The shelves hold back ice that is grounded on the continent and known as the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Should the shelves collapse, grounded ice would start flowing into the sea much more rapidly, raising sea levels. The wind change, they said, appeared to be the result of several factors, including global warming,ozone depletion in the atmosphere and natural variability. The thinning in the two-mile-thick West Antarctic Ice Sheet is being observed mostly from satellites, but it is not known how much ice has been lost because data is difficult to obtain in the remote region, they said.

In an important ratification of my immense global warming article, China is scheduled to bypass USA as the world's greatest greenhouse gas producer by the end of 2007 because of their explosive increase in coal-burning, previously not thought to happen till 2010. If anyone is serious about limiting carbon emmisions they must immediately give China technology to improve the efficiency of their wasteful primitive plants. Thats only possible up to point, each ton of coal burnt creates over 3 tons of CO2!

PADILLA TRIAL OPENS IN MIAMI, FT. DIX JIHADDIS
Famous so called "dirty bomber" Jose Padilla finally goes on trial, 5 years after Ashcroft's hysterical press conference from Moscow announcing his capture. After years of torture (sleep deprivation, stress positions, sensory deprivation) Jose's lawyer claim he is so vegetative that he can't help in his defence. Whatever he's done, US "justice" that could allow such abuses- the destruction of a person without recourse to lawyers, defense, or even formal charges- is on trial with him. Even now, they aren't allowing reporters to ask any questions of anyone, even when the court isn't in session in an unprecedented restriction on the press.

The pizza terrorists planning to attack Ft. Dix seem to be the real deal, judging by their brilliant strategy of mugging and high-fiving their way in court. My father trained there for the Bolshoi Vainya (WW2), but the amazing thing is that this hasn't happened before. George Tenet, under relentless fire for his self-serving but still important book, asked just what I have for several years: "how come some AQ or homegrown cell doesn't walk into the central food court of a big shopping mall, and open fire with machine guns"? They could easily kill hundreds before being taken down.

The only answer, is that Al Qaida, as it was sold, as this immense international hydra.... doesn't exist.

CHAFEE FADING in RI- Bizarre Ad Loses; LIEBERMAN"S LOSS;

2006-08-11T08:46:00.001-04:00

CHAFEE FADING in RI- Bizarre Ad Loses Support by Michael Hammerschlag

SENATOR CHAFEE's support vs expected Dem. nominee Sheldon Whitehouse has dropped to a 6 point deficit in the slow steady decline he's suffered since he had a 6 point lead in February. This means Dems are really going to take 1 or 2 houses, so this will be THE DIRTIEST ELECTION IN US HISTORY.

parentheses show earlier polls fm. RIFuture
Sheldon Whitehouse (d) - 44% (46) (42)

Lincoln Chafee (r)- 38% (41) (44)

Chafee hasn't by helped by his right wing pandering to beat extremist Mayor Steven Laffey in the Repub primary. Witness this bizarre Chafee mailing I got, "LAFFEY IS STRADDLING THE FENCE ON IMMIGRATION" excoriating Laffey for not being the real right winger because he:
"said we should recruit illegal labor at the border"
"accepted controversial (Mexican and Guatemalan ID) cards"
"visited the border to sympathize with illegal immigrants"

This is sure going to fly in RI, which has a massive immigrant pop, both new- Hmong, Liberian, Guatemalan, Cambodian; and older unabsorbed- Italian, Portuguese, French (maybe 70% immigrant total pop in last 70 years).. and always had a welcoming open arms position towards immigrants, since the Indians welcomed Roger Williams (under death sentence from fundamentalist Pilgrims). They would of course, be sorry 40 years later when they were annihilated in one of the first Indian genocides-The Great Swamp Massacre.

I can't think of a single anti-immigrant rally or position anyone has ever taken in this state. Laffey is widely considered a clown, and runs 30 points behind Whitehouse. So what explains this insane ad, sure to alienate virtually everyone, and Linc's paranoia about a marginal challenger. Simple- Sheldon has someone writing Chafee's ads.

---------------------------------

LIEBERMAN"S LOSS

Lamont's win is great, and the flipping of every Dem towards his side amazing, but I don't think at all it's a done deal. He only won by 4 points in a mid-summer primary, which draws a more liberal crowd, and Joltin Joe hasn't left and gone away- he can be assured of 10-15% more of the state from the 40% Republicans (most of whom are moderates), since the Repub nominee, Alan Schlesinger, is supposedly a nobody.

From Hartford Courant: "A Quinnipiac University poll released in July showed that 51 percent of likely voters would support Lieberman in a three-way race. That's compared with 27 percent for Lamont and 9 percent for Schlesinger, an attorney who was formerly a lawmaker and mayor. Though having both Lieberman and Lamont on the ballot could split the Democratic vote, Schlesinger is not considered a major threat. His campaign stumbled in July after revelations that he used a fake name to gamble at a Connecticut casino and had been sued over gambling debts at two New Jersey casinos."

It's still an uphill battle for Lamont, though the Dem's pressure, and the media ridicule has to have taken a heavy toll on the Joe-mentum. We should see a wholesale flight of Dems and Repubs from Bush and all of his sick positions- including beating him down on some votes to "show their independence". It may mean the Rovian "cut and run" and "weak on Nat. Security" slanders just won't fly. This will depend on the Dem's having the courage to call the Repub liars and fools, and hammer the strategic criminality of invading Iraq.

I've long had a beef with Joe, since he came out with the stunning self-serving attack on Clinton during the pre-impeachment in July? 1998 that came a hair from causing the wholesale flight of Dems and Clinton's destruction. "I am the voice of morality", Joe intoned, as he did just after he became the Veep candidate. We helped save Clinton in an org I started a week or so after Move-On that hand delivered petition-letters-argument books to 22 Repub Senators in Jan-Feb 99. I think we swayed maybe 3 Senators into voting against conviction, (and also did one of the very first blogs).

KOS SLAMS CHAFEE-Interview, ABRAMOFF TIED TO MOB HIT, WHO KILLED ELECTRIC CAR?, ELECTION STOLEN-RFK, JPL GUY-TITAN LANDING, WHY NEW OMEN

2006-06-12T05:35:00.004-04:00

CALIFORNIA ENERGY RIPOFF WASN'T JUST CRIME, BUT TERRORISM- new 6 power companies, led by Enron, by manipulating power production, raised rates up to 90 fold; CAL paid in one day what it had been paying in 3 months; Used this vast scam to punish Gore voting state (+12%) and depose Dem governor; secret Cheney Energy Task Force likely plotted Iraq war - Bartcop, Buzzflash

(DAILY) KOS Speaks- Markos Moulitsas Slams Chafee- Interview

Providence, RI REALAUDIO - 9 min WINDOWS MEDIA
Markos Moulitsas, proprietor of Daily Kos, the most popular liberal blog web site, came to Providence May 22. The famous blogger, who looks like John Cryer, was promoting his book, Crashing the Gate (about how to effect progressive change with the Internet), with coauthor Jerome Armstrong, who hosts MY DD and helped set up Howard Dean's Internet operation that was emulated by Kerry and others. I saw him at Trinity Brew House, along with almost every top Dem political campaign assistant for the various RI campaigns. Daily Kos Site costs $4000 a month to maintain, about $50K a year to handle 1/2-1 million hits a day, though ad income may defray that.

He slammed Senator Lincoln Chafee on his enabling of the Republican agenda, "They want to destroy everything we stand for. NARAL, NOW, League of Conservation Voters, and Sierra Club pretend that Lincoln Chafee isn't the corrosive influence he is on their interests. He confirms every single one of George Bush's judges, and the ones that he didn't vote to confirm, like Sam Alito, he voted for cloture, so the vote that would matter, he voted the wrong way. He's enabling the judges who are going to make war on progressivism for the next 30 to 50 years on the federal bench.* There is no such thing, in today's landscape, as a moderate Republican, who may be an alright guy. His good votes have all been meaningless, and the one that could have mattered, he voted the wrong way." MORE

ABRAMOFF PAL TIED TO MOB MURDER
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) - A man who purchased SunCruz Casinos with lobbyist Jack Abramoff in 2000 has told authorities he knows who killed the casino's founder the following year, according to a report published Friday.

Adam Kidan told authorities in a 2 1/2-hour interview last month that John Gurino, who was later killed by a business partner, shot SunCruz founder Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis in 2001, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported. The paper did not say how it obtained the taped interview.

Of course he knows who killed him, since he was probably responsible. After Florida forced Boulis to sell because suddenly non-citizens couldn't own a cruise ship line, Abramoff and Kidan "bought" the line by forging a $23 million wire transfer on a closed account and using borrowed "flash" funds- they invested nothing. When an enraged Boulis confronted Kidan about the $147 million fraud, there was a fight.. and a few weeks later he was dead, shot in his car in a mob hit. The MSM has been startling silent about the fact that this giant pal of Bush and every top Republican, not just stole hundreds of millions, but killed people who protested. MORE

WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR
Check out the NOW tragic tale of auto companies' contempt at regulation by crushing and destroying almost all electric cars (GM EV1 was beautiful) when they finally beat CA 100% non-polluting regulation in 2002. Another long story has the semi-scam of biofuel alcohol co- from corn supposedly only 13% less polluting than gasoline because of the oil and coal used in producing, fertilizing, harvesting, and distilling it... and how ADM is getting huge payoffs- another crummy technology that is pushed to payoff the corporation rather than fix the problem.

This week, NOW talks to director Chris Paine about his upcoming documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car?" The film looks at the hopeful birth and untimely death of the electric car, an environmentally-friendly, cost-saving salvation to some, but a profit barrier to others.In a film that has all the elements of a murder mystery, Paine points the finger at car companies, the oil industry, bad ad campaigns, consumer wariness, and a lack of commitment from the U.S. government."[The film] is about why the only kind of cars that we can drive run on oil. And for a while there was a terrific alternative, a pure electric car," Paine said.

2004 Election Stolen?- RFK Rolling Stone SALON dubious CRITIQUE

Kennedy overreached but Manjoo seems prof. debunker- My LETTER to SALON

I broke the first comprehensive story on the media mistakes in the 2000 election ("WHOOPS"- How the Networks Got it Wrong- PROBLEM POLLING POLICY - Intellectual Capital- 11/25/00 MediaChannel 12/26/00 http://members.surfbest.net/mikehammer/whoops.htm ), an account of the most blatant fraud of 2000 Florida (SAMPLE BALLOT DECEPTIVE, DIFFERENT- Dems denied hand count in Duval Co.), and huge story on the Congressional Investigation (NETWORK NEWS HEADS IN THE DOCK - Tauzin Hearings Confused by Red Herrings, Election Woes) and there is absolutely no question that Al Gore won Florida by 20,000-40,000 votes had the 10-15 cases of illegal and unethical Republican tampering been reversed. But, it is very dangerous to project definitive allegations of fraud and supposed proper results on the basis of polls, exit or any other. Polls can be spectacularly wrong, as they were sometimes in 2000, and obviously in 2004. Yet the instant Stalinistic “correction” of Mitofsky’s poll numbers was deeply creepy and troubling. It could have been an embarrassed pollster trying to correct gross error (but way too fast) or something much much more insidious- the widespread media tendency to manicure the facts to avoid embarrassing or exposing Bush’s illegitimacy (like the invisible 2000 Inauguration protests, except on CSPAN).

I read Kennedy’s piece hopefully, like a drowning man reaching for a life preserver, but thought there were some flaws in his methodology and nothing really new or any smoking gun. I think his contention that Kerry was way ahead in all the exit polls, beyond the margin of error, isn't correct. That said, I believe in his integrity and good faith, and think his rebuttal of Manjoo was persuasive. Manjoo makes some good points, but shows his bias in the extraordinary statement that voters who gave-up were evenly split between Dem and Repub. MORE

MASSACRES INEVITABLE WHEN ATORNEY GENERAL ENDORSES THEM

Massacres are inevitable with AG who says anything short of death or major organ failure isn't torture, only a handful are slapped on the wrist for Abu Ghraib or Afghan prisoner killings, and soldiers blast unknown cars on the "principle" that it might be a terrorist. Almost every time troops riddled a car of innocents, it was a war crime. When you hear one of the Canada deserters say, "Hey, I'm a hero- I did crazy stuff over there... but they wanted me to shoot women and children,", he is talking about these roadside ambushes. One reporter said US soldiers were hiding invisibly by the road while they were shooting up their car. (below)

HIGHWAYMEN SOLDIERS + TRIAL BY FIRE http://hammernews.blogspot.com/2005/08/trial-by-fire-gaza-gazing-admin.html

Why New OMEN when old one was a classic? - My IMDB review from seeing the original world premiere in LA.
Why do the brainless dopes remake even crummy movies like The Poseidon Adventure (3rd try)when there are so many great untold stories?

JPL's Torrence Johnson on TiTAN landing (realaudio) 4-27-06 Brown U
TITAN LANDING MOVIE - spectacular high resolution movies of landing on the only Earthlike pressure world in the Solar System- 80-153 meg; Took them 4 months to make this, putting together stills in a seamless movie where Titan expands from a dot to the perilous deceleration and descent through the thick (1.5 Earth) frigid neg 180C clouds to landing in the dark empty basin of a methane sea! Seriously nobody has ever done anything like this in any other landing (Mars, Venus, Moon) and it will knock your socks off.
CLOUD WORLD: MISSION to TITAN- Jan 14 the 11 year $3 billion Cassini mission to Saturn, successfully dropped a landing probe into the most earthlike atmosphere in the Solar System, Titan. Bigger than planets Mercury or Pluto, it has a nitrogen atmosphere 1.5 X Earth’s pressure and 4½X as dense. But it is a bitter –178ºC, leading to speculation of lakes, oceans, and volcanoes of liquid methane- photos seem to show that (inc.); w interview of Huygens scientist ESA, Germany- SCOOP (NZ), MSN-UK

SARAH WEDDINGTON (realaudio) new Winner of Roe vs. Wade case discusses Supreme Court cases and changes, historic struggle on abortion; Former Tx Congresswoman- Brown U., Salomon Hall 4:15 min- WINMEDIA March 14 BIO

After viewing a 15 part ProvJournal series on RI Revolutionary hero Nathanael Greene, the greatest General after Washington, I was inspired to view his homestead in Coventry. To honor the sacrifices of these founding fathers, a chump legislator in Coventry and another proposed a bill that lets State and local police demand internet, phone, and bank records at their whim, worse than anything ever tried by the feds. Time to bring back tarring and feathering.
Bill opens access to Internet records

Critics say the meaures, sought by the state police and currently before the General Assembly, would also give the authorities warrantless access to subscribers local and long-distance phone records as well.

04:03 PM EDT on Monday, June 12, 200 BY BRUCE LANDIS

PROVIDENCE -- The General Assembly is close to giving the police the right to obtain any Rhode Islander's Internet and "local and long-distance telephone connection records," along with credit card and bank information, without a warrant or other court review.

Lawyers familiar with that area of law say the police would be able to get the records of any person's phone calls without a warrant, including who was called, when and for how long.

React to the bill to allow police access to your Internet records without a warrant
The state police deny that, saying they only want warrantless access to Internet-session records and the identity of persons using the Internet. The critics, however, say the measures would give Rhode Island police the same information that some of the nation's biggest telephone companies have been accused of illegally giving to the National Security Agency. The difference, according to Steven Brown, executive director of the Rhode Island Affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union, is that the state bills would make it legal. Either way, the legislation would dramatically expand the ability of the police to obtain information about private communications without review by a court. The critics say the bill includes no standards the police would need to get the customers' information other than the assertion by a chief of police that the information "is necessary for an investigation."

KING BUSH IGNORES LAWS, GAS FLOATS UP, PORTER DROSS FIRED, COLBERT EVISERATES BUSH, IMMIGRANT UPRISING, ENVIROS ENDORSE CHAFEE, KING MUSABI

2006-05-07T07:23:00.000-04:00

HAMMERNEWS

SELF STYLED KING BUSH IGNORES LAWS

In an incredible story in Boston Globe , Bush has arrogated to himself the power to ignore any provisions of any law he wants by adding “signing statements” that just reverse them, and did so with
“750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution.

Among the laws Bush said he can ignore are military rules and regulations, affirmative-action provisions, requirements that Congress be told about immigration services problems, ''whistle-blower" protections for nuclear regulatory officials, and safeguards against political interference in federally funded research.”

This guy is simply a criminal and needs to be impeached- now he’s messing with the Constitution directly- imperially taking actions no President has ever dared. He has never vetoed a law- he just voids it with these statements. Other Presidents have made these signing statements, but more as a real legal opinion of what a law meant and what action they would take. Bush just decides to flout anything he doesn’t like. This is as or more impeachable than the Iraq War lies.

David Golove, a New York University law professor who specializes in executive-power issues, said Bush has cast a cloud over ''the whole idea that there is a rule of law," because no one can be certain of which laws Bush thinks are valid and which he thinks he can ignore.
''Where you have a president who is willing to declare vast quantities of the legislation that is passed during his term unconstitutional, it implies that he also thinks a very significant amount of the other laws that were already on the books before he became president are also unconstitutional," Golove said. Golove said that to the extent Bush is interpreting the Constitution in defiance of the Supreme Court's precedents, he threatens to ''overturn the existing structures of constitutional law." A president who ignores the court, backed by a Congress that is unwilling to challenge him, Golove said, can make the Constitution simply ''disappear." which eliminates the checks and balances that keep the country a democracy,"
Bruce Fein, deputy AG under Reagan, said. ''There is no way for an independent judiciary to check his assertions of power, and Congress isn't doing it, either. So this is moving us toward an unlimited executive power."
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/04/30/bush_challenges_hundre ds_of_laws/?page=full

SPY GAME- More Phone Tag

And right in keeping with the previous story, Bush's NSA has been collecting all records of calls made in US for years due to the craven cooperation of the phone cos (with the laudable exception of Quest). Billions of records, though the phonecos, realizing their infinite liabilty (hundred billion $) to lawsuits already filed, are now saying, "never happened". Sure, but Bush didn't deny it. They can instantly obtain such records for suspect phones- the only reason to have everyones' calls is to punish their critics- journalists, Dems, anti-war activists without anyone knowing. The next shoe to drop, is that of course they were bugging all these critics for years, what I said in Jan. THIS is now the third impeachable crime Bush has commited, with the Iraq War lies, and the unconstitutional signing statements. When that last shoe drops, even the money grubbing Repub hacks in Congress will have to entertain serious punishment, and if Dems take a Chamber- Bush is cooked.

GAS FLOATS OUT OF SIGHT

See how spot on we were at the start of my brilliant career: ---"We must acknowledge that the age of oil is over or very soon (20-30 years) will be. Oil is the raw material for nearly all of our organic chemicals, plastics, and drugs; and a future world may look back with incredulity at our stupidity, 'They just burned it….for heat.'" - Energy for the Long Run 1980

And it could get much worse. Once Iraq descends into full Civil War, whichever side doesn’t have control will destroy the pipelines, soon bringing production to a halt (1.7 million barrels a day); if we attack Iran, they may cut production by half for a while, and Chinese and Indian demands are going up 3-9% a year for as far as the eye can see. $5 a gallon within the year is quite possible, at which point the entire framework of business, transportation, travel will break down. It will be uneconomical to ship things thousands of miles for purchase without huge premiums. Chilean fruits in Jan will disappear, along with 20-40 percent of all businesses that rely on cheap oil. Can you say earthquake?

Bush hasn't a clue on what to do with the energy crisis (more tax breaks?). An immediate campaign for conservation could quickly cut our oil usage 8%, and partially relieve it, because we use so much oil that a 2% drop in demand immediately lowers prices. He abolished CAFÉ mileage standards that were in place through 6 Presidents and 3 decades- the little Texas tumbleweed turd- now he's calling for it again, but it would take 5 years to have any effect. Mind you, some of this is happening-natural conservation from price shocks- so prices may drop from the expanded pumping to tap these insane prices- but every such jump has led to recession. A friend getting a doctorate in "peak oil" says there is still 25-35 years before the peak oil production is reached, after which, according to THE END of OIL by Robert , it will plateau for a decade or so, then fall off rapidly.

In Asia Times The US's geopolitical nightmare explains how Bush's clumsy, stupid, and goonish behavior has turned the entire oil world against us: Iran, Bolivia (coca-Prez just nationalized oil fields), Venezuela, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, even Saudi Arabia is forming oil alliances with the Russians and Chinese against us. The Shangai Cooperative Org., Russia and China and four former Soviet Central Asian republics, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are a month from offering full membership to Iran. This is the backdrop where Cheney just warned Russia about bullying oil neighbors in advance of G8 meeting in Mockba.

We believe the solution is a 20% excess profits tax on oil co. over last year and a half, take the 25-30 billion and fund a electric car contest, with prizes 17 and 10 billion going to the best US design that meets criteria. It would rejuvinate the dying US car industry, alleviate the crush on oil (because only ~12% of power plants use oil), vastly cut pollution and CO2 emmisions (central power plants make 10x less polution compared to separate internal combustion cars), cost 1/5th of gasoline prices (with '98 electric technology at $3/gal). Vote on my proposal in MoveOn. http://www.actionforum.com/forum/index.html?forum_id=266

PORTER DROSS FIRED

Detested political hack CIA director Goss was finally canned, but not before he forced out the top 5 people of the agency and much of the Middle East division, hundreds of man-years of expertise wasted because these contemptible fools decided to punish everyone that opposed the Iraq War. Think about this. Even as it was proven to be an unmitigated disaster to all but the most obsessive Bush-lovers, the Administration was purging everyone with the wisdom to realize that (some of whom leaked the torture, incompetence, and corruption scandals), crippling our ability to monitor and deal with the terrorist threat. It’s surprising that Goss wasn’t removed with prejudice, because his partisan criminality leaves us much more defenseless to Al Qaida. The final straw was when one of his appointees Foggo (who just quit), carrying on a personal vendetta against those who had slighted him when he was an agent, was tied to Abramoff + Co.

Hayden looks good at first blush, but this is the guy that already defended Bush's illegal spying, and it is a huge jump towards the militarization of the American government to appoint a Pentagon man to head a civilian agency. --With Hayden’s installation, active duty or retired military officers would run all the major spy agencies as well as the intelligence hub, the National Counterterrorism Center. -- The crazy neocons have already poisoned our foreign policy and military standards in torture and ethics- all we need is a yes-man general to run the nation's secret agent men. Opposing the Bush appointments are some Republicans, but don't expect them to actually do more than tsk tsk questioning in hearings.

Meanwhile, the world is waiting for Rove to be indicted by the new Grand Jury, for if the smear-meister in chief is removed from the equation, the Dems have a chance. Jason Leopold says it's coming, or has happened, or is in the cards, or wind. The fat slug may have gone 10 times too many to the well of fear, hate, and divisiveness.

COLBERT EVISERATES BUSH
Stephen Colbert destroyed Bush at the White House Correspondents Dinner to his face in the most couragous slams ever of the chump chimp. This guy is the new brilliant, sly, ironic host of The Colbert Show, that takes more risks and scores more than any comedy show in memory. He's gone from the doppy Mr. Goodwrench to torturing the President of the US in front of TV audience of millions in only a year. Somehow, these people didn't understand Colbert's faux Republicanism was a sly sarcastic slam and that he was the most dangerous man in America to GB2. Dana Millbank, Richard Cohen, and many others weighed in how Colbert wasn't funny, was rude, a bully (blah, blah), while E+P's Greg Mitchell did a scathing piece about Bush's Correspondents dinner 2 years ago where he peered under the table looking for those pesky missing WMD's. A riot. Read my letters to Cohen, Olbermann on it. FULL TEXT COLBERT SPEECH (must see)
VIDEO http://youtube.com/watch?v=8FBDPCyiFqY&search=colbert%2Bbush%2B%22white%20house%20correspondent%22

TO BE or NOT TO BE (HERE)

The Immigrant uprising in mass demonstrations brings a welter of conflicting feelings. As the first member of my family born in America, a have great sympathy for immigrants and the welcome America provides. INS (or whatever they’ve become) has always been the most insanely arbitrary agency, pursuing multiple opposite objectives simultaneously. Whether an immigrant is allowed to enter the land of plenty, or sent back to be tortured or killed or simply live in poverty deeper than most Americans can imagine, depends entirely on the whims of interviewing agents. Get a nice one and you have a future, come the next day and you get the back of a hand. And the deportations of 20 year legal residents because they had some old minor criminal conviction were senseless and cruel. They are so tough on people visiting America, that the ratio of foreign College students coming to study here vs China has changed from 4 to 1 before 9-11 to 1 to 4 the other way! Sure, let the bright people of the world absorb Chinese values. A young friend in Moscow who had married a Russian girl was delayed over a year in getting her into the US- she was an “immigration risk”, whereas if she had come as a tourist and married here, there would have been no problem. No, she was a wife. Now they are trying to appease the right with a few random publicized roundups, even as Halliburton is shipping in thousands of semi-slaves for hurricane repair.

But on the other hand, illegals have no “right” to be here, and their public protest was amazing. The reason they do the crummy jobs is because they are illegal. If the 11 million here were legalized they would bring 20-25 million of their family over, and we would need 11 million more illegals. One report has half of Mexico willing to come here if they could, and why should Mexicans and Central Americans be able to flood US at will, when all the millions of other Asians, Africans, et al, can’t. Now New Orleans is losing it’s funky polyglot gumbo character as the masses of imported Mexicans working for the huge Repub contractors threaten to turn the Big Easy into just another Hispanioland SW city. Miami is already that- if you don’t know Spanish, you can’t talk to or understand half the people- I went into government offices where the clerks couldn’t speak English. The illegal influx is an absolute crush in eastern Arizona (420k a year-40% of total illegals), where a wild buddy who fled from there has described the prolific drug, smuggling, and coyote murders in the sparsely populated desert area.

We sympathize somewhat with the nativist alarms of Lou Dobbs, but they are straying into Bill O’Liely demagoguery- he’s discovered the ratings potential of extremism. Even the goonish Sensenbrenner has had to admit that deporting 11 million people is impossible. But for a flip side true nightmarish scenario to the many successful productive immigrant ones, read this post from Salon.

SIERRA CLUB, ENVIROS ENDORSE CHAFEE

Would you vote for Martin Luther King if he belonged to the Nazi Party?
I exaggerate, but that's somewhat the case here. I like the diffident legacy- I first told him Wellstone had died at a conference. Chafee is a nice guy and taken some good positions (only Repub against the war), but his support of and position in the Repub Party allows them to wage their vicious Neanderthal campaign against all things sacred, esp. the environment. If greens want anything but the scraps off Exxon's plate, they must help Dems take back America. And Dem Sheldon Whitehouse actually has consistently and extensively battled for the environment. Chafee has done figurative acts like voting against a candidate or position when it doesn’t matter, but in many things, when he had the swing vote and could actually stop bad candidates or legislation in committee, he rolled over and sided with the Administration (80% of time). He strangely believes that the President has a right for a full Senate vote on any candidate, no mater how execrable.

RI Dems have the option of voting for right wing Repub challenger Steven Laffey in the primary, who would almost certainly be crushed by the porpoise faced* former AG 51-32%, but that requires further study. Deadline for Dems becoming unaffiliated (to vote in Repub primary) is June 14. Whitehouse is taking no position on the semi-subversive diddling. Sheldon was in my Dean group, back when we were planning to run the world, and is a good egg. *benign, likable

Meanwhile, huge solid methane hydrate deposits at the bottom of the ocean were once released 55 million years ago (methane is much more potent greenhouse gas: 8-23 times stronger than CO2), raising temperatures 15-20 degrees over today (North America was a tropical jungle, redwoods grew to the top of Greenland, and one could swim at the North Pole), caused a mass global extinction where 40% of oceans microfauna died, the ocean was heated from top to bottom and acidified from CO2 6-8 times higher (methane breaks down into CO2), and ocean currents reversed). [On the plus side, the huge primitive mammals- shrews the size of horses- died out and small ones developed that became dogs, horses, sheep, and primates-us.] This could happen again if temps get raised enough, because only thing keeping methane solid is extreme cold and pressure. So again, we are talking the fate of the earth and our endless capacity to alter it.
http://scicom.ucsc.edu/SciNotes/0301/warm/index.html Eocine Age warming 55 mil years ago

KING MOUSABI

(line from Tonto in The Lone Ranger) Zacarias Moussaoui may have successfully pulled a triple cross, acting so heedless, so contemptuous, so fervent that he just had to be crazy. Nobody could be that heedless of his fate- of the risk of being executed unless he was A. Crazy, or B. wanted to die... so he could get 72 virgins (great cartoon shows 72 vermin as Zakarias enters the cell). Either way, if he wants to die, by gum, we won’t give it to him. Which maybe is what he really wanted. Still, there were some chilling grains of truth to his hate filled eloquent denunciations of our little Union, that should give us pause.

Now, he says it was all a mistake (he thought he was on Jerry Springer), and he wants to plead innocent. He was surprised Americans were so fair, and didn't have him executed. Zippo chance, Zak.

THE LAST DAYS of the FISHERIES, CORAL CATASTROPHE , DIMMING the SUN, HU'S ON FIRST

2006-04-08T06:51:00.000-04:00

The Last Days of the Ocean
VERY IMPORTANT HUGE SERIES (below) about the widespread destruction of ocean's fisheries in MOTHER JONES this month- worth buying issue though it's all online. Essentially we've wiped out the base algae eating fish that all other carnivorous fish eat- the oily foot-long menhaden (so thick when white man came that the ocean was carpeted by square miles of them that would stop the boats ("net loses" below). So the cod is gone, the swordfish almost gone, and most other Atlantic food fish badly hurting cause we cut off an essential rung of the food ladder at the bottom. Despite ever more boats and more countries, fish catch has been declining since 2000.

The only place menahaden still exist is Chesapeake Bay, but millions of tons are taken from there because it's the only place still legal. Now the nightmare protozoa/plant/parasite/ pfiesteria has infested almost all the striped bass in the Chesapeake, causing instant disintegration, open sores, like salmon after they spawn. (doesn't connect them in story-says due to hunger stress, but this is classic symptom of pfiesteria). Read a book in 97-98 about this almost space-alien like odd creature, created by the giant factory pig-farm shit ponds dumping into North Carolina estuaries, which causes Alzheimer's like memory loss and brain damage when people get hit with it swimming. The NC State U scientist Joann Bulkholder, who wrote the book (can't find it, but here's another), had a level 4 containment lab set up to analyze it (and had to struggle for 5 years to prove it, because the bizarre organism has 24 life stages and will also go quiescent for 2 years at bottom of river-bay), but the workmen put the air pumps in wrong and they were all contaminated and suffered lasting brain damage. The creature emits toxins so powerful it stuns or immobilizes the fish, then infests it and vampire-like consumes them. Now this nightmare is wiping everything out in Chesapeake in mass fish kills, the most fecund and productive bay on the planet, once largest oyster source (that's gone). First article is main ten page piece- Fate of Oceans.

The eskimoes of northern Greenland and Canada are so contaminated by man-made poisons (mercury, PCB, DDT, pesticides, brominated + chlorinated hydrocarbons) concentrated by the seals, whales, and fish they eat at 10-30 times above the safe limit- that the mother's breast milk is considered toxic to their children and has 20-50 times the level of a major city dweller. "Only 10 percent of all large fish (tuna, swordfish, marlin) and groundfish (cod, halibut, skate, and flounder) are left anywhere in the ocean. Fishing fleets kill an estimated 100 million sharks per year across the globe. In the Gulf of Mexico, the number of oceanic whitetip sharks has plunged 99 percent since the 1950s."

"But long before Katrina, the Gulf had become one of the world’s most polluted marine ecosystems, with mercury loads among the highest ever recorded, including levels in blue marlin 30 times above what the EPA deems safe."" Equally alarming, a sizable portion of the Gulf is so biologically dysfunctional on a seasonal basis that it’s known as a dead zone—the largest such area in the United States and the second largest on the planet, measuring nearly 8,000 square miles in 2001, an area larger than New Jersey. As these fertilizer-generated plankton die and settle to the bottom, they fuel a bloom of bacterial decomposers, which consume all the available oxygen in the water. The resulting condition is known as hypoxia —an annual summertime event in the warming waters of the Gulf since the 1970s. For sea life, it’s as if all the air were suddenly sucked out of the world. Close to 50 hypoxic zones fester on the coasts of the continental United States, affecting half of all our estuaries. The situation is worse in Europe, with 14 persistent dead zones that never go away, and almost 40 others occurring annually"

RI's Narragansett Bay suffered such a fate in 2001 when polluted runoff from storms massively poisoned the bay, causing a stinking millions-large fish kill in Greenwich Bay. The effects were much more long lasting- 4 1/2 billion mussels, in massive mid bay reefs were killed, enough that they could filter the entire Bay water in 20 days. The required time is 4-5 times longer now. They are building a huge 3 mile tunnel under Providence to hold storm/sewer runoff till it can be treated so these horrors don't happen again.

Meanwhile 1/3 of the coral around US Virgin Is. and Puerto Rico has died in last 4 months from warming and parasites(?), coral there to greet Columbus bleached bright white in the visual evidence of the devastation sweeping the oceans (Great Barrier has similar thing- apparently coral is very sensitive to temp. rises. big TIME warming series) . Part article below.

The Last Days of the Ocean
News: We're Pushing Our Seas to the Brink. Can They be Saved? A Mother Jones special report.

The Fate of the Ocean By Julia WhittyAssaulted by pollution, overfishing, climate change, trash, and noise, our oceans are approaching a point of no return. The health of the world they feed and protect won't be far behind. P L U S : Whales hit the beaches Polar bears face extinction

The Catch By Michael W. RobbinsIf America's fisheries are regulated, how can they be overfished? Because the regulators and the fishermen are one and the same.P L U S :Video: Mike Robbins talks fishery reform on
The ocean's top enemies A field guide to failing fish

Net Losses By H. Bruce Franklin How a football tycoon took George H. W. Bush's oil company and used it to declare war on the fish that built America.
Navigating the Catch of the Day By Daniel DuaneOverfishing...mercury...but they taste so good! How to eat fish
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Caribbean Coral Suffers Record Death Mar 30, 10:17 PM (ET)By SETH BORENSTEIN

(AP) This Oct. 2005 photo provided by the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows a...Full Image
WASHINGTON (AP) - A one-two punch of bleaching from record hot water followed by disease has killed ancient and delicate coral in the biggest loss of reefs scientists have ever seen in Caribbean waters.
Researchers from around the globe are scrambling to figure out the extent of the loss. Early conservative estimates from Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands find that about one-third of the coral in official monitoring sites has recently died.
"It's an unprecedented die-off," said National Park Service fisheries biologist Jeff Miller, who last week checked 40 stations in the Virgin Islands. "The mortality that we're seeing now is of the extremely slow-growing reef-building corals. These are corals that are the foundation of the reef ... We're talking colonies that were here when Columbus came by have died in the past three to four months."
Some of the devastated coral can never be replaced because it only grows the width of one dime a year, Miller said.

(AP) Graphic shows weeks of water heating for coral reef bleaching; two sizes: (AP Graphic) Full Image Coral reefs are the basis for a
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DIMMING the SUN- PBS NOVA show

A very important NOVA aired April 19th that pretty much proved that high altitude air pollution has blocked about 10% of the sunlight we normally would be receiving over the last 60 years. Most potent are the jet contrails that deposit particles that circulate in the low stratosphere for months, which they discovered in the 3 days after 9-11 when planes were grounded. The temps across the US went up 2 degrees F just from that. A more intensive analysis of world weather since about 1920 shows that that is roughly the amount that pollution is reducing the temperature (2-2 1/2 deg F) all over the world, about as much as it's gone up in the last 100 years. In fact the cooling is over half that of the total global heating, 54%, which means the real global warming (if the cooling were stopped from cleaning up pollution) is over twice what we see.

This finally explains why the temperature rises were so much smaller than expected, and showcases the extraordinary risk if this cooling were quickly stopped (from massive plane groundings from bankruptcies or gas prices or war). In fact, if this effect ceased we would be dealing with 50 million year hothouse effects, 5F rise by 2050, from 9-18F (5-10C) rise by the end of the century, enough to melt the ice caps and totally change the ecology of earth. Luckily the Chinese and Indians and US will continue to burn growing immense amounts of coal, feeding the dimming effect, but also the warming effect. They also mentioned my point that methane, stored in millions of tons at the bottom of the oceans, is an 8 times more powerful global warming gas (and could be vastly set free from the rotting biomass in the melting tundra and in the oceans); and nitrogen oxides from every car are 3-4 times more potent. So electric cars would prevent global warming and ease the oil crunch in 3 different ways. Particulate pollution also cools by providing seed points for water droplets, which form in greater number and smaller size, thereby making clouds more reflective than with larger droplets.

Nice to see that evil civilization does provide competing forces to deleterious change, but still this is a breathtaking development in climate science, and worrying because pollution has been stabilized or is dropping in the last ten years, which could cause quick large warming effects.
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HU's on FIRST

For a pants pissing funny take on (audio) the Who's On First routine check out Harry Shearer from his Le Show NPR-web radio show. This has a conversation between Bush and Ahnold about Who (Hu Jintao), and When (Ho Lee), and (Michelle) We; and honestly believe it's better than the Lewis + Costello original (and not just saying that since he gave me a plug on his Huffington Post Blog). It's the sputtering Schwartznegger that does it. Shearer has been doing primo comedy for decades, inc. the Spinal Tap movie, several seasons on Sat. Night Live, and the voices of Mr. Burns, his assistant Smithers, Flanders, Skinner, and many others on The Simpsons, now the most successful comedy, or TV SHOW in history- 16 seasons and still going strong in 90 countries (made that up but sounds good). Met Hairy at a showing of his latest movie, and the crowd swooned when he started doing those voices. Here's another written take on Hu's on First.

Less funny is the Bush clowns charging that screeching Falun Gong journalist with "threatening/intimidating/coercing/harrassing a foreign leader" felony.. or as we used to call it, legitimate protest. They have to do this because they so humiliated the dictator by only giving him an offical visit, not a state one; calling it the Republic of China, which is Taiwan, and dragging him off like an errant steer (Hu looked at Bush's hand on his sleeve like he wanted to pop him). She wrote for the Epoch Times, which is a very professionally produced foreign affairs/environmental mag funded by Sun Yung Moon? with Falun Gong connections. Only have seen it in the laundry, though.

MORASS MELTDOWN, DUPING DUBAIYA, PATRIOT COWARDS, CHERKOFF COMEUPPANCE, DEATH of a CITY, CARTOON VIOLENCE, IMPEACHMENT TALK, DESTROYING the INTERNET

2006-03-06T04:58:00.000-05:00

MORASS MELTDOWN, DUPING DUBAIYA, PATRIOT COWARDS, CHERKOFF COMEUPPANCE, DEATH of a CITY, CARTOON VIOLENCE, IMPEACHMENT TALK, DESTROYING THE INTERNET, SAT SAPS

MORASS MELTDOWN
As we predicted in OVER THERE, ---"I fear that Sunni disenfranchisement will lead to a civil war. As the Shiites take control, they are likely to react in savage fashion to the Sunni terrorism, especially when they go after the Shiite Mullahs and mosques." After the destruction of the Golden Dome, about 600 people were killed and 200 Sunni mosques burned. They recovered from this attack, but the next one or the one after that will probably start the long-delayed conflagration.- the Civil War that so many have been forecasting as the almost inevitable result of their “freedom”. On March 3rd, there again was a total daytime curfew in response to rumors of a mass attack. The latest spate of kidnap murders by strangulation seems to be from Shiite police/military on suspected insurgents (or just Sunnis). March 14: "Iraqi authorities discovered at least 87 corpses - men shot to death execution-style - as Iraq edged closer to open civil warfare." The Shiite Ashura pilgramages now will provide more opportunities for terrorist spectaculars- over 60 a day are dying now. Things were almost much worse. "A senior Defense Ministry official said the 421 al-Qaida fighters were recruited to storm the U.S. and British embassies and take hostages. Several ranking Defense Ministry officials have been jailed in the plot." March 27- US/Iraqi forces attacked a Moqtada kidnapping squad and killed 17 in a Shiite neo-mosque, so now we are fighting a 2 front war- Sunni insurgents on one side and Shiite terrorists on the other. Iran's sudden desire for "talks" with America is probably to explain just how they will make Shiite Iraq erupt if we attack their nuclear plants (which I believe we must do). Another Sunni mosque was also reported bombed.

America can’t stop the civil war or control it, and when it erupts in the full throated madness fueled by 83 years of atrocities, we can’t stay. No matter what Bush says, it’s likely much or most troops will be out of Iraq by the end of the year. We can try to guard the oil lines, but when the first significant US unit gets annihilated trying to separate warring factions, the public will force a quick withdrawal. This civil war will dwarf anything seen in Yugoslavia or Beirut, with ethnic cleansing and mass murders perhaps approaching a million over the next 10 years.

Neocon thinker Francis Fukuyama made a near complete break with the corrupt, exhausted neocon movement, calling them Leninist, extremist, and undemocratic in a NYT piece- "By invading Iraq, the Bush administration created a self fulfilling prophecy: Iraq has now replaced Afghanistan as a magnet, a training ground and an operational base for jihadist terrorists, with plenty of American targets to shoot at." Wm Buckley weighed in “It Didn’t Work.” Oh yeah?

DUPING DUBAIYA
With almost spectacular tone deafness, GB2 decided to make a stand on the on one thing that finally should immolate his inexplicable reputation for being "good on security"- turning US ports over to an Arab country. UAE is a loose collection of city states- modern gleaming skyscrapers arising out of the ocean and humongous water parks inside malls mixed with ancient blood feuds and Bedouin ways. A friend recently tried to drag me there on business opportunities (he knows princes and presidents), but as a PR disaster, little could exceed it. Every bit that Bush digs in his feet is more certainty that the Repubs will be swept out to sea like a foul tide that had putrified in their harbor of fiendish corruption and payoffs. Congress and the people are over 70% against this- after 5 years of mindless tawdry fear mongering, the Smirk in Chief just can't turn around and say that this isn't a threat and a problem. Repubs like Hastert and Jerry Lewis (hey, laaaady) have pledged to stop it, while well-greased polls like Billy C. and others warn that would damage our standing in the Muslijm world. Huh- our standing? There is no doubt there are vast personal enrichment aspects of this to John Snow and perhaps Carlyle Group, the defense hustlers that are half of GB1's cabinet including the paterfamilias.

Blithe to the commotion, Bush is now nominated a Hong Kong firm: Hutchison-Whampoa, to manage container radiation screening at port cargo facilities in the Bahamas.

But there is no way to spin this- containers are probably our greatest vulnerability- 19 million of them a year come in a year and only 3-5% are inspected. See exc. 5 minute radio report compilation of 100 minute Brown speech by reigning US security expert Commander Stephen Flynn at http://tomhammers.tripod.com/audio.htm#pressconf , who just testified before Congress. He was the author of the Hart-Rudman report that led to the creation of the Homeland Security Agency. Flynn said Bahamas would accept US customs agents, but the U.S. is short of trained customs agents to send overseas- 4 1/2 years after 911.

PATRIOT COWARDS
The Senate permanently rendered the Bill of Rights obsolete in their craven 89-10 renewal of the Patriot Act- with only a fig leaf of cosmetic changes that protect the rights of those receiving demands for information about a target by National Security Letters, not the targets themselves, maybe hundreds of thousands whose privacy and security are forever compromised at the whims of FBI and other bureaucrats, without any judicial review. Now people who get demands for information may consult a lawyer without committing a crime, and they have the right to challenge demands… after a year , and libraries are largely excluded from demands (gee, that’s more important than bugging peoples phones or Internet?). Incredibly, despite thousands of stories on the NSA spying, the total abrogation of all citizens’ rights under these NSL’s wasn’t mentioned by anyone. Wisconsin’s Feingold fought a noble but futile effort to filibuster the Act, shut down by 70 Senators. Only he, Jeffords, Byrd, Akaka, Bingaman, Harkin, Leahy, Levin, Murray, and Wyden stood up for American principles in resisting this sick and evil Act. The House approved it Tuesday by 280-138; Dems there at least showed some courage, voting 124 against, 66 for, wheras only 13 non-neo Repubs voted against, making it law... incredibly without ever finding out even a sample of how many journalists, liberals, and politicians are on the snooping List only because they are critics of this corrupt Administration. Or how big the number of NSL’s is-at 30,000 a year from the FBI alone, with CIA, Pentagon, and NSA NSL’s- it could easily be 200-400,000.

CHERKOFF COMEUPPANCE: Like I was saying after Katrina, HSA skull Chertoff was at least equally responsible for the criminal negligence that abandoned a hundred thousand to the elements, which the Senate explored as it grilled Chertoff. All during the crisis, Chertoff was saying the same things Brownie was- that there was no problem and people were being taken care of (like the Mafia), but he was defiant about it- and unwilling to be persuaded. There was always the great danger that reorganizing all these departments into one huge agency would create a blind uncontrollable behemoth, and of course, the way to ensure that was to appoint a partisan hack to head it. Chertoff's qualification- he was council to Repubs in Whitewater investigation- an 8 year witchhunt into a money losing Clinton investment in which he was cleared 5 times. A rumor in Human Events says Chertoff is soon to be canned. Bush just re-nominated once rejected Brent Kavanaugh to the U.S. Court of Appeals- trial experience- zero, but he was an assistant to Ken Starr.

It's kind of refreshing to see Michael Brown fight back- to try to reclaim some honor successfully from the designated goat position he was assigned by the press- apparently he didn't have authority to order action- that lay with Chertoff, and Chertoff is a bean counter, reassuring when the evil ones make their next run. Now video has come out showing Brown forcefully warning Bush of disaster 2 days before the hurricane, and Bush understanding or doing his facsimile of understanding. Lately Bush's speeches and statements have been so convoluted that the alcohol damage is obvious- an article deconstructed a speech and decided it was entirely gibberish- internally contradicted even in the same sentences, and semantically meaningless.

DEATH of a CITY: The worst fears of people that Katrina would be used as an excuse to totally destroy the black character of this lush semi-tropical city seems be happening. 6 months later, New Orleans is a half wasteland of ruined homes and piles of rubble, and all Bush's promises have been hollow lies. Only 14% of he schools are open, so families can't return if they want their kids to get an education, and they talk about how NO is broke with $170 million deficit. Are you kidding??? $170 mil is under one day’s spending in Iraq- what happened to the $50-80 billion pledged to rebuild the city? Isn't any of that being given to the city??? They didn't spend the $2 billion alloted to strengthen levies- all they have to do to double the strength is install 2 steel cross braces with concrete foundations per section. Mayor Nagin was pilloried for the "Chocolate City" remarks, but he is right on- the huge influx of (below) minimum wage Mexicans threaten to turn NO into just another SW city, instead of the historical and demographic gumbo that it was, and developers are eagerly awaiting the razing of ruined neighborhoods (HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson admits it)- some of the last cheapest places in America to live. This could be the difference between living like a human being and living like an animal; maybe becoming homeless, to tens of thousands of former residents. Repubs are clapping their hands with glee, because without NOLA, Louisiana votes Republican every time. I predicted this semi-tongue in cheek, but there's no limit to Karl Rove's venality and viciousness. On the other hand Bush's criminal inaction has crashed his popularity even in the reddest state, says Plamer Novak. And where are the libertarians protesting about the illegitimate government taking of people's land and homes. Since when can people not return to their own land or house to fix it up, or set up a trailer.

All this was predictable by the radical and stupid decision to force a complete evacuation at gunpoint. Any devastated place needs the core of stickers who never leave, to provide the seeds of hope, community, and services to return to. Without them, places become abandoned wastelands, like the 9th Ward. Just the decision to not restore the electricity and water ensured it would remain that. Granted it may be slightly crazy to rebuild below sea level- maybe houses should be required to be elevated on concrete stilt foundations to sea level.

CARTOON VIOLENCE: I have mixed feelings about the relatively crummy cartoons that have aroused the Muslim world- that they were disrespectful and arrogant, but designed to prove just what many think they did, that Muslims are uncivilized people easily aroused to mindless violence even over the most distant or minor matter. The glee and open defiance that newspapers printed them around the world (and a few in US- Philly Inquirer) was on one hand reassuring in that they believe in editorial freedom (but buried the Downing St. Memo for 5 weeks- maybe they would rediscover their cajones re. Bush), but also had a high-school vandal's contemptuous and contemptible swagger. Some Danish cartoons don't seem possible to cause 15 embassy burnings and hundreds of deaths, but these people are excitable, you know. Course, lets see how the evangelicals react when a movie shows Jesus as a long haired anti-war activist. Oh, that's right .... he was.
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IMPEACHMENT TALK: Although as unlikely as 2 weeks of temperature in the 50's and 60's in January New England, never say never. A clarion call for impeachment was run by Harper's editor Lewis Lapham, and a March 2 NYC rally featured him, John Dean, John Conyers (who introduced such resolution with a 183 page report) and Liz Holtzman. It is almost unconceivable that these rubber-stamp Repubs would actually rise up against their boy-king, but some are beginning to realize the vast threat to the Republic this neo-fascist presents and that, if he keeps on going, the threat to their own power. Day by day, the Congress is rendered irrelevant, just as the slash and burn Repubs made the Dems irrelevant. Wall St. Journal! has an article saying 51% of people support impeachment (3-6) of Bush (if he lied about Iraq) as opposed to only 26% for Clinton. The huge body of scandals and investigation are corroding all parts of the brutal piggish Repub ship of state though, and gigantic losses seem inevitable in elections this year. Which means this will be the dirtiest most fraudulent election in history, because the Repubs know that if one house falls into Dem hands, many many "brothers in arms" will go to jail from the 5 years of investigations that must happen to document the vast roster of crimes of the last 6 years.

Blubbering con and pol Randy Cunningham got 8 years in prison for his $2 million graft and bribery- let’s see that puts Cool Hand Dick in line for about 80,000 years for the $20 billion or so of no bid inflated Halliburton personally enriching contracts. Speak of which, anyone hear of ol' Harry lately.

DESTROYING THE INTERNET
A piggish and revolutionary proposal by AOL and Yahoo to start charging for corporate e-mail has the likelihood to destroy the Internet- to turn it into a pay for play field of massive peddlers and ghetto of second and third class citizens whose mailings and websites are consigned to the slow lane or shunted into junk-mail. The two e-mail providers have partnered with Goodmail Systems to "charge companies about 1/4 cent to send a message that will bypass spam filters." E-mails from paying companies will go straight to a user's inbox, but e-mails from non-paying companies will go through the "gauntlet of spam filters that could divert them to a junk-mail folder or strip them of images and Web links," even if they're not spam. Other big players: Microsoft, Verizon, ATT, SBC are reveling with lust at being to tap the vast potential income streams of the Internet, but the consequences will be catastrophic unless Congress passes laws to prevent it. And the idea that paying fees to corps to deliver commercial email will prevent spam is crazy- it will open the floodgates to every big company for unrestricted and uncontrolled spam. Strange bedfellows, the Gun Owners of America, RightMarch.com, Defenders of Wildlife, and the Center for American Progress Action Fund are opposing the policy, set to start in 30 days.

SAT SAPS
The screwing up of SAT scores brings back some nasty memories. They subtracted 300-400 points off my first SAT test somehow, to my shock and horror. Back then, ETS was like Mt. Olympus and we never challenged it- all I could think of was that millions of parents must be saying the same thing about their little Johnny or Suzie. There was no way it was my fault- I confirmed the check box number every 10 questions so I wasn't out of allignment- the big risk for ruining a test; and I felt good- I had aced it. Projected PSAT were 1500. In the second try (Jan of senior year?), when I felt like crap-tired and stressed, I got 300 points higher, good enough to get in Bruno, but too late to get financial aid or apply to Yale (had a Bush situation, though didn't want to go there) or other schools. This would have painful conseqences.

COOL HAND DICK- Questions remain in VEEPSHOOT

2006-02-15T09:50:00.000-05:00

COOL HAND DICK - Questions Remain in Veepshoot
The Trouble with Harry by Michael Hammerschlag

HAMMERNEWS.com SHERIFF's REPORT

FEB 13 -Feb 19 At the huge Armstrong ranch across from Padre Island Nat. Seashore in Kenedy Co. TX, VP Dick Cheney accidentally shot his hunting partner Harry Whittington in the face, neck, and chest in “clear sunny flat” conditions Sat 5:30pm, according to the TX Parks Accident report. Dick Cheney is a big time bird hunter. In western PA in 2003, “Cheney shot more than 70 ringneck pheasants and an unknown number of mallard ducks (adden.- in a few hours). The birds were plucked and vacuum-packed in time for Cheney's afternoon flight to Washington, D.C.” (Doesn’t PA have a daily limit?)

Incredibly the damaged pol pal checked out of the hospital Friday, appologizing to Cheney (see cartoon below, which was funny by it's outlandishness) for shooting him in a bravura performance- to no doubt immediately jet off to a hospital in Mexico or Antigua secretly. "My family and I are deeply sorry for everything Vice President Cheney and his family have had to deal with," he said. He was actually hit on the right side of chest and neck (which was coated by heavy layer of makeup and the yellow stain of disinfectant), not the left, as shown in the accident report. see FAILURE below

Possible CRIME 1: The Veep refused to talk to a deputy sheriff- a Captain Kirk (I kid you not- Charles Kirk), when he came to the ranch at 8pm; not until 8am, 14½ hours after the accident did he make a statement… or long enough for the alcohol, if any, to burn off. When your rich powerful people (or just average Joes) get together for shooting or boating or golfing, they usually get plastered as they celebrate their mastery of the universe. "None in the hunting party was drinking alcohol, witness Katherine Armstrong said. "No, zero, zippo and I don’t drink at all," she said. "No one was drinking." MSNBC had a now-deleted quote from Armstrong “There may have been beer available during a picnic lunch that preceded the incident. There may be a beer or two in there," she said….” Cheney had two drunk driving arrests in Wyoming, in Nov. 62 and June 63, although meaningless 4 1/2 decades later. In the Brit Hume interview, Cheney admits to having a beer at lunch. "I did ask the hospital spokeswoman Sunday whether there was any blood alcohol tests taken," said Times Caller reporter Kathryn Garcia in our interview, "and she laughed and said she was not aware. Today it was again asked in a press conference, and they said 'NO COMMENT' this time."
SHOOTING UNDER INFLUENCE, near- DEATH RESULTING, near MANSLAUGHTER

Possible CRIME 2: FAILURE TO REPORT ACCIDENT. Story of Cheney asking Armstrong to notify local paper is unlikely. It wouldn’t happen that way. Truth is, they probably attempted complete suppression of story (Whit said accident happened Friday when discharged), but she spilled the beans, realizing the scandalous effects of suppression. The Bush "Pioneer" was the former head of Parks-Wildlife Dept. and the Sheriff is virtually a hired hand in the mostly private empty county (414 residents-4th smallest in US), so she knew the story could be managed. Armstrong allegedly called an absent Corpus Christi Caller Times reporter friend (registration) at 8am and left a message, then called the newsroom at 11am and told young reporter Kathryn Garcia, who reported it at 1:48pm after confirming it with the White House and hospital (times are all CST).

In an Wednesday interview, Garcia swore by their account: "No we didn't root out this story ourself. We did get a phone call from Armstrong. We did not know Cheney was in town". Armstrong "didn't sound eager or anxiety ridden," Garcia said, "She sounded pretty calm. When I asked Lee Anne McBride (Cheney's spokesman), 'Why the delay.. would it have come out if the Caller Times had not contacted you?', she said, 'I'm not going to speculate.' " I wonder what would have happened if Whittington had died (see movie Fargo). Ridiculous effort to portray it as harmless accident- with a “pellet gun” or BB's ( it's a shotgun) and outrageously Whittington's fault. A 20 hour delay in releasing vital news to public- almost 2 day delay before McClellen not answering questions in an embarrassing press conference- and not a word from the pathological secretive Veep until 4 days elapsed.

Cheney talked for 25 minutes at 2pm for broadcast at 6pm Feb15 on, of course, friendly FOX NEWS. Now national scandals are only to be rebutted on the official propaganda channel. "Like Bonnie interviewing Clyde", said CNN's Jack Cafferty. "The image of him falling is something I'll never be able to get out of mind.. it was one of the worst days of my life [Harry's too]... We went over to him, obviously, right away.. I'm guessing (he was) about 30 yards (away)," said Cheney. So Harry was close, and not behind brush, and behind Dick- all egregiously reckless. "I'm the guy who pulled the trigger.. and shot my friend," said the Veep, backing away from his craven "Harry's fault " story. More interview at bottom.

Possible CRIME 3: Story is utterly not credible. ABC reports: According to Armstrong's account,
---she saw the incident from a car while Cheney, Whittington and another hunter, identified .. as U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein Pam Willeford, got out of the vehicle to shoot at a covey of quail. As Whittington went to retrieve a bird he had shot, Cheney and Willeford spotted a second covey. Whittington came up behind and failed to signal that he was there or announce himself, which is proper protocol for hunters.----

According to Whittington's statement in the sheriff's report, after he tried to find the birds he shot, Cheney and Willeford took off to join a second hunting group, that had flushed another covey. Harry went back to Armstrong's car, then traveled 100 yards towards the second group before getting shot. It was reckless to break up the group and obviously Cheney simply forgot that Harry had separated, or even where he was shooting, because to hit Whittington, he had to be shooting in a line at the Armstrong car into the sun. 100 yards away, Armstrong couldn't have really seen accident well as evidenced by her statement: "I saw him fall down-I thought he had a heart attack."

When you shoot a bird with a shotgun, the other people should stop and pay attention to where that bird fell and where that shooter is going. Separating a party into 2 groups that close together is extremely dangerous, and separating a single group truly reckless. And one doesn’t have to announce oneself from behind, a shooter should never shoot quickly behind him (let alone at dusk- 5:30pm), where the safe zone is for other members. Likewise no one can shoot when a party isn’t all together. This wasn’t just lame farm raised quail hunting; it was car hunting, an unmanly approach to the great outdoors- illegal in Texas unless done on the owner's land. Others say on such a large spread, it's normal to use vehicles, but if you're driving, where's the communing with nature.

Can a 1/11” pellet (#7½ load in 28 gauge shell), penetrate to the heart from 90 ft? A 90ft test shot on a lifesize human cutout by Caller-Times photog George Gongora shows a spread from the waist to the top of the head, whereas the filled in damage profile of the Parks-Wildlife report shows impacts from the mouth to just below the sternum entirely on the left side in a far more concentrated pattern. This would indicate a much closer distance, although some shotguns have a choke that controls the spread. A normal spread pattern at 90 ft. is a 44” circle, almost 4 ft. Even fully choked, the spread circle at that distance is 26”, whereas the Parks-Wildlife drawing of Whittington shows a tight circle of about 12-13”. Notice there are no pictures of the grievously wounded Harry, until he was released, where one can count 20 or so pellets in the visible area alone. It was not a "mild shooting", as FOX and Veepfans were pushing. Pellets penetated his trachea and one his liver, as well as the one that "migrated" to his heart (illegally, no doubt).
FALSE POLICE REPORT, FAILURE TO REPORT SHOOTING, RECKLESS ENDANGERMENT

Possible CRIME 4: Like Cheney himself, who during 2000 race was pushed out of the ICU after heart surgery almost immediately to prevent questions about the ticket’s vitality, poor Whittington left the ICU only as a PR stunt to make Cheney seem less liable for what was just a “humorous accident”. He was a 78 year old shot in the face and neck and heart with up “to 200 2½mm pellets”, the most serious injury one can have, and reported as stable, which means he wasn’t dying (yet). That 28 gauge birdshot shotgun shell holds only 308 pellets *(3/4 ozz at 410/oz), so Whittington received 2/3 of the blast, difficult at 90 feet. "I don't think it was that far," says a Dallas hunter, "the effective range to kill birds (with that light shot) is only about 55 yards". Once the wounded elderly Harry was pushed out of intensive care monitoring, he perhaps was dying… of a heart attack. The injuries were so serious that they couldn’t remove most of the birdshot, "To go ahead and take each BB or pellet out, sometimes the treatment is worse than the affliction," said Dr. David Blanchard. It's likely that blithe Blanchard is also the same "Dr. David Blanchard" who is listed as Vice Chairperson of World Hope International, a Christian evangelical aid group. Leaving the hospital so quickly after a heart attack and procedure was likewise designed entirely to protect and exculpate Mr. Cheney.
RECKLESS ENDANGERMENT, GROSS NEGLIGENCE, MALPRACTICE by DOCTOR + HOSPITAL
Whittington's birdshot wounds- TX Park +Wildlife accident rpt (first diag should show wounds on the left side)

(PETTY) CRIME 5:
Failure to have proper hunting permit for quail hunting. Apparently the blasting veep failed to obtain a $7 UPLAND GAME BIRD hunting stamp, for which he and Harry were cited. POACHING

FAILURE TO PERFORM DUTIES
Kenedy County Sheriff Ramon Salinas III cleared Cheney almost instantly, before any proper investigation, and failed to interview the shooter in time to see if he was drunk or request a breathalizer test. Instead of investigating himself, he accepted hearsay statements from the former Sheriff Constable Ramiro Medellin (other members in a the second group that Cheney joined before shooting Whittington: Oscar Medellin; Geraldo Medellin was searching for the bird Whittington had downed), and waited till morning to send his deputy, despite a call by the Secret Service that evening. Deputy Gilberto San Miguel Jr. didn't interrogate 4 witnesses he waited 4 days before requesting affadavits from the other witnesses, never got one from Whittington and Cheney, and failed to tape Whittington's statement Monday because "his voice was raspy." The report doesn't nail down location, position, and direction of travel, making amorphous statements like "to the west of me" meaningless, because of the lack of reference.

Presumably shooting someone while under the influence is a serious offense in Texas (where MADD is based). The 50,000 acre ranch dominates the RI sized county (with the King Ranch and a few others- average size 70,000 acres ), and most of the 414 people in Kenedy County work for it. No doubt, the sheriff realized where his bread was buttered. The accident report is wrong- the first diagram shows the impacts on the left side of the body, whereas the 4th and the text shows them correctly on the right. Hunting accidents aren't incredibly common- they are at an all time low, about one for every 11,000 Tx licenses. "Two people died in 2005, down from Texas' most deadly hunting season in 1968 when 37 people died. "

Rolling Stone has a 2004 devastating account of Cheney’s propensity for causing disaster in everything he touches, from flunking out of Yale to trashing Ford’s reelection bid to almost bankrupting Halliburton to the Iraq War: The Curse of Cheney.
“He has the least interest in human beings of anyone I have ever met," says John Perry Barlow, his former supporter.”

Again the media is swallowing patently ridiculous contentions on a huge personal scandal- the first Veep involved shooting since Aaron Burr "won" his duel with Alexander Hamilton in 2004- such as "it was Whittington's fault". Apart from being contemptible and cowardly, that one reporter actually repeats that shows how redocile they've become and how clueless they are about guns. It's always the shooter's fault- like the person who causes a rear end crash, it's his job to avoid shooting the people or the dogs. One sobering realization about the recklessness of all this; with Cheney's omnipresent Secret Service detail, if Harry had shot Dick, he would have likely been riddled with far more than a load of birdshot.

TIMELINE of EVENTS (since adjusted by CNN to a more Cheney friendly version)- CC Times-Caller
click to enlarge

*another hunter computes 275 pellets in shell, making %striking Harry even higher

CHENEY FOX INTERVIEW- THE VICE PRESIDENT:
There were three of us who had gotten out of the vehicle and walked up on a covey of quail that had been pointed by the dogs. Covey is flushed, we've shot, and each of us got a bird. Harry couldn't find his, it had gone down in some deep cover, and so he went off to look for it. The other hunter and I then turned and walked about a hundred yards in another direction -- Questionable Statements
Q Away from him?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Away from him -- where another covey had been spotted by an outrider. I was on the far right --
Q There was just two of you then?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Just two of us at that point. The guide or outrider between us, and of course, there's this entourage behind us, all the cars and so forth that follow me around when I'm out there -- but bird flushed and went to my right, off to the west {sherrif's report says "there was a single bird that flew behind him and he followed the bird by line of site in a counterclockwise direction" which would be turning to the left; Witnesses agree with Cheney} . I turned and shot at the bird, and at that second, saw Harry standing there. Didn't know he was there --
Q You had pulled the trigger and you saw him?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, I saw him fall, basically. It had happened so fast.
Q What was he wearing?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: He was dressed in orange, he was dressed properly, but he was also -- there was a little bit of a gully there, so he was down a little ways before land level, although I could see the upper part of his body when -- I didn't see it at the time I shot, until after I'd fired. And the sun was directly behind him -- that affected the vision, too, I'm sure.
But the image of him falling is something I'll never be able to get out of my mind. I fired, and there's Harry falling. And it was, I'd have to say, one of the worst days of my life, at that moment.
Q Then what?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, we went over to him, obviously, right away --
Q How far away from you was he?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: I'm guessing about 30 yards, which was a good thing. If he'd been closer, obviously, the damage from the shot would have been greater. [Ah, it was]
Q Now, is it clear that -- he had caught part of the shot, is that right?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: -- part of the shot. He was struck in the right side of his face, his neck and his upper torso on the right side of his body.
Q And you -- and I take it, you missed the bird.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: I have no idea. I mean, you focused on the bird, but as soon as I fired and saw Harry there, everything else went out of my mind. I don't know whether the bird went down, or didn't.
Q So did you run over to him or --
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Ran over to him and --
Q And what did you see? He's lying there --
THE VICE PRESIDENT: He was laying there on his back, obviously bleeding. You could see where the shot had struck him. And one of the fortunate things was that I've always got a medical team, in effect, covering me wherever I go. I had a physician's assistant with me that day. Within a minute or two he was on the scene administering first-aid. And --

SIMILAR POINTS in SLATE and KOS AP- Discrepancies in Veep account.

ICE AGE HERE?, ALITO CONFIRMED, BIRD FLU in TURKEY, EXPLODING MINES + MUNICH MONSTERS

2006-01-05T04:11:00.000-05:00

LIVING in the DANGER ZONE - new Reporters risk themselves in war zones for far more than glory, Vulnerability of freelancers, Tales of personal terror in the dissolving Russian Empire; A prayer for Jill Caroll

UNPATRIOTIC SPYING- The struggle for America's Soul
See our latest important effort on the greatest scandal of this administration, one which will metastasize if anyone in the press does their job, and snooping victims come forward. The FBI is doing full spectrum warrantless monitoring of 30,000 people a year, but are there even 3000 legitimate terrorism suspects a year? Now the Pentagon, CIA, NSA have also been spying on Americans- all illegally or illegitimately. No judge, no magistrate, no control, no limits; Records are open to state, local, and corporate "authorities" and are never destroyed. Thousands can rip through anyone's life, and could this vindictive administration avoid persecuting critics? With stunning revelation from Joe Wilson.

IS THE ICE AGE HERE?
Was reading new book ICE where they’ve drilled ice cores from Greenland, 7000 ft and 115,000 years of history- climate, weather, eruptions, bacteria in Grand Canyon-like layers. This penetrates through the last ice age into the previous warm period, but the shock was the startling abrupt shifts: 8 times in the last 100,000 year ice age, temperature spiked upward 15-20° F (comparable to our time) in only 1-3 years. Climate changes apparently aren’t like mountain building- slow grinding changes that take thousands of years. They are more like earthquakes- sudden sharp convulsions that totally change life on earth. After the 1300 year Younger Dryas return to Ice Age weather after the spastic start of the current warm period, the end was explosive- temperatures went up 20°F in less than one year- maybe only one season. Now latest reports from Nature Magazine have incredibly, the Gulf Stream dropping 30% in the last 8 years , the loop that brings life giving heat to the arctic latitude Northern Europe (look at world map- England, France are up at Newfoundland latitudes- only Gulf Stream makes them and Scandinavia habitable) is partially splitting off into a southern loop that only goes up to Straits of Gibraltar (red). This is perhaps due to the dilution of heavy evaporated salty water by massive quantities of fresh melt off of the Greeland ice cap (5000 cu. mi. extra in 40 years), so it doesn't sink and complete the loop underwater (blue). This has been hypothesized to be the trigger for previous ice ages- which I reported on back in 1998, the previous hottest year in history. Maybe it's possible to have enormous warming in some places and arctic cooling in others- the accumulation of 2 mile ice sheets would seem to require much heat to put that moisture in the atmosphere initially, though the arctic has been subject to much more warming than anyplace else.
pic expands- Gulf Stream diversion
Now Europe-Russia, from Italy to the Urals is suffering under one of worst cold waves in record with estimated 1000 people dead already (if 181 dead in Ukraine alone, 4 times that in Russia- every winter day in Moscow 10-20 drunks freeze to death so it isn't reported). It's not expected to break -5 in Russia until February and this has gone on since about the 15th. Read on- maybe the onset of bitter ice age cold comes fast too- they didn't mention the speed of the reversal.

Saturday, January 28, 2006
BARROW, Alaska - Ridges of sea ice packing car-sized chunks of the cold stuff slammed onto a road in this northern Alaskan town in quantities not seen in nearly three decades.
Two ice surges, known to Alaska Natives as ivus, stunned residents who had never seen such large blocks of ice rammed ashore.
"It just looked like a big old mountain of ice," said L.A. Leavitt, 19, who left his nightshift job at the city to check out the ridges.
Ivus are like frozen tsunamis and crash ashore violently. They have killed hunters and are among the Arctic's most feared natural phenomena.
The ivus crashed ashore Tuesday after strong winds from Russia and eastward currents began pushing pack ice toward Barrow last weekend, said North Slope Borough disaster coordinator Rob Elkins.
By late Monday, thick, old sea ice known as multiyear ice had shoved younger, thinner ice onto shore.
Witnesses here said the northernmost ridge was about 20 feet high and 100 feet long and contained car-size blocks. Ice left a coastal road with only one lane, they said.
"It was just an amazing sight," said Elkins. "It looks like huge stacks of huge ice cubes."

Bitter cold kills 181 in Ukraine
About 3,000 people treated in hospital
Thursday, January 26, 2006; Posted: 9:30 a.m. EST (14:30 GMT)Thursday, January 26, 2006 Pedestrians enter a subway to avoid the freezing weather in Kiev.
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) -- A bitter cold wave has killed 181 people in Ukraine over last five days, the Health Ministry said Thursday.
Another 3,000 people have been treated in hospital as temperatures plunged to minus 25 C (minus 13 F), the ministry said in a statement.

Records fall as cold grips Europe
Harbor workers clean ice from boats in Bulgarian Black Sea port of Varna.
VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- Vienna's subway tracks cracked, German authorities shut a key canal to ships after it iced up and a zoo moved its penguins indoors Tuesday as a deadly deep freeze tightened its arctic grip on much of Europe.
The killer cold wave, which has been blamed for more than 50 deaths in Russia, claimed at least 13 lives over the past five days in the former Soviet republic of Moldova,

SCALITO THUMPED BUT NOT STOPPED

Alito answered Senator's insistent questions in a dull monotone that emphasized that this was a small man, with no great heights of skill, vision, courage, or wisdom. As usual, in order to find a candidate extreme enough, Repubs must accept a huge helping of mediocrity. It is sad and distressing that Repubs don't realize the huge danger to democracy of appointing an extremist lifetime Supreme who believes in unlimited executive power- Senators could well be rendering their own jobs moot. Alito ducked and weaved and avoided answering anything, except that he was almost sure to overturn Roe, and would always defend the rights of the big guy- corporate or government. Sadly, Dems seem to be backing away from a filibuster- if you can't use it now to prevent the enthronement of a man who could destroy the Constitution- it is worthless. Use it or lose it by default. OK, it's gone.

C-Span has vote indications at 37-57 at the end Monday, with wimps Dems Bayh, Cantwell, Dorgan (ND), Johnson (SD), Landrieu, Rockefeller and Repub Snowe not taking a stand that would have allowed a filibuster. After an insanely short 4 days of debate, Senate discussion was crushed by cloture at 4:30 Jan 30 by the crazy vote of 72-25 (19 Dems voted to stop debate), in time to deliver a shiny new radical judge for Bush's State of Union. Chafee was the only Repub against. The final vote was 58-42, with only Dems Byrd (WV), Nelson NE, Johnson (SD), and Conrad (ND) voting for him. So 5 out of 6 fence sitters voted against Alito, but not when it could have counted to qualify for a filibuster. Byrd either has suffered some aneurysm or was completely co-opted by Alito's "charm", because he gave an impassioned defense of Alito's integrity and qualities that sullied his recent sterling eloquence against right wing radicalism. NYT says Ted Kennedy concentrated too much on gotcha factoids, like Alito's membership in racist anti-female Princeton club rather than his radical judicial decisions.
Then Frist had the nerve to lie bald faced about "unprecedented obstructionism" by Dems blocking court nominees, when 70 or so Clinton nominees were kept bottled up by Oral Hatch in committee.

SOB STORY: The touching breakdown of Scalito's wife into tears after her husbands badgering may have been another tawdry Repub setup- it came during Lindsay Graham's (see Graham Cracker) questioning, who had participated in coaching sessions for Alito in the White House (im-impartiality). Poor woman- let's remember, this clown wants to make 1 million women a year criminals. Cry about that. Spectre's initial appearance of moderation was a sham- he is a first class weasel, the same guy who invented the "magic bullet theory" as a Warren Commision council, and who savagely beat up Anita Hill in defending the pervert Justice Clarence Thomas (3 other women were blackmailed into not coming forward by David Brock).

BIRD FLU IN TURKEY

The outbreak of bird flu in Turkey may be the big one, but they still claim there has been no person to person transfer. 3 kids from the same family: Mehmet Ali Kocyigit, 14, and his two sisters Fatma, 15, and Hulya, 11, are dead in the far eastern town of Dogubeyazit, 90 miles north of Van near Mt. Ararat- in an impoverished Armenian district. The children reportedly played catch with severed chicken heads.. for several days. This is not advisable. These kids need toys. A 4th child recovered. Since then it has been confirmed in 18 cases all across Turkey, including 5 cases in the 7 million pop capital Ankara, and chickens in Istanbul and 15 other cities, though the real number is undoubtedly more. One who died was reportedly treated with the anti-viral Tamilflu.
- Van - 7, including 3 deaths
Ankara - 3
Kastamonu - 2
Corum - 1
Samsun - 1

In Van, authorities rounded up 38 people with flu symptoms and hospitalized them. If they actually have bird flu, that may be a good technique, but if they have regular flu, it is the best way to create a pandemic- consolidating bird flu and regular flu victims in the same hospital could cause the gene mixing that would create the next great human killer. In fact, as in all potential epidemics, real isolation, preferably in situ, is the best medicine. Huge numbers of British and Russian tourists have been canceling vacations to the cheap southern Med resorts. Whne the Minister of Health showed up in the 2nd poorest city of Dogubeyazit, he was mobbed by panicked townsfolk.

A Swedish team of researchers investigating flu symptoms in Vietnam tested 46,000 people and believe there were far more mild cases of bird flu than were believed- 750, which would mean it isn’t the nightmarishly 52% fatal that was believed (76 of 146), but only 10%. This would still be triple the fatality rate of the Great Influenza of 1918-19 that killed from 50-100 million people. 2 Ankara brothers who have tested positive have no symptoms, 2 more have only mild symptoms. But why would they be testing people with no symptoms? Japan said Tuesday that 77 poultry workers had tested positive for previous exposure to bird flu- the weak H5N2 variant in the first confirmed infections of humans involving the weaker strain of the virus that has hit its chicken industry, but 5 there got H5N1 in 2004.

"French drug company Sanofi Pasteur has reported an encouraging start in early clinical trials for a prototype bird flu vaccine. It said it had seen a good response from the 300 volunteers trialling the vaccine." Early reports claim people need a huge amount of vaccine for immunity- 3 to 10 times normal. In China, pigs are reportedly widely infected with a human influenza, so the pool of available epidemic breeding dishes isn't 200, but millions. To illustrate the danger to the human race: in every infected cell, over 99% of the 100,000-1 million daughter viruses are mutations and a change of only 18 out of 4500 genes could change a regular human flu into the 1918 flu, also a bird flu (which was sequenced from Alaskan cadavers). In fact, tests on the Turkish flu show it has already mutated to make humans more susceptible.

Avian Flu- wiki, H5N1

EXPLODING MINES

The nightmare in West Virginia was an instant deja vu, because 3 hours before I had been reading the rescue chapter in a book (Striking Back-A. Klein) about the Munich Olympics hostage taking in the Borders’ library, and the same things happened: the 9 remaining athletes were all reported safe around the world and there was huge celebrating for many hours- till the truth came out. When MSNBC said, they all were OK- I had a bad feeling- this mine company were famous weasels- and in such desperate straights, small indications are given huge import and rumors fly faster than anyone can shoot them down. This happened right where a gonzo friend has a spread- 10 mi. from Buckhannon, so I've studied the area.
Last Supper in salt
MINES: I've had several tours of major huge mines: the Homestake mine (Lead, SD): hundreds of miles of passageways up to a mile and half below ground- the richest single gold mine in the world worked for 125 years till end of 2001; and the incredible Polish Wieliczka salt mine near Krakow- a 700 year old wonder with dozens of levels and also hundreds of miles of tunnels, including a football field size amphitheatre with huge statues of people, animals, etc..... all carved from... salt. Took a 5 hour guided tour through Wind River Cave in Wyoming, squeezing through bottlenecks, and dropping floors in the most audacious Ranger led event ever. Never dealt with coal, though, except for dipping into WV at Bluefield several decades ago. It was the grimmest place I ever saw, where no one ever smiled, hardscrabble poverty reigned, and death hung over the place like a shroud. It was a revelation: miners earn their pay, but I was very glad to leave. With salaries of 45-75K, most anyone with limited prospects could be persuaded to stay.

CARBON MONOXIDE, a odorless, colorless, tasteless gas, comes from burning the coal in tight closed spaces.. or slow oxidation of the coal. Mostly, burning makes CO2, which is a physiological poison that convinces the body it is starving of oxygen and kills it by panic (>15%). CO, on the other hand is an active vicious poison that destroys the hemoglobin in the blood, and it's ability to carry oxygen. One breathe of the pure stuff is enough to kill, and even low single digit percentages are fatal. It's almost the exact density as air, so you can't avoid it by going up or down, like with CO2, which is 50% heavier. If people are exposed long enough, like that survivor, recovery can take months and years. I accidentally poisoned myself with it in the lab once- felt like my head was being crushed for 3 or 4 hours- a splitting headache is it's main feature, but low low level poisoning from, say old VW van heat exchangers causes deep exhaustion and misery. I was nailed by this in Boston for several months before I figured out what it was, cause you can't smell the exhaust.

MUNICH MONSTERS
hostages Shorr + Spitzer
The tragedy in the 1972 Olympics was the result of incompetent, ignorant, pompous, cowardly German officials who were as responsible for the deaths of the Israelis as if they had shot them themselves… according to a new book Striking Back. It was run by blithering blowhard Bavarian bureaucrats, who because of the German Constitution, had almost complete autonomy- nothing of the rescue was run by the nat. German Gov.- it was all Bavarian and Munich police, who had no anti-terrorist training. In fact, there was no such thing in demilitarized Germany- no SWAT, no special forces, no anti-terrorists. The top Israelis who flew in were ignored and abused- their offer of a counter-terrorist squad rejected. Because they had no experience at all with Germany, because of..... the past (only 27 years from the death camps), they thought the Germans would run the rescue with their usual devastating efficiency and effectiveness. They couldn't have been more wrong.

First the Munchkens had a group of assault cops dressed on track suits assemble on top of the Israeli building- in full view of TV cameras airing footage to the Palestinians. Forced to retreat there, they sent the terrorists and captives by 2 helicopters to a military airfield, where a 727 was supposed to take them Cairo, but an ambush by sharpshooters was actually planned. 6-10 Munich police dressed as crew simply bailed out of the plane while the helicopter was in flight without telling anyone- it was suicidal, they thought. They were probably right- they still were wearing their police pants with Lufthansa jackets. They thought there were only 5 hijackers; when there were 8 (4 were employees at the Olympics); they had only 5 marksmen there out of 29 in the area, they had no proper searchlights, no night vision gear or scopes, no radios, no generator power, no armored cars, no forces or plans to storm the plane if things went bad. “Later it was discovered that one of the snipers never fired a shot, and yet another sniper was positioned directly in the line of friendly fire, without any protective gear”-Wikipedia

They just opened fire- killing 3 terrorists- and commencing an hour and a half firefight. The remaining terrorists quickly knocked out the 3 lightstands with grenades, so snipers were firing in the dark. The Chermans refused to storm the plane, and insisted on waiting for armored cars. When they appeared, however, the hostage takers, realizing the game was up- blew up one helicopter with hogtied hostages with a grenade, and wiped out the rest with machine gun bursts. The Germans did kill 2 more hijackers after the massacre; 3 survived and were released 2 months later when Black September hijacked a Lufthansa jet. They were flown to Libya for a heroes welcome. German firefighters refused to go in and put out the fire even when the terrorists left- one hostage died of smoke inhalation. To their credit, German officials did offer to exchange themselves for the Israelis, or an infinite amount of money, and one cop was killed in the shootout. Somehow the story got promulgated that all the hostages were safe, and Israelis and much of the world wept in relief. Then, like in WV, they wept much more. The good Bavarian burghers stonewalled the Israeli families for decades, denying the existence of any documents about the case, giving them nothing in info or compensation (Israel also did nothing) until 2002. Finally- just last year- 2004, they offered $114K to each of the 36 family members, now only 27. Disgraceful.

The new movie Munich is based on a semi-discredited 1984 book: Vengeance, which already produced a 1986 movie: The Sword of Gideon. Munich is supposed to be a masterpiece and doesn’t claim historical accuracy (though this galls me- when you do a movie about some famous event, you are writing history- why not do it right?). Many of the Israeli assassination targets had little or nothing to do with Munich; amazingly the alleged mastermind Abu Daoud (who was shot 6 times by Israelis but survived) claims the unwitting financier of the Munich kidnappings was Mahmoud Abbas- current Palestinian Authority President. Much confusion exists over whether the remaining 3 terrorists were later killed by Israeli hit squads or not- 2 may have been, but at least one was alive in 1999 for a documentary One Day in Sept.

Adden: June 14- Finally saw movie and it is a powerhouse on the horror of war and the risks of vengeance. The shadow war of targeted killings unfold as regular Palestinian terrorist events happen in the background, sometimes in apparant retaliation (vaguely remembered from my semi-youth). The ambiguity and confusion of counter terror terror has never been so accurately portrayed- nothing ever goes exactly as intended, and the firefights and bombing scenes are very realistic and harrowing. This actually shows the effect of a machine gun ripping through a human body, not the TV cartoon violence of thousands of shots without ever hitting someone. The killing of the gorgeous Dutch seductress assassin (a Montreal Naomi Watts type) is one of the most horrible ever displayed. "Such a waste," she says as she's killed. The Munich massacre was searingly and relatively accurately depicted- incredible the Germans let the 3 hijackers go- the Jews really were on their own. The incredible moral quandry of becoming what you hate, and are warring against, is vividly displayed and has immediate application to America, where our Bike Boy President and his nitwit neocons are disemboweling the Bill of Rights, sanctioning torture of innocents, and lying us into a conflict of faiths that could last generations.

Spielberg addresses the book controversy at the beginningof the DVD, saying Vengeance was attacked but never discredited. He does avoid the most attrocious event of the Mosad vendetta- the killing of the wrong man in a street in Norway, which publically outed the whole plot. The Palestinians aren't cardboard cutouts, in the most impossible scene PLO gunmen and the Israeli hit squad share a safe-house after a long standoff ("ETA- Basque!", scream the Mossad men). After, Eric Bana and a PLO guy argue about Palestine and the Palestinian has the same motivations- honor, homeland, family. stopping them from killing us. No way they wouldn't make them for Israelis, though.

Truly a masterpiece, and a film that will have you thinking, and remembering- long after you see it.

KILLING the CRAZY, HIGHWAYMEN SOLDIERS, WET CONTRACTORS, JOE WILSON, FALLING PINS, ROOT SPYWARE, HOLIDAY SCAMS

2005-11-25T20:53:00.000-05:00

KILLING the CRAZY
The tragic shooting of a poor bipolar passenger from Quito (changed planes in Miami to one originating in Medellin so had been through Customs and security), US citizen + Orlando resident Rigoberto Alpizar, shows the risk of hair trigger security. Although vigilance would be expected on a plane from the world's drug capital (now Kabul?), there really was no need to shoot to kill a guy on the tarmac, running away from the plane, especially after his poor wife had screamed he was mentally ill. Even if a bomb had gone off there, the only victim would've been Alpizar. According to NYT, an analysis "found that mentally ill people were four times more likely than members of the general public to be killed by the police." Yeah, people are now saying there was no mention of a bomb by Alpizar and a brutal overreaction by marshalls: "I was on the phone with my brother. Somebody came down the aisle and put a shotgun to the back of my head and said put your hands on the seat in front of you. I got my cell phone karate chopped out of my hand." Well trained doesn't just mean ability to act with brutal precision, it means ability to discern real threats and not slaughter a harmless whacko.
FoxNews Dec9- McAlhany said he "absolutely never heard the word 'bomb' at all."
"The first time I heard the word 'bomb' was when I was interviewed by the FBI," McAlhany said. "They kept asking if I heard him say the B-word. I said no. They said, 'Are you sure?' And I am."
Added another passenger, Mary Gardner: "I did not hear him say that he had a bomb." Oh, it's worse- Freedom Forum article claims many airmarshalls failed shooting tests so they dropped marksmanship requirements and they hired people who failed police psych tests and even were refused jobs as prison guards. Only 48 pilots have been allowed to carry firearms.

FROM ANOTHER FLIGHT: "a passenger got up and began rummaging in the overhead bin. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the trouble began when a man described as “fortyish and disheveled made inappropriate comments to a female passenger a few rows behind him.” Two plainclothes air marshals jumped up and tackled the guy, shoving him first to the back of the plane and then dragging him to the first-class area.
Then the trip got interesting. One of the marshals returned to the front of the coach section, drew his Glock semiautomatic pistol, and started screaming and pointing his gun at passengers.
Philadelphia judge James Lineberger, a passenger on the flight, commented,
I assumed at that moment that there was going to be some sort of gun battle.... There were individuals looking to see what they were pointing at and [the air marshals] were yelling, “Get down, get out — get your head out of the aisle.”

South Florida Sun-Sentinel Dec 9 Federal officials from several agencies said Alpizar repeatedly made that claim and reached for a backpack, leaving the two air marshals little choice but to open fire on the jetway just outside the plane's doors.
Several of the 113 passengers who arrived in Orlando from Miami, however, said Alpizar may have been delusional and ran out of the plane only because he feared a bomb was on board.
The task of sorting out exactly what happened falls mainly to the Miami-Dade Police department, which is in charge of the homicide investigation. Miami-Dade Police Lt. Veronica Ferguson issued a statement saying early indications point to Alpizar running frantically from the airplane "with a backpack strapped to his chest, yelling that he had a bomb."
Detective Juan Del Castillo said people on the plane other than the marshals also heard the bomb threats. After running off the plane, Alpizar, 44 of Maitland, Fla., turned in the jetway, walked menacingly toward the agents and reached into his backpack, police said.

HAUNTING SCENARIO (previous link): "So here we have a fellow suffering from bipolar disorder, a condition that is notoriously difficult to properly or consistantly medicate under the best of circumstances...
a guy who has just spent weeks in Equador, where I bet it's safe to suggest such drugs are difficult, if not impossible to obtain... a guy who is under signifigant stress, (aka poison for this condition), for a number of reasons, not the least of which would be the fatigue and uncertainty of a long day's travel... a guy whose wife is sufficiently alarmed by his increasing agitation that she tries to calm him at the check in for the last leg of their journey, "just let's get through this. Everything will be ok. We'll soon be home." or words to that effect, according to witnesses. He's wearing his pack back to front. Strange. But maybe he's carrying a fragile artifact picked up in their travels. Or maaybe he's just being weird. People edging up into the bloom of bipolar crisis can exhibit some rather bizarre behavior. But as the video shows, he takes off his backpack, and it goes through the machines without a problem. One imagines this is, in fact, the second time his pack has been checked at customs, for he just arrived back in the States two hours earlier. In any case, they're finally on the domestic flight for the short trip home, without incident. But he's wary and increasingly anxious. He thinks a man in a hawaiian shirt is staring at him. Again his wife tries to calm him, but he's starting to peak now. The walls of the cabin are starting to close in. He's sure the man in the hawaiian shirt has a gun - wants to kill him. He thinks his wife may be in cahoots with him. He has to get off the plane. There's still just enough time. He jumps up and bolts toward the door. His wife runs after him, trying to stop him, but he keeps running. Realizing it's hopeless, she dashes back to get her own things. But now the marshalls are on their feet, including the one in the hawaiian shirt, all the catch phrases of their seven weeks training pounding between their ears. She tries to stop them, explaining that her husband is ill, but they can't be deterred. Her husband knows they're chasing him. Thinks they're chasing him. He's not sure. Reality and the madness of paranoia have merged. Then, at last, safety. He's off the plane. He's survived. He ventures a look back, perhaps just as the man in the Hawaiian shirt raises his gun to fire the first of five or more shots. It is doubtful that he'd have heard them all. "

Still to come, blasting some sightseeing private pilot without a radio out of sky, when he ventures to close to our capital, skyscrapers, or military bases. The last major frantic alert was issued as a little plane crossed the border of Maryland for DC. See my article on Airline Insecurity

HIGHWAYMEN SOLDIERS

An further examples of the moral corrosiveness of Iraq War madness, our soldiers are hiding in the bushes and blasting random cars. Think these guys may cause problems when they come back and become cops (or airmarshalls)?

From Nov 27 Hartford Courant interview of NPR's superb Anne Garrels:
"On election day there will be no traffic between provinces ... [and] there will be no traffic in the city itself. ... If you're moving around by car, it's too dangerous. I got shot at last time."
Q: Who shot at you?
Americans and Iraqis, in January. It was a joint checkpoint, except that they were hiding in the bushes and I couldn't see the checkpoint. It was the day before the elections, and traffic actually that day was allowed. This is the sort of thing we face all the time. There are supposed to be checkpoints, but there was no visible checkpoint, they were hiding in the bushes."
Q: How would you know to stop?
"You don't, until you're shot."
Q: Did they shoot at every car that drove by?
"They said they had orders to shoot every car that went by. Now, we survived that episode, and I went on to the next checkpoint and there was an extremely good captain there, and I explained to him what had just happened. He got on the radio, because these were not the orders, it was just complete chaos on the streets. He was very good and actually helped me negotiate several checkpoints.
PREVIOUS POST on CHECKPOINT KILLINGS If you run a "checkpoint" that people can't see, shooting and killing innocent people without warning from cover, aren't you .. ah... a terrorist ??

PRESS MANAGEMENT: In a chilling example of how out of control this rump government has become, Bush chatted with Blair about bombing the Al-Jazera HQ in neutral Doha in 2004, hopefully in jest. Coupled with the real bombings of Al Jazera buldings in Baghdad and Kabul, and killings of their reporters, this maybe was not idle speculation. Bush was dissuaded by Fat Tony, but the Brits are prosecuting the leakers under the Official Secrets Act. I presented the MediaChannel/GlobalVision movie Weapons of Mass Deception, where a US tank sits for minutes targeted in on the Baghdad hotel housing journalists before calmly letting loose with a single shot. The video shows the impact and aftermath from the inside, as 2 Reuters camermen were killed and injured. GETTING GOOD NEWS: The Government vs. the Press in Times of War (realaudio) (windowsmedia) Mike's BROWN U. LECTURE (listing)- History of Press restrictions in Wars since WW2

CONTRACTOR WET WORK
Worse, overpaid Contracters are apparently using Iraqis for sport target practice as they drive around (they blast 5 cars that come within 100 yards behind them):
"A "trophy" video appearing to show Aegis security guards (Brit biggest security contractor) in Baghdad randomly shooting Iraqi cars has sparked two investigations after it was posted on the internet, the Sunday Telegraph can reveal.
The video has sparked concern that private security companies, which are not subject to any form of regulation either in Britain or in Iraq, could be responsible for the deaths of hundreds of innocent Iraqis.
The video is even set to music: "Mystery Train", by Elvis Presley. "
Mind you these people have legitimate security concerns but killing anyone who gets within 300 ft. isn't kosher. If this was widespread, it might explain the crowd frenzy at the Fallujah contractor murders/desecration. On NBC Nightly News Dec 13

In June, straight arrow Special Force s West Point instructor military ethicist Col. Ted Westhusing was found dead in a trailer at a military base near the Baghdad airport, a single gunshot wound to the head, victim of apparent suicide. According to his note, he was disgusted by rampant corruption of the greedy mercenary contractors, and claims that they had been shooting civilians. He was found by a contracter who also handled the pistol involved.
"'I came to serve honorably and feel dishonored. Death before being dishonored any more."
-- From a note found near Ted Westhusing’s body.

JUMPIN JOE
Nexis of the administrations troubles, Ambassador Joe Wilson gave the longest speech I've ever heard Wed in a stiffling hall at Brown (security now includes keeping out oxygen), ruminating extensively about his loyal service to and declared herohood by Bush1, whom he still admires. "In that administration I was considered a hawk," he said. Now instead of the last man to deal with Saddam in the Gulf War and the diplomat who helped 150 Americans escape, he would be known as Valerie Plame's husband, he said in a very soft spoken voice. Answering every one of dozens of questions, his candid response to a 2 insolent Young Republican attacks (Didn't you make out and profit from your celebrity?) revealed some of the vicious unknown campaign against him.
-----"In the year before the controversy, I made $850,000. In the year after, I made $150,000. They set out to destroy my consulting business, and succeeded. I would have meetings with people, and they would stop them and say, 'don't deal with him, we're going to destroy him.' " (Projo-w audio) If you cross the Bush administration, "we will do to you what we just did to Joe Wilson's family," he said. "Be afraid. Be very, very afraid. That's what the message was."

Other gems: "The road to peace in the Middle East goes through Jerusalem, not Baghdad", and "people can't be happy we are borrowing the equivalent of the whole defense budget from the Chinese." He was sent to Niger, because he evidently brokered a cease fire in a civil war there so was trusted and respected by many people in the government. He had also been an high powered all-purpose diplomatic fixer and peacemaker in Bosnia-Serbia and elswhere.

We chatted with him after as he signed books in the 3 hour event. The 12 year deadly sanctions that may have killed 700,000, "were disgraceful. They turned everyone in the Middle East against us." In GB2' s Iraq War, "They even let the Tuwaitha nuclear plant be looted."

FALLING PINS:
With the conviction of far-right alledged Top Gun movie hero Rep. Randy ("Duke") Cunningham for taking $2.4 million of bribes from defense contracters, the Dick Cheney must be hearing footsteps, since his corruption is 3 or 4 orders of magnitude greater. " The San Diegan Duke-Stir (name of boat bribe) wasn't helped by the fact that he is something of an intemperate asshole: Referring to President Clinton’s anti-war activities during the Vietnam War, Cunningham once said Clinton “would be tried as a traitor and even shot” if he lived in another nation. [San Diego Union-Tribune, 9/9/1998, pp. B-1,8] Cunningham, who sobbed a tearful apology, was flayed on The Daily Shows.

Pretty boy Delay aid Indian huckster Michael Scamlon pleaded guilty to multiple million fraud and theft charges, and may implicate "Representative No. 1," Ohio's Repub. Rep. Bob Ney ("nay, nave, say it shan't be") and bring the sleazy election-tampering, Coingate-befouled, Ohio Repub. government crashing down. Still to come, his playmate, non-Lincolnish Jack Abramoff ("I cannot not tell a lie"), who may have been involved with a mob murder of the owner of Sun-Cruz gambling ships, after he and his buying partner Adam Kidan ripped off the Greek immigrant with a forged $23 million wire transfer from a closed account, after he had been forced to sell out by FL officials.

The Dick's corporate energy task force was also discussing carving up the Iraq oil pie ("foreign Iraq oil suiters") 2 years before the invasion. No wonder he had to keep minutes secret at all costs- they might have scuttled the long-planned invasion. Here we see the vast penalty of the undemocratic pathological secrecy that a Repub judiciary allowed.

Banana bitch (and other election thief) Katherine Harris's FL Senatorial bid is getting little traction, with reliable sources reporting that Repubs are desperate to field a less radioactive candidate (who won't remind them GB2 lost by 540K votes).

And Cockroach Tommy's toussle in Texas, despite his prodigious levels of corruption and criminality, is sizing up to be an even bet, because of his superduper lawyer, technicality problems, and Texan's tolerance for turpitude. After a furious game of musical judges- Repubs successfully argued first judge's Dem contributions made him suspect, got a Repub judge, Dems successfully argued same thing, then 3 more in a day- they wound up with a Dem Judge appointed by Repub Chief of Supreme Court. Whew. Just got one conspiracyt count thrown out, and will delay this with endless motions. Cockroach Tommy, who basically operated a cash operated turnstile at the gates of his office and was legitimately accused of racketeering by our own Patrick Kennedy, should be kept naked in a cage on Capitol Hill, for citizens to throw rotten fruit at.

ROOTKIT SPYWARE DANGEROUS NEW THREAT

Sony's admission that it has loaded 60 something DVD movie titles with a pernicious form of spyware that installs on the basic command files at the absolute bottom level of your computer, is deeply troubling. Reading a computer experts step by step investigation of how hard it was to discover and identify this entirely new category of spyware, it's obvious even the biggest companies feel empowered to conduct criminal spying and transmission of damaging software. This is stuff is very hard to detect, identify, and remove- Nortons is useless, but what really is bad is that it opens your computer to further infection- virus terrorists have already started to exploit the vulnerability. Unless you are a full blown computer expert now, you really can't guarantee the security of your computer and private info. Don't buy anything from Sony for a year. No Sony Baloney.

Another DVD I played in my computer tried to play it on an included InterActual Player, which I prevented, but it installed it anyway, and it supposedly has spyware. Just don't play DVD movies on your computer unless it never connects to the Internet or has no secure info.

GAS PRICES BOTTOM OUT
As expected, gas prices just barely dropped below $2 to appease government windfall profits threats, and now are climbing again- back up to $3/gallon or so, because of winter demand for electricity, heating oil, and gas; and of course- OilCos rampant obscene greed. $30 billion of profits in recent 3 months (something like 6-7 times previous year). Don't like prices here? Try Iraq, where gasoline is 5 cents a gallon.

SALES FRAUD:

Don't believe this business of $200 laptops- every computer with impossible prices forced a year subscription to the clunky AOL costing $180 to $250. Even that was a scam, since the lower priced plan allowed nothing but using their website, if you already have an internet connection. Tried to get one of these insanely limited (15) units in the subzero wind chill at 4:30am, but they'd been given out by vouchers to people who'd been waiting since 9pm. The cheapo build-your-own laptops, which had better deals in Sept.($400 Sempron upgardable to Turion for $50), now include an outrageous $70 shipping charge. Deceptive and misleading ads were de rigueur this year- the way to deal with them is buy the thing, then threaten to sue the store for false advertising and make them pay for the AOL. Rather than risk a class action judgment, they might be quick to settle.

LOOTED WEAPONS in IRAQ, STEWED LIBBY PEAS, BIG BROTHER SPYING, GRAHAM CRACKER, KILLING the MESSENGER

2005-10-28T18:34:00.000-04:00

AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION
See my new article on the central blunder of the Iraq War (besides starting it): the failure to stop the looting, which has put centuries of ordnance in the insurgents hands, subject our troops to endless IED deaths, destroyed the infrastructure, and lost the support of the Iraqi people. Nobody has really made these essential points, and I think it's going to be the next big scandal, when some parent of dead soldier figures out why. A Military Intelligence agent details the absolutely willful refusal by leaders to deal with the issue, even when it was right next to the biggest American base there- the top MI commander, Pappas, was too busy torturing people at Abu Ghraib. http://www.hammernews.com/prevention2.htm

"The Pentagon admits a breathtaking 250,000 tons of heavy ordnance (out of 650,000 tons total): aircraft bombs, artillery and tank shells, mines, rockets were allowed to be looted by our undermanned army in the 4-30 weeks after invasion through gross negligence at the top- equivalent to 1 million 500 lb bombs. At ten 500 lb. roadside mines or market closeouts a day, that's enough for 274 years of attacks. " - An Ounce of Prevention- Looted Hopes.

PLAMEGATE INDICTMENTS:

It's almost impossible to believe that Karl Rove, smug in his absolute power, didn't lie in his testimony. This smear-master has had over 2 years to investigate Fitzgerald, his family, friends, finances; and Fitzgerald's monastic lifestyle could possibly involve unconventional relationships. Anyone is pressurable and no one has ever been a more accomplished character assassin than Karl Rove- I really fear Fitz just didn't want the hassle of wrestling with such a powerful snake.

A last minute "meeting" with a prosecutor about to indict you is unprecedented- Rove's lawyer supposedly "convinced" Fitz that there were other explanations for Rove's actions. After a 2 year investigation?? It looks like the big fish, the big criminal puppetmaster in this administration will slip free. It's a tragedy for America- this could have caused the whole foul edifice to collapse. (non) Skater Libby does, however, know details of the Iraq war plot, that may be coerced out of him for leniency, although a pardon seems semi-guaranteed somewhere down the line. Rove's indictment could have caused all the people he had bullied and brutalized to turn on him, and crippled the entire White House's bullying political operation.

Nov 17 New Grand Jury- maybe this is wrong: Fitzgerald could have been Edward R Murrow, finally putting a stop to an unparalleled reign of terror and corruption that threaten the very soul of this nation. But he will be remembered as just a medium level prosecutor who had one really big case that embarrassed an administration. Rove is, perhaps, untouchable. Bob Woodward has permanantly tarnished his overblown reputation, achieved by accidentally sitting next to Mark Felt in a doctors' office and kissing up to him, by withholding his direct role in the case for 2 1/2 years as he badmouthed the prosecutor.

Meanwhile, Bush and Cheney have descended into Twilight Zone territory, with Bush proclaiming "We don't torture.", although he's threatened to veto the anti-torture rider attached to the spending bill that 90% of the Senate approved, as Cheney is simultaneously skulking though the Senate, advocating and promoting the need for torture, like a malignant medieval salesman. Cheney, unless Repubs do maintain dictatorial control, is sure to spend some time in the slammer: history hasn't seen a more corrupt executive, and his crimes are right out in the open: bid rigging, billions of dollars of no-bid contract payoffs, retaining his stake in Halliburton, years and years of blatant lies to Congress and the American people. Lies that started a war. Killed tens of thousands. Trashed US security, creating a huge terrorist haven. Decimated the military.

A CBS web commentary flays Bush: "The 'demoralizing our boys and comforting the enemy' line is a last ditch, McCarthy-lite gambit that doesn't work in this country. Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon used it to fill their credibility gaps, without success. It was cheap and cowardly then and it still is now. "

Think former hawk Big Murtha's categorical renunciation of the War is part of master plan by Pelosi/Dean to hammer the Repubs with their crimes every day or two. The Dems may finally have their strategic act together, and the crumbling edifice of sham, lies, and pretense of this Administration affords endless opportunities. Heedless to shifting popular opinion, Bushco fell back on it's tried and true weapon- slander and attack, smearing the 37 year Marine and Bronze Star Vietnam vet as a brother of Michael Moore. I think this will backfire; finally, one time too many to the well of fear and hate. Bush is close to reaping the rebellious bitterness of many Repubs, who're finally realizing the deep hole Bush has sunk them in. Similarly, the liberation of the moderates, who've been run over by the extremist Delay/Lott/Frist machine too many times. Still the greedy pigs barely forced through a $50 billion cut in benefits to the poor- only appearances prevented them from immediately giving it back to the rich in inheritance tax cuts.

As Charlie Rangel said to me, Repubs have to maintain every vote and keep them open for hours to win, and discipline is collapsing- as evidenced by the vote to force Iraq progress reports.

In the worst example of hack crony icompetence; American Prospect has the horrifying story of how Porter Dross is destroying the CIA, forcing and insulting dozens of top managers and experts into resigning in only 2 months. With his hack Svengali neonut aide, Goss has permanently hobbled America's intelligence service; purging something like 250 man-years of expertise, including all the best Middle Eastern hands. Dross signaled his willingness to be Bush's butt boy by blasting John Kerry as a coward before the election- a shocking intrusion into politics to CIA hands. He has waded in like an avenging angel to punish the disloyalty of those who questioned Bush's Wanton War- the wise men who realized the reckless folly of his fraudulent folly in the sands of Arabia. If Bin Laden had picked Dross himself, he couldn't have been as destructive of our security. Compared to this, Brownie was superb. Now when the next attack comes, we will have no idea.

BIG BROTHER SNOOPING

A chilling demonstration of the dark side of the (non) Patriot Act under this abusive administration was the exposure by WashPost of nightmarish secret monitoring of 30,000 people a year with no-oversight FBI national security letters- up from only 300 before. There's no way there are even 3000 legitimate "terrorism" suspects a year- what this is is a Bush enemies' list, including anyone who "opposes the government", in the FBI's own phrase. This is deeply evil and corrupt behavior that threatens our very foundation, and should have provoked a firestorm, especially as the Patriot Act is up for permanant renewal. The Senate first had removed some of the most egregious provisions, but the House has restored them, and Sen. Feingold is threatening a filibuster.

Illustrative is the nightmare story of former Cong. press secretary, midwife of the Internet, editor of Capital Hill Blues, and early Web pioneer: Doug Thompson who wrote the chilling story how he was arbitrarily sentenced to a life of constant intimate snooping. http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_7624.shtml

An Enemy of The State By DOUG THOMPSON Nov 7, 2005, 08:14
According to a printout from a computer controlled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of Justice, I am an enemy of the state.
---The printout, shown to me recently by a friend who works for Justice, identifies me by a long, multi-digit number, lists my date of birth, place of birth, social security number and contains more than 100 pages documenting what the Bureau and the Bush Administration consider to be my threats to the security of the United States of America.

ON POINT NPR radio program National Security Letters: Use or Misuse? Aired: Thursday, November 10, 2005 10-11AM ET
But exactly how far should the US government go in domestic surveillance for counter- terrorism? The fact appears to be it's already gone mighty far with so-called "national security letters" from the FBI which amount to 30,000 a year now. They are issued, secretly, under the Patriot Act with no judicial oversight. They require Americans to cough up loads of information on colleagues and clients - maybe you -- and to never breathe a word to anyone of what they've done.

Coupled with the newly revealed secret CIA Torture Prisons in ex-Warsaw Pact Eastern Europe, it is official: we have become the Soviets.

GRAHAM CRACKER: Speaking of prisons, what is one to make of SC Sen. Lindsey Graham, who seemed to be redeeming his shameful persecution of Clinton as an Impeachment "Manager" by vocally condemning our widespread prisoner torture. But, in a return to his fascist cracker roots, Graham has come out against habeas corpus, the foundation of the US legal system, specifically the right of detainees to ever see a lawyer. This is so contemptible, that he should be nationally excoriated by everyone. This means peasant Ahmed, rounded up in Afghanistan because a neighbor had some personal beef (or wanted the reward, or his goats), hooded, shackled, tortured, shipped to Guantanamo, or some hellhole prison in Afghanistan.... has no recourse but to kill himself. Graham would deny him even the opportunity to ever officially protest his innocence!! These people are un-American and dangerous.

KILLING the MESSENGER: After another massive multiple bomb attack against journalists at the Hummer Hotel complex, it is apparent Zarqawi terrorists are trying to maximize the impact of their horrors by killing reporters. Stupidly, they would remove the delivered message that is provoking a withdrawal. Had the second van got through then, or a previous attack that had three bomb vehicles in a row (photo at top), the catastrophic loss of reporters' lives would have provoked a massive press withdrawal. Big story about killer/school dropout al Zarqawi (from Jordanian town of Zarqa) in Foreign Policy, who went to Afghanistan but disdained joining Al Qaida. 58 reporters have been killed in Iraq, 34 by insurgents, but 13 by US troops, who have blasted reporters with impunity (thought camera was grenade launcher). We also have interminably "detained" 5 without charges for the crime of taking pictures we don't like. 38 of the dead were Iraqi, at special risk from trigger happy US troops, as well as insurgents. This is almost as bad as the entire press toll in Vietnam (66) or WW2 (68), sure to be exceeded soon.

WHITHER WILMA, DELAY CAMPAIGN PHOTO, DAM DAM, NYT COLUMNS FREE, BREAKING CHINA IN SPACE

2005-10-21T05:52:00.000-04:00

Fri. 9am HURRICANE WILMA, the third hurricane (Stan, Emily) to bash the Yucatan this year, is poised to devastate Cancun with the northeast quadrant of a 150 mph killer, and to listen to moron newscasters- the good news is that it's about to stall over a city of 2 million people... which will give Florida a little more time. It is just hammering Cozumel Is. (the single best scuba place in world) as we speak, but the artificial tourist city of Cancun, thrown up in a generation from a little fishing village, is loaded with bright gleaming substandard hotel skyscrapers, and loads of flimsy worker tenements on the fringes, that could be flattened by a major blow. This is good news to Amerocentric newscasters, who eagerly would prefer 20 times more Mexicans to die- Cancun is barely mentioned.

Called scuba + hotel people, and friends in Playa, Cozumel, and Cancun (where I was cave diving for 3 mo. last year); and should have some news tomorrow. Most of tourists in hotels in the 10x20 mile rectangular barrier island/lagoon hotel zone have been evacuated to the central city (which many tourists never see), according to the Hyatt Regency, at the northeast tip of the rectangle: Punta Cancun. I snorkled in very rough rocky shallow seas there and followed a V shaped flight of yard wide spotted rays that exhibited the greatest intelligence I've ever seen in the ocean- you could almost hear the leader's squawked commands to the other members of his squad.

This is a strange hurricane: no eye, two eyes, off center rotation, semi-transparent to radar pics, slow and jerky- I think it's going to surprise people, although the weather service is so good at predicting exact tracks, I suspect they've made a deal with the devil. Speak of which, there is something demonic about a tropical storm growing in one day to the strongest hurricane EVER. Wouldn't it be a terrible twist if it veers NW and slams NOLA again; they might just give up and abandon the whole below sea level city for good.

Half of the West and South coasts of Fla. are evacuating in panic, but they should wait- there's plenty of time to see where this thing is going- like in Rita, some may flee into the path of the wanton Wilma.

DELAY CAMPAIGN BOOKING PHOTO: I'm thinking that the grinning radiant Tom Delay Houston police booking photo without numbers looks like a campaign photo because.... it is a campaign photo. Somehow the weasel persuaded the politzei to accept a proffered photo to spare the exterminating poll further embarrassment. It is Texas, and roachmaster Tommy has a plethora of pull.

Liberals are in a tizzy about upcoming Plamegate indictments, but don't expect such wishful nonsense as exposing the faked Niger uranium pics- some of the semi-treason that got us into this disastrous war. Unless Fitz is totally co-opted, the wheels are coming off the foul slush wagon that Repubs have used to plunder, disgrace, and deceive the republic. Like that Philly protest organizer psycho who murdered his girlfriend and then packed her into a trunk in his closet for a year, the body (of massive Admin crimes) now can be smelled from the street, and if these honchos are taken down, there are legions of disgusted patriotic middle and lower level government people who will turn on the Bushistas in a flash. In a 1999 speech to the CIA, George Bush 1 said he had "nothing but contempt and anger for those who betray the trust by exposing the name of our sources. They are, in my view, the most insidious of traitors.” (Watch him say it.) Some say BushCo is rife with feuds, with Rove and Card at each other's throats and our AWOL Haliburton Veep disgusted with bailing out GB2's screwups. Has any VEEP disappeared for longer than the Dick Cheney, except for a cameo to suck the marrow out of Katrina victims?

TAUNTON TAUNTINGS:
The ancient disintegrating 173 year old wooden dam has been leaking from numerous places as the little pond-river system of the closed Whittenton Mill, swollen to record heights, threatens to release a 6-7 ft wall of water straight into the semi-evacuated downtown. 20 mi. to the east of Providence, it is more RI suburb than Mass. First, how can a wooden dam last 2 centuries, even made with water resistant tropical woods, it's amazing. My Yankee ancestors (oh yeah, I'm a Kraut) built things to last: the huge brick mill complex where I once concocted agar-agar batches for biological medium that just burned down in yet another massive arson inferno, was ten years older, made when the frontier was Ohio! They've been pumping water out of the Pond, but 3 more days of rain (after 2 weeks + 11" of straight rain till last weekend- 8.3" in 2 days) are projected over weekend. Notice that lately, the whole world has been concerned with wild water. Could it be, oh, global warming?

NYT COLUMNISTS FREE:
For those of you jonesing on missing your daily dose of pure Bush hatred, the NYT columnists can still be found free of the greedy fools $8/month fee at http://www.johntabin.com/neverpayretail/ (many from Truthout.org). They are doing what the record industry did for 30 years- perversely overpricing their product out of reach ($18 for a $1 CD). Let's see- I buy the paper about twice a week, so if I was regularly buying the whole NYT, I'd spend about $8 a month for it. They want to charge that for online viewing of the lousy columnists alone, convinced that the addiction is strong enough to bring in big bucks. This is abuse of addicts, and brutal towards the billion or 2 second and third worlders who have as much ability to pay that as they do to telephone America at $2/minute from their crummy state monopoly phone co.

BREAKING CHINA IN SPACE
China just orbited it's second astronaut in space, and there is something distinctly creepy in the besuited spacyman leading people in a miked Maoist patriotic cheer before hopping his chariot to the stars. Read the stunning CHINA INC., which details how China is on track to kick our ass in everything- cars, computers, chips (well we'll still have food) in only 10 years, while we waste energy and passion on (non) Intelligent Design, a battle won a century ago. God, am I sick of hearing what the religious nuts will insist on. Liberals need to get together and drive these retards from school boards with pitchforks, if necessary.

Here's a prediction you should write down: to display their arrival to the world in the 2008 Olympics, China will land a man on the moon. Impossible, you say? Not really- many of their buildings, freeways, factories use top flight technology that would stun us, the Lunar flight pattern was laid out 40 years ago, they could buy the boosters and much else from Russia, and if it all goes wrong (50%), the 30 cent/hour average space workers (OK, maybe they get more) might have a glorious one-way trip. They could probably clamp down and fake a successful return.
Chinese Man on the Moon Far off
2005-12-30 8:07:13 CRIENGLISH.com
A one-year lunar fly-by mission may start in April 2007 in China, but a manned flight to the Earth's neighbour may be a long way away, a chief lunar exploration scientist said Thursday. "Sending a man to the Moon? It would be a one-way ticket if we do it now, given the thrust of our rockets at present is not strong enough," Luan Enjie, commander-in-chief of the country's lunar exploration programme, said jokingly.

Speak of which, after Yahoo China helped indentify a Chinese journalist's NYC website gossip posting about some Chinese official, he was sentenced to ten years in prison. We badly need a federal law to prevent US corporations from collaborating with this kind of brutal repression. A new book, Mao: The Unknown Story exposes the "worst ever" crimes and butchery of Mao and the Chicoms, who dismissed the 30 million dead in the Great Leap Forward ('58-61) as a incidental cost.