Yesterday was an important anniversary for the Lupins.

Posted by: Lupin | Nov 3 2005 12:11 utc | 3

Berlusconi claims he was a terror target.
All this information coming out of Italy, and Berlusconi’s reaction to it is very interesting. Of course, he’s looking at losing an election big time, but I wonder WHO told him he was a target and when? (or if anyone did.)
First he said he argued against the war with Bush, now he seems to be claiming he went with the war because he thought he was threatened personally…very convenient.
And, yes, I also wonder how the reporters at La Republlica were able to get their info…and the timing of the articles, coming, as they do, as Fitzgerald issued his first indictment.
It seems to me that the real politickers (ala Scowcroft) are puttnig out this information to discredit the rationale for a war with Iraq and saying that the Bush administration was too reactionary and were played by the Iranians.
Who is this information for, I wonder? Congress?
–to make them question any support for an attack on Iran?
For Fitzgerald, to give reason to expand the scope of the (new) grand jury inquiry?
According to the CBS poll noted yesterday on the blogs, those who were paying attention already, it would seem, would also have some awareness of this issue…the coverage by Rozen and Marshall, etc. also addressed this.
The 50% or so of Americans who “don’t have enough information” about Libby, etc. are a long way from connecting this information to the whole OSP/Cheney faction issue…but again, the more information that is released, the more the MSM should cover it…but whether they will or not…
From the poll, the good news is that those polled think the release of information about a CIA agent is as important as Watergate. The bad news is that they are unaware of the problems of Iran-Contra (my interpretation) because they rank it much lower on a scale of big scandalous issues.
From the CBS poll-
(which REALLY slows down my computer)
HOW IMPORTANT TO THE NATION IS THE CIA LEAK MATTER?
CIA Leak
Great importance – 51%
Some importance – 35%
Little/no importance – 12%
Clinton-Lewinsky (1/98)
Great importance – 41%
Some importance – 21%
Little/no importance – 37%
Whitewater (3/94)
Great importance – 20%
Some importance – 29%
Little/no importance – 45%
Iran-Contra (2/87)
Great importance – 48%
Some importance – 33%
Little/no importance – 19%
Watergate (5/73; Gallup Poll)
Great importance – 53%
Some importance – 25%
Little/no importance – 22%

Posted by: fauxreal | Nov 3 2005 15:03 utc | 5

A Day At the Senate

Posted by: Tild | Nov 3 2005 16:22 utc | 7

a chilly wind is blowing outside my window

Weather Modification Research & Technology Act Of 2005

United States Senate | September 2, 2005
S 517 IS
SEC. 2. PURPOSE.
It is the purpose of this Act to develop and implement a comprehensive and coordinated national weather modification policy and a national cooperative Federal and State program of weather modification research and development.

Posted by: annie | Nov 3 2005 17:40 utc | 9

Period US UK Other* Total Avg Days
4 600 12 17 629 2.27 277
3 579 25 27 631 2.92 216
2 718 27 58 803 1.89 424
1 140 33 0 173 4.02 43
Total 2037 97 102 2236 2.33 960
We blew through 2000 like a hot knife through butter. Seems 2100 is going to slap us by December. Bush still doesn’t lose a moment of sleep over any of it.

Posted by: steve duncan | Nov 3 2005 18:30 utc | 11

This comedy going on in Texas where Delay doesn’t want a judge who contributes to Democrats and the prosecutor points out that the man who would select a judge contributes to Republicans.
Does this stuff really happen in the US? Seems like something from the movies

Posted by: dan of steele | Nov 3 2005 19:13 utc | 13

@hamburger-
Again, this was a claim that was manifestly preposterous on its face, to anyone in the know. It is sort of like claiming that a street person broke into my house and stole 500 cartons of oreo cookies and took them from Boston, where I live, to San Francisco. First of all, I don’t have 500 cartons of cookies, and secondly, where would they put them, how would they transpoort them?
First of all, France controls all the uranium refining operations in Niger with an iron fist. 500 tons represents 1/4 of a year’s production. It is pretty hard to steal that amount from any business, except maybe the Bremer regime, without it being noticed. And then we are talking about a convoy of 500 trucks leaving Niger, a country that doesn’t even have 500 trucks of the right type, and driving completely across the continent of Africa, either up and through ISRAEL, or down and loaded into ships and shipped to Iraq’s Southern Port and then up into the country undetected by satellite, intellegence etc. C’mon.
That the MSM buys this shit shows a) their ability to think critically is marginal, at best; and b) that they are instruments of DISinformation.

Posted by: Malooga | Nov 3 2005 20:14 utc | 15

The lack of meaningful employment for the poor of Paris will play quite a role in winding up the kids to throw rocks but structural unemployment doesn’t have to lead to rioting particularly in a state that trumpets long and hard about it’s social safety net.
A good portion of these kids don’t conform to the classic french appearance (ie not white) and some in so far as they have any religion at all will have an Islamic background.
Without digging up the debate about schoolgirls in headscarves too much I did watch a doco which was basically just a camera filming the interactions between the school authorities and students on the first day back at school last year when religious symbols were prohibited.
It was one of those classic examples of why, unless there is absolutely no alternative, trying to control others will always lead to misunderstanding, no matter how well meaning the rule makers may be.
Whatever the motivation for banning Muslim girls from covering their heads the students took the ban as a direct attempt by the establishment to repress them.
Many of the teachers were reasonable and others were transparently racist. They were using this situation as a means of imposing their feelings about the French immigration policy. One teacher who appeared to be otherwise intelligent enough kept carrying on about the French who had been killed in Algeria.
Anglos tend to laugh at French Chauvinism in the most patronising way and since both Anglos and French are sufficiently self confident to be reasonably thick skinned, mostly the friction between the two leads to shouting and not much more. However if you’re an African or Middle Eastern migrant, French nationalism must feel awfully like racial oppression.
It’s probably even more complex in the US.
It worries me that the AFL-CIO have left it until now to vent their spleen on migration. It is important to remember that the problems arising from migration must be sheeted home to the policy makers not the migrants themselves.
The coporatists have been using migrants to keep wages low pretty much since the declaration of Independence or at least since abolition and industrialisation.
If un and underemployed US residents (legal or otherwise) ensure their attacks are directed at the corporatists they have a good chance of being successful. If they fall into the trap the corporatists want them to, that is arguing amongst themselves their expoitation has only just begun.
The legal/illegal issue is particularly bad since both US born and migrant workers are disadvantaged by the lack of security migrant workers have.

Posted by: Debs is dead | Nov 3 2005 20:39 utc | 17

NATIONAL STRIKE DAY
Are we a people afraid?
Have we lost all sense of community and purpose and ability to act?
WE MUST STAND TOGETHER
What has happened to us? Where are the leaders of the likes that led the labor movement so many years ago that gave the workingman a chance?
The powers that be have us quelled and sedated in front of the latest spectacle, and all we do is bitch on a blog? march on a Saturday? write letters to the editors? boycott WalMart? it ain’t enough. do you see it working yet?
It’s time to be heard.
It’s time to put your ass on the line.
It’s time to stand up.
IT’S TIME TO STRIKE!
GRAB YOUR PITCHFORKS AND TORCHES AND JOIN ME ON YOUR TOWN SQUARE
DECEMBER 7, 2005 AT NOON.
DON’T GO TO WORK
DON’T GO TO SCHOOL
CLOSE YOUR BUSINESS
IT’S TIME FOR THEM TO BE AFRAID

Posted by: dk | Nov 3 2005 21:07 utc | 19

The trouble outside Paris shows several things:
1) the same kind of lack of territorial organisation as Katrina evidenced
2) the hubris of the French Républicain ideal; throw a bit of money at a problem and forget about it. Again, similar to the US in a way – and note the non-white youths fighting cops, whom they see as invading their turf, as that is all they have and they need to keep it theirs. The posturing and fake astonishment of the elite isn’t fooling many.
3) the dregs of ancient history (colonialism, etc.) – once more, etc.
4) the effects of a new paragdim – economy, globalisation, etc. How can uneducated poor Muslims in France compete with Chinese workers ??

Posted by: Noisette | Nov 3 2005 21:20 utc | 21

Malooga and b,
The point of my question was: Where are the other individuals who were said to have checked out/debunked the Niger allegation (I know all about the yellowcake, the French, the flooded mine, etc.). What I want to know is: who are these people? what has happened to them? I think it’s strange that JW is taking all the heat (from the bush crowd) when others had (already) made the same debunking claim as Joe. Are they swimming with the fishes, or what?

Posted by: Hamburger | Nov 3 2005 21:29 utc | 23

if the carlyle cronies get rid of cheney, what about his partner in crime donald rumsfeld?. cheney himself probably doesn’t pose much of a threat of retaliation, his ticker’s not likely to support any loose lips. but that rumsfeld, he’s got quite a mouth on him.

Posted by: b real | Nov 3 2005 21:48 utc | 25

ShadoGovt, you’re sceptical that a guy in a cave far beyond nowhere could lead an attack upon the most heavily guarded airspace in the history of the world? Next you’ll be saying the Sun rises in the east.
The ONLY proof the Administration has offered in support of its theory that Al-Queda did 9-11 is a medium-quality photo which is supposedly Mohammed Atta going thru an airport checkpoint.
Jesus, I lost sight of that in the mounds of bullshit…

Posted by: jj | Nov 3 2005 22:08 utc | 27

just for the record
U.S. Health Care Costs Big Money

The survey of nearly 7,000 sick adults in the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Britain and Germany found Americans were the most likely to pay at least $1,000 in out-of-pocket expenses. More than half went without needed care because of cost, the survey found, and more than a third endured mistakes and disorganized care when they did get treated.
While patients in every nation sometimes run into obstacles to getting care and face deficiencies in treatment, the United States stood out for having the highest error rates, most disorganized care and highest costs, the survey found.
…
Thirty-four percent reported getting the wrong medication or dose, incorrect test results, a mistake in their treatment or care, or being notified late about abnormal test results. Those types of errors were reported by only 30 percent of Canadian patients, 27 percent of Australian patients, 25 percent of New Zealanders, 23 percent of Germans and 22 percent of Britons.

What I do not get is why the big US corporations like GM don´t scream for a nationalized health care system. It would lower their costs and get them healthier workers.

Posted by: b | Nov 3 2005 23:01 utc | 29

@Hamburger (Bacon-Cheese or BBQ?)
Scott Ritter publicly declared it was false, and was promptly kicked off the MSM (and NPR), accused of having sex with a minor, etc.
I believe Richard Butler (previous head of arms inspection) came out saying it was a patent lie. MSM called him “unreliable.”
And El Baradei also made lie to their claim. They tried to kick him out, but he ended up with the Nobel Prize. Go figure. I guess the Mojo only works in the US or UK.

Posted by: Malooga | Nov 3 2005 23:55 utc | 31

ps it also goes without saying (which is why I forgot to say it) that nothing should be posted which b doesn’t want or which could blow back on b.

Posted by: Debs is dead | Nov 4 2005 0:16 utc | 33

Debs,
I’ve never slept at night in my life. It’s when I do my real thinking. I’m looking forward to this. Kicking around ideas about action.
Im extremely psyched at the moment as a result of our local election Tuesday, and I have some ideas I will post later.

Posted by: jm | Nov 4 2005 0:38 utc | 35

Uncle, happy to see that you poked yr. head in today. (Hope you’re able to separate external despair from possible internal neurochemical dysfunction that may need to be optimized.)
At least Milwaukee paper is Farrrrrr ahead of nyt. (I’ve had to rethink my system of capitalization entirely. nyt no longer rates caps!)

Posted by: jj | Nov 4 2005 2:22 utc | 37

I found a more extensive interview w/Retired Duke Professor Naylor in a Vt. paper. He initiated the Movement. Turns out Vt. started to secede before the Civil War in opposition to Fed. support for Slavery. So, it’s good that this movement is focused on opposition to Wall Street & Imperial Policies.
CHARLOTTE — Throughout history, every great empire has eventually met its demise. According to economist Thomas Naylor (pictured above), the United States may soon prove to be no exception because it has grown too big to sustain itself. That’s why Naylor helped form the Second Vermont Republic, an organization dedicated to the peaceful dissolution of the country, starting with the secession of Vermont.
Naylor moved to Vermont in 1993 after almost 30 years’ teaching economics at Duke University. He calls Vermont a metaphor for what he is trying to achieve. “We’re basically a state of small towns, small villages, small businesses, small churches, small schools where there’s a kind of connectedness and a sense of community,” he said.
For these reasons, Vermont, which started as an independent republic before statehood, is the perfect state to begin the trend. The idea had been in his head for close to a decade and he had written on the topic, but never felt his audience was very large.
Then, on March 5, 2003, while speaking at an anti-war rally at Johnson State College, the students wanted to know about alternatives to war, so Naylor offered up his notions about Vermont’s secession. He found a receptive audience for his beliefs and the Second Vermont Republic was born.
…
United States foreign policy is a major reason Naylor himself advocates secession.
“It just really bothers me paying my taxes to annihilate innocent people in Iraq and Afghanistan or anywhere else that Bush or Clinton or whoever decides they want to beat up on,” he says. “I think our foreign policy is just corrupt to the core.”
On a local level, Naylor mentions the outsourcing of manufacturing jobs to foreign countries. He predicts the day will soon come when Vermont has no manufacturing jobs left. He has little faith in the federal government to reverse these trends because, he said, Washington is too much under the control of “corporate America” and operates like a one-party system. link

Posted by: jj | Nov 4 2005 3:19 utc | 39

jj- if a national health care system is so bad, why does France have the best health care system in the world?
(but considering what’s happening there, how does the system work for French ppl from former colonies who are living in ghettos?)
Why is Canada ranked, over and over, as one of the best places to live, while the U.S. isn’t even in the top ten, based upon quality of life factors for a population?
The rich, in either case, will get health care. If you do not have insurance in the U.S., I know from my experience and others, you do not seek preventative care, which is generally less expensive than dealing with an illness.
I am really sick of the idea that big biz does everything better…when my ex went into a major manic episode, the insurance company required that I call them within a day or so to authorize treatment…and that was b/c of an ambulance call…otherwise I would have had to get permission beforehand.
When you’re in the middle of a crisis, you don’t exactly think to call insurance, but of course, it’s not like they’re trying to get out of honoring their commitment to actually provide coverage.
When he got sick again, soon after leaving the hospital the first time, I called the insurance company about his voluntary admission to a psych ward and the person on the phone said, as I was sitting on my kitchen floor with an infant…well, we’re not going to pay for someone to take a break like they’re going to a spa…
That stupid motherfucking piece of shit had no right to say that to someone in my situation. I filed a formal complaint after things had settled down. The large co. that used that insurer changed soon after because my complaint was not the first one.
it’s the biggest piece of lying propaganda the right wing (who benefits mightily from the meme) spouts about the efficiency of private cos.
I know doctors and therapists who will no longer accept insurance because, in order for their patients to get care, they have to lie about the patient, which then becomes part of their record. I know therapists who left the profession because of insurance cos.
American who don’t want health care as a basic human right are beyond stupid.
well, enough happy talk from me…

Posted by: fauxreal | Nov 4 2005 3:32 utc | 41

@Fauxreal, I never said a National Medical System was inherently so bad. I’m simply telling you that Reich said the one they were putting together for xAmerica would be an abomination. Canada had an excellent one. It depends onif they want it to be comprehensive or not. The Nations that have good ones are not simultaneously bankrupting themselves w/their Military Expenditures. That doesn’t leave much to spend. Anyway, they’re destroying our jobs as fast as they can, so we’re totally superfluous to the elite. What do you expect a medical system they build will be like under those conditions?? Huh?? Duh…

Posted by: jj | Nov 4 2005 3:36 utc | 43

I believe Vermont’s largest employer is IBM, up in Burlington, followed by whichever MultiNational bought up Ben and Jerry’s. Still, this story does bring a smile to my face. Of course, Mr. Democracy, Howard Dean, sold off the electric Co.’s, making it easy for the Multis to put a “California squeeze play” on the recalcitrant Mountaineers.
Realistically, Vermont could never suceed as an independent nation. However, I love the meme. It would be great if they got the message in Utah and started to seceed from the right. The worst that could happen is greater state’s rights.
It would be great if about 7 or 8 states started to seceed. Reading the newspaper might even be fun. The Bronx should seceed from New York City, too.

Posted by: Malooga | Nov 4 2005 3:50 utc | 45

The Regimist stooges at PBS have consigned the Wilkerson interview to the Friday night oubliette.
Nobody is making a fuss about this. Seems to me some noise should be made to frustrate their intent, — if it is their intent.

Posted by: eftsoons | Nov 4 2005 4:09 utc | 47

Whatever happened…The German Bankers in bed w/Wall Street. It’s the Same Deal In Europe, they just got a head start over here. And it’s unclear if Europe will try to emerge as a separate power bloc, which is why xUS elites are preparing to bulk up w/addition of Canada, Mexico & prob. Central America just in case. The only reason Europe can afford the Social Services it has is ‘cuz the money isn’t going down the military rathole, but if they separate from xUS that will prob. change very quickly. (Chirac is the front boy for big Fr. Military Outfit.) Look at the damn European “Constitution” they tried to ram down people’s throats. The entire purpose of that was to consolidate all the power in the hands of German Bankers away from National governments which are still a bit representative – unlike American governments.
The Western Bankers have declared War on us all. Lupin’s merely putting off his day of reckoning; and perhaps Europe won’t go broke which is worth something.
If you want to get the hell out, Norway is the only serious choice – own supply of oil & happily not part of the EU. But since you didn’t work there, it could be complicated. Also, perhaps NZ, though they’re likely to be sat on by China. I know someone who moved to Thailand – bought a business on a big island. It’s role is to be the vacation center of the “China Sea”, so life might stay fairly decent. Buddhists are an excellent cross-fertilization w/American aggressiveness, and should create some wonderfully cross-bred children. But they are starting to have problems w/their muslims. And, of course, they’re corrupt, and the sex-tourism, a haven for pedophiles…. A Greek Island Perhaps??

Posted by: jj | Nov 4 2005 4:27 utc | 49

Scooter’s Filth ‘Novel’ Triggers Journalism ‘Encounter’
By Wayne Madsen 11-3-5
Last night, while engaged at the National Press Club in a conversation about Karl Rove’s treason and Scooter Libby’s revolting novel about pedophilia and other perversion, your editor was confronted by a disagreeable sort who bellowed, “You’re not a journalist!”
I asked someone who the guy worked for.
The reply, “Fox News.”

Posted by: DM | Nov 4 2005 9:34 utc | 51

Manonfyre
From the Wikipedia link on Ledeen
“There is every reason to believe we will succeed in revolutionizing the Middle East, for we have always excelled at destroying tyrannies…. We wage total war, because we fight in the name of an idea — freedom — and ideas either triumph or fail.”
If this is not fascism, I don’t know what is.

Posted by: Cloned Poster | Nov 4 2005 10:58 utc | 53

@b | Nov 3, 2005 6:25:56 PM (I’m not a soccer fan)
Thanks for the Wikipedia info and Gen Fulford’s name – that’s what I was trying to remember. Here is the end of what Spencer Ackerman wrote in the TNR Online of 07.23.03

So when Fulford, an ardent supporter of the war against Saddam, heard Bush declare that “the British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa” in this year’s State of the Union address, he was perplexed. “Either someone had done him a great disservice by putting that in, or new intelligence surfaced that proved my judgment to be totally off base,” he recalls thinking. Since Fulford lost access to “the highest intelligence” only about a month before Bush’s speech, the prospect of new information about African uranium was remote–for that matter, the White House had deliberately sourced the claim to a September 2002 British report after a CIA official complained to his National Security Council counterpart that the agency had no confidence in the item. That leaves the alternative. And “disservice” may be too polite a way of putting it.

I’d like to see Fulford and the others speaking publicly these days.

Posted by: Hamburger | Nov 4 2005 12:05 utc | 55

The French have a long tradition of burning cars to let off steam.
It’s nice to see that second generation north african kids have embraced French traditions. Shows signs of assimilation.

Posted by: Lupin | Nov 4 2005 12:16 utc | 57

@gylangirl.
We didn’t just move to France. We moved to a SMALL VILLAGE in the Aude-Ariege, the most tradtionally lefty area of all French countryside.
They’re still pissed off at Louis IX for burning off the Cathars in the 13th century, no kidding.
Until today our local paper did not even talk about the Paris riots (I had to find out about it by looking at US websites.)
Besides they’re not riots (says he in a Crocodile Dundee voice). I was in LA when we had the Rodney King riots. THAT was a riot. If you want to talk riots like that, then wake me up when the Champs Elysees are deserted except for patrolling military! The French are pussies! 🙂
I was also in France in ’68 (age 14 going to the Lycee International in Fontainebleau – my dad was in the service) and the country virtually stopped for a month (missed my weekly comics real badly) and De Gaulle had to flee to Baden-Baden.
Now that was a riot.

Posted by: Lupin | Nov 4 2005 12:23 utc | 59

@lupin,
wake me up when the Champs Elysees are deserted except for patrolling military!
umm… that would be bastille day, right? ;^)
congratulations on your anniversary and what a nice blog. it linked to the calanques of cassis, thanks for that.

Posted by: gylangirl | Nov 4 2005 15:32 utc | 61

Filipino Activists Want U.S. Military Out
By OLIVER TEVES
Associated Press Writer
MANILA, Philippines (AP) – Activists called Friday for the scrapping of an agreement allowing joint exercises between Philippine and U.S. troops after a Filipino woman claimed she was raped by six Marines…
Bush Sidesteps Questions About CIA Leak
By NEDRA PICKLER
Associated Press Writer
MAR DEL PLATA, Argentina (AP) – President Bush sidestepped questions Friday about whether he owes the American people an apology for the role of administration officials in the CIA leak case. He also refused to comment on calls for a staff shakeup…
Bush Tries to Improve U.S. Image at Summit
By NEDRA PICKLER
Associated Press Writer
MAR DEL PLATA, Argentina (AP) – President Bush on Friday worked to smooth the United States’ troubled image in Latin America, commending Argentina’s efforts to improve its damaged economy

Posted by: Outraged | Nov 4 2005 17:36 utc | 63

“…it appears Libby’s saga may be only Act Two in a three-act play. And in my view, the person who should be tossing and turning at night, in anticipation of the last act, is the Vice President of the United States, Richard B. Cheney.”

sez John Dean.

Posted by: beq | Nov 4 2005 18:53 utc | 65

Should the U.S. Withdraw? Let the Iraqi People Decide
A February poll by the U.S. military, cited by the Brookings Institution, found that 71 percent of Iraqis “oppose the presence of Coalition Forces in Iraq.” This poll was taken only in urban areas, but others have found much the same sentiment. According to a January 2005 poll by Abu Dhabi TV/Zogby International, 82 percent of Sunni Arabs and 69 percent of Shiite Arabs favor the withdrawal of U.S. troops either immediately or after an elected government is in place.

Posted by: Snippet | Nov 4 2005 19:35 utc | 67

lupin
my position is quite simple
any country which cuts off the head of their king can’t be all bad
that moment my friend, really, that was a riot

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Nov 5 2005 0:48 utc | 69