If you don´t comment, Rove will win.
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May 8, 2006
OT 06-40
Comments
Robber Barons:
WaPo: Firms Harvesting Energy From Public Land May Owe U.S.
As soaring prices prompt huge increases in gas and oil drilling on public land, an ad hoc posse of state governments, Indian tribes and individual “bounty hunters” is charging that big energy companies are shortchanging taxpayers by billions of dollars.
They say drilling companies and pipeline operators are understating the amount and the quality of the natural gas they pump on public land, and are paying far less in royalties than required by law.
…
“With the current operation in Washington, you just get the feeling that the companies can report any production number they want to, and the government is not going to check,” said Dennis Roller, an auditor with the state of North Dakota who serves as vice chairman of the royalty audit committee.
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Oil and gas accounting rules are complicated, and it is difficult to assess whether or how much the companies may have underpaid. But one veteran of the Western oil patch, independent driller Jack Grynberg, of Centennial, charges that the industry owes the federal government more than $30 billion in unpaid royalties for natural gas alone. By comparison, the deficit-cutting bill that Congress passed earlier this year would save $39 billion over five years.
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The Minerals Management Service says its auditing and collection procedures are working. “We believe that the process we are using is appropriate and provides the income we are looking for,” said Gary Strasburg, MMS spokesman. “We’re engaged in a continuing effort to improve our auditing, but we have no indication that companies are paying lower royalties than they should.”
…
Military PR flies friendly skies
United Airlines has begun showing an in-flight video about military glamor jobs that was produced and funded by the Department of Defense–a fact passengers do not learn from watching it.
While hundreds of thousands of men and women serve overseas, many in dangerous places, the video only explicitly shows one soldier beyond U.S. borders: a Hawaii-based Army animal-care specialist doing humanitarian work in Thailand.
Your tax dollars at work, folks.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | May 8 2006 7:47 utc | 2
Drug industry lobbyists conspired with the White House and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) last year to craft a sweeping liability provision that shields the industry from lawsuits over products used to treat pandemic illnesses, even in cases of gross negligence or gross recklessness, according to a report issued today by Public Citizen.
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Frist inserted the shield provision into an already-completed conference report for the defense appropriations bill in the dead of night, with the aid of House Majority Leader Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.). Many of the members of the conference committee had never seen the language, let alone approved it. Committee leaders explicitly assured Democrats, made wary by rumors circulating in the preceding days, that no attempt would be made to insert the liability measure into the spending bill.
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The liability shield is extremely broad, applying to far more than just avian flu vaccines and going well beyond the liability protections initially proposed by the Bush administration. It bars all state and federal claims arising from the use of a drug, vaccine or medical device related to any government-declared health emergency. It extends to all companies, state officials, healthcare workers and others involved in combating an actual or potential health emergency.
It even encompasses all aspects of drug, vaccine and medical device production and delivery, including design, development, testing, manufacture, labeling, distribution, formulation, packaging, marketing, dispensing and prescribing. What’s more, it shields pharmaceutical companies from liability for long-used drugs, even those causing death or injury due to a manufacturing error, so long as the drug is used to treat a condition related to an officially declared health emergency.
The only exception is if an injured party can show by “clear and convincing evidence” – a heightened standard of proof – that a defendant’s “willful misconduct” caused serious injury or death. According to the law, “willful misconduct” does not encompass “gross negligence” or “gross recklessness,” but only “intentional, voluntary and conscious actions, or failures to act, undertaken to achieve a wrongful purpose.”
This site set up by Imad Khadduri may be of interest to those wishing to hear Iraqi views or learn first hand of the plight of Iraqi academics.
Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | May 8 2006 10:31 utc | 4
Nice, smart step by Ahmadinejad: Iran’s Leader Writes to President Bush
Iran’s leader has written to President Bush proposing “new solutions” to their differences in the first letter from an Iranian head of state to an American president in 27 years, a government spokesman said Monday.
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki delivered the letter to the Swiss ambassador on Monday, ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told The Associated Press. The Swiss Embassy in Tehran houses a U.S. interests section.
In the letter, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad proposes “new solutions for getting out of international problems and the current fragile situation of the world,” spokesman Gholam-Hossein Elham told a news conference.
Your government is downloading and permanently storing, and retroactively searching all phone & email communications.
“(The Matrix can) take the scrap of a license plate, a gender, skin color, hair color – and you could place those things in, with maybe a zipcode – and you could find a list of people who fit exactly that qualification. People who saw this system in operation – intelligence officials, law enforcement folks – said that it literally blew them away – how fast it could pick up the right people – but their neighbours, their photographs – whatever was entered into the system, it could retrieve it instantly”
Here’s how to sink Hayden’s CIA nomination
Do watch the video if nothing else: VIDEO – NSA Uses Private Firms for Massive Unchecked Domestic Surveillance
Posted by: Uncle $cam | May 8 2006 14:46 utc | 7
Iran’s leader has written to President Bush
Fat lot of good that will do. Commander Koo-Koo-Bananas hasn’t read anything other than My Pet Goat.
Posted by: gmac | May 8 2006 15:33 utc | 8
@Uncle – This may sink Hayden: EXCLUSIVE: CIA Nominee Hayden Linked to MZM
While director of the National Security Agency, Gen. Michael V. Hayden contracted the services of a top executive at the company at the center of the Cunningham bribery scandal, according to two former employees of the company.
Hayden, President Bush’s pick to replace Porter Goss as head of the CIA, contracted with MZM Inc. for the services of Lt. Gen. James C. King, then a senior vice president of the company, the sources say. MZM was owned and operated by Mitchell Wade, who has admitted to bribing former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham with $1.4 million in money and gifts.
…
As an MZM employee, King was involved in a number of controversial projects. In 2002, he was a key adviser to the team creating CIFA, the Pentagon’s domestic surveillance operation. In 2004, he was one of three MZM staffers who worked on the White House Robb-Silberman Commission, which recommended expanding CIFA’s powers.
Yes b, I see your point however did you watch the vid?
Dire implications there…
And when will they finally tie in the MZM funds to the Republican campaigns of 2004?
There is a link form MZM to DeLay, which would tie the whole thing up nicely. But so far, no investigative reporter has dared to point out that much needed defense contract funds were diverted to the shell company of MZM which funnelled the money back to the DeLay machine which distributed the money to campaigns of Republicans.
That is quite a whopper, but I am sure I will be vindicated by the truth soon.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | May 8 2006 17:11 utc | 10
Computer-Savvy Thieves Rip-Off Gas Stations
At least two St. Louis gas station owners or managers say somebody is breaking into gas pumps, reprogramming interior keypads and instructing the machines to dispense fuel at no charge.
Free gas is certainly not what the gas station owners had in mind.
Kevin Tippit is manager of the Phillips 66 at Lindell and Boyle in St. Louis. Tippit says his boss lost between $6,000 and $10,000 worth of gas Friday before a regular customer tipped-off an employee.
“They (the thieves) have a key to the pump and then after they open up the pump they go in and they reprogram the pump, so they can have free gas. And then everybody behind them sees what they’re doing, and they continue,” says Tippit.
Posted by: b real | May 8 2006 19:05 utc | 11
f. william engdahl: The US’s geopolitical nightmare
Simply put: Bush and Cheney and their band of neo-conservative war hawks, with their special relationship to the capacities of Israel in Iraq and across the Mideast, were given a chance.
The chance was to deliver on the US strategic goal of control of petroleum resources globally, to ensure the US role as first among equals over the next decade and beyond. Not only have they failed to “deliver” that goal of US strategic dominance, they have also threatened the very basis of continued US hegemony, or as the Rumsfeld Pentagon likes to term it, “Full Spectrum Dominance”.
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The Bush Doctrine was and is a neo-conservative doctrine of preventive and preemptive war. It has proved to be a strategic catastrophe for the US role as sole superpower. That is the background to comprehend all events today as they are unfolding in and around Washington.
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The most fascinating indication of a sea-change within the US political establishment toward the Bush Doctrine and those who are behind it is the developing debate around the 83-page paper, first published on the official website of Harvard University, criticizing the dominant role of Israel in shaping US foreign policy.
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The taboo of speaking publicly of the pro-Israel agenda of neo-conservatives has apparently been broken. That suggests that the old-guard foreign-policy establishment, types such as Zbigniew Brzezinski and Brent Scowcroft and their allies, are stepping up to retake foreign-policy leadership. The neo-cons have proved a colossal failure in their defense of America’s strategic interests as the realists see it.
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In the space of 12 months, Russia and China have managed to move the pieces on the geopolitical chess board of Eurasia away from what had been an overwhelming US strategic advantage, to the opposite, where the US is increasingly isolated. It’s potentially the greatest strategic defeat for the US power projection of the post-World War II period. This is also the strategic background to the re-emergence of the so-called realist faction in US policy.
Posted by: b real | May 8 2006 19:42 utc | 12
Zbigniew Brzezinski and Brent Scowcroft?
Realists?
Hahahahaha! Yeah, more like the rats are abandoning the sinking ship. It’s the old (Dysfunctional) “Family Circus” technique of “Not Me.” Who broke that lamp? “Not Me”, the little ghost says.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | May 8 2006 20:25 utc | 13
NOthing in Engdahl’s piece that we haven’t discussed – obvious stuff, but reassuring to see in from professional.
But my question, after reading washnote last wk, is if there are “forces” in the world today that want xUS to attack Iran to finally bring down the Dinosaur, thereby inc. power of the rising powers?
Posted by: jj | May 8 2006 20:26 utc | 14
Re: Robber Barons -Posted by: b | May 8, 2006 2:26:18 AM | 1
Here In NC, thousands of acres of trees in the Croation National Forest are planning to be sold for harvest – Not sure, but I think the NC schools will get a measly $100 per acre or something like that.
Moving on…
Things may or may not be as good(?) as they were for some (like the Summerlin Developments) awhile ago, but here are some top dog Robber Barrons – The Urban Land Institute.
“The Privatization Boom: Buying and Developing Public Lands”
“As the federal and state governments divest themselves of excess land, great opportunities have opened up for developers. Learn about the development potential of military bases and public land auctions that can yield outstanding properties in prime sites. Hear from the experts how to navigate the purchase, partnership, and development processes for these government holdings.”
-This above quote was taken from an upcoming seminar:
link
Some of the major developers around Las Vegas have gotten land for almost nothing years ago – built HOA’s “private government communities” where the lots have sold for thousands of dollars. Lake Meade used to be a good lake – pollution creeping in fast from developers.
The Urban Land Institute was composed of the big money Corporates who had direct connections with Federal land sales. The normal “Joe Homeowner” guy or gal would never have been able to buy the land.
Morgan Reynolds addressed Wisconsin Historical Society, Sat. – on you know what. He said Ray McGovern has said privately that he agrees it was an inside job. link
I’ve said all along that it should be easy to remove these Treasonous Bastards – The Constitution is ‘just a Piece of Paper’ – since many many people have to know about 911. Reynolds says:
Reynolds stated that everyone in the worldwide intelligence community knew that 9/11 was an inside job as soon as it happened, with the obvious stand-down of US air defenses, controlled demolition of the World Trade Center, and non-protection of the President in Florida being the biggest tip-offs. The head of the Russian equivalent of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the former head of the German intelligence service Andreas Von Bulow, former National Security Agency official Wayne Madsen, and former MI-6 agent David Schayler have all openly called 9/11 an inside job, while former CIA official Ray McGovern has confirmed this directly in private, and indirectly in public by way of his ringing endorsement of David Ray Griffin’s work on 9/11.
Reynolds, who served as George W. Bush’s Labor Department Chief Economist in 2001-2002, believes that a 9/11 truth victory is looming on the near-term horizon. He predicted that one or more of the 9/11 insiders will soon “give it up” and come forward with what they know, saying “Remember, you heard it here first.” He said that most of those complicit in the attacks did not realize how over-the-top the plot was, due to the need-to-know compartmentalization of such covert operations, and that some semi-complicit individuals will probably be coming forward. Reynolds said that most of his email acquaintances are now worried that the 9/11 truth movement is going to win, triggering the greatest Constitutional crisis in U.S. history. For Reynolds, this is less a cause for worry than for rejoicing: “We need a Constitutional crisis!”
(We don’t “need a Con- Crisis” – we already have one…)
Posted by: jj | May 8 2006 20:36 utc | 16
not sure if this is the right place to post, but since it is an open thread here goes 🙂
i have a hard time understanding something: if a crash of the dollar followed by a later 20’s early 30’s style depression was, as predicted by some, to happen nowadays here in the us, the whole world would be sent into turmoil, right? i’m sure someone out there has thought of that and is watching the american economy very carefully. would anyone intervene to make sure such a crash didn’t happen since it would be a global catastrophe? could an outside intervention happen? if so what are we looking at? foreign military intervention? sanctions? american military intervention?
Posted by: charmicarmicat | May 8 2006 21:04 utc | 17
The Third Front in the Global War on Terror
Butch Cassidy Wanted Dead or Alive
Posted by: Groucho | May 8 2006 22:40 utc | 18
there was an article in the Toronto Sun yesterday reinforcing the conspiracy nutter meme that Al Qaida didn’t do it.
It trots out many fallacious arguments and even invokes Occam’s Razor to support the offical verion of events.
He does raise an intersting question about fight 77. If it didn’t hit the Pentagon, where is it? Of course, he frames it such that any answer other than the official version is insanely ridiculous
Posted by: gmac | May 8 2006 23:19 utc | 19
Associated Press
Posted: 4 days ago
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) – The official team bus to be used by the United States during the World Cup will not bear a flag for security reasons.
…
Officers of the U.S. State Department routinely travel with the U.S. team when it plays outside the United States.
Link
So now, the American World Cup team can’t even ID selves safely overseas; plus they’ve got to put up with federal KGB-style surveillance?
Posted by: gylangirl | May 9 2006 1:44 utc | 21
http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/5574344
to link to World Cup story
Posted by: gylangirl | May 9 2006 1:57 utc | 22
SEND POOR MR. COHEN SOME MAIL PLEASE; HE FEELS UNAPPRECIATED
Posted by: Groucho | May 9 2006 3:32 utc | 23
The following post is rated: CD(TM) for ‘critical discernment’:
Remember, CRITICAL DISCERNMENT IS REQUIRED.
Having said that, and out of all the issues I have heard or read, on the theories of that day imfamous day this is the first I have heard of this story. How bout you? Quite interesting no?
Posted by: Uncle $cam | May 9 2006 3:41 utc | 24
@Unca
I hadn’t heard that particular one, but I did grab a copy of the “extra” edition of the Dayton Daily News that day and can tell you there were a number of things being said then that didn’t make their way into the canon (mostly by way of details; reported times didn’t match up with my memory of events, people were credited with having said things that were said by others, und so weiter).
It’s kind of like one of those tests where a witness is shown an event and then quizzed on what they have just been shown to demonstrate how faulty their memories can be. Problem with that is that I have never fallen into the trap of suggestibility or confabulation. When reported details change or otherwise don’t synch correctly, I don’t automatically alter my memory to make things fit together more neatly (as, apparently, many people must).
Anyway, if one accepts the version of things that have been expurgated (your link), it would answer the “Then where is it?” question that arises from the Pentagon missile scenario (Not that there would necessarily have been any survivors in either version… “evacuated” liabilities don’t tend to have very long life spans).
And didn’t this debate rate its own section? People still go way back and contribute to that “Metal Firtina” movie review from ages ago. It’d be a whole lot less convoluted if we didn’t have to keep jumping from open thread to open thread to reference this gorram discussion. If we’re going to put on the tinfoil, let’s just do it and stop pretending we’re above that… titillation is great when you’re dating, but I’m getting to a point where I’d like to see all this laid out on a sleazy motel bed so I know what I’m dealing with. We’re not making the picture any clearer by only catching glimpses of it out of the corner of our eye as it walks by in a pair of high heel shoes and a low necked sweater.
(Heilige schiess, I can torture an analogy!)
Posted by: Monolycus | May 9 2006 4:15 utc | 25
@charmicarmicat – why should anyone intervene? Nobody could anyhow, but some could force it to happen.
BRIC nations surpass G-7 in forex, gold holdings
Brazil, Russia, India and China, referred to as BRIC group that currently manifests the world’s highest economic growth rate, have surpassed G7 countries in their forex /gold holdings for the first time in history.
As of the end of March, the aggregate holdings of BRIC amounted to $1,292,200 million, according to estimates published on Thursday in Japan’s leading economic newspaper, ‘Nihon Keizai’.
As compared with the state of affairs in this respect as of the end of 2004, the forex/gold holdings of BRIC went up by 40 per cent.
At the same time, the forex /gold reserves of G7 countries (Britain, Germany, Italy, Canada, the United States, France, and Japan) amounted to $1,253,900 million, said the paper.
At present, China accounts for 68 per cent of forex/gold reserves of BRIC countries. However, according to the estimates of Japanese experts, the growth of its forex/gold reserves has slowed down while those of Russia, India and Brazil now increase by more than 10 per cent a year.
BRIC countries, the daily wrote, will continue to increase their influence on the world currency market while having a mounting impact on the rate of the US dollar, in particular.
How the Pentagon is using the “terrorism” bogieman to intervene in Latin America: The Wide War
According to the Department of Defense, the hydra-headed terrorist network now supposedly spreading across southern climes cannot be defeated if Latin American nations continue to think of criminal law enforcement and international warfare as two distinct activities. What is needed is a Herculean Army of One, a flexible fighting machine capable of waging a coordinated war against criminal terrorism on all its multiple fronts and across any border. Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld regularly tours the region urging security officials to break down bureaucratic firewalls in order to allow local police, military and intelligence services to act in an integrated manner. The goal, according to the Pentagon, is to establish “effective sovereignty” or, more biblically, “dominion” over “ungoverned spaces” — boundary areas like the tri-border region, but also poor city neighborhoods where gangs rule, rural hinterlands where civil institutions are weak, and waterways and coastlines where illegal trafficking takes place.
Speaking of 911 details, it was reported several times in SF newspaper that the (black)mayor was sched. to fly East that am, but Condi called him & told him not to do so. (After official cover-up coalesced this was changed!)
On to b-‘s story of gold holdings in China et al, vs. G7. If it’s Monday, it must be a new Paul Craig Roberts art. This explains the gold imbalance…
“In recent decades, China has become a manufacturing powerhouse. The country’s official data showed 83 million manufacturing employees in 2002, but that figure is likely to be understated; the actual number was probably closer to 109 million. By contrast, in 2002, the Group of Seven (G7) major industrialized countries had a total of 53 million manufacturing workers.”
The G7 is the US and Europe. In contrast to China’s 109,000,000 manufacturing workers, the US has 14,000,000.
When I was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration, the US did not have a trade deficit in manufactured goods. Today the US has a $500 billion annual deficit in manufactured goods. If the US is doing as well in manufacturing as no-think economists claim, where did an annual trade deficit in manufactured goods of one-half trillion dollars come from?
If the US is the high-tech leader of the world, why does the US have a trade deficit in advanced technology products with China?
There was a time when American economists were empirical and paid attention to facts. Today American economists are merely the handmaidens of offshore producers. Apparently, they follow President Bush’s lead and do not read newspapers—thus, their ignorance of countless stories of US manufacturers moving entire plants and many thousands of US engineering jobs to China.
Chinese firms, including state owned firms, have numerous reasons, tax and otherwise, to understate their employment. Banister’s report gives the details.
Banister points out that the excess supply of labor in China is about five to six times the size of the total US work force. As a result, there is no shortage of workers in China, nor will there be in the foreseeable future.
The huge excess supply of labor means extremely low Chinese wages. The average Chinese wage is $0.57 per hour, a mere 3% of the average US manufacturing worker’s wage. With first world technology, capital, and business know-how crowding into China, virtually free Chinese labor is as productive as US labor. This should make it obvious to anyone who claims to be an economist that offshore production of goods and services is an example of capital seeking absolute advantage in lowest factor cost, not a case of free trade based on comparative advantage.
American economists have failed their country as badly as have the Republican and Democratic parties. The sad fact is that there is no leader in sight capable of reversing the rapid decline of the United States of America.
Either we impose taxes of 100% of wage differential bet. US & chinese wage for each job a co. has sent over there, or Western financial elites, the globe’s true terrorists, might as well just nuke the west & destroy it all at once rather than slowly suffocating us.
Posted by: jj | May 9 2006 6:50 utc | 28
I have no brief for or against Hayden, or better, I have
confilicting views from sources I respect: Karen Kwiatowski
speaks well of him, others do not. In any case this link
gleaned from a comment at Pat Lang’s site might be of interest in regard to Hayden’s view of the Fourth Amendment and his willingness to be a good soldier and follow orders. (Scroll down to where Jim Bamford starts questioning Hayden). The confirmation hearings could be interesting, especially if some congressional “wet blanket” starts asking Hayden how it felt for the head of the NSA to learn about 9/11 while watching CNN’s coverage of it. (This according to Bamford’s book.)
Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | May 9 2006 6:59 utc | 30
The latest Sibel
Edmonds .mp3 file containing her remarks on accepting the
PEN award. She and Cindy Sheehan are quiet voices whose
stubborn tenacity inspires admiration and emulation.
Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | May 9 2006 8:40 utc | 31
Uri Avneri’s take on the new Knesset , found in the Pakistan Daily Times,
but presumably reprinted from elsewhere.
Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | May 9 2006 9:21 utc | 32
The beacon on the hill:
U.S. Newborn Survival Rate Ranks Low
Among 33 industrialized nations, the United States is tied with Hungary, Malta, Poland and Slovakia with a death rate of nearly 5 per 1,000 babies, according to a new report. Latvia’s rate is 6 per 1,000.
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The U.S. ranking is driven partly by racial and income health care disparities. Among U.S. blacks, there are 9 deaths per 1,000 live births, closer to rates in developing nations than to those in the industrialized world.
…
The Save the Children report, released Monday, comes just a week after publication of another report humbling to the American health care system. That study showed that white, middle-aged Americans are far less healthy than their peers in England, despite U.S. health care spending that is double that in England.
In the analysis of global infant mortality, Japan had the lowest newborn death rate, 1.8 per 1,000 and four countries tied for second place with 2 per 1,000 — the Czech Republic, Finland, Iceland and Norway.
I’m almost ashamed to post this, but it may be a sign of
the “when it rains, it pours” syndrome currently bathing
the Bushites. It could be truly delicious: out of Lady Chablis’s frying pan into the nude-pix Furlong fire. Naturally
policy questions are irrelevant when sex is “in play”.
Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | May 9 2006 9:50 utc | 34
Well, since I’ve already opted for shamelessness,
here’s a cache copy of the details of the previous
post on Furlong and Captain Amerika’s links to Hayden.
The photos seem to have been purged, but may be recoverable.
I doubt that Hayden will survive this, and know that many others will already have found the crap that is posted here.
Again, Hayden may be a decent guy who likes sex, but in the
present “faith based” atmosphere it’s hard to see this passing without afflicting major damage. It looks like
Erika Proctor is going to bring Hayden down just as many other “untouchables” have fallen for similar reasons.
Needless to say, the blogs have once again scooped the mainstream media. Although this one is nothing to be proud
of, it will soon resemble a school of piranha cleaning
a water buffalo carcass.
Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | May 9 2006 10:10 utc | 35
Holy Christ! It really is all over for Hayden:
He’ll never survive having given a job a NSA to Ms Proctor
after these pics hit the net is greater force. Its porn by any
definition, and the fundies are going to go ballistic.
It’s so bad it must have been a set up.
Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | May 9 2006 10:34 utc | 36
@Hannah – don´t expect anybody to pick it up and run it in the MSM.
Lot of hearsay, a mad ex-husband as “witness” and not proof in those pictures. Find one with Hayden and her and its a deal. Otherwise not.
Re: Hannah & Noisette (Yikes!)
Wayne Madsen reported on this in April 12 of 2005 on his website http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/nsa/disrupt1.htm
He had links to this in his May 7, 2006 entry.
I hope Debs is still awake, he might be able to shed some light on what is happening in Iraq today. I heard on CNN that the Interior and Defense ministries would be filled with people not affiliated with the major parties. Monsters and Critics confirms that too.
The Wall Street Journal has Chalabi as a possible face for the Interior. I guess that would be a coup for the neocons after all.
This Turkish site has different names completely.
I guess I will just have to wait and find out like everyone else….
Posted by: dan of steele | May 9 2006 18:40 utc | 40
“I said, ‘What do you mean?’ He said, ‘I don’t like President Bush.’ I thought to myself, ‘Brother, you have a disconnect — the president is elected, I was selected. You wouldn’t be getting the contract unless I was sitting here. If you have a problem with the president, don’t tell the secretary.’
“He didn’t get the contract,” Jackson continued. “Why should I reward someone who doesn’t like the president, so they can use funds to try to campaign against the president? Logic says they don’t get the contract. That’s the way I believe.”
@ b:
if i understand correctly you are saying that if those countries (bric) have control over the dollar they basically have america by the you know what, right? a scenario in the lines of “if you folks (america) don’t shape up will force a financial crisis of some sort that will be strong enough to bring you to your knees but not strong enough to create a global financial collapse”. am i interpreting you right or am i totally off the mark?
Posted by: charmicarmicat | May 10 2006 5:09 utc | 42
Came across a story in today’s Independent which on the surface appears to be one of those “all arms dealers are merchants of death” shrug the shoulders in despair story. A filler which tells little new but attracts interest as humans are always interested in the pathology of those sub-humans who merchandise death. A perennial tale dragged out when news is light on, this sort of story is usual reserved for the weekend ‘phone books’.
However close inspection shows there is more than normal to this story as it gets to the point about two thirds of the way through:
“The report also claimed that weapons from the Balkans were “shipped, clandestinely and without public oversight” to Iraq by a chain of private brokers from Britain, as well as from the US, Israel, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Croatia, Moldova and Ukraine, “under the auspices of the US Department of Defence”.
It is not known whether the shipment ever actually reached Iraq, said Amnesty, but if it did, it could well have been used in human rights violations and abuse.
The US government and its allies are also said to have used a private Danish shipping company to conceal a build-up of arms for the Iraq invasion, while there was still the public pretension that George Bush, the US President, and Tony Blair, the British Prime Minister, wanted a diplomatic solution, the report says.”
On the other hand since this report confirms something that many people were already suspicious of, perhaps it is just another shoulder shrugging filler as well.
The length of time that the negotiations for Iraqi cabinet vacancies are taking suggests someone isn’t following the script. It is difficult to imagine that most of these issues weren’t ‘straightened out’ to re-assure the invaders before USuk gave the big tick to al-Maliki in the first place.
I suppose it could be ‘rubber meets the road’ time where al-Maliki has to reconcile his undertakings to Iraqi parliamentry supporters with USuk demands. Looking at the situation from that perspective it is difficult to see why anyone would want the poisoned chalice of Iraqi Prime Minister.
Perhaps USuk already ‘had enough on’ al-Maliki to force him to take it.
There are three types of Ministers of Interior that would be deemed suitable to USuk.
The first and most likely minister is a well meaning fool who won’t cause any Iraqi ethnic grouping to be concerned that their mob could fall out of favour but is too caught up in the trappings of power to get a grip on the workings of the death squads.
The second more difficult to achieve possibility is that the minister is a willing tool of USuk. Hard to see how they could get that past the factions. 18 months ago Ahmed Chalabi would have been a walk up start, but since he has his own faction/ crime family, even Condy and Donny could see he may be uncontrollable.
The third but second most likely option is that death squad logistics will be transferred out of the ministry of the interior. Obviously some connections would have to remain in place to access any intelligence gathered by police or legit MOI troops.
But the actual murder, rape, and torture would be carried out far enough away from the Ministry of the Interior to ‘keep everything kosher’.
I realise all of the above may well be crediting Condy and Donny with far too much nous, when in fact they are just blundering about trying achieve the impossible.
That is to prevail in a brutal escalating conflict at the same time as their own resources are decreasing, because domestic political concerns demand ‘bringing or boys home’.
LOL! It couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of assholes.
Posted by: Anonymous | May 10 2006 7:01 utc | 43
This report from Con Coughlin, “the Judy Miller of the UK” might be a harbinger of whats in store for the entire OIF:
A natural conclusion to be drawn from this latest flare-up in the delicate balance of relations between the British military and the local population it is seeking to protect is that Britain’s continued presence in Iraq is no longer tenable, and that its forces should be withdrawn forthwith.
Certainly that is how the voluble anti-war brigade is seeking to portray the predicament of the British garrison in Basra, which now finds itself virtually confined to barracks, fearful that its presence on the streets will provoke further violent assaults.
…………………
And whats going on in the north has got to be more volitile. The jist of which I think is that during the 3 years of “Gravity’s Rainbow”, no apparent government period, is that the political reality has become so decentralized that it has become opaque to the occupation authority. Throughout the various incarnations and attempts to stand up a central government — beholden to U.S. interests — have failed to inspire any confidence beyond the green zone. And so have subsequently been replaced by a governance of street culture, tribe, clan, gang, and militia. The communication, structure, and alliances between these factions have evolved at a pace that is beyond all attempts by the occupation to generate intellegence on it, so they are left with an ever diminishing circumstance of control or no control. This has resulted in a situation where the so called puppet government has been givin increasing latitude (power) in the hopes that it can formulate a counter-force or re-centralization of power back into a population that has grown increasingly sceptical of its alliances to the occupation force or its ability to counter the slide into sectarian stife. The Iraqi government then is put into the position of serving two masters, its occupation hosts, and an increasingly hostile population well on its way to defacto self governance. And because the occupation forces have restricted the use of the army and security forces it has trained to be loyal to them, this has forced the Iraqi government to rely exclusively upon its connection to the main religious militias for the enforcement of their will — and this is what the occupation is now demanding to be dissolved, or at least incorporated into the army. This of course leaves the government toothless, or as a tooth fairy, restricted to dolling out economic favors as a form of governance. Which has had another effect as evidenced by the rise of Muqtada Sadr — the only politician on the ground in Iraq. The only politician both working the street and the ministries to any effect — who incidently, also pays more and offers better benifits than the Iraqi army to its militia members. And who also happens to be the most openly anti-occupation force, outside the insurgency. I hear today he openly and publically credited his militia with shooting down the British helicopter — and is aimig to increase his ministry portfolio from 2 to 5. Its just a matter of time, and not alot of it, before there’s nothing left for the occupation.
Posted by: anna missed | May 10 2006 9:23 utc | 44
Jared Guinther is 18. Tall and lanky, he will graduate from Marshall High School in June. Girls think he’s cute, until they try to talk to him and he stammers or just stands there — silent.
Diagnosed with autism at age 3, Jared is polite but won’t talk to people unless they address him first. It’s hard for him to make friends. He lives in his own private world.
Jared didn’t know there was a war raging in Iraq until his parents told him last fall — shortly after a military recruiter stopped him outside a Southeast Portland strip mall and complimented him on his black Converse All Stars.
snip
Last fall, Jared began talking about joining the military after a recruiter stopped him on his way home from school and offered a $4,000 signing bonus, $67,000 for college and more buddies than he could count.
Posted by: beq | May 10 2006 13:55 utc | 45
from beq’s article:
“When Jared first started talking about joining the Army, I thought, ‘Well, that isn’t going to happen,’ ” said Paul Guinther, Jared’s father. “I told my wife not to worry about it. They’re not going to take anybody in the service who’s autistic.”
But they did. Last month, Jared came home with papers showing that he not only had enlisted, but also had signed up for the Army’s most dangerous job: cavalry scout. He is scheduled to leave for basic training Aug. 16.
These evil fuckers. That’s all I can call it. Evil. This kid is not capable of making an informed decision and the recruiter was worried about losing his job because he lied and coerced this autistic kid?
high-functioning autism, however, is not mental retardation..in fact the opposite is often true in at least one area. I think this kid may also have mild mental retardation, based upon what I read in the article…but who knows…I certainly cannot diagnose him long-distance.
I am sooo not sorry that I complained about the recruiter who came after my kid. I doubt they’ll do anything about the guy, tho, even tho he had the audacity to tell me to leave the country.
I am sooo not sorry that I slammed the door in the guy’s face.
My son is in the national honor society and is going to college in the fall. He also couldn’t tie his shoes until he was 12 or so because the spatial reasoning just wasn’t there. He can barely swim. His gait is awkward; one foot turns out. He can run, but not so fast.
The varieties of expressions of autism make it impossible to generalize, but this I know for sure- if I were in the army, I would not want an autistic person covering my back…they just wouldn’t necessarily be able to do so.
So these recruiters are not only putting these kids at risk, they are also putting other soldiers at risk. Of course, I’m assuming, again, that the kid wouldn’t get killed in basic training for his “refusal” to obey orders that he may not even understand, much less be able to carry out.
This country is so fucked up. Sometimes it’s hard to get up in the morning, knowing we face another day of the same old bullshit.
Posted by: fauxreal | May 10 2006 14:46 utc | 46
that mention of the $4000 signing bonus and promises to pay for college made me think of this article, from back in march
Army Guard Refilling Its Ranks: Members Get Bonus For New Recruits
The Army National Guard, which has suffered a severe three-year recruiting slump, has begun to reel in soldiers in record numbers, aided in part by a new initiative that pays Guard members $2,000 for each person they enlist.
…
The rebound is striking because since 2003, the Army Guard has performed worse in annual recruiting than any other branch of the U.S. military. The Guard was shrinking while it was being asked to shoulder a big part of the burden in Iraq. Together with the Army Reserve, it supplied as many as 40 percent of the troops in Iraq while also dispatching tens of thousands of members to domestic disasters.
…
One factor in the recruiting success is the initiative, expanded to 22 states in December, that christened 31,000 Guard members nationwide as “recruiting assistants” who can earn $2,000 for every enlistee — $1,000 when the recruit signs a contract and another $1,000 when he or she enters boot camp([search]) or completes four months of service. The program, whose success has begun to get publicity in recent weeks, has “taken off like wildfire,” said Maj. Gen. Roger P. Lempke, head of the Nebraska Guard and president of the Adjutants General Association of the United States.
The first enlistment under the program was by a West Virginia guardsman who signed up his wife.
“I told her, the money is coming; this is a good idea,” said Chief Warrant Officer Felix Osuna Cotto…who plans to use the $2,000 to buy his son a used car for college.
…
Guard Sgt. Clay Edwards, 30, has brought in more than a dozen recruits since he returned in 2004 from driving a wrecker in Iraq with the 1092nd Engineer Battalion.
“In the past, I might think, ‘I don’t really want to talk to that guy,’ ” said Edwards, a tire salesman in Parkersburg, W.Va. “Now I say, ‘What the heck, I might be able to make a little money,’ ”
…
…Guard officials say recruiting is historically stronger in the early months of the calendar year, suggesting that the current growth could taper off. But the Guard is surpassing higher monthly targets now than at this time last year, having raised its annual goal to 70,000 from 63,000 in fiscal 2005.
The active-duty Army has also met its recent monthly goals. But that is in part because the Army had set the goals significantly lower for the first part of the fiscal year, banking on dramatic increases in recruiting this summer to meet its annual target of 80,000.
The fresh wave of sign-ups came at a critical time as the Army National Guard faced funding cuts based on manpower shortfalls. Guard strength hit a low of 331,000 after it met only 80 percent of its enlistment goal last year. Army leaders said in January that they would cut funding for the Guard in the fiscal 2007 budget by 17,000 slots.
..
The new “recruiting assistant” program accompanies a range of initiatives, such as a major increase in the official recruiting force from 2,700 to 5,100 since 2004. … In late January, it doubled to $20,000 its bonus for recruits who had never served in the military.
Posted by: b real | May 10 2006 15:33 utc | 47
This is complicit arrogance, nothing else. I linked to the Rupert Murdoch/Hillary Clinton lovefest and the Elder Bush/Bill Clinton happy families stories a year ago in these very forums. If you don’t think the Clintons are a.)Bush Republicans who will fight to the death for corporate rights by slaughtering innocents when it’s expedient, and b.)are being handed the keys to the White House by Diebold in 2008, then there’s a big problem with your brain being either AWOL or willfully blinded by hatred of “them” (just pick one, they’re all equally bad).
The link I provided contains the money quote: “Democrats prefer Clinton wars and Republicans prefer Bush wars.” I’m as sick of hypocrisy from the one “side” as I am from the other. Time was, I could at least tell the difference between them on paper. It just seems like so much overkill that Diebold even bothered seizing the apparati since we are only permitted to vote for either Evil, Incorporated or Incorporated Evil. Enantiodromia. “Oh, don’t use obscure vocabulary!” Fellate me. I’ll stop using obscure vocabulary when everyone stops turning into the mindless, lock-step, sociopathic stooges they so love to hate and offers up some solution that actually makes things an iota better instead of just increasing the petty divisiveness.
There’s absolutely nothing to be optimistic about. Fitzgerald? Indict one set of the bastards for war crimes so that war crimes can be committed unimpeded by the other set of bastards. I just don’t see any solutions anymore. The jokes about how stupid the guys are who are killing us and raping the wealth of the world are getting less and less funny to me. Academic debate is getting less and less satisfying to me. Hell, even bitching about how badly we are ultimately screwed doesn’t make me feel any better. I’m feeling burned out. I’m feeling hopeless. I’m feeling like nothing is going to keep this entire world from spiralling down into a suicidal toilet.
The news and all the commentary about the news just seems like a giant farce that has gone on for so long that it doesn’t even have comedic value anymore. I’m just becoming entirely dissociated from it. This can’t be my species. This is not the world I grew up in. This must be that “losing your mind” thing I heard so much about.
Posted by: Monolycus | May 10 2006 16:19 utc | 48
hang in there Monolycus!
as you say, this bush-clinton pact has been visible for a while time now
GREG PIERCE, WASHINGTON TIMES – President Bush says Bill Clinton has become so close to his father that the Democratic former president is like a member of the family. Former President George Bush has worked with Mr. Clinton to raise money for victims of the Asian tsunami and the hurricane disaster along the Gulf Coast. Asked about his father and Mr. Clinton, Mr. Bush quipped, “My new brother.” “That’s a good relationship. It’s a fun relationship to watch,” Mr. Bush said in an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday.
. . .
Mr. Bush said he has checked in with Mr. Clinton occasionally. “And you know, he says things that makes it obvious — that makes it obvious to me that we’re kind of, you know, on the same wavelength about the job of the presidency. Makes sense, after all, there’s this kind of commonality,” he said. Mr. Bush jokingly referred to speculation that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the former president’s wife, will seek the Democratic nomination for president. He had earlier referred to the former first lady as “formidable.” “Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton,” he said, referring to how Bill Clinton had followed his father, and Hillary Clinton could follow him. [original link]
Posted by: b real | May 10 2006 16:35 utc | 49
@ Monolycus,
Reminds me of the scene in the movie Ants when Z, played by Woody Allen, realizes how insignificant the system makes him feel and the psychologist responds
“Congratulations. I think you’ve made a real breakthrough.”
Z: “I have?”
“Yes! You ARE insignificant.”
—-
How did enslaved/disempowered peoples of the past make any sense out of life? How do all those who still struggle for their basic human dignity get through their lives without despairing?
For me, the answer to political despair is to switch focus to anything meaningful and pleasant in the here and now. I must give my life joyful moments. Waiting for the world to change first is crazy. In spite of the formidable forces arrayed against ordinary people, insignificance is in the eye of the beholder.
Posted by: gylangirl | May 10 2006 17:48 utc | 51
Hillary Clinton: Bush has charm, charisma
Asked to say one nice thing about President Bush, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton went one better: He named two things – charm and charisma.
“He is someone who has a lot of charm and charisma, and I think in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, I was very grateful to him for his support for New York,” Clinton said Tuesday night during a talk at the National Archives about her life in politics.
Hmm … “He named two things” – Someone tried to be funny?
Coke or Pepsi, pepsi or coke, pepsi, pepsi, pepsi.
Bush backs brother Jeb for White House
Posted by: Uncle $cam | May 10 2006 17:52 utc | 53
@ Monolycus
fromm someone not feeling so well, himself – stay strong; guard yr fragility & understand well that – nausea, profound nausea is a completely human/e response to the butchershop of a world the empire is taking us into
but i will fall this empire, it is falling now & it will fall forever
still steel
Posted by: remembereringgiap | May 10 2006 17:54 utc | 54
@Uncle $cam:
Maybe I’m overly optimistic, but I think will take an entire nation of fixed voting machines to get another Bush into the White House, and even that might not work. Yes, Bush would like his brother to take over from him. But I suspect that the Republicans aren’t going to touch the Bush family again for a long time.
Still, think of the campaign slogans: “Vote for Jeb: I can’t possibly be as bad as you’re expecting”. “Jeb: no more wars, just the inept domestic policies and corruption you’ve come to expect from my family”. “Vote Bush: I promise not to push us into a war in the middle east like my father and brother did”. “Jeb Bush: I oversaw Florida during a series of disasters, and I can do the same for the nation.”
Posted by: The Truth Gets Vicious When You Corner It | May 10 2006 18:16 utc | 55
From TPM today…
San Diego’s North County Times has a big scoop on the Cunningham scandal and Hookergate.
Apparently, even in the slammer, Duke isn’t cooperating.
Josh Marshall, promises more on it later…
Posted by: Uncle $cam | May 10 2006 19:08 utc | 57
grrrr here’s the missing big scoop link from above regarding my TPM’s post.
Cunningham said to be uncooperative?
Well, yeah, they’ll snuff his ass and he knows it…
Posted by: Uncle $cam | May 10 2006 19:28 utc | 58
Jeb Bush and Condi Rice. What will it take to stop them?
Posted by: ralphieboy | May 10 2006 19:35 utc | 59
@ralphieboy:
Depends on what you mean by “stop”. If you just mean “prevent them from winning the presidency” then I suspect that “run just about anyone other than Hillary Clinton as the Democratic candidate” works. If you mean “prevent them from even running”, then “better media coverage and eruption of scandal” might work. If you mean “stick them in prison” then you’re probably out of luck.
Posted by: The Truth Gets Vicious When You Corner It | May 10 2006 19:45 utc | 60
Time was, I could at least tell the difference between them on paper.
Mono, there’s a Huge Difference. We’re so totally fucked no matter who wins, but their paths differ. Repugs pursuing military unilateralism – we’re the Strongest MoFo’s on the Block…so deal w/it asshole… JackAss Party expects to be first among equals but will do it via Int’l Institutions Pirates control – IMF/WB & WTO prob. adding on a Parliamentary shell of some sort to pretty things up. Both sides support turning our country into a Third World Police State, merging w/Mexico, destroying Soc. Sec., Medicare & the Middle Class. They quibble also over what degree of sovereignty will be left here at home. The Pirates can’t consolidate their rule completely if there’s too much…
Thus, you can see why they want to return HillBilly Clinton to WH. The Treasonous Bastards would prefer to hide behind her skirts to destroy Soc. Sec. & Medicare – and any remaining “entitlements”. But given the out of control level of male sexual hysteria in xAm. – as Billmon constantly demonstrates – it’d be difficult to elect a woman. They may have to settle for Mark Warner.
Frankly, I prefer Repugs ‘cuz they’ll bring the system down. JackAss Party wants to form quote rational unquote system of Pirates Rule the World – giving us nothing to say about it. If Repugs get in, they’ll blow it up & we might be able to rebuild. There is Zero Hope if JackAsses get in.
Posted by: jj | May 11 2006 4:27 utc | 61
Hahahaha…what a total fucking sham this country has been, the only difference is it has been hidden for a very very long time, and now the veil is begining to be ripped out for all to see the glorious mindfuck we live in
Ah, the rank stench of government…
The government has abruptly ended an inquiry into the warrantless eavesdropping program because the National Security Agency refused to grant Justice Department lawyers the necessary security clearance to probe the matter.
Hahahahaha…
Just as USA Today: [announces] NSA spying on TENS OF MILLIONS of Americans and here’s a few of the Mind Boggling details …
Hahahaha…
Puke.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | May 11 2006 5:25 utc | 62
nice one, Uncle. The second link has some interesting quotes … but I for one am not surprised, I have assumed that this has been going on for years. It has been published in Scientific American and other reviews of how great supercomputers are, and that the NSA has most of them in the world.
The trick is, what do you do when you know you are being watched? Or listened to … my response is cultivate a healthy interest in your chosen field, be it research, activism, literature, politics, mathematics, business or whatever, and also have hobbies in those fields that interest you, to fill out your view of the world.
That way you can continue to do what you do naturally and still develop a more informed view. One of my hobbies is the Internet!
Posted by: jonku | May 11 2006 6:53 utc | 63
@Uncle’s USA Today link.
The most interesting part is why Quest did not turn over its customer records and the argumentation of the NSA to get them.
One major telecommunications company declined to participate in the program: Qwest.
According to sources familiar with the events, Qwest’s CEO at the time, Joe Nacchio, was deeply troubled by the NSA’s assertion that Qwest didn’t need a court order — or approval under FISA — to proceed. Adding to the tension, Qwest was unclear about who, exactly, would have access to its customers’ information and how that information might be used.
Financial implications were also a concern, the sources said. Carriers that illegally divulge calling information can be subjected to heavy fines. The NSA was asking Qwest to turn over millions of records. The fines, in the aggregate, could have been substantial.
The NSA told Qwest that other government agencies, including the FBI, CIA and DEA, also might have access to the database, the sources said. As a matter of practice, the NSA regularly shares its information — known as “product” in intelligence circles — with other intelligence groups. Even so, Qwest’s lawyers were troubled by the expansiveness of the NSA request, the sources said.
The NSA, which needed Qwest’s participation to completely cover the country, pushed back hard.
Trying to put pressure on Qwest, NSA representatives pointedly told Qwest that it was the lone holdout among the big telecommunications companies. It also tried appealing to Qwest’s patriotic side: In one meeting, an NSA representative suggested that Qwest’s refusal to contribute to the database could compromise national security, one person recalled.
In addition, the agency suggested that Qwest’s foot-dragging might affect its ability to get future classified work with the government. Like other big telecommunications companies, Qwest already had classified contracts and hoped to get more.
Unable to get comfortable with what NSA was proposing, Qwest’s lawyers asked NSA to take its proposal to the FISA court. According to the sources, the agency refused.
The NSA’s explanation did little to satisfy Qwest’s lawyers. “They told (Qwest) they didn’t want to do that because FISA might not agree with them,” one person recalled. For similar reasons, this person said, NSA rejected Qwest’s suggestion of getting a letter of authorization from the U.S. attorney general’s office. A second person confirmed this version of events.
In June 2002, Nacchio resigned amid allegations that he had misled investors about Qwest’s financial health. But Qwest’s legal questions about the NSA request remained.
Unable to reach agreement, Nacchio’s successor, Richard Notebaert, finally pulled the plug on the NSA talks in late 2004, the sources said.
It is most obvious that they know this is illegal. Hayden knows it and hopefully he will be asked if there ever are confirmation hearings on him.
Quest’s example also shows that AT&T and the other telcos could have resisted the NSA requests. As they did not, they risked a LOT of their shareholders money. That could be avenue that might put real pressure on them.
As usual, Uncle $cam and b’s observations are excellent.
Meanwhile Xymorpha highlights an item from last August, regarding post 9/11 “planning”.
Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | May 11 2006 8:09 utc | 65
First consequence of the new government in Italy?
Today’s Republica links to an article in
L’Espresso by Fabrizio Gatti and Peter Gomez
confirming what had long been suspected, namely that
the Abu Omar kidnapping and torture was carried out
with the explicit cooperation of Italian officials “militari Italiani”. One of those Italians who participated in the
actual kidnapping is now talking to the magistrates investigating the case. The CIA spooks (including Robert Seldon Lady) involved are already off the hook, as the result of a refusal by the (now ex) Minister of Justice,
Robert Castelli (a Lega Nord party member) to ask for extradition of the 22 Americans under indictment.
More will presumbably be revealed over the next few weeks,
unless the incoming Prodi government uses this case to make a deal with Berlusconi, or “reach an understanding” with Berlusconi.
Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | May 11 2006 9:33 utc | 66