Part II.
As back-up to WND, here is coverage by the Dallas Morning News: Abuse allegations rock TYC
Also, the first suit has been filed: $5M lawsuit filed in TYC scandal
Also see, Is DOJ Shielding Tom (Marianas Sweatshops) DeLay?

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Mar 28 2007 8:53 utc | 4

From Gannon to Foley, to The Child Prostitution Sex Ring Involving the Bush Sr. Whitehouse
The Child sex ring that reached Bush/Reagan Whitehouse
Also b, et al, if you enjoyed the Adam Curtis’ new documentary, The Trap You may also find this lecture of interest…Why we cooperate – Martin Nowak

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Mar 28 2007 8:55 utc | 6

Study: Israeli Jews live four years longer than Israeli Arabs

The life expectancy of Jewish citizens in Israel is four years higher than that of Arab citizens, according to the equality index published Wednesday by Sikkuy: The Association for the Advancement of Civic Equality in Israel. The data also reveals that the mortality rate for Arab infants under the age of 12 months is double that of their Jewish counterparts.
The index, published Tuesday for the first time, suggests grave inequality in the level of medical services enjoyed by Jews in Israel, and that available to Arabs.

No wonder there then:
Poll: 50% of Israeli Jews support state-backed ethnic clensing

The poll participants were also asked about work relations with Arabs. 50 percent said they would refuse to work at a job in which their direct supervisor would be Arab. This number represents a 47 percent increase since the 2005 poll on the same topic.

Posted by: b | Mar 28 2007 11:03 utc | 8

As if things weren’t already chaotic enough…
Saudi king slams ‘illegitimate occupation’ of Iraq

RIYADH — Saudi King Abdullah, whose country is a close US ally, slammed Wednesday the “illegitimate foreign occupation” of Iraq in an opening speech to the annual Arab summit in Riyadh.
Arab leaders have kicked off the two-day summit in the Saudi capital aiming to revive a dormant plan for peace with Israel and launch a diplomatic offensive to resolve the Middle East conflict.
“In beloved Iraq, blood is being shed among brothers in the shadow of an illegitimate foreign occupation, and ugly sectarianism threatens civil war,” Abdullah said.
He also said that Arab nations, which are planning to revive a five-year-old Middle East peace plan at the summit, would not allow any foreign force to decide the future of the region.

well i guess we know what he told Cheney now. and Cheneys answer:
“go f&*k yourself”

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Mar 28 2007 15:29 utc | 10

Uncle Scam, good that you posted all that, I only briefly read about the recent hullaballo on Cannonfire, while knowing the scandal has been brewing for a long time. Cannonfire
Impunity, power, ‘deviant’ sexuality…
The poor can be encouraged or forced to marry, have children and a stable home, be prevented from having abortions, or be afraid of transgressing that taboo, while the power-frat-upper-class types can do as they wish, indulge in anything – torture of lesser humans (Abu Graib), enslaving others (servants, salves…), ‘deviant’ sex in various forms, particularly pedophilia.
For them, *transgression* represents a badge of power.
(Paris Hilton and Britney Spears present the jagged teen female confused version. Both are very rich.)
So pedophilia, or snuff movies, ..etc. are the in thing.
Second, the links between impunity –> illicit acts –> hot house ideology feed backwards to create parallel, esoteric beliefs, crack-pot world views or ‘codes of behavior’ that rest on other-wordly tripe and authoritarian glee.
The hysteria about Billy C’s sex life was not just an attempt to sink the Democrats. It was outrage, screeching hysterical howls, terminal indignation that anyone from the ‘other camp’ could PRESUME to indulge in that kind of manipulation or advantage – softie opponents have to play their role and never, ever, in the personal sphere, exceed or use the position accorded them, which is temporary (patsies.)
They must be politically correct and straight, all the time.
Excesses are reserved for those who hold real power, that power being in itself attested to by rape, murder, etc.

Posted by: Noirette | Mar 28 2007 17:48 utc | 12

Evening Entertainment – an hour interview w/ Frances Boyle “Biowarfare and the Emergence of Police State America”. He’s an eminent lawyer, who has consulted w/Congress on Impeachment. Has some interesting things to say.
One thing that I missed was that when they wanted to pass UnPatriotic Act II, & Dems. were again sitting on it, they repeated in minor form what they pulled the first time around – sent some white powder up to the Hill & it was passed the next day 🙁 W/crashing buildings being so much more spectacular, I don’t think this has received the attention it deserves. I wonder how the clowns who swallow the official 911 horseshit rationalize this.

Posted by: jj | Mar 29 2007 2:31 utc | 14

New Justice System Is a Work in Progress

But because of the unusual circumstances of the two admissions, it is not clear yet that either one is truly representative of the system the administration has established, legal experts said. Neither the guilty plea David Hicks entered on Monday, admitting to providing material support to a terrorist organization, nor the wide-ranging confession from Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, contained in a Pentagon transcript of a closed hearing on March 11, had about it the solemn finality of a conviction in a civilian criminal court, and in some ways, they were aberrations.
…
“The proceedings that led to Hicks’s plea,” Mr. Hafetz said, “underscore that the military commissions are a makeshift system that lacks legitimacy.”
In the hours before Mr. Hicks’s plea, the military judge hearing the case, Col. Ralph H. Kohlmann of the Marines, disqualified two defense lawyers, one for refusing to agree to abide by regulations that have yet to be written.
Mr. Hicks’s plea appears to be based on his calculation that he will be allowed to serve out his sentence in his home country, Australia. He may even be able to challenge his conviction there, in conventional courts.

Posted by: b | Mar 29 2007 6:22 utc | 16

Strikes on Baghdad’s Green Zone on the Rise

Insurgents have struck inside the Green Zone, which includes the U.S. Embassy, on six of the past seven days, once with deadly consequences.
…
The Tuesday attack was the gravest in a series that have hit the walled zone of about four square miles in recent days, U.S. officials said. Three rockets crashed down Wednesday, Fintor said. Two attacks, coming two hours apart, hit Monday. The zone was also hit Saturday and Sunday, officials said. At least 10 people were wounded in those attacks.
…
Wednesday morning, embassy personnel received a bulletin citing the “recent increase of indirect fire attacks on the embassy compound.” It included strict instructions: Body armor and helmets would now be required for all “outdoor activities” within the sprawling embassy complex, even short walks to the cafeteria. There would be no group gatherings outside, including at the famed Palace Pool. No “nonessential” visitors would be allowed in the compound.
A U.S. official in Baghdad characterized embassy personnel as “anxious and alert.”

This is only the start – the resistance will increase these attacks until everybody in the GZ is down in bunkers and unable to do anything.

Posted by: b | Mar 29 2007 7:30 utc | 18

OT: somewhere tonite I read that USian Democratic Party people and Republican Party people are sqabbling about that Congress- and Senate-passed resolution about combat troops out of Iraq by late summer/early fall 2008; on a tv show called Scarboro …

“[BUCHANAN:] They‘re going to give him the money, are you kidding? They‘re going to deny him the hundred billion dollars?
…
BUCHANAN: But you are wrong. After this goes through and they‘ve had their vote on the binding resolution, the non-binding resolution, then they‘re going to be told, You have lost on those. Now give me the money. And when Pelosi takes that to the floor, her party will split right in half.”

My point if I recall it is that this is such a bs attack.
If the US Dems use law and it is respected by the ones who dole out the money, and deny money to the current Iraq war; that is not going to lead to any USians dying in Iraq or whatever …
doy, someone will still send the plane, dole out the drugs, slide you some ammo or whatever to make sure y’all’s ok.
Cause there is plenty of slack in the system, and we do support our troops and our buddies.
So cut off the funding already.
No one will die because you said, “I work hard for that money and if you want to buy candy that rots your teeth or a pea shooter to harass your classmates then use yer own gorram money!”
No one will die if the freaking taxes, congress-appropriated, are not paid.
Stop the funding I say.
If I had any skill I would come up with a slogan!
My original point was that scare-mongering about cutting off funding is a ridiculous joke if the result is presumed to be abandonment of USian volunteer youngsters, reserve-type family oldsters etc.
There is no f’ing way that these would ever be in danger; never were. When was the last time USian soldiers ever died in battle because of lack of funding?
Money never was the problem.

Posted by: jonku | Mar 29 2007 9:20 utc | 20

Bravo Jonku, your #21 drove it home crystal, crystal clear. Regarding 2001/2002, I hadn’t felt continuous and unrelenting primal fear like that since I was a small, small child, living 8 blocks away from the Lorraine Motel in Memphis (68) when shots rang out dropping Martin Luther King, Jr. and ‘the dream’ like a raw egg spattered on the sidewalk, and brought with it martial law as riots broke out in more than 100 US cities. The South in particular, was a terrifying place to be. But the weeks and months afterwards, the escalating conflict in Vietnam, the striking sanitation workers, striking fire departments, shoot on sight curfews, beatings and teargass smell mixed with sweat blood and tears of the poor, the fire and trash in the air was paralyzing. I didn’t fully comprehend it then as I was to young. But I felt the hatred and fear in the streets. Hoover’s goons were everywhere.
And for some reason, I was disconnected a great deal from the events of sept 11th and the anthrax scare (probably because I had quit watching television by then) and was busy with classes, until the Beltway sniper attacks started happening. Then it all hit and was like reliving my childhood trauma and PTSD. After recovering my senses somewhat, and being reassured that I was safe in the mountains of Montana (though also knowing I lived three hours from major missile silo’s) I became angry and the more I realized that the ptb were methodically and clinically ramping up the fear factor the more angry I became. I wasn’t a scared little boy anymore. Things weren’t beyond my control. I was having an awakening, an epiphany. I was watching the unfolding of the methodical plans of the invisible hand. Not long after I found Billmon, and then came MOA. And here we are, like shipwrecked survivors on a desert Island watching the watchers. Watching the horror show.

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Mar 29 2007 13:23 utc | 22

& speaking of the dead, dismal – i have just been watching on cspan – the investigation by the judiciary committee with the rove-look-alike, mr sampson
the infantilism of these figures – their rotund (reminiscent of the worst of school prefects) form & their lying mouths is enouigh to give me the willies
lord of the flies guarding the ship of state
& i don’t think i have ever heard so many ; “i don’t remember’, “i am unable to recall”, “i would have to look at my notes” (which paranthetically alway seem to dissapear), i have never heard so many , “to the best of my memory”
soon like all the tyrants & crooks of the late 20th century – they will appear in investigations & courts – with their oxygen machines & nurses – conrad black is getting ready for a rapidly affectin alzheimers disease
if the results of these small men were not so horrific – it might have been the makings of light comedy

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Mar 29 2007 16:55 utc | 24

It is important to note that the feeling of terror
Uncle and I speak on above is a transparent and hollow echo of the continuous high anxiety in Bagdhad under armed occupation.
How strange that the real and imaginary danger, polar opposites, somehow cancel each other out.
You can’t ignore one without the other.

Posted by: jonku | Mar 29 2007 19:44 utc | 26

in ethiopia

Meanwhile, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told parliament in Addis Ababa that he had withdrawn two-thirds of his forces from Somalia.
“As the situation in Somalia unravelled differently than expected, we had to withdraw troops gradually in two rounds. Hence, two-thirds of our troops have been withdrawn so far,” Meles said in a speech to parliament.
Somalia: Bloody Clashes Rock Somali Capital

in somalia

GALKAYO, Somalia Mar 29 (Garowe Online) – Hundreds of Ethiopian soldiers crossed over the common border and entered Somalia overnight Thursday, according to sources in Galkayo.
The soldiers, estimated to number 500-strong with armored vehicles, were stationed in the outskirts of Galkayo, the capital of Mudug region in central Somalia.
Reliable sources in Galkayo told Garowe Online on the condition of anonymity that the Ethiopian troops were heading for the northern Somali city of Bossaso, a bustling port town that serves as Puntland’s economic hub.
There was no reason given for the arrival of fresh Ethiopian troops, even as that country’s leader, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, pledged to withdraw his remaining troops from Somalia.
At least 30 people died in Mogadishu on Thursday when Ethiopian troops forcefully entered insurgent strongholds in attempts to disarm the capital’s inhabitants.
Fresh Ethiopian troops arrive in central Somalia

Posted by: b real | Mar 30 2007 4:10 utc | 28

For those unaware of how far Theocrats have advanced, Chris Hedges is currently on speaking tour w/his new bk, American Fascist. Don’t know why he calls them Fascist rather than more proper term, Theocrats. Anyway, just listened to his 15min. interview posted on antiwar.com – radio. He says that of the DC535 – 45 Senators & 186 CongressCritters have 80-100% rating from Top 3 Fundie Groups. Not to mention that the press takes it as a given that no Pres. Candidate for Repugs is allowed to run unless they approve of him-it.
One of the good things about his discussion is that he connects its rise to the Predators War on Americans – filling the vacuum left by departing factories. But I’m not sure he sees Predators as building a neo-feudal police state, so of course, they would use religion similarly to Middle Ages feudal states. I guess, what I’m saying, is that I think we are well & truly effed & that theocracy w/gang warfare will be a permanent feature of the future, unlike Chris who thinks it can be defeated. I’ve been wondering for several days, as I understood that both “parties” want to eliminate all the legitimate work of the state ‘cept for Mass Slaughter, how long before Fundies start, perhaps through buyout, their own hospital chains. Catholics have ’em…Prot. Fundies coming increasingly to power….stay tuned…Oh, & gee, shucksypoo, don’t forget to vote Democratic 🙂

Posted by: jj | Mar 30 2007 6:51 utc | 30

Unintended irony in the LA Times: 132 Iraqis killed in wave of bombings

There has been a surge in bombings in Iraqi towns and cities as American and Iraqi forces have launched a crackdown on insurgents in the capital.

Posted by: b | Mar 30 2007 9:34 utc | 32

Democratic Committee requests deposition from Secretary of State over Niger forgeries and Iraq
i like waxman’s cajone’s. lets hope it leads to impeachment

Posted by: annie | Mar 30 2007 18:45 utc | 34

something ugly
via cryptome
haaretz: In the service of the Jewish state

In the late 1940s, Walther (Walter) Rauff, an SS officer who was responsible for the murder of at least 100,000 people and was wanted by the Allies as a war criminal, was employed by the Israeli secret service. Instead of bringing him to justice it paid him for his services and helped him escape to South America. Documents of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that have been released over the past several years show that the Americans were aware that Rauff’s case was not exceptional.

something pretty
a handful of china landscape photos

Posted by: b real | Mar 30 2007 19:07 utc | 36