Old Hippie Chic's Rants

The official story on Iraq has never made sense. The connection that the Bush administration has tried to draw between Iraq and al-Qaida has always seemed contrived and artificial. In fact, it was hard to believe that smart people in the Bush administration would start a major war based on such flimsy evidence.

The pieces just didn't fit. Something else had to be going on; something was missing.

In recent days, those missing pieces have finally begun to fall into place. As it turns out, this is not really about Iraq. It is not about weapons of mass destruction, or terrorism, or Saddam, or U.N. resolutions.

This war, should it come, is intended to mark the official emergence of the United States as a full-fledged global empire, seizing sole responsibility and authority as planetary policeman. It would be the culmination of a plan 10 years or more in the making, carried out by those who believe the United States must seize the opportunity for global domination, even if it means becoming the "American imperialists" that our enemies always claimed we were.

Once that is understood, other mysteries solve themselves. For example, why does the administration seem unconcerned about an exit strategy from Iraq once Saddam is toppled?

Because we won't be leaving. Having conquered Iraq, the United States will create permanent military bases in that country from which to dominate the Middle East, including neighboring Iran.

In an interview Friday, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld brushed aside that suggestion, noting that the United States does not covet other nations' territory. That may be true, but 57 years after World War II ended, we still have major bases in Germany and Japan. We will do the same in Iraq.

And why has the administration dismissed the option of containing and deterring Iraq, as we had the Soviet Union for 45 years? Because even if it worked, containment and deterrence would not allow the expansion of American power. Besides, they are beneath us as an empire. Rome did not stoop to containment; it conquered. And so should we.

Among the architects of this would-be American Empire are a group of brilliant and powerful people who now hold key positions in the Bush administration: They envision the creation and enforcement of what they call a worldwide "Pax Americana," or American peace. But so far, the American people have not appreciated the true extent of that ambition.

Part of it's laid out in the National Security Strategy, a document in which each administration outlines its approach to defending the country. The Bush administration plan, released Sept. 20, marks a significant departure from previous approaches, a change that it attributes largely to the attacks of Sept. 11.

To address the terrorism threat, the president's report lays out a newly aggressive military and foreign policy, embracing pre-emptive attack against perceived enemies. It speaks in blunt terms of what it calls "American internationalism," of ignoring international opinion if that suits U.S. interests. "The best defense is a good offense," the document asserts.

In essence, it lays out a plan for permanent U.S. military and economic domination of every region on the globe, unfettered by international treaty or concern. And to make that plan a reality, it envisions a stark expansion of our global military presence.

The report's repeated references to terrorism are misleading, however, because the approach of the new National Security Strategy was clearly not inspired by the events of Sept. 11. They can be found in much the same language in a report issued in September 2000 by the Project for the New American Century, a group of conservative interventionists outraged by the thought that the United States might be forfeiting its chance at a global empire.

"At no time in history has the international security order been as conducive to American interests and ideals," the report said. stated two years ago. "The challenge of this coming century is to preserve and enhance this 'American peace.' "

Overall, that 2000 report reads like a blueprint for current Bush defense policy. Most of what it advocates, the Bush administration has tried to accomplish. For example, the project report urged the repudiation of the anti-ballistic missile treaty and a commitment to a global missile defense system. The administration has taken that course.

It recommended that to project sufficient power worldwide to enforce Pax Americana, the United States would have to increase defense spending from 3 percent of gross domestic product to as much as 3.8 percent. For next year, the Bush administration has requested a defense budget of $379 billion, almost exactly 3.8 percent of GDP.

It advocates the "transformation" of the U.S. military to meet its expanded obligations, including the cancellation of such outmoded defense programs as the Crusader artillery system. That's exactly the message being preached by Rumsfeld and others.

It urges the development of small nuclear warheads "required in targeting the very deep, underground hardened bunkers that are being built by many of our potential adversaries." This year the GOP-led U.S. House gave the Pentagon the green light to develop such a weapon, called the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator, while the Senate has so far balked.

That close tracking of recommendation with current policy is hardly surprising, given the current positions of the people who contributed to the 2000 report.

Paul Wolfowitz is now deputy defense secretary. John Bolton is undersecretary of state. Stephen Cambone is head of the Pentagon's Office of Program, Analysis and Evaluation. Eliot Cohen and Devon Cross are members of the Defense Policy Board, which advises Rumsfeld. I. Lewis Libby is chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney. Dov Zakheim is comptroller for the Defense Department.

Because they were still just private citizens in 2000, the authors of the project report could be more frank and less diplomatic than they were in drafting the National Security Strategy. Back in 2000, they clearly identified Iran, Iraq and North Korea as primary short-term targets, well before President Bush tagged them as the Axis of Evil. In their report, they criticize the fact that in war planning against North Korea and Iraq, "past Pentagon wargames have given little or no consideration to the force requirements necessary not only to defeat an attack but to remove these regimes from power."

To preserve the Pax Americana, the report says U.S. forces will be required to perform "constabulary duties" -- the United States acting as policeman of the world -- and says that such actions "demand American political leadership rather than that of the United Nations."

To meet those responsibilities, and to ensure that no country dares to challenge the United States,the report advocates a much larger military presence spread over more of the globe, in addition to the roughly 130 nations in which U.S. troops are already deployed.

BUSH RESTRICTING DEMOCRACY AS ELECTION NEARS

President Bush has opined about the need for democracy to be preserved, and for U.S. elections to be fair. In 2002, he said "Every registered voter deserves to have confidence that the system is fair and elections are honest."[1] In 2003, he gave a speech to the National Endowment for Democracy claiming he had a "commitment to democracy."[2] But, as a new report shows, Bush and the Republican Party are doing everything they can to reduce democracy at home as the election approaches.

As an article in In These Times notes, in August 2003 the CEO of one of the biggest manufacturers of new voting machines wrote a fundraising letter saying he is "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year."[3] In June 2004, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) tried to remove 48,000 traditionally Democratic voters from the Florida voter rolls,[4] prompting the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights to demand an investigation.[5] In July, a top GOP official in Michigan indicated his party's effort to reduce minority voter turnout, saying that the GOP will have "a tough time [in this election]" if "we do not suppress the Detroit vote."[6] In August, Jeb Bush's political appointee tried to hire two top Bush fundraisers to represent the election office in Broward County in the case of a recount.[7]

See the full article at www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/1115.

Sources:

1. "President Signs Historic Election Reform Legislation into Law," The White House, 10/29/02, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1342965&l=59267.
2. "President Bush Discusses Freedom in Iraq and Middle East," The White House, 11/06/03, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1342965&l=59268.
3. "Voting Machine Controversy," Common Dreams News Center, 8/23/03, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1342965&l=59269.
4. "Rights leader scolds Bush on use of felon purge lists," Miami Herald, 6/22/04, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1342965&l=59270.
5. "Voting worries just won't go away," Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 7/18/04.
6. "Groups Say GOP Moves to Stifle Vote," Washington Post, 8/26/04, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1342965&l=59271.
7. "Elections Supervisor Rapped for Hiring Lawyers With Bush Ties," Law.com, 8/30/04, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1342965&l=59272.

Visit www.Misleader.org for more about Bush Administration distortion. »

Bringing Halliburton To Heel
by Charlie Cray, TomPaine.com Exclusive
Corporate policy expert Cray gives a status report on the infamous war profiteer.
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/harnessing_halliburton.php

Didja miss me??? Well, i had so much fun dancin' at pow-wow that it took me three hours yesterday morning to convince my legs they needed to MOVE in a forward direction at a consistent rate of speed, again ~! Then there was all that rain -- HERE in the desert ~! My guage said we got 1.5 inches over the weekend - some parts less than 150 miles north of us got TEN INCHES - up around Seminole, TX - with the cotton and peanuts still in the field - not good. Someone needs to tell the rainmakers to spread this stuff out more evenly ~! Oh well. Some tasty tidbits below from Tom Paine. Especially good is the halliburton hullabaloo.

Baghdad Year Zero
by Naomi Klein, Harper's
Paul Bremer's investment and privatization reforms might be the single largest factor leading to the rise of armed resistance in Iraq.
http://www.tompaine.com/opinion/#002041

-------------------------------------------------
From: Erin Starr - Makawao, Maui, Hawai'i

My 21-year old daughter disappeared from NYC last Tuesday afternoon when walking with friends through a park where no protest was being held - and was held prisoner -- without being charged -- by the NYPD for three days.

The first day and night she spent in an unsafe and inhumane facility at Pier 57 ("Little Guantanamo") provided by the Republican Party. Yes, it was managed by the Republican National Committe. It was leased by the RNC to hold political dissenters who disagreed with the Bush administration. The second two days, my daughter was in a city jail in Manhattan, where her treatment improved.

She practices Buddhist precepts of compassion (she told the NYPD officers that she knew they must be tired and overworked also, and she did not resist arrest). She is a graduate student in Poli Sci at the University of Hawaii and is a Mortar Board honor society/service club member. The notorious Pier 57 (owned by the HudsonRiver Trust--a city/state
consortium) was dubbed "Little Guantanamo" by reporters who also got caught up in police sweeps and who said it looked like the Guantanamo Bay prison built by the USA to hold the Al Qaeda terrorist political prisoners in Cuba.

Pier 57 was leased by the RNC before their convention. They arranged for the NYPD to put up the chain link holding pens ***with razor wire on top in the old Pier 57 warehouse that had oil, gas and asbestos dust on the floor*** from a previous fire.

My heart was in my throat when I got a call from one of my daughter's friends on Oahu who told me she had been arrested and taken to Little Guantanamo. I looked it up on the internet and fear crept into me.

I called my daughter's cell phone over and over ("it's mom, where ARE you, call me"). She didn't answer. Only hours before, she had been calling us with joy, telling us of the peaceful protests and beautiful march. But now, nothing. I had nightmarish visions of a fire sweeping over the combustible floor with hundreds -- nearly a thousand -- trapped in the chainlink pens, razor wire on the top of the pens making escape impossible.

My husband called the NYPD to ask who had issued a Certificate of Occupancy or Fire Safety Inspection Certificate and who was managing Pier 57. He was given the number for the Republican National Committee. Yes. My husband and I looked at each other in silent, cold horror. In America?

The Republicans have set up a private detention camp for their political prisoners that can hold 1000 under inhumane and unsafe conditions!? My husband slowly dialed that number, got the RNC, and the Republican rep who answered the phone said, in answer to my husbands' inquiries about safety: "those protesters don't deserve a Holiday Inn, and they're all criminals anyway!"

...Say what?! My daughter, who doesn't smoke or drink or do drugs and is a practicing Buddhist Vegan? A criminal?

***Warning signs that reporters saw posted around Pier 57 said not to enter without protective clothing and mask.***

My exhausted daughter, with hundreds of others, tried to sleep that first night ...on the chemical-covered oily, cold cement floor of these pens, without food or water, without being read her rights, without being offered a chance to post bail, without seeing a judge although the National Lawyers Guild offered to represent them pro bono, without being charged or told why she was arrested and handcuffed and taken there, without being allowed to make a call to a lawyer or friend or parent or
anyone -- all cell phones were confiscated as "terrorist weapons." Her purse was taken. She had nothing but the clothes on her back.

Meanwhile...ordinary criminals arrested that same day in NYC for burglary, rape and heinous crimes were processed by the courts in less than 10 hours. My daughter, who had committed no crime, was incarcerated for three days incommunicado. People suffered chemical burns, bug bites, overcrowding and medical problems because their medicine was confiscated.

A pregnant woman sat crying on the floor in the oil.

It wasn't until my daughter was taken out of the Republican-managed "Little Guantanamo" and placed in a cell in a Manhattan city jail that a guard kindly brought her Vegan food and gave her a blanket to lay her grime-smeared body on at night in her crowded cell. I never thought I'd be grateful to get a call from a friend saying that my daughter was in a Manhattan city jail cell, but the knowledge that she was out of that Little Guantanamo actually gave me relief.

I called Hawaii's Republican Party Headquarters, and asked them to report it to Hawaii's Governor Linda Lingle, who was at the convention in NYC and could intervene for my daughter and other UH students incarcerated illegally by her party.

The Republican rep woman who answered the phone told me "Linda knows, and you're blowing it all out of proportion." Say What!! That's MY daughter, not YOURS, sitting in that instant-conflagration-fire-trap at Pier 57! Well, thanks a BUNCH, Linda Lingle. The UH students mean that LITTLE to you??? The Republicans wanted to "teach those protesters a lesson." They wanted to terrorize my daughter.

But the lesson that the hundreds and hundreds of prisoners were taught... was not the one that the Republican Party intended, I would wager.

Anyone caught in the NYPD orange fence netting was told to sit on the ground, handcuffed, and pushed into large NYC busses. Our sweet daughter, born and brought up in a small rainforest in Hawaii, was placed in detention at Pier 57, the notorious "Little Guantanomo."

I recall that when the Democrats held their convention to nominate Senator John Kerry as their candidate for President, there were only 6 people arrested, if I remember correctly. At the Republican National Convention to elect Bush as their candidate, there were thousands arrested. I suspect that Republicans might say this was a good thing. Being tough. This group-roundup tactic is called by the Republican party "preventative detention" (like the "pre-emptive war" in Iraq). This group-roundup tactic
is called by the Republican party "preventative detention" (like the "pre-emptive war" in Iraq). It is used to terrorize those who might protest Bush's agenda when he is in town. America, wake up. Hitler told the German people that they would have to "give up a few of your rights ..temporarily...so that we can fight the enemy." That's what Ashcroft said, about the misnamed PATRIOT ACT. Wake up, America. The American flag that proudly waves by MY front gate and is on the back window of MY car...doesn't seem to be the same American flag that the Republican Party is waving.

-- Erin Starr, Makawao, Maui, Hawaii

2 in one day??? yup, this is just too good NOT to pass along, and i'll be missing in action saturday -- going pow-wow
dancing ~! There's just gotta be a few lafs in this one, somewhere - the irony if nothing else ~!

Which of these 10 positions that you, your family and your cabinet have taken over the years represents your CURRENT thinking:

Bad and gettin' worse... anyone remember that ole Johnny Cash song, 'how high's the water, daddy?' -- 'two feet high a risin', then 4 ft., etc.?? Well, the 'nooze' last night that our troops in Iraq have been ordered to pursue "Operation swipe Out" or whatever it's being called, to 're-secure' cities in Iraq will be like pouring gasoline on a fire to try and put it out. It's calculated to give bushie more to thump himself on the chest over, as a 'war president' and crow what a good job he's doing. Well, some think not...

To hear President Bush tell it, Iraq is a bed of roses: "Our strategy is succeeding," he said last week. Yesterday at the U.N., he said Iraq is "on the path to democracy and freedom."

Yet the CIA told Bush recently that the scenarios we're really facing there range from a quagmire to a bloodbath. The CIA's July report outlines three possibilities for Iraq, ranging from "an Iraq whose stability would remain tenuous" to "civil war," according to the New York Times.^[1]

Senator Bob Graham (D-FL) is calling on Bush to level with us, by releasing the report, formally called a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), to the public. Graham, the former chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has read the NIE, and he thinks we all should see it too.

Join Senator Graham in demanding that President Bush to face the facts and tell us the truth about Iraq, by releasing the NIE, at:

Those are Republicans talking. Here's what the generals and national security experts are saying, in a terrific recent piece in the UK's Guardian newspaper:

Just as important are the opinions of those whose loved ones are serving in Iraq, like Martha Jo McCarthy, whose husband is on National Guard duty there. She says:

Join Senator Graham now in calling on President Bush to face the facts and level with us, by releasing the CIA's report, at:

President Bush has got to tell us the truth about Iraq. No weapons of mass destruction. No Saddam-al Qaeda connection. The mission is not accomplished. The transition has not been peaceful and stable. Attacks on our troops are increasing, not decreasing. These failures lie solely with the president, and he owes us an honest explanation.

President Bush says "our strategy is succeeding" in Iraq. But the facts tell a different story, and so does the CIA. Senator Graham is pushing for the CIA's most recent report on Iraq to be made public. Join us in calling on Bush to release it -- sign our petition now.

Click to Sign

The (Texas) junk yard dogs have been caught and poisoned ~! Sorry for posting 'just' local news, but this is too good to keep under my sombrero ~! Bushie set a bad predicate in his reign as guv here -- led his henchmen to believe no one would bother if they raided the hen house, then he went on to steal the whole dang chicken processing factory ~! But it seems someone, maybe suffering from delusions of integrity, fairness and justice, has 'outed' a buncha them ~! Read on and rejoice with me ~!

For Immediate Release:
Info: 512-472-9770

From Texans for Public Justice,

A Travis County Texas Grand Jury has handed down 32 criminal indictments related to Tom DeLay's Texans for a Republican Majority's (TRMPAC) campaign activities in the 2002 Texas legislative elections.

Indicted were:

John Colyandro, TRMPAC Executive Director,
14 counts (One first degree felony, thirteen 3rd degree felonies)

Warren RoBold, TRMPAC fundraiser,
9 counts (all 3rd degree felonies)

Jim Ellis, TRMPAC Director
1 count (1st degree felony)

One count each:
Sears Roebuck & Co.
Barcardi USA Inc.
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc.
Diversified Collection Services Inc.
Questerra Corporation
Williams Companies, Inc.
Westar Energy Inc.
Alliance for Qualilty Nursing Home Care, Inc.

A statement from Texas campaign reform groups follows:
___________________________________________
For information contact:
Tom “Smitty” Smith, Public Citizen/Texas: 512-477-1155
Suzy Woodford, Common Cause Texas: 512-474-2374
Craig McDonald, Texans for Public Justice: 512-472-9770

Texas Watchdog Groups React To TRMPAC Indictments --
Call for Speaker Craddick to Step Aside

Austin: Leaders of three Texas campaign reform groups-Public Citizen Texas, Texans for Public Justice, and Common Cause Texasreacted to a Travis County Grand Jury’s indictment of key TRMPAC operatives by calling on Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick to relinquish his leadership post. The groups also urged the Travis County District Attorney to aggressively prosecute the alleged lawbreakers and pursue the many other allegations of illegal activity in the 2002 Texas legislative elections wherever the evidence leads.

“The dark cloud over Tom Craddick’s speakership just got darker,” said Craig McDonald, director of Texans for Public Justice. “Today’s indictments are likely just the tip of the iceberg. The lawlessness in the 2002 elections, which resulted in Tom Craddick’s election as Speaker and Tom DeLay’s gerrymandering, appears to have been widespread and coordinated among several politicians and PACs. In light of today’s criminal indictments, Tom Craddick, who was near the center of TRMPAC’s operations, should step down as speaker until the legal system gets to the bottom of what happened in 2002. (Craddick had scores of communications with TRMPAC staff during the 2002 campaign, Craddick was a conduit for TRMPAC checks to candidates and Craddick solicited contributions to TRMPAC.)The Texas House should prepare to select a permanent replacement speaker if TRMPAC operatives are convicted or if Craddick himself is indicted. Stealing elections is the ultimate crime against democracy.”

“Today’s indictments raise serious questions about Speaker Craddick’s ability to effectively conduct the business of the state,” said Suzy Woodford, Executive Director of Common Cause Texas. “The citizens of Texas deserve a leader that is untainted by this scandal, and someone that can devote full attention and energy to the important job of governing. Since the grand jury is continuing it’s investigation into whether or not Speaker Craddick’s distribution of checks to other lawmakers on behalf of TRMPAC was illegal, the Speaker must step down. The speaker’s resignation would represent the first step in rebuilding the confidence of the people of Texas.”

“Public Citizen joins in the call for Speaker Craddick to step aside until the criminal investigations and prosecutions surrounding TRMPAC’s activities are complete,” said Tom “Smitty” Smith of Public Citizen’s Texas office. “Over the last four years, the House has been taken over as a result of what appear to be clear violations of the prohibition on using corporate money to fund campaigns. Over 100 years ago our forefathers passed laws to prohibit corporations from contributing to elections because they had seen the policy paybacks these corporate contributors demanded- and we saw the same thing happen last session. These indictments may be just the beginning of the unraveling of the conspiracy to control the Texas House and Congress.”

1918 killer flu virus to be tested in UW lab * Study needed to head off next epidemic, scientists say

University of Washington scientists plan to infect monkeys with a killer flu virus grown from tissue exhumed from victims of the 1918 epidemic.

They hope the insight they gain will unravel the mystery of why tens of millions of people worldwide died from the virulent flu strain and lead to development of better vaccines and drugs that may save lives in the future.

"This was the most deadly infectious disease in the history of mankind, killing at least 40 million people," said Dr. Michael Katze, a UW microbiologist and principal investigator for the local arm of the project.

Most experts believe another killer flu pandemic is overdue, Katze said, so it's critical to gain information about the disease.

The UW received part of a $12.7 million grant, funded largely from Congress' $1.7 billion biodefense appropriation to the National Institutes of Health, to collaborate on the 1918 flu study with Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York and the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Washington, D.C.

A skeptic of resurrecting and enlivening the 1918 flu virus, however, said it is critical to first make sure we are adequately protected against creating a "man-made" pandemic.

"This project could create a new bug that infects someone in the lab who then walks out at the end of the day and, literally, kills tens of millions of people," said Ed Hammond, director of a biotechnology and bioweapons watchdog organization called the Sunshine Project, based in Austin, Texas.

Although Hammond said he could accept the noble intentions of the UW scientists, he noted that there are no national laboratory standards for dealing with this particular virus.

All the news that is the news... or NOT?? THE LYNCHING OF DAN RATHER
On British TV, Dan feared the price of "asking questions" By Greg Palast

September 21, 2004 00:29

"It's that fear that keeps journalists from asking the toughest of the tough questions," the aging American journalist told the British television audience.

In June 2002, Dan Rather looked old, defeated, making a confession he dare not speak on American TV about the deadly censorship -- and self-censorship -- which had seized US newsrooms. After September 11, news on the US tube was bound and gagged. Any reporter who stepped out of line, he said, would be professionally lynched as un-American.

"It's an obscene comparison," he said, "but there was a time in South Africa when people would put flaming tires around people's necks if they dissented. In some ways, the fear is that you will be necklaced here. You will have a flaming tire of lack of patriotism put around your neck." No US reporter who values his neck or career will "bore in on the tough questions."

Dan said all these things to a British audience. However, back in the USA, he smothered his conscience and told his TV audience: "George Bush is the President. He makes the decisions. He wants me to line up, just tell me where."

During the war in Vietnam, Dan's predecessor at CBS, Walter Cronkite, asked some pretty hard questions about Nixon's handling of the war in Vietnam. Today, our sons and daughters are dying in Bush wars. But, unlike Cronkite, Dan could not, would not, question George Bush, Top Gun Fighter Pilot, Our Maximum Beloved Leader in the war on terror.

On the British broadcast, without his network minders snooping, you could see Dan seething and deeply unhappy with himself for playing the game.

"What is going on," he said, "I'm sorry to say, is a belief that the public doesn't need to know -- limiting access, limiting information to cover the backsides of those who are in charge of the war. It's extremely dangerous and cannot and should not be accepted, and I'm sorry to say that up to and including this moment of this interview, that overwhelmingly it has been accepted by the American people. And the current Administration revels in that, they relish and take refuge in that."

Dan's words had a poignant personal ring for me. He was speaking on Newsnight, BBC's nightly current affairs program, which broadcasts my own reports. I do not report for BBC, despite its stature, by choice. The truth is, if I want to put a hard, investigative report about the USA on the nightly news, I have to broadcast it in exile, from London. For Americans my broadcasts are stopped at an electronic Berlin wall.

Indeed, Dan is in hot water for a report my own investigative team put in Britain's Guardian papers and on BBC TV years ago. Way back in 1999, I wrote that former Texas Lt. Governor Ben Barnes had put in the fix for little George Bush to get out of 'Nam and into the Air Guard.

What is hot news this month in the USA is a five-year-old story to the rest of the world. And you still wouldn't see it in the USA except that Dan Rather, with a 60 Minutes producer, finally got fed up and ready to step out of line. And, as Dan predicted, he stuck out his neck and got it chopped off.

Is Rather's report accurate? Is George W. Bush a war hero or a privileged little Shirker-in-Chief? Today I saw a goofy two page spread in the Washington Post about a typewriter used to write a memo with no significance to the draft-dodge story. What I haven't read about in my own country's media is about two crucial documents supporting the BBC/CBS story. The first is Barnes' signed and sworn affidavit to a Texas Court, from 1999, in which he testifies to the Air Guard fix -- which Texas Governor George W. Bush, given the opportunity, declined to challenge.

And there is a second document, from the files of US Justice Department, again confirming the story of the fix to keep George's white bottom out of Vietnam. That document, shown last year in the BBC television documentary, "Bush Family Fortunes," correctly identifies Barnes as the bag man even before his 1999 confession.

At BBC, we also obtained a statement from the man who made the call to the Air Guard general on behalf of Bush at Barnes' request. Want to see the document? I've posted it at: http://www.gregpalast.com/ulf/documents/draftdodgeblanked.jpg

This is not a story about Dan Rather. The white millionaire celebrity can defend himself without my help. This is really a story about fear, the fear that stops other reporters in the US from following the evidence about this Administration to where it leads. American news guys and news gals, practicing their smiles, adjusting their hairspray levels, bleaching their teeth and performing all the other activities that are at the heart of US TV journalism, will look to the treatment of Dan Rather and say, "Not me, babe." No questions will be asked, as Dan predicted, lest they risk necklacing and their careers as news actors burnt to death.

"Bush Family Fortunes," the one-hour documentary taken from Greg Palast's BBC investigative reports, including the story of George Bush and Texas Air Guard, can be viewed, in part, at http://www.gregpalast.com/bff-dvd.htm

To receive more of Palast's investigative reports, sign up at http://www.gregpalast.com/contact.cfm

Long, but... there's gotta be something in here somewhere to bring a chuckle outta "U" ~! And, since i missed Saturday Sillies, thought i'd post these:

Interesting SIGNS TO SMILE ABOUT...: ***Strange Home Made Signs

These are real signs, observed all over:

1. At a Santa Fe gas station: "We will not sell gasoline to anyone in a glass container."

2. In a New York restaurant: "Customers who consider our waitresses uncivil ought to see the manager."

3. On the wall of a Baltimore estate: "Trespassers will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law." --Sisters of Mercy

4. On a long-established New Mexico dry cleaners: "38 years on the same spot."

5. In a Los Angeles dance hall: "Good clean dancing every night but Sunday."

6. In a Florida maternity ward: "No children allowed."

7. In a New York drugstore: "We dispense with accuracy."

8. In the offices of a loan company: "Ask about our plans for owning your home."

9. In a New York medical building: "Mental Health Prevention Center"

10. On a New York convalescent home: "For the sick and tired of the Episcopal Church."

11. On a Maine shop: "Our motto is to give our customers the lowest possible prices and workmanship."

12. At a number of military bases: "Restricted to unauthorized personnel."

13. On a display of "I love you only" Valentine cards: "Now available in multi-packs."

14. In the window of a Kentucky appliance store: "Don't kill your wife. Let our washing machine do the dirty work."

15. In a funeral parlor: "Ask about our layaway plan."

16. In a clothing store: "Wonderful bargains for men with 16 and 17 necks."

17. In a Tacoma, Washington men's clothing store: "15 men's wool suits, $10. They won't last an hour!"

19. 18. Outside a country shop: "We buy junk and sell antiques."

20. In the window of an Oregon store: "Why go elsewhere and be cheated when you can come here?"

21. In a Maine restaurant: "Open 7 days a week and weekends."

22. On a radiator repair garage: "Best place to take a leak."

23. In the vestry of a New England church: "Will the last person to leave please see that the perpetual light is extinguished."

24. In a Pennsylvania cemetery: "Persons are prohibited from picking flowers from any but their own graves."

25. On a roller coaster: "Watch your head."

26. On the grounds of a public school: "No trespassing without permission."

27. On a Tennessee highway: "When this sign is under water, this road is impassable."

28. Similarly, in front of a New Hampshire car wash: "If you can't read this, it's time to wash your car."

29. In the front yard of a funeral home, "Drive carefully, we'll wait."

30. On an electrician's truck, "Let us remove your shorts."

31. Outside a radiator repair shop, "Best place in town to take a leak."

32. In a nonsmoking area, "If we see you smoking, we will assume you are on fire and take appropriate action."

33. On a maternity room door, "Push, Push, Push."

34. On a front door, "Everyone on the premises is a vegetarian except the dog."

35. On a taxidermist's window, "We really know our stuff."

36. On a butcher's window, "Let me meat your needs."

37. On a fence, "Salesmen welcome. Dog food is expensive."

38. At a car dealership, "The best way to get back on your feet--miss a car payment."

39. Outside a muffler shop, "No appointment necessary. We'll hear you coming."

40. In a dry cleaner's emporium, "Drop your pants here."

41. On a desk in a reception room, "We shoot every 3rd salesman, and the 2nd one just left."

42. In a restaurant window, "Don't stand there and be hungry, come in and get fed up."

43. Inside a bowling alley, "Please be quiet. We need to hear a pin drop."

44. In a cafeteria, "Shoes are required to eat in the cafeteria. Socks can eat any place they want."

45. At an optometrist's office: "If you don't see what you're looking for, you've come to the right place."

46. On a scientist's door: "Gone Fission."

47. In a podiatrist's window: "Time wounds all heels."

48. At a used car lot: "Second hand cars in first crash condition."

49. Outside a hotel: "Help! We need inn-experienced people."

50. At an auto body shop: "May we have the next dents?"

51. In a veterinarian's waiting room: "Be back in 5 minutes. Sit! Stay!"

52. On a music teacher's door: "Out Chopin."

53. At the electric company: "We would be delighted if you send in your bill. However, if you don't, you will be."

54. In a beauty shop: "Dye now!"

55. On the side of a garbage truck: "We've got what it takes to take what you've got."

56. On the door of a computer store: "Out for a quick byte."

57. In a cafeteria: "Shoes are required to eat in the cafeteria. Socks can eat any place they want."

58. On the door of a music library: "Bach in a minuet."

59. In a counselor's office: "Growing old is mandatory. Growing wise is optional."

60. Sam's Meat Market: You can compare my prices, but you can't beat my meat.

61. Thomas, Barnes and Roberts divorce specialty law firm: She gets his assets, while his assets at home.

62. Roadway Asphalt Company: Let us asphalt your driveway, but if you don't like the job we do it's your own asphalt.

Saturday Snippits:

Lawyer representing the 9-11 families threatened

Stanley Hilton is former Bob Dole's chief of staff, very successful counselor, lawyer. He is representing hundreds of the victims families of 9/11. He is suing Bush for involvement in 9/11.

He calms, "This was a government-ordered operation. Bush personally signed the order. He personally authorized the attacks."

Hilton said:

"And I've been harassed personally by the chief judge of the federal court who is instructing me personally to drop this suit, threatened to kick me off the court, after 30 years on the court. I've been harassed by the FBI. My staff has been harassed and threatened. My office has been broken into and this is the kind of government we are dealing with. "

..."my office was burglarized in San Francisco several months ago. Files were gone through and some files were stolen - particularly the ones dealing with the lady that was married to one of the hijackers.... Also files were stolen dealing with this particular case and particularly with the documents I had regarding the fact that the - some of these hijackers, at least some of them were on the payroll of the U.S. government as undercover FBI, CIA, double agents."

"Fortunately, I had spare copies in a hidden place so nothing disappeared permanently. But more significantly, FBI agents have been harassing one of my staff members and threatening them with vague but frightening threats of indicting them. And it's just total harassment. They have planted a spy, an undercover agent, in my organization, as we just recently discovered."

"July 1st, I was threatened directly by the chief judge here, threatened with court discipline. This particular judge has been circulating communiqués to the other federal judges seeking anything negative she can get against me to try and discipline me after I've been on the court here for 30 years with no disciplinary problems at all. This is suddenly happening. And her assistants who are on the committee of the court met with me on July 1st in Palo Alto, California, and threatened me directly. They handed me a copy of the lawsuit and said that the judge wants me to dismiss this."

"I got a call from Ashcroft's Justice Department a few months ago about this, demanding that I drop the suit, threatening sanctions and all kinds of things."

"These are criminal individuals Bush and the neo-cons) but they are smart and so they anticipated political dissent. And that's why, like the Nazis, their forebears, and their blood brothers, the Nazis and the Stalinists, they're all for political repression. Every corrupt and criminal government has done this - they suppress their own people: Nazi Germany, Communist Russia, Mao Tse-Tung, that's why we have the Patriot Act."

"They have an agenda. These individuals are extremely dangerous. They are armed and dangerous. They pose a clear and dangerous threat to every freedom-loving person not only American but in the whole world."

Comment: One thing I have learned in my years of read about and researching conspiracy theories, if people or journelist start getting threatened they are getting close to the truth.

http://www.rense.com/general57/aale.htm

Among 168,528 veterans of the current conflict in Iraq who have left active duty, 16% (27,571) had already sought treatment from the VA by July 2004. "There were no chemical or biological weapons there, no big oil well fires," he says. "So what's left?" DU

The air carrying DU particles takes about a year to mix with the rest of the earth's atmosphere.

The radiation released by DU nuclear warfare is believed to be more than 10 times the amount dispersed by atmospheric testing.

As a result, DU particles have engulfed the world in a radioactive poison gas that promises illness and death for millions.

A radioactive by-product of uranium enrichment, DU is used to coat ammunition such as tank shells and "bunker busting" missiles because its density makes it ideal for piercing armour.

"DU weaponry fails all four tests," Parker told Aljazeera.net. First, DU cannot be limited to legal military targets. Second, it cannot be "turned off" when the war is over but keeps killing.

Third, DU can kill through painful conditions such as cancers and organ damage and can also cause birth defects such as facial deformities and missing limbs.

"Use of DU weaponry violates the grave breach provisions of the Geneva Conventions"

Karen Parker,
human rights lawyer
Lastly, DU cannot be used without unduly damaging the natural environment.

Source http://english.aljazeera., , via Mike Whitney

I don't know how... I ever used to manage to fit a 40-hour a week (or more) job into my busy life -- nowadays, my life sure seems to be quite crowded with STUFF (people and/or phone calls) even when i wake up with every intention of minding JUST my OWN bidiness and leaving ALL the rest of the world the flock alone -- i don't go to it, IT manages to come to me ~! Oh well, decided to share this and the below ~!

Journalism Under Fire
by Bill Moyers, TomPaine.com Exclusive
Print it. Read it. This is one of Moyers' most important speeches.
http://www.tompaine.com/opinion/#001916

Fahrenheit 9/11 For Grown-ups
by Robert Jensen, TomPaine.com Exclusive
This journalism prof calls the new documentary Hijacking Catastrophe the best journalism he's seen in recent years.
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/fahrenheit_911_for_grownups.php

Medican't
by The New York Times Editorial Board
The 17.4 percent Medicare premium hike is just a symptom. Congress needs to treat the disease: rising health care costs.
http://www.tompaine.com/opinion/#001915

Tom, Dick, and George

LCV has released the first wave of its infamous list of environmental wrong-doers known as the Dirty Dozen. And this year, there's a bit of a twist: For failing our environment so profoundly, President Bush and Vice President Cheney become the first presidential ticket ever to be listed. Of course, you probably saw this coming. The Bush Administration has racked up an underwhelming, downright dismal record on all things green. From clean air and water rollbacks to giveaways of public lands to corporate polluters, the Bush Administration has earned its place in the hall of environmental shame. They join their Congressional colleagues: House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX), Reps. Bob Beauprez (R-CO), Max Burns (R-GA), Richard Burr (R-NC), Collin Peterson (D-MN), George Nethercutt (R-WA) Rick Renzi (R-AZ), and former Rep. John Thune (R-SD) -- who makes his second appearance on the list in as many election cycles. Keep your eyes peeled for more additions as LCV reveals its final picks to round out the Dirty Dozen.

Read up on LCV's Dirty Dozen list to date

Going Down in History

What if there's another four years of the Bush Administration? We hate to even think of the consequences. But Sen. Jim Jeffords (I-VT) hazards a guess, "I expect the Bush administration to continue their assault on regulations designed to protect public health and the environment." A pretty scary thought. The Bush Administration will go down in history, according to Jeffords, "as the greatest disaster for public health and the environment in the history of the United States."

You can help LCV make sure that the Bush Administration becomes history come November 2nd. From now through Election Day, LCV volunteers are going door-to-door to reach out to undecided voters and give them the scoop on the Bush Administration's dismal record and how John Kerry will be a steward of the environment. You can make a difference in this election by traveling to a battleground state, writing letters to undecided voters, or sponsoring a volunteer.

Make a difference today!

Don't miss http://paradigm.motime.com today ~! All about a time of terror, chaos & woe vs. peace, serenity & blessedness. That would be the time(s) here and now, that we find ourselves living.

Well, after seeing Matt Lauer (sp?) interview Kitty Kelley re: her new book, The Family: the Real Story of the Bush Dynasty, i just HAD to note it here -- what an appropros venue for same.

Hail and Farewell... for almost a year, now, i've done my "civic duty" by using this blog to reveal (and revel in?) some of the seamier sides of our UNelected "president", George W. Bush, et al -- and it's been rewarding to see the little counter increase on a regular basis -- did my un-paid writer's ego good, it has. But all good things must come to an end. So, I picked this Sunday to make this my last, formal post to Old Hippie chic's Rants.

In my heart of hearts, I don't think bush&crew will bring America down, but the status quo doesn't seem to bode well for OUR collective future, either. So, in the time I can devote to blogging activities, I choose to make it as positive as possible -- and with a new look on a new venue: http://paradigm.motime.com. Here, I'll be posting more uplifting messages, hopefully quite frequently, based on what I'm personally studying. I really DO feel that we each create our own "reality" and as we each "come into our own", in a positive way, it changes the world around us in a good way. So, I hope all the readers of this blog will visit me at paradigm. It's HIGH TIME for a major paradigm shift on Terra Firma, imho. Tha' chic.

How the Bush Team Will Destroy America (or maybe not)

The following article linked today at Rense.com, though short, raises some interesting issues, most of which the American people are too asleep to realize. In particular, he says that the same evil team that brought you the Fake "Terror" of 911 is not going to stop there, but will be bringing you more "terrorist attacks" on U.S. soil, and, that they will also be bringing us a Great Depression worse than that of the 1930s. I fear that the author may be correct in these two simple but terrifying predictions.
He also points out that this is on the aggenda no matter who wins the November election. The actual situation in the U.S. is now so frightening that the people have gone into a kind of collective foetal position and soothe themselves with illusions and pleasant distractions to fend off the painful reality of things. In this, astute people have an unprecedented chance to study first hand the amazing mechanics of mass psychology. I, for one, am amazed. I never before in my life realized the powers of illusion over the mass-consciousness. I finally am beginning to understand the words of the great teacher George Gurdjieff which I studied in my my youth, but never fully grasped: "Man is asleep. Man lives in a dream." When the mind faces something too terrible or frightening or painful, it simply goes into illusion to protect itself from that pain. The illusions relieve the pain temporarily, but make things much worse in the long run.

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I can't find any other explanation for that fact that polls seem to indicate (if they are not also faked) that nearly 50% of Americans are still behind Bush. That is incomprehensible to me. It may be partly due to the fact the John Kerry is not even really running for President. His whole campaigns suggests he is running to lose. All he has to do is go over and over again the simple facts of the last 4 Bush years, the lies, the lost jobs, the deficit, the deceit, the war, and so on, but he has not done this. It may all be a Skull & Bones plot for all we know. But beyond even that the American people seem completely lost in an imaginary world of multiple illusions and an inability to face certain self-evident truths. The rest of the world is not so deceived, so what is going on anyway?

For one thing we are watching the playing out of the poison of false "patriotism." People, wanting to identify with the larger entity of country are failing to use intelligence and common sense and failing to criticize and dissent. The Bush people helped this along by drumming in the idea that to question things and criticize was tantamount to being a traitor... so people were afraid to question and dissent. And taking the line of Goebbles and Hitler they time and again worked the people up into to frenzy of fear, and are still doing so today. Yesterday dark-hearted Cheney went to so far as to say "If you elect Kerry we will be attacked by terrorists again." That was outrageous abuse and deceit.

The onslaught of brainwashing has left many Americans incapable of rational thought anymore. The dark clouds on the horizon are too fearful to look at so they retreat into an illusory version of the world like a child curled up sucking its thumb.

Anyway, here is article by Michael Shore. It contains a number of useful ideas.
The article can be found here:
http://www.rense.com/general57/fired.htm

Reject the National ID Card, by Rep. Ron Paul, MD

Washington politicians are once again seriously considering imposing a national identification card - and it may well become law before the end of the 108th Congress. The much-hailed 9/11 Commission report released in July recommends a federal identification card and, worse, a "larger network of screening points" inside the United States. Does this mean we are to have "screening points" inside our country where American citizens will be required to "show their papers" to government officials? It certainly sounds that way!

As I have written recently, the 9/11 Commission is nothing more than ex-government officials and lobbyists advising current government officials that we need more government for America to be safe. Yet it was that same government that failed so miserably on September 11, 2001.

Congress has embraced the 9/11 Commission report uncritically since its release in July. Now Congress is rushing to write each 9/11 Commission recommendation into law before the November election. In the same way Congress rushed to pass the PATRIOT Act after the September 11 attacks to be seen "doing something," it looks like Congress is about to make the same mistake again of rushing to pass liberty-destroying legislation without stopping to consider the consequences. Because it is so controversial, we may see legislation mandating a national identification card with biometric identifiers hidden in bills
implementing 9/11 Commission recommendations. We have seen this technique used in the past on controversial measures.

A national identification card, in whatever form it may take, will allow the federal government to inappropriately monitor the movements and transactions of every American. History shows that governments inevitably use the power to monitor the actions of people in harmful ways. Claims that the government will protect the privacy of Americans when implementing a national identification card ring hollow. We would do well to remember what happened with the Social Security number. It was introduced with solemn restrictions on how it could be used, but it has become a de facto national identifier.

Those who are willing to allow the government to establish a Soviet-style internal passport system because they think it will make us safer are terribly mistaken. Subjecting every citizen to surveillance and "screening points" will actually make us less safe, not in the least because it will divert resources away from tracking and apprehending terrorists and deploy them against
innocent Americans!

The federal government has no constitutional authority to require law-abiding Americans to present any form of identification before they engage in private transactions. Instead of forcing all Americans to prove to law enforcement that they are not terrorists, we should be focusing our resources on measures that really will make us safer. For starters, we should take a look at our dangerously porous and unguarded borders. We have seen already this summer how easy it is for individuals possibly seeking to do us harm to sneak across the border into our country. In July, Pakistani citizen Farida Goolam Mahomed Ahmed, who is on the federal watch list, reportedly crossed illegally into Texas from Mexico. She was later arrested when she tried to board a plane in New York, but she should have never been able to cross our border in the first place!

We must take effective measures to protect ourselves from a terrorist attack. That does not mean rushing to embrace legislation that in the long run will do little to stop terrorism, but will do a great deal to undermine the very way of life we should be protecting. Just as we must not allow terrorists to threaten our lives, we must not allow government to threaten our liberties. We should reject the notion of a national identification card.

September 7, 2004

Dr. Ron Paul is a Republican member of Congress from Texas.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul202.html

Beating a dead horse to death... Either bushie is dumb, dishonest or BOTH ~! All this flap over did he or didn't he do his "service" in the Nat'l Guard during Vietnam ("For years, Bush has been claiming he met his obligations [to the Guard]." General McPeak, who led the Air Force in the first Gulf War and who supported Bush in 2000, said, "At a minimum, the President and his spokesmen have not been candid with the American people." "It goes to the credibility of George W. Bush, to the credibility of the Commander-in-Chief," said McAuliffe. "Bush's activities 35 years ago goes to his credibility today -- Bush mislead us about weapons of mass destruction, about the deficit, about fulling funding Leave No Child Behind, about fixing the healthcare system. George W. Bush has not been truthful from the start."
* * *
"The Associated Press, after being told by the White House in February that it had released all of the President's military records, inexplicably got a new batch of documents from the Pentagon on Tuesday. Nicholas Kristof, columnist for The New York Times, who had not previously written on this subject, nailed the first major interview with Bob Mintz
<http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/08/opinion/08kristof.html> , an Air National Guard lieutenant colonel who claimed he never saw Bush report for duty in Alabama," reported Editor and Publisher
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