Contact Info for 50 Politicians Who Take Campaign Money from the RIAA

"We've linked their contact information so that you, as their constituents, can inform them that they're taking money from the "Worst Company in America," and that's going to cost them your vote."



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Bush thumping his chest: “I am the President!”

He's losing it ladies and gentlmen and the South Korean/50 year plan makes it clear that we're not leaving Iraq for decades. We all know he makes his friends call him Mr. President and can we forget his most famous "I'm the Decider" rant about Don Rumsfeld?



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Charges Iraq Invasion Was to Keep Lid on Oil Production

Iraq was invaded in order to limit its oil production and thus keep world oil prices artificially high, a noted investigative journalist reports.



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Iraq Power Shortages Spur Black Market

The black market has grown so large that U.S. inspectors estimate private generators produce more than one-third of Iraq's power supply. In Baghdad, where many neighborhoods have not had more than an hour of daily electricity for weeks, it almost certainly accounts for more.



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Economic Growth Skids to a Near Halt

Economic growth skidded to a near halt in the first quarter, with the worst showing in more than four years raising concerns about how long the country's sluggish spell will last.



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Giuliani: Worse Than Bush?

He's cashing in on 9/11, working with Karl Rove's henchmen and in cahoots with a Swift Boat-style attack on Hillary. Will Rudy Giuliani be Bush III?



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U.S. fights to keep U.S. meatpackers FROM testing all slaughtered cattle

"WASHINGTON: The Bush administration said Tuesday it will fight to keep meatpackers from testing all their animals for mad cow disease"



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Reagan would be proud of Bush, reviving the cold war

Putin shows that the United States isn't the only country in the world with an idiot at the helm. He all but declared a revival of the cold war's arms race that Reagan helped destroy. "It wasn’t us who initiated a new round of arms race,” Putin said regarding Russia’s missile tests after talks in the Kremlin with Greek President Karolos Papoulias



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If Immigration Bill Passes, it will be the EIGHTH Amnesty in 21 years!

Go to story for complete list. And it significant to note that none of these amnesties worked; they were all followed the highest level of immigration in US history!



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A War President at War with Himself

George Bush likes to call himself a "War President." Okay, he likes to call himself a lot of things, but "War President" seems to be his proudest. So proud he now wants a U.S. military presence in Iraq for the next 50 years.



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Mike Gravel in the 2008 Presidential Race: The Hard Line Voice on Iraq, Hea

The senator who ended the military draft in 1971, has taken on a long-shot campaign for the Democratic primary election. Mike Gravel's radical views towards change for the country have piqued the interest of the media, as he hopes to do the same with voters. By Jason Cangialosi



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Will Congress Grant Amnesty without calling it that?

Folks, get on the telephone to you Congressman and Senator and don't stop calling them until they say they'll vote against this amnesty bill that Teddy Kennedy is ramrodding thru the Senate (S 1348). Call them ever day, e-mail them using this source JBS.org and NumbersUSA.com



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It's All About The Oil, Stupid

We have been told for decades that the reason for military presence in various countries and regions is for "peace keeping" missions or to "establish democracy." Of course, there are many of us who disbelieve this. A little truth and insight into the real reasons why war continues to wage on.



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Senator Assails Army For Manual on Sauce

Senator William Proxmire ridiculed the Army yesterday for spending $6,@000 on 17 pages of instructions on buying Worcestershire sauce.''That's right: 17 eye-glazing pages of single-spaced type on how to buy a 15-ounce bottle of Worcestershire sauce that retails for about $1.50,'' the Wisconsin Democrat said.



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“DC Domina” Speaks Out on “DC Madam” Gag Order

Big Head DC has obtained a statement from Leola McConnell, the bodybuilding dominatrix who claims to have had an affair with President Bush in the 1980s, on the Deborah Jeane Palfrey gag order:She [Jeane Palfrey] should out each and every name she deems appropriate to her defense, and not give ‘one fifth’ of a nano-second of thought […]



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A Smoking Gun Re: the Dick Cheney / “DC Madam” Connection?

Vice President Dick Cheney's counsel ordered, in writing, the Secret Service to destroy the official visitors logs containing the names of those who visited him at the official residence of the Vice President at the U.S. Naval Observatory in northwest Washington, DC. A federal judge ordered the records released pursuant to the Freedom of Informatio



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Bush to let START I nuclear weapons agreement expire in 2009

In a not so surprising but nevertheless disappointing move, a senior Bush administration official announced last week that the United States will let the first Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) expire when it runs out at the end of 2009. Apparently, the administration instead plans on replacing it with a less formal agreement that doesn’t...



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CBS: Iraqi PM doesn't trust his military, says coup possible

Iraqi PM al-Maliki told Lara Logan of CBS Evening News in an exclusive interview on Wednesday that he has a real fear of a coup by the Iraqi army. Al-Maliki said that some of the officer corps have been creating problems and even violating the security of military operations. . He stated, "I'm not afraid, but I have to watch the army."



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Putin: U.S. has triggered new arms race

President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that tests of new Russian missiles were a response to the planned deployment of U.S. missile defense installations and other forces in Europe, suggesting Washington has triggered a new arms race.



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Credibility Meltdown—Revisiting the Voting Machine Controversy

How the voting manufactures blew the credibility by mishandling the controversy over the security of their machines. This is a case study in on-line communications, or in this case, mis-communications.



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Ron Paul to appear on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart!

It's what you've all been waiting for.Monday Jun 4Ron Paul- Congressman (R-TX) Libertarian Candidate



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U.S. sparing with Iran just before nuclear talks as the world watches

Major powers are insisting that Iran suspend uranium enrichment as a precondition for negotiations on trade benefits. "It is time for Iran to change its tactics. The international community is united on what Iran should do and this is to suspend (enrichment of uranium for nuclear fuel)," Rice said during a visit to Vienna.



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Iraq, Immigration Polarize 2008 Field

Republican and Democratic presidential candidates are abandoning the middle ground for positions on Iraq and immigration that cater to their parties' fringes _ the latest example of polarization trumping moderation in Washington. The positioning on Iraq and immigration is part of a broader trend toward polarization in Washington, which some



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Ron Paul is a Better Bet

According to political odds maker, Gambling911.com, Ron Paul has jumped from a 200 to 1 long-shot to a 15 to 1 candidate. That's quite a jump.His rise is due in large part to his unique approach and his web following. Ron Paul is frequently in the top 3 of al



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NAFTA NASCO Superhighway debate reaches Minnesota

Lobbying for the International I-35 Superhighway from Mexico to Canada has now reached Minnesota. Amidst claims that it will not hurt or impact the American Economy despite the fact that you can look at the increased trade from NAFTA in a parallel view to how the American Economy has been hurt already by the Mexican workforce.



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The Myth Of Salads

Ah, salads. The food of the perpetual dieter. You all know a few fast food salad eater. She's the girl at your office who eats nothing but salads and yet never seems to lose any weight. He's the guy who eats a salad because he's on Atkins, but it doesn't seem to be working. Why is that?

What if we told you that a Wendy's Garden Sensations Mandarin Chicken Salad had more calories, more fat, more carbs and more sugar than a Double Stack? Would that surprise you? It shouldn't. The nutritional information is right there on the Internet.

Curious as to how fast food salads compared with fast food sandwiches, we took a look at one sandwich and one salad at 4 different fast food restaurants: Wendy's, McDonald's, Taco Bell and Burger King.

We wanted to know if you were really better off eating a salad, or simply getting a burger(or burrito) and skipping the fries and soda.

RULES OF THE GAME:

• We will choose one salad and one regular sized sandwich (or burrito) from the same fast food joint and compare them.

• We will compare calories, fat, carbs, sodium and sugar.

• We will include the dressing in our total, because eating salad without dressing is nasty.

• We will also compare the weight of the salad vs the burger (or burrito).

• We will use the nutritional information provided by the restaurants.

• We will not evaluate the food's subjective qualities such as taste, because no one really cares if The Consumerist likes Wendy's better than McDonald's or salads better than burgers or burritos better than salads.

• We will operate on the assumption that at least a few people eat fast food salads because the marketing message suggests, although may not explicitly state, that salads are a healthier alternative to fast food sandwiches. We will not assume that everyone eats salads for this reason. Some people like salads and that is OK.

• We will not assume that in order to eat a burger you must eat french fries and a drink, therefore we will not include them in the sandwich total.

• We will not compare a salad to a huge sandwich like a Whopper or a Big Mac, because that's just silly.

THE PLAYERS:

THE CONCLUSION:

The results speak for themselves. We got the idea for this experiment when we went looking for healthy options at fast food restaurants. We noticed something odd. The salads didn't seem to be a whole lot healthier than some of the regular sized sandwiches. Who knew that eating a full portion of, say, the BK Tendercrisp salad would result in consuming 210 more calories than if you'd simply ordered a Whopper Jr.?

Of course, that could mean that the Whopper Jr. is an excellent diet food. It all depends on how you look at it.

If calories aren't your biggest concern, the salads also packed quite a hefty helping of sugar and carbs. Since they're often marketed towards carb-conscious eaters, we were surprised to see the amount of sugar in some of these salads. Wendy's Garden Sensations Mandarin Chicken Salad has more sugar, yes sugar, than 8 oz. of Coke.

Obviously, portion size was an important factor in the calorie count. These salads are big! We'd recommend eating less than the full portion, but realistically... you're going to eat all the chicken and cheese and other goodies off the top of the salad and leave the lettuce...

So is a fast food salad a good "diet food"? We'll leave that up to you. We will say that we never really thought of a Double Cheeseburger as something to eat on a diet, and it weighs in with fewer calories than the Asian Chicken Salad w/Crispy Chicken and Newman's Own (Low Fat) Sesame Ginger Dressing at McDonald's. Again, this could just mean that Double Cheeseburgers are a better diet choice that you might think.

We know a lot of people think of a salad as "less" than a meal. Read the nutrition info. In quite a few cases, you might better off just ordering a sandwich... and skipping the fries. —MEGHANN MARCO

Does 'The Decider' Decide on War?

By Patrick J. Buchanan

05/30/07 "WND" -- -- -Has Congress given George Bush a green light to attack Iran?

For he is surely behaving as though it is his call alone. And evidence is mounting that we are on a collision course for war.

• Iran has detained several Iranian-Americans, seemingly in retaliation for our continuing to hold five Iranians in Iraq.
• The U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency, says Iran is making progress in the enrichment of uranium and denying it access to Iran's nuclear sites.
• Bush is calling on Russia and China to toughen sanctions.
• A flotilla of U.S. warships, including the carriers Stennis and Nimitz, has passed through the Strait of Hormuz into the Persian Gulf.
• U.S. Maj. Gen. William Caldwell has told CNN there is "very credible intelligence" Iran is funding Sunni extremists engaged in the roadside bombing of U.S. troops.
• CBS reports the United States has engaged in the industrial sabotage of Iran's nuclear program by making the equipment Iran acquires on the black market unusable or destructive.
• ABC reports Bush has authorized the CIA to mount a "black" operation to destabilize Iran, using "non-lethal" means. The absence of White House outrage over the leak suggests it may have wanted the information out.
• ABC.com reports U.S. officials are supporting a militant group, Jundallah, in the "tri-border region" of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Jundallah, a Sunni Islamist group seeking independence for Baluchistan, claims to have killed hundreds of Iranians.

While U.S.-Iran discussions have begun, there are reports Vice President Cheney and the neo-con remnant, along with the Israelis, are opposed to talks and believe that the only solution to Iran's nuclear program is military. Whether this is part of a good-cop, bad-cop routine to convince Tehran to suspend enrichment, we do not know.

But this much is sure. If the U.S. government is aiding Islamic militants who are killing Iranians, and Iran is providing roadside bombs to Iraqi militants, Sunni or Shia, to kill Americans, we are in a proxy war. And it could explode into a major war.

So the questions come. Where is the Congress, which alone has the power to take us to war? Why are the Democratic candidates parroting the "all-options-are-on-the-table!" mantra, when as ex-Sen. Mike Gravel noted in the first Democratic debate, this means George W. Bush is authorized to attack Iran.

Why does Congress not enact the resolution Nancy Pelosi pulled down, which declares that nothing in present law authorizes President Bush to launch a pre-emptive strike or preventive war on Iran – and before launching any such attack, he must get prior approval from both houses of Congress?

If we are going to war, is it not imperative that, this time, we know exactly why we must go to war, what exactly the threat is from Iran, what are the likely consequences of a U.S. attack on a third Islamic country and what are the alternatives to war?

For there are arguments against war, as well as for war – and the former are not receiving a hearing, as both parties compete in their fulminations against Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the new Hitler of the Middle East.

What are those arguments?

On Iran's nuclear progress, there is a real question as to whether they are producing purified uranium. Iran's refusal to let the IAEA see what it is doing suggests it may be covering up failure.

Second, though Iranians sound bellicose, Iran has not started a single war since the revolution of 1979. Indeed, Iran was the victim of a war launched by Saddam Hussein, whom we secretly supported. Not within living memory has Iran invaded or attacked another country.

But in the last 110 years, peace-loving Americans have fought Spain, Germany twice, Austria-Hungary, Japan, Italy, North Korea, North Vietnam, Iraq twice and Serbia. We have intervened militarily in the Philippines, Cuba, Mexico, Panama, Nicaragua, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Lebanon and Grenada. We bombed Libya. Now, a case can be made for most of these wars, whose fallen we honor on Memorial Day.

But the point is this. Why would Iran, with no air force or navy that can stand up 24 hours against us, no missile that can reach us, no atom bomb, and no ability to withstand U.S. air and sea attack, want a war with us that could mean the end of Iran as a modern nation and possible breakup of the country, as Iraq is breaking up?

Whether one is pro-war or anti-war, ought we not – if we are going into another war – do it the right way, the constitutional way, with Congress declaring war? Or does the Democratic Congress think what is best for America is to let "the decider" decide?

Because that is what George Bush is doing right now.

Copyright 1997-2007 - All Rights Reserved. WorldNetDaily.com Inc

Open-source software makes the invisible man

Step forward Liverpool's Sebastien Guenneau, who took a decades-old open-source program called GetDP and tweaked the source code to solve the Maxwell equations. 'Without the computer program, we would be left out of this story,' says Guenneau. 'We've saved time by designing the [invisibility] cloak on the computer.'



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Whatever happened to signing statements?

Perhaps the best indication of the toothlessness and complicity of the new Democratic Congress is that President Bush, who between September 2001 and December 2006 used so-called "signing statements" and a bogus claim of extra-constitutional executive authority as commander in chief in time of war to invalidate 1200 laws or parts of laws passed



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Mike Gravel to GOP: "I'll eat them alive"

Former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel had a lively live online chat on Tuesday with the Rocky Mountain News of Denver. He takes shots at President Bush, fellow Democrats and the mainstream media. And you won't want to miss his comments on gun control, Russia, China, Iran, Iraq and then some...



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Bush lies about polls, claims that public opposes withdrawl from Iraq

Despite polls indicating that Americans want to leave Iraq, Bush claims that the public supports his policy of staying in Iraq. Bush said: "I recognize there are a handful there, or some, who just say, `Get out, you know, it's just not worth it. Let's just leave.' I strongly disagree with that attitude. Most Americans do as well."



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USDA to free market: Go Cheney yourself

You read that right. The Bush "administration" will fight to keep meatpackers from testing their animals for mad cow disease.



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Video: Giuliani Helped Destroy Crucial 9/11 WTC Evidence

The U.S. federal government and the Giuliani Administration on New York shipped off the WTC steel to asia to be sold as scrap metal before any forensic analysis could be performed to determine the reason it shredded to dust in 9 seconds. Why were they so quick to destroy the evidence of the shredded twin towers?



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Justice Department expanding political hiring probe

Internal Department of Justice investigators are expanding their probe into hiring practices to include alleged improper political litmus tests applied to those seeking jobs within the department's Civil Rights Division, DOJ Honors Program and Summer Law Intern Program, according to a letter sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday.



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Blogosphere fury at Dems on Iraq vote

Furious that congressional Democratic leaders did not fight harder to pass a supplemental spending bill with a timeline to end the war in Iraq and tougher benchmarks, liberal online activists have ripped party leaders and threatened to halt contributions to Democratic lawmakers.



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Mossad Agent Pearlman Releases Phony Al-Qaeda Tape

Adam Pearlman, the Jewish Mossad agent who once wrote stinging essays condemning Muslims as "bloodthirsty terrorists", has once again popped up as an "Al-Qaeda spokesman" to frighten the dwindling number of Americans who still believe Al-Qaeda exists outside of U.S. intelligence circles.



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Tancredo: GOP must stand tough against amnesty

One of the most outspoken congressional proponents for stronger border enforcement says his side has no choice but to continue to fight against those who want to give amnesty to millions of illegal aliens. U.S. Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-Colorado) believes immigration can be a winning issue for lawmakers who stand tough.



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Bush hires Halliburton/KBR to build detention camps in USA

Bush has inked a deal with Halliburton/KBR to build "detention camps" in the United States. Last year in 2006 KBR was award $3685 million to build detention camps in the United States that could be used to house American citizens during emergencies. Bush has also put out a directive that gives him dictatorial powers in an emergency.



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Ron Paul Squared as Third Party Candidate

Here is an interesting analysis of Ron Paul compared to historical third party candidates for the presidency. The article contains some pithy quotes from Dr. Paul and made me think about him from a different vantage point. I loved that hot rod metaphor at the end of the article.



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MySpace Gets False Positive In Sex Offender Search

"In its eagerness to clear sex offenders off its site and publish their identities, MySpace identified an innocent woman as a sex offender. She shares a name and birth month with a sex offender who lives in a neighboring state and that was apparently enough to get MySpace to wrongly brand her and completely ignore her protests."

Nearly 30 DOJ Officials Threatened To Quit After Ashcroft Hospital Visit

Appalled by the White House's heavy-handed attempt to coerce the gravely ill attorney general, virtually the entire top leadership of the Justice Department is threatening to resign.



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Think we have it bad?

Cheney lawyer wants visitor logs destroyed

An agreement was quietly signed between the White House and the Secret Service a year ago when questions were raised about visits to the executive compound by convicted influence peddler Jack Abramoff.



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What in the World is Going On?

A wonderfully written piece from a senior Government official and former special assistant to Director of the CIA, Herbert Meyer.



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Who Decides Whether The US Goes To War?

Buchanan asks a valid question: If we're going to war with Iran, shouldn't we do it the right way -- with a constitutionally required declaration of war? Shouldn't there be a debate that spells out the reasons for and against war? Or should we allow one man to decide?



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Immigration, Amnesty, Illegal Aliens, Taxes and Social Security Fraud

A great commentary by T. L. Farlow about the impact of illegal immigration, and what the citizens of this country must do, and do now, while we still can.



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Corruption at the FDA?

It's hard to believe isn't it? All of these highly trained, educated, people with advanced degrees, some of the finest minds in the country and they are interested in profits.



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Ron Paul 'dangerous to the arrogant pigs'

Ron Paul has by polls taken on the Internet won both recent presidential debates hands-down. But, all the major medias have black-balled him. They are denying him any exposure time unless it’s to tar him as a “kook” or someone too ridiculous for Americans to listen to in earnest.



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Why Is Gas So Freakin' Expensive?

As gas costs rise to $4 a gallon and oil companies earn around $100 billion each year, it's a good time to question what really goes into the price gas.



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Man Turns Water Into Fuel - The End Of Big Oil?

The End Of Big Oil?
5-28-7

So, here we go again. Another breakthrough...another paradigm buster...just like we've read about over the years. And all of them have been swallowed up and made to vanished into the void by the deadly Big Oil beast that sits upon the planet like Godzilla. More than a few such inventors like the man in this news story have suddenly stopped working...and some have suffered untimely deaths. So, read this one and enjoy because we may not hear much about it again. - ed

http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=68227

Back to the Stone Age(Cold War).

With all his bullshit rhetoric, Bush has taken us back into the Cold War with Moscow. It seem like an arms race with Moscow is now inevitable. Bush want missile in Europe, Moscow does not. This is leading Russia to develop missiles that can penetrate our missile defense shield. And I'm sure there is more to come. So we are heading back to the Stone Age. Argh!!!!

What are they trying to hide?????

USDA rejects decision over mad-cow tests

BY MATT APUZZO

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration said Tuesday it will fight to keep meatpackers from testing all their animals for mad cow disease.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture tests less than 1 percent of slaughtered cows for the disease, which can be fatal to humans who eat tainted beef. But Arkansas City-based Creekstone Farms Premium Beef wants to test all of its cows.

Larger meat companies feared that move because, if Creekstone tested its meat and advertised it as safe, they might have to perform the expensive test, too.

A federal judge ruled in March that such tests must be allowed. The ruling was to take effect Friday, but the Agriculture Department said Tuesday it would appeal -- effectively delaying the testing until the court challenge plays out.

Mad cow disease is linked to more than 150 human deaths worldwide, mostly in Britain.

There have been three cases of mad cow disease identified in cattle in the U.S. The first, in December 2003 in Washington state, was in a cow that had been imported from Canada. The second, in 2005, was in a Texas-born cow. The third was confirmed last year in an Alabama cow.

The Agriculture Department argued that widespread testing could lead to a false positive that would harm the meat industry. U.S. District Judge James Robertson noted that Creekstone sought to use the same test the government relies on and said the government didn't have the authority to restrict it.

How to Stop the Compromise Immigration Reform Bill S1348

I will continue to post on this important topic until we beat this bill back! The best way to stop this bill from moving forward is for all of us to get of our duffs and call our Senators! President Bush said that Senators need, “the courage to go back to their districts to explain comprehensive immigration reform..” Courage to lie to the voters!



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"In God We Trust" on the Edge of Dollar Coin, Conservatives want it on Face

While our nation sets a new record debt every day, while Americans kill and are killed in Iraq, while New Orleans still stands littered with debris from Hurricane Katrina, while Americans go bankrupt because they can’t afford medical care, Virgil Goode and 88 other members of the House of Representatives are getting busy using the machinery of gov



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What Military Service Qualifies Bush To Lead Iraq War

By: Evelyn Pringle

05/29/07 "ICH " -- -- - The tax dollar funded photo op of Bush landing on an aircraft carrier all dressed up in a flightsuit to announce Mission Accomplished was a desperate attempt to give the illusion that Bush actually did serve his country in the military and to bolster his image as a self-described "war president."

This country is now paying a heavy price for Bush's lack of military experience, and his taunting invitation of "bring it on," that has resulted in a never ending stream of challengers traveling to Iraq to teach our loudmouth President a lesson.

When evaluating Bush's performance as the Commander-in-Chief leading the Iraq war, it might be helpful to take another look at his years of service in military, or lack thereof.

The story of the draft-dodger in the White House who keeps sending more troops off to die in Iraq began in 1968 while the Viet Nam war raging and his student deferment ended, meaning it would only be a matter of time before he would be drafted.

However, his father jumped in to save him from that certain fate by lining up a slot in the Texas Air National Guard to make sure that sonny boy remained far away from Nam.

Of course for his part, Bush, the honest guy that Americans have come to know, has always denied that he received any help. "There was no special treatment," he said when running for governor in 1993. "They were looking for pilots and I was honored to serve."

"I can just tell you," he mumbled to reporters during campaign 2000, "from my perspective, I never asked for, I don't believe I received special treatment."

To put the whole special treatment debate in perspective, it should be noted that at the time Bush was accepted in the Texas Air National Guard, there was a waiting list of roughly 500 men and it usually took about a year and a half to get to the top of the list.

When asked about the waiting list issue, Bush spokesman at the time, David Beckwith, claimed that Bush was more qualified. "A lot of people weren't qualified" he said, "so special commissions were offered to those willing to undergo the extra training required."

However, Charles Shoemake, chief of personnel at the Texas Guard from 1972 to 1980, publicly denied that there was a shortage of pilots or qualified applicants. "We had so many people coming in who were super-qualified," he said.

Any claim that Bush was more qualified than 500 other men is laughable being he only scored 25% on the Pilot Aptitude Test, which happens to be the lowest score permitted for a wannabe pilot at the time.

The truth was finally revealed in 1999, when Ben Barnes, former Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, said that he helped Bush get in the Guard at the request of Bush family friend, Sid Adger, according to an account of the events in a statement released after Barnes testified in a deposition for a federal lawsuit in September 1999.

Barnes also testified that he had met with a top Bush adviser to discuss the matter of rebutting rumors that Bush got special treatment, and to prove that the meeting took place, Barnes produced a note from Bush himself thanking him for his help in rebutting rumors that Bush's father had helped find a slot for his son in the Guard.

And true to form, with full knowledge that he wrote the note, on September 9, 2000, that pathological liar Bush still claimed, "No Bush ever asked Sid Adger to help."

Bush also claims that he got no special treatment when he received a direct appointment to Second Lt right out of basic training without having to go through officer candidate school which cleared the way for a slot in pilot training school. "Our information is there was absolutely no special deal," said Bush spokesman Beckwith.

However, in the September 1999 deposition Barnes testified that after receiving a request from Adger, he called Gen James Rose and recommended Bush for a pilot position.

When Bush joined the Guard his stated goal was "making flying a lifetime pursuit," and he signed a document that stated: "I understand that I may be ordered to active duty for a period not to exceed 24 months for unsatisfactory participation."

Based on that statement alone, Bush should have been shipped to Viet Nam in 1972 when he was permitted to move to Alabama to work on a political campaign and was ordered to attend drills at Dannelly Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama from May 1972 to November 1972, and went AWOL.

There is no record that Bush ever showed up. During the 2000 campaign, Bush claimed he attended drills at Dannelly and said, "I was there on a temporary assignment and fulfilled my weekends at one period of time."

"I made up some missed weekends," he said, "I can't remember what I did, but I wasn't flying because they didn't have the same airplanes.".

"I fulfilled my obligations," he stated.

His spokesman Dan Bartlett also vouched for the tall tale. "He specifically recalls pulling duty in Alabama," Bartlett said, "he did his drills."

Although there is no record of Bush being at Dannelly, there is plenty of evidence to prove that he was supposed to be. For instance, military records show a September 15, 1972, order stating: "Lt Bush should report to Lt. Col. William Turnipseed, DCO, to perform equivalent training," on "7-8 October, and 4-5 November."

In later interviews, Turnipseed and his administrative officer, Kenneth Lottsaid, said Bush never showed up. "Had he reported in I would have had some recall, and I do not," Turnipsee said. "I had been in Texas, done my flight training there, If we had a 1st Lt from Texas, I would have remembered," he stated.

When questioned by reporters about Tunispeed's interview, the truthful and honest coward now sitting in the White House, brushed him off by saying: "I read the comments from the guy who said he doesn't remember me being there, but I remember being there."

By far the most colorful comments about Bush being AWOL were quotes in the February 13, 2004 Memphis Flyer, from interviews with 2 former guardsmen, Bob Mintz and Paul Bishop, who were members of the Alabama unit when Bush claimed he was there.

These men did attend drills in the summer of 1972 and both said they were certain Bush was not there. "I remember that I heard someone was coming to drill with us from Texas," Mintz said. "And it was implied that it was somebody with political influence."

"I was a young bachelor then," he recalled, "I was looking for somebody to prowl around with."

Mintz said the squadron only had 25 or 30 pilots and told the Flyer, "There's no doubt I would have heard of him, seen him, whatever."

He said, at the time he assumed that Bush had "changed his mind and went somewhere else" to do his duty. Previously a Republican, Mintz also discussed his reaction to outright dissembling by Bush. "You don't do that as an officer," he said, "you don't do that as a pilot, you don't do it as an important person, and you don't do it as a citizen."

"This guy's got a lot of nerve," Mintz said.

Mintz told the Flyer that no members of the Alabama unit remembered Bush being there. "I talked to one of my buddies the other day" he said, "and asked him if he could remember Bush at drill at any time, and he said, ‘Naw, ol' George wasn't there.'"

That buddy was Paul Bishop, who at the time of the interview was a pilot for a charter airline that was flying war supplies into Iraq. He was also a veteran of the first Gulf War and voted for Bush in 2000. "I never saw hide nor hair of Mr. Bush," Bishop said.

He told the Flyer that he did not pay much attention to Bush's claims in the 2000 campaign, but he had since the Iraq war started. "It bothered me," he said, "that he wouldn't ‘fess up and say, Okay, guys, I cut out when the rest of you did your time."

"He shouldn't have tried to dance around the subject," he stated, "I take great exception to that. I spent 39 years defending my country."

This interview with the Flyer is 3 years old and back then Bishop was already saying that he disapproved of the way Bush was handling the war and believed the problem was due to Bush's lack of combat experience. "I think a commander-in-chief who sends his men off to war ought to be a veteran who has seen the sting of battle," he said.

"In Iraq we have a bunch of great soldiers," he stated, "but they are not policemen. ... right now it's costing us an American life a day. ... We've got an over-extended Guard and reserve."

It would be interesting to hear what Mr Bishop has to say about Bush these days.

In light of his obviously low IQ, it could honestly be said that Bush simply can not remember the name of every guardsman in Alabama, but according to a spokesman for the Alabama Guard, there were 600 to 700 members in that unit and Bush can not remember one name, and amazingly, not one Alabama guardsman has come forward to proudly announce that he served his country right along side the current President of the US.

In any event, first hand sitings would be impossible to find because Bush's own military records prove he was AWOL in Alabama and Texas. In the fall of 1972 after the election Bush reportedly did return to Texas but not to Ellington Air Force Base.

On May 2, 1973, his Superior Officers at Ellington, Jerry Killian and William Harris, stated they were unable to complete Bush's "yearly" evaluation because: "Lt Bush has not been observed at this unit during the period of this report."

Which means a year after he trotted off to Alabama, and 7 months after he returned to Texas, Bush's commanding officers in Texas still thought he was in Alabama. The report said Bush "cleared this base on 15 May 1972, and has been performing equivalent training in a non-flying status with the 187 TAC RECON GP, Dannelly Ang Base, Alabama."

Americans should tell members of Congress to consider the military service record of the man deciding the fate of our young men and women in Iraq before granting his next request for funding to keep them there until hell freezes over apparently.

Evelyn Pringle is a columnist for Information Clearing House and an investigative journalist focused on exposing corruption in government and corporate America

CIA ordered analysts to cherry-pick intel for Iraq war

He had a clear message for the men and women who controlled the output of the center’s analysts: “If the president wants to go to war, our job is to find the intelligence to allow him to do so.”



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Man arrested, cuffed for using $2 bills at Best Buy

A man trying to pay a fee using $2 bills was arrested, handcuffed and taken to jail after clerks at a Best Buy store questioned the currency's legitimacy and called police. According to an account in the Baltimore Sun, 57-year-old Mike Bolesta was shocked to find himself taken to the Baltimore County lockup in Cockeysville, Md., where he was ha



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Senators who OK'd war didn't read key report

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A new biography of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton says she and most other senators did not read a key intelligence report before the 2002 vote to authorize war in Iraq.



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Somebody give Bush a blowjob! [PIC]

Great protester sign.



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The Skill That Alberto Gonzales Has Taken To A Whole New Level...

Finally, after all these months, I have found THE secret skill that AG possesses that leaves congressional judges and investigators stunned in the face of his out right lies -- all summed up in one sentence...



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Top General underestimates Iraq War fatalities at Memorial Day appearance

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff dramatically underestimated the number of deaths of US Armed Service-members in the Iraq War. The gaffe came as General Peter Pace appeared on CBS News Monday morning to discuss Memorial Day.



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Top Rove aide, implicated in Attorneys firings, clears out office

Didn't they say something bad about cutting and running?



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Rove May Have Already Stolen the 2008 Election

Forgot Ron Paul and Mike Gravel. The prosecutor firings were 100% about influencing elections -- not about loyalty to Bush. The administration team couldn’t tolerate appointees who wouldn’t go along with crime. Interview with Greg Palast, author of Armed Madhouse.



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Bookstore Owner Burns His Books In Protest of Death of Thought

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (AP) -- Tom Wayne amassed thousands of books in a warehouse during the 10 years he has run his used book store, Prospero's Books. So on Sunday, Wayne began burning his books protest what he sees as society's diminishing support for the printed word. "This is the funeral pyre for thought in America today," Wayne told spectators



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Less Than 0.01% Of Homeland Security Cases Are Terrorism Related

Records obtained from the immigration courts under the Freedom of Information Act show that only 0.0015 percent of the total number of cases filed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security were terrorism related, despite the fact that the Bush administration has repeatedly asserted that it is the primary focus of the DHS.



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No jobs for US citizens without Homeland Security approval

US citizens who apply for a job will need prior approval from Department of Homeland Security under the terms immigration bill passed by the Senate this week.

American Civil Liberties Union pointed out that the DHS's Employment Eligibility Verification System (EEVS) is error plagued and if the department makes a mistake in determining work eligibility, there will be virtually no way to challenge the error or recover lost wages due to the bill’s prohibitions on judicial review.

Even current employees will need to obtain eligibility approval from the DHS Within 60 days of the Immigration Reform Act of 2006 becoming law.

"EEVS would be a financial and bureaucratic nightmare for both businesses and workers," said Timothy Sparapani, ACLU Legislative Counsel. "Under this already flawed program no one would be able to work in the U.S. without DHS approval - creating a ‘No Work List’ similar to the government’s ‘No Fly List.’ We need immigration reform, but not at this cost."

The act allocates US$400 million for the implementation of the EEVS, but the Congressional Budgeting Office estimates the system to cost in excess of a billion dollars.

How Can Bush Bring Freedom and Democracy to Iraq When He Brings Tyranny to America?

By Paul Craig Roberts

05/26/07 "ICH" -- -- The Washington, DC, think-tank, The American Enterprise Institute, camouflages its purpose with its name. There is nothing American about AEI, and the organization’s enterprise is fomenting war in the Middle East against Israel’s enemies. Its real name should be The Likud Center for Middle East War.

AEI has the largest collection of warmongers in America. AEI “scholars” have agitated for war in the Middle East for years. A moronic president and 9/11 gave them their opportunity.

Now that the US invasions and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan have failed, the AEI warmongers are conspiring with Vice President Cheney to foment war with Iran.

Writing in The Washington Note, Steven C. Clemons reports that Cheney is working with the AEI warmongers to short-circuit the efforts of Bush’s secretaries of defense and state to find a diplomatic solution. Clemons reports that one former high level national security official describes the Cheney-AEI conspiracy as possibly an act of “criminal insubordination” against President Bush.

Now that the Democrats have betrayed their mandate of last November to end Bush’s war against Iraq and given Bush carte blanche to continue the gratuitous bloodshed, the neoconservative plan, spearheaded by Vice President Cheney, to initiate aggression against Iran is back on the front burner.

Disinformation is being fed to the media that Iran is responsible for attacks on US troops in Iraq. This disinformation is routinely reported without skepticism by the American media in the face of challenges from experts. For example, a recent British report concludes: “few independent analysts believe Tehran is playing a decisive role in the sectarian warfare and insurgency.”

While the Cheney/AEI conspirators strive to whip up American anger at Iran with lies and disinformation, they are doing everything possible to provoke Iran. The warmongers have planted the story in the media that the US is conducting covert operations against Iran. The US Navy is conducting “exercises” off Iran’s coast. The US military in Iraq has violated diplomatic privilege and kidnapped Iranian officials in Iraq despite protests from the Iraqi and Iranian governments. The US government is stirring up more trouble in Lebanon by setting extremists Sunnis against Iran’s Hezbollah ally. In short, the US government is doing everything possible to start a war with Iran. Bombing Iran, perhaps after a contrived “false flag” operation, is the next step.

Bush continues to tell his favorite lies that he is bringing “freedom and democracy to Iraq” and that Muslims hate us because of our “freedom and democracy.” He continues to make these inane assertions even as he ignores the will of the American people and destroys habeas corpus, the foundation of civil liberty.

Bush ignores the will of the people as expressed in last November’s congressional elections and as expressed in opinion polls. The New York Times/CBS News poll released May 24 shows another sharp drop in public support for Bush and his war. America is “seriously off on the wrong track” was the response of 72 percent of the public.

President Bush, the Republican Party, and the Democratic Party have proved to the entire world that the American people have no voice. The American people have no more ability to affect their government’s policy than inmates in a gulag would have.

What do people in other countries think when they hear Bush prattle on about “freedom and democracy” while he ignores opinion polls and election results and detains people without warrants, tortures them, and puts them before military tribunals in which they are denied even knowing the evidence against them? Bush has contrived a situation for defendants in which no defense is possible. In Bush’s America, people can be executed on the basis of hearsay and secret evidence.

If this is “freedom and democracy,” what is tyranny?

Recent polls show that the majority of the American people are no longer fooled, no matter what politicians say and media report. The election last November demonstrated the electorate's lack of support for continuing the war.

The problem is in implementing the will of the people. Democrats in Congress are not only recipients of AIPAC, oil industry, and military- security complex payoffs just as the Republicans are, Democrats are also behaving very cynically. They believe that it is Bush's policy that gave them control of Congress in November and that by continuing to let Bush prevail, they will clean up on a larger scale in 2008. They believe that their antiwar base has nowhere else to go.

Their cynical logic is probably correct as far as it goes. Bush is being blamed for the war and its failure. The longer this goes on, the worse the situation for the Republicans. Prior to Bush’s invasion of Iraq, I wrote in a column that the unintended consequences of an invasion would be the destruction of Bush, the Republican Party, and the conservative movement. It has taken longer than I thought, largely because of Americans’ blind desire for revenge for 9/11, but the prediction is on track.

The problem with the Democrats’ cynical logic is that allowing Bush to prolong the war in Iraq increases the chances that Cheney, Israel, and the neoconservatives can contrive a war with Iran. Most experts, and many in our own military, think that a war with Iran would go very badly for us, endangering our troops in Iraq by exposing them to more intense attacks from the more numerous Shiites, who would be armed with Iranian weapons that can neutralize our tanks and helicopters, leaving our fragmented and divided troops isolated and cut off from supplies and retreat routes.

The pending disaster would play into Cheney's hands. With America faced with the loss of an army, Cheney and the neoconservatives would likely succeed in convincing Bush to nuke Iran. Cheney and Rumsfeld have already changed US war doctrine to permit preemptive nuclear attack against non-nuclear powers. Surprised by the inability of the US military to prevail in Iraq and by Israel's military failure against Hezbollah, the neocons concluded that the only way to establish US/Israeli hegemony over the entire Middle East is to nuke Iran. The neocons believe that using nuclear weapons against Iran will demonstrate to the Muslim world that they have no alternative but to submit to US hegemony.

The Democrats are far from being alone in lacking the vision to see the abyss into which their cynicism is leading us. With the corporate media serving as propaganda ministry for the administration, Cheney will be able to whip up enough fear and anger to convince the American people that the use of nuclear weapons was imperative.

Bush’s popularity will return as he prevails over the enemy and tells Americans how he saved them from Iran’s nuclear weapons. The Democrats’ cynicism will have destroyed them and opened new avenues to destruction and violence.

Paul Craig Roberts wrote the Kemp-Roth bill and was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review. He is author or coauthor of eight books, including The Supply-Side Revolution (Harvard University Press). He has held numerous academic appointments, including the William E. Simon Chair in Political Economy, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Georgetown University and Senior Research Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He has contributed to numerous scholarly journals and testified before Congress on 30 occasions. He has been awarded the U.S. Treasury's Meritorious Service Award and the French Legion of Honor. He was a reviewer for the Journal of Political Economy under editor Robert Mundell.

Web controls are ugly in Firefox!

For some reasons, web controls are rather ugly in Firefox when it is run under Linux (I am talking about running Firefox under Ubuntu Linux 7.04, Feisty Fawn and Gnome). It is particularly the case with radio buttons. Fortunately there is a fix for this issue.



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Proof of Rove Vote Fraud Operation - Completely Blacked Out In US Media

Investigative reporter Greg Palast from the BBC has 500 of the emails Rove & Company claim are missing, which prove massive, orchestration of vote tampering. Mr. Palast also covers other news that our media completely blacks out. Please pass it onto friends and family. We do not live in a free society any longer and this interview proves it!



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How Can Bush Bring Democracy to Iraq When He Brings Tyranny to America?

by Paul Craig Roberts--The Washington, DC, think-tank, The American Enterprise Institute, camouflages its purpose with its name. Its real name should be The Center for Middle East War.AEI has the largest collection of warmongers in America. AEI "scholars" have agitated for war in the Middle East for years. A moronic president and 9/11 gave th



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Hundreds booo ex-Bush chief of staff at UMass graduation

Even faculty sitting on stage joined in on the action, screaming their disapproval while holding signs that read "Card: No Honor, No Degree."



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Cheney criticizes Geneva conventions at West Point commencement

Darth Vader is trying to distance himself from the accidental old man shooter at this point, so evil is Richard B. Cheney.



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Using the Power of Digg to Hold the Senate Accountable

An anonymous Republican Senator has placed a secret hold on the Open Government Act. Ironically, the purpose of this act is to strengthen the Freedom of Information Act. This post explains a plan to use the power of the Internet to determine which Senator is at fault. The American people deserve to know. Digg: Let's get to the bottom of this.



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Congress discovers spine, starts examining NSA surveillance

The House Intelligence Committee schedules June hearings on the NSA electronic surveillance program and the role that phone companies have played and it.



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How The U.S. Is Bankrupting Itself

The late US President Eisenhower predicted that his country could bankrupt itself by engaging in wars to achieve national security. The WW2 general said the quest was unachievable. Read on to learn how his prediction is coming to pass.Find the home site of author Bill Allin at http://billallin.com



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Cheney To Bypass Bush, Collude With Israel To Attack Iran?

Clemons writes: “Multiple sources have reported that a senior aide on Vice President Cheney’s national security team has been … explicitly stating that Vice President Cheney does not support Bush’s tack towards Condoleezza Rice’s diplomatic efforts and fears that the President is taking diplomacy with Iran too seriously.



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Senators seek lost Rove e-mails from Rove's attorney

A pair of Senators wrote Thursday to a private attorney for Karl Rove and asked to receive a set of e-mails from the top White House adviser that were not properly archived. As the Senators' letter reveals, Fitzgerald did not receive paper copies of the e-mails. Instead, he was given electronic copies, which were reportedly returned to Luskin.



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Toll Road Giant Buys Newspapers to Silence Critics

Critics charge that the Macquarie purchase of American Consolidated Media is designed to silence critics of a Texas toll road project.

Australian toll road giant Macquarie agreed Wednesday to purchase forty local newspapers, primarily in Texas and Oklahoma, for $80 million. Macquarie Bank is Australia's largest capital raising firm and has invested billions in purchasing roads in the US, Canada and UK. Most recently the company joined with Cintra Concesiones of Spain in a controversial 75-year lease of the 157-mile Indiana Toll Road.

Sal Costello, the leading opponent of toll road projects as head of the Texas Toll Party, says the move is directly related to a 4000-mile toll road project known as the Trans-Texas Corridor. It will cost between $145 and $183 billion to construct the road, expected to be up to 1200 feet wide, requiring the acquisition of 9000 square miles of land in the areas through which it will pass.

"The newspapers are the main communication tool for many of the rural Texan communities, with many citizens at risk of losing their homes and farms through eminent domain," Costello wrote.

Many of the small papers purchased, most have a circulation of 5000 or less, have been critical of the Trans-Texas Corridor. An article in the Bonham Journal for example, states, "The toll roads will be under control of foreign investors, which more than frustrates Texans."

Your Best Dilbert Quotes

What are your best dilbert Quotes? Add your best one to the comments.

Media Manipulation

Have you noticed how the media reports the proposed immigration bill? It reports very little on the problems with the bill. Media focus is on the few "radical" people that are demanding their Senators vote NO. What evidence does the press have that it is only "radicals" that are concerned? None! [...]



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Gasoline Prices are the Resultant of Free-market Dynamics?

The obvious truth to the matter is that the oil industry is by no means a free market in virutally any way.



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Is the US reinstating a military draft

Interesting analysis of the US military needs and why the draft is imminent.



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The Constitution: Understanding War Powers

Pre-emptive strikes and undeclared offensive military expeditions are not mentioned in the Constitution, and are, therefore, unlawful. In matters of peace and war, Presidential rule has completely replaced the rule of law in the United States.



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Why Congress Caved to Bush

The congressional Democrats are cynical, but they are not stupid. If the surge works and U.S. troops are being withdrawn by fall 2008, they do not want it said of them that they "cut and ran" when the going got tough, that they played Chamberlain to Bush's Churchill.



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Bush 'Surge' Fails To Prevent Rise In Iraq Killings

More than three months into a U.S.-Iraqi security offensive designed to curtail sectarian violence in Baghdad and other parts of Iraq, Health Ministry statistics show that such killings are rising again.



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Dilbert Quotes.

Friday, 25 May 2007

A magazine recently ran a "Dilbert Quotes" contest. They were looking for people to submit quotes from their real life Dilbert-type managers. Here are the finalists:

1. "As of tomorrow, employees will only be able to access the building using individual security cards. Pictures will be taken next Wednesday and employees will receive their cards in two weeks." (This was the winning quote from Fred Dales at Microsoft Corp.in Redmond,WA.)
2. "What I need is a list of specific unknown problems we will encounter."(Lykes Lines Shipping)
3. "E-mail is not to be used to pass on information or data. It should be used only for company business." (Accounting manager, Electric Boat Company)
4. "This project is so important, we can't let things that are more important interfere with it." (Advertising/Marketing manager, United Parcel Service)
5. "Doing it right is no excuse for not meeting the schedule.
6. No one will believe you solved this problem in one day! We've been working on it for months. Now, go act busy for a few weeks and I'll let you know when it's time to tell them." (R&D supervisor, Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing/3M Corp.)
7. "My Boss spent the entire weekend retyping a 25-page proposal that only needed corrections. She claims the disk I gave her was damaged and she couldn't edit it. The disk I gave her was write-protected." (CIO of Dell Computers)
8. Quote from the Boss: "Teamwork is a lot of people doing what I say." (Marketing executive, Citrix Corporation)
9. My sister passed away and her funeral was scheduled for Monday. When I told my Boss, he said she died on purpose so that I would have to miss work on the busiest day of the year. He then asked if we could change her burial to Friday. He said, "That would be better for me." (Shipping executive, FTD Florists)
10. "We know that communication is a problem, but the company is not going to discuss it with the employees." (Switching supervisor, AT&T Long Lines Division)
11. We recently received a memo from senior management saying: "This is to inform you that a memo will be issued today regarding the memo mentioned above." (Microsoft, Legal Affairs Division)
12. One day my Boss asked me to submit a status report to him concerning a project I was working on. I asked him if tomorrow would be soon enough. He said, "If I wanted it tomorrow, I would have waited until tomorrow to ask for it!" (New business manager, Hallmark Greeting Cards.)
13. As director of communications, I was asked to prepare a memo reviewing our company's training programs and materials. In the body of the memo in one of the sentences I mentioned the "pedagogical approach" used by one of the training manuals. The day after I routed the memo to the executive committee, I was called into the HR director's office, and told that the executive vice president wanted me out of the building by lunch. When I asked why, I was told that she wouldn't stand for perverts (pedophiles?) working in her company. Finally, he showed me her copy of the memo, with her demand that I be fired-and the word "pedagogical" circled in red. The HR manager was fairly reasonable, and once he looked the word up in his dictionary and made a copy of the definition to send back to her, he told me not to worry. He would take care of it. Two days later, a memo to the entire staff came out directing us that no words which could not be found in the local Sunday newspaper could be used in company memos. A month later, I resigned. In accordance with company policy, I created my resignation memo by pasting words together from the Sunday paper. (Taco Bell Corporation)

Bush makes power grab

Posted: May 23, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern

President Bush, without so much as issuing a press statement, on May 9 signed a directive that granted near dictatorial powers to the office of the president in the event of a national emergency declared by the president.

The "National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive," with the dual designation of NSPD-51, as a National Security Presidential Directive, and HSPD-20, as a Homeland Security Presidential Directive, establishes under the office of president a new National Continuity Coordinator.

That job, as the document describes, is to make plans for "National Essential Functions" of all federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal governments, as well as private sector organizations to continue functioning under the president's directives in the event of a national emergency.

The directive loosely defines "catastrophic emergency" as "any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions."

When the president determines a catastrophic emergency has occurred, the president can take over all government functions and direct all private sector activities to ensure we will emerge from the emergency with an "enduring constitutional government."

Translated into layman's terms, when the president determines a national emergency has occurred, the president can declare to the office of the presidency powers usually assumed by dictators to direct any and all government and business activities until the emergency is declared over.

Ironically, the directive sees no contradiction in the assumption of dictatorial powers by the president with the goal of maintaining constitutional continuity through an emergency.

The directive specifies that the assistant to the president for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism will be designated as the National Continuity Coordinator.

Further established is a Continuity Policy Coordination Committee, chaired by a senior director from the Homeland Security Council staff, designated by the National Continuity Coordinator, to be "the main day-to-day forum for such policy coordination."

Currently, the assistant to the president for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism is Frances Fragos Townsend.

Townsend spent 13 years at the Justice Department before moving to the U.S. Coast Guard where she served as assistant commandant for intelligence.

She is a White House staff member in the executive office of the president who also chairs the Homeland Security Council, which as a counterpart to the National Security Council reports directly to the president.

The directive issued May 9 makes no attempt to reconcile the powers created there for the National Continuity Coordinator with the National Emergency Act. As specified by U.S. Code Title 50, Chapter 34, Subchapter II, Section 1621, the National Emergency Act allows that the president may declare a national emergency but requires that such proclamation "shall immediately be transmitted to the Congress and published in the Federal Register."

A Congressional Research Service study notes that under the National Emergency Act, the president "may seize property, organize and control the means of production, seize commodities, assign military forces abroad, institute martial law, seize and control all transportation and communication, regulate the operation of private enterprise, restrict travel, and, in a variety of ways, control the lives of United States citizens."

The CRS study notes that the National Emergency Act sets up congress as a balance empowered to "modify, rescind, or render dormant such delegated emergency authority," if Congress believes the president has acted inappropriately.

NSPD-51/ HSPD-20 appears to supersede the National Emergency Act by creating the new position of National Continuity Coordinator without any specific act of Congress authorizing the position.

NSPD-51/ HSPD-20 also makes no reference whatsoever to Congress. The language of the May 9 directive appears to negate any a requirement that the president submit to Congress a determination that a national emergency exists, suggesting instead that the powers of the executive order can be implemented without any congressional approval or oversight.

Homeland Security spokesperson Russ Knocke affirmed that the Homeland Security Department will be implementing the requirements of NSPD-51/ HSPD-20 under Townsend's direction.

The White House had no comment.

The Goods on Goodling and the Keys to the Kingdom

This Monica revealed something hotter --- much hotter --- than a stained blue dress. In her opening testimony yesterday before the House Judiciary Committee, Monica Goodling, the blonde-ling underling to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Department of Justice Liaison to the White House, dropped The Big One....And the Committee members didn't even know it.

Goodling testified that Gonzales' Chief of Staff, Kyle Sampson, perjured himself, lying to the committee in earlier testimony. The lie: Sampson denied Monica had told him about Tim Griffin's "involvement in 'caging' voters" in 2004.

Huh?? Tim Griffin? "Caging"???

The perplexed committee members hadn't a clue --- and asked no substantive questions about it thereafter. Karl Rove is still smiling. If the members had gotten the clue, and asked the right questions, they would have found "the keys to the kingdom," they thought they were looking for. They dangled right in front of their perplexed faces.

The keys: the missing emails --- and missing link --- that could send Griffin and his boss, Rove, to the slammer for a long, long time.

Kingdom enough for ya?

But what's 'caging' and why is it such a dreadful secret that lawyer Sampson put his license to practice and his freedom on the line to cover Tim Griffin's involvement in it? Because it's a felony. And a big one.

Our BBC team broke the story at the top of the nightly news everywhere on the planet - except the USA - only because America's news networks simply refused to cover this evidence of the electoral coup d'etat that chose our President in 2004.

Here's how caging worked, and along with Griffin's thoughtful emails themselves you'll understand it all in no time.

The Bush-Cheney operatives sent hundreds of thousands of letters marked "Do not forward" to voters' homes. Letters returned ("caged") were used as evidence to block these voters' right to cast a ballot on grounds they were registered at phony addresses. Who were the evil fakers? Homeless men, students on vacation and --- you got to love this --- American soldiers. Oh yeah: most of them are Black voters.

Why weren't these African-American voters home when the Republican letters arrived? The homeless men were on park benches, the students were on vacation --- and the soldiers were overseas. Go to Baghdad, lose your vote. Mission Accomplished.

How do I know? I have the caging lists...

I have them because they are attached to the emails Rove insists can't be found. I have the emails. 500 of them --- sent to our team at BBC after the Rove-bots accidentally sent them to a web domain owned by our friend John Wooden.

Here's what you need to know --- and the Committee would have discovered, if only they'd asked:

1. 'Caging' voters is a crime, a go-to-jail felony.
2. Griffin wasn't "involved" in the caging, Ms. Goodling. Griffin, Rove's right-hand man (right-hand claw), was directing the illegal purge and challenge campaign. How do I know? It's in the email I got. Thanks. And it's posted below.
3. On December 7, 2006, the ragin', cagin' Griffin was named, on Rove's personal demand, US Attorney for Arkansas. Perpetrator became prosecutor.

The committee was perplexed about Monica's panicked admission and accusations about the caging list because the US press never covered it. That's because, as Griffin wrote to Goodling in yet another email (dated February 6 of this year, and also posted below), their caging operation only made the news on BBC London: busted open, Griffin bitched, by that "British reporter," Greg Palast.

There's no pride in this. Our BBC team broke the story at the top of the nightly news everywhere on the planet --- except the USA --- only because America's news networks simply refused to cover this evidence of the electoral coup d'etat that chose our President in 2004.

And now, not bothering to understand the astonishing revelation in Goodling's confessional, they are missing the real story behind the firing of the US attorneys. It's not about removing prosecutors disloyal to Bush, it's about replacing those who refused to aid the theft of the vote in 2004 with those prepared to burgle it again in 2008.

Now that they have the keys, let's see if they can put them in the right door. The clock is ticking ladies and gents...

(Ed Note: You can easily contact your Congress Members to call and/or email them this information by clicking here. Let them know they need to take action. Now. And feel free to point them towards this article, URL: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4594)

===

Greg Palast is the author of the New York Times bestseller, Armed Madhouse: from Baghdad to New Orleans - Sordid Secrets and Strange Tales of a White House Gone WILD. For more info, or to hear Brad Friedman, Ed Asner and other troublemakers read from Armed Madhouse, go to www.GregPalast.com

How Will They Destroy Ron Paul?

By Mike Whitney

“Whether the resistance against government tyrants is nonviolent or physically violent, the effort to overthrow state oppression qualifies as true patriotism”. Rep. Ron Paul “On Patriotism”

05/24/07 "ICH" -- -- How will the media destroy Ron Paul?

We all know the drill by now. Whenever a politician with character and principles throws his hat in the ring the media descends on him like feral hounds on a pork chop. It’ll be no different with Paul. The only difference is that we should all be aware of what’s really going on.

Did you see the Republican debates?

Paul won hands-down. He stood out in a crowd of colorless toadies and became an overnight sensation on the internet. In fact, an ABC survey showed that Paul won the first debate with an 85% majority; while C-SPAN showed him at 70%. Maybe the stats are just a fluke of internet voting, but it’s sure made the boys in the boardrooms nervous.

You see, it doesn’t matter if Paul wins or not. What matters is that he is delivering a message that is damaging to America’s biggest powerbrokers---and they don’t like it. They would rather he just shut up and go away. They’ve heard enough about the Military Commissions Act, and martial law, and the fraudulent war on terror. They’ve put a lot of energy into the new American police state and they aren’t about to let some “no account” libertarian destroy all their hard work.

Right now, the right wing think tanks are probably buzzing like a hornets nest. They have their work cut out for them. The sleeves are rolled up, the ash trays are full, and America’s best propagandists are working out the details for a full-blown assault on Ron Paul. They want to take him down now, before he can cause any more trouble.

My guess is that they will use a similar strategy to what they used on John Kerry, that is---keep it simple---attack on 3 fronts and repeat the charges from every soapbox in America. In Kerry’s case, the mantra was as follows:

1. Kerry “flip-flops”

2 He’s a Massachusetts liberal.

3 He faked his war injuries to look like a hero.

The effectiveness of this strategy depends on how often the charges are repeated and from how many outlets. The media will have to devise a saturation-campaign similar to the full-blown attack on Howard Dean in the 2004 Democratic primary. The infamous “Dean Scream” appeared over 900 times in the major media in the first 72 hours. Technicians isolated Dean’s holler from the background noise of a crowded convention hall, which made him look like he was emotionally unstable.

It worked like a charm. Dean’s star sunk overnight and the country was “spared” the prospect of an antiwar candidate.

Isn’t that what media is for---to obliterate the enemies of the corporate chieftains who enrich themselves through foreign wars?

My guess is that, sometime in the next 2 weeks, we’ll see a big push by to derail the Paul campaign. Already Sean Hannity, Glen Beck and FOX News have taken a few swipes at him, but they proved they are not up to the task. Its time to wheel out the heavy artillery and pound Paul into rubble.

But what is Paul saying that makes him such a threat to the corporate powerbrokers? Is it just because he stands out in a crowd of plaster-hair phonies--or is it because his campaign is focused on the traditional American values of liberty and non-intervention rather than demagoguery and torture?

This is how Paul summarized 9-11 and our misguided war in Iraq:

“They attack us because we've been over there. We've been bombing Iraq for 10 years. We've been in the Middle East [for years]. I think Reagan was right. We don't understand the irrationality of Middle Eastern politics. Right now, we're building an embassy in Iraq that is bigger than the Vatican. We're building 14 permanent bases. What would we say here if China was doing this in our country or in the Gulf of Mexico? Would we be objecting?

Or this:

“I believe the CIA is correct when it warns us about blowback. We overthrew the Iranian government in 1953 and their taking the hostages was the reaction. This dynamic persists and we ignore it at our risk. They’re not attacking us because we’re rich and free, they’re attacking us because we’re over there.”

The rest of the Republican candidates support the “official narrative” that Iraq is just a battleground in a larger war against Islamic fanaticism---the prevailing myth which is fueled by the media and assures decades of conflict.

Clearly, the bankers, neocons and weapons manufacturers are not sympathetic to Paul’s analysis nor do they want to pollute the public air-waves with his common sense alternatives.

Here’s what Paul has to say about the maneuverings of the Federal Reserve, the secretive cabal that controls our money:

“Congress created the Federal Reserve System in 1913. Between then and 1971 the principle of sound money was systematically undermined. Between 1913 and 1971, the Federal Reserve found it much easier to expand the money supply at will for financing war or manipulating the economy with little resistance from Congress-- while benefiting the special interests that influence government.

Since printing paper money is nothing short of counterfeiting, the issuer of the international currency must always be the country with the military might to guarantee control over the system. This magnificent scheme seems the perfect system for obtaining perpetual wealth for the country that issues the de facto world currency. The one problem, however, is that such a system destroys the character of the counterfeiting nation’s people-- just as was the case when gold was the currency and it was obtained by conquering other nations. And this destroys the incentive to save and produce, while encouraging debt and runaway welfare.”

Do you really think that the board-members of the privately-owned Central Bank want the American people to know about the extortionist racket they’ve been running for the last 90 years in contravention of the US Constitution?

And, what do you think they’ll do to stop further embarrassing exposure?

Paul’s demand that we abolish the Federal Reserve is no different than his ideological ancestor Thomas Jefferson, who said:

“If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of our currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and the corporations that will grow up will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing of power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.”

Isn’t that what is happening right now? Doesn’t the Fed inflate one massive equity bubble after the other so that working class people are lured in by low-interest rates and then lose their shirts when the bubble collapses? This is how the banking elites shift wealth from one class to another. It’s an old scam, but it never fails.

Paul is right. Free people cannot control their own destiny unless they control their own currency. The Federal Reserve must be abolished. And, as Paul says, “The sooner the better”.

He’s also right about deficits when he says:

The greatest threat facing America today is not terrorism, or foreign economic competition, or illegal immigration. The greatest threat facing America today is the disastrous fiscal policies of our own government, marked by shameless deficit spending and Federal Reserve currency devaluation. It is this one-two punch – Congress spending more than it can tax or borrow, and the Fed printing money to make up the difference – that threatens to impoverish us by further destroying the value of our dollars”.

The men who own the media don’t want this type of populism on the air-waves. After all, they love deficits. The trade deficits provide cheap capital for the stock market while the budget deficit borrows money from future generations for lavish tax cuts for Bush’s wealthy buddies.

No wonder they hate Paul!

Most of all, Paul is reviled for his defense of liberty and his rejection of Bush’s sweeping changes to the Constitution. He’s been an outspoken critic of the Military Commissions Act, which permits torture and arbitrary detention of American citizens or foreign nationals on the orders of the executive. He has also condemned warrantless wiretaps, presidential signings, extraordinary rendition, the Real ID Act, and the Orwellian-sounding "Enforcement of the Laws to Restore Public Order Act'' which allows Bush to declare martial law at his own discretion.

Ron Paul is a friend of personal freedom which makes him the de facto enemy of the White House brown-shirts. He has watched as our country has continued to slide towards military dictatorship. He has put himself on the firing-line to defend our way of life.

His candidacy is an act of patriotism which is why the Bush Throng will try to destroy him.

In a recent speech on the floor of the House Paul said:

“Patriotism is more closely linked to dissent than it is to conformity and a blind desire for safety and security. Understanding the magnificent rewards of a free society makes us unbashful in its promotion, fully realizing that maximum wealth is created and the greatest chance for peace comes from a society respectful of individual liberty”.

Thanks for that, Mr. Paul. And, good luck.