OPEN THREAD – WIDE OPEN

THANKS..

LC…On this new Site…all the words down the right side in ARCHIVES…LINKS..and CATEGORIES…are all voer lapping..each other so I can only see half of each..is that normal..?? Can I do anything to correct it if not….anyone else having the same Problem..??

Thanks

LC…On this new Site…all the words down the right side in ARCHIVES…LINKS..and CATEGORIES…are all voer lapping..each other so I can only see half of each..is that normal..?? Can I do anything to correct it if not….anyone else having the same Problem..??

Thanks

The war esplained:

“We’re taking a lot of casualties in Iraq because that’s where they are killing our soldiers. That’s the reason we’re taking on casualties in Iraq, because that’s where our soldiers are.”

- John Thune, US Senator, South Dakota

Am I the only one waiting for a new false flag attack on America?

The stage is being set with the sudden flurry of “gut feelings”, national intelligence estimates, bin Laden’s latest cameo, Arkansas yahoos saying we need to be attacked again to get everyone with the Bush program, Santorum’s comments, etc.

There will be an “attack” worse than 9/11 and some Iranian passport will be “found” in the debris of said attack. Then we’ll be off and running, perhaps starting WWIII with a nuclear attack.

Are we going to blog right through to the end? Or are we going to start screaming from the rooftops to stop this before it is too late? What the hell can we do?

(admin note: didn’t mean to get chatty. but, i give y’all stories about claire, and a tutorial on the show me state. which is quite simply, the nation’s political bellweather. [said with humor] quiz at the end. so pay attention.)

short version of claire. good woman. lots of steel. former state auditor. former jackson co. (kc area) prosecutor. former 3 times mo. state rep. feisty. honest. has truman’s old senate seat. spoke on campaign trail of harry truman and his investigations and how she wanted to do the same.

met her (again) when gen. wesley clark came to a local st. louis amer. legion hall c. 16 sept 07. arranged to meet her one on one before the event. had bought her, using an andrew jacksons (ie, old hickory is on the $20 bill) and loose change, a copy of tom ricks’ magisterial fiasco. (fiasco is simply one of the most dangerous books in america today. give a copy to your local rep, gain a convert.) said ma’am you need to read this. it will help you beat your opponent. (jim talent.) she said thanks. that she was reading it already. (internally, this pleased me.) and did i know who else told her that she needed to read it? no ma’am. bill clinton. later, i would say, (big smile) yes, yes, yes! wet hornet and bill clinton. yes.

i wish the dems had used fiasco the way that clinton used bartlett and steele’s what’s wrong with america? in 92. holding it up at virtually campaingn appearence. you can be proactive and drive the national conversation or you can be passive and react. two types of people: players and spectators.

i think the dems should use fiasco this way in 08. anyone running for office, from co. executive on up to president. (maybe y’all can put a bug in people’s ears in y’all’s backyard.)

i have said, and will say again, mizzourah is the most important state in the union. because it is THE battlefield state in elections. THE bellweather in presidential elections. jean carnahan won in 2000 with like a 2 votes per precinct edge. and lost by roughly the same in 2002. claire won narrowly, and would have been the tightest senate race in the country but for “landslide” webb and tester.

pls. put the governor’s race of jay nixon, our atty. gen. vs. “baby blunt” on y’all’s radar screen. blunt is the son of roy blunt, lieutenant for tom delay. and now number 2 in the house. little blunt was going to possibly be primaried, and lo and behold, my suspicion is that daddy hit up people for money, and big bucks poured in, and now junior has like 5.6 million cash on hand. doubling up jay nixon’s totals. we also have a recent law that allows people to write $100, 000 checks. (maybe more.) gee, i wonder who that benefits?

also, the state legislature went to the r’s c. 2000. r’s benefitted greatly from terms limits (which they now think are a dumb idea. natch.) and from being out of power for 50 years. (every 50 years we put the r’s in charge of the executive and legislatures at the federal and state level……then the policies come in…..then, we have a “v-8 (vegetable juice, tv ad) moment and slap our foreheads with our hand and say, “what, what was i thinking?)

i know jay nixon and sam page, who is running for the lt. gov. slot. as my daddy would say, they’re “good people.”

we are the home of rush limbaugh, who a relative who is a state suprem court judge, john ashcroft, kit bond, the #2 in the house blunt, fortunately the now employed in the private sector, jim talent. (a very dangerous pol. vicious policies wrapping in a leave it to beaver aw shucks wholesomeness; he’s young, like mid 40′s, i suspect he’ll be back.)

as mark twain, a native lad, (from hannibal on the mizzourah river), said, we are
the nothern most southern state, southern most northern state……yada, yada, ditto east and west.

the good news is that the show me state is like the frank sinatra song for dems, “if we can make here, we’ll make it anywhere.”

stories ’bout jim webb below.

“we’re taking on casualties in Iraq, because that’s where our soldiers are.”

Ya know, that really makes the solution pretty obvious, doesn’t it? I mean, that guy is pretty darned bright!

PH,

Do you have newer or alternate browser with which to try?

feedback about new website. overall excellent. just noticed one thing. on the old one, there was a feature which showed most recent posts with the commentators names. i liked that. would like to see it here.

Duly noted and on my ToDo list.

Yes, I would like to see that feature here too, if that is doable.

I heard Claire McCaskill on the Span last night. I was thrilled to hear somebody talking about war profiteering, which I’ve been screeching about for a while. Wouldn’t it be great if we could actually take that on in Congress.

If it weren’t for war profiteering, we wouldn’t be in Iraq.

bohewasp, great comments. for the record, i have said the same on this blog recently. i do agree with your, my words, are we going to just flap our gums in cyberspace, or are we actually going to do something?

in my post downblog i called it, PML, pardon my language, cybermasturbation.

the biggest national action that i know of being called is the project occupation/congressional swarm that is due to start in early august. they did this last spring. visit cong/sen. offices. few folks got arrested, but only those that wanted to. see http://www.vcnv.org. i think. voices creative non violence. kathy kelly’s org. jeff leys/lays is the point of contact.

find the veterans for peace chapter near you. (disclosure: i’m a member and past v.p. of my local chapter. tell ‘em there’s an airborne ranger in st. louis county mizzourah who sent you. we are also hq’d in stl.) these people are the type of whom margaret meade siad, ballpark, let it be understood, it is always a small group of folks who change the world. and, if they don’t work out for you, they can point you in hte right direction. this will help you obey/comply will the late great molly ivins injunction (is that the word i want?): find out who’s raising hell and join them.

there are 2 veteran conferences this summer. vietnam veterans against the war. chicago early august. http://www.vvaw.org i think. and veterans for peace. stlouis. mid august. http://www.veteransforpeace.org spread the word. these guys and gals are totally awesome. some of the neatest people and most effective activists i’ve ever met. and even if you can’t go, spreading the word now will help get other people there. you can become a member. do not, repeat, do not have to be a veteran. these orgs. helped start and get ‘em up and running, mil. families speak out, mfso. and iraq and afghanistan veterans against the war.

i am having (for the next 2-3 weeks) severe technical issues and i can’t make it “pretty” like i would like to. and i would flat out love and name my next child after the first person who picks up the ball and runs with it. and gets it on other websites. or does a dailykos diary. or, puts it on their webpage and tells their three favorites other bloggers.

the key task as i see it is to turn up hte heat on congress. so whatever you can do on that front. you can walk in. you can call. and call ‘em the week after. and the week after that. you can contact your local media. grab a cup of coffee with a reporter. national media. don’t neglect your local officials. do you know somebody on the county board who will introduce an impeachment resolution? who is your state rep/state senator. might be a good time to get acquainted.

wear blue on fridays. evidently, the right (which is wrong) has a wear red on fridays campaign going. red state, blue state i guess.

in my walter mitty world we have “accountability fridays.” it looks like this: millions of citizens, in love with and concerned for their country, flood their congressmen and senators offices. at home and in d.c. and shut down their phone system! (i said this to a senate staffer in a meeting a few months back. said staffer raised their eyebrows bigtime. i took it to mean that would really a) get their attention, and b) screw up their lives.) repeat the following friday.

there are campaigns gearing up for nov. 2008 now. if there is one that really appeals to you join. i was in the basement of our next lt. governor’s house a few weeks back. the task wasn’t glamorous. dropping 750 pieces of mail for a fundraiser. but it was important. and the company was damn good.

which points to a benefit of pushing away from the computer (smile, after you finish my words of wisdom of course, ] and physically being with other human beings. we are social beings. we are meant to connect with people. when we are in such pain because of events in our country it is delicious for our souls to be with other like minded folks.

vigils. happening all over the country. many for 5 years. attend. rent a documentary, robert greenwald’s iraq for sale. or, greenwald’s earlier one about the lies that the admin. told us using retired military/intel/diplomatic folks saying it was a crock of sh*t. ray mcgovern was in it. or, vfp has a chapter in california that did an action called arlington west. after arlington cemetery. and kept doing it every weekend. put up white crosses on the beach. very, very moving. host a party to show said documentary. (could be pot luck.)

get a bumper sticker. how many people see your car every day? i have taken two long round trips throughout our great land the past few months. i am surprised and disappointed by how few bumper snickers, i mean stickers, i saw. the good news is a massive percentage of those who had the “w” stickers on their cars/suvs/hummers have taken them off.

go to the gym. being an activist and not taking of your body renders you ineffective, or less effective. you are hiding your light under a bushel. this is my achille’s heel. (i just had a stress test/ekg at the hospital. and started an exercise program. when steve gilliard died i was tempted to hop a plane and go to his funeral. the fact that i didn’t know where the funeral was — besides ny city area — was immaterial. (i loved that guy and i miss him.) what i choose to do was buy a good bicycle and start losing some excess pounds. i’m six feet and a “svelte” 259 pounds; i can get rid of a few. as i tell myself, my country is so sick i have to get better. in 3 short weeks i can already feel a marked improvement. the first day i did a whopping 2.8 miles on my bike. which was too far. adjusted. as the title of the book i’m reading, by a guy who was 48 and headed for a heart attack, and now in his mid 70′s, competes in the hawaii ironman triatholon, says: “it’s never too late.”

spend time with your family. if politics is too much of a minefield to discuss — as it is with many activists — don’t discuss it. they love you. and you love them. maybe in an imperfect way, but kin is kin.

take a break from this stuff occassionally. what nourishes your soul? do it. repeat. balance is a nice thing to have in theory. executing that in your life is trickier.

get a “nature fix.” a walk on the beach. a hike in the woods. a walk around the block. a canoe trip down a mild river.

music is really kewl. dance. have an indoor rock concert as you roll down the highway. crank those tunes. yeah baby. sing at the top of your lungs.

pray. i believe in the efficacy of prayer. light a candle. meditate……ewwwww, activists who are rip sh*t furious AND centered. ……now that, that, would be a LETHAL, LETHAL combination. a spiritual practice, whatever that looks like for you, and don’t let religious knuckleheads scare you away, can be a real anchor.

as sting says in his great song, “brand new day,” “all you lovers in the world, stand up and be counted. every boy and every girl.”

well bohewasp, that should keep you busy for a week or so. others may wish to adopt a more moderate pace.

ahhhhhh craposis. i typed up a great piece on jim webb, one of the truly good guys, and hit some button by mistake. my pearls of wisdom are running around in cyberspace somewhere. darn nation.

i should go to bed. a soldier’s first duty is to take care of his body. (bobby lee said duty was the most sublime word in the english language; i’m not bobby, sometimes i find it to be a 4 letter word.)

semper fi jim webb. one day i will meet you, look you in the eye, salute you and shake your hand.

wet hornet
the ocs, airborne ranger with a classmate who was in the marine corps barracks in beruit in ’83; he lived. barely.
also got kin who has his kid in the corps right now. due to head to iraq w/i 6 months or so. kid’s in the pay grade that does the bulk of the dying in war.

PH, it does that when I open the page in a very old version of MS Explorer and select largest size font.

It is worth the trouble to download firefox which is a much better browser and has TABS!!!!

If you do install Firefox you can change typeface size using control + and control -.

http://firefox.org.nz/

Patrick Henry,

Here is a better URL. Am placing this at bottom of list in case you look at the bottom of the list for a response to query. If that is the case see earlier reply attached to your post.

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/

War or near-war with Iran may be the Republicans’ only hope for 2008. The caucasian lizard brain might well default to white male leader in such a situation.

SEC. 201. AUTHORITY TO INTERCEPT WIRE, ORAL, AND ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS RELATING TO TERRORISM.
Section 2516(1) of title 18, United States Code, is amended–

(1) by redesignating paragraph (p), as so redesignated by section 434(2) of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-132; 110 Stat. 1274), as paragraph (r); and

(2) by inserting after paragraph (p), as so redesignated by section 201(3) of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (division C of Public Law 104-208; 110 Stat. 3009-565), the following new paragraph:

`(q) any criminal violation of section 229 (relating to chemical weapons); or sections 2332, 2332a, 2332b, 2332d, 2339A, or 2339B of this title (relating to terrorism); or’.

http://www.epic.org/privacy/terr…ism/ hr3162.html

I turned on the radio this morning and and lo and behold, Larry was on the Young Turks. What a way to start the day.
Larry, you were great.

FBI can bug our conversations through our cell phones. Software can be downloaded onto cell phones without the owner’s knowledge, which will activate the phone’s microphone. Then the FBI can listen into nearby conversations from our cells surreptitiously. Nextel, Samsung and the Motorola Razr are particularly vulnerable. Bush’s DOJ approved this. The FBI can also use automotive systems, such as GM’s OnStar, to spy on people.

Around 5pm, NYC had a steam pipe/transformer explosion yesterday underneath Grand Central Station. An SUV on the street, fell into the crator created by the explosion. The driver was badly burned, maybe over 80% of his body. Over a dozen people were injured, and one person died of a heart attack.

Now come all the jokes: Steam hates us! Chertoff’s gut predicted this. NYC’s infrastructure works for al Qaeda. Bill Kristol says this proves that Bush’s war in Iraq is a success.

Yeah, but people were injured, one died and another one may too. Why is this being made into national news? Oh yeah, al Qaeda is coming, al Qaeda is coming.

Heard Johnson on young turks too. that’s why I’m here. Dig seein’ the props to Webb. he was strong on Meet The Press last week even though Russert gave most of the time to a shrieking Graham.

LOVE to see a Turman commission. There’s finally a counterforce of sanity starting to build in this country. I just hope there’s something like a republic left when we clean these bastards out.

Tell Webb to also examine who made a profit from 9-11 too. Rudy Guliani and James Woolsey should answer some questions.

Leslie,

LOL! Steam hates us is my favorite!

I came back to post this since anything goes today.

Thursday, July 19, 2007
America pulling the plug on its freelancers? Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq
This, as they say, is an opinion piece:

What happened in northern Lebanon, according to the simplest interpretation, is that the Hariri/Saudi group and its allies in the Bush administration, which had previously supported a salafi group called Fatah al-Islam, decided to pull the plug, with Hariri abruptly ending monthly payments to group-members. This was followed by expressions of displeasure including a bank-robbery, and then a couple of months of reports about the heroism of the Lebanese Army in reducing the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp to rubble. The result is a new strategic importance for the Lebanese Army, previously considered an institution with a nationalist core, now part of the Hariri- and US-led alliance. This simplifies and escalates the “moderate versus extremist” road-map for the Americans and their allies. Having groups like Fatah al-Islam put pressure on Hizbullah was one stratgegy, but using the Lebanese Army for that is a much simpler and more powerful one for the long haul.

In Gaza, where Fatah leaders fled rather than defend the Dahlan organization, we are asked to believe in a David versus Goliath miracle-victory for Hamas against the US-armed Dahlan group, when a much more plausible explanation would be that the US decided to pull the plug on that corrupt former cats-paw as well. The result here is also a new strategic configuration, isolating Hamas in Gaza, and thus escalating and simplifying the pressure on the “extremists”. Having groups like the Dahlan gangs put pressure on Hamas was one strategy, but isolating Hamas in Gaza and using an overt Fatah-Israel coalition to do that seems to be much simpler and more powerful in the long haul.

In both cases, the facts we know are more consistent with the hypothesis of this kind of a strategy-development in Washington than they are with the kind of freakish and unexplainable sequence of events that have been reported in this weirdly unquestioning way by the media.

In Baghdad, where the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) was declared last October by one Omar al-Baghdadi (Conflicts Forum reported that Baghdadi was a former Sadamist military person with a history of working with Saudi intelligence) I don’t believe there was ever any overt indication of US support for this project. But the gist of Baathist accusations was that the ISI declaration was a move in de facto support of the US plan for partition of Iraq, given that the ISI headquarters were in Anbar province, and its claimed territory limited to central Iraq. I do not think the hypothesis of ISI as a US cats-paw can be ruled out. And the funny thing is that yesterday, the US announced that someone captured two weeks ago has said that Baghdadi was a sham creation of the foreign AlQaeda leadership, aimed at giving the salafis in Iraq a local coloration. To me, this has the appearance of the US pulling the plug on another of its dubious creations.

In Lebanon, the aim was to step up to using the Lebanese Army in place of US-supported freelance groups to act for the US and its allies; in Palestine, the aim was to step up to an all-out attack on Hamas, by ditching the US-supported Dahlan freelancers and going instead with Fatah itself in cooperation with the Israeli forces. But in Iraq?

It should be noted that the “unmasking” of al-Baghdadi yesterday follows weeks and months of reports, in some cases only hints, of US-forces local alliances with not only Sunni tribal fighters, but also break-away elements from the major Sunni national resistance groups, a process that has given rise to a whole series of reorganization-announcements from the resistance groups. Is it possible that US-alliances with Sunni tribal and resistance elements has made enough progress that it can now be “institutionalized” in the same way that the the anti-Hizbullah strategy in Lebanon, and the anti-Hamas strategy in Gaza have been “institutionalized”?

The US invaded Iraq and then used Shiite groups to harass the Sunnis (and in particular the Baathists); now it is using Sunni groups to harass the Shiites (and in particular the Sadrists) in order to complete the dismemberment of Iraq. The role of the takfiiris and the salafis in this process has been to keep the flames of sectarian strife burning. Possibly, having done their job, they aren’t needed any more.
http://arablinks.blogspot.com/

Page 2 of 2
Loose Saudi cannons in Lebanon
By Sami Moubayed

creating and arming Sunni fundamentalist groups such as Fatah al-Islam.

The purpose was to use them against the Iran-backed all-Shi’ite group Hezbollah in Lebanon. The Shi’ites have an armed wing, the reasoning went, so why shouldn’t the Sunnis as well? In March, Hersh penned an exceptionally detailed essay in The New Yorker called “The redirection”, saying that the US was supporting Sunni

fanatic groups to counterbalance the spread of Shi’ite Islam – and the power of Iran – in the Arab world.

Part of the strategy was increased US-Saudi planning to undermine Hezbollah in Lebanon. Another way was to encourage Sunni extremists in the region, who, although anti-American, are equally anti-Shi’ite. Hersh pointed out that this was identical to the Saudi-US strategy of the 1980s, when they armed and supported bin Laden to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan.

The architects of this policy are US Vice President Dick Cheney, Deputy National Security Adviser Elliott Abrams, and former ambassador and current Saudi National Security Adviser Prince Bandar bin Sultan. They are responsible for the “redirection” toward fostering Sunni fanatics, and more recently for the creation of Fatah al-Islam to combat Hezbollah.

Hersh said, “The idea [is] that the Saudis promised they could control the jihadis, so we [US] spent a lot of money and time … using and supporting the jihadis to help us beat the Russians in Afghanistan, and they turned on us. And we have the same pattern, not as if there’s any lessons learned. The same pattern, using the Saudis again to support jihadis.”

Fatah al-Islam, and the Saudis within it, rebelled against Siniora and the US, just as bin Laden did after US troops were stationed in Saudi Arabia in 1991. The Saudis, Hersh said, were telling the Americans, “We’ve created this movement, we can control it. It’s not that we don’t want the Salafis to throw bombs, it’s who they throw them at – Hezbollah, [Iraqi Shi'ite cleric] Muqtada al-Sadr and the Syrians, if they continue to work with Hezbollah and Iran.”
In his CNN interview, Hersh added, “The enemy of our enemy is our friend, just as the jihadi groups in Lebanon were also there to go after [Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah. We’re in the business of creating in some places, Lebanon in particular, sectarian violence.”

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IG20Ak01.html

“(admin note: …”

Just to be clear: That wasn’t a blog administrator typing the “admin note” — that was wethornet himself. Maybe “preface” would be a good substitute?

War profiteering? In America?

I am shocked! SHOCKED, I tell you!

It even had a pop culture allusion 40 years ago:

“Come on Wall Street, don’t be slow,
Man, this is War au Go-Go!
There’s plenty good money to be made,
Supplyin’ the army with the tools of the trade.

Just hope and pray that if we drop the Bomb,
We drop it on the Viet Cong!”

“I Feel Like I’m Fixin’ To Die” – Country Joe McDonald, 1967

You youngsters can ask Grandpa to sing all four verses for you. Just in case Grandpa was a coward, draft dodger or, “Had other priorities,” it’s on the “Woodstock” CD.

Question AndrewD (duncan)(butters)

what does “more” do, for us commentors that is?

Well, if they really want to look for corruption in contracting, it shouldn’t be hard to find the crimes or to identify the “gang” that committed them. It is just a question, with one of the chief gang members in the OVP, will any investigation get the truth it seeks, when there is such lawlessness at the top ranks of our law enforcers? And such deliberate obstructionism to exposing the culprits.

One other thing to consider; an investigation like this could last well past the next election. When the time comes, and all the guilty parties start crying that “we need to legislate, not investigate” we should always remind the, vociferously, that oversight IS legislation, and one of the finest (and only) tools we have to protect ourselves from future neocon demagogues.

With this kind of investigation going on, the guilty parties will all likely identify themselves for us, as they buy up sandy beachfront lots in sunny Dubai.

I think I am Bi-Partisan on the issue of War Profiteering.

Anyone who gained, materially, from earmarks, contracts, real estate transactions, whatever; connected with their support of the war as evidenced by vote or public statements.

1.) All personal assets disgorged and placed in trust for Iraq war vets and dependents.

2.) Spend a minimum of 5 years doing hard time.

3.) Spend the next 5-10 years living in Section 8 Housing, and using only public transportation to their minimum wage jobs flipping burgers or swabbing urinals.

Responding to author’s post; this I’d love to see.

Check out the blog of HSUS’s Wayne Pacelle

I get a “page not found” error for this link.

Kim,
So you’re back spreading the same bullshit. Don’t you have somewhere else to go, like Free Republic.

No, Thune’s statement ISN’T brilliant. If Thune owned a house that you were renting and the roof leaked terribly, would you think it brilliant if Thune told you, “Well, I CAN’T fix the roof when it’s raining, and I WON’T fix it when it’s not, because it’s not leaking then.”

On Monday there’s some deal where if you want to impeach Bush you should wear orange. You can get more info at democrats.com.

For a very good book on economic exploitation connected with the invasion, conquest, occupation, rape, and pillage of Iraq, along with some good background information, I strongly recommend Antonia Juhasz, The Bush Agenda: Invading the World One Economy at a Time.

Semanticleo, I don’t object to some of the profiteers’ assets being used to help war vets, but what about the people whose lives and country have been utterly devastated by this debacle, and whose assets have been stolen? These are people who had absolutely no choice and took absolutely no active part in this crime against humanity.

They’re going to investigate War Profiteering NOW?

Where were they 4 years ago when the Republican congress was insisting on funding bills with no oversight? Do they expect us to believe they passed these bills out of Patriotism? It’s so deeply soaked into every corner of the system, they will never root it out. And the bulk of our money is already socked away in the Caymans already. We’ll never see a dime, and nobody other than a few low-level scapegoats will ever do any time.

Worse:
Big-name companies, like GE, Lockheed, and Boeing, are probably pretty clean in this matter, and will probably take a beating. It’s probably the little unknown companies like MZM, Blackwater, Carlyle Group, Halliburton (who was not a household word until 2003), etc. – who are going to be more than happy to see the big boys get their names dragged through the mud.

I can’t say that this is a bad thing; but it smacks of political opportunism at this late date. They did nothing, and said nothing, when it counted. When it was obviously a huge problem. The Iraq war was the lightest-weight invasion ever, smallest force, in proportion to the size of the defending army, and yet the most expensive war in the history of mankind. And all of that money was BORROWED. Why do you suppose that was? Had we pursued the Gulf War I strategy of overwhelming force – how much would it have cost? Would we have had enough troops to secure the arms sites, prevent the violence? Maybe we would be out of there by now? Maybe the war plan was DESIGNED for a long-term slow-bleed of our treasury.

Montag, perhaps the irony in my remark about Thune did not come through?

OBF,

OK, OK, “we did it all wrong”, but let’s not allow that to obscure the fact that the REAL wrong was doing it at all.

There is no “right” way to do something that is fundamentally wrong in and of itself.

Investigate war profiteers?

Oh, yeah, like THAT’s gonna happen…

Hope in one hand and pee in the other and see which one gets damp.

Shirin sez: OBF,

OK, OK, “we did it all wrong”, but let’s not allow that to obscure the fact that the REAL wrong was doing it at all.

There is no “right” way to do something that is fundamentally wrong in and of itself.

That’s always been my biggest bitch about the discourse around the ICORP in Iraq: the main body of objections have been ‘tactical,’ hqving nothing at ALL to do with the principle (or lack of same) which underwrote the fucking thing in the first place…MOST, if not all, the Dem ‘candidates’ (except Dennis Kucenich) are in that class…
/.

Osama-Been-Forgotten,
The Dems didn’t control the Congressional agenda while the GOP was in control. That’s why there were no investigations prior to 2006. That’s why there are investigations now. So where is the opportunism, in terms of war-profiteering investigations now? It’s about time we had them!

o.b. forgotten, neither webb nor mccaskill was in the senate at that point. they arrived this jan. there’s a new sherriff in town.

i get your larger point. the dems in cong. — even tho they were in the minority — could’ve have done a much better job on this (and many other) issues.

bunny constantine, the army contracting lady who blew the whistle on halliburton and out of control contracts should be a household name. and hopefully, webb and mccaskill will have her as a critical witness. maybe THE key witness. bunny constantine. national hero.

i like webb and mccaskill because i know them and they are fighters. i give them both some of the highest praise i can: i’d go to war with them. other dems. not so much.

RJJ..

Read Your Post..

THANKS ..Problem Solved…Works great..!!

RJJ..

Oh fark, Valerie’s lawsuit has been dismissed:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070719/ap_on_go_pr_wh/cia_leak_lawsuit_1

No surprise, this judge was a Whitewater prosecutor and he also threw out the complaint regarding the Cheney energy task force. This judge is a fine example of stacking the judiciary with really scary right wing nutjobs, all the judges appointed by Dumbya are dreadfull.

“Where were they 4 years ago when the Republican congress was insisting on funding bills with no oversight?”

in the powerless minority…

The Wilsons expected it. They’ll appeal to a higher court.

FYI: Judge Bates is the same creep who dismissed the Cheney energy task force lawsuit.

Yeah, these judges call themselves strict constructionists, but they’re really positivists for their own partisan agenda.

THIS IS JUST A TEST.

The more tag places a page break, or folding text area for large posts.

Chris Vosburg – you out there? How are you doing?

Keep that rapier wit sharp my man – we’re going to need it.

What war isn’t for profiteering?

Certainly if America went into Iraq for the Iraqi people at the rate things are going, there won’t be any people left to protect. Even those with the wildest imaginations are lost on the human objective. It was, is and always will be a war for oil while oil is a precious resource. The only way to win the war is make to make oil obscelete. But then how will the entrepeneurs get paid? When Royal Rife discovered that tiny amounts of electricity only was needed to cure all cancers, they decided curing people was not such a good idea. Talking of curing peeps, how are Rummy’s Tamiflu stocks going these days?

Wethornet made another important contribution. Player and spectators. That is the key. That is why I keep saying for there to be any real change, the spectators have to elevate in status and become silent players. No henchmen. No evil.

Did any one hear the Tom Hartmann interview with Paul Craig Roberts, the former Asst Sect of the Treasury under Ronald, on the Iraq war/occupation? What he had to say is very frightening.

I have thought this could happen, but have been reluctant to say it out loud. How do we deal with something like this? I’d like to know what others think.

Some excerpts, paraphrased to shorten:

“Unless Congress immediately impeaches Bush and Cheney, a year from now the US could be a dictatorial police state at war with Iran.”

“Something’s in the works,… that the Executive Orders need to create a police state are already in place.

“The administration figures themselves and prominent Republican propagandists … are preparing us for another 9/11 event or series of events”.

“Chertoff has predicted them. … The NIE is saying that al Qaeda has regrouped. … You have to count on the fact that if al Qaeda’s not going to do it, it’s going to be orchestrated. … The Republicans are praying for another 9/11.

“If enough people were suspicious and alert, it would be harder for the administration to get away with it.” However, he added, “I don’t think these wake-up calls are likely to be effective,” pointing out the dominance of the mainstream media.

There’s no belief in the people or anything like that. They have agendas. The people are in the way. The Constitution is in the way. … Americans need to comprehend and look at how ruthless Cheney is. … A person like that would do anything.”

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Oldline_Republican_warns_somethings_in_works_0719.html

Impeach Now Or Face the End of Constitutional Democracy, by PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts07162007.html

If you haven’t signed this yet, you may wish to..

http://www.stopiranwar.com/

Still here, Mart, lurking. Nasty work week.

Slap Sue for me willya?

Yipeee!!! Time to turn over all those rocks and let the light shine on the slithery war profiteers! I can’t think of anyone more qualified to pursue this than Senator Webb. He is our knight in shining armor! Get em Senator Webb!

sammyw, tom hartman is excellent and paul craig roberts is a national treasure.

fwiw, i posted a link to robert’s art. downblog a few days back.

and yes, i regret to say, that i think this is a distinct possibility. i say this from a place of being stone cold sober, and with a gimlet eye: the chances, imj, are at least 50-50 that we have a terrorist attack here at home (nice of them to leave the border open nearly 6 years after 911) or gulf of tonkin 2.0 — either accidental, or “false flag” — in the persian gulf. and we have martial law. i have spent much of the last 8 years reseaching post ww2 america for a book i am writing. i view the next 90-120 days as among the most important ever in american history. no hyperbole. just one man’s judgement.

ask yourselves, “what is the agenda here?” we are theoretically spreading democracy in the middle east, and yet, we are trashing the sh*t out it here at home. our actions are wildly inconsistent with our rhetoric, and flagrantly in violation of the constitution. for me this elicts a very strong WTF? for those on the left, some on the right sound positively loony when you initatally hear them discuss the new world order. nwo. unfortuantely, my judgement is that there are nasty forces in america and the world that would love to see the american experiment of 231 glorious years destroyed,

which is why i’ve been on my soapbox about impeachment. i would imagine i come across sometimes about as subtle as a blast furnace. and i’m not trying to be “preachy” but i can come across that way. and i could be clearer and “crisper.” my internet handle could easily be “raw fury.” it’s why i talk about being a player and not a spectator. (thanks thinker. i like your “elevate in status.” piggybacking with that, it is time for us to “elevate our games” people. your country needs you right now. and any family and friends you can bring with you. i got that distinction, players and spectators in a recent phone conversation with a dear friend.)

i see my country going down in flames. and this former ocs, airborne ranger, this citizen is sending out a “mayday, mayday, mayday” call.

the question every american will need to answer in the years ahead is: “when your country was in distress, what did you do?” the chinese curse is “may you live in interesting times.” as thomas paine said, “these are times that try men’s souls.” paine also said, “it is the duty of the patriot to protect his country from his government.”

Hey Chris – check out the “Source Documents” thread above at 06:16:53

….the chances, imj, are at least 50-50 that we have a terrorist attack here at home (nice of them to leave the border open nearly 6 years after 911….

Wet Hornet, the border is still open for a reason. Business! The dollar is still sliding because they are going to merge it with the Peso. Makes perfect sense to me, especially since business owners in Dallas are already accepting payment in Pesos.

…..“Chertoff has predicted them. … The NIE is saying that al Qaeda has regrouped. … You have to count on the fact that if al Qaeda’s not going to do it, it’s going to be orchestrated. … The Republicans are praying for another 9/11…..

Fox News took the time last night to rerun an interview with actor James Woods originally broadcast shortly after 9-11. In it, Woods says that during the summer of 2001, he was on a domestic flight with four Arab men who turned out to be among the hijackers on 9-11. Very “interesting” timing for Fox News, considering it re-ran the piece within days of Chertoff talking about his “gut feeling”.

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Here’s a very relevant related article…