Marine Ordered To Kill Women And Children

"Well, shoot them."

"At one house Sgt Wuterich gave an order to shoot on sight as Marines waited for a response after knocking on the door, said Lance-Cpl Mendoza.
"He said 'Just wait till they open the door, then shoot'.". Lance-Cpl Mendoza then said he himself shot and killed an adult male who appeared in a doorway.
During a subsequent search of the house he received an order from another Marine, Lance Corporal Stephen Tatum, to shoot seven women and children he had found in a rear bedroom.
"When I opened the door there was just women and kids, two adults were lying down on the bed and there were three children on the bed ... two more were behind the bed,'' Lance-Cpl Mendoza said.
"I looked at them for a few seconds. Just enough to know they were not presenting a threat ... they looked scared.'' After leaving the room Lance Cpl Mendoza told Lance-Cpl Tatum what he had found.
"I told him there were women and kids inside there. He said 'Well, shoot them,''' Lance-Cpl Mendoza told prosecutor Lieutenant Colonel Sean Sullivan."

The My Lai Massacre

"Two platoons moved in shortly after 8pm in the morning, while a third held back for "mopping up" duties. Both platoons soon splintered and once the shooting started it seemed to spark a chain reaction.
Soldiers went berserk, gunning down unarmed men, women, children and babies. Families which huddled together for safety in huts or bunkers were shown no mercy. Those who emerged with hands held high were murdered.
Some of the 120 or so soldiers opted out of the killing spree, but troop commander Lt William Calley was not one of them. In one incident, Lt Calley ordered two of his men to fire on a group of 60 civilians they had rounded up. When one refused, Calley took over and, standing 10 feet from the crowd, blazed his gun at them.
Elsewhere in the village, other atrocities were in progress. Women were gang raped; Vietnamese who had bowed to greet the Americans were beaten with fists and tortured, clubbed with rifle butts and stabbed with bayonets. Some victims were mutilated with the signature "C Company" carved into the chest.
By late morning word had got back to higher authorities and a cease-fire was ordered. My Lai was in a state of carnage. Bodies were strewn through the village. The death toll totalled 504."

Bloodbath, Iran Takover And $9 A Gallon If We Leave- Yeah Sure

If the defeatacrats have their way with foeign policy, says Rep. Jon Porter (Gay Old Party, Nev) after his fourth trip to Iraq, ostensibly to check the situation "on the ground". Trying to find out his itinerary while over there seems to be fruitless, but one would imagine his being holed up in a bunker inside the green zone, chatting with a hand picked crew of soldiers who were coached in the correct language for him to bring back a strong pro war message.

"Just look at what Porter says what the troops tell him when he visits them in Iraq: “They’re worried. They see the same commercials. They hear the same politicians. They hear the same rhetoric. They’re afraid the American people have lost their willpower, and they’re afraid the American people don’t support the troops.”

In other words his trip already had pre planned propaganda to deliver and he didn't really have to go over there to find it. His job was to play the alarmist fear monger, making sure the rubes back home don't miss the dire forecasts if america brings it's expeditionary forces back from the carnage in Iraq. Of course the bloodbath has been underway for four years already because of american presence but that doesn't matter to Message Man, as he's known in his home state of Nevada.

This guy is also known for his earlier service to the empire. As founding co-chairmen of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus he perpetrated the definitive piece of propaganda in the lead up to Gulf Slaughter 1. He allowed the PR firm of Hill and Knowlton to parade a girl in front of a caucus hearing in 1990 to give testimony (not under oath) about supposed Iraqi depredations in Kuwait:

"In fact, the most emotionally moving testimony on October 10 came from a 15-year-old Kuwaiti girl, known only by her first name of Nayirah. According to the Caucus, Nayirah's full name was being kept confidential to prevent Iraqi reprisals against her family in occupied Kuwait. Sobbing, she described what she had seen with her own eyes in a hospital in Kuwait City. Her written testimony was passed out in a media kit prepared by Citizens for a Free Kuwait. "I volunteered at the al-Addan hospital," Nayirah said. "While I was there, I saw the Iraqi soldiers come into the hospital with guns, and go into the room where . . . babies were in incubators. They took the babies out of the incubators, took the incubators, and left the babies on the cold floor to die."

Yes the infamous Baby Incubator Lie, which pulled emotional strings and helped justify the subsequent bombardment and horrific slaughter of Iraqis the following year. Young Nayirah subsequently turned out to be the Kuwaiti ambassador's daughter and she wasn't anywhere near that hospital and no babies were left on that floor. Just a bald faced lie given full play to get the war on, courtesy of a PR firm hired by Kuwait and Rep. Jon Porter's phonied up caucus. Seems like he's at it once again, just as debate heats up, to shill for accelerated mass murder by not-so-subtle fearmongering.

Plus, our boy Porter would rather you didn't read words like those above because he also spreads fear about blogs:

"Asked if he supports a federal shield law for the press, he said he did. However, the problem is how to protect legitimate reporters when there are web logs, “blogs,” whose authors can defame and lie with impunity because they can be anonymous and don't have to worry about the facts.“I would like to strengthen the legitimate news sources. I'm very concerned about blogs and even some radio. They can hide behind a shield law but they are not legitimate news sources,” the congressman said.
During his first of eight stops in town he spoke to the Laughlin Rotary Club and pointed out the danger of blogs."

Translation -
"Just don't listen to those lying bloggers and even shut them up, only pay attention to "legitimate" reporters and the MSM and lying war provocateurs like me."

Dune Hellhole Just Got Worse

Cholera spreads in Iraq as health services collapse
"Lack of clean drinking water and poor sanitation has led to 5,000 people in northern Iraq contracting cholera.
The outbreak is among the most serious signs yet that Iraqi health and social services are breaking down as the number of those living in camps and poor housing increases after people flee their homes.
"The disease is spreading very fast," Dr Juan Abdallah, a senior official in Kurdistan's health ministry, told a UN agency. "It is the first outbreak of its kind here in the past few decades."

Bush claims Iraq is the most successful colony in the Empire

Blah Blah Surge Blah Blah

First Vatican Air Passengers Have Their "Holy Water" Confiscated

The Vatican is going to have to refine it's scam with a new air route between Rome and Lourdes that will cater to people wanting some tap water from there. Apparently the bottles that were either handed out or sold to the rubes held liquid that exceeded the terrorism airport restrictions.



"Many hoped to ferry the water back to sick relatives.
Instead, dozens of plastic containers in the shape of the Madonna were left at security, while one man decided to drink all of his.
(...)
The water is so valuable that one French website, www.lourdes-water.com, is offering a litre for £64."

I imagine that within hours there was a flood of little Mary bottles of Lourdes water on Ebay.

Website Prints Transcript Of Craig Sex Partner

from the Idaho Statesman
A 40-year-old professional man with close ties to Republican officials told the Idaho Statesman he had oral sex with Sen. Larry Craig at Washington's Union Station, probably in 2004.
The man spoke to the Statesman on the condition he not be named. He said he was sure it was Craig he had oral sex with but said he had no evidence other than his word.
"I’ve always been interested in politics and probably if you showed me pictures of the hundred senators I could probably name 75 or 80 of them. And that would be true over the last probably 20 years. So, I don’t think it’s unusual that I did recognize him. There’s no doubt in my mind that that’s who it was."

"Let me be clear: I am not gay. I never have been gay." said the fearful hypocrite.

You know, these repug posers are truly a sorry lot. I imagine I share the same sentiments as a lot of other people when I say I could care less how the guy likes to share intimacy. It really doesn't matter if he gets his jollies tapping a bathroom floor for anonymous sex or likes glory holes or pays he hos or whatever. That all doesn't matter. What matters is that they are so afraid of admitting what they do and stand there lying to the world and themselves about their activities.
It's their self loathing and fear that's disgusting to watch, and it's their destructive homophobic words and actions when they try to mask who they are that stinks. Because they're so fearful of being exposed for their raging hypocrisy they definately are quite vulnerable to extortion and blackmail, and in Craig's case it just might have happened in early summer:

June 7, 2007, 08:24 PM -- Idaho Sen. Larry Craig votes against the immigration police-state bill.
June 11 "at 1216 hours", Craig ensnared by "Airport Police" on sex charge.
June 13 - Roll Call reports Craig has switched sides, now supports "immigration compromise."
June 28, 2007, 11:04 AM - Craig votes for NAU-police-state "immigration" bill.

Ahmadinejad Drops A Dime On The Zionists

Telling it like it is means he's a "madman".

"“Our (nuclear) problem is solved. You will not be able to do anything against us... Being our enemy will not bring you anything except defeat,” he said.
Earlier, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad launched a new verbal attack against Israel, accusing Zionists of sowing conflict, publishing offensive caricatures and “lying about being Jewish.” “Zionists are people without any religion,” Ahmadinejad, who has repeatedly predicted that Israel is doomed to disappear, told a news conference in Tehran. “They are lying about being Jewish because religion means brotherhood, friendship and respecting other divine religions,” he said. He also said that “Zionists” were behind a sacrilegious caricature in a Swedish newspaper that sparked an official protest by Tehran to Stockholm. “They do not want the Swedish government to be a friend of other nations. I strongly believe they are behind it (the caricature).
They thrive on conflict and war. “They are an organised minority who have infiltrated the world. They are not even a 10,000-strong organisation,” he said. Iran’s foreign ministry on Monday summoned a Swedish diplomat to protest against the caricature, which was published in the Oerebro local newspaper Nerikes Allehanda.
“Anywhere they are found there is war. Anywhere where there is war they are behind it,” Ahmadinejad added."



That cartoon he mentions - Swedish paper sparks fresh cartoon row

Infuriated Americans Smash Rove's Car, Set It On Fire And...Oh

Pranksters wrap up Rove's car
"White House pranksters wrapped Rove's Jaguar in plastic wrap on the private driveway next to the West Wing."

Senator Craig's Mug Shots

I swear if Cheney and Rumsfeld had a love child together it would look exactly like Larry Craig.

More Spy Planes Needed To Protect The Opium Crop

More spy planes needed in fight against Taliban: committee
"Canadian troops in Afghanistan urgently need new spy planes, in part so they can spot where the Taliban is planting roadside bombs, says the chair of the Standing Committee on National Security and Defence."

Recall that it was the Taliban who basically eradicated all opium production in Afghanistan.
Now?

Record Opium Production In 2007
"Afghanistan now accounts for 93% of the world's production of opium, the raw material for heroin.
The country has doubled its output of the drug in the past two years"

The Murderous Iraqi Swindle/Clusterfuck

Jersey Cynic at Blondesense points us to an absolutely devastating article in Rolling Stone exposing the massive corruption in the ongoing catastrophe in Iraq. Go read it.
Think you know how corrupt the invasion and occupation has been? Think again.

" What the Bush administration has created in Iraq is a sort of paradise of perverted capitalism, where revenues are forcibly extracted from the customer by the state, and obscene profits are handed out not by the market but by an unaccountable government bureauc­racy. This is the triumphant culmination of two centuries of flawed white-people thinking, a preposterous mix of authoritarian socialism and laissez-faire profit­eering, with all the worst aspects of both ideologies rolled up into one pointless, supremely idiotic military adventure -- American men and women dying by the thousands, so that Karl Marx and Adam Smith can blow each other in a Middle Eastern glory hole."

That this nightmare was/is an intentional rape of the US treasury, Iraq and american soldiers is proven by the fact that brave whistleblowers who have tried to alert 'authorities' to egregious theft and murderous practices are dealt with in the harshest manner possible. It was planned to be this way from the very start, and anyone who gets in the way will be destroyed.

Americans who report Iraq corruption pay a price

"The only way we can find out what is going on is for someone to come forward and let us know," said Beth Daley of the Project on Government Oversight, an independent, group that investigates corruption. "But when they do, the weight of the government comes down on them. The message is, 'Don't blow the whistle, or we'll make your life hell.' "

added - Criminal Scumbag To Demand $50,000,000,000 More For His Fucking Wars

His Own Private Idaho

Is it because the repugs are somehow attracting men like Senator Craig or Foley or Bob Allen and a host of others? Is there something in the mindset of neocon thought that appeals to homosexual men who like it kinky, dangerous or wired, like Reverend Ted?

Jeez, another day, another repug is involved in less than gracious carnal activity. They come and they go, so to speak. This time the real story with Idaho Senator Craig isn't that he pleaded guilty to solicitation in a bathroom but what impact it will have on Mitt Romney's rep as he campaigns to be selected president.

"Craig has endorsed former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in the 2008 presidential race. The senator was named in February, along with Sen. Robert Bennett of Utah, as Romney's liaison to build support among GOP senators.
Monday night, Romney's presidential campaign announced Craig was stepping down.
"He didn't want to be a distraction, and we accept his decision," the Romney campaign said in a statement. Access to a YouTube video in which Craig praised Romney was also blocked."

August is supposed to be a slow news month?

added - the video that Mitt yanked from his website, and prefers you don't see.

also added - Total411info has a curious timeline which suggests our Toilet Sex Senator was pressured with this bust to switch his vote on the immigration vote:

June 7, 2007, 08:24 PM -- Idaho Sen. Larry Craig votes against the immigration police-state bill.
June 11 "at 1216 hours", Craig ensnared by "Airport Police" on sex charge.
June 13 - Roll Call reports Craig has switched sides, now supports "immigration compromise."
June 28, 2007, 11:04 AM - Craig votes for NAU-police-state "immigration" bill.

US Health In Steep Decline

Why not burn trillions in a bogus WOT and decide to hand Israel another $30 billion in armaments, after all, the money would only be wasted fixing these trifling issues:

US Newborn Mortality Second Worst
"Only Latvia, with six deaths per 1,000 live births, has a higher death rate for newborns than the United States."

Maternal Mortality Rate In US Highest In Decades
"The maternal mortality rate in the U.S. is the highest it has been in decades, according to statistics released this week by CDC's National Center for Health Statistics."

U.S. life expectancy lags behind 41 nations
"For decades, the United States has been slipping in international rankings of life expectancy, as other countries improve health care, nutrition and lifestyles.
A baby born in the United States in 2004 will live an average of 77.9 years. That life expectancy ranks 42nd, down from 11th two decades earlier, according to international numbers provided by the Census Bureau and domestic numbers from the National Center for Health Statistics."

Veterans Affairs overwhelmed
"At least one-in-three Iraq veterans and one-in-nine Afghanistan veterans will face a mental health issue like depression, anxiety, or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Multiple tours and inadequate rest between deployments have increased the stress of combat. PTSD rates for Iraq veterans are already higher than the rates recorded among veterans of Vietnam."

Speaking of which - There could be 150,000 Vietnam vets who committed suicide.

The richest country in the world, which spends more money per capita in health care than any other place on earth, ranks #37 out of all countries according to the World Health Organization, behind Costa Rica, Morocco and Columbia. We're ahead of Slovenia, though.

Witnesses In Army Trial Killed In Crash

So convenient.

"Several U.S. Army soldiers killed in a helicopter crash in Iraq last week were to be witnesses in the homicide trial of their former superior.
Honolulu's KITV reported Sunday that some of the soldiers who died in the crash had been scheduled to testify in the trial of Sgt. 1st Class Trey Corrales, who is accused of orchestrating the death of an Iraqi detainee this year.
Corrales, who was in the same Hawaii-based platoon as the soldiers killed in Wednesday's crash, allegedly shot the detainee repeatedly June 23. He is accused of then ordering his subordinate and fellow defendant, Spc. Christopher Shore, to continue shooting the man. The detainee died from those wounds."

Shuffling The Deck Chairs

So Gonzo quit today, the torture apologist is out of there.
Seldom have we seen a more pathetic toady as the top cop in this country. There have been some doozies, like Meese, Reno and Ashcroft, but Gonzales took the cake as a constitution violator and both senators and house members openly insulted him to his face. It was only a matter of time that he'd be gone - I think the handwriting was on the wall when the Daily Show aired his pathetic performance in front of the judiciary committee.

But lucky us! Scuttlebutt has it that Chertoff from homeland insecurity is being bumped up to replace him.
I wonder if he'll get that eerie pose from Sockpuppet?

"The whole lot of them should be boiled in oil." Hunter Thompson

Suddenly I Feel Better

Miss SC - US Americans Need Maps

Our Monstrous Face Of Empire In Iraq

Humming along quite nicely according to the fascist agenda. It hasn't been a secret and no matter what flowery phrases the propagandists dish out, we're perpetrating one of the most loathsome crimes in human history.

"It is now obvious that one impetus behind the "surge" was to accelerate the "ethnic cleansing" of Iraq. Given the manifest failure to establish a strong central government to serve as a client state, the conquerors now find it easier to deal with separate ethnic enclaves, which can police themselves, shake out their own internal conflicts (however bloodily) and thus establish some kind of solid leadership that can cut deals and guarantee investments. Most of the measures taken during the "surge" seem aimed precisely at ethnic cleansing: the increased support of the Iraqi government security forces — which are largely Shiite militias — has been matched with what some see as the lunatic policy of arming Sunni militias.
(...)
And so the strategy behind the "surge" becomes clear: A united, independent Iraq cannot be allowed to exist, because such a state would not permit a permanent American military presence nor sign away the nation's oil wealth. Therefore, Iraq must be torn apart — by sectarian strife, ethnic cleansing, terrorism and "counterinsurgency" warfare. And violence must continue until this shake-out is completed, in order to justify the continuing American presence."

Of course the violence is helped along when needed as this is precisely what empires do to maintain the iron grip of control, never mind the staggering human suffering. Iraq isn't an unfortunate blunder, the deteriorating cesspool isn't a mistake, except for the delay in sorting out the oil theft the empire is quite happy with it's unspeakable crimes and are chomping at the bit to duplicate them in Iran.

Today In History - When A Peculiar Madness Began

On August 25, 325 the Council of Nicea, which is in present day Turkey, concluded. Constantine had summoned bishops from all over his empire to convene and hammer out differences in the fledgling christian faith. Central to the divisiveness was the subject of jesus' divinity: was he a God or inferior to God? The council decided to make the persona of jesus a divine superman, and also in the process whipped up the concept of the holy trinity - father, son and holy ghost.

People are taught in school that jesus was a historical figure and that the only real controversy, between faiths, is whether he was a divine sort of guy or no. But that's not the most important question. The main controversy is whether or not a guy named jesus christ ever existed at all.

It might seem that it's a given, with people indoctrinated into that purported history in school and it being so called common knowledge in society, but just like the "Al Qaeda" hoax just because you hear something repeated a lot doesn't make it real. Jesus' very existence has been questioned right from the very start of the christian religion and most christians and pagans at the time saw his story as sublime allegory. Any serious investigation into the jesus myth won't find a shred of evidence that the guy actually existed, but will show that his legend is the same as the gods of many past civilizations, actually fashioned after those more ancient legends, with jesus now taken on faith as being the real deal while all those other godlike figures are accepted as just allegorical mythology.

But the murderous and hypocritical Constantine needed to solidify his power base so he adopted the christian faith to gain followers. If his army had been defeated at Milvian Bridge, today we'd be poking fun at priests divining the future from sheep entrails in temples devoted to traditional Roman gods. Instead his Nicean council eventually established a cartoon version of more ancient mythology as a Divine Being, and mayhem ensues. Flash forward to today and we have the nightmarish Reign of Terror and the rise of christian fascism. Thanks boys!

"Human beings are on a journey of awareness, which has been momentarily interrupted by extraneous forces."
Carlos Castaneda, Magical Passes

Blow Ye Winds Heigh Ho

U.S. Customs Seizes Sub Full of Coke

"A submarine-like vessel filled with hundreds of millions of dollars worth of cocaine was seized off the Guatemalan coast, U.S. officials said."

It isn't the first time. They must have fleets of them.

3 Tons of Cocaine Found in Submarine - Monday, November 20, 2006

Big Mac Makes It To 40 Without A Coronary

Super-Size What? The Big Mac Gets Its Own Museum as the Triple-Decker Burger Turns 40



Forget nuclear weapons. Countries with McDonald's franchises don't attack other countries with McDonald's franchises.
The McDonald's theory of conflict prevention

added - Man eats two a day, tallies 21,292


toasting 40 years of custom clothes

So How's Iraq After That Escalation Surge?

Stupid mistake, send them home, says Joint Chiefs chairman
"General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is expected to tell Bush privately that maintaining more than 100,000troops of the currently 162,000 in Iraq through 2008 year would severely strain the military, the Los Angeles Times reported, citing military and administration officials."

Refugees double since "surge" began
"The U.S. troop "surge" has brought with it a parallel rise in the number of internally displaced Iraqis, according to recent figures. The Iraqi Red Crescent has reported that that since the "surge" began in February 2007, the total number of internally displaced Iraqis has nearly doubled, from 499,000 to over 1.1 million.
The U.N.'s International Organization for Migration has almost identical findings.
The humanitarian groups' figures are limited, as they both rely on data collected from Iraqis requesting services."
Meanwhile 1 in 7 lucky Iraqis managed to flee the hellhole completely
While more than a million aren't going anywhere anymore

Puppet government near collapse

Iran just invaded Iraq
"Iranian troops penetrated five kilometers into Iraqi territory causing massive material damage, report Iraqi-Kurdish groups on Internet sites, namely the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). "The Iranian army launched a full-scale war," a local official in the region was quoted as saying in the reports."

Turkey still wants to invade Iraq as well

Here's your Vietnam comparison, Bush
"An American defence official, briefing journalists ahead of publication, said US forces are braced for "a mini-Tet". He predicted that the attack could be timed to maximise political pressure on President Bush, when the US commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, goes to Congress next month to provide an up-to-date assessment of progress."

What A Difference A Day Makes

Police deny going undercover at Ottawa summit
"OTTAWA – The Mounties and Quebec provincial police deny using agents provocateurs at this week's Montebello summit, despite video evidence that suggests undercover cops tried to incite violence."

Quebec police admit they went undercover at Montebello protest
"Quebec provincial police admitted Thursday that three of their officers disguised themselves as demonstrators during the protest at the North American leaders summit in Montebello, Que."

They basically were forced to admit what they were doing because of the video which clearly shows the undercover cops carrying rocks, and a union president telling them to put the rocks down. They would have preferred to stick with their lie but decided to purse their lips and brave it out. Johnny Depp wouldn't have gotten caught.

Adolph's Campaign Computers Busy With Those Wikipedia Tweaks

Rudy Giuliani Tops Wikipedia Self-Serving Edits

"The alterations to Mr. Giuliani’s Wikipedia page included upgrading his high school class ranking from 299 to 130 out of 378, revising his combined SAT score from 931 to 1,073, reducing the number of draft deferments he received during the Vietnam conflict from six to three, and deleting the account of his father’s raping three prison guards and the warden's dog while doing time at Sing Sing."

Objects In Mirror May Be Closer Than They Appear

T. rex could catch a human, simulations show

"Humans are fortunate not to have lived alongside Tyrannosaurus rex. The most sophisticated computer analysis of the gait of several two-legged dinosaurs suggests that even the lumbering T. rex could have kept up with an athlete. Smaller dinosaurs, like the Velociraptor, could have outpaced the fastest humans with considerable ease."

Agents Provocateur Get Outed

It's as old as rocks - authoritarian top down thuggishness. Protesters were up in Canada to confront the three stooges, Calderon, Harper and Sockpuppet as they met to finalize the corporate wet dream of a north american union near Ottawa.

This video is a tad old now but it's importance is demonstrated by the fact it's prominently debunked by stories at the top of google and it's off the most viewed list at YouTube, a sure sign that it's troublesome for the fascists. In it you see union president Dave Coles spot and identify three cops infiltrating the demonstrators and were carrying rocks, wearing bandanas on their faces and most likely were going to provoke violence to justify a police crackdown. Problem, reaction, solution. Problem for the fascists - a big crowd of demonstrators taking to the streets. Reaction - send in your goons to pretend to be part of the crowd and have them break windows. Solution - charge the crowd, break some heads and clear the streets. Voila.

Ah, but the camera shows it failed. Watch how the bandana boys don't want their faces shown. See them get nervous and edge toward their cop buddies as things don't go according to script, but they can't just walk through the cop line - it would blow their cover. They're trapped, and then their buds pretend to arrest them and spirit them away to safety from the big, bad, middle aged and peaceful demonstrators. And of course, yawn, the official denials.

The police are not here to create disorder, they're here to preserve disorder. Richard J. Daley

The Republican Conservative Corporatist Confederation

Progressive Daily Beacon Opinion Piece

"Mister Bush and the Republican Party have finally succeeded in their transformation of the United States of America. They've converted the country from a nation based upon justice, the rule of law, and individual liberty to a land of corporate-run torturers and tyrants. A place, no doubt, that their Dear Ronny Reagan would have considered 'a beacon on the hill'. In honor of this Conservative ideological success, let's change the country's name to something more fitting. After all, let's be honest, this is no longer the United States of America. It stopped being the United States of America, the moment Mister Bush and Dick Cheney shredded the Constitution. And, too, it stopped being the United States of America, the moment that the Conservative Republican movement endowed corporations with rights that exceeded those possessed by the people.

So, let's be honest. This country ... this ... this ... Republican-created embarrassment is in need of a name that more accurately encapsulates what has replaced the United States of America. And, so, without further delay: LADYS AND GENTLEMEN! Welcome to the Republican Conservative Corporatist Confederation ... WELCOME TO THE RCCC!"

I always like the Corporate Front Organization, or CFO, myself.

Companion Marketing

Just Gets Worse For "America's Mayor"

First the cretin had to apologize, maybe sort of, for comparing himself to the Trade Center responders and lying about how much time he spent at the demolition site.

"(AP) Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani said Friday that he misspoke when he said he spent as much time, if not more, at ground zero exposed to the same health risks as workers combing the site after the Sept. 11 attacks.
"I think I could have said it better," he told nationally syndicated radio host Mike Gallagher. "You know, what I was saying was, 'I'm there with you."'
The former New York mayor upset some firefighters and police officers when he said Thursday in Cincinnati that he was at ground zero "as often, if not more, than most of the workers."

Now it turns out, after some actual journalism done by the New York Times, that Time Person of the Year Rudy found plenty of spare moments after 9/11 to munch popcorn and swill Ballantines at Yankees games rather than do his job:

"What was he doing instead? Giuliani's beloved New York Yankees made it to the World Series in 2001. We decided to compare the time he spent on baseball to the time he spent at the ruins of the World Trade Center.
The results were, considering the mayor's long-standing devotion to the Bronx Bombers, unsurprising. By our count, Giuliani spent about 58 hours at Yankees games or flying to them in the 40 days between Sept. 25 and Nov. 4, roughly twice as long as he spent at ground zero in the 90 days between Sept. 17 and Dec. 16. By his own standard, Giuliani was one of the Yankees more than he was one of the rescue workers."

And I really don't want to hear that crap about maintaining a stiff upper lip and going about the usual business and setting an example and all the rest of that shit. The work that needed to be done to actually help the people of New York was neglected while this opportunistic wretch bonked his numerous bimbos and schemed how to prosper from the tragedy, which the lowlife is doing to this very day.

White House: Iraq "Progress Report" Could Be On 9/11

Jeebus these scumbags have no shame.

"ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (Reuters) - U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker and the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, will likely testify to Congress about progress in the war on September 11 or September 12, the White House said on Monday.

White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe, speaking on Air Force One headed with President George W. Bush to a summit in Canada, said the hearing date was not related to the anniversary of the 2001 attacks."

No, all just one big coincidence. We all know what the "progress report" will sound like before it's even presented to congress just as we know it's being handwritten by the Bushistas. They love their splashy milestones and cute deadlines, don't they? Just like they made Martin Luther King's birthday the deadline for the first Gulf Slaughter. Tying some bogus evaluation to 9/11 is par for the course with this manipulative cabal.

~Tagged~

By my paranormal pal Lesley at The Debris Field, to list my 7 Ps, so here they are:

I blog at Piglipstick with my friend Patootie



We share a dislike of Pachyderms



I like Plenty of beer

Which makes me a Pretty muscular guy



I even have a Prehensile foot, really



Taken altogether gives me a Patina of respectability.

Re Those Behavior Detection Officers At Airports

When you've flown in the past did you/were you:

--Arrive late at night?
--Arrive early in the morning?
--One of first to deplane?
--One of last to deplane?
--Deplane in the middle?
--Use a one-way ticket?
--Use a round-trip ticket?
--Carry brand-new luggage?
--Carry a small gym bag?
--Travel alone?
--Travel with a companion?
--Act too nervous?
--Act too calm?
--Wear expensive clothing and gold jewelry?
--Wear black corduroys, white pullover shirt, loafers without socks?
--Wear dark slacks, work shirt, and hat?
--Wear brown leather aviator jacket, gold chain, hair down to shoulders?
--Wear loose-fitting sweatshirt and denim jacket?
--Walk rapidly through airport? --Walk aimlessly through airport?
--Fly in to Washington National Airport on the LaGuardia Shuttle?
--Have a white handkerchief in your hand?

Each one of these behaviors was upheld in a federal court as a reason to arrest someone at an airport.
Our overlords want to force us all into a surveillance society. Your intentions are supposedly determined by analyzing everything about you, and if the list above has any meaning, you're guilty no matter what the hell you do.

What's Wrong With This Picture?

In the Guardian today there's a story ostensibly about Brit soldiers in Afghanistan maintaining their stiff upper lip while suffering a huge rate of casualties in the field. Whether by accident or perhaps even on purpose, the accompanying photo is a curious choice that really has nothing to do with the story. This is the picture with the caption:


A British soldier patrols in poppy fields in Sangin, a district Helmand province, Afghanistan. Photograph: Rafiq Maqbool/AP

Hmmm. A quick check with any search engine will bring up this info:

Record opium crop in southern Afghanistan
"Helmand province in southern Afghanistan, where some 7,000 British troops are based, is on the verge of becoming the world's biggest drugs supplier, cultivating more opium than entire countries such as Burma, Morocco, or even Colombia, the UN warned yesterday."

I suggest that soldier is doing his job well and there's nothing wrong with this picture at all, according to the real agenda, which has nothing whatsoever to do with "fighting terrorists".

Mattel Toys In Israel Have No Lead

from Haaretz

"Israeli parents who are worried that they may have possibly bought dangerous toys containing lead paint can relax: Tests conducted by the Israel Standards Institute on Mattel toys taken from store shelves show that all of the products meet the safety standards. U.S. toymaker Mattel ordered a recall in the last week of its Polly Pocket and Barbie dolls and sets and those of Tanner (Barbie's dog) and other items made in China due to the use of lead paint and tiny magnets that could be swallowed by children. Less than two weeks ago, Mattel was also forced to recall other Chinese-made toys such as Dora the Explorer and Big Bird and Elmo dolls over concerns about lead paint used on the toys.

The test results here were announced yesterday by the Industry and Trade Ministry, which said none of the products tested contained lead paint."

So the question should be asked - why did Mattel send the non toxic toys to Israel and the lead painted toys to the US?

Mark Your Calendar

International Bognor Birdman - Sept 1-2, Bognor Regis, England
Men, both naked and in Mary Poppins costumes, fling themselves from an elevated pier in human powered flying machines. Survivors vie for $50,000 and a chance to break the distance record of 293 feet.

Miss Klingon Empire Beauty Pageant - Sept 2, Atlanta GA
Winner is crowned with a "fabulous eight-inch tall rhinestone tiara, plated in sterling silver and styled with hundreds of hand-prong-set Swarovski rhinestones."


2004 winner, the lovely "Capt. KheTara sutai-Lorenssith"

Air Guitar World Championships - Sept 5-7, Oulu, Finland

Bald is Beautiful Convention - Sept 8-9, Morehead City, NC
"America's proudest chrome-domes congregate once a year in Morehead City, North Carolina to celebrate their good fortune at losing their hair."

43rd Annual Beef-A-Rama - Sept 28-29, Minocqua, WI
Rump Roast Run kicks off at 9 AM. Sixty dripping roasts totaling more than 1200 lbs of meat are paraded through the streets of a small town, with $50 to the winner of the "For Love of Beef" poetry contest.

Roadkill Cookoff - Sept 29, Marlinton, WV
Favorite dishes include Thumper meets Bumper, Asleep at the Wheel Squeal and One Ton Wonton.

Trailer For "War Made Easy"

How presidents and pundits keep spinning us to death.
Looks superb. I'm going to try to get my local Blockbuster to get a few copies in.

"War is a racket" - Major General Smedley Butler, the most decorated marine in US history.

"Politics is the showbiz of industry" - Frank Zappa

Fake Hijackers Use Fake Bomb To Link Fake Terror Group To Iran

Mission accomplished as headlines pair "Al Qeada" and Tehran.

The Infrastructure Falls Apart Under The Fascist Scumbags

Government? What government? We have a fucking fascist mafia that's using the US as a front company for a murderous criminal enterprise.

Outrage and Infamy: New Orleans Not Ready For Devastating Hurricane
"Words cannot describe the infamy that could unfold in the coming weeks. In the first Katrina people died because they were too young, too elderly, too poor, too handicapped and too neglected to protect themselves, and those who should have protected them, did not.
The odds now favor, at some point, a rerun which would be an even greater infamy because America knew what could happen, and still did not act in time. Again."

Flashback - U.S. Is Reducing Safety Penalties for Mine Flaws -screw the miners, profits come first.
"In its drive to foster a more "cooperative" relationship with mining companies, the Bush administration has decreased major fines for safety violations since 2001, and in nearly half the cases, it has not collected the fines, according to a data analysis by The New York Times."

70,000 bridges called `deficient' nationwide

Flashback - 2005 report card for america's infrastructure



"Congested highways, overflowing sewers and corroding bridges are constant reminders of the looming crisis that jeopardizes our nation's prosperity and our quality of life. With new grades for the first time since 2001, our nation's infrastructure has shown little to no improvement since receiving a collective D+ in 2001, with some areas sliding toward failing grades."

Army Strong Dumb

Brass, Not Bloggers, Breach Security

"For years, the military has been warning that soldiers' blogs could pose a security threat by leaking sensitive wartime information. But a series of online audits, conducted by the Army, suggests that official Defense Department websites post material far more potentially harmful than anything found on a individual's blog.
The audits, performed by the Army Web Risk Assessment Cell between January 2006 and January 2007, found at least 1,813 violations of operational security policy on 878 official military websites. In contrast, the 10-man, Manassas, Virginia, unit discovered 28 breaches, at most, on 594 individual blogs during the same period."

swiped from Atlantic Free Press

Don't Be A Slob When The Next Atomic Blast Hits

Spiff up that house of yours and everything will be jake.

Rudy Waves His Dick Around Too

In the September issue of "Foreign Affairs", an analytic rag put out by the Council on Foreign Relations, they're continuing to spotlight the presidential candidates' positions on foreign policy. In this issue they preview Giuliani and Edwards.

I've got to admit I'm fascinated with Adolph. Seldom has the political landscape been slimed by a more self serving and conniving operative than this character; add clueless inexperience and shameless self promotion, sprinkle in a disastrous personal life and you've got a grotesque spectacle if there ever was one. But I still think he'll be handed the keys to the white house because of his service to the fascists in cleaning up the 9/11 crime scene for them, but there's a lot of time to go before the selection and things could change.

In G's sophomoric piece we're handed his thoughts on america's role for the future and if you guessed terror was uppermost on his mind you most certainly are correct. In fact it starts out "We are all members of the 9/11 generation" and descends from there. Fear and terror and authoritarianism 'R us according to Rudy, as he delivers his blueprint for a tough guy police state obsessed with never ending war. Just the sort of shitbag who's perfect for the fascist agenda.

Added - Fred Kaplan at Slate piles on.
"Two months ago, when Giuliani issued some of his first pronouncements on foreign policy, I wrote that he is "that most dangerous would-be world leader: a man who doesn't seem to know how much he doesn't know." Judging from his Foreign Affairs article, the breadth and depth of his cluelessness are vaster than even I had imagined."

Remember Last Week When The Russians Planted A Flag On The Arctic Floor?

It was a fake, at least in part



"UNEARTHLY blue lights played across the ocean floor four kilometres below the North Pole as the heroic Russian explorers descended in mini-submarines to plant a metre-high flag.That's what the Russian state television company, Rossiya, wanted us to believe. The truth was rather different.

In an apparent attempt to "sex up" a news program, the TV station has been caught passing off footage from the 1997 Hollywood blockbuster Titanic as a real-life report on the Kremlin's recent attempt to stake its claim to the riches of the Arctic Ocean.Rossiya's images were distributed around the world, appearing on television news, websites and as "screen grabs" in newspapers.
It took an alert teenager in Finland with a Titanic DVD to spot the sham. Waltteri Seretin, 13, recognised the images in the national daily, Ilta-Sanomat."I was looking at the photo of the Russian sub expedition and I noticed immediately that there was something familiar about the picture," he told the paper.
"I checked it with my DVD and there it was, right there in the beginning of the movie; exactly the same image of the submersibles approaching the ship."

Jack Dawson: "I'm the King of the World!"

Sydney To Be Cut In Half By Fence During APEC Shindig

Government on acid

""The fence is 2.8 metres high; each section will be weighed down by five tonnes of cement blocks; the bottom section is about 1.6 metres in width," he said."


"You will only be able to enter the lockdown zone on foot, and then only through a small number of gates, manned by some of the 4500 police and thousands more private security guards, secret service and intelligence agents already descending on the city.
You will need to queue at the gates, where your face will be scanned in a live field test of facial recognition technology and assessed by agents for suspicious body language. Police and intelligence agents have been scouring through years of anti-war protests and building up a database of faces that were captured on police and security video.
Nearly everyone who passes through the gates will be searched, have their ID checked and have their handbags and briefcases unpacked.
Once you've produced ID, your name and address will be compared to a long list of suspected 'troublemakers' that the police and intelligence agents have been compiling for months. Everyone who enters the security zone is expected to be photographed, and databased along with their ID information.
Even if you work on the other side of the fence, you can be refused entry without explanation. Should you then choose to make a scene, you may be judged to be a troublemaker and detained, without charge, for the entire length of the APEC summit. If you are charged, you can be denied bail.
There will be buses, converted into mobile prisons by the police, to hold those who the police and intelligence agents deem to be suspicious, or those they want to interrogate further, or submit to full body searches.
Inside the security zone, you will come face to face with police and soldiers carrying machine guns, and if you look to the top floors and rooftops of buildings you might catch a glimpse of the dozens of snipers expected to be in place once President Bush settles into his room at the InterContinental Hotel."

from The Orstrahyun

Fascism On The March

When martial law is declared our overlords will rely on the clergy to help pacify those poor confused souls who might somehow resent being turned into controlled peasants.
"The government is established by the lord".

Passports May Be Required At National Parks

"(CNN) -- Americans may need passports to board domestic flights or to picnic in a national park next year if they live in one of the states defying the federal Real ID Act.

The act, signed in 2005 as part of an emergency military spending and tsunami relief bill, aims to weave driver's licenses and state ID cards into a sort of national identification system by May 2008."

Fascism slips in through already opened doors. Think about how many times heinous acts of international terrorism are committed in national parks and you'll realize what this is all about. They understand that people are used to stopping at ranger kiosks at park entrances so when they'll take them over as tools for more control the sheep won't raise a stink.

American Spy Satellites To Snoop On U.S. (Citizens)

"The Wall Street Journal reports that the Department of Homeland Security has approved a measure to allow federal civilian agencies and law enforcement to turn American spy satellites on their own citizens for the first time. Until now, the highly sensitive satellites were aimed mostly at other countries, usually ones we didn't really trust."

Guess who the fascists don't trust now.

New airport agents have been trained to check for bad intentions in travelers' facial expressions

"Next time you go to the airport, there may be more eyes on you than you notice. Specially trained security personnel are watching body language and facial cues of passengers for signs of bad intentions."

Overslept? Not enough sleep? Bad hair day? Spat with the spouse? Your papers please.

But Never Mind All That

Conservative Satire Is An Oxymoronic Failure

Faux News cancels the 1/2 Hour News Hour

How could people have rejected such side splitting material like this?

Meet The Crackheads Who Want Bush "President For Life"

They're at a place called "Family Security Matters", where one can peruse essays with titles such as:
Why the Left’s Vision Is Blind to America’s Greatness
Haditha Massacre: Media and Terrorist Hoax?
Allah Encourages Lying
On the Road to Jalalabad - Don't believe the naysayers. Afghanistan is doing as well as anyone has a right to expect.

And in an inciteful yet bold display of deep thinking called Conquering the Drawbacks of Democracy one gleans these nuggets:

"The wisest course would have been for President Bush to use his nuclear weapons to slaughter Iraqis until they complied with his demands, or until they were all dead. Then there would be little risk or expense and no American army would be left exposed."

"If President Bush copied Julius Caesar by ordering his army to empty Iraq of Arabs and repopulate the country with Americans, he would achieve immediate results..."

"He could then follow Caesar's example and use his newfound popularity with the military to wield military power to become the first permanent president of America, and end the civil chaos caused by the continually squabbling Congress and the out-of-control Supreme Court."

It doesn't appear to be satire.

One Step Closer To War With Iran

So the warmongering scum have decided to designate an entire military unit in Iran as "terrorists", thereby supposedly legitimizing an attack.

"The designation of the Revolutionary Guard will be made under Executive Order 13224, which President Bush signed two weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to obstruct terrorist funding. It authorizes the United States to identify individuals, businesses, charities and extremist groups engaged in terrorist activities. The Revolutionary Guard would be the first national military branch included on the list, U.S. officials said -- a highly unusual move because it is part of a government, rather than a typical non-state terrorist organization."

Just another example of how they based all their future criminal acts on the false flag 9/11 slaughter that they themselves pulled off. Sockpuppet issued a decree that legitimized endless war against anybody the murdering psychos cared to slaughter, and this time it's a 125,000 member military branch.

And a whole lot more of course - basically the entire country if you care to get into the finer points of this self arranged license to murder. Again this is going to be war by fiat, but neatly omitting the staged UN charade or having to lie through their teeth about reasons and like last time. We're simply supposed to accept the "terrorist" designation that the scumbags fling around and not think too deeply about this. Such as the fact that the Iranian ambassador in Baghdad, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, is a commander in the Revolutionary guard, so the bushistas will in effect be in direct negotiation with "terrorists". Also, the scumbags have just given themselves authority to assassinate Iranian president Ahmadinejad, who's a Guard veteran.

It shows the talks with Iran were just for show and designed to fail, because you don't start diplomatic relations with a country and then go attacking the ways in which it funds it's security forces.

This is the way the ziofascists operate - they invent fig leaves for their next despicable acts to give them the aura of authority. They've been chomping at the bit to get a wider mideast war underway for some time now. I would expect them to pull some more favorite stunts very soon, some bullshit false flag incidents to be blamed on the Iranians and then we're off to the races.

Feel Safer? Or Just Ripped Off?

from Planet of the Chimps

Slow News Week

Or rather, no news week. Going on vacation trips with Mrs. Lipstick means we head for those blank spots on the map with few little symbols and fewer amenities, those lonely stretches where "Here be Monsters", where towns are rare and far between. And that's just the way we like it. We prefer to do what I guess would be unconventional activities - we get our kicks far from jostling crowds and we prepare to be self sufficient and out there by ourselves. Hence taking a hammer to a trailer window when the idiot RV decided to lock us out like Hal locked out Dave in 2001.

We spent our days 60 miles from the nearest habituation in the high desert of Eastern Oregon so there was no television even if we wanted one and no daytime radio. Newspapers are for lighting campfires. Of course there's always nightime AM skip but aside from Coast to Coast there's nothing remotely to care about in the loud and fetid AM swamp. I forced myself to catch a little fading happy commuter talk from Salt Lake City before the rising sun blotted it out just to see if WW3 was going to be a factor in our road trip, and I learned exactly two stories in between the incessant traffic, weather and commercials - miners are still trapped in Utah and that bridge is still down in Minnesota. Whatever else happened in the outside world I'm blissfully unaware of. The two huge stories here have been having gas in the tank and keeping the beer cold.

That could change with our new location, a little town on the Salmon river in Idaho. There might be more radio reception here unless the looming mountains on both sides take care of that possibility and there even might be WiFi in one of the little burgs along the river. In fact I'll put money on it as we're here to float some water and there are all kinds of outfitters running around, dumping dazed tourists back and forth from their overpriced river excursions. So this is a Happening Place and pretty soon my self imposed news blackout will end and I'll again learn about all the latest disasters, political chicanery and heavy handed fascist outrage. Lucky me.

A Plethora Of Scabrous Wenches

You know, I'm married and I'm not spending my days on the lookout for sex. I really don't like to play the nasty and belittling game of "fuckability quotient" that our sick and obsessive society instills in people as the be all and end all of human value. When dealing with strangers it's the universal values of kindness, empathy and all the rest that make me feel engaged and interested in interaction.

I'm on vacation with my wife in the high desert of Eastern Oregon. This is windswept land of enormous physical grandeour and raw beauty, except apparently for the women who inhabit it. I've seldom been in a place that was populated by a sorrier lot of scowling, unnatractive and apparently pissed off womenfolk who plainly aren't happy with being alive and want you to know all about it. You want to find radiant, cheerful and pleasant people of the distaff persuasion? Jeebus, it seems you won't find many here.

I don't know why this is. This is pretty unforgiving country, that's for sure. It's huge and sprawling, the climate is harsh and in years past I imagine being an open, forgiving soul got you exactly nowhere and a tough demeanour served you well. Maybe today's descendents are still cut from the same cloth or maybe the favorite pastime of the local yahoos is to get drunk and smack their wimmenfolk around, I don't know. It's just eerie to me to come across so much haggishness in one place, or perhaps it's just me because we drove over some rough road and I'm just pissed off because an inside dead bolt lock somehow engaged itself in our trailer and we had to smash a window just to get inside. That would tend to sour one's attitude, so discard everything I've said, they're all lovely saints, really.

Next up: Idaho, A Land Of Peevish Misanthropes

Time to take a vacation. Ten days in the desert will do me a world of good.

Another Record Poppy Crop In Afghanistan

Mission Accomplished

"Afghanistan will produce another record poppy harvest this year that cements its status as the world's near-sole supplier of the heroin source, yet a furious debate over how to reverse the trend is stalling proposals to cut the crop, U.S. officials say."

Why, the debate could take decades, donchaknow.

"It's Armageddon Out There"

Jim Cramer of CNBC's "Mad Money" went into meltdown yesterday. Apparently it ain't business as usual. I was expecting him to tear up his papers and storm off the set. The poor woman next to him looked frightened.

Obama And His Dick Waving

As far as popularity goes, the Senator just ensured repeatedly over the last few days that his true poll numbers, not the MSM manufactured bullshit, will go the way of John McCain's. The real story is that a vast majority of people in this country are fed up with all this fraudulent war and fear crappola and will turn their backs on any public office aspirant who wants to perpetuate it. That's not to say that his star won't shine in the warmongering press, but that venue is increasingly becoming as divorced from reality as all the political stooges themselves.

The real story is also that all this butch talk from democratic candidates exposes a deeper truth, mainly that there isn't a shred of difference between the 'parties' involved. There's only the war party, and all the candidates are trying to outdo each other in assuring The Big Vested Interests that the slaughter will go on and nobody will sincerely attempt to end the madness.

Plus! - Bomber Obama
"At any rate, here we are again: a bipartisan coalescence behind a bellicose policy guaranteed to exacerbate the very problem it purports to address. We've said it before and we'll keep on saying it: in addition to all the greed, vanity, ambition and bloodlust animating the Terror War, there is genuine madness at work here. And it keeps on getting worse, with no cure in sight."

I35 Bridge Is Part Of Proposed NAFTA Highway From Hell

Idle speculation here, but when structures fall down into their own footprints, or collapse all at once as in a controlled demolition, to me it probably is. How did that bridge give way at both ends at exactly the same time?

So many structures are wearing out and corroding that it boggles the mind. This bridge was tagged all the way back in 1990 as being in dangerous condition. But it wasn't alone - tens of thousands of bridges in the country were rated deficient and need repair. Eight hundred in the Bay Area alone are rated the same as the I35 over the Mississippi at Minneapolis. Yet this is the one that collapsed.

More idle speculation here - because of the shock and the tragic loss of life this span is going to have priority to be rebuilt before much else will be repaired around the nation. This bridge will also play a huge part in the despised NAFTA superhighway which the New World Order types have planned for the upcoming North American Union, when they want Canada, Mexico and the US merging into a corporate utopia.

There's a curious fact about the twin towers in Manhattan pre Black Tuesday - they were deemed to be environmentally unsafe and needed costly repairs. 9/11 fixed all that. Just saying.

route of the proposed superduper turnpike

UPDATE - it's written in granite, Cheney denies it.

Now Cheney chimes in: Ain't no superhighways

Best Toilet Signs In The World

Beyond Awesome

Ron Paul Gets Significant Online Support

But the lamestream media pretends not to notice.

Antiwar Ron Paul Rakes in Military Donations - he's gotten about 50% of all military donations, because he's the only antiwar candidate who wants the bullshit to stop.

Congressman crushes other GOP candidates in online straw poll.

Ron Paul Leads Republicans in Web Traffic by a Whopping 45%.

Ron Paul is such a delicious pain in the ass for the repugs. He's massively popular on the internet, getting far more support for his positions than any other republican candidate. MSM insists their boys Rudy and the Mittster are way out in front. In fact sometimes they omit Paul's name in their fraudulant polls.

On August 11 the repugs will hold their straw poll in Iowa. The event hasn't really meant much in the past, being only a fundraising gig and an expectation game for name recognition. You have to pay $25 to vote and candidates can use their money to work the system. They decided to go with easily corruptible Diebold machines to "count the votes".

Citizens for a Fair Vote Count and others are conducting a verification exit poll at the same time, asking Paul supporters to vote a second time outside the vote stations. If the Diebold count is widely short of the exit poll, or even if the Diebold count is just unreflective of the huge support that Ron Paul is getting on the intertubes, the system rigging will be way too blatant to ignore, and the republicans will have a huge problem on their hands.

Get Yer GWOT License Plate

Comes with a free draft notice

Semper Fi

This guy went into the bar Friday night and ordered three beers. In fact, every Friday night he went into the bar and ordered three beers and drank them all by himself. Three beers...every Friday night. Not 2. Never 4. Always 3.

Well, the bartender couldn't figure this out. Without fail this guy always came in.

The bartender finally said to the guy, "Every Friday night you come in here and have three beers. There must be a story to this. You never order 2 beers, or 4 beers, always 3."

The guy said, "Yes, there is a story. You see, me and my two buddies always went out for a beer on Friday night when we were in Vietnam.

"One night while we were drinking we decided that we would continue doing this when we returned to the States. We also decided that if one of us didn't make it, the other two would drink the third one's beer. And if two didn't make it, the third guy would drink the other two beers. The other two didn't make it back so I'm drinking theirs." The bartender felt bad.

Well, the next Friday night the guy came back into the bar as usual but only ordered two beers. The bartender couldn't believe it. From then on, Friday after Friday, this guy now ordered only two drinks. The bartender was so puzzled he just had to ask the guy about it.

The bartender said to him, "I notice you've only been ordering two beers for the last few weeks. There has to be a story here."

The guy said, "Yes, indeed there is a story. You see, I joined the Mormon church and I can't drink beer any more."

from athiest alliance

Pentagon Can't Wait Until The Ice Is Out Of The Way

U.S. Readies for Polar Warfare

"Why polar warfare? Well, some decades ago, people thought space and space warfare would be the final frontier. They may still be right, but it turns out that thanks to global warming and melting ice, the polar regions may figure into future conflict as well. This absolutely fascinating report, "Naval Operations in an Ice Free Arctic," gives an idea of what the military is thinking.

It turns out the U.S. is worried that as global warming melts polar ice, suddenly there's a whole new area of potential enemies, "comprised of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), terrorists and environmental activists." Maybe they're worried about Al Gore, too.
Future scenarios include situations like this: "Environmental terrorists seize a research station in the Svalbard Archipelago being used by a U.S. based multi-national corporation for mineral and oil exploration in the Arctic. The terrorists have been using explosives to destroy equipment at the station, and are threatening personnel if the corporation does not cease all activities in the Arctic Ocean."

Environmental terrorists? Suure. The fascists want total control of all oil reserves and need to constantly enlarge the military to be able to take them. Aircraft carriers sent around the world to sieze the resources and expand the empire don't run on solar energy.

Of course, some countries might have a few ideas of their own.

Russians claim Arctic with flag under the Pole

First Armed Robots On Patrol In Iraq

It'll all be just a computer game soon, with Iraqi doors being blown open and "insurgents" dispatched by pimple faced kids in air conditioned rooms munching on pizza.

"Robots have been roaming the streets of Iraq, since shortly after the war began. Now, for the first time -- the first time in any warzone -- the machines are carrying guns.
After years of development, three "special weapons observation remote reconnaissance direct action system" (SWORDS) robots have deployed to Iraq, armed with M249 machine guns. The 'bots "haven't fired their weapons yet," Michael Zecca, the SWORDS program manager, tells DANGER ROOM. "But that'll be happening soon."

Of course, there might be um, complications.

Did An Ultra Low Frequency Pulse Destroy The 35W Bridge?

Massive ULF ‘Blast’ Detected In US Bridge Collapse Catastrophe

"Reports from Russia’s Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics located in Irkutsk are reporting today that their Siberian Solar Radio Telescope (SSRT) detected a ‘massive’ ultra low frequency (ULF) ‘blast’ emanating from Latitude: 45° 00' North Longitude: 93° 15' West at the ‘exact’ moment, and location, of a catastrophic collapse of a nearly 2,000 foot long bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota."

(...)

Russian Military reports state that the total collapse of such a massive bridge, and in the absence of evidence linking its destruction to terrorist activity, could only have been accomplished by an acoustic weapon, of which the United States Military is known to possess.
These reports further state that one of the United States primary research organizations into acoustic weapons research is Augsburg College, and which is located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and most importantly less than 1 mile from the Interstate 35W Bridge collapse."



The Sonic Weapon of Vladimir Gavreau

Flashback

Bush budget puts pinch on domestic spending

" February 6, 2007 - WASHINGTON -- President Bush yesterday proposed deep cuts to federal healthcare, education, and transportation programs, searching for new money in the federal budget to pay for increasingly costly defense programs and the war in Iraq."

U.S. Infrastructure Found to Be in Disrepair

"May 9, 2007 - Airports, roads, rail, bridges and other transit infrastructure are deteriorating across the U.S. because of insufficient investment, according to a report."

It doesn't take a rocket scientist.

Congress Estimates U.S. Will Spend $1 Trillion On Iraq War

Say, How's Cheney's New 9/11 False Flag Plot Coming Along?

U.S. Terror Attack — 'Ninety Days at Most'



"Counterterrorism expert Juval Aviv spoke with FOX Fan Central about what Americans can do to protect themselves in case of a terror attack.



Do you believe another terrorist attack is likely on American soil?



I predict, based primarily on information that is floating in Europe and the Middle East, that an event is imminent and around the corner here in the United States. It could happen as soon as tomorrow, or it could happen in the next few months. Ninety days at the most.



(channeling Cheney...)



What they’re going to do is hit six, seven or eight cities simultaneously to show sophistication and really hit the public. This time, which is the message of the day, it will not only be big cities. They’re going to try to hit rural America. They want to send a message to rural America: "You’re not protected. If you figured out that if you just move out of New York and move to Montana or to Pittsburgh, you’re not immune. We’re going [to] get you wherever we can and it’s easier there than in New York."

Yeah Sure, Let's just Reward Them

Israeli tourists may enter US without visa

Let's just forget history
"The Liberty was a "sitting duck" for the Israeli jet planes' missiles and rockets and their torpedo boats. The attack lasted at least 75 minutes, killing 34 brave Americans and wounding 172 others."

Let's forget this
"Prior to 9/11, the FBI had discovered the presence of a massive spy ring inside the United States run by the government of Israel."

Let's pretend this didn't happen
"A monstrous war crime that Israel has tried to cover up for a fortnight has finally been exposed." Or this. Or this. Or this. Or this. Or these.

And let's just pretend this isn't happening
"Shifa hospital, the biggest in the Gaza Strip, is running out of drugs. It is performing emergency operations only. The CAT scanner is out of service for want of spare parts. The orthopaedic department no longer has plaster of Paris. Hospital managers appealed yesterday to the international community to lift the siege on Gaza, which imposed after Hamas seized control in June.
Dr Juma al-Saqa, a hospital spokesman, told reporters they needed 150 tons of medicines urgently. On Monday, Israel allowed the Red Cross to bring in 50 tons. That was not enough.
Dr Moaya Abu Hasnein, the director of accident and emergency, said dozens of cancer and kidney patients were slowly dying because of the boycott. While the Rafah crossing, formerly manned by European Union monitors, remained closed, it was impossible to transfer patients to Egypt. He reported that about 700 emergency cases had been sent to hospitals in Israel and the West Bank over the past month, but that left many more behind."

And by all means, let's shovel the money to them.
US promises Israel much more military aid

And The US Accuses Iran Of Weapons Trafficking?

200,000 weapons unaccounted for

"Nearly 200,000 weapons issued to Iraqi security forces have gone unaccounted for, and the Pentagon still has not specified which, if any, accountability procedures are in place for the Iraq train-and-equip program, a government report issued Tuesday has found."

This is hardly a problem for overseers of the Iraq disaster; their task was to ensure the country was utterly destroyed amid carnage, suffering and total social breakdown. That the weapons may get into the hands of forces who might attack US troops also won't concern the military honchos as that just helps to prolong the occupation. It's a problem for the suffering Iraqi people and of course the american people who were fleeced to the tune of billions for this grotesque horror.

You'd think in a saner world when this little problem was acknowledged last year something might have been done about it - not so, apparently it just got fifteen times worse since December:

"The Pentagon cannot account for 14,030 weapons — almost 4% of the semiautomatic pistols, assault rifles, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and other weapons it began supplying to Iraq since the end of 2003."

Maybe the military just wanted to dump all those M9s with cheap shit aftermarket magazines that they were issuing.

Meateaters Refuse Sex With Vegans

"I'm Supposed To Be Attracted To Ungulates?"

"A new phenomenon in New Zealand is taking the idea of "you are what you eat" to the extreme."

Pentagon Announces That Yes, You've Been Lied To

Pentagon announces 20K troops will rotate into Iraq

"The Pentagon announced Tuesday that it will rotate 20,000 into Iraq at the end of this year but denied the troops would extend President Bush's troop "surge" through next spring, The Associated Press reported Tuesday."

Disgraced War Criminal Denies You've Been Lied To
(Stop firing, I'm Don fucking Rumsfeld, dammit!)

"WASHINGTON (AP) - Ex-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and other former Pentagon brass denied a cover-up and rejected personal blame Wednesday in the public deceptions that followed Army Ranger Pat Tillman's friendly-fire death in Afghanistan in 2004."

Therapists worried about "Gonzales Syndrome"

"Smirking, lying, thinking everybody else is stupid—that just means that the kid is acting like an obnoxious adolescent,” says one local psychologist. “Maybe we should flip it around and diagnose Gonzales with ‘asshole teenager syndrome.’ ”

Cheney admits"last throes" was just a lie

Is There a GOP Gene for Lying?

"One wonders how Republicans are able to lie with such effortless conviction."